TY - JOUR A1 - Thomas, Jessica E. A1 - Carvalho, Gary R. A1 - Haile, James A1 - Martin, Michael D. A1 - Castruita, Jose A. Samaniego A1 - Niemann, Jonas A1 - Sinding, Mikkel-Holger S. A1 - Sandoval-Velasco, Marcela A1 - Rawlence, Nicolas J. A1 - Fuller, Errol A1 - Fjeldsa, Jon A1 - Hofreiter, Michael A1 - Stewart, John R. A1 - Gilbert, M. Thomas P. A1 - Knapp, Michael T1 - An ‛Aukward’ tale BT - a genetic approach to discover the whereabouts of the Last Great Auks JF - Genes N2 - One hundred and seventy-three years ago, the last two Great Auks, Pinguinus impennis, ever reliably seen were killed. Their internal organs can be found in the collections of the Natural History Museum of Denmark, but the location of their skins has remained a mystery. In 1999, Great Auk expert Errol Fuller proposed a list of five potential candidate skins in museums around the world. Here we take a palaeogenomic approach to test which—if any—of Fuller’s candidate skins likely belong to either of the two birds. Using mitochondrial genomes from the five candidate birds (housed in museums in Bremen, Brussels, Kiel, Los Angeles, and Oldenburg) and the organs of the last two known individuals, we partially solve the mystery that has been on Great Auk scholars’ minds for generations and make new suggestions as to the whereabouts of the still-missing skin from these two birds. KW - ancient DNA KW - extinct birds KW - mitochondrial genome KW - museum specimens KW - palaeogenomics Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/genes8060164 SN - 2073-4425 VL - 8 IS - 6 SP - 164 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gisder, Sebastian A1 - Schüler, Vivian A1 - Horchler, Lennart L. A1 - Groth, Detlef A1 - Genersch, Elke T1 - Long-Term Temporal Trends of Nosema spp. Infection Prevalence in Northeast Germany BT - Continuous Spread of Nosema ceranae, an Emerging Pathogen of Honey Bees (Apis mellifera), but No General Replacement of Nosema apis JF - Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology N2 - The Western honey bee (Apis mellifera) is widely used as commercial pollinator in worldwide agriculture and, therefore, plays an important role in global food security. Among the parasites and pathogens threatening health and survival of honey bees are two species of microsporidia, Nosema apis and Nosema ceranae. Nosema ceranae is considered an emerging pathogen of the Western honey bee. Reports on the spread of N. ceranae suggested that this presumably highly virulent species is replacing its more benign congener N. apis in the global A. mellifera population. We here present a 12 year longitudinal cohort study on the prevalence of N. apis and N. ceranae in Northeast Germany. Between 2005 and 2016, a cohort of about 230 honey bee colonies originating from 23 apiaries was sampled twice a year (spring and autumn) resulting in a total of 5,600 bee samples which were subjected to microscopic and molecular analysis for determining the presence of infections with N. apis or/and N. ceranae. Throughout the entire study period, both N. apis- and N. ceranae-infections could be diagnosed within the cohort. Logistic regression analysis of the prevalence data demonstrated a significant increase of N. ceranae-infections over the last 12 years, both in autumn (reflecting the development during the summer) and in spring (reflecting the development over winter) samples. Cell culture experiments confirmed that N. ceranae has a higher proliferative potential than N. apis at 27. and 33 degrees C potentially explaining the increase in N. ceranae prevalence during summer. In autumn, characterized by generally low infection prevalence, this increase was accompanied by a significant decrease in N. apis- infection prevalence. In contrast, in spring, the season with a higher prevalence of infection, no significant decrease of N. apis infections despite a significant increase in N. ceranae infections could be observed. Therefore, our data do not support a general advantage of N. ceranae over N. apis and an overall replacement of N. apis by N. ceranae in the studied honey bee population. KW - honey bee KW - Apis mellifera KW - Nosema spp. KW - epidemiology KW - replacement Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fcimb.2017.00301 SN - 2235-2988 VL - 7 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Krupkova, Olga A1 - Zvick, Johannes A1 - Würtz-Kozak, Karin T1 - The role of transient receptor potential channels in joint diseases JF - European cells & materials N2 - Transient receptor potential channels (TRP channels) are cation selective transmembrane receptors with diverse structures, activation mechanisms and physiological functions. TRP channels act as cellular sensors for a plethora of stimuli, including temperature, membrane voltage, oxidative stress, mechanical stimuli, pH and endogenous as well as exogenous ligands, thereby illustrating their versatility. As such, TRP channels regulate various functions in both excitable and non-excitable cells, mainly by mediating Ca2+ homeostasis. Dysregulation of TRP channels is implicated in many pathologies, including cardiovascular diseases, muscular dystrophies and hyperalgesia. However, the importance of TRP channel expression, physiological function and regulation in chondrocytes and intervertebral disc (IVD) cells is largely unexplored. Osteoarthritis (OA) and degenerative disc disease (DDD) are chronic age-related disorders that significantly affect the quality of life by causing pain, activity limitation and disability. Furthermore, currently available therapies cannot effectively slow-down or stop progression of these diseases. Both OA and DDD are characterised by reduced tissue cellularity, enhanced inflammatory responses and molecular, structural and mechanical alterations of the extracellular matrix, hence affecting load distribution and reducing joint flexibility. However, knowledge on how chondrocytes and IVD cells sense their microenvironment and respond to its changes is still limited. In this review, we introduced six families of mammalian TRP channels, their mechanisms of activation as well as activation-driven cellular consequences. We summarised the current knowledge on TRP channel expression and activity in chondrocytes and IVD cells and the significance of TRP channels as therapeutic targets for the treatment of OA and DDD. KW - Transient receptor potential channels KW - degenerative disc disease KW - osteoarthritis KW - nociception KW - mechanosensing KW - osmosensing KW - inflammation KW - calcium Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.22203/eCM.v034a12 SN - 1473-2262 VL - 34 SP - 180 EP - 201 PB - Univ. of Wales CY - Aberystwyth ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wolf, Thomas J. A. A1 - Holzmeier, Fabian A1 - Wagner, Isabella A1 - Berrah, Nora A1 - Bostedt, Christoph A1 - Bozek, John A1 - Bucksbaum, Phil A1 - Coffee, Ryan A1 - Cryan, James A1 - Farrell, Joe A1 - Feifel, Raimund A1 - Martinez, Todd J. A1 - McFarland, Brian A1 - Mucke, Melanie A1 - Nandi, Saikat A1 - Tarantelli, Francesco A1 - Fischer, Ingo A1 - Gühr, Markus T1 - Observing Femtosecond Fragmentation Using Ultrafast X-ray-Induced Auger Spectra JF - Applied sciences N2 - Molecules often fragment after photoionization in the gas phase. Usually, this process can only be investigated spectroscopically as long as there exists electron correlation between the photofragments. Important parameters, like their kinetic energy after separation, cannot be investigated. We are reporting on a femtosecond time-resolved Auger electron spectroscopy study concerning the photofragmentation dynamics of thymine. We observe the appearance of clearly distinguishable signatures from thymines neutral photofragment isocyanic acid. Furthermore, we observe a time-dependent shift of its spectrum, which we can attribute to the influence of the charged fragment on the Auger electron. This allows us to map our time-dependent dataset onto the fragmentation coordinate. The time dependence of the shift supports efficient transformation of the excess energy gained from photoionization into kinetic energy of the fragments. Our method is broadly applicable to the investigation of photofragmentation processes. KW - ultrafast dynamics KW - Auger electron spectroscopy KW - photofragmentation KW - photochemistry Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/app7070681 SN - 2076-3417 VL - 7 IS - 7 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tötzke, Christian A1 - Cermak, Jan A1 - Nadezhdina, Nadezhda A1 - Tributsch, Helmut T1 - Electrochemical in-situ studies of solar mediated oxygen transport and turnover dynamics in a tree trunk of Tilia cordata JF - iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry N2 - Platinum electrodes were implanted into the xylem of a lime tree (Tilia cordata) stem and solar- induced electrochemical potential differences of up to 120 mV were measured during the vegetative period and up to 30 mV in winter. The time dependent curves were found to be delayed with respect to solar radiation, sap flow activity, temperature and vapor pressure deficit. A general equation for the potential difference was derived and simplified by analyzing the effect of temperature and tensile strength. The potential determining influence of oxygen concentration on the respective location of the platinum electrode was identified as the principal phenomenon measured. A systematic analysis and investigation of the observed periodic oxygen concentration signals promises new information on sap flow, oxygen diffusion through tree tissues and on oxygen consumption related to the energy turnover in tree tissues. KW - Tree Stems KW - Oxygen Transport KW - Xylem KW - Sap Flow KW - Tree Metabolism KW - Electrical Potential Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3832/ifor1681-010 SN - 1971-7458 VL - 10 IS - 2 SP - 355 EP - 361 PB - SISEF - The Italian Society of Silviculture and Forest Ecology CY - Potenza ER - TY - JOUR A1 - van Velzen, Ellen A1 - Gaedke, Ursula T1 - Reversed predator-prey cycles are driven by the amplitude of prey oscillations JF - Ecology and evolution N2 - Ecoevolutionary feedbacks in predator-prey systems have been shown to qualitatively alter predator-prey dynamics. As a striking example, defense-offense coevolution can reverse predator-prey cycles, so predator peaks precede prey peaks rather than vice versa. However, this has only rarely been shown in either model studies or empirical systems. Here, we investigate whether this rarity is a fundamental feature of reversed cycles by exploring under which conditions they should be found. For this, we first identify potential conditions and parameter ranges most likely to result in reversed cycles by developing a new measure, the effective prey biomass, which combines prey biomass with prey and predator traits, and represents the prey biomass as perceived by the predator. We show that predator dynamics always follow the dynamics of the effective prey biomass with a classic 1/4-phase lag. From this key insight, it follows that in reversed cycles (i.e., -lag), the dynamics of the actual and the effective prey biomass must be in antiphase with each other, that is, the effective prey biomass must be highest when actual prey biomass is lowest, and vice versa. Based on this, we predict that reversed cycles should be found mainly when oscillations in actual prey biomass are small and thus have limited impact on the dynamics of the effective prey biomass, which are mainly driven by trait changes. We then confirm this prediction using numerical simulations of a coevolutionary predator-prey system, varying the amplitude of the oscillations in prey biomass: Reversed cycles are consistently associated with regions of parameter space leading to small-amplitude prey oscillations, offering a specific and highly testable prediction for conditions under which reversed cycles should occur in natural systems. KW - coevolution KW - ecoevolutionary dynamics KW - predator-prey dynamics KW - top-down control Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4184 SN - 2045-7758 VL - 8 IS - 12 SP - 6317 EP - 6329 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schönemann, Eric A1 - Laschewsky, Andre A1 - Rosenhahn, Axel T1 - Exploring the long-term hydrolytic behavior of zwitterionic polymethacrylates and polymethacrylamides JF - Polymers N2 - The hydrolytic stability of polymers to be used for coatings in aqueous environments, for example, to confer anti-fouling properties, is crucial. However, long-term exposure studies on such polymers are virtually missing. In this context, we synthesized a set of nine polymers that are typically used for low-fouling coatings, comprising the well-established poly(oligoethylene glycol methylether methacrylate), poly(3-(N-2-methacryloylethyl-N,N-dimethyl) ammoniopropanesulfonate) (sulfobetaine methacrylate), and poly(3-(N-3-methacryamidopropyl-N,N-dimethyl)ammoniopropanesulfonate) (sulfobetaine methacrylamide) as well as a series of hitherto rarely studied polysulfabetaines, which had been suggested to be particularly hydrolysis-stable. Hydrolysis resistance upon extended storage in aqueous solution is followed by H-1 NMR at ambient temperature in various pH regimes. Whereas the monomers suffered slow (in PBS) to very fast hydrolysis (in 1 M NaOH), the polymers, including the polymethacrylates, proved to be highly stable. No degradation of the carboxyl ester or amide was observed after one year in PBS, 1 M HCl, or in sodium carbonate buffer of pH 10. This demonstrates their basic suitability for anti-fouling applications. Poly(sulfobetaine methacrylamide) proved even to be stable for one year in 1 M NaOH without any signs of degradation. The stability is ascribed to a steric shielding effect. The hemisulfate group in the polysulfabetaines, however, was found to be partially labile. KW - polyzwitterions KW - stability KW - polymer degradation KW - hydrolysis KW - polysulfobetaine KW - polysulfabetaine KW - anti-fouling materials Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/polym10060639 SN - 2073-4360 VL - 10 IS - 6 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ehrlich, Elias A1 - Gaedke, Ursula T1 - Not attackable or not crackable BT - How pre- and post-attack defenses with different competition costs affect prey coexistence and population dynamics JF - Ecology and evolution N2 - It is well-known that prey species often face trade-offs between defense against predation and competitiveness, enabling predator-mediated coexistence. However, we lack an understanding of how the large variety of different defense traits with different competition costs affects coexistence and population dynamics. Our study focusses on two general defense mechanisms, that is, pre-attack (e.g., camouflage) and post-attack defenses (e.g., weaponry) that act at different phases of the predator—prey interaction. We consider a food web model with one predator, two prey types and one resource. One prey type is undefended, while the other one is pre- or post-attack defended paying costs either by a higher half-saturation constant for resource uptake or a lower maximum growth rate. We show that post-attack defenses promote prey coexistence and stabilize the population dynamics more strongly than pre-attack defenses by interfering with the predator's functional response: Because the predator spends time handling “noncrackable” prey, the undefended prey is indirectly facilitated. A high half-saturation constant as defense costs promotes coexistence more and stabilizes the dynamics less than a low maximum growth rate. The former imposes high costs at low resource concentrations but allows for temporally high growth rates at predator-induced resource peaks preventing the extinction of the defended prey. We evaluate the effects of the different defense mechanisms and costs on coexistence under different enrichment levels in order to vary the importance of bottom-up and top-down control of the prey community. KW - coexistence KW - competition-defense trade-off KW - defense against predation KW - functional response KW - indirect facilitation KW - predator-prey cycles Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4145 SN - 2045-7758 VL - 8 IS - 13 SP - 6625 EP - 6637 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Poltrock, Silvana A1 - Chen, Hui A1 - Kwok, Celia A1 - Cheung, Hintat A1 - Nazzi, Thierry T1 - Adult learning of novel words in a non-native language BT - Consonants, Vowels, and Tones JF - Frontiers in psychology KW - word learning KW - minimal pairs KW - non-native speech perception KW - tones KW - adults Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01211 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 9 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - GEN A1 - Kewenig, Viktor A1 - Zhou, Yuefang A1 - Fischer, Martin H. T1 - Commentary: Robots as intentional agents BT - Using neuroscientific methods to make robots appear more social T2 - Frontiers in psychology KW - intentionality KW - social robots KW - verbal reports KW - humanoid KW - turing test Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01131 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 9 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Georgiev, Vasil N. A1 - Grafmüller, Andrea A1 - Bléger, David A1 - Hecht, Stefan A1 - Kunstmann, Sonja A1 - Barbirz, Stefanie A1 - Lipowsky, Reinhard A1 - Dimova, Rumiana T1 - Area increase and budding in giant vesicles triggered by light BT - behind the scene JF - Advanced science N2 - Biomembranes are constantly remodeled and in cells, these processes are controlled and modulated by an assortment of membrane proteins. Here, it is shown that such remodeling can also be induced by photoresponsive molecules. The morphological control of giant vesicles in the presence of a water-soluble ortho-tetrafluoroazobenzene photoswitch (F-azo) is demonstrated and it is shown that the shape transformations are based on an increase in membrane area and generation of spontaneous curvature. The vesicles exhibit budding and the buds can be retracted by using light of a different wavelength. In the presence of F-azo, the membrane area can increase by more than 5% as assessed from vesicle electrodeformation. To elucidate the underlying molecular mechanism and the partitioning of F-azo in the membrane, molecular dynamics simulations are employed. Comparison with theoretically calculated shapes reveals that the budded shapes are governed by curvature elasticity, that the spontaneous curvature can be decomposed into a local and a nonlocal contribution, and that the local spontaneous curvature is about 1/(2.5 mu m). The results show that exo- and endocytotic events can be controlled by light and that these photoinduced processes provide an attractive method to change membrane area and morphology. KW - azobenzene KW - lipid membranes KW - molecular dynamics KW - photoswitch KW - vesicles Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.201800432 SN - 2198-3844 VL - 5 IS - 8 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Clahsen, Harald A1 - Paulmann, Silke A1 - Budd, Mary-Jane A1 - Barry, Christopher T1 - Morphological encoding beyond slots and fillers BT - an ERP study of comparative formation in English JF - PLoS one N2 - One important organizational property of morphology is competition. Different means of expression are in conflict with each other for encoding the same grammatical function. In the current study, we examined the nature of this control mechanism by testing the formation of comparative adjectives in English during language production. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded during cued silent production, the first study of this kind for comparative adjective formation. We specifically examined the ERP correlates of producing synthetic relative to analytic comparatives, e.g. angriervs. more angry. A frontal, bilaterally distributed, enhanced negative-going waveform for analytic comparatives (vis-a-vis synthetic ones) emerged approximately 300ms after the (silent) production cue. We argue that this ERP effect reflects a control mechanism that constrains grammatically-based computational processes (viz. more comparative formation). We also address the possibility that this particular ERP effect may belong to a family of previously observed negativities reflecting cognitive control monitoring, rather than morphological encoding processes per se. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0199897 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 13 IS - 7 PB - PLoS CY - San Fransisco ER - TY - GEN A1 - Lazuras, Lambros A1 - Barkoukis, Vassilis A1 - Loukovitis, Andreas A1 - Brand, Ralf A1 - Hudson, Andy A1 - Mallia, Luca A1 - Michaelides, Michalis A1 - Muzi, Milena A1 - Petroczi, Andrea A1 - Zelli, Arnaldo T1 - Corrigendum: "I Want It All, and I Want It Now": Lifetime Prevalence and Reasons for Using and Abstaining from Controlled Performance and Appearance Enhancing Substances (PAES) among Young Exercisers and Amateur Athletes in Five European Countries (Frontiers in psychology. - 8 (2017), 717.) T2 - Frontiers in psychology KW - doping KW - behavioral reasoning KW - exercise KW - fitness KW - recreational sport KW - young adults Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01162 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 9 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Filipovic, Vilim A1 - Gerke, Horst H. A1 - Filipovic, Lana A1 - Sommer, Michael T1 - Quantifying subsurface lateral flow along sloping horizon boundaries in soil profiles of a hummocky ground moraine JF - Vadose zone journal N2 - Subsurface lateral flow in hillslope soils depends on lower permeability or texture-contrasting soil horizons. In the arable hummocky soil landscape, erosion processes caused glacial till appearance closer to the soil surface at upslope positions. The objective of this work was to quantify the potential for subsurface lateral flow depending on the erosion-affected spatial hydropedological complexity. The eroded Haplic Luvisol profile was studied due to the presence of a relatively dense C horizon that varied in depth, thickness, and sloping angle. A two-dimensional numerical modeling and sensitivity analysis for the saturated hydraulic conductivity (K-s) of the C horizon and the depth to C horizon (i.e., soil solum thickness) was performed for rainstorms in 2011 and 2012 using HYDRUS-2D. A K-s value of <2.5 cm d(-1) for the C horizon was required for lateral flow initiation. Lateral flow was (i) increasing with decreasing solum thickness, indicating an erosion-induced feedback on subsurface lateral flow, and (ii) dependent on the soil moisture regime prior to rainstorms. The effect of lateral flow on the movement of a conservative tracer was simulated in the form of a "virtual experiment". Simulation scenarios revealed only a relatively small lateral shift of the tracer plume caused by a local decoupling of water (already lateral) from subsequent tracer movement (still vertical). Longer term simulations suggested that, for the present conditions, lateral flow was limited mostly to occasional summer storm events. Even without considering preferential flow contribution to lateral flow, highly complex hydropedologic interactions are present in erosion-affected heterogeneous soil profiles. