bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Usability Evaluation of Tourism Icons in India
Authors: Akolkar Rajshree Tushar , Bhutkar Ganesh D.
Published: June 2017

For evaluation of tourism icons in India, several usability evaluation methods from HCI domain are used. These methods include expert-based methods as well as user-based methods. The expert-based evaluation methods mainly include Semiotic Analysis and Lexical Analysis. The user-based methods include Test without Context, Test with Context along with a comprehensive User Survey. As the domain of e-Governance is a public domain, the usability testing of these tourism icons requires a comprehensive user survey, which truly represents a public, who is likely to use such e-governance websites. This comprehensive survey is conducted with a large sample of more than 80 users including Government Servants, Public Sector Employees, Private Sector Employees, Social Workers, Politicians, Academicians, Students as well as Foreign Nationals. During the usability evaluation, icons are classified as icons, indices and symbols. With the help of user survey, these tourism icons are categorized as ‘Well-Accepted', ‘Well-Understood' and ‘Difficult to Understand' icons.
The Nature of Cyber Bullying Behaviours
Authors: Betts Lucy R.
Published: June 2017

Digital technology has provided many benefits for young people. However, some of these benefits are offset against potential risk factors. For example, digital technology can be used as a mechanism to direct aggression towards another person and this may take the form of cyber bullying. This chapter will review some of the current debates surrounding which behaviours constitute cyber bullying. The chapter will also discuss the various forms of cyber bullying and some of the motives for engaging in such behaviours. Finally, the chapter will provide some recommendations for researchers undertaking studies in the area of cyber bullying.
Towards an Interdisciplinary Socio-Technical Definition of Virtual Communities
Authors: Ruhi Umar
Published: June 2017

The objective of this chapter is to offer a holistic perspective of virtual communities (VCs) by outlining their underlying concepts and fundamental properties. Firstly, the chapter offers a brief synopsis of research fields that form the basis of socio-technical research on VCs. Key issues and theoretical orientations from four research streams are discussed, namely: sociological/psychological; technological; business/management; and economic perspectives. Following this review, the chapter provides a summary of four interdisciplinary literature domains that have significantly contributed to the body of knowledge on VCs. These include: computer mediated communication; community informatics; knowledge management; and internet marketing. Definitions from seminal research studies in these domains are subsequently synthesized to propose an interdisciplinary socio-technical definition of VCs. The proposed definition offers a nascent ascriptive characterization of VCs along five dimensions of participants, purpose, platforms, protocols and persona – together constituting the 5 Ps of VCs.
Virtual Hoarding
Authors: Oravec Jo Ann
Published: June 2017

This article outlines hoarding issues involving virtual or digital goods (including video and image files, digital documents, etc.) in the context of workplace and household settings. It covers “dark data” security issues and intellectual property concerns as well as matters related to information flow. It discusses research about why and how individuals hoard both physical and virtual entities, outlining how this hoarding can negatively impact particular systems. The article also includes reflections about the moral and personal dimensions of virtual hoarding, with an emphasis on information ethics and concerns about strategic and opportunistic hoarding. Virtual hoarding issues may not seem to be critical given the decreased costs of on-site and backup storage as well as relatively-inexpensive storage facilities in the “cloud.” However, data that are not managed in terms of their formats, metadata, and substrata could certainly present issues for organizations; data that are inappropriately removed from the standard flow of information within organizations also present potential losses.
The Impact of the Impact of Meta-Data Mining From the SoReCom “A.S. de Rosa” @-Library
Authors: Silvana de Rosa Annamaria , Dryjanska Laura , Bocci Elena
Published: June 2017

The objective of this chapter is to address the following question: what is the value of the scientific networking, training and documentation activities in the new academic scenario dominated by the bibliometric assessment culture and by the impact of the technology to the science production and sharing (data-driven science, big data, open data, open access, etc.). In order to discuss the “impact of the impact” of the social representations theory in the bibliometric culture era, we will present a selection of results on the dissemination of the theory across the continents based on data and meta-data concerning authors' countries and institutional affiliations, and publications related to the various bibliometric indexes (Impact Factor and SJR) as derived from the two largest bibliometric databases: Isi-web of Science Thomson and Reuters and Scopus-Elsevier.
Cognitive and Psychological Factors in Cross-Language Information Retrieval
Authors: Li Rowena
Published: June 2017

While a lot of research has focused on the effectiveness of system functionality, few studies have examined information needs and social aspects related to cross-language information retrieval. This article aims to speculate the human and social aspects of cross-language information retrieval. It explores CLIR users' unique social and cultural contexts, their psychological and cognitive structures, and their distinctive relevance judgment. It examines in depth the barriers embedded in cultural, linguistic, and cognitive dimensions, which might hinder further advancement in cross-language information retrieval.
Information Technologies and Social Change
Authors: Köroğlu Muhammet Ali , Köroğlu Cemile Zehra
Published: June 2017

