bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The French-Italian Concordia Station
Authors: Mekarnia Djamel , Frenot Yves 
Published: January 2013

AbstractConcordia is a French-Italian permanent station located at Dome C, Antarctica. The station provides accommodation for up to 16 people over winter and more than 70 scientists and technicians during the austral summer. The scientific projects implemented at Concordia are strictly dependent on the characteristics of the site: a) the presence of a 3 300 m thick ice cap that allows access to the planet's climate archives and the reconstruction of glacial-interglacial cycles over more than 800 000 years; b) a particularly stable pure and dry atmosphere ideal for astronomy observations and for research on the chemical composition of the atmosphere; c) a distant location from coastal perturbations favourable to magnetic and seismological observatories to complement a poor world data network in the southern hemisphere; and d) a small totally isolated group of people confined to the station over a long winter, offering an opportunity for a range of medical and psychological studies useful to prepare long duration deep space missions.We will address the main characteristics of this station and its interest for science.
Sub-mm VLBI from the Arctic—Imaging Black Holes
Authors: Inoue Makoto ,   the Greenland Telescope team
Published: January 2013

AbstractWe are deploying a new station for sub-millimeter Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) to obtain shadow images of Supermassive Black Hole (SMBH). Sub-mm VLBI is thought to be the only way so far to get the direct image of SMBH by its shadow, thanks to the superb angular resolution and high transparency against dense plasma around SMBH. At the Summit Station on Greenland, we have started monitoring the opacity at sub-mm region. The Summit Station subtends long baselines with the Atacama Large Milimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile and Submillimeter Array (SMA) in Hawaii. In parallel, we started retrofitting the ALMA North America prototype telescope (renamed as Greenland Telescope: GLT) for the cold environment.
ASTEP South: a first photometric analysis
Authors: Crouzet N. , Guillot T. , Mékarnia D. , Szulágyi J. , Abe L. , Agabi A. , Fanteï-Caujolle Y. , Gonçalves I. , Barbieri M. , Schmider F.-X. , Rivet J.-P. , Bondoux E. , Challita Z. , Pouzenc C. , Fressin F. , Valbousquet F. , Blazit A. , Bonhomme S. , Daban J.-B. , Gouvret C. , Bayliss D. , Zhou G. ,   the ASTEP team
Published: January 2013

AbstractThe ASTEP project aims at detecting and characterizing transiting planets from Dome C, Antarctica, and qualifying this site for photometry in the visible. The first phase of the project, ASTEP South, is a fixed 10 cm diameter instrument pointing continuously towards the celestial South Pole. Observations were made almost continuously during 4 winters, from 2008 to 2011. The point-to-point RMS of 1-day photometric lightcurves can be explained by a combination of expected statistical noises, dominated by the photon noise up to magnitude 14. This RMS is large, from 2.5 mmag at R = 8 to 6% at R = 14, because of the small size of ASTEP South and the short exposure time (30 s). Statistical noises should be considerably reduced using the large amount of collected data. A 9.9-day period eclipsing binary is detected, with a magnitude R = 9.85. The 2-season lightcurve folded in phase and binned into 1,000 points has a RMS of 1.09 mmag, for an expected photon noise of 0.29 mmag. The use of the 4 seasons of data with a better detrending algorithm should yield a sub-millimagnitude precision for this folded lightcurve. Radial velocity follow-up observations reveal a F-M binary system. The detection of this 9.9-day period system with a small instrument such as ASTEP South and the precision of the folded lightcurve show the quality of Dome C for continuous photometric observations, and its potential for the detection of planets with orbital periods longer than those usually detected from the ground.
A European vision for a “Polar Large Telescope” project
Authors: Abe Lyu , Epchtein Nicolas , Ansorge Wolfgang , Argentini Stefania , Bryson Ian , Carbillet Marcel , Dalton Gavin , David Christine , Esau Igor , Genthon Christophe , Langlois Maud , Le Bertre Thibault , Lemrani Rachid , Le Roux Brice , Marchiori Gianpietro , Mékarnia Djamel , Montnacher Joachim , Moretto Gil , Prugniel Philippe , Rivet Jean-Pierre , Ruch Eric , Tao Charling , Tilquin André , Vauglin Isabelle 
Published: January 2013

