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How should consumers sequence the different stimuli they consume: cluster each stimulus together, or intermix them to break things up? Surprisingly, prior literature has provided little insight into this question, even though consumers face it on a regular basis. We propose that clustering each stimulus type together can prolong enjoyment (vs. intermixing the types). Six studies confirm that clustering slows hedonic decline, and process evidence shows this happens because clustering leads people to attend more to the different details offered by a stimulus during repeated exposures. We also establish two boundary conditions for this effect: clustering does not slow hedonic decline in the presence of regular intervening distractions, or for impoverished stimuli lacking rich details. The present work is among the first to examine the interplay of consumption sequence and hedonic decline, and the findings provide consumers and firms with practical guidance on how to consider sequencing experiences to enjoy them longer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on associative learning suggests that marketers can enhance consumer attitudes by repeatedly pairing their brands with pleasant or "positively-valenced" stimuli (e.g. attractive models, babies, cute animals) rather than unpleasant or "negatively-valenced" stimuli (e.g. garbage cans and disgusting insects)—an evaluative conditioning effect also known as affect transfer. In this research, we combine the associative learning and the goal pursuit literatures to show that the influence of affect transfer on brands depends on the mindset that is active at the time of judgment. Four experiments and one field study uniquely demonstrate that negatively-valenced brand pairings may become desirable when consumers have an instrumentality mindset, which increases attention to the instrumentality, or effectiveness, of a given consumption behavior. This pattern of results occurs due to a bidirectional association between unpleasantness and instrumentality, making a brand with negative associations seem more effective. Results are robust across contexts (health, entertainment, news) and persist regardless of whether the (un)pleasant images are within or adjacent to the advertisement. The effect attenuates when consumers have a weaker association between unpleasantness and instrumentality, and reverses when consumers are cued to focus on favorability (vs. instrumentality). Contributions and implications for associative learning and brand management are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantifying leaf photosynthetic response to nitrogen (N) deposition under contrasting water conditions is important for reliably modelling terrestrial carbon and water cycles, a topic that has not been well understood. Here, we analysed 737‐paired observations from 102 publications to assess the response of 11 leaf photosynthesis‐related properties to N addition under different water conditions. Our research includes global experiments, with 19 conducted in the field and 83 in greenhouses. Treatments without water reduction were classified as ‘no water change’, while those with reduced water or precipitation causing physiological drought were categorized as ‘drought’. We found that, compared to the control group, N addition significantly increased leaf photosynthetic rate (Pn; 20.9%), leaf transpiration (E; 8.3%) and stomatal conductance (gs; 14.1%). However, the decrease in Pn (−11.6%), E (−24.7%) and gs (−23.9%) under the combination of N addition and drought indicated that N addition could not offset the negative effects of drought. Furthermore, N addition significantly enhanced water‐use efficiency (WUE) by 19.8% under no water change conditions and by 21.1% under drought conditions. Within plant functional groups, herbaceous species exhibited greater susceptibility to N addition than woody species, especially under drought conditions. The observed patterns of increase in Pn with longer experimental duration and WUE with higher N rate under drought conditions showed that plants would gradually adapt to long‐term water stress in the context of N deposition. Furthermore, our results showed that drought could strengthen the correlations between leaf photosynthetic properties. Lastly, our study demonstrated that N addition and drought significantly impacted leaf nitrogen content and SPAD, respectively, and further affected gs, Pn and WUE. Synthesis. Our results emphasize the crucial role of water conditions in shaping the response of leaf photosynthesis to nitrogen (N) enrichment and also acknowledge the significance of leaf functional traits in regulating the dynamics of leaf photosynthetic processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microglia are highly dynamic cells that have been mainly studied under pathological conditions. The present review discusses the possible implication of microglia as modulators of neuronal electrical responses in physiological conditions and hypothesizes how these cells might modulate hypothalamic circuits in health and during obesity. Microglial cells studied under physiological conditions are highly diverse, depending on the developmental stage and brain region. The evidence also suggests that neuronal electrical activity modulates microglial motility to control neuronal excitability. Additionally, we show that the expression of genes associated with neuronmicroglia interaction is down-regulated in obese mice compared to control-fed mice, suggesting an alteration in the contact-dependent mechanisms that sustain hypothalamic arcuate-median eminence neuronal function. We also discuss the possible implication of microglial-derived signals for the excitability of hypothalamic neurons during homeostasis and obesity. This review emphasizes the importance of studying the physiological interplay between microglia and neurons to maintain proper neuronal circuit function. It aims to elucidate how disruptions in the normal activities of microglia can adversely affect neuronal health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research, stir casting was used to create the aluminium alloy (AA7075) composite filled with 10wt.% zirconia (ZrO2) particles as reinforcement. Die sinking electric discharge machining (EDM) was used to examine the machining characteristics of the proposed composite. The machining experiments were executed in accordance with the L9 orthogonal layout. Here, the material removal rate (MRR) and surface roughness (SR) were taken into account as the output responses, and the discharge current (Ip), pulse on-time (Ton), and pulse off-time (Toff) were taken as the machining parameters. To determine the optimal parameter conditions for the output responses, the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) approach was applied. According to the experimental findings, the optimum settings of the parameters are determined at 15amps of ‘Ip’, 750μs of ‘Ton’ and 50μs of ‘Toff’. ANOVA results stated that ‘Ton’ has the most notable factor with a contribution of 90.85%. The interaction effect of parameters on the responses was shown by the contour plots. The confirmatory experiment was finally conducted at the optimum machining parameter settings, and it was found that the error only occurred in 8.4%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Survival relies on an organism's intrinsic ability to instinctively react to stimuli such as food, water, and threats, ensuring the fundamental ability to feed, drink, and avoid danger even in the absence of prior experience. These natural, unconditioned stimuli can also facilitate associative learning, where pairing them consistently with neutral cues will elicit responses to these cues. Threat conditioning, a well-explored form of associative learning, commonly employs painful electric shocks, mimicking injury, as unconditioned stimuli. It remains elusive whether actual injury or pain is necessary for effective learning, or whether the threat of harm is sufficient. Approaching predators create looming shadows and sounds, triggering strong innate defensive responses like escape and freezing. This study investigates whether visual looming stimuli can induce learned freezing or learned escape responses to a conditioned stimulus in male rats. Surprisingly, pairing a neutral tone with a looming stimulus only weakly evokes learned defensive responses, in contrast to the strong responses observed when the looming stimulus is replaced by a shock. This dissociation sheds light on the boundaries for learned defensive responses thereby impacting our comprehension of learning processes and defensive strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The flowers and stems of Rhubarb (Rheum ribes L.) are known to contain effective antioxidant compounds that have potential antidiarrheal properties in traditional medicine. This study was conducted to screen various genotypes of Rhubarb for their phytochemical and antioxidant activity and optimize the extraction parameters using the response surface methodology (RSM). The study found high diversity among the different genotypes (G1–G13) in terms of their flowers and stems. The total phenolic content (TPC) in the flowers of R. ribes varied significantly, showing values between 9.80 and 81.53 mg GAE g–1 DW. In the stems, TPC ranged from 2.87 to 16.33 mg GAE g−1 DW. Similarly, the total flavonoid content (TFC) in the flowers ranged from 0.33 to 1.32 mg Qu g−1 DW, while in the stems, it was between 0.05 and 0.38 mg Qu g−1 DW. The antioxidant activity, indicated as µmol Fe2+ g–1 DW, varied from 7.42 to 59.87 in the flowers and from 0.14 to 15.99 in the stems. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) identified five distinct clusters among the collected genotypes. Subsequent analysis of variance and principal components analysis (PCA) revealed that the flowers of G8 (G8F) from Tehran to Lavasan exhibited the highest total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), and antioxidant activity (FRAP). Given these findings, G8F was chosen for further optimization in the study. The RSM was designed based on a Box–Behnken design (BBD) to determine the optimal extraction conditions, including extraction temperature (30–80 °C), extraction time (5–15 min), and ethanol concentration (25–75%, ethanol to water, v/v). The responses measured were total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), total anthocyanin content (TAC), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging, and Ferric reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP) assays. The optimal extraction conditions for all responses or desirability indices were X1: 80 °C, X2: 15 min, and X3: 53.14%, which resulted in TPC (99.32 mg GAE.g−1 DW), TFC (3.00 mg Qu.g−1 DW), TAC (1.12 mg cyanidin-3-glucoside (Cy-g) g−1 DW), FRAP (110.22 µmol Fe+2/g DW), and DPPHsc (88.20%). The R2 values (0.91–0.99) indicated that the RSM models were acceptable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extinction, the repeated presentation of a conditional stimulus (CS) without the unconditional stimulus (US), is the standard paradigm to reduce conditional responding acquired by the repeated pairing of CS and US in acquisition. However, this reduction of conditional responding is prone to relapse. In rodent fear‐conditioning, gradual extinction, the fading out of CS‐US pairings during extinction, has been shown to reduce the return of fear. The current study replicated the gradual extinction procedure in human fear conditioning and assessed whether it reduced the return of fear due to ABA renewal and reacquisition. During extinction, one group received standard extinction, a second received gradual extinction (increasing the spacing of USs presented after the 1st, 3rd, 6th, 10th, and 15th CS+ trials), and a third received reversed extinction training (decreasing the spacing of USs presented after the 1st, 6th, 10th, 13th, and 15th CS+ trials). Larger renewal and faster reacquisition of differential electrodermal responses to CS+ and CS− were expected after standard and reversed extinction than after gradual extinction training. The results were inconclusive due to the failure to find extinction of differential electrodermal responses and US expectancy ratings in both gradual and reversed extinction groups. Despite successful extinction in group standard, renewal was only observed in US expectancy. Visualization of US expectancy ratings during extinction suggested that potential identification of the US presentation patterns during extinction in the gradual and reversed groups delayed extinction learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineered heart tissues (EHTs) generated from human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) represent powerful platforms for human cardiac research, especially in drug testing and disease modeling. Here, we report a flexible, three-dimensional electronic framework that enables real-time, spatiotemporal analysis of electrophysiologic and mechanical signals in EHTs under physiological loading conditions for dynamic, noninvasive, longer-term assessments. These electromechanically monitored EHTs support multisite measurements throughout the tissue under baseline conditions and in response to stimuli. Demonstrations include uses in tracking physiological responses to pharmacologically active agents and in capturing electrophysiological characteristics of reentrant arrhythmias. This platform facilitates precise analysis of signal location and conduction velocity in human cardiomyocyte tissues, as the basis for a broad range of advanced cardiovascular studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this longitudinal study was to investigate football players' recovery status, through hormonal response, in relation to accumulated workload at two comparable time points of the first (T1) and second half (T2) of the competitive season. Moreover, this study investigated athletes' hormonal response to a typical weekly conditioning session (5 days before match: MD-5), at T1 and T2, to detect changes in players' recovery capability over time. Salivary cortisol (sC) and testosterone (sT) of 24 professional players (27.8 ± 4.1 years of age) were collected before, after, and 24 hours following MD-5 in two comparable microcycles of T1 and T2. GPS training data (total and high-intensity distance) of the 7 and 28 days before sampling were used to obtain athletes' acute and chronic workloads. Results showed a pre-training significant decrease of sT and an increase of sC (p<0.05) in T2, compared to T1. Moreover, athletes showed high sC and low sT levels before, after and 24 hours following MD-5 in T2. Workload analysis revealed significant correlations of chronic load with sC (r = 0.45, p = 0.056) and T/C ratio (r = -0.59; p = 0.007). These results suggested that, in professional football, chronic workload has a greater impact on players' recovery time than acute workload over the sport season. Moreover, athletes' hormonal response to the weekly conditioning session at T2 revealed an altered anabolic/catabolic balance, highlighting the key role of continuous internal and external workload monitoring during the season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Methods Results Conclusion Epigenetics has been shown to be relevant in oncology: BMI1 overexpression has been reported in leukemias, EZH2 mutations have been found in follicular lymphoma, and USP22 seems to stabilize BMI1 protein. In this study, we measured the expression of BMI1, EZH2, and USP22 in lymph nodes from 56 diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients.A new multiplex digital droplet PCR (ddPCR) has been set up to measure the expression of 4 genes (BMI1, EZH2, USP22, and GAPDH) in the same reaction on RNA extracted from paraffin‐embedded tissues.The specificity of ddPCR was confirmed by a 100% alignment on the BLAST platform and its repeatability demonstrated by duplicates. A strict correlation between expression of BMI1 and EZH2 and BMI1 and USP22 has been found, and high expression of these genes was correlated with extra‐nodal lymphomas. Progression‐free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were conditioned by IPI, bone marrow infiltration, and the complete response achievement. High levels of BMI1 and USP22 did not condition the response to therapy, but impaired the PFS, especially for patients defined at “high risk” based on the cell of origin (no germinal center [GCB]), high BCL2 expression, and IPI 3‐5. In this subgroup, the probability of relapse/progression was twice higher than that of patients carrying low BMI1 and USP22 levels.High expression of BMI1 and of USP22 might be a poor prognostic factor in DLBCL, and might represent the target for novel inhibitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key points Physiologists often express the change in the value of a measurement made on two occasions as a ratio of the initial value. This is usually motivated by an assumption that the absolute change fails to capture the true extent of the alteration that has occurred in attaining the final value – if there is initial variation among individual cases. While it may appear reasonable to use ratios to standardize the magnitude of change in this way, the perils of doing so have been widely documented. Ratios frequently have intractable statistical properties, both when taken in isolation and when analysed using techniques such as regression. A new method of computing a standardized metric of change, based on principal components analysis (PCA), is described. It exploits the collinearity within sets of initial, absolute change and final values. When these sets define variables subjected to PCA, the standardized measure of change is obtained as the product of the loading of absolute change onto the first principal component (PC1) and the eigenvalue of PC1. It is demonstrated that a sample drawn from a population of these standardized measures: approximates a normal distribution (unlike the corresponding ratios); lies within the same range; and preserves the rank order of the ratios. It is also shown that this method can be used to express the magnitude of a physiological response in an experimental condition relative to that obtained in a control condition. The intractable statistical properties of ratios and the perils of using ratios to standardize the magnitude of change are well known. A new method of computing a standardized metric, based on principal components analysis (PCA), is described, which exploits the collinearity within sets of initial, absolute change and final values. A sample drawn from a population of these PCA‐derived measures: approximates a normal distribution (unlike the corresponding ratios); lies within the same range as the ratios; and preserves the rank order of the ratios. The method can also be applied to express the magnitude of a physiological response in an experimental condition relative to a control condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The delicate balance between discrimination and generalization of responses is crucial for survival in our ever-changing environment. In particular, it is important to understand how stimulus discrimination affects the level of stimulus generalization. For example, when we use non-differential training for Pavlovian eyeblink conditioning to investigate