bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Sustainability implications of Rwanda’s Vision 2050 long-term development strategy
Authors: Perez-Guzman Katya , Imanirareba Dative , Jones Sarah K. , Neubauer Rudolf , Niyitanga Fidèle , Naramabuye François Xavier
Published: December 2022

Improving livelihoods in Rwanda requires overcoming food insecurity and malnutrition. Vision 2050 is Rwanda’s long-term development strategy, yet little is known about its potential trade-offs for the country’s biodiversity, forest cover, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Scenario analysis can provide insights into how to achieve such goals more sustainably. Here, we use the Food, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Land-Use, and Energy (FABLE) Calculator, a simple integrated assessment tool, to explore potential sustainability implications by 2050 through two scenarios: (1) Current Trends and (2) Vision 2050. The Vision 2050 pathway incorporates components of the government’s long-term development strategy and associated national agricultural policy targets. It includes greater increases in crop productivity and decreases in post-harvest losses, and shifts to more sustainable diets, compared to the Current Trends pathway. Results show that the Vision 2050 pathway would, relative to Current Trends, lead to a greater decrease in agricultural land area and an increase in non-forested natural land-cover area, with consequent decreases in GHG emissions from agriculture, increases in carbon sequestration, and increases in the share of land that can support biodiversity conservation. Shifts to a healthier diet in the Vision 2050 pathway would only be compatible with national agricultural priorities if these diets favor consumption of foods that underpin sustainable livelihoods in Rwanda, such as beans, cassava, potatoes, sweet potatoes, banana, and corn. We discuss the potential for integrated land-use planning and adoption of agroecological farming practices to help Rwanda achieve food security, livelihood, biodiversity, and climate mitigation goals in tandem.
Edible Coatings Based on a Furcellaran and Gelatin Extract with Herb Addition as an Active Packaging for Carp Fillets
Authors: Tkaczewska Joanna , Jamróz Ewelina , Kasprzak Mirosław , Zając Marzena , Pająk Paulina , Grzebieniarz Wiktoria , Nowak Nikola , Juszczak Lesław
Published: December 2022

This is the first such study in which a gelatin extract obtained from carp skins enriched with dry herbs (thyme or rosemary) has been prepared. Extracts prepared in such a manner were added to furcellaran coatings. Coatings were tested for their mechanical properties and the obtained results showed that the control coatings, and those with the addition of rosemary, had the best strength-related parameters. A new ready-to-cook product was evaluated with regard to the preservative effects of carp skin gelatin coatings containing rosemary and thyme extracts in terms of pH, biogenic amine formulation, microbial changes and sensorial characteristics. The coatings with added rosemary proved effective in inhibiting the formation of biogenic amines, and slowing down the microbial deterioration of carp fillets (reduction by 0.53 and 0.29 log cfu/g). The evaluated herb coatings changed the characteristic taste of fish. Interestingly, the coatings emphasized the natural saltiness of fish meat.
Stories of change in nutrition in Burkina Faso 1992–2018: a macro-level perspective
Authors: Turowska Zuzanna , Buttarelli Emilie , Sombié Issa , Nisbett Nicholas , Van den Bold Mara , Becquey Elodie
Published: December 2022

Looking back at the development of successful enabling environments for nutrition may inform policymakers on how to accelerate progress to end all forms of malnutrition by 2030. As under-five stunting declined substantially in Burkina Faso, from a peak at 45% in 1998/99 to 25% in 2018, we analyzed through a stories of change approach the actors, ideas, initiatives, policies and capacities which enabled wide-scale nutrition progress. We triangulated findings from policy analysis, stakeholder mapping, and national-level semi-structured interviews (n = 20). We found that since 2002, nutrition has been anchored in the Ministry of Health, where leadership advocated for the creation of coordination bodies, enabling a coherent defining of nutrition and laying groundwork for better integration of nutrition into and prioritization of nutrition by the health and tangential ministries. Under the leadership of the Ministry of Health and its partners, horizontal and vertical coherence in nutrition action increased, through effective cooperation between nutrition actors; increasing intersectoral collaboration, particularly with the influential agriculture sector; and increasing funding to support nutrition-sensitive programming and build the capacity of nutrition staff. Nevertheless, sustainably organizing funding and human resources at the decentralized level remained challenging, in a context of emerging threats such as climate change and insecurity. Burkina Faso’s health sector’s success in creating an enabling environment for nutrition may have contributed to improvements in child nutrition alongside other sectoral improvements. Enhancing accountability of the Health, Agriculture, WASH, Education and Social Protection sectors and empowering decentralized bodies to take nutrition-relevant decisions may help accelerating progress in nutrition.
Farmer demand for certified legume seeds and the viability of farmer seed enterprises: Evidence from Myanmar
Authors: Win Myat Thida , Maredia Mywish K. , Boughton Duncan
Published: December 2022

