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The question of what contributes to users' identification with media characters remains an open issue in research. Apart from media interactivity, user characteristics like gender, age, immersive tendencies, and factual transportation into the narrative are promising factors. Yet, research is still in its infancy, and the usage of different media limits cross-study comparability. Hence, the current study set out to examine predictors of character identification using a text-based fiction with purported interactivity which was inspired by interactive fiction (IF) games. In an online experiment, 228 participants aged 15-65 years were randomly assigned to either an active condition where they could choose from different options, or a passive condition where they only read the story. Additionally, participants filled out questionnaires assessing immersive tendencies, level of identification, and narrative transportation. A multiple linear regression model tested for predictors of character identification. Apart from age and gender which remained non-significant, interactivity, immersive tendencies, and transportation into narrative significantly predicted identification with the IF's main character. The current findings support theoretical models on media interactivity and identification, yet several open issues such as the role of media content (engaging vs. mundane) and character features (e.g., similarity with user) remain to be answered., Author(s): Anna Felnhofer [sup.1] [sup.2] , Lena Wittmann [sup.3] , Adelais Reichmann [sup.4] , Dorothea König-Teshnizi [sup.5] , Oswald D. Kothgassner [sup.2] [sup.4] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.22937.3d, 0000 0000 9259 [...]

Abstract Interaction of intense lasers with nm thick targets provides an attractive regime for the acceleration of ions of all types. Acceleration of heavy ions however is undermined in the presence of low charge contaminant species due to their higher charge-to-mass ratio. Here we show narrow-band acceleration of very heavy Au ions from ~15 nm Au foils driven by a sub-Petawatt laser, with spectral peaks of 1.5 ± 0.5 GeV at fluxes on the order of 1012 particles per steradian. 3D and 2D particle-in-cell simulations show a complex interplay between different acceleration mechanisms at different stages of the interaction, suggesting the spectrally peaked Au ion bunches stem from strong radiation pressure acceleration on a heavy-ion dominant plasma in the moments just before transparency, followed by an efficient acceleration due to transparency-enhanced mechanisms.

Cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) has emerged as a reliable method for soil moisture and snow estimation. However, the applicability of this method beyond research has been limited due to, among others, the use of relatively large and expensive sensors. This paper presents the tests conducted on a new scintillator-based sensor especially designed to jointly measure neutron counts, muons and total gamma rays. The neutron signal is first compared against two conventional gas-tube-based CRNS sensors at two locations. The estimated soil moisture is further assessed at four agricultural sites, based on gravimetric soil moisture collected within the sensor footprint. Muon fluxes are compared to the incoming neutron variability measured at a neutron monitoring station and total gammas counts are compared to the signal detected by a gamma ray spectrometer. The results show that the neutron dynamic detected by the new scintillator-based CRNS sensor is well in agreement with conventional CRNS sensors. The derived soil moisture also agreed well with the gravimetric soil moisture measurements. The muons and the total gamma rays simultaneously detected by the sensor show promising features to account for the incoming variability and for discriminating irrigation and precipitation events, respectively. Further experiments and analyses should be conducted, however, to better understand the accuracy and the added value of these additional data for soil moisture estimation. Overall, the new scintillator design shows to be a valid and compact alternative to conventional CRNS sensors for non-invasive soil moisture monitoring and to open the path to a wide range of applications.

