bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Optimization of Vacuum Impregnation with Calcium Lactate of Minimally Processed Melon and Shelf‐Life Study in Real Storage Conditions
Authors: Tappi Silvia , Tylewicz Urszula , Romani Santina , Siroli Lorenzo , Patrignani Francesca , Dalla Rosa Marco , Rocculi Pietro 
Published: October 2016

AbstractVacuum impregnation (VI) is a processing operation that permits the impregnation of fruit and vegetable porous tissues with a fast and more homogeneous penetration of active compounds compared to the classical diffusion processes. The objective of this research was to investigate the impact on VI treatment with the addition of calcium lactate on qualitative parameters of minimally processed melon during storage. For this aim, this work was divided in 2 parts. Initially, the optimization of process parameters was carried out in order to choose the optimal VI conditions for improving texture characteristics of minimally processed melon that were then used to impregnate melons for a shelf‐life study in real storage conditions. On the basis of a 23 factorial design, the effect of Calcium lactate (CaLac) concentration between 0% and 5% and of minimum pressure (P) between 20 and 60 MPa were evaluated on color and texture. Processing parameters corresponding to 5% CaLac concentration and 60 MPa of minimum pressure were chosen for the storage study, during which the modifications of main qualitative parameters were evaluated. Despite of the high variability of the raw material, results showed that VI allowed a better maintenance of texture during storage. Nevertheless, other quality traits were negatively affected by the application of vacuum. Impregnated products showed a darker and more translucent appearance on the account of the alteration of the structural properties. Moreover microbial shelf‐life was reduced to 4 d compared to the 7 obtained for control and dipped samples.
Metagenomics insights into food fermentations
Authors: De Filippis Francesca , Parente Eugenio , Ercolini Danilo 
Published: October 2016

SummaryThis review describes the recent advances in the study of food microbial ecology, with a focus on food fermentations. High‐throughput sequencing (HTS) technologies have been widely applied to the study of food microbial consortia and the different applications of HTS technologies were exploited in order to monitor microbial dynamics in food fermentative processes. Phylobiomics was the most explored application in the past decade. Metagenomics and metatranscriptomics, although still underexploited, promise to uncover the functionality of complex microbial consortia. The new knowledge acquired will help to understand how to make a profitable use of microbial genetic resources and modulate key activities of beneficial microbes in order to ensure process efficiency, product quality and safety.
The Role of Wetlands for Mitigating Economic Damage from Hurricanes
Authors: Boutwell J. Luke , Westra John V. 
Published: October 2016

AbstractCoastal communities along the United States coast often experience significant economic damage resulting from the impacts of tropical storms and hurricanes. Research suggests that certain factors that affect economic damages are increasing the vulnerability of coastal communities. Population growth, which increases vulnerability by placing valuable lives and assets in the path of storms, is expected to increase. Climate change has the potential to cause more frequent and intense storms, and coastal wetland loss is contributing to the vulnerability of coastal populations. Wetlands conservation and restoration is often advocated for as a means of reducing the impacts of coastal storms. The relationship between wetlands and storm surge energy is understood relatively well in physical terms, but very little economic analysis has been conducted to estimate the degree to which wetlands reduce economic impacts. Using factor analysis, the relationships among coastal populations, wetlands, storm intensity, and economic damage are explored. The factor analysis suggests that wetland presence is associated with a reduction in economic damages from coastal storms. Factor score analysis suggests that the proportion of damage explained by wetland presence is smaller for more intense storms. These results are consistent with those found in the physical science literature and have potentially large consequences for how wetlands are used in risk reduction.
Expression of the diguanylate cyclase GcbA is regulated by FleQ in response to cyclic di‐GMP in Pseudomonas putida KT2440
Authors: Xiao Yujie , Nie Hailing , Liu Huizhong , Chen Wenli , Huang Qiaoyun 
Published: October 2016

