Original Theory Research Articles

Multilayered noise model for transport in complex environments.

Transport in complex fluidic environments often exhibits transient subdiffusive dynamics accompanied by non-Gaussian probability density profiles featuring a nonmonotonic non-Gaussian parameter. Such properties cannot be adequately explained by the original theory of Brownian motion. Based on an extension of kinetic theory, this study introduces a chain of hierarchically coupled random walks approach that effectively captures all these intriguing characteristics. If the environment consists of a series of independent white noise sources, then the problem can be expressed as a system of hierarchically coupled Ornstein-Uhlenbech equations. Due to the linearity of the system, the most essential transport properties have a closed analytical form.

Qualitative Restudies: Research Designs for Retheorizing

Qualitative research methods are deemed best suited to exploring novel phenomena and generating new concepts. Their potential to reevaluate existing theorizing, however, is underestimated. Qualitative restudies that return to the data and settings on which the original theories were built are a well-established tradition in other disciplines (e.g., history, sociology, and anthropology), but have received little recognition in management and organization studies. We introduce qualitative restudies as a powerful means to improve theorizing by revising or challenging theories that have become outdated or obsolete and establishing transferability and longevity of findings and interpretations. We provide a typology of qualitative restudy designs drawing on an integrative review of literature in management, strategy, and the social sciences and humanities. We highlight the main design and ethical considerations for researchers in undertaking a restudy. We argue for the strengths of restudies as lying in their possibilities for retheorizing, above and beyond verifying or updating prior studies. Restudies draw on the strengths of in-depth qualitative work to uncover how interpretations and theorizing are shaped by methodological traditions, historical contexts, existing societal structures, and researcher backgrounds.

Mysterious informative control "from above", trite selection or permanent self-organization of living matter?

How much long the human civilization exists on Earth, so much time there are practically continuous disputes between supporters of creationism and evolutionism. At that in corresponding arguments, the former usually emphasize the astonishing complexity of live systems what's deliberately thereby associated with a pretty far-fetched chance of their self-emergence. While the latter flaunt about own totally unbiased reasoning which doesn’t require introduction of additional entities.Insofar as, to a certain extent, both of them prove to be right, so having analyzed all the scientific information at our disposal, we decided that it would be correct to try anyway to combine these, at first gaze, opposite ideas into a single whole. Thus, if to resume here the most important cornerstone points on which the author relies, justifying his view over organismic evolution, then one should indicate as follows.• Conceptually quite valid possibility of significant outwardly visible changes at the level of an individual – along with a strict karyotypic constancy in all its foreseeable ancestors. • The dominant role of the factors of internal self-development and selection as the main driving arms of progress.• The complete autonomy of the above evolutionary postulates from blind mutational entropy, i.e. the obvious independence of these routes from each other.In this way, the bold original theory presented in given article is based, by and large, just on those "three pillars".

Investigation of globular cluster of irregular galaxies

The objects of study are irregular galaxies and the corresponding systems of globular clusters (GCS). The purpose of this article is to compile a list of irregular galaxies containing GCS and find a statistical relationship between the physical parameters. Additionally, let’s aim to develop a method for constructing a non-stationary theory of their origin. It is noteworthy that only a limited number of results from observational data on the study of GCS in irregular galaxies have been published before. It has been identified 23 instances of GCS around irregular galaxies through observations. Based on observational data, lists of irregular galaxies containing the GCS were compiled. Im-type irregular galaxies are found to contain the largest number of GCS. Primarily, GCS are observed in Im-, Sm-, and dIr-type galaxies. The average number of clusters is dominated by Sm-type galaxies. In addition, dwarf irregular galaxies contain few clusters, and the absolute magnitude of their parent galaxies is smaller.
 Empirical relationships between the parameters of GCS and their parent galaxies are established. A linear dependence of the logarithm of the number of globular clusters in the system on the absolute magnitude of the host galaxy has been found. The study demonstrates that as the number of globular clusters increases, the mass of the host galaxy shows a linear growth. Additionally, a potential approach to the GCS origin theory has been explored in irregular galaxies by analyzing oscillation modes against the background of the collapse model

Lauchlin Currie: Lights and Shadows in the Colombian Economy 1950-2000

Lauchlin Currie: Lights and Shadows in the Colombian Economy 1950-2000

Да цъфтят сто цветя, или за криптоморфизма

The paper discusses a possible way of justifying the existence of a multiplicity of cryptomorphic axiomatic theories. It is argued that what renders this multiplicity inevitable are the applications of the theory. They give rise to difficulties whose solution necessitates the application of different conceptual tools. The paper is organized as follows: (§1) introduces the concept of cryptomorphism and the canonic example for the phenomenon: matroid theory; (§2) discusses five cryptomorphic approaches to the definition of rationality in the framework of decision theory: through utility functions, weak orders, choice operators, layered permutations, and pop-stack sortability; (§3) shows that each of these different approaches can serve as a basis for the introduction of a different modification of the original theory. This establishes the heuristic value of cryptomorphic approaches in the domain of decision theory.

