bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Credit Ratings and Rating Agencies
Authors: Livingston Miles , Zhou Lei
Published: August 2020

Credit rating agencies have developed as an information intermediary in the credit market because there are very large numbers of bonds outstanding with many different features. The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association reports over $20 trillion of corporate bonds, mortgaged-backed securities, and asset-backed securities in the United States. The vast size of the bond markets, the number of different bond issues, and the complexity of these securities result in a massive amount of information for potential investors to evaluate. The magnitude of the information creates the need for independent companies to provide objective evaluations of the ability of bond issuers to pay their contractually binding obligations. The result is credit rating agencies (CRAs), private companies that monitor debt securities/issuers and provide information to investors about the potential default risk of individual bond issues and issuing firms.

Rating agencies provide ratings for many types of debt instruments including corporate bonds, debt instruments backed by assets such as mortgages (mortgage-backed securities), short-term debt of corporations, municipal government debt, and debt issued by central governments (sovereign bonds).

The three largest rating agencies are Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s, and Fitch. These agencies provide ratings that are indicators of the relative probability of default. Bonds with the highest rating of AAA have very low probabilities of default and consequently the yields on these bonds are relatively low. As the ratings decline, the probability of default increases and the bond yields increase.

Ratings are important to institutional investors such as insurance companies, pension funds, and mutual funds. These large investors are often restricted to purchasing exclusively or primarily bonds in the highest rating categories. Consequently, the highest ratings are usually called investment grade. The lower ratings are usually designated as high-yield or “junk bonds.”

There is a controversy about the possibility of inflated ratings. Since issuers pay rating agencies for providing ratings, there may be an incentive for the rating agencies to provide inflated ratings in exchange for fees. In the U.S. corporate bond market, at least two and often three agencies provide ratings. Multiple ratings make it difficult for one rating agency to provide inflated ratings. Rating agencies are regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission to ensure that agencies follow reasonable procedures.
Leadership in Global Environmental Politics
Authors: Kopra Sanna
Published: August 2020

There is wide consensus among global environmental politics (GEP) scholars about the urgent need for leadership in international climate negotiations and other environmental issue areas A large number of GEP studies elaborate rhetoric and actions of aspiring leaders in GEP. In particular, these studies seek to identify which states have sought to provide leadership in international negotiations on the environment, and how they have exercised this role in institutional bargaining processes at the international level. The biggest share of GEP studies generally focus on leadership in environmental governance within the United Nations (UN), and international negotiations on climate under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in general, or the role of the European Union (EU) in those negotiations in particular. Many GEP scholars have also investigated the leadership role of the United States in international environmental regime formation, whereas there are no systematic investigations concerning China’s leadership in GEP. In addition to the states, GEP literature identifies a wide range of other actors as potential leaders (and followers) in environmental issue areas: international organizations, non-governmental organizations, corporations, cities, religious organizations, social movements, politicians, and even individuals.

Since leadership is a social relation, a growing number of scholars have moved to study perceptions of leadership and to conceptualize the relationship between leaders and followers. GEP scholars also identify some qualitative aspects a leader must have in order to attract followers. Many empirical studies show that despite the EU’s aspiration to be a climate leader, it is not unequivocally recognized as such by others. At the same time, it seems that some forms of leadership, especially those based on unilateral action, do not necessarily require followers and recognition by others. In addition to the leader–follower relationship, the motivation of leadership constitutes one of the key controversies among GEP scholars. Some argue that self-interest is a sufficient driver of leadership, while others claim that leaders must act for the common good of a wider constituency (or at least be perceived to do so). To conclude, most scholars studying leadership in GEP regard structural leadership (based on material capabilities and hard power) as an important type of leadership. Much less attention has been paid to the social dimensions of leadership; this is undoubtedly a gap in the literature that prospective studies ought to fill.
The Italian Immigrant Working-Class Experience in the United States
Authors: Bencivenni Marcella
Published: August 2020

Close to seventeen million people in the United States, approximately 6 percent of the total population, identified themselves as Italian Americans in the 2016 census. Constituting the nation’s fifth largest ancestry group, they are the descendants of one of the greatest diasporas in human history. Since 1860, twenty-nine million Italians have left their homeland for better opportunities worldwide. Close to six million of them have settled in the United States with about five million arriving prior to World War I. Along with other European groups of the great transatlantic migrations of 1870–1920—Jews, Poles, Croatians, and Finns—they became an essential part of the American working class, building, shaping, and enriching its life and culture. Among the most ubiquitous of the early foreigners, Italians were initially confined to unskilled and manual jobs but gradually made their way into the ranks of semi-skilled operatives in mass-production manufacturing. By 1910, they constituted a vital segment of the American multinational workforce in the mining, garment, and steel industries and played key roles in the labor struggles of the early 20th century, providing both key leadership and mass militancy. Like other ethnic groups, Italian immigrant workers lived deeply transnational lives. Their class consciousness was continually informed by their ethnic identity and their complicated relationship to both Italy and the United States, as they sought to transform, and were transformed by, the political events, industrial conditions, and cultures of the two countries. The story of how Italian immigrant workers became “American” sheds light not only on their experience in the United States but also on the transnational character of the labor movement and the interplay of class, race, gender, and ethnic identities.
US–Egypt Relations
Authors: Elkady Karim
Published: August 2020

