bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Quasi‐Indexer Ownership and Insider Trading: Evidence from Russell Index Reconstitutions*
Authors: Hillegeist Stephen A. , Weng Liwei 
Published: May 2021

ABSTRACTUnderstanding the association between quasi‐indexer ownership and insider trading is important given the externalities that insider trading can impose on shareholders, the importance of quasi‐indexers in the capital markets, and their mixed monitoring incentives. The prior literature has produced an inconsistent set of results regarding this association. These results are difficult to interpret because the association between them is likely endogenous, and prior studies have not employed effective identification strategies to address this issue. In this study, we examine the effects of quasi‐indexer institutional ownership on insider trading using the plausibly exogenous discontinuity in quasi‐indexer ownership around the Russell 1000/2000 index cutoff. Using both regression discontinuity and instrumental variable research designs, we find higher quasi‐indexer ownership leads to less insider trading (both buys and sells) and less profitable sell trades. The effects for sells are concentrated among insider trades that, ex ante, are more likely to be based on private information. Our evidence on the profitability of buys is mixed. In addition, we find firms with higher quasi‐indexer ownership are more likely to have and/or more strictly enforce blackout policies. Overall, our results suggest that quasi‐indexers can reduce the agency costs associated with insider trading through their direct and indirect monitoring activities.
Managerial political orientation and insider trading
Authors: Li Wei , Zhang Yunyan 
Published: May 2021

AbstractIn this study, we examine how the personal ideology of chief executive officers (CEOs), as proxied by their political preferences, influences their insider‐trading choices. We expect and find that, relative to Democratic‐leaning CEOs, the conservative ideology of Republican‐leaning CEOs leads them to refrain more from informed insider trading to avoid costly litigation. Using an exogenous change in litigation environment, we find that Republican CEOs increase informed trading when facing a sudden relaxation of litigation risk, suggesting that the fear of litigation cost is the underlying mechanism of the observed relation. Our findings are robust to different model specifications.
The long‐run role of innovation in the IPO market: inhibition or promotion?
Authors: Zhou Lu Jolly , Sadeghi Mehdi 
Published: May 2021

AbstractThis study investigates the long‐term role of innovation in the Chinese IPO market. Innovation outcome (patent) has a promoting effect on the long‐term market, while innovation input (R&D) shows a variable inhibitory control, which turns into a favourable impact four years after the IPO due to lag and cumulative effects. Moreover, this inhibitory effect increases and has no positive turnback in firms with R&D myopic management. Furthermore, government subsidies strengthen the effect of innovation during different periods while weakening the positive effect of innovation input four years after the IPO due to firms' rent‐seeking behaviour aiming to obtain government funds.
Predicting the past, present and future distributions of an endangered marsupial in a semi‐arid environment
Authors: Riley J. , Zeale M.R.K. , Razgour O. , Turpin J. , Jones G. 
Published: May 2021

AbstractGlobally, the impacts of anthropogenic climate change can displace species into more favourable climates. Semi‐arid desert specialists, such as the sandhill dunnart, Sminthopsis psammophila, are typically susceptible to rainfall deficits, wildfires and extreme temperatures caused by anthropogenic climate change. We first used maximum entropy (MaxEnt) species distribution models (SDMs) to predict the current distribution of S. psammophila. Between 2016 and 2018, we ground validated the model’s predictions throughout Western Australia, confirming S. psammophila in 18 locations in which it was predicted to occur. The predicted distribution of S. psammophila appears mostly constrained to within its known range. However, S. psammophila was verified 150 km north of its range in Western Australia and connectivity between the South Australian populations was correctly predicted. In 2019, we used updated occurrence data to project SDMs for S. psammophila during the mid‐Holocene, present day and under two future representative concentration pathways (RCPs) of RCP 4.5 (an optimistic emissions scenario) and RCP 8.5 (“business as usual”) for 2050 and 2070. By 2050 (RCP 8.5), almost all Western Australian Great Victoria Desert (WAGVD) habitat is predicted to be unsuitable for S. psammophila. By 2070 (RCP 8.5), the climates of the WAGVD and Yellabinna Regional Reserve populations are predicted to become unsuitable, and the species’ geographical range is predicted to contract in Australia by 80%. However, the 2070 (RCP 4.5) scenario predicts that this contraction could be halved. As a sandy desert specialist, the distribution of S. psammophila is geographically limited at its southern bounds due to the cessation of suitable spinifex (Triodia spp.) habitats, and so further extension of the range southwards is not possible. Sympatric desert species may be similarly affected, and we suggest that SDMs will be a useful tool in helping to predict the effects of climate change on their distributions.
Local and landscape scale drivers of Euschistus servus and Lygus lineolaris in North Carolina small grain agroecosystems
Authors: Goethe James K. , Dorman Seth J. , Huseth Anders S. 
Published: May 2021

