bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Rarity and persistence
Authors: Vermeij Geerat J. , Grosberg Richard K. 
Published: November 2017

AbstractRarity is a population characteristic that is usually associated with a high risk of extinction. We argue here, however, that chronically rare species (those with low population densities over many generations across their entire ranges) may have individual‐level traits that make populations more resistant to extinction. The major obstacle to persistence at low density is successful fertilisation (union between egg and sperm), and chronically rare species are more likely to survive when (1) fertilisation occurs inside or close to an adult, (2) mate choice involves long‐distance signals, (3) adults or their surrogate gamete dispersers are highly mobile, or (4) the two sexes are combined in a single individual. In contrast, external fertilisation and wind‐ or water‐driven passive dispersal of gametes, or sluggish or sedentary adult life habits in the absence of gamete vectors, appear to be incompatible with sustained rarity. We suggest that the documented increase in frequency of these traits among marine genera over geological time could explain observed secular decreases in rates of background extinction. Unanswered questions remain about how common chronic rarity actually is, which traits are consistently associated with chronic rarity, and how chronically rare species are distributed among taxa, and among the world's ecosystems and regions.
Associated conditions in small fiber neuropathy – a large cohort study and review of the literature
Authors: de Greef B. T. A. , Hoeijmakers J. G. J. , Gorissen‐Brouwers C. M. L. , Geerts M. , Faber C. G. , Merkies I. S. J. 
Published: November 2017

Background and purposeSmall fiber neuropathy (SFN) is a common disorder leading to neuropathic pain and autonomic symptoms. The objective of this study was to investigate associated conditions in a large cohort of SFN patients and compare the prevalence to healthy individuals.MethodsA total of 921 patients with pure SFN were screened according to a standardized comprehensive diagnostic algorithm and compared with literature findings.ResultsNo associated condition could be found in 53% of the patients. Autoimmune diseases, sodium channel gene mutations, diabetes mellitus including glucose intolerance, and vitamin B12 deficiencies were more prevalent than reported literature findings, followed by alcohol abuse, chemotherapy, monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, and haemochromatosis. In patients who were already known with a possible underlying condition at screening, additional underlying conditions were still found in another 26.7% of patients.ConclusionsBased on these results, it is recommended that patients with pure SFN are screened at least for autoimmune diseases, sodium channel gene mutations, diabetes mellitus including glucose intolerance, and vitamin B12 deficiency, even when they already have a potential underlying condition at referral.
Melodic males and flashy females: Geographic variation in male and female reproductive behavior in red‐eyed treefrogs (Agalychnis callidryas)
Authors: Akopyan Maria , Kaiser Kristine , Vega Andres , Savant Neha G. , Owen Cassandra Y. , Dudgeon Steven R. , Robertson Jeanne M. 
Published: November 2017

AbstractGeographic variation in courtship behavior can affect reproductive success of divergent phenotypes via mate choice. Over time, this can lead to reproductive isolation and ultimately to speciation. The Neotropical red‐eyed treefrog (Agalychnis callidryas) exhibits high levels of phenotypic variation among populations in Costa Rica and Panama, including differences in color pattern, body size, and skin peptides. To test the extent of behavioral premating isolation among differentiated populations, we quantified male advertisement calls from six sites and female responses to male stimuli (acoustic and visual signals) from four sites. Our results show that both male advertisement calls and female behavior vary among populations: Discriminant function analyses can predict the population of origin for 99.3% ± 0.7 of males based on male call (dominant frequency and bandwidth) and 76.1% ± 6.6 of females based on female response behavior (frequency and duration of visual displays). Further, female mate choice trials (n = 69) showed that population divergence in male signals is coupled with female preference for local male stimuli. Combined, these results suggest that evolved differences among populations in male call properties and female response signals could have consequences for reproductive isolation. Finally, population variation in male and female behavior was not well explained by geographic or genetic distance, indicating a role for localized selection and/or drift. The interplay between male courtship and female responses may facilitate the evolution of local variants in courtship style, thus accelerating premating isolation via assortative mating.
Nonstrangulating intestinal infarctions associated with Strongylus vulgaris: Clinical presentation and treatment outcomes of 30 horses (2008–2016)
Authors: Pihl T. H. , Nielsen M. K. , Olsen S. N. , Leifsson P. S. , Jacobsen S. 
Published: November 2017

