bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Reduced fertility caused by meiotic defects and micronuclei formation during microsporogenesis in xBrassicoraphanus
Authors: Shin Hosub , Park Hye Rang , Park Jeong Eun , Yu Seung Hwa , Yi Gibum , Kim Jung Hyo , Koh Wonjun , Kim Hyun Hee , Lee Soo-Seong , Huh Jin Hoe 
Published: February 2021

Abstract
Background
Hybridization and polyploidization events are important driving forces in plant evolution. Allopolyploids formed between different species can be naturally or artificially created but often suffer from genetic instability and infertility in successive generations. xBrassicoraphanus is an intergeneric allopolyploid obtained from a cross between Brassica rapa and Raphanus sativus, providing a useful resource for genetic and genomic study in hybrid species.

Objective
The current study aims to understand the cause of hybrid sterility and pollen abnormality in different lines of synthetic xBrassicoraphanus from the cytogenetic perspective.

Methods
Alexander staining was used to assess the pollen viability. Cytogenetic analysis was employed to monitor meiotic chromosome behaviors in pollen mother cells (PMCs). Origins of parental chromosomes in xBrassicoraphanus meiocytes were determined by genome in situ hybridization analysis.

Results
The xBrassicoraphanus lines BB#4 and BB#6 showed high rates of seed abortion and pollen deformation. Abnormal chromosome behaviors were observed in their PMCs, frequently forming univalents and inter-chromosomal bridges during meiosis. A positive correlation also exists between meiotic defects and the formation of micronuclei, which is conceivably responsible for unbalanced gamete production and pollen sterility.

Conclusion
These results suggest that unequal segregation of meiotic chromosomes, due in part to non-homologous interactions, is responsible for micronuclei and unbalanced gamete formation, eventually leading to pollen degeneration and inferior fertility in unstable xBrassicoraphanus lines.
Marine spatial planning: Coordinating divergent marine interests
Authors: Grip Kjell , Blomqvist Sven 
Published: February 2021

AbstractGlobally, ecosystem-based marine spatial planning has become a useful instrument to coordinate the planning of different authorities. This, for balancing different requirements when managing marine areas and space. In the planning process, ecology is setting limits to which human activities are acceptable to the society. The use of the marine environment can be planned similarly as the land environment. We argue that there are several aspects which must be taken into consideration. Marine activities have traditionally been planned and managed in a sectoral way. Today, it has become obvious that a more holistic, multi-sectoral and coordinated approach is needed in future successful marine planning and management. The increased awareness of the importance of the oceans and seas challenges the traditional sector division and geographical limits in marine policy and calls for better coordinated and coherent marine policies.
Declining bacteria, lead, and sulphate, and rising pH and oxygen in the lower Mississippi River
Authors: Turner R. Eugene 
Published: February 2021

AbstractVarious air and water pollution issues in the US were confronted in the last 60 years using national policy legislation, notably the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act. I examine changes in the concentrations of bacteria, oxygen, lead, and sulphate at the terminus of the Mississippi River before and after these pollution abatement efforts. Microbial concentrations increased or were stable from 1909 to 1980 but decreased about 3 orders of magnitude after the 1970s, while the average oxygen content increased. A large decline in lead concentration occurred after the 1960s, along with a less dramatic decline in sulphate concentrations. The pH of the river dropped to a low of 5.8 in 1965 as sulfur dioxide emissions peaked and averaged 8.2 in 2019 after emissions declined. Decades of efforts at a national scale created water quality improvements and are an example for addressing new and existing water quality challenges.
Calciphylaxis in end-stage kidney disease: outcome data from the United Kingdom Calciphylaxis Study
Authors: Chinnadurai Rajkumar , Huckle Abby , Hegarty Janet , Kalra Philip A , Sinha Smeeta 
Published: February 2021

Abstract
Background and aims
Calciphylaxis is a rare condition associated with very high mortality in patients with end-stage kidney disease. Data from country-based registries have been an invaluable resource for a better understanding of the natural history and management for this condition. This study aimed to investigate the current management strategies and outcomes of patients enrolled in the United Kingdom Calciphylaxis study (UKCS).

