bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Traditional Chinese medicine clinical records classification with BERT and domain specific corpora
Authors: Yao Liang , Jin Zhe , Mao Chengsheng , Zhang Yin , Luo Yuan
Published: August 2019

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been developed for several thousand years and plays a significant role in health care for Chinese people. This paper studies the problem of classifying TCM clinical records into 5 main disease categories in TCM. We explored a number of state-of-the-art deep learning models and found that the recent Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers can achieve better results than other deep learning models and other state-of-the-art methods. We further utilized an unlabeled clinical corpus to fine-tune the BERT language model before training the text classifier. The method only uses Chinese characters in clinical text as input without preprocessing or feature engineering. We evaluated deep learning models and traditional text classifiers on a benchmark data set. Our method achieves a state-of-the-art accuracy 89.39% ± 0.35%, Macro F1 score 88.64% ± 0.40% and Micro F1 score 89.39% ± 0.35%. We also visualized attention weights in our method, which can reveal indicative characters in clinical text.
Relationships between body reserve dynamics and rearing performances in meat ewes1
Authors: Macé Tiphaine , Hazard Dominique , Carrière Fabien , Douls Sebastien , Foulquié Didier , González-García Eliel
Published: August 2019

The main objective of this work was to study the relationships between body reserve (BR) dynamics and rearing performance (PERF) traits in ewes from a Romane meat sheep flock managed extensively on “Causse” rangelands in the south of France. Flock records were used to generate data sets covering 14 lambing years (YR). The data set included 1,146 ewes with 2 ages of first lambing (AGE), 3 parities (PAR), and 4 litter sizes (LS). Repeated measurements of the BW and BCS were used as indicators of BR. The ewe PERF traits recorded were indirect measurements for maternal abilities and included prolificacy, litter weight and lamb BW at lambing and weaning, ADG at 1, 2, and 3 mo after lambing, and litter survival from lambing to weaning. The effects of different BW and BCS trajectories (e.g., changes in BW and BCS across the production cycle), previously been characterized in the same animals, on PERF traits were investigated. Such trajectories reflected different profiles at the intraflock level in the dynamics of BR mobilization–accretion cycles. Genetic relationships between BR and PERF traits were assessed. All the fixed variables considered (i.e., YR, AGE, PAR, LS, and SEX ratio of the litter) have significant effects on the PERF traits. Similarly, BW trajectories had an effect on the PERF traits across the 3 PARs studied, particularly during the first cycle (PAR 1). The BCS trajectories only affected prolificacy, lamb BW at birth, and litter survival. Most of the PERF traits considered here showed moderate heritabilities (0.17–0.23) except for prolificacy, the lamb growth rate during the third month and litter survival which showed very low heritabilities. With exception of litter survival and prolificacy, ewe PERF traits were genetically, strongly, and positively correlated with BW whatever the physiological stage. A few weak genetic correlations were found between BCS and PERF traits. As illustrated by BW and BCS changes over time, favorable genetic correlations were found, even if few and moderate, between BR accretion or mobilization and PERF traits, particularly for prolificacy and litter weight at birth. In conclusion, our results show significant relationships between BR dynamics and PERF traits in ewes, which could be considered in future sheep selection programs aiming to improve robustness.
Dietary addition of garlic straw improved the intestinal barrier in rabbits1
Authors: Liu Lei , Zhao Xiaoyu , Liu Yongxu , Zhao Hong , Li Fuchang
Published: August 2019

Weanling rabbits frequently exhibit diarrhea or flatulence. Our experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of garlic straw on the performance and intestinal barrier of rabbits. Hyla rabbits (60 d, n = 160) with similar body weight were divided into 4 groups (4 replicates per group and 10 rabbits per replicate): fed a basal diet (control) or fed an experimental diet with 5%, 10%, or 15% garlic straw powder supplement. The results showed that the dietary addition of garlic straw increased significantly the average daily gain and average daily feed intake. Compared with the control, dietary addition of 10% and 15% garlic straw decreased significantly the death rate of rabbit. Rabbits in 10% garlic straw group had a higher secretory immunoglobulins A and immunoglobulins G concentration in jejunum and ileum than control while lower tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) concentration in jejunum. Compared with the control, dietary addition of 10% garlic straw increased significantly genes expression of zonula occluden protein 2 (ZO2) in jejunum and ileum and mucin4 in ileum while did not alter the genes expression of junctional adhesion molecule 2 (JAM2), JAM3, ZO1, occluding, claudin1, mucin1, mucin6, and toll-like receptor 4 in jejunum and ileum and mucin4 in jejunum. In conclusion, dietary supplement of garlic straw modulates immune responses and enhances intestinal barrier, meanwhile inhibits the synthesis of pro-inflammatory cytokine of TNFα. Besides, our experiment offers positive evidence in improving rabbit health of garlic instead of antibiotics.
Urinary Pharmacokinetic Profile of Cannabinoids Following Administration of Vaporized and Oral Cannabidiol and Vaporized CBD-Dominant Cannabis
Authors: Spindle Tory R , Cone Edward J , Kuntz David , Mitchell John M , Bigelow George E , Flegel Ronald , Vandrey Ryan
Published: August 2019

