bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Chinese Smog Crisis as Media Event: Examining Twitter Discussion of the Documentary Under the Dome
Authors: Lu Shuning , Chen Wenhong , Li Xiaoqian , Zheng Pei
Published: October 2018

Media event theory examines how viewers take part in live televised events despite lack of physical presence. The media event scholarship has rarely considered how technologies like the Internet reconfigure the dynamics of such events. Drawing on Chinese language users’ Twitter discussion about Under the Dome, a high‐profile 2015 documentary about air pollution in China, this article uses social network and content analyses to examine the mechanisms of media events in the networked digital space. Diverse actors engaged in the distribution and interpretation of this media event, most of whom were individual actors. Two subnetworks are revealed on Twitter: the disengaged one mainly distributed links to the documentary, and the engaged one actively discussed the documentary. While Twitter discussion of Under the Dome lacked broad and sophisticated discourse, we still find promising signs of public discussion on the smog issue and public policy in the long run. Theoretically, this study underscores the potential of integrating media event and framing theories to tackle the refashioned nature of media events. Empirically, the findings allow us to better understand how a wide range of individual and institutional actors co‐stage and co‐interpret media events by leveraging the technological and communicative affordances of Twitter.
cis‐Proline mutants of quiescin sulfhydryl oxidase 1 with altered redox properties undermine extracellular matrix integrity and cell adhesion in fibroblast cultures
Authors: Javitt Gabriel , Grossman‐Haham Iris , Alon Assaf , Resnick Efrat , Mutsafi Yael , Ilani Tal , Fass Deborah
Published: October 2018

The thioredoxin superfamily has expanded and diverged extensively throughout evolution such that distant members no longer show appreciable sequence homology. Nevertheless, redox‐active thioredoxin‐fold proteins functioning in diverse physiological contexts often share canonical amino acids near the active‐site (di‐)cysteine motif. Quiescin sulfhydryl oxidase 1 (QSOX1), a catalyst of disulfide bond formation secreted by fibroblasts, is a multi‐domain thioredoxin superfamily enzyme with certain similarities to the protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) enzymes. Among other potential functions, QSOX1 supports extracellular matrix assembly in fibroblast cultures. We introduced mutations at a cis‐proline in QSOX1 that is conserved across the thioredoxin superfamily and was previously observed to modulate redox interactions of the bacterial enzyme DsbA. The resulting QSOX1 variants showed a striking detrimental effect when added exogenously to fibroblasts: they severely disrupted the extracellular matrix and cell adhesion, even in the presence of naturally secreted, wild‐type QSOX1. The specificity of this phenomenon for particular QSOX1 mutants inspired an investigation of the effects of mutation on catalytic and redox properties. For a series of QSOX1 mutants, the detrimental effect correlated with the redox potential of the first redox‐active site, and an X‐ray crystal structure of one of the mutants revealed the reorganization of the cis‐proline loop caused by the mutations. Due to the conservation of the mutated residues across the PDI family and beyond, insights obtained in this study may be broadly applicable to a variety of physiologically important redox‐active enzymes.

Impact statement

We show that mutation of a conserved cis‐proline amino acid, analogous to a mutation used to trap substrates of a bacterial disulfide catalyst, has a dramatic effect on the physiological function of the mammalian disulfide catalyst QSOX1. As the active‐site region of QSOX1 is shared with the large family of protein disulfide isomerases in humans, the effects of such mutations on redox properties, enzymatic activity, and biological targeting may be relevant across the family.
An insight of early PrP‐E200K aggregation by combined molecular dynamics/fragment molecular orbital approaches
Authors: Paciotti Roberto , Storchi Loriano , Marrone Alessandro
Published: October 2018

Unveiling the events leading to the formation of prion particles is a nowadays challenge in the field of neurochemistry. Pathogenic mutants of prion protein (PrP) are characterized by both an intrinsic tendency to aggregation and scrapie conversion propensity. However, the question about a possible correlation between these two events lasts still unanswered. Here, a multilayered computational workflow was employed to investigate structure, stability, and molecular interaction properties of a dimer of PrPC‐E200K, a well‐known mutant of the PrP that represents a reduced model of early aggregates of this protein. Based on the combination of molecular dynamics and quantum mechanical approaches, this study provided for an in depth insight of PrPC‐E200K dimer in terms of residue‐residue interactions. Assembly hypotheses for the early aggregation of PrPC‐E200K are paved and compared with PrPSc models reported in the literature to find a structural link between early and late (scrapie) aggregates of this protein.
Modulation of glucan‐enzyme interactions by domain V in GTF‐SI from Streptococcus mutans
Authors: Osorio Manuel I. , Zúñiga Matías A. , Mendoza Fernanda , Jaña Gonzalo A. , Jiménez Verónica A.
Published: October 2018

Glucansucrase GTF‐SI from Streptococcus mutans is a multidomain enzyme that catalyzes the synthesis of glucan polymers. Domain V locates 100 Å from the catalytic site and is required for an optimal activity. Nevertheless, the mechanism governing its functional role remains elusive. In this work, homology modeling and molecular dynamics simulations were employed to examine the effect of domain V in the structure and glucan‐binding ability of GTF‐SI in full and truncated enzyme models. Our results showed that domain V increases the flexibility of the α4′‐loop‐α4″ motif near the catalytic site resulting in a higher surface for glucan association, and modulates the orientation of a growing oligosaccharide (N=8‐23) in glucan‐enzyme complexes towards engaging in favorable contacts throughout the protein, whereas in the truncated model the glucan protrudes randomly from domain B towards the solvent. These results are valuable to increase understanding about the functional role of domain V in GH70 glucansucrases.
Effects of cold storage on the quality ofTrichogramma dendrolimiMatsumura (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) reared on artificial medium
Authors: Lü Xin , Han Shichou , Li Jun , Liu Jisheng , Li Zhigang
Published: October 2018

