bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Shadow Banking in Europe: Idiosyncrasies and their Implications for Regulation
Authors: NABILOU Hossein , PRÜM André
Published: October 2019

This paper studies the specificities of shadow banking in Europe. It highlights striking differences between the EU and the US shadow banking sectors based on both market structure and legal micro-infrastructure of the shadow banking sectors in these two jurisdictions. It argues that these different institutional and legal infrastructures, as well as the different trajectories in the evolution of the shadow banking sectors in terms of business models, size and composition of actors and transactions, can be the driving force behind the differential regulatory treatment of shadow banking across the Atlantic. In highlighting such differences, this paper focuses on repo transactions, as the main instruments that play a significant role in credit intermediation outside the regulatory perimeter of the banking system. It then discusses money market funds and highlights differences in their structure, functioning, and their existing regulatory treatment. The paper concludes that the market structure, business models, and legacy legal and regulatory frameworks of shadow banking display substantial differences across the Atlantic. The findings in this paper rally against one-size-fits-all approaches to addressing the problems of the shadow banking system worldwide and recommends differentiated and more nuanced regulatory approaches to regulating shadow banking across the Atlantic.
Impacts of silver-coated antimicrobial screen covers on the cell-phone microbiome of resident physicians
Authors: McCumber Alexander W. , Volkoff Savannah J. , Anderson Deverick J. , Gunsch Claudia K.
Published: October 2019

An antimicrobial screen was applied to the cell phones of 26 resident physicians to determine its effects on the phone microbiome and its potential to serve as a selective agent for antibiotic or silver resistance genes. No increase of these genes was observed now was there a shift in the overall microbial community.
Coherence resonance in low-density jets
Authors: Zhu Yuanhang , Gupta Vikrant , Li Larry K. B.
Published: October 2019

Coherence resonance (CR) is a phenomenon in which the response of a stable nonlinear system to external noise exhibits a peak in coherence at an intermediate noise amplitude. We report the first experimental evidence of CR in a hydrodynamic system, a low-density jet capable of undergoing both supercritical and subcritical Hopf bifurcations. By applying noise to the jet in its unconditionally stable regime, we find that, for both types of bifurcation, the coherence factor peaks at an intermediate noise amplitude and increases as the stability boundary is approached. We also find that the autocorrelation function decays differently between the two types of bifurcation, indicating that CR can reveal information about the nonlinearity of a system even before it bifurcates to a limit cycle. We then model the CR dynamics with a stochastically forced van der Pol oscillator calibrated in two different ways: (i) via the conventional method of measuring the amplitude evolution in transient experiments and (ii) via the system-identification method of Lee et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 862, 2019, pp. 200–215) based on the Fokker–Planck equation. We find better experimental agreement with the latter method, demonstrating the deficiency of the former method in identifying the correct form of system nonlinearity. The fact that CR occurs in the unconditionally stable regime, prior to both the Hopf and saddle-node points, implies that it can be used to forecast the onset of global instability. Although demonstrated here on a low-density jet, CR is expected to arise in almost all nonlinear dynamical systems near a Hopf bifurcation, opening up new possibilities for the development of global-instability precursors in a variety of hydrodynamic systems.
Campfire sessions as pedagogy: a new twist on the Indigenous art of story-telling
Authors: Connor Helene , Napan Ksenija
Published: October 2019

Abstract Campfire sessions are springing up at conferences and educational institutes as an alternative to PowerPoint presentation workshops. As an educational tool, the campfire session is presented as innovative pedagogy, yet sitting around an open fire, telling stories, talking and ‘yarning’ has long been practised in Indigenous societies. This paper reflects on story-telling as an Indigenous educational method with a focus on traditional Māori society in Aotearoa/New Zealand. More specifically, the authors reflect on a campfire session facilitated at the Ako (reciprocal teaching and learning) Aotearoa (Māori name for New Zealand) Conference in Christchurch in November 2018. The campfire session was designed to draw on participants' experiences and stories of biculturalism and their own bicultural journeys. Its intention was to enable participants to explore what it means to be bicultural in Aotearoa/New Zealand and how being bicultural manifests in practices of ako across a range of disciplines and fields of practice. The paper endeavours to be an instructional article for educators interested in experimenting with the Indigenous teaching method of campfire sessions. Detailed explanations and descriptions of the campfire method are provided to assist teachers to design their own campfire sessions. The campfire method was well received by the initial audience, as evidenced by their full engagement and participation. All participants fed back that they felt enabled to design their own campfire sessions. The main benefit of this method is its engagement and appreciation of Indigenous wisdom. The main challenge is its unpredictability as just like fire, it can produce a wonderful warmth and transformation, but also engender inflamed discussions. It requires skilful facilitation and appreciation of potentially diverse views and opinions.
Lawyers as Trusted Agents in Nineteenth-Century American Commerce: The Influence of Fiduciary Law and Norms on Economic Development
Authors: Halberstam Michael , Simard Justin
Published: October 2019

