Relative Dominance Research Articles

“You and me”: Parental perceptions on asymmetry in twins' development and their dominance relationship dynamics

AbstractObjectiveThis study investigated the role of nontypical development in the relative dominance in twins' relationships throughout childhood.BackgroundDominance dynamics, affecting siblings' well‐being, are different in twins than in singletons for whom age and development often dictate sibling hierarchy. These dynamics in twins, who share similar ages and developmental contexts, remain underexplored and demand further understanding.MethodA longitudinal study surveyed 1,547 mothers and 536 fathers of 322 monozygotic (sharing nearly 100% genes) and 1,199 dizygotic (sharing 50% genetic variance) twin pairs, aged 3 to 8–9. Both parents reported on the twins' relationships. Mothers reported whether either twin had a developmental condition.ResultsNo dominance difference was found in similar developmental conditions dyads, whether both twins had typical or nontypical development. However, in dyads where twins differed in the developmental condition, nontypically developing twins were less dominant than their typically developing cotwins. This dominance imbalance persisted throughout childhood, even if initial developmental issues were resolved.ConclusionFrom parents' perspectives, nontypical development does not, in itself, prevent children from demonstrating dominance behaviors in twinship, but it is more likely that the asymmetry in developmental conditions is associated with the relationship between the twins.Implications and RecommendationsAccording to parents' perceptions, twins with nontypical development might experience imbalances in their relationship throughout childhood when their co‐twin is a typically developing child. However, demonstrating dominance might be possible for them in other contexts. Understanding these dominance dynamics is vital for caregivers, informing tailored parenting strategies and interventions to support the well‐being of children.

A Combination of Camera and Pitfall Traps: A Method for Monitoring Ground-Dwelling Invertebrates in Farmlands

Ground-dwelling invertebrates are crucial for maintaining biodiversity, soil health, and food production in agricultural ecosystems; however, their diversity is declining globally. Despite advancements in data science and modern monitoring technology, conventional methods remain predominant in the current field investigations of ground-dwelling invertebrates in farmlands. This study aimed to develop simple, convenient, and automated methods to assess ground-dwelling invertebrate biodiversity in farmlands. Both camera and pitfall traps were used to monitor ground-dwelling invertebrates in two farmlands in Ningbo City, China. Over four experimental periods, lasting 34 days in the vineyard farmland and 32 days in the watermelon farmland, the camera traps detected a relatively high density of invertebrates, although the relative dominance of ant density was overestimated in both farmlands. Both methods revealed similar temporal dynamics of the ground-dwelling invertebrates during the four periods in the vineyard farmland. However, only camera traps recorded the temporal dynamics of the invertebrates at daily, hourly, and minute resolutions in both farmlands. Conclusively, this study demonstrates that combining camera and pitfall traps provides an effective method for monitoring the temporal dynamics of ground-dwelling invertebrates in farmlands, offering high-quality data useful for ecological research and biodiversity protection in agricultural management.

A New Real-Time PCR Test (Flora Select™) and Nugent Score for the Diagnosis of Bacterial Vaginosis During Pregnancy.

