bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Quantifying defensive behavior and threat response through integrated headstage accelerometry
Authors: Younk Rebecca , Widge Alik S
Published: December 2021

Background

Defensive and threat-related behaviors are common targets of investigation, because they model aspects of human mental illness. These behaviors are typically quantified by video recording and post hoc analysis. Those quantifications can be laborious and/or computationally intensive.

Depending on the analysis method, the resulting measurements can be noisy or inaccurate. Other defensive behaviors, such as suppression of operant reward seeking, require extensive animal pre-training.

New Method

We demonstrate a method for quantifying defensive behavior (immobility or freezing) by 3-axis accelerometry integrated with an electrophysiology headstage. We tested multiple pre-processing and smoothing methods, and correlated them against two common methods for quantification: freezing as derived from standard video analysis, and suppression of operantly shaped bar pressing. We assessed these three methods’ ability to track defensive behavior during a standard threat conditioning and extinction paradigm.

Results

The best approach to tracking defensive behavior from accelerometry was Gaussian filter smoothing of the first derivative (change score or jerk). Behavior scores from this method reproduced canonical conditioning and extinction curves at the group level. At the individual level, timepoint-to-timepoint correlations between accelerometry, video, and bar press metrics were statistically significant but modest (largest r=0.53, between accelerometry and bar press).

Comparison with existing methods

The integration with standard electrophysiology systems and relatively lightweight signal processing may make accelerometry particularly well suited to detect behavior in resource-constrained or real-time applications. At the same time, there were modest cross-correlations between all three methods for quantifying defensive behavior.

Conclusions

Accelerometry analysis allows researchers already using electrophysiology to assess defensive behaviors without the need for additional behavioral measures or video. The similarities in behavioral tracking and modest correlations between each metric suggest that each measures a distinct aspect of defensive behavior. Accelerometry is a viable alternative to current defensive measurements, and its non-overlap with other metrics may allow a more sophisticated dissection of threat responses in future experiments.

Highlights

A novel method to assess defensive behavior and immobility based on headstage accelerometry

Compatible with readily available, open-source neurophysiology systems

Provides behavioral insights without the need for video analysis software and with relatively minimal processing, suitable for rapid closed-loop experiments
Anti-SARS-CoV-2 human antibodies retaining neutralizing activity against SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.529 (omicron)
Authors: Imbrechts Maya , Kerstens Winnie , Rasulova Madina , Vercruysse Thomas , Maes Wim , Ampofo Louanne , Ven Karen , Lammertyn Jeroen , Vanhoorelbeke Karen , Callewaert Nico , Neyts Johan , Dallmeier Kai , Declerck Paul , Thibaut Hendrik Jan , Geukens Nick
Published: December 2021

SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.529, designated omicron, was recently identified as a new variant of concern by WHO and is rapidly replacing SARS-CoV-2 delta as the most dominant variant in many countries. Unfortunately, because of the high number of mutations present in the spike of SARS-CoV-2 omicron, most monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) currently approved for treatment of COVID-19 lose their in vitro neutralizing activity against this variant. We recently described a panel of human anti-SARS-CoV-2 mAbs that potently neutralize SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan, D614G and variants alpha, beta, gamma and delta. In this work, we evaluated our mAb panel for potential in vitro activity against SARS-CoV-2 delta and omicron. Three mAbs from our panel retain neutralizing activity against both delta and omicron, with mAb 3B8 still resulting in complete neutralization at a concentration as low as 0.02 μg/ml for both variants. Overall, our data indicate that mAb 3B8 may have the potential to become a game-changer in the fight against the continuously evolving SARS-CoV-2.
Coagulation Factor IIIa (f3a) Knockdown in Zebrafish Leads to Defective Angiogenesis and Mild Bleeding Phenotype
Authors: Subramaniam Saravanan , Liu Jiandong , Fletcher Craig , Ramchandran Ramani , Weiler Hartmut
Published: December 2021

Aim

Tissue factor (TF), an initiator of the extrinsic coagulation pathway, is crucial for embryogenesis, as mice lacking TF are embryonically lethal (E10.5). This lethality may be attributed to defects in vascular development and circulatory failure, suggesting additional roles for TF in embryonic development beyond coagulation. In this study, we characterized the role of one of the TF paralogs (f3a) using a zebrafish model.

Methods

To understand the TF evolution across different species, we performed molecular phylogenetic and sequence homology analysis. The expression of f3a during embryonic developmental stages was determined by RT-PCR. Endothelial-specific transgenic lines of zebrafish (flk1:egfp-NLS/kdrl:mCherry-CAAX) was used to image the vascular development. The role of f3a during embryonic development was investigated by mRNA knockdown using Morpholinos (MO), an antisense-based oligonucleotide strategy. The f3a morphants were examined at 52 hpf for defects in morphological appearance, bleeding, and vascular patterning.

