bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effect of applied load on wear of microwave sintered alumina-graphene ceramic composite material
Authors: Vandana K I Vishnu , Rajyalakshmi M , Ch Sri Chaitanya
Published: July 2024

The present work is mainly focussed on the preparation of alumina ceramic composite material reinforced with different weight proportions (wt%) of graphene ranging from 0.15 wt% to 0.45 wt% (with an interval of 0.1) and fabrication using microwave sintering method. Wear studies are performed on graphene reinforced alumina ceramic material samples using pin-on-disk apparatus at different loads of 5 N, 10 N, 15 N keeping speed of 0.8 m s−1 and sliding distance of 40 m constant. The obtained wear results are compared with wear performance of pure alumina samples which are prepared in the same condition. Wear tests even at higher load of 15 N revealed that the decrease in the wear rate of the ceramic composite samples reinforced with 0.35 wt% of grapheme is 35.14% and in the ceramic composite samples reinforced with 0.45 wt% of graphene is 34.85% when compared with the wear rate of samples prepared with pure alumina. The effect of different wt%s of graphene on wear properties of prepared ceramic composites is studied through SEM analysis, and observed that the abrasive wear phenomenon is found to be the dominant wear mechanism.
Supporting farmers in coping with water extremes: aligning farmer needs and advisor confidence, skills, and expertise
Authors: Schattman Rachel E , Malacarne Jonathan , Mallory Ellen B , Goossen Caleb P
Published: July 2024

Temperate regions, where water supply has not historically been a limiting factor in agriculture or other industries, are expected to face new challenges related to water availability and use. It is important to investigate the gap between farmers’ need for professional support around water management and the services that agricultural advisors can provide. Needs assessments generally consider one of these topics or the other, though we suggest a deeper understanding of the two together is called for. Here, we report on a farmer survey conducted in the state of Maine in the United States (n = 174) and a survey of agricultural advisors conducted in twelve northeastern states (n = 381). By comparing two investigations, we find (a) opportunities for outreach programs both targeted towards the needs of specific agricultural sectors, and (b) professional development topics for agricultural advisors to close the gap between current capacity in the region and farmer needs. Based on these results, we suggest a framework informed by theories of social learning for targeted outreach. We propose that this approach can serve as a model for moving forward with program development in agricultural services into the future, both in the United States and around the world.
Diamela Eltit
Authors: Llanos Bernardita
Published: July 2024

Diamela Eltit’s poetics across her literary production shows transgressive forms of intelligibility that evoke a crumbling social order ruled by the powerful few. Her novels present a gendered perspective that creates a haunting and nightmarish dystopia. Language serves as the vehicle that illuminates conflictive and deprived subjectivities whose vulnerable states are expressed in disjointed linguistic utterances. The characters inhabit the outskirts and cling to what is left of a collective epic that has been dismantled by an all-encompassing system of power. These are personifications of omniscient power structures with multiple and pervasive iterations that control and discipline human bodies. Eltit focuses her gaze on individuals that the system exploits, expels, exiles, or leaves homeless, turning them into uprooted and nationless migrants. In this context, women have a leading role, acting as a vital force that organizes dissent and pushes back to create solidarity.
The Digital and the Postcolonial
Authors: Kumar Sangeet
Published: July 2024

The growth and expansion of the field of digital media studies and critical internet studies opens up opportunities for it to engage with other existing areas of scholarship that can infuse it with new questions, vantage points, and conceptual categories. The field of postcolonial studies that begins with an attempt to understand the material and symbolic dynamics of colonial rule and extends to making sense of the varied aspects of the postcolonial condition, is one such potential area. The existing debates within postcolonial theory about how the symbolic, psychic and material structures of the past animate and shape power dynamics in our world today hold many lessons for analyzing what is arguably the most global media technology ever. This article presents three areas of convergence between digital media studies and postcolonial studies in order to draw out their common concerns and show how the lessons from the latter can help animate scholarship of the former. The three areas that focus respectively on the consequences of the global digital divide, the nature of cultural power in the digital world and the emerging global division of labor each show the value of existing debates within postcolonial studies in deepening and expanding the scholarship in digital media studies. As they traverse national boundaries effortlessly, create unprecedented national and global solidarities, and seemingly democratize cultural and knowledge production, the web and the digital media ecosystems have also handed unprecedented abilities to nation-states and corporations to surveil, control, and modulate the behavior of citizens and users. The complex layers of these dynamics where Western digital platforms spread globally and expand their userbase under the guise of doing global good and spreading liberal values while authoritarian regimes often push back using tropes of anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism can best be understood when filtered through some of the analogous lessons of postcolonial theory. Bringing in those lessons about how the past lives in the present, control in freedom and the colonial in the postcolonial can make analyses of global power in the digital domain historically informed and theoretically nuanced.
Plasticity in the Micturition Circuit During Development and Following Spinal Cord Injury
Authors: Hsiang Harrison W. , Vizzard Margaret A.
Published: July 2024

