bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Social Robotics and Engineering Students: Do They Match? Does Culture Matter?
Authors: Erden Mustafa Suphi
Published: December 2019

This study investigates the level of familiarity and interest of students towards social robotics through a survey conducted with the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Students at Heriot-Watt University in the UK and Electrical Engineering Students at Xidian University in China. The results indicate that whereas there is no significant difference in the level of familiarity within the three groups of students and no significant difference in the level of interest between the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Students at Heriot Watt University, there is a statistically significant difference in the level of interest towards social robotics between the Heriot-Watt University and Xidian University Students. Xidian University Students demonstrate a higher level of interest towards social robotics. The qualitative analysis shows that many of the Xidian University Students are willing to perceive and have robots as companions whereas none of the Heriot-Watt University Students show such or similar tendency. This observation indicates that cultural background plays a significant role in interests and preferences of the students towards social robotics.
Eleventh Graders’ Increasingly Elaborate Language Use for Disentangling Amount and Change: A Case Study on the Epistemic Role of Syntactic Language Complexity
Authors: Prediger Susanne , Şahin-Gür Dilan
Published: December 2019

The syntactic dimension of academic language has often been studied with respect to students’ difficulties with syntactic features in mathematical textbooks and test items, and these studies have contributed to understanding the communicative role of language. In contrast, the epistemic role of students’ language use has mainly been explored in lexical and discourse dimensions. This research has shown that higher order cognitive demands require more elaborate language means. The aim of this article is to contribute to theorizing the epistemic role of syntactic language complexity by means of a topic-specific investigation using the mathematical topic of qualitative calculus, i.e., the informal meanings of amount and change. In order to do this, the learning process study presented in this article investigates 18 eleventh graders’ conceptual pathways while dealing with challenging tasks on amount and change. The identification of different syntactic complexities in students’ utterances provides an overview of the variance of possible phrase structures. Further, it shows that successive conceptual conciseness requires either increasing syntactic complexity or conceptual condensation. So increasing elaborateness in the lexical and syntactic dimensions seem to compensate each other.
The Physical Parameters of Athenian Democracy
Authors: Pritchard David M.
Published: December 2019

This article investigates the physical parameters of Athenian democracy. It explores the collective-action problems that these parameters caused and settles debates about them that R. G. Osborne famously provoked. Classical Athens was ten times larger than an average Greek state. Fourth-century Athenians were ten times more numerous. These parameters significantly contributed to the success of Athenian democracy. Athens could field more combatants than almost every other Greek state. With such huge manpower reserves individual Athenians had to fight only every few years. Nevertheless, this huge population also caused collective-action problems. Attica's farmers could not grow enough to feed them. The Athenians never had adequate personnel nor recordkeeping centrally to administer so many citizens over such a large territory. Yet they found effective means at home and abroad to overcome these collective-action problems.
Carausius and His Brothers: The Construction and Deconstruction of an Imperial Image in the Late Third Century AD
Authors: Davenport Caillan
Published: December 2019

This article examines the public image of the emperor Carausius, a Roman army officer who claimed authority over Britain and parts of Gaul between 286 and 293, in opposition to Diocletian and his Tetrarchic colleagues. Carausius’ coinage celebrated his fleet, his naval prowess, and his divine support from Neptune and Oceanus. These designs were created as part of a strategy to refashion Carausius’ humble background as a sailor into a statement of imperial suitability. However, Carausius’ claims were undermined by the orators who delivered speeches in praise of his Tetrarchic rivals, Maximian and Constantius, in the years 289, 291, and 297. Their panegyrics subverted Carausius’ naval experience and claim to control the Ocean, instead portraying him as a pirate, brigand, and threat to the people of Gaul. After the reconquest of Britain, the medallions and monuments of the Tetrarchic regime commemorated their own naval success and control over the Ocean, suppressing the claims of Carausius. The propaganda campaign against Carausius was driven by the fact that he was an emperor of undistinguished origin, who had risen up through the ranks of the army, just like the Tetrarchs themselves. The emperors wished to distance themselves from their former colleague in order to discourage further rebellion from within the officer corps.
Family Law Court orders for supervised contact in custodial disputes – unanswered questions
Authors: Schindeler Emily
Published: December 2019

The focus of this study was on the application of orders for supervised access made by the Australian Family Law Court in cases that involved conflicting claims by custodial and noncustodial parents. Based on accessible Court transcripts for the 28-month period ending in early 2019, 103 cases involving 172 children were identified in which orders required supervision for visitation and/or changeovers. The patterns found through thematic analysis suggest that there is a shift to increasing use of final orders involving supervision through child contact centers as either an indeterminate or permanent arrangement. This shift has significant implications for current models of supervised access/changeover, and a greater understanding in terms of the outcomes being achieved is required.
Ultra-orthodox Jewish communities and child sexual abuse: A case study of the Australian Royal Commission and its implications for faith-based communities
Authors: Mendes Philip , Pinskier Marcia , McCurdy Samone , Averbukh Rachel
Published: December 2019

