bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Fuzzy modelling and mapping soil moisture for observed periods and climate scenarios. An alternative for dynamic modelling at the national and regional scale?
Authors: Nickel Stefan , Schröder Winfried 
Published: November 2017

AbstractKey messageAverage soil moisture was spatially modelled for observed periods and climate scenarios using a fuzzy logic approach. Accordingly, a significant decline of soil moisture until 2070 in Germany and the Kellerwald National Park could be evidenced for soils influenced by ground water and by stagnant water and at sites on steep slopes and on southerly slopes.ContextSoil moisture is an essential environmental factor affecting the condition of forests throughout time with high spatial variance. To adapt forests to climate change, assessments of ecological integrity and services in forest management and nature conservation need spatio-temporal estimations of current and future soil moisture. Dynamic modelling of soil moisture even with rather simple models needs numerous data which are often not available for areas of large spatial extent.AimsTherefore, the objectives of this investigation were to (1) spatio-temporally estimate ecological soil moisture with available data covering the whole territory of Germany, (2) to specify these estimates for the regional scale, (3) to statistically analyse temporal trends of modelled soil moisture for the time period 1961–2070 and (4) to map soil moisture changes (drying-out) at both national and regional levels.MethodsA fuzzy rule-based model was developed allowing the combination of a pedological and an ecological soil moisture classification. The fuzzy modelling approach was applied for mapping average soil moisture at two spatial scales.ResultsSoil moisture was modelled and mapped on a scale of 1:500,000 across Germany and regionally specified on a scale of 1:25,000 for the Kellerwald National Park for the time intervals 1961–1990, 1991–2010, 2011–2040 and 2041–2070. The model validation gave a root mean squared error (RMSE) of 0.86 and a coefficient of determination (pseudoR2) of 0.21. Average soil moisture was expected to decline significantly until 2070 concerning soils influenced by ground water and by stagnant water and at sites on steep slopes (> 25%) and on southerly slopes (120–240°).ConclusionThe model allows mapping of mean soil moisture at the national and regional scale as shown by the example of Germany and the Kellerwald National Park across observed periods and climate scenarios. It should be combined with available ecological data on forest ecosystem types (Jenssen et al. 2013; Schröder et al. 2015) and tested at the European scale.
Failure to flow: An exploration of learning and teaching in busy, multi-patient environments using an interpretive description method
Authors: Chan Teresa M. , Van Dewark Kenneth , Jonathan Sherbino Jonathan , Schwartz Alan , Norman Geoff , Lineberry Matthew 
Published: November 2017

Introduction As patient volumes continue to increase, more attention must be paid to skills that foster efficiency without sacrificing patient safety. The emergency department is a fertile ground for examining leadership and management skills, especially those that concern prioritization in multi-patient environments. We sought to understand the needs of emergency physicians (EPs) and emergency medicine junior trainees with regards to teaching and learning about how best to handle busy, multi-patient environments.
Method A cognitive task analysis was undertaken, using a qualitative approach to elicit knowledge of EPs and residents about handling busy emergency department situations. Ten experienced EPs and 10 junior emergency medicine residents were interviewed about their experiences in busy emergency departments. Transcripts of the interviews were analyzed inductively and iteratively by two independent coders using an interpretive description technique.
Results EP teachers and junior residents differed in their perceptions of what makes an emergency department busy. Moreover, they focused on different aspects of patient care that contributed to their busyness: EP teachers tended to focus on volume of patients, junior residents tended to focus on the complexity of certain cases. The most important barrier to effective teaching and learning of managerial skills was thought to be the lack of faculty development in this skill set.
Conclusions This study presents qualitative data that helps us elucidate how patient volumes affect our learning environments, and how clinical teachers and residents operate within these environments.
Enduring Questions and the Ethics of Memory Blunting
Authors: VUKOV JOSEPH 
Published: November 2017