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.2136/vzj2017.05.0106 SN - 1539-1663 VL - 17 IS - 1 PB - Soil Science Society of America CY - Madison ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Totz, Sonja Juliana A1 - Löber, Jakob A1 - Totz, Jan Frederik A1 - Engel, Harald T1 - Control of transversal instabilities in reaction-diffusion systems JF - New journal of physics : the open-access journal for physics N2 - In two-dimensional reaction-diffusion systems, local curvature perturbations on traveling waves are typically damped out and vanish. However, if the inhibitor diffuses much faster than the activator, transversal instabilities can arise, leading from flat to folded, spatio-temporally modulated waves and to spreading spiral turbulence. Here, we propose a scheme to induce or inhibit these instabilities via a spatio-temporal feedback loop. In a piecewise-linear version of the FitzHugh-Nagumo model, transversal instabilities and spiral turbulence in the uncontrolled system are shown to be suppressed in the presence of control, thereby stabilizing plane wave propagation. Conversely, in numerical simulations with the modified Oregonator model for the photosensitive Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction, which does not exhibit transversal instabilities on its own, we demonstrate the feasibility of inducing transversal instabilities and study the emerging wave patterns in a well-controlled manner. KW - traveling waves KW - control KW - transversal instabilities Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/aabce5 SN - 1367-2630 VL - 20 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kwanbunjan, Karunee A1 - Panprathip, Pornpimol A1 - Phosat, Chanchira A1 - Chumpathat, Noppanath A1 - Wechjakwen, Naruemon A1 - Puduang, Somchai A1 - Auyyuenyong, Ratchada A1 - Henkel, Ina A1 - Schweigert, Florian J. T1 - Association of retinol binding protein 4 and transthyretin with triglyceride levels and insulin resistance in rural thais with high type 2 diabetes risk JF - BMC Endocrine Disorders N2 - Background: Retinol binding protein 4 (RBP4), a protein secreted by adipocytes and bound in plasma to transthyretin (TTR), has been associated with obesity, the early phase of insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes mellitus. The objective of this study was to elucidate the relationship between RBP4, TTR, triglyceride (TG) and type 2 diabetes risk in rural Thailand. Results: RBP4 and TTR levels, as well as homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) values, were significantly elevated among subjects with high triglyceride levels (p < 0.01, p < 0.05, p < 0.05, respectively). Triglyceride levels correlated with RBP4 (r = 0.34, p < 0.001) and TTR (r= 0.26, p < 0.01) levels, as well as HOMA-IR values (r= 0.16, p < 0.05). After adjustment for age and gender, the risk of hypertriglyceridemia was 3.7 times greater (95% Cl =1.42 -9.73, p = 0.008) in the highest RBP4 tertile as compared to the lowest tertile. Similarly, the highest TTR and HOMA-IR tertiles had greater risk of hypertriglyceridemia at 3.5 (95% Cl = 1.30-9.20, p = 0.01) and 3.6 (95% CI = 1.33- 9.58, p = 0.01) times higher than the respective lowest tertiles. The correlation between TTR and blood glucose was statistically significant (r 0.18, p < 0.05), but not found this relationship in RBP4. Conclusions: The associations of RBP4 and TTR with hypertriglyceridemia and insulin resistance may have important implications for the risk of heart disease and stroke. KW - RBP4 KW - TTR KW - HOMA-IR KW - Hypertriglyceridemia KW - Type 2 diabetes Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12902-018-0254-2 SN - 1472-6823 VL - 18 PB - BMC CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Casado, Mathieu A1 - Landais, Amaelle A1 - Picard, Ghislain A1 - Münch, Thomas A1 - Laepple, Thomas A1 - Stenni, Barbara A1 - Dreossi, Giuliano A1 - Ekaykin, Alexey A1 - Arnaud, Laurent A1 - Genthon, Christophe A1 - Touzeau, Alexandra A1 - Masson-Delmotte, Valerie A1 - Jouzel, Jean T1 - Archival processes of the water stable isotope signal in East Antarctic ice cores JF - The Cryosphere : TC ; an interactive open access journal of the European Geosciences Union N2 - The oldest ice core records are obtained from the East Antarctic Plateau. Water isotopes are key proxies to reconstructing past climatic conditions over the ice sheet and at the evaporation source. The accuracy of climate reconstructions depends on knowledge of all processes affecting water vapour, precipitation and snow isotopic compositions. Fractionation processes are well understood and can be integrated in trajectory-based Rayleigh distillation and isotope-enabled climate models. However, a quantitative understanding of processes potentially altering snow isotopic composition after deposition is still missing. In low-accumulation sites, such as those found in East Antarctica, these poorly constrained processes are likely to play a significant role and limit the interpretability of an ice core's isotopic composition. By combining observations of isotopic composition in vapour, precipitation, surface snow and buried snow from Dome C, a deep ice core site on the East Antarctic Plateau, we found indications of a seasonal impact of metamorphism on the surface snow isotopic signal when compared to the initial precipitation. Particularly in summer, exchanges of water molecules between vapour and snow are driven by the diurnal sublimation-condensation cycles. Overall, we observe in between precipitation events modification of the surface snow isotopic composition. Using high-resolution water isotopic composition profiles from snow pits at five Antarctic sites with different accumulation rates, we identified common patterns which cannot be attributed to the seasonal variability of precipitation. These differences in the precipitation, surface snow and buried snow isotopic composition provide evidence of post-deposition processes affecting ice core records in low-accumulation areas. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1745-2018 SN - 1994-0416 SN - 1994-0424 VL - 12 IS - 5 SP - 1745 EP - 1766 PB - Copernicus CY - Göttingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hodgkins, Suzanne B. A1 - Richardson, Curtis J. A1 - Dommain, Rene A1 - Wang, Hongjun A1 - Glaser, Paul H. A1 - Verbeke, Brittany A1 - Winkler, B. Rose A1 - Cobb, Alexander R. A1 - Rich, Virginia I. A1 - Missilmani, Malak A1 - Flanagan, Neal A1 - Ho, Mengchi A1 - Hoyt, Alison M. A1 - Harvey, Charles F. A1 - Vining, S. Rose A1 - Hough, Moira A. A1 - Moore, Tim R. A1 - Richard, Pierre J. H. A1 - De la Cruz, Florentino B. A1 - Toufaily, Joumana A1 - Hamdan, Rasha A1 - Cooper, William T. A1 - Chanton, Jeffrey P. T1 - Tropical peatland carbon storage linked to global latitudinal trends in peat recalcitrance JF - Nature Communications N2 - Peatlands represent large terrestrial carbon banks. Given that most peat accumulates in boreal regions, where low temperatures and water saturation preserve organic matter, the existence of peat in (sub)tropical regions remains enigmatic. Here we examined peat and plant chemistry across a latitudinal transect from the Arctic to the tropics. Near-surface low-latitude peat has lower carbohydrate and greater aromatic content than near-surface high-latitude peat, creating a reduced oxidation state and resulting recalcitrance. This recalcitrance allows peat to persist in the (sub)tropics despite warm temperatures. Because we observed similar declines in carbohydrate content with depth in high-latitude peat, our data explain recent field-scale deep peat warming experiments in which catotelm (deeper) peat remained stable despite temperature increases up to 9 degrees C. We suggest that high-latitude deep peat reservoirs may be stabilized in the face of climate change by their ultimately lower carbohydrate and higher aromatic composition, similar to tropical peats. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06050-2 SN - 2041-1723 VL - 9 PB - Nature Publ. Group CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ronasi, Golnoush A1 - Fischer, Martin H. A1 - Zimmermann, Malte T1 - Language and Arithmetic BT - a failure to find cross cognitive domain semantic priming between exception phrases and subtraction or addition JF - Frontiers in psychology N2 - We examined cross-domain semantic priming effects between arithmetic and language. We paired subtractions with their linguistic equivalent, exception phrases (EPs) with positive quantifiers (e.g., "everybody except John") while pairing additions with their own linguistic equivalent, EPs with negative quantifiers (e.g., "nobody except John"; Moltmann, 1995). We hypothesized that EPs with positive quantifiers prime subtractions and inhibit additions while EPs with negative quantifiers prime additions and inhibit subtractions. Furthermore, we expected similar priming and inhibition effects from arithmetic into semantics. Our design allowed for a bidirectional analysis by using one trial's target as the prime for the next trial. Two experiments failed to show significant priming effects in either direction. Implications and possible shortcomings are explored in the general discussion. KW - cross-domain priming KW - language KW - arithmetic KW - information integration KW - cognitive module Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01524 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 9 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Postolica, Roxana A1 - Iorga, Magdalena A1 - Savin, Mihaela A1 - Azoicai, Doina A1 - Enea, Violeta T1 - The utility of Leventhal’s model in the analysis of the psycho-behavioral implications of familial cancer BT - a literature review JF - Archives of Medical Science N2 - Introduction: We aim to highlight the utility of this model in the analysis of the psycho-behavioral implications of family cancer, presenting the scientific literature that used Leventhal’s model as the theoretical framework of approach. Material and methods: A systematic search was performed in six databases (EBSCO, ScienceDirect, PubMed Central, ProQuest, Scopus, and Web of Science) with empirical studies published between 2006 and 2015 in English with regard to the Common Sense Model of Self-Regulation (CSMR) and familial/hereditary cancer. The key words used were: illness representations, common sense model, self regulatory model, familial/hereditary/genetic cancer, genetic cancer counseling. The selection of studies followed the PRISMA-P guidelines (Moher et al., 2009; Shamseer et al., 2015), which suggest a three-stage procedure. Results: Individuals create their own cognitive and emotional representation of the disease when their health is threatened, being influenced by the presence of a family history of cancer, causing them to adopt or not a salutogenetic behavior. Disease representations, particularly the cognitive ones, can be predictors of responses to health threats that determine different health behaviors. Age, family history of cancer, and worrying about the disease are factors associated with undergoing screening. No consensus has been reached as to which factors act as predictors of compliance with cancer screening programs. Conclusions: This model can generate interventions that are conceptually clear as well as useful in regulating the individuals’ behaviors by reducing the risk of developing the disease and by managing as favorably as possible health and/or disease. KW - representation Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5114/aoms.2016.63149 SN - 1734-1922 SN - 1896-9151 VL - 14 IS - 5 SP - 1144 EP - 1154 PB - Termedia publishing house LTD CY - Poznan ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cestnik, Rok A1 - Rosenblum, Michael T1 - Inferring the phase response curve from observation of a continuously perturbed oscillator JF - Scientific reports N2 - Phase response curves are important for analysis and modeling of oscillatory dynamics in various applications, particularly in neuroscience. Standard experimental technique for determining them requires isolation of the system and application of a specifically designed input. However, isolation is not always feasible and we are compelled to observe the system in its natural environment under free-running conditions. To that end we propose an approach relying only on passive observations of the system and its input. We illustrate it with simulation results of an oscillator driven by a stochastic force. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-32069-y SN - 2045-2322 VL - 8 PB - Nature Publ. Group CY - London ER - TY - GEN A1 - Gianelli, Claudia A1 - Gentilucci, Maurizio T1 - Editorial: Reaching to Grasp Cognition: Analyzing Motor Behavior to Investigate Social Interactions T2 - Frontiers in psychology KW - kinematics KW - social cognition KW - action observation KW - imitation KW - joint action KW - complementary actions KW - cooperation and competition KW - embodied cognition Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01236 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 9 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lehr, Christian A1 - Dannowski, Ralf A1 - Kalettka, Thomas A1 - Merz, Christoph A1 - Schröder, Boris A1 - Steidl, Jörg A1 - Lischeid, Gunnar T1 - Detecting dominant changes in irregularly sampled multivariate water quality data sets JF - Hydrology and earth system sciences : HESS N2 - Time series of groundwater and stream water quality often exhibit substantial temporal and spatial variability, whereas typical existing monitoring data sets, e.g. from environmental agencies, are usually characterized by relatively low sampling frequency and irregular sampling in space and/or time. This complicates the differentiation between anthropogenic influence and natural variability as well as the detection of changes in water quality which indicate changes in single drivers. We suggest the new term "dominant changes" for changes in multivariate water quality data which concern (1) multiple variables, (2) multiple sites and (3) long-term patterns and present an exploratory framework for the detection of such dominant changes in data sets with irregular sampling in space and time. Firstly, a non-linear dimension-reduction technique was used to summarize the dominant spatiotemporal dynamics in the multivariate water quality data set in a few components. Those were used to derive hypotheses on the dominant drivers influencing water quality. Secondly, different sampling sites were compared with respect to median component values. Thirdly, time series of the components at single sites were analysed for long-term patterns. We tested the approach with a joint stream water and groundwater data set quality consisting of 1572 samples, each comprising sixteen variables, sampled with a spatially and temporally irregular sampling scheme at 29 sites in northeast Germany from 1998 to 2009. The first four components were interpreted as (1) an agriculturally induced enhancement of the natural background level of solute concentration, (2) a redox sequence from reducing conditions in deep groundwater to post-oxic conditions in shallow groundwater and oxic conditions in stream water, (3) a mixing ratio of deep and shallow groundwater to the streamflow and (4) sporadic events of slurry application in the agricultural practice. Dominant changes were observed for the first two components. The changing intensity of the first component was interpreted as response to the temporal variability of the thickness of the unsaturated zone. A steady increase in the second component at most stream water sites pointed towards progressing depletion of the denitrification capacity of the deep aquifer. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-4401-2018 SN - 1027-5606 SN - 1607-7938 VL - 22 IS - 8 SP - 4401 EP - 4424 PB - Copernicus CY - Göttingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Krupkova, Olga A1 - Sadowska, Aleksandra A1 - Kameda, Takuya A1 - Hitzl, Wolfgang A1 - Hausmann, Oliver Nic A1 - Klasen, Jürgen A1 - Wuertz-Kozak, Karin T1 - p38 MaPK Facilitates crosstalk Between endoplasmic reticulum stress and IL-6 release in the intervertebral Disc JF - Frontiers in Immunology N2 - Degenerative disc disease is associated with increased expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the intervertebral disc (IVD). However, it is not completely clear how inflammation arises in the IVD and which cellular compartments are involved in this process. Recently, the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) has emerged as a possible modulator of inflammation in age-related disorders. In addition, ER stress has been associated with the microenvironment of degenerated IVDs. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze the effects of ER stress on inflammatory responses in degenerated human IVDs and associated molecular mechanisms. Gene expression of ER stress marker GRP78 and pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6, IL-8, IL-1 beta, and TNF-alpha was analyzed in human surgical IVD samples (n = 51, Pfirrmann grade 2-5). The expression of GRP78 positively correlated with the degeneration grade in lumbar IVDs and IL-6, but not with IL-1 beta and TNF-alpha. Another set of human surgical IVD samples (n = 25) was used to prepare primary cell cultures. ER stress inducer thapsigargin (Tg, 100 and 500 nM) activated gene and protein expression of IL-6 and induced phosphorylation of p38 MAPK. Both inhibition of p38 MAPK by SB203580 (10 mu M) and knockdown of ER stress effector CCAAT-enhancer-binding protein homologous protein (CHOP) reduced gene and protein expression of IL-6 in Tg-treated cells. Furthermore, the effects of an inflammatory microenvironment on ER stress were tested. TNF-alpha (5 and 10 ng/mL) did not activate ER stress, while IL-1 beta (5 and 10 ng/mL) activated gene and protein expression of GRP78, but did not influence [Ca2+](i) flux and expression of CHOP, indicating that pro-inflammatory cytokines alone may not induce ER stress in vivo. This study showed that IL-6 release in the IVD can be initiated following ER stress and that ER stress mediates IL-6 release through p38 MAPK and CHOP. Therapeutic targeting of ER stress response may reduce the consequences of the harsh microenvironment in degenerated IVD. KW - intervertebral disc KW - inflammation KW - endoplasmic reticulum stress KW - p38 MAPK KW - CHOP KW - GADD153 KW - GRP78 KW - IL-6 Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2018.01706 SN - 1664-3224 VL - 9 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Münch, Thomas A1 - Laepple, Thomas T1 - What climate signal is contained in decadal- to centennial-scale isotope variations from Antarctic ice cores? JF - Climate of the past : CP N2 - Ice-core-based records of isotopic composition are a proxy for past temperatures and can thus provide information on polar climate variability over a large range of timescales. However, individual isotope records are affected by a multitude of processes that may mask the true temperature variability. The relative magnitude of climate and non-climate contributions is expected to vary as a function of timescale, and thus it is crucial to determine those temporal scales on which the actual signal dominates the noise. At present, there are no reliable estimates of this timescale dependence of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Here, we present a simple method that applies spectral analyses to stable-isotope data from multiple cores to estimate the SNR, and the signal and noise variability, as a function of timescale. The method builds on separating the contributions from a common signal and from local variations and includes a correction for the effects of diffusion and time uncertainty. We apply our approach to firn-core arrays from Dronning Maud Land (DML) in East Antarctica and from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). For DML and decadal to multi-centennial timescales, we find an increase in the SNR by nearly 1 order of magnitude (similar to 0.2 at decadal and similar to 1.0 at multi-centennial scales). The estimated spectrum of climate variability also shows increasing variability towards longer timescales, contrary to what is traditionally inferred from single records in this region. In contrast, the inferred variability spectrum for WAIS stays close to constant over decadal to centennial timescales, and the results even suggest a decrease in SNR over this range of timescales. We speculate that these differences between DML and WAIS are related to differences in the spatial and temporal scales of the isotope signal, highlighting the potentially more homogeneous atmospheric conditions on the Antarctic Plateau in contrast to the marine-influenced conditions on WAIS. In general, our approach provides a methodological basis for separating local proxy variability from coherent climate variations, which is applicable to a large set of palaeoclimate records. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-2053-2018 SN - 1814-9324 SN - 1814-9332 VL - 14 IS - 12 SP - 2053 EP - 2070 PB - Copernicus Gesellschaft mbH CY - Göttingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Graf, Lukas A1 - Moreno-de-las-Heras, Mariano A1 - Ruiz, Maurici A1 - Calsamiglia, Aleix A1 - García-Comendador, Julián A1 - Fortesa, Josep A1 - López-Tarazón, José A. A1 - Estrany, Joan T1 - Accuracy assessment of digital terrain model dataset sources for hydrogeomorphological modelling in small mediterranean catchments JF - Remote sensing N2 - Digital terrain models (DTMs) are a fundamental source of information in Earth sciences. DTM-based studies, however, can contain remarkable biases if limitations and inaccuracies in these models are disregarded. In this work, four freely available datasets, including Shuttle Radar Topography Mission C-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SRTM C-SAR V3 DEM), Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer Global Digital Elevation Map (ASTER GDEM V2), and two nationwide airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR)-derived DTMs (at 5-m and 1-m spatial resolution, respectively) were analysed in three geomorphologically contrasting, small (3–5 km2) catchments located in Mediterranean landscapes under intensive human influence (Mallorca Island, Spain). Vertical accuracy as well as the influence of each dataset’s characteristics on hydrological and geomorphological modelling applicability were assessed by using ground-truth data, classic geometric and morphometric parameters, and a recently proposed index of sediment connectivity. Overall vertical accuracy—expressed as the root mean squared error (RMSE) and normalised median deviation (NMAD)—revealed the highest accuracy for the 1-m (RMSE = 1.55 m; NMAD = 0.44 m) and 5-m LiDAR DTMs (RMSE = 1.73 m; NMAD = 0.84 m). Vertical accuracy of the SRTM data was lower (RMSE = 6.98 m; NMAD = 5.27 m), but considerably higher than for the ASTER data (RMSE = 16.10 m; NMAD = 11.23 m). All datasets were affected by systematic distortions. Propagation of these errors and coarse horizontal resolution caused negative impacts on flow routing, stream network, and catchment delineation, and to a lower extent, on the distribution of slope values. These limitations should be carefully considered when applying DTMs for catchment hydrogeomorphological modelling. KW - digital terrain models KW - DTM vertical accuracy KW - DTM comparison KW - hydrogeomorphological modelling KW - Mediterranean catchments Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10122014 SN - 2072-4292 VL - 10 IS - 12 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Brune, Sascha A1 - Williams, Simon E. A1 - Müller, R. Dietmar T1 - Oblique rifting: the rule, not the exception JF - Solid earth N2 - Movements of tectonic plates often induce oblique deformation at divergent plate boundaries. This is in striking contrast with traditional conceptual models of rifting and rifted margin formation, which often assume 2-D deformation where the rift velocity is oriented perpendicular to the plate boundary. Here we quantify the validity of this assumption by analysing the kinematics of major continent-scale rift systems in a global plate tectonic reconstruction from the onset of Pangea breakup until the present day. We evaluate rift obliquity by joint examination of relative extension velocity and local rift trend using the script-based plate reconstruction software pyGPlates. Our results show that the global mean rift obliquity since 230 Ma amounts to 34 degrees with a standard deviation of 24 degrees, using the convention that the angle of obliquity is spanned by extension direction and rift trend normal. We find that more than similar to 70 % of all rift segments exceeded an obliquity of 20 degrees demonstrating that oblique rifting should be considered the rule, not the exception. In many cases, rift obliquity and extension velocity increase during rift evolution (e.g. Australia-Antarctica, Gulf of California, South Atlantic, India-Antarctica), which suggests an underlying geodynamic correlation via obliquity-dependent rift strength. Oblique rifting produces 3-D stress and strain fields that cannot be accounted for in simplified 2-D plane strain analysis. We therefore highlight the importance of 3-D approaches in modelling, surveying, and interpretation of most rift segments on Earth where oblique rifting is the dominant mode of deformation. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/se-9-1187-2018 SN - 1869-9510 SN - 1869-9529 VL - 9 IS - 5 SP - 1187 EP - 1206 PB - Copernicus CY - Göttingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Randall, Matthew J. A1 - Jüngel, Astrid A1 - Rimann, Markus A1 - Wuertz-Kozak, Karin T1 - Advances in the biofabrication of 3D Skin in vitro BT - healthy and pathological models JF - Frontiers in Bioengineeringand Biotechnology N2 - The relevance for in vitro three-dimensional (3D) tissue culture of skin has been present for almost a century. From using skin biopsies in organ culture, to vascularized organotypic full-thickness reconstructed human skin equivalents, in vitro tissue regeneration of 3D skin has reached a golden era. However, the reconstruction of 3D skin still has room to grow and develop. The need for reproducible methodology, physiological structures and tissue architecture, and perfusable vasculature are only recently becoming a reality, though the addition of more complex structures such as glands and tactile corpuscles require advanced technologies. In this review, we will discuss the current methodology for biofabrication of 3D skin models and highlight the advantages and disadvantages of the existing systems as well as emphasize how new techniques can aid in the production of a truly physiologically relevant skin construct for preclinical innovation. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2018.00154 SN - 2296-4185 VL - 6 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Skinner, Christopher J. A1 - Coulthard, Tom J. A1 - Schwanghart, Wolfgang A1 - Van De Wiel, Marco J. A1 - Hancock, Greg T1 - Global sensitivity analysis of parameter uncertainty in landscape evolution models JF - Geoscientific model development : an interactive open access journal of the European Geosciences Union N2 - The evaluation and verification of landscape evolution models (LEMs) has long been limited by a lack of suitable observational data and statistical measures which can fully capture the complexity of landscape changes. This lack of data limits the use of objective function based evaluation prolific in other modelling fields, and restricts the application of sensitivity analyses in the models and the consequent assessment of model uncertainties. To overcome this deficiency, a novel model function approach has been developed, with each model function representing an aspect of model behaviour, which allows for the application of sensitivity analyses. The model function approach is used to assess the relative sensitivity of the CAESAR-Lisflood LEM to a set of model parameters by applying the Morris method sensitivity analysis for two contrasting catchments. The test revealed that the model was most sensitive to the choice of the sediment transport formula for both catchments, and that each parameter influenced model behaviours differently, with model functions relating to internal geomorphic changes responding in a different way to those relating to the sediment yields from the catchment outlet. The model functions proved useful for providing a way of evaluating the sensitivity of LEMs in the absence of data and methods for an objective function approach. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-4873-2018 SN - 1991-959X SN - 1991-9603 VL - 11 IS - 12 SP - 4873 EP - 4888 PB - Copernicus CY - Göttingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Coesfeld, Jacqueline A1 - Anderson, Sharolyn J. A1 - Baugh, Kimberly A1 - Elvidge, Christopher D. A1 - Schernthanner, Harald A1 - Kyba, Christopher C. M. T1 - Variation of Individual Location Radiance in VIIRS DNB Monthly Composite Images JF - Remote sensing N2 - With the growing size and use of night light time series from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite Day/Night Band (DNB), it is important to understand the stability of the dataset. All satellites observe differences in pixel values during repeat observations. In the case of night light data, these changes can be due to both environmental effects and changes in light emission. Here we examine the stability of individual locations of particular large scale light sources (e.g., airports and prisons) in the monthly composites of DNB data from April 2012 to September 2017. The radiances for individual pixels of most large light emitters are approximately normally distributed, with a standard deviation of typically 15-20% of the mean. Greenhouses and flares, however, are not stable sources. We observe geospatial autocorrelation in the monthly variations for nearby sites, while the correlation for sites separated by large distances is small. This suggests that local factors contribute most to the variation in the pixel radiances and furthermore that averaging radiances over large areas will reduce the total variation. A better understanding of the causes of temporal variation would improve the sensitivity of DNB to lighting changes. KW - artificial light at night KW - light pollution KW - night lights KW - VIIRS DNB Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10121964 SN - 2072-4292 VL - 10 IS - 12 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Latimer, Andrew M. A1 - Jacobs, Brooke S. A1 - Gianoli, Ernesto A1 - Heger, Tina A1 - Salgado-Luarte, Cristian T1 - Parallel functional differentiation of an invasive annual plant on two continents JF - AoB PLANTS N2 - Rapid local adaptation frequently occurs during the spread of invading species. It remains unclear, however, how consistent, and therefore potentially predictable, such patterns of local adaptation are. One approach to this question is to measure patterns of local differentiation in functional traits and plasticity levels in invasive species in multiple regions. Finding consistent patterns of local differentiation in replicate regions suggests that these patterns are adaptive. Further, this outcome indicates that the invading species likely responds predictably to selection along environmental gradients, even though standing genetic variation is likely to have been reduced during introduction. We studied local differentiation in the invasive annual plant Erodium cicutarium in two invaded regions, California and Chile. We collected seeds from across strong gradients in precipitation and temperature in Mediterranean-climate parts of the two regions (10 populations per region). We grew seeds from maternal families from these populations through two generations and exposed the second generation to contrasting levels of water and nutrient availability. We measured growth, flowering time and leaf functional traits across these treatments to obtain trait means and plasticity measures. We found strong differentiation among populations in all traits. Plants from drier environments flowered earlier, were less plastic in flowering time and reached greater size in all treatments. Correlations among traits within regions suggested a coordinated evolutionary response along environmental gradients associated with growing season length. There was little divergence in traits and trait intercorrelations between regions, but strongly parallel divergence in traits within regions. Similar, statistically consistent patterns of local trait differentiation across two regions suggest that local adaptation to environmental gradients has aided the spread of this invasive species, and that the formation of ecotypes in newly invaded environments has been relatively consistent and predictable. KW - Erodium cicutarium KW - flowering time KW - functional trait correlations KW - invasive species KW - life-history strategy KW - local adaptation KW - parallel evolution KW - phenotypic plasticity Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/aobpla/plz010 SN - 2041-2851 VL - 11 IS - 2 PB - Oxford University Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Javhar, Aminov A1 - Chen, Xi A1 - Bao, Anming A1 - Jamshed, Aminov A1 - Yunus, Mamadjanov A1 - Jovid, Aminov A1 - Latipa, Tuerhanjiang T1 - Comparison of Multi-Resolution Optical Landsat-8, Sentinel-2 and Radar Sentinel-1 Data for Automatic Lineament Extraction BT - A Case Study of Alichur Area, SE Pamir JF - Remote sensing N2 - Lineament mapping, which is an important part of any structural geological investigation, is made more efficient and easier by the availability of optical as well as radar remote sensing data, such as Landsat and Sentinel with medium and high spatial resolutions. However, the results from these multi-resolution data vary due to their difference in spatial resolution and sensitivity to soil occupation. The accuracy and quality of extracted lineaments depend strongly on the spatial resolution of the imagery. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare the optical Landsat-8, Sentinel-2A, and radar Sentinel-1A satellite data for automatic lineament extraction. The framework of automatic approach includes defining the optimal parameters for automatic lineament extraction with a combination of edge detection and line-linking algorithms and determining suitable bands from optical data suited for lineament mapping in the study area. For the result validation, the extracted lineaments are compared against the manually obtained lineaments through the application of directional filtering and edge enhancement as well as to the lineaments digitized from the existing geological maps of the study area. In addition, a digital elevation model (DEM) has been utilized for an accuracy assessment followed by the field verification. The obtained results show that the best correlation between automatically extracted lineaments, manual interpretation, and the preexisting lineament map is achieved from the radar Sentinel-1A images. The tests indicate that the radar data used in this study, with 5872 and 5865 lineaments extracted from VH and VV polarizations respectively, is more efficient for structural lineament mapping than the Landsat-8 and Sentinel-2A optical imagery, from which 2338 and 4745 lineaments were extracted respectively. KW - image enhancement KW - automatic lineament extraction KW - Landsat-8 KW - Sentinel-1 KW - Sentinel-2 KW - structural mapping Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11070778 SN - 2072-4292 VL - 11 IS - 7 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Festman, Julia A1 - Schwieter, John W. T1 - Self-concepts in reading and spelling among mono- and multilingual Children BT - Extending the bilingual advantage JF - Behavioral Sciences N2 - Cognitive representations and beliefs are what comprise an individual’s self-concept. A positive self-concept is related to and influences academic achievement, and the relationship between a domain-specific self-concept and achievement in the same domain is positive and strong. However, insufficient attention has been paid to these issues among multilingual children. More importantly, since instruction strongly contributes to the development of metacognition and executive functions (EFs), and since the bilingual advantage hypothesis holds that the constant management of multiple languages entails benefits for EF, we bring together these important issues in the present study. We examine the relationship between domain-specific self-concepts and standardized assessment of reading and spelling competences against the background of potential differences in self-concept between monolingual and multilingual German children. While between-group comparisons revealed no significant differences for self-concept nor reading competency, monolinguals outperformed multilinguals in spelling. Correlations between domain-specific self-concepts and academic achievement in reading comprehension, reading fluency, and spelling were positive and significant for both groups. Regardless of language background, children’s evaluations of their academic achievement (reading and spelling) were realistic. We argue, on a theoretical basis, that metacognition and EFs could facilitate a bilingual advantage and improve educational outcomes. KW - domain-specific self-concept KW - academic achievement KW - metacognition KW - executive functions KW - multilingual children KW - reading comprehension KW - reading fluency KW - spelling Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/bs9040039 SN - 2076-328X VL - 9 IS - 4 PB - MDPI AG CY - Basel ER - TY - GEN A1 - Lewandowsky, Stephan A1 - Cowtan, Kevin A1 - Risbey, James S. A1 - Mann, Michael E. A1 - Steinman, Byron A. A1 - Oreskes, Naomi A1 - Rahmstorf, Stefan T1 - Erratum: The 'pause' in global warming in historical context: II. Comparing models to observations (Environmental research letters. - Vol 13, (2018) 123007) T2 - Environmental research letters N2 - We review the evidence for a putative early 21st-century divergence between global mean surface temperature (GMST) and Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) projections. We provide a systematic comparison between temperatures and projections using historical versions of GMST products and historical versions of model projections that existed at the times when claims about a divergence were made. The comparisons are conducted with a variety of statistical techniques that correct for problems in previous work, including using continuous trends and a Monte Carlo approach to simulate internal variability. The results show that there is no robust statistical evidence for a divergence between models and observations. The impression of a divergence early in the 21st century was caused by various biases in model interpretation and in the observations, and was unsupported by robust statistics. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aafbb7 SN - 1748-9326 VL - 14 IS - 4 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kameda, Takuya A1 - Zvick, Joel A1 - Vuk, Miriam A1 - Sadowska, Aleksandra A1 - Tam, Wai Kit A1 - Leung, Victor Y. A1 - Bölcskei, Kata A1 - Helyes, Zsuzsanna A1 - Applegate, Lee Ann A1 - Hausmann, Oliver N. A1 - Klasen, Juergen A1 - Krupkova, Olga A1 - Würtz-Kozak, Karin T1 - Expression and Activity of TRPA1 and TRPV1 in the Intervertebral Disc BT - Association with Inflammation and Matrix Remodeling JF - International journal of molecular sciences N2 - Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels have emerged as potential sensors and transducers of inflammatory pain. The aims of this study were to investigate (1) the expression of TRP channels in intervertebral disc (IVD) cells in normal and inflammatory conditions and (2) the function of Transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) and Transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) in IVD inflammation and matrix homeostasis. RT-qPCR was used to analyze human fetal, healthy, and degenerated IVD tissues for the gene expression of TRPA1 and TRPV1. The primary IVD cell cultures were stimulated with either interleukin-1 beta (IL-1) or tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-) alone or in combination with TRPA1/V1 agonist allyl isothiocyanate (AITC, 3 and 10 mu M), followed by analysis of calcium flux and the expression of inflammation mediators (RT-qPCR/ELISA) and matrix constituents (RT-qPCR). The matrix structure and composition in caudal motion segments from TRPA1 and TRPV1 wild-type (WT) and knock-out (KO) mice was visualized by FAST staining. Gene expression of other TRP channels (A1, C1, C3, C6, V1, V2, V4, V6, M2, M7, M8) was also tested in cytokine-treated cells. TRPA1 was expressed in fetal IVD cells, 20% of degenerated IVDs, but not in healthy mature IVDs. TRPA1 expression was not detectable in untreated cells and it increased upon cytokine treatment, while TRPV1 was expressed and concomitantly reduced. In inflamed IVD cells, 10 mu M AITC activated calcium flux, induced gene expression of IL-8, and reduced disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs 5 (ADAMTS5) and collagen 1A1, possibly via upregulated TRPA1. TRPA1 KO in mice was associated with signs of degeneration in the nucleus pulposus and the vertebral growth plate, whereas TRPV1 KO did not show profound changes. Cytokine treatment also affected the gene expression of TRPV2 (increase), TRPV4 (increase), and TRPC6 (decrease). TRPA1 might be expressed in developing IVD, downregulated during its maturation, and upregulated again in degenerative disc disease, participating in matrix homeostasis. However, follow-up studies with larger sample sizes are needed to fully elucidate the role of TRPA1 and other TRP channels in degenerative disc disease. KW - low back pain KW - TRP channels KW - pro-inflammatory cytokines KW - aggrecanases KW - collagen KW - TRPA1 KW - TRPV1 KW - TRPV2 KW - TRPV4 KW - TRPC6 Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms20071767 SN - 1422-0067 VL - 20 IS - 7 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Metref, Sammy A1 - Cosme, Emmanuel A1 - Le Sommer, Julien A1 - Poel, Nora A1 - Brankart, Jean-Michel A1 - Verron, Jacques A1 - Gomez Navarro, Laura T1 - Reduction of spatially structured errors in Wide-Swath altimetric satellite data using data assimilation JF - Remote sensing N2 - The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission is a next generation satellite mission expected to provide a 2 km-resolution observation of the sea surface height (SSH) on a two-dimensional swath. Processing SWOT data will be challenging because of the large amount of data, the mismatch between a high spatial resolution and a low temporal resolution, and the observation errors. The present paper focuses on the reduction of the spatially structured errors of SWOT SSH data. It investigates a new error reduction method and assesses its performance in an observing system simulation experiment. The proposed error-reduction method first projects the SWOT SSH onto a subspace spanned by the SWOT spatially structured errors. This projection is removed from the SWOT SSH to obtain a detrended SSH. The detrended SSH is then processed within an ensemble data assimilation analysis to retrieve a full SSH field. In the latter step, the detrending is applied to both the SWOT data and an ensemble of model-simulated SSH fields. Numerical experiments are performed with synthetic SWOT observations and an ensemble from a North Atlantic, 1/60 degrees simulation of the ocean circulation (NATL60). The data assimilation analysis is carried out with an ensemble Kalman filter. The results are assessed with root mean square errors, power spectrum density, and spatial coherence. They show that a significant part of the large scale SWOT errors is reduced. The filter analysis also reduces the small scale errors and allows for an accurate recovery of the energy of the signal down to 25 km scales. In addition, using the SWOT nadir data to adjust the SSH detrending further reduces the errors. KW - SWOT KW - correlated errors KW - OSSE KW - projection KW - detrending KW - ensemble kalman filter Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11111336 SN - 2072-4292 VL - 11 IS - 11 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bolius, Sarah A1 - Wiedner, Claudia A1 - Weithoff, Guntram T1 - Low invasion success of an invasive cyanobacterium in a chlorophyte dominated lake JF - Scientific reports Y1 - 2019 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 9 PB - Macmillan Publishers Limited CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Feiner, Rebecca Christine A1 - Teschner, Julian A1 - Teschner, Kathrin E. A1 - Radukic, Marco T. A1 - Baumann, Tobias A1 - Hagen, Sven A1 - Hannappel, Yvonne A1 - Biere, Niklas A1 - Anselmetti, Dario A1 - Arndt, Katja Maren A1 - Müller, Kristian Mark T1 - rAAV Engineering for Capsid-Protein Enzyme Insertions and Mosaicism Reveals Resilience to Mutational, Structural and Thermal Perturbations JF - International journal of molecular sciences N2 - Recombinant adeno-associated viruses (rAAV) provide outstanding options for customization and superior capabilities for gene therapy. To access their full potential, facile genetic manipulation is pivotal, including capsid loop modifications. Therefore, we assessed capsid tolerance to modifications of the structural VP proteins in terms of stability and plasticity. Flexible glycine-serine linkers of increasing sizes were, at the genetic level, introduced into the 587 loop region of the VP proteins of serotype 2, the best studied AAV representative. Analyses of biological function and thermal stability with respect to genome release of viral particles revealed structural plasticity. In addition, insertion of the 29 kDa enzyme beta-lactamase into the loop region was tested with a complete or a mosaic modification setting. For the mosaic approach, investigation of VP2 trans expression revealed that a Kozak sequence was required to prevent leaky scanning. Surprisingly, even the full capsid modification with beta-lactamase allowed for the assembly of capsids with a concomitant increase in size. Enzyme activity assays revealed lactamase functionality for both rAAV variants, which demonstrates the structural robustness of this platform technology. KW - adeno-associated-virus KW - beta-lactamase KW - inverted terminal repeat (ITR) KW - loop modification KW - capsid stability Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms20225702 SN - 1422-0067 VL - 20 IS - 22 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ayzel, Georgy A1 - Izhitskiy, Alexander T1 - Climate Change Impact Assessment on Freshwater Inflow into the Small Aral Sea JF - Water N2 - During the last few decades, the rapid separation of the Small Aral Sea from the isolated basin has changed its hydrological and ecological conditions tremendously. In the present study, we developed and validated the hybrid model for the Syr Darya River basin based on a combination of state-of-the-art hydrological and machine learning models. Climate change impact on freshwater inflow into the Small Aral Sea for the projection period 2007-2099 has been quantified based on the developed hybrid model and bias corrected and downscaled meteorological projections simulated by four General Circulation Models (GCM) for each of three Representative Concentration Pathway scenarios (RCP). The developed hybrid model reliably simulates freshwater inflow for the historical period with a Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency of 0.72 and a Kling-Gupta efficiency of 0.77. Results of the climate change impact assessment showed that the freshwater inflow projections produced by different GCMs are misleading by providing contradictory results for the projection period. However, we