bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Triarylamine/Bithiophene Copolymer with Enhanced Quinoidal Character as Hole‐Transporting Material for Perovskite Solar Cells
Authors: Lin Hao‐Sheng , Doba Takahiro , Sato Wataru , Matsuo Yutaka , Shang Rui , Nakamura Eiichi
Published: April 2022

Polytriarylamine is a popular hole‐transporting materials (HTMs) despite its suboptimal conductivity and significant recombination at the interface in a solar cell setup. Having noted insufficient conjugation among the triarylamine units along the polymer backbone, we inserted a bithiophene unit between two triarylamine units through iron‐catalyzed C−H/C−H coupling of a triarylamine/thiophene monomer so that two units conjugate effectively via four quinoidal rings when the molecule functions as HTM. The obtained triarylamine/bithiophene copolymer (TABT) used as HTM showed a high‐performance in methylammonium lead iodide perovskite (MAPbI3) solar cells. Mesityl substituted TABT forms a uniform film, shows high hole‐carrier mobility, and has an ionization potential (IP=5.40 eV) matching that of MAPbI3. We fabricated a solar cell device with a power conversion efficiency of 21.3 % and an open‐circuit voltage of 1.15 V, which exceeds the performance of devices using reference standard such as poly[bis(4‐phenyl)(2,4,6‐trimethylphenyl)amine (PTAA) and Spiro‐OMeTAD.
The Influence of Nanoconfinement on Electrocatalysis
Authors: Wordsworth Johanna , Benedetti Tania M. , Somerville Samuel V. , Schuhmann Wolfgang , Tilley Richard D. , Gooding J. Justin
Published: April 2022

The use of nanoparticles and nanostructured electrodes are abundant in electrocatalysis. These nanometric systems contain elements of nanoconfinement in different degrees, depending on the geometry, which can have a much greater effect on the activity and selectivity than often considered. In this Review, we firstly identify the systems containing different degrees of nanoconfinement and how they can affect the activity and selectivity of electrocatalytic reactions. Then we follow with a fundamental understanding of how electrochemistry and electrocatalysis are affected by nanoconfinement, which is beginning to be uncovered, thanks to the development of new, atomically precise manufacturing and fabrication techniques as well as advances in theoretical modeling. The aim of this Review is to help us look beyond using nanostructuring as just a way to increase surface area, but also as a way to break the scaling relations imposed on electrocatalysis by thermodynamics.
Photographic analysis of field‐monitored fern gametophyte development and response to environmental stress
Authors: Schneller Jakob J. , Farrar Donald R.
Published: April 2022

Premise

Ferns differ from seed plants in possessing a life cycle that includes a small, free‐living, seemingly vulnerable gametophyte stage in which sexual reproduction occurs. Most research on the response of fern gametophytes to environmental stress has been conducted on gametophytes grown in culture or harvested from natural habitats and subsequently manipulated and tested in laboratory experiments. We present a fixed‐distance photographic methodology for monitoring longevity of gametophytes and their response to environmental stress in natural, undisturbed habitats over their life spans.

Methods

We present methodology for non‐invasive monitoring of growth and development in response to environmental factors, using programmed, fixed‐distance photography, coupled with computer analyses allowing qualitative and quantitative comparisons. We tracked growth rates and stress responses of individual gametophyte plants to seasonal changes in a temperate climate.

Results

Gametophytes and young sporophytes survived freezing and drought in temperate habitats, as we document through photographs and growth measurements. Gametophyte growth was suspended during the cold season and resumed the following spring. Individual gametophytes survived for up to nearly three years with retention of the ability to produce sporophytes.

Discussion

Life histories of fern gametophytes in temperate habitats are more similar to those in tropical habitats than previous research has suggested. They survive and maintain reproductive capacity over several growing seasons, allowing extended opportunity for outbreeding. The application of photographic monitoring of additional species and habitats has great potential for a more complete understanding of the ecology of reproduction in homosporous vascular plants.
The validity and reliability of the simplified Chinese version of the Social Communication Questionnaire
Authors: Liu Si‐Yu , Wang Xin , Chen Qiang , Chen Jia‐Jie , Jin Cheng‐Kai , Zhan Xiao‐Ling , Guo Cui‐Hua , Li Xiu‐Hong , Lin Li‐Zi , Jing Jin
Published: April 2022

This study aims to validate the simplified Chinese version of the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) in children aged 2–12 years from both general and clinical populations. We recruited 819 Chinese children in this study, including 505 typically developing (TD) children, 202 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 112 children with non‐ASD neurodevelopmental disorders. All the children's parents completed the simplified Chinese version of the SCQ and all children with ASD were additionally assessed for intelligence and the Childhood Autism Rating Scale to confirm their diagnosis. We have developed a 40‐item, 4‐factor structure of SCQ with two domains (social communication and social interaction; and restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior), which showed adequate goodness of fit (comparative fit index [CFI] = 0.96, Tucker‐Lewis index [TLI] = 0.95, standardized root mean squared residual [SRMR] = 0.07, root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] = 0.05), with good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.92). We have provided different cut‐offs to distinguish ASD cases from TD children (11 for children under 4 years [sensitivity: 0.96, specificity: 0.95], 12 for children 4 years and above [sensitivity: 0.93, specificity: 0.98]) or children with other neurodevelopmental disorders (14 [sensitivity: 0.85, specificity: 0.88]). Through this large sample validation, we confirmed that the simplified Chinese version of the SCQ could be used for children aged 2–12 years with relatively good psychometric properties.

