bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Are Maize Stalks Efficiently Tapered to Withstand Wind Induced Bending Stresses?
Authors: Stubbs Christopher J , Seegmiller Kate , Sekhon Rajandeep S. , Robertson Daniel J. 
Published: January 2020

AbstractStalk lodging (breaking of agricultural plant stalks prior to harvest) results in millions of dollars in lost revenue each year. Despite a growing body of literature on the topic of stalk lodging, the structural efficiency of maize stalks has not been investigated previously. In this study, we investigate the morphology of mature maize stalks to determine if rind tissues, which are the major load bearing component of corn stalks, are efficiently organized to withstand wind induced bending stresses that cause stalk lodging.945 fully mature, dried commercial hybrid maize stem specimens (48 hybrids, ∼2 replicates, ∼10 samples per plot) were subjected to: (1) three-point-bending tests to measure their bending strength and (2) rind penetration tests to measure the cross-sectional morphology at each internode. The data were analyzed through an engineering optimization algorithm to determine the structural efficiency of the specimens.Hybrids with higher average bending strengths were found to allocate rind tissue more efficiently than weaker hybrids. However, even strong hybrids were structurally suboptimal. There remains significant room for improving the structural efficiency of maize stalks. Results also indicated that stalks are morphologically organized to resist wind loading that occurs primarily above the ear. Results are applicable to selective breeding and crop management studies seeking to reduce stalk lodging rates.HighlightMaize stem morphology was investigated through an optimization algorithm to determine how efficiently their structural tissues are allocated to withstand wind induced bending stresses that cause stalk lodging.
Phylogenomics of expanding uncultured environmental Tenericutes provides insights into their pathogenicity and evolutionary relationship with Bacilli
Authors: Wang Yong , Huang Jiao-Mei , Zhou Ying-Li , Almeida Alexandre , Finn Robert D. , Danchin Antoine , He Li-Sheng 
Published: January 2020

ABSTRACTThe metabolic capacity, stress response and evolution of uncultured environmental Tenericutes have remained elusive, since previous studies have been largely focused on pathogenic species. In this study, we expanded analyses on Tenericutes lineages that inhabit various environments using a collection of 840 genomes. Several novel environmental lineages were discovered inhabiting the human gut, ground water, bioreactors and hypersaline lake and spanning the Haloplasmatales and Mycoplasmatales orders. A phylogenomics analysis of Bacilli and Tenericutes genomes revealed that some uncultured Tenericutes are affiliated with novel clades in Bacilli, such as RF39, RFN20 and ML615. Erysipelotrichales and two major gut lineages, RF39 and RFN20, were found to be neighboring clades of Mycoplasmatales. We detected habitat-specific functional patterns between the pathogenic, gut and the environmental Tenericutes, where genes involved in carbohydrate storage, carbon fixation, mutation repair, environmental response and amino acid cleavage are overrepresented in the genomes of environmental lineages. We hypothesize that the two major gut lineages, namely RF39 and RFN20, are probably acetate and hydrogen producers. Furthermore, deteriorating capacity of bactoprenol synthesis for cell wall peptidoglycan precursors secretion is a potential adaptive strategy employed by these lineages in response to the gut environment. This study uncovers the characteristic functions of environmental Tenericutes and their relationships with Bacilli, which sheds new light onto the pathogenicity and evolutionary processes of Mycoplasmatales.IMPORTANCEEnvironmental Tenericutes bacteria were recently discovered in numerous environments. However, our current collection of Tenericutes genomes was overrepresented by those for pathogens. Our phylogenomics study displays the relationships between all the available Tenericutes, as well as those between Tenericutes and the clades in Bacilli, which casts lights into the uncertain boundary between the environmental lineages of Tenericutes and Bacilli. By comparing the genomes of the environmental and pathogenic Tenericutes, we revealed the metabolic pathways and adaptive strategies of the Tenericutes in the different environments and hosts. We also predicted the metabolism of the two major gut lineages RF39 and RFN20 of Tenericutes, indicating their potential importance in stabilization of the gut microbiome and contribution to human health.
Phosphatidylinositol-4-kinase IIα licenses phagosomes for TLR4 signaling and MHC-II presentation in dendritic cells
Authors: López-Haber C , Levin-Konigsberg R , Zhu Y , Bi-Karchin J , Balla T , Grinstein S , Marks MS , Mantegazza AR 
Published: January 2020

