bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Dimensions of globalisation and social welfare policies in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries
Authors: Santos Marcelo , Simões Marta
Published: April 2021

Which dimensions of globalisation have an impact on social expenditure? How do different social welfare policies react to globalisation? This paper addresses these questions focusing on 36 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries over the period 1990–2015 and applying system Generalised Method of Moments to deal with endogeneity. We consider different dimensions of globalisation, economic, social and political, and their potential differentiated impacts on variegated social welfare policies. According to our findings, all the dimensions of globalisation have a positive effect on total social expenditure and on most of its components, although the influence is not statistically significant for social globalisation. The social welfare policies affected by globalisation are old age pensions, incapacity related, family and unemployment benefits and active labour market policies. These results can shed additional light on social and economic outcomes of globalisation such as poverty, inequality, long run growth and economic recovery.
TheArabidopsisembryo as a quantifiable model for studying pattern formation
Authors: Harnvanichvech Yosapol , Gorelova Vera , Sprakel Joris , Weijers Dolf
Published: April 2021

Phenotypic diversity of flowering plants stems from common basic features of the plant body pattern with well-defined body axes, organs and tissue organisation. Cell division and cell specification are the two processes that underlie the formation of a body pattern. As plant cells are encased into their cellulosic walls, directional cell division through precise positioning of division plane is crucial for shaping plant morphology. Since many plant cells are pluripotent, their fate establishment is influenced by their cellular environment through cell-to-cell signaling. Recent studies show that apart from biochemical regulation, these two processes are also influenced by cell and tissue morphology and operate under mechanical control. Finding a proper model system that allows dissecting the relationship between these aspects is the key to our understanding of pattern establishment. In this review, we present theArabidopsisembryo as a simple, yet comprehensive model of pattern formation compatible with high-throughput quantitative assays.
Dickinsonia: mobile and adhered
Authors: Ivantsov Andrey , Zakrevskaya Maria
Published: April 2021

The classical genus of Ediacaran macroorganisms,Dickinsonia, was part of an extensive benthic marine community inhabiting the fields of microbial mats. The remains ofDickinsoniaare commonly preserved in the position of adhesion to the habitat substrate. However, these were mobile organisms. In addition to the already known feeding traces ofDickinsonia, structures described as traces of motor activity are reported. Long parallel furrows, extending from the posterior end of the body imprint, are interpreted as imprints of ridges left by an organism moving along the surface of the substrate. Groups of differently shaped grooves laying in the depression that enhalo theDickinsoniabody imprints or accompany their individual areas are interpreted as imprints of ridges and cords of mucous material. They are considered to represent structures of self-determined stretching and lift-off of the body margins from the substrate. The rings and arcs of silt- and sand-sized mineral particles bordering the body imprints are composed of material that was supposedly brushed off from the surface of the microbial mat byDickinsonia. They are considered traces of the adhesion of these organisms to the substrate. Accumulations of multidirectional pulling and tear-off structures, lacking the body imprint but accompanied by the joint plane passing into the overlying sediment and cutting through the bedding, are interpreted as escape traces. The dual modality of the behaviour (attachment and mobility) could indicate the adaptability ofDickinsoniato life in extremely shallow-water environments.
Globalization, Institutions, and Ethnic Inequality
Authors: Bormann Nils-Christian , Pengl Yannick I. , Cederman Lars-Erik , Weidmann Nils B.
Published: April 2021

Recent research has shown that inequality between ethnic groups is strongly driven by politics, where powerful groups and elites channel the state's resources toward their constituencies. Most of the existing literature assumes that these politically induced inequalities are static and rarely change over time. We challenge this claim and argue that economic globalization and domestic institutions interact in shaping inequality between groups. In weakly institutionalized states, gains from trade primarily accrue to political insiders and their co-ethnics. By contrast, politically excluded groups gain ground where a capable and meritocratic state apparatus governs trade liberalization. Using nighttime luminosity data from 1992 to 2012 and a global sample of ethnic groups, we show that the gap between politically marginalized groups and their included counterparts has narrowed over time while economic globalization progressed at a steady pace. Our quantitative analysis and four qualitative case narratives show, however, that increasing trade openness is associated with economic gains accruing to excluded groups in only institutionally strong states, as predicted by our theoretical argument. In contrast, the economic gap between ethnopolitical insiders and outsiders remains constant or even widens in weakly institutionalized countries.
Rising Inequality As a Threat to the Liberal International Order
Authors: Flaherty Thomas M. , Rogowski Ronald
Published: April 2021

The rise of top-heavy inequality—earnings concentration in a very thin layer of elites—calls into question our understanding of the distributional effects of the Liberal International Order. Far more people lose from globalization, and fewer gain, than traditional economic models suggest. We review three modern trade theories (neo-Heckscher-Ohlin-Stolper-Samuelson or H-O-S-S, new new trade theory, and economic geography) that each arrive at the conclusion of top-heavy inequality by introducing some form of unit heterogeneity—an assumption that the actors we once treated as identical actually differ from one another in important ways. Heterogeneity allows the gains from globalization to concentrate in a narrow segment of workers with superlative talents, extraordinarily productive firms, or heavily agglomerated cities. An analysis of European voting data shows that shocks from trade and migration elicit populist opposition only where the top 1 percent have gained the most. With few politically feasible alternatives to protectionism, most notably the failure of democracies to redistribute income, our analysis predicts a persistence of public support for antiglobalization parties, especially those on the Right.
THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE: SLEEPING SICKNESS, ONCHOCERCIASIS, AND UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES IN GHANA, 1930–60
Authors: Bannister David
Published: April 2021