Lay Summary

We aimed to develop the simplified Chinese version of the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) for Chinese children aged 2–12 years as a screening tool to identified potential risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We have developed a 40‐item, 4‐factor structure of SCQ with two domains, which showed adequate goodness of fit and good psychometric properties. We also provided different cut‐offs to identify ASD cases in general or clinical populations.
Revisiting the Chevrel Phase: Impact of Dispersion Corrections on the Properties of Mo6S8 for Cathode Applications**
Authors: Helmbrecht Katharina , Euchner Holger , Groß Axel
Published: April 2022

While the Mo6S8 chevrel phase is frequently used as cathode material in Mg‐ion batteries, theoretical studies on this material are comparatively scarce. The particular structure of the Mo6S8 phase, with rather loosely connected cluster entities, points to the important role of dispersion forces in this material. However, so far this aspect has been completely neglected in the discussion of Mo6S8 as cathode material for mono‐ and multivalent‐ion batteries. In this work we therefore have studied the impact of dispersion forces on stability and kinetics of Mo6S8 intercalation compounds. For this purpose, a series of charge carriers (Li, Na, K, Mg, Ca, Zn, Al) has been investigated. Interestingly, dispersion forces are observed to only slightly affect the lattice spacing of the chevrel phase, nevertheless having a significant impact on insertion voltage and in particular on the charge carrier mobility in the material. Moreover, upon varying the charge carriers in the chevrel phase, their diffusion barriers are observed to scale linearly with the ion size, almost independent of the charge of the considered ions. This indicates a rather unique and geometry dominated diffusion mechanism in the chevrel phase. The consequences of these findings for the ion mobility in the chevrel phase will be carefully discussed.
Physiologically based pharmacokinetic modeling and simulations to inform dissolution specifications and clinical relevance of release rates on elagolix exposure
Authors: Mukherjee Dwaipayan , Chiney Manoj S. , Shao Xi , Ju Tzuchi R. , Shebley Mohamad , Marroum Patrick
Published: April 2022

The aim of this analysis was to use a physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model to predict the impact of changes in dissolution rates on elagolix exposures and define clinically relevant acceptance criteria for dissolution. Varying in vitro dissolution profiles were utilized in a PBPK model to describe the absorption profiles of elagolix formulations used in Phase 3 clinical trials and for the to be marketed commercial formulations. Single dose studies of 200 mg elagolix formulations were used for model verification under fasted conditions. Additional dissolution scenarios were evaluated to assess the impact of dissolution rates on elagolix exposures. Compared to the Phase 3 clinical trial formulation, sensitivity analysis on dissolution rates suggested that a hypothetical scenario of ∼75% slower dissolution rate would result in 14% lower predicted elagolix plasma exposures, however, the predicted exposures are still within the bioequivalence boundaries of 0.8–1.25 for both Cmax and AUC. A clinically verified PBPK model of elagolix was utilized to evaluate the impact of wider dissolution specifications on elagolix plasma exposures. The simulation results indicated that a slower in vitro dissolution profile, would not have a clinically significant impact on elagolix exposures. These model results informed the setting of wider dissolution specifications without requiring in vivo studies.
Biocompatible mucoadhesive nanoparticles for brain targeting of ropinirole hydrochloride: Formulations, radiolabeling and biodistribution
Authors: Darwish Wael M. , Bayoumi Noha A. , Ebeid Nahed H.
Published: April 2022

Two nanoformulations with mucoadhesive properties and brain‐targeting mechanisms were designed to deliver the anti‐Parkinson's drug, ropinirole hydrochloride (RH). In the first formulation, RH and the amphiphilic block copolymer methoxy poly(ethylene glycol)‐b‐poly(caprolactone) were assembled in a core–shell morphology followed by coating with a mucoadhesive chitosan outer layer producing a multilayer vehicle (MLV). In the second formulation, RH was encapsulated during the polyelectrolyte complexation of two natural polymers, chitosan and alginate producing RH‐loaded chitosan‐alginate polyelectrolyte (PEC) nanocomplex. Conditions of each formulation were adopted for optimal drug loading. Physico‐chemical characterization of the prepared formulations (particle size, polydispersity index and zeta‐potential) exhibited stable monodispersed nanoparticles. RH was radiolabeled by I‐131 radiotracer in a high‐radiochemical yield. Biodistribution and brain targeting of RH from the prepared formulations were studied after administration of 131I‐RH‐loaded nanoparticles to albino mice via intranasal and intravenous routs. Elevated brain radioactivity was detected post IN administration of (131I‐RH/PCL‐PEG/CS) nanoparticles and (131I‐RH/CS‐ALG) nanoparticles comparing with the IN administrated RH solutions (Cmax = 2.8 ± 0.3, 2 ± 0.3, 0.93 ± 0.03% radioactivity/g, 1 h post administration, respectively). This demonstrated that a relatively high‐brain targeting could be achieved via intranasal route of administration of RH‐loaded nanoparticles. The proposed models are further potential for application to deliver many other brain‐targeting therapeutics.
Visualizing protein big data using Python and Jupyter notebooks
Authors: Weiss Charles J.
Published: April 2022

