bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Growth of wood-inhabiting yeasts of the Faroe Islands in the presence of spent sulphite liquor
Authors: Rönnander Jonas , Wright Sandra Ann Ingela 
Published: April 2021

AbstractIn the microbial community of decaying wood, yeasts are important for the recycling of nutrients. Nevertheless, information on their biodiversity in this niche in the Northern hemisphere is limited. Wood-colonising yeasts encounter identical and similar growth-inhibitory compounds as those in spent sulphite liquor (SSL), an energy-rich, acid hydrolysate and waste product from the paper industry, which may render them well-suited for cultivation in SSL. In the present study, yeasts were isolated from decaying wood on the Faroe Islands and identified based on sequence homology of the ITS and D1/D2 regions. Among the yeasts isolated, Candida argentea, Cystofilobasidium infirmominiatum, Naganishia albidosimilis, Naganishia onofrii, Holtermanniella takashimae and Goffeauzyma gastrica were new to decaying wood in cold and temperate climates. C. argentea and Rhodotorula are rarely-isolated species, with no previous documentation from cold and maritime climates. The isolates were further tested for growth in a medium with increasing concentrations of softwood SSL. Most grew in the presence of 10% SSL. Isolates of Debaryomyces sp., C. argentea and Rhodotorula sp. were the most tolerant. Representatives of Debaryomyces and Rhodotorula have previously been found in decaying wood. In contrast, the least tolerant isolates belonged to species that are rarely reported from decaying wood. The relative importance of individual inhibitors to yeast growth is discussed. To our knowledge, none of the present yeast species have previously been cultivated in SSL medium. Decaying wood can be a useful future source of yeasts for valorisation of various hydrolysates to industrial chemicals and biofuels.
The Role of Vision in the Emergence of Mate Preferences
Authors: Scheller Meike , Matorres Francine , Little Anthony C. , Tompkins Lucy , de Sousa Alexandra A. 
Published: April 2021

AbstractCross-cultural research has repeatedly demonstrated sex differences in the importance of partner characteristics when choosing a mate. Men typically report higher preferences for younger, more physically attractive women, while women typically place more importance on a partner’s status and wealth. As the assessment of such partner characteristics often relies on visual cues, this raises the question whether visual experience is necessary for sex-specific mate preferences to develop. To shed more light onto the emergence of sex differences in mate choice, the current study assessed how preferences for attractiveness, resources, and personality factors differ between sighted and blind individuals using an online questionnaire. We further investigate the role of social factors and sensory cue selection in these sex differences. Our sample consisted of 94 sighted and blind participants with different ages of blindness onset: 19 blind/28 sighted males and 19 blind/28 sighted females. Results replicated well-documented findings in the sighted, with men placing more importance on physical attractiveness and women placing more importance on status and resources. However, while physical attractiveness was less important to blind men, blind women considered physical attractiveness as important as sighted women. The importance of a high status and likeable personality was not influenced by sightedness. Blind individuals considered auditory cues more important than visual cues, while sighted males showed the opposite pattern. Further, relationship status and indirect, social influences were related to preferences. Overall, our findings shed light on the availability of visual information for the emergence of sex differences in mate preference.
DART mass spectrometry as a potential tool for the differentiation of captive-bred and wild lion bones
Authors: Coals Peter , Loveridge Andrew , Kurian Dominic , Williams Vivienne L. , Macdonald David W. , Ogden Rob 
Published: April 2021

AbstractIn recent years lion bones have been legally traded internationally to Asian markets from captive-bred sources in South Africa. There are also indications of increasing instances of illegal international trade in wild lion bones. The existence of parallel captive and wild supplies of lion bone are a cause of law enforcement concern regarding the potential for the laundering of illegally sourced bones through legal trade, and present a problem for the assessment of the conservation impact of wild lion bone trade due to the difficulty of determining what market-share wild and captive-bred lion bones account for. Captive-bred and wild lion bone are visually indistinguishable and no reliable method currently exists for distinguishing them. We present a preliminary study that explores the use of DART mass spectrometry as a method to differentiate between captive-bred and wild lion bones. We find that DART is able to differentiate between a batch of captive-bred South African lion bone and a batch of wild lion bone and suggest that DART mass spectrometry shows strong potential as a tool for the regulation and investigation of lion bone trade. Further testing is needed to prove the suitability of this technique. Therefore, we suggest that further research focuses on testing the capability of DART to differentiate between contemporary wild and captive-bred lion bone originating from South Africa, and attempts to identify chemical markers in bone that can be used as indicators of captive-bred origin.
Political Realism as Methods not Metaethics
Authors: Leader Maynard Jonathan 
Published: April 2021

