bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Nonleptonic three-body charmed baryon weak decays with
H(15)
Authors: Geng Chao-Qiang , Liu Chia-Wei , Liu Sheng-Lin
Published: May 2024

We study the nonleptonic three-body charmed baryon weak decays of Bc→BnPP′ under the SU(3)F flavor symmetry, where Bc denotes the antitriplet charmed baryon, comprising (Ξc0,−Ξc+,Λc+), and Bn and P(P′) represent octet baryon and pseudoscalar meson states, respectively. In addition to 12 parameters from the contributions of the color-antisymmetric part of the effective Hamiltonian, denoted as H(6¯), there are 4 parameters from the color-symmetric one, H(15), which were not included in the previous study. With 16 parameters in total and 28 experimental data points, we obtain the minimal χ2 over degree of freedom of χ2/d.o.f=1.5, which is a great improvement comparing to that without H(15). With the better fitting values, we evaluate the branching ratios and up-down asymmetries of Bc→BnPP′, which present some interesting results such as B(Λc+→(Ξ(1690)0→Σ+K−)K+)≡(1.5±0.4)×10−3 and potential SU(3) breaking effects in Ξc+→pπ+K− and Λc+→Σ+π−K+ to be verified by the experiments at BESIII, Belle-II, and LHCb.

Published by the American Physical Society
2024
Wetting and emergence of long-range couplings in arrays of fluid cells
Authors: Abraham D. B. , Maciołek A. , Squarcini A.
Published: May 2024

Critical wetting is of crucial importance for the phase behavior of a simple fluid or Ising magnet confined between walls that exert opposing surface fields so that one wall favors liquid (spin up), while the other favors gas (spin down). We show that arrays of boxes filled with fluid and linked by channels with appropriately chosen opposing walls can exhibit long-range cooperative effects on a length scale far exceeding the bulk correlation length. We give the theoretical foundations of these long-range couplings by using a lattice gas (Ising model) description of a system.

Published by the American Physical Society
2024
Coulomb Branch Amplitudes from a Deformed Amplituhedron Geometry
Authors: Arkani-Hamed Nima , Flieger Wojciech , Henn Johannes M. , Schreiber Anders , Trnka Jaroslav
Published: May 2024

The amplituhedron provides, via geometric means, the all-loop integrand of scattering amplitudes in maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. Unfortunately, dimensional regularization, used conventionally for integration, breaks the beautiful geometric picture. This motivates us to propose a “deformed” amplituhedron. Focusing on the four-particle amplitude, we introduce two deformation parameters, which can be interpreted as particle masses. We provide evidence that the mass pattern corresponds to a specific choice of vacuum expectation values on the Coulomb branch. The deformed amplitude is infrared finite, making the answer well defined in four dimensions. Leveraging four-dimensional integration techniques based on differential equations, we compute the amplitude up to two loops. In the limit where the deformation parameters are taken to zero, we recover the known Bern-Dixon-Smirnov amplitude. In the limit where only one deformation parameter is taken to zero, we find a connection to the angle-dependent cusp anomalous dimension.

Published by the American Physical Society
2024
Medium-Enhanced
cc¯
Radiation
Authors: Attems Maximilian , Brewer Jasmine , Innocenti Gian Michele , Mazeliauskas Aleksas , Park Sohyun , van der Schee Wilke , Soyez Gregory , Wiedemann Urs Achim
Published: May 2024

We show that the same QCD formalism that accounts for the suppression of high-pT hadron and jet spectra in heavy-ion collisions predicts medium-enhanced production of cc¯ pairs in jets. We demonstrate that this phenomenon, which cannot be accessed by traditional jet-quenching observables, can be directly observed using D0D¯0-tagged jets in nuclear collisions.

Published by the American Physical Society
2024
Cavity-Mediated Entanglement of Parametrically Driven Spin Qubits via Sidebands
Authors: Srinivasa V. , Taylor J. M. , Petta J. R.
Published: May 2024

We consider a pair of quantum dot-based spin qubits that interact via microwave photons in a superconducting cavity and that are also parametrically driven by separate external electric fields. For this system, we formulate a model for spin qubit entanglement in the presence of mutually off-resonant qubit and cavity frequencies. We show that the sidebands generated via the driving fields enable highly tunable qubit-qubit entanglement using only ac control and without requiring the qubit and cavity frequencies to be tuned into simultaneous resonance. The model we derive can be mapped to a variety of qubit types, including detuning-driven one-electron spin qubits in double quantum dots and three-electron resonant exchange qubits in triple quantum dots. The high degree of nonlinearity inherent in spin qubits renders these systems particularly favorable for parametric drive-activated entanglement. We determine multiple common resonance conditions for the two driven qubits and the cavity and identify experimentally relevant parameter regimes that enable the implementation of entangling gates with suppressed sensitivity to cavity photon occupation and decay. The parametrically driven sideband resonance approach that we describe provides a promising route toward scalability and modularity in spin-based quantum information processing through drive-enabled tunability that can also be implemented in micromagnet-free electron and hole systems for spin-photon coupling.

