Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Key Issues in Information Systems Management Surveys: Methodological Issues and Choices in a Norwegian Context

Information systems (IS) departments face many challenges in today’s rapidly changing environment. One approach to understanding the challenges faced by IS departments is to survey IS managers to elicit what they consider are key issues. Key issues in IS management surveys have been conducted for many years in many nations and regions. However, most of these surveys lack a theoretical basis for the selection of key issues. Furthermore, most studies have used a multi-round Delphi method. Recently, the analysis of key issues in IS management has been extended by a multimethod approach using Q methodology and interpretive structural modeling. This paper provides an overview of research approaches to key issues studies combined with results from previous research. The paper presents methodological issues and choices for a planned survey on key issues in IS management in Norway in 1999. A three step procedure for key issues selection is introduced, and a multimethod approach for analysis is adopted. Since this research is at an early stage, the paper primarily serves as a basis for discussion and feedback to improve the quality of the proposed study.
Determination of pathogenic variability of Didymella rabiei, the agent of ascochyta blight of chickpea in Turkey

Pathogenic characterization of 64 Didymella rabiei isolates obtained from 5 different regions in Turkey was determined with a set of 7 different chickpea cultivars (ILC 1929, F8, ICC 1903, ILC 249, ILC 482, ILC 3279, and ICC 3996). All the isolates were classified into both 3 pathotypes and 6 physiological races. Of the isolates used in this study, it was determined that 38 (59.4%) belonged to pathotype I, 3 (4.7%) to pathotype II, and 23 (35.9%) to pathotype III. Pathotypes I and III were determined in 5 regions of Turkey including the Mediterranean, Aegean, Southeastern Anatolia, Central Anatolia, and Black Sea regions, but pathotype II was not found in the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions. All 6 races of the D. rabiei were determined in Turkey. Race 1, 2, and 3 were established in pathotype I, while race 4 was represented in both pathotypes I and II. Pathotype III included the race 5 and 6, which were aggressive isolates.
On the determination of optimal designs for an interference model

This paper generalizes Kushner's (1997) method for finding optimal repeated measurements designs to optimal designs under an interference model. The model we assume is for a onedimensional layout without guard plots and with different left and right neighbour effects. The resulting optimal designs may need many blocks or may not even exist as a finite design. The results give lower bounds for optimality criteria on finite designs, and the design structure can be used to suggest efficient small designs.
Sorption of Pesticides on Natural Geosorbents

Pesticides are chemicals used to manage pest organisms in both agricultural and non-agricultural environments. They include important classes of compounds such as herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, and biocides (Table 1). Their dispersion into agricultural environments occurs through a variety of methods including air and ground spraying. Relatively few pesticide applications are made directly and exclusively to a target pest, and most application methods rely on the use of an appreciable quantity of pesticides to the environment so that exposure to the pest species reaches effective levels. Estimates for some scenarios indicate that less than 0.1% of the applied materials reach the target pest (Pimentel & Levitan, 1986), the other important fraction of the discharged pesticide is dispersed in the environment. Considering the inherent toxicity and the possible deleterious effects of pesticides, it is of paramount importance to study the pathway and behaviour of excess pesticides released into the environment. Soils and sediments, also called geosorbents, are important sinks for pesticides because of their tremendous quantities and their ability to accumulate, or sorb, large amounts of harmful compounds. How long does a pesticide remain in soils or in sediments depends on how fast it is volatilized, solubilized or degraded, but also on how strongly it is bound by soils or sediment components (Arias-Estevez et al., 2008). Increasing amounts of research reveal that sorption is a key process for deciding the ultimate transport, persistence, bioactivity, and risk exposition of organisms to pesticides in the environment. The extent of sorption is related to structural and chemical characteristics of the pesticides (Table 1) that control some environmentally important physicochemical parameters such as volatility, water solubility, and octanol-water partition coefficient. Moreover, various soil or sediment properties including organic matter content, type and amount of clay content, ion exchange capacity and pH also modulate the magnitude of the sorption on geosorbents. A way to describe the subtle interactions of pesticides with natural geosorbents is to discuss their compositions and the interactions involved in the sorption process and the key equations that describe the sorption in an environmental perspective. The main objective of this brief review is to examine the processes of sorption on natural solids, the geosorbents, which strongly determine the persistence, mobility and bioavailability of pesticides in the environment.
Kcnn3 as a target for treating aberrant behaviors in stressed, ethanol-dependent mice

