Line Of Research Research Articles

The construction of dual ethnic identity among multi-ethnic adolescents

This article examines the relationship between intermarriage and integration in a novel context, centering on Israeli adolescents with ethnic origins from both Europe and Middle Eastern and North African countries. Current analyses explore this relationship mainly through the self-identification of multi-ethnic individuals. One line of studies shows that intermarriage enlarges social networks and lowers social differences thereby weakening ethnic identification among multi-ethnic adolescents; another line points to the continuation of ethnic boundaries within multi-ethnic families and close environments that lead adolescents to identify themselves as ethnic. In contrast to these lines of research, that examine the relationship between intermarriage and integration among different ethnic groups, this article analyses this relationship between two subgroups – Middle Eastern and North African and European Jews – from the same ethnic group: Israeli Jews. Interviews with Israeli multi-ethnic adolescents show that they develop a dual ethnic identity that comprised two opposing elements. The first is a ‘thin’ identity, which enables them to choose and switch between ethnicities, thus blurring ethnic boundaries; the other, a ‘strong’ identity, creates an inner experience of two opposing ethnicities, thereby maintaining a hierarchy between the groups. This article demonstrates that in specific structural conditions, intermarriage does not influence integration in one direction only, but facilitates and impedes this process simultaneously in both directions.

Fabrication and thermoelectric properties of multilayer textured Sr-doped Ca3Co4O9/Ag laminar composites

This work presents a comparative analysis of pure and Ag-intercalated Ca3Co4O9 multilayer thermoelectric materials prepared through the hot-uniaxial pressing technique. Samples were prepared by attrition milling and hot-pressed at 900 °C and 55 MPa for 1 h. They were mirror polished, and some of them were stacked with and without intermediate Ag foil and hot-pressed again at 900 °C and 52 MPa for 1 h. Out-of-plane XRD showed that samples are nearly single-phase, and the grains are well oriented with their ab-plane perpendicular to the pressure direction. Microstructural studies confirmed perfect welding in the multilayer samples accompanied by the formation of a very thin layer containing larger grains and notable Ag diffusion close to the Ca3Co4O9/Ag interface. Three-point bending stresses have been increased in Ag-containing samples, while microhardness has been raised in all samples hot-pressed twice. Thermoelectric measurements showed a decrease of thermal gradient along the Ag-containing sample, together with a drastic decrease of electrical resistivity when compared to the Ag-free ones. However, the Ag-layers have promoted a drastic decrease in the Seebeck coefficient, reflected in a notable reduction of the power factor of Ca3Co4O9/Ag multilayer composites. Nevertheless, these results show that it is possible to use these materials to reduce Joule heating and increasing the compatibility with the welding compounds when building thermoelectric modules. Moreover, they open a new research line searching for larger S compounds to be intercalated with Ag foils.

Investigating the use of signal detection information in supervised learning-based image denoising with consideration of task-shift.

Recently, learning-based denoising methods that incorporate task-relevant information into the training procedure have been developed to enhance the utility of the denoised images. However, this line of research is relatively new and underdeveloped, and some fundamental issues remain unexplored. Our purpose is to yield insights into general issues related to these task-informed methods. This includes understanding the impact of denoising on objective measures of image quality (IQ) when the specified task at inference time is different from that employed for model training, a phenomenon we refer to as "task-shift." A virtual imaging test bed comprising a stylized computational model of a chest X-ray computed tomography imaging system was employed to enable a controlled and tractable study design. A canonical, fully supervised, convolutional neural network-based denoising method was purposely adopted to understand the underlying issues that may be relevant to a variety of applications and more advanced denoising or image reconstruction methods. Signal detection and signal detection-localization tasks under signal-known-statistically with background-known-statistically conditions were considered, and several distinct types of numerical observers were employed to compute estimates of the task performance. Studies were designed to reveal how a task-informed transfer-learning approach can influence the tradeoff between conventional and task-based measures of image quality within the context of the considered tasks. In addition, the impact of task-shift on these image quality measures was assessed. The results indicated that certain tradeoffs can be achieved such that the resulting AUC value was significantly improved and the degradation of physical IQ measures was statistically insignificant. It was also observed that introducing task-shift degrades the task performance as expected. The degradation was significant when a relatively simple task was considered for network training and observer performance on a more complex one was assessed at inference time. The presented results indicate that the task-informed training method can improve the observer performance while providing control over the tradeoff between traditional and task-based measures of image quality. The behavior of a task-informed model fine-tuning procedure was demonstrated, and the impact of task-shift on task-based image quality measures was investigated.

