Diversified Research Research Articles

The Newborn's Reaction to Light as the Determinant of the Brain's Activation at Human Birth.

Developmental neuroscience research has not yet fully unveiled the dynamics involved in human birth. The trigger of the first breath, often assumed to be the marker of human life, has not been characterized nor has the process entailing brain modification and activation at birth been clarified yet. To date, few researchers only have investigated the impact of the extrauterine environment, with its strong stimuli, on birth. This ‘hypothesis and theory' article assumes the role of a specific stimulus activating the central nervous system (CNS) at human birth. This stimulus must have specific features though, such as novelty, efficacy, ubiquity, and immediacy. We propose light as a robust candidate for the CNS activation via the retina. Available data on fetal and neonatal neurodevelopment, in particular with reference to retinal light-responsive pathways, will be examined together with the GABA functional switch, and the subplate disappearance, which, at an experimental level, differentiate the neonatal brain from the fetal brain. In this study, we assume how a very rapid activation of retinal photoreceptors at birth initiates a sudden brain shift from the prenatal pattern of functions to the neonatal setup. Our assumption implies the presence of a photoreceptor capable of capturing and transducing light/photon stimulus, transforming it into an effective signal for the activation of new brain functions at birth. Opsin photoreception or, more specifically, melanopsin-dependent photoreception, which is provided by intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs), is considered as a valid candidate. Although what is assumed herein cannot be verified in humans based on knowledge available so far, proposing an important and novel function can trigger a broad range of diversified research in different domains, from neurophysiology to neurology and psychiatry.

Managing the external financing constraints of social enterprises: A systematic review of a diversified research landscape

AbstractSocial enterprises, located between non‐profit organisations and for‐profit firms, often struggle to acquire external funding. An increasing amount of research on the external financing of social enterprises stems from a fragmented body of the literature anchored in a variety of subject areas (e.g. entrepreneurship, public sector management, general management and strategy). We systematically review 204 academic articles published between 1998 and 2021 to bridge the knowledge gaps in these subject areas by: (1) mapping the field of the external financing of social enterprises at the individual, organisational and institutional levels; (2) synthesising the findings to develop an overarching framework; and (3) discussing theoretically sound future research avenues. We find that research at the individual level focuses primarily on investors’ perspective of the ideal characteristics of a social entrepreneur. Research at the organisational level often addresses the dual logics of social enterprises and their impact on the successful financing of these businesses and the role of investor–investee collaboration. Research at the institutional level can be clustered into cultural, economic, political and legal factors. Overall, we stress the need for research that adopts an overarching view by considering all three levels of analysis simultaneously and using organisational and economic theories.

Towards designing a generic and comprehensive deep reinforcement learning framework

Reinforcement learning (RL) has emerged as an effective approach for building an intelligent system, which involves multiple self-operated agents to collectively accomplish a designated task. More importantly, there has been a renewed focus on RL since the introduction of deep learning that essentially makes RL feasible to operate in high-dimensional environments. However, there are many diversified research directions in the current literature, such as multi-agent and multi-objective learning, and human-machine interactions. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a comprehensive software architecture that not only plays a vital role in designing a connect-the-dots deep RL architecture but also provides a guideline to develop a realistic RL application in a short time span. By inheriting the proposed architecture, software managers can foresee any challenges when designing a deep RL-based system. As a result, they can expedite the design process and actively control every stage of software development, which is especially critical in agile development environments. For this reason, we design a deep RL-based framework that strictly ensures flexibility, robustness, and scalability. To enforce generalization, the proposed architecture also does not depend on a specific RL algorithm, a network configuration, the number of agents, or the type of agents.

