bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Pendidik Transformatif: antara Disrupsi dan Pandemi Covid-19
Authors: Abshor Mohammad Ulil
Published: September 2021

The era of disruption presupposes that if you do not continue to innovate, then backwardness is a must. Because the rapid and even surprising development of technology today requires us to immediately make adjustments to it. Especially for educators, besides being required to master and adapt to developments and changes, they are also expected not to lose the educator's soul. This paper wants to discuss the challenges for educators in the era of disruption and also, about how educators respond to these developments. This research uses the descriptive analysis method by collecting data related to the research. The results of this study are that there are several challenges that must be faced by educators, including mastering technology, maintaining the educator's soul and trying to cross-breed the two (hybridization) on the basis of subjective-critical reasoning. These three things are urgent offers at this time, because considering the developments and changes in the era that are so fast and surprising, simultaneously there is growing concerned about the neglect of the purpose of education itself, namely, humanizing humans.
Responses of eelgrass seed germination and seedling establishment to water depth, sediment type, and burial depth: implications for restoration
Authors: Xu S , Wang P , Wang F , Zhang X , Song X , Zhou Y
Published: September 2021

When seagrass beds are restored by seeding, many factors affect the transition of seeds to seedlings. In this study, the effects of water depth (light availability), sediment type, and burial depth on seed germination and seedling establishment of Zostera marina L. were tested through 2 in situ suspended culture experiments in Ailian Bay, China. In the first experiment, water depth (1, 3, and 6 m) had no significant effect on seed germination and seedling establishment, but did affect seedling survival. In the second experiment, seed burial depth (2, 5, and 10 cm) had significant effects on seed germination and seedling establishment. Seeds buried at shallow depths exhibited higher percentages of seed germination and seedling establishment, and maximum values (mean ±SD = 21.33 ± 9.30%) were recorded in seeds buried at 2 cm in 100% sand. There was no significant effect of sediment type on seed germination and seedling establishment at 2 cm (p > 0.05), but seeds buried at 5 cm were affected by sediment type, with seeds cultured in 100% sand exhibiting the highest percentages of seed germination (12.33 ± 4.51%) and seedling establishment (12.33 ± 4.51%). No seedlings or germinated seeds were found at 10 cm, regardless of sediment type. Once plants are established, sediment type and seed burial depth do not play a decisive role in plant growth, with plants performing equally in terms of shoot density (33-90 shoots per pot) and shoot height (20 ± 6 cm) in different sediment types and at different burial depths 1 yr after seedling establishment. Our findings help clarify the complex combined effects of sediment type and burial depth on seed germination and seedling establishment.
Blue crab Callinectes sapidus dietary habits and predation on juvenile winter flounder Pseudopleuronectes americanus in southern New England tidal rivers
Authors: Taylor DL , Fehon MM , Cribari KJ , Scro AK
Published: September 2021

Blue crabs Callinectes sapidus have expanded their geographic range northward in the NW Atlantic with possible trophodynamic effects on benthic communities. In this study, we examined the blue crab’s diet in 2 southern New England tidal rivers (USA) and expounded on their predator-prey interaction with juvenile winter flounder Pseudopleuronectes americanus. Blue crabs (8-185 mm carapace width [CW]; n = 1835) were collected from the Seekonk River, Rhode Island, and Taunton River, Massachusetts, between May and August 2012 to 2016, and their feeding habits were assessed via stomach content, stable isotope, and molecular genetic analyses. Blue crabs were found to be generalist carnivores-omnivores with diets varying throughout ontogeny, yet shifts in prey composition had no effect on size-based nitrogen isotope signatures and trophic position (3.50 ± 0.35, mean ± SD). Carbon isotope values indicated that detritus-macroalgae were the dominant carbon source to the food web, with additional contributions from terrestrially derived organic matter and phytoplankton in oligohaline and polyhaline waters, respectively. The main prey of blue crabs ≤49 mm CW were amphipods, shrimp, and unidentified crustaceans, and larger conspecifics fed on bivalves, crabs, and fish. Winter flounder remains, e.g. sagittal otoliths, were identified in the diet of 2.5% of field-collected blue crabs, whereas PCR-based assays detected winter flounder DNA in 17.7% of crab stomachs. Blue crabs 23 to 160 mm CW preyed on winter flounder ranging from 26 to 66 mm total length, with occurrences of predation most closely associated with increases in crab size. Blue crab predation on winter flounder also varied spatially in the rivers, reflecting site-specific differences in flounder densities, abundances of other preferred prey, and dissolved oxygen concentrations that altered predator-prey dynamics. Lastly, the current predatory impact of blue crabs on juvenile winter flounder is nearly equivalent to other portunid crab species. Anticipated temperature-mediated increases in blue crab densities at northern latitudes, however, will intensify the predator-induced mortality of winter flounder and likely hinder their recovery in southern New England.
The Development of CIA Covert Action
Authors: Dylan Huw , Gioe David V. , Goodman Michael S.
Published: September 2021