Results

Spatiotemporal expression of f3a by qPCR revealed expression in all developmental stages, suggesting that f3a transcripts are both maternally and zygotically expressed. High expression of f3a from 28 hpf to 36 hpf confirmed the role of in the development of the yolk sac, circulation, and fins. f3a MO-injected embryos showed morphological abnormalities, including shorter body lengths and crooked tails. O-dianisidine staining showed f3a MO-injected embryos exhibited bleeding in the trunk (5.44%) and head (9.52%) regions. Using endothelial-specific transgenic lines of zebrafish (flk1:egfp-NLS/kdrl:mCherry-CAAX), imaging of caudal vein plexus, which forms immediately following the onset of circulation and sprouting, showed a 3-fold decrease in f3a morphants versus controls at 48 hpf, suggesting a potential role for f3a in flow-induced angiogenesis.

Conclusion

f3a is essential for angiogenesis, in addition to its involvement in hemostasis.

Key Points

f3a knockdown by antisense morpholino oligonucleotide (MO)-approach shows bleeding phenotype.

f3a is essential for angiogenesis, in addition to its involvement in hemostasis.
A vascularized 3D model of the human pancreatic islet for ex vivo study of immune cell-islet interaction
Authors: Bender R. Hugh F. , O’Donnell Benjamen T. , Shergill Bhupinder , Pham Brittany Q. , Juat Damie J. , Hatch Michaela S. , Shirure Venktesh S. , Wortham Matthew , Nguyen-Ngoc Kim-Vy , Jun Yesl , Gaetani Roberto , Christman Karen L. , Teyton Luc , George Steven C. , Sander Maike , Hughes Christopher C.W.
Published: December 2021

Insulin is an essential regulator of blood glucose homeostasis that is produced exclusively by β cells within the pancreatic islets of healthy individuals. In those affected by diabetes, immune inflammation, damage, and destruction of islet β cells leads to insulin deficiency and hyperglycemia. Current efforts to understand the mechanisms underlying β cell damage in diabetes rely on in vitro-cultured cadaveric islets. However, isolation of these islets involves removal of crucial matrix and vasculature that supports islets in the intact pancreas. Unsurprisingly, these islets demonstrate reduced functionality over time in standard culture conditions, thereby limiting their value for understanding native islet biology. Leveraging a novel, vascularized micro-organ (VMO) approach, we have recapitulated elements of the native pancreas by incorporating isolated human islets within a three-dimensional matrix nourished by living, perfusable blood vessels. Importantly, these islets show long-term viability and maintain robust glucose-stimulated insulin responses. Furthermore, vessel-mediated delivery of immune cells to these tissues provides a model to assess islet-immune cell interactions and subsequent islet killing — key steps in type 1 diabetes pathogenesis. Together, these results establish the islet-VMO as a novel, ex vivo platform for studying human islet biology in both health and disease.
Flexible and efficient simulation-based inference for models of decision-making
Authors: Boelts Jan , Lueckmann Jan-Matthis , Gao Richard , Macke Jakob H.
Published: December 2021

Inferring parameters of computational models that capture experimental data is a central task in cognitive neuroscience. Bayesian statistical inference methods usually require the ability to evaluate the likelihood of the model—however, for many models of interest in cognitive neuroscience, the associated likelihoods cannot be computed effciently. Simulation-based inference (SBI) offers a solution to this problem by only requiring access to simulations produced by the model. Here, we provide an effcient SBI method for models of decision-making. Our approach, Mixed Neural Likelihood Estimation (MNLE), trains neural density estimators on model simulations to emulate the simulator, and is designed to capture both the continuous (e.g., reaction times) and discrete (choices) data of decision-making models. The likelihoods of the emulator can then be used to perform Bayesian parameter inference on experimental data using standard approximate inference methods like Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampling. We demonstrate MNLE on two variants of the drift-diffusion model (DDM) and compare its performance to a recently proposed method for SBI on DDMs, called Likelihood Approximation Networks (LANs, Fengler et al. 2021). We show that MNLE is substantially more effcient than LANs: it achieves similar likelihood accuracy with six orders of magnitude fewer training simulations, and is substantially more accurate than LANs when both are trained with the same budget. This enables researchers to train MNLE on custom-tailored models of decision-making, leading to fast iteration of model design for scientific discovery.
Stain-free nucleus identification in holographic learning flow cyto-tomography
Authors: Pirone Daniele , Lim Joowon , Merola Francesco , Miccio Lisa , Mugnano Martina , Bianco Vittorio , Cimmino Flora , Visconte Feliciano , Montella Annalaura , Capasso Mario , Iolascon Achille , Memmolo Pasquale , Psaltis Demetri , Ferraro Pietro
Published: December 2021

