bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Fiscal transfers and economic convergence: Evidence from China
Authors: Liu Guanchun , Song Jianbo , Zhang Chengsi
Published: March 2022

This study investigates how fiscal transfers affect economic convergence across Chinese provinces. Using the data of 26 provinces over 1995–2016, we find that fiscal transfers promote an ‘immiserising convergence’ resulting from a decline in growth in rich provinces. Specifically, general fiscal transfers play an insignificant role, and special fiscal transfers facilitate the economic growth of poor provinces but impede that of rich provinces. Furthermore, the mechanism tests show that the positive effect of fiscal transfers on productive expenditures declines with higher initial real GDP per capita and becomes negative in rich provinces. To further identify causality, we conduct a difference‐in‐differences estimate by exploiting the Great Western Development Programme as a quasi‐natural experiment and employ an instrumental variable approach with ethnic diversity in 1990 as the instrument. In sum, our findings suggest that the positive growth effect of fiscal transfers in poor provinces is at the cost of sluggish growth in rich provinces.
Plasma-Synthesized Nitrogen-Doped Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles With Tunable Visible Light Absorption and Photocatalytic Activity
Authors: Beaudette Chad A. , Tu Qiaomiao , Ali Eslamisaray Mohammad , Kortshagen Uwe R.
Published: March 2022

Titanium dioxide in its pure wide bandgap “white” form is a non-toxic, efficient, and practical photocatalyst, but predominately absorbs light in the ultraviolet range of the spectrum. The absorption range, however, can be extended into the visible by doping with oxygen vacancies or impurities, such as nitrogen, giving the material a black or brown appearance. To date, nitrogen-doped titanium dioxide has primarily been produced with approaches that require long processing times or multi-step synthesis protocols. Here, we present a fast (timescale of tens of milliseconds) all-gas-phase process, which enables the seamless tuning of the optical properties of titanium dioxide nanoparticles from white to brown. Titanium dioxide particles were synthesized through injection of tetrakis (dimethylamido)titanium (TDMAT), argon, and oxygen into a nonthermal plasma. The positions of the electrode and oxygen inlet relative to the precursor inlet are found to strongly influence particle properties. Variation of these parameters allowed for control over the produced particle optical properties from large bandgap (white) to small bandgap (brown). In addition, the particle microstructure can be tuned from amorphous to crystalline anatase phase titanium dioxide. The photocatalytic performance was tested under solar irradiation and amorphous particles exhibit the highest degree of photocatalytic decomposition of the dyes methyl orange and methylene blue.
Establishing density-dependent longitudinal sound speed in the vertebral lamina
Authors: Xu Rui , O'Reilly Meaghan A.
Published: March 2022

Focused ultrasound treatments of the spinal cord may be facilitated using a phased array transducer and beamforming to correct spine-induced focal aberrations. Simulations can non-invasively calculate aberration corrections using x-ray computed tomography (CT) data that are correlated to density (ρ) and longitudinal sound speed (cL). We aimed to optimize vertebral lamina-specific cL(ρ) functions at a physiological temperature (37 °C) to maximize time domain simulation accuracy. Odd-numbered ex vivo human thoracic vertebrae were imaged with a clinical CT-scanner (0.511 × 0.511 × 0.5 mm), then sonicated with a transducer (514 kHz) focused on the canal via the vertebral lamina. Vertebra-induced signal time shifts were extracted from pressure waveforms recorded within the canals. Measurements were repeated 5× per vertebra, with 2.5 mm vertical vertebra shifts between measurements. Linear functions relating cL with CT-derived density were optimized. The optimized function was cL(ρ)=0.35(ρ−ρw)+ cL,w m/s, where w denotes water, giving the tested laminae a mean bulk density of 1600 ± 30 kg/m3 and a mean bulk cL of 1670 ± 60 m/s. The optimized lamina cL(ρ) function was accurate to λ/16 when implemented in a multi-layered ray acoustics model. This modelling accuracy will improve trans-spine ultrasound beamforming.
Characterization of SCC
mec
Instability in Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Affecting Adjacent Chromosomal Regions, Including the Gene for Staphylococcal Protein A (
spa
)
Authors: Scharn C. R. , Tickler I. A. , Tenover F. C. , Goering R. V.
Published: March 2022

Staphylococcal cassette chromosome
mec
(SCC
mec
) represents a sequence of clear clinical and diagnostic importance in staphylococci. At a minimum the chromosomal cassette contains the
mecA
gene encoding PBP2a but frequently also includes additional antibiotic resistance genes (e.g.,
ermA
and
aadC
; macrolide and aminoglycoside resistance, respectively).
Bacillus
-Based Direct-Fed Microbial Reduces the Pathogenic Synergy of a Coinfection with Salmonella enterica Serovar Choleraesuis and Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus
Authors: Zuckermann Federico A. , Husmann Robert , Chen WeiYu , Roady Patrick , Pfeiff Janice , Leistikow Kyle R. , Duersteler Megan , Son Sona , King Michael R. , Augspurger Nathan R.
Published: March 2022

Viral respiratory infections predispose lungs to bacterial coinfections causing a worse outcome than either infection alone. Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) causes pneumonia in pigs and is often associated with bacterial coinfections.
Interleukin-17 Contributes to Chikungunya Virus-Induced Disease
Authors: Liu Xiang , Poo Yee-Suan , Alves Juliana C. , Almeida Roque P. , Mostafavi Helen , Tang Patrick Chun Hean , Bucala Richard , Teixeira Mauro M. , Taylor Adam , Zaid Ali , Mahalingam Suresh
Published: March 2022

