Changes In Behavior Research Articles

Gravitational force-induced changes in collisionless shock wave behavior in a charge-varying nonthermal dusty plasma

Gravitational force-induced changes in collisionless shock wave behavior in a charge-varying nonthermal dusty plasma

Impact of salivary flow inhibition on masticatory behaviours in healthy individuals.

It remains unclear how the salivary flow and the fat content of food affect bolus formation during mastication. We aimed to clarify: (1) how hyposalivation affects jaw-closing and hyoid-elevating muscle activities in bolus formation, and (2) if the effect of hyposalivation on muscle activity depends on the fat content of food. Eighteen healthy male volunteers were instructed to freely ingest four test foods: Plain, Fat without seasoning, Fat with seasoning, and Soft rice crackers. Masseter and suprahyoid electromyographic activities were recorded before and 30 min after the administration of atropine sulfate, a muscarinic receptor antagonist that induces hyposalivation. Hyposalivation extended the masticatory duration significantly in all the test foods except Fat with seasoning. Masticatory cycle time was significantly longer with vs without hyposalivation for the Soft (p = .011). Suprahyoid activity/cycle was significantly greater with vs without hyposalivation (p = .013). Masticatory cycle time was significantly longer at the late stage with vs without hyposalivation for the Soft (p < .001). Suprahyoid activity/cycle was significantly greater at the middle (p = .045) and late stages (p = .002) with vs without hyposalivation for the Soft and greater at the late stage with vs without hyposalivation for the Plain (p = .043). Changes in masticatory cycle time and suprahyoid activity/cycle for these foods had significantly positive relationship (p < .001). Hyposalivation-induced changes in masticatory behaviours resulted from the middle and late stage suprahyoid activity. Fat content and seasoning compensate for salivary flow inhibition.

Adapting to Change: How Brick-and-Mortar Retailers Responded to Consumer Behavior Shifts During COVID-19

In response to the drastic challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, brick-and-mortar retailers have had to adjust to the new consumer behaviors quickly. This research paper seeks to analyze and comprehend how these retailers responded differently, as described in each case study: J.C. Penney, Neiman Marcus, Best Buy, and Target, representing a spectrum of impacts and strategic adaptations. Hence, the comparison discovers that J.C. Penney and Neiman Marcus filed for bankruptcy because they could not transform themselves and be competitive under the new norms. Contrarily, the situation did not destroy Best Buy and Target's business as it altered the status quo in their favor. Achieving the flexible management of Best Buy and Target, which concentrated on the economic development of e-commerce interconnection of physical and digital operations, was their key achievement in this turbulent era. Only this way they could face the rising challenges. These scenarios demonstrate the role of adaptability and a well-integrated technology in retail. The result of the study denotes that the business would be able to win against its competitor only if it can adjust itself continuously to the drastic change in consumer behavior, including the rapid growth of online purchasing. The study predicts that the future of retail will likely require ongoing adaptability and take further focus on omnichannel strategies more seriously. It represents a shift from an immediate response to an analysis that investigates the long-term consequences for the retail sector.