Legume seed systems in many developing countries are characterized by low availability of certified seeds because the private sector is often absent, and the public sector has limited capacity to produce such seeds. Farmer seed enterprises (FSEs) are therefore increasingly promoted as alternative suppliers of certified and in some instances, quality declared and truthfully labelled seeds. In this study, we assess the commercial viability of FSEs that produce chickpea and green gram certified seeds by comparing average seed production cost, inclusive of opportunity costs and expected profits, with consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) price. The cost of seed production data come from a survey of 63 FSEs and the data on WTP are from the Becker, DeGroot, Marschak (BDM) bidding experiments conducted with 512 farmers from the Central Dry Zone of Myanmar. We find that the post-harvest storage cost during the 7–8 months between harvest and the next planting season contributes significantly to the total cost of producing seeds. Forty-seven percent of chickpea farmers and 53% of green gram farmers were willing to pay equal to or higher than the average minimum cost of producing certified seeds. which is as an upper bound estimate of potential market share for FSEs’ certified seeds. This potential customer base of FSEs can be further increased by reducing the cost, especially post-harvest and labor costs. What role government, private companies, and NGOs could play in reducing the cost and increasing the demand for certified seed are important policy research questions discussed in the paper.
New fractional maximal operators in the theory of martingale Hardy and Lebesgue spaces with variable exponents
Authors: Weisz Ferenc
Published: December 2022

We generalize the usual Doob maximal operator as well as the fractional maximal operator and introduce $$M_{\gamma ,s,\alpha }$$

M

γ
,
s
,
α

, a new fractional maximal operator for martingales. We prove that under the log-Hölder continuity condition of the variable exponents $$p(\cdot )$$

p
(
·
)

and $$q(\cdot )$$

q
(
·
)

, the maximal operator $$M_{\gamma ,s,\alpha }$$

M

γ
,
s
,
α

is bounded from the variable Lebesgue space $$L_{q(\cdot )}$$

L

q
(
·
)

to $$L_{p(\cdot )}$$

L

p
(
·
)

and from the variable Hardy space $$H_{q(\cdot )}$$

H

q
(
·
)

to $$L_{p(\cdot )}$$

L

p
(
·
)

, whenever $$0 \le \alpha <1$$

0
≤
α
<
1

, $$0<q_-\le q_+ \le 1/\alpha $$

0
<

q
-

≤

q
+

≤
1
/
α

, $$0<\gamma ,s<\infty $$

0
<
γ
,
s
<
∞

, $$1/p(\cdot )= 1/q(\cdot )- \alpha $$

1
/
p
(
·
)
=
1
/
q
(
·
)
-
α

and $$1/p_- - 1/p_+ < \gamma +s$$

1
/

p
-

-
1
/

p
+

<
γ
+
s

. Moreover, for $$\alpha =0$$

α
=
0

, the operator $$M_{\gamma ,s,0}$$

M

γ
,
s
,
0

generates equivalent quasi-norms on the Hardy spaces $$H_{p(\cdot )}$$

H

p
(
·
)

.
Religious Schools, Home Schools, and Gender-Role Beliefs in Adulthood
Authors: Corner Shanna , Dallavis Julie W.
Published: December 2022

Background

When parents in the United States choose to send their children to religious schools or to home school, they are often motivated, at least in part, by a desire to transmit religious beliefs to their children. These religious beliefs may in some cases promote traditional gender roles that are built into religious tenets, practices, and subcultural identities.

Purpose

With this in mind, we examine whether religious schools act as distinct sites of religious gender socialization by considering the following questions: (1) do Americans who attend religious high schools and homeschools hold more conservative gender-role beliefs later in life compared to their public school peers? and (2) does attending a religious school have a differential effect on gender beliefs for men or women?

Methods

We use data from the Cardus Education Study—the largest nationally representative survey that includes religious high school and home school graduates as well as measures of religiosity—and logistic regression to explore the gender-role beliefs of 24–39 year olds who graduated from conservative Protestant, Catholic, public, and home schools.

Results

Graduates of the different religious school sectors we examined varied in their tendencies to hold more traditional gender-role beliefs. Specifically, we find that graduates of conservative Protestant schools and home schools held more conservative gender-role beliefs than graduates of other sectors. In contrast, Catholic school graduates—particularly female graduates—held more egalitarian beliefs compared to the other sectors.

Conclusions and Implications

In light of these findings, we discuss potential mechanisms within school environments that may contribute to the enactment of gender and religion. We extend empirical and theoretical knowledge about gender socialization, an area of critical importance given its ability to influence people's aspirations, choices, and life outcomes as well as social norms and policies.
Floer Homology: From Generalized Morse–Smale Dynamical Systems to Forman’s Combinatorial Vector Fields
Authors: Eidi Marzieh , Jost Jürgen
Published: December 2022

We construct a Floer type boundary operator for generalised Morse–Smale dynamical systems on compact smooth manifolds by counting the number of suitable flow lines between closed (both homoclinic and periodic) orbits and isolated critical points. The same principle works for the discrete situation of general combinatorial vector fields, defined by Forman, on CW complexes. We can thus recover the $$\mathbb {Z}_2$$

Z
2

homology of both smooth and discrete structures directly from the flow lines (V-paths) of our vector field.
Is Pathogen Disgust Increased on Days of the Menstrual Cycle when Progesterone is High? Evidence from a Between-Subjects Study Using Estimated Progesterone Levels
Authors: Rafiee Yasaman , Jones Benedict C. , Shiramizu Victor
Published: December 2022

Objective

The Compensatory Prophylaxis Hypothesis proposes that women will show increased pathogen disgust at points in the menstrual cycle when progesterone is high, compensating for the immunosuppressive effects of progesterone. However, evidence for the Compensatory Prophylaxis Hypothesis from studies that used longitudinal designs to investigate whether pathogen disgust tracks changes in progesterone is mixed. It was recently proposed that longitudinal designs may be poorly suited to testing the Compensatory Prophylaxis Hypothesis because carry-over effects when women are tested repeatedly in within-subject designs might obscure the effects of progesterone and pathogen disgust. Consequently, we used a between-subjects design to test for a positive relationship between scores on the pathogen disgust subscale of the Three Domain Disgust Scale and progesterone levels imputed from menstrual cycle data using actuarial tables.

