bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Book-tax conformity and the demand for auditor-provided tax services: European evidence
Authors: Sun Xuan Sean , Habib Ahsan , Yao Daifei Troy
Published: March 2023

Purpose

This study aims to examine the impact of different levels of required book-tax conformity (BTC) on audit clients' demand for auditor-provided tax services (APTS). In addition, the authors also investigate the effects of the European Union (EU) Regulation (2014).

Design/methodology/approach

This study utilizes a sample of listed companies from 10 EU countries between 2010 and 2019. The final sample consists of 16,049 firm-year observations from 2,515 unique firms, and the authors use both probit and ordinary least square (OLS) regression models in this study.

Findings

The main finding of this paper is that companies listed in countries with a higher level of BTC are less likely to purchase tax services from incumbent auditors and pay fewer auditor-provided tax service fees. Results from further analyses confirm that firms substantially reduced their purchase of APTS after the EU Regulation (2014) was implemented, but these reduced purchases were found to be more pronounced for firms located in countries with low BTC.

Originality/value

This study advances the understanding of the determinants of APTS and the consequences of BTC. Specifically, the authors report that variation in a country-specific feature (i.e. BTC) also affects firms' decision to purchase APTS. Moreover, this paper provides some preliminary evidence of the new regulation and contributes to the literature on APTS regulation. The findings of this study have important policy implications for regulators and are also relevant for various capital market participants.
The role of fantasy in architectural heritage conservation – a systematic review
Authors: Gooi Liangjun , Kusumo Camelia , Widodo Johannes
Published: March 2023

Purpose

This paper has aimed to systematically review the existing literature regarding the role of fantasy in heritage conservation, establishing a research gap and investigating the different facets of fantasy that contribute to a conservation undertaking.

Design/methodology/approach

This systematic literature review adopted the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) model with literature from the SCOPUS-indexing database.

Findings

This review has indicated a lack of input from Eastern scholarship, the absence of quantitative research, the lack of discussion concerning fantasy within the architecture discipline and the lack of attention towards fantasy's role in architectural heritage conservation.

Practical implications

A better understanding of the role of fantasy within architectural heritage studies would improve conservation practice, specifically the existing cultural significance value evaluation framework and the management of stakeholders' expectations.

Originality/value

The present paper serves as a preliminary insight into the value of fantasy within the architecture discipline, allowing for more empirical-based research and knowledge to be added in this domain in the future.
Testing the relationship between employment and tourism: a fresh evidence from the ARDL bounds test with sharp and smooth breaks
Authors: Yılancı Veli , Kırca Mustafa
Published: March 2023

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the effect of the tourism sector on employment in 13 Mediterranean countries. In addition, the impact of economic growth and inflation rate, which are included in the analysis as control variables, on the employment rate are investigated.

Design/methodology/approach

For this study, data from 1995 to 2018 and the ratio of the employed population, the number of international tourist arrivals, the annual growth rate of real gross domestic product (GDP) and the annual percentage change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) were used. First, the authors investigated the relationship between variables using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) Bounds Test with Sharp and Smooth Breaks. Then, after determining the significant cointegration relationship, the long-term and short-term coefficients were also estimated.

Findings

The results show a cointegration relationship for Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Malta and Tunisia. Tourism demand has a positive effect on all these countries and economic growth positively affects the employment rate only in Greece, Israel and Tunisia. Besides, the inflation rate has a negative effect in Israel and Tunisia and a positive effect in Malta. Overall, the authors' results provide important policy suggestions, such as the training of the employees in the tourism sector should be improved to keep up with the requirements of the times.

Practical implications

The impact of the tourism sector on total employment varies from country to country. In particular, the employment creation policies of the sector need to be changed by taking technological changes into consideration.

Originality/value

Since tourism is a labor-intensive sector, tourism's impact on employment is an important research topic. However, whether this effect applies to all countries is debatable. Furthermore, the development of technology can also reduce employment in labor-intensive sectors. Therefore, this research can be regarded as important as this research addresses such a critical current issue and suggests a novel econometric method such as the ARDL Bounds Test with Sharp and Smooth Breaks.
Analyzing the strategy–performance relationship in Germany – can we still use the common strategic frameworks?
Authors: Eulerich Marc , Eulerich Anna , Fligge Benjamin
Published: March 2023

Purpose

This study examines the strategy–performance relationship within publicly traded German firms. Strategic management literature provides several strategic frameworks that offer guidance on promising strategies. However, given major changes, such as globalization, managers wonder whether strategic frameworks are still applicable.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors employ principal component analysis (PCA) to measure competitive strategy and analyze a sample of 6,037 firm-years among 651 firms between 2000 and 2019.

Findings

While the authors find evidence for the existence of efficiency-based strategies, differentiation-based strategies and mixed strategies, only differentiation-based strategies are positively related to performance.

