bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The reluctant preference: communities of enthusiasts and the diffusion of atypical innovation
Authors: Formilan Giovanni , Boari Cristina 
Published: January 2021

AbstractExploring the initial diffusion of innovation, this article investigates how early adopters reach a tipping point with a shared and emphatic preference for atypical products. In a community of enthusiasts where members mutually observes each other, we show that potential buyers are reluctant to express a preference for highly atypical products despite their vanguard positive attitude toward atypicality. We argue that such reluctance is driven by a membership-validating concern: while favoring highly atypical products, potential buyers still need to avoid atypical but low-quality alternatives that would undermine their sense of membership to the vanguard group. Consistently, we hypothesize that the endorsement granted by other community members to a basket of atypical products alleviates—and eventually removes—potential buyers’ reluctance. Between equally endorsed alternatives, potential buyers will then include the most atypical one in their displayed preference, thereby revealing their vanguard attitude and validating their membership to the in-group. We situate our analysis in a community of enthusiasts for electronic music recordings and find robust support to our hypotheses. By raising the bar of how a product must be to be distinctive, membership-seeking enthusiasts raise the threshold of atypicality. In so doing, they also expand the range of products deemed typical by the general consumer. These twined processes fuel the ongoing diffusion of innovation.
Catch up of complex products and systems: lessons from China’s high-speed rail sectoral system
Authors: Mei Liang , Zhang Nana 
Published: January 2021

AbstractThe article uses a longitudinal case study of China’s high-speed rail from the sectoral system perspective to show how a latecomer achieves catch up in the context of complex products and systems (CoPS). Results indicate the coevolution among high-speed train CoPS, the complementary assets, and government engagement are important to the sectoral system’s catch up. To achieve catch up, a latecomer can choose a strategy in which the complementary assets take precedence over the CoPS, and the coordination of the two systems is maintained with government engagement. In addition, two elements involving the sectoral system’s knowledge base and government engagement play fundamental roles enabling the evolution of the competences of the CoPS and the leverage of complementary assets for catch up. The article contributes to the literature on catch up in the CoPS context using a sectoral system framework.
Left heart growth and biventricular repair after hybrid palliation
Authors: Sojak Vladimir , Bokenkamp Regina , Kuipers Irene , Schneider Adriaan , Hazekamp Mark 
Published: January 2021

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
We evaluated the outcomes of biventricular repair after initial hybrid palliation performed in small infants with various forms of left ventricle hypoplasia.

METHODS
Between September 2010 and January 2020, a total of 27 patients had biventricular repair after hybrid palliation at a median age of 11 days. Indications for the hybrid approach included growth promotion of the left ventricle outflow tract and/or the aortic valve in 14 patients and that of the left ventricle in 13 patients. Seven reinterventions and 7 reoperations were performed during the interstage period. Significant growth of left ventricle parameters was noted during the median interstage period of 62 days. Sixteen subjects had aortic arch repair, ventricular septal defect closure and relief of subaortic stenosis; 5 patients had the Ross–Konno procedure; 5 patients underwent the Yasui procedure; and 1 patient had unbalanced atrioventricular septal defect and aortic arch repair.

RESULTS
Twenty-three patients (85.2%) are alive at a median follow-up of 3.3 years. Two and 3 patients died early and late after achieving biventricular circulation, respectively. There were 22 reinterventions and 15 reoperations after biventricular repair.

CONCLUSIONS
Hybrid palliation can stimulate left heart growth in some patients with left ventricle hypoplasia. More patients may eventually achieve biventricular circulation than was initially thought. Additional interventions and operations are foreseeable. Despite ventricular rehabilitation, some patients with borderline left ventricles may develop restrictive physiology.
Does preoperative pulmonary rehabilitation/physiotherapy improve patient outcomes following lung resection?
Authors: Bibo Liam , Goldblatt Joshua , Merry Christopher 
Published: January 2021

