Acquisition Period Research Articles (Page 1)

The study addresses the development of socio-mediation skills among participants of the educational process as a critical factor in ensuring a safe educational environment in general secondary education institutions. The research aims to assess the significance of socio-mediation competencies in promoting psychological, social, and physical safety in schools and to provide evidence-based recommendations for their systematic development among students, teachers, parents, and school staff. The study demonstrates that systematic development of socio-mediation skills among students, teachers, parents, and school staff significantly reduces interpersonal conflicts, prevents bullying, and enhances empathy, emotional intelligence, and constructive communication. The research identifies effective approaches for fostering these competencies, including the integration of mediation training into curricular and extracurricular activities, implementation of school mediation centers for conflict resolution, role-playing and case-based exercises, interactive workshops on non-violent communication, and structured guidance for parents and technical staff to support safe educational practices. Empirical findings indicate that such measures strengthen trust, collaboration, and mutual respect among all participants of the educational process, creating conditions for a psychologically secure and socially cohesive school environment. Adolescence is highlighted as a sensitive period for intensive socio-mediation skill acquisition, and targeted interventions during this stage significantly enhance students’ capacity for self-regulation, responsible decision-making, and constructive social interaction. Socio-mediation competencies are essential for creating and maintaining a safe educational environment. Their systematic implementation fosters a culture of partnership, responsibility, and mutual respect, strengthens social cohesion, enhances the moral foundations of the school community, and improves the effectiveness of the educational process. These findings are particularly relevant under conditions of social instability and armed conflict, providing a basis for the development of a school culture oriented toward non-violence, constructive interaction, and peacebuilding.

Cardiac muscle adapts to varying physiological demands by modulating the number of active myosin II motors available for contraction. These motors are organized into thick filaments in the sarcomere and generate force through an ATP-dependent interaction with thin filaments that contain actin. To conserve energy, when demand is low myosin can occupy the super-relaxed (SRX) state, which acts as a reserve. Here, we build upon the earlier studies to quantify the size of this cardiac reserve using fluorescence imaging of Cy3-ATP directly in myofibrils. This approach employs a pulse-chase method and exploits the high permeability of isolated myofibrils to monitor nucleotide release in situ. By preserving sarcomeric architecture while enabling rapid reagent exchange, this method bridges the gap between complex single-molecule imaging and traditional stopped-flow bulk assays using MANT-ATP. Using this approach we have studied biochemical perturbation of the SRX reserve with deoxyATP and mavacamten. DeoxyATP caused large depletion of the cardiac reserve, and mavacamten increased its size, consistent with its clinical application. Our results demonstrate the utility of this technique and the potential for further enhancement using multiplexing (i.e. imaging multiple samples in the same acquisition period), holding promise for future applications in health and disease.

Purpose: Adrenal adenomas are best detected and understood using a Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (PET/CT) scanner. When doing PET scans, the acquisition time of 18-Fluorodeoxyglucose (18FDG) absorption is crucial as it determines the diagnostic accuracy and quality of the images. This study aimed to investigate the effects of various acquisition periods to assess the efficacy of PET/CT in identifying adrenal adenomas (1.5 vs. 3 minutes). Materials and Methods: The research included 30 patients who were thought to have adrenal adenomas. Following the 18FDG injection, PET/CT imaging was performed on each patient using one of two distinct acquisition times: 1.5 or 3 minutes. The image quality was objectively evaluated using a 5-point Likert scale. Experienced nuclear medicine professionals used consensus reading to assess diagnostic performance for adrenal adenoma identification. Results: The preliminary findings showed that compared to the 1.5-minute acquisition technique, PET/CT imaging with a 3-minute duration after 18FDG injection produced considerably superior image quality (p < 0.05). In addition, the longer acquisition time significantly increased the chance of detecting the lesion more precisely, improving the visualisation and characterisation of adrenal adenomas. With greater sensitivity and specificity, the 3-minute acquisition methodology showed better diagnostic accuracy for adrenal adenoma identification than the 1.5-minute approach. Conclusion: The study suggests that extending the acquisition time to 3 minutes improves image quality and diagnostic performance for adrenal adenoma detection, potentially improving patient care by facilitating accurate diagnosis and treatment planning.

