Development Consortium Research Articles

Neural response to monetary incentives in acquired adolescent depression after mild traumatic brain injury: Stage 2 Registered Report.

Depression is a common consequence of traumatic brain injury. Separately, spontaneous depression-arising without brain injury-has been linked to abnormal responses in motivational neural circuitry to the anticipation or receipt of rewards. It is unknown if post-injury and spontaneously occurring depression share similar phenotypic profiles. This issue is compounded by the fact that nearly all examinations of these psychiatric sequelae are post hoc: there are rarely any prospective assessments of mood and neural functioning before and after a brain injury. In this Stage 2 Registered Report, we used the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Consortium dataset to examine if a disruption in functional neural responses to rewards is present in patients with depression after a mild traumatic brain injury. Notably, this study provides an unparalleled opportunity to examine the trajectory of neuropsychiatric symptoms longitudinally within-subjects. This allowed us to isolate mild traumatic brain injury-specific variance independent from pre-existing functioning. Here, we focus on a case-control comparison between 43 youth who experienced a mild traumatic brain injury between MRI visits, and 43 well-matched controls. Contrary to pre-registered predictions (https://osf.io/h5uba/), there was no statistically credible increase in depression in mild traumatic brain injury cases relative to controls. Mild traumatic brain injury was associated with subtle changes in motivational neural circuit recruitment during the anticipation of incentives on the Monetary Incentive Delay paradigm. Specifically, changes in neural recruitment appeared to reflect a failure to deactivate 'task-negative' brain regions (ventromedial prefrontal cortex), alongside blunted recruitment of 'task-positive' regions (anterior cingulate, anterior insula and caudate), during the anticipation of reward and loss in adolescents following mild brain injuries. Critically, these changes in brain activity were not correlated with depressive symptoms at either visit or depression change scores before and after the brain injury. Increased time since injury was associated with a recovery of cognitive functioning-driven primarily by processing speed differences-but depression did not scale with time since injury. These cognitive changes were also uncorrelated with neural changes after mild traumatic brain injury. This report provides evidence that acquired depression may not be observed as commonly after a mild traumatic brain injury in late childhood and early adolescence, relative to findings in adult cases. Several reasons for these differing findings are considered, including sampling enrichment in retrospective cohort studies, under-reporting of depressive symptoms in parent-report data, and neuroprotective factors in childhood and adolescence.

“LSP teaching – current trends, desiderata, research perspectives”. Institute of Applied Linguistics of Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland, 05-06.07.2023

The “LSP Teaching – Current Research Trends, Desiderata, Research Perspectives” conference was held in Poznan on July 5-6, 2023. The venue of the conference’s was the Collegium Novum, and it was organized by the institute of Applied Linguistics UAM and the LSP Teacher Education Online Course for Professional Development Consortium. The conference included many renowned participants and was distinguished by its intimate and supportive atmosphere, fostering a collaborative spirit that resonated with both academics and practitioners in the field of Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP).

A Pan-Cancer Patient-Derived Xenograft Histology Image Repository with Genomic and Pathologic Annotations Enables Deep Learning Analysis.

Patient-derived xenografts (PDX) model human intra- and intertumoral heterogeneity in the context of the intact tissue of immunocompromised mice. Histologic imaging via hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining is routinely performed on PDX samples, which could be harnessed for computational analysis. Prior studies of large clinical H&E image repositories have shown that deep learning analysis can identify intercellular and morphologic signals correlated with disease phenotype and therapeutic response. In this study, we developed an extensive, pan-cancer repository of >1,000 PDX and paired parental tumor H&E images. These images, curated from the PDX Development and Trial Centers Research Network Consortium, had a range of associated genomic and transcriptomic data, clinical metadata, pathologic assessments of cell composition, and, in several cases, detailed pathologic annotations of neoplastic, stromal, and necrotic regions. The amenability of these images to deep learning was highlighted through three applications: (i) development of a classifier for neoplastic, stromal, and necrotic regions; (ii) development of a predictor of xenograft-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder; and (iii) application of a published predictor of microsatellite instability. Together, this PDX Development and Trial Centers Research Network image repository provides a valuable resource for controlled digital pathology analysis, both for the evaluation of technical issues and for the development of computational image-based methods that make clinical predictions based on PDX treatment studies. Significance: A pan-cancer repository of >1,000 patient-derived xenograft hematoxylin and eosin-stained images will facilitate cancer biology investigations through histopathologic analysis and contributes important model system data that expand existing human histology repositories.

