bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
“An Imperial Clearing House for Commercial Information and Suggestions:” The British Imperial Council of Commerce, 1911–1925
Authors: Olukoju Ayodeji 
Published: August 2023

AbstractThis paper departs from the preoccupation in the literature with the pressure group activity of single chambers of commerce by examining an influential but previously neglected federated business pressure group, the British Imperial Council of Commerce (BICC). Set within interlocking dynamics of British Imperial and global history and the clamour for imperial preference, it focuses on BICC's interface with the British government and its overseas dependencies in the context and vortex of Imperial economic policy, the First World War, interimperial competition, especially Anglo–German rivalry, and the vagaries of the world political economy. This essay provides insights into the internal affairs of the BICC, business–government relations in the British Empire, and the political economy of the Empire between 1911 and 1925. It demonstrates how the BICC, focused on Imperial economic governance, navigated the conflict between the prevailing ideology of laissez faire (free trade) and the clamour for xenophobic protectionism during the First World War and its aftermath. The paper highlights the limits of business pressure group activity, and the impact of the war and its aftermath on the BICC.
Gender, conflict and the environment: Surfacing connections in international humanitarian law
Authors: O'Rourke Catherine , Martin Ana 
Published: August 2023

AbstractBoth gender and the environment have traditionally been positioned at the periphery of international humanitarian law (IHL). In recent decades, there has been important progress in moving both concerns closer to its centre; to date, however, an understanding of the intersection of gender and the environment in the legal regulation of armed conflict remains largely underdeveloped. Nevertheless, as the present article documents, there are important similarities in strategies pursued to advance both gender and the environment from the periphery to the mainstream of IHL, namely: first, a focus on sources of IHL, in particular concretizing arguably limited specific treaty content with interpretive guidance and implementation frameworks; second, a conceptual critique of prevailing definitions of “harm” in IHL; and third, advancing, through close empirical documentation and household-level analysis of conflict's effects, understandings of harm that capture so-called “second-round” effects of conflict. Recognizing these important affinities between gender and environment work in IHL, this article draws on these insights to propose a typology of gendered environmental harm in conflict. The article concludes with proposals for enhancing the legal and operational capture under IHL of the gender–conflict–environment nexus.
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, global justice and the environment
Authors: Armstrong Chris 
Published: August 2023

AbstractThe recent fortieth anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) has sparked a good deal of reflection and retrospection. Looking back, it is clear that the Convention’s architects carefully navigated, and selectively absorbed, a number of competing visions of oceanic governance, from freedom to enclosure to visions of Global North–South equality. This made the Convention’s construction period a very drawn-out and painful one – longer than for any other international treaty in history – and while some hopes were realized, others were dashed. Forty years on, it is important not to let its current canonical status blind us to the fact that the Convention came close to being a failure, and that things could have gone differently at a number of critical junctures. Nor should it stop us asking whether UNCLOS is really fit for purpose today. In this article, I situate the Convention within wider developments in the global economy and the global environment, and consider the role it has played in promoting goals of global justice and environmental protection.
Airborne Bioaerosol Observations Imply a Strong Terrestrial Source in the Summertime Arctic
Authors: Perring Anne E. , Mediavilla Braden , Wilbanks G. Dewey , Churnside James H. , Marchbanks Richard , Lamb Kara D. , Gao Ru‐Shan 
Published: August 2023

AbstractPrimary biological aerosol (PBA) is a component of coarse mode aerosol which may affect climate and health. The possible climate impacts arise from interactions between PBA and water vapor, especially since some PBA nucleate ice at warm temperatures. The health impacts span from seasonal allergies to transmission of pathogens. Despite their potential importance, the emissions, transport, and atmospheric distribution of PBA are poorly understood, especially at high latitudes where cloud effects could be pronounced. Here we report summertime measurements of fluorescent aerosol (a proxy for PBA) over the Bering and Chukchi Seas using a Wide‐Band Integrated Bioaerosol Sensor aboard a Twin Otter, alongside a lidar which detected water column productivity. Most observations occurred at 300 m over the ocean with periodic excursions to 60 and 900 m. Loadings were always low in the marine boundary layer, despite the presence of subsurface plankton layers and in contrast to other recent reports, likely indicating low oceanic emissions during our study. Large variability was observed in PBA aloft, with higher concentrations approaching those observed over the Continental US. Back trajectory analysis showed that high loadings were associated with recent transit through the continental boundary layer and we estimate PBA emissions from the Arctic tundra of up to 300 m−2 s−1 at the warmest observed temperatures. On days with strong transport from land (∼50% of our flights), PBA accounts for 12% of supermicron number and 64% of supermicron volume, indicating potentially significant effects on the albedo, glaciation and lifetime of Arctic clouds.
Rhodium-catalyzed enantioselective and diastereodivergent access to diaxially chiral heterocycles
Authors: Wang Yishou , Zhu Xiaohan , Pan Deng , Jing Jierui , Wang Fen , Mi Ruijie , Huang Genping , Li Xingwei 
Published: August 2023