There are turning points in human history changed the destiny of humanity: Representing the transition from hunting-gathering to agriculture, Agricultural Revolution or the Neolithic Revolution. French Revolution that took place in 18th century and the Industrial Revolution providing the transition from the agricultural economy to industrial economy. From 19th century, Information Revolution, the whole world has experienced the effects of it in varying degrees. Information Science and technologies have become areas that their communities give the greatest importance for them and they make maximum investments to them in the globalized world conditions. As Daniel Bell describes, Industrial society left its place to Post-industrial society which is an Information society in a sense.
Integrating Knowledge Management and Business Processes
Authors: Edwards John Steven
Published: June 2017

In this article, first the different types of knowledge are outlined, then comes a discussion of various routes by which knowledge management has been implemented. A business process-based route, which enables people, processes and technology to fit together, is growing in popularity as the best way to deliver effective knowledge management that is integrated into what the organization does. Some examples of the business processes route in use are then given. Finally there is a look towards the future.
Nominalizations in Requirements Engineering Natural Language Models
Authors: Litvak Claudia S. , Hadad Graciela Dora Susana , Doorn Jorge Horacio
Published: June 2017

It is a usual practice to use natural language in any document intended for clients and users in the requirements engineering process of a software development. This facilitates the comprehension of the requirements engineer's proposals to clients and users. However, natural language introduces some drawbacks, such as ambiguity and incompleteness, which attempt against a good comprehension of those documents. Glossaries help by reducing ambiguity, though they introduce their own linguistic weaknesses. The nominalization of verbs is one of them. There are sometimes appreciable differences between using a verb form or its nominal form, while in other cases they may be synonyms. Therefore, the requirements engineer must be aware of the precise meaning of each term used in the application domain, in order to correctly define them and properly use them in every document. In this chapter, guidelines about treatment of verb nominalization are given when constructing a specific glossary, called Language Extended Lexicon.
Implicit Cognitive Vulnerability
Authors: Crawford Caroline M.
Published: June 2017

Through the concept of implicit cognitive vulnerability, the learner develops a “comfortableness” within the instructional environment that engages the learner in a creative understanding of the subject matter that reflects a cognitively vulnerable sense of understanding that engages the learner in new and different ways with the subject matter. This cognitive vulnerability is not only creative in nature, but the “comfortableness” to safely “think outside the box” in new and different ways more fully supports the learner's understanding of the subject matter. The importance revolving around a learner's “comfortableness” within an instructional environment is a level of engagement within the learning community that impacts not only the sense of community engagement towards motivational and self-efficacy efforts, but more importantly the learner's sense of belonging and “comfortableness” within a learning community.
Learning Analytics
Authors: Bodea Constanţa-Nicoleta , Dascalu Maria-Iuliana , Mogos Radu Ioan , Stancu Stelian
Published: June 2017

Reinforcement of the technology-enhanced education transformed education into a data-intensive domain. As in many other data-intensive domains, the interest for data analysis through various analytics is growing. The article starts by defining LA, with relevant views on the literature. A discussion about the relationships between LA, educational data mining and academic analytics is included in the background section. In the main section of the article, the learning analytics, as an emerging trend in the educational systems is describe, by discussing the main issues, controversies, problems on this topic. Final part of the article presents the future research directions and the conclusion.
Changing Expectations of Academic Libraries
Authors: Joe Jennifer Ashley Wright
Published: June 2017

The digital age has been presented as a stark contrast to everything that libraries have had to deal with prior to now. While it is true that academic libraries have had to change to stay relevant in the digital age, the changes are not as severe as was once thought. When libraries embrace a few simple changes and start thinking outside the box when it comes to their employees, their resources, and their mission statements, they begin to meet the challenges that the digital age presents, and will continue to thrive in the new world presented by electronic materials, while remaining true to their spirit of information exchange and knowledge sharing.
Massive Digital Libraries (MDLs)
Authors: Weiss Andrew Philip
Published: June 2017

Massive Digital Library (MDL) is a term coined to define a class of digital libraries gathering mass-digitized print books and monographs, which rival the size of brick-and-mortar libraries. Specific examples of MDLs, including Google Books, HathiTrust, DPLA, Internet Archive, et al., are presented. The issues raised by MDLs include the following: mass-aggregation of digital content and the ability to maintain source-material accuracy and veracity; copyright, Fair Use and the mass-digitization of materials not in the Public Domain; and disparities in the level of diversity, especially with regard to Spanish-language, Japanese-language, and Hawaii-Pacific materials. Finally, the impact of MDLs on Digital Humanities, especially with regard to the Google Books digital corpus and the Google Ngram Viewer, will be investigated.
Discrete Event Simulation in Inventory Management
Authors: Duong Linh Nguyen Khanh , Wood Lincoln C.
Published: June 2017

