Unexpected Influence Research Articles

From double to dependent marking? An investigation of possessive constructions in Caucasian Urum

AbstractSpeakers of the Turkic variety Caucasian Urum use different strategies for morphologically marking attributive possessive relations. This article presents the results of an experimental study conducted in Tbilisi with the aim of revealing if speakers systematically differentiate in their use of possession markers, and if so, if this is influenced by internal factors such asalienabilityof the word andcomplexityof the phrase. Furthermore, the speakers’ ages were taken into account. Results showed that in possessive constructions, it is especially the head-marking possessive suffix that is occasionally omitted. Post-hoc analysis showed the unexpected influence ofalienabilityon single NP’s possessive marking, even in non-possessive constructions. The results lead to the assumption that the process of constructing possessive phrases is highly influenced by the contact language, Russian.

Evaluation of the in vitro growth of urinary tract infection-causing gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria in a proposed synthetic human urine (SHU) medium

Bacteriuria is a hallmark of urinary tract infection (UTI) and asymptomatic bacteriuria (ABU), which are among the most frequent infections in humans. A variety of gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria are associated with these infections but Escherichia coli contributes up to 80% of cases. Multiple bacterial species including E. coli can grow in human urine as a means to maintain colonization during infections. In vitro bacteriuria studies aimed at modeling microbial growth in urine have utilized various compositions of synthetic human urine (SHU) and a Composite SHU formulation was recently proposed. In this study, we sought to validate the recently proposed Composite SHU as a medium that supports the growth of several bacterial species that are known to grow in normal human urine and/or artificial urine. Comparative growth assays of gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria E. coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus mirabilis, Streptococcus agalactiae, Staphylococcus saprophyticus and Enterococcus faecalis were undertaken using viable bacterial count and optical density measurements over a 48h culture period. Three different SHU formulations were tested in various culture vessels, shaking conditions and volumes and showed that Composite SHU can support the robust growth of gram-negative bacteria but requires supplementation with 0.2% yeast extract to support the growth of gram-positive bacteria. Experiments are also presented that show an unexpected but major influence of P. mirabilis towards the ability to measure bacterial growth in generally accepted multiwell assays using absorbance readings, predicted to have a basis in the release of volatile organic compound(s) from P. mirabilis during growth in Composite SHU medium. This study represents an essential methodological validation of a more chemically defined type of synthetic urine that can be applied to study mechanisms of bacteriuria and we conclude will offer a useful in vitro model to investigate the basis of some of the most common infections of humans.

Measurement of intrinsic rise times for various L(Y)SO and LuAG scintillators with a general study of prompt photons to achieve 10 ps in TOF-PET

The coincidence time resolution (CTR) of scintillator based detectors commonly used in positron emission tomography is well known to be dependent on the scintillation decay time () and the number of photons detected (), i.e. . However, it is still an open question to what extent the scintillation rise time () and other fast or prompt photons, e.g. Cherenkov photons, at the beginning of the scintillation process influence the CTR. This paper presents measurements of the scintillation emission rate for different LSO type crystals, i.e. LSO:Ce, LYSO:Ce, LSO:Ce codoped Ca and LGSO:Ce. For the various LSO-type samples measured we find an average value of 70 ps for the scintillation rise time, although some crystals like LSO:Ce codoped Ca seem to have a much faster rise time in the order of 20 ps. Additional measurements for LuAG:Ce and LuAG:Pr show a rise time of 535 ps and 251 ps, respectively. For these crystals, prompt photons (Cherenkov) can be observed at the beginning of the scintillation event. Furthermore a significantly lower rise time value is observed when codoping with calcium. To quantitatively investigate the influence of the rise time to the time resolution we measured the CTR with the same L(Y)SO samples and compared the values to Monte Carlo simulations. Using the measured relative light yields, rise- and decay times of the scintillators we are able to quantitatively understand the measured CTRs in our simulations. Although the rise time is important to fully explain the CTR variation for the different samples tested we determined its influence on the CTR to be in the order of a few percent only. This result is surprising because, if only photonstatistics of the scintillation process is considered, the CTR would be proportional to the square root of the rise time. The unexpected small rise time influence on the CTR can be explained by the convolution of the scintillation rate with the single photon time resolution (SPTR) of the photodetector and the photon travel spread (PTS) in the crystal. The timing benefits of prompt photons at the beginning of the scintillation process (Cherenkov etc) are further studied, which leads to the conclusion that the scintillation rise time, SPTR and PTS have to be lowered simultaneously to fully profit from these fast photons in order to improve the CTR significantly.

