bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
How social CRM and customer satisfaction affect customer loyalty
Authors: Malki Djihane , Bellahcene Mohammed , Latreche Hela , Terbeche Mohammed , Chroqui Razane
Published: November 2023

Purpose

Based on relationship marketing theory, this study aims to test the effect of social customer relationship management (social CRM) on customer satisfaction (CS) and loyalty (CL).

Design/methodology/approach

To assess the proposed framework, structural equation modeling was performed on the data of 314 automotive customers surveyed online.

Findings

Social CRM dimensions [traditional CRM (TCRM) and social media (SM) technology use] have a direct and positive effect on CS. On the other hand, only TCRM has a direct and significant influence on CL, while the SM technology use effect seems to be indirect rather than direct. Indeed, the findings have provided empirical support for the contention that CS plays a mediating role between social CRM dimensions and CL.

Practical implications

In the automotive sector and developing countries in particular, companies’ managers could increase CS and CL and consequently enhance their competitiveness and market share by adopting an effective social CRM strategy. From this perspective, companies should focus their social CRM campaigns on the most SM used by customers, offer personalized choices and improve customer experience, interaction and value co-creation.

Originality/value

This paper enriches the understanding of how social CRM can affect CS and CL. The scales of social CRM, CS and CL were validated in the context of developing countries and the automotive sector. Furthermore, the direct and mediating effect of CS between social CRM (TCRM and SM) and CL was also confirmed.
Microstructural and mechanical evolution of sintered nano-silver joints on bare copper substrates during high-temperature storage
Authors: Jiang Meng , Liu Yang , Li Ke , Pan Zhen , Sun Quan , Xu Yongzhe , Tao Yuan
Published: November 2023

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study the reliability of sintered nano-silver joints on bare copper substrates during high-temperature storage (HTS).

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, HTS at 250 °C was carried out to investigate the reliability of nano-silver sintered joints. Combining the evolution of the microstructure and shear strength of the joints, the degradation mechanisms of joints performance were characterized.

Findings

The results indicated that the degradation of the shear properties of sintered nano-silver joints on copper substrates was attributed to copper oxidation at the silver/copper interface and interdiffusion of interfacial elements. The joints decreased by approximately 57.4% compared to the original joints after aging for 500 h. In addition, severe coarsening of the silver structure was also an important cause for joints failure during HTS.

Originality/value

This paper provides a comparison of quantitative and mechanistic evaluation of sintered silver joints on bare copper substrates during HTS, which is of great importance in promoting the development of sintered silver technology.
Tourism demand forecasting: a deep learning model based on spatial-temporal transformer
Authors: Chen Jiaying , Li Cheng , Huang Liyao , Zheng Weimin
Published: November 2023

Purpose

Incorporating dynamic spatial effects exhibits considerable potential in improving the accuracy of forecasting tourism demands. This study aims to propose an innovative deep learning model for capturing dynamic spatial effects.

Design/methodology/approach

A novel deep learning model founded on the transformer architecture, called the spatiotemporal transformer network, is presented. This model has three components: the temporal transformer, spatial transformer and spatiotemporal fusion modules. The dynamic temporal dependencies of each attraction are extracted efficiently by the temporal transformer module. The dynamic spatial correlations between attractions are extracted efficiently by the spatial transformer module. The extracted dynamic temporal and spatial features are fused in a learnable manner in the spatiotemporal fusion module. Convolutional operations are implemented to generate the final forecasts.

Findings

The results indicate that the proposed model performs better in forecasting accuracy than some popular benchmark models, demonstrating its significant forecasting performance. Incorporating dynamic spatiotemporal features is an effective strategy for improving forecasting. It can provide an important reference to related studies.

Practical implications

The proposed model leverages high-frequency data to achieve accurate predictions at the micro level by incorporating dynamic spatial effects. Destination managers should fully consider the dynamic spatial effects of attractions when planning and marketing to promote tourism resources.

Originality/value

This study incorporates dynamic spatial effects into tourism demand forecasting models by using a transformer neural network. It advances the development of methodologies in related fields.
Neighbouring tree effects on leaf herbivory: Insect specialisation matters more than host plant leaf traits
Authors: Jia Shihong , Yang Xiaochao , Castagneyrol Bastien , Yang Lishunan , Yin Qiulong , He Chunmei , Yang Zhichun , Zhu Yuzhao , Hao Zhanqing
Published: November 2023

Insect herbivory plays a critical role in the regulation of plant populations and community structures. Although the strength of insect herbivory varies with neighbouring tree diversity and identity, it is not clear to what extent insect guilds and leaf traits of host plants mediate the relationships, particularly in diverse natural forests.

In this study, we measured leaf herbivory by chewing and mining insect herbivores in 442 saplings of nine species of deciduous trees in a warm‐temperate montane forest. We censused neighbouring trees and measured five leaf traits known to influence herbivory (i.e. specific leaf area‐SLA, thickness, carbon: nitrogen ratio‐C:N ratio, sodium‐Na and silicon‐Si content) on a subset of saplings.