BACKGROUND

Trichogramma dendrolimiMatsumura is an important egg parasitoid that can be used in the biological control of lepidopteran pests. The effects of storage temperature, developmental stage and storage duration on development and survival were investigated to determine the optimum storage conditions for rearingT. dendrolimi in vitro.

RESULTS

The three investigated factors significantly impacted all the biological parameters except for parental G1 and offspring G2 sex ratios. The responses ofin vitrorearedT. dendrolimito low temperatures differed depending on developmental stage and storage duration. Comparison of life table parameters under different storage treatments with the control group indicated that storing prepupae at 13 °C for 2, 3 or 4 weeks positively impacted the growth capacity of the parasitoid.

CONCLUSION

In vitrorearedT.dendrolimican be reared following cold storage. The quality of the parasitoid was strongly affected by cold storage, likely due to the negative effects of storage on the artificial medium. Storage of the prepupal stage at 13 °C for 4 weeks is optimum forin vitrorearedT. dendrolimi.Trichogrammarearedin vitrowere able to parasitize natural eggs after storage and, thus, have potential for use as biological control agents in the field. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry
Uptake of soil‐applied thiamethoxam in orange and its effect against Asian citrus psyllid in different seasons
Authors: Hu Wei , Kuang Fan , Chun Jiong , Lu Zhanjun , Li Xingtao , Zhao Qiyang , Zhong Balian , Su Huanan , Zhang Zhixiang , Zhang Ning
Published: October 2018

BACKGROUND

Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), Diaphorina citri Kuwayama, is an important pest of citrus worldwide because it transmits the bacteria causing huanglongbing (HLB). We investigated the effects and persistence of two soil application rates of thiamethoxam on ACP populations in two flushing seasons in the field. Thiamethoxam and clothianidin residues in the fruit were detected to evaluate food safety.

RESULTS

Soil application of 50% thiamethoxam water‐dispersible granules at concentrations of 4 and 10 g tree−1 significantly decreased ACP populations, and there was a positive correlation between control efficacy and the persistence of thiamethoxam and clothianidin in leaves, providing longer‐term protection for up to 90 days in the fall compared with 60 days in the spring. Higher thiamethoxam and clothianidin amounts were observed in new leaves than in old leaves. Thiamethoxam and clothianidin residues at a high rate in fruit were 0.012 and 0.010 mg kg−1 at harvest, respectively, and neither insecticides was detectable at low rates.

CONCLUSIONS

These results demonstrate that soil‐applied thiamethoxam plays a role in defending ACP, and provides an extended period of control efficacy. This knowledge could provide a reference for the control of ACP by soil application of thiamethoxam to reduce HLB spread. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry
Advances in bonding and properties of inorganic systems from relativistic calculations in Latin America
Authors: Macleod‐Carey Desmond , Caramori Giovanni F. , Guajardo‐Maturana Raúl , Paez‐Hernandez Dayan , Muñoz‐Castro Alvaro , Arratia‐Perez Ramiro
Published: October 2018

The inclusion of relativistic effects to understand chemical structures and related properties brings to the scientific community challenging study cases, showing the rich diversity of chemical behavior of the different elements along the periodic table. The results highlighted here represent applications of relativistic methodologies to study the nature of bonding and a prediction of optical and magnetic properties of meaningful chemical entities containing heavy atoms, all made in Latin America. The good agreement between calculated and experimental observables in many molecular and cluster‐like systems ratifies that relativistic methods are appropriate to describe these entities realistically. We expect to enhance our knowledge in these methodologies, currently included in doctoral programs in our region.
Changes in stable isotope compositions during fasting in phocid seals
Authors: Habran Sarah , Damseaux France , Pomeroy Paddy , Debier Cathy , Crocker Daniel , Lepoint Gilles , Das Krishna
Published: October 2018

Rationale

The grey seal, Halichoerus grypus (GS), and the northern elephant seal, Mirounga angustirostris (NES), come ashore for reproduction. This period involves intense physiological processes such as lactation in females and a developmental post‐weaning fast in juveniles. Previous studies have shown that δ13C and δ15N values are affected by starvation, but the precise effects of fasting associated with lactation and post‐weaning fast in seals remain poorly understood.

Methods

To examine the effect of lactation and post‐weaning fast on stable isotope ratios in GS and NES, blood and hair were sampled from 21 GS mother‐pup pairs on the Isle of May and on 22 weaned NES pups at Año Nuevo State Reserve during their respective breeding seasons. Milk samples were also collected from GS mothers. Stable isotope measurements were performed with an isotope ratio mass spectrometer coupled to an N‐C elemental analyser.