The Northern Territories Protectorate and its people were located on the economic and political margins of Britain's Gold Coast Crown Colony (now Ghana) throughout the colonial period. The article examines how the region's peripherality allowed the Gold Coast Tsetse Control Department to carry out an extensive campaign of bush clearing and resettlement along northern river valleys from the 1930s to 1950s, with little supervision by the Gold Coast Medical Department or northern officials. Intended to control human and animal sleeping sickness and to meet the economic preferences of the colony's central administration, this campaign had the effect of greatly increasing the exposure of northern communities to another disease, onchocerciasis, causing widespread blindness and contributing to a serious public health crisis in the early independence era.
Opioid Storytelling: Rehabilitating a White Disability Nationalism
Authors: KNADLER STEPHEN
Published: April 2021

“Opioid Storytelling: Rehabilitating a White Disability Nationalism” argues that stories of the opioid crisis disseminate an emerging white disability nationalism that functions to morph and reconsolidate the “machinery of whiteness” around an affectively charged disability politics. Through a close reading of HBO's 2017 documentaryWarning: This Drug May Kill You, directed by Perri Peltz, as well as Beth Macy'sNew York Timesbest book of 2018,Dopesick, this essay contends that opioid storytelling redeploys a panic about lost agency and increased vulnerabilities into a melancholic reinvestment in a fantasy ideal of white immunity nationalism. Opioid storytelling's “relapsed” whiteness, which invokes a long history of fears about racial degeneration, restores whiteness's category crisis by presenting middle-class whites as abled disableds, or dopesick addicts, in contrast to an unredeemable noncompliant blackness, and, in doing so, resolves the contradictions within conservative neoliberal discourses between sympathetic addicts and a simultaneous insistence on individual accountability and family values. Opioid storytelling reveals not only a contemporary morphing of a complex history of race and public health, but offers new identifications for “fragile” white subjects to reinvest in intractable hierarchies of white supremacism, while simultaneously thinking of themselves as liberal antiracists.
Reimagining full wave rf quasilinear theory in a tokamak
Authors: Catto Peter J. , Tolman Elizabeth A.
Published: April 2021

The velocity dependent resonant interaction of particles with applied radiofrequency (rf) waves during heating and current drive in the presence of pitch angle scattering collisions gives rise to narrow collisional velocity space boundary layers that dramatically enhance the role of collisions as recently shown by Catto (J. Plasma Phys., vol. 86, 2020, 815860302). The behaviour is a generalization of the narrow collisional boundary layer that forms during Landau damping as found by Johnston (Phys. Fluids, vol. 14, 1971, pp. 2719–2726) and Auerbach (Phys. Fluids, vol. 20, 1977, pp. 1836–1844). For a wave of parallel wave number

${k_{||}}$

interacting with weakly collisional plasma species of collision frequency

$\nu$

and thermal speed

${v_{\textrm{th}}}$

, the effective collision frequency becomes of order

$\nu {({k_{||}}{v_{th}}/\nu )^{2/3}} \gg \nu $

. The narrow boundary layers that arise because of the diffusive nature of the collisions allow a physically meaningful wave–particle interaction time to be defined that is the inverse of this effective collision frequency. The collisionality implied by the narrow boundary layer results in changes in the standard quasilinear treatment of applied rf fields in tokamaks while remaining consistent with causality. These changes occur because successive poloidal interactions with the rf are correlated in tokamak geometry and because the resonant velocity space dependent interactions are controlled by the spatial and temporal behaviour of the perturbed full wave fields rather than just the spatially local Landau and Doppler shifted cyclotron wave–particle resonance condition associated with unperturbed motion of the particles. The correlation of successive poloidal circuits of the tokamak leads to the appearance in the quasilinear operator of transit averaged resonance conditions localized in velocity space boundary layers that maintain negative definite entropy production.
A numerical study of gravity-driven instability in strongly coupled dusty plasma. Part 1. Rayleigh–Taylor instability and buoyancy-driven instability
Authors: Dharodi Vikram S. , Das Amita
Published: April 2021

Rayleigh–Taylor (RT) and buoyancy-driven (BD) instabilities are driven by gravity in a fluid system with inhomogeneous density. The paper investigates these instabilities for a strongly coupled dusty plasma medium. This medium has been represented here in the framework of the generalized hydrodynamics (GHD) fluid model which treats it as a viscoelastic medium. The incompressible limit of the GHD model is considered here. The RT instability is explored both for gradual and sharp density gradients stratified against gravity. The BD instability is discussed by studying the evolution of a rising bubble (a localized low-density region) and a falling droplet (a localized high-density region) in the presence of gravity. Since both the rising bubble and falling droplet have symmetry in spatial distribution, we observe that a falling droplet process is equivalent to a rising bubble. We also find that both the gravity-driven instabilities get suppressed with increasing coupling strength of the medium. These observations have been illustrated analytically as well as by carrying out two-dimensional nonlinear simulations. Part 2 of this paper is planned to extend the present study of the individual evolution of a bubble and a droplet to their combined evolution in order to understand the interaction between them.
Contour clustering: A field-data-driven approach for documenting and analysing prototypical f0 contours
Authors: Kaland Constantijn
Published: April 2021

