bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Characterization and comparative DNA methylation profiling of four adipogenic genes in adipose-derived stem cells and dedifferentiated fat cells from aging subjects
Authors: Tansriratanawong Kallapat , Tabei Isao , Ishikawa Hiroshi , Ohyama Akihiro , Toyomura Junko , Sato Soh 
Published: June 2020

AbstractAdipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) and dedifferentiated fat (DFAT) cells are alternative cell sources in tissue engineering and regeneration because they are easily obtained and exhibit multilineage differentiation. However, aging may attenuate their regenerative potential and metabolic functions. Reports characterizing DFAT cells derived from aging donors are rare, and comparisons of DNA methylation profiles between aging ASCs and DFAT cells are poorly understood. Therefore, this study aimed to characterize DFAT cells relative to ASCs derived from aging subjects and compare the DNA methylation profiles of four adipogenic genes in these cells. ASCs and DFAT cells from aging donors exhibited characteristics similar to those of stem cells, including colony formation, proliferation, and multilineage differentiation abilities. However, compared with ASCs, DFAT cells exhibited increased proliferation, smooth muscle actin alpha (SMA-α) expression and decreased cellular senescence. DNA methylation profiling of ASCs and DFAT cells by combined bisulfite restriction analysis (COBRA) demonstrated hypermethylation patterns in three potent adipogenic genes—peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma 2 (PPARγ2), fatty acid-binding protein 4 (FABP4), and lipoprotein lipase (LPL)—but hypomethylation of CCAAT/enhancer binding protein alpha (C/EBPα) in the aging group. Statistically significant differences were observed between the aging group and the young group. Epigenetic regulation maintains the stability of ASCs and DFAT cells in an age-dependent manner. Our findings suggested that although the DNA methylation patterns of three adipogenic genes correlated with hypermethylation and aging, ASCs and DFAT cells exhibited cellular stability and several stem cell characteristics, offering further opportunities for personalized regeneration and energy maintenance by adipogenesis during aging.
New ranking method for normal intuitionistic sets under crisp, interval environments and its applications to multiple attribute decision making process
Authors: Garg Harish 
Published: June 2020

AbstractThe aim of this paper is to present novel algorithms for solving the multiple attribute decision-making problems under the normal intuitionistic fuzzy set environment. Normal intuitionistic and interval-valued intuitionistic sets are the essential mechanisms for influencing the decision-making queries with anonymous and indeterminant data by engaging a degree of membership and non-membership of normal distribution data in quantitative terms. Holding these features in mind and united the idea of hesitation degree, this paper presents some improved score functions to rank the normal intuitionistic and interval-valued intuitionistic sets. The advantage of these proposed functions is to overwhelm the weakness of the existing functions and will aid to rank the given objects in a more consistent way. The numerous salient features of the proposed functions are studied. Later, we develop two new algorithms for interval-valued as well as crisp numbers based on the proposed functions to solve multiple attribute decision-making problems. The given approaches have been confirmed with numerical examples and the advantages, as well as comparative analysis, are furnished to shows its influence over existing approaches.
Success prediction of android applications in a novel repository using neural networks
Authors: Dehkordi Mehrdad Razavi , Seifzadeh Habib , Beydoun Ghassan , Nadimi-Shahraki Mohammad H. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractNowadays, Android applications play a major role in software industry. Therefore, having a system that can help companies predict the success probability of such applications would be useful. Thus far, numerous research works have been conducted to predict the success probability of desktop applications using a variety of machine learning techniques. However, since features of desktop programs are different from those of mobile applications, they are not applicable to mobile applications. To our knowledge, there has not been a repository or even a method to predict the success probability of Android applications so far. In this research, we introduce a repository composed of 100 successful and 100 unsuccessful apps of Android operating system in Google PlayStoreTM including 34 features per application. Then, we use the repository to a neural network and other classification algorithms to predict the success probability. Finally, we compare the proposed method with the previous approaches based on the accuracy criterion. Experimental results show that the best accuracy which we achieved is 99.99%, which obtained when we used MLP and PCA, while the best accuracy achieved by the previous work in desktop platforms was 96%. However, the time complexity of the proposed approach is higher than previous methods, since the time complexities of NPR and MLP are O$$( n^3$$

