bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Research on synthesis and thermal properties of poly(ethylene terephthalate) sulfonate group containing ionomer
Authors: Yin Yue , Jiang Bo , Meng Linghui 
Published: September 2020

AbstractIn order to solve the poor nucleation ability and slow crystallization rate of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), we propose a new strategy to prepare PET with self‐nucleation ability based on the mechanism of mutual attraction of ions. In this study, a hydroxyl‐terminated sulfonate monomer, sulfonated 1,4‐butanediol (SBDO) without rigid structure was synthesized as nucleating agent functionalized PET third monomer, and then PET ionomers (PETi) were prepared through melt polycondensation with different contents of SBDO. The half‐crystallization time of PETi was sharply decreased in contrast with pure PET and the crystallization temperature was significantly increased from 182.6°C to 210.8°C for PETi1. Due to the high nucleation efficiency of SBDO, the crystallization temperature of PET was significantly increased, avoiding the excessive addition of traditional nucleating agents to deteriorate the mechanical properties of PET. The increased nucleation efficiency was contributed to the aggregation of SBDO induced by the ionic interactions.
The Plant Pathology Challenge 2020 data set to classify foliar disease of apples
Authors: Thapa Ranjita , Zhang Kai , Snavely Noah , Belongie Serge , Khan Awais 
Published: September 2020

PremiseApple orchards in the United States are under constant threat from a large number of pathogens and insects. Appropriate and timely deployment of disease management depends on early disease detection. Incorrect and delayed diagnosis can result in either excessive or inadequate use of chemicals, with increased production costs and increased environmental and health impacts.Methods and ResultsWe have manually captured 3651 high‐quality, real‐life symptom images of multiple apple foliar diseases, with variable illumination, angles, surfaces, and noise. A subset of images, expert‐annotated to create a pilot data set for apple scab, cedar apple rust, and healthy leaves, was made available to the Kaggle community for the Plant Pathology Challenge as part of the Fine‐Grained Visual Categorization (FGVC) workshop at the 2020 Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition conference (CVPR 2020). Participants were asked to use the image data set to train a machine learning model to classify disease categories and develop an algorithm for disease severity quantification. The top three area under the ROC curve (AUC) values submitted to the private leaderboard were 0.98445, 0.98182, and 0.98089. We also trained an off‐the‐shelf convolutional neural network on this data for disease classification and achieved 97% accuracy on a held‐out test set.DiscussionThis data set will contribute toward development and deployment of machine learning–based automated plant disease classification algorithms to ultimately realize fast and accurate disease detection. We will continue to add images to the pilot data set for a larger, more comprehensive expert‐annotated data set for future Kaggle competitions and to explore more advanced methods for disease classification and quantification.
1,2,4‐Triazole hybrids with potential antibacterial activity against methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus
Authors: Ge Xuemei , Xu Zhi 
Published: September 2020

AbstractMethicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has developed numerous mechanisms of virulence and strategies to evade the human immune system, and it can be transmitted between humans, animals, and the environment. Thus, MRSA is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in both hospitals and in the community, creating an urgent demand for the development of novel anti‐MRSA candidates. The 1,2,4‐triazole nucleus is a bioisostere of amide, ester, and carboxylic acid, and the 1,2,4‐triazole ring is found in many compounds with diverse biological effects. 1,2,4‐Triazole derivatives could exert their antibacterial activity through inhibition of efflux pumps, filamentous temperature‐sensitive protein Z, penicillin‐binding protein, DNA gyrase, and topoisomerase IV, and they play an important role in the discovery of novel antibacterial agents. Among them, 1,2,4‐triazole hybrids, which have the potential to exert dual/multiple mechanisms of action, possess a promising broad‐spectrum antibacterial activity against a panel of clinically important drug‐resistant pathogens including MRSA. This review outlines the recent developments of 1,2,4‐triazole hybrids with a potential anti‐MRSA activity, covering articles published between 2010 and 2020. The mechanisms of action, critical aspects of their design, and structure–activity relationships are also discussed.
Recent advances in indole dimers and hybrids with antibacterial activity against methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus
Authors: Meng Tingting , Hou Yani , Shang Congshan , Zhang Jing , Zhang Bo 
Published: September 2020

AbstractMethicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), one of the major and most dangerous pathogens in humans, is a causative agent of severe pandemic of mainly skin and soft tissue and occasionally fatal infections. Therefore, it is imperative to develop potent and novel anti‐MRSA agents. Indole derivatives could act against diverse enzymes and receptors in bacteria, occupying a salient place in the development of novel antibacterial agents. Dimerization and hybridization are common strategies to discover new drugs, and a number of indole dimers and hybrids possess potential antibacterial activity against a panel of clinically important pathogens including MRSA. Accordingly, indole dimers and hybrids are privileged scaffolds for the discovery of novel anti‐MRSA agents. This review outlines the recent development of indole dimers and hybrids with a potential activity against MRSA, covering articles published between 2010 and 2020. The structure–activity relationship and the mechanism of action are also discussed to facilitate further rational design of more effective candidates.
Ultrafast Inside‐Out NMR Assessment of Rechargeable Cells
Authors: Pigliapochi Roberta , Benders Stefan , Silletta Emilia V. , Glazier Stephen L. , Lee Elizabeth , Dahn Jeff , Jerschow Alexej 
Published: September 2020

AbstractRechargeable battery cells are notoriously difficult to analyze. Conductive casings and the close spacing between electrode layers prevent the penetration of radiofrequency into the active compartment, and thus preclude direct nuclear magnetic resonance studies of cells unless they are specifically designed for such studies. Recently, an inside‐out magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method was developed that allowed measuring the magnetic field distributions in the volume surrounding the cells, and inferring internal parameters, such as the state of charge and current distributions. While the imaging approach provides a potentially very detailed picture of internal mechanisms, it can often be sensitive to background gradients and can be slow. In this work, an alternative approach is presented, which is based on the acquisition of free induction decays in the sample volume surrounding the cells. The signals encode intrinsic battery properties via the induced magnetic fields from the battery materials. A large range of cells were studied with different cathode materials, electrolyte amounts and cycle numbers (age). The spectroscopic signatures from these studies are shown to provide strong classification power for cathode materials. In addition, the derived principal components follow distinct pathways as a function of state of charge. The method is simple and fast (completes in less than a second), and requires only minimal hardware.
Specific binding‐induced modulation of the XCL1 metamorphic equilibrium
Authors: Dishman Acacia F. , Peterson Francis C. , Volkman Brian F. 
Published: September 2020

AbstractThe metamorphic protein XCL1 switches between two distinct native structures with different functions in the human immune system. This structural interconversion requires complete rearrangement of all hydrogen bonding networks, yet fold‐switching occurs spontaneously and reversibly in solution. One structure occupies the canonical α‐β chemokine fold and binds XCL1's cognate G‐protein coupled receptor, while the other structure occupies a dimeric, all‐β fold that binds glycosaminoglycans and has antimicrobial activity. Both of these functions are important for the biologic role of XCL1 in the immune system, and each structure is approximately equally populated under near‐physiologic conditions. Recent work has begun to illuminate XCL1's role in combatting infection and cancer. However, without a way to control XCL1's dynamic structural interconversion, it is difficult to study the role of XCL1 fold‐switching in human health and disease. Thus, a molecular tool that can regulate the fractional population of the two XCL1 structures is needed. Here, we find by heparin affinity chromatography and NMR that an engineered XCL1 variant called CC5 can trigger a dose‐dependent shift in XCL1's metamorphic equilibrium such that the receptor binding structure is depleted, and the antimicrobial structure is more heavily populated. This shift likely occurs due to formation of XCL1‐CC5 heterodimers in which both protomers occupy the β‐sheet structure. These findings lay the groundwork for future studies seeking to understand the functional role of XCL1 metamorphosis, as well as studies screening for a drug‐like molecule that can therapeutically target XCL1 by tuning its metamorphic equilibrium. Moreover, the proof of concept presented here suggests that protein metamorphosis is druggable, opening numerous avenues for controlling biological function of metamorphic proteins by altering the population of their multiple native states.
The effects of obesity on the human body, part I: Skin and musculoskeletal
Authors: Dupont Graham , Bordes Stephen J. , Lachkar Stefan , Wahl Lauren , Iwanaga Joe , Loukas Marios , Tubbs R. Shane 
Published: September 2020

