bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
On the role of Ural Blocking in driving the Warm Arctic–Cold Siberia pattern
Authors: Tyrlis Evangelos , Bader Jürgen , Manzini Elisa , Ukita Jinro , Nakamura Hisashi , Matei Daniela
Published: March 2020

We use reanalysis data to substantiate the role of Ural blocking (UB) in driving the Warm Arctic–Cold Siberia (WACS) pattern, which represents an anti‐correlation of surface temperature between the Barents–Kara Seas and central Asia. We confirm a robust link between UB and the WACS pattern on daily to subseasonal time‐scales. UB controls the pace of the WACS pattern; warming over the Barents–Kara Seas and cooling over central Asia peak 3–5 days after the UB onset. The observed sea ice deficit over the Barents–Kara Seas in the weeks prior to UB onset is not statistically significant when the long‐term trend in sea ice is removed. Thus, the sea ice deficit may not have a direct impact on UB occurrence but it develops as a delayed response to UB. The interannual variability of the WACS pattern is also strongly linked to UB. We identify an upward trend in wintertime UB in recent decades that accounts for a cooling rate of 1°C/decade over central Asia. Over the Barents–Kara Seas, UB trends explain a small fraction of the warming, which is dominated by Arctic amplification. Finally, the link between UB and the WACS pattern is statistically robust over the ERA‐Interim period but weaker during the 1990s when the lowest UB activity was observed.
Influence of alloying elements on the mechanical and thermodynamic properties of ZrB12ceramics from first‐principles calculations
Authors: Pan Yong , Lin Yuanhua
Published: March 2020

Although ZrB12is a promising advanced material because of the boron cuboctahedron cages, the hardness of ZrB12remains controversy. Here, we apply first‐principles calculations to study the influence of transition metals (4d‐ and 5d‐) on the hardness and thermodynamic properties of ZrB12. The calculated hardness of ZrB12is 32.9 GPa, which is in good agreement with the previous theoretical result. Importantly, the calculated hardness of Re‐doped ZrB12is up to 40.0 GPa, which is a potential superhard material. The essential reason is that the alloying element of Re enhances the localized hybridization of BB and ZrB atoms, and then forms the strong BB covalent bond and ZrB bond. The result is well demonstrated by the chemical bonding and lattice parameter. Here, our work shows that the alloying elements of Nb, Mo, and Re enhance the thermodynamic properties of ZrB12. The Debye temperature of Re‐doped ZrB12is 1225.2 K, which is larger than that of the parent ZrB12(1213.5 K).
2 Employment and social trends by region
Authors: Liepmann Hannah ,   contributions by regional experts
Published: March 2020

Chapter 2 presents labour market trends by broadly defined region. For each region, key labour market indicators are first analysed, alongside an assessment of the region's overall economic development. The regional sections then focus on key labour market themes, which were selected by regional experts and reflect pressing problems related to decent work in the respective region. The themes include labour market challenges for young workers (Africa; Europe and Central Asia), skills mismatch and regional disparities (North America), gender gaps in the labour market (Latin America and the Caribbean), inequalities defined by gender and migration or refugee status (Arab States), and technological progress and rural‐urban disparities (Asia and the Pacific).
Three-loop soft function for heavy-to-light quark decays
Authors: Brüser Robin , Liu Ze Long , Stahlhofen Maximilian
Published: March 2020

Abstract

We compute the 1-jettiness soft function for the decay of a heavy quark into a light quark jet plus colorless particles at three-loop order in soft-collinear effective theory. The 1-jettiness measurement fixes the total small light-cone momentum component of the soft radiation with respect to the jet direction. This soft function is a universal ingredient to the factorization of heavy-to-light quark decays in the limit of small 1-jettiness. Our three-loop result is required for resummation at the N3LL′ level, e.g. near the endpoint in the photon energy spectrum of the B → Xsγ decay. It is also a necessary ingredient for future calculations of fully-differential heavy-to-light quark decay rates at N3LO using the N -jettiness subtraction method, e.g. for semileptonic top decays. Using our result for the soft anomalous dimension we confirm predictions on the universal infrared structure of QCD scattering amplitudes with a massive external quark at three loops.
Entwinement as a possible alternative to complexity
Authors: Erdmenger Johanna , Gerbershagen Marius
Published: March 2020

Abstract

Unlike the standard entanglement entropy considered in the holographic con- text, entwinement measures entanglement between degrees of freedom that are not associated to a spatial subregion. Entwinement is defined for two-dimensional CFTs with a discrete ℤN gauge symmetry. Since the Hilbert space of these CFTs does not factorize into tensor products, even the entanglement entropy associated to a spatial subregion cannot be defined as the von Neumann entropy of a reduced density matrix. While earlier works considered embedding the density matrix into a larger, factorizing Hilbert space, we apply a gauge invariant approach by using a density matrix uniquely defined through its relation to the local algebra of observables. We furthermore obtain a fully gauge invariant definition of entwinement valid for general CFTs with ℤN gauge symmetry in terms of all observables acting on the degrees of freedom considered. Holographically, entwinement is dual to the length of non-minimal geodesics present for conical defects or black holes. In this context, we propose a definition of entwinement for thermal states dual to the BTZ black hole. Our results show that “entwinement is enough” to describe the full bulk geometry for the conical defect and provide strong hints that the same holds true for the BTZ black hole. Thus, it provides an alternative to holographic complexity for the theories considered.
Tödliche Hirnmassenblutung infolge Vitamin-K-Mangels bei einem 9 Wochen alten Säugling
Authors: Bohnert S. , Monoranu C.-M. , Siauw C. , Al-Tinawi F. , Bohnert M.
Published: March 2020

