bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Movement and habitat use of headstarted Blanding's turtles in Michigan
Authors: Starking‐Szymanski Melissa D. , Yoder‐Nowak Teresa , Rybarczyk Greg , Dawson Heather A. 
Published: June 2018

ABSTRACTCaptive breeding or headstarting is a management option to increase population numbers in threatened and endangered animals. The success of these programs depends on increasing population numbers while maintaining fitness within populations that contain some captive‐reared individuals. As part of an ongoing conservation project with Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge (SNWR) in Saginaw, Michigan, USA, the Detroit Zoological Society (DZS) headstarted Blanding's turtles (Emydoidea blandingii) to 18 months of age. To determine survival, movements, and habitat use of these headstarted Blanding's turtles, we externally attached radio‐transmitters to 24 turtles and released them at 4 sites in release groups of 6 along a transect in a wetland within SNWR during June 2014. We located turtles weekly during the active season (May–Sep) and every 2 weeks during the inactive season (Oct–Apr) for 18 months, starting immediately after release and ending November 2015. We calculated straight‐line distances between release sites and home range centers over the study period. We examined habitat use of the turtles in relation to habitat availability. To predict movement of headstarted Blanding's turtles away from release sites, we used geographically weighted regression (GWR) with measured habitat factors and release sites as independent variables. There were differences in home range sizes across release groups but not between years. Headstarted juvenile Blanding's turtles in this study have home range sizes similar to those measured in other studies for wild‐hatched juveniles but smaller home ranges than those measured for wild‐hatched adults. Our study showed that headstarted Blanding's turtles used habitats with muskrat (Ondatra zibethica) dens and cattails (Typhaspp.) more than proportionally available, and used open water, willows (Salixspp.), and lowland forest less than proportionally available. The GWR model was able to predict habitat characteristics (water depth and temperature, duckweed [Lemna minor], cattails, muskrat dens and fields, buttonbush [Cephalanthus occidentalis]) that influenced the movement of turtles away from the release sites. The habitat coefficient's influence on movement varied in relation to the current location of the turtle and as habitat characteristics increased or decreased. Turtle distance from release sites decreased as water depth, water temperature, and duckweed increased, and increased as cattails, muskrat dens and fields, and buttonbush increased. Habitat in the small spatial extent at release sites may affect movement of headstarted Blanding's turtles. Furthermore, this study uses novel methodologies for assessing headstart programs that can aid future conservation and management efforts by providing information on habitat use and movement patterns of headstarted Blanding's turtles after release. © 2018 The Wildlife Society.
How Low Can You Go? Low Densities of Poly(ethylene glycol) Surfactants Attract Stealth Proteins
Authors: Seneca Senne , Simon Johanna , Weber Claudia , Ghazaryan Arthur , Ethirajan Anitha , Mailaender Volker , Morsbach Svenja , Landfester Katharina 
Published: June 2018

AbstractIt is now well‐established that the surface chemistry and “stealth” surface functionalities such as poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) chains of nanocarriers play an important role to decrease unspecific protein adsorption of opsonizing proteins, to increase the enrichment of specific stealth proteins, and to prolong the circulation times of the nanocarriers. At the same time, PEG chains are used to provide colloidal stability for the nanoparticles. However, it is not clear how the chain length and density influence the unspecific and specific protein adsorption keeping at the same time the stability of the nanoparticles in a biological environment. Therefore, this study aims at characterizing the protein adsorption patterns depending on PEG chain length and density to define limits for the amount of PEG needed for a stealth effect by selective protein adsorption as well as colloidal stability during cell experiments. PEG chains are introduced using the PEGylated Lutensol AT surfactants, which allow easy modification of the nanoparticle surface. These findings indicate that a specific enrichment of stealth proteins already occurs at low PEG concentrations; for the decrease of unspecific protein adsorption and finally the colloidal stability a full surface coverage is advised.
Circular RNA circITGA7 inhibits colorectal cancer growth and metastasis by modulating the Ras pathway and upregulating transcription of its host gene ITGA7
Authors: Li Xiaomin , Wang Jianjun , Zhang Chao , Lin Chun , Zhang Jianming , Zhang Wei , Zhang Wenjuan , Lu Yanxia , Zheng Lin , Li Xuenong 
Published: June 2018

