bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Channelrhodopsin C1C2: Photocycle kinetics and interactions near the central gate
Authors: VanGordon M. R. , Prignano L. A. , Dempski R. E. , Rick S. W. , Rempe S. B.
Published: October 2019

Channelrhodopsins (ChR) are cation channels that can be expressed heterologously in various living tissues, including cardiac and neuronal cells. To tune spatial and temporal control of potentials across ChR-enriched cell membranes, it is essential to understand how pore hydration impacts the ChR photocycle kinetics. Here, we measure channel opening and closing rates of channelrhodopsin chimera and selected variants (C1C2 wild type, C1C2-N297D, C1C2-N297V, and C1C2-V125L) and correlate them with changes in chemical interactions among functionally important residues in both closed and open states. Kinetic results substantiate that replacement of helices I and II in ChR2 with corresponding residues from ChR1, to make the chimera C1C2, affects the kinetics of channelrhodopsin pore gating significantly, making C1C2 a unique channel. As a prerequisite for studies of ion transport, detailed understanding of the water pathway within a ChR channel is important. Our atomistic simulations confirm that opening of the channel and initial hydration of the previously dry gating regions between helices I, II, III, and VII of the channel occurs with 1) the presence of 13-cis retinal; 2) deprotonation of a glutamic acid gating residue, E129; and 3) subsequent weakening of the central gate hydrogen bond between the same glutamic acid E129 and asparagine N282 in the central region of the pore. Also, an aspartate (D292) is the unambiguous primary proton acceptor for the retinal Schiff base in the hydrated channel.

SIGNIFICANCE

Channelrhodopsins (ChR) are light-sensitive ion channels used in optogenetics, a technique that applies light to selectively and non-invasively control cells (e.g., neurons) that have been modified genetically to express those channels. Using electrophysiology, we measured the opening and closing rates of a ChR chimera, and several variants, and correlated those rates with changes in chemical interactions determined from atomistic simulations. Significant new insights include correlation of single-point-mutations with four factors associated with pore hydration and cation conductance. Additionally, our work unambiguously identifies the primary proton acceptor for the retinal chromophore in the channel open state. These new insights add to mechanistic understanding of light-gated membrane transport and should facilitate future efforts to control membrane potentials spatially and temporally in optogenetics.
Assessment of phase transition and thermal expansion coefficients by means of secondary multiple reflections of Renninger scans
Authors: dos Santos Adenilson O. , Lang Rossano , Sasaki José M. , Cardoso Lisandro P.
Published: October 2019

This paper reports the successful extension of the basis of the X-ray multiple diffraction phenomenon in the assessment of structural phase transitions and the determination of thermal expansion coefficients along three crystallographic directions, using synchrotron radiation Renninger scans. Suitable simultaneous four-beam cases have accurately resolved the lattice-parameter variation in a nearly perfect single-crystal Rochelle salt using a high-stability temperature apparatus. Secondary reflections observed in the Renninger patterns, chosen by their sensitivity to the shifts in angular position as a function of temperature, have allowed the detection of a monoclinic to orthorhombic phase transition, as well as subtle expansions of all the basic lattice parameters, i.e. without having to carry out measurements on each crystal axis. The thermal expansion coefficients have been estimated from the linear fit of the temperature dependence of the lattice parameters, and are in agreement with those reported in the literature.
Direct protein crystallization on ultrathin membranes for diffraction measurements at X-ray free-electron lasers. Corrigendum
Authors: Opara Nadia , Martiel Isabelle , Arnold Stefan A. , Braun Thomas , Stahlberg Henning , Makita Mikako , David Christian , Padeste Celestino
Published: October 2019

Errors in the article by Opara, Martiel, Arnold, Braun, Stahlberg, Makita, David & Padeste [J. Appl. Cryst. (2017), 50, 909–918] are corrected.
Do power distance and market information foster or impede performance of Chinese new ventures?
Authors: Zhang Haili , Song Michael
Published: October 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating effects of market growth on the relationships between power distance and new venture performance and between market information utilization in new ventures and new venture performance in China.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses content analyses and OLS regressions.

Findings

First, power distance and market information utilization have positive effects on Chinese new venture performance. Second, in a low market growth environment, increasing power distance increases Chinese new venture performance. Third, in a high market growth environment, increasing power distance decreases, not increases, Chinese new venture performance.

Research limitations/implications

This study contributes to the market orientation literature by examining the moderating effects of market growth on the market information utilization-performance relationship in China. This study also adds to the existing understanding of power distance and market information utilization in contingency theoretical perspective.

Practical implications

Chinese new ventures operating in a high-growth market should reduce power distance. However, when operating in the low market growth industry, Chinese new ventures should increase power distance. While all Chinese new ventures should use market information to make decisions, the roles of market information are more important for Chinese new ventures operating in high market growth industries than for those operating in low market growth industries.