AbstractN-N axially chiral biaryls represent a rarely explored class of atropisomers. Reported herein is construction of diverse classes of diaxially chiral biaryls containing N-N and C-N/C-C diaxes in distal positions in excellent enantioselectivity and diastereoselectivity. The N-N chiral axis in the products provides a handle toward solvent-driven diastereodivergence, as has been realized in the coupling of a large scope of benzamides and sterically hindered alkynes, affording diaxes in complementary diastereoselectivity. The diastereodivergence has been elucidated by computational studies which revealed that the hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP) solvent molecule participated in an unusual manner as a solvent as well as a ligand and switched the sequence of two competing elementary steps, resulting in switch of the stereoselectivity of the alkyne insertion and inversion of the configuration of the C-C axis. Further cleavage of the N-directing group in the diaxial chiral products transforms the diastereodivergence to enantiodivergence.
Single-cell transcriptomics of human cholesteatoma identifies an activin A-producing osteoclastogenic fibroblast subset inducing bone destruction
Authors: Shimizu Kotaro , Kikuta Junichi , Ohta Yumi , Uchida Yutaka , Miyamoto Yu , Morimoto Akito , Yari Shinya , Sato Takashi , Kamakura Takefumi , Oshima Kazuo , Imai Ryusuke , Liu Yu-Chen , Okuzaki Daisuke , Hara Tetsuya , Motooka Daisuke , Emoto Noriaki , Inohara Hidenori , Ishii Masaru 
Published: August 2023

AbstractCholesteatoma, which potentially results from tympanic membrane retraction, is characterized by intractable local bone erosion and subsequent hearing loss and brain abscess formation. However, the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying bone destruction remain elusive. Here, we performed a single-cell RNA sequencing analysis on human cholesteatoma samples and identify a pathogenic fibroblast subset characterized by abundant expression of inhibin βA. We demonstrate that activin A, a homodimer of inhibin βA, promotes osteoclast differentiation. Furthermore, the deletion of inhibin βA /activin A in these fibroblasts results in decreased osteoclast differentiation in a murine model of cholesteatoma. Moreover, follistatin, an antagonist of activin A, reduces osteoclastogenesis and resultant bone erosion in cholesteatoma. Collectively, these findings indicate that unique activin A-producing fibroblasts present in human cholesteatoma tissues are accountable for bone destruction via the induction of local osteoclastogenesis, suggesting a potential therapeutic target.
Boreal conifers maintain carbon uptake with warming despite failure to track optimal temperatures
Authors: Dusenge Mirindi Eric , Warren Jeffrey M. , Reich Peter B. , Ward Eric J. , Murphy Bridget K. , Stefanski Artur , Bermudez Raimundo , Cruz Marisol , McLennan David A. , King Anthony W. , Montgomery Rebecca A. , Hanson Paul J. , Way Danielle A. 
Published: August 2023

AbstractWarming shifts the thermal optimum of net photosynthesis (ToptA) to higher temperatures. However, our knowledge of this shift is mainly derived from seedlings grown in greenhouses under ambient atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) conditions. It is unclear whether shifts in ToptA of field-grown trees will keep pace with the temperatures predicted for the 21st century under elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Here, using a whole-ecosystem warming controlled experiment under either ambient or elevated CO2 levels, we show that ToptA of mature boreal conifers increased with warming. However, shifts in ToptA did not keep pace with warming as ToptA only increased by 0.26–0.35 °C per 1 °C of warming. Net photosynthetic rates estimated at the mean growth temperature increased with warming in elevated CO2 spruce, while remaining constant in ambient CO2 spruce and in both ambient CO2 and elevated CO2 tamarack with warming. Although shifts in ToptA of these two species are insufficient to keep pace with warming, these boreal conifers can thermally acclimate photosynthesis to maintain carbon uptake in future air temperatures.
Segmenting functional tissue units across human organs using community-driven development of generalizable machine learning algorithms
Authors: Jain Yashvardhan , Godwin Leah L. , Joshi Sripad , Mandarapu Shriya , Le Trang , Lindskog Cecilia , Lundberg Emma , Börner Katy 
Published: August 2023