Divergent Reactivity via Cobalt Catalysis: An Epoxide Olefination.

Cobalt salts exert an unexpected and profound influence on the reactivity of epoxides with dimethylsulfoxonium methylide. In the presence of a cobalt catalyst, conditions for epoxide to an oxetane ring expansion instead deliver homoallylic alcohol products, corresponding to a two-carbon epoxide homologation/ring-opening tandem process. The observed reactivity change appears to be specifically due to cobalt salts and is broadly applicable to a variety of epoxides, retaining the initial stereochemistry. This transformation also provides operationally simple access to enantiopure homoallylic alcohols from chiral epoxides without use of organometallic reagents. Tandem epoxidation-homologation of aldehydes in a single step is also demonstrated.

Male Peer Support to Hostile Sexist Attitudes Influences Rape Proclivity.

Sexual assault affects a large proportion of women in the world. Although most rapes are committed by one man, the act itself may be influenced by many (e.g., the peer group). Hostile sexism (HS) has repeatedly been associated with men's rape proclivity, but the influence exerted by the HS of the peer group on rape proclivity has not been investigated. In this study, we explored the impact of perceived male peer support to HS on participants' rape proclivity. A sample of Spanish undergraduate students from a university in the south of Spain ( N = 134) completed the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory. Immediately afterwards, they received feedback on the supposed sexist responses of a peer group (high vs. low in HS); we kept the benevolent sexism (BS) of the peer group at medium levels. Next, we assessed participants' rape proclivity using acquaintance rape scenarios. Results showed an interaction between participants' own levels of HS and information about the HS of the peer group. Men high in HS reported higher rape proclivity in the high-HS peer-group condition than in the low-HS peer-group condition. By contrast, information on the peer group did not affect self-reported rape proclivity of men low in HS. Results also corroborated the relationship between participants' levels of HS and rape proclivity, and expanded the literature by revealing an unexpected influence of participants' BS on rape proclivity.

The Transmission Effects of the U.S. Monetary Policy Shocks in the Korean Output and Trade: A SVAR Approach

This paper estimates the bilateral trade balance and real output growth rate in Korea to identify the transmission effects of the U.S. monetary policy shocks and then presents a statistical decomposition of the rate through a structural VAR using monthly data from January 1999 to December 2014. Results showed that the Korean trade balance is negatively affected by the U.S. monetary shocks through the exchange rate channel because of the most direct policy transmission channels is the international capital flows and exchange rate in the short-term. On the other hand, domestic real output is positively affected by the external monetary policy shocks over time. Thus the estimations of the trade balance and output growth in Korea suggest that, over the sample period, real economy in the small open economy influenced by the monetary policy shocks in the large country such as the U.S. Therefore, it is important to respond appropriately to changes in exchange rates in order to reduce unexpected negative influence from the external shocks.

Synthesis and Cytotoxicity of 28a‐Homothiolupanes and 28a‐Homothiolupane Saponins

AbstractA concise synthesis of 28a‐homo‐28a‐thiolupane triterpenes and the corresponding saponins containing D‐mannose, D‐idose, L‐arabinose and L‐rhamnose moieties was elaborated. New triterpenes were obtained from readily available 3‐O‐allylbetulinal by elongation of the carbon chain by Wittig reaction, followed by hydrolysis of the enol ether, reduction of the elongated aldehyde and nucleophilic substitution of the corresponding mesylate with thiocyanate ion. Saponins were obtained by glycosylation of triterpenes with classical Schmidt donors. The cytotoxic activities of the new homothiolupane compounds were evaluated in vitro, revealing that some triterpenes and the corresponding saponins exhibited interesting cytotoxic activity profiles against human cancer cell lines. An unexpected influence of the allyl protecting group on the cytotoxicity of homothiobetulin derivatives was revealed. These results open the way to the synthesis of various lupane‐type derivatives containing sulfur in the lupane side chain as potential anticancer compounds.