AbstractObesity is a worldwide issue that many global health authorities consider a growing epidemic. Having a positive correlation between increases in the industrialization of processed foods and sedentary occupations as well as a lack of access to healthcare in poorer socioeconomic areas, obesity is a multifactorial disease affecting several organ systems. The tendency for obesity to cause detrimental changes to the human body is a focal point for healthcare providers to establish more effective clinical treatment and management plans. Implementing comprehensive global educational programs to decrease the prevalence of this unforgiving disease is imperative for a healthier future. Herein, we have provided a comprehensive review of the health effects of obesity upon the human body for the interest of many practicing clinicians managing this health crisis.
Influence of gene expression on survival of clear cell renal cell carcinoma
Authors: Berglund Anders , Amankwah Ernest K. , Kim Young‐Chul , Spiess Philippe E , Sexton Wade J. , Manley Brandon , Park Hyun Y. , Wang Liang , Chahoud Jad , Chakrabarti Ratna , Yeo Chang D. , Luu Hung N. , Pietro Giuliano D. , Parker Alexander , Park Jong Y. 
Published: September 2020

AbstractApproximately 10%‐20% of patients with clinically localized clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) at time of surgery will subsequently experience metastatic progression. Although considerable progression was seen in the systemic treatment of metastatic ccRCC in last 20 years, once ccRCC spreads beyond the confines of the kidney, 5‐year survival is less than 10%. Therefore, significant clinical advances are urgently needed to improve overall survival and patient care to manage the growing number of patients with localized ccRCC. We comprehensively evaluated expression of 388 candidate genes related with survival of ccRCC by using TCGA RNAseq (n = 515), Total Cancer Care (TCC) expression array data (n = 298), and a well characterized Moffitt RCC cohort (n = 248). We initially evaluated all 388 genes for association with overall survival using TCGA and TCC data. Eighty‐one genes were selected for further analysis and tested on Moffitt RCC cohort using NanoString expression analysis. Expression of nine genes (AURKA, AURKB, BIRC5, CCNE1, MK167, MMP9, PLOD2, SAA1, and TOP2A) was validated as being associated with poor survival. Survival prognostic models showed that expression of the nine genes and clinical factors predicted the survival in ccRCC patients with AUC value: 0.776, 0.821 and 0.873 for TCGA, TCC and Moffitt data set, respectively. Some of these genes have not been previously implicated in ccRCC survival and thus potentially offer insight into novel therapeutic targets. Future studies are warranted to validate these identified genes, determine their biological mechanisms and evaluate their therapeutic potential in preclinical studies.
Cerebellar gangliocytoma as a cause of fluctuating hearing loss
Authors: Rocha Ana Julia , Márquez Reyes , García‐Berrocal Jose Ramon 
Published: September 2020

AbstractCerebellar lesions could be a cause of fluctuating hearing loss, due to the increase of intracranial pressure by partially or complete blocking of the Foramen of Luschka. Patients with intracranial hypertension may present audio‐vestibular symptoms. Fluctuating sensorineural hearing loss may be the manifestation of different inner ear disorders such as Meniere's disease (MD), immune‐mediated inner ear disease (IMIED), otosyphilis, and labyrinthine fistula including semicircular canal dehiscence. A rare mechanism involved in the fluctuating hearing loss is the increase in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pressure, that may be caused by a cerebellar tumor. A 51‐year‐old female presented a 2‐year history of left ear fluctuating hearing loss and tinnitus, with fluctuations among the day, and normal otoscopy. Several audiometries showed a left ear moderate sensorineural hearing loss in low frequencies (Figure 1). The patient underwent a cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (Figure 2). She was treated with three courses of systemic steroids showing improvement of symptoms during the treatment. However, the symptoms always returned when corticotherapy was interrupted. The patient was given two intratympanic steroids cycles combined with hydrochlorothiazide/ amiloride hydrochloride. The cerebral MRI described a left cerebellar focal lesion diagnosed as a cerebellar gangliocytoma. After receiving the second intratympanic steroids, cycle combined with systemic ameride showed a significant improvement of audition. Between the several causes of fluctuating hearing loss, a cerebellar gangliocytoma is a very rare disease, which needs a high degree of suspicion and otorhinolaryngologists should be familiar with this entity since patients may present with audiological and vestibular symptoms.
Unusual posteromedial tubercle fracture extending to the talar dome
Authors: Pappa Eleni , Michalos Michael , Zisis Konstantinos , Koundis George , Kokoroghiannis Constantine , Evangelopoulos Dimitrios 
Published: September 2020