generalization of cerebellarrelated eyelid motor responses, we find generalization effects on amount, amplitude and timing of the conditioned responses. However, it is unknown what the generalization effects are following differential training. We trained mice to close their eyelids to a 10 kHz tone with an air-puff as the reinforcing stimulus (CS+), while alternatingly exposing them to a tone frequency of either 4 kHz, 9 kHz or 9.5 kHz without the air-puff (CS-) during the training blocks. We tested the generalization effects during the expression of the responses after the training period with tones ranging from 2 kHz to 20 kHz. Our results show that the level of generalization tended to positively correlate with the difference between the CS+ and the CS- training stimuli. These effects of generalization were found for the probability, amplitude but not for the timing of the conditioned eyelid responses. These data indicate the specificity of the generalization effects following differential versus non-differential training, highlighting the relevance of discrimination learning for stimulus generalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extending lactation length reduces the frequency of critical calving events for the cow and herewith reduces the frequency of periods with increased risk for health problems. Moreover, breeding is postponed until a moment later in lactation, which is associated with better conception rates and less days open after start of the breeding period in most studies. Potential risks of an extended lactation are that milk yield of cows at the end of the lactation may be too low which may lead to cows being overconditioned at the end of the extended lactation. Therefore, extending lactation length might not fit every cow. Individual cow characteristics like parity, milk yield level, or body condition determine the response of the cow to an extended lactation. These individual cow characteristics can be used in customized management strategies to optimize lactation length for individual cows. Customized lactation length for individual cows could limit the impact at herd level of disadvantages concerning milk losses and overconditioning and maintain benefits for improved cow health and fertility, reduced number of surplus calves and increased work satisfaction for the farmer. In conclusion, extending lactation length has interesting perspectives for health and fertility of high‐producing dairy cows, although questions remain concerning management approaches to support lactation persistency of cows with an extended lactation, and consequences for calf health and development. Moreover, ongoing studies aim to develop decision support tools to select individual cows for a specific lactation length. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fear‐related psychopathologies, such as post‐traumatic stress disorder, are linked to dysfunction in neural circuits that govern fear memory and arousal. The lateral hypothalamus (LH) and zona incerta (ZI) regulate fear, but our understanding of the precise neural circuits and cell types involved remains limited. Here, we examined the role of relaxin family peptide receptor 3 (RXFP3) expressing cells in the LH/ZI in conditioned fear expression and general arousal in male RXFP3‐Cre mice. We found that LH/ZI RXFP3+ (LH/ZIRXFP3) cells projected strongly to fear learning, stress, and arousal centres, notably, the periaqueductal grey, lateral habenula, and nucleus reuniens. These cells do not express hypocretin/orexin or melanin‐concentrating hormone but display putative efferent connectivity with LH hypocretin/orexin+ neurons and dopaminergic A13 cells. Following Pavlovian fear conditioning, chemogenetically activating LH/ZIRXFP3 cells reduced fear expression (freezing) overall but also induced jumping behaviour and increased locomotor activity. Therefore, the decreased freezing was more likely to reflect enhanced arousal rather than reduced fear. Indeed, stimulating these cells produced distinct patterns of coactivation between several motor, stress, and arousal regions, as measured by Fos expression. These results suggest that activating LH/ZIRXFP3 cells generates brain‐wide activation patterns that augment behavioural arousal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wildlife faces many challenges living alongside humans, but certain species can overcome these obstacles and succeed even in urban areas. Boldness and neophobia are 2 potential aspects of animal personality that could affect urban adaptation and, if correlated, may form a behavioral syndrome. If urban individuals are bolder and less neophobic than rural individuals, they may be able to exploit anthropogenic landscapes more fully. We tested this idea by conducting flight initiation distance and novel object experiments with 10 urban and 10 rural Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis). Urban birds had shorter flight initiation distances and foraged near novel objects more readily than rural birds, and both behaviors were highly repeatable within individuals, suggestive of personality. We found a positive correlation wherein bolder individuals were also less neophobic, but only in the rural population. Thus, the urban environment may impose selective pressures that result in population-level differences in these 2 behaviors, while also decoupling them such that urban individuals can fine tune their behaviors in response to novel conditions. In contrast, the existence of a behavioral syndrome in rural birds may be an adaptive response to a more consistent environment. In total, these results help explain how Northern Cardinals can modify their behaviors, either plastically or via genetic evolution, to thrive in urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the issue of climate change becomes more prevalent, engineers have focused on developing lightweight Al alloys capable of increasing the power density of powertrains. The characterization of these alloys has been focused on mechanical properties and less on the fundamental response of microstructures to achieve these properties. Therefore, this study assesses the quality of the microstructure of two high-temperature Al alloys (A356 + 3.5RE and Al-8Ce-10Mg), comparing them to T6 A356. These alloys underwent thermal conditioning at 250 and 300 °C for 200 h. Time-of-flight neutron diffraction experiments were performed before and after conditioning. The phase evolution was quantified using Rietveld refinement. It was found that the Si phase grows significantly (13–24%) in T6 A356, A356 + 3.5RE, and T6 A356 + 3.5RE alloys, which is typically correlated with a reduction in mechanical properties. Subjecting the A356 3.5RE alloy to a T6 heat treatment stabilizes the orthorhombic Al4Ce3Si6 and monoclinic β-Al5FeSi phases, making them resistant to thermal conditioning. These two phases are known for enhancing mechanical properties. Additionally, the T6 treatment reduced the vol.% of the cubic Al20CeTi2 and hexagonal ᴨ-Al9FeSi3Mg5 phases by 13% and 23%, respectively. These phases have detrimental mechanical properties. The Al-8Ce-10Mg alloy cubic β-Al3Mg2 phase showed significant growth (82–101%) in response to conditioning, while the orthorhombic Al11Ce3 phase remained stable. The growth of the beta phase is known to decrease the mechanical properties of this alloy. These efforts give valuable insight into how these alloys will perform and evolve in demanding high-temperature environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: Laryngoscopy and endotracheal intubation are critical aspects of general anesthesia, often provoking significant stress responses that impact circulatory parameters. This study aims to compare the hemodynamic stress responses and intubation conditions between the Macintosh and McCoy blades in patients with ASA grades I and II undergoing various surgical procedures under general anesthesia. Methods: A total of 100 patients were randomly assigned into two groups: Group A (Macintosh blade) and Group B (McCoy blade), each consisting of 50 patients. Hemodynamic parameters, including heart rate (HR), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and mean arterial pressure (MAP), were recorded at Pre-Induction, At the Start of Laryngoscopy, Immediately After Intubation, 1 Minute After Intubation, 3 Minutes After Intubation, 5 Minutes After Intubation, 10 Minutes After Intubation. Intubation ease was evaluated by recording the duration of laryngoscopy, Cormack and Lehane Grades, Modified Mallampati scores, and the necessity for optimal external laryngeal manipulation (OELM) or stylet use. Results: The Macintosh group exhibited significantly higher HR, SBP, DBP, and MAP immediately after intubation compared to the McCoy group (p < 0.001). The McCoy blade was associated with better attenuation of the hemodynamic response and facilitated improved laryngeal view under Cormack and Lehane grading, particularly beneficial in patients with higher Mallampati grades. Conclusion: The McCoy blade offers superior hemodynamic stability and enhanced visualization during intubation compared to the Macintosh blade, making it potentially more advantageous for patients with challenging airways, although further research in Mallampati grades III and IV is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, there has been a burgeoning interest in exploring the nuances of animal stress physiology, particularly in relation to parameters such as sex and behavioral phenotype-dependent variations, which is crucial for understanding phenotypic variation and its role in evolutionary selection. However, a significant dearth remains in how chronic stressors affect organismal stress physiology concerning