bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
High-resolution Stratigraphy of Holocene Lagoon Terraces of Southern Brazil
Authors: dos Santos Natália B. , Lavina Ernesto L.C. , Paim Paulo S.G.
Published: September 2014

The northern portion of the coastal plain of the Rio Grande do Sul State (southernmost Brazil) comprises an outer sandy barrier that protects a complex lagoon system formed during the Holocene. The terraces of three different lagoons (Gentil, Malvas and Pinguela) formed along their margins record the depositional processes and the relative base level changes over the past 5000 yr. Therefore, our main objective was to characterize and quantify base level fluctuations from the study of these terraces, to correlate them to sea-level changes and to describe the depositional architecture related to the distinct sea-level stages (high-resolution sequence stratigraphy). Satellite images, topographic and GPR profiles, auger holes and radiometric dating were used. The main results indicate a close relationship between relative base level and relative sea-level changes, a stillstand period just after the last transgressive maximum (4840–4650 cal yr BP) and a subsequent overall relative sea-level fall of about 3 m. Both a normal (highstand systems tract) and a forced regression (falling-stage systems tract) controlled the geological record preserved in the terraces. The highstand (older terrace) is characterized by agradational bedding, whereas the falling stage comprises three progradational sets (terraces) bounded by erosive surfaces related to smaller-scale sea-level drops.
High harmonic generation and ionization effects in cluster targets
Authors: Aladi M. , Márton I. , Rácz P. , Dombi P. , Földes I.B.
Published: September 2014

High harmonic generation in gas jets was investigated in different gases up to more than 14 bar backing pressure. The observation of increase of harmonic intensity with increasing pressure and laser intensity shows evidence of the presence of clusters in Xe with an increased efficiency compared with He, whereas Ar is an intermediate case for which clusters will start to dominate above a certain backing pressure. Spectral investigations give evidence for tunable harmonic generation in a broad spectral range. A spectral shift of opposite signature caused by the free electrons in the focal volume and the nanoplasmas inside the cluster was observed.
The Most Famous Thing Robert E. Lee Never Said: Duty, Forgery, and Cultural Amnesia
Authors: HEUSTON SEAN
Published: September 2014

This essay explains the surprising set of circumstances surrounding perhaps the best-known quotation commonly attributed to Robert E. Lee (“Duty is the sublimest word in the English language”) and explains several significant things about the famous quotation and its broader significance: (1) Lee never said any such thing. (2) The famous line appears in a forged letter. (3) It is quite likely that a Union soldier forged the letter when the US Army occupied Lee's Arlington, Virginia estate during the American Civil War. (4) The phony quotation also shows up in an amazing range of sources, from academic books and scholarly journals, toForbesmagazine, to legal briefs and judicial decisions, to speeches by major political figures. (5) Although at one point early in the twentieth century it was fairly widely known that the letter was a forgery, the bogus quotation persists in widespread usage as something like a southern (and, perhaps surprisingly, a national) equivalent of George Washington's apocryphal “I cannot tell a lie.” (6) The long, strange career of this bogus quotation has larger implications for professional and general conversations about Lee, the Civil War, and American cultural memory.
Arbuscular mycorrhizas increase survival, precocity and flowering of herbaceous and shrubby species of early stages of tropical succession in pot cultivation
Authors: Rondina Artur Berbel Lirio , Lescano Luis Eduardo Azevedo Marques , de Almeida Alves Ricardo , Matsuura Enio Massao , Nogueira Marco Antonio , Zangaro Waldemar
Published: September 2014

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are an important biotic factor that influences tropical ecological succession and differently affect the woody species belonging to different successional stages. However, little is known about the influence of AMF on growth and reproduction of herbaceous and shrubby species of early phases of tropical succession. Thus, we assessed the effect of AMF on the development of 27 heliophilous herbaceous and shrubby tropical species. Plants were grown in greenhouse, in low- and high-fertility soils, with or without AMF, for 100 d. Most species grown with AMF exhibited high root infection intensity (≈80%), irrespective of soil fertility. In the low-fertility soil, non-mycorrhizal plants exhibited about 88% less shoot dry mass (SDM) than mycorrhizal plants, and AMF were crucial for the survival of most species. Non-mycorrhizal plants also had lower relative growth rate (RGR), total leaf area (TLA), leaf area expansion (LAE) and total root length (TRL). Six species flowered in the low-fertility soil, and flowering increased with AMF in one plant species and four species only flowered when mycorrhizal. In the high-fertility soil, non-mycorrhizal plants exhibited about 13% less SDM than mycorrhizal plants and also exhibited lower TLA, LAE, and nutrient concentrations in shoots. On the other hand, no major changes were observed for RGR, TRL and root dry mass for most of the species. Sixteen plant species flowered in the high-fertility soil, but most had earlier (11) and more abundant (10) flowering when mycorrhizal. Thus, AMF have different influences on the survival, growth and flowering of herbaceous and shrubby tropical species, depending on soil fertility: in low-fertility soil, AMF especially affect the survival, growth and flowering, whereas in high-fertility soil, AMF mainly influence the shoot nutrient concentrations and flowering.
Vestiges from the grammaticalization path: The expression of future temporal reference in Acadian French
Authors: COMEAU PHILIP
Published: September 2014

