bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Unprecedented sea-ice minima enhances algal production deposited at the Arctic seafloor
Authors: Stevenson Mark A , Airs Ruth L , Abbott Geoffrey D
Published: October 2023

Sea-ice in the Arctic is declining, with 2018 a particularly low year for ice extent, driven by anomalously warm atmospheric circulation in winter 2017/18. This is consistent with a multi-decadal trend to an earlier ice-free Barents Sea as climate change rapidly warms the Arctic. Here we investigate a N–S transect in the Barents Sea, crossing the Polar Front from Atlantic waters in the south to Arctic waters in the north, focusing on the organic geochemical signature (pigments and lipids) in surface sediments sampled in summer, between the years of 2017–19. Early ice-out in summer 2018 was confirmed by satellite imagery, tracking the evolution of Arctic sea-ice extent between years. Consistent with less extensive sea-ice cover in 2018 we found increases in multiple chlorophyll and carotenoid pigments as well as fatty acids (reflecting recent phytoplankton delivery) in the northern part of our transect at the seafloor. We attribute this to nutrient and organic matter release from earlier 2018 ice-out leading to stratification, post-melt phytoplankton blooms and the deposition of organic matter to the seafloor, evidenced by pigments and lipids. Organic matter delivered to the seafloor in 2018 was reactive and highly labile, confirming its deposition in the most recent season, pointing to rapid deposition. Correlations were found during ice-free periods between satellite-derived chlorophyll a and multiple indicators of water column productivity deposited at the seafloor. We also found convincing evidence of multi-year biogeochemical change across the Polar Front, where sedimentary change is marked by chlorophyll degradation products providing evidence of grazing, indicative of a tightly coupled ecosystem close to the marginal ice zone. Overall, our results show the tight coupling of Arctic productivity with the delivery and quality of organic matter to the seafloor and how this varies across the Barents Sea. More frequent early summer sea-ice loss driven by climate warming in the Barents Sea will have consequences for the delivery of organic matter to the seafloor with impacts for benthic organisms, microbiology and the sequestration of carbon.
Simple single reactor synthesis of nickel (II)-cobalt (II) ferrite composites with biochar and their photocatalytic properties
Authors: Shabelskaya N P , Arzumanova A V , Gaidukova Yu A , Sulima S I , Vasileva E V , Yakovenko E A
Published: October 2023

The paper proposes a simple one-stage synthesis of ferrite/biochar composites based on oxide compounds of NixCo1-xFe2O4 (х = 0, 0.5, and 1). The obtained materials were characterised using x-ray diffraction patterns, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry, electron microscopy, Scherrer and Williamson-Hall methods. The high photocatalytic activity of the synthesised materials in the process of methyl orange oxidative degradation at hydrogen peroxide presence has been established. It is noted that the highest catalytic activity is exhibited by the composite material based on cobalt (II) ferrite and sunflower biochar: in their presence, it is possible to achieve 100% removal of the dye after 120 and 90 min, respectively. A possible mechanism of the dye decomposition process is discussed.
The Liability of Foreignness
Authors: Edman Jesper
Published: October 2023

The liability of foreignness—or LOF—is the additional cost that multinational enterprise (MNE) subsidiaries face relative to local competitors in foreign markets. The LOF arises in the form of unfamiliarity costs, relational costs, and discrimination costs in host country markets. Because these costs are unique to foreign firms, the LOF constitutes a difference in both kind and degree that distinguishes the MNE from other organizations. LOF has been addressed from a wide array of theoretical perspectives, including internalization theory, institutional theory, the resource-based view, network theory, cross cultural management, and organizational identity. The antecedents of LOF can be found in inter-country distance and dissimilarity, country-specific institutional arrangements, as well as firm-level experiences. Scholars have traced the implications of LOF to many of the critical attributes of the MNE, including internationalization patterns and country selection, entry mode choice, subsidiary performance and survival, localization strategies, and the development of firm-specific advantages. As such, the LOF constitutes one of the foundational assumptions of the international business domain..

Several research gaps and controversies remain in the LOF literature. LOF is often used as a catch-all term for the MNE’s disadvantages and costs in general, rather than the extraordinary costs faced by foreign-owned subsidiaries. Although numerous works invoke LOFs in their overall framing and theoretical argumentation, few studies explain the mechanisms behind the extraordinary costs facing subsidiaries. Empirical measurement of LOFs is rare, with many works using inter-country distance and institutional voids as proxies for LOF. Conceptually, LOF is often confounded with proximate but nonetheless distinct constructs, including the liability of newness, the liability of origin, and the liability of emergingness. A critical issue for extant and future work is to clarify the scope, boundary conditions, and operationalizations of LOF.
The Harms and Crimes of Waste
Authors: Bisschop Lieselot , van Wingerde Karin
Published: October 2023

