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Discourse, incivility and language aggression in social media debates on Biafra separatist agitation: Implications for Nigeria’s democratic future
No full textThis is an Accepted Manuscript version of the article that was originally published in Media, Culture & Society OnlineFirst, January 27, 2025. © The Author(s) 2025, Article Reuse Guidelines: https://sagepub.com/journals-permissions. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437251314351.This study explores the use of incivility and language aggression in social media debates on Biafra separatist agitation. Using the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) approach, 611 samples which reflected the opinions of pro-Biafra and anti-Biafra groups were analyzed to highlight how incivility and language aggression shape the Biafra agitation social media discourses. Contrary to other studies that situate the use of incivility to the pro-Biafra ingroup alone, this study found that the use of dehumanizing metaphors, threats, and aggressive language are mutual strategies utilized by both pro-Biafra and anti-Biafra ingroups in advancing their viewpoints. A major finding which recurred in the study’s themes is that that lack of genuine post-war reconstruction is a major predictor of incivility and language aggression in the discourse of Biafra agitation. This implies that the mutual animosities present in the debates were driven by historical grudges, ethnic prejudices, and dearth of objective truth-telling.The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article
Hydrographic and Activity Data From: Light Sensitivity of the Arctic Copepod Metridia Longa During Midnight Sun and Polar Night
No full text“CTD-Light_Figs1andA3.csv” is a .csv file containing CTD data (MS-S, PN-S, PN-F) and downwelling irradiance data (MS-S and PN-F only). CTD data are location, depth (m), temperature (C), and salinity (psu). Downwelling irradiance data are location, depth (m), EdPAR (μmol photons cm-2 s-1), and EdPAR (photons cm-2 s-1). These data are presented in Figures 1 and A3 of the associated paper.
“SpectralData_Fig2.csv” is a .csv file containing data from locomotor activity experiments with spectral light stimuli. For each collection location (MS-S, PN-S, PN-F), the file contains three data tables showing the step-wise analysis of locomotor activity data: 1) summed beam breaks/4min interval, 2) normalized beam breaks/4min interval with wavelength-averaged dark values; and 3) normalized and dark-corrected beam breaks/4min interval. Each table contains Wavelength (nm), Light.Dark condition, and subsequent columns for each locomotor activity monitor tube position with each of these representing a single copepod replicate. These data are presented in Figure 2 of the associated paper.
“All Individuals_IrradianceData_Figs3and4.csv” is a .csv file containing data from locomotor activity experiments with irradiance light stimuli. The file contains 5 data tables showing beam breaks/4min interval for the five irradiance experiments in the paper (MS-S, PN-S, PN-F, PN-F -1C, PN-F 6C). Each table contains Experiment, locomotor activity monitor position, and stimulus irradiance level. Therefore, each row represents a single copepod replicate. These data are presented in Figures 3 and 4 of the associated paper.
“Significant Individuals_IrradianceData_FigA4.csv” is a .csv file from the above irradiance experiments where data are only provided from individual copepods that had significant model fits with four-parameter logistic dose-response function. The table contains Experiment, locomotor activity monitor position, logistic regression p-value, and half saturation of the function (log50_Irradiance, log photons cm-2 s-1). These data are presented in Figure A4 of the associated paper.
“LightAttenuationThresholdModel_Fig5.csv” is a .csv file containing data underwater light modeled from measurements. Data are Location (MS-S, PN-F), Depth (m), and EdPAR (photons cm-2 s-1). These data are presented in Figure 5 of the associated paper.We sampled the water column hydrography at three locations in the Barents Sea and Kongsfjorden, Svalbard during May 2022 (Midnight Sun) and January 2023 (Polar Night), then collected the copepod Metridia longa for behavioral experiments.