Only herbivory by leaf‐mining insects was influenced by the identity and diversity of neighbouring trees. Specifically, the incidence of leaf‐miners decreased with the phylogenetic diversity of neighbouring trees and increased with conspecific adult density in the vicinity of focal trees. Furthermore, leaf mining herbivory was positively correlated with the amount of Si in the leaves of focal saplings, and leaf chewing herbivory decreased with increasing C:N ratio in the leaves. In contrast to our hypothesis, the leaf traits of focal saplings did not serve as a functional link between tree diversity and insect herbivory.

Synthesis: Overall, this study highlights the importance of considering the specialisation of insect herbivores in understanding the impacts of the diversity and identity of neighbouring trees on the strength of insect herbivory.
Pumping‐induced Well Hydraulics and Groundwater Budget in a Leaky Aquifer System with Vertical Heterogeneity in Aquitard Hydraulic Properties
Authors: ZHUANG Chao , LÜ Chenyang , YAN Long , LI Yabing , ZHOU Zhifang , WANG Jinguo , DOU Zhi , ILLMAN Walter A.
Published: November 2023

In groundwater hydrology, aquitard heterogeneity is often less considered compared to aquifers, despite its significant impact on groundwater hydraulics and groundwater resources evaluation. A semi‐analytical solution is derived for pumping‐induced well hydraulics and groundwater budget with consideration of vertical heterogeneity in aquitard hydraulic conductivity (K) and specific storage (Ss). The proposed new solution is innovative in its partitioning of the aquitard into multiple homogeneous sub‐layers to enable consideration of various forms of vertically heterogeneous K or Ss. Two scenarios of analytical investigations are explored: one is the presence of aquitard interlayers with distinct K or Ss values, a common field‐scale occurrence; another is an exponentially depth‐decaying aquitard Ss, a regional‐scale phenomenon supported by statistical analysis. Analytical investigations reveal that a low‐K interlayer can significantly increase aquifer drawdown and enhance aquifer/aquitard depletion; a high‐Ss interlayer can noticeably reduce aquifer drawdown and increase aquitard depletion. Locations of low‐K or high‐Ss interlayers also significantly impact well hydraulics and groundwater budget. In the context of an exponentially depth‐decaying aquitard Ss, a larger decay exponent can enhance aquifer drawdown. When using current models with a vertically homogeneous aquitard, half the sum of the geometric and harmonic means of exponentially depth‐decaying aquitard Ss should be used to calculate aquitard depletion and unconfined aquifer leakage.
Provenance of Conglomerate and Sandstone from Early Permian Shoushangou Formation in Xi Ujimqin, Inner Mongolia: Implications for Understanding Paleo‐Asian Ocean Subduction
Authors: ZHANG Yingli , GUO Xianqing , MA Shouxian
Published: November 2023

During the Late Carboniferous to Early Permian, a rift was formed by post‐collisional extension after ocean closure or an island arc‐related basin formed by Paleo‐Asian Ocean (PAO) subduction in the Xi Ujimqin area. Nevertheless, the closure time of the PAO is still under debate. Thus, to identify the origin of the PAO, the geochemistry and U‐Pb age of zircons were analyzed for the extra‐large deep marine, polymict clastic boulders and sandstones in the Shoushangou Formation within the basin. The analyses revealed magmatic activity and tectonic evolution. The conglomerates include megaclasts of granite (298.8 ± 9.1 Ma) and granodiorite porphyry (297.1 ± 3.1 Ma), which were deposited by muddy debris flow. Results of this study demonstrated that the boulders of granitoids have the geochemistry of typical I‐type granite, characterized by low Zr + Nb + Ce + Y and low Ga/Al values. The granitoid boulders were formed in island arc setting, indicating the presence of arc magmatism in the area that is composed of the Late Carboniferous to Early Permian subduction‐related granitoid in southern Xi Ujimqin. Multiple diagrams for determining sedimentary provenance using major and trace elements indicate that Shoushangou sediments originated from continental island arc‐related felsic rocks. Detrital zircon U‐Pb age cluster of 330‐280 Ma was obtained, indicating input from granite, ophiolite, Xilin Gol complex, and Carboniferous sources to the south. The basin was geographically developed behind the arc during the Early Permian period because the outcropped intrusive rocks in the Late Carboniferous to Early Permian form a volcanic arc. The comprehensive analyses of source areas suggest that Shoushangou sediments developed in a backarc basin in response to the northward subduction of the PAO. The backarc basin and intrusive rocks, in addition to previously published Late Carboniferous to Early Permian magmatic rocks of arc unit in Xilin Gol, confirm the presence of an Early Permian trench‐arc‐basin system in the region, represented by the Baolidao arc and Xi Ujimqin backarc basin. This study highlights the importance and potential of combined geochemical and geochronological studies of conglomerates and sandstone for reconstructing the geodynamic setting of a basin.
Three‐Dimensional Density Distribution and Seismic Activity along the Guxiang–Tongmai Segment of the Jiali Fault, Tibet
Authors: FAN Pengxiao , YU Changqing , WANG Ruixue , ZENG Xiangzhi , QU Chen , ZHANG Yue
Published: November 2023