The chapter considers how the CIA developed its covert action capabilities. it begins with a discussion of the centrality of OSS figures to the early character and shape of the Agency. It also considers how the dominant political personalities of the Truman administration impacted on the CIA’s development and deployment of it covert actions. It illustrates how inter-departmental rivalries were rife, but how by the end of the Truman administration, covert action was formally centralised and lead by the CIA. Document: NSC 5412/2.
Anglo-American Intelligence Liaison and the Outbreak of the Korean War
Authors: Dylan Huw , Gioe David V. , Goodman Michael S.
Published: September 2021

The chapter is concerned with the CIA’s intelligence relationships with key international partners – the Five Eyes – and wrinkles in the relationship. Despite being extremely robust in general, there were difficulties. China was a notable exception; Britain and the US had fundamentally different policies. Korea was another. The chapter illustrates the impact this had on intelligence sharing. It then goes on to detail the paucity of CIA analysis concerning Korea, and why this was the case. Documents: Minutes of the British Joint Intelligence Committee 24 August 1949; CIA’s Current Capabilities of the Northern Korea Regime.
The ‘Slam Dunk’: The CIA and the Invasion of Iraq
Authors: Dylan Huw , Gioe David V. , Goodman Michael S.
Published: September 2021

This chapter focuses on ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’, the Iraq War, and one of the key justifications, the claim that Saddam was developing weapons of mass destruction and had to be stopped. Intelligence was crucial to this judgement; but it was wrong. This chapter examines why. It focuses on the challenge of analysis, particularly against mysterious and deceptive targets. How was the CIA to determine that Saddam Hussein had nothing to hide when his actions indicated otherwise?
Document: Misreading Intentions: Iraq’s Reaction to Inspections Created Picture of Deception Iraq WMD Retrospective Series.
The Terrorist Hunters Become Political Quarry: The CIA and Rendition, Detention and Interrogation
Authors: Dylan Huw , Gioe David V. , Goodman Michael S.
Published: September 2021

The chapter focuses on the CIA’s relationship with its political masters and oversight mechanisms in the aftermath of 9/11. The post 9/11 CIA was different, and working to new rules: detentions at Guantanamo, extraordinary renditions, enhanced interrogation techniques, black sites, waterboarding were sanctioned in the global hunt for al-Qaeda members, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and Nashiri. However, these techniques became extremely controversial and led to reviewing the oversight of the CIA’s activities.
Document: Concerns Over Revised Interrogation Plan For Nashiri.
Ethics and Politics in Spinoza (Remarks on the Role of Ethics IV, 37 Scholium 2)
Authors: Matheron Alexandre
Published: September 2021

In this essay, Matheron turns to Ethics IV, 37 Scholium 2, where Spinoza discusses the role of the State in managing the affects and passions of individuals. But despite a potential misreading of these passages, Matheron argues the State exists neither for the sake of obliging individuals to pursue rational ends nor for ensuring the realisation of pre-determined ethical ends that would belong to a fixed “human nature.” Spinoza’s radical critique of teleology prohibits precisely any such view for it does not fix any ends humans ought to pursue and, in so doing, it strips the State of having any fixed ethical function. Part IV of the Ethics, on this view, is not a normative account of how humans should live, but rather theorizes how they would life in the event that they were guided only by reason. In such a case, however, the state would instantaneously dissolve since humans would spontaneously agree with one another without any need for political institutions. For Matheron, the Spinozist philosopher can take up many positions with respect to particular States and legal orders, since their aim will always be to advocate for a society whose laws ensure peace and stability.
Indignation and the Conatus of the Spinozist State
Authors: Matheron Alexandre
Published: September 2021

Does Spinoza, like many of his contemporaries, present a social contract theory of the genesis of the State and political society? In this essay, Matheron seeks to argue that, despite some textual indications to the contrary, Spinoza’s final and unfinished political work, the Political Treatise, does in fact present an account of a non-contractual theory of the genesis of political society, one that, when interpreted correctly, actually suggests that political society is always and everywhere already constituted necessarily. Matheron thus interprets Paragraph 1 of Chapter VI and its language of naturaliter convenire to mean neither, as Hobbes would say, that humans require an artificial contract to establish political society, nor because humans naturally reason that society will be advantageous to them. On the contrary, Matheron argues that Spinoza describes a purely passional genesis of the State, one which requires appeals to neither contracts nor calculus, but requires only the internal dynamics of indignation. This, however, has the striking conclusion of there being something ‘radically evil’ in even the best constituted States.
The Problem of Spinoza’s Evolution: From the Theologico-Political Treatise to the Political Treatise
Authors: Matheron Alexandre
Published: September 2021

In this essay, Matheron reflects on his previous work, in particular, concerning the account he gave of the difference between Spinoza’s Theologico-Political Treatise and the unfinished Political Treatise. Does Spinoza every abandon the contractarian language that clearly characterises the former, but which appears to be absent in the latter? To respond to this question, Matheron responds to a number of objections that have been raised concerning his response over the years. Basing his response on the work of Christian Lazzeri, Matheron argues that the key shift between the two works can be explained by the Spinozist theory of affective imitation that is only developed in the Ethics, that is, after the publication of the TTP. Why, then, did Spinoza not explicitly mark this change? Matheron suggests because it has the unfortunate, but necessary consequence of implying that all political society is founded upon indignation.
Spinoza and the Breakdown of Thomist Politics: Machiavellianism and Utopia
Authors: Matheron Alexandre
Published: September 2021

