bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Seryl-tRNA synthetase is involved in methionine stimulation of β-casein synthesis in bovine mammary epithelial cells
Authors: Dai Wenting , Zhao Fengqi , Liu Jianxin , Liu Hongyun 
Published: November 2019

AbstractDespite the well-characterised mechanisms of amino acids (AA) regulation of milk protein synthesis in mammary glands (MG), the underlying specific AA regulatory machinery in bovine MG remains further elucidated. As methionine (Met) is one of the most important essential and limiting AA for dairy cows, it is crucial to expand how Met exerts its regulatory effects on dairy milk protein synthesis. Our previous work detected the potential regulatory role of seryl-tRNA synthetase (SARS) in essential AA (EAA)-stimulated bovine casein synthesis. Here, we investigated whether and how SARS participates in Met stimulation of casein production in bovine mammary epithelial cells (BMEC). With or without RNA interference against SARS, BMEC were treated with the medium in the absence (containing all other EAA and devoid of Met alone)/presence (containing 0·6 mm of Met in the medium devoid of Met alone) of Met. The protein abundance of β-casein and members of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and general control nonderepressible 2 (GCN2) pathways was determined by immunoblot assay after 6 h treatment, the cell viability and cell cycle progression were determined by cell counting and propidium iodide-staining assay after 24 h treatment, and protein turnover was determined by l-[ring-3H5]phenylalanine isotope tracing assay after 48 h treatment. In the absence of Met, there was a general reduction in cell viability, total protein synthesis and β-casein production; in contrast, total protein degradation was enhanced. SARS knockdown strengthened these changes. Finally, SARS may work to promote Met-stimulated β-casein synthesis via affecting mTOR and GCN2 routes in BMEC.
SKĒPTRON IN SOPHOCLES’ OEDIPVS REX
Authors: Cannizzaro Francesco , Fanucchi Stefano , Morosi Francesco , Ozbek Leyla 
Published: November 2019

In Sophocles’ Oedipus Coloneus, after laying hands on Antigone and Ismene, Creon ridicules Oedipus by saying these words (OC 848–9):οὔκουν ποτ’ ἐκ τούτοιν γε μὴ σκήπτροιν ἔτιὁδοιπορήσῃς.Then you shall never more walk with the aid of these two props!It is possible that Creon is here alluding to Oedipus’ actual appearance throughout the play. As far as we know, Oedipus comes on stage with no walking stick, and uses Antigone and Ismene as a crutch while walking. Creon's comparing Oedipus’ daughters to a crutch, however, is also metaphorical. Such a metaphor is quite common in some modern languages (for example in Italian, ‘bastone della vecchiaia’, or in French, ‘bâton de vieillesse’), but was known by ancient Greek poetry as well. In Euripides’ Hecuba, for instance, Hecuba depicts her daughter Polyxena as her crutch (281 βάκτρον).
Diversity of the sponge fauna associated with white coral banks from two Sardinian canyons (Mediterranean Sea)
Authors: Bertolino M. , Ricci S. , Canese S. , Cau A. , Bavestrello G. , Pansini M. , Bo M. 
Published: November 2019

AbstractThe three-dimensional coral scaffolds formed by the skeletons of the cold-water corals Madrepora oculata and Lophelia pertusa represent an important deep-sea hard substratum and create an optimal shelter for a rich associated fauna in which the contribution of Porifera has still not been fully considered. The taxonomic analysis of sponges collected from two Sardinian canyons (Nora and Coda Cavallo, 256–408 m) and associated with the dead coral matrix resulted in 28 species, including new records for the Mediterranean Sea, Italian fauna or Central Tyrrhenian Sea. In addition, for many species this is the first finding associated with the coral framework or the first documentation of the in situ morphology. The taxonomic comparison with sponge assemblages associated with coral frameworks from Santa Maria di Leuca, Strait of Sicily and Bari Canyon, gave the opportunity to evaluate the similarities among geographically separated banks. Overall, the percentage of exclusive species (recorded only in one site), is very high (81%) and only one species is shared by all four sites, suggesting a low connectivity among the sponge communities. The percentage of shared species is higher for the Maltese community, supporting the role of the Sicily Channel as a crossroads between the communities of the eastern and western Mediterranean basins. Here, 55% of the sponges associated to the coral framework are also reported in shallow-water coralligenous assemblages, indicating a high bathymetric connectivity as well as an ecological plasticity allowing these species to occupy a wide range of small, dark refuges.
Action learning and grounding in simulated human–robot interactions
Authors: Roesler Oliver , Nowé Ann 
Published: November 2019