The Guxiang–Tongmai segment of the Jiali fault is situated northeast of the Namche Barwa Syntaxis in northeastern Tibet. It is one of the most active strike‐slip faults near the syntaxis and plays a pivotal role in the examination of seismic activity within the eastern Himalayan Syntaxis. New study in the research region has yielded a 1:200000 gravity dataset covering an area 1500 km2. Using wavelet transform multiscale decomposition, scratch analysis techniques, and 3D gravity inversion methods, gravity anomalies, fault distributions, and density structures were determined across various scales. Through the integration of our new gravity data with other geophysical and geological information, our findings demonstrate substantial variations in the overall crustal density within the region, with the fault distribution closely linked to these density fluctuations. Disparities in stratigraphic density are important causes of variations in the capacity of geological formations to endure regional tectonic stress. Earthquakes are predominantly concentrated within the density transition zone and are primarily situated in regions of elevated density. The hanging wall stress within the Guxiang–Tongmai segment of the Jiali fault exhibits a notable concentration, marked by pronounced anisotropy, and is positioned within the density differential zone, which is prone to earthquakes.
Increasing rates of cesarean birth in Bangladesh: A household‐level pooled analysis
Authors: Sarker Abdur Razzaque , Zabeen Irfat , Hossain Zakir , Ali Nausad , Khan Jahangir A. M.
Published: November 2023

Background

Cesarean birth (CB) rates have been increasing rapidly globally, including in Bangladesh. This study aimed to assess national trends in CB rates and to investigate associated factors in Bangladesh.

Methods

We analyzed data from the five most recent Bangladesh Demographic and Health Surveys (BDHS) between 2003 and 2018. A total of 27,328 ever‐married women aged 15–49 who had a live birth in the 2 years preceding the survey were included in this study. We estimated the prevalence of CB from 2003 to 2018, as well as changes in the prevalence. Logistic regression analysis was used to measure the association between dependent and independent variables.

Results

The overall prevalence of CB among Bangladeshi mothers was 3.99% in 2003–04; this rate increased to 33.22% in 2017–18. The annual percentage change in CB rate was 16.34% from 2004 to 2017–18, which is alarming relative to the World Health Organization's cesarean birth recommended threshold. Several factors, such as maternal age, maternal and paternal education, working status of the mother, maternal BMI, age at first pregnancy, antenatal care (ANC) use, administrative division, and wealth status, had a significant influence on the rising rate of CB in Bangladesh.

Conclusions

This study documents the alarming rate of CB increase in Bangladesh since 2003. It is critical that authorities implement more effective national monitoring measures to identify the causes of this dramatic increase and work to mitigate the rate of unnecessary CB in Bangladesh.
The diagnostic accuracy of Gram stain on formalin‐fixed paraffin‐embedded sections of skin tissue in the diagnosis of bacterial skin infection
Authors: Stagg Brendan , Foster‐Smith Erwin , Tam Patrick Chung Kay
Published: November 2023

Background and Objective

To evaluate the sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratios of Gram stain on formalin‐fixed, paraffin‐embedded (GS‐FFPE) sections of skin in diagnosing bacterial skin infection.

Methods

We reviewed a retrospective series of skin specimens reported at our institution wherein histopathological assessment included Gram stain and fresh tissue was concurrently submitted for microscopy and culture. The clinicopathological correlation was the reference standard, whereby the presence of infection was deduced from the final diagnosis in each patient's case notes.

Results

Our sample included 168 cases (105 positive for infection). GS‐FFPE showed a sensitivity of 0.43 (95% confidence interval 0.29, 0.57), a specificity of 0.98 (0.95, 1.01), a positive likelihood ratio of 21.50 (19.76, 23.24), and a negative likelihood ratio of 0.58 (0.41, 0.75).

Conclusions

GS‐FFPE has poor sensitivity, and a negative result should not be used as evidence to exclude infection. In contrast, it has excellent specificity and, unless the pretest probability of infection is very low, a positive result would make infection much more likely. The value of the GS‐FFPE lies in cases where sterile tissue was not submitted for microbiological studies, or sterile tissue culture was negative, and there is at least a low‐to‐moderate pretest probability of infection.
Gasdermin‐B (GSDMB) takes center stage in antibacterial defense, inflammatory diseases, and cancer
Authors: Sarrio David , Colomo Sara , Moreno‐Bueno Gema
Published: November 2023