AbstractThe present case is unique in that the fracture of the posteromedial talar tubercule involved the tibiotalar rather than the subtalar joint as described in existing reports, which underlines the need for acute management by the Orthopaedic Surgeon
Copper‐Lanthanum Catalysts for NOx and Soot Removal
Authors: Alcalde‐Santiago Virginia , Davó‐Quiñonero Arantxa , Bailón‐García Esther , Lozano‐Castelló Dolores , Bueno‐López Agustín 
Published: September 2020

AbstractThe individual and simultaneous removal of NOx by Storage and Reduction with H2 (H2‐NSR) and combustion of soot have been studied for La and CuLa catalysts. The NOx storage capacity of pure lanthanum oxide is improved either by copper addition or by using a colloidal crystal hard template for the synthesis of a macroporous structure. Although the NOx storage capacity of the CuLa macroporous material is around ten times lower regarding conventional PtBa catalysts, the kinetics of the H2‐NSR cycles are fast enough to allow high NOx removal (until 90 % removal). Lanthanum oxide catalyst prepared with uncontrolled structure has no activity for soot combustion, but the activity increases for a macroporous counterpart prepared using the colloidal crystal template because the macroporous structure improves the soot‐catalyst contact and allows the nitrogen‐oxygen surface groups yielded upon NOx chemisorption to oxidize soot. The soot combustion activity of lanthanum catalysts is also enhanced upon copper loading, because copper improves the NO2‐assisted soot combustion mechanism and favors the chemisorption of NOx, enhancing soot oxidation by nitrogen‐oxygen surface species. Finally, it is demonstrated that the simultaneous removal of NOx by H2‐NSR and soot combustion can be carried out with a CuLa catalyst at 450 °C. The simultaneous removal does not affect the combustion of soot and only has a small effect in NOx removal.
Intercropping irrigated corn with two soybean maturity groups at different planting rates for forage
Authors: Norberg O. Steven , Llewellyn Donald A. , Fransen Steven C. , R. Kesoju Sandya 
Published: September 2020

AbstractIncreasing silage production and quality is paramount for dairy and beef feedlot production. We aimed to (a) increase dry matter, protein production, and profit per acre of corn (Zea mays L.) by intercropping it with soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.]; (b) compare soybean maturity groups (MGs) intercropped or grown as the sole crop; and (c) quantify the soybean planting rate's influence on land equivalent ratios (LER), total dry matter yield, nutrient concentration and economic return per acre in corn–soybean intercropping systems. A 2‐yr field study was conducted with two soybean MGs (MG1 and MG7) and four soybean planting rates: 0 (control), 38,000 (1×), 76,000 (2×), and 152,000 (4×) seeds acre−1. Intercropping with MG7 increased soybean dry weight by 33% compared with MG1. The MG7 4× rate in 2012 and the 1× and 2× rates in 2013 maximized yield and LER when forage contained 7 to 10% soybean. Averaged over years, the MG7 soybean planting rate had a significant quadratic influence on nutrient value, peaking at the 2× rate at $23 ton–1 more than monoculture corn. Intercropping with the 2× MG7 soybean increased the net economic return per acre on a nutrient value basis by $238 acre−1. The soybean concentration in the mix that produced the highest total dry matter yield 5 and 7% and 7 and 10% for gross economic return per acre in 2012 and 2013, respectively. On a tonnage only basis, intercropping 2× MG7 soybean increased yield and produced $26 acre−1 more profit than monoculture corn.
Wild boar recognition using convolutional neural networks
Authors: Silva Luís Carlos , Pádua Maricéia B. S. , Ogusuku Leonardo M. , Keese Albertini Marcelo , Pimentel Renato , Backes André R. 
Published: September 2020

