bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Buddhist monasteries facilitated landscape conservation on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau
Authors: Cui Naixin , Wu Tong , Wang Yi-Chen , Zou Huiting , Axmacher Jan Christoph , Sang Weiguo , Guo Luo
Published: April 2022

Context

The Sanjiangyuan region of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau—also known as the “Three Rivers’ Headwaters”—is the origin of the Yellow, Yangtze, and Mekong Rivers and therefore the key water source for hundreds of millions of downstream residents. Protecting this region’s ecosystems is a key priority for sustainable development in China and Asia. An important social dimension of Sanjiangyuan is the long-established and widespread presence of Tibetan Buddhism, particularly as manifested in the large number of monasteries throughout the region. However, the influence of cultural factors on environmental change remains largely understudied here.

Objective

We focus on two types of spatial associations—point-point and point-area features—to quantitatively investigate the effects of Buddhist monasteries on land use/cover change (LUCC) in surrounding landscapes.

Methods

We conduct a spatially-explicit analysis of Sanjiangyuan for two periods, 1990–2000 and 2010–2015, to identify and quantify the influence of the presence and spatial distributions of Buddhist monasteries on LUCC compared to village communities that lack monasteries.

Results

We found that the presence of monasteries is highly correlated with the preservation of natural ecosystems, specifically of grasslands and forests. Within monastery buffer zones with radii between 1 and 10 km, 7.13–9.30% more grassland area and 7.14–7.47% more forest area remained around monasteries compared to villages. This contrast decreased with increasing distance to the monastery/village. Overall, built-up areas were also much smaller around monasteries than around villages, while unused land was more commonly transformed to forests and grasslands around monasteries.

Conclusions

These findings strongly support the idea that Buddhist culture, as manifested through its physical institutions and communities, are instrumental in achieving desired landscape conservation outcomes.
What will mobile and virtual work look like in the future?—Results of a Delphi-based study
Authors: Kauffeld Simone , Tartler Darien , Gräfe Hendrik , Windmann Ann-Kathrin , Sauer Nils Christian
Published: April 2022

This contribution to the journal “Group. Interaction. Organization.” (GIO) takes a closer look at the mobile work of the future. Mobile work as well as virtual collaboration is becoming more and more integrated into our everyday working lives—not least reinforced by the COVID-19 Pandemic. In a Delphi-based study, we investigated the question of what mobile and virtual work will look like in the future. For this purpose, 35 future scenarios were described or processed in four rounds with a total of 460 experts and their desirability and probability of occurrence were evaluated. Positive developments are expected for the organization in terms of technology (e.g., advances in virtuality and artificial intelligence), leadership (e.g., increase in shared leadership and participation) and the work-life integration of employees (e.g., more flexibility and self-management). Negative effects are seen for teamwork (e.g., it becomes more difficult to build and maintain team cohesion and social exchange). How the challenges can be dealt with in terms of work design is shown and discussed.
Enabling automatic retrieval of schemas from long-term memory in English grammar practice
Authors: Guo Lina , Wang Chuang
Published: April 2022

People are increasingly aware that metacognition can help us solve problems more effectively. Scholars believe that students’ metacognition can be facilitated by promoting the interplay between the unlimited long work memory for holding schemas and limited work memory for processing ongoing activities. In this study, a workshop designed teacher mediation method between English language teachers and students is implemented that focuses on instructional talk supported by a visualized thinking framework in learning English grammar. Consequent to student’s automation from retrieving schemas to engage in the self-regulatory process of English grammar problem-solving, this section involves three English language teachers and students in their taught classes in a secondary school in China. The teachers were equipped with an explicit approach to teacher mediation through researcher-designed workshops. As the teacher mediation approach was implemented in English language classrooms, the researchers made meaning of their experiences through the dialogue and interaction between teachers and students by revealing the essence in the mediation process: dialogic assessment, cognitive scheme construction, automated schema retrieval, and metacognitive schema construction. Through teachers’ English pedagogical grammar practice in the three example cases, metacognitive teachers and learners are expected to be cultivated in an interdisciplinary view.
Automatic detection of cognitive impairment in elderly people using an entertainment chatbot with Natural Language Processing capabilities
Authors: de Arriba-Pérez Francisco , García-Méndez Silvia , González-Castaño Francisco J. , Costa-Montenegro Enrique
Published: April 2022

Previous researchers have proposed intelligent systems for therapeutic monitoring of cognitive impairments. However, most existing practical approaches for this purpose are based on manual tests. This raises issues such as excessive caretaking effort and the white-coat effect. To avoid these issues, we present an intelligent conversational system for entertaining elderly people with news of their interest that monitors cognitive impairment transparently. Automatic chatbot dialogue stages allow assessing content description skills and detecting cognitive impairment with Machine Learning algorithms. We create these dialogue flows automatically from updated news items using Natural Language Generation techniques. The system also infers the gold standard of the answers to the questions, so it can assess cognitive capabilities automatically by comparing these answers with the user responses. It employs a similarity metric with values in [0, 1], in increasing level of similarity. To evaluate the performance and usability of our approach, we have conducted field tests with a test group of 30 elderly people in the earliest stages of dementia, under the supervision of gerontologists. In the experiments, we have analysed the effect of stress and concentration in these users. Those without cognitive impairment performed up to five times better. In particular, the similarity metric varied between 0.03, for stressed and unfocused participants, and 0.36, for relaxed and focused users. Finally, we developed a Machine Learning algorithm based on textual analysis features for automatic cognitive impairment detection, which attained accuracy, F-measure and recall levels above 80%. We have thus validated the automatic approach to detect cognitive impairment in elderly people based on entertainment content. The results suggest that the solution has strong potential for long-term user-friendly therapeutic monitoring of elderly people.
Entwicklung und Validierung eines videobasierten Testinstruments zur Erfassung des Noticing mit dem Fokus auf Anerkennungsprozesse im inklusiven Sportunterricht
Authors: Langer Wiebke , Bruns Julia , Erhorn Jan
Published: April 2022

