bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Explaining bitcoin ownership in Canada: Trends from 2016 to 2021
Authors: Balutel Daniela , Engert Walter , Henry Christopher S. , Huynh Kim P. , Voia Marcel 
Published: August 2024

AbstractThis paper studies the dynamics of bitcoin ownership from 2016 to 2021, using the Bank of Canada's Bitcoin Omnibus Surveys. The estimated rate of bitcoin ownership jumped to 13% in 2021, up from the 5% observed in the previous three years. On one hand, this increase reflected broader economic trends related to increased savings and investment of Canadians during the COVID‐19 pandemic, along with financial technology companies providing accessible and user‐friendly platforms for buying bitcoin. Looking deeper, we use econometric models to quantify several specific ways in which bitcoin became more mainstream as an investment in 2021. Finally, we investigate the high cash holdings of bitcoin owners across time.
Rethinking plasticity: Analysing the concept of “destructive plasticity” in the light of neuroscience definitions
Authors: Seblani Mostafa , Brezun Jean‐Michel , Féron François , Hoquet Thierry 
Published: August 2024

AbstractAs a multilevel and multidisciplinary field, neuroscience is designed to interact with various branches of natural and applied sciences as well as with humanities and philosophy. The continental tradition in philosophy, particularly over the past 20 years, tended to establish strong connections with biology and neuroscience findings. This cross fertilization can however be impeded by conceptual intricacies, such as those surrounding the concept of plasticity. The use of this concept has broadened as scientists applied it to explore an ever‐growing range of biological phenomena. Here, we examine the consequences of this ambiguity in an interdisciplinary context through the analysis of the concept of “destructive plasticity” in the philosophical writings of Catherine Malabou. The term “destructive plasticity” was coined by Malabou in 2009 to refer to all processes leading to psycho‐cognitive and emotional alterations following traumatic or nontraumatic brain injuries or resulting from neurodevelopmental disorders. By comparing it with the neuroscientific definitions of plasticity, we discuss the epistemological obstacles and possibilities related to the integration of this concept into neuroscience. Improving interdisciplinary exchanges requires an advanced and sophisticated manipulation of neurobiological concepts. These concepts are not only intended to guide research programmes within neuroscience but also to organize and frame the dialogue between different theoretical backgrounds.
Towards Transformative Soil Science: Who am I in relation to my research?
Authors: Wiersma W. , Lopez D. E. 
Published: August 2024

AbstractThe paradigm of modernity is associated with human detachment from soil as the agricultural and affective foundation of modern societies. The focus on soil as a resource has created increasingly exhausted landscapes. Soil science is well placed to (re)build the urgently needed connection between humans and nature by generating evidence for soil functioning and, perhaps most importantly, by establishing linkages with diverse types of soil knowledge and integrating them in collaborative solutions. Such transdisciplinary solutions can be achieved by transforming current ways of doing soil science, which begin with soil scientists. Anchored in feminist and critical thinking, we used the ‘reflecting and doing’ framework (Lopez et al., 2023) to demonstrate how reflexivity can help soil science to become a transformative space. By partially dissolving the mind–heart and human–soil dualisms, we can foster a way of generating soil knowledge that emerges from the relations within and beyond the human Self. Such an approach is relatively new in academic soil science, which relies heavily on the scientific method as a detached form of knowing that privileges mind over body, reason over emotion, culture over nature and production over reproduction. We argue that this journey starts with (re)positioning ourselves as soil scientists in relation to our research and advance a Transformative Soil Science that recognizes soil knowledge as situated and embodied and that identifies soil as the main ally for a sustainable world.
The Role of Labour Market Intermediaries for Migrant Workers in Global Production Networks: The Example of Filipino Migrant Workers in the Taiwanese Semiconductor Industry
Authors: Chen Tingchien , Schiller Daniel 
Published: August 2024

ABSTRACTThis article contributes to the literature at the intersection of migration and global production networks (GPNs) by examining the role of labour market intermediaries (LMIs) for migrant workers. It demonstrates mediation processes by LMIs and elaborates on migration networks in the global labour market through qualitative and quantitative data. It examines the role of LMIs in responding to mechanisms in GPN, including zero inventory and just‐in‐time production, and the impact of private employment agents on migrant workers, particularly on their career paths. The article found that LMIs play an active role in the mediation and cooperation between migrant labour and firms and in shaping structural conditions for migrant workers in response to global competitive pressures. However, LMIs play a controversial role in social upgrading. Private LMIs are identified as having a negative impact on career paths of migrant workers.
Technoeconomic feasibility of photovoltaic recycling
Authors: Crespo Beatrice , Cavanaugh Cailean , Potter Arron , Yaniger Stuart , Gaustad Gabrielle , Wilkinson Collin 
Published: August 2024