CHIKV has been prevalent in Africa, Asia, and the Indian Ocean Islands for decades. There are currently no clinically approved vaccines or specific antiviral drugs targeting CHIKV.
Chemotaxis of the Human Pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa to the Neurotransmitter Acetylcholine
Authors: Matilla Miguel A. , Velando Félix , Tajuelo Ana , Martín-Mora David , Xu Wenhao , Sourjik Victor , Gavira José A. , Krell Tino
Published: March 2022

P. aeruginosa
causes a significant number of deaths annually worldwide. For many pathogens, chemotaxis plays an import role in the initial stages of infection, and deciphering the key chomoeffectors and their cognate chemoreceptors may permit the development of strategies to inhibit this process.
Complete Genome Sequence of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia Siphophage Summit
Authors: Bishop Alexandra , Zhang Xing-Han , Clark James , Le Tram , Burrowes Ben , Liu Mei
Published: March 2022

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia
is an opportunistic pathogen exhibiting resistance to multiple antimicrobials. This study reports the complete genome of an
S. maltophilia
siphophage, Summit. Its genome of 95,728 bp has 148 protein-coding genes and 5 tRNAs, including 1 predicted suppressor tRNA. Possible target genes for the suppressor tRNA are not identified.
Quantitative High-Throughput Screening Methods Designed for Identification of Bacterial Biocontrol Strains with Antifungal Properties
Authors: Kjeldgaard Bodil , Neves Ana Rute , Fonseca César , Kovács Ákos T. , Domínguez-Cuevas Patricia
Published: March 2022

Fungal phytopathogens are responsible for tremendous agricultural losses on an annual basis. While microbial biocontrol agents represent a promising solution to the problem, there is a growing need for high-throughput methods to evaluate and quantify inhibitory properties of new potential biocontrol agents for agricultural application. In this study, we present two high-throughput and quantitative fungal inhibition methods that are suitable for commercial biocontrol screening.
Extraintestinal Pathogenic
Escherichia coli
Utilizes Surface-Located Elongation Factor G to Acquire Iron from Holo-Transferrin
Authors: Sun Yu , Wang Xuhang , Gong Qianwen , Li Jin , Huang Haosheng , Xue Feng , Dai Jianjun , Tang Fang
Published: March 2022

Extraintestinal pathogenic
Escherichia coli
(ExPEC) is an important pathogen causing systemic infections in humans and animals. The competition for iron between ExPEC and the host is a determinant for ExPEC to establish a successful infection.
Bacterial Communities in the Rhizosphere at Different Growth Stages of Maize Cultivated in Soil Under Conventional and Conservation Agricultural Practices
Authors: Navarro-Noya Yendi E. , Chávez-Romero Yosef , Hereira-Pacheco Stephanie , de León Lorenzana Arit Seleny , Govaerts Bram , Verhulst Nele , Dendooven Luc
Published: March 2022

We studied the effect of sustainable conservation agricultural practices versus intensive conventional ones on the soil microbial diversity, potential functionality, and community assembly in rhizosphere of maize cultivated in a semiarid environment. We found that conservation agriculture practices increased the diversity of soil microbial species and functions and strongly affected how they were structured compared to conventional practices.
Alleviating Soil Acidification Could Increase Disease Suppression of Bacterial Wilt by Recruiting Potentially Beneficial Rhizobacteria
Authors: Zhang Shuting , Liu Xiaojiao , Zhou Lihua , Deng Liyuan , Zhao Wenzhuo , Liu Ying , Ding Wei
Published: March 2022

The rhizosphere microbiota and soil acidification have been shown to have impacts on bacterial wilt. However, the influence of different acidification levels on the rhizosphere communities and bacterial wilt has not been fully studied.
Saliva cortisol diurnal variation and stress responses in term and preterm infants
Authors: Stoye David Q , Boardman James P , Osmond Clive , Sullivan Gemma , Lamb Gillian , Black Gill S , Homer Natalie Z M , Nelson Nina , Theodorsson Elvar , Mörelius Evalotte , Reynolds Rebecca M
Published: March 2022

Objective

To determine if preterm birth is associated with adaptation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis and whether HPA axis programming relates to the degree of prematurity (defined as extremely preterm birth at <28 weeks or very preterm birth at 28–32 weeks gestation).

Design

This study reports findings from a prospective birth cohort. Saliva cortisol concentrations were measured prevaccination and postvaccination, and in the morning and evening, at 4 months chronological age.

Setting

Infants born at a single Scottish hospital.

Participants

45 term-born, 42 very preterm and 16 extremely preterm infants.

Outcomes

Cortisol stress response to vaccination (postvaccination minus prevaccination cortisol concentrations), diurnal slope (log-transformed morning minus log-transformed evening cortisol values) and mean log-transformed daily cortisol.