The increasing volume and toxicity of waste generated globally has been one of the most significant environmental issues since the 1980s. Following several disasters across the world, waste was more strictly regulated, and the waste industry became a massive industrial complex. Waste is inherently tied to consumption and production processes and therefore goes hand in hand with societal developments like industrialization, urbanization, and globalization, which have all impacted the scale and hazardousness of waste. Although many cases of illegal waste trade have been documented and even prosecuted, the harms and crimes of waste relate to much more than the illegal transport and disposal of it across borders. Waste crimes and harms occur in everyday production and consumption processes and often remain hidden or only become known after a considerable amount of time. Moreover, most of the harms caused by waste follow from regulated industrial processes or consumer behaviors. Not only has waste been a long-time societal challenge, but it also remains a key focus of criminological inquiry. Waste continues to be a paramount example of the ambiguities that come with globalization and the regulation of harmful business and societal practices. Based on a review of the available academic literature and using several case studies as examples, this article provides a broad introduction into the topic of the harms and crimes of waste. It focuses on household and industrial waste, on (global) waste streams, on waste production, and on treatment and disposal of waste, and it illustrates the criminogenic characteristics of waste. Moreover, this article discusses both the causes (industrial processes) and the effects (harms) of waste production and disposal.
The Interaction of Perception and Memory
Authors: Megla Emma , Bainbridge Wilma A.
Published: October 2023

Whereas visual perception is the interpretation of the light that enters the retina of the eye, long-term memory is the encoding, storage, and retrieval of perceptual experiences and learned information. Although these are separable processes, they continuously interact and influence each other. For example, the underlying perceptual features of an image result in large consistency in whether people will remember or forget it, and the visual similarities that images share can influence how well they will be remembered. The exaggeration of visual features, such as enlarged eyes on a face, can lead to enhanced memory, and a buildup in perceptual experience can also improve memory. In addition to perception influencing memory, memory also influences perception. Familiarity with an object or object category can result in enhanced perceptual processing, or even lead to the stimuli “looking” different from how they otherwise would. Additionally, learning a new category of objects changes how we perceive its categorical members, and even members of different, related categories. Perception and memory are closely intertwined in the brain as well, with mechanisms that allow similar perceptual items to be distinguished in memory, but also support incomplete perceptual details to be filled in from memory. Additionally, there are divisions in the brain dedicated to the perceptual and mnemonic processing of different object categories, such as faces and scenes. In other words, there are widespread examples in which memory and perception influence each other, with neural mechanisms and areas set in place to deal with these complex interactions.
Matching Performance Assessment to Teacher Capabilities: The Bridge Between Teacher Performance/Evaluation and Student Learning
Authors: Morris Robert
Published: October 2023

America’s public educational system is under constant scrutiny concerning student performance on standardized tests. Some blame the teachers, others blame the students, and recently many have begun to blame the test. A clearer picture of the issues is important and by reviewing the traditional aspects for evaluating teachers and then analyzing how contemporary testing methods in today’s classrooms has evolved a clearer perspective can be accomplished. The advent of newer models and methods of teacher assessment that focus on the classroom performance of teachers and based on observable assessments, along with a more authentic measure of student capabilities, are central. Although many researchers praise this movement, others have found many pitfalls in the attempt to standardize performance assessments.

Many critics advocate the use of performance assessments in the classroom but remain loyal to the multiple-choice assessment as the more reliable and valid measure for comparative standardized testing. All aspects of this debate are important however. Given the increasing usage of performance assessment in today’s classrooms, many believe and advocate the development of newer assessments to replace the more traditional assessments. Understanding the roles evaluation and assessment play in reforming teacher evaluation is vital. Different data sources, new social power relations, and new ways of thinking about teacher evaluation are all important. The link between these developments in teacher evaluation and school reform is hoped to bring about an increased focus on the most important resource for change: the best practices of current teachers.
Curriculum: Local, National, Transnational, and Global
Authors: Durand Sybil , Asher Nina
Published: October 2023

Examining curriculum in terms of local, national, transnational, and global contexts requires engaging discourses of postcolonialism, decolonization, and globalization. Curriculum studies, empirical research projects, as well as literature, film, the arts, and social media collectively illustrate the many ways in which local, national, transnational, and global influences intersect and inform each other. These intersections and the tensions they raise with regards to race, culture, gender and sexuality, and nation, in turn shape curriculum, teaching, and educational research. The resurgence of racism, xenophobia, and global capitalism, and the resounding calls for activism in response to social and systemic injustice have implications for education researchers to persevere in advancing decolonizing curriculum studies that aim to dismantle oppressions and build coalitions.
Critical Digital Pedagogy in the Platform Society
Authors: Aguilera Earl , Salazar Christina
Published: October 2023