Originality/value

This study examines the moderating effects of market growth on the positive relationship between power distance and Chinese new venture performance and the positive relationship between market information utilization on Chinese new venture performance in the same model.
Do altmetrics correlate with citations? A study based on the 1,000 most-cited articles
Authors: Ouchi Ali , Saberi Mohammad Karim , Ansari Nasim , Hashempour Leila , Isfandyari-Moghaddam Alireza
Published: October 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study the presence of highly cited papers of Nature in social media websites and tools. It also tries to examine the correlation between altmetric and bibliometric indicators.

Design/methodology/approach

This descriptive study was carried out using altmetric indicators. The research sample consisted of 1,000 most-cited articles in Nature. In February 2019, the bibliographic information of these articles was extracted from the Scopus database. Then, the titles of all articles were manually searched on Google, and by referring to the article in the journal website and altmetric institution, the data related to social media presence and altmetric score of articles were collected. The data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel and SPSS.

Findings

According to the results of the study, from 1,000 articles, 989 of them (98.9 per cent) were mentioned at least once in different social media websites and tools. The most used altmetric source in highly cited articles was Mendeley (98.9 per cent), followed by Citeulike (79.8 per cent) and Wikipedia (69.4 per cent). Most Tweets, blog posts, Facebook posts, news stories, readers in Mendeley, Citeulike and Connotea and Wikipedia citations belonged to the article titled “Mastering the game of Go with deep neural networks and tree search”. The highest altmetric score was 3,135 which belonged to this paper. Most tweeters and articles’ readers were from the USA. The membership type of the tweeters was public membership. In terms of fields of study, most readers were PhD students in Agricultural and Biological Sciences. Finally, the results of Spearman’s Correlation revealed positive significant statistical correlation between all altmetric indicators and received citations of highly cited articles (p-value = 0.0001).

Practical implications

The results of this study can help researchers, editors and editorial boards of journals better understand the importance and benefits of using social media and tools to publish articles.

Originality/value

Altmetrics is a relatively new field, and in particular, there are not many studies related to the presence of articles in various social media until now. Accordingly, in this study, a comprehensive altmetric analysis was carried out on 1000 most-cited articles of one of the world's most reliable journals.
Textual and contextual analysis of professionals’ discourses on XBRL data and information quality
Authors: Perdana Arif , Robb Alastair , Rohde Fiona
Published: October 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to gain insight into what aspects of eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) data and information quality (DIQ) most interest professionals.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use text analytics to examine XBRL discourses from professionals working in the domain. They explore the discussion in the three largest LinkedIn XBRL groups. Data collection covered the period 2010-2016.

Findings

Via the text analytics, the authors find the most appropriate XBRL DIQ dimensions. They propose an XBRL DIQ framework containing 18 relevant DIQ dimensions derived from both the accounting and IS fields. The findings of this study are expected to help direct future XBRL research into the DIQ dimensions most worthy of further empirical investigation.

Originality/value

XBRL is the international standard for the digital reporting of financial, performance, risk and compliance information. Although the expectations of XBRL to produce improvements in DIQ via its applications (e.g. standard business reporting, digital data standard and interactive data visualization) are high, they remain unclear. This paper contributes to better understanding of the aspects of XBRL DIQ most relevant to professionals.
Hedge accounting and investors’ view of FX risk
Authors: Wang Li , Makar Stephen
Published: October 2019

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the foreign exchange (FX) risk effects of cash flow hedge accounting (HA). To the extent the HA qualification criteria and detailed documentation give investors confidence that FX derivatives effectively hedge risk, market-assigned FX risk premiums will be lower for firms using cash flow HA.

Design/methodology/approach

Probit analyses rely on the HA designation to examine the decision to use cash flow HA. Primary analyses test the hypothesized relationship between the magnitude of FX risk premiums and such HA use. Additional analyses allow for the interaction between cash flow HA use and the extent of FX derivatives use.

Findings

Hypothesis tests indicate that the magnitude of the FX risk premium is, on average, lower for firms designated as effective cash flow hedgers. In additional tests, the evidence suggests that the market assigns a lower FX risk premium to firms using a higher level of FX derivatives as effective cash flow hedges.

Practical implications

The findings suggest that cash flow HA provides risk-relevant information to investors. Such positive effects of HA on investors’ understanding of risk management may guide US accounting regulators in their efforts to improve HA. Corporate treasurers also may benefit from these insights into evaluating the use of HA.

