bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Corticotrophin‐releasing hormone stimulation tests for the infants with relative adrenal insufficiency
Authors: Iwanaga Kougoro , Yamamoto Akane , Matsukura Takashi , Niwa Fusako , Kawai Masahiko 
Published: August 2017

SummaryBackgroundVery low birthweight (VLBW) infants are considered to be vulnerable to relative adrenal insufficiency (RAI); however, diagnosis is difficult in some clinical settings. Considering this background, it is necessary to establish a diagnosis of RAI in preterm infants.ObjectiveIn this study, we attempted to clarify the difference in response to CRH stimulation tests for preterm infants with or without RAI.MethodsBetween June 2009 and December 2015, we performed CRH stimulation tests for preterm infants born at a gestational age of <30 weeks at around 2 weeks of age. Retrospectively, subjects were classified into two groups: infants with RAI (n = 9) or without RAI (n = 17) based on the clinical symptoms and responsiveness to hydrocortisone.ResultsWe found no difference in base or peak serum cortisol levels related to CRH stimulation tests between the two groups; however, delta cortisol levels and responsive ratio (peak‐to‐base ratio) were significantly reduced in infants with RAI. 140 nmol/L for delta cortisol or 1.5 times for peak‐to‐base ratio may be cut‐off levels in preterm infants.ConclusionThis study provides evidence that base cortisol levels of preterm infants with RAI were not different from those without RAI; however, CRH stimulation tests may be a useful tool for the diagnosis of RAI in preterm infants.
Fast and Memory‐Efficient Voronoi Diagram Construction on Triangle Meshes
Authors: Qin Yipeng , Yu Hongchuan , Zhang Jianjun 
Published: August 2017

AbstractGeodesic based Voronoi diagrams play an important role in many applications of computer graphics. Constructing such Voronoi diagrams usually resorts to exact geodesics. However, exact geodesic computation always consumes lots of time and memory, which has become the bottleneck of constructing geodesic based Voronoi diagrams. In this paper, we propose the window‐VTP algorithm, which can effectively reduce redundant computation and save memory. As a result, constructing Voronoi diagrams using the proposed window‐VTP algorithm runs 3–8 times faster than Liu et al.'s method [LCT11], 1.2 times faster than its FWP‐MMP variant and more importantly uses 10–70 times less memory than both of them.
Stochastic Heat Kernel Estimation on Sampled Manifolds
Authors: Aumentado‐Armstrong T. , Siddiqi K. 
Published: August 2017

AbstractThe heat kernel is a fundamental geometric object associated to every Riemannian manifold, used across applications in computer vision, graphics, and machine learning. In this article, we propose a novel computational approach to estimating the heat kernel of a statistically sampled manifold (e.g. meshes or point clouds), using its representation as the transition density function of Brownian motion on the manifold. Our approach first constructs a set of local approximations to the manifold via moving least squares. We then simulate Brownian motion on the manifold by stochastic numerical integration of the associated Ito diffusion system. By accumulating a number of these trajectories, a kernel density estimation method can then be used to approximate the transition density function of the diffusion process, which is equivalent to the heat kernel. We analyse our algorithm on the 2‐sphere, as well as on shapes in 3D. Our approach is readily parallelizable and can handle manifold samples of large size as well as surfaces of high co‐dimension, since all the computations are local. We relate our method to the standard approaches in diffusion geometry and discuss directions for future work.
Enhancing the Realism of Sketch and Painted Portraits With Adaptable Patches
Authors: Lee Yin‐Hsuan , Chang Yu‐Kai , Chang Yu‐Lun , Lin I‐Chen , Wang Yu‐Shuen , Lin Wen‐Chieh 
Published: August 2017

AbstractRealizing unrealistic faces is a complicated task that requires a rich imagination and comprehension of facial structures. When face matching, warping or stitching techniques are applied, existing methods are generally incapable of capturing detailed personal characteristics, are disturbed by block boundary artefacts, or require painting‐photo pairs for training. This paper presents a data‐driven framework to enhance the realism of sketch and portrait paintings based only on photo samples. It retrieves the optimal patches of adaptable shapes and numbers according to the content of the input portrait and collected photos. These patches are then seamlessly stitched by chromatic gain and offset compensation and multi‐level blending. Experiments and user evaluations show that the proposed method is able to generate realistic and novel results for a moderately sized photo collection.
Aid relief in Haiti after the earthquake: Haitians’ preferences for food and other basic commodities
Authors: Lusk Jayson L. , Andre Rock 
Published: August 2017