The term “critical digital pedagogy” has been used to describe a broad range of approaches to teaching and learning rooted in critical theory, digital cultural studies, and the liberatory education promoted within schools of critical pedagogy since the 1960s. References to critical digital pedagogy began to appear in published scholarly literature in the early 2000s as a response to the expansion of neoliberal ideologies and policies in an age of proliferating digital and networked technologies. These shifts in technological, economic, and social organization have since become collectively described as the “platformization” of society, driven by processes such as datafication, commodification, and algorithmic selection. In response to concerns about the neoliberalization, dehumanization, and platformization of education specifically, the emergent field of critical digital pedagogy has coalesced into a community of educators, designers, and theorists with an international scope, though the majority of published scholarship originates from the United States and the European Union. While the approaches and methods that the proponents of critical digital pedagogy engage with are varied, three broad families of practice include critical instructional design, humanizing online teaching and learning, and digital ungrading. Following earlier traditions of critical pedagogy, practitioners in the field of critical digital pedagogy find themselves grappling with critiques of their approaches as overly politicized, ideologically driven, and pragmatically limited. Open issues in the field include the expanding role of machine learning and artificial intelligence, the role of political activism beyond the classroom, and the addressing of intersections between race, class, and other dimensions of identity within a critical framework.
Biliteracy Development in a Dynamic and Changing World
Authors: Reyes Iliana
Published: October 2023

In many communities around the world, speakers learn and speak more than one or two languages, so multilingualism and multiliteracy are habits and ways to communicate. In fact, it is well documented now that bilingualism and multilingualism are wider practices than any kind of monolingualism that might exist and that might be predominant in a particular country. Consequently, the world is becoming increasingly aware of the value of multiculturalism as part of a knowledgeable society.

Studies in both schools and communities continuously support the theory that bilinguals learning two languages simultaneously have the potential to develop literacy in two languages when this is supported in their environment and when given access to opportunities to read and write within relevant biliteracy experiences. These opportunities are provided when linguistic and cultural resources are part of day-to-day interactions, and emergent bilinguals, who develop two languages from a young age, take part in them.
Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED) for Student Well-Being
Authors: Jackson Karen Moran , Papa Rosemary
Published: October 2023

The use of artificial intelligence in education (AIED) is a growing concern for both its potential benefits and misuses. Originating in research following the Second World War, artificial intelligence (AI) refers to technology that perform activities, such as making predictions and generating text, at levels equivalent to human ability. Early AI efforts had little public applications, but that began to change in the late 20th century, with applications in education becoming common in the early 21st century. AI is dependent on data collection and model selection, technical aspects of development that allow for personalized data but that also permit human biases into the system. AIED applications have taken largely predictive and decision-making roles, but generative applications are becoming more common. How different types of AIED applications become integrated into educational systems will depend not just on student and teacher needs, but on larger stakeholders in educational systems, such as administrators, policymakers, and business interests. AIED applications are subject to ethical violations and concerns, so development and implementation must be guided by ethical principles, even as ethical governance of AI in schools is riddled with challenges. Implications for educational organizations include developing more robust frameworks and principles around data access and generative AIED challenges, similar to those surrounding personalized medicine. These frameworks can guide oversight, auditing, and analysis of the performance of AIED applications, including miscues and mistakes. Educators should strive to implement AIED that is human-centered and based on principles of transparency, explainability, trustworthiness, accountability, fairness, and justice.
Objects and Material Cultures in Afghanistan, c. 100–1500 CE
Authors: Patel Alka
Published: October 2023

During the first 1.5 millennia of the Common Era (c. 100–1500 ce), the multiple cultural geographies constituting the contemporary nation-state of Afghanistan were collectively a place of significant and enduring encounters among traditions and lifeways from across Eurasia. Just as migrating and settling populations contributed new ways of believing and making to Afghanistan’s already rich socio-religious tapestry, objects that arrived through trade and pilgrimage also acted as conveyors of ideas originating elsewhere, often combining with existing traditions and resulting in innovative iconographies (visual content) and styles (methods of depiction, visual languages). An examination of Afghanistan through its objects and their material cultures during these centuries is especially rewarding, as this approach illustrates the multidirectional connections between Afghanistan and its Eurasian neighbors near and far. In turn, these transregional connections came to shape religions, languages, political systems, and other cultural aspects not only of Afghanistan but also of other contiguous areas throughout the first 2 millennia ce.
Archaeology of the Last Two Thousand Years in Namibia
Authors: Kinahan John
Published: October 2023

