Cognitive mediators of the effect of peer victimization on loneliness

The impact of stress on psychological adjustment may be mediated by cognitive interpretations (i.e., appraisals) of events for individuals. Defining characteristics of loneliness suggest that appraisals of blame, threat, and perceived control may be particularly important in this domain. AIMS: To evaluate the extent to which cognitive appraisals (perceived control, threat, and blame) can mediate the effect of peer victimization on loneliness. SAMPLE: One hundred and ten children (54 boys, 56 girls) aged 8-12 years attending mainstream schools in Scotland. METHOD: Self-report measures of peer victimization, appraisal, and loneliness. RESULTS: Perceived control partially mediated the effects of peer victimization on loneliness, but neither blame nor threat were mediators. All three measures of control were significantly associated with loneliness at the bivariate level, but only perceived control was significant when the appraisals were entered as predictors in a hierarchical multiple linear regression. CONCLUSIONS: The results highlight the importance of research designs assessing multiple categories of appraisal. Furthermore, they suggest that intervention efforts aiming to combat feelings of loneliness within a peer victimization context should address children's appraisals of perceived control

Changes in the relationship between self-reference and emotional valence as a function of dysphoria

The self-positivity bias is found to be an aspect of normal cognitive function. Changes in this bias are usually associated with changes in emotional states, such as dysphoria or depression. The aim of the present study was to clarify the role of emotional valence within self-referential processing. By asking non-dysphoric and dysphoric individuals to rate separately the emotional and self-referential content of a set of 240 words, it was possible to identify the differences in the relationship between self-reference and emotional valence, which are associated with dysphoria. The results support the existence of the self-positivity bias in non-dysphoric individuals. More interestingly, dysphoric individuals were able to accurately identify the emotional content of the word stimuli. They failed, however, to associate this emotional valence with self-reference. These findings are discussed in terms of attributional self-biases and their consequences for cognition

The Phyre2 web portal for protein modeling, prediction and analysis

Phyre2 is a suite of tools available on the web to predict and analyze protein structure, function and mutations. The focus of Phyre2 is to provide biologists with a simple and intuitive interface to state-of-the-art protein bioinformatics tools. Phyre2 replaces Phyre, the original version of the server for which we previously published a paper in Nature Protocols. In this updated protocol, we describe Phyre2, which uses advanced remote homology detection methods to build 3D models, predict ligand binding sites and analyze the effect of amino acid variants (e.g., nonsynonymous SNPs (nsSNPs)) for a user's protein sequence. Users are guided through results by a simple interface at a level of detail they determine. This protocol will guide users from submitting a protein sequence to interpreting the secondary and tertiary structure of their models, their domain composition and model quality. A range of additional available tools is described to find a protein structure in a genome, to submit large number of sequences at once and to automatically run weekly searches for proteins that are difficult to model. The server is available at http://www.sbg.bio.ic.ac.uk/phyre2. A typical structure prediction will be returned between 30 min and 2 h after submission

How much does emotional valence of action outcomes affect temporal binding?

Temporal binding refers to the compression of the perceived time interval between voluntary actions and their sensory consequences. Research suggests that the emotional content of an action outcome can modulate the effects of temporal binding. We attempted to conceptually replicate these findings using a time interval estimation task and different emotionally-valenced action outcomes (Experiments 1 and 2) than used in previous research. Contrary to previous findings, we found no evidence that temporal binding was affected by the emotional valence of action outcomes. After validating our stimuli for equivalence of perceived emotional valence and arousal (Experiment 3), in Experiment 4 we directly replicated Yoshie and Haggard’s (2013) original experiment using sound vocalizations as action outcomes and failed to detect a significant effect of emotion on temporal binding. These studies suggest that the emotional valence of action outcomes exerts little influence on temporal binding. The potential implications of these findings are discussed

Prenatal paternal depression

Prenatal depressive symptoms, anxiety, anger and daily hassles were investigated in 156 depressed and non-depressed pregnant women and their depressed and non-depressed partners (fathers-to-be). Depressed versus non-depressed fathers had higher depression, anxiety and daily hassles scores. Although the pregnant women in general had lower anxiety, anger and daily hassles scores than the men, the scores on the measures for depressed fathers and depressed mothers did not differ. Paternal depression appeared to have less effect than maternal depression on their partners’ scores. However, the similarity between the scores of depressed mothers and depressed fathers highlights the importance of screening for depression in fathers-to-be as well as mothers-to-be during pregnancy.We would like to thank the mothers and infants who participated in this study. This research was supported by a merit award (MH #46586) and Senior Research Scientist Awards from NIH (MH #00331 and AT #001585) and a March of Dimes grant (#12-FY03-48) to Tiffany Field and funding by Johnson and Johnson Pediatric Institute to the Touch Research Institutes

Mroh1, a lysosomal regulator localized by WASH-generated actin

The steps leading to constitutive exocytosis are poorly understood. In Dictyostelium WASH complex mutants, exocytosis is blocked, so cells that take up fluorescent dextran from the medium retain it and remain fluorescent. Here, we establish a FACS-based method to select cells that retain fluorescent dextran, allowing identification of mutants with disrupted exocytosis. Screening a pool of random mutants identified members of the WASH complex, as expected, and multiple mutants in the conserved HEAT-repeat-containing protein Mroh1. In mroh1 mutants, endosomes develop normally until the stage where lysosomes neutralize to postlysosomes, but thereafter the WASH complex is recycled inefficiently, and subsequent exocytosis is substantially delayed. Mroh1 protein localizes to lysosomes in mammalian and Dictyostelium cells. In Dictyostelium, it accumulates on lysosomes as they mature and is removed, together with the WASH complex, shortly before the postlysosomes are exocytosed. WASH-generated F-actin is required for correct subcellular localization; in WASH complex mutants, and immediately after latrunculin treatment, Mroh1 relocalizes from the cytoplasm to small vesicles. Thus, Mroh1 is involved in a late and hitherto undefined actin-dependent step in exocytosis

