Heterogeneous Phenomenon Research Articles

Perception of Loneliness in Adolescence: Role of Maladaptive Personality Traits and Trauma-Related Symptomatology.

Loneliness is a heterogeneous phenomenon, generally defined as an emotional experience based on the perceived distance between an individual's actual social relationships and those he or she would like to have. Adolescence is particularly vulnerable to loneliness because of the many changes in values, feelings, and emotions that characterize it. Among the aspects that may influence this feeling of discomfort, the literature identifies maladaptive personality and a dysfunctional response to traumatic events. Our study aims to identify the possible role that maladaptive personality traits and post-traumatic stress symptomatology in the form of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Disturbance in Self-Organization (DSO) may play in the perception of loneliness in adolescents: Methods: We identified a mediation model constructed through structural equation modeling (SEM) to test PTSD and DSO post-traumatic stress symptomatology as independent variables and maladaptive personality as a mediator in the relationship between these and perceptions of loneliness in a population of adolescents of both sexes, Italian high school students; Results: Our study identifies the significant role of PTSD and DSO symptomatology in influencing the state of loneliness, both directly and indirectly through maladaptive personality traits, which appear to exert a substantial influence on the perception of loneliness, potentially functioning as mediators in the relationship between the latter and PTSD/DSO symptomatology. Presumably, a maladaptive personality may complicate recovery from adverse and traumatic experiences by preventing the implementation of functional coping strategies and promoting dysfunctional responses. Our findings underscore the importance of researchers and clinicians adequately considering different personality traits and the early identification of post-traumatic stress symptomatology. A focus on adolescents' communication and interpersonal skills and their ability to respond effectively to stressful and traumatic events may prove useful in identifying more effective strategies for preventing and managing loneliness and related distress in adolescents.

Hidden domain boundary dynamics toward crystalline perfection

A central paradigm of nonequilibrium physics concerns the dynamics of heterogeneity and disorder, impacting processes ranging from the behavior of glasses to the emergent functionality of active matter. Understanding these complex mesoscopic systems requires probing the microscopic trajectories associated with irreversible processes, the role of fluctuations and entropy growth, and the timescales on which nonequilibrium responses are ultimately maintained. Approaches that illuminate these processes in model systems may enable a more general understanding of other heterogeneous nonequilibrium phenomena, and potentially define ultimate speed and energy cost limits for information processing technologies. Here, we apply ultrafast single-shot X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy to resolve the nonequilibrium, heterogeneous, and irreversible mesoscale dynamics during a light-induced phase transition in a (PbTiO3)16/(SrTiO3)16 superlattice. Such ferroelectric superlattice systems are a useful platform to study phase transitions and topological dynamics due to their high degree of tunability. This provides an approach for capturing the nucleation of the light-induced phase, the formation of transient mesoscale defects at the boundaries of the nuclei, and the eventual annihilation of these defects, even in systems with complex polarization topologies. We identify a nonequilibrium correlation response spanning >10 orders of magnitude in timescales, with multistep behavior similar to the plateaus observed in supercooled liquids and glasses. We further show how the observed time-dependent long-time correlations can be understood in terms of stochastic and non-Markovian dynamics of domain walls, encoded in waiting-time distributions with power-law tails. This work defines possibilities for probing the nonequilibrium and correlated dynamics of disordered and heterogeneous media.

New quantified climate reconstruction in southern China suggests a potential influence of winter cloud cover across East Asia during the Holocene.

