bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Identification of novel circadian transcripts in the zebrafish retina
Authors: Ramasamy Soundhar , Sharma Surbhi , Iyengar Bharat Ravi , Vellarikkal Shamsudheen Karuthedath , Sivasubbu Sridhar , Maiti Souvik , Pillai Beena 
Published: September 2018

AbstractHigh fecundity, transparent embryos for monitoring the rapid development of organs and the availability of a well-annotated genome has made zebrafish a model organism of choice for developmental biology and neurobiology. This vertebrate model, a favourite in chronobiology studies, shows striking circadian rhythmicity in behaviour. Here, we identify novel genes in the zebrafish genome, which shows their expression in the zebrafish retina. We further resolve the expression pattern over time and assign specific novel transcripts to the retinal cell type, predominantly in the inner nuclear layer. Using chemical ablation and free run experiments we segregate the transcripts that are rhythmic when entrained by light from those that show sustained oscillations in the absence of external cues. The transcripts reported here with rigorous annotation and specific functions in circadian biology provide the groundwork for functional characterisation of novel players in the zebrafish retinal clock.
Inoculation with Pisolithus tinctorius may ameliorate acid rain impacts on soil microbial communities associated with Pinus massoniana seedlings
Authors: Maltz Mia R. , Chen Zhan , Cao Jixin , Arogyaswamy Keshav , Shulman Hannah , Aronson Emma L. 
Published: September 2018

AbstractHuman activities accelerate acidification, particularly as acid rain, which may have lasting impacts on soil abiotic and biotic parameters. However, the effects of acidification on aboveground vegetation, belowground communities, and carbon cycling remains unresolved. We examined the effects of long-term acidic treatments and Pisolithus inoculation on plants, soils, and microbial communities in pine plantations and found that exposure to severely-acidic treatments diminished plant performance, altered microbial communities, and decreased organic matter, nitrate, and available phosphorus. Although we did not detect any benefits of Pisolithus inoculation for Pinus seedlings impacted by severely-acidic treatments, when these severe treatments were inoculated with Pisolithus, both soil properties and microbial community composition shifted. We posit that inoculation with Pisolithus may alleviate stressful environmental conditions, and change the structure of mycorrhizal fungal communities. Although acidification may alter biogeochemical cycles and constrain aboveground and belowground communities, Pisolithus inoculation may provide benefits to some components of forested ecosystems.
foxc1aandfoxc1bdifferentially regulate angiogenesis from arteries and veins by modulating Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor signalling
Authors: Jiang Zhen , Evans Teri , Savage Aaron M. , Loose Matthew , Chico Timothy J.A. , van Eeden Fredericus J.M. , Wilkinson Robert N. 
Published: September 2018

AbstractThe forkhead transcription factorsFoxc1andFoxc2are essential to establish intact vascular networks in mammals. How these genes interact with endothelial signalling pathways to exert their functions remains incompletely understood. We have generated novel zebrafish mutants infoxc1aandfoxc1b, the zebrafish orthologues of mammalianFoxc1, to determine their function during angiogenesis.foxc1amutants display abnormal formation of cranial veins including the primordial hindbrain channels (PHBC), reduced Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) receptor expression in these and loss of central arteries.foxc1bmutants are normal, whereasfoxc1a;foxc1bdouble mutants exhibit ectopic angiogenesis from trunk segmental arteries. Dll4/Notch signalling is reduced infoxc1a; foxc1bdouble mutant arteries and ectopic angiogenesis can be suppressed by induction of Notch or inhibition of Vegfc signalling. We conclude thatfoxc1aandfoxc1bplay compensatory and context-dependent roles to co-ordinate angiogenesis by promoting venous sprouting via induction of VEGF receptor expression whilst antagonising arterial sprouting by inducing Dll4/Notch signalling.foxc1a/bmediated induction of both pro- and anti-angiogenic axes of VEGF-Dll4/Notch negative feedback imparts competition to balance arterial and venous angiogenesis within developing vascular beds.Summary Statementfoxc1aandfoxc1bpromote angiogenesis from veins and suppress angiogenesis from arteries by promoting competing pro-angiogenic Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor signalling, and anti-angiogenic Dll4/Notch signalling in zebrafish embryos.
Short-hairpin RNA-guided single gene knockdown reverses triple-negative breast cancer
Authors: Chen Dong-Mei , Shi Zhu-Qing , Tan Li-Li , Chen Yan-Ping , Li Chang-Qing , Wang Qi , Li He , Zhang Meng-Le , Song Jian-Ping , Xu Qin , Zeng Qing-Ping 
Published: September 2018