Social Development, Change, and Progress

The following article is a revised version of the 2021 Khinduka Lecture given at the 22nd Biennial Meeting of the International Consortium for Social Development (ICSD) held in Johannesburg, South Africa in July 2021. The lecture discusses the concepts of change and progress, which have played a prominent role in social development thinking over the years. It reviews some of the changes that have taken place during Professor Khinduka’s lifetime, noting that there have been huge shifts in geopolitics, economics, living standards, attitudes, communications, and science and technology. It then asks whether these changes have brought real progress to the world’s people and considers different views on the subject by leading thinkers. In contrast to the views of those who take a pessimistic view with those who have reached optimistic conclusions, it suggests that the situation is mixed, with progress being recorded in some fields but not in others. It concludes by asking how social development advocates can bring about progressive change and progress.

Bioprospective decolourization of reactive azo dyes at pilot scale by a developed bacterial consortium using the RSM and CCD model

Bioprospective decolourization of reactive azo dyes at pilot scale by a developed bacterial consortium using the RSM and CCD model

Benchmarking a neutral-atom quantum computer

In this study, we simulated the algorithmic performance of a small neutral atom quantum computer and compared its performance when operating with all-to-all versus nearest-neighbor connectivity. This comparison was made using a suite of algorithmic benchmarks developed by the Quantum Economic Development Consortium. Circuits were simulated with a noise model consistent with experimental data from [Nature 604, 457 (2022)]. We find that all-to-all connectivity improves simulated circuit fidelity by [Formula: see text]–[Formula: see text], compared to nearest-neighbor connectivity.

Initiatives of Kyushu Semiconductor Human Resource Development Consortium

Initiatives of Kyushu Semiconductor Human Resource Development Consortium

Quantifying the Impact of Impact Investing

We propose a quantitative framework for assessing the financial impact of any form of impact investing, including socially responsible investing; environmental, social, and governance (ESG) objectives; and other nonfinancial investment criteria. We derive conditions under which impact investing detracts from, improves on, or is neutral to the performance of traditional mean-variance optimal portfolios, which depends on whether the correlations between the impact factor and unobserved excess returns are negative, positive, or zero, respectively. Using Treynor–Black portfolios to maximize the risk-adjusted returns of impact portfolios, we derive an explicit and easily computable measure of the financial reward or cost of impact investing as compared with passive index benchmarks. We illustrate our approach with applications to biotech venture philanthropy, a semiconductor research and development consortium, divesting from “sin” stocks, ESG investments, and “meme” stock rallies such as GameStop in 2021. This paper was accepted by Agostino Capponi, finance. Funding: Research funding from the National Key Research and Development Program of China [Grant 2022YFA1007900], the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant 12271013], Peking University’s Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Laboratory for Financial Engineering is acknowledged. Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.01168 .

Integrated approach for efficient crude oil bioremediation: Bacterial consortium development, mathematical modelling and scalable bioprocess design

Crude oil pollution has a significant impact on the surrounding ecosystem, making its remediation an urgent necessity due to the waste discharge and seepage from petroleum industries. To address this issue, we developed an efficient bacterial consortium from strains isolated from petroleum refinery waste. These strains were identified as genera Pseudomonas, Ochrobactrum, Alcaligenes, and Bacillus, specifically chosen for their ability to biodegrade crude oil. Through the optimization of process parameters, we enhanced the biodegradation efficiency of the bacterial consortium. Furthermore, the scalability of the biodegradation process was established in 6L batch bioreactor, which featured a total TPH removal of 80.10 %. The independently obtained substrate inhibition data and bioreactor batch kinetics data were utilized to develop a batch mathematical-model. The mathematical model accurately simulated batch bioreactor kinetics and was further extrapolated to design a fed-batch nutrient feeding strategy. Implementing this strategy, based on the model, led to a higher TPH removal rate of 86.86 % in a constant feed batch-fed-batch approach, as validated through experimental implementation. Validation of the biodegradation process was confirmed through Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC–MS) analysis of degraded samples, which confirmed the biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons. The increased rates of oil biodegradation achieved through our developed consortium and advanced bioprocess offer a promising solution for the effective clean-up of oily pollutants present in petroleum wastewater and oil spillage scenarios.

The association between preconception cannabis use and gestational diabetes mellitus: The Preconception Period Analysis of Risks and Exposures Influencing health and Development (PrePARED) consortium.