Crop production sequences influence arthropod populations in temporally unstable row crop systems. Winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) represents one of the earliest abundant crops in south‐eastern United States. This study aims to understand primary source habitats driving brown stink bug, Euschistus servus (Say), and tarnished plant bug, Lygus lineolaris (Palisot de Beauvois), population abundance in wheat.
To better understand these relationships, adult and nymphal densities were in wheat fields weekly from flowering through harvest in 2019 and 2020. Geospatial data were used to measure landscape composition surrounding sampled fields. We investigated the influence of landscape predictors on E. servus and L. lineolaris abundance using generalized linear mixed modelling.
Field size, proportion of agriculture, proportion of wheat area, and proportion of soybean Glycine max L.) area from the previous year in the surrounding landscape were associated with E. servus abundance in wheat. Similarly, L. lineolaris abundance was associated with proportion of wheat area and soybean area from the previous year.
These results reveal the influence of soybean area planted the previous year on insect pest densities the following spring in wheat. Further, results suggest agricultural landscapes dominated by wheat are associated with decreased pest abundance across the sampled region.
Native flowering shrubs promote beneficial insects in avocado orchards
Authors: Muñoz Alejandra E. , Amouroux Paul , Zaviezo Tania 
Published: May 2021

AbstractFlower strips can promote and conserve beneficial insects in agroecosystems. Knowing which groups are favoured and which plant traits affect visitation rates by beneficial insects is important for the design of plant strips.
We established 21 Native Flower Strips (NFS) in avocado orchards in Central Chile. NFS contained 7–11 plant species, with variable corolla length and flowering period, to promote beneficial insects. We assessed flight activity of ladybirds (Coccinellidae) and bees (Apiformes) in sites adjacent to and far from NFS within avocado orchards. Additionally, we evaluated flower visitation for the main flower visitor groups (Apiformes, Lepidoptera, Diptera, and Coleoptera) to the plant species in NFS according to season and corolla length.
We found almost six times greater flight activity of coccinellids and bees in NFS than sites far from NFS within avocado orchards. Visitation rates of pollinator groups varied according to corolla length and season. Diptera, Coleoptera, and Lepidoptera consistently visited short corolla flowers. NFS were highly visited in summer and autumn, when avocados were not in bloom.
NFS in orchards should be encouraged by policymakers because they support beneficial insects that could deliver ecosystem services and contribute to local biological conservation.
Making Friends, Building Roads: Chinese Entrepreneurship and the Search for Reliability in Angola
Authors: Schmitz Cheryl Mei‐ting 
Published: May 2021