Intrakranielle Blutungen sind im Säuglingsalter seltene, aber lebensbedrohende Ereignisse. Neben Gefäßmissbildungen, Stoffwechseldefekten sowie Störungen der Blutgerinnung kommen v. a. nichtakzidentielle Traumata, Schütteltrauma in Betracht. Die klinische Diagnostik umfasst hinsichtlich der Blutungsgenese neben Sonographie und MRT als apparatives Verfahren auch eine Fundoskopie sowie laborchemische Analysen, insbesondere der Gerinnungsparameter. Für die Blutgerinnung ist das fettlösliche Vitamin K essenziell: Frühe, klassische und späte Vitamin-K-Mangel-Blutungen werden dabei unterschieden. Um ein gehäuftes Wiederauftreten von Vitamin-K-Mangel-Blutungen bei Neugeborenen und jungen Säuglingen zu verhindern, bedarf es einer hinreichenden Aufklärung der Eltern. Eine Verweigerung der Prophylaxe scheint Folge einer weltanschaulich begründeten Ablehnung der Schulmedizin und ein zunehmendes Phänomen in wohlhabenden Industrieländern zu sein.
Production of multiple bacteriocins, including the novel bacteriocin gassericin M, by Lactobacillus gasseri LM19, a strain isolated from human milk
Authors: Garcia-Gutierrez Enriqueta , O’Connor Paula M. , Colquhoun Ian J. , Vior Natalia M. , Rodríguez Juan Miguel , Mayer Melinda J. , Cotter Paul D. , Narbad Arjan
Published: March 2020

Bacteriocins are antimicrobial peptides produced by bacteria, and their production is regarded as a desirable probiotic trait. We found that Lactobacillus gasseri LM19, a strain isolated from human milk, produces several bacteriocins, including a novel bacteriocin, gassericin M. These bacteriocins were purified from culture and synthesised to investigate their activity and potential synergy. L. gasseri LM19 was tested in a complex environment mimicking human colon conditions; it not only survived, but expressed the seven bacteriocin genes and produced short-chain fatty acids. Metagenomic analysis of these in vitro colon cultures showed that co-inoculation of L. gasseri LM19 with Clostridium perfringens gave 16S ribosomal RNA metagenomic profiles with more similarity to controls than to vessels inoculated with C. perfringens alone. These results indicate that L. gasseri LM19 could be an interesting candidate for maintaining homeostasis in the gut environment.
On the Existence of Schur-like Forms for Matrices with Symmetry Structures
Authors: Mehl Christian
Published: March 2020

Schur-like forms are developed for matrices that have a symmetry structure with respect to an indefinite inner product induced by a Hermitian and unitary Gram matrix. It is characterized under which conditions these forms can be computed by structure-preserving unitary transformations. The main results combines and generalizes the two well-known results from the literature that on the one hand any normal matrix can be unitarily diagonalized and on the other hand a Hamiltonian matrix can be transformed to Hamiltonian Schur form via a unitary similarity transformation if and only if its purely imaginary eigenvalues satisfy certain conditions that involve the sign characteristic of the matrix under consideration.
Aggregation of the nearest consistency matrices with the acceptable consensus in AHP-GDM
Authors: Lin Changsheng , Kou Gang , Peng Yi , Alsaadi Fawaz E.
Published: March 2020

Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is widely used in group decision making (GDM). There are two traditional aggregation methods for the collective preference in AHP-GDM: aggregation of the individual judgments (AIJ) and aggregation of the individual priorities (AIP). However, AHP-GDM is sometimes less reliable only under the condition of AIJ and AIP because of the consensus and consistency of the individual pair-wise comparison matrices (PCMs) and prioritization methods. In this paper, we propose aggregation of the nearest consistent matrices (ANCM) with the acceptable consensus in AHP-GDM, simultaneously considering the consensus and consistency of the individual PCMs. ANCM is independent of prioritization methods while complying with the Pareto principal of social choice theory. Moreover, ANCM is easy to program and implement in resolving highly complex group decision making problems. Finally, two numerical examples illustrate the applications and advantages of the proposed ANCM.
Daily Worry in Trauma-Exposed Afghan Refugees: Relationship with Affect and Sleep in a Study Using Ecological Momentary Assessment
Authors: Koch Theresa , Liedl Alexandra , Takano Keisuke , Ehring Thomas
Published: March 2020

Background

Repetitive negative thinking—and worry as a common variant—have been suggested to be transdiagnostic maintaining factors of psychopathology in refugees. Using an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) approach, this study tested the feasibility of EMA and the hypothesis of a self-reinforcing relationship (a) between worry and affect and (b) between worry and sleep in refugees. Additionally, we examined whether worry interacts with postmigration stress to impact on affect and sleep.

