bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Small mountain reservoirs in the Alps: New habitats for alpine freshwater biodiversity?
Authors: Fait Pauline , Demierre Eliane , Ilg Christiane , Oertli Beat 
Published: March 2020

Abstract

Today, aquatic biodiversity suffers from many pressures linked to human activities, including climate change, which particularly affects alpine areas. Many alpine freshwater species have shifted their geographical distribution to colder areas, but a reduced availability of suitable habitats is also forecasted. New artificial water bodies could provide habitat enhancement opportunities, including small mountain reservoirs built to overcome a lack of snow during winter.
To investigate the role of reservoirs as a habitat for freshwater invertebrates, a case study was conducted on eight reservoirs in the Swiss Alps. The study aimed to compare the water quality and freshwater biodiversity of the reservoirs with those of 39 natural and newly excavated ponds. Data were collected on physico‐chemistry, freshwater habitat structure, and aquatic insects (dragonflies and aquatic beetles).
The study showed that the mountain reservoirs investigated did not differ from natural ponds in terms of surface area, conductivity, and trophic level. Similarly to natural ponds, reservoirs showed signs of impairment owing to surface run‐off carrying pollutants linked to ski tourism. They presented a low diversity of mesohabitats, and in particular lacked vegetation. Compared with natural ponds, the species richness in reservoirs was lower for dragonflies but not for beetles. At the regional scale, the community from the reservoirs was a subset of the natural ponds community, supporting 38% of the regional species richness for these two insect groups.
The results suggest that mountain reservoirs are likely to be important for biodiversity in alpine areas, both as habitats and as stepping stones for species shifting their geographical range. These water bodies can be enhanced further by some nature‐friendly measures to maximize benefits for biodiversity, including margin revegetation or the creation of adjacent ponds. Ecological engineering needs to be innovative and promote freshwater biodiversity in artificial reservoirs.
The Athena space X‐ray observatory and the astrophysics of hot plasma†
Authors: Barret Didier , Decourchelle Anne , Fabian Andy , Guainazzi Matteo , Nandra Kirpal , Smith Randall , den Herder Jan‐Willem 
Published: March 2020

AbstractThe properties (temperature, density, chemical composition, velocity) of hot astrophysical plasma and the physical processes affecting them (heating/cooling, turbulence, shocks, acceleration) can be probed by high‐resolution X‐ray spectroscopy, to be complemented by high‐spatial‐resolution imaging. The paper presents the status of the European Space Agency's Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics (Athena) mission, particularly focusing on the science performance of its two focal‐plane instruments for studies of extended X‐ray sources: the wide‐field imager and the X‐ray integral field unit. This paper then provides a brief summary of the breakthroughs expected with Athena on the astrophysics of hot plasma, building on the vast heritage of the discoveries and revolutionary results obtained by Chandra and XMM‐Newton in this field. As of November 12, 2019, Athena successfully concluded its feasibility study, and has since then moved into the definition phase, with a launch date scheduled in the early 2030s.
RXRα and MRTF‐A have a synergistic effect in the retinoic acid‐induced neural‐like differentiation of adult bone marrow‐derived mesenchymal stem cells
Authors: Luo Ying , Liang Chen , Liu Yu , Liu Xiaopeng , Xu Yao 
Published: March 2020

AbstractMesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have multilineage differentiation potential and can transform into neuron cells under an appropriate environment. Retinoic acid (RA) facilitates the neuronal differentiation of MSCs. We found that RXRα, a RA receptor, was significantly upregulated in RA‐induced process. Here, we show that RXRα collaborated with myocardin‐related transcription factor‐A (MRTF‐A) to strongly promote the RA‐induced process as evidenced by the increase in NF‐H expression and NF‐H promoter transcription activity. Our studies reveal that RXRα and MRTF‐A exhibit protein interactions and synergistically inhibit the MSCs apoptosis by enhancing the P21 expression. Furthermore, RXRα and MRTF‐A can activate P21 transcription by affecting the formation of the MRTF‐A/RXRα/RARE complex. These findings reveal the important roles of RXRα and MRTF‐A signaling in RA‐induced neural‐like differentiation of MSCs and describe a new mechanism underlying the synergistic interaction of RXRα and MRTF‐A.
A framework for automated and objective modification of tubular structures: Application to the internal carotid artery
Authors: Bergersen Aslak W. , Kjeldsberg Henrik A. , Valen‐Sendstad Kristian 
Published: March 2020

