bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Review of Salmonella and Squamates (Lizards, Snakes and Amphisbians): Implications for Public Health
Authors: Whiley Harriet , Gardner Michael G. , Ross Kirstin
Published: August 2017

Globally, there has been an increase in squamates (particularly lizards and snakes) being kept as pets. Additionally, urban spread has resulted in greater human encroachment and interaction with the natural habitat of wild squamates. A potential consequence of increasing human interaction with squamates is the increased potential for disease transfer. This review collates the literature describing clinical salmonellosis cases that were definitively linked to a squamate through testing of the animal and population-based studies which investigate the risk of salmonellosis linked to pet squamates. It was demonstrated that although squamate-acquired salmonellosis accounted for a small percentage of total cases, children under five were at greatest risk, with the clinical manifestations tending to be more severe. In many cases, it was noted that the patient was unaware of the risks associated with keeping squamates and did not practice proper hand hygiene after handling the animals or cleaning cages. This highlights the need for more education focused on informing the general public of ways to reduce the risk of salmonellosis from pet squamates. There is also the need for future research into the role of wild squamates in the spread of human salmonellosis, both directly and indirectly through cross contamination.
Patient or Physician Centered Care?: Structural Implications for Clinical Interactions and the Overlooked Patient
Authors: Franzen Aaron
Published: August 2017

Patient-centered care is widely supported by physicians, but this wide-spread support potentially obscures the social patterning of clinical interactions. We know that patients often want religious/spiritual conversations in the context of medical care but the provision is infrequent. As there is regional variance in religiosity, a gap in the literature exists regarding whether patient populations’ religiosity is connected to physicians’ self-reported religious/spiritual interactions. Using a national sample of U.S. physicians linked to county-level measures, the author test whether both physicians’ background and patient population characteristics are related to religious/spiritual interactions. Specifically, do physicians in more religious locations report more frequent religious interactions and is this dependent on whether the physician is also religious? Or does the religiosity of patient populations fail to explain variance in the frequency of inclusion? Logistic regressions with spatial lag terms highlight the importance of physicians’ background for inclusion of religiosity/spirituality. County-level variance of religious concentration is largely unrelated to the inclusion of religiosity/spirituality. The provision of patient-centered care is complicated. The inclusion of something patient-specific, such as religious/spiritual content, may not depend on the characteristics of the patient population, but those of the physician they see.
Transcendentalism and Chinese Perceptions of Western Individualism and Spirituality
Authors: Zhao Sikong , Untea Ionut
Published: August 2017

The article presents essential aspects of the intellectual debates in China over the theoretical achievement of Transcendentalism to generate a conception of individualism that bears the mark of Confucian and Daoist influences. The peculiar profile of the Transcendentalist individual avoids western dimensions that have been perceived in China as overindividualistic. Therefore, the inquiry over Transcendentalism opens up the intellectual debates on how traditional Confucian and Daoist teachings may be used also in China to bring about a renewed conception of the self and the individual’s life in social relationships that would be closer to a modern understanding of individualism. The Chinese problematization of the value of the individual in Chinese traditional culture sheds light on the non-western debates regarding cultural renewal.
Automated Remote Insect Surveillance at a Global Scale and the Internet of Things
Authors: Potamitis Ilyas , Eliopoulos Panagiotis , Rigakis Iraklis
Published: August 2017

Τhe concept of remote insect surveillance at large spatial scales for many serious insect pests of agricultural and medical importance has been introduced in a series of our papers. We augment typical, low-cost plastic traps for many insect pests with the necessary optoelectronic sensors to guard the entrance of the trap to detect, time-stamp, GPS tag, and—in relevant cases—identify the species of the incoming insect from their wingbeat. For every important crop pest, there are monitoring protocols to be followed to decide when to initiate a treatment procedure before a serious infestation occurs. Monitoring protocols are mainly based on specifically designed insect traps. Traditional insect monitoring suffers in that the scope of such monitoring: is curtailed by its cost, requires intensive labor, is time consuming, and an expert is often needed for sufficient accuracy which can sometimes raise safety issues for humans. These disadvantages reduce the extent to which manual insect monitoring is applied and therefore its accuracy, which finally results in significant crop loss due to damage caused by pests. With the term ‘surveillance’ we intend to push the monitoring idea to unprecedented levels of information extraction regarding the presence, time-stamping detection events, species identification, and population density of targeted insect pests. Insect counts, as well as environmental parameters that correlate with insects’ population development, are wirelessly transmitted to the central monitoring agency in real time and are visualized and streamed to statistical methods to assist enforcement of security control to insect pests. In this work, we emphasize how the traps can be self-organized in networks that collectively report data at local, regional, country, continental, and global scales using the emerging technology of the Internet of Things (IoT). This research is necessarily interdisciplinary and falls at the intersection of entomology, optoelectronic engineering, data-science, and crop science and encompasses the design and implementation of low-cost, low-power technology to help reduce the extent of quantitative and qualitative crop losses by many of the most significant agricultural pests. We argue that smart traps communicating through IoT to report in real-time the level of the pest population from the field straight to a human controlled agency can, in the very near future, have a profound impact on the decision-making process in crop protection and will be disruptive of existing manual practices. In the present study, three cases are investigated: monitoring Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) using (a) Picusan and (b) Lindgren trap; and (c) monitoring various stored grain beetle pests using the stored-grain pitfall trap. Our approach is very accurate, reaching 98–99% accuracy on automatic counts compared with real detected numbers of insects in each type of trap.
The Effects of Aerosol on the Retrieval Accuracy of NO2 Slant Column Density
Authors: Hong Hyunkee , Kim Jhoon , Jeong Ukkyo , Han Kyung-soo , Lee Hanlim
Published: August 2017

