bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Help‐Seeking Attitudes of Chinese Americans and Chinese Immigrants in the United States: The Mediating Role of Self‐Stigma
Authors: Yee Terence , Ceballos Peggy , Lawless Alexis 
Published: January 2020

In this study, the authors examined the relationship between age, gender, self‐stigma, and help‐seeking attitudes of Chinese Americans and Chinese immigrants, hypothesizing that self‐stigma would mediate the relationship between demographic variables (age and gender) and help‐seeking attitude. Utilizing a path analysis, the authors found that self‐stigma mediated the relationship between demographic variables and help‐seeking attitude. Self‐stigma was a moderately strong predictor for help‐seeking attitude (β = –.41, p < .001). Implications are discussed.Es este estudio, los autores examinaron la relación entre edad, sexo, autoestigma y actitudes de búsqueda de ayuda en personas estadounidenses de origen chino e inmigrantes chinos, con la hipótesis de que el autoestigma mediaría la relación entre las variables demográficas (edad y sexo) y la actitud de búsqueda de ayuda. Mediante un análisis de ruta, los autores hallaron que el autoestigma medió la relación entre las variables demográficas y la actitud de búsqueda de ayuda. El autoestigma fue un indicador moderadamente fuerte de la actitud de búsqueda de ayuda (β = –.41, p < .001). Se discuten las implicaciones.
Beliefs About Psychological Services Among Guatemalan College Students
Authors: Figueroa Chantal , Zheng Yi , Adams Joshua 
Published: January 2020

This mixed‐methods study identified the help‐seeking attitudes of Guatemalan college students. A random sample of 248 students across 2 universities responded to a cultural adaptation of the Beliefs About Psychological Services (BAPS; Ægisdóttir & Gerstein, 2009) survey. The directors of both universities and a subsample of participants were also interviewed. Quantitative findings demonstrated low levels of stigma and positive help‐seeking attitudes among students. Qualitative findings indicated that psychological services were limited, financially out of reach, or failed to address students’ gender‐specific concerns. Recommendations to address these challenges are presented.Este estudio de métodos mixtos identificó las actitudes de búsqueda de ayuda de estudiantes universitarios guatemaltecos. Una muestra aleatoria de 248 estudiantes de dos universidades respondió a una adaptación cultural de la encuesta Creencias sobre Servicios Psicológicos (BAPS, por sus siglas en inglés; Ægisdóttir & Gerstein, 2009). También se entrevistó a los directores de ambas universidades y a una submuestra de participantes. Los hallazgos cuantitativos demostraron bajos niveles de estigma y actitudes de búsqueda de ayuda positivas entre los estudiantes. Los hallazgos cualitativos indicaron que los servicios psicológicos eran limitados, no eran lo bastante asequibles o no abordaban las preocupaciones relativas al sexo de los estudiantes. Se presentan recomendaciones para abordar estos desafíos.
Estimating Survival for Elusive Juvenile Pond‐Breeding Salamanders
Authors: Messerman Arianne F. , Semlitsch Raymond D. , Leal Manuel 
Published: January 2020

ABSTRACTJuvenile vital rates have important effects on population dynamics for many species, but this demographic is often difficult to locate and track. As such, we frequently lack reliable estimates of juvenile survival, which are necessary for accurately assessing population stability and potential management approaches to conserve biodiversity. We estimated survival rates for elusive juveniles of 3 species, the ringed salamander (Ambystoma annulatum), spotted salamander (A. maculatum), and small‐mouthed salamander (A. texanum), using 2 approaches. First, we conducted an 11‐month (2016–2017) mark‐recapture study within semi‐natural enclosures and used Bayesian Cormack‐Jolly‐Seber models to estimate survival and recapture probabilities. Second, we inferred the expected annual juvenile survival rate given published vital rates for pre‐metamorphic and adult ambystomatids assuming stable population growth. For all 3 species, juvenile survival probabilities were constant across recapture occasions, whereas recapture probability estimates were time‐dependent. Further, survival and recapture probabilities among study species were similar. Post‐study sampling revealed that the initial study period median estimate of annual survival probability (0.39) underestimated the number of salamanders known alive at 11 months. We therefore appended approximately 1 year of opportunistic data, which produced a median annual survival probability of 0.50, encompassing salamanders that we knew to have been alive. Calculation from literature values suggested a mean annual terrestrial juvenile ambystomatid survival probability of 0.49. Similar results among our approaches indicated that juvenile survival estimates for the study species were robust and likely comparable to rates in nature. These estimates can now be confidently applied to research, monitoring, and management efforts for the study species and ecologically similar taxa. Our findings indicated that similarly robust vital rate estimates for subsets of ecologically and phylogenetically similar species can provide reasonable surrogate demographic information that can be used to reveal key factors influencing population viability for data‐deficient species. © 2020 The Wildlife Society.
Enrichment designs using placebo nonresponders
Authors: Benda Norbert , Haenisch Britta 
Published: January 2020