In this chapter, Matheron reconstructs the historical and philosophical context that led Spinoza, in Chapter I of the Political Treatise, to make the seemingly improbable association between St. Thomas Aquinas, Hobbes, and More. By reconstructing the context of political philosophy in the 17th century, Matheron endeavours to show the emergence of the specific problematic—simply put, resolving the tension between theory and practice—to which Spinoza delivers a novel solution. For the Thomists, the solution to this problem is to introduce the mediating role of prudence, which bridges the speculative and the practical. The Machiavellians, or politicians, of which Spinoza speaks, ultimately represent the other side of this same problematic to the extent that they praise the cunning of actual political figures. And Hobbes too is ultimately guilty of falling into the same teleological, utopian illusion by arguing that the state arises from reason and the realization that the safety sovereignty provides is preferable to the state of nature. Spinoza’s innovation is to propose a speculative science of human praxis, not in its idealized form, but one which produces objective knowledge of the laws that determine human beings subject to passions to produce different kinds of self-regulating political regimes.
Defending the Prophet and Condemning Christian Morality
Authors: Tiburcio Alberto
Published: September 2021

This chapter focuses on two aspects of Jadid al-Islam polemics: first, on the way he tackles the arguments of Propaganda Fide’s polemicist Filippo Guadagnoli; and second, on how he addressed issues of orthopraxy and religious worship in Christianity. The most important points Jadid al-Islam addresses include issues pertaining ritual purity, both in matters of worship and in everyday practices. He responds to accusations of idolatry against the Prophet of Islam and resorts to common polemical arguments such as the question of alleged image worshiping in Christianity. Special attention is given in the chapter to the author’s use of intertextual references and sources.
The Scottish Labour Party and ‘Crypto-Nationalism’
Authors: Torrance David
Published: September 2021

Having supported Home Rule for Scotland in the 1920s, by the 1950s the Labour Party in Scotland had abandoned legislative devolution while retaining the sort of nationalist unionist rhetoric once deployed by the Scottish Unionist Party between the 1930s and 1950s. On reversing its devolution policy in the 1970s, Scottish Labour initially promoted a Scottish Assembly or Parliament on ‘modernisation’ grounds; only during the Thatcher era of the 1980s was an overtly nationalist dimension added, some of which echoed earlier Liberal claims that Scotland was ‘neglected’ by Westminster, which was held to be hostile to Scotland’s distinct institutions and more left-wing political culture. Some in the party resisted this approach but, by the independence referendum of 2014, Scottish Labour’s ‘nationalist’ wing not only voted ‘Yes’ but switched their support to the SNP at the general election of 2015.
Commanding Space: Bluewater Foundations
Authors: Bowen Bleddyn E.
Published: September 2021

Chapter 2 explains the first four propositions of spacepower theory by building on and critiquing the existing Anglo-American strategic visions of space, often derived from imperial bluewater sources of seapower. These propositions provide a solid foundation for the following propositions and chapters which provide more insights into the nature of spacepower. Proposition I explains how the command of space is a foundational concept to understanding the ultimate strategic rationale of space warfare and underscores the base analogy from the sea to outer space. Proposition II explores the unique challenges of outer space. Proposition III moderates the discussion on the decisiveness of the command of space in terrestrial warfare. Proposition IV applies lines of communication to spacepower. Much of the literature behind these four propositions however overplay the role of hegemony however, and sets the scene for Proposition V to correct it.
Continental Insights and Strategic Manoeuvring
Authors: Bowen Bleddyn E.
Published: September 2021

Drawing on lesser-known and often counter-imperial experiences and theories of continental seapower, this chapter develops spacepower concepts that more accurately resemble spacepower as we know it today. This draws out additional insights that theorise the defining feature of spacepower as a more subtle, secondary and supporting form of power. This new vision of spacepower in the celestial coastline of Earth orbit is detailed in Proposition V, and theorises the supporting functions of spacepower’s satellite infrastructure for the first time, as well as their influence on terrestrial strategy. Anti-satellite weapons, logistics, third parties and neutrals, as well as economic warfare in space are addressed and integrated into spacepower theory. Rather than an open ocean, Earth orbit resembles something more like a coastline, a littoral, or flank relative to Earth itself.
A Clash of Spacepowers
Authors: Bowen Bleddyn E.
Published: September 2021