The micturition reflex relies on complex neural signaling to enable the coordination of the lower urinary tract. In neonates, this reflex is organized in the lumbosacral spinal cord and responds automatically to distension of the bladder or, in animals, to stimulation of the perigenital region by the mother. During development, competitive reorganization by supraspinal inputs places the reflex under conscious control and gives rise to the mature micturition reflex. Traumatic injury to the spinal cord that interrupts supraspinal inputs to the lumbosacral spinal cord can result in reversion to an automatic, spinal micturition reflex accompanied by lower urinary tract dysfunction such as neurogenic detrusor overactivity and detrusor–sphincter dyssynergia. This is accompanied by a number of changes in the anatomy and function of the lower urinary tract; various signaling pathways, including neurotrophins and neuropeptides; and reorganization of spinal circuitry. Evidence suggests that, following spinal cord injury, the bladder hypertrophies and urothelial and external urethral sphincter function are altered, giving rise to phasic spontaneous behavior and reduced bladder outlet bursting during voiding, respectively. Sensitization of Aδ-fiber afferents and “awakening” of C-fibers in the lumbosacral micturition pathway contribute to the emergence of a spinal micturition reflex and subsequent lower urinary tract dysfunction, with substantial evidence indicating a primary role for altered neurotrophin and neuropeptide signaling.
The Rise of Printing in Medieval East Asia, c . 700–1500
Authors: Hansen Valerie
Published: July 2024

Before 700 ce, East Asians copied texts by hand. Then, sometime after the year 700 ce, people in Korea, Japan, and China began to reproduce texts written in Chinese characters in a new way, using woodblock printing. The earliest surviving examples are Buddhist spells called dhāraṇī. One example found at Bulguksa Monastery, South Korea, dates to between 704 and 751; thousands of other examples were printed between 764 and 770 in Kyōto, Japan.

In 1907, the Hungarian-British explorer and scholar Aurel Stein visited a cave in the northwest Chinese oasis of Dunhuang and obtained a copy of the Diamond Sutra, the world’s earliest intact surviving printed book (9th century ce). The Diamond Sutra was printed using woodblock printing, a technology that evolved and led to the first large-scale printing projects in the 900s, and evolved during the Golden Age of Chinese printingin the Song dynasty (960-1276).

In the 1040s, the official and polymath Shen Kuo described the invention of movable type printing but noted that it did not catch on immediately. In 1298 the Chinese scholar Wang Zhen (after 1290–1333) used movable type to print a large run of a gazetteer, and the government printed paper money with movable type. Still, woodblock printing remained the primary technology for printing books between 700 and 1500. The first descriptions of Chinese printing from outsiders, including Marco Polo and Rashid al-Din, date to the late 1200s and early 1300s.

Chinese printing declined dramatically between 1330 and 1368, in the closing years of the Yuan dynasty (1260–1368). The reduced output of printed books persisted until the 1500s, when the Chinese printing industry recovered. Gaining ground slowly after that, movable type fully displaced woodblock printing only in the 19th century.
How Are Flood Risks Managed in the United States?
Authors: Zhang Dayin
Published: July 2024

Flooding remains the most destructive and costliest in the United States. Among the 371 billion-dollar climate disasters in the United States since 1980, 288 (78%) is directly related to flooding. Floods cost $1.37 trillion in losses (in U.S. 2023 dollars adjusted by the Consumer Price Index [CPI]) and caused 9,722 fatalities. With climate change and sea levels rising, floods are becoming more and more frequent and costly. The pressing issue is how to manage flood risk. The current risk management framework in the United States, designed and implemented by the federal government, has three fundamental pillars: flood risk information infrastructure, flood insurance, and government aid. The first pillar, the flood risk information infrastructure, guides decision-making using Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood maps that visually depict flood risks. The second pillar, flood insurance, managed by the National Flood Insurance Program since 1968, aids in addressing ex ante flood-related financial risks. The third pillar, government aid, provides postflood support through programs such as FEMA’s Individuals and Households Program and the Small Business Administration’s disaster loans. Though vital for flood risk mitigation and economic decision-making, each pillar confronts multiple challenges. FEMA flood maps face challenges in mapping accuracy, regular updating, and coverage, suggesting a need for ongoing innovation and cooperation among government agencies, research entities, and private sectors. FEMA flood insurance has its issues as well. Its premium, marked by a multifaceted risk-rating system, often doesn’t mirror actual loss potential, leading to criticisms. Despite its role as a financial buffer, flood insurance’s limited coverage and low adoption rates highlight public reluctance about it. Government aid, meant for postdisaster recovery, carries unintended side effects such as spatial discrepancies, increased inequalities, and potential deterrence from buying insurance, underscoring the delicate balance between policies and societal impacts. Furthermore, the interplay between the three pillars also creates enormous complexity in practice and may create unintended consequences. One example is the free-riding problem due to the coexistence of ex ante flood insurance and ex post government aid. Therefore, it is crucial to provide a comprehensive overview of the flood risk management system for both academics and policymakers.
Social Variation in Germanic
Authors: Kristiansen Tore
Published: July 2024