The introduction and spread of food production in Namibia during the last two thousand years was subject to patchy and unpredictable rainfall. Rainfed cultivation of millet by Bantu-speaking farming communities was limited to the far northern region, but seminomadic cattle husbandry was better adapted to this environment. Hunter-gatherer groups in Namibia seem to have been assimilated rather than displaced by farming communities, and the expansion of Khoe-speaking pastoralists into southern Namibia was accompanied by a widespread transition to food production among hunter-gatherers. In the last two millennia, hunter-gatherers, pastoralists, and farmers in Namibia have formed part of a complex precolonial economy which also incorporated locally developed techniques for the processing and storage of wild plant foods.
Preventing Falls Through Service Innovations: Institutional and Hospital Settings
Authors: Hill Keith
Published: October 2023

Falls in hospital and residential care settings are common events that can have major impacts for the older person, their families, and staff and also at an organizational level. They are a major trigger event for those with chronic health problems to advance to greater levels of care because they often result in traumatic injuries while they provide a signal event for declining health that may have gone unobserved before injury. Falls among older people in hospital and residential care settings are often caused by a complex mix of risk factors and have proved difficult to prevent. There is growing research evidence that a mix of universal falls prevention interventions that are applied to all patients or residents, as well as targeted interventions addressing one or more identified personal and environmental falls risk factors (often based on a falls risk factor assessment and environmental assessment) can help to reduce risk of future falls in hospitals and residential care. Preventing falls among older people in hospitals and residential care settings requires a complete staff and organizational focus.
Disability and Rural Health
Authors: Sage Rayna , Mashinchi Genna , Ravesloot Craig
Published: October 2023

The ways in which disability impacts people and their health in rural places are a result of the interaction between the person and the rural environment in which they live. Disability is defined as ongoing difficulties engaging in daily activities and social roles due to physical or mental conditions. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UN-CRPD) implemented policy in 2008 that recognized that disabled people are worthy of autonomy and dignity. The social and physical environment are constructed in ableist ways that make it difficult for people with disabilities to realize their independence and this is particularly true in many rural places. Person–environment fit and urbanormativity (the favoring of urban spaces at the expense of rural ones) are important concepts in understanding the experiences of rural disabled people. There is little existing research regarding the epidemiology of disability and rural health, but rural people report higher and earlier rates of disability than urban people and rural places have higher rates of older adults with higher rates of disability. Furthermore, rural people with disabilities experience various secondary health conditions and higher rates of mortality compared to urban people with disabilties. The lack of access to health care and advocacy help explain some of the differences in health outcomes when comparing rural and urban people. The disability rights movement led to the creation of different types of advocacy and service organizations across the globe to address these disparities. An important way to improve the experiences and health of rural people with disabilities is to ensure they have access to quality and dependable in-home services and community-based rehabilitation, which currently tend to be under-funded with dramatic worker shortages in many rural places. A final promising approach to improving the health of rural disabled people is through evidence-based health promotion programming that targets early indicators of health problemsand recovery and health-sustaining efforts following a health problem.
Performativity in Africa
Authors: Thompson Katrina Daly , Muniko Mwita
Published: October 2023

Judith Butler’s theory of performativity has been highly influential in anthropological studies, particularly of gender and sexuality. Drawing on J. L. Austin’s concept of language as action, Butler’s theory challenges identity categories and emphasizes the role of language and other semiotic resources in constructing, reproducing, and resisting social identities and power relations. While much research has focused on applying Butler’s theory to studies of gender and sexuality in the West, there is a growing interest in its application to diverse cultural settings, including African societies. The use of Butler’s theory of performativity in anthropology to understand how language and other semiotic resources are used to perform specific social actions in African contexts goes beyond gender and sexuality to encompass various areas such as research, statehood, nationhood and nationalism, kinship, religious identity and piety, respectability and social hierarchy, race and ethnicity, morality and dignity, everyday interactions, aging, and citizenship. Examining these aspects of performativity reveals the complex interplay between language and social action in shaping cultural practices and beliefs in Africa and beyond. The translation of Butler’s theory in Africa-focused anthropology emphasizes the importance of examining cultural practices and beliefs within specific sociocultural contexts rather than imposing external frameworks or preconceptions. It highlights the diverse and dynamic nature of African societies’ cultural practices and beliefs, offering a valuable theoretical framework for understanding them and contributing to a nuanced understanding of the construction of social practices and beliefs in African societies and beyond.
New York City
Authors: Vaz Matthew
Published: October 2023