Previous studies have advanced our understanding of paleoclimate features and dynamics in East Asia, particularly within the East Asian monsoon domain (EAMD) since the last glacial period. However, a lack of quantitative reconstructions in the boundary area between tropical and subtropical zones has largely hindered our spatial comprehension of the relationship between precipitation and temperature throughout the EAMD. In this study, we present a continuous pollen record from the Pearl River delta over the past 13.2ka and a quantitative climate reconstruction using an updated modern pollen dataset. The findings indicate that from 13.2ka to 9.9ka, the study area was encompassed by mid-montane moist evergreen broadleaved forest (EBLF), transitioning to semi-humid EBLF or lowland monsoon EBLF during the late Holocene. Anthropochory plants have emerged as dominant taxa by about 1.9ka, indicating a large-scale impact of human activities. The results of quantitative climate reconstruction indicate that the range of annual precipitation varies by ca. 80-120mm, and the changing pattern is consistent with the traditional 'Holocene thermal maximum' mode, with summer solar radiation potentially being the primary controlling factor. The range of annual temperature variability fall between 19.5°C and 22.5°C, exhibiting a warming trend likely influenced by changes in Northern Hemisphere ice volume. There is a phase difference of about 2-4ka between the peak values of precipitation and temperature. The variation patterns of change across eastern Asia exhibit distinct differences when compared to the proxy records in the EAMD. It appears that such asynchrony between precipitation and temperature is more pronounced in southern China. In comparison with model simulations, it is believed that spatiotemporal variation in winter cloud cover may play a crucial role in explaining this phenomenon of regional heterogeneity.

Cavitation dynamics in creeping flow

We investigate the heterogeneous cavitation phenomenon in water when a spherical surface is abruptly separated from a nearby flat substrate, at a distance of approximately 10 nm. By tracking the surface separation using Newton ring positions, and capturing the bubble evolution with a high-speed camera on a microscope, we compare our experimental findings with hydrodynamic predictions at low Reynolds numbers. Upon upward movement of the spherical surface, the resulting bubble develops branched fingers through the Saffman–Taylor instability. Simultaneously, negative liquid pressures in the range $\sim$ 10 atm are observed. These large tension values occasionally lead to secondary nucleation events. The bubble sizes satisfy a predicted Family–Vicsek scaling law where the bubble area is proportional to the inverse bubble lifetime. The fact that creeping flow cavitation bubbles are more short-lived the larger they are separates them from bubbles that are governed by inertial dynamics.

Representations of Jewelry as a Source of Metaphorization in the Modern Russian Linguistic Picture of the World

Purpose. The article describes the linguocultural specifics of metaphorization of general representations of jewelry in the Russian linguistic picture of the world. The relevance of the topic is related to the use of lexemes with the root jewel- in various contexts based on metaphorization and figurative representation of heterogeneous phenomena. The purpose of the research is to determine main directions of metaphorization in the semantic field «Jewelry» based on lexicographic data and contexts from the «National Corpus of the Russian Language». The sample consists of 144 examples with metaphorical meaning of the lexemes jeweler, jeweled and jewelry selected from the National Corpus of the Russian Language.Results. Contextual analysis and analysis of conceptual metaphor identified 6 main slots representing the basis for metaphorization.Conclusion. The metaphorization with the source jewel- in the Russian linguistic picture of the world describes not only qualities of a jeweler, but also the process and the result of jewelry work. The signs associated with the process and the results of jewelry work are the basis for metaphorization in most cases. Metaphorical contexts of «General representations of jewelry» predominantly reflect a positive evaluation, even while describing a criminal act, the emphasis is on accuracy and invisibility taken as positive aspects of this activity.

Efficient federated learning for pediatric pneumonia on chest X-ray classification

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), pneumonia kills about 2 million children under the age of 5 every year. Traditional machine learning methods can be used to diagnose chest X-rays of pneumonia in children, but there is a privacy and security issue in centralizing the data for training. Federated learning prevents data privacy leakage by sharing only the model and not the data, and it has a wide range of application in the medical field. We use federated learning method for classification, which effectively protects data security. And for the data heterogeneity phenomenon existing in the actual scenario, which will seriously affect the classification effect, we propose a method based on two-end control variables. Specifically, based on the classical federated learning FedAvg algorithm, we modify the loss function on the client side by adding a regular term or a penalty term, and add momentum after the average aggregation on the server side. The federated learning approach prevents the data privacy leakage problem compared to the traditional machine learning approach. In order to solve the problem of low classification accuracy due to data heterogeneity, our proposed method based on two-end control variables achieves an average improvement of 2% and an accuracy of 98% on average, and 99% individually, compared to the previous federated learning algorithms and the latest diffusion model-based method. The classification results and methodology of this study can be utilized by clinicians worldwide to improve the overall detection of pediatric pneumonia.