This prospective cohort study aimed to evaluate the performance of Flora select™ (FS), a newly developed real-time PCR test, for the assessment of the vaginal microbiome during early pregnancy. Five hundred and fifty-six pregnant women underwent examinations of FS, Nugent score-a Gram-staining scoring system for the diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis (BV)-and conventional bacterial culture between 8 weeks and 12 gestational weeks. Nugent scores of 0-3, 4-6, and ≥7 were found in 469 (84.2%), 41 (7.4%), and 47 (8.5%) of the women, respectively. Relative dominance rates of Lactobacillus species of high (≥80% medium (50%≤, <80%), and low (0.1≤, <50%), and no detection (<0.1%) were 63.0%, 8.8%, 17.1%, and 11.2%, respectively. Gardnerella, Prevotella, Atopobium, Streptococcus, Ureaplasma, and Mycoplasma species were detected in 23.9%, 17.6%, 17.1%, 7.0%, 23.0%, and 4.9% of the women, respectively. Gardnerella species were detected in all women with Nugent scores ≥7 and Ureaplasma were detected in 40.4% of them. BV-associated bacterial species were also detected in 70.7% of women with Nugent scores of 4-6. Gardnerella, Prevotella, Atopobium, Streptococcus, Ureaplasma, and Mycoplasma species were highly prevalent in women with Nugent scores ≥4 or Lactobacillus species <50%. FS detected Gardnerella, Prevotella, and Atopobium species more effectively than conventional bacterial culture. FS could determine relative dominance rates of Lactobacillus species in the vaginal microbiome, and simultaneously detect four kinds of BV-associated bacteria, Ureaplasma and Mycoplasma species. Therefore, FS may be clinically useful for the screening of the vaginal microbiome during pregnancy to prevent preterm birth and for the assessment of the vaginal microbiome after BV treatments.

Socially induced plasticity of the posterior tuberculum and motor behavior in zebrafish (Danio rerio).

Social dominance is prevalent throughout the animal kingdom. It facilitates the stabilization of social relationships and allows animals to divide resources according to social rank. Zebrafish form stable dominance relationships that consist of dominants and subordinates. Although social-status-dependent differences in behavior must arise due to neural plasticity, mechanisms of how neural circuits are reconfigured to cope with social dominance are poorly described. Here, we describe how the posterior tuberculum nucleus (PT), which integrates sensory social information to modulate spinal motor circuits, is morphologically and functionally influenced by social status. We combined non-invasive behavioral monitoring of motor activity (startle escape and swim) and histological approaches to investigate how social dominance affects the morphological structure, axosomatic synaptic connectivity, and functional activity of the PT in relation to changes in motor behavior. We show that dopaminergic cell number significantly increases in dominants compared to subordinates, while PT synaptic interconnectivity, demonstrated with PSD-95 expression, is higher in subordinates compared to dominants. Secondly, these socially induced morphological differences emerge after one week of dominance formation and correlate with differences in cellular activities illustrated with higher phosphor-S6 ribosomal protein expression in dominants compared to subordinates. Thirdly, these morphological differences are reversible as the social environment evolves and correlates with adaptations in startle escape and swim behaviors. Our results provide new insights of the neural bases of social behavior that may be applicable to other social species with similar structural and functional organization.

Statistical analysis of thermally induced pre-existing microcracks and their influence on fracture behaviours of granite rock

Rocks containing varying degrees of microcracks have a significant influence on their mechanical behavior. Understanding the effect of pre-existing microcracks (PEMs) on rock fracture mechanisms has scientific and practical value in areas such as geothermal energy, nuclear waste disposal and deep mining. We employed a thermally induced approach to create PEMs in granite rock, and quantified characteristic parameters of PEMs by visualization methods, focusing on the quantitative relationships between the PEMs and the mechanical strength and acoustic emission (AE) properties of the rock. We find that the distribution characteristics of thermally induced PEMs obey a lognormal distribution, and the length of individual thermally induced PEMs is almost independent of temperature. The density and orientation of PEMs together determine the variation of the longitudinal wave velocity and rock strength, with the effect of microcrack density dominating. The AE signal suggests that PEMs can affect the fracture behavior and fracture mechanism, depending on the relative dominance of pre-existing and stress-induced microcracks. The AF-RA values show that PEMs lead to an important shift in the fracture mechanism of the rock. When the microcrack density is low, tensile mode dominates the rock failure. Conversely, the shear mechanism dominates the rock fracture.