AbstractThe earthquake that struck Haiti at the start of 2010 led to impressive international solidarity in the recovery effort. Despite the tons of aid sent to Haiti, relatively little is known about the effectiveness of the aid or about the continuing needs of the Haitians. Using data collected from in‐person surveys with over 1,000 Haitians in two major cities, we sought to quantify some of the impacts of the earthquake while determining people's relative preferences for food and other basic needs in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake. The results indicate that almost two thirds of Haitians lost a friend to the earthquake, and nearly half lost a family member. People reported spending more on food in the aftermath of the earthquake, and the level of food aid received does not appear to have any impact on food expenditures. Among different types of aid, Haitians stated being most in need of a job—something difficult for international aid agencies to supply over the long run. They also indicated that quality of life would be most improved by education. The lessons learned in Haiti may prove useful in addressing future natural disasters.
Rapid evolution of symbiont‐mediated resistance compromises biological control of aphids by parasitoids
Authors: Käch Heidi , Mathé‐Hubert Hugo , Dennis Alice B. , Vorburger Christoph 
Published: August 2017

AbstractThere is growing interest in biological control as a sustainable and environmentally friendly way to control pest insects. Aphids are among the most detrimental agricultural pests worldwide, and parasitoid wasps are frequently employed for their control. The use of asexual parasitoids may improve the effectiveness of biological control because only females kill hosts and because asexual populations have a higher growth rate than sexuals. However, asexuals may have a reduced capacity to track evolutionary change in their host populations. We used a factorial experiment to compare the ability of sexual and asexual populations of the parasitoid Lysiphlebus fabarum to control caged populations of black bean aphids (Aphis fabae) of high and low clonal diversity. The aphids came from a natural population, and one‐third of the aphid clones harbored Hamiltonella defensa, a heritable bacterial endosymbiont that increases resistance to parasitoids. We followed aphid and parasitoid population dynamics for 3 months but found no evidence that the reproductive mode of parasitoids affected their effectiveness as biocontrol agents, independent of host clonal diversity. Parasitoids failed to control aphids in most cases, because their introduction resulted in strong selection for clones protected by H. defensa. The increasingly resistant aphid populations escaped control by parasitoids, and we even observed parasitoid extinctions in many cages. The rapid evolution of symbiont‐conferred resistance in turn imposed selection on parasitoids. In cages where asexual parasitoids persisted until the end of the experiment, they became dominated by a single genotype able to overcome the protection provided by H. defensa. Thus, there was evidence for parasitoid counteradaptation, but it was generally too slow for parasitoids to regain control over aphid populations. It appears that when pest aphids possess defensive symbionts, the presence of parasitoid genotypes able to overcome symbiont‐conferred resistance is more important for biocontrol success than their reproductive mode.
Applying landscape genomic tools to forest management and restoration of Hawaiian koa (Acacia koa) in a changing environment
Authors: Gugger Paul F. , Liang Christina T. , Sork Victoria L. , Hodgskiss Paul , Wright Jessica W. 
Published: August 2017

