bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Controller design of cooperative manipulators using state-dependent Riccati equation
Authors: Korayem Moharam Habibnejad , Nekoo Saeed Rafee 
Published: November 2017

SUMMARYThis study examined the use of a state-dependent Riccati equation (SDRE) for controller design and analysis of cooperative manipulators. The connection of end-effectors when holding an object imports constraint and complexity into the problem. Optimal load distribution (OLD) was used to divide the load between arms using a desired rate and omitting Lagrange multipliers. General dynamic structure, OLD formulation, and controller design are presented for an arbitrary number of manipulators. State-dependent coefficient parameterizations for rigid and flexible joint manipulators assuming friction for joints of them were investigated by two methods: controlling each robot independently and an entire system of robots uniformly. The effectiveness of the method, a decrease in errors, and increased stability in motion were also observed. The increase in the number of manipulators greatly expanded the state vector of the system. The SDRE was able to address this by simulation of four arms, each one possessing seven degrees of freedom (DoF). Analyses of a practical model (Scout robot) consisting of two arms with three DoF were presented and the results for connected arms and free arms were compared. The experimental data validated the simulation results and indicated that cooperation definitely improves load-carrying capacity and precision of trajectory tracking.
The development of determiners in the context of French–English bilingualism: a study of cross-linguistic influence
Authors: HERVÉ Coralie , SERRATRICE Ludovica 
Published: November 2017

AbstractThis paper reports the preliminary results of a study examining the role of structural overlap, language exposure, and language use on cross-linguistic influence (CLI) in bilingual first language acquisition. We focus on the longitudinal development of determiners in a corpus of two French–English children between the ages of 2;4 and 3;7. The results display bi-directional CLI in the rate of development, i.e., accelerated development in English and a minor delay in French. Unidirectional CLI from English to French was instead observed in the significantly higher rate of ungrammatical determiner omissions in plural and generic contexts than in singular specific contexts in French. These findings suggest that other language-internal mechanisms may be at play. They also lend support to the role of expressive abilities on the magnitude of this phenomenon.
A New Direction in the People's Liberation Army's Emergent Strategic Thinking, Roles and Missions
Authors: Char James , Bitzinger Richard A. 
Published: November 2017

AbstractThe People's Liberation Army (PLA) has been undergoing a profound transformation in terms of its operational capabilities, both with regard to itshardwareas well as itsheartware, i.e. the softer aspects of its development including its operational culture and military ethos. These changes have permeated every facet of the PLA – technological, organizational and doctrinal. Despite successive generations of Chinese leaders having declared their adherence to “peace” and “development,” it has become clearer that Beijing's security policy under Xi Jinping has shifted steadily away from “keeping a low profile.” In that regard, the status of the PLA in the domestic and international calculus of China's new commander-in-chief has, unsurprisingly, become more pronounced, with Xi taking noticeably greater interest in harnessing the Chinese Communist Party's coercive forces as his personal domestic powerbase and foreign policy instrument complementing China's hard economic power.
“Delegation and Then Intervention”: The 2009 Decision to Create the New Rural Pension
Authors: Choi Eun Kyong 
Published: November 2017

AbstractThis article reviews the decision-making process behind the creation of a new rural pension between the early 2000s and 2009. It finds that although policymaking was initially delegated to the bureaucratic level and hence involved a protracted bureaucratic struggle, the issue was resolved by a fiat imposed by top leaders rather than by bureaucratic compromise as a bureaucratic politics model would suggest. I call this policymaking process “delegation and then intervention.” Although the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MOLSS) persistently argued in favour of creating the new rural pension, the Ministry of Finance obstinately objected to it. This study finds that when bureaucratic organizations are in conflict because of their core beliefs, rather than resource allocation, they are less likely to reach a consensus. Faced with a prolonged bureaucratic deadlock, top leaders decided in favour of the MOLSS policy initiative, thereby adopting a progressive measure that would provide a completely subsidized basic pension for the rural elderly.
Preliminary validation and piloting of a comprehensive measure of household food security in Australia
Authors: Kleve Sue , Gallegos Danielle , Ashby Stephanie , Palermo Claire , McKechnie Rebecca 
Published: November 2017