Abstract Riverbed sediments have recently been found to be an important reservoir for microplastics. But the hydrogeological factors that control the abundance of microplastics are complex and conceptual frameworks priorising the parameters affecting their transport and retention during deep riverbed filtration are still missing. In this study a series of saturated column experiments was conducted to investigate the vertical distribution patterns of secondary polystyrene fragments (100–2000 μm) in dependence on their particle size, grain size of the sediment, seepage velocity and duration of infiltration flow. The columns with a length of 50 cm were operated with flow velocities between 1.8 m d−1 and 27 m d−1. Invasive samples obtained after the experiments were density separated and then depth profiles of microplastic concentrations were retrieved using fluorescence imaging analysis. Most polystyrene particles were retained in the upper 20 cm and 15 cm of the medium gravel and coarse sand sediments, respectively. Through the high particle retention riverbed sediments can act as a temporary sink or long term retention site for the transport of microplastic particles (MPPs) from streams to oceans. A small fraction of particles ranging from 100 to 500 μm in size was observed down to infiltration depths of 50 cm suggesting that MPPs at the pore scale have the potential to be advectively transferred via hyporheic exchange or induced bank filtration into coarse riverbed sediments and alluvial aquifers. MPP abundance over column depth follows an exponential relationship with a filter coefficient that was found to depend significantly on the flow rate, MPP and sediment grain size, as indicated by multiple linear regression (R2 = 0.92). The experimentally derived empirical relation allows to estimate particle abundances of initially negatively buoyant MPP in riverbed sediments by surface water infiltration.

Background: Childhood fractures are frequent. The aim of this study was to evaluate their epidemiological and clinical peculiarities in our context. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective study that focused on the files of children with a fracture. They were aged 0–15 years and received between January 2011 and December 2015 at the Emergency Department of the National Teaching Hospital of Cotonou. Results: Two hundred and eighty fractures were recorded in 257 children. The average age was 8.24 years (7 days–15 years). Older children (6–10 years) were the most affected with 33.8% of cases. The predominance was male (sex ratio = 2.3:1). The aetiologies were dominated by road traffic accidents (45.1%) followed by domestic accidents (42.7%). Fractures were predominant in the lower limbs (52.1%). The most affected segments were the leg (25.4%) and the femur (23.6%). The fracture was open in 13.9% of cases. Conclusion: Childhood fractures interest preferentially the older boys. Then, road traffic accidents are the most frequent circumstances of occurrence in our context. Measures to prevent the main causes of these fractures must be taken, in order to reduce their frequency and ensure the development of children.

The decline since European colonization in longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) within its range in the southeastern United States, attributed to factors including both site conversion and fire exclusion has spurred interest in the re-establishment of the species. Land that originally supported longleaf pine in the southeastern United States has often been converted for agricultural use, loblolly pine (Pinus taeda Mill.) plantations, and urban development. Longleaf pine was found on a wide range of soil properties due to frequent fires which kept many competing species suppressed; fire has often been excluded due to human health, safety, and liability concerns. Longleaf pine ecosystem restoration efforts might be best focused on soils that have characteristics that naturally restrain herbaceous and hardwood competition. Properties of three soil series in east Texas that historically or are currently supporting longleaf pine ecosystems were evaluated. Analysis of Variance, Principal Component Analysis, and regression techniques were used to compare soil properties; while all three soils historically supported longleaf pine, they vary in texture, depth to argillic horizons, nutrient availability, available water capacity, and other parameters which are likely related to site quality, as measured by site index. Longleaf pine site index is influenced by depth to E and the first argillic B horizons, B horizon texture and nutrients. B horizon physical and chemical variables appear to be the most influential for longleaf pine site index on these sites, and should be considered when evaluating potential sites for longleaf pine restoration efforts.

Satisfaction with the detection process of autism and its determinants was investigated using data from the Autism Spectrum Disorder in the European Union (2015-2018) network. A total of 1342 family members, including 1278 parents, completed an online survey collecting information about their experience and satisfaction with the early detection of autism in their child. Overall, the level of satisfaction varied considerably from one respondent to another. Difficulty in finding information about detection services, lack of professional guidance and support in response to first concerns, finding a diagnostic service on one's own, and a delay of more than 4 months between the confirmation of concerns and the first appointment with a specialist were all experiences individually associated with greater odds of being less satisfied. Using a dominance analysis approach, we further identified professional guidance and support in response to first concerns as the most important predictor of the level of satisfaction. These findings highlight the aspects of the process that need to be improved to enhance the experience of the detection process and are therefore relevant to guide health administrations toward actions to be implemented to this effect.