Originality/value

Responding to the call for research on the risk relevance of cash flow HA, this paper merges the HA literature with the FX risk management literature to directly examine the relationship between HA use and FX risk premiums for manufacturing firms. The authors take an innovative approach using FX rates to which each firm is most exposed and provide evidence consistent with the argument that this approach is helpful in understanding both the decision to use cash flow HA and the effect of such HA use on market-assigned FX risk premiums.
Quality assessment in crowdsourced classification tasks
Authors: Bu Qiong , Simperl Elena , Chapman Adriane , Maddalena Eddy
Published: October 2019

Purpose

Ensuring quality is one of the most significant challenges in microtask crowdsourcing tasks. Aggregation of the collected data from the crowd is one of the important steps to infer the correct answer, but the existing study seems to be limited to the single-step task. This study aims to look at multiple-step classification tasks and understand aggregation in such cases; hence, it is useful for assessing the classification quality.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors present a model to capture the information of the workflow, questions and answers for both single- and multiple-question classification tasks. They propose an adapted approach on top of the classic approach so that the model can handle tasks with several multiple-choice questions in general instead of a specific domain or any specific hierarchical classifications. They evaluate their approach with three representative tasks from existing citizen science projects in which they have the gold standard created by experts.

Findings

The results show that the approach can provide significant improvements to the overall classification accuracy. The authors’ analysis also demonstrates that all algorithms can achieve higher accuracy for the volunteer- versus paid-generated data sets for the same task. Furthermore, the authors observed interesting patterns in the relationship between the performance of different algorithms and workflow-specific factors including the number of steps and the number of available options in each step.

Originality/value

Due to the nature of crowdsourcing, aggregating the collected data is an important process to understand the quality of crowdsourcing results. Different inference algorithms have been studied for simple microtasks consisting of single questions with two or more answers. However, as classification tasks typically contain many questions, the proposed method can be applied to a wide range of tasks including both single- and multiple-question classification tasks.
The impact of 3D printing implementation on stock returns
Authors: Lam Hugo K.S. , Ding Li , Cheng T.C.E. , Zhou Honggeng
Published: October 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to theoretically hypothesize and empirically test the impact of 3D printing (3DP) implementation on stock returns. It further explores how the stock returns due to 3DP implementation vary across different industry environments.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper integrates the dynamic capabilities view with contingency theory to provide a contingent dynamic capabilities (CDC) perspective on 3DP implementation. It argues that implementing 3DP enables firms to enhance their manufacturing capabilities and gain a competitive advantage, but the extent to which the competitive advantage can be realized is contingent on the fit between 3DP-enhanced manufacturing capabilities and firms’ operating environments. Those arguments are tested based on an event study of 232 announcements of 3DP implementation made by US publicly listed firms between 2010 and 2017.

Findings

The event study results show that firms implementing 3DP gain higher stock returns compared with their non-implementation industry peers over two years after the implementation. Such stock returns due to 3DP implementation are more pronounced for firms operating in more munificent, more dynamic and less competitive industry environments. Those findings are consistent with the CDC perspective.

Originality/value

This is the first research empirically examining the impact of 3DP implementation on stock returns. It provides important implications for managers to implement 3DP to enhance firms’ manufacturing capabilities and for researchers to study 3DP implementation from the CDC perspective.
Federal aggregate personal income tax evasion/unreported income and its real interest rate yield effects on longer-term treasury debt issues
Authors: Cebula Richard
Published: October 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the impact of aggregate federal personal income tax evasion on the real interest rate yield on 10-year Treasury notes, 20-year Treasury bonds and 30-year US Treasury bonds.

Design/methodology/approach

An open-economy loanable funds model is developed, with income tax evasion expressly included in the specification in the form of the AGI (adjusted gross income) gap and the ratio of unreported AGI to actual AGI, expressed as a per cent.

Findings

The empirical estimations reveal compelling evidence that income tax evasion thus measured acts to elevate the real interest rate yields on 10-year Treasury notes and both 20-year and 30-year Treasury bonds, raising the possibility of a tax evasion-induced form of “crowding out”.

Research limitations/implications

Ideally, tax evasion data for a longer time period would be very useful.

Practical implications

To the extent that greater federal personal income tax evasion yields a higher interest rate yield on 10-year, 20-year and 30-year Treasury debt issues, it is likely that the tax evasion will also elevate other interest rates in the economy.

Social implications

Higher interest rates resulting from tax evasion would likely slow-down macroeconomic growth and accelerate unemployment.

Originality/value

Neither the tax evasion literature nor the interest rate literature has ever considered the impact of tax evasion behavior on long-term interest rates.
Study on manufacturer–dealer relationships for strategic alignment
Authors: C.V. Sunil Kumar , Hemanth Surya , Routroy Srikanta , Mishra Ram Kumar
Published: October 2019

Purpose

Dealers positioned at the downstream of the supply chains are those who can directly influence demand scenario for the manufacturer. However, manufacturer has to ensure that the influence is favorable by competitively fulfilling the anticipations of the dealers. In this regard, the purpose of this paper is focused on developing sustainable strategic relationships between manufacturer and dealer.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, the basic requirements of the dealers expected to be fulfilled by a manufacturer are analyzed by applying fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process and fuzzy Quality Function Deployment. The said approach is implemented in a case situation of a paint manufacturing company in India, and the results are analyzed to provide directions for the company to strategically align manufacturer–dealer relationships.