Results

Compared with infants born at term, infants born extremely preterm had a blunted cortisol response to vaccination (5.8 nmol/L vs 13.1 nmol/L, difference in means: −7.3 nmol/L, 95% CI −14.0 to −0.6) and a flattened diurnal slope (difference in geometric means: −72.9%, 95% CI −87.1 to −42.8). In contrast, the cortisol response to vaccination (difference in means −2.7 nmol/L, 95% CI −7.4 to 2.0) and diurnal slope at 4 months (difference in geometric means: −33.6%, 95% CI −62.0 to 16.0) did not differ significantly in infants born very preterm compared with infants born at term.

Conclusions

Infants born extremely preterm have blunted cortisol reactivity and a flattened diurnal slope. These patterns of HPA axis regulation are commonly seen after childhood adversity and could contribute to later metabolic and neurodevelopmental phenotypes observed in this population.
Fetus in fetu: use of intraoperative ultrasound for safe excision of a rare entity
Authors: Foote Darci C , Kirsch Alyssa , Metz Terrence , Brahmamdam Pavan
Published: March 2022

A prenatally diagnosed abdominal mass at 36 weeks and 0 days was further characterised by postnatal ultrasound and MRI to be likely a rare case of fetus in fetu in an otherwise healthy male. Due to close proximity to both the coeliac axis and superior mesenteric artery (SMA), surgical excision was delayed for several months. Interim CT with intravenous contrast performed at 2 months of age demonstrated the SMA travelling through the posterior aspect of the mass. Surgery proceeded at 2 months of age. Intraoperative ultrasound was used to definitively identify both the coeliac axis and SMA in order to facilitate a safe excision. The patient recovered well with an uneventful discharge to home on postoperative day 8. Pathology confirmed the diagnosis of fetus in fetu.
Methaemoglobinaemia: a rare cause of chest pain, hypoxia and cyanosis
Authors: Gafaar Babatunde , Olaitan Ademola , Ahmed Fahel , Ravi Bharadwaj
Published: March 2022

A man in his 20s presented with severe left-sided chest pain, shortness of breath and acute confusion. Initial examination revealed central cyanosis, normal heart sounds, vesicular breath sounds in both lung fields and a bruised right calf. The patient reported that he had recently injured his right leg and that he had not taken medication prescribed for blood clots for several days. Peripheral oxygen saturations were 85% despite high flow oxygen via a non-rebreather mask. ECG revealed sinus tachycardia. Arterial blood gas sampling confirmed hypoxaemia. Given the history and the severe hypoxia, he was managed for pulmonary embolism initially.

Closer inspection of his arterial blood results showed a methaemoglobin percentage of 20.4%. He was given intravenous methylene blue which resulted in resolution of his symptoms within 30 min. He subsequently confirmed that he was undergoing genetic testing for likely congenital methaemoglobinaemia.
Effect of acetazolamide on obstructive sleep apnoea in highlanders: protocol for a randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blinded crossover trial
Authors: Tan Lu , Furian Michael , Li Taomei , Tang Xiangdong
Published: March 2022

Introduction

Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a highly prevalent disease that causing systemic hypertension. Furthermore, altitude-dependent hypobaric hypoxic condition and Tibetan ethnicity have been associated with systemic hypertension independent of OSA, therefore patients with OSA living at high altitude might be at profound risk to develop systemic hypertension. Acetazolamide has been shown to decrease blood pressure, improve arterial oxygenation and prevent high altitude periodic breathing in healthy volunteers ascending to high altitude and decrease blood pressure in patients with systemic hypertension at low altitude. However, the effect of acetazolamide on 24-hour blood pressure, sleep-disordered disturbance and daytime cognitive performance in patients with OSA permanently living at high altitude has not been studied.

Methods and analysis

This study protocol describes a randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blinded crossover trial. Highland residents of both sexes, aged 30–60 years, Tibetan ethnicity, living at an elevation of 3650 m and apnoea–hypopnoea index over 15/hour will be included. Participants will be randomly assigned to a 2×2 week treatment period starting with 750 mg/day acetazolamide followed by placebo treatment or vice versa, separated by a 1-week wash-out phase. Clinical assessments, 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM), polysomnography (PSG), near-infrared spectroscopy, nocturnal fluid shift and cognitive performance will be assessed before and at the end of each treatment period. The primary outcome will be the difference in 24-hour mean blood pressure between acetazolamide therapy and placebo; secondary outcomes will be the difference in other 24-hour ABPM-derived parameters, PSG-derived parameters, cognitive performance and overnight change in different segments of fluid volume between acetazolamide therapy and placebo. Accounting for potential dropouts, 40 participants will be recruited.

Ethics and dissemination

The protocol was approved by the West China Hospital of Sichuan University Biomedical Research Ethics Committee. Recruitment will start in spring 2022. Dissemination of the results include presentations at conferences and publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Trial registration number

ChiCTR2100049304.
Oncological outcomes after piecemeal endoscopic mucosal resection of large non-pedunculated colorectal polyps with covert submucosal invasive cancer
Authors: Gibson Dave J , Sidhu Mayenaaz , Zanati Simon , Tate David J , Mangira Dileep , Moss Alan , Singh Rajvinder , Hourigan Luke F , Raftopoulos Spiro , Pham Alan , Kostos Phil , Kumarasinghe M Priyanthi , Ruszkiewicz Andrew , McLeod Duncan , Brown Gregor J E , Bourke Michael J
Published: March 2022

Objective

Management of covert submucosal invasive cancer (SMIC) discovered after piecemeal endoscopic mucosal resection (pEMR) of large (>20 mm) non-pedunculated colorectal polyps is challenging. The residual cancer risk is largely unknown. We sought to evaluate this in a large tertiary referral cohort.

