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People are not equipped with an internal random series generator. When asked to produce a random series they simply try to reproduce an output of known random process. However, this endeavor is very often limited by their working memory capacity. Here, we investigate the model of random-like series generation that accounts for the involvement of storage and processing components of working memory. In two studies, we used a modern, robust measure of randomness to assess human-generated series. In Study 1, in the experimental design with the visibility of the last generated elements as a between-subjects variable, we tested whether decreasing cognitive load on working memory would mitigate the decay in the level of randomness of the generated series. Moreover, we investigated the relationship between randomness judgment and algorithmic complexity of human-generated series. Results showed that when people did not have to solely rely on their working memory storage component to maintain active past choices they were able to prolongate their high-quality performance. Moreover, people who were able to better distinguish more complex patterns at the same time generated more random series. In Study 2, in the correlational design, we examined the relationship between working memory capacity and the ability to produce random-like series. Results revealed that individuals with longer working memory capacity also were to produce more complex series. These findings highlight the importance of working memory in generating random-like series and provide insights into the underlying mechanisms of this cognitive process.

Abstract Trust is foundational for social relations. Current psychological models focus on specific evaluative and descriptive content underlying initial impressions of trustworthiness. Two experiments investigated whether trust also depends on subjective consistency—a sense of fit between elements. Experiment 1 examined how consistency of simple verbal characterizations influences trust judgments. Experiment 2 examined how incidental visual consistency impacts trust judgments and economic decisions reflecting trust. Both experiments show that subjective consistency positively and uniquely predicts trust judgments and economic behavior. Critically, subjective consistency is a unique predictor of trust that is irreducible to the content of individual elements, either on the dimension of trust or the dimension of valence. These results show that trust impressions are not a simple sum of the contributing parts, but reflect a “gestalt”. The results fit current frameworks emphasizing the role of predictive coding and coherence in social cognition.

Abstract The principle of similarity, or homophily, is often used to explain patterns observed in complex networks such as transitivity and the abundance of triangles (3-cycles). However, many phenomena from division of labor to protein-protein interactions (PPI) are driven by complementarity (differences and synergy). Here we show that the principle of complementarity is linked to the abundance of quadrangles (4-cycles) and dense bipartite-like subgraphs. We link both principles to their characteristic motifs and introduce two families of coefficients of: (1) structural similarity, which generalize local clustering and closure coefficients and capture the full spectrum of similarity-driven structures; (2) structural complementarity, defined analogously but based on quadrangles instead of triangles. Using multiple social and biological networks, we demonstrate that the coefficients capture structural properties related to meaningful domain-specific phenomena. We show that they allow distinguishing between different kinds of social relations as well as measuring an increasing structural diversity of PPI networks across the tree of life. Our results indicate that some types of relations are better explained by complementarity than homophily, and may be useful for improving existing link prediction methods. We also introduce a Python package implementing efficient algorithms for calculating the proposed coefficients.

To be successful in social life, perceivers need to form impressions of other people's trustworthiness. Current models of this process emphasize the role of specific descriptive content–individual verbal and visual features determining trust impressions. In contrast, we describe three lines of our research showing that trust impressions also depend on consistency–a sense of fit–between features. The first line demonstrates that consistency of brief verbal characterizations increases trust judgments. The second line shows that trust judgments and behaviors are boosted by incidental consistency between the foreground and background of visual scenes. The third line observes that consistency between facial features enhances impressions of trustworthiness. In all these studies, consistency (measured via subjective ratings, reaction times, and physiological measures) positively and uniquely predicted trust judgments. Overall, our results, and related findings, show that trust impressions are not a simple sum of the contributing parts, but reflect a “gestalt.” We theoretically locate these findings in frameworks emphasizing the role of fluency, predictive coding, and coherence in social cognition.

