We investigate a number of canonical predictions that arise from relational contract theory. Employing an experimental design with endogenous choice of contract type, we find considerable experimental support for several well-established predictions, including the importance of self-enforcement and individual rationality constraints for contractual performance; a preference for informal agreements when third-party verification of performance is coarse; and a tendency toward strategic ambiguity (Bernheim and Whinston Am Econ Rev 88(4):902–932, 1998). However, two findings that appear to be inconsistent with theory are that (1) contractually specified performance levels do not appear to respond to the discount factor though realized performance does; and (2) subjects often apply inefficient punishments following a deviation. By providing evidence on the strengths and weaknesses of standard relational contract theory, our study shows where there is room for improvement. We conjecture that incorporating social preferences and semi-grim strategies (Breitmoser Am Econ Rev 105(9):2882–2910, 2015) can potentially address the observed weaknesses.

As avionics systems become increasingly complex, traditional fault prediction methods are no longer sufficient to meet modern demands. This paper introduces four advanced fault prediction methods for avionics components, utilising a multi-step prediction strategy combined with a stacking regressor. By selecting various standard regression models as base regressors, these base regressors are first trained on the original data, and their predictions are subsequently used as input features for training a meta-regressor. Additionally, the Tree-structured Parzen Estimator (TPE) algorithm is employed for hyperparameter optimisation. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed stacking regression methods exhibit superior accuracy in fault prediction compared to traditional single-model approaches.

Increasing evidence indicates that (poly)phenol consumption can have beneficial effects in human brain function(1). The overall aim of this project is to investigate whether consumption of a (poly)phenol rich cranberry drink improve mental health and cognitive function in university students via the gut-brain axis.

A parallel randomised controlled trial was conducted in 72 young healthy final year university students assigned to consume 236 mL cranberry drink (442 mg polyphenols) or nutrient matched placebo, daily for 12 weeks. The primary outcome was mood, measured as Total Mood Disturbance (TMD), using the Profile of Mood States (POMS) questionnaire. Secondary outcomes included stress, anxiety and depression levels, measured using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS) questionnaire, salivary cortisol levels and cognitive function measured using the Online General Cognitive Assessment Battery (CogniFit). All of these questionnaires were measured every 4 weeks. Blood and urine samples were collected to measure inflammatory markers, gut-brain-axis metabolites, short chain fatty acids (SCFA), and cranberry polyphenols metabolites. Faecal samples were also collected for measuring gut microbiome diversity and composition and faecal metabolomics. Diet was assessed using food frequency questionnaires (FFQ), 7-day food diaries (EPIC) and 24 h online dietary recalls (intake 24) during the study. Linear mixed-effect model (LMM) and ANCOVA were used to investigate the relationship between the 2 trial arms.

No significant differences were found between treatments for mood, stress levels, anxiety, depression, circulating short chain fatty acids or inflammatory markers, however a significantly lower diurnal area under the curve of salivary cortisol (p = 0.010) and significantly higher short-term memory (Z-score: p = 0.024; Raw-score: p = 0.034) was found at 12 weeks in the cranberry group compared with the placebo. Besides, significant differences between interventions were found in plasma gut-brain axis metabolites, including the kynurenine and bile acids pathway which were kynurenine (p = 0.023), kynurenic (p = 0.032), quinolinic (p = 0.018), and glycolithocholic acid (p = 0.04) as well as several plasma and urinary cranberry (poly)phenol metabolites were modulated by cranberry consumption.

In conclusion, daily cranberry (poly)phenol supplementation for 12 week did not improve mood, stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms in healthy university students, however it may modulate cortisol levels and some aspects of cognitive function via the gut-brain axis.

This study presents observations of coherent modes (CMs) in a spherical tokamak using a microwave interferometer near the midplane. The CMs within the 30–60 kHz frequency range were observed during electron cyclotron resonance heating only, and the frequency of the CMs increased proportionally with the square root of the electron temperature near $R = 0.7m$. Generally, these modes displayed bursting and chirping signatures with strong density rise and fall. Their appearance indicated an increase in the intensity of hard x rays, suggesting a deterioration in energetic electron confinement. Furthermore, the effect of CMs on the intensity of energetic electron-driven whistler waves was observed. They decreased when CMs were present and gradually increased with the decrease in CM intensity. The CMs may influence the intensity of whistler waves by affecting the energetic electron confinement.

