bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
On Genetic Map Functions
Authors: Zhao Hongyu , Speed Terence P 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
Various genetic map functions have been proposed to infer the unobservable genetic distance between two loci from the observable recombination fraction between them. Some map functions were found to fit data better than others. When there are more than three markers, multilocus recombination probabilities cannot be uniquely determined by the defining property of map functions, and different methods have been proposed to permit the use of map functions to analyze multilocus data. If for a given map function, there is a probability model for recombination that can give rise to it, then joint recombination probabilities can be deduced from this model. This provides another way to use map functions in multilocus analysis. In this paper we show that stationary renewal processes give rise to most of the map functions in the literature. Furthermore, we show that the interevent distributions of these renewal processes can all be approximated quite well by gamma distributions.
Compensation for the absence of the catalytically active half of DNA polymerase ε in yeast by positively selected mutations in CDC28
Authors: Stepchenkova Elena I , Zhuk Anna S , Cui Jian , Tarakhovskaya Elena R , Barbari Stephanie R , Shcherbakova Polina V , Polev Dmitrii E , Fedorov Roman , Poliakov Eugenia , Rogozin Igor B , Lada Artem G , Pavlov Youri I 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
Current eukaryotic replication models postulate that leading and lagging DNA strands are replicated predominantly by dedicated DNA polymerases. The catalytic subunit of the leading strand DNA polymerase ε, Pol2, consists of two halves made of two different ancestral B-family DNA polymerases. Counterintuitively, the catalytically active N-terminal half is dispensable, while the inactive C-terminal part is required for viability. Despite extensive studies of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains lacking the active N-terminal half, it is still unclear how these strains survive and recover. We designed a robust method for constructing mutants with only the C-terminal part of Pol2. Strains without the active polymerase part show severe growth defects, sensitivity to replication inhibitors, chromosomal instability, and elevated spontaneous mutagenesis. Intriguingly, the slow-growing mutant strains rapidly accumulate fast-growing clones. Analysis of genomic DNA sequences of these clones revealed that the adaptation to the loss of the catalytic N-terminal part of Pol2 occurs by a positive selection of mutants with improved growth. Elevated mutation rates help generate sufficient numbers of these variants. Single nucleotide changes in the cell cycle-dependent kinase gene, CDC28, improve the growth of strains lacking the N-terminal part of Pol2, and rescue their sensitivity to replication inhibitors and, in parallel, lower mutation rates. Our study predicts that changes in mammalian homologs of cyclin-dependent kinases may contribute to cellular responses to the leading strand polymerase defects.
Climate Change and Companion Animals: Identifying Links and Opportunities for Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies
Authors: Protopopova Alexandra , Ly Lexis H , Eagan Bailey H , Brown Kelsea M 
Published: April 2021

SynopsisRecent natural disasters and weather extremes are a stark reminder that we live in a climate crisis. Climate scientists and policymakers have asked each discipline to anticipate and create mitigation and adaptation plans in preparation for a worsening future. Companion animals both impact and are impacted by the changing climate through their intrinsically linked relationships to human society. In this theoretical paper, we argue that companion animal scientists are well-suited to address climate change issues. We identify several anticipated climate change outcomes, such as an increase in extreme weather events, human migration, disasters, and an increase in human inequity, and connect these outcomes to identified or hypothesized impacts on companion animals and the human–animal bond. We suggest opportunities to reduce climate change impacts on companion animals that include alterations to owner caretaking behaviors and breeding practices, and education of owners and governments on zoonosis and disaster preparedness. Furthermore, building climate resilience through decreasing inequity in companion animal fields is paramount; and we propose that a starting place can be in animal sheltering and other support services. We also summarize how companion animals and owners’ caretaking behaviors are impacting climate change through the use of finite natural resources as well as pollution and carbon emissions. We propose that replacement, reduction, and refinement, that guide laboratory animal research, can also be useful to mitigate the effects of companion animals on the environment. We suggest criteria for successful mitigation and adaptation plans to include equitability, sustainability, respect for animals, and measurability. Finally, we end on a call to all companion animal professionals to actively consider their role in mitigating the impact of companion animals on the climate and preparing for the fallout of climate change in their communities.