Findings

It was found that the case company has to focus mainly on promotions and advertisements, painters meet, and recognition offered to the dealers. Although pricing was also considered as one of the prominent aspects yet through competitive assessment the case company was found to be better off compared to its competitors.

Research limitations/implications

As the results obtained in the current study are specific to a manufacturing environment, they cannot be generalized for all the companies. However, similar approach can be adopted for analyzing the customer requirements in order to achieve dealers’ attractiveness and satisfaction.

Originality/value

The application of proposed approach assists a manufacturer to pursue right strategy to practice for achieving dealer attractiveness and satisfaction. This will definitely help the supply chain managers to have the right requirements of the dealers’ are fulfilled on priority.
Activated carbon prepared from pistachio waste for dye adsorption: experimental and CCD-based design
Authors: Mehralian Mohammad , Goodarzvand Chegini Zahra , Khashij Maryam
Published: October 2019

Purpose

This study aims to activated carbon prepared from pistachio waste by using phosphoric acid as chemical activator agent. Activated carbon adsorbents were prepared from pistachio waste by using phosphoric acid as chemical activator agent.

Design/methodology/approach

The optimum conditions for the highest adsorption performance were determined by central composite design (CCD). The adsorbent was used for the adsorption of dye reactive black 5 (RB5), and the parameters affecting the adsorption were discussed like pH, initial concentration, contact time and adsorbent dosage. The adsorbent synthesized has been characterized by FTIR spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The kinetic models including pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order and intraparticle diffusion with Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models were applied to investigate the kinetic and isotherms parameters.

Findings

When the dye concentration is 10 mg/L, RB5 dye removal rates reach 87.5 per cent. Moreover, the adsorption process of RB5 follows the pseudo-second-order kinetics and the Freundlich adsorption isotherm.

Practical implications

This study provided a simple and effective way to prepare activated carbon adsorbents from pistachio wastes. This way was conductive to protect environmental from a huge amount of agricultural waste produced and subsequent application for removal of pollutants from aqueous solutions.

Originality/value

The activated carbon adsorbents are prepared via chemical activation, which is prepared with pistachio wastes. There are two main innovations: one is that the novel adsorbents are prepared successfully by waste and the other is that the optimized conditions are designed by CCD.
The discourse and coordination among advocacy coalitions: the case of Belo Monte
Authors: Vieira Diego Mota
Published: October 2019

Purpose

This study aims to analyze the use of discourse to solve issues related to coordination between advocacy coalitions in processes of gradual and transformative institutional change related to public policies.

Design/methodology/approach

Theoretical background is based on the advocacy coalition framework (ACF), new discursive institutionalism and critical discourse analysis theories. The research examines shorthand notes of public hearings held in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate between 1999 and 2012, carrying out a case study on Belo Monte hydroelectric power plant. The speech extracts were categorized according to the modes of operation of ideology and typical strategies of symbolic construction proposed by Thompson (1995).

Findings

The results suggest that the discourse can be an instrument of internal coordination and between coalitions that share beliefs about a policy, as in the case of Belo Monte. Potentially existing coalitions define their identities and set positions on controversial issues, aligning interests and expectations. In the case studied, the modes of operation of ideology verified as instruments of the coalitions were dissimulation, reification, fragmentation, unification and legitimation.

Research limitations/implications

The paper represents a unique analysis of the modes of operation of ideology (Thompson, 1999) in the case of Belo Monte. In addition, the paper aims to contribute to the New Discursive Institutionalism and to the ACF when it uses the critical discourse analysis to articulate a method to analyze the use of the Discourse by the coalitions. In fact, such an approach integrating the ACF, the New Discursive Institutionalism and the critical discourse analysis is something original. Finally, it also addresses a gap in ACF: issues related to advocacy coalition coordination.

Practical implications

Attentive readers linked to organizations working on infrastructure and environmental policies can benefit from the results by envisaging the deliberate manipulation of typical symbolic construction strategies and general modes of operation of ideology.

Social implications

The study sheds light on the daily and behind-the-scenes disputes among stakeholders who are interested in a certain public policy. It may draw attention to the access and professional use of the shorthand notes of the hearings held at the National Congress.

Originality/value

This paper aims to fill a gap pointed out by Jenkins-Smith et al. (2014) regarding problems of coordination of advocacy coalitions. In addition, it innovates by using critical discourse analysis as a methodological reference in ACF empirical studies. In addition, this work continues a trajectory of two other previously published studies dealing with the same phenomenon: a theoretical essay and a case study.
Resource allocation to strategies of quality management with FANP and Goal Programming approach
Authors: Rezaee Elham , Pooya Alireza
Published: October 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between effective strategies to improve the quality and quality management of allocated resources for the successful implementation of the strategies. For this purpose, three quality management resources (human, organizational and technological) and eight different strategies related to quality are considered.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper employs the fuzzy analytic network process (FANP) to prioritize and model the interactions between eight strategies, the three types of resources (human, organizational and technological) needed for effective strategy implementation and the ability to enhance quality. Then, Goal Programming (GP) is formulated by the output of the FANP to identify the extent to which each single strategy is inhibited by a lack of (or overloaded by) resources.

