bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Phytoremediation of metal-contaminated bottom sediments by the common ice plant (Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L.) in Poland
Authors: Śliwa-Cebula Marta , Koniarz Tomasz , Szara-Bąk Magdalena , Baran Agnieszka , Miszalski Zbigniew , Kaszycki Paweł 
Published: December 2022

Abstract
Purpose
The aim of the study was to propose a phytoremediation-based approach toward the proper utilization of post-industrial, metal-contaminated bottom sediments. The common ice plant, Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L. (Aizoaceae), an abiotic-stress tolerant, C3/CAM intermediate halophyte, was tested for growth in substrates containing bottom sediments and for biological removal of metal pollutants. In variant tests, the sediments were admixed with non-toxic components to reduce the ecotoxicity hazards and improve growth conditions.

Materials and methods
Bottom sediment samples were collected from Lake Chechło in the industrial area of Poland. They were amended with universal soil and other materials (sand, lime, plant ash) and then used as growth substrates. After 30-day growth the plant biomass and rhizospheric microbiota population were assessed. The elemental content was determined in the substrate as well as in plant organs with inductively coupled plasma–optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Bioaccumulation factors (BAFs, indicating phytoextraction processes) and root-to-shoot translocation factors (TFs) were calculated for all the metals to trace their behavior upon phytoremediation. Ecotoxicity assessments were performed by using a set of biotests (Phytotoxkit, Ostracodtoxkit F, and Microtox).

Results
M. crystallinum proved its ability to grow under harsh conditions of toxic and poor-quality substrates, while allowing for proliferation of rhizosphere bacteria. The plant growth was accompanied by the accumulation of Na and several other metals which were partially removed from the bottom sediment-containing soils. Depending on the experimental variant, the maximum removal achieved upon the 30-day test was: for Cd, 18.1%, Cu, 47.6%, Cr, 32.7%, Pb, 36.6%, and Zn, 24.1%. M. crystallinum hyperaccumulated Zn and accumulated (either in roots or shoots) Cd, Cu, Cr, and Ni. The maximum BAF values (> 1.0,) were obtained for the following metals: Cd, Cr, Ni, Cu (roots) and Cd, Cr, Ni, Zn (shoots). The highest values of TF (> 1), confirming high phytoremediation potential, were calculated for Na (33.33), Cd (1.47), Cu (1.77), Cr (7.85), and Zn (4.02). Bottom sediments revealed class III toxicity (acute), which was decreased by admixing with other materials. Surprisingly, the treatment with M. crystallinum led to an increase of toxicity levels, possibly by mobilizing potentially toxic elements during plant growth and microbial population development. However, mixing the sediments with universal soil and lime enabled us to maintain class I (no acute toxicity).

Conclusion
The common ice plant reveals strong application potential for use in reclamation of soils or revitalization of industrially degraded areas containing bottom sediments.
Biomethane production kinetics during the anaerobic co-digestion of Sargassum spp. and food waste using batch and fed-batch systems in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
Authors: Castro Yessica A. , Rodríguez Alvin , Rivera Emin 
Published: December 2022

AbstractCollecting Sargassum spp. biomass and using it for the generation of renewable energy is a sustainable approach to mitigate the costs associated to this weed management. The biomethanation of this algal biomass with other organic waste to produce biogas promotes the integrated sustainable management of these materials while generating gaseous fuel for the tourism industry. The purpose of this work is to determine the percentage Sargassum spp. biomass during the anaerobic co-digestion of this brown algae with food waste that results in the best biogas composition, methane yield, production kinetics, and digestate. The biomethanation was conducted in 1200 L fed-batch and bench scale batch biodigestors and the kinetic parameters were estimated using the modified Gompertz model. The methane yield of Sargassum spp. and food waste combinations in 0.58 OLR at fed batch and 15 g/L organic load at batch were comparable. The methane yield produced in the 100% Sargassum spp. fed-batch anaerobic biodigester was 101.3 ± 23.6 N. L CH4/kg, but up to 615.5 ± 78.4 N. L CH4/kg in the 45% Sargassum spp. / 55% food waste biodigestor. The anaerobic co-digestion of Sargassum spp. and food waste in the batch system showed methane production rates as high as 14.6 ± 0.3 N.L CH4/kg.day. Higher H2S were detected in the biogas of the biodigesters fed with larger percentages of the Sargassum spp. with more than 5000 ppm during mono-digestion. Our results suggest that 55% Sargassum spp. and 45% food waste are the most promising feed combination under the studied conditions for the anaerobic co-digestion of these feedstock at larger scale.
The Forecasting Power of the ifo Business Survey
Authors: Lehmann Robert 
Published: December 2022