Chapter 6’s illustrative application of the theory demonstrates how the propositions are instructive when critically applied a Taiwan war scenario. In this case, it demonstrates how spacepower can influence terrestrial considerations for battle, in particular with long-distance precision-strike warfare, or ‘anti-access/area denial’ (A2/AD) warfare in current military jargon. Two contrasting strategies are critiqued in the case study as equally valid possibilities – the all-out first strike ‘Space Pearl Harbor’ strategy and ‘Counterspace-in-Being’ strategy of keeping space strikes in reserve for a critical moment. These strategies are two possible options for both the United States of America and People’s Republic of China, with Taiwan also having many opportunities of its own to resist Chinese invasion from the mainland. Projecting support from celestial communications down to Earth from the cosmic coastline changes the calculations of concentration and dispersal for military forces on Earth, and understanding the thorny questions of how and when to strike against space systems is aided by an understanding of all seven propositions.
Revising and Rewriting
Authors: Eggert Paul
Published: September 2021

Though relatively short-lived, Lawrence was a prolific writer. Characteristically, he would be writing and revising multiple works, often across genres, at or around the same time. Taking a break from one to write the other became habitual – and understandable given the extended period that, say, a novel might take to bring to completion. Each work became an element in the fertile soil from which the others sprang. To demonstrate the truth and implications of this it is only necessary to take a cross-section of his contemporaneous writings at any one creative moment. Immediately, his oeuvre appears differently. The surprisingly provisional nature of his usually forcefully expressed ideas comes into focus when we privilege textual process; and accepted practices of interpretation, based on the published forms of his writings taken as individual objects, as separate works, become problematic. An unfamiliar Lawrence emerges. Examples are taken from Twilight in Italy, ‘The Blind Man’ and The Boy in the Bush.
Developing an Ethical Compass for Big Data
Authors: Stelzer Harald , Veljanova Hristina
Published: September 2021

Stelzer and Veljanova argue in this chapter for a new ethical compass with which to approach big data concerns, such as privacy, equality, and discrimination. They identify key ethical concerns which often arise in cases regarding big data and then provide a framework through which we might approach these concerns such that we can have a degree of certainty that we have not overlooked ethical worries.
A Genealogy of Adab in the Comparative Middle East
Authors: Mattar Karim
Published: September 2021

This chapter sets the historical scene of the book by charting the emergence of the modern concept of “literature” in the Middle East. I start by surveying the range of terms for the literary that are currently in use across the Arab world, Turkey, and Iran (“adab”, “edebiyat”, and “adabiyāt”). I argue that in their contemporary deployment, each is premised on the reinscription of the classical Arabic-Islamic concept of “adab” that took place in tandem with the modernization process from the 19th to mid-20th centuries. Against the long-held view in Arabic literary studies that adab is equivalent to “belles-lettres”, I reinterpret it as an expression of the multiple modalities of political, social, and cultural experience of the classical Arabic-Islamic life-world. I then trace how adab was systematically reinscribed as “literature” in the modern, European sense in Egypt, Turkey, and Iran. Comprising a wholesale re-envisioning of the Middle Eastern literary and cultural sphere, this act laid the groundwork for the novel and other modern literary forms across the region. I thus posit the Middle Eastern novel as founded on the occlusion and marginalization of literary and cultural tradition there, which thereby returns to haunt it according to the logic of spectrality.
Futures of Spectrality
Authors: Mattar Karim
Published: September 2021

In the Conclusion, I consider the wider implications of the book. Addressing the question of whether spectrality – and by extension (Derridean) theory per se – has a future in literary studies given the “postcritical” turn that scholars such as Rita Felski have recently called for, I suggest that it indeed does. This book, I affirm, is nothing if not a contribution to and expansion of the project of critique for the world literature debate. Through its reading of the Middle Eastern novel as metonym and metaphor of such, it will have sought to reorient world literature around the paradigmatic critical figure of the specter. Moving forwards, our task and indeed responsibility is one of expanding this analysis to the world in endless critique.
Things
Authors: George Theodore
Published: September 2021

Chapter 3 focuses on the responsibility to understand that is involved in our everyday interactions with things. Although this is a topic not typically addressed within the philosophical study of ethics, I argue that our hermeneutical experience of things suggests the demand to cultivate a capacity to be displaced in what may be described as one of the most immediate, and so also intimate, contexts of our factical lives. In this, I argue that hermeneutical experience of things demands that we not subjugate things to our wills, but enact and cultivate the capacity to involve ourselves with them as they are in their respective being.
‘The End is No Longer Hidden’: News, Fate and the Sensation Novel
Authors: Valdez Jessica R.
Published: September 2021

Victorian commentators saw the sensation novel--a sub-genre known for fast-paced plots drawn from real life--as symptomatic of the newspaper’s growing influence on the reading public. In a famous 1860 review, H. L. Mansel conflated this new novelistic form—which he called ‘The Newspaper Novel’--with crime news. This chapter argues, however, that the sensation novel makes the newspaper into a source of superstition and exclusion, one that problematises similar exclusions practiced by Dickens and Trollope. By experimenting with newspaper time and form, as well as the temporal structure of narrative, these sensation novels highlight characters whose experience of time and community is not presentist, as Anderson suggests, but rather more akin to dynastic time and a sense of history beyond the nation. Throughout Wilkie Collins’s and Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s sensation novels, the newspaper becomes a part of the mysterious, the uncanny, and ‘atmospheric menace’ for which the sensation novel is so famous. Rather than drawing upon newspapers for a sense of realism, as critics have argued, these novels make their newspapers integral to their providential plots.
Postscript
Authors: Valdez Jessica R.
Published: September 2021

