bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Virtual reality empowered deep learning analysis of brain activity
Authors: Kaltenecker Doris , Al-Maskari Rami , Negwer Moritz , Hoeher Luciano , Kofler Florian , Zhao Shan , Todorov Mihail , Paetzold Johannes Christian , Wiestler Benedikt , Geppert Julia , Morigny Pauline , Rohm Maria , Menze Bjoern H. , Herzig Stephan , Berriel Diaz Mauricio , Ertürk Ali
Published: May 2023

Tissue clearing and fluorescent microscopy are powerful tools for unbiased organ-scale protein expression studies. Critical for interpreting expression patterns of large imaged volumes are reliable quantification methods. Here, we present DELiVR a deep learning pipeline that uses virtual reality (VR)-generated training data to train deep neural networks, and quantify c-Fos as marker for neuronal activity in cleared mouse brains and map its expression at cellular resolution. VR annotation significantly accelerated the speed of generating training data compared to conventional 2D slice based annotation. DELiVR detects cells with much higher precision than current threshold-based pipelines, and provides an extensive toolbox for data visualization, inspection and comparison. We applied DELiVR to profile cancer-related mouse brain activity, and discovered a novel activation pattern that distinguishes between weight-stable cancer and cancer-associated weight loss. Thus, DELiVR provides a robust mouse brain analysis pipeline at cellular scale that can be used to study brain activity patterns in health and disease.

The DELiVR software, Fiji plugin and documentation can be found athttps://www.DISCOtechnologies.org/DELiVR/.

Graphical Abstract

Highlights

DELiVR detects labelled cells in cleared brains with deep learning

DELiVR is trained by annotating ground-truth data in virtual reality (VR)

DELiVR is launched via a FIJI plugin anywhere from PCs to clusters

Using DELiVR, we found new brain activity patterns in weight-stable vs. cachectic cancer

Supplementary Videos can be seen at:https://www.DISCOtechnologies.org/DELiVR/
Severe enamel defects in wild Japanese macaques
Authors: Towle Ian , Loch Carolina , Martínez de Pinillos Marina , Modesto-Mata Mario , Hlusko Leslea J.
Published: May 2023

Plane-form enamel hypoplasia (PFEH) is a severe dental defect in which large areas of the crown are devoid of enamel. This condition is rare in humans and rarer in wild primates. The etiology of PFEH has been linked to exposure to severe disease, malnutrition, environmental toxins, and other systemic conditions. Similar defects have also been associated with genetic conditions such as amelogenesis imperfecta. In this study, we examined the prevalence of all types of enamel hypoplasia in several populations of wild Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) with the aim of providing context for the severe defects found in macaques from Yakushima Island. We found that macaques from other islands and from the mainland of Japan have low prevalence of the more common types of enamel hypoplasia and none exhibit PFEH. In contrast, 10 of the 21 individuals (48%) from Yakushima Island displayed uniform and significant PFEH, with all 10 living in two adjacent locations in the south of the island. All permanent teeth were affected to varying degrees except for first molars, and the mineral content of the remaining enamel in teeth with PFEH is normal (i.e., no hypo- or hyper mineralization). Given that the affected individuals have smaller first molars compared to non-affected macaques, and that they all underwent dental development during a period of substantial human-related habitat change, we conclude that the PFEH likely resulted from environmental stress. Extreme weather events on the island may also have influenced the formation of these defects. Additionally, it is plausible that a documented recent population bottleneck could have heightened the susceptibility of these macaques to PFEH. Further research on living primate populations is needed to better understand the causes of PFEH in wild primates and to evaluate whether such features can be used to assess the impact of human-related disturbance.
Opening a can of worms: a test of the coinfection facilitation hypothesis
Authors: Rodgers Maria L. , Bolnick Daniel I.
Published: May 2023

Parasitic infections are a global occurrence and impact the health of many species. Coinfections, where two or more species of parasite are present in a host, are a common phenomenon across species. Coinfecting parasites can interact directly, or indirectly via their manipulation of (and susceptibility to) the immune system of their shared host. Helminths, such as the cestodeSchistocephalus solidus, are well known to suppress immunity of their host (threespine stickleback,Gasterosteus aculeatus), potentially facilitating other parasite species. Yet, hosts can evolve a more robust immune response (as seen in some stickleback populations), potentially turning facilitation into inhibition. Using wild-caught stickleback from 21 populations with non-zeroS. solidusprevalence, we tested ana priorihypothesis thatS. solidusinfection facilitates infection by other parasites. Consistent with this hypothesis, individuals withS. solidusinfections have 18.6% higher richness of other parasites, compared toS. solidus-uninfected individuals from the same lakes. This facilitation-like trend is stronger in lakes whereS. solidusis particularly successful but is reversed in lakes with sparse and smaller cestodes (indicative of stronger host immunity). These results suggest that a geographic mosaic of host-parasite coevolution might lead to a mosaic of between-parasite facilitation/inhibition effects.
Reconstructing cell type evolution across species through cell phylogenies of single-cell RNAseq data
Authors: Mah Jasmine L. , Dunn Casey W.
Published: May 2023

