bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Datenschutzrechtliche Gestaltungsmöglichkeiten jenseits der Ermächtigung des Individuums: Die Multi-Stakeholder-Datenschutz-Folgenabschätzung
Authors: Karaboga Murat
Published: April 2022

Die fortschreitende Digitalisierung umfasst immer mehr Bereiche des Alltagslebens. Die damit verbundenen Gefahren waren ein wesentlicher Grund für die Entstehung der Datenschutz-Grundverordnung (DS-GVO), mit der die Ermächtigung des Individuums verfolgt wurde. Ähnlich wie schon in der Vergangenheit in anderen Bereichen (etwa im Verbraucher- oder Umweltschutz), ist angesichts der komplexen Digitalisierungsprozesse in den letzten Jahren jedoch in zunehmendem Maße die Frage in den Vordergrund gerückt, ob und inwiefern sich ein wirksamer Datenschutz auf Grundlage eines individualistischen Konzepts in Form der Ermächtigung des Individuums realisieren lässt. Vor dem Hintergrund dieser Debatten diskutiert der vorliegende Beitrag die Herausforderungen, denen sich individualistische Datenschutz-Konzeptionen ausgesetzt sehen und anschließend anhand ausgewählter Teilbereiche des Datenschutzrechts Lösungsansätze, die über die Fokussierung auf das Individuum hinausgehen und die als eine Art Mittelweg zwischen individualistischen und kollektivistischen Ansätzen verstanden werden können. Im Zentrum der Gestaltungsvorschläge steht die sog. Multi-Stakeholder-Datenschutz-Folgenabschätzung, die gemeinsam mit weiteren überindividuellen Maßnahmen geeignet wäre, die Gefahren moderner Datenverarbeitungen in angemessener Weise zu adressieren.
Let the Computer Say NO! The Neglected Potential of Policy Definition Languages for Data Sovereignty
Authors: Bartsch Jan , Dehling Tobias , Lauf Florian , Meister Sven , Sunyaev Ali
Published: April 2022

During interaction with today’s internet services and platform ecosystems, consumer data is often harvested and shared without their consent; that is, consumers seized to be the sovereigns of their own data with the proliferation of the internet. Due to the rapid and abundant nature of interactions in today’s platform ecosystems, manual consent management is impractical. To support development of semi-automated solutions for reestablishing data sovereignty, we investigate the use of policy definition languages as machine-readable and enforceable mechanisms for fostering data sovereignty. We conducted a realist literature review of the capabilities of policy definition languages developed for pertinent application scenarios (e.g., for access control in cloud computing). We consolidate extant literature into a framework of the chances and challenges of leveraging policy definition languages as central building blocks for data sovereignty in platform ecosystems.
Anonymisierte Daten brauchen keinen Datenschutz – wirklich nicht?
Authors: Kneuper Ralf
Published: April 2022

Gesetzliche Regelungen zum Datenschutz wie die DSGVO gehen davon aus, dass ein Schutzbedarf nur für personenbezogene Daten gilt, und anonymisierte Daten damit nicht dem Datenschutz unterliegen. Anonymität ist aber eine relative Eigenschaft, die u. a. vom Dateneigentümer abhängt. Daher kann sie auch in vielen Fällen wieder aufgehoben werden, wie einige in den letzten Jahren bekannt gewordene Beispiele zeigen. Die derzeitige Beschränkung des Datenschutzes auf personenbezogene Daten erscheint daher nicht angemessen, und es gibt verschiedene Ansätze, diese Herausforderung anzugehen. Zuerst einmal könnten auch anonymisierte Daten in der Gesetzgebung zum Datenschutz als schützenswert definiert werden, woraus sich die Forderung nach entsprechenden Maßnahmen wie einer Beschränkung der Weitergabe oder der Durchführung einer Datenschutz-Folgenabschätzung ergibt. Ein anderer bisher allerdings wenig verbreiteter Ansatz ist das gesetzliche Verbot einer Re-Identifikation. Ein gravierender Nachteil der Anonymisierung ist, dass sie dazu führt, dass die Betroffenenrechte wie das Recht auf Auskunft oder auf Löschung nicht mehr umsetzbar sind. Das führt zum dritten möglichen Lösungsansatz, der die Anonymisierung als Maßnahme zum Datenschutz komplett ablehnt. Als Grundlage für eine Lösung dieser Herausforderungen wird ergänzend eine Definition von „im erweiterten Sinne personenbezogenen Daten“ eingeführt.
Online Infrastructures for Open Educational Resources
Authors: Marín Victoria I. , Villar-Onrubia Daniel
Published: April 2022

Open educational resources (OER) have generated a considerable amount of attention in recent years in the field of open, distance, and digital education (ODDE). Digital knowledge infrastructures of different kinds have enabled the creation, storage, management, sharing, and adoption of these resources across educational sectors, levels, and geographies. This chapter presents a general overview of these infrastructures, the underpinning models of OER provision, main characteristics, and key insights from research. It draws on the literature and discusses examples purposively selected to illustrate the diversity of scope, educational stages, and types of online OER infrastructures established on a global, national, regional, or institutional scale. Key challenges are also discussed, including licensing issues, concerns about quality assurance, metadata problems, the sustainability of the initiatives, and sociocultural aspects, among others. In addition to revisiting the conception and adoption of OER in different cultures, important topics to be further addressed by future ODDE research are presented.
Accreditation and Recognition of Prior Learning in Higher Education
Authors: Conrad Dianne
Published: April 2022