Published by the American Physical Society
2024
Laminography as a tool for imaging large-size samples with high resolution
Authors: Nikitin Viktor , Wildenberg Gregg , Mittone Alberto , Shevchenko Pavel , Deriy Alex , De Carlo Francesco
Published: May 2024

Despite the increased brilliance of the new generation synchrotron sources, there is still a challenge with high-resolution scanning of very thick and absorbing samples, such as a whole mouse brain stained with heavy elements, and, extending further, brains of primates. Samples are typically cut into smaller parts, to ensure a sufficient X-ray transmission, and scanned separately. Compared with the standard tomography setup where the sample would be cut into many pillars, the laminographic geometry operates with slab-shaped sections significantly reducing the number of sample parts to be prepared, the cutting damage and data stitching problems. In this work, a laminography pipeline for imaging large samples (>1 cm) at micrometre resolution is presented. The implementation includes a low-cost instrument setup installed at the 2-BM micro-CT beamline of the Advanced Photon Source. Additionally, sample mounting, scanning techniques, data stitching procedures, a fast reconstruction algorithm with low computational complexity, and accelerated reconstruction on multi-GPU systems for processing large-scale datasets are presented. The applicability of the whole laminography pipeline was demonstrated by imaging four sequential slabs throughout an entire mouse brain sample stained with osmium, in total generating approximately 12 TB of raw data for reconstruction.
3D imaging of magnetic domains in Nd2Fe14B using scanning hard X-ray nanotomography
Authors: Banerjee Srutarshi , Gürsoy Doğa , Deng Junjing , Kahnt Maik , Kramer Matthew , Lynn Matthew , Haskel Daniel , Strempfer Jörg
Published: May 2024

Nanoscale structural and electronic heterogeneities are prevalent in condensed matter physics. Investigating these heterogeneities in 3D has become an important task for understanding material properties. To provide a tool to unravel the connection between nanoscale heterogeneity and macroscopic emergent properties in magnetic materials, scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM) is combined with X-ray magnetic circular dichroism. A vector tomography algorithm has been developed to reconstruct the full 3D magnetic vector field without any prior noise assumptions or knowledge about the sample. Two tomographic scans around the vertical axis are acquired on single-crystalline Nd2Fe14B pillars tilted at two different angles, with 2D STXM projections recorded using a focused 120 nm X-ray beam with left and right circular polarization. Image alignment and iterative registration have been implemented based on the 2D STXM projections for the two tilts. Dichroic projections obtained from difference images are used for the tomographic reconstruction to obtain the 3D magnetization distribution at the nanoscale.
First X-ray spectral ptychography and resonant ptychographic computed tomography experiments at the SWING beamline from Synchrotron SOLEIL
Authors: Kulow Anico , Pérez Javier , Boudjehem Redhouane , Gautier Eric , Pairis Sébastien , Ould-Chikh Samy , Hazemann Jean-Louis , da Silva Julio César
Published: May 2024

X-ray ptychography and ptychographic computed tomography have seen a rapid rise since the advent of fourth-generation synchrotrons with a high degree of coherent radiation. In addition to quantitative multiscale structural analysis, ptychography with spectral capabilities has been developed, allowing for spatial-localized multiscale structural and spectral information of samples. The SWING beamline of Synchrotron SOLEIL has recently developed a nanoprobe setup where the endstation's first spectral and resonant ptychographic measurements have been successfully conducted. A metallic nickel wire sample was measured using 2D spectral ptychography in XANES mode and resonant ptychographic tomography. From the 2D spectral ptychography measurements, the spectra of the components of the sample's complex-valued refractive index, δ and β, were extracted, integrated along the sample thickness. By performing resonance ptychographic tomography at two photon energies, 3D maps of the refractive index decrement, δ, were obtained at the Ni K-edge energy and another energy above the edge. These maps allowed the detection of impurities in the Ni wire. The significance of accounting for the atomic scattering factor is demonstrated in the calculation of electron density near a resonance through the use of the δ values. These results indicate that at the SWING beamline it is possible to conduct state-of-the-art spectral and resonant ptychography experiments using the nanoprobe setup.
Crystal structure of 4,4′-(disulfanediyl)dipyridinium chloride triiodide
Authors: Podda Enrico , Aragoni M. Carla , Caltagirone Claudia , De Filippo Greta , Garau Alessandra , Lippolis Vito , Mancini Annalisa , Pintus Anna , Orton James B. , Coles Simon J. , Arca Massimiliano
Published: May 2024

4,4′-(Disulfanediyl)dipyridinium chloride triiodide, C10H10N2S2
2+·Cl−·I3
−, (1) was synthesized by reaction of 4,4′-dipyridyldisulfide with ICl in a 1:1 molar ratio in dichloromethane solution. The structural characterization of 1 by SC-XRD analysis was supported by elemental analysis, FT–IR, and FT–Raman spectroscopic measurements.
Synthesis and crystal structure of 2,9-diamino-5,6,11,12-tetrahydrodibenzo[a,e]cyclooctene
Authors: Valdez Nichole , Nagel Eric , Redline Erica , Rodriguez Mark , Staiger Chad , Dugger Jason , Foster Jeffrey
Published: May 2024

The cis- form of diaminodibenzocyclooctane (DADBCO, C16H18N2) is of interest as a negative coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) material. The crystal structure was determined through single-crystal X-ray diffraction at 100 K and is presented herein.
Guarantee or inoculate? Ex ante messages against service failures
Authors: Ma Ke , Sun Weizheng
Published: May 2024

Purpose

While many studies have focused on the effectiveness of service recovery after encountering service failure, few have considered for pre-recovery opportunities. Drawing on service guarantee research and the inoculation theory, this study examines the effect of pre-recovery strategy on customer’s satisfaction when faced with possible service failure. This study takes into consideration the uncertainty of service failure, including specific or unpredicted failures.

