bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Comparison between Proteome and Transcriptome Response in Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) Leaves Following Potato Virus Y (PVY) Infection
Authors: Stare Tjaša , Stare Katja , Weckwerth Wolfram , Wienkoop Stefanie , Gruden Kristina
Published: July 2017

Plant diseases caused by viral infection are affecting all major crops. Being an obligate intracellular organisms, chemical control of these pathogens is so far not applied in the field except to control the insect vectors of the viruses. Understanding of molecular responses of plant immunity is therefore economically important, guiding the enforcement of crop resistance. To disentangle complex regulatory mechanisms of the plant immune responses, understanding system as a whole is a must. However, integrating data from different molecular analysis (transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, smallRNA regulation etc.) is not straightforward. We evaluated the response of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) following the infection with potato virus Y (PVY). The response has been analyzed on two molecular levels, with microarray transcriptome analysis and mass spectroscopy-based proteomics. Within this report, we performed detailed analysis of the results on both levels and compared two different approaches for analysis of proteomic data (spectral count versus MaxQuant). To link the data on different molecular levels, each protein was mapped to the corresponding potato transcript according to StNIB paralogue grouping. Only 33% of the proteins mapped to microarray probes in a one-to-one relation and additionally many showed discordance in detected levels of proteins with corresponding transcripts. We discussed functional importance of true biological differences between both levels and showed that the reason for the discordance between transcript and protein abundance lies partly in complexity and structure of biological regulation of proteome and transcriptome and partly in technical issues contributing to it.
Wavelet-Based Topographic Effect Compensation in Accurate Mountain Glacier Velocity Extraction: A Case Study of the Muztagh Ata Region, Eastern Pamir
Authors: Yan Shiyong , Li Yi , Ruan Zhixing , Lv Mingyang , Liu Guang , Deng Kazhong
Published: July 2017

Glaciers in high mountain regions play an important role in global climate research. Glacier motion, which is the main characteristic of glacier activity, has attracted much interest and has been widely studied, because an accurate ice motion field is crucial for both glacier activity analysis and ice avalanche prediction. Unfortunately, the serious topographic effects associated with the complex terrain in high mountain regions can result in errors in ice movement estimation. Thus, according to the different characteristics of the results of pixel tracking in the wavelet domain after random sample consensus (RANSAC)-based global deformation removal, a wavelet-based topographic effect compensation operation is presented in this paper. The proposed method is then used for ice motion estimation in the Muztagh Ata region, without the use of synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) imaging geometry parameters. The results show that the proposed method can effectively improve the accuracy of glacier motion estimation by reducing the mean and standard deviation values from 0.32 m and 0.4 m to 0.16 m and 0.23 m, respectively, in non-glacial regions, after precisely compensating the topographic effect with Advanced Land Observing Satellite–Phased Array-type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (ALOS–PALSAR) imagery. Therefore, the presented wavelet-based topographic effect compensation method is also effective without requiring the SAR imaging geometry parameters and has the potential to be widely used in the accurate estimation of mountain glacier velocity.
Detecting Wind Farm Impacts on Local Vegetation Growth in Texas and Illinois Using MODIS Vegetation Greenness Measurements
Authors: Xia Geng , Zhou Liming
Published: July 2017

This study examines the possible impacts of real-world wind farms (WFs) on vegetation growth using two vegetation indices (VIs), the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), at a ~250 m resolution from the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradimeter (MODIS) for the period 2003–2014. We focus on two well-studied large WF regions, one in western Texas and the other in northern Illinois. These two regions differ distinctively in terms of land cover, topography, and background climate, allowing us to examine whether the WF impacts on vegetation, if any, vary due to the differences in atmospheric and boundary conditions. We use three methods (spatial coupling analysis, time series analysis, and seasonal cycle analysis) and consider two groups of pixels, wind farm pixels (WFPs) and non-wind-farm pixels (NWFPs), to quantify and attribute such impacts during the pre- and post-turbine periods. Our results indicate that the WFs have insignificant or no detectible impacts on local vegetation growth. At the pixel level, the VI changes demonstrate a random nature and have no spatial coupling with the WF layout. At the regional level, there is no systematic shift in vegetation greenness between the pre- and post-turbine periods. At interannual and seasonal time scales, there are no confident vegetation changes over WFPs relative to NWFPs. These results remain robust when the pre- and post-turbine periods and NWFPs are defined differently. Most importantly, the majority of the VI changes are within the MODIS data uncertainty, suggesting that the WF impacts on vegetation, if any, cannot be separated confidently from the data uncertainty and noise. Overall, there are some small decreases in vegetation greenness over WF regions, but no convincing observational evidence is found for the impacts of operating WFs on vegetation growth.
Optimizing the MAC Protocol in Localization Systems Based on IEEE 802.15.4 Networks
Authors: Pérez-Solano Juan , Claver Jose , Ezpeleta Santiago
Published: July 2017

