bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Corn Tassel: A New Source of Phytochemicals and Antioxidant Potential for Value-Added Product Development in the Agro-Industry
Authors: Duangpapeng Prakasit , Ketthaisong Danupol , Lomthaisong Khomsorn , Lertrat Kamol , Scott Marvin Paul , Suriharn Bhalang
Published: October 2018

Corn tassel is a byproduct from hybrid corn seed production. It is also a new source of phytochemicals, including compounds with antioxidant activity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the phytochemical content and antioxidant potential of different corn tassel development stages. A 4 × 8 factorial experiment consisting of four tassel development stages and eight commercial corn varieties was carried out with a randomized complete block design with three replications. Data were collected for tassel weight, concentration and yield of total phenolics, total anthocyanin concentration, total carotenoid concentration, and antioxidant activity, as determined by the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl(DPPH•) radical scavenging assay and Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity(TEAC) assays. Corn varieties and tassel developmental stages showed significant variations (p ≤ 0.01) in all parameters. P4546 presented the best variety for the total phenolic content (15.8 mg GAE/g DW sample), whereas Hibrix3 had the highest phenolic yield (6.78 kg GAE/ha). KGW1, a purple waxy variety, had the highest anthocyanin content (1528.0 µg CGE/g DW sample), anthocyanin yield (753.0 g CGE/ha), carotenoid content (74.9 µg/g DW sample), and carotenoid yield (53.7 g/ha). P4546 had the highest antioxidant activity: 92.4% for DPPH• and 76.1 µmol TE/g DW sample for the TEAC assay, respectively. The most appropriate time for tassel harvest to ensure the production of phytochemicals with high antioxidant activity should be from the 1st day of pollen shed until 50% of pollen shed. Phytochemicals and antioxidants that are extracted from corn tassel can be used as a functional food supplement, as natural pharmaceuticals, and in cosmetic products.
Impact of Pore Geometry and Water Saturation on Gas Effective Diffusion Coefficient in Soil
Authors: Hu Wulong , Jiang Yao , Chen Daoyi , Lin Yongshui , Han Qiang , Cui Yifei
Published: October 2018

Gas flow in soil plays a crucial role in terrestrial ecosystems, and numerical simulation of their movement needs to know their effective diffusion coefficients. How pore structure influences the effective diffusion coefficient has been studied intensively for dry porous media, but much remains unknown for unsaturated soils. Here, we employed the X-ray tomography technique at the pore scale to directly obtain the soil structures, the geometry of their pores and the water distribution under different water saturation levels were calculated using a morphological model. The results show that pore structures including porosity, interface area of gas–solid–water and pore diameter are closely related to water saturation. The increase of mean pore diameter with gas saturation can be fitted into a power law. We also investigated the impact of pore geometry and water saturation on the effective diffusion coefficients, which is independent of the molecular mass of gas after normalization. As the normalized effective Knudsen diffusion coefficient increases with average pore diameter following a power law, with the scaling factor related to pore geometry and the exponent is a constant, we explained and proved that the Knudsen diffusion coefficient increases with gas saturation, also following a power law.
Knock-Down of a Novel snoRNA in Tetrahymena Reveals a Dual Role in 5.8S rRNA Processing and Generation of a 26S rRNA Fragment
Authors: Andersen Kasper L. , Nielsen Henrik
Published: October 2018

In eukaryotes, 18S, 5.8S, and 28S rRNAs are transcribed as precursor molecules that undergo extensive modification and nucleolytic processing to form the mature rRNA species. Central in the process are the small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs). The majority of snoRNAs guide site specific chemical modifications but a few are involved in defining pre-rRNA cleavages. Here, we describe an unusual snoRNA (TtnuCD32) belonging to the box C/D subgroup from the ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila. We show that TtnuCD32 is unlikely to function as a modification guide snoRNA and that it is critical for cell viability. Cell lines with genetic knock-down of TtnuCD32 were impaired in growth and displayed two novel and apparently unrelated phenotypes. The most prominent phenotype is the accumulation of processing intermediates of 5.8S rRNA. The second phenotype is the decrease in abundance of a ~100 nt 26S rRNA fragment of unknown function. Sequence analysis demonstrated that TtnuCD32 share features with the essential snoRNA U14 but an alternative candidate (TtnuCD25) was more closely related to other U14 sequences. This, together with the fact that the observed rRNA processing phenotypes were not similar to what has been observed in U14 depleted cells, suggests that TtnuCD32 is a U14 homolog that has gained novel functions.
Gastric Stem Cell and Cellular Origin of Cancer
Authors: Hata Masahiro , Hayakawa Yoku , Koike Kazuhiko
Published: October 2018