Anxiety and mood disorders are often comorbid with alcohol use disorder (AUD) and are considered critical in the development, maintenance, and reinstatement of alcohol dependence and harmful alcohol-seeking behaviors. Because of this high comorbidity, it is necessary to determine shared and unique genetic factors driving heavy ethanol drinking and anxiety-related behaviors. We used a model of stress-induced escalation of drinking in ethanol dependent C57BL/6J mice to measure anxiety-like behaviors on the marble burying and novelty-suppressed feeding task (NSFT) during abstinence. In order to identify novel pharmacogenetic targets that may lead to more effective treatment, a targeted bioinformatics analysis was used to quantify the expression of K+ channel genes in the amygdala that covary with anxiety-related phenotypes in the well phenotyped and fully sequenced family of BXD strains. A pharmacological approach was used to validate the key bioinformatics finding in ethanol-dependent, stressed C57BL/6J mice during the NSFT. Amygdalar expression of Kcnn3 correlated significantly with just over 40 anxiety-associated phenotypes. Further examination of Kcnn3 expression revealed a strong eigentrait for anxiety-like behaviors in this family. Kcnn3 expression in the amygdala correlated negatively with binge-like and voluntary ethanol drinking. C57BL/6J mice treated with chronic intermittent ethanol exposure and repeated swim stress consumed more ethanol in their home cages and showed hypophagia on the NSFT during prolonged abstinence. Pharmacologically targeting KCNN3 protein with the KCa2 channel positive modulator 1-EBIO decreased ethanol drinking and reduced latency to approach food during the NSFT in ethanol-dependent, stressed mice. Collectively these validation studies provide central nervous system mechanistic links into to the covariance of stress, anxiety, and AUD in the BXD strains. Further this analytical approach is effective in defining targets for treating alcohol dependence and comorbid mood and anxiety disorders.
MCL-1 inhibition by selective BH3 mimetics disrupts mitochondrial dynamics in iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes

MCL-1 is a well characterized inhibitor of cell death that has also been shown to be a regulator of mitochondrial dynamics in human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs). We used cardiomyocytes derived from hPSCs (hPSC-CMs) to uncover whether MCL-1 is crucial for cardiac function and survival. Inhibition of MCL-1 by BH3 mimetics, resulted in the disruption of mitochondrial morphology and dynamics as well as disorganization of the actin cytoskeleton. Interfering with MCL-1 function affects the homeostatic proximity of DRP-1 and MCL-1 at the outer mitochondrial membrane, resulting in decreased functionality of hPSC-CMs. BH3 mimetics targeting MCL-1 are promising anti-tumor therapeutics. Cardiomyocytes display abnormal functional cardiac performance even after caspase inhibition, supporting a non-apoptotic activity of MCL-1 in hPSC-CMs. Progression towards using BCL-2 family inhibitors, especially targeting MCL-1, depends on understanding not only its canonical function in preventing apoptosis, but also in the maintenance of mitochondrial dynamics and function.
Testing the benefits of conservation set‐asides for improved habitat connectivity in tropical agricultural landscapes

Abstract Habitat connectivity is important for tropical biodiversity conservation. Expansion of commodity crops, such as oil palm, fragments natural habitat areas, and strategies are needed to improve habitat connectivity in agricultural landscapes. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) voluntary certification system requires that growers identify and conserve forest patches identified as High Conservation Value Areas (HCVAs) before oil palm plantations can be certified as sustainable. We assessed the potential benefits of these conservation set‐asides for forest connectivity. We mapped HCVAs and quantified their forest cover in 2015. To assess their contribution to forest connectivity, we modelled range expansion of forest‐dependent populations with five dispersal abilities spanning those representative of poor dispersers (e.g. flightless insects) to more mobile species (e.g. large birds or bats) across 70 plantation landscapes in Borneo. Because only 21% of HCVA area was forested in 2015, these conservation set‐asides currently provide few connectivity benefits. Compared to a scenario where HCVAs contain no forest (i.e. a no‐RSPO scenario), current HCVAs improved connectivity by ~3% across all dispersal abilities. However, if HCVAs were fully reforested, then overall landscape connectivity could improve by ~16%. Reforestation of HCVAs had the greatest benefit for poor to intermediate dispersers (0.5–3 km per generation), generating landscapes that were up to 2.7 times better connected than landscapes without HCVAs. By contrast, connectivity benefits of HCVAs were low for highly mobile populations under current and reforestation scenarios, because range expansion of these populations was generally successful regardless of the amount of forest cover. Synthesis and applications. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) requires that High Conservation Value Areas (HCVAs) be set aside to conserve biodiversity, but HCVAs currently provide few connectivity benefits because they contain relatively little forest. However, reforested HCVAs have the potential to improve landscape connectivity for some forest species (e.g. winged insects), and we recommend active management by plantation companies to improve forest quality of degraded HCVAs (e.g. by enrichment planting). Future revisions to the RSPO's Principles and Criteria should also ensure that large (i.e. with a core area >2 km2) HCVAs are reconnected to continuous tracts of forest to maximize their connectivity benefits.
Consumption and Theories of Practice