Originality/value

The study’s results contribute to the discourse on the strategy–performance relationship, as they provide insights into promising strategies that are of interest to researchers and practitioners. Further, the authors introduce a new measure of competitive strategy based on PCA.
Mechanical properties of PLA based closed porous structures manufactured using FDM process
Authors: Yavuz Ibrahim , Yildirim Abdulkadir
Published: March 2023

Purpose

The purpose of this article covers the design and manufacture of porous materials that can be used in different engineering applications by additive manufacturing.

Design/methodology/approach

The most important design parameters of the porous materials are the cell structure and wall thickness. These two design criteria are difficult to control in porous materials produced by conventional production methods. In the study, two different wall thicknesses and four different pore diameters of the porous structure were determined as design parameters.

Findings

A compression test was applied to the produced samples. Also, the densities of the produced samples were compared. As a result of the study, changes in mechanical properties were observed according to the cell wall thickness and pore size.

Originality/value

The originality of the study is that, unlike traditional porous structure production, the pore structure and cell wall thicknesses can be produced in desired dimensions. In addition, a closed pore structure was tried to be produced in the study. Studies in the literature generally have a tube-type pore structure.
Computational homogenization based crystal plasticity investigation of deformation behavior of AA2024-T3 alloy at different strain rates
Authors: Singh Lakhwinder , Ha Sangyul , Vohra Sanjay , Sharma Manu
Published: March 2023

Purpose

Modeling of material behavior by physically or microstructure-based models helps in understanding the relationships between its properties and microstructure. However, the majority of the numerical investigations on the prediction of the deformation behavior of AA2024 alloy are limited to the use of phenomenological or empirical constitutive models, which fail to take into account the actual microscopic-level mechanisms (i.e. crystallographic slip) causing plastic deformation. In order to achieve accurate predictions, the microstructure-based constitutive models involving the underlying physical deformation mechanisms are more reliable. Therefore, the aim of this work is to predict the mechanical response of AA2024-T3 alloy subjected to uniaxial tension at different strain rates, using a dislocation density-based crystal plasticity model in conjunction with computational homogenization.

Design/methodology/approach

A dislocation density-based crystal plasticity (CP) model along with computational homogenization is presented here for predicting the mechanical behavior of aluminium alloy AA2024-T3 under uniaxial tension at different strain rates. A representative volume element (RVE) containing 400 grains subjected to periodic boundary conditions has been used for simulations. The effect of mesh discretization on the mechanical response is investigated by considering different meshing resolutions for the RVE. Material parameters of the CP model have been calibrated by fitting the experimental data. Along with the CP model, Johnson–Cook (JC) model is also used for examining the stress-strain behavior of the alloy at various strain rates. Validation of the predictions of CP and JC models is done with the experimental results where the CP model has more accurately captured the deformation behavior of the aluminium alloy.

Findings

The CP model is able to predict the mechanical response of AA2024-T3 alloy over a wide range of strain rates with a single set of material parameters. Furthermore, it is observed that the inhomogeneity in stress-strain fields at the grain level is linked to both the orientation of the grains as well as their interactions with one another. The flow and hardening rule parameters influencing the stress-strain curve and capturing the strain rate dependency are also identified.

Originality/value

Computational homogenization-based CP modeling and simulation of deformation behavior of polycrystalline alloy AA2024-T3 alloy at various strain rates is not available in the literature. Therefore, the present computational homogenization-based CP model can be used for predicting the deformation behavior of AA2024-T3 alloy more accurately at both micro and macro scales, under different strain rates.
Human cytomegalovirus infection activates NLRP3 inflammasome by releasing mtDNA into the cytosol in human THP‐1 cells
Authors: Xu Xi , Cai Junwen , Wang Xiaoming , Lu Yutian , Guo Binhan , Lai Meimei , Lan Linhua , Peng Ying , Zheng Xiaoqun
Published: March 2023

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection of monocytes results in the production of inflammatory cytokine through inflammasome. However, the mechanism of NLR family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome activation in HCMV infection remains unclear. In this study, HCMV infection promoted the increase of mitochondrial fusion and caused mitochondrial dysfunction in THP‐1 cells, including excessive reactive oxygen species production and decreased mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψm). Meanwhile, the expression of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)‐binding protein TFAM (transcription factor A, mitochondrial) was decreased and mtDNA content in the cytoplasm was increased. Knockdown of TFAM caused an increase in mtDNA copy number in the cytoplasm and resulted in elevated NLRP3 expression, active caspase‐1, and mature IL‐1β. After a 3 h treatment with MCC950, an NLRP3 inhibitor, the increase of cleaved caspase‐1 and mature IL‐1β were suppressed. Besides, overexpression of TFAM inhibited the expression of NLRP3, cleaved caspase‐1, and mature IL‐1β. In addition, knockdown of NLRP3 inhibited the IL‐1β process after HCMV infection. mtDNA‐deficient cells showed a limited ability to produce NLRP3 and process IL‐1β after HCMV infection. In conclusion, HCMV infection of THP‐1 cells resulted in decreased mitochondrial TFAM protein expression and increased mtDNA release into the cytoplasm, which eventually led to the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome.
Sunflower spines and beyond: Mechanisms and breadth of pollen that reduce gut pathogen infection in the common eastern bumble bee
Authors: Figueroa Laura L. , Fowler Alison , Lopez Stephanie , Amaral Victoria E. , Koch Hauke , Stevenson Philip C. , Irwin Rebecca E. , Adler Lynn S.
Published: March 2023