Toward effective protection of victims of human trafficking in mixed migration flows: referral mechanisms shaped on individual need. The Italian experience and the European perspective

An overview of emerging trends on trafficking of human beings in Italy shows not only an extremely heterogeneous phenomenon but also a complex overlapping of experiences and need of protection of every single victim. In the context of mixed migration flows, persons reaching Italy through the Central Mediterranean and the Balkan routes have often experienced or are at risk of trafficking, and they also apply for international protection upon arrival. Legal categories such as “victims,” “asylum seekers,” and “refugees” are increasingly interconnected and not exhaustive in describing individual experiences and multifaceted vulnerabilities. Against this background, ensuring early identification and assistance for victims of trafficking among asylum seekers is extremely relevant. In Italy, this has led to the development of good practices aimed at implementing the coordination between the asylum and the anti-trafficking systems. In particular, specific Guidelines for Asylum authorities have been adopted to preliminarily identify potential victims of trafficking within the asylum procedure and enable their effective access to protection measures. To comply with specific provisions of the European Trafficking Directive and its transposition into the Italian legal framework, the Guidelines have created a referral mechanism among the asylum authorities and the anti-trafficking system that is unique in the European context. For this reason, the present contribution aims at describing this good practice, its implementation and effects—also at the juridical level—and its limits. Indeed, after the adoption of the instrument, a higher recognition rate of international protection for victims of trafficking has been registered in Italy, both at the administrative and judicial levels; asylum seekers and refugees have also increased their access to the specific protection program for trafficking survivors. In general, the system has strengthened its capacity to fulfill the legal obligation of identifying victims through a multi-agency approach. On the other hand, the ability to conduct screening and preliminary identification of victims of trafficking among asylum seekers is still limited to the “victim model” in terms of gender (women) and form of exploitation (sexual), and to certain stages of the asylum procedure (the first instance before the asylum authorities). With reference to this latter, a comprehensive protection response at the borders is missing despite the political debate on sea and land arrivals to Italy and the recent introduction of border procedures for the assessment of asylum applications. Given the geographical and political centrality of the south-Mediterranean situation in the current migration agenda, the goal of this paper is to analyze the Italian experience on referral mechanisms among trafficking and asylum as an experience that would help to shape future European prospects. The ongoing evolution of mixed migration flows—with particular reference to secondary movement across European countries—and the revised European Directive on trafficking in persons impose the promotion of a reflection on referral mechanisms with a transnational perspective enabling effective protection and the meeting of specific human rights.

Costs and benefits of allomaternal care to mothers and others in wild Phayre's leaf monkeys.

Allomaternal care (AMC) is suggested to be energetically beneficial to mothers and costly to allomothers. However, among primates, AMC is a heterogeneous phenomenon and its implications are less clear especially in female dispersal species. Here, we investigated infant care in a female dispersal species, Phayre's leaf monkeys (Trachypithecus phayrei crepusculus), to evaluate whether mothers were constrained by infant care and benefitted energetically from AMC, whether AMC was energetically costly for allomothers and how maternal experience was associated with AMC. Data were collected via instantaneous focal animal sampling between 2004 and 2005 for juvenile and adult females (N = 18) from two groups at the Phu Khieo Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand (440 h). We used generalized linear mixed models to determine how infant care during the first month after birth affected the time mothers and allomothers spent feeding, socializing, resting, and locomoting and how AMC varied. In the first month, infants spent 26% of their time with an allomother. We found no differences in mothers' overall activity before versus after birth, although mothers fed significantly more and rested less when without their infant. Allomothers fed and rested less when with an infant. AMC varied between 0.0% and 20.5%, with immature females being most active. Mothers appear to benefit energetically from AMC such that their overall activity after birth remained unchanged. Costs and benefits for allomothers seem to be variable. Some very active immature females may be benefitting from learning-to-mother. The overall low cost of AMC may facilitate a reciprocal social network among unrelated females.

