bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Soil organic matter composition and quality across fire severity gradients in coniferous and deciduous forests of the southern boreal region
Authors: Miesel Jessica R. , Hockaday William C. , Kolka Randall K. , Townsend Philip A. 
Published: May 2015

AbstractRecent patterns of prolonged regional drought in southern boreal forests of the Great Lakes region, USA, suggest that the ecological effects of disturbance by wildfire may become increasingly severe. Losses of forest soil organic matter (SOM) during fire can limit soil nutrient availability and forest regeneration. These processes are also influenced by the composition of postfire SOM. We sampled the forest floor layer (i.e., full organic horizon) and 0–10 cm mineral soil from stands dominated by coniferous (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) or deciduous (Populus tremuloides Michx.) species 1–2 months after the 2011 Pagami Creek wildfire in northern Minnesota. We used solid‐state 13C NMR to characterize SOM composition across a gradient of fire severity in both forest cover types. SOM composition was affected by fire, even when no statistically significant losses of total C stocks were evident. The most pronounced differences in SOM composition between burned and unburned reference areas occurred in the forest floor for both cover types. Carbohydrate stocks in forest floor and mineral horizons decreased with severity level in both cover types, whereas pyrogenic C stocks increased with severity in the coniferous forest floor and decreased in only the highest severity level in the deciduous forest floor. Loss of carbohydrate and lignin pools contributed to a decreased SOM stability index and increased decomposition index. Our results suggest that increases in fire severity expected to occur under future climate scenarios may lead to changes in SOM composition and dynamics with consequences for postfire forest recovery and C uptake.
Online tests of Kalman filter consistency
Authors: Piché Robert 
Published: May 2015

SummaryThe normalised innovation squared (NIS) test, which is used to assess whether a Kalman filter's noise assumptions are consistent with realised measurements, can be applied online with real data, and does not require future data, repeated experiments or knowledge of the true state. In this work, it is shown that the NIS test is equivalent to three other model criticism procedures, which are as follows: (i) it can be derived as a Bayesian p‐test for the prior predictive distribution; (ii) as a nested‐model parameter significance test; and (iii) from a recently‐proposed filter residual test. A new NIS‐like test corresponding to a posterior predictive Bayesian p‐test is presented. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Robustness and perfect tracking in simple adaptive control
Authors: Barkana Itzhak 
Published: May 2015

SummaryAdaptive controllers have been developed to guarantee stability and asymptotically perfect tracking under ideal conditions. In particular, the simple adaptive control methodology has been developed to avoid the use of identifiers, observer‐based controllers and, in general, to avoid using large order adaptive controllers in the control loop. In spite of initially successful applications, it is known that the basic adaptive algorithm may lead to divergence of the adaptive gains in such non‐ideal conditions as the presence of disturbances. A sigma‐term adjustment has been used to maintain boundedness with disturbance, yet is known that it seems to also eliminate perfect following even in ideal situations. Furthermore, bursting and other chaotic‐like phenomena observed in connection with the sigma‐term may also give pause to potential users of adaptive control. This paper revisits and modifies the use of various components of the simple adaptive control approach and shows how one can use passivity concepts such that, while it maintains robustness with disturbances, it also allows asymptotically perfect tracking in ideal conditions. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Impact of modernization on adult body composition on five islands of varying economic development in vanuatu
Authors: Olszowy Kathryn M. , Pomer Alysa , Dancause Kelsey N. , Sun Cheng , Silverman Harold , Lee Gwang , Chan Chim W. , Tarivonda Len , Regenvanu Ralph , Kaneko Akira , Weitz Charles A. , Lum J. Koji , Garruto Ralph M. 
Published: May 2015