The spread of Germanic-speaking people and their language(s) has been extraordinarily expansive and extensive and has produced variation under multifarious socio-historical conditions—first as “dialect continua” in Western and Northern Europe, later as “language mixing” of many kinds under colonial situations, and, in the early 21st century, as “urban youth styles” in multicultural or multilinguistic parts of bigger cities. Basically, the social conditions include relationships of domination and subordination at three social levels—macro, meso, and micro—and across three types of space—geographic, social, and situational. Spread happens with contact between speakers. This contact is always social (at all levels and in all spaces) and has an objective aspect (social roles and patterns of communication) and a subjective aspect (language-related ideologies). The pivotal question in this picture is why speakers in interactional contact vary (and potentially change) their language. What is the driving force in language variation (and change)? Are the processes of variation (and potentially change) automatic/mechanic by nature, or are they sociopsychological/ideological? Of course, scholars working in the discipline of variationist sociolinguistics (now 60-plus years old) have not all related to the various ingredients of the preceding picture in the same way and with the same research interests, so the gamut of questions asked and answers given is broad.
Language of Social Media and Online Communication in Germanic
Authors: Coats Steven
Published: July 2024

This article provides an overview of language practices that have emerged as a result of technological developments related to telecommunications and the internet, primarily in text-based modalities, and discusses research into social media and online communication in Germanic languages. It begins by providing a brief history of the communication technologies and platforms that underlie computer-based communication (CMC), then considers language features common to text-based CMC modalities that have developed since the 1970s such as email messages, mailing lists and message boards, chatrooms, SMS (Short Message Service), instant message (IM), and social media platforms such as Twitter/𝕏 or Facebook. For text communication in these modalities, features such as abbreviation, nonstandard orthography, use of emoticons and emoji, and performative marking of verbs are common in the Germanic languages, and new discursive practices have emerged for use of the hashtag (#) and the “at” sign (@). The article then reviews some of the findings of research into CMC for English, German, Dutch, Afrikaans, Frisian, and the Scandinavian languages, noting the diversity of theoretical approaches and analytical frameworks employed. Selected focus issues are discussed, including ethnographic and interactive studies of Germanic CMC and approaches to the study of multimodal online language on video-streaming and -sharing websites such as YouTube. The article concludes by noting some desiderata for research into Germanic language social media and online communication.
SE Constructions in the Romance Languages
Authors: Pescarini Diego
Published: July 2024

SE constructions across the Romance languages have been classified on the basis of syntactic and semantic evidence. Although the terminology varies, at least four main types of SE can be identified: three constructions in which SE can be interpreted as an argument (the reflexive/reciprocal SE, the arbitrary/impersonal SE, the middle SE) and a residual set of SE-marked predicates in which SE has not a clear pronominal status. Evidence from SE constructions is a crucial test bed for theories concerning the syntactic mapping of argument and event structure.
Enforcing intra-EU ICSID arbitration awards in a post-Achmea world in Europe: could the European Court of Human Rights assist in resolving the deadlock?
Authors: Knoebel Ceyda , Collins Stephanie
Published: July 2024

When, at the enforcement stage, a European Union (‘EU’) Member State’s national court refuses to recognize and/or enforce a final intra-EU arbitration award rendered as per the ICSID Convention on the basis of the Court of Justice of the EU (‘CJEU’)’s decision in Slowakische Republik v Achmea BV, the right to the peaceful enjoyment of possessions, guaranteed by article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (‘A1P1’) of the European Convention on Human Rights (the ‘ECHR’), may be infringed. This article explores that issue. First, and by way of context, it explains the development of the so-called ‘intra-EU objection’ in the context of investor–State arbitration, culminating in the CJEU’s seminal ruling in Achmea and its progenies. Second, it provides an overview of various efforts to enforce intra-EU awards post-Achmea, focusing on ICSID Convention awards that have cleared any post-award remedies under the Convention, and how national courts have approached this. Third, it details how A1P1 of the ECHR might apply to the non-enforcement of intra-EU ICSID awards—engaging in a detailed analysis of the tests that would be applied by the European Court of Human Rights in such an instance. Finally, it discusses the potential remedy before the Court and the consequences for a finding of violation. While this article is focused on final and enforceable ICSID Convention awards, the analysis may be relevant to other intra-EU enforcement scenarios, subject to the specific factual circumstances in those scenarios.
The Prevalence and Histological Characteristics of the Double Capsule Phenomenon in Breast Augmentation With Implants
Authors: Eiler Frydshou Bak Erik , Larsen Andreas , Kongsmark Weltz Tim , Jørgensen Mads Gustaf , Ørholt Mathias , Mandrup Timmermann Adam , Birch Mathisen Sif , Aydin Dogu , Frøkjær Ulrik Anders , Boldt Strålman Kristina , Nejrup Hemmingsen Mathilde , Vester-Glowinski Peter Viktor , Herly Mikkel
Published: July 2024

Background

Double capsule formation around breast implants is associated with implant rotation and seroma. However, the prevalence and histological characteristics remain unclear.

Objectives

The goal of this study was to quantify the prevalence of double capsule formation of different implant surface textures and explore the histological differences between the inner and outer capsules of breast implant capsule biopsies.

Methods

The study was performed with data from the Copenhagen Breast Implant Biobank, comparing the prevalence of double capsule formation around Allergan Biocell implants, Eurosilicone Cristalline implants, and Mentor Siltex implants. The histological characteristics of the inner and outer capsules were analyzed with a validated assessment tool.