Large-time and small-ball asymptotics for quadratic functionals of Gaussian diffusions

Using asymptotic analysis of the Laplace transform, we establish almost sure divergence of certain integrals and derive logarithmic asymptotic of small ball probabilities for quadratic forms of Gaussian diffusion processes. The large time behavior of the quadratic forms exhibits little dependence on the drift and diffusion matrices or the initial conditions, and, if the noise driving the equation is not degenerate, then similar universality also holds for small ball probabilities. On the other hand, degenerate noise leads to a variety of different asymptotics of small ball probabilities, including unexpected influence of the initial conditions.

An unexpected negative influence of light intensity on hydrogen production by dark fermentative bacteria Clostridium beijerinckii

The role of light intensity on biohydrogen production from glucose by Clostridium beijerinckii, Clostridium acetobutylicum, and Rhodobacter sphaeroides was studied to evaluate the performance and possible application in co-culture fermentation system. The applied source of light had spectrum similar to the solar radiation. The influence of light intensity on hydrogen production in dark process by C. acetobutylicum was negligible. In contrast, dark fermentation by C. beijerinckii bacteria showed a significant decrease (83%) in produced hydrogen at light intensity of 540W/m2. Here, the redirection of metabolism from acetic and butyric acid formation towards lactic acid was observed. This not yet reported effect was probably caused by irradiation of these bacteria by light within UVA range, which is an important component of the solar radiation. The excessive illumination with light of intensity higher than 200W/m2 resulted in decrease in hydrogen production with photofermentative bacteria as well.

The Unexpected Influence of Precursor Conversion Rate in the Synthesis of III-V Quantum Dots.

Control of quantum dot (QD) precursor chemistry has been expected to help improve the size control and uniformity of III-V QDs such as indium phosphide and indium arsenide. Indeed, experimental results for other QD systems are consistent with the theoretical prediction that the rate of precursor conversion is an important factor controlling QD size and size distribution. We synthesized and characterized the reactivity of a variety of group-V precursors in order to determine if precursor chemistry could be used to improve the quality of III-V QDs. Despite slowing down precursor conversion rate by multiple orders of magnitude, the less reactive precursors do not yield the expected increase in size and improvement in size distribution. This result disproves the widely accepted explanation for the shortcoming of current III-V QD syntheses and points to the need for a new generalizable theoretical picture for the mechanism of QD formation and growth.

The Unexpected Influence of Precursor Conversion Rate in the Synthesis of III–V Quantum Dots

AbstractControl of quantum dot (QD) precursor chemistry has been expected to help improve the size control and uniformity of III–V QDs such as indium phosphide and indium arsenide. Indeed, experimental results for other QD systems are consistent with the theoretical prediction that the rate of precursor conversion is an important factor controlling QD size and size distribution. We synthesized and characterized the reactivity of a variety of group‐V precursors in order to determine if precursor chemistry could be used to improve the quality of III–V QDs. Despite slowing down precursor conversion rate by multiple orders of magnitude, the less reactive precursors do not yield the expected increase in size and improvement in size distribution. This result disproves the widely accepted explanation for the shortcoming of current III–V QD syntheses and points to the need for a new generalizable theoretical picture for the mechanism of QD formation and growth.

Convection and fluidization in oscillatory granular flows: The role of acoustic streaming.

Convection and fluidization phenomena in vibrated granular beds have attracted a strong interest from the physics community since the last decade of the past century. As early reported by Faraday, the convective flow of large inertia particles in vibrated beds exhibits enigmatic features such as frictional weakening and the unexpected influence of the interstitial gas. At sufficiently intense vibration intensities surface patterns appear bearing a stunning resemblance with the surface ripples (Faraday waves) observed for low-viscosity liquids, which suggests that the granular bed transits into a liquid-like fluidization regime despite the large inertia of the particles. In his 1831 seminal paper, Faraday described also the development of circulation air currents in the vicinity of vibrating plates. This phenomenon (acoustic streaming) is well known in acoustics and hydrodynamics and occurs whenever energy is dissipated by viscous losses at any oscillating boundary. The main argument of the present paper is that acoustic streaming might develop on the surface of the large inertia particles in the vibrated granular bed. As a consequence, the drag force on the particles subjected to an oscillatory viscous flow is notably enhanced. Thus, acoustic streaming could play an important role in enhancing convection and fluidization of vibrated granular beds, which has been overlooked in previous studies. The same mechanism might be relevant to geological events such as fluidization of landslides and soil liquefaction by earthquakes and sound waves.

