Elaboration Process Research Articles

The Mendelssohn of the Eighteenth Century: Tonal Growth, Functional Fluidity and Formal Complication in the First Movement of the D Major Quartet, Op. 44 No. 1

ABSTRACTThis article examines the elaborate compositional processes at work in the opening movement of Mendelssohn's Quartet in D major, Op. 44 No. 1 (1838) in the service of advancing and further refining the application of contemporary Formenlehre to nineteenth‐century music. Most conspicuous of these features is the role taken by the key of F♯ minor, iii of the tonic, which assumes increasing prominence over the course of the exposition, culminating in a curious ostensible secondary theme (bar 71) which appears initially to contradict the tonality of A major just confirmed. This harmonic argument runs alongside a fluid approach to phrase and interthematic structure, in which not only are the erstwhile first theme and transitional material subject to functional transformation but the latter is further elided with potential secondary material, while no terminating cadence (or EEC) is present either. Current analytical approaches – foremost here, sonata theory – cannot fully elucidate the subtlety of Mendelssohn's procedure (one might variously argue for an overridden medial caesura, a secondary theme starting in multiple places, a continuous or even a failed exposition), and nonetheless, clear precedents for individual elements of Mendelssohn's design can be found earlier in the music of Haydn and Mozart. Mendelssohn's movement raises significant questions about recent approaches to theorising nineteenth‐century form and its relation to Classical precedents, not all of which can be easily answered.

The positive role of authentic leadership in organizations negatively affected by cognitive diversity

Workplace diversity has recently gained increasing significance and urgency in business organizations. This promotion may stem from information processing, and specifically from information elaboration. Information elaboration leverages diverse task-related information and skills possessed by members, fostering the exchange of diverse perspectives, elaborate discussions, and achieving high team performance. In this context, cognitive diversity, encompassing members’ knowledge, skills, and perspectives, may have a positive impact. However, some previous studies suggest that cognitive diversity can lead to affective conflict and impede information processing. In organizations with highly homogeneous social and cultural backgrounds, cognitive diversity may not be effectively utilized in the information elaboration process, potentially yielding negative effects. Authentic leadership is recognized as a significant contributor to facilitating team processes including information processing, with various studies demonstrating its effectiveness. This study hypothesized that cognitive diversity negatively affects the information elaboration process, while authentic leadership has a positive effect. To test these hypotheses, we employed multilevel structural equation modeling analysis based on data collected from 375 respondents in 90 teams across various industries in Japan. The results showed that cognitive diversity negatively affects information elaboration at the individual level. By contrast, authentic leadership positively affects information elaboration at both individual and team levels. These findings suggest that the effect of cognitive diversity on information processing in the workplace may not always be positive, particularly in a sociocultural context that values homogeneity, as observed in Japanese organizations. This study advances the literature on authentic leadership by validating its effect on information elaboration and provides practical implications for diversity management. Additionally, it underscores the effectiveness of authentic leadership in leveraging team members’ cognitive diversity to facilitate information elaboration.

Qualitative and quantitative studies on the chemical changes during Ayurvedic detoxification process of Acorus calamus Linn. (Indian Vacha)

BackgroundAcorus calamus, commonly known as Vacha holds a significant place in Ayurvedic medicine, addressing memory issues and acting as an anthelminthic. A. calamus rhizomes are known to be toxic due to presence of β-asarone and are used in Ayurvedic medicines only after elaborate processing known as Sodhana (detoxification or purification). As mentioned in Ayurvedic texts like Rasatrangini and Bhaisajya Ratnavali, Sodhana entails the transformation of potentially poisonous plants/substances into non-toxic forms. This study aims to uncover the chemical basis of this ancient detoxification process. Study designThe plant material was detoxified following the methods mentioned in the Ayurvedic Formulary of India. The plant material was boiled in gomutra (cow urine) and decanted. Subsequently, it was boiled with Spaeranthus indicus (Alambusa kwath) and then with Panchpallav kwath (a decoction of leaves from five different plants). The plant material so obtained was dried and subjected to swedana (steam distillation), dried again and extracted to obtain processed (detoxified) extract. Both the unprocessed and processed extracts were analyzed for secondary metabolites using HPLC, LCMS, and 1H NMR. ResultsThis study demonstrated that detoxification process resulted in morphological changes in rhizome, almost ten-fold reduction in extractive yield, reduced amount of major toxic component β-asarone and other toxic metabolites like asaronaldehyde, acorone, calamusin, acoraminol, acoramone, 1,2-dihydroxyasarone, asarotonide, propioveratrone, azulene and calamol in the extract, and isomerisation of β-asarone to α-asarone. Further the toxic metabolites were screened for genotoxicity by molecular docking. ConclusionOur findings have identified the chemical basis of Ayurvedic detoxification process.