Quantitative Phase Imaging (QPI) has gained popularity because it can avoid the staining step, which in some cases is difficult or impossible. However, QPI does not provide the well-known specificity to various parts of the cell (e.g., organelles, membrane). Here we show a novel computational segmentation method based on statistical inference that bridges the gap between the specificity of Fluorescence Microscopy (FM) and the label-free property of QPI techniques to identify the cell nucleus. We demonstrate application to stain-free cells reconstructed through the holographic learning and in flow cyto-tomography modality. In particular, by means of numerical simulations and two cancer cell lines, we demonstrate that the nucleus-like regions can be accurately distinguished within the stain-free tomograms. We show that our experimental results are consistent with confocal FM data and microfluidic cytofluorimeter outputs. This is a significant step towards extracting the three-dimensional (3D) intracellular specificity directly from the phase-contrast data in a typical flow cytometry configuration.
Primary productivity in subsidized green-brown food webs
Authors: Zelnik Yuval R. , Manzoni Stefano , Bommarco Riccardo
Published: December 2021

1

Ecosystems worldwide receive large amounts of nutrients from both natural processes and human activities. While direct subsidy effects on primary productivity are relatively well known (the green food web), the indirect effects of subsidies on producers as mediated by the brown food web and predators have been neglected. With a dynamical green-brown food web model, parameterized using empirical estimates from the literature, we illustrate the effect of nutrient subsidies on net primary productivity (i.e., after removing loss to herbivory) in two generic ecosystems, terrestrial and aquatic. We find that nutrient subsidies increase net primary productivity because more nutrients are available, but this effect saturates with higher subsidies. Changing the quality of subsidies from inorganic to organic tends to increase net primary productivity in terrestrial ecosystems, but less often so in aquatic ecosystems. This occurs when organic nutrient inputs promote detritivores in the brown food web, and hence predators that in turn control herbivores, thus promoting primary productivity. This previously largely overlooked effect is further enhanced by ecosystem properties such as fast decomposition and low rates of nutrient additions, and demonstrates the importance of nutrient subsidy quality on ecosystem functioning.
Neural mechanisms of credit assignment for inferred relationships in a structured world
Authors: Witkowski Phillip P. , Park Seongmin A. , Boorman Erie D.
Published: December 2021

Animals have been proposed to abstract compact representations of a task’s structure that could, in principle, support accelerated learning and flexible behavior. Whether and how such abstracted representations may be used to assign credit for inferred, but unobserved, relationships in structured environments are unknown. Here, we develop a novel hierarchical reversal-learning task and Bayesian learning model to assess the computational and neural mechanisms underlying how humans infer specific choice-outcome associations via structured knowledge. We find that the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) efficiently represents hierarchically related choice-outcome associations governed by the same latent cause, using a generalized code to assign credit for both experienced and inferred outcomes. Furthermore, mPFC and lateral orbital frontal cortex track the inferred current “position” within a latent association space that generalizes over stimuli. Collectively, these findings demonstrate the importance both of tracking the current position in an abstracted task space and efficient, generalizable representations in prefrontal cortex for supporting flexible learning and inference in structured environments.
Fast Medical Image Auto-segmentation for Bleeding Gastric Tissue Detection based on Deep DuS-KFCM Clustering
Authors: Liu Xian-Xian , Li Gloria , Luo Wei , Gao Juntao , Fong Simon
Published: December 2021

Background

Detection and classification of gastric bleeding tissues are one of the challenging tasks in endoscopy image analysis. Lesion detection plays an important role in gastric cancer (GC) diagnosis and follow-up. Manual segmentation of endoscopy images is a very time-consuming task and subject to intra- and interrater variability. Accurate GB segmentation in abdominal sequences is an essential and crucial task for surgical planning and navigation in gastric lesion ablation. However, GB segmentation in endoscope is a substantially challenging work because the intensity values of gastric blood are similar to those of adjacent structures.

Objective

In this paper the idea is to combine two parts: Neural Network and Fuzzy Logic--Hybrid Neuro-Fuzzy system. The objective of this manuscript is to provide an efficient way to segment the gastric bleeding lesion area. This work focuses on design and development of an automated diagnostic system using gastric bleeding cancer endoscopy images.

Methods

In this paper, a coarse-to-fine method was applied to segment gastric bleeding lesion from endoscopy images, which consists of two stages including rough segmentation and refined segmentation. The rough segmentation is based on a kernel fuzzy C-means algorithm with spatial information (SKFCM) algorithm combined with spatial gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) and the refined segmentation is implemented with deeplabv3+ (backbone with resnet50) algorithm to improve the overall accuracy.

