bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Assessment of the potential of microalgae-derived phycoerythrin as a natural colorant in beverages
Authors: Carmona Raquel , Murillo Ma Carmen , Lafarga Tomás , Bermejo Ruperto
Published: September 2022

Phycobiliproteins, including phycoerythrins, are a group of water-soluble pigments produced by microalgae that show potential for being used as natural colourants. The replacement of synthetic compounds with natural colourants obtained from renewable resources is gaining increased interest in the beverages industry. The aim of the present study was to generate and characterise a phycoerythrin-rich extract from the microalga Porphyridium cruentum and to assess its potential use as a pink colourant in four commercial beverages: gin, wine, tonic water, and an isotonic drink. The extract, obtained after water extraction and protein precipitation contained B-phycoerythrin (79%) and R-phycocyanin (21%). Its B-phycoerythrin concentration was 0.75 gB-PE·L−1. The purity grade ($${A}_{565}/{A}_{280}$$

A
565

/

A
280

) of the extract was 2.50; purity ratios higher than 0.7 are considered as sufficient for food applications. The extract was pink and was shown to be stable at pH values ranging from 3.0 to 9.0. The staining factors, which refer to the amount of extract needed to mimic the colour of the commercial products, were 1.5, 2.9, 1.6, and 4.4 mg·L−1 for gin, wine, tonic water and the isotonic drink, respectively. The influence of temperature on the stability of the extract was studied, having found the lowest degradation ratios for 4 ºC and the gin sample. The colour of the product was stable during an 11-day storage period and the colour of the phycoerythrin-containing products was well accepted by a group of 44 semi-trained panellists. The results reported here demonstrate the potential of P. cruentum for being used as a natural source of phycobiliproteins that could be used as a natural pink colouring agent in different beverages.
Asynchronous Time-Aware Shaper for Time-Sensitive Networking
Authors: Máté Miklós , Simon Csaba , Maliosz Markosz
Published: September 2022

The Time Sensitive Networking Task Group of the IEEE 802.1 Working Group has developed a number of enhancements to the priority queueing architecture used by Ethernet. Perhaps the most notable one is the time-aware shaper (TAS), which can perfectly isolate priority classes in time with periodically scheduled traffic gates, thereby enabling ultra low latency applications to coexist with lower priority traffic on the same network. It requires near-perfect clock synchronization across the entire network, though, and a central network controller to calculate the timings for the traffic gates, based on known propagation delays on the network links. As a cheaper alternative, we have developed the asynchronous TAS that needs no clock synchronization, network planning, or a central controller. It uses local processes at each switch port to track the high priority streams, predict the arrival times of their next frames, and control the traffic gates such that the low priority streams are not interfering. We show how a simple predictor with minimal computation requirements can be used to track the high priority streams, and we demonstrate via simulations that this gating mechanism can protect the high priority traffic from interference.
Functions and clinical applications of exosomes in pancreatic cancer
Authors: Jiang Zhichen , Wang Huiju , Mou Yiping , Li Li , Jin Weiwei
Published: September 2022

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is one of the most malignant tumors and has an abysmal prognosis, with a 5-year survival rate of only 11%. At present, the main clinical dilemmas in PC are the lack of biomarkers and the unsatisfactory therapeutic effects. The treatments for and outcomes of PC have improved, but remain unsatisfactory. Exosomes are nanosized extracellular vesicles, and an increasing number of studies have found that exosomes play an essential role in tumor pathology. In this review, we describe the process of exosome biogenesis, as well as exosome extraction methods and identification strategies, and we then explain in detail the roles and mechanisms of exosomes in invasion, metastasis, chemoresistance and immunosuppression in PC. Finally, we summarize the clinical applications of exosomes. Our observations indicate that exosomes represent a novel direction in the clinical treatment of PC.
Viscoelastic modelling of fibre-reinforced thermoplastics in hygrothermal circumstances
Authors: Abouhamzeh M. , van Dijk Y. L. M. , Grätzl T.
Published: September 2022

Thermoplastics are favourable to the automotive industry due to their recycling possibility. Carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastics (CFRTP) are passed through the automotive paint shop. The imposed thermal loading presents a challenge to implementing economically feasible CFRTP in body structures. The present study provides a simulation approach to analyse the anisotropic viscoelastic deformation behaviour to assess this scenario. Validation experiments were conducted by optically measuring the out-of-plane displacement of dry and moisture-saturated specimens subjected to a simulated cathodic dip painting-dryer. Preliminary lay-up assessment for the automotive painting process is deemed possible due to the good agreement between simulation and experiments.
Evaluation of Topical Antifungals Using a New Predictive Animal Model for Efficacy against Severe Tinea Unguium: A Comparison of Efinaconazole and Luliconazole
Authors: Masumoto Akane , Sugiura Keita , Matsuda Yoshiki , Tachibana Haruki , Tatsumi Yoshiyuki
Published: September 2022