Unveiling correlations between aristolochic acids and liver cancer: spatiotemporal heterogeneity phenomenon.

Aristolochic acids are a class of naturally occurring compounds in Aristolochiaceae that have similar structural skeletons and chemical properties. Exposure to aristolochic acids is a risk factor for severe kidney disease and urinary system cancer. However, the carcinogenicity of aristolochic acids to the liver, which is the main site of aristolochic acid metabolism, is unclear. Although the characteristic fingerprint of aristolochic acid-induced mutations has been detected in the liver and aristolochic acids are known to be hepatotoxic, whether aristolochic acids can directly cause liver cancer is yet to be verified. This review summarizes the findings of long-term carcinogenicity studies of aristolochic acids in experimental animals. We propose that spatiotemporal heterogeneity in the carcinogenicity of these phytochemicals could explain why direct evidence of aristolochic acids causing liver cancer has never been found in adult individuals. We also summarized the reported approaches to mitigate aristolochic acid-induced hepatotoxicity to better address the associated global safety issue and provide directions and recommendations for future investigation.

Clinical and pathogenetic significance of the phenomenon of functional heterogeneity of oxygen-dependent functions of neutrophils in ankylosing spondylitis

Neutrophils are able to exert a variety of effects on other cells of the immune system, which indicates their heterogeneity. In various rheumatic diseases, neutrophils are involved in the immunopathological process. The study of the phenomenon of functional heterogeneity of neutrophils associated with the pathogenesis of rheumatic diseases is a promising area of research in immunology and rheumatology. The purpose of the research: study of factors influencing oxygen-dependent neutrophil functions in ankylosing spondylitis (AS). A total of 82 patients with AS were examined. The functional activity of neutrophils was assessed according to the data of determining the indicators of oxygen-dependent functions by the chemiluminescence method. Functional neutrophil reserve (FNR) was assessed by activation coefficients (the ratio of chemiluminescence induced by suspension of heat-killed staphylococcus cells to spontaneous value). Statistical data processing was carried out using Statistica 10.0 program. An increase in oxygen-dependent neutrophil functions in AS was accompanied by an increase in disease activity. The greatest influence on the increase in the functional activity of cells was exerted by the age of patients, the stage of the disease and the level of circulating immune complexes. The process of stabilizing the metabolic activity of neutrophils was significantly influenced by the age of patients, ESR, ã-globulins, total cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Among the laboratory parameters, the majority of AS patients with moderate and high FNR had elevated levels of ESR, CRP, and IgM; there was a tendency to increase IgA in AS patients with high FNR. Statistical analyses showed an association between FNR and disease activity; there was no statistically significant dependence of FNR on the stage, course, and form of AS. The study of the metabolic activity of neutrophils during dynamic observation revealed a group of patients with stabilization of FNR parameters against the background of therapy with the achievement of a normal level of oxygen-dependent metabolism. Thus, in ankylosing spondylitis, the functional heterogeneity of neutrophils associated with disease activity was established according to the determination of oxygen-dependent metabolism.

Brazilian bentonite/MgO composites for adsorption of cationic and anionic dyes.

Industrial effluents, especially those containing dyes, have become the main cause of contamination of water resources. In this context, Brazilian bentonite/MgO composites, with excellent adsorptive properties, were prepared and investigated for their effectiveness in removing cationic and anionic dyes from aqueous solutions. The new adsorbents were obtained using Brazilian bentonites and MgO using the mechanochemical method followed by heat treatment (at 700°C for 4h). Different characterization techniques were used for the chemical, mineralogical, thermal, surface, and morphological analysis of the raw clays and the composites. The experimental adsorption isotherms were quantified under different conditions of initial concentration, contact time, pH, adsorbent dosage, and temperature variation to interpret the adsorption mechanism of the crystal violet (CV) and Congo red (CR) dyes. The modeling results were obtained from the empirical Sips equation and Pseudo Second Order (PSO) kinetics, indicating that the adsorption of molecules is a heterogeneous phenomenon that occurs in a monolayer on the surface (ns > 1), with the adsorption rate determined by chemisorption. The composites showed the best removal efficiency performance compared to the raw bentonites, with an increase of 12% for the CV dye and 46% for the CR dye. In addition, the qmax values obtained were 423.02mg/g and 479.86mg/g (AM01). This research underscores the potential of Brazilian bentonite/MgO composites as a promising solution for the removal of cationic and anionic dyes from water, offering hope for future applications in the field of environmental engineering and materials science.