This article reports a workshop from the 2021 IUBMB/ASBMB Teaching Science with Big Data conference held virtually in June 2021 where participants learned to explore and visualize large quantities of protein PBD data using Jupyter notebooks and the Python programming language. This activity instructs participants using Jupyter notebooks, Python functions, loading data with Python, and visualize data using the matplotlib and seaborn Python plotting libraries. It also allows participants to explore large quantities of data to discover trends such amino acid abundance, dihedral angles patterns, and secondary protein structure trends. All files used in this activity, including data files, Jupyter notebooks, and completed Jupyter notebooks, are freely available at https://github.com/weisscharlesj/BiopythonRamachandran under the CC BY‐NC‐SA 4.0 Creative Commons license.
The relation of neuroticism to physiological and behavioral stress responses induced by auditory startle
Authors: Sehlström Malcolm , Ljungberg Jessica K. , Claeson Anna‐Sara , Nyström Markus B. T.
Published: April 2022

Introduction

The negative cognitive effects of the startle response are not yet fully understood. Ecological observations in the aviation field indicate risk for severe outcomes in complex or pressured situations, while sparse previous research suggests milder negative effects on simple cognitive tasks. Neuroticism is proposed as a factor related to the level of negative effects following startle.

Methods

This study examined the effects of startle on performance in a choice reaction time task and analyzed relations between performance, neuroticism, and physiological stress.

Results

Our results indicate that reaction time directly following startle was not affected, but reaction time in subsequent trials was significantly slower. Neuroticism and physiological stress were both unrelated to this performance effect.

Discussion

We argue that higher complexity/demand tasks are necessary to complement the research on base cognitive functioning in relation to startle. If neuroticism is related to startle effects, this is more likely to be found in these higher demand situations.
Fe Single‐atom Sites in Two‐Dimensional Nitrogen‐doped Porous Carbon for Electrocatalytic Oxygen Reduction
Authors: Wang Yanzhi , Sun Peng‐Fei , Zhang Chaochao , Huang Zhehao , Dang Jingshuang , Liu Xinrong , Bao Zijia , Ma Xiaoning , Zhang Wei , Cao Rui , Zheng Haoquan
Published: April 2022

The development of electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is important for energy conversion devices, such as fuel cells, and metal‐air batteries. Here, we have developed a confined space strategy to prepare a two‐dimensional (2D) leaf‐like nitrogen (N)‐containing porous carbon as a single‐atom catalyst substrate. ZIF−L materials have been confined in a thin silica layer to regulate the pyrolysis. The obtained Fe single atoms doped N‐containing porous carbons (Fe SAs/N−C) maintain the 2D morphology and have Fe single‐atom active sites. Correspondingly, Fe SAs/N−C exhibits excellent ORR performance (E1/2 of 0.907 V), which is more positive than those of commercially available Pt/C (0.874 V) and most reported non‐noble metal catalysts. The durability test shows that Fe SAs/N−C exhibits good stability during electrocatalytic process. This rational design shows a new strategy to prepare 2D catalyst supports with single‐atom active sites.
Predictors for supervisee disclosure in supervision: A mediation model
Authors: Li Chi , Kemer Gulsah , Lu Junfei
Published: April 2022

With a sample of 222 supervisees, path analysis results revealed that supervisory role ambiguity significantly mediated the relationship between supervisory working alliance and supervisee's counseling‐related disclosure in supervision. We discussed the implications for future supervision research and practices along with the limitations of the study.
Decreased keratinocyte Proline‐Rich protein expression in cutaneous T‐cell lymphoma
Authors: Hisamoto Teruyoshi , Suga Hiraku , Omori Issey , Mizuno Yuka , Oka Kenta , Boki Hikari , Takahashi‐Shishido Naomi , Oka Tomonori , Miyagaki Tomomitsu , Sugaya Makoto , Sato Shinichi
Published: April 2022

Background

Cutaneous T‐cell lymphomas (CTCLs) often have skin dryness and skin barrier dysfunctions, which are also seen in atopic dermatitis (AD). Expression of keratinocyte proline‐rich protein (KPRP) was decreased in the epidermis of AD, which led to barrier defects and further allergic inflammation.

Objectives

The aim of this study was to analyze KPRP expression in CTCL.

Materials & Methods

Skin samples of CTCL and healthy control were collected, and KPRP mRNA expression in the skin tissue was analyzed. We also performed immunohistochemistry of KPRP protein.