Dem Konstrukt des Noticing wird insbesondere im (inklusiven) Sportunterricht eine hohe Bedeutung für das professionelle Handeln von (angehenden) Sportlehrkräften beigemessen. Um Ansprüche eines inklusiven Sportunterrichtes umzusetzen, erweist sich Noticing mit dem Fokus auf Anerkennungsprozesse als besonders bedeutsam, da sich für die Gestaltung von entwicklungsförderlichen Anerkennungsverhältnissen durch die Relevanz der Körperlichkeit spezifische Anforderungen an die selektive Aufmerksamkeitslenkung und das theoriegeleitete Deuten von Anerkennungs- und Missachtungsprozessen im komplexen Unterrichtsgeschehen ergeben. Die Möglichkeit, diese Kompetenzfacette im universitären Kontext zu fördern, ist bislang kaum untersucht worden, was auch im Fehlen von Instrumenten zur standardisierten Erfassung dieses Konstrukts begründet liegt. Im Rahmen des Beitrags wird die Entwicklung und Validierung eines standardisierten, videovignettenbasierten Testinstruments zur Messung des Noticing mit dem Fokus auf Anerkennungsprozesse von angehenden Sportlehrkräften vorgestellt. Im Fokus der Validierung stehen der Testinhalt, die interne Struktur des Instruments sowie Zusammenhänge mit verwandten inhaltlichen Konstrukten. Die Ergebnisse aus drei aufeinander aufbauenden Validierungsstudien geben Hinweise auf die Reliabilität und Validität der Testwertinterpretation des Instruments ViProQiS_A. Die Erkenntnisse deuten darauf hin, dass mit dem hier entwickelten Testinstrument eine standardisierte Messung des Noticing mit Fokus auf Anerkennungsprozesse im inklusiven Sportunterricht realisiert werden konnte.
Does dispositional self-control moderate the association between stress at work and physical activity after work? A real-life study with police officers
Authors: Schilling René , Cody Robyn , Ludyga Sebastian , Brand Serge , Faude Oliver , Pühse Uwe , Gerber Markus
Published: April 2022

Background

Psychosocial stress is a major health threat in modern society. Short-term effects of stress on health behaviors have been identified as relevant processes. This article examines the moderating effect of dispositional self-control on the association between stress at work and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) after work.

Methods

In a sample of 153 police officers (103 men, 50 women, mean age = 39.3 ± 10.4 years), daily occupational stress and hours worked were assessed via ecological momentary assessment (smartphone-based single item) in real-life. Dispositional self-control was assessed via an online questionnaire, whereas physical activity was assessed via accelerometry. A hierarchical linear regression analysis was performed to test main and interaction effects.

Results

Bivariate correlations showed that perceived stress at work was positively correlated with hours worked (r = 0.24, p < 0.001, 95% CI [0.09, 0.39]), whereas a negative association was found with dispositional self-control (r = −0.27, p < 0.001, 95% CI [−0.41, −0.12]). After-work MVPA was neither associated with stress at work nor with dispositional self-control. The regression analysis yielded no significant interaction between stress at work and dispositional self-control on after-work MVPA.

Conclusion

Using a state-of-the-art ecological momentary assessment approach to assess feelings of stress in real-life, stress at work did not seem to impact after-work MVPA in police officers. More research is needed to establish whether this finding is specific to police officers or whether it can be generalized to other populations.
Impact of weekdays versus weekend days on accelerometer measured physical behavior among children and adolescents: results from the MoMo study
Authors: Burchartz Alexander , Oriwol Doris , Kolb Simon , Schmidt Steffen C. E. , von Haaren-Mack Birte , Niessner Claudia , Woll Alexander
Published: April 2022

