Paradoxical Phenomenon Research Articles

Privacy paradox stems from overconfidence: a study of users’ privacy disclosure in online knowledge communities

ABSTRACT In OKCs, knowledge sharing is the main activity of users. However, the process of sharing knowledge inevitably discloses privacy. Understanding users’ privacy-disclosure behavior in OKCs is crucial for community development. In order to expose the phenomenon of privacy-disclosure behavior and privacy paradox in OKC, this study employs an explanatory sequential mixed methods design to explore the relationships among users’ privacy literacy (PL), the privacy paradox, and privacy-disclosure intentions in OKCs. We developed a research model based on privacy calculus and protective motivation theory, testing it among 442 long-term OKC users. Additionally, semi-structured interviews with 25 users provide qualitative insights. This paper indicates that many OKC users overestimate their PL, which influences their privacy-disclosure intentions and contributes to the privacy paradox. This implies that overestimating PL may be another reason for the privacy paradox. Furthermore, privacy attitudes and subjective norms emerge as significant factors shaping users’ decisions to disclose personal information, with peer perceptions playing a crucial role in users’ disclosure behaviors. This study contributes to the existing literature on privacy issues in OKCs by shedding light on the complexities surrounding users’ privacy behaviors. It offers practical recommendations for community managers and users to enhance privacy protection.

Byzantine Satirical Dialogue as a Stage in the Historical Poetics of the Posthumous Narration

The article considers two Byzantine satires, describing the descent into Hades (“Timarion” and “Mazaris’s Journey”), as a stage in the historical poetics of posthumous narration, or the narration from beyond the grave, i. e. the narration of a character who, in the conventional reality of the inner world of the work, is represented as a dead character. This paradoxical phenomenon, which is widespread in the literature of the 20th and 21st centuries, has been so far understudied in the diachronic aspect, from the perspective of its genesis and evolution. The article demonstrates both the continuity of the two works under study in relation to the “dialogues of the dead” by Lucian from Samosata, and the innovations made by their authors that bring “Timarion” and “Mazaris” closer to modern posthumous narrative not only on the motive-thematic, but also on compositional level. Special attention is paid to such elements as the motivation for the journey to the afterworld, the structure of the afterlife and its relationship with the world of the living, the degree of permeability of the border between the two worlds, the figures of the narrators, the combination of ancient and Christian ideas. A conclusion is made about the divergence of two lines of a previously uniform tradition and the formation of the genre of vision, on the one hand (when the narrator visits the afterlife while being alive and then returns from there), and the posthumous narration (when the narrator makes his journey while being dead, and his journey has only one vector), on the other hand.

고등직업교육거점지구[HiVE]사업 추진과정에서 나타난 패러독스 현상 연구

In South Korea, the government has pushed forward the Higher Vocational Education[HiVE] project which envisions the development of vocational colleges in a win-win relationship with the community by "turning vocational colleges into bases for local-based higher vocational education." As part of the policy to innovate vocational colleges, this project reacts to local extinction and the decreasing school-age population and reeducates and enhances the middle-aged wishing for reemployment in the community by cultivating a labor force for the areas of local specialization and supporting the local settlement of young talents. This study aims to investigate paradox phenomena in a process to push forward a HiVE project and find their implications for educational policies. For these purposes, the study traced paradoxical phenomena involving different results from the ultimate goal of the project and each of its items or different arguments that are hard to coexist. The findings found paradox phenomena in every area of the project. For each area of a HiVE project, the addition of new courses customized for local settlement led to the phenomena of clashing subcomponents and contexts due to concept application errors. The area of lifelong education to advance lifelong vocations had a paradox of contradicting policy needs. The area of lifelong education for general courses had a paradox with the legitimacy of policy needs. The area of projects contributing to the community had a paradox of interpretational gaps. In conclusion, there were paradoxes across all the areas of pushing forward the policy. These paradoxes provide two major implications. First, there is a concern that it will be difficult to implement a HiVE project in the way that it is intended. It is true that there should be selective and temporary financial support policies to achieve the goals, but the issues involving the crisis of local colleges are long-term and require government-wide joint measures. Secondly, the paradoxes of HiVE projects imply a need to expand programs to develop lifetime competencies and promote the employment and start-up of the middle-aged by graduating from the current emphasis on the local settlement of young talents.

