Unexplored Possibility Research Articles

Grasshoppers do not flee from their alarmed predators but from non-alarmed ones.

Alarm calls produced by basal prey have a well-known informative value. In multi-predator communities, mesopredators, when faced with top predators, may emit alarm calls that could inform basal prey about their lowered predation risk. To test this unexplored possibility, we conducted one field and one mesocosm experiment in which we simulated alarm and non-alarm calls from little owls (Athene noctua) as mesopredators and measured their effects on grasshoppers as prey of little owls but not of top predators. In the field experiment, we found that grasshopper species were significantly more abundant in patches where we simulated either the presence of scared little owls (alarm treatment) or no owls (control treatment) compared to patches where the presence of non-scared little owls (non-alarm treatment) was simulated. In the mesocosm experiment, locusts (Locusta migratoria) moved significantly more to exposed areas when we simulated the presence of scared little owls (alarm treatment) or of a granivorous bird (control treatment), while they moved to sheltered areas when we simulated the presence of non-scared owls (non-alarm treatment). These results show that prey could cue on predators' calls to assess their predation risk and make decisions, revealing unprecedented potential ecological consequences of alarm calls in invertebrate communities.

Expression of exploratory activity of rat offspring depends on the expression of exploratory activity of their parents at the moment of mating

The aim of this work was to study the, so far, unexplored possibility that non-genetic inheritance of animal behavioral characteristics could depend on the state of the parents at the time of conception. In this study, we measured the levels of motor and exploratory activity in rats at the ages of 2 and 5 months. Male and female rats were mated at the age of 5 months. The following groups were used: male and female rats with high motor activity at ages of 2 and 5 months (ACT+); male and female rats with high activity at the age of 2 months, but low activity at the age of 5 months (ACT–); male and female rats with low activity at the ages of 2 and 5 months (PAS–); male and female rats with low activity at the age of 2 months, but high activity at the age of 5 months (PAS+). It was found that both males and females ACT+ had significantly higher motor activity, which was observed in the first 10 minutes, in the next 20–60 minutes, in the center of the cage and more rearings as compared with PAS– rats. Significant differences in the severity of exploratory activity were found between the male offspring of ACT+ and ACT– rats. Differences between the offspring of PAS+ and PAS– rats were observed in both the male and female rats. The motor activity of animals in the period from 20 minutes after the start of registration did not differ between groups. Thus, it can be considered that individual characteristics of general motor activity are due to genetically inherited factors, while differences in the level of exploratory activity, apparently, are formed due to non-genetic influences from parents during mating.

The Crystal Structure of Al4SiC4 Revisited.

Al4SiC4 is a ternary wide-band-gap semiconductor with a high strength-to-weight ratio and excellent oxidation resistance. It consists of slabs of Al4C3 separated by SiC layers with the space group of P63mc. The space group allows Si to occupy two different 2a Wykoff sites, with previous studies reporting that Si occupies only one of the two sites, giving it an ordered structure. Another hitherto unexplored possibility is that Si can be randomly distributed on both 2a sites. In this work, we revisit the published ordered crystal structure using experimental methods and density functional theory (DFT). Al4SiC4 was synthesized by high-temperature sintering at 1800 °C from a powder mixture of Al4C3 and SiC. Neutron diffraction confirmed that Al4SiC4 crystallized with the space group of P63mc, with diffraction patterns that could be fitted to both the ordered and the disordered structures. Scanning transmission electron microscopy, however, provided clear evidence supporting the latter, with DFT calculations further confirming that it is 0.16 eV lower in energy per Al4SiC4 formula unit than the former. TEM analysis revealed Al vacancies in some of the atomic layers that can introduce p-type doping and direct band gaps of 0.7 and 1.2 eV, agreeing with our optical measurements. Finally, we propose that although the calculated formation energy of the Al vacancies is high, the vacancies are stabilized by entropy effects at the high synthesis temperature. This indicates that the cooling procedure after high-temperature synthesis can be important in determining the vacancy content and the electronic properties of Al4SiC4.

