Internal Heterogeneity Research Articles

Identifying Internet addiction profiles among adolescents using latent profile analysis: Relations to aggression, depression, and anxiety

BackgroundWhile many studies have established a positive correlation between adolescents' internet addiction and mental health problems, most of these studies have overlooked the internal heterogeneity of Internet addiction. This study aims to identify latent profiles among adolescents based on their Internet addiction and to examine the differences in aggression, depression, and anxiety across these profiles. MethodsWe conducted a survey involving 7422 adolescents and administered the Young's Internet Addiction Test, Aggression Behavior Questionnaire, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale. Latent profile analysis was utilized to categorize Internet addiction profiles among adolescents. Associations between Internet addiction profiles and related factors were examined using the Bolck-Croon-Hagenaars method. ResultsLatent profile analysis suggested four profiles of Internet addiction, which were labeled: Regular, Risk, Low Internet addiction, and Internet addiction. The Internet addiction profile showed higher levels of aggression, depression, and anxiety than the Low Internet addiction profile. The Low Internet addiction profile had higher levels of aggression, depression, and anxiety than the Risk profile. The Risk profile demonstrated higher levels of aggression, depression, and anxiety when compared to the Regular profile. LimitationsLimitations include the cross-sectional design and the self-report measures. ConclusionsThe identified Internet addiction profiles offer differential predictions for aggression, depression, and anxiety. These results underscore the significance of employing latent profile analysis when exploring the associations between Internet addiction and mental health issues.

Study on the influence of fractal dimension and size effect of coarse aggregate on the frost resistance of hydraulic concrete

In cold regions, hydraulic concrete structures are exposed to harsh environmental conditions that greatly impact their durability and safety. The role of aggregates in influencing concrete performance is paramount. This study aims to investigate how the fractal distribution and size of aggregates affect the frost resistance of hydraulic concrete, with air void characteristics, mass loss rate, Elastic Modulus of dynamic, and strength serving as primary references. Two experiment series, fractal distribution influence and aggregate size influence of concrete frost resistance, were conducted to analyze the frost resistance of hydraulic concrete with different aggregates. Based on the fractal theory, four grading fractal distributions were utilized to fractalize aggregate gradation, aiming to investigate the influence of aggregate fractal dimension on the frost resistance of hydraulic concrete. Simultaneously, concrete specimens of fully graded aggregate and wet-screened aggregate were also constructed to simultaneous freeze-thaw cycle tests, the impact of aggregate size on concrete's frost resistance performance was also studied by analyzing the air void structure in the frost-resistant concrete specimens. Results indicate that the specimens exhibit varying frost resistance performance under different aggregate gradation fractals, ranking from strongest to weakest as follows: D=2.5, D=2.3, D=2.1, D=2.7, which is attributed to the differences of air void spacing factors. Increasing aggregate size leads to greater internal structural heterogeneity in concrete, resulting in an increase in defects and weak points. This causes microcracks to develop more rapidly in the transition zone of fully graded concrete during freeze-thaw cycles, leading to more severe damage. The findings of this study can serve as a fundamental scientific basis for the designing and constructing of hydraulic concrete structures in cold areas.

Cascaded framework for earthquake building damage detection combining spatial and frequency domain feature integration