AbstractEnrichment designs that select placebo nonresponders have gained much attention during the last years in areas with high placebo response rates, eg, in depression. Proposals were made that re‐randomize patients who did not respond to placebo during a first study phase as the sequential parallel design (SPD). This design uses in a second phase an enriched patient population where the treatment effect is expected to be more pronounced. This may be problematic if an effect in the overall population is claimed. Proposals were made to combine the treatment effects in the overall population from study phase 1 and the enriched population from study phase 2, alleviating but not solving the issue of a potential selection bias. This paper shows how this bias corresponding to the effect difference between the overall population and the enriched population depends on the variability of a potential subject‐by‐treatment interaction. Sample sizes are given, which lead to a significant result in the combining test with a given probability if actually the average effect in the overall population is zero. If, on the other hand, no subject‐by‐treatment interaction is given, the enrichment is shown to be inefficient. We conclude that enrichment designs using placebo nonresponders are not able to claim a positive average effect in the overall population if a subject‐by‐treatment interaction cannot be excluded. It cannot be used to demonstrate positive efficacy in the overall population in a pivotal phase III trial but may be used in early phases to demonstrate varying treatment effects between patients.
Partition of analysis and forecast error variance into growing and decaying components
Authors: Feng Jie , Toth Zoltan , Peña Malaquias , Zhang Jing 
Published: January 2020

AbstractDue to the scarcity of and errors in observations, direct measurements of errors in numerical weather prediction (NWP) analyses and forecasts with respect to nature (i.e. “true” error) are lacking. Peña and Toth (2014) introduced an inverse method called SAFE‐I where true errors are (a) theoretically assumed to follow exponential error growth, and (b) estimated from the perceived errors (i.e. forecast minus verifying analysis) that they affect. While decaying or neutral errors, by definition will not have a significant impact on longer‐range forecast errors, they can still accumulate in, and negatively influence NWP data assimilation–forecast cycles. In a new, generalized version of the inverse method (SAFE‐II), analysis and forecast error variance is decomposed into exponentially growing and decaying components, assuming they are independent as they comprise vectors from the leading and trailing ends of the Lyapunov spectrum, respectively. SAFE‐II uses the initial variance and decay rate associated with non‐growing perturbations to describe and estimate their behaviour. The assumptions behind SAFE‐II are first validated in a simulated environment. SAFE‐II is then applied to estimate the error variance in both simulated and operational analyses/forecast environments. Perceived error measurements are found to be statistically consistent (at the 95% significance level) with the SAFE‐II error behaviour model, which offers a more accurate description of error variance than SAFE‐I that neglects decaying errors. At various levels and for different variables, decaying errors are found to constitute up to 60% of the total analysis error variance, much of which decays during the first 12–18 hr of forecast integrations.
Consensus control of output‐constrained multiagent systems with unknown control directions under a directed graph
Authors: Wang Gang , Wang Chaoli , Cai Xuan 
Published: January 2020