Mobile devices for developing nursing students' professional skills: scoping review.

to map the scientific literature on the use of mobile devices to develop the professional skills of nursing students. this was a scoping review guided by JBI recommendations. Six databases and gray literature were included. The selection of studies was carried out through individual and peer assessment. Data were extracted based on an elaborate script and presented in a descriptive, tabular and graphical format. 264 studies were identified, of which 13 comprised the corpus of analysis. The studies were carried out mainly on the Asian continent. Interventions ranged from one to 12 weeks, with a predominance of the use of Apps. The skills addressed were mainly clinical skills, techniques and procedures inherent to nursing practice, followed by decision-making and problem-solving. the studies analyzed not only revealed the potential of mobile devices in the training context, but also highlighted their contribution to improving clinical capabilities, as they offer support for a more dynamic and effective approach to the learning process. The gap in knowledge appears in the still unexplored possibility of integrating different professional skills through a single digital educational tool.

Microbes Isolated from Landfill Soil Utilize Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) as Their Sole Source of Carbon: An Unexplored Possibility of Bioremediation in Bangladesh

Plastic products are so extensively used that they continue to strain the already overburdened waste management system and, inevitably, the global climate. Biodegradation is a sustainable remedy. Here, we report a few microorganisms isolated from landfill soil near Dhaka that thrive especially on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) polymers. Soil samples were subjected to three enrichment cycles that contained no carbon except PET. Pure isolates were recovered and incubated on minimal agar containing PET as the sole carbon. A morphological examination was carried out. Potential PET-degrading enzyme sequences from the isolates and other microalgae were analyzed for homology using BLASTP and TBLASTN, and multiple sequence alignment (MSA) was performed to assess conserved domains. Six isolates were obtained. Two isolates grew around the PET film but did not grow sufficiently in other areas of the minimal agar. Two other isolates with greenish pigmentation flourished around the PET film as well as on other areas of the agar. One of the green cells resembled Aphanocapsa, with irregular shapes and occasionally brown dense bodies, while the others looked round like Microcystis. Homology analysis revealed the hypothetical PETases in green cells contained the highly conserved catalytic triad (Ser-His-Asp) at the active site, as always found in alpha-beta hydrolase fold containing enzymes. Microbes isolated from two landfill sites in the vicinity of Dhaka have been adapted to utilize PET as a carbon source. In the future, sequencing and further characterization would be necessary to validate the findings. Microalgal systems demand increased focus, given their potential to offer valuable resources for bioremediation.

Femtosecond multimodal imaging with a laser-driven X-ray source

Laser-plasma accelerators are compact linear accelerators based on the interaction of high-power lasers with plasma to form accelerating structures up to 1000 times smaller than standard radiofrequency cavities, and they come with an embedded X-ray source, namely betatron source, with unique properties: small source size and femtosecond pulse duration. A still unexplored possibility to exploit the betatron source comes from combining it with imaging methods able to encode multiple information like transmission and phase into a single-shot acquisition approach. In this work, we combine edge illumination-beam tracking (EI-BT) with a betatron X-ray source and present the demonstration of multimodal imaging (transmission, refraction, and scattering) with a compact light source down to the femtosecond timescale. The advantage of EI-BT is that it allows multimodal X-ray imaging technique, granting access to transmission, refraction and scattering signals from standard low-coherence laboratory X-ray sources in a single shot.

Phytosterols reverse antiretroviral-induced hearing loss, with potential implications for cochlear aging.

Cholesterol contributes to neuronal membrane integrity, supports membrane protein clustering and function, and facilitates proper signal transduction. Extensive evidence has shown that cholesterol imbalances in the central nervous system occur in aging and in the development of neurodegenerative diseases. In this work, we characterize cholesterol homeostasis in the inner ear of young and aged mice as a new unexplored possibility for the prevention and treatment of hearing loss. Our results show that cholesterol levels in the inner ear are reduced during aging, an effect that is associated with an increased expression of the cholesterol 24-hydroxylase (CYP46A1), the main enzyme responsible for cholesterol turnover in the brain. In addition, we show that pharmacological activation of CYP46A1 with the antiretroviral drug efavirenz reduces the cholesterol content in outer hair cells (OHCs), leading to a decrease in prestin immunolabeling and resulting in an increase in the distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) thresholds. Moreover, dietary supplementation with phytosterols, plant sterols with structure and function similar to cholesterol, was able to rescue the effect of efavirenz administration on the auditory function. Altogether, our findings point towards the importance of cholesterol homeostasis in the inner ear as an innovative therapeutic strategy in preventing and/or delaying hearing loss.

Circumscribed interests in autism: Can animals potentially re-engage social attention?