Development of new topical drugs requires an animal onychomycosis model that can predict the drug efficacy against moderate to severe human onychomycosis because the severity of onychomycosis varies and affects the drug efficacy. This study established a non-immunosuppressive guinea pig tinea unguium model under 8-week infection condition in addition to a previously reported model under 4-week infection condition. In the tinea unguium model, most fungi were tightly present in the arthrospore form, like in human onychomycosis. The topical formulations of efinaconazole and luliconazole, two azole class anti-onychomycosis drugs, were evaluated for their efficacy in these models. In the untreated group, the nail fungal burden in the 8-week model was higher than that in the 4-week model and the stronger infection intensity affected the efficacy of the drugs, suggesting that the 8-week model was more severe. The 90% efficacy rate (42%) of luliconazole in the 8-week model was significantly lowered than that (83%) in the 4-week model, and its 99% efficacy rates were 0% in both models. Conversely, the 90% and 99% efficacy rates of efinaconazole (92% and 50% in the 4-week model, and 75% and 25% in the 8-week model, respectively) were not significantly different between the two infection durations. In addition, efinaconazole was more effective than luliconazole in reducing the nail fungal burden. Considering the relevance of clinical reports of the effectiveness of efinaconazole on severe onychomycosis, the new severe tinea unguium model would predict drug efficacy against moderate to severe onychomycosis.
Small grant subsidy application effects on productivity improvement: evidence from Japanese SMEs
Authors: Takahashi Kohei , Hashimoto Yuki
Published: September 2022

This study examines the effects of a small grants subsidy on small- and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) productivity. Using rich Japanese firm-level data, we analyze the effects of both applying for and receiving subsidies. We employ a sharp regression discontinuity design for the receipt effects and a difference-in-differences (DID) design for the application effects. The result shows that there are no statistically significant changes in likelihood after receiving the subsidy. By contrast, applicants experienced higher productivity and sales growth than non-applicants. These positive effects are most obvious in post-entry firms whose operating years are 6–10 years in the service sector. These results are robustly confirmed using a DID model with propensity score matching, controlling for both pre-intervention levels and trends in the outcome. Our findings imply that the subsidy application process with external support fosters entrepreneurship for firms that have survived the first 5 years after start-up, leading to their growth.
Identification of genes associated with environmental persistence in Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli isolates from processing in a broiler abattoir
Authors: Carbonero A. , Maldonado-Iniesta A. , Trujillo Y. , Perea J. , Riofrío M. , Garcia-Bocanegra I. , Borge C.
Published: September 2022

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of the htrA, htrB and ppk1 genes -all of which are related to environmental persistence- in C. jejuni and C. coli isolates obtained from abattoir samples at the arrival of broilers (initial stage) and in meat products after processing (final stage). A total of 119 DNA extracts (55 C. jejuni and 64 C. coli) were included in the study. Identification of genes was performed by conventional PCR (one for each gene). The overall prevalence was 40.3%, 93.3% and 68.9% for the htrA, htrB and ppk1 genes, respectively. Statistically significant differences were found (p < 0.05) between prevalence of C. jejuni and C. coli for all three genes. In C. coli the prevalence was significantly higher for the htrA (p = 0.007) and htrB (p = 0.015) genes, while ppk1 gene prevalence was significantly higher in C. jejuni (p < 0.001). In addition, statistically significant increase in the frequency of htrA (p = 0.007) and htrB (p = 0.013) genes in the final product compared to broilers on arrival at the abattoir was observed in C. jejuni, but not in C. coli. These results suggest that htrA and htrB genes are involved in environmental persistence of Campylobacter jejuni.
Win-Win: Anthropogenic circularity for metal criticality and carbon neutrality
Authors: Zeng Xianlai
Published: September 2022

Resource depletion and environmental degradation have fueled a burgeoning discipline of anthropogenic circularity since the 2010s. It generally consists of waste reuse, remanufacturing, recycling, and recovery. Circular economy and “zero-waste” cities are sweeping the globe in their current practices to address the world’s grand concerns linked to resources, the environment, and industry. Meanwhile, metal criticality and carbon neutrality, which have become increasingly popular in recent years, denote the material’s feature and state, respectively. The goal of this article is to determine how circularity, criticality, and neutrality are related. Upscale anthropogenic circularity has the potential to expand the metal supply and, as a result, reduce metal criticality. China barely accomplished 15 % of its potential emission reduction by recycling iron, copper, and aluminum. Anthropogenic circularity has a lot of room to achieve a win-win objective, which is to reduce metal criticality while also achieving carbon neutrality in a near closed-loop cycle. Major barriers or challenges for conducting anthropogenic circularity are deriving from the inadequacy of life-cycle insight governance and the emergence of anthropogenic circularity discipline. Material flow analysis and life cycle assessment are the central methodologies to identify the hidden problems. Mineral processing and smelting, as well as end-of-life management, are indicated as critical priority areas for enhancing anthropogenic circularity.
Georgia and the Black Sea: Risks, Resilience and Opportunities
Authors: Khokrishvili Elguja , Lebanidze Bidzina
Published: September 2022