Design

Cases of covert SMIC following pEMR were identified and followed. Oncological outcomes after surgery were divided based on residual intramural cancer, lymph node metastases (LNM) or both. Risk factors for residual intramural cancer and LNM were analysed based on the original pEMR histological variables. Risk parameters were analysed with respect to low and high-risk variables for residual intramural cancer and LNM.

Results

Among 3372 cases of large non-pedunculated colorectal polyps, 143 cases of covert SMIC (4.2%) were identified. 109 underwent surgical resection. Histological analysis of pEMR histology was available in 98 of 109 (90%) cases. 62 cases (63%) had no residual malignancy. 36 cases had residual malignancy (residual intramural cancer n=24; LNM n=5; both n=7). All cases of residual intramural cancer could be identified by a R1 histological deep margin. Cases with poor differentiation (PD) and/or lymphovascular invasion (LVI) had a high risk of LNM (12/33), with a very low risk without these criteria (<1%; 0/65). Cases at low risk for LNM with R0 deep margin have a low risk of residual intramural cancer (<1%; 0/35).

Conclusion

The majority of cases of large non-pedunculated colorectal polyps with covert SMIC following pEMR will have no residual malignancy. The risk of residual malignancy can be ascertained from three key variables: PD, LVI and R1 deep margin.
Novel imaging biomarkers predict outcomes in stage III unresectable non-small cell lung cancer treated with chemoradiation and durvalumab
Authors: Jazieh Khalid , Khorrami Mohammadhadi , Saad Anas , Gad Mohamed , Gupta Amit , Patil Pradnya , Viswanathan Vidya Sankar , Rajiah Prabhakar , Nock Charles J , Gilkey Michael , Fu Pingfu , Pennell Nathan A , Madabhushi Anant
Published: March 2022

Background

The landmark study of durvalumab as consolidation therapy in NSCLC patients (PACIFIC trial) demonstrated significantly longer progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with locally advanced, unresectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with durvalumab (immunotherapy, IO) therapy after chemoradiotherapy (CRT). In clinical practice in the USA, durvalumab continues to be used in patients across all levels of programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) expression. While immune therapies have shown promise in several cancers, some patients either do not respond to the therapy or have cancer recurrence after an initial response. It is not clear so far who will benefit of this therapy or what the mechanisms behind treatment failure are.

Methods

A total of 133 patients with unresectable stage III NSCLC who underwent durvalumab after CRT or CRT alone were included. Patients treated with durvalumab IO after CRT were randomly split into training (D1=59) and test (D2=59) sets and the remaining 15 patients treated with CRT alone were grouped in D3. Radiomic textural patterns from within and around the target nodules were extracted. A radiomic risk score (RRS) was built and was used to predict PFS and overall survival (OS). Patients were divided into high-risk and low-risk groups based on median RRS.

Results

RRS was found to be significantly associated with PFS in D1 (HR=2.67, 95% CI 1.85 to 4.13, p<0.05, C-index=0.78) and D2 (HR=2.56, 95% CI 1.63 to 4, p<0.05, C-index=0.73). Similarly, RRS was associated with OS in D1 (HR=1.89, 95% CI 1.3 to 2.75, p<0.05, C-index=0.67) and D2 (HR=2.14, 95% CI 1.28 to 3.6, p<0.05, C-index=0.69), respectively. RRS was found to be significantly associated with PFS in high PD-L1 (HR=3.01, 95% CI 1.41 to 6.45, p=0.0044) and low PD-L1 (HR=2.74, 95% CI 1.8 to 4.14, p=1.77e-06) groups. Moreover, RRS was not significantly associated with OS in the high PD-L1 group (HR=2.08, 95% CI 0.98 to 4.4, p=0.054) but was significantly associated with OS in the low PD-L1 group (HR=1.61, 95% CI 1.14 to 2.28, p=0.0062). In addition, RRS was significantly associated with PFS (HR=2.77, 95% CI 1.17 to 6.52, p=0.019, C-index=0.77) and OS (HR=2.62, 95% CI 1.25 to 5.51, p=0.01, C-index=0.77) in D3, respectively.

Conclusions

Tumor radiomics of pretreatment CT images from patients with stage III unresectable NSCLC were prognostic of PFS and OS to CRT followed by durvalumab IO and CRT alone.
Preclinical characterization of the novel anti-SIRPα antibody BR105 that targets the myeloid immune checkpoint
Authors: Wu Zhen-Hua , Li Na , Mei Xiao-Feng , Chen Juan , Wang Xiao-Ze , Guo Ting-Ting , Chen Gang , Nie Lei , Chen Yao , Jiang Mei-Zhu , Wang Ji-Teng , Wang Hai-Bin
Published: March 2022

Background

The CD47-SIRPα pathway acts as an important myeloid cell immune checkpoint and targeting the CD47/SIRPα axis represents a promising strategy to promote antitumor immunity. Several CD47-targeting agents show encouraging early activity in clinical trials. However, due to ubiquitous expression of CD47, the antigen sink and hematologic toxicity, such as anemia and thrombocytopenia, are main problems for developing CD47-targeting therapies. Considering the limited expression of SIRPα, targeting SIRPα is an alternative approach to block the CD47-SIRPα pathway, which may result in differential efficacy and safety profiles.