The role of fiduciary law in the development of North American capitalism has been overlooked by institutional economists, who interpret fiduciary law as a form of contract and make the judicial enforcement of contract central to the transaction-cost theory of economic development. This article argues that the emergence of distinctive, equity-based fiduciary laws and norms significantly influenced the development and growth of early-nineteenth-century American markets. Our historical research identifies lawyers as important economic actors, who served as catalysts for the emergence of this governance culture. Lawyers adopted fiduciary principles that allowed them to become trusted intermediaries, thereby addressing the agency-cost problems inherent in complex economic exchange that vex the institutionalists’ contractual account of economic development.
Memory and Language: Different Dynamics in the Two Aspects of Identity Politics in Post-Euromaidan Ukraine
Authors: Kulyk Volodymyr
Published: October 2019

The article compares the post-Euromaidan Ukrainian politics in the domains of memory and language, two prominent aspects of the politics of identity that have been sites of controversy since the early years of independence. It examines the government’s behavior in the two domains, taking into account constraints presented by opposition parties, civil society, foreign states and international organizations, and the perceived preferences of the population. In both cases, the government must reconcile the active minority’s call for a radical break with the imperial legacy and the majority’s preference for the preservation of the accustomed environment. However, the Ukrainian leadership chose very different courses for the two domains. While pursuing a rather radical nationalist agenda with regard to memory, they largely refrained from a resolute promotion of the Ukrainian language. This difference does not reflect popular preferences and rather can be explained by politicians’ misperception of what the population wants, as well as their apprehension of policies that would radically change the country’s linguistic landscape and thus their own everyday life.
Spatial Voting Meets Spatial Policy Positions: An Experimental Appraisal
Authors: ARTIGA GONZÁLEZ TANJA , GRANIC GEORG D.
Published: October 2019

We develop and validate a novel experimental design that builds a bridge between experimental research on the theory of spatial voting and the literature on measuring policy positions from text. Our design utilizes established text-scaling techniques and their corresponding coding schemes to communicate candidates’ numerical policy positions via verbal policy statements. This design allows researchers to investigate the relationship between candidates’ policy stances and voter choice in a purely text-based context. We validate our approach with an online survey experiment. Our results generalize previous findings in the literature and show that proximity considerations are empirically prevalent in purely text-based issue framing scenarios. The design we develop is broad and portable, and we discuss how it adds to current experimental designs, as well as suggest several implications and possible routes for future research.
What Is Spontaneous Order?
Authors: LUBAN DANIEL
Published: October 2019

Due especially to the work of Friedrich Hayek, “spontaneous order” has become an influential concept in social theory. It seeks to explain how human practices and institutions emerge as unintended consequences of myriad individual actions, and points to the limits of rationalism and conscious design in social life. The political implications of spontaneous order theory explain both the enthusiasm and the skepticism it has elicited, but its basic mechanisms remain elusive and underexamined. This article teases out the internal logic of the concept, arguing that it can be taken to mean several different things. Some are forward-looking (defining it in terms of present-day functioning), whereas others are backward-looking (defining it in terms of historical origins). Yet none of these possibilities prove fully coherent or satisfactory, suggesting that spontaneous order cannot bear the analytical weight that has been placed on it.
Constitutionalism and Anti-Privatisation Strikes: Introducing an Eclectic Model
Authors: Litor Lilach
Published: October 2019

The rise of neoliberal agendas of political actors and a wave of privatisation in the globalisation era have often been followed by anti-privatisation strikes. These are union strikes against the privatisation process and against contracting out and opening markets to competition. The article presents the distinction between different versions of constitutionalism regarding anti-privatisation strikes. It discusses two approaches to constitutionalism – the economic approach and the collective approach – and their manifestation in the case law of Israel and the United Kingdom.

The collective approach suggests the recognition of a constitutional status of collective rights as a basis for counter-balancing the neoliberal practices of regulators and political actors. Following the effects of liberalisation on the labour market – both in influencing union organisational capacity and in weakening job security of individual employees, the collective approach is aimed at protecting employees’ rights in a globalised-privatised era. Within the collective approach, constitutionalism is used as a basis for recognising anti-privatisation strikes. In contrast, the economic approach denies the existence of a constitutional right to strike against privatisation.

The article presents an eclectic model which merges the two approaches, and advocates its adoption. Drawing on New Institutional Economics, the eclectic model offers a theory for moderating the constitutionalism practice and developing partial and restrained constitutionalism. It proposes the adoption of a constitutional right to strike against privatisation, when its application reduces transaction costs and advances efficiency and economic goals for the benefit of the public.
Good Carry, Bad Carry
Authors: Bekaert Geert , Panayotov George
Published: October 2019