AbstractThis paper makes the case for a revision of contemporary forms of political realism in political theory. I argue that contemporary realists have gone awry in increasingly centring their approach around a metaethical claim: that political theory should be rooted in a political form of normativity that is distinct from moral normativity. Several critics of realism have argued that this claim is unconvincing. But I suggest that it is also a counterintuitive starting point for realism, and one unnecessary to avoid the ‘applied morality’ approach to political theory that realists oppose. Instead, realism should be methodologically orientated around what I term ‘empirically constitutive political realities’ - enduring features of real political contexts that are systematically consequential in their normative implications. Realists can persuasively argue that such empirically constitutive political realities must be attended to in political theory-building, and not merely treated as a context in which independently formulated moral theories are simply applied. This framing of realism accords real politics a genuinely foundational theoretical role, but without requiring any contentious metaethical stance about a non-moral political normativity. I explain some methodological implications that follow for realism – in particular the need to prioritise empirically grounded theorisation of real political contexts over abstract and rather essentialist claims about ‘the political’. I also argue that such a framing of realism helps engender a more accurate, less divisive, and more pluralist conception of methodological debates within political theory.
The Numerov process over a non-uniform grid
Authors: Brunetti R. , Speciale N. , Rudan M. 
Published: April 2021

AbstractThe Numerov process is a solution method applicable to some classes of differential equations, that provides an error term of the fifth order in the grid size with a computational cost comparable to that of the finite-difference scheme. In the original formulation of the method, a uniform grid size is required; the paper shows a procedure for extending its applicability to a non-uniform grid in one dimension. The effectiveness of the procedure is tested on a model problem, and comparisons with other methods are carried out. Finally, it is shown how to extend the applicability of the method to a larger class of equations; among these, the mathematical model of semiconductor devices is important in view of its applications to the integrated-circuit technology.
Fabrication and evaluation of porous and conductive nanofibrous scaffolds for nerve tissue engineering
Authors: Pooshidani Yasaman , Zoghi Nastaran , Rajabi Mina , Haghbin Nazarpak Masoumeh , Hassannejad Zahra 
Published: April 2021

AbstractPeripheral nerve repair is still one of the major clinical challenges which has received a great deal of attention. Nerve tissue engineering is a novel treatment approach that provides a permissive environment for neural cells to overcome the constraints of repair. Conductivity and interconnected porosity are two required characteristics for a scaffold to be effective in nerve regeneration. In this study, we aimed to fabricate a conductive scaffold with controlled porosity using polycaprolactone (PCL) and chitosan (Chit), FDA approved materials for the use in implantable medical devices. A novel method of using tetrakis (hydroxymethyl) phosphonium chloride (THPC) and formaldehyde was applied for in situ synthesis of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) on the scaffolds. In order to achieve desirable porosity, different percentage of polyethylene oxide (PEO) was used as sacrificial fiber. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) results demonstrated the complete removing of PEO from the scaffolds after washing and construction of interconnected porosities, respectively. Elemental and electrical analysis revealed the successful synthesis of AuNPs with uniform distribution and small average diameter on the PCL/Chit scaffold. Contact angle measurements showed the effect of porosity on hydrophilic properties of the scaffolds, where the porosity of 75–80% remarkably improved surface hydrophilicity. Finally, the effect of conductive nanofibrous scaffold on Schwann cells morphology and vaibility was investigated using FE-SEM and MTT assay, respectively. The results showed that these conductive scaffolds had no cytotoxic effect and support the spindle-shaped morphology of cells with elongated process which are typical of Schwann cell cultures.
Relative-perfectness of discrete gradient vector fields and multi-parameter persistent homology
Authors: Landi Claudia , Scaramuccia Sara 
Published: April 2021

