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This article tests the effect of a novel credit card payment format—repayment-by-purchase—on consumers' payments toward credit card debt. In contrast to typical balance repayment, where consumers make repayments relative to a total amount owed, repayment-by-purchase prompts consumers to select items (e.g., a Starbucks coffee) or categories of purchase (e.g., restaurant and café purchases) and to make payments toward their related debt. A field experiment first suggests that customers who opted into repayment-by-purchase paid 12.18% more toward their statement balance than a control group. Subsequently, five lab experiments show that consumers repaying-by-purchase increase repayment by an average of 22.47% over typical balance repayment. Process evidence suggests that these differences may be driven by repayment-by-purchase's power to increase purchase salience, which in turns increases perceptions of progress toward reducing debt. Consistent with this theory, the effect of repayment-by-purchase on bill repayment emerges regardless of whether consumers repay durable versus nondurable goods, and for specific items or categories of purchases, as long as the bill uses labels that are concrete enough to raise past purchase salience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data from the UK Local BMD, a volunteer project to transcribe the birth, marriage and death records of England and Wales, is a rare onomastic resource, being one of the few public datasets to contain full names. However, it has yet to be presented in a form amenable to large-scale analysis. This article processes 25,213,860 birth and 9,887,244 death records--collectively representing 204,427 names across 289 years-into a resource for community use. The data are presented alongside a number of summary statistics and both internal and external validation of its integrity. The data, along with the code used to generate it, are available at http://www.github.com/sjbush/uk%5Fbmd for non-commercial research purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spermatogenesis involves a complex process of cellular differentiation maintained by spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs). Being critical to male reproduction, it is generally assumed that spermatogenesis starts and ends in equivalent transcriptional states in related species. Based on single-cell gene expression profiling, it has been proposed that undifferentiated human spermatogonia can be subclassified into four heterogenous subtypes, termed states 0, 0A, 0B, and 1. To increase the resolution of the undifferentiated compartment and trace the origin of the spermatogenic trajectory, we re-analysed the single-cell (sc) RNA-sequencing libraries of 34 post-pubescent human testes to generate an integrated atlas of germ cell differentiation. We then used this atlas to perform comparative analyses of the putative SSC transcriptome both across human development (using 28 foetal and pre-pubertal scRNA-seq libraries) and across species (including data from sheep, pig, buffalo, rhesus and cynomolgus macaque, rat, and mouse). Alongside its detailed characterisation, we show that the transcriptional heterogeneity of the undifferentiated spermatogonial cell compartment varies not only between species but across development. Our findings associate 'state 0B' with a suppressive transcriptomic programme that, in adult humans, acts to functionally oppose proliferation and maintain cells in a ready-to-react state. Consistent with this conclusion, we show that human foetal germ cells—which are mitotically arrested—can be characterised solely as state 0B. While germ cells with a state 0B signature are also present in foetal mice (and are likely conserved at this stage throughout mammals), they are not maintained into adulthood. We conjecture that in rodents, the foetal-like state 0B differentiates at birth into the renewing SSC population, whereas in humans it is maintained as a reserve population, supporting testicular homeostasis over a longer reproductive lifespan while reducing mutagenic load. Together, these results suggest that SSCs adopt differing evolutionary strategies across species to ensure fertility and genome integrity over vastly differing life histories and reproductive timeframes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY: Whole‐genome duplication (WGD) leads to the duplication of both coding and non‐coding sequences within an organism's genome, providing an abundant supply of genetic material that can drive evolution, ultimately contributing to plant adaptation and speciation. Although non‐coding sequences contain numerous regulatory elements, they have been understudied compared to coding sequences. In order to address this gap, we explored the evolutionary patterns of regulatory sequences, coding sequences and transcriptomes using conserved non‐coding elements (CNEs) as regulatory element proxies following the recent WGD event in opium poppy (Papaver somniferum). Our results showed similar evolutionary patterns in subgenomes of regulatory and coding sequences. Specifically, the biased or unbiased retention of coding sequences reflected the same pattern as retention levels in regulatory sequences. Further, the divergence of gene expression patterns mediated by regulatory element variations occurred at a more rapid pace than that of gene coding sequences. However, gene losses were purportedly dependent on relaxed selection pressure in coding sequences. Specifically, the rapid evolution of tissue‐specific benzylisoquinoline alkaloid production in P. somniferum was associated with regulatory element changes. The origin of a novel stem‐specific ACR, which utilized ancestral cis‐elements as templates, is