Children of the Ghetto was published in 1892, just one year after George Gissing’s New Grub Street (1891) and five years before Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897). These contemporaneous novels offer widely divergent accounts of the newspaper and emerging new media. New Grub Street presents a stark portrayal of the 1880s literary marketplace, where hack writers flourish at the expense of serious literature. The capitalist marketplace and literary production are so intermingled that characters are warped by the pressure to generate literary outputs. Marian Yule, for instance, describes the constant production of text as a ‘desert of print’, one that robs her of personhood and the potential for self-actualisation. The literary marketplace renders publishers, writers and readers into bits and pieces valued only for their use value. People become fragments of text, rather like the short blurbs that the fictional ...
The use of S-GnRHa (salmon gonadotropin releasing hormone analogue) in induced breeding and early embryonic development of Gulsha, Mystus cavasius
Authors: ALİ Md. Ripon , HOSSAİN Md. Saddam , HOSSAİN Mohammad Amzad , CHOWDHURY Gourab , IQBAL Mohammed Mahbub
Published: September 2021

The current study was carried out to optimize the dose of the synthetic hormone for induction, and to observe the embryonic and larval developmental in Gulsha, Mystus cavasius. Induced breeding was conducted by using Ovupin (S-GnRHa) hormone (each 1.5 ml vial contain 0.2 mg of an analogue of S-GnRHa) at four different doses i.e., 0.25, 0.5, 1.0- and 1.50-ml kg-1 body weight (BW) for females, and the half of these doses were applied to males. Among the applied doses, 0.5 ml kg-1 BW for female and 0.25 ml kg-1 BW for male provided the maximum fertilization (83.66%) and hatching (80.0%) rates. The eggs of M. cavasius were strongly adhesive, with covering on egg surface. The average diameter of fertilized eggs just after spawning was 85.58±5.87 µm. After fertilization, the first, second, and third cleavage stages occurred within 20-25, 35-40 and 60-65 min, respectively. The identity of blastomeres was gradually lost and appeared at 64-cell stage to 128-cell stage onwards. The 64-cell stage appeared at 150-160 min and the morula stage 3:00-3:20 h (blastomeres completely lost), respectively. The gastrula stage appeared at 5:0-5:30 h in which the blastoderm spread in both the sides covering about 60-70% area, together with a thread-like germinal ring. Afterward, twisting locomotion was recorded at 23:30 h. The larvae started hatching at 24:00 to 25:00 h. The barbells were partially visible when the larvae were 10-12 h of age. Finally, the yolk sac was fully absorbed in the end of Day 3.
Assessing prospect and challenges of e-learning in teacher education program aftermath of covid-19 pandemic: teacher educators’ views
Authors: Egbai Julius Michael , Eke Eke Ogbu , Ubochi Ijeoma F
Published: September 2021

The study aims at assessing teacher educators’ views on the prospect and challenges of e-learning in teacher education program aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. The population consists of 1321 academic staff of Alvan Ikoku College of Education Owerri (AIFCE). Two Schools out of the seven schools in Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education were purposively selected for the sample size of 249 academic staff. Researchers made an assessments questionnaire titled” Teachers Views on Prospect and Challenges E-learning in Teacher Education Program Questionnaire (TVPCETEC) was used for data collection. It has a reliability coefficient of 0.77 determined through the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient. The data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation in answering the research questions. The study showed that teacher educators are of the view that e-learning is the key for effective teacher education program vis-vis the Covid-19 pandemic, which has called for social distance protective protocols. Challenges to effective e-learning, such as in teacher education, were also identified. But despite the challenges facing e-learning in teacher education programs, teacher educators accepted that e-learning is the key to limitless possibilities in education and should be fully embraced. It is recommended that Colleges of Education liaise with relevant authorities in benchmarking teacher education programs with e-learning. It will help tackle the digital divide among lectures and students for effective implementation of learning in teacher education programs.
Sustainability of Diversified Organic Cropping Systems—Challenges Identified by Farmer Interviews and Multi-Criteria Assessments
Authors: Rodriguez Carolina , Dimitrova Mårtensson Linda-Maria , Zachrison Mozhgan , Carlsson Georg
Published: September 2021