ABSTRACT:Memory blunting is a pharmacological intervention that decreases the emotional salience of memories. The technique promises a brighter future for those suffering from memory-related disorders such as PTSD, but it also raises normative questions about the limits of its permissibility. So far, neuroethicists have staked out two primary camps in response to these questions. In this paper, I argue both are problematic. I then argue for an alternative approach to memory blunting, one that can accommodate the considerations that motivate rival approaches even while avoiding the problems these rivals face. In addition to arguing for this primary thesis, the paper also aims to suggest something about neuroethics generally: despite what some neuroethicists claim, new discoveries in neuroscience may not typically upend traditional views of morality. Rather, discoveries in neuroscience often provide us with new occasions to reflect on enduring questions about what it means to be human.
Territorial Differentiation in EU Law: Can Scotland and Northern Ireland Remain in the EU and/or the Single Market?
Authors: SKOUTARIS Nikos 
Published: November 2017

AbstractIn the Brexit referendum of 23 June 2016, voters in England and Wales voted to leave the EU, while in Scotland and Northern Ireland they voted to remain. Following that, there has been a debate about how it would be possible to achieve the continuing presence in the single market of the UK constituent nations that do not want to be taken out against their will. This paper explores two pathways for Scotland and Northern Ireland to remain in the EU and/or the single market. The first entails the achievement of Scottish independence and the reunification of Ireland through democratic referendums. To this effect, the paper reviews the right of secession of those two constituent nations under UK constitutional law. It revisits the debate on the appropriate legal basis regulating Scotland’s future EU accession and discusses the Irish reunification from an EU law perspective. The second pathway explores how it would be possible for Scotland and Northern Ireland to remain in the EU and/or the single market even without seceding from the UK. In order to do that, the paper points to the remarkable flexibility of the EU legal order as evidenced in numerous cases of differentiated application of Union law. The paper shows that the EU possesses the necessary legal instruments to accommodate the divergent aspirations of the UK constituent nations.
‘Black spots on the map of Europe’: Ireland and Finland as oppressed nationalities,c.1860–1910
Authors: Newby Andrew G. 
Published: November 2017

AbstractIn late 1909, the liberal Russian newspaperBirzhevye Vedomostiexpressed the fear that Finland could become ‘Russia’s Ireland’. The implication was that by restricting the autonomy that Finland had enjoyed within the Russian Empire for much of the preceding century, Russian nationalists risked creating a chaotic, discontented eastern province, dangerously close to the imperial capital. The ‘Russia’s Ireland’ motif became so prominent in the following eight years – before Finnish independence in 1917 – as to become an international cliché. The discourse of imperial subjugation that existed in both Ireland and Finland in the first decade of the twentieth century has rather obscured the fact that, despite obvious superficial parallels, the nineteenth-century experiences of these nations differed considerably. Both Finland and Ireland were part of larger imperial systems in the nineteenth century, and national movements emerged in both countries that sought to develop political, economic and cultural autonomy. Finland became a sporadic model for diverse Irish national aspirations, but the analogy was rejected consistently, and often vigorously, by Finns in the nineteenth century. This article charts the development of the Finnish–Irish constitutional analogy from the middle of the nineteenth century to the eve of both nations’ independence. It demonstrates that despite the similarities in overall historical timelines, contemporaries perceived differences between the two cases.
‘A model co-operative country’: Irish–Finnish contacts at the turn of the twentieth century
Authors: Hilson Mary 
Published: November 2017

AbstractAgricultural co-operative societies were widely discussed across late nineteenth-century Europe as a potential solution to the problems of agricultural depression, land reform and rural poverty. In Finland, the agronomist Hannes Gebhard drew inspiration from examples across Europe in founding the Pellervo Society, to promote rural cooperation, in 1899. He noted that Ireland’s ‘tragic history’, its struggle for national self-determination and the introduction of co-operative dairies to tackle rural poverty, seemed to offer a useful example for Finnish reformers. This article explores the exchanges between Irish and Finnish co-operators around the turn of the century, and examines the ways in which the parallels between the two countries were constructed and presented by those involved in these exchanges. I will also consider the reasons for the divergence in the development of cooperation, so that even before the First World War it was Finland, not Ireland, that had begun to be regarded as ‘a model co-operative country’.
Protein phosphatase PP2C in the flagellum of Leishmania major: cloning and characterization
Authors: Escalona-Montaño A. R. , Pérez-Montfort R. , Cabrera N. , Mondragón-Flores R. , Vélez-Ramírez D. E. , Gómez-Sandoval J. N. , Gutiérrez-Kobeh L. , Becker I. , Aguirre-García M. M. 
Published: November 2017