A Mouse Model Tracking Cardiac Exosomes Spatially and Temporally

Exosomes are 30‐150 nm secreted extracellular vesicles containing DNA, RNA, and proteins with lipid bilayer membranes. They exist in most organs and body fluids, including blood, tears, urine, amniotic fluid, breast milk, etc. The profiles of DNA, RNA, and proteins contained in exosomes are distinct from the exosome‐releasing cells. Recent studies revealed that different pathological conditions or stimuli could alter exosome sorting preferences, which resulted in the changes of phenotypes or functions in exosome recipient cells or organs. They are emerging as a new form of messengers facilitating cross‐talk between cells, tissues, and organs. Therefore, a critical demand arises for developing a sensitive and non‐invasive tracking system for endogenous exosomes. Tracking the biodistribution of endogenous exosomes and kinetics of endogenous exosome release and uptake should significantly impact basic and translational studies of exosome‐mediated pathways.Based on the exosome membrane structure, two major strategies have been applied for exosome labeling: by a lipophilic reagent‐conjugated reporter that incorporates into the exosome membrane and by exosome surface marker fusion reporter proteins. However, several challenges to monitoring endogenous exosomes currently remain due to the limitation of these exosome‐labeling techniques.In this study, we chose Nano‐luciferase (NanoLuc) as a reporter. NanoLuc is more stable and smaller in molecular size (19 kD) and generates a 150‐fold stronger signal compared to traditional Firefly and Renilla luciferases. The half‐life of the NanoLuc luminescence signal is more than 2 hours, the longest amongst all known luciferases. Its ultra‐stable and highly sensitive signal makes it an ideal reporter for endogenous exosome labeling to achieve a safe, non‐invasive, and quantifiable exosome tracking objective.We exploited these NanoLuc properties by fusing it to the exosome surface marker CD63 for exosome labeling and generated a proof‐of‐concept mouse model to enable tracking of endogenous exosomes. To achieve spatial control of exosome labeling, CD63NanoLuc reporter expression was controlled by the cardiomyocyte‐specific αMHC promoter in the animal heart. Endogenous exosomes released from the transgenic mouse cardiomyocytes were labeled and tracked. Moreover, the loxP‐STOP‐loxP CD63NanoLuc cassette was introduced to achieve inducible expression of the CD63NanoLuc reporter in vivo upon tamoxifen treatment, allowing temporal control of exosome labeling and tracking and making such mice more versatile to satisfy diversified research goals. The specific labeling and tissue distribution of endogenous exosomes released from cardiomyocytes were demonstrated by luciferase assay and non‐invasive bioluminescent live imaging. Finally, when bred with gene‐specific floxed mice, this model can be used to study gene‐specific exosome functions. This endogenous exosome tracking mouse provides a valuable tool for a range of research applications.

Visualization and Analysis of the Mapping Knowledge Domain of Acupuncture and Central Nervous System Cell Apoptosis.

Chinese acupuncture therapy has demonstrated good clinical effects on neurological diseases and is widely used internationally. In the past 20 years, an increasing number of researchers around the world have devoted themselves to the study of the effect and mechanism of acupuncture for the treatment of central nervous system cell apoptosis. To discover the current research status of acupuncture-induced antiapoptosis in the central nervous system, we used the method of scientometric research and data visualization software to visually analyse 155 articles. The findings are as follows. First, the antiapoptosis effects of acupuncture in the central nervous system have received increasing attention overseas and domestically. China and the United States have leading positions in this research field. Second, 5 stable and high-yielding research teams have been formed in the field of acupuncture-induced antiapoptosis. The main research directions of these teams are electroacupuncture (EA) pretreatment for the central nervous system cell apoptosis, acupuncture for antineuronal apoptosis in vascular dementia, EA regulation of related signalling pathways, EA regulation of nerve cell apoptosis and autophagy after stroke, and EA regulation of the MAPK signalling pathway. Researchers on teams with more extensive cooperation have more research results and better research continuity. Third, there are diversified research hotspots. The original research hotspots are still receiving attention, and new hotspots have emerged in recent years.