Methods

SIRPα-targeting antibody BR105 was generated by hybridoma fusion and following humanization. BR105 was characterized for binding to human SIRPα alleles and blockade of the interaction with CD47. The functional activity was determined in in vitro phagocytosis assays by using human macrophages. The effect of BR105 on human T cell activation was studied using an OKT3-induced T-cell proliferation assay and an allogeneic mixed lymphocyte reaction. Human SIRPα-humanized immunodeficient mice were used in cancer models for evaluating the in vivo antitumor efficacy of BR105. Safety was addressed in a repeat-dose toxicity study in cynomolgus monkeys, and toxicokinetic analysis was further evaluated.

Results

BR105 shows broad binding activity across various SIRPα variants, and potently blocks the interaction of SIRPα and CD47. In vitro functional assays demonstrated that BR105 synergizes with therapeutic antibodies to promote phagocytosis of tumor cells. Moreover, the combination of BR105 and therapeutic antibody significantly inhibits tumor growth in a xenograft tumor model. Although BR105 may slightly bind to SIRPγ, it does not inhibit T cell activation, unlike other non-selective SIRPα-targeting antibody and CD47-targeting agents. Toxicity studies in non-human primates show that BR105 is well tolerated with no treatment-related adverse effects noted.

Conclusions

The novel and differentiated SIRPα-targeting antibody, BR105, was discovered and displays promising antitumor efficacy in vitro and in vivo. BR105 has a favorable safety profile and shows no adverse effects on T cell functionality. These data support further clinical development of BR105, especially as a therapeutic agent to enhance efficacy when used in combination with tumor-targeting antibodies or antibodies that target other immune checkpoints.
The unnaturalistic fallacy: COVID-19 vaccine mandates should not discriminate against natural immunity
Authors: Pugh Jonathan , Savulescu Julian , Brown Rebecca C H , Wilkinson Dominic
Published: March 2022

COVID-19 vaccine requirements have generated significant debate. Here, we argue that, on the evidence available, such policies should have recognised proof of natural immunity as a sufficient basis for exemption to vaccination requirements. We begin by distinguishing our argument from two implausible claims about natural immunity: (1) natural immunity is superior to ‘artificial’ vaccine-induced immunity simply because it is ‘natural’ and (2) it is better to acquire immunity through natural infection than via vaccination. We then briefly survey the evidence base for the comparison between naturally acquired immunity and vaccine-induced immunity. While we clearly cannot settle the scientific debates on this point, we suggest that we lack clear and convincing scientific evidence that vaccine-induced immunity has a significantly higher protective effect than natural immunity. Since vaccine requirements represent a substantial infringement of individual liberty, as well as imposing other significant costs, they can only be justified if they are necessary for achieving a proportionate public health benefit. Without compelling evidence for the superiority of vaccine-induced immunity, it cannot be deemed necessary to require vaccination for those with natural immunity. Subjecting them to vaccine mandates is therefore not justified. We conclude by defending the standard of proof that this argument from necessity invokes, and address other pragmatic and practical considerations that may speak against natural immunity exemptions.
Heliotropism inTrillium grandiflorumprovides increased reproductive success
Authors: Gradito Maryane , Fauteux Catherine , Joly Simon
Published: March 2022

Heliotropism of flowers is thought to provide a reproductive advantage to individuals of many species; yet, there are few clear demonstrations of a fitness advantage provided by heliotropism, most of which are almost completely restricted to plants from the arctic or alpine regions where a heat gain provides an advantage to the plants. In this study, we report heliotropism in the white trillium, an early spring blooming species from the temperate forests of eastern North America. The white trillium shows horizontal seasonal heliotropism with flowers mainly facing south throughout the summer, but it also exhibits daily horizontal and vertical heliotropism with the orientation of the flower tracking the sun during the day. The study of 479 tethered plants indicated that seasonal heliotropism provides a reproductive advantage to the white trillium, with south-facing individuals showing a 12% increase in fertilized ovules compared to north-facing plants. The ecology of this long-lived perennial is, in many aspects, similar to that of alpine and arctic heliotropic species. Indeed, white trilliums are insect-pollinated and they flower when the weather is cold, before the trees leaf out. This suggests that there are potentially more species for which heliotropism is advantageous amongst early spring flowers from the temperate forest.
Spread of Heterobasidion genotypes in Norway spruce stands on drained peat soil in Latvia
Authors: Gaitnieks Tālis , Silbauma Lauma , Muižnieks Indriķis , Zaļuma Astra , Kļaviņa Dārta , Burņeviča Natālija , Grosberga Magdalēna , Lazdiņš Andis , Piri Tuula
Published: March 2022