Results

Changes in stable isotope ratios in blood components during fasting were similar and weak between GS and NES mothers especially in blood cells (GS: Δ15N = 0.05‰, Δ13C = 0.02‰; NES: Δ15N = 0.1‰, Δ13C = 0.1‰). GS showed a 15N discrimination factor between maternal and pup blood cells and milk, but not for 13C. The strongest relationship between the isotopic compositions of the mother and the pup was observed in the blood cells.

Conclusions

Isotopic consequences of lactation, fasting, and growth seem limited in NES and GS, especially in medium‐term integrator tissues of feeding activity such as blood cells. Stable isotope ratios in the blood of pups and mothers are correlated. We observed a subtle mother‐to‐pup fractionation factor. Our results suggest that pup blood cells are mostly relevant for exploring the ecology of female seals.
Delayed breast cancer relapse with pleural metastasis and malignant pleural effusion after long periods of disease‐free survival
Authors: Rawindraraj Antony Divananth , Zhou Christine Yang , Pathak Vikas
Published: October 2018

Breast cancer relapse remains a common cause of morbidity and mortality in patients who undergo initial treatment with surgery and with or without concurrent chemotherapy or radiation. Relapse rates remain high within the first decade after initial treatment, after which the risk of relapse decreases. While common within the first year of breast cancer diagnosis, pleural metastasis with malignant pleural effusion (MPE) after 10–12 years of a disease‐free period is rare. Here, we present two uncommon cases of delayed breast cancer relapses with pleural metastasis, which caused MPEs.
Hydrocarbon pneumonitis caused by the inhalation of wood preservative
Authors: Hara Munechika , Iwakami Shin‐ichiro , Sumiyoshi Issei , Yoshida Takashi , Sasaki Shinichi , Takahashi Kazuhisa
Published: October 2018

A 69‐year‐old man was admitted to our hospital with acute dyspnoea, which developed after using a wood‐preserving agent in an enclosed space. Burn injuries were evident on his face, neck, chest, and both upper arms. Bronchoalveolar lavage was carried out. The collected fluid resembled wood preservative. Subsequently, it was established that kerosene was a major component of the wood preservative. A diagnosis of hydrocarbon pneumonitis was established. The patient’s respiratory and general findings improved with intensive care, which included mechanical ventilation. Corticosteroid was not required to aid his recovery. Aspiration and/or inhalation of hydrocarbon compounds, such as kerosene, turpentine, and gasoline, can cause acute and fatal pneumonitis. In managing cases of hydrocarbon pneumonitis, a prompt diagnosis and appropriate supportive care are important to achieve a good outcome.
Ellipse proposal and convolutional neural network discriminant for autonomous landing marker detection
Authors: Jin Ren , Owais Hafiz Muhammad , Lin Defu , Song Tao , Yuan Yifang
Published: October 2018

Autonomous landing in complex environments is a critical problem for unmanned aerial vehicle autonomous control, and efficiently detecting landing identification mark in real‐world scenario is still challenging. Due to the limited computational power of airborne computing equipment, current target detection algorithms cannot meet the demand efficiently. In this paper, we proposed a new landing marker detection algorithm for autonomous landing systems in a real environment. We used an ellipse detection algorithm to detect the ellipse landmark or other elliptical objects. Furthermore, convolution neural networks were utilized to obtain the correct landmarks, which is robust, fast and can achieve a speed of 25 fps with 720p resolution video on an Intel NUC onboard computer. Unlike the other methods, the accuracy and speed of our algorithm is verified in a real‐time application with more harsh conditions. During system testing, the flight system can detect the object above 20 m, track it, and automatically land on it with this vision algorithm. The algorithm has helped us achieve the first position at Mohamed Bin Zayed International Robotics Challenge in Abu Dhabi this year.
Deployment of an autonomous mobile manipulator at MBZIRC
Authors: Carius Jan , Wermelinger Martin , Rajasekaran Balasubramanian , Holtmann Kai , Hutter Marco
Published: October 2018

This paper introduces a custom mobile manipulator and presents the planning and control architecture to execute autonomous missions including navigation and manipulation. The developed system combines a commercially available ground vehicle with a custom‐designed robot arm. A typical mission requires the robot to find and navigate to its site of action, identify the suitable manipulation tools, and manipulate the correct objects according to the task specification. Our contribution includes a complete software pipeline for autonomous map building, localization, and navigation. We demonstrate stable localization on vast outdoor areas without GPS support. Our exploration strategy coupled with a path planner reliably scans the environment while avoiding obstacles until it finds the manipulation site. The position of the target location is estimated from laser data within a 5 cm radius, and the subsequent positioning procedure of the mobile base achieves a precision of ±4 cm. The developed manipulator uses series elastic actuation, making the system mechanically robust and compliant. Thanks to the precise joint torque controllability, a low end‐effector impedance can be realized to passively overcome positioning inaccuracies during manipulation. Our solution incorporates a support vector machine to detect the manipulation object as required for visual servoing. We show how a valve stem and standard wrenches can be identified with a detection rate higher than 90%. The paper finally discusses the performance and lessons learned while participating at the Mohamed Bin Zayed International Robotics Challenge (MBZIRC) 2017, where we showed the successful autonomous operation in a partially unknown environment.
Field‐based robotic phenotyping of sorghum plant architecture using stereo vision
Authors: Bao Yin , Tang Lie , Breitzman Matthew W. , Salas Fernandez Maria G. , Schnable Patrick S.
Published: October 2018

