bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Synthesis of hydrophilic and hydrophobic carbon quantum dots from waste of wine fermentation
Authors: Varisco Massimo , Zufferey Denis , Ruggi Albert , Zhang Yucheng , Erni Rolf , Mamula Olimpia 
Published: December 2017

Wine lees are one of the main residues formed in vast quantities during the fermentation of wine. While toxic when applied to plants and wetlands, it is a biodegradable material, and several alternatives have been proposed for its valorization as: dietary supplement in animal feed, source for various yeast extracts and bioconversion feedstock. The implementation of stricter environment protection regulations resulted in increasing costs for wineries as their treatment process constitutes an unavoidable and expensive step in wine production. We propose here an alternative method to reduce waste and add value to wine production by exploiting this rich carbon source and use it as a raw material for producing carbon quantum dots (CQDs). A complete synthetic pathway is discussed, comprising the carbonization of the starting material, the screening of the most suitable solvent for the extraction of CQDs from the carbonized mass and their hydrophobic or hydrophilic functionalization. CQDs synthesized with the reported procedure show a bright blue emission (
λ
max
= 433 ± 13 nm) when irradiated at 366 nm, which is strongly shifted when the wavelength is increased (e.g. emission at around 515 nm when excited at 460 nm). Yields and luminescent properties of CQDs, obtained with two different methods, namely microwave and ultrasound-based extraction, are discussed and compared. This study shows how easy a residue can be converted into an added-value material, thus not only reducing waste and saving costs for the wine-manufacturing industry but also providing a reliable, affordable and sustainable source for valuable materials.
Investigation on an ammonia supply system for flue gas denitrification of low-speed marine diesel
Authors: Huang Xiankun , Yuan Han , Zhao Jian , Mei Ning 
Published: December 2017

Low-speed marine diesel flue gas denitrification is in great demand in the ship transport industry. This research proposes an ammonia supply system which can be used for flue gas denitrification of low-speed marine diesel. In this proposed ammonia supply system, ammonium bicarbonate is selected as the ammonia carrier to produce ammonia and carbon dioxide by thermal decomposition. The diesel engine exhaust heat is used as the heating source for ammonium bicarbonate decomposition and ammonia gas desorption. As the ammonium bicarbonate decomposition is critical to the proper operation of this system, effects have been observed to reveal the performance of the thermal decomposition chamber in this paper. A visualization experiment for determination of the single-tube heat transfer coefficient and simulation of flow and heat transfer in two structures is conducted; the decomposition of ammonium bicarbonate is simulated by ASPEN PLUS. The results show that the single-tube heat transfer coefficient is 1052 W m
2
°C
−1
; the thermal decomposition chamber fork-type structure gets a higher heat transfer compared with the row-type. With regard to the simulation of ammonium bicarbonate thermal decomposition, the ammonia production is significantly affected by the reaction temperature and the mass flow rate of the ammonium bicarbonate input.
A phylogenomic framework and timescale for comparative studies of tunicates
Authors: Delsuc Frédéric , Philippe Hervé , Tsagkogeorga Georgia , Simion Paul , Tilak Marie-Ka , Turon Xavier , López-Legentil Susanna , Piette Jacques , Lemaire Patrick , Douzery Emmanuel J. P. 
Published: December 2017