Structured activities, in which children participate for example at school, are consistent and limited in scope. After-school or weekend activities, by contrast, involve a wider range of behaviors. Studies have shown that physical activity (PA), as measured by accelerometers, is lower on weekends compared to weekdays or school days, whereas PA does not differ between weekdays. In the present study, we examined accelerometer data of children and adolescents living in Germany for the different weekdays and weekend days. The current analysis used cross-sectional data of participants (n = 2743) aged 6–17 years collected between 2014 and 2017. The final valid sample consisted of 2278 children and adolescents divided into three age groups (6–10 years, n = 713; 11–13 years, n = 706; 14–17 years, n = 859) and two gender groups (1072 boys, 1206 girls). Physical behavior, including sedentary behavior, as well as light, moderate, vigorous PA, and wear time were analyzed. Absolute and percentage intensity distributions were evaluated daily. The average wear time was 807 min daily from Monday–Thursday with significant deviations from the mean on Friday (+38 min), Saturday (−76 min), and Sunday (−141 min). Absolute moderate to vigorous PA times were lower on weekends than during the week. However, the percentage intensity distribution remained constant over all days. Girls were less physically active and more sedentary than boys (F1,2272 = 38.3; p < 0.01) and adolescents were significantly less active than younger children (F2,2272 = 138.6; p < 0.01). Waking times increased with age (F2,2272 = 138.6; p < 0.01). Shorter awake periods limit possible active times on weekends, resulting in lower PA and sedentary behavior compared to weekdays. The percentage distributions of the different physical behavior intensity categories are similar over all weekdays and weekend days. We could not find a justification for specific weekend interventions. Instead, interventions should generally try to shift activity away from sedentary behavior towards a more active lifestyle.
Self-tracking via smartphone app: Potential tool for athletes’ recovery self-management?
Authors: Jakowski Sarah
Published: April 2022

Self-tracking technologies are possible approaches to support recovery self-management activities for athletes. These may have become even more appealing due to stay-at-home restrictions as part of the 2020 pandemic regulations. This study examined user behaviour of smartphone and wearable technologies among 217 athletes (29% women, M age = 26.9 ± 7 years). The online survey comprised demographic questions and standardised questionnaires to assess usage of technologies, sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), daytime sleepiness (Epworth Sleepiness Scale), attitudes about sleep (Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes about Sleep Scale), bedtime procrastination (Bedtime Procrastination Scale), and self-control (Brief Self-Control Scale). Fitness apps (46.5%) were more popular than sleep apps (15.7%) followed by nutrition apps (12%). The correlation between sleep apps and the other two apps indicate that non-users of sleep apps are probably also non-users of fitness or nutrition apps. Wearables were more frequently used to track fitness activities (36.9%) than sleep (17.5%). Considering sex, type of sport, competition participation, and training volume, no remarkable characteristics among users versus non-users of sleep apps were identified. There were also no significant differences among sleep indices between sleep app users and non-users. However, self-control was highest among sleep app users compared to non-users (d = 0.58). Despite 34.1% being identified as poor sleepers, behavioural sleeping patterns were within normal range. The results imply that athletes are not as attracted to self-tracking technologies as expected, which makes them less vulnerable to unsubstantiated feedback and inappropriate interventions by those tools. This serves as a starting point to explore the potential of self-tracking ambulatory assessment for physical activity and sleep behaviour of athletes in the post-pandemic era.
A general framework for analysing the mortality experience of a large portfolio of lives: with an application to the UK universities superannuation scheme
Authors: Cairns Andrew J. G. , Blake David , Dowd Kevin , Coughlan Guy D. , Jones Owen , Rowney Jeffrey
Published: April 2022

We propose a general framework that can be used to analyse the mortality experience of a large portfolio of lives. The objective of the framework is to provide a firm evidence base to support the setting of future mortality assumptions for the portfolio as a whole or subgroup-by-subgroup. The framework is developed in tandem with an analysis of the mortality of pensioners in the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), the largest funded pension scheme in the UK and one with a highly educated and very homogeneous membership. The USS experience was compared with English mortality subdivided into deprivation deciles using the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD). USS was found to have significantly lower mortality rates than even IMD-10 (the least deprived of the English deciles), but with similar mortality improvement rates to that decile over the period 2005–2016. Higher pensions were found to predict lower mortality, but only weakly so, and only for persons who retired on the first day of a month (mostly from active service). We found that other potential covariates derived from an individual’s post/zip code (geographical region and the IMD associated with their local area) typically had no explanatory power. This lack of dependence is an important conclusion of the USS-specific analysis and contrasts with others that consider the mortality of more heterogeneous scheme memberships. Although the key findings are likely to be particular to USS, we argue that our analytical framework will be useful for other large pension schemes and life annuity providers.
Predictive model for bacterial co-infection in patients hospitalized for COVID-19: a multicenter observational cohort study
Authors: Giannella Maddalena , Rinaldi Matteo , Tesini Giulia , Gallo Mena , Cipriani Veronica , Vatamanu Oana , Campoli Caterina , Toschi Alice , Ferraro Giuseppe , Horna Clara Solera , Bartoletti Michele , Ambretti Simone , Violante Francesco , Viale Pierluigi , Curti Stefania
Published: April 2022

Objective

The aim of our study was to build a predictive model able to stratify the risk of bacterial co-infection at hospitalization in patients with COVID-19.

Methods

Multicenter observational study of adult patients hospitalized from February to December 2020 with confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis. Endpoint was microbiologically documented bacterial co-infection diagnosed within 72 h from hospitalization. The cohort was randomly split into derivation and validation cohort. To investigate risk factors for co-infection univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed. Predictive risk score was obtained assigning a point value corresponding to β-coefficients to the variables in the multivariable model. ROC analysis in the validation cohort was used to estimate prediction accuracy.