Results

Keratinocyte proline‐rich protein (KPRP) mRNA expression was decreased compared with normal skin. KPRP expression was positively correlated with that of filaggrin and loricrin, and it was negatively correlated with serum interleukin‐2 receptor levels. Immunohistochemistry staining showed that KPRP was detected in upper part of granular layer of epidermis in normal skin and in early‐stage CTCL, but rarely detected in the advanced‐stage CTCL.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we revealed the decrease in KPRP expression in CTCL.
A Pharmacokinetic Bioequivalence Study Comparing Different‐Strength and ‐Size Capsules of Isavuconazonium Sulfate in Healthy Japanese Subjects
Authors: Shirae Shinichiro , Mori Yoko , Kozaki Tomohito , Ose Atsushi , Hasegawa Setsuo
Published: April 2022

Isavuconazonium sulfate is the water‐soluble prodrug of the novel, broad‐spectrum, triazole antifungal agent isavuconazole. A size 0 elongated hard capsule containing 100 mg equivalent of isavuconazole is the currently marketed oral formulation in countries where it is approved. An alternative oral formulation, based on a lower‐strength and smaller‐size capsule, is required for pediatric and adolescent patients, as well as for some adult Japanese patients, especially those with difficulties swallowing larger capsules. This study was conducted to evaluate the bioequivalence of a size 0 elongated capsule containing 100 mg equivalent of isavuconazole and a size 3 capsule containing 40 mg equivalent of isavuconazole, after administration of 200 mg equivalent of isavuconazole (5 size 3 capsules or 2 size 0 elongated capsules) under fasted conditions. Bioequivalence of isavuconazole between the formulations was demonstrated, since point estimates (90%CI) for the ratio of the size 0 elongated capsules vs the size 3 capsules for maximum plasma concentration and area under the plasma concentration–time curve from time 0 to the last quantifiable concentration were within the acceptable range of 0.8 to 1.25. It was confirmed that both formulations were well tolerated, and no new safety signals were observed in healthy Japanese adult male subjects.
Development of argument based opinion mining model with sentimental data analysis from twitter content
Authors: Arumugam S. S.
Published: April 2022

In present scenario, social networks have developed massive in practice and society impact. Specifically, micro‐blogging is on trend in various platforms, such as Twitter, Instagram to evaluate public opinions for various issues. In recent times, some methods are developed for evaluating Twitter messages, based on the sentiment and opinions presented in tweets, corresponding to the hash‐tags and keywords. However, these models have some issues in handling the contradictory content and inconsistent data. Considering with this, this article presents an argument based opinion mining model with sentimental data analysis, for extracting specific argument, which is assessed in bottom‐up manner from the content from society emotion's reflects on the messages. Moreover, this model makes the user to pull out the arguments from a document set, which contains content from commercial sites, to extract the mostly argued positive and negative content. This model use natural language processing techniques, extraction of argument words for defining the decisions. The classification Naive Bayes classification is used for categorizing the results widely under agreed or disagreed. The experimental results prove that the proposed model provides feasible and appropriate results in argument analysis from Twitter content.
Scalable multi‐node multi‐GPU Louvain community detection algorithm for heterogeneous architectures
Authors: Bhowmick Anwesha , Vadhiyar Sathish , PV Varun
Published: April 2022

Community detection is an important problem that is widely applied for finding cluster patterns in brain, social, biological, and many other kinds of networks. In this work, we have developed a multi‐node multi‐GPU Louvain community detection algorithm, simultaneously harnessing the CPU and GPU cores of the devices. The algorithm partitions a given graph across multiple nodes and devices in the nodes and performs independent computations of Louvain algorithm on the parts on the devices. The independently formed communities in the devices are refined by identification of doubtful vertices and migrating them to the other processors. The communities are merged using a hierarchical merging algorithm that ensures that at any point the merged component can be accommodated within a processor. Our experiments show that our algorithm is highly scalable with increasing number of devices and provides large‐scale performance for BigData graphs.
Toward fast theta‐join: A prefiltering and amalgamated partitioning approach
Authors: Wu Jiashu , Wang Yang , Fan Xiaopeng , Ye Kejiang , Xu Chengzhong
Published: April 2022

As one of the most useful online processing techniques, the theta‐join operation has been utilized by many applications to fully excavate the relationships between data streams in various scenarios. As such, constant research efforts have been put to optimize its performance in the distributed environment, which is typically characterized by reducing the number of Cartesian products as much as possible. In this article, we design and implement a novel fast theta‐join algorithm, calledPrefap, by developing two distinct techniques—prefilteringandamalgamated partitioning—based on the state‐of‐the‐art FastThetaJoin algorithm to optimize the efficiency of the theta‐join operation. Firstly, we develop a prefiltering strategy before data streams are partitioned to reduce the amount of data to be involved and benefit a more fine‐grained partitioning. Secondly, to avoid the data streams being partitioned in a coarse‐grained isolated manner and improve the quality of the partition‐level filtering, we introduce an amalgamated partitioning mechanism that can amalgamate the partitioning boundaries of two data streams to assist a fine‐grained partitioning. With the integration of these two techniques into the existing FastThetaJoin algorithm, we design and implement a new framework to achieve a decreased number of Cartesian products and a higher theta‐join efficiency. By comparing with existing algorithms, FastThetaJoin in particular, we evaluate the performance ofPrefapon both synthetic and real data streams from two‐way to multiway theta‐join to demonstrate its superiority.
(k, m, t)‐anonymity: Enhanced privacy for transactional data
Authors: Puri Vartika , Kaur Parmeet , Sachdeva Shelly
Published: April 2022

