bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Accuracy of the pneumatic method for estimating xylem vulnerability to embolism in temperate diffuse-porous tree species
Authors: Paligi Sharath S. , Link Roman M. , Isasa Emilie , Bittencourt Paulo , Cabral Juliano Sarmento , Jansen Steven , Oliveira Rafael S. , Pereira Luciano , Schuldt Bernhard 
Published: February 2021

SummaryThe increasing frequency of global change-type droughts has created a need for fast, accurate and widely applicable techniques for estimating xylem embolism resistance to improve forecasts of future forest changes.We used data from 12 diffuse-porous temperate tree species covering a wide range of xylem safety to compare the pneumatic and flow-centrifuge method for constructing xylem vulnerability curves. We evaluated the agreement between parameters estimated with both methods and the sensitivity of pneumatic measurements to the measurement duration.The agreement between xylem water potentials at 50% air discharged (PAD) estimated with the Pneumatron and 50% loss of hydraulic conductivity (PLC) estimated with the flow-centrifuge method was high (mean signed deviation: 0.12 MPa, Pearson correlation: 0.96 after 15 sec of gas extraction). However, the relation between the estimated slopes was more variable, resulting in lower agreement in xylem water potential at 12% and 88% PAD/PLC. All parameters were sensitive to the duration of the pneumatic measurement, with highest overall agreement between methods after 16 sec.We conclude that, if applied correctly, the pneumatic method enables fast and inexpensive estimations of embolism resistance for a wide range of temperate, diffuse-porous species, which makes it attractive for predicting plant performance under climate change.
Microstructural determinants of lens stiffness in rat versus guinea pig lenses
Authors: Parreno Justin , Abera Kalekidan , Aryal Sandeep , Forbes Karen E. , Fowler Velia M. 
Published: February 2021

ABSTRACTProper ocular lens function requires lens biomechanical flexibility which is lost in presbyopia during aging. As increasing lens size has been shown previously to correlate with lens biomechanical stiffness in aging, we tested the hypothesis that whole lens size determines gross biomechanical stiffness. We used an allometric approach to evaluate this hypothesis by comparing lenses from three rodent species (mouse, rats and guinea pigs) of varying size. While rat lenses are larger and stiffer than mouse lenses, guinea pig lenses are even larger than rat lenses but are softer than the rat lens. This indicates that lens size is not a sole determinant of lens stiffness and disproves our hypothesis. Therefore, we investigated the scaling of lens microstructural features that could potentially explain the differences in biomechanical stiffness between rat and guinea pig lenses, including lens capsule thickness, epithelial cell area, fiber cell widths, suture organization, and nuclear size. Capsule thickness, epithelial cell area, and fiber cell widths scaled with lens size (i.e., greater in guinea pig lenses than rats), indicating that sizes of these features do not correlate with the stiffness of rat lenses, while suture organization was similar between rats and guinea pigs. However, we found that the hard rat lens nucleus occupies a greater fraction of the lens than the guinea pig lens nucleus, suggesting a role for nuclear size in determining whole lens stiffness. Therefore, while many features contribute to lens biomechanical properties, the size of the lens nucleus with respect to the size of the lens could be a major determinant of lens stiffness in rats versus guinea pigs.
Early assessment of epidemiological trends associated with SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern in Germany
Authors: Mitze Timo , Rode Johannes 
Published: February 2021

ABSTRACTGrowing evidence on higher transmissibility of novel variants of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is raising alarm in many countries. We provide near-time estimates of the statistical association between reported cases of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOC) and epidemiological indicators at the local area level in Germany. Our findings indicate that the 7-day incidence rates in regions with confirmed VOC cases increased by up to 35%, on average, after VOC reporting compared to regions without confirmed cases by February 4. The hospitalization rate for COVID-19 patients in intensive care increased by up to 40%, but only for regions with most reported VOC cases. Both indicators further show a clear upward trend in regions with reported VOC cases vis-à-vis those without cases.
A novel design of optimal intelligent fuzzy TID controller employing GA for nonlinear level control problem subject to actuator and system component fault
Authors: Patel Himanshukumar R. , Raval Sejal K. , Shah Vipul A. 
Published: February 2021

