bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Impact of a Mobile Phone and Mobile Application-Supported Science Laboratory on the Digital Literacy of Preservice Teachers and Their Disposition Toward Using Technology in Class
Authors: Ürek Handan 
Published: July 2024

AbstractScience education at different levels can be supported by various mobile applications that can be downloaded for free onto mobile phones, tablets, and other devices. Such applications can also be used in laboratory work, but it must be said that their use in science laboratories is a relatively new approach. This study is aimed at determining the impact of mobile phone and mobile application-supported laboratory work on the digital literacy of preservice science teachers and on their disposition toward using technology in class. The study was carried out with 17 participants at the second-year level of a Science Teacher Education Program in Turkey. It was a single-group pretest-posttest study, representing a type of weak experimental research design. Data for the study were collected with the Digital Literacy Scale developed by Hamutoğlu et al. (Ege Journal of Education 18(1):408–429, 2017) and the Disposition toward Using Technology in the Classroom Scale developed by Gunuc and Kuzu (Journal of Theory and Practice in Education 10(4):863–884, 2014). The data collection tools were implemented prior to and following a 6-week teaching period, and the quantitative data compiled from the participants were analyzed with the SPSS 21.0 program. The parametric t-test of related samples was used in the pretest/posttest comparison of the data sets. The results of the study demonstrated that science laboratory activities supported by mobile phones and mobile applications provided preservice teachers with increased digital literacy and enhanced their disposition toward using technology in the classroom. It is recommended that preservice teachers make extensive use of experiments supported by the mobile applications in this study.
A simple mechanism for uncrewed aircraft bioaerosol sampling in the lower atmosphere
Authors: Adkins Kevin A. , Li Kevin , Blasko Maximilian N. , Cabrera Jose L. , Neal Blake H. , James Timothy Y. , Hajian-Forooshani Zachary , Brines Shannon , Perfecto Ivette 
Published: July 2024

Abstract
Context
Understanding the movement of bioaerosols, such as spores and pollen, through the atmosphere is important for a broad spectrum of landscape research, including agricultural fungal outbreaks and pollen threats to public health. As spores and pollen can be transported in the air over large distances, the use of aircraft has historically played a role in detecting and mapping their presence in the lower atmosphere.

Objectives
We present a simple alternative to costly and specialized aircraft and associated equipment that are typically used in the study of spores and pollen in the atmosphere.

Methods
We use 3D printable components and common lab supplies mounted on an uncrewed aircraft (UA). Conveniently, this setup does not require additional electronic components to control collection during flight, using the UA landing gear mechanism instead.

Results
We demonstrate that this apparatus can collect fungal spores in the atmosphere and describe potential impacts by the environment and experimental protocol on collection efficiency. These include the effects of: (1) competing airflows from UA rotors, flight trajectories, and wind, (2) flight altitude, and (3) particle size and Petri dish collection medium.

Conclusions
Complex biological mechanisms and atmospheric dynamics dictate the release, transport, and deposition of bioaerosols. Economical methods to sample bioaerosols in the lower atmosphere can increase the amount and type of data collected and unlock new understanding. The methodology presented here provides an economical method to sample bioaerosols that can help improve landscape-level understanding of the dispersal of bioaerosols.
Nature-derived Peptides as Promising Antiparasitic Agents against Neglected Tropical Diseases
Authors: Lim Jia Yee , Yeong Keng Yoon 
Published: July 2024

AbstractNeglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a group of at least 20 infectious diseases that primarily affect tropical regions. Despite impacting 1.6 billion people worldwide, these diseases have not received adequate global priority and attention. Currently, NTDs caused by protozoa have limited therapeutic options, and the emergence of drug-resistant strains further exacerbates the situation. In recent years, several antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have emerged as potential therapeutic candidates against NTDs. This review analyzes the contemporary trends of AMPs, explores their antiparasitic properties, and mechanisms of action against three parasitic protozoan NTDs: Chagas disease, human African trypanosomiasis, and leishmaniasis and one parasitic helminth NTD: lymphatic filariasis. Furthermore, notable drawbacks associated with AMPs are highlighted, and future research directions are proposed. Overall, this review points out the potential of AMPs as therapeutic agents for these three protozoan neglected tropical diseases and one parasitic helminth NTDs as well as emphasizes the imperative need for continued research in this field.
Extracellular matrix-inspired biomaterials for wound healing
Authors: Hosty Louise , Heatherington Thomas , Quondamatteo Fabio , Browne Shane 
Published: July 2024

Abstract
Diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) are a debilitating and life-threatening complication of Diabetes Mellitus. Ulceration develops from a combination of associated diabetic complications, including neuropathy, circulatory dysfunction, and repetitive trauma, and they affect approximately 19–34% of patients as a result. The severity and chronic nature of diabetic foot ulcers stems from the disruption to normal wound healing, as a result of the molecular mechanisms which underly diabetic pathophysiology. The current standard-of-care is clinically insufficient to promote healing for many DFU patients, resulting in a high frequency of recurrence and limb amputations. Biomaterial dressings, and in particular those derived from the extracellular matrix (ECM), have emerged as a promising approach for the treatment of DFU. By providing a template for cell infiltration and skin regeneration, ECM-derived biomaterials offer great hope as a treatment for DFU. A range of approaches exist for the development of ECM-derived biomaterials, including the use of purified ECM components, decellularisation and processing of donor/ animal tissues, or the use of in vitro-deposited ECM. This review discusses the development and assessment of ECM-derived biomaterials for the treatment of chronic wounds, as well as the mechanisms of action through which ECM-derived biomaterials stimulate wound healing.
Nonlinear dynamics of diamagnetically levitating resonators
Authors: Chen Xianfeng , de Lint Tjebbe , Alijani Farbod , Steeneken Peter G. 
Published: July 2024

AbstractThe ultimate isolation offered by levitation provides new opportunities for studying fundamental science and realizing ultra-sensitive floating sensors. Among different levitation schemes, diamagnetic levitation is attractive because it allows stable levitation at room temperature without a continuous power supply. While the dynamics of diamagnetically levitating objects in the linear regime are well studied, their nonlinear dynamics have received little attention. Here, we experimentally and theoretically study the nonlinear dynamic response of graphite resonators that levitate in permanent magnetic traps. By large amplitude actuation, we drive the resonators into nonlinear regime and measure their motion using laser Doppler interferometry. Unlike other magnetic levitation systems, here we observe a resonance frequency reduction with amplitude in a diamagnetic levitation system that we attribute to the softening effect of the magnetic force. We then analyze the asymmetric magnetic potential and construct a model that captures the experimental nonlinear dynamic behavior over a wide range of excitation forces. We also investigate the linearity of the damping forces on the levitating resonator, and show that although eddy current damping remains linear over a large range, gas damping opens a route for tuning nonlinear damping forces via the squeeze-film effect.
Inner awareness: the argument from attention
Authors: Giustina Anna , Kriegel Uriah 
Published: July 2024

AbstractWe present a new argument in favor of the Awareness Principle, the principle that one is always aware of one’s concurrent conscious states. Informally, the argument is this: (1) Your conscious states are such that you can attend to them without undertaking any action beyond mere shift of attention; but (2) You cannot come to attend to something without undertaking any action beyond mere shift of attention unless you are already aware of that thing; so, (3) Your conscious states are such that you are aware of them. We open by introducing more fully the Awareness Principle (§ 1) and explicating the crucial notion of “mere shift of attention” (§ 2). We then develop the argument more fully, first in an intuitive form (§ 3) and then more formally (§ 4), before replying to a series of objections (§§ 5–7).
Bicarbonate is a key regulator but not a substrate for O2 evolution in Photosystem II
Authors: Vinyard David J. , Govindjee Govindjee 
Published: July 2024

