bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Outcomes of a comparison between pastoral and silvopastoral management on beef cattle productivity, animal welfare and pasture depletion in a Mediterranean extensive farm
Authors: Ripamonti Alice , Mantino Alberto , Annecchini Francesco , Cappucci Alice , Casarosa Laura , Turini Luca , Foggi Giulia , Mele Marcello
Published: May 2023

In spring 2021, 50 growing steers and heifers of the Maremmana breed (average age 321 d and weight 287 kg) were rotationally stocked under two different treatments (silvopastoral and pastoral). The aim was to evaluate the influence of grazing system on cattle growth and welfare, and pasture depletion. The experiment was carried out on a real Mediterranean agrosilvopastoral farm, located in central Italy. To implement rotational grazing, 3.69 ha of temporary grassland were split into six paddocks, three for each treatment. Cattle grazed for one week in one paddock and then were moved to the next one for a total of six weeks corresponding to six grazing periods. The group maintained on the silvopastoral system were allowed to access 3.31 ha of a Turkey oak (Quercus cerris L.) forest. Regarding the average daily gain, a significant interaction was found between the treatment and time. The average daily gain of the animals grazing in the open pasture was 1.20 kg d−1, while that of the cattle grazing in the silvopastoral system was 1.02 kg d−1. Despite the rate of growth being within the expected range for the Maremmana breed, the average daily gain of cattle in the silvopastoral system was significantly lower. One of the possible causes of this difference could be the higher energy requirements of the animals due to the different activity levels. The different management did not affect animal welfare indicators. Indeed, the serum cortisol concentration did not vary between treatments and among sampling times, while the hair cortisol concentration decreased significantly during the experiment for both groups. Regarding pasture health, allowing cattle to graze in the forest reduced pasture depletion because of the lower stocking rate and grazing pressure. Further studies are necessary to increase the knowledge of the role of forests and grazing management in other seasons than spring in extensive agrosilvopastoral systems.
Automated discovery of angle theorems
Authors: Todd Philip
Published: May 2023

We consider geometry theorems whose premises and statement comprise a set of bisector conditions. Each premise and the statement can be represented as the rows of a “bisector matrix”: one with three non zero elements per row, one element with value -2 and the others with value 1. The existence of a theorem corresponds to rank deficiency in this matrix. Our method of theorem discovery starts with identification of rank deficient bisector matrices. Some such matrices can be represented as graphs whose vertices correspond to matrix rows and whose edges correspond to matrix columns. We show that if a bisector matrix which can be represented as a graph is rank deficient, then the graph is bicubic. We give an algorithm for finding the rank deficient matrices for a Hamiltonian bicubic graph, and report on the results for graphs with 6,8,10 and 12 vertices. We discuss a method of deriving rank deficient bisector matrices with more than 2 non-zero elements. We extend the work to matrices containing rows corresponding to angle trisectors.
Normoxia exposure reduces hemoglobin concentration and gill size in a hypoxia-tolerant tropical freshwater fish
Authors: Mucha Stefan , Chapman Lauren J. , Krahe Rüdiger
Published: May 2023

Hypoxia is a widespread environmental stressor that shapes fish physiology and morphology. Plasticity in traits that improve oxygen uptake and delivery or reduce oxygen requirements may be critical for fish to cope with fluctuating dissolved oxygen (DO) conditions in their natural habitat or adapt to new environments. In this study, we characterized a suite of morpho-physiological respiratory traits of a naturally hypoxia-acclimated weakly electric mormyrid fish, Petrocephalus degeni, and quantified their plasticity in response to long-term normoxia exposure. We captured P. degeni from a hypoxic swamp habitat (PO2 = 2.43 ± 1.85 kPa) surrounding Lake Nabugabo, Uganda, and acclimated them to normoxia (PO2 > 16 kPa) for up to 75 days. At various time points throughout normoxia exposure, we measured blood hemoglobin and lactate concentration, gill size, routine metabolic rate (RMR), regulation index (RI), and critical oxygen tension (Pcrit). We found that 62–75 days of normoxia exposure significantly reduced blood hemoglobin concentration (− 17%), gill filament length (− 14%), and hemibranch area (− 18%), whereas RMR, RI, Pcrit, and blood lactate showed no significant change. Our results support earlier findings that swamp-dwelling P. degeni are well adapted to life in chronic and severe hypoxia and indicate that they possess a limited capacity for phenotypic plasticity in response to a change in their DO environment.
Renormalized Energy of a Dislocation Loop in a 3D Anisotropic Body
Authors: Šilhavý Miroslav
Published: May 2023

