Specific Action Research Articles

Factors Mediating Public Perceptions of Therapeutic Closed-Loop Brain Implants for Epilepsy and Mood Disorders (P6-9.002)

<h3>Objective:</h3> To examine perceptions of implanted neural devices among groups underserved by prevailing neuropsychiatric treatment approaches. <h3>Background:</h3> “Closed-loop” devices that both sense and modulate brain activity represent a new paradigm for neuropsychiatric treatment. However, neurotechnologists and even neuroethicists are not demographically representative of U.S. society, so the concerns of groups most in need of new paradigms may not be reflected in current neurotechnology development. <h3>Design/Methods:</h3> We fielded a nationally representative survey (n=1047) oversampling non-Hispanic Black (n=214), Hispanic (n=210), and rural Americans (n=219), eliciting treatment preferences in scenarios comparing (1) a therapeutic closed-loop brain implant versus surgical resection for refractory epilepsy, and (2) an investigational closed-loop brain implant versus medications for mood disorders. We asked respondents to rate the importance of differing considerations favoring either the implanted device or traditional treatment. We examined whether such considerations mediate demographic differences in treatment preferences using survey-weighted logistic regression models. <h3>Results:</h3> In both scenarios, non-Hispanic Black Americans were less likely to prefer the implanted neural device than non-Hispanic White Americans (epilepsy OR 0.28, p&lt;0.001; mood OR 0.23, p=0.008); there was no main effect contrasting Hispanic with non-Hispanic White Americans, or contrasting rural with urban/suburban Americans. In the epilepsy scenario the difference between non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic White Americans’ treatment preferences was partially mediated by preference for established treatments, concerns about privacy, and concerns about hacking. In the mood scenario the difference between non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic White Americans’ treatment preferences was partially mediated by indifference to temporally specific action of a closed-loop device, concerns about changes to core traits, and preference for established treatments. <h3>Conclusions:</h3> Black Americans are less likely than White Americans to prefer closed-loop brain implants to traditional treatment, with specific concerns that may be informed by the history of unethical medical experimentation targeting Black people. <b>Disclosure:</b> Mr. Dada has received personal compensation for serving as an employee of Dreem Health. The institution of Mr. Chen has received research support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The institution of Dr. Haeusermann has received research support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Ms. Fong has nothing to disclose. Dr. Hamilton has received personal compensation in the range of $500-$4,999 for serving as a Consultant for Alexion Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Hamilton has received personal compensation in the range of $500-$4,999 for serving on a Scientific Advisory or Data Safety Monitoring board for Highland Instruments. Dr. Hamilton has received personal compensation in the range of $10,000-$49,999 for serving as an Editor, Associate Editor, or Editorial Advisory Board Member for Neurology (Journal). The institution of Dr. Hamilton has received research support from NIH. The institution of Dr. Hamilton has received research support from Department of Defense. The institution of Dr. James has received research support from National Institute of Health. The institution of Dr. James has received research support from Society of Family Planning . The institution of Dr. James has received research support from Greenwall Foundation. Prof. Dohan has nothing to disclose. The institution of Dr. Chiong has received research support from the National Institutes of Health. The institution of Dr. Chiong has received research support from the Dana Foundation. Dr. Chiong has received personal compensation in the range of $500-$4,999 for serving as a member, NeuroEthics Working Group with National Institutes of Health.

Advising in the Glorious Qur’an as an Indirect Strategy of Speech Acts

Advising, is a directive, speech act in which, the hearer is directed, by the speaker to, do, a specific action that is going to be, in his own, interest. It simply means telling the hearer what is best for him / her. The current study investigates advising expressions used in the Glorious Qur’an by identifying the advisor who may be Almighty Allah or any human being. It attempts to clarify the exact meaning of advice and how it can be distinguished successfully. The study aims at showing the use of advising speech act in the Glorious Qur’an and pointing out the advisor who usually gives advice in the Glorious Qur’an. It also aims at identifying the indirect strategies of advising speech act in the Glorious Qur’an. To achieve these aims the study hypothesizes that most of advising speech acts are presented by Almighty Allah to his worshipers and that most of the speakers who give advice have a religious authority upon the hearer which enables them to issue advice. The model adopted, in this study is an eclectic one, which is composed of two sources. Firstly, Searle’s (1969) model, which is followed, in identifying, advising speech, acts. Secondly, Martinez -Flor (2003) model which is followed in the classification of advising strategies. The study concludes that most of advising speech acts are given by Almighty Allah to His worshippers. The study also concludes that the implied meaning of advising speech acts of the Qur’anic texts are syntactically realized via using indirect strategies in accordance with Martinez Flor’s (2003).