UAVs for Science in Antarctica

Remote sensing is a very powerful tool that has been used to identify, map and monitor Antarctic features and processes for nearly one century. Satellite remote sensing plays the main role for about the last five decades, as it is the only way to provide multitemporal views at continental scale. But the emergence of small consumer-grade unoccupied aerial vehicles (UAVs) over the past two decades has paved the way for data in unprecedented detail. This has been also verified by an increasing noticeable interest in Antarctica by the incorporation of UAVs in the field activities in diversified research topics. This paper presents a comprehensive review about the use of UAVs in scientific activities in Antarctica. It is based on the analysis of 190 scientific publications published in peer-reviewed journals and proceedings of conferences which are organised into six main application topics: Terrestrial, Ice and Snow, Fauna, Technology, Atmosphere and Others. The analysis encompasses a detailed overview of the activities, identifying advantages and difficulties, also evaluating future possibilities and challenges for expanding the use of UAV in the field activities. The relevance of using UAVs to support numerous and diverse scientific activities in Antarctica becomes very clear after analysing this set of scientific publications, as it is revolutionising the remote acquisition of new data with much higher detail, from inaccessible or difficult to access regions, in faster and cheaper ways. Many of the advances can be seen in the terrestrial areas (detailed 3D mapping; vegetation mapping, discrimination and health assessment; periglacial forms characterisation), ice and snow (more detailed topography, depth and features of ice-sheets, glaciers and sea-ice), fauna (counting penguins, seals and flying birds and detailed morphometrics) and in atmosphere studies (more detailed meteorological measurements and air-surface couplings). This review has also shown that despite the low environmental impact of UAV-based surveys, the increasing number of applications and use, may lead to impacts in the most sensitive Antarctic ecosystems. Hence, we call for an internationally coordinated effort to for planning and sharing UAV data in Antarctica, which would reduce environmental impacts, while extending research outcomes.

Sex, Gender and Health: Mapping the Landscape of Research and Policy.

Including sex and gender considerations in health research is considered essential by many funders and is very useful for policy makers, program developers, clinicians, consumers and other end users. While longstanding confusions and conflations of terminology in the sex and gender field are well documented, newer conceptual confusions and conflations continue to emerge. Contemporary social demands for improved health and equity, as well as increased interest in precision healthcare and medicine, have made obvious the need for sex and gender science, sex and gender-based analyses (SGBA+), considerations of intersectionality, and equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives (EDI) to broaden representation among participants and diversify research agendas. But without a shared and precise understanding of these conceptual areas, fields of study, and approaches and their inter-relationships, more conflation and confusion can occur. This article sets out these areas and argues for more precise operationalization of sex- and gender-related factors in health research and policy initiatives in order to advance these varied agendas in mutually supportive ways.

Life Design Counseling: Theory, Methodology, Challenges, and Future Trends.

With the rapid development of society and the dramatic change of environment, previous career counseling focusing on personal choice has been difficult to meet individuals’ needs. It is very meaningful and valuable to introduce the ideology of Life Design Counseling (LDC). In this mini review, we introduce and analyze the theory and methodology of LDC. This review puts forward challenges in the field of LDC, including the lack of attention to clients from multiple backgrounds and professional counselors, the lack of diversified methods in the intervention process, and the lack of diversified research. The theoretical research, practical research, and the integration of theory and practice of LDC still need to be further concerned by researchers.

Analysis of the Strategic Management of the Chinese Government in the R&D and Use of COVID-19 Vaccines

After the outbreak of COVID-19, the Chinese government quickly decided to develop vaccines. In terms of vaccine research and development, China has carried out strategic planning and management, including route selection, scientific research resource organization and mobilization, diversified research and development, and team research, and has introduced international cooperation to achieve results in the development of multiple vaccine varieties. China has accelerated construction and management optimization in the vaccine production industry chain, and formed a huge production capacity. With various technical means,the Chinese government helps promote universal vaccination, and rapidly completes the construction of an immune barrier. The Chinese government’s “going out” strategy for international cooperation in vaccines has played a role in the global fight against COVID-19.

Optimal Development Model of College Music Curriculum Based on Psychology and Big Data Analysis in a Quantitative Environment.