AbstractCircular RNAs (circRNAs) are significantly dysregulated in various cancer types. However, the roles and mechanisms of circRNAs in cancer remain largely unknown. In this study, we demonstrated that a novel circRNA (circITGA7) and its linear host gene ITGA7 are both significantly downregulated in colorectal cancer (CRC) tissues and cell lines. These decreased expression levels correlated with CRC progression. Functional assays demonstrated that ectopic circITGA7 expression suppressed the growth and metastasis of CRC cells in vitro and in vivo. Knockdown of circITGA7 or ITGA7 promoted the proliferation and migration of CRC cells in vitro, and enhanced CRC growth in vivo. Mechanistically, by using RNA‐sequencing and KEGG enrichment analysis, we found that circITGA7 is a negative regulator of the Ras signalling pathway, and that ITGA7 is associated with cytokine‐related signalling pathways. In addition, circITGA7 binds to miR‐370‐3p to antagonise its suppression of neurofibromin 1, which is a well‐known negative regulator of the Ras pathway. Finally, circITGA7 upregulates the transcription of ITGA7 by suppressing RREB1 via the Ras pathway. In conclusion, our findings indicate a suppressor role of circITGA7 and ITGA7 in CRC, and reveal that circITGA7 inhibits the proliferation and metastasis of CRC cells by suppressing the Ras signalling pathway and promoting the transcription of ITGA7, suggesting that circITGA7 is a potential target for CRC treatment. Copyright © 2018 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Calendar time as an instrumental variable in assessing the risk of heart failure with antihyperglycemic drugs
Authors: Gokhale Mugdha , Buse John B. , DeFilippo Mack Christina , Jonsson Funk Michele , Lund Jennifer , Simpson Ross J. , Stürmer Til 
Published: June 2018

AbstractObjectiveIn recent years, second‐line diabetes treatment with dipeptidyl peptidase–4 inhibitors (DPP‐4i) increased with a corresponding decrease in thiazolidinediones (TZDs). Using hospitalization for heart failure (HF) as a positive control outcome, we explored the use of calendar time as an instrumental variable (IV) and compared this approach to an active comparator new‐user study.MethodsWe identified DPP‐4i or TZD initiators after a 6‐month washout using Medicare claims 2006–2013. The IV was defined as a binary variable comparing initiators during October 2010 to December 2013 (postperiod) versus January 2008 to May 2010 (preperiod). We examined IV strength and estimated risk differences (RDs) for HF using Kaplan‐Meier curves, which were compared with propensity score (PS)–weighted RD for DPP‐4i versus TZD.ResultsThe IV compared 22 696 initiators (78% DPP‐4i) in the postperiod versus 20 283 initiators (38% DPP‐4i) in the preperiod, resulting in 40% compliance. The active‐comparator (PS‐weighted) approach compared 26 198 DPP‐4i and 18 842 TZD initiators. Covariate balance across IV levels was slightly better than across treatments (standardized difference, 3% vs 4.5%). The 1‐ and 2‐year local average treatment effects of RD of HF per 100 patients in the “compliers” (95% confidence intervals) were −0.62 (−0.99 to −0.25) and −0.88 (−1.46 to −0.25). Corresponding PS‐weighted results were −0.20 (−0.33 to −0.05) and −0.18 (−0.30 to 0.03).ConclusionBoth approaches indicated lesser risk of HF hospitalizations among DPP‐4i vs TZD initiators. The magnitude of the estimated effects may differ due to differences in the target populations and assumptions. Calendar time can be leveraged as an IV when market dynamics lead to profound changes in treatments.
Field experience and performance analysis of floating PV technologies in the tropics
Authors: Liu Haohui , Krishna Vijay , Lun Leung Jason , Reindl Thomas , Zhao Lu 
Published: June 2018

