bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Estimating interactions between individuals from concurrent animal movements
Authors: Schlägel Ulrike E. , Signer Johannes , Herde Antje , Eden Sophie , Jeltsch Florian , Eccard Jana A. , Dammhahn Melanie 
Published: June 2019

Abstract

Animal movements arise from complex interactions of individuals with their environment, including both conspecific and heterospecific individuals. Animals may be attracted to each other for mating, social foraging, or information gain, or may keep at a distance from others to avoid aggressive encounters related to, e.g., interference competition, territoriality, or predation. With modern tracking technology, more datasets are emerging that allow to investigate fine‐scale interactions between free‐ranging individuals from movement data, however, few methods exist to disentangle fine‐scale behavioural responses of interacting individuals when these are highly individual‐specific.

In a framework of step‐selection functions, we related movements decisions of individuals to dynamic occurrence distributions of other individuals obtained through kriging of their movement paths. Using simulated data, we tested the method's ability to identify various combinations of attraction, avoidance, and neutrality between individuals, including asymmetric (i.e. non‐mutual) behaviours. Additionally, we analysed radio‐telemetry data from concurrently tracked small rodents (bank vole, Myodes glareolus) to test whether our method could detect biologically plausible behaviours.

We found that our method was able to successfully detect and distinguish between fine‐scale interactions (attraction, avoidance, neutrality), even when these were asymmetric between individuals. The method worked best when confounding factors were taken into account in the step‐selection function. However, even when failing to do so (e.g. due to missing information), interactions could be reasonably identified. In bank voles, responses depended strongly on the sexes of the involved individuals and matched expectations.

Our approach can be combined with conventional uses of step‐selection functions to tease apart the various drivers of movement, e.g. the influence of the physical and the social environment. In addition, the method is particularly useful in studying interactions when responses are highly individual‐specific, i.e. vary between and towards different individuals, making our method suitable for both single‐species and multi‐species analyses (e.g. in the context of predation or competition).
A novel procedure for measuring functional traits of herbaceous species through field spectroscopy
Authors: Van Cleemput Elisa , Roberts Dar A. , Honnay Olivier , Somers Ben 
Published: June 2019

Abstract

Collecting species‐level information on plant functional traits is highly relevant for understanding ecosystem functioning under global change. Measuring optical properties of plant species is a promising approach to retrieve such data, but standardized protocols are essential. Due to fine‐scale heterogeneity of many vegetation types, measuring the spectral response, as a proxy for functional traits, of individual plant species remains challenging using conventional approaches.

Here we present a novel method for measuring the reflectance of individual species in situ. The procedure consists of measuring monospecific arrangements of plant individuals on a black, light absorbing table, preserving structural plant properties while avoiding the admixture of other species, soil or non‐photosynthetically active vegetation. To evaluate the feasibility of the approach, a case study was conducted on forbs, where we collected and compared the reflectance of 16 herbaceous species at different phenological stages, both using common field spectroscopy and by following our novel procedure.

Our procedure accurately represented spectral and functional differences between species. Spectral shape, and to a lesser extent, amplitude differences between species were preserved (SAM: Mantel r = 0.69 and p = 0.001; Manhattan distance: Mantel r = 0.42 and p = 0.002). Moreover, the method was able to capture the pattern of functional traits present among the sampled species (Procrustes r = 0.81 and p = 0.001).

The new method is promising for building databases of plant traits based on spectral libraries. It might, moreover, form a standardized procedure for field campaigns, especially in the context of mixed grasslands and forb systems where relatively small plants dominate the ecosystem.
Post‐burning germination responses of woody invaders in a fire‐prone ecosystem
Authors: Moreschi Eleonor Graciela , Funes Guillermo , Zeballos Sebastián R. , Tecco Paula A. 
Published: June 2019