Plants have unique chemical and physical traits that can reduce infections in animals ranging from primates to caterpillars. Sunflowers (Helianthus annuus; Asteraceae) are one striking example, with pollen that suppresses infections by the trypanosomatid gut pathogen Crithidia bombi in the common eastern bumble bee (Bombus impatiens). However, the mechanism underlying this effect has remained elusive, and we do not know whether pollens from other Asteraceae species have similar effects.

We evaluated whether mechanisms mediating sunflower pollen's antipathogenic effects are physical (due to its spiny exine), chemical (due to metabolites) or both. We also evaluated the degree to which pollen from seven other Asteraceae species reduced C. bombi infection relative to pollen from sunflower and two non‐Asteraceae species, and whether pollen spine length predicted pathogen suppression.

We found that sunflower exines alone reduced infection as effectively as whole sunflower pollen, while sunflower pollen metabolites did not. Furthermore, bees fed pollen from four of seven other Asteraceae had 62%–92% lower C. bombi infections than those fed non‐Asteraceae pollen. Spine length, however, did not explain variation in bumble bee infection.

Our study indicates that sunflower pollen's capacity to suppress C. bombi is driven by its spiny exine, and that this phenomenon extends to several other Asteraceae species. Our results indicate that sunflower pollen exines are as effective as whole pollen in reducing infection, suggesting that future studies should expand to assess the effects of other species with spiny pollen on pollinator–pathogen dynamics.

Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
The costs and trade‐offs of optimal foraging in marine fish larvae
Authors: Hauss Helena , Schwabe Laura , Peck Myron A.
Published: March 2023

In a warming world, both the metabolic rates of ectotherm predators and the phenology of their prey organisms is subject to change. Knowledge on how intrinsic and extrinsic factors govern predator–prey interactions is essential in order to understand how the environment regulates the vital rates of consumers. Controlled experiments, however, simultaneously testing behavioural and growth responses of the larvae of fish and other ectotherm organisms in different feeding regimes are scarce.

Prey size (PS) selection was determined for young Atlantic herring Clupea harengus L. larvae offered 100‐ to 850‐μm copepods Acartia tonsa at five different concentrations. In separate, 4‐ (13°C) or 7‐day (7°C) trials, the effect of prey size on larval foraging behaviour, specific growth rate (SGR) and biochemical condition (RNA:DNA, RD, a proxy for individual instantaneous growth) was tested.

Preferred (selected) PS was similar at all prey concentrations but increased from 3% to 5% predator length with increasing larval size. At various temperatures, dome‐shaped relationships existed between PS and larval RD (and accordingly SGR). Compensatory changes in foraging behaviour (pause and feeding strike frequencies) existed but were not adequate to maintain positive SGR when available prey were substantially smaller than those preferred by larvae.

A physiology‐based model predicted that larvae depended more heavily on optimal prey sizes at the colder versus warmer temperature to grow well and that the profitable prey niche breadth (the range in prey sizes in which growth was positive) increased at warmer temperatures.

Seemingly subtle match‐mismatch dynamics between ectotherm predators and their preferred prey size can have large, temperature‐dependent consequences for rates of growth and likely survival of the predator. To the best knowledge, this was the first study to directly quantify the “costs and trade‐offs” of optimal foraging in marine fish larvae.
Poleward shifts and altered periodicity in boreal bird irruptions over six decades
Authors: Widick Ivy V. , Young Matthew A. , LaMontagne Jalene M. , Strong Courtenay , Zuckerberg Benjamin
Published: March 2023

Range boundaries are long‐term biogeographic features of species distributions and abundance. However, many species demonstrate dynamic range boundaries, reflecting strong seasonal and annual variability in migratory behaviour.

As a form of facultative migration, irruptions involve the movement of many individuals outside of their resident range in response to climate variability, resource availability, and demographic processes. Many species have experienced range shifts and altered phenology in response to modern climate change, but spatiotemporal changes in irruption dynamics are less well known.

We quantified changes in the geography and periodicity of boreal bird irruptions across eastern North America from 1960 to 2021. Using data from Audubon's Christmas Bird Count for nine finch species, including several exhibiting recent population declines, we evaluated latitudinal trends in southern range and irruption boundaries and characterized irruption periodicity using spectral wavelet analysis.

Six boreal birds exhibited significant northward shifts in their southern range boundaries and three species displayed shifts in their southern irruption boundaries.