The contemporary city of New York, comprising the five boroughs of the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island, covers three hundred square miles and contains almost nine million people. Often described as the center of the world, the city is home to the headquarters of the United Nations and is a hub of global media and finance. Yet New York is also a city of neighborhoods, animated by remarkably local concerns. The dense population, the complex government, the vast wealth, the archetypal urban poverty, and the intricate and impressive built environment have all taken form through a layered series of encounters among groups over the course of four centuries. The Lenape Indians, the original settlers of the area, encountered Dutch colonizers in 1624. The English seized control from the Dutch in 1664. Both the Dutch and the English imported enslaved Africans in large numbers. The natural advantages of the harbor propelled the area’s growth, attracting settlers from elsewhere in North America in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Human-created infrastructures like the Erie Canal spurred economic growth after 1825 that attracted European immigrants from western and northern Europe in the mid-19th century and Europeans from southern and eastern Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1898, five counties were consolidated and created the five boroughs of New York City with a population surpassing three million. African Americans from the US South and Latinos from the Caribbean migrated to New York throughout the 20th century; by 1950, the city’s population was 7.8 million. After 1980, the population began to climb again with new waves of immigration from Latin America, Africa, and Asia. For more than four hundred years, the processes of conflict and cooperation have been animated by schisms and tensions of religion, ethnicity, race, and class. As groups and individuals competed for resources and power in the city, politics and governance confronted conceptual issues such as calibrating the extent of public services, the role of religion in public life, the rights of workers, and the value of living in a multiethnic and multiracial society.
Theodore Roosevelt, 1858–1919
Authors: Oyos Matthew
Published: October 2023

Theodore Roosevelt became the twenty-sixth president of the United States in September 1901 following the assassination of William McKinley. He won election in his own right in 1904 and served until March 1909. Roosevelt, or TR, exercised presidential authority along the lines practiced by Abraham Lincoln, the predecessor whom he admired the most. The chief executive, according to Roosevelt, was a steward of the people’s interest, and the demands of a rapidly urbanizing and industrializing nation required a larger role for government. Roosevelt’s activist philosophy advanced the conservation of natural resources, led to the breaking up of business trusts, brought greater federal regulation of industry, and sought a new relationship between government and labor. On the world stage, TR accelerated the emergence of the United States as a great power. The Spanish–American War of 1898 and the acquisition of overseas holdings had announced growing American influence. Roosevelt expanded the role of the United States in the Caribbean, most notably through a corollary to the Monroe Doctrine and his drive to build the Panama Canal. An increased international presence also led the United States to help settle disputes among other great powers. Roosevelt mediated an end to the Russo-Japanese War and assisted in resolving the first Moroccan crisis. He backed American diplomacy with the “big stick” of an enlarged navy, which he dispatched on a world cruise from 1907 to 1909.

Following his presidency, Roosevelt’s political prominence continued at home and abroad. He went on a safari in East Africa, and then he toured Europe, grabbing headlines throughout his travels. Upon his return to the United States, he launched an unsuccessful bid to retake the White House in 1912 as the candidate of the Progressive Party. TR would remain an active political force during Woodrow Wilson’s administration, seizing opportunities to criticize the man who bested him in 1912 and pushing for American military preparedness after the outbreak of World War I. Although he dominated the American political landscape for two decades, Roosevelt’s reach and interests extended beyond politics. Many-sided, he was a rancher, a soldier, a naturalist, a police commissioner, a historian, an explorer, and a big-game hunter. When Roosevelt died in early 1919, he had honored a youthful promise that he would live his life to the fullest possible extent.
Biologic versus synthetic prosthesis for chest wall reconstruction: a matched analysis
Authors: Vanstraelen Stijn , Bains Manjit S , Dycoco Joe , Adusumilli Prasad S , Bott Matthew J , Downey Robert J , Huang James , Isbell James M , Molena Daniela , Park Bernard J , Rusch Valerie W , Sihag Smita , Allen Robert J , Cordeiro Peter G , Coriddi Michelle R , Dayan Joseph H , Disa Joseph J , Matros Evan , McCarthy Colleen M , Nelson Jonas A , Stern Carrie , Shahzad Farooq , Mehrara Babak , Jones David R , Rocco Gaetano
Published: October 2023

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to compare postoperative outcomes between biologic and synthetic reconstructions after chest wall resection in a matched cohort.

METHODS

All patients who underwent reconstruction after full-thickness chest wall resection from 2000 to 2022 were reviewed and stratified by prosthesis type (biologic or synthetic). Biologic prostheses were of biologic origin or were fully absorbable and incorporable. Integer matching was performed to reduce confounding. The study end point was surgical site complications requiring reoperation. Multivariable analysis was performed to identify associated risk factors.

RESULTS

In total, 438 patients underwent prosthetic chest wall reconstruction (unmatched: biologic, n = 49; synthetic, n = 389; matched: biologic, n = 46; synthetic, n = 46). After matching, the median (interquartile range) defect size was 83 cm2 (50–142) for the biologic group and 90 cm2 (48–146) for the synthetic group (P = 0.97). Myocutaneous flaps were used in 33% of biologic reconstructions (n = 15) and 33% of synthetic reconstructions (n = 15) in the matched cohort (P = 0.99). The incidence of surgical site complications requiring reoperation was not significantly different between biologic and synthetic reconstructions in the unmatched (3 [6%] vs 29 [7%]; P = 0.99) and matched (2 [4%] vs 4 [9%]; P = 0.68) cohorts. On the multivariable analysis, operative time [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1.01, 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.00–1.01; P = 0.006] and operative blood loss (aOR = 1.00, 95% CI, 1.00–1.00]; P = 0.012) were associated with higher rates of surgical site complications requiring reoperation; microvascular free flaps (aOR = 0.03, 95% CI, 0.00–0.42; P = 0.024) were associated with lower rates.