This paper reports an automatic data-driven analysis for describing prototypical intonation patterns, particularly suitable for initial stages of prosodic research and language description. The approach has several advantages over traditional ways to investigate intonation, such as the applicability to spontaneous speech, language- and domain-independency, and the potential of revealing meaningful functions of intonation. These features make the approach particularly useful for language documentation, where the description of prosody is often lacking. The core of this approach is a cluster analysis on a time-series of f0 measurements and consists of two scripts (Praat and R, available fromhttps://constantijnkaland.github.io/contourclustering/). Graphical user interfaces can be used to perform the analyses on collected data ranging from spontaneous to highly controlled speech. There is limited need for manual annotation prior to analysis and speaker variability can be accounted for. After cluster analysis, Praat textgrids can be generated with the cluster number annotated for each individual contour. Although further confirmatory analysis is still required, the outcomes provide useful and unbiased directions for any investigation of prototypical f0 contours based on their acoustic form.
Two types of language contact involving English Creoles
Authors: Yakpo Kofi
Published: April 2021

The two African English-lexifier Creole languages Krio (Sierra Leone) and Pichi (Equatorial Guinea) are closely related. A close look at specific aspects of their grammar, however, shows divergence due to differing contact ecologies since their split in the 19thcentury. Krio has been spoken alongside itslexifier(the main lexicon-providing language) andsuperstrate(the socially dominant colonial language) English since its beginnings and Pichi alongside its superstrate Spanish for almost two centuries, but not alongside English. Resulting differences in contact outcomes transpire in the expression of tense, aspect, and mood, and the use of prepositions for the marking of participants. In these two areas, Krio has converged more with English than Pichi with Spanish because existing overlaps between Creole and lexifier forms have facilitated transfer from English. There is therefore evidence for different contact outcomes in Creoles depending on whether they continue to be in contact with a superstrate that is simultaneously the lexifier (in this case English), or not. No previous work has compared Krio and Pichi nor looked at these two Creole languages from the viewpoint of their differing linguistic ecologies and their resulting differentiation.
Good reasons for losers: lottery justification and social risk
Authors: Spiekermann Kai
Published: April 2021

Many goods are distributed by processes that involve randomness. In lotteries, randomness is used to promote fairness. When taking social risks, randomness is a feature of the process. The losers of such decisions ought to be given a reason why they should accept the outcome. Surprisingly, good reasons demand more than merely equalex antechances. What is also required is a true statement of the form: ‘the result could easily have gone the other way and you could have been the winner’. This rules in standard lotteries but rules out many lotteries based on merely epistemic probability.
Life as a Trust Game: a comment on The Option Value of Life
Authors: Ponthiere Gregory
Published: April 2021

According to Burri (2020), a major reason why suicide is often irrational lies in the option value of life. Remaining alive is valuable because this allows for a larger menu of options, and the possibility of committing suicide in the future adds further value to the act of remaining alive now. In this note, I represent life as a trust game played by two selves – the young self and the old self – and I argue that the possibility to commit suicide in the future can encourage committing suicide now, against what the theory of the option value of life predicts.
Establishment and implementation of hospital-based health technology assessment at King Hussein Cancer Center: can our model be an example?
Authors: Al-Rabayah Abeer A. , Jaddoua Saad M.
Published: April 2021

Objective

To describe the establishment of, and assess the implementation of, a hospital-based health technology assessment (HTA) program in a comprehensive cancer center in Jordan.

Methods

This is a cross-sectional assessment study of the HTA program from 2008 to 2018. We used an indicator-based assessment that included structural, process, and outcome indicators. Structural indicators measured the program's enablers. Process indicators measured activities and outputs, whereas outcome indicators measured the program impact. A data collection form was prepared to collect data related to each indicator.

Results

The program met its core structural and process indicators. The Center for Drug Policy and Technology Assessment was established as an organizational entity to conduct assessments. A functional decision-making entity is available. There are competent pharmacists to conduct assessments, including economic evaluation and decision analytical modeling. There is a structured capacity building program that has been implemented within the last 5 years. Specific submission, assessment, and appraisal processes were established and implemented. Reference methodological guidelines for efficacy, safety, and cost-effectiveness assessments were developed and used by assessors. Thirty-one HTA reports were produced from 2012 to 2018 with a 100 percent utilization rate. Twenty-three medications were listed under restriction, and eight were rejected. The prices of twenty-one medications out of the twenty-three listed medications were reduced based on the HTA assessment results.