SummaryThis paper presents a novel distributed adaptive control algorithm for uncertain higher‐order nonlinear multiagent systems subject to output constraints and unknown control directions. Regarding the latter, a generic class of cases is considered, allowing completely unknown and even nonidentical control directions. Furthermore, the communication topology is only required to contain a fixed directed spanning tree. To guarantee the output constraints and address the asymmetric directed communication topology, a new reference output using the transformation strategy is introduced for each agent, benefiting from which the consensus problem of the multiagent system is recast as local tracking control problems of single agents. Then, the distributed control algorithm is recursively established based on the backstepping technique and the Nussbaum‐type function. By leveraging the unique properties of the Laplacian matrix on directed graphs and matrix theory, it is shown that, under the proposed distributed algorithm, uniform boundedness of all closed‐loop signals can be ensured, and asymptotic consensus is achieved without violation of the output constraints. Finally, simulation studies on the angle control of single‐link robots are given to verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
Droplet and Microchamber‐Based Digital Loop‐Mediated Isothermal Amplification (dLAMP)
Authors: Yuan Hao , Chao Youchuang , Shum Ho Cheung 
Published: January 2020

AbstractDigital loop‐mediated isothermal amplification (dLAMP) refers to compartmentalizing nucleic acids and LAMP reagents into a large number of individual partitions, such as microchambers and droplets. This compartmentalization enables dLAMP to be an excellent platform to quantify the absolute number of the target nucleic acids. Owing to its low requirement for instrumentation complexity, high specificity, and strong tolerance to inhibitors in the nucleic acid samples, dLAMP has been recognized as a simple and accurate technique to quantify pathogenic nucleic acid. Herein, the general process of dLAMP techniques is summarized, the current dLAMP techniques are categorized, and a comprehensive discussion on different types of dLAMP techniques is presented. Also, the challenges of the current dLAMP are illustrated together with the possible strategies to address these challenges. In the end, the future directions of the dLAMP developments, including multitarget detection, multisample detection, and processing nucleic acid extraction are outlined. With recently significant advances in dLAMP, this technology has the potential to see more widespread use beyond the laboratory in the future.
Physical Properties of Carbon Nanomaterials and Nanoceria Affect Pathways Important to the Nodulation Competitiveness of the Symbiotic N2‐Fixing Bacterium Bradyrhizobium diazoefficiens
Authors: Mortimer Monika , Li Dong , Wang Ying , Holden Patricia A. 
Published: January 2020

AbstractThe pathogenicity and antimicrobial properties of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) are relatively well studied. However, less is known regarding the interactions of ENMs and agriculturally beneficial microorganisms that affect food security. Nanoceria (CeO2 nanoparticles (NPs)), multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs), and carbon black (CB) have been previously shown to inhibit symbiotic N2 fixation in soybeans, but direct rhizobial susceptibility is uncertain. Here, Bradyrhizobium diazoefficiens associated with symbiotic N2 fixation in soybeans is assessed, evaluating the role of soybean root exudates (RE) on ENM–bacterial interactions and the effects of CeO2 NPs, MWCNTs, GNPs, and CB on bacterial growth and gene expression. Although bacterial growth is inhibited by 50 mg L−1 CeO2 NPs, MWCNTs, and CB, all ENMs at 0.1 and 10 mg L−1 cause a global transcriptomic response that is mitigated by RE. ENMs may interfere with plant‐bacterial signaling, as evidenced by suppressed upregulation of genes induced by RE, and downregulation of genes encoding transport RNA, which facilitates nodulation signaling. MWCNTs and CeO2 NPs inhibit the expression of genes conferring B. diazoefficiens nodulation competitiveness. Surprisingly, the transcriptomic effects on B. diazoefficiens are similar for these two ENMs, indicating that physical, not chemical, ENM properties explain the observed effects.
Tweedie regression models and its geometric sums for (semi‐)continuous data
Authors: Kokonendji Célestin C. , Bonat Wagner H. , Abid Rahma 
Published: January 2020