Design/methodology/approach

Three experimental studies were conducted to examine our research hypotheses, which include a total of 1203 subjects recruited from online and offline platforms.

Findings

The findings reveal that service guarantees and inoculation messages both effectively mitigate the negative consequences of a service failure. Specifically, the pre-recovery strategy is particularly effective for specific service failures. In addition, we thoroughly examined the mediating role of customer attribution.

Originality/value

This research significantly contributes to the existing literature on service research by delving into the potential positive impact of proactive measures undertaken by service enterprises. Furthermore, the findings of this research offer valuable insights for practitioners.
Emerging themes and future research directions in the cold supply chain: a bibliometric and co-citation analysis
Authors: Karanam Malleswari , Krishnanand Lanka , Manupati Vijaya Kumar , Nudurupati Sai Sudhakar
Published: May 2024

Purpose

The primary goal of this review is to identify emerging themes in the cold supply chain (CSC) and their future research directions, methodologies, and theories.

Design/methodology/approach

The review looks at CSC related articles from Scopus database published in the years 2000–2020. Thereafter, bibliometric and co-citation analyses have been conducted to identify emerging themes, methodologies, and theoretical perspectives related to CSC management.

Findings

This study revealed a clear research gap in CSC literature with emerging themes relevant to diverse aspects. Primarily, the most prominent authors, methodologies, and theories were identified from bibliometric analysis. Next, we generated clusters to identify the insights of each cluster using co-citation analysis. Consequently, the significance of clusters concerning the number of articles, theoretical frameworks, methodologies, and themes was recognized. Finally, a few future research questions regarding emerging themes have been identified.

Practical implications

The importance of co-citation and bibliometric analyses in studying the evolution of research over a definite time is emphasized in this work. As per emerging themes, implementing digital technologies has increased the efficiency of traditional CSC and transformed it into digital CSC.

Originality/value

As per the authors' knowledge, this work is the first in literature to explore the significance of identifying emerging areas and future research directions in managing CSC through literature review based on bibliometric and co-citation analysis.
An integrated data-driven framework for vehicle quality analysis based on maintenance record mining and Bayesian network
Authors: Cheng Aoxiang , Bi Youyi
Published: May 2024

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present an integrated data-driven framework for processing and analyzing large-scale vehicle maintenance records to get more comprehensive understanding on vehicle quality.

Design/methodology/approach

We propose a framework for vehicle quality analysis based on maintenance record mining and Bayesian Network. It includes the development of a comprehensive dictionary for efficient classification of maintenance items, and the establishment of a Bayesian Network model for vehicle quality evaluation. The vehicle design parameters, price and performance of functional systems are modeled as node variables in the Bayesian Network. Bayesian Network reasoning is then used to analyze the influence of these nodes on vehicle quality and their respective importance.

Findings

A case study using the maintenance records of 74 sport utility vehicle (SUV) models is presented to demonstrate the validity of the proposed framework. Our results reveal that factors such as vehicle size, chassis issues and engine displacement, can affect the chance of vehicle failures and accidents. The influence of factors such as price and performance of engine and chassis show explicit regional differences.

Originality/value

Previous research usually focuses on limited maintenance records from a single vehicle producer, while our proposed framework enables efficient and systematic processing of larger-scale maintenance records for vehicle quality analysis, which can support auto companies, consumers and regulators to make better decisions in purchase choice-making, vehicle design and market regulation.
Financial literacy in predicting investment decisions: do attitude and overconfidence influence?
Authors: Maheshwari H. , Samantaray Anup K. , Panigrahi Rashmi Ranjan , Jena Lalatendu Kesari
Published: May 2024

Purpose

The significance of financial literacy (FL) in deciding how to allocate one’s investment capital has recently attracted much attention from various market participants and stakeholders. The study examines how FL affects individual investors' investment decisions (ID) in emerging markets. Additionally, the study investigates the potential mediating effects of attitude (ATT) and overconfidence bias (OCB) on the association between FL and ID.

Design/methodology/approach

The study employed a structured questionnaire to collect data from 311 individual investors in India, using both convenience and snowball sampling methods. The collected data were analysed using Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) and processed through SMART PLS 4.0 software to test the study’s hypotheses.

Findings

FL alone may not greatly affect ID, but the study enhances understanding of investor behaviour by examining how ATT and OCB mediate the link between FL and ID. The findings imply that FL, combined with positive ATT and overconfidence, empowers individual investors with the knowledge and skills for appropriate decision-making.