Manifestations of exile and diaspora in the poetry of Abdullah al-Baradouni

ABSTRACT This paper attempts to shed light on the contemporary issue of exile and diaspora and their manifestations in the poetry of Abdullah al-Baradouni, a modern Yemeni poet. Within the postcolonial hermeneutics and postmodernist theory, exile in the poetry of al-Baradouni becomes a signifier indicating not only being expelled outside one’s homeland but experiencing the feelings of isolation, exile, and diaspora caused by hard conditions, power struggle, ideological heterodoxy, and identity loss. Al-Baradouni’s dialectics of exile revolves on the concept that exile is a human condition beyond physical boundaries. Thus, exile is no longer treated as a singular event, it rather becomes a heterogeneous and multifaceted phenomenon. He succeeds in depicting the impactful consequences of exile and diaspora through the employment of bizarre, macabre, and surrealistic images and techniques. Hence, this piece of research adopts surrealism as a theoretical framework in illuminating and investigating al-Baradouni’s poetic texts under study. In his poetry, al-Baradouni becomes the voice of the voiceless and embodies a collective national consciousness as he engages himself in poetic enterprises that demand intrepidity, determination, articulateness, genius, vision, and prophecy. His contribution to the literature of exile and diaspora is significant.

Clarifying the Impact of Electrode Material Heterogeneity on the Thermal Runaway Characteristics of Lithium‐Ion Batteries

The safety and efficiency of lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs) suggest a promising future for this technology, particularly in the automobile industry. However, thermal runaway—wherein a LIB undergoes an uncontrollable increase in temperature that may result in smoke, fire, or explosion—represents an important and widely studied failure type. Since the electrodes of LIBs are manufactured from porous composite materials, their heterogeneity can significantly influence the effective material characteristics and microscale behaviors of LIBs during operation. Microstructure geometric and electrochemical–thermal models are typically used to investigate these impacts. Herein, a microstructure geometric model is constructed of LIB's electrodes. A virtual multiphysics model is used to simulate the overcharging thermal runaway condition. The model's accuracy is validated through real‐world experiments. The model shows greater accuracy compared to the result from a conventional homogeneous geometric model and better reflects the heterogeneous internal phenomenon. The model is applied to a variable analysis in order to investigate how the varying heterogeneity of the cathode's porosity impacts the cell during overcharging thermal runaway behavior. Our results indicate that decreasing porosity heterogeneity at the cathode may delay thermal runaway, owing to the heterogeneous impact on particle diffusion behaviors and the side reaction rate.

Exploring the Relationship between Interfacial Chemistry and Thermal Safety of a Flame Retarding Semisolid Electrolyte