The origin and evolution of cell types has emerged as a key topic in evolutionary biology. Driven by rapidly accumulating single-cell datasets, recent attempts to infer cell type evolution have largely been limited to pairwise comparisons because we lack approaches to build cell phylogenies using model-based approaches. Here we approach the challenges of applying explicit phylogenetic methods to single-cell data by using principal components as phylogenetic characters. We infer a cell phylogeny from a large, comparative single-cell data set of eye cells from five distantly-related mammals. Robust cell type clades enable us to provide a phylogenetic, rather than phenetic, definition of cell type, allowing us to forgo marker genes and phylogenetically classify cells by topology. We further observe evolutionary relationships between diverse vessel endothelia and identify the myelinating and non-myelinating Schwann cells as sister cell types. Finally, we examine principal component loadings and describe the gene expression dynamics underlying the function and identity of cell type clades that have been conserved across the five species. A cell phylogeny provides a rigorous framework towards investigating the evolutionary history of cells and will be critical to interpret comparative single-cell datasets that aim to ask fundamental evolutionary questions.
GGAssembler: precise and economical design and synthesis of combinatorial mutation libraries
Authors: Hoch Shlomo Yakir , Netzer Ravit , Weinstein Jonathan Yaacov , Krauss Lucas , Hakeny Karen , Fleishman Sarel Jacob
Published: May 2023

Golden Gate assembly (GGA) can seamlessly generate full-length genes from DNA fragments. In principle, GGA could be used to design combinatorial mutation libraries for protein engineering, but creating accurate, complex, and cost-effective libraries has been challenging. We present GGAssembler, a graph-theoretical method for economical design of DNA fragments that assemble a combinatorial library that encodes any desired diversity. We used GGAssembler for one-potin vitroassembly of camelid antibody libraries comprising >105variants with DNA costs <0.007$ per variant and dropping significantly with increased library complexity. >93% of the desired variants were present in the assembly product and >99% were represented within the expected order of magnitude as verified by deep sequencing. The GGAssembler workflow is, therefore, an accurate approach for generating complex variant libraries that may drastically reduce costs and accelerate discovery and optimization of antibodies, enzymes and other proteins. The workflow is accessible through a web interface athttps://github.com/Fleishman-Lab/GGAssembler/blob/master/example/colab_oligos_design.ipynb.
Benefit versus Risk of Endomyocardial Biopsy for Heart Transplant Patients in the Contemporary Era
Authors: Cusi Vincenzo , Vaida Florin , Wettersten Nicholas , Rodgers Nicholas , Tada Yuko , Gerding Bryn , Greenberg Barry , Urey Marcus Anthony , Adler Eric , Kim Paul J.
Published: May 2023

Background

The reference standard of detecting acute rejection (AR) in adult heart transplant (HTx) patients is an endomyocardial biopsy (EMB). The majority of EMBs are performed in asymptomatic patients. However, the benefit of diagnosing and treating AR compared to the risk of EMB complications has not been compared in the contemporary era (2010-current).

Methods

The authors retrospectively analyzed 2,769 EMB obtained in 326 consecutive HTx patients between August 2019 and August 2022. Variables included surveillance versus for cause indication, recipient and donor characteristics, EMB procedural data and pathologic grades, treatment for AR, and clinical outcomes.

Results

The overall EMB complication rate was 1.6%. EMBs performed within 1 month after HTx compared to after 1 month from HTx showed significantly increased complications (OR = 12.74, p < 0.001). The treated AR rate was 14.2% in the for cause EMBs and 1.2% in the surveillance EMBs. We found the benefit/risk ratio was significantly lower in the surveillance compared to the for cause EMB group (OR = 0.05, p < 0.001). We also found the benefit to be lower than risk in surveillance EMBs.

Conclusions

The yield of surveillance EMBs has declined, while for cause EMBs continued to demonstrate a high benefit/risk ratio. The risk of EMB complications was highest within 1 month after HTx. Surveillance EMB protocols in the contemporary era may need to be re-evaluated.
libSBOLj3: A graph-based library for design and data exchange in synthetic biology
Authors: Mısırlı Göksel
Published: May 2023

The Synthetic Biology Open Language version 3 data standard provides a graph-based approach to exchange information about biological designs. The new data model has major updates and offers several features for software tools. Here, we present libSBOLj3 to facilitate data exchange and provide interoperability between computer-aided design and automation tools using this standard. The library adopts a graph-based approach. Tool developers can extend these graphs with application-specific information and use detailed validation reports to identify errors and interoperability issues and apply best practice rules. The libSBOLj3 library is implemented in Java and can be downloaded or used as a Maven dependency. The open-source project, examples and documentation about accessing and using the library are available via GitHub athttps://github.com/SynBioDex/libSBOLj3.
CaliAli, a tool for long-term tracking of neuronal population dynamics in calcium imaging
Authors: Vergara Pablo , Wang Yuteng , Srinivasan Sakthivel , Cherasse Yoan , Naoi Toshie , Sugaya Yuki , Sakurai Takeshi , Kano Masanobu , Sakaguchi Masanori
Published: May 2023