Cannabis products in which cannabidiol (CBD) is the primary chemical constituent (CBD-dominant) are increasingly popular and widely available. The impact of CBD exposure on urine drug testing has not been well studied. This study characterized the urinary pharmacokinetic profile of 100-mg oral and vaporized CBD, vaporized CBD-dominant cannabis (100-mg CBD; 3.7-mg ∆9-THC) and placebo in healthy adults (n = 6) using a within-subjects crossover design. Urine specimens were collected before and for 5 days after drug administration. Immunoassay (IA) screening (cutoffs of 20, 50 and 100 ng/mL) and LC–MS-MS confirmatory tests (cutoff of 15 ng/mL) for 11-nor-9-carboxy-∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol (∆9-THCCOOH) were performed; urine was also analyzed for CBD and other cannabinoids. Urinary concentrations of CBD were higher after oral (mean Cmax: 776 ng/mL) versus vaporized CBD (mean Cmax: 261 ng/mL). CBD concentrations peaked 5 h after oral CBD ingestion and within 1 h after inhalation of vaporized CBD. After pure CBD administration, only 1 out of 218 urine specimens screened positive for ∆9-THCCOOH (20-ng/mL IA cutoff) and no specimens exceeded the 15-ng/mL confirmatory cutoff. After inhalation of CBD-dominant cannabis vapor, nine samples screened positive at the 20-ng/mL IA cutoff, and two of those samples screened positive at the 50-ng/mL IA cutoff. Four samples that screened positive (two at 20 ng/mL and two at 50 ng/mL) confirmed positive with concentrations of ∆9-THCCOOH exceeding 15 ng/mL. These data indicate that acute dosing of pure CBD will not result in a positive urine drug test using current federal workplace drug testing guidelines (50-ng/mL IA cutoff with 15-ng/mL confirmatory cutoff). However, CBD products that also contain ∆9-THC may produce positive urine results for ∆9-THCCOOH. Accurate labeling and regulation of ∆9-THC content in CBD/hemp products are needed to prevent unexpected positive drug tests and unintended drug effects.
Season-Long Monitoring of the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) Throughout the United States Using Commercially Available Traps and Lures
Authors: Acebes-Doria Angelita L , Agnello Arthur M , Alston Diane G , Andrews Heather , Beers Elizabeth H , Bergh J Christopher , Bessin Ric , Blaauw Brett R , Buntin G David , Burkness Eric C , Chen Shi , Cottrell Ted E , Daane Kent M , Fann Lauren E , Fleischer Shelby J , Guédot Christelle , Gut Larry J , Hamilton George C , Hilton Richard , Hoelmer Kim A , Hutchison William D , Jentsch Peter , Krawczyk Greg , Kuhar Thomas P , Lee Jana C , Milnes Joshua M , Nielsen Anne L , Patel Dilani K , Short Brent D , Sial Ashfaq A , Spears Lori R , Tatman Kathy , Toews Michael D , Walgenbach James D , Welty Celeste , Wiman Nik G , Van Zoeren Janet , Leskey Tracy C
Published: August 2019

Reliable monitoring of the invasive Halyomorpha halys abundance, phenology and geographic distribution is critical for its management. Halyomorpha halys adult and nymphal captures on clear sticky traps and in black pyramid traps were compared in 18 states across the Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Pacific Northwest and Western regions of the United States. Traps were baited with commercial lures containing the H. halys pheromone and synergist, and deployed at field sites bordering agricultural or urban locations with H. halys host plants. Nymphal and adult captures in pyramid traps were greater than those on sticky traps, but captures were positively correlated between the two trap types within each region and during the early-, mid- and late season across all sites. Sites were further classified as having a low, moderate or high relative H. halys density and again showed positive correlations between captures for the two trap types for nymphs and adults. Among regions, the greatest adult captures were recorded in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic on pyramid and sticky traps, respectively, with lowest captures recorded in the West. Nymphal captures, while lower than adult captures, were greatest in the Southeast and lowest in the West. Nymphal and adult captures were, generally, greatest during July–August and September–October, respectively. Trapping data were compared with available phenological models showing comparable population peaks at most locations. Results demonstrated that sticky traps offer a simpler alternative to pyramid traps, but both can be reliable tools to monitor H. halys in different geographical locations with varying population densities throughout the season.
Identification and Genetic Differentiation of Sitobion avenae (Hemiptera: Aphididae) Biotypes in China
Authors: Wang Da , Zhai Yingting , Liu Deguang , Zhang Na , Li Chunbo , Shi Xiaoqin
Published: August 2019

