bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Distinct shifts in bacterioplankton community composition and functional gene structure between macrophyte‐ and phytoplankton‐dominated regimes in a large shallow lake
Authors: Wang Yujing , Cao Xinyi , Zeng Jin , Li Huabing , Zhao Dayong , Wu Qinglong L. 
Published: November 2019

AbstractShallow lakes often exhibit a macrophyte‐dominated (MD) clear state or a phytoplankton‐dominated (PD) turbid state, each of which has profound impacts on biological communities, including bacterioplankton community composition (BCC). However, the response of microbial functional gene structure (FGS) to regime shift has not been thoroughly elucidated to date. In this study, we used a functional gene array (GeoChip 5.0) in combination with high‐throughput sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene to investigate the FGS and BCC between the two regimes in Lake Taihu, a large shallow freshwater lake in China. A simultaneous change in the BCC and FGS was observed between the two different regimes. We observed higher numbers of bacterial operational taxonomic units and functional genes detected by the GeoChip 5.0 in the MD samples than in the PD samples. By performing network analyses, we observed stronger microbe‐microbe interactions but weaker functional gene interactions involved in nutrient metabolism in the MD community than in the PD community. We speculate that at higher concentrations of phosphorus, the domination of Microcystis bloom may weaken the interactions among microbial species by releasing more labile dissolved organic carbon, but enhance the selection and interactions of functional genes involved in carbon cycling in the PD community. In contrast, the lower levels of phosphorus may enhance microbe‐microbe interactions but weaken the interactions between the primary nutrients and particular genes. Overall, this study demonstrated contrasting patterns in the BCC and FGS between the MD and PD communities in a large shallow freshwater lake.
Insights into protist diversity and biogeography in intertidal sediments sampled across a range of spatial scales
Authors: Pan Yongbo , Yang Jun , McManus George B , Lin Senjie , Zhang Wenjing 
Published: November 2019

AbstractThe relative importance of different ecological processes that shape community structure is a central but poorly understood topic in protist ecology. This study used an 18S rRNA gene sequencing approach to examine the relative contributions of environmental selective (environmental filtering) and neutral processes (dispersal and ecological drift) in the community assembly of three diverse protist groups (Bacillariophyta, Cercozoa, and Ciliophora) from intertidal sediment samples spanning a geographical distance up to 12,000 km. All three protist communities exhibited similar and distinct biogeographical patterns, and followed strong distance–decay relationships at continental scale (ca. 12,000 km), regional scale (ca. 1500 km), and local scale (ca. 50 km). Network analysis showed that temperature, salinity, nitrite and nitrate nitrogen, total nitrogen, and 0.1–0.25 mm grain size together associated with 60.8%, 55.5%, and 50.0% of the OTUs, which represented 68.1%, 58.5%, and 59.2% of sequence abundances for Bacillariophyta, Cercozoa, and Ciliophora co‐occurrence networks, respectively, indicating that these environmental variables played the central roles in influencing community composition. On the other hand, a neutral community model explained 73.6%, 64.2%, and 70.2% of community variation for Bacillariophyta, Cercozoa, and Ciliophora, respectively. More importantly, variation partitioning and partial Mantel tests showed that environmental selection exhibited a slightly greater influence on Ciliophora compared to spatial factors, but both components were roughly equivalent in Bacillariophyta and Cercozoa communities. Taken together, these results demonstrate that both environmental selection and neutral processes play important roles in creating the biogeographical patterns of protist communities in intertidal sandy beach ecosystems.
Inhibition of mild steel corrosion in CO2 and H2S‐saturated acidic media by a new polyurea‐based material
Authors: Abdulazeez Ismail , Al‐Hamouz Othman Charles S. , Khaled Mazen , Al‐Saadi Abdulaziz A. 
Published: November 2019