We investigate the effects of aerosol optical depth (AOD), single scattering albedo (SSA), aerosol peak height (APH), measurement geometry (solar zenith angle (SZA) and viewing zenith angle (VZA)), relative azimuth angle, and surface reflectance on the accuracy of NO2 slant column density using synthetic radiance. High AOD and APH are found to decrease NO2 SCD retrieval accuracy. In moderately polluted (5 × 1015 molecules cm−2 < NO2 vertical column density (VCD) < 2 × 1016 molecules cm−2) and clean regions (NO2 VCD < 5 × 1015 molecules cm−2), the correlation coefficient (R) between true NO2 SCDs and those retrieved is 0.88 and 0.79, respectively, and AOD and APH are about 0.1 and is 0 km, respectively. However, when AOD and APH are about 1.0 and 4 km, respectively, the R decreases to 0.84 and 0.53 in moderately polluted and clean regions, respectively. On the other hand, in heavily polluted regions (NO2 VCD > 2 × 1016 molecules cm−2), even high AOD and APH values are found to have a negligible effect on NO2 SCD precision. In high AOD and APH conditions in clean NO2 regions, the R between true NO2 SCDs and those retrieved increases from 0.53 to 0.58 via co-adding four pixels spatially, showing the improvement in accuracy of NO2 SCD retrieval. In addition, the high SZA and VZA are also found to decrease the accuracy of the NO2 SCD retrieval.
Optimal Decision Fusion for Urban Land-Use/Land-Cover Classification Based on Adaptive Differential Evolution Using Hyperspectral and LiDAR Data
Authors: Zhong Yanfei , Cao Qiong , Zhao Ji , Ma Ailong , Zhao Bei , Zhang Liangpei
Published: August 2017

Hyperspectral images and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data have, respectively, the high spectral resolution and accurate elevation information required for urban land-use/land-cover (LULC) classification. To combine the respective advantages of hyperspectral and LiDAR data, this paper proposes an optimal decision fusion method based on adaptive differential evolution, namely ODF-ADE, for urban LULC classification. In the ODF-ADE framework the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), gray-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) and digital surface model (DSM) are extracted to form the feature map. The three different classifiers of the maximum likelihood classifier (MLC), support vector machine (SVM) and multinomial logistic regression (MLR) are used to classify the extracted features. To find the optimal weights for the different classification maps, weighted voting is used to obtain the classification result and the weights of each classification map are optimized by the differential evolution algorithm which uses a self-adaptive strategy to obtain the parameter adaptively. The final classification map is obtained after post-processing based on conditional random fields (CRF). The experimental results confirm that the proposed algorithm is very effective in urban LULC classification.
Detection of Asian Dust Storm Using MODIS Measurements
Authors: Xie Yong , Zhang Wenhao , Qu John
Published: August 2017

Every year, a large number of aerosols are released from dust storms into the atmosphere, which may have potential impacts on the climate, environment, and air quality. Detecting dust aerosols and monitoring their movements and evolutions in a timely manner is a very significant task. Satellite remote sensing has been demonstrated as an effective means for observing dust aerosols. In this paper, an algorithm based on the multi-spectral technique for detecting dust aerosols was developed by combining measurements of moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) reflective solar bands and thermal emissive bands. Data from dust events that occurred during the past several years were collected as training data for spectral and statistical analyses. According to the spectral curves of various scene types, a series of spectral bands was selected individually or jointly, and corresponding thresholds were defined for step-by-step scene classification. The multi-spectral algorithm was applied mainly to detect dust storms in Asia. The detection results were validated not only visually with MODIS true color images, but also quantitatively with products of Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and Cloud Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP). The validations showed that this multi-spectral detection algorithm was suitable to monitor dust aerosols in the selected study areas.
A Study of Spatial Soil Moisture Estimation Using a Multiple Linear Regression Model and MODIS Land Surface Temperature Data Corrected by Conditional Merging
Authors: Jung Chunggil , Lee Yonggwan , Cho Younghyun , Kim Seongjoon
Published: August 2017