identified that the relative runoff changes are expected to be more pronounced in the case of more aggressive RCP scenarios. The simulated projections of freshwater inflow provide a basis for further assessment of climate change impacts on hydrological and ecological conditions of the Small Aral Sea in the 21st Century. KW - Small Aral Sea KW - hydrology KW - climate change KW - modeling KW - machine learning Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/w11112377 SN - 2073-4441 VL - 11 IS - 11 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wu, Hao A1 - Han, Yijie A1 - Rodriguez Sillke, Yasmina A1 - Deng, Hongzhang A1 - Siddiqui, Sophiya A1 - Treese, Christoph A1 - Schmidt, Franziska A1 - Friedrich, Marie A1 - Keye, Jacqueline A1 - Wan, Jiajia A1 - Qin, Yue A1 - Kühl, Anja A. A1 - Qin, Zhihai A1 - Siegmund, Britta A1 - Glauben, Rainer T1 - Lipid droplet-dependent fatty acid metabolism controls the immune suppressive phenotype of tumor-associated macrophages JF - EMBO molecular medicine N2 - Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) promote tumor growth and metastasis by suppressing tumor immune surveillance. Herein, we provide evidence that the immunosuppressive phenotype of TAMs is controlled by long-chain fatty acid metabolism, specifically unsaturated fatty acids, here exemplified by oleate. Consequently, en-route enriched lipid droplets were identified as essential organelles, which represent effective targets for chemical inhibitors to block in vitro polarization of TAMs and tumor growth in vivo. In line, analysis of human tumors revealed that myeloid cells infiltrating colon cancer but not gastric cancer tissue indeed accumulate lipid droplets. Mechanistically, our data indicate that oleate-induced polarization of myeloid cells depends on the mammalian target of the rapamycin pathway. Thus, our findings reveal an alternative therapeutic strategy by targeting the pro-tumoral myeloid cells on a metabolic level. KW - cancer immunotherapy KW - lipid droplets KW - lipid metabolism KW - tumor microenvironment KW - tumor-associated macrophage Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.15252/emmm.201910698 SN - 1757-4676 SN - 1757-4684 VL - 11 IS - 11 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hsu, H. F. A1 - Krekhov, Andrey A1 - Tarantola, Marco A1 - Beta, Carsten A1 - Bodenschatz, Eberhardt T1 - Interplay between myosin II and actin dynamics in chemotactic amoeba JF - New journal of physics : the open-access journal for physics N2 - The actin cytoskeleton and its response to external chemical stimuli is fundamental to the mechano-biology of eukaryotic cells and their functions. One of the key players that governs the dynamics of the actin network is the motor protein myosin II. Based on a phase space embedding we have identified from experiments three phases in the cytoskeletal dynamics of starved Dictyostelium discoideum in response to a precisely controlled chemotactic stimulation. In the first two phases the dynamics of actin and myosin II in the cortex is uncoupled, while in the third phase the time scale for the recovery of cortical actin is determined by the myosin II dynamics. We report a theoretical model that captures the experimental observations quantitatively. The model predicts an increase in the optimal response time of actin with decreasing myosin II-actin coupling strength highlighting the role of myosin II in the robust control of cell contraction. KW - actin KW - myosin II KW - chemotaxis KW - oscillations KW - coupling KW - delay differential equation KW - contraction Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ab5822 SN - 1367-2630 VL - 21 IS - 11 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schultze, Christiane A1 - Schmidt, Bernd T1 - Ring-closing-metathesis-based synthesis of annellated coumarins from 8-allylcoumarins JF - Beilstein journal of organic chemistry N2 - 8-Allylcoumarins are conveniently accessible through a microwave-promoted tandem Claisen rearrangement/Wittig olefination/cyclization sequence. They serve as a versatile platform for the annellation of five- to seven-membered rings using ring-closing olefin metathesis (RCM). Furano-, pyrano-, oxepino- and azepinocoumarins were synthesized from the same set of precursors using Ru-catalyzed double bond isomerizations and RCM in a defined order. One class of products, pyrano[2,3-f]chromene-2,8-diones, were inaccessible through direct RCM of an acrylate, but became available from the analogous allyl ether via an assisted tandem catalytic RCM/allylic oxidation sequence. KW - coumarins KW - heterocycles KW - isomerization KW - olefin metathesis KW - ruthenium Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3762/bjoc.14.278 SN - 1860-5397 VL - 14 SP - 2991 EP - 2998 PB - Beilstein-Institut zur Förderung der Chemischen Wissenschaften CY - Frankfurt, Main ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fischer, Martin H. A1 - Shaki, Samuel T1 - Repeating Numbers Reduces Results: Violations of the Identity Axiom in Mental Arithmetic JF - Frontiers in psychology N2 - Even simple mental arithmetic is fraught with cognitive biases. For example, adding repeated numbers (so-called tie problems, e.g., 2 + 2) not only has a speed and accuracy advantage over adding different numbers (e.g., 1 + 3) but may also lead to under-representation of the result relative to a standard value (Charras et al., 2012, 2014). Does the tie advantage merely reflect easier encoding or retrieval compared to non-ties, or also a distorted result representation? To answer this question, 47 healthy adults performed two tasks, both of which indicated under-representation of tie results: In a result-to-position pointing task (Experiment 1) we measured the spatial mapping of numbers and found a left-bias for tie compared to non-tie problems. In a result-to-line-length production task (Experiment 2) we measured the underlying magnitude representation directly and obtained shorter lines for tie-compared to non-tie problems. These observations suggest that the processing benefit of tie problems comes at the cost of representational reduction of result meaning. This conclusion is discussed in the context of a recent model of arithmetic heuristics and biases. KW - AHAB KW - cognitive bias KW - mental arithmetic KW - numerical cognition KW - operational momentum KW - SNARC KW - tie problems Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02453 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 9 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Marrucci, Monica A1 - Zeilinger, Gerold A1 - Ribolini, Adriano A1 - Schwanghart, Wolfgang T1 - Origin of Knickpoints in an Alpine Context Subject to Different Perturbing Factors, Stura Valley, Maritime Alps (North-Western Italy) JF - Geosciences N2 - Natural catchments are likely to show the existence of knickpoints in their river networks. The origin and genesis of the knickpoints can be manifold, considering that the present morphology is the result of the interactions of different factors such as tectonic movements, quaternary glaciations, river captures, variable lithology, and base-level changes. We analyzed the longitudinal profiles of the river channels in the Stura di Demonte Valley (Maritime Alps) to identify the knickpoints of such an alpine setting and to characterize their origins. The distribution and the geometry of stream profiles were used to identify the possible causes of the changes in stream gradients and to define zones with genetically linked knickpoints. Knickpoints are key geomorphological features for reconstructing the evolution of fluvial dissected basins, when the different perturbing factors affecting the ideally graded fluvial system have been detected. This study shows that even in a regionally small area, perturbations of river profiles are caused by multiple factors. Thus, attributing (automatically)-extracted knickpoints solely to one factor, can potentially lead to incomplete interpretations of catchment evolution. KW - knickpoint KW - river longitudinal profile KW - Maritime Alps Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences8120443 SN - 2076-3263 VL - 8 IS - 12 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bormann, Helge A1 - de Brito, Mariana Madruga A1 - Charchousi, Despoina A1 - Chatzistratis, Dimitris A1 - David, Amrei A1 - Grosser, Paula Farina A1 - Kebschull, Jenny A1 - Konis, Alexandros A1 - Koutalakis, Paschalis A1 - Korali, Alkistis A1 - Krauzig, Naomi A1 - Meier, Jessica A1 - Meliadou, Varvara A1 - Meinhardt, Markus A1 - Munnelly, Kieran A1 - Stephan, Christiane A1 - de Vos, Leon Frederik A1 - Dietrich, Jörg A1 - Tzoraki, Ourania T1 - Impact of Hydrological Modellers’ Decisions and Attitude on the Performance of a Calibrated Conceptual Catchment Model BT - Results from a ‘Modelling Contest’ JF - Hydrology N2 - In this study, 17 hydrologists with different experience in hydrological modelling applied the same conceptual catchment model (HBV) to a Greek catchment, using identical data and model code. Calibration was performed manually. Subsequently, the modellers were asked for their experience, their calibration strategy, and whether they enjoyed the exercise. The exercise revealed that there is considerable modellers’ uncertainty even among the experienced modellers. It seemed to be equally important whether the modellers followed a good calibration strategy, and whether they enjoyed modelling. The exercise confirmed previous studies about the benefit of model ensembles: Different combinations of the simulation results (median, mean) outperformed the individual model simulations, while filtering the simulations even improved the quality of the model ensembles. Modellers’ experience, decisions, and attitude, therefore, have an impact on the hydrological model application and should be considered as part of hydrological modelling uncertainty. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology5040064 SN - 2306-5338 VL - 5 IS - 4 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kielar, Charlotte A1 - Xin, Yang A1 - Xu, Xiaodan A1 - Zhu, Siqi A1 - Gorin, Nelli A1 - Grundmeier, Guido A1 - Möser, Christin A1 - Smith, David M. A1 - Keller, Adrian T1 - Effect of staple age on DNA origami nanostructure assembly and stability JF - Molecules N2 - DNA origami nanostructures are widely employed in various areas of fundamental and applied research. Due to the tremendous success of the DNA origami technique in the academic field, considerable efforts currently aim at the translation of this technology from a laboratory setting to real-world applications, such as nanoelectronics, drug delivery, and biosensing. While many of these real-world applications rely on an intact DNA origami shape, they often also subject the DNA origami nanostructures to rather harsh and potentially damaging environmental and processing conditions. Furthermore, in the context of DNA origami mass production, the long-term storage of DNA origami nanostructures or their pre-assembled components also becomes an issue of high relevance, especially regarding the possible negative effects on DNA origami structural integrity. Thus, we investigated the effect of staple age on the self-assembly and stability of DNA origami nanostructures using atomic force microscopy. Different harsh processing conditions were simulated by applying different sample preparation protocols. Our results show that staple solutions may be stored at -20 degrees C for several years without impeding DNA origami self-assembly. Depending on DNA origami shape and superstructure, however, staple age may have negative effects on DNA origami stability under harsh treatment conditions. Mass spectrometry analysis of the aged staple mixtures revealed no signs of staple fragmentation. We, therefore, attribute the increased DNA origami sensitivity toward environmental conditions to an accumulation of damaged nucleobases, which undergo weaker base-pairing interactions and thus lead to reduced duplex stability. KW - DNA origami KW - atomic force microscopy KW - stability KW - storage Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24142577 SN - 1420-3049 VL - 24 IS - 14 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Nuesiri, Emmanuel O. T1 - Feigning Democracy BT - Performing Representation in the UN-REDD Funded Nigeria-REDD Programme JF - Conservation & society N2 - Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation plus the sustainable management of forest and enhancement of carbon stocks (REDD+) is a global climate change mitigation initiative. The United Nations REDD Programme (UN-REDD) is training governments in developing countries, including Nigeria, to implement REDD+. To protect local people, UN-REDD has developed social safeguards including a commitment to strengthen local democracy to prevent an elite capture of REDD+ benefits. This study examines local participation and representation in the UN-REDD international policy board and in the national-level design process for the Nigeria-REDD proposal, to see if practices are congruent with the UN-REDD commitment to local democracy. It is based on research in Nigeria in 2012 and 2013, and finds that local representation in the UN-REDD policy board and in Nigeria-REDD is not substantive. Participation is merely symbolic. For example, elected local government authorities, who ostensibly represent rural people, are neither present in the UN-REDD board nor were they invited to the participatory forums that vetted the Nigeria-REDD. They were excluded because they were politically weak. However, UN-REDD approved the Nigeria-REDD proposal without a strategy to include or strengthen elected local governments. The study concludes with recommendations to help the UN-REDD strengthen elected local government authority in Nigeria in support of democratic local representation. KW - REDD KW - climate change mitigation KW - UN-REDD KW - democracy KW - Nigeria KW - symbolic representation KW - local government Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.4103/cs.cs_16_106 SN - 0972-4923 SN - 0975-3133 VL - 15 IS - 4 SP - 384 EP - 399 PB - Medknow publications & media Pvt LTD CY - Mumbai ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Yan, Wenhao A1 - Chen, Dijun A1 - Schumacher, Julia A1 - Durantini, Diego A1 - Engelhorn, Julia A1 - Chen, Ming A1 - Carles, Cristel C. A1 - Kaufmann, Kerstin T1 - Dynamic control of enhancer activity drives stage-specific gene expression during flower morphogenesis JF - Nature Communications N2 - Enhancers are critical for developmental stage-specific gene expression, but their dynamic regulation in plants remains poorly understood. Here we compare genome-wide localization of H3K27ac, chromatin accessibility and transcriptomic changes during flower development in Arabidopsis. H3K27ac prevalently marks promoter-proximal regions, suggesting that H3K27ac is not a hallmark for enhancers in Arabidopsis. We provide computational and experimental evidence to confirm that distal DNase. hypersensitive sites are predictive of enhancers. The predicted enhancers are highly stage-specific across flower development, significantly associated with SNPs for flowering-related phenotypes, and conserved across crucifer species. Through the integration of genome-wide transcription factor (TF) binding datasets, we find that floral master regulators and stage-specific TFs are largely enriched at developmentally dynamic enhancers. Finally, we show that enhancer clusters and intronic enhancers significantly associate with stage-specific gene regulation by floral master TFs. Our study provides insights into the functional flexibility of enhancers during plant development, as well as hints to annotate plant enhancers. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-09513-2 SN - 2041-1723 VL - 10 PB - Nature Publ. Group CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Puppe, Daniel A1 - Wanner, Manfred A1 - Sommer, Michael T1 - Data on euglyphid testate amoeba densities, corresponding protozoic silicon pools, and selected soil parameters of initial and forested biogeosystems JF - Data in brief N2 - The dataset in the present article provides information on protozoic silicon (Si) pools represented by euglyphid testate amoebae (TA) in soils of initial and forested biogeosystems. Protozoic Si pools were calculated from densities of euglyphid TA shells and corresponding Si contents. The article also includes data on potential annual biosilicification rates of euglyphid TA at the examined sites. Furthermore, data on selected soil parameters (e.g., readily-available Si, soil pH) and site characteristics (e.g., soil groups, climate data) can be found. The data might be interesting for researchers focusing on biological processes in Si cycling in general and euglyphid TA and corresponding protozoic Si pools in particular. KW - Silicon cycling KW - Biogenic silica KW - Terrestrial biogeosystems KW - Biosilicification KW - Euglyphida Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2018.10.164 SN - 2352-3409 VL - 21 SP - 1697 EP - 1703 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wyrwa, Ulrich T1 - Rezension zu: Enzyklopädie jüdischer Geschichte und Kultur, ed. Dan Diner, Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, (Stuttgart –Weimar: Metzler, 2011-2017), 7 Vol T1 - Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture JF - Quest-Issues in Contemporary Jewish History Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.48248/issn.2037-741X/682 SN - 2037-741X VL - 2018 IS - 14 SP - 123 EP - 131 PB - Fondazione Centro Documentazione Ebraica Contemporanea CY - Milano ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schieferdecker, Anne A1 - Wendler, Petra T1 - Structural Mapping of Missense Mutations in the Pex1/Pex6 Complex JF - International journal of molecular sciences N2 - Peroxisome biogenesis disorders (PBDs) are nontreatable hereditary diseases with a broad range of severity. Approximately 65% of patients are affected by mutations in the peroxins Pex1 and Pex6. The proteins form the heteromeric Pex1/Pex6 complex, which is important for protein import into peroxisomes. To date, no structural data are available for this AAA+ ATPase complex. However, a wealth of information can be transferred from low-resolution structures of the yeast scPex1/scPex6 complex and homologous, well-characterized AAA+ ATPases. We review the abundant records of missense mutations described in PBD patients with the aim to classify and rationalize them by mapping them onto a homology model of the human Pex1/Pex6 complex. Several mutations concern functionally conserved residues that are implied in ATP hydrolysis and substrate processing. Contrary to fold destabilizing mutations, patients suffering from function-impairing mutations may not benefit from stabilizing agents, which have been reported as potential therapeutics for PBD patients. KW - Zellweger syndrome spectrum disorder (ZSSD) KW - Zellweger KW - structure KW - Pex1 KW - Pex6 KW - mutation Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms20153756 SN - 1422-0067 VL - 20 IS - 15 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hargis, Hailey A1 - Gotsch, Sybil G. A1 - Porada, Philipp A1 - Moore, Georgianne W. A1 - Ferguson, Briana A1 - Van Stan, John T. T1 - Arboreal epiphytes in the soil-atmosphere interface BT - how often are the biggest "buckets" in the canopy empty? JF - Geosciences N2 - Arboreal epiphytes (plants residing in forest canopies) are present across all major climate zones and play important roles in forest biogeochemistry. The substantial water storage capacity per unit area of the epiphyte "bucket" is a key attribute underlying their capability to influence forest hydrological processes and their related mass and energy flows. It is commonly assumed that the epiphyte bucket remains saturated, or near-saturated, most of the time; thus, epiphytes (particularly vascular epiphytes) can store little precipitation, limiting their impact on the forest canopy water budget. We present evidence that contradicts this common assumption from (i) an examination of past research; (ii) new datasets on vascular epiphyte and epi-soil water relations at a tropical montane cloud forest (Monteverde, Costa Rica); and (iii) a global evaluation of non-vascular epiphyte saturation state using a process-based vegetation model, LiBry. All analyses found that the external and internal water storage capacity of epiphyte communities is highly dynamic and frequently available to intercept precipitation. Globally, non-vascular epiphytes spend <20% of their time near saturation and regionally, including the humid tropics, model results found that non-vascular epiphytes spend similar to 1/3 of their time in the dry state (0-10% of water storage capacity). Even data from Costa Rican cloud forest sites found the epiphyte community was saturated only 1/3 of the time and that internal leaf water storage was temporally dynamic enough to aid in precipitation interception. Analysis of the epi-soils associated with epiphytes further revealed the extent to which the epiphyte bucket emptied-as even the canopy soils were often <50% saturated (29-53% of all days observed). Results clearly show that the epiphyte bucket is more dynamic than currently assumed, meriting further research on epiphyte roles in precipitation interception, redistribution to the surface and chemical composition of "net" precipitation waters reaching the surface. KW - precipitation KW - interception KW - bromeliad KW - vascular epiphyte KW - non-vascular epiphyte KW - lichens KW - bryophytes KW - water storage capacity Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences9080342 SN - 2076-3263 VL - 9 IS - 8 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Garcia, Francisca T1 - Imaginería fotosensible: guadalupe santa cruz y la escritura con grabado T1 - Photosensitive imagery: guadalufe santa cruz and writing with engraving JF - Pasavento : revista de estudios hispánicos N2 - A partir de la metáfora “imaginería fotosensible”, el ensayo explora cómo el fotograbado afecta la escritura de la autora chilena guadalupe santa Cruz. el grabado no solo implica aquí una técnica artística, sino también una imaginación crítica sobre el movimiento, las huellas y la memoria colectiva. la revisión del programa literario de la autora (ars poetica), permite afirmar que el grabado brinda la principal estrategia para activar la prosa y arraigar la palabra en el contexto de alienación social generalizada en la post-dictadura chilena (década del 90). Si bien planteo que la influencia de esta imaginación del gra-bado está presente en todo el proyecto literario de la autora, me centro en la revisión de dos novelas: Quebrada: las cordilleras en andas (2007) y la reciente-mente publicada y póstuma Esta parcela (2015), las cuales incorporan una serie de imágenes impresas. N2 - Starting from the suggested metaphor “photosensitive imagery“, this essay explores how the photoengraving affects the creative writing by Chilean authoress guadalupe santa Cruz. Here we understand the photoengraving in its transit from a technique to a critical imagination about movement, traces Pasavento. Revista de Estudios Hispánicos, vol. V, n.