The recognition of prior learning (RPL) can, and does, play an important role in the accreditation of higher institutional learning, thereby benefitting students, employers, and society. Using rigorous tools that permit learners to bring forward for assessment their experiential learning from various life experiences, RPL can contribute to a fuller and equally valid expression of learners’ knowledge than does traditional assessment. Additionally, RPL contributes to mitigating issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion in education by acknowledging and valuing a variety of learning opportunities. RPL also raises difficult epistemological issues and the question of knowledge ownership, thus making it a contentious and challenging academic concern This chapter reviews the process and pedagogy of RPL practice within the evolving context of accreditation, both at present and in the future, a future which includes innovations such as open educational practice, MOOCs, and micro-credentialling, all of which create opportunities for traditional modes of accreditation and assessment to re-examine their purpose and process.
Risikokommunikation politikberatender Wissenschaftsorganisationen: Ein Themenaufriss am Beispiel des Bundesinstituts für Risikobewertung
Authors: Brand Fabian , Dendler Leonie , Fiack Suzan , Schulze Annett , Böl Gaby-Fleur
Published: April 2022

Regulierungswissenschaftliche Organisationen wie das Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung (BfR) sehen sich in ihrer wissenschaftsbasierten Risikokommunikation mit diversen Herausforderungen konfrontiert: Einerseits wird die Kommunikation gesundheitlicher Risiken immer komplexer und dementsprechend voraussetzungsreicher, weshalb unter anderem Fragen nach der Gesundheitskompetenz von Verbraucherinnen und Verbrauchern sowie zielgruppengerechter Risikokommunikation an Bedeutung gewinnen. Andererseits sehen sich die Wissensbestände regulierungswissenschaftlicher Organisationen zunehmend der Politisierung und öffentlichen Kritik ausgesetzt. In diesem Rahmen werden Fragen nach der Objektivität und Vertrauenswürdigkeit von Gutachten, Risikobewertungen und Stellungnahmen sowie der Legitimierung und Reputation regulierungswissenschaftlicher Organisationen relevant. Zusätzlich intensiviert wird dies durch das Aufkommen neuer Akteure in den sozialen Medien, die eigene Informations- und Kommunikationsmaterialien produzieren und veröffentlichen. In diesem Kontext verbreitete Fehl‑, Des- und Malinformationen stellen eine weitere Herausforderung dar, welche eng mit Fragen nach einer adäquaten Kommunikation über gesundheitliche Risiken sowie der Stabilisierung von Legitimität, Reputation und Vertrauenswürdigkeit zusammenhängt.

Der Artikel diskutiert verschiedene Lösungsansätze, darunter die Optimierung und visuelle Aufbereitung von Gesundheitsinformationen, die Ermöglichung gesellschaftlicher Partizipation und die Einbettung dieser Maßnahmen in das strategische Stakeholder- und Reputationsmanagement. Der Beitrag schließt mit einem Aufruf zu offenerer Diskussion inhärenter Dilemmata.
Epistatic interaction between Rhg1-a and Rhg2 in PI 90763 confers resistance to virulent soybean cyst nematode populations
Authors: Basnet Pawan , Meinhardt Clinton G. , Usovsky Mariola , Gillman Jason D. , Joshi Trupti , Song Qijian , Diers Brian , Mitchum Melissa G. , Scaboo Andrew M.
Published: April 2022

Key message

An epistatic interaction between SCN resistance locirhg1-aandrhg2in PI 90763 imparts resistance against virulent SCN populations which can be employed to diversify SCN resistance in soybean cultivars.

With more than 95% of the $46.1B soybean market dominated by a single type of genetic resistance, breeding for soybean cyst nematode (SCN)-resistant soybean that can effectively combat the widespread increase in virulent SCN populations presents a significant challenge.Rhggenes (for Resistance toHeteroderaglycines) play a key role in resistance to SCN; however, their deployment beyond the use of therhg1-ballele has been limited. In this study, quantitative trait loci (QTL) were mapped using PI 90763 through two biparental F3:4recombinant inbred line (RIL) populations segregating for rhg1-a and rhg1-b alleles against a SCN HG type 1.2.5.7 (Race 2) population. QTL located on chromosome 18 (rhg1-a) and chromosome 11 (rhg2) were determined to confer SCN resistance in PI 90763. Therhg2gene was fine-mapped to a 169-Kbp region pinpointing GmSNAP11as the strongest candidate gene. We demonstrated a unique epistatic interaction betweenrhg1-aandrhg2loci that not only confers resistance to multiple virulent SCN populations. Further, we showed that pyramidingrhg2with the conventional mode of resistance,rhg1-b, is ineffective against these virulent SCN populations. This highlights the importance of pyramidingrhg1-aandrhg2to maximize the impact of gene pyramiding strategies toward management of SCN populations virulent onrhg1-bsources of resistance. Our results lay the foundation for the next generation of soybean resistance breeding to combat the number one pathogen of soybean.
Determination of tobramycin in eye drops with an open-source hardware ion mobility spectrometer
Authors: Chantipmanee Nattapong , Hauser Peter C.
Published: April 2022