AbstractPhotovoltaic (PV) modules are a key technology to aid the imminent transition from carbon‐based energy. End‐of‐life crystalline silicon PV modules produce a waste stream that is predominantly landfilled due to the recycling challenges associated with PV reuse economics. Current practices recycle the aluminum frame and repurpose the junction box but landfill the rest of the module. The primary challenge in recycling the remaining module is finding a technoeconomically viable method for separating the silicon and glass from the ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) layers. This issue will rapidly expand with time as it is estimated that flat glass production for solar panels is currently unable to meet the demand for PV. Current literature suggests that chemical, thermal, and mechanical delamination offer economically feasible solutions under ideal circumstances. In this work we evaluate these methods using end‐of‐life panels and assess the economic viability. The technoeconomic study presented here suggests the most economically viable option for disposing of end‐of‐life solar panels, given current technology, is landfilling. Thermal delamination may offer an alternative route in the future. Financial incentives, which can be quantified with this work, may be required to kickstart PV recycling to help bridge externalities around environmental impact.
‘You would never pick up the thread from where you left off’: Older Irish women migrants' narratives of non‐return, post‐retirement
Authors: Ryan Louise , Doshi Neha 
Published: August 2024

AbstractThere is growing interest in the extent of post‐retirement return among migrants. However, most research focuses on those approaching or soon after retirement, e.g. in their 60s. Less is known about how return, and indeed non‐return, decision‐making evolves in later years, with calls for more research on migrants in the old‐old age groups. Moreover, there are indications that women migrants may be less inclined to return than their male counterparts. Our article seeks to advance understanding in this area of research by drawing upon rich qualitative data from Irish women migrants, who worked as nurses in Britain and are now entering older age, e.g. 70s–80s. Many simply asserted that they could not leave their adult children and grandchildren. However, using the embedding framework, through a life course lens, we argue that non‐return may reflect complex processes of disembedding and non‐belonging in the origin country – which are less easy to articulate.
How do information and communication technology platforms shape rural e‐governance: The case of Zhao‐lou Village on the WeCounty platform
Authors: Chen Xiaowei , Cheng Xiaojuan , Zhang Tianyu , Guo Hongdong 
Published: August 2024

AbstractThis study investigates the role of information and communication technology (ICT) platforms in facilitating e‐governance within a rural context. A longitudinal single‐case study approach was employed, involving 37 semi‐structured interviews from 2019 to 2022. The findings reveal that information asymmetry and persistent tensions between the government and villagers hinder cooperative behaviour in rural governance, at varying degrees throughout all stages of e‐governance. Second, a contagion effect is identified, where the government coerces non‐cooperative villagers, exacerbating tensions. The coercive and negotiating‐compromising mechanism enabled by ICT platforms illustrates how the ICT platform enables the contagion effect occurs during rural policy deployment. Third, the goal incongruence between the government and villagers necessitates the government's utilisation of ICT platforms to adopt active engagement and induce event that encourage goal articulation, which facilitates a better goal alignment between both parties. This approach promotes the observation of collaborative behaviour among villagers and ultimately fosters increased collaboration with the government, that is, mimicking villagers' behaviour. Meanwhile, government stimulation can effectively facilitate the interaction between government and villagers, promoting the negotiation and compromise between the two parties. Such compromises can foster the goal congruence between the two parties, consequently encouraging greater participation from villagers in rural governance. The case offers valuable insights into the mechanisms by which ICT facilitates rural e‐governance, thereby holding significant implications for research on ICT‐rural governance and governments grappling with challenges in implementing rural policies.
Does options trading affect audit pricing?
Authors: Ali Muhammad Jahangir , Balachandran Balasingham , Duong Huu Nhan , Puwanenthiren Premkanth , Theobald Michael 
Published: August 2024

AbstractWe examine the impact of options trading on audit pricing for a sample of US firms over the period from 2004 to 2021. We find that options trading is significantly and negatively related to audit fees, indicating that firms characterized by higher options trading incur lower audit fees. Auditors spend a lower number of days auditing firms with higher options trading and firms with higher options trading experience lower probabilities of lawsuits, and misstatements, and lower likelihood of material weaknesses and auditor opinion on internal controls. The impact of options trading on audit fees is stronger when the auditor is located further away from the audited firm, for firms with non‐specialized auditors, higher information asymmetry problems, poorer earnings and lower governance quality. Overall, our findings underscore the significance of options trading in improving a firm's information environment and reducing litigation risk, resulting in lower audit fees.
Do audit firms discount initial full‐year audit engagements with multiple potential successor auditors?
Authors: Omer Thomas C. , Yuan Ming (Mike) 
Published: August 2024

