bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Geometrical characteristics of phase and group velocity surfaces in anisotropic media
Authors: Stovas Alexey , Roganov Yuriy , Roganov Vyacheslav 
Published: September 2020

ABSTRACTThe phase and group velocity surfaces are essential for wave propagation in anisotropic media. These surfaces have certain features that, especially, for shear waves result in complications for modelling and inversion of recorded wavefields. To analyse wave propagation in an anisotropic model, it is important to identify these features in both the phase and group domains. We propose few characteristics for this analysis: the energy flux angle, decomposed in the polar and azimuth angle correction angles and enhancement factor, which is able to characterize both singularity points and triplication zones. The very simple equation that controls the triplications is derived in the phase domain. The proposed characteristics are illustrated for elastic and acoustic anisotropic models of different symmetry classes.
Realised rather than fundamental thermal niches predict site occupancy: Implications for climate change forecasting
Authors: Braschler Brigitte , Duffy Grant A. , Nortje Erika , Kritzinger‐Klopper Suzaan , du Plessis Dorette , Karenyi Natasha , Leihy Rachel I. , Chown Steven L. 
Published: September 2020

Abstract

Thermal performance traits are regularly used to make forecasts of the responses of ectotherms to anthropogenic environmental change, but such forecasts do not always differentiate between fundamental and realised thermal niches.

Here we determine the relative extents to which variation in the fundamental and realised thermal niches accounts for current variation in species abundance and occupancy and assess the effects of niche‐choice on future‐climate response estimations.

We investigated microclimate and macroclimate temperatures alongside abundance, occupancy, critical thermal limits and foraging activity of 52 ant species (accounting for >95% individuals collected) from a regional assemblage from across the Western Cape Province, South Africa, between 2003 and 2014.

Capability of a species to occupy sites experiencing the most extreme temperatures, coupled with breadth of realised niche, explained most deviance in occupancy (up to 75%), while foraging temperature range and body mass explained up to 50.5% of observed variation in mean species abundance.

When realised niches are used to forecast responses to climate change, large positive and negative effects among species are predicted under future conditions, in contrast to the forecasts of minimal impacts on all species that are indicated by fundamental niche predictions.
A synthesis of the effects of cheatgrass invasion on US Great Basin carbon storage
Authors: Nagy R. Chelsea , Fusco Emily J. , Balch Jennifer K. , Finn John T. , Mahood Adam , Allen Jenica M. , Bradley Bethany A. 
Published: September 2020

Abstract

Non‐native, invasive Bromus tectorum (cheatgrass) is pervasive in sagebrush ecosystems in the Great Basin ecoregion of the western United States, competing with native plants and promoting more frequent fires. As a result, cheatgrass invasion likely alters carbon (C) storage in the region. Many studies have measured C pools in one or more common vegetation types: native sagebrush, invaded sagebrush and cheatgrass‐dominated (often burned) sites, but these results have yet to be synthesized.

We performed a literature review to identify studies assessing the consequences of invasion on C storage in above‐ground biomass (AGB), below‐ground biomass (BGB), litter, organic soil and total soil. We identified 41 articles containing 386 unique studies and estimated C storage across pools and vegetation types. We used linear mixed models to identify the main predictors of C storage.

We found consistent declines in biomass C with invasion: AGB C was 55% lower in cheatgrass (40 ± 4 g C/m2) than native sagebrush (89 ± 27 g C/m2) and BGB C was 62% lower in cheatgrass (90 ± 17 g C/m2) than native sagebrush (238 ± 60 g C/m2). In contrast, litter C was >4× higher in cheatgrass (154 ± 12 g C/m2) than native sagebrush (32 ± 12 g C/m2). Soil organic C (SOC) in the top 10 cm was significantly higher in cheatgrass than in native or invaded sagebrush. SOC below 20 cm was significantly related to the time since most recent fire and losses were observed in deep SOC in cheatgrass >5 years after a fire. There were no significant changes in total soil C across vegetation types.

