bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Revisiting the influence of corporate sustainability practices on corporate financial performance: An evidence from the global energy sector
Authors: Kumar Ajay , Gupta Jyotirani , Das Niladri 
Published: April 2022

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to theoretically and empirically extend the debate of the curvilinear linkage between corporate sustainability performance and its reporting practices (CSPR) and corporate financial performance (CFP) over its linearity assumption. The study focused on the financial and non‐financial metrics of the top global energy firms from 2006 to 2018 to accomplish this objective. It employed an estimated generalized least square method on the balanced panel of 3211 firm‐year observations. The findings assert the existence of a curvilinear relationship by spurning the linearity assumption. Further, results revealed a significant inverted U‐shaped relationship between CSPR and CFP. In addition to this, the investigation reveals that this relationship exists with the environmental and social attributes of CSPR. While the governance attribute was initially insignificant, however, it also exhibits a significant inverted‐U relationship after interacting with earnings. As a result, it adds to the existing literature by identifying earnings as a significant moderator in explaining the curvilinear relationship between CSPR and CFP. The inverted U‐shaped relationship may assist top management in developing a sustainable social and environmental policy based on a reactive strategy and help in formulating strategies to balance the value‐cost trade‐off for sustainable development.
Dihydroflavonoids as Bioactive Components of Penthorum chinense, a Miao Ethnomedicine, against NAFLD through Bile Acid Metabolism Pathway
Authors: Li Xiaoxi , Li Yatong , Zhao Wenwen , Yu Lan , Hu Xiaolu , Zhao Yimeng , Guo Qiang , Wang Xing , Wu Xia 
Published: April 2022

AbstractPenthorum chinense Pursh. is a traditional herbal medicine of Miao, and its extracts (PCPE) have been used for treatment of liver diseases in the clinic including nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). However, the active components and pharmacological mechanisms of PCPE for treating NAFLD remain unclear. This study aimed to explore potential mechanisms of action through network pharmacology, molecular docking combined with experimental in vitro. A total of five dihydroflavonoids (1–5) with the same parent nucleus of pinocembrin (PCB) from PCPE, were selected as bioactive ingredients and 109 potential targets related to NAFLD were obtained from public databases and literature mining. The core targets related to the bile secretion signaling were selected based on PPI network and KEGG enrichment analysis for exploring the mechanism of PCPE against NAFLD. Molecular docking results showed good interaction between the core targets in bile secretion signaling pathway and the five compounds predicted to be bioactive. With the strong binding activity to retinoid X receptor‐alpha (RXRA) and farnesoid X receptor (FXR) protein, pinocembrin‐7‐O‐β‐D‐glucoside (PCBG, the highest content in PCPE) and its metabolite PCB, could significantly increase the expression of RXRA, FXR and bile salt export pump (BSEP) in L02 cells, and significantly decrease the expression of cholesterol 7α‐hydroxylase (CYP7A1) at mRNA and protein levels. This study provided favorable evidence for mechanism of the main dihydroflavonoids of PCPE against NAFLD, and presented a paradigm for the study of ethnomedicine.
Transcatheter implantation of covered stents serving as extravascular conduits—Proof of a CT‐based approach in three cases
Authors: Ewert Peter , Eicken Andreas , Tanase Daniel , Georgiev Stanimir , Will Albrecht , Pankalla Cornelia , Nagdyman Nicole , Meierhofer Christian , Hörer Jürgen 
Published: April 2022