AbstractThe development of a reference atlas of the healthy human body requires automated image segmentation of major anatomical structures across multiple organs based on spatial bioimages generated from various sources with differences in sample preparation. We present the setup and results of the Hacking the Human Body machine learning algorithm development competition hosted by the Human Biomolecular Atlas (HuBMAP) and the Human Protein Atlas (HPA) teams on the Kaggle platform. We create a dataset containing 880 histology images with 12,901 segmented structures, engaging 1175 teams from 78 countries in community-driven, open-science development of machine learning models. Tissue variations in the dataset pose a major challenge to the teams which they overcome by using color normalization techniques and combining vision transformers with convolutional models. The best model will be productized in the HuBMAP portal to process tissue image datasets at scale in support of Human Reference Atlas construction.
Surface passivation for highly active, selective, stable, and scalable CO2 electroreduction
Authors: Zhu Jiexin , Li Jiantao , Lu Ruihu , Yu Ruohan , Zhao Shiyong , Li Chengbo , Lv Lei , Xia Lixue , Chen Xingbao , Cai Wenwei , Meng Jiashen , Zhang Wei , Pan Xuelei , Hong Xufeng , Dai Yuhang , Mao Yu , Li Jiong , Zhou Liang , He Guanjie , Pang Quanquan , Zhao Yan , Xia Chuan , Wang Ziyun , Dai Liming , Mai Liqiang 
Published: August 2023

AbstractElectrochemical conversion of CO2 to formic acid using Bismuth catalysts is one the most promising pathways for industrialization. However, it is still difficult to achieve high formic acid production at wide voltage intervals and industrial current densities because the Bi catalysts are often poisoned by oxygenated species. Herein, we report a Bi3S2 nanowire-ascorbic acid hybrid catalyst that simultaneously improves formic acid selectivity, activity, and stability at high applied voltages. Specifically, a more than 95% faraday efficiency was achieved for the formate formation over a wide potential range above 1.0 V and at ampere-level current densities. The observed excellent catalytic performance was attributable to a unique reconstruction mechanism to form more defective sites while the ascorbic acid layer further stabilized the defective sites by trapping the poisoning hydroxyl groups. When used in an all-solid-state reactor system, the newly developed catalyst achieved efficient production of pure formic acid over 120 hours at 50 mA cm–2 (200 mA cell current).
A seasonally ice-free Arctic Ocean during the Last Interglacial
Authors: Vermassen Flor , O’Regan Matt , de Boer Agatha , Schenk Frederik , Razmjooei Mohammad , West Gabriel , Cronin Thomas M. , Jakobsson Martin , Coxall Helen K. 
Published: August 2023

AbstractThe extent and seasonality of Arctic sea ice during the Last Interglacial (129,000 to 115,000 years before present) is poorly known. Sediment-based reconstructions have suggested extensive ice cover in summer, while climate model outputs indicate year-round conditions in the Arctic Ocean ranging from ice free to fully ice covered. Here we use microfossil records from across the central Arctic Ocean to show that sea-ice extent was substantially reduced and summers were probably ice free. The evidence comes from high abundances of the subpolar planktic foraminifera Turborotalita quinqueloba in five newly analysed cores. The northern occurrence of this species is incompatible with perennial sea ice, which would be associated with a thick, low-salinity surface water. Instead, T. quinqueloba’s ecological preference implies largely ice-free surface waters with seasonally elevated levels of primary productivity. In the modern ocean, this species thrives in the Fram Strait–Barents Sea ‘Arctic–Atlantic gateway’ region, implying that the necessary Atlantic Ocean-sourced water masses shoaled towards the surface during the Last Interglacial. This process reflects the ongoing Atlantification of the Arctic Ocean, currently restricted to the Eurasian Basin. Our results establish the Last Interglacial as a prime analogue for studying a seasonally ice-free Arctic Ocean, expected to occur this century.
Structural characterisation and degradation of Mg–Li thin films for biodegradable implants
Authors: Hanke Lisa , Jessen Lea K. , Weisheit Felix , Bhat Krathika , Westernströer Ulrike , Garbe-Schönberg Dieter , Willumeit-Römer Regine , Quandt Eckhard 
Published: August 2023