Results

Experimental results for gastric bleeding segmentation show that the method provides an accuracy of 87.9476% with specificity of 96.3343% and performs better than other related methods.

onclusions

The performance of the method was evaluated using two benchmark datasets: The GB Segmentation and the healthy datasets. Then use the gastric red spots (GRS) dataset to do the final test to verify weak bleeding symptoms. Our method achieves high accuracy in gastric bleeding lesion segmentation. The work describes an innovative way of using GLCM based textural features to extract underlying information in gastric bleeding cancer imagery. Modified deep DuS-KFCM endoscopy image segmentation method based on GLCM feature, The experimental results shown to be effective in image segmentation and has good performance of resisting noise, segmentation effect more ideal.
MAVS mediates a protective immune response in the brain to Rift Valley fever virus
Authors: Hum Nicholas R. , Bourguet Feliza A. , Sebastian Aimy , Lam Doris , Phillips Ashlee M. , Sanchez Kristina R. , Rasley Amy , Loots Gabriela G. , Weilhammer Dina R.
Published: December 2021

Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is a highly pathogenic mosquito-borne virus capable of causing hepatitis, encephalitis, blindness, hemorrhagic syndrome, and death in humans and livestock. Upon aerosol infection with RVFV, the brain is a major site of viral replication and tissue damage, yet pathogenesis in this organ has been understudied. Here, we investigated the immune response in the brain of RVFV infected mice. In response to infection, microglia initiate robust transcriptional upregulation of antiviral immune genes, as well as increased levels of activation markers and cytokine secretion that is dependent on mitochondrial antiviral-signaling protein (MAVS) and independent of toll-like receptors 3 and 7. In vivo, Mavs-/- mice displayed enhanced susceptibility to RVFV as determined by increased brain viral burden and higher mortality. Single-cell RNA sequence analysis identified microglia-specific defects in type I interferon and interferon responsive gene expression in Mavs-/- mice, as well as dysregulated lymphocyte infiltration. The results of this study provide a crucial step towards understanding the precise molecular mechanisms by which RVFV infection is controlled in the brain and will help inform the development of vaccines and antiviral therapies that are effective in preventing encephalitis.

Author Summary

Rift Valley fever virus causes severe disease in humans and livestock and in some cases can be fatal. There is concern about the use of Rift Valley fever virus as a bioweapon since it can be transmitted through the air, and there are no vaccines or antiviral treatments. Airborne transmission of the virus causes severe inflammation of the brain, yet little is known about the immune response against the virus in this organ. Here, we investigated the immune response in the brain to Rift Valley fever virus following intranasal infection. We determined that microglia, the resident immune cells of the brain, initiate a robust response to Rift Valley fever virus infection and identified a key immune pathway that is critical for the ability of microglia to respond to infection. When this immune pathway is rendered non-functional, mice have a dysregulated response to infection in the brain. This study provides insight into how the immune response can control Rift Valley fever virus infection of the brain.
Single-nucleus RNA Sequencing and Spatial Transcriptomics Reveal the Immunological Microenvironment of Cervical Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Authors: Ou Zhihua , Lin Shitong , Qiu Jiaying , Ding Wencheng , Ren Peidi , Chen Dongsheng , Wang Jiaxuan , Tong Yihan , Wu Di , Chen Ao , Deng Yuan , Cheng Mengnan , Peng Ting , Lu Haorong , Yang Huanming , Wang Jian , Jin Xin , Ma Ding , Xu Xun , Wang Yanzhou , Li Junhua , Wu Peng
Published: December 2021

Effective treatment of advanced invasive cervical cancer remains challenging nowadays. Herein, single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) and SpaTial Enhanced REsolution Omics-sequencing (Stereo-seq) technology are used to investigate the immunological microenvironment of cervical squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC), a major type of cervical cancers. The expression levels of most immune checkpoint genes in tumor and inflammation areas of CSCC were not significantly higher than those in the non-cancer samples except for LGALS9 and IDO1. Stronger signals of CD56+ NK cells and immature dendritic cells are found in the hypermetabolic tumor areas, while more eosinophils, immature B cells, and Treg cells are found in the hypometabolic tumor areas. Moreover, a cluster of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are identified around some tumors, which highly expressed ACTA2, POSTN, ITGB4, and FAP. The CAFs might support the growth and metastasis of tumors by inhibiting lymphocyte infiltration and remodeling the tumor extracellular matrix. Furthermore, CAFs are associated with poorer survival probability in CSCC patients and might be present in a small fraction (∼20%) of advanced cancer patients. Collectively, these findings might enhance understanding of the CSCC immunological microenvironment and shed some light on the treatment of advanced CSCC.
High throughput hemogram of T cells using digital holographic microscopy and deep learning
Authors: Gupta Roopam K. , Hempler Nils , Malcolm Graeme P. A. , Dholakia Kishan , Powis Simon J.
Published: December 2021

