bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A randomized multiplex CRISPRi-Seq approach for the identification of critical combinations of genes
Authors: Ellis Nicole A. , Myers Kevin S. , Tung Jessica , Ward Anne Davidson , Johnston Kathryn , Bonnington Katherine E. , Donohue Timothy J. , Machner Matthias P. 
Published: February 2023

AbstractIdentifying virulence-critical genes from pathogens is often limited by functional redundancy. To rapidly interrogate the contributions of combinations of genes to a biological outcome, we have developed amultiplex, randomizedCRISPR interferencesequencing (MuRCiS) approach. At its center is a new method for the randomized self-assembly of CRISPR arrays from synthetic oligonucleotide pairs. When paired with PacBio long-read sequencing, MuRCiS allowed for near-comprehensive interrogation of all pairwise combinations of a group of 44Legionella pneumophilavirulence genes encoding highly conserved transmembrane proteins for their role in pathogenesis. Both amoeba and human macrophages were challenged withL. pneumophilabearing the pooled CRISPR array libraries, leading to the identification of several new virulence-critical combinations of genes.lpg2888andlpg3000were particularly fascinating for their apparent redundant functions duringL. pneumophilahuman macrophage infection, whilelpg3000alone was essential forL. pneumophilavirulence in the amoeban hostAcanthamoeba castellanii. Thus, MuRCiS provides a method for rapid genetic examination of even large groups of redundant genes, setting the stage for application of this technology to a variety of biological contexts and organisms.
MICA: A multi-omics method to predict gene regulatory networks in early human embryos
Authors: Alanis-Lobato Gregorio , Bartlett Thomas E. , Huang Qiulin , Simon Claire , McCarthy Afshan , Elder Kay , Snell Phil , Christie Leila , Niakan Kathy K. 
Published: February 2023

AbstractRecent advances in single-cell-omics have been transformative to characterise cell types in challenging to study biological contexts. It is technically difficult to infer transcription factor-gene regulatory interactions from these datasets, especially in contexts with limited single-cell sample number such as the early human embryo. Here we systematically assessed the application of four different linear or non-linear gene regulatory network (GRN) prediction strategies to single-cell simulated and human embryo transcriptome datasets. We also compared how gene expression normalisation methods impact on regulatory network predictions, finding that TPM (transcripts per million reads) outperformed alternative methods. We identified more reproducible GRN inferences using a non-linear method based on mutual information (MI) applied to single-cell transcriptome datasets refined with chromatin accessibility (CA) (called MICA), compared to alternative network prediction methods tested. MICA captures complex non-monotonic dependencies and feedback loops. Using MICA, we generated the first GRN inferences in early human development. MICA predicted co-localisation of the AP-1 transcription factor subunit proto-oncogene JUND and the TFAP2C transcription factor AP-2ψ in human preimplantation embryos. These interactions were supported by previous findings in other developmental and stem cell contexts. Overall, our comparative analysis of gene regulatory network prediction methods defines a pipeline that can be applied to single-cell multi-omics datasets in especially challenging contexts to infer interactions between transcription factor expression and target gene regulation.
Region-specific impact of aging on cortical myelination and thickness
Authors: Brancaccio Arianna , Tabarelli Davide , Belardinelli Paolo 
Published: February 2023