Several stem cell markers within the gastrointestinal epithelium have been identified in mice. One of the best characterized is Lgr5 (leucine-rich repeat-containing G-protein coupled receptor 5) and evidence suggests that Lgr5+ cells in the gut are the origin of gastrointestinal cancers. Reserve or facultative stem or progenitor cells with the ability to convert to Lgr5+ cells following injury have also been identified. Unlike the intestine, where Lgr5+ cells at the crypt base act as active stem cells, the stomach may contain unique stem cell populations, since gastric Lgr5+ cells seem to behave as a reserve rather than active stem cells, both in the corpus and in the antral glands. Gastrointestinal stem cells are supported by a specific microenvironment, the stem cell niche, which also promotes tumorigenesis. This review focuses on stem cell markers in the gut and their supporting niche factors. It also discusses the molecular mechanisms that regulate stem cell function and tumorigenesis.
Breaking down the Contradictory Roles of Histone Deacetylase SIRT1 in Human Breast Cancer
Authors: Rifaï Khaldoun , Idrissou Mouhamed , Penault-Llorca Frédérique , Bignon Yves-Jean , Bernard-Gallon Dominique
Published: October 2018

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common type of cancer in women worldwide; it is a multifactorial genetic disease. Acetylation and deacetylation are major post-translational protein modifications that regulate gene expression and the activity of a myriad of oncoproteins. Aberrant deacetylase activity can promote or suppress tumorigenesis and cancer metastasis in different types of human cancers, including breast cancer. Sirtuin-1 (SIRT1) is a class-III histone deacetylase (HDAC) that deacetylates both histone and non-histone targets. The often-described ‘regulator of regulators’ is deeply implicated in apoptosis, gene regulation, genome maintenance, DNA repair, aging, and cancer development. However, despite the accumulated studies over the past decade, the role of SIRT1 in human breast cancer remains a subject of debate and controversy. The ambiguity surrounding the implications of SIRT1 in breast tumorigenesis stems from the discrepancy between studies, which have shown both tumor-suppressive and promoting functions of SIRT1. Furthermore, studies have shown that SIRT1 deficiency promotes or suppresses tumors in breast cancer, making it an attractive therapeutic target in cancer treatment. This review provides a comprehensive examination of the various implications of SIRT1 in breast cancer development and metastasis. We will also discuss the mechanisms underlying the conflicting roles of SIRT1, as well as its selective modulators, in breast carcinogenesis.
Systemic Therapy for Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Latest Advances
Authors: Kudo Masatoshi
Published: October 2018

Systemic therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has changed drastically since the introduction of the molecular targeted agent sorafenib in 2007. Although sorafenib expanded the treatment options for extrahepatic spread (EHS) and vascular invasion, making long-term survival of patients with advanced disease achievable to a certain extent, new molecular-targeted agents are being developed as alternatives to sorafenib due to shortcomings such as its low response rate and high toxicity. Every single one of the many drugs developed during the 10-year period from 2007 to 2016 was a failure. However, during the two-year period from 2017 through 2018, four drugs—regorafenib, lenvatinib, cabozantinib, and ramucirumab—emerged successfully from clinical trials in quick succession and became available for clinical use. The efficacy of combination therapy with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) plus sorafenib was also first demonstrated in 2018. Recently, immune checkpoint inhibitors have been applied to HCC treatment and many phase III clinical trials are ongoing, not only on monotherapy with nivolumab, pembrolizumab, and tislelizumab, but also on combination therapy with checkpoint inhibitors, programmed death-1 (PD-1) or PD-ligand 1 (PD-L1) antibody plus a molecular targeted agent (bevacizumab) or the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4) antibody, tremelimumab. These combination therapies have shown higher response rates than PD-1/PD-L1 monotherapy alone, suggesting a synergistic effect by combination therapy in early phases; therefore, further results are eagerly awaited.
Profiling Immune Escape in Hodgkin’s and Diffuse large B-Cell Lymphomas Using the Transcriptome and Immunostaining
Authors: Péricart Sarah , Tosolini Marie , Gravelle Pauline , Rossi Cédric , Traverse-Glehen Alexandra , Amara Nadia , Franchet Camille , Martin Elodie , Bezombes Christine , Laurent Guy , Brousset Pierre , Fournié Jean-Jacques , Laurent Camille
Published: October 2018

Therapeutic blockade of PD-1/PD-L1 shows promising results in Hodgkin’s lymphoma (HL) and in some diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients, but biomarkers predicting such responses are still lacking. To this end, we recently developed a transcriptional scoring of immune escape (IE) in cancer biopsies. Using this method in DLBCL, we identified four stages of IE correlated with overall survival, but whether Hodgkin’s lymphomas (HL) also display this partition was unknown. Thus, we explored the transcriptomic profiles of ~1000 HL and DLBCL using a comparative meta-analysis of their bulk microarrays. Relative to DLBCL, the HL co-clustered at the advanced stage of immune escape, displaying significant enrichment of both IE and T-cell activation genes. Analyses via transcriptome deconvolution and immunohistochemistry showed more CD3+ and CD4+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in HL than DLBCL. Both HL and non-GCB DLBCL shared a high abundance of infiltrating CD8+ T-cells, but HL had less CD68+CD163+ macrophages. The same cellular distribution of PD-1 and TIM-3 was observed in HL and DLBCL, though HL had more PD-L1 tumor cells and LAG-3 ME cells. This study illuminates the advanced stage of immune activation and escape in HL, consistent with the response to checkpoint blockade therapies for this type of lymphoma.
Recent Progress on the Evolution of Pourbaix Sensors: Molecular Logic Gates for Protons and Oxidants
Authors: Magri David C.
Published: October 2018