AbstractThe Polar Large Telescope (PLT) project is primarily aimed at undertaking large, wide band synoptic astronomical surveys in the infrared in order to provide critical data to the forthcoming generation of observational facilities such as ALMA, JWST, LSST and the E–ELT, and to complement the observations obtained with them. Sensitive thermal IR surveys beyond 2.3 μm cannot be carried out from any existing ground based observatory and the Antarctic Plateau is the only place on the ground where it can be envisaged, thanks to its unique atmospheric and environmental properties, such as the turbulence profile (image quality), the low opacity and the reduced thermal background emission of the sky. These unique conditions enable high angular resolution wide field surveys in the near thermal infrared (2.3–5 μm). This spectral range is particularly well suited to tackling key astrophysical questions such as: i) investigating the nature of the distant universe, the first generation of stars and the latest stages of stellar evolution, ii) understanding transient phenomena such as gamma ray-bursts and Type Ia supernovae, iii) increasing our knowledge of extra-solar planets. Further instruments may broaden the expected science outcomes of such a 2–4 m class telescope especially for the characterization of galaxies at very large distance to provide new clues in the mysteries of dark matter and energy. Efforts will be made to merge this project with other comparable projects within an international consortium.
Airglow and Aurorae from Dome A, Antarctica
Authors: Sims Geoff , Ashley Michael C. B. , Cui Xiangqun , Everett Jon R. , Feng LongLong , Gong Xuefei , Hengst Shane , Hu Zhongwen , Lawrence Jon S. , Luong-Van Daniel M. , Moore Anna M. , Riddle Reed , Shang Zhaohui , Storey John W. V. , Tothill Nick , Travouillon Tony , Wang Lifan , Yang Huigen , Yang Ji , Zhou Xu , Zhu Zhenxi 
Published: January 2013

AbstractDespite the absence of artificial light pollution at Antarctic plateau sites such as Dome A, other factors such as airglow, aurorae and extended periods of twilight have the potential to adversely affect optical observations. We present a statistical analysis of the airglow and aurorae at Dome A using spectroscopic data from Nigel, an optical/near-IR spectrometer operating in the 300–850 nm range. The median auroral contribution to the B, V and R photometric bands is found to be 22.9, 23.4 and 23.0 mag arcsec−2 respectively. We are also able to quantify the amount of annual dark time available as a function of wavelength; on average twilight ends when the Sun reaches a zenith distance of 102.6°.
Shape measurement by using basis functions
Authors: Li Guoliang , Xin Bo , Cui Wei 
Published: January 2013

AbstractGravitational lensing is one of most promising tools to probe dark energy and dark matter in our Universe. Lensing by larger-scale structures distorts the shape of background galaxies. For ground-based observations the shape is further distorted by atmospheric turbulence and optical distortions. Many algorithms were proposed to measure the shear signal but the systematic biases are still too large to be acceptable for the larger-sky surveys in the future. I will present our new algorithms for PSF reconstruction and shape measurements based on several sets of basis functions.
Secular variation and fluctuation of GPS Total Electron Content over Antarctica
Authors: Jin Rui , Jin Shuanggen 
Published: January 2013

AbstractThe total electron content (TEC) is an important parameters in the Earth's ionosphere, related to various space weather and solar activities. However, understanding of the complex ionospheric environments is still a challenge due to the lack of direct observations, particularly in the polar areas, e.g., Antarctica. Now the Global Positioning System (GPS) can be used to retrieve total electron content (TEC) from dual-frequency observations. The continuous GPS observations in Antarctica provide a good opportunity to investigate ionospheric climatology. In this paper, the long-term variations and fluctuations of TEC over Antarctica are investigated from CODE global ionospheric maps (GIM) with a resolution of 2.5°×5° every two hours since 1998. The analysis shows significant seasonal and secular variations in the GPS TEC. Furthermore, the effects of TEC fluctuations are discussed.
Atmospheric calibration for submillimeter and terahertz observations
Authors: Guan Xin , Stutzki Jürgen , Okada Yoko 
Published: January 2013

AbstractSubmillimeter observations through the atmosphere can be affected by the complex spectroscopic features of the air. Calibration of astronomical observations in these frequencies requires proper modelling of the atmosphere. We analyzed sky observations from altitudes around 500 and 200 hPa respectively and found deficiencies in atmospheric models. Further research to improve the models are expected to help in future submillimeter observations.
Deviation of Zipf's and Heaps' Laws in Human Languages with Limited Dictionary Sizes
Authors: Lü Linyuan , Zhang Zi-Ke , Zhou Tao 
Published: January 2013