A generalized 4d Chern-Simons theory

A generalization of the 4d Chern-Simons theory action introduced by Costello and Yamazaki is presented. We apply general arguments from symplectic geometry concerning the Hamiltonian action of a symmetry group on the space of gauge connections defined on a 4d manifold and construct an action functional that is quadratic in the moment map associated to the group action. The generalization relies on the use of contact 1-forms defined on non-trivial circle bundles over Riemann surfaces and mimics closely the approach used by Beasley and Witten to reformulate conventional 3d Chern-Simons theories on Seifert manifolds. We also show that the path integral of the generalized theory associated to integrable field theories of the PCM type, takes the canonical form of a symplectic integral over a subspace of the space of gauge connections, turning it a potential candidate for using the method of non-Abelian localization. Alternatively, this new quadratic completion of the 4d Chern-Simons theory can also be deduced in an intuitive way from manipulations similar to those used in T-duality. Further details on how to recover the original 4d Chern-Simons theory data, from the point of view of the Hamiltonian formalism applied to the generalized theory, are included as well.

Endless forms of endless formation — The morphogenesis of organisms and scientific objects

The present article proceeds from the premises that living forms and abstract formalization come into being by similar mechanisms (e.g., random variation, selection, conventions) and have similar properties (e.g., semiosis, stasis and complexity). These convergences justify the comparative analysis of form's development, evolution and action in both fields. Here we shall focus on the notion of “endless forms” advanced by Darwin's seminal work in evolutionary biology “On The Origin of Species” to discuss the various ways in which it relates to biological formation. I shall explore the idea of “infinitude of evolved forms” through the lens of the five connotations of the word “endless” provided by the Merriam-Webster Thesaurus dictionary, which are: perpetual; incomputable; manifold; unfinished; steady. From each synonym chosen, a new iteration of dictionary search was made to produce a list of terms that are used in the reviewed literature to describe biological morphogenetic features, which are respectively: reproducible, unpredictable, additive, undetermined, the end of their own formation. In conclusion, I propose a tentative mapping between each of these five connotations and the biological processes at work in their making, which are, respectively: 1) copying organic information; coding organic signs; manufacturing organic meaning 2) natural variation, natural selection, natural conventions; 3) multilevel organization, differentiation/development, complexity; 4) ambiguity, degeneracy, semiotic thresholds; 5) homeostasis, autopoiesis, codepoiesis. The processes discussed here gained salience as developments, additions, or nuances to Darwin's original theory. It must be noted that, even though the discussion is mainly framed by Code Biology as a source of conceptualization, inputs from a wide range of theoretical perspectives will be given emphasis when suitable.

BONE REMODELLING PREDICTION FOR IMPROVED POROUS IMPLANT DESIGN

AbstractObjectivesYoung patients receiving metallic bone implants after surgical resection of bone cancer require implants that last into adulthood, and ideally life-long. Porous implants with similar stiffness to bone can promote bone ingrowth and thus beneficial clinical outcomes. A mechanical remodelling stimulus, strain energy density (SED), is thought to be the primary control variable of the process of bone growth into porous implants. The sequential process of bone growth needs to be taken into account to develop an accurate and validated bone remodelling algorithm, which can be employed to improve porous implant design and achieve better clinical outcomes.MethodsA bone remodelling algorithm was developed, incorporating the concept of bone connectivity (sequential growth of bone from existing bone) to make the algorithm more physiologically relevant. The algorithm includes adaptive elastic modulus based on apparent bone density, using a node-based model to simulate local remodelling variations while alleviating numerical checkerboard problems. Strain energy density (SED) incorporating stress and strain effects in all directions was used as the primary stimulus for bone remodelling. The simulations were developed to run in MATLAB interfacing with the commercial FEA software ABAQUS and Python. The algorithm was applied to predict bone ingrowth into a porous implant for comparison against data from a sheep model.ResultsThe accuracy of the predicted bone remodelling was verified for standard loading cases (bending, torsion) against analytical calculations. Good convergence was achieved. The algorithm predicted good bone remodelling and growth into the investigated porous implant. Using the standard algorithm without connectivity, bone started to remodel at locations unconnected to any bone, which is physiologically implausible. The implementation of bone connectivity ensures the gradual process of bone growth into the implant pores from the sides. The bone connectivity algorithm predicted that the full remodelling required more time (approximately 50% longer), which should be considered when developing post-surgical rehabilitation strategies for patients. Both algorithms with and without bone connectivity implementation converged to same final stiffness (less than 0.01% difference). Almost all nodes reached the same density value, with only a limited number of nodes (less than 1%) in transition areas with a strong density gradient having noticeable differences.ConclusionsAn improved bone remodelling algorithm based on strain energy density that modelled the sequential process of bone growth has been developed and tested. For a porous metallic bone implant the same final bone density distribution as for the original adaptive elasticity theory was predicted, with a slower and more fidelic process of growth from existing surrounding bone into the porous implant.Declaration of Interest(b) declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research reported:I declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project.

