bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Talk the talk, but walk the walk: what do we know about marital demography and corporate greenwashing?
Authors: Du Xingqiang , Zeng Quan , Zhang Ying
Published: May 2021

Using a sample of 21,628 firm-year observations from the Chinese stock market during the period of 2008–2017, this study finds that the divorce–marriage ratio, the proxy for marital demography, is significantly positively associated with corporate greenwashing. This finding suggests that higher divorce–marriage ratio is associated with stronger individualistic social atmosphere, lower conformity to social norms, and more unfavorable attitude towards environmental conservation, abets firms to talk the talk rather than walk the walk, and foments corporate greenwashing. Moreover, China's Environmental Protection Law attenuates above positive relation. Lastly, our conclusions are robust to sensitivity tests using the divorce rate, alternative proxies for greenwashing, and individual-level divorce data, and further our findings are also valid after addressing the endogeneity issue.
Knowledge-withholding behaviours among IT specialists: the roles of job insecurity, work overload and supervisor support
Authors: Kmieciak Roman
Published: May 2021

The purpose of this paper is to explore factors that have an impact on information technology (IT) specialists' concealment of knowledge from their supervisors. A survey questionnaire was used to collect data from 118 IT specialists from a large Polish software company. The data analyses were conducted using partial least-squares path modelling. The results revealed that perceived work overload (PWO) is positively related to perceived job insecurity (PJI), and that PJI is positively related to vertical knowledge withholding (VKW). Contrary to expectations, no significant relation was found between PWO and VKW. Moreover, there is a negative relationship between supervisor support (SS) and VKW. This study introduces the concept of VKW and places it in the context of the relationship between subordinates and superiors. Managers can use the results to limit knowledge withholding among IT specialists. To confirm achieved results, future research can use larger samples and be conducted in different sectors.
Prospective association between adherence to the 2017 French dietary guidelines and risk of death, CVD and cancer in the NutriNet-Santé cohort
Authors: Chaltiel Dan , Julia Chantal , Chaltiel Raphaël , Baudry Julia , Touvier Mathilde , Deschamps Valérie , Latino-Martel Paule , Fezeu Léopold , Hercberg Serge , Kesse-Guyot Emmanuelle
Published: May 2021

Non-communicable diseases, such as cancers and CVD, represent a major public health concern, and diet is an important factor in their development. French dietary recommendations were updated in 2017, and an adherence score, theProgramme National Nutrition SantéGuidelines Score (PNNS-GS2), has been developed and validated using a standardised procedure. The present study aimed to analyse the prospective association between PNNS-GS2 and the risk of death, cancer and CVD. Our sample consisted of French adults included in the prospective NutriNet-Santé cohort (n67 748, 75 634 and 80 269 for the risk of death, cancer and CVD, respectively). PNNS-GS2 (range: –∞ to 14·25) was calculated from the 24-h dietary records of the first 2 years of monitoring. Association between PNNS-GS2 (in quintiles, Q) and the risk of death, cancer and CVD was studied using Cox models adjusted for the main confounding factors. The sample included 78 % of women, aged on average 44·4 years (sd14·6) with on average 6·6 (sd2·3) dietary records. Average PNNS-GS2 was 1·5 (sd3·4) and median follow-up was 6·6 years for cancers and 6·2 years for CVD and deaths. PNNS-GS2 was significantly associated with the risk of death (hazard ratio (HR)Q5vsQ1: 0·77 (95 % CI 0·60, 1·00), 828 cases), cancer (HRQ5vsQ1= 0·80 (95 % CI 0·69, 0·92), 2577 cases) and CVD (HRQ5vsQ10·64 (95 % CI 0·51, 0·81), 964 cases). More specifically, PNNS-GS2 was significantly associated with colorectal and breast cancer risks but not prostate cancer risk. Our results suggest that strong adherence to the 2017 French dietary recommendations is associated with a lower risk of death, cancer or CVD. This reinforces the validity of these new recommendations and will help to promote their dissemination.
Cultural evolution of genetic heritability
Authors: Uchiyama Ryutaro , Spicer Rachel , Muthukrishna Michael
Published: May 2021

Behavioral genetics and cultural evolution have both revolutionized our understanding of human behavior – largely independent of each other. Here, we reconcile these two fields under a dual inheritance framework, offering a more nuanced understanding of the interaction between genes and culture. Going beyond typical analyses of gene–environment interactions, we describe the cultural dynamics that shape these interactions by shaping the environment and population structure. A cultural evolutionary approach can explain, for example, how factors such as rates of innovation and diffusion, density of cultural subgroups, and tolerance for behavioral diversity impact heritability estimates, thus yielding predictions for different social contexts. Moreover, when cumulative culture functionally overlaps with genes, genetic effects become masked, unmasked, or even reversed, and the causal effects of an identified gene become confounded with features of the cultural environment. The manner of confounding is specific to a particular society at a particular time, but a WEIRD (western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic) sampling problem obscures this boundedness. Cultural evolutionary dynamics are typically missing from models of gene-to-phenotype causality, hindering generalizability of genetic effects across societies and across time. We lay out a reconciled framework and use it to predict the ways in which heritability should differ between societies, between socioeconomic levels, and other groupings within some societies but not others, and over the life course. An integrated cultural evolutionary behavioral genetic approach cuts through the nature–nurture debate and helps resolve controversies in topics such as IQ.
Disentangling adversity timing and type: Contrasting theories in the context of maternal prenatal physical and mental health using latent formative models
Authors: Plamondon André , Racine Nicole , McDonald Sheila , Tough Suzanne , Madigan Sheri
Published: May 2021