Methods

We employed a between-subject design on N = 1346 women using the Three Domains of Disgust Scale (TDDS).

Results

We found no evidence for a positive effect of progesterone on pathogen disgust, suggesting that null results for the hypothesized relationship between progesterone and pathogen disgust are not limited to studies using designs that may be subject to carry-over effects caused by repeated testing.

Conclusion

Our results add to a growing body of research that does not support the Compensatory Prophylaxis Hypothesis.
Design of a Flexible Bionic Ankle Prosthesis Based on Subject-specific Modeling of the Human Musculoskeletal System
Authors: Jin Jianqiao , Wang Kunyang , Ren Lei , Qian Zhihui , Liang Wei , Xu Xiaohan , Zhao Shun , Lu Xuewei , Zhao Di , Wang Xu , Ren Luquan
Published: December 2022

A variety of prosthetic ankles have been successfully developed to reproduce the locomotor ability for lower limb amputees in daily lives. However, they have not been shown to sufficiently improve the natural gait mechanics commonly observed in comparison to the able-bodied, perhaps due to over-simplified designs of functional musculoskeletal structures in prostheses. In this study, a flexible bionic ankle prosthesis with joints covered by soft material inclusions is developed on the basis of the human musculoskeletal system. First, the healthy side ankle–foot bones of a below-knee amputee were reconstructed by CT imaging. Three types of polyurethane rubber material configurations were then designed to mimic the soft tissues around the human ankle, providing stability and flexibility. Finite element simulations were conducted to determine the proper design of the rubber materials, evaluate the ankle stiffness under different external conditions, and calculate the rotation axes of the ankle during walking. The results showed that the bionic ankle had variable stiffness properties and could adapt to various road surfaces. It also had rotation axes similar to that of the human ankle, thus restoring the function of the talocrural and subtalar joints. The inclination and deviation angles of the talocrural axis, 86.2° and 75.1°, respectively, as well as the angles of the subtalar axis, 40.1° and 29.9°, were consistent with the literature. Finally, dynamic characteristics were investigated by gait measurements on the same subject, and the flexible bionic ankle prosthesis demonstrated natural gait mechanics during walking in terms of ankle angles and moments.
Examining correlates of life satisfaction among Indian older adults using household fixed-effect approach
Authors: Mustafa Akif
Published: December 2022

Background

Life satisfaction is one of the most important components of a person’s overall quality of life and a vital element of successful ageing. Few studies have previously attempted to investigate the level of life satisfaction among Indian older adults; however, the majority of them were at risk of omitted variable bias. This study, while controlling for household-level unobserved confounders, aims to investigate the correlates of life satisfaction among Indian older adults using household fixed-effect approach.

Methods

To achieve the objectives of the study, cross-sectional data from the first wave of the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI, 2017–18) were utilized. Households with only one study participant were excluded from the study because household fixed effect analysis requires at least two respondents per household. The total sample size of the study was 14,307 older adults (Nfemale = 7259; Nmale = 7048) aged 60 years or above. Simple OLS regression model, random effect model, and household fixed-effect model were employed to assess the factors associated with life satisfaction among older adults in India.

Results

According to the household fixed effect model, age, education, functional health, food insecurity, and self-rated health were found to be significantly associated with life satisfaction. On the other hand, sex, marital status, working status, and morbidity status were not found to be associated with life satisfaction. According to the random effect model, among the household-invariant factors, place of residence, caste, MPCE (monthly per capita expenditure) quantile, and region were significantly associated with life satisfaction, while religion was found insignificant.

Conclusion

This study offers new insights on the predictors of life satisfaction among older adults in India. In order to improve the general well-being of the elderly, the study urges policymakers to address a number of issues, including functional health and food security.
Database Commons: A Catalog of Worldwide Biological Databases
Authors: Ma Lina , Zou Dong , Liu Lin , Shireen Huma , Abbasi Amir A. , Bateman Alex , Xiao Jingfa , Zhao Wenming , Bao Yiming , Zhang Zhang
Published: December 2022

Biological databases serve as a global fundamental infrastructure for the worldwide scientific community, which dramatically aid the transformation of big data into knowledge discovery and drive significant innovations in a wide range of research fields. Given the rapid data production, biological databases continue to increase in size and importance. To build a catalog of worldwide biological databases, we curate a total of 5825 biological databases from 8931 publications, which are geographically distributed in 72 countries/regions and developed by 1975 institutions (as of September 20, 2022). We further devise a z-index, a novel index to characterize the scientific impact of a database, and rank all these biological databases as well as their hosting institutions and countries in terms of citation and z-index. Consequently, we present a series of statistics and trends of worldwide biological databases, yielding a global perspective to better understand their status and impact for life and health sciences. An up-to-date catalog of worldwide biological databases, as well as their curated meta-information and derived statistics, is publicly available at Database Commons (https://ngdc.cncb.ac.cn/databasecommons/).
Calculating Required Purification Effort to Turn Source Water Into Drinking Water Using an Adapted CCME Water Quality Index
Authors: van den Doel André , van Kollenburg Geert H. , van Remmen Thomas D. N. , de Jonge Joanne A. , Postma Geert J. , Tinnevelt Gerjen H. , Stroomberg Gerard J. , Buydens Lutgarde M. C. , Jansen Jeroen J.
Published: December 2022