AbstractIt has been frequently recognised that there is a positive feedback between plant invasion and fire underlying invasion success in fire‐prone ecosystems. Accordingly, the response of woody alien species germination to fire may have direct implications on their invasiveness in those ecosystems, particularly when fruit ripening occurs in the fire season. Here, we experimentally evaluated the germination response of some of the main woody invaders of the Chaco Serrano dry woodlands (Gleditsia triacanthos, Cotoneaster glaucophyllus, Ligustrum lucidum, Pyracantha angustifolia and Melia azedarach), which fruit in the seasons of highest fire frequency. Seeds were subjected to heat‐shock treatments that simulated a range of heat intensities, and the species were classified according to their germination response as heat sensitive, tolerant or stimulated. Since Gleditsia triacanthos has indehiscent fruits that fall from the plant and might be exposed to flames, its germination response was also assessed of seeds exposed to fruit burning. Germination responses to heat varied among the invasive species. G. triacanthos seeds experienced increased germination under very low and low heat indexes; it was therefore classified as heat stimulated. The other four species showed no change in germination under very low heat indexes and were therefore considered heat tolerant. However, all species were sensitive to high heat as indicated by their significant decline in germination. G. triacanthos would have limited capacity to recruit from seeds following flaming combustion of its fruits. The prevalence of heat‐tolerant rather than heat‐stimulated germination responses suggests that the occurrence of frequent and seasonal fires in this subtropical savanna system might delay rather than boost the expansion of these invasive species in the system. Yet, the presence of heat‐stimulated germination in one of the studied species warns against generalisation, even within the same ecosystem, and further supports the idiosyncratic nature of invasion success.Abstract in Spanish is available with online material.
Rationalization and Reflection Differentially Modulate Prior Attitudes Toward the Purity Domain
Authors: Hannikainen Ivar R. , Rosas Alejandro 
Published: June 2019

AbstractOutside Western, predominantly secular‐liberal environments, norms restricting bodily and sexual conduct are widespread. Moralization in the so‐called purity domain has been treated as evidence that some putative violations are victimless. However, respondents themselves disagree: They often report that private yet indecent acts incur self‐harm, or harm to one's family and the wider community—a result which we replicate in Study 1. We then distinguish two cognitive processes that could generate a link between harmfulness and immorality, and recreate them in Studies 2 and 3: Colombian and British participants were randomly assigned to either reflect (decide whether acts are harmful and reconsider their initial moral judgments) or rationalize (decide whether acts are immoral and reconsider their initial harmfulness beliefs). In both countries, reflection promoted opposition to unjust, but not impure, behavior. Additionally, in both countries, ruminating on the moral status of impure acts elevated beliefs in the acts' harmfulness. We conclude by suggesting that rationalization aggravates, while reflection mitigates, intergroup disagreement regarding putative violations of purity and decency.
Maternal odor shapes rapid face categorization in the infant brain
Authors: Leleu Arnaud , Rekow Diane , Poncet Fanny , Schaal Benoist , Durand Karine , Rossion Bruno , Baudouin Jean‐Yves 
Published: June 2019

AbstractTo successfully interact with a rich and ambiguous visual environment, the human brain learns to differentiate visual stimuli and to produce the same response to subsets of these stimuli despite their physical difference. Although this visual categorization function is traditionally investigated from a unisensory perspective, its early development is inherently constrained by multisensory inputs. In particular, an early‐maturing sensory system such as olfaction is ideally suited to support the immature visual system in infancy by providing stability and familiarity to a rapidly changing visual environment. Here, we test the hypothesis that rapid visual categorization of salient visual signals for the young infant brain, human faces, is shaped by another highly relevant human‐related input from the olfactory system, the mother's body odor. We observe that a right‐hemispheric neural signature of single‐glance face categorization from natural images is significantly enhanced in the maternal versus a control odor context in individual 4‐month‐old infant brains. A lack of difference between odor conditions for the common brain response elicited by both face and non‐face images rules out a mere enhancement of arousal or visual attention in the maternal odor context. These observations show that face‐selective neural activity in infancy is mediated by the presence of a (maternal) body odor, providing strong support for multisensory inputs driving category acquisition in the developing human brain and having important implications for our understanding of human perceptual development.
Biogeographic freshwater fish pattern legacy revealed despite rapid socio‐economic changes in China
Authors: Guo Chuanbo , Chen Yushun , Gozlan Rodolphe E. , Li Zhongjie , Mehner Thomas , Lek Sovan , Paukert Craig P. 
Published: June 2019

