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We examine the impact of a gamified mobile learning application on students' exam success in a mandatory introductory accounting course. The app was developed with the particular needs of first-year students in mind. It provides elements like quizzes as well as organizational and communicative elements helping students structure their daily life at university. The results indicate that serious app users achieve a significantly higher score in the final exam than non-serious users. We apply three approaches, including OLS and 2SLS regression, and an identification strategy based on students who re-take the course to show the app's positive effect. Especially the 2SLS approach, which addresses the issue of self-selection, may add valuable insights into the use of mobile technology in accounting education. This study not only contributes to the ongoing research on the effects of mobile technology in higher education but also sheds light on the determinants of student success.

This paper follows the traces of Tajik and Judeo-Tajik literature in the early Soviet period and compares some prominent works and biographies of Tajik and Bukharan Jewish writers. In the 1920s and 1930s, national literatures were heavily supported by the Party and the state and used as vehicles for propagating the new ideology, creating Soviet nationalities (the Tajiks) and national minorities (the Bukharan Jews). For a period that lasted about ten years, parallels and mutual influences within an emerging scene of Tajik and Bukharan Jewish literature are well documented. While this laboratory of Soviet nation-building continued with the Tajiks, the Judeo-Tajik project was stopped in the late 1930s. From then until the end of the Soviet period, Bukharan Jewish writers, artists, and intellectuals contributed to mainstream Tajik culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Germany's high density of under-equipped hospitals and anticipated surge in orthopedic and trauma surgery-related diseases by 2030, combined with personnel shortages, are expected to increase patient transfers between hospitals, an issue that urgently needs standardized protocols. Despite some existing cooperative agreements, such as between joint-replacement centers or within the Trauma Network DGU®, these measures do not adequately address the full range of patient-transfer cases, including those due to a lack of specialization or staff shortages, resulting in delayed treatment and potential health risks. This study aims to dissect the intricacies of interhospital transfers in orthopedics and trauma surgery across Germany, focusing on understanding the underlying reasons for transfers, comparing the operational structures of small and large hospitals, and laying the groundwork for future standardized protocols to enhance patient care. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the form of an online survey via SoSci Survey, which was directed at orthopedic surgeons and trauma surgeons working in hospitals in Germany. The 22-question survey gathered information on participants' clinic roles, departmental details, transfer processes, frequent diagnoses, perceptions of transfer quality, and improvement areas. The survey was sent to orthopedic and trauma surgeons in Germany by the specialist society. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics to ensure a comprehensive insight into interhospital transfer practices. Results: The study involved 152 participants from various hospital ranks and located in different hospital sizes and types across rural and urban areas. A significant difference was observed between the care structures of basic/regular care and central/maximum care hospitals, especially regarding the available facilities and specialties. These findings suggest improvements such as better patient documentation, increased digital communication, optimized patient distribution, and standardization of transfer requests, among others. Conclusions: This study highlights the urgent need for improved protocols and resource allocation to eliminate inequalities in transfers between hospitals in orthopedics and trauma surgery in Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholarly and popular literature dealing with the Persian-speaking Jews of Central Asia tends to divide the history and historiography of these Jewish communities along political boundaries that came into being only in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The "Bukharan" Jews are commonly portrayed as an ancient, secluded, and isolated "ethnic" Jewish group, disconnected from neighbouring Jewish communities and the wider Jewish world. Looking into a set of Bukharan Jewish family stories, this article is meant to complicate the narrative, offering "mobility" and the metaphor of "border crossing" as a different paradigm to understand Jewish history and geography in Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the EU, various measures have been taken to harmonize access to the audit profession. Nevertheless, only minimum access requirements are defined by EU regulation. Our results show considerable remaining differences between the member states. They are the basis for an Access Requirements Index (ARI) which makes it possible to easily assess and compare requirements placed on prospective auditors. In further analyzes, we show that the EU member states form five clusters based on the underlying parameters of the index. Our paper provides a basis for future research on possible consequences of these differences and gives an overview to regulators and the professions in the EU about the status of harmonization of access requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dengue non-structural protein (NS1) is an important diagnostic marker during the acute phase of infection. Because NS1 is partially conserved across the flaviviruses, a highly specific DENV NS-1 diagnostic test is needed to differentiate dengue infection from Zika virus (ZIKV) infection. In this study, we characterized