Sampling took place in May 2022 (Midnight Sun) and January 2023 (Polar Night) in the Barents Sea at two locations: 74.597 N, 29.057 E (Midnight Sun-shelf; MS-S) and 75.007 N, 15.117 E (Polar Night-shelf; PN-S). Further Polar Night sampling was conducted in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard at 78.967 N, 11.967 E (Polar Night-fjord; PN-F). For more details on sampling and instrumentation, see the paper associated with this dataset: Lightfoot et al. (2025) 247:118-133.
Collections of the copepod Metridia longa were used to measure irradiance and spectral activity responses of copepods in a novel laboratory locomotor activity apparatus. For more details on sampling, instrumentation, and experimental protocols see the paper associated with this dataset: Lightfoot et al. (2025) 247:118-133.Funding was provided by the Norwegian Research Council (NFR) project DeepImpact (NFR grant 300333) and PolarFront (NFR grant 326635) and by the CHASE and PRIZE projects (NE/R012733/1 and NE/P006302/1), part of the Changing Arctic Ocean program, jointly funded by the UK Research and Innovation Natural Environment Research Council and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Additional support for ML was provided through a graduate student research award from the University of Delaware Climate Hub
Optimization And Degradation Of Phosphoarginine-Bearing Substrates
No full textenterMembers of the Clp family of ATP-dependent proteases play critical
roles in protein turnover in a wide variety of organisms. These enzymes help
maintain quality control of cellular proteins and regulate diverse cellular
processes [1]. In the globally important human pathogen Mycobacterium
tuberculosis (Mtb) the ClpC1P1P2 protease, a member of this family, has
been identified as a promising target for novel antibiotics to treat drug-resistant
Mtb infections. Like all Clp proteases, ClpC1P1P2 contains two major
functional components: a ring-shaped unfoldase (ClpC1) and a barrel-shaped
peptidase (ClpP1P2) [2]. The ClpC1 unfoldase selectively recognizes protein
substrates. However, the process of substrate recognition is poorly
understood, and few specific physiological substrates have been described.
This makes it difficult to develop effective screens for ClpC1-targeting
antibiotics. Recent studies by the Clausen group (IMP, Austria) have shown
that post-translational phosphoarginine modifications (pArg) are recognized by
the ClpC unfoldase in Bacillus subtilis (Bsu) and effectively mark substrates for
destruction by the ClpCP protease [3]. The specific kinase that catalyzes
arginine phosphorylation in Bsu is McsB [4]. A recent study by our group
showed that pArg exists in mycobacteria, although the mycobacterial arginine
kinase and phosphatase remains unknown [5]. Additionally, we have found
that the pArg binding pockets present in Bsu ClpC are conserved across
Actinobacterial ClpC1s, suggesting that pArg modifications similarly function
as markers for degradation by ClpC1P1P2 in Mtb. In this study, we aimed to
optimize the in vitro generation and purification of pArg-bearing model
substrates using a panel of McsB arginine kinases from diverse bacterial
species, and to identify the most effective kinase for substrate
phosphorylation. We found that the psychrophilic kinase from Paenibacillus
glacialis (PglMcsB) achieved phosphorylation efficiency comparable to or
exceeding that of the previously used Geobacillus stearothermophilus McsB.
Furthermore, we established a robust Strep-Tactin affinity purification protocol
to obtain highly pure phosphorylated substrates. These advances improve the
toolkit for studying ClpC1P1P2 substrate recognition and lay the groundwork
for future investigations into pArg-mediated proteolysis in mycobacente
Motors and Dampers: The Energetic Tradeoffs in the Shod Foot With Increasing Walking Velocity
No full textThis article was originally published in Journal of Foot and Ankle Research. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/jfa2.70101
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.© 2025 The Author(s). Journal of Foot and Ankle Research published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Australian Podiatry Association and The Royal College of Podiatry.Background
The dual influences of velocity and footwear on ankle-foot energetics are particularly relevant for clinical populations who rely on footwear during ambulation. Although walking velocity influences energetic demands of foot structures, footwear may modify these relationships by restricting joint motion. This study aimed to characterize ankle-foot energetics while participants walked at a wide range of velocities while wearing supportive shoes.