The paper presents a rigorous analysis of the singularities of elastic fields near a dislocation loop in a body of arbitrary material symmetry that extends over the entire three-space. Explicit asymptotic formulas are given for the stress, strain and the incompatible distortion near the curved dislocation. These formulas are used to analyze the main object of the paper, the renormalized energy. The core-cutoff method is used to introduce that notion: first, a core in the form of a curved tube along the dislocation loop is removed; then, the energy of the complement is determined (= the core-cutoff energy). As in the case of a straight dislocation, the core-cutoff energy has a singularity that is proportional to the logarithm of the core radius. The renormalized energy is the limit, as the radius tends to 0, of the core-cutoff energy minus the singular logarithmic part. The main result of the paper are novel formulas for the coefficient of logarithmic singularity (the ‘prelogarithmic energy factor’) and for the renormalized energy.
Maternal Childhood Abuse Versus Neglect Associated with Differential Patterns of Infant Brain Development
Authors: Lyons-Ruth Karlen , Li Frances Haofei , Khoury Jennifer E. , Ahtam Banu , Sisitsky Michaela , Ou Yangming , Enlow Michelle Bosquet , Grant Ellen
Published: May 2023

Severity of maternal childhood maltreatment has been associated with lower infant grey matter volume and amygdala volume during the first two years of life. A developing literature argues that effects of threat (abuse) and of deprivation (neglect) should be assessed separately because these distinct aspects of adversity may have different impacts on developmental outcomes. However, distinct effects of threat versus deprivation have not been assessed in relation to intergenerational effects of child maltreatment. The objective of this study was to separately assess the links of maternal childhood abuse and neglect with infant grey matter volume (GMV), white matter volume (WMV), amygdala and hippocampal volume. Participants included 57 mother-infant dyads. Mothers were assessed for childhood abuse and neglect using the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) questionnaire in a sample enriched for childhood maltreatment. Between 4 and 24 months (M age = 12.28 months, SD = 5.99), under natural sleep, infants completed an MRI using a 3.0 T Siemens scanner. GMV, WMV, amygdala and hippocampal volumes were extracted via automated segmentation. Maternal history of neglect, but not abuse, was associated with lower infant GMV. Maternal history of abuse, but not neglect, interacted with age such that abuse was associated with smaller infant amygdala volume at older ages. Results are consistent with a threat versus deprivation framework, in which threat impacts limbic regions central to the stress response, whereas deprivation impacts areas more central to cognitive function. Further studies are needed to identify mechanisms contributing to these differential intergenerational associations of threat versus deprivation.
Occupational mobility: theory and estimation for Italy
Authors: Brunetti Irene , Fiaschi Davide
Published: May 2023

This paper presents a model considering intergenerational occupational mobility as the joint outcome of three main determinants: income incentives, equality of opportunity and changes in the composition of occupations. The model, rationalising the use of transition matrices to measure occupational mobility, allows for identifying asymmetric mobility patterns and constructing a specific mobility index for each determinant. The empirical application of our model to Italy suggests that intergenerational mobility increased from the cohort of children born in the period 1940-1951 to the one born in the period 1952-1965, then to remain at the same level for the cohort of children born in the period 1966-1977. This steady mobility, however, hides i) lower structural mobility, caused by a declining trend in the composition of occupations in favour of upper-middle classes; ii) less upward mobility for those whose fathers were in the lower class; and iii) higher downward mobility from upper-middle classes, both caused by a decrease in the income incentives. Equality of opportunity is low and constant for those born after 1951.
Situla Art: An Iron Age Artisanal Tradition Found Between the Apennines and the Eastern Alps and Its Identity Valencies
Authors: Saccoccio Fabio
Published: May 2023

Situla Art is an Iron Age artisanal tradition dated to c. 660/650–275 BC, corresponding to the Hallstatt C2 to the La Tène B2 phases. It is characterised by striking sheet-bronze objects with embossed and/or incised decoration in Orientalising taste with animals, plants and/or human figures generally distributed in friezes. Situla Art is documented between the Apennines and the eastern Alps, and Este is suggested as its key centre. This paper provides a long overdue literature review, a working definition for Situla Art and an updated catalogue with 306 objects. It also (re-)investigates the influences which may have led to the emergence of Situla Art, its development and decline. Hats and earrings depicted in Situla Art are investigated to highlight their identity valencies, and to provide socio-political insights on the Iron Age elite who used Situla Art as a non-linguistic symbol-based system to acquire, exhibit and legitimate power over time in the area of its distribution.
Characterizing the thermal phase behaviour of fipronil polymorphs
Authors: Moyo Dennis Simbarashe , van der Merwe Elizabet Margaretha , Rademeyer Melanie , Malan Frederick Pieter , Atanasova Maria T. , Mapossa António Benjamim , Focke Walter Wilhelm
Published: May 2023