SummaryBackgroundStrongylus vulgaris is re‐emerging in horses kept under surveillance‐based parasite control regimens. Information on nonstrangulating intestinal infarction associated with S. vulgaris is needed to improve recognition of the condition.ObjectiveTo describe the typical clinical presentation, laboratory findings, gross pathology, treatment and outcome of horses with nonstrangulating intestinal infarction.Study designRetrospective case series.MethodsNonstrangluating intestinal infarction was diagnosed in 30 horses with a localised intestinal infarction with concurrent signs of S. vulgaris migration and no signs of intestinal strangulation or enterocolitis. Data were obtained from medical records in the period 2008–2016. Long‐term follow‐up information was obtained by telephonic interviews. Levels of S. vulgaris‐specific antibodies were retrospectively assessed. Associations between nonstrangulating intestinal infarction and selected variables were evaluated using Fisher′s exact and Mann–Whitney U tests.ResultsThe most consistent findings at admission were mild colic of >24 h duration without signs of shock or strangulated intestine, increased peritoneal fluid WBC (>5 × 109/L), increased serum amyloid A (SAA) concentration and a positive S. vulgaris‐specific antibody titre. Medical treatment was attempted in nine horses with none surviving. Exploratory laparotomy was performed in 21 horses. Eleven horses were subjected to euthanasia intraoperatively due to the presumed poor prognosis. Of the nine horses, three (33%) undergoing intestinal resection survived to discharge. The surviving horses were alive and returned to athletic function for at least 2 years following discharge.Main limitationsOnly nine of the 30 horses underwent resection of the infarcted intestine, and the prognosis for surgical intervention in nonstrangulating intestinal infarction is, therefore, difficult to estimate.ConclusionsIn areas where S. vulgaris is prevalent, nonstrangulating intestinal infarction should be considered as a differential diagnosis in horses presenting with mild colic and peritonitis. Survival of nonstrangulating intestinal infarction is possible in cases where surgical intervention with resection of the infarcted intestine is feasible.
The summary is available in Spanish ‐ see Supporting Information.
An inference model for combustion diagnostics in an experimental oil furnace
Authors: Fleury A.T. , Trigo F.C. , Pacífico A.L. , Martins F.P.R. 
Published: November 2017

AbstractThe continuous monitoring of the air/fuel ratio, oil/water/air temperatures, and gas/particulate emissions of combustion processes in oil‐based furnaces allows experts to detect anomalies and act to prevent faults and critical conditions. These important but tedious tasks can be performed by an expert system designed to mimic the human abilities of recognizing relevant patterns and finding their most likely causes. In this article, we present the architecture of an expert system that uses flame images grabbed during the combustion process in an experimental oil furnace as input parameters. Computational processing of those images provides feature vectors for analysis by “artificial experts” that correlate changes in flame appearance with typical combustion states. The Dempster–Shafer method is used to build the knowledge base and the inference engine. The results of tests in which flame conditions are suddenly modified by altering the physical variables of the combustion process revealed that the method can properly combine measures from various flame image characteristics to issue diagnostics. Such diagnostics are similar to those given by human experts. This suggests that the proposed approach may fill the gap between models based on features extracted from images and real‐world operating conditions. This is the intended contribution of this work.
A long short‐term memory based Schaeffer gesture recognition system
Authors: Oprea S. O. , Garcia‐Garcia A. , Orts‐Escolano S. , Villena‐Martinez V. , Castro‐Vargas J. A. 
Published: November 2017