Irruption periodicity across multiple species was consistent across the 1960s and 1970s, culminating in frequent and synchronized irruptions of multiple species (superflights) during earlier decades. Coherence between species dampened beginning in the early 1980s as superflight periodicity became increasingly unstructured, finally reforming in recent decades, after 2000.

Boreal birds are considered important sentinels of the boreal forests, and northward shifts and altered periodicity of irruptions may indicate broad‐scale changes in climate‐ and resource‐associated drivers operating across the boreal forests.
Variation in body size drives spatial and temporal variation in lobster–urchin interaction strength
Authors: DiFiore Bartholomew P. , Stier Adrian C.
Published: March 2023

How strongly predators and prey interact is both notoriously context dependent and difficult to measure. Yet across taxa, interaction strength is strongly related to predator size, prey size and prey density, suggesting that general cross‐taxonomic relationships could be used to predict how strongly individual species interact.

Here, we ask how accurately do general size‐scaling relationships predict variation in interaction strength between specific species that vary in size and density across space and time?

To address this question, we quantified the size and density dependence of the functional response of the California spiny lobster Panulirus interruptus, foraging on a key ecosystem engineer, the purple sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, in experimental mesocosms. Based on these results, we then estimated variation in lobster–urchin interaction strength across five sites and 9 years of observational data. Finally, we compared our experimental estimates to predictions based on general size‐scaling relationships from the literature.

Our results reveal that predator and prey body size has the greatest effect on interaction strength when prey abundance is high. Due to consistently high urchin densities in the field, our simulations suggest that body size—relative to density—accounted for up to 87% of the spatio‐temporal variation in interaction strength. However, general size‐scaling relationships failed to predict the magnitude of interactions between lobster and urchin; even the best prediction from the literature was, on average, an order of magnitude (+18.7×) different than our experimental predictions.

Harvest and climate change are driving reductions in the average body size of many marine species. Anticipating how reductions in body size will alter species interactions is critical to managing marine systems in an ecosystem context. Our results highlight the extent to which differences in size‐frequency distributions can drive dramatic variation in the strength of interactions across narrow spatial and temporal scales. Furthermore, our work suggests that species‐specific estimates for the scaling of interaction strength with body size, rather than general size‐scaling relationships, are necessary to quantitatively predict how reductions in body size will alter interaction strengths.
Understanding community awareness of seagrass ecosystem services for their blue carbon conservation in marine protected areas: A case study of Karimunjawa National Park
Authors: Rifai Husen , Quevedo Jay Mar D. , Lukman Kevin M. , Hernawan Udhi Eko , Alifatri La‐ode , Risandi Johan , Kuswadi  , Kristiawan  , Uchiyama Yuta , Kohsaka Ryo
Published: March 2023

Seagrasses provide diverse ecosystem services that support communities, yet, they are among the most threatened marine habitats. Efforts to conserve and sustainably manage seagrasses are increasing, particularly amidst the era of climate change, in which they play a critical role. However, these activities often received less attention or were slow in gaining momentum partly due to a lack of societal recognition of seagrasses and their importance. Thus, in this study, we collected community perceptions of seagrass ecosystem services and threats from 391 respondents in Karimunjawa National Park (KNP), a nationally declared protected area in Indonesia. We aim to provide insights on people's recognition of seagrasses from a local scale with strict protection measures. Overall, respondents showed varying perceptions of seagrass ecosystem services, with provisioning services more highly perceived than regulating services. The perceived level of threats was inconclusive, though, reclamation along shorelines received higher rates (leaning toward most damaging) than other threats such as natural disasters and illegal fishing activities. Sociodemographic attributes of respondents were found to influence their perceptions, with occupation as the most pronounced driving factor. The variations observed in seagrass perceptions suggest that there is a need to strengthen and/or enhance seagrass awareness and education campaigns, which is in line with the increasing demand that public perceptions matter for the conservation and sustainable management of seagrass ecosystems. We presented here the use and insights of community perceptions for seagrass blue carbon conservation in KNP, and consequently in Indonesia, where seagrass meadows are considered globally important carbon sinks.
Financial Reporting Quality and Wage Differentials: Evidence from Worker‐Level Data
Authors: CHOI JUNG HO , GIPPER BRANDON , MALIK SARA
Published: March 2023

We examine whether financial reporting quality affects worker wages using employer‐employee matched data in the United States. We find that low financial reporting quality is associated with a compensating wage differential—that is, a risk premium—using three distinct approaches while controlling for worker characteristics by (1) regressing wages on firm‐year–level and firm‐level reporting quality, (2) documenting wage changes when workers switch firms, and (3) estimating a structural approach that separates reporting quality from performance‐related volatility. We find evidence consistent with two channels: performance pay and turnover risk, where workers bear risks from noise in performance measurement and unemployment, respectively. To mitigate endogeneity concerns, we show that—after the accounting scandals in 2002 and after the announcements of an internal control weakness (ICW)—former Arthur Andersen clients and ICW firms pay wage premiums to employees, with magnitudes between 0.9% and 2.8% of annual wages.
Context‐dependent insect predation pressure on an avian ectoparasite
Authors: Salido Angela , Veiga Jesús , Reyes‐López Joaquín Luis , Valera Francisco
Published: March 2023