AbstractHealthy aging affects both grey and white matter. However, the trajectories of regional specific degeneration are not fully understood. Here we investigate the effects of aging on cortical thickness and myelin concentration in a large cohort of healthy participants (N = 610) aged between 18 and 89 years’ old who underwent single-site T1-weighted, T2-weighted and MTI sequences in the context of the Cam-CAN project. Participants were subdivided in three age groups representative of young, middle and late adulthood. The large size of the dataset allowed us to minimize the impact of sample variance without relying on multi-site acquisition protocols. We assessed linear changes in cortical thickness and cortical myelin concentration; the latter was assessed using both T1w/T2w ratio and MTR proxies, to evaluate which is the most stable metrics. Our results do not fit with either the anterior-posterior gradient or the last-in/first-out hypothesis. We demonstrate that aging patterns are more complex than just depending on a spatial gradient or the temporally reversed order of regional development. Moreover, we show a dissociation in aging patterns between somatosensory and motor regions both in terms of cortical thickness and myelin concentration. Finally, comparing T1w/T2w and MTR results of cortical myelination, we found the latter being a more stable and reliable proxy.HighlightsCortical thickness and myelo-architecture changes must be jointly considered in investigating brain aging trajectories.We assessed linear changes in cortical thickness and myelination in a large, homogeneous and single site MRI dataset.Motor and sensory regions show a dissociation in their aging trajectories both in terms of cortical thickness and myelin concentration.Sensory processing regions show similar aging trajectories in both cortical thickness and myelin concentration.MTR is a more reliable proxy for myelin concentration compared to T1w/T2w ratio.
Towards retail innovation and ambidexterity: insights from a Swedish retailer
Authors: Paredes Karla Marie B. , Olander Roese Malin , Johansson Ulf 
Published: February 2023

PurposeIncumbent retail organisations need to develop new capabilities to adapt with the increasingly competitive retail landscape. Despite the growing relevance of innovation in retail practice, the strategic management of innovation in retailing is still vastly under-researched. This explorative study thus aims to investigate how incumbent retail firms can organise for innovation from an organisational ambidexterity perspective.Design/methodology/approachA single-case study of an established Swedish retail firm was conducted from December 2016 to July 2018 and followed up in June 2021. The authors followed the process of implementation of organisational changes aimed to increase innovation in the company, particularly the introduction of a digital marketing initiative and a corporate innovation hub. Data collection was based on nine semi-structured interviews and participant observations and unstructured interviews from 13 meetings and workshops. An abductive approach to data analysis was followed, iteratively comparing theoretical concepts and empirical data using open, axial and selective coding to distil findings into aggregated themes.FindingsGiven the inherently limited formalisation of innovation processes in most retail organisations, structural ambidexterity appears to be necessary when the aim is radical, strategic retail innovation. Structural mechanisms are able to safeguard the space and resources to focus on long-term research and projects with higher risk and uncertainty; however, integration of innovation activities to the mainstream organisation is critical. Pursuing contextual ambidexterity, wherein instead of structural solutions, employees are empowered to divide employees' time between innovation-related and efficiency-related tasks, is more likely related to retail innovations that are incremental and operational.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the emerging topic of strategic management of innovation in retailing, by explicating how incumbent retailers can organise for innovation depending on the type of innovation that is aimed for, using organisational ambidexterity as a novel perspective.
Adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) based employee experience (EEX) chatbots
Authors: Pillai Rajasshrie , Ghanghorkar Yamini , Sivathanu Brijesh , Algharabat Raed , Rana Nripendra P. 
Published: February 2023

PurposeAI-based chatbots are revamping employee communication in organizations. This paper examines the adoption of AI-based employee experience chatbots by employees.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed model is developed using behavioral reasoning theory and empirically validated by surveying 1,130 employees and data was analyzed with PLS-SEM.FindingsThis research presents the “reasons for” and “reasons against” for the acceptance of AI-based employee experience chatbots. The “reasons for” are – personalization, interactivity, perceived intelligence and perceived anthropomorphism and the “reasons against” are perceived risk, language barrier and technological anxiety. It is found that “reasons for” have a positive association with attitude and adoption intention and “reasons against” have a negative association. Employees' values for openness to change are positively associated with “reasons for” and do not affect attitude and “reasons against”.Originality/valueThis is the first study exploring employees' attitude and adoption intention toward AI-based EEX chatbots using behavioral reasoning theory.
The impact of economic sanctions on foreign direct investment: empirical evidence from global data
Authors: Nguyen Loan Quynh Thi , Ahmed Rizwan 
Published: February 2023