CONCLUSIONS

The incidence of surgical site complications requiring reoperation was not significantly different between biologic and synthetic prostheses in chest wall reconstructions.
The genome of Salmacisia buchloëana, the parasitic puppet master pulling strings of sexual phenotypic monstrosities in buffalograss
Authors: Benson Christopher W , Sheltra Matthew R , Huff David R
Published: October 2023

To complete its parasitic lifecycle, Salmacisia buchloëana, a biotrophic fungus, manipulates reproductive organ development, meristem determinacy, and resource allocation in its dioecious plant host, buffalograss (Bouteloua dactyloides; Poaceae). To gain insight into S. buchloëana's ability to manipulate its host, we sequenced and assembled the 20.1 Mb genome of S. buchloëana into 22 chromosome-level pseudomolecules. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that S. buchloëana is nested within the genus Tilletia and diverged from Tilletia caries and Tilletia walkeri ∼40 MYA. We find that S. buchloëana contains a novel chromosome arm with no syntenic relationship to other publicly available Tilletia genomes, and that genes on the novel arm are upregulated upon infection, suggesting that this unique chromosomal segment may have played a critical role in S. buchloëana's evolution and host specificity. Salmacisia buchloëana has one of the largest fractions of serine peptidases (1.53% of the proteome) and one of the highest GC contents (62.3%) in all classified fungi. Analysis of codon base composition indicated that GC content is controlled more by selective constraints than directional mutation, and that S. buchloëana has a unique bias for the serine codon UCG. Finally, we identify 3 inteins within the S. buchloëana genome, 2 of which are located in a gene often used in fungal taxonomy. The genomic and transcriptomic resources generated here will aid plant pathologists and breeders by providing insight into the extracellular components contributing to sex determination in dioecious grasses.
De Novo Whole Genome Assemblies for Two Southern African Dwarf Chameleons (Bradypodion, Chamaeleonidae)
Authors: Taft Jody M , Tolley Krystal A , Alexander Graham J , Geneva Anthony J
Published: October 2023

A complete and high-quality reference genome has become a fundamental tool for the study of functional, comparative, and evolutionary genomics. However, efforts to produce high-quality genomes for African taxa are lagging given the limited access to sufficient resources and technologies. The southern African dwarf chameleons (Bradypodion) are a relatively young lineage, with a large body of evidence demonstrating the highly adaptive capacity of these lizards. Bradypodion are known for their habitat specialization, with evidence of convergent phenotypes across the phylogeny. However, the underlying genetic architecture of these phenotypes remains unknown for Bradypodion, and without adequate genomic resources, many evolutionary questions cannot be answered. We present de novo assembled whole genomes for Bradypodion pumilum and Bradypodion ventrale, using Pacific Biosciences long-read sequencing data. BUSCO analysis revealed that 96.36% of single copy orthologs were present in the B. pumilum genome and 94% in B. ventrale. Moreover, these genomes boast scaffold N50 of 389.6 and 374.9 Mb, respectively. Based on a whole genome alignment of both Bradypodion genomes, B. pumilum is highly syntenic with B. ventrale. Furthermore, Bradypodion is also syntenic with Anolis lizards, despite the divergence between these lineages estimated to be nearly 170 Ma. Coalescent analysis of the genomic data also suggests that historical changes in effective population size for these species correspond to notable shifts in the southern African environment. These high-quality Bradypodion genome assemblies will support future research on the evolutionary history, diversification, and genetic underpinnings of adaptation in Bradypodion.
Mechanisms of lineage specification in Caenorhabditis elegans
Authors: Liu Jun , Murray John Isaac
Published: October 2023

The studies of cell fate and lineage specification are fundamental to our understanding of the development of multicellular organisms. Caenorhabditis elegans has been one of the premiere systems for studying cell fate specification mechanisms at single cell resolution, due to its transparent nature, the invariant cell lineage, and fixed number of somatic cells. We discuss the general themes and regulatory mechanisms that have emerged from these studies, with a focus on somatic lineages and cell fates. We next review the key factors and pathways that regulate the specification of discrete cells and lineages during embryogenesis and postembryonic development; we focus on transcription factors and include numerous lineage diagrams that depict the expression of key factors that specify embryonic founder cells and postembryonic blast cells, and the diverse somatic cell fates they generate. We end by discussing some future perspectives in cell and lineage specification.
Introduction To Accounting
Authors: Scott Peter
Published: October 2023