A Typology of Design Archetypes in Professional Football Leagues: Autonomy and Openness as Key Factors Explaining Design Variance

Previous approaches to design archetypes in sport management have taken a single-country, multisport approach with a focus on National Sporting Organizations. While this line of research has provided significant breakthroughs for understanding sport organizations, there is a need to extend the boundaries of these investigations to explore variations within professional leagues in one sport and across multiple countries. Accordingly, the current study takes a single-sport, multicountry approach to explore how design archetypes vary and the factors influencing the variation. We analyzed the design archetypes of 104 professional football leagues using 44 organizational variables and identified four different design archetypes that can be used to categorize professional football leagues globally. Autonomy and openness were identified as the key factors determining design archetype structure in this environment. Our analysis of professional football league archetypes provides a foundation for understanding design archetype variation, and the insights can be used for comparison and analysis of meaningful change.

Accuracy, rationality and specialization in a generalized model of collective navigation.

Animal navigation is a key behavioural process, from localized foraging to global migration. Within groups, individuals may improve their navigational accuracy by following those with more experience or knowledge, by pooling information from many directional estimates ('many wrongs') or some combination of these strategies. Previous agent-based simulations have highlighted that homogeneous leaderless groups can improve their collective navigation accuracy when individuals preferentially copy the movement directions of their neighbours while giving a low weighting to their own navigational knowledge. Meanwhile, other studies have demonstrated how specialized leaders may emerge, and that a small number of such individuals can improve group-level navigation performance. However, in general, these earlier results either lack a full mathematical grounding or do not fully consider the effect of individual self-interest. Here we derive and analyse a mathematically tractable model of collective navigation. We demonstrate that collective navigation is compromised when individuals seek to optimize their own accuracy in both homogeneous groups and those with differing navigational abilities. We further demonstrate how heterogeneous navigational strategies (specialized leaders and followers) may evolve within the model. Our results thus unify different lines of research in collective navigation and highlight the importance of individual selection in determining group composition and performance.

Век великодушия: megalopsychia Аристотеля и die schöne Seele Гегеля

Modernity loves noble aspirations; the image of a hero following the path of ad­venture in order to save the universe and become happy forms the center of many works of art. Often, the image of such a hero is reinforced by the idea of magnanimity, that is, the idea of a moral character that allows its owner to overcome emerging difficulties and cope with outstanding circumstances. However, for a long time, ideas about generosity did not have the degree of un­ambiguity that we put into this word now. For example, in the Middle Ages, generosity was strongly associated with the sin of pride, and therefore commen­tators on Aristotle (for example, Albertus Magnus) tried to find a clear substan­tive difference between magnanimitas and superbia. For this reason, critical concepts of Aristotle and Hegel are interesting, because they show that the great soul (or beautiful soul) does not have noble connotations, for they are ironic (or ordinary). Both Aristotle and Hegel greatly influenced subsequent ideas about generosity; by showing its dual nature, they showed the “other side” of this virtue. This article provides a consistent analysis of Aristotle’s ideas about generosity, set out in the Nicomachean Ethics, and Hegel’s Gestalt, de­scribed in the Phenomenology of Spirit. The final section presents a comparison of the two concepts, revealing which critical foundations are significant for both Hegel and Aristotle, and also describes possible lines of further research

Selective autophagy: a therapeutic target for healthy aging?