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) and O$$( nph^koi$$

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), respectively.
Water resource management in the context of a non-potable water reuse case study in arid climate
Authors: Seguela G. , Littlewood J. R. , Karani G. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractThis study evaluates an existing non-potable water system serving outdoor services for a medical facility case study (MFCS) in Abu Dhabi (AD), United Arab Emirates, using mixed methods research to identify water demand and availability of non-potable water, and to optimize water reuse for reducing waste, energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). The MFCS footprint includes 50% landscaping. The water used for irrigation is from non-clinical/non-potable water, treated condensate water, a by-product of air conditioning. For 5 months per year, there is a predicted non-potable water deficit, so costly and non-sustainable desalinated potable water is required for irrigation. The findings include that there is a non-potable water deficit due to an excessive consumption for landscape irrigation (LI) and water features (WF), and that 177,288 m3 of condensate and desalinated water was wasted (equivalent to 71 Olympic swimming pools). The contribution of this research is to demonstrate that water wastage, a contributor to GHG emissions, is due to inadequate field testing and verification, water tank storage problems and a lack of LI and WF water demand management. Strategies to address these issues are suggested and will be useful to building owners, operations and maintenance teams and facility managers to substantially decrease water consumption in any type of buildings with a non-potable water system, as well as helping AD to achieve its target of a 22% reduction in GHG emissions by 2030 (Environment Agency- Abu Dhabi (EAD 2017)).
Estimating excess heat from exhaust gases: why corrosion matters
Authors: Aydemir Ali , Fritz Markus 
Published: June 2020

AbstractIndustry accounts for about 30% of the final energy demand in Germany. Of this, 75% is used to provide heat, but a considerable proportion of the heat is unused. A recent bottom-up estimate shows that up to 13% of the fuel consumption of industry is lost as excess heat in exhaust gases. However, this estimate only quantifies a theoretical potential, as it does not consider the technical aspects of usability. In this paper, we also estimate the excess heat potentials of industry using a bottom-up method. Compared to previous estimates, however, we go one step further by including the corrosiveness of the exhaust gases and thus an important aspect of the technical usability of the excess heat contained in them. We use the emission declarations for about 300 production sites in Baden-Württemberg as a data basis for our calculations. For these sites, we calculate a theoretical excess heat potential of 2.2 TWh, which corresponds to 12% of the fuel consumption at these sites. We then analyse how much this theoretical potential is reduced if we assume that the energy content of sulphur-containing exhaust gases is only used up to the sulphuric acid dew point in order to prevent corrosion. Our results show that 40% of the analysed excess heat potential is corrosive, which reduces the usable potential to 1.3 TWh or 7% of fuel consumption. In principle, it is possible to use the energy of the excess heat from sulphur-containing exhaust gases even below the dew point, but this is likely to involve higher costs. This therefore represents an obstacle to the full utilisation of the available excess heat. Our analysis shows that considering corrosion is important when estimating industrial excess heat potentials.
Ministers, Gender and Political Appointments
Authors: Field Bonnie N. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractThis study examines whether the sex of the selector matters for advancing women's inclusion in politics and how the political context shapes selectors’ preferences and behaviour. It focuses on an under-researched area – the political appointments ministers make in their ministerial departments – and thus sheds light on the conditions under which women access appointed office. It analyses six governments in Spain between 1996 and 2018, using a mixed methods approach that includes statistical analyses of political appointments and interviews with former ministers. It finds that women ministers, as individuals, did not appoint more women than men ministers did at any time. However, women's presence is highly relevant. In more gender-balanced political contexts, men and women ministers appointed more women. Moreover, the context changed, in part because critical political actors pushed for it. This imbued a new political sphere, subcabinet-appointed offices, with representational significance.
Landscape factors driving the spread of the invasive grass,Hymenachne amplexicaulis, among wetlands in a Florida subtropical grazing land
Authors: Bouchard Elizabeth H. , Sonnier Grégory , Pierre Steffan , Saha Amartya , Sclater Vivienne , Boughton Elizabeth H. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractWetlands embedded in agroecosystems provide vital ecosystem services (i.e., freeze protection, water retention, nutrient cycling, biodiversity support). However, they are particularly susceptible to invasion by nonnative species. West Indian marsh grass [Hymenachne amplexicaulis(Rudge) Nees] is a major wetland invader in Florida. Despite the documented consequences ofH. amplexicaulisinvasions, the landscape factors influencing the spread of this species are poorly understood. In this study, we asked whether landscape factors associated with wetland isolation, connectivity, and land management influence the presence ofH. amplexicaulisamong wetlands embedded in pastures. We recorded the presence or absence ofH.amplexicaulisin 158 seasonal wetlands embedded in different pasture types (semi-natural vs. intensively managed). Wetland area, isolation from neighboring wetlands, isolation from the nearest source ditch, and connectivity were determined using a geographic information system (GIS). We related landscape factors toH. amplexicaulisusing generalized linear models and model selection based on the second-order Akaike information criterion.Hymenachne amplexicauliswas first detected at the study site in the early 2000s. By 2018, we observed this species in 66% of the surveyed wetlands. The likelihood of observingH. amplexicauliswas higher in wetlands embedded in semi-natural pastures and higher in less isolated wetlands, especially when connected to a ditch. These results indicate thatH. amplexicaulisspreads both overland (during seasonal flooding) and via the ditch network. Future work is needed to understand whether seeds or stolons are the primary invasion propagule and whether the species forms a persistent seed bank that could slow down restoration efforts. Additionally, further research is required to understand the ecological impact of this highly invasive plant in Florida wetlands.
Explaining World Wine Exports in the First Wave of Globalization, 1848–1938
Authors: Ayuda María-Isabel , Ferrer-Pérez Hugo , Pinilla Vicente 
Published: June 2020