Since the 1830s, Egyptian regimes have sought US governmental support to assist Egypt in gaining its independence and enable it to act freely in the region. Because historically the United States had no territorial interests in Egypt, Egyptian leaders solicited this strategic connection as potentially a leverage first against the Ottoman Empire, France, and England from the 1830s to World War I, then later against the British military occupation until 1954, and finally against Israel’s occupation of Sinai from 1967 to 1973. Egypt also courted US assistance to support its regional ambitions, to assume leadership of the Arab World, and to stabilize the Middle East. Later, the economic and financial challenges that Egypt has faced in its recent history have led it to request and rely on US military and economic aid.

US interests in Egypt have shifted during their relationship. Initially the United States was interested in trade and protection of private US citizens, especially its Protestant missionaries. But after World War II and the rise of the United States to a position of global leadership, US motives changed. Due to US interests in Persian Gulf oil, its commitment to defend Israel, and its interest in protecting Egypt against the control of hostile powers, the United States became more invested in securing Egypt’s strategic location and utilizing its regional political weight. The United States became involved in securing Egypt from Axis invasions during World War II and in containing Soviet attempts to lock Egypt into an alliance with Moscow. After a period of tense relations from the 1950s to the early 1970s, Egypt and the United States reached a rapprochement in 1974. From that time on, the Egyptian–US strategic partnership emerged, especially after the Camp David Accords, to protect the region from the Soviet Union, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Iraq under Saddam Hussein, and then to contain the rise of terrorism.
The United States and the Soviet-Afghan War, 1979–1989
Authors: Tobin Conor
Published: August 2020

In December 1979, Soviet troops entered the small, poor, landlocked, Islamic nation of Afghanistan, assassinated the communist president, Hafizullah Amin, and installed a more compliant Afghan leader. For almost ten years, Soviet troops remained entrenched in Afghanistan before finally withdrawing in February 1989. During this period, the United States undertook a covert program to assist the anti-communist Afghan insurgents—the mujahideen—to resist the Soviet occupation. Beginning with President Jimmy Carter’s small-scale authorization in July 1979, the secret war became the largest in history under President Ronald Reagan, running up to $700 million per year. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) acted as the war’s quartermaster, arranging supplies of weapons for the mujahideen, which were funneled through Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence directorate (ISI), in coordination with Saudi Arabia, China, Egypt, and others. No Americans were directly involved in the fighting, and the overall cost to the American taxpayer was in the region of $2 billion. The Afghan cost was much higher. Over a million Afghans were killed, a further two million wounded, and over six million refugees fled to neighboring Pakistan and Iran. For the Soviet Union, the ten-year war constituted its largest military action in the postwar era, and the long and protracted nature of the conflict and the failure of the Red Army to subdue the Afghans is partially responsible for the internal turmoil that contributed to the eventual breakup of the Soviet empire at the end of the 1980s. The defeat of the Soviet 40th Army in Afghanistan proved to be the final major superpower battle of the Cold War, but it also marked the beginning of a new era. The devastation and radicalization of Afghan society resulted in the subsequent decades of continued conflict and warfare and the rise of militant Islamic fundamentalism that has shaped the post-Cold War world.
The Sabinada Rebellion
Authors: Dantas Monica Duarte , Saba Roberto
Published: August 2020

The Sabinada took place between November 1837 and March 1838 in the city of Salvador, province of Bahia, Empire of Brazil. It was a separatist rebellion organized by men of federalist and republican ideals who opposed the conservative turn of the Regency government, which ruled Brazil from the abdication of Dom Pedro I until 1840, when Dom Pedro II—three and a half years before the legal age of 18—was crowned Emperor. The Sabinada, however, was more than a separatist movement organized by a rogue political group. It brought together a myriad of social tensions that had been brewing in Salvador since colonial times.

Members of the military, who had seen their standing in Brazilian society rapidly deteriorate since the war of independence, found in the Sabinada an opportunity to reclaim a leading position. Middling sectors of Salvador’s society joined in, with hopes that the movement would give them some voice in a political system otherwise dominated by wealthy planters and merchants. The free poor nurtured similar political hopes and, more importantly, rebelled against a highly unequal economic system that left them in dire straits, facing the constant threat of homelessness and starvation. The slaves did not hesitate to jump into the fray, running away from their masters to join the rebel forces and forcing its leaders to break their initial promise that slavery would not be jeopardized. People of color—slave and free—embraced the Sabinada to exterminate some blatant racial inequality existing in 19th-century Bahia. Brazilians of all colors and social ranks took advantage of the situation to carry out vengeance against foreign nationals, especially the Portuguese, who controlled retail commerce in Salvador.