At the molecular level, aging is characterized by the accumulation of unresolved damage to essential components of cells, such as DNA, proteins, and organelles, which over time contributes to cellular malfunction and the onset of age-associated diseases. To counteract this detrimental process, cells are equipped with protective mechanisms that prevent or reverse molecular damage. Arguably, the cellular recycling process of autophagy is one of the most versatile repair pathways that cells display. Autophagy allows the degradation and recycling of surplus and/or damaged cytosolic components, which otherwise may pose a threat to cellular homeostasis. This is achieved via the delivery of cytoplasmic components to lysosomes, which are organelles equipped with a sophisticated set of degradative enzymes that eliminate cellular waste and transform it into building blocks to maintain cellular function. There are different autophagic routes, known as macroautophagy, microautophagy, and chaperone-mediated autophagy, via which a variety of cellular components, ranging from organelles, DNA, proteins, and lipids, can be delivered to lysosomes for proper turnover. While these autophagy pathways operate to maintain cellular homeostasis over time, an overall deficit in autophagic function leads to aging acceleration and is correlated with the onset of age-related diseases. However, the extent to which specific autophagic pathways and the selective degradation of cellular components contribute to aging, as well as the molecular interplay among the different routes, remain elusive and constitute a main research direction. This narrative review summarizes the implications of autophagy subtypes in aging, focusing on the contributions of each pathway to select cargo degradation and their interaction, and highlights future lines of research toward identifying potential therapeutic routes for the amelioration of selective autophagy to promote healthy aging.

The gentrification of health: an analysis of its convergence

The article explores how gentrification impacts public health, with a particular focus on urban transformations and their repercussions on communities. Using a desk review methodology in the Scopus database, this study analyses the literature between 2018 and 2023 to identify how changes in urban structure influence the accessibility and quality of health services. It highlights that while gentrification can improve infrastructure and services, it can also exacerbate health inequalities and lead to the displacement of vulnerable populations. The analysis reveals the need to adapt medical education to these new urban challenges and suggests future lines of research to develop more equitable interventions. This multidisciplinary approach offers valuable insights for more inclusive policies that consider both urban development and health equity

Gentrification as a field of study in environmental sciences

This article examines the interaction between gentrification and environmental sciences in Colombia, using a hermeneutic desk review approach to unravel how this urban phenomenon influences and is influenced by environmental factors. Through the hermeneutic circle method, adapted for a single researcher, a deep understanding of the existing literature is achieved and main lines of research are identified. Areas explored include green gentrification, climate change impacts, health and well-being effects, environmental justice, and associated public policies. The study highlights the need for policies that balance environmental improvement with social protection, and underlines the importance of including local communities in urban planning processes to prevent displacement and increase social equity. This interdisciplinary approach provides valuable insights to understand the complexity of gentrification and its multiple dimensions in an urban and environmental context

Improved SERS activity of TiN microstructures by surface modification with Au

Over the years, numerous outstanding research groups around the world have been working tirelessly on metallic SERS substrates. Although these efforts have led to the development of various sensors and pushed the field forward, today this line of research seems saturated and exhausted. In this work, we address this issue by exploring an emerging topic in recent literature: the fabrication of high-performance TiN SERS-active structures. TiN thin film was sputtered onto pyramidal Si microstructures. Spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements confirmed the plasmonic properties of the TiN material above its plasma wavelength of 515 nm. The Si-TiN surface was subsequently modified with an Au layer, which was then transformed into Au nanoparticles (Au NPs) during the Rapid Thermal Annealing process. The Si-TiN-AuNPs samples exhibited the highest extinction intensity, as well as the best SERS signal intensity for the model Raman reporter molecule. Further analysis of the SERS data showed that the presence of the Au thin film only moderately increased SERS activity, while Au NPs enhanced the SERS signal by one order of magnitude. Final Si-TiN-AuNPs platforms were successfully employed for the detection of vitamin B12, demonstrating a low limit of detection (8.57•10–8 M) along with excellent point-to-point repeatability.Graphical abstract

The impact of cognitive flexibility on prospective EFL teachers' critical thinking disposition: the mediating role of self-efficacy.

