Under the influence of γ-quanta (60Co, P = 9.276 rad/s, T = 300 K), the amount, formation rate, and radiation-chemical yield of molecular hydrogen obtained from the radiolysis process that changes the mass of water (m = 0.0001 ÷ 0.8 g) have been defined in the created nano-SiO2/H2O system with m = 0.2 g mass and d = 20 nm particle size. It was determined that the radiation-chemical yield of molecular hydrogen obtained from the water radiolysis process in the nano-SiO2/H2O system created by the adsorption of water on the nanoparticle surface had a low value. In systems created with the addition of water, the radiation-chemical yield of molecular hydrogen obtained from its radiolysis increased in direct proportion to the water mass. This proves that due to ionizing rays, the yield of electrons emitted from the nanoparticle surface into the water and solvated there increases. Therefore, the radiation-chemical yield of molecular hydrogen is higher than that of the adsorbed system.

Ageism has become a social problem in an aged society. This study re-examines an ageism affirmation strategy; the designs and plans for this study were pre-registered. Participants were randomly assigned to either an experimental group (in which they read an explanatory text about the stereotype embodiment theory and related empirical findings) or a control group (in which they read an irrelevant text). The hypothesis was that negative attitudes toward older adults are reduced in the experimental group compared with the control group. Bayesian analysis was used for hypothesis testing. The results showed that negative attitudes toward older adults were reduced in the experimental group. These findings contribute to the development of psychological and gerontological interventions aimed at affirming ageism. In addition, continued efforts to reduce questionable research practices and the spread of Bayesian analysis in psychological research are expected.

This study estimated the treatment cost of pediatric abdominal tuberculosis that potentially needs surgical treatment in India. Data were collected from 38 in-patient children at Christian Medical Hospital, Ludhiana as part of a clinical study conducted to establish the patterns of presentation and outcomes of abdominal tuberculosis in an Indian setting. A bottom-up approach was used to estimate the costs from a healthcare provider perspective, and a generalized linear model (GLM) was run to find variables that had an impact on the costs. Costs were reported in international dollars ($) and India Rupees (INR). The results show that the average direct cost was $3095.00 (standard deviation [SD]: 3480.82) or 68,065.13 INR (SD: 76,539.69). The GLM results established that duration of treatment and surgical treatment were significantly associated with higher costs. Efforts of eliminating the condition should be strengthened.

We prove that certain differential operators of the form $ DLD $ with $ L $ hypergeometric and $ D=z\frac{\partial }{dz} $ are of Picard–Fuchs type. We give closed hypergeometric expressions for minors of the biextension period matrices that arise from certain rank 4 weight 3 Calabi–Yau motives presumed to be of analytic rank 1. We compare their values numerically to the first derivative of the $ L $-functions of the respective motives at $ s=2 $.

This article analyzes raw driving data of passenger cars in the city of Semnan in Iran, with the objective of understanding the impact of traffic conditions at different times of day (morning, noon, evening, and night). For this study, two cars, the Toyota Prius and the Peugeot Pars (or the IKCO Persia), were used, and the data of speed, longitude, latitude, and altitude of the vehicles were acquired. This data was collected over a week (July 21–28, 2022) for a distance of 670 km (13 hr), with the help of the Global Positioning System application, and were presented for both cars. In addition to this, the data on fuel consumption and average speed, based on the Electronic Control Unit in the Prius, was also collected. Finally, a sensitivity analysis was done on the features of the raw data, based on the Principal Component Analysis method.

Yield decline has been the hallmark of Ethiopian sugarcane plantations. However, the extent and causes of the decline have not yet been empirically studied, making it difficult to manage the problem. This study aimed at analyzing the long-term yield data (1954–2022) with respect to variety and soil type. Thus, 8,923 records of yield data were summarized and sorted into decades, varieties, and soil types and then analyzed by applying Mann-Kendall and Tukey’s tests. The fields were classified and mapped using ArcGIS 10.3. The results revealed that 69% of the plantation fields were classified as “yield declining,” and the overall rate of decline has been 8.4 quintals ha−1 year−1 (R2 = 0.76). The rate of decline was higher for older than newer varieties and for vertisols than cambiols. Therefore, the older varieties should be micropropagated or replaced with improved ones, and the vertisols should be amended through practices such as green manuring, improved fallows, etc.