Results

The study included data from 588 patients and 1128 implants. Double capsule formation was found around 25 implants resulting in an overall prevalence of 2.3%. Mentor implants with a Siltex surface had a double capsule prevalence of 0.72%, which was significantly lower than the prevalence for Allergan implants with a Biocell surface (7.8%; P < .001), and Eurosilicone implants with a Cristalline surface (3.4%; P = .03). Histological analysis showed that inner capsules had lower cellular density (P = .04) and were more calcified (P = .03) compared with outer capsules.

Conclusions

The risk of double capsule formation was highly correlated with the roughness of the breast implant texture, with the risk of double capsule formation around Mentor Siltex implants being significantly lower than that of macrotextured implants. The histological analysis implies that loss of vascularization to the inner capsule results in a lower cellular density and more frequent calcification.

Level of Evidence: 3
MetaboLink: a web application for streamlined processing and analysis of large-scale untargeted metabolomics data
Authors: Mendes Ana , Havelund Jesper Foged , Lemvig Jonas , Schwämmle Veit , Færgeman Nils J
Published: July 2024

Motivation

The post-processing and analysis of large-scale untargeted metabolomics data face significant challenges due to the intricate nature of correction, filtration, imputation, and normalization steps. Manual execution across various applications often leads to inefficiencies, human-induced errors, and inconsistencies within the workflow.

Results

Addressing these issues, we introduce MetaboLink, a novel web application designed to process LC-MS metabolomics datasets combining established methodologies and offering flexibility and ease of implementation. It offers visualization options for data interpretation, an interface for statistical testing, and integration with PolySTest for further tests and with VSClust for clustering analysis.

Availability and implementation

Fully functional tool is publicly available at https://computproteomics.bmb.sdu.dk/Metabolomics/. The source code is available at https://github.com/anitamnd/MetaboLink and a detailed description of the app can be found at https://github.com/anitamnd/MetaboLink/wiki. A tutorial video can be found at https://youtu.be/ZM6j10S6Z8Q.
A layered titanate nanowire helps Pt/TiO2 photocatalyst for solar hydrogen evolution from water with high quantum efficiency
Authors: Tahawy Rafat , Esmat Mohamed , El-Hosainy Hamza , Farghaly Fatma E , Abdel-Aal El-Sayed A , El-Hosiny Fouad I , Ide Yusuke
Published: July 2024

Research into TiO2 photocatalysts for solar H2 evolution from water is still growing for environmentally benign and economically valid H2 production. Herein, in contrast to much research on the modification of TiO2 toward higher photocatalytic activities, we develop a photocatalytically inactive TiO2-based nanostructure and use it, like graphene, as a booster of a benchmark TiO2. A layered potassium titanate with two-dimensional plate-like particle morphology was converted to the corresponding one-dimensional nanowire form via a hydrothermal reaction, after which the layered potassium titanate nanowire was acid-treated to obtain a layered titanate nanowire. This nanowire was completely inactive toward H2 evolution from water containing methanol under solar simulator irradiation. However, when Pt nanoparticle-loaded P25 TiO2 (Pt/P25) was mixed with a considerably smaller amount of the layered titanate nanowire in water, a durable composite was obtained and the composite showed a good photocatalytic activity three times higher than Pt/P25. The apparent quantum efficiency of the reaction at a wavelength of 350 nm was 56%, which was higher than or comparable to those of the state-of-the-art TiO2-based photocatalysts. The possible reason for the enhanced photocatalytic activity of the Pt/P25 and layered titanate nanowire composite involved the transfer of photogenerated holes from Pt/P25 to the nanowire to suppress charge recombination and/or disaggregation (improved dispersion) of Pt/P25 particles on the nanowire.
Bioengineered mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes: emerging strategies for diabetic wound healing
Authors: Liu Lihua , Liu Dewu
Published: July 2024

Diabetic wounds are among the most common complications of diabetes mellitus and their healing process can be delayed due to persistent inflammatory reactions, bacterial infections, damaged vascularization and impaired cell proliferation, which casts a blight on patients’health and quality of life. Therefore, new strategies to accelerate diabetic wound healing are being positively explored. Exosomes derived from mesenchymal stem cells (MSC-Exos) can inherit the therapeutic and reparative abilities of stem cells and play a crucial role in diabetic wound healing. However, poor targeting, low concentrations of therapeutic molecules, easy removal from wounds and limited yield of MSC-Exos are challenging for clinical applications. Bioengineering techniques have recently gained attention for their ability to enhance the efficacy and yield of MSC-Exos. In this review, we summarise the role of MSC-Exos in diabetic wound healing and focus on three bioengineering strategies, namely, parental MSC-Exos engineering, direct MSC-Exos engineering and MSC-Exos combined with biomaterials. Furthermore, the application of bioengineered MSC-Exos in diabetic wound healing is reviewed. Finally, we discuss the future prospects of bioengineered MSC-Exos, providing new insights into the exploration of therapeutic strategies.
Developments in the synthesis of allylsilanes by transition metal–catalyzed silylation of 1,3-dienes with disilanes
Authors: Katayama Nobuki , Obora Yasushi
Published: July 2024