Perishability and substitutability are two key attributes that cannot be ignored in supply chain management. Once produced, perishable products have a finite shelf life. When expired, they are either partially or wholly value-less. The more time that perishable inventory is in storage, the less time it is available for sale to customers. Product substitution is a possibility when considering multiple products. Research indicates that an alternative product is willingly chosen by customers if the preferred one is out of stock. Managers must decide on the replenishment time and replenishment quantity for each item within product subcategory, to maximize expected profits under uncertain demand while minimizing the instances of running out of inventory (i.e., a ‘stock out'). The combination of these factors often requires simulation models to be developed to understand the behavior of the system as the parameters change. Simulation can incorporate stochasticity and complexity while providing detailed output for further analysis and optimization work.
A Review of Advances in Supply Chain Intelligence
Authors: Stefanovic Nenad , Milosevic Danijela
Published: June 2017

Supply Chain Intelligence (SCI) is relatively new initiative that provides the capability to improve business performance by utilizing sophisticated analytical tools and collaborative decision making. SCI takes broader, multidimensional view of supply chain in which, using patterns and rules, meaningful information about the data can be discovered. In this chapter, the drivers for the implementation of the business intelligence and performance measurement systems are discussed. Review of the most important literature and research findings provides condensed view of the existing state of the art. Furthermore, the integrated supply chain intelligence system that enables creation of pervasive analytical systems for collaborative planning, monitoring and management of the supply network is described. The SCI system is robust and cloud-based, capable to handle big data analytical tasks. Its flexible and multi-layered architecture enables creation of adaptive supply chain intelligence systems by composing various analytical software components, services and tools.
The Role of Emerging Information Technologies for Supporting Supply Chain Management
Authors: Nedelko Zlatko , Potocan Vojko
Published: June 2017

The main purpose of this chapter is to examine the role, importance and actual usage of emerging information technology solutions that support and have potential to enhance supply chain management in practice. The role of information technology in supply chain management is discussed through the lenses of several selected emerging management tools, namely collaborative innovations, corporate blogs, radio-frequency identification, and shared services centers. Results are also reported for several selected management tools utilization in selected worldwide regions, like North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Europe, as well as for two emerging economies from Central and East Europe, namely Slovenia and Croatia. Paper provides practical implications, emphasizing the benefits of studied emerging information technology solutions in practice.
Using RFID and Barcode Technologies to Improve Operations Efficiency Within the Supply Chain
Authors: Smith-Ditizio Amber A. , Smith Alan D.
Published: June 2017

Managing supply chain relationships and/or working with suppliers to meet the mutual goals of operational efficiency and profitably can be enhanced through the use of RFID and barcode technologies. It is important in a lean environment to use RFID and related IT-intensive technologies to management more robust and agile supply chains. The areas of improvement, as demonstrated in a case study of NE Ohio regionally headquartered firms' involvement of positive outcomes from the strategic use of automatic identification and tracking technologies included successfully implemented applications as well as technological advancements and development.
A Neuroaesthetic Approach to the Search of Beauty From the Consumer's Perspective
Authors: Ferrer Gemma García
Published: June 2017

Consumers pursue hedonism and beauty throughout the decision-making processes regarding purchases and consumption. The five senses (sensory marketing) will be essential in the aesthetic perception that consumers have in these processes. Therefore, consumers will go to points of purchase which they consider attractive. Consumers want the packaging of the products to satisfy their needs of making a gift to other people or to themselves. The product needs to be visually appealing –we can even think of something as simple as a piece of fruit, or something much more sophisticated, such as a cellular phone. Advertising strategies (billboards, commercials…) need to stimulate this quest for beauty. Marketing strategists have been aware of this reality for a long time. However, the new neuromarketing and neuroaesthetic techniques can be useful complements to understand the consumers quest for beauty.
The Intersection of Religion and Mobile Technology
Authors: Bellar Wendi R. , Cho Kyong James , Campbell Heidi A.
Published: June 2017

This chapter explores the intersection of religion and mobile technology, which is closely connected to the field of digital religion. The chapter begins with a brief background of mobile media studies and digital religion. Next, three key research areas are highlighted. The chapter concludes with emerging trends and suggestions for future research. Because religion interacts with social, political, economic, technological, and global factors, research demands continued theoretical development and nuanced study to understand the relationship between religion and technology.
E-Collaborative Learning (e-CL)
Authors: Xafopoulos Alexandros
Published: June 2017

This article investigates the highly topical issue of electronic collaborative learning (e-CL) in a holistic overview. First of all, a clarification of the term and context of e-CL is provided comparing it with similar concepts. Second, the human elements and communities of e-CL are examined, together with their roles and aspects. Third, the supportive learning elements technology, pedagogy, and methodology are visited, exploring the media, applications, environments, infrastructure, learner modelling, learning objectives, major learning theories, methodological activities, and the learning content and its modalities. Fourth, the framework elements time, space, and society are described and a classification of e-CL approaches according to them is provided. Fifth, the e-CL process is examined following the ADDIE model and analysing its five phases and the design element hierarchy. Finally, future directions of e-CL are considered and conclusions are reached. Throughout the article key and significant approaches, methods, and terms are pinpointed and concisely developed.
The Role of Distance Education in Global Education
Authors: Kasemsap Kijpokin
Published: June 2017