Bouba-Kiki in the plate: combining crossmodal correspondences to change flavour experience

While recent studies demonstrate the unexpected influence of plate shape and abstract names on the taste and flavour of foods, it is still challenging to derive more specific rules about how to use verbal and visual presentation to affect the experience of a complex dish. In the present study, we paired with the Experimental Kitchen at The Fat Duck to manipulate both plate shape and serving presentation of a complex dish and to investigate the relative contributions and interaction of these two factors on the naming and sensory evaluation of the food. The results confirm that certain visual presentations of food, but not plate shape, were associated with unfamiliar names if they respected sound symbolic associations. By contrast, the change in the perceived sweetness of the dishes was driven by the interaction between the shape of the plate and the presentation of the dish. The study therefore allows us to disentangle the effects of plate shape and dish presentation on the diner’s expectations and experience and shows how fundamental research on crossmodal effects can inform the creative process in the kitchen.

Direct carbon coating at high temperature on LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 cathode: Unexpected influence on crystal structure and electrochemical performances

Carbon coated LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4/C composite has been directly synthesized at 800 °C without using reducing gas or introducing additional low temperature treatments. Scanning/transmission electron microscope (S/TEM) observation shows clear coating layer on the particle's surface, which has been verified by Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDX), Raman spectra and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET); and the results indicate the coating layer is amorphous carbon which significantly increases the BET surface area, and the carbon content is around 0.6 wt%. Unlike conventional low temperature coating process, the high temperature carbon coating process puts significant influence on the crystal structure in terms of degree of cation ordering and Mn3+ concentration. The LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4/C exhibits improved rate capability, smaller polarization and better cyclic performances at high rates. These improvements can be attributed to the conductive carbon layer with better chemical stability, as well as the smaller concentration of Mn3+ resulted from the high temperature coating process.

Treatment decisional regret among men with prostate cancer: Racial differences and influential factors in the North Carolina Health Access and Prostate Cancer Treatment Project (HCaP-NC).

It has been demonstrated that treatment decisional regret affects quality of life in patients with prostate cancer (CaP); however, there are limited studies that identify factors associated with treatment decisional regret, particularly within a racially diverse patient population that has extended follow-up. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine associations between decisional regret and potential predictors in a population-based cohort of 348 African American men and 446 Caucasian American men approximately 3 years after CaP diagnosis. Of 794 research participants, 12% experienced treatment decisional regret. Decisional regret was associated with androgen-deprivation therapy (odds ratio [OR], 2.1; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1-4.0), recent urinary bother (OR, 3.4; 95% CI, 1.6-7.3), satisfaction with understanding potential treatment side effects (very unsatisfied: OR, 13.3; 95% CI, 5.5-32.2; somewhat unsatisfied: OR, 5.0; 95% CI, 2.3-11.2; neutral: OR, 3.8; 95% CI, 1.9-7.6), and CaP treatment effect on the spousal relationship (very affected: OR, 3.9; 95% CI, 2.0-7.6; somewhat affected: OR, 3.1; 95% CI, 1.4-7.3; neutral: OR, 2.4; 95% CI, 1.9-7.6). Younger African Americans were more likely to experience regret than older African Americans (OR, 3.0; 95% CI, 1.1-8.1), and older African Americans were less likely to experience regret than older Caucasian Americans (OR, 0.2; 95% CI, 0.1-0.7). Treatment decisional regret remains an important issue in CaP survivors beyond initial treatment. Potential interventions should involve younger African Americans and patient spouses. Increased regret may reflect the unexpected influence of treatment side effects on the patient's everyday life; helping the patient relate potential side effects to his individual situation could improve patient satisfaction.

The unexpected influence of aryl substituents in N-aryl-3-oxobutanamides on the behavior of their multicomponent reactions with 5-amino-3-methylisoxazole and salicylaldehyde.

The switchable three-component reactions of 5-amino-3-methylisoxazole, salicylaldehyde and N-aryl-3-oxobutanamides under different conditions were studied and discussed. The unexpected influence of the aryl substituent in N-aryl-3-oxobutanamides on the behavior of the reaction was discovered. The key influence of ultrasonication and Lewis acid catalysts led to an established protocol to selectively obtain two or three types of heterocyclic scaffolds depending on the substituent in the N-aryl moiety.