Research on the effects of adversity has led to mounting interest in examining the differential impact of adversity as a function of its timing and type. The current study examines whether the effects of different types (i.e., physical, sexual, and emotional abuse) and timing (i.e., early, middle childhood, adolescence, or adulthood) of adversity on maternal mental and physical health outcomes in pregnancy, are best accounted for by a cumulative model or independent effects model. Women from a prospective pregnancy cohort (N =3,362) reported retrospectively on their experiences of adversity (i.e., physical, sexual, and emotional abuse) in early childhood (0–5 years], middle childhood (6–12 years], adolescence (13–18 years], and adulthood (19+ years]. Measures of overall health, stress, anxiety, and depression were gathered in pregnancy. Results showed that a cumulative formative latent model was selected as more parsimonious than a direct effects model. Results also supported a model where the strength of the effect of adversity did not vary across abuse timing or type. Thus, cumulative adversity resulted in greater physical and mental health difficulties. In conclusion, cumulative adversity is a more parsimonious predictor of maternal physical and mental health outcomes than adversity at any one specific adversity timing or subtype.
Can point-of-sale nutrition information encourage reduced preference for sugary drinks among adolescents?
Authors: Dixon Helen , Scully Maree , Morley Belinda , Wakefield Melanie
Published: May 2021

Objective:

To test whether point-of-sale (POS) information about the nutrition content of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) promotes healthier drink choices among teenagers, and explore whether POS intervention effects vary based on prior exposure to a sugary drink public health campaign (13 Cancers).

Design:

Between-subjects online experiment with three POS signage conditions: no signage (control); sugar content (SC) and Health Star Rating (HSR). Participants viewed their assigned POS sign alone, then alongside a drinks product display and chose which drink they would buy. Perceptions of various drink products and campaign recall were assessed.

Setting:

Australia.

Participants:

Adolescents aged 13–17 years (n 925) recruited via an online panel.

Results:

POS signs did not promote a significant reduction in preference for SSB (cf. control condition). Cognitive and emotional responses to POS signs were strongest for the SC sign, which was rated higher than the HSR sign on various perceived effectiveness measures. Participants who saw the SC sign rated SSB as less healthy (cf. control condition) and were more likely to accurately estimate the number of teaspoons of sugar in soft drink (cf. HSR sign and control conditions). There was no significant interaction between prior exposure to the 13 Cancers campaign and POS signage condition regarding preferences for and perceptions of SSB.

Conclusions:

SSB POS interventions may not have the desired effect on adolescents’ drink preferences. Testing SSB POS signs in real-world retail settings is needed to determine whether positive educational impacts extend to promoting healthier drink purchases and reduced SSB consumption among teenagers.
py4DSTEM: A Software Package for Four-Dimensional Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy Data Analysis
Authors: Savitzky Benjamin H. , Zeltmann Steven E. , Hughes Lauren A. , Brown Hamish G. , Zhao Shiteng , Pelz Philipp M. , Pekin Thomas C. , Barnard Edward S. , Donohue Jennifer , Rangel DaCosta Luis , Kennedy Ellis , Xie Yujun , Janish Matthew T. , Schneider Matthew M. , Herring Patrick , Gopal Chirranjeevi , Anapolsky Abraham , Dhall Rohan , Bustillo Karen C. , Ercius Peter , Scott Mary C. , Ciston Jim , Minor Andrew M. , Ophus Colin
Published: May 2021

Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) allows for imaging, diffraction, and spectroscopy of materials on length scales ranging from microns to atoms. By using a high-speed, direct electron detector, it is now possible to record a full two-dimensional (2D) image of the diffracted electron beam at each probe position, typically a 2D grid of probe positions. These 4D-STEM datasets are rich in information, including signatures of the local structure, orientation, deformation, electromagnetic fields, and other sample-dependent properties. However, extracting this information requires complex analysis pipelines that include data wrangling, calibration, analysis, and visualization, all while maintaining robustness against imaging distortions and artifacts. In this paper, we present py4DSTEM, an analysis toolkit for measuring material properties from 4D-STEM datasets, written in the Python language and released with an open-source license. We describe the algorithmic steps for dataset calibration and various 4D-STEM property measurements in detail and present results from several experimental datasets. We also implement a simple and universal file format appropriate for electron microscopy data in py4DSTEM, which uses the open-source HDF5 standard. We hope this tool will benefit the research community and help improve the standards for data and computational methods in electron microscopy, and we invite the community to contribute to this ongoing project.
A Church ‘without stain or wrinkle’: The Reception and Application of Donatist Arguments in Debates Over Priestly Purity
Authors: Parish Helen
Published: May 2021