The analysis of tobramycin was demonstrated successfully as an example for electrospray ionization on an open-source hardware ion mobility spectrometer. This instrument was assembled inexpensively in-house, and required only very few purpose-made components. The quantitative determination of tobramycin required 20 s for a reading. The calibration curve for the range from 50 to 200 μM was found to be linear with a correlation coefficient of r = 0.9994. A good reproducibility was obtained (3% relative standard deviation) and the limit of detection was determined as 8 μM. As the concentration of the active ingredient in the eye drops (ophthalmic solutions) is too high for the sensitivity of the instrument, the samples had to be diluted appropriately.

Graphical abstract
Schrödinger Operators with Complex Sparse Potentials
Authors: Cuenin Jean-Claude
Published: April 2022

We establish quantitative upper and lower bounds for Schrödinger operators with complex potentials that satisfy some weak form of sparsity. Our first result is a quantitative version of an example, due to S. Bögli (Commun Math Phys 352:629–639, 2017), of a Schrödinger operator with eigenvalues accumulating to every point of the essential spectrum. The second result shows that the eigenvalue bounds of Frank (Bull Lond Math Soc 43:745–750, 2011 and Trans Am Math Soc 370:219–240, 2018) can be improved for sparse potentials. The third result generalizes a theorem of Klaus (Ann Inst H Poincaré Sect A (N.S.) 38:7–13, 1983) on the characterization of the essential spectrum to the multidimensional non-selfadjoint case. The fourth result shows that, in one dimension, the purely imaginary (non-sparse) step potential has unexpectedly many eigenvalues, comparable to the number of resonances. Our examples show that several known upper bounds are sharp.
Parasite resistance and immunity across female castes in a social insect
Authors: Ruiz-González Mario X. , Kelly Michael , Moret Yannick , Brown Mark J. F.
Published: April 2022

Living in a social group increases the risks of parasitism, especially in highly-related groups. In homogenous groups, with no reproductive division of labour, the impact of parasitism is unlikely to vary with host identity. Many social systems, however, do exhibit division of reproductive labour, most famously in social insects with their reproductive queens and generally infertile workers. In such systems, the impact of parasitism will differ for each group. Consequently, we predict that susceptibility to parasites will vary to reflect such differential impact. We tested this prediction using a trypanosome-bumble bee system, whereCrithidia bombiinfects both gynes and workers ofBombus terrestris. We studied both susceptibility to the parasite and relevant measures of the immune function. As predicted, gynes were significantly less susceptible to the parasite than workers, but while gynes and workers expressed different immune profiles, how these link to differential susceptibility remains unclear. In conclusion, our results suggest that differential selection pressures exerted by parasites may produce multiple phenotypes from a single genotype in order to maximise fitness in a social group context.

Significance statement

Social insect colonies dominate terrestrial ecology, and as such are targets for parasites. How they defend themselves against such threats is a key question. Here, we show that bumble bee gynes — the reproductive individuals that overwinter and found colonies in this annual social system — are more resistant to a parasite that disproportionately affects reproductive fitness than their sister workers. Differential patterns of susceptibility may help to explain the success of these social insects.
Using Bayesian Belief Networks to Investigate Farmer Behavior and Policy Interventions for Improved Nitrogen Management
Authors: Jäger Felix , Rudnick Jessica , Lubell Mark , Kraus Martin , Müller Birgit
Published: April 2022

Increasing farmers’ adoption of sustainable nitrogen management practices is crucial for improving water quality. Yet, research to date provides ambiguous results about the most important farmer-level drivers of adoption, leaving high levels of uncertainty as to how to design policy interventions that are effective in motivating adoption. Among others, farmers’ engagement in outreach or educational events is considered a promising leverage point for policy measures. This paper applies a Bayesian belief network (BBN) approach to explore the importance of drivers thought to influence adoption, run policy experiments to test the efficacy of different engagement-related interventions on increasing adoption rates, and evaluate heterogeneity of the effect of the interventions across different practices and different types of farms. The underlying data comes from a survey carried out in 2018 among farmers in the Central Valley in California. The analyses identify farm characteristics and income consistently as the most important drivers of adoption across management practices. The effect of policy measures strongly differs according to the nitrogen management practice. Innovative farmers respond better to engagement-related policy measures than more traditional farmers. Farmers with small farms show more potential for increasing engagement through policy measures than farmers with larger farms. Bayesian belief networks, in contrast to linear analysis methods, always account for the complex structure of the farm system with interdependencies among the drivers and allow for explicit predictions in new situations and various kinds of heterogeneity analyses. A methodological development is made by introducing a new validation measure for BBNs used for prediction.
PDI inhibitor LTI6426 enhances panobinostat efficacy in preclinical models of multiple myeloma
Authors: Robinson Reeder M. , Basar Ashton P. , Reyes Leticia , Duncan Ravyn M. , Li Hong , Dolloff Nathan G.
Published: April 2022

The histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi), panobinostat (Pano), is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) for treatment of relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (MM). Despite regulatory approvals, Pano is used on a limited basis in MM due largely to an unfavorable toxicity profile. The MM treatment landscape continues to evolve, and for Pano to maintain a place in that paradigm it will be necessary to identify treatment regimens that optimize its effectiveness, particularly those that permit dose reductions to eliminate unwanted toxicity. Here, we propose such a regimen by combining Pano with LTI6426, a first-in-class orally bioavailable protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) inhibitor. We show that LTI6426 dramatically enhances the anti-MM activity of Pano in vitro and in vivo using a proteasome inhibitor resistant mouse model of MM and a low dose of Pano that exhibited no signs of toxicity. We go on to characterize a transcriptional program that is induced by the LTI6426/Pano combination, demonstrating a convergence of the two drugs on endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress pathway effectors ATF3 (Activating Transcription Factor 3), DDIT3/CHOP (DNA Damage Inducible Transcript 3, a.k.a. C/EBP Homologous Protein), and DNAJB1 (DnaJ homolog subfamily B member 1, a.k.a. HSP40). We conclude that LTI6426 may safely enhance low-dose Pano regimens and that ATF3, DDIT3/CHOP, and DNAJB1 are candidate pharmacodynamic biomarkers of response to this novel treatment regimen.
No evidence of differential impact of sunflower and rapeseed oil on biomarkers of coronary artery disease or chronic kidney disease in healthy adults with overweight and obesity: result from a randomised control trial
Authors: Nicol Katie , Mansoorian Bahareh , Latosinska Agnieszka , Koutroulaki Aimilia , Mullen Bill , Combet Emilie
Published: April 2022

Purpose

The perceived benefits and risks associated with seed oil intake remain controversial, with a limited number of studies investigating the impact of intake on a range of compounds used as cardiometabolic markers. This study aimed to explore the proteomic and cardiometabolic effects of commonly consumed seed oils in the UK, with different fatty acid profiles.

Methods

In a parallel randomised control design, healthy adults (n = 84), aged 25–72 with overweight or obesity were randomised to one of three groups: control (habitual diet, CON); 20 mL rapeseed oil per day (RO), or 20 mL sunflower oil per day (SO). Blood, spot urine and anthropometric measures were obtained at 0, 6 and 12 weeks. Proteomic biomarkers analysis was conducted for coronary arterial disease (CAD) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) using capillary electrophoresis coupled to mass spectrometry (CE-MS). Blood lipids, fasting blood glucose, glycative/oxidative stress and inflammatory markers were also analysed.

Results

No differences in change between time points were observed between groups for CAD or CKD peptide fingerprint scores. No change was detected within groups for CAD or CKD scores. No detectable differences were observed between groups at week 6 or 12 for the secondary outcomes, except median 8-isoprostane, ~ 50% higher in the SO group after 12-weeks compared to RO and CON groups (p = 0.03).

Conclusion

The replacement of habitual fat with either RO or SO for 12 weeks does not lead to an improvement or worsening in cardiovascular health markers in people with overweight or obesity.

Trial registration

Trial registration clinicaltrials.gov NCT04867629, retrospectively registered 30/04/2021.
Volcano infrasound: progress and future directions
Authors: Watson Leighton M. , Iezzi Alexandra M. , Toney Liam , Maher Sean P. , Fee David , McKee Kathleen , Ortiz Hugo D. , Matoza Robin S. , Gestrich Julia E. , Bishop Jordan W. , Witsil Alex J. C. , Anderson Jacob F. , Johnson Jeffrey B.
Published: April 2022

Over the past two decades (2000–2020), volcano infrasound (acoustic waves with frequencies less than 20 Hz propagating in the atmosphere) has evolved from an area of academic research to a useful monitoring tool. As a result, infrasound is routinely used by volcano observatories around the world to detect, locate, and characterize volcanic activity. It is particularly useful in confirming subaerial activity and monitoring remote eruptions, and it has shown promise in forecasting paroxysmal activity at open-vent systems. Fundamental research on volcano infrasound is providing substantial new insights on eruption dynamics and volcanic processes and will continue to do so over the next decade. The increased availability of infrasound sensors will expand observations of varied eruption styles, and the associated increase in data volume will make machine learning workflows more feasible. More sophisticated modeling will be applied to examine infrasound source and propagation effects from local to global distances, leading to improved infrasound-derived estimates of eruption properties. Future work will use infrasound to detect, locate, and characterize moving flows, such as pyroclastic density currents, lahars, rockfalls, lava flows, and avalanches. Infrasound observations will be further integrated with other data streams, such as seismic, ground- and satellite-based thermal and visual imagery, geodetic, lightning, and gas data. The volcano infrasound community should continue efforts to make data and codes accessible and to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion in the field. In summary, the next decade of volcano infrasound research will continue to advance our understanding of complex volcano processes through increased data availability, sensor technologies, enhanced modeling capabilities, and novel data analysis methods that will improve hazard detection and mitigation.
Nutritional management of the infant with chronic kidney disease stages 2–5 and on dialysis
Authors: Shaw Vanessa , Anderson Caroline , Desloovere An , Greenbaum Larry A. , Haffner Dieter , Nelms Christina L. , Paglialonga Fabio , Polderman Nonnie , Qizalbash Leila , Renken-Terhaerdt José , Stabouli Stella , Tuokkola Jetta , Vande Walle Johan , Warady Bradley A. , Shroff Rukshana
Published: April 2022