Environmental enrichment: Evidence for an unexpected therapeutic influence

Environmental enrichment produces wide-ranging effects in the brain at molecular, cellular, network, and behavioral levels. The changes in neuronal plasticity are driven by changes in neurotransmitters, neurotrophic factors, neuronal morphology, neurogenesis, network properties of the brain, and behavioral correlates of learning and memory. Exposure to an enriched environment has also demonstrated intriguing possibilities for treatment of a variety of neurodegenerative diseases including Huntington's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease. The effect of environmental enrichment in epilepsy, a neurodegenerative disorder with pathological neuronal plasticity, is of considerable interest. Recent reports of the effect of environmental enrichment in the Bassoon mutant mouse, a genetic model of early onset epilepsy, provides a significant addition to the literature in this area.

Revealing molecular mechanisms by integrating high-dimensional functional screens with protein interaction data.

Functional genomics screens using multi-parametric assays are powerful approaches for identifying genes involved in particular cellular processes. However, they suffer from problems like noise, and often provide little insight into molecular mechanisms. A bottleneck for addressing these issues is the lack of computational methods for the systematic integration of multi-parametric phenotypic datasets with molecular interactions. Here, we present Integrative Multi Profile Analysis of Cellular Traits (IMPACT). The main goal of IMPACT is to identify the most consistent phenotypic profile among interacting genes. This approach utilizes two types of external information: sets of related genes (IMPACT-sets) and network information (IMPACT-modules). Based on the notion that interacting genes are more likely to be involved in similar functions than non-interacting genes, this data is used as a prior to inform the filtering of phenotypic profiles that are similar among interacting genes. IMPACT-sets selects the most frequent profile among a set of related genes. IMPACT-modules identifies sub-networks containing genes with similar phenotype profiles. The statistical significance of these selections is subsequently quantified via permutations of the data. IMPACT (1) handles multiple profiles per gene, (2) rescues genes with weak phenotypes and (3) accounts for multiple biases e.g. caused by the network topology. Application to a genome-wide RNAi screen on endocytosis showed that IMPACT improved the recovery of known endocytosis-related genes, decreased off-target effects, and detected consistent phenotypes. Those findings were confirmed by rescreening 468 genes. Additionally we validated an unexpected influence of the IGF-receptor on EGF-endocytosis. IMPACT facilitates the selection of high-quality phenotypic profiles using different types of independent information, thereby supporting the molecular interpretation of functional screens.

Encoding of Temporal Signals by the TGF-β Pathway and Implications for Embryonic Patterning

Genetics and biochemistry have defined the components and wiring of the signaling pathways that pattern the embryo. Among them, the transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) pathway has the potential to behave as a morphogen: invitro experiments established that it can dictate cell fate in a concentration-dependent manner. How morphogens convey positional information in a developing embryo, when signal levels change with time, is less understood. Using integrated microfluidic cell culture and time-lapse microscopy, we demonstrate here that the speed of ligand presentation has a key and previously unexpected influence on TGF-β signaling outcomes. The response to a TGF-β concentration step is transient and adaptive: slowly increasing the ligand concentration diminishes the response, and well-spaced pulses of ligand combine additively, resulting in greater pathway output than with constant stimulation. Our results suggest that in an embryonic context, the speed of change of ligand concentration is an instructive signal for patterning.

Competitive diffusion in online social networks with heterogeneous users

Online social networks have attracted increasing attention since they provide various approaches for hundreds of millions of people to stay connected with their friends. However, most research on diffusion dynamics in epidemiology cannot be applied directly to characterize online social networks, where users are heterogeneous and may act differently according to their standpoints. In this paper, we propose models to characterize the competitive diffusion in online social networks with heterogeneous users. We classify messages into two types (i.e., positive and negative) and users into three types (i.e., positive, negative and neutral). We estimate the positive (negative) influence for a user generating a given type message, which is the number of times that positive (negative) messages are processed (i.e., read) incurred by this action. We then consider the diffusion threshold, above which the corresponding influence will approach infinity, and the effect threshold, above which the unexpected influence of generating a message will exceed the expected one. We verify all these results by simulations, which show the analysis results are perfectly consistent with the simulation results. These results are of importance in understanding the diffusion dynamics in online social networks, and also critical for advertisers in viral marketing where there are fans, haters and neutrals.