Beyond Death: Funeral Rituals and Megalithic Traditions Among the Bhil Tribes of India.

The earliest traces of funeral rituals in the Indian Subcontinent date back to the Mesolithic period. Data from various parts of the country clearly indicate that this tradition gained popularity during the Neolithic and Iron Age periods in India. Besides, during the Iron-age period we found evidence of megalithic tradition, and the megalithic sites found in the Indian subcontinent reveal an elaborate process of death rituals. This present study focuses on first-hand data obtained from the south-eastern part of Rajasthan, India. The data unveils many hidden aspects of funeral rituals and megalithic traditions related to the Bhils community. To gain a better understanding of death rituals, beliefs about afterlife, and the erection of memorial pillars on behalf of the deceased, the author compares the death rituals of the Bhils with those of the Munda communities in central eastern parts of India.

The Territorial Planning Process of the Fez-Meknes Region from a Gender Perspective: An Exploratory Study

Since 2015, Morocco has become aware of the imperative to integrate the gender dimension into the territorial planning process. In this context, the region, as a key actor in territorial management, is called upon to take into account the gender approach during the elaboration of its Regional Development Programme (RDP) as a planning tool in accordance with Law 111-14 concerning regions in Morocco. This article aims to understand how the gender approach is integrated by stakeholders in the process of drawing up the RDP by analysing the specific interests and needs of women and men. Analysis of the various phases of the RDP elaboration process from a gender perspective, including preparation, diagnosis, strategic vision, action planning, budgeting, and finally, the implementation and monitoring-evaluation phase, led us to adopt a qualitative methodology. This approach was implemented through the mobilization of a single case study focusing on the RDP of the Fes-Meknes region for the period 2016-2021. Consequently, we conducted semi-structured interviews with a sample of 15 key informants directly involved in the elaboration of the RDP at its different stages. The results indicate that little account is taken of the specific needs of women at all stages of the process, from preparation to implementation and monitoring-evaluation. This is due to several factors, including the scarcity of sex-disaggregated data at the regional level, the ambiguity of the new legal text on the concept of gender and its integration into the RDP, the ineffectiveness of organizational mechanisms related to gender issues, the lack of knowledge and tools for gender-sensitive planning, as well as the weakness of the 'gender culture' among members of the regional council (RC).

It's about the process, not the product: A meta-analytic investigation of team demographic diversity and processes

To better understand the effects of demographic diversity on teams, we conducted a meta-analytic investigation of the relationship between team demographic diversity and team processes. Drawing from the categorization-elaboration model, we hypothesized that team demographic diversity elicits opposing effects on team performance via information elaboration and social categorization processes. We also explored several team-level and contextual moderators on these relationships. In our meta-analysis of 406 effects from 38,304 teams, we found that team demographic diversity is related to increased social categorization processes, but we did not find support for a relationship between team demographic diversity and information elaboration. In addition, we identified team education level and occupational and industry context as moderators of these relationships, finding stronger support for moderators of the relationship between diversity and social categorization than the relationship between diversity and information elaboration. We discuss implications of our findings for research and practice.