AbstractPatient‐specific medical image‐based computational fluid dynamics has been widely used to reveal fundamental insight into mechanisms of cardiovascular disease, for instance, correlating morphology to adverse vascular remodeling. However, segmentation of medical images is laborious, error‐prone, and a bottleneck in the development of large databases that are needed to capture the natural variability in morphology. Instead, idealized models, where morphological features are parameterized, have been used to investigate the correlation with flow features, but at the cost of limited understanding of the complexity of cardiovascular flows. To combine the advantages of both approaches, we developed a tool that preserves the patient‐specificness inherent in medical images while allowing for parametric alteration of the morphology. In our open‐source framework morphMan we convert the segmented surface to a Voronoi diagram, modify the diagram to change the morphological features of interest, and then convert back to a new surface. In this paper, we present algorithms for modifying bifurcation angles, location of branches, cross‐sectional area, vessel curvature, shape of bends, and surface roughness. We show qualitative and quantitative validation of the algorithms, performing with an accuracy exceeding 97% in general, and proof‐of‐concept on combining the tool with computational fluid dynamics. By combining morphMan with appropriate clinical measurements, one could explore the morphological parameter space and resulting hemodynamic response using only a handful of segmented surfaces, effectively minimizing the main bottleneck in image‐based computational fluid dynamics.
Lessons and recommendations from three decades as an NSF REU site: A call for systems‐based assessment
Authors: McDevitt Andrew L. , Patel Manisha V. , Ellison Aaron M. 
Published: March 2020

AbstractFor more than 30 years, the US National Science Foundation's Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program has supported thousands of undergraduate researchers annually and provides many students with their first research experiences in field ecology or evolution. REUs embed students in scientific communities where they apprentice with experienced researchers, build networks with their peers, and help students understand research cultures and how to work within them. REUs are thought to provide formative experiences for developing researchers that differ from experiences in a college classrooms, laboratories, or field trips. REU assessments have improved through time but they are largely ungrounded in educational theory. Thus, evaluation of long‐term impacts of REUs remains limited and best practices for using REUs to enhance student learning are repeatedly re‐invented. We describe how one sociocultural learning framework, cultural–historical activity theory (CHAT), could be used to guide data collection to characterize the effects of REU programs on participant's learning in an educationally meaningful context. CHAT embodies a systems approach to assessment that accounts for social and cultural factors that influence learning. We illustrate how CHAT has guided assessment of the Harvard Forest Summer Research Program in Ecology (HF‐SRPE), one of the longest‐running REU sites in the United States. Characterizing HF‐SRPE using CHAT helped formalize thoughts and language for the program evaluation, reflect on potential barriers to success, identify assessment priorities, and revealed important oversights in data collection.
STOP floxing around: Specificity and leakiness of inducible Cre/loxP systems
Authors: Stifter Sebastian A. , Greter Melanie 
Published: March 2020

AbstractCre and CreER mouse strains are powerful tools that have proven invaluable for investigating the function of genes and for the fate‐mapping of cell populations. The fidelity of these systems however are becoming more and more contested. In this issue of the European Journal of Immunology, Van Hove et al. and Chappell‐Maor et al. carefully dissect the cellular specificities of two commonly used CreER mouse strains for the study of CNS macrophages; Cx3cr1CreER and Sall1CreER. Both studies elegantly highlight that CreER strains, as well as the "floxed" allele to be targeted, need to be carefully selected and properly characterized in order to ensure reproducible and robust data and interpretations. These studies are a cautionary tale for this technology, but also highlight that we must continuously question and improve our experimental approaches.
An artificial accelerogram generator code written in Matlab
Authors: Ferreira Fernando , Moutinho Carlos , Cunha Álvaro , Caetano Elsa 
Published: March 2020