Methods
The study was conducted on 89 patients registered in the UKCS since 2012. The initial analysis included a description of the baseline characteristics, management strategies and outcomes on follow-up until May 2020. Further analysis included a comparison of the mortality outcome of the UKCS patients who were receiving haemodialysis with a propensity score matched cohort of haemodialysis patients from the Chronic Renal Insufficiency Standards Implementation Study- Haemodialysis (CRISIS-HD).

Results
Median age of the cohort was 59 years, with a predominance of females (61%) and Caucasian (95%) ethnicity. About 54% of the patients were diabetic and 70% were receiving haemodialysis at study entry. The skin lesions were mostly distributed in the lower extremities (48%). Sodium thiosulphate and calcimimetic were the most widely used management strategies. The mortality rate was 72 deaths per hundred patient-years (50 deaths observed in 69.5 patient years). Complete wound healing was noted in 17% and bacteraemia was reported in 26% of patients. In a comparative analysis of the matched haemodialysis patients, the presence of calciphylaxis in 62 patients showed a strong association with all-cause mortality (HR 6.96; p < 0.001), with annual mortality 67% versus 10.2% in haemodialysis patients without calciphylaxis.

Conclusions
This UK wide study strengthens the evidence that calciphylaxis is a strong and independent risk factor associated with all-cause mortality; no significant benefit was shown with any individual treatment modality. Until further evidence becomes available, a multifaceted approach would be the appropriate treatment strategy in the management of this extremely serious condition.

Graphic abstract
Virtual straightening of scraper conveyor based on the position and attitude solution of industrial robot model
Authors: Li Suhua , Xie Jiacheng , Ren Fang , Zhang Xin , Wang Xuewen , Wang Binbin 
Published: February 2021

AbstractThe movement of the floating connecting mechanism between a hydraulic support and scraper conveyor is space movement; thus, when the hydraulic support pushes the scraper conveyor, there is an error between the actual distance of the scraper conveyor and the theoretical moving distance. As a result, the scraper conveyor cannot obtain the straightness requirement. Therefore, the movement law of the floating connecting mechanism between the hydraulic support and scraper conveyor is analyzed and programmed into the Unity3D to realize accurate pushing of the scraper conveyor via hydraulic support. The Coal Seam + Equipment Joint Virtual Straightening System is established, and a straightening method based on the motion law of a floating connection is proposed as the default method of the system. In addition, a straightening simulation of the scraper conveyor was performed on a complex coal seam floor, the results demonstrate that the average straightening error of the scraper conveyor is within 2–8 mm, and is in direct proportion to the fluctuation of the coal seam floor in the strike of the seam with high accuracy, the straightness of scraper conveyor is more affected by the subsidence terrain during straightening than by the bulge terrain. And some conclusions are verified by experiment. Based on the verification of the relevant conclusions, a comparison and analysis of Longwall Automation Steering Committee (LASC) straightening technology and default straightening method in the simulation system shows that the straightness accuracy of LASC straightening technology under complex floor conditions is slightly less than that of the default straightening method in the proposed system.
A SAM-Based Analysis of the Economic Impact of Frauds in the Italian Wine Value Chain
Authors: Romano Donato , Rocchi Benedetto , Sadiddin Ahmad , Stefani Gianluca , Zucaro Raffaella , Manganiello Veronica 
Published: February 2021