T cells of the adaptive immune system provide effective protection to the human body against numerous pathogenic challenges. Current labelling methods of detecting these cells, such as flow cytometry or magnetic bead labelling, are time consuming and expensive. To overcome these limitations, the label-free method of digital holographic microscopy (DHM) combined with deep learning has recently been introduced which is both time and cost effective. In this study, we demonstrate the application of digital holographic microscopy with deep learning to classify the key CD4+and CD8+T cell subsets. We show that combining DHM of varying fields of view, with deep learning, can potentially achieve a classification throughput rate of 78,000 cells per second with an accuracy of 76.2% for these morphologically similar cells. This throughput rate is 100 times faster than the previous studies and proves to be an effective replacement for labelling methods.
Integration of high-resolution promoter profiling assays reveals novel, cell type–specific transcription start sites across 115 human cell and tissue types
Authors: Moore Jill E. , Zhang Xiao-Ou , Elhajjajy Shaimae I. , Fan Kaili , Pratt Henry E. , Reese Fairlie , Mortazavi Ali , Weng Zhiping
Published: December 2021

Accurate transcription start site (TSS) annotations are essential for understanding transcriptional regulation and its role in human disease. Gene collections such as GENCODE contain annotations for tens of thousands of TSSs, but not all of these annotations are experimentally validated nor do they contain information on cell type–specific usage. Therefore, we sought to generate a collection of experimentally validated TSSs by integrating RNA Annotation and Mapping of Promoters for the Analysis of Gene Expression (RAMPAGE) data from 115 cell and tissue types, which resulted in a collection of approximately 50 thousand representative RAMPAGE peaks. These peaks are primarily proximal to GENCODE-annotated TSSs and are concordant with other transcription assays. Because RAMPAGE uses paired-end reads, we were then able to connect peaks to transcripts by analyzing the genomic positions of the 3′ ends of read mates. Using this paired-end information, we classified the vast majority (37 thousand) of our RAMPAGE peaks as verified TSSs, updating TSS annotations for 20% of GENCODE genes. We also found that these updated TSS annotations are supported by epigenomic and other transcriptomic data sets. To show the utility of this RAMPAGE rPeak collection, we intersected it with the NHGRI/EBI genome-wide association study (GWAS) catalog and identified new candidate GWAS genes. Overall, our work shows the importance of integrating experimental data to further refine TSS annotations and provides a valuable resource for the biological community.
Resetting of the 24-nt siRNA landscape in rice zygotes
Authors: Li Chenxin , Gent Jonathan I. , Xu Hengping , Fu Hong , Russell Scott D. , Sundaresan Venkatesan
Published: December 2021

The zygote, a totipotent stem cell, is crucial to the life cycle of sexually reproducing organisms. It is produced by the fusion of two differentiated cells—the egg and sperm, which in plants have radically different siRNA transcriptomes from each other and from multicellular embryos. Owing to technical challenges, the epigenetic changes that accompany the transition from differentiated gametes to totipotent zygote are poorly understood. Because siRNAs serve as both regulators and outputs of the epigenome, we characterized small RNA transcriptomes of zygotes from rice. Zygote small RNAs exhibit extensive maternal carryover and an apparent lack of paternal contribution, indicated by absence of sperm signature siRNAs. Zygote formation is accompanied by widespread redistribution of 24-nt siRNAs relative to gametes, such that ∼70% of the zygote siRNA loci do not overlap any egg cell siRNA loci. Newly detected siRNA loci in zygote are gene-proximal and not associated with centromeric heterochromatin, similar to canonical siRNAs, in sharp contrast to gametic siRNA loci that are gene-distal and heterochromatic. In addition, zygote but not egg siRNA loci are associated with high DNA methylation in the mature embryo. Thus, the zygote begins transitioning before the first embryonic division to an siRNA profile that is associated with future RdDM in embryogenesis. These findings indicate that, in addition to changes in gene expression, the transition to totipotency in the plant zygote is accompanied by resetting of the epigenetic reprogramming that occurred during gamete formation.
Artificial intelligence: a systematic review of methods and applications in hospitality and tourism
Authors: Doborjeh Zohreh , Hemmington Nigel , Doborjeh Maryam , Kasabov Nikola
Published: December 2021

Purpose

Several review articles have been published within the Artificial Intelligence (AI) literature that have explored a range of applications within the tourism and hospitality sectors. However, how efficiently the applied AI methods and algorithms have performed with respect to the type of applications and the multimodal sets of data domains have not yet been reviewed. Therefore, this paper aims to review and analyse the established AI methods in hospitality/tourism, ranging from data modelling for demand forecasting, tourism destination and behaviour pattern to enhanced customer service and experience.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach was to systematically review the relationship between AI methods and hospitality/tourism through a comprehensive literature review of papers published between 2010 and 2021. In total, 146 articles were identified and then critically analysed through content analysis into themes, including “AI methods” and “AI applications”.