This article indicates the overview of distance education and the importance of distance education in global education. Distance learning becomes an alternative to traditional classrooms. Students can benefit from the flexibility that comes with distance learning, and for students who do not have the time or money to attend the traditional schools, distance learning can provide a path to higher education. Distance learning can increase the opportunities for students across the globe, ensuring that students do not have to choose a school based on its location. Distance-based learning offers more flexibility to students in terms of how and when they take classes. The article argues that facilitating distance education has the potential to improve educational performance and gain sustainable competitive advantage in global education.
Improving Quality of Business in Next Generation Telecom Networks
Authors: Đogatović Vesna Radonjić
Published: June 2017

Quality of business (QoBiz) is an important aspect of providing quality of telecommunication services that is being increasingly used in the pursuit of better business. It covers financial aspects of service provisioning, which is firmly related to service provider (SP) revenue and profit. In next generation network (NGN) relation between pure technical aspects, i.e. quality of service (QoS) and QoBiz tend to be dynamic with pricing as an important tool for adjusting users' demand to network congestion, thus allowing a SP to maximize his revenue. This chapter aims to investigate and provide new possibilities for SPs to enhance their revenues using responsive pricing scheme for charging end users in NGN. Interaction of a SP and user is defined as a Stackelberg leader-follower game with provider acting as the leader and users acting as followers.
Parental Mediation of Adolescent Technology Use
Authors: Vaterlaus J. Mitchell
Published: June 2017

Adolescents are major consumers of interactive technologies (e.g., cell phones, social media). They are motivated to use these technologies to maintain their social relationships in a convenient and private way. The private nature and ease of connectivity afforded by interactive technology has resulted in various parental concerns (e.g., victimization, content) about adolescent technology use. To mitigate these parental concerns, some parents have begun to implement parental mediation strategies. Research has primarily focused on describing the different parental mediation techniques parents implement, parent and adolescent perceptions of parental mediation, and potential barriers to the implementation of parental mediation.
Why It Is Difficult to Disengage From Facebook
Authors: Fakhfakh Sonda Bouattour
Published: June 2017

The huge popularity of social network sites like Facebook gave rise to numerous studies exploring the prerequisites and consequences of FB use. This article does not deviate from this direction. It offers a theoretic attempt to analyze the reasons of attachment to FB but through another perspective: the disengagement phenomenon. The theoretical framework is based on the Attachment Theory and the Actor Network Theory. Assuming that FB allows the satisfaction of the innate attachment need and that there is a social and technical interaction between users and the FB structure, the present analysis investigates the relations between user attachment style and FB use and between FB user and the FB platform (hardware and software). The aim here is not to reject (or not) some formulated hypothesis, but to develop a theoretical frame from the existing theories. The argument is that human/human and human/non-human attachment could explain why users find it very difficult to disengage even though they are willing to do so and suffering from being invaded by FB.
Community Science and Technology and Its Meaning to Potential Requirement
Authors: Paul P. K. , Bhuimali A.
Published: June 2017

Community Science and technology (CST) is an emerging concept and side by side a broader domain that deals with various aspects of community and societal development. Practically Community science and Technology may be treated as subject responsible and dedicated for community and society development. This is the domain which is talks about Science and Technology and its development for societal and community. On other way Community Science and technology (CST) may be express as a domain of Science, Technology, and Engineering responsible for social and community development. Information Science is an interdisciplinary domain and responsible for information vis-à-vis technological solution with social science perspective; and thus, the domain may be treated as a domain of Community or Social Touch or more clearly a domain of Community Science and Technology.
A Formal Approach to the Distributed Software Control for Automated Multi-Axis Manufacturing Machines
Authors: Yasuda Gen'ichi
Published: June 2017

This chapter deals with the control system design problem for automated machine systems from the viewpoint of a discrete event system approach. Behaviors of automated systems have externally the features of discrete event asynchronous, concurrent processes, which implies the necessity of distributed architecture for intelligent cooperative control. Based on the generalization of multi-axis machine activities, the detailed control functions of a machine task are hierarchically represented by an interpreted form of the Petri net. The necessary control conditions and rules to ensure that the control system is well-defined, including synchronization and conflict resolution, are provided as a conceptual model of machine task. Due to hierarchical decomposition of Petri net models, the structure of the whole control system as well as the contents of each machine task is easily understood so that the task planning, monitoring and modification of the control system can be done effectively.
A Tale of Two Agile Requirements Engineering Practices
Authors: Kamthan Pankaj , Fancott Terrill
Published: June 2017