AbstractBackgroundCovered stents perform similar to surgically implanted conduits, although the stents work inside of vessels. We present a computed tomography (CT)‐based workflow for the implantation of covered stents as extravascular conduits.MethodsWe selected three different use cases: 1. Connecting a left‐sided partially anomalous drainage of a pulmonary vein to the left atrium. 2. Bypassing an outgrown Dacron conduit in aortic recoarctation. 3. Re‐directing hepatic venous blood to the left lung in a Fontan patient with heterotaxy, connecting the innominate vein to the right pulmonary artery like a right‐sided cavopulmonary connection. By postprocessing and analyzing CT scans for planning and by the use of long needles under biplane fluoroscopy for the realization of the procedure, we projected and performed the exit of a long needle out of a vessel, the re‐entering of a target vessel, and the bridging of the extravascular distance by implantation of covered stents.ResultsIn all three cases, the covered stents were placed successfully, connecting vessels of 15–50 mm distance from each other with very good hemodynamic results. In one case, two stents were placed consecutively, overlapping each other to accomplish an exact fitting at the connection sites to the native vessels.
Pulmonary artery transection for resection of a middle mediastinal paraganglioma
Authors: Zhou Alice L. , Halub Meghan E. , Lotfalla Mira , Shou Benjamin L. , Kilic Ahmet 
Published: April 2022

AbstractWe report the case of a 65‐year‐old male patient who presented with chest pain and was found to have a mediastinal paraganglioma between the left atrium and main pulmonary artery. This is the first reported case of a mediastinal paraganglioma resection utilization transection of the main pulmonary artery.
A One‐Pot Approach for Bio‐Based Arylamines via a Combined Photooxidative Dearomatization‐Rearomatization Strategy
Authors: Afanasenko Anastasiia , Kavun Aleksei , Thomas Dylan , Li Chao‐Jun 
Published: April 2022

AbstractThe synthesis of arylamines from renewable resources under mild reaction conditions is highly desired for the sustainability of the chemical industry, where the production of hazardous waste is a prime concern. However, to date, there are very few tools in chemists’ toolboxes that are able to produce arylamines in a sustainable manner. Herein, a robust one‐pot approach for constructing bio‐based arylamines via a combined photooxidative dearomatization‐rearomatization strategy is presented. The developed methodology enables the synthesis of structurally complex amines in moderate‐to‐good isolated yields using biomass‐derived phenols, natural α‐amino acids, and naphthols under remarkably mild reaction conditions. For the photooxygenation of phenols, a novel chrysazine‐based catalyst system was introduced, demonstrating its efficiency for the synthesis of natural products – hallerone, rengyolone, and the pharmaceutically relevant prodrug DHED.
Dynamic Amino Acid Side‐Chains Grafting on Folded Peptide Backbone**
Authors: Zagiel Benjamin , Peker Taleen , Marquant Rodrigue , Cazals Guillaume , Webb Gabrielle , Miclet Emeric , Bich Claudia , Sachon Emmanuelle , Moumné Roba 
Published: April 2022

AbstractAn efficient strategy for the synthesis of large libraries of conformationally defined peptides is reported, using dynamic combinatorial chemistry as a tool to graft amino acid side chains on a well‐ordered 3D (3‐dimension) peptide backbone. Combining rationally designed scaffolds with combinatorial side chains selection represents an alternative method to access peptide libraries for structures that are not genetically encodable. This method would allow a breakthrough for the discovery of protein mimetic for unconventional targets for which little is known.
Development of Fluorophosphoramidate as a Biocompatibly Transformable Functional Group and its Application as a Phosphate Prodrug for Nucleoside Analogs
Authors: Yoshida Yuki , Zheng Ti , Tanabe Wataru , Tomoike Fumiaki , Hashiya Fumitaka , Suzuki Tetsuro , Hirota Shuto , Saiki Yuriko , Horii Akira , Hirayama Akiyoshi , Soga Tomoyosi , Kimura Yasuaki , Abe Hiroshi 
Published: April 2022

AbstractSynthetic phosphate‐derived functional groups are important for controlling the function of bioactive molecules in vivo. Herein we describe the development of a new type of biocompatible phosphate analog, a fluorophosphoramidate (FPA) functional group that has characteristic P−F and P−N bonds. We found that FPA with a primary amino group was relatively unstable in aqueous solution and was converted to a monophosphate, while FPA with a secondary amino group was stable. Furthermore, by improving the molecular design of FPA, we developed a reaction in which a secondary amino group is converted to a primary amino group in the intracellular environment and clarified that the FPA group functions as a phosphate prodrug of nucleoside. Various FPA‐gemcitabine derivatives were synthesized and their toxicity to cancer cells were evaluated. One of the FPA‐gemcitabine derivatives showed superior toxicity compared with gemcitabine and its ProTide prodrug, which methodology is widely used in various nucleoside analogs, including anti‐cancer and anti‐virus drugs.
Fine‐grain task‐parallel algorithms for matrix factorizations and inversion on many‐threaded CPUs
Authors: Catalán Sandra , Herrero José R. , Igual Francisco D. , Quintana‐Ortí Enrique S. , Rodríguez‐Sánchez Rafael 
Published: April 2022