Fgf17: A regulator of the mid/hind brain boundary in mammals

The Fibroblast growth factor (FGFs) family consists of at least 22 members that exert their function by binding and activating fibroblast growth factor receptors (FGFRs). The Fgf8/FgfD subfamily member, Fgf17, is located on human chromosome 8p21.3 and mouse chromosome 14 D2. In humans, FGF17 can be alternatively spliced to produce two isoforms (FGF17a and b) whereas three isoforms are present in mice (Fgf17a, b, and c), however, only Fgf17a and Fgf17b produce functional proteins. Fgf17 is a secreted protein with a cleavable N-terminal signal peptide and contains two binding domains, namely a conserved core region and a heparin binding site. Fgf17 mRNA is expressed in a wide range of different tissues during development, including the rostral patterning centre, midbrain-hindbrain boundary, tailbud mesoderm, olfactory placode, mammary glands, and smooth muscle precursors of major arteries. Given its broad expression pattern during development, it is surprising that adult Fgf17−/− mice displayed a rather mild phenotype; such that mutants only exhibited morphological changes in the frontal cortex and mid/hind brain boundary and changes in certain social behaviours. In humans, FGF17 mutations are implicated in several diseases, including Congenital Hypogonadotropic Hypogonadism and Kallmann Syndrome. FGF17 mutations contribute to CHH/KS in 1.1% of affected individuals, often presenting in conjunction with mutations in other FGF pathway genes like FGFR1 and FLRT3. FGF17 mutations were also identified in patients diagnosed with Dandy-Walker malformation and Pituitary Stalk Interruption Syndrome, however, it remains unclear how FGF17 is implicated in these diseases. Altered FGF17 expression has been observed in several cancers, including prostate cancer, hematopoietic cancers (acute myeloid leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia), glioblastomas, perineural invasion in cervical cancer, and renal cell carcinomas. Furthermore, FGF17 has demonstrated neuroprotective effects, particularly during ischemic stroke, and has been shown to improve cognitive function in ageing mice.

Dedifferentiation- and aging-induced loss of mechanical contractility and polarity in vascular smooth muscle cells: Heterogeneous changes in macroscopic and microscopic behavior of cells in serial passage culture

Dedifferentiation and aging of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) are associated with serious vascular diseases, such as arteriosclerosis and aneurysm. However, how cell dedifferentiation and aging affect cellular mechanical behaviors at the single-cell and intracellular structure levels remains unclear. An in-depth understanding of these interactions is extremely important for understanding the mechanism underlying VSMC mechanical integrity and homeostatic regulation of vascular walls. Herein, we systematically investigated changes in VSMC morphology, structure, contractility, and motility during dedifferentiation and aging induced by serial passage culture using traction force microscopy with elastic micropillar substrates, laser nanodissection of cytoskeletons, confocal fluorescence microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. We found that VSMC dedifferentiation started in the middle stage of serial passage culture, accompanied by a transient cell spreading in the cell width and decrease in contractile protein expression. Dedifferentiated VSMCs showed a significant decrease in the contraction and stiffness of individual actin stress fibers; however, their overall cell traction forces were maintained. Simultaneously, a significant increase in cell motility and the number of actin fibers was observed in dedifferentiated VSMCs, which may be associated with the enhancement of cell migration and disruption of cell/tissue integrity during the early stage of vascular diseases. As cell senescence progressed in the later stage of serial passage culture, VSMCs displayed reduced cell spreading and migration with decrease in the overall cell traction forces and drastic reduction in mechanical polarity of cell structures and forces. These results suggested that cell senescence causes loss of mechanical contractility and polarity in VSMCs, which may be an important factor in vascular disease progression. The experimental systems established in this study can be powerful tools for understanding the mechanisms underlying cellular dedifferentiation and aging from a biomechanical perspective.

Assessing the suitability of groundwater resources based on farmers’ predicted intentions and human–water feedbacks

In this study, a behavioral −hydrological simulation modeling framework is developed to explore the functioning of human-water systems. The main objective is to identify the psycho-social factors affecting water conservation intentions among farmers, and then realize the interactions and bidirectional feedback between humans and water resources. For this purpose, the agent-based modeling (ABM) and extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) is recruited to reflect on the agents’ behaviors. As the first step, the framework of the extended TPB together with the agent behavior was designed via field researches through the completion of 169 questionnaires upon proportional-to-size (PPS) random sampling. The partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is then implemented, at the second step, to analyze the data and obtain the weights of the extended TPB constructs. The results reveal that the constructs supplemented to the TPB, including moral norms (MNs) and perceived risk (PR), could have significant effects on water conservation intentions and behaviors among farmers. At the last step, the farmers and their decision-making as the dynamic elements by obtaining feedbacks of water resources were modeled using the ABM. To evaluate the proposed framework, the recorded data of groundwater fluctuations and cultivated areas in the Lenjanat plain is utilized and compared with the socio-hydrological simulation modeling outcomes using the Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) coefficient. Then, five scenarios are defined to shed light on the changes in the agent behavior on the aquifer suitability, including water consumption rate and groundwater levels in the aquifer. The results correspondingly demonstrated that merging the second and third scenarios in an effort to raise the prices of crops with low water need along with the increase in utility costs (here, water and electricity) could lead to a 75% increase of farmers’ income and a 21.5% reduction in the surface and groundwater uses in this region, implying the highest level of water conservation among other scenarios.

