bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Mentoring for employability: a state-level impact study
Authors: Jackson Claire , Milos Dani , Kerr Monica 
Published: August 2019

Purpose
Industry mentoring has been repeatedly called out in sector reports on research training in Australian Universities as an effective way to develop PhD capacity and capabilities during research degrees (ACOLA, 2016; NOUS, 2017). Despite the understood importance of this type of experiential development, there is little published evidence on how effective mentoring is to develop the capabilities linked to improved employability. The University of South Australia developed the industry mentoring network in STEM (IMNIS) Impact Evaluation Instrument (IIEI) to capture advanced self-assessed data from mentees and demonstrate what impact the IMNIS program has on developing industry-relevant knowledge and skills in PhD participants. In 2017, the three universities in South Australia implemented a state-wide study using the IIEI to understand the impact of the national IMNIS scheme on the South Australian cohort.

Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents a case study on the impact of mentoring on PhD students during the IMNIS program. A self-assessed, competency-based study design has been used to collect pre, mid and post experience data, which measures the extent to which objectives of the IMNIS program are met. The evaluation of the results, using the Vitae Impact Framework (Vitae, 2012), seeks to understand the development of mentees’ skills and knowledge as a result of their mentoring experience to support program development and build an evidence base of impact.

Findings
This paper presents the 2017/2018 results from the South Australian IMNIS impact evaluation. Through analysis of the three data sets, findings show that skills and knowledge have been developed in mentees as a result of the program.

Originality/value
This study provides an extended approach to the existing evaluation undertaken in the national IMNIS program. The IIEI is now available for other universities to use as a method for extended evaluation of their IMNIS program or potentially other WIL opportunities, providing an opportunity for institutional and national benchmarking.
Machine learning framework for predicting reliability of solder joints
Authors: Yi Sung , Jones Robert 
Published: August 2019

Purpose
This paper aims to present a machine learning framework for using big data analytics to predict the reliability of solder joints. The purpose of this study is to accurately predict the reliability of solder joints by using big data analytics.

Design/methodology/approach
A machine learning framework for using big data analytics is proposed to predict the reliability of solder joints accurately.

Findings
A machine learning framework for predicting the life of solder joints accurately has been developed in this study. To validate its accuracy and efficiency, it is applied to predict the long-term reliability of lead-free Sn96.5Ag3.0Cu0.5 (SAC305) for three commonly used surface finishes such OSP, ENIG and IAg. The obtained results show that the predicted failure based on the machine learning method is much more accurate than the Weibull method. In addition, solder ball/bump joint failure modes are identified based on various solder joint failures reported in the literature.

Originality/value
The ability to predict thermal fatigue life accurately is extremely valuable to the industry because it saves time and cost for product development and optimization.
Beyond hijabs and Ramadan
Authors: Torres Heidi J. 
Published: August 2019

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe an integrated social studies and literacy unit designed to teach about Islam in elementary classrooms. Concerns regarding teaching about religion in public schools are addressed, and a rationale is provided for specifically teaching about Islam.

Design/methodology/approach
The unit is described in detail, outlining key ideas and purposes for the unit’s scope, sequence and activities. Several extensions to the unit are included, as well as suggestions on how to address difficult topics that might arise.

Findings
Students participating in this unit exhibited interest and curiosity about Islam and Muslims, indicated by their desire to ask questions, discuss issues and engage in the activities. Reflections at the end of the unit indicate that students learned new information and ideas about Islam and Muslims.

Practical implications
The unit described in this paper as well as the resources and suggestions provide a framework for teachers who want to teach about Islam to elementary-aged children.

Originality/value
Although there are a number of articles in the literature that address ideas on teaching about Islam or other religions in the classroom, there are few that provide practical, specific, pedagogical information for doing so, particularly at the elementary level. This paper strives to contribute toward that aim.
Entrepreneurial learning in venture acceleration programs
Authors: Politis Diamanto , Gabrielsson Jonas , Galan Nataliya , Abebe Solomon Akele 
Published: August 2019

Purpose
This study aims to better understand entrepreneurial learning in the context of venture acceleration programs.

Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative research strategy was used based on multiple in-depth interviews with 21 lead entrepreneurs complemented with participatory observations and secondary sources. The data were inductively analysed following the Gioia methodology (Gioia et al., 2012).

Findings
The authors build on experiential learning theory to generate a process-focussed model exploring the learning dynamics that venture acceleration programs can facilitate. In this model, the authors identify three catalysts that trigger processes of experiential learning and two contingencies that alleviate the effects of the catalysts on learning outcomes. The findings suggest that the potential of venture acceleration programs to be effective learning environments pends on the presence and quality of these catalysts and contingencies.

Originality/value
The findings provide novel insights on how venture acceleration programs trigger entrepreneurial learning, thereby offering a deeper understanding of the learning dynamics in this setting.
Wild zebra finches that nest synchronously have long‐term stable social ties
Authors: Brandl Hanja B. , Griffith Simon C. , Farine Damien R. , Schuett Wiebke 
Published: August 2019

AbstractMany animals live and breed in colonies, and yet, with just a few exceptions, the value of the social bonds between colony members has rarely been examined. Social ties are important for group coordination at collective tasks, and social coordination can facilitate synchronized reproduction among colony members. Synchronized reproduction in turn can amplify the benefits of coloniality, such as social foraging and predator avoidance.We conducted a field study to investigate whether synchronized reproduction among individuals in replicated colonies is linked to the strength of their social bond, and whether these strong bonds are maintained beyond the reproductive period.We PIT‐tagged wild zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata), monitoring their reproduction and social foraging over two consecutive years. We then used social network analysis to characterize the strength of social bonds among birds in the population.We show that birds that are more synchronized in their reproductive timing (and breed in the same colony) had significantly stronger social ties both during and after reproduction than expected by chance. Our long‐term sampling also revealed that the strong social ties between synchronized breeders were carried over across years.Our study reveals a strong correspondence between synchronized breeding and the social structure of the breeding colony. This suggests that the synchrony between pairs is not a simple process based on opportunity, but a mechanism underpinned by more complex sociality, which could be carried over to other behavioural contexts. The maintenance of cross‐contextual social ties across years suggests that social structure could have extensive consequences on the overall life history of individuals in addition to playing a key role for the reproductive dynamics of colonial breeders.
Females facilitate male food patch discovery in a wild fish population
Authors: Snijders Lysanne , Kurvers Ralf H. J. M. , Krause Stefan , Tump Alan N. , Ramnarine Indar W. , Krause Jens 
Published: August 2019

AbstractResponding to the information provided by others is an important foraging strategy in many species. Through social foraging, individuals can more efficiently find unpredictable resources and thereby increase their foraging success.When individuals are more socially responsive to particular phenotypes than others, however, the advantage they obtain from foraging socially is likely to depend on the phenotype composition of the social environment. We tested this hypothesis by performing experimental manipulations of guppy,Poecilia reticulata, sex compositions in the wild.Males found fewer novel food patches in the absence of females than in mixed‐sex compositions, while female patch discovery did not differ regardless of the presence or absence of males.We argue that these results were driven by sex‐dependent mechanisms of social association: Markov chain‐based fission–fusion modelling revealed that less social individuals found fewer patches and that males reduced sociality when females were absent. In contrast, females were similarly social with or without males.Our findings highlight the relevance of considering how individual‐ and population‐level traits interact in shaping the advantages of social foraging in the wild.
Disentangling the relative influences of global drivers of change in biodiversity: A study of the twentieth‐century red fox expansion into the Canadian Arctic
Authors: Gallant Daniel , Lecomte Nicolas , Berteaux Dominique 
Published: August 2019

