bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Testing the influence of visual framing on engagement and pro‐environmental action
Authors: Salazar Gabby , Monroe Martha C. , Ennes Megan , Jones Jennifer Amanda , Veríssimo Diogo 
Published: September 2022

AbstractAlthough images play a significant role in environmental communications, few studies have empirically examined whether positive or negative images are more effective at engaging attention and promoting behavior change. We conducted a 6‐week public experiment at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, Florida, to test whether viewing a photography exhibit featuring images of the impacts of marine plastic pollution on ocean ecosystems (negative valence) or images of pristine ocean ecosystems (positive valence) would increase engagement, monetary donations to conservation, and pledges to help protect the ocean from plastic pollution. We tracked 1179 adults while observing the negative exhibit and 1304 adults while observing the positive exhibit. Of the adults tracked, significantly more engaged with the negative exhibit (270; 22.90%) than the positive exhibit (159; 12.19%). The mean number of pledges per visitor for the negative exhibit was significantly higher than for the positive exhibit. However, there was not a significant difference in donations between the two exhibits. These results suggest that environmental organizations that seek to capture attention should consider using images that show the negative impacts of human behavior on the environment.
Restriction of interleukin‐6 alters endothelial cell immunogenicity in an allogenic environment
Authors: Lion Julien , Maitre Mathilde Le , de Truchis Camille , Taupin Jean‐Luc , Poussin Karine , Haziot Alain , Chong Edward , Glotz Denis , Mooney Nuala 
Published: September 2022

AbstractThe microvascular endothelium of the renal transplant is the first site of graft interaction with the host immune system and is often injured in chronic Antibody Mediated Rejection (AMR). Microvascular inflammation is an independent determinant of AMR and heightens endothelial expression of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) molecules thereby increasing the possibility of Donor Specific Antibody (DSA) binding. Endothelial cells (ECs) produce IL‐6 in the steady‐state that is increased by inflammation or by HLA‐DR antibody binding in an allogeneic setting. Because IL‐6 has been implicated in AMR, IL‐6 blockade is currently under investigation as a therapeutic target. To further understand the role of IL‐6 in EC immunogenicity, we have examined whether humanized antibody blockade of IL‐6 altered EC interactions with allogeneic PBMC and after anti‐HLA or DSA binding to ECs in an in vitro human experimental model. Soluble factors, endothelial phenotype, Stat‐3 activation, CD4+‐T differentiation and C4d deposition were examined. Blockade of IL‐6 reduced EC secretion of IL‐6 and of the monocyte chemoattractant MCP‐1. Pre‐activation of ECs by anti‐HLA or DSA binding increased IL‐6 secretion, that was further increased by concurrent binding of both antibodies and this was inhibited by IL‐6 blockade. Activation of Stat‐3 in CD4+‐T mediated by soluble factors produced in endothelial‐PBMC interactions, and endothelial differentiation of CD4+‐T cell subsets (Th1, Treg), were impaired whereas activation of Complement by anti‐HLA antibody binding remained unchanged by IL‐6 blockade. Together, these data identify EC‐mediated pro‐inflammatory responses (T cell expansion, EC auto‐activation, chemokine secretion) targeted by IL‐6 blockade.
Effects of Public Transfers on Income Inequality and Poverty in Rural China
Authors: Hoken Hisatoshi , Sato Hiroshi 
Published: September 2022

AbstractThis study examines the impacts of public transfers on income inequality and poverty reduction in rural China. It uses nationally representative rural household surveys from the China Household Income Project and classifies public transfers into three types – universal, pro‐poor, and reimbursable transfers – to compare the impacts of each type of public transfer in 2013 and 2018. Estimated results show that the contributions of each type of public transfer to reducing income inequality were generally small in both 2013 and 2018. However, the effects of reimbursable transfers were the largest of the three types. We also found that the poverty‐reducing effects were the largest for reimbursable transfers, and their impacts have considerably improved in the western region. The impacts of pro‐poor transfers were intermediate but have developed notably in the central region. These findings suggest that reimbursable and pro‐poor transfers contributed mainly to reducing rural poverty but the impacts were heterogeneous among regions.
An Evaluation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement: Market Access and Trading Rules
Authors: Sheng Bin , Jin Chenxin 
Published: September 2022

