bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Brussels and California Effects? Circular Economy Policy Influence Across Borders
Authors: Bocken Nancy , Coffay Matthew , Dalhammar Carl
Published: February 2025

The influence of environmental policy has been known to move beyond the country or regional contexts in which they have been implemented. Examples in literature include the “California effect” and the “Brussels effect”, showing how the policies adopted in the EU and California influence other jurisdictions. In this paper we study the following: To what extent are companies operating in the United States influenced by circular economy policies outside their direct context? By interviewing companies operating in the United States, we find that firms are influenced by and actively work to influence circular economy policy, both as it originates from outside the United States (the Brussels effect, referring to policies in Europe) and from within the United States (such as the California effect). Key barriers to circular innovation include the lack of a comprehensive policy framework in the U.S., opposition from competitors, and making the business model work in the U.S. legal context. Strategies to overcome these include: getting legal support for circular business models, developing U.S. regulations, level the playing field for all U.S.-based companies, lobbying for supporting regulation, and collaboration. We find that EV battery recycling is a positive exception where U.S. policy provides clarity for circular innovation. Finally, we find that the characteristics of the ‘typical’ U.S. consumer may call for specific circular business models. We suggest future research to enhance our understanding on how policy might positively drive circular economy innovations in international companies.
Barriers and Opportunities when Transitioning from Linear to Circular Business Models: Evidence from the Construction and Manufacturing Sectors in The Netherlands
Authors: Ho Henry Wai Leong , Haaker Timber , Yishake Maerhaba
Published: February 2025

The shift from linear to circular business models is critical for sustainability in the construction and manufacturing sectors in the Netherlands. However, many companies face significant challenges in making this transition, including financial constraints, cultural resistance, and regulatory hurdles, which hinder the effective implementation of circular practices. This study employs a qualitative approach, conducting ten in-depth interviews with senior managers holding diverse positions and responsibilities from ten medium-sized enterprises. Using the purposive nonprobability sampling technique this research explores the drivers for transitioning, the barriers encountered, and the strategies used to overcome these challenges. The findings reveal that regulatory pressures, internal environmental advocacy, and market demands for sustainable solutions are key drivers of circular business practices. Barriers identified include limited budgets, high marketing costs, organisational resistance to change, and regulatory complexities. Nevertheless, companies identified various opportunities based on the interview result, such as market differentiation, enhanced sustainability, and strategic partnerships. Companies also noted improvements in brand reputation and customer loyalty as direct benefits of embracing circular practices. This research provides valuable insights into the drivers, barriers, and opportunities in adopting circular business models within the construction and manufacturing sectors in the Netherlands. The findings emphasize the importance of stakeholder engagement, continuous education, and the need for financial and policy support to overcome barriers and leverage opportunities for sustainable business growth. Lastly, this research provides recommendations for future studies including expanding the scope to different industries and regions, adopting mixed-methods approaches, and exploring the impact of specific policies and financial mechanisms on circular business model adoption.
Wittgenstein on Colour, 1916–1950
Authors: Lugg Andrew
Published: February 2025

A study of Wittgenstein on the logic of colour concepts. His remarks on the subject in the Tractatus are considered first, then the remarks he drafted when he returned to philosophy after a decade away fromit, then his treatment of colour concepts during the next two decades followed by the remarks in Remarks on Colour. The emphasis is on the problems he examines and the solutions he proposes. His discussion of colour incompatibility is defended, his examination of colour concepts in the 1930s and 1940s detailed and explained, and the remarks he composed at the end of his life considered with an eye to why they were written and what they add to remarks previously composed. It is argued that his aims are different from those normally attributed to him and, while he achieves a great deal, he does not resolve all the problems he tackles.
Water-Enhanced Turbofan condenser sizing considering configuration and operating conditions
Authors: Ziegler P. , Simson C. , Arzberger T. , Woitalka A. , Nöske F. , Kaiser S. , Gümmer V.
Published: February 2025

The Water-Enhanced Turbofan is a promising aero engine propulsion concept that could reduce the climate impact of aviation significantly by combining the conventional Joule/Brayton cycle with a Clausius-Rankine steam cycle. One important component with a high impact on the overall performance is the condenser, a heat exchanger cooling the core exhaust for water recovery. The design conditions for the Water-Enhanced Turbofan condenser have not been analysed from a system perspective in previous studies. Therefore, these operating conditions, which can be decisive for the dimensioning of the condenser, are investigated in the present work. These operating conditions include ambient temperature variations, different cruise altitudes, maximum cruise thrust and contrail avoidance. A conceptual design engine model is set up in the Numerical Propulsion System Simulation (NPSS) framework, incorporating a multi-point design scheme. The heat exchangers are modelled using a neural network surrogate model. The results show a trade-off between engine fuel burn and the cold size frontal area of the condenser, the latter being an indication for the integrability. It is shown that high ambient temperatures pose a challenge to the condenser design, necessitating consideration of such operating conditions in new engine concepts based on heat exchange with the environment. The condenser designed for typical cruise at 15K above standard atmosphere at 35,000 ft cruise altitude, enables sustained water cycle operations down to 10,000 ft under standard day conditions. Additionally, the complete cruise segment of the design mission can be flown with sustained water cycle operations at 10K above standard atmosphere conditions. A positive side effect of the condenser sizing for hot day conditions is that the probability of contrail formation is reduced because the condenser design results in excess water recovery at colder ambient conditions.
Role of clinical pharmacist in ensuring safe medication practices for pediatric cardiac care in low- and middle-income countries
Authors: Batool Aniqa , Sangi Rumana , Yousuf Jibran Bin , Shaikh Abdul Sattar , Mohsin Muhammad
Published: February 2025