Diversification of cropping and farming systems is a central agroecological principle, which may improve resource use efficiency, reduce pests and diseases, diversify income sources, and enhance the resilience of the production. The main objective of this study was to identify challenges related to the sustainability of organic cropping systems that were diversified according to one or several of the following practices: diverse crop rotation, integration of cover crops, and intercropping. The sustainability assessments were made using a multi-criteria decision aid method (MCDA) and a framework based on the FAO Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agricultural Systems (SAFA) guidelines. Social, economic and environmental aspects were integrated in the sustainability assessments and combined with semi-structured interviews to identify and discuss farmer's perceptions of barriers to crop diversification and sustainability transition. The results showed that diversified organic cropping systems could achieve high overall sustainability, especially in the environmental dimension thanks to non-inputs of pesticides or mineral fertilizers and efficient use of resources. On the other hand, social and economic dimensions were more variable, with challenges of lower sustainability in profitability and management complexity for several of the diversified cropping systems. Limited access to knowledge, technology and markets for minor crops, and concerns about the consistency of policies were highlighted by farmers as barriers for crop diversification. We discuss how the identified challenges can be overcome and argue that fostering collaboration among stakeholders may increase investment capacity and improve access to new or alternative markets, thereby stimulating transitions toward more diversified and sustainable cropping systems.
FOXO4 Inhibits the Migration and Metastasis of Colorectal Cancer by Regulating the APC2/β-Catenin Axis
Authors: Sun Yan , Wang Lin , Xu Xuehu , Han Puqing , Wu Jinghao , Tian Xuan , Li Mingsong
Published: September 2021

Objective: Adenomatous polyposis coli 2 (APC2) is a colorectal cancer (CRC) tumor-suppressor gene. The progression of several kinds of cancer is closely associated with Forkhead box O4 (FOXO4). However, the function of FOXO4 in CRC is unclear. This study focused on the role of FOXO4 and the relationship between FOXO4 and APC2 in CRC migration and metastasis.

Methods: The expressions of FOXO4, APC2, and p(S37)-β-catenin were detected in CRC tissues by immunohistochemistry, and their correlation was analyzed using the Spearman coefficient. Chromatin immunoprecipitation was used to test whether FOXO4 binds and regulates APC2 as a transcription factor. Either FOXO4 overexpression or APC2 knockdown was performed in CRC cell lines. The roles of FOXO4 and APC2 were investigated in CRC migration and metastasis.

Results: FOXO4 was downregulated in CRC tissues compared with normal tissues and positively correlated with APC2 and p(S37)-β-catenin. FOXO4 could combine the promoter region of APC2 to upregulate its expression and increase the phosphorylated degradation of β-catenin. Stemness genes (CD133, ABCG1, and SOX2) were inhibited by FOXO4 overexpression in SW620 and HCT116 cell lines. Overexpressed FOXO4 suppressed epithelial–mesenchymal transition and the migration of CRC cell lines and metastasis of HCT116 in both the spleen and liver of nude mice, which was reversed by APC2 knockdown.

Conclusion: This research demonstrates that overexpressed FOXO4 inhibits the migration and metastasis of CRC cells by enhancing the APC2/β-catenin axis, suggesting that FOXO4 is a potential therapeutic target of CRC.
Single-Molecule Imaging Reveals Rapid Estradiol Action on the Surface Movement of AMPA Receptors in Live Neurons
Authors: Godó Soma , Barabás Klaudia , Lengyel Ferenc , Ernszt Dávid , Kovács Tamás , Kecskés Miklós , Varga Csaba , Jánosi Tibor Z. , Makkai Géza , Kovács Gergely , Orsolits Barbara , Fujiwara Takahiro , Kusumi Akihiro , Ábrahám István M.
Published: September 2021

Gonadal steroid 17β-estradiol (E2) exerts rapid, non-genomic effects on neurons and strictly regulates learning and memory through altering glutamatergic neurotransmission and synaptic plasticity. However, its non-genomic effects on AMPARs are not well understood. Here, we analyzed the rapid effect of E2 on AMPARs using single-molecule tracking and super-resolution imaging techniques. We found that E2 rapidly decreased the surface movement of AMPAR via membrane G protein-coupled estrogen receptor 1 (GPER1) in neurites in a dose-dependent manner. The cortical actin network played a pivotal role in the GPER1 mediated effects of E2 on the surface mobility of AMPAR. E2 also decreased the surface movement of AMPAR both in synaptic and extrasynaptic regions on neurites and increased the synaptic dwell time of AMPARs. Our results provide evidence for understanding E2 action on neuronal plasticity and glutamatergic neurotransmission at the molecular level.
Effects of Bacillus velezensis Supplementation on the Growth Performance, Immune Responses, and Intestine Microbiota of Litopenaeus vannamei
Authors: Chen Lizhu , Lv Chengjie , Li Bin , Zhang Huawei , Ren Lihua , Zhang Qianqian , Zhang Xiaoli , Gao Jiqing , Sun Chunxiao , Hu Shunxin
Published: September 2021