AbstractTweedie regression models (TRMs) are flexible tools to deal with non‐negative right‐skewed data and can handle semi‐continuous data, that is, continuous data with probability mass at zero. The geometric sums of Tweedie random variables lead to the geometric Tweedie distributions. Their corresponding regression models (GTRMs) provide not only additional flexibility to deal with continuous, semi‐continuous, heavily right‐skewed data but also a possibility of under‐variation than TRMs. Estimation and inference based on the likelihood approach for TRMs and GTRMs are challenging owing to the presence of an infinity sum and an intractable integral in the probability function along with non‐trivial restrictions on the Tweedie power parameter space. Thus, methods based on quasi‐likelihood have been proposed and successfully applied for estimation and inference in these classes of regression models. In this paper, our central focus is upon characterizing as well as comparing TRMs and GTRMs taking into consideration their variation and zero‐mass indices. Besides, we attempt to illustrate their application through some data analyses. Furthermore, we discuss the challenges for the computational implementation of such probability distributions and corresponding regression models referring to some available implementations in R.This article is categorized under:
Statistical Models > Fitting Models
Statistical Models > Generalized Linear Models
Statistical and Graphical Methods of Data Analysis > Modeling Methods and Algorithms
PSK1 coordinates glucose metabolism and utilization and regulates energy‐metabolism oscillation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Authors: Xu Xianyan , Huang Meixian , Ouyang Yuhui , Iha Hidekatsu , Xu Zhaojun 
Published: January 2020

AbstractEnergy‐metabolism oscillations (EMO) are ultradian biological rhythms observed in in aerobic chemostat cultures of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. EMO regulates energy metabolism such as glucose, carbohydrate storage, O2 uptake, and CO2 production. PSK1 is a nutrient responsive protein kinase involved in regulation of glucose metabolism, sensory response to light, oxygen, and redox state. The aim of this investigation was to assess the function of PSK1 in regulation of EMO. The mRNA levels of PSK1 fluctuated in concert with EMO, and deletion of PSK1 resulted in unstable EMO with disappearance of the fluctuations and reduced amplitude, compared with the wild type. Furthermore, the mutant PSK1Δ showed downregulation of the synthesis and breakdown of glycogen with resultant decrease in glucose concentrations. The redox state represented by NADH also decreased in PSK1Δ compared with the wild type. These data suggest that PSK1 plays an important role in the regulation of energy metabolism and stabilizes ultradian biological rhythms. These results enhance our understanding of the mechanisms of biorhythms in the budding yeast.
Becoming a Good Farmer—Becoming a Good Farm Worker: On Colonial Educational Policies in Germany and German South-West Africa, Circa 1890 to 1918
Authors: Zollmann Jakob 
Published: January 2020

AbstractThis chapter analyzes the training provided to Germans who were eager to become farmers in German South-West Africa (GSWA) and considers related debates on the uses of colonial knowledge and tropical agriculture for the profit of the colony. The chapter considers (1) how colonial enthusiasts and administrators viewed the need for an improved tropical agricultural education given the setbacks encountered in GSWA; (2) how knowledge related to tropical agriculture was institutionalized and administered; (3) how, in Germany, two schools for tropical agriculture were set up; and (4) how the debate about an “education to work” for the African workforce in GSWA resulted in the willful exclusion of this group from the most elementary forms of education.
Engineering Socialism: The Faculty of Engineering at the University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) in the 1970s and 1980s
Authors: Burton Eric 
Published: January 2020

Abstract
Higher education was a central concern of postcolonial governments as they set out to produce national academic elites. In socialist Tanzania, the elitism inherent to systems of higher education was challenged by policies aiming to create an egalitarian society. This chapter analyzes the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Dar es Salaam as an “arena” of competing interests in which actors of different generational, national, ideological, and class backgrounds struggled over the meaning of the engineering profession, which has traditionally been at the heart of modernization projects, and the allocation of resources. It discusses how the faculty was established and run with foreign (particularly West German) aid and personnel, what critiques were brought forward against this orientation, and how the economic crisis and engineers’ peculiar position eventually provided a pretext for the commercialization of the faculty—a process that signaled the gradual demise of Tanzanian socialism in the late 1970s and 1980s.
Quasistatischer Normalstoß axialsymmetrischer Körper
Authors: Willert Emanuel 
Published: January 2020

ZusammenfassungBasierend auf den geschilderten kontaktmechanischen Grundlagen (teilweise in deren Interpretation durch die MDR) sind in diesem Kapitel die Lösungen des Normalstoßproblems in unterschiedlichen Fällen dargestellt. Betrachtet werden homogene und inhomogene elastische Medien mit und ohne Adhäsion sowie elasto-plastische und viskoelastische Materialien.
The Evolution of Rice Farming in the Lower Mekong Basin
Authors: Cramb Rob 
Published: January 2020

