bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of the Bearing Capacity of Near-Surface Soils Using Integrated Methods: A Case Study of Otukpa, Ogbadibo Lga, Benue State, North-Central Nigeria
Authors: Ameh Peter , Igwe Ogbonnaya , Ukah Bernadette 
Published: July 2017

ABSTRACT
The load bearing capacity of soils in Otukpa area of Benue state, Nigeria was evaluated by characterizing the geotechnical, geophysical and structural properties of the soil. The evaluation was necessary because aside the area holding good prospect for future increase in human population, sparsely distributed low-weight buildings in the area have cracks and other signs of failure. Remote sensing/GIS, geophysical and geotechnical approaches were integrated to achieve the objective. 2-D tomography and processed remotely sensed data confirmed the presence of areas of strength especially to the north. Stratigraphy of the northern portion consist of four layers; loose top soil (0-0.26m), compact clayey sand (0.26m-3.33m), dry clayey sand (3.33m-74.21m) and saturated clayey sands (74.21m-201.58m) While the stratigraphy in the south is slightly different; compact topsoil (0-1.2m), loose sand (1.2m-10.81m), compact sand (10.82m-19.71m) and compact clay sand (19.71m-56.03m). The plastic limit range from 11-17% with average specific gravity of 2.64g/cm3. Permeability ranges from 7.8×10−6m/sec to 3.36×10−4m/sec while volume compressibility under 250kN ranges from 7.27×10−5m2/kN to 1.3×10−4m2/kN and the rate of consolidation under 250kN is within 12.43 m2/year to 1.33m2/year. MDD peaks at 1.85g/cm3 at an OMC of 12.11% and is lowest at 1.67g/cm3 at an OMC of 11.99%. UCS ranges from 31-45kN/m2 while shear strength is between 258.81kN/m2 to 338 kN/m2. Due to the variability of engineering properties of soils, the southern part of the area is preferred for locating the buildings. Generally, careful foundation design in the area is necessary.
Textural Studies on Red Sediments of Bhimunipatnam, Andhra Pradesh, East Coast of India
Authors: Krishna K. N. Murali , Reddy K. S. N. , Sekhar Ch. Ravi , Rao P. Ganapathi , Naidu K. Bangaku 
Published: July 2017

ABSTRACT
The study presents the textural characteristics of late Quaternary red sediments of Bhimunipatnam to understand the process of formation of these sediments. The red sediments are classified into (a) yellow sediments (b) reddish brown sediments (c) brick red sediments and (d) light yellow sediments sequence in the vertical litho section. The yellow sediments, rests on the khondalite basement, comprises of medium grained, moderate to poorly sorted and positively skewed. The rounded pebble beds with trough cross bedding indicate high energy turbulent conditions of deposition. The fining upward sequences indicate sediments were deposited under decreasing energy conditions under fluvial regime. The iron bearing minerals like garnets and pyriboles have undergone chemical weathering under high oxidizing environment resulting in addition of silt and clay to the reddish brown and brick red sediments and concretions were formed by carbonate precipitation. These processes caused changes in the mean grain size and sorting nature of these sediments which are originally aeolian in origin. The light yellow sediments were medium to fine grained, well sorted and similar to modern dune sands in terms of textural parameters. These sediments were deposited under low oxidation environmental conditions and acquired yellow colour due to Fe hydroxides.
Tone‐Inhibiting Insoles Enhance the Reciprocal Inhibition of Ankle Plantarflexors of Subjects With Hemiparesis After Stroke: An Electromyographic Study
Authors: Takahashi Nobushige , Takahashi Hidetoshi , Takahashi Osamu , Ushijima Ryosuke , Umebayashi Rie , Nishikawa Junji , Okajima Yasutomo 
Published: July 2017