Abstract
In order to enable robots to interact with humans in a natural way, they need to be able to autonomously learn new tasks. The most natural way for humans to tell another agent, which can be a human or robot, to perform a task is via natural language. Thus, natural human–robot interactions also require robots to understand natural language, i.e. extract the meaning of words and phrases. To do this, words and phrases need to be linked to their corresponding percepts through grounding. Afterward, agents can learn the optimal micro-action patterns to reach the goal states of the desired tasks. Most previous studies investigated only learning of actions or grounding of words, but not both. Additionally, they often used only a small set of tasks as well as very short and unnaturally simplified utterances. In this paper, we introduce a framework that uses reinforcement learning to learn actions for several tasks and cross-situational learning to ground actions, object shapes and colors, and prepositions. The proposed framework is evaluated through a simulated interaction experiment between a human tutor and a robot. The results show that the employed framework can be used for both action learning and grounding.
Two-level Q-learning: learning from conflict demonstrations
Authors: Li Mao , Wei Yi , Kudenko Daniel 
Published: November 2019

AbstractOne way to address this low sample efficiency of reinforcement learning (RL) is to employ human expert demonstrations to speed up the RL process (RL from demonstration or RLfD). The research so far has focused on demonstrations from a single expert. However, little attention has been given to the case where demonstrations are collected from multiple experts, whose expertise may vary on different aspects of the task. In such scenarios, it is likely that the demonstrations will contain conflicting advice in many parts of the state space. We propose a two-level Q-learning algorithm, in which the RL agent not only learns the policy of deciding on the optimal action but also learns to select the most trustworthy expert according to the current state. Thus, our approach removes the traditional assumption that demonstrations come from one single source and are mostly conflict-free. We evaluate our technique on three different domains and the results show that the state-of-the-art RLfD baseline fails to converge or performs similarly to conventional Q-learning. In contrast, the performance level of our novel algorithm increases with more experts being involved in the learning process and the proposed approach has the capability to handle demonstration conflicts well.
An outbreak of hepatitis A in Canada: The use of a control bank to conduct a case-control study
Authors: Smith C. R. , Kershaw T. , Johnson K. , Meghnath K. 
Published: November 2019

AbstractAn outbreak of 18 cases of hepatitis A virus infection across five Canadian provinces was investigated. Case onsets occurred between October 2017 and May 2018. A retrospective matched case-control study was conducted to identify the likely source of the outbreak. Three matched controls were recruited for each case using a previously established control bank, supplemented by landline and cell phone call lists. Univariate and multivariate matched analyses were conducted to identify a potential outbreak source. Seventy-two per cent of controls were recruited through the control bank, and required on average 25.5 calls per recruited control; 20% of controls were recruited through a landline sample and 8% of controls were recruited through a cell phone sample, requiring an average of 847.3 and 331.7 calls per recruited control, respectively. Results of the analysis pointed to shrimp/prawns (odds ratio (OR) 15.75,p= 0.01) and blackberries (OR 7.21,p= 0.02) as foods of interest, however, an outbreak source could not be confirmed. The control bank proved to be a more efficient method for control recruitment than random call lists. Expanding the control bank size and using alternative methods, such as online surveys, may prove beneficial for increasing the timeliness of a case-control study during an outbreak investigation.
From Defectors to Cooperators: The Impact of 1956 on Athletes, Sport Leaders and Sport Policy in Socialist Hungary
Authors: Mellis Johanna 
Published: November 2019