Neuron-tracking algorithms exhibit suboptimal performance in calcium imaging when the same neurons are not consistently detected, as unmatched features hinder intersession alignment. CaliAli addresses this issue by employing an alignment-before-extraction strategy that incorporates vasculature information to improve the detectability of weak signals and maximize the number of trackable neurons. By excelling in neural remapping and high spatial overlap scenarios, CaliAli paves the way toward further understanding long-term neural network dynamics.
VirB, a transcriptional activator of virulence inShigella flexneri, uses CTP as a cofactor
Authors: Antar Hammam , Gruber Stephan
Published: May 2023

VirB is a transcriptional activator of virulence in the gram-negative bacteriumShigella flexneri. It is encoded by the large invasion plasmid, pINV, and is thought to counteract the transcriptional silencing mediated by the nucleoid structuring protein, H-NS. Mutations invirBlead to loss of virulence. Studies suggest that VirB binds to specific DNA sequences, remodels the H-NS nucleoprotein complexes, and changes DNA supercoiling. VirB belongs to the superfamily of ParB proteins which are involved in plasmid and chromosome partitioning often as part of a ParABS system. Like ParB, VirB forms discrete foci inShigella flexnericells harbouring pINV. Our results reveal that purified preparations of VirB specifically bind the ribonucleotide CTP. We show that VirB slowly but detectably hydrolyses CTP, which is mildly stimulated by thevirStargeting sequences found on pINV. CTP and DNA binding promote VirB clamp closure. Curiously, DNA stimulation of clamp closure appears efficient even withoutvirSsequences. These findings suggest that VirB acts as a CTP-dependent DNA clamp and may indicate that so far elusive factors might prevent offsite DNA clampingin vivo.
Importin 13-dependent Axon Diameter Growth Regulates Conduction Speeds along Myelinated CNS Axons
Authors: Bin Jenea M , Suminaite Daumante , Benito-Kwiecinski Silvia K. , Kegel Linde , Rubio-Brotons Maria , Early Jason J , Soong Daniel , Livesey Matthew R , Poole Richard J , Lyons David A
Published: May 2023

Central nervous system neurons have axons that vary over 100-fold in diameter. This diversity contributes to the regulation of myelination and conduction velocity along axons, which is critical for proper nervous system function. Despite this importance, technical challenges have limited our understanding of mechanisms controlling axon diameter growth, preventing systematic dissection of how manipulating diameter affects conduction along individual axons. Here, we establish zebrafish as system to investigate the regulation of axon diameter and axonal conductionin vivo. We identify a role for importin 13b specifically in axon diameter growth, that is independent of axonal length and overall cell size. Impairment of diameter growth along individual myelinated axons reduced conduction velocity in proportion to the diameter, but had no effect on the precision of action potential propagation or ability to fire at high frequencies. This work highlights an axon diameter-specific mechanism of growth that regulates conduction speeds along myelinated axons.
DNA methylation-environment interactions in the human genome
Authors: Johnston Rachel A. , Aracena Katherine A. , Barreiro Luis B. , Lea Amanda J. , Tung Jenny
Published: May 2023

Previously we showed that a massively parallel reporter assay, mSTARR-seq, could be used to simultaneously test for both enhancer-like activity and DNA methylation-dependent enhancer activity for millions of loci in a single experiment (Leaet al., 2018). Here we apply mSTARR-seq to query nearly the entire human genome, including almost all CpG sites profiled either on the commonly used Illumina Infinium MethylationEPIC array or via reduced representation bisulfite sequencing. We show that fragments containing these sites are enriched for regulatory capacity, and that methylation-dependent regulatory activity is in turn sensitive to the cellular environment. In particular, regulatory responses to interferon alpha (IFNA) stimulation are strongly attenuated by methyl marks, indicating widespread DNA methylation-environment interactions. In agreement, methylation-dependent responses to IFNA identified via mSTARR-seq predict methylation-dependent transcriptional responses to challenge with influenza virus in human macrophages. Our observations support the idea that pre-existing DNA methylation patterns can influence the response to subsequent environmental exposures—one of the tenets of biological embedding. However, we also find that, on average, sites previously associated with early life adversity are not more likely to functionally influence gene regulation than expected by chance.
Genomic and metabolic plasticity drive alternative scenarios for adaptingPseudomonas putidato non-native substrate D-xylose
Authors: Dvořák Pavel , Burýšková Barbora , Popelářová Barbora , Ebert Birgitta , Botka Tibor , Bujdoš Dalimil , Sánchez-Pascuala Alberto , Schöttler Hannah , Hayen Heiko , Lorenzo Víctor de , Blank Lars M. , Benešík Martin
Published: May 2023