Rebel leaders had to deal with all these different demands at once, and they did so with much improvisation and unexpected turns. Simultaneously, they had to fend off a brutal repression from loyalist authorities and combatants. When the Sabinada exploded, the powerful and rich fled Salvador to Bahia’s sugar-producing region, known as the Recôncavo. There, they received reinforcements from the National Guard and Army battalions from other provinces. Salvador was under siege for most of the rebellion. The rebels had a hard time acquiring the necessary means to wage war and nearly starved to death. When the loyalists finally attacked, they made sure to shed as much rebel blood as possible to make an example. The loyalists killed indiscriminately, burned buildings, suspended civil rights, executed prisoners, and deported rebels. Through this bloodbath, they succeeded in reestablishing the unequal political and social order that had existed in Salvador before.
Urban Heat Islands and Their Associated Impacts on Health
Authors: Heaviside Clare
Published: August 2020

Towns and cities generally exhibit higher temperatures than rural areas for a number of reasons, including the effect that urban materials have on the natural balance of incoming and outgoing energy at the surface level, the shape and geometry of buildings, and the impact of anthropogenic heating. This localized heating means that towns and cities are often described as urban heat islands (UHIs). Urbanized areas modify local temperatures, but also other meteorological variables such as wind speed and direction and rainfall patterns. The magnitude of the UHI for a given town or city tends to scale with the size of population, although smaller towns of just thousands of inhabitants can have an appreciable UHI effect. The UHI “intensity” (the difference in temperature between a city center and a rural reference point outside the city) is on the order of a few degrees Celsius on average, but can peak at as much as 10°C in larger cities, given the right conditions. UHIs tend to be enhanced during heatwaves, when there is lots of sunshine and a lack of wind to provide ventilation and disperse the warm air. The UHI is most pronounced at night, when rural areas tend to be cooler than cities and urban materials radiate the energy they have stored during the day into the local atmosphere.

As well as affecting local weather patterns and interacting with local air pollution, the UHI can directly affect health through heat exposure, which can exacerbate minor illnesses, affect occupational performance, or increase the risk of hospitalization and even death. Urban populations can face serious risks to health during heatwaves whereby the heat associated with the UHI contributes additional warming. Heat-related health risks are likely to increase in future against a background of climate change and increasing urbanization throughout much of the world. However, there are ways to reduce urban temperatures and avoid some of the health impacts of the UHI through behavioral changes, modification of buildings, or by urban scale interventions. It is important to understand the physical properties of the UHI and its impact on health to evaluate the potential for interventions to reduce heat-related impacts.
Sustainable Management of Groundwater
Authors: Foster Stephen , Chilton John
Published: August 2020

This chapter first provides a concise account of the basic principles and concepts underlying scientific groundwater management, and it then both summarises the policy approach to developing an adaptive scheme of management and protection for groundwater resources that is appropriately integrated across relevant sectors and assesses the governance needs, roles and planning requirements to implement the selected policy approach.
Exploring the Politics of Institutional Fragmentation in Transboundary River Basins
Authors: Bréthaut Christian , Turley Laura
Published: August 2020

Institutional fragmentation has been less addressed by research when considering the specific context of transboundary river basins, settings that are often characterized by multiple regulatory frameworks as well as by a great range of uses and users of the river that intervene at different institutional levels. Considering that such contexts represent fertile ground for reinforced use rivalries and exacerbated power relations, it is key to focus on the very nature and results of such institutional fragmentation; in other words, it is necessary to explore the politics of institutional fragmentation in transboundary rivers. Three main bodies of literature are suggested as insightful perspectives to provide enhanced understanding of such contexts: (a) institutional fit literature: challenges of fits between institutions and ecosystems, (b) legal pluralism: interplay and co-existence of different normative orders, (c) polycentric governance: coordination modalities between different and independent decision-making centers.
Fossil evidence from South America for the diversification of Cunoniaceae by the earliest Palaeocene
Authors: Jud Nathan A , Gandolfo Maria A
Published: August 2020

Background and Aims

Cunoniaceae are woody plants with a distribution that suggests a complex history of Gondwanan vicariance, long-distance dispersal, diversification and extinction. Only four out of ~27 genera in Cunoniaceae are native to South America today, but the discovery of extinct species from Argentine Patagonia is providing new information about the history of this family in South America.

Methods

We describe fossil flowers collected from early Danian (early Palaeocene, ~64 Mya) deposits of the Salamanca Formation. We compare them with similar flowers from extant and extinct species using published literature and herbarium specimens. We used simultaneous analysis of morphology and available chloroplast DNA sequences (trnL–F, rbcL, matK, trnH–psbA) to determine the probable relationship of these fossils to living Cunoniaceae and the co-occurring fossil species Lacinipetalum spectabilum.

Key Results

Cunoniantha bicarpellata gen. et sp. nov. is the second species of Cunoniaceae to be recognized among the flowers preserved in the Salamanca Formation. Cunoniantha flowers are pentamerous and complete, the anthers contain in situ pollen, and the gynoecium is bicarpellate and syncarpous with two free styles. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that Cunoniantha belongs to crown-group Cunoniaceae among the core Cunoniaceae clade, although it does not have obvious affinity with any tribe. Lacinipetalum spectabilum, also from the Salamanca Formation, belongs to the Cunoniaceae crown group as well, but close to tribe Schizomerieae.

