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The study aims to estimate the impact of the video game "Fall Guys" on the convergent and divergent cognitive processes of players with different levels of gaming experience. Convergent processes assessed included short-term memory, selective attention, and mental inhibition. The indicator of divergent processes was verbal fluency. Among 203 surveyed students from the first year of psychology faculties, 147 later participated in the experimental study where 74 participants completed cognitive tests before and after playing the video game, while 73 participants completed tests before and after reading popular science texts printed on a paper blank. The gaming condition involved the popular arcade game "Fall Guys." The battery of cognitive tests included a short-term memory assessment, the Eriksen Flanker Task, the SART task, a short version of J. Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices, the Guilford Unusual Uses Test, and the Deary-Liewald Task. A total of four sessions were completed based on the number of cognitive indicators. Participants with regular gaming experience showed higher scores in fluid intelligence, reaction speed, verbal fluency, and abilities related to selective attention and mental inhibition compared to non-players. However, short-term video game experience (compared to reading popular science texts) led to a decline in selective attention and mental inhibition but positively affected verbal creativity scores. Therefore, no positive short-term effect of video gaming on convergent processes was identified, though it was observed for verbal fluency scores. The significant differences in cognitive indicators between gamers and non-gamers allow for the discussion of these results in terms of the potential long-term effects of video games on both convergent and divergent processes.

Incubation is a period during which a subject temporarily makes no conscious attempts to solve a problem but eventually arrives at a solution. Henri Poincaré described cases where insights came after a break from working on complex mathematical problems. This article proposes a hypothesis called the «Poincaré effect»: the higher a person's creativity, the more pronounced the effect of incubation in their creative process. An experimental study was conducted with 525 participants divided into a control group (without incubation) and an experimental group (with an incubation break). Participants performed the «Alternate Uses» test, inventing non-standard ways to use a matchstick. Creativity was assessed based on fluency (the number of ideas) and originality. The results showed that the incubation break led to a significant increase in the fluency of responses in the experimental group. Moreover, among participants with a high level of creativity, incubation contributed to an increase in the originality of responses, confirming the Poincaré effect. These findings align with the awareness model, according to which incubation helps restructure the problem representation and recognize previously found unconscious solutions. The study's conclusions confirm the presence of the Poincaré effect in the phenomenon of incubation and highlight the importance of individual creative abilities in the problem-solving process.

The issue of incubation is a central and paradoxical topic in the psychology of thinking and creativity. The paradox arises from the observation that problem-solving can advance during periods when the solver is not consciously focused on the problem but is instead engaged in unrelated activities. Despite extensive research on incubation, a unified explanation for this phenomenon remains elusive. This article introduces a new theoretical approach characterized by two distinctive features. First, it advocates for the examination of the general problem of incubation through tasks that facilitate a precise analysis of the underlying processes—specifically, Mednick's triads. Second, to enable a comprehensive analysis of problem-solving processes, this approach incorporates methods from general network theory. Consequently, the theoretical model developed to elucidate incubation encompasses two levels of processes: the propagation of activation across the semantic network and the control processes driven by goal-setting when the individual accepts the problem.

ObjectiveThe study is devoted to comparing various models based on Artificial Intelligence to determine the level of creativity based on drawings performed using the Urban test, as well as analyzing the results of applying explainable artificial intelligence methods to a trained model to identify the most relevant features in drawings that influence the model’s prediction.MethodsThe dataset is represented by a set of 1,823 scanned forms of drawings of participants performed according to the Urban test. The test results of each participant were assessed by an expert. Preprocessed images were used for fine-tuning pre-trained models such as MobileNet, ResNet18, AlexNet, DenseNet, ResNext, EfficientNet, ViT with additional linear layers to predict the participant’s score. Visualization of the areas that are of greatest importance from the point of view of the model was carried out using the Gradient-weighted Class Activation Mapping (Grad-CAM) method.ResultsTrained models based on MobileNet showed the highest prediction accuracy rate of 76%. The results of the application of explainable artificial intelligence demonstrated areas of interest that correlated with the criteria for expert assessment according to the Urban test. Analysis of erroneous predictions of the model in terms of interpretation of areas of interest made it possible to clarify the features of the drawing on which the model relies, contrary to the expert.ConclusionThe study demonstrated the possibility of using neural network methods for automated diagnosis of the level of creativity according to the Urban test based on the respondents’ drawings. The application of explainable artificial intelligence methods to the trained model demonstrated the compliance of the identified activation zones with the rules of expert assessment according to the Urban test.