This article examines the reception and application of arguments developed during the Donatist controversy in later debates over clerical celibacy, marriage and continence in the medieval and early modern church. It explores the collision of inspiration and institution in this context, arguing that the debates over sacerdotal celibacy in the medieval Latin church and Reformation controversy over clerical marriage and continence both appropriated and polemicized the history of Donatism. The way in which the spectre and lexicon of Donatism permeated the law and practice of the medieval and early modern church, particularly when it came to the discipline of clerical celibacy, is a prime example of the process of imbrication by which the history of heresy and the history of the church were constructed. As such, it exemplifies the ways in which forms of religious inspiration that manifested as dissent, such as Donatism, became embedded in the histories and self-fashioning of the institutional church.
The Institutionalization of the Congregational Singing of Metrical Psalms in the Elizabethan Reformation
Authors: Poxon Andrew
Published: May 2021

Previous scholarship has often employed the categories of ‘voluntary’ and ‘established’ religion when studying lay involvement in parish religion; yet these categories do not provide adequate space for the vitality of lay religious initiatives during the English Reformation. Through a study of the singing of metrical psalms, this article argues that the categories of ‘inspiration’ and ‘institution’ provide a more nuanced understanding of lay religious initiatives during the English Reformation. It outlines the ways in which the singing of metrical psalms, taken from the Sternhold and Hopkins Whole Booke of Psalmes, moved from its origins in domestic devotions, through inspirational initiative, to become an institutionalized part of the worship of English congregations. This process developed over many years, coming to the fore during the reign of Elizabeth I, yet even once institutionalization had occurred, inspiration could still arise, providing fresh direction and development.
The Jesuitesses in the Bookshop: Catholic Lay Sisters’ Participation in the Dutch Book Trade, 1650–1750
Authors: Watson Elise
Published: May 2021

The institutional Catholic Church in seventeenth-century Amsterdam relied on the work of inspired women who lived under an informal religious rule and called themselves ‘spiritual daughters’. Once the States of Holland banned all public exercise of Catholicism, spiritual daughters leveraged the ambiguity of their religious status to pursue unique roles in their communities as catechists, booksellers and enthusiastic consumers of print. However, their lack of a formal order caused consternation among their Catholic confessors. It also disturbed Reformed authorities in their communities, who branded them ‘Jesuitesses’. Whilst many scholars have documented this tension between inspired daughter and institutional critique, it has yet to be contextualized fully within the literary culture of the Dutch Republic. This article suggests that due to the de-institutionalized status of the spiritual daughters and the discursive print culture that surrounded them, public criticism replaced direct censure by Catholic and Reformed authorities as the primary impediment to their inspired work.
Investigating the resistance levels and mechanisms to penoxsulam and cyhalofop-butyl in barnyardgrass (Echinochloa crus-galli) from Ningxia Province, China
Authors: Yang Qian , Yang Xia , Zhang Zichang , Wang Jieping , Fu Weiguo , Li Yongfeng
Published: May 2021

Barnyardgrass [Echinochloa crus-galli (L.) P. Beauv.] is a noxious grass weed that infests rice fields and causes huge crop yield losses. In this study, we collected 12 E. crus-galli populations from rice ﬁelds of Ningxia Province in China and investigated the resistance levels to the acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibitor penoxsulam and the acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACCase) inhibitor cyhalofop-butyl. The results showed that eight populations exhibited resistance to penoxsulam and four populations evolved resistance to cyhalofop-butyl. Moreover, all four cyhalofop-butyl–resistant populations (NX3, NX4, NX6, and NX7) displayed multiple herbicide resistance to both penoxsulam and cyhalofop-butyl. The alternative herbicides bispyribac-sodium, metamifop, and fenoxaprop-p-ethyl cannot effectively control the multiple herbicide–resistant (MHR) plants. To characterize the molecular mechanisms of resistance, we ampliﬁed and sequenced the target site–encoding genes in resistant and susceptible populations. Partial sequences of three ALS genes and six ACCase genes were examined. A Trp-574-Leu mutation was detected in EcALS1 and EcALS3 in two high-level (65.84- and 59.30-fold) penoxsulam-resistant populations, NX2 and NX10, respectively. In addition, one copy (EcACC4) of ACCase genes encodes a truncated aberrant protein due to a frameshift mutation in E. crus-galli populations. None of the amino acid substitutions that are known to confer herbicide resistance were detected in ALS and ACCase genes of MHR populations. Our study reveals the wide spread of MHR E. crus-galli populations in Ningxia Province that exhibit resistance to several ALS and ACCase inhibitors. Non–target site based mechanisms are likely to be involved in E. crus-galli resistance to the herbicides, at least in four MHR populations.
CME: Neuartige Kopfschmerzen bei Erwachsenen: evidenzbasiertes Vorgehen für die Praxis
Authors: Pohl Heiko , Wegener Susanne
Published: May 2021

Zusammenfassung. Viele Menschen leiden an Kopfschmerzen. Die häufigsten primären (idiopathischen) Kopfschmerzen, wie Migräne oder der Kopfschmerz vom Spannungstyp, führen zwar oft zu Einschränkungen im beruflichen und privaten Leben, sind aber nicht gefährlich. Dem gegenüber stehen die sekundären (symptomatischen) Kopfschmerzen, die Symptome einer unter Umständen lebensbedrohlichen Erkrankung sein können. Hier kann neben der hausärztlich organisierten erweiterten Diagnostik (Bildgebung, Blutentnahme, Lumbalpunktion) auch eine notfallmässige Krankenhauseinweisung erforderlich sein. In diesem Artikel fassen wir die empfohlenen Schritte zur Abklärung neuartiger Kopfschmerzen in der hausärztlichen Praxis zusammen.
The Statistical Morphology of Saturn’s Equatorial Energetic Neutral Atom Emission
Authors: Kinrade J. , Bader A. , Badman S. V. , Paranicas C. , Mitchell D. G. , Constable D. , Arridge C. S. , Cowley S. W. H. , Provan G.
Published: May 2021