AbstractThe Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement was signed on November 15, 2020. This marks the formal conclusion of the world's largest free trade agreement in terms of population and economic scale. The RCEP agreement covers new liberalization commitments in goods, services, investment, and movement of natural persons, and addresses some emerging behind‐the‐border trade issues, to forge more transparent, open, and inclusive trade rules. Its aim is to build a comprehensive, modern, inclusive, and high‐quality free trade agreement. This paper summarizes the framework and highlights of the RCEP agreement, measures the extent of tariff reduction from various perspectives, makes a quantitative assessment of the level of service trade liberalization of the member states adopting positive list commitments, and makes an in‐depth analysis of trade rules and provisions in the RCEP agreement. Furthermore, this paper also makes a comprehensive comparison of main provisions among the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans‐Pacific Partnership, RCEP, and US‐Mexico‐Canada Agreement. The paper concludes with policy recommendations for China to promote the implementation of the RCEP agreement.
Inventory Management with Trade Policy Uncertainty
Authors: Zhao Xiaotao , Chen Xiaoping 
Published: September 2022

AbstractThis paper develops a theoretical model to describe how exporting firms manage their inventory stocks in response to an exogenous trade policy uncertainty shock. Using firm‐level data from China Industrial Enterprise Database and China Customs Database on inventory and exports over the period around China's WTO accession, we show that a reduction in trade policy uncertainty significantly increased exporting firms' inventory holdings. The result was robust to various robustness checks. This effect was found to be stronger for private and foreign firms than state‐owned enterprises and mainly driven by firms from the coastal region. We also found that the reduction in trade policy uncertainty increased the frequency and the average volume of export transactions, and that this was the mechanism behind the effect. This paper helps to understand exporting firms' optimal inventory problem arising from trade‐policy uncertainty and shocks.
The Impact of the Pilot Free Trade Zone on Regional Financial Development
Authors: Wang Lihui , Liu Zhihong , Shi Huailong 
Published: September 2022

AbstractThis paper focuses on the Shanghai pilot free trade zone (FTZ). It investigates the effect of the FTZ policy on regional financial development. The synthetic control method employs quarterly data from 2005 to 2019 at the provincial level to investigate counterfactual states before and after the pilot FTZ was set up. First, our results reveal that the Shanghai pilot FTZ had a positive influence on the following four variables proxied for regional financial development: (i) the scale of regional financial development; (ii) the efficiency of indirect financial development; (iii) the efficiency of direct financial development; (iv) the structure of financial development. Second, our results found that the policy effects that began to emerge from 2014 onwards exhibited a steadily increasing trend. As a result, the four proxy variables have increased by (i) 197 percent, (ii) 202 percent, (iii) 9.4 percent, and (iv) 15.2 percent, respectively. That is, the scale of regional financial development and the efficiency of indirect financial development have increased more than the other proxy variables.
The Life‐cycle Dynamics of Zombie Companies amongst Listed Firms in China
Authors: Bowman Joel 
Published: September 2022

AbstractThis paper analyses the life‐cycle dynamics of zombie companies – broadly defined as businesses that are consistently unable to meet their interest expenses from current profits – amongst listed firms in China over the period 2008–2019. A large share of zombie companies subsequently return to nonzombie status. This proportion is higher for firms undergoing a major restructuring event, low leverage levels, and with smaller operating expense ratios. However, zombie firms that return to nonzombie status continue to have lower levels of profitability compared with their industry peers and have a higher probability of relapsing into zombie status compared with firms that have never been classified as zombie. Concerted efforts to revive zombie companies using major restructuring events appear insufficient in overcoming the longer term scarring effects of zombification on firms' profitability. The results highlight the potential benefits of the ongoing efforts by Chinese regulators to improve the delisting process.
Elderly Care Provision and the Impact on Caregiver Health in China
Authors: Ai Jingyi , Feng Jin , Yu Yangyang 
Published: September 2022