Reward Processing During Monetary Incentive Delay Task After Leptin Substitution in Lipodystrophy-an fMRI Case Series.

Behaviorally, the most pronounced effects of leptin substitution in leptin deficiency are the hunger-decreasing and postprandial satiety-prolonging effects of the adipokine. Previously, with functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), we and others showed that eating behavior-controlling effects are at least in part conveyed by the reward system. However, to date, it is unclear if leptin only modulates eating behavior specific brain reward action or if it also alters the reward function of the brain unrelated to eating behavior. We investigated with functional MRI the effects of metreleptin on the reward system in a reward task unrelated to eating behavior, the monetary incentive delay task. Measurements in 4 patients with the very rare disease of lipodystrophy (LD), resulting in leptin deficiency, and 3 untreated healthy control persons were performed at 4 different time points: before start and over 12 weeks of metreleptin treatment. Inside the MRI scanner, participants performed the monetary incentive delay task and brain activity during the reward receipt phase of the trial was analyzed. We found a reward-related brain activity decrease in our 4 patients with LD over the 12 weeks of metreleptin treatment in the subgenual region, a brain area associated with the reward network, which was not observed in our 3 untreated healthy control persons. These results suggest that leptin replacement in LD induces changes of brain activity during reward reception processing completely unrelated to eating behavior or food stimuli. This could suggest eating behavior-unrelated functions of leptin in the human reward system. The trial is registered as trial No. 147/10-ek at the ethics committee of the University of Leipzig and at the State Directorate of Saxony (Landesdirektion Sachsen).

Fluoxetine degrades luminance perceptual thresholds while enhancing motivation and reward sensitivity.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) increase serotonin activity in the brain. While they are mostly known for their antidepressant properties, they have been shown to improve visual functions in amblyopia and impact cognitive functions ranging from attention to motivation and sensitivity to reward. Yet, a clear understanding of the specific action of serotonin to each of bottom-up sensory and top-down cognitive control components and their interaction is still missing. To address this question, we characterize, in two adult male macaques, the behavioral effects of fluoxetine, a specific SSRI, on visual perception under varying bottom-up (luminosity, distractors) and top-down (uncertainty, reward biases) constraints while they are performing three different visual tasks. We first manipulate target luminosity in a visual detection task, and we show that fluoxetine degrades luminance perceptual thresholds. We then use a target detection task in the presence of spatial distractors, and we show that under fluoxetine, monkeys display both more liberal responses as well as a degraded perceptual spatial resolution. In a last target selection task, involving free choice in the presence of reward biases, we show that monkeys display an increased sensitivity to reward outcome under fluoxetine. In addition, we report that monkeys produce, under fluoxetine, more trials and less aborts, increased pupil size, shorter blink durations, as well as task-dependent changes in reaction times. Overall, while low level vision appears to be degraded by fluoxetine, performances in the visual tasks are maintained under fluoxetine due to enhanced top-down control based on task outcome and reward maximization.

Optimization of Rare Ginsenosides and Antioxidant Activity Quality of Ginseng Jiaosu Based on Probiotic Strains and Fermentation Technology

The primary active components of plant ginseng are saponins, and rare saponins play a specific antitumor action. In this study, Lactobacillus that can efficiently transform rare saponins were screened as fermentation strains of ginseng enzymes. The fermentation process was optimized to investigate the changes in various biochemical indicators and antioxidant activities of the enzymes before and after fermentation. The results showed that Lactiplantibacillus plantarum had the highest conversion efficiency for diol saponins, among which the content of rare ginsenoside-CK increased by 256%. The optimum optimizing method was a 1 : 1 : 10 ratio of ginseng extract/concentrated apple juice/water, fermentation time of 16 days, initial pH of 6.0, fermentation temperature of 37°C, and sterilization amount of 1.0%. The contents of rare ginsenoside-Rh1, ginsenoside-F2, ginsenoside-Rg3, and ginsenoside-CK increased by 18.48%, 135.73%, 343.03%, and 441.80%, respectively, and the process was stable and controllable. After fermentation, the scavenging rates for hydroxyl radical, DPPH radical, and superoxide anion radical were increased by more than 9%, and new organic acids were produced. In general, this study established an efficient, stable, and controllable ginseng fermentation process to improve the rare saponin content and biological activity of ginseng enzymes, which can provide new ideas for traditional Chinese medicine and medicinal health food in China.