Numerical simulation of the dynamic interaction characteristics between Wood’s metal and water under coolant injection mode

The accident of the steam generator tube rupture in the lead-bismuth-cooled fast reactor or the core meltdown in the light water reactor may cause violent heat and mass transfer between the melt and the coolant, potentially further damaging the reactor. Therefore, it is essential to study the corresponding mechanisms. In this study, numerical simulations are utilized to investigate the dynamic interactions between Wood’s metal and subcooled water in the coolant injection (CI) mode, focusing on jet behavior and critical cavity parameter changes. By analyzing these factors, this research aims to clarify the interfacial evolution and interaction mechanisms between the melt, water, and air, thereby tackling the problem of inadequate observation in experiments. A user-defined function (UDF) was employed to simulate the flow characteristics of the melt during the solidification process. This approach effectively addressed the limitation of Fluent’s inherent solidification model, where the fluid no longer participates in turbulent velocity calculations after solidification. In addition, an equivalence method was proposed according to the characteristics of two-dimensional simulations in Fluent. Comparisons with Cheng’s experimental results show that the equivalent model can accurately predict jet penetration characteristics while significantly reducing the demand for computational resources. According to this equivalence method, this research developed a new correlation for predicting the maximum jet penetration depth in the CI mode. The above results provide new perspectives for understanding the dynamic interactions between metals and coolants, which is significant for the application and optimization of technologies in the nuclear field.

Analysis of health behavior changes among residents in depopulation areas in Korea: a cross-sectional study based on Community Health Survey data from 2010 to 2019

Objectives: The total population of Korea began to decline in 2019; in particular, the population in rural areas has been rapidly decreasing and is aging. Therefore, the government has designated depopulation areas and is seeking ways to support them. To assess whether health disparities exist between areas with population decline and those without, this study used community health survey data to observe temporal changes in health behaviors between the two types of areas. Methods: The analysis used Community Health Survey data from 2010 to 2019, and regional classification was divided by depopulation areas designated by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. Trends in health behavior and chronic disease prevalence between depopulation and non-depopulation areas were analyzed. All analyses were conducted using complex sample analysis procedures in SAS 9.4 software. Results: The smoking rate steadily decreased in both depopulation and non-depopulation areas, whereas the high-risk drinking rate increased slightly. The walking practice rate did not improve in depopulation areas compared to non-depopulation areas. Furthermore, nutritional labeling usage rate was consistently lower in depopulation areas than in non-depopulation areas, with the gap being the largest. The prevalence of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension showed that the gap between depopulation and non-depopulation areas is continuously increasing. Conclusions: Health behaviors in depopulation areas have not improved, and the prevalence of chronic diseases is increasing rapidly. Therefore, the demand for health care services that support healthy lifestyle practices and chronic disease management in these areas is expected to increase.

APPLICATION OF B.F. SKINNER'S BEHAVIORISM LEARNING THEORY IN ISLAMIC EDUCATION LEARNING FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

This study aimed to know and describe the application of B.F Skinner's Operant Conditioning Behaviorism Learning Theory in Islamic Education learning at high school students and to know students' responses. In this study, the researchers described the forms of stimulus provision and the principles of Operant Conditioning B.F Skinner applied in Islamic Education learning. This research used qualitative methods. The data collection techniques used observation, interviews, and documentation. While data analysis is done with several stages, namely data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion drawing. The results showed that B.F Skinner's Operant Conditioning Behaviourism Learning Theory in Islamic Education learning was successfully applied. The implication of this research shows that overall the application of the theory resulted in a good response and changes in student behaviour in a positive direction in the form of the formation of learning motivation, activeness, reinforcement and improved student memory.