This study presents a variationist analysis of the expression of future temporal reference (variation between the inflected future and the periphrastic future) in a linguistically conservative variety of Acadian French spoken in Baie Sainte-Marie, Nova Scotia, Canada. Results show that Acadian French is distinct from Laurentian French and that the Baie Sainte-Marie variety also differs from other Acadian varieties in some respects. A comparison of the distribution of variants and of the conditioning factors reveals that Acadian and Laurentian varieties have different future temporal reference systems. The Baie Sainte-Marie variety retains vestiges of earlier stages of the grammaticalization of one of the variants, the periphrastic future, not found in other Acadian varieties, thus supporting its characterization as a conservative variety.
Insights into an autonomously formed oxygen-evacuated Cu2O electrode for the selective production of C2H4 from CO2
Authors: Kim Dahee , Lee Seunghwa , Ocon Joey D. , Jeong Beomgyun , Lee Jae Kwang , Lee Jaeyoung
Published: September 2014

In situ transformation of bulk Cu2O to a Cu2O-derived bulk structure with oxygen-vacant sites, with the oxide layer still on the surface, resulted in highly active, stable, and selective production of ethylene from carbon dioxide.
Modelling of nutrient bioaccessibility in almond seeds based on the fracture properties of their cell walls
Authors: Grassby Terri , Picout David R. , Mandalari Giuseppina , Faulks Richard M. , Kendall Cyril W. C. , Rich Gillian T. , Wickham Martin S. J. , Lapsley Karen , Ellis Peter R.
Published: September 2014

Cell walls hinder nutrient bioaccessibility (release). Two variants of a model were constructed to predict lipid release from ruptured almond cells, but only one has potential for predicting bioaccessibility in the gut.
Efficient 4,5-dihydro-1H-imidazol-5-one formation from amidines and ketones under transition-metal free conditions
Authors: Xie Yanjun , Cheng Xiufang , Liu Saiwen , Chen Hui , Zhou Wang , Yang Luo , Deng Guo-Jun
Published: September 2014

4,5-Dihydro-1H-imidazol-5-ones were selectively prepared from aryl amidines and ketones under transition-metal free conditions.
Stretching of BDT-gold molecular junctions: thiol or thiolate termination?
Authors: Souza Amaury de Melo , Rungger Ivan , Pontes Renato Borges , Rocha Alexandre Reily , da Silva Antônio José Roque , Schwingenschlöegl Udo , Sanvito Stefano
Published: September 2014

New insights on the conductivity of gold-BDT molecular junctions. Stability and transport calculations show that both thiol and thiolate junctions are possible and further their conductance show opposite trend under stretching.
Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of shikonin thio-glycoside derivatives: new anti-tubulin agents
Authors: Lin Hong-Yan , Han Hong-Wei , Bai Li-Fei , Qiu Han-Yue , Yin De-Zheng , Qi Jin-Liang , Wang Xiao-Ming , Gu Hong-Wei , Yang Yong-Hua
Published: September 2014

Among the acetyl-β-d-thio-glycoside modified shikonin derivatives, IIb showed the best cancer cell proliferative inhibition effect via inhibiting tubulin polymerization.
Development of a highly selective H2S fluorescent probe and its application to evaluate CSE inhibitors
Authors: Gu Xianfeng , Zhu Huikun , Yang Suna , Zhu Yi-Chun , Zhu Yi-Zhun
Published: September 2014

C359, a novel fluorescent probe for highly selective detection of H2S over biothiols, was applied to evaluate CSE inhibitors.
Patient‐specific ECG beat classification technique
Authors: Das Manab K. , Ari Samit
Published: September 2014

Electrocardiogram (ECG) beat classification plays an important role in the timely diagnosis of the critical heart condition. An automated diagnostic system is proposed to classify five types of ECG classes, namely normal (N), ventricular ectopic beat (V), supra ventricular ectopic beat (S), fusion (F) and unknown (Q) as recommended by the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI). The proposed method integrates the Stockwell transform (ST), a bacteria foraging optimisation (BFO) algorithm and a least mean square (LMS)‐based multiclass support vector machine (SVM) classifier. The ST is utilised to extract the important morphological features which are concatenated with four timing features. The resultant combined feature vector is optimised by removing the redundant and irrelevant features using the BFO algorithm. The optimised feature vector is applied to the LMS‐based multiclass SVM classifier for automated diagnosis. In the proposed technique, the LMS algorithm is used to modify the Lagrange multiplier, which in turn modifies the weight vector to minimise the classification error. The updated weights are used during the testing phase to classify ECG beats. The classification performances are evaluated using the MIT‐BIH arrhythmia database. Average accuracy and sensitivity performances of the proposed system for V detection are 98.6% and 91.7%, respectively, and for S detections, 98.2% and 74.7%, respectively over the entire database. To generalise the capability, the classification performance is also evaluated using the St. Petersburg Institute of Cardiological Technics (INCART) database. The proposed technique performs better than other reported heartbeat techniques, with results suggesting better generalisation capability.
Performance analysis for energy harvesting communication protocols with fixed rate transmission
Authors: Mohassel Feghhi Mahmood , Abbasfar Aliazam , Mirmohseni Mahtab
Published: September 2014