An Integrated Lateral and Longitudinal Decision-Making Model for Autonomous Driving Based on Deep Reinforcement Learning

Decision-making is an important component of autonomous driving perception, decision-making, planning, and control pipeline, which undertakes the task of how the ego vehicle makes high-level decision-making behaviors (such as lane change and car following) after sensing the environmental state, and then these high-level decision-making behaviors can be transmitted to the downstream planning and control module for specific low-level action execution. Based on the method of deep reinforcement learning (specifically, Deep Q network (DQN) and its variants), an integrated lateral and longitudinal decision-making model for autonomous driving is proposed in a multilane highway environment with both autonomous driving vehicle (ADV) and manual driving vehicle (MDV). The classic MOBIL and IDM models are used for the lateral and longitudinal decisions of MDV (i.e., lane changing and car following), while the lateral and longitudinal decisions of ADV are dominated by deep reinforcement learning models. In addition, this paper also uses the nonlinear kinematic bicycle model and two-point visual control model to realize the low-level control of both MDV and ADV. By setting a reasonable state, action, and reward function, this paper has carried out a large number of simulation experiments on the proposed autonomous driving decision-making model based on deep reinforcement learning in a three-lane road environment. The results show that under such scenario setting conditions, the deep reinforcement learning-based model proposed in this paper performs well in autonomous driving safety and travel efficiency. At the same time, when compared with the classical rule-based decision-making model (MOBIL&amp;IDM), it is found that the model proposed in this paper can significantly achieve better results in episode rewards after stable training. In addition, through a large number of hyper-parameter tuning experiments, the performance of DQN, DDQN, and dueling DQN models, which are also deep reinforcement learning-based decision-making models, under different hyper-parametric configurations is compared and analyzed, which can provide a valuable reference for the specific scenario application of these models.

How does outward foreign direct investment influence manufacturing industry sustainable growth in China?

ABSTRACT With the economic development of various countries entering a new stage, sustainable development has become a focus of development transformation. It is well known that outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) drives the development of the manufacturing industry. However, the OFDI’s influence mechanism on the sustainable development of the manufacturing industry still needs to be clarified, and its specific action path requires further exploration. This study thus constructs a performance evaluation indicator system for the manufacturing industry from sustainable perspective. Based on interprovincial panel data of China’s 30 provinces from 2008 to 2017, the entropy method is used to measure and analyse the sustainable development level of the manufacturing industry in each province. Second, the influence of OFDI on the sustainable development level of manufacturing industry is verified using a fixed effects model. Finally, through the establishment of the mediation effect and threshold effect models, we conduct in-depth research on its specific mechanism, testing the mediation effect of technological progress and threshold effect of openness. The results reveal that government departments can enhance the sustainable development of manufacturing industry by promoting technological progress through OFDI. Improving the degree of openness can also promote sustainable development in the manufacturing industry.

Mental Health Impacts of Climate Change for Birthing People and the Provider's Role.

Mental Health Impacts of Climate Change for Birthing People and the Provider's Role.

Investigation on the thermal and optical properties of hydrogen bonded liquid crystalline complexes formed from hexyloxy benzoic acid and alkyl benzoic acids

Seven hydrogen bonded thermotropic liquid crystalline complexes are formed between hexyloxy benzoic acid (6BAO) and p-n-alkyl benzoic acids (nBA, where n refers alkyl carbon chain length which varies from 2 to 8) and characterized. Chemical characterization such as FTIR, 1H and 13C NMR studies are performed to confirm the hydrogen bond existence and chemical environment of the proposed molecular structure respectively. The existence of mesophases such as nematic and smectic F in the synthesized complexes are observed by Polarizing Optical Microscope (POM). The thermal analysis of this series is executed with the aid of Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC), which gives clear picture about the phase transition temperatures and their corresponding enthalpy values. Phase diagram is constructed with the help of the data consolidated from POM and DSC. Navard and Cox method have been implemented in estimating the order of phase transition. Specific heat capacity and light filtering action are the additional characterization techniques carried out in this described work.