AbstractThis article examines three case studies between 1951 and 1960 to illustrate how the 1956 Revolution and mass defection of Hungarian Olympic athletes following the Melbourne Games impacted the relations between Hungarian sport leaders and athletes. While sport leaders recognised the need to soften their policies towards athletes, athletes learned that socialist Hungary, and not the capitalist West, oftentimes offered them the best opportunities for their sport career and desired lifestyle. These changes shaped the emerging politics of cooperation in the post-1956 Hungarian sport community, in which cooperative members of both groups could achieve their respective diplomatic, career and lifestyle goals.
Improving understanding of the retirement earnings test
Authors: Rabinovich Lila , Perez-Arce Francisco 
Published: November 2019

AbstractThis paper presents results from an online experiment that tested the effect of simple, concise information on respondents' knowledge of the rules of Social Security's Retirement Earnings Test (RET). We find that a straightforward, simple information treatment has a large effect on knowledge of the RET and on prospective choices regarding working and claiming benefits. We tested two additional information treatments that provided more comprehensive information and used illustrative examples. One of the additional treatments used only text, while the other one included a visual tool. Our results suggest that the additional treatments did not further improve knowledge; the simplest intervention yielded the same effect as the more comprehensive ones.
Benchmark selection and performance
Authors: Broeders Dirk , de Haan Leo 
Published: November 2019

AbstractUsing regulatory data free of self-reporting bias for 2007–16, we decompose investment returns of 455 Dutch pension funds according to their key investment decisions, i.e., asset allocation, market timing and security selection. In extension to existing papers, we also assess the impact of benchmark selection. Over time, asset allocation explains 39% of the variation of returns, whereas benchmark selection, timing and selection explain 11%, 9% and 16%, respectively. Across pension funds, asset allocation explains on average only 19% of the variation in pension fund returns. Benchmark selection dominates this by explaining 33% of cross-sectional returns. We relate the choice for a specific benchmark to investment, risk and style preferences.
Demoralization and chronic illness in rural Australia: A cross-sectional survey
Authors: Bailey Claire , Doyle Zelda , Dearin John , Michael Natasha , Kissane David 
Published: November 2019

AbstractObjectiveDemoralization is prevalent in patients with life-limiting chronic illnesses, many of whom reside in rural areas. These patients also have an increased risk of disease-related psychosocial burden due to the unique health barriers in this population. However, the factors affecting demoralization in this cohort are currently unknown. This study aimed to examine demoralization amongst the chronically ill in Lithgow, a town in rural New South Wales, Australia, and identify any correlated demographic, physical, and psychosocial factors in this population.MethodA cross-sectional survey of 73 participants drawn from Lithgow Hospital, the adjoining retirement village and nursing home, assessing correlating demographic, physical, psychiatric, and psychosocial factors.ResultsThe total mean score of the DS-II was 7.8 (SD 26.4), and high demoralization scores were associated with the level of education (p = 0.01), comorbid condition (p = 0.04), severity of symptom burden (p = <0.001), depression (p = <0.001), and psychological distress (p = <0.001). Prevalence of serious demoralization in this population was 27.4% according to a cutoff of a DS-II score ≥11. Of those, 11 (15%) met the criteria for clinical depression, leaving 9 (12.3%) of the cohort demoralized but not depressed.Significance of resultsPrevalence of demoralization was high in this population. In line with the existing literature, demoralization was associated with the level of education, symptom burden, and psychological distress, demonstrating that demoralization is a relevant psychometric factor in rural populations. Further stratification of the unique biopsychosocial factors at play in this population would contribute to better understanding the burdens experienced by people with chronic illness in this population and the nature of demoralization.
‘Peaceful change’ in International Relations: a conceptual archaeology
Authors: Kristensen Peter Marcus 
Published: November 2019