AbstractThe interest in floating photovoltaic (FPV) power plants has grown rapidly in recent years. In many established and emerging markets, such as Japan, South Korea, UK, China, and India, FPV is already considered as an attractive and viable option for PV deployment. In 2016, Singapore launched the world's largest FPV testbed, with a total installed capacity close to 1 MWp. This testbed aims to study the economic and technical feasibility, as well as the environmental impacts of deploying large‐scale FPV systems on inland fresh water reservoirs. The testbed currently consists of 8 systems, with different configurations in terms of PV modules, inverters, and floating structures. The field experience of deploying, operating, and maintaining these systems, together with a comparison of their performance and reliability offers highly valuable learning points for the FPV community. In this work, we present extensive, high‐quality field measurement data; compare operating environments on water and on a rooftop; analyze system performance of different FPV systems; and share some issues encountered. We found that FPV does confer some performance benefits, but best practices should also be established to avoid new issues and pitfalls associated with deploying PV on water.
Exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, vitamin D, and lung function in children with asthma
Authors: Han Yueh‐Ying , Rosser Franziska , Forno Erick , Celedón Juan C. 
Published: June 2018

AbstractBackgroundIt is unclear whether exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) affects lung function in children with asthma. Whether vitamin D insufficiency enhances any detrimental effects of PAH on lung function in asthmatic children is also unknown.MethodsCross‐sectional study of 1,821 children (6‐17 years) who participated in the 2007‐2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Multivariable linear regression was used to analyze the relation between molar mass of urinary PAH metabolites (sum of all PAH (ΣmolPAH), sum of PAH with 2 benzene rings (Σmol2‐PAH), or sum of PAH with 3 or 4 benzene rings (Σmol3,4‐PAH)) and lung function or exhaled fraction of nitric oxide (FeNO) in children with and without asthma. In this multivariable analysis, we tested whether vitamin D insufficiency (a serum 25(OH)D level <30 ng/mL) interacts with PAH exposure on lung function in children with asthma.ResultsChildren in the highest quartiles of urinary Σmol3,4‐PAH had 2.3 times increased odds of asthma than those in the lowest quartile of Σmol3,4‐PAH. Urinary PAH were not associated with lung function in children with or without asthma. Given a significant interaction between vitamin D insufficiency and PAH metabolites on lung function in asthmatic children, we stratified the analysis by vitamin D status. In this analysis, urinary PAH metabolites were significantly associated with 2.7‐3.9% reduced %predicted FEV1 and %predicted FEV1/FVC in children with asthma and vitamin D insufficiency, but not in those with asthma and vitamin D sufficiency.ConclusionsVitamin D insufficiency and PAH exposure may have synergistic detrimental effects on lung function in asthmatic children.
Ozone sensitivity of tropical upper‐troposphere and stratosphere temperature in the MetOffice Unified Model
Authors: Oh Jiyoung , Son Seok‐Woo , Williams Keith , Walters David , Kim Junsu , Willett Martin , Earnshaw Paul , Bushell Andrew , Kim Yoonjae , Kim Joowan 
Published: June 2018

A systematic warm bias in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) is commonly found in both climate and numerical weather prediction models. In this study, the nature of this temperature bias is examined by integrating the MetOffice Unified Model (MetUM) with various ozone concentrations in the TTL. Like other models, the long‐term integration of MetUM with the Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP) configuration shows a notable warm bias (∼2 K) in the TTL with a comparable cold bias in the tropical stratosphere above ∼70 hPa. We demonstrate that these biases are particularly sensitive to the tropical ozone concentration prescribed in the model. By replacing the background ozone, which is typically used for AMIP‐type simulations, with the Southern Hemisphere ADditional OZonesondes (SHADOZ) measurements or the Binary Data Base of Profiles (BDBP), the dipolar temperature biases in the TTL and tropical stratosphere are significantly reduced. Further sensitivity tests show that the tropical ozone amount in a 14–20 km layer is a key contributor to this change. These results suggest that accurate ozone forcing in the TTL is crucial for reliable weather and climate simulations.
Mass spectrometric characterization of intact desferal‐conjugated monoclonal antibodies for immuno‐positron emission tomography imaging
Authors: De Vijlder Thomas , Fissers Jens , Van Broeck Bianca , wyffels Leonie , Mercken Marc , Pemberton Darrel J. 
Published: June 2018

