bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Consistent signatures of urban adaptation in a native, urban invader ant Tapinoma sessile
Authors: Blumenfeld Alexander J. , Eyer Pierre‐André , Helms Anjel M. , Buczkowski Grzegorz , Vargo Edward L. 
Published: September 2021

AbstractBiological invasions are becoming more prevalent due to the rise of global trade and expansion of urban areas. Ants are among the most prolific invaders with many exhibiting a multiqueen colony structure, dependent colony foundation and reduced internest aggression. Although these characteristics are generally associated with the invasions of exotic ants, they may also facilitate the spread of native ants into novel habitats. Native to diverse habitats across North America, the odorous house ant Tapinoma sessile has become abundant in urban environments throughout the United States. Natural colonies typically have a small workforce, inhabit a single nest, and are headed by a single queen, whereas urban colonies tend to be several orders of magnitude larger, inhabit multiple nests (i.e., polydomy) and are headed by multiple queens (i.e., polygyny). Here, we explore and compare the population genetic and breeding structure of T. sessile within and between urban and natural environments in several localities across its distribution range. We found the social structure of a colony to be a plastic trait in both habitats, although extreme polygyny was confined to urban habitats. Additionally, polydomous colonies were only present in urban habitats, suggesting T. sessile can only achieve supercoloniality within urbanized areas. Finally, we identified strong differentiation between urban and natural populations in each locality and continent‐wide, indicating cities may restrict gene flow and exert intense selection pressure. Overall, our study highlights urbanization's influence in charting the evolutionary course for species.
Flg22‐induced Ca2+ increases undergo desensitization and resensitization
Authors: Chi Yuan , Wang Chao , Wang Mengyun , Wan Di , Huang Feifei , Jiang Zhonghao , Crawford Bridget M. , Vo‐Dinh Tuan , Yuan Fang , Wu Feihua , Pei Zhen‐Ming 
Published: September 2021

AbstractThe flagellin epitope flg22, a pathogen‐associated molecular pattern (PAMP), binds to the receptor‐like kinase FLAGELLIN SENSING2 (FLS2), and triggers Ca2+ influx across the plasma membrane (PM). The flg22‐induced increases in cytosolic Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) (FICA) play a crucial role in plant innate immunity. It's well established that the receptor FLS2 and reactive oxygen species (ROS) burst undergo sensitivity adaptation after flg22 stimulation, referred to as desensitization and resensitization, to prevent over responses to pathogens. However, whether FICA also mount adaptation mechanisms to ensure appropriate and efficient responses against pathogens remains poorly understood. Here, we analysed systematically [Ca2+]i increases upon two successive flg22 treatments, recorded and characterized rapid desensitization but slow resensitization of FICA in Arabidopsis thaliana. Pharmacological analyses showed that the rapid desensitization might be synergistically regulated by ligand‐induced FLS2 endocytosis as well as the PM depolarization. The resensitization of FICA might require de novo FLS2 protein synthesis. FICA resensitization appeared significantly slower than FLS2 protein recovery, suggesting additional regulatory mechanisms of other components, such as flg22‐related Ca2+ permeable channels. Taken together, we have carefully defined the FICA sensitivity adaptation, which will facilitate further molecular and genetic dissection of the Ca2+‐mediated adaptive mechanisms in PAMP‐triggered immunity.
Children with special health care needs and mothers' anxiety/depression: Findings from the Tokyo Teen Cohort study
Authors: Kaji Namiko , Ando Shuntaro , Nishida Atsushi , Yamasaki Syudo , Kuwabara Hitoshi , Kanehara Akiko , Satomura Yoshihiro , Jinde Seiichiro , Kano Yukiko , Hiraiwa‐Hasegawa Mariko , Igarashi Takashi , Kasai Kiyoto 
Published: September 2021