This study attempts to estimate spatial soil moisture in South Korea (99,000 km2) from January 2013 to December 2015 using a multiple linear regression (MLR) model and the Terra moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) land surface temperature (LST) and normalized distribution vegetation index (NDVI) data. The MODIS NDVI was used to reflect vegetation variations. Observed precipitation was measured using the automatic weather stations (AWSs) of the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), and soil moisture data were recorded at 58 stations operated by various institutions. Prior to MLR analysis, satellite LST data were corrected by applying the conditional merging (CM) technique and observed LST data from 71 KMA stations. The coefficient of determination (R2) of the original LST and observed LST was 0.71, and the R2 of corrected LST and observed LST was 0.95 for 3 selected LST stations. The R2 values of all corrected LSTs were greater than 0.83 for total 71 LST stations. The regression coefficients of the MLR model were estimated seasonally considering the five-day antecedent precipitation. The p-values of all the regression coefficients were less than 0.05, and the R2 values were between 0.28 and 0.67. The reason for R2 values less than 0.5 is that the soil classification at each observation site was not completely accurate. Additionally, the observations at most of the soil moisture monitoring stations used in this study started in December 2014, and the soil moisture measurements did not stabilize. Notably, R2 and root mean square error (RMSE) in winter were poor, as reflected by the many missing values, and uncertainty existed in observations due to freezing and mechanical errors in the soil. Thus, the prediction accuracy is low in winter due to the difficulty of establishing an appropriate regression model. Specifically, the estimated map of the soil moisture index (SMI) can be used to better understand the severity of droughts with the variability of soil moisture.
RUDO: A Home Ambient Intelligence System for Blind People
Authors: Hudec Milan , Smutny Zdenek
Published: August 2017

The article introduces an ambient intelligence system for blind people which besides providing assistance in home environment also helps with various situations and roles in which blind people may find themselves involved. RUDO, the designed system, comprises several modules that mainly support or ensure recognition of approaching people, alerting to other household members’ movement in the flat, work on a computer, supervision of (sighted) children, cooperation of a sighted and a blind person (e.g., when studying), control of heating and zonal regulation by a blind person. It has a unified user interface that gives the blind person access to individual functions. The interface for blind people offers assistance with work on a computer, including writing in Braille on a regular keyboard and specialized work in informatics and electronics (e.g., programming). RUDO can complement the standard aids used by blind people at home, it increases their independence and creates conditions that allow them to become fully involved. RUDO also supports blind people sharing a home with sighted people, which contributes to their feeling of security and greater inclusion in society. RUDO has been implemented in a household for two years, which allows an evaluation of its use in practice.
A Review of Pedestrian Indoor Positioning Systems for Mass Market Applications
Authors: Correa Alejandro , Barcelo Marc , Morell Antoni , Vicario Jose
Published: August 2017

In the last decade, the interest in Indoor Location Based Services (ILBS) has increased stimulating the development of Indoor Positioning Systems (IPS). In particular, ILBS look for positioning systems that can be applied anywhere in the world for millions of users, that is, there is a need for developing IPS for mass market applications. Those systems must provide accurate position estimations with minimum infrastructure cost and easy scalability to different environments. This survey overviews the current state of the art of IPSs and classifies them in terms of the infrastructure and methodology employed. Finally, each group is reviewed analysing its advantages and disadvantages and its applicability to mass market applications.
A Study Regarding the Representation of the Sun in Young Children’s Spontaneous Drawings
Authors: Villarroel José , Villanueva Xabier
Published: August 2017

Drawing has historically been the preeminent way of portraying the observations of the sun. The study of the early stages of the development of astronomical thought and the examination of human graphic expression indicate this. With that in mind, it is interesting to note that young children very frequently draw the sun in their spontaneous depictions and, also, that there are preliminary indications that this fact might be related to their conceptual development. This study examines 279 pictures that children aged 4 to 8 spontaneously depicted, paying particular attention to their solar representations and the relationship that they have with other pictorial elements. The data is also related to children’s understanding of the inanimate nature of the sun. The results lend weight to the assumption that children do not draw the sun without intent and allow for adding fresh data to the growing body of research showing the importance of considering young children’s graphical expression when it comes to gaining insight into their understanding regarding natural phenomena.
Reframing for Sustainability: Exploring Transformative Power of Benefit Sharing
Authors: Soliev Ilkhom , Theesfeld Insa
Published: August 2017