Background and Objectives:

Medication safety is critical for pediatric cardiac care, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where limited resources contribute to high rates of medication errors. Studies in LMICs have shown that pharmacist interventions can reduce medication errors by up to 57% and proved that clinical pharmacists are essential for ensuring accurate and optimized medication use. This study aims to evaluate the role of clinical pharmacist interventions to rectify prescription errors in a pediatric cardiac care setting in Pakistan.

Methods:

This single-center retrospective study was conducted from January to August 2022 in a pediatric cardiac ward at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases. Pediatric patients of all age groups and genders diagnosed with acquired, inherited, or congenital heart diseases were included. We reviewed patient files for any prescription changes made by the clinical pharmacist, based on a comprehensive review of the patient profile, treatment regimens, and laboratory results, to ensure safe and effective pharmacotherapy.

Results:

260 pharmacist interventions were observed among 2754 patients over eight months, demonstrating a significant role in mitigating medication errors. The interventions addressed wrong doses (126), incorrect frequencies (101), redundant coverage (23), and therapy duration errors (8). Antibiotics were the most frequent source of prescription errors, accounting for 81% of the interventions.

Conclusion:

Clinical pharmacists’ involvement in pediatric cardiac care significantly reduces medication errors in LMICs, as demonstrated by this study. These findings underscore the need to integrate clinical pharmacists into multidisciplinary teams to enhance medication safety and improve patient outcomes.
The Travel Visa as the Ubiquitous Legal Infrastructure of Everyday Global Mobility Arbitrariness
Authors: Mégret Frédéric
Published: February 2025

Much work has been produced on the passport and on exceptional regimes of mobility, notably asylum or permanent immigration. There has, by contrast, been less research on that intermediary, ubiquitous legal device that is the visa, a fundamental manifestation of state discretion, a major source of arbitrariness, and a constant assertion of power over moving bodies. The visa is a manifestation of and is embedded in a deeper infrastructure of limited global mobility. Adopting a global and comparative perspective, this Article seeks to analyze the politics of the visa as the indispensable sesame of international travel but also as the ultimate manifestation of that infrastructure’s arbitrariness. The Article highlights an ideal type of the visa especially as it is deployed towards “at risk” categories, emphasizing the sort of performance it requires from applicants in adapting to the system’s demands as they are relayed by officials, corporations and, increasingly, algorithms and artificial intelligence. It will highlight the constraints of applying for the visa, its temporal frames, its assorted conditions, and its denial and possibilities of contestation thereof. The Article contends that, globally, the visa is the key legal infrastructure to channel systemic discrimination, frustrate professional and cultural opportunities, and keep families apart in ways that entrench class and racial divides.
The Legal Infrastructures of UK Border Control—Cerberus and the Dispositif of Speculative Suspicion
Authors: Sullivan Gavin , Van Den Meerssche Dimitri
Published: February 2025

The promise of artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly invoked to ‘revolutionize’ practices of global security governance, including in the domain of border control. Legal scholarship tends to confront these changes by foregrounding the rule of law challenges associated with nascent forms of governance by data, and by imposing new regulatory standards. Yet, little is known about how these algorithmic systems are already reconfiguring legal norms and processes, while generating novel security techniques and practices for knowing and governing “risk” before the border. Exploring these questions, this article makes three important contributions to the literature. On an empirical level, it provides an original socio-legal study of the processes constructing and implementing Cerberus – an AI-based risk-analysis platform deployed by the UK Home Office. This analysis provides unique insight into the institutional frictions, legal mediations and emergent governance formations involved in the introduction of this algorithmic bordering system. On a methodological level, the article directly engages with the focus on ‘legal infrastructures’ in this special issue. It uses an original approach (infra-legalities) which follows how legal and infrastructural elements are relationally and materially tied together in practice. Rather than trying to conceptually settle the relation between law and infrastructure – or qualifying law as a sui generis infrastructure – the article traces incipient modes of governmentality and regulatory ordering in which both legal and infrastructural elements are metabolized. In its account of Cerberus, the article analyzes this emergent composition as a dispositif of speculative suspicion. Finally, on a normative and political level, the article signals the significant stakes involved in this algorithmic enactment of risk. It shows how prevailing regulatory tropes revolving around ‘debiasing’ and retention of a ‘human in the loop’ offer a limited register of remedy, and work to amplify the reach of Cerberus. We conclude with reflections on critiquing algorithmic systems like Cerberus through the emergent infrastructural relations they enact.
Legal Infrastructures: Towards a Conceptual Framework
Authors: Byrne William Hamilton , Gammeltoft-Hansen Thomas , Stappert Nora
Published: February 2025