D-Xylose, a major constituent of plant biomass and second most abundant sugar on Earth, holds a considerable potential as a substrate for sustainable bio-production. Pseudomonas putida KT2440 is an attractive bacterial host for valorizing biogenic feedstocks but lacks a xylose utilization pathway. While several attempts to engineer P. putida for growth on xylose have been reported, a comprehensive understanding of xylose metabolism in this bacterium is lacking, hindering its further improvement and rational tailoring for specific biotechnological purposes. In this study, we elucidated the xylose metabolism in the genome-reduced P. putida strain, EM42, endowed with xylose isomerase pathway (xylAB) and transporter (xylE) from Escherichia coli and used the obtained knowledge in combination with adaptive laboratory evolution to accelerate the bacterium’s growth on the pentose sugar. Carbon flux analyses, targeted gene knock-outs, and in vitro enzyme assays portrayed xylose assimilation in P. putida and confirmed a partially cyclic upper xylose metabolism. Deletion of the local transcriptional regulator gene hexR de-repressed genes of several key catabolic enzymes and reduced the lag phase on xylose. Guided by metabolic modeling, we augmented P. putida with additional heterologous pentose phosphate pathway genes and subjected rationally prepared strains to adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) on xylose. The descendants showed accelerated growth and reduced growth lag. Genomic and proteomic analysis of engineered and evolved mutants revealed the importance of a large genomic re-arrangement, transaldolase overexpression, and balancing gene expression in the synthetic xylABE operon. Importantly, omics analyses found that similar growth characteristics of two superior mutants were achieved through distinct evolutionary paths. This work provides a unique insight into how cell metabolism adjusts to a non-native substrate; it highlights the remarkable genomic and metabolic plasticity of P. putida and demonstrates the power of combining knowledge-driven engineering with ALE in generating desirable microbial phenotypes.

Highlights

Elucidated xylose catabolism via exogenous isomerase pathway inP. putidaEM42.

Deletion of transcriptional regulator HexR improved growth on xylose.

Knowledge-guided interventions and adaptive evolution accelerated growth.

Omics analyses of selected mutants highlighted the genomic and metabolic plasticity ofP. putida.

Two mutants with superior characteristics emerged from distinct evolutionary paths.
Retinoblastoma protein activity revealed by CRISPRi study of divergent Rbf1 and Rbf2 paralogs
Authors: Raicu Ana-Maria , Castanheira Patricia , Arnosti David N.
Published: May 2023

Retinoblastoma tumor suppressor proteins regulate the key transition from G1 to S phase of the cell cycle. The mammalian Rb family comprises Rb, p107, and p130, with overlapping and unique roles in gene regulation. Drosophila experienced an independent gene duplication event, leading to the Rbf1 and Rbf2 paralogs. To uncover the significance of paralogy in the Rb family, we used CRISPRi. We engineered dCas9 fusions to Rbf1 and Rbf2, and deployed them to gene promoters in developing Drosophila tissue to study their relative impacts on gene expression. On some genes, both Rbf1 and Rbf2 mediate potent repression, in a highly distance-dependent manner. In other cases, the two proteins have different effects on phenotype and gene expression, indicating different functional potential. In a direct comparison of Rb activity on endogenous genes and transiently transfected reporters, we found that only qualitative, but not key quantitative aspects of repression were conserved, indicating that the native chromatin environment generates context-specific effects of Rb activity. Our study uncovers the complexity of Rb-mediated transcriptional regulation in a living organism, which is clearly impacted by the different promoter landscapes and the evolution of the Rb proteins themselves.
The mitochondrial matrix protein cyclophilin D contributes to deficits in parvalbumin interneurons in schizophrenia
Authors: O’Brien John T. , Jalilvand Sophia P. , Suji Neha A. , Phensy Aarron , Jupelly Rohan K. , Mwirigi Juliet M. , Elahi Hajira , Price Theodore J. , Kroener Sven
Published: May 2023

BACKGROUND

Cognitive deficits in schizophrenia are linked to dysfunctions of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), including alterations in parvalbumin (PV)-expressing interneurons (PVIs). Redox dysregulation and oxidative stress may represent convergence points in the pathology of schizophrenia, causing dysfunction of GABAergic interneurons and loss of PV. Here, we show that the mitochondrial matrix protein cyclophilin-D (CypD), a critical initiator of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP) and modulator of the intracellular redox state, is altered in PVIs in schizophrenia.

METHODS

Western blotting was used to measure CypD protein levels in postmortem DLPFC specimens of schizophrenic (n=27) and matched comparison subjects with no known history of psychiatric or neurological disorders (n=26). In a subset of this cohort, multilabel immunofluorescent confocal microscopy with unbiased stereological sampling methods were used to quantify 1) numbers of PVI across the cortical mantle (20 control, 15 schizophrenia) and 2) PV and CypD protein levels from PVIs in the cortical layers 2-4 (23 control, 19 schizophrenia).