Findings

The review discovered new knowledge in identifying AI methods concerning the settings and available multimodal data sets in hospitality and tourism. Moreover, AI applications fostering the tourism/hospitality industries were identified. It also proposes novel personalised AI modelling development for smart tourism platforms to precisely predict tourism choice behaviour patterns.

Practical implications

This review paper offers researchers and practitioners a broad understanding of the proper selection of AI methods that can potentially improve decision-making and decision-support in the tourism/hospitality industries.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the tourism/hospitality literature with an interdisciplinary approach that reflects on theoretical/practical developments for data collection, data analysis and data modelling using AI-driven technology.
Tone, readability and financial risk: the case of GCC banks
Authors: Hassan Mostafa Kamal , Abu-Abbas Bassam , Kamel Hany
Published: December 2021

Purpose

The authors investigate the impact of disclosure tones and financial risk on the readability of annual reports in the banking sector. The authors also examine the moderating effect of banks' financial risk on the tone–readability relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

This study relies on the agency theory and the social psychology theory to formulate its testable hypotheses and explain the empirical findings. It uses a sample of 390 bank-year observations from banks listed in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Stock Exchanges during the period 2014–2019. It also employs random effect regressions to analyze the data and to examine the reverse causality/endogeneity in order to obtain robust findings.

Findings

This study’s results demonstrate that easy (difficult) to read annual reports is significantly associated with positive (negative) tone. Bank managers characterized as “too positive/optimistic” and banks with higher financial risks publish less readable annual reports. The results also show that the interaction between negative tone and a bank's financial risk is inversely associated with reading difficulty, indicating that managers prepare easy text to clarify causes of their banks’ high risks, yet they communicate this easy text with a negative tone that reflects their feelings/emotions towards the financial risks of their banks.

Practical implications

This study’s findings call for the use of a plain English text that bears a neutral tone and urge financial analysts to go beyond the financial aspects of annual reports. They also stimulate policymakers to draft policies, which ensure the presence of audit committee members who possess a broad expertise to uncover the linguistic issues embedded in the annual reports.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study dedicated to exploring the tone–readability association in the GCC's banking sector.
Cameroon’s special criminal court: an appraisal of its first decade of existence
Authors: Agbor Avitus Agbor
Published: December 2021

Purpose

In total, 10 years since the establishment of the Special Criminal Court (SCC) in Cameroon to deal with a specific kind of corruption, one may wonder whether any achievements have been made so far in fulfilling its mandate and also assuaging the tense and toxic perception that the Court was established as an arsenal to witch-hunt political opponents. This study aims to look into the work done so far in this regard, and makes an assessment as to whether any accomplishments have been made in the first decade of its establishment.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper takes an evidence-based approach in seeking answers to what accomplishments, if any, have been made by the Court, explores the notion of corruption within Cameroon’s legislative and institutional landscape prior to the establishment of the Court and looks into the profiles of those who have been indicted by the SCC for that crime; the amounts that were misappropriated and for which they were convicted; the sentences imposed. It identifies some outstanding cases: where the amounts misappropriated exceeded a threshold and asks the question of what made it possible for these individuals to misappropriate such huge sums of money?

Findings

The inconsistencies and irrationality in the sentencing are a few findings made. Added to those is the timing of the establishment of the Court which, as most have perceived, is a political witch-hunting aimed at bringing credibility to a failed regime, as well as deal with a few political “irresponsibles” who were once the president’s buddies.

Research limitations/implications

This research unravels key insights into the functioning of the SCC. It advances the knowledge thereon and adds to the literature on corruption in Cameroon.

Practical implications

The establishment of the SCC is commendable. However, as it deals with but a particular kind of corruption, it might be necessary to rethink the need of additional institutional mechanisms that have specialized jurisdiction to deal with the different kinds of corruption in Cameroon.

Social implications

The paper highlights the entrenched nature of corruption in the social fabrics of Cameroonian society, and exposes the need for a much holistic approach in dealing with corruption, as the SCC offers but one institutional mechanism toward that direction.

Originality/value

This paper, given the issues discussed therein, and considering the dearth of literature on the topic, advances the literature on the SCC in particular and the problem of endemic corruption in Cameroon in general.
Negotiating without the victim state: the exclusiveness of anticorruption settlements
Authors: Capus Nadja , Brodersen Kei Hannah
Published: December 2021

Purpose

Corporate foreign bribery can have devastating consequences on communities and states. Over the past decade, there have been several promising developments, both national and international, that might increase the chances of victim states to receive remediation for the harm they suffered from foreign bribery. In particular, awareness has risen that victim states must be considered and new innovative items have been added to the toolbox of prosecutors in the fight against corruption that is assumed to also improve victim states’ standing in these procedures. This study aims to assess whether indeed victim states receive compensation through these novel procedures.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses the three case studies of Switzerland, France and England and Wales for a comprehensive empirical and normative analysis of settlement agreements between defendants and prosecution authorities and of court jurisprudence.