This highlight review overviews developments in the synthesis of allylsilanes by transition metal–catalyzed silylation of 1,3-dienes with disilanes. We specifically review disilylation, which installs 2 silicon atoms, and silyl-functionalization, which installs both silicon and another atom using disilanes and reagents such as nucleophiles and electrophiles. Utilizing these methods for the silylation of 1,3-dienes provides a robust protocol for the efficient synthesis of the desired allylsilanes in 1 step, thereby streamlining the silyl-functionalization of 1,3-dienes.
Beneficial normalization of cardiac repolarization by carnitine in transgenic short QT syndrome type 1 rabbit models
Authors: Bodi Ilona , Mettke Lea , Michaelides Konstantin , Hornyik Tibor , Meier Stefan , Nimani Saranda , Perez-Feliz Stefanie , El-Battrawy Ibrahim , Bugger Heiko , Zehender Manfred , Brunner Michael , Heijman Jordi , Odening Katja E
Published: July 2024

Aims

Short QT syndrome type 1 (SQT1) is a genetic channelopathy caused by gain-of-function variants in human-ether-a-go-go (HERG) underlying the rapid delayed-rectifier K+ current (IKr), leading to QT-shortening, ventricular arrhythmias, and sudden cardiac death. Data on efficient pharmacotherapy for SQT1 are scarce. In patients with primary carnitine-deficiency, acquired-short QT syndrome (SQTS) has been observed and rescued by carnitine supplementation. Here, we assessed whether carnitine exerts direct beneficial (prolonging) effects on cardiac repolarization in genetic SQTS.

Methods and results

Adult wild-type (WT) and transgenic SQT1 rabbits (HERG-N588K, gain of IKr) were used. In vivo electrocardiograms (ECGs), ex vivo monophasic action potentials (APs) in Langendorff-perfused hearts, and cellular ventricular APs and ion currents were assessed at baseline and during L-Carnitine/C16-Carnitine-perfusion. Two-dimensional computer simulations were performed to assess re-entry-based ventricular tachycardia-inducibility. L-Carnitine/C16-Carnitine prolonged QT-intervals in WT and SQT1, leading to QT-normalization in SQT1. Similarly, monophasic and cellular AP duration (APD) was prolonged by L-Carnitine/C16-Carnitine in WT and SQT1. As underlying mechanisms, we identified acute effects on the main repolarizing ion currents: IKr-steady, which is pathologically increased in SQT1, was reduced by L-Carnitine/C16-Carnitine and deactivation kinetics were accelerated. Moreover, L-Carnitine/C16-Carnitine decreased IKs-steady and IK1. In silico modelling identified IKr changes as the main factor for L-Carnitine/C16-Carnitine-induced APD-prolongation. 2D simulations revealed increased sustained re-entry-based arrhythmia formation in SQT1 compared to WT, which was decreased to the WT-level when adding carnitine-induced ion current changes.

Conclusion

L-Carnitine/C16-Carnitine prolong/normalize QT and whole-heart/cellular APD in SQT1 rabbits. These beneficial effects are mediated by acute effects on IKr. L-Carnitine may serve as a potential future QT-normalizing, anti-arrhythmic therapy in SQT1.
A general and efficient representation of ancestral recombination graphs
Authors: Wong Yan , Ignatieva Anastasia , Koskela Jere , Gorjanc Gregor , Wohns Anthony W , Kelleher Jerome
Published: July 2024

As a result of recombination, adjacent nucleotides can have different paths of genetic inheritance and therefore the genealogical trees for a sample of DNA sequences vary along the genome. The structure capturing the details of these intricately interwoven paths of inheritance is referred to as an ancestral recombination graph (ARG). Classical formalisms have focused on mapping coalescence and recombination events to the nodes in an ARG. However, this approach is out of step with some modern developments, which do not represent genetic inheritance in terms of these events or explicitly infer them. We present a simple formalism that defines an ARG in terms of specific genomes and their intervals of genetic inheritance, and show how it generalizes these classical treatments and encompasses the outputs of recent methods. We discuss nuances arising from this more general structure, and argue that it forms an appropriate basis for a software standard in this rapidly growing field.
Changes in Household Wealth Over the Process of Widowhood Across European Countries
Authors: Kapelle Nicole , Van Winkle Zachary
Published: July 2024

Objectives

Widowhood has been shown to decrease surviving spouses’ economic well-being. However, previous research has focused mostly on income-related outcomes, and has been less attentive to the importance of wealth, the processual nature of spousal death, and cross-national variation. In this study, we assessed how total, housing, and nonhousing wealth changes over the process of widowhood across 11 European countries.

Methods

Individual fixed-effects regressions and longitudinal data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe were used to estimate how household net total wealth, housing wealth, and nonhousing wealth changed 3 years prior and 6 or more years after spousal death relative to 4 or more years prior to widowhood in 11 European countries.

Results

In all countries, household net wealth stayed relatively constant across the widowhood process, except for Austria, the Czech Republic, and Poland, where wealth declines were observed especially in the years following death. However, we found declines in housing wealth over the widowhood process, including prior to spousal death, across most countries in our sample, particularly in Austria, France, Denmark, the Czech Republic, and Poland. Declines in housing wealth were generally not reflected by changes in nonhousing wealth but coincided with leaving homeownership and downsizing.