Summary
A best evidence topic in thoracic surgery was written according to a structured protocol. The question addressed was whether preoperative physiotherapy (pulmonary prehabilitation) is beneficial for patients undergoing lung resection. Altogether 177 papers were found using the reported search, of which 10 represented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The authors, journal, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes and results of these papers are tabulated. A meta-analysis by Li et al. showed that patients who received a preoperative rehabilitation programme (PRP) had reduced incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs) (odds ratio 0.44, 95% CI 0.27–0.71), reduced length of stay (LOS) (−4.23 days, 95% CI −6.14 to −2.32 days) and improved 6-min walking distance (71.25 m, 95% CI 39.68–102.82) and peak oxygen uptake consumption (VO2 peak) (3.26, 95% CI 2.17–4.35). A meta-analysis by Steffens et al. showed that PPCs were reduced in patients with PRP (relative risk 0.49, 95% CI 0.33–0.73) and reduced LOS (−2.86 days, 95% CI −5.40 to −0.33). The results of 3 additional meta-analyses, 4 randomized controlled trials and 1 observational study all provide further support to PRP in enhanced recovery after surgery and the improvement in exercise capacity. We conclude that PRP improves exercise capacity in patients undergoing surgical resection for lung cancer. Moderate quality evidence supports preoperative exercise providing significant reduction in PPCs and hospital LOS. Referral to exercise programmes should be considered in patients awaiting lung resection, particularly those deemed borderline for suitability for surgical resection.
The impacts of subsidy policies and channel encroachment on the power battery recycling of new energy vehicles
Authors: Liu Kai , Wang Chuanxu 
Published: January 2021

AbstractWith the rapid development of new energy vehicles (NEVs), the recycling and reuse of retired power batteries has attracted extensive attention from the society and scholars. In this paper, we establish a closed-loop supply chain model composed of the government, one power battery supplier and one NEV manufacturer. Based on game theory, considering whether the battery supplier encroaches on the power battery recycling channel, we study the optimal decisions of the government and supply chain members under different government subsidy policies (no subsidy, subsidy for the NEV manufacturer and subsidy for consumers) and their impact on profits and social welfare. The results show that, whether the battery supplier encroaches on the recycling channel or not, compared with the no subsidy policy, subsidy for the NEV manufacturer is more conducive to the improvement of enterprise profits and social welfare. In addition, whether the battery collection quantity is constrained by the NEV sales quantity, when the recycling channel cost is lower than a certain threshold, the encroachment is always beneficial to the battery supplier. When the recycling channel cost is within a certain threshold range, the encroachment will achieve a win–win situation; otherwise, win–lose. When the recycling channel cost is higher than a certain threshold, the encroachment behavior has no impact on the NEV manufacturer and the battery supplier. Finally, we investigate the impact of key parameters on the enterprise profits and social welfare through numerical experiments. We also find that the environmental awareness of consumers have significant impacts on social welfare.
On the Stability of the Equator Map for Higher Order Energy Functionals
Authors: Fardoun A , Montaldo S , Ratto A 
Published: January 2021

AbstractLet $B^n\subset \mathbb{R} ^{n}$ and $\mathbb{S} ^n\subset \mathbb{R} ^{n+1}$ denote the Euclidean $n$-dimensional unit ball and sphere, respectively. The extrinsic $k$-energy functional is defined on the Sobolev space $W^{k,2}\left (B^n,\mathbb{S} ^n \right )$ as follows: $E_{k}^{{\textrm{ext}}}(u)=\int _{B^n}|\Delta ^s u|^2\ dx$ when $k=2s$, and $E_{k}^{{\textrm{ext}}}(u)=\int _{B^n}|\nabla \Delta ^s u|^2\ dx$ when $k=2s+1$. These energy functionals are a natural higher order version of the classical extrinsic bienergy, also called Hessian energy. The equator map $u^*: B^n \to \mathbb{S} ^n$, defined by $u^*(x)=(x/|x|,0)$, is a critical point of $E_{k}^{{\textrm{ext}}}(u)$ provided that $n \geq 2k+1$. The main aim of this paper is to establish necessary and sufficient conditions on $k$ and $n$ under which $u^*: B^n \to \mathbb{S} ^n$ is minimizing or unstable for the extrinsic $k$-energy.
Multipeptide Assays for Sensitive and Differential Detection of Anti-Chlamydia Trachomatis Antibodies
Authors: Rahman Kh Shamsur , Kaltenboeck Bernhard 
Published: January 2021