This Article provides the outline for a conceptual framework focusing on legal infrastructures, comprised of socio-material assemblages and entangled legal normativities that both enable and constrain human societies. Section A introduces the growing transdisciplinary field of infrastructural studies, which employs the notion of infrastructure as a tool for analyzing the constitutive relationship between society and essential material structures. It then draws out the analytical conjunction of law and infrastructure in the role ascribed to law within existing applications of infrastructural studies and the nascent engagement with infrastructural theory within the legal discipline itself. Part II develops a conceptual framework on legal infrastructures, outlining three avenues for how thinking infrastructurally may yield new perspectives on the dynamic relationship between law, social practices, and socio-technical materiality; (a) legal infrastructures as socio-material formations that generate societal effects (b) legal infrastructures as schemes of social practice that recursively entangle to produce new configurations, and (c) legal infrastructures as distributing norms across transnational and regime boundaries.
Unruly Practices at the Border: From Mobility Regimes to Infrastructures in Latin America
Authors: Jiménez Laurence Andrea , Hoffmann Florian F.
Published: February 2025

The aim of this Article is to present a general and nonexhaustive overview of the legal infrastructures that configure cross-border movement in Latin America. It draws on the mobility approach, regime interaction, and—legal—infrastructural studies, which, together, provide a tentative analytical framework for the legal infrastructuring processes that we observe around border regulation in Latin America, an, arguably, understudied but core mobility hotspot. We present—in the form of several vignettes—different outcomes of infrastucturing processes which either enable or impede cross border mobility. This approach reveals the dynamic nature of law surrounding mobility and its apparent contradictions and unintended consequences. It concludes that the shift to an infrastructural account of the law can help us gain a more holistic and, therefore, more realistic understanding of how the law works over time, how it infrastructures crossborder mobility beyond and sometimes against states’ intentions and expectations, and how people on the move have more agency than the snapshot image of—forced—migration law conveys.
The “Hairs of Hope”: Toward a Fuller Understanding of the Legal, Material, and Social Infrastructure of Infrastructure
Authors: Valverde Mariana
Published: February 2025

The article has the main aim of utilizing the literature on “fragment urbanism” and case studies in infrastructure from the global South to question the notion—dear to the World Bank and the IMF—that the global South ought to follow the North’s lead in aiming at “the modern infrastructure ideal,” that is, a series of integrated nation-wide networks. That model suits certain needs—electricity, phone service, perhaps Internet—but it doesn’t always work, even if funding can be found, for many other infrastructure needs. What is often thought of as “informal” solutions may in fact deploy more site-specific and community-specific techniques and tools.

The article also shows that even in the global North’s most advanced capitalist countries, the lack of overall planning and the absence of needs assessments done before choosing which projects will go ahead mean that infrastructure provision and governance is far more fragmented than the “modern” ideal would suggest. The fact that major projects are usually financed separately, often having their own credit rating, encourages a way of non-evidence based planning that is rife for political interference in infrastructure decision-making. The “art of the deal” is in fact the model for infrastructure projects these days, not the ‘seeing like a state’ that characterized many projects in the post-World War II era.
Breakdowns at the Border: Legal Infrastructures and Political Polarization
Authors: Ramji-Nogales Jaya
Published: February 2025

This Article examines the role of political polarization in contributing to acute infrastructural dysfunction. It begins by applying an infrastructural lens to the study of law, identifying the synergies and tensions inherent in that conversation. The second section investigates the components of a functional border legal infrastructure from a range of perspectives, seeking to understand the performative role of the border. The Article next presents three case studies of politically polarized border legal infrastructures, highlighting material, relational, and distributional elements. Drawing from those examples, the Article then unpacks the role of law as border infrastructure, highlighting the contribution that a legal perspective can offer to the infrastructures literature. This section examines the layers of law involved in border infrastructures, including international, regional, and bilateral; the regulatory role of national law in constructing and governing infrastructures; and the jurisdictional functions of law in allocating the political and financial authority that are essential to the effective operation of infrastructures. This analysis highlights the role of discretion and opacity, as well as political polarization, in setting the stage for infrastructural breakdown. The Article ends by reflecting on the recursive relationship between politics and law in border infrastructures, examining how that dynamic creates and manifests failures, dysfunction, and acute breakdown.
Automated surveillance of hospital-onset bacteremia and fungemia: feasibility and epidemiological results from a Dutch multicenter study
Authors: Brekelmans Manon A.C.M. , Vlek Anne L.M. , van Dijk Yvonne , Smilde Annelies E. , Weersink Annemarie J.L. , Wunderink Herman F. , Boon Hanneke , Vainio Saara , Bril Wendy S. , Kluytmans Jan A.J.W. , Bonten Marc J.M. , van Mourik Maaike S.M.
Published: February 2025

Objective:

Hospital-onset bacteremia and fungemia (HOB) has been suggested as a suitable and automatable surveillance target to include in surveillance programs, however differences in definitions across studies limit interpretation and large-scale implementation. We aimed to apply an automated surveillance system for HOB in multiple hospitals using a consensus definition, and describe HOB rates.