the aforesaid parameters. This void is even wider pertaining to the response of peripheral tissues, such as the skin, the organ with the highest surface contact area with the environment. Hence, we behaviorally grouped the zebrafishes based on their boldness and the body condition, whole body cortisol response, along with examining the transcriptional response, global DNA methylome, and oxidative DNA damage in the skin upon chronic crowding. Upon baseline conditions, clear distinction between bold and shy phenotypes was found, particularly in males. The boldness index score distribution exhibited greater uniformity in males than in females. Regarding the body condition response to chronic crowding, shy males showed a significant relative decline compared with their bold counterparts, while this trend did not hold true for females. qPCR data revealed distinctive expression patterns in key genes that play critical roles in cellular processes such as stress-mediated gene regulation, immune response, oxidative stress protection, and maintenance of genomic integrity through epigenetic modifications across behavioral phenotypes and sexes under both with and without chronic crowding stress. Global DNA methylation levels significantly declined only in chronically crowded shy males, and sex/behavioral phenotype-dependent trends in oxidative DNA damage were identified. NEW & NOTEWORTHY: This paper analyzes the response of zebrafish to crowding stress through a new approach focused on the peripheral response dynamics of the skin, the main mucosal tissue, and involving sex and behavioral phenotype influences. Shy males showed significant distress as observed by body condition, physiological and transcriptional response, and global DNA methylation. Nuances in stress response across behavioral phenotypes and sex indicate a genetic and behavioral specificity and further inherent epigenetic regulatory dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the first half of the twentieth century, ethnic Mexican beet workers in Colorado endured a daunting array of challenges that included dismal housing, meager wages, and a family labor system that forced children as well as adults to labor relentless hours in the sugar-beet fields. In response to these conditions, Catholic reformer Thomas Mahony promoted a vision of the American economy in which marginalized populations like the beet laborers would take their rightful place as healthy consumers and effective family providers. His vision was shaped by the Catholic social justice movement of the Progressive Era, as well as by a career in agricultural consumerism. From 1910 to 1913, for example, he served as director of exhibits for the Chicago Land Show, a position that immersed him in a world that marketed farm lands as idealized consumer commodities while rendering invisible the struggles of propertyless farm workers. When Mahony began his reform career a decade later, he strove to do exactly the opposite: make beet field workers as visible as possible in his blueprint for a vigorous consumerist democracy. At the same time, however, Mahony's intense fears of radicalism overshadowed his reform impulses, reflecting profound tensions within the Catholic reform ethos that shaped him: a yearning for spiritual and social regeneration in constant battle with a dread of social upheaval. Mahony's story therefore helps to illuminate the considerable potential of twentieth-century religious reform, even as his obsessive fears highlight the perils of antiradicalism in the U.S. West. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extensive antibiotic use in the poultry industry has given rise to concerns of the proliferation and potential zoonotic transmission of antimicrobial-resistant pathogens. To mitigate the extent of antibiotic dosing, probiotics have been proposed as an alternate means of enhancing chick immune function by boosting host defense peptide (HDP) production. This study measured chick immune response to in ovo supplementation of a commercial poultry probiotic when subsequently exposed to a mimicked viral threat using polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (poly(I:C)). To assess systemic immune responses to these conditions, real-time PCR was conducted to measure changes in expression of five immune-related genes in the spleen: TLR-3, AvBD-2, IFN-a, IFN-b, and IL-6. The chicks that received only the probiotic treatment saw a downregulation of TLR-3 (p50.0013) and an upregulation of AvBD-2 (p50.0105). The expression of IL-6 tended towards downregulation (p50.06) with a potential interaction between the probiotic and poly(I:C) treatments (p50.0794). Upregulation of AvBD-2 indicates a higher basal output of the chick's innate immune system upon early exposure to probiotics. These results suggest that enhanced systemic immune response in chicks can be achieved through early application of probiotics and is occurring through immunomodulation pathways that have not been fully elucidated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Home appliances such as residential air conditioners are based on the variable speed drives for AC motors such as IPMSM and IM. These variable speed drives always require the simple and low‐cost system configurations without the large electrolytic capacitors, reactors, and power devices that consist of PFC converters. This paper surveys and analyzes the proposed and advanced control techniques to achieve high input power factor and sinusoidal source current control in electrolytic capacitor‐less inverters. The investigated control methods consist of control algorithms based on the energy flow between input and output of the electrolytic capacitor‐less inverter, and all of them are useful as high‐power factor control methods for compressor drive motors such as air conditioners. Moreover, these techniques realize the variable speed drives for AC motors to meet power supply harmonics regulations (IEC61000‐3‐2). © 2024 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan and Wiley Periodicals LLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a discourse analysis of 12 Swedish sexuality education texts intended for preschool practitioners and published between 1969 and 2021. Using Fairclough's framework, we identify three discourses about children's sexual play in relation to children's sexual agency in the texts: child sexuality as encouraged and entangled with adult sexuality; child sexuality as conditioned by what is perceived as normal or abnormal in children; and child sexuality as repressed. These three discourses mainly appear chronologically, but also overlap and connect with one another. When analysis begins from children's position and a theoretical understanding of children's and adults' agency as interdependent, it becomes possible to see how the child is construed as agentic, and how the adult role changes from encouraging sexual play to regulating and monitoring behaviour so that it does not occur. Over time, discourse on young children's sexual play has changed our understanding of both adults and children. Adults are increasingly construed as less knowledgeable in relation to young children's sexuality, and young children have become understood as more dangerous and in need of having their sexuality constrained and civilised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to develop a green, economical and efficient ultrasonic-/microwave assisted extraction (UMAE) process for the extraction of anthocyanins. Design/methodology/approach: After optimizing the extraction conditions by response surface methodology, three assays including DPPH, ABTS·+, FRAP were applied to analyze the antioxidant activity of the extracted anthocyanins. The stability under different temperatures, reductant concentrations and pHs was also discussed. The components of anthocyanins in blueberry were analyzed by HPLC-QTOF-MS2. Findings: The optimal extraction parameters were ultrasonic power of 300 W, microwave power of 365.28 W and solid–liquid ratio of 30 (g/mL). The possible structures can be speculated as Delphinidin-3-O-galactoside, Delphinidin, Petunidin, Delphinidin-3-O-glucoside, Petunidin-3-O-glucoside, Cyanidin-3-O-glucoside. The results demonstrated that the UMAE can improve the yield of anthocyanins in shorter extraction time with higher activity. Originality/value: The present study may provide a promising and feasible route for extracting anthocyanins from blueberries and studying their physicochemical properties, ultimately promoting the utilization of blueberry anthocyanins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigated the fluid–structure interaction vibration response of an aircraft liquid-filled pipeline under external random vibration and internal pulsating pressure. First, the fluid–structure interaction solution is theoretically analyzed, and the advantages and disadvantages of the direct coupling method and the separation coupling method are compared, with the latter chosen as the simulation analysis method in this study. Second, taking the U-shaped oil pipeline of an aircraft engine as an example, simulation modeling was performed to compare and analyze the fluid–structure interaction vibration response of aircraft liquid-filled pipelines under different working conditions, obtaining the vibration response characteristics of stress danger points under various conditions. Finally, a test bench for an aircraft liquid-filling pipeline was built to explore the influence of external random vibrations with different kurtoses, different pipe wall thicknesses and different working conditions on the vibration response danger points of aircraft liquid-filling pipelines, verifying the simulation conclusions