bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Maghrib's Medieval Mariners and Sea Maps: The Muqaddimah as a Primary Source
Authors: Kahlaoui Tarek 
Published: April 2017

AbstractIbn Khaldoun Muqaddimah's richness includes an interesting insight into an issue rarely discussed in the classical sources, that is pre‐modern Muslim mariners ‐ notably those who are active in the Western Mediterranean. This field has been carried out by actors who are rarely concerned with writing down their expertise. The practice is not usually depicted in the realm of the elite. Yet Ibn Khaldoun took the time to discuss the life of these practioners, which contributed to the heart of his methodology, and helped build his theoretical views. It also gives us concrete information that supports the scattered cartographic and textual sources depicting the important role of the Maghribi medieval mariners in shaping Islamic maritime knowledge.
Leptin and NGF in saliva of patients with diabetes mellitus type 2: A pilot study
Authors: Tvarijonaviciute Asta , Castillo Candela , Ceron Jose J. , Martinez‐Subiela Silvia , Tecles Fernando , López‐Jornet Pia 
Published: April 2017

AimsThis study aimed to measure salivary levels of leptin and nerve growth factor (NGF) in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and to compare with healthy subjects. In addition, markers previously evaluated in diabetes, including insulin, hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), and monocyte chemoattractant protein‐1 (MCP‐1), and markers of inflammation interleukin ([IL]‐1b, IL‐6, IL‐8, Tumor necrosis factor alpha [TNF‐α]), were also measured in saliva to evaluate possible relationship of these markers with the new analytes evaluated in the study.MethodsUnstimulated whole saliva was collected by passive drooling from a total of 65 individuals (34 controls and 31 with T2D) and used for leptin, NGF, HGF, MCP‐1, insulin, IL‐1b, IL‐6, IL‐8, and TNF‐α determination.ResultsSalivary leptin was 2.1 higher in T2D than in healthy controls (P<.001), while no statistically significant differences were detected between the two groups in salivary concentrations of NGF. Salivary IL‐6, TNF‐α, insulin, and MCP‐1 were higher in DM in comparison with controls (P<.05 in all cases). Leptin showed positive significant correlations with MCP‐1, IL‐6, TNF‐α, and insulin, while NGF positively correlated with HGF, MCP‐1, IL‐1 β, IL‐6, and TNF‐α.ConclusionsThis pilot study indicates that salivary leptin is increased in patients with T2D being positively correlated with insulin and pro‐inflammatory cytokines and should be further explored as a non‐invasive biomarker of T2D. In addition, salivary NGF was positively correlated with pro‐inflammatory cytokines and further studies should be performed to evaluate whether it could be useful to detect diabetic neuropathy in T2D patients.
Characteristics and respiratory risk profile of children aged less than 5 years presenting to an urban, Aboriginal‐friendly, comprehensive primary health practice in Australia
Authors: Hall Kerry K , Chang Anne B , Anderson Jennie , Dunbar Melissa , Arnold Daniel , O'Grady Kerry‐Ann F 
Published: April 2017

AimThere are no published data on factors impacting on acute respiratory illness (ARI) among urban Indigenous children. We describe the characteristics and respiratory risk profile of young urban Indigenous children attending an Aboriginal‐friendly primary health‐care practice.MethodsWe conducted a cross‐sectional analysis of data collected at baseline in a cohort study investigating ARI in urban Indigenous children aged less than 5 years registered with an Aboriginal primary health‐care service. Descriptive analyses of epidemiological, clinical, environmental and cultural factors were performed. Logistic regression was undertaken to examine associations between child characteristics and the presence of ARI at baseline.ResultsBetween February 2013 and October 2015, 180 Indigenous children were enrolled; the median age was 18.4 months (7.7–35), 51% were male. A total of 40 (22%) children presented for a cough‐related illness; however, ARI was identified in 33% of all children at the time of enrolment. A total of 72% of children were exposed to environmental tobacco smoke. ARI at baseline was associated with low birthweight (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 2.54, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.08–5.94), a history of eczema (aOR 2.67, 95% CI 1.00–7.15) and either having a family member from the Stolen Generation (aOR 3.47, 95% CI 1.33–9.03) or not knowing this family history (aOR 3.35, 95% CI 1.21–9.26).ConclusionsWe identified an urban community of children of high socio‐economic disadvantage and who have excessive exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. Connection to the Stolen Generation or not knowing the family history may be directly impacting on child health in this community. Further research is needed to understand the relationship between cultural factors and ARI.
Real‐time individualization of the unified model of performance
Authors: Liu Jianbo , Ramakrishnan Sridhar , Laxminarayan Srinivas , Balkin Thomas J. , Reifman Jaques 
Published: April 2017

