Degree Of Cohesion Research Articles

Relationship between Soybean Protein Isolate and Textural Properties of Texturized Vegetable Protein.

To identify the ideal soybean protein isolate for texturized vegetable protein processing, the effect of different soybean protein isolates on texturized vegetable protein composition was studied. Three different types of soybean protein isolates were selected and analyzed for functional properties (water holding capacity (WHC), emulsifying properties, foaming properties), amino acid content, and protein secondary structure. Then, using the same formulation, the soybean protein isolates were extruded to produce texturized vegetable protein, and its textural properties, degree of texturization, microstructure, free sulfhydryl (free SH), and disulfide (S-S) content were determined. Lastly, a correlation analysis was performed to examine the connection between soybean protein isolates and texturized vegetable proteins. After correlation analysis, the soybean protein isolate functional properties that affect the textural properties of the texturized vegetable protein were as follows: the emulsifying property affected the hardness, adhesiveness, springiness, gumminess, and chewiness of the texturized vegetable proteins; and the foaming property affected the gumminess, chewiness, and the degree of texturization of the texturized vegetable proteins. In addition, 16 amino acids including threonine (Thr), methionine (Met), and arginine (Arg) affect texturized vegetable proteins, mainly with respect to adhesiveness, springiness, and free SH. The effects of secondary structure (α-helix, random coil) on texturized vegetable proteins were degree of texturization, resilience, and cohesion, respectively. Therefore, choosing the soybean protein isolate with better emulsifying and foaming properties provides a more suitable approach for processing texturized vegetable protein.

Caregiver Burden, Stress, and Relationship Cohesion Among Self-Identified Caregivers of Children with Pediatric Acute-Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome.

Objective: Children with Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS) experience sudden onset neuropsychiatric symptoms after infection or other triggers. Symptoms range from mild to severe, potentially lasting days, weeks, months, or longer. Exacerbation-related functional decline presents in many aspects of daily life, generally accompanied by family stress and caregiver burden. We sought to investigate the relationship between severity of PANS symptoms and caregiver burden/stress and the relationship between severity of PANS symptoms and degree of caregiver/child cohesion. Methods: This cross-sectional online study surveyed caregivers recruited from PANS-related social media support sites. The Pediatric Acute Neuropsychiatric Symptom Scale - Parent Version (PNSS) measured current severity. Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI) and Caregiver Self-Assessment Questionnaire (CSAQ) assessed caregiver burden/stress. Inclusion of Other in the Self (IOS) scale determined caregiver-perceived current and desired cohesion with their child(ren) with PANS. Results: Of the 216 respondents 79.6% exceeded CBI threshold indicating need for respite in adult care receiver populations. On the CSAQ, 72.9% expressed high distress, 80.5% reported feeling overwhelmed, and 58.1% reported crying spells, meeting cutoffs for support/respite used in adult care receiver populations. Most caregivers reported not having the desired degree of cohesion with their child on the IOS (85.5%). Parents of children with more severe PNSS symptoms fared significantly worse on all measures (CBI: H = 57.83; CSAQ: F = 29.26; IOS: H = 38.04; p < 0.001 for all). Content analysis of comments revealed five themes: (1) severe caregiver and/or family emotional distress and trauma; (2) caregivers wondering what happened to their child; (3) lack of awareness and support among health and education professionals; (4) relationship strain with family, friends, and significant others; and (5) financial and/or legal struggles because of their child's diagnosis. Conclusion: There is strong need for support and respite for children with PANS and their families. Long-term effects including posttraumatic stress symptoms among family members should be studied.