This manuscript reports the investigation of the polymorphic behaviour of fipronil using a systematic comparison of the thermochemical and structural properties of different crystal forms obtained in this study as well as those previously reported in literature. The analytical techniques employed include DSC, TGA, PXRD, SCXRD and hot stage microscopy. DSC proved particularly useful because it made it possible to differentiate between the two different crystal forms found in the as-received neat fipronil. The DSC scans revealed the presence of two polymorphs which had melting endotherms with peak maxima at ca. 196 °C and 205 °C, respectively. These polymorphs were successfully separated via sublimation and resulted in a metastable, lower melting polymorph in the sublimate and a thermodynamically stable, higher melting form in the sublimation residue. Clear evidence for the instability of the lower melting polymorph was found when the endotherms were examined under a range of heating rates. The proportion of the metastable form appeared to increase as the rate was increased, indicating that the metastable form underwent a solid–solid phase transition to the stable form at low heating rates. Recrystallization of fipronil from different solvents yielded five different forms. TGA curves revealed that all forms, except the acetone-derived one, were solvate pseudo-polymorphs that showed solvent loss between 60 and 100 °C. The acetone-derived sample was a hemihydrate that only started to show mass loss at 120 °C. SCXRD studies revealed that three of the five forms have similar structural characteristics, while the other two forms differ notably from each other and the rest of the structures. Despite these structural differences, all five forms exhibit near-identical intra- and intermolecular hydrogen bond networks.
Effects of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) inoculation on nodule development and rhizosphere carbon and nitrogen content under simulated drought
Authors: Becker Joscha N. , Grozinger Janis , Sarkar Abhijit , Reinhold-Hurek Barbara , Eschenbach Annette
Published: May 2023

Aims

Inoculation with climate-adapted rhizobia is able to increase legume productivity in drought-prone regions of Sub-Saharan Africa. Enhanced nodulation might additionally affect plant-soil interactions and control rhizosphere carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) pools.

Methods

We investigated inoculation effects on nodulation and biological N2 fixation (BNF) of Vigna unguiculata and consequent effects on C and N pools in two Namibian soils. Three treatments (Bradyrhizobium sp.1–7 inoculant, non-inoculated, N-fertilised with 50 kg N ha−1) were applied in rhizoboxes at 45% and 20% maximum water holding capacity. Nodule development was photo-documented, and rhizobia-DNA sequences were identified. BNF was assessed by δ15N enrichment, and organic C and N pools were analysed in bulk and root adherent soil.

Results

Plant growth initially enhanced mineral N losses from the rhizosphere at flowering stage (6 weeks growth), but led to a re-increase of N, and organic C contents after ripening (10 weeks). Inoculation had no effect on nodulation and soil C and N pools, indicating that both soils contained sufficient indigenous rhizobia to allow effective nodulation. However, the inoculant strain was more competitive in establishing itself in the root nodules, depending on the local conditions, showing a need for regional adjustment of inoculation strategies.

Conclusion

Water stress was the main limitation for nodulation and, in combination with soil type, substantially affected rhizosphere and bulk soil C and N contents. The temporally enhanced rhizodeposition after ripening could be able to maintain soil C and N pools after legume cultivation.
Assessing students’ understanding of time concepts in Years 3 and 4: insights from the development and use of a one-to-one task-based interview
Authors: Thomas Margaret , Clarke Doug M. , McDonough Andrea , Clarkson Philip C.
Published: May 2023

Time is an important but complex area of learning for students in the primary years. This study sought to develop a tool which would provide a clear picture of students’ understanding of what constitutes time and how time is related to clock and calendar use. Four major components of time, Awareness of time, Succession, Duration, and Measurement of time, with related key ideas, formed the basis for a Framework for the Learning and Teaching of Time. This Framework underpinned the development of a 69-item, one-to-one task-based interview to assess students’ understanding of time. Data from interviews of Year 3 and 4 students gave a clear picture of how they experienced the mathematics of time. The range of scores across all assessed areas of the Framework revealed a considerable spread of students’ understandings of time concepts. This paper focuses on the development of the Framework and interview, the interview data, and the general benefits of the use of the task-based assessment interview in assessing the mathematical understanding and thinking of children regarding time.
Heterogeneity of Autism Characteristics in Genetic Syndromes: Key Considerations for Assessment and Support
Authors: Jenner Lauren , Richards Caroline , Howard Rachel , Moss Joanna
Published: May 2023

Purpose of Review

Elevated prevalence of autism characteristics is reported in genetic syndromes associated with intellectual disability. This review summarises recent evidence on the behavioural heterogeneity of autism in the following syndromes: Fragile X, Cornelia de Lange, Williams, Prader-Willi, Angelman, Down, Smith-Magenis, and tuberous sclerosis complex. Key considerations for assessment and support are discussed.

Recent Findings

The profile and developmental trajectory of autism-related behaviour in these syndromes indicate some degree of syndrome specificity which may interact with broader behavioural phenotypes (e.g. hypersociability), intellectual disability, and mental health (e.g. anxiety). Genetic subtype and co-occurring epilepsy within syndromes contribute to increased significance of autism characteristics. Autism-related strengths and challenges are likely to be overlooked or misunderstood using existing screening/diagnostic tools and criteria, which lack sensitivity and specificity within these populations.