We distinguish between “good” and “bad” carry trades constructed from Group of Ten (G-10) currencies. The good trades exhibit higher Sharpe ratios and sometimes positive return skewness, in contrast to the bad trades, which have both substantially lower Sharpe ratios and highly negative return skewness. Surprisingly, good trades do not involve the most typical carry currencies like the Australian dollar and Japanese yen. The distinction between good and bad carry trades significantly alters our understanding of currency carry trade returns, and invalidates, for example, explanations invoking return skewness and crash risk.
TRPA1 expression provides new insights into thermal perception by the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus intermedius
Authors: Ding Jingyun , Yu Yushi , Yang Mingfang , Shi Dongtao , Li Zequn , Chi Xiaomei , Chang Yaqing , Wang Qingzhi , Zhao Chong
Published: October 2019

Thermal perception is crucial for the fitness of marine invertebrates in intertidal and shallow waters. TRPA1 is a non-selective cation channel that belongs to the TRP family with pivotal roles in initiating signal transduction of thermal perception. We investigated expression patterns of SiTRPA1 in different tissues (tube feet, coelomocytes, gonads and gut) of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus intermedius. SiTRPA1 expression patterns under acute and long-term temperature stimuli were investigated in tube feet of sea urchins. In the present study, the highest expression of SiTRPA1 was detected in tube feet of S. intermedius. The SiTRPA1 expression level in tube feet were significantly 235.7-fold, 450.0-fold and 3299.7-fold higher than those in the coelomocytes, gonads and gut (df = 3, F = 47.382, P < 0.001). Expression levels of SiTRPA1 in the other tissues (coelomocytes, gonads and gut) were not significantly different (df = 3, F = 47.382, P = 0.972). There was no significant difference of SiTRPA1 expression among all groups in the acute temperature increase experiment (df = 4, F = 0.25, P = 0.902). In the acute temperature decrease experiment, the expression of SiTRPA1 showed no significant difference among all groups (df = 4, F = 1.802, P = 0.205). With long-term exposure (6 weeks) to different temperatures, SiTRPA1 expression in the low temperature group (10°C) was significantly higher than those in the high temperature (20°C) and the control groups (15°C) (df = 2, F = 9.57, P = 0.014). There was no significant difference of SiTRPA1 expression between the high temperature (20°C) and the control temperature (15°C) groups (df = 2, F = 9.57, P = 0.808). These results indicate that SiTRPA1 expression significantly responds to long-term low temperature but not to acute temperature decrease. The present study provides new insights on the distribution and temporal expression of TRPA1 in marine invertebrates after acute and long-term temperature stimuli.
Non-for-Profits and EU Citizens’ Cross-Border Social Rights in Different Welfare States
Authors: BRUZELIUS CECILIA
Published: October 2019

This paper looks at rights in practice to understand how migrant EU citizens’ formal social rights translate into substantive ones. It highlights a factor thus far overlooked in the literature on welfare states and migrants’ social rights: namely, the actors involved in welfare delivery. The argument is based, first, on non-profit organisations’ (NPOs) function as ‘rights intermediaries’; and second, on the distinct make-up of the ‘welfare mix’ across countries, with which NPO’s role in the provision of services, and hence their capacities and autonomy, varies. Focusing on EU citizens’ cross-border social rights, and drawing on in-depth research in Germany and Sweden, the paper reveals how NPOs defend and facilitate access to rights in both countries. Yet NPOs’ extensive role in the German welfare sector generates greater capacities for NPOs to pursue inclusive objectives than what is available to their Swedish counterparts, which occupy a much more limited position as welfare providers. This, it is argued, can be important for understanding how boundaries of social citizenship are drawn in each country.
Self-Report Tools for Assessing Physical Activity in Community-Living Older Adults with Multiple Chronic Conditions: A Systematic Review of Psychometric Properties and Feasibility
Authors: Garnett Anna , Ploeg Jenny , Markle-Reid Maureen , Strachan Patricia H.
Published: October 2019

Identifier l’outil d’autodéclaration de l’activité physique (AP) le plus adapté pour l’évaluation de l’AP chez les personnes âgées vivant dans la communauté qui sont atteintes de multiples maladies chroniques (MMC). L’AP peut avoir une influence positive sur la santé physique et psychologique de cette population. Bien qu’il existe des outils d’auto-évaluation de l’AP, les propriétés psychométriques et la faisabilité de l’utilisation de ces outils chez les personnes âgées avec MMC sont peu connues. Une revue systématique des études publiées entre 2000 et 2018 portant sur les propriétés psychométriques et la faisabilité de 18 outils d’auto-évaluation élaborés pour les personnes âgées vivant en communauté (≥ 65 ans) a été réalisée en vue de déterminer leur pertinence pour les personnes âgées atteintes de MMC. L’évaluation des données disponibles sur les propriétés psychométriques et la faisabilité des 18 outils d’auto-évaluation de l’activité physique a permis d’établir que l’Échelle d’évaluation de l’activité physique chez les personnes âgées (Physical Activity Assessment Scale for the Elderly; PASE) est l’outil d’auto-évaluation le plus adapté, qui devrait être recommandé pour la population de personnes âgées avec MMC.
“The Citizen Complains”: Federal Compensation for Property Lost in the War of 1812
Authors: Hollander Craig B.
Published: October 2019