Reilly’s Law and Logistic Type Equation in a Model for Studying Group Selection and Intercity Relations

This paper presents a model based on logistic type equations, but taking Reilly's Law into account. It consists of differential equations, each of which describes the dynamics of a population located at the center of a territory whose resources it exploits. Similar differential equations, but without elements that take into account the Reilly's Law, have already been presented for studying the evolution of altruism from binary altruism (between two individuals) to Benthamian altruism (toward the group). The model presented here aims to study the outcome of competition for resources at least partially shared by populations concentrated at different points. It shows that a group's degree of cohesion is crucial to its survival if it competes with other groups for resources, even without the use of violence. It also shows that cooperation can replace competition between different populations with mutual benefits (even if the resulting equilibrium can be rather precarious). Finally, the differential equations used, while containing elements similar to those found in Newton's gravitational law (as well as Reilly's), predict the existence, alongside the force of attraction between economic actors, of its opposite (that is a sort of social antigravity).

Influence of high-temperature exposure on the properties of gypsum-plastic waste composites: Thermophysical and microstructural analysis

Gypsum plasters are a versatile material with a wide range of applications due to their fireproof, thermal, hygroscopic, and acoustic properties. They are commonly used as a coating material to provide passive protection to structural components. Moreover, the construction sector recognizes the potential for gypsum material to address the issue of plastic waste by offering a recycling solution. However, it is crucial to consider the effect of polymeric waste aggregates on the behavior of the gypsum matrix against fire. To address this issue, this study aims to evaluate the impact of high temperature exposure on the microstructural and thermal properties of gypsum composites containing plastic waste. The study compares two different residues, crushed polypropylene (PP) sourced from disposable coffee capsules and nylon (PA6) fibres obtained from discarded fishing nets, with the reference material as partial replacements of the gypsum matrix. The samples are exposed to different high-temperature conditions, including service temperatures (23 ± 2 °C, 150 °C, and 300 °C) and fire temperatures (1000 °C). The physical, thermal, and chemical properties of the new composites are analyzed based on TGA and XRD analysis, and SEM and micro-CT methods to evaluate the effect of plastic residues on the microstructural properties of the gypsum matrix. Additionally, the cracking patterns induced by 1000 °C exposure are compared. The study finds that the nature of the gypsum matrix remains largely unchanged after plastic waste addition. However, the low cohesion degree of the interface transition zone (ITZ) between the products of different hydration is a critical feature that must be considered during the heating process. It could significantly affect the mechanical performance of the new composites. Furthermore, it is worth noting that the inclusion of PA6 fibres in the gypsum matrix improves the cracking performance after exposure to fire temperature. This is a result of better heat spread by microcracking generated after fibres melted. In conclusion, this study highlights the potential of using plastic waste as a partial replacement of gypsum matrix in construction applications. However, it is crucial to consider the impact of high temperature exposure on the mechanical performance of the new composites. Further research is needed to optimize the composition and processing parameters of the new composites to ensure their mechanical stability under fire conditions.

Classifier-Based Nonuniform Time Slicing Method for Local Community Evolution Analysis

With the rapid expansion of the scale of a dynamic network, local community evolution analysis attracts much attention because of its efficiency and accuracy. It concentrates on a particularly interested community rather than considering all communities together. A fundamental problem is how to divide time into slices so that a dynamic network is represented as a sequence of snapshots which accurately capture the evolutionary events of the interested community. Existing time slicing methods lead to inaccurate evolution analysis results. The reason is that they usually rely on a linear strategy while the community evolution is a nonlinear process. This paper investigates the problem and proposes a classifier-based time slicing method for local community evolution analysis. First, a classifier is trained for judging whether there is a community in the given network snapshot is identified as the continuing of the community defined by the given node subset. The features for classification include internal cohesion degree and external coupling degree. Second, a time slicing method is proposed based on the trained classifier. As the network evolves, the method continuously uses the classifier to predict whether there is a community in the newest network identified as the continuing of the interested community. Whenever the answer is negative, an evolutionary event is presumed to have occurred and a new time slice is generated. Experimental results show that compared with existing time slicing methods, our proposed method achieves higher recognition rate for given redundancy ratio.

Scaling behavior and text cohesion in Korean texts.