Design and setting:

Retrospective cohort study in four Dutch hospitals: 1 tertiary hospital and 3 secondary hospitals.

Patients:

All patients admitted for at least one overnight stay between 2017 and 2021 were included, except patients in psychiatry wards.

Methods:

Data from the electronic health records and laboratory information system were used to identify HOBs based on the PRAISE consensus definition. HOB rates were calculated at ward and micro-organism-level.

Results:

Hospital-wide HOB rates varied from 1.0 to 1.9, and ICU rates varied from of 8.2 to 12.5 episodes per 1000 patient days. The median time between admission and HOB was 8–13 days. HOBs were predominantly caused by Enterobacterales, Enterococci, S. aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococci. Longitudinal HOB surveillance detected differences over time at ward and micro-organism level; for example increased HOB rates were observed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sensitivity analyses demonstrated the impact of assumptions regarding the collection of confirmatory blood cultures for common commensals.

Conclusions:

Applying a fully automated definition for HOB surveillance was feasible in multiple centers with different data infrastructures, and enabled detection of differences over time at ward and micro-organism-level. HOB surveillance may lead to prevention initiatives in the future.
Are migrants more satisfied with their lives than stayers? Evidence from a multi-site and intergenerational study
Authors: Eroğlu Şebnem
Published: February 2025

This article investigates the life satisfaction consequences of migration through unique comparisons of “settler” migrants spanning three family generations and multiple European destinations with their “stayer” and “returnee” counterparts based in the origin country of Turkey. The data are drawn from 5,980 personal interviews conducted as part of the pioneering 2000 Families Survey. The results show that despite being monetarily the most impoverished across all destinations and generations studied, the settlers tend to be more satisfied with their lives than the “stayers” and the “returnees.” However, a downward trend is observed among younger generations, irrespective of their migration status and country context. The results confirm the significance of poverty and asset status for migrants’ and their descendants’ appraisal of life, as well as highlighting the independent effect of the context. Strikingly, however, those residing in countries with more generous welfare states proved not necessarily to be more satisfied.
Shifting toward progressive and balanced interaction: A longitudinal corpus study of children’s responses to Who-questions in Japanese
Authors: Tatsumi Tomoko , Pine Julian
Published: February 2025

Children’s speech becomes longer and more complex as they develop, but the reasons for this have been insufficiently studied. This study examines how changing linguistic choices in children are linked to interactive factors by analysing Who-question sequences in Japanese child–caregiver conversations. The interactive factors in focus are progressivity and balanced joint activity, which are core aspects of conversational interaction. Our analysis reveals that as children respond to Who-questions, their responses grow in length and multifunctionality. This growth is positively associated with progressivity, namely a quicker completion of the question sequence, and reduced functional load in the interlocutor’s contributions, resulting in more balanced joint activity. These findings suggest that children adapt their linguistic choices by observing and aligning them with their interactive goals in conversational sequences.
Genetic and Extragenetic Variance In Motor Performance
Authors: Marisi Dan Q.
Published: February 2025

A simple additive model of genes plus environment, based on intrapair similarities observed in 35 MZ and 35 like-sexed DZ twin pairs, was used to estimate the relative contribution of genetically controlled phenotypic variance in psychomotor individuality. Subjects practiced 50 trials on a pursuit rotor apparatus under a 20-sec/20-sec, work-rest schedule with a 30 min rest pause allowed between trials 30 and 31. Analyses of the data disclosed that a greater proportion of genetic factors, as opposed to nongenetic factors, appears to account for existing individual differences in motor performance among individuals subject to similar environmental conditions. The strength of this genetic control, however, systematically diminished throughout the course of practice obeying a monotonie trend over trials.
The Rate of Growth and Maturing of Twins
Authors: Sklad Maciej
Published: February 2025

In the years 1966-1976, 50 pairs of Warsaw twins (27 MZ and 23 DZ) were subjected to longitudinal investigations. The twins were aged 9-11 years at the beginning of the observations, and 19-22 at their conclusion. The observations consisted of comprehensive somatic measurements and of the evaluation of biological maturity. The rate of growth of the twins, defined by the magnitude of yearly increments of body height, proved to be more concordant in MZ than DZ pairs. The appearance of the adolescent spurt occurred in the same year in 81 % of MZ and ca. 43% of DZ pairs. A very slight relationship was found between the rate of growth and final body height. The attaining of subsequent stages of sexual maturity in MZ twins was concordant in 88%, and in DZ twins in 30-39%, according to the respective stage. The body height curves were represented be means of three numerical parameters.
Duplication Deficiency of an X-Chromosome with and Without 45,X Mosaicism in Three Girls — Cytogenetic, Clinical, and Hormonal Findings
Authors: Schwanitz G. , Tietze H. U. , Pfeiffer R. A. , Grosse K. P. , Becker H. , Egger H.
Published: February 2025

In three girls, aged 14, 15 and 16 years, the chromosome analysis revealed a morphologically abnormal, enlarged X-chromosome resembling in size and centromere position the chromosome no. 2. The translocation points were different in all three cases. The Barr-bodies were enlarged. In two girls a 45,X mosaicism (25% and 10%) was found in lymphocyte cultures.