Sustainable Processes and Physico-Chemical Characterization of Artisanal Spontaneous Gluten Free Sourdough (Quinoa, Amaranth and Brown Rice) Compared to Wheat Sourdough

The industry predominantly depends on synthetic or artificial additives, occasionally permitting the inclusion of natural molecules sourced from plants or replicated from their original counterparts. The production of bakery products increasingly uses sourdough to improve the quality of bread or to obtain “clean label” products (free of artificial additives). The additive production sector contributes to this concern through the synthesis of potentially harmful compounds, the utilization of hazardous chemicals and solvents, the management of resulting by-products, and reliance on non-renewable resources for manufacturing. One percent of the world’s population suffers from celiac disease. Celiac disease is treated by excluding gluten from the diet. Most gluten-free bakery products have low nutritional and sensory quality. Therefore, sourdough is being used to replace chemical yeast to improve the sensory and nutritional quality and increase the shelf life of gluten-free bakery products. Three gluten-free sourdoughs were prepared with different flours: brown rice, quinoa and amaranth, in order to compare them with traditional sourdough (wheat) and optimize the most suitable temperature for the conservation of sourdoughs. Physicochemical analysis (pH, titratable acidity and color), antioxidant activity (FRAP, ORAC and ABTS), total phenolic compound content (Folin–Ciocalteu), total aflatoxin content, lactic and acetic acid content and microbiological analysis (mold and yeast content and bacterial and fungal composition (microbiota composition)) were carried out during the elaboration process and at different storage temperatures. A higher microbiological quantity of molds and yeasts (7.97 log CFU/mL), non-Saccharomyces yeasts (7.78 log CFU/mL) and lactic acid bacteria (8.10 log CFU/mL) and fungal composition were observed in the amaranth sourdough. The wheat sourdough obtained a higher total content of phenolic compounds (33.03 mg GAE g−1) and antioxidant capacity in ABTS and FRAP, but the quinoa sourdough had the highest ORAC content. In addition, it was observed that the adequate temperature for the conservation of the doughs is 25 °C, due to the predominance of Lactobacillus spp. and Pediococcus spp. bacteria in the sourdough. Therefore, pseudocereal sourdoughs (quinoa and amaranth) could be an alternative to incorporate into the preparation of gluten-free bread, since their microbial composition, physicochemical composition, antioxidant activity and total phenolic compounds would contribute to gluten-free bread and thus produce health benefits for people with celiac disease.

The NGEU comes to Visegrád: implementation process and throughput legitimacy

ABSTRACT Existing research on EU legitimacy has neglected one aspect – the transformation of EU strategies into concrete national plans. This article reflects on this gap by analysing the throughput legitimacy of the implementation of the ambitious and transformative Next Generation EU (NGEU) plan into national strategies, called Recovery and Resilience Plans (RRPs), in four Central and Eastern European countries. Focusing on the transparency, accountability, openness and inclusiveness of the RRP elaboration process, it finds that the elaboration process suffered from shortcomings in all aspects analysed. In particular, they affect the quality of legitimacy of the process of implementation. The article found that while the formal aspects of throughput legitimacy were present, most of the factors that create a mirror that shows how actors participated, how their comments were addressed or how the parliamentary role was respected failed in almost all cases. This finding has implications for research on throughput legitimacy, which should focus more on its quality than on its procedural parts.

Judgments of Learning Reactively Improve Memory by Enhancing Learning Engagement and Inducing Elaborative Processing: Evidence from an EEG Study.

Making judgments of learning (JOLs) can reactively alter memory itself, a phenomenon termed the reactivity effect. The current study recorded electroencephalography (EEG) signals during the encoding phase of a word list learning task to explore the neurocognitive features associated with JOL reactivity. The behavioral results show that making JOLs reactively enhances recognition performance. The EEG results reveal that, compared with not making JOLs, making JOLs increases P200 and LPC amplitudes and decreases alpha and beta power. Additionally, the signals of event-related potentials (ERPs) and event-related desynchronizations (ERDs) partially mediate the reactivity effect. These findings support the enhanced learning engagement theory and the elaborative processing explanation to account for the JOL reactivity effect.