BackgroundCircumscribed interests (CI) in autism are highly fixated and repetitive interests, generally centering on non-social and idiosyncratic topics. The increased salience of CI objects often results in decreased social attention, thus interfering with social interactions. Behavioural, biomarker and neuroimaging research points to enhanced social functioning in autistic children in the presence of animals. For instance, neuroimaging studies report a greater activation of reward systems in the brain in response to animal stimuli whereas eye-tracking studies reveal a higher visual preference for animal faces in autistic individuals. This potentially greater social reward attached to animals, introduces the interesting and yet unexplored possibility that the presence of competing animal stimuli may reduce the disproportionately higher visual attention to CI objects. MethodWe examined this using a paired-preference eye-tracking paradigm where images of human and animal faces were paired with CI and non-CI objects. 31 children (ASD n = 16; TD n = 15) participated in the study (3391 observations). ResultsAutistic children showed a significantly greater visual attention to CI objects whereas typical controls showed a significantly greater visual attention to social images across pairings. Interestingly, pairing with a CI object significantly reduced the social attention elicited to human faces but not animal faces. Further, in pairings with CI objects, significantly greater sustained attention per visit was seen for animal faces when compared to human faces. ConclusionsThese results thus suggest that social attention deficits in ASD may not be uniform across human and animal stimuli. Animals may comprise a potentially important stimulus category modulating visual attention in ASD.

Encoding of 3D physical dimensions by face-selective cortical neurons

Neurons throughout the primate inferior temporal (IT) cortex respond selectively to visual images of faces and other complex objects. The response magnitude of neurons to a given image often depends on the size at which the image is presented, usually on a flat display at a fixed distance. While such size sensitivity might simply reflect the angular subtense of retinal image stimulation in degrees, one unexplored possibility is that it tracks the real-world geometry of physical objects, such as their size and distance to the observer in centimeters. This distinction bears fundamentally on the nature of object representation in IT and on the scope of visual operations supported by the ventral visual pathway. To address this question, we assessed the response dependency of neurons in the macaque anterior fundus (AF) face patch to the angular versus physical size of faces. We employed a macaque avatar to stereoscopically render three-dimensional (3D) photorealistic faces at multiple sizes and distances, including a subset of size/distance combinations designed to cast the same size retinal image projection. We found that most AF neurons were modulated principally by the 3D physical size of the face rather than its two-dimensional (2D) angular size on the retina. Further, most neurons responded strongest to extremely large and small faces, rather than to those of normal size. Together, these findings reveal a graded encoding of physical size among face patch neurons, providing evidence that category-selective regions of the primate ventral visual pathway participate in a geometric analysis of real-world objects.

WristMenu with Tactons: An Eyes- and Ears-Free Menu with Tactons Describing Menu Items in the Wrist Rotation Space

We propose a new interface concept; Proprioceptive Menu with Tactons, an eyes- and ears-free menu in a proprioceptive space that uses a set of Tactons to describe its menu items. While previous proprioceptive menus utilized vibrotactile feedback only to express the boundary between menu items, we spot an unexplored possibility that distinct vibrotactile stimuli, Tactons, can be used to describe the status of each menu item. As an instance of this concept, we present WristMenu with Tactons, an eyes- and ears-free menu using a one-dimensional proprioceptive space of the axial wrist rotation. Users can grasp an overview of each menu item’s status through Tactons delivered on their wrist skin and eventually decide to select the desired item. Our evaluation study showed that users could find a target item among five candidates and recognize its status in 5 seconds on average at the accuracies of 93% and 86% in seated and walking conditions, respectively. Through our evaluation, we could confirm the feasibility of the proposed concept.