By unpacking major views of and dynamics towards the Black Sea region from the Georgian perspective, this analysis addresses two questions: What are Georgia’s key perceptions of the Black Sea region? And which role does the Black Sea play in strengthening Georgia’s economic and security resilience in a quickly changing environment marked by geopolitical and geo-economic competition? The article concludes with thoughts on the region’s future and the role of the EU, Georgia’s closest partner, in it.
2nd order approximate Noether and Lie symmetries of Gibbons–Maeda–Garfinkle–Horowitz–Strominger charged black hole in the Einstein frame
Authors: Liaqat Asia , Hussain Ibrar
Published: September 2022

In this paper, approximate Noether and Lie symmetries of 2nd order for Gibbons–Maeda–Garfinkle–Horowitz–Strominger (GMGHS) charged black hole in the Einstein frame are analyzed comprehensively. To explore the approximate Noether symmetries of 2nd order, Noether symmetries of Minkowski spacetime are used which forms a 17 dimensional Lie algebra. It is observed that no new approximate Noether symmetry is obtained at 1st and 2nd order. To examine the 1st and 2nd order approximate Lie symmetries of the GMGHS black hole spacetime, 35 Lie symmetries (exact) of the Minkowski spacetime are used which forms an algebra sl(6, R). It is shown that no new approximate Lie symmetry exists at 1st and 2nd order and only exact 35 symmetries are recouped as trivial approximate Lie symmetries at both orders. Furthermore, no energy rescaling factor is seen in this spacetime.
Monitoring Progression of Diabetic Nephropathy Using T1- and T2-Weighted Imaging: An Animal Study
Authors: Huang Chen-Hui , Hung San-Ho , Chen Po-Chou , Tsai Ling-Jen , Kuo Shyh-Ming , Hwang Lian-Chyr
Published: September 2022

Purpose

Currently, diabetes and the consequent DN are considered a major public health issue. However, the mechanism of DN and its treatment require further clarification. This study proposed noninvasive T1-weighted (T1W) and T2-weighted (T2W) MRI protocols for the longitudinal assessment of kidney disease progression after DN induction in Sprague Dawley (SD) rats.

Methods

The changes in MRI image indices over time between control and DN SD rats were investigated. The volumes of the bilateral kidneys and the signals intensities (SIs) of the bilateral kidneys, renal pelvis, renal cortex, and renal medulla on turbo spin echo T1W and T2W images were obtained to observe DN progression in the rat kidneys.

Results

The results indicated that the edges of kidneys were clearer and sharper in the DN rats than in the control rats. The time-varying SIs of the bilateral whole kidneys, renal cortex, renal pelvis, and renal medulla on T1W and T2W images were significantly larger in the DN rats than in the control rats. Moreover, the volumes of both the left and right kidneys were significantly larger in the DN rats than in the control rats.

Conclusion

High-quality T1W and T2W images can be used to assess DN progression in SD rats’ kidney. Our results might be applicable to clinical routine diagnostic examinations that may improve diagnostic accuracy. Further development of the MRI technology for early DN detection and treatment is warranted.
A Middle Pleistocene Butchery Site at Great Yeldham, Essex, UK: Identifying Butchery Strategies and Implications for Mammalian Faunal History
Authors: Parfitt Simon A.
Published: September 2022

This paper discusses the evidence relating to an assemblage of Pleistocene bones and teeth discovered in a brick pit at Great Yeldham, Essex, in the late nineteenth century. Surviving elements from this collection, which include a bison foot bone with cut-marks, are now in the British Geological Survey Museum, Keyworth. A re-examination of this collection suggests that humans were present at the site during a temperate period in the earlier part of the late Middle Pleistocene. The cut-marks suggest that the hind foot was detached and discarded as butchery waste at the death site. Finally, the paper discusses the implications of humanly modified bones for understanding aspects of early human behaviour and distribution in Britain, which have hitherto largely centred around the study of stone tools.
Why non-technical skills matter in surgery. New paradigms for surgical leaders
Authors: Cobianchi Lorenzo , Dal Mas Francesca , Verde Juan Manuel , Garcia-Vazquez Alain , Martellucci Jacopo , Swanstrom Lee , Ansaloni Luca
Published: September 2022

The surgical literature is paying more and more attention to the topic of soft or non-technical skills (NTS), defined as those cognitive and social skills that characterize high-performing individuals and teams. NTS are essential in supporting surgeons in dealing with unexpected situations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, NTS have been considered crucial in defining situation awareness, enhancing decision making, communicating among groups and teams, and fostering leadership. With a “looking back and planning forward” approach, the current perspective aims at deepening the contribution of NTS for surgeons to deal with the unexpected challenges posed by the COVID crisis, surgical emergencies, the introduction of new technologies in clinical practice, to understand how such skills may help shape the surgical leaders of the future.
Wittgenstein on Forms of Life
Authors: Boncompagni Anna
Published: September 2022