Methods

For 1 week, 45 trauma-exposed Afghan refugees received five prompts per day asking them to report on momentary levels of worrying and negative as well as positive affect. In addition, sleep quality was assessed in the morning and the occurrence of postmigration stress at night.

Results

Our findings did not indicate a bidirectional relationships (a) between worry and affective experiences and (b) between worry and poor sleep quality. However, worry experienced on a given day predicted increased negative affect on the next day; in turn, positive affect predicted decreased worrying on the next day. Hypotheses on the interaction between worry and stress in predicting affect and sleep were not supported.

Conclusion

These preliminary findings suggest unidirectional effects of daily worry on negative affect and positive affect on daily worry. However, the low compliance rate and the small sample size precludes drawing firm conclusions. Implications for further EMA research among refugees are discussed.
Understanding students’ game experiences throughout the developmental process of the number navigation game
Authors: Bui Phuong , Rodríguez-Aflecht Gabriela , Brezovszky Boglárka , Hannula-Sormunen Minna M. , Laato Samuli , Lehtinen Erno
Published: March 2020

Serious games for learning have received increased attention in recent years. However, empirical studies on students’ gaming experiences throughout the developmental process of serious games and discussions regarding game design are missing. The aims of the present study were to analyze students’ gaming experiences while playing four consecutive versions of the Number Navigation Game (NNG)—a mathematical game-based learning environment focusing on flexibility and adaptivity with whole-number arithmetic; and to provide an extensive review of the NNG developmental and design process over 3 years with focus on how and why the design decisions were made, and how those choices affected students’ gaming experiences. The study employed a mixed-methods design of quantitative and qualitative research. The Game Experience Questionnaire about eight core game experience dimensions was answered by different groups of students at primary schools in Finland in three different experiments after students played four versions of the NNG from 2014 to 2016. Six semi structured interviews related to students’ game experiences, preferences and game features of the latest version of NNG were conducted. Overall, results indicate that improvement in game’s usability and clarity in the user interface has positive impacts on students’ game experiences. Furthermore, there seems to be a clear advantage in having better aesthetics and value in improving extrinsic elements that could contribute to maintain players’ enthusiasm and situational interest in serious games.
Systemkombinierende untertägige Pumpspeicherkraftwerke für eine integrative und effiziente Energietransformation
Authors: Pikl Franz Georg , Richter Wolfgang , Zenz Gerald
Published: March 2020

Pumpspeicherkraftwerke sind ein effizientes und langlebiges Nonplusultra für ausgeglichene und stabile elektrische Energiesysteme. Unterirdische Pumpspeicherkraftwerke werden zum vielversprechenden Ansatz zur Bewältigung verschiedener Herausforderungen und ermöglichen zudem vollkommen neue und in mehrfacher Weise einsetzbare Anlagenkonzepte. Thermische Pumpspeicherkraftwerke als mechanisch und thermisch kombinierte Energiespeicher bilden die innovative technologische Evolution für eine universelle und ressourceneffiziente, regenerative Energieversorgung.
The token’s secret: the two-faced financial incentive of the token economy
Authors: Drasch Benedict J. , Fridgen Gilbert , Manner-Romberg Tobias , Nolting Fenja M. , Radszuwill Sven
Published: March 2020

Multi-sided platforms are omnipresent in today’s digital world. However, establishing a platform includes challenges: The platform utility usually increases with the number of participants. At an early stage, potential participants expect the platform utility to be low and lack an incentive to join (i.e., “chicken and egg” problem). Blockchain-enabled utility tokens hold the promise to overcome this problem. They supposedly provide a suitable financial incentive for their owners to join the platform as soon as possible. In the first half of 2018, investors seemed to believe in the presumption and spent more than US$ 17.6 billion in token sales. To date, we know little about this financial incentive in the context of the token economy. For this purpose, we model the token value development and the associated incentives in a multi-sided blockchain-enabled platform. The resulting findings suggest that blockchain-enabled utility tokens can help to overcome the “chicken and egg” problem. However, these tokens lead to contradictory incentives for platform participants, and can even inhibit platform usage. The contribution of our work is twofold: First, we develop one of the first models for token value development. Second, our research contributes to a deeper understanding of the utility token’s financial incentive.
On inharmonicity in bass guitar strings with application to tapered and lumped constructions
Authors: Kemp Jonathan A.
Published: March 2020

In this study, the inharmonicity of bass guitar strings with and without areas of lowered and raised mass near the saddle is studied. Using a very high sample rate of over 900 kHz enabled finite difference time domain simulation to be applied for strings that simultaneously have nonzero stiffness and linear density which varies along the length of the string. Results are compared to experiments on specially constructed strings. Perturbation theory is demonstrated to be sufficiently accurate (and much more computationally efficient) for practical design purposes in reducing inharmonicity. The subject of inharmonicity is well known in pianos but has not been studied extensively in bass guitar strings. Here, the inharmonicity is found to be low in the lowest (open string) pitch on the five string bass guitar ($${B}_0$$B0) given typical standard construction. Conversely, the inharmonicity is high (around 100 cents at the 10th partial) when that string is sounded when stopped at the 12th fret and very high (around 100 cents at the 6th partial) when that string is stopped at the 21st fret. Bass guitar strings were constructed with three different constructions (standard, tapered and lumped) in order to demonstrate how incorporating a lump of raised mass near the saddle can achieve close to zero inharmonicity for the lower frequency partials. This also has potential in terms of improving the use of higher fret numbers for musical harmony (reducing beating) and also in controlling pitch glide that has, with some exceptions, often been attributed solely to nonlinear behaviour.
Relationship between interference control and working memory with academic performance in high school students: The Adolescent Student Academic Performance longitudinal study (ASAP)
Authors: Dubuc Marie‐Maude , Aubertin‐Leheudre Mylène , Karelis Antony D.
Published: March 2020

Introduction

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between interference control and working memory with academic performance in both female and male high school students using a longitudinal design.