ABSTRACTToll like receptor (TLR) recruitment to phagosomes in dendritic cells (DCs) and downstream TLR signaling are essential to initiate antimicrobial immune responses. However, the mechanisms underlying TLR localization to phagosomes are poorly characterized. We show herein that phosphatidylinositol-4-kinase IIα (PI4KIIα) plays a key role in initiating phagosomal TLR4 responses in murine DCs by generating a phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate (PtdIns4P) platform conducive to the binding of the TLR sorting adaptor TIRAP. PI4KIIα is recruited to LPS-containing phagosomes in an adaptor protein AP-3 dependent manner, and both PI4KIIα and PtdIns4P are also detected on phagosomal membrane tubules. Knockdown of PI4KIIα – but not of the related PI4KIIβ – impairs TIRAP and TLR4 localization to phagosomes, reduces proinflammatory cytokine secretion, and impairs phagosomal tubule formation and MHC-II presentation. Phagosomal TLR responses in PI4KIIα-deficient DCs are restored by re-expression of wild-type PI4KIIα, but not of variants lacking kinase activity or AP-3 binding. Our data indicate that PI4KIIα is an essential regulator of phagosomal TLR signaling in DCs by ensuring optimal TIRAP recruitment to phagosomes.
Human immune system variation during one year
Authors: Lakshmikanth Tadepally , Muhammad Sayyed Auwn , Olin Axel , Chen Yang , Mikes Jaromir , Fagerberg Linn , Gummesson Anders , Bergström Göran , Uhlen Mathias , Brodin Petter 
Published: January 2020

SUMMARYThe human immune system varies extensively between individuals, but variation within individuals over time has not been well characterized. Systems-level analyses allow for simultaneous quantification of many interacting immune system components, and the inference of global regulatory principles. Here we present a longitudinal, systems-level analysis in 99 healthy adults, 50 to 65 years of age and sampled every 3rdmonth during one year. We describe the structure of inter-individual variation and characterize extreme phenotypes along a principal curve. From coordinated measurement fluctuations, we infer relationships between 115 immune cell populations and 750 plasma proteins constituting the blood immune system. While most individuals have stable immune systems, the degree of longitudinal variability is an individual feature. The most variable individuals, in the absence of overt infections, exhibited markers of poor metabolic health suggestive of a functional link between metabolic and immunologic homeostatic regulation.HIGHLIGHTSLongitudinal variation in immune cell composition during one yearInter-individual variation can be described along a principal curveImmune cell and protein relationships are inferredVariability over time is an individual feature correlating with markers of poor metabolic health
Medical data and machine learning improve power of stroke genome-wide association studies
Authors: Thangaraj Phyllis M. , Gisladottir Undina , Tatonetti Nicholas P. 
Published: January 2020

AbstractGenome-wide association studies (GWAS) may require enrollment of up to millions of participants to power variant discovery. This requires manual curation of cases and controls with large-scale collaborations. Biobanks connected to electronic health records (EHR) can facilitate these studies by using data from clinical care systems, like billing diagnosis codes, as phenotypes. These systems, however, do not define adjudicated cases and controls. We developed QTPhenProxy, a machine learning model that adds nuance to cohort classification by assigning everyone in a cohort a probability of having the study disease. We then ran a GWAS using the probabilities as a quantitative trait. With an order of magnitude fewer cases than the largest stroke GWAS, our method outperformed previous methods at replicating known variants in stroke and discovered a novel variant inABCG8associated with intracerebral hemorrhage in the UK Biobank that replicated in the MEGASTROKE GWA meta-analysis. QTPhenProxy expands traditional phenotyping to improve the power of GWAS.
Improved computational analysis of ribosome dynamics from 5’P degradome data using fivepeseq
Authors: Nersisyan Lilit , Ropat Maria , Pelechano Vicent 
Published: January 2020

ABSTRACTIn eukaryotes, 5’-3’ co-translation degradation machinery follows the last translating ribosome providing anin vivofootprint of its position. Thus 5’P degradome sequencing, in addition to informing about RNA decay, also provides valuable information regarding ribosome dynamics. Multiple experimental methods have been developed to investigate the mRNA degradome, however computational tools for their reproducible analysis are lacking. Here we present fivepseq: an easy-to-use application for analysis and interactive visualization of 5’P degradome data. This tool performs both metagene and gene specific analysis, and allows to easily investigate codon specific ribosome pauses. To demonstrate its ability to provide new biological information, we investigate gene specific ribosome pauses inS. cerevisiaeafter eIF5A depletion. In addition to identifying pauses at expected codon motifs, we identify multiple genes with strain-specific frameshifts. To show its wide applicability, we investigate more complex 5’P degradome fromA. thalianaand discover both motif-specific ribosome protection associated with particular developmental stages, as well as generally increased ribosome protection at termination level associated with age. Our work shows how the use of improved analysis tools for the study of 5’P degradome can significantly increase the biological information that can be derived from such datasets and facilitate its reproducible analysis.KEY POINTSAnalysis of 5’P degradome data with fivepseq informs about global and gene-specific translational features.Frameshifts in translation-related genes inS. cerevisiaemay be linked to ribosome stalling.Ribosome protection at termination and codon motifs are linked to development inA. Thaliana.
The Degradation-promoting Roles of Deubiquitinases Ubp6 and Ubp3 in Cytosolic and ER Protein Quality Control
Authors: Wu Hongyi , Ng Davis T.W. , Cheong Ian , Matsudaira Paul 
Published: January 2020