AbstractWe extend a two‐level task partitioning previously applied to the inversion of dense matrices via Gauss–Jordan elimination to the more challenging QR factorization as well as the initial orthogonal reduction to band form found in the singular value decomposition. Our new task‐parallel algorithms leverage the tasking mechanism currently available in OpenMP to exploit “nested” task parallelism, with a first outer level that operates on matrix panels and a second inner level that processes the matrix either by ‐panels or by tiles, in order to expose a large number of independent tasks. We present a detailed performance analysis, including execution traces, which shows that the two‐level refinement into fine grain tasks allows for an improved load balancing and delivers high performance on current general‐purpose many‐core processors (CPUs) from Intel and AMD.
Enhanced Photocatalytic Hydrolysis Performance of Chiral Molecule Loaded Titanium Disulfide Nanosheets
Authors: Bai Xuesong , Cao Yang , Xu Yueshan , Huang Wei , Deng Peilin , Tian Xinlong , Liu Zhongxin , Wang Jieqiong , Tu Jinchun 
Published: April 2022

AbstractThe photoelectrochemical (PEC) water decomposition is a promising method to produce hydrogen from water. To improve the water decomposition efficiency of the PEC process, it is necessary to inhibit the generation of H2O2 byproducts and reduce the overpotential required by cheap catalysts and a high current density. Studies have shown that coating the electrode with chiral molecules or chiral films can increase the hydrogen production and reduce the generation of H2O2 byproducts. This is interpreted as the result of a chiral induced spin selectivity (CISS) effect, which induces a spin correlation between the electrons that are transferred to the anode. Here, we report the adsorption of chiral molecules onto titanium disulfide nanosheets. Firstly, titanium disulfide nanosheets were synthesized via thermal injection and then dispersed through ultrasonic crushing. This strategy combines the CISS with the plasma effect caused by the narrow bandgap of two‐dimensional sulfur compounds to promote the PEC water decomposition with a high current density.
Construction of Low‐Impedance and High‐Passivated Interphase for Nickel‐Rich Cathode by Low‐Cost Boron‐Containing Electrolyte Additive
Authors: Li Guanjie , Li Zifei , Cai Qinqin , Yan Chong , Xing Lidan , Li Weishan 
Published: April 2022

AbstractThe nickel‐rich cathode LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 (NCM811) possesses the advantages of high reversible specific capacity and low cost, thus regarded as a promising cathode material for lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs). However, the capacity of the NCM811 decays rapidly at high voltage due to the extremely unstable electrode/electrolyte interphase. The discharge capability at low temperature is also impaired because of the increasing interfacial impedance. Herein, a low‐cost film‐forming electrolyte additive with multi‐function, phenylboronic acid (PBA), was employed to modify the interphasial properties of the NCM811 cathode. Theoretical calculation and experimental results showed that PBA constructed a highly conductive and steady cathode electrolyte interphase (CEI) film through preferential oxidation decomposition, which greatly improved the interfacial properties of the NCM811 cathode at room (25 °C) and low temperature (−10 °C). Specifically, the capacity retention of NCM811/Li cell was increased from 68 % to 87 % after 200 cycles with PBA additive. Moreover, the NCM811/Li cell with PBA additive delivered higher discharge capacity under −10 °C at 0.5 C (173.7 mAh g−1 vs. 111.1 mAh g−1). Based on the improvement of NCM811 interphasial properties by additive PBA, the capacity retention of NCM811/graphite full‐cell was enhanced from 49 % to 65 % after 200 cycles.
Host preference of field‐derived Schistosoma mansoni is influenced by snail host compatibility and infection status
Authors: Laidemitt Martina R. , Gleichsner Alyssa M. , Ingram Christopher D. , Gay Steven D. , Reinhart Elizabeth M. , Mutuku Martin W. , O Oraro Polycup , Minchella Dennis J. , Mkoji Gerald M. , Loker Eric S. , Steinauer Michelle L. 
Published: April 2022