The safety-related performance of LIBs still remains as a major issue even after more than three decades of commercialization.1 When typical electrolytes composed of flammable organic liquid solvents vaporize and decompose exothermically during thermal runaway, they pose serious risk to human health and infrastructure.2 Conventional lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are energy storage devices which function as electrochemical systems subject to highly dynamic heterogeneous reaction phenomena. As a result, the tolerance levels of tangible harm to users and surrounding environments may be amplified considerably as scale and pervasiveness of technology increases. Beyond consumer devices, large-scale energy storage to complement renewable power generation technologies is instrumental to the goal of decarbonization via electrification and thus global goals for carbon neutrality in the 21st century. Renewable power generation benefits substantially from decoupling the spatial and temporal points of energy generation from that of demand.Recent efforts in academia and industry alike have endeavored to replace volatile and flammable conventional liquid electrolytes (composed of classes of compounds such as carbonates or ethers) with intrinsically nonflammable liquid electrolytes (composed of fluorinated and phosphorus-containing organic solvents).3–5 Simultaneously, solid-state electrolytes have been touted as an avenue to not only wholly replace the liquid component of the cell to improve safety, but also as a higher-energy density next-generation battery electrolyte.6 However, these strategies are often examined as materials-level design choices for improving “built-in” safety and not as changes to a dynamic and multiscale electrochemical system.In this study, we find that the intrinsic safety of a system is highly dependent on the interfacial degradation pathways of the electrode-electrolyte configuration, which acts as a direct complement to the thermal behavior which may result in thermal runaway. Through detailed multimodal calorimetry and characterization of the interfacial composition, this work subsequently brings the question of flammability into focus as a downstream consequence of the interfacial reaction kinetics. This is accomplished through the combined efforts of thermal analyses as well as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy accompanied with electron crystallography analyses, and nuclear magnetic resonance studies of the ionic transport behavior through the polymeric electrolyte. Through these efforts, design principles centered around holistic assessment of the lifespan of materials and their electrochemical and thermal interactions are developed towards the greater goal of improving the safety and resilience of LIBs and their devices against the wide spectrum of abuse scenarios created by their expanding application space.(1) Feng, X.; Ren, D.; He, X.; Ouyang, M. Mitigating Thermal Runaway of Lithium-Ion Batteries. Joule 2020, 4 (4), 743–770. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2020.02.010.(2) Wang, Q.; Jiang, L.; Yu, Y.; Sun, J. Progress of Enhancing the Safety of Lithium Ion Battery from the Electrolyte Aspect. Nano Energy 2019, 55, 93–114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2018.10.035.(3) Cao, X.; Xu, Y.; Zhang, L.; Engelhard, M. H.; Zhong, L.; Ren, X.; Jia, H.; Liu, B.; Niu, C.; Matthews, B. E.; Wu, H.; Arey, B. W.; Wang, C.; Zhang, J.-G.; Xu, W. Nonflammable Electrolytes for Lithium Ion Batteries Enabled by Ultraconformal Passivation Interphases. ACS Energy Letters 2019. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.9b01926.(4) Wang, J.; Yamada, Y.; Sodeyama, K.; Watanabe, E.; Takada, K.; Tateyama, Y.; Yamada, A. Fire-Extinguishing Organic Electrolytes for Safe Batteries. Nat Energy 2018, 3 (1), 22–29. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-017-0033-8.(5) Zheng, Q.; Yamada, Y.; Shang, R.; Ko, S.; Lee, Y.-Y.; Kim, K.; Nakamura, E.; Yamada, A. A Cyclic Phosphate-Based Battery Electrolyte for High Voltage and Safe Operation. Nat Energy 2020, 5 (4), 291–298. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-020-0567-z.(6) Janek, J.; Zeier, W. G. A Solid Future for Battery Development. Nat Energy 2016, 1 (9), 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1038/nenergy.2016.141

Unification, T-theoreticity, and Testing: The Case of Fitness in Natural Selection

Abstract Theoreticity and unification are two main issues discussed in philosophy of science. The first attempts to clarify the different roles of concepts used in a scientific theory. The second concerns the role of unification in scientific explanation and scientific progress. Both discussions have followed separate, independent paths. In this paper, we examine the interrelatedness of these two notions by focusing on classical particle mechanics and the theory of natural selection. We claim that they are interconnected in two distinct ways. On the one hand, a theory’s unifying power relies on the presence of some theoretical concepts that apply to heterogeneous phenomena through the assumption of a (sometimes unstated) general principle. On the other hand, a sensible application of the theoreticity criterion to these integrating concepts requires the unification not being spurious. We conclude that a correct determination of the theoreticty status requires analyzing how specific applications of different parts of a theory interact with each other.