Methods

One hundred and eighty‐seven grade seventh to ninth students (mean age: 13.1 ± 1.0 years old) from a French‐Canadian high school located in Montreal, Canada, completed a 3‐year prospective study. Interference control (Flanker task), working memory (N‐back task) and academic performance (grades in science, mathematics, language and the overall average) were assessed every year during the 3‐year study.

Results

Female students had significantly higher grades than male students for overall average, science and language at year 1 as well as higher grades for overall average and language at year 3 (p < 0.05). However, no differences were found between genders for any measures of interference control or working memory at year 1 and 3. Furthermore, we noted that the relations between cognitive control with our academic performance measures differ according to gender. Finally, our results showed that neither interference control nor working memory seem to be the primary predictor for any of our academic performance measures in both female and male students.

Conclusions

Results of the present study indicate that cognitive control measures were not able to explain the gender differences in academic performance. Our results also show that interference control and working memory were weakly related to academic performance and that these associations had a poor ability to predict variations in academic performance during a 3‐year period.
SPOT-Disorder2: Improved Protein Intrinsic Disorder Prediction by Ensembled Deep Learning
Authors: Hanson Jack , Paliwal Kuldip K. , Litfin Thomas , Zhou Yaoqi
Published: March 2020

Intrinsically disordered or unstructured proteins (or regions in proteins) have been found to be important in a wide range of biological functions and implicated in many diseases. Due to the high cost and low efficiency of experimental determination of intrinsic disorder and the exponential increase of unannotated protein sequences, developing complementary computational prediction methods has been an active area of research for several decades. Here, we employed an ensemble of deep Squeeze-and-Excitation residual inception and long short-term memory (LSTM) networks for predicting protein intrinsic disorder with input from evolutionary information and predicted one-dimensional structural properties. The method, called SPOT-Disorder2, offers substantial and consistent improvement not only over our previous technique based on LSTM networks alone, but also over other state-of-the-art techniques in three independent tests with different ratios of disordered to ordered amino acid residues, and for sequences with either rich or limited evolutionary information. More importantly, semi-disordered regions predicted in SPOT-Disorder2 are more accurate in identifying molecular recognition features (MoRFs) than methods directly designed for MoRFs prediction. SPOT-Disorder2 is available as a web server and as a standalone program at https://sparks-lab.org/server/spot-disorder2/.
Runaway Slaves in Antebellum Baltimore: An Urban Form of Marronage?
Authors: Müller Viola Franziska
Published: March 2020

The starting point of this article is the observation that thousands of enslaved people escaped bondage and managed to find refuge in the city of Baltimore between 1800 and 1860. There, they integrated into a large free black community. Given the use of the term “urban marronage” to categorize slave flight to cities in some historical literature, this chapter discusses the concept of marronage and its applicability to the urban context of antebellum Baltimore. It examines individual escapees from slavery, the communities they joined, and the broader slaveholding society to emphasize that the interplay and mutual relations of all three should be considered when assessing the applicability of this concept. Discussing the historiography around marronage and the arguments that speak both in favour of and against applying the concept of urban maroons to Baltimore's runaway slaves, this article ultimately dismisses its suitability for this case. In the process, this examination reveals the core of the concept, which, above all, concerns the aspect of resistance. In this context, it will be argued that resistance in the sense of rejecting the control of the dominant society should be included in the general definition of marronage.
What was ‘Indian’ Political Economy? On the separation of the ‘social’, the ‘economic’, and the ‘ethical’ in Indian nationalist thought, 1892–1948
Authors: KARAK ANIRBAN
Published: March 2020

This article argues that to gauge the significance of state planning in mid-twentieth century India, it is necessary to study the trajectory of what was called ‘Indian political economy’ during the late nineteenth century and first half of the twentieth. Through a close reading of selected texts, I demonstrate that the transmutation of Indian political economy into an abstract science of economics was a function of Indian nationalists’ inability to hold together the ‘social’, ‘economic’, and ‘ethical’ spheres within a single conceptual framework. The separation of these three spheres was the enabling factor behind the conceptualization of planning as a purely technical process of economic management. Further, the article contends that these conceptual developments cannot be adequately explained with reference to either ‘elite’ interests or the insidious effects of ‘colonial’ discourses. Rather, the narrative demonstrates that economic abstractions can—and must—be grounded in the historical development of capitalist social forms that transformed the internal fabric of Indian society. Drawing on a theory of capitalism as a historically specific form of social mediation, I argue that a Marxian social history of Indian state planning can overcome certain limitations inherent in extant approaches. Finally, the interpretation proposed here opens up the possibility of putting Indian history in conversation with a broader development during the first half of the twentieth century, namely the separation of political economy into economics and sociology.
LIFT and the GLC versus Thatcher: London’s Cultural Battleground in 1981
Authors: Patey-Ferguson Phoebe
Published: March 2020

