bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Bacterial vaginosis is associated with increased amylolytic activity
Authors: Hertzberger Rosanne , Himschoot Lisa , Bruisten Sylvia , Steenbergen Leon , Lewis Warren , Cools Piet , Kort Remco 
Published: January 2023

AbstractGlycogen is the most abundant vaginal carbohydrate in reproductive aged women. Reduced vaginal glycogen is associated with lower levels ofLactobacillus crispatus, overgrowth of fastidious anaerobes such asGardnerella vaginalisand increased risk of adverse reproductive and sexual health outcomes. Here we show thatGardnerella vaginalis, Lactobacillus inersandLactobacillus crispatuscan autonomously utilize glycogen as a source for growth. Using an ungelatinized and labeled form of raw amylose, a more degradation-resistant α-1,4-glucan, we were able to discriminate between the alpha-glucosidase activities of common vaginal bacterial species. The bacteriaLactobacillus crispatus, Lactobacillus iners, Gardnerella piotiias well as several other common vaginal species were not capable of raw amylose degradation, whileGardnerella vaginalis, Gardnerella swidsinskiiandGardnerella leopoldiiwere, with the latter two having the highest degradation rates. In contrast to the glycogen-degrading activity we previously identified inLactobacillus crispatus, thisGardnerellaalpha-glucosidase activity was not cell-bound and not repressed in the presence of glucose. Raw amylose degradation activity in vaginal swabs was strongly associated with bacterial vaginosis as assessed by Nugent scoring. Overall, our results show that the dysbiotic microbiota of bacterial vaginosis is associated with increased amylolytic activity, which is also found in pure cultures ofGardnerellaspecies, but not in other common vaginal bacteria.
Geodesic theory of long association fibers guidance on the human fetal cortex
Authors: Horibe Kazuya , Taga Gentaro , Fujimoto Koichi 
Published: January 2023

AbstractAssociation fibers connect different areas of the cerebral cortex over long distances and integrate information to achieve higher brain functions, particularly in humans. Prototyped association fibers are developed to the respective tangential direction throughout the cerebral hemispheres in the subplate layer during the fetal period. However, the directional guidance principle for forming association fibers is unknown. Because the subplate is located below the cortical surface, the tangential direction of the fibers may be biased by the curved surface geometry due to Sylvian fissure and cortical poles. The fiber length can be minimized if the tracts follow the shortest paths (geodesics) of the curved cortical surface. Here, we propose and examine a theory that geodesics guide the tangential direction of long association fibers by analyzing how geodesics are spatially distributed on the fetal human brains. Unlike the homogeneous distribution on spherical surfaces, we found that the geodesics were dense on the saddle-shaped surface of the perisylvian region and sparse on the dome-shaped cortical poles. The geodesics corresponded with the positions of five typical association fibers, supporting the geodesic theory. Thus, the geodesic theory provides directional guidance and suggests that long association fibers emerge from minimizing their tangential length on fetal brains.
Rapid and accurate taxonomic classification of cpn60 amplicon sequence variants
Authors: Ren Qingyi , Hill Janet E. 
Published: January 2023

ABSTRACTThe “universal target” region of the gene encoding the 60 kDa chaperonin protein (cpn60, also known as groEL or hsp60) is a proven sequence barcode for bacteria and a useful target for marker gene amplicon-based studies of complex microbial communities. To date, identification of cpn60 sequence variants from microbiome studies has been accomplished by alignment of queries to a reference database. Naïve Bayesian classifiers including the RDP classifier offer an alternative identification method that provides variable rank classification and shorter analysis times. We curated a set of cpn60 barcode sequences to train the RDP classifier and tested its performance on data from previous human microbiome studies. Results showed that sequences accounting for 79%, 86% and 92% of the observations (read counts) in saliva, vagina and infant stool microbiome data sets were classified to the species rank. We also established a threshold confidence value of 0.6 at phylum rank for filtering non-target amplicon sequences from study data and demonstrated that trimming the training sequences to match the lengths of the queries is not needed for accurate cpn60 sequence classification. Successful implementation of a naïve Bayesian classifier for cpn60 sequences will facilitate future microbiome studies and open opportunities to integrate cpn60 amplicon sequence identification into existing analysis pipelines.
Spectro-temporal acoustical markers differentiate speech from song across cultures
Authors: Albouy Philippe , Mehr Samuel A. , Hoyer Roxane S. , Ginzburg Jérémie , Du Yi , Zatorre Robert J. 
Published: January 2023