This study examines whether different types of texts, particularly in Korean, can be distinguished by the scaling exponent and degree of text cohesion. We use the controlled growth process model to incorporate the interaction effect into a power-law distribution and estimate the implied parameter explaining the degree of text cohesiveness in a word distribution. We find that the word distributions of Korean languages differ from English regarding the range of scaling exponents. Additionally, different types of Korean texts display similar scaling exponents regardless of their genre. However, the interaction effect is higher for expert reports than for the benchmark novels. The findings suggest a valid framework for explaining the scaling phenomena of word distribution based on microscale interactions. It also suggests that a viable method exists for inferring text genres based on text cohesion.

Knowledge sharing in family SMEs: the role of communities of practice

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to analyse the role of communities of practice (CoP) as knowledge-sharing tools in family small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In this context, CoPs that jointly involve family and non-family members are expected to act as knowledge-sharing tools.Design/methodology/approachThis paper employs a multiple case study methodology, analysing the cases of six small companies in different sectors and countries over a period of 8 years. Both primary and secondary data are used.FindingsThe results show the role CoPs play in involving family and non-family members in empowering knowledge-sharing initiatives. A CoP's role in knowledge sharing depends on the presence (or lack) of a family leader, the leadership approach, the degree of cohesion around shared approaches and values within the CoP, and the presence of multiple generations at work.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the literature on knowledge sharing in family businesses, by exploring for the first time the role of the CoP as a knowledge-sharing tool, depending on families' involvement in the CoP.

Social and community structure of striped dolphins in a semienclosed Mediterranean embayment

AbstractDescriptions of social structure of a species or population help to understand the processes that shaped its social system, and such knowledge can be valuable in terms of conservation planning. While striped dolphins Stenella coeruleoalba are among the most abundant cetacean species worldwide, and the most abundant in the Mediterranean Sea, their social and community structure is poorly known. This study investigates the association patterns of a population inhabiting the Gulf of Corinth, Greece. A total of 501 individuals were photo‐identified across 7 years (2011–2017). Groups were significantly larger (M = 44.7, SD = 46.3) than those studied to date in other Mediterranean areas. Association analyses in SOCPROG relied on the time and position metadata of dorsal fin photographs. Results indicated a single community characterized by nonrandom associations and a loose clustering of individuals (best division into clusters corresponded to an association index of 0.02). The high degree of social cohesion may result in part from geographic isolation within a semienclosed basin. This information can inform management action to protect a demographically isolated population classified as Endangered in the IUCN Red List, within a European Union Site of Community Importance regarded as an Important Marine Mammal Area (IMMA).

Caregiver Burden, Stress, &amp; Relationship Cohesion Among Caregivers of Children With Pediatric Acute-Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome

Abstract Date Presented 04/22/2023 Children with pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS) experience sudden neuropsychiatric symptoms after infection. This study investigated the relationship between children’s severity of symptoms and caregiver burden and degree of cohesion between the caregiver and care recipient. Primary Author and Speaker: Janice Tona Additional Authors and Speakers: Julie Ash, Emily Brown, Courtney Campagna, Kellie Kostek, Erin Lawton, Andrea Rieth

Discovery of New Words in Tax-related Fields Based on Word Vector Representation

&lt;p&gt;New words detection, as basic research in natural language processing, has gained extensive concern from academic and business communities. When the existing Chinese word segmentation technology is applied in the specific field of tax-related finance, because it cannot correctly identify new words in the field, it will have an impact on subsequent information extraction and entity recognition. Aiming at the current problems in new word discovery, it proposed a new word detection method using statistical features that are based on the inner measurement and branch entropy and then combined with word vector representation. First, perform word segmentation preprocessing on the corpus, calculate the internal cohesion degree of words through statistics of scattered string mutual information, filter out candidate two-tuples, and then filter and expand the two-tuples; next, it locks the boundaries of new words through calculate the branch entropy. Finally, expand the new vocabulary dictionary according to the cosine similarity principle of word vector representation. The unsupervised neologism discovery proposed in this paper allows for automatic growth of the neologism lexicon, experimental results on large-scale corpus verify the effectiveness of this method.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