AbstractThe main goal of this work consisted in cloning, purifying and characterizing a protein phosphatase 2C (PP2C) from promastigotes ofLeishmania major. The gene was cloned and amplified by PCR using specific oligonucleotides and the recombinant protein was purified by affinity chromatography. The peak with maximal protein concentration was analysed by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and revealed a protein of 44·9 kDa with PP2C activity. This activity was dependent on divalent cations (Mg+2and Mn+2) and was optimal at pH of 8·5, using phosphothreonine as the substrate. Sanguinarine inhibited the activity of the recombinantLmPP2C, while protein tyrosine phosphatase inhibitors had no effect. The recombinantLmPP2C was used to generate polyclonal antibodies. These antibodies recognized a protein of 44·9 kDa in differentLeishmaniaspecies; theLmPP2C was localized in the flagellar pocket and the flagellum of promastigotes.
Molecular and morphological characterization of the cercariae of Lecithodendrium linstowi (Dollfus, 1931), a trematode of bats, and incrimination of the first intermediate snail host, Radix balthica
Authors: ENABULELE EGIE E. , LAWTON SCOTT P. , WALKER ANTHONY J. , KIRK RUTH S. 
Published: November 2017

SUMMARYLecithodendrium linstowi is one of the most prevalent and abundant trematodes of bats, but the larval stages and intermediate hosts have not been identified. We present the first molecular and morphological characterization of the cercariae of L. linstowi based on a phylogenetic analysis of partial fragments of LSU and ITS2 rDNA. The first intermediate host was incriminated as Radix balthica by DNA barcoding using cox1 and ITS2 sequences, although the snail morphologically resembled Radix peregra, emphasizing the requirement for molecular identification of lymnaeids as important intermediate hosts of medical and veterinary impact. The application of molecular data in this study has enabled linkage of life cycle stages and accurate incrimination of the first intermediate host.
Molecular identification of parasitic nematodes (Nematoda: Strongylida) in feces of wild ruminants from Tunisia
Authors: Said Yousra , Gharbi Mohamed , Mhadhbi Moez , Dhibi Moktar , Lahmar Samia 
Published: November 2017

AbstractIn Tunisia and other North African countries, there is a lack of knowledge about parasite biodiversity within threatened wild ruminants and there are not any studies on their gastrointestinal nematodes. Thus the aim of this study was to identify gastrointestinal fauna in the faecal samples of Tunisian wild ruminants. A total of 262 faecal samples were collected from domestic sheep and goat, and wild ruminants (Addax, Barbary sheep, Barbary red deer, Dorcas gazelle, Slender-horned gazelle and Scimitar-horned Oryx) living in protected areas. Samples were examined with floatation (saturated sodium chloride solution), polymerase chain reaction and sequencing of the second internal transcribed spacer region of the rDNA. Microscopic analysis allowed the identification of only Nematodirus genus or molecular tools allowed a first identification of five gastrointestinal nematode species in North African wild ruminants: Chabertia ovina (1.6%), Camelostrongylus mentulatus (1.6%), Marshallagia marshalli (4.7%), Nematodirus helvetianus (62.5%) and Nematodirus spathiger (29.7%). This study reported the first records of C. mentulatus and M. marshalli in Addax and of M. marshalli in Dorcas gazelle and it was the first reported record of N. helvetianus and M. marshalli in Tunisia.
Why was the Dome of the Rock built? A new perspective on a long-discussed question
Authors: Levy-Rubin Milka 
Published: November 2017

AbstractThe existing discussion regarding the motives for building the Dome of the Rock revolves around two suggestions: that the incentive for building was the fierce competition between ʿAbd al-Malik and ʿAbdallah b. al-Zubayr in Mecca, and that it was competition with local Christian monuments that moved ʿAbd al-Malik to building this outstanding edifice. This paper suggests that a third incentive lay in the political and ideological rivalry with Constantinople that was at its peak during that period. This rivalry drove ʿAbd al-Malik to build a monument that would outdo those of Constantinople, and especially that of the Hagia Sophia. Muslim tradition emphasized that Constantinople had contaminated the site of the Temple and had claimed to inherit its place as God's throne on earth. The building of the Dome of the Rock, the New Temple of Solomon, was thus meant to redeem the Temple of Jerusalem's honour as of old against the claims of Constantinople.
Old Khotanese type A stems in -a- and -e-
Authors: Hitch Doug 
Published: November 2017