AbstractOil well acidizing is a common practice used to boost oil well productivity in the industry. This practice, however, exposes the mild steel components of the wells to extremely harsh corrosive environments. Under such conditions, highly efficient inhibitors are used to minimize corrosion attack. In the present study, corrosion inhibition of mild steel in simulated acidic medium saturated with CO2 and H2S gases by a newly synthesized polyurea‐based material (PUCorr‐1) was investigated. Electrochemical studies supported with quantum chemical density‐functional theory calculations and surface characterization revealed that PUCorr‐1 adsorbs onto mild steel through a chemisorption mechanism yielding a stable protective film. The polyurea exhibited an excellent efficiency of 99.9% at a temperature of 50°C and a low concentration of 100 ppm, yielding a corrosion current density of 0.3 µA/cm2. In the presence of CO2 and H2S gases, PuCorr‐1 exhibited a remarkable performance (>93% efficiency) making it a potential corrosion inhibitor in industrial processes that involve the use of acid solutions in the presence of CO2 and H2S gases.
Asymptotics of determinants of 4‐th order operators at zero
Authors: Badanin Andrey , Korotyaev Evgeny L. 
Published: November 2019

AbstractWe consider fourth order ordinary differential operators on the half‐line and on the line, where the perturbation has compactly supported coefficients. The Fredholm determinant for this operator is an analytic function in the whole complex plane without zero. We describe the determinant at zero. We show that in the generic case it has a pole of order 4 in the case of the line and of order 1 in the case of the half‐line.
Reliable and efficient scale to assess upper motor neuron disease burden in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Authors: Quinn Colin , Edmundson Christyn , Dahodwala Nabila , Elman Lauren 
Published: November 2019

AbstractBackgroundValidation of biomarkers of upper motor neuron (UMN) impairment in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) requires a reliable clinical assessment of UMN findings. The Penn Upper Motor Neuron Score© (PUMNS) is a standardized measure of UMN signs in ALS. Our aims were to evaluate its intra‐ and inter‐rater reliability, and to examine inter‐item reliability as a proxy for item relatedness and scale efficiency.MethodsStudy procedures were performed during routine clinic visits. We calculated intra and inter‐rater reliability using Pearson's correlation coefficient and inter‐item reliability using Cronbach's alpha.ResultsPUMNS had high intra and inter‐rater reliability. Total and sub‐score correlation coefficients were all ≥0.96. The inter‐item reliability indicated appropriate item relatedness with reasonable efficiency and sub‐score correlation coefficients between 0.68 and 0.85.ConclusionsPUMNS is a reliable measure of UMN signs in ALS and would be a useful tool in validating imaging and laboratory biomarkers of UMN injury in ALS.
Asymptomatic carriers in transmission dynamics of dengue with control interventions
Authors: Jan Rashid , Khan Muhammad Altaf , Gómez‐Aguilar J.F. 
Published: November 2019

SummaryIn this paper, we introduce a dengue disease transmission model with symptomatic and asymptomatic infectious classes. We obtain the threshold dynamics governed by the basic reproduction number of the system. We obtain sensitivity analysis of threshold dynamics to recognize the dominant factors that seriously affect the dengue infection. It has been shown that the biting rate and the rate of asymptomatic cases are more sensitive to the basic reproduction number, and predicts that control of mosquito size plays an essential role in reducing equilibrium level of dengue infection. Hence, the use of mosquito nets and control of population size of mosquitoes are highly suggested to the public. We use optimal control theory to help the public health personnel and biologists to adopt better understanding of the modeling strategies to control dengue fever. We apply preventive control, treatment, and insecticide spray to reach the desire objectives; moreover, the existence of the proposed optimal control problem is established analytically and achieves necessary conditions for optimal controls. The simulations obtained suggested that control measures such as mosquito eradication and preventive strategies effectively eradicate and control dengue infections during the epidemic.
Temperature Accelerated Life Test and Failure Analysis on Upright Metamorphic Ga0.37In0.63P/Ga0.83In0.17As/Ge Triple Junction Solar Cells
Authors: Orlando Vincenzo , Lombardero Iván , Gabás Mercedes , Nuñez Neftali , Vázquez Manuel , Espinet‐González Pilar , Bautista Jesús , Romero Rocio , Algora Carlos 
Published: November 2019