AbstractThe ifo Institute is Germany’s largest business survey provider, with the ifo Business Climate Germany as one of the most important leading indicators for gross domestic product. However, the ifo Business Survey is not solely limited to the Business Climate and also delivers a multitude of further indicators to forecast several important economic variables. This paper gives a literature overview over existing studies that deal with the forecasting power of various ifo indicators both for gross domestic product and further economic variables such as exports. Overall, the various indicators from the ifo Business Survey can be seen as leading indicators for a multitude of variables representing the German economy, making them a powerful tool both for an in-depth business cycle diagnosis and for applied forecasting work.
A Fatal Case of Meningitis Complicating Chronic Otitis Media and Base of Skull Osteomyelitis due to Carbapenemase (OXA-48)-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae
Authors: Baharoon Waleed , Shamou Jinan , Layqah Laila 
Published: December 2022

AbstractOsteomyelitis of the base of the skull is a rare but life-threatening disease. Although Klebsiella pneumoniae is not a pathogen that is frequently associated with this infection, the clinical course can rapidly progress to meningitis. Here, we describe a case of chronic otitis media, secondary to OXA-48K. pneumoniae, which was complicated by osteomyelitis of the base of the skull and fatal meningitis.
Improbable Diplomats
Authors: Millwood Pete 
Published: December 2022

In 1971, Americans made two historic visits to China that would transform relations between the two countries. One was by US official Henry Kissinger; the other, earlier, visit was by the US table tennis team. Historians have mulled over the transcripts of Kissinger's negotiations with Chinese leaders. However, they have overlooked how, alongside these diplomatic talks, a rich program of travel and exchange had begun with ping-pong diplomacy. Improbable Diplomats reveals how a diverse cast of Chinese and Americans – athletes and physicists, performing artists and seismologists – played a critical, but to date overlooked, role in remaking US-China relations. Based on new sources from more than a dozen archives in China and the United States, Pete Millwood argues that the significance of cultural and scientific exchanges went beyond reacquainting the Chinese and American people after two decades of minimal contact; exchanges also powerfully influenced Sino-American diplomatic relations and helped transform post-Mao China.
Investigation on frequency influence on the transverse pulsed jet in a supersonic crossflow
Authors: Xu Z.-Z. , Zhou Y.-M. , Wu J.-P. , Huang W. 
Published: December 2022

AbstractThe pulsed jet is a novel and effective active mixing enhancement approach. For the transverse pulsed jet in the supersonic crossflow, the frequency influence is investigated using the three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations coupled with the SST k-ω turbulence model. The averaged flow field properties of the pulsed jet are better than those of the steady jet when considering mixing efficiency and jet penetration depth, especially for the case with the pulsed frequency being 50kHz. The flow field structures of the pulsed jet are connected with the time, with periodic wave structures generating in the flow field and moving downstream. The size of the wave structures and its distance are related to the frequency, namely the size and flow distance are relatively small at 50kHz, and it takes some time for the pulsed jet to establish its influence in the full flow field. At low frequencies, the flow field produces large fluctuations, and this may be detrimental to the stable operation of the engine.
Foodborne illnesses and product liability in the U.S.
Authors: Bahalou Horeh Marziyeh , Elbakidze Levan , Sant'Anna Ana Claudia 
Published: December 2022