AbstractIn the 1970s, small-scale, labour-intensive, low-yield, semi-subsistence rice farming predominated in the Lower Mekong Basin. Rural poverty and the threat of famine were rife. In the 40 years since, rice farming in the Basin has undergone a dramatic transformation. This can be characterised as “commercialisation”, meaning the opening up of semi-subsistence rice farming to domestic and international input and output markets and the corresponding adaptation of farmers to the associated opportunities and risks. This book is about understanding the processes involved in this transformation and the commercial opportunities and challenges of rice-based farming systems in the Lower Mekong in the 2010s, with a view to outlining prospects for the 2020s. The motivation for the research was to: (a) compare the current situation and trajectories of rice farmers within and between different regions of the Lower Mekong, (b) explore the value chains linking rice farmers with input and output markets within and across national borders, and (c) understand the changing role of government policies in facilitating the on-going evolution of commercial rice farming. This chapter sets the scene for the country studies that follow.
Trends in Rice-Based Farming Systems in the Mekong Delta
Authors: Van Kien Nguyen , Hoang Han Nguyen , Cramb Rob 
Published: January 2020

AbstractRice-based farming systems in the Mekong Delta have been transformed over the last four decades. Needing to boost rice production after 1975, the government increased investment in water control and irrigation and promoted intensification of rice farming through green revolution technology, leading to widespread adoption of double- and triple-cropping systems. As a result, the area of rice increased from 2.0 million ha in the late 1970s to 4.3 million ha in 2016. The yield of the wet-season crop increased from 2 t/ha in 1975 to 5.3 t/ha in 2016. Total paddy production increased from 4 million t in 1975 to 24.2 million t in 2016, the increase attributable equally to the increase in area and the increase in yields. From being a net importer of rice in the 1970s and 1980s, Vietnam exported 4.5 million t worth USD 2 billion in 2016, 90% of which was produced in the Delta. However, the focus on rice intensification has shifted since 2000 as the impacts on farmer livelihoods and the environment have become apparent. Locking farmers into producing low-quality rice for export has not provided adequate returns, especially as demand has shifted in favour of higher-quality rice and more diverse diets. Intensive use of fertilisers and pesticides has led to soil and water pollution and reduction in wild food supply. Moreover, the “total management” of hydrology in the Delta has had major impacts on water flows, sedimentation processes, aquatic species, and land-use options. In response, the government has progressively relaxed its restrictions on the use of paddy lands and rice-based farming systems have become more diversified, with the increased use of paddy lands for non-rice field crops, orchards, and freshwater and brackish-water aquaculture. The current policy promotes high-quality rice, reduced rice area, further diversification of farming systems, and promotion of agro-ecological and organic agriculture.
The Supply of Inputs to Rice Farmers in Savannakhet
Authors: Kousonsavath Chitpasong , Sacklokham Silinthone 
Published: January 2020

AbstractThe policy of rice intensification in Laos is dependent on an adequate supply of key inputs such as high-yielding seeds, good-quality fertilizers, reliable irrigation, affordable finance, and appropriate information. This study focused on two crucial inputs—seeds and fertilizers. Six villages in Champhone District, Savannakhet Province, were selected for the study. Farmers had mostly adopted the seed-fertilizer technology. Mechanization of land preparation through the use of hand tractors was also widespread. Many also used irrigation to cultivate a dry-season crop. However, the productivity and profitability of rice farming remained low. Constraints to the supply of seeds and fertilizers explain part of this dilemma. There is scope for policy intervention to improve the supply and use of productive inputs for more intensive rice production. Further investment in the rice breeding and seed production centres may be needed to develop suitable varieties for the range of rice environments encountered by farmers and to improve the quality of seeds supplied. Intervening to control or subsidize the price of fertilizer is unlikely to be effective. The government could, however, simplify the import process, helping reduce farmers’ costs; increase the capacity to monitor and enforce fertilizer quality standards; and provide more site- and variety-specific information to farmers regarding optimal fertilizer use.