One of the hottest topics in biomedical research is to decipher the functional implications of the Gasdermin (GSDM) protein family in human pathologies. These proteins are the key effectors of a lytic and pro‐inflammatory cell death type termed pyroptosis (also known as “Gasdermin‐mediated programmed cell death”). However, ever‐growing evidence showed that GSDMs can play multiple and complex roles in a context‐dependent manner. In this sense, Gasdermin‐B (GSDMB; the only GSDM gene absent in mice and rats) has been implicated in antibacterial defense, numerous inflammatory pathologies (e.g., asthma, ulcerative colitis), and cancer, but both cell death‐dependent and ‐independent functions have been reported in these diseases, fueling the debate on whether GSDMB has genuine pyroptotic capacity. Recently, a series of seminal papers cast light on the GSDMB multitasking capacity by showing that different GSDMB transcriptional isoforms have distinct biological activities. Nonetheless, there are still obscure areas to be clarified on the precise functional involvement of GSDMB translated variants in physiological and pathological conditions. In this viewpoint, we critically discuss the most recent and exciting data on this topic and propose a series of relevant challenges that need to be overcome before GSDMB‐driven biomedical applications (as a biomarker of disease risk/progression/outcome or as specific therapeutic target) become a reality in clinical settings.
Chronic diffuse alopecia in women: a retrospective review of histopathologic diagnoses
Authors: Özcan Deren , Öztürk Meryem Ö. , Özen Özlem
Published: November 2023

Introduction

The diseases causing chronic diffuse alopecia and having similar clinical findings, namely chronic telogen effluvium, androgenetic alopecia, and the alopecia with overlapping features, should be differentiated. Recently, diffuse variants of lichen planopilaris have been described with histopathologic features of lichen planopilaris but clinically presenting with diffuse hair loss mostly in an androgenetic pattern.

Objectives

To determine the accurate diagnosis underlying chronic diffuse alopecia in women by evaluating histopathologic findings.

Patients and methods

The study included 32 patients with diffuse and clinically noncicatricial alopecia for at least 6 months with no identifiable etiologic factor after general medical history, review of organ systems, and appropriate laboratory tests. Two 4 mm punch biopsies, one from vertex and the other from mid‐occiput, were obtained and sectioned transversely.

Results

The median age was 30.5 years (range: 22–40 years), and the median duration of hair loss was 4 years (range: 1.5–10 years). The histopathologic diagnosis was androgenetic alopecia, chronic telogen effluvium, and overlapping alopecia in 13 (40.6%), three (9.4%), and four (12.5%) patients, respectively. In the remaining 12 (32.5%) patients, a lichenoid inflammatory reaction affecting the infundibulum and isthmus was noted, and the probable diagnosis of diffuse variant of lichen planopilaris was made.

Limitations

The retrospective nature and the small sample size.

Conclusion

When the clinical diagnosis is not straightforward and no etiologic factor is found, histopathologic examination is mandatory for the accurate diagnosis of the disorder leading to chronic diffuse alopecia in women.
Melanoma tumour‐derived glycans hijack dendritic cell subsets through C‐type lectin receptor binding
Authors: Niveau Camille , Sosa Cuevas Eleonora , Roubinet Benoît , Pezet Mylène , Thépaut Michel , Mouret Stéphane , Charles Julie , Fieschi Franck , Landemarre Ludovic , Chaperot Laurence , Saas Philippe , Aspord Caroline
Published: November 2023

Dendritic cell (DC) subsets play a crucial role in shaping anti‐tumour immunity. Cancer escapes from the control immune system by hijacking DC functions. Yet, bases for such subversion are only partially understood. Tumour cells display aberrant glycan motifs on surface glycoproteins and glycolipids. Such carbohydrate patterns can be sensed by DCs through C‐type lectin receptors (CLRs) that are critical to shape and orientate immune responses. We recently demonstrated that melanoma tumour cells harboured an aberrant ‘glyco‐code,’ and that circulating and tumour‐infiltrating DCs from melanoma patients displayed major perturbations in their CLR profiles. To decipher whether melanoma, through aberrant glycan patterns, may exploit CLR pathways to mislead DCs and evade immune control, we explored the impact of glycan motifs aberrantly found in melanoma (neoglycoproteins [NeoGP] functionalised with Gal, Man, GalNAc, s‐Tn, fucose [Fuc] and GlcNAc residues) on features of human DC subsets (cDC2s, cDC1s and pDCs). We examined the ability of glycans to bind to purified DCs, and assessed their impact on DC basal properties and functional features using flow cytometry, confocal microscopy and multiplex secreted protein analysis. DC subsets differentially bound and internalised NeoGP depending on the nature of the glycan. Strikingly, Fuc directly remodelled the expression of activation markers and immune checkpoints, as well as the cytokine/chemokine secretion profile of DC subsets. NeoGP interfered with Toll like receptor (TLR)‐signalling and pre‐conditioned DCs to exhibit an altered response to subsequent TLR stimulation, dampening antitumor mediators while triggering pro‐tumoral factors. We further demonstrated that DC subsets can bind NeoGP through CLRs, and identified GalNAc/MGL and s‐Tn/ C‐type lectin‐like receptor 2 (CLEC2) as potential candidates. Moreover, DC dysfunction induced by tumour‐associated carbohydrate molecules may be reversed by interfering with the glycan/CLR axis. These findings revealed the glycan/CLR axis as a promising checkpoint to exploit in order to reshape potent antitumor immunity while impeding immunosuppressive pathways triggered by aberrant tumour glycosylation patterns. This may rescue DCs from tumour hijacking and improve clinical success in cancer patients.
The antecedents of employees' proactive information security behaviour: The perspective of proactive motivation
Authors: Xu Feng , Hsu Carol , Wang Tawei (David) , Lowry Paul Benjamin
Published: November 2023