PurposeThe purpose of this article is about the design of controllers for conical two-tank noninteracting level (CTTNL) system in simulation. Local linearization around the equilibrium point has been done for the nonlinear CTTNL system to obtain a linearized model transfer function.Design/methodology/approachThis article deals with the design of novel optimal fractional-order tilt-integral-derivative (TID) controller using type-1 fuzzy set for the CTTNL prototype system. In this study, type-1 fuzzy TID controller parameters have been optimized through genetic algorithm (GA) and those set of values have been employed for the design of proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller.FindingsA performance comparison between FTID and PID controller is then investigated. The analysis shows the superiority of FTID controller over PID controller in terms of integral absolute error (IAE), integral square error (ISE), integral of time multiplied absolute error (ITAE) and integral of time multiplied squared error (ITSE) integral errors. The transient and steady state performance of the FTID controller are superior as compared to conventional PID controller. In future, the FTID controller fault-tolerance capability tested on CTTNL system subject to actuator and system component (leak) faults. The detailed study of robustness in presence of model uncertainties will be incorporated as a scope of further research.Originality/valueA performance comparison between FTID and PID controller is then investigated. The analysis shows the superiority of FTID controller over PID controller in terms of IAE, ISE, ITAE and ITSE integral errors. Additionally, fault-tolerant performance of the proposed controller evaluated with fault-recovery time (Frt) parameter. The transient and steady state performance of the FTID controller are superior as compared to conventional PID controller.
A critical comparison analysis between human and machine-generated tags for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection
Authors: Villaespesa Elena , Crider Seth 
Published: February 2021

PurposeBased on the highlights of The Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection, the purpose of this paper is to examine the similarities and differences between the subject keywords tags assigned by the museum and those produced by three computer vision systems.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses computer vision tools to generate the data and the Getty Research Institute's Art and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) to compare the subject keyword tags.FindingsThis paper finds that there are clear opportunities to use computer vision technologies to automatically generate tags that expand the terms used by the museum. This brings a new perspective to the collection that is different from the traditional art historical one. However, the study also surfaces challenges about the accuracy and lack of context within the computer vision results.Practical implicationsThis finding has important implications on how these machine-generated tags complement the current taxonomies and vocabularies inputted in the collection database. In consequence, the museum needs to consider the selection process for choosing which computer vision system to apply to their collection. Furthermore, they also need to think critically about the kind of tags they wish to use, such as colors, materials or objects.Originality/valueThe study results add to the rapidly evolving field of computer vision within the art information context and provide recommendations of aspects to consider before selecting and implementing these technologies.
Predicting total sales volume interval of an experiential product with short life cycle before production: similarity comparison in attribute relationship patterns
Authors: Tang Zhongjun , Wang Tingting , Cui Junfu , Han Zhongya , He Bo 
Published: February 2021

PurposeBecause of short life cycle and fluctuating greatly in total sales volumes (TSV), it is difficult to accumulate enough sales data and mine an attribute set reflecting the common needs of all consumers for a kind of experiential product with short life cycle (EPSLC). Methods for predicting TSV of long-life-cycle products may not be suitable for EPSLC. Furthermore, point prediction cannot obtain satisfactory prediction results because information available before production is inadequate. Thus, this paper aims at proposing and verifying a novel interval prediction method (IPM).Design/methodology/approachBecause interval prediction may satisfy requirements of preproduction investment decision-making, interval prediction was adopted, and then the prediction difficult was converted into a classification problem. The classification was designed by comparing similarities in attribute relationship patterns between a new EPSLC and existing product groups. The product introduction may be written or obtained before production and thus was designed as primary source information. IPM was verified by using data of crime movies released in China from 2013 to 2017.FindingsThe IPM is valid, which uses product introduction as input, classifies existing products into three groups with different TSV intervals, mines attribute relationship patterns using content and association analyses and compares similarities in attribute relationship patterns – to predict TSV interval of a new EPSLC before production.Originality/valueDifferent from other studies, the IPM uses product introduction to mine attribute relationship patterns and compares similarities in attribute relationship patterns to predict the interval values. It has a strong applicability in data content and structure and may realize rolling prediction.
Automobile industry managers' views on their roles in environmental sustainability: a qualitative study
Authors: Sathasivam Kavitha , Che Hashim Rosmawani , Abu Bakar Raida 
Published: February 2021