AbstractBackgroundThe origin of breast cancer remains poorly understood. Here, we testify a putative mechanism of “breast cancer origin from inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) activation and oestrogen receptor alpha (ERα) inactivation”, which are classified as the essential outcomes of chronic inflammatory responses.MethodsTo reverse breast cancer status, iNOS was downregulated by short-hairpin RNA (shRNA)-guidedNOS2knockdown from human triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells. To re-enact breast cancer origin, ERα was downregulated by shRNA-directedESR1knockdown in human mammary epithelial cells.ResultsUponNOS2knockdown from HCC1937 cells, the specific TNBC transcription factor genes,RUNX1andBCL11A, were downregulated, hypoxia was compromised, Warburg effects were attenuated, and tumourigenic proliferation was halted, accompanied by an increase in the tumour marker cyclin D1 (CD1) and a decrease in the tumour suppressor cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor (CKI). In contrast,ESR1knockdown from MCF-10A cells led to upregulatedBCL11AandRUNX1expression, augmented hypoxic responses, pronounced Warburg effects, and enhanced PI3K/Akt/mTOR signalling, together with low levels of CD1 and high levels of CKI induction.ConclusionsBreast cancer should originate from inflammatory signalling, during which iNOS activation and ERα inactivation elicit hypoxia, oxidation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and breast cancer-like hyperplasia, demonstrating that iNOS inhibitors and ERα activators represent promising candidate prodrugs enabling breast cancer prevention in the early stage.
Developmental maturation of the precuneus as a functional core of the default-mode network
Authors: Li Rosa , Utevsky Amanda V. , Huettel Scott A. , Braams Barbara R. , Peters Sabine , Crone Eveline A. , van Duijvenvoorde Anna C.K. 
Published: September 2018

AbstractEfforts to map the functional architecture of the developing human brain have shown that connectivity between and within functional neural networks changes from childhood to adulthood. While prior work has established that the adult precuneus distinctively modifies its connectivity during task versus rest states (Utevsky, Smith, & Huettel, 2014), it remains unknown how these connectivity patterns emerge over development. Here, we use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data collected at two longitudinal timepoints from over 250 participants between the ages of 8 and 26 engaging in two cognitive tasks and a resting-state scan. By applying independent component analysis (ICA) to both task and rest data, we identified three canonical networks of interest – the rest-based default mode network (DMN) and the task-based left and right frontoparietal networks (LFPN, RFPN) – which we explored for developmental changes using dual-regression analyses. We found systematic state-dependent functional connectivity in the precuneus, such that engaging in a task (compared to rest) resulted in greater precuneus-LFPN and precuneus-RFPN connectivity, whereas being at rest (compared to task) resulted in greater precuneus-DMN connectivity. These cross-sectional results replicated across both tasks and at both developmental timepoints. Finally, we used longitudinal mixed models to show that the degree to which precuneus distinguishes between task and rest states increases with age, due to age-related increasing segregation between precuneus and LFPN at rest. Our results highlight the distinct role of the precuneus in tracking processing state, in a manner that is both present throughout and strengthened across development.
Forgetful inference in a sophisticated world model
Authors: Ahilan Sanjeevan , Solomon Rebecca B. , Breton Yannick-André , Conover Kent , Niyogi Ritwik K. , Shizgal Peter , Dayan Peter 
Published: September 2018

AbstractHumans and other animals are able to discover underlying statistical structure in their environments and exploit it to achieve efficient and effective performance. However, such structure is often difficult to learn and use because it is obscure, involving long-range temporal dependencies. Here, we analysed behavioural data from an extended experiment with rats, showing that the subjects learned the underlying statistical structure, albeit suffering at times from immediate inferential imperfections as to their current state within it. We accounted for their behaviour using a Hidden Markov Model, in which recent observations are integrated with the recollections of an imperfect memory. We found that over the course of training, subjects came to track their progress through the task more accurately, a change that our model largely attributed to decreased forgetting. This ‘learning to remember’ decreased reliance on recent observations, which may be misleading, in favour of a longer-term memory.Author summaryHumans and other animals possess the remarkable ability to find and exploit patterns and structures in their experience of a complex and varied world. However, such structures are often temporally extended and latent or hidden, being only partially correlated with immediate observations of the world. This makes it essential to integrate current and historical information, and creates a challenging statistical and computational problem.Here, we examine the behaviour of rats facing a version of this challenge posed by a brain-stimulation reward task. We find that subjects learned the general structure of the task, but struggled when immediate observations were misleading. We captured this behaviour with a model in which subjects integrated evidence from their observations together with a memory whose imperfections accounted for their errors.The subjects’ performance improved markedly over successive sessions, allowing them to overcome misleading observations. According to the model, this arose from a process of ‘learning to remember’ in which subjects became better at employing more reliable past observations to determine the hidden state of the world.
Transformation of Speech Sequences in Human Sensorimotor Circuits
Authors: Müsch Kathrin , Himberger Kevin , Tan Kean Ming , Valiante Taufik A. , Honey Christopher J. 
Published: September 2018