Organisational information security (ISec) protection is undergoing a turbulent shift in the workplace environment. In an environment of ever‐increasing risks of insider threats and external cyberattacks, individual employees are often expected to take the initiative to solve organisational security problems. This study therefore focuses on employees' proactive information security behaviours (ISBs)—behaviours that are self‐initiated, change‐oriented, and future‐focused—and the motivations that compel employees to protect organisational assets. We ground our study in Parker et al. (2010) proactive motivation theory (ProMT) and develop an integrated multilevel model to examine the respective effects of proactive motivational states, that is, can‐do, reason‐to, and energised‐to motivations, on employees' proactive ISBs. We also explore the roles of individual differences and contextual factors—namely, proactive personality and supervisory ISec support—and their influences on proactive motivational states. Data were collected from 210 employees situated in 55 departments distributed among multiple organisations located in China. The results show that supervisory ISec support positively influences employees' proactive motivational states and thereby boosts employees' proactive ISBs. Proactive personality negatively moderates the effect of supervisory ISec support on flexible security role orientation (reason‐to motivation). By identifying the antecedents of employees' proactive ISBs, we make key theoretical contributions to ISec research and valuable practical contributions to organisational ISec management.
Relations between concussion symptoms and depression among patients with mild traumatic brain injury: A moderated mediation model
Authors: Ma Ching‐Yuan , Hsiao Ya‐Wen , Tzeng Hsin‐Ya , Hueng Dueng‐Yuan , Chiang Hui‐Hsun
Published: November 2023

Introduction

Concussion symptoms following a traumatic accident are both common and known to adversely affect mental health and recovery in patients with traumatic brain injury. Depression, highly prevalent among patients with traumatic brain injury, is also associated with the important factors of sleep quality and resilience. However, the mediator and moderator roles of depression following concussion in patients with traumatic brain injury have been underexplored. The aims of this study were to investigate the mediating role of sleep quality in the relation between concussion symptoms and depression and to examine the moderating effect of resilience on this mediated model.

Design

Cross‐sectional pretest data analysis of a randomized controlled trial.

Methods

A total of 249 adult patients with mild traumatic brain injury (Glasgow Coma Scale 13–15) at admission following brain injury were surveyed at a medical center in Taipei, Taiwan. The outcome variables were concussion symptoms (Rivermead Post‐Concussion Symptom Questionnaire), sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), resilience (Resilience Scale for Adults), and depression (Beck Depression Inventory II). These data were analyzed using moderated mediation regressions with the SPSS PROCESS macro.

Results

In patients with mild traumatic brain injury, there was a significant positive relation between concussion symptoms and depression, of which sleep quality was a significant mediator. Additionally, resilience had a negative moderating effect on the relations between sleep quality and depression. Patients with less resilience showed a stronger negative effect of sleep quality on depression.

Conclusion

Our findings suggest that ameliorating both concussion symptoms and sleep disturbance is important for reducing the risk of depression in patients with mild traumatic brain injury, especially in those patients with less resilience.

Clinical Relevance

It is essential for clinical nurses to develop interventions for patients with mild traumatic brain injury that will improve their sleep quality, while strengthening their resilience, to alleviate depression.
Lower disclosures from customers screened by financial advisors
Authors: Samuell Doron , Christodoulou Demetris
Published: November 2023

We find that there are fewer disclosures of risk factors when customers for life insurance are screened by financial advisors, compared with when similar profile customers are screened directly by the insurer's telephone operators. The lower rate of disclosure is systematic across all medical and lifestyle risks and has a sizeable economic impact on customer premiums. As a result, customers screened by advisors enjoy unfairly cheaper and more favorable policies. We identify the key drivers of lower customer disclosures to be conflicted incentives and lower scrutiny. We assert that the fewer disclosures from customers screened by advisors may translate into noncaptured risk that could be cross‐subsidized by customers who provide more complete disclosures through the insurer's telephone operators. On reviewing our findings, the participating insurer in the study calculated that removing advisors from the screening process could allow certain insurance products to be heavily discounted while maintaining profitability.
Selection despite low genetic diversity and high gene flow in a rapid island invasion of the bumblebee, Bombus terrestris
Authors: Kardum Hjort Cecilia , Paris Josephine R. , Smith Henrik G. , Dudaniec Rachael Y.
Published: November 2023

