bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Theoretical investigation of active listening behavior based on the echolocation of CF-FM bats
Authors: Hiraga Takahiro , Yamada Yasufumi , Kobayashi Ryo
Published: December 2021

Bats perceive the three-dimensional (3D) environment by emitting ultrasound pulses from their nose or mouth and receiving echoes through both ears. To detect the position of a target object, it is necessary to know the distance and direction of the target. Certain bat species synchronize the movement of their pinnae with pulse emission, and it is this behavior that enables 3D direction detection. However, the significance of bats’ ear motions remains unclear. In this study, we construct a model of an active listening system including the motion of the ears, and conduct mathematical investigations to clarify the importance of ear motion in 3D direction detection. The theory suggests that only certain ear motions, namely three-axis rotation, accomplish accurate and robust 3D direction detection. Our theoretical analysis also strongly supports the behavior whereby bats move their pinnae in the antiphase mode. In addition, we provide the conditions for ear motions to ensure accurate and robust direction detection, suggesting that simple shaped hearing directionality and well-selected uncomplicated ear motions are sufficient to achieve precise and robust 3D direction detection. Our findings and mathematical approach have the potential to be used in the design of active sensing systems in various engineering fields.

Author Summary

Many mammals use visual sensing for primary perception of their surroundings, whereas bats accomplish spatial perception by active acoustic sensing. In particular, by emitting ultrasound pulses and listening to the echoes, bats localize reflective objects, a process known as echolocation. Certain bat species move both of their ears while receiving the echoes, but the essential theory behind this ear movement remains unclear.

This paper describes a simple mathematical model for investigating the active listening strategy employed by bats. The theory suggests that the ear motions employed by bats enables highly accurate direction detection that is robust to observation errors. In addition, we determine what kind of ear motions are optimal for 3D direction detection. This study not only reveals the significance of pinnae motions in bats, but also opens up the possibility of engineering applications for active listening systems.
Evaluating mono and combination therapy of meropenem and amikacin against Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteremia in the Hollow-Fiber Infection Model
Authors: Avent ML , McCarthy KL , Sime FB , Naicker S , Heffernan AJ , Wallis SC , Paterson DL , Roberts JA
Published: December 2021

Debate continues as to the role of combination antibiotic therapy for the management of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections. We studied extent of bacterial killing and resistance emergence of meropenem and amikacin as monotherapy and as a combination therapy against susceptible and resistant P. aeruginosa isolates from bacteremic patients using the dynamic in vitro hollow-fiber infection model. Three P. aeruginosa isolates (meropenem MICs 0.125, 0.25 & 64 mg/L) were used simulating bacteremia with an initial inoculum ~1×105 CFU/mL and the expected pharmacokinetics of meropenem and amikacin in critically ill patients. For isolates susceptible to amikacin and meropenem (isolates 1 and 2), the rate of bacterial killing was increased with the combination regimen when compared with monotherapy of either antibiotic. Both the combination and meropenem monotherapy were able to sustain bacterial killing throughout the seven-day treatment course, whereas regrowth of bacteria occurred with amikacin monotherapy after 12 hours. For the meropenem-resistant P. aeruginosa isolate (isolate 3), only the combination regimen demonstrated bacterial killing. Given that tailored antibiotic regimens can maximize potential synergy against some isolates, future studies should explore the benefit of combination therapy against resistant P. aeruginosa.
Genomic bases of insularity and ecological divergence in barn owls (Tyto alba) of the Canary Islands
Authors: Cumer Tristan , Machado Ana Paula , Siverio Felipe , Cherkaoui Sidi Imad , Roque Inês , Lourenço Rui , Charter Motti , Roulin Alexandre , Goudet Jérôme
Published: December 2021

Islands, and the particular organisms that populate them, have long fascinated biologists. Due to their isolation, islands offer unique opportunities to study the effect of neutral and adaptive mechanisms in determining genomic and phenotypical divergence. In the Canary Islands, an archipelago rich in endemics, the barn owl (Tyto alba) is thought to have diverged into a subspecies (T. a. gracilirostris) on the eastern islands, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote. Taking advantage of 40 whole-genomes and modern population genomics tools, we provide the first look at the origin and genetic makeup of barn owls of this archipelago. We show that the Canaries hold diverse, long-standing and monophyletic populations with a neat distinction of gene pools from the different islands. Using new method, less sensitive to structure than classicalFST, to detect regions involved in local adaptation to the insular environment, we identified a haplotype-like region likely under positive selection in all Canaries individuals. Genes in this region suggest morphological adaptations to insularity. In the eastern islands, where the subspeciesT. a. gracilirostrisis present, genomic traces of selection pinpoint signs of locally adapted body proportions and blood pressure, consistent with the smaller size of this population living in a hot arid climate. In turn, genomic regions under selection in the western barn owls from Tenerife showed an enrichment in genes linked to hypoxia, a potential response to inhabiting a small island with a marked altitudinal gradient. Our results illustrate the interplay of neutral and adaptive forces in shaping divergence and early onset speciation.
Interactions between xylem traits linked to hydraulics during xylem development optimize growth performance in conifer seedlings
Authors: Lourenço Jehová , Houle Daniel , Duchesne Louis , Kneeshaw Daniel
Published: December 2021

Climate change has threatened forests globally, challenging tree species’ ability to track the rapidly changing environment (e.g., drought and temperature rise). Conifer species face strong environmental filters due to climatic seasonality. Investigating how conifers change their hydraulic architecture during xylem development across the growing season may shed light on possible mechanisms underlying hydraulic adaptation in conifers.