The effects of aerobic exercise and transcranial direct current stimulation on cognitive function in older adults with and without cognitive impairment: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Aerobic exercise (AE) may slow age-related cognitive decline. However, such cognition-sparing effects are not uniform across cognitive domains and studies. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a form of non-invasive brain stimulation and is also emerging as a potential alternative to pharmaceutical therapies. Like AE, the effectiveness of tDCS is also inconsistent for reducing cognitive impairment in ageing. The unexplored possibility exists that pairing AE and tDCS could produce synergistic effects and reciprocally augment cognition-improving effects in older individuals with and without cognitive impairments. Previous research found such synergistic effects on cognition when cognitive training is paired with tDCS in older individuals with and without mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia. The purpose of this systematic review with meta-analysis was to explore if pairing AE with tDCS could augment singular effects of AE and tDCS on global cognition (GC), working memory (WM) and executive function (EF) in older individuals with or without MCI and dementia. Using a PRISMA-based systematic review, we compiled studies that examined the effects of AE alone, tDCS alone, and AE and tDCS combined on cognitive function in older individuals with and without mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia. Using a PICOS approach, we systematically searched PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science searches up to December 2021, we focused on 'MoCA', 'MMSE', 'Mini-Cog' (measures) and 'cognition', 'cognitive function', 'cognitive', 'cognitive performance', 'executive function', 'executive process', 'attention', 'memory', 'memory performance' (outcome terms). We included only randomized controlled trials (RTC) in humans if available in English full text over the past 20 years, with participants' age over 60. We assessed the methodological quality of the included studies (RTC) by the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale. Overall, 68 studies were included in the meta-analyses. AE (ES = 0.56 [95% CI: 0.28-0.83], p=0.01) and tDCS (ES = 0.69 [95% CI: 0.12-1.26], p=0.02) improved GC in all three groups of older adults combined (healthy, MCI, demented). In healthy population, AE improved GC (ES = 0.46 [95% CI: 0.22-0.69], p=0.01) and EF (ES = 0.27 [95% CI: 0.05-0.49], p=0.02). AE improved GC in older adults with MCI (ES = 0.76 [95% CI: 0.21-1.32], p=0.01). tDCS improved GC (ES = 0.69 [90% CI: 0.12-1.26], p=0.02), all three cognitive function (GC, WM and EF) combined in older adults with dementia (ES = 1.12 [95% CI: 0.04-2.19], p=0.04) and improved cognitive function in older adults overall (ES = 0.69 [95% CI: 0.20-1,18], p=0.01). Our systematic review with meta-analysis provided evidence that beyond the cardiovascular and fitness benefits of AE, pairing AE with tDCS may have the potential to slow symptom progression of cognitive decline in MCI and dementia. Future studies will examine the hypothesis of this present review that a potentiating effect would incrementally improve cognition with increasing severity of cognitive impairment.

Gravitational waves from first-order electroweak phase transition in a model with light sgoldstinos

We study previously unexplored possibility of triggering the first order electroweak phase transition (EWPT) by interactions of the Standard Model (SM) particles with the sector responsible for low scale supersymmetry breaking. The low-energy theory apart from the SM particles contains additional scalar degrees of freedom — sgoldstinos — which contribute to the effective scalar potential and thus can trigger the first order EWPT. Remarkably, the latter requires only moderate couplings in the scalar sector. The perturbative description in terms of the effective theory seems formally to be applicable upto the scale of supersymmetry breaking: the Landau pole in the scalar sector is above 108-109 GeV. We calculate the gravitational wave signal generated at this transition (it can be tested, e.g. by LISA, BBO and DECIGO) and briefly discuss the collider phenomenology of this scenario.

Becoming-Signiconic: Emergence and Territory in The Familiar

The Familiar is densely structured by divisions and hierarchies in terms of plot, focalization, vocabularies and layout, but it is primarily a book of interconnectedness. This is a principle that propels its narrative and poses the biggest challenge in its execution: is it possible to describe a genuinely new and disruptive entity, a “monster” unreadable in terms of existing codes and concepts, arriving as a series of glitches, a system breach, a breakdown of defenses, an enforced encounter with the Other?The Familiar itself could be conceived as an arena where a new genus comes into being through the corporeality of text, not represented as a character or recounted as an event, but assuming flesh on the page within the suspended temporality of print. A specific signiconic lexicon was devised to blur the borders between the textual and the pictorial, to give a voice to the voiceless (“the waves, the animals, the plants”), and to “surpass or bypass the mind” (Danielewski). Placing this enlarged semiotic spectrum of the sensible and the intelligible within the traditional frame of a multi-volume novel makes its ambition even more radical. Pushing the book-as-archive beyond its historical confines of mimesis and expression, The Familiar envisions literature as a process, a distribution of forces across an ontologically heterogeneous field, suggesting a nonlinear continuum motivated by a “non-subject-centered mode of agency” (Bennett).Starting with notions of the book to come as a locus of futurity and unexplored possibility (Blanchot, Derrida) and assemblage as a multiplicity, a corpus of becoming or a zone of emergence (Deleuze and Guattari), this article attempts to examine the tension between storytelling demands and the very materiality of The Familiar (including its asemic borders or cores) in view of its own signiconic and inherently post-anthropocentric goals.