Conclusion

The HTA program at the King Hussein Cancer Center (KHCC) in Jordan is functional, is effective with a high utilization rate of produced assessments, and is having a positive impact on price reductions.
The less considered part: Contextualizing immaterial heritage from German colonial contexts in the restitution debate
Authors: Kalibani Mèhèza
Published: April 2021

Since the publication of the “restitution report” by Felwine Sarr and Bénédicte Savoy in November 2018, the debate around the restitution of African artifacts inherited from German colonialism in German museums has become increasingly intense. While the restitution debate in Germany is generally focused on “material cultural heritage” and human remains, this reflection attempts to contextualize the “immaterial heritage” (museum collections inventory data, photographs, movies, sound recordings, and digital archive documents) from German colonialism and plead for its consideration in this debate. It claims that the first step of restitution consists of German ethnological museums being transparent about their possessions of artifacts from colonial contexts, which means providing all available information about museum collections from colonial contexts and making them easily accessible to the people from the former German colonies.
A unified and flexible modelling framework for the analysis of malaria serology data
Authors: Kyomuhangi Irene , Giorgi Emanuele
Published: April 2021

Serology data are an increasingly important tool in malaria surveillance, especially in low transmission settings where the estimation of parasite-based indicators is often problematic. Existing methods rely on the use of thresholds to identify seropositive individuals and estimate transmission intensity, while making assumptions about the temporal dynamics of malaria transmission that are rarely questioned. Here, we present a novel threshold-free approach for the analysis of malaria serology data which avoids dichotomization of continuous antibody measurements and allows us to model changes in the antibody distribution across age in a more flexible way. The proposed unified mechanistic model combines the properties of reversible catalytic and antibody acquisition models, and allows for temporally varying boosting and seroconversion rates. Additionally, as an alternative to the unified mechanistic model, we also propose an empirical approach to analysis where modelling of the age-dependency is informed by the data rather than biological assumptions. Using serology data from Western Kenya, we demonstrate both the usefulness and limitations of the novel modelling framework.
Medical education and training within congenital cardiology: current global status and future directions in a post COVID-19 world
Authors: McMahon Colin J , Tretter Justin T , Redington Andrew N , Bu’Lock Frances , Zühlke Liesl , Heying Ruth , Mattos Sandra , Krishna Kumar R , Jacobs Jeffrey P , Windram Jonathan D
Published: April 2021

Despite enormous strides in our field with respect to patient care, there has been surprisingly limited dialogue on how to train and educate the next generation of congenital cardiologists. This paper reviews the current status of training and evolving developments in medical education pertinent to congenital cardiology. The adoption of competency-based medical education has been lauded as a robust framework for contemporary medical education over the last two decades. However, inconsistencies in frameworks across different jurisdictions remain, and bridging gaps between competency frameworks and clinical practice has proved challenging. Entrustable professional activities have been proposed as a solution, but integration of such activities into busy clinical cardiology practices will present its own challenges. Consequently, this pivot towards a more structured approach to medical education necessitates the widespread availability of appropriately trained medical educationalists, a development that will better inform curriculum development, instructional design, and assessment. Differentiation between superficial and deep learning, the vital role of rich formative feedback and coaching, should guide our trainees to become self-regulated learners, capable of critical reasoning yet retaining an awareness of uncertainty and ambiguity. Furthermore, disruptive innovations such as “technology enhanced learning” may be leveraged to improve education, especially for trainees from low- and middle-income countries. Each of these initiatives will require resources, widespread advocacy and raised awareness, and publication of supporting data, and so it is especially gratifying thatCardiology in the Younghas fostered a progressive approach, agreeing to publish one or two articles in each journal issue in this domain.
Recall of government healthy eating campaigns by consumers in five countries
Authors: Goodman Samantha , Armendariz Gabriela C , Corkum Adele , Arellano Laura , Jáuregui Alejandra , Keeble Matthew , Marshall Josephine , Sacks Gary , Thrasher James F , Vanderlee Lana , White Christine M , Hammond David
Published: April 2021

Objective:

To examine awareness and recall of healthy eating public education campaigns in five countries.

Design:

Data were cross-sectional and collected as part of the 2018 International Food Policy Study. Respondents were asked whether they had seen government healthy eating campaigns in the past year; if yes (awareness), they were asked to describe the campaign. Open-ended descriptions were coded to indicate recall of specific campaigns. Logistic models regressed awareness of healthy eating campaigns on participant country, age, sex, ethnicity, education, income adequacy and BMI. Analyses were also stratified by country.

Setting:

Online surveys.

Participants:

Participants were Nielsen panelists aged ≥18 years in Australia, Canada, Mexico, UK and the USA (n 22 463).

Results:

Odds of campaign awareness were higher in Mexico (50·9 %) than UK (18·2 %), Australia (17·9 %), the USA (13·0 %) and Canada (10·2 %) (P < 0·001). Awareness was also higher in UK and Australia v. Canada and the USA, and the USA v. Canada (P < 0·001). Overall, awareness was higher among males v. females and respondents with medium or high v. low education (P < 0·001 for all). Similar results were found in stratified models, although no sex difference was observed in Australia or UK (P > 0·05), and age was associated with campaign awareness in UK (P < 0·001). Common keywords in all countries included sugar/sugary drinks, fruits and vegetables, and physical activity. The top five campaigns recalled were Chécate, mídete, muévete (Mexico), PrevenIMSS (Mexico), Change4Life (UK), LiveLighter® (Australia), and Actívate, Vive Mejor (Mexico).