AbstractObjectiveTo investigate the psychometric properties, validity and reliability of a newly developed measure of food insecurity, the Household Food and Nutrition Security Survey (HFNSS), among an Australian population.DesignCross-sectional study.SettingMetropolitan areas of Melbourne, Australia, identified as very high, high or medium vulnerability in the 2008 Vulnerability Assessment for Mortgage, Petrol and Inflation Risks and Expenditure index.SubjectsA convenience sample of 134 adults (117 females and fifteen males, aged over 18 years).ResultsRasch modelling and factor analysis identified four items for exclusion. The remaining items yielded excellent reliability among the current sample and assessed three underlying components: the adult experience of food insecurity (component one), initial/periodic changes to children’s food intakes (component two) and progressive/persistent decreases in children’s food intakes (component three). Compared with the widely used US Department of Agriculture Food Security Survey Module, the HFNSS identified a significantly higher proportion of food insecurity; this is likely due to the HFNSS’s identification of food insecurity due to reasons other than (and including) limited financial access.ConclusionsThe HFNSS may be a valid and reliable tool for the assessment of food insecurity among the Australian population and provides a means of assessing multiple barriers to food security beyond poor financial access (which has been identified as a limitation of other existing tools). Future research should explore the validity and reliability of the tool among a more representative sample, as well as specifically among vulnerable population subgroups.
Interrelationship between food security status, home availability of variety of fruits and vegetables and their dietary intake among low-income pregnant women
Authors: Nunnery Danielle L , Labban Jeffrey D , Dharod Jigna M 
Published: November 2017

AbstractObjectiveTo (i) determine differences in the availability of variety of fruits and vegetables (F&V) at home by food security status; and (ii) examine the inter-associations between food security status, availability of variety of F&V at home and frequency of F&V intake, among low-income pregnant women.Design/SettingParticipants were interviewed to collect food security status, home availability of variety of F&V and frequency of F&V intake. Bivariate analyses, multivariate regression and exploratory mediation analyses were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics version 23.0 and the PROCESS macro.SubjectsLow-income pregnant women (n 198) were interviewed if they were ≥18 years of age, in the second trimester of pregnancy, and spoke English or Spanish.ResultsLow/very low food security was found among 43 % of participants. Compared with fully food-secure participants, very low food-secure participants reported a lower variety of fruits (P=0·028) and vegetables (P=0·058) available at home. Mediation analyses indicated that through home availability of variety of fresh F&V, food security status was associated with the daily intake of F&V (indirect effect (95 % CI): fresh fruits, −0·039 (−0·074, −0·013); fresh vegetables, −0·048 (−0·083, −0·023)). As food security worsened, the available variety of fresh F&V decreased, which was associated with lower intake.ConclusionsThe study highlights the interlink between food security, home food environment and diet quality, and the importance of nutrition education intervention to promote a healthy home food environment and improved pregnancy outcomes among low-income women.
Ultra-processing. An odd ‘appraisal’
Authors: Monteiro Carlos A , Cannon Geoffrey , Moubarac Jean-Claude , Levy Renata B , Louzada Maria Laura C , Jaime Patrícia C 
Published: November 2017

AbstractIt is now generally agreed that the impact of the current nature, purpose and extent of food processing on human well-being, health and disease needs to be better understood and explained, in order to improve public health. The special issue ofPublic Health Nutritiondevoted to the concept of ultra-processing of food, and the NOVA classification of which ultra-processed foods are one category, is a great step forward in this work. Coincidentally, a polemical ‘critical appraisal’ of ultra-processing was recently published in another journal. Debate and discussion are an essential part of the scientific endeavour. In this commentary, we correct inaccurate statements made about NOVA in the ‘appraisal,’ rebut points raised, and discuss the larger issue of scientific responsibility for publishing opposing views on controversial topics.
Automated Inclusion Microanalysis in Steel by Computer-Based Scanning Electron Microscopy: Accelerating Voltage, Backscattered Electron Image Quality, and Analysis Time
Authors: Tang Dai , Ferreira Mauro E. , Pistorius Petrus C. 
Published: November 2017

