TY - JOUR A1 - Niven, Robert K. A1 - Abel, Markus A1 - Schlegel, Michael A1 - Waldrip, Steven H. T1 - Maximum Entropy Analysis of Flow Networks: Theoretical Foundation and Applications JF - Entropy N2 - The concept of a "flow network"-a set of nodes and links which carries one or more flows-unites many different disciplines, including pipe flow, fluid flow, electrical, chemical reaction, ecological, epidemiological, neurological, communications, transportation, financial, economic and human social networks. This Feature Paper presents a generalized maximum entropy framework to infer the state of a flow network, including its flow rates and other properties, in probabilistic form. In this method, the network uncertainty is represented by a joint probability function over its unknowns, subject to all that is known. This gives a relative entropy function which is maximized, subject to the constraints, to determine the most probable or most representative state of the network. The constraints can include "observable" constraints on various parameters, "physical" constraints such as conservation laws and frictional properties, and "graphical" constraints arising from uncertainty in the network structure itself. Since the method is probabilistic, it enables the prediction of network properties when there is insufficient information to obtain a deterministic solution. The derived framework can incorporate nonlinear constraints or nonlinear interdependencies between variables, at the cost of requiring numerical solution. The theoretical foundations of the method are first presented, followed by its application to a variety of flow networks. KW - maximum entropy analysis KW - flow network KW - probabilistic inference Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/e21080776 SN - 1099-4300 VL - 21 IS - 8 SP - 776 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Posovszky, Carsten A1 - Roesler, Vreni Helen A1 - Becker, Sebastian A1 - Iven, Enno A1 - Hudert, Christian A1 - Ebinger, Friedrich A1 - Calvano, Claudia A1 - Warschburger, Petra T1 - Roles of Lactose and Fructose Malabsorption and Dietary Outcomes in Children Presenting with Chronic Abdominal Pain JF - Nutrients N2 - Intolerance to lactose or fructose is frequently diagnosed in children with chronic abdominal pain (CAP). However, the causal relationship remains a matter of discussion. A cohort of 253 patients, aged 7-12 years, presenting with unexplained CAP received standardized diagnostics. Additional diagnostic tests were performed based on their medical history and physical and laboratory investigations. Fructose and lactose hydrogen breath tests (H2BT) as well as empiric diagnostic elimination diets were performed in 135 patients reporting abdominal pain related to the consumption of lactose or fructose to evaluate carbohydrate intolerance as a potential cause of CAP. Carbohydrate malabsorption by H2BT was found in 55 (41%) out of 135 patients. An abnormal increase in H2BT was revealed in 30% (35/118) of patients after fructose consumption and in 18% (20/114) of patients after lactose administration. Forty-six percent (25/54) reported pain relief during a diagnostic elimination diet. In total, 17 patients had lactose malabsorption, 29 fructose malabsorption, and nine combined carbohydrate malabsorption. Carbohydrate intolerance as a cause of CAP was diagnosed at follow-up in only 18% (10/55) of patients with malabsorption after the elimination of the respective carbohydrate. Thus, carbohydrate malabsorption appears to be an incidental finding in children with functional abdominal pain disorders, rather than its cause. Therefore, testing of carbohydrate intolerance should only be considered in children with a strong clinical suspicion and with the goal to prevent long-term unnecessary dietary restrictions in children suffering from CAP. KW - chronic abdominal pain KW - children KW - fructose malabsorption KW - lactose intolerance KW - hydrogen breath test KW - functional abdominal pain disorders Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11123063 SN - 2072-6643 VL - 11 IS - 12 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Codutti, Agnese A1 - Bente, Klaas A1 - Faivre, Damien A1 - Klumpp, Stefan T1 - Chemotaxis in external fields: Simulations for active magnetic biological matter JF - PLoS Computational Biology : a new community journal N2 - The movement of microswimmers is often described by active Brownian particle models. Here we introduce a variant of these models with several internal states of the swimmer to describe stochastic strategies for directional swimming such as run and