bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Impacts of Nonnative Brown Trout on Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout in a Tributary Stream
Authors: Al-Chokhachy Robert , Sepulveda Adam J. 
Published: October 2018

Abstract
Nonnative trout are a considerable threat to native salmonids, yet our understanding of the mechanisms behind interspecific interactions remains limited. We evaluated the impacts of nonnative Brown Trout Salmo salar on a population of Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri in Montana. We contrasted diets, growth, and survival of Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout occurring in allopatry (i.e., where no Brown Trout were present) with individuals sympatric (i.e., co-occurring) with nonnative Brown Trout. We assessed summer and autumn diets using gastric lavage methods and survival and growth using mark–recapture analyses. Overlap in diets at sites where Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout were sympatric with Brown Trout was high during July (Horn's index: H = 0.94) and October (H = 0.83). In the presence of Brown Trout, Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout growth rates were significantly lower for juvenile (&lt;175 mm) length and adult (≥175 mm) length and mass than in allopatric sites. Allopatric Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout survival was greater across size-classes; the most pronounced difference was in the age-2 size-class (125–175 mm). Together, these results in concert with observed changes in length-frequency data, indicating a considerable lack of Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout recruitment where they are sympatric with Brown Trout, suggest the negative implications of Brown Trout are notable.
Sustainable synthesis of bio‐based hyperbranched ester and its application for preparing soft polyvinyl chloride materials
Authors: Tong Hanqing , Hai Jinping 
Published: October 2018

AbstractIn this study, bio‐based hyperbranched ester was synthesized from castor oil. The chemical structure of the bio‐based hyperbranched ester obtained was characterized with Fourier transform infrared and 1H NMR spectra. Soft polyvinyl chloride (PVC) materials were prepared via thermoplastic blending at 160 °C using bio‐based hyperbranched ester as plasticizer. The performances including the thermal stability, glass transition temperature (Tg), crystallinity, tensile properties, solvent extraction resistance and volatility resistance of soft PVC materials incorporating bio‐based hyperbranched ester were investigated and compared with the traditional plasticizer dioctyl phthalate (DOP). The results showed that bio‐based hyperbranched ester enhanced the thermal stability of the PVC materials. The Tg of PVC incorporating bio‐based hyperbranched ester was 23 °C, lower than that of PVC/DOP materials at 28 °C. Bio‐based hyperbranched ester showed a better plasticizing effect, solvent extraction resistance and volatility resistance than DOP. The plasticizing mechanism is also discussed. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry
Highly reinforcing and thermal stabilizing effect of imide structure on polyurethane foam
Authors: Li Chengjie , Hui Bing , Ye Lin 
Published: October 2018

AbstractIn order to improve the heat‐resistant property of polyurethane foams, a series of polyurethane‐imide foams (PUIFs) with different contents of the imide group were fabricated via the prepolymer foaming method. It was found that the PUIFs showed a closed cellular structure with almost circular cell shapes. With increasing content of imide groups, the cell wall thickness and apparent density of the foams gradually increased, and the cell size showed a trend of first increasing and then decreasing. All foams exhibited a multistage deformation response when subjected to compressive loading, and the compressive strength and modulus of the PUIFs were significantly improved by incorporation of the imide group, increasing by roughly 5500% and 6400% for the PUIF with 34.25 wt% imide groups, indicating the remarkable reinforcing effect of the imide group on the PUIF. TGA and dynamic mechanical analysis showed that with increase of the imide group content the thermal degradation temperatures, the char yield and the degradation activation energy for the PUIFs sharply increased, while the storage modulus (G′) and Tg were obviously improved, reaching 575 MPa and 283 °C respectively, much higher than that of most reported PU foams, indicating the remarkable enhancement of the thermal mechanical stability of the PUIF. The heat insulation of the PUI system was also enhanced by the incorporation of imide groups. Such PUIFs showed potential applications for use in high temperature environments. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry
cis‐Proline mutants of quiescin sulfhydryl oxidase 1 with altered redox properties undermine extracellular matrix integrity and cell adhesion in fibroblast cultures
Authors: Javitt Gabriel , Grossman‐Haham Iris , Alon Assaf , Resnick Efrat , Mutsafi Yael , Ilani Tal , Fass Deborah 
Published: October 2018