It is broadly agreed that development needs and effects from changing environment will increase pressure on the ways natural resources are utilized and shared at present. In most parts of the world, resource stress has already reached unprecedented levels setting resource sustainability high on the policy agenda on multiple governance levels. This paper aims to explain how the benefit sharing approach can help reframe the debate for sustainability, its advantages and disadvantages for transforming governance challenges and adapting to increasing resource stress. We bring together fragmented discussions of benefit sharing from three resource domains: water, land, and biodiversity. Both theoretical and empirical examples are provided to aid understanding of how benefit sharing can facilitate adaptive governance processes in complex socio-ecological systems. The findings highlight importance of integrating the long-term perspective when societies move from volumes toward values of shared natural resources, as well as setting environmental conservation and equitable allocation as the top priority for benefit sharing to be sustainable.
Proximity Warning and Excavator Control System for Prevention of Collision Accidents
Authors: Jo Byung-Wan , Lee Yun-Sung , Kim Jung-Hoon , Kim Do-Keun , Choi Pyung-Ho
Published: August 2017

Construction is a hazardous industry in which accidents occur frequently. Occupational accidents at construction sites are a serious public health issue in Korea. Construction site conditions often create dangerous situations by requiring workers and heavy equipment to work in close proximity to each other. In 2015, approximately 11% (46) of the 437 occupational fatalities in the construction industry in Korea resulted from workers colliding with objects or equipment. In this paper, we present a proximity warning system developed to address this issue and enhance safety at construction sites. The proposed technology functions in real time to alert workers and equipment operators of hazardous proximity situations. Also, when the radio frequency identification (RFID) sensor detects an approaching worker, the main board instantly shuts down the excavator for the prevention of accident. This system contains an RFID tag, RFID reader, alarm device, camera, a display device (the Around View Monitor), and excavator control technology. A field test demonstrated successful performance of the proposed system. It is widely applicable in small construction fields alongside excavators and other equipment because this system does not require additional communication infrastructure, such as servers.
A Review of the Economic, Social, and Environmental Impacts of China’s South–North Water Transfer Project: A Sustainability Perspective
Authors: Wilson Maxwell , Li Xiao-Yan , Ma Yu-Jun , Smith Andrew , Wu Jianguo
Published: August 2017

China’s South–North Water Transfer Project (SNWTP) has the potential to transfer as much as 44.8 km3 year−1 of water from the Yangtze River basin to the Yellow River basin. However, the SNWTP has not been assessed from a sustainability perspective. Thus, in this study we evaluated the SNWTP’s economic, social, and environmental impacts by reviewing the English literature published in journals that are part of the Web of Science database. We then synthesized this literature using a Triple Bottom Line framework of sustainability assessment. Our study has led to three main findings: (1) whether the SNWTP is economically beneficial depends largely on model assumptions, meaning that economic gains at the regional and national level are uncertain; (2) the SNWTP requires the resettlement of hundreds of thousands of people and challenges existing water management institutions, suggesting possible social concerns beyond the short term; and (3) evidently large environmental costs in water-providing areas and uncertain environmental benefits in water-receiving areas together point to an uncertain environmental future for the geographic regions involved. Thus, the overall sustainability of SNWTP is seriously questionable. Although much work has been done studying individual aspects of SNWTP’s sustainability, few studies have utilized the multi-scale, transdisciplinary approaches that such a project demands. To minimize environmental risks, ensure social equity, and sustain economic benefits, we suggest that the project be continuously monitored in all three dimensions, and that integrated sustainability assessments and policy improvements be carried out periodically.
Yields of the Major Food Crops: Implications to Food Security and Policy in Tanzania’s Semi-Arid Agro-Ecological Zone
Authors: Mkonda Msafiri , He Xinhua
Published: August 2017

While Tanzania has been facing food shortage for some decades, little efforts have been made to elicit optimal crop yields. To limit this problem, there is a need for a robust agricultural policy that aims at stabilizing agricultural production and socio-economic entitlement among the farmers. The present study analyses the production trend of maize, sorghum and millet (i.e., staple food crops) under rain fed agriculture in Kongwa District, the semi-arid agro-ecological zone of Central Tanzania, and envisage their implications to food security and policy. We collected a set of crop data (1980–2015) from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries. In addition, 400 respondents were sampled randomly in the study area during household survey while a series of interviews and discussions were conducted mostly basing on the expertise. The Mann-Kendall Test and Microsoft excel (window 13) and theme content methods were employed for data analyses. The results showed that the production trends for maize, sorghum and millet yields have been decreasing at R2 = 0.40, 0.35 and 0.11 respectively and this trend was supported by 80% of the respondents. This decrease was greatly influenced by the temporal decrease in the mean annual rainfall (R2 = 0.21). The diminishing production trend has already decreased food security for 30% in the area. Since agricultural policy can be among the main sources of this poor yields, an explicit and sound agricultural policy should be the central aspect in planning and implementing agricultural activities.
Processing, Valorization and Application of Bio-Waste Derived Compounds from Potato, Tomato, Olive and Cereals: A Review
Authors: Fritsch Caroline , Staebler Andreas , Happel Anton , Cubero Márquez Miguel , Aguiló-Aguayo Ingrid , Abadias Maribel , Gallur Miriam , Cigognini Ilaria , Montanari Angela , López Maria , Suárez-Estrella Francisca , Brunton Nigel , Luengo Elisa , Sisti Laura , Ferri Maura , Belotti Gianluca
Published: August 2017