ABSTRACTArtificial accelerograms are a very useful tool for designing structures against seismic hazards; in particular, when structures exhibit nonlinear behavior. This paper presents a Matlab code for generating artificial accelerograms to match code‐defined spectra based on the modification of actual earthquake ground motions. In this case, while the code is written to generate Eurocode 8‐compatible accelerograms, it can be easily adapted to any other code in the world. The proposed code determines the earthquake spectra and Fourier Transform using the Fast Fourier Transform algorithm and then modifies the Fourier Transform in order to match the predefined spectra. The code also includes instructions for outlining different actual ground motions, soil, and earthquake type. The code is geared to students and researchers in the field of Structural and Earthquake Engineering. The objective of this work is to provide a Matlab code that can be integrated in other research programs such as seismic structural analysis, structural control software, or other codes.
Data dissemination for Internet of vehicle based on 5G communications: A survey
Authors: Benalia Elhadja , Bitam Salim , Mellouk Abdelhamid 
Published: March 2020

AbstractWith the increase of the number of connected vehicles on roads, the data dissemination within traditional network suffers from many limitations like high latency, a significant amount of dropped packets and network congestion. Therefore, the Internet of vehicles (IoV) has been designed as an emerging paradigm that combines the intelligent transportation system (ITS) with Internet of Things (IoT) technology. IoV allows vehicles to exchange data with its surroundings in order to enhance the traffic safety and to provide digital services to road users. In this paper, a taxonomy of data dissemination protocols proposed for IoV is surveyed according to three main categories namely, the smart control‐based category, social networks‐based category, and traditional approaches. We also review the data dissemination in IoV based on the fifth generation (5G) communications with emphasis on enabling technologies, architectures, services, and challenges. Moreover, we suggest in this study a new generic 5G‐based IoV architecture named IoVs based on fifth generation communications to enhance data dissemination by the promising and efficient transmission technologies such as fifth‐generation network properties, software‐defined network functionalities (SDN), and cloud‐fog computing services. The proposed scheme helps to meet challenges in the low latency, high reliability and security, high performance, mobility contrary to conventional architectures.
Experimental Investigation of In‐plane Performance Variation on Anode Supported Solid Oxide Fuel Cells Using Segmented Cathodes and Reference Electrodes
Authors: Kim M. W. , Son M. J. , Park H. , Park J.‐Y. , Lim H.‐T. 
Published: March 2020

AbstractIn this study, planar anode‐supported solid oxide fuel cells (5 × 5 cm2) were fabricated with cathode segmentations and tested in a channel type setup. The in‐plane performance variation became significant with an increasing current density (fuel utilization), and impedance analysis on each segment indicated that the poor performance in the outlet region was due to gas conversion overpotential combined with gas concentration overpotential. Pt reference electrodes were embedded in the electrolyte layers of the segments so that the anode and cathode overpotential could be separated for each segment. It was found that the cathode overpotential was dominant for both segments, which suggested that the cathode overpotential determined the overall cell performance. On the other hand, the anode overpotential was responsible for the in‐plane performance variation. Post‐analysis revealed that the Ni anode was partially oxidized and its layer was delaminated in the outlet region. Thus, this study suggests that the anode overpotential related to gas conversion is a critical factor in determining Ni anode stability as well as overall cell performance in planar anode supported cells with a gas channel setup.
Can conditional cash transfers improve maternal health care? Evidence from El Salvador's Comunidades Solidarias Rurales program
Authors: de Brauw Alan , Peterman Amber 
Published: March 2020