The Effect of Personal Color Diagnosis Awareness on Changes in Hair and Nail Art Behavior

The Effect of Personal Color Diagnosis Awareness on Changes in Hair and Nail Art Behavior

COMPARISON OF OZONATION (O3) AND AOPS (O3/H2O2) IN PURIFICATION OF WELL WATER IN KLUMPRIT VILLAGE, CENTRAL JAVA, INDONESIA

Water is a very important need for human life. The need for clean water has increased due to changes in people's behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the increasing need for clean water during the pandemic, access to it remains unequal. One of the areas with poor water sources is Klumprit Village, Nusawungu, Cilacap, Central Java, where the water is cloudy, yellow in color, and a rustic smell. According to the Regulation of Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia Number 32 of 2017, water that is suitable for sanitation needs is water that is odorless, tasteless, not cloudy or has a low level of turbidity. Ozone is an environmentally friendly technology because it does not produce harmful by-products. In addition to ozone, the production of clean water can use Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) with (O3/H2O2). The existence of H2O2 will increase the ability of ozone in the production of clean water or water purification. In this study, ozonation and AOPs (O3/H2O2) were carried out to purify the yellow and cloudy well water in Klumprit Village, Cilacap, Central Java as an effort to improve public health during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research method was to compare ozonation and AOPs (O3/H2O2). The study will include variations in pH levels, specifically neutral pH (untreated sample) and alkaline, as well as different concentrations of H2O2. The experimental data included Fe and Mn content in water before and after the treatment process. Based on the results of this study, it was found that the yellow color of the groundwater in Klumprit village is caused by high levels of manganese (Mn). The lowest concentration of Mn was achieved after 60 minutes of ozonation at an alkaline pH of 9, with a concentration of 0.266 mg/L. The iron (Fe) content showed fluctuation for both treatment methods, ozonation (O3) and advanced oxidation processes (O3/H2O2).

Seasonal changes in the diurnal behavior of Chimarrogale platycephalus evaluated using environmental DNA

Seasonal changes in the diurnal behavior of Chimarrogale platycephalus evaluated using environmental DNA

Impact of Pictorial Health Warnings on Cigarette Packs among Current Smokers of Sub-Metropolitan City of Nepal: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Pictorial health warning on cigarette packs is one of the strategies undertaken by Nepal Government as per the directive of World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to control smoking. It has been more than a decade since the introduction of pictorial health warnings on cigarette packs in Nepal. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of the pictorial warnings among current smokers of Dharan, Nepal.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among current smokers visiting local shops located near ward offices of Dharan after obtaining ethical approval from Institutional Review Committee (Reference number: 204/080/01 -IRC). A structured and validated Nepali questionnaire was used to interview the smokers about the impact of the pictorial warnings based on their noticeability, behavioural and cognitive responses. Statistical analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0. The responses of the participants were tabulated in frequencies and percentages.Results: The pictorial warnings were noticed by 277 (98.93%) participants in past one month out of which 11 (3.93%) smokers had always read or looked closely at them. Smoking less frequently was the behaviour change reported by 70 (25%) participants and smoking less around others was reported by and 56 (20%) participants. In total, 189 (67.50%) smokers had thought about the harms of smoking and 160 (57.14%) had intention to quit smoking due to the pictorial warnings.Conclusions: The pictorial health warnings were not so effective in bringing about changes in smoking behaviour of smokers.