Conclusions:

In Mexico, UK and Australia, comprehensive campaigns to promote healthy lifestyles appear to have achieved broad, population-level reach.
Prospective BMI changes in preschool children are associated with parental characteristics and body weight perceptions: the ToyBox-study
Authors: Manios Yannis , Lambert Katrina A , Karaglani Eva , Mavrogianni Christina , Moreno Aznar Luis A , Iotova Violeta , Świąder-Leśniak Anna , Koletzko Berthold , Cardon Greet , Androutsos Odysseas , Moschonis George ,   Toy Box Study Group
Published: April 2021

Objective:

To examine the effect of the intervention implemented in the ToyBox-study on changes observed in age- and sex-specific BMI percentile and investigate the role of perinatal factors, parental perceptions and characteristics on this change.

Design:

A multicomponent, kindergarten-based, family-involved intervention with a cluster-randomised design. A standardised protocol was used to measure children’s body weight and height. Information was also collected from parents/caregivers via the use of validated questionnaires. Linear mixed effect models with random intercept for country, socio-economic status and school were used.

Setting:

Selected preschools within the provinces of Oost-Flanders and West-Flanders (Belgium), Varna (Bulgaria), Bavaria (Germany), Attica (Greece), Mazowieckie (Poland) and Zaragoza (Spain).

Participants:

A sample of 6268 preschoolers aged 3·5–5·5 years (51·9 % boys).

Results:

There was no intervention effect on the change in children’s BMI percentile. However, parents’ underestimation of their children’s actual weight status, parental overweight and mothers’ pre-pregnancy overweight/obesity were found to be significantly and independently associated with increases in children’s BMI percentile in multivariate modelling.

Conclusions:

As part of a wide public health initiative or as part of a counseling intervention programme, it is important to assist parents/caregivers to correctly perceive their own and their children’s weight status. Recognition of excessive weight by parents/caregivers can increase their readiness to change and as such facilitate higher adherence to favourable behavioural changes within the family.
Dietary inflammatory index and pancreatic cancer risk: a systematic review and dose–response meta-analysis
Authors: Guo Zhangyou , Hong Yuan , Cheng Yao
Published: April 2021

Objective:

The meta-analysis was conducted to test the link between pancreatic cancer (PC) risk and dietary inflammatory index (DII®) score.

Design:

Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Setting:

We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library up to 22 November 2020 to identify the relevant studies. Studies that reported the risk estimates and the corresponding 95 % CI for the DII category and PC risk were included. The effect sizes were pooled using the random-effects model. Dose–response analysis was conducted where possible.

Participants:

Two prospective cohort studies of 634 705 participants (3152 incident cases), and four case–control studies of 2737 cases and 4861 controls.

Results:

Overall, the pooled risk ratio (RR) indicated that individuals in the highest category compared with the lowest category had an increased PC risk (RR = 1·45; 95 % CI 1·11, 1·90;P= 0·006). Meanwhile, significant heterogeneity was also revealed. The dose–response meta-analysis indicated that a 1-unit increase in the DII score was associated with the PC risk (RR = 1·08; 95 % CI 1·002, 1·166;P= 0·045;I2= 94·1 %,P< 0·001). Nonlinear result showed an increased risk of moving from fewer to more inflammatory borders with increasing DII score (Pnonlinearity= 0·003;I2= 76·5 %,P< 0·001). Subgroup analyses found that significant positive association between PC risk and DII score appeared to be in case–control studies (RR = 1·70; 95 % CI 1·16, 2·50;P= 0·007) and studies with ≤ 31 DII components (RR = 1·76; 95 % CI 1·14, 2·72;P= 0·011).

Conclusion:

These findings suggested dietary habits with high inflammatory features (high DII score) might increase PC risk.
Extraterritorial Bulk Surveillance after the German BND Act Judgment
Authors: Rojszczak Marcin
Published: April 2021

Foreign surveillance as a means of circumventing existing legal safeguards – Different perspectives on the problem of the extraterritorial application of fundamental rights in US and EU legal models – The limited usefulness of effective control tests for establishing the responsibility of states for action taken in cyberspace – Judgment of Bundesverfassungsgericht in the BND Act case as an interpretative guideline for the regulation of foreign surveillance in EU member states – Electronic surveillance as a threat to European integration process.
Fossil Reefs Reveal Temporally Distinct Late Holocene Lagoonal Reef Shutdown Episodes at Kiritimati Island, Central Pacific
Authors: Ryan E. J. , Morgan K. M. , Kench P. S. , Owen S. D. , Carvajal C. P. , Turner T.
Published: April 2021