Neural network classification of Barnes maze search strategy utilization.

Two EEG-responses to periodical auditory 40-Hz stimulation – auditory steady-state response (ASSR) and sustained wave (SW) – are important neurophysiological correlates of temporal and spectral aspects of auditory perception, respectively. However, little is known about the sex difference of their development in children of 3–6 years, the period of extensive language acquisition. We registered a 32-channel electroencephalogram (EEG) while 500-ms 40-Hz click trains (n = 150) were presented to 57 typically developing children (27 females). We also assessed total language skill, expressive and receptive speech abilities, the perception of speech in noise and pseudowords repetition. 40-Hz ASSR was not very clearly expressed in our sample but showed developmental increase for both boys and girls. Topography of SW showed significant right-hemisphere predominance in boys, while girls had more symmetric response. On a subsample of boys (n = 14) we also found that the laterality index of SW correlated with speech in noise repetition score: the greater rightwarded the laterality was, the worse boys repeated words in noise. Our results are also consistent with the findings of greater lateralization of some components of EEG-activity in men.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1038/s41598-025-08266-x.

The transition from childhood into adolescence is associated with marked increases in testosterone, a sex hormone that has been linked with significant changes in brain structure and function. However, the majority of the extant literature on sex hormone effects has focused on structural brain development, with far fewer studies examining changes in the neural dynamics serving higher-order cognitive function and behavioral improvements with development. Herein, we investigated whether the neural oscillatory dynamics serving selective attention were sensitive to testosterone levels as a marker of development in a sample of 87 participants aged 6–13 years old. Participants completed a number-based Simon task while undergoing magnetoencephalography (MEG) and the resulting data were transformed into the time-frequency domain, imaged using a beamformer, and analyzed using whole-brain analysis of covariance models. Our key findings included spectrally-specific alterations in alpha and gamma oscillatory power in the prefrontal, parietal, and temporal regions with developmental shifts in testosterone levels, after accounting for the effect of age. Additionally, sex-by-testosterone interactions were found in the anterior cingulate, prefrontal, and parietal cortices that may indicate sexually divergent brain network development during the employment of selective attention. In sum, these results provide crucial new evidence supporting a relationship between developmental changes in testosterone and functional brain dynamics in youth during a critical period for skill acquisition and refinement.

Traditional methodologies in native language instruction for preschool education rely heavily on rote memorization and passive learning, failing to address the developmental needs of young learners during the critical language acquisition period (ages 3-6). This creates a cycle where traditionally trained teachers continue employing ineffective methods, impacting early language education quality and children's cognitive development. The problem is particularly acute in teacher training institutions using outdated methodologies that do not reflect current understanding of child development and effective pedagogical practices. This study explores the enhancement of teaching methodologies for native language instruction in preschool education, with a particular focus on preparing future preschool educators. Grounded in sociocultural and constructivist theories, the research emphasizes the importance of culturally responsive, child-centered, and play-based approaches in early language development. Using a quasi-experimental design, the study compares traditional and modernized teaching methods applied during a six-week pedagogical practicum. Results demonstrate that the modernized approach significantly improves students’ vocabulary acquisition, pronunciation, creativity, engagement, and teaching confidence. These findings highlight the necessity of methodological innovation in teacher education programs to meet the linguistic and developmental needs of preschool learners in Uzbekistan and beyond. This research provides empirical evidence supporting the transformation of teacher training programs from traditional approaches to competency-based, practice-oriented models integrating child-centered and culturally responsive teaching. The findings support curriculum reforms that can enhance early childhood education quality, improve learning outcomes during children's formative years, and prepare educators capable of fostering communicative competence and cultural identity. The study establishes a foundation for future research examining long-term impacts of modernized teacher preparation methodologies on both educator development and children's language learning outcomes.