Energy harvesting (EH) has emerged as a promising technique for Green Communications and it is a novel technique to prolong the lifetime of the wireless networks with replenishable nodes. In this study, the authors consider the energy shortage analysis of fixed rate transmission in communication systems with EH nodes. First, the authors study the finite‐horizon transmission and provide the general formula for the energy shortage probability (ESP). The authors also give some examples as benchmarks. Then, the authors continue to derive a closed‐form expression for infinite‐horizon transmission, which is a lower bound for the ESP of any finite‐horizon transmission. These results are proposed for both Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) and fading channels. Moreover, the authors show that even under random energy arrival, one can transmit at a fixed rate equal to capacity in the AWGN channels with negligible aggregate shortage time. The authors achieve this result using our practical transmission schemes, proposed for finite‐horizon. Also, comprehensive numerical simulations are performed in AWGN and fading channels with no Channel State Information (CSI) available at the transmitter, which corroborate our theoretical findings. Furthermore, the authors improve the performance of our transmission schemes in the fading channel with no CSI at the transmitter by optimising the transmission initiation threshold.
Robust visual odometry estimation of road vehicle from dominant surfaces for large‐scale mapping
Authors: Siddiqui Rafid , Khatibi Siamak
Published: September 2014

Every urban environment contains a rich set of dominant surfaces which can provide a solid foundation for visual odometry estimation. In this work visual odometry is robustly estimated by computing the motion of camera mounted on a vehicle. The proposed method first identifies a planar region and dynamically estimates the plane parameters. The candidate region and estimated plane parameters are then tracked in the subsequent images and an incremental update of the visual odometry is obtained. The proposed method is evaluated on a navigation dataset of stereo images taken by a car mounted camera that is driven in a large urban environment. The consistency and resilience of the method has also been evaluated on an indoor robot dataset. The results suggest that the proposed visual odometry estimation can robustly recover the motion by tracking a dominant planar surface in the Manhattan environment. In addition to motion estimation solution a set of strategies are discussed for mitigating the problematic factors arising from the unpredictable nature of the environment. The analyses of the results as well as dynamic environmental strategies indicate a strong potential of the method for being part of an autonomous or semi‐autonomous system.
Efficient iterative solution of electromagnetic scattering using adaptive cross approximation enhanced characteristic basis function method
Authors: Chen Xinlei , Gu Changqing , Li Zhuo , Niu Zhenyi
Published: September 2014

A new hybrid adaptive cross approximation‐characteristic basis function method (ACA‐CBFM) is proposed to efficiently solve the electromagnetic scattering problems. In the conventional ACA‐CBFM, the ACA is only applied to speed up the construction of the reduced matrix that is directly solved and stored. However, with the increase of the size of the targets under analysis, the reduced matrix will become so large that it is difficult to directly solve and store. In this study, the reduced matrix is further compressed by the adaptive cross approximation‐singular value decomposition (ACA‐SVD) and solved by an iterative method, which leads to reduced storage and accelerated matrix vector product. Furthermore, the ACA‐SVD is adapted to efficiently generate the characteristic basis functions (CBFs), which reduces both the time of generating initial CBFs and the SVD time of initial CBFs. Numerical results about the electromagnetic scattering from perfect electric conducting targets are given to demonstrate the merits of the proposed methods.
Compact planar ultra‐wideband antenna with quintuple band‐notched characteristics
Authors: Zhang Jingwei , Cao Ping , Huang Yi , Alrawashdeh Rula , Zhu Xu
Published: September 2014

A compact ultra‐wideband planar monopole antenna with a size of 22 mm by 34 mm is presented to achieve the quintuple‐band‐notched characteristics. The proposed antenna consists of a Mickey‐mouse shaped radiating element, a truncated/smoothed ground plane and a microstrip feed‐line. The quintuple‐band‐notched function is achieved by integrating five specially designed half/one‐wavelength M‐shaped resonators into the radiator, feed‐line and ground plane. The simulated and measured results show that the proposed antenna is able to operate from 2.24 to 10.8 GHz for |S11| < −10 dB with excellent band rejection performance in the frequency bands of 2.35 to 2.61 GHz, 3.16 to 3.69 GHz, 5.0 to 6.1 GHz, 7.2 to 7.7 GHz and 8.1 to 8.74 GHz for some existing communication systems such as wireless local area networks, worldwide interoperability for microwave access, downlink of X‐band satellite communication and ITU 8‐GHz band, respectively. In addition, both the frequency‐domain and time‐domain performances of the antenna are investigated by simulation and measurement. The results obtained are also in very good agreement.
Microstrip dual‐mode bandpass filter design using pie‐section truncated semi‐circle and quarter‐circle resonators
Authors: Xu Kaida , Zhang Yonghong , Fan Yong , Joines William T. , Liu Qing Huo
Published: September 2014

New dual‐mode microstrip bandpass filters (BPFs) using pie‐section truncated semi‐circle and/or quarter‐circle resonators are presented. The even‐mode and odd‐mode frequency responses of these two resonators are investigated. Compared to the four‐parameter optimisation of the conventional stub‐loaded dual‐mode resonator, only three parameters need to be adjusted and optimised for the proposed resonators. Based on these two novel resonators, three BPF examples are designed, fabricated and tested. In addition, the technique of source‐load cross coupling to improve performance of the filters is adopted. The good agreement between simulated and measured results validates the design concept.
Microscopic origin of low frequency noise in MoS2 field-effect transistors
Authors: Ghatak Subhamoy , Mukherjee Sumanta , Jain Manish , Sarma D. D. , Ghosh Arindam
Published: September 2014