AbstractThe poleward range shift of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) > 1,700 km into the Arctic is one of the most remarkable distribution changes of the early twentieth century. While this expansion threatens a smaller arctic ecological equivalent, the arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus), the case became a textbook example of climate‐driven range shifts.We tested this classical climate change hypothesis linked to an important range shift which has attracted little research thus far.We analysed Canadian fur harvest data from the Hudson's Bay Company Archives (14 trading posts; 1926–1950), testing hypotheses based on changes in summer and winter climates. Summer warming might have triggered a bottom‐up increase in ecosystem productivity, while winter warming might have lowered thermal stress, both favouring red fox expansion. Additionally, we evaluated the hypothesis that red fox expansion was driven by the appearance of human sedentary sites (n = 110) likely bringing food subsidies into the unproductive tundra.Analysis of red fox expansion chronologies showed that expansion speed was higher during warmer winters. However, the expansions occurred under both cooling and warming trends, being faster during cooler summers in the Baffin Island region. The increasing proportion of red fox in fox fur harvests was best explained by human activity, while generalized linear mixed models also revealed a marginal effect of warmer winters. Generalized additive models confirmed human presence as the most important factor explaining rates of change in the proportion of red fox in fox fur harvests.Using historical ecology, we disentangled the relative influences of climate change and anthropogenic habitat change, two global drivers that transformed arctic biodiversity during the last century and will likely continue to do so during this century. Anthropogenic food subsidies, which constitute stable food sources, facilitated the invasion of the tundra biome by a new mammalian predator and competitor, with long‐term consequences that still remain to be understood.
Morin attenuates oxidized low‐density lipoprotein‐mediated injury by inducing autophagy via activating AMPK signalling in HUVECs
Authors: Zhang Xiaodong , Han Xiping , Zhang Peng , Zhou Tingting , Chen Yun , Jin Jian , Ma Xin 
Published: August 2019

AbstractEndothelial dysfunction is a precursor of cardiovascular disease, and oxidized low‐density lipoprotein (ox‐LDL) has been implicated in the development of atherosclerosis by directly targeting endothelial cells. Morin, a natural flavonol, has been shown to protect endothelial cells from dysfunction. The present study was designed to evaluate the effect of morin on ox‐LDL‐induced injury and to investigate the underlying molecular mechanisms in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). The results showed that morin alleviated ox‐LDL‐induced endothelial injury and promoted the viability of HUVECs exposed to ox‐LDL. Morin significantly inhibited the oxidative stress induced by ox‐LDL by inhibiting the production of reactive oxygen species and malondialdehyde, and downregulating the level of superoxide dismutase. Moreover, morin markedly attenuated the overexpressed mRNA levels of the inflammatory factors interleukin (IL)‐1β, IL‐6, and the adhesion molecules ICAM‐1 and VCAM‐1 induced by exposure to ox‐LDL. We found that morin attenuated ox‐LDL‐induced injury in HUVECs by inducing autophagy. The protective effects of morin against ox‐LDL‐induced injury were dramatically reversed by chloroquine phosphate (CQ) treatment. Furthermore, morin up‐regulated the expression of p‐AMPK and down‐regulated the level of p‐mTOR in HUVECs exposed to ox‐LDL, and this was significantly reversed by the AMPK inhibitor Compound C (CC). Taken together, our results demonstrated that morin attenuates ox‐LDL‐mediated injury by inducing autophagy via activating AMPK signalling in HUVECs.
MiR‐203a‐3p inhibits retinal angiogenesis and alleviates proliferative diabetic retinopathy in oxygen‐induced retinopathy (OIR) rat model via targeting VEGFA and HIF‐1α
Authors: Han Ning , Xu Haitao , Yu Na , Wu Yazhen , Yu Li 
Published: August 2019

AbstractProliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) is a common complication of diabetes mellitus, characterized by abnormal retinal angiogenesis. MicroRNA‐203‐3p (miR‐203‐3p) was found to be down‐regulated in a murine model of proliferative retinopathy. This study was performed to explore the role of miR‐203a‐3p in retinal angiogenesis of PDR. Firstly, a rat OIR model, which was used to mimic PDR, was established and the OIR rats were treated with scrambled control or miR‐203a‐3p agomir by intravitreal injection. The results showed that the level of miR‐203a‐3p was decreased in OIR rats, and forced over‐expression of miR‐203a‐3p inhibited OIR‐induced retinal angiogenesis as evidenced by reduced blood vessel profiles and CD31 expression. OIR‐induced up‐regulation of VEGFA, HIF‐α, PCNA, and MMPs in the retina was also counteracted by miR‐203a‐3p. Additionally, high glucose (HG)‐induced proliferation, migration and tube formation of human retinal microvascular endothelial cells (HRMECs) were also dampened by the up‐regulation of miR‐203a‐3p. Dual‐luciferase reporter assay showed that miR‐203a‐3p could specifically bind to the 3′UTR of VEGFA and HIF‐1α. Over‐expression of VEGFA or HIF‐1α restored the tube formation activity of HRMECs suppressed by miR‐203a‐3p. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that up‐regulation of miR‐203a‐3p might inhibit pathological retinal angiogenesis of PDR by targeting VEGFA and HIF‐1α.
German Farmers’ Perspectives on Direct Payments in the Common Agricultural Policy
Authors: Michels Marius , Möllmann Johannes , Musshoff Oliver 
Published: August 2019

SummaryAfter several reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy and gradual liberalisation, direct payments that serve to stabilise farm incomes remain highly pertinent for EU farmers in that they continue to contribute a high share of total farm income. This was also reflected in our survey of German farmers’ perspectives on direct payments, which showed the importance that these payments play in their financial situation. However, several economists have pointed to the lack of justification for poorly targeted direct payments in achieving societal goals, namely the delivery of valued public goods. In particular, the surveyed German farmers also recognised societal disapproval of the direct payment scheme. However, without direct payments, an accelerated structural change in German agriculture is very likely, leading to larger, less diversified farms and more intensive farming; which contrasts with the expectations of the German society for the agriculture sector. As German tax payers contribute substantially to financing the CAP, societal approval in terms of animal welfare and environmental services should receive greater priority in the direct payment scheme. The latter could be achieved by a well‐aimed targeting of direct payments, providing compensation for farmers producing agri‐environmental public goods and/or clearly contributing to improved animal welfare.
What goes in, must come out: Combining scat‐based molecular diet analysis and quantification of ingested microplastics in a marine top predator
Authors: Nelms Sarah E. , Parry Helen E. , Bennett Kimberley A. , Galloway Tamara S. , Godley Brendan J. , Santillo David , Lindeque Penelope K. 
Published: August 2019

Abstract

Microplastics (plastic particles <5 mm in size) are highly available for ingestion by a wide range of organisms, either through direct consumption or indirectly, via trophic transfer, from prey to predator. The latter is a poorly understood, but potentially major, route of microplastic ingestion for marine top predators.

We developed a novel and effective methodology pipeline to investigate dietary exposure of wild top predators (grey seals; Halichoerus grypus) to microplastics, by combining scat‐based molecular techniques with a microplastic isolation method. We employed DNA metabarcoding, a rapid method of biodiversity assessment, to garner detailed information on prey composition from scats, and investigated the potential relationship between diet and microplastic burden.

Outcomes of the method development process and results of both diet composition from metabarcoding analysis and detection of microplastics are presented. Importantly, the pipeline performed well and initial results suggest the frequency of microplastics detected in seal scats may be related to the type of prey consumed.