AbstractHumans produce two forms of cognitively complex vocalizations: speech and song. It is debated whether these differ based primarily on culturally specific, learned features, or if acoustical features can reliably distinguish them. We study the spectro-temporal modulation patterns of vocalizations produced by 369 people living in 21 urban, rural, and small-scale societies across six continents. Specific ranges of spectral and temporal modulations, overlapping within categories and across societies, significantly differentiate speech from song. Machine-learning classification shows that this effect is cross-culturally robust, vocalizations being reliably classified solely from their spectro-temporal features across all 21 societies. Listeners unfamiliar with the cultures classify these vocalizations using similar spectro-temporal cues as the machine learning algorithm. Finally, spectro-temporal features are better able to discriminate song from speech than a broad range of other acoustical variables, suggesting that spectro-temporal modulation—a key feature of auditory neuronal tuning—accounts for a fundamental difference between these categories.Two-Sentence SummaryWhat distinguishes singing from speaking? The authors show that consistent acoustical spectro-temporal features are sufficient to distinguish speech and song reliably across different societies throughout the world.
HEXOKINASE-dependent regulation of WRKY transcription factors in Arabidopsis
Authors: Boyte Joshua M. , Xie Runyu , Liu Yandong , Li Xiang , Buckley Christopher R. , Haydon Michael J. 
Published: January 2023

AbstractSugars are the major product of photosynthesis and provide the stored energy and basic building blocks for all living cells. Sugars also act as dynamic signals throughout the plant life cycle to regulate growth, development and interactions with the biotic and abiotic environment. From a previous RNA-seq experiment, we have identified eight sugar-regulatedWRKYtranscription factor genes. Focusing on four, we find thatWRKY11, WRKY17, WRKY60andWRKY72are upregulated by sucrose, glucose or fructose by a superoxide signalling pathway.WRKYgene expression is downregulated by 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG) or mannose, which are inhibitors of hexokinase (HXK), and inhxk1-3mutants. Mutants inWRKY17, WRKY60orWRKY72have reduced hypocotyl growth in response to sucrose, but do not have altered circadian period. Our data suggest that HXK1-dependent regulation ofWRKYgenes by sugars represents a superoxide-activated transcriptional subnetwork that influences plant growth.HighlightWRKY11, WRKY17, WRKY60andWRKY72are upregulated by a sugar-activated superoxide signalling pathway in a HKX1-dependent manner. These sugar-regulatedWRKYsrepresent a transcriptional subnetwork promoting plant growth.
Drivers for economic recovery: analysis of family expenditure on catering services
Authors: de Esteban Curiel Javier , Antonovica Arta , Rodríguez Herráez Beatriz 
Published: January 2023

PurposeCatering services play important role in the Spanish economy, accounting for 6.2% of GDP in 2021. To overcome the adverse economic impacts of COVID-19, catering services are considered one of the drivers to stimulate economic growth. Hence, the main aim of this paper is to analyse the sociodemographic profile of the family's main breadwinner who allocates most of his expenditure budget on different catering services before and during the pandemic caused by the COVID-19 in Spain.Design/methodology/approachThe official Family Budget Survey in Spain was used. This offers information on expenditure by families in 2019 and 2020. CHAID multivariate analysis was employed. This has proved a valuable tool in predicting expenditure, as well as determining the cause–effect relationship of this expenditure.FindingsFindings establish the main breadwinner's expenditure on catering services based on predictors such as “year” affected by the pandemic; “type of employment contract”; “gender”; and “age”. A gender “pub-gap” in consumption in bars and cafes has been revealed, and families with a male breadwinner, on a permanent contract, between the age of 40 and 60 spent the most on catering services.Originality/valueThis research presents a new interdisciplinary approach to family breadwinners as a company whose spend on catering is shaping the economic recovery and leading to new answers for hospitality management. Identified factors can lead to improved decision-making and contextualisation of economic models for food service providers in a post-pandemic future.
The relationship between stressors and Chinese employees' innovative work behavior: the role of task crafting and psychological detachment
Authors: Yu Jinmeng , Liu Jinlan , Lin Sheng , Chi Xianglan 
Published: January 2023

PurposeThis study aims to explore the boundary conditions of the relationship between challenge-hindrance stressors and innovative work behavior via task crafting and psychological detachment.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected from 238 questionnaires in five technology R&D enterprises in Tianjin, China. The paper utilized structural equation modeling and cross-sectional design to test hypotheses by AMOS and examined the mediating and moderating effects using the bootstrapping method by SPSS.FindingsChallenge stressors indirectly improved innovative work behavior via task crafting, while hindrance stressors did not affect task crafting or innovative work behavior. Psychological detachment moderated the relationship between challenge stressors and innovative work behavior. When psychological detachment was high, innovative work behavior did not change regardless of challenge stressors. When psychological detachment was low, innovative work behavior increased with the increase of challenge stressors.Originality/valueThe study explains the link mechanism between stressors and innovative work behavior. It enriches the research on psychological detachment as a moderator and provides a new frame for enterprises to develop employees' innovation.
Tax avoidance, CSR performance and financial impacts: evidence from BRICS economies
Authors: Du Meng , Li Yang 
Published: January 2023