º 1 (invierno 2017), pp. 53-62, ISSN: 2255-450554Francisca Garcíaand collective memory. through a revision of santa Cruz’s literary program (ars poetica), it is possible to affirm that the photoengraving activates and roots the literacy, in the context of a generalized social alienation in the Chilean post-dictatorial times (90’s). although I argue the photoengraving’s imagination be present in her whole literary project, I focus in two specific novels which add iconographic series: Quebrada: las cordilleras en andas (2007) and the recently and posthumous, Esta parcela (2015 KW - Guadalupe Santa Cruz KW - Photoengraving KW - Writing KW - Transference KW - Movement KW - Body Y1 - 2017 SN - 2255-4505 VL - 5 SP - 53 EP - 62 PB - Universidad de Alcalá, Servicio Publicaciones CY - Madrid ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Martin-Lopez, Berta A1 - Leister, Ines A1 - Cruz, Pedro Lorenzo A1 - Palomo, Ignacio A1 - Gret-Regamey, Adrienne A1 - Harrison, Paula A. A1 - Lavorel, Sandra A1 - Locatelli, Bruno A1 - Luque, Sandra A1 - Walz, Ariane T1 - Nature’s contributions to people in mountains BT - a review JF - PLoS one N2 - Mountains play a key role in the provision of nature’s contributions to people (NCP) worldwide that support societies’ quality of life. Simultaneously, mountains are threatened by multiple drivers of change. Due to the complex interlinkages between biodiversity, quality of life and drivers of change, research on NCP in mountains requires interdisciplinary approaches. In this study, we used the conceptual framework of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and the notion of NCP to determine to what extent previous research on ecosystem services in mountains has explored the different components of the IPBES conceptual framework. We conducted a systematic review of articles on ecosystem services in mountains published up to 2016 using the Web of Science and Scopus databases. Descriptive statistical and network analyses were conducted to explore the level of research on the components of the IPBES framework and their interactions. Our results show that research has gradually become more interdisciplinary by studying higher number of NCP, dimensions of quality of life, and indirect drivers of change. Yet, research focusing on biodiversity, regulating NCP and direct drivers has decreased over time. Furthermore, despite the fact that research on NCP in mountains becoming more policy-oriented over time, mainly in relation to payments for ecosystem services, institutional responses remained underexplored in the reviewed studies. Finally, we discuss the relevant knowledge gaps that should be addressed in future research in order to contribute to IPBES. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0217847 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 14 IS - 6 PB - PLoS CY - San Fransisco ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hartlieb, Matthias A1 - Catrouillet, Sylvain A1 - Kuroki, Agnes A1 - Sanchez-Cano, Carlos A1 - Peltier, Raoul A1 - Perrier, Sebastien T1 - Stimuli-responsive membrane activity of cyclic-peptide-polymer conjugates JF - Chemical science N2 - Cyclic peptide nanotubes (CPNT) consisting of an even number of amino acids with an alternating chirality are highly interesting materials in a biomedical context due to their ability to insert themselves into cellular membranes. However, unwanted unspecific interactions between CPNT and non-targeted cell membranes are a major drawback. To solve this issue we have synthetized a series of CPNT-polymer conjugates with a cleavable covalent connection between macromolecule and peptide. As a result, the polymers form a stabilizing and shielding shell around the nanotube that can be cleaved on demand to generate membrane active CPNT from non-active conjugates. This approach enables us to control the stacking and lateral aggregation of these materials, thus leading to stimuli responsive membrane activity. Moreover, upon activation, the systems can be adjusted to form nanotubes with an increased length instead of aggregates. We were able to study the dynamics of these systems in detail and prove the concept of stimuli responsive membrane interaction using CPNT-polymer conjugates to permeabilize liposomes as well as mammalian cell membranes. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c9sc00756c SN - 2041-6520 SN - 2041-6539 VL - 10 IS - 21 SP - 5476 EP - 5483 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sokolov, Andrey A1 - Huang, Qiushi A1 - Senf, Friedmar A1 - Feng, Jiangtao A1 - Lemke, Stephanie A1 - Alimov, Svyatoslav A1 - Knedel, Jeniffa A1 - Zeschke, Thomas A1 - Kutz, Oliver A1 - Seliger, Tino A1 - Gwalt, Grzegorz A1 - Schäfers, Franz A1 - Siewert, Frank A1 - Kozhevnikov, Igor A1 - Qi, Runze A1 - Zhang, Zhong A1 - Li, Wenbin A1 - Wang, Zhanshan T1 - Optimized highly efficient multilayer-coated blazed gratings for the tender X-ray region JF - Optics express : the international electronic journal of optics N2 - The optimized design of multilayer-coated blazed gratings (MLBG) for high-flux tender X-ray monochromators was systematically studied by numerical simulations. The resulting correlation between the multilayer d-spacing and grating blaze angle significantly deviated from the one predicted by conventional equations. Three high line density gratings with different blaze angles were fabricated and coated by the same Cr/C multilayer. The MLBG with an optimal blaze angle of 1.0 degrees showed a record efficiency reaching 60% at 3.1 keV and 4.1 keV. The measured efficiencies of all three gratings were consistent with calculated results proving the validity of the numerical simulation and indicating a more rigorous way to design the optimal MLBG structure. Published by The Optical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.27.016833 SN - 1094-4087 VL - 27 IS - 12 SP - 16833 EP - 16846 PB - Optical Society of America CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cordonnier, Guillaume A1 - Bovy, Benoit A1 - Braun, Jean T1 - A versatile, linear complexity algorithm for flow routing in topographies with depressions JF - Earth surface dynamics N2 - We present a new algorithm for solving the common problem of flow trapped in closed depressions within digital elevation models, as encountered in many applications relying on flow routing. Unlike other approaches (e.g., the Priority-Flood depression filling algorithm), this solution is based on the explicit computation of the flow paths both within and across the depressions through the construction of a graph connecting together all adjacent drainage basins. Although this represents many operations, a linear time complexity can be reached for the whole computation, making it very efficient. Compared to the most optimized solutions proposed so far, we show that this algorithm of flow path enforcement yields the best performance when used in landscape evolution models. In addition to its efficiency, our proposed method also has the advantage of letting the user choose among different strategies of flow path enforcement within the depressions (i.e., filling vs. carving). Furthermore, the computed graph of basins is a generic structure that has the potential to be reused for solving other problems as well, such as the simulation of erosion. This sequential algorithm may be helpful for those who need to, e.g., process digital elevation models of moderate size on single computers or run batches of simulations as part of an inference study. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-7-549-2019 SN - 2196-6311 SN - 2196-632X VL - 7 IS - 2 SP - 549 EP - 562 PB - Copernicus CY - Göttingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Chaturvedi, Neha A1 - Mehrotra, Bagish A1 - Kumari, Sangeeta A1 - Gupta, Saurabh A1 - Subramanya, Hosahalli A1 - Saberwal, Gayatri T1 - Some data quality issues at ClinicalTrials.gov JF - Trials KW - ClinicalTrials KW - gov KW - Drugs KW - Biologicals KW - Clinical trial KW - Principal Investigator KW - Data quality KW - Database errors Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-019-3408-2 SN - 1745-6215 VL - 20 PB - BMC CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Volkert, Dorothee A1 - Beck, Anne Marie A1 - Cederholm, Tommy A1 - Cereda, Emanuele A1 - Cruz-Jentoft, Alfonso J. A1 - Goisser, Sabine A1 - de Groot, Lisette A1 - Grosshauser, Franz A1 - Kiesswetter, Eva A1 - Norman, Kristina A1 - Pourhassan, Maryam A1 - Reinders, Ilse A1 - Roberts, Helen C. A1 - Rolland, Yves A1 - Schneider, Stéphane M. A1 - Sieber, Cornel A1 - Thiem, Ulrich A1 - Visser, Marjolein A1 - Wijnhoven, Hanneke A1 - Wirth, Rainer T1 - Management of malnutrition in older patients BT - Current approaches, evidence and open questions JF - Journal of Clinical Medicine : open access journal N2 - Malnutrition is widespread in older people and represents a major geriatric syndrome with multifactorial etiology and severe consequences for health outcomes and quality of life. The aim of the present paper is to describe current approaches and evidence regarding malnutrition treatment and to highlight relevant knowledge gaps that need to be addressed. Recently published guidelines of the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) provide a summary of the available evidence and highlight the wide range of different measures that can be taken—from the identification and elimination of potential causes to enteral and parenteral nutrition—depending on the patient’s abilities and needs. However, more than half of the recommendations therein are based on expert consensus because of a lack of evidence, and only three are concern patient-centred outcomes. Future research should further clarify the etiology of malnutrition and identify the most relevant causes in order to prevent malnutrition. Based on limited and partly conflicting evidence and the limitations of existing studies, it remains unclear which interventions are most effective in which patient groups, and if specific situations, diseases or etiologies of malnutrition require specific approaches. Patient-relevant outcomes such as functionality and quality of life need more attention, and research methodology should be harmonised to allow for the comparability of studies. KW - Geriatric patients KW - older persons KW - malnutrition KW - therapy KW - interventions Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm8070974 SN - 2077-0383 VL - 8 IS - 7 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Brand, Ralf A1 - Cheval, Boris T1 - Theories to explain exercise motivation and physical inactivity BT - ways of expanding our current theoretical perspective JF - Frontiers in psychology KW - exercise KW - motivation KW - affect KW - automaticity KW - physical inactivity Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01147 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 10 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ringel, Lisa Maria A1 - Somogyvári, Márk A1 - Jalali, Mohammadreza A1 - Bayer, Peter T1 - Comparison of hydraulic and tracer tomography for discrete fracture network inversion JF - Geosciences N2 - Fractures serve as highly conductive preferential flow paths for fluids in rocks, which are difficult to exactly reconstruct in numerical models. Especially, in low-conductive rocks, fractures are often the only pathways for advection of solutes and heat. The presented study compares the results from hydraulic and tracer tomography applied to invert a theoretical discrete fracture network (DFN) that is based on data from synthetic cross-well testing. For hydraulic tomography, pressure pulses in various injection intervals are induced and the pressure responses in the monitoring intervals of a nearby observation well are recorded. For tracer tomography, a conservative tracer is injected in different well levels and the depth-dependent breakthrough of the tracer is monitored. A recently introduced transdimensional Bayesian inversion procedure is applied for both tomographical methods, which adjusts the fracture positions, orientations, and numbers based on given geometrical fracture statistics. The used Metropolis-Hastings-Green algorithm is refined by the simultaneous estimation of the measurement error’s variance, that is, the measurement noise. Based on the presented application to invert the two-dimensional cross-section between source and the receiver well, the hydraulic tomography reveals itself to be more suitable for reconstructing the original DFN. This is based on a probabilistic representation of the inverted results by means of fracture probabilities. KW - hydraulic tomography KW - tracer tomography KW - DFN KW - Bayesian inversion KW - heterogeneity KW - fracture KW - hydrogeophysics Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences9060274 SN - 2076-3263 VL - 9 IS - 6 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kayhan, Ezgi A1 - Heil, Lieke A1 - Kwisthout, Johan A1 - van Rooij, Iris A1 - Hunnius, Sabine A1 - Bekkering, Harold T1 - Young children integrate current observations, priors and agent information to predict others’ actions JF - PLOS ONE / Public Library of Science N2 - From early on in life, children are able to use information from their environment to form predictions about events. For instance, they can use statistical information about a population to predict the sample drawn from that population and infer an agent’s preferences from systematic violations of random sampling. We investigated whether and how young children infer an agent’s sampling biases. Moreover, we examined whether pupil data of toddlers follow the predictions of a computational model based on the causal Bayesian network formalization of predictive processing. We formalized three hypotheses about how different explanatory variables (i.e., prior probabilities, current observations, and agent characteristics) are used to predict others’ actions. We measured pupillary responses as a behavioral marker of ‘prediction errors’ (i.e., the perceived mismatch between what one’s model of an agent predicts and what the agent actually does). Pupillary responses of 24-month-olds, but not 18-month-olds, showed that young children integrated information about current observations, priors and agents to make predictions about agents and their actions. These findings shed light on the mechanisms behind toddlers’ inferences about agent-caused events. To our knowledge, this is the first study in which young children's pupillary responses are used as markers of prediction errors, which were qualitatively compared to the predictions by a computational model based on the causal Bayesian network formalization of predictive processing. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0200976 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 14 IS - 5 PB - PLOS CY - San Fransisco ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Frommhold, Martin A1 - Heim, Arend A1 - Barabanov, Mikhail A1 - Maier, Franziska A1 - Mühle, Ralf-Udo A1 - Smirenski, Sergei M. A1 - Heim, Wieland T1 - Breeding habitat and nest-site selection by an obligatory "nest-cleptoparasite", the Amur Falcon Falco amurensis JF - Ecology and evolution N2 - The selection of a nest site is crucial for successful reproduction of birds. Animals which re-use or occupy nest sites constructed by other species often have limited choice. Little is known about the criteria of nest-stealing species to choose suitable nesting sites and habitats. Here, we analyze breeding-site selection of an obligatory "nest-cleptoparasite", the Amur Falcon Falco amurensis. We collected data on nest sites at Muraviovka Park in the Russian Far East, where the species breeds exclusively in nests of the Eurasian Magpie Pica pica. We sampled 117 Eurasian Magpie nests, 38 of which were occupied by Amur Falcons. Nest-specific variables were assessed, and a recently developed habitat classification map was used to derive landscape metrics. We found that Amur Falcons chose a wide range of nesting sites, but significantly preferred nests with a domed roof. Breeding pairs of Eurasian Hobby Falco subbuteo and Eurasian Magpie were often found to breed near the nest in about the same distance as neighboring Amur Falcon pairs. Additionally, the occurrence of the species was positively associated with bare soil cover, forest cover, and shrub patches within their home range and negatively with the distance to wetlands. Areas of wetlands and fallow land might be used for foraging since Amur Falcons mostly depend on an insect diet. Additionally, we found that rarely burned habitats were preferred. Overall, the effect of landscape variables on the choice of actual nest sites appeared to be rather small. We used different classification methods to predict the probability of occurrence, of which the Random forest method showed the highest accuracy. The areas determined as suitable habitat showed a high concordance with the actual nest locations. We conclude that Amur Falcons prefer to occupy newly built (domed) nests to ensure high nest quality, as well as nests surrounded by available feeding habitats. KW - cleptoparasitism KW - fire KW - habitat use KW - machine learning KW - magpie KW - nest-site selection KW - random forest Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5878 SN - 2045-7758 VL - 9 IS - 24 SP - 14430 EP - 14441 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Eilers, Elisabeth Johanna A1 - Heger, Tina T1 - Past Competition Affects Offspring Foliar Terpenoid Concentrations, Seed Traits, and Fitness in the Invasive Forb Erodium cicutarium (Geraniaceae) JF - Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution N2 - (1) Environmental conditions experienced in the past may lead to intraspecific differences in ecological and chemical traits of plants, which likely affect future responses to altered or new environments. Whether competition by neighbors is such a trait-shaping factor is not yet well-known. We aimed to understand how the level of ancestral plant competition affects traits related to plant fitness and resource allocation, reproduction, and (phyto-)toxin accumulation in offspring, and whether a potential differentiation in these traits can be found in different geographic origins of which one belongs to the native and one to the invaded range. (2) We compared differentiation of the following traits in offspring plants of multiple populations in Erodium cicutarium (Geraniaceae): biomass, seed production, seed traits related to dispersal and germination, and concentrations of foliar mono- and sesquiterpenes. We tested the allelopatic potential of aqueous extracts of the same E. cicutarium plants on seeds of five different plant families. (3) In plants originating from populations that experienced high levels of competition, we found twice as high monoterpene concentrations. These plants also produced more biomass and a higher proportion of ripe to unripe seeds until harvesting. Seeds originating from high competition sites were shorter. Aqueous E. cicutarium leaf extracts with high terpenoid content reduced radicle length of Zea mays and radicle and hypocotyl length of E. cicutarium seedlings. (4) The results of this study provide first evidence that the surrounding vegetation may shape chemo-ecological plant traits that may be fundamental for competitive ability. Our study calls for more research testing whether competition experienced in the native range may lead to an enhanced capability of plants to establish populations and spread in a new range. KW - resource allocation KW - specialized metabolites KW - gas chromatography-mass spectrometry KW - seed morphology KW - plant interactions KW - eco-evolutionary experience Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2019.00392 SN - 2296-701X VL - 7 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Masson, Torsten A1 - Bamberg, Sebastian A1 - Stricker, Michael A1 - Heidenreich, Anna T1 - "We can help ourselves": does community resilience buffer against the negative impact of flooding on mental health? JF - Natural hazards and earth system sciences N2 - Empirical evidence of the relationship between social support and post-disaster mental health provides support for a general beneficial effect of social support (main-effect model; Wheaton, 1985). From a theoretical perspective, a buffering effect of social support on the negative relationship between disaster-related stress and mental health also seems plausible (stress-buffering model; Wheaton, 1985). Previous studies, however, (a) have paid less attention to the buffering effect of social support and (b) have mainly relied on interpersonal support (but not collective-level support such as community resilience) when investigating this issue. This previous work might have underestimated the effect of support on post-disaster mental health. Building on a sample of residents in Germany recently affected by flooding (N = 118), we show that community resilience to flooding (but not general interpersonal social support) buffered against the negative effects of flooding on post-disaster mental health. The results support the stress-buffering model and call for a more detailed look at the relationship between support and resilience and post-disaster adjustment, including collective-level variables. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-19-2371-2019 SN - 1561-8633 SN - 1684-9981 VL - 19 IS - 11 SP - 2371 EP - 2384 PB - Copernicus CY - Göttingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lu, Yong-Ping A1 - Reichetzeder, Christoph A1 - Prehn, Cornelia A1 - von Websky, Karoline A1 - Slowinski, Torsten A1 - Chen, You-Peng A1 - Yin, Liang-Hong A1 - Kleuser, Burkhard A1 - Yang, Xue-Song A1 - Adamski, Jerzy A1 - Hocher, Berthold T1 - Fetal serum metabolites are independently associated with Gestational diabetes mellitus JF - Cellular physiology and biochemistry : international journal of experimental cellular physiology, biochemistry and pharmacology N2 - Background/Aims: Gestational diabetes (GDM) might be associated with alterations in the metabolomic profile of affected mothers and their offspring. Until now, there is a paucity of studies that investigated both, the maternal and the fetal serum metabolome in the setting of GDM. Mounting evidence suggests that the fetus is not just passively affected by gestational disease but might play an active role in it. Metabolomic studies performed in maternal blood and fetal cord blood could help to better discern distinct fetal from maternal disease interactions. Methods: At the time of birth, serum samples from mothers and newborns (cord blood samples) were collected and screened for 163 metabolites utilizing tandem mass spectrometry. The cohort consisted of 412 mother/child pairs, including 31 cases of maternal GDM. Results: An initial non-adjusted analysis showed that eight metabolites in the maternal blood and 54 metabolites in the cord blood were associated with GDM. After Benjamini-Hochberg (BH) procedure and adjustment for confounding factors for GDM, fetal phosphatidylcholine acyl-alkyl C 32:1 and proline still showed an independent association with GDM. Conclusions: This study found metabolites in cord blood which were associated with GDM, even after adjustment for established risk factors of GDM. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study demonstrating an independent association between fetal serum metabolites and maternal GDM. Our findings might suggest a potential effect of the fetal metabolome on maternal GDM. (c) 2018 The Author(s) Published by S. Karger AG, Basel KW - Gestational diabetes KW - Metabolomics KW - Phosphatidylcholine acyl-alkyl C 32:1 KW - Proline Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1159/000487119 SN - 1015-8987 SN - 1421-9778 VL - 45 IS - 2 SP - 625 EP - 638 PB - Karger CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Paragas, Erickson M. A1 - Humphreys, Sara C. A1 - Min, Joshua A1 - Joswig-Jones, Carolyn A. A1 - Leimkühler, Silke A1 - Jones, Jeffrey P. T1 - ecoAO BT - a simple system for the study of human aldehyde oxidases role in drug metabolism JF - ACS OMEGA N2 - Although aldehyde oxidase (AO) is an important hepatic drug-metabolizing enzyme, it remains understudied and is consequently often overlooked in preclinical studies, an oversight that has resulted in the failure of multiple clinical trials. AO’s preclusion to investigation stems from the following: (1) difficulties synthesizing metabolic standards due to the chemospecificity and regiospecificity of the enzyme and (2) significant inherent variability across existing in vitro systems including liver cytosol, S9 fractions, and primary hepatocytes, which lack specificity and generate discordant expression and activity profiles. Here, we describe a practical bacterial biotransformation system, ecoAO, addressing both issues simultaneously. ecoAO is a cell paste of MoCo-producing Escherichia coli strain TP1017 expressing human AO. It exhibits specific activity toward known substrates, zoniporide, 4-trans-(N,N-dimethylamino)cinnamaldehyde, O6-benzylguanine, and zaleplon; it also has utility as a biocatalyst, yielding milligram quantities of synthetically challenging metabolite standards such as 2-oxo-zoniporide. Moreover, ecoAO enables routine determination of kcat and V/K, which are essential parameters for accurate in vivo clearance predictions. Furthermore, ecoAO has potential as a preclinical in vitro screening tool for AO activity, as demonstrated by its metabolism of 3-aminoquinoline, a previously uncharacterized substrate. ecoAO promises to provide easy access to metabolites with the potential to improve pharmacokinetic clearance predictions and guide drug development. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.7b01054 SN - 2470-1343 VL - 2 SP - 4820 EP - 4827 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lukan, Tjaša A1 - Machens, Fabian A1 - Coll, Anna A1 - Baebler, Špela A1 - Messerschmidt, Katrin A1 - Gruden, Kristina T1 - Plant X-tender BT - an extension of the AssemblX system for the assembly and expression of multigene constructs in plants JF - PLOS ONE N2 - Cloning multiple DNA fragments for delivery of several genes of interest into the plant genome is one of the main technological challenges in plant synthetic biology. Despite several modular assembly methods developed in recent years, the plant biotechnology community has not widely adopted them yet, probably due to the lack of appropriate vectors and software tools. Here we present Plant X-tender, an extension of the highly efficient, scar-free and sequence-independent multigene assembly strategy AssemblX, based on overlap-depended cloning methods and rare-cutting restriction enzymes. Plant X-tender consists of a set of plant expression vectors and the protocols for most efficient cloning into the novel vector set needed for plant expression and thus introduces advantages of AssemblX into plant synthetic biology. The novel vector set covers different backbones and selection markers to allow full design flexibility. We have included ccdB counterselection, thereby allowing the transfer of multigene constructs into the novel vector set in a straightforward and highly efficient way. Vectors are available as empty backbones and are fully flexible regarding the orientation of expression cassettes and addition of linkers between them, if required. We optimised the assembly and subcloning protocol by testing different scar-less assembly approaches: the noncommercial SLiCE and TAR methods and the commercial Gibson assembly and NEBuilder HiFi DNA assembly kits. Plant X-tender was applicable even in combination with low efficient homemade chemically competent or electrocompetent Escherichia coli. We have further validated the developed procedure for plant protein expression by cloning two cassettes into the newly developed vectors and subsequently transferred them to Nicotiana benthamiana in a transient expression setup. Thereby we show that multigene constructs can be delivered into plant cells in a streamlined and highly efficient way. Our results will support faster introduction of synthetic biology into plant science. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0190526 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 13 IS - 1 PB - Public Library of Science CY - San Fransisco ER - TY - GEN A1 - Ayzel, Georgy A1 - Izhitskiy, Alexander ED - Xu, Z Peng T1 - Coupling physically based and data-driven models for assessing freshwater inflow into the Small Aral Sea T2 - Innovative Water Resources Management in a Changing Environment – Understanding and Balancing Interactions between Humankind and Nature N2 - The Aral Sea desiccation and related changes in hydroclimatic conditions on a regional level is a hot topic for past decades. The key problem of scientific research projects devoted to an investigation of modern Aral Sea basin hydrological regime is its discontinuous nature - the only limited amount of papers takes into account the complex runoff formation system entirely. Addressing this challenge we have developed a continuous prediction system for assessing freshwater inflow into the Small Aral Sea based on coupling stack of hydrological and data-driven models. Results show a good prediction skill and approve the possibility to develop a valuable water assessment tool which utilizes the power of classical physically based and modern machine learning models both for territories with complex water management system and strong water-related data scarcity. The source code and data of the proposed system is available on a Github page (https://github.com/SMASHIproject/IWRM2018). Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-379-151-2018 SN - 2199-899X VL - 379 SP - 151 EP - 158 PB - Copernicus CY - Göttingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Giulbudagian, Michael A1 - Yealland, Guy A1 - Hönzke, S. A1 - Edlich, A. A1 - Geisendörfer, Birte A1 - Kleuser, Burkhard A1 - Hedtrich, Sarah A1 - Calderon, Marcelo T1 - Breaking the Barrier BT - potent anti-inflammatory activity following efficient topical delivery of etanercept using thermoresponsive nanogels JF - Theranostics N2 - Topical administration permits targeted, sustained delivery of therapeutics to human skin. Delivery to the skin, however, is typically limited to lipophilic molecules with molecular weight of < 500 Da, capable of crossing the stratum corneum. Nevertheless, there are indications protein delivery may be possible in barrier deficient skin, a condition found in several inflammatory skin diseases such as psoriasis, using novel nanocarrier systems. Methods: Water in water thermo-nanoprecipitation; dynamic light scattering; zeta potential measurement; nanoparticle tracking analysis; atomic force microscopy; cryogenic transmission electron microscopy; UV absorption; centrifugal separation membranes; bicinchoninic acid assay; circular dichroism; TNF alpha binding ELISA; inflammatory skin equivalent construction; human skin biopsies; immunohistochemistry; fluorescence microscopy; western blot; monocyte derived Langerhans cells; ELISA Results: Here, we report the novel synthesis of thermoresponsive nanogels (tNG) and the stable encapsulation of the anti-TNFa fusion protein etanercept (ETR) (similar to 150 kDa) without alteration to its structure, as well as temperature triggered release from the tNGs. Novel tNG synthesis without the use of organic solvents was conducted, permitting in situ encapsulation of protein during assembly, something that holds great promise for easy manufacture and storage. Topical application of ETR loaded tNGs to inflammatory skin equivalents or tape striped human skin resulted in efficient ETR delivery throughout the SC and into the viable epidermis that correlated with clear anti-inflammatory effects. Notably, effective ETR delivery depended on temperature triggered release following topical application. Conclusion: Together these results indicate tNGs hold promise as a biocompatible and easy to manufacture vehicle for stable protein encapsulation and topical delivery into barrier-deficient skin. KW - thermoresponsive-nanogel KW - topical KW - anti-inflammatory therapy KW - etanercept KW - skin equivalents Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.7150/thno.21668 SN - 1838-7640 VL - 8 IS - 2 SP - 450 EP - 463 PB - Ivyspring International Publisher CY - Lake haven ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mkaouer, Bessem A1 - Hammoudi-Nassib, Sarra A1 - Amara, Samiha A1 - Chaabene, Helmi T1 - Evaluating the physical and basic gymnastics skills assessment for International Gymnastics Federation JF - Biology of Sport N2 - This study aimed to determine the specific physical and basic gymnastics skills considered critical in gymnastics talent identification and selection as well as in promoting men's artistic gymnastics performances. Fifty-one boys from a provincial gymnastics team (age 11.03 ± 0.95 years; height 1.33 ± 0.05 m; body mass 30.01 ± 5.53 kg; body mass index [BMI] 16.89 ± 3.93 kg/m²) regularly competing at national level voluntarily participated in this study. Anthropometric measures as well as the men's artistic gymnastics physical test battery (i.e., International Gymnastics Federation [FIG] age group development programme) were used to assess the somatic and physical fitness profile of participants, respectively. The physical characteristics assessed were: muscle strength, flexibility, speed, endurance, and muscle power. Test outcomes were subjected to a principal components analysis to identify the most representative factors. The main findings revealed that power speed, isometric and explosive strength, strength endurance, and dynamic and static flexibility are the most determinant physical fitness aspects of the talent selection process in young male artistic gymnasts. These findings are of utmost importance for talent identification, selection, and development. KW - Young male gymnast KW - Fitness performance KW - Assessment KW - Selection KW - Development Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5114/biolsport.2018.78059 SN - 0860-021X SN - 2083-1862 VL - 35 IS - 4 SP - 383 EP - 392 PB - Inst Sport CY - Warsaw ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Busch, Verena A1 - Klaus, Valentin H. A1 - Penone, Caterina A1 - Schäfer, Deborah A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Prati, Daniel A1 - Müller, Jörg A1 - Socher, Stephanie A. A1 - Niinemets, Ülo A1 - Penuelas, Josep A1 - Hölzel, Norbert A1 - Fischer, Markus A1 - Kleinebecker, Till T1 - Nutrient stoichiometry and land use rather than species richness determine plant functional diversity JF - Ecology and evolution N2 - Plant functional traits reflect individual and community ecological strategies. They allow the detection of directional changes in community dynamics and ecosystemic processes, being an additional tool to assess biodiversity than species richness. Analysis of functional patterns in plant communities provides mechanistic insight into biodiversity alterations due to anthropogenic activity. Although studies have consi-dered of either anthropogenic management or nutrient availability on functional traits in temperate grasslands, studies combining effects of both drivers are scarce. Here, we assessed the impacts of management intensity (fertilization, mowing, grazing), nutrient stoichiometry (C, N, P, K), and vegetation composition on community-weighted means (CWMs) and functional diversity (Rao's Q) from seven plant traits in 150 grasslands in three regions in Germany, using data of 6 years. Land use and nutrient stoichiometry accounted for larger proportions of model variance of CWM and Rao's Q than species richness and productivity. Grazing affected all analyzed trait groups; fertilization and mowing only impacted generative traits. Grazing was clearly associated with nutrient retention strategies, that is, investing in durable structures and production of fewer, less variable seed. Phenological variability was increased. Fertilization and mowing decreased seed number/mass variability, indicating competition-related effects. Impacts of nutrient stoichiometry on trait syndromes varied. Nutrient limitation (large N:P, C:N ratios) promoted species with conservative strategies, that is, investment in durable plant structures rather than fast growth, fewer seed, and delayed flowering onset. In contrast to seed mass, leaf-economics variability was reduced under P shortage. Species diversity was positively associated with the variability of generative traits. Synthesis. Here, land use, nutrient availability, species richness, and plant functional strategies have been shown to interact complexly, driving community composition, and vegetation responses to management intensity. We suggest that deeper understanding of underlying mechanisms shaping community assembly and biodiversity will require analyzing all these parameters. KW - biodiversity exploratories KW - fertilization KW - leaf economics KW - mowing KW - nutrient availability KW - nutrient ratios KW - phosphorus KW - plant functional traits KW - plant strategies KW - seed mass Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3609 SN - 2045-7758 VL - 8 IS - 1 SP - 601 EP - 616 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Soto, Paulina T1 - Una reeducación crítica: emergencia de revistas literarias digitales chilenas en el transcurso de la primera década del siglo XXI T1 - A criticism re-education: the emergence of ChileanWeb-supported literary journals in the course of the first decade of the twenty-first century JF - Estudios Avanzados N2 - Para inicios del siglo XXI se instalan nuevos medios de crítica literaria a través de soportes digitales. Estas publicaciones tensionan un campo letrado chileno que enfrenta cuestionamientos. Gestionadas mayoritariamente por creadores precedentes de la generación del 90, producen reaproximaciones a la cultura letrada. El objetivo es desafiar dinámicas de interacción lectora heredadas vinculadas a las luces patria, desarrollistas, de tipo linear y ciegas a la heterogeneidad cultural vivida en la época. El proceso comprende, de tal modo, una reeducación crítica centrada en ensayar poéticas de productividad analítico-literarias heteróclitas. Se trata de una interacción lectora diversa, sujeta a retóricas íntimas de apreciación estética, que ponen en cuestión las nociones tradicionales mayoritariamente instructiva de la cultura chilena. N2 - In the course of the first decade of the twenty-first century, Web-supported Literary Journals emerged as a mean to socialize and democratize Chilean Literary Culture. The tendency, conducted by creators associated to the 90’ generation poetry challenged traditional ways of cultural interaction as well as encouraged aesthetic communication, and otherness understanding. In this way, the tendency encouraged a cultural scenario in dispute. Traditional cultural institutions appeared to be corrupted by the post dictatorial progressivist national ethos. Linked to an affective and dialogic reader-encounter, the new critical approach shifted the traditional notion of lectureship as national instruction. KW - web-supported literary journals KW - literary canon KW - chilean literary critic KW - literature and education KW - Isabel Allende Y1 - 2018 SN - 0718-5022 SN - 0718-5014 IS - 28 SP - 121 EP - 137 PB - Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH) CY - Santiago ER - TY - GEN A1 - Hogan, Barbara A1 - Rasche, Christoph T1 - Emergency Care in Germany being re-assessed Hybrid Medical Care Model Seen As Potential Answer T2 - Eurasian Journal of emergency medicine Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5152/eajem.2017.00001 SN - 2149-5807 SN - 2149-6048 VL - 16 SP - 47 EP - 47 PB - Aves CY - Sisli ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Totz, Sonja Juliana A1 - Petri, Stefan A1 - Lehmann, Jascha A1 - Peukert, Erik A1 - Coumou, Dim T1 - Exploring the sensitivity of Northern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation to different surface temperature forcing using a statistical-dynamical atmospheric model JF - Nonlinear processes in geophysics N2 - Climate and weather conditions in the mid-latitudes are strongly driven by the large-scale atmosphere circulation. Observational data indicate that important components of the large-scale circulation have changed in recent decades, including the strength and the width of the Hadley cell, jets, storm tracks and planetary waves. Here, we use a new statistical-dynamical atmosphere model (SDAM) to test the individual sensitivities of the large-scale atmospheric circulation to changes in the zonal temperature gradient, meridional temperature gradient and global-mean temperature. We analyze the Northern Hemisphere Hadley circulation, jet streams, storm tracks and planetary waves by systematically altering the zonal temperature asymmetry, the meridional temperature gradient and the global-mean temperature. Our results show that the strength of the Hadley cell, storm tracks and jet streams depend, in terms of relative changes, almost linearly on both the global-mean temperature and the meridional temperature gradient, whereas the zonal temperature asymmetry has little or no influence. The magnitude of planetary waves is affected by all three temperature components, as expected from theoretical dynamical considerations. The width of the Hadley cell behaves nonlinearly with respect to all three temperature components in the SDAM. Moreover, some of these observed large-scale atmospheric changes are expected from dynamical equations and are therefore an important part of model validation. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-26-1-2019 SN - 1023-5809 SN - 1607-7946 VL - 26 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - Copernicus CY - Göttingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gailleton, Boris A1 - Mudd, Simon M. A1 - Clubb, Fiona J. A1 - Peifer, Daniel A1 - Hurst, Martin D. T1 - A segmentation approach for the reproducible extraction and quantification of knickpoints from river long profiles JF - Earth surface dynamics N2 - Changes in the steepness of river profiles or abrupt vertical steps (i.e. waterfalls) are thought to be indicative of changes in erosion rates, lithology or other factors that affect landscape evolution. These changes are referred to as knickpoints or knickzones and are pervasive in bedrock river systems. Such features are thought to reveal information about landscape evolution and patterns of erosion, and therefore their locations are often reported in the geomorphic literature. It is imperative that studies reporting knickpoints and knickzones use a reproducible method of quantifying their locations, as their number and spatial distribution play an important role in interpreting tectonically active landscapes. In this contribution we introduce a reproducible knickpoint and knickzone extraction algorithm that uses river profiles transformed by integrating drainage area along channel length (the so-called integral or chi method). The profile is then statistically segmented and the differing slopes and step changes in the elevations of these segments are used to identify knickpoints, knickzones and their relative magnitudes. The output locations of identified knickpoints and knickzones compare favourably with human mapping: we test the method on Santa Cruz Island, CA, using previously reported knickzones and also test the method against a new dataset from the Quadrilatero Ferrifero in Brazil. The algorithm allows for the extraction of varying knickpoint morphologies, including stepped, positive slope-break (concave upward) and negative slope-break knickpoints. We identify parameters that most affect the resulting knickpoint and knickzone locations and provide guidance for both usage and outputs of the method to produce reproducible knickpoint datasets. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-7-211-2019 SN - 2196-6311 SN - 2196-632X VL - 7 IS - 1 SP - 211 EP - 230 PB - Copernicus CY - Göttingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gou, Tingyu A1 - Liu, Rui A1 - Kliem, Bernhard A1 - Wang, Yuming A1 - Veronig, Astrid M. T1 - The birth of a coronal mass ejection JF - Science Advances N2 - The Sun’s atmosphere is frequently disrupted by coronal mass ejections (CMEs), coupled with flares and energetic particles. The coupling is usually attributed to magnetic reconnection at a vertical current sheet connecting the flare and CME, with the latter embedding a helical magnetic structure known as flux rope. However, both the origin of flux ropes and their nascent paths toward eruption remain elusive. Here, we present an observation of how a stellar-sized CME bubble evolves continuously from plasmoids, mini flux ropes that are barely resolved, within half an hour. The eruption initiates when plasmoids springing from a vertical current sheet merge into a leading plasmoid, which rises at increasing speeds and expands impulsively into the CME bubble, producing hard x-ray bursts simultaneously. This observation illuminates a complete CME evolutionary path capable of accommodating a wide variety of plasma phenomena by bridging the gap between microscale and macroscale dynamics. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aau7004 SN - 2375-2548 VL - 5 IS - 3 PB - American Assoc. for the Advancement of Science CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kolora, Sree Rohit Raj A1 - Weigert, Anne A1 - Saffari, Amin A1 - Kehr, Stephanie A1 - Walter Costa, Maria Beatriz A1 - Spröer, Cathrin A1 - Indrischek, Henrike A1 - Chintalapati, Manjusha A1 - Lohse, Konrad A1 - Doose, Gero A1 - Overmann, Jörg A1 - Bunk, Boyke A1 - Bleidorn, Christoph A1 - Grimm-Seyfarth, Annegret A1 - Henle, Klaus A1 - Nowick, Katja A1 - Faria, Rui A1 - Stadler, Peter F. A1 - Schlegel, Martin T1 - Divergent evolution in the genomes of closely related lacertids, Lacerta viridis and L. bilineata, and implications for speciation JF - GigaScience N2 - Background Lacerta viridis and Lacerta bilineata are sister species of European green lizards (eastern and western clades, respectively) that, until recently, were grouped together as the L. viridis complex. Genetic incompatibilities were observed between lacertid populations through crossing experiments, which led to the delineation of two separate species within the L. viridis complex. The population history of these sister species and processes driving divergence are unknown. We constructed the first high-quality de novo genome assemblies for both L. viridis and L. bilineata through Illumina and PacBio sequencing, with annotation support provided from transcriptome sequencing of several tissues. To estimate gene flow between the two species and identify factors involved in reproductive isolation, we studied their evolutionary history, identified genomic rearrangements, detected signatures of selection on non-coding RNA, and on protein-coding genes. Findings Here we show that gene flow was primarily unidirectional from L. bilineata to L. viridis after their split at least 1.15 million years ago. We detected positive selection of the non-coding repertoire; mutations in transcription factors; accumulation of divergence through inversions; selection on genes involved in neural development, reproduction, and behavior, as well as in ultraviolet-response, possibly driven by sexual selection, whose contribution to reproductive isolation between these lacertid species needs to be further evaluated. Conclusion The combination of short and long sequence reads resulted in one of the most complete lizard genome assemblies. The characterization of a diverse array of genomic features provided valuable insights into the demographic history of divergence among European green lizards, as well as key species differences, some of which are candidates that could have played a role in speciation. In addition, our study generated valuable genomic resources that can be used to address conservation-related issues in lacertids. KW - sister species KW - PacBio and Illumina KW - de novo hybrid assembly KW - transcripts KW - noncoding RNA KW - zinc fingers KW - positive selection KW - UV response KW - inversions KW - gene flow Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/gigascience/giy160 SN - 2047-217X VL - 8 IS - 2 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rodriguez-Zuluaga, Juan A1 - Stolle, Claudia T1 - Interhemispheric field-aligned currents at the edges of equatorial plasma depletions JF - Scientific reports N2 - A comprehensive description of electromagnetic processes related to equatorial plasma depletions (EPDs) is essential for understanding their evolution and day-to-day variability. Recently, field-aligned currents (FACs) flowing at both western and eastern edges of EPDs were observed to be interhemispheric rather than anti-parallel about the dip equator, as suggested by previous theoretical studies. In this paper, we investigate the spatial and temporal variability of the FACs orientation using simultaneous measurements of electron density and magnetic field gathered by ESA’s Swarm constellation mission. By using empirical models, we assess the role of the Pedersen conductance in the preference of the FACs to close either in the northern or southern magnetic hemisphere. Here we show that the closure of the FACs agrees with an electrostatic regime determined by a hemispherical asymmetry of the Pedersen conductance. That is, the EPD-related FACs close at lower altitudes in the hemisphere with the highest conductivity. The evidence of this conclusion stands on the general agreement between the longitudinal and seasonal variability of both the conductivity and the FACs orientation. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-37955-z SN - 2045-2322 VL - 9 PB - Nature Publ. Group CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Nagel, Oliver A1 - Frey, Manuel A1 - Gerhardt, Matthias A1 - Beta, Carsten T1 - Harnessing Motile Amoeboid Cells as Trucks for Microtransport and -Assembly JF - Advanced science N2 - Cell-driven microtransport is one of the most prominent applications in the emerging field of biohybrid systems. While bacterial cells have been successfully employed to drive the swimming motion of micrometer-sized cargo particles, the transport capacities of motile adherent cells remain largely unexplored. Here, it is demonstrated that motile amoeboid cells can act as efficient and versatile trucks to transport microcargo. When incubated together with microparticles, cells of the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum readily pick up and move the cargo particles. Relying on the unspecific adhesive properties of the amoeba, a wide range of different cargo materials can be used. The cell-driven transport can be directionally guided based on the chemotactic responses of amoeba to chemoattractant gradients. On the one hand, the cargo can be assembled into clusters in a self-organized fashion, relying on the developmentally induced chemotactic aggregation of cells. On the other hand, chemoattractant gradients can be externally imposed to guide the cellular microtrucks to a desired location. Finally, larger cargo particles of different shapes that exceed the size of a single cell by more than an order of magnitude, can also be transported by the collective effort of large numbers of motile cells. KW - biohybrid microsystems KW - chemotaxis KW - Dictyostelium discoideum KW - microtransport and -assembly Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.201801242 SN - 2198-3844 VL - 6 IS - 3 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Czapka, Sophia A1 - Klassert, Annegret A1 - Festman, Julia T1 - Executive functions and language BT - their differential influence on mono- vs. multilingual spelling in primary school JF - Frontiers in psychology N2 - We aimed at unveiling the role of executive functions (EFs) and language-related skills in spelling for mono- versus multilingual primary school children. We focused on EF and language-related skills, in particular lexicon size and phonological awareness (PA), because these factors were found to predict spelling in studies predominantly conducted with monolinguals, and because multilingualism can modulate these factors. There is evidence for (a) a bilingual advantage in EF due to constant high cognitive demands through language control, (b) a smaller mental lexicon in German and (c) possibly better PA. Multilinguals in Germany show on average poorer German language proficiency, what can influence performance on language-based tasks negatively. Thus, we included two spelling tasks to tease apart spelling based on lexical knowledge (i.e., word spelling) from spelling based on non-lexical strategies (i.e., non-word spelling). Our sample consisted of heterogeneous third graders from Germany: 69 monolinguals (age: M = 108 months) and 57 multilinguals (age: M = 111 months). On less language-dependent tasks (e.g., non-word spelling, PA, intelligence, short-term memory (STM) and three EF tasks testing switching, inhibition, and working memory) performance of both groups did not differ significantly. However, multilinguals performed significantly more poorly on tasks measuring German lexicon size and word spelling than monolinguals. Regression analyses revealed that for multilinguals, inhibition was related to spelling, whereas switching was the only EF component to influence word spelling in monolinguals and non-word spelling performance in both groups. By adding lexicon size and other language-related factors to the regression models, the influence of switching was reduced to insignificant effects, but inhibition remained significant for multilinguals. Language-related skills best predicted spelling and both language groups shared those variables: PA for word spelling, and STM for non-word spelling. Additionally, multilinguals’ word spelling performance was also predicted by their German lexicon size, and non-word spelling performance by PA. This study offers an in-depth look at spelling acquisition at a certain point of literacy development. Mono- and multilinguals have the predominant factors for spelling in common, but probably due to superior language knowledge, monolinguals were already able to make use of EF during spelling. For multilinguals, German lexicon size was more important for spelling than EF. For multilinguals’ spelling these functions might come into play only at a later stage. KW - bilingualism KW - spelling KW - literacy acquisition KW - executive functions KW - lexicon size KW - primary school Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00097 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 10 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hadad, Yemima T1 - Hasidic Myth-Activism BT - Martin Buber’s Theopolitical Revision of Volkish Nationalism JF - Religions N2 - Since the 1970s, Buber has often been suspected of being a Volkish thinker. This essay reconsiders the affinity of Buber’s late writings with Volkish ideology. It examines the allegations against Buber’s Volkish thought in light of his later biblical and Hasidic writings. By illuminating the ideological affinity between these two modes of thought, the essay explains how Buber aims to depart from the dangers of myth without rejecting myth as such. I argue that Buber’s relationship to myth can help us to explain his critique of nationalism. My basic argument is that in his struggle with hyper-nationalism, Buber follows the Baal Shem Tov and his struggle against Sabbateanism. Like the Besht, Buber does not reject myth, but seeks instead to repair it from within. Whereas hyper-nationalism uses myth to advance its political goals, Buber seeks to reposition ethics within a mythic framework. I view Buber’s exegesis and commentaries on biblical and Hasidic myths as myth-activism. KW - Myth-Activism KW - Martin Buber KW - theopolitics KW - Zionism KW - Hasidism KW - myth KW - activism KW - Volkism KW - Judaism KW - politics Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10020096 SN - 2077-1444 VL - 10 IS - 2 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sowemimo, Oluwakemi T. A1 - Knox-Brown, Patrick A1 - Borcherds, Wade A1 - Rindfleisch, Tobias A1 - Thalhammer, Anja A1 - Daughdrill, Gary W. T1 - Conserved Glycines Control Disorder and Function in the Cold-Regulated Protein, COR15A JF - Biomolecules N2 - Cold-regulated (COR) 15A is an intrinsically disordered protein (IDP) from Arabidopsis thaliana important for freezing tolerance. During freezing-induced cellular dehydration, COR15A transitions from a disordered to mostly alpha-helical structure. We tested whether mutations that increase the helicity of COR15A also increase its protective function. Conserved glycine residues were identified and mutated to alanine. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy was used to identify residue-specific changes in helicity for wildtype (WT) COR15A and the mutants. Circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy was used to monitor the coil-helix transition in response to increasing concentrations of trifluoroethanol (TFE) and ethylene glycol. The impact of the COR15A mutants on the stability of model membranes during a freeze-thaw cycle was investigated by fluorescence spectroscopy. The results of these experiments showed the mutants had a higher content of alpha-helical structure and the increased alpha-helicity improved membrane stabilization during freezing. Comparison of the TFE- and ethylene glycol-induced coil-helix transitions support our conclusion that increasing the transient helicity of COR15A in aqueous solution increases its ability to stabilize membranes during freezing. Altogether, our results suggest the conserved glycine residues are important for maintaining the disordered structure of COR15A but are also compatible with the formation of alpha-helical structure during freezing induced dehydration. KW - COR15A KW - Late embryogenesis abundant KW - intrinsically disordered proteins KW - Trifluoroethanol KW - Nuclear magnetic resonance Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/biom9030084 SN - 2218-273X VL - 9 IS - 3 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bubner, Ben A1 - Buchheit, Ramona A1 - Friedrich, Frank A1 - Kummer, Volker A1 - Scholler, Markus T1 - Species identification of European forest pathogens of the genus Milesina (Pucciniales) using urediniospore morphology and molecular barcoding including M. woodwardiana sp. nov. JF - MycoKeys N2 - Species of rust fungi of the genus Milesina (Pucciiastraceae, Pucciniales) are distributed mainly in northern temperate regions. They host-alternate between needles of fir (Abies spp.) and fronds of ferns (species of Polypodiales). Milesina species are distinguished based on host taxonomy and urediniospore morphology. In this study, 12 species of Milesina from Europe were revised. Specimens were examined by light and scanning electron microscopy for urediniospore morphology with a focus on visualising germ pores (number, size and position) and echinulation. In addition, barcode loci (ITS, nad6, 28S) were used for species delimitation and for molecular phylogenetic analyses. Barcodes of 72 Milesina specimens were provided, including 11 of the 12 species. Whereas urediniospore morphology features were sufficient to distinguish all 12 Milesina species except for 2 (M. blechni and M. kriegeriana), ITS sequences separated only 4 of 11 species. Sequencing with 28S and nad6 did not improve species resolution. Phylogenetic analysis, however, revealed four phylogenetic groups within Milesina that also correlate with specific urediniospore characters (germ pore number and position and echinulation). These groups are proposed as new sections within Milesina (sections Milesina, Vogesiacae M. Scholler & Bubner, sect. nov., Scolopendriorum M. Scholler & Bubner, sect. nov. and Carpaticae M. Scholler & Bubner, sect. nov.). In addition, Milesina woodwardiana Buchheit & M. Scholler, sp. nov. on Woodwardia radicans, a member of the type section Milesina, is newly described. An identification key for European Milesina species, based on urediniospore features, is provided. KW - Abies alba KW - Polypodiales KW - GBOL KW - germ pores KW - host alternation KW - Uredinopsis KW - Europe Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3897/mycokeys.48.30350 SN - 1314-4057 SN - 1314-4049 IS - 48 SP - 1 EP - 40 PB - Pensoft Publishers CY - Sofia ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schoonover, Heather A. A1 - Gret-Regamey, Adrienne A1 - Metzger, Marc J. A1 - Ruiz-Frau, Ana A1 - Santos-Reis, Margarida A1 - Scholte, Samantha S. K. A1 - Walz, Ariane A1 - Nicholas, Kimberly A. T1 - Creating space, aligning motivations, and building trust BT - a practical framework for stakeholder engagement based on experience in 12 ecosystem services case studies JF - Ecology and society : a journal of integrative science for resilience and sustainability N2 - Ecosystem services inherently involve people, whose values help define the benefits of nature's services. It is thus important for researchers to involve stakeholders in ecosystem services research. However, a simple and practicable framework to guide such engagement, and in particular to help researchers anticipate and consider key issues and challenges, has not been well explored. Here, we use experience from the 12 case studies in the European Operational Potential of Ecosystem Research Applications (OPERAs) project to propose a stakeholder engagement framework comprising three key elements: creating space, aligning motivations, and building trust. We argue that involving stakeholders in research demands thoughtful reflection from the researchers about what kind of space they want to create, including if and how they want to bring different interests together, how much space they want to allow for critical discussion, and whether there is a role for particular stakeholders to serve as conduits between others. In addition, understanding their own motivations—including values, knowledge, goals, and desired benefits—will help researchers decide when and how to involve stakeholders, identify areas of common ground and potential disagreement, frame the project appropriately, set expectations, and ensure each party is able to see benefits of engaging with each other. Finally, building relationships with stakeholders can be difficult but considering the roles of existing relationships, time, approach, reputation, and belonging can help build mutual trust. Although the three key elements and the paths between them can play out differently depending on the particular research project, we suggest that a research design that considers how to create the space in which researchers and stakeholders will meet, align motivations between researchers and stakeholders, and build mutual trust will help foster productive researcher–stakeholder relationships. KW - cocreated knowledge KW - ecosystem services KW - participatory research KW - research design KW - stakeholder engagement KW - transdisciplinary research Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-10061-240111 SN - 1708-3087 VL - 24 IS - 1 PB - Resilience Alliance CY - Wolfville ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Reschke, Maria A1 - Rehfeld, Kira A1 - Laepple, Thomas T1 - Empirical estimate of the signal content of Holocene temperature proxy records JF - Climate of the past : an interactive open access journal of the European Geosciences Union N2 - Proxy records from climate archives provide evidence about past climate changes, but the recorded signal is affected by non-climate-related effects as well as time uncertainty. As proxy-based climate reconstructions are frequently used to test climate models and to quantitatively infer past climate, we need to improve our understanding of the proxy record signal content as well as the uncertainties involved. In this study, we empirically estimate signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of temperature proxy records used in global compilations of the middle to late Holocene (last 6000 years). This is achieved through a comparison of the correlation of proxy time series from nearby sites of three compilations and model time series extracted at the proxy sites from two transient climate model simulations: a Holocene simulation of the ECHAM5/MPI-OM model and the Holocene part of the TraCE-21ka simulation. In all comparisons, we found the mean correlations of the proxy time series on centennial to millennial timescales to be low (R < 0.2), even for nearby sites, which resulted in low SNR estimates. The estimated SNRs depend on the assumed time uncertainty of the proxy records, the timescale analysed, and the model simulation used. Using the spatial correlation structure of the ECHAM5/MPI-OM simulation, the estimated SNRs on centennial timescales ranged from 0.05 - assuming no time uncertainty - to 0.5 for a time uncertainty of 400 years. On millennial timescales, the estimated SNRs were generally higher. Use of the TraCE-21ka correlation structure generally resulted in lower SNR estimates than for ECHAM5/MPI-OM. As the number of available high-resolution proxy records continues to grow, a more detailed analysis of the signal content of specific proxy types should become feasible in the near future. The estimated low signal content of Holocene temperature compilations should caution against over-interpretation of these multi-proxy and multisite syntheses until further studies are able to facilitate a better characterisation of the signal content in paleoclimate records. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-521-2019 SN - 1814-9324 SN - 1814-9332 VL - 15 IS - 2 SP - 521 EP - 537 PB - Copernicus CY - Göttingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Renans, Agata A1 - De Veaugh-Geiss, Joseph P. T1 - Experimental Studies on it-Clefts and Predicate Interpretation JF - Semantics and pragmatics N2 - There is an ongoing discussion in the literature whether the series of sentences ‘It’s not α that did P. α and β did P.’ is acceptable or not. Whereas the homogeneity approach in Büring & Križ 2013, Križ 2016, and Križ 2017 predicts these sentences to be unacceptable, the alternative-based approach predicts acceptability depending on the predicate being interpreted distributively or non- distributively (among others, Horn 1981, Velleman et al. 2012, Renans 2016a,b). We report on three experiments testing the predictions of both types of approaches. These studies provide empirical data that not only bears on these approaches, but also allows us to distinguish between different accounts of cleft exhaustivity that might otherwise make the same predictions. The results of the three studies reported here suggest that the acceptability of clefts depends on the interpretation of the predicate, thereby posing a serious challenge to the homogeneity approach, and contributing to the ongoing discussion on the semantics of it-clefts. KW - it-clefts KW - exhaustivity KW - homogeneity KW - distributive,collective, and mixed predicates KW - distributive vs. non-distributive interpretation KW - experimental study Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3765/sp.12.11 SN - 1937-8912 VL - 12 PB - Linguistic Society of America CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Krapf, Diego A1 - Lukat, Nils A1 - Marinari, Enzo A1 - Metzler, Ralf A1 - Oshanin, Gleb A1 - Selhuber-Unkel, Christine A1 - Squarcini, Alessio A1 - Stadler, Lorenz A1 - Weiss, Matthias A1 - Xu, Xinran T1 - Spectral Content of a Single Non-Brownian Trajectory JF - Physical review : X, Expanding access N2 - Time-dependent processes are often analyzed using the power spectral density (PSD) calculated by taking an appropriate Fourier transform of individual trajectories and finding the associated ensemble average. Frequently, the available experimental datasets are too small for such ensemble averages, and hence, it is of a great conceptual and practical importance to understand to which extent relevant information can be gained from S(f, T), the PSD of a single trajectory. Here we focus on the behavior of this random, realization-dependent variable parametrized by frequency f and observation time T, for a broad family of anomalous diffusions-fractional Brownian motion with Hurst index H-and derive exactly its probability density function. We show that S(f, T) is proportional-up to a random numerical factor whose universal distribution we determine-to the ensemble-averaged PSD. For subdiffusion (H < 1/2), we find that S(f, T) similar to A/f(2H+1) with random amplitude A. In sharp contrast, for superdiffusion (H > 1/2) S(f, T) similar to BT2H-1/f(2) with random amplitude B. Remarkably, for H > 1/2 the PSD exhibits the same frequency dependence as Brownian motion, a deceptive property that may lead to false conclusions when interpreting experimental data. Notably, for H > 1/2 the PSD is ageing and is dependent on T. Our predictions for both sub-and superdiffusion are confirmed by experiments in live cells and in agarose hydrogels and by extensive simulations. KW - Biological Physics KW - Interdisciplinary Physics KW - Statistical Physics Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.9.011019 SN - 2160-3308 VL - 9 IS - 1 PB - American Physical Society CY - College Park ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Muster, Sina A1 - Riley, William J. A1 - Roth, Kurt A1 - Langer, Moritz A1 - Aleina, Fabio Cresto A1 - Koven, Charles D. A1 - Lange, Stephan A1 - Bartsch, Annett A1 - Grosse, Guido A1 - Wilson, Cathy J. A1 - Jones, Benjamin M. A1 - Boike, Julia T1 - Size distributions of arctic waterbodies reveal consistent relations in their statistical moments in space and time JF - Frontiers in Earth Science N2 - Arctic lowlands are characterized by large numbers of small waterbodies, which are known to affect surface energy budgets and the global carbon cycle. Statistical analysis of their size distributions has been hindered by the shortage of observations at sufficiently high spatial resolutions. This situation has now changed with the high-resolution (<5 m) circum-Arctic Permafrost Region Pond and Lake (PeRL) database recently becoming available. We have used this database to make the first consistent, high-resolution estimation of Arctic waterbody size distributions, with surface areas ranging from 0.0001 km(2) (100 m(2)) to 1 km(2). We found that the size distributions varied greatly across the thirty study regions investigated and that there was no single universal size distribution function (including power-law distribution functions) appropriate across all of the study regions. We did, however, find close relationships between the statistical moments (mean, variance, and skewness) of the waterbody size distributions from different study regions. Specifically, we found that the spatial variance increased linearly with mean waterbody size (R-2 = 0.97, p < 2.2e-16) and that the skewness decreased approximately hyperbolically. We have demonstrated that these relationships (1) hold across the 30 Arctic study regions covering a variety of (bio)climatic and permafrost zones, (2) hold over time in two of these study regions for which multi-decadal satellite imagery is available, and (3) can be reproduced by simulating rising water levels in a high-resolution digital elevation model. The consistent spatial and temporal relationships between the statistical moments of the waterbody size distributions underscore the dominance of topographic controls in lowland permafrost areas. These results provide motivation for further analyses of the factors involved in waterbody development and spatial distribution and for investigations into the possibility of using statistical moments to predict future hydrologic dynamics in the Arctic. KW - permafrost