Introduction to Accounting begins with an introduction to this topic. Part One looks at financial accounting and includes chapters looking at the statement of financial position, the income statement, double-entry bookkeeping, the statement of cash flow, business organizations and the financing of business, and ratio analysis. Part Two focuses on management accounting and includes chapters on cost and management, product costing, marginal costing, short-term decision making, variance analysis, budgeting, process costing, capital investment appraisal, and corporate governance and sustainability.
How digital transformation affects the cost of equity capital: the role of information disclosure quality and stock liquidity
Authors: Ren Lijun , Liu Jiajia , Hao Qianyi
Published: October 2023

To achieve high-quality development, a critical question needs to be addressed: can enterprise digital transformation effectively alleviate enterprise financing problems by reducing the cost of equity capital? This study uses the text mining to analyze the financial statement from Chinese companies listed on Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share markets between 2011 and 2021, in order to define the digital transformation. Further, this study empirically tests the influencing mechanisms of digital transformation on the cost of equity capital, considering the perspectives of information disclosure quality and stock liquidity. The conclusions are as follows: (i) enterprise digital transformation can significantly reduce the cost of equity capital, and under the control of other variables, the cost of equity financing will be reduced by 8.8% for every 1% increase in digital transformation; (ii) digital transformation not only leads to a decrease in the cost of equity capital through the two independent mediation channels, improving information disclosure and accelerating stock liquidity, but also reduces the cost of equity capital through the chain mediation channel from information disclosure quality to stock liquidity; (iii) heterogeneity analysis finds that the effect of digital information on the cost of equity capital is more pronounced in larger, non-state-owned, non-high-tech and eastern enterprises. This study enriches the research of the influence of digital transformation on external financing, and plays an important role in the promotion of enterprise digital transformation and the formulation of targeted policies.
High-performance lithium-ion battery equalization strategy for energy storage system
Authors: Li Junxian , Huang Cunqiang , Zhang Xiangcheng , Tian Xu , An Juan
Published: October 2023

In pursuit of low-carbon life, renewable energy is widely used, accelerating the development of lithium-ion batteries. Battery equalization is a crucial technology for lithium-ion batteries, and a simple and reliable voltage-equalization control strategy is widely used because the battery terminal voltage is very easy to obtain. But when the battery voltage is used to determine whether the battery needs to end equalization, it often does not reflect the state of charge well, resulting in battery management system misjudgment, which makes it unable to achieve a better equalization effect. In this paper, we propose a high-performance equalization control strategy based on the equalization data of the general equalization strategy, which turns on the equalization again after the equalization is completed and uses the equalization time instead of the battery voltage as the indicator. In this paper, we analyse and test this principle in detail. The difference between the final voltage of the equalized battery and the target voltage is only 4 versus 3 mV, which is an extreme advantage compared with the error of 18 versus 24 mV of the general equalization strategy, and it adds almost no workload, which makes it a good prospect for application.
Facilitators and barriers to the implementation of surgical safety checklist: an integrative review
Authors: Lim Petrina Jia Hui , Chen Lin , Siow Serene , Lim Siew Hoon
Published: October 2023

Surgical procedures pose an immense risk to patients, which can lead to various complications and adverse events. In order to safeguard patients’ safety, the World Health Organization initiated the implementation of the Surgical Safety Checklist (SSC) in operating theatres worldwide. The aim of this integrative review was to summarize and evaluate the use and implementation of SSC, focusing on facilitators and barriers at the individual, professional, and organizational levels. This review followed closely the integrative review method by Whittemore and Knafl. An English literature search was conducted across three electronic databases (PubMed, CINAHL, and EMBASE) and other hand search references. Keywords search included: ‘acute care’, ‘surgical’, ‘adult patients’, ‘pre-operative’, ‘intra-operative’, and ‘post-operative’. A total of 816 articles were screened by two reviewers independently and all articles that met the pre-specified inclusion criteria were retained. Data extracted from the articles were categorized, compared, and further analysed. A total of 34 articles were included with the majority being observational studies in developed and European countries. Checklists had been adopted in various surgical specialities. Findings indicated that safety checklists improved team cohesion and communication, resulting in enhanced patient safety. This resulted in high compliance rates as healthcare workers expressed the benefits of SSC to facilitate safety within operating theatres. Barriers included manpower limitations, hierarchical culture, lack of staff involvement and training, staff resistance, and appropriateness of checklist. Common facilitators and barriers at individual, professional, and organizational levels have been identified. Staff training and education, conducive workplace culture, timely audits, and appropriate checklist adaptations are crucial components for a successful implementation of the SSC. Methods have also been introduced to counter barriers of SSC.
What Is Christendom to Us? Making Better Sense of Christianity in Global Politics
Authors: Heathershaw John
Published: October 2023

