The effects of land use change on ant communities in New England

Urbanisation and agricultural expansion are two of the most prevalent and intense forms of land use change worldwide and can have dramatic consequences on biodiversity and biotic community structure. Ants are extremely widespread, ecologically diverse and small ectotherms that are sensitive to changes from a wide range of environmental factors. Therefore, ants make an ideal study organism to examine the effects of anthropogenic land use change on biotic communities. In this study, we examined differences in ant species richness and community composition between urban parks, farms and forest fragments, and related these differences to environmental factors that vary among each of these three habitat types. We sampled 46 sites across Worcester County and found farms have significantly lower ant species richness than parks, and all habitat types had different ant community compositions. We also identified higher plant species richness is associated with higher ant species richness, and both plant species richness and air temperature are associated with differences in community composition. Our findings support that habitats affected by human land use will host different assemblages of ant species compared to those found in nearby natural habitats, as seen in our New England forest fragments. © 2023 The Authors. Insect Conservation and Diversity published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Royal Entomological Society

The effect of crime on mental health in South Africa

This paper examines the impact of district-level crime rates in South Africa on individual depression symptoms. We use panel data from the National Income Dynamics Survey collected between 2008 and 2014 and estimate an individual fixed effects regression model, thus controlling for characteristics of the individual\u27s environment that could affect crime and mental health. We find that an increase of one standard deviation in property (violent) crime is associated with a 7.2 (8.7) percentage point increase in the probability of depression symptoms. Analysis of potential mechanisms suggests that indirect exposure to crime likely affects mental health by increasing stress rather than by changing physical health or labor market outcomes. © 2023 The Authors. Review of Development Economics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Peatlands Versus Permafrost: Landscape Features as Drivers of Dissolved Organic Matter Composition in West Siberian Rivers

West Siberia contains some of the largest soil carbon stores on Earth owing to vast areas of peatlands and permafrost, with the region warming far faster than the global average. Organic matter transported in fluvial systems is likely to undergo distinct compositional changes as peatlands and permafrost warm. However, the influence of peatlands and permafrost on future dissolved organic matter (DOM) composition is not well characterized. To better understand how these environmental drivers may impact DOM composition in warming Arctic rivers, we used ultrahigh resolution Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry to analyze riverine DOM composition across a latitudinal gradient of West Siberia spanning both permafrost-influenced and permafrost-free watersheds and varying proportions of peatland cover. We find that peatland cover explains much of the variance in DOM composition in permafrost-free watersheds in West Siberia, but this effect is suppressed in permafrost-influenced watersheds. DOM from warm permafrost-free watersheds was more heterogenous, higher molecular weight, and relatively nitrogen enriched in comparison to DOM from cold permafrost-influenced watersheds, which were relatively enriched in energy-rich peptide-like and aliphatic compounds. Therefore, we predict that as these watersheds warm, West Siberian rivers will export more heterogeneous DOM with higher average molecular weight than at present. Such compositional shifts have been linked to different fates of DOM in downstream ecosystems. For example, a shift toward higher molecular weight, less energy-rich DOM may lead to a change in the fate of this material, making it more susceptible to photochemical degradation processes, particularly in the receiving Arctic Ocean. © 2024. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved

How people, rainfall and vegetation shape tropical island fire regimes across Micronesia

Aim: To provide the first regional analysis of contemporary drivers of Pacific Island fire regimes. Location: Islands of Palau, Yap, Guam, Rota, Tinian, Saipan, Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kosrae. Time Period: 1950-present. Methods: We used land cover, soil maps and contemporary fire histories to (1) describe the relationships among fire activity, vegetation, rainfall and island geography and population; (2) examine the spatial associations of forest and savanna vegetation with respect to fire and soil types; and (3) link fire and savanna distribution to intra-annual and inter-annual rainfall variability. Results: Savanna extent was positively correlated with island age and the range of mean monthly rainfall. The percent of area burned annually reached upwards of 2%–10% of island land areas, correlated positively with rainfall seasonality, and occurred largely within savannas. Savannas were more frequent on acidic soils with higher aluminium than forests but distributed across all soil types. El Niño intensity correlated negatively with dry season rainfall over the entire study region and positively with annual area burned on Guam. Main Conclusions: The contemporary extents of savannas in Micronesia reflect Pacific Islanders\u27 long-term use of fire to shape vegetation and are modulated by inter- and intra-annual rainfall variability. These relationships provide baseline information for ongoing fire management and mitigation projects throughout Micronesia and critical insight for assessing and anticipating fire risk in other insular areas where fire data are limited. © 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Synthesis and evaluation of 2,5-substituted pyrimidines as small-molecule gankyrin binders

