bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Heiße Experimente – Physik in der Sauna
Authors: Schlichting Hans Joachim , Ucke Christian
Published: March 2021

Dass der Mensch Temperaturen von 100 °C in einer Sauna überlebt, hat mehrere Ursachen. Der Wärmetransport durch die heiße Luft ist wesentlich kleiner als im heißen Wasser. Entscheidend ist aber, dass der Körper schwitzt. Er sondert Wasser aus dem Körperinnern an der Hautoberfläche ab, was dem Körper beim Verdampfen Wärme entzieht und dadurch kühlt. Auf diese Weise kann die Hauttemperatur für längere Zeit auf einer Temperatur von etwa 40 °C verbleiben. Bei einem Aufguss wird dieser Mechanismus gestört, weil auf der verhältnismäßig kühlen Haut Wasserdampf kondensiert und dabei noch Wärme abgibt.
Perfekter Klang der Fermionen
Authors: Zwierlein Martin
Published: March 2021

Eine Messung zur Schallausbreitung in einem Fermi‐Gas zeigt „perfekten“ Fluss, dessen Restreibung nur durch die Quantenmechanik begrenzt ist. Die Daten können Aufschluss geben über die Viskosität von Neutronenmaterie, stark wechselwirkenden Elektronen und dem Quark‐Gluon‐Plasma des frühen Universums.
Meteorologische Satelliten
Authors: Asmus Jörg
Published: March 2021

1960 begann die Ära der Wettersatelliten. Heute sind ihre Daten für Wettervorhersagen, Klimatologie, Ozeanographie und Umweltfragen unabdingbar.
Improvement of Phase‐Change Memory Performance by Means of GeTe/Sb2Te3 Superlattices
Authors: Térébénec Damien , Castellani Niccolo , Bernier Nicolas , Sever Vitomir , Kowalczyk Philippe , Bernard Mathieu , Cyrille Marie-Claire , Tran Nguyet-Phuong , Hippert Françoise , Noé Pierre
Published: March 2021

GeTe/Sb2Te3 superlattices (SLs) obtained by sputtering are integrated in phase‐change memory (PCM) devices with a “wall structure”. The high structural quality of SLs deposited on TiN or SiNx layers, used as metallic bottom heater and dielectric bottom layer in PCM devices, is established by X‐ray diffraction, for as‐grown SLs and after an annealing corresponding to the maximum thermal budget during the integration process. Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) images of SLs within PCM cells confirm that the SL structure is kept after integration. A robust statistical analysis on a large number of devices demonstrates unambiguously that the RESET current is lower in SL devices than in GeTe reference devices and decreases when the Sb2Te3 layer thickness in the SL increases from 2 to 8 nm. STEM imaging of a PCM cell incorporating an SL demonstrates that switching from the low‐ to the high‐resistance state occurs through a melting–quenching process and is not due to crystal–crystal transition or defect reorganization in the SL, in contrast to what is commonly stated in the literature on interfacial phase‐change memories (iPCMs). The origin of the improved switching performance of SL‐based PCM devices is discussed, linked with the impact of swapped bilayers.
Quantifying the climate and human impacts on the hydrology of the Yalong River Basin using two approaches
Authors: Zhao Yinmao , Dong Ningpeng , Wang Hao
Published: March 2021

Runoff in many river basins worldwide has shown an alteration under the impact of global climate change and increasing human activities. A detailed quantitative and qualitative analysis on the impact of climate change and human activities is therefore of great significance towards the sustainable water resources planning and management. In this study, the impact of climate change and human activities on the runoff was first quantitatively analyzed for the Yalong River Basin (YRB), China, by using a combination of the CREST hydrologic model and the Choudhury–Yang equation based elastic coefficient method, respectively. Furthermore, a qualitative analysis on the response of runoff to human activities was carried out in terms of land use changes, water withdrawal and reservoir operation. Results indicate that precipitation and runoff of the Yalong River Basin increased and decreased at the rate of 1.17 and 0.35 mm/a, respectively, for the period from 1980 to 2018. Climate change and human activities contributed 6.65–21.67% and 78.33–93.35% to the runoff variation, respectively. Among the human activities, we found that reservoir construction and operation is likely to be the major driver of the variation in the hydrologic regime of the YRB. Our methods and findings are expected to provide implications for water resources planning and management for the YRB and different basins across the globe.
COVID-19: Auswirkungen auf das zentrale und periphere Nervensystem
Authors:   DGNN-Taskforce „CNS-COVID19“, Ritschel N. ,   „DEFEAT PANDEMIcs – Neuropathologische Referenzdiagnostik bei COVID-19“, Radbruch H. , Herden C. , Schneider N. , Dittmayer C. , Franz J. , Thomas C. , Silva Boos G. , Pagenstecher A. , Schulz-Schaeffer W. , Stadelmann C. , Glatzel M. , Heppner F. L. , Weis J. , Sohrabi K. , Schänzer A. , Németh A. , Acker T.
Published: March 2021