AbstractThe objective of this article is to analyze the determinants of world wine exports in the first globalization, taking into account the principal exporting countries and using an extended version of the gravity model. The article distinguishes between ordinary- and high-quality wines. Our econometric results show that wine exports were not affected by the increase in the size of the markets of consuming countries, since in most of them wine was an alcoholic beverage consumed by a very small minority of the population. The harvests of the producing countries, particularly in preceding years, significantly and positively affected their exports. Conversely, the harvests of importers hurt exports as there was a home bias in consumption due to cultural, price, or tariff protection reasons. In the interwar period, the wine trade was severely affected by a series of shocks such as WWI, the Soviet revolution, the Prohibition, and the 1930s depression. As was the case with trade as a whole, the fall in transaction costs, favored exports, at least those of lower-priced and lower-quality wine. However, the liberalization of trade had a lesser impact on wine than on other products. (JEL Classifications: F14, N50, Q13, Q17)
Performing in a different place: the use of a prodigy to the Dublin Philosophical Society
Authors: HOLT PADDY 
Published: June 2020

AbstractFrom 8 February until at least 19 April 1686, the Dublin Philosophical Society was occupied with a prodigiously talented young girl whose name was never recorded. She was less than eleven years of age, but still much older than the society itself, which had begun meeting less than three years previously. Although one of many wonders engaging the curiosity of the nascent society, this girl served a surprising range of purposes, so that accompanying her anonymity was a curious malleability. Pressed into several different roles and identities, her exploitation affords a glimpse into the various qualities that could make a spectacle useful in a philosophical climate that was unique among the British Isles. The use of this girl therefore not only sheds light on the needs of a less familiar learned society, but also shows how these could differ from those of its better-understood counterparts. For a period of time, it was the versatility not of the gentlemen in Dublin, but of the prodigy they used, that best served this group on the periphery.
Exploiting Chinese Labour Emigration in Treaty Ports: The Role of Spanish Consulates in the “Coolie Trade”
Authors: Ginés-Blasi Mònica 
Published: June 2020

AbstractAuthors writing about the history of the “coolie trade” in Cuba have generally focused on the multinational effort to halt the trafficking of Chinese workers. Little has been written about either the role of consuls as middlemen or of Spanish participation in the traffic in treaty ports. Yet, several sources indicate that many officials at Spanish consulates in coastal China were intensely involved in the shipment of Chinese emigrants to Cuba and other coolie trade destinations, and were also at the centre of international scandals. These consular officers frequently used their authority to obtain a monopoly over the trade. In this article, I argue that the coolie trade was the main objective of Spain's consular deployment in China, and that the involvement of these consular officials was crucial in developing an abusive migratory system and sustaining the mistreatment of Chinese immigrant workers throughout the second half of the nineteenth century.
The strange case of Ocellomma rediuntum (Arthoniales: Roccellaceae) in Australia: a remarkably disjunct lichen
Authors: Kantvilas Gintaras , Gueidan Cécile , Tehler Anders 
Published: June 2020

AbstractThe new combination Ocellomma rediuntum (Stizenb. ex Hasse) Kantvilas, Gueidan & Tehler is proposed, supported by morphological, anatomical and molecular data. Hitherto known only from the Californian coast, this species is here recorded for Kangaroo Island (South Australia), Victoria and Tasmania. It is described and illustrated from Australian collections. The ecology of the species and its remarkable distribution are discussed.
Time to adjust: changes in the diet of a reintroduced marsupial after release
Authors: Bannister Hannah , Croxford Adam , Brandle Robert , Paton David C. , Moseby Katherine 
Published: June 2020