Laser microscopy was used to assess the three-dimensional hydraulic architecture of balsam fir (Abies balsamea(Linnaeus) Miller), jack pine (Pinus banksianaLambert), white spruce (Picea glauca(Moench) Voss), and black spruce (Picea mariana(Miller) Britton, Sterns & Poggenburgh) seedlings. We measured hydraulic-related xylem traits in different regions (from early to latewood), during four years of plant growth.

The xylem development of jack pine seedlings contrasts with the other species by maintaining torus overlap (a hydraulic safety-associated xylem trait), relatively constant across the season (from early to latewood), and over the years studied. The expansion of tracheids and torus was positively associated with plant growth.

Pit aperture-torus covariance is central to the seasonal dynamics of jack pine xylem development, which jointly with a rapid tracheid and pit expansion is consistent with strong growth performance. Linking xylem structural changes during xylem development with hydraulics is a major issue for future research to assess conifers vulnerability to climate change.
How much do model organism phenotypes contribute to the computational identification of human disease genes?
Authors: Alghamdi Sarah M. , Schofield Paul N. , Hoehndorf Robert
Published: December 2021

Computing phenotypic similarity has been shown to be useful in identification of new disease genes and for rare disease diagnostic support. Genotype–phenotype data from orthologous genes in model organisms can compensate for lack of human data to greatly increase genome coverage. Work over the past decade has demonstrated the power of cross-species phenotype comparisons, and several cross-species phenotype ontologies have been developed for this purpose. The relative contribution of different model organisms to identifying diseaseassociated genes using computational approaches is not yet fully explored. We use methods based on phenotype ontologies to semantically relate phenotypes resulting from loss-of-function mutations in different model organisms to disease-associated phenotypes in humans. Semantic machine learning methods are used to measure how much different model organisms contribute to the identification of known human gene–disease associations. We find that only mouse phenotypes can accurately predict human gene–disease associations. Our work has implications for the future development of integrated phenotype ontologies, as well as for the use of model organism phenotypes in human genetic variant interpretation.
Temporal clusters of age-related behavioral alterations captured in smartphone touchscreen interactions
Authors: Ceolini Enea , Kock Ruchella , Band Guido P.H. , Stoet Gijsbert , Ghosh Arko
Published: December 2021

Cognitive and behavioral abilities alter across the adult life span. Smartphones engage various cognitive functions and the corresponding touchscreen interactions may help resolve if and how the behavior is systematically structured by aging. Here, in a sample spanning the adult lifespan (16 to 86 years, N = 598, accumulating 355 million interactions) we analyzed a range of interaction intervals – from a few milliseconds to a minute. We used probability distributions to cluster the interactions according to their next inter-touch interval dynamics to discover systematic age-related changes at the distinct temporal clusters. There were age-related behavioral losses at the clusters occupying short intervals (~ 100 ms, R2 ~ 0.8) but gains at the long intervals (~ 4 s, R2 ~ 0.4). These correlates were independent of the years of experience on the phone or the choice of fingers used on the screen. We found further evidence for a compartmentalized influence of aging, as individuals simultaneously demonstrated both accelerated and decelerated aging at distant temporal clusters. In contrast to these strong correlations, cognitive tests probing sensorimotor, working memory, and executive processes revealed rather weak age-related decline. Contrary to the common notion of a simple behavioral decline with age based on conventional cognitive tests, we show that real-world behavior does not simply decline and the nature of aging systematically varies according to the underlying temporal dynamics. Of all the imaginable factors determining smartphone interactions in the real world, age-sensitive cognitive and behavioral processes can dominatingly dictate smartphone temporal dynamics.
An expanded toolkit for Drosophila gene tagging using synthesized homology donor constructs for CRISPR mediated homologous recombination
Authors: Kanca Oguz , Zirin Jonathan , Hu Yanhui , Tepe Burak , Dutta Debdeep , Lin Wen-Wen , Ma Liwen , Ge Ming , Zuo Zhongyuan , Liu Lu-Ping , Levis Robert W. , Perrimon Norbert , Bellen Hugo J.
Published: December 2021

