bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Statistical inference methods for n‐dimensional hypervolumes: Applications to niches and functional diversity
Authors: Chen Daniel , Laini Alex , Blonder Benjamin Wong 
Published: March 2024

Abstract

The size and shape of niche spaces or trait spaces are often analysed using hypervolumes estimated from data. The hypervolume R package has previously supported such analyses via descriptive but not inferential statistics. This gap has limited the use of hypothesis testing and confidence intervals when comparing or analysing hypervolumes.

We introduce a new version of this R package that provides nonparametric methods for resampling, building confidence intervals and testing hypotheses. These new methods can be used to reduce the bias and variance of analyses, and well as provide statistical significance for hypervolume analysis.

We illustrate usage on real datasets for the climate niche of tree species and the functional diversity of penguin species. We analyse the size and overlap of the respective niche or trait spaces.

These statistical inference methods improve the interpretability and robustness of hypervolume analyses.
The cellular bases of mobility from the Study of Muscle, Mobility and Aging (SOMMA)
Authors: Cummings Steven R. , Coen Paul M. , Ferrucci Luigi 
Published: March 2024

AbstractFindings from the Study of Muscle, Mobility and Aging (SOMMA) in this issue of Aging Cell show that several biological pathways in skeletal muscle cells play an important role in determining mobility in older adults. These are based on assays in skeletal muscle biopsies obtained from participants, aged 70 years and older in SOMMA tested for association with assessments related to mobility, including muscle mass, strength, power, cardiopulmonary fitness, and 400 m walking speed. The papers show that, using mass spectrometry, oxidative modifications of proteins essential to myocellular function are associated with poorer mobility. Using RNA‐seq to quantify gene expression, lower levels of expression of antioxidant enzymes located in mitochondria, autophagy, patterns of expression of genes involved in autophagy, and higher levels of RNA transcripts that increase with denervation were associated with poorer performance on tests of mobility. These results extend previous research from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging and recent studies from SOMMA showing the importance of mitochondrial energetics in mobility. Together, these findings are painting a picture of how fundamental cellular processes influence the loss of mobility with aging. They may also be a window on aging in other cells, tissues, and systems. The data collected in SOMMA are publicly available and SOMMA welcomes collaborations with scientists who are interested in research about human aging.
Friendly boards and capital allocation efficiency
Authors: Bhandari Avishek , Bhuyan Md Nazmul Hasan , Subedi Meena 
Published: March 2024

AbstractThis study examines the effect of friendly boards on capital allocation efficiency. We provide evidence that firms with friendly boards have a positive and statistically significant effect on capital allocation inefficiency. We find our results robust to different measures of friendly boards and capital allocation inefficiency, alternative model specifications, omitted variable bias, self‐selection bias and other endogeneity concerns. We also show that the positive association between friendly boards and capital allocation inefficiency is lower in firms with high external corporate governance quality but higher in firms with high financial constraints. The findings imply that poor board monitoring and high agency conflicts in firms with friendly boards lead to high capital allocation inefficiency.
Building tribes: How administrative units shaped ethnic groups in Africa
Authors: Müller‐Crepon Carl 
Published: March 2024

AbstractEthnic identities around the world are deeply intertwined with modern statehood, yet the extent to which territorial governance has shaped ethnic groups is empirically unknown. I argue that governments at the national and subnational levels have incentives to bias governance in favor of large groups. The resulting disadvantages for ethnic minorities motivate their assimilation and emigration. Both gradually align ethnic groups with administrative borders. I examine the result of this process at subnational administrative borders across sub‐Saharan Africa and use credibly exogenous, straight borders for causal identification. I find substantive increases in the local population share of administrative units' predominant ethnic group at units' borders. Powerful traditional authorities and size advantages of predominant groups increase this effect. Data on minority assimilation and migration show that both drive the shaping of ethnic groups along administrative borders. These results highlight important effects of the territorial organization of modern governance on ethnic groups.
What is “heard” at a pipeline hearing?: The gerrymandering of aurality in British Columbia, Canada
Authors: Veeraraghavan Lee 
Published: March 2024