Conclusions

Our findings highlight the importance of West Gondwana in the evolution of Cunoniaceae during the early Palaeogene. The co-occurrence of C. bicarpellata and L. spectabilum, belonging to different clades within Cunoniaceae, indicates that the diversification of crown-group Cunoniaceae was under way by 64 Mya.
Platypus
Authors: Jackson Rob
Published: August 2020

Enriching BioScience's role as a Forum for Integrating the Life Sciences, Arts in Science provides an occasional venue for poems, visual art, and other forms of artistic expression that explore and enliven our understanding of life. Through the contributions in this section, we hope to share with our readers the passion for nature that science inspires.

This contribution is from Rob Jackson, professor, Earth System Science; Senior Fellow, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment; and Senior Fellow, Precourt Institute for Energy, at Stanford University, in California.
Impurity Profiling of a Novel Anti-MRSA Antibacterial Drug: Alalevonadifloxacin
Authors: Patil Kiran R , Rane Vipul P , Ahirrao Vinod K , Yeole Ravindra D
Published: August 2020

Alalevonadifloxacin (ALA, formerly described as WCK 2349) is a novel antibacterial drug developed to treat infections caused by Gram-positive bacteria. The current study was aimed to identify and quantify impurities in ALA. Mass spectrometry (MS) compatible reverse phase liquid chromatographic method was developed to identify the impurities in ALA. Three impurities were identified based on the molecular ion peak and their product ions. These impurities were synthesized and characterized using MS and nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry. However, this method was unable to resolve the diastereomeric impurity, which is likely to be formed during synthesis. Therefore, another method was developed using YMC Chiral NEA-[S] as a chiral stationary phase and validated for quantification of all impurities including diastereomeric impurity. The developed method was employed for quality control and stability studies of the ALA drug substance used in pre-clinical and clinical studies.
Wireworm (Coleoptera: Elateridae) Species Composition and Management in Sweet Potato Grown in North Florida Using Chemical Insecticides and Entomopathogenic Nematodes
Authors: Seal Dakshina R , Baniya Anil B , Dyrdahl-Young Ruhiyyih , Hochmuth Robert C , Leppla Norman C , Fenneman Daniel K , Broughton Rhoda (De) T , DiGennaro Peter
Published: August 2020

Wireworms are immature stages of click beetles (Coleoptera: Elateridae) and are considered a serious threat to sweet potato production in the southern United States. The major wireworm species collected in North Florida sweet potato fields in 2017 and 2018 were Conoderus scissus, C. rudis, C. amplicollis, and C. falli. These species vary in their behavior and biology. During a 2-yr study period, we conducted two insecticide field trials using eleven insecticides belonging to organophosphates, neonicotinoids, pyrethroids, and botanical classes, and three field trials using entomopathogenic nematode (EPN) species to control wireworms. In 2017, all insecticide treatments significantly reduced new feeding holes and total holes (old + new + other) as compared to the untreated control. In 2018, the result was similar with a few variations. In both years, all insecticides showed a percentage reduction in wireworm damage holes (2017: 34.88–96.19%; 2018: 12.38–97.02%) with the highest by Regent. In the EPN field study, one application of EPN near planting significantly reduced soil insects. In a laboratory study conducted at the Tropical Research and Education Center, UF-IFAS, chlorpyrifos caused higher percentage mortality of C. rudis (55.5%) than C. scissus (22.2%). At the present experiment rates, none of the insecticides caused the mortality of C. amplicollis. Heterorhabditids strain ‘FL-2122’ was more susceptible to chlorpyrifos than other strains of EPN.
Tories and the Language of ‘Liberalism’ in the 1820s
Authors: Craig David
Published: August 2020

This article reconsiders the problem of ‘liberal Toryism’ in the 1820s not by looking at the government’s policies, but instead at the very ‘liberal’ language through which they were expressed. It argues that an existing domestic language of ‘liberality’—which was associated with religious toleration and with freer trade—was quite distinct from the new political movements on the Continent. Canning and Huskisson used this well-established, and generally well-esteemed, language to enhance and extend their appeal to ‘public opinion’. However, many Tories were coming to view this terminology with increased suspicion in the aftermath of the Revolutions of 1820. The article stresses the way that the Tory press popularised a negative typology of the ‘liberal system’ which ran together religious, economic and foreign affairs, and depicted Canning and Huskisson as ‘theorists’ content to ruin the moral fibre and economic health of the nation in quest of an abstract metaphysics. By 1826 ‘liberal’ and ‘illiberal’ were increasingly seen as distinct positions that could not be bridged. Although Canning’s brief ministry was not able to bring about a reconfiguration of parties, the final years of decade saw a clear sense among many Tories that ‘liberalism’ was a powerful threat to traditional religious, political and economic practices.
HEART VALVE DISEASESP1 SEX AND GENDER DIFFERENCES IN TAVI PATIENTS: FROM CLINICAL PRESENTATION TO PROCEDURAL OUTCOMES
Authors: Quagliana A , Grego S , Pasotti E , Araco M , Moccetti M , Pedrazzini G , Moccetti T
Published: August 2020

Background

The epidemiological impact of aortic stenosis has recently grown, and indications to valvular treatment have changed substantially with the implementation in clinical practice of TAVI procedures. Significant differences according to patients’ sex are likely to be related to different biological features, but the undelrying mechanisms haven’t been verified yet.