This article considers the potential of a revival of interest in theories of practice for the study of consumption. It presents an abridged account of the basic precepts of a theory of practice and extracts some broad principles for its application to the analysis of final consumption. The basic assumption is that consumption occurs as items are appropriated in the course of engaging in particular practices and that being a competent practitioner requires appropriation of the requisite services, possession of appropriate tools, and devotion of a suitable level of attention to the conduct of the practice. Such a view stresses the routine, collective and conventional nature of much consumption but also emphasizes that practices are internally differentiated and dynamic. Distinctive features of the account include its understanding of the way wants emanate from practices, of the processes whereby practices emerge, develop and change, of the consequences of extensive personal involvements in many practices, and of the manner of recruitment to practices. The article concludes with discussion of some theoretical, substantive and methodological implications.
Temporal variation in size at maturity of the snail Zidona dufresnei from the southwestern Atlantic Ocean after ten years of fishery exploitation

The snail Zidona dufresnei is a marine resource that has been continually exploited by trawling over the past 20 yr. Although research into this fishery started 10 yr ago, no regulations have been implemented to date. In the present study, the histologically estimated size at maturity of both sexes of Z. dufresnei was found to be 131 mm for females and 128 mm for males. These values are lower than those determined in 1999 for Z. dufresnei in the same fishing area. In females, significant differences in size at first maturity were found between 1999 and 2009 in the size classes 121 to 150 mm and 151 to 180 mm. In males, significant differences between years were found in the size class 121 to 150 mm. This is the first report of changes in the size at first maturity of marine snails sub- jected to fishery exploitation. Effects of Z. dufresnei reproductive cycle, growth rate, size at maturity and population management should be taken into account in Z. dufresnei fishery.
Surface plasmons in doped topological insulators

We investigate surface plasmons at a planar interface between a normal dielectric and a topological insulator, where the Fermi-energy lies inside the bulk gap of the topological insulator and gives rise to a two-dimensional charge distribution of free Dirac electrons. We develop the methodology for the calculation of plasmon dispersions, using the framework of classical electrodynamics, with modified constituent equations due to Hall currents in the topological insulator, together with a Lindhard-type description for the two-dimensional charge distribution of free Dirac electrons. For a system representative for Bi$_2$X$_3$ binary compounds, we find in agreement with recent related work that the modified constituent equations have practically no impact on the surface plasmon dispersion but lead to a rotation of the magnetic polarization of surface plasmons out of the interface plane.
Long-term growth trends of massive Porites corals across a latitudinal gradient in the Indo-Pacific

Previous studies have reported recent substantial declines in the growth rates of massive Porites corals under warming oceans. However, the majority of these reports are from inshore reefs, and few have explored growth responses in offshore reefs from remote locations with low levels of pollution, sedimentation or nutrient loading. Here, we examined continuous growth records of massive Porites from remote locations spanning a 25 degrees latitudinal gradient in the Indo-Pacific, including Palau, central Sulawesi, West Papua and the central Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Between 1982 and 2012, no significant changes in calcification or extension anomalies were observed at any study location, despite significant increases in sea surface temperature (SST) at all sites. Skeletal density increased linearly by similar to 0.4 % yr(-1) in Palau, but no change was found in Sulawesi, yet skeletal density showed a significant nonlinear change in West Papua and the GBR. Skeletal density displayed a significant positive linear relationship with SST at Palau and West Papua, whereas no relationship was observed in Sulawesi. In the GBR, skeletal density exhibited a nonlinear parabolic relationship with SST, with strong negative anomalies occurring following major thermal events. Unlike the ongoing declines in growth rates of inshore corals that have been widely reported, we found that calcification and extension anomalies of the majority of Porites from offshore remote locations do not appear to be exhibiting negative growth responses to warming SST. Our results suggest that reefs experiencing low levels of local stressors may show increased resilience to warming SST in an era of rapidly warming oceans.
The effect of transformation twins on the seismic-frequency mechanical properties of polycrystalline Ca1–xSrxTiO3 perovskite