Abstract. Building collapse is a major cause of casualties after an earthquake, so accurately extracting building damage information is critical for post-earthquake assessment and rescue. Currently, most deep learning methods focus on the end-to-end detection of building collapse. However, in real-world earthquake scenarios, the end-to-end computational process often lacks flexibility and struggles to meet the requirements of rapid emergency response. To address this issue, this paper proposes a cascaded framework that combines pre-earthquake building extraction and post-earthquake building damage classification. The proposed framework includes two sections: (1) Progressive building semantic segmentation model in the joint frequency domain. This model is designed to accurately extract buildings prior to an earthquake, with the goal of minimizing error propagation throughout the cascading process. The model addresses the spatial similarity of buildings under complicated backgrounds, as well as the high internal heterogeneity of buildings, by utilizing frequency domain techniques. It compensates for the shortcomings of traditional models in terms of incomplete information extraction through the effective integration of global and local information. Finally, the model employs edge priors for edge regularization. (2) Rapid building damage classification process. Based on the accurate building extraction results, a fast and efficient classification process is developed. This process uses a simple and lightweight classification network to effectively extract building damage information caused by the earthquake. The superiority of the proposed framework is validated through comparison with traditional cascading architectures and end-to-end models. The results show that the cascading framework not only provides accurate pre-earthquake building extraction, but also enables efficient and accurate post-earthquake damage classification, which meets the requirements of rapid post-earthquake emergency response. This balance of accuracy and speed is essential for effective disaster management and recovery.

Determination of the internal structural heterogeneity of natural diamond: Methodological aspects of using confocal Raman spectroscopy with polarization analysis

Aim. To describe a technique for studying the internal structural heterogeneity of natural diamond crystals, based on confocal Raman spectroscopy with polarization analysis, including angular resolution, at high spectral (0.5–0.6 cm–1) and spatial (1 μm) resolution. Results. The parameters of the F2g vibrational mode in diamond (position, width, intensity, shape, including the Gaussian and Lorentzian contributions to the broadening) are determined by the superposition influence of a number of factors, including the type and content of structural stresses, deformations, various types of defects, as well as orientation of crystallographic axes of the crystal relative to the directions of incident and scattered rays and the directions of their electric polarization vectors. The proposed analytical technique includes: (1) analysis of the crystallographic orientation of the sample in the spectrometer coordinate system and possible misorientations of its fragments with an error of ≈8–15°; (2) visualization of the distribution of structural stresses, deformations, twins, impurity defects and their associates based on sample surface mapping by spectral parameters of the F2g vibration mode; (3) obtaining statistical characteristics of the internal structural heterogeneity of the samples based on diagrams of spectral parameter frequency with a statistically significant number (≈103): unimodality (uni-, bimodal distributions) and distribution dispersion (from ≈0.1 to ≈0.6 cm–1 for width and from ≈0.04 to ≈0.6 cm–1 for line position). The procedure was tested using two synthetic CVD diamond single crystals doped with nitrogen and boron. The possibility of typification of natural samples by statistical characteristics of internal heterogeneity is considered using the example of samples from kimberlite pipes of Yakutia and placers of the Western Cis-Urals. Conclusions. A method for determining the internal structural heterogeneity of natural diamond crystals based on confocal Raman spectroscopy with polarization analysis is proposed. The possibility of using statistical characteristics of heterogeneity as a typomorphic feature of the original diamond source is demonstrated. The proposed diagrams are promising for sample comparison and typification.

Significance of Low‐Velocity Zones on Solute Retention in Rough Fractures

AbstractNatural fractures are characterized by high internal heterogeneity. This internal variability is the cause of flow channeling, which in turn leads to contaminant transport taking place primarily along the high‐velocity channels. Mass exchange between the high‐velocity channels and the low‐velocity zones has the potential to enhance contaminant retention, due to solute diffusion into the low‐velocity zones and subsequent exposure to additional surface area for diffusion into the bordering rock matrix. Here, we derive a random walk particle tracking method for heterogeneous fractures, which includes an additional term to account for the aperture gradient. The method takes into account advection, diffusion in the fracture and matrix diffusion. The developed numerical framework is applied to assess the effect of low‐velocity zones in rough self‐affine fractures. The results show that diffusion into low‐velocity zones has a visible but modest impact on contaminant retention. The magnitude of this impact does not change considerably, regardless of whether diffusion into the rock matrix is considered in the model, and increases for a decreasing average Péclet number of the fracture.