Saturn’s magnetosphere is an efficient emitter of energetic neutral atoms (ENAs), created through charge exchange of energetic ions with the extended neutral cloud originating from the icy moon Enceladus. We present an analysis using the complete image set captured by Cassini’s Ion Neutral Camera to characterize Saturn’s average ENA morphology. Concentric tori are formed around the planet by oxygen and hydrogen ENAs, with intensity peaks between 7 and 10 RS radial distance, with a ∼1–2 RS dayside offset. Nightside intensity is brighter than the dayside, likely the result of enhancements following large‐scale plasma injections from the magnetotail, and influence of the noon‐midnight electric field. Global intensity is clearly modulated with the near‐planetary rotation period. This Cassini‐era profile of Saturn’s ENA emission advances our understanding of how volcanic moons can influence plasma dynamics in giant magnetospheres and is timely ahead of the planned JUICE mission, which carries the first dedicated ENA detector to Jupiter.
Notable Contributions of Aerosols to the Predictability of Hail Precipitation
Authors: Li Xiaofei , Zhang Qinghong , Fan Jiwen , Zhang Fuqing
Published: May 2021

There are increasing concerns about the uncertainty aerosols produced in forecasting precipitation, particularly hail. This study provides an assessment of the contribution of aerosols to hail predictability by varying both the cloud condensation nuclei concentration (CCNC) and the initial meteorological conditions based on ensemble runs of 1,200 cloud‐resolving simulations. Although the meteorological perturbations produce large uncertainties in both hail and total precipitation, varying CCNC by an order of magnitude causes even larger uncertainties than the meteorological perturbations. Changing CCNC modifies the predictability of hail precipitation, with higher predictability in moderately polluted environments compared with very clean and polluted environments. Perturbing the initial meteorological conditions does not qualitatively change how aerosols affect hail and total precipitation. Constraining the initial meteorological perturbations helps reduce CCNC‐caused uncertainty. These findings suggest the importance of considering aerosol effects in severe weather simulations and forecasting.
Sea Ice Suppression of CO2 Outgassing in the West Antarctic Peninsula: Implications For The Evolving Southern Ocean Carbon Sink
Authors: Shadwick E. H. , De Meo O. A. , Schroeter S. , Arroyo M. C. , Martinson D. G. , Ducklow H.
Published: May 2021

The Southern Ocean plays an important role in the uptake of atmospheric CO2. In seasonally ice‐covered regions, estimates of air‐sea exchange remain uncertain in part because of a lack of observations outside the summer season. Here we present new estimates of air‐sea CO2 flux in the West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) from an autonomous mooring on the continental shelf. In summer, the WAP is a sink for atmospheric CO2 followed by a slow return to atmospheric equilibrium in autumn and winter. Outgassing is almost entirely suppressed by ice cover from June through October, resulting in a modest net annual CO2 sink. Model projections indicate sea ice formation will occur later in the season in the coming decades potentially weakening the net oceanic CO2 sink. Interannual variability in the WAP is significant, highlighting the importance of sustained observations of air‐sea exchange in this rapidly changing region of the Southern Ocean.
Revisiting the Surface Energy Imbalance
Authors: Sun Jielun , Massman William J. , Banta Robert M. , Burns Sean P.
Published: May 2021

The traditional surface energy balance (SEB) is investigated by applying the thermal energy balance based on total energy conservation. Based on total energy conservation, the thermal and the kinetic energy balances are connected through non‐hydrostatic energy transfer (QNH) as a result of the hydrostatic imbalance caused by potential energy changes from vertical density fluxes in response to mechanical and thermal forcing in the stratified atmosphere. Field observations show that both QNH and the surface energy imbalance (SEI) have the same diurnal variation; both are near zero under neutral conditions and increase with increasing atmospheric unstable stratification. Energy dissipation due to enhanced turbulent kinetic energy from QNH is estimated to be the largest energy consumption for potentially explaining the largest SEI under free convective conditions. The relatively large value of energy dissipation in the atmospheric surface layer is due to its exponential increase toward the surface and its increase with atmospheric instability. The other two energy transfers that are traditionally missed are related to water mass flowing through the open soil and air layers, but are relatively small in comparison with the energy dissipation. The new understanding of the energy transfers provides not only a potential explanation for the temporal and magnitude variations of the SEI but also the explanation for different heat/moisture transferring efficiencies between thermally and mechanically generated turbulent mixing. Understanding the SEB is important not only for solving the SEI but also for understanding energy conservation in the atmosphere.
Investigating Mesozoic Climate Trends and Sensitivities With a Large Ensemble of Climate Model Simulations
Authors: Landwehrs Jan , Feulner Georg , Petri Stefan , Sames Benjamin , Wagreich Michael
Published: May 2021

