The psychological science accelerator's COVID-19 rapid-response dataset

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Psychological Science Accelerator coordinated three large-scale psychological studies to examine the effects of loss-gain framing, cognitive reappraisals, and autonomy framing manipulations on behavioral intentions and affective measures. The data collected (April to October 2020) included specific measures for each experimental study, a general questionnaire examining health prevention behaviors and COVID-19 experience, geographical and cultural context characterization, and demographic information for each participant. Each participant started the study with the same general questions and then was randomized to complete either one longer experiment or two shorter experiments. Data were provided by 73,223 participants with varying completion rates. Participants completed the survey from 111 geopolitical regions in 44 unique languages/dialects. The anonymized dataset described here is provided in both raw and processed formats to facilitate re-use and further analyses. The dataset offers secondary analytic opportunities to explore coping, framing, and self-determination across a diverse, global sample obtained at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which can be merged with other time-sampled or geographic data

Synthesis, structural characterization and antimycobacterial evaluation of several halogenated non-nitro benzothiazinones

8-Nitro-1,3-benzothiazin-4-ones (BTZs), with BTZ043 and PBTZ169 as the most advanced compounds, represent a new class of potent antitubercular agents, which irreversibly inhibit decaprenylphosphoryl-β-D-ribose-2′-epimerase (DprE1), an enzyme crucial for cell wall synthesis in the pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Synthesis, structural characterization and in vitro testing against Mycobacterium aurum DSM 43999 and M. tuberculosis H37Rv of halogenated 2-(4-ethoxycarbonylpiperazin-1-yl)-1,3-benzothiazin-4-ones lacking a nitro group are reported. X-ray crystallography reveals that the structure of the BTZ scaffold can significantly deviate from planarity. In contrast to recent reports, the results of the present study indicate that further investigation of halogenated non-nitro BTZs for antitubercular activity is less than a promising approach.The TWAS-DFG Coorperation Visits Programme from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and The World Academy of Sciences. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.http://link.springer.com/journal/44am2022Paraclinical Science

Benchmarking implementations of functional languages with ‘Pseudoknot', a float-intensive benchmark

Over 25 implementations of different functional languages are benchmarked using the same program, a floating-point intensive application taken from molecular biology. The principal aspects studied are compile time and execution time for the various implementations that were benchmarked. An important consideration is how the program can be modified and tuned to obtain maximal performance on each language implementation. With few exceptions, the compilers take a significant amount of time to compile this program, though most compilers were faster than the then current GNU C compiler (GCC version 2.5.8). Compilers that generate C or Lisp are often slower than those that generate native code directly: the cost of compiling the intermediate form is normally a large fraction of the total compilation time. There is no clear distinction between the runtime performance of eager and lazy implementations when appropriate annotations are used: lazy implementations have clearly come of age when it comes to implementing largely strict applications, such as the Pseudoknot program. The speed of C can be approached by some implementations, but to achieve this performance, special measures such as strictness annotations are required by non-strict implementations. The benchmark results have to be interpreted with care. Firstly, a benchmark based on a single program cannot cover a wide spectrum of ‘typical' applications. Secondly, the compilers vary in the kind and level of optimisations offered, so the effort required to obtain an optimal version of the program is similarly varie

The Meerkat Effect: Personality and Market Returns Affect Investors’ Portfolio Monitoring Behavior

Karlsson, Loewenstein and Seppi (2009) found that, following market downswings, investors are less likely to login to monitor their retirement portfolios. They concluded that, rather like (apocryphal) ostriches sticking their heads in the sand, investors avoid unpleasant information by reducing portfolio monitoring in response to news of negative market movement. We apply generalized non-linear mixed effects models to test for this selective information monitoring at an individual level in a new sample of active online investors. We see different behavior in this new sample. We find that investors increase their portfolio monitoring following both positive and daily negative market returns, behaving more like hyper-vigilant meerkats than head-in-the-sand ostriches. This pattern persists for logins not resulting in trades and weekend logins when markets are closed. Moreover, an investor personality trait – neuroticism - attenuates the pattern of portfolio monitoring suggesting that market–driven variation in portfolio monitoring is attributable to psychological factors

Abyssal food-web model indicates faunal carbon flow recovery and impaired microbial loop 26 years after a sediment disturbance experiment

Due to the predicted future demand for critical metals, abyssal plains covered with polymetallic nodules are currently being prospected for deep-seabed mining. Deep-seabed mining will lead to significant sediment disturbance over large spatial scales and for extended periods of time. The environmental impact of a small-scale sediment disturbance was studied during the ‘DISturbance and reCOLonization’ (DISCOL) experiment in the Peru Basin in 1989 when 10.8 km2 of seafloor were ploughed with a plough harrow. Here, we present a detailed description of carbon-based food-web models constructed from various datasets collected in 2015, 26 years after the experiment. Detailed observations of the benthic food web were made at three distinct sites: inside 26-year old plough tracks (IPT, subjected to direct impact from ploughing), outside the plough tracks (OPT, exposed to settling of resuspended sediment), and at reference sites (REF, no impact). The observations were used to develop highly-resolved food-web models for each site that quantified the carbon (C) fluxes between biotic (ranging from prokaryotes to various functional groups in meio-, macro-, and megafauna) and abiotic (e.g. detritus) compartments. The model outputs were used to estimate total system throughput, i.e., the sum of all C flows in the food web (the ‘ecological size’ of the system), and microbial loop functioning, i.e., the C-cycling through the prokaryotic compartment for each site. Both the estimated total system throughput and the microbial loop cycling were significantly reduced (by 16% and 35%, respectively) inside the plough tracks compared to the other two sites. Site differences in modelled faunal respiration varied among the different faunal compartments. Overall, modelled faunal respiration appeared to have recovered to, or exceeded reference values after 26-years. The model results indicate that food-web functioning, and especially the microbial loop, have not recovered from the disturbance that was inflicted on the abyssal site 26 years ago

App-based maintenance treatment for alcohol use disorder after acute inpatient treatment : Study protocol for a multicentre randomized controlled trial

Background: Alcohol use disorder, a prevalent and disabling mental health problem, is often characterized by a chronic disease course. While effective inpatient and aftercare treatment options exist, the transferal of treatment success into everyday life is challenging and many patients remain without further assistance. App-based in terventions with human guidance have great potential to support individuals after inpatient treatment, yet ev idence on their efficacy remains scarce. Objectives: To develop an app-based intervention with human guidance and evaluate its usability, efficacy, and cost-effectiveness. Methods: Individuals with alcohol use disorder (DSM-5), aged 18 or higher, without history of schizophrenia, undergoing inpatient alcohol use disorder treatment (N = 356) were recruited in eight medical centres in Bavaria, Germany, between December 2019 and August 2021. Participants were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to either receive access to treatment as usual plus an app-based intervention with human guidance (intervention group) or access to treatment as usual plus app-based intervention after the active study phase (waitlist control/TAU group). Telephone-based assessments are conducted by diagnostic interviewers three and six weeks as well as three and six months after randomization. The primary outcome is the relapse risk during the six months after randomization assessed via the Timeline Follow-Back Interview. Secondary outcomes include intervention usage, uptake of aftercare treatments, AUD-related psychopathology, general psychopathology, and quality of life. Discussion: This study will provide further insights into the use of app-based interventions with human guidance as maintenance treatment in individuals with AUD. If shown to be efficacious, the intervention may improve AUD treatment by assisting individuals in maintaining inpatient treatment success after returning into their home setting. Due to the ubiquitous use of smartphones, the intervention has the potential to become part of routine AUD care in Germany and countries with similar healthcare systems