In the present study, Bacillus velezensis (BV007, CGMCC No. 20039) was isolated from the gut of Litopenaeus vannamei, and the effects of BV007 on the growth performance, immune responses, and intestine microbiota of the shrimp were investigated. A total of 1,200 healthy shrimp (3.0 ± 0.3 cm, 0.32 ± 0.8 g) were randomly divided into four groups, and fed diets supplemented with different levels of BV007 (C: 0; BV1: 1 × 105 CFU/g; BV2: 1 × 107 CFU/g; and BV3: 1 × 109 CFU/g) for 8 weeks. The results showed a significantly increased final body length (FBL), length gain rate (LGR), final body weight (FBW), weight gain rate (WGR), plumpness index (PI), and specific growth rate (SGR) in shrimp fed with BV007 for 42 days compared with shrimp fed with control diet. The activity of α-amylase in hepatopancreas was also significantly increased in the BV007-administered groups. After 42 days of growth trial, the challenge test with Vibrio parahaemolyticus was conducted for 2 weeks. The enhanced immune responses were exhibited by shrimp fed with BV007 after V. parahaemolyticus challenge, particularly in respiratory bursts and superoxide dismutase, catalase, and alkaline phosphatase activities. Moreover, the administration of BV007 could considerably increase the abundance of potential probiotics (Bacillus) and reduced the abundances of potential pathogenic bacteria (Vibrio) in shrimp intestines. In conclusion, the dietary supplementation with B. velezensis BV007 could promote the growth performance, enhance the immune responses, and modulate the intestine microbiota of shrimp, and 107 CFU/g feed was recommended to be used as a feed additive to enhance the growth and health status of shrimp.
Interleukin 16 Enhances the Host Susceptibility to Influenza A Virus Infection
Authors: Jia Ran , Jiang Congwei , Li Long , Huang Chenxu , Lu Lijuan , Xu Menghua , Xu Jin , Liang Xiaozhen
Published: September 2021

Influenza A virus (IAV) is a major respiratory pathogen that causes seasonal and pandemic flu, being a threat to global health. Various viral and cellular factors have been characterized to support or limit IAV infection. Interleukin 16 (IL16) has been known as one of the blood signature biomarkers discriminating systemic inflammation due to viral infection vs. other etiologies. Here, we report that the level of IL16 was elevated in the serum samples, lung homogenates, and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of IAV-infected mice. IL16 overexpression facilitated IAV replication. Conversely, loss of IL16 reduced the host susceptibility to IAV infectionin vitroandin vivo. Furthermore, IL16 deficiency blocked IAV-induced body weight loss and attenuated lung injury in the infected mice. Molecular mechanism analyses further revealed that IL16 could directly inhibit IFN-β transcription and suppress the expression of IFN-β and IFN-stimulated gene. In conclusion, these findings demonstrate that IL16 is a supporting factor for IAV infection.
Plant Extracts in Obesity: A Role of Gut Microbiota
Authors: Weng Guangying , Duan Yehui , Zhong Yinzhao , Song Bo , Zheng Jie , Zhang Shiyu , Yin Yulong , Deng Jinping
Published: September 2021

Obesity has become one of the most serious chronic diseases threatening human health. Its occurrence and development are closely associated with gut microbiota since the disorders of gut microbiota can promote endotoxin production and induce inflammatory response. Recently, numerous plant extracts have been proven to mitigate lipid dysmetabolism and obesity syndrome by regulating the abundance and composition of gut microbiota. In this review, we summarize the potential roles of different plant extracts including mulberry leaf extract, policosanol, cortex moutan, green tea, honokiol, and capsaicin in regulating obesity via gut microbiota. Based on the current findings, plant extracts may be promising agents for the prevention and treatment of obesity and its related metabolic diseases, and the mechanisms might be associated with gut microbiota.
Stereotactic and Robotic Minimally Invasive Thermal Ablation of Malignant Liver Tumors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Authors: Tinguely Pascale , Paolucci Iwan , Ruiter Simeon J. S. , Weber Stefan , de Jong Koert P. , Candinas Daniel , Freedman Jacob , Engstrand Jennie
Published: September 2021

Background

Stereotactic navigation techniques aim to enhance treatment precision and safety in minimally invasive thermal ablation of liver tumors. We qualitatively reviewed and quantitatively summarized the available literature on procedural and clinical outcomes after stereotactic navigated ablation of malignant liver tumors.

Methods

A systematic literature search was performed on procedural and clinical outcomes when using stereotactic or robotic navigation for laparoscopic or percutaneous thermal ablation. The online databases Medline, Embase, and Cochrane Library were searched. Endpoints included targeting accuracy, procedural efficiency, and treatment efficacy outcomes. Meta-analysis including subgroup analyses was performed.

Results

Thirty-four studies (two randomized controlled trials, three prospective cohort studies, 29 case series) were qualitatively analyzed, and 22 studies were included for meta-analysis. Weighted average lateral targeting error was 3.7 mm (CI 3.2, 4.2), with all four comparative studies showing enhanced targeting accuracy compared to free-hand targeting. Weighted average overall complications, major complications, and mortality were 11.4% (6.7, 16.1), 3.4% (2.1, 5.1), and 0.8% (0.5, 1.3). Pooled estimates of primary technique efficacy were 94% (89, 97) if assessed at 1–6 weeks and 90% (87, 93) if assessed at 6–12 weeks post ablation, with remaining between-study heterogeneity. Primary technique efficacy was significantly enhanced in stereotactic vs. free-hand targeting, with odds ratio (OR) of 1.9 (1.2, 3.2) (n = 6 studies).