What Can We Learn from a Semiparametric Factor Analysis of Item Responses and Response Time? An Illustration with the PISA 2015 Data.

It is widely believed that a joint factor analysis of item responses and response time (RT) may yield more precise ability scores that are conventionally predicted from responses only. For this purpose, a simple-structure factor model is often preferred as it only requires specifying an additional measurement model for item-level RT while leaving the original item response theory (IRT) model for responses intact. The added speed factor indicated by item-level RT correlates with the ability factor in the IRT model, allowing RT data to carry additional information about respondents' ability. However, parametric simple-structure factor models are often restrictive and fit poorly to empirical data, which prompts under-confidence in the suitablity of a simple factor structure. In the present paper, we analyze the 2015 Programme for International Student Assessment mathematics data using a semiparametric simple-structure model. We conclude that a simple factor structure attains a decent fit after further parametric assumptions in the measurement model are sufficiently relaxed. Furthermore, our semiparametric model implies that the association between latent ability and speed/slowness is strong in the population, but the form of association is nonlinear. It follows that scoring based on the fitted model can substantially improve the precision of ability scores.

Epigenetically-driven persistence of inflammatory and oxidative phenotypes in adolescents born to women with gestational diabetes

Abstract Background According to the theory of developmental origins of health and disease1, environmental changes during the in-utero period can permanently affect health and vulnerability to diseases later in life. As a matter of fact, the offspring of women with gestational diabetes (GD) exhibit a higher risk for developing obesity, type 2 diabetes (T2D), and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) than those individuals with a family history of diabetes2–4. Importantly, epigenetics has emerged as a crucial determinant for this transmission across generations5–8. Mixed Lineage Leukemia 1 (MLL1) histone methyltransferase activates inflammatory and oxidative pathways through trimethylation of histone 3 at lysine 4 amino (H3K4me3)9. Purpose To investigate whether such epigenetic mark regulates genes triggering inflammation and oxidative stress in GD women, and its potential transmission and persistence in their offspring. Methods We isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), fetal cord blood mononuclear cells (CBMCs), and umbilical cord vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) from GD and control pregnant women, as well as PBMCs and plasma samples from a retrospective cohort of adolescents (12-16 years old) born to control or GD women. Gene and protein expressions were investigated by RT-PCR, immunoblotting and/or confocal microscopy. H3K4me3 levels on NF-kB p65 and NADPH oxidase isoform 4 (NOX4) promoter regions were assessed by chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and RT-PCR. Mechanistic studies were performed in control- and GD-HUVECs using the MLL1 inhibitor MM-102 to assess downstream inflammatory mediators and superoxide anion (O2-) generation by electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy. Results Our data showed upregulation of MLL1 and H3K4me3 levels in PBMCs, HUVECs, and CBMCs isolated from GD as compared to control women. ChIP analysis revealed H3K4me3 enrichment in the promoter region of the inflammatory and oxidative master regulatory genes NF-kB p65 and NOX4, respectively, in these cells. We also found an upregulation of NF-kB p65 target genes IL-6, MCP-1, ICAM-1, and VCAM-1, and increased monocyte adhesion and O2- production. The inhibition of MLL1 was able to reduce H3K4me3 levels blunting the inflammatory and oxidative phenotypes in GD-HUVECs. Interestingly enough, we demonstrated a persistent increase of H3K4me3 in the NF-kB p65 promoter region of PBMCs together with an elevation of inflammatory markers in plasma from adolescents born to GD women. Conclusions Our results suggest that GD may induce inflammation and oxidative stress through MLL1-dependent H3K4me3 mechanisms. Such epigenetic mark is transmitted to the offspring and, most importantly, can still be found in adolescence as a pro-inflammatory trigger. These findings pave the way for pharmacological reprogramming of adverse histone modifications to counteract early abnormal phenotypes in GD offspring which may accelerate ASCVD burden.