Recent progress in the area of molecular logic, in particular molecules capable of sensing for acidity and oxidizability, are gathered together in this short review. Originally proposed as AND logic gates that provide a high fluorescence output when simultaneously protonated and oxidized, the concept has been extended from two-input to three-input variants and to include molecules that function as INHIBIT logic gates. Photochemical concepts such as photoinduced electron transfer (PET) and internal charge transfer (ICT) are exploited as favorite design concepts. This review highlights the evolution of Pourbaix sensors with anthracene, pyrazoline, and naphthalimide fluorophores. Future applications abound in various disciplines from corrosion science, material science, geochemistry to cell imaging.
Gamma Glutamyl Transferase and Uric Acid Levels Can Be Associated with the Prognosis of Patients in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit
Authors: Aygun Fatih , Kirkoc Ruhsar , Aygun Deniz , Cam Halit
Published: October 2018

Introduction: Gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT) and uric acid (UA) are reported to be predictive markers in various disorders. It has been reported that these biomarkers can be used to indicate increased risk of mortality in critically ill patients. Herein, we aimed to evaluate the effects of the initial serum GGT and UA levels on the outcomes of patients in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and to investigate if these biomarkers can be used to predict pediatric mortality. Materials and Methods: The relationship between the initial GGT and UA levels and invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) and noninvasive mechanical ventilation (NIV) support, inotropic drug need, acute renal kidney injury (AKI), continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT), presence of sepsis, mortality, and hospitalization period were investigated retrospectively. Results: In all, 236 patients (117 males and 119 females) were included in the study. The age distribution of the patients was 1–12 years. There was a statistically significant relationship between GGT levels in the first biochemical analysis performed during admission and inotropic drug use, AKI, duration of hospitalization in intensive care unit, and sepsis. There was a statistically significant relationship between initial UA levels and inotropic drug use, AKI, CCRT, and sepsis. Conclusion: We suggest that initial GGT and UA levels during admission could be used to predict the outcomes of patients in PICU.
Prediction of Vehicle Crashworthiness Parameters Using Piecewise Lumped Parameters and Finite Element Models
Authors: B. Munyazikwiye Bernard , Vysochinskiy Dmitry , Khadyko Mikhail , G. Robbersmyr Kjell
Published: October 2018

Estimating the vehicle crashworthiness experimentally is expensive and time-consuming. For these reasons, different modelling approaches are utilised to predict the vehicle behaviour and reduce the need for full-scale crash testing. The earlier numerical methods used for vehicle crashworthiness analysis were based on the use of lumped parameters models (LPM), a combination of masses and nonlinear springs interconnected in various configurations. Nowadays, the explicit nonlinear finite element analysis (FEA) is probably the most widely recognised modelling technique. Although informative, finite element models (FEM) of vehicle crash are expensive both in terms of man-hours put into assembling the model and related computational costs. A simpler analytical tool for preliminary analysis of vehicle crashworthiness could greatly assist the modelling and save time. In this paper, the authors investigate whether a simple piecewise LPM can serve as such a tool. The model is first calibrated at an impact velocity of 56 km/h. After the calibration, the LPM is applied to a range of velocities (40, 48, 64 and 72 km/h) and the crashworthiness parameters such as the acceleration severity index (ASI) and the maximum dynamic crush are calculated. The predictions for crashworthiness parameters from the LPM are then compared with the same predictions from the FEA.
Liquid Biopsy in Gastrointestinal Cancers
Authors: Saini Aman , Pershad Yash , Albadawi Hassan , Kuo Malia , Alzubaidi Sadeer , Naidu Sailendra , Knuttinen M-Grace , Oklu Rahmi
Published: October 2018

Liquid biopsy is the sampling of any biological fluid in an effort to enrich and analyze a tumor’s genetic material. Peripheral blood remains the most studied liquid biopsy material, with circulating tumor cells (CTC’s) and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) allowing the examination and longitudinal monitoring of a tumors genetic landscape. With applications in cancer screening, prognostic stratification, therapy selection and disease surveillance, liquid biopsy represents an exciting new paradigm in the field of cancer diagnostics and offers a less invasive and more comprehensive alternative to conventional tissue biopsy. Here, we examine liquid biopsies in gastrointestinal cancers, specifically colorectal, gastric, and pancreatic cancers, with an emphasis on applications in diagnostics, prognostics and therapeutics.
HIV/AIDS Knowledge of Undergraduate Students at a Historically Black College and University
Authors: Andrew Prince Onyekachi , Bhuiyan Azad , Mawson Anthony , Buxbaum Sarah G. , Sung Jung Hye , Shahbazi Mohammad
Published: October 2018