AbstractAutomated inclusion microanalysis in steel samples by computer-based scanning electron microscopy provides rapid quantitative information on micro-inclusion distribution, composition, size distribution, morphology, and concentration. Performing the analysis at a lower accelerating voltage (10 kV), rather than the generally used 20 kV, improves analysis accuracy and may improve spatial resolution, but at the cost of a smaller backscattered electron signal and potentially smaller rate of generation of characteristic X-rays. These effects were quantified by simulation and practical measurements.
Religious Regulation as Foreign Policy: Morocco's Islamic Diplomacy in West Africa
Authors: Wainscott Ann Marie 
Published: November 2017

AbstractStudies of religious regulation tend to examine how states manage the domestic religious market. This article extends this research program by analyzing a state that regulates the religious markets of foreign countries. The Moroccan case demonstrates the circumstances under which a religious bureaucracy designed to manage domestic religion can be turned outward, and employed to achieve foreign policy goals. Unlike other cases of foreign religious regulation, however, Morocco's efforts have been welcomed at the same time that the policy advanced Morocco's interests. What explains the success of Morocco's religious foreign policy? Building on interviews with religious elites from a recipient country, this article argues that Moroccan religious foreign policy has been successful because it was perceived as having historical and cultural legitimacy, it built on pre-existing institutions, and it was paired with renewed economic collaboration, three factors that have broader theoretical relevance to the study of religious foreign policies.
Puro tlaxcalteca?Ethnic Integrity and Consciousness in Late Seventeenth-Century Northern New Spain
Authors: Offutt Leslie Scott 
Published: November 2017

“The pueblo of San Estevan de Tlaxcala is inhabited bypure blood Tlaxcaltecan Indianswho founded it during the conquest of this country. . . . These Indians speak Spanish and are civilized.” So observed don Nicolás de Lafora, a military engineer accompanying the Marqués de Rubí’s inspection tour of New Spain's northern presidios, as he approached San Esteban and the adjoining Spanish town of Saltillo, in present-day Coahuila, in June 1767. A decade later, fray Agustín de Morfi, chaplain to newly appointed commander general of the Provincias Internas don Teodoro de Croix, echoed Lafora's assessment, linking San Esteban's ability to preserve its privileges for the better part of two centuries to the community'spureza de sangre, preserved through the great care its residents took to avoid “mixing” with thecastas(mixed races) that “infected” Saltillo.
Contrasting the relative importance of species sorting and dispersal limitation in shaping marine bacterial versus protist communities
Authors: Wu Wenxue , Lu Hsiao-Pei , Sastri Akash , Yeh Yi-Chun , Gong Gwo-Ching , Chou Wen-Chen , Hsieh Chih-Hao 
Published: November 2017

Abstract
A central challenge in microbial ecology is to understand the underlying mechanisms driving community assembly, particularly in the continuum of species sorting and dispersal limitation. However, little is known about the relative importance of species sorting and dispersal limitation in shaping marine microbial communities; especially, how they are related to organism types/traits and water depth. Here, we used variation partitioning and null model analysis to compare mechanisms driving bacterial and protist metacommunity dynamics at the basin scale in the East China Sea, based on MiSeq paired-end sequencing of 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) and 18S rDNA, respectively, in surface, deep chlorophyll maximum and bottom layers. Our analyses indicated that protist communities were governed more strongly by species sorting relative to dispersal limitation than were bacterial communities; this pattern was consistent across the three-depth layers, albeit to different degrees. Furthermore, we detected that bacteria exhibited wider habitat niche breadths than protists, whereas, passive dispersal abilities were not appreciably different between them. Our findings support the ‘size-plasticity’ hypothesis: smaller organisms (bacteria) are less environment filtered than larger organisms (protists), as smaller organisms are more likely to be plastic in metabolic abilities and have greater environmental tolerance.
Cytokinesis requires localized β-actin filament production by an actin isoform specific nucleator
Authors: Chen A. , Arora P. D. , McCulloch C. A. , Wilde A. 
Published: November 2017