Oued Souf (Algerian Sahara): balancing rising groundwater and agricultural sustainability

This research addresses the issue of rising groundwater in the Algerian Sahara, a paradoxical phenomenon given that the desert is typically associated with dryness. The cause of this rising water is the recharge of aquifers by wastewater from local activities resulting from poor water resource management. This has led to overexploitation of water resources in Oued Souf, posing an environmental threat and agricultural loss in the Ghouts. To sustainably manage these resources, it is essential to establish a management system involving all relevant stakeholders. Ultimately, sustainable groundwater management requires effective management of Sahara aquifers. This involves avoiding overuse and overexploitation, limiting excessive pumping, employing artificial recharge methods to replenish water reserves, and regulating water flows in watersheds to reduce rising water levels in the Sahara.

Mortality salience and helping behavior amidst public crisis: cross-sectional evidence during COVID-19.

As a real mortality salience, a public crisis would have a major impact on individual minds, behaviors, and lifestyles. COVID-19 provides us with a stark real-world example to understand these implications. Previous research has revealed that some individuals become more willing to help the infected at the risk of their own lives, while others become more self-centered and indifferent during COVID-19. To explain this paradoxical phenomenon, our study used two rival mediators in the relationship between mortality salience and helping behavior during COVID-19: death anxiety and death reflection. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among Chinese college students (N = 684) during the pandemic. We used a parallel mediation model to explore the mediating roles of death anxiety and death reflection in the relationship between mortality salience and helping behavior during COVID-19. The results of our study indicate two key findings. First, mortality salience is negatively related to helping behavior during COVID-19 via death anxiety. This suggests that individuals with higher levels of mortality salience experienced increased death anxiety, which in turn led to a decrease in helping behavior. Second, mortality salience is positively related to helping behavior during COVID-19 via death reflection. This indicates that individuals with higher levels of mortality salience engaged in deeper reflection on death, which subsequently resulted in an increase in helping behavior. Our study provides valuable insights into the complex relationship between mortality salience and helping behaviors in the time of public crisis, and can help lead to more positive attitudes toward public crisis events such as COVID-19.

Continuous Treatment with IncobotulinumtoxinA Despite Presence of BoNT/A Neutralizing Antibodies: Immunological Hypothesis and a Case Report.

Botulinum Neurotoxin A (BoNT/A) is a bacterial protein that has proven to be a valuable pharmaceutical in therapeutic indications and aesthetic medicine. One major concern is the formation of neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) to the core BoNT/A protein. These can interfere with the therapy, resulting in partial or complete antibody (Ab)-mediated secondary non-response (SNR) or immunoresistance. If titers of nAbs reach a level high enough that all injected BoNT/A molecules are neutralized, immunoresistance occurs. Studies have shown that continuation of treatment of neurology patients who had developed Ab-mediated partial SNR against complexing protein-containing (CPC-) BoNT/A was in some cases successful if patients were switched to complexing protein-free (CPF-) incobotulinumtoxinA (INCO). This seems to contradict the layperson's basic immunological understanding that repeated injection with the same antigen BoNT/A should lead to an increase in antigen-specific antibody titers. As such, we strive to explain how immunological memory works in general, and based on this, we propose a working hypothesis for this paradoxical phenomenon observed in some, but not all, neurology patients with immunoresistance. A critical factor is the presence of potentially immune-stimulatory components in CPC-BoNT/A products that can act as immunologic adjuvants and activate not only naïve, but also memory B lymphocyte responses. Furthermore, we propose that continuous injection of a BoN/TA formulation with low immunogenicity, e.g., INCO, may be a viable option for aesthetic patients with existing nAbs. These concepts are supported by a real-world case example of a patient with immunoresistance whose nAb levels declined with corresponding resumption of clinical response despite regular INCO injections.

Constructive agents nullify the ability of destructive agents to foster cooperation in public goods games.