Critical thinking as one of the key skills for success in the 21st-century has been considered by many scholars in teacher education. This study tries to examine the interaction of critical thinking disposition with two other key characteristics of successful teachers: cognitive flexibility and self-efficacy. To this end, a sample of pre-service English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers was selected for this study. Based on the findings, a positive and strong relationship between cognitive flexibility and critical thinking disposition, and a positive and robust correlation between self-efficacy and critical thinking disposition were observed. Hence, it can be suggested that teacher-educationists can use this link for designing teacher-training courses with tailored tasks for both in and pre-service teachers. The main contribution of the findings might be beneficial for homogenizing teacher-training courses around the globe with the 21st-century trends. In addition, this line of research can be followed by empirical studies for checking the effectiveness of tailored tasks for provoking teachers' critical thinking dispositions, cognitive flexibility, and self-efficacy in teaching activities.

Do androids dream of informed consent? The need to understand the ethical implications of experimentation on simulated beings.

Creating simulations of the world can be a valuable way to test new ideas, predict the future, and broaden our understanding of a given topic. Presumably, the more similar the simulation is to the real world, the more transferable the knowledge generated in the simulation will be and, therefore, the more useful. As such, there is an incentive to create more advanced and representative simulations of the real world. Simultaneously, there are ethical and practical limitation to what can be done in human and animal research, so creating simulated beings to stand in their place could be a way of advancing research while avoiding some of these issues. However, the value of representativeness implies that there will be an incentive to create simulated beings as similar to real-world humans as possible to better transfer the knowledge gained from that research. This raises important ethical questions related to how we ought to treat advanced simulated beings and consider if they might have autonomy and wellbeing concerns that ought to be respected. As such, the uncertainty and potential of this line of research should be carefully considered before the simulation begins.

Analysis of the relationship between the level of satisfaction with interpersonal relations in a dance couple, socio-psychological qualities of partners and the assessment of dyadic coping

The article presents the results of studying the influence of socio-psychological personality traits of highly qualified dancers and their assessment of dyadic coping on the subjective level of satisfaction with interpersonal relationships in dance couples. The purposes of the research are aimed at identifying specific personality traits of dancers and their coping strategies that have a positive impact on the process of intraparty interpersonal communication. The research also involves an empirical analysis and identification of the features of this influence. The following diagnostic tools have been used: the authors’ modified version of the questionnaire of satisfaction with marriage by V.V. Stolin, T.A. Romanova and G.P. Butenko, the Dyadic Coping Inventory by G. Bodenmann in the adaptation of T.L. Kryukova, O.A. Ekimchik and the five-factor personality questionnaire, 5PFQ, by H. Tsuji in the adaptation of A.B. Khromov. Such socio-psychological personality qualities of female dancers have been revealed as extroversion, emotional stability, and practicality, which have the greatest influence on subjectively high level of satisfaction with relationships in representatives of both sexes. It is stated that among all copings of dyadic interaction delegated coping (in the direction of a young man) and coping of support from both partners impact the high level of satisfaction with the existing interpersonal relations most. Further study of the socio-psychological determinants of interpersonal communication between all participants of the dance and sports process is a promising line of research.