PurposeThis paper focusses on the roles and experiences of the human resource managers and safety, health and environment managers in promoting environmental sustainability in automobile industry.Design/methodology/approachThe exploration uses the data generated from ten in-depth interviews with human resource managers as well as safety, health and environment (SHE) managers from three automobile companies.FindingsThree main themes were derived from the inductive analysis in support of environmental sustainability. They comprised environment-oriented perspectives, green human resource management (HRM) practices and supportive mechanisms. These findings served as insights for the HR managers who played a supportive role in environment sustainability. This study also found that Green HRM practices within the automobile industry were confined to green training and development, green rewards, green employee involvement and green orientation.Research limitations/implicationsThe outcome of this study carries implications for managers and businesses in designing a more sophisticated framework for Green HRM practices for their companies so as to achieve a more progressive sustainable goal. For instance, HR managers who are environment-oriented can play a more active role in environmental sustainability. They can participate directly in developing policies by co-partnering with their SHE colleagues. They can encourage and motivate their employees to apply green practices both at work and in their homes. This integration would eventually create a cascading effect that could reduce the industry's negative impact on environment, thereby developing a more environmentally-friendly society.Practical implicationsThis study provided practical implications for both the HR and SHE managers in taking up responsibilities in environmental sustainability. This study also indicated the practical implications for the top management in the automobile industry, especially in the designing of the environmental sustainability framework.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the Green HRM area by understanding and comparing the roles of the HR managers and their counterpart, the SHE managers, in support of environmental sustainability. The comparison would provide a clearer picture on how the implementation of Green HRM can be implemented within the automobile industry.
Capitals and decisions about sustainability in a Brazilian ecocide organization: a narrative analysis based on Bourdieusian sociology
Authors: Lima Zanoni Beatriz , Borim-de-Souza Rafael , Ford Travis Eric , Jan-Chiba Jacques Haruo Fukushigue 
Published: February 2021

Purpose
The aim of this study is to analyze the capitals moved in decisions about sustainability in narratives from and referring to Samarco Minerações, S.A. under a perspective guided by Bourdieusian sociology.

Design/methodology/approach
Oriented by historicist ontology and historical epistemology, this research is classified as qualitative, descriptive and documentary, with narrative analysis and case study. The selected organization-case was Samarco Minerações, S.A. The documentary sources considered were sustainability reports, social networks channels and news published in Brazilian newspapers of high circulation. The collected information was submitted to the narrative analysis method.

Findings
Samarco Minerações, S.A. maintained the sustainability posture before and after the ore tailings dam rupture. The decision models adopted (decentralized) and the moved capitals (economic and technological) after the ecocide revealed a change in the organizational practices in front of a new instability scenario, and the organization’s attempt to reach acknowledgment, legitimacy and power.

Social implications
The organization was selected because of its involvement in an ecocide. The crime generated economic (suspension of tax collection caused by the organizational inactivity), social (unemployment and deaths) and environmental (iron ore tailings contaminated the region’s ecosystem) impacts.