The development of biotypes of the cereal aphid, Sitobion avenae (Fabricius) (Hemiptera: Aphididae), was initially found only on wheat, but barley can also be critical in the process. To address this issue, S. avenae clones were collected on barley and wheat, genotyped with six microsatellite markers, and tested with 58 wheat/barley varieties. Based on the virulence response profiles on different resistant wheat/barley varieties and three susceptible controls, six biotypes of S. avenae were identified. We developed a new system to distinguish between S. avenae biotypes by using only five barley/wheat varieties (i.e., barley: Dulihuang, Zaoshu No.3, Xiyin No.2; wheat: Zhong 4 wumang, 186-TM12-34). The unique virulence profiles of different S. avenae biotypes were further verified by testing their life-history traits (i.e., 10-d fecundity and total developmental time of nymphs) on the abovementioned five barley/wheat varieties. Among all the identified biotypes, biotype 1 was predominant, occupying over 82% of the total in each province. Biotype 5 was found only in Xinjiang, whereas biotype 6 occurred only in Zhejiang. The principal coordinate analysis with microsatellite data suggested apparently low genetic differentiation between biotypes 1 and 2. In most cases, extents of genetic divergence between different S. avenae biotypes could reflect differences in virulence response profiles of these biotypes, implying a genetic component for evolutionary relationships among these biotypes. Our study provides insights into the development and evolution of aphid biotypes, and a firm basis for clarifying the underlying genetic and evolutionary mechanisms.
Exploring the Efficacy and Mechanisms of a Crop Sterilant for Reducing Infestation by Spotted-Wing Drosophila (Diptera: Drosophilidae)
Authors: Van Timmeren Steven , Fanning Philip D , Schöneberg Torsten , Hamby Kelly , Lee Jana , Isaacs Rufus
Published: August 2019

Vinegar flies (Diptera: Drosophilidae) are well known to be associated with yeasts, which provide important nutrients and emit attractive semiochemicals. Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura) has become a major pest of berries and cherries around the world, requiring intensive management to maintain fruit quality. Although insecticides remain a dominant control approach, disruption of fly–yeast–host interactions remains a promising avenue for reducing the economic impact of this pest. We conducted field and laboratory experiments to explore whether a crop sterilant (peroxyacetic acid and hydrogen peroxide) developed for disease control can affect D. suzukii. In 2 yr of field tests in highbush blueberries, we found significantly lower infestation by D. suzukii in plots treated with the crop sterilant, both alone and in a rotation program with zeta-cypermethrin. When shoots from treated plots were tested in no-choice bioassays, crop sterilant treatments did not affect adult mortality or oviposition, but they reduced infestation. To explore the mechanisms in the laboratory, we found that the crop sterilant did not affect adult mortality, nor oviposition on treated fruit under no-choice settings, but adult flies settled and oviposited less on treated fruit in choice settings. When the crop sterilant was applied to colonies of Hanseniaspora uvarum (Niehaus) (Saccharomycetales: Saccharomycodaceae) and Issatchenkia terricola (Van der Walt) (Saccharomycetales: Saccharomycetacea) yeasts that are attractive and provide nutrition to D. suzukii, there was a dose-dependent inhibition of their growth. We highlight the potential for microbial management as a component of integrated pest management programs and prioritize research needs to incorporate this approach into control programs.
Landscape-scale effects of homesteads, water, and dingoes on invading chital deer in Australia’s dry tropics
Authors: Forsyth David M , Pople Anthony , Woodford Luke , Brennan Michael , Amos Matt , Moloney Paul D , Fanson Ben , Story Georgeanna
Published: August 2019

Identifying landscape features and processes that facilitate the persistence of populations is particularly important for invasive mammal species, because it can focus management interventions on relatively small areas. We used camera traps to test predictions concerning the relative abundance of invading chital deer (Axis axis) on seven cattle ranches in northern Australia: that abundance of chital deer would be highest near permanent water and near homesteads, and that dingoes (Canis dingo) reduce abundance of chital deer. Distance from the nearest homestead determined deer abundance (as indexed by images per camera-day), with negligible abundance > 4 km from homesteads. In contrast, distance from homestead did not predict abundance of feral pigs (Sus scrofa), macropods, or dingoes. Abundance of chital deer also declined with increasing distance from water, as did feral pig abundance. There was no relationship between either macropod or dingo abundance and distance to water. The abundance of chital deer was unaffected by dingo abundance, but 75–100% of dingo scats collected within 1 km of homesteads contained chital deer. The high abundances of chital deer near homesteads are likely due to increased food quality or quantity, or protection from dingoes, but these hypotheses require further testing. We conclude that homesteads and permanent water are important determinants of the distribution and abundance of invasive chital deer in northern Australia (i.e., they are “invasion hubs” for this species). Our results suggest that, during the dry season, managers should survey for and attempt to control chital deer within 4 km of homesteads and within 3 km of water.
Characterization of the transient fluorescence wave phenomenon that occurs during H2 production in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
Authors: Krishna Pilla Sankara , Morello Giorgio , Mamedov Fikret
Published: August 2019

Electron transport, mediated by NDA2 in H2-producing C. reinhardtii cells, shifts redox equilibria between the plastoquinone pool and PSII, and is observed as a transient fluorescence wave after a single flash.
Protein phosphatase 2A regulates the nuclear accumulation of the Arabidopsis bZIP protein VIP1 under hypo-osmotic stress
Authors: Tsugama Daisuke , Yoon Hyuk Sung , Fujino Kaien , Liu Shenkui , Takano Tetsuo
Published: August 2019

Hypo-osmotic stress induces nuclear accumulation of the transcription factor VIP1. We show that protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) regulates this process, and that VIP1 interacts with PP2A B''-family subunits.
Formation of root silica aggregates in sorghum is an active process of the endodermis
Authors: Soukup Milan , Rodriguez Zancajo Victor M , Kneipp Janina , Elbaum Rivka
Published: August 2019