tumble or run and reverse that are used by microorganisms for chemotaxis. The model includes a mechanism to generate a directional bias for chemotaxis and interactions with external fields (e.g., gravity, magnetic field, fluid flow) that impose forces or torques on the swimmer. We show how this modified model can be applied to various scenarios: First, the run and tumble motion of E. coli is used to establish a paradigm for chemotaxis and investigate how it is affected by external forces. Then, we study magneto-aerotaxis in magnetotactic bacteria, which is biased not only by an oxygen gradient towards a preferred concentration, but also by magnetic fields, which exert a torque on an intracellular chain of magnets. We study the competition of magnetic alignment with active reorientation and show that the magnetic orientation can improve chemotaxis and thereby provide an advantage to the bacteria, even at rather large inclination angles of the magnetic field relative to the oxygen gradient, a case reminiscent of what is expected for the bacteria at or close to the equator. The highest gain in chemotactic velocity is obtained for run and tumble with a magnetic field parallel to the gradient, but in general a mechanism for reverse motion is necessary to swim against the magnetic field and a run and reverse strategy is more advantageous in the presence of a magnetic torque. This finding is consistent with observations that the dominant mode of directional changes in magnetotactic bacteria is reversal rather than tumbles. Moreover, it provides guidance for the design of future magnetic biohybrid swimmers. Author summary In this paper, we propose a modified Active Brownian particle model to describe bacterial swimming behavior under the influence of external forces and torques, in particular of a magnetic torque. This type of interaction is particularly important for magnetic biohybrids (i.e. motile bacteria coupled to a synthetic magnetic component) and for magnetotactic bacteria (i.e. bacteria with a natural intracellular magnetic chain), which perform chemotaxis to swim along chemical gradients, but are also directed by an external magnetic field. The model allows us to investigate the benefits and disadvantages of such coupling between two different directionality mechanisms. In particular we show that the magnetic torque can speed chemotaxis up in some conditions, while it can hinder it in other cases. In addition to an understanding of the swimming strategies of naturally magnetotactic organisms, the results may guide the design of future biomedical devices. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1007548 SN - 1553-734X SN - 1553-7358 VL - 15 IS - 12 PB - PLoS CY - San Fransisco ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wong, Kevin A1 - Mason, Emily A1 - Brune, Sascha A1 - East, Madison A1 - Edmonds, Marie A1 - Zahirovic, Sabin T1 - Deep Carbon Cycling Over the Past 200 Million Years: A Review of Fluxes in Different Tectonic Settings JF - Frontiers in Earth Science KW - deep carbon cycle KW - carbonate assimilation KW - solid Earth degassing KW - plate reconstructions KW - carbon dioxide KW - subduction zone Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2019.00263 SN - 2296-6463 VL - 7 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mei, Shilin A1 - Kochovski, Zdravko A1 - Roa, Rafael A1 - Gu, Sasa A1 - Xu, Xiaohui A1 - Yu, Hongtao A1 - Dzubiella, Joachim A1 - Ballauff, Matthias A1 - Lu, Yan T1 - Enhanced Catalytic Activity of Gold@Polydopamine Nanoreactors with Multi-compartment Structure Under NIR Irradiation JF - Nano-Micro Letters N2 - Photothermal conversion (PTC) nanostructures have great potential for applications in many fields, and therefore, they have attracted tremendous attention. However, the construction of a PTC nanoreactor with multi-compartment structure to achieve the combination of unique chemical properties and structural feature is still challenging due to the synthetic difficulties. Herein, we designed and synthesized a catalytically active, PTC gold (Au)@polydopamine (PDA) nanoreactor driven by infrared irradiation using assembled PS-b-P2VP nanosphere as soft template. The particles exhibit multi-compartment structure which is revealed by 3D electron tomography characterization technique. They feature permeable shells with tunable shell thickness. Full kinetics for the reduction reaction of 4-nitrophenol has been investigated using these particles as nanoreactors and compared with other reported systems. Notably, a remarkable acceleration of the catalytic reaction upon near-infrared irradiation is demonstrated, which