AbstractPhotosystem II (PSII) uses light energy to oxidize water and to reduce plastoquinone in the photosynthetic electron transport chain. O2 is produced as a byproduct. While most members of the PSII research community agree that O2 originates from water molecules, alternative hypotheses involving bicarbonate persist in the literature. In this perspective, we provide an overview of the important roles of bicarbonate in regulating PSII activity and assembly. Further, we emphasize that biochemistry, spectroscopy, and structural biology experiments have all failed to detect bicarbonate near the active site of O2 evolution. While thermodynamic arguments for oxygen-centered bicarbonate oxidation are valid, the claim that bicarbonate is a substrate for photosynthetic O2 evolution is challenged.
The Affordances of Metaphors in Meaning-Making of Nutrient Uptake in Upper Primary School
Authors: Pettersson Alma Jahic , Danielsson Kristina , Rundgren Carl-Johan 
Published: July 2024

AbstractPrevious research suggests that the use of metaphors in science education have both possibilities and challenges. In this study, we analyse the role of metaphors in meaning-making in the upper primary science classroom. We investigate the potential of metaphors about nutrient uptake occurring in classrooms in which an animation was used. To identify metaphors in the classroom interaction, we have applied an analysis according to systemic-functional grammar (SFG), rooted in social semiotic theory. The present study indicates that the use of metaphors can play an important role in scientific meaning-making, since, in that way, students and teachers can make meaning about scientific processes and functions before having access to the scientific terminology. However, if metaphors are to be functional tools for meaning-making in science education, the teacher has an important role to play in, among other things, explicitly connecting the metaphors and everyday language to scientific concepts. We argue that metaphors based on functional similarity have a high affordance for making meaning about complex processes, such as nutrient uptake.
Towards a Theory of the Imaginative Dialogue: Four Dialogical Principles
Authors: Boven Martijn 
Published: July 2024

AbstractThis paper seeks to initiate a theory of “imaginative dialogues” by articulating four dialogical principles that enable such a dialogue to occur. It is part of a larger project that takes the Socratic dialogue, a widely utilized conversation technique in philosophy education, as a starting point and aims to reinterpret it by shifting emphasis to the pre-reflective, pre-linguistic, and multimodal aspects of dialogues, involving both their verbal and embodied dimensions. To integrate the verbal dimensions of a dialogue with its more elusive embodied dimensions, the paper will examine the notion ‘dialogue’ from the perspective of two different strategies. The first strategy chiefly focuses on the dialogic encounter. The ‘in-between’ of this dialogic encounter enables something to emerge that transcends the individual perspective of the speakers involved. The second strategy is primarily concerned with internal differentiation. The minor differences that constitute this internal differentiation, differentiate a dialogue from within. These strategies are not mutually exclusive but indicate a variation in starting point and orientation. This paper proposes to combine these two strategies by linking accounts of the productive moments in verbal dialogues to an account of the imaginative potential of embodied dialogues. This will enable the articulation of four dialogical principles (derived from Lev Yakubinsky, Oswald Ducrot, Martin Buber, and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz) through which an imaginative dialogue can proceed.
Wild sulphur-crested cockatoos match human activity rhythms to access food in the urban environment
Authors: Fehlmann G. , Martin J. M. , Safi K. , Aplin L. M. 
Published: July 2024

