bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Electron transfer dissociation of synthetic and natural peptides containing lanthionine/methyllanthionine bridges
Authors: Dolle Ashwini B. , Jagadeesh Narasimhappagari , Bhaumik Suman , Prakash Sunita , Biswal Himansu S. , Gowd Konkallu Hanumae 
Published: March 2018

RationaleThe modes of cleavage of lanthionine/methyllanthionine bridges under electron transfer dissociation (ETD) were investigated using synthetic and natural lantipeptides. Knowledge of the mass spectrometric fragmentation of lanthionine/methyllanthionine bridges may assist in the development of analytical methods for the rapid discovery of new lantibiotics. The present study strengthens the advantage of ETD in the characterization of posttranslational modifications of peptides and proteins.MethodsSynthetic and natural lantipeptides were obtained by desulfurization of peptide disulfides and cyanogen bromide digestion of the lantibiotic nisin, respectively. These peptides were subjected to electrospray ionization collision‐induced dissociation tandem mass spectrometry (CID‐MS/MS) and ETD‐MS/MS using an HCT ultra ETDII ion trap mass spectrometer. MS3 CID was performed on the desired product ions to prove cleavage of the lanthionine/methyllanthionine bridge during ETD‐MS/MS.ResultsETD has advantages over CID in the cleavage of the side chain of lanthionine/methyllanthionine bridges. The cleavage of the N–Cα backbone peptide bond followed by C‐terminal side chain of the lanthionine bridge results in formation of c•+ and z+ ions. Cleavage at the preceding peptide bond to the C‐terminal side chain of lanthionine/methyllanthionine bridges yields specific fragments with the cysteine/methylcysteine thiyl radical and dehydroalanine.ConclusionsETD successfully cleaves the lanthionine/methyllanthionine bridges of synthetic and natural lantipeptides. Diagnostic fragment ions of ETD cleavage of lanthionine/methyllanthionine bridges are the N‐terminal cysteine/methylcysteine thiyl radical and C‐terminal dehydroalanine. Detection of the cysteine/methylcysteine thiyl radical and dehydroalanine in combined ETD‐CID‐MS may be used for the rapid identification of lantipeptide natural products.
A review of the effects of pollution and water scarcity on the stream biota of an intermittent Mediterranean basin
Authors: Karaouzas Ioannis , Theodoropoulos Christos , Vardakas Leonidas , Kalogianni Eleni , Th. Skoulikidis Nikolaos 
Published: March 2018

AbstractThis review presents the main results of a 10‐year research study conducted in a Mediterranean intermittent basin (Evrotas River). By assembling the main outcomes of past and ongoing research projects, this study provides an overview of multiple stressor effects, with emphasis on water scarcity, focusing on hydro‐biogeochemical processes, as well as on spatial and temporal variations in benthic macroinvertebrates and fish fauna. The major impact in the basin has been the over‐exploitation of surface and groundwater resources, which, in combination with droughts, has resulted in the recurrent artificial desiccation of large parts of the hydrological network. The response to intermittency of the macroinvertebrate fauna is characterized by high resilience through various drought‐resistant evolutionary mechanisms, with assemblages recovering successfully after recurrent droughts. However, when pollution is evident in combination with drought, effects on benthic species richness, abundance, and assemblage structure can be severe. Similarly, pollution and water stress may result in massive fish mortalities due to hypoxic conditions, with fish populations requiring long periods to recover. However, the fish fauna appears to be relatively resilient to drought‐driven reach‐scale desiccation, and ultimately recovers, provided that aquatic refugia are available to supply colonists and that there are no physical barriers impeding recolonisation. Appropriate conservation measures are urgently required to address the effects of recurrent bouts of water stress, as well as of other stressors on the freshwater communities of the Evrotas River, both at the level of water management and of water policy and at the local and the national level.
Evaluation of statistical downscaling models using pattern and dependence structure in the monsoon‐dominated region of Pakistan
Authors: Khan Firdos , Ali Shaukat , Pilz Jürgen 
Published: March 2018