Synthesis and applications. Cheatgrass invasion decreases biodiversity and rangeland productivity and alters fire regimes. Our findings indicate cheatgrass invasion also results in persistent biomass carbon (C) losses that occur with sagebrush replacement. We estimate that conversion from native sagebrush to cheatgrass leads to a net reduction of C storage in biomass and litter of 76 g C/m2, or 16 Tg C across the Great Basin without management practices like native sagebrush restoration or cheatgrass removal.
Relationships of plant traits and soil biota to soil functions change as nitrogen fertiliser rates increase in an intensively managed agricultural system
Authors: Orwin Kate H. , Mason Norman W. H. , Aalders Lee , Bell Nigel L. , Schon Nicole , Mudge Paul L. 
Published: September 2020

AbstractBecause plant and soil systems are strongly inter‐linked, manipulating plant traits in intensively managed agricultural systems could be used to improve soil functioning and sustainability. However, we have little understanding of whether the impacts of plant traits on soil systems are modified by other management practices, such as fertiliser use.We tested whether relationships among plant traits, soil biota (microbes and nematodes) and soil functions (carbon and nitrogen (N) cycling) change with N fertiliser regime in a field‐based, intensively managed experiment with high biomass removal. The experiment consisted of seven plant species compositions crossed with six N fertiliser rates (0–500 kg N ha−1 year−1).Relationships among plant traits, soil biota and soil functions were often consistent across N fertiliser rates. However, the relationship of percentage N2fixer toqCO2shifted from negative to neutral as N rates increased, and the slope of several relationships of plant traits to N cycling indicators declined when >200 kg N ha−1 year−1was added. The negative relationship of the fungal: bacterial ratio to N cycling indicators also became neutral when > 200 kg N ha−1 year−1was added, and the relationships of bacterivore abundance and the plant parasitic index to respiration changed direction as N inputs increased.Some relationships of plant traits and soil biota to soil functions were in unexpected directions. This was sometimes associated with species‐specific effects and inconsistent trait trade‐offs within species. In general, conservative plant traits and fungal dominance were associated with low N cycling and cellulose paper decomposition rates, but high respiration rates. Nematode‐based variables were better predictors of some functions than microbial ones; their incorporation into plant trait research could improve predictive power and system understanding.Synthesis and applications. Manipulating plant community traits can modify soil functions in intensively managed systems, but may result in larger changes where fertiliser nitrogen inputs are relatively low. Improved modelling that integrates how plant community traits, species‐specific effects and management practices interact to determine soil functions will be required before managers can confidently predict the consequences of changing plant community traits.
Burnout as an identity rupture in the life course: a longitudinal narrative method
Authors: Korhonen Maija , Komulainen Katri , Okkonen Venla 
Published: September 2020

AbstractThe methodological article explores the process by which identity rupture generated by work‐related burnout is encountered and managed over time. The article presents an in‐depth case study based on follow‐up interviews with a woman in her sixties. The study attempts to discover what kinds of continuities and changes in meaning making patterns are included in the burnout process and how these meaning making patterns are used to perform and negotiate identity stabilities and changes in the life course. The study is part of a larger longitudinal qualitative investigation following a group of Finnish middle‐aged employees in the context of burnout rehabilitation. As a result of analysis, four thematically and temporally overlapping meaning making patterns were identified: defining and legitimating illness, encountering and resisting the ‘vulnerable’ Other in self, developing and testing a new identity, and recapturing the past self. The burnout trajectory seems to consist of temporally stable meaning making patterns, such as legitimation of illness, preservation of the past self and resistance of the patient role. However, it also includes changes in meaning making that imply positively interpreted self‐change. The study contributes to the methodological development of qualitative health and life course research.
Proving the Dough: National Crime Agency v Baker & Ors
Authors: Clancy Áine 
Published: September 2020