The question of what Wittgenstein meant by 'forms of life' has attracted a great deal of attention in the literature, yet it is an expression that Wittgenstein himself employs on only a relatively small number of occasions, and that he does not explicitly define. This Element gives a description of this concept that also explains Wittgenstein's reluctance to say much about it. A short historical introduction examines the origins and uses of the term in Wittgenstein's time. The Element then presents a survey of Wittgenstein's employment of it, and an overview of the literature. Finally, the Element offers a methodological reading of this notion, interpreting it as a conceptual tool in Wittgenstein's wider inquiries into the workings of our language.
Full classification of dynamics for one-dimensional continuous-time Markov chains with polynomial transition rates
Authors: Xu Chuang , Hansen Mads Christian , Wiuf Carsten
Published: September 2022

This paper provides a full classification of the dynamics for continuous-time Markov chains (CTMCs) on the nonnegative integers with polynomial transition rate functions and without arbitrary large backward jumps. Such stochastic processes are abundant in applications, in particular in biology. More precisely, for CTMCs of bounded jumps, we provide necessary and sufficient conditions in terms of calculable parameters for explosivity, recurrence versus transience, positive recurrence versus null recurrence, certain absorption, and implosivity. Simple sufficient conditions for exponential ergodicity of stationary distributions and quasi-stationary distributions as well as existence and nonexistence of moments of hitting times are also obtained. Similar simple sufficient conditions for the aforementioned dynamics together with their opposite dynamics are established for CTMCs with unbounded forward jumps. Finally, we apply our results to stochastic reaction networks, an extended class of branching processes, a general bursty single-cell stochastic gene expression model, and population processes, none of which are birth–death processes. The approach is based on a mixture of Lyapunov–Foster-type results, the classical semimartingale approach, and estimates of stationary measures.
Feasibility of telemedicine research visits in people with Parkinson’s disease residing in medically underserved areas
Authors: Virmani Tuhin , Lotia Mitesh , Glover Aliyah , Pillai Lakshmi , Kemp Aaron S. , Iyer Anu , Farmer Phillip , Syed Shorabuddin , Larson-Prior Linda J. , Prior Fred W.
Published: September 2022

Introduction:

Gait, balance, and cognitive impairment make travel cumbersome for People with Parkinson’s disease (PwPD). About 75% of PwPD cared for at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ Movement Disorders Clinic reside in medically underserved areas (MUAs). Validated remote evaluations could help improve their access to care. Our goal was to explore the feasibility of telemedicine research visits for the evaluation of multi-modal function in PwPD in a rural state.

Methods:

In-home telemedicine research visits were performed in PwPD. Motor and non-motor disease features were evaluated and quantified by trained personnel, digital survey instruments for self-assessments, digital voice recordings, and scanned and digitized Archimedes spiral drawings. Participant’s MUA residence was determined after evaluations were completed.

Results:

Twenty of the fifty PwPD enrolled resided in MUAs. The groups were well matched for disease duration, modified motor UPDRS, and Montreal Cognitive assessment scores but MUA participants were younger. Ninety-two percent were satisfied with their visit, and 61% were more likely to participate in future telemedicine research. MUA participants traveled longer distances, with higher travel costs, lower income, and education level. While 50% of MUA participants reported self-reliance for in-person visits, 85% reported self-reliance for the telemedicine visit. We rated audio-video quality highly in approximately 60% of visits in both groups. There was good correlation with prior in-person research assessments in a subset of participants.

Conclusions:

In-home research visits for PwPD in MUAs are feasible and could help improve access to care and research participation in these traditionally underrepresented populations.
Eradication of Commelina benghalensis in a long-term experiment using a multistakeholder governance model: a case of regulatory concerns defeating ecological management success
Authors: Leon Ramon G. , Creamer Nancy , Reberg-Horton S. Chris , Franzluebbers Alan J.
Published: September 2022

Tropical spiderwort (Commelina benghalensis L.) is a noxious invasive species and was detected in a long-term experiment in a research farm in Goldsboro, NC. A multistakeholder governance model was used to address the invasion of this species. Regulators insisted on the use of fumigation in all fields, but after intense negotiations, a multi-tier eradication plan was designed and implemented, allowing fumigation outside the long-term experiment and a combination of integrated approaches (including physical removal) and intense monitoring and mapping for long-term experimental fields. In the long-term experiment, C. benghalensis populations decreased logarithmically from more than 50,000 plants in approximately 80 ha in 2005 to 19 plants in less than 1 ha in 2019, with a projection of full eradication by 2024. Despite these results, which were considered to be proof of successful ecological management by university researchers, regulators decided to fumigate the fields containing the remaining 19 plants. This decision was made because regulators considered factors such as professional liability and control efficacy. This created serious disagreements between the different stakeholders who participated in the design of the original plan. Despite the goodwill all parties exhibited at the beginning of the governance process, there were important shortcomings that likely contributed to the disagreements at the end. For example, the plan did not include specific milestones, and there was no clarity about what acceptable progress was based on (i.e., plant numbers or the rate of population decline). Also, no financial limits were established, which made administrators concerned about the financial burden the eradication program had become over time. Multistakeholder governance can effectively address plant invasions, but proper definition of progress and the point at which the program must be modified are critical for success, and all this must be done within a governance model that balances power in the decision-making process.
Consumption of ultra-processed foods and growth outcomes in early childhood: 2015 Pelotas Birth Cohort
Authors: Costa Caroline dos Santos , Buffarini Romina , Flores Thaynã Ramos , Neri Daniela , Freitas Silveira Mariângela , Monteiro Carlos Augusto
Published: September 2022