The metabolic changes that ultimately lead to gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) likely begin before pregnancy. Cannabis use might increase the risk of GDM by increasing appetite or promoting fat deposition and adipogenesis. We aimed to assess the association between preconception cannabis use and GDM incidence. We analysed individual-level data from eight prospective cohort studies. We identified the first, or index, pregnancy (lasting ≥20 weeks of gestation with GDM status) after cannabis use. In analyses of pooled individual-level data, we used logistic regression to estimate study-type-specific odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI), adjusting for potential confounders using random effect meta-analysis to combine study-type-specific ORs and 95% CIs. Stratified analyses assessed potential effect modification by preconception tobacco use and pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI). Of 17,880 participants with an index pregnancy, 1198 (6.7%) were diagnosed with GDM. Before the index pregnancy, 12.5% of participants used cannabis in the past year. Overall, there was no association between preconception cannabis use in the past year and GDM (OR 0.97, 95% CI 0.79, 1.18). Among participants who never used tobacco, however, those who used cannabis more than weekly had a higher risk of developing GDM than those who did not use cannabis in the past year (OR 2.65, 95% CI 1.15, 6.09). This association was not present among former or current tobacco users. Results were similar across all preconception BMI groups. In this pooled analysis of preconception cohort studies, preconception cannabis use was associated with a higher risk of developing GDM among individuals who never used tobacco but not among individuals who formerly or currently used tobacco. Future studies with more detailed measurements are needed to investigate the influence of preconception cannabis use on pregnancy complications.

Farmer Producer Organisations in Aquaculture-Prospects and Potentials

Farmer Producer Organisation (FPO) is a registered body with farmers and producers as shareholders in the organisation. It deals with business activities related to the farm produce and it works for the benefit of the member producers. It focuses on enhancement of farmer’s capacity through advanced agricultural practices to increase productivity. FPO facilitates access to fair and remunerative markets including linking of producer groups to marketing opportunities through market aggregators. It undertakes many activities starting from procurement of inputs to disposal of produce and acts as a bridge between production and marketing. Government of India is promoting FPOs by mobilizing the farmers and helping them in registering as companies through Small Farmers’ Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). Presently, around 7,374 FPOs are in existence in the country. In order to boost farmers’ income in fishery sector, ICAR-CIFA, Bhubaneswar facilitated formation of Bhargabi fish farmers Producers Company limited in Balipatna block as a part of Farmer FIRST project. This company was incorporated on 27th March 2019 with an authorized capital of Rs. 10 Lakh. Technical back up and training were provided to the members about scientific fish culture practices. The article discusses prospects and potentials of FPOs in aquaculture and suggests measures for its replication.

Large-Scale Data Harmonization Across Prospective Studies.

The Preconception Period Analysis of Risks and Exposures Influencing Health and Development (PrePARED) Consortium creates a novel resource for addressing preconception health by merging data from numerous cohort studies. In this paper, we describe our data harmonization methods and results. Individual-level data from 12 prospective studies were pooled. The crosswalk-cataloging-harmonization procedure was used. The index pregnancy was defined as the first postbaseline pregnancy lasting more than 20 weeks. We assessed heterogeneity across studies by comparing preconception characteristics in different types of studies. The pooled data set included 114,762 women, and 25,531 (22%) reported at least 1 pregnancy of more than 20 weeks' gestation during the study period. Babies from the index pregnancies were delivered between 1976 and 2021 (median,2008), at a mean maternal age of 29.7(standard deviation, 4.6) years. Before the index pregnancy, 60% of women were nulligravid, 58% had a college degree or more, and 37% were overweight or obese. Other harmonized variables included race/ethnicity, household income, substance use, chronic conditions, and perinatal outcomes. Participants from pregnancy-planning studies had more education and were healthier. The prevalence of preexisting medical conditions did not vary substantially based on whether studies relied on self-reported data. Use of harmonized data presents opportunities to study uncommon preconception risk factors and pregnancy-related events. This harmonization effort laid the groundwork for future analyses and additional data harmonization.

Творческая активность студентов: возможности смешанной модели консорциума

In the modern world almost any professional field requires specialists who possess innovative thinking skills, who can solve non-standard tasks, who can take a fresh look at their usual activities and offer breakthrough solutions. Such specialists are especially important in the face of serious challenges of globalization, such as a pandemic. Thus, one of the important tasks of education is development of a creative, active, independent personality, ready to new forms of social life, capable of transforming reality, aimed at self-development. The purpose of the study is to develop and test a mixed model of a consortium for development of students' creative activity. The main method of study was the formative experiment. We have also used diagnostic tools taking into account the components, criteria and indicators of development of students' creativity. One hundred sixty-seven people took part in the experiment, of which 87 were students of Kazan Federal University, 80 people were students of Vyatka State University. The result of the article is the mixed consortium model for development of students' creative activity, which allows teachers to use active learning strategies and include students in progressively more complex educational online activities that ensure development of learning motivation, creativity and creative skills.