To date, little is known about manifestations of child sexual abuse (CSA) within ultra-orthodox Jewish communities both in Australia and abroad. There is a paucity of empirical studies on the prevalence of CSA within Jewish communities, and little information on the responses of Jewish community organisations, or the experiences of Jewish CSA survivors and their families. This paper draws on a case study of two ultra-orthodox Jewish organisations from the recent Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to examine the religious and cultural factors that may inform Jewish communal responses to CSA. Attention is drawn to factors that render ultra-orthodox communities vulnerable to large-scale CSA, religious laws and beliefs that may influence the reporting of abuse to secular authorities, and the communal structures that may lead to victims rather than offenders being subjected to personal attacks and exclusion from the community. Commonalities are identified between ultra-orthodox Jews and other faith-based communities, and reforms suggested to improve child safety across religious groups.
Sub-40-fs high-power Yb:CALYO laser pumped by single-mode fiber laser
Authors: Tian Wenlong , Wang Geyang , Zhang Dacheng , Zhu Jiangfeng , Wang Zhaohua , Xu Xiaodong , Xu Jun , Wei Zhiyi
Published: December 2019

We report on the study of single-mode fiber-laser-pumped mode-locked Yb:CALYO lasers via using a passive saturable absorber and Kerr-lens mode-locking technique, respectively. Up to 3.1-W average power with 103-fs pulse duration is obtained from the passive mode-locking, and down to 36-fs pulse duration with more than 2-W average power is achieved by the pure Kerr-lens mode-locking, which is to the best of our knowledge, the highest average power from a reported sub-40-fs Yb-based solid-state oscillator.
Exploring syntactic variation by means of “Language Production Experiments”: Methods from and analyses on German in Austria
Authors: Lenz Alexandra N. , Breuer Ludwig Maximilian , Fingerhuth Matthias , Wittibschlager Anja , Seltmann Melanie E.-H.
Published: December 2019

This article presents computer supported “language production experiments” (LPEs) as a method for the investigation of syntactic variation. It describes the setup for the investigation of numerous syntactic phenomena and provides a sample study of the German GET passive across Austria. It also suggests that LPEs offer possibilities for the targeted investigation of linguistic variation in various ways. They may be used to explore speakers’ individual linguistic repertoires and an according corpus setup can be used to examine e.g., interspeaker patterns of variation. LPEs also enable researchers to investigate which linguistic factors control or influence syntactic variation.
New Single-Year Radiocarbon Measurements Based on Danish oak Covering the Periods AD 692–790 and 966–1057
Authors: Kudsk Sabrina G K , Philippsen Bente , Baittinger Claudia , Fogtmann-Schulz Alexandra , Knudsen Mads F , Karoff Christoffer , Olsen Jesper
Published: December 2019

Single-year measurements of radiocarbon (14C) in tree rings have led to the discovery of rapid cosmic-ray events as well as longer lasting anomalies, which have given new insights into the Sun’s behavior in the past. Here, we present two new single-year 14C records based on Danish oak that span the periods AD 692–790 and 966–1057, respectively, and consequently include the two rapid cosmic-ray events in AD 775 and 994. The new data are presented along with relevant information on the dendrochronological dating of the wood pieces, implying that these new measurements may contribute towards generating the next international calibration curve. The new data covering the AD 966–1057 period suggest that the increase in atmospheric 14C associated with the cosmic-ray event in AD 994 actually occurred in AD 993, i.e. one year earlier than the year reported in Fogtmann-Schulz et al. (2017) based on oak from southern Denmark. Careful reanalysis of the dendrochronology that underpins the new 14C records based on oak material from southern Denmark reveals that the cosmic-ray event reported in Fogtmann-Schulz et al. (2017) actually took place in AD 993.
Higher intakes of dietary vitamin D, calcium and dairy products are inversely associated with the risk of colorectal cancer: a case–control study in China
Authors: Zhang Xin , Fang Yu-Jing , Feng Xiao-Li , Abulimiti Alinuer , Huang Chu-Yi , Luo Hong , Zhang Nai-Qi , Chen Yu-Ming , Zhang Cai-Xia
Published: December 2019

The effects of dietary vitamin D, Ca and dairy products intakes on colorectal cancer risk remain controversial. The present study investigated the association between these dietary intakes and the risk of colorectal cancer in Guangdong, China. From July 2010 to December 2018, 2380 patients with colorectal cancer and 2389 sex- and age-matched controls were recruited. Dietary intake data were collected through face-to-face interviews using a validated FFQ. Unconditional multivariable logistic regression models were used to calculate the OR and 95 % CI after adjusting for various confounders. Higher dietary vitamin D and Ca intakes were associated with 43 and 52 % reductions in colorectal cancer risk, with OR of 0·57 (95 % CI 0·46, 0·70) and 0·48 (95 % CI 0·39, 0·61), respectively, for the highest quartile (v. the lowest quartile) intakes. A statistically significant inverse association was observed between total dairy product intake and colorectal cancer risk, with an adjusted OR of 0·32 (95 % CI 0·27, 0·39) for the highest v. the lowest tertile. Subjects who drank milk had a 48 % lower risk of colorectal cancer than those who did not (OR 0·52, 95 % CI 0·45, 0·59). The inverse associations of dietary vitamin D, Ca, total dairy products and milk intakes with the risk of colorectal cancer were independent of sex and cancer site. Our study supports the protective effects of high dietary vitamin D, Ca and dairy products intakes against colorectal cancer in a Chinese population.
Unconventional Monetary Policy, Bank Lending, and Security Holdings: The Yield-Induced Portfolio-Rebalancing Channel
Authors: Paludkiewicz Karol
Published: December 2019