We present a corrosion-resistant quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer (QIT-MS) designed for trace detection of volatiles in sulfuric acid aerosols, with a specific focus on phosphine (PH3). Here, we detail the gas calibration methodology using permeation tube technology for generating certified ppb-level PH3/H2S/CO2 mixtures, and report results from mass spectra with sufficient resolution to distinguish isotopic envelopes that validate the detection of PH3 at a concentration of 62 ppb. Fragmentation patterns for PH3 and H2S agree with NIST data, and signal-to-noise performance confirms ppb sensitivity over 2.6 h acquisition periods. We further assess spectral interferences from oxygen isotopes and propose a detection scheme based on isolated phosphorus ions (P+) to enable specific and interference-resistant identification of PH3 and other reduced phosphorus species of astrobiological interest in Venus-like environments. This work extends the capabilities of QIT-MS for trace gas analysis in chemically aggressive atmospheric conditions.

Abstract Distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) technology can convert seafloor telecommunication optical fibers into spatially dense arrays of strain sensors for ocean observation. DAS has the advantages of high spatial–temporal resolution, real-time data telemetry, and adaptation to severe environmental conditions. Thus, it has a large potential to fill the data gap for ocean observation over conventional equipment. In this study, we installed a DAS interrogator at the onshore controlling center of the Datang offshore wind farm in the northern South China Sea. The seafloor optical cables, about 29 km long, were converted into a dense array composed of 7091 strain sensors with a spatial sampling interval of 4 m. This study reports the preliminary results from one month’s continuous DAS data acquisition. During the acquisition period, the DAS array recorded a series of local and regional earthquakes and observed various ocean signals, including ocean waves, ships, primary and secondary microseisms, and Scholte waves generated by interactions of the ocean and the solid Earth. The spectrograms of DAS data show high consistency with the in situ observation of significant wave height and wind speed obtained by acoustic wave and current meter, and anemometers. The successful recordings of abundant marine environmental signals prove the significant potential of DAS technology to be the next generation of ocean observation equipment.

This study examines the impact of demographic lifecycle stages on the timing of vehicle purchases, using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics from 1999 to 2021. Survival analysis was employed to model the duration until households purchase vehicles, incorporating key lifecycle variables such as age, employment status, marital status, childbirth, home ownership, and the presence of school-going children. The life table results indicate that early adulthood (ages 20–35) is the prime period for vehicle acquisition, with significant peaks around ages 25 to 30. Additionally, the instantaneous hazard of purchasing a vehicle is highest in the late 40s and early 50s. According to the Cox proportional hazards model, employment, marital status, and home ownership significantly increase the likelihood of purchasing a vehicle, while living in multi-unit dwellings decreases it. Interaction effects reveal that married individuals with employed spouses are substantially more likely to purchase vehicles. This study serves as a steppingstone toward integrating demographic lifecycle analysis into car ownership modeling that better reflects real-world scenarios and increases the accuracy of policy and strategic planning.

This paper presents a new proposal for the application of the gamma-gamma geophysical well logging to determine densities in friable lithology, denominated Steady-State Gamma-Gamma Density in Friable rocks. We detailed calibration and standardization measurement steps for the gamma-gamma well logging tool, as well as the validation steps for density data acquired in the field, specifically, in a mining operation environment. In order to measure density in friable lithology/materials, a gamma-gamma well logging tool is positioned at the bottom of a borehole at approximately 1 meter depth, measuring density in stationary mode, over a data acquisition period of around five minutes. The final density value is defined based on the average of the accumulated measurements per borehole. This methodology was developed to overcome the scarcity of density measurements in friable rocks at Vale's operational mining areas. In addition to operational mine areas, the methodology has been successfully applied to acquire density measurements in waste. Using the proposed methodology, it is possible to acquire approximately 15 density values per day, which would not be possible using conventional methodologies that obtain only 2 or 3 values.