Die gesundheitlichen Auswirkungen der Coronavirus-Krankheit 2019 (COVID-19) durch die Infektion von SARS-CoV‑2 (Schweres-Akutes-Respiratorisches–Syndrom-Coronavirus 2) werden mit der Ausbreitung der Pandemie immer deutlicher. Neben der Lunge sind auch andere Organe betroffen, welche die Morbidität und Mortalität deutlich beeinflussen können. Insbesondere neurologische Symptome unter Beteiligung des zentralen und peripheren Nervensystems können akute Symptome oder Langzeitfolgen auslösen. Die Mechanismen dieser Neuropathogenese der SARS-CoV-2-Infektion und ihr Zusammenhang mit akuten und chronischen neurologischen Symptomen sind Gegenstand aktueller Studien, die sich mit der Untersuchung einer potenziellen direkten und indirekten Virusinfektion des Nervensystems beschäftigen. In der folgenden Übersichtsarbeit wird der aktuelle Stand über die neuropathologischen Manifestationen, die molekulare Pathogenese, die möglichen Infektionswege im Nervensystem und die systemischen Wirkungen zusammengefasst. Zusätzlich wird ein Überblick über das bundesweite Register CNS-COVID19 und Kooperationen gegeben, die zu einem besseren Verständnis der neurologischen Symptome von COVID-19 beitragen sollen.
Generating High-Performance FPGA Accelerator Designs for Big Data Analytics with Fletcher and Apache Arrow
Authors: Peltenburg Johan , van Straten Jeroen , Brobbel Matthijs , Al-Ars Zaid , Hofstee H. Peter
Published: March 2021

As big data analytics systems are squeezing out the last bits of performance of CPUs and GPUs, the next near-term and widely available alternative industry is considering for higher performance in the data center and cloud is the FPGA accelerator. We discuss several challenges a developer has to face when designing and integrating FPGA accelerators for big data analytics pipelines. On the software side, we observe complex run-time systems, hardware-unfriendly in-memory layouts of data sets, and (de)serialization overhead. On the hardware side, we observe a relative lack of platform-agnostic open-source tooling, a high design effort for data structure-specific interfaces, and a high design effort for infrastructure. The open source Fletcher framework addresses these challenges. It is built on top of Apache Arrow, which provides a common, hardware-friendly in-memory format to allow zero-copy communication of large tabular data, preventing (de)serialization overhead. Fletcher adds FPGA accelerators to the list of over eleven supported software languages. To deal with the hardware challenges, we present Arrow-specific components, providing easy-to-use, high-performance interfaces to accelerated kernels. The components are combined based on a generic architecture that is specialized according to the application through an extensive infrastructure generation framework that is presented in this article. All generated hardware is vendor-agnostic, and software drivers add a platform-agnostic layer, allowing users to create portable implementations.
A stylized macro-model with interacting real, monetary and stock markets
Authors: Cavalli F. , Naimzada A. , Pecora N.
Published: March 2021

We propose a model economy consisting of interdependent real, monetary and stock markets. The money market is influenced by the real one through a standard LM equation. Private expenditures depend on stock prices, which in turn are affected by interest rates and real profits, as these contribute to determine the participation level in the stock market. An evolutionary mechanism regulates agents’ participation in the stock market on the basis of a fitness measure that depends on the comparison between the stock return and the interest rate. Relying on analytical investigations complemented by numerical simulations, we study the economically relevant static and dynamic properties of the equilibrium, identifying the possible sources of instabilities and the channels through which they spread across markets. We aim at understanding what micro- and macro-factors affect the dynamics and, at the same time, how the dynamics of asset prices, which are ultimately influenced by the money market, behave over the business cycle. Starting from isolated markets, we show the effect of increasing the market interdependence on the national income, the stock price and the share of agents that participate in the stock market at the equilibrium. Moreover, we investigate the stabilizing/destabilizing role of market integration and the possible emergence of out-of-equilibrium dynamics.
Beyond Japanese NDC: energy and macroeconomic transitions towards 2050 in emission pathways with multiple ambition levels
Authors: Silva Herran Diego , Fujimori Shinichiro
Published: March 2021

Japan has set greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets for 2030 and 2050, as stated in the nationally determined contribution (NDC) and in the long-term strategy for decarbonization (LTS) submitted to the UNFCCC in 2020, respectively. While upgrading these targets is needed to realize the global climate goals (2 °C and 1.5 °C), the implications of the target for the period in-between remains unclear. This study assesses the energy and macroeconomic impacts of enhancing the ambition of 2040 and 2050 emission reduction targets in Japan by means of a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. In addition, we analyze the implications on the speed of energy efficiency improvement and low-carbon energy penetration along with macroeconomic impacts, and the shift from the current LTS goal (80% emissions reduction by 2050) to a full decarbonization one. The study shows that, compared to the current ambition (53% reduction by 2040 compared to 2005), enhancing ambition of the 2040 (63% reduction by 2040 compared to 2005) and 2050 targets (zero emissions by 2050) rises the share of low-carbon energy supply more drastically than the decreases in energy intensity, and increases macroeconomic costs by 19–72%. Moreover, meeting these targets demands accelerating considerably the reductions in carbon intensities through expansion of renewables and CCS beyond historical trends and beyond current efforts towards the 2030s NDC. Enabling larger low-carbon supplies and energy efficiency improvements makes full decarbonization by 2050 possible at costs equivalent to current ambition. Further analyses are needed to clarify at a finer detail the implications of changes in these enablers by sectors, technologies and policies. This kind of analysis offer key insights on the feasibility of Japan’s emission reduction targets for the formulation of new commitments for the next cycle of the Global Stocktake under the Paris Agreement.
Prostate cancer follow-up costs in Germany from 2000 to 2015
Authors: Michaeli Thomas , Michaeli Daniel
Published: March 2021