Previously, we described a large collection of Drosophila strains that each carry an artificial exon containing a T2AGAL4 cassette inserted in an intron of a target gene based on CRISPR-mediated homologous recombination (Lee et al., 2018). These alleles permit numerous applications and have proven to be very useful. Initially, the homologous recombination-based donor constructs had long homology arms (>500 bps) to promote precise integration of large constructs (>5kb). Recently, we showed that in vivo linearization of the donor constructs enables insertion of large artificial exons in introns using short homology arms (100-200 bps) (Kanca et al., 2019a). Shorter homology arms make it feasible to commercially synthesize homology donors and minimize the cloning steps for donor construct generation. Unfortunately, about 50% of Drosophila genes lack suitable coding introns for integration of artificial exons. Here, we report the development of new set of constructs that allow the replacement of the coding region of genes that lack suitable introns with a KozakGAL4 cassette, generating a knock-out/knock-in allele that expresses GAL4 similarly as the targeted gene. We also developed custom vector backbones to further facilitate and improve transgenesis. Synthesis of homology donor constructs in custom plasmid backbones that contain the target gene sgRNA obviates the need to inject a separate sgRNA plasmid and significantly increases the transgenesis efficiency. These upgrades will enable the targeting of nearly every fly gene, regardless of exon-intron structure, with a 70-80% success rate.
Size-structured mating niche differentiation in the male-polyphenic mite Rhizoglyphus robini
Authors: Rhebergen Flor T. , Wijstma Maarten , Smallegange Isabel M.
Published: December 2021

Condition-dependent expression of alternative male morphs evolves when males of different sizes experience different mating niches, requiring different morphologies. Such mating niche differentiation can be due to competitive asymmetry between large and small males in contests over mating opportunities. Here, we tested the hypothesis that aggressive interactions among males cause size-structured mating niches in an acarid mite with condition-dependent male polyphenism: the bulb mite Rhizoglyphus robini. In this species, large males mature as armed fighters with enlarged legs, and small males as scramblers without modified legs. We staged experimental dyadic contests over a mating opportunity between either a pair of fighter males, or a fighter and a scrambler male. We predicted that the larger male would have a higher likelihood of mating first in contests among fighters, that the fighter male would have a higher likelihood of mating first in fighter-scrambler contests, that fighters would have a higher likelihood of interrupting ongoing copulations if they are larger than their mating rival, and that copulations in the presence of a fighter rival therefore last shorter than copulations with a scrambler rival present. We found that in contests among fighters, the larger male had a higher probability of mating first. In contests among a fighter and scrambler, the fighter male was more likely to mate first regardless of the body size difference between the contestants. Ongoing copulations were only rarely interrupted by the rival male (always by a fighter), and the probability of interruption did not depend on the body size difference between the mating male and its rival. Copulations lasted shorter in the presence of a rival fighter, but this effect was not attributable to interruption of copulations. We conclude that the fighting niche is particularly accessible for large males, as larger males have a higher probability of winning pre-copulatory contests. Such mating niche differentiation likely contributes to evolutionary maintenance of condition-dependent male polyphenism, where small males are forced to adopt an alternative mating tactic and hence develop a dedicated morphology.
Hypodopaminergic state of the nigrostriatal pathway drives compulsive alcohol use
Authors: Goutaudier Raphaël , Mallet David , Bartolomucci Magali , Guicherd Denis , Carcenac Carole , Vossier Frédérique , Dufourd Thibault , Boulet Sabrina , Deransart Colin , Chovelon Benoit , Carnicella Sebastien
Published: December 2021

The neurobiological mechanisms underlying compulsive alcohol use, a cardinal feature of alcohol use disorder, remain elusive. The key modulator of motivational processes dopamine (DA) is suspected to play an important role in this pathology, but its exact implication remains to be determined. Here, we found that rats expressing compulsive alcohol-related behavior, operationalized as punishment-resistant self-administration, showed a decrease in DA levels restricted to the dorsolateral territories of the striatum, the main output structure of the nigrostriatal DA pathway. We then causally demonstrated that a chemogenetic-induced selective hypodopaminergia of this pathway results in compulsive alcohol self-administration in rats otherwise resilient, accompanied by the emergence of alcohol withdrawal-like motivational impairments. These results demonstrate a major implication of tonic nigrostriatal hypodopaminergic state in alcohol addiction and provide new insights into our understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms underlying compulsive alcohol use.
New Insights into Molecular Basis Identification of Three Novel Strains of the Bacillus Subtilis Group Produce Cry Proteins Isolated from Soil Samples in Adana, Turkey
Authors: Yılmaz Semih , Idris Abeer Babiker , Ayvaz Abdurrahman , Çetin Aysun , Ülgen Funda , Çetin Mustafa , Saraymen Berkay , Hassan Mohamed A.
Published: December 2021

Aims

This study aimed to analyze the evolutionary relationship betweenBacillusspecies isolated from agricultural soil using in-silico tools.

Methods and Results

Across-sectional study was conducted in Adana province, in Turkey. A total of 120Bacillusspecies were isolated from 80 soil samples. However, the phylogenetic tree diverged into two lineages; one belongs toB. subtilisgroup while the other belongs toB. cereusgroup. Interestingly, three native strains (SY27.1A, SY35.3A, andSY58.5A), which produce Cry proteins, shared high similarity withB. subtilisgroup (over 99%) and less than 95% similarity with knownB. thuringiensisand other species ofB. cereusgroup. Furthermore, 11 canonical SNPs (canSNPs) were identified in strains that belong toB. pumilusgroup when compared withB. subtilisreference sequences.