AbstractWith the fast pace of population aging, industrialization, and urbanization in China, the main source of elderly care is changing. Using China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey data, we investigate the elderly care provision situation and find that spouses are currently the most important elderly care providers in China. We use a model to depict the trade‐off between a caregiver's own health and the care quality obtained by the care recipient. The model predicts that under some conditions, the caregivers will provide care at the cost of their health. Employing a stratified propensity score matching method, we find that spouses' caregivers are more likely to have depression, physical pain, and hypertension than noncaregivers. The negative effects are larger for caregivers with a high level of care intensity or less support from other resources. Female spousal caregivers tend to suffer more from depression and physical pain than male spousal caregivers. Our findings suggest that policies toward “healthy aging” should target not only the disabled elderly but also their spousal caregivers who are also elderly people.
Development of executive function‐relevant skills is related to both neural structure and function in infants
Authors: Zhao T. Christina , Corrigan Neva M. , Yarnykh Vasily L. , Kuhl Patricia K. 
Published: September 2022

AbstractThe development of skills related to executive function (EF) in infancy, including their emergence, underlying neural mechanisms, and interconnections to other cognitive skills, is an area of increasing research interest. Here, we report on findings from a multidimensional dataset demonstrating that infants’ behavioral performance on a flexible learning task improved across development and that the task performance is highly correlated with both neural structure and neural function. The flexible learning task probed infants’ ability to learn two different associations, concurrently, over 16 trials, requiring multiple skills relevant to EF. We examined infants’ neural structure by measuring myelin density in the brain, using a novel macromolecular proton fraction (MPF) mapping method. We further examined an important neural function of speech processing by characterizing the mismatch response (MMR) to speech contrasts using magnetoencephalography (MEG). All measurements were performed longitudinally in monolingual English‐learning infants at 7‐ and 11‐months of age. At the group level, 11‐month‐olds, but not 7‐month‐olds, demonstrated evidence of learning both associations in the behavioral task. Myelin density in the prefrontal region at 7 months of age was found to be highly predictive of behavioral task performance at 11 months of age, suggesting that myelination may support the development of these skills. Furthermore, a machine‐learning regression analysis revealed that individual differences in the behavioral task are predicted by concurrent neural speech processing at both ages, suggesting that these skills do not develop in isolation. Together, these cross‐modality results revealed novel insights into EF‐related skills.Highlight
Monolingual infants demonstrated flexible learning on a task requiring executive function skills at 11 months, but not at 7 months.
Infants’ myelin density at 7 months is highly predictive of their behavioral performance in the flexible learning task at 11 months of age.
Individual differences in the flexible learning task performance are also correlated with concurrent neural processing of speech at both ages.
Linking fish ecomorphotypes to food categories and local‐scale habitat uses along a Brazilian coastal stream
Authors: Wolff Luciano Lazzarini , de Oliveira Edson Fontes , Lobón‐Cerviá Javier 
Published: September 2022

AbstractFish ecomorphological analyses often deal with several traits simultaneously, making it challenging to interpret general patterns, and have not addressed the longitudinal component of streams in morphology‐habitat relationships. We identified ecomorphotypes of fishes and correlated their morphological variation with food, structural/hydrological variables, and abundances to detect their links with diet and local‐scale habitat categories. Eighteen morphometric traits were obtained from specimens collected by electrofishing in a coastal Atlantic stream in Brazil. To test for morphology‐habitat associations, headwaters, middle, and mouth reaches were divided into shorter sampling sites, with the middle reach being classified into riffle, run, and pool mesohabitats. Multivariate analyses highlighted the morphological variations and associated the form categories of 18 fish species with food and habitat categories. It resulted in four combined trophic and habitat ecomorphotypes: (1) benthic AB/lithophilic, composed of smaller to longer loricariids, detritivores, of fast‐water, and pebbly habitats; (2) benthic C/lithophilic of very fast‐waters, algal and detritus scrapers, with longer intestines than the other benthic species, wider suctorial mouths, inhabitants of headwaters, and riffles habitats; (3) nektobenthic/lithophilic with streamlined bodies, invertebrate feeders, and dwellers of faster‐water, cobbly habitats; and (4) nektonic/limnophilic composed mainly by characins, which had strong correlations with terrestrial insect consumption, and lentic/pool, sandy habitats. The morphology–environment correlations linked these ecomorphotypes to the broad habitat gradient arrayed in longitudinal and local scales. These results permit inferring the larger form patterns expected for local fish assemblages and emphasise the fish trait categorisation as a possible surrogate to reveal broader ecomorphological associations.
The transition from higher education to first employment in Spain
Authors: Cordón‐Lagares Encarnación , García‐Ordaz Félix , García‐del‐Hoyo Juan José 
Published: September 2022