Abstract 793: Mechanism of interferon induction by cannabidiol (CBD) and analogues in lung cancer cells

Abstract CBD, an FDA approved drug for epilepsy, may have therapeutic potential for other diseases and is currently being tested for efficacy in cancer-related clinical trials. As the literature about CBD, especially in vitro reports, is often contradictory, increasing our understanding of its specific action on a molecular level will allow to determine whether CBD can become a useful therapy or exacerbates specific cancers in a context-dependent manner. Due to its relative lipophilicity, CBD is challenging to dispense at therapeutic concentrations; therefore, one goal is to identify cannabinoid congeners with greater efficacy and reduced drug delivery challenges. We recently showed that CBD activates interferons as a mechanism of inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 replication in lung carcinoma cells. As factors produced by the innate immune system, interferons have been implicated in both pro-survival and growth arrest and apoptosis signaling in cancer. Here we show that CBD induces interferon production and interferon stimulated genes (ISGs) through a mechanism involving NRF2 and MAVS in lung carcinoma cells. We also show that CBDV, which differs from CBD by 2 fewer aliphatic tail carbons, has limited potency, suggesting that CBD specifically interacts with one or more cellular proteins rather than having a non-specific effect. We also identified other CBD-related cannabinoids that are more effective at inducing ISGs. Taken together, these results characterize a novel mechanism by which CBD activates the innate immune system in lung cancer cells and identify related cannabinoids that have possible therapeutic potential in cancer treatment. Citation Format: Leticia Stock, Lydia Robinson-Mailman, Long C. Nguyen, Shao-Nong Chen, Guido F. Pauli, Marsha R. Rosner. Mechanism of interferon induction by cannabidiol (CBD) and analogues in lung cancer cells [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 793.

Doing inspecting in interaction: seeing the physiognomy of an object

ABSTRACT This study explores the practice of doing inspecting an object, more specifically, the practice of leaning over an object that has been seen in a certain way. It offers a single-case analysis of two segments in which doing inspecting is done in an enhanced way, accompanied by touching the object. It argues that seeing the details of an object is done not necessarily to collect detailed information about the object but as a constitutive part of the ascribability of a specific action to the whole of the viewer’s concurrent verbal and other behavior. Seeing the details of an object is seeing the object in an entirely new fashion. Following the empirical analysis, its implications for some aspects of perception (multimodality of perception, perspectives, and the unity of the body) will be discussed. Data are in Japanese with English translation.

Management of adnexal cyst in an adolescent through the principles of Mutravaha srotorodha: An experience

Abstract: Adnexal cysts are any fluid-filled sac-like structures involved in the adnexa. These may include ovarian cysts as well as paraovarian cysts. Often, these cysts are physiological and regress under conservative therapy. The persistence of cysts is an indication of surgery. According to Ayurveda, Granthi (~nodular swelling) or sac like structures develop in female reproductive system due to accumulation of Kleda (~moistening). The improper excretion of Kleda is often due to Mutravaha srotorodha (~obstructive pathology of the urinary tract). Hence, Kledahara (~treatment for excess fluid accumulation), Lekhana (~therapeutic scrapping), and Shophahara (~treatment of swelling) drugs with specific action on Mutravaha srotas (~urinary tract) were found to be promising. In the present case report, an adolescent girl with an adnexal cyst (paraovarian cyst) of 5.3 cm × 4.8 cm (volume: 62.7 ml) non-responsive to allopathic treatment was diagnosed as Granthi in Sroni pradesha (~female pelvic region) associated with Mutravaha srotorodha. She was treated with internal medicines (Gokshuradi guggulu, Chandraprabha vati, Samshamani vati, Usheerasava, and Punarnavasava) for a period of four months from January 2, 2021 to April 13, 2021, and further from June 15, 2021 to July 05, 2021. Ultrasonography report after the completion of treatment showed no evidence of cyst. This case report provides some encouraging leads toward applying Ayurveda principles in the management of conditions such as adnexal cysts.