In 1981 Rose Fenton and Lucy Neal established the London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT). While the Festival is generally recognized as having been highly influential in the field of British theatre over the past twenty-five years, it has received little academic attention. In this article Phoebe Patey-Ferguson examines the founding of the event, arguing that the specific socio-political circumstances of its early years gave shape to the innovative form of a city-based international theatre festival. The bureaucratic conflict between Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government and Ken Livingstone’s Greater London Council (GLC) is identified as a central factor in the creation of LIFT, with reference to Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of the bureaucratic field and Loïc Wacquant’s development of this model in relation to neoliberal market capitalism. The article is derived from Phoebe Patey-Ferguson’s recently completed PhD on LIFT in its social, cultural, and political context at the Department of Theatre and Performance, Goldsmiths, University of London.1
The impact of long-term moderate level of vaccination coverage for epidemiology of varicella in Lu'an, China: should we change immunisation strategy now?
Authors: Qin Wei , Meng Xiangmei , Zhang Liang , Wang Yao , Xu Xiaokang , Li Kaichun , Xie Shaoyu
Published: March 2020

As China implements the voluntary vaccination programme of one-dose of varicella vaccine (VarV) for decades, robust estimates of the impact of voluntary vaccination era on epidemiology of varicella are needed. We estimated the vaccination coverage (VC) of VarV by using surveillance data on immunisation. The descriptive epidemiological method was used to describe the changing epidemiology of varicella from 2007 to 2018. The screening method was used to estimate the vaccine effectiveness (VE) of VarV. The overall VC for VarV was 71.7%, ranged from 47.7% to 79.5% among 2008–2017 birth cohorts. In total, 16 660 varicella cases were reported during 2007–2018, the incidence increased from 10.0 cases per 100 000 population in 2007 to 65.2 cases per 100 000 population in 2018. A shift in age group of varicella was observed since 2012, with the age increased from 5–9 years to 10–14 years. The overall VE was 79.9%, and the VE increased from 60.1% in 2008 birth cohort to 96.2% in 2017 birth cohort. We found that the overall VE for VarV is moderate, but appears highly effective within 5 years after vaccination. In addition, a shift varicella infection to older ages has occurred at the long-term moderate level VC of one-dose VarV. Therefore, to contain the incidence of varicella and prevent any potential shift to older ages, the introduction of VarV into routine immunisation programme is likely needed in Lu'an.
Drift of Pancake Ice Floes in the Winter Antarctic Marginal Ice Zone During Polar Cyclones
Authors: Alberello Alberto , Bennetts Luke , Heil Petra , Eayrs Clare , Vichi Marcello , MacHutchon Keith , Onorato Miguel , Toffoli Alessandro
Published: March 2020

High temporal resolution in situ measurements of pancake ice drift are presented, from a pair of buoys deployed on floes in the Antarctic marginal ice zone during the winter sea ice expansion, over 9 days in which the region was impacted by four polar cyclones. Concomitant measurements of wave‐in‐ice activity from the buoys are used to infer that the ice remained unconsolidated, and pancake ice conditions were maintained over at least the first 7 days. Analysis of the data shows (i) the fastest reported ice drift speeds in the Southern Ocean; (ii) high correlation of drift velocities with the surface wind velocities, indicating absence of internal ice stresses >100 km from the ice edge where remotely sensed ice concentration is 100%; and (iii) presence of a strong inertial signature with a 13 hr period. A Lagrangian free drift model is developed, including a term for geostrophic currents that reproduce the 13 hr period signature in the ice motion. The calibrated model provides accurate predictions of the ice drift for up to 2 days, and the calibrated parameters provide estimates of wind and ocean drag for pancake floes under storm conditions.
Subtropical Cyclone Formation via Warm Seclusion Development: The Importance of Surface Fluxes
Authors: Quitián‐Hernández L. , González‐Alemán J. J. , Santos‐Muñoz D. , Fernández‐González S. , Valero F. , Martín M. L.
Published: March 2020

Subtropical cyclones (STCs) are characterized by a thermal hybrid structure with tropical and extratropical features. STCs are considered a numerical modeling challenge because of their rapid intensification. A fundamental part of their strength is derived from diabatic processes associated with convection and heat fluxes from the ocean. This study evaluates the importance of surface turbulent heat fluxes during the transition of an extratropical precursor into a STC. This cyclone evolved embedded within a strong meridional flow, having a Shapiro‐Keyser structure and undergoing a warm seclusion process. To assess the importance of those heat fluxes, two Weather Research and Forecasting simulations were defined considering the presence and absence of those fluxes. Results of both simulations reveal a warm seclusion process, which weakened in absence of the heat fluxes. During the system genesis and in absence of heat fluxes, the wind and rainfall values were increased due to the remarkably intense area of frontogenesis to the northwest. Given these results and the lack of transition in the absence of heat fluxes, the frontal nature of the system was verified. Considering the heat fluxes, the obtained potential vorticity values diminished, reducing wind shear and intensifying convection in the system, which favored its transition into an STC. This study is groundbreaking in that no STC has been linked to a warm seclusion process in the Eastern North Atlantic. Additionally, simulated wind field shows an underestimation in comparison with Atmospheric Motion Vectors, used as observational data so as to give a weight to the wind analysis.
Synergetic Satellite Trend Analysis of Aerosol and Warm Cloud Properties ver Ocean and Its Implication for Aerosol‐Cloud Interactions
Authors: Bai Heming , Wang Minghuai , Zhang Zhibo , Liu Yawen
Published: March 2020