AbstractBackgroundSpasticity is a common sequela of upper motor neuron pathology, such as cerebrovascular diseases and cerebral palsy. Intervention for spasticity of the ankle plantarflexors in physical therapy may include tone‐inhibiting casting and/or orthoses for the ankle and foot. However, the physiological mechanism of tone reduction by such orthoses remains unclarified.ObjectiveTo investigate the electrophysiologic effects of tone‐inhibiting insoles in stroke subjects with hemiparesis by measuring changes in reciprocal Ia inhibition (RI) in the ankle plantarflexor.DesignAn interventional before–after study.SettingAcute stroke unit or ambulatory rehabilitation clinic of a university hospital in Japan.ParticipantsTen subjects (47‐84 years) with hemiparesis and 10 healthy male control subjects (31‐59 years) were recruited.MethodsRI of the spastic soleus in response to the electrical stimulation of the deep peroneal nerve was evaluated by stimulus‐locked averaging of rectified electromyography (EMG) of the soleus while subjects were standing.Main Outcome MeasurementsThe magnitude of RI, defined as the ratio of the lowest to the baseline amplitude of the rectified EMG at approximately 40 milliseconds after stimulation, was measured while subjects were standing with and without the tone‐inhibiting insole on the hemiparesis side.ResultsEnhancement of EMG reduction with the tone‐inhibiting insole was significant (P < .05) in the subjects with hemiparesis, whereas no significant changes were found in controls.ConclusionTone‐inhibiting insoles enhanced RI of the soleus in subjects after stroke, which might enhance standing stability by reducing unfavorable ankle plantarflexion tone.Level of EvidenceIII
Decrease in Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus Colonization After Extensive Renovation of a Unit Dedicated to the Treatment of Hematologic Malignancies and Hematopoietic Stem-Cell Transplantation
Authors: Ford Clyde D. , Gazdik Stofer Michaela A. , Coombs Jana , Lopansri Bert K. , Webb Brandon J. , Motyckova Gabriela , Petersen Finn Bo 
Published: July 2017

OBJECTIVEWhile a direct relation between hospital construction and concomitant infection rates has been clearly established, few data are available regarding the environmental decontamination effects of renovation in which surfaces are replaced and regarding subsequent infection incidence.DESIGNRetrospective clinical study with vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) molecular strain typing and environmental cultures.SETTINGA regional referral center for acute leukemia and hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation.PATIENTSOverall, 536 consecutive hospital admissions for newly diagnosed acute leukemia or a first autologous or allogeneic stem-cell transplantation were reviewed.INTERVENTIONDuring 2009–2010, our unit underwent complete remodeling including replacement of all surfaces. We assessed the effects of this construction on the incidence of hospital-acquired VRE colonization before, during, and after the renovation.RESULTSWe observed a sharp decrease in VRE colonization rates (hazard ratio, <0.23; 95% confidence interval, 0.18–0.44; P<.0001) during the first year after the renovation, with a return to near baseline rates thereafter. The known risk factors for VRE colonization appeared to be stable over the study interval. Environmental cultures outside of patient rooms revealed several contaminated areas that are commonly touched by unit personnel. Multilocus sequence typing of VRE isolates that were cryopreserved over the study interval showed that dominant strains prior to construction disappeared and were replaced by other strains after the renovation.CONCLUSIONSUnit reconstruction interrupted endemic transmission of VRE, which resumed with novel strains upon reopening. Contamination of environmental surfaces and shared equipment may play an important role in endemic transmission of VRE.Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2017;38:1055–1061
Three-dimensionality of elliptical cylinder wakes at low angles of incidence
Authors: Rao Anirudh , Leontini Justin S. , Thompson Mark C. , Hourigan Kerry 
Published: July 2017

The wake of an elliptical cylinder at low incident angles is investigated for different aspect ratio ($\unicode[STIX]{x1D6E4}=\text{major:minor axis ratio}$) cylinders using stability analysis and direct simulations. In particular, two- and three-dimensional transitions are mapped for cylinders of aspect ratios between 1 and 4 using Floquet stability analysis. The transition scenario for near-unity aspect ratio cylinders resembles that for a circular cylinder wake as Reynolds number is increased to $Re\lesssim 400$; first, with the transition from steady two-dimensional flow to unsteady two-dimensional flow, followed by the onset of three-dimensional flow via a long-wavelength instability (mode A), then, a short-wavelength instability (mode B) and, finally, an intermediary wavelength instability which is quasi-periodic in nature (mode QP). The effect of the incident angle on this transition scenario for the low-aspect-ratio cylinders is minimal. As the aspect ratio is increased towards 2, two synchronous modes, modes $\widehat{\text{A}}$ and $\widehat{\text{B}}$, become unstable; these modes have spatio-temporal symmetries similar to their circular cylinder wake counterparts, modes A and mode B, respectively. While mode $\widehat{\text{A}}$ persists for all incident angles investigated here, mode $\widehat{\text{B}}$ is found only to be unstable for incident angles up to $10^{\circ }$. Surprisingly, for $1.8\lesssim \unicode[STIX]{x1D6E4}\lesssim 2.9$, the mode A instability observed at zero incident angle emerges as a quasi-periodic mode as the incident angle is increased even slightly. At higher incident angles, this quasi-periodic mode once again transforms to a real mode on increasing the Reynolds number. The parameter space maps for the various aspect ratios are presented in the Reynolds number–incident angle plane, and the three-dimensional modes are discussed in terms of similarities to and differences from existing modes. A key aim of the work is to map the different modes and various transition sequences as a simple body geometry is systematically changed and as the flow symmetry is systematically broken; thus, insight is provided on the overall path towards fully turbulent flow.
Dynamo action in rapidly rotating Rayleigh–Bénard convection at infinite Prandtl number
Authors: Cattaneo Fausto , Hughes David W. 
Published: July 2017