Принципи і механізми відновлення та розвитку регіональних економічних систем

The tasks of increasing the degree of cohesion and convergence are among the key ones for the post-war recovery and development of regional economic systems. They aim of socio-economic cohesion increase is mentioned as the main in the State Strategy for Regional Development of Ukraine, in the Post-War Recovery Plan, at it brings national regional development goals closer to European ones. In order to implement the tasks of post-war recovery and further development of regional economic systems (RES) based on the effective use of available resources, it is necessary to develop a methodological toolkit, to define strategic principles for the construction and development of RES. The peculiarities of the operation of RES in the period of post-war recovery are indicated. The concepts of "solidarity from below" and "solidarity from above" are introduced. An analogy is drawn between the management of the RES and the coordination of the activities of enterprises within the framework of the CPFR strategy. The means of stimulating cooperation in the RES, in particular institutional mechanisms and information technologies, are considered. Simulation models of economic cooperative subsystems were built using the iThink program.

Economic cohesion and development of the European Union's regions and member states - A methodological proposal to measure and identify the degree of regional economic cohesion

The EU cohesion policy seeks to mitigate imbalances between countries and regions and enhance greater economic development of the whole Union. However, notwithstanding its efforts and certain progress on this issue, territorial disparities still represent an open challenge for the European Union, which requires improving the cohesion policy, particularly regarding its measurement, in order to allocate resources more efficiently.This article aims to propose an innovative methodology to measure and identify the degree of cohesion of both EU NUTS-2 regions and member states in economic terms. To this end we first selected the main indicators which would better explain GDP per capita growth by applying factor analysis; and second, we measure the degree of cohesion as the relationship between economic development and its potential attributable to the inequalities detected in the selected set of indicators. To ensure the robustness of this research, we compared the results obtained by applying the Gini, Atkinson, and Theil indexes. Finally, the Economic Cohesion Index (ECI) has been elaborated in order to identify regions that, regardless of their economic development, still present a very low level of cohesion within the group in which it is compared.The main findings indicate that the 27 EU countries are quite cohesive. On the contrary, from the regional perspective, the study shows important imbalances between economic development and its potential that mainly affect the regions of Greece, Spain, and Italy, where Greece is the leading country among less developed regions and Spain and Italy among more developed.

Do coopetition and cohesion of business groups stimulate their innovation performance?

Innovation performance is a widely studied issue in management literature. However, despite an increasing number of innovation studies in the context of stand-alone firms, there is still little empirical evidence on business group innovation performance and its driving forces. Our study attempts to shed light on the relationship between coopetition and cohesion of a business group and its innovation performance. We use a Poisson regression model to analyze a sample of 118 business groups. We have found that the type of coopetition as well as the degree of cohesion of a business group is positively related to innovation performance measured by the number of patents and the number of trademarks.

Social capital and loneliness among older adults in community dwellings and nursing homes in Zhejiang Province of China.

Loneliness is an important problem afflicting the health of older adults, and has been proven to be associated with social capital. Previous research in China rarely investigated the differences of social capital and loneliness between older adults living in community dwellings and nursing homes. This study aims to examine the status of social capital and loneliness among older adults living in community dwellings and nursing homes, and analyze the relationship between them. A total of 1,278 older adults were recruited for the study from the cities of Hangzhou, Huzhou, and Lishui in Zhejiang Province of China from July to October 2021 by using multi-stage stratified random sampling. Questionnaires were used to collect data on the participants' sociodemographic characteristics, social capital, and loneliness. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to examine the relationship between social capital and loneliness. The interaction of social capital and institutionalization on loneliness was also explored. Compared with community-dwelling older adults, institutionalized older adults had higher levels of loneliness and lower degrees of social support, social connection, trust, cohesion, and reciprocity. A further analysis of the social capital showed that low levels of social support, trust, and cohesion were related to high levels of loneliness among adults in both community dwellings and nursing homes. Social connection was negatively correlated with loneliness among older adults living in community dwellings. Institutionalization itself demonstrated a strong effect on loneliness. Health-related policies should help older adults gain more social support, trust and cohesion to alleviate their loneliness. This is particularly crucial for older adults living in nursing homes, as they have higher levels of loneliness and lower levels of social capital than noninstitutionalized older adults.