AbstractAs the so-called liberal international order has come under duress, the problem of ‘peaceful change’ has reappeared on the agenda of International Relations (IR), mainly in a realist guise drawing upon E.H. Carr and Robert Gilpin's renditions of the problem. Making a conceptual archaeological intervention, this paper recovers long-neglected multidisciplinary debates on ‘peaceful change’ taking place in the tumultuous interwar period. It concurs that peaceful change is an IR problem par excellence, central to academic debates in the burgeoning interwar discipline, but also a more complex conceptual figure than posterity portrays it. The paper explores the debates between negative and positive conceptions of peaceful change, between political, legal-institutional and communitarian mechanisms of peaceful change, and different policies of peaceful change, particularly its troubled relationship to appeasement. The paper concludes that the interwar debate on peaceful change, while highly embedded in its context, does offer IR an alternative and more aspirational perspective on the problem of power and order transitions.
Overview of the NASA Solar Irradiance Science Team (SIST) Program Special Section
Authors: DeLand Matthew T. , Kopp Greg , Considine David B. 
Published: November 2019

AbstractSolar irradiance represents the dominant energy source heating the Earth's atmosphere and climate. Both total solar irradiance and spectral solar irradiance vary over the 11‐year solar cycle. Characterizing these variations with sufficient accuracy for climate studies over multidecadal timescales requires a combination of multiple observational data sets, solar activity proxies, and irradiance models. NASA established the Solar Irradiance Science Team (SIST) program in 2015 to pursue this goal using a range of technical approaches. This paper summarizes those investigations, whose results are reported in separate papers in a special section of this journal.
Iron Distribution in the Subtropical North Atlantic: The Pivotal Role of Colloidal Iron
Authors: Kunde K. , Wyatt N. J. , González‐Santana D. , Tagliabue A. , Mahaffey C. , Lohan M. C. 
Published: November 2019

Key Points

Size‐fractionation reveals that colloidal iron is more important than soluble iron for distribution of dissolved iron in North Atlantic
Colloidal iron is the predominantly active species at key supply and removal processes of the dissolved iron cycle
Global comparison suggests that the colloidal iron fraction in mesopelagic zone is determined by the local lithogenic contribution
Origin of High Mg and SO4 Fluids in Sediments of the Terceira Rift, Azores‐Indications for Caminite Dissolution in a Waning Hydrothermal System
Authors: Schmidt C. , Hensen C. , Wallmann K. , Liebetrau V. , Tatzel M. , Schurr S. L. , Kutterolf S. , Haffert L. , Geilert S. , Hübscher C. , Lebas E. , Heuser A. , Schmidt M. , Strauss H. , Vogl J. , Hansteen T. 
Published: November 2019

AbstractDuring R/V Meteor cruise 141/1, pore fluids of near surface sediments were investigated to find indications for hydrothermal activity in the Terceira Rift (TR), a hyperslow spreading center in the Central North Atlantic Ocean. To date, submarine hydrothermal fluid venting in the TR has only been reported for the D. João de Castro seamount, which presently seems to be inactive. Pore fluids sampled close to a volcanic cone at 2,800‐m water depth show an anomalous composition with Mg, SO4, and total alkalinity concentrations significantly higher than seawater and a nearby reference core. The most straightforward way of interpreting these deviations is the dissolution of the hydrothermally formed mineral caminite (MgSO4 0.25 Mg (OH)2 0.2H2O). This interpretation is corroborated by a thorough investigation of fluid isotope systems (δ26Mg, δ30Si, δ34S, δ44/42Ca, and 87Sr/86Sr). Caminite is known from mineral assemblages with anhydrite and forms in hydrothermal recharge zones only under specific conditions such as high fluid temperatures and in altered oceanic crust, which are conditions generally met at the TR. We hypothesize that caminite was formed during hydrothermal activity and is now dissolving during the waning state of the hydrothermal system, so that caminite mineralization is shifted out of its stability zone. Ongoing fluid circulation through the basement is transporting the geochemical signal via slow advection toward the seafloor.
The Besnus Transition in Single‐Domain 4C Pyrrhotite
Authors: Koulialias Dimitrios , Lesniak Barbara , Schwotzer Matthias , Weidler Peter G. , Löffler Jörg F. , Gehring Andreas U. 
Published: November 2019