AbstractZipf's law on word frequency and Heaps' law on the growth of distinct words are observed in Indo-European language family, but it does not hold for languages like Chinese, Japanese and Korean. These languages consist of characters and are of very limited dictionary sizes. Extensive experiments show that: (i) The character frequency distribution follows a power law with exponent close to one, at which the corresponding Zipf's exponent diverges. Indeed, the character frequency decays exponentially in the Zipf's plot. (ii) The number of distinct characters grows with the text length in three stages: It grows linearly in the beginning, then turns to a logarithmical form and eventually saturates. A theoretical model for writing process is proposed, which embodies the rich-get-richer mechanism and the effects of limited dictionary size. Experiments, simulations and analytical solutions agree well with each other. This work refines the understanding about Zipf's and Heaps' laws in human language systems.
Zc3h12c inhibits vascular inflammation by repressing NF-κB activation and pro-inflammatory gene expression in endothelial cells
Authors: Liu Ling , Zhou Zhou , Huang Shengping , Guo Yanhong , Fan Yanbo , Zhang Ji , Zhang Jifeng , Fu Mingui , Chen Y. Eugene 
Published: January 2013

Endothelial activation characterized by the expression of multiple chemokines and adhesive molecules is a critical initial step of vascular inflammation, which results in recruitment of leucocytes into the sub-endothelial layer of the vascular wall and triggers vascular inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis. Although inhibiting endothelial inflammation has already been well recognized as a therapeutic strategy in vascular inflammatory diseases, the therapeutic targets are still elusive. In the present study we found that Zc3h12c (zinc finger CCCH-type-containing 12C), a recently discovered CCCH zinc finger-containing protein, significantly inhibited the endothelial cell inflammatory response in vitro. Overexpression of Zc3h12c significantly attenuated TNFα (tumour necrosis factor α)-induced expression of chemokines and adhesive molecules, and thus reduced monocyte adherence to HUVECs (human umbilical vein endothelial cells). Conversely, siRNA (small interfering RNA)-mediated knockdown of Zc3h12c increased the TNFα-induced expression of chemokines and adhesive molecules in HUVECs. Furthermore, forced expression of Zc3h12c decreased TNFα-induced IKKα/β [IκB (inhibitor of nuclear factor κB) kinase α/β], IκBα phosphorylation and p65 nuclear translocation, suggesting that Zc3h12c exerted its anti-inflammatory function probably by suppressing the NF-κB (nuclear factor κB) pathway. Thus Zc3h12c is an endogenous inhibitor of TNFα-induced inflammatory signalling in HUVECs and might be a therapeutic target in vascular inflammatory diseases.
Growth and Survival of Largemouth Bass following Supplemental Feeding of Bluegills in Small Impoundments
Authors: Woodard Stephen R. , Wright Russell A. , DeVries Dennis R. 
Published: January 2013

Abstract
We investigated whether providing supplemental pellet feed to Bluegills Lepomis macrochirus in small impoundments increased their growth and reproductive rates after stocking and whether the supplemental feeding of Bluegills had positive indirect effects on Largemouth Bass Micropterus salmoides during the initial stocking year. In 2010, we stocked adult Bluegills and Largemouth Bass into nine 0.1-ha ponds; three replicate ponds were each provided with no pelleted food (control), a low ration (1.52 kg·ha−1·d−1), or a high ration (2.68 kg·ha−1·d−1). Supplemental feeding yielded increases in the growth of newly stocked Bluegills, the gonadosomatic index of female Bluegills, and the density of larval Bluegills within 4 months of stocking. In contrast, the sizes of adult and age-0 Largemouth Bass and the density and biomass of age-0 Bluegills during fall were not affected by feeding within the time frame of our study. The results demonstrate that supplemental pellet feeding is useful when the management goal is to increase Bluegill size and reproductive output and that these effects develop soon after stocking. We conclude that supplemental feeding is a beneficial enhancement technique for application to Bluegills in recently stocked impoundments.
Received May 13, 2012; accepted November 20, 2012
ScalaBLAST 2.0: rapid and robust BLAST calculations on multiprocessor systems
Authors: Oehmen Christopher S. , Baxter Douglas J. 
Published: January 2013