Decadal‐scale trends in aerosol and cloud properties provide important ways for understanding aerosol‐cloud interactions. In this paper, by using MODIS products (2003–2017), we analyze synergetic trends in aerosol properties and warm cloud properties over global ocean. Cloud droplet number concentration (CDNC) and aerosol parameters (aerosol optical depth, angstrom exponent, and aerosol index) show consistent decreasing trend over East Coast of the United States (EUS), west coast of Europe (WEU), and east coast of China (EC), and no significant trend in liquid water path is found over these regions during the period 2003–2017. Over regions with significant long‐term trends of aerosol loading and CDNC (e.g., EUS and WEU), the sensitivity of CDNC to aerosol loading based on the long‐term trend is closer to those derived from ground and aircraft observations and larger than those derived from instantaneous satellite observations, providing an alternative way for quantifying aerosol‐cloud interactions. A clear shift in the normalized probability density function of CDNC between the first 5 years (2003–2007) and the last 5 years (2013–2017) is found, with a decrease of around 50% in the occurrence frequency of high CDNC (>400 cm−3) over EUS and WEU. The relative variances of cloud droplet effective radius generally decrease with decreasing aerosol loading, providing large‐scale evidence for the effects of anthropogenic aerosols on the dispersion of cloud droplet size distribution. The long‐term satellite data sets provide great opportunities for quantifying aerosol‐cloud interactions and further confronting these interactions in climate models in the future.
Confronting Arctic Troposphere, Clouds, and Surface Energy Budget Representations in Regional Climate Models With Observations
Authors: Sedlar Joseph , Tjernström Michael , Rinke Annette , Orr Andrew , Cassano John , Fettweis Xavier , Heinemann Günther , Seefeldt Mark , Solomon Amy , Matthes Heidrun , Phillips Tony , Webster Stuart
Published: March 2020

A coordinated regional climate model (RCM) evaluation and intercomparison project based on observations from a July–October 2014 trans‐Arctic Ocean field experiment (ACSE‐Arctic Clouds during Summer Experiment) is presented. Six state‐of‐the‐art RCMs were constrained with common reanalysis lateral boundary forcing and upper troposphere nudging techniques to explore how the RCMs represented the evolution of the surface energy budget (SEB) components and their relation to cloud properties. We find that the main reasons for the modeled differences in the SEB components are a direct consequence of the RCM treatment of cloud and cloud‐radiative interactions. The RCMs could be separated into groups by their overestimation or underestimation of cloud liquid. While radiative and turbulent heat flux errors were relatively large, they often invoke compensating errors. In addition, having the surface sea‐ice concentrations constrained by the reanalysis or satellite observations limited how errors in the modeled radiative fluxes could affect the SEB and ultimately the surface evolution and its coupling with lower tropospheric mixing and cloud properties. Many of these results are consistent with RCM biases reported in studies over a decade ago. One of the six models was a fully coupled ocean‐ice‐atmosphere model. Despite the biases in overestimating cloud liquid, and associated SEB errors due to too optically thick clouds, its simulations were useful in understanding how the fully coupled system is forced by, and responds to, the SEB evolution. Moving forward, we suggest that development of RCM studies need to consider the fully coupled climate system.
Controls Over Particle Motion and Resting Times of Coarse Bed Load Transport in a Glacier‐Fed Mountain Stream
Authors: Mao Luca , Toro Matteo , Carrillo Ricardo , Brardinoni Francesco , Fraccarollo Luigi
Published: March 2020

Coarse bed load transport is a crucial process in river morphodynamics but is difficult to monitor in mountain streams. Here we present a new sediment transport data set obtained from 2 years of field‐based monitoring (2014–2015) at the Estero Morales, a high‐gradient stream in the central Chilean Andes. This stream features step‐pool bed geometry and a glacier‐fed hydrologic regime characterized by abrupt daily fluctuations in discharge. Bed load was monitored directly using Bunte samplers and by surveying the mobility of passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags. We used the competence method to quantify the effective slope, which is the fraction of the topographical slope responsible for bed load transport. This accounts for only 10% of the topographical slope, confirming that most of the energy is dissipated on macroroughness elements. We used the displacement lengths of PIT tags to analyze displacement lengths and virtual velocity of a wide range of tracer sizes (38–415 mm). Bed load transport in the Estero Morales shown to be size‐selective, and the distance between steps influences the displacement lengths of PIT tags. Displacement lengths were also used to derive the statistics of flight distances and resting times. Our results show that the average length of flight scales inversely to grain size. This contradicts Einstein's conjecture about the linear relationship between grain size and intervals between resting periods in a steep step‐pool stream in ordinary flood conditions.
Potential therapeutic target for aging and age-related neurodegenerative diseases: the role of acid sphingomyelinase
Authors: Park Min Hee , Jin Hee Kyung , Bae Jae-sung
Published: March 2020