AbstractAn important component of reintroduction is acclimatization to the release site. Movement parameters and breeding are common metrics used to infer the end of the acclimatization period, but the time taken to locate preferred food items is another important measure. We studied the diet of a reintroduced population of brushtail possumsTrichosurus vulpeculain semi-arid South Australia over a 12 month period, investigating changes over time as well as the general diet. We used next-generation DNA sequencing to determine the contents of 253 scat samples, after creating a local plant reference library. Vegetation surveys were conducted monthly to account for availability. Dietary diversity and richness decreased significantly with time since release after availability was accounted for. We used Jacob's Index to assess selectivity; just 13.4% of available plant genera were significantly preferred overall, relative to availability. The mean proportion of preferred plant genera contained within individual samples increased significantly with time since release, but the frequency of occurrence of preferred plants did not. Five genera (Eucalyptus,Petalostylis,Maireana,ZygophyllumandCallitris) were present in more than half of samples. There was no difference in dietary preferences between sexes (Pianka overlap = 0.73). Our results suggest that acclimatization periods may be longer than those estimated via reproduction, changes in mass and movement parameters, but that under suitable conditions a changeable diet should not negatively affect reintroduction outcomes. Reintroduction projects should aim to extend post-release monitoring beyond the dietary acclimatization period and, for dry climates, diet should be monitored through a drought period.
Determinants of herder attitudes towards the Vulnerable snow leopardPanthera unciain Yushu Prefecture, China
Authors: Hacker Charlotte E. , Dai Yunchuan , Cheng Yifan , Zhang Yu , Zhang Yuguang , Miller Lance J. , Janecka Jan E. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractYushu Prefecture in Qinghai Province provides some of the largest known stretches of habitat for the Vulnerable snow leopardPanthera unciain China. People living in these areas are dependent on agropastoralism. Support from local communities is necessary for effective long-term conservation action for snow leopards, but loss of livestock to snow leopards can create financial burdens that induce negative attitudes and encourage retaliatory killing. We assessed factors driving herders' attitudes towards snow leopards and their conservation. We found that herders had higher agreement with positive than with negative statements about snow leopards despite nearly half reporting livestock loss to snow leopards within the last 5 years. No retaliatory killing was reported. Herders with more years of formal education and fewer livestock losses were more likely to have positive attitudes whereas those with lower importance of snow leopards to their religion, fewer livestock losses, and fewer years of education were more likely to have negative attitudes. Understanding the multifaceted mechanisms responsible for positive views towards species is imperative for reaching conservation goals. Our findings ascribe to the importance of increased education and adherence to Tibetan beliefs in promoting conservation tolerance towards snow leopards in Qinghai Province, but also indicate a need for further research into the impact of livestock loss.
Contract, Gender, and the Emergence of the Civil-Military Distinction
Authors: Parsons Graham 
Published: June 2020

AbstractThis paper examines the social contract theories of Grotius, Hobbes, Pufendorf, and Locke, highlighting the failure of their contractarian defenses of the military and military service. In order to ground the duties of military service, each theorist presumes a chivalric gender order wherein men as men are expected to be willing to sacrifice themselves as violent instruments for the sake of their families and communities. While Grotius, Hobbes, and Pufendorf use the contract method to defend absolute, or near absolute, political authority wherein subject's primary political obligation is to serve the sovereign in war upon command, Locke uses the contract method to create a liberal political order that preserves the natural rights of subjects. Nevertheless, Locke maintains the commitment to self-sacrificial military service. In Locke, then, the military is peeled away from liberal civil society and we see the first statement of the civil-military distinction that persists today.
Constrained RGBD-SLAM
Authors: Naudet-Collette Sylvie , Melbouci Kathia , Gay-Bellile Vincent , Ait-Aider Omar , Dhome Michel 
Published: June 2020

SUMMARYThis paper introduces a new RGBD-Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (RGBD-SLAM) based on a revisited keyframe SLAM. This solution improves the localization by combining visual and depth data in a local bundle adjustment. Then, it presents an extension of this RGBD-SLAM that takes advantage of a partial knowledge of the scene. This solution allows using a prior knowledge of the 3D model of the environment when this latter is available which drastically improves the localization accuracy. The proposed solutions called RGBD-SLAM and Constrained RGBD-SLAM are evaluated on several public benchmark datasets and on real scenes acquired by a Kinect sensor. The system works in real time on a standard central processing units and it can be useful for certain applications, such as localization of lightweight robots, UAVs, and VR helmet.
Effects of a school readiness intervention on electrophysiological indices of external response monitoring in children in foster care
Authors: Bruce Jacqueline , Pears Katherine C. , McDermott Jennifer Martin , Fox Nathan A. , Fisher Philip A. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractThis study examined the impact of a school readiness intervention on external response monitoring in children in foster care. Behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) data were collected during a flanker task from children who received the Kids In Transition to School (KITS) Program (n = 26) and children who received services as usual (n = 19) before and after the intervention. While there were no significant group differences on the behavioral data, the ERP data for the two groups of children significantly differed. Specifically, in contrast to the children who received services as usual, the children who received the KITS Program displayed greater amplitude differences between positive and negative performance feedback over time for the N1, which reflects early attention processes, and feedback-related negativity, which reflects evaluation processes. In addition, although the two groups did not differ on amplitude differences between positive and negative performance feedback for these ERP components before the intervention, the children who received the KITS Program displayed greater amplitude differences than the children who received services as usual after the intervention. These results suggest that the KITS Program had an effect on responsivity to external performance feedback, which may be beneficial during the transition into kindergarten.