Mask induced mucormycosis: An unexplored possibility?

Mucormycosis is a rare angioinvasive fungal infection attributed to filamentous fungi called mucormycetes [1]. According to reports published during the period between December 2019 and early April 2021. Approximately 71% of the cases of mucormycosis in COVID infected individuals across the globe have been reported from India [2]. A sudden surge in cases of mucormycosis during the ongoing covid-19 pandemic has been witnessed recently and several factors have been proposed to explain this unexpected outbreak. Studies suggest that severe COVID-19 patients become immunocompromised and therefore are more susceptible to fungal infection [3]. Diabetes Milletus has been recognized as one of the important risk factors for mucormycosis [4]. A recent study identified the associated risk factors, clinical features, and outcomes of COVID-19-associated mucormycosis [2]. The over-zealous use of steroids in treatment of covid-19 patients has also been identified as one of the potential reasons for a rise in cases of mucormycosis during the ongoing pandemic. Hence the triad of immunocompromised host, diabetes mellitus and steroids has been established as the main reason behind the sudden rise in cases of Mucormycosis. Recently other factors such as the rise in serum ferritin levels, long term stays in the intensive care units, increased intake of zinc and antibiotics have also been documented [5-7].

Conservation and Diversity in Gibberellin-Mediated Transcriptional Responses Among Host Plants Forming Distinct Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Morphotypes.

Morphotypes of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis, Arum, Paris, and Intermediate types, are mainly determined by host plant lineages. It was reported that the phytohormone gibberellin (GA) inhibits the establishment of Arum-type AM symbiosis in legume plants. In contrast, we previously reported that GA promotes the establishment of Paris-type AM symbiosis in Eustoma grandiflorum, while suppressing Arum-type AM symbiosis in a legume model plant, Lotus japonicus. This raises a hitherto unexplored possibility that GA-mediated transcriptional reprogramming during AM symbiosis is different among plant lineages as the AM morphotypes are distinct. Here, our comparative transcriptomics revealed that several symbiosis-related genes were commonly upregulated upon AM fungal colonization in L. japonicus (Arum-type), Daucus carota (Intermediate-type), and E. grandiflorum (Paris-type). Despite of the similarities, the fungal colonization levels and the expression of symbiosis-related genes were suppressed in L. japonicus and D. carota but were promoted in E. grandiflorum in the presence of GA. Moreover, exogenous GA inhibited the expression of genes involved in biosynthetic process of the pre-symbiotic signal component, strigolactone, which resulted in the reduction of its endogenous accumulation in L. japonicus and E. grandiflorum. Additionally, differential regulation of genes involved in sugar metabolism suggested that disaccharides metabolized in AM roots would be different between L. japonicus and D. carota/E. grandiflorum. Therefore, this study uncovered the conserved transcriptional responses during mycorrhization regardless of the distinct AM morphotype. Meanwhile, we also found diverse responses to GA among phylogenetically distant AM host plants.

Clogged Intermediation: Were Home Buyers Crowded Out?

AbstractPostcrisis policy interventions significantly increased the demand for mortgage refinancing, but there is an unexplored possibility that the surge in refinancing applications crowded out the supply of credit to home buyers. We examine two frictions that hamper financial intermediation and cause banks to substitute away from home purchase loans and toward refinance loans. Banks with limited risk capacity may prefer safer loans, and banks with limited operating capacity may prefer applications that require less processing time. We find that, following the 2008 financial crisis, banks constrained by these capacity limits rationed credit to home buyers while supplying more refinancing credit.

Ferroptosis in viral infection: the unexplored possibility.

Virus-induced cell death has long been thought of as a double-edged sword in the inhibition or exacerbation of viral infections. The vital role of iron, an essential element for various enzymes in the maintenance of cellular physiology and efficient viral replication, places it at the crossroads and makes it a micronutrient of competition between the viruses and the host. Viruses can interrupt iron uptake and the antioxidant response system, while others can utilize iron transporter proteins as receptors. Interestingly, the unavailability of iron facilitates certain viral infections and causes cell death characterized by lipid peroxide accumulation and malfunction of the antioxidant system. In this review, we discuss how iron uptake, regulation and metabolism, including the redistribution of iron in the host defense system during viral infection, can induce ferroptosis. Fenton reactions, a central characteristic of ferroptosis, are caused by the increased iron content in the cell. Therefore, viral infections that increase cellular iron content or intestinal iron absorption are likely to cause ferroptosis. In addition, we discuss the hijacking of the iron regulatoy pathway and the antioxidant response, both of which are typical in viral infections. Understanding the potential signaling mechanisms of ferroptosis in viral infections will aid in the development of new therapeutic agents.