Intra-strain colony biofilm heterogeneity in uropathogenic Escherichia coli and the effect of the NlpI lipoprotein

Biofilm growth facilitates the interaction of uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) with the host environment. The extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) of UPEC biofilms are composed prominently of curli amyloid fiber and cellulose polysaccharide. When the organism is propagated as a colony biofilm on agar media, these macromolecules can generate pronounced macroscopic structures. Moreover, curli/cellulose associate tightly with Congo red, generating a characteristic pink-to-red staining pattern when the media is supplemented with this dye. Among different clinical isolates of UPEC, changes in the abundance of curli/cellulose can lead to diverse colony biofilm phenotypes on a strain-by-strain basis. Nevertheless, for any given isolate, these phenotypes are classically homogenous throughout the colony biofilm. Here, we report that a subset of clinical UPEC isolates display heterogenous ‘peppermint’ colony biofilms, with distinct pale and red subpopulations. Through isolation of these subpopulations and whole genome sequencing, we demonstrate various emergent mutations associated with the phenomenon, including within the gene encoding the outer membrane lipoprotein nlpI. Deletion of nlpI within independent strain-backgrounds increased biofilm rugosity, while its overexpression induced the peppermint phenotype. Upregulation of EPS-associated proteins and transcripts was likewise observed in the absence of nlpI. Overall, these results demonstrate that EPS elaboration in UPEC is impacted by nlpI. More broadly, this phenomenon of intra-strain colony biofilm heterogeneity may be leveraged as a tool to identify additional members within the broad collection of genes that regulate or otherwise affect biofilm formation.

“I had to watch the commercial. That was annoying!” Audio-observing active parental mediation of advertising

ABSTRACT Active mediation is considered the gold standard mediation style for parents seeking to help their children cope with potentially harmful media content. However, little is known about what actually happens during active mediation episodes. In this study, we employ an interactive task on advertising formats to audio-observe parent – child interactions during active mediation episodes (n = 23 dyads). The study contributes to the body of knowledge by exploring the communicative repertoires that parents and children draw on during active mediation episodes. We show how parents and children, in exercising their agency, respond to one another by adopting the parent positions of educator, role model, investigator, and bridge builder, and the child positions of novice, informant, and cognoscente. Most of the time, the episodes follow a clear pattern according to which parents are in control of the mediation episode and children mainly react to their parents’ initiatives. However, in instances of reverse mediation, this default hierarchy is turned upside down. Here, children explain media logics and educate their parents about advertising. The structure of active mediation episodes mapped in this study will allow researchers to develop a deeper understanding of active mediation as a complex and heterogenous phenomenon.

Glioblastoma phenotypic and genetic heterogeneity, comparison of MRI and PET/CT parameters with tumor molecular genetic characteristics