Test anxiety refers to maladaptive cognitive and physiological reactions that interfere with optimal performance. Self-regulatory models suggest test anxiety occurs when there is a perceived discrepancy between current functioning and mental representations of desired academic goals. Interestingly, prior investigations have demonstrated those with greater interhemispheric communication are better able to detect discrepancies between current functioning and preexisting mental representations. Thus, the current study was designed to investigate the relationship between test anxiety and handedness—a commonly used proxy variable for interhemispheric communication. Undergraduate and graduate students (N = 277, 85.20% female, 68.19% Caucasian, $ \overline{\chi} $ age = 29.88) (SD = 9.53) completed the FRIEDBEN Test Anxiety Scale and Edinburgh Handedness Inventory – Short Form. A series of Mann–Whitney U tests were used to test for differences in the cognitive, physiological, and social components of test anxiety between mixed- and consistent-handers. The results indicated that mixed-handers had significantly higher levels of cognitive test anxiety than consistent-handers. We believe this information has important implications for our understanding of the role of discrepancy detection and interhemispheric communication in eliciting and maintaining test-anxious responses.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is an irreversible neurodegenerative disorder clinically manifesting in uncontrolled motor symptoms. There are two primary hallmark features of Parkinson’s disease—an irreversible loss of dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra pars compacta and formation of intracellular insoluble aggregates called Lewy bodies mostly composed of alpha-synuclein. Using a clinical improvements-first approach, we identified several clinical trials involving consumption of a specific diet or nutritional supplementation that improved motor and nonmotor functions. Here, we aimed to investigate if and how pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) compound disrupts preformed alpha-synuclein deposits using SH-SY5Y cells, widely used Parkinson’s disease cellular model. SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells, incubated in presence of potassium chloride (KCl) to induce alpha-synuclein protein aggregation, were treated with PQQ for up to 48 hr. Resulting aggregates were examined and quantified using confocal microscopy. Overall, nutritional compound PQQ reduced the average number and overall size of intracellular cytoplasmic alpha-synuclein aggregates in a PD cellular model.

When two waves interact within a rock sample, the interaction strength depends strongly on the sample’s microstructural properties, including the orientation of the sample layering. The study that established this dependence on layering speculated that the differences were caused by cracks aligned with the layers in the sample. To test this, we applied a uniaxial load to similar samples of Crab Orchard Sandstone and measured the nonlinear interaction as a function of the applied load and layer orientation. We show that the dependence of the nonlinear signal changes on applied load is exponential, with a characteristic load of 11.4–12.5 MPa that is independent of sample orientation and probe wavetype (P or S); this value agrees with results from the literature, but does not support the cracks hypothesis.

Seven varieties of forage oats from China were evaluated in the temperate environment of Bhutan for morphological traits, dry matter production, and forage quality. The oat variety Qingyin No. 1 provided a greater plant height (61 cm) and the largest number of tillers per plant (five tillers per plant). The leaf-stem ratio (LSR) was highest for Longyan No. 2 (LSR 0.73). During harvest in late winter, Longyan No. 2 had a greater plant height (64 cm) and the highest number of tillers per plant (seven tillers per plant), followed by Qingyin No. 1. The top three varieties with high LSRs of 1.49, 1.31, and 1.35 were Longyan No. 1, 2, and 3, respectively. In both summer and winter, Longyan No. 2 had the highest forage yields of around 5.00 and 4.00 DM t/ha, respectively. Qingyin No. 1 was the second largest forage producer, with under 5.00 DM t/ha in summer and under 3.00 DM t/ha in winter. For forage quality, Longyan No. 2 and Longyan No. 3 had the highest levels of crude protein (15%) in summer. However, during late winter, the Linna variety had the highest crude protein content (13%). The overall results of the field experiments suggest that Longyan No. 2 and Qingyin No. 1 are promising new oat varieties for winter fodder production in the temperate environments of Bhutan.

In deception research, little consideration is given to how the framing of the question might impact the decision-making process used to reach a veracity judgment. People use terms such as “sure” to describe their uncertainty about an event (i.e., aleatory) and terms such as “chance” to describe their uncertainty about the world (i.e., epistemic). Presently, the effect of such uncertainty framing on veracity judgments was considered. By manipulating the veracity question wording the effect of uncertainty framing on deception detection was measured. The data show no difference in veracity judgments between the two uncertainty framing conditions, suggesting that these may operate on a robust and invariant cognitive process.