Psychology-based music education is an interdisciplinary field that incorporates pedagogy, psychology, and other academic fields. A stronger communication link between students and students can be created by incorporating music education psychology into college instruction. In order to provide a scientific foundation for the development of psychology of music education in colleges and universities, it is currently urgently necessary to break free from the constraints of methodology, give importance to both quantitative and qualitative research, and gradually develop diversified research methods. The study of positive psychology is still evolving. From the early psychological movement to the present, it has grown into a hugely significant profession. As a result, this essay presents the findings from research on psychologically based school music instruction reform and development remedies. In the end, Class B has more students with scores of 50 to 60, whereas Class A has more students with scores of 90 to 100, which is quite a contrast. The average grade for students in class A is 80.125, while that for students in class B is 71.45. The lowest Class B score is 51, the lowest Class A score is 58, and the maximum score in A is 98. It is clear that a crucial aspect is the sensible and appropriate use of psychiatric treatment.

Public crisis response and prevention and control of COVID-19 in Hebei

The rapid development of big data has provided a variety of ideas for the diversified research of COVID-19 prevention and control and early warning. Among them, this paper, based on the spatial epidemic analysis, explores the main influencing factors of the spread and spread of the epidemic- -population flow, and carries out the corresponding prevention and prevention from the main factors. In addition, the emotional state of the people under the epidemic affects the stable state of the society, which is also what the society should focus on. With the help of Baidu index big data, this paper finds that it can quickly and effectively reflect the current public situation, and assist the government to make early warning and relevant decisions.

Evolution of drug delivery systems: From 1950 to 2020 and beyond

Modern drug delivery technology began in 1952 with the advent of the Spansule® sustained-release capsule technology, which can deliver a drug for 12 h after oral administration through an initial immediate dose followed by the remaining released gradually. Until the 1980s, oral and transdermal formulations providing therapeutic durations up to 24 h for small molecules dominated the drug delivery field and the market. The introduction of Lupron Depot® in 1989 opened the door for long-acting injectables and implantables, extending the drug delivery duration from days to months and occasionally years. Notably, the new technologies allowed long-term delivery of peptide and protein drugs, although limited to parenteral administration. The introduction of the first PEGylated protein, Adagen®, in 1990 marked the new era of PEGylation, resulting in Doxil® (doxorubicin in PEGylated liposome) in 1995, Movantik® (PEGylated naloxone - naloxegol) in 2014, and Onpattro® (Patisiran - siRNA in PEGylated lipid nanoparticle) in 2018. Drug-polymer complexes were introduced, e.g., InFed® (iron-dextran complex injection) in 1974 and Abraxane® (paclitaxel-albumin complex) in 2005. In 2000, both Mylotarg™ (antibody-drug conjugate – gemtuzumab ozogamicin) and Rapamune® (sirolimus nanocrystal formulation) were introduced. The year 2000 also marked the launching of the National Nanotechnology Initiative by the U.S. government, which was soon followed by the rest of the world. Extensive work on nanomedicine, particularly formulations designed to escape from endosomes after being taken by tumor cells, along with PEGylation technology, ultimately resulted in the timely development of lipid nanoparticle formulations for COVID-19 vaccine delivery in 2020.While the advances in drug delivery technologies for the last seven decades are breathtaking, they are only the tip of an iceberg of technologies that have yet to be utilized in an approved formulation or even to be discovered. As life expectancy continues to increase, more people require long-term care for various diseases. Filling the current and future unmet needs requires innovative drug delivery technologies to overcome age-old familiar hurdles, e.g., improving water-solubility of poorly soluble drugs, overcoming biological barriers, and developing more efficient long-acting depot formulations. The lessons learned from the past are essential assets for developing future drug delivery technologies implemented into products. As the development of COVID-19 vaccines demonstrated, meeting the unforeseen crisis of the uncertain future requires continuous cumulation of failures (as learning experiences), knowledge, and technologies. Conscious efforts of supporting diversified research topics in the drug delivery field are urgently needed more than ever.