AbstractThe uphill topography and sudden spatial variation in the climate of the monsoon‐dominated region of Pakistan render it difficult to make predictions with dynamical climate models. This study evaluates the use of two statistical models for the downscaling of climate variables: the Multivariate Multiple Linear Regression Model (MMLRM) and the Multisite Multivariate Statistical Downscaling Model (MMSDSM). A randomisation technique was implemented to establish the extreme values and spatial dependence structure for a number of variables by adding correlated noise to the predictand data for multiple sites, generated from a multivariate normal distribution. In the case of precipitation, probability mapping techniques were used to make adjustments based on a gamma distribution. To cope with the dimensionality and multicollinearity problems of the input data (predictors), empirical orthogonal functions were used. The models were calibrated using the National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) predictors for the period 1960–1990 and validated for 1990–2000. To investigate the efficacy of the proposed models, different statistical measures – such as root mean square error, mean bias error and analysis of how closely the observed variability was reproduced – were used. The results show mixed support for both models: MMLRM underestimates the variability, and MMSDSM has the ability to predict the extreme values and spatial dependence structure. The results of logistic regression analysis show that the precipitation probability values generated by the logistic model closely reproduced the patterns of observed precipitation – there is an increase in the occurrence of precipitation events during the monsoon season over the target area.
Laparoscopic Versus Open Transverse Colectomy: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis
Authors: Gavriilidis Paschalis , Katsanos Konstantinos 
Published: March 2018

AbstractObjectivesThe survival benefits, oncological adequacy, effectiveness, and safety of laparoscopic transverse colectomy (LTC) were compared with that of open transverse colectomy (OTC) using a meta‐analysis.MethodsEMBASE, Medline, Cochrane library, and Google scholar databases were searched for the last 20 years. Meta‐analyses were performed using both fixed‐effects and random‐effects models. Five‐year disease‐free survival and overall survival were estimated using the inverse variance hazard ratio method.ResultsNo survival benefits were detected between the two LTC and OTC cohorts. OTC showed shorter operative time by 38 min compared to LTC [mean difference (MD) = 38(15.23–60.77), p = 0.001]. However, LTC was associated with earlier postoperative recovery. The time to flatus and time to oral intake for LTC were MD = −1.12(−1.68 to −0.55, p = 0.001) and MD = −1.57(−2.38 to −0.76, p = 0.001), respectively. In addition, LTC was associated with a shorter hospital stay by 4.5 days [MD = −4.64(−7.52 to −1.75), p = 0.002].ConclusionsCompared to OTC, LTC provides similar survival benefits, earlier postoperative recovery, and shorter hospital stay by 4.5 days.
A new multi-layer irrotational Boussinesq-type model for highly nonlinear and dispersive surface waves over a mildly sloping seabed
Authors: Liu Z. B. , Fang K. Z. , Cheng Y. Z. 
Published: March 2018

A new multi-layer irrotational Boussinesq-type model is proposed for both linear and nonlinear surface water waves over mildly sloping seabeds. The model is formulated in terms of computational horizontal and vertical velocity components within each layer and satisfies exact kinematic and dynamic free-surface conditions as well as kinematic seabed conditions. Using a Stokes-type expansion, a theoretical analysis of the new multi-layer model is carried out to examine both linear and nonlinear properties, including wave celerity, velocity profiles, shoaling amplitude, second- and third-order transfer functions and amplitude dispersion. The dispersive coefficients in the governing equations are determined by optimizing the linear celerity or linear velocity profiles. For example, the four-layer model shows extremely high accuracy and is applicable up to $kh=667$–800 (where $k$ is the wavenumber and $h$ is a typical water depth) with a 1 % error in wave phase celerity, and up to $kh=352$–423 with a 1 % error in the linear velocity components. The super- and subharmonic transfer functions are extremely accurate up to $kh=300$ (1 % error), the third-order harmonics and amplitude dispersion are accurate up to $kh=477$ (1 % error), and the shoaling property is optimized to cover the range of $0<kh<300$, which presents a 0.06 % tolerance error in shoaling amplitude. The high-accuracy nature of the model increases its suitability for simulating random wave propagation from extremely deep to shallow waters over mildly sloping topographies. The model is implemented numerically on a non-staggered grid via a composite fourth-order Adams–Bashforth–Moulton time integration. The numerical results show good agreement with both the analytical solutions and experimental data.
Why New Parties Split: The Schism of Peru's United Left in Comparative Perspective
Authors: VAN DYCK BRANDON 
Published: March 2018