Abstract
Detection of anti-Chlamydia trachomatis (Ctr) antibodies is compromised by cross-reactivity and poor sensitivity of classic Ctr-antigens. We discovered 48 strongly reactive peptide antigens of Ctr-specific B-cell epitopes from 21 immunodominant proteins. In this study, we review the utility of peptide assays for diagnosis of Ctr infections. By combining many of these Ctr-specific B-cell epitopes from several proteins in separate or mixed multipeptide assays, they achieved vastly superior assay sensitivity and specificity over standard enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Such multipeptide assays eliminate cross-reactivities (false positives) and correct for stochastic gaps in antibody responses (false negatives). More importantly, we developed and validated a novel microarray platform in which hundreds of peptides from many proteins are spotted in a single reaction well. This offers the possibility of high-throughput screening of many candidate peptides for routine serological fingerprinting of Ctr infections. Discovery of optimal sets of antibody responses that associate with clinical pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) may identify diagnostically useful PID biomarker antigens.
Growth of tumor emboli within a vessel model reveals dependence on the magnitude of mechanical constraint
Authors: Kulwatno Jonathan , Gearhart Jamie , Gong Xiangyu , Herzog Nora , Getzin Matthew , Skobe Mihaela , Mills Kristen L 
Published: January 2021

ABSTRACT
Tumor emboli—aggregates of tumor cells within vessels—pose a clinical challenge as they are associated with increased metastasis and tumor recurrence. When growing within a vessel, tumor emboli are subject to a unique mechanical constraint provided by the tubular geometry of the vessel. Current models of tumor emboli use unconstrained multicellular tumor spheroids, which neglect this mechanical interplay. Here, we modeled a lymphatic vessel as a 200 μm-diameter channel in either a stiff or soft, bioinert agarose matrix to create a vessel-like constraint model (VLCM), and we modeled colon or breast cancer tumor emboli with aggregates of HCT116 or SUM149PT cells, respectively. The stiff matrix VLCM constrained the tumor emboli to the cylindrical channel, which led to continuous growth of the emboli, in contrast to the growth rate reduction that unconstrained spheroids exhibit. Emboli morphology in the soft matrix VLCM, however, was dependent on the magnitude of mechanical mismatch between the matrix and the cell aggregates. In general, when the elastic modulus of the matrix of the VLCM was greater than the emboli (EVLCM/Eemb &gt; 1), the emboli were constrained to grow within the channel, and when the elastic modulus of the matrix was less than the emboli (0 &lt; EVLCM/Eemb &lt; 1), the emboli bulged into the matrix. Due to a large difference in myosin II expression between the cell lines, we hypothesized that tumor cell aggregate stiffness is an indicator of cellular force-generating capability. Inhibitors of myosin-related force generation decreased the elastic modulus and/or increased the stress relaxation of the tumor cell aggregates, effectively increasing the mechanical mismatch. The increased mechanical mismatch after drug treatment was correlated with increased confinement of tumor emboli growth along the channel, which may translate to increased tumor burden due to the increased tumor volume within the diffusion distance of nutrients and oxygen.
On the Impact of Interpretability Methods in Active Image Augmentation Method
Authors: Arthur Oliveira Santos Flávio , Zanchettin Cleber , Nogueira Matos Leonardo , Novais Paulo 
Published: January 2021