Recent years have witnessed the wide availability of an array of transactional datasets for mining and other research activities. A primary concern related to the public sharing of transactional datasets is identifying individuals whose data is being published. Data anonymization is a commonly utilized privacy preservation method for preventing user identification. However, the existing anonymization models such as ‐anonymity, ‐uncertainty, and (h, k, p)‐coherence for privacy preservation of transactional data do not provide complete protection from the various types of possible privacy attacks. Therefore, this article proposes a novel privacy model called (k, m, t)‐anonymity to effectively prevent identity and attribute disclosure as well as skewness attack on transactional data. A genetic algorithm‐based implementation of the model is also presented. The genetic algorithm clusters transactional data based on the similarity among the transactions for effective ‐anonymization with low information loss. The clustering algorithm simultaneously aims to minimize the skewness of data distribution in the obtained clusters for preventing skewness attack on anonymized data. Experimental results have verified that the (k, m, t)‐anonymity model ensures transactional data anonymization without significant information loss. The proposed privacy model is implemented using the proposed approach on two real‐world datasets (health domain and click‐stream data) and an enormous dataset generated synthetically (health domain consisting of 5,00,000 records). The relative error is less as compared to the relative privacy and disassociation technique for all test case scenarios. Hence, the proposed anonymization model maintains the data utility.
Distinct regulatory states control the elongation of individual skeletal rods in the sea urchin embryo
Authors: Tarsis Kristina , Gildor Tsvia , Morgulis Miri , Ben‐Tabou de‐Leon Smadar
Published: April 2022

Background

Understanding how gene regulatory networks (GRNs) control developmental progression is a key to the mechanistic understanding of morphogenesis. The sea urchin larval skeletogenesis provides an excellent platform to tackle this question. In the early stages of sea urchin skeletogenesis, skeletogenic genes are uniformly expressed in the skeletogenic lineage. Yet, during skeletal elongation, skeletogenic genes are expressed in distinct spatial sub‐domains. The regulation of differential gene expression during late skeletogenesis is not well understood.

Results

Here we reveal the dynamic expression of the skeletogenic regulatory genes that define a specific regulatory state for each pair of skeletal rods, in the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus. The vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling, essential for skeleton formation, specifically controls the migration of cells that form the postoral and distal anterolateral skeletogenic rods. VEGF signaling also controls the expression of regulatory genes in cells at the tips of the postoral rods, including the transcription factors Pitx1 and MyoD1. Pitx1 activity is required for normal skeletal elongation and for the expression of some of VEGF target genes.

Conclusions

Our study illuminates the fine‐tuning of the regulatory system during the transition from early to late skeletogenesis that gives rise to rod‐specific regulatory states.
Vegetation zones as indicators of denitrification potential in salt marshes
Authors: Ooi Sean Khan , Barry Aidan , Lawrence Beth A. , Elphick Chris S. , Helton Ashley M.
Published: April 2022

Salt marsh vegetation zones shift in response to large‐scale environmental changes such as sea‐level rise (SLR) and restoration activities, but it is unclear if they are good indicators of soil nitrogen removal. Our goal was to characterize the relationship between denitrification potential and salt marsh vegetation zones in tidally restored and tidally unrestricted coastal marshes, and to use vegetation zones to extrapolate how SLR may influence high marsh denitrification at the landscape scale. We conducted denitrification enzyme activity assays on sediment collected from three vegetation zones expected to shift in distribution due to SLR and tidal flow restoration across 20 salt marshes in Connecticut, USA (n = 60 sampling plots) during the summer of 2017. We found lower denitrification potential in short‐formSpartina alterniflorazones (mean, 95% CI: 4, 3–6 mg N h−1 m−2) than inS. patens(25, 15–36 mg N h−1 m−2) andPhragmites australis(56, 16–96 mg N h−1 m−2) zones. Vegetation zone was the single best predictor and explained 52% of the variation in denitrification potential; incorporating restoration status and soil characteristics (soil salinity, moisture, and ammonium) did not improve model fit. Because denitrification potential did not differ between tidally restored and unrestricted marshes, we suggest landscape‐scale changes in denitrification after tidal restoration are likely to be associated with shifts in vegetation, rather than differences driven by restoration status. Sea‐level‐rise‐induced hydrologic changes are widely observed to shift high marsh dominated byS. patensto short‐formS. alterniflora. To explore the implications of this shift in dominant high marsh vegetation, we paired our measured mean denitrification potential rates with projections of high marsh loss from SLR. We found that, under low and medium SLR scenarios, predicted losses of denitrification potential due to replacement ofS. patensby short‐formS. alterniflorawere substantially larger than losses due to reduced high marsh land area alone. Our results suggest that changes in vegetation zones can serve as landscape‐scale predictors of the response of denitrification rates to rapid changes occurring in salt marshes.
Pollinator richness, pollination networks, and diet adjustment along local and landscape gradients of resource diversity
Authors: Gómez‐Martínez Carmelo , González‐Estévez Miguel A. , Cursach Joana , Lázaro Amparo
Published: April 2022