Silica deposition in plants is a common phenomenon that correlates with plant tolerance to various stresses. Deposition occurs mostly in cell walls, but its mechanism is unclear. Here we show that metabolic processes control the formation of silica aggregates in roots of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.), a model plant for silicification. Silica formation was followed in intact roots and root segments of seedlings. Root segments were treated to enhance or suppress cell wall biosynthesis. The composition of endodermal cell walls was analysed by Raman microspectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray analysis. Our results were compared with in vitro reactions simulating lignin and silica polymerization. Silica aggregates formed only in live endodermal cells that were metabolically active. Silicic acid was deposited in vitro as silica onto freshly polymerized coniferyl alcohol, simulating G-lignin, but not onto coniferyl alcohol or ferulic acid monomers. Our results show that root silica aggregates form under tight regulation by endodermal cells, independently of the transpiration stream. We raise the hypothesis that the location and extent of silicification are primed by the chemistry and structure of polymerizing lignin as it cross-links to the wall.
Alice Dunbar-Nelson’s Charm Aesthetics and the Bugbear of Social Equality
Authors: Stevens Erica
Published: August 2019

Alice Dunbar-Nelson’s The Goodness of St. Rocque, and Other Stories (1899) plays with the diminutive description of “charming” often given to local-color writers in order to imagine alternative social relations in an era determined by modes of difference and exclusion. Charm—an aesthetic category most generally understood to be manipulative, feminine, and a distracting accessory to beauty—becomes the method supporting this collection’s challenge to the contemporary discourse of “social equality.” In the late nineteenth century, social equality was a distorted idea meant to accuse those pushing for civil rights of also seeking to eliminate individual choice from the social world and the public sphere or, at the most extreme, of advocating intermarriage of the races. In her short story collection, Dunbar-Nelson responds to the issue of social equality not directly but through her unique understanding of how literary form and character could charm readers into attachments beyond intersubjective desire or assured knowledge. Throughout The Goodness of St. Rocque, and Other Stories, her narrators mystify the reader’s search for knowledge and turn characters into resistant objects. Building on critical conversations about Dunbar-Nelson’s challenges to racial categorization, this essay explores the connections between aesthetics and politics in the early work of this writer, a writer who otherwise expressed a desire to maintain a distinction between those two goals for her fiction.
IMF radial gradients in most massive early-type galaxies
Authors: La Barbera F , Vazdekis A , Ferreras I , Pasquali A , Allende Prieto C , Martín-Navarro I , Aguado D S , de Carvalho R R , Rembold S , Falcón-Barroso J , van de Ven G
Published: August 2019

Using new long-slit spectroscopy obtained with X-Shooter at ESO-VLT, we study, for the first time, radial gradients of optical and near-infrared initial mass function (IMF)-sensitive features in a representative sample of galaxies at the very high mass end of the galaxy population. The sample consists of seven early-type galaxies (ETGs) at z ∼ 0.05, with central velocity dispersion in the range 300 ≲ σ ≲ 350 km s−1. Using state-of-the-art stellar population synthesis models, we fit a number of spectral indices, from different chemical species (including TiO and Na indices), to constrain the IMF slope (i.e. the fraction of low-mass stars), as a function of galactocentric distance, over a radial range out to ∼4 kpc. ETGs in our sample show a significant correlation of IMF slope and surface mass density. The bottom-heavy population (i.e. an excess of low-mass stars in the IMF) is confined to central galaxy regions with surface mass density above $\rm \sim 10^{10}\, M_\odot \, kpc^{-2}$, or, alternatively, within a characteristic radius of ∼2 kpc. Radial distance, in physical units, and surface mass density are the best correlators to IMF variations, with respect to other dynamical (e.g. velocity dispersion) and stellar population (e.g. metallicity) properties. Our results for the most massive galaxies suggest that there is no single parameter that fully explains variations in the stellar IMF, but IMF radial profiles at z ∼ 0 rather result from the complex formation and mass accretion history of galaxy inner and outer regions.
Neutral island statistics during reionization from 21-cm tomography
Authors: Giri Sambit K , Mellema Garrelt , Aldheimer Thomas , Dixon Keri L , Iliev Ilian T
Published: August 2019

We present the prospects of extracting information about the epoch of reionization by identifying the remaining neutral regions, referred to as islands, in tomographic observations of the redshifted 21-cm signal. Using simulated data sets we show that at late times the 21-cm power spectrum is fairly insensitive to the details of the reionization process but that the properties of the neutral islands can distinguish between different reionization scenarios. We compare the properties of these islands with those of ionized bubbles. At equivalent volume-filling fractions, neutral islands tend to be fewer in number but larger compared to the ionized bubbles. In addition, the evolution of the size distribution of neutral islands is found to be slower than that of the ionized bubbles and also their percolation behaviour differs substantially. Even though the neutral islands are relatively rare, they will be easier to identify in observations with the low frequency component of the Square Kilometre Array due to their larger size and the lower noise levels at lower redshifts. The size distribution of neutral islands at the late stages of reionization is found to depend on the source properties, such as the ionizing efficiency of the sources and their minimum mass. We find the longest line of sight through a neutral region to be more than 100 comoving Mpc until very late stages (90–95 per cent reionized), which may have relevance for the long absorption trough at z = 5.6–5.8 in the spectrum of quasar ULAS J0148+0600.
Constraining cluster masses from the stacked phase space distribution at large radii
Authors: Hamabata Akinari , Oguri Masamune , Nishimichi Takahiro
Published: August 2019