SummaryWild boar (Sus scrofa) is a destructive species of swine. They spread diseases, represent a threat to native species, and destroy natural habitats by destabilizing river banks, thus reducing water flow. The monitoring of populations of wild boars is central to the execution and evaluation of methods to control them. To address this issue, in this article, we retrain and apply four convolutional neural networks (CNNs; AlexNet, VGG‐16, Inception‐v3, and ResNet‐50) to classify different species of “bush pigs” in real‐world footage: two native species of the Brazilian fauna, collared peccary (Pecari tajacu) and white‐lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari), and one invasive species, wild boar (S. scrofa). Results show that CNN can be used to classify animals with very similar behavior and appearance and that ResNet‐50 outperforms all compared CNN in terms of accuracy (98.33%) and the lowest probability of false positives (i.e., native species classified as wild boar).
Multi‐GPU performance optimization of a computational fluid dynamics code using OpenACC
Authors: Xue Weicheng , Roy Christoper J. 
Published: September 2020

SummaryThis article investigates the multi‐GPU performance of a 3D buoyancy driven cavity solver using MPI and OpenACC directives on multiple platforms. The article shows that decomposing the total problem in different dimensions affects the strong scaling performance significantly for the GPU. Without proper performance optimizations, it is shown that 1D domain decomposition scales poorly on multiple GPUs due to the noncontiguous memory access. The performance using whatever decompositions can be benefited from a series of performance optimizations in the article. Since the buoyancy driven cavity code is communication‐bounded on the clusters examined, a series of optimizations both agnostic and tailored to the platforms are designed to reduce the communication cost and improve memory throughput between hosts and devices efficiently. First, the parallel message packing/unpacking strategy developed for noncontiguous data movement between hosts and devices improves the overall performance by about a factor of 2. Second, transferring different data based on the stencil sizes for different variables further reduces the communication overhead. These two optimizations are general enough to be beneficial to stencil computations having ghost exchanges. Third, GPUDirect is used to improve the communication on clusters which have the hardware and software support for direct communication between GPUs without staging the memory of CPU. Finally, overlapping the communication and computations is shown to be not efficient on multi‐GPUs if only using MPI or MPI+OpenACC. Although we believe our implementation has revealed enough communication and computation overlap, the actual running does not utilize the overlap well due to a lack of enough asynchronous progression.
Photosynthetic characteristics and productivity in a wheat–maize system under varying zinc rates
Authors: Liu Yu‐Min , Liu Dun‐Yi , Zhang Wei , Chen Xiu‐Xiu , Zou Chun‐Qin 
Published: September 2020

AbstractThe photosynthetic rate (Pn) and leaf area index (LAI) play an important role in dry matter production. To understand the role of Zn fertilizer in increasing the yield of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and summer maize (Zea mays L.) by regulating Pn and LAI, a field experiment with six Zn rates (0, 2.3, 5.7, 11.4, 22.7, and 34.1 kg Zn ha−1) was conducted from 2013 to 2015 on a calcareous soil. Zinc application increased wheat and maize yield by 4–19% and 4–13%, respectively, across the 2 yr. The aboveground biomass, Pn, and LAI of both wheat and maize also significantly increased with increasing Zn rates. Structural equation modeling showed that the yield increase of wheat mainly depended on the Pn and LAI, whereas that of maize mainly depended on the Pn. The relationships of the Pn and LAI with shoot Zn concentrations followed a linear‐plateau trend for wheat and linear for maize. The optimal shoot Zn concentrations to obtain the maximal Pn and LAI of wheat were determined to be 46–49 mg kg−1. Zinc application at 11.4 kg Zn ha−1 was an optimal rate to guarantee yield attainment and Zn biofortification. The results of this study are useful for farmers to optimize their Zn fertilizer management in agricultural systems to obtain high yields.