AbstractThis note examines the High Court's recent decision in National Crime Agency v Baker to discharge three unexplained wealth orders (UWOs) relating to properties in London. The UWOs were originally granted on the basis that the properties were suspected of constituting ‘recoverable property’ for the purposes of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. The decision is the first to overturn an UWO. Given the few UWO applications to date, it is an important contribution to the available jurisprudence on the mechanism. This comment examines the presiding judge's statements on the evidential thresholds to be met in raising a presumption that property constitutes the proceeds of crime and looks at the decision's emphasis on enforcement authorities’ obligations to meet proportionality requirements. It reviews the Court's discussion of complex property ownership structures. It concludes that the judgment raises issues which enforcement authorities may find challenging in seeking to use UWOs in future investigations.
A reassessment of the diversity of green toads (Bufotes) in the circum‐Aegean region
Authors: DUFRESNES Christophe , PROBONAS Nikolas M. , STRACHINIS Ilias 
Published: September 2020

AbstractThe dynamic biogeography of glacial refugia may cause complex patterns of genetic admixture between parapatric taxa, which in turn can mislead their systematics, diversity, and distributions. We investigated this issue for green toads (Bufotes) inhabiting the circum‐Aegean region, a biodiversity hotspot of the Eastern Mediterranean. A previous phylogeographic study based on mitochondrial and microsatellite loci identified the hybrid zone between the European (viridis) and Anatolian (sitibundus) lineages of B. viridis all over the Balkan Peninsula, but subsequent range‐wide genomic analyses (>1000 SNPs) located this transition in Turkey, a thousand kilometers eastwards. In order to clarify the diversity and taxonomy of the circum‐Aegean populations, we reconciled these conflicting findings by integrating previous data with pure sitibundus individuals. Our results confirmed that the viridis/sitibundus hybrid zone extends in Western Anatolia, but that southeastern European populations feature cytonuclear discordances and a high and structured microsatellite diversity. This remarkable situation may stem from a massive geographic displacement of the hybrid zone during the last glacial fluctuations, an underappreciated yet seemingly common feature among the herpetofauna of the region. Our study thus contributes to the rising view that mitochondrial DNA can be a poor predictor of current phylogeographic structure, hence the need for genomic data, especially for narrowly distributed taxa. Finally, the analyses unambiguously support the distinction of a micro‐endemic clade of green toads unique to some Cyclades islands, for which we provide a formal taxonomic description.
Ontogenetic resource use and trophic dynamics of endangered juvenile Tachypleus tridentatus among diversified nursery habitats in the northern Beibu Gulf, China
Authors: KWAN Kit Yue , BOPP Justin , HUANG Shuyan , CHEN Qiao , WANG Chun‐Chieh , WANG Xueping , ZHEN Wenquan , ZHU Junhua , HUANG Xing 
Published: September 2020

AbstractHorseshoe crabs, the most well‐known example of “living fossils”, are iconic and ecologically important macroinvertebrates in coastal and estuarine ecosystems. Their blood is a crucial resource for manufacturing Limulus or Tachypleus amebocyte lysate to detect bacterial endotoxins or fungal contamination in drug and medical devices. An enhanced understanding of their ecological roles and trophic interactions in the food webs is fundamental to facilitate resource management for the declining populations in Asia. Foraging information of the Asian species, however, is mainly derived from preliminary, scattered reports from a limited number of study locations. In this study, resource utilization, trophic niche dynamics, and trophic interaction of the juvenile tri‐spine horseshoe crab, Tachypleus tridentatus (instars 1–12, approximately 0.5–8 years old) across ontogeny was assessed in diversified nursery habitats along the northern Beibu Gulf, China, using carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes. Our results suggest that: (i) T. tridentatus are ecological generalists given the vast range of carbon isotopic values and trophic niche width estimates exhibited between multiple instar groups; (ii) juvenile T. tridentatus across most habitat types predominantly assimilated energy from a variety of basal production sources in the food web, but primarily depended on sedimentary organic matter and seagrass resource pools; (iii) ontogenetic shifts in juvenile dietary proportions were evident, with decreased reliance on sedimentary organic matter, coupled with increased reliance on benthic macroinvertebrate grazers, detritivores, and omnivores with age; and (iv) nearly all juvenile instars occupied similar trophic positions in the food web with slight shifts in trophic position present with increasing size. Our findings indicate that resource availability and ontogenetic diet shifts strongly influence horseshoe crab trophic dynamics, and age should be accounted when formulating habitat conservation measures based on resource use for Asian horseshoe crabs.
Integrating univariate and multivariate statistical models to investigate genotype × environment interaction in durum wheat
Authors: Mohammadi Reza , Sadeghzadeh Behzad , Poursiahbidi Mohammad Mehdi , Ahmadi Malak Masoud 
Published: September 2020