Practical implications

This research would benefit financial institutions, financial experts, and individual investors in India since it enables them to evaluate the causes and biases affecting their IDs and manage their portfolios accordingly. Policymakers should develop appropriate FL programs for investors to make informed decisions to achieve financial well-being.

Originality/value

The paper is exceptional in its approach as it delves into the mediating function of ATT and OCB in the intricate association between FL and ID. This innovative approach sets it apart from other studies in the field, making it a unique contribution to literature.

Peer review

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-05-2023-0370
Agricultural services and rural household welfare: empirical evidence from Ghana
Authors: Asante Bright Owusu , Prah Stephen , Addai Kwabena Nyarko , Anang Benjamin , Ng’ombe John N.
Published: May 2024

Purpose

This paper aimed to examine the impacts of agricultural services on welfare of rural farmers in Ghana.

Design/methodology/approach

Using data from 1431 rural maize farmers, we employ multinomial endogenous switching regression and multivalued inverse probability weighted regression adjustment to assess the impacts.

Findings

Results show that 19.8%, 9.7% and 3.42% of farmers adopted solely irrigation, extension and mechanization, respectively. Furthermore, utilizing a range of agricultural services significantly improves maize yields, gross income and per capita food consumption.

Research limitations/implications

This study recommends strategies that target the adoption of combinations of agricultural services to enhance rural farmers’ welfare in Ghana and other developing countries.

Originality/value

While agricultural services are claimed to improve agricultural production and peasants’ welfare, their impacts are not studied exhaustively. This paper contributes by providing empirical evidence of the impacts of agricultural services on farmers’ welfare.

Peer review

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-11-2022-0745.
From classroom to entrepreneurship: the link between educator competencies, entrepreneurial literacy and entrepreneurial behaviour in higher education
Authors: Narmaditya Bagus Shandy , Sahid Sheerad , Hussin Muhammad
Published: May 2024

Purpose

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between educators' professional competence, pedagogical competence and the entrepreneurial behaviour of students in higher education as well as the role of entrepreneurial literacy in mediating these variables.

Design/methodology/approach

The study involved a sample of 361 students from several universities in Indonesia. A probability sampling method approach with cluster sampling was applied to collect the data, which aims to ensure the representation of each region in Indonesia. The data were retrieved through self-administered questionnaires and structural equation modelling was employed to analyse the relationship between each variable.

Findings

The results revealed a positive and significant relationship between educator competencies and students' entrepreneurial behaviour: professional competence (β = 0.26, p < 0.001) and pedagogical competence (β = 0.27, p < 0.001), indicating that higher educator competencies levels were associated with greater students' entrepreneurial behaviour. The mediation analysis showed that entrepreneurial literacy was partially mediated for professional competence (LL = 0.42; UL = 0.460, p < 0.008) and fully mediated for pedagogical competence (β = 0.021; β = 0.375, p < 0.058).

Research limitations/implications

A study solely concerned with a specific group of educators and students in a particular region as well as a cross-sectional study, may lead to generalisations of the findings. Future studies could expand the sample size and include a more diverse group of participants to increase the external validity of the results.

Practical implications

It offers valuable insights for educational institutions, policymakers and educators themselves, who can use the findings to design effective entrepreneurship education programmes and initiatives.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the field of higher education by emphasising the importance of educators as catalysts for entrepreneurship and by providing guidance on how to enhance their competencies and literacy in fostering entrepreneurial behaviour among students.
Staying emotionally connected while being physically apart – exploring what teleworkers need to stay committed and how internal communication can contribute
Authors: Stranzl Julia , Ruppel Christopher , Einwiller Sabine
Published: May 2024

Purpose

Since research has already shown that social distance affects the relationship between employees and the organization, this study (1) examines job-related resources that contribute to teleworkers’ organizational commitment and (2) works out how internal communication professionals can strategically address them.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 50 problem-centered, semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with teleworkers from Austrian and German organizations between March and June 2021.

Findings

The interview data resulted in eight job-related resources that contribute to teleworkers’ organizational commitment. By pointing out the communicative aspects of these resources, we discuss how internal communication professionals can strategically engage to maintain the connection between teleworkers and the organization despite the distance. It highlights the communicators’ role as a strategic communicators and networkers, as enabler and as key speaker for employees’ needs.

Research limitations/implications

The data were collected during a health crisis (COVID-19 pandemic) in the context of Austrian and German organizations and refers to the perspective of employees for whom teleworking israther new.

Originality/value

The study provides in-depth insights into teleworkers’ expectations and entails clear implications for the practice of internal communication professionals to strengthen teleworkers’ commitment.
A review of natural resource extraction industries and their influence on the occurrence of poverty
Authors: Money William H. , Money Katherine E.
Published: May 2024

Purpose

This research paper takes a narrow approach to examining the apparent link between poverty and the resource extraction industries. However, it acknowledges that much more is to be explored about this relationship. Many complexities influence the occurrence and degree of poverty in a particular country, region, or community.

