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Influence of prolong curing, freeze thaw cycles on strength and compaction condition on water retention behaviour of bamboo biochar amended soils
Stakeholder diversity matters: employing the wisdom of crowds for data-poor fisheries assessments
AbstractEmbracing local knowledge is vital to conserve and manage biodiversity, yet frameworks to do so are lacking. We need to understand which, and how many knowledge holders are needed to ensure that management recommendations arising from local knowledge are not skewed towards the most vocal individuals. Here, we apply a Wisdom of Crowds framework to a data-poor recreational catch-and-release fishery, where individuals interact with natural resources in different ways. We aimed to test whether estimates of fishing quality from diverse groups (multiple ages and years of experience), were better than estimates provided by homogenous groups and whether thresholds exist for the number of individuals needed to capture estimates. We found that diversity matters; by using random subsampling combined with saturation principles, we determine that targeting 31% of the survey sample size captured 75% of unique responses. Estimates from small diverse subsets of this size outperformed most estimates from homogenous groups; sufficiently diverse small crowds are just as effective as large crowds in estimating ecological state. We advocate for more diverse knowledge holders in local knowledge research and application.
Regional patterns and climatic predictors of viruses in honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies over time
Reply to: Limitations of ice cores in reconstructing temperature seasonality
Experimental identification of topological defects in 2D colloidal glass
AbstractTopological defects are singularities within a field that cannot be removed by continuous transformations. The definition of these irregularities requires an ordered reference configuration, calling into question whether they exist in disordered materials, such as glasses. However, recent work suggests that well-defined topological defects emerge in the dynamics of glasses, even if they are not evident in the static configuration. In this study, we reveal the presence of topological defects in the vibrational eigenspace of a two-dimensional experimental colloidal glass. These defects strongly correlate with the vibrational features and spatially correlate with each other and structural “soft spots”, more prone to plastic flow. This work experimentally confirms the existence of topological defects in disordered systems revealing the complex interplay between topology, disorder, and dynamics.
Changing patterns of global nitrogen deposition driven by socio-economic development
The social welfare effect of e-commerce product reputation information asymmetry from the perspective of network externality
Reputation is the most important intangible asset of merchants. In the e-commerce platform market, reputation information has become an important signal of product quality. However, with increasingly fierce competition among merchants on these platforms, violations of reputation information, such as “click farming,” “cash rebate for favorable comments,” and “pay per click,” have caused information asymmetry and adverse selection. Based on the network externality perspective, considering the duopoly e-commerce platform market, this paper uses game theory to construct a theoretical model to compare and analyze the changes in consumers, merchants, platforms, and social total welfare when the reputation information of e-commerce products is symmetric and asymmetric. The research results show that when the reputation information of e-commerce products is symmetrical, the reputation mechanism of the e-commerce platform can play a positive role, the platform income decreases, and the consumer surplus and the total social welfare level increase. The increment increases with the increase in consumer-side network externality, and the e-commerce platform transfers part of the surplus value to consumers. Due to the influence of network externality, reputation information asymmetry, and violation penalty cost, reputation asymmetry decreases consumer, merchant, and total social welfare and increases platform profits, indicating that the e-commerce platform lacks the economic motivation to govern the violation of reputation information. We recommend that the healthy development of e-commerce platforms proceeds from three aspects: building a reputation mechanism for e-commerce platforms that is jointly supervised by e-commerce platforms, third-party institutions, and social organizations; increasing the cost of punishment for violations; and exerting platform network effects to enhance the competitiveness of enterprises.
Process analysis and multi-parameter optimization of 5052 aluminum alloy FSW based on thermo-mechanical coupling and Taguchi method
Three-dimensional photoluminescence imaging of threading dislocations in GaN by sub-band optical excitation
Task offloading optimization in mobile edge computing based on a deep reinforcement learning algorithm using density clustering and ensemble learning
Upconverting microgauges reveal intraluminal force dynamics in vivo
Topolectrical space-time circuits
Rational engineering of minimally immunogenic nucleases for gene therapy
AbstractGenome editing using CRISPR-Cas systems is a promising avenue for the treatment of genetic diseases. However, cellular and humoral immunogenicity of genome editing tools, which originate from bacteria, complicates their clinical use. Here we report reduced immunogenicity (Red)(i)-variants of two clinically relevant nucleases, SaCas9 and AsCas12a. Through MHC-associated peptide proteomics (MAPPs) analysis, we identify putative immunogenic epitopes on each nuclease. Using computational modeling, we rationally design these proteins to evade the immune response. SaCas9 and AsCas12a Redi variants are substantially less recognized by adaptive immune components, including reduced binding affinity to MHC molecules and attenuated generation of cytotoxic T cell responses, yet maintain wild-type levels of activity and specificity. In vivo editing of PCSK9 with SaCas9.Redi.1 is comparable in efficiency to wild-type SaCas9, but significantly reduces undesired immune responses. This demonstrates the utility of this approach in engineering proteins to evade immune detection.
Measuring four facets of emotion beliefs in Germany: A German-language adaptation of the EBQ and its comparability across gender and different emotion abilities
Adaptive emotion regulation, involving the modulation of positive and negative emotions based on goals, is a crucial function for a person’s mental health and general well-being. Factors influencing successful emotion regulation include beliefs about emotions, such as the controllability and usefulness of emotions. The Emotion Beliefs Questionnaire (EBQ) was developed to assess these beliefs and has shown promise in predicting emotion regulation and psychopathology across different countries. This study aims to advance EBQ’s generalizability in measuring emotion beliefs by examining the scale’s different validities for a developed German version. In a German sample of 348 respondents, we show the scale’s factorial and broader construct validity as well as its factors’ reliability. Notably, we demonstrate that the German EBQ is mostly strictly measurement invariant across central sociodemographic variables like age and gender. Interestingly, we also find the scale to be robust across different levels of other psychological constructs such as emotional reactivity and efficacy.
Comparison of the growth, fruit quality and physiological characteristics of cucumber fertigated by three different nutrient solutions in soil culture and soilless culture systems
The hidden role of heterotrophic bacteria in early carbonate diagenesis
AbstractMicrobial impacts on early carbonate diagenesis, particularly the formation of Mg-carbonates at low temperatures, have long eluded scientists. Our breakthrough laboratory experiments with two species of halophilic aerobic bacteria and marine carbonate grains reveal that these bacteria created a distinctive protodolomite (disordered dolomite) rim around the grains. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) confirmed the protodolomite formation, while solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) revealed bacterial interactions with carboxylated organic matter, such as extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). We observed a significant carbon isotope fractionation (average δ13C = 11.3‰) and notable changes in Mg/Ca ratios throughout the experiments. Initial medium δ13C was − 18‰, sterile sediments were at 2‰ (n = 12), bacterial-altered sediments were − 6.8‰ (n = 12), and final medium δ13C was − 4.7‰. These results highlight the role of bacteria in driving organic carbon sequestration into Mg-rich carbonates and demonstrate the utility of NMR as a tool for detecting microbial biosignatures. This has significant implications for understanding carbonate diagenesis (dissolution and reprecipitation), climate science, and extraterrestrial research.