RESULTS

In schizophrenic subjects, the overall number of PVIs in the DLPFC was not significantly altered, but in individual PVIs of layers 2-4 PV protein levels decreased along a superficial-to-deep gradient when compared to unaffected comparison subjects. These laminar-specific PVI alterations were reciprocally linked to significant CypD elevations both in PVIs and within total DLPFC gray matter.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings support previously reported PVI anomalies in schizophrenia and suggest that CypD-mediated mPTP formation could be a potential contributor to PVI dysfunction in schizophrenia.
German farmers' perceived usefulness of satellite-based index insurance: insights from a transtheoretical model
Authors: Nordmeyer Eike Florenz , Musshoff Oliver
Published: May 2023

Purpose

Index insurance is promising to mitigate drought-related income losses in agriculture. To reduce the basis risk of index insurance, the integration of satellite data is of growing interest in research. The objective of this study is to obtain preliminary evidence regarding farmers' perceived usefulness (PU) of satellite-based index insurance.

Design/methodology/approach

By modifying the transtheoretical model of change to a transtheoretical model of PU, German farmers' gradual PU of satellite-based index insurance was investigated.

Findings

The results show that the average farmer perceives satellite-based index insurance as useful. It can be particularly seen that a higher level of education in an agricultural context as well as higher trust in index insurance products increases farmers' gradual PU. Moreover, higher relative weather-related income losses increase farmers' gradual PU.

Research limitations/implications

It is recommended to apply latent variables when conducting future investigations regarding farmers' PU.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to explore farmers' PU of upcoming satellite-based index insurance by modifying and applying the transtheoretical model in a new way.
The investment behavior of politically connected firms in Indonesia
Authors: Joni Joni , Natalia Maria , Leliana Leliana
Published: May 2023

Purpose

The authors examine the effect of the politically connected supervisory board (PV_SVP) on corporate investment behavior in Indonesia in the period of 2015–2019.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use Indonesian listing companies as our sample. Ordinary Least Squares regression is applied to investigate this association. Also, the authors address the endogeneity problem by using the generalized method of moments.

Findings

The authors find that firms with political connections through Supervisory Boards (SBs) are negatively significantly associated with corporate investment. Our results are robust to alternative measures and to test for endogeneity.

Research limitations/implications

The authors contribute to prior research by showing empirical findings on the investment behavior of politically connected firms using an emerging economy context, Indonesia, which has a unique political landscape. The authors offer practical implications for practitioners and policymakers, such as improving the corporate governance system and promoting better investment opportunities by establishing a transparent and competitive environment.

Originality/value

Our study differs from other studies due to different corporate governance and political connection settings. While most prior studies examine the investment behavior of politically connected firms using the Chinese context, the authors use Indonesia which has different political and governance landscapes. Indonesia applies a two-tier board system that promotes the strategic role of the political supervisory board.
Does leadership and management support facilitate green knowledge acquisition and green innovation: a moderated mediation approach
Authors: Idrees Hisham , Xu Jin , Andrianarivo Andriandafiarisoa Ralison Ny Avotra , Kadyrova Maysa
Published: May 2023

Purpose

Given the critical role of green innovation (GI) in the manufacturing sector, this study builds a moderated mediation model to evaluate the influence of leadership and management support on GI, the mediating function of green knowledge acquisition, and the moderating role of green absorptive ability.

Design/methodology/approach

The study employed a quantitative research approach with hierarchical regression analysis to assess the proposed relationships among the constructs on a sample of 371 executives from 117 large-sized manufacturing firms in Pakistan.

Findings

The research findings demonstrate that leadership and management support significantly affects both radical and incremental GI, with incremental green innovation being more positively affected than radical green innovation. Green knowledge acquisition partially mediates between leadership and management support, radical and incremental green innovation. Green knowledge acquisition moderates the association between leadership and management support and green knowledge acquisition and the link between leadership and management support and incremental GI. The findings also demonstrate that green knowledge acquisition's mediating effect on leadership and management support, and GI is more pronounced when green absorptive capacity is high.

Research limitations/implications

This research is based on cross-sectional data gathered from manufacturing companies. Future studies should consider this differentiation between the enterprises since there are various sectors within the general manufacturing sector whose environmental effect is more or less polluting. This research focused exclusively on two aspects of GI (radical and incremental GI). It is feasible that additional GI constituents (i.e., product, process, and management GI) can significantly boost businesses' competitive advantage. This study recommends additional study into the potential moderating impacts of technological and market turbulence to better understand the relationship between these concepts since it is evident that internal and external factors influence GI.

Practical implications

The study provides useful insights and an innovative way for manufacturing firms and authorities to prevent environmental deterioration and achieve sustainable green innovation through leadership and management support and green intangible resources.