This article studies the impact of unconventional monetary policy on bank lending and security holdings. I exploit granular security register data and use a difference- in-differences regression setup to provide evidence for a yield-induced portfolio rebalancing: Banks experiencing large average yield declines in their securities portfolio, induced by unconventional monetary policy, increase their real-sector lending more strongly relative to other banks. The effect is stronger for banks facing many reinvestment decisions. Moreover, I find that banks with large yield declines reduce their government bond holdings and sell securities bought under the asset-purchase program of the European Central Bank (ECB).
Conservation conversations: a typology of barriers to conservation success
Authors: Sanders Michele Jeanette , Miller Laura , Bhagwat Shonil A. , Rogers Alex
Published: December 2019

Despite considerable achievements in the field of conservation, biodiversity continues to decline and conservation initiatives face numerous barriers. Although many of these barriers are well known, for example insufficient funding and capacity, there has been no systematic attempt to catalogue and categorize them into a typology. Because risks compromise the conservation mission, any barrier to success is a risk. Here we present the first attempt at identifying key barriers. We analyse extensive interviews with 74 conservationists, primarily from Africa but with international experience, to identify potential risks to their projects and use that information to create a typology of barriers to conservation success. We draw on the literature to explain the prevalence of some of the barriers identified. We suggest that this typology could form the basis of heuristic tools that conservationists can use to identify and manage potential risks to their projects, thereby improving decision-making, strategic planning and, ultimately, overall impact. The typology is also useful for the conservation community (comprising conservationists and funders) to help implement better practices and improve the likelihood of success. We present examples of such work already underway and suggest more can be done to continue to improve.
Closing the symbolic reference gap to support flexible reasoning about the passage of time
Authors: DeNigris Danielle , Brooks Patricia J.
Published: December 2019

This commentary relates Hoerl & McCormack's dual systems perspective to models of cognitive development emphasizing representational redescription and the role of culturally constructed tools, including language, in providing flexible formats for thinking. We describe developmental processes that enable children to construct a mental time line, situate themselves in time, and overcome the primacy of the here and now.
Temporal updating, temporal reasoning, and the domain of time
Authors: Hoerl Christoph , McCormack Teresa
Published: December 2019

We focus on three main sets of topics emerging from the commentaries on our target article. First, we discuss several types of animal behavior that commentators cite as evidence against our claim that animals are restricted to temporal updating and cannot engage in temporal reasoning. In doing so, we illustrate further how explanations of behavior in terms of temporal updating work. Second, we respond to commentators’ queries about the developmental process through which children acquire a capacity for temporal reasoning and about the relation between our account and accounts drawing similar distinctions in other domains of cognition. Finally, we address some broader theoretical issues arising from the commentaries, concerning in particular the question as to how our account relates to the phenomenology of experience in time, and the question as to whether our dichotomy between temporal reasoning and temporal updating is exhaustive, or whether there might be other forms of cognition or representation related to time not captured by it.
Choreographic Ghosts: Dance and the Revival of Shuffle Along
Authors: Das Joanna Dee
Published: December 2019

In 2016, director George C. Wolfe and choreographer Savion Glover created Shuffle Along, or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed, a backstage musical about the 1921 show Shuffle Along, noted for its all-black cast and creative team. Although Wolfe proclaimed dance to be the most important aspect of the original musical, his production does not mention Shuffle Along’s original choreographer, Lawrence Deas, nor does it examine the labor of choreography. These omissions expose how dance on Broadway remains subordinate to other aspects of a musical, thus reproducing racist and sexist logics about embodied performance.
Hans Egede (1686–1758) and the alchemical tradition in Denmark-Norway
Authors: Norrgrén Hilde
Published: December 2019

Argument

Hans Egede (1686–1758), the famous missionary and natural historian in Greenland, was one of very few known Norwegian alchemists. This article seeks to place Egede’s alchemy in the context of the European alchemical tradition by identifying his sources in alchemical literature. Through an analysis of Egede’s account of an alchemical experiment performed by him in 1727, Ole Borch, Johann Joachim Becher, and Michael Sendivogius are identified as his main sources. Egede’s procedure and choice of materials are shown to be based on texts by these authors. The article argues that Egede’s alchemical interest was more pervasive than hitherto understood, through the demonstration of connections between his alchemical studies and his work as a natural historian. Further it is argued that Egede’s alchemy was not unique or anachronistic but exemplifies the continued belief in and practice of transmutational alchemy in Denmark-Norway in the early decades of the eighteenth century.
The uses of trauma in experiment: Traumatic stress and the history of experimental neurosis, c. 1925–1975
Authors: Koch Ulrich
Published: December 2019