Recent applications of new innovations in artificial intelligence have brought up questions about how this new technology will change the landscape and practices in a wide range of industries and sectors. This article focuses on the impact of generative large language models on teaching, learning, and academic assessment in political science education by analyzing two novel surveys administered by the discipline’s major professional body, the American Political Science Association. We present the results of these surveys and conclude with recommendations.

A novel excretory–secretory (ES) protein of Trichinella pseudospiralis was produced. A cDNA library was constructed from mRNA of muscle larvae at 30 days post infection (p.i.) and immunoscreened with the antibody against ES products. A clone, designated Tp22-3, contained a cDNA transcript of 815 bp in length with a single open reading frame which encoded 244-amino acids (28407 Da in the estimated molecular mass). A database search revealed that no sequences had a homology to this predicted protein. The recombinant protein was produced in an Escherichia coli expression system. Stage specific expression of this protein was suggested from the following experiments. An antibody against the recombinant protein could stain proteins migrating at about 28 kDa (which is the expected size from the sequence) on Western blotting of crude extracts or ES products from 30 days p.i. muscle larvae, but failed to stain any proteins in crude extracts from newborn larvae or 15 days p.i. muscle larvae. The antibody reacted to the stichocytes of larvae at 30 days p.i., but did not react to 15 days p.i. muscle larvae. The production of an mRNA transcript for Tp22-3 gene was restricted largely to the 30 days p.i. muscle larvae and adult worms.

Recombinant protein was produced from the cDNA library of Trichinella pseudospiralis, which seemed to form part of the excretory–secretory (ES) products. The library was constructed from cDNA of muscle larvae at 1 month post-infection, and immunoscreened with antibody against T. pseudospiralis ES products. A clone, designated Tp21-3, contained a cDNA transcript of 657 bp in length with a single open reading frame, which encoded 172 amino acids (19617 Da in the estimated molecular mass). The predicted amino acid sequence of clone Tp21-3 had a similarity of 76% to that of clone ORF 17.20 (GenBank under accession number U88239) from T. spiralis. The recombinant fusion proteins encoded by clone Tp21-3 were produced in an Escherichia coli expression system and affinity purified. On Western blotting analysis, Tp21-3 recombinant proteins migrated at 40 kDa and reacted to antibody against T. pseudospiralis ES products and T. pseudospiralis-infected sera. Sera were developed against Tp 21-3 recombinant proteins, which reacted to a single band migrating at 21 kDa in crude worm extract and ES products from T. pseudospiralis on Western blotting analysis, and reacted with stichocytes of T. pseudospiralis on immunohistochemical staining.

The nurse cell in the cyst of Trichinella spiralis comprises at least two kinds of cytoplasm, derived from muscle or satellite cells, as indicated by the pattern of staining using regular dye (haematoxylin and eosin, or toluidine blue), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) expression, acid phosphatase (ACP) expression and immunostaining with an anti-intermediate filament protein (desmin or keratin). Muscle cells undergo basophilic changes following a T. spiralis infection and transform to the nurse cells, accompanied by an increase in ACP activity and the disappearance of desmin. Satellite cells are activated, transformed and joined to the nurse cells but remain eosinophilic. The eosinophilic cytoplasm is accompanied by an increase in desmin and ALP expression but not an increase in ACP activity. Differences in the staining results for ALP or ACP suggest that the two kinds of cytoplasm have different functions. Trichinella pseudospiralis infection results in an increase of ACP activity at a later stage than T. spiralis. There is also a difference in the location pattern of ACP in the cyst of T. spiralis compared with T. pseudospiralis. In T. spiralis, ACP is diffused within the cell, but in T. pseudospiralis, ACP distribution is spotty corresponding to the location of the nucleus. Trichinella pseudospiralis infection is accompanied by a slight increase in ALP activity. Activated satellite cells following a T. pseudospiralis infection exhibit an increase in desmin expression. The present study therefore reveals that nurse cell cytoplasm differs between the two Trichinella species and between the two origins of cytoplasm in the cyst of T. spiralis.

