Direct Response Research Articles

Exigence at the Dawn of Recommendation Media: Dramatizing Salience in Audio Memes

ABSTRACT This article looks at how exigence is made publicly observable in user-based media operating on recommendation algorithms. Messaging in these rhetorical environments often takes the form of imitative behaviors rather than statements inviting a direct response. Examined in the article are two audio memes from TikTok representing two modes of imitation: one a physical imitation meme associated with the Woman, Life, Freedom protests in Iran, and the other a narrative imitation meme where participants objectify endemic social problems. The findings suggest that the responsorial imperative of audio memes can either intensify the speed and urgency with which an exigence is experienced, or it can bring urgency to endemic problems. The studies also find that the formal qualities of a given audio meme constrain both how an exigence is communicated as well as what kinds of exigences the meme can be taken up for in the first place.

Resisting Transhistorical Violence: Fringe and Art Activism

Between 1587 and 1589, Netherlandish artist Jan van der Straet engraved a series of plates entitled New Inventions of Modern Times. One, Allegory of America, portrays an Indigenous woman in a feathered headdress and skirt eagerly welcoming Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci as he steps onto land. Van der Straet’s work occupies space in a long history of male European artistic depictions of Indigenous women, but the white colonial gaze evident in Allegory has not gone unchallenged. In 2007, Rebecca Belmore (Anishinaabe) responded to transhistorical violence against Indigenous women and girls with a billboard instalment entitled Fringe. Although originally displayed as a direct response to the Pickton murders in Vancouver, Fringe transcends a single event or story. Belmore’s billboard reimagines controlling images that construct Indigenous women as sexually available conquests. She strips the image of the icons that artists have used to represent Indigenous women. By placing the billboard in a crowded metropolitan area, Belmore forces the viewer to confront the still-present reality of Indigeneity alongside the concomitant brutality of settler colonialism. Belmore’s art functions on multiple levels to convey a sense of survivance in the face of systemic attempted genocide. Fringe is a fully realised, modern, and powerful piece of art activism that transforms visual culture. In this paper, I analyse the transhistorical effects of art as a tool of colonisation, as seen in van der Straet’s work. I then theorise Fringe as a vibrant piece of art activism (artivism) that subverts the white male colonial gaze.

“Buy local” campaigns in times of crisis: insights from reactance theory

PurposeReactance theory is applied to investigate consumer responses to “buy local” campaigns initiated by government to counteract the effects of an economic crisis, using the COVID-19 pandemic as an illustrative context.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual model is developed, aimed at revealing the extent to which “buy local” campaigns – explicitly justified by the need to fight an economic crisis – are likely to lead to (a) compliance (i.e. support for local products/retailers) or (b) freedom restoration (i.e. support for foreign products/retailers). The model is subsequently tested on samples of German (N = 265) and Italian (N = 268) consumers.Findings“Buy local” campaigns are likely to generate reactance amongst consumers and such reactance can lead to both non-compliance and, albeit less so, freedom restoration outcomes. At the same time, consumer ethnocentrism acts as a countervailing influence by attenuating the effects of generated reactance and its undesirable outcomes.Research limitations/implicationsPsychological reactance theory offers a novel perspective for conceptually approaching the likely responses of consumers towards “buy local” campaigns and the empirical findings support the use of the theory in this context.Practical implicationsPolicymakers seeking to encourage consumers to support the local economy during times of an economic crisis need to be aware that “buy local” campaigns may, against their intended communication goals, result in non-compliance as well as consumer responses in the opposite direction. Thus, the reactance-generating potential of such campaigns needs to be explicitly considered at the planning/implementation stage.Originality/valueThe findings confirm the relevance of reactance theory as a conceptual lens for studying the effects of “buy local” campaigns and have important implications for domestic/foreign firms as well as for policy makers seeking to encourage consumers to support the local economy during times of an economic crisis.

Nomenclature of allergic diseases and hypersensitivity reactions: Adapted to modern needs: An EAACI position paper.