This article describes the federal government's little-known effort to remunerate civilians who lost private property during the War of 1812. It shows how wartime “sufferers” pressured their congressional representatives for redress. In response, their representatives created a new federal office to adjudicate claims for lost property. But this office quickly came under scrutiny for making allegedly erroneous disbursements. Although Congress curtailed the office's power, representatives of the claimants continued to push for a more generous policy. To garner more free state support, they pointed out that officials had sought indemnities for the slaves the British had liberated during the war, but not for other forms of lost property. To remedy this preferential treatment, most northern congressmen began to support enacting a more generous compensation policy. In response, southerners demanded payment for slaves who had been lost in the war. Ultimately, northerners joined with the representatives of the sufferers from the South to pass a new law. However, this law only offered remuneration for buildings, which, in effect, tabled the discussion over slavery. This article therefore reveals how legislators employed the politics of slavery to build a coalition to create a law, which, in turn, was limited by those same politics.
Cognitive mediators of the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and adult psychopathology: A systematic review
Authors: Aafjes-van Doorn Katie , Kamsteeg Céline , Silberschatz George
Published: October 2019

This is the first review to rigorously examine the mediating role of cognitive factors in the relationship between childhood trauma and subsequent adult psychopathology, and highlight areas for future research. A database search (Child Development & Adolescent Studies, ERIC, Global Health, PsycARTICLES, and PsycINFO) was conducted to identify empirical studies on cognitive factors, explaining the relationship between different types of adverse childhood experiences and adult psychopathology across clinical and nonclinical populations. A narrative synthesis and appraisal of the methodological quality of the studies was conducted. Ninety-eight mediation studies were identified, comprising 4,137 clinical and 28,228 nonclinical participants. Despite great variation in methodological quality of the studies, our narrative synthesis suggests that cognitive factors mediate the relationship between early trauma and later psychopathology. This finding is consistent across different measures of traumatic experiences, psychopathology, and cognitive mediators. Cognitive mediators represent potentially valuable intervention targets for (non)clinical patients who have experienced childhood adversity. Future studies are needed to (a) establish longitudinal causal connections, and (b) assess the effect of interventions that specifically target cognitive change in patients with different levels and types of pathology.
Safety and Security in International Humanitarian Missions – Assessing the Stress Level of Responders in Critical Situations during a Realistic Full-Scale Training
Authors: Spall Andreas , Van der Auwera Marcel , Gerstner Jessica , Taalab Yasmeen M. , Wunderlich Robert
Published: October 2019

Introduction:

Crises, wars, and disasters are remarkably increasing across the world. Responders are frequently tackled with an ever-greater number of challenges, and undoubtedly, they are physically and mentally affected during and after their missions, during which posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is considered high-risk. To the authors’ knowledge, no studies have addressed which type of incident has the greatest influence to trigger stress, and consequently, to cause PTSD for the responders after their missions.

Methods:

A prospective longitudinal study was conducted with 69 participants of the “Safety and Security” course at the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Aid of the Federal Ministry of Interior Affairs (Berlin, Germany). The course is certified by the Hostile Environment Awareness Training (HEAT) guidelines of Europe’s New Training Initiative for Civilian Crisis Management (ENTRi; Center for International Peace Operations; Berlin, Germany). Four incidents were evaluated: hostage-taking, carjacking, evacuation, and border-crossing. The participants completed the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) before and after each incident. For each incident, the delta of the PANAS scores was calculated. The differences between the described incidents, as well as the differences between novice and experienced responders, were evaluated.

Results:

The hostage-taking incident had the greatest influence on the participants’ temper, followed by carjacking and evacuation. Ultimately, the border-crossing event had the least effect on the responders. Novices were more affected by hostage-taking than experienced responders; however, no significant difference had been demonstrated between novices and experienced responders for the other evaluated incidents.

Conclusion:

Different incidents have big psychological impacts on humanitarian responders, in which consequences vary from short-term effects to PTSD. Therefore, humanitarian responders should be selected very carefully. They should also have more specific preparation for their missions. Mental after-care should be obligatory. Further studies are needed to understand and avoid reasons for the development of PTSD or other potential problems of responders.
Becoming What You Eat: The New England Kitchen and the Body as a Site of Social Reform
Authors: Williams Nicholas J.P.
Published: October 2019

Reformers at the turn of the century struggled to understand why people were the way they were and whether they could really be changed. The reformers behind the New England Kitchen (NEK), a dietary reform experiment in 1890s Boston that hoped to change working-class diets, dedicated much of its efforts to answering the question at the heart of all social reform movements: Were people's behaviors determined by biological or social factors? In the course of their work, these reformers came to understand the relationship between food and bodies as central to social reform and sought to use dietary reform to change working-class bodies. Their actions and ideas disrupt the neat categories historians have come to rely upon when discussing reformist thought and push us to embrace the messiness of ideas as they are being worked out. This article explores these messy ideas, using four conceptions of the body that emerged from the NEK efforts—the caloric body, the changing body, the citizen body, and the managed body—to make sense of ideas that were later taken up by the USDA and the Children's Bureau, as well as other reform efforts in the Progressive Era.
What makes globalization really new? Sociological views on our current globalization
Authors: Lecler Romain
Published: October 2019

