bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A novel trigger for pseudospark switch with high repetition rate, low jitter, and compact structure
Authors: Yan Jiaqi , Shen Saikang , Wang Yanan , Zhang Siyu , Cheng Le , Ding Weidong
Published: June 2018

This paper presents the design and development of a trigger with a high repetition rate, low jitter, and compact structure for the pseudospark switch (PSS), which includes an improved Marx generator based on avalanche transistors and a corona-plasma trigger unit. The generator adopted a novel 3 × 12-stage Marx circuit based on avalanche transistors in which the failure rate of transistors in the first and second stages was significantly reduced by connecting the parallel capacitors compared to the previous similar generator. The reason for the improved performance was also discussed. The main parameters of output pulses were an amplitude of −7 kV, rise time of 6 ns, jitter of 0.2 ns, and repetition rate of 2 kHz. The corona-plasma trigger unit adopted BaTiO3 ceramics with high εr as the dielectric and was arranged in the hollow cathode of the PSS. The experiments of triggering a PSS prototype were conducted. The influence of anode voltage and pressure on the trigger delay and jitter was studied, and the minimum trigger jitter achieved <1 ns. This trigger worked for 107 shots at the repetition rate of 2 kHz continuously without obvious performance degradation and any failure of the generator. The main advantage of this trigger is the simultaneous combination of the high repetition rate, low jitter, long lifetime, and great simplicity in a compact structure.
Leakage mechanisms in GaN-on-GaN vertical pn diodes
Authors: Rackauskas B. , Dalcanale S. , Uren M. J. , Kachi T. , Kuball M.
Published: June 2018

Reverse bias leakage in bulk GaN-on-GaN pn diodes has been studied as a function of time. A peak was observed in the current transient and attributed to impurity band conduction along dislocations which is modulated by the field effect of charged decorating clusters. This model is consistent with reports of vacancy clustering around dislocations during growth.
Species-specific male pollinators found for three native New Zealand greenhood orchids (Pterostylis spp.) suggest pollination by sexual deception
Authors: Thalwitzer Liezl , Kelly Dave , Smissen Rob D. , Butler Ruth , Suckling David M. , El-Sayed Ashraf
Published: June 2018

Many orchids achieve pollination by deceptive means. Sexually deceptive orchids are pollinated by male insects, which are lured to flowers that mimic the sex pheromones and/or appearance of their female conspecifics. This specialised pollination strategy was recently confirmed for the first time in a Pterostylis species in Australia. We investigated whether this pollination strategy may also be operating in Pterostylis species in New Zealand where generalised plant–insect pollination strategies are most commonly documented. The breeding systems of Pterostylis oliveri Petrie and Pterostylis irsoniana Hatch were investigated in the field with pollination treatments. Sticky traps were set up over flowering P. oliveri, P. irsoniana and Pterostylis venosa Colenso to catch potential pollinators of the flowers. Insects caught carrying orchid pollinia were identified, and the pollinia were identified to plant species with nuclear rDNA internal transcribed spacer (nrDNA ITS) sequences. Both P. oliveri and P. irsoniana were found to be self-compatible, but dependent on insects for pollination. Pollinia from each of the three Pterostylis spp. were found to be carried species-specifically by male fungus gnats (Diptera: Mycetophilidae): only Mycetophila latifascia fungus gnats carried the pollinia of P. oliveri, Morganiella fusca gnats carried the pollinia of P. irsoniana, and Tetragoneura sp. carried the pollinia of P. venosa. The pollinator specificity indicates that each of the male fungus gnat species was attracted to the flowers of a specific Pterostylis orchid. This strongly suggests that each of the orchid species emit a specific floral volatile, most probably resembling the sex pheromones of the female conspecifics, to lure their male pollinators. These are the first documented cases of highly specialised sexually deceptive pollination in New Zealand orchids, which were thought to be predominantly self-pollinating.
Modulating cell state to enhance suspension expansion of human pluripotent stem cells
Authors: Lipsitz Yonatan Y. , Woodford Curtis , Yin Ting , Hanna Jacob H. , Zandstra Peter W.
Published: June 2018

Significance

Efficient manufacturing is critical for the translation of cell-based therapies to clinical applications. To date, high-yield expansion of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC) in suspension bioreactors has not been reported. Here, we present a strategy to shift suspension-grown hPSC to a high-yield state without compromising their ability to differentiate to all three germ layers. In this new state, hPSC expand to densities 5.7 ± 0.2-fold higher than conventional hPSC each passage in suspension bioreactors. High-density suspension cultures enable process intensification, cost reduction, and more efficient manufacturing. This work advances cell-state engineering as a valuable tool to overcome current challenges in therapeutic cell production and processing.
Potassic, high-silica Hadean crust
Authors: Boehnke Patrick , Bell Elizabeth A. , Stephan Thomas , Trappitsch Reto , Keller C. Brenhin , Pardo Olivia S. , Davis Andrew M. , Harrison T. Mark , Pellin Michael J.
Published: June 2018