reveals for the first time the importance of the synergistic effect of photothermal conversion and complex inner structure to the kinetics of the catalytic reduction. The ease of synthesis and fresh insights into catalysis will promote a new platform for novel nanoreactor studies. KW - Gold@polydopamine KW - 3D tomography KW - Nanoreactor KW - Catalysis KW - Photothermal conversion Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-019-0314-9 SN - 2311-6706 SN - 2150-5551 VL - 11 IS - 1 PB - Shanghai JIAO TONG univ press CY - Shanghai ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Saha, Sourav A1 - Owen, Lewis A. A1 - Orr, Elizabeth N. A1 - Caffee, Marc W. T1 - Cosmogenic Be-10 and equilibrium-line altitude dataset of Holocene glacier advances in the Himalayan-Tibetan orogen JF - Data in brief N2 - A comprehensive analysis of the variable temporal and spatial responses of tropical-subtropical high-altitude glaciers to climate change is critical for successful model predictions and environmental risk assessment in the Himalayan-Tibetan orogen. High-frequency Holocene glacier chronostratigraphies are therefore reconstructed in 79 glaciated valleys across the orogen using 519 published and 16 new terrestrial cosmogenic 10Be exposure age dataset. Published 10Be ages are compiled only for moraine boulders (excluding bedrock ages). These ages are recalculated using the latest ICE-D production rate calibration database and the scaling scheme models. Outliers for the individual moraine are detected using the Chauvenet's criterion. In addition, past equilibrium-line altitudes (ELAs) are determined using the area-altitude (AA), area accumulation ratio (AAR), and toe-headwall accumulation ratio (THAR) methods for each glacier advance. The modern maximum elevations of lateral moraines (MELM) are also used to estimate modern ELAs and as an independent check on mean ELAs derived using the above three methods. These data may serve as an essential archive for future studies focusing on the cryospheric and environmental changes in the Himalayan-Tibetan orogen. A more comprehensive analysis of the published and new 10Be ages and ELA results and a list of references are presented in Saha et al. (2019, High-frequency Holocene glacier fluctuations in the Himalayan-Tibetan orogen. Quaternary Science Reviews, 220, 372–400). KW - Cosmogenic nuclides KW - Equilibrium-line altitudes KW - Holocene KW - Central asia KW - Glaciation Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2019.104412 SN - 2352-3409 VL - 26 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rossberg, Axel G. A1 - Gaedke, Ursula A1 - Kratina, Pavel T1 - Dome patterns in pelagic size spectra reveal strong trophic cascades JF - Nature Communications N2 - In ecological communities, especially the pelagic zones of aquatic ecosystems, certain bodysize ranges are often over-represented compared to others. Community size spectra, the distributions of community biomass over the logarithmic body-mass axis, tend to exhibit regularly spaced local maxima, called "domes", separated by steep troughs. Contrasting established theory, we explain these dome patterns as manifestations of top-down trophic cascades along aquatic food chains. Compiling high quality size-spectrum data and comparing these with a size-spectrum model introduced in this study, we test this theory and develop a detailed picture of the mechanisms by which bottom-up and top-down effects interact to generate dome patterns. Results imply that strong top-down trophic cascades are common in freshwater communities, much more than hitherto demonstrated, and may arise in nutrient rich marine systems as well. Transferring insights from the general theory of nonlinear pattern formation to domes patterns, we provide new interpretations of past lake-manipulation experiments. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-12289-0 SN - 2041-1723 VL - 10 PB - Nature Publ. Group CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Franz, Kristina A1 - Otten, Lindsey A1 - Müller-Werdan, Ursula A1 - Döhner, Wolfram A1 - Norman, Kristina T1 - Severe Weight Loss and Its Association with Fatigue in Old Patients at Discharge from a Geriatric Hospital JF - Nutrients N2 - Although malnutrition is frequent in the old, little is known about its association with fatigue. We evaluated the relation of self-reported severe weight loss with fatigue and the predictors for fatigue in old patients at hospital discharge. Severe weight loss was defined according to involuntary weight loss >= 5% in the last three months. We determined fatigue with the validated Brief