Aluminum hydroxide exposure induces neurodevelopmental impairment in hESC-derived cerebral organoids

Aluminum (Al) has been classified as a cumulative environmental pollutant that endangers human health. There is increasing evidence to suggest the toxic effects of Al, but the specific action on human brain development remains unclear. Al hydroxide (Al(OH)3), the most common vaccine adjuvant, is the major source of Al and poses risks to the environment and early childhood neurodevelopment. In this study, we explored the neurotoxic effect of 5 μg/ml or 25 μg/ml Al(OH)3 for six days on neurogenesis by utilizing human cerebral organoids from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). We found that early Al(OH)3 exposure in organoids caused a reduction in the size, deficits in basal neural progenitor cell (NPC) proliferation, and premature neuron differentiation in a time and dose-dependent manner. Transcriptomes analysis revealed a markedly altered Hippo-YAP1 signaling pathway in Al(OH)3 exposed cerebral organoid, uncovering a novel mechanism for Al(OH)3-induced detrimental to neurogenesis during human cortical development. We further identified that Al(OH)3 exposure at day 90 mainly decreased the production of outer radial glia-like cells(oRGs) but promoted NPC toward astrocyte differentiation. Taken together, we established a tractable experimental model to facilitate a better understanding of the impact and mechanism of Al(OH)3 exposure on human brain development.

Development of an Inhalation Dry Powder Preparation Method without Heat-drying Process

Biopharmaceuticals, including therapeutic genes and proteins, are characterized by highly-targeted, specific action and flexible pharmacological design and have a rapidly growing market share; however, because of high molecular weight and low stability, injection is the most common delivery route of biopharmaceuticals. Thus, pharmaceutical innovations are required to provide alternative delivery routes for biopharmaceuticals. Pulmonary drug delivery via inhalation is a promising approach, particularly for targeting local diseases of the lung, because it can exert therapeutic effects in small doses and can noninvasively and directly deliver drugs to airway surfaces. However, biopharmaceutical inhalers must ensure that the biopharmaceuticals maintain their integrity as they are subjected to several types of physicochemical stress, such as hydrolysis, ultrasound, and heating, at various stages during the process from manufacturing to administration. In this symposium, I present a novel dry powder inhaler (DPI) preparation method without heat-drying, with the goal of developing biopharmaceutical DPIs. Spray-freeze-drying is a nonthermal drying technique that produces a powder with porous shapes; this powder has suitable inhalation characteristics for DPI. A model drug, plasmid DNA (pDNA), was stably prepared as a DPI using the spray-freeze-drying process. Under dry conditions, the powders maintained high inhalation characteristics and maintained pDNA integrity for 12 months. The powder induced pDNA expression in mouse lungs that exceeded at higher levels than the solution did. This novel preparation method is suitable for DPI preparation for various drugs and may help expand the clinical application of DPIs.

SDA coefficient is temperature dependent in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss, Walbaum 1792) in a practical approach using group respirometry.

Rising global temperatures have raised the need for detailed knowledge of the effects of rising temperatures on the physiology of animals used in aquaculture. Here we used a multifactorial bioenergetic approach using groups of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) with an average single fish weight of 183.75g±0.65g to investigate the interactions of feeding and temperature with key metabolic variables. We used a recirculating aquaculture respirometry system (RARS) to test three ration sizes (0.65; 0.975; 1.3% of live body weight (BW)) over a range of three consecutive temperatures (14; 17; 20°C). The fish were fed once per day for 6days at each temperature and subsequently starved for 5days to return to standard metabolic rate (SMR). This study aimed to answer the highly discussed topic of the temperature dependency of key metabolic specific dynamic action (SDA)-variables SDAcoef and SDAdur. We were able to provide evidence, that in rainbow trout the SDAcoef is highly dependent on the environmental temperature in the first ever approach to assess these variables in a group respirometer with this species. We compared the results of this study with a sophisticated bioenergetic model by Elliot and Hurley (2002) and thereby provide evidence for the practicability of group respirometry as a method to assess bioenergetic data under culture like conditions.

A Pastoral Framework for Infidelity Counseling

Abstract Marital restoration from infidelity follows the biblical pattern of Christian discipleship, involving specific action steps and progress of insight in a relational context. The teaching of Jesus that adultery comes from the heart provides a central guiding insight for conceptualizing infidelity and marital restoration. A framework is presented for the varied helping efforts required for the spouse who was unfaithful, for the spouse who was betrayed, and for the marriage. KEYWORDS: Pastoral counseling, infidelity, adultery, affairs, marriage counseling, divorce, marital reconciliation

Shaping the subway microbiome through probiotic-based sanitation during the COVID-19 emergency: a pre–post case–control study