Design/methodology/approach

The literature review identified proposed and operational poverty reduction actions and processes categorized under the broad concept of community development projects. The surveyed cases describe how various corporate strategies, work processes, labor requirements and efficient management and governance solutions are purported to improve poverty-reduction efforts potentially.

Findings

No causal linkages between poverty and hypothetically valuable and successful community development projects were found. No poverty monitoring evaluations and learning data (MEL) for these projects were proposed and published in most of the literature. However, associations were observed between some business practices implemented in these resource extraction community development projects and observations of indicators of lower poverty levels.

Practical implications

The research improves our understanding of the requirements and opportunities for successful community development projects by highlighting processes, company strategy, human resource programs and enlightened governance that can contribute to reducing poverty.

Originality/value

The paper identifies the characteristics of community development projects that appear to span natural resource extraction industries and countries. Effective management strategies and representative and formally designated organisational governance boards are essential for these projects.
May the force of lifelong learning be with you – sustainable organizational learning in HEIs meeting competence needs in industry
Authors: Eriksson Kristina M. , Lycke Liselott
Published: May 2024

Purpose

Technological advancements and global societal changes reshapes manufacturing industry emphasizing needs for competence development of industrial professionals. The purpose of this paper is to study how organizational learning supports the development of academic structures, creating agile and sustainable formal educational models meeting novel competence needs.

Design/methodology/approach

The qualitative case study, part of a longitudinal research study, focuses on internal academic processes supporting a new formal educational model. Qualitative data was collected through five focus groups, incorporating 32 informants from different HEI function categories.

Findings

Changing traditional academic structures requires joint engagement between all HEI functions, emphasizing organizational learning with subprocesses of searching, creating, sustaining and exchanging knowledge in a learning loop. Results show a consensus among the different HEI functions regarding the value of the HEI’s coproduction with society; however, bureaucracy and academic structure hinder flexibility. Cross-functional teams building a “chain-of-trust” throughout the HEI coupled with full management support show opportunities to progress into a learning organization.

Practical implications

Organizational learning within HEIs requires trustful and open communication, multifunction knowledge exchange, holistic views of processes and system thinking, achieved through cross-functional teams and continuous improvement through learning loops.

Social implications

Industry-academic collaboration on formal education for lifelong learning needs to become both agile and resilience to meet technological advancement and sustainability.

Originality/value

Novel technology, digitalization and sustainability gain ground and require that society and organizations, including academia, change and learn. This means that academia is meeting new challenges and needs to develop internal processes.
Towards a causal link between food insecurity and buy-now-pay-later use by young Australians
Authors: Gallo Cordoba Beatriz , Waite Catherine , Walsh Lucas
Published: May 2024

Purpose

This paper aims to understand if buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) services, a digital type of credit that targets young consumers, acts as a protective or a risk factor for food insecurity among young consumers in Australia.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses survey data from a representative sample of young consumers aged 18–24 from all internal states and territories in Australia. Propensity score matching is used to test two hypotheses: BNPL drives young consumers to food insecurity, and food insecurity leads young consumers to use BNPL.

Findings

There is evidence that BNPL use is driving young Australian consumers to experience food insecurity, but there is no evidence of food insecurity driving the use of BNPL services.

Practical implications

The evidence of BNPL driving young consumers to experience food insecurity calls for the adoption of practices and stronger regulation to ensure that young users from being overindebted.

Originality/value

Although the link with more traditional forms of credit (such as personal loans) and consumer wellbeing has been explored more broadly, this project is the first attempt to have causal evidence of the link between BNPL and food insecurity in a high-income country, to the best of the authors’ knowledge. This evidence helps to fill the gap about the protective or risky nature of this type of digital financial product, as experienced by young Australians.
How nurturing is our school—Implementation and impact of a whole‐school approach in one Scottish primary school
Authors: Kerr Claire , Crawford Jacqueline
Published: May 2024

This paper outlines the journey of one Scottish primary school in taking nurturing approaches forward over a 5‐year period, with the aims of improving staff understanding of their role and feeling skilled in using nurturing approaches and improving pupil's health and well‐being and confidence. Using an action research methodology and the local authority How Nurturing is our school framework (Fife Council Educational Psychology Service, 2022), an audit of current practice was undertaken, and priorities identified at universal, additional and intensive levels were put in place. Evaluation data were gathered in a variety of formats from pupils, staff, and parents. Analysis of the evaluation data indicates that pupils had improved understanding of their emotions and how to manage these, staff were experiencing improved relationships and ethos across the school and parents were happy with the support their children were being offered via the nurturing approaches. There was visible improvement in the physical environments, staff thrived on the personal coaching offered and more nurturing practice could be seen and heard throughout the school. It is concluded that the project has made a sustained impact on the health and well‐being of pupils and is now embedded in the school culture.
Ecological immunology: do sexual attraction and immunity trade‐off through a desaturase?
Authors: Gao Ke , van der Heide Wout , Muijderman Daphne , Nichols Sarah , Karwal Carmen , Kuperus Peter , Groot Astrid T.
Published: May 2024