Originality/value

This research concentrating on green environmental concerns and using RBV theory attempts to fill research gaps and sheds light on how leadership and management support promote both radical and incremental green innovation via the mediating and moderating roles of green knowledge acquisition and green absorptive capacity.
Preparing for a future crisis: using DEA-based performance analysis to assess initial pandemic responses in the Taiwanese hotel industry
Authors: Huang Yu-Hsiang (John) , Meyer Bradley , Connolly Daniel , Strader Troy
Published: May 2023

Purpose

Taiwan’s hotel industry was adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to examine the effect of strategic choices by Taiwanese international tourist hotels before and during the pandemic environments.

Design/methodology/approach

A data envelopment analysis (DEA)-based Malmquist methodology is used in this study to provide a mechanism to assess Taiwanese hotel strategy performance. Changes in the productivity and performance of Taiwanese international tourist hotels were analyzed in the periods before and during the pandemic to uncover insights useful should a similar crisis occur in the future. Panel data were obtained from the annual report of international tourist hotels published by the Taiwan Tourism Bureau from 2017–2020. Two groups of hotels were analyzed in this study: city hotels and scenic hotels.

Findings

The findings of this study reveal that chain hotels tended to perform better than independent hotels in both city and scenic areas during the global pandemic. Specifically, the crisis caused a substantial decline in productivity and profitability for international tourist hotels in Taipei City during the COVID-19 period. Compared to city hotels, findings also indicate that most international tourist hotels in scenic areas were able to maintain better productivity, including larger-sized scenic hotels.

Originality/value

The DEA-based analysis provides unique and valuable insights for hotel firm leaders on how to better identify and make strategic choices when responding to future crises.
Preservice teachers' perceptions of a practice-focused lesson study
Authors: Shelton Ryann N. , Rogers Rachelle Meyer , Wilkerson Trena L.
Published: May 2023

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to explore middle and secondary mathematics preservice teachers' (PST) perceptions of the benefits, challenges and impacts of implementing lesson study.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper presents a single case study in the university context. Embedded units of analysis included a group of middle and a group of secondary mathematics PSTs, who were in the internship year of a teacher preparation program.

Findings

This paper presents several perceived benefits, challenges and impacts according to PSTs. PSTs indicated benefits included their focused student observations and their collaboration in lesson design. Perceived challenges included observing as a nonparticipant observer and aspects of planning. The different impacts occurred in three phases: planning, observing during teaching and reflection.

Research limitations/implications

First, the study participants included a small group of middle and secondary mathematics PSTs from one university in central Texas. Second, the PSTs in this study were not able to reteach the lesson, which may have influenced their perceptions.

Practical implications

Mathematics teacher educators could use insights from this study as they implement lesson study or other field experiences to support PSTs in their growth as mathematics teachers.

Originality/value

This paper examines PSTs' perceptions, which could benefit mathematics teacher educators as they consider how to introduce or implement lesson study with PSTs.
Deriving efficiency from the major customer network: the role of network connectedness and centeredness
Authors: Kao Ta-Wei (Daniel) , Su Hung-Chung , Chen Yi-Su
Published: May 2023

Purpose

Prior studies on major customer relationships (i.e. embedded ties) focus mostly on the ties between a focal firm and its immediate customers, hindering the understanding of the influence of indirect ties (both upstream and downstream) on a focal firm's operational performance. In this study, the authors analyze how a focal firm's upstream and downstream connectedness and network location affect its productive efficiency.

Design/methodology/approach

Utilizing Compustat segment files, the authors constructed large-scale major customer networks covering the period 2007–2013. The authors applied a fixed-effect panel stochastic frontier model to conduct estimation. Moreover, the authors applied an endogenous panel stochastic frontier model to ensure the robustness of the main analysis.

Findings

The authors found that a focal firm's upstream and downstream connectedness both have a positive influence on a firm's productive efficiency, whereas a focal firm's centeredness in the major customer network has a negative influence on productive efficiency. Moreover, it was found that centeredness lessens the positive influences of upstream and downstream connectedness on productive efficiency. The post hoc analysis further confirmed that a focal firm's indirect ties, both upstream and downstream, positively influence a focal firm's productive efficiency.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the literature by evaluating the relative effectiveness of a focal firm's direct and indirect major customer ties, both upstream and downstream. More importantly, this study suggests potential exploitation–exploration trade-offs (i.e. productive efficiency vs. innovation) triggered by a firm's network location.
A comparative study for adaptive surrogate-model-based reliability evaluation method of automobile components
Authors: Yang Shiyuan , Meng Debiao , Wang Hongtao , Chen Zhipeng , Xu Bing
Published: May 2023

Purpose

This study conducts a comparative study on the performance of reliability assessment methods based on adaptive surrogate models to accurately assess the reliability of automobile components, which is critical to the safe operation of vehicles.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, different adaptive learning strategies and surrogate models are combined to study their performance in reliability assessment of automobile components.

Findings

By comparing the reliability evaluation problems of four automobile components, the Kriging model and Polynomial Chaos-Kriging (PCK) have better robustness. Considering the trade-off between accuracy and efficiency, PCK is optimal. The Constrained Min-Max (CMM) learning function only depends on sample information, so it is suitable for most surrogate models. In the four calculation examples, the performance of the combination of CMM and PCK is relatively good. Thus, it is recommended for reliability evaluation problems of automobile components.