AbstractCytokinesis is initiated by the localized assembly of the contractile ring, a dynamic actomyosin structure that generates a membrane furrow between the segregating chromosomal masses to divide a cell into two. Here we show that the stabilization and organization of the cytokinetic furrow is specifically dependent on localized β-actin filament assembly at the site of cytokinesis. β-actin filaments are assembled directly at the furrow by an anillin-dependent pathway that enhances RhoA-dependent activation of the formin DIAPH3, an actin nucleator. DIAPH3 specifically generates homopolymeric filaments of β-actin in vitro. By employing enhancers and activators, cells can achieve acute spatio-temporal control over isoform-specific actin arrays that are required for distinct cellular functions.
Optimal percolation on multiplex networks
Authors: Osat Saeed , Faqeeh Ali , Radicchi Filippo 
Published: November 2017

AbstractOptimal percolation is the problem of finding the minimal set of nodes whose removal from a network fragments the system into non-extensive disconnected clusters. The solution to this problem is important for strategies of immunization in disease spreading, and influence maximization in opinion dynamics. Optimal percolation has received considerable attention in the context of isolated networks. However, its generalization to multiplex networks has not yet been considered. Here we show that approximating the solution of the optimal percolation problem on a multiplex network with solutions valid for single-layer networks extracted from the multiplex may have serious consequences in the characterization of the true robustness of the system. We reach this conclusion by extending many of the methods for finding approximate solutions of the optimal percolation problem from single-layer to multiplex networks, and performing a systematic analysis on synthetic and real-world multiplex networks.
Origin of the unusually strong and selective binding of vanadium by polyamidoximes in seawater
Authors: Ivanov Alexander S. , Leggett Christina J. , Parker Bernard F. , Zhang Zhicheng , Arnold John , Dai Sheng , Abney Carter W. , Bryantsev Vyacheslav S. , Rao Linfeng 
Published: November 2017

AbstractAmidoxime-functionalized polymeric adsorbents are the current state-of-the-art materials for collecting uranium (U) from seawater. However, marine tests show that vanadium (V) is preferentially extracted over U and many other cations. Herein, we report a complementary and comprehensive investigation integrating ab initio simulations with thermochemical titrations and XAFS spectroscopy to understand the unusually strong and selective binding of V by polyamidoximes. While the open-chain amidoxime functionalities do not bind V, the cyclic imide-dioxime group of the adsorbent forms a peculiar non-oxido V5+complex, exhibiting the highest stability constant value ever observed for the V5+species. XAFS analysis of adsorbents following deployment in environmental seawater confirms V binding solely by the imide-dioximes. Our fundamental findings offer not only guidance for future optimization of selectivity in amidoxime-based sorbent materials, but may also afford insight to understanding the extensive accumulation of V in some marine organisms.
Structure of the transcription activator target Tra1 within the chromatin modifying complex SAGA
Authors: Sharov Grigory , Voltz Karine , Durand Alexandre , Kolesnikova Olga , Papai Gabor , Myasnikov Alexander G. , Dejaegere Annick , Ben Shem Adam , Schultz Patrick 
Published: November 2017