Invasive species are predicted to adjust their morphological, physiological and life‐history traits to adapt to their non‐native environments. Although a loss of genetic variation during invasion may restrict local adaptation, introduced species often thrive in novel environments. Despite being founded by just a few individuals, Bombus terrestris (Hymenoptera: Apidae) has in less than 30 years successfully spread across the island of Tasmania (Australia), becoming abundant and competitive with native pollinators. We use RADseq to investigate what neutral and adaptive genetic processes associated with environmental and morphological variation allow B. terrestris to thrive as an invasive species in Tasmania. Given the widespread abundance of B. terrestris, we expected little genetic structure across Tasmania and weak signatures of environmental and morphological selection. We found high gene flow with low genetic diversity, although with significant isolation‐by‐distance and spatial variation in effective migration rates. Restricted migration was evident across the mid‐central region of Tasmania, corresponding to higher elevations, pastural land, low wind speeds and low precipitation seasonality. Tajima's D indicated a recent population expansion extending from the south to the north of the island. Selection signatures were found for loci in relation to precipitation, wind speed and wing loading. Candidate loci were annotated to genes with functions related to cuticle water retention and insect flight muscle stability. Understanding how a genetically impoverished invasive bumblebee has rapidly adapted to a novel island environment provides further understanding about the evolutionary processes that determine successful insect invasions, and the potential for invasive hymenopteran pollinators to spread globally.
Converting the United States and United Kingdom defence sector to civil production: The views of defence workers
Authors: Bell Karen , Price Vivian , McLoughlin Keith , Pemberton Miriam
Published: November 2023

There are many social, environmental, and economic reasons for converting from defence manufacturing to civil production. Importantly, such a transformation could support more peace in the world while still ensuring the secure jobs that the defence sector has historically provided. The views of defence workers on such a transition are important to understanding how this change could effectively and equitably occur. To capture some of these views, the research project on which this paper is based involved interviewing 58 former and current defence sector workers in the United States and the United Kingdom and convening key leadership focus groups which included their trade union representatives. Though these workers' opinions were not entirely polarized and some interviewees had mixed and nuanced views, they loosely fell into three categories (a) opposed to defence diversification, (b) supportive of defence diversification, and (c) supportive in principle but thought that it would be unlikely to happen. The (a) category of defence workers primarily based their view on the idea that the defence sector is necessary for security and a feeling of pride in supporting this endeavor. The (b) category views were built on the perceived harm of the sector, the potential ‘peace dividend’ that would arise from transition, and feelings of guilt about working in the sector. The (c) group of workers identified the profit motive, worker attachment to defence jobs, technological issues, and the economic and political power of the defence companies as the key barriers to change. Proposals for effectively converting included economic incentives, government regulation, and organizing trade unions to push for change. A unified view was that workers want to be involved in discussions about these issues in their workplace and unions.
Expertise for emerging technology: Information, prestige, and the Office of Technology Assessment
Authors: Lewallen Jonathan
Published: November 2023

Policy makers often struggle to adapt and respond to the uncertainties and ambiguities associated with new and emerging technologies. In such situations decision makers often widen their search for information and acquire more expertise in order to better define complex problems and to understand the potential consequences of proposed alternatives. I argue that acquiring information also carries social and symbolic value: having reports and other kinds of information provided to you signals that you are a policy maker important and influential enough to keep informed. The Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) provided the US Congress with nonpartisan reports on technology‐related issues from 1972 until 1995 when its funding was zeroed out. Using data on all OTA reports published from 1974 to 1995, I find evidence that, while almost every committee requested at least one report, the reports largely were concentrated among a few committees in each chamber. The committees more likely to request reports also tended to be lower in prestige among members; acquiring OTA reports thus helped raise the committee leaders' profile on science and technology‐related issues but was not directly related to the surrounding issue environment or immediate legislative efforts. OTA reports also were concentrated on a relatively small number of policy issues, which further suggests inequalities in the dynamics of expertise in policy making.
Construction of inclusions with vanishing generalized polarization tensors by imperfect interfaces
Authors: Choi Doosung , Lim Mikyoung
Published: November 2023

We investigate the problem of planar conductivity inclusion with imperfect interface conditions. We assume that the inclusion is simply connected. The presence of the inclusion causes a perturbation in the incident background field. This perturbation admits a multipole expansion of which coefficients we call as the generalized polarization tensors (GPTs), extending the previous terminology for inclusions with perfect interfaces. We derive explicit matrix expressions for the GPTs in terms of the incident field, material parameters, and geometry of the inclusion. As an application, we construct GPT‐vanishing structures of general shape that result in negligible perturbations for all uniform incident fields. The structure consists of a simply connected core with an imperfect interface. We provide numerical examples of GPT‐vanishing structures obtained by our proposed scheme.
Feedback control in hemodialysis
Authors: Randhay Ashveer , Eldehni Mohamed Tarek , Selby Nicholas M.
Published: November 2023

A number of systems of feedback control during dialysis have been developed, which have the shared characteristic of prospectively measuring physiological parameters and then automatically altering dialysis parameters in real time according to a pre‐specified dialysis prescription. These include feedback systems aimed at reducing intradialytic hypotension based on relative blood volume monitoring linked to adjustments in ultrafiltration and dialysate conductivity, and blood temperature monitoring linked to alterations in dialysate temperature. Feedback systems also exist that manipulate sodium balance during dialysis by assessing and adjusting dialysate conductivity. In this review article, we discuss the rationale for automated feedback systems during dialysis, describe how the different feedback systems work, and provide a review of the current evidence on their clinical effectiveness.
Emotional tears as social motivators: When and how tearing up motivates social support
Authors: Zickfeld Janis H. , Wróbel Monika
Published: November 2023