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is known as a major feedstock for biofuel production. To improve its biomass yield through genetic research, manually measuring yield component traits (e.g. plant height, stem diameter, leaf angle, leaf area, leaf number, and panicle size) in the field is the current best practice. However, such laborious and time‐consuming tasks have become a bottleneck limiting experiment scale and data acquisition frequency. This paper presents a high‐throughput field‐based robotic phenotyping system which performed side‐view stereo imaging for dense sorghum plants with a wide range of plant heights throughout the growing season. Our study demonstrated the suitability of stereo vision for field‐based three‐dimensional plant phenotyping when recent advances in stereo matching algorithms were incorporated. A robust data processing pipeline was developed to quantify the variations or morphological traits in plant architecture, which included plot‐based plant height, plot‐based plant width, convex hull volume, plant surface area, and stem diameter (semiautomated). These image‐derived measurements were highly repeatable and showed high correlations with the in‐field manual measurements. Meanwhile, manually collecting the same traits required a large amount of manpower and time compared to the robotic system. The results demonstrated that the proposed system could be a promising tool for large‐scale field‐based high‐throughput plant phenotyping of bioenergy crops.
RTAB‐Map as an open‐source lidar and visual simultaneous localization and mapping library for large‐scale and long‐term online operation
Authors: Labbé Mathieu , Michaud François
Published: October 2018

Distributed as an open‐source library since 2013, real‐time appearance‐based mapping (RTAB‐Map) started as an appearance‐based loop closure detection approach with memory management to deal with large‐scale and long‐term online operation. It then grew to implement simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) on various robots and mobile platforms. As each application brings its own set of constraints on sensors, processing capabilities, and locomotion, it raises the question of which SLAM approach is the most appropriate to use in terms of cost, accuracy, computation power, and ease of integration. Since most of SLAM approaches are either visual‐ or lidar‐based, comparison is difficult. Therefore, we decided to extend RTAB‐Map to support both visual and lidar SLAM, providing in one package a tool allowing users to implement and compare a variety of 3D and 2D solutions for a wide range of applications with different robots and sensors. This paper presents this extended version of RTAB‐Map and its use in comparing, both quantitatively and qualitatively, a large selection of popular real‐world datasets (e.g., KITTI, EuRoC, TUM RGB‐D, MIT Stata Center on PR2 robot), outlining strengths, and limitations of visual and lidar SLAM configurations from a practical perspective for autonomous navigation applications.
Scaffolding and Inequitable Participation in Linguistically Diverse Book Clubs
Authors: Lewis Mark A. , Zisselsberger Margarita Gómez
Published: October 2018

The authors illustrate ways that diverse linguistic repertoires were constrained within a set of classroom book club discussions among sixth‐grade students and their teachers in a public school setting. The study took place in a U.S. Mountain West middle school with a majority population of Latinx students, many of whom were emerging bilinguals (EBs). In these book clubs, 21 students and two teachers read one of four mystery novels. The groups comprised both native and nonnative English‐speaking students and were grouped according to reading ability/level. Using discourse analysis strategies, the researchers analyzed the participants’ talk across the book club discussions. The authors found that although a primary purpose of a literature discussion group is to provide more equitable participatory opportunities forEBs, in this case, the linguistic and discursive practices of the teachers and the native English speakers did not fully honorEBs’ contributions. These practices led toEBs’ ultimate withdrawal from discussions. Therefore, the implications suggest a cautionary tale for educators working withEBs to critically analyze and identify ways in which generic methods for English as a second language and “good” teaching practices may positionEBs as incapable. Moreover, the authors suggest that teachers should develop more critical linguistically and culturally responsive practices that acknowledge the linguistic repertoires ofEBs and (re)positionEBs as communicatively competent.
The Interplay Between Working Memory and Background Knowledge in L2 Reading Comprehension
Authors: Shin Jihye , Dronjic Vedran , Park Boonjoo
Published: October 2018

Despite the known roles of working memory and background knowledge in the process of reading comprehension, few attempts have been made to elucidate the interaction between these two individual difference factors in second language (L2) reading comprehension. The current study investigated whether and how working memory and background knowledge combine to facilitate L2 reading comprehension in a context where L2 students encounter texts with and without relevant background knowledge. Seventy‐nine adult Korean learners of English as a foreign language participated and completed tasks for working memory, L2 knowledge, and L2 reading comprehension. The results revealed that L2 readers with higher working memory capacity benefitted more from the provision of background knowledge, which led to achieving better reading comprehension than readers with low working memory. This finding highlights the role of working memory in L2 reading in terms of using existing resources to one's advantage particularly because no significant difference on L2 measure scores was found between the high– and low–working memory groups. Pedagogical implications are discussed regarding the importance of not only providing background knowledge when it is not already present but also following up with explicit instructional support to help all readers utilize what is available to them.
Integrated proteomic and metabolomic analysis of a reconstructed three-species microbial consortium for one-step fermentation of 2-keto-l-gulonic acid, the precursor of vitamin C
Authors: Ma Qian , Bi Yan-Hui , Wang En-Xu , Zhai Bing-Bing , Dong Xiu-Tao , Qiao Bin , Ding Ming-Zhu , Yuan Ying-Jin
Published: October 2018