High-resolution ex vivo diffusion-weighted imaging (dMRI) with high -values presents significant challenges, including low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), magnetic field perturbations, and temperature-related measurement shifts. This work introduces a hardware-based solution to address these limitations in human ex vivo brain imaging. A customized anatomically conformal 64-channel receive array coil with a dedicated Tx birdcage coil was developed for 3T diffusion-weighted imaging of whole human ex vivo brain specimens. Field monitoring capabilities were integrated to correct spatiotemporal field perturbations caused by gradient-induced eddy currents. Temperature stability throughout extended acquisition periods was achieved through an integrated stabilization system. Coil performance was validated through comprehensive measurement of SNR, g-factor maps, field camera free induction decays (FIDs), temperature, mean diffusivity, and fractional anisotropy across multiple diffusion-weighted scans. The system demonstrated 73% higher SNR compared with a 72-channel in vivo head coil. Integration of the field camera maintained its FID quality without SNR penalties or significant receive coil coupling effects. Temperature stabilization improved the reliability of quantitative diffusion-weighted measurements by eliminating measurement drift during a 13-hour acquisition, where mean diffusivity and mean kurtosis would have increased by 22% and decreased by 19%, respectively. We describe an integrated hardware approach for addressing higher order field perturbations, thermal instability, and SNR challenges in human ex vivo whole brain dMRI under high-diffusion sensitizing gradient conditions. This approach combines an anatomically optimized multichannel receive array, concurrent field monitoring, and active temperature stabilization. Enhanced image quality and improved reliability of quantitative MR imaging were demonstrated with this comprehensive hardware solution.

Electric dipole moments (EDM) of fundamental particles inherently violate time-reversal (T) and the combined charge-conjugation and parity symmetry (CP). We aim to measure the EDM of the muon using the frozen-spin technique within a compact storage trap. This method exploits the high effective electric field, E≈165MV/m, experienced in the rest frame of the muon with a momentum of about 23MeV/c when it passes through a solenoidal magnetic field of |B→|=2.5T. In this paper, we outline the fundamental considerations for a muon EDM search and present a conceptual design for a demonstration experiment to be conducted at secondary muon beamlines of the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland. In Phase I, with an anticipated data acquisition period of 200 days, the expected sensitivity to a muon EDM is σ(d)≤4E-21e·cm. In a subsequent phase, Phase II, we propose to improve the sensitivity to σ(d)≤6E-23e·cm using a dedicated instrument installed on a different beamline that produces muons of momentum 125 MeV/c.

Seafloor surveys often gather multiple modes of remote sensed mapping and sampling data to infer kilo- to mega-hectare scale seafloor habitat distributions. However, efforts to extract information from multimodal data are complicated by inconsistencies between measurement modes (e.g., resolution, positional offsets, geometric distortions) and different acquisition periods for dynamically changing environments. In this study, we investigate the use of location information during multimodal feature learning and its impact on habitat classification. Experiments on multimodal datasets gathered from three Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) showed improved robustness and performance when using location-based regularisation terms compared to equivalent autoencoder-based and contrastive self-supervised feature learners. Location-guiding improved F1 scores by 7.7% for autoencoder-based and 28.8% for contrastive feature learners averaged across 78 experiments on datasets spanning three distinct sites and 18 data modes. Location-guiding enhances performance when combining multimodal data, increasing F1 scores by an average of 8.8% and 37.8% compared to the best-performing individual mode being combined for autoencoder-based and contrastive self-supervised models, respectively. Performance gains are maintained over a large range of location-guiding distance hyperparameters, where improvements of 5.3% and 29.4% are achieved on average over an order-of-magnitude range of hyperparameters for the autoencoder and contrastive learners, respectively, both comparing favourably with optimally tuned conditions. Location-guiding also exhibits robustness to position inconsistencies between combined data modes, still achieving an average of 3.0% and 30.4% increase in performance compared to equivalent feature learners without location regularisation when position offsets of up to 10 m are artificially introduced to the remote sensed data. Our results show that the classifier used to delineate the learned feature spaces has less impact on performance than the feature learner, with probabilistic classifiers averaging 3.4% higher F1 scores than non-probabilistic classifiers.