The aim of the study. To study the effect of high nitric oxide concentrations on hollow polypropylene fibers of oxygenators.Materials and methods. The study was conducted in two stages. At the first stage, we evaluated the stability of oxygenator membrane made of hollow polypropylene fibers after six hours of exposure to air-oxygen mixture containing NO at 500 parts per million, or 500 pro pro mille (ppm) concentration, using mass spectrometry and infrared spectroscopy. At the second stage, an experiment with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) was conducted on 10 pigs. In the study group (n=5) animals sweep gas was supplied to the oxygenator as an air-oxygen mixture with NO at 100 ppm. In the control group animals (n=5) an air-oxygen mixture was used without NO. The CPB lasted for 4 hours, followed by observation for 12 hours. NO, NO2 (at the inlet and outlet of the oxygenator), and the dynamics of methemoglobin were evaluated. After weaning of animals from CPB, the oxygenators were tested for leakproofness, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was performed.Results. The oxygenator made of polypropylene hollow fibers retained its gas transfer parameters after six hours of exposure to air-oxygen mixture containing NO at 500 ppm. Based on IR-Fourier spectroscopy findings, NO did not affect structural integrity of polypropylene membranes. NO added to gas mixture at 100 ppm did not increase NO2 to toxic level of 2 ppm in 91% of control tests during 4 hours CPB in pigs; mean value was 1.58 ± 0.28 ppm. Methemoglobin concentration did not exceed the upper limit of permissible level (3%), and there were no statistically significant differences with the control group. All tested oxygenators have passed the leakproofness test. According to SEM findings, larger amounts of fibrin deposits were found in the control group oxygenators vs study group.Conclusion. There were no negative effects of NO at 500 ppm concentration on the oxygenator membrane made of hollow polypropylene fibers. NO at 100 ppm in a gas-mixture supplied to oxygenators did not lead to an exceedance of safe NO2 and methemoglobin concentrations in an animal model. Reduced fibrin deposits on hollow fibers of polypropylene oxygenator membranes were observed when with NO at a level of 100 ppm was added to a gas mixture.

The present study is focused on the measurement of the game efficiency by the younger adolescences in the individual and collaborative game problem solving conditions. The previously elaborated computer game system “PL-modified” was used. Social and emotional intelligence as well as gender factor were additionally controlled. 189 middle-school students from the 5—6th grades participated in this study. The results showed that game efficiency was higher in collaborative problem solving conditions (in comparison with the individual game) no matter which additional factor was controlled. Furthermore, the whole sample was divided in two groups by the criterion of the level of social intelligence of those participants who played in each pair. Thus, the group 1 included players with the equal level of social intelligence whereas the group 2 was presented by the gamers with the different levels of social intelligence. The pairs form the group 1 outperformed those participants from the group 2 in their game efficiency. Another independent resul concerns significant impact of social intelligence on the game performance in the pairs of boys. Emotional intelligence demonstrated only one significant positive correlation with the one parameter of game efficiency in the individual conditions. The present results are discussed in terms of the prospects of the usage of ‘PL- modified’ computer game system in the psychological studies conducted on the sample of young adolescents and taking their cognitive abilities into account.

Glycerol is employed as a functional component of heat-transfer fluids, which are of use in both bioreactors and various biosensor devices. At the same time, flowing glycerol was reported to cause considerable triboelectric effects. Herein, by using atomic force microscopy (AFM), we have revealed the long-term effect of glycerol flow, stopped in a ground-shielded coiled heat exchanger, on horseradish peroxidase (HRP) adsorption on mica. Namely, the solution of HRP was incubated in the vicinity of the side of the cylindrical coil with stopped glycerol flow, and then HRP was adsorbed from this solution onto a mica substrate. This incubation has been found to markedly increase the content of aggregated enzyme on mica—as compared with the control enzyme sample. We explain the phenomenon observed by the influence of triboelectrically induced electromagnetic fields of non-trivial topology. The results reported should be further considered in the development of flow-based heat exchangers of biosensors and bioreactors intended for operation with enzymes.

Continuous improvement of methods for visual information registration, processing and storage leads to the need of improving technical characteristics of digital image processing systems. The paper proposes new high-performance digital filter architectures for image processing by the Winograd method with calculations performed in a residue number system with special-type moduli. To assess the performance and hardware costs of the proposed architectures, hardware simulation is carried out using a field-programmable gate array in a computer-aided design envi-ronment Xilinx Vivado 2018.3 for the target device Artix-7 xc7a200tffg1156-3. The results of hardware simulation show that the proposed filter architectures have 1.13 – 5.42 times higher performance, but require more hardware costs compared to the known methods. The results of this study can be used in the design of complex systems for image processing and analysis for their performance to be increased.

Emotional intelligence is the personal ability to identify and effectively manage one’s emotions in relation to personal goals (career, family, education, etc.). Even if a person has enough knowledge and intelligent ideas, if he does not know and fails to manage his emotions and feelings, he may encounter difficulties in trying to build relationships with others. The COVID-19 pandemic created fear, anxiety and depression among the population, but the most exposed were those who already suffered from a mental disorder. All these changes could but affect human behavior in the management of interpersonal relationships. Social distancing, meeting bans, hygiene measures, lockdown, closed schools and kindergardens, technical unemployment - for most people life has suddenly changed afterMarch 2020. The consequences are visible especially in mental health and interpersonal relationships.