Autism characteristics are highly heterogeneous across genetic syndromes and often distinguishable from non-syndromic autism. Autism diagnostic assessment practices in this population should be tailored to specific syndromes. Service provisions must begin to prioritise needs-led support.
Strategies for Sustainable Production of Hydrogen Peroxide via Oxygen Reduction Reaction: From Catalyst Design to Device Setup
Authors: Tian Yuhui , Deng Daijie , Xu Li , Li Meng , Chen Hao , Wu Zhenzhen , Zhang Shanqing
Published: May 2023

An environmentally benign, sustainable, and cost-effective supply of H2O2 as a rapidly expanding consumption raw material is highly desired for chemical industries, medical treatment, and household disinfection. The electrocatalytic production route via electrochemical oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) offers a sustainable avenue for the on-site production of H2O2 from O2 and H2O. The most crucial and innovative part of such technology lies in the availability of suitable electrocatalysts that promote two-electron (2e–) ORR. In recent years, tremendous progress has been achieved in designing efficient, robust, and cost-effective catalyst materials, including noble metals and their alloys, metal-free carbon-based materials, single-atom catalysts, and molecular catalysts. Meanwhile, innovative cell designs have significantly advanced electrochemical applications at the industrial level. This review summarizes fundamental basics and recent advances in H2O2 production via 2e–-ORR, including catalyst design, mechanistic explorations, theoretical computations, experimental evaluations, and electrochemical cell designs. Perspectives on addressing remaining challenges are also presented with an emphasis on the large-scale synthesis of H2O2 via the electrochemical route.
A Review on Interface Engineering of MXenes for Perovskite Solar Cells
Authors: Palei Srikanta , Murali G. , Kim Choong-Hee , In Insik , Lee Seul-Yi , Park Soo-Jin
Published: May 2023

With an excellent power conversion efficiency of 25.7%, closer to the Shockley–Queisser limit, perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have become a strong candidate for a next-generation energy harvester. However, the lack of stability and reliability in PSCs remained challenging for commercialization. Strategies, such as interfacial and structural engineering, have a more critical influence on enhanced performance. MXenes, two-dimensional materials, have emerged as promising materials in solar cell applications due to their metallic electrical conductivity, high carrier mobility, excellent optical transparency, wide tunable work function, and superior mechanical properties. Owing to different choices of transition elements and surface-terminating functional groups, MXenes possess the feature of tuning the work function, which is an essential metric for band energy alignment between the absorber layer and the charge transport layers for charge carrier extraction and collection in PSCs. Furthermore, adopting MXenes to their respective components helps reduce the interfacial recombination resistance and provides smooth charge transfer paths, leading to enhanced conductivity and operational stability of PSCs. This review paper aims to provide an overview of the applications of MXenes as components, classified according to their roles as additives (into the perovskite absorber layer, charge transport layers, and electrodes) and themselves alone or as interfacial layers, and their significant importance in PSCs in terms of device performance and stability. Lastly, we discuss the present research status and future directions toward its use in PSCs.
Microstructure and properties of AlCr and AlCrFe coatings deposited by magnetron sputtering
Authors: Ura-Bińczyk Ewa , Kulikowski Krzysztof , Chromiński Witold , Smolik Jerzy , Lewandowska Małgorzata
Published: May 2023

In this work, AlCr and AlCrFe coatings were deposited via magnetron sputtering on technical substrates of carbon steel C45 and titanium grade 2. The coatings feature an amorphous structure, a thickness of 3–4 μm, and are uniform in terms of thickness and chemical composition. No major defects were visible at the interface; however, there is no diffusion at the interface, which indicates the adhesive type of bonding and results in relatively low adhesion. The coatings are characterized by a hardness of about 8–10 GPa and a Young modulus above 150 GPa. Both values are slightly higher for steel substrate. The coatings assure good corrosion resistance for steel substrate while underperforming those of Ti grade 2.
Application of a 3D hydrogel-based model to replace use of animals for passaging patient-derived xenografts
Authors: Jones Sal , Ashworth Jennifer C. , Meakin Marian , Collier Pamela , Probert Catherine , Ritchie Alison A. , Merry Catherine L. R. , Grabowska Anna M.
Published: May 2023

Purpose

This 3D in vitro cancer model for propagation of patient-derived cells, using a synthetic self-assembling peptide gel, allows the formation of a fully characterised, tailorable tumour microenvironment. Unlike many existing 3D cancer models, the peptide gel is inert, apart from molecules and motifs deliberately added or produced by cells within the model.

Methods

Breast cancer patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) were disaggregated and embedded in a peptide hydrogel. Growth was monitored by microscopic examination and at intervals, cells were extracted from the gels and passaged on into fresh gels. Passaged cells were assessed by qPCR and immunostaining techniques for the retention of characteristic markers.

Results

Breast cancer PDXs were shown to be capable of expansion over four or more passages in the peptide gel. Contaminating mouse cells were found to be rapidly removed by successive passages. The resulting human cells were shown to be compatible with a range of common assays useful for assessing survival, growth and maintenance of heterogeneity.