Objective: This study among 400 undergraduate students enrolled at Jackson State University (JSU) study aimed to assess knowledge about HIV and AIDS among African-American undergraduate students attending a historically black college and university. A cross-sectional survey was conducted. Data were collected using a validated, self-administered, and standardized questionnaire on knowledge regarding risks for HIV and AIDS. Three hundred and eighty-six students (96.5%) had good knowledge about HIV and AIDS, although some participants had misconceptions about the modes of HIV infection transmission. There were no significant gender differences for HIV and AIDS knowledge among the participants (χ2 = 3.05; P = 0.08). In general we concluded that JSU undergraduate students had adequate knowledge about HIV transmission modes and AIDS, although some participants had misconceptions about the routes of HIV infection transmission. Hence, this study calls for strengthening HIV and AIDS awareness education among undergraduate students.
A Comprehensive Attack Flow Model and Security Analysis for Wi-Fi and WPA3
Authors: Kohlios Christopher P. , Hayajneh Thaier
Published: October 2018

The presence of wireless communication grows undeniably more prevalent each year. Since the introduction of the IEEE 802.11 standard for Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) in 1997, technologies have progressed to provide wireless accessibility to industries and consumers with growing ease and convenience. As the usage of personal devices, such as phones and watches, that connect to the Internet through Wi-Fi increases, wireless attacks on users are becoming more critical. This paper provides a novel attack model to offer an organized and comprehensive view of the possible attacks on Wi-Fi latest security standards. All existing attacks will be investigated, with emphasis on more recent attacks, such as the KRACK and PMKID Dictionary attacks. The main contribution of this paper is to analyze the technology offered in the new Wi-Fi Protected Access III (WPA3) security scheme and provide the first comprehensive security analysis and discussion to determine whether it has addressed the vulnerabilities of its predecessor. An interesting finding of this paper is that WPA3 still lacks in addressing all the issues existing in WPA2 and exploring other mitigations for future research.
An Effective Ground Fault Location Scheme Using Unsynchronized Data for Multi-Terminal Lines
Authors: Wang Dazhi , Ning Yi , Zhang Cuiling
Published: October 2018

Traveling-wave-based methods perform poorly for the fault location of multi-terminal lines as a result of the limitation introduced by being a highly branched structure. The requirement for multi-terminal time synchronization is also a drawback and needs to be improved. In this paper, an effective fault location method for use on multi-terminal lines is proposed, and it does not require the data from each terminal to be synchronized. The method is based on the arrival time differences in the ground and aerial mode waves detected at each terminal. First, fault section identification rules for a three-terminal line are proposed. Then, a multi-terminal topological structure in this paper will be deemed as one consisting of multiple three-terminal lines. Thus, a whole scheme to identify any fault section in a multi-terminal line is presented. Consequently, the fault distance is calculated using the fault distance ratios in the corresponding fault section. The advantage of the proposed scheme is that complete coverage of multi-terminal lines fault location can still be achieved once some synchronized devices are out of operation. To evaluate the performance of the proposed method, many fault cases under different conditions are implemented. The simulation results show that the proposed method can identify the fault section correctly and locate the fault more accurately and reliably than existing methods.
Atomization of Gel Fuels with Solid Particle Addition Utilizing an Air Atomizing Nozzle
Authors: Xiao Yunlei , Xia Zhixun , Huang Liya , Ma Likun , Yang Dali
Published: October 2018

Microscopic high-speed imaging is used to experimentally measure the velocity and size of droplets of gelled RP-1 based fuels with a solid particle additive. The gels are atomized using an air atomizing nozzle. The droplet diameter and velocity at a fixed position 20 cm from the nozzle on the centerline of the spray are measured at air mass flow rates of 1.5, 3 and 5 g/s. A parametric study is conducted to study the effect of gas mass flow rate, boron particle content, and species of the solid particle on the droplet characteristics. The results indicate that the droplet size decreases with the increasing of gas mass flow rate and boron particle content. Gel fuels with an aluminum particle are observed to produce smaller droplets at a low gas mass flow rate than that with a boron particle. The implication of these observations is that the atomization processes for gelled fuels with an additive of solid particles is controlled by the velocity difference between the gas and the droplets.
Experimental and Theoretical Analysis of a Linear Focus CPV/T System for Cogeneration Purposes
Authors: Renno Carlo
Published: October 2018