Affective Reactivity to Positive Daily Events in Adolescence

The experience of positive events is associated with increased positive affect (PA), which can beneficially impact physical and mental health outcomes of adolescents. This study investigated whether different types of positive events elicit different amounts of PA, and whether sex would moderate these effects. Participants were 136 adolescents (Mage = 13.03 years, 51.3% female). Results indicated that interpersonal and independent events predicted greater PA reactivity than non-interpersonal and dependent events, respectively. Sex did not moderate these effects. Furthermore, results indicated that interpersonal, dependent events were associated with the highest adolescent mean PA compared to any other combination of event types

Computer Simulation to Optimize the VFA Alpha Prototype with a Hydraulic Piston Compressor and an Integrated Booster

The research has been supported by the European Regional Development Fund project "Competence Centre of Mechanical Engineering", contract No.1.2.1.1/18/A/008 signed between the Competence Centre of Mechanical Engineering and the Central Finance and Contracting Agency, Research No. 3.1 "Additional research and integra tion of the technology of hydraulic piston, aiming to develop and demonstrate economically efficient compressed natural gas smart commercial vehicle fuelling appliance". Our special gratitude to Gaspard Bouteau, PhD, Research Engineer, who conducted research in Engie Lab CRIGEN. Scientific co-authorship of the Laboratory of Materials for Energy Harvesting and Storage, ISSP UL has been supported by the Ministry of Economics of the Republic of Latvia, project LAGAS No VPP-EMINFRA- 2018/1-0003.Natural gas, including biomethane, is a sustainable alternative fuel. Widening compressed natural gas applications by now is restricted by weakly developed infrastructure. Hygen Ltd. works on "hydraulic piston"technology for natural gas and biomethane compressing, storing, delivering and discharging the storage cylinders by means of an innovative hydraulic boosting technology. Designing of the Vehicle Fuelling Appliance (VFA) demands to take into account thermodynamics and gas dynamics properties at fluid compression and motion. The present paper deals with theoretical characteristics and their link to test measurements regarding a particular VFA HYGEN+ Alpha prototype manufactured by Hygen Ltd.Izglītības un zinātnes ministrija VPP-EMINFRA- 2018/1-0003; European Regional Development Fund 3.1,1.2.1.1/18/A/008; Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART

Prospects of Decarbonizing Industrial Areas in the Baltic States by Means of Alternative Fuels

This work has been supported by the National Research Programme, project “Trends, Challenges and Solutions of Latvian Gas Infrastructure Development” (LAGAS), No. VPP-EM-INFRA-2018/1-0003.All three Baltic States have reached good fi gures regarding the change in total greenhouse gas emissions from transport during 1990-2017. Particularly successful is Lithuania, showing a negative value of -2.7%. Latvia considerably lags behind Estonia (+15.1% vs. +1.5%). Amid the achievement of Latvian scientists, engineers and merchants, the authors point out the work of Lithuanian engineers who investigated how gaseous hydrogen affects the parameters of diesel internal combustion engine. Important to note that in the Baltic States, the activities of inland waterway vessels and the shunting locomotives are concentrated in only a few main cities. Regarding that, Baltic scientists and environment specialists nowadays are developing plans also for local air pollution decreasing, which can be carried out in particular cities or industrial areas, thereby allowing for improvements in air cleanliness and the ecological situation in concerned local area. A numerical estimation shows that applying the NYSMART technology, introduced in this paper, will make areas of active action of the high-volume diesels cleaner in the same amount as gained by photosynthesis of the urban green flora. In recent years, the developed technology of hydraulic piston compression allows producing numerous different vehicle fueling appliances for the CNG/bio-CNG fuel. The further development of this technology means the producing of various solutions, applicable at biogas/biomethane production sites, for CNG/bio-CNG compression, transportation and fast natural gas vehicles refueling in a cost effective and convenient way. The hydraulic piston compression and NYSMART have a potential in small and medium-scale technologies and therefore need to be developed further for applications with hydrogen. Production of biomethane and green hydrogen is delayed by the lack of state aid programmes in the Baltic States. Lithuania is on the way to change the situation in the coming years, with one of the first biomethane gas production plants due to be built near Panevėžys, in Šilagalys near the Via Baltica motorway. Summing up all aspects, the preconditions for the use of alternative fuels in the Baltic States are similar, allowing one to learn from other’s experience and to consider joint projects. © 2022. Journal of Ecological Engineering All Rights ReservedNational Research Programme VPP-EM-INFRA-2018/1-0003; Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART2

Climate negotiators’ and scientists’ assessments of the climate negotiations

Climate negotiation outcomes are difficult to evaluate objectively because there are no clear reference scenarios. Subjective assessments from those directly involved in the negotiations are particularly important, as this may influence strategy and future negotiation participation. Here we analyze the perceived success of the climate negotiations in a sample of more than 600 experts involved in international climate policy. Respondents were pessimistic when asked for specific assessments of the current approach centered on voluntary pledges, but were more optimistic when asked for general assessments of the outcomes and usefulness of the climate negotiations. Individuals who are more involved in the negotiation process tended to be more optimistic, especially in terms of general assessments. Our results indicate that two reinforcing effects are at work: a high degree of involvement changes individuals’ perceptions and more optimistic individuals are more inclined to remain involved in the negotiations