The length at birth was 43, 47 and 48 cm, and none of the girls was born before term. The main clinical abnormalities in all three cases were a marked growth retardation, slight morphological dysplasias, lack of sexual development and social immaturity. GH and Cortisol secretion during an insulin tolerance test were normal. LH and FSH were elevated and showed an exaggerated reaction on LH-RH. Oestrogens were low normal and androgens within the normal range. At laparatomy the gonads were found to be streak gonads. For two girls cell cultures of gonadal tissue were set up? the chromosome findings of which corresponded to those of the lymphocyte cultures.

The abnormality of the gonosomes reported here seems to represent a special form of gonadal dysgenesis. Although the translocation points were different in the three patients and one had no mosaic, while the other two showed 45,X/46,XX mosaicism, the clinical and hormonal findings were nearly the same for all three girls.
9p Trisomy; A New Case Due to Maternal t(9;18) Translocation
Authors: Preto A. , Lenzini E. , Drigo P. , Fasoli G. , De Pascale A.
Published: February 2025

A case of a patient carrying a 9p trisomy due to a maternal t(9;18) (p 13;p11) translocation is reported. In addition to the principal findings which characterize the 9p trisomy syndrome, this case presents some dysmorphic features due to the partial deletion of chromosome 18.
Haptoglobin Polymorphism in the Ladakhi Population
Authors: Kaur H. , Sehajpal P.K. , Shrivastava P.K.
Published: February 2025

Haptoglobin polymorphism has been studied in 148 Ladakhis — a Mongoloid population inhabiting the northernmost region of India. With a frequency of 0.270 for the allele Hp1 the Ladakhis compare favourably with other Mongoloid populations.
Force control of motion teaching suit using serial-connected pneumatic artificial muscles for actuation and estimation
Authors: Miyazaki Tetsuro , Tomita Yoshihide , Kawashima Kenji
Published: February 2025

Machine – human interaction systems have been proposed to improve motion learning efficiency. We developed a pneumatic-driven motion teaching system that provides feedback to the learner by simultaneously presenting visual and torque information. We achieved a lightweight, soft, and user-safety haptic system using a pneumatic artificial muscle (PAM). The PAM’s shrink force was estimated based on its characteristic model and the suit link system, and the suit generated external torque. However, accurate force control was challenging due to the time delay of the feedback control, the loosening of the soft suit, and modeling errors of the driving PAM caused by hysteresis. To improve the force control performance of the motion teaching suit, this article’s contributions are to develop a novel suit in which PAMs for drive and force estimation are connected in series and implement a 2-degree-of-freedom (DOF) force control system using force estimation values in this suit and to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed hardware and software. This article contains three topics: (a) the development of novel suit hardware, (b) force estimation using a sealed small PAM, and (c) a proposal of force control using a 2-DOF controller. The effect of loosening the soft suit is reduced in the novel-developed suit. A sealed small PAM with small deformation and little hysteresis is adopted for force estimation. The time delay in feedback control is decreased by adopting the proposed novel 2-DOF control. Finally, the proposed suit and its control system were evaluated in experiments and achieved the desired performance.
Dynamics of Surface Cold Patch off the Korean Peninsula Cape: Driven by Upwelling
Authors: Zhang Jiachen , Huang Hao , Chen Xueen , Gao Zhen , Yuan Chunxin , Zhang Zheen
Published: February 2025

Surface cold patches (SCPs) are important hydrological phenomena in the Yellow Sea (YS). We investigate the dynamics behind the appearance of the SCP off the Korean Peninsula Cape during summer. The numerical model results revealed that upwelling is the primary mechanism of SCP formation in this region. On one hand, the 3D vorticity balance of the dynamic processes of the SCP indicated that the combined effect of the tides and the baroclinic pressure gradient enhances dissipation in the bottom boundary layer, leading to seawater convergence in the bottom layer west of the tidal front and divergence east of the tidal front, forming a stable frontal secondary circulation and resulting in the formation of upwelling. On the other hand, the offshore transport, which is triggered by the Jeju Warm Current and persists throughout the year in the strait, leads to a divergence of seawater within the region. The joint effect of the above two processes ultimately contributes to the generation of upwelling. The presence of upwelling forces the thermocline to be changed. Strong tidal upwelling triggers the upward ventilating of the thermocline, which can bring cold water to the surface, and the dome‐like upwarp of the thermocline isotherms caused by the current‐induced upwelling, together lead to the formation of the SCP.
New Insights Into the Driving Mechanism of the Mid‐Eocene (43 Ma) Tectonic Transition in the Western Pacific Margin—A Case Study of Stress Field Modeling in Pingbei
Authors: Dong Ruowen , Yang Fengli , Hu Panpan , Zhuang Jianjian , Yang Ruiqing , Zhang Geng
Published: February 2025