ObjectiveThe Republic of Vanuatu, similar to other South Pacific island nations, is undergoing a rapid health transition as a consequence of modernization. The pace of modernization is uneven across Vanuatu's 63 inhabited islands, resulting in differential impacts on overall body composition and prevalence of obesity among islands, and between men and women. In this study, we investigated (1) how modernization impacts body composition between adult male and female Melanesians living on four islands of varying economic development in Vanuatu, and (2) how body composition differs between adult Melanesians and Polynesians living on rural islands in Vanuatu.MethodsAnthropometric measurements were taken on adult male and female Melanesians aged 18 years and older (n = 839) on the islands of Ambae (rural), Aneityum (rural with tourism), Nguna (rural with urban access), and Efate (urban) in Vanuatu, in addition to Polynesian adults on Futuna (rural).ResultsMean measurements of body mass and fatness, and prevalence of obesity, were greatest on the most modernized islands in our sample, particularly among women. Additionally, differences between men and women became more pronounced on islands that were more modernized. Rural Polynesians on Futuna exhibited greater body mass, adiposity, and prevalence of obesity than rural Melanesians on Ambae.ConclusionsWe conclude that Vanuatu is undergoing an uneven and rapid health transition resulting in increased prevalence of obesity, and that women are at greatest risk for developing obesity‐related chronic diseases in urbanized areas in Vanuatu. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 27:832–844, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Assessing the stereoselectivity of carbonyl reductases toward the reduction of OPBE and docking analysis
Authors: Chen Rong , Deng Jian , Lin Jinping , Yin Xiaopu , Xie Tian , Yang Shengli , Wei Dongzhi 
Published: May 2015

AbstractThe asymmetric reduction of prochiral carbonyl compounds by NAD(P)H‐dependent carbonyl reductases represents a powerful method for the production of optically active alcohols. The stereoselectivity of a series of carbonyl reductases were evaluated toward the reduction of ethyl 2‐oxo‐4‐phenylbutyrate (OPBE). A majority of reductases produced the ethyl (R)‐2‐hydroxy‐4‐phenylbutyrate ((R)‐HPBE) with low to excellent enantiomeric excess (e.e.), whereas about 30% reductases catalyzed OPBE to form (S)‐HPBE. Among them, the carbonyl reductase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SeCR) and short‐chain dehydrogenase from Gluconobacter oxydans (GoKR) exhibited 100% e.e., yielding the corresponding (R) and (S)‐HPBE, respectively. However, the SeCR showed relative higher activity (29.0 U/mg) and affinity (Km of 0.22 mM) than those of GoKR. Docking analysis found that the interaction of OPBE with enzyme‐NADPH complex determined the NADPH‐provided hydrogen transfer and the configuration of reductive product. These results indicated that the three‐dimensional (3D) structure of enzymes controlled the stereoselectivity of the reductive product based on the geometry of the substrate and cofactor.
Eye See What You Are Saying: Testing Conversational Influences on the Information Gleaned from Home‐Loan Disclosure Forms
Authors: LeBoeuf Mark A. , Choplin Jessica M. , Stark Debra Pogrund 
Published: May 2015

AbstractThe federal government mandates the use of home‐loan disclosure forms to facilitate understanding of offered loans, enable comparison shopping, and prevent predatory lending. Predatory lending persists, however, and scant research has examined how salespeople might undermine the effectiveness of these forms. Three eye‐tracking studies (a laboratory simulation and two controlled experiments) investigated how conversational norms affect the information consumers can glean from these forms. Study 1 was a laboratory simulation that recreated in the laboratory; the effects that previous literature suggested is likely happening in the field, namely, that following or violating conversational norms affects the information that consumers can glean from home‐loan disclosure forms and the home‐loan decisions they make. Studies 2 and 3 were controlled experiments that isolated the possible factors responsible for the observed biases in the information gleaned from these forms. The results suggest that attentional biases are largely responsible for the effects of conversation on the information consumers get and that perceived importance plays little to no role. Policy implications and how eye‐tracking technology can be employed to improve decision‐making are considered. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Biphasic components of sarcomatoid clear cell renal cell carcinomas are molecularly similar to each other, but distinct from, non‐sarcomatoid renal carcinomas
Authors: Sircar Kanishka , Yoo Suk‐Young , Majewski Tadeusz , Wani Khalida , Patel Lalit R. , Voicu Horatiu , Torres‐Garcia Wandaliz , Verhaak Roel G. W. , Tannir Nizar , Karam Jose A. , Jonasch Eric , Wood Christopher G. , Tamboli Pheroze , Baggerly Keith A. , Aldape Kenneth D. , Czerniak Bogdan 
Published: May 2015