AimChildren with special health care needs (CSHCN) are those who require more care for their physical, developmental, or emotional differences than their typically developing peers. Among a wide range of burdens that caregivers of CSHCN experience, the mental burden of caregivers is still not well investigated. This study aimed at examining the relationship between caring for CSHCN and mothers' anxiety/depression.MethodsThis study used data from the Tokyo Early Adolescence Survey, a population‐based cross‐sectional survey. Using screening questionnaires, we evaluated the prevalence of CSHCN and identified their primary caregivers. Focusing on mothers as caregivers, we analyzed the relationship between having CSHCN and mothers' anxiety/depression, and between the severity of children's condition and mothers' anxiety/depression. We further determined what mediates these relationships using path analyses.ResultsAmong 4003 participants, we identified 502 CSHCN (12.5%), and 93% of responding caregivers were mothers. We found that mothers with CSHCN were significantly more anxious/depressed than those without CSHCN, which was closely related to the severity of children's condition. The mediation effect of social support on the relation between CSHCN and mothers' anxiety/depression was statistically significant.ConclusionMothers of CSHCN were more anxious/depressed than other mothers in this study. Social support was indicated to have a significant mediating effect on the relationship between CSHCN and mothers' anxiety/depression. Our results suggest that considering ways to offer social support may effectively relieve the mental stress experienced by mothers of CSHCN.
Impact of Competitor Store Closures on a Major Retailer
Authors: Akturk M. Serkan , Ketzenberg Michael 
Published: September 2021

We use a proprietary data set from a national US department store chain to investigate the impact of competitor store closures on a major retailer. The transaction level data set includes nearly 80 million transactions, corresponding to $2 billion in sales over a 25‐month period. We find that store sales increase with respect to a store's proximity to closed competitor locations. More interestingly, we find that online channel sales also increase in geographic locations where competitors close stores and where our focal retailer has store locations in close proximity to the markets it serves. This latter finding highlights the important role that stores play in the online channel. Stores provide a level of shopping assurance generally not available online and support customer webrooming and showrooming to mitigate purchase uncertainty. Stores are also integral to omnichannel services like return‐to‐store wherein stores provide a convenient nearby location to make a free return should an online purchase not meet expectations. Consistent with these shopping behaviors, our results demonstrate that the focal retailer, in markets affected by competitor store closures, is able to capture demand that exhibits greater uncertainty in purchases as evidenced by (i) a disproportionate increase in riskier high value vs. low value store purchases consistent with webrooming, (ii) increased online sales of product categories associated with showrooming, and (iii) an increase in return‐to‐store instances for online purchases.
Hand‐related action words impair action anticipation in expert table tennis players: Behavioral and neural evidence
Authors: Wang Yingying , Ji Qingchun , Fu Rao , Zhang Guanghui , Lu Yingzhi , Zhou Chenglin 
Published: September 2021

AbstractAthletes extract kinematic information to anticipate action outcomes. Here, we examined the influence of linguistic information (experiment 1, 2) and its underlying neural correlates (experiment 2) on anticipatory judgment. Table tennis experts and novices remembered a hand‐ or leg‐related verb or a spatial location while predicting the trajectory of a ball in a video occluded at the moment of the serve. Experiment 1 showed that predictions by experts were more accurate than novices, but experts’ accuracy significantly decreased when hand‐related words versus spatial locations were memorized. For nonoccluded videos with ball trajectories congruent or incongruent with server actions in experiment 2, remembering hand‐related verbs shared cognitive resources with action anticipation only in experts, with heightened processing load (increased P3 amplitude) and more efficient conflict monitoring (decreased N2 amplitude) versus leg‐related verbs. Thus, action anticipation required updating of motor representations facilitated by motor expertize but was also affected by effector‐specific semantic representations of actions, suggesting a link from language to motor systems.
Your Money, Your Life, or Your Freedom? A Discrete‐Choice Experiment on Trade‐Offs During a Public Health Crisis
Authors: Belle Nicola , Cantarelli Paola 
Published: September 2021