and providing a basis for aircraft liquid-filling pipeline design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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• The estrous cycle does not affect the innate startle but influences fear learning. • In high-anxious females, hormonal increase during proestrus reduces learned fear. • In BLA, 5-HT reduces potentiated startle by combining with estrous cycle hormones. • In BLA, 5-HT interacts with female hormones likely through 5-HT1A receptors. • DPAG stimulation of high-anxious females increases the response to stressful stimuli. Despite significant advances in the study of fear and fear memory formation, little is known about fear learning and expression in females. This omission has been proven surprising, as normal and pathological behaviors are highly influenced by ovarian hormones, particularly estradiol and progesterone. In the current study, we investigated the joint influence of serotonin (5-HT) neurotransmission and estrous cycle phases (low or high levels of estradiol and progesterone) on the expression of conditioned fear in a group of female rats that were previously divided according to their response to stressful stimuli into low or high anxiety-like subjects. The baseline amplitude of the unconditioned acoustic startle responses was high in high-anxiety female rats, with no effect on the estrous cycle observed. Data collected during the proestrus-estrus phase revealed that low-anxiety rats had startle amplitudes similar to those of high-anxiety rats. It is supposed that high-anxiety female rats benefit from increased estradiol and progesterone levels to achieve comparable potentiated startle amplitudes. In contrast, female rats experienced a significant decrease in hormone levels during the Diestrus phase. This decrease is believed to play a role in preventing them from displaying a heightened startle response when faced with strongly aversive stimuli. Data collected after 5-HT and 8-OH-DPAT were administered into the basolateral nuclei and dorsal periaqueductal gray suggest that 5-HT neurotransmission works with progesterone and estrogen to reduce startle potentiation, most likely by activating the serotonin-1A receptor subtype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technologies capable of noninvasively sampling different locations in the gut upstream of the colon will enable new insights into the role of organ‐specific microbiomes on human health. Herein, an ingestible pill for the sampling of gut lumen based on one of the earliest hydraulic machines known as an Archimedes screw is reported. The design contains twisted wires as Archimedes screw driven by a motor, wirelessly activated using a magnet. The sampling performance of the screw‐pump pill is characterized using realistic in vitro models and validated in vitro using E. coli expressing different fluorescent proteins. The use of the Archimedes screw enables the pill to sample the dense GI environment. The pill is also tested ex vivo in the pig intestine and in vivo in pigs. Herein, the results show that the bacterial populations recovered from the pill's chamber closely resemble the targeted bacterial population of the microenvironment to which the pill is exposed. Such ingestible devices have the potential to revolutionize the understanding of the spatial diversity of the gut microbiome and its response to medical conditions and treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThe elbow is presented in pressurized tubular structures as a connecting element, generally subjected to bending moments either out-of-plane or in-plane, in closure or opening. Another mode of bending moment that can also occur in these tubular structures is the combined bending moment between out-of-plane and in-plane in closure, or out-of-plane and in-plane in opening. In this work, to better present the potential severity caused by this loading mode, an elbow structure attached by straight tubular sections made of X60 steel is analyzed and its damage under this combined bending moment with orientations between the plane and out-of-plane of the structure is discussed. A reinforcement proposal will be made in the second part of this work. Indeed, the structure is pretreated thermally at the elbow, resulting in a graded structure along the thickness with two different material constituents: the base metal and the thermally affected zone (HAZ). Based on the concept of Functionally Graded Materials (FGM), the gradation is by volume fraction between the base metal and the HAZ, following a power law function of a volume fraction index (n). This graded property is introduced along the thickness by finite element layers. The elastic-plastic behavior of the HAZ-base metal mixture is modeled using the Voce model and the Von Mises equivalent stress flow theory. Using the XFEM technique(extended finite element method), the damage of the pressurized and thermally treated structure under a combined out-of-plane bending moment shows that these parameters condition the response and the level of damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractObjectivesMethodsResultsConclusionsULK4 is an established candidate gene for mental disorders and antipsychotic treatment response. We investigated the association of functional genetic variation at the ULK4 locus with the human extended dopaminergic reward system using fMRI during the performance of a well-established reward paradigm.Two hundred and thirty-four patients were included in this study. Association of genetic variation in the ULK4 gene with reward system functioning were determined using the Desire-Reason-Dilemma (DRD) paradigm which allows to assess brain activation in response to conditioned reward stimuli.Variant prioritisation revealed the strongest functional signatures for the ULK4 variant rs17215589, coding for amino acid exchange Ala715Thr. For rs17215589 minor allele carriers, we detected increased activation responses to conditioned reward stimuli in the ventral tegmental area, nucleus accumbens and several cortical brain regions of the extended reward system.Our findings provide further evidence in humans that genetic variation in ULK4 may increase the vulnerability to mental disorders, by modulating the extended reward system function. Future studies are needed to confirm the modulation of the extended reward system by ULK4 and to specify the role of this mechanism in the pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resurgence can be defined as increases in previously reinforced and subsequently extinguished target responding when conditions for an alternative response worsen. Worsening of alternative conditions, such as extinction, has been linked to relapse of clinically relevant behavior. Preclinical researchers have evaluated whether punishing target responses while differentially reinforcing an alternative response could reduce resurgence when conditions are worsened with extinction, with mixed results. In the present investigation, we systematically replicated this line of research with human participants recruited via crowdsourcing, using response cost as punishment. During Phase 1, we reinforced target responses with 100 points per delivery, exchangeable for money. During Phase 2, we reinforced alternative responses, discontinued point reinforcement for target responses, and parametrically manipulated across groups the magnitude of point loss (1, 100, 320, or 1,000 points) contingent on target responses. During Phase 3, we tested for resurgence by extinguishing target and alternative responses. Added punishment systematically decreased target responding during Phase 2 but did not influence resurgence during Phase 3. With a meta‐analysis, we compared our findings with existing research examining a range of punishers and species. The results of the meta‐analysis comport with the present findings, suggesting that the inclusion of punishment reduces target responding during DRA but, overall, has no systematic effects on resurgence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a number of species, including humans, perceived outgroup threat can promote ingroup cohesion. However, the distribution and selection history of this association across species with varied intergroup relations remains unclear. Using a sample of 8 captive groups (N = 43 individuals), we here tested whether bonobos, like chimpanzees, show more affiliative ingroup behaviour following perception of outgroup cues (unfamiliar male long-distance vocalisations). We used comparable methods to our previous study of captive chimpanzees, and found that, although weaker, there was an association for more frequent social grooming in response to the outgroup condition than the control condition, alongside more alert posture and increased self-directed behaviour. This provides preliminary evidence for an ancestral origin to the proximate association between outgroup cues and ingroup cohesion, at least prior to the Pan-Homo split, and suggests the presence of intergroup competition in our last common ancestor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractInteraction screening for high-dimensional data is a challenging issue, especially for the strongly correlated predictors. A new two-stage interaction screening procedure based on the projected distance correlation is proposed when the predictors are highly correlated. To remove the confounding effect from the target variable that is induced by its correlated variables, we project the predictors and responses onto a conditional set. Our method can successfully identify important variables when the variables are highly correlated, and it can also identify variables that make a contribution to the