PERAN E-WALLET DALAM PENGAMBILAN KEPUTUSAN YANG EFISIEN

This rapid technological progress has made many changes, such as in the current era, developments have made many changes in carrying out transactions such as digital wallets (e-wallets). This e-wallet has many advantages in making it easier for us to save money, carry out transactions and manage our daily finances digitally via smartphone in a practical and time efficient way to use it. The aim is to analyze the role of e-wallets which will influence efficient financial decisions among students of the 4th semester accounting study program at Widya Mandala Catholic University Surabaya 2024. The method used in this research is qualitative using respondents as data collectors. The total population of the objects we studied was 97 respondents, then we used the Slovin formula where the results of our calculations found that the number of respondents we had to research was 78 respondents. By compiling 5 questions, they were used as research objects. The results of the analysis show that e-wallets make financial management easier by recording all transactions in a position where of course e-wallets will provide efficiency in financial recording so that respondents or users don't have to bother recalculating their money manually. However, there are still some privacy issues and even fraud in certain circles which can be a point of view for all e-wallet companies to be able to anticipate this. The convenience and comfort provided by digital payments via e-wallet is present and felt by consumers when carrying out transactions and this can be a source of satisfaction for users. There are also shortcomings such as respondents not feeling any change in behavior because respondents have not felt any change in behavior due to lack of access or understanding of technology, to a preference for traditional payment methods

Temporal Matrix Factorization: A polynomial approach to latent factor estimation

Matrix Factorization (MF) is a simple and efficient Machine Learning (ML) technique to discover latent factors that help in explaining the underlying behaviour of actors (for instance, in the domain of recommender systems the actors could be users/items). The technique uses observed data, generated by the actors, to derive the latent factors. With time, more and more observed data that spans across a wide range of time period gets accumulated. The abundance of this data, allows us to discover new behavioural patterns. One such pattern is that, the latent factor values change with time. Most of the existing matrix factorization techniques are agnostic to time of occurrence of the event and fail to foresee the temporal changes in the actor behaviour. Deep neural networks are effective in predicting the recommendations with time, however, the ability to explain the underlying pattern and the associated rationale is poor. In our work, we propose a novel matrix factorization technique to estimate the temporal changes in the user behaviour and demonstrate its effectiveness in achieving time dependent recommendations.

Training effectiveness evaluation: Advancing a Kirkpatrick model based composite framework

The present study aims at ideating a quantitative protocol to evaluate effectiveness of training programmes especially meant for farmers, farm women, and rural youth. The specific objective was to develop a robust framework for measuring the effectiveness of rural training programmes organized by the Farmers Training Centres (FTCs) of India. Kirkpatrick’s training evaluation model provides us the foundation to design a four-dimensional composite framework based on range-based indicator normalization, principal component analysis based indicator weight estimation, and rank correlation based framework sensitivity testing. We used cross-sectional primary data generated through household survey and personal interviews with randomly selected one thousand trainees to test and validate our proposed protocol. Applying it on our evaluation target we find that the degree of effectiveness of the training programmes varies; one in every four training programmes may not be effective. Trainees’ reactions on various aspects of the training programmes may have positive and significant influence on learning. Training outcomes may be linked with the trainees’ post-training changes in behaviour. A sensitivity test confirms that the proposed framework is not susceptible to changes in weighting schemes, implying robustness of indicator selection. The findings offer dissection of individual training programmes guiding policy decisions for a training organization. The proposed framework enriches the Kirkpatrick’s training evaluation model by offering standardized indicators for training effectiveness evaluation.

Electrowetting on glassy carbon substrates.

The wetting properties of carbon surfaces are important for a number of applications, including in electrochemistry. An under-studied area is the electrowetting properties of carbon materials, namely the sensitivity of wetting to an applied potential. In this work we explore the electrowetting behaviour of glassy carbon substrates and compare and contrast the observed response with our previous work using highly oriented pyrolytic graphite. As with the graphite substrate, "water-in-salt" electrolytes are found to suppress faradaic processes, thereby enlarging the electrochemical potential window. A notable difference in response to positive and negative polarity was seen for the graphite and glassy carbon substrates. Moreover, whereas graphite has previously been shown to give a reversible electrowetting response over many cycles, an irreversible wetting was observed for glassy carbon. Similarly, the timescales of the wetting process were much faster on the graphitic substrate. Reasons underlying these marked changes in behaviour on the different carbon surfaces are suggested.