Radio frequency signals are commonly used in the development of indoor localization systems. The infrastructure of these systems includes some beacons placed at known positions that exchange radio packets with users to be located. When the system is implemented using wireless sensor networks, the wireless transceivers integrated in the network motes are usually based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. But, the CSMA-CA, which is the basis for the medium access protocols in this category of communication systems, is not suitable when several users want to exchange bursts of radio packets with the same beacon to acquire the radio signal strength indicator (RSSI) values needed in the location process. Therefore, new protocols are necessary to avoid the packet collisions that appear when multiple users try to communicate with the same beacons. On the other hand, the RSSI sampling process should be carried out very quickly because some systems cannot tolerate a large delay in the location process. This is even more important when the RSSI sampling process includes measures with different signal power levels or frequency channels. The principal objective of this work is to speed up the RSSI sampling process in indoor localization systems. To achieve this objective, the main contribution is the proposal of a new MAC protocol that eliminates the medium access contention periods and decreases the number of packet collisions to accelerate the RSSI collection process. Moreover, the protocol increases the overall network throughput taking advantage of the frequency channel diversity. The presented results show the suitability of this protocol for reducing the RSSI gathering delay and increasing the network throughput in simulated and real environments.
GNSS-R Altimetry Performance Analysis for the GEROS Experiment on Board the International Space Station
Authors: Camps Adriano , Park Hyuk , Sekulic Ivan , Rius Juan
Published: July 2017

The GEROS-ISS (GNSS rEflectometry, Radio Occultation and Scatterometry onboard International Space Station) is an innovative experiment for climate research, proposed in 2011 within a call of the European Space Agency (ESA). This proposal was the only one selected for further studies by ESA out of ~25 ones that were submitted. In this work, the instrument performance for the near-nadir altimetry (GNSS-R) mode is assessed, including the effects of multi-path in the ISS structure, the electromagnetic-bias, and the orbital height decay. In the absence of ionospheric scintillations, the altimetry rms error is <50 cm for a swath <~250 km and for U10 <10 m/s. If the transmitted power is 3 dB higher (likely to happen at beginning of life of the GNSS spacecrafts), mission requirements (rms error is <50 cm) are met for all ISS heights and for U10 up to 15 m/s. However, around 1.5 GHz, the ionosphere can induce significant fading, from 2 to >20 dB at equatorial regions, mainly after sunset, which will seriously degrade the altimetry and the scatterometry performances of the instrument.
An Ontology-based Context-aware System for Smart Homes: E-care@home
Authors: Alirezaie Marjan , Renoux Jennifer , Köckemann Uwe , Kristoffersson Annica , Karlsson Lars  , Blomqvist Eva , Tsiftes Nicolas , Voigt Thiemo , Loutfi Amy
Published: July 2017

Smart home environments have a significant potential to provide for long-term monitoring of users with special needs in order to promote the possibility to age at home. Such environments are typically equipped with a number of heterogeneous sensors that monitor both health and environmental parameters. This paper presents a framework called E-care@home, consisting of an IoT infrastructure, which provides information with an unambiguous, shared meaning across IoT devices, end-users, relatives, health and care professionals and organizations. We focus on integrating measurements gathered from heterogeneous sources by using ontologies in order to enable semantic interpretation of events and context awareness. Activities are deduced using an incremental answer set solver for stream reasoning. The paper demonstrates the proposed framework using an instantiation of a smart environment that is able to perform context recognition based on the activities and the events occurring in the home.
Characterizing the Land Shareholding Cooperative: A Case Study of Shanglin Village in Jiangsu, China
Authors: Ren Yi , Bian Yang , He Tao
Published: July 2017

The land tenure reform is the key to sustainable development in rural China. Without challenging the collective ownership of land, the land shareholding cooperative (LSC) system came into being and is being strongly endorsed by the authority: It re-collectivizes the contracted land from peasants and enables better regional planning and large-scale modern agricultural production. This paper studies a specific LSC (Shanglin LSC in the Sunan region of the Yangtze River Delta) based on our fieldwork. We found that the LSC system is a bottom-up institutional innovation towards sustainable land use in China. Both village cadres and ordinary peasants’ decision making contributes to its successful establishment and development. This shareholding system increases peasants’ income through dividends and employment opportunities. The concentrated land enables ecological farming. Acting as a quasi-government agency, the LSC also provides public service and social security to the village community. On the other hand, the LSCs’ success depends on certain prior conditions and the LSCs’ multiple missions may contradict each other from time to time, and lead to loss of efficiency. We argue that this approach to land tenure reform may not be universally applied to any regions in China.
Dynamic Integrated Resource Strategic Planning Model: A Case Study of China’s Power Sector Planning into 2050
Authors: Xu Yan , Yuan Jiahai , Xu Huiming
Published: July 2017