AbstractThe transcription co-activator complex SAGA is recruited to gene promoters by sequence-specific transcriptional activators and by chromatin modifications to promote pre-initiation complex formation. The yeast Tra1 subunit is the major target of acidic activators such as Gal4, VP16, or Gcn4 but little is known about its structural organization. The 430 kDa Tra1 subunit and its human homolog the transformation/transcription domain-associated protein TRRAP are members of the phosphatidyl 3-kinase-related kinase (PIKK) family. Here, we present the cryo-EM structure of the entire SAGA complex where the major target of activator binding, the 430 kDa Tra1 protein, is resolved with an average resolution of 5.7 Å. The high content of alpha-helices in Tra1 enabled tracing of the majority of its main chain. Our results highlight the integration of Tra1 within the major epigenetic regulator SAGA.
Single molecule multiplexed nanopore protein screening in human serum using aptamer modified DNA carriers
Authors: Sze Jasmine Y. Y. , Ivanov Aleksandar P. , Cass Anthony E. G. , Edel Joshua B. 
Published: November 2017

AbstractThe capability to screen a range of proteins at the single-molecule level with enhanced selectivity in biological fluids has been in part a driving force in developing future diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. The combination of nanopore sensing and nucleic acid aptamer recognition comes close to this ideal due to the ease of multiplexing, without the need for expensive labelling methods or extensive sample pre-treatment. Here, we demonstrate a fully flexible, scalable and low-cost detection platform to sense multiple protein targets simultaneously by grafting specific sequences along the backbone of a double-stranded DNA carrier. Protein bound to the aptamer produces unique ionic current signatures which facilitates accurate target recognition. This powerful approach allows us to differentiate individual protein sizes via characteristic changes in the sub-peak current. Furthermore, we show that by using DNA carriers it is possible to perform single-molecule screening in human serum at ultra-low protein concentrations.
Oxygen-rich microporous carbons with exceptional hydrogen storage capacity
Authors: Blankenship L. Scott , Balahmar Norah , Mokaya Robert 
Published: November 2017

AbstractPorous carbons have been extensively investigated for hydrogen storage but, to date, appear to have an upper limit to their storage capacity. Here, in an effort to circumvent this upper limit, we explore the potential of oxygen-rich activated carbons. We describe cellulose acetate-derived carbons that combine high surface area (3800 m2 g−1) and pore volume (1.8 cm3 g−1) that arise almost entirely (>90%) from micropores, with an oxygen-rich nature. The carbons exhibit enhanced gravimetric hydrogen uptake (8.1 wt% total and 7.0 wt% excess) at −196 °C and 20 bar, rising to a total uptake of 8.9 wt% at 30 bar, and exceptional volumetric uptake of 44 g l−1 at 20 bar, and 48 g l−1 at 30 bar. At room temperature they store up to 0.8 wt% (excess) and 1.2 wt% (total) hydrogen at only 30 bar, and their isosteric heat of hydrogen adsorption is above 10 kJ mol−1.
The natural product carolacton inhibits folate-dependent C1 metabolism by targeting FolD/MTHFD
Authors: Fu Chengzhang , Sikandar Asfandyar , Donner Jannik , Zaburannyi Nestor , Herrmann Jennifer , Reck Michael , Wagner-Döbler Irene , Koehnke Jesko , Müller Rolf 
Published: November 2017

AbstractThe natural product carolacton is a macrolide keto-carboxylic acid produced by the myxobacteriumSorangium cellulosum, and was originally described as an antibacterial compound. Here we show that carolacton targets FolD, a key enzyme from the folate-dependent C1 metabolism. We characterize the interaction between bacterial FolD and carolacton biophysically, structurally and biochemically. Carolacton binds FolD with nanomolar affinity, and the crystal structure of the FolD–carolacton complex reveals the mode of binding. We show that the human FolD orthologs, MTHFD1 and MTHFD2, are also inhibited in the low nM range, and that micromolar concentrations of carolacton inhibit the growth of cancer cell lines. As mitochondrial MTHFD2 is known to be upregulated in cancer cells, it may be possible to use carolacton as an inhibitor tool compound to assess MTHFD2 as an anti-cancer target.