SummaryAfter we listen to a series of words, we can silently replay them in our mind. Does this mental replay involve a re-activation of our original perceptual representations? We recorded electrocorticographic (ECoG) activity across the lateral cerebral cortex as people heard and then mentally rehearsed spoken sentences. For each region, we tested whether silent rehearsal of sentences involved reactivation of sentence-specific representations established during perception or transformation to a distinct representation. In sensorimotor and premotor cortex, we observed reliable and temporally precise responses to speech; these patterns transformed to distinct sentence-specific representations during mental rehearsal. In contrast, we observed slower and less reliable responses in prefrontal and temporoparietal cortex; these higher-order representations, which were sensitive to sentence semantics, were shared across perception and rehearsal. The mental rehearsal of natural speech involves the transformation of time-resolved speech representations in sensorimotor and premotor cortex, combined with diffuse reactivation of higher-order semantic representations.Conflict of interestThe authors declare no competing financial interests.
Made in Basel? A commentary on the contemporary art world in Asia
Authors: Waters Matthew J. 
Published: September 2018

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the recent emergence of contemporary art in Asia from a macro, sociocultural perspective.

Design/methodology/approach
This commentary is based on secondary research and recent visits to contemporary art centres in major cities across Asia.

Findings
The author argues that contemporary art in Asia emerges by extension of the Western contemporary art world and suggests that more must be done if Asia is to create a contemporary art world that is both internationally recognised and distinct from its Western precedent.

Originality/value
This commentary debunks the hyperbole surrounding contemporary art in Asia as a regional phenomenon and provides a critical examination of the global (power) dynamics at play.
Doing business and inclusive human development in Sub-Saharan Africa
Authors: Asongu Simplice , Odhiambo Nicholas 
Published: September 2018

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine how doing business affects inclusive human development in 48 Sub-Saharan Africa for the period 2000–2012.Design/methodology/approachThe measurement of inclusive human development encompasses both absolute pro-poor and relative pro-poor concepts of inclusive development. Three doing business variables are used, namely: the number of start-up procedures required to register a business, time required to start a business, and time to prepare and pay taxes. The empirical evidence is based on fixed effects and generalised method of moments regressions.FindingsThe findings show that increasing constraints to the doing of business have a negative effect on inclusive human development.Originality/valueThe study is timely and very relevant to the post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda for two fundamental reasons: first, exclusive development is a critical policy syndrome in Africa because about 50 per cent of countries in the continent did not attain the Millennium Development Goal extreme poverty target despite enjoying more than two decades of growth resurgence. Second, growth in Africa is primarily driven by large extractive industries and with the population of the continent expected to double in about 30 years, scholarship on entrepreneurship for inclusive development is very welcome. This is essentially because studies have shown that the increase in unemployment (resulting from the underlying demographic change) would be accommodated by the private sector, not the public sector.
Ownership, regulation and bank risk-taking: evidence from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region
Authors: Haque Faizul 
Published: September 2018

PurposeThis study aims to investigate how ownership structure and bank regulations individually and interactively influence risk-taking behaviour of a bank.Design/methodology/approachThis empirical framework is based on dynamic two-step system generalised method of moments estimation technique to analyse an unbalanced panel data set covering 144 conventional banks from 12 Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries.FindingsThe estimation results suggest that foreign shareholding has an inverse relationship with bank risk-taking. In addition, official supervisory power is found to have a positive association with bank risk, and this relationship is reinforced for banks with higher ownership concentration. In addition, capital stringency increases bank risk, whereas market discipline has an opposite effect, only in countries with higher activity restrictions. Finally, the interaction between ownership concentration and activity restriction has an inverse association with bank risk-taking.Research limitations/implicationsOverall, the evidence suggests that the Basel II framework and the regulatory reform initiatives in the post-global financial crisis period do not seem to have reduced bank risk-taking in MENA countries.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature on the effectiveness of regulatory reform based on the three pillars of the Basel II guidance (capital regulations, market-oriented disclosures and official supervisory power), and offers evidence in support of “political/regulatory capture hypothesis” of bank regulation. The results also provide support for “global advantage hypothesis” of bank ownership.
DTC strategies for three-switch three-phase inverter-fed induction motor drives
Authors: Nouira El Badsi Imen , El Badsi Bassem , Masmoudi Ahmed 
Published: September 2018

Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the performance of two novel direct torque control (DTC) schemes dedicated to three-switch three-phase inverter (B3-VSI), also called delta inverter, fed induction motor (IM) drives.