AbstractA temperature accelerated life test on Upright Metamorphic Ga0.37In0.63P/Ga0.83In0.17As/Ge triple‐junction solar cells has been carried out. The acceleration has been accomplished by subjecting the solar cells to temperatures (125, 145 and 165°C) significantly higher than the nominal working temperature inside a concentrator (90°C), while the nominal photo‐current (500×) has been emulated by injecting current in darkness. The failure distributions have been fitted to an Arrhenius–Weibull model resulting in an activation energy of 1.39 eV. Accordingly, a 72 years warranty time for those solar cells for a place like Tucson (AZ, USA), was determined. After the ALT, an intense characterization campaign has been carried out in order to determine the failure origin. We have detected that temperature soak alone is enough to degrade the cell performance by increasing the leakage currents, the series resistance, and the recombination currents. When solar cells were also forward biased an increase of series resistance together with a reduction of short circuit current is detected. The failure analysis shows that: a) several metallization sub‐products concentrate in several regions of front metal grid where they poison the silver, resulting in a two times reduction of the metal sheet resistance; b) the metal/cap layer interface is greatly degraded and there is also a deterioration of the cap layer crystalline quality producing a huge increase of the specific front contact resistance, c) the decrease of short circuit current is mainly due to the GaInP top subcell degradation.
Top‐down approach to attach liquid polyethylene glycol to solid surfaces by plasma interaction
Authors: Gaiser Sandra , Schütz Urs , Hegemann Dirk 
Published: November 2019

AbstractA novel top‐down approach is presented to produce stable functional films from low vapor pressure liquids via plasma processing. Low‐pressure plasma activation and deposition are examined to cross‐link liquid polyethylene glycol (PEG‐400) surfaces. After stabilizing the thus‐obtained films on the liquid with a silicone backing layer, water contact angle measurements, Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy imaging were used for characterization. The results show that PEG molecules are covalently bonded to the solid films providing high hydrophilicity.
Novel sampling strategies and a coarse‐grained score function for docking homomers, flexible heteromers, and oligosaccharides using Rosetta in CAPRI rounds 37–45
Authors: Roy Burman Shourya S. , Nance Morgan L. , Jeliazkov Jeliazko R. , Labonte Jason W. , Lubin Joseph H. , Biswas Naireeta , Gray Jeffrey J. 
Published: November 2019

AbstractCritical Assessment of PRediction of Interactions (CAPRI) rounds 37 through 45 introduced larger complexes, new macromolecules, and multistage assemblies. For these rounds, we used and expanded docking methods in Rosetta to model 23 target complexes. We successfully predicted 14 target complexes and recognized and refined near‐native models generated by other groups for two further targets. Notably, for targets T110 and T136, we achieved the closest prediction of any CAPRI participant. We created several innovative approaches during these rounds. Since round 39 (target 122), we have used the new RosettaDock 4.0, which has a revamped coarse‐grained energy function and the ability to perform conformer selection during docking with hundreds of pregenerated protein backbones. Ten of the complexes had some degree of symmetry in their interactions, so we tested Rosetta SymDock, realized its shortcomings, and developed the next‐generation symmetric docking protocol, SymDock2, which includes docking of multiple backbones and induced‐fit refinement. Since the last CAPRI assessment, we also developed methods for modeling and designing carbohydrates in Rosetta, and we used them to successfully model oligosaccharide‐protein complexes in round 41. Although the results were broadly encouraging, they also highlighted the pressing need to invest in (a) flexible docking algorithms with the ability to model loop and linker motions and in (b) new sampling and scoring methods for oligosaccharide‐protein interactions.
Designing new donor materials based on functionalized DCCnT with different electron‐donating groups: A density functional theory (DFT) and time dependent density functional theory (TDDFT)‐based study
Authors: Xu Xiaoping , Zheng Shaohui 
Published: November 2019