AbstractThis article explores the determinants of the transition from higher education to work, analysing the time it takes college graduates to obtain their first job in Spain. To estimate the exit rate to employment of university graduates, we use parametric and nonparametric analysis of duration models. We have incorporated unobserved heterogeneity using frailty models to account for misspecification or omitted covariates. The results show that after graduation, men are more likely to obtain employment than women. Our results also show that graduates of private universities gain their first jobs sooner than graduates of public universities. Furthermore, we found that those graduates who have previous work experience and those who start looking for a job before the end of their degree programme are likely to obtain a job sooner. In addition, Arts and Humanities graduates have the greatest difficulty in finding work. Finally, the results suggest that graduates who have international experience and those with expert knowledge of communication are more likely to obtain employment.
WildLab: A naturalistic free viewing experiment reveals previously unknown electroencephalography signatures of face processing
Authors: Gert Anna L. , Ehinger Benedikt V. , Timm Silja , Kietzmann Tim C. , König Peter 
Published: September 2022

AbstractNeural mechanisms of face perception are predominantly studied in well‐controlled experimental settings that involve random stimulus sequences and fixed eye positions. Although powerful, the employed paradigms are far from what constitutes natural vision. Here, we demonstrate the feasibility of ecologically more valid experimental paradigms using natural viewing behaviour, by combining a free viewing paradigm on natural scenes, free of photographer bias, with advanced data processing techniques that correct for overlap effects and co‐varying non‐linear dependencies of multiple eye movement parameters. We validate this approach by replicating classic N170 effects in neural responses, triggered by fixation onsets (fixation event‐related potentials [fERPs]). Importantly, besides finding a strong correlation between both experiments, our more natural stimulus paradigm yielded smaller variability between subjects than the classic setup. Moving beyond classic temporal and spatial effect locations, our experiment furthermore revealed previously unknown signatures of face processing: This includes category‐specific modulation of the event‐related potential (ERP)'s amplitude even before fixation onset, as well as adaptation effects across subsequent fixations depending on their history.
The value of an action: Impact of motor behaviour on outcome processing and stimulus preference
Authors: Bikute Kotryna , Di Bernardi Luft Caroline , Beyer Frederike 
Published: September 2022

AbstractWhile influences of Pavlovian associations on instrumental behaviour are well established, we still do not know how motor actions affect the formation of Pavlovian associations. To address this question, we designed a task in which participants were presented with neutral stimuli, half of which were paired with an active response, half with a passive waiting period. Stimuli had an 80% chance of predicting either a monetary gain or loss. We compared the feedback‐related negativity (FRN) in response to predictive stimuli and outcomes, as well as directed phase synchronization before and after outcome presentation between trials with versus without a motor response. We found a larger FRN amplitude in response to outcomes presented after a motor response (active trials). This effect was driven by a positive deflection in active reward trials, which was absent in passive reward trials. Connectivity analysis revealed that the motor action reversed the direction of the phase synchronization at the time of the feedback presentation: Top‐down information flow during the outcome anticipation phase in active trials, but bottom‐up information flow in passive trials. This main effect of action was mirrored in behavioural data showing that participants preferred stimuli associated with an active response. Our findings suggest an influence of neural systems that initiate motor actions on neural systems involved in reward processing. We suggest that motor actions might modulate the brain responses to feedback by affecting the dynamics of brain activity towards optimizing the processing of the resulting action outcome.
Paroxysmal fast activity is a biomarker of treatment response in deep brain stimulation for Lennox–Gastaut syndrome
Authors: Dalic Linda J. , Warren Aaron E. L. , Spiegel Chloe , Thevathasan Wesley , Roten Annie , Bulluss Kristian J. , Archer John S. 
Published: September 2022