Discussion

Widowhood is associated with lower wealth, especially housing wealth, even in the years before spousal loss. Future research should focus on adjudicating the mechanisms behind country differences and exploring the implications of lost wealth following widowhood for surviving spouses’ well-being and intergenerational transfers.
Pharmacogenomic Assessment of Genes Implicated in Thiopurine Metabolism and Toxicity in a UK Cohort of Pediatric Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Authors: Coelho Tracy , Cheng Guo , Lewis Sophie , Ashton James J , Barakat Farah , Driscoll Kouros C T , Sholeye-Bolaji Adebola E , Batra Akshay , Afzal Nadeem A , Beattie Robert M , Ennis Sarah
Published: July 2024

Background

Thiopurine drugs are effective treatment options in inflammatory bowel disease and other conditions but discontinued in some patients due to toxicity.

Methods

We investigated thiopurine-induced toxicity in a pediatric inflammatory bowel disease cohort by utilizing exome sequencing data across a panel of 46 genes, including TPMT and NUDT15.

Results

The cohort included 487 patients with a median age of 13.1 years. Of the 396 patients exposed to thiopurines, myelosuppression was observed in 11%, gastroenterological intolerance in 11%, hepatotoxicity in 4.5%, pancreatitis in 1.8%, and “other” adverse effects in 2.8%. TPMT (thiopurine S-methyltransferase) enzyme activity was normal in 87.4%, intermediate 12.3%, and deficient in 0.2%; 26% of patients with intermediate activity developed toxicity to thiopurines. Routinely genotyped TPMT alleles associated with defective enzyme activity were identified in 28 (7%) patients: TPMT*3A in 4.5%, *3B in 1%, and *3C in 1.5%. Of these, only 6 (21%) patients developed toxic responses. Three rare TPMT alleles (*3D, *39, and *40) not assessed on routine genotyping were identified in 3 patients, who all developed toxic responses. The missense variant p.R139C (NUDT15*3 allele) was identified in 4 patients (azathioprine 1.6 mg/kg/d), but only 1 developed toxicity. One patient with an in-frame deletion variant p.G13del in NUDT15 developed myelosuppression at low doses. Per-gene deleteriousness score GenePy identified a significant association for toxicity in the AOX1 and DHFR genes.

Conclusions

A significant association for toxicity was observed in the AOX1 and DHFR genes in individuals negative for the TPMT and NUDT15 variants. Patients harboring the NUDT15*3 allele, which is associated with myelosuppression, did not show an increased risk of toxicity.
Evolution in fossil time series reconciles observations in micro- and macroevolution
Authors: Voje Kjetil Lysne , Saito-Kato Megumi , Spanbauer Trisha L
Published: July 2024

Extrapolating microevolutionary models does not always provide satisfactory explanations for phenotypic diversification on million-year time scales. For example, short-term evolutionary change is often modelled assuming a fixed adaptive landscape, but macroevolutionary changes are likely to involve changes in the adaptive landscape itself. A better understanding of how the adaptive landscape changes across different time intervals and how these changes cause populations to evolve has the potential to narrow the gap between micro- and macroevolution. Here, we analyze two fossil diatom time series of exceptional quality and resolution covering time intervals of a few hundred thousand years using models that account for different behaviours of the adaptive landscape. We find that one of the lineages evolves on a randomly and continuously changing landscape, whereas the other lineage evolves on a landscape that shows a rapid shift in the position of the adaptive peak of a magnitude that is typically associated with species-level differentiation. This suggests phenotypic evolution beyond generational timescales may be a consequence of both gradual and sudden repositioning of adaptive peaks. Both lineages show rapid and erratic evolutionary change and are constantly readapting towards the optimal trait state, observations that align with evolutionary dynamics commonly observed in contemporary populations. The inferred trait evolution over a span of a few hundred thousand years in these two lineages is, therefore, chimeric in the sense that it combines components of trait evolution typically observed on both short and long timescales.
Differential phenological responses to temperature among various stages of spring vegetation green-up
Authors: Jiang Nan , Shen Miaogen , Yang Zhiyong
Published: July 2024

Vegetation green-up is occurring earlier due to climate warming across the Northern Hemisphere, with substantial influences on ecosystems. However, it is unclear whether temperature responses differ among various green-up stages. Using high-temporal-resolution satellite data of vegetation greenness and averaging over northern vegetation (30–75° N), we found the negative interannual partial correlation between the middle green-up stage timing (50% greenness increase in spring–summer) and temperature (RP = −0.73) was stronger than those for the onset (15% increase, RP = −0.65) and end (90% increase, RP = −0.52) of green-up during 2000–2022. Spatially, at high latitudes, the middle green-up stage showed stronger temperature responses than the onset, associated with greater low-temperature constraints and stronger control of snowmelt on green-up onset as well as greater spring frost risk. At middle latitudes, correlations with temperature were similar between the onset and middle stages of green-up, except for grasslands of the Mongolian Plateau and interior western USA, where correlations with temperature were weaker for the middle stage due to water limitation. In contrast, the end of the green-up showed weaker temperature responses than the middle due to insufficient water and high climatic temperature during the end of the green-up in most of the study region, except for cold regions in the interior western USA, western Russia and the Tibetan Plateau, where temperature was still a main driver during end of green-up. Our findings underscore the differences in temperature responses among green-up stages, which alters the temporal alignment between plants and environmental resources.
Spatio-temporal forecasting for the US Drought Monitor
Authors: Erhardt Robert , Hepler Staci , Wolodkin Daniel , Greene Andy
Published: July 2024