Reducing globalization to transnational movements and exchanges prevents us from understanding the specificity of our contemporary globalization, which was preceded by earlier waves of globalization. In particular, in the middle of the nineteenth century, many of the dimensions of our globalization had already been identified: the mobility of people, the expansion of trade, financial and cultural flows worldwide, and international cooperation. For example, as early as the 1850s, Marx diagnosed a ‘global’ expansion of capitalism bringing together many of the features of our contemporary globalization. In this article, I thus raise the question of the specificity of our globalization. What makes it new when compared to previous globalization processes? The main sociological theories of globalization in the 1990s relied on the thesis of a transition from a national to a global era. Many sociologists have therefore identified new aspects of our contemporary globalization. I explore six of those in turn: the invention of the terms ‘global’ and ‘globalization’ themselves; the rise of ‘transmigrations’; the rise of value chains, logistics, and ‘emerging’ countries in international trade; global cities and informational capitalism as new geographies of transnational financial flows; the threat to cultural diversity posed by a globalizing culture; and a sociology of globalization that is less and less monopolized by privileged or specific actors, becoming, on the contrary, increasingly ordinary and widespread.
The global/local tension in the history of anthropology
Authors: Ribeiro Gustavo Lins
Published: October 2019

In the early days of anthropology as a discipline in the nineteenth century, evolutionism and diffusionism supplied anthropologists with ‘global’ visions. Anthropologists have always been involved with all-encompassing cosmopolitan notions such as humankind and culture. Many have thus endeavoured to explain the world as a whole, and how humans have developed in different historical moments. In the 1980s and 1990s, when the new label ‘globalization’ generated a field of scholarly preoccupations, anthropologists started to contribute to this growing body of literature. Their most valuable contributions are related to the tensions between local and global forces, and between forces of heterogeneity and homogeneity, as well as to the use of ethnography as a methodological tool. Anthropologists have borrowed notions from other related disciplines such as sociology, history, and geography. This paper situates the anthropological production on ‘the global’ within this diverse history of borrowings, internal disciplinary debates, and wider historical junctures.
When dominant parties adopt proportional representation: the mysterious case of Belgium
Authors: Emmenegger Patrick , Walter André
Published: October 2019

As the first country to introduce proportional representation (PR), Belgium has attracted considerable attention. Yet, we find the existing explanations for the 1899 breakthrough lacking. At the time of reform, the Catholic Party was politically dominant, advantaged by the electoral system, and facing reformist Socialists. Nevertheless, they single-handedly changed the electoral system and lost 26 seats in the first election under PR. We argue that the Catholics had good reasons to adopt PR. Majoritarian rules tend to create high levels of uncertainty because they provide incentives for non-dominant parties to cooperate. Such electoral coalitions are facilitated by multidimensional policy spaces that make electoral coalitions other than between nonsocialist parties possible. PR reduces the effectiveness of cooperation between non-dominant parties, but such certainty comes at a price. In addition, in the presence of dominant parties, divisions over electoral system reform often result in intra-party conflicts that may be more decisive than inter-party conflicts.
Target range–angle estimation based on time reversal FDA-MIMO radar
Authors: Mu Tong , Song Yaoliang
Published: October 2019

Different from traditional multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) radar, the frequency diverse array MIMO (FDA-MIMO) radar generates beampattern that is dependent on both range and angle, making it applicable for joint range–angle estimation of targets. In this paper, we propose a novel time reversal based FDA-MIMO (TR-FDA-MIMO) approach for target detection. Based on the time reversal theory, the TR-FDA-MIMO signal model is established, the TR transmitting–receiving and signal processing procedure are analyzed, and the resulting range–angle spectra for targets imaging are acquired by utilizing the multiple signal classification algorithm. Numerical simulations are carried out for both single and multiple targets cases. The imaging resolution and robustness to the noise of the proposed approach are investigated and results are compared with conventional FDA-MIMO radar. It turned out that by cooperating with TR, the performance of FDA-MIMO radar for target range–angle estimation is effectively enhanced, consequently improving its applicability in practical target-detecting cases.
Development of the Pedestrian Anger Scale. A Pilot Study
Authors: Herrero-Fernández David , Oliva-Macías Mireia , Parada-Fernández Pamela
Published: October 2019