The Mesozoic era (∼252 to 66 million years ago) was a key interval in Earth's evolution toward its modern state, witnessing the breakup of the supercontinent Pangaea and significant biotic innovations like the early evolution of mammals. Plate tectonic dynamics drove a fundamental climatic transition from the early Mesozoic supercontinent toward the Late Cretaceous fragmented continental configuration. Here, key aspects of Mesozoic long‐term environmental changes are assessed in a climate model ensemble framework. We analyze so far the most extended ensemble of equilibrium climate states simulated for evolving Mesozoic boundary conditions covering the period from 255 to 60 Ma in 5 Myr timesteps. Global mean temperatures are generally found to be elevated above the present and exhibit a baseline warming trend driven by rising sea levels and increasing solar luminosity. Warm (Triassic and mid‐Cretaceous) and cool (Jurassic and end‐Cretaceous) anomalies result from pCO2 changes indicated by different reconstructions. Seasonal and zonal temperature contrasts as well as continental aridity show an overall decrease from the Late Triassic‐Early Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous. Meridional temperature gradients are reduced at higher global temperatures and less land area in the high latitudes. With systematic sensitivity experiments, the influence of paleogeography, sea level, vegetation patterns, pCO2, solar luminosity, and orbital configuration on these trends is investigated. For example, long‐term seasonality trends are driven by paleogeography, but orbital cycles could have had similar‐scale effects on shorter timescales. Global mean temperatures, continental humidity, and meridional temperature gradients are, however, also strongly affected by pCO2.
Forecasting Occurrence and Intensity of Geomagnetic Activity With Pattern‐Matching Approaches
Authors: Haines C. , Owens M. J. , Barnard L. , Lockwood M. , Ruffenach A. , Boykin K. , McGranaghan R.
Published: May 2021

Variability in near‐Earth solar wind conditions gives rise to space weather, which can have adverse effects on space‐ and ground‐based technologies. Enhanced and sustained solar wind coupling with the Earth's magnetosphere can lead to a geomagnetic storm. The resulting effects can interfere with power transmission grids, potentially affecting today's technology‐centered society to great cost. It is therefore important to forecast the intensity and duration of geomagnetic storms to improve decision making capabilities of infrastructure operators. The 150 years aaH geomagnetic index gives a substantial history of observations from which empirical predictive schemes can be built. Here we investigate the forecasting of geomagnetic activity with two pattern‐matching forecast techniques, using the long aaH record. The techniques we investigate are an Analogue Ensemble (AnEn) Forecast, and a Support Vector Machine (SVM). AnEn produces a probabilistic forecast by explicitly identifying analogs for recent conditions in the historical data. The SVM produces a deterministic forecast through dependencies identified by an interpretable machine learning approach. As a third comparative forecast, we use the 27 days recurrence model, based on the synodic solar rotation period. The methods are analyzed using several forecast metrics and compared. All forecasts outperform climatology on the considered metrics and AnEn and SVM outperform 27 days recurrence. A Cost/Loss analysis reveals the potential economic value is maximized using the AnEn, but the SVM is shown as superior by the true skill score. It is likely that the best method for a user will depend on their need for probabilistic information and tolerance of false alarms.
Modeling the Impacts of Urban Flood Risk Management on Social Inequality
Authors: Moulds Simon , Buytaert Wouter , Templeton Michael R. , Kanu Ishmael
Published: May 2021

The exposure of urban populations to flooding is highly heterogeneous, with the negative impacts of flooding experienced disproportionately by the poor. In developing countries experiencing rapid urbanization and population growth a key distinction in the urban landscape is between planned development and unplanned, informal development, which often occurs on marginal, flood‐prone land. Flood risk management in the context of informality is challenging, and may exacerbate existing social inequalities and entrench poverty. Here, we adapt an existing socio‐hydrological model of human‐flood interactions to account for a stratified urban society consisting of planned and informal settlements. In the first instance, we use the model to construct four system archetypes based on idealized scenarios of risk reduction and disaster recovery. We then perform a sensitivity analysis to examine the relative importance of the differential values of vulnerability, risk‐aversion, and flood awareness in determining the relationship between flood risk management and social inequality. The model results suggest that reducing the vulnerability of informal communities to flooding plays an important role in reducing social inequality and enabling sustainable economic growth, even when the exposure to the flood hazard remains high. Conversely, our model shows that increasing risk aversion may accelerate the decline of informal communities by suppressing economic growth. On this basis, we argue for urban flood risk management which is rooted in pro‐poor urban governance and planning agendas which recognize the legitimacy and permanence of informal communities in cities.
Are Xenoliths From Southwestern Kaapvaal Craton Representative of the Broader Mantle? Constraints From Magnetotelluric Modeling
Authors: Özaydın Sinan , Selway Kate , Griffin William L.
Published: May 2021

Most of our knowledge of the composition and water content of the cratonic mantle comes from xenoliths found in alkaline magmatic rocks (e.g., kimberlites). However, it is debatable whether such mantle‐xenolith samples are representative of the mantle over larger lateral extents or only represent more local metasomatized conduits. To investigate this, we made 3D deterministic and 1D probabilistic models of magnetotelluric (MT) data from the southwestern Kaapvaal Craton and carried out quantitative interpretations. The results indicate that water content decreases with depth between 100 and 160 km, broadly matching the distribution of metasomatism inferred from garnet‐xenocrysts. Spatially pervasive phlogopite could exist for a colder geotherm (37 mW/m2) whereas it is not required for the more likely geotherm of 40.2 mW/m2. Most water contents measured from xenolith samples agree with those calculated from the MT models within error, but the discrepancies between them suggest a local metasomatic control over xenolith water contents.
How Salty Is the Global Ocean: Weighing It All or Tasting It a Sip at a Time?
Authors: Ponte R. M. , Sun Q. , Liu C. , Liang X.
Published: May 2021