Argument

The article retraces the shifting conceptualizations of psychological trauma in experimental psychopathological research in the middle decades of the twentieth century in the United States. Among researchers studying so-called experimental neuroses in animal laboratories, trauma was an often-invoked category used to denote the clash of conflicting forces believed to lead to neurotic suffering. Experimental psychologists, however, soon grew skeptical of the traumatogenic model and ultimately came to reject neurosis as a disease entity. Both theoretical differences and practical circumstances, such as the technical challenge of stabilizing neurotic symptoms in rats, led to this demise. Yet, despite their reservations, experimental psychologists continued to employ traumatic stimuli to produce psychopathological syndromes. In the 1960s, a new understanding of trauma evolved, which emphasized the loss of control experienced by traumatized animal subjects. These shifting ideas about trauma, I argue, reflect both varying experimental cultures, epistemic norms as well as changing societal concerns.
On square-free values of large polynomials over the rational function field
Authors: CARMON DAN , ENTIN ALEXEI
Published: December 2019

We investigate the density of square-free values of polynomials with large coefficients over the rational function field 𝔽q[t]. Some interesting questions answered as special cases of our results include the density of square-free polynomials in short intervals, and an asymptotic for the number of representations of a large polynomial N as a sum of a k-th power of a small polynomial and a square-free polynomial.
Prevalence and risk factors associated withCampylobacterspp. andSalmonella entericain livestock raised on diversified small-scale farms in California
Authors: Pires A. F. A. , Patterson L. , Kukielka E. A. , Aminabadi P. , Navarro-Gonzalez N. , Jay-Russell M. T.
Published: December 2019

Diversified farms are operations that raise a variety of crops and/or multiple species of livestock, with the goal of utilising the products of one for the growth of the other, thus fostering a sustainable cycle. This type of farming reflects consumers' increasing demand for sustainably produced, naturally raised or pasture-raised animal products that are commonly produced on diversified farms. The specific objectives of this study were to characterise diversified small-scale farms (DSSF) in California, estimate the prevalence ofSalmonella entericaandCampylobacterspp. in livestock and poultry, and evaluate the association between farm- and sample-level risk factors and the prevalence ofCampylobacterspp. on DSSF in California using a multilevel logistic model. Most participating farms were organic and raised more than one animal species. OverallSalmonellaprevalence was 1.19% (95% confidence interval (CI95) 0.6–2), and overallCampylobacterspp. prevalence was 10.8% (CI95= 9–12.9). Significant risk factors associated withCampylobacterspp. were farm size (odds ratio (OR)10–50 acres: less than 10 acres= 6, CI95= 2.11–29.8), ownership of swine (OR = 9.3, CI95= 3.4–38.8) and season (ORSpring: Coastal summer= 3.5, CI95= 1.1–10.9; ORWinter: Coastal summer= 3.23, CI95= 1.4–7.4). As the number of DSSF continues to grow, evaluating risk factors and management practices that are unique to these operations will help identify risk mitigation strategies and develop outreach materials to improve the food safety of animal and vegetable products produced on DSSF.
Burden of gastrointestinal illness in Sweden-SMS as a tool for collecting self-reported gastrointestinal illness
Authors: Säve-Söderbergh M. , Toljander J. , Bylund J. , Simonsson M.
Published: December 2019

We collected monthly reports on gastrointestinal illness (GII) episodes among 2348 adults in a 1-year cohort in South West Sweden. The GII episodes were collected by SMS (Short Message System) and validated by telephone interviews among the cohort participants and nationwide. The annual incidence was 0.64 and 0.43 cases per person-year for 28-day self-defined GII (any symptom) and acute GII (vomiting and/or ≥3 episodes of diarrhoea), respectively. The incidence was about 20% higher for the 14-day recall, compared with 28-day recall. The duration of illness was on average 2.3 days. We observed a unimodal seasonal distribution of GII, with the highest prevalence during winter. Responses collected by SMS highly correlated with responses collected by telephone. SMS survey was an efficient tool for the collection of repeated estimates of GII.
Hybridization and cuckoldry between black-browed and grey-headed albatrosses
Authors: Jones M.G.W. , Techow N.M.S. , Risi M.M. , Jones C.W. , Hagens Q.A. , Taylor F. , Ryan P.G.
Published: December 2019

A vagrant black-browed albatrossThalassarche melanophrisbred with a grey-headed albatrossT. chrysostomaon Marion Island at least four times between 2000 and 2009 (and continued to return to the colony until at least 2019). The eggs failed to hatch in three breeding attempts, but the pair fledged a chick in the 2006/07 breeding season. Genetic sexing identified the black-browed albatross as female and she shared all eight sampled microsatellite alleles with the chick, whereas the grey-headed albatross social parent did not match the chick. The fledgling was banded and re-sighted in its natal breeding colony in 2016 and 2018, when it displayed an intermediate black-browed x grey-headed albatross phenotype, similar to a putative hybrid photographed at sea off Australia. These results suggest that the black-browed albatross cuckolded its social mate with another grey-headed albatross in 2006/07. The failures of the other three breeding attempts at the egg stage possibly indicate genetic incompatibility with the social partner.
Heritage in danger. The collapse of commercial archaeology in Spain
Authors: Parga Dans Eva
Published: December 2019