SummaryThere is growing evidence on positive human capital impacts of large, poverty‐focused cash transfer programs. However, evidence is inconclusive on whether cash transfer programs affect maternal health outcomes, and if so, through which pathways. We use a regression discontinuity design with an implicit threshold to evaluate the impact of Comunidades Solidarias Rurales in El Salvador on four maternal health service utilization outcomes: (a) prenatal care; (b) skilled attendance at birth; (c) birth in health facilities; and (d) postnatal care. We find robust impacts on outcomes at the time of birth but not on prenatal and postnatal care. In addition to income effects, supply‐side health service improvements and gains in women's agency may have played a role in realizing these gains. With growing inequalities in maternal health outcomes globally, results contribute to an understanding of how financial incentives can address health systems and financial barriers that prevent poor women from seeking and receiving care at critical periods for both maternal and infant health.
Resolving a puzzling anomaly in the spin‐coupled generalized valence bond description of benzene
Authors: Xu Lu T. , Cooper David L. , Dunning Thom H. 
Published: March 2020

AbstractIn an earlier study of benzene, Small and Head‐Gordon found that the spin‐coupled generalized valence bond (SCGVB) wave function for the π system predicted a distorted (non‐D6h) geometry, one with alternating CC bond lengths. However, the variations in the energy were very small and the predictions were made using a very small basis set (STO‐3G). We re‐examined this prediction using a much larger basis set (aug‐cc‐pVTZ) to determine the dependence of the energy of benzene on the distortion angle, ΔθCXC (ΔθCXC = 0° corresponds to the D6h structure). We also found a distorted geometry with the optimum ΔθCXC being 0.31° with an energy 0.040 kcal mol−1 lower than that for the D6h structure. In the optimum geometry, adjacent CC bond lengths are 1.3861 Å and 1.4004 Å. Analysis of the SCGVB wave function led us to conclude that the cause of the unusual non‐D6h geometry predicted by the SCGVB calculations seems to be a result of the interaction between the Kekulé and Dewar components of the full SCGVB wave function. The addition of doubly ionic configurations to the SCGVB wave function leads to the prediction of a D6h geometry for benzene and a dependence on ΔθCXC essentially the same as that predicted by the complete active space self‐consistent field wave function.
Family health history collected by virtual conversational agents: An empirical study to investigate the efficacy of this approach
Authors: Ponathil Amal , Ozkan Firat , Welch Brandon , Bertrand Jeffrey , Chalil Madathil Kapil 
Published: March 2020

AbstractFamily health history (FHx) is one of the simplest and most cost‐effective and efficient ways to collect health information that could help diagnose and treat genetic diseases at an early stage. This study evaluated the efficacy of collecting such family health histories through a virtual conversational agent (VCA) interface, a new method for collecting this information. Standard and VCA interfaces for FHx collection were investigated with 50 participants, recruited via email and word of mouth, using a within‐subject experimental design with the order of the interfaces randomized and counterbalanced. Interface workload, usability, preference, and satisfaction were assessed using the NASA Task Load Index workload instrument, the IBM Computer System Usability Questionnaire, and a brief questionnaire derived from the Technology Acceptance Model. The researchers also recorded the number of errors and the total task completion time. It was found that the completion times for 2 of the 5 tasks were shorter for the VCA interface than for the standard one, but the overall completion time was longer (17 min 44 s vs. 16 min 51 s, p = .019). We also found the overall workload to be significantly lower (34.32 vs. 42.64, p = .003) for the VCA interface, and usability metrics including overall satisfaction (5.62 vs. 4.72, p < .001), system usefulness (5.76 vs. 4.84, p = .001), information quality (5.43 vs. 4.62, p < .001), and interface quality (5.66 vs. 4.64, p < .001) to be significantly higher for this interface as well. Approximately 3 out of 4 participants preferred the VCA interface to the standard one. Although the overall time taken was slightly longer than with standard interface, the VCA interface was rated significantly better across all other measures and was preferred by the participants. These findings demonstrate the advantages of an innovative VCA interface for collecting FHx, validating the efficacy of using VCAs to collect complex patient‐specific data in health care.
Ultrarapid iron polymaltose infusion for iron deficiency anaemia: a pilot safety study
Authors: Banakh Iouri , Turek Martha , Chin Jong , Churchill Travis 
Published: March 2020