AbstractThe combination of persistent homology and discrete Morse theory has proven very effective in visualizing and analyzing big and heterogeneous data. Indeed, topology provides computable and coarse summaries of data independently from specific coordinate systems and does so robustly to noise. Moreover, the geometric content of a discrete gradient vector field is very useful for visualization purposes. The specific case of multivariate data still demands for further investigations, on the one hand, for computational reasons, it is important to reduce the necessary amount of data to be processed. On the other hand, for analysis reasons, the multivariate case requires the detection and interpretation of the possible interdepedance among data components. To this end, in this paper we introduce and study a notion of perfectness for discrete gradient vector fields with respect to multi-parameter persistent homology, called relative-perfectness. As a natural generalization of usual perfectness in Morse theory for homology, relative-perfectness entails having the least number of critical cells relevant for multi-parameter persistence. As a first contribution, we support our definition of relative-perfectness by generalizing Morse inequalities to the filtration structure where homology groups involved are relative with respect to subsequent sublevel sets. In order to allow for an interpretation of critical cells in 2-parameter persistence, our second contribution consists of two inequalities bounding Betti tables of persistence modules from above and below, via the number of critical cells. Our last result is the proof that existing algorithms based on local homotopy expansions allow for efficient computability over simplicial complexes up to dimension 2.
Perturbation Analysis of Quantum Reset Models
Authors: Haack Géraldine , Joye Alain 
Published: April 2021

AbstractThis paper is devoted to the analysis of Lindblad operators of Quantum Reset Models, describing the effective dynamics of tri-partite quantum systems subject to stochastic resets. We consider a chain of three independent subsystems, coupled by a Hamiltonian term. The two subsystems at each end of the chain are driven, independently from each other, by a reset Lindbladian, while the center system is driven by a Hamiltonian. Under generic assumptions on the coupling term, we prove the existence of a unique steady state for the perturbed reset Lindbladian, analytic in the coupling constant. We further analyze the large times dynamics of the corresponding CPTP Markov semigroup that describes the approach to the steady state. We illustrate these results with concrete examples corresponding to realistic open quantum systems.
Functionalization of polyhydromethylsiloxane with nitrogen-containing organic compounds
Authors: Owińska Maria , Chechelska-Noworyta Aleksandra , Olejniczak Zbigniew , Hasik Magdalena 
Published: April 2021

AbstractLinear polyhydromethylsiloxane (PHMS) was functionalized with nitrogen-containing organic compounds:N-allylaniline (Naa),N-allylcyclohexylamine (Nach),N-allylpiperidine (Nap) and 4-vinylpyridine (4VP) via hydrosilylation reaction in the presence of Pt0complex (Karstedt’s catalyst) under mild conditions. Reaction course was followed by FTIR spectroscopy and final hydrosilylation products were characterized by FTIR,1H,29Si NMR and29Si MAS-NMR spectroscopies as well as by elemental analysis. Results showed that functionalization of PHMS withN-allyl amines took place but in none of the systems it was complete. Hydrosilylation of Naa, Nach and Nap with PHMS led both, to the β and α addition products.29Si NMR spectroscopy showed unequivocally that the reaction of PHMS with 4VP did not occur and the only reactions in the systems were hydrolysis of Si–H groups of PHMS followed by condensation of the silanol groups resulting in cross-linking of the polymer. All the functionalized polymers studied in the work contained reactive amine moieties prone to further modifications, therefore exhibit a great potential for various applications.
Protect privacy of deep classification networks by exploiting their generative power
Authors: Chen Jiyu , Guo Yiwen , Zheng Qianjun , Chen Hao 
Published: April 2021