AbstractSarcomatoid transformation, wherein an epithelioid carcinomatous tumour component coexists with a sarcomatoid histology, is a predictor of poor prognosis in clear cell renal cell carcinoma. Our understanding of sarcomatoid change has been hindered by the lack of molecular examination. Thus, we sought to characterize molecularly the biphasic epithelioid and sarcomatoid components of sarcomatoid clear cell renal cell carcinoma and compare them to non‐sarcomatoid clear cell renal cell carcinoma. We examined the transcriptome of the epithelioid and sarcomatoid components of advanced stage sarcomatoid clear cell renal cell carcinoma (n=43) and non‐sarcomatoid clear cell renal cell carcinoma (n=37) from independent discovery and validation cohorts using the cDNA microarray and RNA‐seq platforms. We analyzed DNA copy number profiles, generated using SNP arrays, from patients with sarcomatoid clear cell renal cell carcinoma (n=10) and advanced non‐sarcomatoid clear cell renal cell carcinoma (n=155). The epithelioid and sarcomatoid components of sarcomatoid clear cell renal cell carcinoma had similar gene expression and DNA copy number signatures that were, however, distinct from those of high‐grade, high‐stage non‐sarcomatoid clear cell renal cell carcinoma. Prognostic clear cell renal cell carcinoma gene expression profiles were shared by the biphasic components of sarcomatoid clear cell renal cell carcinoma and the sarcomatoid component showed a partial epithelial‐to‐mesenchymal transition signature. Our genome‐scale microarray‐based transcript data were validated in an independent set of sarcomatoid and non‐sarcomatoid clear cell renal cell carcinomas using RNA‐seq. Sarcomatoid clear cell renal cell carcinoma is molecularly distinct from non‐sarcomatoid clear cell renal cell carcinoma, with its genetic programming largely shared by its biphasic morphological components. These data explain why a low percentage of sarcomatoid histology augurs a poor prognosis; suggest the need to modify the pathological grading system and introduce the potential for candidate biomarkers to detect sarcomatoid change preoperatively without specifically sampling the histological sarcomatoid component.
Mineralocorticoid Receptor Antagonist Pretreatment to MINIMISE Reperfusion Injury After ST‐Elevation Myocardial Infarction (The MINIMISE STEMI Trial): Rationale and Study Design
Authors: Bulluck Heerajnarain , Fröhlich Georg M. , Mohdnazri Shah , Gamma Reto A. , Davies John R. , Clesham Gerald J. , Sayer Jeremy W. , Aggarwal Rajesh K. , Tang Kare H. , Kelly Paul A. , Jagathesan Rohan , Kabir Alamgir , Robinson Nicholas M. , Sirker Alex , Mathur Anthony , Blackman Daniel J. , Ariti Cono , Krishnamurthy Arvindra , White Steven K. , Meier Pascal , Moon James C. , Greenwood John P. , Hausenloy Derek J. 
Published: May 2015

ABSTRACTNovel therapies capable of reducing myocardial infarct (MI) size when administered prior to reperfusion are required to prevent the onset of heart failure in ST‐segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients treated by primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI). Experimental animal studies have demonstrated that mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist (MRA) therapy administered prior to reperfusion can reduce MI size, and MRA therapy prevents adverse left ventricular (LV) remodeling in post‐MI patients with LV impairment. With these 2 benefits in mind, we hypothesize that initiating MRA therapy prior to PPCI, followed by 3 months of oral MRA therapy, will reduce MI size and prevent adverse LV remodeling in STEMI patients. The MINIMISE‐STEMI trial is a prospective, randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled trial that will recruit 150 STEMI patients from four centers in the United Kingdom. Patients will be randomized to receive either an intravenous bolus of MRA therapy (potassium canrenoate 200 mg) or matching placebo prior to PPCI, followed by oral spironolactone 50 mg once daily or matching placebo for 3 months. A cardiac magnetic resonance imaging scan will be performed within 1 week of PPCI and repeated at 3 months to assess MI size and LV remodeling. Enzymatic MI size will be estimated by the 48‐hour area‐under‐the‐curve serum cardiac enzymes. The primary endpoint of the study will be MI size on the 3‐month cardiac magnetic resonance imaging scan. The MINIMISE STEMI trial will investigate whether early MRA therapy, initiated prior to reperfusion, can reduce MI size and prevent adverse post‐MI LV remodeling.
A probabilistic model for performance analysis of cloud infrastructures
Authors: Chen Peng , Xia Yunni , Pang Shanchen , Li Jia 
Published: May 2015