Experimental and numerical analysis of flow through a natural rough fracture subject to normal loading

Fractured crystalline rocks have been chosen or are under consideration by several countries as host rock formations for deep geological repositories for spent nuclear fuel. In such geological formations, flow and solute transport are mostly controlled by a network of connected natural fractures, each of them being characterised by internal heterogeneity, also denoted as roughness. Fractures are, in turn, subject to variable load caused by various factors, such as the presence of thick ice sheets formed during glaciation periods. Understanding how coupled hydro-mechanical (HM) processes affect flow and transport at the scale of a single natural fracture is crucial for a robust parameterisation of large-scale discrete fracture network models, which are not only used for nuclear waste disposal applications but are also of interest to problems related to geothermics, oil and gas production or groundwater remediation. In this work, we analyse and model an HM experiment carried out in a single natural fracture and use the results of both, the experimental and the modelling work, to get insights into fundamental questions such as the applicability of local cubic law or the effect of normal load on channeling. The initial fracture aperture was obtained from laser scanning of the two fracture surfaces and an equivalent initial aperture was then defined by moving the two fracture surfaces together and comparing the results obtained using a Navier–Stokes based computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model with the experimental flowrate obtained for unloaded conditions. The mechanical effect of the different loading stages was simulated using a high-resolution contact model. The different computed fracture apertures were then used to run groundwater flow simulations using a modified Reynolds equation. The results show that, without correction, local cubic law largely overestimates flowrates. Instead, we show that by explicitly acknowledging the difference between the mechanical aperture and the hydraulic aperture and setting the latter equal to 1/5 of the former, cubic law provides a very reasonable approximation of the experimental flowrates over the entire loading cycle. A positive correlation between fluid flow channeling and normal load is also found.

A Dual-Branch Framework With Prior Knowledge for Precise Segmentation of Lung Nodules in Challenging CT Scans.

Lung cancer is one of the deadliest cancers globally, and early diagnosis is crucial for patient survival. Pulmonary nodules are the main manifestation of early lung cancer, usually assessed using CT scans. Nowadays, computer-aided diagnostic systems are widely used to assist physicians in disease diagnosis. The accurate segmentation of pulmonary nodules is affected by internal heterogeneity and external data factors. In order to overcome the segmentation challenges of subtle, mixed, adhesion-type, benign, and uncertain categories of nodules, a new mixed manual feature network that enhances sensitivity and accuracy is proposed. This method integrates feature information through a dual-branch network framework and multi-dimensional fusion module. By training and validating with multiple data sources and different data qualities, our method demonstrates leading performance on the LUNA16, Multi-thickness Slice Image dataset, LIDC, and UniToChest, with Dice similarity coefficients reaching 86.89%, 75.72%, 84.12%, and 80.74% respectively, surpassing most current methods for pulmonary nodule segmentation. Our method further improved the accuracy, reliability, and stability of lung nodule segmentation tasks even on challenging CT scans.

INCOME INEQUALITY OF RURAL HOUSEHOLDS IN POLAND – ANALYSIS BY SOURCE OF INCOME

Rural households live on income much lower than the national average and experience income inequality much higher than the general population. This excess inequality is primarily due to the internal heterogeneity caused by the different nature of household income sources. The purpose of the study was then to assess the level of rural household income inequality and to decompose the inequality index by the main sources of income. The chosen inequality index was Theil-T. The research drew on unidentifiable microdata from the Household Budget Survey conducted by the CSO in 2019-2021.The study found that rural household inequality was slightly higher than that of all Polish households over the analyzed period. Among the various income-source groups, the highest inequality affected farmer households. This group also contributed most to the overall level of inequality in rural areas (44% in 2019 and over 46% in 2021). The pandemic saw an increase in inequality for all identified groups of rural households (the largest – for farmer households) and a decrease in between-group inequality.