The diet rich in fruits is widely recommended for health-promoting properties. Regular consumption of fruits could reduce the risk of many diseases. The fruit-based alcoholic beverages have been produced for centuries and, in many countries, are still very popular. ‘Nalewka’ is a traditional name of Polish liqueur, i.e., an alcoholic beverage made by maceration of fruits. Homemade nalewkas are often stored for a long time before consumption, which can affect the content of valuable secondary metabolites. The aim of the study was to compare the effect of long-time storage on antioxidant activity and total polyphenol, total anthocyanin, tannin as well as gallic acid content in three homemade nalewkas. Cherry, plum, and multifruit nalewka were produced in 1997 and between 2013–2019 years. The antioxidant activity was measured by the DPPH, ABTS, FRAP, and CUPRAC methods. The content of gallic acid was estimated by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The oldest nalewkas (from 1997) showed significantly lower antioxidant activity as well as a lower content of polyphenols, anthocyanins, and gallic acid compared to the later-produced nalewkas, in particular those produced in 2016–2019. In most cases, a correlation was also found between the parameters of antioxidant activity as well as the total content of polyphenols and anthocyanins. Long-term storage of nalewkas reduces the content of valuable secondary metabolites responsible for the antioxidant activity and, thus, the health properties of the beverage.

Synchronization has been shown to play an important role in social life through its effects on interactions between people and the quality of these interactions. However, little is known about how observing synchronization affects perceptions of the synchronized individuals. This paper examines how observed synchronization influences perceptions of a neutral person depending on the emotional valence of the faces with which they are synchronized. Two different forms of synchronization were used in these studies: synchronous flashing of faces and faces moving in a common direction. We hypothesized that observed synchronization biases the perception of emotions expressed by a neutral person and an observer’s attitude towards this person. These effects are expected to be congruent with the valence of the synchronizing faces. The results showed a divergent pattern of effects for different forms of synchronization. In Study 1, synchronous flashing biased only the perceived emotions. In Study 2, synchrony of movement affected participants’ attitudes towards the observed person. Our findings suggest that the form of observed synchrony is an important factor in drawing inferences about individuals.

Roads and bridges are designed to meet the transportation demands for traffic volume and loading. Knowledge of the actual traffic is needed for a rational management of highway infrastructure. There are various procedures and equipment for measuring truck weight, including static and in weigh-in-motion techniques. This paper aims to compare four systems: portable scale, stationary truck weigh station, pavement weigh-in-motion system (WIM), and bridge weigh-in-motion system (B-WIM). The first two are reliable, but they have limitations as they can measure only a small fraction of the highway traffic. Weigh-in-motion (WIM) measurements allow for a continuous recording of vehicles. The presented study database was obtained at a location that allowed for recording the same traffic using all four measurement systems. For individual vehicles captured on a portable scale, the results were directly compared with the three other systems’ measurements. The conclusion is that all four systems produce the results that are within the required and expected accuracy. The recommendation for an application depends on other constraints such as continuous measurement, installation and operation costs, and traffic obstruction.

The topical landscape of psychology is highly compartmentalized, with distinct phenomena explained and investigated with recourse to theories and methods that have little in common. Our aim in this article is to identify a basic set of principles that underlie otherwise diverse aspects of human experience at all levels of psychological reality, from neural processes to group dynamics. The core idea is that neural, behavioral, mental, and social structures emerge through the synchronization of lower-level elements (e.g., neurons, muscle movements, thoughts and feelings, individuals) into a functional unit—a coherent structure that functions to accomplish tasks. The coherence provided by the formation of functional units may be transient, persisting only as long as necessary to perform the task at hand. This creates the potential for the repeated assembly and disassembly of functional units in accordance with changing task demands. This perspective is rooted in principles of complexity science and non-linear dynamical systems and is supported by recent discoveries in neuroscience and recent models in cognitive and social psychology. We offer guidelines for investigating the emergence of functional units in different domains, thereby honoring the topical differentiation of psychology while providing an integrative foundation for the field.

The increasing integration of technology into our lives has created unprecedented volumes of data on society’s everyday behaviour. Such data opens up exciting new opportunities to work towards a quantitative understanding of our complex social systems, within the realms of a new discipline known as Computational Social Science. Against a background of financial crises, riots and international epidemics, the urgent need for a greater comprehension of the complexity of our interconnected global society and an ability to apply such insights in policy decisions is clear. This manifesto outlines the objectives of this new scientific direction, considering the challenges involved in it, and the extensive impact on science, technology and society that the success of this endeavour is likely to bring about.