AbstractAuditing theory predicts fee discounting when multiple potential successor auditors bid for the client. However, the empirical evidence on this issue varies as more recent research attributes prior evidence of fee discounting to measurement errors related to audit fees’ partial‐year reporting. We argue that the mixed results of previous literature are partially attributable to a failure to identify competitive auditor changes. We use U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosures of audit firm changes to identify cases with multiple potential successor auditors, which suggests more competition for the client. We compare each disclosing firm's audit fees between the first year following the auditor change year and all other years of the same disclosing firm. We find that successor audit firms discount audit fees in the first full year following the auditor change, compared to all other years, within the same disclosing firm. The fee discounting continues until at least the second full year of the engagement. Results also suggest Big N successor firms discount fees to win new engagements from smaller successor audit firms. Audit fee discounting occurs when companies dismiss their audit firm rather than when audit firms resign. Finally, we find no evidence of impaired audit quality for the 2 years following the auditor change.
Northern Realignment? Explaining Nordic Consent to NextGenerationEU
Authors: Ekman Johan , Stahl Rune Møller , Ryner Magnus 
Published: August 2024

AbstractThis article explains the consent of the European Union's (EU) Nordic member states to NextGenerationEU (NGEU). Broad domestic consensus against EU‐level fiscal federal measures, based on what the growth model literature calls labour‐inclusive export‐based growth models, was overcome through two channels. Despite principled opposition in public, Nordic governments responded almost instantly to the changes in German preferences in the ‘Moravcsik channel’ of intergovernmental bargaining. This was complemented by dynamics in the ‘Amsterdam School channel’ that co‐ordinated transnational support by export‐oriented business for an EU‐level recovery plan and set the stage for consensus formation with trade unions. Despite non‐trivial complications in the short run, the party systems followed these leads in executive and corporatist politics.
Understanding cultural dynamics shaping clinical reasoning skills: A dialogical exploration
Authors: Karunaratne Dilmini , Sibbald Matthew , Chandratilake Madawa 
Published: August 2024

AbstractOur study examined the influence of national cultural predispositions on training medical professionals and doctor–patient dynamics using a dialogical approach, guided by Hofstede's framework. This framework provided valuable insights into how cultural tendencies shape the learning and application of clinical reasoning skills in different cultural contexts. We found that dimensions such as power distance and individualism versus collectivism significantly influenced clinical reasoning, while other dimensions had more nuanced effects. Junior doctors in Southern nations, despite initially lagging behind, developed advanced clinical reasoning skills with experience, eventually matching their Northern counterparts. The study highlighted the link between cultural norms and educational practices, variations in family involvement during reasoning, adherence to clinical guidelines and doctors' emotional engagement in clinical care between Southern and Northern contexts. Additionally, we recognised that effective clinical reasoning extends beyond technical knowledge, involving an understanding and integration of cultural dynamics into patient care. This highlights the pressing need to prioritise this topic.
Adopting a pedagogy of connection for medical education
Authors: de Carvalho Filho Marco Antonio , Hafferty Frederic William 
Published: August 2024

AbstractIn this article, we propose developing a “pedagogy of connection” based on the history and evolution of medical education in Brazil. This pedagogy emerged from the intersection of the healthcare and higher educational systems, both dedicated to the principles of social justice and universal access, in response to the country's efforts to address the enduring impacts of slavery and social inequality. Following the “Sanitary Reformation” movement—a foundational moment for Brazil's healthcare and medical education systems—Brazil established the Unified Public Healthcare System (Sistema Único de Saúde — SUS). SUS is founded on principles of universality, integrality, equity, community participation, political and administrative decentralisation, hierarchisation and regionalisation. Aligned with these core principles and inspired by critical pedagogy, Brazilian medical education has evolved with a profound commitment to social justice, critical consciousness, professional presence and compassion. This evolution has given rise to a “pedagogy of connection,” which imbues medical education with a sense of purpose and joy, preparing future medical professionals to address the challenges of our ever‐evolving society and healthcare systems. The connections fostered by this pedagogy occur in complementary dimensions: (a) healthcare system and society, (b) community, (c) profession, (d) patients, and (e) ourselves. This innovative pedagogy enhances medical education discourse and practice by emphasising the development of a professional identity grounded in social justice and patient‐centred care, which remain challenges for current medical education systems. As the global medical education community embraces decolonisation, this pedagogy offers a framework that can be adapted and enriched in various contexts worldwide, fostering opportunities for mutual learning from diverse educational systems in a dialogical and democratic manner.
A methodological approach to age estimation of the intra‐puparial period of the forensically relevant blow fly Calliphora vicina via Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy
Authors: Thümmel Luise , Tintner‐Olifiers Johannes , Amendt Jens 
Published: August 2024