This paper proposes a Dynamic Integrated Resource Strategic Planning (DIRSP) model based on a semi-Markov decision-making process. Considering the policy transfer probability matrix, we discuss the influence of different policy portfolios and input intensity on the timing and scale of low-carbon transition during the power planning process. In addition, we discuss various planning scenarios from a socio-technical system transition perspective. Scenarios are compiled to compare the pathways of power planning in China during 2015–2050 under different policies, including a typical reproduction pathway with unchanged policy that maintains the original coal-dominated technology pathway, a de-alignment/re-alignment pathway where renewable energy power technologies develop from niches to mainstream while the planning time for peak coal power moves ahead in 10–20 years due to subsidies to renewable and carbon tax policy, and the substitution and reconfiguration pathways in which renewable energy technologies compete with coal power in parallel, in which coal power will peak by 2020 while wind power and solar power will realize large-scale development by 2020 and 2030, respectively. Case study on power planning in China indicates that the methodology proposed in our study can enhance our understanding on the low-carbon transition process and the interaction between energy policy and transition pathway.
Comparison of Forecasting Energy Consumption in Shandong, China Using the ARIMA Model, GM Model, and ARIMA-GM Model
Authors: Li Shuyu , Li Rongrong
Published: July 2017

To scientifically predict the future energy demand of Shandong province, this study chose the past energy demand of Shandong province during 1995–2015 as the research object. Based on building model data sequences, the GM-ARIMA model, the GM (1,1) model, and the ARIMA model were used to predict the energy demand of Shandong province for the 2005–2015 data, the results of which were then compared to the actual result. By analyzing the relative average error, we found that the GM-ARIMA model had a higher accuracy for predicting the future energy demand data. The operation steps of the GM-ARIMA model were as follows: first, preprocessing the date and determining the dimensions of the GM (1,1) model. This was followed by the establishment of the metabolism GM (1,1) model and by calculation of the forecast data. Then, the ARIMA residual error was used to amend and test the model. Finally, the obtained prediction results and errors were analyzed. The prediction results show that the energy demand of Shandong province in 2016–2020 will grow at an average annual rate of 3.9%, and in 2020, the Shandong province energy demand will have increased to about 20% of that in 2015.
Enhancing Ecoliteracy through Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Proverbs
Authors: Kim GoWoon , Vaswani Rahul , Kang Wanmo , Nam Miri , Lee Dowon
Published: July 2017

Proverbs can be regarded as pithy axioms of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), which can be useful for sustainability education. By using an exploratory sequential mixed method, we analyzed TEK and ecoliteracy components embedded in rain- and tree-related Korean traditional proverbs, and further conducted a survey of university students to gauge their knowledge of the proverbs and draw correlations with their ecoliteracy. We classified 173 rain- and 117 tree-related traditional Korean proverbs and found that most of these were related to factual observations, such as ecological characteristics of tree species and the prediction of rainfall, which indicated people’s understanding of ecological processes and patterns. We also found that students tended to provide correct answers for questions related to TEK-based worldviews, ethics and values, which are important components of ecoliteracy, thereby indicating the usefulness of proverbs in delivering TEK-based worldviews, ethics, and values. Overall, our study reasons that the learning of TEK-related traditional proverbs can be meaningful for enhancing ecoliteracy among urban youth, particularly when this learning is complemented with field-based observational learning within integrated approaches for sustainability education.
A Feedback Control Method for Addressing the Production Scheduling Problem by Considering Energy Consumption and Makespan
Authors: Xu Jingjing , Wang Lei
Published: July 2017

Due to various factors of uncertainty within production, the key performance indicators connected to production plans are difficult to fulfil. This problem becomes especially serious as emission regulations are enforced, which discourage manufacturers from high emission output and high energy consumption. Thus, this paper proposes a feedback control method for the production scheduling problem by considering energy consumption and makespan to help manufacturers keep production implementations in pace with production plans. The proposed method works in a rolling horizon framework, which establishes planned energy consumption and makespan, and adjusts the weights of the multiple scheduling optimization objectives for the next period, based on the feedback of the actual energy consumption and makespan in previous periods. A job shop scheduling case study is provided to illustrate the proposed method. The experiment results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed feedback control method.
Contextual Factors Affecting the Innovation Performance of Manufacturing SMEs in Korea: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach
Authors: Choi Ye , Lim Up
Published: July 2017

This study empirically explores the relationship between innovation performance and the internal and contextual factors driving technological innovation in manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in metropolitan areas of Korea using structural equation modeling (SEM). Our analysis is based on firm-level data from the Korean Innovation Survey conducted by the Science and Technology Policy Institute in 2012. According to the results, SMEs’ innovation capacity was positively related to technological innovation performance, and SMEs’ skills and technology acquisition is a contextual factor that positively influences their innovation performance. In this process, SMEs’ innovation capacity is a partial mediator between skills and technology acquisition and SMEs’ technological innovation performance. Moreover, the results show that the relationship between government and public policies and SMEs’ innovation performance is mediated by SMEs’ internal innovation capacity. The results imply that both skills and technology acquisition and government and public policies are important contextual factors can increase SMEs’ innovation performance. Based on the results, this study provides implications for policy makers in terms of the policies that provide both direct and support roles in fostering and sustaining innovation, which drives regional economic growth and development.
Parameters Tuning Approach for Proportion Integration Differentiation Controller of Magnetorheological Fluids Brake Based on Improved Fruit Fly Optimization Algorithm
Authors: Liu Xinhua , Shi Yao , Xu Jing
Published: July 2017