Aims and Methods

We collected from the SwissTAVI Registry the available data about 373 subjects who where consecutively treated in Cardiocentro Ticino with a TAVI procedure over the last 10 years. We compared two subgroups of female (n = 161, age 83.5±5.4 yrs) and male (n = 212, age 82.3±5.9 yrs) patients in terms of severity indices of the disease (residual valve area and transvalvular gradients). The same parameters were measured after the procedure with a quantitative estimation of eventual post-procedural paravalvular leaks.

Results

As previously reported, female patients showed significantly higher transvalvular mean gradients at baseline (48.02±16.0 vs. 42.9±14.8 mmHg; P = 0.004) on smaller resudual valve areas (0.66±0.18 vs. 0.77±0.19 cm2; P < 0.001). TAVI procedures were equally efficient in both sex, restoring similar valve areas and gradients, but paravalvular leaks were more frequent and significant in females (F vs. M no leak 44.5 vs. 55.3%, mild 47.7 vs. 42.7%, moderate 6.5 vs. 1.5%, severe 1.3 vs. 0.5%; overall P = 0.037).

Conclusions

Sex-related differences are only partially described and their substrate is not clear. Female patients are known to be more prone to bleedings and cerebrovascular accidents, but our data show that also paravalvular leaks could be more common and significant in comparison to males. A detailed analysis of the anatomy of the aortic outflow and of the valvular deterioration in aortic stenosis is required and is the aim of the second phase of this study. Understanding sex-related characteristics underlying these discrepancies can potentially improve TAVI technologies towards a further customization of prosthetic devices.
Early-life Health as a Lifelong Precursor of Self-Related Views of Aging in Later Life
Authors: Smith Jacqui , Larkina Marina
Published: August 2020

Objectives

Age stereotypes and expectations about one’s own aging commence in childhood but most research focuses on predictive associations with midlife health behaviors, later-life chronic conditions, biomarkers, and longevity. Surprisingly little is known about the role of poor childhood health in these associations. This study aims to fill this gap.

Methods

Using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS: N = 5,773, aged 50–98), we investigated whether diagnosed chronic illness before age 16 and self-rated childhood health predict late-life self-perceptions of aging (SPA) and proportional subjective age discrepancy (PSAD). We conducted multivariate multiple regression analysis (MMRA) to determine the joint and partial effects of the two indicators of childhood health. Models included controls for childhood family financial status as well as late-life self-rated health, chronic illnesses, memory status, and demographic covariates (age, gender, race/ethnicity, marital status, socioeconomic status) in 2016.

Results

Over and above all covariates and the covariation of the two views of one’s own aging, the MMRA models revealed that the number of childhood chronic illnesses predicted SPA but not for PSAD. Self-rated childhood health predicted both SPA and PSAD in the unadjusted models, but not in the adjusted models.

Discussion

This study provides new insight into potential early-life precursors of self-evaluations of aging. In particular, childhood diagnoses of chronic illness enhance negative SPA up to 50 years later. Non-normative experiences related to poor health in childhood are lifelong foundations for socioeconomic status, health, and for self-related beliefs about age and aging.
Repetitive capture of marine fishes: implications for estimating number and mortality of releases
Authors: Runde Brendan J , Buckel Jeffrey A , Shertzer Kyle W , Bacheler Nathan M , Rudershausen Paul J , Sauls Beverly
Published: August 2020

In some fisheries, releases are a high percentage of total catch. Recent tagging data of marine fishes have revealed that recapture of the same individual multiple times occurs frequently. We investigated the magnitude of this phenomenon and its effect on survival using previously collected mark-recapture data of four reef-associated species. We used Cox proportional hazard regression models to examine whether survival varied with release number. For three of four species, survival was significantly higher after the second, third, and/or fourth release as compared to the first release, perhaps resulting from selection for robust individuals. Repetitive recapture implies that the estimated number of unique released fish is biased. Increased survival following later releases as compared to the initial release suggests that the number of dead discards may be similarly overestimated. We analysed the sensitivity of stock assessment results to reduced estimates of dead discards using two of our species that had recently been assessed. We found that reduced estimates of dead discards had a modest effect on assessment results but could nonetheless affect the perception of fishery status. Our findings highlight the need to revise current practices for estimating live and dead discards, either internal or external to stock assessment models.
Holomorphic Bundles Trivializable by Proper Surjective Holomorphic Map
Authors: Biswas Indranil , Dumitrescu Sorin
Published: August 2020

Given a compact complex manifold $M$, we investigate the holomorphic vector bundles $E$ on $M$ such that $\varphi ^* E$ is holomorphically trivial for some surjective holomorphic map $\varphi $, to $M$, from some compact complex manifold. We prove that these are exactly those holomorphic vector bundles that admit a flat holomorphic connection with finite monodromy homomorphism. A similar result is proved for holomorphic principal $G$-bundles, where $G$ is a connected reductive complex affine algebraic group.
Projected Impact of Concurrently Available Long-Acting Injectable and Daily-Oral Human Immunodeficiency Virus Preexposure Prophylaxis: A Mathematical Model
Authors: Maloney Kevin M , Le Guillou Adrien , Driggers Robert A , Sarkar Supriya , Anderson Emeli J , Malik Amyn A , Jenness Samuel M
Published: August 2020

Background

Long-acting injectable (LAI) human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is reportedly efficacious, although full trial results have not been published. We used a dynamic network model of HIV transmission among men who have sex with men to assess the population impact of LAI-PrEP when available concurrently with daily-oral (DO) PrEP.