The 2000 European Union Water Framework Directive (WFD) states that “Member States shall ensure the necessary protection for the bodies of water identified with the aim of avoiding deterioration in their quality in order to reduce the level of purification treatment required in the production of drinking water.” However, it does not specify how to evaluate or quantify this level of purification treatment. We propose a novel water quality index (WQI) to quantify the level of purification treatment required to prepare drinking water from source water. It is based on the WQI of the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME WQI). Our WQI compares measured contaminant concentrations in source water to drinking water guidelines and any exceedance is weighted by a measure of the resilience of that contaminant to the treatment processes, which is not possible in the CCME WQI. Furthermore, it accommodates for varying sampling frequencies that are characteristic of the ongoing monitoring program. These adaptations make our index robust and sensitive to relevant changes in source water quality. We calculated index scores for source water from the Rhine and the Meuse and found no general decrease in required purification treatment levels since the introduction of the WFD.
Influence of Topography and the Underlying Surface of the Bohai Sea on Wind and Gust Forecasts
Authors: Wang Ke , Lyu Xinyu , Huang Jing , Luo Meng , Xu Fei
Published: December 2022

Accurate gust forecasts can reduce potential threats to people's lives and properties, but we need more reliable forecasting methods and models. A recent development is the meteorologically stratified gust factor (MSGF) model, which is more accurate in forecasting gusts than the previous gust factor model. The regional terrain and underlying surface both have crucial effects on the gust factor. We therefore combined observations from the China Meteorological Administration over the ocean surface and along the coast with the MSGF model to explore the influence of topography and the underlying surface on wind and gust forecasts. The regional terrain and underlying surface affected the peak gust climatologies, the mean wind speed, the mean prevailing wind direction and the gust factors. The topography and the underlying surface had different impacts in different ranges of the mean wind speed. The strong turbulence that causes changes in the gust factor under light winds is not initiated over rough underlying surfaces. When the mean wind speed is >2.5 m s−1, the underlying surface influences both the wind speed and the gust factor. A rough underlying surface stimulates stronger turbulence and increases the gust speed and gust factor, whereas a smooth underlying surface directly increases the mean wind speed and the gust speed by different magnitudes to reduce the difference between them, thus decreasing the gust factor. We evaluated the ability of the MSGF model to forecast gusts and verified a method combining the products of a numerical model and the MSGF model in gust forecasts.
Skillful Decadal Flood Prediction
Authors: Moulds S. , Slater L. J. , Dunstone N. J. , Smith D. M.
Published: December 2022

Accurate long‐term flood predictions are increasingly needed for flood risk management in a changing climate, but are hindered by the underestimation of climate variability by climate models. Here, we drive a statistical flood model with a large ensemble of dynamical CMIP5‐6 predictions of precipitation and temperature. Predictions of UK winter flooding (95th streamflow percentile) have low skill when using the raw 676‐member ensemble averaged over lead times of 2–5 years from the initialization date. Sub‐selecting 20 ensemble members that adequately represent the multiyear temporal variability in the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) significantly improves the flood predictions. Applying this method we show positive skill in 46% of stations compared to 26% using the raw ensemble, primarily in regions most strongly influenced by the NAO. Our findings reveal the potential of decadal predictions to inform flood risk management at long lead times.
Bubble Coarsening Kinetics in Porous Media
Authors: Yu Yuehongjiang , Wang Chuanxi , Liu Junning , Mao Sheng , Mehmani Yashar , Xu Ke
Published: December 2022

Bubbles in subsurface porous media spontaneously coarsen to reduce free energy. Bubble coarsening dramatically changes surface area and pore occupancy, which affect the hydraulic conductivity, mass and heat transfer coefficients, and chemical reactions. Coarsening kinetics in porous media is thus critical in modeling geologic CO2 sequestration, hydrogen subsurface storage, hydrate reservoir recovery, and other relevant geophysical problems. We show that bubble coarsening kinetics in porous media fundamentally deviates from classical Lifshitz‐Slyozov‐Wagner theory, because porous structure quantizes the space and rescales the mass transfer coefficient. We develop a new coarsening theory that agrees well with numerical simulations. We identify a pseudo‐equilibrium time proportional to the cubic of pore size. In a typical CO2 sequestration scenario, local equilibrium can be achieved in 1s for media consisting of sub‐micron pores, while in decades for media consisting of 1 mm pores. This work provides new insights in modeling complex fluid behaviors in subsurface environment.
Energy Transfer and Electron Heating in Turbulent Flux Pileup Region
Authors: Liu C. M. , Cao J. B. , Wang T. Y. , Xing X. N.
Published: December 2022