In order to improve the response performance of a proportion integration differentiation (PID) controller for magnetorheological fluids (MRF) brake and to reduce the braking fluctuation rate, an improved fruit fly optimization algorithm for PID controller parameters tuning of MRF brake is proposed. A data acquisition system for MRF brake is designed and the transfer function of MRF brake is identified. Moreover, an improved fruit fly optimization algorithm (IFOA) through integration of PID control strategy and cloud model algorithm is proposed to design a PID controller for MRF brake. Finally, the simulation and experiment are carried out. The results show that IFOA, with a faster response output and no overshoot, is superior to the conventional PID and fruit fly optimization algorithm (FOA) PID controller.
Screening and Validation of Highly-Efficient Insecticidal Conotoxins from a Transcriptome-Based Dataset of Chinese Tubular Cone Snail
Authors: Gao Bingmiao , Peng Chao , Lin Bo , Chen Qin , Zhang Junqing , Shi Qiong
Published: July 2017

Most previous studies have focused on analgesic and anti-cancer activities for the conotoxins identified from piscivorous and molluscivorous cone snails, but little attention has been devoted to insecticidal activity of conotoxins from the dominant vermivorous species. As a representative vermivorous cone snail, the Chinese tubular cone snail (Conus betulinus) is the dominant Conus species inhabiting the South China Sea. We sequenced related venom transcriptomes from C. betulinus using both the next-generation sequencing and traditional Sanger sequencing technologies, and a comprehensive library of 215 conotoxin transcripts was constructed. In our current study, six conotoxins with potential insecticidal activity were screened out from our conotoxin library by homologous search with a reported positive control (alpha-conotoxin ImI from C. imperialis) as the query. Subsequently, these conotoxins were synthesized by chemical solid-phase and oxidative folding for further insecticidal activity validation, such as MTT assay, insect bioassay and homology modeling. The final results proved insecticidal activities of our achieved six conotoxins from the transcriptome-based dataset. Interestingly, two of them presented a lot of high insecticidal activity, which supports their usefulness for a trial as insecticides in field investigations. In summary, our present work provides a good example for high throughput development of biological insecticides on basis of the accumulated genomic resources.
Interplay between Autophagy, Exosomes and HIV-1 Associated Neurological Disorders: New Insights for Diagnosis and Therapeutic Applications
Authors: Ojha Chet , Lapierre Jessica , Rodriguez Myosotys , Dever Seth , Zadeh Mohammad , DeMarino Catherine , Pleet Michelle , Kashanchi Fatah , El-Hage Nazira
Published: July 2017

The autophagy–lysosomal pathway mediates a degradative process critical in the maintenance of cellular homeostasis as well as the preservation of proper organelle function by selective removal of damaged proteins and organelles. In some situations, cells remove unwanted or damaged proteins and RNAs through the release to the extracellular environment of exosomes. Since exosomes can be transferred from one cell to another, secretion of unwanted material to the extracellular environment in exosomes may have an impact, which can be beneficial or detrimental, in neighboring cells. Exosome secretion is under the influence of the autophagic system, and stimulation of autophagy can inhibit exosomal release and vice versa. Neurons are particularly vulnerable to degeneration, especially as the brain ages, and studies indicate that imbalances in genes regulating autophagy are a common feature of many neurodegenerative diseases. Cognitive and motor disease associated with severe dementia and neuronal damage is well-documented in the brains of HIV-infected individuals. Neurodegeneration seen in the brain in HIV-1 infection is associated with dysregulation of neuronal autophagy. In this paradigm, we herein provide an overview on the role of autophagy in HIV-associated neurodegenerative disease, focusing particularly on the effect of autophagy modulation on exosomal release of HIV particles and how this interplay impacts HIV infection in the brain. Specific autophagy–regulating agents are being considered for therapeutic treatment and prevention of a broad range of human diseases. Various therapeutic strategies for modulating specific stages of autophagy and the current state of drug development for this purpose are also evaluated.
Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea in Europe: In-Detail Analyses of Disease Dynamics and Molecular Epidemiology
Authors: Hanke Dennis , Pohlmann Anne , Sauter-Louis Carola , Höper Dirk , Stadler Julia , Ritzmann Mathias , Steinrigl Adi , Schwarz Bernd-Andreas , Akimkin Valerij , Fux Robert , Blome Sandra , Beer Martin
Published: July 2017

Porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) is an acute and highly contagious enteric disease of swine caused by the eponymous virus (PEDV) which belongs to the genus Alphacoronavirus within the Coronaviridae virus family. Following the disastrous outbreaks in Asia and the United States, PEDV has been detected also in Europe. In order to better understand the overall situation, the molecular epidemiology, and factors that might influence the most variable disease impact; 40 samples from swine feces were collected from different PED outbreaks in Germany and other European countries and sequenced by shot-gun next-generation sequencing. A total of 38 new PEDV complete coding sequences were generated. When compared on a global scale, all investigated sequences from Central and South-Eastern Europe formed a rather homogeneous PEDV S INDEL cluster, suggesting a recent re-introduction. However, in-detail analyses revealed two new clusters and putative ancestor strains. Based on the available background data, correlations between clusters and location, farm type or clinical presentation could not be established. Additionally, the impact of secondary infections was explored using the metagenomic data sets. While several coinfections were observed, no correlation was found with disease courses. However, in addition to the PEDV genomes, ten complete viral coding sequences from nine different data sets were reconstructed each representing new virus strains. In detail, three pasivirus A strains, two astroviruses, a porcine sapelovirus, a kobuvirus, a porcine torovirus, a posavirus, and an enterobacteria phage were almost fully sequenced.
Where Is Your Attention? Assessing Individual Instances of Covert Attentional Orienting in Response to Gaze and Arrow Cues
Authors: Blair Christopher , Capozzi Francesca , Ristic Jelena
Published: July 2017

Humans spontaneously follow where others are looking. However, recent investigations suggest such gaze-following behavior during natural interactions occurs relatively infrequently, only in about a third of available instances. Here we investigated if a similar frequency of orienting is also found in laboratory tasks that measure covert attentional orienting using manual responses. To do so, in two experiments, we analyzed responses from a classic gaze cuing task, with arrow cues serving as control stimuli. We reasoned that the proportions of attentional benefits and costs, defined as responses falling outside of 1 standard deviation of the average performance for the neutral condition, would provide a good approximation of individual instances of attentional shifts. We found that although benefits and costs occurred in less than half of trials, benefits emerged on a greater proportion of validly cued relative to invalidly cued trials. This pattern of data held across two different measures of neutral performance, as assessed by Experiments 1 and 2, as well as across the two cue types. These results suggest that similarly to gaze-following in naturalistic settings, covert orienting within the cuing task also appears to occur relatively infrequently.
Robot-Assisted Measurement for Hydrologic Understanding in Data Sparse Regions
Authors: Young Sierra , Peschel Joshua , Penny Gopal , Thompson Sally , Srinivasan Veena
Published: July 2017

This article describes the field application of small, low-cost robots for remote surface data collection and an automated workflow to support water balance computations and hydrologic understanding where water availability data is sparse. Current elevation measurement approaches, such as manual surveying and LiDAR, are costly and infrequent, leading to potential inefficiencies for quantifying the dynamic hydrologic storage capacity of the land surface over large areas. Experiments to evaluate a team of two different robots, including an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and an unmanned surface vehicle (USV), to collect hydrologic surface data utilizing sonar and visual sensors were conducted at three different field sites within the Arkavathy Basin river network located near Bangalore in Karnataka, South India. Visual sensors were used on the UAV to capture high resolution imagery for topographic characterization, and sonar sensors were deployed on the USV to capture bathymetric readings; the data streams were fused in an automated workflow to determine the storage capacity of agricultural reservoirs (also known as ``tanks'') at the three field sites. This study suggests: (i) this robot-assisted methodology is low-cost and suitable for novice users, and (ii) storage capacity data collected at previously unmapped locations revealed strong power-type relationships between surface area, stage, and storage volume, which can be incorporated into modeling of landscape-scale hydrology. This methodology is of importance to water researchers and practitioners because it produces local, high-resolution representations of bathymetry and topography and enables water balance computations at small-watershed scales, which offer insight into the present-day dynamics of a strongly human impacted watershed.
Adsorption and electronic properties of pentacene on thin dielectric decoupling layers
Authors: Koslowski Sebastian , Rosenblatt Daniel , Kabakchiev Alexander , Kuhnke Klaus , Kern Klaus , Schlickum Uta
Published: July 2017

With the increasing use of thin dielectric decoupling layers to study the electronic properties of organic molecules on metal surfaces, comparative studies are needed in order to generalize findings and formulate practical rules. In this paper we study the adsorption and electronic properties of pentacene deposited onto h-BN/Rh(111) and compare them with those of pentacene deposited onto KCl on various metal surfaces. When deposited onto KCl, the HOMO and LUMO energies of the pentacene molecules scale with the work functions of the combined KCl/metal surface. The magnitude of the variation between the respective KCl/metal systems indicates the degree of interaction of the frontier orbitals with the underlying metal. The results confirm that the so-called IDIS model developed by Willenbockel et al. applies not only to molecular layers on bare metal surfaces, but also to individual molecules on thin electronically decoupling layers. Depositing pentacene onto h-BN/Rh(111) results in significantly different adsorption characteristics, due to the topographic corrugation of the surface as well as the lateral electric fields it presents. These properties are reflected in the divergence from the aforementioned trend for the orbital energies of pentacene deposited onto h-BN/Rh(111), as well as in the different adsorption geometry. Thus, the highly desirable capacity of h-BN to trap molecules comes at the price of enhanced metal–molecule interaction, which decreases the HOMO–LUMO gap of the molecules. In spite of the enhanced interaction, the molecular orbitals are evident in scanning tunnelling spectroscopy (STS) and their shapes can be resolved by spectroscopic mapping.
Near-infrared Spectroscopic Observations of Comet C/2013 R1 (Lovejoy) by WINERED: CN Red-system Band Emission
Authors: Shinnaka Yoshiharu , Kawakita Hideyo , Kondo Sohei , Ikeda Yuji , Kobayashi Naoto , Hamano Satoshi , Sameshima Hiroaki , Fukue Kei , Matsunaga Noriyuki , Yasui Chikako , Izumi Natsuko , Mizumoto Misaki , Otsubo Shogo , Takenaka Keiichi , Watase Ayaka , Kawanishi Takafumi , Nakanishi Kenshi , Nakaoka Tetsuya
Published: July 2017