Aqueous inks for ecofriendly processing of organic solar cells: Investigation of morphological changes

Aqueous dispersions of organic semiconducting nanoparticles (NPs) are particularly attractive as inks for the environmentally friendly preparation of organic solar cells. The internal morphology of the NPs, which depends on their elaboration process, is a key parameter, which has a significant influence on the final morphology of the active layer and therefore its effectiveness. In the present study, core-shell (PF2:PC71BM) NPs were prepared by miniemulsion. Their internal morphology including the composition of the two phases was characterized by scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM) showing a core composed of 77% PC71BM and a shell composed of 75% PF2. It was found that thermal annealing promotes PC71BM diffusion from the core to the shell, increasing its proportion in the shell from 25% to 42%. This annealing, when applied after NPs deposition by spincoating, allows partial coalescence of the NPs, reducing the roughness of the active layer, and increases electron mobility, thus demonstrating the formation of PC71BM percolation paths for electron transport. A PCE of 1.6% could thus be obtained after 10 min of thermal annealing at 100°C. At higher temperature, Grazing-Incidence Wide-Angle X-Ray Scattering (GIWAXS) analyses demonstrate the modification of the PF2 structuration from randomly oriented lamella after deposition to edge-on orientation after annealing, leading to an unfavorable decrease of the hole mobility in the direction perpendicular to the substrate, while increasing the hole mobility in the substrate plane. This study demonstrates the need to systematically characterize the internal morphology of NPs in order to rationalize the morphology of the active layer and optimize its properties.

Phase purifying and dielectric improvement in Zn2SiO4 ceramics via simply controlling the particle size of SiO2

AbstractThe zinc orthosilicate, Zn2SiO4 ceramics, exhibit great potential as microwave dielectric materials due to their low dielectric constant and ultrahigh quality factor. The solid‐state synthesis of Zn2SiO4 ceramics often results in the presence of a secondary phase of ZnO, however, leading to significantly lower Q×f values. Cold‐isostatic‐pressing (CIP) and nonstoichiometry have been proven effective in purifying the Zn2SiO4 but need elaborate process and composition manipulation. In this work, it was found that the particle size of SiO2 plays a crucial role in purifying the Zn2SiO4 phase. Specially, nano‐sized SiO2 particles (15 and 30 nm) led to the formation of a ZnO secondary phase in synthesized Zn2SiO4 ceramics, while micro‐sized (2 and 10 µm) resulted in pure‐phase Zn2SiO4 with excellent microwave properties. Notably, when prepared with 10 µm SiO2 and sintered at 1 340°C, the resulting Zn2SiO4 exhibited outstanding microwave performances with a Q×f value of 122 570 GHz, a temperature coefficient of frequency τf of −51.9 ppm/°C, and a dielectric constant (εr) of 6.5. These findings highlight the importance of controlling particle size during synthesis to achieve desired material properties such as purity and excellent microwave performances.

Beam hardening correction based on image noise statistics

Beam hardening artefacts in x-ray computed tomography (CT) result from energy-dependent attenuation of x-rays in matter and cause inaccuracies in reconstructed 3D volume data. Effects due to beam hardening can easily be corrected if the detected spectrum of x-rays is known after having passed through an object. Conventional scintillator x-ray detectors, however, are incapable of measuring spectral information directly. The innovative idea of this paper is to extract information about the detected spectrum from image noise statistics and to estimate the spectrum using a new semi-empirical model function for a partially absorbed x-ray spectrum depending on a single unknown variable. The beam hardening correction factor is thus determined for each image pixel prior to the 3D reconstruction, does not require knowledge of the material of the CT-scanned object and is determined by modelling physical effects directly, without relying on an iterative approach or elaborate image processing.

The “Sinicization” of Religion: Culture as Political Rhetoric

Abstract The “Sinicization of religion” policy launched in 2015 marked a turn in the Communist Party’s approach to religious governance, opening a new era of strict control over religion in post-reform China. This article first analyzes this policy in the context of the evolution of the CCP’s attitudes to religion over the past century. It then explores the elaboration process and its implications for related official discourse and follows with an examination of the promotion and implementation of this policy. The authors argue that the new conceptual design of “Sinicization” was aimed initially at exogenous religions but later became a general policy applied to all religions, as the central power of the Party realized its utility for subtly achieving absolute authority. Such a “Sinicization” is a projection of Xi Jinping’s “Chinese Dream” in the field of religious affairs, a dream of the Party’s permanent domination under the mantle of nationalism.