Context dependence arises when ecological relationships vary with the conditions under which they are observed. Context dependence of interactions involving parasites is poorly known, even if it is key to understanding host–parasite relationships and food web dynamics. This paper investigates to which extent predation pressure on an avian ectoparasite (Carnus hemapterus) is context‐dependent. Based on a predator‐exclusion experiment, predation pressure onC. hemapteruspupae in the host's nest for 3 years, and its variation between habitat types are quantified. Variation in precipitation and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) is also explored as a likely cause of context dependency. We hypothesize that predation pressure should fluctuate with such surrogates of food availability, so that inter‐annual and intra‐annual differences may emerge. The number of nests with significant reduction of pupae varied widely among years ranging from 24% to 75%. However, average pupae reduction in nests where a significant reduction occurred did not vary between years. No differences in predation rates between habitat types were detected. Precipitation and NDVI varied widely between years and NDVI was consistently lower around nests on cliffs than around nests on trees and farmhouses. Parallels were found between variation in predation pressure and precipitation/NDVI at a wide scale (highest predation the driest year, and much lower the 2 rainier ones), but not at the nest scale. This paper shows clear context‐dependent insect predation pressure on an ectoparasite under natural conditions, and that such interaction changes in signs rather than magnitude between years. The causes for these variations require longer‐term studies and/or well‐designed, large‐scale experiments.
The effects of congruence between digital HRM systems and previous non‐digital HRM systems on firms' data‐driven insights
Authors: Zhou Yu , Zou Yunqing
Published: March 2023

Although the application of digital technology has long been considered to be an important and integral trend in human resource management (HRM), emerging evidence hints that digital HRM systems may not always work well in practice, and increasing research suggests that the adoption of digital HRM systems might have negative effects on organizations. In this article, we investigate whether a match in the levels of internal consistency exhibited by a digital HRM system and an original high‐performance work system (HPWS), i.e. congruence, impacts firms' data‐driven insight generation. We find that congruence between the digital HRM system and the original HPWS has a negative impact on firms' capability to generate data‐driven insights. Furthermore, organizations with high levels of internal consistency in both the digital and the original non‐digital HRM systems (i.e. high–high congruence) exhibit better data‐driven insight generation than organizations with low levels of internal consistency in both systems (i.e. low–low congruence). The results also reveal that the effect of congruence negatively influences firm financial performance and mediated by data‐driven insight generation. We discuss the implications of this study and call for future research to consider the characteristics of digital HRM systems and the original traditional HRM systems simultaneously.
Chromosome‐level de novo genome assembly of two conifer‐parasitic wasps, Megastigmus duclouxiana and Megastigmus sabinae, reveals genomic imprints of adaptation to hosts
Authors: Kuang Jing‐Ge , Han Zhi‐Tong , Kang Ming‐Hui , Ju Tsam , Tso Sonam , Chen Xiao‐Xiao , Li Jia‐Liang , Xiong Zhong‐Ping , Ma Tao , Mao Kang‐Shan
Published: March 2023

Conifers make up about one third of global forests but are threatened by seed parasitoid wasp species. Many of these wasps belong to the genus Megastigmus, yet little is known about their genomic background. In this study, we provide chromosome‐level genome assemblies for two oligophagous conifer parasitoid species of Megastigmus, which represent the first two chromosome‐level genomes of the genus. The assembled genomes of Megastigmus duclouxiana and M. sabinae are 878.48 Mb (scaffold N50 of 215.60 Mb) and 812.98 Mb (scaffold N50 of 139.16 Mb), respectively, which are larger than the genome size of most hymenopterans due to the expansion of transposable elements. Expanded gene families highlight the difference in sensory‐related genes between the two species, reflecting the difference in their hosts. We further found that these two species have fewer family members but more single‐gene duplications than polyphagous congeners in the gene families of ATP‐binding cassette transporter (ABC), cytochrome P450 (P450) and olfactory receptors (OR). These findings shed light on the pattern of adaptation to a narrow spectrum of hosts in oligophagous parasitoids. Our findings suggest potential drivers underlying genome evolution and parasitism adaptation, and provide valuable resources for understanding the ecology, genetics and evolution of Megastigmus, as well as for the research and biological control of global conifer forest pests.
The importance of feeding fast when thieves are around: A case study on Whimbrels foraging on a wave‐exposed sandy beach in southern Chile
Authors: Morales‐Torres Diego F. , Valdivia Nelson , Rodríguez Sara M. , Navedo Juan G.
Published: March 2023