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the extent to which the public transportation environment, such as in subways, may be important for the transmission of potential pathogenic microbes among humans, with the possibility of rapidly impacting large numbers of people. For these reasons, sanitation procedures, including massive use of chemical disinfection, were mandatorily introduced during the emergency and remain in place. However, most chemical disinfectants have temporary action and a high environmental impact, potentially enhancing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) of the treated microbes. By contrast, a biological and eco-sustainable probiotic-based sanitation (PBS) procedure was recently shown to stably shape the microbiome of treated environments, providing effective and long-term control of pathogens and AMR spread in addition to activity against SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19. Our study aims to assess the applicability and impact of PBS compared with chemical disinfectants based on their effects on the surface microbiome of a subway environment.ResultsThe train microbiome was characterized by both culture-based and culture-independent molecular methods, including 16S rRNA NGS and real-time qPCR microarray, for profiling the train bacteriome and its resistome and to identify and quantify specific human pathogens. SARS-CoV-2 presence was also assessed in parallel using digital droplet PCR. The results showed a clear and significant decrease in bacterial and fungal pathogens (p < 0.001) as well as of SARS-CoV-2 presence (p < 0.01), in the PBS-treated train compared with the chemically disinfected control train. In addition, NGS profiling evidenced diverse clusters in the population of air vs. surface while demonstrating the specific action of PBS against pathogens rather than the entire train bacteriome.ConclusionsThe data presented here provide the first direct assessment of the impact of different sanitation procedures on the subway microbiome, allowing a better understanding of its composition and dynamics and showing that a biological sanitation approach may be highly effective in counteracting pathogens and AMR spread in our increasingly urbanized and interconnected environment.2f-kwnMvWGEoeLQ9ACdzrQVideo

A Pluralist Approach to Joint Responsibility

A Pluralist Approach to Joint Responsibility

Problems in Organisation of the Notarial, Law Enforcement and Judicial Authorities Interaction within Performing the Certain Notary Actions

Introduction . The large-scale transformations in the law enforcement and judicial system of the Russian Federation, which correlate with both political and socio-economic context, have resulted in the significant change of the role assigned to the certain legal and state institutions. Moreover, the reform of the law enforcement authorities has influenced the issues of the notary system organisation and its interaction with other law enforcement and regulatory authorities. This paper analyses various standpoints of authors and scientists on this issue, as well as regulatory legal acts directly affecting the notary. The purpose of this study is to identify the problematic aspects in interaction of the notarial, law enforcement and judicial authorities of the Russian Federation within performing the certain notary actions at the present stage of the legal system development. Materials and Methods. In the article the problems in organisation of the notarial, law enforcement and judicial authorities interaction in the Russian Federation within performing the notary actions are analysed. In the course of the research, general scientific as well as specific scientific methods were used, in particular the dialectical method of cognition, the method of cognitive analysis, the sociological method and others. Results . The activity of the notary, despite its private status, should be considered as the element affiliated with the state system. At the same time, the system of notarisation stands separately from the conventional civil-law procedures and has the state-legal status. A notary, when performing the certain notary actions, is guided by the rules of the special character and appropriate for the specific case notary action. The conclusion is made that in the frame of this process, a notary follows the rules generally applicable to all the notary actions performed. Discussion and Conclusions. The problems in organisation of the notarial, law enforcement and judicial authorities’ interaction in the Russian Federation within performing the certain notary actions have been detected, the solutions have been proposed. The legal policy objectives imply the need to improve the legal framework of notaries’ activity in terms of interaction with the law enforcement and judicial authorities. The author's main conclusions have theoretical and practical significance and potential for further research on the topic.

Hierarchical and game-theoretic decision-making for connected and automated vehicles in overtaking scenarios

This paper presents a hierarchical and game-theoretic decision-making strategy for connected and automated vehicles (CAVs). A CAV can receive preview information using vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication systems, and the optimal short- and long-term trajectory can be planned using this information. Specifically, in this study, the aggressiveness of all preceding vehicles in the car-following scenario can be estimated globally by monitoring the history of their time-series behaviors, before the CAV initiates a particular action, which is performed at the upper layer of the proposed decision-making structure. If it is determined that initiating a specific action is advantageous, the action is initiated, and the CAV then interacts with the vehicles locally to achieve its driving goal in a game-theoretical manner at the lower layer. In multiple test scenarios, we demonstrate the usefulness of our approach compared to the conventional decision-making approaches, and it shows a significant improvement in terms of success rates.