Anger has been closely related to risky behavior, and this last has been related to road accidents. The current research aimed to develop and validate a self-report questionnaire to measure anger in pedestrians (n = 550, 40.73% male) of a wide age rage (14–65 years, M = 27.91, SD = 13.21). The Parallel Analysis showed that the 15 items of the Pedestrian Anger Scale fitted satisfactorily in a four-factor solution: Anger because of obstructions or slowdowns caused by other pedestrians (α = .79), Anger because of hostility from drivers (α = .64), Anger because of bad conditions of the infrastructure (α = .62), and Anger because of dangerous situations caused by vehicles (α = .71). The global scale had also a good internal consistency (α = .83). Further analyses suggested convergent, divergent and incremental validity by correlating the global score of the questionnaire with both risk and anger measures. Middle-aged people (19–30 years) scored higher in anger as pedestrians than eldest (> 45 years), η2 = .02, but no significant effect were obtained by gender. Practical implications from both clinical and road safety viewpoints are discussed, and both future research proposals and limitations of the current study are also commented.
Marine Ice Cliff Instability Mitigated by Slow Removal of Ice Shelves
Authors: Clerc Fiona , Minchew Brent M. , Behn Mark D.
Published: October 2019

The accelerated calving of ice shelves buttressing the Antarctic Ice Sheet may form unstable ice cliffs. The marine ice cliff instability hypothesis posits that cliffs taller than a critical height (~90 m) will undergo structural collapse, initiating runaway retreat in ice‐sheet models. This critical height is based on inferences from preexisting, static ice cliffs. Here we show how the critical height increases with the timescale of ice‐shelf collapse. We model failure mechanisms within an ice cliff deforming after removal of ice‐shelf buttressing stresses. If removal occurs rapidly, the cliff deforms primarily elastically and fails through tensile‐brittle fracture, even at relatively small cliff heights. As the ice‐shelf removal timescale increases, viscous relaxation dominates, and the critical height increases to ~540 m for timescales greater than days. A 90‐m critical height implies ice‐shelf removal in under an hour. Incorporation of ice‐shelf collapse timescales in prognostic ice‐sheet models will mitigate the marine ice cliff instability, implying less ice mass loss.
Forecast‐Oriented Assessment of Decadal Hindcast Skill for North Atlantic SST
Authors: Borchert Leonard F. , Düsterhus André , Brune Sebastian , Müller Wolfgang A. , Baehr Johanna
Published: October 2019

We demonstrate in this paper that conventional time‐averaged decadal hindcast skill estimates can overestimate or underestimate the credibility of an individual decadal climate forecast. We show that hindcast skill in a long period can be higher or lower than skill in its subperiods. Instead of using time‐averaged hindcast skill measures, we propose to use the physical state of the climate system at the beginning of the forecast to judge its credibility. We analyze hindcasts of North Atlantic sea surface temperature (SST) in an initialized prediction system based on the MPI‐ESM‐LR for the period 1901–2010. Subpolar North Atlantic Ocean heat transport (OHT) strength at hindcast initialization largely determines the skill of these hindcasts: We find high skill after anomalously strong or weak OHT, but low skill after average OHT. This knowledge can be used to constrain conventional hindcast skill estimates to improve the assessment of credibility for a decadal forecast.
Drifting Electron Holes Occurring During Geomagnetically Quiet Times: BD‐IES Observations
Authors: Liu Z.‐Y. , Zong Q.‐G. , Zou H. , Wang Y. F. , Wang B.
Published: October 2019

Drifting electron holes (DEHs), manifesting as sudden but mild dropout in electron flux, are a common phenomenon seen in the Earth's magnetosphere. It manifests the change of the state of the magnetosphere. However, previous studies primarily focus on DEHs during geomagnetically active time (e.g., substorm). Not until recently have quiet time DEHs been reported. In this paper, we present a systematic study on the quiet time DEHs. BeiDa Imaging Electron Spectrometer (BD‐IES) measurements from 2015 to 2017 are investigated. Twenty‐two DEH events are identified. The DEHs cover the whole energy range of BD‐IES (50–600 keV). Generally, the DEHs are positively dispersive with respect to energy. Time‐of‐flight analysis suggests the dispersion results from electron drift motion and gives the location where the DEHs originated from. Statistics reveal the DEHs primarily originated from the postmidnight magnetosphere. In addition, superposed epoch analysis applied to geomagnetic indices and solar wind parameters indicates these DEH events occurred during geomagnetically quiet time. No storm or substorm activity could be identified. However, an investigation into nightside midlatitude ground magnetic records suggests these quiet time DEHs were accompanied by Pi2 pulsations. The DEH‐Pi2 connection indicates a possible DEH‐bursty bulk flow (BBF) connection, since nightside midlatitude Pi2 activity is generally attributed to magnetotail BBFs. This connection is also supported by a case study of coordinated magnetotail observations from Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft. Therefore, we suggest the quiet time DEHs could be caused by magnetotail BBFs, similar to the substorm time DEHs.
Effects of Kerogen Content on Elastic Properties‐Based on Artificial Organic‐Rich Shale (AORS)
Authors: Xie Jianyong , Cao Junxing , Schmitt Douglas R. , Di Bangrang , Xiao Lizhi , Wang Xingjian , Wang Kai , Chen Yangkang
Published: October 2019