There are a number of concerns in agile software development, including requirements engineering. There are different types of agile requirement, of which currently the most common forms are use cases and user stories. The use cases and user stories have different origins, both in space and in time, but, by being among the practices of scenario-oriented requirements engineering (SORE), they are not entirely unrelated. The purpose of this article is to situate use cases and user stories in context of each other. This is done by means of a conceptual framework for systematically comparing use cases and user stories. The understanding of similarities and differences between use cases and user stories have pedagogical as well as practical implications.
Quantum Computing and Quantum Communication
Authors: Pulkkis Göran , Grahn Kaj J.
Published: June 2017

This article presents state-of-the-art and future perspectives of quantum computing and communication. Timeline of relevant findings in quantum informatics, such as quantum algorithms, quantum cryptography protocols, and quantum computing models, is summarized. Mathematics of information representation with quantum states is presented. The quantum circuit and adiabatic models of quantum computation are outlined. The functionality, limitations, and security of the quantum key distribution (QKD) protocol is presented. Current implementations of quantum computers and principles of quantum programming are shortly described.
Determine Democracy in Web Design
Authors: Li Rowena
Published: June 2017

This chapter serves as an introduction to apply seven indicators in examining democracy on web interface design. It introduces a new measuring instrument to assist in determining a nation's democracy level, so that democracy can be measured not only by traditional methods (surveys, case studies, questionnaires, interviews, and observations), but also through the study of web interface design. As a result, it extends cultural and political studies into the fields of human-computer interaction and user interface design.
Discussion Processes in Online Forums
Authors: Chen Gaowei , Chiu Ming M
Published: June 2017

Online discussions' information transparency, communication flexibility and opportunities for reflection, can enhance information processing, higher order thinking and learning. Many group processes influence online discussants' creation of correct, new ideas (micro-creativity) and use of social cues. New ideas, justifications, disagreements and questions in recent messages facilitate micro-creativity. Moreover, new ideas and justifications tend to reduce both positive and negative social cues during online discussions. While agreements elicit positive social cues, disagreements invite negative ones. Meanwhile, participants with more past posts than others often show more micro-creativity. Together, these mechanisms show how sequences of online messages create a local context that influences participants' correct outcomes and social relationships. By understanding these discussion processes, designers can improve online forum interfaces, and educators can help students participate, cooperate and learn in online forums more effectively.
Dendritic Cell Sensing of Hydrophobic Di- and Triacylated Lipopeptides Self-Assembled within Synthetic Virus-like Particles
Authors: Sharma Rajni , Ghasparian Arin , Robinson John A. , McCullough Kenneth C.
Published: June 2017

Dendritic cells (DCs) play critical roles in developing immune defenses. One important aspect is interaction with pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs)/danger-associated molecular patterns, including di- and triacylated lipopeptides. Isolated or synthetic lipopeptides are potent vaccine adjuvants, interacting with cell surface TLR2 heterodimers. In contrast, deep embedment within bacteria cell walls would impair lipopeptide interaction with cell surface TLR2, requiring degradation for PAMP recognition. Accordingly, DC processing in the absence of surface TLR2 ligation was defined using synthetic virus-like particles (SVLPs) carrying hydrophobic TLR2 PAMPs within di- and triacylated lipopeptide cores (P2Cys-SVLPs and P3Cys-SVLPs) compared with SVLPs lacking immunomodulatory lipopeptides. DCs rapidly and efficiently internalized SVLPs, which was dominated by slow endocytic processing via macropinocytosis, although some caveolar endocytosis was implicated. This delivered SVLPs primarily into macropinosomes often interacting with EEA-1+ early endosomes. Although endoplasmic reticulum association was occasionally noted, association with recycling/sorting structures was not observed. Involvement of LysoTracker+ structures slowly increased with time, with SVLPs present in such structures ultimately dominating. Only SVLPs carrying di- and triacylated lipopeptide cores induced DC activation and maturation independently of surface TLR2 ligation. Intracellular recognition of SVLP TLR2 ligands was confirmed by observing SVLPs’ association with internal TLR2, which had similar kinetics to SVLP association with LysoTracker. This related to inflammatory cytokine induction by SVLP+ DCs, with adaptive immune response activation ex vivo/in vivo. Importantly, particular DCs, not monocytes, recognized intracellular exposure of the TLR2 PAMPs carried by di- and triacylated SVLP cores, which indicates subset-distinct recognition of functional internal TLR2 ligands. Thus, vaccines carrying hydrophobic TLR2 ligands would interact with particular DCs for efficient induction of specific immunity in the absence of additional adjuvant.
T Cell Transcriptomes from Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria Patients Reveal Novel Signaling Pathways
Authors: Hosokawa Kohei , Kajigaya Sachiko , Keyvanfar Keyvan , Qiao Wangmin , Xie Yanling , Townsley Danielle M. , Feng Xingmin , Young Neal S.
Published: June 2017

Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) is a rare acquired disorder originating from hematopoietic stem cells and is a life-threating disease characterized by intravascular hemolysis, bone marrow (BM) failure, and venous thrombosis. The etiology of PNH is a somatic mutation in the phosphatidylinositol glycan class A gene (PIG-A) on the X chromosome, which blocks synthesis of the glycolipid moiety and causes deficiency in GPI-anchored proteins. PNH is closely related to aplastic anemia, in which T cells mediate destruction of BM. To identify aberrant molecular mechanisms involved in immune targeting of hematopoietic stem cells in BM, we applied RNA-seq to examine the transcriptome of T cell subsets (CD4+ naive, CD4+ memory, CD8+ naive, and CD8+ memory) from PNH patients and healthy control subjects. Differentially expressed gene analysis in four different T cell subsets from PNH and healthy control subjects showed distinct transcriptional profiles, depending on the T cell subsets. By pathway analysis, we identified novel signaling pathways in T cell subsets from PNH, including increased gene expression involved in TNFR, IGF1, NOTCH, AP-1, and ATF2 pathways. Dysregulation of several candidate genes (JUN, TNFAIP3, TOB1, GIMAP4, GIMAP6, TRMT112, NR4A2, CD69, and TNFSF8) was validated by quantitative real-time RT-PCR and flow cytometry. We have demonstrated molecular signatures associated with positive and negative regulators in T cells, suggesting novel pathophysiologic mechanisms in PNH. These pathways may be targets for new strategies to modulate T cell immune responses in BM failure.
Antibody-Dependent NK Cell Activation Differentially Targets EBV-Infected Cells in Lytic Cycle and Bystander B Lymphocytes Bound to Viral Antigen–Containing Particles
Authors: López-Montañés María , Alari-Pahissa Elisenda , Sintes Jordi , Martínez-Rodríguez José E. , Muntasell Aura , López-Botet Miguel
Published: June 2017

NK cells have been reported to respond against EBV-infected B cells in the lytic cycle and to control the viral infection involving IFN-γ secretion. Early reports proposed a role for NK cell Ab-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) triggered via FcγR-IIIA (CD16) in the response to EBV. In the current study, we revisited this issue, showing that serum from EBV+ individuals triggered vigorous NK cell degranulation and cytokine production (i.e., TNF-α and IFN-γ) against EBV-infected cells, enhancing NK cell activation. The effect was preferentially directed against cells in the lytic phase and was associated with surface expression of the gp350/220 envelope Ag. In contrast, binding of gp350+ particles, released by EBV-infected cells, to B cell lines or autologous primary B lymphocytes also promoted specific Ab-dependent NK cell degranulation and TNF-α production but induced minimal IFN-γ secretion. In that case, target cell damage appeared marginal compared with the effect of a control anti-CD20 Ab (rituximab) at concentrations that triggered similar NK cell activation, indicating that cell-associated gp350+ particles may divert the cytolytic machinery, impairing its direct action on the plasma membrane. These observations support that Ab-dependent NK cell activation plays an important role in the control of EBV, enhancing NK cell effector functions against infected B cells in the lytic cycle. In contrast, the data reveal that gp350+ particles bound to bystander B cells trigger Ab-dependent NK cell degranulation and TNF-α but not cytotoxicity or IFN-γ production, potentially favoring the progression of viral infection.
B-1a Cells Protect Mice from Sepsis: Critical Role of CREB
Authors: Aziz Monowar , Holodick Nichol E. , Rothstein Thomas L. , Wang Ping
Published: June 2017

Bacterial sepsis is a serious life-threatening condition caused by an excessive immune response to infection. B-1 cells differ from conventional B-2 cells by their distinct phenotype and function. A subset of B-1 cells expressing CD5, known as B-1a cells, exhibits innate immune activity. Here we report that B-1a cells play a beneficial role in sepsis by mitigating exaggerated inflammation through a novel mechanism. Using a mouse model of bacterial sepsis, we found that the numbers of B-1a cells in various anatomical locations were significantly decreased. Adoptive transfer of B-1a cells into septic mice significantly attenuated systemic inflammation and improved survival, whereas B-1a cell–deficient CD19−/− mice were more susceptible to infectious inflammation and mortality. We also demonstrated B-1a cells produced ample amounts of IL-10 which controlled excessive inflammation and the mice treated with IL-10–deficient B-1a cells were not protected against sepsis. Moreover, we identified a novel intracellular signaling molecule, cAMP-response element binding protein (CREB), which serves as a pivotal transcription factor for upregulating IL-10 production by B-1a cells in sepsis through its nuclear translocation and binding to putative responsive elements on IL-10 promoter. Thus, the benefit of B-1a cells in bacterial sepsis is mediated by CREB and the identification of CREB in B-1a cells reveals a potential avenue for treatment in bacterial sepsis.
Type I IFN Is Necessary and Sufficient for Inflammation-Induced Red Blood Cell Alloimmunization in Mice
Authors: Gibb David R. , Liu Jingchun , Natarajan Prabitha , Santhanakrishnan Manjula , Madrid David J. , Eisenbarth Stephanie C. , Zimring James C. , Iwasaki Akiko , Hendrickson Jeanne E.
Published: June 2017

