Cortical oxygenation suggests increased effort during cognitive inhibition in ecstasy polydrug users

Background: It is understood that 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (ecstasy) causes serotonin dysfunction and deficits in executive functioning. When investigating executive function, functional neuroimaging allows the physiological changes underlying these deficits to be investigated. The present study investigated behavioural and brain indices of inhibition in ecstasy-polydrug users. Methods: Twenty ecstasy-polydrug users and 20 drug-naïve participants completed an inhibitory control task (Random Letter Generation (RLG)) while prefrontal haemodynamic response was assessed using functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Results: There were no group differences on background measures including sleep quality and mood state. There were also no behavioural differences between the two groups. However, ecstasy-polydrug users displayed significant increases in oxygenated haemoglobin (oxy-Hb) from baseline compared to controls at several voxels relating to areas of the inferior right medial prefrontal cortex, as well the right and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Regression analysis revealed that recency of ecstasy use was a significant predictor of oxy-Hb increase at two voxels over the right hemisphere after controlling for alcohol and cannabis use indices. Conclusion: Ecstasy-polydrug users show increased neuronal activation in the prefrontal cortex compared to non-users. This is taken to be compensatory activation/recruitment of additional resources to attain similar performance levels on the task, which may be reversible with prolonged abstinence

First fossil find of the Blanus strauchi complex (Amphisbaenia, Blanidae) from the Miocene of Anatolia

WOS: 000432213400008SYNTHESYS [SYNTHESYS ES-TAF-5910]; Ege University Research ProjectsEge University [TTM/001/2010, TTM/002/2011, TTM/001/2013, TTM/002/2014, 2015/Fen/17]; [TUBITAK-RFBR 111Y192]We would like to thank P. Lymberakis (NHMC), M. Calvo Revuelta (MNCN), and G. Gassner and C. Horweg (NHMW) for providing access to specimens under their care and photographs of extant specimens of Blanus spp. M. Delfino (University of Torino) provided insightful comments that enhanced the quality of the manuscript. A. Villa (University of Torino) helped with the literature. G.L.G. acknowledges travel support from SYNTHESYS (grant SYNTHESYS ES-TAF-5910) and the University of Torino. K.H., S.M., and T.K. were supported by TUBITAK-RFBR 111Y192 and Ege University Research Projects TTM/001/2010, TTM/002/2011, TTM/001/2013, TTM/002/2014, and 2015/Fen/17 during their field trips. We also thank Editor J. Head and the reviewers A. Bolet and J. Muller for their comments and help during the review process

A novel current controller design for grid-integrated PV inverter system

Distributed generators are playing a vital role in supporting the grid in ever-increasing energy demands. Grid code regulation must be followed when integrating the photovoltaic inverter system to the grid. The paper investigates and analyzes a controller model for grid-connected PV inverters to inject sinusoidal current to the grid with minimum distortion. To achieve better tracking and disturbance rejection, a DSP-based current controller is designed with LCL filter. The controller gets the current feedback from the grid, compares it with reference current, and calculates duty cycle to generate PWM pulses to trigger H-bridge converters. The grid voltage is loaded to the initial value in proposed PR controller to ensure the initial inverter voltage to match the grid voltage. The paper presents a novel current controller algorithm for grid-connected inverter system, and simulation is done. A detailed analysis has been carried out to validate the proposed design algorithm. Experimental implementation of the current controller in the DC/AC converter circuits with an LCL filter is done for 5.4 kW to validate and match the simulation model.The authors gratefully acknowledge the Support of Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Technology and Applied Science (Oman), and AMU (India) for providing laboratory equipment and resources.Scopu

Directions for the Development of Agro-Engineering Education in Russia After the Pandemic

There is a decrease in general intellectual development level and mastery of a certain range of logical operations when learning. The decrease is compensated with the help of increased motivation and efficiency. When managing students’ cognitive processes and learning motives, it is important to consider the formation stages of logical and theoretical thinking. The authors found that insufficient professional orientation and low level of academic motivation hold a second position among the student dropout reasons, after the lack of desire to study and work in the chosen direction. If we consider the state of a graduate student at an agricultural university from the point of preparedness for the production process, then the professional education and competencies that the future specialist has mastered largely determine their competitiveness on the labor market. Since the current education system has never experienced the problems that the pandemic caused, it is necessary to reconsider the further development of the education system on an innovative base using not only distance (remote) education but also digital technologies

Urban share of the "burden" : impact of a support organisation on caregiver burden of people affected by dementia

Purpose. This study investigated the experiences and expectations of unpaid caregivers who were members of a nonprofit social support organisation. Design and Methods. Colaizzi's phenomenological exploration was followed. Data were saturated after 15 in-depth individual interviews at a centre for people affected with dementia. Findings. The themes reported with the COREQ checklist were contributory to caregiver burden, the escalation of dementia symptoms, changes in family roles, psychological distress, social challenges, membership in a social network, and developing effective coping skills. Practice Implications. Access, availability, and continuity of psychosocial support programs are vital for the wellbeing of people affected with dementia