Originality/value
The greatest value and contribution this paper offers is an alternative intermediary methodological approach using Bourdieusian micro-sociology to analyze narratives based on capitals dynamics and doxa. This theoretical and methodological approach can prove fruitful for further research in sustainability studies on other topics, and even in other fields.
Novel genotyping approaches to easily detect genomic admixture between the major Afrotropical malaria vector species, Anopheles coluzzii and An. gambiae
Authors: Caputo Beniamino , Pichler Verena , Bottà Giordano , De Marco Carlo , Hubbart Christina , Perugini Eleonora , Pinto Joao , Rockett Kirk A. , Miles Alistair , della Torre Alessandra 
Published: February 2021

AbstractThe two most efficient and most recently radiated Afrotropical vectors of human malaria – Anopheles coluzzii and An. gambiae – are identified by single‐locus diagnostic PCR assays based on species‐specific markers in a 4 Mb region on chromosome‐X centromere. Inherently, these diagnostic assays cannot detect interspecific autosomal admixture shown to be extensive at the westernmost and easternmost extremes of the species range. The main aim of this study was to develop novel, easy‐to‐implement tools for genotyping An. coluzzii and An. gambiae‐specific ancestral informative markers (AIMs) identified from the Anopheles gambiae 1000 genomes (Ag1000G) project. First, we took advantage of this large set of data in order to develop a multilocus approach to genotype 26 AIMs on all chromosome arms valid across the species range. Second, we tested the multilocus assay on samples from Guinea Bissau, The Gambia and Senegal, three countries spanning the westernmost hybridization zone, where conventional species diagnostic is problematic due to the putative presence of a novel “hybrid form”. The multilocus assay was able to capture patterns of admixture reflecting those revealed by the whole set of AIMs and provided new original data on interspecific admixture in the region. Third, we developed an easy‐to‐use, cost‐effective PCR approach for genotyping two AIMs on chromosome‐3 among those included in the multilocus approach, opening the possibility for advanced identification of species and of admixed specimens during routine large scale entomological surveys, particularly, but not exclusively, at the extremes of the range, where WGS data highlighted unexpected autosomal admixture.
Seniors’ Long‐Term Care in Canada: A Continuum of Soft to Brutal Privatisation
Authors: Molinari Nicole , Pratt Geraldine 
Published: February 2021

AbstractWe situate the contemporary crisis of COVID‐19 deaths in seniors’ care facilities within the restructuring and privatisation of this sector. Through an ethnographic comparison in a for‐profit and nonprofit facility, we explore what we identify as brutal and soft modes of privatisation within publicly subsidised long‐term seniors’ care in Vancouver, British Columbia, and their influence on the material and relational conditions of work and care. Workers in both places are explicit that they deliver only bare‐bones care to seniors with increasingly complex care needs, and we document the distinct forms and extent to which these precarious workers give gifts of their time, labour and other resources to compensate for the gaps in care that result from state withdrawal and the extraction of profits within the sector. We nonetheless locate more humane and hopeful processes in the nonprofit facility, where a history of cooperative relations between workers, management and families suggest the possibility of re‐valuing the essential work of care.
Regenerative treatments for kidney diseases: The closest and fastest strategies to solving related medical and economic problems
Authors: Osafune Kenji 
Published: February 2021

AbstractRecent advances in developmental biology and stem cell biology have led to the increased availability of extrarenal stem cells, including mesenchymal/stromal stem cells (MSCs), renal stem or progenitor cells isolated from embryonic and adult kidneys, and kidney lineage cells or tissues generated from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), such as human embryonic stem cells and human‐induced pluripotent stem cells. Regenerative medicine strategies for kidney diseases are largely categorized into the transplantation of reconstructed kidney organs and cell therapies. Reconstruction is being attempted by hPSC‐derived kidney lineage cells with various strategies, such as self‐organization, interspecies blastocyst complementation, utilization of a xenogeneic organ niche, decellularization and repopulation, and 3D bioprinting. However, cell therapies using extrarenal stem cells, such as MSCs, and renal stem or progenitor cells derived from embryonic and adult kidneys or differentiated from hPSCs have been investigated in animal models of both acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease. Indeed, multiple clinical trials using MSCs, bone marrow stem cells, and kidney‐derived cells have already been carried out. This review summarizes the current status and future perspective of kidney regenerative medicine strategies and discusses the closest and fastest strategies to solving the medical and economic problems associated with kidney diseases.
Inactivation of SERCA2 Cys674 accelerates aortic aneurysms by suppressing PPARγ
Authors: Que Yumei , Shu Xi , Wang Langtao , Wang Sai , Li Siqi , Hu Pingping , Tong Xiaoyong 
Published: February 2021

Background and PurposeInactivation of Cys674 (C674) in the sarcoplasmic/endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ ATPase 2 (SERCA2) causes intracellular Ca2+ accumulation, which activates calcineurin‐mediated nuclear factor of activated T‐lymphocytes (NFAT)/NF‐κB pathways, and results in the phenotypic modulation of smooth muscle cells (SMCs) to accelerate angiotensin II‐induced aortic aneurysms. Our goal was to investigate the mechanism involved.Experimental ApproachWe used heterozygous SERCA2 C674S knock‐in (SKI) mice, where half of C674 was substituted by serine, to mimic partial irreversible oxidation of C674. The aortas of SKI mice and their littermate wild‐type mice were collected for RNA sequencing, cell culture, protein expression, luciferase activity and aortic aneurysm analysis.Key ResultsInactivation of C674 inhibited the promoter activity and protein expression of PPARγ, which could be reversed by inhibitors of calcineurin or NF‐κB. In SKI SMCs, inhibition of NF‐κB by pyrrolidinedithiocarbamic acid (PDTC) or overexpression of PPARγ2 reversed the protein expression of SMC phenotypic modulation markers and inhibited cell proliferation, migration, and macrophage adhesion to SMCs. Pioglitazone, a PPARγ agonist, blocked the activation of NFAT/NF‐κB, reversed the protein expression of SMC phenotypic modulation markers, and inhibited cell proliferation, migration, and macrophage adhesion to SMCs in SKI SMCs. Furthermore, pioglitazone also ameliorated angiotensin II‐induced aortic aneurysms in SKI mice.Conclusions and ImplicationsThe inactivation of SERCA2 C674 promotes the development of aortic aneurysms by disrupting the balance between PPARγ and NFAT/NF‐κB. Our study highlights the importance of C674 redox status in regulating PPARγ to maintain aortic homeostasis.
Horizontal spread of pericolic lymph node metastasis as a prognostic factor for recurrence in Stage III colorectal cancer
Authors: Sasaki Taketo , Shigeta Kohei , Okabayashi Koji , Tsuruta Masashi , Seishima Ryo , Matsui Shimpei , Kitagawa Yuko 
Published: February 2021

AbstractAimMain lymph node (LN) metastasis dissected with a high vascular tie at the root of the feeding artery is a poor prognostic factor in colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the effects of horizontal spread on recurrence after curative resection remain unclear. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationship between the horizontal spread of LN metastasis and recurrence in CRC.MethodIn this retrospective study, 189 CRC patients (98 men, 91 women) who underwent curative resection at our hospital from 2003 to 2018 and had only pericolic LN metastasis were divided into two groups: patients with LN metastasis beside the tumour only (T group, n = 121) and those with LN metastasis with horizontal spread (S group, n = 68) (mean follow‐up period 50.9 ± 34.1 months). The primary outcome was recurrence‐free survival (RFS). We investigated the correlation between clinicopathological background factors and recurrence using Cox regression analysis.ResultsFewer than three LN metastases (N1) were found in 157 patients (107 T group, 50 S group), and four or more metastases (N2a) were found in 32 patients (14 T group, 18 S group). Univariate analyses revealed significantly shorter RFS in the S group [hazard ratio (HR) 1.95, 95% CI 1.07–3.55; p = 0.03). Multivariate analyses revealed that horizontal spread is an independent risk factor for recurrence (HR 1.95, 95% CI 1.05–3.68; p = 0.03).ConclusionAlthough further investigation is needed, horizontal spread of LN metastasis is a prognostic factor for recurrence in Stage III CRC.