The Effect of Solvent on the Structural, Morphological, Optical and Dielectric Properties of SnO2 Nanostructures

We investigate the effect of solvent, i.e., ethanol and deionized (DI) water, on the structural, optical, and dielectric characteristics of SnO2 nanostructures, synthesized via the hydrothermal method. Utilizing X-ray diffraction (XRD), we find the rutile phase for both nanostructures with average crystallite sizes of 12.53 nm and 6.62 nm for the samples synthesized using ethanol and DI water as solvents, respectively. The energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) confirms the presence of Sn and O elements in both samples. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) reveals that the samples prepared using ethanol and DI water exhibit nanorods and nanoflowers structures, respectively. The calculated band gap for SnO2 based on ethanol and DI water solvents is found to be 3.54 eV and 3.45 eV, respectively. The SnO2 nanostructure prepared by ethanol solvent demonstrates a higher dielectric constant which is attributed to higher defect density and more grain boundaries in it than in the sample synthesized using DI water. At low frequencies, the high tanδ values in the case of both nanostructures are explained based on space-charge polarization (SPC). The SnO2 prepared by DI water exhibits higher tangent loss than the one synthesized using ethanol because of its significant surface area. The significant amount of conducting grains in the SnO2 nanostructure while using ethanol solvent makes it a better conductive. Furthermore, the dielectric constant increases with increasing temperature which suggests considerable changes in the polarization behavior, while the tangent loss and conductivity demonstrate dependency on the temperature, indicating the promise of the nanostructures for electrical applications.

DỰ BÁO TÁC ĐỘNG CỦA HÀNH VI LÀM CHA MẸ TỚI HÀNH VI LỆCH CHUẨN HỌC ĐƯỜNG Ở HỌC SINH TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG

This article presents research predicting the impact of parenting behavior on deviant school behavior in high school students. Convenience sampling method was applied on 566 high school students in Nghe An in 2022 and measured based on the Parenting Behavior Scale and Deviant Behavior Checklist. The results show that parenting behavior models have the ability to predict changes in children's school deviant behavior. High supportive behavior and low psychological control from parents, especially from mothers, predict a decrease in school-deviant behavior in students. Solutions to reduce school misbehavior need to take into account these variables. Keywords: Parenting behavior; deviant behavior; high school students; correlation; prediction.

Hopf bifurcation control for the traffic flow model considering the tail light effect

The research on traffic congestion control has seen rapid development in recent years. Investigating the bifurcation characteristics of traffic flow and designing control schemes for unstable bifurcation points can offer new methods for alleviating traffic congestion. This paper focuses on studying the bifurcation characteristics and nonlinear control of traffic flow based on the continuous model and the taillight effect. Firstly, the traffic flow model is transformed into a stability model suitable for branching analysis through the use of the traveling wave transform. This transformation facilitates the analysis of stability that reflects unstable traffic characteristics such as congestion. Based on this stability model, the existence condition of Hopf bifurcation is proved and some bifurcation points of the traffic system are identified. Secondly, the congestion and stability mutation behaviors near equilibrium and branching points are studied to understand the formation mechanism of traffic congestion. Finally, control schemes are designed using Chebyshev polynomial approximation and stochastic feedback control to delay or eliminate unstable bifurcation points and relieve traffic congestion. This improved traffic flow model helps explain changes in system stability through bifurcation analysis and identify unstable bifurcation points. It can also effectively manage these points by designing a feedback controller. It is beneficial for controlling sudden changes in traffic system stability behavior and mitigating traffic congestion, with important theoretical significance and practical application value.