Given the limited availability of resources in nature, sexual attractiveness may trade off with immunocompetence, as the immunocompetence handicap hypothesis (ICHH) posits. In invertebrates, a direct link between trade‐offs through hormonal/molecular effectors in sexual signals and immunity has not been found so far. Here, we assessed how variation in sexual signals affected parasite infection in two sex pheromone selected lines of the moth Chloridea virescens: an attractive line with a low ratio of 16:Ald/Z11‐16:Ald and an unattractive line with a high ratio. When infecting these lines with an apicomplexan parasite, we found that the attractive Low line was significantly more susceptible to the parasite infection than the unattractive High line. Since the ratio difference between these two lines is determined by a delta‐11‐desturase, we hypothesized that this desaturase may have a dual role, i.e., in the quality of the sexual signal as well as an involvement in immune response, comparable to testosterone in vertebrates. However, when we used CRISPR/cas9 to knockout delta‐11‐desturase in the attractive Low line, we found that the pheromonal phenotype did change to that of the High line, but the infection susceptibility did not. Notably, when checking the genomic location of delta‐11‐desaturase in the C. virescens, we found that mucin is adjacent to delta‐11‐desaturase. When comparing the mucin sequences in both lines, we found four nonsynonymous SNPs in the coding sequence, as well as intronic variation between the two lines. These differences suggest that genetic hitchhiking may explain the variation in susceptibility to parasitic infection.
The circadian clock affects starvation resistance through the pentose phosphate pathway in silkworm, Bombyx mori
Authors: Dai Tai‐Ming , Qiu Jian‐Feng , Luo Cheng , Cui Wen‐Zhao , Liu Kai , Li Jiang‐Lan , Peng Ruji , Sima Yang‐Hu , Xu Shi‐Qing
Published: May 2024

Disruption of the circadian clock can affect starvation resistance, but the molecular mechanism is still unclear. Here, we found that starvation resistance was significantly reduced in the core gene BmPer deficient mutant silkworms (Per−/−), but the mutant's starvation resistance increased with larval age. Under natural physiological conditions, the weight of mutant 5th instar larvae was significantly increased compared to wild type, and the accumulation ability of triglycerides and glycogen in the fat bodies was upregulated. However, under starvation conditions, the weight consumption of mutant larvae was increased and cholesterol utilization was intensified. Transcriptome analysis showed that beta‐oxidation was significantly upregulated under starvation conditions, fatty acid synthesis was inhibited, and the expression levels of genes related to mitochondrial function were significantly changed. Further investigations revealed that the redox balance, which is closely related to mitochondrial metabolism, was altered in the fat bodies, the antioxidant level was increased, and the pentose phosphate pathway, the source of reducing power in cells, was activated. Our findings suggest that one of the reasons for the increased energy burden observed in mutants is the need to maintain a more robust redox balance in metabolic tissues. This necessitates the diversion of more glucose into the pentose phosphate pathway to ensure an adequate supply of reducing power.
Large language models help facilitate the automated synthesis of information on potential pest controllers
Authors: Scheepens Daan , Millard Joseph , Farrell Maxwell , Newbold Tim
Published: May 2024

The body of ecological literature, which informs much of our knowledge of the global loss of biodiversity, has been experiencing rapid growth in recent decades. The increasing difficulty of synthesising this literature manually has simultaneously resulted in a growing demand for automated text mining methods. Within the domain of deep learning, large language models (LLMs) have been the subject of considerable attention in recent years due to great leaps in progress and a wide range of potential applications; however, quantitative investigation into their potential in ecology has so far been lacking.

In this work, we analyse the ability of GPT‐4 to extract information about invertebrate pests and pest controllers from abstracts of articles on biological pest control, using a bespoke, zero‐shot prompt.

Our results show that the performance of GPT‐4 is highly competitive with other state‐of‐the‐art tools used for taxonomic named entity recognition and geographic location extraction tasks. On a held‐out test set, we show that species and geographic locations are extracted with F1‐scores of 99.8% and 95.3%, respectively, and highlight that the model can effectively distinguish between ecological roles of interest such as predators, parasitoids and pests. Moreover, we demonstrate the model's ability to effectively extract and predict taxonomic information across various taxonomic ranks. However, we do report a small number of cases of fabricated information (confabulations).

Due to a lack of specialised, pre‐trained ecological language models, general‐purpose LLMs may provide a promising way forward in ecology. Combined with tailored prompt engineering, such models can be employed for a wide range of text mining tasks in ecology, with the potential to greatly reduce time spent on manual screening and labelling of the literature.
Tho2‐mediated escort of Nrd1 regulates the expression of aging‐related genes
Authors: Liu Yan , Park Jeong‐Min , Lim Suji , Duan Ruxin , Lee Do Yoon , Choi Dahee , Choi Dong Kyu , Rhie Byung‐Ho , Cho Soo Young , Ryu Hong‐Yeoul , Ahn Seong Hoon
Published: May 2024