Aging, which is associated with age-related changes in physiological processes, is the most significant risk factor for the development and progression of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. Accumulating evidence has indicated that sphingolipids are significant regulators that are associated with pathogenesis in aging and several age-related neurodegenerative diseases. In particular, abnormal levels of acid sphingomyelinase (ASM), one of the significant sphingolipid-metabolizing enzymes, have been found in the blood and some tissues under various neuropathological conditions. Moreover, recent studies have reported the importance of ASM as a critical mediator that contributes to pathologies in aging and age-related neurodegenerative diseases. In this review, we describe the pathophysiological processes that are regulated by ASM, focusing on the age-related neurodegenerative environment. Furthermore, we discuss novel insights into how new therapeutics targeting ASM may potentially lead to effective strategies to combat aging and age-related neurodegenerative diseases.
Combined inhibition of Notch and FLT3 produces synergistic cytotoxic effects in FLT3/ITD+ acute myeloid leukemia
Authors: Li Dan , Li Tongjuan , Shang Zhen , Zhao Lei , Xu Qian , Tan Jiaqi , Qin Yun , Zhang Yuanyuan , Cao Yang , Wang Na , Huang Liang , Zhu Xiaojian , Zhou Kuangguo , Chen Liting , Li Chunrui , Xie Ting , Yang Yi , Wang Jue , Zhou Jianfeng
Published: March 2020

Internal tandem duplication (ITD) mutations of FMS-like tyrosine kinase-3 (FLT3) are the most frequent genetic alterations in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and predict a poor prognosis. FLT3 tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) provide short-term clinical responses, but the long-term prognosis of FLT3/ITD+ AML patients remains poor. Notch signaling is important in numerous types of tumors. However, the role of Notch signaling in FLT3/ITD+ AML remains to be elucidated. In the current study, we found that Notch signaling was activated upon FLT3-TKI treatment in FLT3/ITD+ cell lines and primary cells. As Notch signaling can be blocked by γ-secretase inhibitors (GSIs), we examined the combinatorial antitumor efficacy of FLT3-TKIs and GSIs against FLT3/ITD+ AML and explored the underlying molecular mechanisms. As a result, we observed synergistic cytotoxic effects, and the treatment preferentially reduced cell proliferation and induced apoptosis in FLT3/ITD+ AML cell lines and in primary AML cells. Furthermore, the combination of FLT3-TKI and GSI eradicated leukemic cells and prolonged survival in an FLT3/ITD+ patient-derived xenograft AML model. Mechanistically, differential expression analysis suggested that CXCR3 may be partially responsible for the observed synergy, possibly through ERK signaling. Our findings suggest that combined therapies of FLT3-TKIs with GSI may be exploited as a potential therapeutic strategy to treat FLT3/ITD+ AML.
An amber obligate active site-directed ligand evolution technique for phage display
Authors: Tharp Jeffery M. , Hampton J. Trae , Reed Catrina A. , Ehnbom Andreas , Chen Peng-Hsun Chase , Morse Jared S. , Kurra Yadagirri , Pérez Lisa M. , Xu Shiqing , Liu Wenshe Ray
Published: March 2020

Although noncanonical amino acids (ncAAs) were first incorporated into phage libraries through amber suppression nearly two decades ago, their application for use in drug discovery has been limited due to inherent library bias towards sense-containing phages. Here, we report a technique based on superinfection immunity of phages to enrich amber-containing clones, thus avoiding the observed bias that has hindered incorporation of ncAAs into phage libraries. We then take advantage of this technique for development of active site-directed ligand evolution of peptides, where the ncAA serves as an anchor to direct the binding of its peptides to the target’s active site. To demonstrate this, phage-displayed peptide libraries are developed that contain a genetically encoded butyryl lysine and are subsequently used to select for ligands that bind SIRT2. These ligands are then modified to develop low nanomolar inhibitors of SIRT2.
Quantification of the overall contribution of gene-environment interaction for obesity-related traits
Authors: Sulc Jonathan , Mounier Ninon , Günther Felix , Winkler Thomas , Wood Andrew R. , Frayling Timothy M. , Heid Iris M. , Robinson Matthew R. , Kutalik Zoltán
Published: March 2020

The growing sample size of genome-wide association studies has facilitated the discovery of gene-environment interactions (GxE). Here we propose a maximum likelihood method to estimate the contribution of GxE to continuous traits taking into account all interacting environmental variables, without the need to measure any. Extensive simulations demonstrate that our method provides unbiased interaction estimates and excellent coverage. We also offer strategies to distinguish specific GxE from general scale effects. Applying our method to 32 traits in the UK Biobank reveals that while the genetic risk score (GRS) of 376 variants explains 5.2% of body mass index (BMI) variance, GRSxE explains an additional 1.9%. Nevertheless, this interaction holds for any variable with identical correlation to BMI as the GRS, hence may not be GRS-specific. Still, we observe that the global contribution of specific GRSxE to complex traits is substantial for nine obesity-related measures (including leg impedance and trunk fat-free mass).
Encoding of contextual fear memory in hippocampal–amygdala circuit
Authors: Kim Woong Bin , Cho Jun-Hyeong
Published: March 2020