As in most European countries and elsewhere, Spanish commercial archaeology is a business model based on the theoretical and technical principles of safeguarding heritage that thrived during the 1990s and 2000s. However, nearly half of the Spanish archaeological companies closed by 2014, stressing the drama associated with the redundancy of its workforce in a mere five-year period and the threat to heritage protection and management. The current context of global crisis has impacted this sector, which is on the brink of extinction. This emphasizes the need for a new paradigm of archaeological heritage management in the 21st century. This breakdown calls into question the extent to which archaeology can generate initiatives of sustainable heritage management. By analysing data derived from an empirical study of Spanish archaeological companies between 2009 and 2017, this paper explores the underlying factors behind the collapse of commercial archaeology. In doing so, it contributes to the current global debate about the future possibilities of heritage management in a post-industrial context.
The thing-in-itself. A reaction to current use of the term in archaeology
Authors: Nielsen Svein Vatsvåg
Published: December 2019

Scholars writing within symmetrical archaeology, or speculative realism, have lately claimed that archaeology should strive to grasp the thing-in-itself. This paper questions the rationale of this claim. It presents the philosophical definition of the concept of a thing-in-itself and a short presentation of its reception. The author argues that the concept of the thing-in-itself has nothing to offer archaeology, and questions why contemporary theoretical archaeologists show such an interest in this term.
Understanding barriers to women seeking and receiving help for perinatal mental health problems in UK general practice: development of a questionnaire
Authors: Ford Elizabeth , Roomi Hannah , Hugh Hannah , van Marwijk Harm
Published: December 2019

Aim:

To develop a questionnaire to measure quantitatively barriers and facilitators to women’s disclosure of perinatal mental health problems in UK primary care. To pilot and evaluate the questionnaire for content validity and internal consistency.

Background:

Around 15% of women develop a mental illness in the perinatal period, such as depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder. In the United Kingdom, 90% of these women will be cared for in primary care, yet currently in as many as 50% of cases, no discussion of this issue takes place. One reason for this is that women experience barriers to disclosing symptoms of perinatal mental illness in primary care. These have previously been explored qualitatively, but no tool currently exists with which to measure these barriers quantitatively.

Methods:

Questionnaire items, drawn from qualitative literature and accounts of women’s experiences, were identified, refined iteratively and arranged in themes. The questionnaire was piloted using cognitive debriefing interviews to establish content validity. Women completed a refined version online. Responses were analysed using descriptive statistics. Internal consistency of subscales was calculated using Cronbach’s alpha.

Findings:

Cognitive debriefing interviews with five women showed the majority of questionnaire items were relevant, appropriate and easy to understand. The final questionnaire was completed by 71 women, and the majority of subscales had good internal consistency. The barrier scoring most highly was fear and stigma, followed by willingness to seek help and logistics of attending an appointment. Family/partner support and general practitioners’ (GPs) reaction were the lowest scoring barriers. Factors facilitating disclosure were GPs being empathetic and non-judgemental and listening during discussions. In the future, this questionnaire can be used to examine which barriers are most important for particular groups of women. This may enable the development of strategies to improve acknowledgement and discussion, and prevent under-recognition and under-treatment, of perinatal mental health problems in primary care.
Statistical Analysis ofTECDistributions Observed Over South and Central America
Authors: Villalobos J. , Valladares C. E.
Published: December 2019

Total electron content (TEC) values measured with several arrays of dual‐frequency GPS receivers operating continuously and simultaneously at equatorial and low latitudes are used to construct regional maps of TEC over South and Central America and the Caribbean region. This extended database comprises TEC values collected by 126 stations that operated in South America in 2008, 181 stations in 2009, and 324 stations in 2010. The latter year includes GPS stations in Central America and the Caribbean region, extending the TEC coverage from the southern tip of South America to the northern boundary of Mexico (~30°N latitude). The TEC maps contain high (0.5° × 0.5°) spatial resolution and good (30 min) temporal resolution. The most prominent feature of these maps is the day‐to‐day variability that is observed during all seasons and under quiet and active magnetic conditions. Single station plots display TEC variations with time scales of few hours and the appearance of TEC enhancements near‐midnight that can be accounted for by electric fields associated with disturbed magnetic conditions and the reverse fountain effect, respectively. To assess the TEC dependencies upon season, solar flux, magnetic activity, and local time over South and Central America, two statistical procedures were employed. First, we constructed monthly averages of TEC values along three field lines that intersect the magnetic equator at 70°, 60°, and 50°W longitudes that show a complex pattern of variability and symmetry/asymmetry of the equatorial anomaly depending on the season, the longitude, and the solar flux. Our second analysis consists of a non‐linear least‐square fit to simultaneously extract the solar flux, magnetic, and seasonal dependencies of TEC for each square cell (0.5° × 0.5°) of the regional maps and for each 30‐min time sector. It is found that during low solar flux conditions, the anomaly is weak or non‐existent. When the solar flux F10.7 index increases to 85 units the anomaly shows to be fully developed but contains a pronounced longitudinal/ seasonal dependence. During the equinoxes and afternoon hours, the northern crest extends across the South American continent, but the southern crest prevails in the eastern side of South America. It is found that the non‐linear numerical fitting of the TEC distributions can reproduce only 70% of the TEC variability.
The Southern Annular Mode and Southern Ocean Surface Westerly Winds in E3SM
Authors: Lee Doo Young , Petersen Mark R. , Lin Wuyin
Published: December 2019