AbstractSchistosome parasites cause a chronic inflammatory disease in humans, and recent studies have emphasized the importance of control programs for understanding the aquatic phases of schistosomiasis transmission. The host‐seeking behavior of larval schistosomes (miracidia) for their snail intermediate hosts plays a critical role in parasite transmission. Using field‐derived strains of Kenyan snails and parasites, we tested two main hypotheses: (1) Parasites prefer the most compatible host, and (2) parasites avoid hosts that are already infected. We tested preference to three Biomphalaria host snail taxa (B. pfeifferi, B. sudanica, and B. choanomphala), using allopatric and sympatric Schistosoma mansoni isolates and two different nonhost snail species that co‐occur with Biomphalaria, Bulinus globosus, and Physa acuta. We also tested whether schistosomes avoid snail hosts that are already infected by another trematode species and whether competitive dominance played a role in their behavior. Preference was assessed using two‐way choice chambers and by visually counting parasites that moved toward competing stimuli. In pairwise comparisons, we found that S. mansoni did not always prefer the more compatible snail taxon, but never favored an incompatible host over a compatible host. While parasites preferred B. pfeifferi to the nonhost species B. globosus, they did not significantly prefer B. pfeifferi versus P. acuta, an introduced species in Kenya. Finally, we demonstrated that parasites avoid infected snails if the resident parasite was competitively dominant (Patagifer sp.), and preferred snails infected with subordinates (xiphidiocercariae) to uninfected snails. These results provide evidence of “fine tuning” in the ability of schistosome miracidia to detect hosts; however, they did not always select hosts that would maximize fitness. Appreciating such discriminatory abilities could lead to a better understanding of how ecosystem host and parasite diversity influences disease transmission and could provide novel control mechanisms to improve human health.
Drivers of flea abundance in wild rodents across local and regional scales in the Chihuahuan Desert, northwestern Mexico
Authors: Pontifes Paulina A. , Fernández‐González Adriana , García‐Peña Gabriel E. , Roche Benjamin , Suzán Gerardo 
Published: April 2022

AbstractThe broad distribution of macroparasites and their thriving populations are matters of health and economic concern. Macroparasites cause damage both directly through their feeding habits, which impact host fitness, and indirectly through the transmission of various infectious diseases of relevance to human and domestic animal health and wildlife conservation. Because the impacts of macroparasites on host health and the risk of disease transmission are directly related to their abundance, understanding the drivers of macroparasite burden is of relevance. Various host traits and environmental factors have been associated with differences in macroparasite abundance. In addition to these variables, spatial scale is increasingly incorporated to understand how these drivers vary across space. However, variation in the relative importance of host traits and environmental factors as predictors of abundance at different scales is not well understood. To further clarify the relationship between scale and drivers of macroparasite abundance, we investigated the effects of host traits and environmental factors on flea abundance in rodents of the Chihuahuan Desert in northwestern Mexico on three levels: within a single site, between sampling sites with different vegetation types, and across the region. This partitioning allowed us to compare drivers at both local and regional scales. Fleas provide a natural model to assess the interplay between host and environmental variables across scales because their life cycles alternate between on‐host and off‐host environments and their hosts have varying ranges of distribution. We sampled 1311 fleas from 674 rodent individuals of 14 different species across 40 sampling plots between 2012 and 2013. Using generalized linear mixed models, we found that flea abundance was associated with different combinations of host traits such as size and sex. The specific combination of predictive variables differed across species, while the effects on flea abundance showed context and scale dependency, although this could only be tested at the full level of analysis on the most abundant species,Dipodomys merriami. Sampling season was the only variable consistently significant across scales, reflecting the far‐reaching effects of large‐scale, interannual environmental fluctuations. These results emphasize that integrating spatial scale can strengthen study design for monitoring macroparasite burden.
A technological quality control system for rice supply chain
Authors: Tao Qi , Cai Zhenyu , Cui Xiaohui 
Published: April 2022