Velocity dispersions have been employed as a method to measure masses of clusters. To complement this conventional method, we explore the possibility of constraining cluster masses from the stacked phase space distribution of galaxies at larger radii, where infall velocities are expected to have a sensitivity to cluster masses. First, we construct a two-component model of the three-dimensional phase space distribution of haloes surrounding clusters up to 50 $\, h^{-1}$ Mpc from cluster centres based on N-body simulations. We confirm that the three-dimensional phase space distribution shows a clear cluster mass dependence up to the largest scale examined. We then calculate the probability distribution function of pairwise line-of-sight velocities between clusters and haloes by projecting the three-dimensional phase space distribution along the line of sight with the effect of the Hubble flow. We find that this projected phase space distribution, which can directly be compared with observations, shows a complex mass dependence due to the interplay between infall velocities and the Hubble flow. Using this model, we estimate the accuracy of dynamical mass measurements from the projected phase space distribution at the transverse distance from cluster centres larger than $2\, h^{-1}$ Mpc. We estimate that, by using 1.5 × 105 spectroscopic galaxies, we can constrain the mean cluster masses with an accuracy of 14.5 per cent if we fully take account of the systematic error coming from the inaccuracy of our model. This can be improved down to 5.7 per cent by improving the accuracy of the model.
The sub-mm variability of IRC+10216 and o Ceti
Authors: Dharmawardena Thavisha E , Kemper Francisca , Wouterloot Jan G A , Scicluna Peter , Marshall Jonathan P , Wallström Sofia H J
Published: August 2019

We present the sub-mm variability of two of the most well-studied AGB stars, IRC + 10216 and o Ceti. The data are obtained at $450$ and $850\,{\mu {\rm m}}$ as part of pointing calibration observations for the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope’s SCUBA-2 instrument over a span of 7 yr. The periods are derived using non-parametric methods, Gatspy Supersmoother and P4J, in order not to assume an underlying shape to the periodicity. These were compared to two Lomb–Scargle parametric methods. We find that for both sources and wavelengths the periods derived from all methods are consistent within 1σ. The $850\,{\mu {\rm m}}$ phase folded light curves of IRC + 10216 show a time lag of ∼540 d compared to its optical counterpart. We explore the origins of the sub-mm variability and the phase lag using radiative transfer models. Combining the modelling with findings in the literature, we find that the sub-mm emission and phase lag can be partially attributed to the dust formation or destruction cycle. A second, unknown mechanism must be invoked; we defer an investigation of the origin and nature of this mechanism to a future work.
Scalar field effects on the orbit of S2 star
Authors:   The GRAVITY Collaboration:, Amorim A , Bauböck M , Benisty M , Berger J-P , Clénet Y , Coudé du Forest V , de Zeeuw T , Dexter J , Duvert G , Eckart A , Eisenhauer F , Ferreira Miguel C , Gao F , Garcia Paulo J V , Gendron E , Genzel R , Gillessen S , Gordo P , Habibi M , Horrobin M , Jimenez-Rosales A , Jocou L , Kervella P , Lacour S , Le Bouquin J-B , Léna P , Ott T , Pössel M , Paumard T , Perraut K , Perrin G , Pfuhl O , Rodriguez Coira G , Rousset G , Straub O , Straubmeier C , Sturm E , Vincent F , von Fellenberg S , Waisberg I , Widmann F
Published: August 2019

Precise measurements of the S-stars orbiting SgrA* have set strong constraints on the nature of the compact object at the centre of the Milky Way. The presence of a black hole in that region is well established, but its neighbouring environment is still an open debate. In that respect, the existence of dark matter in that central region may be detectable due to its strong signatures on the orbits of stars: the main effect is a Newtonian precession which will affect the overall pericentre shift of S2, the latter being a target measurement of the GRAVITY instrument. The exact nature of this dark matter (e.g. stellar dark remnants or diffuse dark matter) is unknown. This article assumes it to be a scalar field of toroidal distribution, associated with ultralight dark matter particles, surrounding the Kerr black hole. Such a field is a form of ‘hair’ expected in the context of superradiance, a mechanism that extracts rotational energy from the black hole. Orbital signatures for the S2 star are computed and shown to be detectable by GRAVITY. The scalar field can be constrained because the variation of orbital elements depends both on the relative mass of the scalar field to the black hole and on the field mass coupling parameter.
Morphology of the Small Magellanic Cloud using multiwavelength photometry of classical Cepheids
Authors: Deb Sukanta , Kurbah Kerdaris , Singh Harinder P , Kanbur Shashi M , Ngeow Chow-Choong , Medhi Biman J , Kumar Subhash
Published: August 2019