Fatigue Inventory questionnaire. The regression analyses were adjusted for age, sex, number of comorbidities, medications/day, and BMI. Of 424 patients aged between 61 and 98 y, 34.1% had severe weight loss. Fatigue was higher in patients with severe weight loss (3.7 +/- 2.3 vs. 3.2 +/- 2.3 points, p = 0.021). In a multinomial regression model, weight loss was independently associated with higher risk for moderate fatigue (OR:1.172, CI:1.026-1.338, p = 0.019) and with increased risk for severe fatigue (OR:1.209, CI:1.047-1.395, p = 0.010) together with the number of medications/day (OR:1.220, CI:1.023-1.455, p = 0.027). In a binary regression model, severe weight loss predicted moderate-to-severe fatigue in the study population (OR:1.651, CI:1.052-2.590, p = 0.029). In summary, patients with self-reported severe weight loss at hospital discharge exhibited higher fatigue levels and severe weight loss was an independent predictor of moderate and severe fatigue, placing these patients at risk for impaired outcome in the post-hospital period. KW - malnutrition KW - involuntary weight loss KW - post-hospital syndrome KW - fatigue KW - old adults Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11102415 SN - 2072-6643 VL - 11 IS - 10 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Palyulin, Vladimir V. A1 - Blackburn, George A1 - Lomholt, Michael A. A1 - Watkins, Nicholas W. A1 - Metzler, Ralf A1 - Klages, Rainer A1 - Chechkin, Aleksei V. T1 - First passage and first hitting times of Levy flights and Levy walks JF - New journal of physics : the open-access journal for physics N2 - For both Lévy flight and Lévy walk search processes we analyse the full distribution of first-passage and first-hitting (or first-arrival) times. These are, respectively, the times when the particle moves across a point at some given distance from its initial position for the first time, or when it lands at a given point for the first time. For Lévy motions with their propensity for long relocation events and thus the possibility to jump across a given point in space without actually hitting it ('leapovers'), these two definitions lead to significantly different results. We study the first-passage and first-hitting time distributions as functions of the Lévy stable index, highlighting the different behaviour for the cases when the first absolute moment of the jump length distribution is finite or infinite. In particular we examine the limits of short and long times. Our results will find their application in the mathematical modelling of random search processes as well as computer algorithms. KW - Levy flights KW - Levy walks KW - first-passage time KW - first-hitting time Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ab41bb SN - 1367-2630 VL - 21 IS - 10 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Matthey-Doret, Cyril A1 - van der Kooi, Casper J. A1 - Jeffries, Daniel L. A1 - Bast, Jens A1 - Dennis, Alice B. A1 - Vorburger, Christoph A1 - Schwander, Tanja T1 - Mapping of Multiple Complementary Sex Determination Loci in a Parasitoid Wasp JF - Genome biology and evolution N2 - Sex determination has evolved in a variety of ways and can depend on environmental and genetic signals. A widespread form of genetic sex determination is haplodiploidy, where unfertilized, haploid eggs develop into males and fertilized diploid eggs into females. One of the molecular mechanisms underlying haplodiploidy in Hymenoptera, the large insect order comprising ants, bees, and wasps, is complementary sex determination (CSD). In species with CSD, heterozygosity at one or several loci induces female development. Here, we identify the genomic regions putatively underlying multilocus CSD in the parasitoid wasp Lysiphlebus fabarum using restriction -site associated DNA sequencing. By analyzing segregation patterns at polymorphic sites among 331 diploid males and females, we identify up to four CSD candidate regions, all on different chromosomes. None of the candidate regions feature evidence for homology with the csd gene from the honey bee, the only species in which CSD has been characterized, suggesting that CSD in L. fabarum is regulated via a novel molecular mechanism. Moreover, no homology is shared between the candidate loci, in contrast to the idea that multilocus CSD should emerge from duplications of an ancestral single -locus system. Taken together, our results suggest that the molecular mechanisms underlying CSD in Hymenoptera are not conserved between species, raising the question as to whether CSD may have evolved multiple times independently in the group. KW - hymenoptera KW - sex