The current study aims to describe the consumption of ultra-processed foods, from 2 to 4 years old, and evaluate its association with growth outcomes during the same period. It is a prospective cohort study using data from the 2015 Pelotas-Brazil Birth Cohort. Outcomes assessed at the 2- and 4-year-old follow-ups were BMI-for-ageZ-score and length/height-for-ageZ-score. The exposure was a score of ultra-processed food consumption calculated at each follow-up by summing up the positive answers for the consumption of nine specific items/subgroups of ultra-processed foods: (i) instant noodles; (ii) soft drink; (iii) chocolate powder in milk; (iv) nuggets, hamburger or sausages; (v) packaged salty snacks; (vi) candies, lollipops, chewing gum, chocolate or jelly; (vii) sandwich cookie or sweet biscuit; (viii) juice in can or box or prepared from a powdered mix and (ix) yogurt. Crude and adjusted analyses between the score of ultra-processed foods and the outcomes were run using generalised estimating equations. Prevalence of consumption of ultra-processed foods increased from 2 to 4 years old, for all evaluated items/subgroups, except yogurt. In prospective analyses, higher scores of ultra-processed food consumption were associated with higher BMI-for-ageZ-score and lower length/height-for-ageZ-score, after adjustment for confounders. Ultra-processed food consumption, measured using a short questionnaire with low research burden, increased from 2 to 4 years old and was related to deleterious growth outcomes in early childhood. These results reinforce the importance of avoiding the consumption of these products in childhood to prevent the double burden of malnutrition and non-communicable chronic diseases throughout the life.
WHAT STATES SAY AND DO ABOUT LEGAL STABILITY AND MARITIME ZONES, AND WHY IT MATTERS
Authors: Anggadi Frances
Published: September 2022

States increasingly refer to ‘legal stability’ in connection with maritime zones, amidst concern to preserve their jurisdictional rights in the face of climate-change induced sea-level rise. Yet such a claim for preservation is at odds with the widely-expressed scholarly view that baselines, and their associated maritime zones, ‘ambulate’ with coastal changes. This article interrogates this tension by focussing on the understudied notion of legal stability as it relates to maritime zones, under the international law of the sea. The article examines the development of the term ‘legal stability’ in the discourse of States (what States say) and contends that a claim for the stability of maritime zones should be seen as an expression of the long-standing value placed on legal stability by States in the system of maritime zones. Further, the article presents the results of a global study of States’ implementation of the normal baseline in domestic legislation (what States do). The results show that many States have taken practical measures to secure legal stability for their normal baselines within their domestic frameworks, suggesting that existing international law may accommodate a greater degree of stability than widely appreciated. The article concludes by asserting that these findings matter not only for how we should receive States’ claims for maritime zone preservation on the basis of legal stability, but also prompts reconsideration of our overall understanding of the existing law on baselines and maritime zones.
A comparative study on the quality attributes, phenolic content and antioxidant activity of cultivated and wild asparagus as influenced by seasonal variations
Authors: Alan O. , Turk B. , Sen F.
Published: September 2022

The wild asparagus Asparagus acutifolius L. is common in the Mediterranean Basin. Wild asparagus spears are an important food source within their native range, and can be used as a sustainable nutrition source. In addition, interest has risen in wild relative species of Asparagus as a source of genetic improvement in Asparagus officinalis L. In this study, the quality traits (spear colour, total soluble solid content, dry matter content and chlorophyll and sugar fractions) and health-related compounds (total phenolics and antioxidant capacity) of fresh spears of wild and cultivated asparagus grown in Turkey were compared using the same three harvest periods for two consecutive years. The results of this study indicated that spears of wild asparagus contained a higher level of greenness (–a*), hue angle, total soluble solid, dry matter, chlorophyll, sugars, total phenolic content and antioxidant activity, compared to cultivated asparagus. Although there was no significant difference in the total soluble solid, glucose, sucrose and antioxidant activity in the contents of the spears of both species throughout the season, the colour, dry matter, chlorophyll, fructose, total sugar and total phenolic content were subject to seasonal variations. Colour, chlorophyll and total phenolic content showed some minor fluctuations over the course of the season, but the patterns of fructose and total sugar differed, which tended to increase throughout the harvest season. The present work suggests greater quality traits and biochemical compounds of the spears of A. acutifolius compared with those of commonly cultivated species.
Caulleryaspis chicosciencei: a new species from Brazil (Annelida, Sternaspidae)
Authors: Craveiro Nykon , Rosa Filho José Souto
Published: September 2022