AbstractThe thioredoxin superfamily has expanded and diverged extensively throughout evolution such that distant members no longer show appreciable sequence homology. Nevertheless, redox‐active thioredoxin‐fold proteins functioning in diverse physiological contexts often share canonical amino acids near the active‐site (di‐)cysteine motif. Quiescin sulfhydryl oxidase 1 (QSOX1), a catalyst of disulfide bond formation secreted by fibroblasts, is a multi‐domain thioredoxin superfamily enzyme with certain similarities to the protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) enzymes. Among other potential functions, QSOX1 supports extracellular matrix assembly in fibroblast cultures. We introduced mutations at a cis‐proline in QSOX1 that is conserved across the thioredoxin superfamily and was previously observed to modulate redox interactions of the bacterial enzyme DsbA. The resulting QSOX1 variants showed a striking detrimental effect when added exogenously to fibroblasts: they severely disrupted the extracellular matrix and cell adhesion, even in the presence of naturally secreted, wild‐type QSOX1. The specificity of this phenomenon for particular QSOX1 mutants inspired an investigation of the effects of mutation on catalytic and redox properties. For a series of QSOX1 mutants, the detrimental effect correlated with the redox potential of the first redox‐active site, and an X‐ray crystal structure of one of the mutants revealed the reorganization of the cis‐proline loop caused by the mutations. Due to the conservation of the mutated residues across the PDI family and beyond, insights obtained in this study may be broadly applicable to a variety of physiologically important redox‐active enzymes.Impact statementWe show that mutation of a conserved cis‐proline amino acid, analogous to a mutation used to trap substrates of a bacterial disulfide catalyst, has a dramatic effect on the physiological function of the mammalian disulfide catalyst QSOX1. As the active‐site region of QSOX1 is shared with the large family of protein disulfide isomerases in humans, the effects of such mutations on redox properties, enzymatic activity, and biological targeting may be relevant across the family.
An insight of early PrP‐E200K aggregation by combined molecular dynamics/fragment molecular orbital approaches
Authors: Paciotti Roberto , Storchi Loriano , Marrone Alessandro 
Published: October 2018

AbstractUnveiling the events leading to the formation of prion particles is a nowadays challenge in the field of neurochemistry. Pathogenic mutants of prion protein (PrP) are characterized by both an intrinsic tendency to aggregation and scrapie conversion propensity. However, the question about a possible correlation between these two events lasts still unanswered. Here, a multilayered computational workflow was employed to investigate structure, stability, and molecular interaction properties of a dimer of PrPC‐E200K, a well‐known mutant of the PrP that represents a reduced model of early aggregates of this protein. Based on the combination of molecular dynamics and quantum mechanical approaches, this study provided for an in depth insight of PrPC‐E200K dimer in terms of residue‐residue interactions. Assembly hypotheses for the early aggregation of PrPC‐E200K are paved and compared with PrPSc models reported in the literature to find a structural link between early and late (scrapie) aggregates of this protein.
Modulation of glucan‐enzyme interactions by domain V in GTF‐SI from Streptococcus mutans
Authors: Osorio Manuel I. , Zúñiga Matías A. , Mendoza Fernanda , Jaña Gonzalo A. , Jiménez Verónica A. 
Published: October 2018

AbstractGlucansucrase GTF‐SI from Streptococcus mutans is a multidomain enzyme that catalyzes the synthesis of glucan polymers. Domain V locates 100 Å from the catalytic site and is required for an optimal activity. Nevertheless, the mechanism governing its functional role remains elusive. In this work, homology modeling and molecular dynamics simulations were employed to examine the effect of domain V in the structure and glucan‐binding ability of GTF‐SI in full and truncated enzyme models. Our results showed that domain V increases the flexibility of the α4′‐loop‐α4″ motif near the catalytic site resulting in a higher surface for glucan association, and modulates the orientation of a growing oligosaccharide (N=8‐23) in glucan‐enzyme complexes towards engaging in favorable contacts throughout the protein, whereas in the truncated model the glucan protrudes randomly from domain B towards the solvent. These results are valuable to increase understanding about the functional role of domain V in GH70 glucansucrases.
Effects of cold storage on the quality ofTrichogramma dendrolimiMatsumura (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) reared on artificial medium
Authors: Lü Xin , Han Shichou , Li Jun , Liu Jisheng , Li Zhigang 
Published: October 2018