SummaryCyclic di‐GMP (c‐di‐GMP), a ubiquitous bacterial second messenger that regulates diverse cellular processes, is synthesized by diguanylate cyclase (DGC) and degraded by phosphodiesterase (PDE). GcbA is a well conserved DGC among Pseudomonas species, and has been reported to influence biofilm formation and flagellar motility in Pseudomonas fluorescens and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Here we confirm the function of GcbA in Pseudomonas putida and reveal that expression of GcbA is regulated by FleQ in response to c‐di‐GMP. GcbA deletion impaired initial biofilm formation and enhanced swimming motility, but showed no influence on biofilm maturation in Pseudomonas putida. Deletion of the c‐di‐GMP effector FleQ led to a significant decrease in transcription of gcbA. Moreover, reducing c‐di‐GMP levels promoted gcbA transcription in a FleQ dependent way, while enhancing c‐di‐GMP levels abolished the promotion. In in vitro experiments we found that FleQ bound to gcbA promoter DNA and the binding was inhibited by c‐di‐GMP. Besides, FleN, an anti‐activator of FleQ, and the sigma factor RpoN also participated in transcription of gcbA. Our finding expands the complexity of FleQ‐dependent regulation and reveals a self‐regulation function of c‐di‐GMP by regulating GcbA expression via FleQ.
The Representativeness of Global Deliberation: A Critical Assessment of Civil Society Consultations for Sustainable Development
Authors: Sénit Carole‐Anne , Biermann Frank , Kalfagianni Agni 
Published: October 2016

AbstractDuring the negotiations of the Sustainable Development Goals, the United Nations consulted worldwide nearly ten million people for their views. Such proliferating megaconsultations are often uncritically accepted as a remedy for an assumed democratic deficit of intergovernmental institutions. We argue, however, that the potential of civil society consultations to democratize global governance is constrained by the limited legitimacy of these consultations in the first place. Global consultations regularly fail to include civil society actors from developing countries, or show other sociodemographic biases. Also, they often fail to strengthen accountability between citizens, international organizations and governments. In this article, we investigate the causes of this phenomenon by exploring the relationship between the design of consultations and their democratic legitimacy. The basis for our argument is an in‐depth empirical study of three consultations carried out during the negotiations of the Sustainable Development Goals. We find that design is an important variable to explain the overall legitimacy of consultations. Yet its exact role is sometimes unexpected. Extensive material resources and open access conditions do not systematically enhance the legitimacy of the studied consultations. Instead, developing clear objectives, allocating sufficient time to participants, and formally binding the consultation to the negotiations hold considerably more promise.
Does auditor gender affect issuing going‐concern decisions for financially distressed clients?
Authors: Hossain Sarowar , Chapple Larelle , Monroe Gary S. 
Published: October 2016

AbstractWe investigate whether an audit partner's gender is associated with the likelihood of issuing a going‐concern opinion for a financially distressed client. Our analysis is based on data for a sample of Australian listed companies for the period 2003–2011. Our results from unrestricted and propensity score‐matched samples and a Heckman two‐stage model indicate that female audit partners are less likely to issue a going‐concern opinion for financially distressed clients. Our findings provide evidence of differential audit outcomes depending on the gender of the audit partner, thus implying that audit partner gender affects the decision‐making processes used when making the audit reporting decision. These behavioural differences have the potential to influence perceptions of financial reporting and audit quality.
Assessing the frequency and drivers of early‐greening in broad‐leaved woodlands along a latitudinal gradient in southern Africa
Authors: Whitecross Melissa A. , Witkowski Ed T. F. , Archibald Sally 
Published: October 2016