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to analyse the recently highly debated topics of the Tax avoidance–Corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance nexus and to further investigate the impacts of engaging in socially responsible activities on financial performance and bank debt financing constraints, at a disaggregate level (firm level).Design/methodology/approachThe sample for this study includes all publicly listed companies headquartered in BRICS countries from 2014 to 2020. The study employs detailed financial accounting information and the Environmental, Social and Governance scores released by Thomas Reuters EIKON database, which is regarded as the most authoritative indicator of CSR performance. Both pooled and panel data regression models are employed, and robustness tests that use a wide range of model specifications, measures and estimators are performed.FindingsThe study finds robust evidence that corporate tax avoidance is negatively associated with CSR performance. The authors also find that firms with better CSR performance have healthier financial performance and lower costs of bank debt. Overall, the research findings are supportive of the corporate culture theory, which suggests that firms behave ethically consistent in both CSR practices and tax payment.Originality/valueCSR performance and the engagement of tax avoidance activities have been documented in the literature to be vital elements investors care about. This study focuses specifically on the association between them and further elaborates their impacts in the financial markets. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study which investigates the nexus in a sample that includes the most powerful emerging markets in the world. The results of this study are generalisable in terms of the implications of CSR management to many other emerging markets.
Hedging the bet on digital transformation in strategic supply chain management: a theoretical integration and an empirical test
Authors: Fang Mingjie , Liu Feng , Xiao Shufeng (Simon) , Park Kwangtae 
Published: January 2023

PurposeThis study conceptualizes the digital transformation (DT) strategy in a supply chain context, identifies its drivers from intra- and inter-organizational perspectives and examines the effect of the DT strategy on the strategic agility and financial performance of Chinese manufacturing firms.Design/methodology/approachThe authors constructed a theoretical model by synthesizing the diffusion of innovation and organizational information processing theory (OIPT) and provided a set of hypotheses. The authors empirically tested the arguments using partial least squares structural equation modeling using data from a sample of 200 manufacturing firms in China.FindingsThe findings indicate that while supply chain connectivity positively affects DT adoption and DT routinization, data analytics capability and organizational learning positively influence DT adoption but not DT routinization. The mediation analysis also shows that DT strategy has significant direct effects on financial performance and a stronger indirect influence on financial performance via improved strategic agility.Research limitations/implicationsThis study responds to repeated calls for a new understanding of supply chain DT strategy. In addition, the study offers important contributions to the literature by identifying the potential discord between the existing DT strategy and the supply chain context and proposes a new framework that provides essential theoretical underpinnings.Originality/valueThis study enriches the literature by conceptualizing and validating the dimensions, driving factors and performance implications of DT strategy in strategic supply chain management.
Which antecedents contribute most to the loyal behaviour of online second-hand market shoppers?
Authors: Llach Josep , Vila-Brunet Neus , Manresa Alba 
Published: January 2023

PurposeIn the last 15 years, online sales of second-hand products have grown substantially due to changes in the economy, increasing interest in sustainability and the new opportunities offered by the alternative markets. However, little is known about the antecedents of customer retention in this particular online market. To this effect, the aim of this research is to bring new insights about what retains shoppers and creates loyal behaviour in this market by presenting a loyalty model based on expectancy-value theory and building on Olsen's satisfaction-loyalty model.Design/methodology/approachTo achieve the above-mentioned purpose, a survey comprised of 507 respondents who had purchased second-hand products via an online platform during 2020 was used to test the model.FindingsThe results validate both the satisfaction-loyalty model and the mediator role of the fulfilment of expectations between perceived quality and satisfaction. The results also indicate that customer fulfilment of expectations depends only on the perception of product quality. Perceived product quality was also the dimension that most influenced satisfaction, followed by perceived vendor quality. Last, the dimensions that contributed most to loyal behaviour were satisfaction with the vendor and with the website.Originality/valueThe originality of this research lies in the validation of the unique satisfaction-loyalty model for online second-hand purchases. The value of this research is that it adds knowledge about effective strategies for platform owners and sellers to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty in online second-hand markets.
Unmasking the bright–dark duality of social media use on psychological well-being: a large-scale longitudinal study
Authors: Lin Yanqing , Fu Shaoxiong , Zhou Xun 
Published: January 2023

