bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A novel method for robust markerless tracking of rodent paws in 3D
Authors: Haji Maghsoudi Omid , Vahedipour Annie , Spence Andrew 
Published: September 2019

AbstractStudying animal locomotion improves our understanding of motor control and aids in the treatment of motor impairment. Mice are a premier model of human disease and are the model system of choice for much of basic neuroscience. Placement of the tips of appendages, here paws, is typically critical for locomotion. Tracking paws from a video is difficult, however, due to frequent occlusions and collisions. We propose a method and provide software to track the paws of rodents. We use a superpixel-based method to segment the paws, direct linear transform to perform 3D reconstruction, a 3D Kalman filter (KF) to solve the matching problem and label paws across frames, and spline fits through time to resolve common collisions. The automated method was compared to manual tracking. The method had an average of 2.54 mistakes requiring manual correction per 1000 frames with a maximum of 5.29 possible errors while these values were estimates of the expected errors. We present an algorithm and its implementation to track the paws of running rodents. This algorithm can be applied to different animals as long as the tips of the legs can be differentiated from the background and other parts of the body using color features. The presented algorithm provides a robust tool for future studies in multiple fields, where precise quantification of locomotor behavior from a high-speed video is required. We further present a graphical user interface (GUI) to track, visualize, and edit the tracking data.
Ground state solutions for fractional Schrödinger equation with variable potential and Berestycki–Lions type nonlinearity
Authors: Chen Jing , Gao Zu 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
We consider the following nonlinear fractional Schrödinger equation:
$$ (-\triangle )^{s} u+V(x)u=g(u) \quad \text{in } \mathbb{R} ^{N}, $$

(
−
△
)

s

u
+
V
(
x
)
u
=
g
(
u
)

in

R
N

,
where $s\in (0, 1)$
s
∈
(
0
,
1
)
, $N>2s$
N
>
2
s
, $V(x)$
V
(
x
)
is differentiable, and $g\in C ^{1}(\mathbb{R} , \mathbb{R} )$
g
∈

C
1

(
R
,
R
)
. By exploiting the minimization method with a constraint over Pohoz̆aev manifold, we obtain the existence of ground state solutions. With the help of Pohoz̆aev identity we also process the existence of the least energy solutions for the above equation. Our results improve the existing study on this nonlocal problem with Berestycki–Lions type nonlinearity to the one that does not need the oddness assumption.
A modified Schrödinger-type identity: uniqueness of solutions for singular boundary value problem for the Schrödinger equation
Authors: He Hongjun , Pang Zhifeng 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
This paper is devoted to modifying the Schrödinger-type identity related to singular boundary value problem in (Zhang et al. in Bound. Value Probl. 2018:135, 2018). We also present some mathematical consequences of the method, including a stability result. The main technical tools used to develop the mathematical analysis are local and global bifurcation, monotonicity techniques, fixed point theory in b-metric spaces in (Liu et al. in Bull. Aust. Math. Soc. 94(1):121–130, 2016) and the maximum principle approach with respect to the Schrödinger operator in (Fan et al. in Math. Appl. 31(1):42–48, 2018). As an application, the uniqueness of solutions for singular boundary value problem for the Schrödinger equation is proved.
Replaceability and negotiation in a cloud service ecosystem
Authors: Bhattacharya Adrija , Choudhury Sankhayan , Cortesi Agostino 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
Cloud federation is an aggregation of services from different providers in a single pool supporting interoperability and resource migration. In federation, Services are assigned to the consumer’s service access pool as per their specific functional and associated Quality level requirements. The said assignment is based on the advertised features of services. Sometimes, the selected provider fails to provide the committed service or, it fails to fulfill the expected QoS level. As a result, the consumer is being deprived of getting the services at required quality levels, in spite of subscribing and paying. Re-federation i.e. the inclusion of new services from different providers in the resource pool is a solution. This costly and time consuming re-federation process harms the overall harmony, reputation and performance of the existing federation. In this paper, the necessary strategies to make a federation autonomic is proposed. It helps federation to work in a self-adaptive manner by delaying the re-federation process through replacement and negotiation mechanisms. This allows the federation to keep a balanced state in case of failures. The proposed methods are simulated and the claims are substantiated by the preliminary experimental outcomes.
Cost effectiveness of bilateral risk-reducing mastectomy and salpingo-oophorectomy
Authors: Schrauder Michael G. , Brunel-Geuder Lisa , Häberle Lothar , Wunderle Marius , Hoyer Juliane , Csorba Roland , Reis André , Schulz-Wendtland Rüdiger , Beckmann Matthias W. , Lux Michael P. 
Published: September 2019