Purpose

The main objective of this study is to estimate and evaluate 10-year follow-up costs after prostate cancer treatment with curative (surgery, radiotherapy) and non-curative intent (hormone, androgen deprivation) per patient in Germany in 2000, 2008, and 2015.

Methods

Prostate cancer follow-up recommendations were extracted from the European Association of Urology guidelines from 2000 to 2015. Per patient costs were calculated with a detailed micro-costing approach considering direct and indirect medical expenses. Input parameters were derived from expert interviews, literature research, and official scales of tariffs. Costs for insurers, providers, and payers were included to estimate societal costs.

Results

Mean 10-year follow-up costs per patient after treatment with curative intent amounted to EUR 4415 in 2000, EUR 4224 in 2008 (p < 0.001), and EUR 5159 in 2015 (p < 0.001). Costs after hormone therapy with metastasis cumulated to EUR 10,846 in 2000, EUR 9818 in 2008 (p < 0.001), and EUR 11,978 in 2015 (p < 0.001). While insurers covered 37% of costs in 2000 (EUR 1664), only 23% of costs were reimbursed in 2015 (EUR 1195; p < 0.001). Cost sources mainly included consultations (55%), transportation (18%), and imaging (27%).

Conclusion

Early detection and advances in prostate cancer treatment increased 10-year survival rates beyond 80% in Germany, ultimately expanding the number of survivors requiring follow-up. Statutory insurers reacted by decreasing the reimbursement rates to reduce per patient cost by up to 46%. Consequently, the economic burden was mainly shifted to payers and providers.

Implications for Cancer Survivors

Equitable and effective follow-up schedules covered by insurance funds are necessary to care for prostate cancer patients.
Defending Weapons Inspections from the Effects of Disinformation
Authors: Stewart Mallory
Published: March 2021

The intentional spread of disinformation is not a new challenge for the scientific world. We have seen it perpetuate the idea of a flat earth, convince communities that vaccines are more dangerous than helpful, and even suggest a connection between the “5G” communication infrastructure and COVID-19. Nor is disinformation a new phenomenon in the weapons inspection arena. Weapons inspectors themselves are often forced to sift through alternative narratives of events and inconsistent reporting, and they regularly see their credibility and conclusions questioned in the face of government politics or public biases. But certain recent disinformation campaigns have become so overwhelmingly comprehensive and effective that they constitute a new kind of threat. By preventing accountability for clear violations of international law, these campaigns have created a challenge to the survival of arms control treaties themselves. If weapons inspectors cannot regain the trust of the international community in the face of this challenge, it will be increasingly difficult to ensure compliance with arms control and disarmament treaties going forward. In this essay, I will briefly discuss one of the most comprehensive disinformation efforts of the past decade: the disinformation campaign used to prevent accountability for Syria's repeated use of chemical weapons. After this discussion, I will propose one possible approach to help protect the credibility of disarmament experts and weapons inspectors in the face of pervasive disinformation. This approach will require a concerted effort to connect and support compliance experts and to understand and explain their expertise across cultural, political, national, economic, and religious divides.
The Emergence of Climate Litigation in the Global South
Authors: Lin Jolene
Published: March 2021

Climate litigation in the Global South tends to be couched in rights-based clams including the right to life and a clean and healthy environment. Jolene Lin explained that this is in part due to the fact that many jurisdictions in the Global South have embedded environmental rights in their constitutions and, in some cases, courts have interpreted the right to life to include the right to a clean and healthy environment.
On the Legality Under International Law of the Criminalization or Suppression of the Expression of Solidarity to Refugees
Authors: Okafor Obiora Chinedu
Published: March 2021

As Professor Jastram has noted, in and of itself, international refugee law is not explicit enough on the issue at hand. It is not clear enough in protecting persons who come in aid of, or show solidarity to, refugees or asylum-seekers. That does not mean, however, that no protections exist for them at all in other, if you like, sub-bodies of international law. This presentation focuses on the nature and character of those already existing international legal protections, as well as on any protection gaps that remain and recommendations on how they can be closed. It should be noted though that although the bulk of the presentation focuses on the relevant international legal protection arguments, this presentation begins with a short examination of the nature of the acts of criminalization and suppression at issue.
The Greening of International Dispute Settlement? Stepping Back a Little
Authors: Bethlehem Daniel
Published: March 2021