The nutritional management of children with chronic kidney disease (CKD) is of prime importance in meeting the challenge of maintaining normal growth and development in this population. The objective of this review is to integrate the Pediatric Renal Nutrition Taskforce clinical practice recommendations for children with CKD stages 2–5 and on dialysis, as they relate to the infant from full term birth up to 1 year of age, for healthcare professionals, including dietitians, physicians, and nurses. It addresses nutritional assessment, energy and protein requirements, delivery of the nutritional prescription, and necessary dietary modifications in the case of abnormal serum levels of calcium, phosphate, and potassium. We focus on the particular nutritional needs of infants with CKD for whom dietary recommendations for energy and protein, based on body weight, are higher compared with children over 1 year of age in order to support both linear and brain growth, which are normally maximal in the first 6 months of life. Attention to nutrition during infancy is important given that growth is predominantly nutrition dependent in the infantile phase and the growth of infants is acutely impaired by disruption to their nutritional intake, particularly during the first 6 months. Inadequate nutritional intake can result in the failure to achieve full adult height potential and an increased risk for abnormal neurodevelopment. We strongly suggest that physicians work closely with pediatric renal dietitians to ensure that the infant with CKD receives the best possible nutritional management to optimize their growth and development.
How Alpine seismicity relates to lithospheric strength
Authors: Spooner Cameron , Scheck-Wenderoth Magdalena , Cacace Mauro , Anikiev Denis
Published: April 2022

Despite the amount of research focussed on the Alpine orogen, different hypotheses still exist regarding varying spatial seismicity distribution patterns throughout the region. Previous measurement-constrained regional 3D models of lithospheric density distribution and thermal field facilitate the generation of a data-based rheological model of the region. In this study, we compute the long-term lithospheric strength and compare its spatial variation to observed seismicity patterns. We demonstrate how strength maxima within the crust (~ 1 GPa) and upper mantle (> 2 GPa) occur at temperatures characteristic of the onset of crystal plasticity in those rocks (crust: 200–400 °C; mantle: ~ 600 °C), with almost all seismicity occurring in these regions. Correlation in the northern and southern forelands between crustal and lithospheric strengths and seismicity show different patterns of event distribution, reflecting their different tectonic settings. Seismicity in the plate boundary setting of the southern foreland corresponds to the integrated lithospheric strength, occurring mainly in the weaker domains surrounding the strong Adriatic plate. In the intraplate setting of the northern foreland, seismicity correlates to modelled crustal strength, and it mainly occurs in the weaker and warmer crust beneath the Upper Rhine Graben. We, therefore, suggest that seismicity in the upper crust is linked to weak crustal domains, which are more prone to localise deformation promoting failure and, depending on the local properties of the fault, earthquakes at relatively lower levels of accumulated stress than their neighbouring stronger counterparts. Upper mantle seismicity at depths greater than modelled brittle conditions, can be either explained by embrittlement of the mantle due to grain-size sensitive deformation within domains of active or recent slab cooling, or by dissipative weakening mechanisms, such as thermal runaway from shear heating and/or dehydration reactions within an overly ductile mantle. Results generated in this study are available for open access use to further discussions on the region.
Adversarial classification via distributional robustness with Wasserstein ambiguity
Authors: Ho-Nguyen Nam , Wright Stephen J.
Published: April 2022

We study a model for adversarial classification based on distributionally robust chance constraints. We show that under Wasserstein ambiguity, the model aims to minimize the conditional value-at-risk of the distance to misclassification, and we explore links to adversarial classification models proposed earlier and to maximum-margin classifiers. We also provide a reformulation of the distributionally robust model for linear classification, and show it is equivalent to minimizing a regularized ramp loss objective. Numerical experiments show that, despite the nonconvexity of this formulation, standard descent methods appear to converge to the global minimizer for this problem. Inspired by this observation, we show that, for a certain class of distributions, the only stationary point of the regularized ramp loss minimization problem is the global minimizer.
Massive economic costs of biological invasions despite widespread knowledge gaps: a dual setback for India
Authors: Bang Alok , Cuthbert Ross N. , Haubrock Phillip J. , Fernandez Romina D. , Moodley Desika , Diagne Christophe , Turbelin Anna J. , Renault David , Dalu Tatenda , Courchamp Franck
Published: April 2022

