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Based on self-determination theory, this study examined the extent to which the satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and social relatedness in instrumental lessons explain the quality and quantity of motivation, which are responsible for persistence and dropout in music schools. This study also investigated whether parental involvement contributes to dropout. A total of 140 music students from Austria (37.16% male, 62.1% female, 0.8% diverse) were surveyed using a quantitative questionnaire. The central variables are the tendency to dropout (dependent variable) and, as predictors, the motivational regulation styles, the satisfaction of basic psychological needs in the classroom and parental involvement. The results of a structural equation model indicated that satisfaction of basic needs in class and parental involvement, mediated by motivation, predicted dropout tendencies. Autonomous motivation in lessons is negatively associated and controlled motivation is positively associated with the tendency to drop out of music schools. Satisfaction of basic psychological needs during lessons and parental involvement predicts autonomous motivation. However, basic psychological needs cannot predict controlled motivation but parental involvement can predict controlled motivation to a limited extent. Finally, this study emphasizes the practical importance of need satisfaction and parental involvement in motivation and continuing to play a musical instrument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in females. Genome‐wide association studies (GWASs) have proposed cervical cancer susceptibility variants at the HLA locus on chromosome 6p21. To corroborate these findings and investigate their functional impact in cervical tissues and cell lines, we genotyped nine variants from cervical cancer GWASs (rs17190106, rs535777, rs1056429, rs2763979, rs143954678, rs113937848, rs3117027, rs3130214, and rs9477610) in a German hospital‐based series of 1122 invasive cervical cancers, 1408 dysplasias, and 1196 healthy controls. rs17190106, rs1056429 and rs143954678/rs113937848 associated with cervical malignancies overall, while rs17190106 and rs535777 associated specifically with invasive cancer (OR = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.55–0.86, p = 0.001) or adenocarcinomas (OR = 1.63, 95%CI = 1.17–2.27, p = 0.004), respectively. We tested these and one previously genotyped GWAS variant, rs9272117, for potential eQTL effects on 36 gene transcripts at the HLA locus in 280 cervical epithelial tissues. The strongest eQTL pairs were rs9272117 and HLA‐DRB6 (p = 1.9x10E‐5), rs1056429 and HLA‐DRB5 (p = 2.5x10E‐4), and rs535777 and HLA‐DRB1 (p = 2.7x10E‐4). We also identified transcripts that were specifically upregulated (DDX39B, HCP5, HLA‐B, LTB, NFKBIL1) or downregulated (HLA‐C, HLA‐DPB2) in HPV+ or HPV16+ samples. In comparison, treating cervical epithelial cells with proinflammatory cytokine γ‐IFN led to a dose‐dependent induction of HCP5, HLA‐B, HLA‐C, HLA‐DQB1, HLA‐DRB1, HLA‐DRB6, and repression of HSPA1L. Taken together, these results identify relevant genes from both the MHC class I and II regions that are inflammation‐responsive in cervical epithelium and associate with HPV (HCP5, HLA‐B, HLA‐C) and/or with genomic cervical cancer risk variants (HLA‐DRB1, HLA‐DRB6). They may thus constitute important contributors to the immune escape of precancerous cells after HPV‐infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In ultrasonic metal welding, low specific resistances and large joining surface cross-sections require the use of mechanical testing to quantify the joint quality. In this study, different quality features of ultrasonically welded joints made of pure copper sheet are investigated during the successive phases of joint formation. Two test series with different workpiece geometries are examined. It is shown that mechanical quality features such as shear and peel forces behave differently over the formation of the joint and are not transferable. As an alternative to these, laser scanning microscopy is used to record images of the fracture surface that describe the growth of the joint area during formation. The study finds that shear tensile force growth and joint area growth are non-linear and comparable, with optimized welds achieving joint areas of 30 mm2 out of 64 mm2 and 6 mm2 out of 16 mm2. Although overall quality increases with increasing welding time, the material strength in the joint zone decreases. Depending on the original rolling condition, between 43% and 59% of the original material strength can be identified as the joint strength. The automatic analysis of fracture images is a suitable alternative to mechanical testing for similar joints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amplitude modulation (AM) is a common phenomenon associated with wind turbine (WT) related noise annoyance. Within the interdisciplinary project Inter-Wind, acoustic, ground motion, and meteorological data are captured to be evaluated with noise reports of residents living near a wind farm in Southern Germany. The recorded data builds a solid data base for the evaluation of AM. The occurrence of AM is detected within acoustic and ground motion data and set in relation to all available data, including WT operational parameters, meteorology, and noise reports. In this study, the origins of detected AM are tones at 57.8 Hz and 133 Hz, related to the generator and drive train, which are amplitude modulated by the blade passing frequency. AM detection was successful both with acoustic as well as ground motion data. A comparison of a method for AM detection developed by the Institute of Acoustics (IOA reference method) with a method specifically developed to detect AM in ground motion data showed that the reference method detected AM three to six times more often than the newly developed method. AM occurred most likely during stable atmospheric conditions, with a positive lapse rate, and was (albeit to a small degree) more likely to be detected when residents reported higher levels of annoyance.

Ageing and lifespan of organisms are determined by complicated interactions between their genetics and the environment, but the cellular mechanisms remain controversial. There have been a number of studies suggesting that cellular energy metabolism and free radical dynamics affect lifespan, implicating mitochondrial function. Recently, Shen et al. provided apparent mechanistic insight by reporting that mitochondrial oscillations of ‘free radical production’, called ‘mitoflashes’, in the pharynx of 3-day old Caenorhabditis elegans correlated inversely with lifespan. The interpretation of ‘mitoflashes’ as ‘bursts of superoxide’ radicals assumes that circularly permuted yellow fluorescent protein (cpYFP) is a reliable indicator of mitochondrial superoxide. This interpretation has been criticised because experiments and theoretical considerations both show that changes in cpYFP fluorescence are due to alterations in pH, not superoxide-. We now provide direct evidence that purified cpYFP is completely unresponsive to superoxide. Therefore ‘mitoflashes’ do not reflect superoxide generation and are not evidence for a link between mitochondrial free radical dynamics and lifespan.

Research on anticipation in sports has generally focused on the role of visual information. Only recently, effects of other modalities, such as auditory information have been considered. For instance, several studies highlight the importance of auditory information from racket-ball contact sounds and grunting in tennis on the anticipation of ball trajectories (Cañal-Bruland et al., 2018; Müller et al., 2019), with louder sounds yielding longer anticipated trajectories. However, findings were usually obtained in laboratory settings, without the time constraints characteristic of tennis matches. Therefore, two experiments tested whether these findings generalise to more ecologically valid settings. Participants responded to a series of video clips of tennis rallies (occluded after racket-ball contact) shown on a tablet with sound intensity of players' grunting experimentally manipulated (muted, low, original, high) within participants. To introduce time constraints, Experiment 1 required them to react by moving their finger to the ball's anticipated landing location just in time with the ball's touchdown. In contrast to previous findings, grunt intensity neither affected the ball's anticipated landing position nor the movement trajectory. Experiment 2 mirrored Experiment 1, except that participants responded without time pressure by pointing at the ball's estimated landing position. Here results replicated the well-established findings of previous studies (e.g., Müller et al., 2019; louder grunts yielding longer anticipated trajectories), ruling out that the lack of effects in Experiment 1 was caused by specifics of the employed stimuli. The appropriateness of the employed temporal constraints in light of ecological validity and implications for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]