Thank you, Catherine, for that introduction and welcome. It is a pleasure to be here, most importantly to honor Charles Brower—who I hope and presume is out there, even if he is not immediately visible. I will have more to say about Charlie in just a moment.
Remarks by: James Kateka, Mamadou Hébié, Marc Weller, Milena Sterio, and Nawi Ukabiala
Authors: Kateka James , Hébié Mamadou , Weller Marc , Sterio Milena , Ukabiala Nawi
Published: March 2021

This panel was convened at 11:30 a.m., Thursday, June 25, 2020, by its moderator James Kateka of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, who introduced the panelists: Mamadou Hébié of the International Court of Justice; Marc Weller of the University of Cambridge Faculty of Law; Milena Sterio of Cleveland-Marshall College of Law; and Nawi Ukabiala of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP.
Introductory Remarks by Amat Al Alim Alsoswa
Authors: Alsoswa Amat Al Alim
Published: March 2021

This panel was organized by ASIL’s “Transitional Justice and Rule of Law” Interest Group. In an Annual Meeting focused upon “the promise of international law,” the Interest Group proposed for discussion the topic of “Transitional Justice in a Hostile Climate.” To be completely frank, transitional justice always faces a hostile climate. The calls for justice for innocent people injured by war, lawless governmental authorities, and political and legal structures supporting gender, racial, ethnic, and economic discrimination must be addressed. And the climate is, if anything, increasingly hostile.
Remarks by Kevin D. Mohr
Authors: Mohr Kevin D. , Avila Gabriela Alvarez , Solé Carlos , Das Kasturi
Published: March 2021

The title of our panel promises to explore whether investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) is a barrier, a facilitator, or neither regarding the global fight against climate change. This is an issue of urgent concern because there is a growing consensus that the world economy needs to transition away from fossil fuels aggressively to avoid the worst case climate scenarios, which would require a massive flow of investment out of fossil fuel production and into the production of renewable energy sources (RES). Broadly speaking, state policymakers have two sets of tools at their disposal to encourage that transition: (1) tools to encourage investment in RES (carrots); and (2) tools to discourage investment and hasten divestment in hydrocarbon production (sticks). One way to frame the question is whether the ISDS system—designed as it is to protect foreign investment in a largely policy-neutral way—acts more as a facilitator of carrot-side policies, more as a barrier to stick-side policies, or neither? Put somewhat differently, does a strong ISDS system that would facilitate RES investment necessarily cause regulatory chill of stick-side policies aimed at divestment from fossil fuels, or is there a way to harmonize these seemingly divergent goals?
The Genesis of the Singapore Convention
Authors: Tong Edwin
Published: March 2021

Thank you to all of you for having me here. I am in very distinguished company today. What I would like to do is to provide an outline of the genesis of the Singapore Convention on Mediation (Convention), how we got here, and more importantly, how we see ourselves moving forward. It is important that, having achieved this significant milestone, we do not rest on our laurels. We need to take steps to ensure that mediation will be adopted and become mainstream in dispute resolution.
Introductory Remarks by Patrícia Galvão Teles
Authors: Teles Patrícia Galvão
Published: March 2021

Sea-level rise is accelerating globally. Small island states are particularly affected by sea-level rise, as are other coastal states. In light of this situation, important legal questions arise in relation to the law of the sea.
Legal and Ethical Framework for AI in Europe: Summary of Remarks
Authors: Gesley Jenny
Published: March 2021

In the European Union (EU) and Europe in general, there is currently no legally binding definition of artificial intelligence (AI) nor a common EU framework for the regulation of AI. The EU Independent High Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence (AI HLEG) defines AI systems as “software (and possibly also hardware) systems designed by humans that, given a complex goal, act in the physical or digital dimension by perceiving their environment through data acquisition, interpreting the collected structured or unstructured data, reasoning on the knowledge, or processing the information, derived from this data and deciding the best action(s) to take to achieve the given goal.” The European Commission in its white paper emphasized that a definition of AI “will need to be sufficiently flexible to accommodate technical progress while being precise enough to provide the necessary legal certainty.” In particular, the terms “data” and “algorithm” need to be defined. With the exception of autonomous vehicles, there are not many AI-specific binding rules yet. A common EU legal framework, which has been proposed in the European Commission's white paper, will build trust and provide legal certainty for consumers and businesses.
Introductory Remarks by Rochelle Dreyfuss
Authors: Dreyfuss Rochelle
Published: March 2021

I would like to thank the American Society of International Law for asking me to convene the Fifth Annual Detlev F. Vagts Roundtable on Transnational Law. When I was chosen back in 2019, I was very pleased to learn that the Society and the Vagts family were interested in hearing about international intellectual property law. As it has turned out, that choice was prescient. Given the current pressure to find and rapidly distribute treatments and vaccines to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, intellectual property rights have become a major focus of international concern. On the one hand, these rights encourage innovation. However exclusivity can also raise costs and pose obstacles to widespread distribution of the fruits of technological progress.
Introductory Remarks by César L. Coronel Ortega
Authors: Coronel Ortega César L.
Published: March 2021