Emotional tears represent a basic expressive response that is most likely unique to humans. Researchers have debated the specific function of this phenomenon, with recent propositions suggesting that it mainly works as an interpersonal communicative signal motivating observers to provide help and social support to the tearful person. Here, we review evidence when and how emotional tears can act as a social motivator. Based on the emotions as social information (EASI) model, we investigate the importance of emotional expression, observer's inferences, observer's affective reactions, and situational determinants and integrate them to derive a model explaining the interpersonal functions of emotional tears. Overall, most evidence supports the idea that people tearing up, compared to people not tearing up in the exact same situation, are evaluated as less agentic, more communal, and elicit feelings of compassion in observers, which in turn is associated with higher support intentions. These relations are likely moderated by the perceived appropriateness of the expression, which is determined by the characteristics of the expression, the expresser, the observer, and the situation. Our review identifies several gaps, suggesting that the specific relations among the different variables are yet to be determined and methods should focus on more ecologically valid designs and behavioral measures.
A Bibliometric Analysis on Cloud Computing Literature Development
Authors: Teh Raymond , Subramaniam Anusuiya
Published: November 2023

The purpose of this paper is to present a bibliometric analysis on cloud computing literature development since year 2008. A systematic search strategy was carried out through Scopus as the single electronic citation database in this bibliometric analysis. The findings reveal that the publication of cloud computing has been steadily maintained at the same rate for last few years except in 2020 which could be due to higher concentration on COVID related publications. Besides that, the cloud computing publications were reduced could be due to work from home situation which pull down the work efficiency and another possibility is cloud computing publications have started to decline and overtaken by other technologies due to the interest and demand from the academics and market, but this must be observed in next following 2 to 3 years to confirm on this. Precisely, the finding of this bibliometric analysis shows that countries with higher cloud computing literature publications tends to have higher cloud computing growth rate which implies that local government and related bodies are playing an important role to facilitate the technology awareness and transformation. This study contributes to cloud computing research by providing holistic insights of its literature development since 2018 by understanding its development, growth pattern, and contributions by the topmost affiliations/institutions, countries, authors, publishers in this area. In future, bibliometric analysis on cloud computing could be extended to other citation databases as this study is only referring to single citation database.
Mature mRNA processing that deletes 3′ end sequences directs translational activation and embryonic development
Authors: Takada Yuki , Fierro Ludivine , Sato Keisuke , Sanada Takahiro , Ishii Anna , Yamamoto Takehiro , Kotani Tomoya
Published: November 2023

Eggs accumulate thousands of translationally repressed mRNAs that are translated into proteins after fertilization to direct diverse developmental processes. However, molecular mechanisms underlying the translation of stored mRNAs after fertilization remain unclear. Here, we report a previously unknown RNA processing of 3′ end sequences of mature mRNAs that activates the translation of stored mRNAs. Specifically, 9 to 72 nucleotides at the 3′ ends of zebrafishpou5f3and mousePou5f1mRNAs were deleted in the early stages of development. Reporter assays illustrated the effective translation of the truncated forms of mRNAs. Moreover, promotion and inhibition of the shortening of 3′ ends accelerated and attenuated Pou5f3 accumulation, respectively, resulting in defective development. Identification of proteins binding to unprocessed and/or processed mRNAs revealed that mRNA shortening acts as molecular switches. Comprehensive analysis revealed that >250 mRNAs underwent this processing. Therefore, our results provide a molecular principle that triggers the translational activation and directs development.
Topological transitions of the generalized Pancharatnam-Berry phase
Authors: Ferrer-Garcia Manuel F. , Snizhko Kyrylo , D’Errico Alessio , Romito Alessandro , Gefen Yuval , Karimi Ebrahim
Published: November 2023

Distinct from the dynamical phase, in a cyclic evolution, a system’s state may acquire an additional component, a.k.a. geometric phase. Recently, it has been demonstrated that geometric phases can be induced by a sequence of generalized measurements implemented on a single qubit. Furthermore, it has been predicted that these geometric phases may exhibit a topological transition as a function of the measurement strength. We demonstrate and study this transition experimentally by using an optical platform where the qubit is represented by the polarization of light and the weak measurement is performed by means of coupling with the spatial degree of freedom. Our protocol can be interpreted in terms of environment-induced geometric phases, whose values are topologically determined by the environment-system coupling strength. Our results show that the two limits of geometric phase induced by sequences of either weak or projective measurements are topologically distinct.
Mapping cardiac remodeling in chronic kidney disease
Authors: Kaesler Nadine , Cheng Mingbo , Nagai James , O’Sullivan James , Peisker Fabian , Bindels Eric M. J. , Babler Anne , Moellmann Julia , Droste Patrick , Franciosa Giulia , Dugourd Aurelien , Saez-Rodriguez Julio , Neuss Sabine , Lehrke Michael , Boor Peter , Goettsch Claudia , Olsen Jesper V. , Speer Thimoteus , Lu Tzong-Shi , Lim Kenneth , Floege Jürgen , Denby Laura , Costa Ivan , Kramann Rafael
Published: November 2023