Significance

To understand early Earth’s habitability, we need to know when the continental crust first formed. However, due to the combined actions of plate tectonics and erosion, most of the evidence of the early crust has been destroyed. To shed light on this debate, we analyzed the strontium isotopic composition of apatite inclusions in zircons from Nuvvuagittuq, Canada, where independent evidence suggests a crust-forming event prior to 4.2 Ga, possibly as early as 4.4 Ga. Our results show that this early crust had a high Rb/Sr ratio and therefore a high silica content. This suggests that the early Earth was capable of forming continental crust within <350 million y of solar system formation.
Regulation of stringent factor by branched-chain amino acids
Authors: Fang Mingxu , Bauer Carl E.
Published: June 2018

Significance

Stringent response is an important physiological process in microorganisms mediated by the alarmone molecules (p)ppGpp. RelA/SpoT homolog (RSH) proteins regulate the cellular alarmone concentration by their dual function as both synthetase and hydrolase. It has been known for decades that RSH proteins have an amino acid-binding ACT domain, with its role unknown. Here, we show that the ACT domain of Rel from
Rhodobacter capsulatus
indeed binds branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) and that this binding increases its hydrolase activity. Thus, even though the stringent response is well known to be initiated by activation of alarmone synthetase activity via an interaction of Rel proteins with stalled ribosomes, there also exists another trigger involving the inhibition of (p)ppGpp hydrolysis via BCAA depletion.
Distinguishing malignant from benign microscopic skin lesions using desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry imaging
Authors: Margulis Katherine , Chiou Albert S. , Aasi Sumaira Z. , Tibshirani Robert J. , Tang Jean Y. , Zare Richard N.
Published: June 2018

Significance

Timely detection of microscopic tumors is of utmost importance in cancer diagnostics. We show that desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry imaging (DESI-MSI) can successfully locate microscopic aggregates of a common skin cancer, basal cell carcinoma (BCC), and distinguish them from adjacent normal skin. DESI-MSI unveils an altered chemical profile in BCC region, including lipids and metabolites, and does not rely on visual identification of histopathologic features. We processed specimens from 86 Mohs micrographic surgeries, with nearly 60% of tumors sized less than 1 mm in diameter. By applying the statistical method of least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Lasso) on collected DESI-MSI data, we were able to achieve up to 94.1% diagnostic accuracy compared with pathological evaluation of BCC.
Multi-method research
Authors: Tuominen Tiina
Published: June 2018

This chapter discusses research approaches that investigate reception in its context, both the audiovisual context in which the translation appears and the social context in which it is being viewed. The studies introduced in this chapter include thematic studies which focus on examining the viewers’ interpretations of a specific aspect of the translated programme, as well as wide-ranging studies which explore viewers’ attitudes and expectations towards audiovisual translations. The methods introduced in the chapter include questionnaires with qualitative and quantitative approaches, interviews, focus group research, observation, and some novel research approaches arising from the model of user-centered translation and the concepts of usability and user experience. Finally, the chapter argues for the benefits of large-scale, collective research approaches and replication of research designs in a variety of contexts.
Reception studies in audiovisual translation – interlingual subtitling
Authors: Nikolić Kristijan
Published: June 2018

Interlingual subtitling is the principal way of translating audiovisual content in many countries. It has been descriptively studied by scholars in numerous books and articles. However, studies attempting to tackle this phenomenon empirically, such as reception studies, have been scarce until recently, and only over the last couple of years have such studies become more common. The reason for the relative scarcity of empirical research in interlingual subtitling is its complexity. Finding the right subjects, using the adequate technology and obtaining funding may be a complicated and lengthy process. For instance, eye tracking technology started to be used only recently in studies that offered scholars concrete findings about viewers’ reception. But is eye tracking the only valid research method? This chapter follows the developments in empirical research into interlingual subtitling, introducing the findings of such research and suggesting future directions.
On the reception of mobile content
Authors: Fernández Costales Alberto
Published: June 2018

The reception of translated audiovisual contents in mobile devices has been largely ignored in Translation Studies. The current chapter is intended to identify key areas and challenges for research in Audiovisual Translation, so we can have a better understanding of how mobile contents are received and appreciated by users. Research in this field is modulated by the hybridity of audiovisual texts in mobile phones, since this type of text is multimodal, multichannel, and multiplatform. A second challenge is the potential target of mobile contents: the notion of audience(s) needs to be revisited in the new scenario, where ubiquity, immediacy, and global access to digital contents have sparked the diversification of users’ profiles. The spotlight of this chapter is on research opportunities within the reception of mobile contents; the complexity of investigating new types of global audiences clearly demands interdisciplinary approaches and research designs.
Immunostimulatory effect on dendritic cells of the adjuvant-active exopolysaccharide from Leuconostoc mesenteroides strain NTM048
Authors: Matsuzaki Chiaki , Takagaki Chikahiro , Higashimura Yasuki , Nakashima Yukari , Hosomi Koji , Kunisawa Jun , Yamamoto Kenji , Hisa Keiko
Published: June 2018

This study evaluated the immunostimulative effect on bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (DCs) of adjuvant-active exopolysaccharide (EPS) produced by Leuconostoc mesenteroides strain NTM048. EPS stimulation increased IL-6, IL-10, IL-12, and retinal dehydrogenase (RALDH) gene expression levels and induced retinoic acid-synthesizing RALDH-active DCs, which play a crucially important role in controlling adaptive immune responses in mucosa.
Workload and non‐contact injury incidence in elite football players competing in European leagues
Authors: Delecroix Barthelemy , McCall Alan , Dawson Brian , Berthoin Serge , Dupont Gregory
Published: June 2018