The vast and ever-growing amount of agricultural and food wastes has become a major concern throughout the whole world. Therefore, strategies for their processing and value-added reuse are needed to enable a sustainable utilization of feedstocks and reduce the environmental burden. By-products of potato, tomato, cereals and olive arise in significant amounts in European countries and are consequently of high relevance. Due to their composition with various beneficial ingredients, the waste products can be valorized by different techniques leading to economic and environmental advantages. This paper focuses on the waste generation during industrial processing of potato, tomato, cereals and olives within the European Union and reviews state-of-the-art technologies for their valorization. Furthermore, current applications, future perspectives and challenges are discussed.
Risk Assessment of Nitrogen and Phosphorus Loss in a Hilly-Plain Watershed Based on the Different Hydrological Period: A Case Study in Tiaoxi Watershed
Authors: Ye Hongmeng , Yuan Xuyin , Han Lei , Marip Ja , Qin Jing
Published: August 2017

Non-point source pollution is widely considered a serious threat to drinking water. Eutrophication in Chinese watershed is mainly due to nitrogen and phosphorus output from agricultural source. Taihu Lake is a typical eutrophic lake in China, a basin representative for the study of the temporal-spatial characteristics of pollution loading of nitrogen and phosphorus to provide scientific basis for reasonable estimation and targeted control measures of nitrogen and phosphorus loss. Based on data from nitrogen and phosphorus loss in agricultural land, livestock breeding, domestic discharge and aquaculture, this study calculated the levels of nitrogen and phosphorus comprehensive loss risk for each pollution source. Using the superposition of ArcGIS raster data, we also described the spatial distribution of nitrogen and phosphorus comprehensive loss risk by the formula of comprehensive loss risk. The results showed that critical risk areas of nitrogen and phosphorus loss mainly originated from livestock breeding and agricultural land during flood period in Tiaoxi watershed. Agricultural land and livestock breeding sources formed major parts of nitrogen loss, accounting for 30.85% and 36.18%, respectively, while phosphorus loss mainly originated from livestock breeding (56.28%). During non-flood period, integrated management of livestock breeding and domestic discharge requires much attention to control nitrogen and phosphorus loss in the critical risk area. Finally, it is of great practical significance to propose spatial-temporal targeted measurements to control nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in watershed for various periods and different areas.
Priorities of Coworking Space Operation Based on Comparison of the Hosts and Users’ Perspectives
Authors: Seo Jongseok , Lysiankova Lidziya , Ock Young-Seok , Chun Dongphil
Published: August 2017

More than 1,180,000 people use several thousand coworking spaces these days, but the running of coworking spaces is a rather fragile business model. Coworking spaces need entrepreneurial sustainability as well. Therefore, this study identifies success factors for sustainable business through analysis of users and hosts’ demands and priorities about coworking spaces. To identify the priorities, we conducted a questionnaire survey with 60 hosts and 56 users by using the analytic hierarchy process method. We found that hosts thought community and communication most important, followed by space and interior, service diversity, and price plan, and users considered relationship facilitation the most important, followed by service diversity, price plan, and networking event and party. After discussions with coworking space hosts and users to understand the differences in viewpoints, we combined the results to find the highest priorities. Finally, we identified relationship facilitation, service diversity, and price plan as having the highest priorities for sustainable coworking space operation for both sides. This study has major implications for research into improving management of coworking spaces as it asks users and hosts to select and focus on elements of priority in their decision making for entrepreneurial sustainability and management innovation.
Assessing the Economic Costs of Sea Level Rise and Benefits of Coastal Protection: A Spatiotemporal Approach
Authors: Fu Xinyu , Song Jie
Published: August 2017

Sea level rise (SLR) is believed to be the most dangerous impact of climate change in coastal regions. Adapting to its impacts has become imperative since SLR is now considered inevitable. Lack of local economic analysis of SLR impacts is one of the major obstacles impeding adaptation. To address this gap, this study employs a spatiotemporal approach to estimate the economic costs of future SLR as well as the benefits of coastal protection, a principal adaptation strategy, under four local SLR projection scenarios in the mainland Miami-Dade County, Florida. Our findings indicate that SLR impacts are nonlinear and coastal protection, while costly, can significantly reduce future potential losses. A novel spatial fishnet approach is also proposed to help local decision makers identify areas that should be prioritized for protection. Findings of this study aim to support local adaptation planning, and call for integrating adaptation for SLR and its uncertainties into local planning frameworks to achieve long-term sustainability and well-being of our precious coastal communities.
Evaluation of Bait Station Density for Oral Rabies Vaccination of Raccoons in Urban and Rural Habitats in Florida
Authors: Haley Betsy , Algeo Timothy , Bjorklund Brian , Duffiney Anthony , Hartin Robert , Martin Ashlee , Nelson Kathleen , Chipman Richard , Slate Dennis
Published: August 2017