Microbial consortia, with the merits of strong stability, robustness, and multi-function, played critical roles in human health, bioenergy, and food manufacture, etc. On the basis of ‘build a consortium to understand it’, a novel microbial consortium consisted of Gluconobacter oxydans, Ketogulonicigenium vulgare and Bacillus endophyticus was reconstructed to produce 2-keto-l-gulonic acid (2-KGA), the precursor of vitamin C. With this synthetic consortium, 73.7 g/L 2-KGA was obtained within 30 h, which is comparable to the conventional industrial method. A combined time-series proteomic and metabolomic analysis of the fermentation process was conducted to further investigate the cell–cell interaction. The results suggested that the existence of B. endophyticus and G. oxydans together promoted the growth of K. vulgare by supplying additional nutrients, and promoted the 2-KGA production by supplying more substrate. Meanwhile, the growth of B. endophyticus and G. oxydans was compromised from the competition of the nutrients by K. vulgare, enabling the efficient production of 2-KGA. This study provides valuable guidance for further study of synthetic microbial consortia.
Impacts of soil conditions and light availability on natural regeneration of Norway spruce Picea abies (L.) H. Karst. in low-elevation mountain forests
Authors: Dyderski Marcin K. , Gazda Anna , Hachułka Mariusz , Horodecki Paweł , Kałucka Izabela L. , Kamczyc Jacek , Malicki Marek , Pielech Remigiusz , Smoczyk Michał , Skorupski Maciej , Wierzcholska Sylwia , Jagodziński Andrzej M.
Published: October 2018

• Key message

Natural regeneration ofP. abies(L.) H. Karst. may reach high densities in lower mountain elevations. The highest densities were found in sites with moderate light availability, with low pH, and not near the riverbank. However, age-height classes differed in the predicted magnitude of response, but were consistent in response directions. Mosses and understory species typical of coniferous forests were positively correlated with regeneration density.

•Context

Norway sprucePicea abies(L.) H. Karst. in Central Europe is at risk under climate change scenarios, particularly in mountain regions. Little is known about the impact of environmental factors on the natural regeneration ofP. abiesin low-elevation mountain forests.

•Aims

We aimed to assess impacts of distance from the riverbank, soil pH, and light availability on naturalP. abiesregeneration. We hypothesized that (1) naturalP. abiesregeneration would depend on light availability and soil pH and (2) there are understory plant species which may indicate the microsites suitable for natural regeneration ofP. abies.

•Methods

The study was conducted in the Stołowe Mountains National Park (SW Poland, 600–800 m a.s.l.). We established 160 study plots (25 m2) for natural regeneration, light availability, soil pH, and understory vegetation assessment.

•Results

The highest densities of natural regeneration ofP. abieswere observed in sites with moderate light availability (0.1–0.2 of open sky) and low pH (3.5–4.5), and located relatively far from the riverbank. Cover of 22 understory plant species were correlated with naturalP. abiesregeneration densities, mostly positively.

•Conclusion

Different stages of natural regeneration ofP. abiesrevealed different regeneration niches. Most understory plant species (bryophytes and herbs typical of coniferous forests) do not compete with natural regeneration ofP. abies.
On the Existence of Ionospheric Feedback Instability in the Earth's Magnetosphere‐Ionosphere System
Authors: Streltsov Anatoly V. , Mishin Evgeny V.
Published: October 2018

The ionospheric feedback instability (IFI) has been considered one of the main generation mechanisms for large‐amplitude ultralow frequency waves and small‐scale field‐aligned currents in the auroral and subauroral regions for more than 40 years. Sydorenko and Rankin (2017, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL073415) have recently challenged the very existence of the IFI for any realistic geophysical conditions in the Earth's ionosphere‐magnetosphere system. Because this conclusion contradicts numerous theoretical, numerical, and experimental works successfully used IFI to explain and predict results from observations for more than four decades, it deserves special attention. We show that this conclusion is mainly based on the specific ionospheric density profile and boundary conditions used in two runs of simulations presented in Sydorenko and Rankin (2017), and the generalization of this result is not justified. The effect of the collisions between ionospheric ions and neutrals on the development of the instability has been well studied since 1981, and these studies demonstrate that it does not prevent the development of the instability. Furthermore, excellent agreement of the theoretical and numerical results with observations verify without doubt the IFI existence and significance in the Earth's magnetosphere‐ionosphere system.
Stratospheric Aerosols, Polar Stratospheric Clouds, and Polar Ozone Depletion After the Mount Calbuco Eruption in 2015
Authors: Zhu Yunqian , Toon Owen Brian , Kinnison Douglas , Harvey V. Lynn , Mills Michael J. , Bardeen Charles G. , Pitts Michael , Bègue Nelson , Renard Jean‐Baptiste , Berthet Gwenaël , Jégou Fabrice
Published: October 2018