AbstractBackgroundTunicates are the closest relatives of vertebrates and are widely used as models to study the evolutionary developmental biology of chordates. Their phylogeny, however, remains poorly understood and to date, only the 18S rRNA nuclear gene and mitogenomes have been used to delineate the major groups of tunicates. To resolve their evolutionary relationships and provide a first estimate of their divergence times, we used a transcriptomic approach to build a phylogenomic dataset including all major tunicate lineages, consisting of 258 evolutionarily conserved orthologous genes from representative species.ResultsPhylogenetic analyses using site-heterogeneous CAT mixture models of amino acid sequence evolution resulted in a strongly supported tree topology resolving the relationships among four major tunicate clades: 1) Appendicularia, 2) Thaliacea + Phlebobranchia + Aplousobranchia, 3) Molgulidae, and 4) Styelidae + Pyuridae. Notably, the morphologically derived Thaliacea are confirmed as the sister-group of the clade uniting Phlebobranchia + Aplousobranchia within which the precise position of the model ascidian genusCionaremains uncertain. Relaxed molecular clock analyses accommodating the accelerated evolutionary rate of tunicates reveal ancient diversification (~450-350 million years ago) among the major groups and allow comparing their evolutionary age with respect to the major vertebrate model lineages.ConclusionsOur study represents the most comprehensive phylogenomic dataset for the main tunicate lineages. It offers a reference phylogenetic framework and first tentative timescale for tunicates, allowing the direct comparison with vertebrate model species in comparative genomics and evolutionary developmental biology studies.
Phylogenomics offers resolution of major tunicate relationships
Authors: Kocot Kevin M. , Tassia Michael G. , Halanych Kenneth M. , Swalla Billie J. 
Published: December 2017

SummaryTunicata, a diverse clade of approximately 3,000 described species of marine, filter-feeding chordates, is of great interest to researchers because tunicates are the closest living relatives of vertebrates and they facilitate comparative studies of our own biology. The group also includes numerous invasive species that cause considerable economic damage and some species of tunicates are edible. Despite their diversity and importance, relationships among major lineages of Tunicata are not completely resolved. Here, we supplemented public data with transcriptomes from seven species spanning the diversity of Tunicata and conducted phylogenomic analyses on data sets of up to 798 genes. Sensitivity analyses were employed to examine the influences of reducing compositional heterogeneity and branch-length heterogeneity. All analyses maximally supported a monophyletic Tunicata within Olfactores (Vertebrata + Tunicata). Within Tunicata, all analyses recovered Appendicularia sister to the rest of Tunicata and confirmed (with maximal support) that Thaliacea is nested within Ascidiacea. Stolidobranchia is the sister taxon to all other tunicates except Appendicularia. In most analyses, phlebobranch tunicates were recovered paraphyletic with respect to Aplousobranchia. Support for this topology varied but was strong in some cases. However, when only the 50 best genes based on compositional heterogeneity were analysed, we recovered Phlebobranchia and Aplousobranchia reciprocally monophyletic with strong support, consistent with most traditional morphology-based hypotheses. Examination of internode certainty also cast doubt on results of phlebobranch paraphyly, which may be due to limited taxon sampling. Taken together, these results provide a higher-level phylogenetic framework for our closest living invertebrate relatives.
Assembly sequence planning for motion planning
Authors: Wan Weiwei , Harada Kensuke , Nagata Kazuyuki 
Published: December 2017

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a planner for finding an optimal assembly sequence for robots to assemble objects. Each manipulated object in the optimal sequence is stable during assembly. They are easy to grasp and robust to motion uncertainty.

Design/methodology/approach
The input to the planner is the mesh models of the objects, the relative poses between the objects in the assembly and the final pose of the assembly. The output is an optimal assembly sequence, namely, in which order should one assemble the objects, from which directions should the objects be dropped and candidate grasps of each object. The proposed planner finds the optimal solution by automatically permuting, evaluating and searching the possible assembly sequences considering stability, graspability and assemblability qualities.

Findings
The proposed planner could plan an optimal sequence to guide robots to do assembly using translational motion. The sequence provides initial and goal configurations to motion planning algorithms and is ready to be used by robots. The usefulness of the proposed method is verified by both simulation and real-world executions.