AbstractUnderstanding drivers of freshwater fish assemblages is critically important for biodiversity conservation strategies, especially in rapidly developing countries, which often have environmental protections lagging behind economic development. The influences of natural and human factors in structuring fish assemblages and their relative contributions are likely to change given the increasing magnitude of human activities. To discriminate natural and human drivers of fish diversity and assemblage patterns in developing countries with rapid socio‐economic development, a dataset of 908 freshwater fish species and 13 metrics including three categories of both natural (i.e., biogeographic) and human drivers (i.e., economic growth, inland fisheries) in China were analysed with machine learning algorithms (i.e., self‐organizing map, random forest). Here, we found that biogeographic drivers explained 21.8% of the observed fish assemblage patterns in China and remained stronger predictors when compared to human drivers (i.e., 15.6%, respectively). Freshwater fish species richness was positively correlated to rainfall, air temperature, surface water area and inland fisheries production but negatively correlated with urbanization. In addition, the strong structuring effects of climatic variables on Chinese fish richness patterns suggested that the fish assemblages could be particularly vulnerable to climate change. Our results showed that natural biogeographic factors still dominate in driving freshwater fish assemblage patterns despite increased human disturbances on aquatic ecosystems in a rapidly developing country. These findings consequently suggested that we should consider both natural (e.g., climate) and human (e.g., urbanization, inland fisheries) factors when establishing aquatic conservation strategies and priorities for developing countries that are experiencing rapid socio‐economic changes.
Hydrophobic surface residues can stabilize a protein through improved water–protein interactions
Authors: Islam Mohammad M. , Kobayashi Kei , Kidokoro Shun‐Ichi , Kuroda Yutaka 
Published: June 2019

Protein stabilization is difficult to rationalize, but the detailed thermodynamic and structural analysis of a series of carefully designed mutants may provide experimental insights into the mechanisms underlying stabilization. Here, we report a systematic structural and thermodynamic analysis of bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI) variants that are significantly stabilized through a single amino acid substitution at residue 38, which is located in a loop mostly exposed on the protein surface. Differential scanning calorimetry indicated that the BPTI‐[5,55]Gly14 variants with a single mutation at position 38 were stabilized in an enthalpy‐driven manner and that the magnitude of the stabilization increased as the hydrophobicity of residue 38 increased. This increase in the thermal stability of BPTI was unexpected because a hydrophobic residue on a protein surface is usually destabilizing. To identify the structural determinants of this stabilization, we determined the crystal structures of six BPTI‐[5,55]Gly14 variants (Gly14Gly38, Gly14Ala38, Gly14Val38, Gly14Leu38, Gly14Ile38, and Gly14Lys38) at high resolutions and showed that they retain essentially the same structure as the wild‐type BPTI. A more detailed examination of their structures indicated that the extent of thermal stabilization correlated with both improved local packing and increased hydration around the substitution sites. In particular, the number of water molecules near residue 38 increased upon mutation to a hydrophobic residue suggesting that improved hydration contributed to the enthalpy‐driven stabilization. Increasing a protein's thermal stability by the placement of a hydrophobic amino acid on the protein surface is a novel and unexpected phenomenon, and its exact nature is worth further examination, as it may provide a generic method for stabilizing proteins in an enthalpy‐driven manner.DatabaseThe coordinates and structure factors of Gly14Gly38, Gly14Ile38, Gly14Leu38, and Gly14Lys38 variants of BPTI‐[5,55] are deposited in the Protein Data Bank under the PDB entry codes 5XX3, 5XX5, 5XX2, and 5XX4, respectively. We previously reported the structures of Gly14Ala38 (2ZJX) and Gly14Val38 (2ZVX).
Association of acuteBabesia canisinfection and serum lipid, lipoprotein, and apoprotein concentrations in dogs
Authors: Milanović Zorana , Vekić Jelena , Radonjić Vladimir , Ilić Božović Anja , Zeljković Aleksandra , Janac Jelena , Spasojević‐Kalimanovska Vesna , Buch Jesse , Chandrashekar Ramaswamy , Bojić‐Trbojević Žanka , Hajduković Ljiljana , Christopher Mary M. , Kovačević Filipović Milica 
Published: June 2019