The knowledge of the actual energy performances of a concentrating photovoltaic and thermal (CPV/T) system with a linear focus optics, allows to evaluate the possibility of adopting this type of system for cogeneration purposes. Hence, the main aim of this paper is the design, realization, setting and modeling of a linear focus CPV/T system in the high concentration field. An experimental linear focus CPV/T plant was created in order to determine its electrical and thermal performance under different working conditions in terms of environment temperature, sunny and cloudy conditions, focal length, etc. Moreover, a theoretical model of the linear focus CPV/T system was also studied. This model evaluates the temperatures of the working fluid that flows in the cooling circuit of the CPV/T system under several operating conditions. The temperatures of the triple junction (TJ) cells, experimentally evaluated referring to different solar radiation and atmospheric conditions, were considered as the input data for the model. The values of the fluid temperature, theoretically and experimentally determined, were thus compared with good agreement. The electrical production of the CPV/T system depends generally on the TJ cell characteristics and the concentration factor, while the thermal production is above all linked to the system configuration and the direct normal irradiance (DNI) values. Hence, in this paper the electric power obtained by the linear-focus CPV/T system was evaluated referring to the cogeneration applications, and it was verified if the TJ cell and the cooling fluid reach adequate temperature levels in this type of system, in order to match the electrical and the thermal loads of a user.
Study of the Application of Alkaline Extrusion to the Pretreatment of Eucalyptus Biomass as First Step in a Bioethanol Production Process
Authors: Duque Aleta , Manzanares Paloma , González Alberto , Ballesteros Mercedes
Published: October 2018

Eucalyptus biomass was studied as a feedstock for sugars release using an alkaline extrusion plus a neutralization-based pretreatment. This approach would be a first step in a bioconversion process aimed at obtaining fuel bioethanol from eucalyptus biomass. The best operation conditions of extrusion (screw speed, temperature, liquid to solid ratio and NaOH amount) that lead to an effective destructuration of lignocellulose and enhanced sugar release were investigated. Two process configurations, with and without filtration inside the extruder, were tested. In the case without filtration, washed and not washed extrudates were compared. It was demonstrated that filtration step was convenient to remove inorganic salts resulting from neutralization and to promote the mechanical effect of extrusion, but limitations in the machine used in the work prevented testing of temperatures above 100 °C using this configuration. In the no filtration strategy, a temperature of 150 °C allowed attaining the highest glucan and xylan conversion rates by enzymatic hydrolysis of extruded biomass, almost 40% and 75%, respectively, of the maximum yield that could be attained if all carbohydrates contained in raw eucalyptus were converted to sugars. Some of the mechanisms and individual effects underlying alkaline extrusion of eucalyptus were figured out in this work, providing guidelines for a successful pretreatment design that needs to be further studied.
UV Sensitization of Nitrate and Sulfite: A Powerful Tool for Groundwater Remediation
Authors: Lester Yaal , Dabash Asmaa , Eghbareya Darine
Published: October 2018

Groundwater contamination by nitrate and organic chemicals (for example, 1,4-dioxane) is a growing worldwide concern. This work presents a new approach for simultaneously treating nitrate and 1,4-dioxane, which is based on the ultra-violet (UV) sensitization of nitrate and sulfite, and the production of reactive species. Specifically, water contaminated with nitrate and 1,4-dioxane is irradiated by a UV source (<250 nm) at relatively high doses, to sensitize in situ nitrate and generate OH•. This leads to the oxidation of 1,4-dioxane (and other organics) and the (undesired) production of nitrite as an intermediate. Subsequently, sulfite is added at an optimized time-point, and its UV sensitization produces hydrated electrons that react and reduces nitrite. Our results confirm the effectivity of the proposed treatment: UV irradiation of nitrate (at >5 mg N/L) efficiently degraded 1,4-dioxane, while producing nitrite at levels higher than its maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 1 mg N/L in drinking water. Adding sulfite to the process after 10 min of irradiation reduces the concentration of nitrite without affecting the degradation rate of 1,4-dioxane. The treated water contained elevated levels of sulfate; albeit at much lower concentration than its MCL. Treating water contaminated with nitrate and organic chemicals (often detected concomitantly) typically requires several expensive treatment processes. The proposed approach presents a cost-effective alternative, employing a single system for the treatment of nitrate and organic contaminants.
Effect of Soil Layer and Plant–Soil Interaction on Soil Microbial Diversity and Function after Canopy Gap Disturbance
Authors: Yu Xuan , Yang Lin , Fei Shixuan , Ma Zitong , Hao Ruqian , Zhao Zhong
Published: October 2018