The exponential growth of precision diagnostic tools, including omic technologies, molecular diagnostics, sophisticated genetic and epigenetic editing, imaging and nano-technologies and patient access to extensive health care, has resulted in vast amounts of unbiased data enabling in-depth disease characterization. New disease endotypes have been identified for various allergic diseases and triggered the gradual transition from a disease description focused on symptoms to identifying biomarkers and intricate pathogenetic and metabolic pathways. Consequently, the current disease taxonomy has to be revised for better categorization. This European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Position Paper responds to this challenge and provides a modern nomenclature for allergic diseases, which respects the earlier classifications back to the early 20th century. Hypersensitivity reactions originally described by Gell and Coombs have been extended into nine different types comprising antibody- (I-III), cell-mediated (IVa-c), tissue-driven mechanisms (V-VI) and direct response to chemicals (VII). Types I-III are linked to classical and newly described clinical conditions. Type IVa-c are specified and detailed according to the current understanding of T1, T2 and T3 responses. Types V-VI involve epithelial barrier defects and metabolic-induced immune dysregulation, while direct cellular and inflammatory responses to chemicals are covered in type VII. It is notable that several combinations of mixed types may appear in the clinical setting. The clinical relevance of the current approach for allergy practice will be conferred in another article that will follow this year, aiming at showing the relevance in clinical practice where various endotypes can overlap and evolve over the lifetime.

Pengaruh Kualitas Pelayanan terhadap Kepuasan Lansia di Poli Lansia UPTD Puskesmas Emparu Kabupaten Sintang

Health services at the poly elderly puskesmas need to be considered and the quality of service is still often questioned, especially at UPTD Puskesmas Emparu. This quantitative study aims to obtain information on the quality of service satisfaction of the elderly who visit the Puskesmas. This study involved 75 elderly (men 23 elderly, women 52 elderly) as research subjects. Data on service quality and satisfaction of the elderly were collected by filling out questionnaires. The collected data was analyzed using classical assumption tests, simple regression analysis, validity tests, reliability tests, and t (partial) tests with the help of SPSS application version 30. Information was obtained that the dimensions of direct evidence (tangibles) and responsiveness (responsiveness) affect elderly satisfaction with services in the elderly poly. The follow-up that needs to be done for the elderly at the UPTD Puskesmas Emparu elderly poly is to update facilities and infrastructure as needed and respond quickly in serving

Can machines be trustworthy?

AbstractAI regulators promote ‘trustworthy AI’, but what exactly does trustworthy AI mean, and what does it have to do with trust? Many philosophers argue that the phrase is a contradiction of terms. Trust, unlike reliance, is said to be a uniquely human relationship involving direct responsiveness or intent. I argue that the objective of trustworthy AI can be real trust in the general sense of Karen Jones and others, and very similar to the kind of trust we place in institutions. The idea that trustworthiness does not apply to machines, stems from a petitio principii fallacy. We show how to escape this fallacy, providing a better and less anthropomorphic definition of trustworthiness. We briefly discuss how transparency modulates trustworthiness on our revised definition, as well as a possible challenge from intentionality.

Analysis of Direct Torque Control Response to Stator and Rotor Faults in Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machines

Direct-torque-control-driven permanent magnet synchronous machines eliminate the need for a position sensor while providing improved torque dynamics. However, the structure, regulation principle and nature of compensation of hysteresis-based controllers used in direct torque control impacts performance under faulty operating conditions. This paper analyzes the reaction of direct torque control to the presence of various faults that occur in permanent magnet synchronous machines. The analysis presented reveals that the direct torque control injects a negative sequence voltage and manipulates the torque angle to meet the control objectives when a fault occurs. The co-simulation of finite element analysis and a multi-physic circuit simulator is used to validate the response of the hysteresis-based controller to the machine health. The results indicate that the hysteresis comparators have the ability to mask the impact of the faults in the direct-torque-control-driven permanent magnet synchronous machines.