AbstractIdentifying and quantifying the importance of environmental variables in structuring population genetic variation can help inform management decisions for conservation, restoration, or reforestation purposes, in both current and future environmental conditions. Landscape genomics offers a powerful approach for understanding the environmental factors that currently associate with genetic variation, and given those associations, where populations may be most vulnerable under future environmental change. Here, we applied genotyping by sequencing to generate over 11,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms from 311 trees and then used nonlinear, multivariate environmental association methods to examine spatial genetic structure and its association with environmental variation in an ecologically and economically important tree species endemic to Hawaii, Acacia koa. Admixture and principal components analyses showed that trees from different islands are genetically distinct in general, with the exception of some genotypes that match other islands, likely as the result of recent translocations. Gradient forest and generalized dissimilarity models both revealed a strong association between genetic structure and mean annual rainfall. Utilizing a model for projected future climate on the island of Hawaii, we show that predicted changes in rainfall patterns may result in genetic offset, such that trees no longer may be genetically matched to their environment. These findings indicate that knowledge of current and future rainfall gradients can provide valuable information for the conservation of existing populations and also help refine seed transfer guidelines for reforestation or replanting of koa throughout the state.
Use of a saliva‐based diagnostic test to identify tapeworm infection in horses in the UK
Authors: Lightbody K. L. , Matthews J. B. , Kemp‐Symonds J. G. , Lambert P. A. , Austin C. J. 
Published: August 2017

SummaryBackgroundAnthelmintic resistance combined with limited chemotherapeutic options has prompted a change in approaches to control of equine helminth infections. Targeted selective treatment strategies use diagnostics to reduce anthelmintic use by treating individuals with worm burdens or egg shedding levels above a set threshold. While faecal egg count analysis has limitations for informing tapeworm treatment, a commercially available saliva‐based diagnostic test accurately diagnoses horses with tapeworm infection.ObjectivesEvaluation of a saliva‐based diagnostic test to identify horses naturally infected with tapeworm and assess the impact of using the test to inform anthelmintic administration.Study designRetrospective longitudinal study.MethodsSaliva was collected from horses (n = 237) at a UK welfare charity from autumn 2015 to autumn 2016. Horses diagnosed as positive for tapeworm infection using the EquiSal® Tapeworm test were anthelmintic treated according to weight. The number of horses that received anthelmintic treatment based on the test result was compared with an all‐group treatment approach and the reduction in anthelmintic usage calculated. Incoming horses were also tested (n = 143) and the information was used to inform quarantine treatments.ResultsIn autumn 2015, 85% of 237 horses tested received no anthelmintic and the majority (71%) of these remained below the treatment threshold throughout the study. Of the 69 horses that received treatment, seven required treatment following three subsequent tests, while >50% of horses administered with anthelmintic fell below the treatment threshold at the following test. No increase in tapeworm prevalence within the 237 horses was observed during the study despite a substantial reduction in the application of antitapeworm treatments. A total of 41% of incoming horses required anticestode treatment.Main limitationsOther management practices were not included in the analysis.ConclusionsCompared with an all‐group treatment strategy, the diagnostic‐led approach used here considerably reduced application of anticestode anthelmintics. This could reduce selection pressure for anthelmintic resistance.
Reactive alloy melt infiltration for SiC composite matrices: Mechanistic insights
Authors: Reitz Rebecca B. , Zok Frank W. , Levi Carlos G. 
Published: August 2017

AbstractA comparative study of reactive melt infiltration using Si and Si‐Y alloys is presented to provide insight into the governing processes that control the effectiveness of the melt interaction with a carbonaceous preform and the temperature capability of the SiC matrix for ceramic matrix composites. Through experiments on two substantially different scales of capillaries in porous graphite tubes using Si and Si‐Y alloys, the current study has characterized the phenomena that play a role in the infiltration of the melt and its reaction with the preform. It is shown that (i) the interface reaction controls wetting in both large and small capillaries and the climb rate is enhanced by the presence of Y; (ii) reaction choking occurs at critical throats within the pore network, usually behind the infiltration front; and (iii) different residual silicides can form during reaction and upon cooling. A potential mechanism for SiC growth is described, and the implications for the interplay between SiC growth and infiltration are discussed.
Thiopurines prevented surgical recurrence in patients with Crohn's disease after intestinal resection: Strategy based on risk stratification
Authors: Guo Jing , Chen Bai‐li , Chen Zhi‐hui , Luo Xia‐peng , Qiu Yun , Zhang Sheng‐hong , Feng Rui , He Yao , Zeng Zhi‐rong , Song Xin‐ming , Ben‐Horin Shomron , Mao Ren , Chen Min‐hu 
Published: August 2017