Although high-resolution spectra of the CN red-system band are considered useful in cometary sciences, e.g., in the study of isotopic ratios of carbon and nitrogen in cometary volatiles, there have been few reports to date due to the lack of high-resolution (R ≡ λ/Δλ > 20,000) spectrographs in the near-infrared region around ∼1 μm. Here, we present the high-resolution emission spectrum of the CN red-system band in comet C/2013 R1 (Lovejoy), acquired by the near-infrared high-resolution spectrograph WINERED mounted on the 1.3 m Araki telescope at the Koyama Astronomical Observatory, Kyoto, Japan. We applied our fluorescence excitation models for CN, based on modern spectroscopic studies, to the observed spectrum of comet C/2013 R1 (Lovejoy) to search for CN isotopologues (13C14N and 12C15N). We used a CN fluorescence excitation model involving both a “pure” fluorescence excitation model for the outer coma and a “fully collisional” fluorescence excitation model for the inner coma region. Our emission model could reproduce the observed 12C14N red-system band of comet C/2013 R1 (Lovejoy). The derived mixing ratio between the two excitation models was 0.94(+0.02/−0.03):0.06(+0.03/−0.02), corresponding to the radius of the collision-dominant region of ∼800–1600 km from the nucleus. No isotopologues were detected. The observed spectrum is consistent, within error, with previous estimates in comets of 12C/13C (∼90) and 14N/15N (∼150).
Multicolor Optical Monitoring of the BL Lacertae Object S5 0716+714 during the 2012 Outburst
Authors: Hong Shanwei , Xiong Dingrong , Bai Jinming
Published: July 2017

We monitored the BL Lacertae object S5 0716+714 in the optical bands during 2012 January and February with long time spans on intraday timescales (>5 hr) and high time resolutions. During this monitoring period, the object shows violent flaring activity in both short and intraday timescales. The object has a high duty cycle. The light curves detected as intraday variability show variability of various shapes. The variability amplitude is from 12.81% to 33.22%, and the average value is 19.92% ± 5.87%. The overall magnitude variabilities are

,

,

,  and 

. During the observations, the average change rate is

Mag/h during the ascent and

Mag/h during the descent. However, different cases are found on certain nights. There are good interband correlations but no significant time lags for intraday and short timescales. The results of the autocorrelation function show that the variability timescales range from 0.054 to 0.134 day. Most nights show a bluer-when-brighter (BWB) chromatic trend, a weak redder-when-brighter (RWB) trend is found, and a few nights show no correlation between magnitude and color index. The BWB trend appears in short timescales. During the flare, the spectral index exhibits a clockwise loop for internights. A shock-in-jet model and the shock wave propagating along a helical path are likely to explain the variability and color index variability.
Blazar Variability from Turbulence in Jets Launched by Magnetically Arrested Accretion Flows
Authors: Riordan Michael O’ , Pe’er Asaf , McKinney Jonathan C.
Published: July 2017

Blazars show variability on timescales ranging from minutes to years, the former being comparable to and in some cases even shorter than the light-crossing time of the central black hole. The observed γ-ray light curves can be described by a power-law power density spectrum (PDS), with a similar index for both BL Lacs and flat-spectrum radio quasars. We show that this variability can be produced by turbulence in relativistic jets launched by magnetically arrested accretion flows (MADs). We perform radiative transport calculations on the turbulent, highly magnetized jet launching region of a MAD with a rapidly rotating supermassive black hole. The resulting synchrotron and synchrotron self-Compton emission, originating from close to the black hole horizon, is highly variable. This variability is characterized by PDS, which is remarkably similar to the observed power-law spectrum at frequencies less than a few per day. Furthermore, turbulence in the jet launching region naturally produces fluctuations in the plasma on scales much smaller than the horizon radius. We speculate that similar turbulent processes, operating in the jet at large radii (and therefore a high bulk Lorentz factor), are responsible for blazar variability over many decades in frequency, including on minute timescales.
Star Formation at z = 2.481 in the Lensed Galaxy SDSS J1110 = 6459. I. Lens Modeling and Source Reconstruction∗
Authors: Johnson Traci L. , Sharon Keren , Gladders Michael D. , Rigby Jane R. , Bayliss Matthew B. , Wuyts Eva , Whitaker Katherine E. , Florian Michael , Murray Katherine T.
Published: July 2017

Using the combined resolving power of the Hubble Space Telescope and gravitational lensing, we resolve star-forming structures in a

galaxy on scales much smaller than the usual kiloparsec diffraction limit of HST. SGAS J111020.0+645950.8 is a clumpy, star-forming galaxy lensed by the galaxy cluster SDSS J1110+6459 at