One new species of Caulleryaspis Sendall & Salazar-Vallejo, 2013 (Annelida: Sternaspidae), C. chicosciencei sp. nov., is described based on material collected in north-eastern Brazil. Specimens were collected in muddy bottoms in the Suape estuary complex in 7–16 m water depth. Caulleryaspis chicosciencei sp. nov. differs from the other known species by the combination of the following characters: small size, abundant cirriform papillae evenly distributed throughout body; chaetigers of introvert with 18–21 falcate hooks per bundle; ventral shield without ribs and undeveloped concentric lines, covered by long cirriform papillae with sediment particles adhered; marginal chaetal fascicles include eight lateral shield chaetae in an oval arrangement, and six posterior shield chaetae in slightly curved pattern. Caulleryaspis chicosciencei sp. nov. is the first species of the genus Caulleryaspis described from Brazil and it increases the number of sternaspids recorded from shallow water in the south-western Atlantic Ocean.
Tourism worlding: Collective becoming in East Greenland
Authors: Chimirri Daniela , Ren Carina
Published: September 2022

In this article, we explore tourism development as an ongoing becoming-with and in the world. We draw on Haraway’s concept of worlding to describe the coming together of tourism not as a solitary or industry-related endeavour, but as entangled. We introduce the analytical concepts of frictions, companions and string figures to exemplify and discuss what this looks like when stepping closer to the tinkering with tourism. The article illustrates and discusses ways to re-conceptualise tourism development not as a simple solution to local problem, but as world-making in tension. We abstain from identifying “good” tourism and claims of how to pursue ways to “fix” tourism, instead tending to how tourism actors imagine and tinker with and around tourism towards more livable futures in a turbulent terrain.
Fear learning and extinction predicts anxiety in daily life: a study of Pavlovian conditioning and ecological momentary assessment
Authors: Modecki Kathryn L. , Ryan Katherine M. , Waters Allison M.
Published: September 2022

Background

The association between anxious mood and aberrant fear learning mechanisms has not been fully elucidated. Studying how fear conditioning and extinction constructs relate to anxiety symptoms and reactivity to stressful and benign moments in everyday life provides a powerful addition to experimental paradigms.

Method

Fifty-one young adults completed laboratory-based differential conditioning and extinction tasks with (CS + ) and without (CS-) an aversive unconditional stimulus (US). Electrodermal skin conductance responses were measured during each phase, followed by ecological momentary assessment (EMA) tapping anxiety and stressors six times daily for seven days (2, 142 moments).

Results

Conditioned electrodermal reactivity to the CS + and overgeneralisation to the CS- were associated with greater change in anxiety (measured via EMA), across non-stressful situations, remaining the same across stressful situations. Likewise, during extinction when the CS + is now safe, more electrodermal reactivity to the CS + was associated with more anxiety change across non-stressful situations and remained the same across stressful situations. Also, during extinction when threat is absent, more electrodermal reactivity at the late stage of the CS- was associated with less momentary anxiety change in response to stressful situations; more electrodermal activity at the late stage of the CS + was associated with more anxiety change across non-stressful situations and remained the same across stressful situations.

Conclusions

Sampling ‘in vivo’ emotion and stress experiences, study findings revealed links between conditioned electrodermal reactivity and overgeneralisation to safe stimuli and heightened anxious reactivity during non-stressful (i.e. safe) moments in daily life, coupled with less change in response to actual stressors.
Bidirectional relationships between cannabis use, anxiety and depressive symptoms in the mediation of the association with psychotic experience: further support for an affective pathway to psychosis
Authors: Radhakrishnan Rajiv , Pries Lotta-Katrin , Erzin Gamze , ten Have Margreet , de Graaf Ron , van Dorsselaer Saskia , Gunther Nicole , Bak Maarten , Rutten Bart P. F. , van Os Jim , Guloksuz Sinan
Published: September 2022

Background

Empirical evidence suggests that people use cannabis to ameliorate anxiety and depressive symptoms, yet cannabis also acutely worsens psychosis and affective symptoms. However, the temporal relationship between cannabis use, anxiety and depressive symptoms and psychotic experiences (PE) in longitudinal studies is unclear. This may be informed by examination of mutually mediating roles of cannabis, anxiety and depressive symptoms in the emergence of PE.

Methods

Data were derived from the second longitudinal Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study. Mediation analysis was performed to examine the relationship between cannabis use, anxiety/depressive symptoms and PE, using KHB logit in STATA while adjusting for age, sex and education status.

Results

Cannabis use was found to mediate the relationship between preceding anxiety, depressive symptoms and later PE incidence, but the indirect contribution of cannabis use was small (for anxiety: % of total effect attributable to cannabis use = 1.00%; for depression: % of total effect attributable to cannabis use = 1.4%). Interestingly, anxiety and depressive symptoms were found to mediate the relationship between preceding cannabis use and later PE incidence to a greater degree (% of total effect attributable to anxiety = 17%; % of total effect attributable to depression = 37%).