AbstractThis article explores how sound technologies are deployed by government agencies to produce legitimacy in the struggle over oil pipelines in British Columbia, Canada. Activists seeking to stop the Northern Gateway and Trans Mountain pipelines have mobilized noise and silence as tactics of protest and refusal. For example, one thousand demonstrators make a cacophony outside a Vancouver hotel in protest of the Northern Gateway pipeline. Communications technology, though, is deployed here by the state to compress and control. In one of the hotel's small, impregnable conference rooms, public hearings over the pipeline are taking place—only the public is not allowed inside: the proceedings are being livestreamed to a hotel two kilometers away. On unceded Coast Salish territory, the legitimacy of pipeline hearings is also contested because the continued existence of Indigenous legal orders represents a challenge to the pipelines in question. Technological mediation makes it possible to satisfy one requirement of legitimacy: democratically granted representative power. The challenge to the legal system highlighted by the continued existence of the Indigenous, though, is managed through audile techniques deployed as anthropotechnologies. The implications for a politics of sound must be considered in light of sound's mediation, which is never politically neutral.
Beyond “make” or “buy”: Evaluating value‐for‐money in public service delivery
Authors: Shiva Mehdi , FitzGerald Clare , Carter Eleanor , Airoldi Mara 
Published: March 2024

AbstractOutsourcing of public services is under heightened scrutiny. Public managers are asked to conduct thorough “make or buy” assessments to help assure deliverability, affordability, and value for money of public services. The naivety of this request dramatically overlooks the subtlety and challenge faced by public managers. In this paper we connect a range of differently configured contractual agreements to underlying components of “value for money”, namely, the pursuit of economy, efficiency and effectiveness. We set out a framework consisting of conceptual models and the corresponding decision tree to allow comparison across alternative sourcing strategies, considering both the associated transaction costs and transaction benefits. We also use simulation methods to capture uncertainty while establishing the practicality of the framework. This study advocates for moving beyond the polarized ‘make or buy’ debate with more instrumental considerations of “how to buy” from the perspective of the public manager.
Love on the rocks: Unraveling effects of remote employees' work–family conflict on couples' divorce intentions
Authors: Wan Min (Maggie) , Carlson Dawn S. , Kacmar K. Michele , Perry Sara Jansen , Thompson Merideth J. 
Published: March 2024

AbstractThis research examines the detrimental impact of remote employees' work‐to‐family conflict (WFC) on divorce intentions for both the remote employee and spouse. Building upon the spillover‐crossover framework and relative deprivation theory, we examine the paths of spillover to the remote employee's divorce intentions, crossover influences of a remote employee's WFC on divorce intentions through the spouse (i.e., relative deprivation, resentment toward the employee's remote work, and relationship tension), and crossback of the remote employee's WFC through the spouse and back to their own divorce intentions. Surveying 311 remote employees and their spouses at two‐time points, we find that remote employee WFC predicts divorce intentions for the remote employee through the spillover path. Further, the remote employee WFC crosses over to the spouse through two different paths to impact spouse divorce intentions. Taken together, our research extends the existing WFC literature and broadens our understanding of the spillover and crossover effects through which remote employees' WFC could undermine both partners' perceptions of the marital relationship.
Children in ethnically diverse classrooms and those with cross‐ethnic friendships excel at understanding others' minds
Authors: Devine Rory T. , Grumley Traynor Imogen , Ronchi Luca , Lecce Serena 
Published: March 2024

AbstractThis study examined the link between classroom ethnic diversity, cross‐ethnic friendships, and children's theory of mind. In total, 730 children in the United Kingdom (54.7% girls, 51.5% White) aged 8 to 13 years completed measures of theory of mind in 2019/2020. Controlling for verbal ability, executive function, peer social preference, and teacher‐reported demographic characteristics, greater classroom ethnic diversity provided opportunities for cross‐ethnic friendships, and children with cross‐ethnic friendships performed better than peers without cross‐ethnic friendships on theory of mind. These results extend accounts of intergroup contact by using direct assessments of children's theory of mind and advance social accounts of theory of mind by demonstrating how experiences outside the family are linked with theory of mind.
CYP1B1 affects the integrity of the blood–brain barrier and oxidative stress in the striatum: An investigation of manganese‐induced neurotoxicity
Authors: Wu Juan , Li Yueran , Tian Shuwei , Na Shufang , Wei Hongyan , Wu Yafei , Yang Yafei , Shen Zixia , Ding Jiayue , Bao Shenglan , Liu Siqi , Li Lingyun , Feng Rongling , Zhu Yong , He Chunyan , Yue Jiang 
Published: March 2024