AbstractWhy do new parties split? Scholars of new party schisms shy away from leadership-centred explanations for fear of excessive voluntarism and thus fail to conceptualise differences between leaders systematically. This article challenges that trend, arguing that externally appealing, internally dominant leaders generate cohesion in new parties. It analyses why some externally appealing leaders are internally dominant, while others are not, and argues that this variation can make the difference between schism and survival. The article supports its argument through a representative case study: the fatal (and consequential) schism of Peru's United Left coalition in the late 1980s.
Seasonality of helminth infection in wild red deer varies between individuals and between parasite taxa
Authors: Albery Gregory F. , Kenyon Fiona , Morris Alison , Morris Sean , Nussey Daniel H. , Pemberton Josephine M. 
Published: March 2018

AbstractParasitism in wild mammals can vary according to myriad intrinsic and extrinsic factors, many of which vary seasonally. However, seasonal variation in parasitism is rarely studied using repeated samples from known individuals. Here we used a wild population of individually recognized red deer (Cervus elaphus) on the Isle of Rum to quantify seasonality and intrinsic factors affecting gastrointestinal helminth parasitism over the course of a year. We collected 1020 non-invasive faecal samples from 328 known individuals which we then analysed for propagules of three helminth taxa: strongyle nematodes, the common liver flukeFasciola hepaticaand the tissue nematodeElaphostrongylus cervi. Zero-inflated Poisson models were used to investigate how season, age and sex were associated with parasite prevalence and count intensity, while Poisson models were used to quantify individual repeatability within and between sampling seasons. Parasite intensity and prevalence varied according to all investigated factors, with opposing seasonality, age profiles and sex biases between parasite taxa. Repeatability was moderate, decreased between seasons and varied between parasites; bothF. hepaticaandE. cervishowed significant between-season repeatability, while strongyle nematode counts were only repeatable within-season and showed no repeatability within individuals across the year.
The adversative connectivesaberandbutin conversational corpora
Authors: GÜLZOW Insa , BARTLITZ Victoria , KUEHNAST Milena , GOLCHER Felix , BITTNER Dagmar 
Published: March 2018

AbstractWe analyzed the conversational corpora of two German and two English children to investigate how the different use types of the adversative connectivesaberandbutinfluence the probability of monologically versus dialogically constructed utterances in the first year of use. Our findings show that children produce adversative connectives mainly in dialogic structures for illocutionary and theme-management purposes, but that the use types of adversative connectives lead to a different distribution of monologic and dialogic clause combinations. The results suggest that monologic and dialogic realizations as a function of text type must be considered when describing the developmental trajectory of the different use types of adversative connectives.
Écrire l'histoire de l'esclavage: Entre approche globale et perspective comparatiste
Authors: Ismard Paulin 
Published: March 2018

RésuméPeut-on considérer, à la suite de l'un de ses meilleurs spécialistes, Patrick Manning, que «le champ des études sur l'esclavage est devenu un modèle de comparatisme en histoire sociale et économique»? Tout dépend de ce que l'on entend sous le terme de comparatisme, qui en est venu à qualifier des démarches aussi différentes dans leur méthode que variées, voire contradictoires, dans leur finalité. Depuis la fin des années 1990, l'histoire globale de l'esclavage n'a pas manqué de souligner les naïvetés épistémologiques d'une certaine tradition comparatiste, coupable d'appréhender le fait esclavagiste sous l'angle de ses institutions, et non comme un processus dynamique résultant de conditions historiques singulières. Il convient pourtant de cerner les limites d'une telle approche lorsqu'elle prétend être seule en mesure de dire ce qu'il en est de l'esclavage à travers l'histoire. Après avoir dressé un état des lieux des enjeux théoriques qui traversent l'historiographie contemporaine de l'esclavage, l'article tente de mettre en évidence ce qu'une démarche comparatiste de type «morphologique», redéfinie dans ses échelles d'observation, ses méthodes et ses objectifs, est susceptible d'apporter à l’étude d'une société en particulier, celle d'Athènes à l’époque classique. À partir de l'examen d'une forme spécifique d'organisation du travail servile commune à de nombreuses sociétés esclavagistes – celle où un esclave attaché à l'exploitation d'une terre, d'une boutique ou d'un atelier verse une rente régulière à son maître –, il est possible de réinterroger plusieurs dimensions essentielles de l'institution esclavagiste athénienne.
L’Église, la cité et la modernité
Authors: Mazel Florian 
Published: March 2018