Patients with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) mostly die from sudden cardiac death and recurrent heart failure. The mechanisms of cardiac remodeling are largely unclear. To dissect molecular and cellular mechanisms of cardiac remodeling in CKD in an unbiased fashion, we performed left ventricular single-nuclear RNA sequencing in two mouse models of CKD. Our data showed a hypertrophic response trajectory of cardiomyocytes with stress signaling and metabolic changes driven by soluble uremia-related factors. We mapped fibroblast to myofibroblast differentiation in this process and identified notable changes in the cardiac vasculature, suggesting inflammation and dysfunction. An integrated analysis of cardiac cellular responses to uremic toxins pointed toward endothelin-1 and methylglyoxal being involved in capillary dysfunction and TNFα driving cardiomyocyte hypertrophy in CKD, which was validated in vitro and in vivo. TNFα inhibition in vivo ameliorated the cardiac phenotype in CKD. Thus, interventional approaches directed against uremic toxins, such as TNFα, hold promise to ameliorate cardiac remodeling in CKD.
Strain-switchable field-induced superconductivity
Authors: Sanchez Joshua J. , Fabbris Gilberto , Choi Yongseong , DeStefano Jonathan M. , Rosenberg Elliott , Shi Yue , Malinowski Paul , Huang Yina , Mazin Igor I. , Kim Jong-Woo , Chu Jiun-Haw , Ryan Philip J.
Published: November 2023

Field-induced superconductivity is a rare phenomenon where an applied magnetic field enhances or induces superconductivity. Here, we use applied stress as a control switch between a field-tunable superconducting state and a robust non–field-tunable state. This marks the first demonstration of a strain-tunable superconducting spin valve with infinite magnetoresistance. We combine tunable uniaxial stress and applied magnetic field on the ferromagnetic superconductor Eu(Fe0.88Co0.12)2As2to shift the field-induced zero-resistance temperature between 4 K and a record-high value of 10 K. We use x-ray diffraction and spectroscopy measurements under stress and field to reveal that strain tuning of the nematic order and field tuning of the ferromagnetism act as independent control parameters of the superconductivity. Combining comprehensive measurements with DFT calculations, we propose that field-induced superconductivity arises from a novel mechanism, namely, the uniquely dominant effect of the Eu dipolar field when the exchange field splitting is nearly zero.
Accurate prediction of HLA class II antigen presentation across all loci using tailored data acquisition and refined machine learning
Authors: Nilsson Jonas B. , Kaabinejadian Saghar , Yari Hooman , Kester Michel G. D. , van Balen Peter , Hildebrand William H. , Nielsen Morten
Published: November 2023

Accurate prediction of antigen presentation by human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II molecules is crucial for rational development of immunotherapies and vaccines targeting CD4
+
T cell activation. So far, most prediction methods for HLA class II antigen presentation have focused on HLA-DR because of limited availability of immunopeptidomics data for HLA-DQ and HLA-DP while not taking into account alternative peptide binding modes. We present an update to the NetMHCIIpan prediction method, which closes the performance gap between all three HLA class II loci. We accomplish this by first integrating large immunopeptidomics datasets describing the HLA class II specificity space across all loci using a refined machine learning framework that accommodates inverted peptide binders. Next, we apply targeted immunopeptidomics assays to generate data that covers additional HLA-DP specificities. The final method, NetMHCIIpan-4.3, achieves high accuracy and molecular coverage across all HLA class II allotypes

.
DGKα/ζ inhibition lowers the TCR affinity threshold and potentiates antitumor immunity
Authors: Kureshi Rakeeb , Bello Elisa , Kureshi Courtney T.S. , Walsh Michael J. , Lippert Victoria , Hoffman Megan T. , Dougan Michael , Longmire Tyler , Wichroski Michael , Dougan Stephanie K.
Published: November 2023

Diacylglycerol kinases (DGKs) attenuate diacylglycerol (DAG) signaling by converting DAG to phosphatidic acid, thereby suppressing pathways downstream of T cell receptor signaling. Using a dual DGKα/ζ inhibitor (DGKi), tumor-specific CD8 T cells with different affinities (TRP1
high
and TRP1
low
), and altered peptide ligands, we demonstrate that inhibition of DGKα/ζ can lower the signaling threshold for T cell priming. TRP1
high
and TRP1
low
CD8 T cells produced more effector cytokines in the presence of cognate antigen and DGKi. Effector TRP1
high
- and TRP1
low
-mediated cytolysis of tumor cells with low antigen load required antigen recognition, was mediated by interferon-γ, and augmented by DGKi. Adoptive T cell transfer into mice bearing pancreatic or melanoma tumors synergized with single-agent DGKi or DGKi and antiprogrammed cell death protein 1 (PD-1), with increased expansion of low-affinity T cells and increased cytokine production observed in tumors of treated mice. Collectively, our findings highlight DGKα/ζ as therapeutic targets for augmenting tumor-specific CD8 T cell function.