Loss of habitats and native species, introduction of invasive species, and changing climate regimes lead to the homogenization of landscapes and communities, affecting the availability of habitats and resources for economically important guilds, such as pollinators. Understanding how pollinators and their interactions vary along resource diversity gradients at different scales may help to determine their adaptability to the current diversity loss related to global change. We used data on 20 plant–pollinator communities along gradients of flower richness (local diversity) and landscape heterogeneity (landscape diversity) to understand how the diversity of resources at local and landscape scales affected (1) wild pollinator abundance and richness (accounting also for honey bee abundance), (2) the structure of plant–pollinator networks, (3) the proportion of actively selected interactions (those not occurring by neutral processes), and (4) pollinator diet breadth and species' specialization in networks. Wild pollinator abundance was higher overall in flower‐rich and heterogeneous habitats, while wild pollinator richness increased with flower richness (more strongly for beetles and wild bees) and decreased with honeybee abundance. Network specialization (H2′), modularity, and functional complementarity were all positively related to floral richness and landscape heterogeneity, indicating niche segregation as the diversity of resources increases at both scales. Flower richness also increased the proportion of actively selected interactions (especially for wild bees and flies), whereas landscape heterogeneity had a weak negative effect on this variable. Overall, network‐level metrics responded to larger landscape scales than pollinator‐level metrics did. Higher floral richness resulted in a wider taxonomic and functional diet for all the study guilds, while functional diet increased mainly for beetles. Despite this, specialization in networks (d′) increased with flower richness for all the study guilds, because pollinator species fed on a narrower subset of plants as communities became richer in species. Our study indicates that pollinators are able to adapt their diet to resource changes at local and landscape scales. However, resource homogenization might lead to poor and generalist pollinator communities, where functionally specialized interactions are lost. This study highlights the importance of including different scales to understand the effects of global change on pollination service through changes in resource diversity.
Life and death in a dynamic environment: Invasive trout, floods, and intraspecific drivers of translocated populations
Authors: Healy Brian D. , Budy Phaedra , Conner Mary M. , Omana Smith Emily C.
Published: April 2022

Understanding the relative strengths of intrinsic and extrinsic factors regulating populations is a long‐standing focus of ecology and critical to advancing conservation programs for imperiled species. Conservation could benefit from an increased understanding of factors influencing vital rates (somatic growth, recruitment, survival) in small, translocated populations, which is lacking owing to difficulties in long‐term monitoring of rare species. Translocations, here defined as the transfer of wild‐captured individuals from source populations to new habitats, are widely used for species conservation, but outcomes are often minimally monitored, and translocations that are monitored often fail. To improve our understanding of how translocated populations respond to environmental variation, we developed and tested hypotheses related to intrinsic (density dependent) and extrinsic (introduced rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss, stream flow and temperature regime) causes of vital rate variation in endangered humpback chub (Gila cypha) populations translocated to Colorado River tributaries in the Grand Canyon (GC), USA. Using biannual recapture data from translocated populations over 10 years, we tested hypotheses related to seasonal somatic growth, and recruitment and population growth rates with linear mixed‐effects models and temporal symmetry mark–recapture models. We combined data from recaptures and resights of dispersed fish (both physical captures and continuously recorded antenna detections) from throughout GC to test survival hypotheses, while accounting for site fidelity, using joint live‐recapture/live‐resight models. While recruitment only occurred in one site, which also drove population growth (relative to survival), evidence supported hypotheses related to density dependence in growth, survival, and recruitment, and somatic growth and recruitment were further limited by introduced trout. Mixed‐effects models explained between 67% and 86% of the variation in somatic growth, which showed increased growth rates with greater flood‐pulse frequency during monsoon season. Monthly survival was 0.56–0.99 and 0.80–0.99 in the two populations, with lower survival during periods of higher intraspecific abundance and low flood frequency. Our results suggest translocations can contribute toward the recovery of large‐river fishes, but continued suppression of invasive fishes to enhance recruitment may be required to ensure population resilience. Furthermore, we demonstrate the importance of flooding to population demographics in food‐depauperate, dynamic, invaded systems.
Drivers of Acacia and Eucalyptus growth rate differ in strength and direction in restoration plantings across Australia
Authors: Staples Timothy L. , Mayfield Margaret M. , England Jacqueline R. , Dwyer John M.
Published: April 2022