Originality/value
The paper proposes an assembly planner which can find an optimal assembly sequence automatically without teaching of the assembly orders and directions by skilled human technicians. The planner is highly expected to improve teachingless robotic manufacturing.
Cross-cultural communication imperatives
Authors: Abugre James Baba 
Published: December 2017

PurposeGiven the rising expansion of Western multinational companies (MNCs) to the African contexts, the development of expatriates and local employees has become increasingly important to the human resource management of these MNCs. This paper aims to provide critical lessons on cross-cultural communication competences for Western expatriates working in the sub-Saharan Africa business environment.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is a qualitative phenomenology that makes use of lived experiences of senior expatriate staff working in Ghana in the form of direct interviews.FindingsResults showed that cross-cultural communication competence is very important for Western expatriates’ functioning in sub-Saharan Africa. The findings also established a plethora of cross-cultural communication skills that are essential for Western expatriates’ successful adaptation and work outcomes in Africa.Practical implicationsThis research argues that there is the need for the appreciations of the differing cultural patterns of expatriates and local staff, and this provides the underlying assumptions of intercultural and cross-cultural communication in global business.Originality/valueA critical perspective of international business that has scarcely been studied offers lessons for Western expatriates working in sub-Saharan Africa.
The impacts of final delivery solutions on e-shopping usage behaviour
Authors: Xiao Zuopeng , Wang James J. , Liu Qian 
Published: December 2017

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of final delivery solutions on e-shopping usage behaviour by modelling their interaction across residents living in different neighourhoods with availabilities of different facilities, including automated parcel stations (APSs), collection and delivery points (CDPs), and the direct-to-home delivery stations of parcel express firms (PEFs).

Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on a survey on e-shopping behaviour and delivery awareness. A mixed structural equation model is used to predict the interactions among availability of final delivery facilities (AFDF), level of satisfaction with delivery services and e-shopping usage after controlling individual socioeconomic attributes and retail environment.

Findings
Compared with AFDF, individual socioeconomic attributes are the most influential factors contributing to e-shopping spending and frequency. Improving AFDF has only a slight effect on e-shopping spending, while a larger impact on e-shopping frequency and perceived satisfaction to delivery services is observed. The quantity of PEF delivery stations has a relatively large influence on e-shopping usage but the effects of APSs and CDPs are not as strong as expected.

Research limitations/implications
The causality between final delivery solutions and e-shopping behaviour can be further tested by using social experiments or longitudinal data.

Practical implications
All findings will help business and public policy decision makers to derive a balanced and effective deployment of final delivery solutions, which is also referential for other emerging markets similar to China.

Originality/value
This study theoretically contributes to the international literature by examining the heterogeneous effects of final delivery solutions on different aspects of e-shopping engagement.
Student responses to an animated character in information literacy instruction
Authors: Poggiali Jennifer 
Published: December 2017

Purpose
This paper reports on a grant-funded project to create a hand-drawn, custom-made animated character named Jasmyn. Drawing on animation theory, the purpose of this paper is to use qualitative research to investigate student responses to the medium of animation, the character’s design, and three presentation strategies.

Design/methodology/approach
The researchers held three student focus groups to investigate the following research questions: Will students endorse animation as a medium for library instructional videos on the grounds of its entertaining, subversive, or playful qualities? Is Jasmyn designed and written in a way that engages students and compels them to respond to her as a character? How will students respond to three presentation strategies: a lecture-style video, a video with supplemental animations, and a real-time, interactive lesson?

Findings
The researchers found that students expressed broad enthusiasm for animation as a medium, though responses to Jasmyn’s personality were mixed. The only presentation strategy that prompted unique responses was the interactive session, although all three focus groups provided revealing commentary about online learning. Students also identified aspects of the animation and character that could be improved, and reflected on ways Jasmyn might be integrated into online learning.

Research limitations/implications
This study, performed as part of a pilot project, was deliberately small in scale. Clearer implications would emerge from repetition with a larger group of students.