Existing studies have revealed a paradoxical phenomenon in public goods games, wherein destructive agents, harming both cooperators and defectors, can unexpectedly bolster cooperation. Building upon this intriguing premise, our paper introduces a novel concept: constructive agents, which confer additional benefits to both cooperators and defectors. We investigate the impact of these agents on cooperation dynamics within the framework of public goods games. Employing replicator dynamics, we find that unlike destructive agents, the mere presence of constructive agents does not significantly alter the defective equilibrium. However, when the benefits from constructive agents are outweighed by the damage inflicted by destructive agents, the addition of constructive agents does not affect the ability of destructive agents to sustain cooperation. In this scenario, cooperators can be maintained through a cyclic dominance between cooperators, defectors, and destructive agents, with constructive agents adding complexity but not fundamentally changing the equilibrium. Conversely, if the benefits from constructive agents surpass the harm caused by destructive agents, the presence of constructive agents nullifies the ability of destructive agents to foster cooperation. Our results highlight the nuanced role of constructive agents in cooperation dynamics, emphasizing the necessity of carefully assessing incentive balances when encouraging cooperation.

광고 커뮤니케이션에서 아포페니아(apophenia) 이미지의 광고 효과와 유형별 사례

We often imagine a rabbit pounding rice cakes on the moon. When we focus on the full moon and imagine a rabbit on it, it can seem as though the rabbit is truly there. The psychological phenomenon of finding meaning, connections, or patterns among unrelated phenomena is called “apophenia”. Although apophenia is frequently used in advertising imagery, there is relatively little research on this topic. This study defines apophenia-related theories and terms using existing literature and case studies. It shows that apophenia imagery can lead viewers to perceive meaning, patterns, and connections among unrelated phenomena, thus inducing belief and creating creative value in advertising. In this context, the paper explains how seemingly non-existent visual content is perceived through various types of apophenia examples. Research questions about these seemingly paradoxical phenomena are raised, and the paper seeks to address these questions through case analysis of apophenia imagery, highlighting the significance of this study.

Mechanistic insights into lethal hyper progressive disease induced by PD-L1 inhibitor in metastatic urothelial carcinoma

Hyper progressive disease (HPD) is a paradoxical phenomenon characterized by accelerated tumor growth following treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors. However, the pathogenic causality and its predictor remain unknown. We herein report a fatal case of HPD in a 50-year-old man with metastatic bladder cancer. He had achieved a complete response (CR) through chemoradiation therapy followed by twelve cycles of chemotherapy, maintaining CR for 24 months. Three weeks after initiating maintenance use of a PD-L1 inhibitor, avelumab, a massive amount of metastases developed, leading to the patient’s demise. Omics analysis, utilizing metastatic tissues obtained from an immediate autopsy, implied the contribution of M2 macrophages, TGF-β signaling, and interleukin-8 to HPD pathogenesis.

Interaction effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and regional deprivation on self-rated health: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundRecent studies have attempted to analyze the changes in self-rated health (SRH) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. However, the results have been inconsistent. Notably, SRH is subjective, and responses may vary across and within countries because of sociocultural differences. Thus, we aimed to examine whether the interaction effects between the COVID-19 pandemic and regional deprivation influenced SRH in South Korea.MethodsThe study population comprised 877,778 participants from the Korea Community Health Survey. The data were collected from 2018 to 2021. Multiple regression analysis was employed to determine the relationship between SRH and the interaction between the COVID-19 pandemic status and the socioeconomic level of residential areas.ResultsThe post-pandemic groups (odds ratio [OR] = 2.25, P < .0001; OR = 2.29, P < .0001) had significantly higher odds of reporting favorable SRH than the pre-pandemic groups (OR = 0.96, P < .0001). However, the difference in ORs based on regional socioeconomic status was small.ConclusionsSRH showed an overall increase in the post-pandemic groups relative to that in the disadvantaged pre-pandemic group. Possible reasons include changes in individuals’ health perceptions through social comparison and the effective implementation of COVID-19 containment measures in South Korea. This paradoxical phenomenon has been named the “Eye of the Hurricane,” as the vast majority of people who had not been infected by the virus may have viewed their health situation more favorably than they ordinarily would.