We investigate the impact of the 2015 Mount Calbuco eruption and previous eruptions on stratospheric aerosols, polar stratospheric clouds, and ozone depletion using the Community Earth System Model coupled with the Community Aerosol and Radiation Model for Atmospheres compared with several satellite and balloon observations. The modeled volcanic sulfate aerosol size distribution agrees with the Light Optical Aerosol Counter observation at the Reunion Island site (21°S, 55°E) on 19 August at 20 km within estimated 0.1‐ to 1‐μm radius error bars. Both the observed and simulated backscatter and extinction show that volcanic sulfate aerosol from the Mount Calbuco eruption was transported from midlatitude toward the Antarctic and slowly descended during transport. They also indicate that the SO2 emission into the stratosphere from Mount Calbuco is 0.2–0.4 Tg. The modeled number density indicates that the volcanic sulfate aerosol from the Mount Calbuco eruption penetrated into the Antarctic polar vortex in May and thereafter and reduced the polar stratospheric clouds effective radius. In the simulations, the Antarctic stratosphere denitrified too early and by too much compared with Microwave Limb Sounder observations. Heterogeneous nucleation of nitric acid trihydrate or sophisticated gravity wave representations may be required to simulate nitric acid trihydrate particles with smaller falling velocity. The volcanic sulfate aerosol increases the ozone depletion in September especially around 100 hPa and 70°S, relative to a case without any volcanic eruptions. The simulated surface area density, earlier ozone loss, and larger area of the ozone hole are consistent with the presence of volcanic sulfate layers observed at 16 km as well as previous studies.
Legacy of land use history determines reprogramming of plant physiology by soil microbiome
Authors: Li Xiaogang , Jousset Alexandre , de Boer Wietse , Carrión Víctor J , Zhang Taolin , Wang Xingxiang , Kuramae Eiko E
Published: October 2018

Microorganisms associated with roots are thought to be part of the so-called extended plant phenotypes with roles in the acquisition of nutrients, production of growth hormones, and defense against diseases. Since the crops selectively enrich most rhizosphere microbes out of the bulk soil, we hypothesized that changes in the composition of bulk soil communities caused by agricultural management affect the extended plant phenotype. In the current study, we performed shotgun metagenome sequencing of the rhizosphere microbiome of the peanut (Arachis hypogaea) and metatranscriptome analysis of the roots of peanut plants grown in the soil with different management histories, peanut monocropping and crop rotation. We found that the past planting record had a significant effect on the assembly of the microbial community in the peanut rhizosphere, indicating a soil memory effect. Monocropping resulted in a reduction of the rhizosphere microbial diversity, an enrichment of several rare species, and a reduced representation of traits related to plant performance, such as nutrients metabolism and phytohormone biosynthesis. Furthermore, peanut plants in monocropped soil exhibited a significant reduction in growth coinciding with a down-regulation of genes related to hormone production, mainly auxin and cytokinin, and up-regulation of genes related to the abscisic acid, salicylic acid, jasmonic acid, and ethylene pathways. These findings suggest that land use history affects crop rhizosphere microbiomes and plant physiology.
Cognitive and neuroanatomical impairments associated with chronic exposure to levamisole-contaminated cocaine
Authors: Vonmoos Matthias , Hirsiger Sarah , Preller Katrin H. , Hulka Lea M. , Allemann Daniel , Herdener Marcus , Baumgartner Markus R. , Quednow Boris B.
Published: October 2018

Currently, levamisole is the most common cocaine adulterant worldwide and it is known to induce a variety of adverse side effects. Animal studies and human case reports suggest potential neurotoxicity of the compound but neither neuroanatomical nor cognitive effects of levamisole have been systematically investigated in cocaine users so far. We examined cognitive performance and cortical structural differences between chronic cocaine users with low and high recent exposure to levamisole objectively determined by quantitative toxicological hair analyses. In Study 1, we compared 26 chronic cocaine users with low levamisole exposure (lowLevCU), 49 matched cocaine users with high levamisole exposure (highLevCU), and 78 matched stimulant-naive controls regarding cognitive functioning employing a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery. In Study 2, we investigated cortical thickness by use of T1-weighted MRI in a subgroup of 12 lowLevCU, 17 highLevCU, and 38 stimulant-naive controls. In Study 1, both cocaine user groups showed significant impairments in the cognitive domains of attention and working memory as well as in the global cognitive index. However, highLevCU showed significantly worse executive functions compared to lowLevCU although both groups did not differ in severity of cocaine consumption and other clinical dimensions. Study 2 revealed that highLevCU, displayed reduced cortical thickness specifically in the middle frontal gyrus compared to both controls and lowLevCU. Our results suggest that levamisole exposure during the last months in cocaine users is associated with increased executive function impairments and pronounced thinning of the lateral prefrontal cortex. Consequently, prevention and drug policy-making should aim to reduce levamisole contamination of street cocaine.
Optical frequency comb photoacoustic spectroscopy
Authors: Sadiek Ibrahim , Mikkonen Tommi , Vainio Markku , Toivonen Juha , Foltynowicz Aleksandra
Published: October 2018

Optical frequency comb photoacoustic spectroscopy (OFC-PAS) is demonstrated for the first time for broadband high-resolution trace gas analysis in small sample volumes.
Self-immobilized Pd nanowires as an excellent platform for a continuous flow reactor: efficiency, stability and regeneration
Authors: Sahoo Lipipuspa , Rana Moumita , Mondal Sanjit , Mittal Neeru , Nandi Pronoy , Gloskovskii A. , Manju U. , Topwal D. , Gautam Ujjal K.
Published: October 2018

The first precious-metal nanowire-based catalytic flow-reactor involving no catalyst-support, maximized catalyst surface, usability across different filtration platforms, and its in situ regeneration strategy are presented.
Morphology-controlled synthesis of 3D, mesoporous, rosette-like CeCoOx catalysts by pyrolysis of Ce[Co(CN)6] and application for the catalytic combustion of toluene
Authors: Han Weiliang , Zhao Haijun , Dong Fang , Tang Zhicheng
Published: October 2018