Experimental realization and characterization of a two–color dual–comb system for practical large–scale absolute distance measurements

In this paper, a two–color dual–comb system has been realized and characterized for the specific applications of the practical large–scale absolute distance measurements, especially for the investigations of asynchronous optical sampling (ASOPS) with a slight difference of repetition rates. The fundamental 1550 nm wavelength is emitting from the Er–fiber femtosecond frequency combs with a repetition rate of around 200 MHz and carrier-envelope offset frequency of 20 MHz, and the other wavelength of 775 nm is generated by the second harmonic generation crystals. The optical characteristics are investigated in detail, and the stability of frequency parameters are also evaluated for long–term time. The preliminary experimental results of ASOPS show that this two-color dual-comb system has the potential to be applied for further diversified research.

Behavioural biases affecting investors’ decision-making process: a scale development approach

PurposeThe advocates of behavioural finance have denounced the existing literature on investors’ rationality in the decision-making process and questioned the existence of efficient markets and rational investors. Although diversified research has been conducted in the area of behavioural finance, yet there is a need of further explorations into the field as the available knowledge base is confined to one or a few behavioural biases confronted by investors while making investment decisions. Hence, this study aims to develop a comprehensive, reliable and valid scale to measure the behavioural biases affecting investors’ decision-making process.Design/methodology/approachTo develop a comprehensive, reliable and valid scale for measuring the behavioural biases affecting investors’ decision-making process, rigorous multi-stage scale development methodology has been followed. Stage one started with an extensive review of the literature followed by interviews from experienced stockbrokers to clarify construct and getting novel insights about dimensions of behavioural biases. In stage two, 52 items measuring the dimensions of behavioural biases were generated and got evaluated from panel of judges. Pilot testing was done in the third stage which gave a set of 39 items. Finally, in fourth stage, data were collected from 332 individual equity investors on a 7-point Likert scale using the snowball sampling technique.FindingsThe results of the study highlighted that behavioural biases is a multidimensional phenomenon that significantly affects investors’ decisions and has different dimensions, namely, Availability Bias, Representativeness Bias, Overconfidence Bias, Market Factors, Herding, Anchoring, Mental Accounting, Regret Aversion, Gamblers’ Fallacy and Loss Aversion. The present research has developed a comprehensive, reliable and valid scale for measuring behavioural biases affecting equity investors’ decision-making process.Originality/valueBehavioural finance is an emerging area in the field of research particularly in the Indian context which needs further exploration. The present research concentrates on rendering an empirically tested scale to the researchers for measuring the behavioural biases and its impact on investor’s decision-making. Such an instrument can contribute to making progress in the area of behavioural finance and other research studies may also find it useful to achieve their goals.

Trend Analysis of the Research on Construction Grammar in CSSCI Journals from 2010 to 2020

This study aims at analyzing the tendency and change in the research on construction grammar from 2010 to 2020. Descriptively, this study includes the publication year, research topic, research direction, research content, and the research methods. Twenty-four CSSCI journals were selected as the research samples using the keyword – “Construction Grammar.” The research topics mainly include Chinese construction research, foreign language construction research, and comparative studies on Chinese and other language constructions. The results showed that there are many Chinese construction research, but the other two research topics still require improvement. Ontology research was the main focus; acquisition research and teaching research are worthy for further exploration. Case studies and theoretical studies were the most concerned contents, whereas studies on language acquisition, pedagogy, and corpus construction were feeble. Qualitative description and theoretical review were the most popular methods, while empirical, quantitative, and diachronic analyses were less frequently used. After analyzing the trends, it has been predicted that the research on construction grammar would continue to heat up in the future, and there would be more research directions and contents along with diversified research methods.

Drivers of academic engagement in public–private research collaboration: an empirical study

University-industry research collaboration is one of the major research policy priorities of advanced economies. In this study, we try to identify the main drivers that could influence the propensity of academics to engage in research collaborations with the private sector, in order to better inform policies and initiatives to foster such collaborations. At this purpose, we apply an inferential model to a dataset of 32,792 Italian professors in order to analyze the relative impact of individual and contextual factors affecting the propensity of academics to engage in collaboration with industry, at overall level and across disciplines. The outcomes reveal that the typical profile of the professor collaborating with industry is a male under age 40, full professor, very high performer, with highly diversified research, and who has a certain tradition in collaborating with industry. This professor is likely to be part of a staff used to collaborating with industry, in a small university, typically a polytechnic, located in the north of the country.