In order better to understand the processes that lead to the generation of magnetic fields of finite amplitude, we study dynamo action driven by turbulent Boussinesq convection in a rapidly rotating system. In the limit of infinite Prandtl number (the ratio of viscous to thermal diffusion) the inertia term drops out of the momentum equation, which becomes linear in the velocity. This simplification allows a decomposition of the velocity into a thermal part driven by buoyancy, and a magnetic part driven by the Lorentz force. While the former velocity defines the kinematic dynamo problem responsible for the exponential growth of the magnetic field, the latter encodes the magnetic back reaction that leads to the eventual nonlinear saturation of the dynamo. We argue that two different types of solution should exist: weak solutions in which the saturated velocity remains close to the kinematic one, and strong solutions in which magnetic forces drive the system into a new strongly magnetised state that is radically different from the kinematic one. Indeed, we find both types of solutions numerically. Interestingly, we also find that, in our inertialess system, both types of solutions exist on the same subcritical branch of solutions bifurcating from the non-magnetic convective state, in contrast with the more traditional situation for systems with finite inertia in which weak and strong solutions are thought to exist on different branches. We find that for weak solutions, the force balance is the same as in the non-magnetic case, with the horizontal size of the convection varying as the one-third power of the Ekman number (the ratio of viscous to Coriolis forces), which gives rise to very small cells at small Ekman numbers (i.e. high rotation rates). In the strong solutions, magnetic forces become important and the convection develops on much larger horizontal scales. However, we note that even in the strong cases the solutions never properly satisfy Taylor’s constraint, and that viscous stresses continue to play a role. Finally, we discuss the relevance of our findings to the study of planetary dynamos in rapidly rotating systems such as the Earth.
MANGANESE NUTRITION IMPROVES THE PRODUCTIVITY AND GRAIN BIOFORTIFICATION OF BREAD WHEAT IN ALKALINE CALCAREOUS SOIL
Authors: ULLAH AMAN , FAROOQ MUHAMMAD , REHMAN ABDUL , ARSHAD MUHAMMAD SHAKEEL , SHOUKAT HIRA , NADEEM ASIF , NAWAZ AHMAD , WAKEEL ABDUL , NADEEM FAISAL 
Published: July 2017

SUMMARYManganese (Mn) is one important microelement for plants and the human beings. This study was conducted to evaluate the potential of Mn nutrition in improving the productivity and grain biofortification of wheat. For optimization of Mn seed treatments, seeds were primed with 0.1 and 0.01 M Mn solution, or were coated with 250 and 500 mg Mn kg−1 seed. The optimized treatments were used in the second experiment replicated over time and space. In the first experiment conducted at Faisalabad during 2012–2013, maximum grain yield was recorded with Mn seed priming (0.1 M Mn solution), while maximum grain Mn concentration was recorded with foliar application of 0.75 M Mn solution and seed coating with 250 mg Mn kg−1 seed. In the second experiment, conducted at Faisalabad and Sheikhupura during 2013–2014, and at Faisalabad during 2014–2015, maximum grain yield and grain Mn concentration were recorded from seed priming with 0.1 M Mn solution. Regardless of method, Mn application improved the productivity and grain biofortification of wheat. Overall order of improvement in grain yield was seed priming (3.87 Mg ha−1) > foliar application (3.74 Mg ha−1) > seed coating (3.57 Mg ha−1). Regarding grain Mn concentration, the best treatment was seed priming (41.40 µg g−1) followed by seed coating (39.87 µg g−1) and foliar application (36.94 µg g−1). Maximum net returns and benefit-cost ratio were obtained with Mn seed priming, while maximum marginal rate of return was obtained with Mn seed coating. In conclusion, Mn application through seed treatments was cost effective for improving the productivity and grain biofortification of bread wheat in alkaline calcareous soil.
Pandemic-related health behavior: repeat episodes of influenza-like illness related to the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic
Authors: MGBERE O. , NGO K. , KHUWAJA S. , MOUZOON M. , GREISINGER A. , ARAFAT R. , MARKEE J. 
Published: July 2017