Production Sequencing and Layout Optimization of Precast Concrete Components under Mold Resource Constraints

Precast concrete components have attracted a lot of attention due to their efficient production on off-site production lines. However, in the precast component production process, unreasonable production sequence and mold layout will reduce production efficiency and affect the workload balance between each process. Due to the multi-species and small-lot production characteristics of precast concrete components, the number of molds corresponding to each precast concrete component is generally limited. In this paper, a production sequence and layout optimization model for assembling precast concrete components under a limited number of molds is proposed, aiming to improve the comprehensive utilization efficiency of the mold tables and balance the workload between each production process of precast components. In order to obtain a better production sequence and a richer combination of mold layout schemes, a multi-objective teaching-learning-based optimization algorithm based on the Pareto dominance relation is developed, and an enhancement mechanism is embedded in the proposed algorithm. To verify the superior performance of the enhanced teaching-learning-based optimization algorithm in improving the comprehensive utilization efficiency of the mold tables and balancing the workload between various processes, three different sizes of precast concrete component production cases are designed. The research results show that the proposed model and optimization algorithm can help production managers to efficiently formulate more reasonable precast component production sequence and layout schemes, especially for those enterprises that are struggling to improve the efficiency of precast concrete component production.

High-frequency transverse acoustic interactions between two lean-premixed hydrogen combustors connected with cross-fire and cross-talk sections

Large-scale inter-combustor thermoacoustic interactions occur frequently in modern can-annular gas turbine combustion systems due to the presence of an annular cross-talk section upstream of the first stage turbine stator vanes. Although the whole system's modal dynamics depend on the relative dominance of low-frequency planar or high-frequency transverse acoustic waves, the majority of prior studies have chiefly focused on longitudinal mode instabilities. Motivated by the paucity of detailed information, here we examine high-frequency transverse acoustic interactions between two adjacent lean-premixed hydrogen combustors connected via two different pathways, known as cross-fire (XF) and cross-talk (XT) sections. We observe that the dual-combustor system undergoes high-frequency spinning mode in the clockwise direction, manifested as well-defined limit cycles with peak-to-peak amplitude of around 10 kPa. The transverse pressure oscillations, in contrast to the well-established low-frequency mutual synchronization dynamics, are not fully synchronized even in the presence of cross-talk communication. This situation leads to the formation of two closely-spaced 1T modes at 4.76 and 4.86 kHz in the respective hydrogen combustors, accompanied by the beating of the pressure fluctuations solely in the XF tube section. Remarkably, the pressure waves induced near the XF tube section tend to lag behind the pressure waves spinning in the injector face, demonstrating the existence of the angular shift characteristically connected to the high-frequency transverse combustion dynamics.

SimplifEx: Simplifying and Explaining Linear Programs

Linear Programming is one of the most common methods for finding optimal solutions to complex problems. Despite its extensive use, solutions are not usually accompanied by explanations, especially explanations for non-experts. Our new tool SimplifEx combines well-known preprocessing techniques with cognitively adequate heuristics to simplify a given linear program, structure its variables, and explain the optimal solution that was found. SimplifEx is meant to improve intuitive understanding of linear programs. In addition, we introduce a generalization of the classical dominance relation in Linear Programming. The order of dominant and dominated variables in an optimal solution can give valuable insights into the structure of a problem and fits well with how humans approach linear programs. The resulting, automatically generated explanations include detailed step-wise listings of processing steps and graphs that provide an overview. The heuristics are based on historical and experimental observations of people solving linear programs by hand. We apply SimplifEx to Stigler’s diet problem as a running example.

Interaction Between Climate Change Scenarios and Biological Invasion Reveals Complex Cascading Effects in Freshwater Ecosystems.