AbstractIn this work, a Schaeffer language recognition system is proposed in order to help autistic children overcome communicative disorders. Using Schaeffer language as a speech and language therapy, improves children communication skills and at the same time the understanding of language productions. Nevertheless, the teaching process of children in performing gestures properly is not straightforward. For this purpose, this system will teach children with autism disorder the correct way to communicate using gestures in combination with speech reproduction. The main purpose is to accelerate the learning process and increase children interest by using a technological approach. Several recurrent neural network‐based approaches have been tested, such as vanilla recurrent neural networks, long short‐term memory networks,and gated recurrent unit‐based models. In order to select the most suitable model, an extensive comparison has been conducted reporting a 93.13% classification success rate over a subset of 25 Schaeffer gestures by using an long short‐term memory‐based approach. Our dataset consists on pose‐based features such as angles and euclidean distances extracted from the raw skeletal data provided by a Kinect v2 sensor.
Clustering short temporal behaviour sequences for customer segmentation using LDA
Authors: Wilson Jobin , Chaudhury Santanu , Lall Brejesh 
Published: November 2017

AbstractCustomer segmentation based on temporal variation of subscriber preferences is useful for communication service providers (CSPs) in applications such as targeted campaign design, churn prediction, and fraud detection. Traditional clustering algorithms are inadequate in this context, as a multidimensional feature vector represents a subscriber profile at an instant of time, and grouping of subscribers needs to consider variation of subscriber preferences across time. Clustering in this case usually requires complex multivariate time series analysis‐based models. Because conventional time series clustering models have limitations around scalability and ability to accurately represent temporal behaviour sequences (TBS) of users, that may be short, noisy, and non‐stationary, we propose a latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) based model to represent temporal behaviour of mobile subscribers as compact and interpretable profiles. Our model makes use of the structural regularity within the observable data corresponding to a large number of user profiles and relaxes the strict temporal ordering of user preferences in TBS clustering. We use mean‐shift clustering to segment subscribers based on their discovered profiles. Further, we mine segment‐specific association rules from the discovered TBS clusters, to aid marketers in designing intelligent campaigns that match segment preferences. Our experiments on real world data collected from a popular Asian communication service provider gave encouraging results.
Students’ and Instructors’ Perceived Value of Language and Content Curricular Goals
Authors: Mills Nicole , Moulton Samuel T. 
Published: November 2017

AbstractUniversities across the country are experiencing a decline in the number of undergraduates choosing to major in the humanities in general, and similar trends have been observed specifically in the study of foreign languages (FLs), cultures, and literatures. The educational and social psychological literature has explored uptake, or a student's decision to enroll in a course, by evaluating how beliefs can guide both thoughts and actions (Jarvis, ; Omrod, ; Taylor & Mardsen, ). To explore this topic, undergraduates who were enrolled in FL courses and instructors teaching those courses were asked to rate the value of language and content‐oriented goals to determine the learning outcomes that students valued and how they converged or diverged from instructors’ course goals. The findings reveal areas of alignment and misalignment in students’ and instructors’ perceptions of the value of particular learning outcomes. Compared to instructors, students more greatly valued learning about cultural practices, discourse competence, grammar, and interpretive communication skills. Students who were enrolled in and instructors who were teaching advanced courses valued different goals than did their counterparts in introductory courses. Implications for departments and educators are discussed
Increasing drought and diminishing benefits of elevated carbon dioxide for soybean yields across the US Midwest
Authors: Jin Zhenong , Ainsworth Elizabeth A. , Leakey Andrew D. B. , Lobell David B. 
Published: November 2017

AbstractElevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations ([CO2]) are expected to increase C3 crop yield through the CO2 fertilization effect (CFE) by stimulating photosynthesis and by reducing stomatal conductance and transpiration. The latter effect is widely believed to lead to greater benefits in dry rather than wet conditions, although some recent experimental evidence challenges this view. Here we used a process‐based crop model, the Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator (APSIM), to quantify the contemporary and future CFE on soybean in one of its primary production area of the US Midwest. APSIM accurately reproduced experimental data from the Soybean Free‐Air CO2 Enrichment site showing that the CFE declined with increasing drought stress. This resulted from greater radiation use efficiency (RUE) and above‐ground biomass production at elevated [CO2] that outpaced gains in transpiration efficiency (TE). Using an ensemble of eight climate model projections, we found that drought frequency in the US Midwest is projected to increase from once every 5 years currently to once every other year by 2050. In addition to directly driving yield loss, greater drought also significantly limited the benefit from rising [CO2]. This study provides a link between localized experiments and regional‐scale modeling to highlight that increased drought frequency and severity pose a formidable challenge to maintaining soybean yield progress that is not offset by rising [CO2] as previously anticipated. Evaluating the relative sensitivity of RUE and TE to elevated [CO2] will be an important target for future modeling and experimental studies of climate change impacts and adaptation in C3 crops.
A meta‐ethnography of the facilitators and barriers to successful implementation of patient complaints processes in health‐care settings
Authors: Scott David A. H. , Grant Suzanne M. 
Published: November 2017

AbstractObjectiveTo synthesize experiences of the patient complaints process for patients and health‐care professionals to identify facilitators and barriers in the successful implementation of patient complaints processes. This will assist the development of cultural change programmes, enabling complaints managers to incorporate stakeholder perspectives into future care.DesignSystematic literature search and meta‐ethnography, comprising reciprocal syntheses of “patient” and “professional” qualitative studies, combined to form a “line‐of‐argument” embodying both perspectives.Data sourcesMEDLINE, CINAHL and PsycINFO (database inception to April 2015) were searched to identify international literature in primary and secondary health‐care settings, involving qualitative data collection and analysis. Further studies were identified from hand‐searching relevant journals, contacting authors, article reference lists and Google Scholar.ResultsA total of 13 papers, reporting 9 studies from the United Kingdom, Sweden, Australia and New Zealand, were included in the synthesis. Facilitators and barriers to the successful implementation of patient complaints processes were identified across the perspectives of both patients and health‐care professionals. Patients sought to individualize the complaints process by targeting specific professionals who engaged in practices that undermined the identity of patients. In contrast, professionals obscured their own individualism through maintaining a collective identity and withholding personal judgement in relation to patient complaints.ConclusionsComplainants recognized health‐care professionals as bearers of individual accountability for unsatisfactory care, in opposition to the stance of collective responsibility endorsed by professionals. Implementation of patient complaints processes must reconcile the need for individualized resolution, whilst striving to improve the future provision of health care through a collaborative approach between patients and professionals.
Effects of increased apical enlargement on the amount of unprepared areas and coronal dentine removal: a micro‐computed tomography study
Authors: Pérez A. R. , Alves F. R. F. , Marceliano‐Alves M. F. , Provenzano J. C. , Gonçalves L. S. , Neves A. A. , Siqueira J. F. 
Published: November 2017

AbstractAimTo evaluate the effects of progressive apical enlargement on the amount of unprepared root canal surface area and remaining dentine thickness.MethodologyThe root canals of 30 extracted mandibular incisors with Vertucci′s type I configuration were instrumented with rotary HyFlex CM instruments (Coltene‐Whaledent, Altstätten, Switzerland) up to 4 instruments larger than the first one that bound at the working length (WL). Teeth were scanned in a micro‐computed tomography (micro‐CT) device before canal preparation and after instrumentation with the 2nd, 3rd and 4th larger instruments. The amount of unprepared surface area in the full canal or in the apical 4 mm as well as the remaining dentine thickness at 10 mm from the WL were calculated and compared. The general linear model for repeated measures adjusted by Bonferroni's post hoc test was used for statistic analysis.ResultsThere was a significant reduction in the amount of unprepared areas after each increase in preparation size (P < 0.01). This was observed for both the full canal length and the 4‐mm apical segment. The amount of remaining dentine was also significantly reduced after each file size (P < 0.01). However, dentine thickness always remained greater than 1 mm, even after using the largest instrument.ConclusionApical preparations up to 4 instruments larger than the first one to bind at the WL caused a significant progressive reduction in the unprepared canal area.
Shelf life and quality of probiotic yogurt produced with Lactobacillus acidophilus and Gobdin
Authors: Ertem Hatice , Çakmakçı Songül 
Published: November 2017