Results

Overall, 1733 patients were analyzed: 61.4% males, median age 69 years (IQR 57–80), median Charlson 3 (IQR 2–6). Co-infection was diagnosed in 110 (6.3%) patients. Empirical antibiotics were started in 64.2 and 59.5% of patients with and without co-infection (p = 0.35). At multivariable analysis in the derivation cohort: WBC ≥ 7.7/mm3, PCT ≥ 0.2 ng/mL, and Charlson index ≥ 5 were risk factors for bacterial co-infection. A point was assigned to each variable obtaining a predictive score ranging from 0 to 5. In the validation cohort, ROC analysis showed AUC of 0.83 (95%CI 0.75–0.90). The optimal cut-point was ≥2 with sensitivity 70.0%, specificity 75.9%, positive predictive value 16.0% and negative predictive value 97.5%. According to individual risk score, patients were classified at low (point 0), intermediate (point 1), and high risk (point ≥ 2). CURB-65 ≥ 2 was further proposed to identify patients at intermediate risk who would benefit from early antibiotic coverage.

Conclusions

Our score may be useful in stratifying bacterial co-infection risk in COVID-19 hospitalized patients, optimizing diagnostic testing and antibiotic use.
Thermal shock of subsurface material with plastic flow during scuffing
Authors: Zhang Chuanwei , Zhai Han , Sun Dong , Zheng Dezhi , Zhao Xiaoli , Gu Le , Wang Liqin
Published: April 2022

The thermal shock of subsurface material with shear instability and severe plastic flow during scuffing was investigated. The scuffing damage of M50 steel was tested using a high-speed rolling—sliding contact test rig, and the transient temperature during scuffing was calculated using the Fourier transform method considering the effects of both frictional heat and plastic work. The results show that a thermal shock with a rapid rise and subsequent rapid decrease in the contact temperature is generated in the subsurface layers. The frictional power intensity generates a high temperature rise, leading to the austenitization of the subsurface material. Consequently, the plastic flow is generated in the subsurface layer under the high shear stress, and the resulting plastic strain energy generates a further temperature increase. Subsequently, a rapid decrease in the contact temperature quenches the material, resulting in clear shear slip bands and retained austenite in the subsurface layers of the M50 steel.
Prävalenz von Muskel-Skelett-Erkrankungen in der Zahnmedizin
Authors: Holzgreve F. , Weis T. , Grams I. , Germann U. , Wanke E. M.
Published: April 2022

Die traditionellen Behandlungspositionen der Zahnärzt/innen hinter, neben und vor dem/r Patienten/in führen zur asymmetrischen Neigung und Verdrehung des Kopfes sowie des Rumpfes. Die Folge können Fehlhaltungen sein, die Muskel-Skelett-Erkrankungen verursachen. Das erklärt wahrscheinlich die hohe Prävalenz bei Zahnärzt/innen und zahnmedizinischen Fachangestellten. Daher werden in dieser Übersicht mögliche Ursachen und Konsequenzen der Prävalenz sowie ergonomische Maßnahmen für diese Berufsgruppen aufgeführt. Zudem erläutern wir ergonomische Empfehlungen für die Sitzhaltung von Zahnärzt/innen auf Basis der vorhandenen Literatur.
Modeling stochastic service time for complex on-demand food delivery
Authors: Zheng Jie , Wang Ling , Wang Shengyao , Chen Jing-fang , Wang Xing , Duan Haining , Liang Yile , Ding Xuetao
Published: April 2022

Uncertainty is everywhere in the food delivery process, which significantly influences decision-making for complex on-demand food delivery problems, affecting delivery efficiency and customer satisfaction. Especially, the service time is an indispensable part of the delivery process impacted by various uncertain factors. Due to the simplicity and high accuracy requirement, we model the uncertain service time as a Gaussian mixture model (GMM). In detail, we transform the distribution estimation problem into a clustering problem by determining the probability of each data belonging to each component (each cluster as well). A hybrid estimation of distribution algorithm is proposed to intelligently solve the clustering problem with the criterion to optimize quality and simplicity simultaneously. First, to optimize the simplicity, problem-specific encoding and decoding methods are designed. Second, to generate initial solutions with good clustering results, a Chinese restaurant process-based initialization mechanism is presented. Third, a weighted-learning mechanism is proposed to effectively guide the update of the probability model. Fourth, a local intensification based on maximum likelihood is used to exploit better solutions. The effect of critical parameters on the performances of the proposed algorithm is investigated by the Taguchi design of the experimental method. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, we carry out extensive offline experiments on real-world historical data. Besides, we employ the GMMs obtained by our algorithm in a real-world on-demand food delivery platform, Meituan, to assist decision-making for order dispatching. The results of rigorous online A/B tests verify the practical value of introducing the uncertainty model into the real-life application.
New extension of ordinal priority approach for multiple attribute decision-making problems: design and analysis
Authors: Abdel-Basset Mohamed , Mohamed Mai , Abdel-monem Ahmed , Elfattah Mohamed Abd
Published: April 2022