What is Christendom in international relations? We argue that Christendom does not equate to a long-lost historical empire but an enduring imaginary of a political order where government secures the church and the church ministers to government. Such imaginaries have taken a diverse range of historical and geographical forms, which have barely been explored in International Relations (IR). They may be state-centric or decentered. As intellectual historians of the discipline have demonstrated, international relations was founded on a Christendom ontology and theology, and then rapidly forgot that fact. One major feature of this forgetting is a narrow historical conception of Christendom—its equation with Latin Christendom—in contrast with the wealth of scholarship in the humanities, which has revealed various conceptual forms and discursive practices of Christendom from at least the fourth century CE to the present. The effect of this narrowness has been to confirm IR’s historical Eurocentrism and prevent it from exploring the international politics of Eurasian, Eastern Orthodox forms of Christendom, and signs of new imaginaries of Christendom emerging in the Global South. But such neo-Christendoms—which imagine government as re-centered on the church—raise the possibility of the emergence of modern variations of the legitimized violence associated with Latin Christendom. Alternative theologies of post-Christendom—imagining the church as politically active but decentered from government—indicate that such an imaginary is contested not just beyond but within Christian theology. The paper provides a new definition of Christendom and re-evaluation of its afterlives for the study of religion and theology in international relations.
Electronic connectivity between hospital pairs: impact on emergency department-related utilization
Authors: Adler-Milstein Julia , Linden Ariel , Hsia Renee Y , Everson Jordan
Published: October 2023

Objective

To use more precise measures of which hospitals are electronically connected to determine whether health information exchange (HIE) is associated with lower emergency department (ED)-related utilization.

Materials and Methods

We combined 2018 Medicare fee-for-service claims to identify beneficiaries with 2 ED encounters within 30 days, and Definitive Healthcare and AHA IT Supplement data to identify hospital participation in HIE networks (HIOs and EHR vendor networks). We determined whether the 2 encounters for the same beneficiary occurred at: the same organization, different organizations connected by HIE, or different organizations not connected by HIE. Outcomes were: (1) whether any repeat imaging occurred during the second ED visit; (2) for beneficiaries with a treat-and-release ED visit followed by a second ED visit, whether they were admitted to the hospital after the second visit; (3) for beneficiaries discharged from the hospital followed by an ED visit, whether they were admitted to the hospital.

Results

In adjusted mixed effects models, for all outcomes, beneficiaries returning to the same organization had significantly lower utilization compared to those going to different organizations. Comparing only those going to different organizations, HIE was not associated with lower levels of repeat imaging. HIE was associated with lower likelihood of hospital admission following a treat-and-release ED visit (1.83 percentage points [−3.44 to −0.21]) but higher likelihood of admission following hospital discharge (2.78 percentage points [0.48-5.08]).

Discussion

Lower utilization for beneficiaries returning to the same organization could reflect better access to information or other factors such as aligned incentives.

Conclusion

HIE is not consistently associated with utilization outcomes reflecting more coordinated care in the ED setting.
High Caregiver Adverse Childhood Experiences Are Associated With Pediatric Influenza and COVID-19 Vaccination Uptake
Authors: Day Melissa E , Sucharew Heidi , Burkhardt Mary Carol , Reyner Allison , Giles Destiney , Beck Andrew F , Schlaudecker Elizabeth P , Klein Melissa
Published: October 2023

Background

Factors surrounding vaccine uptake are complex. Although anxiety, which could influence vaccination decisions, has been associated with adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), little is known about links between caregiver ACEs and pediatric vaccine uptake. We evaluated associations between caregivers’ ACEs and decisions to vaccinate their children with influenza and coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines.

Methods

A cross-sectional study of caregivers of patients ≥6 months at one pediatric primary care center (PPCC) was performed. Caregivers completed a 19-question survey examining caregiver ACEs, influenza vaccine acceptance and beliefs, and intention to vaccinate their child with the COVID-19 vaccine. Demographic characteristics, social risks (eg, housing and food insecurity), and vaccination data for children present with each caregiver were extracted from the electronic health record (EHR). Statistical analyses included χ2 tests for categorical variables and t-tests for continuous variables.

Results

A total of 240 caregivers participated, representing 283 children (mean age of 5.9 years, 47% male). Twenty-four percent (n = 58) had high ACEs (≥4). Of those with high ACEs, 55% accepted pediatric influenza vaccination compared with 38% with low ACEs (P = .02). Those with high ACEs had more positive attitudes toward influenza vaccine safety and efficacy (P ≤ .02). Those with high, compared with low, ACEs were also more likely to accept COVID-19 vaccination (38% vs 24%; P = .04).

Conclusions

Pediatric influenza vaccination rates and intention to vaccinate children against COVID-19 differed between caregivers with high and low ACEs: those with more ACEs were more likely to vaccinate. Further studies assessing the role of caregiver ACEs on vaccine decision-making are warranted.