Conclusion

This first longitudinal cohort study examining the mediational relationship between cannabis use, anxiety/depressive symptoms and PE, shows that there is a bidirectional relationship between cannabis use, anxiety/depressive symptoms and PE. However, the contribution of anxiety/depressive symptoms as a mediator was greater than that of cannabis.
“Oldies come bottom of Grim Reaper hierarchy” : A framing analysis of UK newspaper coverage of old age and risk of dying during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: CARNEY GEMMA M. , MAGUIRE STEPHANIE , BYRNE BRONAGH
Published: September 2022

This article examines UK newspaper coverage during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic March-August 2020. A qualitative framing analysis of public messaging on age in five high circulation newspapers provides a detailed account of who is deemed to be at risk of dying from COVID-19. Newspapers represent older people as most at risk, with disability as a secondary factor. Reports on who is responsible, who is at risk, and who is to blame for deaths from COVID-19 are framed as issues of public health and generational fairness, with individual responsibility occupying a prominent role. We also find two counter-frames. First, in letters to the editor, older people’s pleas for freedom are framed as a fight for their civil liberties. Second, newspapers praise 99-year-old Captain Tom Moore and frame his behaviour as a source of national pride. We identify this as positive ageism. We conclude that reporting across progressive and conservative newspapers reflects age-based stereotypes and paternalism towards older people. Public figures are represented as scapegoats or heroes, offering distraction from the less newsworthy fact that long-term under-investment in social care increased the risk of dying amongst the old and disabled during the pandemic.
‘Because I’m not musical’: A critical case study of music education training for pre-service generalist primary teachers in Australia
Authors: Carroll Christine , Harris Joanne
Published: September 2022

The literature concerning pre-service training in music education for generalist primary or elementary school teachers reveals a long-standing problem for teacher educators: low or poor self-efficacy concerning the teaching of classroom music. Concurrently, a critical examination of training programmes has less often featured, with only limited discussion of digital approaches to classroom music-making constituting the focus of empirical research. Through a focused case study in one Australian university, 136 pre-service teachers participated in a face-to-face module of interactive music education which culminated in a peer-directed collaborative digital music-making project. Pre- and post-surveys were implemented with shifts in pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy measured according to Bandura’s self-efficacy scales. Legitimation Code Theory from the sociology of education then served as an overarching theoretical lens through which to appraise the findings. Despite an enduring self-concept as ‘non-musicians’, the results highlight positive shifts in self-efficacy through the utilisation of peer-directed digital music-making tasks, with implications for teacher training programmes more broadly situated.
Parabolic subgroups of large-type Artin groups
Authors: CUMPLIDO MARÍA , MARTIN ALEXANDRE , VASKOU NICOLAS
Published: September 2022

We show that the geometric realisation of the poset of proper parabolic subgroups of a large-type Artin group has a systolic geometry. We use this geometry to show that the set of parabolic subgroups of a large-type Artin group is stable under arbitrary intersections and forms a lattice for the inclusion. As an application, we show that parabolic subgroups of large-type Artin groups are stable under taking roots and we completely characterise the parabolic subgroups that are conjugacy stable.

We also use this geometric perspective to recover and unify results describing the normalisers of parabolic subgroups of large-type Artin groups.
“Single Sparks” and Legacies: An Eventful Account of the May Fourth Movement
Authors: Frazier Mark W.
Published: September 2022

The watershed in modern Chinese politics known as the May Fourth Movement (1919) offers insights into how a single protest event can quickly diffuse to other regions, draw in new participants and produce legacies in contentious politics. This article examines the May Fourth protests from the perspective of “eventful sociology” – an approach that examines how protests, repression and other contingent events link together to bring about landmark political episodes. It traces the sequence of protest and repression events in Beijing and draws on an original database of protest and repression events in Shanghai to emphasize the haphazard sequencing of actions and information flows that led the Chinese government to reverse its stance and concede to protestors’ demands. An eventful account illustrates how past protest sequences can produce a long-term impact on subsequent protest events. It also calls for greater awareness of “single sparks” that initiate protest sequences and unexpected political outcomes.
A machine learning algorithm to analyse the effects of vaccination on COVID-19 mortality
Authors: Magazzino Cosimo , Mele Marco , Coccia Mario
Published: September 2022