Educating for variability and climate change in Uruguay, a case study

Among the possible actions to face climate change, education has a central role, great hopes have been deposited in its potential to contribute to the construction of a sustainable world. However, although there are global climate change education initiatives, they still do not generate a significant impact, especially at the local level. The deepening of the location of educational actions is key to reaching the public. It is necessary to permeate the national educational systems and non-formal education generated by local civil society. For this reason, it is important to learn about successful local initiatives that can enrich and strengthen future practices at all levels. In Uruguay, initiatives have been developed that can serve as case studies that contribute to collecting lessons learned and areas of opportunity. This paper includes three experiences developed by multidisciplinary teams from the Centre for Response to Variability and Climate Change of the University of the Republic in conjunction with key local government actors and local civil society. It is about the process of elaboration and implementation of an audio-visual educational resource for adolescents, a cycle of workshops for young people and a multimodal online course for professional adults and teachers. The experiences demonstrate the relevance of generating locally contextualized educational resources and actions to contribute to the achievement of global objectives of sustainable development. Likewise, they present some lessons learned in terms of theoretical approaches, methods and practices of education for climate change.

Same allocation proposed by an individual or a group elicits distinct responses: Evidence from event-related potentials and neural oscillation

People tend to perceive the same information differently depending on whether it is expressed in an individual or a group frame. It has also been found that the individual (vs. group) frame of expression tends to lead to more charitable giving and greater tolerance of wealth inequality. However, little is known about whether the same resource allocation in social interactions elicits distinct responses depending on proposer type. Using the second-party punishment task, this study examined whether the same allocation from different proposers (individual vs. group) leads to differences in recipient behavior and the neural mechanisms. Behavioral results showed that reaction times were longer in the unfair (vs. fair) condition, and this difference was more pronounced when the proposer was the individual (vs. group). Neural results showed that proposer type (individual vs. group) influenced early automatic processing (indicated by AN1, P2, and central alpha band), middle processing (indicated by MFN and right frontal theta band), and late elaborative processing (indicated by P3 and parietal alpha band) of fairness in resource allocation. These results revealed more attentional resources were captured by the group proposer in the early stage of fairness processing, and more cognitive resources were consumed by processing group-proposed unfair allocations in the late stage, possibly because group proposers are less identifiable than individual proposers. The findings provide behavioral and neural evidence for the effects of “individual/group” framing leading to cognitive differences. They also deliver insights into social governance issues, such as punishing individual and/or group violations.

Students’ Verification and Elaboration in Outdoor Mathematics: The Role of Digital Feedback in MathCityMap

In this article, the role of digital feedback that was provided in an outdoor mathematics education setting is taken into consideration. Using the app MathCityMap (2020) in the context of a mathematics trail, the influence of positive and/or negative feedback is examined in relation to how it influences the processes of verification and elaboration. In this context, special emphasis is placed on the students’ verification and elaboration and their relation to reasoning. In this qualitative study, 19 secondary students were filmed while solving mathematics tasks outdoors without digital support, as well as in indoor settings to enable a comparison. The results show that negative feedback in particular leads to a verification of the result. Still, an elaboration and explanation of why a result was incorrect was not often explicitly formulated by the students. Therefore, the potential of feedback is mainly seen in giving students a clear idea about the correctness of the result and searching for an alternative strategy to solve the task when in an outdoor setting.

The roles of Gti1/Pac2 family proteins in fungal growth, morphogenesis, stress response and pathogenicity.