AbstractAimsExcessive influx of manganese (Mn) into the brain across the blood–brain barrier induces neurodegeneration. CYP1B1 is involved in the metabolism of arachidonic acid (AA) that affects vascular homeostasis. We aimed to investigate the effect of brain CYP1B1 on Mn‐induced neurotoxicity.MethodBrain Mn concentrations and α‐synuclein accumulation were measured in wild‐type and CYP1B1 knockout mice treated with MnCl2 (30 mg/kg) and biotin (0.2 g/kg) for 21 continuous days. Tight junctions and oxidative stress were analyzed in hCMEC/D3 and SH‐SY5Y cells after the treatment with MnCl2 (200 μM) and CYP1B1‐derived AA metabolites (HETEs and EETs).ResultsMn exposure inhibited brain CYP1B1, and CYP1B1 deficiency increased brain Mn concentrations and accelerated α‐synuclein deposition in the striatum. CYP1B1 deficiency disrupted the integrity of the blood–brain barrier (BBB) and increased the ratio of 3, 4‐dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) to dopamine in the striatum. HETEs attenuated Mn‐induced inhibition of tight junctions by activating PPARγ in endothelial cells. Additionally, EETs attenuated Mn‐induced up‐regulation of the KLF/MAO‐B axis and down‐regulation of NRF2 in neuronal cells. Biotin up‐regulated brain CYP1B1 and reduced Mn‐induced neurotoxicity in mice.ConclusionsBrain CYP1B1 plays a critical role in both cerebrovascular and dopamine homeostasis, which might serve as a novel therapeutic target for the prevention of Mn‐induced neurotoxicity.
Fat mass and obesity associated protein inhibits neuronal ferroptosis via the FYN/Drp1 axis and alleviate cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury
Authors: Zhang Yi , Gong Xin 
Published: March 2024

AbstractObjectivesFTO is known to be involved in cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. However, its related specific mechanisms during this condition warrant further investigations. This study aimed at exploring the impacts of FTO and the FYN/DRP1 axis on mitochondrial fission, oxidative stress (OS), and ferroptosis in cerebral I/R injury and the underlying mechanisms.MethodsThe cerebral I/R models were established in mice via the temporary middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion (tMCAO/R) and hypoxia/reoxygenation models were induced in mouse hippocampal neurons via oxygen–glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R). After the gain‐ and loss‐of‐function assays, related gene expression was detected, along with the examination of mitochondrial fission, OS‐ and ferroptosis‐related marker levels, neuronal degeneration and cerebral infarction, and cell viability and apoptosis. The binding of FTO to FYN, m6A modification levels of FYN, and the interaction between FYN and Drp1 were evaluated.ResultsFTO was downregulated and FYN was upregulated in tMCAO/R mouse models and OGD/R cell models. FTO overexpression inhibited mitochondrial fission, OS, and ferroptosis to suppress cerebral I/R injury in mice, which was reversed by further overexpressing FYN. FTO overexpression also suppressed mitochondrial fission and ferroptosis to increase cell survival and inhibit cell apoptosis in OGD/R cell models, which was aggravated by additionally inhibiting DRP1. FTO overexpression inhibited FYN expression via the m6A modification to inactive Drp1 signaling, thus reducing mitochondrial fission and ferroptosis and enhancing cell viability in cells.ConclusionsFTO overexpression suppressed FYN expression through m6A modification, thereby subduing Drp1 activity and relieving cerebral I/R injury.
Acetyl‐11‐keto‐beta‐boswellic acid modulates macrophage polarization and Schwann cell migration to accelerate spinal cord injury repair in rats
Authors: Wang Yao , Xiong Zongliang , Qiao Yuncong , Zhang Qiyuan , Zhou Guanghu , Zhou Chong , Ma Xianglin , Jiang Xiaowen , Yu Wenhui 
Published: March 2024