AbstractTreatment of iron deficiency is often achieved via single administration of intravenous iron polymaltose (IP) as a prolonged infusion or multiple infusions of more rapidly administered products. This study examined the safety of IP for total body iron replacement administered as ultrarapid infusions. A prospective open‐label cohort pilot study was conducted at a tertiary centre to investigate IP infusions with doses up to 500–1500 mg administered over 30 or 15 min (10 patients in each group). Adverse effects were graded as mild, moderate or severe, with monitoring during the infusion and a 1‐week follow‐up period. Three patients in each group experienced four mild adverse effects during the infusion. During the follow‐up period, two participants in each group experienced adverse effects, with one in each group experiencing a moderate adverse effect requiring treatment with paracetamol. In this pilot study, the safety outcomes of ultrarapid infusions were similar to both 4‐ and 1‐h infusions of iron polymaltose and to ferric carboxymaltose. Fully powered studies of ultrarapid iron polymaltose are warranted given the safety results of this study.
Simple thin layer chromatography–ultraviolet spectrophotometric method for quality assessment of binary fixed‐dose‐combinations of lamivudine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate and lamivudine/zidovudine in tablet formulations
Authors: Vaikosen Edebi N. , Kashimawo Adesegun J. , Soyinka Julius O. , Orubu Samuel , Elei Simeon , Ebeshi Benjamin U. 
Published: March 2020

AbstractAntiretroviral fixed‐dose‐combination drugs are best assayed with high‐performance liquid chromatography, or liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. However, most scientists in developing nations have no access to these expensive instruments. A more affordable quantitative technique is the use of ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy—where often the absorption spectra of these antiretrovirals are overlapping; thus complex derivative methodologies are required for quantification. A simple, rapid, and accurate thin layer chromatography–ultraviolet spectrophotometric method for the quantification of binary mixtures of lamivudine, zidovudine, and tenofovir–disoproxil–fumarate in tablet formulations was developed. Lamivudine/tenofovir–disoproxil–fumarate and lamivudine/zidovudine were extracted and separated on glass thin‐layer chromatography plates. Drugs were identified in ultraviolet light at 254 nm and quantified in acidic medium using ultraviolet spectrophotometry. The retardation factors were 0.43, 0.79, and 0.81 for lamivudine, tenofovir–disoproxil–fumarate, and zidovudine, respectively, with corresponding absorption maxima at 270, 260, and 265 nm. Linearity ranged from 1 to 40 µg/mL for all drugs (R = 0.9998–0.9999), while recovery studies were 95.10–102.11% and amount in formulations ranged from 97.99 ± 0.63 to 101.47 ± 2.39%. The paired t‐test (n = 5) indicated no significant difference between the proposed and high‐performance liquid chromatography methods, hence comparable and can be used as an alternative method in routine quality determination of antiretroviral medicines.
Investigation of mass transfer properties and kinetic performance of high‐efficiency columns packed with C18 sub‐2 μm fully and superficially porous particles
Authors: Felletti Simona , De Luca Chiara , Lievore Giulio , Pasti Luisa , Chenet Tatiana , Mazzoccanti Giulia , Gasparrini Francesco , Cavazzini Alberto , Catani Martina 
Published: March 2020

AbstractThree columns packed with 2.0 μm superficially porous particles, 1.7 μm fully porous particles, and monodisperse 1.9 μm fully porous particles with narrow particle size distribution have been deeply characterized from a kinetic point of view. The 1.9 μm column showed excellent kinetic performance, comparable to that of the superficially porous one. These two columns also exhibit flatter c‐branches of the van Deemter curve compared to the 1.7 μm fully porous particles column, resulting in smaller loss of efficiency when they are operated at higher flow rates than the optimal ones. The independent evaluation of each contribution to band broadening has revealed that the difference in kinetic performance comes from the very small eddy dispersion contribution on the 1.9 μm column, surprisingly even lower than that of the superficially porous one. This finding suggests a very good packing of the monodisperse 1.9 μm column. On the other hand, the potential of 1.7 μm fully porous particles is completely broken down by the strong frictional heating effect already arising at relatively low flow rates.