The article can be viewed as an attempt to ascertain Neo-Luddistictendencies present in critiques of higher education reforms. In the Polish contextthey can be identified in marginalization of technoscience perspective. Author pointsat potentially emancipatory dimension of technoscience and necessity of imaginingchange, which could serve as an alternative to both Neo-Luddistic technophobyand capitalistic technocracy.

Rapid development of information and communications technologies (ICT) has triggered profound changes in how people manage their social contacts in both informal and professional contexts. ICT mediated communication may seem limited in possibilities compared to face-to-face encounters, but research shows that puzzlingly often it can be just as effective and satisfactory. We posit that ICT users employ specific communication strategies adapted to particular communication channels, which results in a comparable effectiveness of communication. In order to maintain a satisfactory level of conversational intelligibility they calibrate the content of their messages to a given medium's richness and adjust the whole conversation trajectory so that every stage of the communication process runs fluently. In the current study, we compared complex task solving trajectories in chat, mobile phone and face-to-face dyadic conversations. Media conditions did not influence the quality of decision outcomes or users' perceptions of the interaction, but they had impact on the amount of time devoted to each of the identified phases of decision development. In face-to-face contacts the evaluation stage of the discussion dominated the conversation; in the texting condition the orientation-evaluation-control phases were evenly distributed; and the phone condition provided a midpoint between these two extremes. The results show that contemporary ICT users adjust their communication behavior to the limitations and opportunities of various media through the regulation of attention directed to each stage of the discussion so that as a whole the communication process remains effective.

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OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy and safety of long term use of ranitidine 150 mg bid, 300 mg bid and placebo in prevention of endoscopic and symptomatic relapse of reflux esophagitis in an international, double-blind, placebo controlled, parallel group study.

The dynamics of collective decision making is not yet well understood. Its practical relevance however can be of utmost importance, as experienced by people who lost their fortunes in turbulent moments of financial markets. In this paper we show how spontaneous collective "moods" or "biases" emerge dynamically among human participants playing a trading game in a simple model of the stock market. Applying theory and computer simulations to the experimental data generated by humans, we are able to predict the onset of such moments before they actually happen.

BACKGROUND: Systemic risk has received much more awareness after the excessive risk taking by major financial instituations pushed the world's financial system into what many considered a state of near systemic failure in 2008. The IMF for example in its yearly 2009 Global Financial Stability Report acknowledged the lack of proper tools and research on the topic. Understanding how disruptions can propagate across financial markets is therefore of utmost importance. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here, we use empirical data to show that the world's markets have a non-linear threshold response to events, consistent with the hypothesis that traders exhibit change blindness. Change blindness is the tendency of humans to ignore small changes and to react disproportionately to large events. As we show, this may be responsible for generating cascading events--pricequakes--in the world's markets. We propose a network model of the world's stock exchanges that predicts how an individual stock exchange should be priced in terms of the performance of the global market of exchanges, but with change blindness included in the pricing. The model has a direct correspondence to models of earth tectonic plate movements developed in physics to describe the slip-stick movement of blocks linked via spring forces. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We have shown how the price dynamics of the world's stock exchanges follows a dynamics of build-up and release of stress, similar to earthquakes. The nonlinear response allows us to classify price movements of a given stock index as either being generated internally, due to specific economic news for the country in question, or externally, by the ensemble of the world's stock exchanges reacting together like a complex system. The model may provide new insight into the origins and thereby also prevent systemic risks in the global financial network.

The subject of the present work is the numerical verification and experimental validation of the FEM model which would enable us to analyse the vibrations of collecting electrodes. The effectiveness of electrostatic precipitators (ESP) depends on many factors. One of these factors is the efficiency of periodic cleaning of the collecting electrodes; thus the dust is removed by inducing vibrations. These vibrations are caused by the axial impact of a hammer on an anvil beam. In the course of the impact, and afterwards, the stresses due to the impact are produced in both the rapper system and in the collecting electrode section. The paper presents a modified finite element method which can be used in simulations and to analyse the vibrations of collecting electrodes. In the verification process the calculation results obtained were compared with those from commercial software (Abaqus). The calculations and measured results were compared for validation. The comparisons were made using peak and RMS (root-mean-squared) values as well as special factors and hit rates. An acceptable compatibility of the results proves that the model can be applied in the analysis of vibrations of electrodes in design practice.