SummaryExisting mathematical models for predicting neurobehavioural performance are not suited for mobile computing platforms because they cannot adapt model parameters automatically in real time to reflect individual differences in the effects of sleep loss. We used an extended Kalman filter to develop a computationally efficient algorithm that continually adapts the parameters of the recently developed Unified Model of Performance (UMP) to an individual. The algorithm accomplishes this in real time as new performance data for the individual become available. We assessed the algorithm's performance by simulating real‐time model individualization for 18 subjects subjected to 64 h of total sleep deprivation (TSD) and 7 days of chronic sleep restriction (CSR) with 3 h of time in bed per night, using psychomotor vigilance task (PVT) data collected every 2 h during wakefulness. This UMP individualization process produced parameter estimates that progressively approached the solution produced by a post‐hoc fitting of model parameters using all data. The minimum number of PVT measurements needed to individualize the model parameters depended upon the type of sleep‐loss challenge, with ~30 required for TSD and ~70 for CSR. However, model individualization depended upon the overall duration of data collection, yielding increasingly accurate model parameters with greater number of days. Interestingly, reducing the PVT sampling frequency by a factor of two did not notably hamper model individualization. The proposed algorithm facilitates real‐time learning of an individual's trait‐like responses to sleep loss and enables the development of individualized performance prediction models for use in a mobile computing platform.
Otomanguean historical linguistics: Past, present, and prospects for the future
Authors: Campbell Eric W. 
Published: April 2017

AbstractAmong the linguistic lineages of Mesoamerica, the Otomanguean family is the most diverse and most widely spread. Long occupying a central position in one of the cradles of human civilization, speakers of Otomanguean languages have played important roles in the region, about which their languages have much to tell. However, Otomanguean is perhaps the least understood of the major Mesoamerican language families, due to its great diversity, the remarkable structural complexity of Otomanguean languages and the history of the field of Otomanguean historical linguistics, which has seen great achievement alternating with periodic controversy and doubt. With a focus on the higher levels and more ancient time depths of the family, this article surveys Otomanguean historical linguistic work and presents a state of the art perspective on Otomanguean classification, reconstruction, linguistic prehistory, remaining challenges, and prospects for the future.
Nearly a decade‐long repeatable seasonal diversity patterns of bacterioplankton communities in the eutrophic Lake Donghu (Wuhan, China)
Authors: Yan Qingyun , Stegen James C. , Yu Yuhe , Deng Ye , Li Xinghao , Wu Shu , Dai Lili , Zhang Xiang , Li Jinjin , Wang Chun , Ni Jiajia , Li Xuemei , Hu Hongjuan , Xiao Fanshu , Feng Weisong , Ning Daliang , He Zhili , Van Nostrand Joy D. , Wu Liyou , Zhou Jizhong 
Published: April 2017

AbstractUncovering which environmental factors govern community diversity patterns and how ecological processes drive community turnover are key questions related to understand the community assembly. However, the ecological mechanisms regulating long‐term variations of bacterioplankton communities in lake ecosystems remain poorly understood. Here we present nearly a decade‐long study of bacterioplankton communities from the eutrophic Lake Donghu (Wuhan, China) using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing with MiSeq platform. We found strong repeatable seasonal diversity patterns in terms of both common (detected in more than 50% samples) and dominant (relative abundance >1%) bacterial taxa turnover. Moreover, community composition tracked the seasonal temperature gradient, indicating that temperature is a key environmental factor controlling observed diversity patterns. Total phosphorus also contributed significantly to the seasonal shifts in bacterioplankton composition. However, any spatial pattern of bacterioplankton communities across the main lake areas within season was overwhelmed by their temporal variabilities. Phylogenetic analysis further indicated that 75%–82% of community turnover was governed by homogeneous selection due to consistent environmental conditions within seasons, suggesting that the microbial communities in Lake Donghu are mainly controlled by niche‐based processes. Therefore, dominant niches available within seasons might be occupied by similar combinations of bacterial taxa with modest dispersal rates throughout different lake areas.
The roles of ecology, behaviour and effective population size in the evolution of a community
Authors: Hung Chih‐Ming , Drovetski Sergei V. , Zink Robert M. 
Published: April 2017