Prediction of Oil Production in a Tight Sandstone Reservoir: Triassic Chang 9 Member, Jiyuan Area, Ordos Basin, NW China

Tight sandstone oil reservoirs in the Upper Triassic Yanchang Formation of the Ordos Basin are the most promising exploration and development fields owing to their huge production potential. Even though they have received considerable attention in recent years, common productivity prediction methods were not well applied during pre-development owing to their strong internal heterogeneity. In this study, the factors influencing oil production of the Chang 9 Member in the Jiyuan area were investigated and summarized based on drill cores, such as sediment characteristic analysis, lithofacies analysis, other analytical tests, and conventional logging curves. The findings show that fine-sandstone reservoirs with smooth sand body architectures are the main types of tight sandstone commercial oil reservoirs. Furthermore, having high porosity and oil content are prerequisites for commercial oil reservoirs, and the cumulative thickness of effective reservoirs serves as a crucial resource base for them. Through the analysis of logging curves, the relative center of gravity, deviation root of variance, petrophysical index, effective reservoir thickness, and evaluation indicator were used to predict daily oil production, thereby establishing the identification criteria for the ranking of tight sandstone oil reservoirs using logging. Then, the productivity of each reservoir in a single well was predicted by processing the log data from each well using the proposed method, and the productivity prediction results agreed well with the tested results of the perforated interval. This approach highlights the integrated influence of geological factors, physical properties, and the thickness scale of an effective reservoir, thereby improving the predictive capacity of logging curves. Additionally, the proposed methods significantly reduce the need for reservoir parameters better than previous ones, streamline operations, and improve practical applications.

Value of Size and Malignant Features of Lateral Lymph Nodes in Risk Stratification at Lateral Local Recurrence of Rectal Cancer: A National Cohort Study.

Patients with rectal cancer who have enlarged lateral lymph nodes (LLNs) have an increased risk of lateral local recurrence (LLR). However, little is known about prognostic implications of malignant features (internal heterogeneity, irregular margins, loss of fatty hilum, and round shape) on MRI and number of enlarged LLNs, in addition to LLN size. Of the 3,057 patients with rectal cancer included in this national, retrospective, cross-sectional cohort study, 284 with a cT3-4 tumor located ≤8 cm from the anorectal junction who received neoadjuvant treatment and who had visible LLNs on MRI were selected. Imaging was reassessed by trained radiologists. LLNs were categorized based on size. Influence of malignant features and the number of LLNs on LLR was investigated. Of 284 patients with at least 1 visible LLN, 122 (43%) had an enlarged node (≥7.0 mm) and 157 (55%) had malignant features. Of the 122 patients with enlarged nodes, 25 had multiple (≥2). In patients with a single enlarged node (n=97), a single malignant feature was associated with a 4-year LLR rate of 0% and multiple malignant features was associated with a rate of 17% (P=.060). In the group with multiple malignant features, their disappearance on restaging was associated with an LLR rate of 13% compared with an LLR rate of 20% for persistent malignant features (P=.532). The presence of intermediate-size LLNs (5.0-6.9 mm) with at least 1 malignant feature was associated with a 4-year LLR rate of 8%; the 4-year LLR rate was 13% when the malignant features persisted on restaging MRI (P=.409). Patients with multiple enlarged LLNs had a 4-year LLR rate of 28% compared with 11% for those with a single enlarged LLN (P=.059). The presence of multiple enlarged LLNs (≥7.0 mm), as well as multiple malignant features in an enlarged node contribute to the risk of developing an LLR. These radiologic features can be used for clinical decision-making regarding the potential benefit of LLN dissection.