The relationship between aging and RNA biogenesis and trafficking is attracting growing interest, yet the precise mechanisms are unknown. The THO complex is crucial for mRNA cotranscriptional maturation and export. Herein, we report that the THO complex is closely linked to the regulation of lifespan. Deficiencies in Hpr1 and Tho2, components of the THO complex, reduced replicative lifespan (RLS) and are linked to a novel Sir2‐independent RLS control pathway. Although transcript sequestration in hpr1Δ or tho2Δ mutants was countered by exosome component Rrp6, loss of this failed to mitigate RLS defects in hpr1Δ. However, RLS impairment in hpr1Δ or tho2Δ was counteracted by the additional expression of Nrd1‐specific mutants that interacted with Rrp6. This effect relied on the interaction of Nrd1, a transcriptional regulator of aging‐related genes, including ribosome biogenesis or RNA metabolism genes, with RNA polymerase II. Nrd1 overexpression reduced RLS in a Tho2‐dependent pathway. Intriguingly, Tho2 deletion mirrored Nrd1 overexpression effects by inducing arbitrary Nrd1 chromatin binding. Furthermore, our genome‐wide ChIP‐seq analysis revealed an increase in the recruitment of Nrd1 to translation‐associated genes, known to be related to aging, upon Tho2 loss. Taken together, these findings underscore the importance of Tho2‐mediated Nrd1 escorting in the regulation of lifespan pathway through transcriptional regulation of aging‐related genes.
Estimating the size and scope of the academic emergency physician workforce
Authors: Gettel Cameron J. , Camargo Carlos A. , Bennett Christopher L. , Courtney D. Mark , Kaji Amy H. , Fermann Gregory J. , Gallahue Fiona E. , Nelson Lewis S. , Hebbard Carleigh F. , Rothenberg Craig , Raja Ali S. , Venkatesh Arjun K.
Published: May 2024

Background

Academic emergency medicine (EM) is foundational to the EM specialty through the development of new knowledge and clinical training of resident physicians. Despite recent increased attention to the future of the EM workforce, no evaluations have specifically characterized the U.S. academic EM workforce. We sought to estimate the national proportion of emergency physicians (EPs) identified as academic and the proportion of emergency department (ED) visits that take place at academic sites.

Methods

We performed a cross‐sectional analysis of EPs and EDs using data from the American Hospital Association, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and Doximity's Residency Navigator. EPs were identified as “academic” if they were affiliated with at least one facility determined to be academic, defined as EDs officially designated by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) as clinical training sites at accredited EM residency programs. Our primary outcomes were to estimate the national proportion of EPs identified as academic and the proportion of ED visits performed at academic sites.

Results

Our analytic sample included 26,937 EPs practicing clinically across 4920 EDs and providing care during 130,471,386 ED visits. Among EPs, 11,720 (43.5%) were identified as academic, and among EDs, 635 (12.9%) were identified as academic sites, including 585 adult/general sites, 45 pediatric‐specific sites, and 10 sites affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs. In 2021, academic EDs provided care for 42,794,106 ED visits or 32.8% of all ED visits nationally.

Conclusions

Approximately four in 10 EPs practice in at least one clinical training site affiliated with an ACGME‐accredited EM residency program, and approximately one in three ED visits nationally occur in these academic EDs. We encourage further work using alternative definitions of an academic EPs and EDs, along with longitudinal research to identify trends in the workforce's composition.
A retrospective study of the characteristics and toxicology of cases of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)‐ and psilocybin‐related death in Australia
Authors: Darke Shane , Duflou Johan , Peacock Amy , Farrell Michael , Hall Wayne , Lappin Julia
Published: May 2024

Background and aims

Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin are used as recreational drugs, and there is renewed interest in their clinical use. The current study aimed to (1) determine the circumstances of death and case characteristics of LSD‐ and psilocybin‐related death in Australia, 2000–23; and (2) determine the toxicological profile and major autopsy findings of these cases.

Methods

This was a retrospective exploratory study of all cases of LSD‐ and psilocybin‐related death in Australia, 2000–23, retrieved from the National Coronial Information System.

Results

A total of 43 cases were identified: 33 LSD and 10 psilocybin. The median ages were 24 years [interquartile range (IQR) = 13, range = 16–53] (LSD) and 26 years (IQR = 18.5, range = 20–58) (psilocybin), and fewer than five cases were female. The most common circumstance of death among both groups was traumatic accident (LSD 36.4%, psilocybin 40.0%). There were 12 cases of self‐harm, all of which involved LSD, all by physical means. In a fifth, death was attributed to multiple drug toxicity (LSD 18.2%, psilocybin 20.0%). In one case, death was attributed solely to LSD toxicity, while in a further two cases death was attributed to a cardiovascular event following LSD consumption (one LSD only, one multiple drug toxicity). In four psilocybin cases, the cause of death was undetermined. The most common clinical presentation was severe agitation (LSD 27.3%, psilocybin 20.0%). Median blood concentrations were LSD 0.8 μg/l (IQR = 1.7, range = 0.1–3), psilocin 20 μg/l (IQR = 53.5, range = 6–83). LSD was the only drug present in 25.0% of LSD cases and psilocybin in 20.0% of psilocybin cases. Pre‐existing organ pathology was uncommon.