AbstractWe conducted a discrete‐choice conjoint analysis on a sample of residents in Italy to explore trade‐offs between human lives, individual freedoms, and the economy that governments and their citizens face while coping with a public health crisis. Our results indicate that people prefer to avoid income losses over reduction in the number of victims by the same percentage. The relative preference for saving income over saving lives widens as the size of losses at stake increases. The duration of restrictions to individual freedoms per se does not appear to have a sizable impact on people's preferences once income and human losses are accounted for. Our study contributes to scholarship on the value of a statistical life and sheds light on morally problematic trade‐offs. Further, we illustrate how conjoint analysis through discrete choice modeling can address public administration and policy issues that are inherently multidimensional.
Public Preferences for Disaster Federalism: Comparing Public Risk Management Preferences Across Levels of Government and Hazards
Authors: Wehde Wesley , Choi Junghwa 
Published: September 2021

AbstractDespite a general lack of political knowledge among the public, research demonstrates that individuals intuitively know which level of government should be, and sometimes is, responsible for policy problems. In this article, we look at public federalism preferences in the context of disaster management, particularly for managing the risks associated with three different types of hazards—specifically global warming, earthquakes, and wildfires—and examine if their preferences are aligned with the division of responsibility in disaster management. Using survey data from Oklahoma, we find that individuals appropriately match their preferences to the intergovernmental nature of disaster federalism in the United States. Additionally, knowing the causes of these hazards is strongly associated with a preference for the appropriate, to disaster scope and scale, level of government. Finally, using seemingly unrelated regression techniques, we find that many, but not all, relationships are hazard general while some are hazard specific.
Gravity of intermediate inputs in productivity spillovers: Evidence from foreign direct investment in China
Authors: Xie Yiqing , Wang Xiao 
Published: September 2021

AbstractThe literature on the effect of multinational firms on the productivity of domestic firms has received wide attention; however, the exact channel of productivity spillover at a more micro firm level is underexplored. Based on a multisector production model, we examine heterogeneous productivity spillovers through the channel of upstream foreign direct investment (FDI) inputs at the firm level. We construct a firm‐level distance statistic for the upstream FDI and estimate the gravity of inputs: A firm is more productive if it gains access to more FDI inputs (general productivity‐enhancing effect) and is geographically closer to upstream FDI firms (proximity effect). We find in the 2000–2007 Chinese firm data that (i) if a domestic firm’s FDI input share increases by 1 percentage point, then its productivity is increased by 2.02%, and (ii) if the firm’s distance from upstream FDI firms is 10% greater, then its productivity is reduced by 0.59%. The results are robust after controlling for FDI firm location selection bias and other productivity spillover channels.
Sex‐positive criminology: Possibilities for legal and social change
Authors: Wodda Aimee , Panfil Vanessa R. 
Published: September 2021

AbstractThis article provides an introduction to sex‐positive criminology and its goals for change. Sex‐positive criminology draws from the “thick desire” organizing principle, which is a rights‐based approach to human sexuality, as well as from positive sexuality approaches. It also draws from critical, queer, and feminist criminological traditions and abolitionist sensibilities. We discuss examples that pertain to key tenets of sex‐positivity: consent and bodily autonomy, education, medical access, harm reduction, and ways to increase agency. Main topics of discussion include addressing deeply harmful and sex‐negative laws and policies that perpetuate state violence, such as coerced or forced sterilization, criminalization of abortion and pregnancy loss, sexual and physical assault of sex workers by police, criminalization through medically inaccurate laws, and legislation such as Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act and the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act that puts marginalized populations at risk. Throughout, we reflect on possibilities for sex‐positive laws and policies and the social impacts they would have, such as improving health and well‐being.
Soil amendments for sustainable agriculture: Microbial organic fertilizers
Authors: Bamdad Hanieh , Papari Sadegh , Lazarovits George , Berruti Franco 
Published: September 2021