Conclusions

Based on these findings, the hydrogel has the potential to provide an effective and practical breast cancer model for the passage of PDXs which will have the added benefits of being relatively cheap, fully-defined and free from the use of animals or animal products. Encapsulated cells will require further validation to confirm the maintenance of cell heterogeneity, genotypes and phenotypes across passage, but with further development, including the addition of bespoke cell and matrix components of the tumour microenvironment, there is clear potential to model other cancer types.
Enhancing the Anthropocene coastal infrastructure sustainability using the approaches developed by the London Convention and Protocol
Authors: Hong GiHoon , Vivian Christopher , Vogt Craig , Haag Fredrik , Zuo Fang , Qin Kai
Published: May 2023

The water’s edge is a critically important and efficient location to trade with other partners by connecting inland water channels and sea lanes and to obtain food provisions from the biologically diverse and productive sea. Human civilization has built around the ports and harbors by constructing fixed structures to support waterborne transport and enhance or sustain city functions for millennia. These artificially fixed structures are not in natural equilibrium with the environment (water and sediment). Access channels and the sea bottom adjacent to piers are often dredged to accommodate larger ships. Bottom sediment dredging is a part of port management. Where to place the dredged material is of primary concern for port authorities because of its sheer volume and the potential to be chemically contaminated. The London Convention and the London Protocol (LC/LP) are international treaties that provide a process in preventing pollution from dumping of contaminated material at sea, and finding sound alternatives such as confined disposal facilities, and using clean dredged material in wetland creation or beach nourishment, based on the precautionary approach. The Anthropocene (Anthropocene refers to the most recent period in Earth’s history when human activity started to impact significantly on the climate and ecosystems.) coast of ports, harbors, wetlands, shorelines, and beaches of the coastal megacities faces tremendous challenges in managing navigational and shoreline infrastructure in view of sea level rise and climate change. Dredged sediments are a resource and are a key to protection of shorelines. The benefits of being members of the LC/LP treaties are that there is a wealth of various national experiences on sediment management available via the network of LC/LP national experts and in the records of the LC/LP’s Meetings of Contracting Parties.
Citrus growers’ willingness to pay and perceptions of cover crops
Authors: Cosgray Carter , Chakravarty Shourish , Wade Tara , Gao Zhifeng
Published: May 2023

This study develops and uses a survey to gather information on demographics, production and management practices, and perceptions on using cover crops as a conservation practice from citrus growers and utilizes the double-bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation method to measure their willingness to pay (WTP) for adopting cover crops in citrus production. The survey is conducted for citrus producers in Florida and Texas. The study finds that, on average, growers from Florida are willing to pay $509.48/acre per year for adopting cover crops. This is substantially less than the WTP for growers in Texas, who are willing to pay more than $1,000/acre per year for cover crops. The study analyzes the factors that have significant impacts on growers’ WTP for cover crops and discusses the heterogeneity in the grower perceptions on the benefits and drawbacks of using this conservation practice by state. Although using cover crops has not been a popular conservation practice in perennial fruit production systems, its potential to improve soil quality is particularly important for citrus production in Florida where soils are sandy and have low organic matter.
On asymptotic fairness in voting with greedy sampling
Authors: Gutierrez Abraham , Müller Sebastian , Šebek Stjepan
Published: May 2023

The basic idea of voting protocols is that nodes query a sample of other nodes and adjust their own opinion throughout several rounds based on the proportion of the sampled opinions. In the classic model, it is assumed that all nodes have the same weight. We study voting protocols for heterogeneous weights with respect to fairness. A voting protocol is fair if the influence on the eventual outcome of a given participant is linear in its weight. Previous work used sampling with replacement to construct a fair voting scheme. However, it was shown that using greedy sampling, i.e., sampling with replacement until a given number of distinct elements is chosen, turns out to be more robust and performant.

In this paper, we study fairness of voting protocols with greedy sampling and propose a voting scheme that is asymptotically fair for a broad class of weight distributions. We complement our theoretical findings with numerical results and present several open questions and conjectures.
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on CTSA Clinical Research Centers over 2 years
Authors: Samuels Mary H. , Hommeyer Ella , Booty Brian , Frost Kelli , Morris Cynthia
Published: May 2023

Introduction:

The COVID-19 pandemic had an abrupt impact on patient-oriented research early in the pandemic. CTSA Clinical Research Centers (CRCs) rapidly adapted to this challenge, but the continued impact of later phases of the pandemic on CRC operations is not clear.

Methods:

An online REDCap survey of CTSA CRCs was developed that covered the first 2 years of the pandemic. The survey focused on impact on CRC functions, mitigation strategies, recovery of CRC activities, CRC contributions to COVID-related research, and potential lessons for future public health emergencies. The survey was sent to CRC directors at 61 CTSA Hubs in May 2022.

Results:

Twenty-seven Hubs (44%) responded to the survey. Most CRCs reported greater than 50% declines in inpatient census in the first year of the pandemic, with less severe impacts on outpatient census. CRCs pivoted to support COVID-related research and adopted innovative technology-driven approaches to support clinical research. Census improved in the second year of the pandemic in most CRCs but often remained below pre-pandemic levels, and greater than half of CRCs reported decreased revenue.