Findings

This study shows that although de jure, it seems warranted to order the payment of remedies to victim states within domestic criminal proceedings, in practice, this rarely happens. A number of legal and practical obstacles account for this situation. This study, therefore, calls for the formulation of international guidelines containing the obligation to inform victim states of ongoing criminal proceedings on corporate foreign bribery, and guidance on how to identify the victim of this crime, as well as the damage caused.

Originality/value

This is the first contribution to verify whether claims that settlement agreements, recently introduced in England and Wales and France (and similar procedures are available in Switzerland), are beneficial for victim states in their quest to receive compensation. As this study shows that this is – not yet – the case in practice, this study proposes solutions that could lead the way for remediation of the harm caused by corporate corruption – and thereby, ultimately, to a more just outcome.
Management accounting tools for failure prevention and risk management in the context of Indian innovative start-ups: a contingency theory approach
Authors: Krishnan (Retd.) Cdr S. Navaneetha , Ganesh L.S. , Rajendran C.
Published: December 2021

Purpose

This paper aims to analyse various failures that Indian innovative start-ups (ISs) are exposed to and proposes interventions from management accounting tools (MATs) that can tackle their failure-causing risks. This paper justifies the applicability of contingency theory (CT) for applying MATs for failure prevention and risk management.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses multimethod research while undertaking two sequential studies. The methods include a Survey via semi-structured interviews of 51 specialists and media reports and the Delphi method.

Findings

Reasons for the failures of Indian ISs have been identified and grouped based on eight broad underlying risk factors. Appropriate MATs relevant to ISs have been identified and examined by relating them with the risk factors underlying failure. Applicability of CT is shown while using the MATs for failure prevention and risk management of ISs.

Research limitations/implications

This study is limited to the Indian context. Empirical validation of the applicability of MATs for each type of failure along the lifecycle stages of ISs needs to be undertaken.

Practical implications

Founders/owners of ISs can use this conceptual framework to tackle the risks underlying the failure of their firms. Policymakers can introduce appropriate policies to enhance the survival of ISs. Researchers can further explore the application of CT for failure prevention and risk management of ISs.

Originality/value

A conceptual framework has been developed relating failure-causing risk factors relevant to ISs and appropriate MATs, which justifies the applicability of CT.
The fake news effect: what does it mean for consumer behavioral intentions towards brands?
Authors: Sharif Aruba , Awan Tahir Mumtaz , Paracha Osman Sadiq
Published: December 2021

Purpose

This study aims to understand how fake news can cause an impact on consumer behavioral intentions in today’s era when fake news is prevalent and common. Brands have not only faced reputational losses but also got a dip in their share prices and sales, which affected their financial standing. Hence, it is significant for brands to understand the impact of fake news on behavioral intentions and to strategize to manage the impact.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses several branding and marketing concepts such as brand experience, brand trust, brand credibility, consumer behavioral intentions along with variables suggested by Elaboration Likelihood Model and Heuristic Systematic Model such as personal relevance/involvement. For fake news, news truthfulness, news credibility and source credibility are used.

Findings

The results of this study shows that positive brand experience, brand trust, brand credibility help in creating positive behavioral intentions for brands. This study shows that brands focusing on providing positive brand experience have a stronger brand trust and credibility and are affected less by fake news than those brands which do not emphasize on these factors.

Practical implications

This paper can assist brand managers in understanding the impact fake news can have on behavioral intentions of consumers. The managers can strategize such that the fake news affects their brands the least.

Originality/value

The authors in this paper attempt to fill in the gap in literature, which is to study how the fake news impacts the brands considering the credibility, trust and experience they establish with their customers. The existing literature discusses the generation and dissemination of fake news on social media and its impact on political scenarios and personalities. Also, studies explain the impact of fake news on the financial position of brands, but marketing facets are not tested empirically.
Shrinkage of regional differences in the cost‐of‐living index in Japan
Authors: Ogura Manami
Published: December 2021

This study aims to clarify the existence of regional differences and the impact of the 2008 Lehman (Brothers) shock, the collapse of a major U.S. securities firm that triggered the global financial crisis, on these differences based on the regional cost‐of‐living index (RCLI) in Japan. We apply a methodology developed by Kakwani and Hill, which is an axiomatic approach for constructing the multilateral spatial cost‐of‐living indices, to compare the price levels of households between regions of Japan. The results show, overall, a shrinkage of regional differences after the Lehman shock. However, the impact of the Lehman shock on the cost of living varies from region to region. In Japan, the Lehman shock lowered the RCLI in urban areas rather than rural areas. This finding implies that urban areas in Japan are more susceptible to macro shocks, which reduce regional differences with rural areas. Furthermore, based on the results of the cost‐of‐living index by group commodity, we offer a policy implication for the fundamental elimination of regional differences between Japan's urban and rural areas. This would encourage, for example, an increase in the cost of living in rural areas through increased public transport investment and costs, an accompanying increase in rent of housing in surrounding areas and an increase in communication costs owing to the spread of high‐speed internet services, such as 5G.
A Man and a Perpetuum Mobile? Assigned Hermaphrodite Andreas Bruce's Memoirs
Authors: Holmqvist Sam
Published: December 2021