Gaps by thinning can have different microclimatic environments compared to surrounding areas, depending on the size of the gap. In addition, gaps can play important roles in biological dynamics, nutrient cycling, and seedling regeneration. The impacts of gap size on soil microbial communities and enzyme activities in different soil layers in Chinese pine plantations are not well understood. Here, we created gaps of 45 m2 (small, G1), 100 m2 (medium, G2), and 190 m2 (large, G3) by thinning unhealthy trees in an aged (i.e., 50 years old) monoculture Chinese pine plantation in 2010. Soil samples were collected in 2015. The total, bacterial, Gram-positive (G+), and Gram-negative (G−) phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) profiles were highest in medium gaps in both the organic and mineral layers. These indicesdecreased sharply as gap size increased to 190 m2, and each of the detected enzyme activities demonstrated the same trend. Under all the gap size managements, abundances of microbial PLFAs and enzyme activities in the organic layers were higher than in the mineral layers. The soil layer was found to have a stronger influence on soil microbial communities than gap size. Redundancy analysis (RDA) based on the three systems with different gap sizes showed that undergrowth coverage, diversity, soil total nitrogen (TN), total organic carbon (TOC), and available phosphorus (AT) significantly affected soil microbial communities. Our findings highlighted that the effect of gap size on soil microenvironment is valuable information for assessing soil fertility. Medium gaps (i.e., 100 m2) have higher microbial PLFAs, enzyme activity, and soil nutrient availability. These medium gaps are considered favorable for soil microbial communities and fertility studied in a Chinese pine plantation managed on the Loess Plateau.
Discrete-Event Simulation of Ground-Based Timber Harvesting Operations
Authors: She Ji , Chung Woodam , Kim David
Published: October 2018

Operational studies are necessary to support production and management decisions of forest industries. A time study (TS) approach is widely used in timber harvesting operations to understand the performance of individual harvesting machines as well as the entire system. However, several limitations of the TS approach include the use of generalized utilization rates, incapability of capturing interactions among equipment, and model extrapolation in sensitivity analysis. In this study, we demonstrated the use of discrete event simulation (DES) techniques in modeling a ground-based timber harvesting system, and compared the DES results with those of the TS model developed with the same observed data. Although both TS and DES models provided similar estimation results for individual machine cycle times and productivities, the estimated machine utilization rates were somewhat different due to the difference in synthesizing machine processes in each approach. Our sensitivity analysis and model expansion to simulate a hypothetical harvesting system suggest that the DES approach may become an appropriate method for analyzing complex systems especially where interactions among different machine processes are unknown.
Probabilistic Substrate Classification with Multispectral Acoustic Backscatter: A Comparison of Discriminative and Generative Models
Authors: Buscombe Daniel , Grams Paul E.
Published: October 2018

We propose a probabilistic graphical model for discriminative substrate characterization, to support geological and biological habitat mapping in aquatic environments. The model, called a fully-connected conditional random field (CRF), is demonstrated using multispectral and monospectral acoustic backscatter from heterogeneous seafloors in Patricia Bay, British Columbia, and Bedford Basin, Nova Scotia. Unlike previously proposed discriminative algorithms, the CRF model considers both the relative backscatter magnitudes of different substrates and their relative proximities. The model therefore combines the statistical flexibility of a machine learning algorithm with an inherently spatial treatment of the substrate. The CRF model predicts substrates such that nearby locations with similar backscattering characteristics are likely to be in the same substrate class. The degree of allowable proximity and backscatter similarity are controlled by parameters that are learned from the data. CRF model results were evaluated against a popular generative model known as a Gaussian Mixture model (GMM) that doesn’t include spatial dependencies, only covariance between substrate backscattering response over different frequencies. Both models are used in conjunction with sparse bed observations/samples in a supervised classification. A detailed accuracy assessment, including a leave-one-out cross-validation analysis, was performed using both models. Using multispectral backscatter, the GMM model trained on 50% of the bed observations resulted in a 75% and 89% average accuracies in Patricia Bay and Bedford Basin, respectively. The same metrics for the CRF model were 78% and 95%. Further, the CRF model resulted in a 91% mean cross-validation accuracy across four substrate classes at Patricia Bay, and a 99.5% mean accuracy across three substrate classes at Bedford Basin, which suggest that the CRF model generalizes extremely well to new data. This analysis also showed that the CRF model was much less sensitive to the specific number and locations of bed observations than the generative model, owing to its ability to incorporate spatial autocorrelation in substrates. The CRF therefore may prove to be a powerful ‘spatially aware’ alternative to other discriminative classifiers.
Using a Virtual Community (the Health Equity Learning Collaboratory) to Support Early-Stage Investigators Pursuing Grant Funding
Authors: Hall Meldra , Engler Jeffrey , Hemming Japera , Alema-Mensah Ernest , Baez Adriana , Lawson Kimberly , Quarshie Alexander , Stiles Jonathan , Pemu Priscilla , Thompson Winston , Paulsen Douglas , Smith Ann , Ofili Elizabeth
Published: October 2018