Quantitative rock physical approaches are becoming increasingly important for both geophysical exploration and geological interpretation. One limiting factor is that experimental measurements in natural rock tend to be restricted by the availability of natural materials particularly if they are obtained from core holes. Artificial physical models that allow for control of composition and structure provide opportunities to carry out many more experiments on a range of samples with different characteristics. In this study, a hot‐pressing technique that includes temperature and pressure control is developed to construct artificial organic‐rich shales (AORS). The compositions of the AORS were developed from known natural samples and include mixtures of relevant minerals and appropriate organic matter considering grain sizes and shapes. The microstructures of the samples as observed in the scanning electron microscope and the petrophysical properties (density, porosity, permeability, and pressure sensitivity) are similar to those observed in the natural shales and support use of these samples as shale analogs. A total of 10 AORS samples with kerogen contents (KC) ranging from 1.71% to 14.8% was constructed to evaluate the effects of KC on elastic properties. A cross‐plot of the VP/VSH ratio versus the acoustic impedance indicates patterns that may be useful in remotely assessing KC content. Similarly, cross‐plots using the Lamé parameters of λρ versus μρ at various confining pressure may also be an effective tool in predicting KC. The linear correlations between the sum of weight percentage of KC and porosity and acoustic impedance tend to be strengthened during the pressurized procedure.
High‐Saturation Gas Hydrate Reservoirs—A Pore Scale Investigation of Their Formation From Free Gas and Dissociation in Sediments
Authors: Lei Liang , Seol Yongkoo
Published: October 2019

The enormous volume of gas stored in methane hydrate reservoirs has attracted worldwide interest. Hydrate reservoirs with hydrate saturations over 60% are considered viable targets for economic production. Although such high‐saturation hydrate reservoirs have been observed in nature, researchers have had difficulty in understanding how they may form and settling on best strategies for their production. Here we examined how high‐saturation methane hydrate deposits form from free gas in nature by synthesizing high‐saturation hydrate specimens in the laboratory by emulating natural conditions and monitoring hydrate formation using a high‐resolution micro‐computed tomography (micro‐CT) scanner. The results confirmed that free methane injection into water‐saturated sediments results in high‐saturation hydrate specimens. In addition, we explored gas production from high‐saturation specimens through a series of dissociation experiments. CT scan results show that water is expelled first during depressurization, while produced gas tends to remain trapped in the specimen. The volume of gas produced by thermal stimulation alone could be smaller than that of gas hydrate in deep reservoirs, which demands depressurization to expand the volume of the produced gas to extract gas from the reservoir. High‐saturation reservoirs are prone to flow path clogging during depressurization within hydrate stability zone, which can be mitigated by hydrate dissociation via thermal stimulation or further depressurization crossing the hydrate stability boundary.
Relative Humidity on Mars: New Results From the Phoenix TECP Sensor
Authors: Fischer E. , Martínez G. M. , Rennó N. O. , Tamppari L. K. , Zent A. P.
Published: October 2019

In situ measurements of relative humidity (RH) on Mars have only been performed by the Phoenix (PHX) and Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) missions. Here we present results of our recalibration of the PHX thermal and electrical conductivity probe (TECP) RH sensor. This recalibration was conducted using a TECP engineering model subjected to the full range of environmental conditions at the PHX landing site in the Michigan Mars Environmental Chamber. The experiments focused on the warmest and driest conditions (daytime) because they were not covered in the original calibration (Zent et al., 2010, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JE003420) and previous recalibration (Zent et al., 2016, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JE004933). In nighttime conditions, our results are in excellent agreement with the previous 2016 recalibration, while in daytime conditions, our results show larger water vapor pressure values. We obtain vapor pressure values in the range ~0.005–1.4 Pa, while Zent et al. (2016, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JE004933) obtain values in the range ~0.004–0.4 Pa. Our higher daytime values are in better agreement with independent estimates from the ground by the PHX Surface Stereo Imager instrument and from orbit by Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars. Our results imply larger day‐to‐night ratios of water vapor pressure at PHX compared to MSL, suggesting a stronger atmosphere‐regolith interchange in the Martian arctic than at lower latitudes. Further, they indicate that brine formation at the PHX landing site via deliquescence can be achieved only temporarily between midnight and 6 a.m. on a few sols. The results from our recalibration are important because they shed light on the near‐surface humidity environment on Mars.
African Easterly Wave Dynamics in Convection‐Permitting Simulations: Rotational Stratiform Instability as a Conceptual Model
Authors: Russell James O. H. , Aiyyer Anantha , Dylan White J.
Published: October 2019

We examine the upscale effect of moist convection on African easterly waves (AEWs) by limiting condensational heating and initial ambient moisture in convection‐permitting simulations. Moist convection is fundamental in maintaining and destabilizing AEWs. The contribution from barotropic‐baroclinic instability, albeit important, is relatively smaller. Mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) are initiated downstream of the AEW troughs and are associated with extensive trailing stratiform cloud regions. Using a potential vorticity (PV) budget, we show that the attendant diabatic heating profile reinforces the AEW. A model for destabilization is proposed that relies on the phasing of stratiform heating and the PV anomaly of the AEW. It qualitatively resembles stratiform instability and stretched building blocks hypotheses introduced in previous studies. The generation of PV by deep moist convection in the vicinity of the trough counters the shearing effect of the background flow. This helps maintain an upright PV column, which is conducive for formation of tropical cyclones. AEW propagation is dominated by advective processes and intermittently modified by moist convection when large MCSs move ahead of the AEW.
A multipredictor model to predict the conversion of mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer’s disease by using a predictive nomogram
Authors:   for the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, Huang Kexin , Lin Yanyan , Yang Lifeng , Wang Yubo , Cai Suping , Pang Liaojun , Wu Xiaoming , Huang Liyu
Published: October 2019