An ultra-wideband coding phase gradient metasurface for RCS reduction

ABSTRACTIn this work, an ultra-wideband coding phase gradient metasurface (CPGM) is proposed for radar cross section (RCS) reduction. The design process is presented in detail, in which eight types of coding elements are proposed firstly by using Pancharatnam-Berry (P-B) phase. The eight types of coding elements have different reflection direction or phase response under the same EM-wave incidence for they can introduce a series of phase gradients with different directions or starting-values under both right-handed and left-handed circular-polarized incidences, so the proposed CPGM composed of these coding elements has excellent performance in RCS reduction. The simulated results show that, compared with a pure metallic plate with the same size, the RCS of the CPGM can be reduced more than 10 dB in the ultra-wide frequency band of 9.2–46.2 GHz under normal incidence with arbitrary polarization, the relative bandwidth is up to 133.6%; moreover, the RCS reduction under oblique incidence with arbitrary polarization can still be kept larger than 9.3 dB in the frequency band of 13.1–42.5 GHz when the incident angle is increased to 45°. Finally, one experiment is carried out, a reasonable agreement exists between the simulated and experimental results.

Visualization of antiferromagnetic domains by nonreciprocal directional dichroism and related optical responses

Nonreciprocal directional dichroism (NDD) is a phenomenon in which the optical absorption is changed by reversing the direction of light propagation or the sign of the magnetic order parameters. While the NDD has mostly been observed in materials with macroscopic magnetization, recent experiments have shown that the NDD can be induced by a specific antiferromagnetic (AFM) spin structure that breaks both space-inversion and time-reversal symmetries. This opens the possibility of visualizing the spatial distribution of AFM domains via the NDD effect. This article reviews the basic features of the NDD, a brief history of the NDD in AFM materials, and recent achievements in visualizing AFM domains via the NDD and related optical responses, and finally provides a perspective on applications of this method for future AFM spintronics research.

Time reversal acoustic focusing in a reverberant room: Elongating a focus, and the effect of head-scattering

Time reversal acoustics (TRA) has tremendous potential for focusing, or sound concentration, in reverberant architectural environments. While TRA provides an inherently simple means of achieving a high degree of spatiotemporal focusing, its appropriateness for listening applications in the built environment is challenged by the need to accommodate a person within a sufficiently large focal area. At its simplest, a reciprocal time reversal focusing system for audible range sound will produce a focus with a spatial spread corresponding to one-eighth of the wavelength, which is inconveniently small for speech frequencies. However, an elongated focus is introduced by deploying a directional impulse response, which can be created with a directional microphone, or synthesized by time-delay-mixing of multiple omnidirectional impulse responses. This paper reports on results of physical experiments conducted in a reverberant room, complemented by finite-different time-domain simulations in which the effect of introducing a head-sized scatterer was investigated.

Exploring Asymmetric Substructures of the Outer Disk Based on the Conjugate Angle of the Radial Action

We use the conjugate angle of radial action (θ R ), the best representation of the orbital phase, to explore the “midplane,” “north branch,” “south branch,” and “Monoceros area” disk structures that were previously revealed in the LAMOST K giants. The former three substructures, identified by their 3D kinematical distributions, have been shown to be projections of the phase space spiral (resulting from nonequilibrium phase mixing). In this work, we find that all of these substructures associated with the phase spiral show high aggregation in conjugate angle phase space, indicating that the clumping in conjugate angle space is a feature of ongoing, incomplete phase mixing. We do not find the Z–V Z phase spiral located in the “Monoceros area,” but we do find a very highly concentrated substructure in the quadrant of conjugate angle space with the orbital phase from the apocenter to the guiding radius. The existence of the clump in conjugate angle space provides a complementary way to connect the “Monoceros area” with the direct response to a perturbation from a significant gravitationally interactive event. Using test particle simulations, we show that these features are analogous to disturbances caused by the impact of the last passage of the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy.