This is the second of a series related to the study of geometry of the Magellanic Clouds based on multiwavelength photometry of classical Cepheids. In this paper we determine the geometrical and viewing angle parameters of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) using the Leavitt law for classical Cepheids with/without a break in the law at a certain period as reported in the literature. The study utilizes photometric data for more than 3400 common classical Cepheids (Fundamental (FU) and First overtone (FO)) in optical (V, I), near-infrared (Y, J, Ks) and mid-infrared ([3.6] and [4.5] μm) photometric bands. We obtain statistical reddening and distance modulus free from the effect of reddening to each of the individual Cepheids with respect to the mean distance modulus and reddening of the SMC. The reddening maps of the SMC obtained from the analyses with/without breaks in the Leavitt law show good agreement with each other as well as with other maps available in the literature. The Cartesian coordinates of individual stars with respect to the galaxy plane are obtained using the information of equatorial coordinates (α, δ) as well as extinction-free distance measurements. Modelling the observed 3D distribution of the Cepheids as a triaxial ellipsoid, we obtain the geometrical and viewing angle parameters of the SMC. The weighted average yields the following values of parameters for the SMC: the geometrical axes ratios of 1.000 ± 0.001: 1.544 ± 0.002: 9.742 ± 0.030 and the viewing angle parameters having inclination angle i = 3${^{\circ}_{.}}$465 ± 0${^{\circ}_{.}}$030 with respect to the longest axis from the line of sight and position angle of line of nodes (major axis) θlon = 63${^{\circ}_{.}}$086 ± 0${^{\circ}_{.}}$117.
The nearby evolved stars survey – I. JCMT/SCUBA-2 submillimetre detection of the detached shell of U Antliae
Authors: Dharmawardena Thavisha E , Kemper Francisca , Srinivasan Sundar , Scicluna Peter , Marshall Jonathan P , Wouterloot Jan G A , Greaves Jane , Goldman Steven R , van Loon Jacco Th , Matsuura Mikako , McDonald Iain , He Jinhua , Zijlstra Albert A , Toalá Jesús A , Wallström Sofia H J , Kim Hyosun , Trejo Alfonso , Ventura Paolo , Lagadec Eric , Boyer Martha L , Liu Tie , Rau Gioia , Izumiura Hideyuki , Cami Jan , Holland Wayne , Jones Olivia , Shinnaga Hiroko
Published: August 2019

We present the highest resolution single-dish submillimetre observations of the detached shell source U Antliae to date. The observations were obtained at $450$ and $850\,{\mu}{\rm m}$ with SCUBA-2 instrument on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope as part of the Nearby Evolved Stars Survey. The emission at $850\,{\mu}{\rm m}$ peaks at 40 arcsec with hints of a second peak seen at ∼20 arcsec. The emission can be traced out to a radius of 56 arcsec at a 3σ level. The outer peak observed at $850\,{\mu}{\rm m}$ aligns well with the peak observed at Herschel/PACS wavelengths. With the help of spectral energy distribution fitting and radiative transfer calculations of multiple-shell models for the circumstellar envelope, we explore the various shell structures and the variation of grain sizes along the in the circumstellar envelope. We determine a total shell dust mass of (2.0 ± 0.3) × 10−5 M⊙ and established that the thermal pulse that gave rise to the detached shell occurred 3500 ± 500 yr ago.
Stereospecificity control in aminoacyl-tRNA-synthetases: new evidence of d-amino acids activation and editing
Authors: Rybak Mariia Yu , Rayevsky Alexey V , Gudzera Olga I , Tukalo Michael A
Published: August 2019

The homochirality of amino acids is vital for the functioning of the translation apparatus. l-Amino acids predominate in proteins and d-amino acids usually represent diverse regulatory functional physiological roles in both pro- and eukaryotes. Aminoacyl-tRNA-synthetases (aaRSs) ensure activation of proteinogenic or nonproteinogenic amino acids and attach them to cognate or noncognate tRNAs. Although many editing mechanisms by aaRSs have been described, data about the protective role of aaRSs in d-amino acids incorporation remained unknown. Tyrosyl- and alanyl-tRNA-synthetases were represented as distinct members of this enzyme family. To study the potential to bind and edit noncognate substrates, Thermus thermophilus alanyl-tRNA-synthetase (AlaRS) and tyrosyl-tRNA-synthetase were investigated in the context of d-amino acids recognition. Here, we showed that d-alanine was effectively activated by AlaRS and d-Ala-tRNAAla, formed during the erroneous aminoacylation, was edited by AlaRS. On the other hand, it turned out that d-aminoacyl-tRNA-deacylase (DTD), which usually hydrolyzes d-aminoacyl-tRNAs, was inactive against d-Ala-tRNAAla. To support the finding about DTD, computational docking and molecular dynamics simulations were run. Overall, our work illustrates the novel function of the AlaRS editing domain in stereospecificity control during translation together with trans-editing factor DTD. Thus, we propose different evolutionary strategies for the maintenance of chiral selectivity during translation.
Monomeric YoeB toxin retains RNase activity but adopts an obligate dimeric form for thermal stability
Authors: Pavelich Ian J , Maehigashi Tatsuya , Hoffer Eric D , Ruangprasert Ajchareeya , Miles Stacey J , Dunham Christine M
Published: August 2019