ABSTRACT Based on fieldwork conducted in 2013–2014 with a provincial‐level Chinese state‐owned construction firm in Luanda, this article examines how Chinese businesses attempted to expand in the aftermath of a booming period of Angolan postwar reconstruction. Chinese entrepreneurs found that business could only be done with the help of local mediators promising to open otherwise inaccessible portals to political expediency. They shared with their would‐be collaborators an image of Angola as a land of vast extractive opportunities, available only to those who could gain access through crucial personal connections. Highly aware of the opacity and potential deceptiveness of their “friends,” in part because they engaged in dissimulative practices themselves, Chinese businesspeople evaluated Angolan partners less in terms of sincerity than efficacy. Amid a general atmosphere of mistrust, “reliability” emerged as a necessary quality for constructing relationships of mutual benefit and exploitation. [friendship, mistrust, business, globalization, China–Angola relations]
How can Never Event data be used to reflect or improve hospital safety performance?
Authors: Olivarius‐McAllister J. , Pandit M. , Sykes A. , Pandit J. J. 
Published: May 2021

SummaryThe absolute number of Never Events is used by UK regulators to help assess hospital safety performance, without account of hospital workload. We applied funnel plots, as an established means of taking workload into account, to published Never Event data for 151 acute Trusts in NHS England, matched to finished consultant episodes for 3 years, 2017–2020. Trusts with excess event rates should have the most Never Events if absolute number is a valid way to judge performance. The absolute number of Never Events was correlated with workload (r2 = 0.51, p < 0.001), but the five Trusts above the upper 95% confidence limit did not have the highest number of Never Events. However, a limitation to interpretation was that the data were skewed; 12 out of 151 Trusts lay below the lower 95% limit. This skew probably arises because funnel plots pool all Never Events and workload data; whereas, ideally, different Never Events should use as denominator only the relevant workload actions that could cause them. We conclude that the manner in which Never Event data are currently used by regulators, in part to judge or rate hospitals, is mathematically invalid. The focus should shift from identifying ‘outlier’ hospitals to reducing the overall national mean Never Event rate through shared learning and an integrated system‐wide approach.
The COVID‐19 pandemic: key considerations for the epidemic and its control
Authors: Ørskov Søren , Nielsen Bjarke Frost , Føns Sofie , Sneppen Kim , Simonsen Lone 
Published: May 2021

AbstractThe response to the ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic has been characterized by draconian measures and far too many important unknowns, such as the true mortality risk, the role of children as transmitters and the development and duration of immunity in the population. More than a year into the pandemic much has been learned and insights into this novel type of pandemic and options for control are shaping up. Using a historical lens, we review what we know and still do not know about the ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic. A pandemic caused by a member of the coronavirus family is a new situation following more than a century of influenza A pandemics. However, recent pandemic threats such as outbreaks of the related and novel deadly coronavirus SARS in 2003 and of MERS since 2012 had put coronaviruses on WHOs blueprint list of priority diseases. Like pandemic influenza, SARS‐CoV‐2 is highly transmissible (R0 ~ 2.5). Furthermore, it can fly under the radar due to a broad clinical spectrum where asymptomatic and pre‐symptomatic infected persons also transmit the virus—including children. COVID‐19 is far more deadly than seasonal influenza; initial data from China suggested a case fatality rate of 2.3%—which would have been on par with the deadly 1918 Spanish influenza. But, while the Spanish influenza killed young, otherwise healthy adults, it is the elderly who are at extreme risk of dying of COVID‐19. We review available seroepidemiological evidence of infection rates and compute infection fatality rates (IFR) for Denmark (0.5%), Spain (0.85%), and Iceland (0.3%). We also deduce that population age structure is key. SARS‐CoV‐2 is characterized by superspreading, so that ~10% of infected individuals yield 80% of new infections. This phenomenon turns out to be an Achilles heel of the virus that may explain our ability to effectively mitigate outbreaks so far. How will this pandemic come to an end? Herd immunity has not been achieved in Europe due to intense mitigation by non‐pharmaceutical interventions; for example, only ~8% of Danes were infected across the 1st and 2nd wave. Luckily, we now have several safe and effective vaccines. Global vaccine control of the pandemic depends in great measure on our ability to keep up with current and future immune escape variants of the virus. We should thus be prepared for a race between vaccine updates and mutations of the virus. A permanent reopening of society highly depends on winning that race.
Phase 1 clinical trial of losmapimod in facioscapulohumeral dystrophy: Safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and target engagement
Authors: Mellion Michelle L. , Ronco Lucienne , Berends Cecile L. , Pagan Lisa , Brooks Sander , van Esdonk Michiel J. , van Brummelen Emilie M. J. , Odueyungbo Adefowope , Thompson Lorin A. , Hage Michelle , Badrising Umesh A. , Raines Shane , Tracewell William G. , van Engelen Baziel , Cadavid Diego , Groeneveld Geert J. 
Published: May 2021