A clone, designated as TsTM, was selected from the cDNA library of newborn larvae (NBL) of Trichinella spiralis through immunoscreening against infected sera. The clone contained a cDNA transcript of 855 bp in length with a single open reading frame, which encoded 285-amino acids (33 kDa in the estimated molecular weight). A sequence analysis revealed that the clone TsTM encoded the full-length of tropomyosin gene. The phylogenetic analysis of the tropomyosin gene was in good agreement with the classical taxonomical position of T. spiralis. The fusion proteins encoded by the clone TsTM were produced in an Escherichia coli expression system and affinity purified, and the antibody was raised against the protein for the following studies. The antibody against the fusion protein positively bound to the hypodermal muscle layer in immunolocalization analysis, and the 35 kDa band in crude extracts of muscle larvae but not in excretory and secretory (ES) products on Western blots. The antigenicity of the clone TsTM was recognized by host mice but exhibited little species specificity.

This paper proposes a fixed-time anti-saturation (FT-AS) control scheme with a simple control loop for the 6-Degree-of-Freedom tracking (6-DOF) control problem of spacecraft with parameter uncertainties, external disturbances and input saturation. Considering the external disturbance and parameter uncertainties, the dynamical model of the tracking error is established. The traditional methods of handling input saturation usually add anti-saturation subsystems in the control system to suppress the impact of input overshoot. However, this paper directly inputs the input overshoot into the tracking error model, thus constructing a modified lumped disturbance term that includes the influence of input overshoot. Then, a novel fixed-time disturbance observer (FT-DO) is designed to estimate and compensate for this modified lumped disturbance. Therefore, there is no need to add the anti-saturation structures in the control loop, significantly reducing the complexity of the system. Finally, an observer-based fixed-time non-singular terminal sliding mode (FT-NTSM) controller is designed to guarantee the fixed-time stability of the whole system. In this way, the convergence time of the proposed scheme does not depend on the system’s initial conditions. Simulation results illustrate that the proposed method keeps the control input within the limit while achieving high-precision tracking control of attitude and position.

As a major approach for controlling electromagnetic (EM) waves, metamaterials have experienced an abundant and rapid development in the 21st century. They have provided flexible and powerful techniques for controlling EM waves and brought many unique applications that are difficult to realise with natural materials. With increasing demands on dynamic controls of the EM waves, many innovations have been conducted in both three-dimensional metamaterials and two-dimensional metasurfaces, in which the meta-atom has been gradually evolved from passive to active. In 2014, coding and digital mechanisms were initially introduced to the metamaterials, further advancing the appearance of digitally programmable metamaterials. The programmable metamaterials have shown great potentials in not only real-time manipulations of the EM waves, but also direct information processing on the EM wave level. In this article, we present an in-depth review of the programmable EM metamaterials and metasurfaces, focusing on the programmable features including theoretical concepts, implementing methods and applications in EM controls. We first give a short retrospect of traditional metamaterials and metasurfaces, followed by the concepts and detailed discussions of digital coding and field-programmable metamaterials. Then, we introduce space-domain, time-domain and space–time-domain programmable metamaterials and metasurfaces, mainly focusing on their theories, functionalities, experimental implementations, and system-level applications. Finally, we conclude the current advances of the programmable metamaterials and metasurfaces, and give a prospect for the future developments.

An emergent volume electron microscopy technique called cryogenic serial plasma focused ion beam milling scanning electron microscopy (pFIB/SEM) can decipher complex biological structures by building a three-dimensional picture of biological samples at mesoscale resolution. This is achieved by collecting consecutive SEM images after successive rounds of FIB milling that expose a new surface after each milling step. Due to instrumental limitations, some image processing is necessary before 3D visualization and analysis of the data is possible. SEM images are affected by noise, drift, and charging effects, that can make precise 3D reconstruction of biological features difficult. This article presents Okapi-EM, an open-source napari plugin developed to process and analyze cryogenic serial pFIB/SEM images. Okapi-EM enables automated image registration of slices, evaluation of image quality metrics specific to pFIB-SEM imaging, and mitigation of charging artifacts. Implementation of Okapi-EM within the napari framework ensures that the tools are both user- and developer-friendly, through provision of a graphical user interface and access to Python programming.

The use of home video recordings (HVRs) may aid in the diagnosis of neurological disorders. However, this practice remains underutilized. Through an anonymous survey, we sought to understand the perspectives of healthcare providers regarding the sharing of HVRs alongside referrals for responsive and economical pediatric neurology care. This was timely given COVID-19 has worsened wait times for diagnosis and consequently treatment. Most providers agree that sharing of HVRs improves patient care (93.1%: 67/73) and prevents both additional investigations (67%: 49/73) and hospital admissions (68.5%: 50/73). However, a minority of providers (21.9 %: 16/73) currently share HVRs alongside their referrals.