Gti1/Pac2 is a fungal specific transcription factor family with a stable and conserved N-terminal domains. Generally, there are two members in this family named as Gti1/Wor1/Rpy1/Mit1/Reg1/Ros1/Sge1 and Pac2, which are involving in fungal growth, development, stress response, spore production, pathogenicity and so on. The Gti1/Pac2 family proteins shared some conserved and distinct functions. For example, in Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Gti1 promotes the initiation of gluconate uptake during glucose starvation, while Pac2 controls the onset of sexual development in a pathway independent of the cAMP cascade. In recent two decades, more attention was focused on the Gti1 and its orthologs due to their significant effect on morphology switch and fungal virulence. By contrast, there are limited works on the functions of Pac2 which is required for stress responses and conidiation, but play minor roles in fungal virulence. In this review, we present an overview of our current understanding of the Gti1/Pac2 proteins that contribute to fungal development and/or pathogenicity and of the regulation mechanisms during infection related development. Understanding the working networks of the conserved Gti1/Pac2 transcription factors in fungal pathogenicity not only advances our knowledge of the highly elaborate infection process but may also lead to the development of novel strategies for the control of plant disease.

Ochre-based compound adhesives at the Mousterian type-site document complex cognition and high investment.

Ancient adhesives used in multicomponent tools may be among our best material evidences of cultural evolution and cognitive processes in early humans. African Homo sapiens is known to have made compound adhesives from naturally sticky substances and ochre, a technical behavior proposed to mark the advent of elaborate cognitive processes in our species. Foragers of the European Middle Paleolithic also used glues, but evidence of ochre-based compound adhesives is unknown. Here, we present evidence of this kind. Bitumen was mixed with high loads of goethite ochre to make compound adhesives at the type-site of the Mousterian, Le Moustier (France). Ochre loads were so high that they lowered the adhesive's performance in classical hafting situations where stone implements are glued to handles. However, when used as handheld grips on cutting or scraping tools, a behavior known from Neanderthals, high-ochre adhesives present a real benefit, improving their solidity and rigidity. Our findings help understand the implications of Pleistocene adhesive making.

Neural and cognitive dynamics leading to the formation of strong memories: A meta-analysis and the SAM model

Abstract The subsequent memory paradigm is a fundamental tool in neuroimaging investigations of encoding processes. Although some studies have contrasted remembered trials with forgotten ones, others have focused on strongly remembered trials versus forgotten ones. This study employed a meta-analytic approach to juxtapose the effects observed in the two types of contrast. Three distinct perspectives on memory formation—semantic elaboration, attentional focus, and hippocampal processing—yield diverse hypotheses about the regions responsible for the formation of strong memories. The meta-analysis yielded evidence supporting the attentional and semantic hypotheses while failing to substantiate the hippocampal hypothesis. The discussion section integrates these varied perspectives into a coherent view, culminating in the proposal of a model called the Significance-driven and Attention-driven Memory (SAM). Several pivotal postulates underpin the SAM model. First, it establishes a link between fluctuations in the trial-to-trial encoding performance and continuous variations in sustained attention. Second, the model contends that attention exerts a potent influence on both perceptual and semantic processing, while its impact on hippocampal processing remains moderate. Lastly, the model accentuates the heightened role of the hippocampus in significance-driven encoding, as opposed to attention-driven encoding. From a specific perspective, the model’s value lies in promoting a holistic understanding of the current extensive meta-analytic results. In a more comprehensive context, the model introduces an integrated framework that synthesizes various encoding-related cognitive and neural processes into a cohesive and unified perspective.

Colored valence in a lexical decision task

Color influences behavior, from the simplest to the most complex, through controlled and more automatic information elaboration processes. Nonetheless, little is known about how and when these highly interconnected processes interact. This study investigates the interaction between controlled and automatic processes during the processing of color information in a lexical decision task. Participants discriminated stimuli presented in different colors (red, blue, green) as words or pseudowords. Results showed that while color did not affect the faster and more accurate recognition of words compared to pseudowords, performance was influenced when examining words and pseudowords separately. Pseudowords were recognized faster when presented in blue or red, suggesting a potential influence of evolutionary color preferences when processing is not guided by more controlled processes. With words, emotional enhancement effects were found, with a preference for green independent of valence. These results suggest that controlled and more automatic processes do interact when processing color information according to stimulus type and task.