Pengaruh Trust terhadap Minat Masyarakat Membayar Zakat pada BAZNAS Kab. Sidrap dengan Religiusitas sebagai Variabel Moderating

The purpose of this study is to test and determine the effect of trust on people's interest in paying zakat at BAZNAS Kab. Sidrap with religiosity as a moderating variable. This type of research is quantitative research with a survey approach. The population is the Muslim community in the Tellu Limpoe sub-district of 16,008 people using the Krijchie Morgan formula, so the sample obtained is 375 people. The sampling technique is using a non-probability sampling technique, namely with the following criteria: (1) People of Tellu Limpoe District, (2) Islam, (3) Have their own income, and (4) Willing to become informants. This study uses primary data, namely direct responses of respondents through questionnaires and references to journals and books. The data collection method is by distributing questionnaires and via the Google form. The data analysis technique is SEMPLS using the SmartPLS 3 application. The results of this study are that trust positively and significantly influences people's interest in paying zakat at BAZNAS Kab. Sidrap and religiosity do not moderate trust in people's interest in paying zakat at BAZNAS Kab. Sidrap.

Engineering Helmholtz resonators for directional low-frequency sound attenuation

Controlling the absorption and diffusion of sound in the audible range constitutes an exciting field of research. Acoustic absorbers and diffusers perform extraordinarily well at high frequencies with sizes comparable to the wavelength of the working frequency. On the other hand, efficient low-frequency attenuators demand large volumes leading to unpractical sizes and high manufacturing costs. However, can the size of the resonator be reduced while also decreasing the working frequency? The answer is, counterintuitively, yes. This work investigates this phenomenon by studying a series of 3-D-printed monoatomic metamaterials based on membrane-coupled Helmholtz resonators. The results reveal that these systems, apart from significantly decreasing the bandgap frequency by around 36%, produce a cardioid directional response that contrasts with the omnidirectional response from traditional Helmholtz resonators. The obtained results suggest that by following this approach, low-frequency attenuation can be achieved via miniaturised devices while additionally providing them with a sense of directionality. This combination of features makes these sensors the perfect candidates for the next generation of acoustic hearing devices and acoustic attenuators, since the freedom that 3-D-printing provides allows for fine control of wave manipulation.

Terpenes modulate bacterial and fungal growth and sorghum rhizobiome communities.

Terpenes are among the oldest and largest class of plant-specialized bioproducts that are known to affect plant development, adaptation, and biological interactions. While their biosynthesis, evolution, and function in aboveground interactions with insects and individual microbial species are well studied, how different terpenes impact plant microbiomes belowground is much less understood. Here we designed an experiment to assess how belowground exogenous applications of monoterpenes (1,8-cineole and linalool) and a sesquiterpene (nerolidol) delivered through an artificial root system impacted its belowground bacterial and fungal microbiome. We found that the terpene applications had significant and variable impacts on bacterial and fungal communities, depending on terpene class and concentration; however, these impacts were localized to the artificial root system and the fungal rhizosphere. We complemented this experiment with pure culture bioassays on responsive bacteria and fungi isolated from the sorghum rhizobiome. Overall, higher concentrations (200 µM) of nerolidol were inhibitory to Ferrovibrium and tested Firmicutes. While fungal isolates of Penicillium and Periconia were also more inhibited by higher concentrations (200 µM) of nerolidol, Clonostachys was enhanced at this higher level and together with Humicola was inhibited by the lower concentration tested (100 µM). On the other hand, 1,8-cineole had an inhibitory effect on Orbilia at both tested concentrations but had a promotive effect at 100 µM on Penicillium and Periconia. Similarly, linalool at 100 µM had significant growth promotion in Mortierella, but an inhibitory effect for Orbilia. Together, these results highlight the variable direct effects of terpenes on single microbial isolates and demonstrate the complexity of microbe-terpene interactions in the rhizobiome. IMPORTANCE Terpenes represent one of the largest and oldest classes of plant-specialized metabolism, but their role in the belowground microbiome is poorly understood. Here, we used a "rhizobox" mesocosm experimental set-up to supply different concentrations and classes of terpenes into the soil compartment with growing sorghum for 1 month to assess how these terpenes affect sorghum bacterial and fungal rhizobiome communities. Changes in bacterial and fungal communities between treatments belowground were characterized, followed by bioassays screening on bacterial and fungal isolates from the sorghum rhizosphere against terpenes to validate direct microbial responses. We found that microbial growth stimulatory and inhibitory effects were localized, terpene specific, dose dependent, and transient in time. This work paves the way for engineering terpene metabolisms in plant microbiomes for improved sustainable agriculture and bioenergy crop production.