Climate change often facilitates biological invasions, leading to potential interactive impacts of these global drivers on freshwater ecosystems. Although climatic mitigation efforts may reduce the magnitude of these interactive impacts, we are still missing experimental evidence for such effects under multiple climate change scenarios within a multi-trophic framework. To address this knowledge gap, we experimentally compared the independent and interactive effects of two climate change scenarios (mitigation and business-as-usual) and biological invasion on the biomass of major freshwater trophic groups (phytoplankton, zooplankton, periphyton, macroinvertebrates, and a native macrophyte) and the decomposition rate of allochthonous material. Among the independent effects, we found that the business-as-usual climate treatment resulted in lower native macrophyte biomass and higher periphyton biomass compared to the climatic baseline and mitigation treatments. This indicates the potential of climate change to alter the relative dominance of different freshwater producers and demonstrates that climate mitigation efforts can counteract these effects. Biological invasion alone increased the biomass of chironomids, a dominant macroinvertebrate group in tropical freshwater ecosystems, demonstrating a compensatory effect on climate change. Climate change and biological invasion interactively reduced the decomposition rate of allochthonous detritus, likely mediated by the feeding preference of abundant chironomids for periphytic algae associated with the presence of non-native macrophytes. We concluded that (i) climatic mitigation can maintain climate baseline conditions in freshwater ecosystems, and (ii) the interactive effects between future climate scenarios and biological invasion are related to complex cascading interactions among trophic groups on ecosystem processes.

Soil carbon and nitrogen cycling at the atmosphere-soil interface: Quantifying the responses of biocrust-soil interactions to global change.

In drylands, where water scarcity limits vascular plant growth, much of the primary production occurs at the soil surface. This is where complex macro- and microbial communities, in an intricate bond with soil particles, form biological soil crusts (biocrusts). Despite their critical role in regulating C and N cycling in dryland ecosystems, there is limited understanding of the fate of biologically fixed C and N from biocrusts into the mineral soil, or how climate change will affect C and N fluxes between the atmosphere, biocrusts, and subsurface soils. To address these gaps, we subjected biocrust-soil systems to experimental warming and drought under controlled laboratory conditions, monitored CO2 fluxes, and applied dual isotopic labeling pulses (13CO2 and 15N2). This allowed detailed quantification of elemental pathways into specific organic matter (OM) pools and microbial biomass via density fractionation and phospholipid fatty acid analyses. While biocrusts modulated CO2 fluxes regardless of the temperature regime, drought severely limited their photosynthetic C uptake to the extent that the systems no longer sustained net C uptake. Furthermore, the effect of biocrusts extended into the underlying 1 cm of mineral soil, where C and N accumulated as mineral-associated OM (MAOM<63μm). This was strongly associated with increased relative dominance of fungi, suggesting that fungal hyphae facilitate the downward C and N translocation and subsequent MAOM formation. Most strikingly, however, these pathways were disrupted in systems exposed to warming, where no effects of biocrusts on the elemental composition of the underlying soil nor on MAOM were determined. This was further associated with reduced net biological N fixation under combined warming and drought, highlighting how changing climatic conditions diminish some of the most fundamental ecosystem functions of biocrusts, with detrimental repercussions for C and N cycling and the persistence of soil organic matter pools in dryland ecosystems.

АҚТӨБЕ ӨҢІРІНДЕГІ КЕҢЕС ҮКІМЕТІНІҢ ОРНАУЫ: ШАРАЛАРЫ, ЕРЕКШЕЛІКТЕРІ

The proposed article is devoted to the victory and the policy of the Bolshevik regime in the Aktobe region. The victory of the October Revolution in Russia contributed to the establishment of Soviet power in Kazakhstan. At the same time, the establishment of Soviet power in Kazakhstan was associated with a number of additional difficulties, such as socio-economic backwardness, the dominance of patriarchal relations in the Kazakh village, the small number and weakness of Bolshevik organizations, and the complexity of interethnic relations. In the article, the author, conducting a review of research and data on the problem, examines the actions of the Bolshevik dictatorship that arose in Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century, as well as the peculiarities of the establishment of Soviet power in Kazakhstan, including on the territory of Aktobe. The results of the double revolution of 1917 and the changes in the internal, political and economic life of the region are analyzed on the basis of regional archival documents. The article did not ignore the establishment of Soviet power and the political, social difficulties andobstacles in its implementation. In addition, archival data reflecting the involvement of the region in the civil war under the rule of the Bolshevik dictatorship will be analyzed. In describing the political development of the country during the period of the double revolution, the main attention was paid to the activities of Alash figures.