Abstract
Motivation: BLAST remains one of the most widely used tools in computational biology. The rate at which new sequence data is available continues to grow exponentially, driving the emergence of new fields of biological research. At the same time, multicore systems and conventional clusters are more accessible. ScalaBLAST has been designed to run on conventional multiprocessor systems with an eye to extreme parallelism, enabling parallel BLAST calculations using &gt;16 000 processing cores with a portable, robust, fault-resilient design that introduces little to no overhead with respect to serial BLAST.
Availability: ScalaBLAST 2.0 source code can be freely downloaded from http://omics.pnl.gov/software/ScalaBLAST.php.
Contact: christopher.oehmen@pnl.gov
Premature Delivery Reduces Intestinal Cytoskeleton, Metabolism, and Stress Response Proteins in Newborn Formula‐Fed Pigs
Authors: Jiang Pingping , Wan Jennifer Man‐Fan , Cilieborg Malene S. , Sit Wai‐Hung , Sangild Per Torp 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACTObjective:Preterm infants often show intolerance to the first enteral feeds, and the structural and functional basis of this intolerance remains unclear. We hypothesized that preterm and term neonates show similar gut trophic responses to feeding but different expression of intestinal functional proteins, thus helping to explain why preterm neonates are more susceptible to feeding‐induced disorders such as necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).Methods:Incidence of feeding‐induced NEC, intestinal mass, and brush border enzyme activities, and the intestinal proteome in preterm cesarean‐delivered pigs were compared with the corresponding values in pigs delivered spontaneously at term.Results:For both preterm and term pigs, mucosal mass and maltase activity increased (50%–100%), whereas lactase decreased (−50%), relative to values at birth. Only preterm pigs were highly NEC sensitive (30% vs 0% in term pigs, P < 0.05). By gel‐based proteomics, 36 identified proteins differed in expression, with most proteins showing downregulation in preterm pigs, including proteins related to intestinal structure and actin filaments, stress response, protein processing, and nutrient metabolism.Conclusions:Despite that enteral feeding induces rapid gut tropic response in both term and preterm neonates, the expression level of cellular proteins related to mucosal integrity, metabolism, and stress response differed markedly (including complement 3, prohibitin, ornithine carbamoyltransferase, and arginosuccinate synthetase). These proteins may play a role in the development of functional gut disorders and NEC in preterm neonates.
Carnivore conservation in practice: replicated management actions on a large spatial scale
Authors: Angerbjörn Anders , Eide Nina E. , Dalén Love , Elmhagen Bodil , Hellström Peter , Ims Rolf A. , Killengreen Siw , Landa Arild , Meijer Tomas , Mela Matti , Niemimaa Jukka , Norén Karin , Tannerfeldt Magnus , Yoccoz Nigel G. , Henttonen Heikki 
Published: January 2013

Summary

More than a quarter of the world's carnivores are threatened, often due to multiple and complex causes. Considerable research efforts are devoted to resolving the mechanisms behind these threats in order to provide a basis for relevant conservation actions. However, even when the underlying mechanisms are known, specific actions aimed at direct support for carnivores are difficult to implement and evaluate at efficient spatial and temporal scales.

We report on a 30‐year inventory of the critically endangered Fennoscandian arctic fox Vulpes lagopus L., including yearly surveys of 600 fox dens covering 21 000 km2. These surveys showed that the population was close to extinction in 2000, with 40–60 adult animals left. However, the population subsequently showed a fourfold increase in size.

During this time period, conservation actions through supplementary feeding and predator removal were implemented in several regions across Scandinavia, encompassing 79% of the area. To evaluate these actions, we examined the effect of supplemental winter feeding and red fox control applied at different intensities in 10 regions. A path analysis indicated that 47% of the explained variation in population productivity could be attributed to lemming abundance, whereas winter feeding had a 29% effect and red fox control a 20% effect.

This confirms that arctic foxes are highly dependent on lemming population fluctuations but also shows that red foxes severely impact the viability of arctic foxes. This study also highlights the importance of implementing conservation actions on extensive spatial and temporal scales, with geographically dispersed actions to scientifically evaluate the effects. We note that population recovery was only seen in regions with a high intensity of management actions.