Contrast-enhanced CT radiomics features to preoperatively identify differences between tumor and proximal tumor-adjacent and tumor-distant tissues of resectable esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

BackgroundEsophagectomy is the main treatment for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), and patients with histopathologically negative margins still have a relatively higher recurrence rate. Contrast-enhanced CT (CECT) radiomics might noninvasively obtain potential information about the internal heterogeneity of ESCC and its adjacent tissues. This study aimed to develop CECT radiomics models to preoperatively identify the differences between tumor and proximal tumor-adjacent and tumor-distant tissues in ESCC to potentially reduce tumor recurrence.MethodsA total of 529 consecutive patients with ESCC from Centers A (n = 447) and B (n = 82) undergoing preoperative CECT were retrospectively enrolled in this study. Radiomics features of the tumor, proximal tumor-adjacent (PTA) and proximal tumor-distant (PTD) tissues were individually extracted by delineating the corresponding region of interest (ROI) on CECT and applying the 3D-Slicer radiomics module. Patients with pairwise tissues (ESCC vs. PTA, ESCC vs. PTD, and PTA vs. PTD) from Center A were randomly assigned to the training cohort (TC, n = 313) and internal validation cohort (IVC, n = 134). Univariate analysis and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator were used to select the core radiomics features, and logistic regression was performed to develop radiomics models to differentiate individual pairwise tissues in TC, validated in IVC and the external validation cohort (EVC) from Center B. Diagnostic performance was assessed using area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC) and accuracy.ResultsWith the chosen 20, 19 and 5 core radiomics features in TC, 3 individual radiomics models were developed, which exhibited excellent ability to differentiate the tumor from PTA tissue (AUC: 0.965; accuracy: 0.965), the tumor from PTD tissue (AUC: 0.991; accuracy: 0.958), and PTA from PTD tissue (AUC: 0.870; accuracy: 0.848), respectively. In IVC and EVC, the models also showed good performance in differentiating the tumor from PTA tissue (AUCs: 0.956 and 0.962; accuracy: 0.956 and 0.937), the tumor from PTD tissue (AUCs: 0.990 and 0.974; accuracy: 0.952 and 0.970), and PTA from PTD tissue (AUCs: 0.806 and 0.786; accuracy: 0.760 and 0.786), respectively.ConclusionCECT radiomics models could differentiate the tumor from PTA tissue, the tumor from PTD tissue, and PTA from PTD tissue in ESCC.

Celebrating diversity: The origins and pathways of three support-verb constructions

Support-verb constructions are combinations of a verb and a noun that fill the predicate slot of a sentence, such as to make a suggestion in I made the suggestion that she join us. While qualifying as semantic-lexemic phrasemes (collocations and idioms) in Mel’čuk’s Sens-Texte framework, they sit at the lexicon-syntax interface. They qualify as verbal multi-word expressions lexically speaking and form complex predicates syntactically. In classical and post-classical Greek, support-verb constructions form an internally heterogenous group of constructions, yet one that has existed since the earliest records of the language and survives into the modern variety. The present chapter capitalises on the over 2000 years of continuous written history of Greek, and the internal heterogeneity of the group of support-verb constructions, in that it investigates the origins and pathways of three members of this group in the literary (Thesaurus Linguae Graecae) and documentary (Duke Database of Documentary Papyri) corpora of Greek. The bulk of documentary texts dates from the 3rd c. BC onwards, whereas the earliest literary texts date from around the 8th c. BC. The variety of sources allows us to trace the three structures of interest through the centuries in varying environments and thus to trace traditions and independent developments. δίκην δίδωμι dikēn didōmi existed as a collocation ‘to give judgement(s)’ from archaic times and into the medieval period, in classical times, the idiom δίκην δίδωμι dikēn didōmi ‘to pay the price for one’s actions’ arose and became indexed for the technical and higher registers. In χάριν ἀπολαμβάνω kharin apolambanō ‘to receive a favour’, the prototypical compound ἀπολαμβάνω apolambanō seems to be diatopically and subsequently diastratically indexed but retreats into the higher registers after the classical period; the canonical simplex verb λαμβάνω lambanō predates it in early classical verse and postdates it. προσέχω τὸν νοῦν prosekhō ton noun exists as an idiom especially in medical discourse from at least classical times onwards but in parallel also as a pragmateme from archaic times onwards. Support-verb constructions are a pattern that is considered near universal in languages, such that especially the methodological tool of the support-verb-construction field developed and drawn upon in this chapter is transferable beyond Greek.