AbstractThe discontinuous change in magnetic properties at a temperature of about 32 K, denoted as the Besnus transition, is a diagnostic feature for detecting 4C pyrrhotite in geological systems. The transition is grain size dependent, and it has been assumed that the single‐domain (SD) to multidomain (MD) threshold is in the micron size range. Here we present a combined crystallographic and magnetic study of a pure phase, SD 4C pyrrhotite that was produced by ball milling of a MD precursor. The mechanical treatment generated varying grain sizes of less than 20 μm, which are solely in a SD magnetic state. It also decreases the coherent scattering domains of the grains from 216 nm in the MD sample to 30 nm, which is taken to set limits for the MD/SD threshold in 4C pyrrhotite grains. The alternating current susceptibility response associated with the Besnus transition is diagnostic for distinguishing SD and MD 4C pyrrhotite. The unambiguous identification of SD 4C pyrrhotite provides a better insight into its occurrence in geological systems.
Properties of the Body of a Turbidity Current at Near‐Normal Conditions: 1. Effect of Bed Slope
Authors: Salinas Jorge S. , Cantero M. I. , Shringarpure M. , Balachandar S. 
Published: November 2019

AbstractWe study the body of turbidity currents in normal flow conditions by means of highly resolved direct numerical simulations of a homogeneous model. We focus on turbidity currents where the net amount of sediment is held fixed. We consider the sediment to be fine enough that their settling effect is neglected, and in the companion work we consider the effect of settling velocity. We consider five different shear Richardson numbers from 5 to 80. Under normal condition, basal drag and entrainment at the interface precisely balance the momentum supplied to the current from the excess weight of the sediment. The normal flow properties of a turbidity current can be fully characterized in terms of bulk Richardson number Ri and bulk Reynolds number Re. The velocity, concentration, and turbulent kinetic energy profiles take a self‐similar shape when the current is at near‐normal conditions. We observe the flow to display supercritical features for
and to display subcritical features for
. From the behavior at intermediate Richardson numbers it appears that the transition between subcritical to supercritical behavior is not sharp. We observe good agreement between experimental and simulation results in both regimes. The entrainment coefficient as a function of bulk Richardson number at normal condition is in good agreement with the empirical relation and with available experimental results. We present a simple model for drag coefficient as a function of bulk Reynolds and Richardson numbers.
Comparison of Near‐Surface NO2 Pollution With Pandora Total Column NO2 During the Korea‐United States Ocean Color (KORUS OC) Campaign
Authors: Thompson Anne M. , Stauffer Ryan M. , Boyle Tyler P. , Kollonige Debra E. , Miyazaki Kazuyuki , Tzortziou Maria , Herman Jay R. , Abuhassan Nader , Jordan Carolyn E. , Lamb Brian T. 
Published: November 2019

AbstractNear‐surface air quality (AQ) observations over coastal waters are scarce, a situation that limits our capacity to monitor pollution events at land‐water interfaces. Satellite measurements of total column (TC) nitrogen dioxide (NO2) observations are a useful proxy for combustion sources, but the once daily snapshots available from most sensors are insufficient for tracking the diurnal evolution and transport of pollution. Ground‐based remote sensors like the Pandora Spectrometer Instrument (PSI) that have been developed to verify space‐based TC NO2 and other trace gases are being tested for routine use as certified AQ monitors. The KORUS‐OC (Korea‐United States Ocean Color) cruise aboard the R/V Onnuri in May–June 2016 represented an opportunity to study AQ near the South Korean coast, a region affected by both local/regional and long‐distance pollution sources. Using PSI data in direct‐Sun mode and in situ sensors for shipboard ozone, CO, and NO2, we explore, for the first time, relationships between TC NO2 and surface AQ in this coastal region. Three case studies illustrate the value of the PSI and complexities in the surface‐column NO2 relationship caused by varying meteorological conditions. Case Study 1 (25–26 May 2016) exhibited a high correlation of surface NO2 to TC NO2 measured by both PSI and Aura's Ozone Monitoring Instrument, but two other cases displayed poor relationships between in situ and TC NO2 due to decoupling of pollution layers from the surface. With suitable interpretation the PSI TC NO2 measurement demonstrates good potential for working with upcoming geostationary satellites to advance diurnal tracking of pollution.