Abstract
Robustness is a significant constraint in machine learning models. The performance of the algorithms must not deteriorate when training and testing with slightly different data. Deep neural network models achieve awe-inspiring results in a wide range of applications of computer vision. Still, in the presence of noise or region occlusion, some models exhibit inaccurate performance even with data handled in training. Besides, some experiments suggest deep learning models sometimes use incorrect parts of the input information to perform inference. Active image augmentation (ADA) is an augmentation method that uses interpretability methods to augment the training data and improve its robustness to face the described problems. Although ADA presented interesting results, its original version only used the vanilla backpropagation interpretability to train the U-Net model. In this work, we propose an extensive experimental analysis of the interpretability method’s impact on ADA. We use five interpretability methods: vanilla backpropagation, guided backpropagation, gradient-weighted class activation mapping (GradCam), guided GradCam and InputXGradient. The results show that all methods achieve similar performance at the ending of training, but when combining ADA with GradCam, the U-Net model presented an impressive fast convergence.
Available drugs and supplements for rapid deployment for treatment of COVID-19
Authors: Cicka Danielle , Sukhatme Vikas P 
Published: January 2021

Abstract
Effective treatment for COVID-19 remains elusive, though urgently needed in the current pandemic. Repurposing marketed therapies may be an effective strategy for finding treatments quickly and, recently, in vitro and clinical testing of such therapies against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has skyrocketed. However, not all marketed drugs showing in vitro efficacy could achieve therapeutic concentrations in humans and discernment of drugs that have favorable pharmacokinetic properties can save time and resources for future studies. Here, we compile marketed therapies, including supplements, having anti-viral activity with in vitro, in vivo, and/or clinical data against α and β coronaviruses into tables, alongside their pharmacokinetic properties. We point to several drugs or supplements available for immediate repurposing because they have achievable blood concentrations in humans well above their inhibitory concentrations against coronaviruses. This compilation may contribute to the implementation of rapid future studies by narrowing the vast number of marketed drugs reported for potential efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 on the basis of their pharmacokinetic properties and published coronavirus data.
Variation in regrowth ability in relation to land-use intensity in three common grassland herbs
Authors: Kirschbaum Anna , Bossdorf Oliver , Scheepens J F 
Published: January 2021

AbstractAimsPlant populations in managed grasslands are subject to strong selection exerted by grazing, mowing and fertilization. Many previous studies showed that this can cause evolutionary changes in mean trait values, but little is known about the evolution of phenotypic plasticity in response to land use. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the relationships between phenotypic plasticity—specifically, regrowth ability after biomass removal—and the intensity of grassland management and levels of temporal variation therein.MethodsWe conducted an outdoor common garden experiment to test if plants from more intensively mown and grazed sites showed an increased ability to regrow after biomass removal. We used three common plant species from temperate European grasslands, with seed material from 58 to 68 populations along gradients of land-use intensity, ranging from extensive (only light grazing) to very intensive management (up to four cuts per year).Important FindingsIn two out of three species, we found significant population differentiation in regrowth ability after clipping. While variation in regrowth ability was unrelated to the mean land-use intensity of populations of origin, we found a relationship with its temporal variation in Plantago lanceolata, where plants experiencing less variable environmental conditions over the last 11 years showed stronger regrowth in reproductive biomass after clipping. Therefore, while mean grazing and mowing intensity may not select for regrowth ability, the temporal stability of the environmental heterogeneity created by land use may have caused its evolution in some species.
Drivers of understorey biomass: tree species identity is more important than richness in a young forest
Authors: Germany Markus S , Bruelheide Helge , Erfmeier Alexandra 
Published: January 2021