Spatio-temporal distributions of COVID-19 vaccine doses uptake in the Netherlands: a Bayesian ecological modelling analysis.

In the transitioning era towards the COVID-19 endemic, there is still a sizable population that has never been vaccinated against COVID-19 in the Netherlands. This study employs Bayesian spatio-temporal modelling to assess the relative chances of COVID-19 vaccination uptake - first, second, and booster doses - both at the municipal and regional (public health services) levels. Incorporating ecological regression modelling to consider socio-demographic factors, our study unveils a diverse spatio-temporal distribution of vaccination uptake. Notably, the areas located in or around the Dutch main urban area (Randstad) and regions that are more religiously conservative exhibit a below-average likelihood of vaccination. Analysis at the municipal level within public health service regions indicates internal heterogeneity. Additionally, areas with a higher proportion of non-Western migrants consistently show lower chances of vaccination across vaccination dose scenarios. These findings highlight the need for tailored national and local vaccination strategies. Particularly, more regional efforts are essential to address vaccination disparities, especially in regions with elevated proportions of marginalized populations. This insight informs ongoing COVID-19 campaigns, emphasizing the importance of targeted interventions for optimizing health outcomes during the second booster phase, especially in regions with a relatively higher proportion of marginalized populations.

Cross-Domain Mutual-Assistance Learning Framework for Fully Automated Diagnosis of Primary Tumor in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma.

Accurate T-staging of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) holds paramount importance in guiding treatment decisions and prognosticating outcomes for distinct risk groups. Regrettably, the landscape of deep learning-based techniques for T-staging in NPC remains sparse, and existing methodologies often exhibit suboptimal performance due to their neglect of crucial domain-specific knowledge pertinent to primary tumor diagnosis. To address these issues, we propose a new cross-domain mutual-assistance learning framework for fully automated diagnosis of primary tumor using H&N MR images. Specifically, we tackle primary tumor diagnosis task with the convolutional neural network consisting of a 3D cross-domain knowledge perception network (CKP net) for excavated cross-domain-invariant features emphasizing tumor intensity variations and internal tumor heterogeneity, and a multi-domain mutual-information sharing fusion network (M2SF net), comprising a dual-pathway domain-specific representation module and a mutual information fusion module, for intelligently gauging and amalgamating multi-domain, multi-scale T-stage diagnosis-oriented features. The proposed 3D cross-domain mutual-assistance learning framework not only embraces task-specific multi-domain diagnostic knowledge but also automates the entire process of primary tumor diagnosis. We evaluate our model on an internal and an external MR images dataset in a three-fold cross-validation paradigm. Exhaustive experimental results demonstrate that our method outperforms the state-of-the-art algorithms, and obtains promising performance for tumor segmentation and T-staging. These findings underscore its potential for clinical application, offering valuable assistance to clinicians in treatment decision-making and prognostication for various risk groups.

Influence of nappe structure on the Carboniferous volcanic reservoir in the middle of the Hongche Fault Zone, Junggar Basin, China