We report measurement of low frequency 1/f noise in molybdenum di-sulphide (MoS2) field-effect transistors in multiple device configurations including MoS2 on silicon dioxide as well as MoS2-hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) heterostructures. All as-fabricated devices show similar magnitude of noise with number fluctuation as the dominant mechanism at high temperatures and density, although the calculated density of traps is two orders of magnitude higher than that at the SiO2 interface. Measurements on the heterostructure devices with vacuum annealing and dual gated configuration reveals that along with the channel, metal-MoS2 contacts also play a significant role in determining noise magnitude in these devices.
Metallic 1T phase source/drain electrodes for field effect transistors from chemical vapor deposited MoS2
Authors: Kappera Rajesh , Voiry Damien , Yalcin Sibel Ebru , Jen Wesley , Acerce Muharrem , Torrel Sol , Branch Brittany , Lei Sidong , Chen Weibing , Najmaei Sina , Lou Jun , Ajayan Pulickel M. , Gupta Gautam , Mohite Aditya D. , Chhowalla Manish
Published: September 2014

Two dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (2D TMDs) offer promise as opto-electronic materials due to their direct band gap and reasonably good mobility values. However, most metals form high resistance contacts on semiconducting TMDs such as MoS2. The large contact resistance limits the performance of devices. Unlike bulk materials, low contact resistance cannot be stably achieved in 2D materials by doping. Here we build on our previous work in which we demonstrated that it is possible to achieve low contact resistance electrodes by phase transformation. We show that similar to the previously demonstrated mechanically exfoliated samples, it is possible to decrease the contact resistance and enhance the FET performance by locally inducing and patterning the metallic 1T phase of MoS2 on chemically vapor deposited material. The device properties are substantially improved with 1T phase source/drain electrodes.
Influence of nanoscale Ag2Te precipitates on the thermoelectric properties of the Sn doped P-type AgSbTe2 compound
Authors: Mohanraman Rajeshkumar , Sankar Raman , Chou Fang-Cheng , Lee Chih-Hao , Iizuka Yoshiyuki , Muthuselvam I. Panneer , Chen Yang-Yuan
Published: September 2014

We report a maximal figure of merit (ZT) value of 1.1 at 600 K was obtained for the sample of which x = 0.03, representing an enhancement greater than 20% compared with a pristine AgSbTe2 sample. This favorable thermoelectric performance originated from the optimal Sn2+ substitution for Sb3+ in AgSbTe2, which not only increased electrical conductivity but also led to a substantial reduction in thermal conductivity that was likely caused by an enhanced phonon-scattering mechanism through the combined effects of lattice defects and the presence of Ag2Te nanoprecipitates dispersed in the matrix.
Impact of thermal expansion of substrates on phase transition temperature of VO2 films
Authors: Sakai Joe , Zaghrioui Mustapha , Matsushima Masaaki , Funakubo Hiroshi , Okimura Kunio
Published: September 2014

Non-epitaxial, (010)M1-oriented VO2 thin films were grown on various substrates [amorphous SiO2, Si (001), Al2O3 (0001), and CaF2 (001)] with Pt (111)/SiO2 buffer layers. Phase transition from MoO2-type monoclinic to rutile-type tetragonal structures of these VO2 layers was investigated with temperature-controlled micro-Raman spectroscopy. It was confirmed that substrates with larger thermal expansion coefficient cause larger out-of-plane lattice spacings of both Pt and VO2, and thus lower transition temperatures of VO2 films, as a result of higher in-plane shrinkage during cooling from the deposition temperature. The transition temperatures and aM1/2 lengths, estimated from bM1 lengths, of present samples were compared with previous reports in a strain—temperature phase diagram. The present results fit with previous reports better by assuming that in-plane lattice aspect ratio of VO2 films is not clamped by the substrates but is flexible during the temperature change. Thermal expansion of substrates is an essential parameter to be taken into account when one considers device application of the phase transition properties of VO2 films, especially thick or non-epitaxial.
Analysis of thermomechanical response of polycrystalline HMX under impact loading through mesoscale simulations
Authors: Hardin D. B. , Rimoli J. J. , Zhou M.
Published: September 2014

We investigate the response of polycrystalline HMX (Octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine) under impact loading through a 3-dimensional mesoscale model that explicitly accounts for anisotropic elasticity, crystalline plasticity, and heat conduction. This model is used to quantify the variability in temperature and stress fields due to random distributions of the orientations of crystalline grains in HMX under the loading scenarios considered. The simulations carried out concern the response of fully dense HMX polycrystalline ensembles under impact loading at imposed boundary velocities from 50 to 400 m/s. The polycrystalline ensemble studied consists of a geometrically arranged distribution of bi-modally sized and shaped grains. To quantify the effect of crystalline slip, two models with different numbers of available slip systems are used, reflecting differing characterizations of the slip systems of the HMX molecular crystal in the literature. The effects of microstructure and anisotropy on the distribution of heating and stress evolution are investigated. The results obtained indicate that crystalline response anisotropy at the microstructure level plays an important role in influencing both the overall response and the localization of stress and temperature. The overall longitudinal stress is up to 16% higher and the average temperature rise is only half in the material with fewer potential slip systems compared to those in the material with more available slip systems. Local stresses can be as high as twice the average stresses. The results show that crystalline anisotropy induces significant heterogeneities in both mechanical and thermal fields that previously have been neglected in the analyses of the behavior of HMX-based energetic materials.
Climate change and plant pathogen invasions.
Authors: Garrett K. A. , Thomas-Sharma S. , Forbes G. A. , Nopsa J. H.
Published: September 2014