Abstract The primary reason for the failure of malaria vector control across endemic regions is the widespread insecticide resistance observed in Anopheles vectors. The most dominant African vectors of malaria parasites are Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles funestus mosquitoes. These species often exhibit divergent behaviours and adaptive changes underscoring the importance of deploying active and effective measures in their control. Unlike An. gambiae, An. funestus mosquitoes are poorly studied in Benin Republic. However, recent reports indicated that An. funestus can adapt and colonize various ecological niches owing to its resistance against insecticides and adaptation to changing breeding habitats. Unfortunately, scientific investigations on the contribution of An. funestus to malaria transmission, their susceptibility to insecticide and resistance mechanism developed are currently insufficient for the design of better control strategies. In an attempt to gather valuable information on An. funestus, the present review examines the progress made on this malaria vector species in Benin Republic and highlights future research perspectives on insecticide resistance profiles and related mechanisms, as well as new potential control strategies against An. funestus. Literature analysis revealed that An. funestus is distributed all over the country, although present in low density compared to other dominant malaria vectors. Interestingly, An. funestus is being found in abundance during the dry seasons, suggesting an adaptation to desiccation. Among the An. funestus group, only An. funestus sensu stricto (s.s.) and Anopheles leesoni were found in the country with An. funestus s.s. being the most abundant species. Furthermore, An. funestus s.s. is the only one species in the group contributing to malaria transmission and have adapted biting times that allow them to bite at dawn. In addition, across the country, An. funestus were found resistant to pyrethroid insecticides used for bed nets impregnation and also resistant to bendiocarb which is currently being introduced in indoor residual spraying formulation in malaria endemic regions. All these findings highlight the challenges faced in controlling this malaria vector. Therefore, advancing the knowledge of vectorial competence of An. funestus, understanding the dynamics of insecticide resistance in this malaria vector, and exploring alternative vector control measures, are critical for sustainable malaria control efforts in Benin Republic.

Abstract Recent studies showed significant associations between socio-demographic, lifestyle factors, polymorphic variant rs6265, and smoking cessation behaviours. We examined rs6265 TT, TC and CC genotypes and their association with socio-demographic and other variables, including mental health status, drinking, exercise, and smoking behaviour among Taiwanese adults. Data on rs6265 were retrieved from the Taiwan Biobank, which contained genetic data collected between 2008 to 2019 from 20,584 participants (aged 30–70 years). Participants who smoked for more than 6 months prior to enrolment were categorized as smokers. If they had smoked and later quit for more than 6 months, they were classified as former smokers. Information regarding drinking, exercise, depression, and bipolar disorder were obtained through questionnaires and were categorized as either as affirmative (yes) or negative (no) responses. In contrast to previous studies, we found that the association between the polymorphism rs6265 and smoking behaviour was not significant (P-value = 0.8753). Males with lower education levels, young persons, and alcohol drinkers showed significant smoking behaviours (P-value

The resilience of water distribution networks (WDNs) should be proactively evaluated to reduce the potential impacts of disruptive events. This study proposes a novel hydraulically-inspired complex network approach (HCNA) to assess and enhance WDN resilience in the case of single-pipe failure. Unlike conventional hydraulic-based models, HCNA requires no hydraulic simulations for resilience analysis. Instead, it quantifies the failure consequences of edges (pipes) on the WDN graph by incorporating topological attributes with flow redistribution triggered by failures. This HCNA procedure leads to the identification of critical edges (pipes), as well as impacted ones, representing edges more susceptible to the failure of others. The impacted edges are then systematically resized by integrating HCNA with a graph-based design approach, obtaining a wide range of resilience enhancement solutions. A comparative study between HCNA and a hydraulic-based model for three WDNs confirms HCNA's effectiveness in identifying the most critical pipes in various network sizes. Furthermore, HCNA provides comparable resilience enhancement solutions with a hydraulic-based evolutionary optimization but with significantly lower computational effort (1,400 times faster). Thus, it can efficiently be used for resilience enhancement of large-scale WDNs, where the application of conventional optimizations is limited due to the intensive computational workload. HIGHLIGHTS A novel graph theory-based approach for evaluating and enhancing resilience.; Utilizing topological metrics to reproduce the hydraulic behavior.; Offering optimal resilience enhancement solutions without hydraulic simulation.; Requiring significantly less computational effort than evolutionary optimization.;

Calibration of an analytical measurement procedure is an important basis for the reliability of patient results. Many publications and as well as procedures on how to estimate quality control and interpret those results have been become available over the years. In this publication we are focusing on the critical part of the calibration as there are no clear communication or guidelines on how to perform it. Usually only the recommendation of the reagent or instrument manufacturer is available. We would like to point out this gap to invite for a discussion and improvement of the current situation.