AimsEvaluate safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics (PK) and target engagement (TE) of losmapimod in blood and muscle in facioscapulohumeral dystrophy (FSHD).MethodsThis study included Part A: 10 healthy volunteers randomized to single oral doses of losmapimod (7.5 mg then 15 mg; n = 8) or placebo (both periods; n = 2); Part B: 15 FSHD subjects randomized to placebo (n = 3), or losmapimod 7.5 mg (n = 6) or 15 mg (n = 6); and Part C: FSHD subjects received open‐label losmapimod 15 mg (n = 5) twice daily for 14 days. Biopsies were performed in FSHD subjects at baseline and Day 14 in magnetic resonance imaging‐normal appearing (Part B) and affected muscle identified by abnormal short‐tau inversion recovery sequence + (Part C). PK and TE, based on pHSP27:total HSP27, were assessed in muscle and sorbitol‐stimulated blood.ResultsPK profiles were similar between healthy volunteers and FSHD subjects, with mean Cmax and AUC0–12 for 15 mg in FSHD subjects (Part B) of 85.0 ± 16.7 ng*h/mL and 410 ± 50.3 ng*h/mL, respectively. Part B and Part C PK results were similar, and 7.5 mg results were approximately dose proportional to 15 mg results. Dose‐dependent concentrations in muscle (42.1 ± 10.5 ng/g [7.5 mg] to 97.2 ± 22.4 ng/g [15 mg]) were observed, with plasma‐to‐muscle ratio from ~0.67 to ~1 at estimated tmax of 3.5 hours postdose. TE was observed in blood and muscle. Adverse events (AEs) were mild and self‐limited.ConclusionLosmapimod was well tolerated, with no serious AEs. Dose‐dependent PK and TE were observed. This study supports advancing losmapimod into Phase 2 trials in FSHD.Clinical Trial RegistrationClinical trial identifier ToetsingOnline: NL68539.056.18 Nederlands Trials Register NL8000.
Emergency education effects on teacher abilities and motivation to use digital technologies
Authors: Beardsley Marc , Albó Laia , Aragón Pablo , Hernández‐Leo Davinia 
Published: May 2021

AbstractTo identify factors that can contribute toward supporting educator adoption of digital technologies beyond the emergency remote teaching response to COVID‐19, we investigated how teachers’ motivation and abilities related to the use of digital technologies for teaching changed since the onset of the pandemic. Two surveys and interviews were conducted with school teachers in Spain. The first survey was completed at the onset of the COVID‐19 lockdown, the second survey and interviews in the weeks leading up to the school year that followed. Survey questions were from SELFIE and the Work Tasks Motivation Scale for Teachers. Moreover we analysed the type of advice teachers sought on Twitter during the lockdown and post‐lockdown periods. Results indicate that teachers believe their proficiency in using digital technologies for teaching has improved. Teacher confidence in using technology for preparing lessons, class teaching, assessing and providing feedback, and for communicating with students and families has increased along with teacher motivation to improve their digital skills and use digital technologies for teaching. Teacher advice seeking on Twitter seemed to shift from serving immediate instructional needs to focussing on professional development and the creation of their own digital content.
Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic

There is a need to enhance educator digital skills and competences for a digital transformation of education.
The emergency remote teaching response to COVID‐19 made educators increase their usage of technology.
What this paper adds