likely to be linked to the evolutionary trajectory behind the transition of the PSMT1‐CYP719A21 cluster from high levels of expression solely in P. rhoeas root tissue to its elevated expression in P. somniferum stem tissue. Our findings demonstrate that rapid regulatory element evolution can contribute to the emergence of new phenotypes and provide valuable insights into the high evolvability of regulatory elements. Significance Statement: This study demonstrates that the rapid evolution of regulatory elements can drive the emergence of novel phenotypes in plants. Our investigation, in particular, revealed that the evolution of stem‐specific high‐expression patterns of BIAs genes in P. somniferum was linked to rapid changes in regulatory elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Baby names are often used to model the mechanisms of cultural evolution, as they are not given arbitrarily but on the basis of their perceived associations. Datasets showing birth registrations over time track changes in these perceptions, and thereby in tastes and ideas. Using birth registration data, numerous transmission biases have been identified that predispose someone to favour one cultural variant (i.e., a name) over another. While this research is facilitated by the annual release of many countries' birth registration data, these datasets are typically limited to yearly counts of forenames. To gain insight into name transmission biases not detectable from birth registration data alone, this study parses the birth, marriage, and death registers of England to generate a dataset of 690,603 name transmission relationships, given between 1838 and 2014, and linking the names of both parents and child. The data reveal long-term trends in matro- and patronymic naming, once common practices affecting approximately 15% of male and 8% of female records per year throughout the 19th century. These practices declined precipitously throughout the 20th century, in the aftermath of the First World War. These results highlight the importance of contextualising birth registration data when identifying naming trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an age in which anthropocentrism is increasingly under fire, the investment of the artistic tradition in that paradigm deserves particular attention. Portraiture is especially significant, as it seems to be the anthropocentric art form par excellence. It seems to reinforce key features of anthropocentrism: the distinction of the human from the nonhuman and the superiority of the former over the latter. We can pursue these questions most effectively if we distinguish descriptive ("weak") anthropocentrism from normative ("strong") anthropocentrism. The former involves some sort of focus on humans, the latter combines this with claims about their superiority over the nonhuman. Certain works by influential portraitists, such as Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, and Ana Mendieta, contest both weak and strong anthropocentrism. Other portraits seem to be involved in weak anthropocentrism, but not necessarily strong anthropocentrism. Considering the artwork of Alice Neel and the philosophy of Judith Butler, I argue that such works have an important ethical role to play in orienting us in our relationships with humans, precisely in resisting strong anthropocentrism even in expressing weak anthropocentrism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Internet offers a huge array of teaching resources for statistics. Here we present a selection of engaging Web-based tools, ranging from class surveys to individual simulation experiments.

Advances in the field of molecular biology, powered by a technological revolution, have increased dramatically over the past decades. Notable developments such as the cloning of adult sheep, the sequencing of the human genome, and the production of genetically modified organisms capture the attention of biologists, their students, and the general public. Flexible inquiry-based molecular protocols that are easily adaptable in a classroom setting are essential to the integration of molecular biology into laboratories. Unfortunately, many biological techniques are not easily adapted for use in investigative laboratories, particularly in the discipline of molecular biology, where established protocols characteristically require extensive fine-tuning when applied to a novel problem. This article discusses the adaptation of the comet assay, a research tool used to detect DNA damage, for use as an inquiry based molecular laboratory. This exercise reinforces understanding of the structure of DNA, one of the most important molecules in biology, by allowing students to examine directly the reactivity of DNA with a substance of their choice. Specifically, the laboratory focuses upon the bonding and structure of the sugar-phosphate backbone of DNA, by considering alterations in the usual state of the molecule. Students learn about DNA by examining the consequences of changes in the structure of the molecule. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)

Hospitals improve safety and workflow efficiency by implementing systems for identification of items and patients. Little is known about the implementation of these systems across entire hospitals. The aim of this study is to identify challenges and enablers of adoption of such systems at scale, within a hospital organisation and across the English NHS. The focus is on the experience of the Scan4Safety project at Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust (UK). Study methods are qualitative and include interviews with staff and review of documents. This poster paper presents preliminary findings of research in progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]