Herodotus and the Critical Period for Language Acquisition

Precision of in vivo pressure gradient estimations using synthetic aperture ultrasound.

The Sudbury Structure formed as a large impact crater. The current roughly elliptical outcrop pattern shows that the originally near circular crater has been subject to post-impact deformation. Some features of the original crater morphology have been preserved. For example, the arcuate form of the North Range is explained by preservation of the crater wall. This study examines data from the South Range of the Sudbury Structure. Dip and dip direction measurements on the basal contact of the Sudbury Igneous Complex (SIC) and cumulate layering within the norite are examined for lateral continuity across the South Range. Sites within a “wedge” bounded by the Whitewater Lake Fault Zone and the Whitson Lake Shear Zone have dips that are systematically different to sites located in the area to the west. Paleomagnetic results from sites in the norite and Offset dikes of the South Range record three periods of remanence acquisition. Comparison of paleomagnetic results between different Ranges of the SIC indicate the three remanence components record the initial emplacement of the melt sheet and two later metamorphic events. The lack of any systematic dispersion within each remanence component across the South Range means that the differential dips between the “wedge” and the adjacent area must have formed before acquisition of the earliest remanence acquisition. A viable explanation is that the differential dip is associated with preservation of a remnant of the central uplift/peak ring of the original impact crater. The internal coherence of directions within each remanence group requires the South Range, even though showing evidence of localized internal deformation, was rotated into its current position as a solid body.

Marriage according to Law Number. 1 of 1974 and the Compilation of Islamic Law (KHI) is based on the principle of monogamy, which allows the practice of polygamy under certain conditions. In polygamous marriages, the division of shared property is regulated by Islamic law and legislation to ensure justice and protect the rights of the parties involved. However, the division of joint property often causes problems due to the lack of clarity in the mechanisms for calculation and proof of ownership. This research aims to analyze the mechanism of joint property division in polygamous marriages based on the KHI, with a primary focus on Decision Number 555/K/AG/2012. The approach used is normative juridical with a qualitative analysis method, referring to the analysis of legislation, namely Law Number 1 of 1974 on Marriage and the KHI. The analysis results show that the division of joint property in polygamous marriages is determined based on the time of acquisition, where property obtained during the marriage with the first wife becomes the joint right of the husband and the first wife. Meanwhile, property acquired in subsequent marriages involves the next wives in its ownership. The case study of Decision Number 555/K/AG/2012 emphasizes the importance of proving the period of asset acquisition to ensure fairness in the distribution.

Full determination of chemical shift tensor in magnetically oriented microcrystals with modulated rotation and temporal tilt.

Low-γ nuclei signal enhancement in solid-state NMR spectroscopy is typically achieved via cross-polarization (CP) using abundant 1H polarization in organic solids. Nevertheless, direct low-γ nuclei signal detection via a single CP process is quite challenging with minute quantities of samples due to the extremely limited signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the acquired spectra. Herein, we demonstrated the robust performance of a multiple-contact CP experiment with multiple acquisition periods (MCP) in each transient scan, leading to several-fold SNR enhancement over a conventional single-CP experiment at fast MAS conditions with slightly increased experimental time. Spin thermodynamic analysis was further performed to achieve maximum SNR by adding the obtained Nmax CP spectra from each transient, where Nmax ∼ T1ρ/τcw. Here, T1ρ is the proton spin-lattice relaxation time in the rotating frame, and τcw is the total time of CP and a heteronuclear decoupling period. The theoretical analysis is in good agreement with experimental results, and more than 4.5-fold SNR enhancement can be achieved for the pharmaceutical danazol/vanillin cocrystals. Besides, MCP was also used for proton T1 and T1ρ measurement with high-resolution 13C detection, where both proton T1 and T1ρ can serve as the spectral-editing basis to identify different immiscible components in complex molecular systems.