AbstractBackground and AimThiopurines (TPs) are effective in reducing clinical and endoscopic recurrence in postoperative patients with Crohn's disease (CD). However, whether TPs could prevent surgical recurrence (SR) remains unknown. We aimed to explore whether TPs could prevent SR and identify risk factors associated with SR.MethodsThis was a retrospective cohort study of 246 postoperative patients with CD. Cox proportional hazard model was used to identify risk factors for SR. Patients were stratified according to the presence of risk factors.ResultsA total of 50 (20.3%) patients suffered SR after a mean follow up of 54.3±46.4 months. Multivariable analysis showed independent risk factors for SR were penetrating disease behavior (HR 8.628; 95% CI 1.573–47.341; P = 0.01), ileocolonic disease location (HR 2.597; 95% CI 1.047–6.445; P = 0.04) and isolated upper gastrointestinal disease (UGID) location (HR 5.082; 95% CI 1.496–17.267; P = 0.009). However, use of TPs after surgery significantly reduced the risk of SR (HR 0.120; 95% CI 0.063–0.231; P < 0.001). When stratifying patients according to risk factors, there was no statistical difference of SR between patients treated or not by TPs (P = 0.08) in low‐risk group (n = 46). However, in high risk group (n = 200), patients with TPs use had a lower risk of SR than those without TPs (HR 0.093; 95% CI 0.048–0.178; P < 0.001).ConclusionsPenetrating disease behavior and ileocolonic/isolated (UGID) location were associated with SR in CD patients. TPs use was beneficial in decreasing risk for SR in CD patients at high risk.
Mandate for the Nursing Profession to Address Climate Change Through Nursing Education
Authors: Leffers Jeanne , Levy Ruth McDermott , Nicholas Patrice K. , Sweeney Casey F. 
Published: August 2017

AbstractPurposeThe adverse health effects from climate change demand action from the nursing profession. This article examines the calls to action, the status of climate change in nursing education, and challenges and recommendations for nursing education related to climate change and human health.Organizing ConstructDiscussion paper.FindingsThe integration of climate change into nursing education is essential so that knowledge, skills, and insights critical for clinical practice in our climate‐changing world are incorporated in curricula, practice, research, and policy. Our Ecological Planetary Health Model offers a framework for nursing to integrate relevant climate change education into nursing curricula and professional nursing education. Nursing education can offer a leadership role to address the mitigation, adaptation, and resilience strategies for climate change.ConclusionsAn ecological framework is valuable for nursing education regarding climate change through its consideration of political, cultural, economic, and environmental interrelationships on human health and the health of the planet. Knowledge of climate change is important for integration into basic and advanced nursing education, as well as professional education for nurses to address adverse health impacts, climate change responses policy, and advocacy roles.Clinical RelevanceFor current and future nurses to provide care within a climate‐changing environment, nursing education has a mandate to integrate knowledge about climate change issues across all levels of nursing education. Competence in nursing practice follows from knowledge and skill acquisition gained from integration of climate change content into nursing education.
A dyadic typology of social desires in couples
Authors: Czikmantori Thomas , Hagemeyer Birk , Engeser Stefan 
Published: August 2017

AbstractObjectiveEmploying a couple‐centered approach to social motivation in intimate relationships, we developed a dyadic typology based on the ABC model of communal and agentic social desires.MethodUsing latent profile analysis, 631 heterosexual couples (age women: M = 39.7, SD = 13.6; age men: M = 42.0, SD = 14.1) were categorized regarding both partners' self‐reported desires for closeness with partner, for affiliation with friends, and for being alone. Couple types were described using self‐reported indicators of relationship functioning. Relationship stability was assessed after 1 year, and in stable couples, social desires were reassessed to examine continuity and change.ResultsWe identified four motivational couple types. Three profiles showed similar orientations between partners and were labeled the communion, closeness, and distance couple types. Additionally, the distanced‐man type was characterized by a low desire for closeness and a high desire for being alone in men, but not women. The communion and closeness types showed better relationship functioning than the other types, and the distanced‐man type showed an increased rate of relationship break‐up.ConclusionsA couple‐centered, typological approach provides a viable way of studying complex dyadic motivational constellations and their consequences. This is beneficial for researchers as well as practitioners.
Bullying Victimization Trajectories for Sexual Minority Adolescents: Stable Victims, Desisters, and Late‐Onset Victims
Authors: Sterzing Paul R. , Gibbs Jeremy J. , Gartner Rachel E. , Goldbach Jeremy T. 
Published: August 2017