AbstractBackgroundBabesia canisinfection induces a marked acute phase response (APR) that might be associated with alteration in lipid and lipoprotein metabolism and disease prognosis.HypothesisDogs withB. canis‐induced APR develop dyslipidemia with altered lipoprotein concentration and morphology.AnimalsTwenty‐nine client‐owned dogs with acuteB. canisinfection and 10 clinically healthy control dogs.MethodsObservational cross‐sectional study. Serum amyloid A (SAA) was measured using ELISA. Cholesterol, phospholipids, and triglycerides were determined biochemically. Lipoproteins were separated using agarose gel electrophoresis. Lipoprotein diameter was assessed by polyacrylamide gradient gel electrophoresis; correlation with ApoA‐1 (radioimmunoassay) and SAA was determined.ResultsDogs withB. canisinfection had a marked APR (median SAA, 168.3 μg/mL; range, 98.1‐716.2 μg/mL) compared with controls (3.2 μg/mL, 2.0‐4.2 μg/mL) (P < .001). Dogs withB. canisinfection had significantly lower median cholesterol (4.79 mmol/L, 1.89‐7.64 mmol/L versus 6.15 mmol/L, 4.2‐7.4 mmol/L) (P= .02), phospholipid (4.64 mmol/L, 2.6‐6.6 mmol/L versus 5.72 mmol/L, 4.68‐7.0 mmol/L) (P= .02), and α‐lipoproteins (77.5%, 27.7%‐93.5% versus 89.2%, 75.1%‐93.5%) (P= .04), and higher ApoA‐1 (1.36 U, 0.8‐2.56 U versus 0.95 U, 0.73‐1.54 U) concentrations (P= .02). Serum amyloid A correlated with high‐density lipoproteins (HDLs) diameter (rho = .43;P= .03) and ApoA‐1 (rho = .63,P < .001).Conclusions and Clinical ImportanceMajor changes associated withB. canis‐induced APR in dogs are related to concentration, composition, and morphology of HDL particles pointing to an altered reverse cholesterol transport. Parallel ApoA‐1 and SAA concentration increase is a unique still unexplained pathophysiological finding.
Clinical characteristics, breed differences, and quality of life in North American dogs with acute steroid‐responsive meningitis‐arteritis
Authors: Lau Jeanie , Nettifee Julie A. , Early Peter J. , Mariani Christopher L. , Olby Natasha J. , Muñana Karen R. 
Published: June 2019

AbstractBackgroundSteroid‐responsive meningitis‐arteritis (SRMA) is a common inflammatory neurologic disorder of dogs for which certain breeds are predisposed.ObjectivesTo determine whether breed differences exist in clinical features, treatment response, and relapse in a population of North American dogs with SRMA, and to evaluate the effect of disease on dogs' quality of life (QoL).AnimalsSixty‐one client‐owned dogs with SRMA: 29 dogs identified through an American Kennel Club‐Canine Health Foundation survey and 32 dogs from North Carolina (NC) State Veterinary Hospital.MethodsRetrospective case series. Caregivers completed an online survey to assess QoL.ResultsBreeds represented most often included the Golden Retriever (n = 12), Bernese Mountain Dog (10), Wirehaired Pointing Griffon (9), Boxer (9), and Beagle (6). No breed differences were identified with respect to clinical severity, diagnostic findings, or outcome. Twenty‐nine dogs (48%) had ≥1 disease relapse. There was a significant effect of cerebrospinal fluid nucleated cell count on the frequency of disease relapse (P = .003), but no relationship was identified between treatment protocol and relapse. Dogs' QoL was associated with the severity of corticosteroid‐related adverse effects (P = .03), which were dose‐related (r = .24, P = .02) and more prevalent in Wirehaired Pointing Griffons than in other breeds (P = .04).Conclusion and Clinical ImportanceGolden Retrievers and Wirehaired Pointing Griffons should be considered among the breeds recognized to develop SRMA. Treatment with higher corticosteroid dosages is correlated with more severe adverse effects and worse QoL, but it may not improve clinical outcome.
Coupled Fan–Stator Aerodynamic and Acoustic Response to Inflow Distortion
Authors: Atassi H. M. , Kozlov A. V. , Ali A. A. , Topol D. A. 
Published: June 2019