Mindfulness Meditation and Placebo Modulate Distinct Multivariate Neural Signatures to Reduce Pain

BackgroundRather than a passive reflection of nociception, pain is shaped by the interplay between one’s experiences, current cognitive-affective states, and expectations. The placebo response, a paradoxical yet reliable phenomenon, is postulated to reduce pain by engaging mechanisms shared with active therapies. It has been assumed that mindfulness meditation, practiced by sustaining nonjudgmental awareness of arising sensory events, merely reflects mechanisms evoked by placebo. Recently, brain-based multivariate pattern analysis has been validated to successfully disentangle nociceptive-specific, negative affective, and placebo-based dimensions of the subjective pain experience. MethodsTo determine whether mindfulness meditation engages distinct brain mechanisms from placebo and sham mindfulness to reduce pain, multivariate pattern analysis pain signatures were applied across 2 randomized clinical trials that employed overlapping psychophysical pain testing procedures (49 °C noxious heat; visual analog pain scales) and distinct functional magnetic resonance imaging techniques (blood oxygen level–dependent; perfusion based). After baseline pain testing, 115 healthy participants were randomized into a 4-session mindfulness meditation (n = 37), placebo-cream conditioning (n = 19), sham mindfulness meditation (n = 20), or book-listening control (n = 39) intervention. After each intervention, noxious heat was administered during functional magnetic resonance imaging and each manipulation. ResultsA double dissociation in the multivariate pattern analysis signatures supporting pain regulation was revealed by mindfulness meditation compared with placebo cream. Mindfulness meditation produced significantly greater reductions in pain intensity and pain unpleasantness ratings and nociceptive-specific and negative affective pain signatures than placebo cream, sham mindfulness meditation, and control interventions. The placebo-cream group significantly lowered the placebo-based signature. ConclusionsMindfulness meditation and placebo engaged distinct and granular neural pain signatures to reduce pain.

SVT quest: The adventure diagnosing narrow QRS tachycardia.

In the field of cardiac electrophysiology, there is a universal desire: the discovery of a flawless diagnostic maneuver for supraventricular tachycardias (SVTs). This is not merely a wish but a shared odyssey. To improve diagnostic accuracy and achieve sufficient sensitivity and specificity, numerous diagnostic maneuvers have been proposed. However, each has its limitations and prompts a search for new diagnostic techniques. This continuous cycle of discovery and refinement, which we titled "SVT Quest" is reviewed in chronological sequence. This adventure in diagnosing narrow QRS tachycardia unfolds in 3 steps: Step 1 involves differentiating atrial tachycardia from other SVTs based on the observations such as V-A-V or V-A-A-V response, ΔAA interval, VA linking, the last entrainment sequence, and response to the atrial extrastimulus. Step 2 focuses on differentiating orthodromic reciprocating tachycardia from atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia based on the observations such as tachycardia reset upon the premature ventricular contraction during His refractoriness, uncorrected/corrected postpacing interval, differential ventricular entrainment, orthodromic His capture, transition zone analysis, and total pacing prematurity. Step 3 characterizes the concealed nodoventricular/nodofascicular pathway and His-ventricular pathway-related tachycardia based on observations such as V-V-A response, ΔatrioHis interval, and paradoxical reset phenomenon. There is no single diagnostic maneuver that fits all scenarios. Therefore, the ability to apply multiple maneuvers in a case allows the operator to accumulate evidence to make a likely diagnosis. Let's embark on this adventure!

How Organizational Electronic Performance Monitoring Affects Employee Proactive Behaviors: The Psychological Reactance Perspective

Nowadays, numerous enterprises are actively adopting electronic performance monitoring (EPM) systems with the goal of enhancing organizational performance by stimulating employee proactive behavior. However, some companies have reported that the EPM system didn't achieve the expected results and even led to the opposite. To address this paradoxical phenomenon, we employed psychological reactance theory to investigate the impacts of employee differentiate perceptions of EPM (developmental EPM [DEPM] and preventive EPM [PEPM]) on individual psychological and behavior reactance. By conducting a three-wave survey questionnaire among 446 corporate employees, we find that DEPM facilitates proactive behavior, while PEPM inhibits such behaviors; Second, psychological reactance mediates the relationships among DEPM, PEPM, and proactive behavior; Third, individual trait mindfulness positively (negatively) moderates the impact of DEPM (PEPM) on psychological reactance. This research elucidates the effects of EPM on proactive behavior, providing valuable information to support attempts to refine digitally driven monitoring models within organizations.