AbstractAimsPositive biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationships have been widely reported, predominately from grassland ecosystems. However, this does not necessarily have to apply accordingly in more complex situations such as in forests across different vertical strata. For instance, overstorey tree species richness has been shown to be associated with a lower understorey productivity. Whether or not tree species richness effects add to understorey productivity by increasing (i.e. due to habitat heterogeneity) or reducing resource availability (i.e. through increasing competition) and whether understorey productivity is indeed being governed more strongly by tree species identity are likely to change over time. Moreover, studies also suggested that richness–productivity relationships change with the environmental context. Using an experimental forest plantation with manipulated tree species richness, this study examined these temporal and environmental dynamics across strata.MethodsIn the context of the Biodiversity-Ecosystem Functioning project in subtropical China (BEF-China), we made use of understorey biomass samples repeatedly collected over a time period of 3 years along a tree species richness gradient. The effects of tree species richness, tree species identities and time were studied across different environmental treatments for their impact on understorey biomass.Important FindingsWhile we found significant and consistent tree layer identity effects on understorey biomass, no such effect was encountered for tree species richness. Our results also indicate that among structural layers in forests, there might not be a single, generalizable overstorey species richness–understorey productivity relationship, and that the extent as to which overstorey-related environmental factors such as light transmittance contribute to understorey productivity change with time. Overall, we demonstrate that temporal dynamics should be considered when studying relationship among structural layers in forests.
Effects of nitrogen addition and mowing on nitrogen- and water-use efficiency of Artemisia frigida in a grassland restored from an abandoned cropland
Authors: Diao Huajie , Kardol Paul , Dong Kuanhu , Wang Changhui 
Published: January 2021

Abstract

Aims
Competition among plants in a community usually depends on their nitrogen (N)-use efficiency (NUE) and water-use efficiency (WUE) in arid and semi-arid regions. Artemisia frigida is an indicator species in heavily degraded grassland, however, how its NUE and WUE respond to N addition in different successional stages is still unclear, especially with mowing, a common management practice in semi-arid grasslands.

Methods
Based on a long-term controlled experiment with N addition and mowing in an abandoned cropland from 2006 to 2013, we investigated the NUE and WUE of A. frigida in two patches (i.e. grass and herb patches) in 2013 which represented two potential successional stages from herb to grass communities. The coverage of A. frigida was higher (about 50%) in the herb patch than in the grass patch (about 10%). Stable isotopic C (δ 13C) and N (δ 15N) as well as C and N pools were measured in plants and soils. NUE was calculated as leaf C/N, and leaf δ 13C values were used as a proxy for WUE.

Important Findings
N addition did not affect WUE of A. frigida, but significantly decreased NUE by 42.9% and 26.6% in grass and herb patches, respectively. The response of NUE to N addition was related to altering utilization of different N sources (NH4+vs. NO3−) by A. frigida according to the changed relationship between leaf δ 15N/soil δ 15N and NUE. Mowing had no effect on NUE regardless of N addition, but significantly increased WUE by 2.3% for A. frigida without N addition in the grass patch. The addition of N reduced the positive effect of mowing on its WUE in grass patch. Our results suggested that decreased NUE and/or WUE of A. frigida under mowing and N addition could reduce its competition, and further accelerate restoration succession from the abandoned cropland to natural grassland in the semi-arid region.
Molecular responses of legumes to abiotic stress: post-translational modifications of proteins and redox signaling
Authors: Matamoros Manuel A , Becana Manuel 
Published: January 2021

Abstract
Legumes include several major crops that can fix atmospheric nitrogen in symbiotic root nodules, thus reducing the demand for nitrogen fertilizers and contributing to sustainable agriculture. Global change models predict increases in temperature and extreme weather conditions. This scenario might increase plant exposure to abiotic stresses and negatively affect crop production. Regulation of whole plant physiology and nitrogen fixation in legumes during abiotic stress is complex, and only a few mechanisms have been elucidated. Reactive oxygen species (ROS), reactive nitrogen species (RNS), and reactive sulfur species (RSS) are key players in the acclimation and stress tolerance mechanisms of plants. However, the specific redox-dependent signaling pathways are far from understood. One mechanism by which ROS, RNS, and RSS fulfil their signaling role is the post-translational modification (PTM) of proteins. Redox-based PTMs occur in the cysteine thiol group (oxidation, S-nitrosylation, S-glutathionylation, persulfidation), and also in methionine (oxidation), tyrosine (nitration), and lysine and arginine (carbonylation/glycation) residues. Unraveling PTM patterns under different types of stress and establishing the functional implications may give insight into the underlying mechanisms by which the plant and nodule respond to adverse conditions. Here, we review current knowledge on redox-based PTMs and their possible consequences in legume and nodule biology.