Climate variability and change in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) are influenced by the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) and are closely related to changes in the kinematic properties of the SH surface zonal winds. The SAM and SH surface zonal winds have strong effects on the atmospheric and oceanic circulation system. In this study we investigate the variability and trend in the SAM and position and strength of the surface zonal wind stress (TAUX), using two ensembles of simulations covering the historical record from the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM‐HIST and Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project) for 1979–2014. In addition, performance of two CO
forcing simulations from the E3SM (E3SM‐1pctCO2 and 4xCO2) is assessed to examine the sensitivity of the variability and changes in the SAM and SH surface TAUX to climate forcing. In general, all E3SM simulations tend to capture the dominant feature of the SAM pattern reasonably well. The annual SAM index in the E3SM‐HIST simulation shows a significant increasing trend. These features are similar to the trends in the strength (along with poleward shift in the position) of the annual surface TAUX. For the climatological surface TAUX position and strength, the two CO
forcing simulations show slightly poleward movement and stronger intensity, while the E3SM‐HIST is equatorward and weaker than observations. In the relationship between the SAM and surface TAUX, we show that the SAM index exhibits a positive (negative) relationship with the strength (position) of the surface TAUX in the variability for all seasons and annual mean.
Quantified Aeolian Dune Changes on Mars Derived From Repeat Context Camera Images
Authors: Davis Joel M. , Grindrod Peter M. , Boazman Sarah J. , Vermeesch Pieter , Baird Thomas
Published: December 2019

Aeolian systems are active across much of the surface of Mars and quantifying the activity of bedforms is important for understanding the modern and recent Martian environment. Recently, the migration rates and sand fluxes of dunes and ripples have been precisely measured using repeat High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) images. However, the limited areal extent of HiRISE coverage means that only a small area can be targeted for repeat coverage. Context Camera (CTX) images, although lower in spatial resolution, have wider spatial coverage, meaning that dune migration can potentially be monitored over larger areas. We used time series, coregistered CTX images and digital elevation models to measure dune migration rates and sand fluxes at six sites: Nili Patera, Meroe Patera, two sites at Herschel crater, McLaughlin crater, and Hellespontus Montes. We observed dune displacement in the CTX images over long‐term baselines (7.5–11 Earth years; 4–6 Mars years). Bedform activity has previously been measured at all these sites using HiRISE, which we used to validate our results. Our dune migration rates (0.2–1.1 m/EY) and sand fluxes (2.4–11.6 m3m−1EY−1) compare well to measurements made with HiRISE. The use of CTX in monitoring dune migration has advantages (wider spatial coverage, faster processing time) and disadvantages (ripples not resolved, digital elevation model dune heights may be underestimates); the future combined use of HiRISE and CTX is likely to be beneficial.
Scaling of Dust Flux With Friction Velocity: Time Resolution Effects
Authors: Dupont S.
Published: December 2019

The intermittency of aeolian soil erosion has motivated studies to extend to small time resolution (less than 15–30 min) the scaling property of erosion fluxes with the friction velocity
. However, common methods used to estimate
such as the law of the wall or the eddy covariance are only valid for stationary conditions, that is, long periods of 15–30 min. Unlike these methods, the wavelet transform method is applicable for nonstationary conditions. Here, this method is used to investigate the scaling property of the dust flux
with
at 1‐min and 10‐s resolutions, during erosion events. At 15‐min resolution,
and
estimated from the wavelet transform are identical to those obtained by eddy covariance. At smaller resolution,
and
exhibit strong fluctuations around their 15‐min trend, reflecting the nonstationarity of the flow and the intermittency of dust emission, respectively. While the 15‐min resolution
appears as correlated with
as with the mean wind speed
, with decreasing resolution,
becomes less correlated with
but still significantly correlated with
. Our results suggest that
is a suitable scaling parameter of
over usual 15‐ to 30‐min periods with the advantage of being height independent compared to
. However, at small time resolution,
becomes more relevant to scale
, the surface friction velocity becoming hardly accessible due to the absence of a constant momentum flux layer. Our study demonstrates the suitability of the wavelet transform to estimate dust fluxes at small time resolution or during nonstationary events.
Atmospheric Diffusivity: A New Energetic Framework for Understanding the Midlatitude Circulation Response to Climate Change
Authors: Mooring Todd A. , Shaw Tiffany A.
Published: December 2019