AbstractBackgroundGrowing demand for risk-reducing surgery in individuals with inherited susceptibility to cancer leads to the question whether these procedures are cost effective for the executing hospitals. This study compared the clinical costs for bilateral risk-reducing mastectomy (BRRM) with and without different types of reconstruction, risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy (RRSO), and their combinations with corresponding reimbursements in the statutory health-care system in Germany.Patients and methodsReal total costs of care for BRRM with and without reconstruction, RRSO, and their combinations were calculated as the sum of all personnel and technical costs. These costs calculated in a German University hospital were compared with the sum of all reimbursements in the German DRG-based health-care system.ResultsWhile sole RRSO, BRRM without reconstruction, and BRRM with secondary DIEP (deep inferior epigastric perforator)—reconstruction still result in a small benefit, we even found shortfalls for the hospital with all other prophylactic operations under consideration. The calculated deficits were especially high for BRRM with implant-based breast reconstruction and for combined operations when the risk reduction is achieved with a minimum of separate operations.ConclusionsRisk-reducing surgery inBRCA-mutation carriers is frequently not cost-covering for the executing hospitals in the German health-care system. Thus, appropriate concepts are required to ensure a nationwide care.
Comparative analysis of amplicon and metagenomic sequencing methods reveals key features in the evolution of animal metaorganisms
Authors: Rausch Philipp , Rühlemann Malte , Hermes Britt M. , Doms Shauni , Dagan Tal , Dierking Katja , Domin Hanna , Fraune Sebastian , von Frieling Jakob , Hentschel Ute , Heinsen Femke-Anouska , Höppner Marc , Jahn Martin T. , Jaspers Cornelia , Kissoyan Kohar Annie B. , Langfeldt Daniela , Rehman Ateequr , Reusch Thorsten B. H. , Roeder Thomas , Schmitz Ruth A. , Schulenburg Hinrich , Soluch Ryszard , Sommer Felix , Stukenbrock Eva , Weiland-Bräuer Nancy , Rosenstiel Philip , Franke Andre , Bosch Thomas , Baines John F. 
Published: September 2019

Abstract

Background
The interplay between hosts and their associated microbiome is now recognized as a fundamental basis of the ecology, evolution, and development of both players. These interdependencies inspired a new view of multicellular organisms as “metaorganisms.” The goal of the Collaborative Research Center “Origin and Function of Metaorganisms” is to understand why and how microbial communities form long-term associations with hosts from diverse taxonomic groups, ranging from sponges to humans in addition to plants.

Methods
In order to optimize the choice of analysis procedures, which may differ according to the host organism and question at hand, we systematically compared the two main technical approaches for profiling microbial communities, 16S rRNA gene amplicon and metagenomic shotgun sequencing across our panel of ten host taxa. This includes two commonly used 16S rRNA gene regions and two amplification procedures, thus totaling five different microbial profiles per host sample.