Climate has an important effect on plant disease and the probability of plant pathogen invasions, through effects on hosts and pathogen vectors as well as on the pathogens themselves. Aerially dispersed pathogens are an important group of plant pathogens, and their dispersal and invasion may be modified by changes in wind patterns. Pathogens vectored by arthropods may be affected by weather impacts on their vectors, often through the filter of vector behaviour. Soilborne pathogens have more challenges to rapid invasion, but human transport can introduce them quickly into novel settings. For pathogens, variability within a species may be of great importance, and many important pathogen invasions are invasions of new genotypes of ubiquitous pathogen species. The connectivity of a landscape for pathogen movement is determined by the spatial distribution of host, pathogen and environmental conditions, and connectivity may also be affected by climate change. Therefore, when there is a new invasion, it is often challenging to evaluate which of these factors was limiting prior to invasion. Most economically important pathogen invasions are influenced strongly by human decision making. Adaptation strategies are needed both to address increased disease risk and to manage pathogen species and important subpopulations before they are introduced and established.
Analysis of invasive insects: links to climate change.
Authors: Gutierrez A. P. , Ponti L.
Published: September 2014

Climate change is expected to alter the geographic distribution and abundance of many species, to increase the invasion of new areas by exotic species and, in some cases, to lead to species extinction. This chapter reviews some of the links between invasive insects and climate change. The effects of climate change on insect pest populations can be direct, through impacts on their physiology and behaviour, or indirect, through biotic interactions (i.e. bottom-up and top-down effects). Anthropogenic climate and global change is expected to be a major driver in the introduction, establishment, distribution, impact and changes in the efficacy of mitigation strategies for invasive species. To address these problems, we must be able to predict climate change impacts on species distribution and abundance. Commonly used ecological niche model ling approaches have implicit assumptions about the biology of the target species and attempt to characterize the ecological niche using aggregate weather and other factors in the area of recorded distribution. More holistic physiologically based demographic modelling approaches explicitly describe the biological and physiological responses of species to weather and the species they interact with on fine temporal and spatial scales. The geographic distribution and relative abundance of four invasive insect pests are reviewed under observed and +2°C weather scenarios across the USA and Mexico: the tropical New World screw worm, the pink bollworm, the Mediterranean fruit fly (i.e. medfly) and the olive fly. The distribution of the olive fly is examined across the Mediterranean basin to illustrate the transferability of the model to analyses of new regions and climate change scenarios.
Early detection and rapid response: a cost-effective strategy for minimizing the establishment and spread of new and emerging invasive plants by global trade, travel and climate change.
Authors: Westbrooks R. G. , Manning S. T. , Waugh J. D.
Published: September 2014

Over the past 50 years, considerable effort has been made by state and national agencies as well as other partners to minimize the establishment and spread of newly introduced and/or emerging invasive plants through single agency-led programmes, inter-agency councils and task forces and, most recently, the landscape approach to early detection and rapid response (EDRR). Examples of single agency-led programmes include the USDA-Carolinas Witchweed Eradication Program in the USA and the Kochia Eradication Project in Western Australia (EDRR 1.0). In recent years, state inter-agency councils and task forces have been formed to address all types of new invasive species - particularly newly introduced species that are not already regulated by federal or state agencies. The Delaware Invasive Species Council, the Ontario Invasive Plant Council and the Beach Vitex Task Force are good examples of this new trend in inter-agency partnering (EDRR 2.0). The landscape approach to EDRR involves the development of EDRR capacity at all levels of the landscape - local to national. It includes individual public and private land units, geographic land units (watersheds, biomes, corridors, etc.) and political land units (towns, counties, states/provinces and nations) (EDRR 3.0). From a societal standpoint, due to global climate change and increased global trade and travel, it is important to emphasize that the impacts of invasive species on food security, human health, and biodiversity will continue to increase unless steps are taken now to minimize their introduction, establishment and spread. Development of EDRR capacity at all levels of the landscape is a proven strategy for achieving those goals.
Territorial disputes and national identity in post-war Germany: the Oder–Neisse line in public discourse
Authors: Sato Shigeki
Published: September 2014

After World War II, Germany lost territories east of the Oder–Neisse line. Focusing on the role of national identity, this paper considers how the government and major political groups of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) laid claims to the eastern territories from the late 1940s through the early 1960s and how the FRG came to recognise the Oder–Neisse line in the 1970s. Further, the paper examines the shift of the dominant form of national identity from a ‘Reich Identity’ to a ‘Holocaust Identity’. In the 1950s and the 1960s, claims to the eastern territories were based on the ‘Reich Identity’, which maintained that the German Reich of 1937 existed after the war. However, the ‘Holocaust Identity’, according to which Germans have a ‘special duty’ to reconcile with their ‘past’, began to be more widely accepted after the mid-1960s. This paper argues that national identity constitutes a field of discourse where different actors, groups or individuals, compete for hegemony by representing and invoking conflicting schemes of national self-understanding.
Comparison of diet and otolith growth of juvenile wild fish communities at fish farms and natural habitats
Authors: Fernandez-Jover Damian , Sanchez-Jerez Pablo
Published: September 2014