Soybean response (Glycine max L.) under the use of biostimulants: A literature review

Soybean (Glycine max L.) is a crop with prominence in Brazil and worldwide. The increase in soybean production and production capacity is associated with scientific and technological advances in the productive sector. One of these advances is the use of biostimulants. In this sense, this work aimed to review current knowledge about the effects of biostimulants on soybeans, highlighting the direct or indirect response of the plant when using such substances. This review was carried out through a research with a qualitative approach, being considered a literature review of the narrative type, using other studies and research at the same theme, in high impact magazines from the last five years or more that were relevant to the study, with subsequent critical reading about the subject. Based on found results, it is clear the use of biostimulants in soybeans is a potential alternative input for increasing the growth and development of the crop, as they are able to provide increments in its productive variables. However, further research is needed in order to provide better information on agronomic interests.

Reverse Vaccinology Analysis of B-cell Epitope against Nipah Virus using Fusion Protein

Nipah virus (NiV) is an RNA virus, a pathogenic paramyxovirus that causes nonlethal respiratory illness in pigs. It was originally reported in Malaysia in 1998. NiV is considered a potential outbreak threat because it is zoonotic. However, no vaccines or antiviral drugs have been found against NiV. Therefore, the main objective is to develop effective vaccines by characterizing the fusion protein of NiV. We used a reference sequence retrieved from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), then 3D modeled it to obtain the conserved region of the fusion protein. The interaction between the conserved region and B-cell receptors has been evaluated through a molecular docking approach. The B-cell epitope was identified using the Immune Epitope Database (IEDB) web server. As a result, we recommend Pep_D FANCISVTCQCQ as an epitope-based peptide vaccine candidate against Nipah virus. Pep D is highly immunogenic and does not cause autoimmune reactions. Pep D has the lowest binding energy for BCR molecular complexes, which can activate the transduction signal and direct B-cell immune response. However, further studies are required for confirmation (in vitro and in vivo).

Funabot-Suit: A bio-inspired and McKibben muscle-actuated suit for natural kinesthetic perception

In recent years, there has been extensive utilization of actuators driven by artificial muscles in wearable devices. However, the muscle distribution configurations of most wearable devices have been specifically designed and are difficult to generalize. Consequently, wearable devices that allow direct installation of actuators onto existing clothing are better suited for a wider range of application scenarios. This letter presents the development and evaluation of Funabot-Suit, a human muscle configuration inspired wearable assist device that employs McKibben artificial muscles to induce natural kinesthetic perception in the wearer’s torso. By integrating thin McKibben muscles into an existing motion capture suit, the Funabot-Suit is capable of generating four fundamental motions: forward and backward bending, and left and right twisting. The suit’s performance was assessed through experiments involving three subjects who wore the suit while standing and seated, with the subjects reporting the direction of their kinesthetic perception. The subjects also rated the perceived ease of kinesthetic perception direction on a five-point scale. Our results demonstrate that the Funabot-Suit successfully induces kinesthetic perceptions for the wearer, with a one hundred percent detection ratio for accurate responses in the command direction across all subjects and positions. We observed variations in the sensitivity of left–right and up-down sensations, which can be attributed to the positioning of artificial muscles and individual differences.

A multi-stem cell basis for craniosynostosis and calvarial mineralization.