Conclusions

Phylogenetic analysis of16S rRNAsequences was found valuable for differentiation betweenBacillusspecies isolated from soil samples. In addition, SNPs analysis provided more intra-specific information in the cases ofB. subtilisgroup.

Significance and Impact of Study

A detailed analysis was provided for the SNPs present in a conserved region of16S rRNAgene ofBacillusspecies. Also, we proposed three novelBacillusstrains that produce Cry proteins and belong toB. subtilisgroup.
Openness and technological innovation: the moderating effect of information technology adoption and political ties
Authors: Jiao Hao , Yang Jifeng , Jiang Cheng , Yu Jiawei
Published: December 2021

Purpose

This research helps firms pursue an open innovation strategy but want to minimize competitive pressure from other external entities. A theoretical framework is constructed to analyze the impact of openness on innovation performance, exploring different effect of firms' external search channels.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper employs a stepwise hierarchical regression approach to assess the effect of openness on technological innovation considering the role of information technology adoption and political ties. The effect is conducted using a large-scale sample of 1,073 Chinese manufacturing firms over the period 2011–2013 as empirical research objects.

Findings

There are two stages of the open technological innovation process while the information technology (IT) adoption and political ties are the key consideration in emerging markets. Openness is curvilinearly (taking an inverted U-shape) related to innovation performance. Both information technology adoption and political ties generally help firms to turn broadly sourced external knowledge into technological innovation performance. This will stimulate “one plus one is greater than two” effect not only in the process of achieving performance goals, but also in the process of technological innovation.

Originality/value

This quantitative research illustrates the importance relationship between firms' open behaviors and technological innovation performance in emerging markets. It helps us understand firms' current constrains of open strategy of technological innovation and helps domestic or foreign investors to make strategic collaboration choices in emerging economies according to the degree of openness, informatization level, political connections, which is equally important for research and practice.
Why companies succeed or fail: corporate cycles and firm function in tandem
Authors: Mourdoukoutas Panos , Stefanidis Abraham
Published: December 2021

Purpose

This paper aims to underscore the need for developing a model of corporate cycles, which can explain how corporations rise, decline and fall in the marketplace.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a conceptual study that draws on prior theoretical and empirical insights of the entrepreneurial, managerial and social functions of the firm to develop a model of corporate cycles.

Findings

Firms that pass the test of the market and live for a long time, undergo cycles, expansions and contractions, driven by successes and failures in the way they configure and execute their entrepreneurial, managerial and social, functions.

Practical implications

A model of corporate cycles can explain how momentum rises and falls on Wall Street. It can also help predict revenue growth, a key variable in equity valuation models.

Originality/value

The originality of this study stems from a constructive synthesis of different concepts and theories of the firm to explain firms’ growth, decline and fall in the marketplace.
Smart, hybrid and context-aware POI mobile recommender system in tourism in Oman
Authors: Afsahhosseini Fatemehalsadat , Al-Mulla Yaseen
Published: December 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to identify the knowledge gap and future opportunities for developing mobile recommender system in tourism sector that lead to comfortable, targeted and attractive tourism. A recommender system improves the traditional classification algorithms and has incorporated many advanced machine learning algorithms.

Design/methodology/approach

Design of this application followed a smart, hybrid and context-aware recommender system, which includes various recommender systems. With the recommender system's help, useful management for time and budget is obtained for tourists, since they usually have financial and time constraints for selecting the point of interests (POIs) and so more purposeful trip planned with decreased traffic and air pollution.

Findings

The finding of this research showed that the inclusion of additional information about the item, user, circumstances, objects or conditions and the environment could significantly impact recommendation quality and information and communications technology has become one part of the tourism value chain.

Practical implications

The application consists of (1) registration: with/without social media accounts, (2) user information: country, gender, age and his/her specific interests, (3) context data: available time, alert, price, spend time, weather, location, transportation.

Social implications

The study’s social implications include connecting the app and registration through social media to a more social relationship, with its textual reviews, or user review as user-generated content for increasing accuracy.

Originality/value

The originality of this research work lies on introducing a new content- and knowledge-based algorithm for POI recommendations. An “Alert” context emphasizing on safety, supplies and essential infrastructure is considered as a novel context for this application.
Fashion designers' attitude-behaviour inconsistencies towards a sustainable business model: a neutralisation theory perspective
Authors: Muposhi Asphat , Nyagadza Brighton , Mafini Chengedzai
Published: December 2021

Purpose

Fashion designers in South Africa remain ambivalent in embracing sustainable fashion. This study examines the role of neutralisation techniques on attitude towards sustainable fashion. The study was conducted in South Africa, an emerging market known for water scarcity and pollution emanating from the textile industry.