As the title of the session indicates, we will be exploring the future of multilateralism in Latin America, which will inevitably entail looking at its record. Criticisms of multilateralism in the region abound, from recurrent debates about the effectiveness of the Organization of American States (OAS) and other regional institutions in promoting democratic governance and human rights, to the alleged failure of the Andean Community or Mercosur and similar organizations to promote true integration or economic development, or the difficulties in multilateral approaches to addressing crises such as those in Venezuela, Nicaragua, or Haiti.
Remarks by Karen J. Alter
Authors: Alter Karen J.
Published: March 2021

Any speculation about the promise and future of multilateralism in Latin America turns fundamentally on what we mean by multilateralism. If multilateralism is defined in numeric terms, as any formal cooperative endeavor undertaken by three or more states, then it is easy to predict that multilateralism is going to be an ongoing feature international politics everywhere. If the question concerns the future of particular Latin American multilateral institutions, such as the Inter-American Human Rights system, Mercosur, or the Andean Community, there might be greater worry and room for disagreement. We would then want to know “what part of the inter-American Human Rights system/Mercosur/Andean Community are you talking about?”
Remarks by Jorge Kamine
Authors: Kamine Jorge
Published: March 2021

If we focus on the past sixty years, which coincides with the founding of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), we can unequivocally say that there have been a number of notable and successful examples of “multilateralism” in Latin America in the context of economic development and integration. This assumes we define “multilateralism” broadly as groups of countries in Latin America (1) cooperating or participating in institutions, organizations, and initiatives that include more than two countries; (2) which include among their goals or objectives the advancement of economic development or economic integration in the region; and (3) which have produced or resulted in some economic outcome or benefit for the participating countries that we generally believe could not have been achieved by one country alone. While this definition may not perfectly follow John Ruggie's definition, my formulation of the definition of “multilateralism” ensures that we do not overlook or discount important examples of institutions formed by Latin American states and other states that are based on principles to address issues of common concern, namely economic development in the region. The advances and benefits that have been achieved through these institutions have been significant even if the more ambitious (and perhaps more aspirational) goals over the years of certain Latin American political leaders of a broader inter-American political and economic integration modeled on the European Union or even the narrower (but also ambitious) goal of projects focused on economic integration, like the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA), have not been fully achieved. Based on the definition that I have proposed of “multilateralism” with its focus on economic development, I would highlight some common features of the examples and cases where we have seen successful multilateralism and common features of the challenges that have been encountered in advancing multilateralist projects.
Closing Remarks by Janne E. Nijman
Authors: Nijman Janne E.
Published: March 2021

Thank you all for your explorations of the relationship between the city and international law and governance. Of course as we take from all your comments “the city” does not exist, nor does “the relation” between the local and the global. We explored the landscape of this intensifying dynamic—the promises and the complications. Thank you very much for your rich contributions to this Closing Plenary.
Remarks by John B. Bellinger III
Authors: Bellinger John B. , Visek Richard C. , Adams Catherine , Eick Christophe
Published: March 2021

Arnold & Porter has been honored to be able to host the annual “L” Reception for current and former members of the Legal Adviser's Office. It was a highlight for me to attend when I was the Legal Adviser. It has been a highlight to sponsor it. We, of course, invite friends of “L” like the two panelists that we have today.
Using intentions to predict fertility
Authors: Norling Johannes
Published: March 2021

On average, childless women observed by the Panel Study of Income Dynamics report that they intend to have more children than they actually have. A collection of intentions that record only whether respondents intend to have another child can more accurately predict the number of children they have. Errors in the formation of intentions are not required to explain this finding. Rather, if intentions record a survey respondent's most likely predicted number of children, then the average of these intentions does not necessarily equal average actual fertility, even if intentions are formed using rational expectations.
Investigating the bias of TanDEM-X digital elevation models of glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau: impacting factors and potential effects on geodetic mass-balance measurements
Authors: Li Jia , Li Zhi-Wei , Hu Jun , Wu Li-Xin , Li Xin , Guo Lei , Liu Zhuo , Miao Ze-Lang , Wang Wei , Chen Jun-Li
Published: March 2021

The TanDEM-X DEM is a valuable data source for estimating glacier mass balance. However, the accuracy of TanDEM-X elevation over glaciers can be affected by microwave penetration and phase decorrelation. To investigate the bias of TanDEM-X DEMs of glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau, these DEMs were subtracted from SPOT-6 DEMs obtained around the same time at two study sites. The average bias over the studied glacier areas in West Kunlun (175.0 km2) was 2.106 ± 0.012 m in April 2014, and it was 1.523 ± 0.011 m in Geladandong (228.8 km2) in October 2013. By combining backscatter coefficients and interferometric coherence maps, we found surface decorrelation and baseline decorrelation can cause obvious bias in addition to microwave penetration. If the optical/laser data and winter TanDEM-X data were used as new and historic elevation sources for mass-balance measurements over an arbitrary observation period of 10 years, the glacier mass loss rates in West Kunlun and Geladandong would be potentially underestimated by 0.218 ± 0.016 and 0.158 ± 0.011 m w.e. a−1, respectively. The impact is therefore significant, and users should carefully treat the bias of TanDEM-X DEMs when retrieving a geodetic glacier mass balance.
Zinc deficiency as a possible risk factor for increased susceptibility and severe progression of Corona Virus Disease 19
Authors: Wessels Inga , Rolles Benjamin , Slusarenko Alan J. , Rink Lothar
Published: March 2021