Juvenile fish of >20 different species use offshore floating sea cages as settlement habitats in the Mediterranean Sea. In the present work, surveys were conducted to identify differences between species composition and abundance of new settlers among farms and control rocky-shore environments and to test for variation in their diets. Along with this, otolith growth and morphology analyses were also applied to better understand the consequences for the ecology and growth performance of several fish species that use coastal farms as recruitment habitats in the southwestern Mediterranean Sea. Results showed that fish farms are acting as a new habitat for the settlement of juvenile fish and that detected abundance could be compared with that found at natural habitats such as shallow rocky environments. However, a consistent pattern for all the studied species was a significant variation in otolith-shape descriptors, principally identified through the Aspect Ratio index, which was lower for the farm-associated species Atherina boyeri, Oblada melanura, and Sarpa salpa. Otolith modifications were effectively detected by elliptic Fourier descriptors since multivariate analysis correctly identified farm or control origin at 78.8, 85.1, and 86.1% for A. boyeri, O. melanura, and S. salpa individuals, respectively. According to these results, fish farms may offer new settlement habitat for several fish species on open coastal areas and provide resources equivalent to rocky habitats, but at the same time causing some effect on fish growth as a potential consequence of the availability of particulate organic matter derived from feed pellets.
CD72 negatively regulates mouse mast cell functions and down-regulates the expression of KIT and FcεRIα
Authors: Kataoka Tatsuki R. , Kumanogoh Atsushi , Fukuishi Nobuyuki , Ueshima Chiyuki , Hirata Masahiro , Moriyoshi Koki , Tsuruyama Tatsuaki , Haga Hironori
Published: September 2014

CD72 is a transmembrane protein belonging to the C-type lectin family that is expressed by various hematopoietic cells. When bound to its natural ligand, CD100 (semaphorin 4D), CD72 inhibits the KIT-mediated responses of human mast cells, but not IgE/FcεRI-mediated mast cell degranulation. We extended these findings to examine the role of CD72 in mouse mast cells. CD72 expression was detected in mouse bone marrow-derived mast cells (mBMMCs). As for human mast cells, an agonistic antibody against CD72 (K10.6) suppressed the KIT-mediated cell growth of, IL-6 production by and chemotaxis of mBMMCs. However, in contrast to human mast cells, the IgE-triggered degranulation of mBMMCs was suppressed by K10.6. K10.6 did not affect the phosphorylation of SHP-1 in mBMMCs, although SHP-1 mediated the inhibitory effects of CD72 in human mast cells. Administration of K10.6 induced phosphorylation of the ubiquitin ligase Cbl-b and decreased the expression of KIT and FcεRIα on the surface of murine mast cells. We also observed expression of CD72 in a mouse neoplastic cell line, P815, harboring gain-of-function mutations in KIT genes. In addition, we found that K10.6 activated Cbl-b, down-regulated KIT expression and suppressed the mutated KIT-driven growth of these cells. Thus, the mechanism by which CD72 mediates inhibitory effects in mast cells is species-dependent.
Mumps Antibody Response in Young Adults After a Third Dose of Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccine
Authors: Fiebelkorn Amy Parker , Coleman Laura A. , Belongia Edward A. , Freeman Sandra K. , York Daphne , Bi Daoling , Zhang Cheryl , Ngo Laurie , Rubin Steven
Published: September 2014

Background.  Mumps outbreaks in populations with high 2-dose measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine coverage raise the question whether a third dose of MMR vaccine (MMR3) is needed. However, data on the immunogenicity of MMR3 are limited. We assessed mumps virus neutralizing antibody levels pre- and post-MMR3 in a nonoutbreak setting.

Methods.  Mumps antibody titers were assessed at baseline, 1 month, and 1 year after MMR3 in subjects aged 18–28 years.

Results.  At baseline, 5 of 656 (0.8%) subjects had seronegative mumps neutralizing antibody titers and 38 (5.8%) had low titers. One year post-MMR3, these numbers declined to 3 (0.5%) and 16 (2.4%), respectively. Subjects with low baseline titers were more likely to have low 1-month and 1-year titers (R2 = 0.81–0.87, P < .0001). Compared to baseline, geometric mean titers were significantly higher at 1 month (P < .0001) and 1 year (P < .01) post-MMR3; however, reverse cumulative distribution curves showed only minimal shifts in mumps titers from baseline to 1 month and 1 year.