Conclusions

Advances in stereotactic navigation technologies allow highly precise and safe tumor targeting, leading to enhanced primary treatment efficacy. The use of varying definitions and terminology of safety and efficacy limits comparability among studies, highlighting the crucial need for further standardization of follow-up definitions.
Molecular Basis of Prostate Cancer and Natural Products as Potential Chemotherapeutic and Chemopreventive Agents
Authors: Bai Bingke , Chen Qianbo , Jing Rui , He Xuhui , Wang Hongrui , Ban Yanfei , Ye Qi , Xu Weiheng , Zheng Chengjian
Published: September 2021

Prostate cancer is the second most common malignant cancer in males. It involves a complex process driven by diverse molecular pathways that closely related to the survival, apoptosis, metabolic and metastatic characteristics of aggressive cancer. Prostate cancer can be categorized into androgen dependent prostate cancer and castration-resistant prostate cancer and cure remains elusive due to the developed resistance of the disease. Natural compounds represent an extraordinary resource of structural scaffolds with high diversity that can offer promising chemical agents for making prostate cancer less devastating and curable. Herein, those natural compounds of different origins and structures with potential cytotoxicity and/or in vivo anti-tumor activities against prostate cancer are critically reviewed and summarized according to the cellular signaling pathways they interfere. Moreover, the anti-prostate cancer efficacy of many nutrients, medicinal plant extracts and Chinese medical formulations were presented, and the future prospects for the application of these compounds and extracts were discussed. Although the failure of conventional chemotherapy as well as involved serious side effects makes natural products ideal candidates for the treatment of prostate cancer, more investigations of preclinical and even clinical studies are necessary to make use of these medical substances reasonably. Therefore, the elucidation of structure-activity relationship and precise mechanism of action, identification of novel potential molecular targets, and optimization of drug combination are essential in natural medicine research and development.
Distinct Roles of N-Terminal Fatty Acid Acylation of the Salinity-Sensor Protein SOS3
Authors: Villalta Irene , García Elena , Hornero-Mendez Dámaso , Carranco Raúl , Tello Carlos , Mendoza Imelda , De Luca Anna , Andrés Zaida , Schumacher Karin , Pardo José M. , Quintero Francisco J.
Published: September 2021

The Salt-Overly-Sensitive (SOS) pathway controls the net uptake of sodium by roots and the xylematic transfer to shoots in vascular plants. SOS3/CBL4 is a core component of the SOS pathway that senses calcium signaling of salinity stress to activate and recruit the protein kinase SOS2/CIPK24 to the plasma membrane to trigger sodium efflux by the Na/H exchanger SOS1/NHX7. However, despite the well-established function of SOS3 at the plasma membrane, SOS3 displays a nucleo-cytoplasmic distribution whose physiological meaning is not understood. Here, we show that the N-terminal part of SOS3 encodes structural information for dual acylation with myristic and palmitic fatty acids, each of which commands a different location and function of SOS3. N-myristoylation at glycine-2 is essential for plasma membrane association and recruiting SOS2 to activate SOS1, whereas S-acylation at cysteine-3 redirects SOS3 toward the nucleus. Moreover, a poly-lysine track in positions 7–11 that is unique to SOS3 among other Arabidopsis CBLs appears to be essential for the correct positioning of the SOS2-SOS3 complex at the plasma membrane for the activation of SOS1. The nuclear-localized SOS3 protein had limited bearing on the salt tolerance of Arabidopsis. These results are evidence of a novel S-acylation dependent nuclear trafficking mechanism that contrasts with alternative subcellular targeting of other CBLs by S-acylation.
The Social Lives of Infectious Diseases: Why Culture Matters to COVID-19
Authors: Bayeh Rebeca , Yampolsky Maya A. , Ryder Andrew G.
Published: September 2021

Over the course of the year 2020, the global scientific community dedicated considerable effort to understanding COVID-19. In this review, we discuss some of the findings accumulated between the onset of the pandemic and the end of 2020, and argue that although COVID-19 is clearly a biological disease tied to a specific virus, the culture–mind relation at the heart of cultural psychology is nonetheless essential to understanding the pandemic. Striking differences have been observed in terms of relative mortality, transmission rates, behavioral responses, official policies, compliance with authorities, and even the extent to which beliefs about COVID-19 have been politicized across different societies and groups. Moreover, many minority groups have very different experiences of the pandemic relative to dominant groups, notably through existing health inequities as well as discrimination and marginalization, which we believe calls for a better integration of political and socioeconomic factors into cultural psychology and into the narrative of health and illness in psychological science more broadly. Finally, individual differences in, for example, intolerance of uncertainty, optimism, conspiratorial thinking, or collectivist orientation are influenced by cultural context, with implications for behaviors that are relevant to the spread and impact of COVID-19, such as mask-wearing and social distancing. The interplay between cultural context and the experience and expression of mental disorders continues to be documented by cultural-clinical psychology; the current work extends this thinking to infectious disease, with special attention to diseases spread by social contact and fought at least in part through social interventions. We will discuss cultural influences on the transmission, course, and outcome of COVID-19 at three levels: (1) cross-society differences; (2) within-society communities and intergroup relations; and (3) individual differences shaped by cultural context. We conclude by considering potential theoretical implications of this perspective on infectious disease for cultural psychology and related disciplines, as well as practical implications of this perspective on science communication and public health interventions.