Junior investigators often have limited access to networks of scientific experts and resources that facilitate competitive grant submissions. Since environments in which scientists are trained are critically important for long-term success, we built and tested a virtual environment for early-stage investigators (ESIs) working on grant proposals. The aim of this study was to evaluate the virtual community’s influence on grant submission patterns among participants from underrepresented groups. As part of a grant writing coaching model, junior investigators were recruited into a professional development program designed to develop competitive grantsmanship skills. Designed by the Research Resources and Outreach Core (RROC) of the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN), the Health Equity Learning Collaboratory (EQ-Collaboratory) provided a virtual community for social support, accountability, constructive feedback, and access to peer networks to help investigators overcome barriers to grant submission. This study assessed differences in outcomes for participants who completed the training within the EQ-Collaboratory compared to those who did not. The analyzed data revealed a statistically significant difference in the average time to submission for participants enrolled in the EQ-Collaboratory. EQ-Collaboratory ESIs submitted proposals 148.6 days earlier, (p < 0.0001). The results suggest that a supportive virtual environment can help investigators more quickly overcome barriers to grant submission.
Development of Construction Workers Job Stress Scale to Study and the Relationship between Job Stress and Safety Behavior: An Empirical Study in Beijing
Authors: Wu Xiang , Li Yuanlong , Yao Yongzheng , Luo Xiaowei , He Xuhui , Yin Wenwen
Published: October 2018

Job stress is considered one of the critical causes of construction workers’ unsafe behaviors. As a mainstay industry in many countries, the construction industry has a considerable number of employees and the research on how job stress affects workers’ unsafe behaviors has important theoretical and practical significance to improve construction safety performance through better job stress management. In this study, the authors thoroughly reviewed the literature and conducted semi-structured interviews to identify the dimensions of job stress, designed the job stress scale and cited the safety behavior measurement scale. After that, a questionnaire survey was developed using the proposed measurement scale and distributed to the construction employees from a project in Beijing. One hundred fifty responses were collected and analyzed using reliability analysis to validate the scale’s internal consistency. Results from factor analysis indicate that the scales of job stress measurement can be grouped into six dimensions. To demonstrate the applicability of the developed scale on construction safety management research, the collected data was used to test the hypothesis that job stress has a negative correlation with safety behavior. Results show that the hypothesis is valid, and there is a negative correlation between job stress and safety behavior. In addition, finer results of the relationship between the six dimensions of job stress and safety behavior can be obtained. In summary, this study developed an improved stress scale for construction workers in China, and the proposed scale was validated by analyzing the data from an empirical study in Beijing.
Depressive Symptoms and Associated Factors in Female Students in Fukushima Four Years after the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Disaster
Authors: Ito Shinya , Sasaki Mie , Okabe Satoko , Konno Nobuhiro , Goto Aya
Published: October 2018

Young women in their late teens and early 20s are at the highest risk for depression onset. The present study aimed to assess depressive symptoms among female college students in Fukushima. More specifically, it aimed to clarify factors predicting possible symptom profiles, with an emphasis on determining how nuclear radiation risks affect the reporting of depression symptoms. A cross-sectional survey was conducted of 310 female students at a college in the Fukushima prefecture, Japan, in December 2015, and 288 participants submitted valid questionnaires. In total, 222 (77.1%) participants lived in Fukushima at the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake. The measures included the World Health Organization-Five Well-Being Index, the Fukushima Future Parents Attitude Measure, and risk perception of radiation health effects. A total of 46.5% of participants reported depressive symptoms. Path analysis revealed that higher radiation risk perceptions and reduced efficacy with reproduction related to a decline in self-esteem and self-efficacy, which was subsequently associated with increased depressive symptoms. These findings highlight the importance of radiation education among children and young adults, both after a nuclear accident and during disaster preparation, particularly in the context of reproductive and mental health.
Citius, Altius, Fortius vs. Slow Sport: A New Era of Sustainable Sport
Authors: Malchrowicz-Mośko Ewa , Płoszaj Katarzyna , Firek Wiesław
Published: October 2018

The objective of the article is to present the slow sport movement as a phenomenon developing in the postmodern era in opposition to the idea of citius, altius, fortius (Eng. faster, higher, stronger). The theoretical part of the article describes the health repercussions of slow movement and its implications for the sports industry and sports tourism. It also points to new challenges in sports management and sports tourism implemented in the slow style. The empirical part of the article aims at determining what influence the achievement of a self-set sports goal has on the degree of satisfaction with participation in a running event among runners. Could runners who did not set themselves any sports goal and ran for pleasure (according to the idea of slow sport) achieve the same degree of satisfaction as runners who set themselves an ambitious sports goal and achieved it (according to the idea of citius, altius, fortius)? The case study is the 6th Poznan Half Marathon, a cyclical, popular running event taking place in Poland. A total of 560 runners (n = 560) took part in the diagnostic survey conducted using the interview technique. The ANOVA Rang Kruskal-Wallis test and Dunn’s test were used in the study. The results show that athletes who did not set a sporting goal (ran for pleasure, company, atmosphere, participation, etc.) experienced the same level of satisfaction as athletes who achieved their intended sporting goal. It turns out, therefore, that sport and physical activity done for pleasure in accordance with the slow sport idea can provide the same level of satisfaction as sport practiced in the spirit of citius, altius, fortius.
Total Worker Health: A Small Business Leader Perspective
Authors: Thompson Janalee , Schwatka Natalie V. , Tenney Liliana , Newman Lee S.
Published: October 2018