SummaryAnalyzing the quantitative performance plays an important role in understanding and improving the quality of cloud computing systems and cloud‐based applications. In cloud computing, service requests from users go through numerous provider‐specific steps from the instant it is submitted to when the requested service is fully delivered. Quantitative performance analysis is not an easy task because of the complexity of cloud provisioning control flows and the increasing scale and complexity of real‐world cloud infrastructures. This work proposes a probabilistic queuing network‐based model for the performance analysis of cloud infrastructures. It considers expected task completion time and rejection probability as the performance metrics. Experimental performance data suggest the correctness of the proposed model. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Accelerated join evaluation in Semantic Web databases by using FPGAs
Authors: Werner Stefan , Heinrich Dennis , Stelzner Marc , Linnemann Volker , Pionteck Thilo , Groppe Sven 
Published: May 2015

SummaryWhile the amount of information steadily increases, the requirements on the response time to query these information become more strict. Under those conditions, conventional database systems reach their limits and cannot meet these performance requirements anymore. In recent years, systems with many processing cores are considered to satisfy these demands. Furthermore, these systems include more and more heterogeneous cores tailor‐made to solve one specific task in an efficient manner. However, dedicated hardware accelerators are inflexible and cannot be adapted to the requirements of a dedicated query. Thus, the challenge is orchestrating the diversity of the functionality of all the cores to be optimized for performance/energy efficiency. In this paper, a concept is introduced on how to develop a flexible Field‐Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA)‐based hardware accelerator to improve the performance of query evaluation in a Semantic Web database. As a first step to the hardware/software system, several joint algorithms are implemented on an FPGA and evaluated against a well‐developed software solution (implemented in C). The comparison shows a significant speedup of up to 10 times. Because of the complexity of the join operator, it is promising that the overall performance of query evaluation can be further enhanced by processing whole queries on an FPGA. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
FireWorks: a dynamic workflow system designed for high‐throughput applications
Authors: Jain Anubhav , Ong Shyue Ping , Chen Wei , Medasani Bharat , Qu Xiaohui , Kocher Michael , Brafman Miriam , Petretto Guido , Rignanese Gian‐Marco , Hautier Geoffroy , Gunter Daniel , Persson Kristin A. 
Published: May 2015

SummaryThis paper introduces FireWorks, a workflow software for running high‐throughput calculation workflows at supercomputing centers. FireWorks has been used to complete over 50 million CPU‐hours worth of computational chemistry and materials science calculations at the National Energy Research Supercomputing Center. It has been designed to serve the demanding high‐throughput computing needs of these applications, with extensive support for (i) concurrent execution through job packing, (ii) failure detection and correction, (iii) provenance and reporting for long‐running projects, (iv) automated duplicate detection, and (v) dynamic workflows (i.e., modifying the workflow graph during runtime). We have found that these features are highly relevant to enabling modern data‐driven and high‐throughput science applications, and we discuss our implementation strategy that rests on Python and NoSQL databases (MongoDB). Finally, we present performance data and limitations of our approach along with planned future work. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Communication‐hiding programming for clusters with multi‐coprocessor nodes
Authors: Dong Xinnan , Wen Mei , Chai Jun , Cai Xing , Zhao Mandan , Zhang Chunyuan 
Published: May 2015

SummaryFuture exascale systems are expected to adopt compute nodes that incorporate many accelerators. To shed some light on the upcoming software challenge, this paper investigates the particular topic of programming clusters that have multiple Xeon Phi coprocessors in each compute node. A new offload approach is considered for intra‐node communication, which combines Intel's APIs of coprocessor offload infrastructure (COI) and symmetric communication interface (SCIF) for achieving low latency. While the conventional pragma‐based offload approach allows simpler programming, the COI‐SCIF approach has three advantages in (1) lower overhead associated with launching offloaded code, (2) higher data transfer bandwidths, and (3) more advanced asynchrony between computation and data movement. The low‐level COI‐SCIF approach is also shown to have benefits over the MPI‐OpenMP counterpart, which belongs to the symmetric usage mode. Moreover, a hybird programming strategy based on COI‐SCIF is presented for joining the computational force of all CPUs and coprocessors, while realizing communication hiding. All the programming approaches are tested by a real‐world 3D application, for which the COI‐SCIF‐based approach shows a performance advantage on Tianhe‐2. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Verification of Iron Loss Calculation Method Using a High‐Precision Iron Loss Analyzer
Authors: Shimizu Toshihisa , Kakazu Keisuke , Takano Koushi , Ishii Hitoshi 
Published: May 2015