Sexual minority adolescents are bullied more frequently than heterosexual peers. Research is lacking on their rates of general and sexual orientation bullying victimization. The present study identified (1) the rate, onset, and desistance of general and sexual orientation bullying victimization, (2) the rate of bullying victimization trajectories, and (3) risk and protective factors across trajectories. A life history calendar method and thematic analysis were employed with a sexual minority adolescent sample (N = 52, 14–20 y/o). General bullying began at age 5 and declined after age 12, with sexual orientation bullying increasing throughout adolescence. Late‐onset victim (34.6%) was the most common trajectory, followed by stable victim (28.9%), desister (23.1%), and nonvictim (13.5%). Differences in risk and protective factors were found across trajectories.
Beyond Eschatology: Environmental Pessimism and the Future of Human Hoping
Authors: Swenson‐Lengyel Willa 
Published: August 2017

AbstractIn much environmentally concerned literature, there is a burgeoning concern for the status and sustainability of human hope. Within Christian circles, this attention has often taken the form of eschatological reflection. While there is important warrant for attention to eschatology in Christian examinations of hope, I claim that to move so quickly from hope to eschatology is to confuse a species of Christian hope for a definition of hope itself; as such, it is important for theological ethicists to examine hope also from the experiential perspective of the human hoper. In particular, this is important today given the shortcomings of an eschatological focus in addressing anxieties arising due to the environmental crisis. Through examining hope as a fallible human activity, one can come to better understand hope's importance to human life, its profound ambiguity, and the potential threat that the environmental crisis poses to it.
Which Teacher Should I Choose?: A Xunzian Approach to Distinguishing Moral Experts from Fanatics
Authors: Harris Eirik Lang 
Published: August 2017

AbstractThis essay examines whether an invocation of an epistemological privilege on the part of supposed moral experts prevents potential students from being able to evaluate among potential candidates for the role of plausible moral teacher. Throughout, it works to demonstrate that it is possible for even the untutored student to distinguish between a fanatic and a moral expert. In particular, this essay focuses on the version of virtue ethics espoused by the early Chinese philosopher Xunzi. It argues that by reflecting on the attributes of fanatics, as well as on Xunzi's ideas and arguments about students and teachers, it is possible to arrive at a general set of principles that provide beginners with the tools necessary to distinguish dangerous fanatics from plausible moral teachers, even given the fact that both claim for themselves an epistemological privilege.
A Loss of Judgment: The Dismissal of the Judicial Conscience in Recent Christian Ethics
Authors: Morgan Jeffrey 
Published: August 2017

AbstractChristian ethicists have neglected conscience, understood as an individual's moral self‐awareness before a locus of accountability and judgment, over the last few decades. The aim of this essay is to suggest how this neglect came about. I draw on the work of Paul Lehmann and Oliver O'Donovan to illustrate how ethicists in the twentieth century became suspicious of conscience because of its association with the alleged ahistorical individualism of Immanuel Kant's work. I argue that a social‐historicist conception of conscience, such as H. Richard Niebuhr offered, attempts to save conscience from this suspicion. Ironically, however, Stanley Hauerwas's development of Niebuhr's historicist, communitarian approach to conscience, appears to have led to a dismissal of conscience. I conclude with a brief comment about what this dismissal has cost contemporary Christian ethics, namely the Christian tradition's basic commitment to the singularity of an individual's accountability before God.
Just War Moralities
Authors: Palmer‐Fernández Gabriel 
Published: August 2017

AbstractThis essay discusses four recent books on the Western, and one book on the classical Chinese, traditions of just war. It concentrates on the jus ad bellum moral criteria (legitimate authority, just cause, and right intention), giving attention to the centrality of the state in just war morality, to some challenges in reconceptualizing the jus ad bellum in the context of non‐state agents, and to controversies over a “presumption against war.”