The importance of Zn for human health becomes obvious during Zn deficiency. Even mild insufficiencies of Zn cause alterations in haematopoiesis and immune functions, resulting in a proinflammatory phenotype and a disturbed redox metabolism. Although immune system malfunction has the most obvious effect, the functions of several tissue cell types are disturbed if Zn supply is limiting. Adhesion molecules and tight junction proteins decrease, while cell death increases, generating barrier dysfunction and possibly organ failure. Taken together, Zn deficiency both weakens the resistance of the human body towards pathogens and at the same time increases the danger of an overactive immune response that may cause tissue damage. The case numbers of Corona Virus Disease 19 (COVID-19) are still increasing, which is causing enormous problems for health systems and economies. There is an urgent need to reduce both the number of severe cases and the resulting deaths. While therapeutic options are still under investigation, and first vaccines have been approved, cost-effective ways to reduce the likelihood of or even prevent infection, and the transition from mild symptoms to more serious detrimental disease, are highly desirable. Nutritional supplementation might be an effective option to achieve these aims. In this review, we discuss known Zn deficiency effects in the context of an infection with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus-2 and its currently known pathogenic mechanisms and elaborate on how severe pre-existing Zn deficiency may pre-dispose patients to a severe progression of COVID-19. First published clinical data on the association of Zn homoeostasis with COVID-19 and registered studies in progress are listed.
The Fragility of Organization Capital
Authors: Boguth Oliver , Newton David , Simutin Mikhail
Published: March 2021

Firms with high levels of organization capital (OK), a firm-specific production factor provided by key employees, are known to be risky and earn high stock returns. We argue that fragility of OK (i.e., its sensitivity to potential disruptions) is an independently important dimension of this risk. We proxy for fragility by the size of the top management team and show that firms with small teams outperform firms with big teams by 5% annually. The return spread increases in the level of OK and correlates with the outside options of top executives. Further supporting our interpretation, shocks to team composition from unexpected deaths of chief executive officers cause larger value losses in smaller teams.
Relationships between attention to emotion and anxiety among a community sample of adolescents
Authors: Mullin Benjamin C. , Holzman Jacob B. W. , Pyle Laura , Perks Emmaly L. , Chintaluru Yaswanth , Gulley Lauren D. , Haraden Dustin A. , Hankin Benjamin L.
Published: March 2021

Background

Attentional bias to threat has been implicated as a cognitive mechanism in anxiety disorders for youth. Yet, prior studies documenting this bias have largely relied on a method with questionable reliability (i.e. dot-probe task) and small samples, few of which included adolescents. The current study sought to address such limitations by examining relations between anxiety – both clinically diagnosed and dimensionally rated – and attentional bias to threat.

Methods

The study included a community sample of adolescents and employed eye-tracking methodology intended to capture possible biases across the full range of both automatic (i.e. vigilance bias) and controlled attentional processes (i.e. avoidance bias, maintenance bias). We examined both dimensional anxiety (across the full sample; n = 215) and categorical anxiety in a subset case-control analysis (n = 100) as predictors of biases.

Results

Findings indicated that participants with an anxiety disorder oriented more slowly to angry faces than matched controls. Results did not suggest a greater likelihood of initial orienting to angry faces among our participants with anxiety disorders or those with higher dimensional ratings of anxiety. Greater anxiety severity was associated with greater dwell time to neutral faces.

Conclusions

This is the largest study to date examining eye-tracking metrics of attention to threat among healthy and anxious youth. Findings did not support the notion that anxiety is characterized by heightened vigilance or avoidance/maintenance of attention to threat. All effects detected were extremely small. Links between attention to threat and anxiety among adolescents may be subtle and highly dependent on experimental task dimensions.
LOCALLY RISK-MINIMIZING HEDGING FOR EUROPEAN CONTINGENT CLAIMS WRITTEN ON NON-TRADABLE ASSETS WITH COMMON JUMP RISK
Authors: Su Xiaonan , Xing Yu , Wang Wei , Wang Wensheng
Published: March 2021

This article investigates the optimal hedging problem of the European contingent claims written on non-tradable assets. We assume that the risky assets satisfy jump diffusion models with a common jump process which reflects the correlated jump risk. The non-tradable asset and jump risk lead to an incomplete financial market. Hence, the cross-hedging method will be used to reduce the potential risk of the contingent claims seller. First, we obtain an explicit closed-form solution for the locally risk-minimizing hedging strategies of the European contingent claims by using the Föllmer–Schweizer decomposition. Then, we consider the hedging for a European call option as a special case. The value of the European call option under the minimal martingale measure is derived by the Fourier transform method. Next, some semi-closed solution formulae of the locally risk-minimizing hedging strategies for the European call option are obtained. Finally, some numerical examples are provided to illustrate the sensitivities of the optimal hedging strategies. By comparing the optimal hedging strategies when the underlying asset is a non-tradable asset or a tradable asset, we find that the liquidity risk has a significant impact on the optimal hedging strategies.
Delivering cognitive therapy for adolescent social anxiety disorder in NHS CAMHS: a qualitative analysis of the experiences of young people, their parents and clinicians-in-training
Authors: Taylor Lucy , Creswell Cathy , Pearcey Samantha , Brooks Emma , Leigh Eleanor , Stallard Paul , Waite Polly , Clark David M. , Stephens Gareth , Larkin Michael
Published: March 2021

Background:

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is common. It usually starts in adolescence, and without treatment can disrupt key developmental milestones. Existing generic treatments are less effective for young people with SAD than with other anxiety disorders, but an adaptation of an effective adult therapy (CT-SAD-A) has shown promising results for adolescents.