Background: Gankyrin is an ankyrin-repeat protein that promotes cell proliferation, tumor development and cancer progression when overexpressed. Aim: To design and synthesize a novel series of gankyrin-binding small molecules predicated on a 2,5-pyrimidine scaffold. Materials & methods: The synthesized compounds were evaluated for their antiproliferative activity, ability to bind gankyrin and effects on cell cycle progression and the proteasomal degradation pathway. Results: Compounds 188 and 193 demonstrated the most potent antiproliferative activity against MCF7 and A549 cells, respectively. Both compounds also demonstrated the ability to effectively bind gankyrin, disrupt proteasomal degradation and inhibit cell cycle progression. Conclusion: The 2,5-pyrimidine scaffold exhibits a novel and promising strategy for binding gankyrin and inhibiting cancer cell proliferation. © 2024 Future Medicine Ltd.. All rights reserved

Phylogenomics reveals extensive misidentification of fungal strains from the genus Aspergillus

Modern taxonomic classification is often based on phylogenetic analyses of a few molecular markers, although single-gene studies are still common. Here, we leverage genome-scale molecular phylogenetics (phylogenomics) of species and populations to reconstruct evolutionary relationships in a dense data set of 710 fungal genomes from the biomedically and technologically important genus Aspergillus. To do so, we generated a novel set of 1,362 high-quality molecular markers specific for Aspergillus and provided profile Hidden Markov Models for each, facilitating their use by others. Examining the resulting phylogeny helped resolve ongoing taxonomic controversies, identified new ones, and revealed extensive strain misidentification (7.59% of strains were previously misidentified), underscoring the importance of population-level sampling in species classification. These findings were corroborated using the current standard, taxonomically informative loci. These findings suggest that phylogenomics of species and populations can facilitate accurate taxonomic classifications and reconstructions of the Tree of Life. © 2024 American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved

Hydrothermal synthesis of (C5H14N2)[CoCl4]⸳0.5H2O: Crystal structure, spectroscopic characterization, thermal behavior, magnetic properties and biological evaluation

The organic-inorganic compound (C5H14N2)[CoCl4]⸳0.5H2O, I, was characterized by various physicochemical techniques. The X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that the compound crystallizes in the centrosymmetric space group C2/c of the monoclinic system. The atomic arrangement the Co(II) complex is built from isolated [CoCl4]2– anions, 1-methylpiperazine-1,4-diium [C5H14N2]2+ cations and free water molecules. The crystal structure study showed that the cohesion of I is assured through N–H···Cl and N–H···O hydrogen bonds giving birth to a 3-D architecture. Hirshfeld surface analysis revealed that Cl···H/H···Cl and H···H (58.5 and 36.4%, respectively) are the most significant interactions between species. Minor O···H/H···O interactions are also present. The compound was characterized by thermal analysis, TGA-DTA showed the removal of the co-crystallized water before 100 °C and a first mass loss at around 120 °C. Magnetic measurements are in good agreement with isolated, S = 3/2, tetrahedral [CoCl4]2− anions. The negative Weiss constant of -1.35 indicates single-ion anisotropy and very weak antiferromagnetic interactions. UV–visible spectroscopy reveals three weak absorption bands in the visible range due to the d-d electronic transitions typical of the Co(II) tetra-coordinated. A bioassay showed antibacterial activity against the gram negative Klebsiella pneumonia and gram positive Bacillus ceureus, Listeria monocytogenes, and Micrococcus lutues

Ripeness obscured: inductive lessons from Türkiye’s (transactional) mediation in the Russia–Ukraine war