AbstractThe objective of this paper is twofold: firstly, it analyzes the evolution of frauds in the Italian wine value chain over the period 2007–2015, and then, using a properly disaggregated social accounting matrix (SAM) of the Italian economy, it simulates the impact of wine frauds on the national economy in terms of growth, employment, value added and income. The wine industry is the sector most exposed to frauds within the Italian agro-food system accounting for 88% of total value of seized agro-food outputs. Most irregularities (95%) are made by only three agents, specifically individual wineries, bottlers-wholesalers and retailers. We estimated industry-specific SAM multipliers to assess the share of the Italian economy depending on irregular wine production. These activities account for 11.5% of specialized permanent crop farms output and over 25% of wine industry output. This is a sign of vulnerability of the wine industry: should a food scandal/scare determine a drop in consumers’ demand, the negative effect on production activities of these sectors may be large. The SAM was also used to perform an impact analysis adopting a counterfactual approach. Results show a slightly positive increase of value added (6 million euro) along with an overall decrease in the activity level (an output loss of 406 million euro and more than six thousand full time jobs lost). This contractionary effect can be explained with fraud rents. Indeed, the extra-profits from frauds do not activate the economy circular flow as most of them leak out to exogenous accounts such as the public administration and the rest of the world.
Detecting malicious accounts in permissionless blockchains using temporal graph properties
Authors: Agarwal Rachit , Barve Shikhar , Shukla Sandeep Kumar 
Published: February 2021

AbstractDirected Graph based models of a blockchain that capture accounts as nodes and transactions as edges, evolve over time. This temporal nature of a blockchain model enables us to understand the behavior (malicious or benign) of the accounts. Predictive classification of accounts as malicious or benign could help users of the permissionless blockchain platforms to operate in a secure manner. Motivated by this, we introduce temporal features such as burst and attractiveness on top of several already used graph properties such as the node degree and clustering coefficient. Using identified features, we train various Machine Learning (ML) models and identify the algorithm that performs the best in detecting malicious accounts. We then study the behavior of the accounts over different temporal granularities of the dataset before assigning them malicious tags. For the Ethereum blockchain, we identify that for the entire dataset—the ExtraTreesClassifier performs the best among supervised ML algorithms. On the other hand, using cosine similarity on top of the results provided by unsupervised ML algorithms such as K-Means on the entire dataset, we were able to detect 554 more suspicious accounts. Further, using behavior change analysis for accounts, we identify 814 unique suspicious accounts across different temporal granularities.
Investigating the impact of the velocity of a vehicle with a nonlinear suspension system on the dynamic behavior of a Bernoulli–Euler bridge
Authors: Shafiei Babak 
Published: February 2021

AbstractSeveral authors, utilizing both experimental tests and complicated numerical models, have investigated vehicle speed's impact on a highway bridge's dynamic amplification. Although these tests and models provide reliable quantitative data on frequency contents of the interaction between the two subsystems, engineers should pay further notice to the effects of a subsystem's velocity and the type of suspension system of a vehicle moving over a structure. Hence, in this paper, the dynamic response of a bridge to a moving vehicle is considered. The car is assumed as a quarter car model with both linear and nonlinear stiffness and damping constants. Further, using the modal superposition method, a closed-form solution is obtained for the bridge's vertical response. The results obtained via numerical calculation show a significant increase in the bridge midpoint and total deflection, velocity, and acceleration by increasing the vehicle velocity. Moreover, by neglecting the nonlinear stiffness and damping coefficients of the vehicle suspension system, the bridge's dynamic response remains almost the same with respect to the numerical data. As a general conclusion, it can be claimed that the only significant parameters which can change the dynamic behavior of a bridge subjected to a moving vehicle are the speed of the car and its linear stiffness and damping constants inside its suspension system.
Phase Transitions and Microstructural Changes During Oxidation and Reduction of a Weathered Ilmenite Concentrate
Authors: Salehi Hossein , Seim Stian , Kolbeinsen Leiv , Safarian Jafar 
Published: February 2021