Prey profitability is one of the most important factors influencing prey selection. This factor varies along with both prey size and handling time. Thus, large prey are generally highly profitable for consumers and boost competition. Kleptoparasitism is a form of competition in which an individual steals food previously obtained by another individual. Accordingly, handling large prey should increase the likelihood of kleptoparasitism occurrence, but these relationships remain poorly understood. Here, we studied kleptoparasitism occurrence by the Brown‐Hooded Gull (Chroicocephalus maculipennis – Laridae) on Whimbrels (Numenius phaeopus hudsonicus – Scolopacidae) preying on intertidal Mole Crabs (Emerita analoga) in a wave‐exposed sandy beach in southern Chile. Generalized linear models, fitted to data from focal‐individual video sequences, showed that kleptoparasitism probability had a positive sigmoidal response to handling time. Moreover, with an increase of 1 s in handling time, a Whimbrel doubled its probability of being kleptoparasitized. Additionally, the odds of being kleptoparasitized were 17% higher with an increase of 10 mm in prey length and 47% higher with an increase of one gull per host. However, the effect of handling on kleptoparasitism probability slightly decreased (2%) with an increase of 10 mm in prey size class. Our results suggest the existence of a threshold time in which consumers can handle their prey before kleptoparasitism probability is too high. Nevertheless, Whimbrel's mean intake rate reached 0.15 ± 0.13 kJ s−1, allowing Whimbrels to theoretically meet their energetic requirements despite losing some prey to kleptoparasites. This study provides new insight into a common form of competition among consumers, highlighting the importance of prey handling time for shorebirds with a restricted foraging time driven by tidal cycles.
Long‐term effect of cytotoxic treatments on sperm DNA fragmentation in patients affected by testicular germ cell tumor
Authors: Farnetani Ginevra , Fino Maria Grazia , Cioppi Francesca , Riera‐Escamilla Antoni , Tamburrino Lara , Vannucci Matteo , Rosta Viktoria , Vinci Serena , Casamonti Elena , Turki Leila , Degl'Innocenti Selene , Spinelli Matilde , Marchiani Sara , Lotti Francesco , Muratori Monica , Krausz Csilla
Published: March 2023

Introduction

Testicular germ cell tumor is the most frequent neoplasia in men of reproductive age, with a 5‐year survival rate of 95%. Antineoplastic treatments induce sperm DNA fragmentation, especially within the first year post‐therapy. Data in the literature are heterogeneous concerning longer follow‐up periods, and the large majority is limited to 2 years.

Objective

To define the timing for the recovery of sperm DNA damage and the proportion of patients with severe DNA damage at 2 and 3 years from the end of therapy.

Materials and methods

Sperm DNA fragmentation was evaluated in 115 testicular germ cell tumor patients using terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling assay coupled with flow cytometry before (T0) and 2 (T2) and 3 (T3) years post‐treatment. Patients were divided based on the type of treatment: carboplatin, bleomycin–etoposide–cisplatin, and radiotherapy. For 24 patients, paired sperm DNA fragmentation data were available at all time‐points (T0–T2–T3). Seventy‐nine cancer‐free, fertile normozoospermic men served as controls. Severe DNA damage was defined as the 95th percentile in controls (sperm DNA fragmentation = 50%).

Results

Comparing patients versus controls, we observed: (i) no differences at T0 and T3 and (ii) significantly higher sperm DNA fragmentation levels (p < 0.05) at T2 in all treatment groups. Comparing pre‐ and post‐therapy in the 115 patients, the median sperm DNA fragmentation values were higher in all groups at T2, reaching significance (p < 0.05) only in the carboplatin group. While the median sperm DNA fragmentation values were also higher in the strictly paired cohort at T2, about 50% of patients returned to baseline. The proportion of severe DNA damage in the entire cohort was 23.4% and 4.8% of patients at T2 and T3, respectively.

Discussion

Currently, testicular germ cell tumor patients are advised to wait 2 years post‐therapy before seeking natural pregnancy. Our results suggest that this period may not be sufficient for all patients.

Conclusion

The analysis of sperm DNA fragmentation may represent a useful biomarker for pre‐conception counseling following cancer treatment.
Effectiveness and acceptability of home use of misoprostol for medical abortion up to 10 weeks of pregnancy
Authors: Podolskyi Volodymyr , Gemzell‐Danielsson Kristina , Maltzman Lena L. , Marions Lena
Published: March 2023

Introduction

The administration of mifepristone, followed by misoprostol, is widely used for medical abortion. Many studies have demonstrated home abortion to be safe in pregnancies up to 63 days of gestation, and recent data support its safety when extended to more advanced pregnancies. We studied the efficacy and acceptability of home use of misoprostol up to 70 days of gestation in a Swedish setting and compared the outcomes between pregnancies with a gestational age of up to 63 days and pregnancies with gestational age 64–70 days.