Conclusions:

CTSA-supported CRCs faced unprecedented challenges at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and responded rapidly to support COVID-related research and implement innovative approaches that allowed patient-oriented research activities to resume. However, many CRCs continued to report decreased research activities in the second year of the pandemic, and the long-term effects on CRC operations on finances are not clear. CRCs will likely need to evolve to provide support in nontraditional ways.
Dual role of glycans and binding receptors in pathogenesis of enveloped viruses (by mainly focusing on two recent pandemics)
Authors: Pourrajab Fatemeh , Zare-Khormizi Mohamad Reza
Published: May 2023

A period of about a decade has been estimated to pass for the emergence of a new infectious strain of a virus that may lead to the occurrence of a pandemic one. It is now suggested that the variants of the 1918 H1N1 and coronavirus disease-19 pandemics could have existed in humans after the initial cross-species introduction to humans and underwent multiple low-level seasonal epidemics before the occurrence of their outbreaks. They share similarities in the continuation, widespreadness due to high transmissibility, high fatality rate and clinical symptoms. They are assumed to share a similar principle of a zoonotic source and a cross-species pathway for transmission. They show some similarities in their pathogenesis with other enveloped viruses: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-1 (SARS-CoV-1), Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), human immunodeficiency virus, Ebola, Lassa and measles viruses. The highly pathogenic nature of these viruses and their genetic variants may depend on their binding affinity for host cell receptors, whereby they efficiently circumvent or block host cell immune responses triggered by cytokines (interferon). High transmission rates and viral pathogenicity are attributed to glycan moieties that facilitate virus binding to host multiple receptors and cell entry, thereby helping viruses to evade immune recognition and response. Also, mucosa glycotopes are a matter of concern that play as primary sites for virus attachment and body entry. Finding general lectins or ligands that block the viral–host receptors interaction or identifying individual glycotopes is the therapeutic and prognosis topic that demands the main focus.
Systematic Review on Quality Indicators of Randomised Controlled Trial Reading Intervention Studies for Students in Years 7–12
Authors: Calvi Michael , Vieira Ana Paula Alves , Georgiou George , Parrila Rauno
Published: May 2023

A number of studies have examined the effects of reading interventions for younger readers; however, there does not appear to be any existing syntheses examining the effect of reading interventions on students in Years 7–12. The purpose of this study was to establish whether such a synthesis is feasible by reviewing the methodological quality of randomised controlled trial studies examining the effect of reading interventions for secondary students, using the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) standards. A total of 17 studies were identified and reviewed. Overall, only two studies met all eight CEC quality indicators. All studies met the quality indicators for intervention agent, and context and settings. Findings, limitations and recommendations for future directions of study are discussed.
The politics of anti-plastics activism in Indonesia and Malaysia
Authors: Dauvergne Peter , Islam Saima
Published: May 2023

Research on anti-plastics activism in Indonesia and Malaysia, although increasing somewhat in recent years, is sparse and patchy. Interviews with local activists and a review of the existing literature, however, does suggest this activism is intensifying. Activists are educating people of the health and ecological risks of plastics, and operating nonprofit organizations to recycle and repurpose plastics. They are organizing cleanups and advocating for marginalized waste workers. And they are lobbying governments for stricter regulations, exposing illegal operations, and building transnational advocacy networks. Collectively, these strands of activism appear to have the potential to aggregate eco-actions and decrease plastic pollution. In the coming years, however, given the power of the global plastics industry and the nature of politics within Indonesia and Malaysia, pro-plastics corporations and industry allies are likely going to increasingly contest anti-plastics narratives and strive to undermine efforts to address the root causes of plastic pollution, including rising sales of single-use plastics by transnational corporations, the dumping and burning of unrecyclable plastics from high-income countries, and inadequate waste infrastructure and regulatory enforcement. Further research on how this politics is affecting the power and effectiveness of anti-plastics activism, the article concludes, is going to be essential for improving plastics governance.
Annual isotopic diet (δ13C) ofEremotherium laurillardi(Lund, 1842) and climate variation (δ18O) through the late Pleistocene in the Brazilian Intertropical Region
Authors: Dantas Mário André Trindade , Gomes Verônica Santos , Cherkinsky Alexander , de Araújo-Junior Hermínio Ismael
Published: May 2023