Findings

The first three priorities of strategies identified by the FANP include continuous management of quality system, continuous use of human knowledge and continuous approach toward target, and the order of resources is as follows: human resources, organizational resources and technological resources. The results obtained showed the largest share of human resources and its crucial role in improving the quality of the products. The contribution of organizational resources amounts to half of the contribution of human resources.

Originality/value

The main contribution of this paper is to employ the FANP to prioritize, whereas in prior studies in this area, priorities were conducted as definitive, and uncertainty in the opinion of experts was not considered. In this paper, the FANP–GP combined method is used.
Parasite infection leads to widespread glucocorticoid hormone increases in vertebrate hosts: A meta‐analysis
Authors: O’Dwyer Katie , Dargent Felipe , Forbes Mark R. , Koprivnikar Janet
Published: October 2019

Parasites and pathogens (hereafter parasites) commonly challenge organisms, but the extent to which their infections are physiologically stressful to hosts remains unclear. Importantly, vertebrate hormones, glucocorticoids (GCs), have been reported to increase, decrease or show no alterations stemming from infections, challenging the generality of parasite‐associated GC responses and motivating a search for important moderator variables.

We undertook the first meta‐analysis of changes in vertebrate GCs following experimental infection with parasites, extracting 146 effect sizes from 42 studies involving 32 host and 32 parasite species to test for general patterns of GC following infection, as well as the influence of moderators.

Overall, infection increased GCs relative to preliminary or control levels when the single largest effect sizes from repeated measures studies were examined, suggesting that parasites of vertebrate hosts can be thought of generally as physiological stressors by elevating GCs.

When all effect sizes were included along with the moderator of sampling time post‐infection (tPI), parasite infection still had a positive effect on host GCs. However, the strength of that effect did not relate consistently to tPI, illustrating temporal differences in GC changes during the course of infection among parasite taxa (e.g. arthropod vs. bacterial infections). Other moderator variables examined did not influence GC responses.

Studies broadening the range of host and parasite taxa, and sampling during critical time windows, would aid in our understanding of variation in the host stress response and its consequences for fitness of both vertebrate hosts and their parasites.
Fibrosis stage is an independent predictor of outcome in primary biliary cholangitis despite biochemical treatment response
Authors: Murillo Perez Carla F. , Hirschfield Gideon M. , Corpechot Christophe , Floreani Annarosa , Mayo Marlyn J. , van der Meer Adriaan , Ponsioen Cyriel Y. , Lammers Willem J. , Parés Albert , Invernizzi Pietro , Carbone Marco , Maria Battezzati Pier , Nevens Frederik , Kowdley Kris V. , Thorburn Douglas , Mason Andrew L. , Trivedi Palak J. , Lindor Keith D. , Bruns Tony , Dalekos George N. , Gatselis Nikolaos K. , Verhelst Xavier , Janssen Harry L.A. , Hansen Bettina E. , Gulamhusein Aliya ,   the GLOBAL PBC Study Group
Published: October 2019

Background

Fibrosis stage predicts prognosis in patients with chronic liver disease independent of aetiology, although its precise role in risk stratification in patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) remains undefined.

Aim

To assess the utility of baseline fibrosis stage in predicting long‐term outcomes in the context of biochemical risk stratification

Methods

In a large and globally representative cohort of patients with PBC, liver biopsies performed from 1980 to 2014 were evaluated. The predictive ability of histologic fibrosis stage in addition to treatment response at 1 year (Toronto/Paris‐II criteria), as well as non‐invasive markers of fibrosis (AST/ALT ratio [AAR], AST to platelet ratio index [APRI], FIB‐4), for transplant‐free survival was assessed with Cox proportional‐hazards models.

Results

There were 1828 patients with baseline liver biopsy. Advanced histologic fibrosis (stage 3/4) was an independent predictor of survival in addition to non‐invasive measures of fibrosis with the hazard ratios ranging from 1.59 to 2.73 (P < .001). Patients with advanced histologic fibrosis stage had worse survival despite biochemical treatment response, with a 10‐year survival of 76.0%‐86.6% compared to 94.5%‐95.1% depending on the treatment response criteria used. Poor correlations were observed between non‐invasive measures of fibrosis and histologic fibrosis stage.