Methods
Eighteen healthy participants walked at four height-normalized velocities (0.4–1.0 statures/second) in supportive footwear while kinematic and kinetic data were collected. Ankle, midtarsal, and metatarsophalangeal (MTP) work was quantified and compared using repeated-measures ANOVAs with Holm pairwise tests.
Results
MTP positive and negative work increased with shod walking velocity, though negative work increased substantially more than positive work. Midtarsal positive work also increased while maintaining minimal negative work across all velocities. Ankle positive work significantly increased with velocity accompanied by small but significant increases in negative work.
Conclusions
At all velocities, the MTP joint functioned as a mechanical damper and its damping characteristics became more pronounced as velocity increased. The midtarsal joint functioned as a strut, with a small motor role which became more prominent as velocity increased. The ankle had mixed roles, primarily between strut and spring, with a small damper/motor role that traded off with velocity (less damper more motor as velocity increased). The presence of supportive footwear attenuated positive and negative work across velocities when compared to previous barefoot studies, with the largest difference in the midtarsal's negative work, suggesting footwear substantially modifies natural foot mechanics through increasing velocities.This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (Award Number 2032155). The authors would like to thank Kevin Wolynetz for his assistance during many of the data collection
Why Some Job Seekers Avoid Family Firms
No full textThis article was originally published on FamilyBusiness.org. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.32617/1220-67dc22de5002b
Copyright © 2025 The Authors. Entrepreneur & Innovation Exchange is published at EIX.org. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/), which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and no modifications or adaptations are made. View EIX.org Authorship Terms at https://eix.org/termsFamily firm branding can make a company appear authentic, but it's also important to convey innovativeness, prestige, and a fair shot at getting ahead.
While approximately 75% of new jobs worldwide are in family firms (Shanker & Astrachan, 1996; Wittmer et al., 2022), these firms often struggle to recruit new employees. “When looking for an employer, many [job seekers] initially look to the well-known names of the large corporations and only rarely focus their career planning on family businesses,” notes Stefan Klemm, Founder and Owner of the Entrepreneurs Club in Munich. (Karrieretag Familienunternehmen, n.d.).
Why do job seekers rarely consider family firms as potential employers? Our recent study explored why many family firms experience difficulties in recruiting, and we assumed it had to do with how job seekers stereotype family firms. So, we set out to understand these stereotypes and whether they made family businesses less attractive to job seekers. We believed that answering these questions would help family businesses develop more effective strategies to attract the best candidates for jobs
Cryo-EM structures of HBV capsids from human cells at near-atomic resolution
No full textThis article was originally published in Structure. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.str.2025.11.005
© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc.