RationaleImmuno‐PET imaging may prove to be a diagnostic and progression/intervention biomarker for Alzheimer's disease (AD) with improved sensitivity and specificity. Immuno‐PET imaging is based on the coupling of an antibody with a chelator that captures a radioisotope thus serving as an in vivo PET ligand. A robust and quality controlled process for linking the chelator to the antibody is fundamental for the success of this approach.MethodsThe structural integrities of two monoclonal antibodies (trastuzumab and JRF/AβN/25) and the quantity of desferal‐based chelator attached following modification of the antibodies were assessed by online desalting and intact mass analysis. Enzymatic steps for the deglycosylation and removal of C‐terminal lysine was performed sequentially and in a single tube to improve intact mass data.ResultsIntact mass analysis demonstrated that inclusion of enzymatic processing was critical to correctly derive the quantity of chelator linked to the monoclonal antibodies. For trastuzumab, enzymatic cleaving of the glycans was sufficient, whilst additional removal of the C‐terminal lysine was necessary for JRF/AβN/25 to ensure reproducible assessment of the relatively low amount of the attached chelator.ConclusionsAn efficient intact mass analysis based process was developed to reproducibly determine the integrity of monoclonal antibodies and the quantity of the attached chelator. This technique could serve as an essential quality control approach for the development and production of immuno‐PET tracers.
Electron ionization mass spectrometry fragmentation and multiple reaction monitoring quantification of autoxidation products of α‐ and β‐amyrins in natural samples
Authors: Rontani Jean‐François , Charrière Bruno , Menniti Christophe , Aubert Dominique , Aubert Claude 
Published: June 2018

RationaleRiverine particulate organic matter is generally considered to be refractory with respect to further decomposition in the ocean. In order to check the validity of this paradigm, there is a real need for tracers sufficiently stable and specific to monitor the degradation of terrestrial higher plant material in the environment. 3β‐Hydroxy‐urs‐12‐en‐11‐one and 3β‐hydroxy‐olean‐12‐en‐11‐one (autoxidation products of α‐ and β‐amyrin) were previously proposed for such use.MethodsElectron ionization mass spectrometry (EIMS) fragmentation pathways of 3β‐hydroxy‐urs‐12‐en‐11‐one and 3β‐hydroxyolean‐12‐en‐11‐one trimethylsilyl (TMS) derivatives were investigated. These pathways were deduced by: (i) low‐energy collision‐induced dissociation (CID)‐gas chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (GC/MS/MS), (ii) accurate mass measurement and (iii) deuterium labelling. Quantification of these compounds in total lipid extracts of natural samples was then carried out in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode.ResultsCID‐MS/MS analyses, accurate mass measurement and deuterium‐labelling experiments allowed us to elucidate EIMS fragmentations of 3β‐hydroxy‐urs‐12‐en‐11‐one and 3β‐hydroxyolean‐12‐en‐11‐one TMS derivatives. Some specific fragmentation pathways, useful in addition to chromatographic retention times for further characterization, could be selected. As an application of some of the described fragmentations, TMS derivatives of these oxidation products were characterized and quantified in MRM mode in different natural samples.ConclusionsEIMS fragmentations of 3β‐hydroxy‐urs‐12‐en‐11‐one and 3β‐hydroxyolean‐12‐en‐11‐one TMS derivatives exhibit specific fragment ions, which appear to be very useful for the quantification of these oxidation products in natural samples (riverine particulate matter, wet and dry deposited atmospheric particles).
A moth‐flame optimization algorithm for web service composition in cloud computing: Simulation and verification
Authors: Ghobaei‐Arani Mostafa , Rahmanian Ali.A , Souri Alireza , Rahmani Amir Masoud 
Published: June 2018