AbstractOrganismal traits such as ecological specialization and migratory behaviour may affect colonization potential, population persistence and degree of isolation, factors that determine the composition and genetic structure of communities. However, studies focusing on community assembly rarely consider these factors jointly. We sequenced 16 nuclear genes and one mitochondrial gene from Caucasian and European populations of 30 forest‐dwelling avian species that represent diverse ecological (specialist–generalist) and behavioural (migratory‐resident) backgrounds. We tested the effects of organismal traits on population divergence and community assembly in the Caucasus forest, a continental mountain island setting. We found that (i) there is no concordance in divergence times between the Caucasus forest bird populations and their European counterparts, (ii) habitat specialists tend to be more divergent than generalists and (iii) residents tend to be more divergent than migrants. Thus, specialists and residents contribute to the high level of endemism of Caucasus forest avifauna more than do generalists and migrants. Patterns of genetic differentiation are better explained by differences in effective population sizes, an often overlooked factor in comparative studies of phylogeography and speciation, than by divergence times or levels of gene flow. Our results suggest that the Caucasus forest avifauna was assembled through time via dispersal and/or multiple vicariant events, rather than originating simultaneously via a single isolation event. Our study is one of the first multilocus, multispecies analyses revealing how ecological and migratory traits impact the evolutionary history of community formation on a continental island.
Relationship type affects the reliability of dispersal distance estimated using pedigree inferences in partially sampled populations: A case study involving invasive American mink in Scotland
Authors: Melero Y. , Oliver M. K. , Lambin X. 
Published: April 2017

AbstractEstimating dispersal—a key parameter for population ecology and management—is notoriously difficult. The use of pedigree assignments, aided by likelihood‐based software, has become popular to estimate dispersal rate and distance. However, the partial sampling of populations may produce false assignments. Further, it is unknown how the accuracy of assignment is affected by the genealogical relationships of individuals and is reflected by software‐derived assignment probabilities. Inspired by a project managing invasive American mink (Neovison vison), we estimated individual dispersal distances using inferred pairwise relationships of culled individuals. Additionally, we simulated scenarios to investigate the accuracy of pairwise inferences. Estimates of dispersal distance varied greatly when derived from different inferred pairwise relationships, with mother–offspring relationship being the shortest (average = 21 km) and the most accurate. Pairs assigned as maternal half‐siblings were inaccurate, with 64%–97% falsely assigned, implying that estimates for these relationships in the wild population were unreliable. The false assignment rate was unrelated to the software‐derived assignment probabilities at high dispersal rates. Assignments were more accurate when the inferred parents were older and immigrants and when dispersal rates between subpopulations were low (1% and 2%). Using 30 instead of 15 loci increased pairwise reliability, but half‐sibling assignments were still inaccurate (>59% falsely assigned). The most reliable approach when using inferred pairwise relationships in polygamous species would be not to use half‐sibling relationship types. Our simulation approach provides guidance for the application of pedigree inferences under partial sampling and is applicable to other systems where pedigree assignments are used for ecological inference.
A Mesoamerican origin of cherimoya (Annona cherimola Mill.): Implications for the conservation of plant genetic resources
Authors: Larranaga N. , Albertazzi F. J. , Fontecha G. , Palmieri M. , Rainer H. , van Zonneveld M. , Hormaza J. I. 
Published: April 2017

AbstractKnowledge on the structure and distribution of genetic diversity is a key aspect to plan and execute an efficient conservation and utilization of the genetic resources of any crop as well as for determining historical demographic inferences. In this work, a large data set of 1,765 accessions of cherimoya (Annona cherimola Mill, Annonaceae), an underutilized fruit tree crop native to the Neotropics and used as a food source by pre‐Columbian cultures, was collected from six different countries across the American continent and amplified with nine highly informative microsatellite markers. The structure analyses, fine representation of the genetic diversity and an ABC approach suggest a Mesoamerican origin of the crop, contrary to previous reports, with clear implications for the dispersion of plant germplasm between Central and South America in pre‐Columbian times. These results together with the potential distribution of the species in a climatic change context using two different climate models provide new insights for the history and conservation of extant genetic resources of cherimoya that can be applied to other currently underutilized woody perennial crops.
Natural selection on MHC IIβ in parapatric lake and stream stickleback: Balancing, divergent, both or neither?
Authors: Stutz William E. , Bolnick Daniel I. 
Published: April 2017

AbstractMajor histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes encode proteins that play a central role in vertebrates' adaptive immunity to parasites. MHC loci are among the most polymorphic in vertebrates' genomes, inspiring many studies to identify evolutionary processes driving MHC polymorphism within populations and divergence between populations. Leading hypotheses include balancing selection favouring rare alleles within populations, and spatially divergent selection. These hypotheses do not always produce diagnosably distinct predictions, causing many studies of MHC to yield inconsistent or ambiguous results. We suggest a novel strategy to distinguish balancing vs. divergent selection on MHC, taking advantage of natural admixture between parapatric populations. With divergent selection, individuals with immigrant alleles will be more infected and less fit because they are susceptible to novel parasites in their new habitat. With balancing selection, individuals with locally rare immigrant alleles will be more fit (less infected). We tested these contrasting predictions using three‐spine stickleback from three replicate pairs of parapatric lake and stream habitats. We found numerous positive and negative associations between particular MHC IIβ alleles and particular parasite taxa. A few allele–parasite comparisons supported balancing selection, and others supported divergent selection between habitats. But, there was no overall tendency for fish with immigrant MHC alleles to be more or less heavily infected. Instead, locally rare MHC alleles (not necessarily immigrants) were associated with heavier infections. Our results illustrate the complex relationship between MHC IIβ allelic variation and spatially varying multispecies parasite communities: different hypotheses may be concurrently true for different allele–parasite combinations.
High gene flow despite opposite chirality in hybrid zones between enantiomorphic door snails
Authors: Koch Eva L. , Neiber Marco T. , Walther Frank , Hausdorf Bernhard 
Published: April 2017