Originality/value

Although a lot of research has been conducted on adaptive surrogate-model-based reliability evaluation method, there are still relatively few studies on the comprehensive application of this method to the reliability evaluation of automobile component. In this study, different adaptive learning strategies and surrogate models are combined to study their performance in reliability assessment of automobile components. Specially, a superior surrogate-model-based reliability evaluation method combination is illustrated in this study, which is instructive for adaptive surrogate-model-based reliability analysis in the reliability evaluation problem of automobile components.
The new future and the employment imperative: effectively aligning student interest, industry needs and university programmes
Authors: Singh Abhilasha , Blessinger Patrick
Published: May 2023

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the differences between labour market requirements in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the 21st century and university graduates’ level of knowledge, skills and aspects of competence (KSAs) qualification benchmark.

Design/methodology/approach

The study used a discourse analysis methodology, which is a qualitative and interpretive method of analysing texts. The content for the analysis was extracted from Scopus, Ebscohost, Proquest, Google Scholar, Web of Science, news, publications, thesis papers, dissertations and other research papers. A narrative approach for analysing the content was adopted.

Findings

The findings reveal that new graduates often encounter difficulties in searching for jobs due to a lack of awareness of how to conduct an employment search that best aligns their KSA with the requirements and needs of the labour market. The study concludes that to increase the employability of graduates, higher education institutions should reduce the KSAs gap by collaborating with the private sector and providing students with relevant, industry-based job experience before graduation.

Originality/value

This study investigates the gap between graduate KSAs and labour market requirements in the 21st-century UAE. The findings of the study encapsulate the weaknesses and shortcomings of the current educational systems amid the reform agenda in the UAE. It also deliberates upon the state-of-the-art recommendations regarding making the country a knowledge-based economy and society.
US Army Aviation air movement operations assignment, utilization and routing
Authors: Nelson Russell , King Russell , McConnell Brandon M. , Thoney-Barletta Kristin
Published: May 2023

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to create an air movement operations planning model to rapidly generate air mission request (AMR) assignment and routing courses of action (COA) in order to minimize unsupported AMRs, aircraft utilization and routing cost.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, the US Army Aviation air movement operations planning problem is modeled as a mixed integer linear program (MILP) as an extension of the dial-a-ride problem (DARP). The paper also introduces a heuristic as an extension of a single-vehicle DARP demand insertion algorithm to generate feasible solutions in a tactically useful time period.

Findings

The MILP model generates optimal solutions for small problems (low numbers of AMRs and small helicopter fleets). The heuristic generates near-optimal feasible solutions for problems of various sizes (up to 100 AMRs and 10 helicopter team fleet size) in near real time.

Research limitations/implications

Due to the inability of the MILP to produce optimal solutions for mid- and large-sized problems, this research is limited in commenting on the heuristic solution quality beyond the numerical experimentation. Additionally, the authors make several simplifying assumptions to generalize the average performance and capabilities of aircraft throughout a flight.

Originality/value

This research is the first to solve the US Army Aviation air movement operations planning problem via a single formulation that incorporates multiple refuel nodes, minimization of unsupported demand by priority level, demand time windows, aircraft team utilization penalties, aircraft team time windows and maximum duration and passenger ride time limits.
Does nanotechnology contribute to energy poverty reduction?
Authors: Masron Tajul Ariffin , Subramaniam Yogeeswari , Loganathan Nanthakumar
Published: May 2023

Purpose

Nanotechnology's rapid development worldwide is a significant measure for countries to strengthen the building of energy security. Thus, to empirically investigate the underlying effect of nanotechnology on energy poverty alleviation, the authors of this study assess the impact of nanotechnology on alleviating energy poverty in developing countries.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper used panel data for 56 developing countries over the period 2012–2019, by employing dynamic generalised method of moments (GMM) analysis.

Findings

The findings showed that the emergence of nanotechnology has a significant trend in increasing energy poverty in developing countries. This suggests that whilst nanotechnology may be a promising solution for addressing energy poverty in certain contexts, nanotechnology may not be the most viable option for reducing poverty in developing countries. The findings have added credence as the findings are robust to the inclusion of alternative energy poverty measures and additional controlled variables.

Research limitations/implications

Although this study results show unpromising outcomes in addressing energy poverty in developing countries, the authors believe that this may be a short-term phenomenon. In the long run, policies and programs must be put in place to support the development and deployment of nanotechnology to reduce energy poverty.