AbstractFinding a promising donor/acceptor material of organic solar cells is one of the most important ways to improve their power conversion efficiency. Extensive studies have focused on designing and synthesizing new and suitable materials. Small organic molecule materials, different from polymers, have many merits, such as easy synthesis and modification, less by‐products, and crystallinity. In the present work, we theoretically design a series of new donor materials based on 1‐(1,1‐dicyanomethylene)‐cyclohex‐2‐ene‐substituted oligothiophenes, that is, DCCnT (n = 1‐4) series. Furthermore, we model and predict photoelectric properties of functionalized DCCnT with different electron‐donating groups (─CH3/─CHCH2/─OCH3/─NH2/─OH). The calculated results, based on density functional theory and time‐dependent functional theory, show that DCCnT‐X (X = OH, NH2, and OCH3) series show odd‐even effect of dipole moments when n varies from 1 to 4, whereas DCCnT‐CH3 and DCCnT‐CHCH2 do not. Finally, we find that DCC3T‐X (X = OH, OCH3, and NH2) may be better candidates of donor materials because of their larger dipole moments, stronger electron donating ability, and smaller exciton binding energy with respect to prototype DCCnT molecules.
Quantum information entropies of multiple quantum well systems in fractional Schrödinger equations
Authors: Solaimani M. , Dong Shi‐Hai 
Published: November 2019

AbstractIn this work, we study the position and momentum information entropies of multiple quantum well systems in fractional Schrödinger equations, which, to the best of our knowledge, have not so far been studied. Through a confining potential, their shape and number of wells (NOW) can be controlled by using a few tuning parameters; we present some interesting quantum effects that only appear in the fractional Schrödinger equation systems. One of the parameters denoted by the Ld can affect the position and momentum probability densities if the system is fractional (1 < α < 2). We find that the position (momentum) probability density tends to be more severely localized (delocalized) in more fractional systems (ie, in smaller values of α). Affecting the Ld on the position and momentum probability densities is a quantum effect that only appears in the fractional Schrödinger equations. Finally, we show that the Beckner Bialynicki‐Birula‐Mycieslki (BBM) inequality in the fractional Schrödinger equation is still satisfied by changing the confining potential amplitude Vconf, the NOW, the fractional parameter α, and the confining potential parameter Ld.
Tracking Stocking Success in a Long‐Lived Species through Genetics and Demographics: Evidence of Natural Reproduction in Lake Sturgeon after Twenty‐Two Years
Authors: Welsh Amy B. , Carlson Douglas M. , Schlueter Scott L. , Jackson James R. 
Published: November 2019

AbstractLake Sturgeon Acipenser fulvescens populations throughout the Great Lakes have experienced declines. Therefore, Lake Sturgeon have been stocked at several locations, including the Oswegatchie River in New York State, where Lake Sturgeon are listed as threatened. The goal of New York's Lake Sturgeon stocking program has been the establishment of self‐sustaining populations in six out of the seven management units in order to meet delisting criteria. Due to Lake Sturgeon's long lifespan and late sexual maturity, there is a significant delay before it can be determined whether natural reproduction is occurring at the reintroduction site. Our objective was to determine whether recently captured Lake Sturgeon from the Oswegatchie River were of hatchery origin and whether natural reproduction was occurring in the river. Age data and genetic data from 12 microsatellite loci were collected from 38 individuals from the Oswegatchie River. The genetic data were used to reconstruct families by using COLONY and STRUCTURE statistical analysis programs. The genetic diversity of the Oswegatchie River population was also compared with other natural and introduced Lake Sturgeon populations in the region. The combination of family reconstruction and age data indicated that natural reproduction is occurring in the Oswegatchie River. Individuals that were presumed to be recruited had ages ranging from 6 to 12 years. It is often thought female Lake Sturgeon typically do not reach sexual maturity until about 20 years of age. Only 12–15 years had elapsed since the earliest times of stocking, suggesting the possibility that remnant native females remained in the system or stocked female Lake Sturgeon have reached early sexual maturity. The genetic diversity of the Lake Sturgeon population in the Oswegatchie River is comparable to that of other nearby natural populations. However, the effective population size (Ne) was lower than that of many natural populations. As natural reproduction continues in the Oswegatchie River, Ne will likely increase.
Using morphological measurements to predict subspecies of Midcontinent sandhill cranes
Authors: VonBank Jay A. , Brandt David A. , Pearse Aaron T. , Wester David B. , Ballard Bart M. 
Published: November 2019