Conclusion

Assessment of fibrosis stage grants prognostic value beyond biochemical treatment response at 1 year. This highlights the need to incorporate fibrosis stage in individual risk stratification in patients with PBC, partly to identify those that may derive benefit from novel therapies.
What makes hybrid insourcing successful: A new public–private partnership model for social welfare services
Authors: Yang Jae‐jin , Kim Hey Sung , Choi Seong Eun , Ryu Lanhee , Choi Young Jun
Published: October 2019

Outsourcing has been a key policy tool for delivering a range of social services, and regarded as more effective than insourcing or direct government provision. At the same time, it has also caused many delivery issues such as principal‐agent problems, a lack of policy coordination, and poor‐quality welfare services. While the pendulum continues to swing between insourcing and outsourcing, we aim to propose a new public–private partnership model called the “hybrid insourcing model” and examine which factors influence the performance of the model. In South Korea, around 2010, the local government in Namyangju City was the first to implement the “Hope Care Center model,” a kind of hybrid insourcing model, which has been praised for its innovation and widely emulated by central and local governments. Our analysis utilizes data collected between December 2017 and January 2018 from public sector employees and civilian staff in Namyangju and a comparable city, A. From this, we draw a number of implications, both for theory and for policy. We argue that, for public–private partnerships, active cooperation and equality are the biggest factors in contributing to positive performance. These work alongside leaders with a clear vision and with employees' positive attitude.
Enriching cancer pharmacology with drugs of marine origin
Authors: Jimenez Paula C. , Wilke Diego V. , Branco Paola C. , Bauermeister Anelize , Rezende‐Teixeira Paula , Gaudêncio Susana P. , Costa‐Lotufo Leticia V.
Published: October 2019

Marine natural products have proven, over the last half‐century, to be effective biological modulators. These molecules have revealed new targets for cancer therapy as well as dissimilar modes of action within typical classes of drugs. In this scenario, innovation from marine‐based pharmaceuticals has helped advance cancer chemotherapy in many aspects, as most of these are designated as first‐in‐class drugs. Here, by examining the path from discovery to development of clinically approved drugs of marine origin for cancer treatment—cytarabine (Cytosar‐U®), trabectedin (Yondelis®), eribulin (Halaven®), brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris®), and plitidepsin (Aplidin®)— together with those in late clinical trial phases—lurbinectedin, plinabulin, marizomib, and plocabulin—the present review offers a critical analysis of the contributions given by these new compounds to cancer pharmacotherapy.
The activity prediction of indole inhibitors against HCV NS5B polymerase
Authors: Muhire Jules , Zhai Hong Lin , Lu Shao Hua , Li Sha Sha , Yin Bo , Mi Jia Ying
Published: October 2019

Non‐structural viral protein 5B (NS5B) is a viral protein in hepatitis C virus. Although various inhibitors against NS5B have been found, the activity prediction of similar untested inhibitors is still highly desirable. In this respect, the Tchebichef moments (TMs) calculated from the images of molecular structures were regarded as the independent variables while the inhibitory activity (pIC50) was the dependent variable, and the predictive model was established by means of stepwise regression. The R‐squared of leave‐one‐out cross‐validation (Q2) for the training set and the R‐squared of prediction () for external independent test set were 0.919 and 0.927, respectively. The obtained model was also evaluated strictly. Compared with the multivariate curve resolution with alternating least squares (MCR‐ALS) and the QSAR approaches derived from the literature, the proposed method is more accurate and reliable. This study not only provides an effective approach to predict the biological activity of RNA replication's inhibitors, but also extends the QSAR modeling technique.
Degradation studies of CI Reactive Blue 19 on biodegraded cellulosic fabrics via liquid chromatography‐photodiode array detection coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry
Authors: Sultana Nadia , Williams Kelsey , Ankeny Mary , Vinueza Nelson R.
Published: October 2019

When textile substrates biodegrade in landfills, the fate of textile colorants is unknown, and potentially poses an ecotoxic threat. In this study, we developed a systematic analytical method to evaluate the biodegradation of reactive dyes, the most common class of dye applied to cotton fabrics. The cotton fabrics were dyed with CI Reactive Blue 19 and biodegraded in soil in a laboratory‐controlled environment over intervals of 45 and 90 days. A dye isolation method using a low concentration of alkali (0.15% sodium hydroxide) was developed and applied (80°C for 1 hour) to isolate intact and degraded dye from the fabric samples. To quantify the intact dye isolated from the fabric samples, a quantification method was then developed using liquid chromatography‐photodiode array detection. The quantification method provided excellent linearity (R2 = 0.9997 ± 0.0002), accuracy (% error = −2% ± 4), precision (% coefficient of variation = 2% ± 4) and sensitivity (lower limit of quantification = 0.4 ± 0.2 µg/mL) for concentrations ranging from 1 to 50 µg/mL. After validation, the method was applied and showed a reduction of dye in biodegraded samples (after 45 and 90 days) compared with undegraded control samples (0 days). To characterise the isolated dye degradation product, quadrupole time‐of‐flight tandem mass spectrometry was utilised. Analysis showed that the degradation product was formed by losing a group from the intact hydrolysed form of the dye, creating a more hydrophobic degradation product compared with the intact hydrolysed form of dye.
Sarcopenic obesity is associated with a faster decline in renal function in people with type 2 diabetes
Authors: Fukuda T. , Bouchi R. , Asakawa M. , Takeuchi T. , Shiba K. , Tsujimoto K. , Komiya C. , Yoshimoto T. , Ogawa Y. , Yamada T.
Published: October 2019

Aim

To evaluate the association between sarcopenic obesity and the decline in estimated GFR in people with type 2 diabetes.