AbstractEstimating the age of immature blow flies is of great importance for forensic entomology. However, no gold‐standard technique for an accurate determination of the intra‐puparial age has yet been established. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is a method to (bio‐)chemically characterise material based on the absorbance of electromagnetic energy by functional groups of molecules. In recent years, it also has become a powerful tool in forensic and life sciences, as it is a fast and cost‐effective way to characterise all kinds of material and biological traces. This study is the first to collect developmental reference data on the changes in absorption spectra during the intra‐puparial period of the forensically important blow fly Calliphora vicina Robineau‐Desvoidy (Diptera: Calliphoridae). Calliphora vicina was reared at constant 20°C and 25°C and specimens were killed every other day throughout their intra‐puparial development. In order to investigate which part yields the highest detectable differences in absorption spectra throughout the intra‐puparial development, each specimen was divided into two different subsamples: the pupal body and the former cuticle of the third instar, that is, the puparium. Absorption spectra were collected with a FTIR spectrometer coupled to an attenuated total reflection (ATR) unit. Classification accuracies of different wavenumber regions with two machine learning models, i.e., random forests (RF) and support vector machines (SVMs), were tested. The best age predictions for both temperature settings and machine learning models were obtained by using the full spectral range from 3700 to 600 cm−1. While SVMs resulted in better accuracies for C. vicina reared at 20°C, RFs performed almost as good as SVMs for data obtained from 25°C. In terms of sample type, the pupal body gave smoother spectra and usually better classification accuracies than the puparia. This study shows that FTIR spectroscopy is a promising technique in forensic entomology to support the estimation of the minimum post‐mortem interval (PMImin), by estimating the age of a given insect specimen.
Green nationalism from above: Authoritarian state power and the greening of UAE nationalism
Authors: Koch Natalie 
Published: August 2024

AbstractAll nationalisms have multiple storylines that evolve in response to changes in global affairs. The shifting geopolitical and ecological circumstances surrounding climate change are contributing to the strengthening of “green nationalisms” around the world — including in authoritarian states. This article examines the rise of green nationalism in the UAE, where state‐led discourse has tapped into sustainability tropes to reframe the country's national identity and values as “green.” Building from over 5 years of qualitative research on the UAE's sustainability agenda, it examines the evolution of state‐led green nationalist storylines through institutional, policy, and events landscapes in the years leading up to and including the United Nations COP28 climate talks in Dubai in December 2023. Emirati political elites, I argue, mobilise green nationalism to cultivate symbolic capital domestically and internationally and, in so doing, legitimate their authoritarian hold on state power. The greening of nationalisms requires much closer scrutiny around the world — and especially when promoted by authoritarian leaders who are more motivated by regime durability rather than joining the global community for urgent climate action.
Plasmopara viticola effector PvCRN20 represses the import of VvDEG5 into chloroplasts to suppress immunity in grapevine
Authors: Fu Qingqing , Chen Tingting , Wang Yunlei , Zhou Huixuan , Zhang Kangzhuang , Zheng Runlong , Zhang Yanan , Liu Ruiqi , Yin Xiao , Liu Guotian , Xu Yan 
Published: August 2024

Summary

Chloroplasts play a crucial role in plant defense against pathogens, making them primary targets for pathogen effectors that suppress host immunity. This study characterizes the Plasmopara viticola CRN‐like effector, PvCRN20, which interacts with DEG5 in the cytoplasm but not with its interacting protein, DEG8, which is located in the chloroplast.

By transiently overexpressing in tobacco leaves, we show that PvCRN20 could inhibit INF1‐ and Bax‐triggered cell death. Constitutive expression of PvCRN20 suppresses the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and promotes pathogen colonization. PvCRN20 reduces DEG5 entry into chloroplasts, thereby disrupting DEG5 and DEG8 interactions in chloroplasts.

Overexpression of VvDEG5 and VvDEG8 induces ROS accumulation and enhances grapevine resistance to P. viticola, whereas knockout of VvDEG8 represses ROS production and promotes P. viticola colonization. Consistently, ectopic expression of VvDEG5 and VvDEG8 in tobacco promotes chloroplast‐derived ROS accumulation, whereas co‐expression of PvCRN20 counteracted this promotion by VvDEG5. Therefore, DEG5 is essential for the virulence function of PvCRN20. Although PvCRN20 is located in both the nucleus and cytoplasm, only cytoplasmic PvCRN20 suppresses plant immunity and promotes pathogen infection.

Our results reveal that PvCRN20 dampens plant defenses by repressing the chloroplast import of DEG5, thus reducing host ROS accumulation and facilitating pathogen colonization.