Conclusion
While 16S rRNA gene-based analyses are subject to much skepticism, we demonstrate that many aspects of bacterial community characterization are consistent across methods. The resulting insight facilitates the selection of appropriate methods across a wide range of host taxa. Overall, we recommend single- over multi-step amplification procedures, and although exceptions and trade-offs exist, the V3 V4 over the V1 V2 region of the 16S rRNA gene. Finally, by contrasting taxonomic and functional profiles and performing phylogenetic analysis, we provide important and novel insight into broad evolutionary patterns among metaorganisms, whereby the transition of animals from an aquatic to a terrestrial habitat marks a major event in the evolution of host-associated microbial composition.
Commensal-derived metabolites govern Vibrio cholerae pathogenesis in host intestine
Authors: You Jin Sun , Yong Ji Hyun , Kim Gwang Hee , Moon Sungmin , Nam Ki Taek , Ryu Ji Hwan , Yoon Mi Young , Yoon Sang Sun 
Published: September 2019

Abstract

Background
Recent evidence suggests that the commensal microbes act as a barrier against invading pathogens and enteric infections are the consequences of multi-layered interactions among commensals, pathogens, and the host intestinal tissue. However, it remains unclear how perturbations of the gut microbiota compromise host infection resistance, especially through changes at species and metabolite levels.

Results
Here, we illustrate how Bacteroides vulgatus, a dominant species of the Bacteroidetes phylum in mouse intestine, suppresses infection by Vibrio cholerae, an important human pathogen. Clindamycin (CL) is an antibiotic that selectively kills anaerobic bacteria, and accordingly Bacteroidetes are completely eradicated from CL-treated mouse intestines. The Bacteroidetes-depleted adult mice developed severe cholera-like symptoms, when infected with V. cholerae. Germ-free mice mono-associated with B. vulgatus became resistant to V. cholerae infection. Levels of V. cholerae growth-inhibitory metabolites including short-chain fatty acids plummeted upon CL treatment, while levels of compounds that enhance V. cholerae proliferation were elevated. Furthermore, the intestinal colonization process of V. cholerae was well-simulated in CL-treated adult mice.

Conclusions
Overall, we provide insights into how a symbiotic microbe and a pathogenic intruder interact inside host intestine. We identified B. vulgatus as an indigenous microbial species that can suppress intestinal infection. Our results also demonstrate that commensal-derived metabolites are a critical determinant for host resistance against V. cholerae infection, and that CL pretreatment of adult mice generates a simple yet useful model of cholera infection.
SLC39A8 gene encoding a metal ion transporter: discovery and bench to bedside
Authors: Nebert Daniel W. , Liu Zijuan 
Published: September 2019

AbstractSLC39A8is an evolutionarily highly conserved gene that encodes the ZIP8 metal cation transporter in all vertebrates.SLC39A8is ubiquitously expressed, including pluripotent embryonic stem cells;SLC39A8expression occurs in every cell type examined. Uptake of ZIP8-mediated Mn2+, Zn2+, Fe2+, Se4+, and Co2+represents endogenous functions—moving these cations into the cell. By way of mouse genetic differences, the phenotype of “subcutaneous cadmium-induced testicular necrosis” was assigned to theCdmlocus in the 1970s. This led to identification of the mouseSlc39a8gene, its most closely relatedSlc39a14gene, and creation ofSlc39a8-overexpressing,Slc39a8(neo/neo) knockdown, and cell type-specific conditional knockout mouse lines; theSlc39a8(−/−)global knockout mouse is early-embryolethal.Slc39a8(neo/neo) hypomorphs die between gestational day 16.5 and postnatal day 1—exhibiting severe anemia, dysregulated hematopoiesis, hypoplastic spleen, dysorganogenesis, stunted growth, and hypomorphic limbs. Not surprisingly, genome-wide association studies subsequently revealed humanSLC39A8-deficiency variants exhibiting striking pleiotropy—defects correlated with clinical disorders in virtually every organ, tissue, and cell-type: numerous developmental and congenital disorders, the immune system, cardiovascular system, kidney, lung, liver, coagulation system, central nervous system, musculoskeletal system, eye, and gastrointestinal tract. Traits with whichSLC39A8-deficiency variants are currently associated include Mn2+-deficient hypoglycosylation; numerous birth defects; Leigh syndrome-like mitochondrial redox deficiency; decreased serum high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol levels; increased body mass index; greater risk of coronary artery disease, hypotension, cardiovascular death, allergy, ischemic stroke, schizophrenia, Parkinson disease, inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn disease, myopia, and adolescent idiopathic scoliosis; systemic lupus erythematosus with primary Sjögren syndrome; decreased height; and inadvertent participation in the inflammatory progression of osteoarthritis.
The influence of dynamic environmental interactions on detection efficiency of acoustic transmitters in a large, deep, freshwater lake
Authors: Klinard Natalie V. , Halfyard Edmund A. , Matley Jordan K. , Fisk Aaron T. , Johnson Timothy B. 
Published: September 2019