We inferred the annual isotopic diet (δ13C) of an individual of the giant ground slothEremotherium laurillardifound in Toca dos Ossos (Ourolândia, Bahia, Brazil) through the extension of its third inferior molar. This individual lived in the region at 40,779–39,617cal yr BP. One year of its life was recorded in a length of 67 mm in the tooth. Two years were recorded in this molariform, during which the diet and climate did not change much, and substantial precipitation occurred during the middle of the year, which is in opposition to the modern pattern. The mean carbon (μδ13C = −13.9 ± 1.8‰) and oxygen (μδ18O = 22.5 ± 2.9‰) isotopic values were similar to values for other individuals of the species found in the same cave but different from the values found in other localities of the Brazilian Intertropical Region, which allows us to suggest that this region had more precipitation and lower temperatures in comparison to today. The oxygen isotopic values found in dated fossils ofE. laurillardiand from two other taxa found in the same cave (Toxodon platensis, andNotiomastodon platensis) could help in the understanding of the climatic variation that occurred in the region.
A State of Supervision: The Political Economy of Banking Regulation in Germany, 1900s–1930s
Authors: Yee Robert
Published: May 2023

This article examines debates over banking regulation in Germany that culminated in the 1934 Reich Banking Law. Existing accounts have traced its origins to the 1931 banking crisis or the 1933 Nazi seizure of power. Yet, rather than the outcome of a single financial or political crisis, banking regulation was the product of longer-term discussions on national security, legal rationale, and financial globalization. Prior to World War I, officials expressed concerns over Germany's dependence on foreign capital, while later efforts to improve liquidity in the banking sector continued in the 1920s. The construction of a regulatory policy thus arose from a series of investigations into how to protect the German economy from foreign crises, thereby reflecting the interdependence of politics and finance.
Lights Out: Pride, Delusion, and the Fall of General Electric. By Thomas Gryta and Ted Mann. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020. 384 pp. Paperback, $28.00. ISBN: 978-0-358-25041-8. The Man Who Broke Capitalism: How Jack Welch Gutted the Heartland and Crushed the Soul of Corporate America—and How to Undo His Legacy. By David Gelles. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2022. 272 pp. Hardcover, $28.00. ISBN: 978-1-982-17644-0.
Authors: Tedlow Richard S.
Published: May 2023

General Electric and Jack Welch are dead. Now they belong to the ages, which means they are the property of historians. What are we to make of them?

Journalism has been called the first draft of history, and under review here are two books by journalists: Lights Out: Pride, Delusion, and the Fall of General Electric by Thomas Gryta and Ted Mann and The Man Who Broke Capitalism: How Jack Welch Gutted the Heartland and Crushed the Soul of Corporate America—and How to Undo His Legacy by David Gelles.
An infant with a vertical vein aneurysm in a supracardiac totally anomalous pulmonary venous connection
Authors: Ochiai Yuto , Nakano Yusuke , Goda Masami
Published: May 2023

Massive vertical vein aneurysm in a supracardiac total anomalous pulmonary venous connection is rare. Herein, vertical vein aneurysm with total anomalous pulmonary venous connection and additional pathological findings are reported in a young child.
Associations between peripheral inflammation and clinical phenotypes of bipolar depression in a lower-middle income country
Authors: Jones Brett D.M. , Mahmood Urbee , Hodsoll John , Chaudhry Imran B. , Khoso Ameer B. , Husain Mohammed O. , Ortiz Abigail , Husain Nusrat , Mulsant Benoit H. , Young Allan H. , Husain Muhammad I.
Published: May 2023

Objective

There has been increased interest in repurposing anti-inflammatories for the treatment of bipolar depression. Evidence from high-income countries suggests that these agents may work best for specific depressive symptoms in a subset of patients with biochemical evidence of inflammation but data from lower-middle income countries (LMICs) is scarce. This secondary analysis explored the relationship between pretreatment inflammatory markers and specific depressive symptoms, clinical measures, and demographic variables in participants with bipolar depression in Pakistan.

Methods

The current study is a cross-sectional secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial of two anti-inflammatory medications (minocycline and celecoxib) for bipolar depression (n = 266). A series of logistic and linear regression models were completed to assess the relationship between C-reactive protein (CRP) (CRP > or < 3 mg/L and log10CRP) and clinical and demographic features of interest and symptoms of depression. Baseline clinical trial data was used to extract clinical and demographic features and symptoms of depression were assessed using the 24-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale.

Results

The prevalence of low-grade inflammation (CRP > 3 mg/L) in the sample was 70.9%. After adjusting for baseline body mass index, socioeconomic status, age, gender, symptoms related to anhedonia, fatigue, and motor retardation were most associated with low-grade inflammation.

Conclusions

Bipolar disorder (BD) patients from LMICs may experience higher rates of peripheral inflammation than have been reported in Western populations with BD. Future trials of repurposed anti-inflammatory agents that enrich for participants with these symptom profiles may inform the development of personalized treatment for bipolar depression in LMICs.
What should be encoded by position embedding for neural network language models?
Authors: Yu Shuiyuan , Zhang Zihao , Liu Haitao
Published: May 2023