A hole where Ely could be: Democracy and trust in South Africa
Authors: Fowkes James 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
At first glance, Ely’s theory of judicial review in Democracy and Distrust may seem an obviously poor fit for South Africa’s extensive and value-based constitutionalism. South African scholars have indeed mostly paid his theory little attention and, when they do, have mostly done so in support of arguments for judicial review, rather than to impose limits on it. On closer inspection, however, the way Ely has been used in South Africa has much to tell us about South African constitutionalism. The patterns of democratic deference of his theory can be a better fit for actual South African practice than it is for much of the scholarship interpreting that practice. Arguments for trust in democratic institutions, though suggested rather than developed in his book, have a powerful constitutional value in emerging systems like the South Africa one. Finally, though concerns for democracy that underpin Ely’s account have fallen somewhat between the lines of existing South African constitutional talk, the constitutional value of majoritarian democracy has a resonance in post-apartheid South Africa that should be felt more in its scholarship, and may yet be.
Ely in the world: The global legacy of Democracy and Distrust forty years on
Authors: Dixon Rosalind , Hailbronner Michaela 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
John Hart Ely’s Democracy and Distrust is a classic among US theories of judicial review. But how far does Ely’s global influence reach? And how useful is Ely’s process-based theory for judges operating in systems with a thicker, more substantive understanding of rights and constitutionalism, as prevails in many countries of the Global South, or in a system like Germany? In this introduction to a Symposium on Ely’s broader global influence, we sketch out some first answers to these questions, based on the contributions, which cover Mexico, Chile and Bolivia, South Africa, and Germany, as well as Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. If Ely’s influence is considerable in some states, most notably New Zealand, it is marginal in others. Even where Ely arguably has been influential, however, his theory has usually been subject to a process of comparative adaptation, to increase its fit with the local legal and political context. Tweaked and adapted, Ely’s work can also inspire the construction of new comparative “political process” theories, including in systems where we encounter a thicker, or even transformative, understanding of constitutionalism.
Regulating On-demand Work in China: Just Getting Started?
Authors: Lin Ou 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
In China, a significant and rising number of workers are engaged in on-demand work. The legal status of on-demand workers has been widely debated, and it seems that the vast majority are not protected by labour law, since the law accords rights only to those workers with ‘labour relationships’. While there is widespread consensus in China that on-demand workers need more protection, steps taken in that direction to date have been small indeed. This paper seeks to explain the current legal situation of Chinese on-demand workers by outlining the responses to the spread of on-demand work of the judicial and arbitration system, national government, trade unions and workers themselves. Addressing the question why on-demand workers have not yet been accorded labour protections, it points in particular to the national government’s concern to maintain high levels of employment and ensure economic growth.
Human Rights and Caribbean Philosophy: Implications for Teaching
Authors: Davis Benjamin P 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
This note on human rights practice observes that some pedagogical methods in human rights education can have the effect of making human rights violations both seem to be performed by abnormal, bad actors and seem to occur in places far away from US classrooms. This effect is not intended by instructors; a methodological corrective would be helpful to human rights education. This note provides a corrective by suggesting two practices: (1) a pedagogical emphasis on what the Martinican philosopher Édouard Glissant calls ‘entanglements’, or the way in which normal, local actions are tied to global consequences in our contemporary world; and (2) a pedagogical exercise of performing a phenomenology of, or first-person reflection on, daily life as it relates to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The emphasis and exercise work together to implicate the actor in larger patterns of human rights violations and protections. Overall, the emphasis and exercise prevent an insidious insinuation of some human rights education: that human rights violations are to be theorized in the global North but suffered in the global South.
Estimation with Errors in Variables via the Characteristic Function
Authors: Malloch H , Philip R , Satchell S 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
Errors in variables in linear regression continue to be a significant empirical issue in financial econometrics. We propose using the characteristic function (CF) to obtain estimates for linear models with errors in the variables. By assuming that the explanatory variable follows a flexible double gamma distribution, we obtain closed-form expressions for the analytic CF of the data generating process. We show that our method performs well relative to existing techniques that address error-in-variables (EIVs) through simulations. We further extend our CF technique to a multivariate setting where it continues to produce accurate estimates. We illustrate the performance of our procedure by estimating the capital asset pricing model and a two-factor model.