three newly isolated antibodies against NS1 (A2, D6 and D8) from a dengue-infected patient and a previously published human anti-NS1 antibody (Den3). All four antibodies recognized multimeric forms of NS1 from different serotypes. A2 bound to NS1 from DENV-1, -2, and -3, D6 bound to NS1 from DENV-1, -2, and -4, and D8 and Den3 interacted with NS1 from all four dengue serotypes. Using a competition ELISA, we found that A2 and D6 bound to overlapping epitopes on NS1 whereas D8 recognized an epitope distinct from A2 and D6. In addition, we developed a capture ELISA that specifically detected NS1 from dengue viruses, but not ZIKV, using Den3 as the capture antibody and D8 as the detecting antibody. This assay detected NS1 from all the tested dengue virus strains and dengue-infected patients. In conclusion, we established a dengue-specific capture ELISA using human antibodies against NS1. This assay has the potential to be developed as a point-of-care diagnostic tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the impact of a gamified mobile learning application on students' exam success in a mandatory introductory accounting course. The app was developed with the particular needs of first-year students in mind. It provides elements like quizzes as well as organizational and communicative elements helping students structure their daily life at university. The results indicate that serious app users achieve a significantly higher score in the final exam than non-serious users. We apply three approaches, including OLS and 2SLS regression, and an identification strategy based on students who re-take the course to show the app's positive effect. Especially the 2SLS approach, which addresses the issue of self-selection, may add valuable insights into the use of mobile technology in accounting education. This study not only contributes to the ongoing research on the effects of mobile technology in higher education but also sheds light on the determinants of student success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dengue is a mosquito-borne infection caused by dengue virus (DENV) of the Flaviviridae family. In another paediatric cohort, high anti-DENV antibody levels, >1:320 titres, protected against symptomatic dengue, whereas individuals with anti-DENV antibody titres between 1:21 and 1:80 were more susceptible to severe dengue [[2]]. Furthermore, in early disease phase, higher afucosylated IgG1 abundance was observed in secondary DENV infection compared to primary infection, and these antibodies were predictive of severe dengue [[21]]. [Extracted from the article]

This study investigates the impact of cost stickiness on income smoothing. Prior literature at the intersection between management and financial accounting has understood changes in cost behaviour as mere consequences of short‐term earnings management incentives. By considering income smoothing as the more complex earnings management strategy, we argue that resource adjustment strategies underlying cost behaviour might also have an impact on long‐term financial reporting choices. Specifically, asymmetric reactions of costs to sales changes should increase earnings volatility and thus restrict managers' capabilities to report smooth income streams, which is supported by our empirical results. Additional tests reveal that cost stickiness primarily restricts opportunistic income smoothing and that the relationship depends on other factors such as the level of adjustment costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the development and transformations of Bukharan Jewish newspapers and periodicals (1910–38) and situates them in the broader Central Asian mediascape. Over a period of 30 years, the Bukharan Jewish press was transformed from a pioneering privately owned enterprise that served the needs of the Jewish communities throughout Central Asia to one owned and regulated by the Soviet state, serving as a tool to transmit propaganda and to shape and educate a predefined 'national minority group'. The paper argues that the introduction of a Bukharan Jewish press in 1910 was intended to create a modernized language and ethnic awareness among the Jews of Central Asia. In the 1930s, Bukharan Jewish newspapers and journals were radically Sovietized and finally shut down by the state. From then until the collapse of the Soviet Union, no Bukharan Jewish publications appeared in the bloc and the existence of a distinct Central Asian Jewish identity was largely ignored. This case study sheds light on Tsarist and Soviet minorities' policies and helps us to better understand the various changes experienced and the cultural adaptations made by many 'minorities' of Central Asia in the Age of Colonialism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Private firm financing, given the far-reaching importance of non-publicly traded companies for global output and employment, is still a relatively underexplored area. Since the seminal work of Petersen and Rajan (1994), only a small branch of research into private firms' cost of debt has been established. We aggregate the full body of this research that has empirically investigated antecedents of private firms' cost of debt in a meta-analysis. The foremost antecedents can be categorized into either borrower, creditor or financial statement verification attributes. Our results reveal a set of 11 highly significant and robust determinants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze investors' perception and long-term effects of board gender diversity on firms' stock market performance in an international setting. Our results, controlling for the endogenous nature of board compositions, indicate that female board representation neither improves nor reduces firms' long-term stock performance. Hence, we argue that it is imperative to go beyond the conventional thinking in terms of the business case for gender diversity and broaden the perspective also to incorporate societal and ethical aspects in the strive to board gender equality. Even more so, as our results show that