Neural architecture search for image super-resolution: A review on the emerging state-of-the-art

Nowadays, complex and expensive neural architectures are seen by many as a way to improve the performance of existing models in image recognition, voice recognition, translation, and other tasks. Such a perspective caused an increased interest in expert architecture engineering within Deep Learning. Fueled by this interest, neural architecture search originated as a promising way to automate the tedious process of constructing a deep neural network by hand. Over the last five years, we have seen an increasing number of works focusing all efforts on studying the impact of automating deep neural network design. The spotlight has recently turned from automatically discovering classification models to other more complex tasks. Motivated by a desire for high-resolution images in real-world user-centered and expert computer vision applications, architecture search for super-resolution image restoration centers in approaches capable of automatically finding efficient and well-performing models. Here, we present a survey that, beyond delving into an overview of modern approaches to automatic neural network design, focuses on the recollection and study of neural architecture search approaches that have directed their efforts at the super-resolution image restoration tasks and future lines of research found within this emerging area of study.

Efficient nanofluids based on Ag nanoparticles and a linear silicone-based fluid for concentrating solar power

Improving the efficiency of renewable energy sources can lead to obtaining electrical energy in an environmentally-friendly way. Therefore, the development of nanofluids for use in parabolic trough collectors in concentrated solar energy (CSP-PTC) is a research line of interest. Thus, in this work, nanofluids based on Ag nanoparticles and a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) type fluid used in CSP-PTC technology were prepared. The use of this fluid in this technology and the preparation of nanofluids based on it has not been studied widely, and the evaluation of the use of nanofluids from this type fluid is of great interest. Thus, the physical stability and the properties of interest measured, that are density, surface tension, viscosity, isobaric specific heat and thermal conductivity, were characterized. The nanofluids prepared presented interesting thermal properties. An increase of up to 4.5 % in the isobaric specific heat and up to 24 % in thermal conductivity were observed with respect to the base fluid, without a significant increase in viscosity. Thus, an increase in the heat transfer coefficient of up to 16 % was obtained. These results are really promising for the use of the nanofluids prepared in CSP-PTC technology. Finally, the moderate increase in isobaric specific heat and the significant increase in thermal conductivity is explained by the weak Van der Waals force interaction observed between the Ag surfaces and the PDMS molecules.

A cross‐linguistic approach to investigating metacognitive regulation in writing among Chinese EFL learners: Insights for its trait/state distinction

AbstractMetacognitive regulation refers to learners’ ability to use a repertoire of metacognitive strategies to guide, observe, and manage thoughts, actions, and emotions in learning activities. It has been widely acknowledged as a significant predictor of language learning success, including writing. However, this line of research has been conducted in a single language context, and the interactions across L1 and L2 contexts have received insufficient scholarly attention. Situated in mainland China, we raise an innovative attempt to investigate metacognitive strategies in writing with a cross‐linguistic approach, thus illuminating the conceptualization of metacognitive regulation by testing its trait/state distinction. A group of 502 university students from different disciplinary majors were recruited to report their metacognitive strategy use in L1 and L2 task‐situated writing by filling in the assigned post‐task questionnaires. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) on the two questionnaire datasets provided empirical evidence for the cross‐language generalizability of metacognitive regulation in writing with the identified measurement invariance of the factor structure between L1 and L2 contexts, indicating its trait facet. However, the latent mean comparison results revealed that the actual usage frequency of metacognitive strategies scored significantly higher in L1 writing than in L2 writing, suggesting the state facet. These results are discussed extensively in this study to inform relevant theories and pedagogical activities.

Exploring Students’ Motivational Beliefs Across a Semester of Introductory Statistics

Motivation theorists have recently emphasized the importance of examining students’ motivational beliefs from a situated perspective. In the present study, we explored four individual students’ motivational beliefs at baseline and across twelve weeks of a semester of introductory statistics in an effort to contribute to this line of research. We also examined how these students compared to average motivation levels within the entire course (N = 145), as well as how these individuals compared to each other. Results indicated that individual students rarely resembled the course averages, suggesting a need for researchers to consider what information could be missed by only considering between-person differences. Additionally, increases and decreases in motivational beliefs may be attributable to performance feedback for some students, but not all. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

Portable Sensors for Dynamic Exposure Assessments in Urban Environments: State of the Science.