Total Worker Health® (TWH) frameworks call for attention to organizational leadership in the implementation and effectiveness of TWH approaches. It is especially important to study this within in the small business environment where employees face significant health, safety, and well-being concerns and employers face barriers to addressing these concerns. The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of how small business leaders perceive employee health, safety, and well-being in the context of their own actions. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 small business senior leaders and used a qualitative coding approach to analyze the transcripts to determine the frequency with which leaders discussed each code. When we asked leaders about their leadership practices for health, safety, and well-being, leaders reflected upon their business (65%), themselves (28%), and their employees (7%). Leaders rarely discussed the ways in which they integrate health, safety, and well-being. The interviews demonstrate that small business leaders care about the health of their employees, but because of the perceived value to their business, not to employees or themselves. Thus, they may lack the knowledge and skills to be successful TWH leaders. The present study supports a need for continued small business TWH leadership research.
A Semantic Social Network Analysis Tool for Sensitivity Analysis and What-If Scenario Testing in Alcohol Consumption Studies
Authors: Benítez-Andrades José Alberto , Rodríguez-González Alejandro , Benavides Carmen , Sánchez-Valdeón Leticia , García Isaías
Published: October 2018

Social Network Analysis (SNA) is a set of techniques developed in the field of social and behavioral sciences research, in order to characterize and study the social relationships that are established among a set of individuals. When building a social network for performing an SNA analysis, an initial process of data gathering is achieved in order to extract the characteristics of the individuals and their relationships. This is usually done by completing a questionnaire containing different types of questions that will be later used to obtain the SNA measures needed to perform the study. There are, then, a great number of different possible network-generating questions and also many possibilities for mapping the responses to the corresponding characteristics and relationships. Many variations may be introduced into these questions (the way they are posed, the weights given to each of the responses, etc.) that may have an effect on the resulting networks. All these different variations are difficult to achieve manually, because the process is time-consuming and error-prone. The tool described in this paper uses semantic knowledge representation techniques in order to facilitate this kind of sensitivity studies. The base of the tool is a conceptual structure, called “ontology” that is able to represent the different concepts and their definitions. The tool is compared to other similar ones, and the advantages of the approach are highlighted, giving some particular examples from an ongoing SNA study about alcohol consumption habits in adolescents.
Efficiency of All-Trans Retinoic Acid on Gastric Cancer: A Narrative Literature Review
Authors: Bouriez Damien , Giraud Julie , Gronnier Caroline , Varon Christine
Published: October 2018

Gastric cancer (GC) is the third leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide with a five-year survival rate of around 25%, and 4% when diagnosed at a metastatic stage. Cancer stem cells (CSC) have recently been characterized as being responsible for resistance to radio/chemotherapies and metastasis formation, opening up perspectives for new targeted therapies. Those CSCs express biomarkers such as cluster of differentiation 44 (CD44) and display high aldehyde dehydrogenase activity that converts vitamin A-derived retinal into retinoic acids. All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), which has pro-differentiating properties, has revolutionized the prognosis of acute promyelotic leukemia by increasing its remission rate from 15% to 85%. Recent studies have started to show that ATRA also has an anti-tumoral role on solid cancers such as GC. The purpose of this review is therefore to summarize the work that evaluated the effects of ATRA in GC and to evaluate whether its anti-cancerous action involves gastric CSCs targeting. It has been demonstrated that ATRA can block the cell cycle, enhance apoptosis, and decrease gastric CSCs properties in GC cell lines, tumorspheres, and patient-derived xenograft mice models. Therefore, retinoids and new synthetic retinoids seem to be a promising step forward in targeted therapy of gastric CSC in combination with existing chemotherapies. Future studies should probably focus on these points.
The Role of Adipokines in Surgical Procedures Requiring Both Liver Regeneration and Vascular Occlusion
Authors: Álvarez-Mercado Ana Isabel , Bujaldon Esther , Gracia-Sancho Jordi , Peralta Carmen
Published: October 2018

Liver regeneration is a perfectly calibrated mechanism crucial to increase mass recovery of small size grafts from living donor liver transplantation, as well as in other surgical procedures including hepatic resections and liver transplantation from cadaveric donors. Regeneration involves multiple events and pathways in which several adipokines contribute to their orchestration and drive hepatocytes to proliferate. In addition, ischemia-reperfusion injury is a critical factor in hepatic resection and liver transplantation associated with liver failure or graft dysfunction post-surgery. This review aims to summarize the existing knowledge in the role of adipokines in surgical procedures requiring both liver regeneration and vascular occlusion, which increases ischemia-reperfusion injury and regenerative failure. We expose and discuss results in small-for-size liver transplantation and hepatic resections from animal studies focused on the modulation of the main adipokines associated with liver diseases and/or regeneration published in the last five years and analyze future perspectives and their applicability as potential targets to decrease ischemia-reperfusion injury and improve regeneration highlighting marginal states such as steatosis. In our view, adipokines means a promising approach to translate to the bedside to improve the recovery of patients subjected to partial hepatectomy and to increase the availability of organs for transplantation.