Material and methods

This prospective cohort study was performed between November 2014 and November 2021 at Södersjukhuset and Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, and some patients were also recruited from Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Göteborg and Helsingborg Hospital. The primary outcome was the rate of complete abortions and was defined as complete abortion without any need for surgical or medical intervention and assessed by clinical assessment, pregnancy test and/or vaginal ultrasound. Secondary objectives were assessed by daily self‐reporting in a diary and included pain, bleeding, side effects and women's satisfaction and perception of home use of misoprostol. A comparison of categorical variables was made with Fisher's exact test. The significance level was set to a p‐value ≤0.05. The study was registered at Clinicaltrials.gov on July 14, 2014 (NCT02191774).

Results

During the study period we enrolled 273 women opting for medical abortion with home use of misoprostol. In the early group, up to 63 days of gestation, 112 women were included with a mean gestational length of 45 days and in the late group, 64–70 days of gestation, 161 women with a mean gestations length of 66.3 days were included. Complete abortion occurred in 95% (95% CI 89–98) of women in the early group and in 96% (95% CI 92–99) in the late group. No differences were found regarding side effects and acceptability was similarly high in both groups.

Conclusions

Our results show high efficacy and acceptability of medical abortion when misoprostol is administered at home up to 70 days of gestation. This supports previous findings about maintained safety when misoprostol is administered at home even past a very early pregnancy.
The role of positive information provision in open‐label placebo effects
Authors: Barnes Kirsten , Babbage Emily , Barker Jessica , Jain Natasha , Faasse Kate
Published: March 2023

Open label placebos (OLPs) appear generally efficacious among clinical samples, but the empirical evidence regarding their use in non‐clinical and sub‐clinical samples, as well as when administered independent of a convincing rationale, is mixed. Healthy participants (N = 102) were randomised to either a 6‐day course of OLP pills with information provision (OLP‐plus: N = 35), without information provision (OLP‐only: N = 35), or no‐treatment control group (N = 32). OLP pills were described as enhancing physical (symptoms and sleep) and psychological (positive and negative emotional) well‐being. Well‐being was assessed at baseline and on Day 6. Expectancies and adherence were measured. OLP administration interacted with baseline well‐being. The OLP‐plus group demonstrated increased well‐being on all outcomes other than positive emotions, but only when they reported decreased baseline well‐being. OLP‐only and control groups did not differ. The OLP‐plus group demonstrated elevated expectancies, that mediated the OLP effect on physical symptoms relative to control, but only when well‐being was lower than average at baseline (i.e. moderated‐mediation). Results demonstrate the importance of information provided with OLPs. The moderating effect of baseline outcomes may reconcile inconsistent results regarding clinical and non‐clinical samples. Accounting for baseline symptoms in non‐clinical and sub‐clinical samples is likely to enhance our understanding of when OLPs are effective.
Diarrhoea‐causing microorganisms are rare in adult patients undergoing diagnostic laparoscopy for suspected appendicitis: a prospective observational cohort study
Authors: Fonnes Siv , Rasmussen Tilde , Holzknecht Barbara Juliane , Olesen Christoffer Skov , Olsen Joachim Hjalde Halmsted , Schmidt Line , Alder Rasmus , Sørensen Sara Gamborg , Gülen Sengül , Klarskov Louise Laurberg , Krogfelt Karen Angeliki , Westh Henrik , Rosenberg Jacob
Published: March 2023

We investigated if diarrhoea‐causing bacteria, including Yersinia species, could mimic the symptoms of appendicitis and lead to surgery. This prospective observational cohort study (NCT03349814) included adult patients undergoing surgery for suspected appendicitis. Rectal swabs were analysed with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for Yersinia, Campylobacter, Salmonella, Shigella and Aeromonas spp. Blood samples were analysed routinely and with an in‐house ELISA serological test for Yersinia enterocolitica antibodies. We compared patients without appendicitis and patients with appendicitis confirmed by histopathology. The outcomes included PCR‐confirmed infection with Yersinia spp., serologic‐confirmed infection with Y. enterocolitica, PCR‐confirmed infection with other diarrhoea‐causing bacteria and Enterobius vermicularis confirmed by histopathology. A total of 224 patients were included, 51 without and 173 with appendicitis, and followed for 10 days. PCR‐confirmed infection with Yersinia spp. was found in one patient (2%) without appendicitis and no patients (0%) with appendicitis (p = 0.23). Serology was positive for Y. enterocolitica for the same patient without appendicitis and two patients with appendicitis (p = 0.54). Campylobacter spp. were detected in 4% vs 1% (p = 0.13) of patients without and with appendicitis, respectively. Infection with Yersinia spp. and other diarrhoea‐causing microorganisms in adult patients undergoing surgery for suspected appendicitis was rare.
Herbivores regulate native–alien plants dynamics in sub‐Antarctic beech (Nothofagus antarctica) forests of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina
Authors: Soler Rosina , Bustamante Gimena , Cruz‐Alonso Verónica , Lenzner Bernd , Essl Franz
Published: March 2023

Questions

What is the role of native and domestic herbivores in native–alien vegetation changes in sub‐Antarctic forests? Does herbivory suppression increase native while reducing alien species diversity?