Global ocean mean salinity is a key indicator of the Earth's hydrological cycle and the exchanges of freshwater between land and ocean, but its determination remains a challenge. Aside from traditional methods based on gridded salinity fields derived from in situ measurements, we explore estimates of based on liquid freshwater changes derived from space gravimetry data corrected for sea ice effects. For the 2005–2019 period analyzed, the different series show little consistency in seasonal, interannual, and long‐term variability. In situ estimates show sensitivity to choice of product and unrealistic variations. A suspiciously large rise in since ∼2015 is enough to measurably affect halosteric sea level estimates and can explain recent discrepancies in the global mean sea level budget. Gravimetry‐based estimates are more realistic, inherently consistent with estimated freshwater contributions to global mean sea level, and provide a way to calibrate the in situ estimates.
Climate More Important for Chinese Flood Changes Than Reservoirs and Land Use
Authors: Yang Long , Yang Yixin , Villarini Gabriele , Li Xiang , Hu Hongchang , Wang Lachun , Blöschl Günter , Tian Fuqiang
Published: May 2021

River regulations and changing land management practices are generally perceived to be the dominant drivers of river flood changes in countries with rapid economic growth, such as China. Here, we demonstrate based on the most comprehensive flood database to date, that climate variations dominate the spatial pattern of changes in annual flood peak discharge in China, despite intense human alterations of the river and land systems over the past four decades. Regional flood increases are mainly associated with increasing precipitation due to changes in the East Asian Summer Monsoon, tropical cyclones and the subtropical westerly jet. Regional flood decreases are due to decreased soil moisture in the North China plain. Our results highlight the need for flood management policies to go beyond local measures and adapt to the effects of climate change.
Particle Triggered Reactions as an Important Mechanism of Alkalinity and Inorganic Carbon Removal in River Plumes
Authors: Wurgaft E. , Wang Z. A. , Churchill J. H. , Dellapenna T. , Song S. , Du J. , Ringham M. C. , Rivlin T. , Lazar B.
Published: May 2021

The effects of heterogeneous reactions between river‐borne particles and the carbonate system were studied in the plumes of the Mississippi and Brazos rivers. Measurements within these plumes revealed significant removal of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and total alkalinity (TA). After accounting for all known DIC and TA sinks and sources, heterogeneous reactions (i.e., heterogeneous CaCO3 precipitation and cation exchange between adsorbed and dissolved ions) were found to be responsible for a significant fraction of DIC and TA removal, exceeding 10% and 90%, respectively, in the Mississippi and Brazos plume waters. This finding was corroborated by laboratory experiments, in which the seeding of seawater with the riverine particles induced the removal of the DIC and TA. The combined results demonstrate that heterogeneous reactions may represent an important controlling mechanism of the seawater carbonate system in particle‐rich coastal areas and may significantly impact the coastal carbon cycle.
Variations in Thermosphere Composition and Ionosphere Total Electron Content Under “Geomagnetically Quiet” Conditions at Solar‐Minimum
Authors: Cai Xuguang , Burns Alan G. , Wang Wenbin , Qian Liying , Pedatella Nicholas , Coster Anthea , Zhang Shunrong , Solomon Stanley C. , Eastes Richard W. , Daniell Robert E. , McClintock William E.
Published: May 2021

We conducted observational and modeling studies of thermospheric composition and ionospheric total electron content (TEC) variations during two geomagnetically quiet periods (maximum Kp = 1.7) at solar minimum. Daytime thermospheric O and N2 column density ratio (∑O/N2) observed by Global‐scale Observations of the Limb and Disk and TEC from a network of ground‐based Global Navigation Satellites System receivers both exhibited large (∼30% of reference values) and long‐lived (5–11 h) day‐to‐day variations in roughly the same mid‐latitude geographic regions. Numerical simulations replicated the observed variability, though not perfectly. Analysis of the simulations suggested that the variations were mainly generated in the high‐latitudes and were subsequently advected equatorward and westward. When high‐latitudes input was turned off in simulations, the variations were negligible. This suggested the potentially important role of high‐latitude geomagnetic forcing in thermospheric composition and ionospheric density variations at mid‐latitudes even during some “geomagnetically quiet” periods at solar‐minimum.
Revisiting the Malvinas Current Upper Circulation and Water Masses Using a High‐Resolution Ocean Reanalysis
Authors: Artana Camila , Provost Christine , Poli Lea , Ferrari Ramiro , Lellouche Jean‐Michel
Published: May 2021