Functional traits are proxies for a species' ecology and physiology and are often correlated with plant vital rates. As such they have the potential to guide species selection for restoration projects. However, predictive trait‐based models often only explain a small proportion of plant performance, suggesting that commonly measured traits do not capture all important ecological differences between species. Some residual variation in vital rates may be evolutionarily conserved and captured using taxonomic groupings alongside common functional traits. We tested this hypothesis using growth rate data for 17,299 trees and shrubs from 80 species of Eucalyptus and 43 species of Acacia, two hyper‐diverse and co‐occurring genera, collected from 497 neighborhood plots in 137 Australian mixed‐species revegetation plantings. We modeled relative growth rates of individual plants as a function of environmental conditions, species‐mean functional traits, and neighbor density and diversity, across a moisture availability gradient. We then assessed whether the strength and direction of these relationships differed between the two genera. We found that the inclusion of genus‐specific relationships offered a significant but modest improvement to model fit (1.6%–1.7% greater R2 than simpler models). More importantly, almost all correlates of growth rate differed between Eucalyptus and Acacia in strength, direction, or how they changed along the moisture gradient. These differences mapped onto physiological differences between the genera that were not captured solely by measured functional traits. Our findings suggest taxonomic groupings can capture or mediate variation in plant performance missed by common functional traits. The inclusion of taxonomy can provide a more nuanced understanding of how functional traits interact with abiotic and biotic conditions to drive plant performance, which may be important for constructing trait‐based frameworks to improve restoration outcomes.
Himalayan musk deer (Moshcus leucogaster) behavior at latrine sites and their implications in conservation
Authors: Singh Paras Bikram , Saud Pradip , Jiang Zhigang , Zhou Zhixin , Hu Yiming , Hu Huijian
Published: April 2022

Elusive species often use latrines which also serves as communication and information hubs. Thus, studying behavior at latrines may provide critical insights into the species’ ecology and behavior. While it is established that musk deer use latrines for defecating, very little is known about the endangered Himalayan musk deer (Moschus leucogaster) and their latrines. We examined musk deer behavior from the various video clips lasting 238 min altogether, captured at latrine sites during both breeding and non‐breeding seasons in the Annapurna Conservation Area of Nepal. A total of 428 visits by musk deer and 479 behavioral events by them were captured. We constructed an ethogram to describe musk deer behavior and compared behavior across individuals and sex using parametric and non‐parametric tests. We found that musk deer are crepuscular and nocturnal animals. Both male and female musk deer repeatedly and independently visited shared latrine sites as well as exclusively used latrine sites. The proportion of male musk deer visited latrine sites were significantly higher than that of female musk deer. Hence, male musk deer were found more active (>2 times) than females during both seasons. The most frequently observed behavioral activities at the latrine sites were defecating, sniffing and browsing, followed by scrapping and covering, and ignoring the latrine sites. The defecating and sniffing activity were performed throughout breeding and non‐breeding seasons to establish communication among peers and to claim territory. Based on the behaviors observed at the latrine sites, we can presume that Himalayan musk deer likely use latrines to convey various messages, including personality, maturity, sexual status, and territory marking among conspecifics. These findings of this study can be used for the conservation of musk deer in its natural habitat and replicated in captivity to enhance breeding performance that improves long‐term conservation prospects for this species.
Everybody should contribute, but not too much: Perceptions of local governments on citizen responsibilisation in climate change adaptation in the Netherlands
Authors: Uittenbroek Caroline J. , Mees Heleen L. P. , Hegger Dries L. T. , Driessen Peter P.J.
Published: April 2022

Arguments for so‐called citizen responsibilisation, the transfer of responsibilities for public services to citizens, are increasingly put forward in several Western‐European countries. An important domain in which citizen responsibilisation is advocated is that of urban climate change adaptation. However, in practice, the advocated shift is taking place only to a limited extent. This study aims to help explain this by researching Dutch local governments' perceptions on citizens' capabilities as well as these governments' preferences regarding the tasks they want to delegate to citizens in the different stages of adaptation planning. Findings from three workshops with policy practitioners from local governments show that these practitioners have moderate trust in citizens' capabilities, but a low willingness to transfer responsibilities. Concerns of local governments include how to: (i) ensure an equal division of resources between different citizen groups/neighbourhoods; (ii) address citizens who are pursuing their own benefits more than producing a public adaptation good; (iii) address potential externalities for other citizens; (iv) guarantee a certain quality level for the public space. The study shows that local governments have an implicit awareness of different dimensions of responsibility and the tensions between them, including at least: responsibility as a task, as a legal duty, and as something for which one can be held accountable. We recommend a more explicit discussion of these dimensions in practice and a more systematic treatment of them in conceptual and in empirical studies.
Transient traffic energy‐use analysis employing video‐tracking and microscopic modeling techniques: A case study using electric and combustion engine vehicles
Authors: Hernández‐Moreno Adolfo , Diego‐Ayala Ulises , Jazcilevich Aron , Hernández‐Paniagua Iván Y. , Zavala‐Reyes Juan C. , Suárez Antonio , Rosas‐Pérez Irma
Published: April 2022