SUMMARYThe Houston Health Department (HHD) in Texas tracks influenza-like illness (ILI) in the community through its Influenza Sentinel Surveillance Program, which began in 2008. After the influenza A(H1N1) pandemic (pH1N1) in 2009, investigators sought to assess the feasibility of this program as a non-traditional data source for tracking and monitoring care-seeking activities. Through the process of characterizing and describing patients who had ‘return visits’, or who were considered the heaviest ILI-related care-utilizers, the investigators sought to understand the strengths and limitations of this data source. Data used for this study were obtained from a multispecialty clinic in Houston, Texas between August 2008 and January 2011 across three phases: pre-pH1N1, pH1N1, and post-pH1N1. The data, which comprised of 4047 patient visits, yielded 150 return visits. We found an increase in the number of visits for ILI and proportion of return visits during the pandemic phase (pH1N1), as well as differences in the likelihood of a return visit between genders and age groups. More broadly, the findings of this study provide important considerations for future research and expose important gaps in using surveillance data to assess sick-role behaviors.
A new set of microsatellite loci for Cattleya walkeriana Gardner, an endangered tropical orchid species and its transferability to Cattleya loddigesii Lindl. and Cattleya nobilior Reichenbach
Authors: Rossini Bruno C. , Kampa Mariá B. , Marino Celso L. , Pereira Fernanda Bortolanza , Alves Fábio M. , Pereira de Souza Anete , Ibanes Bruna , Schwarcz Kaiser Dias , Zucchi Maria Imaculada , Bobrowski Rogério , Peres Fabiana S. B. , Tambarussi Evandro Vagner 
Published: July 2017

AbstractIn this study, we isolate and analyse a new set of microsatellite loci for Cattleya walkeriana. Twenty-two primer pairs were screened for C. walkeriana (n = 32) and assessed for their transferability to Cattleya loddigesii (n = 12) and Cattleya nobilior (n = 06). All loci amplified for C. walkeriana; however, for C. loddigesii and C. nobilior, four and five primers, respectively, did not present amplification. The polymorphic loci presented between 2 and 13 alleles per locus for both C. walkeriana and C. loddigesii, with respective averages of 5.1 and 4.2. For C. nobilior, we found between two and five alleles per locus, with an average of 2.6. For C. walkeriana, observed heterozygosity varied from 0.100 to 0.966, whereas expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.097 to 0.900. The observed and expected heterozygosity for C. loddigesii and C. nobilior were also estimated. We found no significant linkage disequilibrium between any pair of loci, and evidence of null alleles at four loci (Cw16, Cw24, Cw30 and Cw31) for C. walkeriana. The combined power to exclude the first parent and combined non-exclusion probability of identity were 0.999 and 2.3 × 10−20, respectively. These new loci can be used in studies of germplasm resources, and assessments of genotypic and genetic diversity and population structure, thus improving the accuracy of such analyses and their applicability in the conservation and protection of these endangered species.
The Idea of Global Public Law: Response To Unbound Symposium Essays
Authors: Hovell Devika 
Published: July 2017

Law abhors a vacuum. Lawyers (including international lawyers) have constructed their profession around the fiction that such a thing is impossible. Where gaps emerge in a legal framework, lawyers face the task of filling it, compromised by the additional hurdle of having to pretend there was no gap in the first place.
The challenge has intensified with the ever-widening and deepening accountability gap that has accompanied the growth of global governance. In the period between H.G. Wells’ writing of The New World Order and the drafting of Security Council resolutions 827, 1267, 1373, and 1540, global governance has evolved from an idea of utopian/dystopian fiction to reality. In a recent article in the American Journal of International Law on “Due Process in the United Nations,” I argue that as legal academics we are justified in taking a more architectural role in proposing a legal framework to fill the good-governance-size hole in this emerging tier of governance. Essayists in the AJIL Unbound Symposium convened in response to my article raised interesting (and fairly fundamental) challenges to the methodology proposed. The hosts of the symposium kindly offered me the chance to respond—I took them up. There may be gaps in international law, but never silences.
Gender Representation on the Tribunals of the United Nations Internal Justice System: A Response to Nienke Grossman
Authors: Ebrahim-Carstens Memooda 
Published: July 2017