Glioblastoma (GB) is an extremely heterogeneous tumor, which is caused by genomic instability, high growth rate, and neovascularization. Molecular and genetic characteristics of GB play a major role in the prognosis of the disease, which is reflected in the new WHO classification of CNS tumors from 2021. Purpose of this research is comparison MRI parameters (ADC CBF), metabolic activity on 11C-MET PET/СT with glioblastoma genetic profile. 40 patients (age 55±12 years, sex M/F = 31/9) with newly diagnosed GB were examined by MRI with assessment of diffusion parameters (ADCmin) and ASL perfusion (CBFmax) and 11С-МЕТ PET/CT with the calculation of tumor to normal index (METmax). Since these VOI (1cm3) did not always coincide, it was decided to measure all parameters in each VOI on all image maps (PMOD automatic contour transfer). A total of 9 measurements were obtained for each patient: METmax, METcbf, METadc; ADCmin, ADCmet, ADCcbf; CBFmax, CBFmet, CBFadc. Comparative and correlation analysis was carried out both in the total GB group and separately in the groups MGMT+/and EGFR+/and different Ki67 levels (cut-off 20%). In results 45% of patients had CBFmax, ADCmin and METmax mismatch. Significant correlations were found in the METmax VOI between METmaxADCmet (Rs = -0.37) and METcbfADCcbf (Rs = -0.05). CBFmax and CBFmet correlated with Ki67 (Rs = 0.38 and Rs = 0.48, respectively) and increased in Ki67 20% GB group. GB genetic subgroup analysis showed: MGMT+ had significantly higher ADCmin1.01 (10-3 mm2/sec), Se = 78%, Sp = 74%, AUC = 0.77, it means that cells were more tightly packed. In METmax VOI, METmax was negatively correlated with ADCmet (Rs = -0.72) and CBFmet was positively correlated with Ki-67 (Rs = 0.89); EGFR+ tumors had significantly higher METmax 3.29 (Se = 88%, Sp = 70%, AUC = 0.82), that was negatively correlated with ADCmet (Rs = -0.85). In case when Ki67 20% GB demonstrated significantly higher CBFmax 108.177ml/100/min (Se = 70%, Sp = 94%, AUC 0.75) and a strong negative correlation between METmax and ADCmet, (Rs = -0,65) in METmax VOI. Our study shown that CBFmax, ADCmin and METmax localization coincide in 45% of cases, which proves the presence of variety in the structure and functional activity of different areas of GB. The correlation of MGMT methylation and ADC (ADCmin 1.01 (10-3 mm2/sec), Se = 78%, Sp = 74%, AUC = 0.77) confirms the recent studies results of this tumor subtype lower needs of the new membranes construction, that’s due to the inhibition of the mechanism of the DNA repair system. EGFR amplification presence in our patient sample was associated with a significant higher MET metabolism (МЕTmax 3.29, Se = 88%, Sp = 70%, AUC = 0.82) and correlated with height level of Ki67 (Rs = -0.85), confirming the fact of GB cells amino acids increased consumption for membrane synthesis. The obtained correlations MET with ADC and the absence of those with CBF, confirms the dependence glioma methionine metabolism of the new cell membranes building, rather than on neovascularization. Revealed mismatch of MRI and PET/CT parameters confirmed GB structure heterogeneity phenomenon, as well as their significant differences in various genetic status GB subgroups.

UG-schematic Annotation for Event Nominals: A Case Study in Mandarin Chinese

Abstract Divergence of languages observed at the surface level is a major challenge encountered by multilingual data representation, especially when typologically distant languages are involved. Drawing inspiration from a formalist Chomskyan perspective towards language universals, Universal Grammar (UG), this article uses deductively pre-defined universals to analyze a multilingually heterogeneous phenomenon, event nominals. In this way, deeper universality of event nominals beneath their huge divergence in different languages is uncovered, which empowers us to break barriers between languages and thus extend insights from some synthetic languages to a non-inflectional language, Mandarin Chinese. Our empirical investigation also demonstrates this UG-inspired schema is effective: With its assistance, the inter-annotator agreement (IAA) for identifying event nominals in Mandarin grows from 88.02% to 94.99%, and automatic detection of event-reading nominalizations on the newly-established data achieves an accuracy of 94.76% and an F1 score of 91.3%, which significantly surpass those achieved on the pre-existing resource by 9.8% and 5.2%, respectively. Our systematic analysis also sheds light on nominal semantic role labeling. By providing a clear definition and classification on arguments of event nominal, the IAA of this task significantly increases from 90.46% to 98.04%.

Robust Gaussian Process Regression Method for Efficient Tunneling Pathway Optimization: Application to Surface Processes.

Simulation of surface processes is a key part of computational chemistry that offers atomic-scale insights into mechanisms of heterogeneous catalysis, diffusion dynamics, and quantum tunneling phenomena. The most common theoretical approaches involve optimization of reaction pathways, including semiclassical tunneling pathways (called instantons). The computational effort can be demanding, especially for instanton optimizations with an ab initio electronic structure. Recently, machine learning has been applied to accelerate reaction-pathway optimization, showing great potential for a wide range of applications. However, previous methods still suffer from numerical and efficiency issues and were not designed for condensed-phase reactions. We propose an improved framework based on Gaussian process regression for general transformed coordinates, which has improved efficiency and numerical stability, and we propose a descriptor that combines internal and Cartesian coordinates suitable for modeling surface processes. We demonstrate with 11 instanton optimizations in three representative systems that the improved approach makes ab initio instanton optimization significantly cheaper, such that it becomes not much more expensive than a classical transition-state theory rate calculation.