We synthesized one-dimensional (1D) nanoparticles, 2D hexagonal nanosheets and 3D rosettes of Ce[Co(CN)6] by a hydrothermal process, and CeCoOx catalysts with similar shapes were obtained by the pyrolysis of Ce[Co(CN)6].
Fabrication of a 1D Mn3O4 nano-rod electrode for aqueous asymmetric supercapacitors and capacitive deionization
Authors: Zhang Hao , Liu Dun , Wei Yuquan , Li Aiyang , Liu Bo , Yuan Ying , Zhang Haichuan , Li Guanghe , Zhang Fang
Published: October 2018

The Mn3O4 nano-rods & rGO system realizes the utilization of energy effectively for asymmetric supercapacitors and capacitive deionization.
Recent advances in direct catalytic hydrogenation of carbon dioxide to valuable C2+ hydrocarbons
Authors: Guo Lisheng , Sun Jian , Ge Qingjie , Tsubaki Noritatsu
Published: October 2018

Research progress on directly converting CO2 into heavy hydrocarbons via heterogeneous catalysis is summarized and discussed.
Thermoelectric properties of textured polycrystalline Na0.03Sn0.97Se enhanced by hot deformation
Authors: Liang Shaojun , Xu Jingtao , Noudem Jacques Guillaume , Wang Hongxiang , Tan Xiaojian , Liu Guo-Qiang , Shao Hezhu , Yu Bo , Yue Song , Jiang Jun
Published: October 2018

The hot deformation process enhances the textured degree of ploycrystalline SnSe, leading to better electrical conductivity and a high power factor of 10.2 μW cm−1 K−2 at 823 K.
Synthesis of mesoporous Fe3Si aerogel as a photo-thermal material for highly efficient and stable corrosive-water evaporation
Authors: Zhang Fengyu , Li Yaguang , Bai Xianhua , Wang Shufang , Liang Baolai , Fu Guangsheng , Wu Zhong-Shuai
Published: October 2018

Fe3Si aerogel is a new photothermal material with full absorption of sunlight, excellent anti-corrosion resistance and 2–3 nm sized pores, showing high solar-thermal efficiency of 91.8% and remarkable water evaporation rate of 2.08 kg m−2 h−1 in seawater, and 1 kg m−2 h−1 in strong corrosive solutions under one sunlight irradiation.
Carbon-intercalated Ti3C2TxMXene for high-performance electrochemical energy storage
Authors: Shen Lei , Zhou Xiaoya , Zhang Xinglin , Zhang Yizhou , Liu Yunlong , Wang Wenjun , Si Weili , Dong Xiaochen
Published: October 2018

Carbon-MXene heterostructures with increased interlayer spacing and surface defects show excellent electrochemical performance for supercapacitor electrodes.
Flexible and conductive graphene-based fibers fabricated from pigment and TiO2 PU dual coatings as a colored insulative shell structure
Authors: Yin Yunjie , Wang Tengfei , Huang Ronghuan , Zhang Yanyan , Wang Chaoxia
Published: October 2018

Common graphene fibers are dark black and naked, which limits their application in smart textiles and other electronic devices because of their poor expressive force in colorful clothing.
S1P1 receptor phosphorylation, internalization, and interaction with Rab proteins: effects of sphingosine 1-phosphate, FTY720-P, phorbol esters, and paroxetine
Authors: Martínez-Morales Juan Carlos , Romero-Ávila M. Teresa , Reyes-Cruz Guadalupe , García-Sáinz J. Adolfo
Published: October 2018

Sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) and FTY720-phosphate (FTYp) increased intracellular calcium in cells expressing S1P1 mCherry-tagged receptors; the synthetic agonist was considerably less potent. Activation of protein kinase C by phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) blocked these effects. The three agents induced receptor phosphorylation and internalization, with the action of FTYp being more intense. S1P1 receptor–Rab protein (GFP-tagged) interaction was studied using FRET. The three agents were able to induce S1P1 receptor–Rab5 interaction, although with different time courses. S1P1 receptor–Rab9 interaction was mainly increased by the phorbol ester, whereas S1P1 receptor–Rab7 interaction was only increased by FTYp and after a 30-min incubation. These actions were not observed using dominant negative (GDP-bound) Rab protein mutants. The data suggested that the three agents induce interaction with early endosomes, but that the natural agonist induced rapid receptor recycling, whereas activation of protein kinase C favored interaction with late endosome and slow recycling and FTYp triggered receptor interaction with vesicles associated with proteasomal/lysosomal degradation. The ability of bisindolylmaleimide I and paroxetine to block some of these actions suggested the activation of protein kinase C was associated mainly with the action of PMA, whereas G protein-coupled receptor kinase (GRK) 2 (GRK2) was involved in the action of the three agents.
Extremely efficient PM2.5 estimator based on analysis of saliency and statistics
Authors: Zhang Huiqing , Peng Du , Chen Weiling , Xu Xin
Published: October 2018