In contextual fear conditioning, experimental subjects learn to associate a neutral context with an aversive stimulus and display fear responses to a context that predicts danger. Although the hippocampal–amygdala pathway has been implicated in the retrieval of contextual fear memory, the mechanism by which fear memory is encoded in this circuit has not been investigated. Here, we show that activity in the ventral CA1 (vCA1) hippocampal projections to the basal amygdala (BA), paired with aversive stimuli, contributes to encoding conditioned fear memory. Contextual fear conditioning induced selective strengthening of a subset of vCA1–BA synapses, which was prevented under anisomycin-induced retrograde amnesia. Moreover, a subpopulation of BA neurons receives stronger monosynaptic inputs from context-responding vCA1 neurons, whose activity was required for contextual fear learning and synaptic potentiation in the vCA1–BA pathway. Our study suggests that synaptic strengthening of vCA1 inputs conveying contextual information to a subset of BA neurons contributes to encoding adaptive fear memory for the threat-predictive context.
An ankyrin-repeat and WRKY-domain-containing immune receptor confers stripe rust resistance in wheat
Authors: Wang Huan , Zou Shenghao , Li Yiwen , Lin Fanyun , Tang Dingzhong
Published: March 2020

Perception of pathogenic effectors in plants often relies on nucleotide-binding domain (NBS) and leucine-rich-repeat-containing (NLR) proteins. Some NLRs contain additional domains that function as integrated decoys for pathogen effector targets and activation of immune signalling. Wheat stripe rust is one of the most devastating diseases of crop plants. Here, we report the cloning of YrU1, a stripe rust resistance gene from the diploid wheat Triticum urartu, the progenitor of the A genome of hexaploid wheat. YrU1 encodes a coiled-coil-NBS-leucine-rich repeat protein with N-terminal ankyrin-repeat and C-terminal WRKY domains, representing a unique NLR structure in plants. Database searches identify similar architecture only in wheat relatives. Transient expression of YrU1 in Nicotiana benthamiana does not induce cell death in the absence of pathogens. The ankyrin-repeat and coiled-coil domains of YrU1 self-associate, suggesting that homodimerisation is critical for YrU1 function. The identification and cloning of this disease resistance gene sheds light on NLR protein function and may facilitate breeding to control the devastating wheat stripe rust disease.
Colossal oxygen vacancy formation at a fluorite-bixbyite interface
Authors: Lee Dongkyu , Gao Xiang , Sun Lixin , Jee Youngseok , Poplawsky Jonathan , Farmer Thomas O. , Fan Lisha , Guo Er-Jia , Lu Qiyang , Heller William T. , Choi Yongseong , Haskel Daniel , Fitzsimmons Michael R. , Chisholm Matthew F. , Huang Kevin , Yildiz Bilge , Lee Ho Nyung
Published: March 2020

Oxygen vacancies in complex oxides are indispensable for information and energy technologies. There are several means to create oxygen vacancies in bulk materials. However, the use of ionic interfaces to create oxygen vacancies has not been fully explored. Herein, we report an oxide nanobrush architecture designed to create high-density interfacial oxygen vacancies. An atomically well-defined (111) heterointerface between the fluorite CeO2 and the bixbyite Y2O3 is found to induce a charge modulation between Y3+ and Ce4+ ions enabled by the chemical valence mismatch between the two elements. Local structure and chemical analyses, along with theoretical calculations, suggest that more than 10% of oxygen atoms are spontaneously removed without deteriorating the lattice structure. Our fluorite–bixbyite nanobrush provides an excellent platform for the rational design of interfacial oxide architectures to precisely create, control, and transport oxygen vacancies critical for developing ionotronic and memristive devices for advanced energy and neuromorphic computing technologies.
Phosphoproteomics identifies a bimodal EPHA2 receptor switch that promotes embryonic stem cell differentiation
Authors: Fernandez-Alonso Rosalia , Bustos Francisco , Budzyk Manon , Kumar Pankaj , Helbig Andreas O. , Hukelmann Jens , Lamond Angus I. , Lanner Fredrik , Zhou Houjiang , Petsalaki Evangelia , Findlay Greg M.
Published: March 2020

Embryonic Stem Cell (ESC) differentiation requires complex cell signalling network dynamics, although the key molecular events remain poorly understood. Here, we use phosphoproteomics to identify an FGF4-mediated phosphorylation switch centred upon the key Ephrin receptor EPHA2 in differentiating ESCs. We show that EPHA2 maintains pluripotency and restrains commitment by antagonising ERK1/2 signalling. Upon ESC differentiation, FGF4 utilises a bimodal strategy to disable EPHA2, which is accompanied by transcriptional induction of EFN ligands. Mechanistically, FGF4-ERK1/2-RSK signalling inhibits EPHA2 via Ser/Thr phosphorylation, whilst FGF4-ERK1/2 disrupts a core pluripotency transcriptional circuit required for Epha2 gene expression. This system also operates in mouse and human embryos, where EPHA receptors are enriched in pluripotent cells whilst surrounding lineage-specified trophectoderm expresses EFNA ligands. Our data provide insight into function and regulation of EPH-EFN signalling in ESCs, and suggest that segregated EPH-EFN expression coordinates cell fate with compartmentalisation during early embryonic development.