Abstract

Background
Acoustic telemetry is an increasingly common method used to address ecological questions about the movement, behaviour, and survival of freshwater and marine organisms. The variable performance of acoustic telemetry equipment and ability of receivers to detect signals from transmitters have been well studied in marine and coral reef environments to inform study design and improve data interpretation. Despite the growing use of acoustic telemetry in large, deep, freshwater systems, detection efficiency and range, particularly in relation to environmental variation, are poorly understood. We used an array of 90 69-kHz acoustic receivers and 8 sentinel range transmitters of varying power output deployed at different depths and locations approximately 100–9500 m apart for 215 days to evaluate how the detection efficiency of acoustic receivers varied spatially and temporally in relation to environmental conditions.

Results
The maximum distance that tags were detected ranged from 5.9 to 9.3 km. Shallow tags consistently had lower detection efficiency than deep tags of the same power output and detection efficiency declined through the winter months (December–February) of the study. In addition to the distance between tag and receiver, thermocline strength, surface water velocity, ice thickness, water temperature, depth range between tag and receiver, and number of fish detections contributed to explaining variation in detection efficiency throughout the study period. Furthermore, the most significant models incorporated interactions between several environmental variables and tag–receiver distance, demonstrating the complex temporal and spatial relationships that exist in heterogeneous environments.

Conclusions
Relying on individual environmental variables in isolation to interpret receiver performance, and thus animal behaviour, may be erroneous when detection efficiency varies across distances, depths, or tag types. As acoustic telemetry becomes more widely used to study ecology and inform management, it is crucial to understand its limitations in heterogeneous environments, such as freshwater lakes, to improve the quality and interpretation of data. We recommend that in situ range testing and retrospective analysis of detection efficiency be incorporated into study design for telemetry projects. Furthermore, we caution against oversimplifying the dynamic relationship between detection efficiency and environmental conditions for the sake of producing a correction that can be applied directly to detection data of tagged animals when the intended correction may not be justified.
Using the life grid interview technique in STEM education research
Authors: Rowland Ashley A. , Dounas-Frazer Dimitri R. , Ríos Laura , Lewandowski H. J. , Corwin Lisa A. 
Published: September 2019

AbstractBackgroundQualitative interviewing is a common tool that has been utilized by science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education researchers to explore and describe the experiences of students, educators, or other educational stakeholders. Some interviewing techniques use co-creation of an artifact, such as a personal timeline, as a unique way to elicit a detailed narrative from a respondent. The purpose of this commentary is to describe an interview artifact called a life grid. First used and validated in medical sociology to conduct life course research, we adapted the life grid for use in research on undergraduate STEM education. We applied the life grid interview technique to two contexts: (1) students in an advanced degree program reflecting on their entire undergraduate career as a biology major and (2) students in an undergraduate physics program reflecting on a multi-week lab project.ResultsWe found that the life grid supported four important attributes of an interview: facilitation of the respondents’ agency, establishment of rapport between interviewers and respondents, enhanced depth of the respondents’ narratives, and the construction of more accurate accounts of events. We situate our experiences with respect to those attributes and compare them with the experiences detailed in the literature.ConclusionsWe conclude with recommendations for future use of the life grid technique in undergraduate STEM education research. Overall, we find the life grid to be a valuable tool to use when conducting interviews about phenomena with a chronological component.
Density-dependent effect of allelopathy on germination and seedling emergence in two Ipomoea species
Authors: Aguilar-Franco Zoila Mercedes , Flores-Palacios Alejandro , Flores-Morales Alejandro , Perea-Arango Irene , Arellano-García José de Jesús , Valencia-Díaz Susana 
Published: September 2019