Biological invasions are one of the top drivers of the ongoing biodiversity crisis. An underestimated consequence of invasions is the enormity of their economic impacts. Knowledge gaps regarding economic costs produced by invasive alien species (IAS) are pervasive, particularly for emerging economies such as India—the fastest growing economy worldwide. To investigate, highlight and bridge this gap, we synthesised data on the economic costs of IAS in India. Specifically, we examine how IAS costs are distributed spatially, environmentally, sectorally, taxonomically, temporally, and across introduction pathways; and discuss how Indian IAS costs vary with socioeconomic indicators. We found that IAS have cost the Indian economy between at least US$ 127.3 billion to 182.6 billion (Indian Rupees ₹ 8.3 trillion to 11.9 trillion) over 1960–2020, and these costs have increased with time. Despite these massive recorded costs, most were not assigned to specific regions, environments, sectors, cost types and causal IAS, and these knowledge gaps are more pronounced in India than in the rest of the world. When costs were specifically assigned, maximum costs were incurred in West, South and North India, by invasive alien insects in semi-aquatic ecosystems; they were incurred mainly by the public and social welfare sector, and were associated with damages and losses rather than management expenses. Our findings indicate that the reported economic costs grossly underestimate the actual costs, especially considering the expected costs given India’s population size, gross domestic product and high numbers of IAS without reported costs. This cost analysis improves our knowledge of the negative economic impacts of biological invasions in India and the burden they can represent for its development. We hope this study motivates policymakers to address socio-ecological issues in India and launch a national biological invasion research programme, especially since economic growth will be accompanied by greater impacts of global change.
Dietary curcumin nanoparticles promoted the performance, antioxidant activity, and humoral immunity, and modulated the hepatic and intestinal histology of Nile tilapia fingerlings
Authors: Abdel-Tawwab Mohsen , Eissa El-Sayed Hemdan , Tawfik Wesam A. , Abd Elnabi Heba E. , Saadony Saadea , Bazina Walaa K. , Ahmed Ragaa A.
Published: April 2022

The current study investigated the effects of dietary curcumin nanoparticles (C-NPs) on the performance, hemato-biochemical profile, digestive enzymes activities, antioxidant status, humoral immunity, and liver and intestinal histology of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). Fish (4.3 ± 0.5 g) were fed with diets enriched with 0.0 (control), 15, 30, 45, and 60 mg C-NPs/kg diet up to apparent satiety thrice a day for 60 days. The growth-stimulating effects of dietary C-NPs were significantly observed in terms of final weight, weight gain %, specific growth rate, and feed intake. Compared with the control group, serum amylase, lipase, and proteases activities of Nile tilapia significantly (P < 0.05) increased alongside the increase in dietary levels of C-NPs in a dose-dependent manner. The counts of red blood cells and white blood cells as well as hemoglobin and hematocrit levels of Nile tilapia fed with 30–60 mg C-NPs/kg diet were statistically (P < 0.05) higher than fish in the control group with no significant differences among them (P > 0.05). Moreover, lymphocytes and monocytes significantly (P > 0.05) increased; meanwhile neutrophils significantly (P > 0.05) decreased as C-NPs levels in diets increased. In a similar trend, antioxidant (malondialdehyde, superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase) and humoral immunity (lysozyme and total immunoglobulin) biomarkers were significantly higher in C-NPs-fed fish. Liver histology showed improvements in the cell architecture of fish fed with C-NPs containing diets up to 45 mg/kg diet. Compared with the control diet, feeding Nile tilapia with C-NPs diets resulted in a higher villi length/width and absorption area. According to the regression curves, the current study recommends using the dietary C-NP with optimum values of 45–55 mg/kg diet to improve the performance, digestive enzymes, antioxidant activities, and immunity response of Nile tilapia.
A Quantitative Study of Locality in GPU Caches for Memory-Divergent Workloads
Authors: Lal Sohan , Varma Bogaraju Sharatchandra , Juurlink Ben
Published: April 2022

GPUs are capable of delivering peak performance in TFLOPs, however, peak performance is often difficult to achieve due to several performance bottlenecks. Memory divergence is one such performance bottleneck that makes it harder to exploit locality, cause cache thrashing, and high miss rate, therefore, impeding GPU performance. As data locality is crucial for performance, there have been several efforts to exploit data locality in GPUs. However, there is a lack of quantitative analysis of data locality, which could pave the way for optimizations. In this paper, we quantitatively study the data locality and its limits in GPUs at different granularities. We show that, in contrast to previous studies, there is a significantly higher inter-warp locality at the L1 data cache for memory-divergent workloads. We further show that about 50% of the cache capacity and other scarce resources such as NoC bandwidth are wasted due to data over-fetch caused by memory divergence. While the low spatial utilization of cache lines justifies the sectored-cache design to only fetch those sectors of a cache line that are needed during a request, our limit study reveals the lost spatial locality for which additional memory requests are needed to fetch the other sectors of the same cache line. The lost spatial locality presents opportunities for further optimizing the cache design.
Exact and meta-heuristic approaches for the production leveling problem
Authors: Vass Johannes , Lackner Marie-Louise , Mrkvicka Christoph , Musliu Nysret , Winter Felix
Published: April 2022

In this paper, we introduce a new problem in the field of production planning, called the production leveling problem. The task is to assign orders to production periods such that the load in each period and for each product type is balanced, capacity limits are not exceeded, and the orders’ priorities are taken into account. Production leveling is an important intermediate step between long-term planning and the final scheduling of orders within a production period, as it is responsible for selecting good subsets of orders to be scheduled within each period. We provide a formal model of the problem and study its computational complexity. As an exact method for solving moderately sized instances, we introduce a mixed integer programming (MIP) formulation. For solving large problem instances, metaheuristic local search is investigated. A greedy heuristic and two neighborhood structures for local search are proposed in order to apply them using simulated annealing. Furthermore, three possible extensions that arise from the application in practice are described and implemented, both within the MIP model and within simulated annealing. We make publicly available a set of realistic problem instances from the industry as well as from random instance generators. The experimental evaluation on our test sets shows that the proposed MIP model is well suited for solving instances with up to 250 orders. Simulated annealing produces solutions with less than $$3\%$$