AbstractBACKGROUNDTrichogramma dendrolimiMatsumura is an important egg parasitoid that can be used in the biological control of lepidopteran pests. The effects of storage temperature, developmental stage and storage duration on development and survival were investigated to determine the optimum storage conditions for rearingT. dendrolimi in vitro.RESULTSThe three investigated factors significantly impacted all the biological parameters except for parental G1 and offspring G2 sex ratios. The responses ofin vitrorearedT. dendrolimito low temperatures differed depending on developmental stage and storage duration. Comparison of life table parameters under different storage treatments with the control group indicated that storing prepupae at 13 °C for 2, 3 or 4 weeks positively impacted the growth capacity of the parasitoid.CONCLUSIONIn vitrorearedT.dendrolimican be reared following cold storage. The quality of the parasitoid was strongly affected by cold storage, likely due to the negative effects of storage on the artificial medium. Storage of the prepupal stage at 13 °C for 4 weeks is optimum forin vitrorearedT. dendrolimi.Trichogrammarearedin vitrowere able to parasitize natural eggs after storage and, thus, have potential for use as biological control agents in the field. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry
Uptake of soil‐applied thiamethoxam in orange and its effect against Asian citrus psyllid in different seasons
Authors: Hu Wei , Kuang Fan , Chun Jiong , Lu Zhanjun , Li Xingtao , Zhao Qiyang , Zhong Balian , Su Huanan , Zhang Zhixiang , Zhang Ning 
Published: October 2018

AbstractBACKGROUNDAsian citrus psyllid (ACP), Diaphorina citri Kuwayama, is an important pest of citrus worldwide because it transmits the bacteria causing huanglongbing (HLB). We investigated the effects and persistence of two soil application rates of thiamethoxam on ACP populations in two flushing seasons in the field. Thiamethoxam and clothianidin residues in the fruit were detected to evaluate food safety.RESULTSSoil application of 50% thiamethoxam water‐dispersible granules at concentrations of 4 and 10 g tree−1 significantly decreased ACP populations, and there was a positive correlation between control efficacy and the persistence of thiamethoxam and clothianidin in leaves, providing longer‐term protection for up to 90 days in the fall compared with 60 days in the spring. Higher thiamethoxam and clothianidin amounts were observed in new leaves than in old leaves. Thiamethoxam and clothianidin residues at a high rate in fruit were 0.012 and 0.010 mg kg−1 at harvest, respectively, and neither insecticides was detectable at low rates.CONCLUSIONSThese results demonstrate that soil‐applied thiamethoxam plays a role in defending ACP, and provides an extended period of control efficacy. This knowledge could provide a reference for the control of ACP by soil application of thiamethoxam to reduce HLB spread. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry
Advances in bonding and properties of inorganic systems from relativistic calculations in Latin America
Authors: Macleod‐Carey Desmond , Caramori Giovanni F. , Guajardo‐Maturana Raúl , Paez‐Hernandez Dayan , Muñoz‐Castro Alvaro , Arratia‐Perez Ramiro 
Published: October 2018

AbstractThe inclusion of relativistic effects to understand chemical structures and related properties brings to the scientific community challenging study cases, showing the rich diversity of chemical behavior of the different elements along the periodic table. The results highlighted here represent applications of relativistic methodologies to study the nature of bonding and a prediction of optical and magnetic properties of meaningful chemical entities containing heavy atoms, all made in Latin America. The good agreement between calculated and experimental observables in many molecular and cluster‐like systems ratifies that relativistic methods are appropriate to describe these entities realistically. We expect to enhance our knowledge in these methodologies, currently included in doctoral programs in our region.
Changes in stable isotope compositions during fasting in phocid seals
Authors: Habran Sarah , Damseaux France , Pomeroy Paddy , Debier Cathy , Crocker Daniel , Lepoint Gilles , Das Krishna 
Published: October 2018