Conclusions

Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)‐ and psilocybin‐related death in Australia from 2000 to 2023 was primarily due to traumatic injury, whether through accident or self‐harm. Cases of acute toxic reactions that were attributed solely to LSD were rare.
HIV and prior exposure to antiretroviral therapy alter tumour composition and tumour: T‐cell associations in diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma
Authors: Coelho Jenny , Roush Sophia M. , Xu Alexander M. , Puranam Kaushik , Mponda Marriam , Kasonkanji Edwards , Mulenga Maurice , Tomoka Tamiwe , Galeotti Jonathan , Brownlee Amy , Ghadially Hormas , Damania Blossom , Painschab Matthew , Merchant Akil , Gopal Satish , Fedoriw Yuri
Published: May 2024

Diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common subtype of lymphoma worldwide, accounting for up to 40% of new non‐Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) globally. People living with HIV are up to 17 times more likely to develop NHL, and as such, DLBCL is the leading cause of cancer death in this high‐risk population. While histologically indistinguishable, HIV‐associated (HIV+) and HIV‐negative (HIV−) DLBCL are molecularly distinct, and biological differences may have implications for the development of future therapeutic interventions. Further, the impact of immunologic differences in people with HIV, including preceding ART, remains largely unknown. Here, we investigate the impact of HIV infection and ART exposure on the clinical features of DLBCL and T‐cell immune response by performing imaging mass cytometry on our unique patient cohort in Malawi. In this cohort, HIV infection is positively prognostic, and HIV+/ART‐naïve patients have the best outcomes. No established biomarkers other than Ki67 are associated with HIV or ART status, and the only tumour‐intrinsic biomarkers that remain prognostic are MYC and MYC/BCL2 protein co‐expression. Finally, TCR clonality is associated with distinct tumour‐T cell interactions by HIV/ART status, indicating differential anti‐tumour immune responses. We demonstrate previously undescribed HIV and ART‐related differences in the DLBCL tumour microenvironment.
A new abelisaurid dinosaur from the end Cretaceous of Patagonia and evolutionary rates among the Ceratosauria
Authors: Pol Diego , Baiano Mattia Antonio , Černý David , Novas Fernando E. , Cerda Ignacio A. , Pittman Michael
Published: May 2024

Gondwanan dinosaur faunae during the 20 Myr preceding the Cretaceous–Palaeogene (K/Pg) extinction included several lineages that were absent or poorly represented in Laurasian landmasses. Among these, the South American fossil record contains diverse abelisaurids, arguably the most successful groups of carnivorous dinosaurs from Gondwana in the Cretaceous, reaching their highest diversity towards the end of this period. Here we describe Koleken inakayali gen. et sp. n., a new abelisaurid from the La Colonia Formation (Maastrichtian, Upper Cretaceous) of Patagonia. Koleken inakayali is known from several skull bones, an almost complete dorsal series, complete sacrum, several caudal vertebrae, pelvic girdle and almost complete hind limbs. The new abelisaurid shows a unique set of features in the skull and several anatomical differences from Carnotaurus sastrei (the only other abelisaurid known from the La Colonia Formation). Koleken inakayali is retrieved as a brachyrostran abelisaurid, clustered with other South American abelisaurids from the latest Cretaceous (Campanian–Maastrichtian), such as Aucasaurus, Niebla and Carnotaurus. Leveraging our phylogeny estimates, we explore rates of morphological evolution across ceratosaurian lineages, finding them to be particularly high for elaphrosaurine noasaurids and around the base of Abelisauridae, before the Early Cretaceous radiation of the latter clade. The Noasauridae and their sister clade show contrasting patterns of morphological evolution, with noasaurids undergoing an early phase of accelerated evolution of the axial and hind limb skeleton in the Jurassic, and the abelisaurids exhibiting sustained high rates of cranial evolution during the Early Cretaceous. These results provide much needed context for the evolutionary dynamics of ceratosaurian theropods, contributing to broader understanding of macroevolutionary patterns across dinosaurs.
Strategic behavior, artistic integrity, and tradeoffs in popular music
Authors: Weinbach Andrew , Njoroge Phillip Kamau , Salvino Robert , Woodside Arch
Published: May 2024

This study examines market concentration's influence on popular music. The data cover popular music from weekly Billboard Hot 100 songs from 1952 to 1989, for which song characteristic data including tempo and duration is available from the Million Song Dataset (MSD). Greater market concentration of the top four artists is found to impact song length, with longer #1 songs and shorter songs in the #2 through #10 spots on the Billboard charts. However, tests for alterations in song construction by top artists that might indicate a form of “sell‐out” behavior do not reveal evidence of it.
1087. Zingiber procumbens Nob.Tanaka & M.M.Aung: Zingiberaceae
Authors: Tanaka Nobuyuki , Yoneda Kaoru
Published: May 2024

Zingiber procumbens Nob.Tanaka & M.M.Aung, a ginger endemic to Myanmar, is described and illustrated. The habitat of this species in the Karen Hills, Kayah State in Myanmar is shown. A brief taxonomic history of this species and its discovery is also provided; a description of its fruits and seeds is given here for the first time.