Efforts to eliminate the raccoon variant of the rabies virus (raccoon rabies) in the eastern United States by USDA, APHIS, Wildlife Services and cooperators have included the distribution of oral rabies vaccine baits from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) bait stations in west-central Florida from 2009 to 2015. Achieving sufficient vaccine bait uptake among urban raccoons is problematic, given limitations on aerial and vehicle-based bait distribution for safety and other reasons. One or three bait stations/km2 were deployed across four 9-km2 sites within rural and urban sites in Pasco and Pinellas Counties, Florida. Based on tetracycline biomarker analysis, bait uptake was only significantly different among the urban (Pinellas County) high and low bait station densities in 2012 (p = 0.0133). Significant differences in RVNA were found between the two bait station densities for both urban 2011 and 2012 samples (p = 0.0054 and p = 0.0031). Landscape differences in terms of urban structure and human population density may modify raccoon travel routes and behavior enough for these differences to emerge in highly urbanized Pinellas County, but not in rural Pasco County. The results suggest that, in urban settings, bait stations deployed at densities of >1/km2 are likely to achieve higher seroprevalence as an index of population immunity critical to successful raccoon rabies control.
U.S. Metropolitan Spatial Structure Evolution: Investigating Spatial Patterns of Employment Growth from 2000 to 2010
Authors: Huang Xiaoyan , Yang Jiawen , Güneralp Burak , Burris Mark
Published: August 2017

Urban spatial structure evolution, when using employment as the proxy, can be explained by the change of employment distribution. In this study, we measure the 361 US metro areas (metros) by employment shares, in five submetro sections (i.e., main-center, sub-centers, non-center clusters, non-cluster urban areas, and rural areas), and explore the spatial patterns of submetro growths. We use recognized methods to delimit urban and rural areas, identify employment centers with relative thresholds, and categorize the metros into three (i.e., small, midsize, and large) categories. Then we use descriptive statistics to determine the dynamics of employment growth in the five submetro sections. The results suggest that metros’ spatial structures and growth patterns vary greatly across different size categories. We found that (1) small metros tend to have growth in the main-center or non-cluster urban areas; (2) midsize metros may be in the critical period of forming sub-centers, which also may be an effective way to curb urban expansion into rural areas; and, (3) the five submetro growths in large metros tend to be positively associated with one another, except for the main-center.
The TRIMendous Role of TRIMs in Virus–Host Interactions
Authors: Van Tol Sarah , Hage Adam , Giraldo Maria , Bharaj Preeti , Rajsbaum Ricardo
Published: August 2017

The innate antiviral response is integral in protecting the host against virus infection. Many proteins regulate these signaling pathways including ubiquitin enzymes. The ubiquitin-activating (E1), -conjugating (E2), and -ligating (E3) enzymes work together to link ubiquitin, a small protein, onto other ubiquitin molecules or target proteins to mediate various effector functions. The tripartite motif (TRIM) protein family is a group of E3 ligases implicated in the regulation of a variety of cellular functions including cell cycle progression, autophagy, and innate immunity. Many antiviral signaling pathways, including type-I interferon and NF-κB, are TRIM-regulated, thus influencing the course of infection. Additionally, several TRIMs directly restrict viral replication either through proteasome-mediated degradation of viral proteins or by interfering with different steps of the viral replication cycle. In addition, new studies suggest that TRIMs can exert their effector functions via the synthesis of unconventional polyubiquitin chains, including unanchored (non-covalently attached) polyubiquitin chains. TRIM-conferred viral inhibition has selected for viruses that encode direct and indirect TRIM antagonists. Furthermore, new evidence suggests that the same antagonists encoded by viruses may hijack TRIM proteins to directly promote virus replication. Here, we describe numerous virus–TRIM interactions and novel roles of TRIMs during virus infections.
Leaner, Healthier, Happier Together––A Family-Centred Approach to Weight Loss with the Overweight Dog and Her Caregivers
Authors: Candellone Alessia , Morgan David , Buttignol Simona , Meineri Giorgia
Published: August 2017