Purpose: The aim of this study was to analyse the relationship between absolute and acute:chronic workload ratios and non‐contact injury incidence in professional football players and to assess their predictive ability. Methods: Elite football players (n = 130) from five teams competing in European domestic and confederation level competitions were followed during one full competitive season. Non‐contact injuries were recorded and using session rate of perceived exertion (s‐RPE) internal absolute workload and acute:chronic (A:C) workload ratios (4‐weeks, 3‐weeks, 2‐weeks and week‐to‐week) were calculated using a rolling days method. Results: The relative risk (RR) of non‐contact injury was increased (RR = 1.59, CI95%: 1.18–2.15) when a cumulative 4‐week absolute workload was greater than 10629 arbitrary units (AU) in comparison with a workload between 3745 and 10628 AU. When the 3‐week absolute workload was more than 8319 AU versus between 2822 and 8318 AU injury risk was also increased (RR= 1.46, CI95% 1.08–1.98). Injury incidence was higher when the 4‐week A:C ratio was <0.85 versus >0.85 (RR = 1.31, CI95%: 1.02–1.70) and with a 3‐week A:C ratio >1.30 versus <1.30 (RR = 1.37, CI95%: 1.05–1.77). Importantly, none of the A:C workload combinations showed high sensitivity or specificity. Conclusions: In elite European footballers, using internal workload (sRPE) revealed that cumulative workloads over 3 and 4 weeks were associated with injury incidence. Additionally, A:C workloads, using combinations of 2, 3 and 4 weeks as the C workloads were also associated with increased injury risk. No A:C workload combination was appropriate to predict injury.
The final report for APMP.M.M-K6.1: key comparison of 50 kg stainless steel mass standard
Authors: Lee Sungjun , Becerra Luis Omar , Zhong Ruilin
Published: June 2018

This report describes the result of an Asia Pacific Metrology Programme (APMP) regional comparison of 50 kg stainless steel mass standard carried out among three laboratories as a collaboration among inter-Regional Metrology Organization (RMO) programs. One weight of nominal value 50 kg has been prepared by CENAM (Mexico) of Sistema Interamericano de MetrologÃ­a (SIM) for this APMP comparison as an international collaboration. The reported results by participants are consistent with each other and with the key comparison reference value (KCRV) of comparison, CCM.M-K6 to which this comparison has been linked

KEY WORDS FOR SEARCH

Mass standard

Main text

To reach the main text of this paper, click on Final Report. Note that this text is that which appears in Appendix B of the BIPM key comparison database kcdb.bipm.org/.

The final report has been peer-reviewed and approved for publication by the CCM, according to the provisions of the CIPM Mutual Recognition Arrangement (CIPM MRA).
A Comparison of Strains Induced by Manufacturing and Operational Conditions of a Tantalum Clad Tungsten Plate of an ISIS TS1 Solid Target
Authors: Ma Yanling , Jenkins David , Kabra Saurabh , Zhang Shu Yan
Published: June 2018

This paper aims to reveal the relationship between two sets of residual strains. One set of the strains were induced by manufacturing when the Tantalum (Ta) cladding was diffusion bonded to the Tungsten (W) core by Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) process. Another set of strains was induced during target operations, i.e., when the HIPPED target plates were further bombarded by proton beams for neutron production. The former set was revealed by Neutron Diffraction Measurement (NDM) using the ISIS Engin-X instrument. The latter set was obtained via Finite Element Analysis (FEA) on the ISIS TS1 target assembly. The comparison and superposition of these two sets of strains demonstrated mainly an overall reduction of about 50 micro strains within the Ta cladding. Namely, the strains induced during the TS1 target operation could be beneficial for the specific region of target plate number five (P5) in this case.
Silicon chemistry for sustainable development of rice agriculture
Authors: Karyasa I W
Published: June 2018

The literature reviewed paper was aimed to explain the role of paddy’s plantation for reserving silica powder, to explain the current developing of advanced materials from the high siliconeous rice plant biomasses, to propose a scheme of value addition of paddy’s biomasses for sustainable rice agriculture development. A comprehensive literature review through meta analysis on articles published in last few decades was conducted. Because of high silicon content of rice biomasses especially rice straws and husks and their abundance in availability, the rich silicon biomasses can be used as raw material for producing a high purity reactive fine powder silica, and unexpesive and environment-friendly production processes. Current development results on advanced materials from the rich siliconeous biomasses were reported, namely silicon carbides, amorphous reactive silica, nanosilica, and silica-carbon nanocomposite. The implementation of silicon chemistry takes important role for enhancing the added value of rice husks and straws as the side products of paddy’s agriculture to produce some advanced materials inexpensively and environment-friendly. The added values can be considered to overcome the problems of lack paddy’s farmer income and the land conversion tendency of rice field, thus the paddy’s agriculture can be developed sustainably.
ATAC-pipe: general analysis of genome-wide chromatin accessibility
Authors: Zuo Zuqi , Jin Yonghao , Zhang Wen , Lu Yichen , Li Bin , Qu Kun
Published: June 2018

Assay of Transposase-Accessible Chromatin by deep sequencing (ATAC-seq) has been widely used to profile the chromatin accessibility genome-wide. For the absence of an integrated scheme for deep data mining of specific biological issues, here we present ATAC-pipe, an efficient pipeline for general analysis of chromatin accessibility data obtained from ATAC-seq experiments. ATAC-pipe captures information includes not only the quality of original data and genome-wide chromatin accessibility but also signatures of significant differential peaks, transcription factor (TF) occupancy and nucleosome positions around regulatory sites. In addition, ATAC-pipe automatically converts statistic results into intuitive plots at publication quality, such as the read length distribution, heatmaps of sample clustering and cell-type-specific regulatory elements, enriched TF occupancy with motifs footprints and TF-driven regulatory networks. ATAC-pipe provides convenient workflow for researchers to study chromatin accessibility and gene regulation.