AbstractThe present work aims to investigate the link between the oxidation and reduction of a weathered ilmenite concentrate in terms of phase transitions, microstructural changes, and element distribution. An ilmenite concentrate sample was pelletized and fired at 1000 °C in air, and as a result, the pellets were oxidized. The oxidized pellets were reduced by hydrogen gas at 1000 °C, which yielded almost complete metallization of the iron content of the pellets. The ore and the pellets were characterized in each step by XRD and SEM techniques, and distribution of elements and phases were investigated. Ilmenite, pseudorutile, and rutile were the main phases detected in the ilmenite concentrate sample, and depending on the weathering degree of the particles, different fractions of the phases were identified in their microstructure. It was found that irregular rutile grains dispersed in a pseudobrookite matrix is the morphology of the oxidized ilmenite phase. However, increasing microcracks and porosities were the only microstructural changes in the pseudorutile phase after oxidation in air. Studying the specific types of the ore particles and their oxidized and reduced forms indicated that the phase distribution in the ilmenite ore particles dictates the phase distribution in the oxidized and reduced ones. Results show that the morphology of the reduced particles includes a titanium (III) oxide matrix in which reduced iron globules are dispersed.
Biologia Futura: stories about the functions of β2-integrins in human phagocytes
Authors: Bajtay Zsuzsa 
Published: February 2021

AbstractIntegrins are essential membrane proteins that provide a tightly regulated link between the extracellular matrix and the intracellular cytoskeletal network. These cell surface proteins are composed of a non-covalently bound α chain and β chain. The leukocyte-specific complement receptor 3 (CR3, αMβ2, CD11b/CD18) and complement receptor 4 (CR4, αXβ2, CD11c/CD18) belong to the family of β2-integrins. These receptors bind multiple ligands like iC3b, ICAMs, fibrinogen or LPS, thus allowing them to partake in phagocytosis, cellular adhesion, extracellular matrix rearrangement and migration. CR3 and CR4 were generally expected to mediate identical functions due to their structural homology, overlapping ligand specificity and parallel expression on human phagocytes. Despite their similarities, the expression level and function of these receptors differ in a cell-type-specific manner, both under physiological and inflammatory conditions.We investigated comprehensively the individual role of CR3 and CR4 in various functions of human phagocytes, and we proved that there is a “division of labour” between these two receptors. In this review, I will summarize our current knowledge about this area.
Looking for twins: how to build better counterfactuals with matching
Authors: Costalli Stefano , Negri Fedra 
Published: February 2021

AbstractA primary challenge for researchers that make use of observational data is selection bias (i.e. the units of analysis exhibit systematic differences and dis-homogeneities due to non-random selection into treatment). This article encourages researchers in acknowledging this problem and discusses how and – more importantly – under which assumptions they may resort to statistical matching techniques to reduce the imbalance in the empirical distribution of pre-treatment observable variables between the treatment and control groups. With the aim of providing a practical guidance, the article engages with the evaluation of the effectiveness of peacekeeping missions in the case of the Bosnian civil war, a research topic in which selection bias is a structural feature of the observational data researchers have to use, and shows how to apply the Coarsened Exact Matching (CEM), the most widely used matching algorithm in the fields of Political Science and International Relations.
Nation and Migration in Late-Ottoman Spheres of (Legal) Belonging: A Comparative Look at Laws on Nationality
Authors: Akcasu A. Ebru 
Published: February 2021

AbstractThe last century of the Ottoman state’s existence witnessed the transformation of the term “Ottoman” from an elite, class-based, and exclusive designation to one including and identifying all whose allegiances were tied to the state. Despite this semantic shift, the verdict is still out on the question of late-Ottoman inclusivity. Indeed, exclusivist is a term more frequently coupled with policy and law. Though the former can be considered exclusivist in many instances from the late 19th century through the dissolution of the empire, the designation does not fit the legal framework and terminology that articulated belonging. To recognize this, it is imperative to approach the 1869 Ottoman Nationality Law from a comparative perspective, especially, though not strictly, with reference to Great Power laws, since these legalities are the yardstick by which Ottoman rational modernity has been measured. This article considers access to actual and potential membership in various nationality laws in relation to their Ottoman counterpart and concludes that the exclusivist designation is questionable. Instead, Ottoman law does not present an anomaly and was in many instances both more expansive and more inclusive than others—even if it has been subjected to a different vocabulary than contemporaneous laws with similar stipulations.
Early Miocene calc-alkaline felsic tuffs within deep-marine turbidites in the Kyrenia Range, north Cyprus, with a possible post-collisional eruptive centre in western Anatolia
Authors: Chen Guohui , Robertson Alastair H. F. 
Published: February 2021