Design/methodology/approach

A structured questionnaire was used to collect cross-sectional data from a sample of 590 fashion designers using a web-based online survey. Study constructs were drawn from the neutralisation theory and theory of planned behaviour.

Findings

Standard multiple regression analysis results identified denial of injury, appeal to higher loyalties and external locus of control as the major rationalisation techniques influencing South African designers' negative attitudes towards sustainable fashion.

Research limitations/implications

Research was conducted in South Africa where the concept of sustainable fashion is still at developmental stages. The generalisation of the study findings may be enhanced by extending the study to other markets with a fully developed market for sustainable fashion.

Practical implications

The study results underscore the necessity of reducing social, structural and institutional barriers associated with the adoption of sustainable fashion. This study provides input towards efforts to develop attitude change strategies to stimulate designers to embrace sustainable fashion.

Originality/value

The research study contributes to theory, practice and future research.
A lack of mess? Advice on undertaking video-mediated participant observations
Authors: Høg Utoft Ea , Kusk Søndergaard Mie , Bendtsen Anna-Kathrine
Published: December 2021

Purpose

This article offers practical advice to ethnographers venturing into doing participant observations through, but not about, videoconferencing applications such as Zoom, for which the methods literature offers little guidance.

Design/methodology/approach

The article stems from a research project about a BioMedical Design Fellowship. As the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the Fellowship converted all teaching activities to online learning via Zoom, and the participant observations followed along. Taking an autoethnographic approach, the authors present and discuss concrete examples of encountered obstacles produced by the video-mediated format, such as limited access and interactions, technical glitches and changing experiences of embodiment.

Findings

Changing embodiment in particular initially led the authors to believe that the “messiness” of ethnography (i.e. misunderstandings, emotions, politics, self-doubts etc.) was lost online. However, over time the authors realized that the mess was still there, albeit in new manifestations, because Zoom shaped the interactions of the people the authors observed, the observations the authors could make and how the authors related to research participants and vice versa.

Practical implications

The article succinctly summarizes the key advice offered by the researchers (see Section 5) based on their experiences of converting on-site ethnographic observations into video-mediated observations enabling easy use by other researchers in relation to other projects and contexts.

Originality/value

The article positions video-mediated observations, via e.g. Zoom, which are distinctly characterised by happening in real time and having an object of study other than the online sphere itself, vis-à-vis other “online ethnography” methods. The article further aims to enable researchers to more rapidly rediscover and re-incite the new manifestations of the messiness of ethnography online, which is key to ensuring high-quality research.
The role of green process innovation translating green entrepreneurial orientation and proactive sustainability strategy into environmental performance
Authors: Frare Anderson Betti , Beuren Ilse Maria
Published: December 2021

Purpose

This paper analyzes the mediating role of green process innovation in the relationships of green entrepreneurial orientation and proactive sustainability strategy with environmental performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors analyze data from 81 Brazilian agriculture technology startups (AgTechs) using partial least squares–structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA).

Findings

The results show that the green process innovation assumes an important role in AgTechs, promoting full mediations between green entrepreneurial orientation and proactive sustainability strategy with environmental performance. There are two ways for AgTechs to achieve high environmental performance. In both, green process innovation is a central condition, while green entrepreneurial orientation or proactive sustainability strategy is a complementary condition.

Research limitations/implications

This study demonstrates how internal elements (green entrepreneurial orientation, proactive sustainability strategy and green process innovation) improve environmental performance. This answers calls to explore which elements translate green entrepreneurial orientation and proactive sustainability strategies into environmental performance, by highlighting the mediating role of green process innovation.

Practical implications

The findings are useful for founders and managers of AgTechs to find ways to manage sustainable technological advancement and cleaner production in agribusiness.

Originality/value

This study analyses the interface between sustainable entrepreneurship, strategy and innovation in promoting environmental performance of AgTechs from an emerging economy country.
Vehicle routing problem for humanitarian relief distribution under hybrid uncertainty
Authors: Nodoust Sara , Pishvaee Mir Saman , Seyedhosseini Seyed Mohammad
Published: December 2021

Purpose

Given the importance of estimating the demand for relief items in earthquake disaster, this research studies the complex nature of demand uncertainty in a vehicle routing problem in order to distribute first aid relief items in the post disaster phase, where routes are subject to disruption.

Design/methodology/approach

To cope with such kind of uncertainty, the demand rate of relief items is considered as a random fuzzy variable and a robust scenario-based possibilistic-stochastic programming model is elaborated. The results are presented and reported on a real case study of earthquake, along with sensitivity analysis through some important parameters.

Findings

The results show that the demand satisfaction level in the proposed model is significantly higher than the traditional scenario-based stochastic programming model.