AbstractBackgroundInhibiting secondary inflammatory damage caused by glial cells and creating a stable microenvironment is one of the main strategies to investigate drugs for the treatment of spinal cord injury. Acetyl‐11‐keto‐beta‐boswellic acid (AKBA) is the active component of the natural drug boswellia, which has anti‐inflammatory and antioxidant effects and offers a possible therapeutic option for spinal cord injury.MethodsIn this study, a spinal cord injury model was established by crushing spinal cord, respectively, to detect the M1 macrophage inflammatory markers: iNOS, TNF‐α, IL‐1β, and the M2 macrophage markers CD206, ARG‐1, IL‐10, and the detection of antioxidant enzymes and MDA. In vitro, macrophages were cultured to verify the main mechanism of the macrophage switch from Nrf2/HO‐1 to M2 type by flow cytometry, immunofluorescence, and other techniques. Macrophage and Schwann cell co‐culture validated the migration mechanism of Schwann cells promoted by AKBA.ResultsAKBA significantly enhanced the antioxidant enzyme activities of CAT, GSH‐Px, T‐AOC, and SOD, reduced MDA content, and reduced oxidative damage caused by spinal cord injury via the Nrf2/HO‐1 signaling pathway; AKBA mediates Nrf2/HO‐1/IL‐10, converts macrophages from M1 to M2 type, reduces inflammation, and promotes Schwann cell migration, thereby accelerating the repair of spinal cord injury in rats.ConclusionsOur work demonstrates that AKBA can attenuate oxidative stress as well as the secondary inflammatory injury caused by macrophages after SCI, promote Schwann cell migration to the injury site, and thus accelerate the repair of the injured spinal cord.
Enhancing polyamide fabric performance through green reduction of graphene oxide for superior ultraviolet protection and electrical conductivity
Authors: Demirel Gültekin Nergis , Usta İsmail , Yalçin Bahattin 
Published: March 2024

AbstractIn this study, a polyamide warp‐knitted fabric was treated with a graphene oxide (GO) aqueous dispersion using a laboratory‐type Jigger dyeing machine. Subsequently, the GO underwent a chemical reduction process, employing rosehip extract powder as a nature‐based reducing agent. The effect of reduction time (12 and 24 h) was investigated. The study involved an examination of the surface morphology, colour coordinates, and colour difference of both the GO coated and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) coated fabrics. Additionally, the colour fastness against rubbing was assessed. Furthermore, electrical resistivity measurements were conducted on the GO‐coated polyamide‐6,6 fabric both before and after the reduction process. The ultraviolet (UV) transmittance and ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) of both GO‐coated and reduced fabrics were determined. The study also explored the effect of the washing process on colour properties, electrical resistivity, and UPF. Notably, the lowest electrical surface resistivity and the highest UPF rating were obtained as 1.20 × 102 kΩ/sq and 50+ after the reduction process. Additionally, after the washing process, the electrical surface resistivity increased, while the UPF rating remained 50+, indicating excellent UV protection.
Colonial history or decolonization? Shedding light on “the possibilities of strengthening museum communication” in Denmark
Authors: Baark Josefine 
Published: March 2024

AbstractThis article analyses the structure and results of a report published in April 2022 by the Danish Ministry of Culture on the feasibility of “shedding light on the possibilities of strengthening museum communication of Denmark's colonial history.” This article seeks to expose the underlying assumptions accompanying the term “colonial history” in the report. It suggests that “decolonization” and “decoloniality” would be more appropriate frameworks for museum development, as evidenced by current scholarship as well as curatorial trends elsewhere in Europe. Ultimately, it imagines how differently a report focusing on how Danish museums might embrace the process of decoloniality would look.
No evidence linking sleep traits with white blood cell counts: Multivariable‐adjusted and Mendelian randomization analyses
Authors: Noordam Raymond , Ao Linjun , Stroo Jasmijn F. , Willems van Dijk Ko , van Heemst Diana 
Published: March 2024