AbstractWe studied differentiation and geneflow patterns between enantiomorphic door‐snail species in two hybrid zones in the Bucegi Mountains (Romania) to investigate the effects of intrinsic barriers (complications in copulation) and extrinsic selection by environmental factors. A mitochondrial gene tree confirmed the historical separation of the examined populations into the dextralAlopia lividaand the sinistralAlopia straminicollisin accordance with the morphological classification, but also indicated gene flow between the species. By contrast, a network based on amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLP) markers revealed local groups of populations as units independent of their species affiliation. Admixture analyses based onAFLPdata showed that the genomes of most individuals in the hybrid zones are composed of parts of the genomes of both parental taxa. The introgression patterns of a notable fraction of the examined markers deviated from neutral introgression. However, the patterns of most non‐neutral markers were not concordant between the two hybrid zones. There was also no concordance between non‐neutral markers in the two genomic clines and markers that were correlated with environmental variables or markers that were correlated with the proportion of dextral individuals in the populations. Neither extrinsic selection by environmental factors nor intrinsic barriers resulting from positive frequency‐dependent selection of the prevailing coiling direction were sufficient to maintain the distinctness ofA. straminicollisandA. livida. Despite being historically separated units, we conclude that these taxa now merge where they come into contact.
A simple generalization of the singular rent model
Authors: Huang Biao 
Published: April 2017

AbstractSalvadori discovered a new variety of rent, called singular rent, when requirements are functions of income distribution. This note makes a simple generalization of the singular rent model by introducing many agricultural processes. Hence the problem of choice of technique arises. With respect to singular rent alone, it is shown that there may exist more than one cost‐minimizing technique even though joint production is set aside, and there may be no cost‐minimizing technique even though all techniques are feasible. However, in the latter case, at least one system determining intensive rent is feasible and cost‐minimizing.
Back to the sixties: A note on multi‐primary‐factor linear models with homogeneous capital
Authors: Freni Giuseppe 
Published: April 2017

AbstractThis paper extends Bruno's () one capital good two‐sector growth model with discrete technology by allowing for multiple primary factors of production. While the existence of an optimal steady state is established for any positive rate of discount, an example in which three “modified golden rules” exist shows that the optimal steady state is not necessarily unique. The extended model provides a simple exemplification of the more general principle that the presence of multiple primary factors of production in homogeneous capital models can definitively result in the same complications that arise when there is joint production.
Evaluating Philosophy as Exploratory Research
Authors: De Langhe Rogier , Schliesser Eric 
Published: April 2017

AbstractThis article addresses the question how philosophy should be evaluated in a research‐grant funding environment. It offers a new conception of philosophy that is inclusive and builds on familiar elements of professional, philosophical practice. Philosophy systematically questions the questions we ask, the concepts we use, and the values we hold. Its product is therefore rarely conclusive but can be embodied in everything we do. This is typical of explorative research and differentiates it from exploitative research, which constitutes the bulk of funded research activity. This article argues that exploratory research is crucial for long‐term progress and requires a distinct evaluative regime.
Observations and tracking of killer whales (Orcinus orca) with shore‐based X‐band marine radar at a marine energy test site
Authors: McCann David L. , Bell Paul S. 
Published: April 2017

AbstractThe Atlantic killer whale (Orcinus orca) is a top‐level marine predator with a global range, being found in all of Earth's oceans. The potential interaction between killer whales and marine renewable energy projects requires surveillance and monitoring efforts that call for new technologies, with marine radar showing promise in the field. Marine radar images recorded at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) were used to track a pair of male killer whales undertaking Surface Active Behavior (SAB) with visual observations used as validation. Using a tidal prediction model, the tide‐adjusted, radar‐derived target speeds between SAB events provide estimates of swim speeds averaging 4 m/s and time between SAB events of 30 s. The similarities between the radar signatures of the animals and sea clutter, combined with their low occurrence compared to other imaged phenomena renders automatic detection with this system difficult. However, the combination of opportunistic radar imagery and independent visual observation has allowed the radar signature of one form of killer whale SAB to be documented. It is hoped that with a greater number of validated observations such as these that automated, radar‐based identification and the benefits it will bring to long‐term observations at MRE sites will be possible.