AbstractThere is an enormous body of the literature, proving that soil amendments enhance plant growth/yield and prevent the impact of pathogens/toxins. To the best of our knowledge, there is no comprehensive assessment focused on the synergistic effects of microorganisms and soil amendments with biochar or compost for upgrading the current fertilizers towards a more sustainable agriculture. The main objective of the present work is to discuss the most current information needed for developing advanced soil amendments using microorganisms along with safe, sustainable and low‐cost waste sourced materials. The first step in designing the biofertilizer is the selection of a microorganism from among a variety of bacterial/fungi strains that have been identified as plant growth promoting (PGP) in the literature. This study classifies the effective types of soil microorganisms with respect to their functionality to facilitate the choice of the best compatible microbial strain(s) in order to satisfy the host environment requirements. The second part is dedicated to various inorganic and organic carriers, such as perlite, peat, fly ash and compost, for delivering of microorganism into the soils. The role of carriers in the survival and the functional contribution of the microbes to soil–plant systems are investigated. Lastly, biochar is evaluated as a promising microbial carrier together with its influence on the soil biota including microorganisms and plants. The superior features of biochar, for example high surface area, porosity, customizable structure, high stability, carbon sequestration and synergy, with other fertilizers are also discussed.
Youth transitions in protracted crises: conceptualising the ‘rupture’ of refugees' pathways to adulthood in Uganda and Jordan
Authors: van Blerk Lorraine , Shand Wayne , Prazeres Laura , Bukenya Badru , Essaid Aida A. , Hunter Janine , Ibrahim Rawan W. , Kasirye Rogers 
Published: September 2021

AbstractYouth displaced from home by war, civil conflict, and poverty face a difficult transition into adulthood. Their ability to access education, employment, and social adulthood is often disrupted, restricted, and delayed. Yet, despite youth making up a large percentage of refugees in Africa and the Middle East, their specific circumstances are rarely considered. While international humanitarian and development programming aims to respond to the disrupted lives of youth affected by prolonged displacement, little is known about how these conditions affect transitions as youth struggle to create adult lives in contexts of multiple and competing survival pressures. This paper conceptualises youth transitions to adulthood for young refugees growing up in situations of protracted crisis, suggesting that major global challenges such as conflict not only delay, modify, or disrupt certain life events but in fact can have a rupturing effect on young people's capabilities and aspirations for the future. The paper draws on research with over 500 10–24‐year‐olds growing up as refugees in Uganda and Jordan, from five different national groups and located in camp and urban settings. Analysis of their in‐depth experiences highlights that current thinking around youth transitions has not yet accounted for the ruptures they experience, located outside of their home countries for extended periods of time. This "rupture," as an accumulation of the effects of displacement itself, the extended temporality of displacement, and the life course phase affected, more fundamentally impacts on the key phase for creating adult lives than has previously been understood.
From post‐political to authoritarian planning in England, a crisis of legitimacy
Authors: Fearn Gareth , Davoudi Simin 
Published: September 2021

AbstractThis paper argues that the crisis of post‐politics has sparked an authoritarian turn in spatial planning in England. The proposed reform of the English planning system in 2020 is a defining moment, marking not only the failure of consensus‐seeking politics in governing dissents but also the rising authoritarian responses to fix it. This is manifest in the intensification of state control, strengthening of executive power, and decline of democratic institutions, with a shift of emphasis from techno‐managerial to executive‐punitive practices, and from seemingly consensual to openly antagonistic approaches. This drift to authoritarianism has been justified by invoking a “state of exception,” whereby the established rules and procedures are displaced by the appeal to “exceptional” circumstances, such as emergencies, national securities, and global pandemics. We draw on a case study of shale gas “fracking” in England to show how authoritarianism has crept into planning processes through changes in legislation, reconfiguration of rules, rescaling of decision‐making, and shrinking of democratic spaces. We discuss the role of a “political moment” in the politicisation of fracking, arguing that the return of the political has engendered antagonistic and exclusionary practices, rather than the agonistic pluralism that planning scholars have called for. In managing planning conflicts, consent, compromise, and co‐option are increasingly complemented or replaced by discipline, control, and explicit exclusion. Instead of denying, neutralising, or suppressing antagonism by calling for consensus, authoritarian politics exaggerates it by establishing frontiers between legitimate and non‐legitimate voices of dissents. The paper concludes by emphasising that the authoritarian turn can only offer a contingent and fleeting solution to the failure of post‐political planning to deliver neoliberal pro‐growth goals. It cannot eradicate the crisis of legitimacy in planning, nor can it foreclose the political struggle for fixing its meaning and purpose.
Laparoscopic ovariohysterectomy for dogs under 5 kg body weight
Authors: Matsunami Tokio 
Published: September 2021