This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).HBV causes chronic infections that can lead to severe liver disease, yet current treatments rarely achieve a cure. The HBV capsid is a critical therapeutic target, but structural insights have largely relied on E. coli-derived particles lacking native modifications. Here, we present near-atomic resolution cryo-electron microscopy (EM) structures of HBV capsids purified from human embryonic kidney (HEK-293T) cells, capturing authentic architecture and post-translational modifications. A hydrophobic pocket at the intradimer interface harbors lipid-like densities corresponding to stearic and palmitic acids, confirmed by gas chromatography- mass spectrometry. Molecular dynamics simulations revealed that pocket accessibility is regulated by rotamer states of Lys96, Phe97, and Gln99, supporting an induced fit model of fatty acid binding. Reduced phosphorylation and increased RNA content further modulate capsid conformation and pocket openness. These findings highlight the dynamic regulation of HBV capsid structure and provide a framework for understanding
how capsid conformational dynamics contribute to viral assembly and envelopment.We thank Katie Culhane for her assistance in proofreading this article and providing valuable feedback on its clarity and presentation. We thank Han Chen and Jen Sloppy for microscopy training. We thank The Pennsylvania State College of Medicine for access to Cryo-EM (RRID: SCR_021178), TEM (RRID: SCR_021200), and the HPC (RRID: SCR_022953) Core facilities. The research was supported by the startup fund from The Pennsylvania State College of Medicine and NIH grant R01AI173104 to J.C.-Y.W., R37AI043453 to J.H, and P20GM104316-10 to J.A.H.-P. MD simulations were enabled by the Blue Waters sustained-petascale computing project (NSF awards OCI-0725070 and ACI-1238993), a joint effort of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and its National Center for Supercomputing Applications.MD trajectory management used the BioStore resource (NIH awards P20GM103446 and S10OD028725). MD trajectory analysis used the Delta supercomputer through NSF ACCESS award BIO-240029 to J.A.H.P. During
article preparation, Dr. Liu was supported by the Youth Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC grant no. 32300124). The graphical abstract was created in BioRender (Wang, J. (2025) https://BioRender.com/9n3xq10)
HarvestStat: a global effort towards open and standardized sub-national agricultural data
No full textThis article was originally published in Environmental Research Letters. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/adcb54.
© 2025 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd.
Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.Agricultural production statistics underpin diverse research efforts and development activities. Yet despite their critical importance, efforts to collate, update, and harmonize detailed sub-national agricultural production statistics are frequently redundant and incomplete due to the substantial time, effort, and resources required. The persisting lack of coordination and standards in the food systems data community wastes valuable resources and hinders advances in action-oriented food systems knowledge. Here we introduce the HarvestStat sub-national data consortium as an open-source, collaborative, and transparent model to overcome these challenges. HarvestStat is collaboratively producing publicly available databases and datasets for the food systems community and the broader environmental and sustainability sciences by moving beyond closed and disjointed data-gathering efforts. We are guided by core principles of complete data openness—prioritizing high standards of quality assurance; active inclusion—emphasizing involvement from local experts; and collaboration—fostering engagement across communities of data producers and users. We extend an open global call to action, inviting organizations and individuals to engage in advancing this critical agenda
Meta-Evaluative Practices of Clinical and Translational Research Evaluators
No full textThis article was originally published in Journal of Clinical and Translational Science. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/cts.2025.10121
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Association for Clinical and Translational ScienceIntroduction: The NIH Institutional Development Award (IDeA) program was created to build
capacity and enhance research in states with historically low levels of NIH funding. IDeA
Clinical and Translational Research (CTR) networks are focused on building statewide and
regional capacity to conduct biomedical research. The tracking and evaluation component of
each CTR is tasked with collecting data to facilitate continuous improvement and measure
impact. Methods: This paper presents findings from a survey conducted with IDeA-CTR
evaluators examining the following questions: 1) To what extent do evaluators use metaevaluative
practices and how does meta-evaluation inform their evaluation? and 2) What
challenges evaluators face in their evaluation planning and implementation? Results: Findings
show that 50% of CTRs conducted some form of meta-evaluation. Further, quantitative and
qualitative responses tell a compelling story of the challenges in translational research
evaluation. The most prominent were the development of feasible and useful data management
systems, the selection and endorsement of program-wide impact metrics, and the promulgation
of realistic expectations regarding feasibility and utility for recipients of the evaluation, including
expectations for project impacts that lead to systemic change. Conclusions: Findings suggest the
importance of internally adopting a participatory, collaborative approach to evaluation and
externally sharing insights with and adopting strategies from fellow evaluators within a learning
community. This study promotes the value of conducting meta-evaluation in CTR settings,
demonstrates means for and results from doing so, and shares best practices for addressing
challenges encountered by many CTR evaluators.This work was partially supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the
National Institutes of Health (grant numbers U54-GM104941 [Pl:Hicks], U54-GM115677
[PI:Rounds], and U54-GM115458 [PI:Rizzo])