The selection and assessment process of appropriate robots became a more complex and complicated task due to various available alternatives and conflicting attributes which must take into consideration. Also, uncertainty which exists usually in the selection process is an unavoidable component that needs to be thoughtfully measured and traditional multi-attribute decision-making approaches failed to deal precisely with it. Since almost all decisions originate from subjective ordinal preferences, handling uncertainty using linguistic variables is also not enough. Thus, the objective of the current study is to present a new extended ordinal priority approach in the neutrosophic environment for the first time to select an appropriate robot. Since neutrosophic is one of the most effective and accommodating tools for handling uncertainty, thus, this method goes to transform linguistic information into triangular neutrosophic numbers using a new presented scale. This scale was used to determine the importance degree of attributes and alternatives regarding experts' opinions. Also, the score function of the triangular neutrosophic number is used for prioritizing attributes and alternatives. The experts in our proposed method have the same degree of importance, since each expert is a person with special skills and knowledge representing mastery of a particular subject. To measure the applicability and efficiency of the proposed approach, an experimental case study has been established for the robot selection problem of a new pharmaceutical city in Egypt for the first time. The source of data in this case study is experts, interviews, and questionnaires. Also, sensitivity and comparative analysis are further made for verifying the power of the proposed approach. The outcome of this study shows that the suggested approach for robot selection is quite helpful and has a great performance under uncertainty over classical and fuzzy ordinal priority approaches. Also, the suggested approach is less consumption of time and simpler than the fuzzy ordinal priority approach. Therefore, we recommend firms and governments to apply it for increasing product quality, hence the profitability of manufacturing industries and decrease needless costs.
A New Dimensionality-Unbiased Score for Efficient and Effective Outlying Aspect Mining
Authors: Samariya Durgesh , Ma Jiangang
Published: April 2022

The main aim of the outlying aspect mining algorithm is to automatically detect the subspace(s) (a.k.a. aspect(s)), where a given data point is dramatically different than the rest of the data in each of those subspace(s) (aspect(s)). To rank the subspaces for a given data point, a scoring measure is required to compute the outlying degree of the given data in each subspace. In this paper, we introduce a new measure to compute outlying degree, called Simple Isolation score using Nearest Neighbor Ensemble (SiNNE), which not only detects the outliers but also provides an explanation on why the selected point is an outlier. SiNNE is a dimensionally unbias measure in its raw form, which means the scores produced by SiNNE are compared directly with subspaces having different dimensions. Thus, it does not require any normalization to make the score unbiased. Our experimental results on synthetic and publicly available real-world datasets revealed that (i) SiNNE produces better or at least the same results as existing scores. (ii) It improves the run time of the existing outlying aspect mining algorithm based on beam search by at least two orders of magnitude. SiNNE allows the existing outlying aspect mining algorithm to run in datasets with hundreds of thousands of instances and thousands of dimensions which was not possible before.
Skill of the Saudi-KAU CGCM in Forecasting ENSO and its Comparison with NMME and C3S Models
Authors: Almazroui Mansour , Ehsan Muhammad Azhar , Tippett Michael K. , Ismail Muhammad , Islam M. Nazrul , Camargo Suzana J. , Abid Muhammad Adnan , O’Brien Enda , Kamil Shahzad , Robertson Andrew W. , Singh Bohar , Hussein Mahmoud , Omar Vale Mohamed , Yousef Ahmed Elsayed
Published: April 2022

This paper assesses the skill of the Saudi-King Abdulaziz University coupled ocean–atmosphere Global Climate Model, namely Saudi-KAU CGCM, in forecasting the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO)-related sea surface temperature. The model performance is evaluated based on a reforecast of 38 years from 1982 to 2019, with 20 ensemble members of 12-month integrations. The analysis is executed on ensemble mean data separately for boreal winter (December to February: DJF), spring (March to May: MAM), summer (June to August: JJA), and autumn (September to November: SON) seasons. It is found that the Saudi-KAU model mimics the observed climatological pattern and variability of the SST in the tropical Pacific region. A cold bias of about 0.5–1.0 °C is noted in the ENSO region during all seasons at 1-month lead times. A statistically significant positive correlation coefficient is observed for the predicted SST anomalies in the tropical Pacific Ocean that lasts out to 6 months. Across varying times of the year and lead times, the model shows higher skill for autumn and winter target seasons than for spring or summer ones. The skill of the Saudi-KAU model in predicting Niño 3.4 index is comparable to that of state-of-the-art models available in the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) and North American Multi-Model Ensemble (NMME) projects. The ENSO skill demonstrated in this study is potentially useful for regional climate services providing early warning for precipitation and temperature variations on sub-seasonal to seasonal time scales.
Niche Evolution and Phylogenetic Community Paleoecology of Late Ordovician Crinoids
Authors: Cole Selina R. , Wright David F.
Published: April 2022

Fossil crinoids are exceptionally suited to deep-time studies of community paleoecology and niche partitioning. By merging ecomorphological trait and phylogenetic data, this Element summarizes niche occupation and community paleoecology of crinoids from the Bromide fauna of Oklahoma (Sandbian, Upper Ordovician). Patterns of community structure and niche evolution are evaluated over a ~5 million-year period through comparison with the Brechin Lagerstätte (Katian, Upper Ordovician). The authors establish filtration fan density, food size selectivity, and body size as major axes defining niche differentiation, and niche occupation is strongly controlled by phylogeny. Ecological strategies were relatively static over the study interval at high taxonomic scales, but niche differentiation and specialization increased in most subclades. Changes in disparity and species richness indicate the transition between the early-middle Paleozoic Crinoid Evolutionary Faunas was already underway by the Katian due to ecological drivers and was not triggered by the Late Ordovician mass extinction.
Inter-Firm Inventor Collaboration and Path-Breaking Innovation: Evidence From Inventor Teams Post-Merger
Authors: Li Kai , Wang Jin
Published: April 2022