We report observations of intense energy transfer developed within a flux pileup region (FPR) inside a plasma jet in the Earth's midtail. Strong electromagnetic turbulences, with ( and are wave numbers perpendicular and parallel to background magnetic field respectively), are observed together with intermittent sub‐ion‐scale structures, generating intense fluctuating electric fields and currents inside the FPR. The highly anisotropic turbulence is carried by kinetic Alfvénic waves with ( is ion gyroradius), which are weakly damped due to electron Landau resonance and cause electron heating with a ratio close to 4 eV/s. Concurrent with the ion‐scale turbulences and structures, strong energy conversion occurs inside the FPR (stronger than that at the jet front), with magnetic field energy being dissipated into particle energy, leading to efficient electron acceleration. These results highlight the crucial role played by turbulent FPRs in energy transfer in the magnetosphere.
Presence, Sources and Transport of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in the Arctic Ocean
Authors: Zhang Lihong , Ma Yuxin , Vojta Simon , Morales‐McDevitt Maya , Hoppmann Mario , Soltwedel Thomas , Kirk Jane , De Silva Amila , Muir Derek , Lohmann Rainer
Published: December 2022

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are continuously released from multiple sources and are prone to long‐range transport. Little is known regarding their presence, transport and fate in remote and deep oceans. Polyethylene passive samplers were hence deployed at deep moorings and surface seawater in the Fram Strait and Canadian Archipelago, as well as in air and surface water of the lower Great Lakes, a potential high‐emission region, to understand the transport of PAHs to the Arctic. Dissolved PAHs showed significantly higher concentrations in the lower Great Lakes than those in the high Arctic. Concentrations of dissolved PAHs (Σ19PAHs) ranged from 33 to 300 pg/L in the Fram Strait; the vertical profiles generally exhibited a decreasing trend toward deep waters, which was potentially influenced by hydrological and biogeochemical processes. PAHs were exported from the Arctic Ocean to the North Atlantic through the Fram Strait and the Davis Strait.
Characterization of Ionospheric Disturbances Following Multiple Typhoons Using GPS‐Derived TEC
Authors: Fu Junxian , Jin Shuanggen
Published: December 2022

Typhoon is one of the major hazards in ocean coastal areas, but traditional techniques are inadequate to monitor typhoons due to limited or high‐cost observations, like radio sounding and meteorological radar. Previous studies have found that typhoons can cause ionospheric disturbances, but the relationship and characteristics are still unclear. In this paper, about 400 stations observations of the Global Positioning System (GPS) network in Taiwan are used to extract ionospheric disturbances during multiple typhoons. The detailed characteristics of the ionospheric disturbances are investigated using a fourth‐order Butterworth filter following the 2016 Nepartak, 2019 Lekima, 2019 Mitag, and 2020 Hagupit typhoons. The results show that significant ionospheric disturbances were observed during the typhoons, and the larger disturbances are mostly located 400–1200 km far from the typhoon eye. The estimated horizontal propagation velocity of the ionospheric disturbances is about 127–194 m/s. The locations of the ionospheric disturbances between the typhoon eye and the landfall site are related to the typhoon path. The azimuth distribution of the ionospheric disturbance around the typhoon eye is affected by the GPS elevation angles. At 500–700 km from the typhoon eye, the mean ionospheric disturbances are 0.17 TECU (TEC Unit) and 0.15 TECU for super typhoon Nepartak and Lekima, and 0.13 TECU and 0.18 TECU for typhoon Mitag and Hagupit. The higher the intensity of the typhoon is, the greater the magnitude of the ionospheric disturbance is.
Anomalously High Heat Flow Regions Beneath the Transantarctic Mountains and Wilkes Subglacial Basin in East Antarctica Inferred From Curie Depth
Authors: Lowe Maximilian , Mather Ben , Green Chris , Jordan Tom A. , Ebbing Jörg , Larter Robert
Published: December 2022

The Transantarctic Mountains (TAMs) separate the warmer lithosphere of the Cretaceous‐Tertiary West Antarctic rift system and the colder and older provinces of East Antarctica. Low velocity zones beneath the TAM imaged in recent seismological studies have been interpreted as warm low‐density mantle material, suggesting a strong contribution of thermal support to the uplift of the TAM. We present new Curie Point Depth (CPD) and geothermal heat flow (GHF) maps of the northern TAM and adjacent Wilkes Subglacial Basin (WSB) based exclusively on high resolution magnetic airborne measurements. We find shallow CPD and high GHF beneath the northern TAM, reinforcing the hypothesis of thermal support of the topography of the mountain range. Additionally, this study demonstrates, that limiting spectral analysis to areas with a high density of aeromagnetic measurements increases the resolution of CPD estimates revealing localized shallow CPD and associated high heat flow in the Central Basin of the WSB and the Rennick Graben (RG). Across the study area the CPD ranges from 15 to 35 km and the GHF values range from 30 to 110 mW/m2. The recovered CPD range is compatible with recent Moho depth estimates, as the CPD predominantly lies within the crust, rather than in the magnetite‐poor mantle. GHF estimates, based on the CPD estimates, show a good agreement to sparse in situ GHF measurements and the location of active volcanoes. Comparison to existing continent‐wide GHF estimates shows strong differences from magnetically‐derived heat flow estimates, while seismologically‐derived heat flow estimates show the best agreement to our results.
Contemporary Controls on Terrestrial Carbon Characteristics in Temperate and Sub‐Tropical Australian Wetlands
Authors: Francke Alexander , Tsimosh Olly , Tibby John , Reid Michael , Fletcher Michael‐Shawn , Tyler Jonathan James
Published: December 2022