Methods

We enrolled 745 people with type 2 diabetes (mean age 64.6 years, 53.6% men). Body composition was evaluated using dual‐energy X‑ray absorptiometry. Skeletal muscle index, calculated as appendicular non‐fat mass (kg) divided by height squared (m2), was used to determine sarcopenia. Sarcopenic obesity was defined as the coexistence of sarcopenia and a ratio of android to gynoid fat mass greater than the median values in each gender. The association of sarcopenic obesity both with the annual rate of decline in estimated GFR and a >30% decline in estimated GFR was evaluated using multivariate linear regression models and Cox proportional hazard models, respectively.

Results

Participants with sarcopenic obesity were at an increased risk of a high annual rate of decline in estimated GFR, even after adjustment for the confounding variables (standardized β = −0.228, P <0.001). Sarcopenic obesity was also significantly associated with risk of a >30% decline in estimated GFR (hazard ratio 4.52, 95% CI 2.16–9.47; P < 0.01) in multivariate model.

Conclusions

Sarcopenic obesity evaluated by dual energy X‑ray absorptiometry is associated with a faster decline in renal function in people with type 2 diabetes.
Rescuing human development from a lip‐service syndrome
Authors: Hirai Tadashi , Comim Flavio , Jolly Richard
Published: October 2019

Motivation

Despite widespread acknowledgement of and praise for the Human Development Report by policy‐makers, practitioners and individual academics, the paradigm of human development has often lacked sustained academic and operational policy‐making attention.

Purpose

Investigating this undesirable disconnect and discussing the possible reasons behind it, this article reveals two fundamental challenges: to make more specific the rich concepts of human development and to relate them to the dominant concepts of development, and to motivate and guide the context‐specific choices at the national and regional level.

Approach and Methods

Addressing these challenges will require a more careful exploration of the theoretical and operational implications of the work of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, and of their adoption by the Human Development Report Office (HDRO) at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Conclusions

To achieve the adoption of the human development paradigm, the article makes some proposals both to the UNDP and to academia for the future directions of the Human Development (HD) approach.

Policy implications

The proposals on HD seek to chart pathways out of the current economic stagnation and slowdown.
EcologicalNetworks.jl: analysing ecological networks of species interactions
Authors: Poisot Timothée , Bélisle Zachary , Hoebeke Laura , Stock Michiel , Szefer Piotr
Published: October 2019

Networks are a convenient way to represent many interactions among ecological entities. The analysis of ecological networks is challenging for two reasons. First, there is a plethora of measures that can be applied (and some of them measure the same property). Second, the implementation of these measures is sometimes difficult. We present ’EcologicalNetworks.jl’, a package for the ‘Julia’ programming language. Using a layered system of types to represent several types of ecological networks, this packages offers a solid library of basic functions which can be chained together to perform the most common analyses of ecological networks.
Environmental and biotic drivers of soil microbial β‐diversity across spatial and phylogenetic scales
Authors: Chalmandrier Loïc , Pansu Johan , Zinger Lucie , Boyer Frederic , Coissac Eric , Génin Alexandre , Gielly Ludovic , Lavergne Sébastien , Legay Nicolas , Schilling Vincent , Taberlet Pierre , Münkemüller Tamara , Thuiller Wilfried
Published: October 2019

Soil microbial communities play a key role in ecosystem functioning but still little is known about the processes that determine their turnover (β‐diversity) along ecological gradients. Here, we characterize soil microbial β‐diversity at two spatial scales and at multiple phylogenetic grains to ask how archaeal, bacterial and fungal communities are shaped by abiotic processes and biotic interactions with plants. We characterized microbial and plant communities using DNA metabarcoding of soil samples distributed across and within eighteen plots along an elevation gradient in the French Alps. The recovered taxa were placed onto phylogenies to estimate microbial and plant β‐diversity at different phylogenetic grains (i.e. resolution). We then modeled microbial β‐diversities with respect to plant β‐diversities and environmental dissimilarities across plots (landscape scale) and with respect to plant β‐diversities and spatial distances within plots (plot scale). At the landscape scale, fungal and archaeal β‐diversities were mostly related to plant β‐diversity, while bacterial β‐diversities were mostly related to environmental dissimilarities. At the plot scale, we detected a modest covariation of bacterial and fungal β‐diversities with plant β‐diversity; as well as a distance–decay relationship that suggested the influence of ecological drift on microbial communities. In addition, the covariation between fungal and plant β‐diversity at the plot scale was highest at fine or intermediate phylogenetic grains hinting that biotic interactions between those clades depends on early‐evolved traits.