Availability https://github.com/QuKunLab/ATAC-pipe
Detection of multi-dimensional co-exclusion patterns in microbial communities
Authors: Albayrak Levent , Khanipov Kamil , Golovko George , Fofanov Yuriy
Published: June 2018

Motivation

Identification of complex relationships among members of microbial communities is key to understand and control the microbiota. Co-exclusion is arguably one of the most important patterns reflecting micro-organisms’ intolerance to each other’s presence. Knowing these relations opens an opportunity to manipulate microbiotas, personalize anti-microbial and probiotic treatments as well as guide microbiota transplantation. The co-exclusion pattern however, cannot be appropriately described by a linear function nor its strength be estimated using covariance or (negative) Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients. This manuscript proposes a way to quantify the strength and evaluate the statistical significance of co-exclusion patterns between two, three or more variables describing a microbiota and allows one to extend analysis beyond micro-organism abundance by including other microbiome associated measurements such as, pH, temperature etc., as well as estimate the expected numbers of false positive co-exclusion patterns in a co-exclusion network.

Results

The implemented computational pipeline (CoEx) tested against 2380 microbial profiles (samples) from The Human Microbiome Project resulted in body-site specific pairwise co-exclusion patterns.

Availability and implementation

C++ source code for calculation of the score and P-value for two, three and four dimensional co-exclusion patterns as well as source code and executable files for the CoEx pipeline are available at https://scsb.utmb.edu/labgroups/fofanov/co-exclusion_in_microbial_communities.asp.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Disentangling the Stress Process: Race/Ethnic Differences in the Exposure and Appraisal of Chronic Stressors Among Older Adults
Authors: Brown Lauren L , Mitchell Uchechi A , Ailshire Jennifer A
Published: June 2018

Objectives

Exposure to stressors is differentially distributed by race/ethnicity with minority groups reporting a higher stress burden than their white counterparts. However, to really understand the extent to which some groups bear a disproportionate stress burden, we need to consider race/ethnic differences in stress appraisal, specifically how upsetting stressors may be, in addition to stress exposure. We examine racial/ethnic differences in both the number of reported chronic stressors across five domains (health, financial, residential, relationship, and caregiving) and their appraised stressfulness among a diverse sample of older adults.

Method

Data come from 6,567 adults ages 52+ from the 2006 Health and Retirement Study.

Results

Results show older blacks, U.S. and foreign-born Hispanics report more chronic stress exposure than whites and are two to three times as likely to experience financial strain and housing-related stress. Socioeconomic factors fully explain the Hispanic–white difference in stress exposure, but black–white differences remain. Despite experiencing a greater number of stressors, blacks and U.S.-born Hispanics are less likely to be upset by exposure to stressors than whites. U.S.-born Hispanics are less upset by relationship-based stressors specifically, while blacks are less upset across all stress domains in fully-adjusted models. Foreign-born Hispanics are only less upset by caregiving strain.

Discussion

The distinction between exposure and appraisal-based measures of stress may shed light on important pathways that differentially contribute to race/ethnic physical and mental health disparities.
Ensemble-based estimates of eigenvector error for empirical covariance matrices
Authors: Taylor Dane , Restrepo Juan G , Meyer François G
Published: June 2018

Covariance matrices are fundamental to the analysis and forecast of economic, physical and biological systems. Although the eigenvalues $\{\lambda _i\}$ and eigenvectors $\{\boldsymbol{u}_i\}$ of a covariance matrix are central to such endeavours, in practice one must inevitably approximate the covariance matrix based on data with finite sample size $n$ to obtain empirical eigenvalues $\{\tilde{\lambda }_i\}$ and eigenvectors $\{\tilde{\boldsymbol{u}}_i\}$, and therefore understanding the error so introduced is of central importance. We analyse eigenvector error $\|\boldsymbol{u}_i - \tilde{\boldsymbol{u}}_i \|^2$ while leveraging the assumption that the true covariance matrix having size $p$ is drawn from a matrix ensemble with known spectral properties—particularly, we assume the distribution of population eigenvalues weakly converges as $p\to \infty $ to a spectral density $\rho (\lambda )$ and that the spacing between population eigenvalues is similar to that for the Gaussian orthogonal ensemble. Our approach complements previous analyses of eigenvector error that require the full set of eigenvalues to be known, which can be computationally infeasible when $p$ is large. To provide a scalable approach for uncertainty quantification of eigenvector error, we consider a fixed eigenvalue $\lambda $ and approximate the distribution of the expected square error $r= \mathbb{E}\left [\| \boldsymbol{u}_i - \tilde{\boldsymbol{u}}_i \|^2\right ]$ across the matrix ensemble for all $\boldsymbol{u}_i$ associated with $\lambda _i=\lambda $. We find, for example, that for sufficiently large matrix size $p$ and sample size $n> p$, the probability density of $r$ scales as $1/nr^2$. This power-law scaling implies that the eigenvector error is extremely heterogeneous—even if $r$ is very small for most eigenvectors, it can be large for others with non-negligible probability. We support this and further results with numerical experiments.
Clinical decision support directed to primary care patients and providers reduces cardiovascular risk: a randomized trial
Authors: Sperl-Hillen JoAnn M , Crain A Lauren , Margolis Karen L , Ekstrom Heidi L , Appana Deepika , Amundson Gerald , Sharma Rashmi , Desai Jay R , O’Connor Patrick J
Published: June 2018