Exogenous ketosis attenuates acute mountain sickness and mitigates normobaric high-altitude hypoxemia.

Acute mountain sickness (AMS) represents a considerable issue for individuals sojourning to high altitudes with systemic hypoxemia known to be intimately involved in its development. Based on recent evidence that ketone ester (KE) intake attenuates hypoxemia, we investigated whether exogenous ketosis might mitigate AMS development and to identify underlying physiological mechanisms. Fourteen healthy, male participants were enrolled in two 29h protocols (simulated altitude of 4,000-4,500m) receiving either KE or a placebo (CON) at regular timepoints throughout the protocol in a randomized, crossover manner. Physiological responses were characterized after 15min and 4h in hypoxia, and the protocol was terminated prematurely upon development of severe AMS (Lake Louise Score ≥ 10). KE ingestion induced a consistent diurnal ketosis ([ßHB] of ~3 mM), whereas blood [ßHB] remained low (<0.6 mM) in CON. Each participant tolerated the protocol equally long or longer (n=6 or n=8, resp.) in KE. Protocol duration increased by 32% on average with KE, and doubled upon KE for severe AMS-developing participants (n=9). Relative to CON, KE induced a mild metabolic acidosis, hyperventilation, and relative sympathetic dominance. KE also inhibited the progressive hypoxemia that was observed between 15min and 4h in hypoxia in CON, while concomitantly increasing cerebral oxygenation and capillary pO2 within this timeframe despite a KE-induced reduction in cerebral oxygen supply. These data indicate that exogenous ketosis attenuates AMS development. The key underlying mechanisms include improved arterial and cerebral oxygenation, in combination with lowered cerebral blood flow and oxygen delivery, and increased sympathetic dominance.

Enhancing Agroecology in Pepper (Piper nigrum L.) Cultivation with Centrosema pubescens Ground Cover: A Study from Central Bangka, Indonesia

&lt;p&gt;Pepper cultivation in Bangka Island primarily takes place on sandy land. Legume cover crops, such as &lt;em&gt;Centrosema pubescens&lt;/em&gt;, which has been widely used as a ground cover, are anticipated to improve land quality by maintaining soil temperature and humidity, increasing soil organic carbon content, increasing soil porosity, and improving soil fertility. This research aims to analyze the agroecosystem of pepper plants, by comparing the use of the cover plant &lt;em&gt;C. pubescens&lt;/em&gt; as a soil treatment and the absence of using these cover plants as a control. The research was conducted in farmers’ pepper gardens in Perlang Village, Central Bangka Regency, Bangka Belitung Province. The research employed a randomized block design, with &lt;em&gt;C. pubescens&lt;/em&gt; and natural vegetation as treatments, each replicated 3 times. The variables measured were soil temperature and humidity; abundance of microorganisms; weed density, frequency, and dominance; chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and anthocyanin content of pepper leaves; photosynthesis rate; transpiration rate; stomatal conductance; soil chemical and physical properties. The results showed that &lt;em&gt;C. pubescens&lt;/em&gt; as ground cover could reduce the dominance of the &lt;em&gt;Bidens pilosa&lt;/em&gt; weed (relative dominance of 36.16%) but led to an increase in the dominance of &lt;em&gt;Chromolaena odorata&lt;/em&gt; (relative dominance of 38.7%). &lt;em&gt;C&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;em&gt; pubescens&lt;/em&gt; ground cover could also maintain stable soil temperature and moisture, and increase P, K, Ca, and Mg soil content by 100%, 100%, 43.6%, and 48.3%, respectively. Furthermore, pepper plants grown with &lt;em&gt;C. pubescens&lt;/em&gt; exhibited 25%, 23.7%, and 16% higher chlorophyll a, total chlorophyll, and carotenoid content, respectively, compared to those grown without the cover crop.&lt;/p&gt;