Chromosomally-encoded toxin-antitoxin complexes are ubiquitous in bacteria and regulate growth through the release of the toxin component typically in a stress-dependent manner. Type II ribosome-dependent toxins adopt a RelE-family RNase fold and inhibit translation by degrading mRNAs while bound to the ribosome. Here, we present biochemical and structural studies of the Escherichia coli YoeB toxin interacting with both a UAA stop and an AAU sense codon in pre- and post-mRNA cleavage states to provide insights into possible mRNA substrate selection. Both mRNAs undergo minimal changes during the cleavage event in contrast to type II ribosome-dependent RelE toxin. Further, the 16S rRNA decoding site nucleotides that monitor the mRNA in the aminoacyl(A) site adopt different orientations depending upon which toxin is present. Although YoeB is a RelE family member, it is the sole ribosome-dependent toxin that is dimeric. We show that engineered monomeric YoeB is active against mRNAs bound to both the small and large subunit. However, the stability of monomeric YoeB is reduced ∼20°C, consistent with potential YoeB activation during heat shock in E. coli as previously demonstrated. These data provide a molecular basis for the ability of YoeB to function in response to thermal stress.
Gustav Deutsch
Authors: MacDonald Scott
Published: August 2019

Austrian filmmaker Gustav Deutsch has been a major contributor to what has come to be called “found-footage filmmaking” and/or “recycled cinema”—that is, he is best-known for making films from other films. This interview focuses on a range of his projects: his first found-footage project, an exploration of home movies made by Austrians visiting the Italian coast in the years after Super-8mm became a popular film gauge for documenting family events; a collaborative diptych of Place, made with an Algerian friend, comparing the Algerian oasis Figuig and Deutsch’s native Vienna; his revisiting of proto-cinematic technologies in the construction of a panoramic camera obscura on a Greek island; his remarkable feature film Shirley—Visions of Reality (2013) in which he (and his partner Hanna Schimek) dramatize a series of canonical Edward Hopper paintings; and the recent Notes and Sketches 1: 31 Pocket Films. 2005–2015, a panorama of everyday events, made with new camera technologies.
Dominic Gagnon
Authors: MacDonald Scott
Published: August 2019

This is the first career interview with French Canadian Dominic Gagnon, whose controversial work has been a crucial contribution to a recent tendency within the history of found-footage film (or recycled cinema) of mining YouTube and similar sites to find raw material for new, feature-length works. Gagnon is drawn to YouTube postings that are edgy (and often quickly suppressed) by the host sites: postings by conspiracy theorists, teenagers facing “the end of the world,” and most recently postings garnered with the directional keywords “north” and “south.” Gagnon’s of the North (2015) has been particularly provocative, since it recycles many postings by indigenous individuals in the Canadian north. Gagnon’s feature-length videos are vivid, engaging, often troubling panoramas of internet “territories.”
Erin Espelie
Authors: MacDonald Scott
Published: August 2019

Artist/scientist Erin Espelie was trained at Cornell University as a biologist, but turned down opportunities to study biology at the graduate level at Harvard and MIT in order to explore the New York City theater scene, before finding her way into independent, “avant-garde” filmmaking, first exploring her interests in biology and the history of science in a series of short films, then producing the remarkable essay-film The Lanthanide Series (2014), which explores the importance of the “rare earths” (the elements with atomic numbers 57–71) for modern communication and informational technologies. The imagery for The Lanthanide Series was recorded, almost entirely, off the reflective surface of an iPad. In her work as a moving-image artist, Espelie combines poetry, science, environmental politics, and modern digital technologies within videos that defy traditional knowledge categories. She is currently editor in chief for Natural History magazine and a director of the NEST (Nature, Environment, Science & Technology) Studio for the Arts at the University of Colorado-Boulder.
Craig Johnson
Authors: MacDonald Scott
Published: August 2019

Craig Johnson was the “third man” in what has become one of the legendary ethnographic adventures and bodies of ethnographic cinema: the series of films about the indigenous Yanomamö living in the highland jungles of southern Venezuela, produced by anthropologists Napoleon Chagnon and Timothy Asch. Johnson, who took sound for the canonical The Ax Fight (1974) and other Yanomamö films, and edited some of them, had never spoken publicly about his involvement in and thoughts about his early filmmaking adventure, until this interview. In the years following his disenchantment with the Yanomamö project, Johnson worked on various films and now, through his Interpret Green, develops and constructs interactive installations for museums.
Sensory Ethnography, Part 2
Authors: MacDonald Scott
Published: August 2019

This follow-up to “Sensory Ethnography, Part 1” (published by Oxford in Avant-Doc, 2015) is a set of interviews with veterans of Harvard’s Sensory Ethnography Lab. J. P. Sniadecki, Stephanie Spray, and Véréna Paravel discuss their experiences with the SEL and director Lucien Castaing-Taylor. Sniadecki and Spray discuss their early films, made in China and Nepal respectively; and Sniadecki discusses his more recent work. “Sensory Ethnography, Part 2” concludes with discussions with Sniadecki and Paravel on their Foreign Parts (2010), about an automobile junkyard in Queens, New York; with Sniadecki and Libbie Dina Cohn on People’s Park (2012), a single-shot excursion through a popular public park in Chengdu, China; and with Sniadecki and Joshua Bonnetta on El Mar La Mar (2017), a visual evocation of the border territory between Sonora and Arizona.
How the South Has Changed and Its Impact on National Politics
Authors: Bullock Charles S. , MacManus Susan A. , Mayer Jeremy D. , Rozell Mark J.
Published: August 2019

This chapter describes the changing landscape of Southern politics over the past half century and provides the framework for the rest of the volume. In so doing it showcases the crucial differences in the region between the high growth and the stagnant states, with the growth states exhibiting the strongest economies, higher incomes, and greater diversity of populations. Whereas the stagnant growth states exhibit much of the characteristics associated with the old South, the high growth states are pointing the way toward a vastly transformed new South, as described in the following chapters.
Orson Pratt’s Enduring Influence on The Book of Mormon
Authors: Gutjahr Paul
Published: August 2019