AbstractThe quality control of intracellular proteins is achieved by degrading misfolded proteins which cannot be refolded by molecular chaperones. In eukaryotes, such degradation is handled primarily by the ubiquitin-proteasome system. However, it remains unclear whether and how protein quality control deploys various deubiquitinases. To address this question, we screened deletions or mutation of the 20 deubiquitinase genes inSaccharomyces cerevisiaeand discovered that almost half of the mutations slowed the removal of misfolded proteins whereas none of the remaining mutations accelerated this process significantly. Further characterization revealed that Ubp6 maintains the level of free ubiquitin to promote the elimination of misfolded cytosolic proteins, while Ubp3 supports the degradation of misfolded cytosolic and ER luminal proteins by different mechanisms.
Compositely modulated structures of phosphor materials Sr
x
Li2+x
Al2–x
O4:Eu2+
Authors: Ooishi Atsushi , Michiue Yuichi , Funahashi Shiro , Takeda Takashi , Hirosaki Naoto 
Published: January 2020

Composite crystals Sr
x
Li2+

x
Al2−x
O4:Eu2+ were synthesized and their structures were determined using single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The commensurate structure with a modulation wavevector q = 5c*/6 was analyzed in a conventional manner in 3D space, while a structure model in (3+1)-dimensional superspace was used for the other two crystals with modulation wavevectors slightly differing from 5c*/6. The superstructure of the commensurate phase was described using the space group P4/n and a common superspace group I4/m(00γ)00 was used for the (3+1)D structures of all three crystals. The whole structure of each crystal consists of two substructures. Basis vectors a and b are common, but c is different for the two substructures. The first substructure is a host framework constructed by (Li/Al)O4 tetrahedra sharing edges. A linear connection of cavities is seen to be channel-like, in which Sr ions locate as guest cations forming the second substructure. The crystal of q = 5c*/6 contains five Sr ions per six cavities in a channel. Sr ions are distributed at seven sites, some of which are partially occupied. Statistical disorder of local structure models for the location of Sr ions in the channel was assumed to explain the results. Such a partially disordered character was also seen in the incommensurate phases and properly embodied by a (3+1)D model containing an atomic domain of the Sr ion with occupational modulation. Plots of the occupation factor, interatomic distances and the bond valence sum at each metal site as functions of t (= x
4 − q·r) are roughly identical in the three crystals, which are considered as members of the same series of composite crystals.
Relying on second opinions for potentially racist encounters
Authors: Chapa Olga , Triana María del Carmen , Gu Pamela 
Published: January 2020

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine how employees’ perceptions and the perceptions of others close to them influence employee reactions to perceived racial discrimination at work.Design/methodology/approachIntegrating the interactional model of cultural diversity (IMCD) with signaling theory, this study examines how others close to an employee can influence employee job satisfaction and turnover in response to potentially racist encounters. The research question is tested using a field study.FindingsResults from a field study of paired participants (surveying the employee plus a paired participant who knew them well) showed that employees’ reactions to perceived racial discrimination are influenced by the perceptions of others close to them. For employees who perceive low discrimination, job satisfaction is lower when others close to them perceive high discrimination against the employee. While the probability of turnover for employees who perceive low discrimination is similar whether paired participants perceive low or high discrimination, their probability of turnover is highest when both they and the other person perceive high racial discrimination against the employee.Research limitations/implicationsSuggestions are provided to avoid the appearance and/or practice of discriminatory acts.Originality/valueThis paper integrates the influence of others close to employees in the IMCD diversity climate, individual career outcomes and organizational effectiveness.
Strength of concrete produced with different sources of aggregates from selected parts of Abia and Imo States of Nigeria
Authors: Eziefula Uchechi G. , Opara Hyginus E. , Eziefula Bennett I. 
Published: January 2020

Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the 28-day compressive strength of concrete produced with aggregates from different sources.

Design/methodology/approach
Coarse aggregates were crushed granite and natural local stones mined from Umunneochi, Lokpa and Uturu, Isuakwato, respectively, in Abia State, Nigeria. Fine aggregate (river sand) and another coarse aggregate (river stone) were dredged from Otammiri River in Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria. The nominal mix ratios were 1:1:2, 1:2:4 and 1:3:6, whereas the respective water–cement ratios were 0.45, 0.5, 0.55 and 0.6.

Findings
The compressive strength of granite concrete, river stone concrete and local stone concrete ranged 17.79-38.13, 15.37-34.57 and 14.17-31.96 N/mm2, respectively. Compressive strength was found to increase with decreasing water–cement ratio and increasing cement content.