We measured susceptibilities of Ugandan Plasmodium falciparum isolates assayed on the day of collection or after storage at 4°C. Samples were incubated with serial dilutions of 8 antimalarials, and susceptibilities were determined from 72-h growth inhibition assays. Storage was associated with decreased growth and lower 50% inhibitory concentration values, but differences between assays beginning on day 0 or after 1 or 2 days of storage were modest, indicating that short-term storage before drug susceptibility determination is feasible.

This paper explores the potential of rAAV2-retro to deliver gene modifying cargoes to the cells of origin of multiple pathways that are interrupted by spinal cord injury (SCI), summarizing data from previous studies and new data from additional experiments. rAAV-retro exhibits uniquely robust and reliable long-distance retrograde transport from pre-terminal axons and synapses back to neuronal bodies. Previous studies have documented that various AAV-based genetic modifications can enable axon regeneration after SCI, but these have targeted the cells of origin of one pathway at a time. In contrast, rAAV-retro can simultaneously transduce large numbers of neurons of origin of multiple spinal pathways with single injections into the spinal cord. Our initial studies use RosatdTomato and double transgenic PTENf/f; RosatdTomato mice in which transfection with rAAV-retro/Cre deletes PTEN and activates tdT expression in the same neurons. Injections of rAAV-retro/Cre into the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spinal cord led to topographically specific retrograde transduction in cortical motoneurons and neurons in subcortical regions that give rise to different spinal pathways. Our results confirm and extend previous studies indicating selective transduction of neurons that terminate at the level of the injection with minimal retrograde transduction of axons in transit to lower levels. We document feasibility of using rAAV-retro expressing shRNA against PTEN along with a GFP reporter (rAAV-retro-shPTEN/GFP) to effectively knock down PTEN in multiple populations of neurons, which can be used in any species. Some limitations and caveats of currently available rAAV-retros are discussed. Together, our results support the potential applications of rAAV-retro for AAV-based gene-modifications for SCI.

BackgroundThe Plasmodium falciparum dihydrofolate reductase (PfDHFR) inhibitors pyrimethamine and cycloguanil (the active metabolite of proguanil) have important roles in malaria chemoprevention, but drug resistance challenges their efficacies. A new compound, P218, was designed to overcome resistance, but drug-susceptibility data for P falciparum field isolates are limited.MethodsWe studied ex vivo PfDHFR inhibitor susceptibilities of 559 isolates from Tororo and Busia districts, Uganda, from 2016 to 2020, sequenced 383 isolates, and assessed associations between genotypes and drug-susceptibility phenotypes.ResultsMedian half-maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC50s) were 42 100 nM for pyrimethamine, 1200 nM for cycloguanil, 13000 nM for proguanil, and 0.6 nM for P218. Among sequenced isolates, 3 PfDHFR mutations, 51I (100%), 59R (93.7%), and 108N (100%), were very common, as previously seen in Uganda, and another mutation, 164L (12.8%), had moderate prevalence. Increasing numbers of mutations were associated with decreasing susceptibility to pyrimethamine, cycloguanil, and P218, but not proguanil, which does not act directly against PfDHFR. Differences in P218 susceptibilities were modest, with median IC50s of 1.4 nM for parasites with mixed genotype at position 164 and 5.7 nM for pure quadruple mutant (51I/59R/108N/164L) parasites.ConclusionsResistance-mediating PfDHFR mutations were common in Ugandan isolates, but P218 retained excellent activity against mutant parasites.