AbstractSavannas are the only deciduous system where new leaf flush pre‐empts the onset of suitable conditions for growth, a phenological phenomenon known as early‐greening. Limited understanding of the frequency and drivers of the occurrence of early‐greening in southern African savanna trees exists. We aimed to estimate the frequency of early‐greening events across southern Africa and investigated potential environmental drivers of green‐up. We selected and compared seven broad‐leaved woodland sites whereBurkea africanawas a dominant species using remotely sensed data along a latitudinal gradient from South Africa to Zambia. Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) values were extracted from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite imagery at each site from January 2002 to June 2014. Using an austral year (July 1st–June 30th), early‐greening was recorded if the green‐up start date occurred prior to the onset date of seasonal rainfall. A latitudinal gradient of early‐green‐up was detected across southern Africa (R2 = 0.74) with the two most northerly (Zambian) sites showing the earliest and most consistent green‐up start dates (3 October ± 5.34 days). A strong latitudinal gradient was observed between the variability in the amount of rainfall in the first 6 months of green‐up and the green‐up start dates across southern Africa (R2 = 0.92). Photoperiod appeared to play a role in areas where the onset of rainfall commenced late into the austral year. Mean maximum temperatures recorded 10 days prior to green‐up start dates suggested a potential threshold of about 35°C, which could drive early‐greening in the absence of rainfall. Correlations between the proportion of early‐greening years and the above mentioned environmental factors indicated that rainfall variability had the strongest influence over the observed phenological gradient (R2 = 0.96). Understanding early‐greening in complex savanna systems is a vital step in furthering predictive phenological models under changing climatic conditions.
Right here, right now: Populations of Actinotus helianthi differ in their early performance traits and interactions
Authors: Emery Nathan J. , Henwood Murray J. , Offord Catherine A. , Wardle Glenda M. 
Published: October 2016

AbstractPopulations across the geographical distribution of a species are shaped by different local environments to produce distinctive patterns of variation in plant traits. Among‐population variation is, therefore, important for understanding potential shifts in distributions under changing environments, but is often not included in studies. In particular, critical data on the suitability of local environments for plant traits expressed at different life stages are lacking. To address this we performed two experiments to disentangle the influence of the local environment on multiple plant traits for populations of Actinotus helianthi from across its latitudinal range. A common environment experiment was used to compare early plant traits of germination, early seedling growth and survival for 17 populations of A. helianthi. To examine how biotic interactions vary across populations, we evaluated whether plant traits, including height and number of pseudanthia, influence visitor diversity and abundance, and if insect visitor abundance or diversity was associated with seed set success. We found that populations varied in germination success between 0.2 ± 0.1% and 64.2 ± 2.3%. Seedling growth and early survival varied among populations by as much as a factor of two and 44 respectively. We recorded variation in plant traits across hierarchical spatial scales from the maternal plant to biogeographical regions. The abundance and diversity of insect visitors also varied among populations and seed set was found to be site specific. There was a trend for populations with taller plants and larger floral display sizes to be more frequently visited by pollinators. We also identified a positive linear relationship between the number of visits by flies and seed set success. These results suggest that the local environment has a strong role in directly and indirectly influencing variation in plant traits within populations of A. helianthi, and potentially other perennial species.
Risk attitudes and the structure of decision‐making: evidence from the Illinois hog industry
Authors: Franken Jason R.V. , Pennings Joost M.E. , Garcia Philip 
Published: October 2016

AbstractResearch offers mixed evidence about the risk management decision‐making process of producers. Whether producers’ characteristics drive behavior directly or through risk attitude remains a puzzle. We assess whether managerial/firm characteristics directly affect choices or if their influence occurs indirectly through impacts on risk attitude. The findings, which support indirect effects, indicate that failure to represent relationships between risk attitude, other characteristics, and behavior appropriately can mask the effect of risk attitude. A more complete understanding of the structure of decision‐making may assist economists, policymakers, and industry stakeholders in designing and targeting mechanisms to manage or transfer risk.
Prevalence and risk factors associated with hardcore smoking among rural daily male smokers
Authors: Yang Lei , Liu Yanxun , Wang Jian , Jia Chongqi 
Published: October 2016