The US Drought Monitor is the leading drought monitoring tool in the United States. Updated weekly and freely distributed, it records the drought conditions as geo-referenced polygons showing one of six ordered levels. These levels are determined by a mixture of quantitative environmental measurements and local expert opinion across the entire United States. At present, forecasts of the Drought Monitor only convey the expected direction of drought development (i.e. worsen, persist, subside) and do not communicate any uncertainty. This limits the utility of forecasts. In this paper, we describe a Bayesian spatio-temporal ordinal hierarchical model for use in modelling and projecting drought conditions. The model is flexible, scalable, and interpretable. By viewing drought data as areal rather than point-referenced, we reduce the cost of sampling from the posterior by avoiding dense matrix inversion. Draws from the posterior predictive distribution produce future forecasts of actual drought levels—rather than only the direction of drought development—and all sources of uncertainty are propagated into the posterior. Spatial random effects and an autoregressive model structure capture spatial and temporal dependence, and help ensure smoothness in forecasts over space and time. The result is a framework for modelling and forecasting drought levels and capturing forecast uncertainty.
‘Europe was a dream for me. This dream came true but remains unfulfilled at the same time’: Navigating life aspirations among forced migrants in Austria and Italy
Authors: Siviş Selin , Brändle Verena K , Eberl Jakob-Moritz , Wyatt Sophia , Braun Kathrin , Metwally Iman , Boomgaarden Hajo
Published: July 2024

In this article, we analyse the interplay between forced migrants’ retrospective expectations and their current experiences in the host country, and how this interaction informs their aspirations in relation to their potential life trajectories. By zooming in on the Austrian and Italian cases derived from qualitative data, this article investigates forced migrants’ retrospective perspectives on the ‘good life’ in (imagined) Europe and their experienced-informed perspectives of the host country context—reception policies—after migration by tracing individuals’ self-reported perceptions of life aspirations over the course of their migration journey. By applying the aspirations-capability framework, our analysis traces what ‘happens’ after people have submitted their asylum applications. In this way, this research sheds light on the process of adapting to a new context with gravely restricted capabilities and how this affects people’s life aspirations. By doing so, we demonstrate that aspirations are not only dynamic and flexible, but capabilities also change due to the structural confines of national asylum procedures. This study therefore brings an innovative perspective to study life aspirations and capabilities by showing the importance of reflecting not only aspirations but also the (in)capability of acting in the present which informs the process of revisiting original life aspirations for individuals seeking asylum. This process begins after the arrival, based on changes in their capabilities, specifically the national asylum structures that confine them.
Chemical and engineering bases for green H2O2 production and related oxidation and ammoximation of olefins and analogues
Authors: Qiao Minghua , Zhou Xinggui , Du Zexue , Wu Peng , Zong Baoning
Published: July 2024

Plastics, fibers and rubber are three mainstream synthetic materials that are essential to our daily lives and contribute significantly to the quality of our lives. The production of the monomers of these synthetic polymers usually involves oxidation or ammoximation reactions of olefins and analogues. However, the utilization of C, O and N atoms in current industrial processes is <80%, which represents the most environmentally polluting processes for the production of basic chemicals. Through innovation and integration of catalytic materials, new reaction pathways, and reaction engineering, the Research Institute of Petroleum Processing, Sinopec Co., Ltd. (RIPP) and its collaborators have developed unique H2O2-centered oxidation/ammoximation technologies for olefins and analogues, which has resulted in a ¥500 billion emerging industry and driven trillions of ¥s' worth of downstream industries. The chemical and engineering bases of the production technologies mainly involve the integration of slurry-bed reactors and microsphere catalysts to enhance H2O2 production, H2O2 propylene/chloropropylene epoxidation for the production of propylene oxide/epichlorohydrin, and integration of H2O2 cyclohexanone ammoximation and membrane separation to innovate the caprolactam production process. This review briefly summarizes the whole process from the acquisition of scientific knowledge to the formation of an industrial production technology by RIPP. Moreover, the scientific frontiers of H2O2 production and related oxidation/ammoximation processes of olefins and analogues are reviewed, and new technological growth points are envisaged, with the aim of maintaining China's standing as a leader in the development of the science and technologies of H2O2 production and utilization.
III
Authors: Wharton Edith
Published: July 2024

Though she would not for the world have owned it to her parents, Undine was disappointed in the Fairford dinner.

The house, to begin with, was small and rather shabby. There was no gilding, no lavish diffusion of light: the room they sat in after...
VI
Authors: Wharton Edith
Published: July 2024

Upstairs, in his brown firelit room, he threw himself into an armchair, and remembered …

Harvard first—then Oxford; then a year of wandering and rich initiation. Returning to New York, he had read law, and now had his desk in the office of the...
XI
Authors: Wharton Edith
Published: July 2024

The July sun enclosed in a ring of fire the ilex grove of a villa in the hills near Siena.