AbstractResearch showed that deep learning models are vulnerable to membership inference attacks, which aim to determine if an example is in the training set of the model. We propose a new framework to defend against this sort of attack. Our key insight is that if we retrain the original classifier with a new dataset that is independent of the original training set while their elements are sampled from the same distribution, the retrained classifier will leak no information that cannot be inferred from the distribution about the original training set. Our framework consists of three phases. First, we transferred the original classifier to a Joint Energy-based Model (JEM) to exploit the model’s implicit generative power. Then, we sampled from the JEM to create a new dataset. Finally, we used the new dataset to retrain or fine-tune the original classifier. We empirically studied different transfer learning schemes for the JEM and fine-tuning/retraining strategies for the classifier against shadow-model attacks. Our evaluation shows that our framework can suppress the attacker’s membership advantage to a negligible level while keeping the classifier’s accuracy acceptable. We compared it with other state-of-the-art defenses considering adaptive attackers and showed our defense is effective even under the worst-case scenario. Besides, we also found that combining other defenses with our framework often achieves better robustness. Our code will be made available at https://github.com/ChenJiyu/meminf-defense.git.
Compassion protects against vital exhaustion and negative emotionality
Authors: Saarinen Aino , Keltikangas-Järvinen Liisa , Viding Essi , Dobewall Henrik , Kaseva Kaisa , Lehtimäki Terho , Raitakari Olli , Hintsanen Mirka 
Published: April 2021

AbstractWe investigated (i) the predictive relationships of compassion with negative emotionality (a marker of susceptibility to stress) and vital exhaustion (a marker of chronic stress response) and (ii) the effect of compassion on the developmental courses of negative emotionality and vital exhaustion over a follow-up from early adulthood to middle age. We used the prospective Young Finns data (n = 1031–1495, aged 20–50). Compassion was evaluated in 1997, 2001, and 2012; and vital exhaustion and negative emotionality in 2001, 2007, and 2012. The predictive paths from compassion to vital exhaustion and negative emotionality were stronger than vice versa: high compassion predicted lower vital exhaustion and lower negative emotionality. The effect of high compassion on lower vital exhaustion and lower negative emotionality was evident from early adulthood to middle age. Overall, high compassion appears to protect against dimensions of stress from early adulthood to middle age, whereas this study found no evidence that dimensions of stress could reduce disposition to feel compassion for others’ distress over a long-term follow-up.
The Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer, MEDA. A Suite of Environmental Sensors for the Mars 2020 Mission
Authors: Rodriguez-Manfredi J. A. , de la Torre Juárez M. , Alonso A. , Apéstigue V. , Arruego I. , Atienza T. , Banfield D. , Boland J. , Carrera M. A. , Castañer L. , Ceballos J. , Chen-Chen H. , Cobos A. , Conrad P. G. , Cordoba E. , del Río-Gaztelurrutia T. , de Vicente-Retortillo A. , Domínguez-Pumar M. , Espejo S. , Fairen A. G. , Fernández-Palma A. , Ferrándiz R. , Ferri F. , Fischer E. , García-Manchado A. , García-Villadangos M. , Genzer M. , Giménez S. , Gómez-Elvira J. , Gómez F. , Guzewich S. D. , Harri A.-M. , Hernández C. D. , Hieta M. , Hueso R. , Jaakonaho I. , Jiménez J. J. , Jiménez V. , Larman A. , Leiter R. , Lepinette A. , Lemmon M. T. , López G. , Madsen S. N. , Mäkinen T. , Marín M. , Martín-Soler J. , Martínez G. , Molina A. , Mora-Sotomayor L. , Moreno-Álvarez J. F. , Navarro S. , Newman C. E. , Ortega C. , Parrondo M. C. , Peinado V. , Peña A. , Pérez-Grande I. , Pérez-Hoyos S. , Pla-García J. , Polkko J. , Postigo M. , Prieto-Ballesteros O. , Rafkin S. C. R. , Ramos M. , Richardson M. I. , Romeral J. , Romero C. , Runyon K. D. , Saiz-Lopez A. , Sánchez-Lavega A. , Sard I. , Schofield J. T. , Sebastian E. , Smith M. D. , Sullivan R. J. , Tamppari L. K. , Thompson A. D. , Toledo D. , Torrero F. , Torres J. , Urquí R. , Velasco T. , Viúdez-Moreiras D. , Zurita S. ,   The MEDA team
Published: April 2021