SummaryIn recent years, users are becoming increasingly accustomed to using the Internet to gain software resources in the form of web services provided by information technology organizations. Cloud computing is a service delivery paradigm that shares services and resources to access the web services to the end users over the Internet. In the cloud environment, based on the user's needs, various types of services with similar functionalities but different quality‐of‐service (QoS) criteria can be delivered, which often must be combined to meet the users' requests. The optimal selection and composition of these services are realized as an interesting issue. In this paper, we propose a moth‐flame optimization (MFO) algorithm, which is a novel nature‐inspired metaheuristic paradigm for the web service composition (WSC) problem called “MFO‐WSC,” to improve the QoS criteria in the distributed cloud environment. Also, formal modeling is presented for the QoS‐aware MFO‐WSC algorithm with the model checking approach that receives the particular benefits to collaborate the correctness of the proposed algorithm. The correctness of the proposed behavior model is examined using some logical problems such as deadlock‐free, fairness, and reachability conditions in the new symbolic model verifier model checker. The experimental results indicate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in comparison with similar related works.
Optimizing MapReduce for energy efficiency
Authors: Tiwari Nidhi , Bellur Umesh , Sarkar Santonu , Indrawan Maria 
Published: June 2018

SummaryThe efficient use of energy is essential to address concerns of cost and sustainability. Many data centers contain MapReduce clusters to process Big Data applications. A large number of machines and fault tolerance capabilities make MapReduce clusters energy inefficient. In this paper, we present a Configurator based on performance and energy models to improve the energy efficiency of MapReduce systems. Our solution is novel as it takes into account the dependence of the performance and energy consumption of a cluster on MapReduce parameters. While this dependence is known, we are the first to model it and design a Configurator to optimize these parameter settings for maximizing the energy efficiency of MapReduce systems. Our empirical evaluations show that the Configurator can result in up to 50% improvement in the energy efficiency of typical MapReduce applications in two architecturally different clusters.
Heuristics and metaheuristics for dynamic management of computing and cooling energy in cloud data centers
Authors: Arroba Patricia , Risco‐Martín José L. , Moya José M. , Ayala José L. 
Published: June 2018

SummaryData centers handle impressive high figures in terms of energy consumption, and the growing popularity of cloud applications is intensifying their computational demand. Moreover, the cooling needed to keep the servers within reliable thermal operating conditions also has an impact on the thermal distribution of the data room, thus affecting to servers' power leakage. Optimizing the energy consumption of these infrastructures is a major challenge to place data centers on a more scalable scenario. Thus, understanding the relationship between power, temperature, consolidation, and performance is crucial to enable an energy‐efficient management at the data center level. In this research, we propose novel power and thermal‐aware strategies and models to provide joint cooling and computing optimizations from a local perspective based on the global energy consumption of metaheuristic‐based optimizations. Our results show that the combined awareness from both metaheuristic and best fit decreasing algorithms allow us to describe the global energy into faster and lighter optimization strategies that may be used during runtime. This approach allows us to improve the energy efficiency of the data center, considering both computing and cooling infrastructures, in up to a 21.74% while maintaining quality of service.
Non-BPS fractional branes with Bose-Fermi cancellation in asymmetric orbifolds
Authors: Sugawara Yuji , Uetoko Takahiro 
Published: June 2018

Abstract

We study non-BPS D-branes in the type II string vacua with chiral space-time SUSY constructed based on the asymmetric orbifolds of

$$ \mathrm{K}3\cong {T}^4/{\mathrm{\mathbb{Z}}}_2 $$

K
3
≅

T
4

/

ℤ
2

as a succeeding work of [21]. We especially focus on the fractional D-branes that contains the contributions from the twisted sector of the

$$ {\mathrm{\mathbb{Z}}}_2 $$

ℤ
2

-orbifolding.
We show that the cylinder partition functions for these fractional branes do not vanish, as in the cases of ordinary non-BPS D-branes. This aspect is in a sharp contrast with the bulk-type branes studied in [21]. We then discuss the extensions of models by including the discrete torsion depending on the spin structures, and investigate whether we obtain the vanishing self-overlaps associated to the fractional branes. The existence/absence of bose-fermi cancellations both in the closed and open string spectra as well as the massless spectra in the twisted sectors crucially depend on the discrete torsion. We find that some choices of the torsion indeed realize the vanishing self-overlaps for the fractional branes, with keeping the vanishing torus partition function intact.