Abstract The low-frequency mechanical properties of polycrystalline Ca1-xSrxTiO3 (0.5 ≤ x ≤ 0.9) have been investigated as a function of temperature and bulk composition using the technique of dynamical mechanical analysis in three-point bend geometry. Ca1-xSrxTiO3 forms a cubic solid solution at high temperatures. At lower temperatures it undergoes successive displacive transitions to tetragonal and orthorhombic phases on cooling and increasing CaTiO3 content. The low-frequency mechanical response of the tetragonal phase is dominated by thermally activated displacements of transformation twin domain walls, causing almost a twofold decrease in storage modulus relative to the twinfree cubic phase on cooling through the phase transition (superelastic softening). Below 140 ∞C the mobility of domain walls decreases and the storage modulus returns to a value close to that of the cubic phase. For x > 0.85, the cubic to tetragonal transition temperature is below 140 ∞C and domain walls are immobile immediately on formation, greatly reducing the magnitude of mechanical softening. The frequency dependence of the storage modulus is accurately described by a modified Burgers model of anelastic relaxation. Activation energies of 103 and 96 kJ/mol were obtained for samples with x = 0.7 and 0.74, respectively, suggesting that domain walls are strongly pinned by vacancies at the O positions. Superelastic softening is not observed below Tc for the tetragonal to orthorhombic phase transition in samples with x = 0.5, 0.55, and 0.6. This is explained by the small value of the spontaneous strain in orthorhombic samples with intermediate compositions, which are distorted from cubic symmetry by less than 1‰. With such small strain contrast between differently oriented twin domains, the effective force on the domain walls due to the external stress is less than the critical unpinning force, preventing displacement of the walls and suppressing superelastic softening.
TOPICAL SUBSTITUTION OF TRANSGLUTAMINASE 1 FOR THE TREATMENT OF CONGENITAL ICHTHYOSIS

Autosomal recessive congenital ichthyosis (ARCI) is a rare cornification disorder with impaired skin barrier function and with no causative treatment available. Eleven genes are involved in different ARCI phenotypes, all related to epidermal differentiation. Mutation inTGM1 is the main cause of ARCI, and it encodes for the enzyme transglutaminase 1 (TGase1), which is involved in the keratinocyte differentiation and in the formation of the cornified cell envelope. Mutations in TGM1 cause lamellar ichthyosis and congenital ichthyosiform erythroderma phenotypes, causing also self-healing collodion babies. In this project, we aimed to study the fate of the protein-loaded thermoresponsive PNIPAM-dPG nanogel for cutaneous protein TGase1 delivery for restoring the skin barrier function in ARCI patients with TGM1 mutation. To accomplish this, TGase1 delivery was analysed in keratinocytes grown in a 2D monolayer and in 3D skin models. We first studied the gene expression of TGM1 and other specific markers for ARCI on RNA level. As TGM1 was expressed in all our cell models (human control, human ARCI-patient with TGM1 mutation, and pig control keratinocytes), we subsequently developed three-dimensional skin models to evaluate the destiny of the TGase1/NG complex in the skin. Observing the successful delivery of TGase1 and nanogel in the epidermis, we carried out the study of their location in keratinocytesina 2D monolayer. Our findings suggested that TGase1 and nanogel enter the keratinocytes, release one from each other, and they are located around the nuclei, in thecytoplasm and in the plasma membrane.
A meta‐analysis reveals global patterns of sediment effects on marine biodiversity

AIM: Sediment disturbances are important threats affecting marine biodiversity, but the variety of biological responses has not yet been synthesized. Here, we collate all available information to compare the extent of impacts across different taxonomic groups, habitat types and pathways of impact (light attenuation, suspended sediment and sedimentation). LOCATION: Global. TIME PERIOD: Data collected from 1979 to 2017. MAJOR TAXA STUDIED: Corals, fishes, seagrasses, sponges, macroalgae, ascidians, bryozoans, crustaceans, echinoderms, molluscs and polychaetes. METHODS: We used meta‐analyses to evaluate the effects of sediments across 842 observations found in 110 publications. We also evaluated some of the biological and methodological factors that could explain the variable effects observed in different studies. RESULTS: We found a significant negative effect of sediments on behavioural responses of species, reproduction and recruitment processes, the morphology of organisms, physiology, community abundance and diversity, and species interactions. In contrast, the overall effect on the abundance of individual species was statistically non‐significant and there was a strong positive effect on abundance for sponge and polychaete species. Many individual studies described physiological effects on coral reefs, but the effects on the diversity of soft‐bottom and coral reef communities were particularly detrimental. Phototrophic species were generally more negatively impacted by sediments than heterotrophs, driven by strong physiological responses in crustose coralline algae and seagrasses. Additionally, species with limited mobility were more vulnerable to sediment disturbances than highly mobile species. Sedimentation alone triggered more consistently negative effects on most biological responses than light depletion and suspended sediments. We found evidence for increased impacts on community diversity when more than one pathway of impact was present, indicating that these disturbances can disrupt whole ecosystems. MAIN CONCLUSIONS: Our meta‐analysis provided, for the first time, strong quantitative support of negative effects of sediments on marine biodiversity. Taxonomic groups, habitat types and life‐history characteristics were most influential in determining the biological responses to sediment disturbances, highlighting the importance of an ecosystem‐based approach when fully accounting for the impacts of sediments.