Our non‐invasive, data‐rich approach maximizes time and resource–efficiency, while minimizing costs and sample volumes required for analysis. This pipeline could be used to underpin a much‐needed increase in understanding of the relationship between diet composition and rates of microplastic ingestion in high trophic level species.
Mitochondrial DNA somatic mutation burden and heteroplasmy are associated with chronological age, smoking, and HIV infection
Authors: Ziada Adam S. , Lu Meng Ying , Ignas‐Menzies Jarek , Paintsil Elijah , Li Min , Ogbuagu Onyema , Saberi Sara , Hsieh Anthony Y. Y. , Sattha Beheroze , Harrigan P. Richard , Kalloger Steve , Côté Hélène C. F. ,   the CIHR team grant on cellular aging, HIV comorbidities in women, children (CARMA)
Published: August 2019

AbstractThe gradual accumulation of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations is implicated in aging and may contribute to the accelerated aging phenotype seen with tobacco smoking and HIV infection. mtDNA mutations are thought to arise from oxidative damage; however, recent reports implicate polymerase γ errors during mtDNA replication. Investigations of somatic mtDNA mutations have been hampered by technical challenges in measuring low‐frequency mutations. We use primer ID‐based next‐generation sequencing to quantify both somatic and heteroplasmic blood mtDNA point mutations within the D‐loop, in 164 women and girls aged 2–72 years, of whom 35% were smokers and 56% were HIV‐positive. Somatic mutations and the occurrence of heteroplasmic mutations increased with age. While transitions are theorized to result from polymerase γ errors, transversions are believed to arise from DNA oxidative damage. In our study, both transition and transversion mutations were associated with age. However, transition somatic mutations were more prevalent than transversions, and no heteroplasmic transversions were observed. We also measured elevated somatic mutations, but not heteroplasmy, in association with high peak HIV viremia. Conversely, heteroplasmy was higher among smokers, but somatic mutations were not, suggesting that smoking promotes the expansion of preexisting mutations rather than de novo mutations. Taken together, our results are consistent with blood mtDNA mutations increasing with age, inferring a greater contribution of polymerase γ errors in mtDNA mutagenesis. We further suggest that smoking and HIV infection both contribute to the accumulation of mtDNA mutations, though in different ways.
Six‐Month Follow‐up of the Families on Track Intervention Pilot Trial for Children With Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders and Their Families
Authors: Petrenko Christie L. M. , Demeusy Elizabeth M. , Alto Michelle E. 
Published: August 2019

BackgroundWhen the primary disabilities associated with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) are not well supported, individuals are at higher risk for mental health problems and other secondary conditions. The Families on Track (FOT) intervention was designed to prevent secondary conditions and improve family functioning in children with FASD. Promising results from a pilot study demonstrated positive effects on child and caregiver outcomes immediately following the intervention. The objective of this study was to examine the sustainability of these effects 6 months postintervention.MethodsThirty children (ages 4 to 8) with prenatal alcohol exposure and their caregivers were enrolled in the original study. Families were randomized to the FOT intervention or an active comparison group that provided comprehensive assessment and individualized feedback. The intervention integrated a positive parenting curriculum and a child skills group. Families were assessed at baseline, postintervention, and 6‐month follow‐up visits. Follow‐up data were available for 24 families on child and caregiver outcomes. Data were analyzed using effect size calculations and analysis‐of‐variance techniques.ResultsRelative to the comparison group, intervention families showed continued gains in parenting efficacy and maintained prior improvements in FASD knowledge over the follow‐up period. Although intervention families reported a decrease in their needs being met over the follow‐up period, they continued to report their needs being met to greater extent than those in the comparison group. Consistent with postintervention outcomes, children in both groups exhibited similar decreases in child disruptive behavior 6 months following the intervention. Unfortunately, positive gains seen at postintervention for child self‐esteem and emotion regulation were attenuated at follow‐up.ConclusionsThis pilot study yielded promising effects on important areas of caregiver functioning. However, the intervention's impact on child functioning waned over time, suggesting the need for sustained or alternate child intervention.