Background and ObjectivesThe existence of smokers who are resistant to smoking cessation interventions has attracted considerable interest in recent years. Given the paucity of data on that topic in rural China, we aimed to assess the prevalence and risk factors of hardcore smoking in rural China.MethodsA cross‐sectional study was conducted in 14 villages in Shandong, China. A total of 1,287 male daily smokers were face‐to‐face interviewed. A multiple logistic regression model was used to explore the associations of demographics, environment, knowledge and attitudes about smoking, and smoking behavior characteristics with hardcore smoking among daily male smokers. A general dominance analysis model was used to access the relative contribution of the determinants that were identified in the multiple logistic regression.ResultsHardcore smokers constituted 32.9% (n = 423) of daily male smokers. Five determinants for hardcore smoking were identified in the multiple logistic regression. Dominance analysis showed higher level of smoking intensity was the most important determinant of hardcore smoking, followed by being a farmer, starting to smoke daily under the age of 20, younger age, having fewer smokers around.Discussion and ConclusionsThis study suggests that hardcore smokers account for a substantial proportion of daily male smokers and are distinct from other groups of daily smokers.Scientific SignificanceSpecifically tailored tobacco‐control efforts should be made to address the issues incurred by hardcore smokers. (Am J Addict 2016;25:628–633)
Patterns of the co‐use of alcohol, marijuana, and emerging tobacco products in a national sample of young adults
Authors: Cohn Amy M. , Johnson Amanda L. , Rath Jessica M. , Villanti Andrea C. 
Published: October 2016

BackgroundEmerging tobacco product use is on the rise in young adults and has been linked to alcohol and marijuana use. Little is known about which patterns of alcohol, marijuana, and emerging tobacco product co‐use are most popular in this age group.ObjectivesThis study examined the prevalence of a broad spectrum of marijuana, alcohol, and tobacco co‐use patterns across a variety of tobacco products in a national sample of young adults.MethodsData were analyzed from a sub‐set of 18–24 year olds (unweighted n = 3,940) from five waves of the Truth Initiative Young Adult Cohort, a national sample of 18–34 year olds. A user‐generated statistical program in R was used to assess all possible patterns of past 30‐day use of alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes, cigars, e‐cigarettes, little cigars/cigarillos, hookah, and other tobacco (pipe, chew, dip, snus, dissolvables).ResultsNo past 30‐day use of any substance emerged as the most popular pattern across all years (42%), followed by exclusive past 30‐day alcohol use (31%), and past 30‐day alcohol use with cigarettes (5%) or marijuana (4%). The popularity of exclusive marijuana use increased over time, but only 1% reported exclusive marijuana use without the combination of either alcohol or a tobacco product. E‐cigarette use only emerged in combination with alcohol and was the least popular pattern of co‐use relative to other patterns.Conclusions and Scientific SignificancePatterns stress the importance of alcohol among young people. Successful substance use prevention should focus on alcohol's co‐use with a variety of substances of abuse, rather than focus on a single behavior. (Am J Addict 2016;25:634–640)
REDD+ on hold: Lessons from an emerging institutional setup in Laos
Authors: Vongvisouk Thoumthone , Lestrelin Guillaume , Castella Jean‐Christophe , Mertz Ole , Broegaard Rikke Brandt , Thongmanivong Sithong 
Published: October 2016

AbstractThe prospects of receiving funding for REDD+ have set many developing countries on a pathway of policy reforms to integrate REDD+ in national legislation. Progress has been slow partly due to the lengthy international negotiations on REDD+ but also because the policy reforms have not been backed by sufficient commitment to make REDD+ implementation feasible. To contribute to a better understanding of why policy and institutional reforms have not been successful in taking REDD+ implementation further, we analyse the institutional landscape of the forestry and environmental sectors in Laos as a case in point. We interviewed stakeholders from national to village levels and found that REDD+ has been effectively on hold in Laos. This is because of recent institutional transformations, rapid staff turnover and limited implementation capacity of government agencies at the national and sub‐national levels all of which have led to a heavy reliance on international support and external consultants. The result is that Laos may not be ready to benefit from the international agreement on REDD+. The situation in Laos provides a compelling example of how difficult REDD+ implementation has proven to be in countries where institution building is still in process.
Study on differentiation during embryonic development across selective and ancestral breeds
Authors: An Fengli , Wang Jianlin 
Published: October 2016