Conclusions.  Very few subjects had negative or low baseline mumps titers. Nonetheless, mumps titers had modest but significant increases when measured 1 month and 1 year post-MMR3. This temporary increase in titers could decrease susceptibility to disease during outbreaks, but may have limited value for routine use in vaccinated populations.
Pedobacter rivuli sp. nov., isolated from a freshwater stream
Authors: Kang Heeyoung , Kim Haneul , Joung Yochan , Joh Kiseong
Published: September 2014

A Gram-staining-negative, rod-shaped, red strain, HME8457T, was isolated from a freshwater stream located in the Republic of Korea. A phylogenetic tree based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain HME8457T formed a lineage within the genus

Pedobacter

. Strain HME8457T was most closely related to species of the genus

Pedobacter

:

Pedobacter daechungensis

Dae 13T (96.4 % sequence similarity),

Pedobacter lentus

DS-40T (95.3 %),

Pedobacter terricola

DS-45T (94.9 %),

Pedobacter glucosidilyticus

1-2T (94.2 %) and ‘Pedobacter soyangensis’ HME6451 (93.6 %). The major fatty acids were iso-C15 : 0 (28.8 %), summed feature 3 (comprising C16 : 1ω6c and/or C16 : 1ω7c; 21.7 %), iso-C17 : 0 3-OH (7.7 %) and anteiso-C15 : 0 (6.2 %). The only respiratory quinone was MK-7. Polar lipid analysis revealed the presence of phosphatidylethanolamine, one unidentified aminolipid and two unidentified polar lipids. Sphingolipid was present. The DNA G+C content was 33.3 mol%. On the basis of the evidence presented in this study, strain HME8457T represents a novel species of the genus

Pedobacter

, for which the name Pedobacter rivuli sp. nov. is proposed; the type strain is HME8457T ( = KACC 17312T = CECT 8291T).
Gryllotalpicola soli sp. nov., isolated from soil
Authors: Moon Ji-Young , Kim Soo-Jin , Hamada Moriyuki , Ahn Jae-Hyung , Weon Hang-Yeon , Suzuki Ken-ichiro , Yoon Jung-Hoon , Kwon Soon-Wo
Published: September 2014

A novel Gram-stain-positive, short rod-shaped, non-flagellated and mesophilic strain, KIS12-7T, isolated from a soil sample collected from Daecheong-Island in Ongjin County, Republic of Korea, was studied using a polyphasic approach. Phylogenetic trees based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed that the novel strain was a member of the genus

Gryllotalpicola

, showing more than 97.0 % sequence similarity with

Gryllotalpicola daejeonensis

RU-04T (98.0 %),

Gryllotalpicola koreensis

RU-16T (97.7 %) and

Gryllotalpicola kribbensis

PU-02T (97.3 %). However, DNA–DNA relatedness values demonstrated that strain KIS12-7T could be clearly distinguished from closely related species of the genus

Gryllotalpicola

. The cell-wall peptidoglycan of strain KIS12-7T was of the type B2 and the acyl type was acetyl. The predominant menaquinones were MK-11 and MK-10. Polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, one unknown phosphoglycolipid, one unknown glycolipid, one unknown phospholipid and one unknown lipid. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 72.1 mol%. On the basis of the evidence presented, strain KIS12-7T is a representative of a novel species of the genus

Gryllotalpicola

, and the name Gryllotalpicola
soli sp. nov. is proposed; the type strain is KIS12-7T ( = DSM 27182T = KACC 17302T = NBRC 109659T).
Morphology and phylogeny of three karyorelictean ciliates (Protista, Ciliophora), including two novel species, Trachelocerca chinensis sp. n. and Tracheloraphis dragescoi sp. n.
Authors: Xu Yuan , Yan Ying , Li Lifang , Al-Rasheid Khaled A. S. , Al-Farraj Saleh A. , Song Weibo
Published: September 2014

This paper investigates the morphology and infraciliature of three karyorelictean ciliates, Trachelocerca chinensis sp. n., Tracheloraphis dragescoi sp. n. and a rarely known form, Geleia acuta (Dragesco, 1960) Foissner, 1998, which were isolated from the intertidal zone of sandy beaches at Zhanjiang and Qingdao, China. Trachelocerca chinensis sp. n. is distinguished from related forms by having 26–30 somatic kineties, a narrow glabrous stripe and a single nuclear group composed of approximately four to six macronuclei and two micronuclei. Tracheloraphis dragescoi sp. n. can be recognized through its 14–22 somatic kineties, wide glabrous stripe and a single nuclear group composed of about four macronuclei. Phylogenetic analyses based on small-subunit (SSU) rRNA gene sequences indicated that the genera Trachelocerca and Tracheloraphis are closely related but that neither of them appears to be a clearly monophyletic group. Nonetheless, the monophyly of Trachelocerca is not rejected by the approximately unbiased (AU) test (P = 0.143, >0.05), although that of Tracheloraphis is rejected (P = 0.011, <0.05). Geleia acuta, meanwhile, branched with Geleia fossata and falls in the Geleia clade.
Granulosicoccus marinus sp. nov., isolated from Antarctic seawater, and emended description of the genus Granulosicoccus
Authors: Baek Kiwoon , Choi Ahyoung , Kang Ilnam , Im Mihye , Cho Jang-Cheon
Published: September 2014

A Gram-staining-negative, motile by flagella, non-pigmented, poly-β-hydroxybutyrate-producing, strictly aerobic and sphere-shaped bacterium, IMCC3490T, was isolated from a coastal seawater sample from the Antarctic Peninsula. Optimal growth of strain IMCC3490T was observed at 20 °C, pH 8.0 and in the presence of 2 % (w/v) NaCl. Phylogenetic analysis using 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain IMCC3490T belonged to the genus