Objective

To test the hypothesis that use of a clinical decision support (CDS) system in a primary care setting can reduce cardiovascular (CV) risk in patients.

Materials and Methods

Twenty primary care clinics were randomly assigned to usual care (UC) or CDS. For CDS clinic patients identified algorithmically with high CV risk, rooming staff were prompted by the electronic health record (EHR) to print CDS that identified evidence-based treatment options for lipid, blood pressure, weight, tobacco, or aspirin management and prioritized them based on potential benefit to the patient. The intention-to-treat analysis included 7914 adults who met high CV risk criteria at an index clinic visit and had at least one post-index visit, accounted for clustering, and assessed impact on predicted annual rate of change in 10-year CV risk over a 14-month period.

Results

The CDS was printed at 75% of targeted visits, and providers reported 85% to 98% satisfaction with various aspects of the intervention. Predicted annual rate of change in absolute 10-year CV risk was significantly better in CDS clinics than in UC clinics (-0.59% vs. +1.66%, −2.24%; P < .001), with difference in 10-year CV risk at 12 months post-index favoring the CDS group (UC 24.4%, CDS 22.5%, P < .03).

Discussion

Deploying to both patients and providers within primary care visit workflow and limiting CDS display and print burden to two mouse clicks by rooming staff contributed to high CDS use rates and high provider satisfaction.

Conclusion

This EHR-integrated, web-based outpatient CDS system significantly improved 10-year CV risk trajectory in targeted adults.
Extreme Conditional Tail Moment Estimation under Serial Dependence
Authors: Hoga Yannick
Published: June 2018

A wide range of risk measures can be written as functions of conditional tail moments (CTMs) and value-at-risk (VaR), for instance the expected shortfall (ES). In this paper, we derive joint central limit theory for semi-parametric estimates of CTMs, including in particular ES, at arbitrarily small risk levels. We also derive confidence corridors for VaR at different levels far out in the tail, which allows for simultaneous inference. We work under a semi-parametric Pareto-type assumption on the distributional tail of the observations and only require an extremal-near epoch dependence assumption on the serial dependence. In simulations, our semi-parametric ES estimate is often shown to be more accurate in terms of mean absolute deviation than extant non- and semi-parametric estimates. An empirical application to the extreme swings in Volkswagen log-returns during the failed takeover attempt by Porsche illustrates the proposed methods.
Outcomes of Human Adenovirus Infection and Disease in a Retrospective Cohort of Pediatric Hematopoietic Cell Transplant Recipients
Authors: Fisher Brian T , Boge Craig L K , Petersen Hans , Seif Alix E , Bryan Matthew , Hodinka Richard L , Cardenas Ana Maria , Purdy Dale R , Loudon Brandon , Kajon Adriana E
Published: June 2018

Human adenoviruses were commonly detected in this cohort of pediatric patients undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation, and the case-fatality rate in allogeneic transplant recipients was high (25.9%). Preemptive cidofovir therapy was not associated with a reduction in the progression to human adenovirus disease.
Evaluation of text representation schemes and distance measures for authorship linking
Authors: Kocher Mirco , Savoy Jacques
Published: June 2018

Based on n text excerpts, the authorship linking task is to determine a way to link pairs of documents written by the same person together. This problem is closely related to authorship attribution questions, and its solution can be used in the author clustering task. However, no training information is provided and the solution must be unsupervised. To achieve this, various text representation strategies can be applied, such as characters, punctuation symbols, or letter n-grams as well as words, lemmas, Part-Of-Speech (POS) tags, and sequences of them. To estimate the stylistic distance (or similarity) between two text excerpts, different measures have been suggested based on the L1 norm (e.g. Manhattan, Tanimoto), the L2 norm (e.g. Matusita), the inner product (e.g. Cosine), or the entropy paradigm (e.g. Jeffrey divergence). From those possible implementations, it is not clear which text representation and distance functions produce the best performance, and this study provides an answer to this question. Three corpora, extracted from French and English literature, have been evaluated using standard methodology. Moreover, we suggest an additional performance measure called high precision (HPrec) capable of judging the quality of a ranked list of links to provide only correct answers. No systematic difference can be found between token- or lemma-based text representations. Simple POS tags do not provide an effective solution but short sequences of them form a good text representation. Letter n-grams (with n = 4–6) give high HPrec rates. As distance measures, this study found that the Tanimoto, Matusita, and Clark distance measures perform better than the often-used Cosine function. Finally, applying a pruning procedure (e.g. culling terms appearing once or twice or limiting the vocabulary to the 500 most frequent words) reduces the representation complexity and might even improve the effectiveness of the attribution scheme.
Nuclear starburst activity induced by elongated bulges in spiral galaxies
Authors: Kim Eunbin , Kim Sungsoo S , Choi Yun-Young , Lee Gwang-Ho , de Grijs Richard , Lee Myung Gyoon , Hwang Ho Seong
Published: June 2018