AbstractUrban areas are growing rapidly across the globe. Such environments present specific challenges to wildlife. Resources can be highly fragmented in space and time, accompanied by specific risks and opportunities that can emerge from proximity with humans. Overall, these have been shown to lead to specific activity patterns in wildlife, which tend to restrict their space use accordingly to avoid encounters with humans. Yet, some foraging opportunities supplied by humans can also attract wildlife. Urban-dwelling species would therefore benefit from learning when and where to exploit human derived food. Here, we investigate how birds exploit areas of different degrees of urbanization and if they do so with specific time patterns. We used the example of feeding sulphur-crested cockatoos (Cacatua galerita) in Sydney, Australia. We combined tracking birds to identify key resources, and a citizen science approach to investigate human-wildlife interactions in the urban landscape. Our data suggest that SCC do not use all parts of their home range equally, but use green spaces as roosting and foraging areas, while facultatively using more urbanized areas at specific times when they are the most rewarding. This implies a role for sophisticated time and place learning, with birds matching activity to human patterns. This study builds on the literature investigating human-animal interactions, expanding our understanding of animals’ exploitation of human behavior. Our results highlight the unique opportunity that studies on urban wildlife have for understanding urban biodiversity establishment, maintenance, and cognitive ecology.
The Helicobacter pylori infection alters the intercellular junctions on the pancreas of gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus)
Authors: Hurtado-Monzón Edgar G. , Valencia-Mayoral Pedro , Silva-Olivares Angélica , Bañuelos Cecilia , Velázquez-Guadarrama Norma , Betanzos Abigail 
Published: July 2024

AbstractHelicobacter pylori is a common resident in the stomach of at least half of the world’s population and recent evidence suggest its emergence in other organs such as the pancreas. In this organ, the presence of H. pylori DNA has been reported in cats, although the functional implications remain unknown. In this work, we determined distinct features related to the H. pylori manifestation in pancreas in a rodent model, in order to analyse its functional and structural effect. Gerbils inoculated with H. pylori exhibited the presence of this bacterium, as revealed by the expression of some virulence factors, as CagA and OMPs in stomach and pancreas, and confirmed by urease activity, bacterial culture, PCR and immunofluorescence assays. Non-apparent morphological changes were observed in pancreatic tissue of infected animals; however, delocalization of intercellular junction proteins (claudin-1, claudin-4, occludin, ZO-1, E-cadherin, β-catenin, desmoglein-2 and desmoplakin I/II) and rearrangement of the actin-cytoskeleton were exhibited. This structural damage was consistent with alterations in the distribution of insulin and glucagon, and a systemic inflammation, event demonstrated by elevated IL-8 levels. Overall, these findings indicate that H. pylori can reach the pancreas, possibly affecting its function and contributing to the development of pancreatic diseases.
Graphical Abstract
Sludge reduction, nitrous oxide emissions, and phosphorus removal by oxic-settling-anaerobic (OSA) process: the effect of hydraulic retention time
Authors: Mannina Giorgio , Cosenza Alida , Di Trapani Daniele , Mofatto Paulo Marcelo Bosco 
Published: July 2024

AbstractThis paper presents a study on reducing sewage sludge by an oxic-settling-anaerobic (OSA) pilot plant compared to the conventional activated sludge (CAS) process in view of resource recovery and moving towards plant carbon neutrality. The OSA plant was supplied with real wastewater and the anaerobic reactor was operated under two hydraulic retention times (HRT) (4 and 6 h). Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were monitored for the first time to determine the OSA process’s production mechanism. The results highlighted that under the lowest HRT (4 h), the removal efficiencies of COD and PO4−P, increased from 75 to 89% and from 39 to 50% for CAS and OSA configurations, respectively. The observed yield coefficient was reduced from 0.58 gTSS gCOD−1 (CAS period) to 0.31 gTSS gCOD−1 (OSA period). A remarkable deterioration of nitrification efficiency under OSA configuration was obtained from 79% (CAS) to 27% (OSA with HRT of 6 h). The huge deterioration of nitrification significantly affected the GHG emissions, with the N2O-N fraction increasing from 1% (CAS) to 1.55% (OSA 4 h HRT) and 3.54% (OSA 6 h HRT) of the overall effluent nitrogen, thus suggesting a relevant environmental implication due to the high global warming potential (GWP) of N2O.
Graphical abstract
The Russo-Ukrainian War and the Brazilian Perspective on the International Order
Authors: Schorlemer Lena 
Published: July 2024