According to several earlier studies, the prevalence of Heterobasidion in peat soils is generally lower compared to mineral soils. However, in some Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) stands on drained peat soils in Latvia, serious damage caused by Heterobasidion root rot has been observed. To determine the spread of Heterobasidion spp. on peat soil, we analyzed the structure of Heterobasidion genets in 20 study plots established in disease centres in 11 spruce-dominated peatland forest stands. A total of 381 standing spruce trees and 244 spruce stumps were examined for Heterobasidion infection. The fungus was isolated from 181 spruce trees (47.5%) and 43 stumps (17.6%). In total, 101 different Heterobasidion genotypes (genets) were identified (on average five genotypes per study plot). The average number of trees infected by a single Heterobasidion genotype was 2.2. Most of the genets (68.3%) had infected only one tree or stump while the rest of the genets (31.7%) had infected several trees and stumps. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the spread of Heterobasidion genotypes in peatland forest stands. To reduce losses caused by Heterobasidion root rot in spruce forests on drained peat soils, it is important to prevent primary spore infections as well as to avoid planting pure spruce stands with high density.
Chromosome painting reveals the genomic structure of three polyploid species of Ipomoea
Authors: Sun Jianying , Su Dan , Ma Rengang , Chen Lei , Cao Qinghe , Li Zongyun , Han Yonghua
Published: March 2022

Cultivated sweetpotato [ Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.] from the family Convolvulaceae is a hexaploid species with 2 n = 6 x = 90 and has been controversial regarding its nature as an autopolyploid arising within a species or an allopolyploid forming between species. Here, we developed oligonucleotide-based painting probes for two chromosomes of I. nil, a model diploid Ipomoea species. Using these probes, we revealed the pairing behavior of homoeologous chromosomes in I. batatas and its two possible polyploid ancestral species, tetraploid I. tabascana (2 n = 4 x = 60) and hexaploid I. trifida (2 n = 6 x = 90). Chromosome painting analysis revealed a high percentage of quadrivalent formation in zygotene–pachytene cells of I. tabascana, which supported that I. tabascana was an autotetraploid likely derived by doubling of structurally similar and homologous genomes rather than a hybrid between I. batatas and I. trifida (2 x). A high frequency of hexavalent/bivalent and tetravalent pairing was observed in I. trifida (6 x) and I. batatas. However, the percentage of hexavalent pairing in I. trifida (6 x) was far higher than that in I. batatas. Thus, the present results tend to support that I. trifida (6 x) is an autohexaploid, while I. batatas is more likely to be a segmental allohexaploid.
Responsiveness of Grassroots Level Civil Servants in China: A Comparison Between Civil Servants Recruited from Regular Entrance Examinations and Specially Selected Graduates
Authors: DUAN ZHEZHE , SO BENNIS WAI YIP
Published: March 2022

This paper compares and contrasts the behavioral tendencies between civil servants recruited from regular entrance examinations (REEs) and specially selected graduates (SSGs) in grassroots-level governments in China as they face a conflict between vertical (hierarchical) and horizontal (public) responsiveness. This study draws on a survey from 13 cities to explore behavioral variations in the two categories of civil servants. Two test methods (the OLS and mediation model) are adopted to verify the findings. This study finds that both the vertical and horizontal responsiveness of civil servants who are SSGs tend to be higher than those recruited from the REEs in facing the above-mentioned conflict. Four personnel mechanisms are tested to explain this variation: (1) the politicized recruitment and selection of SSGs, (2) job arrangements for SSGs, (3) triple leadership over SSGs, and (4) a fast-track stream for SSGs. Our analysis reveals that only the first two can account for this variation. This account can shed new light on the impact of the development of a separate corps of elites in China.
eFraudCom: An E-commerce Fraud Detection System via Competitive Graph Neural Networks
Authors: Zhang Ge , Li Zhao , Huang Jiaming , Wu Jia , Zhou Chuan , Yang Jian , Gao Jianliang
Published: March 2022

With the development of e-commerce, fraud behaviors have been becoming one of the biggest threats to the e-commerce business. Fraud behaviors seriously damage the ranking system of e-commerce platforms and adversely influence the shopping experience of users. It is of great practical value to detect fraud behaviors on e-commerce platforms. However, the task is non-trivial, since the adversarial action taken by fraudsters. Existing fraud detection systems used in the e-commerce industry easily suffer from performance decay and can not adapt to the upgrade of fraud patterns, as they take already known fraud behaviors as supervision information to detect other suspicious behaviors.

In this article, we propose a competitive graph neural networks (CGNN)-based fraud detection system (eFraudCom) to detect fraud behaviors at one of the largest e-commerce platforms, “Taobao”

1

. In the eFraudCom system, (1) the competitive graph neural networks (CGNN) as the core part of eFraudCom can classify behaviors of users directly by modeling the distributions of normal and fraud behaviors separately; (2) some normal behaviors will be utilized as weak supervision information to guide the CGNN to build the profile for normal behaviors that are more stable than fraud behaviors. The algorithm dependency on fraud behaviors will be eliminated, which enables eFraudCom to detect fraud behaviors in presence of the new fraud patterns; (3) the mutual information regularization term can maximize the separability between normal and fraud behaviors to further improve CGNN. eFraudCom is implemented into a prototype system and the performance of the system is evaluated by extensive experiments. The experiments on two Taobao and two public datasets demonstrate that the proposed deep framework CGNN is superior to other baselines in detecting fraud behaviors. A case study on Taobao datasets verifies that CGNN is still robust when the fraud patterns have been upgraded.
Multimodal Web Page Segmentation Using Self-organized Multi-objective Clustering
Authors: Jayashree Srivatsa Ramesh , Dias Gaël , Andrew Judith Jeyafreeda , Saha Sriparna , Maurel Fabrice , Ferrari Stéphane
Published: March 2022