SummaryThis study evaluated the effect of dry white mulberry and walnut paste (Gobdin, a traditional Turkish food) in probiotic yogurt on the survival of Lactobacillus acidophilus and yogurt properties. Six different yogurts were produced with 0%, 5% and 10% Gobdin using Lactobacillus bulgaricus + Streptococcus thermophilus and with 0%, 5% and 10% Gobdin using L. bulgaricus + S. thermophilus + L. acidophilus. The physical, chemical, microbiological and sensorial properties of the yogurts were evaluated based on storage at 4 ± 1 °C. Probiotic shelf life and the most suitable combinations were determined. The highest L. acidophilus count (8.65 log cfu g−1) was found in the 5% Gobdin‐supplemented yogurt on the 7th day of storage, while the lowest count (8.11 log cfu g−1) was found in the probiotic control yogurt on the 21st day. Although the L. acidophilus counts in the probiotic yogurts declined during storage, all values found throughout the 21‐day storage period were >8 log cfu g−1. This is above the level necessary to provide the desired therapeutic effect in probiotic products (106–107 cfu g−1). The highest overall acceptability score was obtained on the first day from the yogurt with 5% Gobdin. However, all yogurt samples had general acceptability scores between 7 and 8 points from a 9‐point maximum. Thus, this study determined that a new functional yogurt can be produced using L. acidophilus with 5% Gobdin.
The impact of early Quaternary climate change on the diversification and population dynamics of a South American cactus species
Authors: Silva Gislaine Angélica Rodrigues , Antonelli Alexandre , Lendel Anita , Moraes Evandro de Marsola , Manfrin Maura Helena 
Published: November 2017

AbstractAimClimatic oscillations have been suggested to promote speciation and changes in species distributions, mostly in connection with the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). However, the LGM is just the most recent of the 20+ glacial‐interglacial periods that characterise the Quaternary. Here, we investigate the role of climatic changes and geomorphological features in shaping the evolution, distribution and population dynamics of the South American cactus Cereus hildmannianus.LocationSouth‐eastern South America.MethodsWe built a large fossil‐calibrated phylogeny for cacti (family Cactaceae), comprising 128 species distributed in all subfamilies, using a Bayesian relaxed clock. We used the results to derive a secondary calibration for a population‐level phylogeny in C. hildmannianus. We amplified two plastid (trnQ‐5′rps16 and psbJ‐petA) and one nuclear marker (PhyC) for 24 populations. We estimated population dynamics, ancestral areas, and species distribution models to infer the clade's evolutionary history in time and space.ResultsOur results show a major population divergence of C. hildmannianus at c. 2.60 Ma, which is strikingly coincident with the transition of the Pliocene–Pleistocene and onset of Quaternary glaciations. This was followed by a complex phylogeographic scenario involving population expansions across ecologically diverse regions.Main conclusionsContrary to the dominant research focus on the LGM, our study indicates a major impact of the first Quaternary glaciation on the distribution and population divergence of a South American plant species. Further intraspecific events seem related to successive climatic changes and geomorphology, including the development of the coastal plain and its peculiar diversity. We propose that the first Quaternary glaciation acted as a major evolutionary bottleneck, whereby many warm‐adapted lineages succumbed, while those that survived could diversify and better cope with subsequent climatic oscillations.