AbstractBackgroundDisturbances in habitual sleep have been associated with multiple age‐associated diseases. However, the biological mechanisms underpinning these associations remain largely unclear. We assessed the possible involvement of the circulating immune system by determining the associations between sleep traits and white blood cell counts using multivariable‐adjusted linear regression and Mendelian randomization.MethodsCross‐sectional multivariable‐adjusted linear regression analyses were done using participants within the normal range of total white blood cell counts (>4.5 × 109 and <11.0 × 109/μL) from UK Biobank. For the sleep traits, we examined (short and long) sleep duration, chronotype, insomnia symptoms and daytime dozing. Two‐sample Mendelian randomization analyses were done using instruments for sleep traits derived from European‐ancestry participants from UK Biobank (over 410,000 participants) and using SNP‐outcome data derived from European‐ancestry participants from the Blood Cell Consortium (N = 563,946) to which no data from UK Biobank contributed.ResultsUsing data from 357,656 participants (mean [standard deviation] age: 56.5 [8.1] years, and 44.4% men), we did not find evidence that disturbances in any of the studied sleep traits were associated with differences in blood cell counts (total, lymphocytes, neutrophiles, eosinophiles and basophiles). Also, we did not find associations between disturbances in any of the studied sleep traits and white blood cell counts using Mendelian Randomization.ConclusionBased on the results from two different methodologies, disturbances in habitual sleep are unlikely to cause changes in blood cell counts and thereby differences in blood cell counts are unlikely to be underlying the observed sleep‐disease associations.
Social learning about climate risks
Authors: Xu Yilan , Box‐Couillard Sébastien 
Published: March 2024

AbstractWith a social network adjacency matrix constructed from the Facebook Social Connectedness Index (SCI), this paper examines whether social learning facilitates climate risk perception updates to inform climate adaptation. We find that Hurricanes Harvey and Irma‐induced regional flooding increased flood insurance policies nationwide to the extent of each county's social network proximity to the flooded areas, with a corresponding update in climate risk perception. Social learning resulted in an additional 250,000 policies in flooded counties and 81,000 policies in unflooded counties over 3 years. We find evidence of the salience effect but no support for adverse selection or over‐insurance.
Ethical Diversity, The Common Good, and The Courage of Dialogue
Authors: Mulryan Seamus 
Published: March 2024

AbstractIn this article, Seamus Mulryan contends that dialogue about questions that matter to a body politic require the ethical virtue of courage, which is distinct from the virtue of intellectual humility, and this is of central importance in the education of members of a pluralist society. Mulryan begins with Robert Kunzman's theory of Ethical Dialogue and departs from it through Hans‐Georg Gadamer's theory of hermeneutic experience and Charles Taylor's claims about the inextricable relationship between self‐intelligibility and moral spaces. Finally, Mulryan illustrates the promises and perils of courageous dialogue as an educative activity by way of Plato's Meno, Protagoras, and Gorgias.
Stop Talking about Echo Chambers and Filter Bubbles
Authors: Coady David 
Published: March 2024

AbstractIt is widely believed that we are facing a problem, even a crisis, caused by so‐called “echo chambers” and “filter bubbles.” Here, David Coady argues that this belief is mistaken. There is no such problem, and we should refrain from using these neologisms altogether. They serve no useful purpose, since there is nothing we can say with them that we cannot say equally well or better without them. Furthermore, they cause a variety of harms, including, ironically, a tendency to narrow public debate within predetermined limits.
How widespread use of generative AI for images and video can affect the environment and the science of ecology
Authors: Rillig Matthias C. , Mansour India , Hempel Stefan , Bi Mohan , König‐Ries Birgitta , Kasirzadeh Atoosa 
Published: March 2024

AbstractGenerative artificial intelligence (AI) models will have broad impacts on society including the scientific enterprise; ecology and environmental science will be no exception. Here, we discuss the potential opportunities and risks of advanced generative AI for visual material (images and video) for the science of ecology and the environment itself. There are clearly opportunities for positive impacts, related to improved communication, for example; we also see possibilities for ecological research to benefit from generative AI (e.g., image gap filling, biodiversity surveys, and improved citizen science). However, there are also risks, threatening to undermine the credibility of our science, mostly related to actions of bad actors, for example in terms of spreading fake information or committing fraud. Risks need to be mitigated at the level of government regulatory measures, but we also highlight what can be done right now, including discussing issues with the next generation of ecologists and transforming towards radically open science workflows.