Web page segmentation (WPS) aims to break a web page into different segments with coherent intra- and inter-semantics. By evidencing the morpho-dispositional semantics of a web page, WPS has traditionally been used to demarcate informative from non-informative content, but it has also evidenced its key role within the context of non-linear access to web information for visually impaired people. For that purpose, a great deal of ad hoc solutions have been proposed that rely on visual, logical, and/or text cues. However, such methodologies highly depend on manually tuned heuristics and are parameter-dependent. To overcome these drawbacks, principled frameworks have been proposed that provide the theoretical bases to achieve optimal solutions. However, existing methodologies only combine few discriminant features and do not define strategies to automatically select the optimal number of segments. In this article, we present a multi-objective clustering technique called MCS that relies on

\( K \)

-means, in which (1) visual, logical, and text cues are all combined in a early fusion manner and (2) an evolutionary process automatically discovers the optimal number of clusters (segments) as well as the correct positioning of seeds. As such, our proposal is parameter-free, combines many different modalities, does not depend on manually tuned heuristics, and can be run on any web page without any constraint. An exhaustive evaluation over two different tasks, where (1) the number of segments must be discovered or (2) the number of clusters is fixed with respect to the task at hand, shows that MCS drastically improves over most competitive and up-to-date algorithms for a wide variety of external and internal validation indices. In particular, results clearly evidence the impact of the visual and logical modalities towards segmentation performance.
Augmentation-based Pseudo-Ground truth Generation for Deep Learning in Historical Document Segmentation for Greater Levels of Archival Description and Access
Authors: Pack Chulwoo , Liu Yi , Soh Leen-Kiat , Lorang Elizabeth
Published: March 2022

The successful use of deep learning solutions for document image segmentation typically relies on a large number of manually labeled ground truth examples, which is expensive to obtain for historical document images that have significant noise effects and variation. At the same time, successful applications of deep learning solutions for document image segmentation have rich potential to facilitate greater levels of description in archival collections (e.g., at and below the item-level). These greater levels of description are critical to increasing access and use of archival collections across an array of research domains. In response, this article investigates whether an augmentation-based approach to generating pseudo-ground truth can be effective with a limited number of labeled images in a document segmentation application. The rationale is that if we can decrease the cost of generating ground truth through augmentation-based approaches, we can use these approaches as part of the description and access pipelines for historical library and archival collections. In this initial exploration, we first generate synthetic images and corresponding pseudo-ground truth using a set of existing degradation-based augmentation models from a small number of labeled actual images. When generating synthetic images, we control the visual quality distortion based on OCR word-level confidence to avoid generating images unlikely to be present in the dataset. Then, we perform several investigations to examine the impact of incorporating pseudo-ground truth data in the training of the deep learning network dhSegment and further evaluate the use of multiple combinations of degradation models. We also assess the generalizability of the approach by applying the trained network on a larger dataset. Our investigations primarily use real-world datasets known to have significant noise effects. Results show that augmentation-based pseudo-ground truth generation is capable of improving segmentation performance with the use of the full original dataset and requires only 30% of the original dataset. Results also show that using more than three degradation models is likely to cause overfitting during training. Furthermore, we show that a segmentation network trained on pseudo-ground truth data has generalization capability.
Context- and Fairness-Aware In-Process Crowdworker Recommendation
Authors: Wang Junjie , Yang Ye , Wang Song , Hu Jun , Wang Qing
Published: March 2022

Identifying and optimizing open participation is essential to the success of open software development. Existing studies highlighted the importance of worker recommendation for crowdtesting tasks in order to improve bug detection efficiency, i.e., detect more bugs with fewer workers. However, there are a couple of limitations in existing work. First, these studies mainly focus on one-time recommendations based on expertise matching at the beginning of a new task. Second, the recommendation results suffer from severe popularity bias, i.e., highly experienced workers are recommended in almost all the tasks, while less experienced workers rarely get recommended. This article argues the need for context- and fairness-aware in-process crowdworker recommendation in order to address these limitations. We motivate this study through a pilot study, revealing the prevalence of long-sized non-yielding windows, i.e., no new bugs are revealed in consecutive test reports during the process of a crowdtesting task. This indicates the potential opportunity for accelerating crowdtesting by recommending appropriate workers in a dynamic manner, so that the non-yielding windows could be shortened. Besides, motivated by the popularity bias in existing crowdworker recommendation approach, this study also aims at alleviating the unfairness in recommendations.

Driven by these observations, this article proposes a context- and fairness-aware in-process crowdworker recommendation approach, iRec2.0, to detect more bugs earlier, shorten the non-yielding windows, and alleviate the unfairness in recommendations. It consists of three main components: (1) the modeling of dynamic testing context, (2) the learning-based ranking component, and (3) the multi-objective optimization-based re-ranking component. The evaluation is conducted on 636 crowdtesting tasks from one of the largest crowdtesting platforms, and results show the potential of iRec2.0 in improving the cost-effectiveness of crowdtesting by saving the cost, shortening the testing process, and alleviating the unfairness among workers. In detail, iRec2.0 could shorten the non-yielding window by a median of 50%–66% in different application scenarios, and consequently have potential of saving testing cost by a median of 8%–12%. Meanwhile, the recommendation frequency of the crowdworker drop from 34%–60% to 5%–26% under different scenarios, indicating its potential in alleviating the unfairness among crowdworkers.
Industry–Academia Research Collaboration and Knowledge Co-creation: Patterns and Anti-patterns
Authors: Marijan Dusica , Sen Sagar
Published: March 2022

