Ground states and associated path measures in the renormalized Nelson model

We prove the existence, uniqueness, and strict positivity of ground states of the possibly massless renormalized Nelson operator under an infrared regularity condition and for Kato decomposable electrostatic potentials fulfilling a binding condition. If the infrared regularity condition is violated, then we show non-existence of ground states of the massless renormalized Nelson operator with an arbitrary Kato decomposable potential. Furthermore, we prove the existence, uniqueness, and strict positivity of ground states of the massless renormalized Nelson operator in a non-Fock representation where the infrared condition is unnecessary. Exponential and superexponential estimates on the pointwise spatial decay and the decay with respect to the boson number for elements of spectral subspaces below localization thresholds are provided. Moreover, some continuity properties of ground state eigenvectors are discussed. Byproducts of our analysis are a hypercontractivity bound for the semigroup and a new remark on Nelson’s operator theoretic renormalization procedure. Finally, we construct path measures associated with ground states of the renormalized Nelson operator. Their analysis entails improved boson number decay estimates for ground state eigenvectors, as well as upper and lower bounds on the Gaussian localization with respect to the field variables in the ground state. As our results on uniqueness, positivity, and path measures exploit the ergodicity of the semigroup, we restrict our attention to one matter particle. All results are non-perturbative.

Chinese Reflexives

Among Chinese reflexives, simple reflexive ziji ‘self’ is best known not only for its licensing of long-distance binding that violates Binding Condition A in the canonical Binding Theory, but also for its special properties such as the asymmetry of the blocking effect. Different researchers have made great efforts to explain such phenomena from a syntactic or a semantic-pragmatic perspective, though up to now there is still no consensus on what the mechanism really is. Besides being used as an anaphor, ziji can also be used as a generic pronoun and an intensifier. Moreover, Chinese has other simple reflexives such as zishen ‘self-body’ and benren ‘person proper’, and complex ones like ta-ziji ‘himself’ and ziji-benshen ‘self-self’. These reflexives again indicate the complexity of the anaphoric system of Chinese, which calls for further investigation so that we can have a better understanding of the diversity of the binding patterns in natural languages.

Molecular Mechanics Study of Flow and Surface Influence in Ligand–Protein Association

Ligand–protein association is the first and critical step for many biological and chemical processes. This study investigated the molecular association processes under different environments. In biology, cells have different compartments where ligand–protein binding may occur on a membrane. In experiments involving ligand–protein binding, such as the surface plasmon resonance and continuous flow biosynthesis, a substrate flow and surface are required in experimental settings. As compared with a simple binding condition, which includes only the ligand, protein, and solvent, the association rate and processes may be affected by additional ligand transporting forces and other intermolecular interactions between the ligand and environmental objects. We evaluated these environmental factors by using a ligand xk263 binding to HIV protease (HIVp) with atomistic details. Using Brownian dynamics simulations, we modeled xk263 and HIVp association time and probability when a system has xk263 diffusion flux and a non-polar self-assembled monolayer surface. We also examined different protein orientations and accessible surfaces for xk263. To allow xk263 to access to the dimer interface of immobilized HIVp, we simulated the system by placing the protein 20Å above the surface because immobilizing HIVp on a surface prevented xk263 from contacting with the interface. The non-specific interactions increased the binding probability while the association time remained unchanged. When the xk263 diffusion flux increased, the effective xk263 concentration around HIVp, xk263–HIVp association time and binding probability decreased non-linearly regardless of interacting with the self-assembled monolayer surface or not. The work sheds light on the effects of the solvent flow and surface environment on ligand–protein associations and provides a perspective on experimental design.

Culture and education as a binding condition for harmonious personal development

The exclusive role of culture and education in the modern strategy of sustainable development is emphasized. For so many centuries, culture and education had a distinct flavor of luxury and were available, as a rule, to a select few. Currently, there is a widespread expansion of culture and education, and indicators of upbringing and training have become the primary condition for the sustainable existence of society and the individual. The question arises: what is the hidden primacy of culture and education today? The authors call the answer to it moral postulates and enlightenment, which affect not only the human mind, but feelings and soul, giving rise to desires and actions that obey the will. It is concluded that ideals, beliefs and other qualitative characteristics of a person are the main regulators of sustainable social life. Thus, the role of culture and education is to implement social harmony and ensure the quality of life of people.