Originality/value
Jasmyn may be the only hand-drawn, custom-made animated character created for library instruction. No research studies on the use of animation in libraries have been published to date.
Evaluation of consistency in quantification of gene copy number by real‐time reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction and virus titer by plaque‐forming assay for human respiratory syncytial virus
Authors: Yamamoto Keisuke , Ogasawara Noriko , Yamamoto Soh , Takano Kenichi , Shiraishi Tsukasa , Sato Toyotaka , Tsutsumi Hiroyuki , Himi Tetsuo , Yokota Shin‐ichi 
Published: December 2017

ABSTRACTThe plaque‐forming assay is the standard technique for determining viral titer, and a critical measurement for investigating viral replication. However, this assay is highly dependent on experimental technique and conditions. In the case of human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in particular, it can be difficult to objectively confirm the accuracy of plaque‐forming assay because the plaques made by RSV are often small and unclear. In recent studies, RT‐qPCR methods have emerged as a supportive procedure for assessment of viral titer, yielding highly sensitive and reproducible results. In this report, we compare the viral replication, as determined by plaque‐forming assay, and the copy numbers of RSV genes NS1, NS2, N, and F, as determined by RT‐qPCR. Two real‐time PCR systems, SYBR Green and TaqMan probe, gave highly similar results for measurement of copy numbers of RSV N genes of virus subgroups A. We determined the RSV gene copy numbers in the culture cell supernatant and cell lysate measured at various multiplicities of infection. We found that copy number of the RSV N gene in the culture supernatant and cell lysate was highly correlated with plaque‐forming units. In conclusion, RT‐qPCR measurement of RSV gene copy number was highly dependent on viral titer, and the detailed comparison between each gene copy number and virus titer should be useful and supportive in confirming RSV plaque‐forming assay and virus dynamics. The technique may also be used to estimate the amount of RSV present in clinical specimens.
Multivalency effects of hemagglutinin component of type B botulinum neurotoxin complex on epithelial barrier disruption
Authors: Amatsu Sho , Matsumura Takuhiro , Yutani Masahiro , Fujinaga Yukako 
Published: December 2017

ABSTRACTHemagglutinin (HA) is one of the components of botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) complexes and it promotes the absorption of BoNT through the intestinal epithelium by at least two specific mechanisms: cell surface attachment by carbohydrate binding, and epithelial barrier disruption by E‐cadherin binding. It is known that HA forms a three‐arm structure, in which each of three protomers has three carbohydrate‐binding sites and one E‐cadherin‐binding site. A three‐arm form of HA is considered to bind to these ligands simultaneously. In the present study, we investigated how the multivalency effect of HA influences its barrier‐disrupting activity. We prepared type B full‐length HA (three‐arm form) and mini‐HA, which is a deletion mutant lacking the trimer‐forming domain. Size‐exclusion chromatography analysis showed that mini‐HA exists as dimers (two‐arm form) and monomers (one‐arm form), which are then separated. We examined the multivalency effect of HA on the barrier‐disrupting activity, the E‐cadherin‐binding activity, and the attachment activity to the basolateral cell surface. Our results showed that HA initially attaches to the basal surface of Caco‐2 cells by carbohydrate binding and then moves to the lateral cell surface, where the HA acts to disrupt the epithelial barrier. Our results showed that the multivalency effect of HA enhances the barrier‐disrupting activity in Caco‐2 cells. We found that basal cell surface attachment and binding ability to immobilized E‐cadherin were enhanced by the multivalency effect of HA. These results suggest that at least these two factors induced by the multivalency effect of HA cause the enhancement of the barrier‐disrupting activity.
Long‐term regulation of local cytokine production following immunization in mice
Authors: Nakayama Tetsuo , Kashiwagi Yasuyo , Kawashima Hisashi 
Published: December 2017