Through increasing differentiation of skills and globalization, it has become necessary to continually update knowledge and competences to ensure an individual’s life development and self-fulfilment. To ensure that the Republic of Moldova maintains its high standard of living and social cohesion, it is necessary to further enhance the citizens’ high level of qualification and to draw less educated people into the modern society. Responding to the rapid economic and social changes, lifelong learning aims to actively deal with the dynamics of changing the environment and to take advantage of new opportunities in the social, cultural and employment contexts. The development of the informational society and the widespread diffusion of information technologies give rise to new opportunities for learning and establish new challenges and practices regarding the way how teaching and learning should be organized and carried out.

A clinical case of successful treatment of hemicrania continua with ophthalmic symptoms using acupuncture is presented.Chronic headache (CH) is an important medical and social problem. The fact is that CH is treated mainly medication-based. About 63 % of patients have to take analgesic and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for a long time, while in most cases there are signs of drug overdose, which increases the risk of complications and side effects.The presented clinical case showed the acupuncture effectiveness in hemicrania continua with ophthalmic symptoms in a 23-year-old patient.Since the age of 13, the patient has been observed and repeatedly treated with complaints of persistent headaches on the left, pain in the left eye and decreased vision, accompanied by nausea, dizziness, weakness, fatigue, sleep disturbance. In 2019, against the background of constant daily intake of indomethacin, at a dosage of 9 tablets (225 mg) and a short course of glucocorticosteroids, positive dynamics of the left eye side and relative remission on the part of the pain syndrome were achieved. At the same time, choroidal ischemia with retinal edema persisted, headaches periodically occurred. Acupuncture had been performed during 6 months, 1–2 times every 14–28 days, depending on the patient’s condition, against the background of a gradual reduction in the dose of indomethacin. Complete remission has been achieved. After the end of treatment and complete withdrawal of the drug the patient has been under control for more than 3 months. The patient’s condition is satisfactory, no complaints.

Biomacromolecules generally exist and function in aqueous media. Is it possible to estimate the state and properties of molecules in an initial three-dimensional colloidal solution based on the structure properties of biomolecules adsorbed on the two-dimensional surface? Using atomic force microscopy to study nanosized objects requires their immobilization on a surface. Particles undergoing Brownian motion in a solution significantly reduce their velocity near the surface and become completely immobilized upon drying. Using radial distribution function (RDF) methods, it is possible to obtain information about the presence of short-range or long-range order in the arrangement of immobilized colloidal particles. In this work, RDF is applied to immobilized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and horseradish peroxidase molecules on mica. It is shown that AuNPs maintain mobility on the mica surface when water is present. Upon immobilization, AuNPs organize into an amorphous structure exhibiting short-range order. Protein molecules are immobilized randomly, and their surface density is well described by the Poisson distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, there is great interest in the development of highly sensitive bioanalytical systems for diagnosing diseases at an early stage, when pathological biomarkers are present in biological fluids at low concentrations and there are no clinical manifestations. A promising direction is the use of molecular detectors―highly sensitive devices that detect signals from single biomacromolecules. A typical detector in this class is the atomic force microscope (AFM). The high sensitivity of an AFM-based bioanalysis system is determined by the size of the sensing element of an atomic force microscope―the cantilever―the radius of the curvature of which is comparable to that of a biomolecule. Biospecific molecular probe–target interactions are used to ensure detection system specificity. Antibodies, aptamers, synthetic antibodies, and peptides can be used as molecular probes. This study has demonstrated the possibility of using aptamers as molecular probes for AFM-based detection of the ovarian cancer biomarker CA125. Antigen detection in a nanomolar solution was carried out using AFM chips with immobilized aptamers, commercially available or synthesized based on sequences from open sources. Both aptamer types can be used for antigen detection, but the availability of sequence information enables additional modeling of the aptamer structure with allowance for modifications necessary for immobilization of the aptamer on an AFM chip surface. Information on the structure and oligomeric composition of aptamers in the solution was acquired by combining small-angle X-ray scattering and molecular modeling. Modeling enabled pre-selection, before the experimental stage, of aptamers for use as surface-immobilized molecular probes.