The East China Sea Shelf Basin (ECSSB), an important part of the western Pacific margin, is located in a key area of subduction and coupling of the western Pacific/East Asian continent. There are many unknowns regarding the basin structure and formation mechanism. There are three different viewpoints on the driving mechanism of the tectonic transition at 43 Ma: the India–Eurasia Plate hard collision, the subduction direction change in the western Pacific Plate, and the joint action of the western Pacific Plate and Philippine Sea Plate movements. To address this controversy, we use the SHELLS modeling method to simulate the tectonic stress field of the Pingbei area (PBA) under the constraints of paleofaults, paleotopography, paleoheat flow, petrophysical parameters, and different tectonic boundary conditions during two critical periods: before and after 43 Ma. The modeling results that most closely match the observations are as follows: at 43 Ma, the boundary extension direction changed from NW‒SE to NNW‒SSE, and the extension rate changed from 0.16 ∼ 0.52 mm/a to 0.15 ∼ 0.24 mm/a. Based on analysis of the coupling relationship between stress field simulation results and the formation of peripheral plates in the region, we believe that the driving mechanism of the 43 Ma tectonic transition in the ECSSB and western Pacific/Southeast Asia region is mainly due to changes in the retreat direction of the western Pacific Plate and the extension direction and velocity of the study area, combined with the northward movement of the Philippine Sea Plate.
Increasing Evapotranspiration in China: Quantifying the Roles of CO2 Fertilization, Climate and Vegetation Changes
Authors: Liu Meixian , Lin Kairong , Tu Xinjun
Published: February 2025

Contradictory views are still existing on the dominating drivers and the underlying mechanisms for the overall increasing evapotranspiration (ET) in China, a region has undergone substantial vegetation and climate changes. Particularly, some studies conclude that climate change is the dominating factor, while other researchers believe that it is the vegetation change. To fill this knowledge gap, here we developed a physical‐based ET model by combining the modified Penman–Monteith model and a newly developed canopy resistance model, which effectively links ET and its potential drivers, with the mean correlation and relative RMSE between the observed and modeled canopy resistance being 0.83 ± 0.09 and 3.4 ± 1.6%, respectively. The reliability of the model was also demonstrated by comparing the derived sensitivity of canopy resistance to air CO2 concentration (mean of 0.14 ± 0.03% ppm−1) and the observations (∼0.15% ppm−1). Based on this model and a scenario analysis approach, we demonstrated that vegetation change, air temperature, air CO2 concentration and soil moisture were the dominating factors of ET variabilities during 1982–2014, which dominated ET changes at 36.0 ± 16.3%, 16.5 ± 4.5%, 20.2 ± 11.6 and 18.2 ± 10.9% of the land grids, and averagely contributed 0.72 ± 0.32, 0.28 ± 0.15, −0.51 ± 0.15 and 0.13 ± 0.78 mm yr−2, respectively. These indicated that vegetation change was the most important factor for the increasing ET over China during the past several decades. These findings and the model are helpful for assessing the ecohydrological cycles in a changing environment.
Germline mosaicism in TCF20-associated neurodevelopmental disorders: a case study and literature review
Authors: Poquérusse Jessie , Whitford Whitney , Taylor Juliet , Gregersen Nerine , Love Donald R. , Tsang Bobby , Drake Kylie M. , Snell Russell G. , Lehnert Klaus , Jacobsen Jessie C.
Published: February 2025

Autosomal dominant variants in transcription factor 20 (TCF20) can result in TCF20-associated neurodevelopmental disorder (TAND), a condition characterized by developmental delay and intellectual disability, autism, dysmorphisms, dystonia, and variable other neurological features. To date, a total of 91 individuals with TAND have been reported; ~67% of cases arose de novo, while ~10% were inherited, and, intriguingly, ~8% were either confirmed or suspected to have arisen via germline mosaicism. Here, we describe two siblings with a developmental condition characterized by intellectual disability, autism, a circadian rhythm sleep disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) caused by a novel heterozygous single nucleotide deletion in the TCF20 gene, NM_001378418.1:c.4737del; NP_001365347.1:p.Lys1579Asnfs*36 (GRCh38/hg38). The variant was not detected in DNA extracted from peripheral blood in either parent by Sanger sequencing of PCR-generated amplicons, or by deep sequencing of PCR amplicons using MiSeq and MinION. However, droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) of DNA derived from early morning urine detected the variation in 3.2% of the father’s urothelial cells, confirming germline mosaicism. This report is only the second to confirm with physical evidence TCF20 germline mosaicism and discusses germline mosaicism as a likely under-detected mode of inheritance in neurodevelopmental conditions.
Longitudinal associations between white matter integrity, early life adversities, and treatment response following cognitive-behavioral therapy in depression
Authors: Flinkenflügel Kira , Borgers Tiana , Klug Melissa , Mummendey Marie M. , Leehr Elisabeth J. , Meinert Susanne , Gruber Marius , Repple Jonathan , Kircher Tilo , Opel Nils , Bauer Jochen , Zwiky Esther , König Philine , Küttner Antonia , Schöniger Konrad , Kamrla Robin , Dannlowski Udo , Enneking Verena , Redlich Ronny
Published: February 2025