A thorough understanding of controls over terrestrial sedimentary organic carbon characteristics in both the present and the past is pivotal to better understand atmospheric CO2 pathways into depositional sinks such as peats, swamps, and lakes. We explored the relationship between wetland sediment organic matter storage, climate (precipitation, temperature) and catchment vegetation data (catchment vegetation cover in percent; leaf carbon content in g/m2) by means of multivariate statistical analyses to investigate patterns of carbon deposition in modern wetlands and to provide a more robust framework for interpreting sediment bulk organic geochemistry as a proxy for past carbon cycling. Carbon and nitrogen elemental concentration and stable isotope composition were analyzed from sub‐surface sediments at 18 wetlands in eastern Australia. The statistical analyses indicate that variability in geochemical organic matter data in wetland sediments is best explained by geographic differences in catchment vegetation cover and, by inference, the balance of terrestrial versus aquatic organic matter input to the sediment. TOC/TN of aquatic matter may be additionally driven toward higher (terrestrial) values by nitrogen limitation in the catchment and the lakes. These processes explain up to ∼40% of the total variance in the sediment geochemistry (redundancy analyses). Up to ∼10% of the total variance may be attributed to post‐depositional processes and organic matter remineralization. The remaining ∼50% of total variance in the data may be attributed to local conditions across the sites, geochemical processes that were not captured in this study, or to the different timescales covered by the sediments at each site.
Parameterizing Vegetation Traits With a Process‐Based Ecohydrological Model and Xylem Water Isotopic Observations
Authors: Li K. , Kuppel S. , Knighton J.
Published: December 2022

Knowledge of plant hydraulic traits is critical for simulating terrestrial water storage, ecosystem water use, and tree responses to drought. The isotopic composition of tree xylem water (δXYLEM) has proven to be useful for understanding rooting strategies and for tracing terrestrial water flowpaths. Despite the broad collection of δXYLEM observations, few studies have estimated other plant traits from these data. We demonstrate the sensitivity of process‐based isotope‐enabled ecohydrological model (EcH2O‐iso) simulations of rooting depth distributions (KROOT), maximum stomatal conductance (gsMAX), optimal growth temperatures (TOPT), canopy light interception (KBEERS), stomatal sensitivity to vapor pressure deficits (gs‐VPD), and tree water storage capacity (TreeV) to δXYLEM observations. We sampled the δXYLEM of 30 Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) trees across 7 months, spanning a range of topographic positions and diameters. We calibrated the model 30 times with δXYLEM from each sampled tree. Calibrated values for gsMAX, KBEERS, and KROOT were validated with independent datasets of latent heat flux, canopy light interception, and xylem observations from independent hemlock stands. The calibrated values of several vegetation traits were significantly correlated with the diameters and topographic positions of the trees sampled in the field. These results indicate that δXYLEM reflects the characteristics and locations of the individual trees that are sampled, and therefore care must be taken in upscaling calibrated or measured plant traits for individual trees to larger horizontal scales. This research demonstrates that isotope‐enabled hydrological‐, land surface‐, and Earth systems‐models can leverage widely available water isotopic data to accurately estimate plant hydraulic traits.
Hydrodynamics of Non‐Equilibrium Soil Water Retention
Authors: Einav Itai , Liu Mario
Published: December 2022

Water retention in soil exhibits diverse phenomena, including suction‐saturation hysteresis, non‐unique air entrapment at zero suction and negative suction under partial saturations. The constancy of suction after a long rest can be broken by relatively minor mechanical or hydraulic agitations such as low‐amplitude wetting cycles—this fact is here being related to metastable states that differ from the true equilibrium. The complete suction‐saturation relationships are thus being recovered using non‐equilibrium Landau's hydrodynamic theory and Onsager's reciprocity principles. Equilibrium suction does not pertain to hysteresis, yet can be approached through small amplitude agitations over long duration. Conditions for rate independence are being described, while rate‐dependency are also accommodated and illustrated. Finally, it is shown that the new non‐equilibrium theory retains the rigorously derived equilibrium result of the effective stress of partially saturated soils.
Tripterin liposome relieves severe acute respiratory syndrome as a potent COVID-19 treatment
Authors: Que Haiying , Hong Weiqi , Lan Tianxia , Zeng Hao , Chen Li , Wan Dandan , Bi Zhenfei , Ren Wenyan , Luo Min , Yang Jingyun , He Cai , Zhong Ailing , Wei Xiawei
Published: December 2022

For coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), 15–30% of patients are likely to develop COVID-19-related acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). There are still few effective and well-understood therapies available. Novel variants and short-lasting immunity are posing challenges to vaccine efficacy, so finding antiviral and antiinflammatory treatments remains crucial. Here, tripterin (TP), a traditional Chinese medicine, was encapsulated into liposome (TP lipo) to investigate its antiviral and antiinflammatory effects in severe COVID-19. By using two severe COVID-19 models in human ACE2-transgenic (hACE2) mice, an analysis of TP lipo’s effects on pulmonary immune responses was conducted. Pulmonary pathological alterations and viral burden were reduced by TP lipo treatment. TP lipo inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication and hyperinflammation in infected cells and mice, two crucial events in severe COVID-19 pathophysiology, it is a promising drug candidate to treat SARS-CoV-2-induced ARDS.
Impact of direct physical association and motility on fitness of a synthetic interkingdom microbial community
Authors: Scarinci Giovanni , Sourjik Victor
Published: December 2022

Mutualistic exchange of metabolites can play an important role in microbial communities. Under natural environmental conditions, such exchange may be compromised by the dispersal of metabolites and by the presence of non-cooperating microorganisms. Spatial proximity between members during sessile growth on solid surfaces has been shown to promote stabilization of cross-feeding communities against these challenges. Nonetheless, many natural cross-feeding communities are not sessile but rather pelagic and exist in turbulent aquatic environments, where partner proximity is often achieved via direct cell-cell adhesion, and cooperation occurs between physically associated cells. Partner association in aquatic environments could be further enhanced by motility of individual planktonic microorganisms. In this work, we establish a model bipartite cross-feeding community between bacteria and yeast auxotrophs to investigate the impact of direct adhesion between prokaryotic and eukaryotic partners and of bacterial motility in a stirred mutualistic co-culture. We demonstrate that adhesion can provide fitness benefit to the bacterial partner, likely by enabling local metabolite exchange within co-aggregates, and that it counteracts invasion of the community by a non-cooperating cheater strain. In a turbulent environment and at low cell densities, fitness of the bacterial partner and its competitiveness against a non-cooperating strain are further increased by motility that likely facilitates partner encounters and adhesion. These results suggest that, despite their potential fitness costs, direct adhesion between partners and its enhancement by motility may play key roles as stabilization factors for metabolic communities in turbulent aquatic environments.
Dissecting the fate of Foxl2-expressing cells in fetal ovary using lineage tracing and single-cell transcriptomics
Authors: Zhou Jingjing , Jiang Xiangxiang , Wu Haowei , Zhang Lianjun , Chen Min , Chen Min , Shen Zhiming , Guo Xudong , Wang Hongmei , Gao Fei
Published: December 2022

Gonad somatic cells acquire sex-specific fates during sex determination. In XX gonad, a subset of somatic cells expresses Foxl2 after sex determination which is considered the progenitor of granulosa cells. However, whether these cells also contribute to other cell types at later developmental stages is unknown. In the present study, the cell fate of Foxl2-expressing cells in fetal ovaries was analyzed by lineage tracing and single-cell transcriptomics. We found that Foxl2-expressing cells gave rise to three cell types at later developmental stages, including granulosa cells, theca-interstitial cells, and stromal cells. Series single-cell RNA sequencing revealed FOXL2-positive cells were divided into two clusters at P0. One group further differentiated into granulosa cells and Theca-G (Theca-interstitial cells derived from granulosa) at P14. Another group was classified as stromal cell lineage, then a small portion of them further differentiated into 3β-HSD-positive Theca-S (Theca-interstitial cells derived from stroma). Cyp17a1 was expressed in Theca-S, but not in Theca-G. This study demonstrated that Folx2-expressing cells in XX gonad after sex determination are multipotent and theca-interstitial cells are derived from different progenitors. Our data provided an important resource, at single-cell resolution, for a better understanding of somatic cell differentiation in ovary development.
Topographic organization of eye-position dependent gain fields in human visual cortex
Authors: Fabius Jasper H. , Moravkova Katarina , Fracasso Alessio
Published: December 2022

The ability to move has introduced animals with the problem of sensory ambiguity: the position of an external stimulus could change over time because the stimulus moved, or because the animal moved its receptors. This ambiguity can be resolved with a change in neural response gain as a function of receptor orientation. Here, we developed an encoding model to capture gain modulation of visual responses in high field (7 T) fMRI data. We characterized population eye-position dependent gain fields (pEGF). The information contained in the pEGFs allowed us to reconstruct eye positions over time across the visual hierarchy. We discovered a systematic distribution of pEGF centers: pEGF centers shift from contra- to ipsilateral following pRF eccentricity. Such a topographical organization suggests that signals beyond pure retinotopy are accessible early in the visual hierarchy, providing the potential to solve sensory ambiguity and optimize sensory processing information for functionally relevant behavior.
Genome-wide identification of genes required for alternative peptidoglycan cross-linking in Escherichia coli revealed unexpected impacts of β-lactams
Authors: Voedts Henri , Kennedy Sean P. , Sezonov Guennadi , Arthur Michel , Hugonnet Jean-Emmanuel
Published: December 2022