Using a large and novel data set over the period of 1976 to 2019 tracking inventors’ career paths following mergers and acquisitions, we show that collaboration between acquirer and target inventors post-merger is associated with more path-breaking patents than those filed by either acquirer or target inventor-only teams. We further show that such collaboration is more important in improving acquirers’ innovation capabilities than hiring target inventors and knowledge spillovers. Finally, we show that recombining tacit knowledge embodied in the human capital of acquirer and target inventors is likely the mechanism. We conclude that inter-firm inventor collaboration is one key means for achieving synergies.
The contribution of Antarctic moss peat to the understanding of global peatland processes
Authors: Fenton James H.C.
Published: April 2022

The moss banks of the Maritime Antarctic composed of one or both of the mosses Chorisodontium aciphyllum and Polytrichum strictum form peat banks up to 3.4 m thick and 5500 years of age. They represent perhaps the simplest peat-forming systems in the world, so studying their dynamics can help in the understanding of peatland dynamics generally, particularly those of temperate blanket peat. They can provide insights into how the balance of growth, decomposition and compaction of peat results in peat formation, how downhill creep can be the cause of both vertical edges and the creation of patterned bogs and how erosion of peat can be a natural process.
From Cradle to Grave: The Politics of Peace and Reproduction in the Anti-Fascist Campaigns of British Women's Organisations
Authors: Huckestein Erika
Published: April 2022

This article examines the activism of British women's organisations to establish peaceful internationalism built on women's roles as mothers, while simultaneously opposing the rise of European fascism in the interwar period. It considers the maternalist arguments made by women's organisations in their work for disarmament, which coincided with the increasing militarism of fascist governments and their promotion of the idea that women's roles were primarily as mothers to create future soldiers for the state. These campaigns were also connected to debates about the birth rate, and women's organisations promoted the idea that women were actively refusing biological motherhood until policy makers heeded women's demands. This article demonstrates how feminist activists in interwar Britain fought to claim and mobilise their own gendered and politicised understandings of women's roles as mothers at a time when they feared fascism would strip women of the political rights they had worked for decades to achieve.
On the discovery and interpretation of overcounting in Orkhon Inscriptions
Authors: He Chuansheng
Published: April 2022

The discovery of overcounting in Orkhon Inscriptions has been an important contribution by historical comparative linguistics during the nineteenth century. However, the initial interpretation of overcounted numerals in Orkhon Inscriptions by Thomsen and Radloff was not correct, resulting in serious difficulties in reconstructing old Turkic history. It was Bang and Marquart who worked out the true semantics of overcounted numerals. This article aims to present a historical overview on the discovery and interpretation of overcounted numerals in Orkhon Inscriptions. Considering that Bang and Marquart did not explicitly spell out their evidence for reaching the true semantics of these numerals, this article presents a series of arguments proving the existence of overcounting in Old Turkic based on language per se, historical facts, logical reasoning, and bilingual translation.
Evaluating the Age Distribution of Exposed Crust in the Acasta Gneiss Complex Using Detrital Zircons in Pleistocene Eskers
Authors: Bilak Grayson S. , Niemetz Kaylyn , Reimink Jesse R. , Reyes Alberto V. , Chacko Thomas , DuFrane S. Andrew , Belosevic Michael , Ketchum John W. F.
Published: April 2022

The Acasta Gneiss Complex (AGC) is a ∼2,400 km2 Hadean‐Mesoarchean terrane that contains the oldest known zircon‐bearing rocks on Earth. Despite its importance for early Earth geology, only a small fraction (∼50 km2) of the AGC has been mapped in detail. We use detrital zircon grains from late Pleistocene eskers that transect the Complex to approximate the lateral extent and relative proportions of diverse‐aged ancient rock units within the vast, little‐studied parts of the AGC. The esker sediment was derived from glacially eroded bedrock and therefore zircon grains can serve as a proxy for the ages of exposed bedrock in the study area. U‐Pb dates on ∼2400 detrital zircons from coarse and fine grain‐size fractions along the esker transect yield age distributions that coincide with ages of regionally mapped AGC bedrock, the adjacent Wopmay Orogen, and granitoids of the Slave craton. Based on detrital zircon age distributions and new reconnaissance‐scale mapping, we infer that 3.37 Ga granitoids are a volumetrically significant component of the unmapped AGC. Esker zircons older than 3.7 Ga are present in most esker samples but at low abundance, which suggests that Eoarchean and Hadean rocks are a volumetrically subordinate component of the AGC. However, the data also suggest that unmapped rocks at least as old as 3.95 Ga are present toward the inferred eastern limit of the AGC, a location where Eoarchean rocks have not been recognized previously.
MiRNA-363-3p/DUSP10/JNK axis mediates chemoresistance by enhancing DNA damage repair in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma
Authors: Zhou Wenping , Xu Yuanlin , Zhang Jiuyang , Zhang Peipei , Yao Zhihua , Yan Zheng , Wang Haiying , Chu Junfeng , Yao Shuna , Zhao Shuang , Yang Shujun , Guo Yongjun , Miao Jinxin , Liu Kangdong , Chan Wing C. , Xia Qingxin , Liu Yanyan
Published: April 2022