3
%

average optimality gap on small instances, and scales well up to thousands of orders and dozens of periods and product types. The metaheuristic method presented herein is already being successfully used in the industry.
Effect of silicon on morpho-physiological attributes, yield and cadmium accumulation in two maize genotypes with contrasting root system size and health risk assessment
Authors: An Tingting , Gao Yamin , Kuang Qiqiang , Wu Yujie , Zaman Qamar uz , Zhang Yi , Xu Bingcheng , Chen Yinglong
Published: April 2022

Background and aims

Cadmium (Cd) contamination is a serious threat to plants and humans. Silicon (Si) was reported to have some alleviative effects on Cd stress in plants. However, whether Si alleviates Cd toxicity in maize genotypes with contrasting root system size are unknown.

Methods

Effects of Si application (200 mg kg−1 soil) on shoot and root growth, Cd uptake and transportation under Cd stress (20 mg kg−1 soil) were assessed at the silking and maturity stages of maize genotypes Zhongke11 (deep-rooted) and Shengrui999 (shallow-rooted) in a pot experiment.

Results

Application of Si significantly increased root dry weight, plant height and root length. Root volume and average root diameter were significantly positively correlated with root Cd concentration, bioaccumulation and translocation factor, respectively, of two maize genotypes at the silking stage. Addition of Si significantly increased Cd concentration, content, bioconcentration and translocation factor in roots of Zhongke11, but reduced the values of these parameters in Shengrui9999 at both growth stages. Grain Cd concentration in the combined Cd and Si treatment was decreased by 14.4% (Zhongke11) and 21.4% (Shengrui999) than that in Cd treatment. Grain yield was significantly negatively correlated with root Cd accumulation. Moreover, addition of Si significantly reduced Cd daily intake and health risk index in maize.

Conclusions

This study demonstrated that addition of Si reduced health risk by eliminating Cd accumulation in maize shoot and grain, and alleviated Cd stress with more profound effects in the shallow-rooted genotype Shengrui999.
The influence of the subcortex and brain stem on overeating: How advances in functional neuroimaging can be applied to expand neurobiological models to beyond the cortex
Authors: Kung Po-Han , Soriano-Mas Carles , Steward Trevor
Published: April 2022

Functional neuroimaging has become a widely used tool in obesity and eating disorder research to explore the alterations in neurobiology that underlie overeating and binge eating behaviors. Current and traditional neurobiological models underscore the importance of impairments in brain systems supporting reward, cognitive control, attention, and emotion regulation as primary drivers for overeating. Due to the technical limitations of standard field strength functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanners, human neuroimaging research to date has focused largely on cortical and basal ganglia effects on appetitive behaviors. The present review draws on animal and human research to highlight how neural signaling encoding energy regulation, reward-learning, and habit formation converge on hypothalamic, brainstem, thalamic, and striatal regions to contribute to overeating in humans. We also consider the role of regions such as the mediodorsal thalamus, ventral striatum, lateral hypothalamus and locus coeruleus in supporting habit formation, inhibitory control of food craving, and attentional biases. Through these discussions, we present proposals on how the neurobiology underlying these processes could be examined using functional neuroimaging and highlight how ultra-high field 7-Tesla (7 T) fMRI may be leveraged to elucidate the potential functional alterations in subcortical networks. Focus is given to how interactions of these regions with peripheral endocannabinoids and neuropeptides, such as orexin, could be explored. Technical and methodological aspects regarding the use of ultra-high field 7 T fMRI to study eating behaviors are also reviewed.
Epidemiology of Group A rotavirus in rodents and shrews in Bangladesh
Authors: Islam Ariful , Hossain Mohammad Enayet , Islam Ausraful , Islam Shariful , Rahman Md. Kaisar , Hasan Rashedul , Miah Mojnu , Rahman Mohammed Ziaur
Published: April 2022

Rodents and shrews live in close proximity to humans and have been identified as important hosts of zoonotic pathogens. This study aimed to detect Group A rotavirus (RVA) and its potential risk factors in rodents and shrews in Bangladesh. We captured 417 small mammals from 10 districts with a high degree of contact between people and domestic animals and collected rectal swab samples between June 2011 and October 2013. We tested the swab samples for RVA RNA, targeting the NSP3 gene segment using real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR). Overall, RVA prevalence was the same (6.7%) in both rodents and shrews. We detected RVA RNA in 5.3% of Bandicota bengalensis (4/76; 95% CI: 1.4–12.9), 5.1% of B. indica (4/79; 95% CI: 1.4–12.4), 18.2% of Mus musculus (4/22; 95% CI: 5.2–40.3), 6.7% of Rattus rattus (6/90; 95% CI: 2.5–13.9), and 6.7% of Suncus murinus (10/150; 95% CI: 3.2–11.9). We found significantly more RVA in males (10.4%; OR: 3.4; P = 0.007), animals with a poor body condition score (13.9%; OR: 2.7; P = 0.05), during wet season (8.3%; OR: 4.1; P = 0.032), and in urban land gradients (10.04%; OR: 2.9; P = 0.056). These findings form a basis for understanding the prevalence of rotaviruses circulating among rodents and shrews in this region. We recommend additional molecular studies to ascertain the genotype and zoonotic potential of RVA circulating in rodents and shrews in Bangladesh.
Scaling Up Sign Spotting Through Sign Language Dictionaries
Authors: Varol Gül , Momeni Liliane , Albanie Samuel , Afouras Triantafyllos , Zisserman Andrew
Published: April 2022