The d,d-transpeptidase activity of penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) is the well-known primary target of β-lactam antibiotics that block peptidoglycan polymerization. β-lactam-induced bacterial killing involves complex downstream responses whose causes and consequences are difficult to resolve. Here, we use the functional replacement of PBPs by a β-lactam-insensitive l,d-transpeptidase to identify genes essential to mitigate the effects of PBP inactivation by β-lactams in actively dividing bacteria. The functions of the 179 conditionally essential genes identified by this approach extend far beyond l,d-transpeptidase partners for peptidoglycan polymerization to include proteins involved in stress response and in the assembly of outer membrane polymers. The unsuspected effects of β-lactams include loss of the lipoprotein-mediated covalent bond that links the outer membrane to the peptidoglycan, destabilization of the cell envelope in spite of effective peptidoglycan cross-linking, and increased permeability of the outer membrane. The latter effect indicates that the mode of action of β-lactams involves self-promoted penetration through the outer membrane.
Importance of interface open circuit potential on aqueous hydrogenolytic reduction of benzyl alcohol over Pd/C
Authors: Cheng Guanhua , Zhang Wei , Jentys Andreas , Ember Erika E. , Gutiérrez Oliver Y. , Liu Yue , Lercher Johannes A.
Published: December 2022

The open circuit potential (OCP) established by the quasi-equilibrated electrode reaction of H2 and H3O+(hydr.), complicates catalytic reactions significantly. The hydrogenolysis rate of benzylic alcohol on Pd/C increases 2-3 orders of magnitude with the pH decreasing from 7 to 0.6. The reaction follows a pathway of protonated benzyl alcohol dehydration to a benzylic carbenium ion, followed by a hydride addition to form toluene. The dehydration of protonated benzyl alcohol is kinetic relevent, thus, being enhanced at lower pH. The OCP stabilizes all cationic species in the elementary steps. Particularly, the initial state (benzyl alcohol oxonium ion) is less stabilized than the dehydration transition state and the product (benzylic carbenium), thus, lowering the free energy barrier of the rate-determining step. In accordance, the rate increased with increasingly negative OCP. Beside OCP, an external negative electric potential in an electrocatlaytic system was also demonstrated to enhance the rate in the same way.
Quantifying the role of variability in future intensification of heat extremes
Authors: Simolo Claudia , Corti Susanna
Published: December 2022

Heat extremes have grown disproportionately since the advent of industrialization and are expected to intensify further under unabated greenhouse warming, spreading unevenly across the globe. However, amplification mechanisms are highly uncertain because of the complex interplay between regional physical responses to human forcing and the statistical properties of atmospheric temperatures. Here, focusing on the latter, we explain how and to what extent the leading moments of thermal distributions sway the future trajectories of heat extremes. Crucially, we show that daily temperature variability is the key to understanding global patterns of change in the frequency and severity of the extremes and their exacerbation in many places. Variability accounts for at least half of the highly differential regional sensitivities and may well outweigh the background warming. These findings provide fundamental insights for assessing the reliability of climate models and improving their future projections.
Continuous cholinergic-dopaminergic updating in the nucleus accumbens underlies approaches to reward-predicting cues
Authors: Skirzewski Miguel , Princz-Lebel Oren , German-Castelan Liliana , Crooks Alycia M. , Kim Gerard Kyungwook , Tarnow Sophie Henke , Reichelt Amy , Memar Sara , Palmer Daniel , Li Yulong , Jane Rylett R. , Saksida Lisa M. , Prado Vania F. , Prado Marco A. M. , Bussey Timothy J.
Published: December 2022

The ability to learn Pavlovian associations from environmental cues predicting positive outcomes is critical for survival, motivating adaptive behaviours. This cued-motivated behaviour depends on the nucleus accumbens (NAc). NAc output activity mediated by spiny projecting neurons (SPNs) is regulated by dopamine, but also by cholinergic interneurons (CINs), which can release acetylcholine and glutamate via the activity of the vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT) or the vesicular glutamate transporter (VGLUT3), respectively. Here we investigated behavioural and neurochemical changes in mice performing a touchscreen Pavlovian approach task by recording dopamine, acetylcholine, and calcium dynamics from D1- and D2-SPNs using fibre photometry in control, VAChT or VGLUT3 mutant mice to understand how these signals cooperate in the service of approach behaviours toward reward-predicting cues. We reveal that NAc acetylcholine-dopaminergic signalling is continuously updated to regulate striatal output underlying the acquisition of Pavlovian approach learning toward reward-predicting cues.
An astrocytic signaling loop for frequency-dependent control of dendritic integration and spatial learning
Authors: Bohmbach Kirsten , Masala Nicola , Schönhense Eva M. , Hill Katharina , Haubrich André N. , Zimmer Andreas , Opitz Thoralf , Beck Heinz , Henneberger Christian
Published: December 2022

Dendrites of hippocampal CA1 pyramidal cells amplify clustered glutamatergic input by activation of voltage-gated sodium channels and N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs). NMDAR activity depends on the presence of NMDAR co-agonists such as D-serine, but how co-agonists influence dendritic integration is not well understood. Using combinations of whole-cell patch clamp, iontophoretic glutamate application, two-photon excitation fluorescence microscopy and glutamate uncaging in acute rat and mouse brain slices we found that exogenous D-serine reduced the threshold of dendritic spikes and increased their amplitude. Triggering an astrocytic mechanism controlling endogenous D-serine supply via endocannabinoid receptors (CBRs) also increased dendritic spiking. Unexpectedly, this pathway was activated by pyramidal cell activity primarily in the theta range, which required HCN channels and astrocytic CB1Rs. Therefore, astrocytes close a positive and frequency-dependent feedback loop between pyramidal cell activity and their integration of dendritic input. Its disruption in mice led to an impairment of spatial memory, which demonstrated its behavioral relevance.