Predicting the probability of converting from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is still a challenging task. This study aims at providing a personalized MCI-to-AD conversion estimation by using a multipredictor nomogram that integrates neuroimaging features, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarker, and clinical assessments. To do so, 290 MCI patients were collected from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), of whom 76 has converted to AD and 214 remained with MCI. All subjects were randomly divided into a primary and validation cohort. Radiomics signature (Rad-sig) was obtained based on 17 cerebral cortex features selected by using Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) algorithm. Clinical factors and amyloid-beta peptide (Aβ) concentration were selected by using Spearman correlation between the converted and not-converted patients. Then, a nomogram that combines image features, clinical factor, and Aβ concentration was constructed and validated. Furthermore, we explored the associations between various predictors from the macro- to the microperspective by assessing gene expression patterns. Our results showed that the multipredictor nomogram (C-index 0.978 and 0.956 in both cohorts, respectively) outperformed the nomogram using either Rad-sig or Aβ concentration as individual predictors. Significant associations were found between neuropsychological scores, cerebral cortex features, Aβ levels, and underlying gene pathways. Our study may have a clinical impact as a powerful predictive tool for predicting the conversion probability of MCI and providing associations between cognitive impairment, structural changes, Aβ levels, and underlying biological patterns from the macro- to the microperspective.
Visualizing locus-specific sister chromatid exchange reveals differential patterns of replication stress-induced fragile site breakage
Authors: Waisertreiger Irina , Popovich Katherine , Block Maya , Anderson Krista R. , Barlow Jacqueline H.
Published: October 2019

Chromosomal fragile sites are genomic loci sensitive to replication stress which accumulate high levels of DNA damage, and are frequently mutated in cancers. Fragile site damage is thought to arise from the aberrant repair of spontaneous replication stress, however successful fragile site repair cannot be calculated using existing techniques. Here, we report a new assay measuring recombination-mediated repair at endogenous genomic loci by combining a sister chromatid exchange (SCE) assay with fluorescent in situ hybridization (SCE-FISH). Using SCE-FISH, we find that endogenous and exogenous replication stress generated unrepaired breaks and SCEs at fragile sites. We also find that distinct sources of replication stress induce distinct patterns of breakage: ATR inhibition induces more breaks at early replicating fragile sites (ERFS), while ERFS and late-replicating common fragile sites (CFS) are equally fragile in response to aphidicolin. Furthermore, SCEs were suppressed at fragile sites near centromeres in response to replication stress, suggesting that genomic location influences DNA repair pathway choice. SCE-FISH also measured successful recombination in human primary lymphocytes, and identificed the proto-oncogeneBCL2as a replication stress-induced fragile site. These findings demonstrate that SCE-FISH frequency at fragile sites is a sensitive indicator of replication stress, and that large-scale genome organization influences DNA repair pathway choice.
GATA3 suppresses human fibroblasts-induced metastasis of clear cell renal cell carcinoma via an anti-IL6/STAT3 mechanism
Authors: Shi Qianqian , Xu Renfang , Song Guanglai , Lu Hao , Xue Dong , He Xiaozhou , Xia Ying
Published: October 2019

Tumorigenesis and metastasis depend on intricate interactions between genetically altered tumor cells and their surrounding microenvironment. It is, however, unclear regarding the molecular mechanisms underlying the progress and metastasis of human clear-cell renal cell carcinoma in the microenvironment with fibroblasts. In this work, we investigated the effect of normal fibroblasts on the metastasis of renal cancer and the relevant signaling pathways. We isolated normal fibroblasts from normal renal tissues and used normal fibroblast-conditioned medium culture renal cancer cells. The CCK-8 and transwell assays showed that normal fibroblasts conditioned medium significantly enhanced ccRCC cell migration. IL6 mediated the cross talk between normal fibroblasts and the cancer cells, and promoted tumor cell migration through the STAT3 pathway. In contrast, GATA3 was downregulated at both mRNA and protein levels in the normal fibroblast-conditioned medium treated with renal cancer cells, but upregulated in adjacent normal tissues. GATA3 overexpression significantly reduced STAT3 phosphorylation and attenuated the migration in both renal cancer cell and IL6-stimulated renal cancer cell. Taken together, our findings suggest that the IL6/STAT3 pathway plays a crucial role in the normal fibroblast-enhanced clear-cell renal cell carcinoma metastasis, while GATA3 may mitigate this effect by inhibiting IL6/STAT3 signaling.