Craniosynostosis is a group of disorders of premature calvarial suture fusion. The identity of the calvarial stem cells (CSCs) that produce fusion-driving osteoblasts in craniosynostosis remains poorly understood. Here we show that both physiologic calvarial mineralization and pathologic calvarial fusion in craniosynostosis reflect the interaction of two separate stem cell lineages; a previously identified cathepsin K (CTSK) lineage CSC1 (CTSK+ CSC) and a separate discoidin domain-containing receptor 2 (DDR2) lineage stem cell (DDR2+ CSC) that we identified in this study. Deletion of Twist1, a gene associated with craniosynostosis in humans2,3, solely in CTSK+ CSCs is sufficient to drive craniosynostosis in mice, but the sites that are destined to fuse exhibit an unexpected depletion of CTSK+ CSCs and a corresponding expansion of DDR2+ CSCs, with DDR2+ CSC expansion being a direct maladaptive response to CTSK+ CSC depletion. DDR2+ CSCs display full stemness features, and our results establish the presence of two distinct stem cell lineages in the sutures, with both populations contributing to physiologic calvarial mineralization. DDR2+ CSCs mediate a distinct form of endochondral ossification without the typical haematopoietic marrow formation. Implantation of DDR2+ CSCs into suture sites is sufficient to induce fusion, and this phenotype was prevented by co-transplantation of CTSK+ CSCs. Finally, the human counterparts of DDR2+ CSCs and CTSK+ CSCs display conserved functional properties in xenograft assays. The interaction between these two stem cell populations provides a new biologic interface for the modulation of calvarial mineralization and suture patency.

Armadillo-inspired ultra-sensitive flexible sensor for wearable electronics

Flexible sensors are receiving growing attention as a valuable technology in application areas such as wearable electronics, soft robotics and e-skin. Unfortunately, most flexible sensors generally suffer from low sensitivity, narrow application range and single detection function. Herein, we present an uneven deformation strategy inspired by armadillo skin to construct ultra-sensitive flexible sensors. ASR-CLNS sensor consists of a silicone rubber substrate imitating the armadillo skin (ASR) and a continuously laminated conductive network (CLN). Mechanical deformation-induced stress concentration substantially contributes to ultra-high sensitivity. Noteworthily, the non-uniform substrates have specific stress concentration responses in different tensile directions, and the stretch sensitivity can be easily adjusted by microstructure customization or simply changing the sensor placement angle, which enables it to meet the detection requirements of more scenarios. Simultaneously, the laminated structure of the CLN endows the sensor pressure sensitivity, which allows sensors to be used to detect small pressures such as human breathing. Additionally, CLN demonstrated fast heat transfer capability, which can effectively improve the thermal management properties of composites. In short, this work provides an unexplored strategy to develop tunable/ultra-high sensitivity and multifunctional flexible sensor devices.

Treg-targeted IL-2/anti-IL-2 complex controls graft-versus-host disease and supports anti-tumor effect in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Modulating an immune response in opposite directions represents the holy grail in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) to avoid insufficient reactivity of donor T cells and hematologic malignancy relapse while controlling the potential development of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), in which donor T cells attack the recipient's tissues. IL-2/anti-IL-2 complexes (IL-2Cx) represent a therapeutic option to selectively accentuate or dampen the immune response. In dedicated experimental models of allo-HSCT, including also human cells injected in immunodeficient NSG mice, we evaluated side-by-side the therapeutic effect of two IL-2Cx designed either to boost regulatory T cells (Treg) or alternatively to activate effector T cells (Teff), on GVHD occurrence and tumor relapse. We also evaluated the effect of the complexes on the phenotype and function of immune cells in vivo. Unexpectedly, both pro-Treg and pro-Teff IL-2Cx prevented GVHD development. They both induced Treg expansion and reduced CD8+ T-cell numbers, compared to untreated mice. However, only mice treated with the pro-Treg IL-2Cx, showed a dramatic reduction of exhausted CD8+ T cells, consistent with a potent anti-tumor effect. When evaluated on human cells, pro-Treg IL-2Cx also preferentially induced Treg expansion in vitro and in vivo, while allowing the development of a potent anti-tumor effect in NSG mice. Our results demonstrate the clinical relevance of using a pro-Treg, but not a pro-Teff IL2Cx to modulate alloreactivity after HSCT, while promoting a graft-versus-leukemia effect.