This study presents a fit-for-purpose lab and field evaluation of commercially available portable sensor systems for PM, NO2, and/or BC. The main aim of the study is to identify portable sensor systems that are capable of reliably quantifying dynamic exposure gradients in urban environments. After an initial literature and market study resulting in 39 sensor systems, 10 sensor systems were ultimately purchased and benchmarked under laboratory and real-word conditions. We evaluated the comparability to reference analyzers, sensor precision, and sensitivity towards environmental confounders (temperature, humidity, and O3). Moreover, we evaluated if the sensor accuracy can be improved by applying a lab or field calibration. Because the targeted application of the sensor systems under evaluation is mobile monitoring, we conducted a mobile field test in an urban environment to evaluate the GPS accuracy and potential impacts from vibrations on the resulting sensor signals. Results of the considered sensor systems indicate that out-of-the-box performance is relatively good for PM (R2 = 0.68-0.9, Uexp = 16-66%, BSU = 0.1-0.7 µg/m3) and BC (R2 = 0.82-0.83), but maturity of the tested NO2 sensors is still low (R2 = 0.38-0.55, Uexp = 111-614%) and additional efforts are needed in terms of signal noise and calibration, as proven by the performance after multilinear calibration (R2 = 0.75-0.83, Uexp = 37-44%)). The horizontal accuracy of the built-in GPS was generally good, achieving <10 m accuracy for all sensor systems. More accurate and dynamic exposure assessments in contemporary urban environments are crucial to study real-world exposure of individuals and the resulting impacts on potential health endpoints. A greater availability of mobile monitoring systems capable of quantifying urban pollutant gradients will further boost this line of research.

Promoting Family-School Congruence in Ethnic-Racial Socialization: An Integrated Conceptual Model

The ecological systems theory suggests that human development is influenced by interactions across settings. However, limited research examines the connections between ethnic-racial socialization (ERS) in different contexts. Existing literature focuses primarily on family ERS, with recent studies acknowledging the importance of school ERS. Unfortunately, these lines of ERS research remain separate. The dearth of research examining transactional ERS may stem from the lack of theoretical frameworks linking home and school ERS. To fill this gap, I propose an integrated conceptual model that connects the family and school ERS literature. Guided by ecological systems theory and cultural discontinuity hypothesis, I emphasize the interdependent influence of family and school ERS on ethnic-racial minority adolescents’ positive development. Additionally, the proposed conceptual model highlights the potential of dynamic family-school rapprochement in fostering congruence in family-school ERS across settings. Lastly, I propose new directions for future research based on this integrated conceptual model.

The narcissist’s sense of humor: a correlational and an experimental ego threat study on the links between narcissism and adaptive and maladaptive humor styles

Previous research has shown that narcissism is linked to both adaptive and maladaptive forms of interpersonally relevant behaviors, such as charm and aggression, respectively. One line of research that uses styles of humor as the outcome variable found that especially grandiose narcissism is positively related to both adaptive affiliative humor (strengthening interpersonal relationships) and maladaptive aggressive humor (making derogatory fun of others) alike. This seemingly contradictory finding may be explained in two ways. First, particular facets of grandiose narcissism may be related solely to adaptive or solely to maladaptive humor. Second, adaptive and maladaptive characteristics may be expressed by a person to varying degrees depending on their current narcissistic state (i.e., whether the self is faced with ego threats or in a relaxed state). To test these assumptions, the present study applied both a correlational approach with multiple measures of narcissism and an experimental approach that used an intelligence-based ego threat task. The correlational results showed that each facet of narcissism showed distinct correlational patterns with adaptive and maladaptive humor styles. The experimental results showed that ego threat moderated the relationships between narcissism and humor styles. For instance, grandiose narcissism was more strongly positively related to affiliative humor in the nonthreatening condition and was more strongly positively related to aggressive humor in the ego threat condition. These results clarify and explain the previous seemingly contradictory findings and support the importance of differentiating between the facets and states of narcissism, highlighting the complexity of the construct.