Originality/value

In reality, in the occurrence of a disaster, demand rate has a mixture nature of objective and subjective and should be represented through possibility and probability theories simultaneously. But so far, in studies related to this domain, demand parameter is not considered in hybrid uncertainty. The worth of considering hybrid uncertainty in this study is clarified by supplementing the contribution with presenting a robust possibilistic programming approach and disruption assumption on roads.
New perspectives of experiential tourism: an exploratory analysis of live virtual tours during the COVID-19 outbreak
Authors: Mastroberardino Piero , Calabrese Giuseppe , Cortese Flora , Petracca Miriam
Published: December 2021

Purpose

This paper aims to find out if it is possible to consider live virtual tours, in the connotation assumed during the COVID-19 outbreak, as experiential tourism products. The paper focuses on Holbrook's “four Es” (“experience”, “entertainment”, “exhibitionism” and “evangelising”) to study the experience of live virtual tours.

Design/methodology/approach

This article develops an exploratory analysis and presents a content analysis of 1052 reviews of 108 live virtual tours posted on TripAdvisor and Viator.

Findings

The findings show that live virtual tours are perceived as experiences, all “four Es” are covered and two more sub-categories emerge.

Research limitations/implications

The analysis is limited to the perception of tourists that are confident with the technology, to a small sample and a period of travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Practical implications

Live virtual tours create a new segment, which “travels from home”. This does not preclude tourists from deciding to physically visit the places seen virtually.

Originality/value

Research on the analysis of the reviews of live virtual tours has not yet been carried out.
Thermal tolerance in Drosophila: Repercussions for distribution, community coexistence and responses to climate change
Authors: Alruiz José M. , Peralta‐Maraver Ignacio , Bozinovic Francisco , Santos Mauro , Rezende Enrico L.
Published: December 2021

Here we combined controlled experiments and field surveys to determine if estimates of heat tolerance predict distributional ranges and phenology of different Drosophila species in southern South America.

We contrasted thermal death time curves, which consider both magnitude and duration of the challenge to estimate heat tolerance, against the thermal range where populations are viable based on field surveys in an 8‐year longitudinal study.

We observed a strong correspondence of the physiological limits, the thermal niche for population growth, and the geographic ranges across studied species, which suggests that the thermal biology of different species provides a common currency to understand how species will respond to warming temperatures both at a local level and throughout their distribution range.

Our approach represents a novel analytical toolbox to anticipate how natural communities of ectothermic organisms will respond to global warming.
The Lys‐motif receptor LYK4 mediates Enterobacter sp. SA187 triggered salt tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana
Authors: Rolli Eleonora , de Zélicourt Axel , Alzubaidy Hanin , Karampelias Michael , Parween Sabiha , Rayapuram Naganand , Han Baoda , Froehlich Katja , Abulfaraj Aala A. , Alhoraibi Hanna , Mariappan Kiruthiga , Andrés‐Barrao Cristina , Colcombet Jean , Hirt Heribert
Published: December 2021

Root endophytes establish beneficial interactions with plants, improving holobiont resilience and fitness, but how plant immunity accommodates beneficial microbes is poorly understood. The multi‐stress tolerance‐inducing endophyte Enterobacter sp. SA187 triggers a canonical immune response in Arabidopsis only at high bacterial dosage (>108 CFUs ml−1), suggesting that SA187 is able to evade or suppress the plant defence system at lower titres. Although SA187 flagellin epitopes are recognized by the FLS2 receptor, SA187‐triggered salt tolerance functions independently of the FLS2 system. In contrast, overexpression of the chitin receptor components LYK4 and LYK5 compromised the beneficial effect of SA187 on Arabidopsis, while it was enhanced in lyk4 mutant plants. Transcriptome analysis revealed that the role of LYK4 is intertwined with a function in remodelling defence responses with growth and root developmental processes. LYK4 interferes with modification of plant ethylene homeostasis by Enterobacter SA187 to boost salt stress resistance. Collectively, these results contribute to unlock the crosstalk between components of the plant immune system and beneficial microbes and point to a new role for the Lys‐motif receptor LYK4 in beneficial plant–microbe interaction.
Anaerobic methane oxidation linked to Fe(III) reduction in a Candidatus Methanoperedens‐enriched consortium from the cold Zoige wetland at Tibetan Plateau
Authors: Chen Lin , Li Lingyan , Zhang Shengjie , Zhang Wenting , Xue Kai , Wang Yanfen , Dong Xiuzhu
Published: December 2021

Anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) is a microbial process degrading ample methane in anoxic environments, and Ca. Methanoperedens mediated nitrate‐ or metal‐reduction linked AOM is believed important in freshwater systems. This work, via 16S rRNA gene diversity survey and 16S rRNA quantification, found abundant Ca. Methanoperedens along with iron in the cold Zoige wetland at Tibetan Plateau. The wetland soil microcosm performed Fe(III) reduction, rather than nitrate‐ nor sulphate‐reduction, coupled methane oxidation (3.87 μmol d−1) with 32.33 μmol Fe(II) accumulation per day at 18°C, but not at 30°C. A metagenome‐assembled genome (MAG) recovered from the microcosm exhibits ~74% average nucleotide identity with the reported Ca. Methanoperedens spp. that perform Fe(III) reduction linked AOM, thus a novel species Ca. Methanoperedens psychrophilus was proposed. Ca. M. psychrophilus contains the whole suite of CO2 reductive methanogenic genes presumably involving in AOM via a reverse direction, and comparative genome analysis revealed its unique gene categories: the multi‐heme clusters (MHCs) cytochromes, the S‐layer proteins highly homologous to those recovered from lower temperature environments and type IV pili, those could confer Ca. M. psychrophilus of cold adaptability. Therefore, this work reports the first methanotroph implementing AOM in an alpine wetland.
Equity Crowdfunding: The Influence of Perceived Innovativeness on Campaign Success
Authors: Le Pendeven Benjamin , Schwienbacher Armin
Published: December 2021