Abstract This work presents an in-depth examination of the Carboniferous volcanic reservoir within the CH471 well area, situated in the central portion of the Hongche fault zone on the northwestern margin of the Junggar Basin. Leveraging seismic data and well connection comparisons, we scrutinize the tectonic evolution model and elucidate the impact of the nappe structure of the Hongche fault zone on the volcanic reservoir. The study has obtained the following understanding: after the formation of Carboniferous volcanic rocks, affected by the Hongche fault structure, a series of structural superpositions from extension to extrusion and finally thrust occurred, resulting in a northwestward tilt of the volcanic rock mass, and a large number of cracks were generated inside the rock mass. At the same time, the top was uplifted and affected by weathering and leaching to form a weathering crust, eventually forming a reservoir. The northern part is located in the edge area of the eruption center, and the rock mass has good stratification. The rock strata have certain constraints on the reservoir distribution, and the reservoir is inclined along the rock mass. The southern part is close to the eruption center and features large volcanic breccia accumulation bodies with strong internal heterogeneity. The reservoir developed mainly in the superposition of the range of control of the weathering crust and dense fracture development, and the rock mass morphology does not control the area. Structure is the key to forming a volcanic rock reservoir, mainly reflected in the following aspects. First, tectonic activity is accompanied by fracture development, and fractures are densely developed in areas with strong activity, which can effectively improve the physical properties of volcanic reservoirs. Second, tectonic activity leads to the strata uplift and weathering denudation, forming a weathering crust. Within the range of control of weathering and leaching, the physical properties of volcanic rocks are improved, and it is easier to form high-quality reservoirs. Third, the distribution of volcanic rock masses is controlled by tectonic activity, which affects the reservoir controlled by the dominant lithology.

Request for Paternalism: The Concept and Value of State in the Minds of Russian Youth

Modern Russian youth as a whole significantly differs from those of older generations in their values and behavioral disposition, which, in conjunction with internal heterogeneity, has a significant impact on the strategy of working with it. In connection therewith, the purpose of the research presented was the value and semantic analysis of one of the meaning-forming concepts of the person’s political representations system - the concept of the state on the basis of the political and psychological approach. The results of an all-Russian representative survey of young people aged 14-30 conducted during the autumn, 2022 served as an empirical basis for the study (sample size: 2,500). A research question was posed: what are the meanings of the idea and value of the state in the minds of modern youth? As hypotheses, the assumptions were formulated that the modern Russian youth is characterized by paternalistic orientations traditionally characteristic of the national political culture. At the same time, ideas about the state are contradictory, reflect traditional, historically established axiological interpretations and modern meanings. The overall result of the study was the conclusion about the ambivalent and unclear nature of ideas about the Russian state, with positive characteristics dominating. The attitude of young people to the state is utilitarian in nature: it is perceived as a source of benefits, responsible to citizens, they are expected to take care, protect and ensure order. At the same time, young people often do not endow themselves with responsibility to the state and society. In the minds of young people, the state is associated with such concepts as land, people and culture. At the same time, the “Russian land” is not simply perceived as a territory, but as an independent value in the context of identifying an individual with people and its culture. This interpretation has deep historical value and semantic roots. It can be judged as a modern actualization of the notions of «Russian Land» and «Russian State» noted by historians in the Russian political culture.

Ecumenism in modern Europe: adaptation to secular society

The ecumenism ideology is based on evangelical foundations and is aimed at achieving universal Christian unity. The historical differentiation of Christianity and the various circumstances of the church organizations development have caused the ecumenical movement internal heterogeneity. Each of the Christianity directions is guided by its own theological interpretation of ecumenism. Doctrinal agreement of these interpretations cannot be achieved. The political situation in the world and the situation of national churches within countries also hinder organizational unification. Therefore, ecumenical organizations, mainly the World Council of Churches and the Conference of European Churches, develop dialogue and cooperation programs aimed at Eucharistic and liturgical communication between different Christian confessions believers, as well as joint social services of representatives of different churches. The ecumenical movement in the twentieth century developed almost synchronously with the deployment of large-scale secularization. The secular nature of modern European societies determines the priority of social activity over theological activity in the ecumenical movement. The dependence of international ecumenical organizations on current politics is also obvious - they currently follow the European Union governing bodies’ ideo-logical rhetoric. The current situation of the ecumenical movement cannot be called a crisis, rather, there is a transformation into a new state - going beyond intra-Christian cooperation and inclusion in an interreligious dialogue, as well as in a dialogue with non-religious institutions of modern society.