Glycerol has found its applications as a heat-transfer fluid in heat exchangers, and as a component of functional liquids in biosensor analysis. Flowing non-aqueous fluids are known to be able to induce electromagnetic fields due to the triboelectric effect. These triboelectrically generated electromagnetic fields can affect biological macromolecules. Horseradish peroxidase (HRP) is widely employed as a convenient model object for studying how external electric, magnetic, and electromagnetic fields affect enzymes. Herein, we have studied whether the flow of glycerol in a ground-shielded cylindrical coil affects the HRP enzyme incubated at a 2 cm distance near the coil’s side. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has been employed in order to study the effect of glycerol flow on HRP at the nanoscale. An increased aggregation of HRP on mica has been observed after the incubation of the enzyme near the coil. Moreover, the enzymatic activity of HRP has also been affected. The results reported that their application can be found in biotechnology, food technology and life sciences applications, considering the development of triboelectric generators, enzyme-based biosensors and bioreactors with surface-immobilized enzymes. Our work can also be of interest for scientists studying triboelectric phenomena, representing one more step toward understanding the mechanism of the indirect action of the flow of a dielectric liquid on biological macromolecules.

Bridgman grown CsPbBr3 single crystals have demonstrated γ-ray spectra with a high resolution, making them a highly promising competitor for the current benchmark room-temperature radiation detector Cd1−xZnxTe. However, CsPbBr3 crystal growth is a very slow process that oftentimes results in cracked ingots due to phase transitions from cubic to orthorhombic crystal systems. In this report, we demonstrate the stabilization of a room-temperature cubic phase in Cs(Pb1−xSnx)(Br3−yCly) solid solutions to overcome this issue. Cs(Pb0.75Sn0.25)(Br1.00Cl2.00) was identified as the most promising composition and grown as a crack-free ingot using Bridgman growth in around one week. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Limit of detection (LoD) is a term that is used to characterize the sensitivity of an analytical method. The existing limitation of the sensitivity of analysis using modern mass spectrometry methods has been experimentally shown to be a limiting factor in the application of proteomic technologies in medicine. This article proposes a concept of a new technology that will set a new vector of development in the development of systems for solving problems of medical diagnostics and deals with theoretical and practical aspects of creating a new technology for the detection of single biomacromolecules (in particular, proteins) in biological samples. Such technology should be based on the principle of signal registration similar to that used in a Geiger counter (also known as a Geiger–Müller counter or G-M counter), a device that automatically counts the number of ionizing particles that hit it. This counter is free from probabilistic components; it registers a signal if there is at least one target molecule in the analysis chamber. Predictive medical diagnostics require technology based on methods where sensitivity allows for the detection of single marker molecules in a biological sample volume of 1–10 µL, the smallest volume of biomaterial used in laboratory diagnostics. Creation of a detector with a sensitivity of 10−18 M would allow for the detection of one molecule in 1 µL of the sample, which fundamentally makes this approach analogous to a G-M counter for solutions. To date, bioanalytical methods are limited to a sensitivity of 10−12 M (which is approximately 1 million molecules per 1 μL), which is insufficient to capture the early stages of pathological processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In our present paper, the influence of a pyramidal structure on physicochemical properties of a protein in buffer solution has been studied. The pyramidal structure employed herein was similar to those produced industrially for anechoic chambers. Pyramidal structures are also used as elements of biosensors. Herein, horseradish peroxidase (HRP) enzyme was used as a model protein. HRP macromolecules were adsorbed from their solution onto an atomically smooth mica substrate, and then visualized by atomic force microscopy (AFM). In parallel, the enzymatic activity of HRP was estimated by conventional spectrophotometry. Additionally, attenuated total reflection Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) has been employed in order to find out whether or not the protein secondary structure changes after the incubation of its solution either near the apex of a pyramid or in the center of its base. Using AFM, we have demonstrated that the incubation of the protein solution either in the vicinity of the pyramid’s apex or in the center of its base influences the physicochemical properties of the protein macromolecules. Namely, the incubation of the HRP solution in the vicinity of the top of the pyramidal structure has been shown to lead to an increase in the efficiency of the HRP adsorption onto mica. Moreover, after the incubation of the HRP solution either near the top of the pyramid or in the center of its base, the HRP macromolecules adsorb onto the mica surface predominantly in monomeric form. At that, the enzymatic activity of HRP does not change. The results of our present study are useful to be taken into account in the development of novel biosensor devices (including those for the diagnosis of cancer in humans), in which pyramidal structures are employed as sensor, noise suppression or construction elements.

The change in the values of our society, which has a long temporal span, with tensions and contradictions within its own internal reality, with confrontations between two worlds - an outdated one, denied by the process of change, another one- new, under construction, leads to the loss of some values and taking over others. Hence, the inevitable coexistence of old and new values, the coexistence of axiological senses and contrasts with different effects influence the self-consciousness and its involvement in the value system of the personality of young people, provoking the necessity of new investigations. This paper focuses on the value orientations and the values of young people. The possible existence of a crisis of educational values can be announced by lowering the interest of young people and of society, in general, in school, by lowering the prestige of the diplomas that the school institution offers to the graduates, by decreasing the prestige of the teaching profession, by the impartiality of the school achievements and the socio-professional ones.