response conditionally but not marginally. Moreover, our method is computationally efficient and simple, generally applicable without the requirement of the heredity assumption. Theoretical results show that the proposed method can yield the sure screening property. Simulation studies and real data analysis demonstrate the utility and validity of our method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractSteel tubular structures in pipelines, or those connections such as concentric reductions, reduced tees, and elbows, all differ in their response to loading, they are sometimes solicited to complex and combined loads, which accumulate with the internal pressure to their solicitation cause in certain situation their damage, the objective in this analysis is to numerically predict the mechanical behavior until damage of a complete tubular structure, which contains the connecting elements of an elbow and a reduced tee attached to each other by straight tubular parts, this structure, by its standardized dimensions presents a real design of a main pipeline spigot for a possible supply line, this tubular structure is analyzed in this work under these real pressure conditions, and combined loads probably coming from the weight of a valve, or a pipe flanged to this spigot element or other, in X60 steel This structure is solicited under different combined modes of loading. The elastic-plastic behavior is under Voce’s model and Von Mises’ equivalent stress flow theory, the damage of the structure by crack initiation and propagation is ensured by using the XFEM technique, the response up to damage of the structure is evaluated under the effect of the parameters of the combined loading mode, we present by angular bendingrotation moment curves that these parameters clearly condition the response and the level of damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nociceptive withdrawal reflex (NWR) is a protective limb withdrawal response triggered by painful stimuli, used to assess spinal nociceptive excitability. Conventionally, the NWR is understood as having two reflex responses: a short-latency Aβ-mediated response, considered tactile, and a longer-latency Aδ-mediated response, considered nociceptive. However, nociceptors with conduction velocities similar to Aβ tactile afferents have been identified in human skin. In this study, we investigated the effect of a preferential conduction block of Aβ fibers on pain perception and NWR signaling evoked by intradermal electrical stimulation in healthy participants. We recorded a total of 198 NWR responses in the intact condition, and no dual reflex responses occurred within our latency bandwidth (50–150 ms). The current required to elicit the NWR was higher than the perceptual pain threshold, indicating that NWR did not occur before pain was felt. In the block condition, when the Aβ-mediated tuning fork sensation was lost while Aδ-mediated nonpainful cooling was still detectable (albeit reduced), we observed that the reflex was abolished. Further, short-latency electrical pain intensity at pre-block thresholds was greatly reduced, with any residual pain sensation having a longer latency. Although electrical pain was unaffected at suprathreshold current, the reflex could not be evoked despite a two-fold increase in the pre-block current and a five-fold increase in the pre-block pulse duration. These observations lend support to the possible involvement of Aβ-fiber inputs in pain and reflex signaling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding how sensory processing demands affect the ability to ignore task‐irrelevant, loud auditory stimuli (LAS) during a task is key to performance in dynamic environments. For example, tennis players must ignore crowd noise to perform optimally. We investigated how practice affects this ability by examining the effects of delivering LASs during preparatory phase of an anticipatory timing (AT) task on the voluntary and reflexive responses in two conditions: lower and higher visual processing loads. Twenty‐four participants (mean age = 23.1, 11 females) completed the experiment. The AT task involved synchronizing a finger abduction response with the last visual stimulus item in a sequence of four Gabor grating patches briefly flashed on screen. The lower demand condition involved only this task, and the higher demand condition required processing the orientations of the patches to report changes in the final stimulus item. Our results showed that higher visual processing demands affected the release of voluntary actions, particularly in the first block of trials. When the perceptual load was lower, responses were released earlier by the LAS compared to the high‐load condition. Practice reduced these effects largely, but high perceptual load still led to earlier action release in the second block. In contrast, practice led to more apparent facilitation of eyeblink latency in the second block. These findings indicate that a simple perceptual load manipulation can impact the execution of voluntary motor actions, particularly for inexperienced participants. They also suggest distinct movement preparation influences on voluntary and involuntary actions triggered by acoustic stimuli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: A better understanding of cattle behavioural responses during high environmental temperatures could be beneficial for the diagnosis of heat loads. In the current study, 24 Black Angus steers fed a finisher diet based on cereal grain or a substituted diet (8% of the grain replaced by an isoenergetic amount of lucerne hay) were exposed to hot conditions, and changes in their behavioural and physiological dynamics were assessed. Compared to the recovery period, hot conditions increased respiration rate and were associated with increased stepping behaviour, especially by left limbs. Cattle also increased the orientation of their heads downward, their ears backward, and their tail vertically or raised, and they reduced eating, grooming, and scratching during the heat load period. Changes in head, ear and tail position, breathing changes persisted during the heat load period, suggesting that these behaviours have diagnostic value. Cattle that were fed a diet based on the cereal grain stood for longer and were more likely to hold their ears backward and tail vertically, whereas those on the substituted diet were more likely to display axial ears and hold their head in a neutral position. We conclude that cattle have subtle changes in behaviour in response to hot conditions, which may be of value for diagnostic purposes. Cattle are increasingly exposed to hot temperatures as a result of climate change, and a better understanding of behavioural responses could be beneficial for the diagnosis of heat loads. The changes in the positioning of key body parts, feeding behaviour, body maintenance, and respiratory dynamics were assessed in 24 Black Angus steers individually exposed to hot conditions and fed a finisher diet based on cereal grain or a substituted diet (8% of the grain replaced by an isoenergetic amount of lucerne hay). Increased respiration rate during the heat load period, compared to the recovery period, was associated with increased stepping, especially by left limbs. Cattle also reduced eating, grooming, and scratching during the heat load period. The lowered head, backward ear, vertical or raised tail, and increased respiration rate and panting persisted in cattle during the heat load period. Cattle on the cereal grain diet stood for longer and were more likely to hold their ears backward and tail vertical than those on the substituted diet. We conclude that these behaviours could be used to detect animals that are most affected and that changing from a cereal-based diet to a substituted diet containing a higher amount of fibre, such as lucerne hay, can reduce hyperthermic behavioural responses to a heat load. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a prevalent and chronic inflammatory skin condition characterized by a multifaceted pathophysiology that gives rise to diverse clinical manifestations. The management of AD remains challenging due to the suboptimal efficacy of existing treatment options. Nonetheless, recent progress in elucidating the underlying mechanisms of the disease has facilitated the identification of new potential therapeutic targets and promising drug candidates. In this review, we summarize the newest data, considering multiple connections between IL-22 and AD. The presence of circulating IL-22 has been found to correlate with the severity of AD and is identified as a critical factor driving the inflammatory response associated with the condition. Elevated levels of IL-22 in patients with AD are correlated with increased proliferation of keratinocytes, alterations in the skin microbiota, and impaired epidermal barrier function. Collectively, these factors contribute to the manifestation of the characteristic symptoms observed in AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To adapt to threats in the environment, animals must predict them and engage in defensive behavior. While the representation of a prediction error signal for reward has been linked to dopamine, a neuromodulatory prediction error for aversive learning has not been identified. We measured and manipulated norepinephrine release during threat learning using optogenetics and a novel fluorescent norepinephrine sensor. We found that norepinephrine response to conditioned stimuli reflects aversive memory strength. When delays between auditory stimuli and footshock are introduced, norepinephrine acts as a prediction error signal. However, temporal difference prediction errors do not fully explain