AbstractThere has been a significant trend in the use of different statistical tools to analyse genotype × environment (GE) interaction for grain yield in multi‐environment trials. Several statistical models including 16 univariate stability methods and four multivariate models such as the additive main effects and multiplicative interaction (AMMI), GGE biplot (G+GE biplot), and factorial regression and partial least squares regression were applied to investigate the GE interaction for grain‐yield data of 18 durum wheat genotypes grown in 14 environments (location‐year combinations). The main objectives were to use the different statistical models to evaluate GE interaction for grain yield in durum wheat and to investigate the effect of some climatic variables on the interactions. The main effect of environment, genotype and GE interactions were significant (p < .01), and accounted for 85.1, 0.8 and 6.8% of total variation, respectively. Using the cluster and discriminant analyses, a pattern map developed simultaneously for clustering of stability methods and genotypes, which allowed identifying seven genotypic groups for genotypes and four groups for stability methods. The different stability groups explained genotypic performance differently, with or without respect to yield. The AMMI stability value, Wricke's ecovalence (Wi), Shukla's stability variance (σ2), Perkins and Jinks's (β and Dj) indices, joint regression parameters (bi and S2di, R2) and Tai's stability (σ and λ) methods did not correlate with genotypic mean yields, while the dynamic stability GGE distance and superiority measure (Pi) showed significant positive correlations with genotypic mean yields, showing selection based on these two methods would improve yield stability and performance. Using the applied methods, the breeding lines G12, G13 and G7 showed high mean yield and stability performance. The results also showed that the GE interactions were mostly influenced by the climatic data of rainfall, freezing days, minimum temperature and relative humidity. Although the multivariate methods provided valuable information on GE interaction, the univariate methods seem to be useful alternatives to complement improving screening efficiency.
High‐dose methotrexate monotherapy for newly diagnosed primary central nervous system lymphoma: 15‐year multicenter experience
Authors: Yoon Wan‐Soo , Park Jae‐Sung , Kim Young‐il , Chung Dong‐Sup , Jeun Sin‐Soo , Hong Yong‐Kil , Yang Seung Ho 
Published: September 2020

AbstractAimPrimary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) is rare disease and shows poor prognosis although methotrexate‐based chemotherapy is used. Here, we present our experiences with high‐dose methotrexate (HD‐MTX) monotherapy for immunocompetent patients with PCNSL at three institutions and investigate factors related to survival.MethodsPCNSL patients, who were histologically confirmed with diffuse large B cells and treated with HD‐MTX monotherapy from 2001 to 2016, were retrospectively reviewed. Patients underwent induction chemotherapy with 8 g/m2 of MTX every 10 days (maximum three cycles). Maintenance chemotherapy of 3.5 g/m2 of MTX (maximum six cycles) was selectively performed depending on the response to induction chemotherapy.ResultsA total of 67 patients were included. Although seven patients discontinued induction chemotherapy because of MTX toxicity, 40 (59.7%) patients showed a complete response (CR) to induction chemotherapy. Twenty‐six (38.8%) and three (4.5%) patients showed a CR and partial response, respectively, after maintenance chemotherapy. Forty‐one patients with recurrence or progression following HD‐MTX underwent second‐line treatment. Progression‐free survival rates were 43% and 24% at 1 and 2 years, respectively. The median overall survival was 40.3 months. In a multivariate analysis, a radiological CR to induction chemotherapy was a significant factor related to prolonged progression‐free survival and overall survival (P < 0.05).ConclusionMTX‐monotherapy is tolerable in terms of adverse effects and still considered as a treatment option in patients with PCNSL. However, an additional therapeutic option should be prepared for non‐CR responders to induction chemotherapy.
Radiotherapy service need in the Pacific Island countries
Authors: Shafiq Jesmin , Gabriel Gabriel Sam , Barton Michael B. 
Published: September 2020

AbstractBackgroundPacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) have experienced an increase in cancer burden in the recent years. There is need for major investments in the cancer treatment facilities including radiotherapy (RT).AimsThis study aimed to provide a quantitative estimation of the effect of establishing new RT facilities on patient access through Geographic Information System (GIS) modelling of population density and service availability to assess the best location for a new RT centre when there are multiple competing locations.MethodsMethods involved cancer epidemiological data collection and assessing RT demand (proportion needing RT) in 2040, assessment of current RT facilities meeting the demand, GIS‐based assessment of minimal travel distance in relation to RT demand and scenario‐based location planning with adoption of the principles of efficiency, availability and equity for establishment of suitability of new RT facilities.ResultsIn 2040, three highest new cancer case projections are for Papua New Guinea (PNG) (22662), Fiji (2058) and New Caledonia (2037). Twenty‐nine megavoltage machines (MVMs) are needed to meet adequate RT demand with three existing in New Caledonia, Guam and French Polynesia meeting 2–6% demand. PNG with highest RT demand of 68% and Fiji with second highest (6%) demand are found as the choice venues for maximum accessibility of cancer population within the PICTs.ConclusionThe travel distance‐based GIS modelling estimation of establishment of new RT facilities will provide useful information for planning of RT services in the PICTS with improved patient outcome.
Baicalein inhibits FURIN‐MT1‐MMP‐mediated invasion of ectopic endometrial stromal cells in endometriosis possibly by reducing the secretion of TGFB1
Authors: Ke Jun‐Ya , Yang Jing , Li Jing , Xu Zhen , Li Ming‐Qing , Zhu Zhi‐Ling 
Published: September 2020

AbstractProblemEndometriosis (EMs) is characterized by the presence of endometrial stroma and glands outside the uterus. Our previous study showed that baicalein inhibited proliferation and induced apoptosis in EMs. However, the effects of baicalein on the invasiveness of ectopic endometrial stromal cells (EcESCs) remain unclear. The aim of this study was to assess the potential anti‐invasive effect of baicalein and determine the underlying mechanism.MethodsThe invasive and migratory properties of EcESCs were assessed in vitro using Transwell and wound healing assays. The expression of functional markers of EcESCs, including matrix metalloproteases (MMPs), FURIN, and TGFB1, was analyzed using WB and ELISA. Additionally, a mouse model of EMs was treated with baicalein (10 mg/kg/d and 35 mg/kg/d) for 4 weeks. The weight and number of ectopic lesions were determined, and the expression of markers was assessed using immunohistochemistry.ResultsBaicalein inhibited the invasion of EcESCs and the expression of certain invasion‐related proteins, including MMP9, MMP2, and MT1‐MMP. Exposure to baicalein reduced the extracellular levels of TGFB1 in EcESCs and the reduced expression of TGFB1, resulting in decreased expression of FURIN in EcESCs, which serves a pivotal role in the transformation of pro‐MT1‐MMP to activated MT1‐MMP. In the mouse model of EMs, intraperitoneal injection of baicalein inhibited the growth of ectopic lesions and reduced MT1‐MMP, FURIN, and TGFB1 expression.ConclusionsBaicalein reduced the invasion of EMs, potentially by restricting the FURIN‐MT1‐MMP‐mediated cell invasion of EcESCs maybe through reduction of the autocrine of TGFB1.