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Turkish- and English-speaking 3-year-old children are sensitive to the evidential strength of claims when revising their beliefs
No full textIndividuals revise their beliefs based on the evidential strength of others’ claims. Unlike English, in languages such as Turkish evidential marking is obligatory; speakers must express whether their claims are based on direct observation or not. We investigated whether Turkish- and English-speaking 3- and 5-year-olds (N = 146; 72 girls; based in Turkey and Canada) differed in their belief revision after hearing claims based on direct observation, indirect observation, or inference. We found the same pattern in both linguistic groups; the 3-year-olds revised their beliefs more often when they heard claims based on direct observation and inference than on indirect observation, whereas the 5-year-olds showed no difference across different claims. By age 3, Turkish- and English-speaking children are sensitive to the strength of claims when revising their beliefs
Noncoding elements in wheat defence response to fusarium head blight
No full textWheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a major source of global food security while various stressors, including biotic and abiotic factors, directly affect its production. Among these stressors, Fusarium infection poses a significant risk, leading to severe yield losses, and compromising the overall quality of the crop. To understand the regulatory mechanisms modulating wheat’s response against Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) stress, a comprehensive analysis of the noncoding RNA profiles of two wheat varieties, Vida and Hank, was conducted. A dataset has been generated utilizing high throughput RNA sequencing (RNAseq) and small RNA sequencing (sRNAseq) technologies for identifying and characterizing microRNA (miRNA) and long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) profiles of these cultivars and the changes upon Fusarium infection. Our analysis revealed not only common but also cultivar- and condition-specific miRNAs and lncRNA transcripts, showing the unique regulatory responses exhibited by these wheat varieties under Fusarium stress. Furthermore, the functional properties of the identified miRNAs were investigated by identifying their putative coding sequence (CDS) targets. Additionally, the regulatory relationships between the putative miRNAs and lncRNAs were explored, providing a view of the complex molecular networks coordinating wheat’s response against Fusarium infection. The proposed regulatory network includes the dynamic interplay between miRNAs, CDS targets, and lncRNAs, offering insights into potential key players in the adaptive responses of wheat to biotic stressors
Optimizing curing profiles of one-component epoxy resins with small molecule thermal latent curing agents containing reversible urea bonds
No full textThis study focused on the synthesis of small-molecule thermal latent curing agents (TLCs) containing reversible urea bonds and their utilization in one-component epoxy resins (OCERs). The TLCs were synthesized by reacting aromatic monoisocyanates with linear aliphatic amines with primary and secondary amino groups and characterized by NMR, FTIR, TGA, and DSC. The TLCs were then incorporated into diglycidyl ether bisphenol A (DGEBA) resin at 60 °C to formulate OCERs and assess their effectiveness. Optical microscopy of the OCERs showed uniform dispersion of the TLCs. Cure kinetics, evaluated by dynamic and isothermal DSC and rheological analysis, revealed that the stability of urea bonds of the TLCs was affected by phenyl group substitution and the amino group type. Urea bonds formed from dichlorophenyl isocyanate (DCPI) with secondary amino groups showed the lowest thermal stability. The TLC-5 synthesized from DCPI and triethylenetetramine (TETA), was most effective, initiating the curing of DGEBA at 120 °C. OCER-5, prepared with TLC-5 and DGEBA and cured at 140 °C, was analyzed by DMA, showing a Tg of 135 °C. This study highlighted the importance of molecular structure in optimizing TLC stability and efficacy, guiding the design of improved TLCs for epoxy applications in composites and adhesives
High-performance number theoretic transform on GPU through radix2-CT and 4-step algorithms
No full textThe number theoretic transform (NTT) provides a practical and efficient technique to perform multiplication of very large degree polynomials typically found in fully homomorphic encryption (FHE), lattice-based cryptography, and non-interactive succinct zero-knowledge proof systems such as zk-SNARK. In this paper, we focus on this aspect and present two robust algorithms for efficient NTT using readily available GPU cards as hardware accelerators. These algorithms are based on the radix-2 Cooley-Tukey (CT) and 4-Step techniques, which are rooted in classical FFT research. To this end, our algorithms leverage novel strategy to optimize memory access patterns adaptive to input size, which often is very large. Our approach: i) reduces and optimizes the number of accesses required for global memory for thread synchronization on the GPU device, and ii) systematically improves and enhances the use of spatial locality. We achieve this effect by carefully controlling parameters such as the number of kernels, thread block size and shape, and thread layout, which directly impact overall NTT performance. The proposed optimizations enable our NTT implementation to handle very large polynomial sizes up to 228, which are usually a limiting factor in existing approaches, and achieve remarkable performance. To the best of our knowledge, our proposed technique is unique and provides a recipe for selecting suitable configurable parameter combinations to achieve top performance for a given polynomial degree. Furthermore, we perform thorough experiments and empirically assess the performance of our proposed algorithms on three mainstream commercial GPU cards by NVIDIA. Finally, we demonstrate that our algorithms compare favorably and outperform an existing commercial-grade open-source implementation in this arena
Zombie firms in network: congestion and evergreening
No full textWe explore the spillover impact of zombie firms in Türkiye by exploiting a rich administrative dataset that contains firm-level information on balance sheets, inter-firm sales, employment, and firm-bank level credit records. We document four key facts regarding zombie dynamics: (i) Leveraging matched firm-bank