During RBC transfusion, production of alloantibodies against RBC non-ABO Ags can cause hemolytic transfusion reactions and limit availability of compatible blood products, resulting in anemia-associated morbidity and mortality. Multiple studies have established that certain inflammatory disorders and inflammatory stimuli promote alloimmune responses to RBC Ags. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying these findings are poorly understood. Type I IFNs (IFN-α/β) are induced in inflammatory conditions associated with increased alloimmunization. By developing a new transgenic murine model, we demonstrate that signaling through the IFN-α/β receptor is required for inflammation-induced alloimmunization. Additionally, mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein–mediated signaling through cytosolic pattern recognition receptors was required for polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid–induced IFN-α/β production and alloimmunization. We further report that IFN-α, in the absence of an adjuvant, is sufficient to induce RBC alloimmunization. These findings raise the possibility that patients with IFN-α/β–mediated conditions, including autoimmunity and viral infections, may have an increased risk of RBC alloimmunization and may benefit from personalized transfusion protocols and/or targeted therapies.
Classification of Solutions for Harmonic Functions With Neumann Boundary Value
Authors: Zhang Tao , Zhou Chunqin
Published: June 2017

In this paper, we classify all solutions of

with the finite conditions

Here c is a positive number and β > −1.
Variabilidad de la eficiencia en el uso del carbono a partir de datos MODIS
Authors: Cañizares M. , Moreno A. , Sánchez-Ruiz S. , Gilabert M.A.
Published: June 2017

Carbon use efficiency (CUE) describes how efficiently plants incorporate the carbon fixed during photosynthesis into biomass gain and can be calculated as the ratio between net primary production (NPP) and gross primary production (GPP). In this work, annual CUE has been obtained from annual GPP and NPP MODIS products for the peninsular Spain study area throughout eight years. CUE is spatially and temporally analyzed in terms of the vegetation type and annual precipitation and annual average air temperature. Results show that dense vegetation areas with moderate to high levels of precipitation present lower CUE values, whereas more arid areas present the highest CUE values. However, the temperature effect on the spatial variation of CUE is not well characterized. On the other hand, inter-annual variations of CUE of different ecosystems are discussed in terms of inter-annual variations of temperature and precipitation. It is shown that CUE exhibited a positive correlation with precipitation and a negative correlation with temperature in most ecosystems. Thus, CUE decreases when the ecosystem conditions change towards aridity.
Aerosol indirect effects on the nighttime Arctic Ocean surface from thin, predominantly liquid clouds
Authors: Zamora Lauren M. , Kahn Ralph A. , Eckhardt Sabine , McComiskey Allison , Sawamura Patricia , Moore Richard , Stohl Andreas
Published: June 2017

Abstract. Aerosol indirect effects have potentially large impacts on the Arctic Ocean surface energy budget, but model estimates of regional-scale aerosol indirect effects are highly uncertain and poorly validated by observations. Here we demonstrate a new way to quantitatively estimate aerosol indirect effects on a regional scale from remote sensing observations. In this study, we focus on nighttime, optically thin, predominantly liquid clouds. The method is based on differences in cloud physical and microphysical characteristics in carefully selected clean, average, and aerosol-impacted conditions. The cloud subset of focus covers just ∼ 5 % of cloudy Arctic Ocean regions, warming the Arctic Ocean surface by ∼ 1–1.4 W m−2 regionally during polar night. However, within this cloud subset, aerosol and cloud conditions can be determined with high confidence using CALIPSO and CloudSat data and model output. This cloud subset is generally susceptible to aerosols, with a polar nighttime estimated maximum regionally integrated indirect cooling effect of ∼ −0.11 W m−2 at the Arctic sea ice surface (∼ 8 % of the clean background cloud effect), excluding cloud fraction changes. Aerosol presence is related to reduced precipitation, cloud thickness, and radar reflectivity, and in some cases, an increased likelihood of cloud presence in the liquid phase. These observations are inconsistent with a glaciation indirect effect and are consistent with either a deactivation effect or less-efficient secondary ice formation related to smaller liquid cloud droplets. However, this cloud subset shows large differences in surface and meteorological forcing in shallow and higher-altitude clouds and between sea ice and open-ocean regions. For example, optically thin, predominantly liquid clouds are much more likely to overlay another cloud over the open ocean, which may reduce aerosol indirect effects on the surface. Also, shallow clouds over open ocean do not appear to respond to aerosols as strongly as clouds over stratified sea ice environments, indicating a larger influence of meteorological forcing over aerosol microphysics in these types of clouds over the rapidly changing Arctic Ocean.
Impact of North America on the aerosol composition in the North Atlantic free troposphere
Authors: García M. Isabel , Rodríguez Sergio , Alastuey Andrés
Published: June 2017