AbstractA regulatory liability-based approach to reducing foodborne illnesses is widely used in the U.S. But how effective is it? We exploit regulatory regime variation across states and over time to examine the relationship between product liability laws and reported foodborne illnesses. We find a positive and statistically significant relationship between strict liability with punitive damages and the number of reported foodborne illnesses. We find, however, no statistically significant relationship between strict liability with punitive damages and the number of foodborne illness-related hospitalizations and deaths.
“We Test”: An Imagined Regulatory Future
Authors: Sunstein Cass R. 
Published: December 2022

AbstractThere can be a serious tension between the commitment to cost-benefit analysis and a realistic appreciation of the limits of official knowledge. Without significant efforts to reduce those limits, that analysis might be inadequately informed. Whenever regulators face significant informational deficits, or what is sometimes called “the knowledge problem,” it is important to explore tools that take advantage of what the private sector knows; market-friendly tools, such as economic incentives, have important advantages on that count. An advanced regulatory system should also try to reduce the knowledge problem through three routes: (i) creative use of notice-and-comment rulemaking; (ii) retrospective analysis of regulations and their costs and benefits; and (iii) advance testing, as a way of informing ex ante analysis. For the future, the most promising approach is (iii).
Influence of Lived Experiences on Public Responses to Future Diseases via (De)Sensitization of Concern
Authors: Pritchard Alexander J. , Silk Matthew J. , Fefferman Nina H. 
Published: December 2022

Abstract

Objectives:
Public responses to a future novel disease might be influenced by a subset of individuals who are either sensitized or desensitized to concern-generating processes through their lived experiences during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Such influences may be critical for shaping public health messaging during the next emerging threat.

Methods:
This study explored the potential outcomes of the influence of lived experiences by using a dynamic multiplex network model to simulate a COVID-19 outbreak in a population of 2000 individuals, connected by means of disease and communication layers. Then a new disease was introduced, and a subset of individuals (50% or 100% of hospitalized during the COVID-19 outbreak) was assumed to be either sensitized or desensitized to concern-generating processes relative to the general population, which alters their adoption of non-pharmaceutical interventions (social distancing).

Results:
Altered perceptions and behaviors from lived experiences with COVID-19 did not necessarily result in a strong mitigating effect for the novel outbreak. When public disease response is already strong or sensitization is assumed to be a robust effect, then a sensitized subset may enhance public mitigation of an outbreak through social distancing.

Conclusions:
In preparing for future outbreaks, assuming an experienced and disease-aware public may compromise effective design of effective public health messaging and mitigative action.
Competing risks and shock models governed by a generalized bivariate Poisson process
Authors: Di Crescenzo Antonio , Meoli Alessandra 
Published: December 2022

AbstractWe propose a stochastic model for the failure times of items subject to two external random shocks occurring as events in an underlying bivariate counting process. This is a special formulation of the competing risks model, which is of interest in reliability theory and survival analysis. Specifically, we assume that a system, or an item, fails when the sum of the two types of shock reaches a critical random threshold. In detail, the two kinds of shock occur according to a bivariate space-fractional Poisson process, which is a two-dimensional vector of independent homogeneous Poisson processes time-changed by an independent stable subordinator. Various results are given, such as analytic hazard rates, failure densities, the probability that the failure occurs due to a specific type of shock, and the survival function. Some special cases and ageing notions related to the NBU characterization are also considered. In this way we generalize certain results in the literature, which can be recovered when the underlying process reduces to the homogeneous Poisson process.
Microfoundations of Threat and Security Perceptions in Ethnically Diverse States: Lessons from Russia’s “Near Abroad”
Authors: Pupcenoks Juris , Rostoks Toms , Mieriņa Inta 
Published: December 2022