Design/methodology/approach
The principle of operation of the B3-VSI-fed IM drive is recalled in a first step. Then, the basis of both proposed DTC strategies is presented. The first DTC scheme considers a subdivision of the stationary plane into three sectors and the application of the intrinsic as well as virtual voltage vectors to achieve the control combinations. While, the second DTC scheme considers a subdivision of the stationary plane into six sectors and a limitation of the voltage vectors incorporated in the look-up table to the three intrinsic ones.

Findings
Simulation and experimental results have revealed that, under steady-state operation and transient conditions, the harmonic content of the IM stator phase currents is lower in the case of the DTC2 strategy, resulting in a lower ripple of electromagnetic torque. Furthermore, it has led to a quasi-circular shape of the locus described by the stator flux vector in the stationary plane.

Research limitations/implications
This work should be extended to the synthesis and performance analysis of a new DTC strategy for B3-VSI-fed IM drive, which emulates the operation of the conventional six-switch three-phase inverter-fed IM drive.

Originality/value
The limitation associated with the reduced number of the intrinsic voltage vectors generated by the B3-VSI has been eradicated, thanks to the suitable synthesis of the look-up table incorporated in the DTC scheme.
Grey risky multi-attribute decision-making method based on regret theory and EDAS
Authors: Qian Lili , Liu Sifeng , Fang Zhigeng 
Published: September 2018

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to advance a new grey risky multi-attribute decision-making (RMADM) method from the perspective of regret aversion, which is based on the general grey numbers (GGNs) taking the form of kernel and degree of greyness.

Design/methodology/approach
First, the normalised grey decision-making matrix is obtained on the basis of kernel and greyness degree of GGNs. Then the regret theory is integrated into the decision-making process by constructing the grey perceived utility function based on GGNs. Finally, the method of evaluation based on distance from average solution (EDAS) is applied to handle with the ranking problem because of its efficiency, stability as well as simplicity.

Findings
GGNs have more powerful capacity in expressing uncertainty than interval grey numbers, so the method can solve a larger number of RMADM problems in uncertain and imprecise environments. Meanwhile, the method fully considers the psychological behaviour of the decision makers, which is more applicable to the real world. It is the supplement and perfection of the existing RMADM methods.

Originality/value
The RMADM problem, the grey regret-rejoice function and the EDAS method are all introduced for the first time with GGNs in the form of kernel and degree of greyness. At the same time, the EDAS method is also the first time to be used in combination with the grey RMADM method based on the regret theory.
Mechanisms for preventing rising damp in new building infrastructure
Authors: Agyekum Kofi , Blay Karen , Opoku Alex 
Published: September 2018

PurposeCapillary rise of water in buildings has been an issue of concern among past and present researchers. Despite the research efforts devoted to the proper elimination of the problem in masonry construction, it still remains a challenge that needs to be addressed. The purpose of this paper is to explore treatment mechanisms that can be used to prevent rising damp in new building infrastructure.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 14 test walls are constructed, conditioned, subjected to various treatments and monitored for four years. The treatments applied to the walls include the use of polyethylene damp proof courses, damp proof coatings and dense concrete bases. The walls are then monitored with reference to the two climate seasons in Ghana.FindingsThe results highlight that rising damp is present, as suggested by the constant increase and decrease in the height of the water levels in the walls during the rainy and dry seasons, respectively. The findings further reveal that within the four-year period, the walls treated with the damp proof coatings, together with those with the dense concrete bases performed better than those treated with the polyethylene damp proof courses.Research limitations/implicationsThe economic and commercial impact of these preventive mechanisms were not considered in this study. A future research can be directed at these issues.Practical implicationsThe proposed treatment mechanisms highlight the effectiveness of some treatments applied to walls to prevent the capillary rise of water from the ground into the superstructure.Social implicationsBuilding regulations, especially in Ghana and other tropical settings should be amended to include ways to prevent rising damp phenomena by including effective methods against rising damp during the building design or construction.Originality/valueSeries of studies worldwide have been conducted in laboratories to simulate the capillary rise of water in walls of buildings. This is among the few studies that look at how water rises from actual ground conditions into the walls of buildings.