Teachers’ motivation and abilities related to the use of digital technologies for teaching have changed since the onset of the pandemic.
Teachers believe their proficiency in using digital technologies for teaching has improved.
Teacher confidence in using technology for preparing lessons, class teaching, assessing and providing feedback, and communication has increased.
Teacher motivation to use digital technologies in their teaching practice increased during the pandemic.
Teacher advice seeking on Twitter shifted from serving immediate instructional needs to focusing on professional development and the creation of their own digital content.
Implications for practice and/or policy

COVID‐19 has rapidly advanced teacher digital skills and has altered their relationships with digital technologies for teaching and learning.
Teachers have acquired a range of new experiences related to using digital technologies for teaching from which future initiatives can build upon.
The current role of interferon in hairy cell leukaemia: clinical and molecular aspects
Authors: Assanto Giovanni M. , Riemma Costantino , Malaspina Francesco , Perrone Salvatore , De Luca Maria L. , Pucciarini Alessandra , Annechini Giorgia , D'Elia Gianna M. , Martelli Maurizio , Foà Robin , Tiacci Enrico , Pulsoni Alessandro 
Published: May 2021

SummaryWe investigated the current role of interferon‐alpha (IFNα) in hairy cell leukaemia (HCL) in a retrospective analysis of patients with HCL. A cohort of 74 patients with HCL was divided in to three groups: (A) patients aged >65 years with first‐line treatment; (B) patients with comorbidities with first‐line treatment; (C) patients who were purine analogues resistant. In total, 94% achieved a response, with a complete response rate of 24%. After a median (range) follow‐up of 60 (7–236) months, 55 patients (78%) are still responding. The 5‐year progression‐free survival was 95%, 68%, and 96% in groups A, B and C respectively. A proportion of patients were monitored through their B‐Raf proto‐oncogene, serine/threonine kinase (BRAF)‐V600E status. IFNα remains a possible option in select patients with HCL, where minimal residual disease negativity is achievable.
Gut microbiota contributes to the development of hypertension in a genetic mouse model of systemic lupus erythematosus
Authors: de la Visitación Néstor , Robles‐Vera Iñaki , Toral Marta , Gómez‐Guzmán Manuel , Sánchez Manuel , Moleón Javier , González‐Correa Cristina , Martín‐Morales Natividad , O'Valle Francisco , Jiménez Rosario , Romero Miguel , Duarte Juan 
Published: May 2021

Background and PurposeHypertension is an important cardiovascular risk factor that is prevalent in the systemic lupus erythematosus patient population. Here, we have investigated whether intestinal microbiota is involved in hypertension in a genetic mouse model of systemic lupus erythematosus.Experimental ApproachTwenty‐six‐week‐old female NZW/LacJ (control) and NZBWF1 (F1 hybrid of New Zealand Black and New Zealand White strains; systemic lupus erythematosus) mice were treated for 6 weeks with a broad‐spectrum antibiotic mixture or with vancomycin. Faecal microbiota transplantation was performed from donor systemic lupus erythematosus group to recipient to germ‐depleted or germ‐free mice.Key ResultsAntibiotic treatment inhibited the development of hypertension and renal injury, improved endothelial dysfunction and vascular oxidative stress, and decreased aortic Th17 infiltration in NZBWF1 mice. High BP and vascular complications found in systemic lupus erythematosus mice, but not autoimmunity, kidney inflammation and endotoxemia, were reproduced by the transfer of gut microbiota from systemic lupus erythematosus donors to germ‐free or germ‐depleted mice. Increased proportions of Bacteroides were linked with high BP in these mice. The reduced endothelium‐dependent vasodilator responses to acetylcholine and the high BP induced by microbiota from hypertensive systemic lupus erythematosus mice were inhibited after IL‐17 neutralization.Conclusion and ImplicationsChanges in T‐cell populations, endothelial function, vascular inflammation and hypertension driven by a genetic systemic lupus erythematosus background can be modified by antibiotic‐induced changes in gut microbiota. The vascular changes induced by hypertensive systemic lupus erythematosus microbiota were mediated by Th17 infiltration in the vasculature.