Methods

The reference model represents the current HIV epidemiology and DO-PrEP coverage (15% among those with behavioral indications for PrEP) among men who have sex with men in the southeastern United States. Primary analyses investigated varied PrEP uptake and proportion selecting LAI-PrEP. Secondary analyses evaluated uncertainty in pharmacokinetic efficacy and LAI-PrEP persistence relative to DO-PrEP.

Results

Compared with the reference scenario, if 50% chose LAI-PrEP, 4.3% (95% simulation interval, −7.3% to 14.5%) of infections would be averted over 10 years. The impact of LAI-PrEP is slightly greater than that of the DO-PrEP–only regimen, based on assumptions of higher adherence and partial protection after discontinuation. If the total PrEP initiation rate doubled, 17.1% (95% simulation interval, 6.7%–26.4%) of infections would be averted. The highest population-level impact occurred when LAI-PrEP uptake and persistence improved.

Conclusions

If LAI-PrEP replaces DO-PrEP, its availability will modestly improve the population impact. LAI-PrEP will make a more substantial impact if its availability drives higher total PrEP coverage, or if persistence is greater for LAI-PrEP.
Rapid Quantification of Plasma Creatinine Using a Novel Kinetic Enzymatic Assay
Authors: Jimenez Valencia Angela M , Kryszak Lindsay A , Goheen Joshua , Van Roy Willem , Woronoff Gabrielle , Mathieu Evelien , Gudjonsdottir Hildur , Stakenborg Tim , Clarke William A
Published: August 2020

Background

Enzymatic assays are among the most common diagnostic tests performed in the clinical laboratory. Enzymatic substrate analysis is most commonly measured using endpoint methods; however, modulating the reaction kinetics allows fine control of the reaction rate, which can be adjusted based on specific monitoring technologies.

Methods

We developed and optimized an enzymatic method for measurement of creatinine in plasma, using commonly paired enzymes of creatininase (Crtnnase), creatinase (Crtase), sarcosine oxidase (SOX), ascorbate oxidase (AOX), and horseradish peroxidase (HRP). The novel aspect of the assay is that it is fast and uses SOX as the limiting enzyme. The assay performance was assessed with respect to precision, accuracy, and interferences.

Results

The intrarun %CV (n = 12) was approximately 5% for each concentration tested, with biases ranging from −3 to −9%. The interrun %CV (n = 39) ranged from 5 to 8%, with biases ranging from −2 to −6%. During the accuracy assessment (n = 127), only 4 samples did not meet the minimum acceptability criteria. Minimal interference was observed, except at low creatinine concentrations with elevated creatine.

Conclusion

Our novel and versatile enzymatic assay to measure plasma creatinine using kinetic analysis with SOX as the limiting enzyme is rapid (<2 mins), sensitive, and specific and demonstrates excellent concordance with the laboratory standard. We anticipate this rapid kinetic assay to be compatible with emerging technologies in the field of portable diagnostic devices, such as the usage of silicon photonics to monitor biochemical reactions.
Nurses Can Resuscitate
Authors: Cooper Cheryl , Cochran Amalia , Coffey Rebecca
Published: August 2020

Fluid resuscitation in the first 48 hours postburn is crucial in the management of burn shock. The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate nurses’ adherence to a nurse-driven fluid resuscitation protocol at one adult burn center. Their secondary goal was to establish that the use of a nursing-driven protocol did not result in over resuscitation. Following implementation of a nurse-driven burn resuscitation protocol, a 48-hour data resuscitation data collection tool was developed by the burn physicians and nurses. All resuscitations were reviewed in real-time and in burn leadership meeting to identify opportunities for improvement. Follow-up with nursing staff was done in real time by the clinical nurse specialist following each burn resuscitation. Twenty-two patients requiring formal fluid resuscitation were included in the review. Patients had a median age of 36.5(IQR: 38.74) years and were predominantly male. They found that in the first 24 hours that patients received 3.47 ml/kg/hr and then in the next 24 hours they received an average of 2.68 ml/kg/hr. All 22 patients’ resuscitation was initiated using the Parkland formula in the emergency department, and nurses were successful in consistently adjusting fluid infusions consistent with the protocol. Using a multidisciplinary approach and preparatory and real-time education processes, burn nurses can successfully guide burn resuscitation. Providing education and follow-up in real time can improve the process.
The Impact of Mass Spectrometry on Patients’ Medical and Nonmedical Lives
Authors: Wu Alan H B
Published: August 2020

Objective

The various forms of mass spectrometry (MS) instrumentation have had a major impact on testing for analytes performed with clinical and forensic laboratories over the past decade. Improvements in MS instrumentation have led to the use of MS in many areas.