AbstractWhat factors influence the formation of threat perception among the masses? Can the public perceive that external threats exist yet also feel safe? This article investigates both how threat perceptions form, as well as what factors influence security perceptions, in ethnically diverse countries and societies. While drawing on data from two nationally representative surveys, this article inquires to what extent the views of the government and society align regarding whether Russia represents a security threat to Latvia. We find that the determinants of threat and security perceptions differ. Above all else, the views of our respondents are shaped by their ethnic identities and regional effects. Consumption of different forms of media also influence threat perception. Perceived asymmetry of power is an additional important variable shaping security perception. Importantly, there is a correlation between seeing Russia as a security threat and Russophobia or fear of Russians living in Latvia. Overall, this article demonstrates that threat perceptions differ between Russian-speakers and Latvians, shows that it is important to differentiate between perceptions of threat and security, and identifies key explanatory variables influencing development of these perceptions in ethnically diverse societies.
Haemodynamic and clinical variables after surgical systemic to pulmonary artery shunt placement versus arterial ductal stenting
Authors: Sheth Saloni P. , Loomba Rohit S. 
Published: December 2022

AbstractBackground:Transcatheter stenting of the arterial duct is an alternative to surgical systemic to pulmonary artery shunt in neonates with parallel circulation. The current study compares haemodynamic and laboratory values in these patients for the first 48 hours after either intervention.Methods:Neonates with ductal dependent pulmonary blood flow who underwent surgical shunt placement or catheter-based arterial ductal stent placement between January 2013 and January 2022 were identified. Haemodynamic variables included heart rate, blood pressure, near infrared spectroscopy, central venous pressure, vasoactive inotropic score, and arterial saturation. Laboratory variables collected included blood urea nitrogen, serum creatinine, and serum lactate. Variables were collected at baseline, upon post-procedural admission, 6 hours after admission, 12 hours after admission, and 48 hours after admission. Secondary outcomes included post-procedural mechanical ventilation duration, post-procedural hospital length of stay, need for reintervention, need for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, cardiac arrest, and inpatient mortality.Results:Of the 52 patients included, 38 (73%) underwent shunt placement while 14 (27%) underwent a stent placement. Heart rates, renal oxygen extraction ratio, and cerebral oxygen extraction ratio were significantly lower in the stent group (p = <0.01, 0.01, and < 0.01, respectively).Haemoglobin and vasoactive inotropic scores were significantly lower in the stent group (p = <0.01, <0.01, respectively). The stent group had increased risk for cardiac arrest (p = 0.04).Conclusion:Patients who undergo arterial ductal stent placement have lower heart rates, haemoglobin, renal oxygen extraction ratio, cerebral oxygen extraction ratio, and vasoactive inotropic score in the first 48 hours post-procedure compared to patients with shunt placement.
The Winding Road of a Hydrogeologist
Authors: Zheng Chunmiao 
Published: December 2022

AbstractThis manuscript is based on a personal reflection entitled “A Fellow Speaks: The Winding Road of a Hydrogeologist,” which was featured in the AGU Hydrology Section's newsletter, after I was elected an AGU fellow in the 2019 class. The manuscript describes, in chronological order, the trajectory of my career development from a “narrowly focused” hydrogeologist to a broadly defined hydrologic scientist. My personal career evolution coincides with the emergence of groundwater as a critically important field of science with great societal impact, as water scarcity, environmental pollution, and ecological deterioration became increasingly dire since the 1960s. The manuscript then concludes with some personal perspectives on the multidisciplinary future of groundwater science and its fundamental role in sustaining clean water supplies for people and the ecosystem in a changing world.
Higher Nighttime Rates of CaCO3 Dissolution in the Nature Reserve Reef, Eilat, Israel in 2015–2016 Compared to 2000–2002
Authors: Moav‐Barzel O. , Erez J. , Lazar B. , Silverman J. 
Published: December 2022