determination KW - Lysiphlebus fabarum KW - CSD Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evz219 SN - 1759-6653 VL - 11 IS - 10 SP - 2954 EP - 2962 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Balderas-Valadez, Ruth Fabiola A1 - Schürmann, Robin Mathis A1 - Pacholski, Claudia T1 - One Spot-Two Sensors: Porous Silicon Interferometers in Combination With Gold Nanostructures Showing Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance JF - Frontiers in chemistry N2 - Sensors composed of a porous silicon monolayer covered with a film of nanostructured gold layer, which provide two optical signal transduction methods, are fabricated and thoroughly characterized concerning their sensing performance. For this purpose, silicon substrates were electrochemically etched in order to obtain porous silicon monolayers, which were subsequently immersed in gold salt solution facilitating the formation of a porous gold nanoparticle layer on top of the porous silicon. The deposition process was monitored by reflectance spectroscopy, and the appearance of a dip in the interference pattern of the porous silicon layer was observed. This dip can be assigned to the absorption of light by the deposited gold nanostructures leading to localized surface plasmon resonance. The bulk sensitivity of these sensors was determined by recording reflectance spectra in media having different refractive indices and compared to sensors exclusively based on porous silicon or gold nanostructures. A thorough analysis of resulting shifts of the different optical signals in the reflectance spectra on the wavelength scale indicated that the optical response of the porous silicon sensor is not influenced by the presence of a gold nanostructure on top. Moreover, the adsorption of thiol-terminated polystyrene to the sensor surface was solely detected by changes in the position of the dip in the reflectance spectrum, which is assigned to localized surface plasmon resonance in the gold nanostructures. The interference pattern resulting from the porous silicon layer is not shifted to longer wavelengths by the adsorption indicating the independence of the optical response of the two nanostructures, namely porous silicon and nanostructured gold layer, to refractive index changes and pointing to the successful realization of two sensors in one spot. KW - porous silicon KW - interferometry KW - gold nanostructures KW - surface plasmon resonance KW - optical sensor Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2019.00593 SN - 2296-2646 VL - 7 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zoll, Felix A1 - Diehl, Katharina A1 - Siebert, Rosemarie T1 - Integrating sustainability goals in innovation processes BT - applying a decision support tool in a dual-purpose chicken case study JF - Sustainability N2 - The innovative dual-purpose chicken approach aims at contributing to the transition towards sustainable poultry production by avoiding the culling of male chickens. To successfully integrate sustainability aspects into innovation, goal congruency among actors and clearly communicating the added value within the actor network and to consumers is needed. The challenge of identifying common sustainability goals calls for decision support tools. The objectives of our research were to investigate whether the tool could assist in improving communication and marketing with respect to sustainability and optimizing the value chain organization. Three actor groups participated in the tool application, in which quantitative and qualitative data were collected. The results showed that there were manifold sustainability goals within the innovation network, but only some goals overlapped, and the perception of their implementation also diverged. While easily marketable goals such as ‘animal welfare’ were perceived as being largely implemented, economic goals were prioritized less often, and the implementation was perceived as being rather low. By visualizing congruencies and differences in the goals, the tool helped identify fields of action, such as improved information flows and prompted thinking processes. We conclude that the tool is useful for managing complex decision processes with several actors involved. KW - value-based sustainability assessment KW - stakeholder participation KW - niche level KW - culling of male chickens KW - mixed methods Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/su11143761 SN - 2071-1050 VL - 11 IS - 14 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Starzonek, Janine A1 - Roscher, Katja A1 - Blither, Matthias A1 - Blaue, Dominique A1 - Schedlbauer, Carola