Multiparty Democracy, Social Cohesion, and Human Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Conceptual Framework

This paper proposes some assumptions regarding the complex relationship between multiparty democracy, social cohesion, and human development in Sub-Saharan Africa. A conceptual framework was used to map out this relationship. We assumed that because multiparty democracy is relatively new in Africa and increasingly challenging for most countries, its relationship with human development may neither be proximal, nor positive. With respect to social cohesion, we assumed that a socially cohesive society is more likely than a non-cohesive one to promote human development. Further, we assumed that although multiparty democracy is susceptible to exerting a negative or weak effect on human development, the relationship may be mitigated by the level of social cohesion. The immediate implication of this assumption is that multiparty democracy is likely to improve the well-being of the populations of sub-Saharan Africa if the degree of social cohesion is relatively high. The proffered assumptions may be of great interest for practitioners and researchers in human development studies and other relevant fields.

Emergency repair strategy of distribution network under wind disaster based on multidimensional importance evaluation

In order to enhance the power supply reliability of distribution network under wind disasters and provide assistance for distribution network operators to formulate post disaster repair strategies, this paper proposes an optimization method for key nodes and lines evaluation and distribution network repair strategy under wind disaster. Firstly, based on the complex network theory, we considered the status of nodes and lines in the topology and working state. The multi-dimensional evaluation indexes are proposed including improved node degree, node cohesion degree, node intermediate number, weighted line intermediate number, line transfer power flow entropy and line failure rate, etc. Then, the entropy weight method is used to objectively weight the six indicators, and TOPSIS algorithm is used to rank the comprehensive importance of nodes and lines in the distribution network. On this basis, the dynamic programming theory is used to optimize the emergency repair strategy of the fault distribution network after the wind disaster. And the problem of restoring as many key nodes and lines as possible in a short time is proposed. Finally, the method is applied to the IEEE 39 bus system network to verify the feasibility.

Financial strain, neighborhood cohesion, and health-related quality of life among rural and urban Spanish-speaking Latina breast cancer survivors

PurposeAmong Latina breast cancer survivors, explore associations between rural/urban residence and health-related quality of life (HRQL), and whether associations are moderated by financial strain and low neighborhood cohesion.MethodsWe combined baseline data from two randomized controlled trials of a stress management intervention conducted among 151 urban and 153 rural dwelling Latinas with nonmetastatic breast cancer. Generalized linear models estimated associations between rural/urban status and HRQL (overall, emotional, social-family, physical, and functional well-being), and we examined moderation effects of financial strain and low neighborhood cohesion, controlling for age, marital status, and breast cancer characteristics.ResultsRural women reported better emotional (β = 1.85; 95% CI = 0.37, 3.33), functional (β = 2.23; 95% CI = 0.69, 3.77), and overall (β = 5.68; 95% CI = 1.12, 10.25) well-being than urban women, regardless of degree of financial strain or neighborhood cohesion; moderation effects were not statistically significant. Financial strain was inversely associated with emotional (β = -2.34; 95% CI = 3.63, -1.05), physical (β = -2.56; 95% CI = -4.12, -1.01), functional (β = -1.61; 95% CI = -2.96, -0.26), and overall (β = -6.67; 95% CI = -10.96, -2.98) well-being. Low neighborhood cohesion was inversely associated with emotional (β = -1.27; 95% CI = -2.50, -0.04), social-family (β = -1.72; 95% CI = -3.02, -0.42), functional (β = -1.63; 95% CI = -2.92, -0.34), and overall (β = -5.95; 95% CI = 9.76, -2.14) well-being.ConclusionsRural Latina breast cancer survivors reported better emotional, functional and overall well-being than their urban counterparts. Greater financial strain and less neighborhood cohesion were associated with worse HRQL on most domains regardless of rural/urban context.Implications for Cancer SurvivorsInterventions that focus on increasing perceived neighborhood cohesion and reducing or better managing financial strain, could help improve Latina cancer survivors’ well-being.