Word order is one of the most important grammatical devices and the basis for language understanding. However, as one of the most popular NLP architectures, Transformer does not explicitly encode word order. A solution to this problem is to incorporate position information by means of position encoding/embedding (PE). Although a variety of methods of incorporating position information have been proposed, the NLP community is still in want of detailed statistical researches on position information in real-life language. In order to understand the influence of position information on the correlation between words in more detail, we investigated the factors that affect the frequency of words and word sequences in large corpora. Our results show that absolute position, relative position, being at one of the two ends of a sentence and sentence length all significantly affect the frequency of words and word sequences. Besides, we observed that the frequency distribution of word sequences over relative position carries valuable grammatical information. Our study suggests that in order to accurately capture word–word correlations, it is not enough to focus merely on absolute and relative position. Transformers should have access to more types of position-related information which may require improvements to the current architecture.
Statistical Analysis of Electromagnetic Ion Cyclotron Rising‐Tone Emissions Based on Deep Learning
Authors: Wang Yan , Li Yilong , Liu Kaijun , Song Weibin , Xiong Ying , Yao Fei
Published: May 2023

Several studies have shown the importance of electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) rising‐tone emissions to the rapid precipitation of energetic radiation belt electrons. Based on a large number of Van Allen Probes observations from October 2012 to July 2019, we identify EMIC rising‐tone emissions using a convolutional neural network (CNN), a modern deep learning technique. Results of training indicate that the CNN is capable of identifying EMIC rising‐tone emissions with a recall of 99.3%. The statistical analysis of the wave events identified reveals that the average occurrence rate of the events is about 0.016%, with a high occurrence rate from the forenoon to the dusk sector at L > 5. There are also events observed at L < 5, which are scattered at almost all magnetic local times. The events in the hydrogen and helium bands have comparable wave amplitudes on average, but the larger amplitude events tend to occur around noon and in the afternoon sector in the hydrogen and helium bands, respectively. In addition, the frequency sweep rate tends to increase with the wave frequency. The frequency sweep rates of the hydrogen band EMIC rising‐tone emissions are about 6 times larger than those of the helium band events. There is also a positive correlation between the wave amplitudes and the sweep rates of the hydrogen band emissions.
Cross‐Shelf Penetrating Fronts of Buoyant Coastal Currents Around the Headland
Authors: Zhou Silu , Wu Hui
Published: May 2023

Buoyant coastal current induced by riverine outflow often propagates along the coast in the direction of coastal trapped wave. However, it is uncertain how the buoyant coastal current interacts with irregular coastal bathymetry. Measured surface salinity distributions indicate that the buoyant coastal current, which is induced by the Changjiang River plume, frequently penetrates offshore around the curved headlands in the Zhoushan Islands. This signal can also be seen in satellite chlorophyll data, reflecting its importance in cross‐shelf exchange both physically and ecologically. To understand the variation and underlying dynamic mechanisms of these penetrating fronts, realistic and idealized numerical experiments were conducted. The results indicated that the penetrated water salinity was about 30–32 psu, with a horizontal penetration scale of tens of kilometers. Curvature and self‐organizing map analyses suggested that it was a frequent event with an approximately 2‐week spring‐neap cycle from generation to decay. It more likely occurred in transition seasons such as spring and autumn, owing to the runoff accumulation and gentle wind conditions. Smoothing the topography would substantially eliminate the penetrating fronts. Idealized model experiments suggested that headland‐induced river plume penetration was a type of curved topography‐induced current separation. The criterion for this to occur is u/fRc > 1, in which u is the current velocity, f is the Coriolis parameter, and Rc is the curvature radius. In this case, the headland is too sharp that the Coriolis force could not balance the centrifugal force. Once penetrated, the buoyant water was further transported by the ambient Taiwan Warm Current.
A Performance Baseline for the Representation of Clouds and Humidity in Cloud‐Resolving ICON‐LEM Simulations in the Arctic
Authors: Kiszler Theresa , Ebell Kerstin , Schemann Vera
Published: May 2023

In the context of Arctic amplification many of the feedback mechanisms, decreasing or enhancing the warming, involve clouds and water vapor. Currently, there is a gap in understanding the role of clouds which leads to uncertainties in climate simulations. Modeling frameworks such as the ICOsahedral Non‐hydrostatic model (ICON) are used to understand the Arctic atmospheric processes as well as predict future changes. In this study, we challenge ICON in the large‐eddy setup (ICON‐LEM) by performing cloud‐resolving simulations over parts of Svalbard, including Ny‐Ålesund. We ran daily simulations over 5 months and analyzed the column above Ny‐Ålesund. The local supersite's observations enabled us to create a baseline for the model performance focusing on the representation of liquid water and water vapor. We narrow in on possibilities to improve the cloud microphysical representation based on statistical evaluations, not just single cases. We found an astonishing agreement between most of the analyzed variables. For instance, the model integrated water vapor showed only a low bias of 0.21 kg m−2. The number of cloudy days is slightly higher in the model (+4%). Further, we found that the model produces an unrealistically high number of pure ice clouds. Small to medium precipitation events are similar in amount and time but the number of strong precipitation events is underestimated. Further results are discussed and show that ICON‐LEM is a useful tool to study the Arctic. With this thorough analysis, we highlight the value of local cloud‐resolving simulations to understand changes in the Arctic atmosphere.