Extremism as a Threat to National Security: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

The editor-in-chief paper is devoted to one of the most serious problems of Russia’s national security, extremist activities, which poses a real threat to the life of the state, encroaches on the constitutional rights and freedoms of Russian citizens, sovereign democracy and public order. It is noted that for the Russian Federation, as a multinational state, extremism is a particular danger, since it undermines the peaceful coexistence of various ethnic and social groups. When describing the relevance of the problem, the paper takes into account the features and relationship of extremism with the predicted negative consequences in the context of globalization of the world economic relations and information and technological development of society in the era of neoindustrialization. The author questions the stereotype that exists in the public consciousness, according to which the extremist organizations, movements, the propaganda of radical views and crimes of an extremist nature are, to a greater extent, already a historical phenomenon, which are characteristic, first of all, of the 90-ies of the XX century. It is argued that the problem under consideration “mutates” and takes on new guises in the conditions of modern reality. It is established that the new legal tools and mechanisms developed over the years are being added as a result of scientific and technological progress. Thus, in the conditions of the sixth technological paradigm, there appear new varieties of extremism, for example, cyberextremism. At the same time, cybersecurity serves as a binding condition for the successful development and operation of industry 4.0 technologies. Based on the results of a comprehensive analysis of the research conducted by the author, as well as taking into account the opinions of the scientists expressed in the main topic of the issue, it is concluded that in the era of the deepening processes of digital interdependence, the international organizations, both intergovernmental and non-governmental, as well as the scientists and practitioners dealing with the security issues should accumulate their efforts to expand digital cooperation in order to protect human rights and eliminate the threats of cyberextremism. The shared human values such as equality, privacy, dignity, freedom, inclusiveness, respect and sustainability should serve as a beacon for legal scholars in the digital age. Modern technologies bring great benefits to all mankind. Moreover, they help protect human rights, but these same technologies can and are already being used to infringe on human rights by both the states and the private sector.

THE OSCILLATORY MECHANISMS ASSOCIATED WITH SYNTACTIC BINDING IN HEALTHY AGEING

Older adults frequently display differential patterns of brain activity compared to young adults in the same task, alongside widespread neuroanatomical changes. Differing functional activity patterns in older adults are commonly interpreted as being compensatory (e.g., Cabeza, Locantore & McIntosh, 2002). We examined the oscillatory activity in the EEG during syntactic binding in young and older adults, as well as the relationship between oscillatory activity and behavioural performance on a syntactic judgement task within the older adults. 19 young and 41 older adults listened to two-word sentences that differentially load onto morpho-syntactic binding: correct syntactic binding (morpho-syntactically correct, e.g., “I dotch”); incorrect syntactic binding (morpho-syntactic agreement violation, e.g., “they dotches”) and no syntactic binding (minimizing morpho-syntactic binding, e.g., “dotches spuff”). Behavioural performance, assessed in a syntactic judgement task, was characterized by inter-individual variability especially in older adults, with accuracy ranging from 76-100% in young adults and 58-100% in older adults. Compared to young adults, older adults were slower, but not less accurate. Functional neural signatures for syntactic binding were assessed as the difference in oscillatory power between the correct- and no syntactic binding condition. In older adults, syntactic binding was associated with a smaller increase in theta (4-7 Hz), alpha (8-12 Hz) and beta (15-20 Hz) power in a time window surrounding the second word. There was a significant difference between the older and younger adults: in the alpha range, the condition difference seemed to be in the opposite direction for older versus young adults. Our findings thus suggest that the neural signature associated with syntactic binding in older adults is different from young adults. However, we found no evidence of a significant association between behavioural performance and the neural signatures of syntactic binding for older adults, which does not readily support the predictions of compensatory models of language and ageing.

LncRNA HOXA-AS3 promotes the progression of oral squamous cell carcinoma through sponging miR-218-5p