PurposeThis study investigates the impact of global economic sanctions on foreign direct investment (FDI).Design/methodology/approachData were gathered from several sources, including the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the Global Sanction and the World Bank database, to build a dataset that consists of 172 countries during the period 2003–2019. The panel ordinary least square with a fixed-effects estimator was exploited to achieve the research objective.FindingsThe research findings reveal that sanction exerts a detrimental effect on the total inflows of FDI and its components. Regarding different types of sanctions, while military and trade sanctions have little or even no impact on greenfield investment, they have more adverse and sizable effects on cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As). The authors further show that sanctions exert devastating influences through the infrastructure and economic development channels.Practical implicationOverall, this study implies that a closer look at particular types of FDI is required when implementing policies as different types of FDI may be affected differently by changes in the economy, such as economic sanctions.Originality/valueThis paper is the first empirical study that critically investigates the impact of sanctions on the total inward FDI flows and its two components: greenfield investment and cross-border M&As. It then explores how the sanction–FDI nexus varies depending on several country-level economic factors to understand better how sanctions and different types of sanctions are related to international trade and relations.
A deep attention based approach for predictive maintenance applications in IoT scenarios
Authors: De Luca Roberto , Ferraro Antonino , Galli Antonio , Gallo Mosè , Moscato Vincenzo , Sperlì Giancarlo 
Published: February 2023

PurposeThe recent innovations of Industry 4.0 have made it possible to easily collect data related to a production environment. In this context, information about industrial equipment – gathered by proper sensors – can be profitably used for supporting predictive maintenance (PdM) through the application of data-driven analytics based on artificial intelligence (AI) techniques. Although deep learning (DL) approaches have proven to be a quite effective solutions to the problem, one of the open research challenges remains – the design of PdM methods that are computationally efficient, and most importantly, applicable in real-world internet of things (IoT) scenarios, where they are required to be executable directly on the limited devices’ hardware.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, the authors propose a DL approach for PdM task, which is based on a particular and very efficient architecture. The major novelty behind the proposed framework is to leverage a multi-head attention (MHA) mechanism to obtain both high results in terms of remaining useful life (RUL) estimation and low memory model storage requirements, providing the basis for a possible implementation directly on the equipment hardware.FindingsThe achieved experimental results on the NASA dataset show how the authors’ approach outperforms in terms of effectiveness and efficiency the majority of the most diffused state-of-the-art techniques.Research limitations/implicationsA comparison of the spatial and temporal complexity with a typical long-short term memory (LSTM) model and the state-of-the-art approaches was also done on the NASA dataset. Despite the authors’ approach achieving similar effectiveness results with respect to other approaches, it has a significantly smaller number of parameters, a smaller storage volume and lower training time.Practical implicationsThe proposed approach aims to find a compromise between effectiveness and efficiency, which is crucial in the industrial domain in which it is important to maximize the link between performance attained and resources allocated. The overall accuracy performances are also on par with the finest methods described in the literature.Originality/valueThe proposed approach allows satisfying the requirements of modern embedded AI applications (reliability, low power consumption, etc.), finding a compromise between efficiency and effectiveness.
Measuring crime: a new paradigm
Authors: Ee Marilyn , Zhang Yan 
Published: February 2023

PurposeThe purpose of this exploratory study is to expand on a previously developed crime harm index – the California Crime Harm Index (CA-CHI) – by discussing the development of the CA-CHI and presenting a comparison of the distribution of crime count and harm in a large Western city in the United States.Design/methodology/approachThis study used descriptive analyses, spatial univariate mapping and bivariate choropleth maps to analyze the distribution of Part I crime counts and harm.FindingsResults of the analysis show that while there was some variation in the distribution of crime count and harm city wide, spatial mapping and statistics reveal that the geographical distribution of crime count and harm across census tracts are largely consistent.Research limitations/implicationsMinor discrepancies between the distribution of crime count and harm indicate the potential for the CA-CHI to inform law enforcement practices. However, the distributions remain largely similar at the census tract level. There is room for further development of the CA-CHI to better distinguish between the distribution of crime harm and volume.Originality/valueNo other study has used spatial mapping techniques like bivariate choropleth mapping to examine the distribution of crime volume and crime harm based on the CA-CHI in any location in California.
Building a More United Kingdom: a Conservative Case for Constitutional Reform1
Authors: Lidington David 
Published: February 2023