Increasing the impact of software engineering research in the software industry and the society at large has long been a concern of high priority for the software engineering community. The problem of two cultures, research conducted in a vacuum (disconnected from the real world), or misaligned time horizons are just some of the many complex challenges standing in the way of successful industry–academia collaborations. This article reports on the experience of research collaboration and knowledge co-creation between industry and academia in software engineering as a way to bridge the research–practice collaboration gap. Our experience spans 14 years of collaboration between researchers in software engineering and the European and Norwegian software and IT industry. Using the participant observation and interview methods, we have collected and afterwards analyzed an extensive record of qualitative data. Drawing upon the findings made and the experience gained, we provide a set of 14 patterns and 14 anti-patterns for industry–academia collaborations, aimed to support other researchers and practitioners in establishing and running research collaboration projects in software engineering.
Consortium of Municipalities Co-tailoring a Governmental e-Service Platform: What could go wrong?
Authors: Pekkola Samuli , Ylinen Maija , Mavengere Nicholas
Published: March 2022

Governments and public sector organizations are digitalizing their service provisions to cut costs, improve public administration efficiency, provide better services to citizens and companies, or increase transparency of expenditure and decision-making. Often these attempts are local where each agency, city, municipality, or even a single department develops its own solutions. However, it is difficult to scale these up to broader contexts, e.g., governmental or regional level since they are designed for local needs. From this perspective, top-down initiatives, such as the use of common platforms, may result in more benefits. In this paper, we study a government-initiated platform for citizen-civil servant messaging in eight municipalities, each autonomously making decisions related to their service provision. The municipalities got a shared grant to co-tailor the platform to save resources and to learn together how to make best out of it and avoid possible problems. We study why this joint endeavor turned out to be difficult by utilizing the windows of opportunity theory as a research lens. We identify different challenges in service co-tailoring, including dissimilar practices, processes, skills and competencies, and attitudes and goals, and argue that co-tailoring and co-experimentation necessitates careful planning and consideration of these differences.
A Participatory Design Approach to Creating Echolocation-Enabled Virtual Environments
Authors: Andrade Ronny , Baker Steven , Waycott Jenny , Vetere Frank
Published: March 2022

As virtual environments—in the form of videogames and augmented and virtual reality experiences—become more popular, it is important to ensure that they are accessible to all. Previous research has identified echolocation as a useful interaction approach to enable people with visual impairment to access virtual environments. In this article, we further investigate the usefulness of echolocation to explore virtual environments. We follow a participatory design approach that comprised a focus group session coupled with two fast prototyping and evaluation iterations. During the focus group session, expert echolocators produced a series of seven design recommendations, of which we implemented and trialed four. Our trials revealed that the use of ambient sounds, the ability to place landmarks, directional control, and the ability to use pre-recorded mouth-clicks produced by expert echolocators improved the overall experience of our participants by facilitating the detection of openings and obstacles. The recommendations presented and evaluated in this article may help to develop virtual environments that support a broader range of users while recognising the value of the lived experience of people with disability as a source of knowledge.
Rare-event Simulation for Neural Network and Random Forest Predictors
Authors: Bai Yuanlu , Huang Zhiyuan , Lam Henry , Zhao Ding
Published: March 2022

We study rare-event simulation for a class of problems where the target hitting sets of interest are defined via modern machine learning tools such as neural networks and random forests. This problem is motivated from fast emerging studies on the safety evaluation of intelligent systems, robustness quantification of learning models, and other potential applications to large-scale simulation in which machine learning tools can be used to approximate complex rare-event set boundaries. We investigate an importance sampling scheme that integrates the dominating point machinery in large deviations and sequential mixed integer programming to locate the underlying dominating points. Our approach works for a range of neural network architectures including fully connected layers, rectified linear units, normalization, pooling and convolutional layers, and random forests built from standard decision trees. We provide efficiency guarantees and numerical demonstration of our approach using a classification model in the UCI Machine Learning Repository.
A Construction Kit for Efficient Low Power Neural Network Accelerator Designs
Authors: Jokic Petar , Azarkhish Erfan , Bonetti Andrea , Pons Marc , Emery Stephane , Benini Luca
Published: March 2022

Implementing embedded neural network processing at the edge requires efficient hardware acceleration that combines high computational throughput with low power consumption. Driven by the rapid evolution of network architectures and their algorithmic features, accelerator designs are constantly being adapted to support the improved functionalities. Hardware designers can refer to a myriad of accelerator implementations in the literature to evaluate and compare hardware design choices. However, the sheer number of publications and their diverse optimization directions hinder an effective assessment. Existing surveys provide an overview of these works but are often limited to system-level and benchmark-specific performance metrics, making it difficult to quantitatively compare the individual effects of each utilized optimization technique. This complicates the evaluation of optimizations for new accelerator designs, slowing-down the research progress.

In contrast to previous surveys, this work provides a
quantitative
overview of neural network accelerator optimization approaches that have been used in recent works and reports their
individual
effects on edge processing performance. The list of optimizations and their quantitative effects are presented as a construction kit, allowing to assess the design choices for each building block individually. Reported optimizations range from up to 10,000× memory savings to 33× energy reductions, providing chip designers with an overview of design choices for implementing efficient low power neural network accelerators.