Location

Central–eastern Tierra del Fuego Island, Argentina.

Methods

In four sites, we set up three different treatments: excluded grazing by livestock (cattle), by livestock and native (guanaco) herbivores, and grazed control plots in Nothofagus antarctica forests. We then monitored the dynamics of understorey native and alien plants (species richness, abundance) of dicots, monocots, and ferns over 6 years. Generalized Linear Mixed Models were used to determine the effects of herbivore exclusion and time on species richness and abundance. In addition, we calculated the abundance rate of change to quantify temporal dynamics.

Results

Overall species richness did not change in the exclusion plots, but native and alien abundances were affected by herbivory and time since exclusion. The abundance of native monocots changed after herbivore exclusion, increasing its dominance significantly inside exclusion plots. However, the cessation of herbivory did not reduce alien species in general. Only alien dicots significantly declined in the livestock exclusion treatment. Further, we found that the two dominant alien grass species (Holcus lanatus and Poa pratensis) respond differently to grazing exclusion, and their response was modulated by forest basal area.

Conclusions

Our results indicate that cattle and guanaco grazing had variable effects on native and alien plants, and that herbivore exclusion has a substantially positive effect on native grasses. However, the magnitude of temporal changes was more significant for vegetation richness and abundance than the effect of exclusion treatments. Herbivore exclusions can initiate a rapid recovery of compositional attributes of native vegetation in N. antarctica forests grazed by livestock.
Rangeland resilience to droughts: Changes across an intensification gradient
Authors: Tommasino Andrea , Lezama Felipe , Gallego Federico , Camba Sans Gonzalo , Paruelo José María
Published: March 2023

Aim

The intensification of livestock systems generates structural and functional changes in native grassland, which alter their capacity to respond to disturbances. Our objective was to evaluate the resilience to an extraordinary consecutive‐droughts event, across an intensification gradient of livestock systems. Our prediction was that sites with more intensive management (less diverse) will have lower resilience (as resistance and/or recovery) to drought.

Location

South‐central region of Uruguay.

Methods

We evaluated the resilience (as resistance and recovery) to consecutive droughts, across an intensification gradient of livestock systems. We analyzed the effect of diversity on resilience at two scales: (1) regional — an observational experiment with real commercial farms, where we compared three systems with an increasing level of intensification that determine changes in diversity, (2) patch — we carried out a manipulative experiment with different grazing management intensities determined by the level of biomass removal and fertilization. In both experiments, resistance and recovery were calculated from the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index.

Results

The most intensified and less diverse management (sown pastures) had significantly lower resistance than native and overseeded grassland. Also, it showed the lowest recovery rate, and its productivity did not reach previous values after the drought's end. The grazing intensification gradient at the plot scale did not show clear differences among treatments both for resistance and recovery. However, resistance of the individual plots showed a positive significant association not only with species richness and diversity, but also with evenness and diversity of functional groups.

Conclusion

Our research supports the insurance hypothesis by demonstrating that farms with greater biodiversity (less intensive management) have higher resistance to drought. We found that species richness is not enough to account for the effect of diversity on resilience. Our results emphasize the importance of preserving grassland biodiversity to maintain resilient ecosystems in the face of climate change.
Nonparametric Failure Time: Time-to-Event Machine Learning with Heteroskedastic Bayesian Additive Regression Trees and Low Information Omnibus Dirichlet Process Mixtures
Authors: Sparapani Rodney A. , Logan Brent R. , Maiers Martin J. , Laud Purushottam W. , McCulloch Robert E.
Published: March 2023

Many popular survival models rely on restrictive parametric, or semiparametric, assumptions that could provide erroneous predictions when the effects of covariates are complex. Modern advances in computational hardware have led to an increasing interest in flexible Bayesian nonparametric methods for time-to-event data such as Bayesian additive regression trees (BART). We propose a novel approach that we call nonparametric failure time (NFT) BART in order to increase the flexibility beyond accelerated failure time (AFT) and proportional hazard models. NFT BART has three key features: (1) a BART prior for the mean function of the event time logarithm; (2) a heteroskedastic BART prior to deduce a covariate-dependent variance function; and (3) a flexible nonparametric error distribution using Dirichlet process mixtures (DPM). Our proposed approach widens the scope of hazard shapes including nonproportional hazards, can be scaled up to large sample sizes, naturally provides estimates of uncertainty via the posterior and can be seamlessly employed for variable selection. We provide convenient, user-friendly, computer software that is freely available as a reference implementation. Simulations demonstrate that NFT BART maintains excellent performance for survival prediction especially when AFT assumptions are violated by heteroskedasticity. We illustrate the proposed approach on a study examining predictors for mortality risk in patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) for blood-borne cancer, where heteroskedasticity and nonproportional hazards are likely present.