Assessing coupled human-flood interactions using LiDAR geostatistics and neighbourhood analyses

The paper integrates well-established methods from other spheres of flood risk assessment in a novel way to explore the currently poorly understood Safe Development Paradox (SDP) phenomenon in coastal settings. The study contributes to addressing this knowledge gap based on insights from contrasting UK case studies: Portsmouth, Weston-super-Mare, and Southport. Differential analysis of historic LiDAR Digital Surface Models (DSMs) was used to identify temporal changes in the urban landscape to create a DSM of Difference (DoD), representing elevation change between two locations over time. Geostatistical testing, specifically t-tests, were then used to infer statistical significance of changes in urban development. The findings reveal a consistent pattern: following completion or improvement of large-scale structural coastal flood defences, there is subsequent, and statistically significant, increases in urban development within/near flood-exposed areas across all three case studies, contrary to the limited flood-exposed development in neighbouring settlements, with no comparable defences constructed during the same period. On average, new urban development occurs approximately 2 years after the completion of coastal flood defence projects. The study emphasises the importance of context-specific and neighbourhood analyses, considering settlement size, economy, and extraneous factors influencing the nature of development to better understand the SDP’s long-term implications.

Lookahead Pathology in Monte-Carlo Tree Search

Monte-Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) is a search paradigm that first found prominence with its success in the domain of computer Go. Early theoretical work established the soundness and convergence bounds for Upper Confidence bounds applied to Trees (UCT), the most popular instantiation of MCTS; however, there remain notable gaps in our understanding of how UCT behaves in practice. In this work, we address one such gap by considering the question of whether UCT can exhibit lookahead pathology in adversarial settings --- a paradoxical phenomenon first observed in Minimax search where greater search effort leads to worse decision-making. We introduce a novel family of synthetic games that offer rich modeling possibilities while remaining amenable to mathematical analysis. Our theoretical and experimental results suggest that UCT is indeed susceptible to pathological behavior in a range of games drawn from this family.

A paradox of economic benefit and social equity of green space in megacity: Evidence from Tianjin in China

Urban green space (UGS) plays a crucial role in socio-ecological systems and has been recognized as an important factor in promoting sustainable cities and communities. Although a few studies have proposed a paradox of the incompatibility of economic benefit and social equity in UGS, the mechanisms through which the economic benefits of UGS interact with social equity have not been adequately demonstrated in developing countries. Here, we employ multi-source geographic information and 1559 residents survey data to investigate not only the economic benefit of UGS in the housing prices market from a macro perspective, but also the social inequity issues resulting from the housing choices of different social classes under "UGS economic benefit" from a micro perspective. Results reveal that the economic value premium of UGS in the housing market triggered a differentiation effect in housing prices, subsequently influencing housing preferences among various social classes, thus intensifying social residential segregation. This phenomenon underscores the emergence of the green space paradox. Moreover, the phenomenon of the UGS paradox has emerged in megacities of developing countries, where UGS is gradually being occupied by social elites, while vulnerable groups remain marginalized. These findings provide valuable insights into the planning layout of UGS in global high-density built-up areas that a small and decentralized UGS layout will be more economically efficient and socially equitable than a large and centralized UGS layout.

Stockholm Syndrome and Gender-Related Ideologies and Attitudes: A Psychometric Assessment