Dynamics of a superdense cluster of black holes and the formation of the Galactic supermassive black hole
Authors: Chassonnery P , Capuzzo-Dolcetta R 
Published: April 2021

ABSTRACT
The centre of our Galaxy is known to host a massive compact object, Sgr A*, which is commonly considered as a supermassive black hole of ${\sim} 4\times 10^6 \, \text{${\rm M}_{\odot } \, $}$. It is surrounded by a dense and massive nuclear star cluster, with a half-mass radius of about 5 pc and a mass larger than $10^{7} \, \text{${\rm M}_{\odot } \, $}$. In this paper, we studied the evolutionary fate of a very dense cluster of intermediate-mass black holes, possible remnants of the dissipative orbital evolution of massive globular cluster hosts. We performed a set of high-precision N-body simulations taking into account deviations from pure Newtonian gravitational interaction via a post-Newtonian development up to 2.5 order, which is the one accounting for energy released by gravitational wave emission. The violent dynamics of the system leads to various successive merger events to grow a single object containing ∼25 per cent of the total cluster mass before partial dispersal of the cluster, and to generate, in different bursts, a significant quantity of gravitational wave emission. If generalized, the present results suggest a mechanism of mass growth up to the scale of a supermassive black hole.
Probing possible effects of circumgalactic media on the metal content of galaxies through the mass–metallicity relationship
Authors: Zhai Sai , Shi Yong , Chen Jianhang , Bing Longji , Chen Yanmei , Yu Xiaoling , Li Songlin 
Published: April 2021

ABSTRACT
The circumgalactic medium (CGM) connects the gas between the interstellar medium and the intergalactic medium, which plays an important role in galaxy evolution. We use the stellar mass–metallicity relationship to investigate whether sharing the CGM will affect the distribution of metals in galaxy pairs. The optical emission lines from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release are used to measure the gas-phase metallicity. We find that there is no significant difference in the distribution of the metallicity difference between two members in star forming–star forming pairs ($\rm \Delta log(O/H)_{diff}$), metallicity offset from the best-fitting stellar mass–metallicity relationship of galaxies in pairs ($\rm \Delta log(O/H)_{MS}$), as compared to ‘fake’ pairs. By looking at and as a function of the star formation rate (SFR), specific SFR, and stellar mass ratio, no difference is seen between galaxies in pairs and control galaxies. From our results, the share of the CGM may not play an important role in shaping the evolution of metal contents of galaxies.
The Colorado River Delta and California’s Central Valley are critical regions for many migrating North American landbirds
Authors: DeLuca William V , Meehan Tim , Seavy Nat , Jones Andrea , Pitt Jennifer , Deppe Jill L , Wilsey Chad B 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
Migration is an important component of some species full annual cycle. California’s Central Valley and the Colorado River Delta provide important riparian and wetland habitats for migrating waterbirds in the arid west of North America, but little is known about whether these locations are important at the population level to migrating landbirds. We used eBird Status and Trends abundance data to quantify the importance of the Central Valley and Colorado River Delta to landbirds by estimating the proportion of the breeding population of 112 species that use each site during migration. We found that ~17 million landbirds use the Colorado River Delta in the spring and ~14 million in the fall. Across 4 study regions in the Central Valley, up to ~65 million landbirds migrate through in the spring and up to ~48 million in the fall. In the spring and fall, respectively, up to 37 and up to 30 species had at least 1% of their continental population migrate through the study regions. We also quantified the spatial concentration of each species across latitudinal transects to determine the extent to which study regions were acting as migratory bottlenecks. Landbird abundances were spatially concentrated in study regions 29.4% of all migration weeks, indicating that each study region acts as a migratory bottleneck. This application of eBird data is a powerful approach to quantifying the importance of sites to migrating birds. Our results provide evidence of population-level importance of the Central Valley and Colorado River Delta for many migratory landbirds.
Irruptive White Ibis breeding is associated with use of freshwater crayfish in the coastal Everglades
Authors: Cocoves Tasso C , Cook Mark I , Kline Jeffrey L , Oberhofer Lori , Dorn Nathan J 
Published: April 2021

AbstractAs avian reproductive success is generally prey limited, identifying important prey types or sizes and understanding mechanisms governing prey availability are important objectives for avian conservation ecology. Irruptive White Ibis (Eudocimus albus) nesting at coastal colonies in the southern Everglades numbered over 100,000 nests in the 1930s. A century of drainage and altered hydrologic patterns reduced aquatic prey availability and eliminated large nesting events; nesting activity in recent decades has been typically less than 5% of historical peaks. Hydrologic restoration is expected to increase ibis nesting activity, but which prey types will support high nesting effort is less clear. In 2017 and 2018, we collected food boluses from White Ibis chicks at coastal colonies in Everglades National Park. We also monitored regional nesting activity from 1999 to 2018. In 2017, the region had 1,075 nests, typical of the past several decades; but in 2018, there were 30,420 nests, representing the highest recorded nesting activity in 87 yr. Prey composition varied between years; estuarine crabs dominated nestling boluses in 2017, while crayfish and fish were dominant prey in 2018. Crayfish, especially Procambarus alleni, were heavily exploited by ibis early in the 2018 breeding season, while fish were used more at the end. Crayfish abundances in wetlands near the colonies were higher prior to 2018, and more crayfish-producing short-hydroperiod wetlands remained available for ibis foraging in 2018. Our results support previous studies indicating that crayfish are important prey for breeding ibises and suggest that unprecedented, extensive flooding of seasonal wetlands promoted crayfish production and initiated the irruptive breeding in 2018. Our observations indicate that rehydration of the southern Everglades could restore ibis nesting activity at coastal colonies, but further investigations of hydrologic variation, crayfish production, and ibis foraging and nesting activity will be helpful to understand these dynamics and the importance of short-hydroperiod wetlands.