AbstractNASA’s Mars 2020 (M2020) rover mission includes a suite of sensors to monitor current environmental conditions near the surface of Mars and to constrain bulk aerosol properties from changes in atmospheric radiation at the surface. The Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) consists of a set of meteorological sensors including wind sensor, a barometer, a relative humidity sensor, a set of 5 thermocouples to measure atmospheric temperature at ∼1.5 m and ∼0.5 m above the surface, a set of thermopiles to characterize the thermal IR brightness temperatures of the surface and the lower atmosphere. MEDA adds a radiation and dust sensor to monitor the optical atmospheric properties that can be used to infer bulk aerosol physical properties such as particle size distribution, non-sphericity, and concentration. The MEDA package and its scientific purpose are described in this document as well as how it responded to the calibration tests and how it helps prepare for the human exploration of Mars. A comparison is also presented to previous environmental monitoring payloads landed on Mars on the Viking, Pathfinder, Phoenix, MSL, and InSight spacecraft.
Continuous matching of evolving patterns over dynamic graph data
Authors: Zhang Qianzhen , Guo Deke , Zhao Xiang , Wang Xi 
Published: April 2021

AbstractNowadays, the scale of various graphs soars rapidly, which imposes a serious challenge to develop processing and analytic algorithms. Among them, graph pattern matching is the one of the most primitive tasks that find a wide spectrum of applications, the performance of which is yet often affected by the size and dynamicity of graphs. In order to handle large dynamic graphs, incremental pattern matching is proposed to avoid re-computing matches of patterns over the entire data graph, hence reducing the matching time and improving the overall execution performance. Due to the complexity of the problem, little work has been reported so far to solve the problem, and most of them only solve the graph pattern matching problem under the scenario of the data graph varying alone. In this article, we are devoted to a more complicated but very practical graph pattern matching problem, continuous matching of evolving patterns over dynamic graph data, and the investigation presents a novel algorithm for continuously pattern matching along with changes of both pattern graph and data graph. Specifically, we propose a concise representation of partial matching solutions, which can help to avoid re-computing matches of the pattern and speed up subsequent matching process. In order to enable the updates of data graph and pattern graph, we propose an incremental maintenance strategy, to efficiently maintain the intermediate results. Moreover, we conceive an effective model for estimating step-wise cost of pattern evaluation to drive the matching process. Extensive experiments verify the superiority of .
Omnipresent distribution of herbicides and their transformation products in all water body types of an agricultural landscape in the North German Lowland
Authors: Ulrich Uta , Pfannerstill Matthias , Ostendorp Guido , Fohrer Nicola 
Published: April 2021

AbstractThe research of the environmental fate of pesticides has demonstrated that applied compounds are altered in their molecular structure over time and are distributed within the environment. To assess the risk for contamination by transformation products (TP) of the herbicides flufenacet and metazachlor, the following four water body types were sampled in a small-scale catchment of 50 km2in 2015/2016: tile drainage water, stream water, shallow groundwater, and drinking water of private wells. The TP were omnipresent in every type of water body, more frequently and in concentrations up to 10 times higher than their parent compounds. Especially metazachlor sulfonic acid, metazachlor oxalic acid, and flufenacet oxalic acid were detected in almost every drainage and stream sample. The transformation process leads to more mobile and more persistent molecules resulting in higher detection frequencies and concentrations, which can even occur a year or more after the application of the parent compound. The vulnerability of shallow groundwater and private drinking water wells to leaching compounds is proved by numerous positives of metazachlor-TP with maximum concentrations of 0.7 μg L−1(drinking water) and 20 μg L−1(shallow groundwater) of metazachlor sulfonic acid. Rainfall events during the application period cause high discharge of the parent compound and lower release of TP. Later rainfall events lead to high displacement of TP. For an integrated risk assessment of water bodies, the environmental behavior of pesticide-TP has to be included into regular state-of-the-art water quality monitoring.