Anthracycline-based chemotherapy resistance represents a major challenge in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). MiRNA and gene expression profiles (n = 47) were determined to uncover potential chemoresistance mechanisms and therapeutic approaches. An independent correlation between high expression of miRNA-363-3p and chemoresistance was observed and validated in a larger cohort (n = 106). MiRNA-363-3p was shown to reduce doxorubicin-induced apoptosis and tumor shrinkage in in vitro and in vivo experiments by ectopic expression and CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knockout in DLBCL cell lines. DNA methylation was found to participate in transcriptional regulation of miRNA-363-3p. Further investigation revealed that dual specificity phosphatase 10 (DUSP10) is a target of miRNA-363-3p and its suppression promotes the phosphorylation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK). The miRNA-363-3p/DUSP10/JNK axis was predominantly associated with negative regulation of homologous recombination (HR) and DNA repair pathways. Ectopic expression of miRNA-363-3p more effectively repaired doxorubicin-induced double-strand break (DSB) while enhancing non-homologous end joining repair and reducing HR repair. Targeting JNK and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 significantly inhibited doxorubicin-induced DSB repair, increased doxorubicin-induced cell apoptosis and tumor shrinkage, and improved the survival of tumor-bearing mice. In conclusion, the miRNA-363-3p/DUSP10/JNK axis is a novel chemoresistance mechanism in DLBCL that may be reversed by targeted therapy.
A nanotheranostic agent based on Nd3+-doped YVO4 with blood-brain-barrier permeability for NIR-II fluorescence imaging/magnetic resonance imaging and boosted sonodynamic therapy of orthotopic glioma
Authors: Lv Zhijia , Jin Longhai , Cao Yue , Zhang Hao , Xue Dongzhi , Yin Na , Zhang Tianqi , Wang Yinghui , Liu Jianhua , Liu Xiaogang , Zhang Hongjie
Published: April 2022

The specific diagnosis and treatment of gliomas is a primary challenge in clinic due to their high invasiveness and blood-brain barrier (BBB) obstruction. It is highly desirable to find a multifunctional agent with good BBB penetration for precise theranostics. Herein, we design and construct a core-shell structured nanotheranostic agent (YVO4:Nd3+-HMME@MnO2-LF, marked as YHM) with YVO4:Nd3+particles as the core and MnO2nanosheets as the shell. Sonosensitizer hematoporphyrinmonomethyl ether (HMME) and lactoferrin (LF) were further loaded and modified on the surface, giving it a good ability to cross the BBB, near-infrared fluorescence imaging in the second window (NIR-II)/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) bimodality, and highly efficient sonodynamic therapy (SDT) of orthotopic gliomas. The YVO4:Nd3+(25%) core exhibited good NIR-II fluorescence properties, enabling YHM to act as promising probes for NIR-II fluorescence imaging of vessels and orthotopic gliomas. MnO2shell can not only provide O2in the tumor microenvironments (TME) to significantly improve the healing efficacy of SDT, but also release Mn2+ions to achieve T1-weight MRI in situ. Non-invasive SDT can effectively restrain tumor growth. This work not only demonstrates that multifunctional YHM is promising for diagnosis and treatment of orthotopic glioma, but also provides insights into exploring the theranostic agents based on rare earth-doped yttrium vanadate nanoparticles.
Self-frequency-conversion nanowire lasers
Authors: Yi Ruixuan , Zhang Xutao , Li Chen , Zhao Bijun , Wang Jing , Li Zhiwen , Gan Xuetao , Li Li , Li Ziyuan , Zhang Fanlu , Fang Liang , Wang Naiyin , Chen Pingping , Lu Wei , Fu Lan , Zhao Jianlin , Tan Hark Hoe , Jagadish Chennupati
Published: April 2022

Semiconductor nanowires (NWs) could simultaneously provide gain medium and optical cavity for performing nanoscale lasers with easy integration, ultracompact footprint, and low energy consumption. Here, we report III–V semiconductor NW lasers can also be used for self-frequency conversion to extend their output wavelengths, as a result of their non-centrosymmetric crystal structure and strongly localized optical field in the NWs. From a GaAs/In0.16Ga0.84As core/shell NW lasing at 1016 nm, an extra visible laser output at 508 nm is obtained via the process of second-harmonic generation, as confirmed by the far-field polarization dependence measurements and numerical modeling. From another NW laser with a larger diameter which supports multiple fundamental lasing wavelengths, multiple self-frequency-conversion lasing modes are observed due to second-harmonic generation and sum-frequency generation. The demonstrated self-frequency conversion of NW lasers opens an avenue for extending the working wavelengths of nanoscale lasers, even to the deep ultraviolet and THz range.
Prenatal earthquake stress exposure in different gestational trimesters is associated with methylation changes in the glucocorticoid receptor gene (NR3C1) and long-term working memory in adulthood
Authors: Wang Ran , Wang Jincheng , Xu Shuqi , Wang Lan , Song Mei , An Cuixia , Wang Xueyi
Published: April 2022