We study the effects of bulge elongation on the star formation activity in the centres of spiral galaxies using the data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7. We construct a volume-limited sample of face-on spiral galaxies with Mr < −19.5 mag at 0.02 ≤ $z$ < 0.055 by excluding barred galaxies, where the aperture of the SDSS spectroscopic fibre covers the bulges of the galaxies. We adopt the ellipticity of bulges measured by Simard et al., who performed two-dimensional bulge + disc decompositions using the SDSS images of galaxies, and identify nuclear starbursts using the fibre specific star formation rates derived from the SDSS spectra. We find a statistically significant correlation between bulge elongation and nuclear starbursts in the sense that the fraction of nuclear starbursts increases with bulge elongation. This correlation is more prominent for fainter and redder galaxies, which exhibit higher ratios of elongated bulges. We find no significant environmental dependence of the correlation between bulge elongation and nuclear starbursts. These results suggest that non-axisymmetric bulges can efficiently feed the gas into the centre of galaxies to trigger nuclear starburst activity.
GAMA/H-ATLAS: the local dust mass function and cosmic density as a function of galaxy type – a benchmark for models of galaxy evolution
Authors: Beeston R A , Wright A H , Maddox S , Gomez H L , Dunne L , Driver S P , Robotham A , Clark C J R , Vinsen K , Takeuchi T T , Popping G , Bourne N , Bremer M N , Phillipps S , Moffett A J , Baes M , Bland-Hawthorn J , Brough S , De Vis P , Eales S A , Holwerda B W , Loveday J , Liske J , Smith M W L , Smith D J B , Valiante E , Vlahakis C , Wang L
Published: June 2018

We present the dust mass function (DMF) of 15 750 galaxies with redshift $z$ < 0.1, drawn from the overlapping area of the GAMA and H-ATLAS surveys. The DMF is derived using the density corrected Vmax method, where we estimate Vmax using: (i) the normal photometric selection limit (pVmax) and (ii) a bivariate brightness distribution (BBD) technique, which accounts for two selection effects. We fit the data with a Schechter function, and find $M^{*}=(4.65 \pm 0.18)\times 10^{7}\,h^2_{70}\, \mathrm{ M}_{\odot }$, α = (−1.22 ± 0.01), $\phi ^{*}=(6.26 \pm 0.28)\times 10^{-3}\,h^3_{70}\,\rm Mpc^{-3}\,dex^{-1}$. The resulting dust mass density parameter integrated down to 104 M⊙ is Ωd = (1.11 ± 0.02) × 10−6 which implies the mass fraction of baryons in dust is $f_{m_\mathrm{ b}}=(2.40\pm 0.04)\times 10^{-5}$; cosmic variance adds an extra  7–17 per cent uncertainty to the quoted statistical errors. Our measurements have fewer galaxies with high dust mass than predicted by semi-analytic models. This is because the models include too much dust in high stellar mass galaxies. Conversely, our measurements find more galaxies with high dust mass than predicted by hydrodynamical cosmological simulations. This is likely to be from the long time-scales for grain growth assumed in the models. We calculate DMFs split by galaxy type and find dust mass densities of Ωd = (0.88 ± 0.03) × 10−6 and Ωd = (0.060 ± 0.005) × 10−6 for late types and early types, respectively. Comparing to the equivalent galaxy stellar mass functions (GSMF) we find that the DMF for late types is well matched by the GSMF scaled by (8.07 ± 0.35) × 10−4.
Exposure to the Tobacco Power Wall Increases Adolescents’ Willingness to Use E-cigarettes in the Future
Authors: Dunbar Michael S , Martino Steven C , Setodji Claude M , Shadel William G
Published: June 2018

Introduction

Adolescents’ e-cigarette use is now more prevalent than their combustible cigarette use. Youth are exposed to e-cigarette advertising at retail point-of-sale (POS) locations via the tobacco power wall (TPW), but no studies have assessed whether exposure to the TPW influences susceptibility to future e-cigarette use.

Methods

The study was conducted in the RAND Store Lab (RSL), a life-sized replica of a convenience store developed to experimentally evaluate how POS advertising influences tobacco use risk under simulated shopping conditions. In a between-subjects experiment, 160 adolescents (M age = 13.82; 53% female, 56% white) were randomized to shop in the RSL under one of two conditions: (1) TPW located behind the cashier (n = 80); or (2) TPW hidden behind an opaque wall (n = 80). Youths rated willingness to use e-cigarettes (“If one of your best friends were to offer you an e-cigarette, would you try it?”; 1 = definitely not, 10 = definitely yes) before and after exposure. Linear regression assessed differences in pre-post changes in willingness to use across conditions.

Results

Ever-use of e-cigarettes was 5%; use of cigarettes was 8%; use of both e-cigarettes and cigarettes was 4%. There were no differences between TPW conditions on these or other baseline variables (eg, age, gender). Compared to the hidden condition, TPW exposure was associated with greater increases in willingness to use e-cigarettes in the future (B = 1.15, standard error [SE] = 0.50, p = .02).