Synthesis and applications. The present study demonstrates that carnivore population declines may be reversed through extensive actions that target specific threats. Fennoscandian arctic fox is still endangered, due to low population connectivity and expected climate impacts on the distribution and dynamics of lemmings and red foxes. Climate warming is expected to contribute to both more irregular lemming dynamics and red fox appearance in tundra areas; however, the effects of climate change can be mitigated through intensive management actions such as supplemental feeding and red fox control.
Landscape connectivity, habitat structure and activity of bat guilds in farmland‐dominated matrices
Authors: Frey‐Ehrenbold Annie , Bontadina Fabio , Arlettaz Raphaël , Obrist Martin K. 
Published: January 2013

Summary

Agricultural intensification has caused a decline in structural elements in European farmland, where natural habitats are increasingly fragmented. The loss of habitat structures has a detrimental effect on biodiversity and affects bat species that depend on vegetation structures for foraging and commuting.

We investigated the impact of connectivity and configuration of structural landscape elements on flight activity, species richness and diversity of insectivorous bats and distinguished three bat guilds according to species‐specific bioacoustic characteristics. We tested whether bats with shorter‐range echolocation were more sensitive to habitat fragmentation than bats with longer‐range echolocation. We expected to find different connectivity thresholds for the three guilds and hypothesized that bats prefer linear over patchy landscape elements.

Bat activity was quantified using repeated acoustic monitoring in 225 locations at 15 study plots distributed across the Swiss Central Plateau, where connectivity and the shape of landscape elements were determined by spatial analysis (GIS). Spectrograms of bat calls were assigned to species with the software batit by means of image recognition and statistical classification algorithms.

Bat activity was significantly higher around landscape elements compared to open control areas. Short‐ and long‐range echolocating bats were more active in well‐connected landscapes, but optimal connectivity levels differed between the guilds. Species richness increased significantly with connectivity, while species diversity did not (Shannon's diversity index). Total bat activity was unaffected by the shape of landscape elements.

Synthesis and applications. This study highlights the importance of connectivity in farmland landscapes for bats, with shorter‐range echolocating bats being particularly sensitive to habitat fragmentation. More structurally diverse landscape elements are likely to reduce population declines of bats and could improve conditions for other declining species, including birds. Activity was highest around optimal values of connectivity, which must be evaluated for the different guilds and spatially targeted for a region's habitat configuration. In a multi‐species approach, we recommend the reintroduction of structural elements to increase habitat heterogeneity should become part of agri‐environment schemes.
Diversity of bacterial endosymbionts and bacteria–host co‐evolution in Gondwanan relict moss bugs (Hemiptera: Coleorrhyncha: Peloridiidae)
Authors: Kuechler Stefan Martin , Gibbs George , Burckhardt Daniel , Dettner Konrad , Hartung Viktor 
Published: January 2013

SummaryMany hemipterans are associated with symbiotic bacteria, which are usually found intracellularly in specific bacteriomes. In this study, we provide the first molecular identification of the bacteriome‐associated, obligate endosymbiont in a Gondwanan relict insect taxon, the moss bugs (Hemiptera: Coleorrhyncha: Peloridiidae), which represents one of the oldest lineages within the Hemiptera. Endosymbiotic associations of fifteen species of the family were analysed, covering representatives from South America, Australia/Tasmania and New Zealand. Phylogenetic analysis based on four kilobases of 16S–23S rRNA gene fragments showed that the obligate endosymbiont of Peloridiidae constitute a so far unknown group of Gammaproteobacteria which is named here ‘Candidatus Evansia muelleri’. They are related to the sternorrhynchous endosymbionts Candidatus Portiera and Candidatus Carsonella. Comparison of the primary‐endosymbiont and host (COI + 28S rRNA) trees showed overall congruence indicating co‐speciation the hosts and their symbionts. The distribution of the endosymbiont within the insect body and its transmission was studied using FISH. The endosymbionts were detected endocellularly in a pair of bacteriomes as well as in the ‘symbiont ball’ of the posterior pole of each developing oocyte. Furthermore, ultrastructural analysis of the Malpighian tubules revealed that most host nuclei are infected by an endosymbiotic, intranuclear bacterium that was determined as an Alphaproteobacterium of the genus Rickettsia.