Methods

To highlight the value of MS testing, short reports are presented that are relevant to the following fields: pain management, transplant medicine, clinical toxicology, designer drug testing, genetic metabolic disorders, nutrition, dietary exposure to heavy metals, herbals and supplements, forensic pathology, pharmacogenomics, homeland security, performance enhancing drugs and peptides, clinical microbiology, physician licensing, and environmental exposures. These reports are based on real patients. The “stories” have been altered to comply with privacy regulations.

Results

Analysis of MS provides objective results that have an impact on many areas of medicine and society as a whole. Accurate analysis has an impact on guidance for medical practices.

Conclusion

The value of MS testing will continue to grow in the years to come.
STRIDES: Spectroscopic and photometric characterization of the environment and effects of mass along the line of sight to the gravitational lenses DES J0408–5354 and WGD 2038–4008
Authors: Buckley-Geer E J , Lin H , Rusu C E , Poh J , Palmese A , Agnello A , Christensen L , Frieman J , Shajib A J , Treu T , Collett T , Birrer S , Anguita T , Fassnacht C D , Meylan G , Mukherjee S , Wong K C , Aguena M , Allam S , Avila S , Bertin E , Bhargava S , Brooks D , Carnero Rosell A , Carrasco Kind M , Carretero J , Castander F J , Costanzi M , da Costa L N , De Vicente J , Desai S , Diehl H T , Doel P , Eifler T F , Everett S , Flaugher B , Fosalba P , García-Bellido J , Gaztanaga E , Gruen D , Gruendl R A , Gschwend J , Gutierrez G , Hinton S R , Honscheid K , James D J , Kuehn K , Kuropatkin N , Maia M A G , Marshall J L , Melchior P , Menanteau F , Miquel R , Ogando R L C , Paz-Chinchón F , Plazas A A , Sanchez E , Scarpine V , Schubnell M , Serrano S , Sevilla-Noarbe I , Smith M , Soares-Santos M , Suchyta E , Swanson M E C , Tarle G , Tucker D L , Varga T N ,   (The DES Collaboration)
Published: August 2020

In time-delay cosmography, three of the key ingredients are (1) determining the velocity dispersion of the lensing galaxy, (2) identifying galaxies and groups along the line of sight with sufficient proximity and mass to be included in the mass model, and (3) estimating the external convergence κext from less massive structures that are not included in the mass model. We present results on all three of these ingredients for two time-delay lensed quad quasar systems, DES J0408–5354 and WGD 2038–4008 . We use the Gemini, Magellan, and VLT telescopes to obtain spectra to both measure the stellar velocity dispersions of the main lensing galaxies and to identify the line-of-sight galaxies in these systems. Next, we identify 10 groups in DES J0408–5354 and two groups in WGD 2038–4008 using a group-finding algorithm. We then identify the most significant galaxy and galaxy-group perturbers using the ‘flexion shift’ criterion. We determine the probability distribution function of the external convergence κext for both of these systems based on our spectroscopy and on the DES-only multiband wide-field observations. Using weighted galaxy counts, calibrated based on the Millennium Simulation, we find that DES J0408–5354 is located in a significantly underdense environment, leading to a tight (width $\sim 3{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$), negative-value κext distribution. On the other hand, WGD 2038–4008 is located in an environment of close to unit density, and its low source redshift results in a much tighter κext of $\sim 1{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$, as long as no external shear constraints are imposed.
A common explanation of the Hubble tension and anomalous cold spots in the CMB
Authors: Kovács A , Beck R , Szapudi I , Csabai I , Rácz G , Dobos L
Published: August 2020

The standard cosmological paradigm narrates a reassuring story of a universe currently dominated by an enigmatic dark energy component. Disquietingly, its universal explaining power has recently been challenged by, above all, the ∼4σ tension in the values of the Hubble constant. Another, less studied anomaly is the repeated observation of integrated Sachs–Wolfe (ISW) imprints ∼5× stronger than expected in the Lambda cold dark matter (ΛCDM) model from $R_{\rm v}\gtrsim 100\,\rm {\mathit{ h}^{-1}Mpc }$ superstructures. Here, we show that the inhomogeneous AvERA (Average Expansion Rate Approximation) model of emerging curvature is capable of telling a plausible albeit radically different story that explains both observational anomalies without dark energy. We demonstrate that while stacked imprints of $R_{\rm v}\gtrsim 100\,\rm {\mathit{ h}^{-1}Mpc }$ supervoids in cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature maps can discriminate between the AvERA and ΛCDM models, their characteristic differences may remain hidden using alternative void definitions and stacking methodologies. Testing the extremes, we then also show that the CMB Cold Spot can plausibly be explained in the AvERA model as an ISW imprint. The coldest spot in the AvERA map is aligned with multiple low-z supervoids with $R_{\rm v}\gtrsim 100\,\rm {\mathit{ h}^{-1}Mpc }$ and central underdensity δ0 ≈ −0.3, resembling the observed large-scale galaxy density field in the Cold Spot area. We hence conclude that the anomalous imprint of supervoids may well be the canary in the coal mine, and existing observational evidence for dark energy should be reinterpreted to further test alternative models.
The gas production of 14 species from comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko based on DFMS/COPS data from 2014 to 2016
Authors: Läuter Matthias , Kramer Tobias , Rubin Martin , Altwegg Kathrin
Published: August 2020