This paper examines the impact of perceived innovativeness on the success of equity crowdfunding campaigns. Building on the investor perspective, we hypothesize a positive impact of perceived innovativeness on the campaign outcome. Our database covers 191 campaigns launched in France on different platforms, drawing on over 2,000 individual assessments of the perceived innovativeness of the start‐ups involved, carried out by 176 participants with diverse backgrounds. We find support for our hypothesis from the investor perspective in that highly innovative projects attract more crowd investors and, in turn, raise more capital. We contribute to the understanding of how the crowd makes investment choices.
Up, down, and away: placing privilege in Bucharest, Romania
Authors: O'Neill Bruce
Published: December 2021

Anthropologists have become increasingly sophisticated in the analysis of class by detailing the urban margins, by ‘studying up’ to examine elite wealth, and by charting the rise of the global middle classes. The anthropological commitment to depth, however, tends to keep these three strata separate in ways that mirror analytically the kind of segregation observed on the ground. Tight analytical framings risk obscuring the co‐ordinates of privilege, especially in cities such as Bucharest, Romania, which are being rapidly transformed by foreign direct investment (FDI). This article, by contrast, moves across Bucharest's diverging strata to explore the complex interconnections between the pursuit of FDI, urban planning, and increased class separation. Ethnographically, the article examines the production of three kinds of emergent spaces – homeless shelters for the very poor; high‐rise towers for the truly elite; and metro stations designed for the middle classes – to trace the interrelated politics of belonging and exclusion in a rapidly transforming city. The article suggests that these efforts, successful as they may be at ordering competing claims to the city, produce a landscape that cements unequal class relations into the built environment. Taken from Bucharest, this analysis offers wider insight into the future of contemporary urbanism in the European Union but also in cities the world over that are being similarly remade to attract global capital.
(Dis)Engagement with queer counterpublics: Exploring intimate and family lives in online and offline spaces in China
Authors: Lo Iris Po Yee
Published: December 2021

There have been ongoing discussions about the ways in which the Internet has created new spaces for sexual minority individuals to meet, communicate, and build their communities in recent decades. Nevertheless, previous studies have paid disproportionate attention to identity politics, civil society, and rights‐based movements. They have largely overlooked other possible forms of, and orientations toward, engagement with cyberspace, particularly those that have emerged and been restricted in non‐Western contexts. This article examines Chinese lesbians' experiences of using cyberspace and the extent to which these experiences help them develop their intimate and family lives. Drawing on interview data and developing a framework that combines queer counterpublics scholarship with insights drawn from the notion of relational selfhood, this study reveals a wide range of personal, familial, and socio‐political motivations for (not) engaging in cyberspace and the mixed feelings of connection and distance experienced by participants. By identifying three forms of (dis)engagement with cyberspace: those demonstrated by ‘pioneers’, ‘skeptics’, and ‘conflicted pragmatists’, this study expands the notion of queer counterpublics beyond its focus on civic and political participation and illustrates the contested and contingent nature of Chinese queer counterpublics. It shows that Chinese lesbians' interactions in cyberspace enable them to explore non‐traditional paths to family formation and motherhood. Meanwhile, these interactions expose them to tensions between the new possibilities revealed by online spaces and established socio‐political and familial norms. I argue that prevailing heterosexual norms, coupled with material concerns and the regulatory power of the family and the state, continue to restrict the transformative potential of cyberspace and push some lesbians to withdraw from cyberspace into themselves and refrain from taking part in collective action. The article concludes with some reflections on queer counterpublics and the complex interplay between online and offline lives in the digital age.
Survey and population dynamics of cereal aphids and their common natural enemies inhabiting wheat crop in Hail region, Saudi Arabia
Authors: Asiry Khalid A.
Published: December 2021