RésuméLe dernier ouvrage de Dominique Iogna-Prat,Cité de Dieu, cité des hommes. L’Église et l'architecture de la société, 1200-1500, qui s'inscrit dans la postérité intellectuelle et chronologique deLa maison Dieu. Une histoire monumentale de l’Église au Moyen Âge (v. 800-v. 1200), se présente comme un essai sur l’émergence de la ville en tant que figure symbolique et politique de la cité des hommes entre 1200 et 1700, et sur les effets de cette émergence sur l’Église, qui avait assumé cette fonction avant 1200. Il nourrit une réflexion ambitieuse sur les origines de la modernité, qui vise à dépasser les impasses de la philosophie politique, prompte à ignorer les siècles médiévaux et le moment scolastique, et à relativiser l'effacement de l'institution ecclésiale à partir de la Renaissance. Il rejette l'opposition binaire entre l’Église et l’État, propose une nouvelle périodisation de l’«entrée en modernité» et souligne l'importance des enjeux spatiaux (ici principalement en termes de représentation), s'inscrivant ainsi dans un courant de l'historiographie française attaché depuis plus d'une décennie à réintroduire la question de l'espace au cœur de l'histoire sociale et politique. La démonstration, stimulante, suscite cependant quelques interrogations. Celles-ci portent sur les effets de la Réforme protestante, la puissance croissante des États et le processus de «sécularisation» ou, plus encore, sur l'articulation entre une logique de polarisation de l'espace et une logique de territorialisation dans les pratiques de gouvernement et l'encadrement de la société, toutes deux promues par l'institution ecclésiale, avant les États eux-mêmes.
Les strates de la ville de l'Anthropocène
Authors: Zalasiewicz Jan , Waters Colin , Williams Mark 
Published: March 2018

RésuméLe tissu d'une ville correspond à une transformation de matériaux géologiques bruts en un assemblage complexe de nouveaux minéraux, fabriqués par des humains, et de roches, telles que l'acier, le verre, le plastique, le béton, la brique et la céramique. Cette activité est considérée en termes de « métabolisme urbain », avec des afflux et des flux quotidiens de personnes, de nourriture, d'eau et de déchets. Empruntée aux temps géologiques, une échelle de temps plus longue, de quelques années au millénaire, est adoptée ; elle reste pertinente pour le présent et les générations humaines futures. Dans les systèmes sédimentaires naturels, les flux de matériaux sont gouvernés par des forces naturelles, comme le climat et la gravité, et ils laissent des traces physiques dans les strates des rivières. Dans les villes, les flux de matériaux géologiques nécessaires à les construire et à les reconstruire sont réalisés par les humains et sont largement produits par les énergies fossiles stockées dans les hydrocarbures. Les assemblages de roches anthropogéniques et de minéraux qui en résultent peuvent être pensés comme des systèmes sédimentaires (et/ou des traces fossiles), fossilisables, à l’échelle de la planète. Extrêmement plus diversifiés que les strates géologiques naturelles, ils évoluent aussi bien plus rapidement, notamment en ce qui concerne les déchets. Considérer les villes par le biais d'une telle perspective peut devenir de plus en plus utile, compte tenu de leur nécessaire adaptation aux conditions changeantes de l’époque émergente, l'Anthropocène.
L'encastrement des relations entre marchands en France, 1750-1850: Une révolution dans le monde du commerce ?
Authors: Bartolomei Arnaud , de Oliveira Matthieu , Eloire Fabien , Lemercier Claire , Sougy Nadège 
Published: March 2018

RésuméLa période 1750-1850 est souvent placée au centre des grands récits de la modernisation, notamment ceux qui la caractérisent par un passage de relations économiques encastrées dans des liens familiaux ou communautaires à des transactions impersonnelles uniquement appuyées sur le marché et des dispositifs juridiques. Ces récits sont ici mis à l’épreuve à travers l'analyse systématique de trois corpus de sources correspondant à des instruments largement utilisés par les marchands de l’époque : lettres d'entrée en relation, lettres circulaires et procurations notariées. Cette étude, à la fois qualitative et quantitative, ne met en évidence aucune révolution, et peu d’évolutions linéaires. En revanche, elle conduit à dépasser l'opposition entre des transactions commerciales encastrées et totalement désencastrées. De nombreux indices de la complémentarité entre des transactions économiques personnalisées et d'autres plus impersonnelles sont en effet perceptibles. D'autres types d'encastrement jouent aussi un rôle important : d'une part, les relations répétées ou celles établies par l'intermédiaire de tiers ; d'autre part, une forme d'homophilie sociale entre marchands, fondée notamment sur le partage d'un langage commun, celui du commerce.
Reconstructing the ‘everyday’ for a political aesthetic in design
Authors: Zhu Jianfei 
Published: March 2018