Aims:

The aim of this study was to conduct a qualitative exploration to contribute towards the evaluation of CT-SAD-A for adoption into Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).

Method:

We used interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to analyse the transcripts of interviews with a sample of six young people, six parents and seven clinicians who were learning the treatment.

Results:

Three cross-cutting themes were identified: (i) endorsing the treatment; (ii) finding therapy to be collaborative and active; challenging but helpful; and (iii) navigating change in a complex setting. Young people and parents found the treatment to be useful and acceptable, although simultaneously challenging. This was echoed by the clinicians, with particular reference to integrating CT-SAD-A within community CAMHS settings.

Conclusions:

The acceptability of the treatment with young people, their parents and clinicians suggests further work is warranted in order to support its development and implementation within CAMHS settings.
The struggle against sexual violence in conflict: Investigating the digital turn
Authors: Sandvik Kristin Bergtora , Lohne Kjersti
Published: March 2021

Digital technological innovations make new types of responses to conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) possible, bringing with them both potential promises and pitfalls. Aiming to provide a conceptual starting point for further analysis, this article problematizes the trend towards data extraction in exchange for aid, protection and justice, and argues for the importance of complementing technology-driven approaches to the struggle against CRSV with the inclusion of strategies for user participation and investment in digital literacy as key aspects of the response. To explore how the digital turn shapes the struggle against CRSV, the article offers a three-part analytical framework. First, the article unpacks how digital technologies create corresponding “digital bodies” – comprised of images, information, biometrics and other data stored in digital space – which represent the bodies of individuals affected by sexual violence, and which interplay with the risks posed upon the physical bodies of those facing CRSV. Second, the article maps out the role of digital technologies in a cycle of intervention, including prevention of, response to, documentation of and accountability for CRSV. Third, recognizing the increasing importance of data governance to the struggle against CRSV, the article considers how divergent humanitarian, human rights and international criminal law approaches to data may create different pathways for CRSV data. This could also give rise to new tensions in how international actors approach CRSV.
Conserved and reproducible bacterial communities associate with extraradical hyphae of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi
Authors: Emmett Bryan D , Lévesque-Tremblay Véronique , Harrison Maria J
Published: March 2021

Extraradical hyphae (ERH) of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) extend from plant roots into the soil environment and interact with soil microbial communities. Evidence of positive and negative interactions between AMF and soil bacteria point to functionally important ERH-associated communities. To characterize communities associated with ERH and test controls on their establishment and composition, we utilized an in-growth core system containing a live soil–sand mixture that allowed manual extraction of ERH for 16S rRNA gene amplicon profiling. Across experiments and soils, consistent enrichment of members of the Betaproteobacteriales, Myxococcales, Fibrobacterales, Cytophagales, Chloroflexales, and Cellvibrionales was observed on ERH samples, while variation among samples from different soils was observed primarily at lower taxonomic ranks. The ERH-associated community was conserved between two fungal species assayed, Glomus versiforme and Rhizophagus irregularis, though R. irregularis exerted a stronger selection and showed greater enrichment for taxa in the Alphaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria. A distinct community established within 14 days of hyphal access to the soil, while temporal patterns of establishment and turnover varied between taxonomic groups. Identification of a conserved ERH-associated community is consistent with the concept of an AMF microbiome and can aid the characterization of facilitative and antagonistic interactions influencing the plant-fungal symbiosis.
Systematic discovery of pseudomonad genetic factors involved in sensitivity to tailocins
Authors: Carim Sean , Azadeh Ashley L , Kazakov Alexey E , Price Morgan N , Walian Peter J , Lui Lauren M , Nielsen Torben N , Chakraborty Romy , Deutschbauer Adam M , Mutalik Vivek K , Arkin Adam P
Published: March 2021