Cereal aphids are known as serious pests that cause considerable yield losses of wheat production. In this study, cereal aphids and their common natural enemies inhabiting the commercial wheat crop were investigated between February and April 2013 as a preliminary study in the Hail region, northern Saudi Arabia. Results showed that wheat crops were infested by four aphid species including the Russian wheat aphid Diuraphis noxia Kurdjumov, the English grain aphid Sitobion avenae Fabricius, the bird cherry‐oat aphid Rhopalosiphum padi L. and the greenbug aphid Schizaphis graminum Rondani (Homoptera: Aphididae). The Russian wheat aphid D. noxia, however, was the most abundant species compared to other aphid species, totaling 343 individuals which represented 39.80% of all cereal aphids. The results showed a diverse community of specialist natural enemies that were associated aphids including parasitoid wasps as a complex and one Braconid species Aphidius matricariae Haliday (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), three coccinellid species (Adonia variegate Goeze, Coccinella quinquepunctata L. and Coccinella septimpunctata L.) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), one species of lacewing Chrysopa sp. (adults & larvae) (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) and one species of hoverfly Eristalinus aeneus Scop. (adults and larvae) (Diptera: Syrphidae). This study, also, recorded a high abundance of polyphagous predators that included two species of ground beetles involving the black beetle Calosoma olivieri Dejean and Calosoma imbricatum Klug (Coleoptera: Carabidae), and spiders (Araneae) as generalist natural enemies of cereal aphids. In this article, population dynamics of captured cereal aphids and their common natural enemies, and their correlations will be described and discussed.
Higher versus lower oxygenation targets in COVID‐19 patients with severe hypoxaemia (HOT‐COVID) trial: Protocol for a secondary Bayesian analysis
Authors: Mølgaard Nielsen Frederik , Lass Klitgaard Thomas , Granholm Anders , Lange Theis , Perner Anders , Lilleholt Schjørring Olav , Steen Rasmussen Bodil
Published: December 2021

Background

Respiratory failure is the main cause of mortality and morbidity among ICU patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19). In these patients, supplemental oxygen therapy is essential, but there is limited evidence the optimal target. To address this, the ongoing handling oxygenation targets in COVID‐19 (HOT‐COVID) trial was initiated to investigate the effect of a lower oxygenation target (partial pressure of arterial oxygen (PaO2) of 8 kPa) versus a higher oxygenation target (PaO2 of 12 kPa) in the ICU on clinical outcome in patients with COVID‐19 and hypoxaemia.

Methods

The HOT‐COVID is planned to enrol 780 patients. This paper presents the protocol and statistical analysis plan for the conduct of a secondary Bayesian analysis of the primary outcome of HOT‐COVID being days alive without life‐support at 90 days and the secondary outcome 90‐day all‐cause mortality. Furthermore, both outcomes will be investigated for the presence heterogeneity of treatment effects based on four baseline parameters being sequential organ failure assessment score, PaO2/fraction of inspired oxygen ratio, highest dose of norepinephrine during the 24 h before randomisation, and plasma concentration of lactate at randomisation.

Conclusion

The results of this pre‐planned secondary Bayesian analysis will complement the primary frequentist analysis of the HOT‐COVID trial and may facilitate a more nuanced interpretation of the trial results.
Activity patterns and temporal niche partitioning in sympatric red‐legged and red‐necked pademelons
Authors: Smith Lucy E. V. , Andrew Nigel R. , Vernes Karl
Published: December 2021

Temporal partitioning between ecologically similar species facilitates co‐occurrence and can influence the structure of mammalian assemblages. We studied diel activity patterns of two sympatric forest‐dwelling wallabies, the red‐legged pademelon (Thylogale stigmatica) and red‐necked pademelon (Thylogale thetis) in eastern Australia to better understand spatiotemporal partitioning between these closely related macropods. Temporally, both species displayed strongly crepuscular activity patterns typical of many macropod species; however, compared with T. thetis, T. stigmatica was less active during evening twilight and more active in the period prior to dawn. Spatially, T. stigmatica used dense forest cover exclusively throughout the 24‐hour cycle, while T. thetis divided its habitat spatiotemporally, spending the diurnal period under forest cover and the nocturnal period on pasture beyond the forest edge. In practical terms, this meant that T. stigmatica and T. thetis were fully spatially segregated at night, during the period they would be likely to do most of their foraging. We propose that the spatiotemporal partitioning observed is niche partitioning, and provides a mechanism for the co‐occurrence of these closely related species.
The Demise of “Pragmatism”? Assessing the Public Debate on Australia's Engagement with China
Authors: Chacko Priya , Strating Rebecca
Published: December 2021

Like many other regional powers in the Asia‐Pacific, Australia is a middle‐sized state wedged between two great powers, the United States (US) and the People's Republic of China. While Australia continues to rely upon the US alliance for security, China remains its biggest trading partner. Over the past two decades, Australia's public foreign policy discussions have centred upon Australia's “China Choice” in the context of growing strategic rivalry between these dominant powers. This debate has sought to grapple with the options available to Australia in managing its relations with an increasingly assertive China and an unpredictable US. This article examines the public debate on China policy since the election of the conservative Liberal‐National Coalition government in 2013. It argues the appropriateness of a pragmatic foreign policy in relation to the engagement of great powers has been the central question in Australia's China debate. Yet what constitutes pragmatic action in relation to Australia's China policy is varied and based on differing understandings of how middle‐sized states can and do seek to cope with structural shifts. The paper also argues, however, that an emergent anti‐pragmatist tradition has recently emerged that reflects the unprecedented challenges facing Australian foreign policy and presents "pragmatism" as a threat to Australian sovereignty, principles, and values.