We use 25 years of a high‐resolution ocean reanalysis (1/12°) to revisit the Malvinas Current (MC) from the South (Drake Passage) to the North (Brazil‐Malvinas Confluence) from the synoptic to interannual time scales. The Malvinas Plateau is home to active eddy mixing, eddy dissipation and deep winter mixed layers occasionally reaching 600 m depth. The MC is organized in two jets which merge around 44°S as the continental slope steepens. The upper 900 m transport mean decreases from 40 Sv at 51°S to 35 Sv at 41°S indicating offshore leakage along the MC path. The MC plays a minor role in the velocity variations observed at the Confluence at seasonal and interannual scales; those are driven by changes in the intensity of the Brazil Current over the slope (34–36°S). Computing MC transport time series at different latitudes requires care because the section eastern limits are embedded in an energetic region. Transport time series were produced at selected latitudes using different criteria and showed common features. They show little seasonality (relative seasonal standard deviation of 2%) and no significant trend. The MC is a steady current: the relative standard deviation is on the order of 10% increasing to 20% near and on the Malvinas Plateau and near the Confluence. In contrast, velocity trends are large in the Brazil Current with the overshoot migrating southward. The associated increase in mesoscale activity south of 44°S in the Argentine Basin might contribute to blocking events occasionally reducing the MC transport.
Projected Seismic Activity at the Tiger Stripe Fractures on Enceladus, Saturn, From an Analog Study of Tidally Modulated Icequakes Within the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica
Authors: Olsen Kira G. , Hurford Terry A. , Schmerr Nicholas C. , Huang Mong‐Han , Brunt Kelly M. , Zipparo Sophia , Cole Hank M. , Aster Richard C.
Published: May 2021

Dissipation of tidal energy is expected to generate seismicity on icy‐ocean worlds; however, the distribution and timing of this seismic activity throughout an orbital cycle is not known. We used new observations from an icy‐ocean‐world analog environment on Earth to examine the relationship between tidally driven tensile stress and seismic activity within an ice shell. We investigated a pair of rifts within Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf which are tidally stressed in a manner analogous to the orbital cycle of tidal stress experienced by Enceladus' Tiger Stripe Fractures. We found that seismic activity at the Antarctic rifts is sensitive to both the amplitude and the rate of tensile stress across the rifts. We combined these findings with calculated stress values along Enceladus' Tiger Stripe Fractures to predict seismic‐activity levels expected along the ice‐shell fractures. We predict a peak in seismicity along the four Tiger Stripe Fractures when Enceladus is 90°–120° past pericenter in its orbit around Saturn, at which point tensile stresses would reach ∼2/3 of their maximum value. We also used the magnitude distribution of icequakes along Antarctic rifts to investigate implications for the likely size of stick‐slip rupture patches along icy faults on Enceladus. Our findings predict that the Tiger Stripe Fractures should produce sustained, low‐magnitude seismic events that involve rupture along discrete portions of each fracture's total length. We predict that seismicity would fall to 50% of peak levels when stresses across the Tiger Stripe Fractures are dominantly compressional.
CD137 (4-1BB) stimulation leads to metabolic and functional reprogramming of human monocytes/macrophages enhancing their tumoricidal activity
Authors: Stoll A. , Bruns H. , Fuchs M. , Völkl S. , Nimmerjahn F. , Kunz M. , Peipp M. , Mackensen A. , Mougiakakos D.
Published: May 2021

Immunotherapies have heralded a new era in the cancer treatment. In addition to checkpoint inhibitors, agonistic antibodies against co-stimulatory immune receptors hold the potential to invoke efficient antitumor immunity. Targeting CD137 has gained momentum based on its ability to drive NK- and T-cell-based responses. CD137-engaging mAbs have already entered clinical trials for different types of tumors showing promising results. Despite the efforts to translate CD137-mediated immunotherapy into clinical practice, little remains known regarding the role of CD137 in human monocytes/macrophages.

We found CD137 being expressed on monocytes of healthy controls and at even higher levels in patients with multiple myeloma or CLL. CD137HI(GH) monocytes displayed a distinct phenotypic, transcriptomic, and metabolic profile. They possessed an increased phagocytic capacity enabling superior antibody-dependent phagocytosis (ADPC) of multiple myeloma and lymphoma cells that were treated with anti-CD38 or anti-CD20 mAbs. Triggering CD137 promoted both metabolic and tumoricidal activity in an extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)-dependent fashion. In addition, we observed a phenotypic, transcriptomic, and functional skewing towards a M1-like phenotype.

Overall, we introduce CD137 as a positive immune checkpoint on human monocytes/macrophages, which can have therapeutic implications especially in view of synergistic effects when combining CD137 agonists with tumor-targeting antibodies.
Thyroid MALT lymphoma: self-harm to gain potential T-cell help
Authors: Wu Fangtian , Watanabe Natsuko , Tzioni Maria-Myrsini , Akarca Ayse , Zhang Chunye , Li Yan , Chen Zi , Cucco Francesco , Carmell Natasha , Noh Jaeduk Yoshimura , Ito Koichi , Dobson Rachel , Moody Sarah , Yao Wenqing , Zhang Wenyan , Liu Weiping , Liu Hongxiang , Okosun Jessica , Chott Andreas , Bi Yingwen , Chuang Shih-Sung , Raderer Markus , Li Jian-Yong , Marafioti Teresa , Du Ming-Qing
Published: May 2021