Altogether, we show how multiple ecological processes determine soil microbial community assembly at different spatial scales and how the strength of these processes change among microbial clades. In addition, we emphasized the imprint of microbial and plant evolutionary history on today's microbial community structure.
Liana abundance and diversity increase with rainfall seasonality along a precipitation gradient in Panama
Authors: Parolari Anthony J. , Paul Kassandra , Griffing Aaron , Condit Richard , Perez Rolando , Aguilar Salomon , Schnitzer Stefan A.
Published: October 2019

In tropical regions, rainfall gradients often explain the abundance and distribution of plant species. For example, many tree and liana species adapted to seasonal drought are more abundant and diverse in seasonally‐dry forests, characterized by long periods of seasonal water deficit. Mean annual precipitation (MAP) is commonly used to explain plant distributions across climate gradients. However, the relationship between MAP and plant distribution is often weak, raising the question of whether other seasonal precipitation patterns better explain plant distributions in seasonally‐dry forests. In this study, we examine the relationship between liana abundance and multiple metrics of seasonal and annual rainfall distribution to test the hypothesis that liana density and diversity increase with increasing seasonal drought along a rainfall gradient across the isthmus of Panama. We found that a normalized seasonality index, which combines MAP and the variability of monthly rainfall throughout the year, was a significant predictor of both liana density and species richness, whereas MAP, rainfall seasonality and the mean dry season precipitation (MDP) were far weaker predictors. The strong response of lianas to the normalized seasonality index indicates that, in addition to the total annual amount of rainfall, how rainfall is distributed throughout the year is an important determinant of the hydrological conditions that favor liana proliferation. Our findings imply that changes in annual rainfall and rainfall seasonality will determine the future distribution and abundance of lianas. Models that aim to predict future plant diversity, distribution, and abundance may need to move beyond MAP to a more detailed understanding of rainfall variability at sub‐annual timescales.
Social and Emotional Loneliness: Longitudinal Stability, Interdependence, and Intergenerational Transmission Among Boys and Girls
Authors: Salo Anne‐Elina , Junttila Niina , Vauras Marja
Published: October 2019

Objective

To examine the longitudinal stability, interdependence, and intergenerational transmission of social and emotional loneliness among boys and girls.

Background

The benefits of a two‐dimensional loneliness measurement distinguishing between social and emotional loneliness are established; however, understanding of their possible developmental interdependence over time is lacking. Boys have been shown to experience more emotional loneliness, but gender‐specific differences in the intergenerational transmission of loneliness remain scarcely mapped.

Method

Two‐dimensional loneliness experiences were collected from 318 fourth‐ to sixth‐graders in Finland over five time points and from their parents at the first time point. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.

Results

The developmental pathways of emotional and social loneliness dimensions were relatively independent of one another. Long‐term social loneliness of sons was predicted by their father's loneliness, and that of daughters was predicted by their mother's loneliness.

Conclusion

Gender‐specific pathways in the intergenerational transmission of loneliness are a new finding and need further exploration in future research.

Implications

A gender‐sensitive two‐dimensional approach is important given the distinct experiences and paths of social and emotional loneliness between boys and girls. Supporting children and their families is crucial to intervene in the paths of loneliness at an early stage.
Acute forced exercise increasesBdnf IV mRNAand reduces exploratory behavior in C57BL/6J mice
Authors: Venezia Andrew C. , Hyer Molly M. , Glasper Erica R. , Roth Stephen M. , Quinlan Elizabeth M.
Published: October 2019

Acute exercise has been shown to improve memory in humans. Potential mechanisms include increasedBdnfexpression, noradrenergic activity and modification of glutamate receptors. Because mice are commonly used to study exercise and brain plasticity, it is important to explore how acute exercise impacts behavior in this model. C57BL/6J mice were assigned to three groups: control, moderate‐intensity running, and high‐intensity running. Control mice were placed on a stationary treadmill for 30 minutes and moderate‐ and high‐intensity mice ran for 30 minutes at 12 and 15‐17 m/min, respectively. Mice were sacrificed immediately after running and the hippocampus removed. TotalBdnf,Bdnfexon IV, and glutamate receptor subunits were quantified with quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Total and phosphorylated GluR1 (Ser845 and Ser831) protein was quantified following immunoblotting. Utilizing the same protocol for control and high‐intensity running, object location memory was examined in a separate cohort of mice. Anxiety‐like behavior was assessed in the open field task (OFT) in a third cohort of mice that were separated into four groups: control‐saline, control‐DSP‐4, acute exercise‐saline, and acute exercise‐DSP‐4. DSP‐4 was used to lesion the central noradrenergic system. We observed higherBdnf IVmRNA in high‐intensity runners compared to controls, but no effects of acute exercise on memory. In the OFT, runners traveled less distance and spent more time grooming than controls. DSP‐4 did not attenuate the effects of exercise. A single bout of exercise increasesBdnf IVmRNA in an intensity‐dependent manner; however, high‐intensity running reduces exploratory behavior in C57BL/6J mice.