norepinephrine dynamics. To explain noradrenergic signaling, we used an updated reinforcement learning model with uncertainty about time and found that it explained norepinephrine dynamics across learning and variations in temporal and auditory task structure. Norepinephrine thus combines cognitive and affective information into a predictive signal and links time with the anticipation of danger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human standing balance relies on the continuous monitoring and integration of sensory signals to infer our body's motion and orientation within the environment. However, when sensory information is no longer contextually relevant to balancing the body (e.g., when sensory and motor signals are incongruent), sensory-evoked balance responses are rapidly suppressed, much earlier than any conscious perception of changes in balance control. Here, we used a robotic balance simulator to assess whether associatively learned postural responses are similarly modulated by sensorimotor incongruence and contextual relevance to postural control. Twenty-nine participants in three groups were classically conditioned to generate postural responses to whole-body perturbations when presented with an initially neutral sound cue. During catch and extinction trials, participants received only the auditory stimulus but in different sensorimotor states corresponding to their group: 1) during normal active balance, 2) while immobilized, and 3) throughout periods where the computer subtly removed active control over balance. In the balancing and immobilized states, conditioned responses were either evoked or suppressed, respectively, according to the (in)ability to control movement. Following the immobilized state, conditioned responses were renewed when balance was restored, indicating that conditioning was retained but only expressed when contextually relevant. In contrast, conditioned responses persisted in the computer-controlled state even though there was no causal relationship between motor and sensory signals. These findings suggest that mechanisms responsible for sensory-evoked and conditioned postural responses do not share a single, central contextual inference and assessment of their relevance to postural control, and may instead operate in parallel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we reflect on experiences of gender euphoria and do-it-yourself (DIY) queer joy during a collage-making workshop with an intergenerational group of 2SLGBTQIA+ participants and researchers. The workshop is part of a larger participatory visual research project called Pride/Swell±an initiative that has been bringing together queer and trans people from across Atlantic Canada to make art since 2020. During an in-person workshop with 40 participants in 2023, we made collages in response to the conditions which gave rise to pleasure, euphoria, and joy. Through our artmaking, participants and the project’s research team shared that joy often emerged through queer self-expression, chosen families and communities, and by having an affirming experience. We also found collage-making acted as a resistive practice and that too became an expression of joy. As scholarship begins to respond to the joy deficit in sociological research, our aim is to add to these conversations by exploring how participatory visual research production creates conditions for queer joy and euphoria to emerge. At the same time, we also highlight the moments during our workshop where queer joy failed – reminding us that queer joy, as praxis, needs to be further complicated and theorized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated phenolic compounds (PC), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total carbon organic total (TOC) removal from olive mill wastewater OMW via activated persulfate oxidation. Persulfate (PS, S 2 O 8 2 − ) was activated by thermal and transition metal to form sulfate radical ( S O 4 · − ). A mathematical model was developed, and the process variables, namely oxidant dose (0.05 and 0.1 g L−1), type of catalyst (Fe2+, Cu2+), time of treatment (5 and 20 min) and temperature (25 and 45 °C) and their interaction were examined using a full factorial design methodology 24. The results indicated that activation methods are efficient for reduction of PC and COD in OMW. Under conditions maximizing responses, there was a considerable increase in PC, COD and TOC removal (44.73 %, 62.39 % and 95.13 % respectively). The correlation coefficient values of the polynomial model were found to be 90 % (CP removal) and 86 % (COD removal). The predicted values obtained using the response functions agreed well with the experimental data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Our study demonstrated neural encoding of incidental sensory regularities leading to modulation of cortical responses to both predictive and predicted sensory stimuli. As in the case of goal-directed behavior, such task-irrelevant predictive mechanisms might result from the brain's intrinsic drive of reducing uncertainty about state transition dynamics of the environment. Statistical learning of sensory patterns can lead to predictive neural processes enhancing stimulus perception and enabling fast deviancy detection. Predictive processes have been extensively demonstrated when environmental statistical regularities are relevant to task execution. Preliminary evidence indicates that statistical learning can even occur independently of task relevance and top-down attention, although the temporal profile and neural mechanisms underlying sensory predictions and error signals induced by statistical learning of incidental sensory regularities remain unclear. In our study, we adopted an implicit sensory conditioning paradigm that elicited the generation of specific perceptual priors in relation to task-irrelevant audio–visual associations, while recording Electroencephalography (EEG). Our results showed that learning task-irrelevant associations between audio–visual stimuli resulted in anticipatory neural responses to predictive auditory stimuli conveying anticipatory signals of expected visual stimulus presence or absence. Moreover, we observed specific modulation of cortical responses to probabilistic visual stimulus presentation or omission. Pattern similarity analysis indicated that predictive auditory stimuli tended to resemble the response to expected visual stimulus presence or absence. Remarkably, Hierarchical Gaussian filter modeling estimating dynamic changes of prediction error signals in relation to differential probabilistic occurrences of audio–visual stimuli further demonstrated instantiation of predictive neural signals by showing distinct neural processing of prediction error in relation to violation of expected visual stimulus presence or absence. Overall, our findings indicated that statistical learning of non-salient and task-irrelevant perceptual regularities could induce the generation of neural priors at the time of predictive stimulus presentation, possibly conveying sensory-specific information about the predicted consecutive stimulus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A host of metabolic enzymes reversibly self‐assemble to form membrane‐less, intracellular filaments under normal physiological conditions and in response to stress. Often, these enzymes reside at metabolic control points, suggesting that filament formation affords an additional regulatory mechanism. Examples include cytidine‐5′‐triphosphate (CTP) synthase (CTPS), which catalyzes the rate‐limiting step for the de novo biosynthesis of CTP; inosine‐5′‐monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH), which controls biosynthetic access to guanosine‐5′‐triphosphate (GTP); and ∆1‐pyrroline‐5‐carboxylate (P5C) synthase (P5CS) that catalyzes the formation of P5C, which links the Krebs cycle, urea cycle, and proline metabolism. Intriguingly, CTPS can exist in co‐assemblies with IMPDH or P5CS. Since GTP is an allosteric activator of CTPS, the association of CTPS and IMPDH filaments accords with the need to coordinate pyrimidine and purine biosynthesis. Herein, a hypothesis is presented furnishing a biochemical connection underlying co‐assembly of CTPS and P5CS filaments – potent inhibition of CTPS by glutamate γ‐semialdehyde, the open‐chain form of P5C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, minimization of delamination effect on laminated composite plates using smart (piezoelectric and magnetostrictive) materials has been investigated. The static and dynamic responses of the smart composite plates with/without delamination have been obtained using the finite element method. The validation and comparison studies of the laminated composite plate have also been performed to show the level of accuracy of the presently adopted model by solving a few examples related to static and frequency cases. For control and minimization of delamination effect, smart materials have been introduced at the various layers of the laminated panel. Further, the influence of delamination size, location, orientation scheme, aspect ratio, modular ratio and different boundary conditions on the dynamic response of the smart delaminated composite plate has been analyzed. Finally, optimization study has been carried out to find the optimal value of these parameters by minimizing the difference between the frequency responses. Here, two optimization algorithms TLBO and PSO have been considered to carry out the optimization study and results obtained from both techniques are validated and compared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The McMurdo Dry Valleys in Southern Victoria Land, Antarctica, are known for their extreme