The coma of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko has been probed by the Rosetta spacecraft and shows a variety of different molecules. The ROSINA COmet Pressure Sensor and the Double Focusing Mass Spectrometer provide in situ densities for many volatile compounds including the 14 gas species H2O, CO2, CO, H2S, O2, C2H6, CH3OH, H2CO, CH4, NH3, HCN, C2H5OH, OCS, and CS2. We fit the observed densities during the entire comet mission between 2014 August and 2016 September to an inverse coma model. We retrieve surface emissions on a cometary shape with 3996 triangular elements for 50 separated time intervals. For each gas, we derive systematic error bounds and report the temporal evolution of the production, peak production, and the time-integrated total production. We discuss the production for the two lobes of the nucleus and for the Northern and Southern hemispheres. Moreover, we provide a comparison of the gas production with the seasonal illumination.
Constraining the scatter in the galaxy–halo connection at Milky Way masses
Authors: Cao Jun-zhi , Tinker Jeremy L , Mao Yao-Yuan , Wechsler Risa H
Published: August 2020

We develop and implement two new methods for constraining the scatter in the relationship between galaxies and dark matter haloes. These new techniques are sensitive to the scatter at low halo masses, making them complementary to previous constraints that are dependent on clustering amplitudes or rich galaxy groups, both of which are only sensitive to more massive haloes. In both of our methods, we use a galaxy group finder to locate central galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey main galaxy sample. Our first technique uses the small-scale cross-correlation of central galaxies with all lower mass galaxies. This quantity is sensitive to the satellite fraction of low-mass galaxies, which is in turn driven by the scatter between haloes and galaxies. The second technique uses the kurtosis of the distribution of line-of-sight velocities between central galaxies and neighbouring galaxies. This quantity is sensitive to the distribution of halo masses that contain the central galaxies at fixed stellar mass. Theoretical models are constructed using peak halo circular velocity, Vpeak, as our property to connect galaxies to haloes, and all comparisons between theory and observation are made after first passing the model through the group-finding algorithm. We parametrize scatter as a lognormal distribution in M* at fixed Vpeak, σ[M*|Vpeak]. The cross-correlation technique yields a constraint of σ[M*|Vpeak] = 0.27 ± 0.05 dex at a mean Vpeak of 168 km s−1, corresponding to a scatter in log M* at fixed Mh of σ[M*|Mh] = 0.38 ± 0.06 dex at $M_\text{h}=10^{11.8}\, \text{M}_\odot$. The kurtosis technique yields σ[M*|Vpeak] = 0.30 ± 0.03 at Vpeak = 209 km s−1, corresponding to σ[M*|Mh] = 0.34 ± 0.04 at $M_\text{h}=10^{12.2}\, \text{M}_\odot$. The values of σ[M*|Mh] are significantly larger than the constraints at higher masses, in agreement with the results of hydrodynamic simulations. This increase is only partly due to the scatter between Vpeak and Mh, and it represents an increase of nearly a factor of 2 relative to the values inferred from clustering and group studies at high masses.
Spectroscopic study of magnesium dinitrogen and sodium dinitrogen cation
Authors: Cheng Qianyi , Washington Maura C , Burns Joseph E , Fortenberry Ryan C , DeYonker Nathan J
Published: August 2020

Despite its likely importance in astrochemistry, pure rotational spectra are not observable for gas-phase N2 since this molecule has no permanent dipole moment. Complexation of monomeric N2 with a cationic metal (MN2+) may be kinetically and thermodynamically favourable, and the detection of such MN2+ molecules could be useful tracers of N2 in order to probe its abundance and kinetics. Highly accurate quartic force field methods have been applied here to compute rotational and vibrational spectroscopic properties of the NaN2+ and MgN2+ molecules via a coupled cluster-based composite approach with additional corrections for post-CCSD(T) electron correlation and relativistic effects. The relative energies of various isomers have also been computed and show that both NaN2+ and MgN2+ have linear ground electronic states. At the highest level of theory, rotational constants (B0) of 4086.9 and 4106.0 MHz are predicted for NaN2+ and MgN2+, respectively, with dipole moments of 6.92 and 4.34 D, respectively, making them rotationally observable even at low concentrations. Post-CCSD(T) electron correlation corrections lower the N–N stretching frequency while relativistic corrections have a much smaller effect putting the fundamental frequencies at 2333.7 and 2313.6 cm−1, respective of NaN2+ and MgN2+ slightly above that in N2H+. Additive corrections do not significantly change the other two vibrational modes. An anharmonic, zero-point corrected N2 dissociation energy of 7.3 and 7.0 kcal mol−1 is, respectively, reported for NaN2+ and MgN2+ suggesting possible formation of these molecules in protoplanetary discs or planetary nebulae that are metal- and nitrogen-rich.