Abstract

Background
Density in inter and intraspecific plant-plant interactions affects the action modes of allelopathy (autotoxicity, negative and positive allelopathy). Some seeds exude compounds that inhibit the germination of others. Ipomoea murucoides and I. pauciflora are sympatric tree species that form patches at the local scale where one or the other dominates, possibly due to allelopathy in the seeds. The objective of this study was to determine the possible density-dependence of the allelopathic effect among seeds of these species through the measure of seed germination and seedling emergence.

Methods
In both species, allelopathy was measured as: a) germination in mixed sowing of both species at different proportions, b) germination in single-species trials at different densities after adding seed extracts of both species, and c) seedling emergence in seed mixtures of both species sown at different proportions beneath canopies of the two Ipomoea species.

Results
Seed germination of I. murucoides was increased by the presence of I. pauciflora and diminished at higher densities of its own seeds; however, seed germination of I. pauciflora was not affected by the presence of I. murucoides seeds. The addition of extracts (either from conspecifics or congeneric) diminished the germination of both species and at higher seed densities the germination was lower. Seedling emergence did not depend on the species under which the seeds were sown nor on the density of the seeds.

Conclusions
The germination experiments evidenced positive allelopathy and/or autotoxicity, while there was no evidence of allelopathic effects in seedling emergence. The allelopathic activity is reported in the seeds of these species for the first time.
How much can you take with you? The role of education in explaining differences in the risk of unemployment between migrants and natives
Authors: Cebolla-Boado Héctor , Miyar-Busto María , Muñoz-Comet Jacobo 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
This paper looks at how migrants with different skill profiles make use of their education in order to avoid unemployment compared with natives in three European countries with significantly different labour markets and policies for attracting highly skilled migration: France, Spain and the UK. The paper also explores the role played by the quality of the education migrants and natives received in accounting for these differentials, an explanation rarely tested in the literature due to a lack of appropriate data. We here use PIAAC data (OECD), which for the first time offers an interesting proxy of the quality of education, namely the cognitive skills of a representative sample of adult workers in our selected countries. The paper reaches three clear conclusions. Firstly, that it is among the most educated that inequality in obtaining returns to education by migrant status reaches a maximum. Secondly, that there are important differences in how this happens across countries, with the UK minimizing migrant-native differentials when compared with France and Spain. And that thirdly, and most surprisingly, differences in cognitive abilities, our proxy of the quality of education, are somewhat irrelevant in explaining this inequality.
Myco-metabolites as biological control agents against the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae)
Authors: Osman Mohamed E. , Abo Elnasr Amany A. , Nawar Mohamed A. , Hefnawy Gohyza A. 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
Fungi are a promising source for bioactive secondary metabolites against various agricultural pests. Soil samples were collected from the rhizosphere of various plants at El-Khatatba, Egypt, in May 2016. Sixty-two fungal isolates were locally isolated and screened against Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae). Four fungal strains, showed potent control activities, were morphologically identified. Laboratory evaluation of the crude extracts of the selected strains, Aspergillus melleus, A. terreus, Emericella nidulans, and Chaetomium globosum, exhibited LC50 values of 10.27, 33.05, 14.68, and 22.40 mg/ml against females of T. urticae, respectively. Correspondent LC50 values that exhibited on eggs were 8.81, 23.17, 11.66, and 11.05 mg/ml. Consequently, secondary metabolites of A. melleus were separated by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. Compounds separated from the active fraction were identified as mellamide, ochratoxin C, nodulisporic acid, 7-Oxocurvularin, and 6-(4′-hydroxy-2′-methyl phenoxy)-(−)-(3R)-mellein. Obtained secondary metabolites are promising sources for biopesticides to be used in bio-rationale control of T. urticae.