AbstractFelsic tuff as a direct fallout deposit is known from one small area in the Kyrenia Range, north Cyprus, within deep-sea terrigenous turbidites. Nearby tuffaceous siltstones contain compositionally similar felsic volcanic rocks (c. 5–10%), mixed with terrigenous material. Sedimentary evidence indicates that the fallout tuff was variable reworked locally, whereas the tuffaceous siltstones are interpreted as turbidites mixed with terrigenous material derived from Anatolia. U–Pb dating of zircons that were extracted from a sample of relatively homogeneous tuff yielded a dominant age of 16.64 ± 0.12 Ma (Burdigalian). Zircon trace-element analysis indicates predominant derivation from within-plate-type felsic magma. Whole-rock chemical analysis of the tuffaceous sediments as a whole is compatible with a felsic arc source, similar to the post-collisional magmatism within Anatolia. Regional comparisons suggest that the nearest volcanism of similar age and composition is locatedc. 500 km away, within the Kırka area (Eskişehir region) of the Western Anatolia Volcanic Province. Evidence of tephra dispersal in the western Mediterranean region and climatic modelling suggests E-wards prevailing winds and therefore tephra transport over southern Anatolia and adjacent areas during early Miocene time. The north Cyprus tuffs could represent powerful Minoan (Plinian)-type eruptions in western Anatolia, coupled with SE-wards tephra transport during and soon after the onset of post-collisional magmatism.
The Janus Face of the Liberal International Information Order: When Global Institutions Are Self-Undermining
Authors: Farrell Henry , Newman Abraham L. 
Published: February 2021

AbstractScholars and policymakers long believed that norms of global information openness and private-sector governance helped to sustain and promote liberalism. These norms are being increasingly contested within liberal democracies. In this article, we argue that a key source of debate over the Liberal International Information Order (LIIO), a sub-order of the Liberal International Order (LIO), is generated internally by “self-undermining feedback effects,” that is, mechanisms through which institutional arrangements undermine their own political conditions of survival over time. Empirically, we demonstrate how global governance of the Internet, transnational disinformation campaigns, and domestic information governance interact to sow the seeds of this contention. In particular, illiberal states converted norms of openness into a vector of attack, unsettling political bargains in liberal states concerning the LIIO. More generally, we set out a broader research agenda to show how the international relations discipline might better understand institutional change as well as the informational aspects of the current crisis in the LIO.
Populism in Place: The Economic Geography of the Globalization Backlash
Authors: Broz J. Lawrence , Frieden Jeffry , Weymouth Stephen 
Published: February 2021

AbstractA populist backlash to globalization has ushered in nationalist governments and challenged core features of the Liberal International Order. Although startling in scope and urgency, the populist wave has been developing in declining regions of wealthy countries for some time. Trade, offshoring, and automation have steadily reduced the number of available jobs and the wages of industrial workers since at least the 1970s. The decline in manufacturing employment initiated the deterioration of social and economic conditions in affected communities, exacerbating inequalities between depressed rural areas and small cities and towns, on the one hand, and thriving cities, on the other. The global financial crisis of 2008 catalyzed these divisions, as communities already in decline suffered deeper and longer economic downturns than metropolitan areas, where superstar knowledge, technology, and service-oriented firms agglomerate. We document many of these trends across the United States and Europe, and demonstrate that populist support is strongest in communities that experienced long-term economic and social decline. Institutional differences in labor markets and electoral rules across developed democracies may explain some of the variation in populists’ electoral success. Renewed support for the Liberal International Order may require a rejuvenation of distressed communities and a reduction of stark regional inequalities.