Comment on Redmayne, M.; Maisch, D.R. ICNIRP Guidelines' Exposure Assessment Method for 5G Millimetre Wave Radiation May Trigger Adverse Effects. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20, 5267.

This article discusses the contention in the commented-upon paper that Brillouin precursors generated by 5G New Radio (5G NR) and other cellular systems are a possible cause of tissue damage at deeper layers of tissue than the power penetration depth of the carrier frequency. The original theory for Brillouin precursors from pulsed radiofrequency signals (RF-EMF) and speculation about their possible health effects dates back to the 1990's and was based on studies of the propagation of very short (nanosecond) ultrawide-bandwidth RF pulses through water. This assumption is not correct for cellular telephone signals due to their narrow bandwidth. The commented-on paper provides no alternative rationale as to why Brillouin effects should cause tissue damage from RF-EMF radiation from cellular and other communications systems. Other inaccuracies in this paper concerning thermal responses of tissue to RF-EMF are also noted.

The anthropological method for diagnosing mental diseases: On the theory of time structure of Bin Kimura.

Bin Kimura (1931-2021), the Japanese anthropological psychopathologist and philosopher, attached importance to clinical impressions at psychiatric consultations in order to diagnose mental diseases precisely, and thus proposed his original theory of time structure. According to Kimura's theory of time structure, whether we live by giving weight to the past, the present, or the future can be called "time structure," and is essentially related to the way we live with others and experience the world. We can obtain some signs for diagnosing mental diseases from the viewpoint of the time structure of each patient. "Ante-festum" is the time structure in which one lives ahead to the future, and is typical of schizophrenic patients. "Post-festum" is the time structure in which one is late for oneself, and is typical of patients with endogenous depression. "Intra-festum" is the time structure in which one lives directly in the present, and is typical of patients with epilepsy or bipolar disorders. The anthropological diagnosis according to Kimura's theory of time structure could complement the operational diagnostic criteria, such as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, in daily clinical practice. For example, Kimura's theory of time structure could exercise its ability to discriminate between endogenous and neurotic depression, and between schizophrenia and other delusional psychoses. The theory of time structure and anthropological diagnosis which Bin Kimura proposed in the late 20th century can give us many hints for assessing patients with mental diseases even today.

The directional unit hydrograph model: Connecting streamflow response to storm dynamics

Storm velocity (i.e., direction and speed) and structure (i.e., shape and intensity) play a critical role in streamflow response. These characteristics determine the timing and magnitude of precipitation fluxes across the watershed that drive runoff generation and conveyance along the river network. While previous efforts have used spatially explicit hydrologic models to assess the role of storm properties in streamflow magnitude, their computational demand significantly limits the range of scenarios that can be explored, hindering our ability to systematically identify critical conditions leading to extreme events. To address this technical gap, we introduce the Directional Unit Hydrograph (Directional-UH) model, a parsimonious approach based on the classic theory of the Unit Hydrograph. The Directional-UH extends the original theory by relaxing the assumption of spatial uniform rainfall and incorporating storm direction and speed into the unit hydrograph function. The model conceptualizes storms as rectangular structures with constant intensity moving along a linear trajectory with constant speed. We verify and validate our conceptualization by comparing with simulations, based on observations of extreme rainfall events, of the distributed hydrological model Hillslope-Link-Model (HLM) in the Turkey River basin in Iowa, USA. Then, the Turkey River basin is used as a testbed to illustrate three practical applications of the Directional-UH model. First, we identify the storm trajectory that produces the highest peak flow response. Second, we determine the storm characteristics that maximize the peak flow response by synchronizing storm motion and flood wave; we refer to this as the resonance condition. Third, we systematically explore the compounding effects of consecutive storm events with different trajectories to identify critical combinations that exacerbate the peak flow magnitude. The results on our testbed demonstrate that storm velocity has the potential to increase by a factor of two the peak flow magnitude when compared to stationary storm events. Overall, the parsimonious nature of the Directional-UH model offers a unique and valuable tool for modeling, predicting, and interpreting rainfall-runoff dynamics through the lens of storm direction, speed, and structure.