aridity, cold, and nutrient‐poor conditions. These valleys provide a valuable comparison to environments on Mars. The survival of microorganisms in these areas hinges on their ability to withstand dehydration due to the limited availability of liquid water. Some microorganisms have adapted to survive extended periods of metabolic inactivity and dehydration, a physiological response to the harsh conditions in which they exist. This adaptation is significant for astrobiology studies as it allows for testing the resilience of microorganisms under extraterrestrial conditions, exploring the boundaries and potential for life beyond Earth. In this study, we examined the survivability, metabolic activity, cellular membrane integrity, and ultrastructural damage of Cryomyces antarcticus, a eukaryotic organism used for astrobiological studies, following two dehydration processes. We conducted a fast dehydration process, simulating what happens on the surface of Antarctic rocks under typical environmental conditions, and a slow dehydration process, which is commonly used in astrobiological experiments. Our findings revealed a higher percentage of damaged cells following slow dehydration treatments, confirming that rapid dehydration reflects the adaptability of microorganisms to respond to sudden and drastic changes in the Antarctic environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present design guidelines for rigid-faced (RF) geosynthetic reinforced soil (GRS) walls recommend a minimum toe embedment depth as a geometric requirement. The toe condition effect is ignored in these designs. Development of tools for serviceability design and refinement of present design methods require a complete understanding of the toe condition's role. Finite element analysis of RF-GRS walls is carried out in this study for different toe conditions, such as fixed, rotating and frictional toe, representing different construction methods. The analysis of fixed toe conditions shows 3–5 times lesser deformations and 10–20 times lesser loads in bottom reinforcements compared to other toe conditions. Reduced reinforcement stiffness at the bottom of the wall for a fixed toe condition has a negligible effect on deformations. The fascia experiences high bending moments at the bottom of the wall with fixed toe conditions. Frictional toe condition mobilizes both sliding and rotation modes of wall deformations. It also shows toe force increasing by 5–20% for embedment depth increase by 6 times. The results for rotating toe with restrained sliding show higher top displacements than other toe conditions. The use of stiffer reinforcements at the wall top reduces such rotations. Possible design concepts to impart toe fixity in the field are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study proposed a model to predict passenger motion sickness under the presence of a visual-vestibular conflict and assessed its performance with respect to previously recorded experimental data. Background: While several models have been shown useful to predict motion sickness under repetitive motion, improvements are still desired in terms of predicting motion sickness in realistic driving conditions. There remains a need for a model that considers angular and linear visual-vestibular motion inputs in three dimensions to improve prediction of passenger motion sickness. Method: The model combined the subjective vertical conflict theory and human motion perception models. The proposed model integrates visual and vestibular sensed 6 DoF motion signals in a novel architecture. Results: Model prediction results were compared to motion sickness data obtained from studies conducted in motion simulators as well as on-road vehicle testing, yielding trends that are congruent with observed results in both cases. Conclusion: The model demonstrated the ability to predict trends in motion sickness response for conditions in which a passenger performs a task on a handheld device versus facing forward looking ahead under realistic driving conditions. However, further analysis across a larger population is necessary to better assess the model's performance. Application: The proposed model can be used as a tool to predict motion sickness under different levels of visual-vestibular conflict. This can be leveraged to design interventions capable of mitigating passenger motion sickness. Further, this model can provide insights that aid in the development of passenger experiences inside autonomous vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among several hydrological processes, river flow is an essential parameter that is vital for different water resources engineering activities. Although several methodologies have been adopted over the literature for modeling river flow, the limitation still exists in modeling the river flow time series curve. In this research, a functional quantile autoregressive of order one model was developed to characterize the entire conditional distribution of the river flow time series curve. Based on the functional principal component analysis, the regression parameter function was estimated using a multivariate quantile regression framework. For this purpose, hourly scale river flow collected from three rivers in Australia (Mary River, Lockyer Valley, and Albert River) were used to evaluate the finite‐sample performance of the proposed methodology. A series of Monte‐Carlo experiments and historical data sets were examined at three stations. Further, uncertainty analysis was adopted for the methodology evaluation. Compared with the existing methods, the proposed model provides more robust forecasts for outlying observations, non‐Gaussian and heavy‐tailed error distribution, and heteroskedasticity. Also, the proposed model has the merit of predicting the intervals of future realizations of river flow time series at the central and non‐central locations. The results confirmed the potential for predicting the river flow time series curve with a high level of accuracy in comparison with the benchmark existing functional time series methods. Plain Language Summary: This paper proposes a functional quantile autoregressive model of order one, which is used to predict the entire distribution of the realizations of river flow time series curve. The proposed model allows modeling the conditional quantiles of the response variable as a function of its past values of it. The proposed method for historical river flow curves is an excellent alternative to existing mean regression methods at the 0.5 quantile level (median regression). Also, as an advantage over existing methods, it offers a more thorough explanation of the connection among previous and future realizations of river flow curves at various quantile levels, providing a more extensive understanding of the relationship. Moreover, this feature of the proposed method allows for the effortless generation of pointwise prediction intervals for future realizations of river flow curves. The numerical results obtained by Monte Carlo experiments and empirical data analyses exhibit that, compared with existing methods, the proposed method produces competitive or even better forecasting results. The results also indicate that the future realizations of the river flow measurements are well covered by the prediction intervals constructed by the proposed method. Key Points: Predicting the mean and extreme values of the river flow curve is important for various applications in water resources managementThe FQAR(1) allows predicting the entire distribution of future realizations of the river flow curve as a function of its past values of itNumerical results based on river flow measurements collected from the Australia Continent confirmed the potential of the FQAR(1) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The parietal P300 wave of event‐related potentials (ERPs) has been associated with various psychological operations in numerous laboratory tasks. This study aims to decompose the P3 wave of ERPs into subcomponents and link them with behavioral parameters, such as the strength of stimulus–response (S‐R) links and GO/NOGO responses. EEGs (31 channels), referenced to linked ears, were recorded from 172 healthy adults (107 women) who participated in two cued GO/NOGO tasks, where the strength of S‐R links was manipulated through instructions. P300 waves were observed in active conditions in response to cues, GO/NOGO stimuli, and in passive conditions when no manual response was required. Utilizing a combination of current source density transformation and blind source separation methods, we decomposed the P300 wave into two distinct components, purportedly originating from different parts of the parietal lobules. The amplitude of the parietal midline component (with current sources around Pz) closely mirrored the strength of the S‐R link across proactive, reactive, and passive conditions. The amplitude of the lateral parietal component (with current sources around P3 and P4) resembled the push–pull activity of the output nuclei of the basal ganglia in action selection‐inhibition operations. These findings provide insights into the neural mechanisms underlying action selection processes and the reactivation of S‐R links. We aimed to associate subcomponents of P3 waves in event‐related potentials with behavioral parameters in cued GO/NOGO tasks. The parietal midline component was shown to reflect the strength of stimulus–response (S‐R) links across proactive, reactive, and passive conditions. The lateral parietal component mirrored basal ganglia activity in action selection. These results illuminate neural mechanisms for S‐R links and action selection operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]