Purpose: Conventional wisdom tells us that mediation without ripeness is a fool’s errand (Zartman and Touval, 1985). What, then, is Türkiye’s motivation for mediating the war in Ukraine in lieu of ripeness – and what can its behavior as a mediator tell us about that motivation? In pursuit of this question, this paper inductively analyzes Turkish mediation in the Ukraine war to unpack the relationship between a contextual (ripeness) and actor-level (motivation) variable. Of particular interest is the decision-making and behavior of third parties (like Türkiye in Ukraine) who elect to mediate highly complex conflicts in which ripeness is indiscernible. The purpose of this research is not to propose or test a causal relationship between obscured ripeness and mediation, but rather to examine mediation behavior in situations where ripeness is obscured. Design/methodology/approach: The impact of weaponized information on ripeness and third-party mediation is evaluated through an original, systematic and inductive case study analysis of Turkish mediation in the Russia–Ukraine war. As an intense theater of operations for information warfare for well over a decade, the war in Ukraine serves as an especially apt choice for an analysis of “obscured ripeness.” Likewise, Türkiye’s anomalous position as the only substantive source of mediation in the conflict lends significance to an empirical examination of its motivation and behavior as a mediator. Findings: This research reveals that the pervasive use of weaponized information in the Russia–Ukraine war has distorted and disordered the information environment, thereby obscuring the ability of third parties to determine if the conflict is or could be ripe for mediation. However, the condition of obscured ripeness that prevails in the conflict has not proven a deterrent for mediation by Türkiye, which, as the only mediator in the conflict, has used a transactional approach to mediation motivated by self-regarding interests and animated by a manipulative mediation strategy. In sum, this inductive analysis of Turkish mediation in Ukraine reveals that the use of weaponized information in a conflict indirectly selects on transactional mediation (and mediators). The significance of this finding is magnified by the widespread use of weaponized information in contemporary conflicts as well as the declining frequency of third-party mediation. Originality/value: There have been few, if any, systematic assessments in Turkish mediation of the Russia–Ukraine war, and none specifically concerned with the effects of weaponized information. Additionally, the paper proposes a typology of mediator motivation that is used to structure that assessment, while also introducing a new concept (“obscured ripeness”) and linking that concept both to the existing literature on ripeness and to the use of weaponized information in contemporary armed conflicts. As such, this manuscript represents an important contribution both to the empirical and theoretical landscape with respect to the study of mediation and international conflict management. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited

A World Without Civilians

Mary Kaldor claimed that before World War II one civilian died for every eight combatants, that figure inversed with eight civilians dying for every soldier afterward. Kaldor’s averages are only slightly different in the post-9/11 era of “humane war” where civilians now comprise 90 per cent of wartime casualties. In an attempt to justify illegal acts of collective punishment and targeted assassinations, states have declared civilians “collateral damage” (acceptable casualties) and “human shields” (permissible targets). Neve Gordon and Nicola Perugini have systematically documented how blurring the distinction between combatant and non-combatant has served states that seek to efface protections civilians are afforded under the Fourth Geneva Convention. In Gaza, as conflict zones in Syria and Chechnya, civilians are declared “human shields” even while they attempt to flee areas for safety or live inside “safe zones.” These new norms of genocidal warfare are an ominous portent for a posthuman future in which entire populations are no longer categorized civilian

Optimal selection and investment-allocation decisions for sustainable supplier development practices

Organization’s sustainability performance is influenced by its suppliers’ sustainability performance. This relationship makes sustainable supplier development a strategic competitive option for a buyer or focal organization. When considering sustainable supplier development practices (SSDPs) adoption, organizations have to balance and consider their limited financial resources and operational constraints. It becomes necessary to both select the best SSDPs set and investment allocation among the selected SSDP set such that the organization can maximize overall sustainability performance level. In this paper, an integrated formal modeling methodology using DEMATEL, the NK model, and multi-objective linear programming model is used support this objective. The proposed methodology is evaluated in a practical sustainable supply chain field study of an equipment manufacturing company in China. Through case study, we found that the interdependency among SSDPs must be considered in SSDPs selection and investment allocation problem. Theoretical, managerial and methodology implications, conclusions, and directions for future research are also presented. © 2023, The Author(s)