A Review of Organic Dye Based Nanoparticles: Preparation, Properties, and Engineering/Technical Applications

Abstract: Organic dye-based nanoparticles (ODNPs) are fabricated with desired morphologies using laser ablation, reprecipitation, ion association, and self-assembly methods. Primitively, this review introduces the theory of the molecular origins of dye aggregation, manifestations of the formations of monomer to J-dimer, H-dimer, and oblique dimer (mixed J and H dimer) in ODNPs. Although, organic dye nanoparticles have better basic properties than their monomer counterparts. These nanoparticles are suitable candidates for many engineering and technical applications. Furthermore, we have discussed OLEDs, optoelectronics, sensing, environmental, light-harvesting antennas, cryptography, and biomedical imaging applications. The conclusion made from the critical review analysis opens up a new horizon for the future development of ODNPs applications.

FLPR model: Nilpotent (anti-)co-BRST symmetries

We demonstrate the existence of a set of novel off-shell nilpotent and absolutely anticommuting continuous symmetry transformations, within the framework of the Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin (BRST) formalism, which are over and above the usual off-shell nilpotent and absolutely anticommuting (anti-)BRST transformations that are respected by the quantum version of the classical first-order Lagrangian for the Friedberg-Lee-Pang-Ren (FLPR) model that describes the motion of a single non-relativistic particle of unit mass (moving under the influence of a general rotationally invariant spatial two-dimensional potential). We christen these novel set of fermionic transformations as the (anti-)co-BRST transformations because the gauge-fixing terms remain invariant under them. We derive the conserved and off-shell nilpotent (anti-)BRST and (anti-)co-BRST charges and comment on the physicality criteria with respect to them where we establish the presence of the operator forms of the first-class constraints (of the original classical gauge theory) at the quantum level which is consistent with the Dirac-quantization conditions.

A modified buckling analysis of slender pretwisted bars

Some seventy years ago the so-called “helical fiber model” was proposed to address existing discrepancies between experimental observations and theoretical predictions for pretwisted bars. The discrepancies concerned effects the pretwist had on bending and torsional behavior of such bars, but the same model was later used to show that the previously used theory is also likely to provide unconservative (thus unsafe) estimates of their buckling loads. In spite of the theoretical and practical significance of that finding the “helical fiber model” was deemed too approximate, intuitive and, ultimately, it seems to have been abandoned. As far as buckling is concerned, all publications of the last several decades appear to be based on the original theory that was earlier shown to possibly significantly overestimate the buckling load for pretwisted bars. Thus, in this work the problem of pretwisted bars’ buckling is revisited. As most formulations of the problem, the proposed approach is approximate but, as much as possible, it is justified using established principles of mechanics. In particular, two-field Hellinger-Reissner mixed method is used to define axial and bending stiffness of pretwisted bars, with special attention paid to the definition of the stress field. Although the developments presented in this work follow a different path, the main features of the final model are similar to those of the “helical fiber model” introduced much earlier. However, the proposed formulation affords some additional flexibility in the way it may be used. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate effects of the discussed developments.

The Moon-Forming Impact and the Autotrophic Origin of Life.

The Moon-forming impact vaporized part of Earth's mantle, and turned the rest into a magma ocean, from which carbon dioxide degassed into the atmosphere, where it stayed until water rained out to form the oceans. The rain dissolved CO2 and made it available to react with transition metal catalysts in the Earth's crust so as to ultimately generate the organic compounds that form the backbone of microbial metabolism. The Moon-forming impact was key in building a planet with the capacity to generate life in that it converted carbon on Earth into a homogeneous and accessible substrate for organic synthesis. Today all ecosystems, without exception, depend upon primary producers, organisms that fix CO2 . According to theories of autotrophic origin, it has always been that way, because autotrophic theories posit that the first forms of life generated all the molecules needed to build a cell from CO2 , forging a direct line of continuity between Earth's initial CO2 -rich atmosphere and the first microorganisms. By modern accounts these were chemolithoautotrophic archaea and bacteria that initially colonized the crust and still inhabit that environment today.

A criticism of Bernheim & Sprenger's (2020) tests of rank dependence

Bernheim and Sprenger (2020, Econometrica; SB) claimed to experimentally falsify rank dependence in prospect theory. This paper criticizes SB's results and novelty claims. Their experiments only captured well-known heuristics and not genuine preferences. Many falsifications of rank dependence have been made before, and SB's equalizing reductions have also been used before. SB thought to identify probability weighting and utility where they are unidentifiable, invalidating all SB's related claims. SB used an incorrect formula of original prospect theory. Their suggested alternative of rank-independent probability weighting with dependence on the number of outcomes (their “complexity aversion;” a misnomer) has long been discarded.

Extrauterine adenomyomas managed by laparoscopic excision: Three case reports with different theories of origin

Extrauterine adenomyomas managed by laparoscopic excision: Three case reports with different theories of origin