RationaleThe grey seal, Halichoerus grypus (GS), and the northern elephant seal, Mirounga angustirostris (NES), come ashore for reproduction. This period involves intense physiological processes such as lactation in females and a developmental post‐weaning fast in juveniles. Previous studies have shown that δ13C and δ15N values are affected by starvation, but the precise effects of fasting associated with lactation and post‐weaning fast in seals remain poorly understood.MethodsTo examine the effect of lactation and post‐weaning fast on stable isotope ratios in GS and NES, blood and hair were sampled from 21 GS mother‐pup pairs on the Isle of May and on 22 weaned NES pups at Año Nuevo State Reserve during their respective breeding seasons. Milk samples were also collected from GS mothers. Stable isotope measurements were performed with an isotope ratio mass spectrometer coupled to an N‐C elemental analyser.ResultsChanges in stable isotope ratios in blood components during fasting were similar and weak between GS and NES mothers especially in blood cells (GS: Δ15N = 0.05‰, Δ13C = 0.02‰; NES: Δ15N = 0.1‰, Δ13C = 0.1‰). GS showed a 15N discrimination factor between maternal and pup blood cells and milk, but not for 13C. The strongest relationship between the isotopic compositions of the mother and the pup was observed in the blood cells.ConclusionsIsotopic consequences of lactation, fasting, and growth seem limited in NES and GS, especially in medium‐term integrator tissues of feeding activity such as blood cells. Stable isotope ratios in the blood of pups and mothers are correlated. We observed a subtle mother‐to‐pup fractionation factor. Our results suggest that pup blood cells are mostly relevant for exploring the ecology of female seals.
Ellipse proposal and convolutional neural network discriminant for autonomous landing marker detection
Authors: Jin Ren , Owais Hafiz Muhammad , Lin Defu , Song Tao , Yuan Yifang 
Published: October 2018

AbstractAutonomous landing in complex environments is a critical problem for unmanned aerial vehicle autonomous control, and efficiently detecting landing identification mark in real‐world scenario is still challenging. Due to the limited computational power of airborne computing equipment, current target detection algorithms cannot meet the demand efficiently. In this paper, we proposed a new landing marker detection algorithm for autonomous landing systems in a real environment. We used an ellipse detection algorithm to detect the ellipse landmark or other elliptical objects. Furthermore, convolution neural networks were utilized to obtain the correct landmarks, which is robust, fast and can achieve a speed of 25 fps with 720p resolution video on an Intel NUC onboard computer. Unlike the other methods, the accuracy and speed of our algorithm is verified in a real‐time application with more harsh conditions. During system testing, the flight system can detect the object above 20 m, track it, and automatically land on it with this vision algorithm. The algorithm has helped us achieve the first position at Mohamed Bin Zayed International Robotics Challenge in Abu Dhabi this year.
Deployment of an autonomous mobile manipulator at MBZIRC
Authors: Carius Jan , Wermelinger Martin , Rajasekaran Balasubramanian , Holtmann Kai , Hutter Marco 
Published: October 2018

AbstractThis paper introduces a custom mobile manipulator and presents the planning and control architecture to execute autonomous missions including navigation and manipulation. The developed system combines a commercially available ground vehicle with a custom‐designed robot arm. A typical mission requires the robot to find and navigate to its site of action, identify the suitable manipulation tools, and manipulate the correct objects according to the task specification. Our contribution includes a complete software pipeline for autonomous map building, localization, and navigation. We demonstrate stable localization on vast outdoor areas without GPS support. Our exploration strategy coupled with a path planner reliably scans the environment while avoiding obstacles until it finds the manipulation site. The position of the target location is estimated from laser data within a 5 cm radius, and the subsequent positioning procedure of the mobile base achieves a precision of ±4 cm. The developed manipulator uses series elastic actuation, making the system mechanically robust and compliant. Thanks to the precise joint torque controllability, a low end‐effector impedance can be realized to passively overcome positioning inaccuracies during manipulation. Our solution incorporates a support vector machine to detect the manipulation object as required for visual servoing. We show how a valve stem and standard wrenches can be identified with a detection rate higher than 90%. The paper finally discusses the performance and lessons learned while participating at the Mohamed Bin Zayed International Robotics Challenge (MBZIRC) 2017, where we showed the successful autonomous operation in a partially unknown environment.
Field‐based robotic phenotyping of sorghum plant architecture using stereo vision
Authors: Bao Yin , Tang Lie , Breitzman Matthew W. , Salas Fernandez Maria G. , Schnable Patrick S. 
Published: October 2018

AbstractSorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is known as a major feedstock for biofuel production. To improve its biomass yield through genetic research, manually measuring yield component traits (e.g. plant height, stem diameter, leaf angle, leaf area, leaf number, and panicle size) in the field is the current best practice. However, such laborious and time‐consuming tasks have become a bottleneck limiting experiment scale and data acquisition frequency. This paper presents a high‐throughput field‐based robotic phenotyping system which performed side‐view stereo imaging for dense sorghum plants with a wide range of plant heights throughout the growing season. Our study demonstrated the suitability of stereo vision for field‐based three‐dimensional plant phenotyping when recent advances in stereo matching algorithms were incorporated. A robust data processing pipeline was developed to quantify the variations or morphological traits in plant architecture, which included plot‐based plant height, plot‐based plant width, convex hull volume, plant surface area, and stem diameter (semiautomated). These image‐derived measurements were highly repeatable and showed high correlations with the in‐field manual measurements. Meanwhile, manually collecting the same traits required a large amount of manpower and time compared to the robotic system. The results demonstrated that the proposed system could be a promising tool for large‐scale field‐based high‐throughput plant phenotyping of bioenergy crops.
RTAB‐Map as an open‐source lidar and visual simultaneous localization and mapping library for large‐scale and long‐term online operation
Authors: Labbé Mathieu , Michaud François 
Published: October 2018

AbstractDistributed as an open‐source library since 2013, real‐time appearance‐based mapping (RTAB‐Map) started as an appearance‐based loop closure detection approach with memory management to deal with large‐scale and long‐term online operation. It then grew to implement simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) on various robots and mobile platforms. As each application brings its own set of constraints on sensors, processing capabilities, and locomotion, it raises the question of which SLAM approach is the most appropriate to use in terms of cost, accuracy, computation power, and ease of integration. Since most of SLAM approaches are either visual‐ or lidar‐based, comparison is difficult. Therefore, we decided to extend RTAB‐Map to support both visual and lidar SLAM, providing in one package a tool allowing users to implement and compare a variety of 3D and 2D solutions for a wide range of applications with different robots and sensors. This paper presents this extended version of RTAB‐Map and its use in comparing, both quantitatively and qualitatively, a large selection of popular real‐world datasets (e.g., KITTI, EuRoC, TUM RGB‐D, MIT Stata Center on PR2 robot), outlining strengths, and limitations of visual and lidar SLAM configurations from a practical perspective for autonomous navigation applications.
Scaffolding and Inequitable Participation in Linguistically Diverse Book Clubs
Authors: Lewis Mark A. , Zisselsberger Margarita Gómez 
Published: October 2018

AbstractThe authors illustrate ways that diverse linguistic repertoires were constrained within a set of classroom book club discussions among sixth‐grade students and their teachers in a public school setting. The study took place in a U.S. Mountain West middle school with a majority population of Latinx students, many of whom were emerging bilinguals (EBs). In these book clubs, 21 students and two teachers read one of four mystery novels. The groups comprised both native and nonnative English‐speaking students and were grouped according to reading ability/level. Using discourse analysis strategies, the researchers analyzed the participants’ talk across the book club discussions. The authors found that although a primary purpose of a literature discussion group is to provide more equitable participatory opportunities forEBs, in this case, the linguistic and discursive practices of the teachers and the native English speakers did not fully honorEBs’ contributions. These practices led toEBs’ ultimate withdrawal from discussions. Therefore, the implications suggest a cautionary tale for educators working withEBs to critically analyze and identify ways in which generic methods for English as a second language and “good” teaching practices may positionEBs as incapable. Moreover, the authors suggest that teachers should develop more critical linguistically and culturally responsive practices that acknowledge the linguistic repertoires ofEBs and (re)positionEBs as communicatively competent.