AbstractThe current study (2015–2016) evaluated changes in the net community calcification (NCC) and maximum nighttime CaCO3 dissolution (Dmax) in the Nature Reserve Reef (NRR), northern Gulf of Eilat (GOE), and northern Red Sea, compared to measurements made at the same site during 2000–2002. The NCC and Dmax were calculated as a function of the reef‐water residence time, the difference between the open‐sea total alkalinity (TA) and its reef‐water daily average (for NCC), and its nighttime maximum (for Dmax). The average NCC was 50 ± 13 and 68 ± 22 mmol C m−2 day−1 in 2000–2002 and 2015–2016, respectively. This change is consistent with the live coral cover increase in the NRR during this period, following the final removal of fish cages from the northern GOE in 2008. In contrast, wintertime Dmax values in 2015–2016 were five times higher on average compared to 2000–2002. We hypothesize that these higher rates could be the result of increased boring organism activity and sedimentary organic content, which developed throughout the fish farming period and are maintained by the naturally occurring seasonal eutrophication in the northern GOE. Where, in general, Dmax was higher during the winters, when nighttime reef water aragonite saturation (Ωarag) was lower, while open water chlorophyll a and nitrate were higher, compared to summertime. Thus, it is possible that the combination of seasonal eutrophication and ocean acidification (OA) in the GOE and possibly other coral reef sites around the world, may shift coral reefs to net dissolution even sooner than previously predicted from OA alone.
Duskside Sub‐Auroral Polarization Streams (SAPS) and Dawnside Subauroral Flows During the Magnetically Quiet 24 November and Moderately Active 25–27 November 2008
Authors: Horvath Ildiko , Lovell Brian C. 
Published: December 2022

AbstractThis study investigates the coupled solar wind‐magnetosphere‐ionosphere (SW‐M‐I) system during the magnetically quiet (Kp < 3) 24 November and moderately active (Kp ≤ 4‐) 25–27 November 2008. Its main characteristics specified include the (a) antisunward propagating solar‐wind Alfven waves, (b) oscillating Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) leading to undershielding at southward IMF and to overshielding and a three‐cell (dusk, dawn, reverse) polar convection pattern at northward IMF, (c) Kelvin‐Helmholtz (K‐H) waves on the magnetopause, and (d) subauroral plasma flows on the duskside and dawnside. These include the westward Sub‐Auroral Polarization Streams (SAPS) streaming sunward along the dusk cell and the eastward subauroral flows streaming sunward along the dawn cell and antisunward along the dawnside reverse cell. These subauroral flows were driven by the combination of their underlying polarization electric (E) field and unshielded penetration E field (PEF) or shielding E field. While the subauroral flows became mostly enhanced by the combined polarization and PEFs, the duskside SAPS flows were suppressed by the shielding E field and structured by the K‐H waves. From these findings we conclude that (i) the above‐describe conditions (a–d) promoted the development of duskside and dawnside subauroral polarization E fields, (ii) the resultant duskside SAPS and dawnside subauroral flows followed the convection streams evidencing a close association with the polar convection pattern, and (iii) the SAPS flows became structured by the K‐H waves.
Quantifying Flash Droughts Over China From 1980 to 2017
Authors: Fu Kaiqi , Wang Kaicun 
Published: December 2022

AbstractDrought can develop rapidly over a short period, the so‐called “flash drought”. The widely used standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI), with traditional time scales longer than 1 month, cannot easily capture flash drought signals. Here, the SPEI with a 5‐day (pentad) time scale was proposed to investigate flash droughts in China from 1980 to 2017. New criteria for flash droughts based on the high‐resolution index were also developed. Flash droughts were stronger and longer in western and northern China. The intensity and duration of mild, moderate, and severe flash droughts increased during the study period, while severe flash droughts showed the largest increase. The high‐resolution SPEI permits us to examine the process of a drought event, that is, how a mild flash drought develops into a severe flash drought. The contribution of precipitation deficit to the duration of mild flash droughts was 50%. As the intensity of flash droughts increased, the contribution of high temperature and increased net radiation to flash drought duration increased from 50% (mild flash droughts) to 74% (severe flash droughts). When flash droughts occurred, Northwestern China and Southwestern China were dominated by unusually weak water vapor transport, while Northeastern China, Northern China, Southern China ,and Middle‐Lower Yangtze were mainly dominated by abnormal downward motion. The downward motion was generally accompanied by clear sky conditions with fewer clouds, higher air temperature, and higher surface solar radiation, which accelerated and amplified flash droughts triggered by initial precipitation deficits.