Stockholm syndrome, a paradoxical phenomenon, characteristic of the particular psychological functioning of people in captivity and victims of mistreatment, sexual abuse and gender-based violence, arouses significant interest in psychological sciences. However, the related instrumentation remains limited, due to the fact that there is not a significant number of measurements that can evaluate it. In addition, the current main measure (the &amp;lt;i&amp;gt;scale for identifying “Stockholm Syndrome” reactions in young dating women/Escala para identificar reacciones de síndrome de Estocolmo (SISSR) relacionada con violencia de pareja&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt;), only exists in the English and Spanish languages; which constitutes a linguistic obstacle for its administration to individuals who speak other languages, such as French. However, the simple translation of the items of a measurement does not guarantee its reliability from a psychometric point of view. In this vein, this study proposes the translation in French and validation of the Spanish version of this measure. It also proposes, as part of testing the predictive validity of the measure, to link the construct of Stockholm syndrome with gender-related ideologies and attitudes. The validation of the French version of the Stockholm syndrome measurement scale was carried out with two samples (N = 836) consisting entirely of women. The exploratory test (EFA) carried out with 400 participants reveals a reliable tri-factorial structure of 16 elements, after the elimination of 33 elements, due to factor loadings lower than .40. The confirmatory analysis of this factorial structure, using the Structural Equation Method (CFA-SEM), carried out on a sample of 436 participants, supports the tri-factorial structure which fits the data better. Tests of factorial invariance of the measurement, depending on marital status (n1 = 215 married women; n2 = 221 concubine) reveal a structural equivalence between the groups. The predictive validity of the measure reveals that Stockholm syndrome is linked to attitudes towards gender-based violence, sexism, feminism, non-justification of the gender system and gender-based social dominance.

Loud and unwanted: Individual differences in the tolerance for exposure to music

Music is generally considered a pleasant and positive stimulus. However, constant exposure to loud music, especially in acoustic environments where individuals have limited control, can transform music listening into a potentially distressing and detrimental experience. In certain contexts, music can therefore be classified as noise, with implications for mental well-being and cognitive functioning. In our paper, we delve into the complexities of this paradoxical phenomenon, discussing the implications of commonly experienced situations in which music becomes a source of discomfort due to its intensity or forced exposure. Our exploration of the effects of music exposure focuses on individual differences, encompassing clinical sensitivity (hyperacusis, misophonia), non-clinical sensitivity (noise sensitivity, sensory-processing sensitivity), and music-related individual factors (sensitivity to music pleasure). We argue that only by recognizing these aspects, significant progress can be made in prevention strategies and interventions. Our aim is to identify regulatory gaps and propose strategies to mitigate potential music-related discomfort in order to promote the creation of auditory environments that align with individual preferences and sensitivities. This approach is particularly relevant when considering clinical and non-clinical populations, for whom sensory sensitivities may substantially influence the quality of life.

Defective Laplacians and paradoxical phenomena in crowd motion modeling

Defective Laplacians and paradoxical phenomena in crowd motion modeling

Inflammation modifies the platelet reactivity among thrombocytopenia patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) patients combined with thrombocytopenia (TP) are usually considered to be at low ischemic risk, receiving less proper antiplatelet therapy. However, recent studies reported a paradoxical phenomenon that PCI patients with TP were prone to experience thrombotic events, while the mechanisms and future treatment remain unclear. We aim to investigate whether inflammation modifies platelet reactivity among these patients. Consecutive 10 724 patients undergoing PCI in Fuwai Hospital were enrolled throughout 2013. High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) ≥2 mg/L was considered inflammatory status. TP was defined as platelet count <150×109/L. High on-treatment platelet reactivity (HTPR) was defined as adenosine diphosphate-induced platelet maximum amplitude of thromboelastogram >47mm. Among 6617 patients finally included, 879 (13.3%) presented with TP. Multivariate logistic regression demonstrated that patients with TP were associated with a lower risk of HTPR (odds ratio [OR] 0.64, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.53–0.76) than those without TP in the overall cohort. In further analysis, among hsCRP <2 mg/L group, patients with TP exhibited a decreased risk of HTPR (OR 0.53, 95% CI 0.41–0.68); however, in hsCRP ≥2mg/L group, TP patients had a similar risk of HTPR as those without TP (OR 0.83, 95% CI 0.63–1.08). Additionally, these results remain consistent across subgroups, including patients presenting with acute coronary syndrome and chronic coronary syndrome. Inflammation modified the platelet reactivity of PCI patients with TP, providing new insights into the mechanisms of the increased thrombotic risk. Future management for this special population should pay more attention to inflammation status and timely adjustment of antiplatelet therapy in TP patients with inflammation.