AbstractThe United Kingdom faces twin constitutional crises. The existence of the Union itself is now under stronger challenge than ever before, and many of the conventions and understandings which have underpinned the constitutional stability of the United Kingdom and the relationships between executive, Parliament and judiciary have been eroded or overthrown.There is no single, easy way to put things right. What is needed are reforms to the working of Parliament, the Civil Service and devolution, to restore greater balance and stability to our constitution. These should include measures to strengthen the ability of Parliament to hold the executive to account and a new Civil Service Act to provide for the independence, governance and accountability of the Civil Service. To overcome the strains that now threaten the unity of the UK we need a cultural shift in UK politics in favour of partnership and mutual respect, underpinned by changes to the way we do business in both government and Parliament and by greater devolution of power within England.
The relational costs of crossing class lines
Authors: Álvarez–Rivadulla María José , Camelo Paola , Vargas–Serani Mariana , Viáfara Diana 
Published: February 2023

AbstractHow do low socioeconomic status students navigate cross‐class interactions in extremely unequal contexts? Previous research has described the high costs of college integration for underprivileged students, which in turn, negatively impact academic performance and general wellbeing. These studies tend to concentrate on cultural capital costs, such as catching up with assumed middle‐class or elite capital and dealing with two worlds. Less has been said about social capital costs, the costs of making friends, especially more privileged friends. Through 61 in‐depth interviews with various types of students as part of a broader ethnographic fieldwork, this article analyses the experiences of low‐income scholarship holders in an elite institution in a very unequal society, Colombia. Rather than isolating themselves or resorting to safe homophilic relations, they faced their new elite environment engaging with the hidden relational cost of making friends with more affluent students. In so doing, they had to overcome fears and experiences of discrimination and micro‐aggressions, as well as cultural and economic capital barriers, and employed either camouflaging or disclosure strategies, sometimes becoming culturally and socially omnivorous. Symbolic belonging to the institution and the acquisition of middle‐class cultural capital were among the benefits that made overcoming the costs worthy. Our results shed light on what institutions can do to reduce the costs for underprivileged students and, theoretically, unveil an important mechanism and barrier for social mobility: building cross‐class ties.
Primary pachydermoperiostosis associated with pigmented villonodular synovitis: An unknown association?
Authors: Rabhi Emna , Lassoued Ferjani Hanene , Majdoub Fatma , Ben Nessib Dorra , Kaffel Dhia , Maatallah Kaouther , Hamdi Wafa 
Published: February 2023

AbstractPrimary pachydermoperiostosis is a rare genetic disease affecting the skin and musculoskeletal system. In contrast to secondary hypertrophic osteoarthropathy, primary pachydermoperiostosis is considered a benign condition. While a variety of associated abnormalities have been described in this form, any association with tumors was previously reported in the literature. We hereby describe the first case of a 20‐year‐old man with primary pachydermoperiostosis revealed by a knee synovial tumor.
CDCA4 interacts with IGF2BP1 to regulate lung adenocarcinoma proliferation via the PI3K/AKT pathway
Authors: Feng Sitong , Cao Haixia , Sui Ying , Shen Ziyang , Wu Jianzhong , Ma Rong , Feng Jifeng 
Published: February 2023