Obesity represents a one of the most significant healthcare issues facing human and companion animal populations worldwide. A complex relationship commonly exists between owners and their companion animal, particularly around feeding behaviour. Obese companion animals commonly live alongside caregivers who are also struggling with their own body weight. This case report highlights the importance of a family-centred approach to canine obesity as a way to engage with the pet’s caregivers to help maximize their compliance towards the successful implementation of a tailored weight loss programme. Lara, an overweight dog weighing 35 kilos with a body condition score (BCS) of 7–7.5/9, was referred for a nutritional assessment. A comprehensive, pro-active and multidisciplinary protocol, tailored towards a family-centred approach, was established. After a 16-week programme, Lara reached the target body weight. The caregivers’ compliance was assessed as being excellent; they also reassessed their individual lifestyle and were able to increase awareness towards their own nutritional issues and body weight perception, resulting in weight loss in all caregivers. Lara’s case report represents how a family-centred approach can lead to successful patient weight loss and to a modification in the caregivers’ way of thinking about nutrition and their own lifestyle, with the final goal of living a healthier and longer life together.
Approximate Explicit Solution to the Green-Ampt Infiltration Model for Estimating Wetting Front Depth
Authors: Nie Wei-Bo , Li Yi-Bo , Fei Liang-Jun , Ma Xiao-Yi
Published: August 2017

Obtaining reliable information on the wetting front depth of soil is beneficial to the understanding of one-dimensional (1D) vertical infiltration under border irrigation. This paper presents an approximate explicit solution to the Green-Ampt (GA) infiltration model for estimating the wetting front depth. Moreover, the model proposed in this study, the GA model, the Ali model, and the Stone model were validated and evaluated using laboratory experimental data and HYDRUS-1D simulation. Statistical comparisons (root mean square error-RMSE, mean absolute percent relative error-MAPRE, and percent bias-PB) of the estimated data with the measured and simulated data were conducted. The models were ranked on the basis of their overall performance index (OPI). The results demonstrated that all four models can be used to estimate the wetting front depth of 1D vertical infiltration for a wide range of soil textures; the proposed model provided the most accurate result. According to comparisons of the estimated values with the measured and simulated values, the maximum RMSE, MAPRE, and PB were 1.74 cm, 6.92%, and −6.74%, respectively, for the proposed model. On the basis of the OPI, the optimal model was the proposed model, followed by the Ali, GA, and Stone models.
Methionine-mediated synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles and functionalization with gold quantum dots for theranostic applications
Authors: Jagminas Arūnas , Mikalauskaitė Agnė , Karabanovas Vitalijus , Vaičiūnienė Jūrate
Published: August 2017

Biocompatible superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (NPs) through smart chemical functionalization of their surface with fluorescent species, therapeutic proteins, antibiotics, and aptamers offer remarkable potential for diagnosis and therapy of disease sites at their initial stage of growth. Such NPs can be obtained by the creation of proper linkers between magnetic NP and fluorescent or drug probes. One of these linkers is gold, because it is chemically stable, nontoxic and capable to link various biomolecules. In this study, we present a way for a simple and reliable decoration the surface of magnetic NPs with gold quantum dots (QDs) containing more than 13.5% of Au+. Emphasis is put on the synthesis of magnetic NPs by co-precipitation using the amino acid methionine as NP growth-stabilizing agent capable to later reduce and attach gold species. The surface of these NPs can be further conjugated with targeting and chemotherapy agents, such as cancer stem cell-related antibodies and the anticancer drug doxorubicin, for early detection and improved treatment. In order to verify our findings, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), FTIR spectroscopy, inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) of as-formed CoFe2O4 NPs before and after decoration with gold QDs were applied.
The Little Cub: Discovery of an Extremely Metal-poor Star-forming Galaxy in the Local Universe
Authors: Hsyu Tiffany , Cooke Ryan J. , Prochaska J. Xavier , Bolte Michael
Published: August 2017

We report the discovery of the Little Cub, an extremely metal-poor star-forming galaxy in the local universe, found in the constellation Ursa Major (a.k.a. the Great Bear). We first identified the Little Cub as a candidate metal-poor galaxy based on its Sloan Digital Sky Survey photometric colors, combined with spectroscopy using the Kast spectrograph on the Shane 3 m telescope at Lick Observatory. In this Letter, we present high-quality spectroscopic data taken with the Low Resolution Imaging Spectrometer at Keck Observatory, which confirm the extremely metal-poor nature of this galaxy. Based on the weak [O iii] λ4363 Å emission line, we estimate a direct oxygen abundance of 12 + log(O/H) = 7.13 ± 0.08, making the Little Cub one of the lowest-metallicity star-forming galaxies currently known in the local universe. The Little Cub appears to be a companion of the spiral galaxy NGC 3359 and shows evidence of gas stripping. We may therefore be witnessing the quenching of a near-pristine galaxy as it makes its first passage about a Milky Way–like galaxy.
Extended Subadiabatic Layer in Simulations of Overshooting Convection
Authors: Käpylä Petri J. , Rheinhardt Matthias , Brandenburg Axel , Arlt Rainer , Käpylä Maarit J. , Lagg Andreas , Olspert Nigul , Warnecke Jörn
Published: August 2017