AbstractIn order to explore the effect of strain on diverging post‐hatch muscle properties, muscle regulation during embryo development was investigated in selected and unselected breeds. Four broiler strains were used: JingNing (JN) chicken (a Chinese native chicken), HuangYu (HY) broiler, BaiYu (BY) broiler and Hyline layer (commercial crossbred chickens). Results showed that the four breeds had almost the same characteristic during different incubation periods. BY broilers moved more than JN and Hyline layers from Hamburger & Hamilton stage (HH)24 to HH31 (P < 0.05). HY broilers moved more than JN and Hyline layers from HH27 to HH31 (P < 0.01). All the embryos were heavier daily from HH24 to ED18 (P < 0.05); broilers presented greater body weights than JN and hyline layers (P > 0.05); broilers presented smaller fiber diameter than JN chickens before HH31 (P > 0.05). From then on, JN chicken exhibited smaller fiber diameter compared to the broilers (P > 0.05). Western blotting indicated all the breeds had continuous insulin‐like growth factor‐I (IGF‐I) expression, with the highest expression level in broilers from HH19 to HH24 and highest expression level in JN chicks from HH27 to HH31. The results indicated that the diverging growth among breeds was already shown in embryonic stages; the different expression patterns of IGF‐I may be involved in cell proliferation and differentiation.
Restoration over time: is it possible to restore trees and non‐trees in high‐diversity forests?
Authors: Garcia Letícia C. , Hobbs Richard J. , Ribeiro Danilo B. , Tamashiro Jorge Y. , Santos Flavio A.M. , Rodrigues Ricardo R. 
Published: October 2016

AbstractQuestionsDo different growth forms have distinct temporal patterns of recovery of their structure, diversity, and composition in restored Atlantic Rain forest? Are tree and non‐tree assemblages structured by the same factors?LocationAtlantic Rain Forest, restored by planting an assemblage of high‐diversity tree species, Brazil.MethodsWe measured plant colonization of restoration sites of different ages to evaluate restoration success in terms of species diversity, colonization by non‐tree species and structure measures among stands. We used Procrustes analysis to test whether the same conditions that influence tree composition influence non‐tree composition (congruence between non‐trees and trees present on the same sites).ResultsMany structural aspects of recovering forests, e.g. tree basal area, canopy cover, height, tree richness, and non‐tree floristic composition resembled a mature forest within five decades. Although tree species diversity increased according to restoration age of sites, planted sites did not recover the richness of all growth forms even after five decades of restoration, and particularly lacked climbers and epiphytes. We detected significant similarity between corresponding points (tree and non‐tree composition) from separate ordinations only in the reference forest. Therefore, naturally assembled communities are more concordant than those originating from active restoration.ConclusionNon‐tree assemblages respond to different factors than the tree assemblages in restoration sites. Hence, non‐tree recovery may not result as a natural consequence of tree recovery, and specific restoration strategies for non‐tree species must be applied. Tree richness recovered after two decades. Only half of the non‐tree species richness was recovered in old restoration sites, but their composition similarity reached expected levels of reference values. Further studies will investigate if low richness of non‐tree species is a consequence of low input of allochthonous propagules (landscape filter) or whether they are arriving but not establishing (environmental filter). Enrichment planting of non‐tree species may be required if the problem is propagule input. We recommend enrichment planting should be implemented within 10 yrs after initial restoration planting because of the need for trees as supporting structures. However, if propagules are arriving but not establishing, the solution is to detect which environmental filters are important and to manipulate them through forest management.