AbstractBackgroundLung adenocarcinomas (LUAD) remain the leading cause of death in many countries. In this study, we investigated the role of division cycle‐associated 4 (CDCA4) in the carcinogenesis of LUADs.MethodsReal‐time fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot were performed to detect the messenger RNA and protein levels of CDCA4 in cells. Cell counting kit 8, real‐time cell analysis, clone formation, EdU assays, and cell‐cycle assays were used to preliminarily investigate the proliferation and cell‐cycle–related functions of CDCA4 in lung adenocarcinoma. Immunoprecipitation assays were used to identify possible targets of CDCA4. A xenograft model was used to examine how CDCA4 knockdown affects LUAD cells growth in vivo.ResultsWe found that the expression of CDCA4 was upregulated in LUAD cell lines. When CDCA4 was knocked out, the ability of LUAD cells to proliferate was dramatically reduced, and the cell cycle was stalled in the S phase. Meanwhile, boosting the CDCA4 expression had the opposite effect. The critical protein levels of phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (AKT) signaling pathway were subsequently examined. The findings demonstrated that elevated CDCA4 lowered the phosphate and tensin homolog expression and increased the p‐PI3K and p‐AKT levels. Moreover, we demonstrated that CDCA4 favorably regulated IGF2BP1, a downstream target. The downregulation of the IGF2BP1 expression could reverse the proliferation promotion effect induced by the CDCA4 overexpression.ConclusionsCDCA4 can operate as an oncogenic factor to control the growth of lung adenocarcinoma via the PI3K/AKT pathway.
Ten years after: Release cutting around old oaks still affects oak vitality and saproxylic beetles in a Norway spruce stand
Authors: Lariviere Delphine , Holmström Emma , Petersson Lisa , Djupström Line , Weslien Jan 
Published: February 2023

Abstract
It is often suggested to release oaks (Quercus robur) from competition, to ensure their survival and boost their conservational value. However, few studies have explored how long‐lasting this effect is and how it affects saproxylic beetles.
Ten years after cutting, we investigated effects of different release cutting levels (high, medium, and no release) around 140‐year‐old retained oaks in a commercial forest with Norway spruce (Picea abies).
We evaluated oak vitality using crown and dead wood measurements. Saproxylic beetles were caught in window traps, identified to species level, and grouped according to their association with oak and/or Norway spruce.
Released oaks had more light, higher temperatures, greater crown growth, and less dead wood in the crown compared to the no‐release control.
After 10 years we still found a higher abundance of oak‐associated beetles and higher overall species richness of saproxylic beetles in the released oaks. Beetle species composition significantly differed between released oaks and control.
We suggest avoiding planting trees beneath retained oaks when regenerating conifer forests and to proceed with conservation management during subsequent thinning by removing regeneration under the oak crowns. We emphasize the benefits of monitoring the retained oaks to maintain tree vitality, habitat quality, and insolation.
Public policy design and common property resources: A social network approach
Authors: Marco Jorge , Goetz Renan 
Published: February 2023

AbstractThis paper analyzes the extent to which two factors—social networks and the severity of the scarcity of a common property resource—affect norm‐complying behavior that favors cooperation. It assumes that those who comply with the social norm exercise social pressure on defectors. We develop an analytical framework that allows us to determine the minimum (maximum) share of norm‐complying agents at which social networks start (stop) having an influence on cooperation. Knowing these shares allows policymakers to identify the conditions under which legal and/or informal enforcement policies for cooperation are effective and how different types of social networks affect the design of these policies. We find that stable steady states exist in which compliers and defectors coexist (partial cooperation), but the stability of such states requires that the costs of coordination among compliers to exercise social pressure are high. Full cooperation is another possible steady state but is unlikely to prevail if the agents do not perceive the scarcity of the common property resource as severe. A numerical study, empirically calibrated for an aquifer in Spain, shows that subsidizing the compliers' costs of exerting social pressure may impede the attainment of a steady state based on partial cooperation. Although social networks can promote cooperation, their influence is limited. The minimum share of compliers for attaining cooperation can be reduced by informal enforcement policies by not more than 26%. We show that combinations of different types of informal enforcement policies should be applied cautiously because they may cancel each other out.