Abstract
Turbofan rotor–stator aeromechanic and aeroacoustics modeling has been traditionally developed by considering separately the aerodynamic and acoustic response of the fan and the stator to inflow nonuniformities. The present paper develops a model for the coupled fan–stator response for a realistic 3D geometry. The coupling mechanism is assumed to be mainly carried by scattered waves bouncing back and forth between the fan and the stator. The relationship between sources and state elements at three regions (inlet (1), in-between fan and stator (2), and exit (3)) is derived in terms of a scattering matrix S. The model is applied to two fan configurations: (1) a fully subsonic fan and (2) a transonic tip speed fan. The scattering matrix terms, up to the 5th blade passing frequency (BPF), are calculated by using CAAT, an Euler-based code. Results show coupling adds about 6 dB to the sound power level (PWL) of the transonic fan configuration but has a small effect for the subsonic fan configuration. The analysis of the propagating modes shows that, for the transonic configuration, the inlet mode at 1BPF propagates in regions 2 and 3 but is cut off in region 1. This reinforces the coupling process by trapping the acoustic mode 1BPF in region 2. Although this trapped energy is mainly due to the 1BPF of the fan wake, the fan scatters this energy into higher order acoustic modes and thus produces redistribution toward higher frequency of the acoustic spectra. Finally, adding a liner in region 2 reduces the energy of 1BPF mode propagating upstream and impinging on the fan. This mitigates the effect of the fan–stator coupling.
Comparison of corneal densitometry between big-bubble and visco-bubble deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty
Authors: Scorcia Vincenzo , De Luca Valentina , Lucisano Andrea , Bruzzichessi Donatella , Balestrieri Marco , Soda Mauro , Myerscough James , Busin Massimo 
Published: June 2019

AimsTo evaluate deep corneal densitometry and visual outcomes after big-bubble (BB-DALK) and visco-bubble (VB-DALK) deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty performed in patients with keratoconus.MethodsProspective comparative study of 50 advanced keratoconic patients who underwent DALK surgery; 25 eyes (group I) were completed with BB-DALK and 25 eyes (group II) with VB-DALK after the failure of pneumatic dissection. Best spectacle-corrected visual acuity (BSCVA), corneal tomographic parameters and endothelial cell count were recorded 1, 3, 6, 12 and 24 months after surgery. Densitometric analysis of the deep corneal interface was obtained using Scheimpflug tomography at each visit; values recorded were compared between the two groups and statistically analysed.ResultsBSCVA was significantly better in the BB-DALK group than the VB-DALK group (0.39±0.29 vs 0.65±0.23 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution, respectively) for the first 3 months; and in the same time period, densitometry was significantly higher in the VB-DALK group than those recorded in the BB-DALK group (23.97±5.34 vs 17.13±4.44 grayscale units). However, densitometric values and visual acuity did not differ significantly in the two groups at 1 year. No statistically significant difference for the other variables analysed at any time frame was found.ConclusionThe use of viscoelastic substance in the VB-DALK technique may induce modification of interface stromal reflectivity resulting in reduced visual acuity up to 3 months postoperatively. However, this initial negative effect on the interface quality does not affect the long-term visual outcome, with densitometric values and visual outcomes similar in the two groups from 6 months postoperatively.