An extremely rare example of well‐preserved emergent Holocene fossil reefs exists at Kiritimati Island, central Pacific. Fossil reefs are rich geological archives of paleoenvironmental change. The first paleoecological surveys of two fossil reefs are presented, revealing high coral cover (40–50%) and low diversity (6 genera). Fossil coral ages suggest reefs exhibited disparity in the timing of reef development (4,113 and 1,915 cal yBP) and ecological surveys show different coral compositions (Acropora or Porites dominant), between reefs. Results constrain two discrete episodes of reef shutdown (at 2,905 and 1,705 cal yBP) as lagoonal reefs thrived, and subsequently died off, through the late Holocene. Shifts in physio‐chemical conditions associated with reduced lagoon flushing following storm‐driven changes in atoll rim morphology are argued as the driver for the staged reef die‐off. The findings have implications for interpreting past and future eco‐morphological change on atolls, given projected increases in storminess with climate change.
Why and How Does the Actual Spectral Response Matter for Microwave Radiance Assimilation?
Authors: Chen H. , Han W. , Wang H. , Pan C. , An D. , Gu S. , Zhang P.
Published: April 2021

Based on Global/Regional Assimilation and PrEdiction System‐Global Forecast System and actual Spectral Response Functions (SRFs) of three Selected Single‐Passband Channels (Channels 5–7) of FengYun‐3D MicroWave Temperature Sounders‐2, impacts of actual SRFs on Brightness Temperature (TB) simulation were analyzed. Compared with simulation by ideal SRFs, averaged STandard DeViation and bias of Observation minus Background by actual SRFs decrease about −5.0% and 37.3%. The reductions on Equatorial regions are more obvious than middle and high latitudes. Five types of deformations were put forward to analyze their impacts on TB simulation. Attenuation, shifting, and extending of passband have more impacts on simulated TB compared with trap on passband. The differences between TBs simulated using ideal and actual SRFs do not depend on the magnitude of the difference between ideal and actual SRFs, but on the balances of different types of deformations of actual SRF.
Vortex‐Dominated Aeolian Activity at InSight's Landing Site, Part 1: Multi‐Instrument Observations, Analysis, and Implications
Authors: Charalambous C. , McClean J. B. , Baker M. , Pike W. T. , Golombek M. , Lemmon M. , Ansan V. , Perrin C. , Spiga A. , Lorenz R. D. , Banks M. E. , Murdoch N. , Rodriguez S. , Weitz C. M. , Grant J. A. , Warner N. H. , Garvin J. , Daubar I. J. , Hauber E. , Stott A. E. , Johnson C. L. , Mittelholz A. , Warren T. , Navarro S. , Sotomayor L. M. , Maki J. , Lucas A. , Banfield D. , Newman C. , Viúdez‐Moreiras D. , Pla‐García J. , Lognonné P. , Banerdt W. B.
Published: April 2021

We report the aeolian changes observed in situ by NASA's InSight lander during the first 400 sols of operations: Granule creep, saltation, dust removal, and the formation of dark surface tracks. Aeolian changes are infrequent and sporadic. However, on sols, when they do occur, they consistently appear between noon to 3 p.m., and are associated with the passage of convective vortices during periods of high vortex activity. Aeolian changes are more frequent at elevated locations, such as the top surfaces of rocks and lander footpads. InSight observed these changes using, for the first time, simultaneous in‐situ and orbital imaging and high‐frequency meteorological, seismological, and magnetic measurements. Seismometer measurements of ground acceleration constrain the timing and trajectory of convective vortex encounters, linking surface changes to source vortices. Magnetometer measurements show perturbations in magnetic field strength during the passage of convective vortices consistent with charged‐particle motion. Detachment of sand‐scale particles occurs when high background winds and vortex‐induced turbulence provide a peak surface friction wind speed above the classic saltation fluid threshold. However, detachment of dust‐ and granule‐scale particles also occurred when the surface friction wind speed remained below this threshold. This may be explained by local enhancement of the surface roughness and other effects described here and further studied in Part 2 (Baker et al., 2021). The lack of saltation and bright dust‐coated surfaces at the InSight landing site implies surface stability and the onset of particle motion may be suppressed by dust “cushioning.” This differentiates the InSight landing site from other areas on Mars that exhibit more aeolian activity.
Late Eocene Record of Hydrology and Temperature From Prydz Bay, East Antarctica
Authors: Tibbett Emily J. , Scher Howie D. , Warny Sophie , Tierney Jessica E. , Passchier Sandra , Feakins Sarah J.
Published: April 2021