AbstractFreestanding thin films of Mg–Li (magnesium–lithium) alloys with a Li mass fraction between 1.6% (m/m) and 9.5% (m/m) were prepared and studied with respect to their structure and degradation properties. With increasing Li content, the microstructure deviates from hexagonal Mg–Li with strict columnar growth and preferred orientation, and additional cubic Mg–Li and Li2CO3 occur. The corrosion rate was measured in Hanks’ balanced salt solution by potentiodynamic polarisation and weight loss measurements to investigate biodegradation. Influences of the orientation, phase and protective layer formation lead to an increase in corrosion from 1.6 to 5.5% (m/m) from 0.13 ± 0.03 to 0.67 ± 0.29 mm/year when measured by potentiodynamic polarisation but a similar corrosion rate for 9.5% (m/m) and 3% (m/m) of Li of 0.27 ± 0.07 mm/year and 0.26 ± 0.05 mm/year.
Colistin resistance mutations in phoQ can sensitize Klebsiella pneumoniae to IgM-mediated complement killing
Authors: van der Lans Sjors P. A. , Janet-Maitre Manon , Masson Frerich M. , Walker Kimberly A. , Doorduijn Dennis J. , Janssen Axel B. , van Schaik Willem , Attrée Ina , Rooijakkers Suzan H. M. , Bardoel Bart W. 
Published: August 2023

AbstractDue to multi-drug resistance, physicians increasingly use the last-resort antibiotic colistin to treat infections with the Gram-negative bacterium Klebsiella pneumoniae. Unfortunately, K. pneumoniae can also develop colistin resistance. Interestingly, colistin resistance has dual effects on bacterial clearance by the immune system. While it increases resistance to antimicrobial peptides, colistin resistance has been reported to sensitize certain bacteria for killing by human serum. Here we investigate the mechanisms underlying this increased serum sensitivity, focusing on human complement which kills Gram-negatives via membrane attack complex (MAC) pores. Using in vitro evolved colistin resistant strains and a fluorescent MAC-mediated permeabilization assay, we showed that two of the three tested colistin resistant strains, Kp209_CSTR and Kp257_CSTR, were sensitized to MAC. Transcriptomic and mechanistic analyses focusing on Kp209_CSTR revealed that a mutation in the phoQ gene locked PhoQ in an active state, making Kp209_CSTR colistin resistant and MAC sensitive. Detailed immunological assays showed that complement activation on Kp209_CSTR in human serum required specific IgM antibodies that bound Kp209_CSTR but did not recognize the wild-type strain. Together, our results show that developing colistin resistance affected recognition of Kp209_CSTR and its killing by the immune system.
Theoretical studies of magneto-optical Kerr and Faraday effects in two-dimensional second-order topological insulators
Authors: Zhu Wan-Qing , Shan Wen-Yu 
Published: August 2023

AbstractOptical approaches are useful for studying the electronic and spin structure of materials. Here, based on the tight-binding model and linear response theory, we investigate the magneto-optical Kerr and Faraday effects in two-dimensional second-order topological insulators (SOTI) with external magnetization. We find that orbital-dependent Zeeman term induces band crossings for SOTI phase, which are absent for trivial phase. In the weak-magnetization regime, these crossings give rise to giant jumps (peaks) of Kerr and Faraday angles (ellipticity) for SOTI phase. In the strong-magnetization regime, we find that two nearly flat bands are formed at the high-symmetry point of Brillouin zone of SOTI phase. These flat bands give rise to two successive giant jumps (peaks) of Kerr and Faraday angles (ellipticity). These phenomena provide new possibilities to characterize and detect the two-dimensional SOTI phase.
Increased incidence of teicoplanin-non-susceptible Staphylococcus epidermidis strains: a 6-year retrospective study
Authors: Kim Subin , Choi Jae-Phil , Oh Dong Hyun , Ahn Mi Young , Yang Eunmi 
Published: August 2023