AbstractObjectiveTo describe the surgical method, operative time, safety, and usefulness of 3‐port laparoscopic ovariohysterectomy (LOHE) using an ultrasonic coagulation and incision device in dogs <5 kg.Study designRetrospective study.AnimalsFemale dogs (n = 147).MethodsAnimals were allocated to one of four groups by bodyweight: <2 kg (n = 18), 2–3 kg (n = 37), 3–4 kg (n = 55), and 4–5 kg (n = 37). All surgical procedures were recorded on video. Mean operative time (i.e., time from first skin incision to last suture), clinical variables, hematologic variables, and blood biochemistry were recorded. Intrasurgical and postsurgical complications were recorded, and wound complications, including signs of inflammation or hernia formation were monitored for 3 months.ResultsThe mean operative time for all groups was 18 min, with no significant differences between groups. Eight dogs bled from the mesometrium during surgery. Two dogs had hernia formation at a midline port incision; this complication developed by month 3. No complications such as wound dehiscence or infection of the surgical field were observed at the time of suture removal in any of the dogs.ConclusionWe performed LOHE using an ultrasonic coagulation and incision device in dogs <5 kg, and found it to be a safe procedure with minimal complications.Clinical significanceWe believe that LOHE, using a 3‐port and ultrasonic coagulation and incision device, is a safe, useful, and minimally invasive surgical method for sterilization of dogs <5 kg with minimal complications.
Using systems biology approaches to identify signalling pathways activated during chronic wound initiation
Authors: Basu Proma , Kim Jane Hannah , Saeed Shayan , Martins‐Green Manuela 
Published: September 2021

AbstractChronic wounds are a significant health problem worldwide. However, nothing is known about how chronic wounds initiate and develop. Here we use a chronic wound model in diabetic mice and a Systems Biology Approach using nanoString nCounter technology and weighted gene correlation network analysis (WGCNA), with tissues collected at 6, 12, 24 and 48 h post‐wounding, to identify metabolic signalling pathways involved in initiation of chronicity. Normalized counts obtained from the nanoString nCounter Mouse Metabolic Panel were used for the WGCNA, which groups genes into co‐expression modules to visualize the correlation network. Genes with significant module membership and gene trait significance (p < 0.05) were used to identify signalling pathways that are important for the development of chronicity. The pathway analysis using the Reactome database showed stabilization of PTEN, which down‐regulates PI3K/AKT1, which in turn down‐regulates Nrf2, as shown by ELISA, thus disabling antioxidant production, resulting in high oxidative stress levels. We find that pathways involved in inflammation, including those that generate pro‐inflammatory lipids derived from arachidonic acid metabolism, IFNγ and catecholamines, occur. Moreover, HIF3α is over‐expressed, potentially blocking Hif1α and preventing activation of growth factors and cytokines that promote granulation tissue formation. We also find that FGF1 is under‐expressed, while thrombospondin‐1 is over‐expressed, resulting in decreased angiogenesis, a process that is critical for healing. Finally, enzymes involved in glycolysis are down‐regulated, resulting in decreased production of pyruvate, a molecule critical for ATP production, leading to extensive cell death and wound paralysis. These findings offer new avenues of study that may lead to the development of novel treatments of CW to be administered right after debridement.