AbstractIn 1968 Emmerick proposed the existence of a present stem type D. It is shown here from morphophonological patterning that his category contains two subtypes, temporarily labelled D1 and D2. By comparing vocalic contractions from the nominals with the D1 endings, it is clear that the D1 stems end synchronically in -a- and take the regular type A endings. The D2 stem vowel in contrast, behaves partly like nominal stems in -a-, and partly like stems in -i-. By reviewing contraction evidence relating to all vowels, it is shown that the D2 stems end synchronically, albeit abstractly, in -e- and take the regular type A endings. Two further verbs from Emmerick's type C are shown also to end in -e- and take the regular endings.
Identification of a small fragment of Mani'sLiving Gospel(Turfan Collection, Berlin, M5439)
Authors: Shokri-Foumeshi Mohammad 
Published: November 2017

AbstractHeretofore three fragments of ManiʼsLiving Gospel– the most important work of Mani – have been recognized in Middle Persian and in Manichaean script: M17, M172/I/ and M644. This article, with a codicological and textological approach, shows that M17 and the new fragment M5439 are two separate pieces of a single manuscript page. The verso-side of M5439 has a new text. Now, after the identification and reading of this damaged fragment, we are able to correct the previous reconstructions and comment on a few Middle Persian words. The text contains a part of theexordiumand of the chapterAlephof theLiving Gospel.
Crashing the party: advocacy coalitions and the nonpartisan primary
Authors: Sinclair J. Andrew , O’Grady Ian , McIntosh Brock , Nordlund Carrie 
Published: November 2017

AbstractCalifornia and Washington recently replaced traditional partisan elections with nonpartisan “top-two” election procedures. Some reform advocates hoped that voters would behave in a way to support moderate candidates in the primary stage; the limited evidence for this behaviour has led some scholars to conclude that the reform has little chance to change meaningful policy outcomes. Yet we find that the nonpartisan procedure has predictable and disparate political consequences: the general elections between two candidates of the same party, called copartisan general elections, tend to occur in districts without any meaningful crossparty competition. Furthermore, copartisan elections are more likely to occur with open seats, when a new legislator will begin building a network of relationships. The results, viewed through the lens of the Advocacy Coalition Framework, suggest that opportunities exist for coalitional rearrangement over time.
THE PERSISTENCE OF THE BRAHMIN PRIESTS IN WILKIE COLLINS'STHE MOONSTONE
Authors: Narayan Niketa G. 
Published: November 2017

When T. S. Eliotfamously called Wilkie Collins's 1868 novelThe Moonstone“the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels” (The Moonstone1966, v), the implication, presumably, was that the “detectives” are the hero Franklin Blake and other English characters who carry out the detective function, such as the family lawyer, Mr. Bruff. In addition to a detective story, the novel has been read variously as imperialist, anti-imperialist, a narrative invested with economic undertones, and as an exploration of gift theory, among others. In all these iterations, however, the underlying assumption has been that the only real “detectives” in the novel are the English characters; it is they who solve the theft of the diamond and work to police it. The Brahmin priests, whose pursuit of the diamond parallels that of the English, have generally been viewed as peripheral to the main narrative; a marginal acknowledgement of the impact that India, in its various facets, had upon nineteenth-century English society. Vicki Corkran Willey calls the priests, tongue-in-cheek, “‘villains’. . . working in tandem with two other imported troublemakers – [John] Herncastle's stolen diamond and the drug, opium” (226). Timothy L. Carens describes them as practicing “dutiful self-renunciation” (246) in their search for the diamond, implying that passivity is inherent in such dutifulness, and Jenny Bourne Taylor suggests they are important only because of their use of “[c]lairvoyance [which] is projected on to them as a form of romantic fascination, [and] which they then internalize and represent” (193). Critics are in general agreement, then, that the priests are not central to the novel, and their involvement in the solving of the crime is minimal. The present essay will refute this perspective and argue that, in fact, the Brahmin priests are central to the narrative and far more active (and effective) policing agents than the English characters.
Ruin probabilities in a Sparre Andersen model with dependency structure based on a threshold window
Authors: Cheung Eric C. K. , Dai Suhang , Ni Weihong 
Published: November 2017