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a primary treatment for depression. Although previous research has underscored the significant roles of white matter (WM) alterations and maladaptive parenting in depression risk, their associations with CBT response remain largely unknown. This longitudinal study investigated the interplay of WM integrity changes over time, treatment response, and parenting style in patients with depression. Diffusion-tensor-imaging and clinical data were assessed in n = 65 (55% female) patients with depression before and after 20 CBT sessions and n = 65 (68% female) healthy controls (HC) in a naturalistic design. Linear-mixed-effect models compared changes in fractional anisotropy (FA) between groups and tested associations between FA changes and symptom changes. It was investigated whether parenting style predicts depressive symptoms at follow-up and whether FA changes mediate this association. Patients showed differential FA changes over time in the corpus callosum and corona radiata compared to HC (p
tfce-FWE = 0.008). Increases in FA in the corpus callosum, corona radiata and superior longitudinal fasciculus were linked to symptom improvement after CBT in patients (p
tfce-FWE = 0.023). High parental care (p
FDR = 0.010) and low maternal overprotection (p
FDR = 0.001) predicted fewer depressive symptoms at follow-up. The association between maternal overprotection and depressive symptoms at follow-up was mediated by FA changes (p
FDR = 0.044). Robustness checks—controlling for outliers, non-linear age effects, clinical characteristics, and patient subgroups—supported these results. Overall, patients with depression show changes in WM integrity following CBT, which are linked to treatment response. The results highlight the significance of early life adversities and related microstructural changes in the effectiveness of CBT for treating depression.
Ubiquitin and ubiquitin-like proteins in HPV-driven carcinogenesis
Authors: Wootton Louisa M. , Morgan Ethan L.
Published: February 2025

Persistent infection with high-risk (HR) human papillomaviruses (HPVs) is responsible for approximately 5% of cancer cases worldwide, including a growing number of oropharyngeal and anogenital cancers. The major HPV oncoproteins, E6 and E7, act together to manipulate cellular pathways involved in the regulation of proliferation, the cell cycle and cell survival, ultimately driving malignant transformation. Protein ubiquitination and the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) is often deregulated upon viral infection and in oncogenesis. HPV E6 and E7 interact with and disrupt multiple components of the ubiquitination machinery to promote viral persistence, which can also result in cellular transformation and the formation of tumours. This review highlights the ways in which HPV manipulates protein ubiquitination and the ubiquitin-like protein pathways and how this contributes to tumour development. Furthermore, we discuss how understanding the interactions between HPV and the protein ubiquitination could lead to novel therapeutic targets that are of urgent need in HPV+ carcinomas.
Size control and oscillations of active droplets in synthetic cells
Authors: Sastre Judit , Thatte Advait , Bergmann Alexander M. , Stasi Michele , Tena-Solsona Marta , Weber Christoph A. , Boekhoven Job
Published: February 2025

Oscillations in the formation and dissolution of molecular assemblies inside living cells are pivotal in orchestrating various cellular functions and processes. However, designing such rhythmic patterns in synthetic cells remains a challenge. Here, we demonstrate the spontaneous emergence of spatio-temporal oscillations in the number of droplets, size, and their spatial distribution within a synthetic cell. The coacervate-based droplets in these synthetic cells sediment and fuse at the cell’s bottom. Through a size control mechanism, the sedimented, large droplets shrink by expelling droplet material. The expelled molecules nucleate new droplets at the top of the synthetic cell, which grow and sediment again. These oscillations are sustained by converting chemical fuel into waste and can continue for hundreds of periods without evidence of fatigue. Strikingly, the period of the oscillation is in the minute’s regime and tunable. The design of oscillating artificial organelles in synthetic cells brings us closer to creating more life-like materials and de novo life.
A hypothalamic circuit underlying the dynamic control of social homeostasis
Authors: Liu Ding , Rahman Mostafizur , Johnson Autumn , Amo Ryunosuke , Tsutsui-Kimura Iku , Sullivan Zuri A. , Pena Nicolai , Talay Mustafa , Logeman Brandon L. , Finkbeiner Samantha , Qian Lechen , Choi Seungwon , Capo-Battaglia Athena , Abdus-Saboor Ishmail , Ginty David D. , Uchida Naoshige , Watabe-Uchida Mitsuko , Dulac Catherine
Published: February 2025

Social grouping increases survival in many species, including humans1,2. By contrast, social isolation generates an aversive state (‘loneliness’) that motivates social seeking and heightens social interaction upon reunion3–5. The observed rebound in social interaction triggered by isolation suggests a homeostatic process underlying the control of social need, similar to physiological drives such as hunger, thirst or sleep3,6. In this study, we assessed social responses in several mouse strains, among which FVB/NJ mice emerged as highly, and C57BL/6J mice as moderately, sensitive to social isolation. Using both strains, we uncovered two previously uncharacterized neuronal populations in the hypothalamic preoptic nucleus that are activated during either social isolation or social rebound and orchestrate the behaviour display of social need and social satiety, respectively. We identified direct connectivity between these two populations and with brain areas associated with social behaviour, emotional state, reward and physiological needs and showed that mice require touch to assess the presence of others and fulfil their social need. These data show a brain-wide neural system underlying social homeostasis and provide significant mechanistic insights into the nature and function of circuits controlling instinctive social need and for the understanding of healthy and diseased brain states associated with social context.
Aversive learning reduces aversive-reinforcer sensitivity in honey bees
Authors: Lai Yuan , Tedjakumala Stevanus Rio , Baciadonna Luigi , Macri Catherine , Lafon Isabelle , Giurfa Martin
Published: February 2025