The midlatitude circulation response to climate change is not well understood. Within an energetic framework the circulation is connected to the atmospheric diffusivity. Here we define a novel diagnostic diffusivity framework as a tool for interpreting changes in the midlatitude atmospheric circulation. The diffusivity is computed by dividing the zonally and vertically integrated transient eddy moist static energy (MSE) transport by the zonal‐mean 925 hPa MSE gradient, and we investigate the diffusivity response to global‐scale sea surface temperature (SST) perturbations in aquaplanet and Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP) general circulation model simulations. The midlatitude diffusivity maximum shifts poleward with increasing SST in both the aquaplanet simulations and Southern Hemisphere winter of the AMIP simulations. Our framework indicates that this diffusivity shift is associated with Ferrel circulation and 925 hPa MSE gradient changes, rather than with total MSE transport changes. The MSE gradient‐related shift cannot be understood purely in terms of Clausius‐Clapeyron changes in specific humidity following the global‐mean temperature response, because atmospheric temperature gradients change significantly even when SST gradients are held fixed. The intensity of the diffusivity maximum also increases with SST for the aquaplanet configuration but is relatively insensitive to SST for AMIP Southern Hemisphere winter. Additional energy balance model experiments suggest that while diffusivity changes caused by SST perturbations can be large, their effect on zonal‐mean temperature is minor. Finally, the latitudes and intensities of the diffusivity maxima are strongly correlated with the same properties of the zonal‐mean eddy kinetic energy maxima. However, existing theories cannot adequately explain these linear relationships.
Swift evolutionary response of microbes to a rise in anthropogenic mercury in the Northern Hemisphere
Authors: Ruuskanen Matti O , Aris-Brosou Stéphane , Poulain Alexandre J
Published: December 2019

Anthropogenic mercury remobilization has considerably increased since the Industrial Revolution in the late 1700s. The Minamata Convention on Mercury is a United Nations treaty (2017) aiming at curbing mercury emissions. Unfortunately, evaluating the effectiveness of such a global treaty is hampered by our inability to determine the lag in aquatic ecosystem responses to a change in atmospheric mercury deposition. Whereas past metal concentrations are obtained from core samples, there are currently no means of tracking historical metal bioavailability or toxicity. Here, we recovered DNA from nine dated sediment cores collected in Canada and Finland, and reconstructed the past demographics of microbes carrying genes coding for the mercuric reductase (MerA)—an enzyme involved in Hg detoxification—using Bayesian relaxed molecular clocks. We found that the evolutionary dynamics of merA exhibited a dramatic increase in effective population size starting from 1783.8 ± 3.9 CE, which coincides with both the Industrial Revolution, and with independent measurements of atmospheric Hg concentrations. We show that even low levels of anthropogenic mercury affected the evolutionary trajectory of microbes in the Northern Hemisphere, and that microbial DNA encoding for detoxification determinants stored in environmental archives can be used to track historical pollutant toxicity.
Elastic kirigami patch for electromyographic analysis of the palm muscle during baseball pitching
Authors: Yamagishi Kento , Nakanishi Takenori , Mihara Sho , Azuma Masaru , Takeoka Shinji , Kanosue Kazuyuki , Nagami Tomoyuki , Fujie Toshinori
Published: December 2019

Surface electromyography (sEMG) is widely used to analyze human movements, including athletic performance. For baseball pitchers, a very precise movement is required to pitch the ball into the strike zone. The palm muscles appear to play a key role in this movement, and a real-time recording of sEMG from the palm muscle is useful in the analysis of motion during baseball pitching. However, the currently available devices with rigid and bulky electrodes (including connective wires) impede natural movements of the wearer and recording of sEMG from the palm muscles during vigorous action. Here, we describe a skin-contact patch consisting of kirigami-based stretchable wirings and conductive polymer nanosheet-based ultraconformable bioelectrodes, which address the challenge of mechanical mismatch between human skin and electrical devices. The key strategy is a kirigami-inspired wiring design and a mechanical gradient structure from nanosheet-based flexible bioelectrodes to a bulk wearable device. This approach would buffer the mechanical stress applied to the skin-contact bioelectrodes during an arm swing movement. With this patch, we precisely measure sEMG at the abductor pollicis brevis muscle (APBM) in a baseball player during ball pitching. We observe differences in the activity of the APBM between different types of pitches—fastball and curveball. This sEMG measurement system will enable the analysis of motion in unexplored muscle areas, such as on the palm and the sole, leading to a deeper understanding of muscular activity during performance in a wide range of sports and other movements.
Pan-cancer molecular subtypes revealed by mass-spectrometry-based proteomic characterization of more than 500 human cancers
Authors: Chen Fengju , Chandrashekar Darshan S. , Varambally Sooryanarayana , Creighton Chad J.
Published: December 2019

Mass-spectrometry-based proteomic profiling of human cancers has the potential for pan-cancer analyses to identify molecular subtypes and associated pathway features that might be otherwise missed using transcriptomics. Here, we classify 532 cancers, representing six tissue-based types (breast, colon, ovarian, renal, uterine), into ten proteome-based, pan-cancer subtypes that cut across tumor lineages. The proteome-based subtypes are observable in external cancer proteomic datasets surveyed. Gene signatures of oncogenic or metabolic pathways can further distinguish between the subtypes. Two distinct subtypes both involve the immune system, one associated with the adaptive immune response and T-cell activation, and the other associated with the humoral immune response. Two additional subtypes each involve the tumor stroma, one of these including the collagen VI interacting network. Three additional proteome-based subtypes—respectively involving proteins related to Golgi apparatus, hemoglobin complex, and endoplasmic reticulum—were not reflected in previous transcriptomics analyses. A data portal is available at UALCAN website.
TRPV1 activity and substance P release are required for corneal cold nociception
Authors: Li Fengxian , Yang Weishan , Jiang Haowu , Guo Changxiong , Huang Andrew J. W. , Hu Hongzhen , Liu Qin
Published: December 2019