AbstractWe analyse ruin probabilities for an insurance risk process with a more generalised dependence structure compared to the one introduced in Constantinescu et al. (2016). In this paper, we assume that a random threshold window is generated every time after a claim occurs. By comparing the previous inter-claim time with the threshold window, the distributions of the current threshold window and the inter-arrival time are determined. Furthermore, the statuses for the previous and current inter-arrival times give rise to the current claim size distribution as well. Like Constantinescu et al. (2016), we first identify the embedded Markov additive process where all the randomness takes a general form. Inspired by the Erlangisation technique, the key message of this paper is to analyse such risk process using a Markov fluid flow model where the underlying random variables follow phase-type distributions. This would further allow us to approximate the fixed observation windows by Erlang random variables. Then ruin probabilities under the process with Erlang(n) observation windows are proved to be Erlangian approximations for those related to the process with fixed threshold windows at the limit. An exact form of the limit can be obtained whose application will be illustrated further by a numerical example.
Significance estimation for large scale metabolomics annotations by spectral matching
Authors: Scheubert Kerstin , Hufsky Franziska , Petras Daniel , Wang Mingxun , Nothias Louis-Félix , Dührkop Kai , Bandeira Nuno , Dorrestein Pieter C. , Böcker Sebastian 
Published: November 2017

AbstractThe annotation of small molecules in untargeted mass spectrometry relies on the matching of fragment spectra to reference library spectra. While various spectrum-spectrum match scores exist, the field lacks statistical methods for estimating the false discovery rates (FDR) of these annotations. We present empirical Bayes and target-decoy based methods to estimate the false discovery rate (FDR) for 70 public metabolomics data sets. We show that the spectral matching settings need to be adjusted for each project. By adjusting the scoring parameters and thresholds, the number of annotations rose, on average, by +139% (ranging from −92 up to +5705%) when compared with a default parameter set available at GNPS. The FDR estimation methods presented will enable a user to assess the scoring criteria for large scale analysis of mass spectrometry based metabolomics data that has been essential in the advancement of proteomics, transcriptomics, and genomics science.
Intertwining DNA-RNA nanocapsules loaded with tumor neoantigens as synergistic nanovaccines for cancer immunotherapy
Authors: Zhu Guizhi , Mei Lei , Vishwasrao Harshad D. , Jacobson Orit , Wang Zhantong , Liu Yijing , Yung Bryant C. , Fu Xiao , Jin Albert , Niu Gang , Wang Qin , Zhang Fuwu , Shroff Hari , Chen Xiaoyuan 
Published: November 2017

AbstractNanomedicines that co-deliver DNA, RNA, and peptide therapeutics are highly desirable yet remain underdeveloped for cancer theranostics. Herein, we report self-assembled intertwining DNA-RNA nanocapsules (iDR-NCs) that efficiently delivered synergistic DNA CpG and short hairpin RNA (shRNA) adjuvants, as well as tumor-specific peptide neoantigens into antigen presenting cells (APCs) in lymph nodes for cancer immunotherapy. These nanovaccines were prepared by (1) producing tandem CpG and shRNA via concurrent rolling circle replication and rolling circle transcription, (2) self-assembling CpG and shRNA into DNA-RNA microflowers, (3) shrinking microflowers into iDR-NCs using PEG-grafted cationic polypeptides, and (4) physically loading neoantigen into iDR-NCs. CpG and shRNA in iDR-NCs synergistically activate APCs for sustained antigen presentation. Remarkably, iDR-NC/neoantigen nanovaccines elicit 8-fold more frequent neoantigen-specific peripheral CD8+ T cells than CpG, induce T cell memory, and significantly inhibit the progression of neoantigen-specific colorectal tumors. Collectively, iDR-NCs represent potential DNA/RNA/peptide triple-co-delivery nanocarriers and synergistic tumor immunotherapeutic nanovaccines.