Research on associative learning typically focuses on behavioral and neural changes in response to learned stimuli. In Pavlovian conditioning, changes in responsiveness to conditioned stimuli are crucial for demonstrating learning. A less explored, but equally important, question is whether learning can induce changes not only in the processing of conditioned stimuli but also in the processing of unconditioned stimuli. In this study, we addressed this question by combining reinforcer-sensitivity assays with Pavlovian conditioning in honey bees. We focused on aversive shock responsiveness, measuring the sting extension response to electric shocks of increasing voltage, and examined the effect of aversive olfactory conditioning—where bees learn to associate an odor with shock—on shock responsiveness. After experiencing electric shocks during conditioning, the bees showed a persistent decrease in responsiveness to lower voltages, observable three days after conditioning, indicating reduced shock sensitivity. This effect was specific to electric shock, as appetitive conditioning involving a sucrose reinforcer did not alter shock responsiveness, leaving shock sensitivity unchanged. These findings highlight a previously unexplored effect of associative learning on reinforcer sensitivity, demonstrating a lasting decrease of responsiveness to reinforcer intensities perceived as less relevant than that encountered during conditioning.
Chemical signal diversity in male sand lizards (Lacerta agilis) along an urbanization gradient
Authors: Ibáñez Alejandro , Zając Bartłomiej , Sambak Izabella , Woźniakiewicz Michał , Woźniakiewicz Aneta , Pabijan Maciej
Published: February 2025

Urban areas have globally expanded recently and will likely continue to do so in the near future. Although the impact of urbanization on acoustic and visual sexual signals has received considerable attention, other aspects, such as its influence on chemical signaling, remain poorly studied. Many lizard species possess femoral glands, i.e. prominent epidermal glands on the underside of the thighs producing a wide variety of compounds used in chemical signaling. Here we assessed the effect of urban, suburban and rural habitats and individual body condition on variation of chemical signal composition in the sand lizard (Lacerta agilis). By using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, we characterized chemical compounds present in secretions of lizard femoral glands. We found that lizards from suburban and urban habitats had the highest diversity of chemicals, while rural habitats showed significantly lower compound diversity. Lizards from urban and suburban habitats had high amounts of several compounds, including α-tocopherol, an antioxidant molecule that may counterbalance the damaging effects of irradiation on other pheromones. Chemical signals may not only depend on habitat characteristics but individual traits, such as body condition, may also affect chemical compound diversity. Body condition did not significantly differ across habitats, and we did not find an association between body condition and chemical composition of femoral gland secretions. We argue that environmental differences (more extreme in cities) as well as other factors such as increased stress may shape the amounts and diversity of semiochemicals in sand lizards. Our study provides insight on how environmental conditions imposed by urban–rural gradients may modulate chemical communication in vertebrates.
Impaired MC3T3-E1 osteoblast differentiation triggered by oncogenic HRAS is rescued by the farnesyltransferase inhibitor Tipifarnib
Authors: Andrasch Yannik , Ireri Moses Munene , Gander Jonas , Timm Ann-Engelke Sabrina , Chennappan Saravanakkumar , Fidan Miray , Engler Melanie , Cirstea Ion Cristian
Published: February 2025

HRAS is a ubiquitously expressed protein and functions as a central regulator of cellular homeostasis. In somatic cells, mutations in this gene cause cancer, while germline mutations trigger a developmental disorder known as Costello syndrome (CS). Among numerous pathologies, adult CS patients develop osteoporosis. Previous studies revealed that HRAS is implicated in bone homeostasis by controlling osteoblast differentiation, adaptation to mechanical strain and repression of RANKL expression in mature osteoblasts, and by regulating osteoclast differentiation. However, the impact of HRAS on osteoblast differentiation is still debatable. In this study, we created stable doxycycline inducible cell lines overexpressing HRAS G12 mutants in MC3T3-E1 preosteoblast cell line and analyzed their impact on osteoblast differentiation. We demonstrated an inhibitory role of HRAS G12S and HRAS G12V mutants on osteogenic differentiation and identified an increased expression of Opn in an HRAS-dependent manner, which directly correlated with impaired osteogenesis, and was rescued by the farnesyl transferase inhibitor Tipifarnib. At the molecular level, Tipifarnib was not able to block HRAS activation, but impaired HRAS localization to the plasma membrane, and inhibited MAPK activation and Opn expression. Thus, HRAS abundance/activation and its potential crosstalk with OPN may be more critical for osteogenic differentiation than previously assumed.