AbstractRice quality affects social stability, consumer health, and corporate brand benefit. The traditional supply chain traceability management system is centralized, monopolized, asymmetric, and opaque. It is the main factor leading to frequent food safety incidents. This paper proposes a technological quality control system for rice supply chain to protect rice products quality and safety. Firstly, it adopts risk assessment and traceability mechanism to prevent the hazard factors in the production and processing. Then, to prevent spoiled food from endangering the consumers’ health and reduce food waste, it explores a shelf life model of rice products to predict the remaining shelf life of products. Finally, this paper constructs a decentralized traceability management system based on blockchain and IoT, which enables consumers to access the real information of rice products and helps supervisors to monitor the quality of products in the supply chain.
Nanoscale molybdenum oxide improves plant growth and increases nitrate utilisation in rice (Oryza sativa L.)
Authors: Zhang Haipeng , Wang Rui , Chen Zhiqing , Pu Jialing , Wang Juanjuan , Zhang Hongcheng , Yang Yanju 
Published: April 2022

AbstractNanoscale molybdenum oxide (nano‐MoO3) is widely used in industrial and environmental fields and its release to the environment is increasing. However, the potential effect of nano‐MoO3 on rice (Oryza sativa L.) seedling growth is unclear. Herein, the different impacts of vaired concentrations (0, 50, 100, 200 and 300 μg Mo L–1) of Na2MoO4 and nano‐MoO3 on the growth and nitrate (NO3–) utilisation of rice were investigated using hydroponics. The Mo concentration in roots and shoots, N metabolism enzyme activity, root morphology, root redox ability and root exudates were then analysed to understand the potential mechanisms of the growth impacts. Results showed that the Mo concentration in rice roots increased incrementally as the amount of Mo application increased, whereas different Mo sources did not affect the Mo concentration in shoots. Both Na2MoO4 and nano‐MoO3 promoted the growth and NO3– utilisation of rice. The promotion effects of higher nano‐MoO3 dosages were better than those of Na2MoO4. Nano‐MoO3 application significantly affected the activity of nitrate reductase (NR), glutamine synthetase (GS) and glutamate synthase (NADH‐GOGAT), which in turn promoted NO3– assimilation. Additionally, rice seedlings treated with nano‐MoO3 had a relatively high rice root volume, surface area, total absorption area, active absorption area, low‐molecular‐weight organic acids, root oxidation and reduction capacities. Based on these results, it is proposed that nano‐MoO3 facilitates rice growth and NO3– assimilation via the enhancement of nitrogen metabolism enzyme activity and the promotion of good root morphological and physiological characters with high root secretion concentration and redox ability. This study provides insights regarding the further application of nano‐MoO3 in agriculture enhancing N use efficiency and rice productivity.
Combination studies of operating cell, inlet‐line, and humidification temperatures on performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell
Authors: Thiyagarajan Prem Kumar , Jeganathan Kanchana , Kumar P Manoj 
Published: April 2022

AbstractThe combined influence of factors, that is, operating cell temperature, humidification temperature (HT) (indirectly relative humidity), and reactant gas inlet‐line temperature on the performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell was experimentally and statistically studied. A catalyst‐coated membrane, membrane electrode assembly, of 6.25 cm2 active area and 0.29 mgpt cm–2 catalyst loading was used in the study. Experimentally, the effect of individual factors and their combinations on cell performance was studied. Statistical analyses were carried out to find the main and interaction effects of different factors. Analysis of variance (ANOVA, 5% significance level, 95% confidence level) analysis, which was validated for homoscedasticity, was used to evaluate the significance of the main and interaction effects of factors. From the study, it was observed that the HT had a significant main effect (988 W m–2). Both interaction plots and ANOVA results revealed that the combination of operating cell and HT was the most significant. The study showed a very interesting observation that the statistical interaction effect (545 W m–2) was half of the experimental deviation value (1090 W m–2) between the summation of independent effects and the combined effect.