SUMMARYBecause of the improved performance of power devices, the volume of the ac filter inductors used in high‐frequency PWM inverters has been reduced. However, the temperature rise in the filter inductor due to this miniaturization has become more pronounced. Therefore, we have proposed an iron loss calculation method for the ac filter inductor. However, the accuracy of the value calculated via the loss map method cannot be verified, because the iron loss arising during each switching period cannot be measured with conventional power measuring instruments. In order to resolve this problem, we developed an inductor loss analyzer (ILA), which allows precise measurement of the iron loss in the inductor during each switching period. The accuracy of the calculation of iron loss in the filter inductor by the loss map method was verified with the ILA. We found that the value calculated by the loss map method differed slightly from the value measured with the ILA. However, these differences can be reduced if we take into account the accurate flux density calculation and the effect of the duty ratio of PWM pulses on the loss. Finally, we verified that the loss map method can provide accurate iron loss calculations.
A Dynamic Control Strategy for Wind Turbines in Wind Farms
Authors: Kawaguchi Takayuki , Shimada Ryuichi 
Published: May 2015

SUMMARYThis paper presents a new control method for wind turbine groups by use of dynamic control including pump‐up operation. Under conditions of oscillating wind below the rated speed of the wind turbine, maximum power point tracking (MPPT) operation is critical to improving efficiency. Even though, owing to the huge inertia of a wind turbine, the operating point of the wind turbine produces an unavoidable delay at the maximum power point, if dynamic control is used wind turbines respond to the changes in the wind speed more rapidly. The wind turbines hence reach the maximum power point quickly and capture energy from the wind more efficiently. On the other hand, as a result of dynamic operation, the output from a wind turbine fluctuates more severely than during normal operation. In the proposed solution, by taking advantage of the kinematic energy stored in other wind turbines that belong to the same wind farm, not only the efficiency of output power but also the severity of the fluctuations is improved. In the results of simulations, group dynamic operation enables wind farms to improve their efficiency and smooth the output fluctuations from the wind farm.
Characteristics of Parallel Operation of Inverter‐Type Distributed Generators Operated by a Virtual Synchronous Generator
Authors: Sakimoto Kenichi , Miura Yushi , Ise Toshifumi 
Published: May 2015

SUMMARYThe capacity of distributed generators (DGs) connected to a grid by inverters is growing. The inverters are generally controlled by a phase locked loop (PLL) in order to achieve synchronization with the power system frequency. They cannot have synchronous power. Power systems become unstable if the capacity of the inverter‐type DGs is increased. The concept of controlling inverters to behave like a synchronous generator is studied in this paper. The result is referred to as a “virtual synchronous generator” (VSG). The VSG has synchronous power. Power systems become stable as a result of using the VSG. The VSG is useful in the parallel operation of DGs. The VSG can synchronize with other VSGs, synchronous generators, or the grid. In this paper, a method for the synchronous operation of a VSG is studied, and experimental results on a VSG running in parallel with a synchronous generator and other VSGs are presented.
Paramagnetic ([5]Trovacenyl)phenylphosphane: Intramolecular Electronic Communication and Construction of Heterobimetallic Palladium and Chromium Complexes
Authors: Lu Feng , Elschenbroich Christoph , Harms Klaus , Burghaus Olaf , Pietzonka Clemens 
Published: May 2015

AbstractGroup 15 P‐atom‐bridged paramagnetic unsymmetric sandwich binuclear di([5]trovacenyl)phenylphosphane (2··) was prepared and characterized by mass spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and X‐ray diffraction analysis (XRD). The investigation of 2·· by means of cyclic voltammetry (CV), electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy, and magnetic susceptibility (SQUID) revealed weak intramolecular electronic communication. The coordination ability of 2·· with the transition metals palladium and chromium was explored to afford unprecedented heterobimetallic complexes 34· and 44·, respectively, which were characterized by mass spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and/or X‐ray diffraction analysis.