The development of extranodal marginal zone lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) is driven by chronic inflammatory responses and acquired genetic changes. To investigate its genetic bases, we performed targeted sequencing of 93 genes in 131 MALT lymphomas including 76 from the thyroid. We found frequent deleterious mutations of TET2 (86%), CD274 (53%), TNFRSF14 (53%), and TNFAIP3 (30%) in thyroid MALT lymphoma. CD274 was also frequently deleted, together with mutation seen in 68% of cases. There was a significant association between CD274 mutation/deletion and TNFRSF14 mutation (p = 0.001). CD274 (PD-L1) and TNFRSF14 are ligands for the co-inhibitory receptor PD1 and BTLA on T-helper cells, respectively, their inactivation may free T-cell activities, promoting their help to malignant B-cells. In support of this, both the proportion of activated T-cells (CD4+CD69+/CD4+) within the proximity of malignant B-cells, and the level of transformed blasts were significantly higher in cases with CD274/TNFRSF14 genetic abnormalities than those without these changes. Both CD274 and TNFRSF14 genetic changes were significantly associated with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (p = 0.01, p = 0.04, respectively), and CD274 mutation/deletion additionally associated with increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate (p = 0.0001). In conclusion, CD274/TNFRSF14 inactivation in thyroid MALT lymphoma B-cells may deregulate their interaction with T-cells, promoting co-stimulations and impairing peripheral tolerance.
Targeting circular RNAs as a therapeutic approach: current strategies and challenges
Authors: He Alina T. , Liu Jinglei , Li Feiya , Yang Burton B.
Published: May 2021

Significant progress has been made in circular RNA (circRNA) research in recent years. Increasing evidence suggests that circRNAs play important roles in many cellular processes, and their dysregulation is implicated in the pathogenesis of various diseases. CircRNAs are highly stable and usually expressed in a tissue- or cell type-specific manner. Therefore, they are currently being explored as potential therapeutic targets. Gain-of-function and loss-of-function approaches are typically performed using circRNA expression plasmids and RNA interference-based strategies, respectively. These strategies have limitations that can be mitigated using nanoparticle and exosome delivery systems. Furthermore, recent developments show that the cre-lox system can be used to knockdown circRNAs in a cell-specific manner. While still in the early stages of development, the CRISPR/Cas13 system has shown promise in knocking down circRNAs with high specificity and efficiency. In this review, we describe circRNA properties and functions and highlight their significance in disease. We summarize strategies that can be used to overexpress or knockdown circRNAs as a therapeutic approach. Lastly, we discuss major challenges and propose future directions for the development of circRNA-based therapeutics.
Obsessive–compulsive symptoms and information seeking during the Covid-19 pandemic
Authors: Loosen Alisa M. , Skvortsova Vasilisa , Hauser Tobias U.
Published: May 2021

Increased mental-health symptoms as a reaction to stressful life events, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, are common. Critically, successful adaptation helps to reduce such symptoms to baseline, preventing long-term psychiatric disorders. It is thus important to understand whether and which psychiatric symptoms show transient elevations, and which persist long-term and become chronically heightened. At particular risk for the latter trajectory are symptom dimensions directly affected by the pandemic, such as obsessive–compulsive (OC) symptoms. In this longitudinal large-scale study (N = 406), we assessed how OC, anxiety and depression symptoms changed throughout the first pandemic wave in a sample of the general UK public. We further examined how these symptoms affected pandemic-related information seeking and adherence to governmental guidelines. We show that scores in all psychiatric domains were initially elevated, but showed distinct longitudinal change patterns. Depression scores decreased, and anxiety plateaued during the first pandemic wave, while OC symptoms further increased, even after the ease of Covid-19 restrictions. These OC symptoms were directly linked to Covid-related information seeking, which gave rise to higher adherence to government guidelines. This increase of OC symptoms in this non-clinical sample shows that the domain is disproportionately affected by the pandemic. We discuss the long-term impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on public mental health, which calls for continued close observation of symptom development.
Transcriptome-wide association study identifies new susceptibility genes and pathways for depression
Authors: Li Xiaoyan , Su Xi , Liu Jiewei , Li Huijuan , Li Ming ,   the 23andMe Research Team, Li Wenqiang , Luo Xiong-Jian
Published: May 2021

Depression is the most prevalent mental disorder with substantial morbidity and mortality. Although genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified multiple risk variants for depression, due to the complicated gene regulatory mechanisms and complexity of linkage disequilibrium (LD), the biological mechanisms by which the risk variants exert their effects on depression remain largely unknown. Here, we perform a transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) of depression by integrating GWAS summary statistics from 807,553 individuals (246,363 depression cases and 561,190 controls) and summary-level gene-expression data (from the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) of 1003 individuals). We identified 53 transcriptome-wide significant (TWS) risk genes for depression, of which 23 genes were not implicated in risk loci of the original GWAS. Seven out of 53 risk genes (B3GALTL, FADS1, TCTEX1D1, XPNPEP3, ZMAT2, ZNF501 and ZNF502) showed TWS associations with depression in two independent brain expression quantitative loci (eQTL) datasets, suggesting that these genes may represent promising candidates. We further conducted conditional analyses and identified the potential risk genes that driven the TWAS association signal in each locus. Finally, pathway enrichment analysis revealed biologically pathways relevant to depression. Our study identified new depression risk genes whose expression dysregulation may play a role in depression. More importantly, we translated the GWAS associations into risk genes and relevant pathways. Further mechanistic study and functional characterization of the TWS depression risk genes will facilitate the diagnostics and therapeutics for depression.