PurposeAs the number of social media users continues to rise globally, a heated debate emerges on whether social media use improves or harms mental health, as well as the bidirectional relation between social media use and mental health. Motivated by this, the authors’ study adopts the stressor–strain–outcome model and social compensation hypothesis to disentangle the effect mechanism between social media use and psychological well-being. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue.Design/methodology/approachTo empirically validate the proposed research model, a large-scale two-year longitudinal questionnaire survey on social media use was administered to a valid sample of 6,093 respondents recruited from a university in China. Structural equation modeling was employed for data analysis.FindingsA longitudinal analysis reveals that social media use positively (negatively) impacts psychological well-being through the mediator of nomophobia (perceived social support) in a short period. However, social media use triggers more psychological unease, as well as more life satisfaction from a longitudinal perspective.Originality/valueThis study addresses the bidirectional relation between social media use and psychological unease. The current study also draws both theoretical and practical implications by unmasking the bright–dark duality of social media use on psychological well-being.
Earnings management during the COVID-19 crisis: evidence from the Brazilian and American capital markets
Authors: da Silva Flores Eduardo , Sampaio Joelson Oliveira , Beiruth Aziz Xavier , Brugni Talles Vianna 
Published: January 2023

PurposeThe main purpose of this study is to evaluate whether the COVID-19 pandemic has stimulated earnings management among publicly traded companies in Brazil and the USA.Design/methodology/approachThe authors analyzed the above-mentioned effects based on 22,244 observations of Brazilian companies and 139,856 observations of American companies from 1998 to 2020. The proxy used to detect earnings management based on discretionary accruals (DAC) was obtained by using the Modified Jones Model (MJM) (Dechow et al., 1995), with adjustments suggested by Kothari et al. (2005). In accordance with previous studies (e.g. Brown et al., 2015; Enomoto et al., 2015; Galdi et al., 2020; Huang and Sun, 2017; Roychowdhury, 2006), the authors also employed a second proxy to detect earnings management through real activities associated with unusual losses for fixed assets (property, plant and equipment (PPE)).FindingsThe study’s findings indicate that the discretionary accruals of Brazilian companies varied in a more accentuated manner during the COVID-19 pandemic, making it possible to deduce that a recent history of economic depression may entail greater incentives for earnings management in an emerging economy. In addition, the authors verified that the effects of the current crisis on earnings management proxies denote a signal that is distinct from previous economic crises, which may be interpreted as an attempt to postpone the effects of the pandemic on financial statements, especially those of the Brazilian capital markets.Originality/valueUnlike previous crises, this pandemic has led to direct restrictions on a wide variety of economic segments rather than indirect contagion due to anomalies in the financial markets, making it a phenomenon with the characteristics of a quasi-natural experiment for studies related to the quality of accounting information. Considering that both Brazil and the USA provide an opportune economic contrast, given their discrepancies in terms of economic growth over the past two decades, the researchers believe that there is an unusual opportunity to understand how earnings management can be an incentive for managers in environments where crises arose from natural causes.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on travel cryptocurrency and stock market performances: an event-study approach
Authors: Kim Hwang 
Published: January 2023

Purpose
This paper aims to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the performance of travel cryptocurrency and stock markets over a long period during the pandemic.

Design/methodology/approach
A generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity model was developed for 6 travel cryptocurrencies and the top 10 hotel, 7 airline and 26 restaurant stocks listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange. An event-study approach was applied to the emergence of the novel coronavirus and its variant, Omicron. Additionally, abnormal returns of the respective assets in response to such events were estimated.

Findings
Results indicated that the travel cryptocurrency market did not respond to the early stage of the pandemic, but NASDAQ hotel, restaurant and airline stocks revealed abnormal negative returns when the pandemic manifested in the USA. Upon the official US declaration of a pandemic, both cryptocurrencies and tourism stocks showed abnormal negative returns, but these were considerably greater among stocks than cryptocurrencies. Conversely, in response to the Omicron variant, only hotel, restaurant and airline stocks showed abnormal negative returns.

Practical implications
These results imply that travel cryptocurrencies are a financial instrument independent of hotel, restaurant or airline stocks. Thus, adopting travel cryptocurrencies may help investors and businesses diversify risk during long-duration crises such as COVID-19.

Originality/value
To the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper is the first empirical study to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the recently emerging travel cryptocurrency market using an event-study approach to investigate how it differs from tourism stock performances.