The Eocene‐Oligocene transition (EOT) marks the onset of Antarctic glaciation at 33.7 Ma. Although the benthic oxygen isotope record defines the major continental ice sheet expansion, recent sedimentary and geochemical evidence suggests the presence of earlier ephemeral ice sheets. Sediment cores from Ocean Drilling Program Legs 119 and 188 in Prydz Bay provide an archive of conditions in a major drainage system of East Antarctica. We study biomarker and microfossil evidence to discern how the vegetation and climate shifted between 36 and 33 Ma. Pollen was dominated by reworked Permian Glossopterid gymnosperms; however, penecontemporaneous Eocene pollen assemblages indicate that some vegetation survived the glacial advances. At the EOT, brGDGT soil biomarkers indicate abrupt cooling from 13°C to 8°C and soil pH increases from 6.0 to 6.7, suggesting drying which is further supported by plant wax hydrogen and carbon isotopic shifts of 20‰ and 1.1‰, respectively, and evidence for drying from weathering proxies. Although the terrestrial soil biomarker influx mostly precludes the use of TEX86, we find sea surface temperatures of 12°C in the late Eocene cooling to 8°C at the EOT. Marine productivity undergoes a sustained increase after the glacial advance, likely promoted by enhanced ocean circulation. Between the two glacial surge events of the Priabonian Oxygen Maximum at 37.3 Ma and the EOT at 33.7 Ma, we observe warming of 2–5°C at 35.7 and 34.7 Ma, with increase in penecontemporaneous pollen and enhanced marine productivity, capturing the last flickers of Antarctic warmth.
No Cryosphere‐Confined Aquifer Below InSight on Mars
Authors: Manga Michael , Wright Vanshan
Published: April 2021

The seismometer deployed by the InSight lander measured the seismic velocity of the Martian crust. We use a rock physics model to interpret those velocities and constrain hydrogeological properties. The seismic velocity of the upper ∼10 km is too low to be ice‐saturated. Hence there is no cryosphere that confines deeper aquifers and possibly no aquifers locally. An increase in seismic velocity at depths of ∼10 km could be explained by a few volume percent of mineral cement (1%–5%) in pore space and may document the past depth of aquifers.
Comparative performance of lung cancer risk models to define lung screening eligibility in the United Kingdom
Authors: Robbins Hilary A. , Alcala Karine , Swerdlow Anthony J. , Schoemaker Minouk J. , Wareham Nick , Travis Ruth C. , Crosbie Philip A. J. , Callister Matthew , Baldwin David R. , Landy Rebecca , Johansson Mattias
Published: April 2021

Background

The National Health Service England (NHS) classifies individuals as eligible for lung cancer screening using two risk prediction models, PLCOm2012 and Liverpool Lung Project-v2 (LLPv2). However, no study has compared the performance of lung cancer risk models in the UK.

Methods

We analysed current and former smokers aged 40–80 years in the UK Biobank (N = 217,199), EPIC-UK (N = 30,813), and Generations Study (N = 25,777). We quantified model calibration (ratio of expected to observed cases, E/O) and discrimination (AUC).

Results

Risk discrimination in UK Biobank was best for the Lung Cancer Death Risk Assessment Tool (LCDRAT, AUC = 0.82, 95% CI = 0.81–0.84), followed by the LCRAT (AUC = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.79–0.82) and the Bach model (AUC = 0.80, 95% CI = 0.79–0.81). Results were similar in EPIC-UK and the Generations Study. All models overestimated risk in all cohorts, with E/O in UK Biobank ranging from 1.20 for LLPv3 (95% CI = 1.14–1.27) to 2.16 for LLPv2 (95% CI = 2.05–2.28). Overestimation increased with area-level socioeconomic status. In the combined cohorts, USPSTF 2013 criteria classified 50.7% of future cases as screening eligible. The LCDRAT and LCRAT identified 60.9%, followed by PLCOm2012 (58.3%), Bach (58.0%), LLPv3 (56.6%), and LLPv2 (53.7%).

Conclusion

In UK cohorts, the ability of risk prediction models to classify future lung cancer cases as eligible for screening was best for LCDRAT/LCRAT, very good for PLCOm2012, and lowest for LLPv2. Our results highlight the importance of validating prediction tools in specific countries.
Comprehensive germline-genomic and clinical profiling in 160 unselected children and adolescents with cancer
Authors: Wagener Rabea , Taeubner Julia , Walter Carolin , Yasin Layal , Alzoubi Deya , Bartenhagen Christoph , Attarbaschi Andishe , Classen Carl-Friedrich , Kontny Udo , Hauer Julia , Fischer Ute , Dugas Martin , Kuhlen Michaela , Borkhardt Arndt , Brozou Triantafyllia
Published: April 2021

In childhood cancer, the frequency of cancer-associated germline variants and their inheritance patterns are not thoroughly investigated. Moreover, the identification of children carrying a genetic predisposition by clinical means remains challenging. In this single-center study, we performed trio whole-exome sequencing and comprehensive clinical evaluation of a prospectively enrolled cohort of 160 children with cancer and their parents. We identified in 11/160 patients a pathogenic germline variant predisposing to cancer and a further eleven patients carried a prioritized VUS with a strong association to the cancerogenesis of the patient. Through clinical screening, 51 patients (31.3%) were identified as suspicious for an underlying cancer predisposition syndrome (CPS), but only in ten of those patients a pathogenic variant could be identified. In contrast, one patient with a classical CPS and ten patients with prioritized VUS were classified as unremarkable in the clinical work-up. Taken together, a monogenetic causative variant was detected in 13.8% of our patients using WES. Nevertheless, the still unclarified clinical suspicious cases emphasize the need to consider other genetic mechanisms including new target genes, structural variants, or polygenic interactions not previously associated with cancer predisposition.
Inferring number of populations and changes in connectivity under the n-island model
Authors: Arredondo Armando , Mourato Beatriz , Nguyen Khoa , Boitard Simon , Rodríguez Willy , Mazet Olivier , Chikhi Lounès
Published: April 2021