AbstractGlycopeptide antibiotics (vancomycin and teicoplanin) are usually used for the treatment of Staphylococcus epidermidis infections owing to their increased oxacillin resistance. However, S. epidermidis strains with decreased susceptibility to teicoplanin have become increasingly incident in recent years. We aimed to identify the characteristics of teicoplanin-non-susceptible (Teico-NS) S. epidermidis isolated at our hospital and analyze its relationship with teicoplanin usage. We retrospectively evaluated 328 S. epidermidis strains isolated from clinical isolates between January 2016 and December 2021. All strains were susceptible to vancomycin (minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) ≤ 4 mg/L). The annual incidence for S. epidermidis strains with an elevated teicoplanin MIC of 8 mg/L ranged from 22.2 to 28.9%. In addition, in 2021, the number of S. epidermidis strains with teicoplanin MIC ≥ 16 mg/L rapidly increased (n = 13, 32.5%). Furthermore, teicoplanin use increased annually until 2019; however, in 2020, it decreased abruptly due to the COVID 19 pandemic. Thus, we could not confirm the existence of a clear correlation between teicoplanin usage and increased incidence of S. epidermidis with reduced teicoplanin-susceptibility. We showed the increased incidence of Teico-NS S. epidermidis in recent years. Further studies are needed to identify the mechanisms and risk factors for teicoplanin-resistance in S. epidermidis.
Predicting BRAFV600E mutations in papillary thyroid carcinoma using six machine learning algorithms based on ultrasound elastography
Authors: Agyekum Enock Adjei , Wang Yu-guo , Xu Fei-Ju , Akortia Debora , Ren Yong-zhen , Chambers Kevoyne Hakeem , Wang Xian , Taupa Jenny Olalia , Qian Xiao-qin 
Published: August 2023

AbstractThe most common BRAF mutation is thymine (T) to adenine (A) missense mutation in nucleotide 1796 (T1796A, V600E). The BRAFV600E gene encodes a protein-dependent kinase (PDK), which is a key component of the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway and essential for controlling cell proliferation, differentiation, and death. The BRAFV600E mutation causes PDK to be activated improperly and continuously, resulting in abnormal proliferation and differentiation in PTC. Based on elastography ultrasound (US) radiomic features, this study seeks to create and validate six distinct machine learning algorithms to predict BRAFV6OOE mutation in PTC patients prior to surgery. This study employed routine US strain elastography image data from 138 PTC patients. The patients were separated into two groups: those who did not have the BRAFV600E mutation (n = 75) and those who did have the mutation (n = 63). The patients were randomly assigned to one of two data sets: training (70%), or validation (30%). From strain elastography US images, a total of 479 radiomic features were retrieved. Pearson's Correlation Coefficient (PCC) and Recursive Feature Elimination (RFE) with stratified tenfold cross-validation were used to decrease the features. Based on selected radiomic features, six machine learning algorithms including support vector machine with the linear kernel (SVM_L), support vector machine with radial basis function kernel (SVM_RBF), logistic regression (LR), Naïve Bayes (NB), K-nearest neighbors (KNN), and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) were compared to predict the possibility of BRAFV600E. The accuracy (ACC), the area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity (SEN), specificity (SPEC), positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), decision curve analysis (DCA), and calibration curves of the machine learning algorithms were used to evaluate their performance. ① The machine learning algorithms' diagnostic performance depended on 27 radiomic features. ② AUCs for NB, KNN, LDA, LR, SVM_L, and SVM_RBF were 0.80 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.65–0.91), 0.87 (95% CI 0.73–0.95), 0.91(95% CI 0.79–0.98), 0.92 (95% CI 0.80–0.98), 0.93 (95% CI 0.80–0.98), and 0.98 (95% CI 0.88–1.00), respectively. ③ There was a significant difference in echogenicity,vertical and horizontal diameter ratios, and elasticity between PTC patients with BRAFV600E and PTC patients without BRAFV600E. Machine learning algorithms based on US elastography radiomic features are capable of predicting the likelihood of BRAFV600E in PTC patients, which can assist physicians in identifying the risk of BRAFV600E in PTC patients. Among the six machine learning algorithms, the support vector machine with radial basis function (SVM_RBF) achieved the best ACC (0.93), AUC (0.98), SEN (0.95), SPEC (0.90), PPV (0.91), and NPV (0.95).