The importance of designing the spatial distribution and density of vegetation in urban parks for increased experience of safety

This study presents an investigation of how different arrangements of vegetation, regarding spatial containment and density, affect the experience of safety in urban parks. A discrete choice experiment was used to obtain replies from a sample of 300 visitors to urban parks in Mashhad, Iran. Face-to-face surveys were conducted. Visitors randomly selected a block and evaluated six pairs of designed images of different urban park scenarios based on seven attributes (Physical accessibility, Spatial arrangement, Spatial volume, Lateral visibility, Complexity, Coherence, and Visual accessibility) and their levels. Each visitor chose their preferred option in relation to perceived safety. The results suggested that the perception of safety is strongly dependent on visual and physical accessibility, the degree of spatial enclosure, complexity and cohesion created by vegetation. This can help architects when designing urban parks; for example, the results showed that a combination of complex elements of five plant species with open lateral visibility, scattered cohesion with open lateral visibility, scattered cohesion with a two-sided spatial arrangement, and cluster cohesion with a four-sided spatial arrangement were most preferred regarding perceived safety. The findings also indicated that age, gender, and marital status affect some of the levels of the relevant variables. When designing and managing urban parks, aiming to improve users' perceived safety, these factors can be decisive.

Youth and social cohesion in times of the COVID pandemic: Most negatively affected? Most resilient?

The current article reports findings from three large representative survey studies in the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg. The studies are part of the Social Cohesion Radar research initiative of Bertelsmann Stiftung. The article explores the role of social cohesion in the relationship between COVID-based objective and subjective strain, on the one hand, and future optimism for the youth, citizens of active age, and the elderly. In particular, it focuses on the question whether the degree of social cohesion perceived by respondents moderates the relationship between strain and optimism in the different age groups. Findings show that the impact of perceived social cohesion in people's life context has only modest effects on the relationship between strain and future optimism. Yet, the results show that having been affected by COVID in one way or the other leads to a small but persistent bounce-back effect. People affected by COVID tend to look more optimistic into the future than those who were not.

Motion leadership and local interaction in two species of freshwater fish (Danio rerio and Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi).

The authors studied momentary motion leadership in small groups of black neon tetra (Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi) and zebrafish (Danio rerio), its relationship with local interaction parameters, such as the acceleration and turning angle of the individuals, and the relative locations of the individuals within the group. The purpose was to know whether leadership tended to be monopolised by certain individuals or whether it was equitably shared between them and if there were differences in leadership sharing between these two species, which are known to have different degrees of cohesion and polarisation. The authors filmed groups of two, three, four and eight fishes of each species and tracked their individual motion by image analysis and trajectory extraction. In both species, motion leadership was not monopolized but egalitarian and very short lived, with leadership shifts distributed randomly over time. The duration of leadership episodes decreased as group size increased and was longer in black neon tetra than in zebrafish. Momentary leaders did not tend to be in the front positions, but closer to the centre of the group. Acceleration and turning angle were more extreme in zebrafish than in black neon tetra and in the momentary leaders than the followers in both species. In general, these differences between species and between leaders/followers were qualitatively similar with some differences in detail, indicating that the relationship between motion leadership and local interaction parameters is likely to conform to a general physical law.