Tailocins are bactericidal protein complexes produced by a wide variety of bacteria that kill closely related strains and may play a role in microbial community structure. Thanks to their high specificity, tailocins have been proposed as precision antibacterial agents for therapeutic applications. Compared to tailed phages, with whom they share an evolutionary and morphological relationship, bacterially produced tailocins kill their host upon production but producing strains display resistance to self-intoxication. Though lipopolysaccharide (LPS) has been shown to act as a receptor for tailocins, the breadth of factors involved in tailocin sensitivity, and the mechanisms behind resistance to self-intoxication, remain unclear. Here, we employed genome-wide screens in four non-model pseudomonads to identify mutants with altered fitness in the presence of tailocins produced by closely related pseudomonads. Our mutant screens identified O-antigen composition and display as most important in defining sensitivity to our tailocins. In addition, the screens suggest LPS thinning as a mechanism by which resistant strains can become more sensitive to tailocins. We validate many of these novel findings, and extend these observations of tailocin sensitivity to 130 genome-sequenced pseudomonads. This work offers insights into tailocin–bacteria interactions, informing the potential use of tailocins in microbiome manipulation and antibacterial therapy.
Changing expression patterns of TonB-dependent transporters suggest shifts in polysaccharide consumption over the course of a spring phytoplankton bloom
Authors: Francis T Ben , Bartosik Daniel , Sura Thomas , Sichert Andreas , Hehemann Jan-Hendrik , Markert Stephanie , Schweder Thomas , Fuchs Bernhard M , Teeling Hanno , Amann Rudolf I , Becher Dörte
Published: March 2021

Algal blooms produce large quantities of organic matter that is subsequently remineralised by bacterial heterotrophs. Polysaccharide is a primary component of algal biomass. It has been hypothesised that individual bacterial heterotrophic niches during algal blooms are in part determined by the available polysaccharide substrates present. Measurement of the expression of TonB-dependent transporters, often specific for polysaccharide uptake, might serve as a proxy for assessing bacterial polysaccharide consumption over time. To investigate this, we present here high-resolution metaproteomic and metagenomic datasets from bacterioplankton of the 2016 spring phytoplankton bloom at Helgoland island in the southern North Sea, and expression profiles of TonB-dependent transporters during the bloom, which demonstrate the importance of both the Gammaproteobacteria and the Bacteroidetes as degraders of algal polysaccharide. TonB-dependent transporters were the most highly expressed protein class, split approximately evenly between the Gammaproteobacteria and Bacteroidetes, and totalling on average 16.7% of all detected proteins during the bloom. About 93% of these were predicted to take up organic matter, and for about 12% of the TonB-dependent transporters, we predicted a specific target polysaccharide class. Most significantly, we observed a change in substrate specificities of the expressed transporters over time, which was not reflected in the corresponding metagenomic data. From this, we conclude that algal cell wall-related compounds containing fucose, mannose, and xylose were mostly utilised in later bloom stages, whereas glucose-based algal and bacterial storage molecules including laminarin, glycogen, and starch were used throughout. Quantification of transporters could therefore be key for understanding marine carbon cycling.
Deep sea sediments associated with cold seeps are a subsurface reservoir of viral diversity
Authors: Li Zexin , Pan Donald , Wei Guangshan , Pi Weiling , Zhang Chuwen , Wang Jiang-Hai , Peng Yongyi , Zhang Lu , Wang Yong , Hubert Casey R J , Dong Xiyang
Published: March 2021

In marine ecosystems, viruses exert control on the composition and metabolism of microbial communities, influencing overall biogeochemical cycling. Deep sea sediments associated with cold seeps are known to host taxonomically diverse microbial communities, but little is known about viruses infecting these microorganisms. Here, we probed metagenomes from seven geographically diverse cold seeps across global oceans to assess viral diversity, virus–host interaction, and virus-encoded auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs). Gene-sharing network comparisons with viruses inhabiting other ecosystems reveal that cold seep sediments harbour considerable unexplored viral diversity. Most cold seep viruses display high degrees of endemism with seep fluid flux being one of the main drivers of viral community composition. In silico predictions linked 14.2% of the viruses to microbial host populations with many belonging to poorly understood candidate bacterial and archaeal phyla. Lysis was predicted to be a predominant viral lifestyle based on lineage-specific virus/host abundance ratios. Metabolic predictions of prokaryotic host genomes and viral AMGs suggest that viruses influence microbial hydrocarbon biodegradation at cold seeps, as well as other carbon, sulfur and nitrogen cycling via virus-induced mortality and/or metabolic augmentation. Overall, these findings reveal the global diversity and biogeography of cold seep viruses and indicate how viruses may manipulate seep microbial ecology and biogeochemistry.
Conserved bacterial de novo guanine biosynthesis pathway enables microbial survival and colonization in the environmental niche of the urinary tract
Authors: Ipe Deepak S , Sullivan Matthew J , Goh Kelvin G K , Hashimi Saeed M , Munn Alan L , Ulett Glen C
Published: March 2021

In bacteria, guaA encodes guanosine monophosphate synthetase that confers an ability to biosynthesize guanine nucleotides de novo. This enables bacterial colonization in different environments and, while guaA is widely distributed among Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes, its contribution to the inhabitation of the human microbiome by commensal bacteria is unclear. We studied Streptococcus as a commensal urogenital tract bacterium and opportunistic pathogen, and explored the role of guaA in bacterial survival and colonization of urine. Analysis of guaA-deficient Streptococcus revealed guanine utilization is essential for bacterial colonization of this niche. The genomic location of guaA in other commensals of the human urogenital tract revealed substantial cross-phyla diversity and organizational structures of guaA that are divergent across phyla. Essentiality of guaA for Streptococcus colonization in the urinary tract establishes that purine biosynthesis is a critical element of the ability of this bacterium to survive and colonize in the host as part of the resident human microbiome.