Prenatal stress exposure is thought to affect the long-term development of the foetal brain via the HPA axis and to change health outcomes in adulthood, including working memory (WM). The potential mechanism is that there is a critical period of brain development of the foetus, which is a result of selective adaptation to the external environment. The human glucocorticoid gene (NR3C1) is associated with memory and cognition. This study investigates the association between earthquake stress during pregnancy and CpG methylation of the NR3C1 exon 1Fpromoter and its influence on working memory in adulthood. DNA methylation analysis using bisulfite sequencing PCR was quantified in 176 subjects who were exposed or not exposed to intrauterine earthquake and were divided into three groups based on the pregnancy trimester. The Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised (HVLT-R) and Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised (BVMT-R) were used to assess working memory performance. The methylated NR3C1 exon 1Fpromoter of the prenatal earthquake exposure (PEE) group was significantly higher than that of the control group (CN). Analysis of subgroups indicated that the subjects in the second trimester of PEE group showed significantly higher methylation than those in the third trimester. Significantly low BVMT-R scores were detected in those who experienced prenatal earthquake in the second trimester of PEE group. Methylated CpG site 1 may play a critical role in contributing to lower BVMT-R scores in the second trimester in the PEE group, and may offer a potential epigenetic mechanism that links prenatal stress and long-term effects on working memory.
Midkine noncanonically suppresses AMPK activation through disrupting the LKB1-STRAD-Mo25 complex
Authors: Xia Tian , Chen Di , Liu Xiaolong , Qi Huan , Wang Wen , Chen Huan , Ling Ting , Otkur Wuxiyar , Zhang Chen-Song , Kim Jongchan , Lin Sheng-Cai , Piao Hai-long
Published: April 2022

Midkine (MDK), a secreted growth factor, regulates signal transduction and cancer progression by interacting with receptors, and it can be internalized into the cytoplasm by endocytosis. However, its intracellular function and signaling regulation remain unclear. Here, we show that intracellular MDK interacts with LKB1 and STRAD to disrupt the LKB1-STRAD-Mo25 complex. Consequently, MDK decreases the activity of LKB1 to dampen both the basal and stress-induced activation of AMPK by glucose starvation or treatment of 2-DG. We also found that MDK accelerates cancer cell proliferation by inhibiting the activation of the LKB1-AMPK axis. In human cancers, compared to other well-known growth factors, MDK expression is most significantly upregulated in cancers, especially in liver, kidney and breast cancers, correlating with clinical outcomes and inversely correlating with phosphorylated AMPK levels. Our study elucidates an inhibitory mechanism for AMPK activation, which is mediated by the intracellular MDK through disrupting the LKB1-STRAD-Mo25 complex.
Reference-free cell type deconvolution of multi-cellular pixel-resolution spatially resolved transcriptomics data
Authors: Miller Brendan F. , Huang Feiyang , Atta Lyla , Sahoo Arpan , Fan Jean
Published: April 2022

Recent technological advancements have enabled spatially resolved transcriptomic profiling but at multi-cellular pixel resolution, thereby hindering the identification of cell-type-specific spatial patterns and gene expression variation. To address this challenge, we develop STdeconvolve as a reference-free approach to deconvolve underlying cell types comprising such multi-cellular pixel resolution spatial transcriptomics (ST) datasets. Using simulated as well as real ST datasets from diverse spatial transcriptomics technologies comprising a variety of spatial resolutions such as Spatial Transcriptomics, 10X Visium, DBiT-seq, and Slide-seq, we show that STdeconvolve can effectively recover cell-type transcriptional profiles and their proportional representation within pixels without reliance on external single-cell transcriptomics references. STdeconvolve provides comparable performance to existing reference-based methods when suitable single-cell references are available, as well as potentially superior performance when suitable single-cell references are not available. STdeconvolve is available as an open-source R software package with the source code available athttps://github.com/JEFworks-Lab/STdeconvolve.
Mechanism of integrin activation by talin and its cooperation with kindlin
Authors: Lu Fan , Zhu Liang , Bromberger Thomas , Yang Jun , Yang Qiannan , Liu Jianmin , Plow Edward F. , Moser Markus , Qin Jun
Published: April 2022

Talin-induced integrin binding to extracellular matrix ligands (integrin activation) is the key step to trigger many fundamental cellular processes including cell adhesion, cell migration, and spreading. Talin is widely known to use its N-terminal head domain (talin-H) to bind and activate integrin, but how talin-H operates in the context of full-length talin and its surrounding remains unknown. Here we show that while being capable of inducing integrin activation, talin-H alone exhibits unexpectedly low potency versus a constitutively activated full-length talin. We find that the large C-terminal rod domain of talin (talin-R), which otherwise masks the integrin binding site on talin-H in inactive talin, dramatically enhances the talin-H potency by dimerizing activated talin and bridging it to the integrin co-activator kindlin-2 via the adaptor protein paxillin. These data provide crucial insight into the mechanism of talin and its cooperation with kindlin to promote potent integrin activation, cell adhesion, and signaling.