Addressing Post-Truth in the Classroom: Towards a Critical Pedagogy

Post-truth strategies are characterized by the manipulation of facts and personal assertions of the truth for political gain. By seeding polarization, skepticism, and mistrust, post-truth presents challenges to teaching and learning within academic settings. In this paper, we explore how post-truth is articulated in higher education literature using a critical pedagogical lens. We suggest that pedagogical scholarship needs to expand its scope beyond a focus on the media antics of individual politicians in order to interrogate the reliance on dominant framings that simply define “post-truth” as circumstances where personal beliefs take precedence over established facts. We argue that the current framing of post-truth shapes the educational response to this issue, which focuses on helping students discern correct from incorrect information, as opposed to teaching students how power and knowledge are intertwined in post-truth and ways to understand and address the subsequent and potentially harmful power relations. Since post-truth strategies are enacted to restrict thoughtful reflection on dominant relations of power, we propose a critical pedagogical framework to problematize the notion of objective truth, account for the politics of exclusion, examine power relations, and contest post-truth strategies.

Spatio-temporal variation in mangrove crab diversity in five estuaries of Kerala, India

The present study investigated the community structure and faunal composition of mangrove crab assemblage of five estuaries in Kerala. Mangrove crabs were collected from different estuaries namely Puthuvype, Ayiramthengu, Dhalavapuram, Pullichira and Kottaramthuruth from January 2015 to December 2015. The numerical abundance was directly enumerated by handpicking crabs from the estuarial mangrove region from 100×100 cm quadrats from the estuarine mangrove regions. Thirteen brachyuran crab species were identified across the five estuaries, along with environmental and sedimentological parameters. Various diversity indices were calculated for spatial temporal comparisons. The study revealed that four of the estuaries exhibited similar crab species diversity, while Pullichira differed, displaying the lowest diversity due to habitat characteristics such as small islands or sand dunes and shallow depth. The calculated indices for species diversity, richness, dominance, evenness, taxonomic and phylogenetic relationships provide insights into the spatio-temporal variations of mangrove crab diversity. This study serves as a benchmark reference for future studies in these estuaries, and further monitoring and assessment of mangrove ecosystem health could support the development of ecosystem-based management strategies for deteriorating mangrove ecosystems.

Communication in the Mirror of Social Semiotics

Introduction. The subject of this article is communicative resources, which are selected by partners from a huge variety of linguistic means, functional styles, rhetorical techniques, and subject activities, and through which a common semantic space between individuals is generated.Methodology and sources. As a methodological platform we propose the principles of praxis-oriented social semiotics. Being one of the relatively late trends of semiotic research, social semiotics focuses attention not so much on signs or sign systems as on social signifying practices as regular, repetitive, recognisable types of actions: the actions of communication participants are endowed with the properties of sign systems through which relations between individuals are discovered, made visible and meaningful. The mechanisms of meaning production, from the point of view of the participants of the event, are analysed using the concept of ‘discursive practices’, understood as speech actions in order to solve a variety of practical interpersonal tasks.Results and discussion. As an individual learns a variety of interpersonal discursive practices, different relational systems become available to him/her. Specific discursive practices allow individuals to present different versions of their self, justify their actions, maintain dominance and/or subordination relations, thus demonstrating mastery of the communicative situation. Following the principles of praxis-oriented social semiotics, it can be argued that interpersonal relationships involve what can be called a discourse of trust, personal involvement in relationships, intimacy/closeness.Conclusion. The described symbolic regulators allow not only to semiotically comprehend the social positions of interacting parties, but also to offer self-control procedures and an arsenal of communicative actions to the participants of interpersonal communication as means of behaviour management in situations of interpersonal communication.