Below, by the roadside, the long yellow house seemed to waver and palpitate in the glare; but steep by steep, behind it, the cool ilex-dusk...
XII
Authors: Wharton Edith
Published: July 2024

In the quiet place with the green water-fall Ralph’s vision might have kept faith with him; but how could he hope to surprise it in the midsummer crowds of St Moritz?

Undine, at any rate, had found there what she wanted; and when he was...
XVI
Authors: Wharton Edith
Published: July 2024

The turnings of life seldom show a sign-post; or rather, though the sign is always there, it is usually placed some distance back, like the notices that give warning of a bad hill or a level railway-crossing.

Ralph Marvell, pondering upon this, reflected that...
XVII
Authors: Wharton Edith
Published: July 2024

Nothing was bitterer to her than to confess to herself the failure of her power; but her last talk with Van Degen had taught her a lesson almost worth the abasement. She saw the mistake she had made in taking money from him, and...
XXX
Authors: Wharton Edith
Published: July 2024

A few days after her decisive conversation with Raymond de Chelles, Undine, emerging from the doors of the Nouveau Luxe, where she had been to call on the newly-arrived Mrs Homer Branney, once more found herself face to face with Elmer Moffatt.

This time there...
XXXI
Authors: Wharton Edith
Published: July 2024

Nearly two years had passed since Ralph Marvell, waking from his long sleep in the hot summer light of Washington Square, had found that the face of life was changed for him.

In the interval he had gradually adapted himself to the new order of...
XXXVI
Authors: Wharton Edith
Published: July 2024

He stood at the corner of Wall Street, looking up and down its hot summer perspective. He noticed the swirls of dust in the cracks of the pavement, the rubbish in the gutters, the ceaseless stream of perspiring faces that poured by under tilted...
Women in Love
Authors: Lawrence D. H.
Published: July 2024

In Women in Love (1920), Ursula and Gudrun Brangwen, who first appeared in Lawrence’s earlier novel, The Rainbow, take centre stage as Lawrence explores their growth and development in their relationships with two powerful men, Rupert Birkin and his friend Gerald Crich. A novel of regeneration and dark, destructive human passion, Women in Love reflects the impact on Lawrence of the First World War in the potential both for annihilation and salvation of the self. Quintessentially modernist, Women is Love is one of Lawrence’s most extraordinary, innovative and unsettling works.
VI
Authors: Conrad Joseph
Published: July 2024

As we all went up it occurred to me that there ought to be a man at the helm. I raised my voice not much above a whisper, and, noiselessly, an uncomplaining spirit in a fever-wasted body appeared in the light aft, the head with...
Chapter III
Authors: London Jack
Published: July 2024

I WAS five years old the first time I got drunk. It was on a hot day, and my father* was plowing in the field. I was sent from the house, half a mile away, to carry to him a pail of beer....
Chapter XII
Authors: London Jack
Published: July 2024

NOR have I ever regretted those months of mad deviltry I put in with Nelson. He could sail, even if he did frighten every man that sailed with him. To steer to miss destruction by an inch or an instant was his joy....
Chapter XV
Authors: London Jack
Published: July 2024

IT was during the early winter of 1892 that I resolved to go to sea. My Hancock Fire Brigade experience was very little responsible for this. I still drank and frequented saloons—practically lived in saloons. Whisky was dangerous, in my opinion, but not wrong. Whisky...
Chapter XXIII
Authors: London Jack
Published: July 2024

MY cruise in the salmon boat lasted a week, and I returned ready to enter the university. During the week’s cruise I did not drink again. To accomplish this I was compelled to avoid looking up old friends, for as ever the adventure-path was beset...
Chapter XXVIII
Authors: London Jack
Published: July 2024

NOT yet was I ready to tuck my arm in John Barleycorn’s. The older I got, the greater my success, the more money I earned, the wider was the command of the world that became mine and the more prominently did John Barleycorn bulk in...
Chapter XXX
Authors: London Jack
Published: July 2024

PART of the process of recovering from my long sickness was to find delight in little things, in things unconnected with books and problems, in play, in games of tag in the swimming pool, in flying kites, in fooling with horses, in working out mechanical...
Chapter XXXVII
Authors: London Jack
Published: July 2024

‘COME,’ says the White Logic, ‘and forget these Asian dreamers of old time. Fill your glass and let us look at the parchments of the dreamers of yesterday who dreamed their dreams on your own warm hills.’

I pore over the abstract of title of...
CHAPTER IV
Authors: Woolf Virginia
Published: July 2024

At about nine o’clock at night, on every alternate Wednesday, Miss Mary Datchet made the same resolve, that she would never again lend her rooms for any purposes whatsoever. Being, as they were, rather large and conveniently situated in a street mostly dedicated to...
CHAPTER VI
Authors: Woolf Virginia
Published: July 2024

Of all the hours of an ordinary working weekday, which are the pleasantest to look forward to and to look back upon? If a single instance is of use in framing a theory, it may be said that the minutes between nine-twenty-five and nine-thirty...