As a protective mechanism, the cornea is sensitive to noxious stimuli. Here, we show that in mice, a high proportion of corneal TRPM8+ cold-sensing fibers express the heat-sensitive TRPV1 channel. Despite its insensitivity to cold, TRPV1 enhances membrane potential changes and electrical firing of TRPM8+ neurons in response to cold stimulation. This elevated neuronal excitability leads to augmented ocular cold nociception in mice. In a model of dry eye disease, the expression of TRPV1 in TRPM8+ cold-sensing fibers is increased, and results in severe cold allodynia. Overexpression of TRPV1 in TRPM8+ sensory neurons leads to cold allodynia in both corneal and non-corneal tissues without affecting their thermal sensitivity. TRPV1-dependent neuronal sensitization facilitates the release of the neuropeptide substance P from TRPM8+ cold-sensing neurons to signal nociception in response to cold. Our study identifies a mechanism underlying corneal cold nociception and suggests a potential target for the treatment of ocular pain.
Author Correction: New elevation data triple estimates of global vulnerability to sea-level rise and coastal flooding
Authors: Kulp Scott A. , Strauss Benjamin H.
Published: December 2019

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
Maternal vaccination and protective immunity against Zika virus vertical transmission
Authors: Shan Chao , Xie Xuping , Luo Huanle , Muruato Antonio E. , Liu Yang , Wakamiya Maki , La Jun-Ho , Chung Jin Mo , Weaver Scott C. , Wang Tian , Shi Pei-Yong
Published: December 2019

An important goal of the Zika virus (ZIKV) vaccine is to prevent a congenital syndrome in fetuses of pregnant women, but studies directly evaluating maternal vaccination for ZIKV are lacking. Here we report maternal vaccination using a live-attenuated ZIKV vaccine (3ʹUTR-∆10-LAV) in a pregnant mouse model. Maternal immunization with 3ʹUTR-∆10-LAV does not cause any adverse effects on pregnancy, fetal development, or offspring behavior. One maternal immunization fully protects dams against ZIKV infection and in utero transmission. Although neutralizing antibody alone is sufficient to prevent in utero transmission, a higher neutralizing titer is required to protect pregnant mice against in utero transmission than that required to protect non-pregnant mice against viral infection. The immunized dams transfer maternal antibodies to pups, which protect neonates against ZIKV infection. Notably, pregnancy weakens maternal T cell response to 3ʹUTR-∆10-LAV vaccination. Our results suggest that, besides vaccinating non-pregnant individuals, 3ʹUTR-∆10-LAV may also be considered for maternal vaccination.
A metal–peptide capsule by multiple ring threading
Authors: Sawada Tomohisa , Inomata Yuuki , Shimokawa Koya , Fujita Makoto
Published: December 2019

Cavity creation is a key to the origin of biological functions. Small cavities such as enzyme pockets are created simply through liner peptide folding. Nature can create much larger cavities by threading and entangling large peptide rings, as learned from gigantic virus capsids, where not only chemical structures but the topology of threaded rings must be controlled. Although interlocked molecules are a topic of current interest, they have for decades been explored merely as elements of molecular machines, or as a synthetic challenge. No research has specifically targeted them for, and succesfully achieved, cavity creation. Here we report the emergence of a huge capsular framework via multiple threading of metal–peptide rings. Six equivalent C4-propeller-shaped rings, each consisting of four oligopeptides and Ag+, are threaded by each other a total of twelve times (crossing number: 24) to assemble into a well-defined 4 nm-sized sphere, which acts as a huge molecular capsule.
Audio-visual experience strengthens multisensory assemblies in adult mouse visual cortex
Authors: Knöpfel Thomas , Sweeney Yann , Radulescu Carola I. , Zabouri Nawal , Doostdar Nazanin , Clopath Claudia , Barnes Samuel J.
Published: December 2019

We experience the world through multiple senses simultaneously. To better understand mechanisms of multisensory processing we ask whether inputs from two senses (auditory and visual) can interact and drive plasticity in neural-circuits of the primary visual cortex (V1). Using genetically-encoded voltage and calcium indicators, we find coincident audio-visual experience modifies both the supra and subthreshold response properties of neurons in L2/3 of mouse V1. Specifically, we find that after audio-visual pairing, a subset of multimodal neurons develops enhanced auditory responses to the paired auditory stimulus. This cross-modal plasticity persists over days and is reflected in the strengthening of small functional networks of L2/3 neurons. We find V1 processes coincident auditory and visual events by strengthening functional associations between feature specific assemblies of multimodal neurons during bouts of sensory driven co-activity, leaving a trace of multisensory experience in the cortical network.