A system to obtain vehicular energy‐use and emissions in transient traffic is proposed. It operates at a microscopic 1‐s time scale, capturing critical stop‐and‐go dynamics in a controlled and repeatable computational environment. This allowed the definition of a sensitivity function linking energy‐use to traffic flow, providing an additional comparison parameter. To obtain the dynamics data, crucial for transient traffic modeling implementation and validation, a video‐tracking technique is used to overcome velocimeter and GPS data shortcomings. This approach allowed to observe and reproduce a traffic scene and agreed with a M/D/n queuing traffic model. Once the system contains precise dynamics, it can be implemented for traffic scenarios such as intersections, school areas, or future road projects. Any simulated vehicular technology can be incorporated into the analysis. A case study was implemented using 1000 electric (EV) and combustion engine vehicles (CV) interacting with trucks, buses, and motorcycles, while monitoring individual vehicular systems. These included the powertrain and regenerative braking to obtain energy‐use and emissions. EVs proved to be not only more efficient, but less sensitive to traffic buildup than CVs. The techniques presented here, lend themselves to technological design and evaluation and allows testing real‐life vehicular systems for sustainable traffic and energy planning.
Surrogate modeling and optimization for the unequal diameter radial diffuser of stratified thermal energy storage tanks
Authors: Li Yawei , Deng Yajun , Niu Mingyu , Sun Dongliang , Yu Bo
Published: April 2022

Stratified thermal energy storage (TES) tanks are widely used in thermal power plants to enhance the electric power peak load shifting capability and integrate high renewable energy shares. In this study, a data‐driven surrogate modeling and optimization study of the unequal diameter radial diffuser previously proposed by the present authors is conducted. First, based on the orthogonal experimental design, numerical experiments are performed to generate the performance database. Then, the database is used to establish the data‐driven surrogate model via the support vector machine. Subsequently, the single‐objective optimization and multiobjective optimization of an unequal diameter radial diffuser are conducted using the genetic algorithm. For the single‐objective optimization, the optimal thermocline thickness is 0.829 m when the diameter ratio of the long baffle and the tank is 0.426, the diameter ratio of the short baffle and the long baffle is 0.823, and the distance between the two baffles is 228.51 mm. For multiobjective optimization, the obtained Pareto optimal solutions are obtained. Under the premise of maintaining excellent thermal stratification, the selected Point C can reduce the steel cost by 88.1%. The research results are helpful for designing efficient and economical unequal diameter radial diffusers for TES tanks.
Resource allocation for cellular device‐to‐device‐aided vehicle‐to‐everything networks with partial channel state information
Authors: Shan Liqing , Wang Michael Mao , Zhang Fenghui , Chen Shuaishuai , Zhang Jingjing
Published: April 2022

In Vehicle‐to‐Everything (V2X), cellular Device‐to‐Device (D2D) communication can not only enhance system capacity and spectral utilization but also reduce the traffic load and communication delay. However, due to the fast variations of the channel state information (CSI) caused by high mobility of vehicles, the accurate CSI is difficult to be obtained in real‐time. In this paper, different from other previous researches that are subject to the perfect CSI, a more realistic channel state model is adopted that only the partial CSI of the communication links is available. Then we study the joint power allocation and spectrum sharing problem to maximize the total weighted ergodic capacity of all vehicular links, namely, Vehicle‐to‐Infrastructure (V2I) links and Vehicle‐to‐Vehicle (V2V) links. Meanwhile, the transmission reliability guarantees the quality of service (QoS) requirements of V2I and V2V. Since the formulated problem is a nonconvex mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problem, we first derive the strategy for obtaining the optimal solution of power allocation under arbitrary weighted factor and quantify different cases of feasible regions. Then we propose a two‐stage algorithm to complete the optimal resource allocation in polynomial time. Moreover, we further propose a low‐complexity spectrum sharing method based on the principles of Gale‐Shapley mechanism. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithms outperform the other baseline schemes significantly, and the low‐complexity scheme can effectively achieve a tradeoff between performance and complexity.
A fine‐grained and secure health data sharing scheme based on blockchain
Authors: Chen Jiahao , Yin Xinchun , Ning Jianting
Published: April 2022

Electronic health record (EHR) allows patients to use an open channel (ie, Internet) to control, share and manage their health records among family members, healthcare providers and other third party data users. Thus, in such an environment, privacy, confidentiality, and data consistency are the major challenges. Although cloud‐based EHR addresses the aforementioned discussions, these are prone to various malicious attacks, trust management and non‐repudiation among servers. Recently, due to the property of immutability, blockchain technology has been introduced to be as an auspicious solution for achieving EHR sharing with privacy and security preservation. Motivated by the above debates, we present BFHS, a blockchain‐based fine‐grained secure EHR sharing mechanism. On BFHS, we encrypt the EHR using ciphertext‐policy attribute‐based encryption (CP‐ABE) and upload it to the interplanetary file system (IPFS) for storage, while the matching index is encrypted via proxy re‐encryption and kept in a medical consortium blockchain. In addition, we created a credit assessment mechanism and incorporated it into the smart contract. Smart contracts, proxy re‐encryption, a credit evaluation mechanism, and IPFS all work together to give patients with a trustworthy EHR sharing environment and a dynamic access control interface. The thorough comparison and experimental analysis show that the proposed BFHS has more comprehensive security features and is more practicable.