Conclusions

Efforts to regulate visibility of the TPW at POS may help to reduce youths’ susceptibility to initiating e-cigarettes as well as conventional tobacco products like cigarettes.

Implications

Past work suggests that exposure to the TPW in common retail settings, like convenience stores, may increase adolescents’ susceptibility to smoking cigarettes. This experimental study builds upon prior research to show that exposure to the TPW at retail POS similarly increases adolescents’ willingness to use e-cigarettes in the future. Efforts to regulate the visibility of the TPW in retail settings may help to reduce youths’ susceptibility to initiating nicotine and tobacco products, including e-cigarettes.
β-Carotene Supplementation and Lung Cancer Incidence in the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study: The Role of Tar and Nicotine
Authors: Middha Pooja , Weinstein Stephanie J , Männistö Satu , Albanes Demetrius , Mondul Alison M
Published: June 2018

Introduction

The Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention (ATBC) Study demonstrated that β-carotene supplementation increases lung cancer incidence in smokers. Further, cigarettes with higher tar and nicotine content are associated with a higher risk of lung cancer. However, no studies have examined whether the increased risk associated with β-carotene supplementation in smokers varies by the tar or nicotine content of cigarettes.

Methods

The ATBC Study was a randomized, double-blind intervention trial conducted in southwest Finland. A total of 29 133 male smokers, aged 50–69 years, were enrolled and randomly assigned to one of four groups (α-tocopherol, β-carotene, both, or placebo). Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of lung cancer risk by β-carotene trial assignment stratified by a priori categories of cigarette tar and nicotine content.

Results

The β-carotene supplementation group had significantly higher risk of developing lung cancer in all categories of tar content (yes vs. no β-carotene supplementation—ultralight cigarettes [≤7 mg tar]: HR = 1.31, 95% CI = 0.91 to 1.89; nonfiltered cigarettes [≥21 mg tar]: HR = 1.22, 95% CI = 0.91 to 1.64; p for interaction = .91). Similarly, there was no interaction with nicotine content (yes vs. no β-carotene supplementation—ventilated cigarettes [≤0.8 µg nicotine]: HR = 1.23, 95% CI = 0.98 to 1.54; nonfiltered cigarettes [≥1.3 µg nicotine]: HR = 1.22, 95% CI = 0.91 to 1.64; p for interaction = .83).

Conclusion

These findings support the conclusion that supplementation with β-carotene increases the risk of lung cancer in smokers regardless of the tar or nicotine content of cigarettes smoked. Our data suggest that all smokers should continue to avoid β-carotene supplementation.

Implications

Previous studies demonstrated that β-carotene supplementation increases risk of lung cancer in smokers. This study moves the field forward by examining the potential for modification of risk of lung cancer with different levels of tar and nicotine in cigarettes smoked, as interaction with carcinogens in these components of cigarette smoke is hypothesized to be the mechanism by which β-carotene increases risk. Our study provides evidence that the increased risk of lung cancer in smokers who take β-carotene supplements is not dependent upon the tar or nicotine level of cigarettes smoked and suggests that all smokers should continue to avoid β-carotene supplementation.
Immunization Mandates, Vaccination Coverage, and Exemption Rates in the United States
Authors: Shaw Jana , Mader Emily M , Bennett Brittany E , Vernyi-Kellogg Olesya K , Yang Y Tony , Morley Christopher P
Published: June 2018

Background

Vaccination coverage among children entering kindergarten in the United States is high, but interstate variations exist. The relationship between state immunization laws and vaccination coverage has not been fully assessed. We evaluated associations of state laws on both measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) and diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTaP) vaccination coverage and exemptions to school immunization requirements.

Methods

We conducted a retrospective, longitudinal analysis of the effect of state immunization laws on vaccination coverage and exemptions among US kindergarteners from SY 2008 to SY 2014. The primary outcome measures were state-level kindergarten entry vaccination coverage rates for 2-dose MMR and 4-dose DTaP vaccines. Secondary outcome measures included rates of state-level exemptions (ie, medical, religious, philosophical) to school immunization requirements.

Results

We found that state policies that refer to Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommendations were associated with 3.5% and 2.8% increases in MMR and DTaP vaccination rates. Health Department–led parental education was associated with 5.1% and 4.5% increases in vaccination rates. Permission of religious and philosophical exemptions was associated with 2.3% and 1.9% decreases in MMR and DTaP coverage, respectively, and a 1.5% increase in both total exemptions and nonmedical exemptions, respectively.

Conclusions

We found higher vaccination coverage and lower nonmedical exemption rates for MMR and DTaP vaccines in states adopting Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices guidelines for school entry. Adherence to these best practices was a successful strategy to increase vaccination coverage and reduce vaccination exemptions.
Projected costs associated with school-based screening to inform deployment of Dengvaxia: Vietnam as a case study
Authors: Turner Hugo C , Wills Bridget A , Rahman Motiur , Quoc Cuong Hoang , Thwaites Guy E , Boni Maciej F , Clapham Hannah E
Published: June 2018

Background

After new analysis, Sanofi Pasteur now recommends their dengue vaccine (Dengvaxia) should only be given to individuals previously infected with dengue and the World Health Organization’s recommendations regarding its use are currently being revised. As a result, the potential costs of performing large-scale individual dengue screening and/or dengue serosurveys have become an important consideration for decision making by policymakers in dengue-endemic areas.