Musculoskeletal sonography in juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus

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An NIDS for known and zero-day anomalies

Rapid development in the network infrastructure has resulted in sophisticated attacks which are hard to detect using typical network intrusion detection systems (NIDS). There is a strong need for efficient NIDS to detect these known attacks along with ever-emerging zero-day exploits. Existing NIDS are more focused on detecting known attacks using supervised machine learning approaches, achieving better performance for known attacks but poor detection of unknown attacks. Many NIDS have utilized the unsupervised approach, which results in better detection of unknown anomalies. In this paper, we proposed a Hybrid NIDS based on Semisupervised One-Class Support Vector Machine (OC-SVM) and Supervised Random Forest (RF) algorithms. This detection system has several stages. The First stage is based on OC-SVM, which filters benign and malicious traffic. The next stages use many parallel supervised models and an additional OC-SVM model to separate known and unknown attacks from malicious traffic. The previous process is done so that known attacks are classified by their type, and unknown attacks are detected. The proposed NIDS is tested on the standard public dataset CSE-CIC-IDS-2018. The evaluation results show that the system achieves a high accuracy, 99.45%, for detecting known attacks. Our proposed NIDS achieves an accuracy of 93.99% for unknown or zero-day attacks. The overall accuracy of the proposed NIDS is 95.95%. The system significantly improves the detection of known and unknown anomalies using a hybrid approach.This project has received funding from the European Union’s H2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement No. 952644, from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation under contract PID2021-124463OB- I00, and from the Catalan Government under contract 2021 SGR 00326.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Evolución de los ácidos grasos en el mesocarpo del níspero (Mespilus germanica. L.) a diferentes estados de maduración

The fatty acid composition of medlar (Mespilus germanica L.) varied significantly among the ripening stages sampled at 157, 172 and 187 DAFs (days after full bloom). Twenty-one different fatty acids were detected in preclimacteric fruit and 17 when the climacteric began. Principal fatty acids, determined in medlar fruit harvested from October (157 and 172 DAFs) to November (187 DAF) were mainly palmitic acid (16:0), linoleic acid (18:2n-6), and a-linolenic acid (18:3n-3). While the content of saturated fatty acids [palmitic acid (16:0) and stearic acid (18:0)] increased, the content of the essential polyunsaturated fatty acids [linoleic acid (18:2n-6) and linolenic acid (18:3n-3)] decreased through ripening, in parallel with pulp darkening. The percentage of linoleic acid and a-linolenic acid in ripe, hard fruits was 60.0 and 13.5 % of dry wt at 157 DAF which decreased throughout ripening, remaining at 28.7 and 5.6 % of dry wt, respectively, in the fully softened and darkened pulp. A marked decreases in the double bond index, percentage of unsaturation and the ratio of unsaturation/saturation were also seen throughout the medlar ripening. The contribution of unsaturated fatty acid to the total fatty acid content decreased markedly as the medlar fruit became progressively softer and darkened.La composición en ácidos grasos del níspero (Mespilus germanica L.) varió significativamente entre los estados de maduración muestreados a los 157, 172 y 187 DAFs (días después de la floración). Veinte y un ácidos grasos diferentes fueron detectados en el fruto preclimatérico y 17 cuando comenzó el climaterio. Los ácidos grasos principales encontrados en nísperos, recolectados desde Octubre (157 y 172 DAFs) hasta Noviembre (187 DAF), fueron principalmente ácido palmítico (16:0), ácido linoléico (18:2n-6), y ácido a-linolénico (18:3n-3). En tanto que el contenido en ácidos grasos saturados (ácido palmítico (16:0) y ácido esteárico (18:0)) aumentó, el contenido en ácidos grasos esenciales (ácido linoleico (18:2n-6) y ácido linolénico (18:3n-6)) disminuyó durante la maduración, en paralelo con el oscurecimiento de la pulpa. El porcentaje de ácido linoleico y de ácido a-linolénico en frutos maduros sin reblandecer fue de 60.0 y 13.5 % del peso seco a 157 DAF, disminuyendo durante la maduración, y permaneciendo a 28.7 y 56 % del peso seco, respectivamente, en la pulpa completamente blanda y oscura. También se observó durante la maduración del níspero una marcada disminución en el número de dobles enlaces, en el tanto por ciento de instauración y en la relación instauración / saturación. La contribución de los ácidos grasos insaturados al contenido de ácidos grasos totales disminuyó marcadamente cuando el níspero comenzó progresivamente a reblandecerse y oscurecerse