it does not entail reduced shareholder value, which the literature on mandatory gender quotas commonly seems to suggest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the effect of private accounting information becoming public on small firms' access to bank debt. Both proprietary cost of disclosure and relationship banking have contributed to German private firms' traditional non-disclosure of financial statements. We employ a regulatory change, which increased enforcement and established severe fines for firms that do not publicly disclose financial statements, as a quasi-natural experiment. We find that small firms' access to bank debt has significantly increased after the disclosure shock. With our study based on a novel dataset in a non-voluntary private firm setting, we contribute to the discussion on private and public information in debt contracting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human primary monocytes are heterogeneous in terms of phenotype and function, but are sub-divided only based on CD16 and CD14 expression. CD16 expression distinguishes a subset of monocytes with highly pro-inflammatory properties from non-CD16 expressing "classical" monocytes. CD14 expression further subdivides the CD16+ monocytes into non-classical CD14low and intermediate CD14high subsets. This long-standing CD16–CD14 classification system, however, has limitations as CD14 is expressed in a continuum, leading to subjectivity in delineating the non-classical and intermediate subsets; in addition, CD16 expression is unstable, making identification of the subsets impossible after in vitro culture or during inflammatory conditions in vivo. Hence, we aimed to identify the three monocyte subsets using an alternative combination of markers. Additionally, we wanted to address whether the monocyte subset perturbations observed during infection is real or an artifact of differential CD16 and/or CD14 regulation. Using cytometry by time-of-flight (CyTOF), we studied the simultaneous expression of 34 monocyte markers on total monocytes, and derived a combination of five markers (CD33, CD86, CD64, HLA-DR, and CCR2), that could objectively delineate the three subsets. Using these markers, we could also distinguish CD16+ monocytes from CD16− monocytes after in vitro stimulation. Finally, we found that the observed expansion of intermediate (CD14high) monocytes in dengue virus-infected patients was due to up-regulated CD16 expression on classical monocytes. With our new combination of markers, we can now identify monocyte subsets without CD16 and CD14, and accurately re-examine monocyte subset perturbations in diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on analyses conducted to determine the possible sources of contamination in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) experiments, which indicated that water quality was one of the problems. Reference to some of the other factors which may have limited the results of the experiment; Measures which can be taken to avoid cross contamination.

Bone substitute materials loaded with mediators that stimulate fracture healing are demanded in the clinical treatment in trauma surgery and orthopedics. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) enhances the proliferation and differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells into osteoblast. To load the implants with BDNF, a drug delivery system that allows the release of BDNF under spatiotemporal control would improve functionality. Polyelectrolyte complex nanoparticles (PECNP) have been reported as a suitable drug delivery system. The suitability of PECNP in contact with osteocytes as the main cell type of bone is not known so far. Thus, we aimed to verify that BDNF and PECNP loaded with BDNF (PECNP+BDNF) as well as pure PECNP have no negative effects on osteocytes in vitro. Therefore, the murine osteocyte cell line MLO-Y4 was treated with BDNF and PECNP+BDNF. The effects on proliferation were analyzed by the BrdU test (n = 5). The results demonstrated a significant increase in proliferation 24 h after BDNF application, whereas PECNP+BDNF did not lead to significant changes. Thus, we conclude that BDNF is an appropriate mediator to stimulate osteocytes. Since the addition of PECNP did not affect the viability of osteocytes, we conclude that PECNP are a suitable drug delivery system for bone implants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human antibody SIgN-3C neutralizes dengue virus (DENV) and Zika virus (ZIKV) differently. DENV:SIgN-3C Fab and ZIKV:SIgN-3C Fab cryoelectron microscopy (cryo-EM) complex structures show Fabs crosslink E protein dimers at extracellular pH 8.0 condition and also when further incubated at acidic endosomal conditions (pH 8.0–6.5). We observe Fab binding to DENV (pH 8.0–5.0) prevents virus fusion, and the number of bound Fabs increase (from 120 to 180). For ZIKV, although there are already 180 copies of Fab at pH 8.0, virus structural changes at pH 5.0 are not inhibited. The immunoglobulin G (IgG):DENV structure at pH 8.0 shows both Fab arms bind to epitopes around the 2-fold vertex. On ZIKV, an additional Fab around the 5-fold vertex at pH 8.0 suggests one IgG arm would engage with an epitope, although the other may bind to other viruses, causing aggregation. For DENV2 at pH 5.0, a similar scenario would occur, suggesting DENV2:IgG complex would aggregate in the endosome. Hence, a single antibody employs different neutralization mechanisms against different flaviviruses. • SIgN-3C antibody inhibits dengue virus fusion while it aggregates Zika virus • Antibody locked surface proteins at low pH, inhibiting dengue virus fusion • Antibody cross-linked Zika virus particles, causing aggregation Zhang et al. show that a human monoclonal antibody SIgN-3C can neutralize closely related dengue and Zika virus via different mechanisms. The antibody neutralizes dengue virus by preventing virus:endosomal membrane fusion, although it aggregates Zika virus particles extracellularly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]