Granulosicoccus

in the family

Granulosicoccaceae

. The strain was closely related to

Granulosicoccus antarcticus

IMCC3135T (98.8 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity) and

Granulosicoccus coccoides

Z 271T (98.5 %). The DNA–DNA relatedness values between IMCC3490T and type strains of the two species of the genus were far lower than 70 %, which indicated strain IMCC3490T is a novel genomic species of the genus

Granulosicoccus

. The major fatty acids of strain IMCC3490T were summed feature 8 (C18 : 1ω7c and/or C18 : 1ω6c) and summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω7c and/or C16 : 1ω6c). The isoprenoid quinone detected was ubiquinone-8 (Q-8) and predominant polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylethanolamine. The DNA G+C content was 61.0 mol%. On the basis of phylogenetic analyses, DNA–DNA relatedness values and phenotypic data, it is suggested that strain IMCC3490T represents a novel species of the genus

Granulosicoccus

, for which the name Granulosicoccus marinus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is IMCC3490T ( = KACC 17483T = NBRC 109704T). An emended description of the genus

Granulosicoccus

is also provided.
Quantifying and understanding reproductive allocation schedules in plants: a lifetime of decisions
Authors: Wenk Elizabeth Hedi , Falster Daniel
Published: September 2014

A plant's reproductive allocation (RA) schedule describes the fraction of surplus energy allocated to reproduction as it increases in size. RA schedules distinguish between energy allocated to different tissue types and thus links to a key physiological trade-off in an organism's functioning and life history. While theorists have adopted RA schedules as an elegant connection between life history and energy allocation, little is known about RA schedules in real vegetation.

Here we review what is known about RA schedules for woody plants using studies either directly quantifying RA, or which collected data from which the shape of an RA schedule can be inferred.

We find that RA schedules vary considerably across species: some species abruptly shift all resources from growth to reproduction (the “big-bang” strategy); most others gradually shift resources into reproduction, but under a variety of graded schedules (“partial bang”, “asymptotic”, “gradual”, and “declining”). Available data suggest the maximum fraction of energy allocated to production ranges from 0.1 to 1 and that shorter-lived species have higher initial RA and increase their RA more quickly than do longer-lived species.

‘Synthesis’ Available data suggests a wide variety of RA schedules exist among plant species. The collection of more data on RA, and not only on easy-to-measure proxies such as maximum height, would enable a tighter integration between theory and observation in plant ecology.
Relationship between protein thermodynamic constraints and variation of evolutionary rates among sites
Authors: Echave Julian , Jackson Eleisha L. , Wilke Claus O.
Published: September 2014

Evolutionary-rate variation among sites within proteins depends on functional and biophysical properties that constrain protein evolution. It is generally accepted that proteins must be able to fold stably in order to function. However, the relationship between stability constraints and among-sites rate variation is not well understood. Here, we present a biophysical model that links the thermodynamic stability changes due to mutations at sites in proteins (ΔΔG) to the rate at which mutations accumulate at those sites over evolutionary time. We find that such a “stability model” generally performs well, displaying correlations between predicted and empirically observed rates of up to 0.75 for some proteins. We further find that our model has comparable predictive power as does an alternative, recently proposed “stress model” that explains evolutionary-rate variation among sites in terms of the excess energy needed for mutants to adopt the correct active structure (ΔΔG*). The two models make distinct predictions, though, and for some proteins the stability model outperforms the stress model and vice versa. We conclude that both stability and stress constrain site-specific sequence evolution in proteins.
Virulence genes are a signature of the microbiome in the colorectal tumor microenvironment
Authors: Burns Michael B , Lynch Joshua , Starr Timothy K , Knights Dan , Blekhman Ran
Published: September 2014

Background

The human gut microbiome is associated with the development of colon cancer, and recent studies have found changes in the composition of the microbial communities in cancer patients compared to healthy controls. However, host-bacteria interactions are mainly expected to occur in the cancer microenvironment, whereas current studies primarily use stool samples to survey the microbiome. Here, we highlight the major shifts in the colorectal tumor microbiome relative to that of matched normal colon tissue from the same individual, allowing us to survey the microbial communities at the tumor microenvironment, and provides intrinsic control for environmental and host genetic effects on the microbiome.

Results

We characterized the microbiome in 44 primary tumor and 44 patient-matched normal colon tissues. We find that tumors harbor distinct microbial communities compared to nearby healthy tissue. Our results show increased microbial diversity at the tumor microenvironment, with changes in the abundances of commensal and pathogenic bacterial taxa, includingFusobacteriumandProvidencia. WhileFusobacteriahas previously been implicated in CRC,Providenciais a novel tumor-associated agent, and has several features that make it a potential cancer driver, including a strong immunogenic LPS and an ability to damage colorectal tissue. Additionally, we identified a significant enrichment of virulence-associated genes in the colorectal cancer microenvironment.

Conclusions

This work identifies bacterial taxa significantly correlated with colorectal cancer, including a novel finding of an elevated abundance ofProvidenciain the tumor microenvironment. We also describe several metabolic pathways and enzymes differentially present in the tumor associated microbiome, and show that the bacterial genes in the tumor microenvironment are enriched for virulence associated genes from the aggregate microbial community. This virulence enrichment indicates that the microbiome likely plays an active role in colorectal cancer development and/or progression. These reuslts provide a starting point for future prognostic and therapeutic research with the potential to improve patient outcomes.