, with a total magnification

across the entire arc. We use a hybrid parametric/non-parametric strong lensing mass model to compute the deflection and magnification of this giant arc, reconstruct the light distribution of the lensed galaxy in the source plane, and resolve the star formation into two dozen clumps. We develop a forward-modeling technique to model each clump in the source plane. We ray-trace the model to the image plane, convolve with the instrumental point-spread function (PSF), and compare with the GALFIT model of the clumps in the image plane, which decomposes clump structure from more extended emission. This technique has the advantage, over ray-tracing, of accounting for the asymmetric lensing shear of the galaxy in the image plane and the instrument PSF. At this resolution, we can begin to study star formation on a clump-by-clump basis, toward the goal of understanding feedback mechanisms and the buildup of exponential disks at high redshift.
Swift, XMM-Newton, and NuSTAR Observations of PSR J2032+4127/MT91 213
Authors: Li K. L. , Kong A. K. H. , Tam P. H. T. , Hou X. , Takata J. , Hui and C. Y.
Published: July 2017

We report our recent Swift, NuSTAR, and XMM-Newton X-ray and Lijiang optical observations on PSR J2032+4127/MT91 213, the γ-ray binary candidate with a period of 45–50 years. The coming periastron of the system was predicted to be in 2017 November, around which high-energy flares from keV to TeV are expected. Recent studies with Chandra and Swift X-ray observations taken in 2015/2016 showed that its X-ray emission has been brighter by a factors of ∼10 than that before 2013, probably revealing some ongoing activities between the pulsar wind and the stellar wind. Our new Swift/XRT lightcurve shows no strong evidence of a single vigorous brightening trend, but rather several strong X-ray flares on weekly to monthly timescales with a slowly brightening baseline, namely the low state. The NuSTAR and XMM-Newton observations taken during the flaring and the low states, respectively, show a denser environment and a softer power-law index during the flaring state, implying that the pulsar wind interacted with the stronger stellar winds of the companion to produce the flares. These precursors would be crucial in studying the predicted giant outburst from this extreme γ-ray binary during the periastron passage in late 2017.
Germany’s Ecosystem Services – State of the Indicator Development for a Nationwide Assessment and Monitoring
Authors: Grunewald Karsten , Syrbe Ralf-Uwe , Walz Ulrich , Richter Benjamin , Meinel Gotthard , Herold Hendrik , Marzelli Stefan
Published: July 2017

The obligations of the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2020 are generating a need to create national maps and monitoring systems for the state of biodiversity and ecosystem services (ES) on the basis of indicators. The paper gives an overview of the ecosystem services indicators being developed for Germany in the context of ongoing research projects. Additionally, it provides the indicator specifications, which are aligned with the EU MAES framework concepts (initiative on Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services).

We illustrate aspects of data selection, calculation and negotiation procedures, results and target values in general and by way of examples. The German indicator-based approach presents measures and sums up ES in their spatial expression and temporal change and compares them with objectives. As far as possible, this is carried out according to the demand-supply concept. A prioritization of ES classes to be processed was carried out in the framework of an expert-based assessment. The results indicated that 21 of the 48 CICES classes (Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services) were most relevant for Germany in recent years. We proposed a total of 51 indicators, of which 14 indicators for 4 ES classes were accepted, implemented and published by the end of 2016. The development of ES maps and the indicator-based assessment on a national scale is a process. Consequently, the necessary further steps are shown.
Medium- to Long-Term Results of Corneal Cross-Linking for Keratoconus Using Phototherapeutic Keratectomy for Epithelial Removal and Partial Stromal Ablation
Authors: Chen Xiangjun , Stojanovic Aleksandar , Xu Yangyang , Zhou Wen , Raeder Sten , Enayati Sam , Utheim Tor Paaske
Published: July 2017

PURPOSE:

To evaluate the medium- to long-term outcomes of corneal cross-linking in treatment of keratoconus using transepithelial phototherapeutic keratectomy (PTK-CXL) for epithelial removal and partial stromal ablation to stabilize the cornea, reduce corneal irregularity, and improve corrected vision.

METHODS:

Retrospective analysis of 46 keratoconic eyes that underwent PTK-CXL. Corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA), manifest refraction, steep and flat simulated keratometry (Kmax and Kmin), corneal irregularity index (IRI), corneal higher order aberrations (HOAs), epithelial thickness profile, and corneal biomechanical characteristics were evaluated preoperatively and postoperatively.