Objective The aim of the present study was to investigate the roles and molecular mechanism of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) HOXA-AS3 in the progression of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Methods The expression of HOXA-AS3 and miR-218-5p was detected in OSCC tissues and cells using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) and colony formation assays were used to examine the effects of HOXA-AS3 and miR-218-5p on the proliferation of OSCC cells. Luciferase reporter gene assay was used to confirm the directly binding condition between lncRNA HOXA-AS3 and miR-218-5p in OSCC cells. RNA immunoprecipitation assay was employed to verify the interaction between HOXA-AS3 and miR-218-5p. Results The relative expression of lncRNA HOXA-AS3 was observably upregulated in OSCC tissues and cell lines compared with the para-cancerous tissues and normal human oral keratinocyte (NHOK), respectively. Knockdown of HOXA-AS3 significantly inhibited the proliferation and colony formation of OSCC cells. Bioinformatics analysis and luciferase reporter assay showed that HOXA-AS3 directly bound to miR-218-5p. Moreover, the expression of miR-218-5p was negatively regulated by HOXA-AS3, and there was an inverse correlation between them. Silencing miR-218-5p reversed the inhibitory effect of lncRNA HOXA-AS3 knockdown on the proliferative potential of OSCC cells. Conclusion In summary, our study illustrated lncRNA HOXA-AS3 promoted cancer cell proliferation in OSCC possibly by sponging miR-218-5p for the first time, which provides a new target or a potential diagnostic biomarker of the treatment for OSCC.

The Design and Application of Non-Pressure Infiltrating Irrigation in Desertification Control

The key restriction factor of desertification is water control. Non-pressure infiltrating irrigation was invented aimed at the efficient use of water, and its core technology is the key water-conducting material prepared by montmorillonite and polyacrylamide. In this study, both the water absorption and desorption performances of the key material were tested, and then the binding condition of the water-conducting materials and the fiber substrate was also studied. Lastly, the water infiltrating performances and its application in deserts were tested. Non-pressure infiltrating irrigation could self-regulate the water conducting speed according to the external soil deserticola, but also significantly reduce water consumption. The results provide a reference for the application of this new water-saving irrigation technology, which could play an important role in desertification control.

H19/miR-194/E2F3 regulating loop promotes gastric cancer growth and metastasis

Background: Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most frequent malignant digestive tumors, and second fatal cancer. This study was to investigate whether lncRNA-H19 can regulate E2F3 expression through competitive binding to microRNA-194 (miR-194), thus regulating GC growth and metastasis. Methods: H19, miR-194 and E2F3 expression levels in GC tissues and cell lines were investigated using quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (QRT-PCR). Meanwhile, the mRNA levels of H19 and E2F3 in gastric cancer tissues were also analyzed though the GEPIA web tool. The binding condition of miR-194 with H19 and E2F3 were investigated using a dual-luciferase reporter gene assay. The regulatory effects of H19 on proliferative, migratory and invasive abilities of AGS cells and SGC-7901 cells were detected by transwell assay and cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8). The regulatory interaction between H19 and miR-194, miR-194 and E2F3 were investigated using rescue experiments. Results: The results revealed that H19 was highly expressed in GC tissues and cell lines than those of controls. Downregulated H19 decreased the proliferation, migration and invasion of AGS cells and SGC-7901 cells. H19 was demonstrated that being the molecular sponge of miR-194 in regulating the growth of the GC cells. The level of E2F3 expression was also found significantly higher in GC tissues and cell lines than those of controls. And then, the mimics of miR-194 inhibited the expression of E2F3 in the GC cells. CCK-8 assay showed decreased proliferative ability induced by miR-194 mimics were reversed by E2F3 overexpression. Transwell assays showed decreased migratory and invasive ability induced by miR-194 mimics were reversed by E2F3 overexpression. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that H19 promotes GC growth and metastasis by regulating E2F3 via competitive binding to miRNA-194.

Free Recall of Bound Information Held in Short-Term Memory is Unimpaired by Age and Education

Objectives It has been challenging to identify cognitive markers to differentiate healthy brain aging from neurodegeneration due to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) that are not affected by age and education. The Short-Term Memory Binding (STMB) showed not to be affected by age or education when using the change detection paradigm. However, no previous study has tested the effect of age and education using the free recall paradigm of the STMB. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate age and education effects on the free recall version of the STMB test under different memory loads. Methods 126 healthy volunteers completed the free recall STMB test. The sample was divided into five age bands and into five education bands for comparisons. The STMB test assessed free recall of two (or three) common objects and two (or three) primary colors presented as individual features (unbound) or integrated into unified objects (bound). Results The binding condition and the larger set size generated lower free recall scores. Performance was lower in older and less educated participants. Critically, neither age nor education modified these effects when compared across experimental conditions (unbound v. bound features). Conclusions Binding in short-term memory carries a cost in performance. Age and education do not affect such a binding cost within a memory recall paradigm. These findings suggest that this paradigm is a suitable cognitive marker to differentiate healthy brain aging from age-related disease such as AD.