Abstract. In the AEROATLAN project we study the composition of aerosols collected over  ∼  5 years at Izaña Observatory (located at  ∼  2400 m a.s.l. in Tenerife, the Canary Islands) under the prevailing westerly airflows typical of the North Atlantic free troposphere at subtropical latitudes and midlatitudes. Mass concentrations of sub-10 µm aerosols (PM10) carried by westerly winds to Izaña, after transatlantic transport, are typically within the range 1.2 and 4.2 µg m−3 (20th and 80th percentiles). The main contributors to background levels of aerosols (PM10 within the 1st–50th percentiles  =  0.15–2.54 µg m−3) are North American dust (53 %), non-sea-salt sulfate (14 %) and organic matter (18 %). High PM10 events (75th–95th percentiles  ≈  4.0–9.0 µg m−3) are prompted by dust (56 %), organic matter (24 %) and non-sea-salt sulfate (9 %). These aerosol components experience a seasonal evolution explained by (i) their spatial distribution in North America and (ii) the seasonal shift of the North American outflow, which migrates from low latitudes in winter (∼  32° N, January–March) to high latitudes in summer (∼  52° N, August–September). The westerlies carry maximum loads of non-sea-salt sulfate, ammonium and organic matter in spring (March–May), of North American dust from midwinter to mid-spring (February–May) and of elemental carbon in summer (August–September). Our results suggest that a significant fraction of organic aerosols may be linked to sources other than combustion (e.g. biogenic); further studies are necessary for this topic. The present study suggests that long-term evolution of the aerosol composition in the North Atlantic free troposphere will be influenced by air quality policies and the use of soils (potential dust emitter) in North America.
Diagnostic methods for atmospheric inversions of long-lived greenhouse gases
Authors: Michalak Anna M. , Randazzo Nina A. , Chevallier Frédéric
Published: June 2017

Abstract. The ability to predict the trajectory of climate change requires a clear understanding of the emissions and uptake (i.e., surface fluxes) of long-lived greenhouse gases (GHGs). Furthermore, the development of climate policies is driving a need to constrain the budgets of anthropogenic GHG emissions. Inverse problems that couple atmospheric observations of GHG concentrations with an atmospheric chemistry and transport model have increasingly been used to gain insights into surface fluxes. Given the inherent technical challenges associated with their solution, it is imperative that objective approaches exist for the evaluation of such inverse problems. Because direct observation of fluxes at compatible spatiotemporal scales is rarely possible, diagnostics tools must rely on indirect measures. Here we review diagnostics that have been implemented in recent studies and discuss their use in informing adjustments to model setup. We group the diagnostics along a continuum starting with those that are most closely related to the scientific question being targeted, and ending with those most closely tied to the statistical and computational setup of the inversion. We thus begin with diagnostics based on assessments against independent information (e.g., unused atmospheric observations, large-scale scientific constraints), followed by statistical diagnostics of inversion results, diagnostics based on sensitivity tests, and analyses of robustness (e.g., tests focusing on the chemistry and transport model, the atmospheric observations, or the statistical and computational framework), and close with the use of synthetic data experiments (i.e., observing system simulation experiments, OSSEs). We find that existing diagnostics provide a crucial toolbox for evaluating and improving flux estimates but, not surprisingly, cannot overcome the fundamental challenges associated with limited atmospheric observations or the lack of direct flux measurements at compatible scales. As atmospheric inversions are increasingly expected to contribute to national reporting of GHG emissions, the need for developing and implementing robust and transparent evaluation approaches will only grow.
A 3D particle Monte Carlo approach to studying nucleation
Authors: Köhn Christoph , Bødker Enghoff Martin , Svensmark Henrik
Published: June 2017

Abstract. The nucleation of sulphuric acid molecules plays a key role in the formation of aerosols. We here present a three dimensional particle Monte Carlo model to study the growth of sulphuric acid clusters as well as its dependence on the ambient temperature and the initial particle density.We initiate a swarm of sulphuric acid molecules with a size of 0.15 nm with densities between 107 and 108 cm−3 at temperatures of 200 and 300 K. After every time step, we update the position and velocity of particles as a function of size-dependent diffusion coefficients. If two particles encounter, we merge them and add their volumes and masses. Inversely, we check after every time step whether a polymer evaporates liberating a molecule.We present the spatial distribution as well as the size distribution calculated from individual clusters. We also calculate the nucleation rate of clusters with a radius of 0.85 nm as a function of time, initial particle density and temperature. For 200 K, the nucleation rate increases as a function of time; for 300 K we observe an interplay between clustering and evaporation and thus the oscillation of the nucleation rate around the mean nucleation rate. The nucleation rates obtained from the presented model agree well with experimentally obtained values which serves as a benchmark of our code. In contrast to previous nucleation models, we here present for the first time a code capable of tracing individual particles and thus of capturing the physics related to the discrete nature of particles.