Methods

We used an ingredients-based approach to estimate the financial costs for conducting both a school-based dengue serosurvey and school-based individual dengue screening within a typical province in Vietnam, using an existing commercial indirect immunoglobulin G enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. This costing is hypothetical and based on estimates regarding the resources that would be required to perform such activities.

Results

We estimated that performing a school-based individual screening of 9-year-olds would cost US$9.25 per child tested or US$197,827 in total for a typical province. We also estimated that a school-based serosurvey would cost US$10,074, assuming one class from each of the grades that include 8- to 11-year-olds are sampled at each of the 12 selected schools across the province.

Conclusions

The study indicates that using this vaccine safely on a large-scale will incur noteworthy operational costs. It is crucial that these be considered in future cost-effectiveness analyses informing how and where the vaccine is deployed.
Influence of Probiotics Administration on Gut Microbiota Core
Authors: Falcinelli Silvia , Rodiles Ana , Hatef Azadeh , Picchietti Simona , Cossignani Lina , Merrifield Daniel L. , Unniappan Suraj , Carnevali Oliana
Published: June 2018

An increasing number of studies has shown that dietary probiotics exert beneficial health effects in both humans and animals. It is well established that gut microbiota play a pivotal role in regulating host metabolism, and a growing number of studies has elucidated that probiotics positively interfere with gut microbiota. Accumulating evidence shows that probiotics, through their metabolic activity, produce metabolites that in turn contribute to positively affect host physiology. For these reasons, probiotics have shown significant potential as a therapeutic tool for a diversity of diseases, but the mechanisms through which probiotics act has not been fully elucidated yet. The goal of this review was to provide evidence on the effects of probiotics on gut microbiota changes associated with host metabolic variations, specifically focusing on feed intake and lipid and glucose metabolism. In addition, we review probiotic interaction with the gut microbiota. The information collected here will give further insight into the effects of probiotics on the gut microbiota and their action on metabolite release, energy metabolism, and appetite. This information will help to improve knowledge to find better probiotic therapeutic strategies for obesity and eating disorders.
Outcomes After Minimally-invasive Versus Open Pancreatoduodenectomy
Authors: Klompmaker Sjors , van Hilst Jony , Wellner Ulrich F. , Busch Olivier R. , Coratti Andrea , D’Hondt Mathieu , Dokmak Safi , Festen Sebastiaan , Kerem Mustafa , Khatkov Igor , Lips Daan J. , Lombardo Carlo , Luyer Misha , Manzoni Alberto , Molenaar Izaäk Q. , Rosso Edoardo , Saint-Marc Olivier , Vansteenkiste Franky , Wittel Uwe A. , Bonsing Bert , Groot Koerkamp Bas , Abu Hilal Mohammed , Fuks David , Poves Ignasi , Keck Tobias , Boggi Ugo , Besselink Marc G.
Published: June 2018

Objective:

To assess short-term outcomes after minimally invasive (laparoscopic, robot-assisted, and hybrid) pancreatoduodenectomy (MIPD) versus open pancreatoduodenectomy (OPD) among European centers.

Background:

Current evidence on MIPD is based on national registries or single expert centers. International, matched studies comparing outcomes for MIPD and OPD are lacking.

Methods:

Retrospective propensity score matched study comparing MIPD in 14 centers (7 countries) performing ≥10 MIPDs annually (2012–2017) versus OPD in 53 German/Dutch surgical registry centers performing ≥10 OPDs annually (2014–2017). Primary outcome was 30-day major morbidity (Clavien-Dindo ≥3).

Results:

Of 4220 patients, 729/730 MIPDs (412 laparoscopic, 184 robot-assisted, and 130 hybrid) were matched to 729 OPDs. Median annual case-volume was 19 MIPDs (interquartile range, IQR 13–22), including the first MIPDs performed in 10/14 centers, and 31 OPDs (IQR 21–38). Major morbidity (28% vs 30%, P = 0.526), mortality (4.0% vs 3.3%, P = 0.576), percutaneous drainage (12% vs 12%, P = 0.809), reoperation (11% vs 13%, P = 0.329), and hospital stay (mean 17 vs 17 days, P > 0.99) were comparable between MIPD and OPD. Grade-B/C postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF) (23% vs 13%, P < 0.001) occurred more frequently after MIPD. Single-row pancreatojejunostomy was associated with POPF in MIPD (odds ratio, OR 2.95, P < 0.001), but not in OPD. Laparoscopic, robot-assisted, and hybrid MIPD had comparable major morbidity (27% vs 27% vs 35%), POPF (24% vs 19% vs 25%), and mortality (2.9% vs 5.2% vs 5.4%), with a fewer conversions in robot-assisted- versus laparoscopic MIPD (5% vs 26%, P < 0.001).

Conclusions:

In the early experience of 14 European centers performing ≥10 MIPDs annually, no differences were found in major morbidity, mortality, and hospital stay between MIPD and OPD. The high rates of POPF and conversion, and the lack of superior outcomes (ie, hospital stay, morbidity) could indicate that more experience and higher annual MIPD volumes are needed.