Originality/value

The authors believe this is the first attempt to examine the dynamic influence of nanotechnology development on energy poverty in developing countries. From the standpoint of nanotechnology development, this can help policymakers develop rules and regulations to tackle energy poverty.
Clinical evaluation of needle‐free electronic pneumatic hyaluronic acid injection treatment for facial atrophic acne scars: A prospective, randomized comparative trial
Authors: Kaminaka Chikako , Sakata Mariko , Nishiguchi Mana , Kunimoto Kayo , Mikita Naoya , Jinnin Masatoshi , Uede Koji , Tanioka Kensuke , Yamamoto Yuki
Published: May 2023

Acne scars are common but difficult to treat, and an effective new treatment strategy is desired. This prospective, split‐face randomized controlled trial was designed to compare the safety and efficacy of needle‐free electronic pneumatic hyaluronic acid injection (EPI‐HA) treatment for acne scars. Thirty Japanese subjects with moderate to severe facial atrophic acne scars underwent EPI‐HA treatment on a randomized side of their face. Three treatment sessions were carried out at 1‐month intervals, and the subjects were followed‐up for 3 months after the final treatment. Three months after the final treatment, 48.3% of treated sides met the criteria for success, compared with 0% for the control sides (P < 0.0001). Rolling type scars were much improved compared with boxcar types and icepick types. Satisfaction (or better) was reported by 55.2% of subjects at the 3‐month follow‐up after the final treatment, which was similar to the physicians' assessment. Three‐dimensional in vivo imaging analysis detected significant difference in scar reductions between the treated and control sides in the mean scar area, scar depth, and maximum depth of the biggest scar at 1 and 3 months after the final treatment (all P < 0.05). In conclusion, EPI‐HA treatment significantly improved rolling facial atrophic acne scars in our Japanese subjects, with minimal side effects.
No acetogen is equal: Strongly different H2 thresholds reflect diverse bioenergetics in acetogenic bacteria
Authors: Laura Munoz , Jo Philips
Published: May 2023

Acetogens share the capacity to convert H2 and CO2 into acetate for energy conservation (ATP synthesis). This reaction is attractive for applications, such as gas fermentation and microbial electrosynthesis. Different H2 partial pressures prevail in these distinctive applications (low concentrations during microbial electrosynthesis [<40 Pa] vs. high concentrations with gas fermentation [>9%]). Strain selection thus requires understanding of how different acetogens perform under different H2 partial pressures. Here, we determined the H2 threshold (H2 partial pressure at which acetogenesis halts) for eight different acetogenic strains under comparable conditions. We found a three orders of magnitude difference between the lowest and highest H2 threshold (6 ± 2 Pa for Sporomusa ovata vs. 1990 ± 67 Pa for Clostridium autoethanogenum), while Acetobacterium strains had intermediate H2 thresholds. We used these H2 thresholds to estimate ATP gains, which ranged from 0.16 to 1.01 mol ATP per mol acetate (S. ovata vs. C. autoethanogenum). The experimental H2 thresholds thus suggest strong differences in the bioenergetics of acetogenic strains and possibly also in their growth yields and kinetics. We conclude that no acetogen is equal and that a good understanding of their differences is essential to select the most optimal strain for different biotechnological applications.
Microenterprise and home care for older adults in England and Wales: A partial revolution?
Authors: McDonald Ruth
Published: May 2023

Paid carers play an important role in helping older adults with care needs to remain living in their own homes. This paper examines changes in the home care field, specifically the emergence of self‐employed care entrepreneurs (‘microentrepreneurs’). To do this, it employs Bourdieu’s concepts of field, capital and habitus. Drawing on 105 semi‐structured interviews with stakeholders working in home care, the paper describes how the interaction of changes to field structures, and altered practices of care have challenged the taken‐for‐granted acceptance of traditional, transactional forms of care provision. This process has been highly dependent on local state actors, their ability to mobilise relevant forms of capital and the factors which shaped their habitus. It should be seen within the context of changes to local field structures and the hierarchical classification processes which underpin them. These changes threaten the distribution of capital in the home care field in ways that are beneficial to microentrepreneurs. Bourdieu might categorise these developments as ‘partial revolutions’, which do not challenge the fundamental axioms of the field. However, for care entrepreneurs, formerly employed as low‐paid home‐care workers, a revolution that is only partial may be better than none at all.
The professional role and exercise of the role of educational assistance professionals in schools with School Integration Programs in Chile
Authors: Dinamarca‐Aravena Katherine Andrea
Published: May 2023

The incorporation of health professionals into inclusive schools is increasingly necessary. However, the work of these professionals has not yet been studied globally. This qualitative research analyses the perceptions of speech therapists, psychologists, physical therapists and occupational therapists on the role that educational policy defines for working in schools with School Integration Programmes in Chile. Through chain sampling, 52 professionals were interviewed. The data were analysed inductively through thematic analysis. The results show that the role defined by policies for professionals is not in line with the needs of schools and the aspirations of the inclusive approach. The exercise of the role emerges as a distinct entity from the defined role that seems to be more responsive to the needs of schools and students. Interviewees described tensions related to the role in schools, professional training, working conditions and contextual features that would permeate the role that the policy mandates them to play. The findings of the study promote new research horizons related to the role of professional assistants, where research is still incipient worldwide, and invite reflection on the importance of designing education policies with a bottom‐up approach to capture the needs presented by learners and professional teams.