First published in 1830, over the next half-century The Book of Mormon appeared in some dozen new editions. Perhaps the most important edition of the nineteenth century appeared in 1879 and was edited by Orson Pratt. When this edition appeared, Pratt had served as a member of the original Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, a mission president in Britain, and was a member of Brigham Young’s “Vanguard Company” that crossed the Western plains to select a site for Mormon colonization. More important, he was one of early Mormonism’s premier educators and theologians. His edition bore all the marks of a lifetime of study, presenting the book in a highly systematized format and including footnotes that incorporated theological glosses on Mormon history, archaeology, and geology. This essay explores the origin of many of the textual changes found in the 1879 edition and the enduring influence of these changes.
Nephite Secularization; or, Picking and Choosing in The Book of Mormon
Authors: Shreve Grant
Published: August 2019

This chapter considers The Book of Mormon as a singular literary reflection on secularization as an effect of religious pluralism. The defining event in Joseph Smith’s early life was a visionary experience occasioned by a crisis over religious choice, wherein conversion is refigured as persuasion. Although published more than a decade later, The Book of Mormon stands as a monumental historical interrogation of the conditions that gave rise to this crisis and an archive of narrative and theological strategies for its resolution. Curiously, the book bypasses European church history entirely to recast standard narratives of secularization—such as those proposed by Charles Taylor and Peter Berger—in distinctly New World terms. Throughout this counterhistory, The Book of Mormon attempts to reconcile tacit commitments to religious choice and an egalitarian attitude toward divine revelation with the need for an orthodox center. It ultimately discovers a resolution not in theology but in narratology.
“Great Cause to Mourn”
Authors: Berkey Kimberly M. , Spencer Joseph M.
Published: August 2019

As is often noted, The Book of Mormon attaches normative value to whiteness and generally ignores women’s spirituality. This essay insists, however, that the book’s presentation of gender and race should be read with an eye to characters who, from within the volume’s own narrative, identify and critique the racial and sexual presuppositions of the narrative. Focused on the racialized prophet Samuel and the countercultural prophet Jacob, the authors thus read The Book of Mormon as aware of and critical toward its own apparent racial and sexual problems. They argue that The Book of Mormon would in this way likely have struck its earliest readers as in step with the then-nascent genre of domestic fiction, represented in the 1820s by Lydia Maria Child (Hobomok) and Catharine Maria Sedgwick (Hope Leslie). Yet, unlike such novels, The Book of Mormon does its work through inventive (but subtle) reimaginings of key biblical texts.
“I Lead the Way, Like Columbus”
Authors: Hutchins Zachary McLeod
Published: August 2019

Readers of The Book of Mormon have long identified Christopher Columbus as the “man among the Gentiles” whose divinely prompted journey to the Americas is foretold therein; Columbus thus became a model for the prophetic leadership of Joseph Smith. But if Columbus was inspired to discover the New World, that inspiration was imprecise, as the admiral sailed for China, suggesting that revelation is necessarily an ambiguous, messy process whose conclusions are uncertain and provisional, subject to correction or revision. Because his arrival in the Americas precipitated the genocide of Native peoples, identifying Columbus as a prophetic figure has forced faithful readers of The Book of Mormon to grapple with the question of theodicy. Some, like the novelist Orson Scott Card, have suggested that the Amerindian genocide is compatible with the justice of a loving God, while others have argued that The Book of Mormon celebrates prophetic weakness and promotes hermeneutic humility.
Book of Mormon Poetry
Authors: Whitley Edward
Published: August 2019

For years, scholars have identified elements of Hebraic poetry in the words of Book of Mormon prophets as evidence of the book’s ancient origins. This effort to make poetic forms proof of the book’s truth claims finds a parallel in the hundreds of poems that have been written about The Book of Mormon, a topic to which scholars have paid little attention. This essay shows how the logic behind Book of Mormon poetry runs counter to Lawrence Buell’s formulation of “American literary scripturism,” which argues that “the erosion of the Bible’s privileged status acted as a literary stimulus” for American writers. But poetry about The Book of Mormon does not rise from the ashes of a discredited sacred text. Rather, Latter-day Saint poets treat the book as generative of poetic genres such as epic and elegy, genres that provide their own commentary on The Book of Mormon and its relationship to US nationalism, indigenous peoples, and the nature of history in the Americas.
Introduction
Authors: Maxwell Angie , Shields Todd
Published: August 2019

The GOP’s Southern Strategy initiated the realignment of the South with the Republican Party by exploiting white racial anxiety about social changes to the southern racial hierarchy. However, the GOP’s success was not solely the result of its policy position on civil rights. Rather, that decision was part of a series of decisions the party made on feminism and religion as well, in what is called here the “Long Southern Strategy.” White resentment toward a more level racial playing field, for example, was intensified by the threat of a level gender playing field, and the promotion of “family values” by anti-feminists paved the way for the Christian Right. Moreover, Republican candidates did not just campaign down South, they became “southern.” Throughout realignment, the power of southern identity was rarely taken into consideration, but for whites who proclaim themselves to be southern, that has been the only party that really mattered.