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), with new variants, continues to be a constant pandemic threat that is generating socio-economic and health issues in manifold countries. The principal goal of this study is to develop a machine learning experiment to assess the effects of vaccination on the fatality rate of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data from 192 countries are analysed to explain the phenomena under study. This new algorithm selected two targets: the number of deaths and the fatality rate. Results suggest that, based on the respective vaccination plan, the turnout in the participation in the vaccination campaign, and the doses administered, countries under study suddenly have a reduction in the fatality rate of COVID-19 precisely at the point where the cut effect is generated in the neural network. This result is significant for the international scientific community. It would demonstrate the effective impact of the vaccination campaign on the fatality rate of COVID-19, whatever the country considered. In fact, once the vaccination has started (for vaccines that require a booster, we refer to at least the first dose), the antibody response of people seems to prevent the probability of death related to COVID-19. In short, at a certain point, the fatality rate collapses with increasing doses administered. All these results here can help decisions of policymakers to prepare optimal strategies, based on effective vaccination plans, to lessen the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis in socioeconomic and health systems.
Measles epidemic in Southern Vietnam: an age-stratified spatio-temporal model for infectious disease counts
Authors: Nguyen Thi Huyen Trang , Faes Christel , Hens Niel
Published: September 2022

Measles resurged in Vietnam between 2018 and 2020, especially in the Southern region. The proportion of children with measles infection showed quite some variation at the provincial level. We applied a spatio-temporal endemic–epidemic modelling framework for age-stratified infectious disease counts using measles surveillance data collected in Southern Vietnam between 1 January 2018 and 30 June 2020. We found that disease transmission within age groups was greatest in young children aged 0–4 years whereas a relatively high between-group transmission was observed in older age groups (5–14 years, 15–24 years and 25+ years groups). At the provincial level, spatial transmission followed an age-dependent distance decay with measles spread mainly depending on local and neighbouring transmission. Our study helped to clarify the measles transmission dynamics in a more detailed fashion with respect to age strata, time and space. Findings from this study may help determine proper strategies in measles outbreak control including promotion of age-targeted intervention programmes in specific areas.
Transcranial direct current stimulation in combination with cognitive training in individuals with mild cognitive impairment: a controlled 3-parallel-arm study
Authors: Pallanti Stefano , Grassi Eleonora , Knotkova Helena , Galli Giulia
Published: September 2022

Objective

Several studies showed that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) enhances cognition in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), however, whether tDCS leads to additional gains when combined with cognitive training remains unclear. This study aims to compare the effects of a concurrent tDCS-cognitive training intervention with either tDCS or cognitive training alone on a group of patients with MCI.

Methods

The study was a 3-parallel-arm study. The intervention consisted of 20 daily sessions of 20 minutes each. Patients (n = 62) received anodal tDCS to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, cognitive training on 5 cognitive domains (orientation, attention, memory, language, and executive functions), or both. To examine intervention gains, we examined global cognitive functioning, verbal short-term memory, visuospatial memory, and verbal fluency pre- and post-intervention.

Results

All outcome measures improved after the intervention in the 3 groups. The improvement in global cognitive functioning and verbal fluency was significantly larger in patients who received the combined intervention. Instead, the intervention gain in verbal short-term memory and visuospatial memory was similar across the 3 groups.

Discussion

tDCS, regardless of the practicalities, could be an efficacious treatment in combination with cognitive training given the increased effectiveness of the combined treatment.

Conclusions

Future studies will need to consider individual differences at baseline, including genetic factors and anatomical differences that impact the electric field generated by tDCS and should also consider the feasibility of at-home treatments consisting of the application of tDCS with cognitive training.
Cognitive dispersion is elevated in amyloid-positive older adults and associated with regional hypoperfusion
Authors: Holmqvist Sophia L. , Thomas Kelsey R. , Edmonds Emily C. , Calcetas Amanda , Edwards Lauren , Bangen Katherine J. ,   for the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative
Published: September 2022

Objective:

Cognitive dispersion across neuropsychological measures within a single testing session is a promising marker predictive of cognitive decline and development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, little is known regarding brain changes underlying cognitive dispersion, and the association of cognitive dispersion with in vivo AD biomarkers and regional cerebral blood flow (CBF) has received limited study. We therefore examined associations among cognitive dispersion, amyloid-beta (Aβ) positivity, and regional CBF among older adults free of dementia.

Method:

One hundred and forty-eight Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) participants underwent neuropsychological testing and neuroimaging. Pulsed arterial spin labeling (ASL) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was acquired to quantify CBF. Florbetapir positron emission tomography (PET) imaging determined Aβ positivity.

Results:

Adjusting for age, gender, education, and mean cognitive performance, older adults who were Aβ+ showed higher cognitive dispersion relative to those who were Aβ-. Across the entire sample, higher cognitive dispersion was associated with reduced CBF in inferior parietal and temporal regions. Secondary analyses stratified by Aβ status demonstrated that higher cognitive dispersion was associated with reduced CBF among Aβ+ individuals but not among those who were Aβ-.

Conclusions:

Cognitive dispersion may be sensitive to early Aβ accumulation and cerebrovascular changes adjusting for demographics and mean neuropsychological performance. Associations between cognitive dispersion and CBF were observed among Aβ+ individuals, suggesting that cognitive dispersion may be a marker of brain changes among individuals on the AD continuum. Future studies should examine whether cognitive dispersion predicts brain changes in diverse samples and among those with greater vascular risk burden.