A1 - Hire, Manuela A1 - Raila, Jens A1 - Vervuert, Ingrid T1 - Effects of a blend of green tea and curcuma extract supplementation on lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammation in horses and ponies JF - PeerJ N2 - Background. In horses and ponies numerous medical conditions are known to be linked with inflammation in different tissues, especially in the liver. Besides affecting other metabolic pathways such as the expression of certain interleukins (IL), inflammation is associated with stress of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). In particular, ER stress leads to adaptive stress response and can be measured by several markers of inflammatory and stress signalling pathways, like nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB). Objectives. To investigate lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammatory reactions and their modulation in horses and ponies by feeding a polyphenol-rich supplement consisting of green tea and curcuma. Methods. In a cross-over study, 11 animals were allocated to either a placebo or a supplement group and supplemented with 10 g of a blend of green tea and curcuma extract (GCE) or a placebo (calcium carbonate) once daily. After 21 days of supplementation, all animals underwent a LPS challenge to induce moderate systemic inflammation. Blood samples and liver biopsies were taken at standardized time points: 24 hours before and 12 hours after LPS challenge. Inflammatory blood parameters such as serum amyloid A (SAA), haptoglobin and retinol binding protein 4 (RBP4) were measured in serum. Hepatic mRNA levels of selected markers of inflammation such as haptoglobin, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), IL-1 beta, IL-6, cluster of differentiation 68 (CD68), fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF-21), NF-kappa B, activating transcription factor 4 (ATF4) were quantified by RT-qPCR. In addition, liver biopsies were examined histologically for inflammatory alterations. Results. Blood markers of acute inflammatory response increased after LPS challenge. In the liver, the proinflammatory cytokine IL-1 beta showed significantly lower mRNA levels after LPS challenge in the supplemented group (P = 0.04) compared to the placebo group. Levels of the hepatic CD68 mRNA increased significantly in the placebo group (P = 0.04). There were no significant differences between supplemented and placebo groups concerning other markers of inflammation and markers of ER stress within the liver. The number of hepatic macrophages were not different after LPS challenge in both feeding groups. Conclusion. LPS was able to induce inflammation but seemed less suitable to induce ER stress in the horses and ponies. The polyphenol-rich supplement showed some potential to reduce inflammatory responses. Nevertheless, the supplementation did not exert an overall anti-inflammatory effect in horses and ponies. KW - Curcumin KW - Catechin KW - Equines KW - ER-stress KW - Polyphenols Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.8053 SN - 2167-8359 VL - 7 PB - PeerJ Inc. CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Aloni, Sapir Shekef A1 - Perovic, Milena A1 - Weitman, Michal A1 - Cohen, Reut A1 - Oschatz, Martin A1 - Mastai, Yitzhak T1 - Amino acid-based ionic liquids as precursors for the synthesis of chiral nanoporous carbons JF - Nanoscale Advances N2 - The synthesis of chiral nanoporous carbons based on chiral ionic liquids (CILs) of amino acids as precursors is described. Such unique precursors for the carbonization of CILs yield chiral carbonaceous materials with high surface area (approximate to 620 m(2) g(-1)). The enantioselectivities of the porous carbons are examined by advanced techniques such as selective adsorption of enantiomers using cyclic voltammetry, isothermal titration calorimetry, and mass spectrometry. These techniques demonstrate the chiral nature and high enantioselectivity of the chiral carbon materials. Overall, we believe that the novel approach presented here can contribute significantly to the development of new chiral carbon materials that will find important applications in chiral chemistry, such as in chiral catalysis and separation and in chiral sensors. From a scientific point of view, the approach and results reported here can significantly deepen our understanding of chirality at the nanoscale and of the structure and nature of chiral nonporous materials and surfaces. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c9na00520j SN - 2516-0230 VL - 1 IS - 12 SP - 4981 EP - 4988 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 -