Anthelmintic drugs modulate the acute phase immune response but not the microbiota in wild Song Sparrows
Authors: Vaziri Grace J , Jusino Michelle A , Palmer Jon M , Brewer Matthew T , Adelman James S 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
Co-infection with microparasites (e.g., bacteria) and macroparasites (e.g., helminths) is often the natural state for wild animals. Despite evidence that gut helminths can bias immune responses away from inflammatory processes, few field studies have examined the role that helminths, or their potential interactions with internal microbial communities, play in modulating immunity in free-living, wild birds. Here, we used anthelmintic drugs to treat wild Song Sparrows (Melospiza melodia) for helminth infections and measured markers of systemic inflammation (heterothermia and locomotor activity) in response to an immune challenge with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a cell wall component of gram-negative bacteria. Using birds from a population that previously showed high helminth prevalence, we monitored skin temperature and activity remotely using automated radio telemetry. We also collected cloacal swabs to determine whether drug treatment was associated with changes in the cloacal microbiota, and whether cloacal microbial community structure was associated with the severity of birds’ immune responses. Because helminths can reduce the severity of inflammatory immune responses in other species, we predicted that in comparison with untreated control birds, anthelmintic-treated birds would be more lethargic and display higher fevers when challenged with LPS. Consistent with these predictions, anthelmintic-treated birds expressed higher fevers in response to immune challenge. However, all LPS-challenged birds decreased locomotor activity to a similar degree, regardless of anthelmintic treatment. Although several individual indicator bacterial taxa were strongly associated with anthelmintic treatment, this treatment did not alter overall bacterial alpha- and beta- diversity. Similarly, we did not find evidence that bacterial community diversity influenced the severity of immune responses to LPS. These results suggest that under field conditions, natural helminth infection can reduce the severity of songbirds’ thermoregulatory responses (fever) during an immune challenge, without major impacts on internal microbial communities or behavioral responses to infection.
Evolution of the preformative molt in Cardinalidae correlates with transitions from forest to open habitats
Authors: Guallar Santi , Rueda-Hernández Rafael , Pyle Peter 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
We explored adaptive factors affecting the preformative molt in the passerine family Cardinalidae, and concluded that the ancestor inhabited forest habitats and underwent a partial preformative molt that included wing coverts but not primaries. Later radiations within the family appeared to be characterized by transitions from forests toward more open habitats, and such transitions also correlated positively with increased preformative molt investment, plumage signaling, and flight. While previous studies had highlighted the role of time and energy constraints in the evolution of the preformative molt in passerines, we conclude that adaptation to the physical environment has had a greater influence than constraints on the evolution of this molt in Cardinalidae. Using molt data from 430 individuals from 41 of the 51 Cardinalidae species, we tested whether social and environmental factors (delayed plumage maturation and habitat openness), as well as that of physiological and time constraints (body mass, migration distance, and breeding latitude), have influenced the evolution of the preformative molt in this family. We predicted that these five factors could relate to the extent of the preformative molt in terms of energy investment, plumage signaling, and flight. We also examined whether or not the presence of an auxiliary preformative molt correlated to the extent of the preformative molt. We found a strong phylogenetic signal for the preformative molt in Cardinalidae due to shared ancestry, with habitat openness correlating significantly with increased molt extent. We also found a very strong relationship with the auxiliary preformative molt, indicating that both episodes form part of the early life molt strategy in this family. Evolutionary histories and the environments to which each taxonomic group has adapted can diverge across passerines, and we expect that future studies will further discover the nature and strength of the evolutionary drivers of preformative molt.