Air pollution is a crucial environmental problem, especially the fine particulate matter (PM2.5) which has become one of the focal points. PM2.5 is a complex pollutant which can intrude the lungs and threaten people's health during the whole lives. In order to enable people to know the PM2.5 index of their surroundings at any time, an image‐based PM2.5 predictor with saliency detection (IPPS) is proposed. The proposed predictor first obtains the non‐salient regions based on saliency detection technologies. Then, the authors extract two features of the entropy and intensity values of non‐salient image saturation map. Finally, they multiply these two features into the approximation of PM2.5 concentration. Experiments show that the proposed IPPS is superior in accuracy and efficiency.
Design strategy of tunable matching network and prototype verification
Authors: Xiong B.
Published: October 2018

A set of design strategies for the tunable matching network are proposed, which are performed on the impedance domain rather than the reflection coefficient domain (Smith Chart). Moreover, the bandwidth and parasitic parameters of the network are discussed. The proposed methods guarantee the finding of optimal point and accelerate the convergence speed from O(N) to O(log N).
Low‐temperature‐dependence CMOS linear driver with serial peripheral interface for 64‐Gbaud ultra‐low power coherent optical transmitters
Authors: Ozaki J. , Nakano S. , Jyo T. , Nagatani M. , Ogiso Y. , Kanazawa S. , Nosaka H. , Kikuchi N.
Published: October 2018

The authors used 65‐nm CMOS technology to develop a linear four‐channel driver IC with low temperature dependence and ultra‐low power dissipation for 64‐Gbaud coherent optical transmitters. The driver showed more than a 48‐GHz 3‐dB electrical bandwidth and less than 1‐W power consumption in four‐channel operation. By employing a circuit that suppresses the temperature dependence, they achieved 3‐dB electrical bandwidth variation of 3.0 GHz and the gain variation of 1.5 dB under the −5 to 75°C and ±5% supply voltage variation conditions. The CMOS driver has all the necessary functions for a high‐bandwidth coherent driver modulator such as a gain control, peaking control, peak detection and temperature monitoring, all of which functions can be controlled by a serial peripheral interface. A fabricated sub‐assembly consisting of the CMOS driver and an InP modulator showed a 48‐GHz 3‐dB electro‐optic bandwidth.
Distributed meter data aggregation framework based on Blockchain and homomorphic encryption
Authors: Wang Yuxuan , Luo Fengji , Dong Zhaoyang , Tong Ziyuan , Qiao Yichen
Published: October 2018

A significant progress in modern power grids is witnessed by the tendency of becoming complex cyber‐physical systems. As a fundamental physical infrastructure, smart meter in the demand side provides real‐time energy consumption information to the utility. However, ensuring information security and privacy in the meter data aggregation process is a non‐trivial task. This study proposes a distributed, privacy‐preserving, and secure meter data aggregation framework, backed up by Blockchain and homomorphic encryption (HE) technologies. Meter data are aggregated and verified by a hierarchical Blockchain system, in which the consensus mechanism is supported by the practical Byzantine fault tolerance algorithm. On the top of the Blockchain system, HE technology is used to protect the privacy of individual meter data items during the aggregation process. Performance analysis is conducted to validate the proposed method.
WBPAT for FDTD simulation of microwave devices with homogeneous waveport
Authors: Bo Xi Chao , Zhang Jian Feng , Jiang Hao Lin , Cui Tie Jun
Published: October 2018

Accurate power‐to‐amplitude transformation (PAT) has been proposed for the continuous wave (CW, i.e. sinusoidal wave or multi‐carrier) to stimulate the quantitative electromagnetic fields under specified average input power with the finite‐difference time‐domain (FDTD) method for simulation of microwave devices. In this study, the authors propose wideband PAT (WBPAT), by which quantitative amplitude and phase of electromagnetic fields at desired frequencies can be accurately extracted for microwave devices with homogeneous waveport under specified average input power when the excitation waveform of specified waveguide mode is wideband impulse signal. In the proposed WBPAT, the information of incident wave for normalisation is needed, which is investigated and discussed. Furthermore, a post‐processing procedure called as the mode‐impedance‐modified normalisation is proposed to consider the frequency dependence of mode impedance, in which the mode impedance in wideband is obtained by FDTD simulation, per se. The average input power is defined for each frequency within the frequency range. As a result, accurate amplitude and phase, which is equivalent to that by frequency‐domain methods or TD methods with the excitation of CW after steady state, can be extracted. Several numerical examples show the validity of the proposed method.
DCnet: a data centre network architecture that supports live VM migration
Authors: Comer Douglas , Karandikar Rajas H.
Published: October 2018

Cloud computing and storage have become an integral part of online Internet services. Over the past decade, enterprises have steadily moved their applications and storage to the cloud paradigm. Server virtualisation enables cloud providers to utilise computational resources efficiently by employing virtual machines (VMs) and containers. As more enterprise applications are hosted by VMs in the cloud, a significant amount of network communication occurs among servers within a data centre, increasing so‐called ‘east‐west communication’. In addition to scaling to accommodate more east‐west traffic, future data centre networks must support efficient VM migration, which is used to optimise power consumption. This article proposes a new data centre network architecture called DCnet. DCnet changes addressing and routing at layers 2 and 3 completely to increase throughput and support live VM migration throughout an organisation, including across multiple data centres owned by an organisation that spans large geographic areas. DCnet retains compatibility with existing hardware by using the same frame format as standard protocols, specifically Ethernet and Internet protocol (IP). Furthermore, DCnet does not require any changes to applications and host operating systems or libraries. In addition to presenting the architecture, the article describes a test bed used to assess DCnet and reports experimental measurements.