Historical Government Regulations and Firms’ Innovation Input

I argue that founding and initial public offering (IPO) are sensitive periods when organizations imprinted by their environment. Stronger government interventions during these sensitive periods imprint firms with a more diversified research and development (R&D) structure and a focus that downplays competition and highlights government intervention, which in turn discourage R&D investment. Moreover, the subsequent sensitive period, IPO, modifies imprinting effects formed during founding. Further, founding is a stronger sensitive period than IPO regarding the magnitude of imprinting effect. I test the regulatory imprinting of (1) U.S. firms based on industry and (2) worldwide firms based on location and find supportive evidence. My research contributes to imprinting theory by (1) showing potential mechanisms through which government interventions in history affect firms’ R&D and (2) articulating organizational sensitive periods in terms of imprinting dynamics and heterogeneity.

Amyloid-Like Aggregation in Diseases and Biomaterials: Osmosis of Structural Information.

The discovery that the polypeptide chain has a remarkable and intrinsic propensity to form amyloid-like aggregates endowed with an extraordinary stability is one of the most relevant breakthroughs of the last decades in both protein/peptide chemistry and structural biology. This observation has fundamental implications, as the formation of these assemblies is systematically associated with the insurgence of severe neurodegenerative diseases. Although the ability of proteins to form aggregates rich in cross-β structure has been highlighted by recent studies of structural biology, the determination of the underlying atomic models has required immense efforts and inventiveness. Interestingly, the progressive molecular and structural characterization of these assemblies has opened new perspectives in apparently unrelated fields. Indeed, the self-assembling through the cross-β structure has been exploited to generate innovative biomaterials endowed with promising mechanical and spectroscopic properties. Therefore, this structural motif has become the fil rouge connecting these diversified research areas. In the present review, we report a chronological recapitulation, also performing a survey of the structural content of the Protein Data Bank, of the milestones achieved over the years in the characterization of cross-β assemblies involved in the insurgence of neurodegenerative diseases. A particular emphasis is given to the very recent successful elucidation of amyloid-like aggregates characterized by remarkable molecular and structural complexities. We also review the state of the art of the structural characterization of cross-β based biomaterials by highlighting the benefits of the osmosis of information between these two research areas. Finally, we underline the new promising perspectives that recent successful characterizations of disease-related amyloid-like assemblies can open in the biomaterial field.

Dementia with Lewy bodies research consortia: A global perspective from the ISTAART Lewy Body Dementias Professional Interest Area working group.

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) research has seen a significant growth in international collaboration over the last three decades. However, researchers face a challenge in identifying large and diverse samples capable of powering longitudinal studies and clinical trials. The DLB research community has begun to focus efforts on supporting the development and harmonization of consortia, while also continuing to forge networks within which data and findings can be shared. This article describes the current state of DLB research collaborations on each continent. We discuss several established DLB cohorts, many of whom have adopted a common framework, and identify emerging collaborative initiatives that hold the potential to expand DLB networks and diversify research cohorts. Our findings identify geographical areas into which the global DLB networks should seek to expand, and we propose strategies, such as the creation of data‐sharing platforms and the harmonization of protocols, which may further potentiate international collaboration.

L’histoire de l’éducation en Grande-Bretagne depuis 1960

This article reviews the historiography as it has developed in Britain over the past sixty years in the history of education. This encompasses three key phases. From 1960 until about 1975 it was a field that was based mainly in key texts while new journals and societies began to emerge. From 1975 to the end of the century as it lost its mass market in teacher education, general texts in the history of education declined while specialised journals research grew in importance. In the early decades of the twenty-first century, specialisation continued in an increasingly diversified research field with a growing emphasis on theory, methodology, comparative and transnational approaches, and engagement with the social sciences. Initially quite insular and tending to focus on local and national concerns, it became prominent in international activities and in contributing to research with international, comparative and transnational vistas. Overall, the map of the history of education in Britain has changed both in form and in content, as well as in the audience towards which it was principally directed.