Endoscopic full-thickness resection for gastric submucosal tumors: Japanese multicenter prospective study.

Early gastric cancer endoscopic resection (ER) is prominent in Japan. However, evidence regarding ER of gastric submucosal tumors (SMT) is limited. This prospective multicenter phase II study investigated the efficacy and safety of endoscopic full-thickness resection (EFTR) for gastric SMT. Endoscopic full-thickness resection indication for gastric SMT was 11-30 mm, histologically proven or clinically suspicious (irregular margin, increasing size, or internal heterogeneity) gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), with no ulceration and intraluminal growth type. The primary end-point was the complete ER (ER0) rate, with a sample size of 42. We enrolled 46 patients with 46 lesions between September 2020 and May 2023 at seven Japanese institutions. The mean ± SD (range) endoscopic tumor size was 18.8 ± 4.5 (11-28) mm. The tumor resection and defect closure times were 54 ± 26 (22-125) min and 33 ± 28 (12-186) min, respectively. A 100% ER0 was achieved in all 46 patients. The EFTR procedure was accomplished in all patients without surgical intervention. One patient had delayed perforation and was managed endoscopically. GIST accounted for 76% (n = 35) of the cases. R0, R1, and RX rates were 33 (77%), 3 (6.5%), and 7 (15%), respectively. Endoscopic full-thickness resection for gastric SMT of 11-30 mm is efficacious. It warrants further validation in a large-scale cohort study to determine the long-term outcome of this treatment for patients with gastric GIST.

The study on the effect of mercury pollution on soil microorganisms around mercury mining area

In order to further explore the effects of soil mercury pollution on soil microbial diversity and community structure, soil samples were randomly collected from 2 m, 20 m, 30 m, 500 m and 650 m periphery of Wanshan mining area, as 5 different treatments. Each treatment had 4 replicates. Soil microbial DNA was extracted from 20 soil samples, and then high-throughput sequencing technology was used to analyse the structure and distribution of bacterial and fungal communities. The results showed that the number of bacterial and fungal communities in T0–T30 treatments was significantly larger than that in T500–T650 treatments at order, family and genus level. Whatever, the number of uniquely distributed bacterial and fungal communities among 4 replicates soil samples was quite different at order, family and genus level. The results of the effect on the microbial community structure showed that there were both the same dominant bacterial and fungal communities, and the different dominant bacterial and fungal communities at any classification level, moreover, the number of same dominant bacterial and fungal communities was larger than that of different dominant bacterial and fungal communities. The results of relationship between soil environment factors and bacterial and fungal community structure showed that distance (Hg2+), EC and pH had a high correlation with community structure, especially the distance factor, that is, the content of mercury in soil had the highest effects on community structure. The internal heterogeneity of soil caused significant differences in bacterial and fungal community structure, and the emergence of dominant bacterial and fungal communities was a manifestation of better adaptability to long-term mercury stress and other stresses in soil, which will provide a scientific reference for further exploring the mechanism of mercury enrichment between microorganisms and plants.

How “international” is international research collaboration?

AbstractIn the context of the increasing global connectivity in science, this article investigates the internal heterogeneity of international research collaborations (IRCs). We focus on the prevalence of shared heritage collaborations and the rise of multiple institutional affiliations as a collaboration mechanism. An analytical typology of IRCs based on the characteristics of collaborating researchers' location and heritage is developed and empirically tested on the dataset of Russia's publications in 2015. We found that shared heritage IRC and IRC via multiple affiliations are the cornerstones of internationalization. Significant structural differences are revealed between conventional IRC and these nonconventional IRCs across fields of science, locations, visibility of international partners, and the sources of funding. These results contribute towards a better understanding of IRC as a complex, heterogeneous phenomenon, which encompasses a variety of arrangements for knowledge creation across borders. A more nuanced understanding of IRC is needed for smarter university strategy, metric development, and policymaking.