AbstractIn the context of the Russo-Ukrainian war, which Western policymakers widely perceive as a critical juncture shaping the global order and exacerbating the rift between the West and the Global South, this paper seeks to explore whether Brazil, a key voice of the Global South, has reassessed its perspectives on the global order and its aspirations for its role in the wake of the war. Not only is Brazil a key player in the Global South, set to host the G20 and BRICS summits in 2024, but its strategically ambiguous response to the war, which has been relatively consistent under the Bolsonaro and subsequent Lula administrations, has surprised the West and has often been misinterpreted as explicit support for Russia. Based on semistructured interviews with Brazilian diplomats and foreign policy experts, this paper argues that Brazil did not see the Russo-Ukrainian war as a trigger for a major shift in the international order, but rather as symptomatic of a widespread perception in the Global South that the so-called rules-based order defended by the West is inadequate to address global challenges and disruptions. Seeing the war as a confirmation of the need to reform the multilateral architecture, Brazil feels emboldened to actively promote reform processes and foster consensus among Global South countries. Engagement in informal organisations and on issues such as climate change and inclusive social development, where Brazil holds substantial influence, will be central to its efforts to enhance its soft power and promote reform of multilateral institutions.
Al- and Ta-Modified Alloy 740 Superalloy Castings Produced in Non-vacuum Conditions—Microstructure and Selected Properties
Authors: Grudzień-Rakoczy Małgorzata , Rakoczy Łukasz , Lech Sebastian , Dudziak Tomasz , Rząd Ewa , Goły Marcin , Paćko Marek , Chrzan Konrad , Cygan Rafał , Poletti Cecilia 
Published: July 2024

AbstractThe work focuses on characterizing the microstructure and selected properties of Al- (1.3 or 2.8 wt pct) and Ta-modified (2 or 3 or 4 wt pct) Alloy 740 Ni-based superalloy after heat treatment. The observations and analyses were conducted using thermodynamic simulations, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, steam oxidation, hardness, tensile, and stress rupture tests. The castings exhibit a typical dendritic structure, with the presence of fine γ′ precipitates, Nb-rich Laves phase precipitates, MC carbides, and MN nitrides are found in all modified castings. However, the presence of the η phase, G phase, and M23C6 is dependent on the superalloy’s chemical composition. At room temperature, the reference cast superalloy had an ultimate tensile strength and yield strength of 655 MPa and 477 MPa, respectively. In modified castings, the ultimate tensile strength and YS are higher, respectively, 713–1046 MPa and 705–903 MPa. After steam oxidation at 760 °C/1000 h, the mass gain of the modified castings was in the range of 0.339–0.429 mg/cm2. The addition of tantalum resulted in decreased oxidation resistance and the formation of the TiTaO4 oxide at the Cr2O3/superalloy interface.
One size does not fit all: Optimizing size-inclusive model photography mitigates fit risk in online fashion retailing
Authors: Zhang Yerong , Ikonen Iina , Eelen Jiska , Sotgiu Francesca 
Published: July 2024

AbstractDespite retailers’ interest in moving away from thin-model photography to embrace body-size diversity, online fashion shopping predominantly features thin models. While concerns about negative consequences for sales impede industry-wide changes, we demonstrate that consumers and retailers benefit from optimally portraying diverse bodies. Three studies unveil the “Dissimilarity-Risk Deterrence Effect,” wherein thin models dissuade consumers with larger clothing sizes from online purchasing due to perceived body-size dissimilarity and heightened fit-risk perception. Eight experiments demonstrate that models of consumers’ own size mitigate the effect, enhancing online purchase decisions, while controlling for mechanisms like positive affect, authenticity and social identification. The effect extends across various clothing items but attenuates when body size matters less to fit evaluation. Moreover, the effect is concealed by retailers’ risk-reducing strategies, such as measurement information and free product return policies. This research underscores the strategic significance of diverse product imaging to improve supply chain efficiency and consumer well-being.