RESULTS:

At a mean follow-up time of 21.0 ± 7.6 months (range: 10 to 43 months) postoperatively, CDVA improved from 0.25 ± 0.24 to 0.18 ± 0.22 logMAR (
P
= .002). CDVA remained unchanged in 32.6% (15 eyes) and 56.5% (26 eyes) gained up to five Snellen lines of CDVA, whereas 6.5% (3 eyes) lost two or more lines of CDVA, respectively. Postoperatively, flattening of Kmax from 50.58 ± 5.26 to 48.96 ± 4.00 diopters (D) and Kmin from 45.80 ± 3.11 to 44.77 ± 2.63 D (
P
< .001), reduction of IRI from 49.7 ± 24.5 to 43.4 ± 21.4
µ
m (
P
= .002), decrease of root mean square HOAs (at 5-mm diameter) from 2.66 ± 1.31 to 2.37 ± 1.37
µ
m (
P
= .037), and slight thickening of corneal epithelium were registered, whereas most of the corneal biomechanical measurements did not show statistically significant change. Two eyes demonstrated slight topographic regression.

CONCLUSIONS:

PTK-CXL seems to be effective in arresting the progression of keratoconus, improving CDVA, flattening the cornea, regularizing corneal surface, and reducing corneal HOAs.

[
J Refract Surg.
2017;33(7):488–495.]
Similarity Measure of Graphs
Authors: Labriji Amine , Charkaoui Salma , Abdelbaki Issam , Namir Abdelouhaed , Labriji El Houssine
Published: July 2017

The topic of identifying the similarity of graphs was considered as highly recommended research field in the Web semantic, artificial intelligence, the shape recognition and information research. One of the fundamental problems of graph databases is finding similar graphs to a graph query. Existing approaches dealing with this problem are usually based on the nodes and arcs of the two graphs, regardless of parental semantic links. For instance, a common connection is not identified as being part of the similarity of two graphs in cases like two graphs without common concepts, the measure of similarity based on the union of two graphs, or the one based on the notion of maximum common sub-graph (SCM), or the distance of edition of graphs. This leads to an inadequate situation in the context of information research. To overcome this problem, we suggest a new measure of similarity between graphs, based on the similarity measure of Wu and Palmer. We have shown that this new measure satisfies the properties of a measure of similarities and we applied this new measure on examples. The results show that our measure provides a run time with a gain of time compared to existing approaches. In addition, we compared the relevance of the similarity values obtained, it appears that this new graphs measure is advantageous and  offers a contribution to solving the problem mentioned above.
Computation of Hyperspherical Bessel Functions
Authors: Tram Thomas
Published: July 2017

In this paper we present a fast and accurate numerical algorithm for the computation of hyperspherical Bessel functions of large order and real arguments. For the hyperspherical Bessel functions of closed type, no stable algorithm existed so far due to the lack of a backwards recurrence. We solved this problem by establishing a relation to Gegenbauer polynomials. All our algorithms are written in C and are publicly available at Github [https://github.com/lesgourg/class_public]. A Python wrapper is available upon request.
La evaluación formativa: un análisis desde la perspectiva de los estudiantes
Authors: Llorens Molina Juan Antonio
Published: July 2017

ResumenEn este trabajo se presentan los resultados de la aplicación de actividades deautoevaluación online semanales. Estas han sido desarrolladas a lo largo dedos años consecutivos en un curso introductorio de química orgánica.Dichas actividades vienen también complementadas por la disponibilidad degrabaciones en video de corta duración (polimedia) centradas en aspectosclave del contenido. Los objetivos de este estudio son principalmente conocerlas opiniones de los estudiantes acerca de la utilidad de estos recursos, asícomo de algunos aspectos de su diseño y utilización. Asimismo, también serelaciona la práctica de la autoevaluación con el rendimiento en el examende la asignatura. Los resultados muestran una percepción claramentepositiva de estos recursos, aunque también aconsejan modificar algunosaspectos de su diseño y modo de utilización, tal como el momento en que seutilizan y el tiempo de disponibilidad.Palabras clave: Autoevaluación, retroalimentación, evaluación formativa,química, Poliformat, prueba de opción múltiple.
La co-docencia en el contexto universitario como estrategia para la innovación docente
Authors: Castro Zubizarreta Ana , Briones Pérez Elena , Izquierdo Magaldi Belén
Published: July 2017

La co-docencia ha sido descrita como una de las actuaciones educativas de éxito en el contexto universitario. Supone prácticas de enseñanza cooperativa desarrollada por dos o más docentes generando un marco de retroalimentación constante para el profesorado implicado, al compartir su experiencia y conocimientos durante el desarrollo de las clases. En este trabajo se presenta el diseño y valoración de una experiencia de co-docencia desarrollada en la Facultad de Educación de la Universidad de Cantabria. Esta experiencia educativa se diseña como una modalidad de co-docencia en estaciones a través de la mentoría entre estudiantes. Se abordan desde la perspectiva de las docentes implicadas en el desarrollo de la co-docencia, sus expectativas iniciales, los beneficios que según ellas se deriva de esta práctica educativa, las dificultaddes encontradas y las propuestas de mejora para la continuidad de esta práctica docente. Asímismo se recogen algunos resultados de aprendizaje en los estudiantes. Los resultados del trabajo ponen de manifiesto la valoración positiva de la experiencia y el compromiso de las docentes con este tipo de actividades a pesar de las limitaciones temporales y organizativas encontradas. Palabras clave: co-docencia, innovación educativa, Educación Superior, metodología, mentoría.