The focus of this work issign spotting–given a video of an isolated sign, our task is to identifywhetherandwhereit has been signed in a continuous, co-articulated sign language video. To achieve this sign spotting task, we train a model using multiple types of available supervision by: (1)watchingexisting footage which is sparsely labelled using mouthing cues; (2)readingassociated subtitles (readily available translations of the signed content) which provide additionalweak-supervision; (3)looking upwords (for which no co-articulated labelled examples are available) in visual sign language dictionaries to enable novel sign spotting. These three tasks are integrated into a unified learning framework using the principles of Noise Contrastive Estimation and Multiple Instance Learning. We validate the effectiveness of our approach on low-shot sign spotting benchmarks. In addition, we contribute a machine-readable British Sign Language (BSL) dictionary dataset of isolated signs,BslDict, to facilitate study of this task. The dataset, models and code are available at our project page.
A novel feature-based framework enabling multi-type DDoS attacks detection
Authors: Zhou Lu , Zhu Ye , Xiang Yong , Zong Tianrui
Published: April 2022

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are among the most severe threats in cyberspace. The existing methods are only designed to decide whether certain types of DDoS attacks are ongoing. As a result, they cannot detect other types of attacks, not to mention the even more challenging mixed DDoS attacks. In this paper, we comprehensively analyzed the characteristics of various types of DDoS attacks and innovatively proposed five new features from heterogeneous packets including entropy rate of IP source flow, entropy rate of flow, entropy of packet size, entropy rate of packet size, and number of ICMP destination unreachable packet to detect not only various types of DDoS attacks, but also the mixture of them. The experimental results show that the proposed fives features ranked at the top compared with other common features in terms of effectiveness. Besides, by using these features, our proposed framework outperforms the existing methods when detecting various DDoS attacks and mixed DDoS attacks. The detection accuracy improvements over the existing methods are between 21% and 53%.
Being More Educated and Earning More Increases Romantic Interest: Data from 1.8 M Online Daters from 24 Nations
Authors: Jonason Peter K. , Thomas Andrew G.
Published: April 2022

How humans choose their mates is a central feature of adult life and an area of considerable disagreement among relationship researchers. However, few studies have examined mate choice (instead of mate preferences) around the world, and fewer still have considered data from online dating services. Using data from more than 1.8 million online daters from 24 countries, we examined the role of sex and resource-acquisition ability (as indicated by level of education and income) in mate choice using multilevel modeling. We then attempted to understand country-level variance by examining factors such as gender equality and the operational sex ratio. In every nation, a person’s resource-acquisition ability was positively associated with the amount of attention they received from other site members. There was a marked sex difference in this effect; resource-acquisition ability improved the attention received by men almost 2.5 times that of women. This sex difference was in every country, admittedly with some variance between nations. Several country-level traits moderated the effects of resource-acquisition ability, and in the case of unemployment this moderating role differed by sex. Overall, country-level effects were more consistent with evolutionary explanations than sociocultural ones. The results suggest a robust effect of resource-acquisition ability on real-life mate choice that transcends international boundaries and is reliably stronger for men than women. Cross-cultural variance in the role of resource-acquisition ability appears sensitive to local competition and gender equality at the country level.
A Bridging-Community (ABC) Project: A Community Building Social Participation Intervention Among Resettled Refugees in Boston
Authors: Versey H. Shellae , Murad Serene , McPhee Isobel , Schwarz Willa
Published: April 2022

Given the complexities of displacement and resettlement in the United States (US), few resources have been invested in facilitating social relationships, social integration, and social support for recently resettled refugees. Studies indicate low levels of socialization and thus extreme isolation among refugees, suggesting the need to create additional safety nets that encourage social connectivity (Strang & Quinn, 2019). In partnership with a resettlement agency, university researchers developed a pilot study exploring the feasibility and impact of a social participation intervention for a target group of recently resettled refugees. Research facilitators from the A Bridging-Community (or ABC) Project hosted weekly social events for resettled refugees (N=12). Participants were split into three groups and attended social events either two, four, or six times over a four month period. To assess the experiences of participants in the program, survey data were collected at the beginning and end of the program, and semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted upon entry into the program and at the conclusion of the study. Findings suggest that the ABC Project helped cultivate new relationships and a sense of belonging among participants, with stronger results observed among participants who met four or six times. The overall effectiveness of the program was rated highly by all participants, indicating a need for additional research about targeted social interventions among groups at risk for social isolation.