Practical implications
Granite concrete should be used in reinforced-concrete construction, especially when a cube compressive strength of 30 N/mm2 or higher is required.

Originality/value
Granite concrete exceeded the target compressive strength for all the concrete specimens, whereas river stone concrete and local stone concrete failed to achieve the target strength for some mix proportions and water–cement ratios.
Phillips curve and long-run inflation under commitment
Authors: Pontiggia Dario 
Published: January 2020

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study the optimal long-run rate of inflation in the presence of a hybrid Phillips curve, which nests a purely backward-looking Phillips curve and the purely forward-looking New Keynesian Phillips curve (NKPC) as special limiting cases.Design/methodology/approachThis paper derives the long-run rate of inflation in a basic New Keynesian (NK) model, characterized by sticky prices and rule-of-thumb behavior by price setters. The monetary authority possesses commitment and its objective function stems from an approximation to the utility of the representative household.FindingsCommitment solution for the monetary authority leads to steady-state outcomes in which inflation, albeit small, is positive. Rising from zero under the purely forward-looking NKPC, the optimal long-run rate of inflation reaches its maximum under the purely backward-looking Phillips curve. In this case, inflation bias arises, while, under the hybrid Phillips curve, positive long-run inflation is associated with an output gain.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper serves as a clarification against the misperception that log-linearized models take as given the steady-state inflation rate rather than being capable of determining it. Analysis is sensitive to the basic NK setting, with the assumed rule-of-thumb behavior by price setters and price staggering.Originality/valueThe results are the first to quantify the optimal long-run rate of inflation in a fully microfounded model that nests different Phillips curves.
Fintech: research directions to explore the digital transformation of financial service systems
Authors: Breidbach Christoph F. , Keating Byron W. , Lim Chiehyeon 
Published: January 2020

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to delineate a research agenda to guide future service research investigating the digital transformation of financial service systems through Fintech – disruptive innovations by new market entrants that challenge the position of mainstream financial institutions.Design/methodology/approachRooted in the philosophical foundations of “use-inspired research,” this paper addresses the managerially and societally relevant phenomenon of Fintech by identifying, and responding to, the individual challenges and problems associated with the digital transformation of financial services. This is accomplished through a computational text-mining approach to analyze the corpus of 1,545 published practitioner articles associated with Fintech, identification of managerial challenges therein and subsequent delineation of a novel research agenda.FindingsBy connecting managerial challenges relating to Fintech with the service literature, this paper develops a use-inspired research agenda that provides scholarly and managerially relevant research directions (RDs). These pertain to the complexity of digital financial service systems (micro level), orchestration of value co-creation with Fintech (meso level), and the development of elastic infrastructures, models and markets (macro level).Research limitations/implicationsFintech is an emerging phenomenon associated with the digital transformation of financial services. However, actual guidelines on how service research related to Fintech could be advanced from a theoretically as well as managerially relevant angle are unavailable to date. Here, the authors address this challenge and provide the field with 18 tangible RDs to advance service theory and practice.Practical implicationsThe purpose of this paper is to guide future academic research addressing managerial challenges associated with Fintech and the digital transformation of financial service. Due to the explicit use-inspired nature of the work, the future research stemming from the agenda that the authors put forward here will be of benefit to decision makers and society more broadly.Originality/valueThis empirical research contributes to the discourse regarding the role of information and communication technologies in service in general, and the digital transformation on financial services in particular. The in-depth computational text-mining analysis is unbiased, replicable and provides the foundation for a use-inspired research agenda that is subsequently delineated.
Exploring knowledge dimensions for improving performance in organizations
Authors: Ibidunni Ayodotun Stephen 
Published: January 2020

Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of organizational knowledge on organizational performance.

Design/methodology/approach
A survey of 66 managerial cadre employees of firms in Nigeria’s telecommunications industry made up the population for this study. The research study is descriptive in nature and it adopted a qualitative research design. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.

Findings
The study revealed that organizational knowledge dimensions such as individual-tacit, individual-explicit, group-tacit and group-explicit knowledge are essential to achieving organizational objectives and higher levels of performance. However, it is obvious that telecommunication firms in Nigeria are still laid back in their efforts to become aware of specific knowledge management strategies, especially with the adoption of specific information technology facilities that could achieve this goal.

Originality/value
Although organizational knowledge has been argued as a vital means of enhancing organizational competitiveness, most discussions in existing literature have been limited by a technology-based perspective of organizational knowledge. As a result, human cognitive skills have largely been expunged in relation to organizational knowledge discourse. Based on a conceptualization of organizational knowledge from a perspective that combine people and technology, this research proposes four dimensions of organizational knowledge that can be linked to performance.