Paternity success for resident and non-resident males and their influences on paternal sibling cohorts in Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) on Shodoshima Island

Reproductive success can be attributed to both resident and non-resident males in non-human primates. However, reproductive success of non-resident males has rarely been investigated at an individual level. As resident males achieve different degree of reproductive success with regard to various factors, such as male dominance relationships or female mate choice, the degree of reproductive success for non-resident males may vary between individuals. As male reproductive success is highly skewed towards specific individuals, the percentage of similar-aged paternal siblings within groups is expected to increase. However, the extent to which each male contributes to the production of cohorts of paternal siblings remains unclear. Here we examined the paternity of offspring born over five consecutive years in a free-ranging group of Japanese macaques Macaca fuscata on Shodoshima Island, Kagawa Prefecture. Genotypes of 87 individuals at 16 autosomal microsatellite loci were analyzed and paternity of 34 offspring was successfully assigned to a single candidate father. We quantitatively assessed paternity success for resident and a few non-resident males whose genetic samples were successfully collected. We quantitatively assessed the percentages of paternal siblings in the same age cohorts produced by those males. Non-resident males sired similar percentage of offspring compared to resident males. A large prime-aged non-resident male was the most successful sire among males in two of the five years. These results provide new insights that male reproductive success could be highly skewed toward a specific non-resident male. Subadult males had a lower percentage of paternity success, which may be because females may prefer physically mature males. Various males, including non-resident males, contributed to the creation of paternal sibling in the same age cohort. The overall results highlighted that not only resident but also non-resident males play an important role in shaping within-group kin structures.

Computational modelling and optimization of physicochemical absorption of CO2 in rotating packed bed

AbstractThe current study developed a novel computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model that accounted for both physical and chemical absorption in the multiphase flow and captured the relative dominance of chemical absorption over physical by employing a tunable model parameter ‘enhancement factor’. The CFD model was validated against experimental data in a rotating packed bed, and then the validated model was used to investigate the effect of operational parameters such as rotational speed, monoethanolamine (MEA) concentration, inlet velocity, and MEA‐packing contact angle on the physiochemical absorption. The significance of each operational parameter was then evaluated by the ANOVA analysis, which inferred that the enhancement factor is sensitive to rotational speed, MEA concentration, inlet velocity, and contact angle. The p‐value of MEA concentration and inlet velocity was less than 0.05, which implies that these two variables are the most significant variables for the chemical absorption of CO2. The response surface methodology (RSM) and the artificial neural network (ANN) were also employed to develop the predictive model for the enhancement factor. Among the employed techniques, ANN resulted in R2 closer to 0.99 and could better predict the enhancement factor. The modelling approach and findings of the current study are useful in optimizing the operation of rotating packed‐bed reactor (RPB) for CO2 absorption on the industrial scale.

High autistic traits linked with reduced performance on affective task switching: An ERP study

Few studies have investigated affective flexibility in individuals with high autistic traits. In the present study, we employed affective task-switching paradigm combined with event related potential (ERP) technology to explore affective flexibility in individuals with high autistic traits. Participants were instructed to switch between identifying the gender (gender task) and emotion (emotion task) of presented faces. Two groups of participants were recruited based on the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) scores: a High Autistic Group (HAG) and a Low Autistic Group (LAG). The results confirmed that the HAG exhibited greater behavioral emotion switch costs and increased N2 and decreased P3 components when switching to the emotion task. Additionally, we identified an affective asymmetric switch cost in the HAG, where the switch cost for the emotion task was larger than for the gender task at both behavioral and electrophysiological levels. In contrast, a symmetrical switch cost was observed in the LAG. These findings indicate that the HAG experiences difficulties with affective flexibility, particularly in tasks involving emotional processing. The patterns of affective asymmetric switch costs observed in both groups differed from previous results in autistic children and the general population, suggesting that the relative dominance of gender and emotion tasks may vary between the two groups. We propose that the dominance of emotion tasks declines as autistic traits increase.

The relative dominance of visual and semantic information when visual stimuli are retrieved from memory based on images or words

The relative dominance of visual and semantic information when visual stimuli are retrieved from memory based on images or words