Shylock: Most learned judge, a sentence! Come prepare!
Portia: This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood; The words expressly are “a pound of flesh.”
(The Merchant of Venice, Act 4, Scene1)

In her interesting study on “Achieving Sex Representative International Court Benches,” Nienke Grossman observes that international judgeships are often based on personal networks and social currency, or used to reward political loyalty or to advance political agendas, rather than to select the most qualified candidates. She illustrates how nomination procedures for international benches generally lack transparency, and horse-trading infects elections to the international courts. To ensure gender equity, Grossman advocates that states should take remedial steps to make nomination and selection procedures more open, transparent, and merit-based, at both the national and the international level.
Mice lacking NF-κB1 exhibit marked DNA damage responses and more severe gastric pathology in response to intraperitoneal tamoxifen administration
Authors: Burkitt Michael D , Williams Jonathan M , Townsend Tristan , Hough Rachael , Pritchard D Mark 
Published: July 2017

AbstractTamoxifen (TAM) has recently been shown to cause acute gastric atrophy and metaplasia in mice. We have previously demonstrated that the outcome of Helicobacter felis infection, which induces similar gastric lesions in mice, is altered by deletion of specific NF-κB subunits. Nfkb1−/− mice developed more severe gastric atrophy than wild-type (WT) mice 6 weeks after H. felis infection. In contrast, Nfkb2−/− mice were protected from this pathology. We therefore hypothesized that gastric lesions induced by TAM may be similarly regulated by signaling via NF-κB subunits. Groups of five female C57BL/6 (WT), Nfkb1−/−, Nfkb2−/− and c-Rel−/− mice were administered 150 mg/kg TAM by IP injection. Seventy-two hours later, gastric corpus tissues were taken for quantitative histological assessment. In addition, groups of six female WT and Nfkb1−/− mice were exposed to 12 Gy γ-irradiation. Gastric epithelial apoptosis was quantified 6 and 48 h after irradiation. TAM induced gastric epithelial lesions in all strains of mice, but this was more severe in Nfkb1−/− mice than in WT mice. Nfkb1−/− mice exhibited more severe parietal cell loss than WT mice, had increased gastric epithelial expression of Ki67 and had an exaggerated gastric epithelial DNA damage response as quantified by γH2AX. To investigate whether the difference in gastric epithelial DNA damage response of Nfkb1−/− mice was unique to TAM-induced DNA damage or a generic consequence of DNA damage, we also assessed gastric epithelial apoptosis following γ-irradiation. Six hours after γ-irradiation, gastric epithelial apoptosis was increased in the gastric corpus and antrum of Nfkb1−/− mice. NF-κB1-mediated signaling regulates the development of gastric mucosal pathology following TAM administration. This is associated with an exaggerated gastric epithelial DNA damage response. This aberrant response appears to reflect a more generic sensitization of the gastric mucosa of Nfkb1−/− mice to DNA damage.
Oroxylin A activates PKM1/HNF4 alpha to induce hepatoma differentiation and block cancer progression
Authors: Wei Libin , Dai Yuanyuan , Zhou Yuxin , He Zihao , Yao Jingyue , Zhao Li , Guo Qinglong , Yang Lin 
Published: July 2017

AbstractLiver cancer is the second cause of death from cancer worldwide, without effective treatment. Traditional chemotherapy for liver cancer has big side effects for patients, whereas targeted drugs, such as sorafenib, commonly have drug resistance. Oroxylin A (OA) is the main bioactive flavonoids of Scutellariae radix, which has strong anti-hepatoma effect but low toxicity to normal tissue. To date, no differentiation-inducing agents have been reported to exert a curative effect on solid tumors. Here our results demonstrated that OA restrained the proliferation and induced differentiation of hepatoma both in vitro and in vivo, via inducing a high PKM1 (pyruvate kinase M1)/PKM2 (pyruvate kinase M2) ratio. In addition, inhibited expression of polypyrimidine tract-binding protein by OA was in charge of the decrease of PKM2 and increase of PKM1. Further studies demonstrated that increased PKM1 translocated into the nucleus and bound with HNF-4α (hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 alpha) directly, promoting the transcription of HNF-4α-targeted genes. This work suggested that OA increased PKM1/PKM2 ratio, resulting in HNF-4α activation and hepatoma differentiation. Especially, OA showed reliable anticancer effect on both human primary hepatocellular carcinoma cells and patient-derived tumor xenograft model for hepatoma, and slowed down the development of primary hepatoma, suggesting that OA could be developed into a novel differentiation inducer agent for hepatoma.