level credit registry data, we highlight the presence of an evergreening motive, leading to a misallocation of credit away fromproductive firms. At the same time, healthy firms in zombie-dense networks face reduced credit access. (ii) Zombie firms, which are on average less productive than the nonzombie firms, impede investment and employment opportunities at healthier firms. Nonzombie firms operating in sectors with a high prevalence of zombie firms experience lower sales, assets, and productivity. (iii) Incorporating B2B sales data structured similarly to firm-level input-output data, our study reveals that firms with stronger upstream or downstream zombie connections tend to exhibit reduced sales, investment, and employment compared to firms without any zombie connections. (iv) A higher number of zombie connections leads to significant reductions in markups, value-added, productivity, and EBIT margins due to the cascading effects on production technology, shifting it toward lower value-added. Additionally, a higher share of zombies in the upstream sector reduces input costs for firms due to excess production
Minimizing thermally induced residual stresses in metal additive manufacturing through peridynamics topology optimization
No full textAdditive manufacturing (AM), characterized by layer-by-layer material addition using computer-aided design, presents an approach to manufacturing complex parts. However, AM processes naturally bring some difficulties such as thermally induced residual stresses, particularly in laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) processes. This research paper proposes a novel topology optimization (TO) strategy that minimizes the residual stresses on the final product manufactured by metal AM process. In this context, peridynamics topology optimization (PD-TO) is utilized to perform TO within an integrated optimization framework, fed by thermal simulations of the L-PBF process. To calculate the residual stresses on classical TO results, we perform thermomechanical analyses based on the inherent strain method to model the manufacturing process. Afterward, those stress-concentrated regions are used to create virtual cracks for the subsequent PD-TO analysis. This approach allows us to embed potential cracks precisely in these high-stress regions, enhancing the efficacy of structural simulations. The methodology is interpreted through two comprehensive case studies: L-beam and Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB) beam. The optimization process applied to both L-beam and MBB-Beam structures results in notable enhancements in their respective designs. For the L-beam, the optimization process, leads to a redistribution of material in the beam. This adjustment results in a decrease in residual stress by about 13%. For the MBB-Beam, optimization process induces geometric modifications that yield a stress distribution contributing to a reduction in residual stresses by about 15% for rmin=2, and 8% for rmin=3. Thus, in both structures, the optimization process effectively improves stress distribution
Transient dynamics and homogenization in incoherent collision models
No full textCollision models have attracted significant attention in recent years due to their versatility to simulate open quantum systems in different dynamical regimes. They have been used to study various interesting phenomena such as the dynamical emergence of non-Markovian memory effects and the spontaneous establishment of synchronization in open quantum systems. In such models, the repeated pairwise interactions between the system and the environment and also the possible coupling between different environmental units are typically modeled using the coherent partial SWAP (PSWAP) operation as it is known to be a universal homogenizer. In this study, we investigate the dynamical behavior of incoherent collision models, where the interactions between different units are modeled by the incoherent controlled SWAP (CSWAP) operation, which is also a universal homogenizer. Even though the asymptotic dynamics of the open system in cases of both coherent and incoherent swap interactions appear to be identical, its transient dynamics turns out to be significantly different. Here, we present a comparative analysis of the consequences of having coherent or incoherent couplings in collision models, namely, PSWAP or CSWAP interactions, respectively, for the emergence of memory effects for a single-qubit system and for the onset synchronization between a pair of qubits, both of which are strictly determined by the transient dynamics of the open system
Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of novel amidoxime or amidine analogues of some 4-anilino-6,7-dimethoxyquinazolines with a potent EGFR inhibitory effect
No full textA series of 6,7-dimethoxy-4-anilinoquinazoline derivatives, which have amidine (4a-4d, 5a-5c, 6a-6d) and amidoxime (4e, 5d, 6e) moieties, were synthesized and evaluated their anticancer activity on various cancerous cell lines (H1975, HCC827, and H23). Among the synthesized compounds, 4c was found to be the most potent inhibitor of EGFR, comparable to erlotinib, with higher than 10 μM EC50 values for H1975 and H23 and 0.16 μM EC50 value for HCC827 cells. 4c activated mitochondrial apoptosis signaling and suppresses EGFR downstream signaling, such as ERK1/2 and PI3K/Akt pathways in HCC827 NSCLC cells (EGFR Del19) as erlotinib. Molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations studies were performed to evaluate the interaction and binding energies of all synthesized compounds against EGFR wild type, EGFR T790M/L858R, EGFR L858R, and EGFR exon-19 deletion mutant (del-747-749). 4c showed a similar binding profile with erlotinib as stable binding interaction values. Also, 4c formed additional hydrogen bonds via the amidine group in its structure, potentially increasing its affinity and stability within the binding pocket. Hence, 4c was selected as a lead compound for further pharmacomodulation
Advanced flexible supercapacitors: vertical 2D MoS2 and WS2 nanowalls on graphenated carbon nanotube cotton
No full textFlexible supercapacitors (SCs), which are mostly produced from carbon-based materials, are emerging devices for lightweight, portable, miniaturized, and wearable electronic products. However, it is important to improve the energy density, power density and durability of flexible SCs, for which newly developed materials and composites are required. In this study, we developed flexible SCs with enhanced capacitance and stability using the advantages of high volume/surface ratio of vertical two-dimensional MoS2 and WS2 structures. Electrodes were grown on graphenated carbon nanotube (G-CNT) cotton using Radio Frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering in a time varying manner to investigate the impact on the vertical structure densities on the performance of the as-developed SCs. Galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) measurements revealed a maximum aerial capacitance value of 131.2 mF cm−2 for the best WS2 electrode and a value of 97.60 mF cm−2 for the best MoS2 electrode. The flexibilities of the SC devices were examined using angle-dependent CV measurements, which revealed almost no change. Stability tests for 10 000 cycles showed a retention rate of over 96% capacitance for both electrodes. This research demonstrates the potential of integrating the conductivity, large surface/volume ratio, and processability of G-CNTs with the unique features of transition metal dichalcogenides to develop SCs with improved efficiencies and flexibilities