We present numerical simulations of hydrodynamic overshooting convection in local Cartesian domains. We find that a substantial fraction of the lower part of the convection zone (CZ) is stably stratified according to the Schwarzschild criterion while the enthalpy flux is outward directed. This occurs when the heat conduction profile at the bottom of the CZ is smoothly varying, based either on a Kramers-like opacity prescription as a function of temperature and density or a static profile of a similar shape. We show that the subadiabatic layer arises due to nonlocal energy transport by buoyantly driven downflows in the upper parts of the CZ. Analysis of the force balance of the upflows and downflows confirms that convection is driven by cooling at the surface. We find that the commonly used prescription for the convective enthalpy flux being proportional to the negative entropy gradient does not hold in the stably stratified layers where the flux is positive. We demonstrate the existence of a non-gradient contribution to the enthalpy flux, which is estimated to be important throughout the convective layer. A quantitative analysis of downflows indicates a transition from a tree-like structure where smaller downdrafts merge into larger ones in the upper parts to a structure in the deeper parts where a height-independent number of strong downdrafts persist. This change of flow topology occurs when a substantial subadiabatic layer is present in the lower part of the CZ.
Taxonomic identification using geometric morphometric approach and limited data: an example using the upper molars of two sympatric species of Calomys (Cricetidae: Rodentia)
Authors: Lima Boroni Natália , Lobo Leonardo Souza , Romano Pedro Seyferth R. , Lessa Gisele
Published: August 2017

The taxonomic identification of micromammals might be complicated when the study material is fragmented, as it is the case with pellets and fossil material. On the other hand, tooth morphology generally provides accurate information for species identification. Teeth preserve notably well, retaining their original morphology, unlike skulls and mandibles, which can get crushed or have missing parts. Here, we explored a geometric morphometrics approach (GM) to identify fragmented specimens of two sympatric Calomys Waterhouse, 1837 species – Calomys tener (Winge, 1888) and Calomys expulsus (Lund, 1841) – using the morphology of intact molars as the basis for identification. Furthermore, we included some specimens of uncertain taxonomic identification to test their affinities and the utility of the shape of the molar to identify incomplete specimens. We evaluated the variations in the shape of the first upper molar (M1) among 46 owl pellets specimens of Calomys, including C. expulsus (n = 15), C. tener (n = 15), and unidentified specimens treated as Calomys sp. (n = 16) through GM analysis using 17 landmarks. The data was explored using PCA, PERMANOVA, and Discriminant analyses over the Procrustes residuals matrix were applied to evaluate inter- and intraspecific shape differences. Also, we evaluated whether allometric shape differences could impact the data, but found no evidence of a correlation between size and shape. Our results support that shape differences in the M1 are effective for discriminating between C. tener and C. expulsus. Moreover, the unidentified specimens do not represent a third shape but could be identified with confidence either as C. tener or C. expulsus. Our results show that even with fragmentary materials, GM is a feasible and useful tool for exploring inter-specific shape differences and assisting in taxonomic identification as a complement to traditional qualitative description of diagnostic features in poorly preserved specimens.
Range-Wide and Regional Patterns of Population Structure and Genetic Diversity in the Gopher Tortoise
Authors: Gaillard D. , Ennen J.R. , Kreiser B.R. , Qualls C.P. , Sweat S.C. , Birkhead R. , Tuberville T.D. , Aresco M. , McCoy E.D. , Mushinsky H.R. , Hentges T.W.
Published: August 2017

The gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) has experienced dramatic population declines throughout its distribution in the southeastern United States and is federally listed as threatened in the area west of the Tombigbee and Mobile rivers. While there is molecular support for recognizing the listed portion of the range as genetically distinct, other research has suggested that additional population structure exists at both range-wide and regional scales. In this study, we sought to comprehensively define genetic population structure at both spatial scales by doubling the data available in terms of the number of sampling sites, individuals, and microsatellite loci compared to previously published work. We also compared patterns of genetic diversity, gene flow, and demographic history across the range. We collected 933 individuals from 47 sampling sites across the range and genotyped them for 20 microsatellite loci. Our range-wide analyses supported the recognition of five genetic groups (or regions) delineated by the Tombigbee and Mobile rivers, Apalachicola and Chattahoochee rivers, and the transitional areas between several physiographic province sections of the Coastal Plains (i.e., Eastern Gulf, Sea Island, and Floridian). We found genetic admixture at sampling sites along the boundaries of these genetically defined groups. We detected some degree of additional genetic structure within each of the five regions. Notably, within the range listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, we found some support for two additional genetic groups loosely delineated by the Pascagoula and Chickasawhay rivers, and we detected four more genetic groups within the Florida region that seemed to reflect the influence of the local physiography. Additionally, our range-wide analysis found the periphery of the range had lower levels of genetic diversity relative to the core. We suggest that the five main genetic groups delineated in our study warrant recognition as management units in terms of conservation planning. Intraregional population structure also points to the potential importance of other barriers to gene flow at finer spatial scales, although additional work is needed to better delineate these genetic groups.