Mutualistic Effect of Macronutrients Availing Microbes on the Plant Growth Promotion of Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana L.)

Globally, man-made agrochemicals plays crucial role in plant growth promotion and boost crop yield. The agrochemicals overuse leaves the detrimental damage on the environment and humans. Biostimulants developed from single or multiple microbes (archaea, bacteria, and fungi) could be the appropriate alternative of agrochemical which sustains the agriculture as well as environment. In the present investigation, 93 beneficial bacteria associated with rhizospheric and endophytic region were isolated using diverse growth media. The isolated bacteria were screened for macronutrients availing traits including dinitrogen fixation, phosphorus and potassium solubilization. The bacterial consortium was developed using selected bacteria with multifunctional attributes and evaluated for the growth promotion of finger millet crop. Three potent NPK strains were identified as Erwinia rhapontici EU-FMEN-9 (N-fixer), Paenibacillus tylopili EU-FMRP-14 (P-solubilizer) and Serratia marcescens EU-FMRK-41 (K-solubilizer) using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and BLAST analysis. The developed bacterial consortium inoculation on finger millet resulted in the improvement of growth and physiological parameters with respect to chemical fertilizer and control. The compatible mixture of bacteria was found to have more ability to increase the growth of finger millet and it might be utilized as biostimulants for nutri-cereal crops growing in hilly regions.

Intermunicipal consortium for sustainable development and innovation of the state of Paraíba from the perspective of environmental democracy: an analysis of the organizational discourse

The objective of the present article is to identify the presence of elements of environmental democracy, access to information, and public participation, from the organizational discourse of an inter-municipal public consortium. To this end, it is proceeded by the qualitative approach, descriptive and documental research, on the reality of the organizational discourses of the Intermunicipal Consortium for Sustainable Development and Innovation of the State of Paraíba (CONDESPB). It was observed that the Intermunicipal Consortium, from the perspective of the guidelines of environmental democracy, presented incipient access to information, made by limited channels such as the website, and the access to public participation is non-existent, indirectly giving itself by electoral representation, being contrary to what the parameters of environmental democracy advocates in these two pillars, requiring the expansion of systems and information channels and the direct inclusion of the public and interest groups in environmental deliberations so that the practices of environmental democracy in CONDESPB are minimally instrumental only in the pillar of access to information.

Biotreatment of azo dye containing textile industry effluent by a developed bacterial consortium immobilised on brick pieces in an indigenously designed packed bed biofilm reactor.

This study highlights the development of a lab-scale, indigenously designed; Packed-Bed Biofilm Reactor (PBBR) packed with brick pieces. The developed biofilm in the reactor was used for the decolourisation and biodegradation of the textile industry effluent. The PBBR was continuously operated for 264 days, during which 301 cycles of batch and continuous treatment were operated. In batch mode under optimised conditions, more than 99% dye decolourisation and ≥ 92% COD reduction were achieved in 6h of contact time upon supplementation of effluent with 0.25g L-1 glucose, 0.25g L-1 urea, and 0.1g L-1 phosphates. A decolourisation rate of 133.94 ADMI units h-1 was achieved in the process. PBBR, when operated in continuous mode, showed ≥ 95% and ≥ 92% reduction in ADMI and COD values. Subsequent aeration and passage through the charcoal reactor assisted in achieving a ≥ 96% reduction in COD and ADMI values. An overall increase of 81% in dye-laden effluent decolourisation rate, from 62to 262mg L-1h-1, was observed upon increasing the flow rate from 18 to 210 mL h-1. Dye biodegradation was determined by UV-Vis and FTIR spectroscopy and toxicity study. SEM analysis showed the morphology of the attached-growth biofilm.

Cathedral of Power: Battersea Power Station in Dystopian Visual Culture

Cathedral of Power: Battersea Power Station in Dystopian Visual Culture

SA13 The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Collaboration and Innovation in Antiviral Drug Development: A Multi-Stakeholder Systems Dynamics Analysis