This article presents the memoirs of Andreas Bruce, a Swedish man that was assigned female sex at birth and later re‐assigned sex as a male hermaphrodite. His memoirs, written by the end of the nineteenth century, are unique. They exhibit a rare example of what life could be like for gender transgressors during the nineteenth century. According to the memoirs, Bruce's transition and legal gender recognition was the source of some attention, but once he had gained a certificate of hermaphroditism and a male first name, his masculinity seldom seems to have been contested. Bruce navigates between describing himself as an ordinary man and describing his life story as unique.
Necessity, Non‐Violent Direct Activism, and the Stansted 15: Reasserting ‘Hoffmann's Bargain’
Authors: Cammiss Steven , Hayes Graeme , Doherty Brian
Published: December 2021

In Thacker and ors the Court of Appeal overturned the convictions of the ‘Stansted 15’ due to a misdirection on the substantive offence. However, the court rejected their necessity defence, following Jones, as their actions were political, outweighing a desire to avoid a risk of death or serious injury; in a ‘functioning democratic state’ their claims should have been pursued through conventional means. This is a reaffirmation of what we call ‘Hoffmann's Bargain’; in Jones, Lord Hoffmann noted that non‐violent protestors who act proportionately can expect the state to act with restraint, but a necessity defence is unavailable. We argue that this rejection of the defence is mistaken and overly broad for direct action cases. It also fails to acknowledge Valderamma‐Vega, where the Court of Appeal held that defendants who claim duress may act for different motives as long as one is the avoidance of death or serious injury.
A Roman Holiday? African Americans and Italians in the Second World War
Authors: O'Connell Christian
Published: December 2021

This article attempts to explain the positive reception of Black troops in Europe by focusing on the relatively underexplored case of the Italian campaign in the Second World War. It suggests that African American GIs actively nurtured positive relationships with Italian civilians in a number of ways that are hidden in official military documentation, but are detectable through testimonies, photographs, newspaper reports, veteran's surveys, and in Italian sources. By being more generous with their resources, befriending families, making efforts to learn the language, and often defying prevalent military attitudes that portrayed Italians as untrustworthy, African American GIs not only experienced liberal European attitudes, but actively fostered those attitudes by exploiting social opportunities so that they were seen as ‘goodwill ambassadors’ by the black press and by Italians. African American troops, particularly from poorer backgrounds, overcame the language barrier and formed ties with Italians worst affected by the war through empathy and a sense of shared experience. Cultivating these relationships was particularly significant given the context of racial discrimination in the American military, a situation that was compounded by the presence of Fascist and Nazi anti‐black propaganda, which coexisted with Italian racial attitudes that ranged from fascination to fear, especially when it came to relations with Italian women.
Divergence and correlated evolution of male wing spot and courtship display between Drosophila nepalensis and D. trilutea
Authors: Mo Wen‐Zhou , Li Zhuo‐Miao , Deng Xiang‐Mei , Chen Ai‐Li , Ritchie Michael G. , Yang De‐Jun , He Zhuo‐Bin , Toda Masanori J. , Wen Shuo‐Yang
Published: December 2021

Male‐specific wing spots are usually associated with wing displays in the courtship behavior of Drosophila and may play important roles in sexual selection. Two closely related species, D. nepalensis and D. trilutea, differ in wing spots and scissoring behavior. Here, we compare male morphological characters, pigmentation intensity of male wing spots, wing‐scissoring behavior, courtship songs, and reproductive isolation between 2 species. F1 fertile females and sterile males result from the cross between females of D. nepalensis and males of D. trilutea. The pigmentation of wing spots is significantly weaker in D. trilutea than in D. nepalensis and the F1 hybrid. Males scissor both wings in front of the female during courtship, with a posture spreading wings more widely, and at a faster frequency in D. nepalensis than in D. trilutea and the F1s. Males of D. trilutea vibrate wings to produce 2 types (A and B) of pulse songs, whereas D. nepalensis and the F1s sing only type B songs. The incidence of wing vibration and scissoring during courtship suggests that wing vibration is essential but scissoring is a facultative courtship element for successful mating in both species. The association between the darker wing spots with more elaborate scissoring might be the consequence of correlated evolution of these traits in D. nepalensis; however, D. trilutea retains wing scissoring during courtship despite having weaker pigmentation of wing spots. The genetic architecture of 2 traits differs in the F1s, consistent with maternal or sex‐linked effects for spots but nonadditive effects for scissoring.