AbstractObjectiveEpilepsy treatment trials typically rely on seizure diaries to determine seizure frequency, but these are time‐consuming and difficult to maintain accurately. Fast, reliable, and objective biomarkers of treatment response are needed, particularly in Lennox–Gastaut syndrome (LGS), where high seizure frequency and comorbid cognitive and behavioral issues are additional obstacles to accurate diary‐keeping. Here, we measured generalized paroxysmal fast activity (GPFA), a key interictal electrographic feature of LGS, and correlated GPFA burden with seizure diaries during a thalamic deep brain stimulation (DBS) treatment trial (Electrical Stimulation of the Thalamus in Epilepsy of Lennox–Gastaut Phenotype [ESTEL]).MethodsGPFA and electrographic seizure counts from intermittent, 24‐h electroencephalograms (EEGs) were compared to 3‐month diary‐recorded seizure counts in 17 young adults with LGS (mean age ± SD = 24.9 ± 6.6) in the ESTEL study, a randomized clinical trial of DBS lasting 12 months (comprising a 3‐month baseline and 9 months of postimplantation follow‐up).ResultsBaseline median seizures measured by diaries numbered 2.6 (interquartile range [IQR] = 1.4–5) per day, compared to 284 (IQR = 120.5–360) electrographic seizures per day, confirming that diaries capture only a small fraction of seizure burden. Across all patient EEGs, the average number of GPFA discharges per hour of sleep was 138 (IQR =72–258). GPFA duration and frequency, quantified over 2‐h windows of sleep EEG, were significantly associated with diary‐recorded seizure counts over 3‐month intervals (p < .001, η2p = .30–.48). For every GPFA discharge, there were 20–25 diary seizures witnessed over 3 months. There was high between‐patient variability in the ratio between diary seizure burden and GPFA burden; however, within individual patients, the ratio was similar over time, such that the percentage change from pre‐DBS baseline in seizure diaries strongly correlated with the percentage change in GPFA.SignificanceWhen seeking to optimize treatment in patients with LGS, monitoring changes in GPFA may allow rapid titration of treatment parameters, rather than waiting for feedback from seizure diaries.
Saprophytic bacteria and fungi colonize stearoyl coenzyme‐A desaturase‐1 knockout skin
Authors: Pyle Hunter J. , Artami Methinee , Edwards Marshall , Raj Prithvi , Zhang Bo , Arana Carlos , Harris‐Tryon Tamia A. 
Published: September 2022

AbstractLipids synthesized on the skin are critical to the antimicrobial barrier. Skin lipids also facilitate survival of lipophilic skin commensals in an otherwise dry and acidic ecological landscape. Thus, skin‐specific stearoyl‐coenzyme A desaturase 1 knockout mice (Scd1ΔK14) with sebocyte atrophy and decreased synthesis of monounsaturated fatty acids, triglycerides and wax diesters have dry, inflamed skin. Here, we used 16S rRNA (V1‐V2 and V1‐V9) and internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) amplicon sequencing to compare bacterial and fungal skin microbiomes between Scd1ΔK14 mice and wildtype control mice (Scd1fl/fl) in a barrier facility. Saprophytic bacteria including Sporosarcina spp. and Staphylococcus lentus and saprophytic fungi including Alternaria infectoria were found in higher relative abundance in the Scd1ΔK14 group (ANCOM). Analysis of community diversity (Shannon index) revealed greater fungal alpha diversity in the Scd1ΔK14 group (p = 0.009, Kruskal–Wallis). Principal coordinates analysis (Bray–Curtis dissimilarity) showed that both bacterial (p = 0.002, PERMANOVA) and fungal communities (p = 0.006, PERMANOVA) of the Scd1ΔK14 group were unique from the wildtype group. Altogether, these results suggest that sebaceous gland‐derived lipids normally restrict the skin microbiome, and in the absence of these lipids, a greater diversity of opportunistic organisms are able to colonize the surface of skin.