Inferring the demographic history of species is one of the greatest challenges in populations genetics. This history is often represented as a history of size changes, ignoring population structure. Alternatively, when structure is assumed, it is defined a priori as a population tree and not inferred. Here we propose a framework based on the IICR (Inverse Instantaneous Coalescence Rate). The IICR can be estimated for a single diploid individual using the PSMC method of Li and Durbin (2011). For an isolated panmictic population, the IICR matches the population size history, and this is how the PSMC outputs are generally interpreted. However, it is increasingly acknowledged that the IICR is a function of the demographic model and sampling scheme with limited connection to population size changes. Our method fits observed IICR curves of diploid individuals with IICR curves obtained under piecewise stationary symmetrical island models. In our models we assume a fixed number of time periods during which gene flow is constant, but gene flow is allowed to change between time periods. We infer the number of islands, their sizes, the periods at which connectivity changes and the corresponding rates of connectivity. Validation with simulated data showed that the method can accurately recover most of the scenario parameters. Our application to a set of five human PSMCs yielded demographic histories that are in agreement with previous studies using similar methods and with recent research suggesting ancient human structure. They are in contrast with the view of human evolution consisting of one ancestral population branching into three large continental and panmictic populations with varying degrees of connectivity and no population structure within each continent.
Soil microbiome manipulation triggers direct and possible indirect suppression against Ralstonia solanacearum and Fusarium oxysporum
Authors: Deng Xuhui , Zhang Na , Shen Zongzhuan , Zhu Chengzhi , Liu Hongjun , Xu Zhihui , Li Rong , Shen Qirong , Salles Joana Falcao
Published: April 2021

Soil microbiome manipulation can potentially reduce the use of pesticides by improving the ability of soils to resist or recover from pathogen infestation, thus generating natural suppressiveness. We simulated disturbance through soil fumigation and investigated how the subsequent application of bio-organic and organic amendments reshapes the taxonomic and functional potential of the soil microbiome to suppress the pathogens Ralstonia solanacearum and Fusarium oxysporum in tomato monocultures. The use of organic amendment alone generated smaller shifts in bacterial and fungal community composition and no suppressiveness. Fumigation directly decreased F. oxysporum and induced drastic changes in the soil microbiome. This was further converted from a disease conducive to a suppressive soil microbiome due to the application of organic amendment, which affected the way the bacterial and fungal communities were reassembled. These direct and possibly indirect effects resulted in a highly efficient disease control rate, providing a promising strategy for the control of the diseases caused by multiple pathogens.
Tensor-structured algorithm for reduced-order scaling large-scale Kohn–Sham density functional theory calculations
Authors: Lin Chih-Chuen , Motamarri Phani , Gavini Vikram
Published: April 2021

We present a tensor-structured algorithm for efficient large-scale density functional theory (DFT) calculations by constructing a Tucker tensor basis that is adapted to the Kohn–Sham Hamiltonian and localized in real-space. The proposed approach uses an additive separable approximation to the Kohn–Sham Hamiltonian and an L1 localization technique to generate the 1-D localized functions that constitute the Tucker tensor basis. Numerical results show that the resulting Tucker tensor basis exhibits exponential convergence in the ground-state energy with increasing Tucker rank. Further, the proposed tensor-structured algorithm demonstrated sub-quadratic scaling with system-size for both systems with and without a gap, and involving many thousands of atoms. This reduced-order scaling has also resulted in the proposed approach outperforming plane-wave DFT implementation for systems beyond 2000 electrons.
Neutrophil subtypes shape HIV-specific CD8 T-cell responses after vaccinia virus infection
Authors: Di Pilato Mauro , Palomino-Segura Miguel , Mejías-Pérez Ernesto , Gómez Carmen E. , Rubio-Ponce Andrea , D’Antuono Rocco , Pizzagalli Diego Ulisse , Pérez Patricia , Kfuri-Rubens Raphael , Benguría Alberto , Dopazo Ana , Ballesteros Iván , Sorzano Carlos Oscar S. , Hidalgo Andrés , Esteban Mariano , Gonzalez Santiago F.
Published: April 2021

Neutrophils are innate immune cells involved in the elimination of pathogens and can also induce adaptive immune responses. Nα and Nβ neutrophils have been described with distinct in vitro capacity to generate antigen-specific CD8 T-cell responses. However, how these cell types exert their role in vivo and how manipulation of Nβ/Nα ratio influences vaccine-mediated immune responses are not known. In this study, we find that these neutrophil subtypes show distinct migratory and motility patterns and different ability to interact with CD8 T cells in the spleen following vaccinia virus (VACV) infection. Moreover, after analysis of adhesion, inflammatory, and migration markers, we observe that Nβ neutrophils overexpress the α4β1 integrin compared to Nα. Finally, by inhibiting α4β1 integrin, we increase the Nβ/Nα ratio and enhance CD8 T-cell responses to HIV VACV-delivered antigens. These findings provide significant advancements in the comprehension of neutrophil-based control of adaptive immune system and their relevance in vaccine design.