Barriers to suicide cluster detection and monitoring include requiring advanced software and statistical knowledge. We tested face validity of a simple method using readily accessible household software, Excel 3D Maps, to identify suicide clusters in this county, years 2014–2019. For spatial and temporal clusters, respectively, we defined meaningful thresholds of suicide density as 1.39/km2 and 33.9/yearly quarter, defined as the 95th percentile of normal logarithmic and normal scale distributions of suicide density per area in each ZIP Code Tabulated Area and 24 yearly quarters from all years. We generated heat maps showing suicide densities per 2.5 km viewing diameter. We generated a one-dimensional temporal map of 3-month meaningful cluster(s). We identified 21 total population spatial clusters and one temporal cluster. For greater accessibility, we propose an alternative method to traditional scan statistics using Excel 3D Maps potentially broadly advantageous in detecting, monitoring, and intervening at suicide clusters.

The Defining Issues Test (DIT) has been widely used in psychological experiments to assess one’s developmental level of moral reasoning in terms of postconventional reasoning. However, there have been concerns regarding whether the tool is biased across people with different genders and political and religious views. To address the limitations, in the present study, I tested the validity of the brief version of the test, that is, the behavioral DIT, in terms of the measurement invariance and differential item functioning (DIF). I could not find any significant non-invariance at the test level or any item demonstrating practically significant DIF at the item level. The findings indicate that neither the test nor any of its items showed a significant bias toward any particular group. As a result, the collected validity evidence supports the use of test scores across different groups, enabling researchers who intend to examine participants’ moral reasoning development across heterogeneous groups to draw conclusions based on the scores.

The temperature of maximum pyrolysis yield (known as Tmax) can be used to determine the level of thermal alteration in sedimentary organic matter; higher Tmax values represent higher thermal alteration. Tmax is commonly measured on petroleum source rocks or similar sediments with high organic carbon contents. It would be desirable to measure the Tmax of volcanic sediments because they can have complex patterns of thermal alteration. However, volcanic sediments often have low total organic carbon contents and consequently are susceptible to analytical interferences. Despite this, it can be shown that meaningful Tmax measurements can still be made in sediment with organic carbon contents as low as 0.2% and that interference caused by bitumen or ionizable salts can be mitigated by solvent extraction and rinsing with water. Thus, it is reasonable to use temperature programmed pyrolysis to assess levels of thermal alteration in even low total organic carbon volcanoclastic sediments.

The COVID‑19 pandemic has increased the popularity of online shopping, and companies are looking for ways to provide consumers with experiences that online shopping cannot provide, such as touching products and imagining them in use. In this context, the importance of haptic imagery of products showcased online is increasing. This study replicated and extended Peck et al.’s (2013, Journal of Consumer Psychology, 23, 189–196) finding that physical control and psychological ownership mediate the influence of haptic imagery on purchase intention. This study showed that imagining touching a product increased purchase intention through the mediation of physical control and psychological ownership compared with not imagining, conceptually replicating Peck et al.’s study. This study also examined the moderating effect of product involvement and showed that there was no moderator role of product involvement. The findings would have a practical application in marketing, such as encouraging consumers to imagine touching the product.

In this article, the performance parameters of the electric vehicle were investigated, and its operating point was defined using the core components (Battery, Inverter, and Motor). The test vehicle 2023 Cadillac Lyriq, provided by General Motors Inc., was driven on specified road segments, and the real-time data were retrieved using the integrated controller area network architecture. The neoVI–Fire 2 tool was connected to the vehicle system, which records the dynamic data, and Vehicle Spy software was used to convert the data into a readable format. Finally, the vector electric vehicle operating point was proposed, and the corresponding behavior was interpreted. This methodology could assist researchers in understanding the dynamic behavior of electric vehicle parameters to develop integrated techniques which augment the performance in real time.

Virtual reality (VR) is increasingly used in learning and can be experienced with a head-mounted display as a 3D immersive version (immersive virtual reality [IVR]) or with a PC (or another computer) as a 2D desktop-based version (desktop virtual reality [DVR]). A research gap is the effect of IVR and DVR on learners’ skill retention. To address this gap, we designed an experiment in which learners were trained and tested for the assembly of a procedural industrial task. We found nonsignificant differences in the number of errors, the time to completion, satisfaction, self-efficacy, and motivation. The results support the view that DVR and IVR are similarly useful for learning retention. These insights may help researchers and practitioners to decide which form of VR they should use.