The COVID-19 pandemic has sent shock waves through our health systems and will potentially leave a long-lasting impact on the drug development process. The emergency pressure has encouraged unprecedented speed, innovation, and collaboration in antiviral drug development, and highlighted the shortcomings of traditional development. This research aims to: (1) explore qualitative stakeholder perspectives, in the context of IMI CARE (a European public-private antiviral drug development consortium) on how the drug development process is impacted by the time pressure caused by COVID-19 and by the steep learning curve that comes with a new disease, (2) translate these insights into a qualitative model, and (3) generate learnings from this model to improve future drug development. Conceptual model building workshops and semi-structured interviews have been conducted with stakeholders across the drug life cycle, including developers, regulators, HTA bodies/payers, HCPs and patients, to build an end-to-end conceptual model of the health system. The systems model represents the combined mental models of stakeholders across the drug life cycle and shows the overall perceived impact of the pandemic on collaboration, governance and patient-centredness of drug development, in a public-private-academic consortium. The conceptual modeling process confirmed that pandemic pressure promoted successful collaboration and positive momentum in drug development. The model has identified important variables and mechanisms that facilitated collaboration and innovation during the pandemic such as; an influx in availability of budget, more willingness to share information and resources the establishment of parallel validation tracks in development. Challenges were identified related to the uncertainty of project planning and intermediate results with effect on the progress and allocation of work packages to consortium partners. This model can be used to facilitate better informed and strategic decision making throughout the drug life cycle, contributing to more sustained responsiveness to emergencies in drug development going forward.

Potential of indigenous ligno-cellulolytic microbial consortium to accelerate degradation of heterogenous crop residues.

Indigenous microbial diversity has potential for rapid decomposition of residue through enzyme activities that is alternative, effective, and environment friendly strategy to accelerate degradation of lignocellulose in agricultural residues and make composting process economically viable. Keeping this view, the main objective of the present study was isolation and characterization of lignocellulosic degrading microbial diversity from long-term residue management practice experiments and to develop potential microbial consortium for rapid degradation of lignocellulosic biomass. In this study, twenty-five bacteria, nine fungi, and four actinomycetes isolates were obtained from the soil samples of different residue management fields from Ludhiana, Punjab, India. All isolates were qualitatively and quantitatively screened for enzyme activities, i.e., cellulase, xylanase, laccase, and lignin peroxidase. On the basis of quantitative estimation of enzyme activities, 3 fungal (S1F1, S2F4, and S6F9), 2 actinomycetes (S1A1 and S6A4), and 2 bacterial strains (S6B16 and S6B17) were further selected for in vitro bio-compatibility assay. Selected bio-compatible microbial strains were identified as Streptomyces flavomacrosporus (S6A4), Aspergillus terreus (S2F4), and Bacillus altitudinis (S6B16) through 16S rRNA and 18S rRNA sequencing. Furthermore, single and developed microbial consortium (S6B16 + S6A4 + S2F4) were screened for quantitative estimation of cellulase, xylanase, laccase, and lignin peroxidase enzymes with 23 biochemically different cereal, legume, and oil seed crop residues for optimization of enzyme activities at different time intervals. Results revealed that Vigna radiata followed by Cajanus cajan and Arachis hypogaea straw residue powder @ 1% in culture broth are a promising carbon source for B. altitudinis, S. flavomacrosporus, and A. terreus to produce higher ligno-cellulolytic microbial degrading enzymes due to variable range of carbon (C):nitrogen (N) ratio and higher ligno-cellulolytic content in the studied crop residues. Thus, the application of indigenous microbial consortium with efficient lignocellulose hydrolysis enzyme machinery might be an attractive alternative for ex situ crop residue management practices under sustainable manners.

Sensitivity and Uncertainty Analysis for Natural Gas Hydrate Production Tests in Alaska

The Japan Research and Development Consortium for Pore Filling Hydrate in Sand (MH21-S), the U.S. Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory (DOE NETL), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) are planning a long-term production test from gas hydrate (methane hydrate) bearing reservoirs in the Prudhoe Bay Unit in northern Alaska. Prediction of gas and water production using 2D reservoir simulation models can be very useful for decision-making for long-term production testing. However, the input parameters applied to the simulation model, which are essentially based on the most likely values obtained from the well-log interpretation and core sample measurements of the Hydrate-01 stratigraphic test well (STW), have some degrees of uncertainty. In this study, to evaluate the impact of uncertainties in the input model on the prediction results of gas and water production as well as to analyze how each input parameter contributes to the uncertainties of prediction results, we conducted uncertainty analysis and parameter sensitivity analysis based on two different methods (the regression-based method and the Sobol’ method). The sensitivity analyses reveal that the parameters regarding relative permeability (exponential of the gas relative permeability (Ng) and residual gas saturation (Sgcr)) and the intrinsic/effective permeability of the lower B1 sand significantly contribute to the uncertainties of the gas and water production predictions. In addition, the uncertainty analyses reveal that the P50 value of cumulative gas production can result in less than the reference case with the most likely values for the input parameters due to the uncertainty of Ng. These results indicate that reducing the uncertainties of gas relative permeability and residual gas saturation is essential for more reliable numerical simulations both for prediction of test well performance and subsequent history matching of field test results.