ABSTRACTVaccines based on pathogen components require adjuvants to enhance the antigen‐specific adaptive immune response. Intramuscular injection of adjuvanted‐vaccines induces inflammatory cytokines and inflammatory nodules at the injection site within 48 hr after injection (Vaccine 2014; 32: 3393–401). In the present study, long‐term regulation of cytokine production was investigated at 3, 6, 24, and 48 hr, 5 and 7 days, and 2 and 4 weeks after immunization with human papilloma virus (HPV), diphtheria and tetanus toxoids combined with acellular pertussis (DTaP), Haemophilus influenza type B (Hib), and pneumococcal conjugated (PCV) vaccines in mouse models. The second dose was given 4 weeks later, and cytokine profiles were investigated 2, 5, and 7 days after re‐immunization. IL‐1β, IL‐6, granulocyte‐colony stimulating factor (G‐CSF), and MCP‐1 were produced from 3 hr and peaked at 48 hr after immunization with Cervarix in mice. IL‐4, MCP‐1, and TNF‐α peaked at 5 or 7 days after immunization with Gardasil. These cytokines decreased 7 days after immunization with Cervarix and Gardasil. After the second dose, similar responses were observed. Both vaccines induced neutrophil extracellular traps (NET) in inflammatory nodules. The peak amount of IL‐1β, IL‐6, G‐CSF, and MCP‐1 was observed on day 5 of immunization and that of IL‐4 on days 5‐7 of immunization with DTaP, but no increase in IL‐6 and G‐CSF was observed after re‐immunization. A similar response was noted after immunization with PCV13. An inflammatory response is essential for the development of adaptive immunity through the production of inflammatory cytokines.
Knowledge diffusion and agricultural development
Authors: Islam Md. Rabiul , Madsen Jakob B. 
Published: December 2017

AbstractLow agricultural productivity remains the primary source of poverty in the developing regions and yet little is known about the influence on agricultural productivity of domestic and international accumulated R&D knowledge and the channels through which this knowledge is transmitted internationally. Following a large scientific literature, this article argues that R&D and R&D knowledge spillover are ecozone‐specific and, therefore, are transmitted internationally through ecozones, where ecozones are the broadest biogeographic division of the earth's land surface. Using data for a panel of 88 countries, it is shown that international knowledge spillovers are ecozone‐specific and have been an important contributing factor behind the marked widening of the income gap between developed and developing countries since 1983.
Unshielded magnetocardiography: Repeatability and reproducibility of automatically estimated ventricular repolarization parameters in 204 healthy subjects
Authors: Sorbo Anna Rita , Lombardi Gianmarco , La Brocca Lara , Guida Gianluigi , Fenici Riccardo , Brisinda Donatella 
Published: December 2017

BackgroundMagnetocardiographic mapping (MCG) provides quantitative assessment of the magnetic field (MF) induced by cardiac ionic currents, is more sensitive to tangential currents, and measures vortex currents undetectable by ECG, with higher reported sensitivity of MCG ventricular repolarization (VR) parameters for earlier detection of acute myocardial ischemia. Aims of this study were to validate the feasibility of in‐hospital unshielded MCG and to assess repeatability and reproducibility of quantitative VR parameters, considering also possible gender‐ and age‐related variability.MethodsMCG of 204 healthy subjects [114 males—mean age 43.4 ± 17.3 and 90 females—mean age 40.2 ± 15.7] was retrospectively analyzed, with a patented proprietary software automatically estimating twelve VR parameters derived from the analysis of the dynamics of the T‐wave MF extrema (five parameters) and from the inverse solution with the effective magnetic dipole model giving the effective magnetic vector components (seven parameters). MCG repeatability was calculated as coefficient of variation (CV) ±standard error of the mean (SEM). Reproducibility was assessed as intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC).ResultsThe repeatability of all MCG parameters was 16 ± 1.2 (%) (average CV ± SEM). Optimal (ICC > 0.7) reproducibility was found for 11/12 parameters (mean values) and in 8/12 parameters (single values). No significant gender‐related difference was observed; six parameters showed a strong/moderate correlation with age.ConclusionReliable MCG can be performed into an unshielded hospital ambulatory, with repeatability and reproducibility of quantitative assessment of VR adequate for clinical purposes. Wider clinical use is foreseen with the development of multichannel optical magnetometry.