Despite the many studies on the everyday in social theory and in architecture, it remains wanting as to how the everyday – as an idea, concept or methodology – can be employed, if at all, for a new conceptualisation of architecture and a new ethic and aesthetic for design action. In this context, Jacques Rancière – who suggests that modern art is about daily life rather than formal abstraction and that a political aesthetic has been with us since the nineteenth century – stands out as a fresh and challenging voice that seems to have a great potential. This paper is a reading of Rancière for architecture, in the interest of searching for a new design agenda, and a new understanding of what was modern and progressive in architecture.After a reading of Lefebvre and others’ studies on the everyday, this paper introduces Rancière's understanding of a longer-standing visibility on the common and the anonymous in everyday life since the early nineteenth-century. To explain, Rancière's main framework is introduced; this includes his basic argument of a distribution of the sensible – a subjective, perceptive and material ordering of the socio-political world that is also aesthetic, his differentiation between police and politics, and his third regime of art in the European history, the ‘aesthetic regime of art’, dominating after 1800 and ongoing today. Emphasising a few points and providing a discussion on four issues, the paper concludes with the proposal of a new approach. This paper critically revises established views on Marxist critique of commodification and of modern architecture as abstraction. It promotes a political aesthetic of ‘horizontal’ perspective, with openness, inclusivity and heterogeneity. It discusses as well how a non-western world, such as China, can and should be incorporated into a heterogenous field of discussion.
On the (In)compatibility of Islamic Religiosity and Citizenship in Western Democracies: The Role of Religion for Muslims’ Civic and Political Engagement
Authors: Peucker Mario 
Published: March 2018

AbstractQuestioning the compatibility of Islam with liberal democratic principles has become a common argument in the public rhetoric across the socio-political spectrum. This article examines this claimed irreconcilability through the prism of a constitutive dimension of healthy democracies: active citizenship. Drawing on a systematic synthesis of recent studies, the article argues that, while it is impossible to ultimately decide whether Islam as a faith is compatible with liberal democratic norms, the lived religiosity of most Muslims is generally not an obstacle to civic engagement in non-Muslim majority countries; active involvement in mosques rather tends to enhance their active citizenship. Data from an explorative study on Muslims’ engagement in Australia and Germany allow new insights into the different ways civically active Muslims refer to their faith as a driver for their citizenship. Some describe it as a religious duty, while for others ‘serving humanity’ constitutes a fundamental aspect of lived religiosity.
Radiometric accuracy and stability of sentinel-1A determined using point targets
Authors: Schmidt Kersten , Tous Ramon Núria , Schwerdt Marco 
Published: March 2018

ABSTRACTSentinel-1A is a space-borne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system developed in the frame of the Copernicus Program. The German Aerospace Center supported the radiometric and polarimetric calibration of Sentinel-1A by the analysis of point target responses of several acquisitions considering different modes, beams, and polarization channels. An elevation dependent bias, which had not been properly predicted by the used antenna model, was found for all investigated modes. Offsets of up to 2 dB were determined during the SAR instrument calibration phase, in particular, for low and high elevation angles. Therefore, in order to correct these elevation biases, a radiometric refinement was carried out by European Space Agency in November 2015. After that, Sentinel-1A radiometric accuracy and long-term stability were analyzed over a period of 1.5 years. For this period, the absolute calibration factor and the channel imbalance were determined for the main imaging mode. Moreover, a slight drift of the derived calibration factor was observed starting from July 2016. At the same time an anomaly was detected in the front-end affecting several transmit and receive modules in one tile. The radiometric behavior of Sentinel-1A should therefore be monitored for a longer period of time, especially to detect potential degradation effects of the SAR instrument.