ABSTRACTThe Midcontinent population of sandhill cranes (Antigone canadensis) has historically been classified into 3 putative subspecies, but genetic analyses have identified only 2 genetically distinct subspecies. Previous studies have successfully used morphometrics in combination with an individual's sex to differentiate subspecies of sandhill cranes that had been inferred based on breeding area, but no study has used a sample of genetically determined subspecies to discriminate and develop predictive models. Using measurements from 843 adult sandhill cranes captured throughout their range and annual cycle (in 4 States and 1 Canadian province during 1998–2007), we used linear discriminant analysis to classify genetically identified A. c. canadensis (lesser) and A. c. tabida (greater) sandhill crane subspecies, and developed a field‐ready tool to predict subspecies using common morphometric measurements without determination of an individual's sex. Our top‐ranked model was 89.5% accurate overall, and used flattened wing chord, total culmen, and tarsometatarsus lengths to correctly identify 93.1% of A. c. canadensis and 82.8% of A. c. tabida subspecies. Additionally, we identified measurement thresholds based on posterior probabilities of correct classification to aid in subspecies determination when the linear discriminant procedure provided equivocal results. We also investigated whether sex determination could increase accuracy of our top‐ranked model, and found that accuracy increased <1% when including this information. We suggest collection of the morphometric measurements used in our top‐ranked model to determine subspecies of adult Midcontinent sandhill cranes. Our method does not require determining sex of the individual to correctly classify subspecies, allows for accurate and rapid subspecies determination, and can largely avoid additional costs and time associated with genetic analyses to determine subspecies. © 2019 The Wildlife Society.
A Century of Forest Regrowth and Snow Loss Alters the Cooling Effect of Historical Land Use in the Upper Midwest
Authors: Blakely Bethany J. , Rocha Adrian V. , McLachalan Jason S. 
Published: November 2019

AbstractAnthropogenic land use affects climate by altering the energy balance of the Earth’s surface. In temperate regions, cooling from increased albedo is a common result of historical land-use change. However, this albedo cooling effect is dependent mainly on the exposure of snow cover following forest canopy removal and may change over time due to simultaneous changes in both land cover and snow cover. In this paper, we combine modern remote sensing data and historical records, incorporating over 100 years of realized land use and climatic change into an empirical assessment of centennial-scale surface forcings in the Upper Midwestern USA. We show that, although increases in surface albedo cooled through strong negative shortwave forcings, those forcings were reduced over time by a combination of forest regrowth and snow-cover loss. Deforestation cooled strongly (− 5.3 Wm−2) and mainly in winter, while composition shift cooled less strongly (− 3.03 Wm−2) and mainly in summer. Combined, changes in albedo due to deforestation, shifts in species composition, and the return of historical forest cover resulted in − 2.81 Wm−2of regional radiative cooling, 55% less than full deforestation. Forcings due to changing vegetation were further reduced by 0.32 Wm−2of warming from a shortened snow-covered season and a thinning of seasonal snowpack. Our findings suggest that accounting for long-term changes in land cover and snow cover reduces the estimated cooling impact of deforestation, with implications for long-term land-use planning.