Mosaic vaccination: How distributing different vaccines across a population could improve epidemic control.

Although vaccination has been remarkably effective against some pathogens, for others, rapid antigenic evolution results in vaccination conferring only weak and/or short‐lived protection. Consequently, considerable effort has been invested in developing more evolutionarily robust vaccines, either by targeting highly conserved components of the pathogen (universal vaccines) or by including multiple immunological targets within a single vaccine (multi‐epitope vaccines). An unexplored third possibility is to vaccinate individuals with one of a number of qualitatively different vaccines, creating a “mosaic” of individual immunity in the population. Here we explore whether a mosaic vaccination strategy can deliver superior epidemiological outcomes to “conventional” vaccination, in which all individuals receive the same vaccine. We suppose vaccine doses can be distributed between distinct vaccine “targets” (e.g., different surface proteins against which an immune response can be generated) and/or immunologically distinct variants at these targets (e.g., strains); the pathogen can undergo antigenic evolution at both targets. Using simple mathematical models, here we provide a proof‐of‐concept that mosaic vaccination often outperforms conventional vaccination, leading to fewer infected individuals, improved vaccine efficacy, and lower individual risks over the course of the epidemic.

The impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) priming on consumers’ consumption and lifestyle choices with intertemporal tradeoffs

PurposeThis paper aims to study the unexplored possibility that priming firms’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity in consumers’ minds may impact consumers’ preference for non-firm related consumption and lifestyle choice options with intertemporal trade-offs.Design/methodology/approachAcross four experimental studies, the authors looked at the impact of CSR priming on the preference of participants for later larger versus sooner smaller money (Study 1), saving versus spending (Study 2) and healthy versus unhealthy food choices (Studies 3 and 4). These choice options were not related to the focal firm that practiced CSR. The authors measured the changes in participants’ consideration of future consequences (CFC) as a potential mediator for the results.FindingsThe participants in the CSR condition showed a higher CFC and a higher preference for the options with long-term benefits and immediate costs over the ones with long-term costs and immediate benefits, i.e. later larger over sooner smaller money, saving over spending and healthy over unhealthy food. The authors documented a mediation role for CFC.Research limitations/implicationsAll the participants in the studies were from the USA. Looking at the cultural differences can enrich the understanding of the impact of CSR on preference for the options with intertemporal trade-offs. Furthermore, this paper builds its theoretical justification based on the assumption of individuals’ acceptance of CSR activities. Nevertheless, consumers may have skepticism about these activities. Future studies may investigate the effect of CSR skepticism of individuals on the proposed effects. Additionally, investigating the moderating roles of individuals’ characteristics like their prosocial concern or their knowledge about choice options might be an avenue for future research.Practical implicationsThe findings highlight the benefits of CSR priming on consumers’ welfare and normative behavior. Firms may use the findings to understand and manage the impact of other firms’ CSR communications on the evaluation of their own products.Originality/valueThis research is the first to highlight the impact of CSR priming on consumers’ non-firm-related consumption and lifestyle choices with intertemporal trade-offs. The results showed the positive effect of priming firms’ CSR activities on consumers’ CFC and the mediating role of CFC.

Using Desmotropes, Cocrystals, and Salts to Manipulate Reactivity in Mechanochemical Organic Reactions.

Performing reactions in the solid state offers the largely unexplored possibility of influencing reactivity by manipulating the solid form of the starting reactants. In this work, we explore the use of various solid forms of barbituric acid and its effect on reaction paths and kinetics in a Knoevenagel condensation reaction with vanillin. Modifications of barbituric acid included the use of its desmotrope, a cocrystal, and a salt as the starting reactant. Comparing these reactions with the reaction starting from the commercial keto tautomer of barbituric acid, we find that the reaction kinetics could be accelerated or decelerated, together with a change in the reaction mechanism. Exploring solid forms of reactants can be used as general methodology for manipulating mechanochemical reactivity, further highlighting the benefits of conducting reactions in the solid state, because many of the modifications of solids become unavailable upon dissolution.