KW - hydrology KW - waterbodies KW - size distribution KW - thermokarst KW - statistical moments KW - ponds KW - lakes Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2019.00005 SN - 2296-6463 VL - 7 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hellwig, Niels A1 - Tatti, Dylan A1 - Sartori, Giacomo A1 - Anschlag, Kerstin A1 - Graefe, Ulfert A1 - Egli, Markus A1 - Gobat, Jean-Michel A1 - Broll, Gabriele T1 - Modeling spatial patterns of humus forms in montane and subalpine forests BT - implications of local variability for upscaling JF - Sustainability N2 - Humus forms are a distinctive morphological indicator of soil organic matter decomposition. The spatial distribution of humus forms depends on environmental factors such as topography, climate and vegetation. In montane and subalpine forests, environmental influences show a high spatial heterogeneity, which is reflected by a high spatial variability of humus forms. This study aims at examining spatial patterns of humus forms and their dependence on the spatial scale in a high mountain forest environment (Val di Sole/Val di Rabbi, Trentino, Italian Alps). On the basis of the distributions of environmental covariates across the study area, we described humus forms at the local scale (six sampling sites), slope scale (60 sampling sites) and landscape scale (30 additional sampling sites). The local variability of humus forms was analyzed with regard to the ground cover type. At the slope and landscape scale, spatial patterns of humus forms were modeled applying random forests and ordinary kriging of the model residuals. The results indicate that the occurrence of the humus form classes Mull, Mullmoder, Moder, Amphi and Eroded Moder generally depends on the topographical position. Local-scale patterns are mostly related to micro-topography (local accumulation and erosion sites) and ground cover, whereas slope-scale patterns are mainly connected with slope exposure and elevation. Patterns at the landscape scale show a rather irregular distribution, as spatial models at this scale do not account for local to slope-scale variations of humus forms. Moreover, models at the slope scale perform distinctly better than at the landscape scale. In conclusion, the results of this study highlight that landscape-scale predictions of humus forms should be accompanied by local- and slope-scale studies in order to enhance the general understanding of humus form patterns. KW - soil organic matter decomposition KW - spatial modeling KW - random forest KW - multi-scale analysis KW - forest soils KW - Italian Alps Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/su11010048 SN - 2071-1050 VL - 11 IS - 1 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Heinrichs, Steffi A1 - Ammer, Christian A1 - Mund, Martina A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Budde, Sabine A1 - Fischer, Markus A1 - Mueller, Joerg A1 - Schoening, Ingo A1 - Schulze, Ernst-Detlef A1 - Schmidt, Wolfgang A1 - Weckesser, Martin A1 - Schall, Peter T1 - Landscape-Scale Mixtures of Tree Species are More Effective than Stand-Scale Mixtures for Biodiversity of Vascular Plants, Bryophytes and Lichens JF - Forests N2 - Tree species diversity can positively affect the multifunctionality of forests. This is why conifer monocultures of Scots pine and Norway spruce, widely promoted in Central Europe since the 18th and 19th century, are currently converted into mixed stands with naturally dominant European beech. Biodiversity is expected to benefit from these mixtures compared to pure conifer stands due to increased abiotic and biotic resource heterogeneity. Evidence for this assumption is, however, largely lacking. Here, we investigated the diversity of vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens at the plot (alpha diversity) and at the landscape (gamma diversity) level in pure and mixed stands of European beech and conifer species (Scots pine, Norway spruce, Douglas fir) in four regions in Germany. We aimed to identify compositions of pure and mixed stands in a hypothetical forest landscape that can optimize gamma diversity of vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens within regions. Results show that gamma diversity of the investigated groups is highest when a landscape comprises different pure stands rather than tree species mixtures at the stand scale. Species mainly associated with conifers rely on light regimes that are only provided in pure conifer forests, whereas mixtures of beech and conifers are more similar to beech stands. Combining pure beech and pure conifer stands at the landscape scale can increase landscape level biodiversity and conserve species assemblages of both stand types, while landscapes solely composed of stand scale tree species mixtures could lead to a biodiversity reduction of a combination of investigated groups of 7 up to 20%. KW - Fagus sylvatica KW - Pinus sylvestris KW - Picea abies KW - Pseudotsuga menziesii KW - forest management KW - tree species diversity KW - forest conversion KW - gamma diversity KW - landscape scale KW - Biodiversity Exploratories Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/f10010073 SN - 1999-4907 VL - 10 IS - 1 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Awan, Asad Bashir A1 - Schiebel, Juliane A1 - Boehm, Alexander A1 - Nitschke, Joerg A1 - Sarwar, Yasra A1 - Schierack, Peter A1 - Ali, Aamir T1 - Association of biofilm formation and cytotoxic potential with multidrug resistance in clinical isolates of pseudomonas aeruginosa JF - EXCLI Journal N2 - Multidrug resistant (MDR) Pseudomonas aeruginosa having strong biofilm potential and virulence factors are a serious threat for hospitalized patients having compromised immunity In this study, 34 P. aeruginosa isolates of human origin (17 MDR and 17 non-MDR clinical isolates) were checked for biofilm formation potential in enriched and minimal media. The biofilms were detected using crystal violet method and a modified software package of the automated VideoScan screening method. Cytotoxic potential of the isolates was also investigated on HepG2, LoVo and T24 cell lines using automated VideoScan technology. Pulse field gel electrophoresis revealed 10 PFGE types in MDR and 8 in non-MDR isolates. Although all isolates showed biofilm formation potential, strong biofilm formation was found more in enriched media than in minimal media. Eight MDR isolates showed strong biofilm potential in both enriched and minimal media by both detection methods. Strong direct correlation between crystal violet and VideoScan methods was observed in identifying strong biofilm forming isolates. High cytotoxic effect was observed by 4 isolates in all cell lines used while 6 other isolates showed high cytotoxic effect on T24 cell line only. Strong association of multidrug resistance was found with biofilm formation as strong biofilms were observed significantly higher in MDR isolates (p-value < 0.05) than non-MDR isolates. No significant association of cytotoxic potential with multidrug resistance or biofilm formation was found (p-value > 0.05). The MDR isolates showing significant cytotoxic effects and strong biofilm formation impose a serious threat for hospitalized patients with weak immune system. KW - Pseudomonas aeruginosa KW - multidrug resistance KW - biofilm KW - cytotoxicity KW - VideoScan technology Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.17179/excli2018-1948 SN - 1611-2156 VL - 18 SP - 79 EP - 90 PB - Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors CY - Dortmund ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Al Nakeeb, Noah A1 - Kochovski, Zdravko A1 - Li, Tingting A1 - Zhang, Youjia A1 - Lu, Yan A1 - Schmidt, Bernhard V. K. J. T1 - Poly(ethylene glycol) brush-b-poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone)-based double hydrophilic block copolymer particles crosslinked via crystalline alpha-cyclodextrin domains JF - RSC Advances N2 - Self-assembly of block copolymers is a significant area of polymer science. The self-assembly of completely water-soluble block copolymers is of particular interest, albeit a challenging task. In the present work the self-assembly of a linear-brush architecture block copolymer, namely poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone)-b-poly(oligoethylene glycol methacrylate) (PVP-b-POEGMA), in water is studied. Moreover, the assembled structures are crosslinked via alpha-CD host/guest complexation in a supramolecular way. The crosslinking shifts the equilibrium toward aggregate formation without switching off the dynamic equilibrium of double hydrophilic block copolymer (DHBC). As a consequence, the self-assembly efficiency is improved without extinguishing the unique DHBC self-assembly behavior. In addition, decrosslinking could be induced without a change in concentration by adding a competing complexation agent for alpha-CD. The self-assembly behavior was followed by DLS measurement, while the presence of the particles could be observed via cryo-TEM before and after crosslinking. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c8ra10672j SN - 2046-2069 VL - 9 IS - 9 SP - 4993 EP - 5001 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Barbosa, Luis Romero A1 - de Lira, Nicholas Borges A1 - Rabelo Coelho, Victor Hugo A1 - Bernard Passerat de Silans, Alain Marie A1 - Gadelha, Andre Nobrega A1 - Almeida, Cristiano das Neves T1 - Stability of Soil Moisture Patterns Retrieved at Different Temporal Resolutions in a Tropical Watershed JF - Revista brasileira de ciencias do solo N2 - Above and underground hydrological processes depend on soil moisture (SM) variability, driven by different environmental factors that seldom are well-monitored, leading to a misunderstanding of soil water temporal patterns. This study investigated the stability of the SM temporal dynamics to different monitoring temporal resolutions around the border between two soil types in a tropical watershed. Four locations were instrumented in a small-scale watershed (5.84 km(2)) within the tropical coast of Northeast Brazil, encompassing different soil types (Espodossolo Humiluvico or Carbic Podzol, and Argissolo Vermelho-Amarelo or Haplic Acrisol), land covers (Atlantic Forest, bush vegetation, and grassland) and topographies (flat and moderate slope). The SM was monitored at a temporal resolution of one hour along the 2013-2014 hydrological year and then resampled a resolutions of 6 h, 12 h, 1 day, 2 days, 4 days, 7 days, and 15 days. Descriptive statistics, temporal variability, time-stability ranking, and hierarchical clustering revealed uneven associations among SM time components. The results show that the time-invariant component ruled SM temporal variability over the time-varying parcel, either at high or low temporal resolutions. Time-steps longer than 2 days affected the mean statistical metrics of the SM time-variant parcel. Additionally, SM at downstream and upstream sites behaved differently, suggesting that the temporal mean was regulated by steady soil properties (slope, restrictive layer, and soil texture), whereas their temporal anomalies were driven by climate (rainfall) and hydrogeological (groundwater level) factors. Therefore, it is concluded that around the border between tropical soil types, the distinct behaviour of time-variant and time-invariant components of SM time series reflects different combinations of their soil properties. KW - soil moisture variability KW - time-domain reflectometry KW - temporal resolution KW - Carbic Podzol KW - Haplic Acrisol Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1590/18069657rbcs20180236 SN - 0100-0683 VL - 43 PB - Sociedade Brasileira de Ciencia do Solo CY - Vicosa ER - TY - JOUR A1 - von Kalckreuth, Moritz Alexander T1 - Expansivität, Objektivität und Aktualität des Betroffenseins T1 - Expansiveness, objectivity, and actuality in affection T1 - ЭКСПАНСИВНОСТЬ, ОБЪЕКТИВНОСТЬ И АКТУАЛЬНОСТЬ АФФЕКТИВНОСТИ BT - Nicolai Hartmenn's Theory of Person, it's position in his Ontology of Intellectual Being and it's relations to Phenomenology BT - Nicolai Hartmanns Theorie der Person, ihre Verortung in seiner Ontologie geistigen Seins und ihr Verhältnis zur Phänomenologie BT - ТЕОРИЯ ЛИЧНОСТИ НИКОЛАЯ ГАРТМАНА, ЕЕ МЕСТО В ЕГО ОНТОЛОГИИ ДУХОВНОГО БЫТИЯ И ЕЕ ОТНОШЕНИЕ К ОНТОЛОГИИ JF - Horizon : studies in phenomenology : Studien zur Phänomenologie : fenomenologičeskie issledovanija : études phénoménologiques N2 - The aim of this paper is to discuss Nicolai Hartmann’s conception of personhood as developed in his philosophy of spiritual being. Many contemporary accounts of personhood are systematically focused on rational phenomena as self-consciousness or practical reasoning, which are understood as ‘conditions of personhood’. Apart from having some technical problems, those accounts limit our self-under-standing as persons on distinct rational properties and often fail to consider the sociocultural aspects of the personal situation. Nicolai Hartmann — although respecting the role of reason — understands personhood particularly as participation in a shared spiritual sphere called Objektiver Geist (objective spirit), which includes various intersubjective phenomena as languages, religion, moral, arts, and the sciences. Being part of this sphere seems to be more fundamental than having distinct rational properties, which requests a spiritual frame to be exerted. Further it is shown that Hartmann’s ontology of person also includes a notion of being affected by the existential weight of situations and other person’s actions — an idea often maintained by phenomenological positions. By regarding rational, intersubjective and affective aspects, Hartmann’s philosophy of person succeeds in offering a broad articulation of our self-understanding and may also be seen as providing a background to understand certain phenomena that are part of the personal situation. N2 - Целью данного исследования является анализ концепции личности у Николая Гартмана, разработанной в контексте его философии духовного бытия. Многие современные концепции личности фокусируются систематическим образом на рациональном феномене самосознания или практическом основании, которые и понимаются как «условия личности». Кроме того, что эти концепции имеют ряд технических проблем для своей реализации, они ограничивают са- мопонимание личности определенными рациональными свойствами и зачастую не способны учитывать социокультурный аспект личностной жизни. Николай Гартман — несмотря на его уважительное отношение к рациональному осмыслению — понимает личность в контексте ее участия в общей духовной сфере, названной объективным духом, который включает в себя различные интерсубъективные феномены, такие как языки, религия, мораль, искусство и наука. Способ бытия как часть этой сферы, по-видимому, более фундаментален, чем обладание конкретными рациональными свойствами, что в свою очередь предполагает наличие духовных ограничений. Также в статье показывается, что онтология личности у Гартмана подразумевает понятие аффектации экзистенциальной тяжестью ситуации и воздействием других личностей, что, в свою очередь, является расхожей идеей в феноменологии. Если принимать в расчет рациональные, интерсубъективные и аффективные аспекты, то философия личности Гартмана предлагает широкий спектр самопонимания личности и предлагает условия для постижения определенных феноменов, образующих личностную ситуацию. KW - Nicolai Hartmann KW - personhood KW - person KW - spiritual being KW - phenomenology KW - ontology KW - body KW - affection Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.21638/2226-5260-2019-8-1-211-229 SN - 2226-5260 SN - 2311-6986 VL - 8 IS - 1 SP - 211 EP - 229 PB - St. Petersburg University Press CY - St. Petersburg ER - TY - JOUR A1 - März, Moses Alexander T1 - Imagining a politics of relation BT - Glissant’s border thought and the German border JF - Tydskrif vir letterkunde N2 - This study explores the theoretical and political potentials of Édouard Glissant’s philosophy of relation and its approach to the issues of borders, migration, and the setup of political communities as proposed by his pensée nouvelle de la frontière (new border thought), against the background of the German migration crisis of 2015. The main argument of this article is that Glissant’s work offers an alternative epistemological and normative framework through which the contemporary political issues arising around the phenomenon of repressive border regimes can be studied. To demonstrate this point, this article works with Glissant’s border thought as an analytical lens and proposes a pathway for studying the contemporary German border regime. Particular emphasis is placed on the identification of potential areas where a Glissantian politics of relation could intervene with the goal of transforming borders from impermeable walls into points of passage. By exploring the political implications of his border thought, as well as the larger philosophical context from which it emerges, while using a transdisciplinary approach that borrows from literary and political studies, this work contributes to ongoing debates in postcolonial studies on borders and borderlessness, as well as Glissant’s political legacy in the twenty-first century. KW - Edouard Glissant KW - politics of relation KW - Germany KW - border regime Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.17159/2309-9070/tvl.v.56i1.6271 SN - 0041-476X VL - 56 IS - 1 SP - 49 EP - 61 PB - University of Pretoria CY - Pretoria ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Steppa, Constantin Beverly A1 - Holch, Tim Lukas T1 - HexagDLy-Processing hexagonally sampled data with CNNs in PyTorch JF - SoftwareX N2 - HexagDLy is a Python-library extending the PyTorch deep learning framework with convolution and pooling operations on hexagonal grids. It aims to ease the access to convolutional neural networks for applications that rely on hexagonally sampled data as, for example, commonly found in ground-based astroparticle physics experiments. KW - Convolutional neural networks KW - Hexagonal grid KW - PyTorch KW - Astroparticle physics Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.softx.2019.02.010 SN - 2352-7110 VL - 9 SP - 193 EP - 198 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Crane, Kylie Ann T1 - Anthropocene Presences and the Limits of Deferral BT - Alexis Wright's Carpentaria and The Swan Book JF - Open library of humanities N2 - Literary criticism, particularly ecocriticism, occupies an uneasy position with regard to activism: reading books (or plays, or poems) seems like a rather leisurely activity to be undertaking if our environment—our planet—is in crisis. And yet, critiquing the narratives that structure worlds and discourses is key to the activities of the (literary) critic in this time of crisis. If this crisis manifests as a ‘crisis of imagination’ (e.g. Ghosh), I argue that this not so much a crisis of the absence of texts that address the environmental disaster, but rather a failure to comprehend the presences of the Anthropocene in the present. To interpret (literary) texts in this framework must entail acknowledging and scrutinising the extent of the incapacity of the privileged reader to comprehend the crisis as presence and present rather than spatially or temporally remote. The readings of the novels Carpentaria (2006) and The Swan Book (2013) by Waanyi writer Alexis Wright (Australia) trace the uneven presences of Anthropocenes in the present by way of bringing future worlds (The Swan Book) to the contemporary (Carpentaria). In both novels, protagonists must forge survival amongst ruins of the present and future: the depicted worlds, in particular the representations of the disenfranchisement of indigenous inhabitants of the far north of the Australian continent, emerge as a critique of the intersections of capitalist and colonial projects that define modernity and its impact on the global climate. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.16995/olh.348 SN - 2056-6700 VL - 5 IS - 1 PB - Open library of humanities CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Petitgirard, Sylvian A1 - Sahle, C. J. A1 - Weis, C. A1 - Gilmore, K. A1 - Spiekermann, Georg A1 - Tse, J. S. A1 - Wilke, Max A1 - Cavallari, C. A1 - Cerantola, V A1 - Sternemann, Christian T1 - Magma properties at deep Earth’s conditions from electronic structure of silica JF - Geochemical perspectives letters N2 - SiO(2 )is the main component of silicate melts and thus controls their network structure and physical properties. The compressibility and viscosities of melts at depth are governed by their short range atomic and electronic structure. We measured the O K-edge and the Si L-2,L-3-edge in silica up to 110 GPa using X-ray Raman scattering spectroscopy, and found a striking match to calculated spectra based on structures from molecular dynamic simulations. Between 20 and 27 GPa, Si-[4] species are converted into a mixture of Si-[5] and Si-[6] species and between 60 and 70 GPa, Si-[6] becomes dominant at the expense of Si-[5] with no further increase up to at least 110 GPa. Coordination higher than 6 is only reached beyond 140 GPa, corroborating results from Brillouin scattering. Network modifying elements in silicate melts may shift this change in coordination to lower pressures and thus magmas could be denser than residual solids at the depth of the core-mantle boundary. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.7185/geochemlet.1902 SN - 2410-339X SN - 2410-3403 VL - 9 SP - 32 EP - 37 PB - Association of Geochemistry CY - Paris ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mota, Cristiano A1 - Esmaeeli Moghaddam Tabalvandani, Mariam A1 - Coelho, Catarina A1 - Santos-Silva, Teresa A1 - Wolff, Martin A1 - Foti, Alessandro A1 - Leimkühler, Silke A1 - Romao, Maria Joao T1 - Human aldehyde oxidase (hAOX1) BT - structure determination of the Moco-free form of the natural variant G1269R and biophysical studies of single nucleotide polymorphisms JF - FEBS Open Bio N2 - Human aldehyde oxidase (hAOX1) is a molybdenum enzyme with high toxicological importance, but its physiological role is still unknown. hAOX1 metabolizes different classes of xenobiotics and is one of the main drug-metabolizing enzymes in the liver, along with cytochrome P450. hAOX1 oxidizes and inactivates a large number of drug molecules and has been responsible for the failure of several phase I clinical trials. The interindividual variability of drug-metabolizing enzymes caused by single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) is highly relevant in pharmaceutical treatments. In this study, we present the crystal structure of the inactive variant G1269R, revealing the first structure of a molybdenum cofactor (Moco)-free form of hAOX1. These data allowed to model, for the first time, the flexible Gate 1 that controls access to the active site. Furthermore, we inspected the thermostability of wild-type hAOX1 and hAOX1 with various SNPs (L438V, R1231H, G1269R or S1271L) by CD spectroscopy and ThermoFAD, revealing that amino acid exchanges close to the Moco site can impact protein stability up to 10 degrees C. These results correlated with biochemical and structural data and enhance our understanding of hAOX1 and the effect of SNPs in the gene encoding this enzyme in the human population. EnzymesAldehyde oxidase (); xanthine dehydrogenase (); xanthine oxidase (). DatabasesStructural data are available in the Protein Data Bank under the accession number . KW - human aldehyde oxidase KW - molybdenum cofactor KW - single nucleotide polymorphism KW - xanthine oxidase Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/2211-5463.12617 SN - 2211-5463 VL - 9 IS - 5 SP - 925 EP - 934 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER -