EXPRESS: Effects of Acute Exercise Intensity on Source Episodic Memory and Metamemory Accuracy

Prior research suggests that behavioral (e.g., exercise) and psychological factors (e.g., metamemory; monitoring and control of one’s memory processes) may influence memory function. However, there is conflicting results on the optimal intensity of acute exercise to enhance memory and whether acute exercise can also enhance metamemory. Further, very limited research has evaluated whether acute exercise can influence source episodic memory. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether there is an intensity-specific effect of acute aerobic exercise on source episodic memory and metamemory accuracy. Thirty young adults participated in a three condition (Control/Moderate/Vigorous-Intensity Exercise), within-subject counterbalanced experimental study. After each intervention, participants completed source episodic memory and metamemory tasks. Results demonstrated that acute exercise, relative to control, was effective in enhancing source episodic memory, but not metamemory accuracy. Vigorous-intensity acute exercise was the most optimal intensity to enhance source episodic memory. Overall, our findings suggest that there is an intensity-specific effect of acute exercise on source episodic memory. Further, when exercise-related improvements in memory occur, young adults may be unaware of these memory benefits from exercise.

The benefit of running maintenance habituation before learning of machining process begins

The study was aimed at investigating the advantages of the habituation of running maintenance and supervision over the practice learning process and the learning achievement of the students of Mechanical Engineering Study Program, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta. It was participatory classroom action research. The subjects were 80 third-semester students grouped into the group C class. The data on the habituation of running maintenance were collected using a questionnaire; those on the students’ learning achievement were collected through documentation and analyzed using a descriptive technique; those on the supervision intensity and machine feasibility were gathered through observations and analyzed using the descriptive qualitative technique. The findings showed that: 1.) The implementation of running maintenance used the systems of coaching, mentoring, and supervision with an optimal intensity of lecturers in teaching-learning machining practices; 2.) The habituation of running maintenance was done through standard procedures, and the implemented action took three cycles; 3.) The achievement of the habituation of running maintenance on students during the implementation of teaching-learning practices was characterized by the rapid job sheet completion that must be taken in one semester; and 4.) With the habituation of running maintenance, the feasibility of the existing machines in the workshop could be maintained.

Influence of Optimal Intensity Measures Selection in Engineering Demand Parameter of Fixed Jacket Offshore Platform

This research identifies the significant optimal intensity measures (IM) for seismic performance assessments of the fixed offshore jacket platforms. A four-legged jacket platform for the oil and gas operation is deployed to investigate the seismic performance. The jacket platform is applied with nonlinearly modeled using finite element (FE) software OpenSees. A total of 80 ground motions and 21 different IMs are incorporated for numerical analyses. Nonlinear time-history analyses are performed to obtain the jacket structure’s engineering demand parameters (EDP): peak acceleration and displacement at the top of the structure. Four important statistical parameters: practicality, efficiency, proficiency, and coefficient of determination, are then calculated to find the significant IMs for seismic performance of the jacket structure. The results show that acceleration-related IMs: effective design acceleration (EDA), A95 parameter, and peak ground acceleration (PGA) are optimal IMs, and the acceleration-related IMs have good agreements with the acceleration-related EDP.

Modification of gas condensate gasoline by single atomic alcohols with the use of cavitation

The process of modification of gas condensate gasolines with monohydric alcohols with subsequent cavitation treatment of these mixtures has been investigated. The expediency of using alcohol additives in fuels and the relevance of introducing into gasoline production such chemical technologies that use cavitation processing of raw materials and selective energy supply to the reaction zone have been substantiated. The expediency of the production of high-octane gasolines on the basis of a combination of the processes of mechanical mixing of hydrocarbon gasolines with alcohols and the processes of cavitation treatment of alcohol-gasoline mixtures is also substantiated. The description of the laboratory setup and the experimental methodology is given. The influence of the intensity of cavitation treatment on the increase in the octane number is studied and it is proved that there is some optimal intensity at which a constant value of the octane number of the mixture is achieved. With an increase in the content of bioethanol in the mixture, the number of cavitation cycles (intensity) required to achieve the steady-state value of the octane number decreases from 8 cycles of gas condensate without bioethanol to 4 cycles with a bioethanol content of 3% and more. To achieve the octane number of the mixture corresponding to gasoline A-92 and A-95, it is necessary to add 2% and 5% bioethanol, respectively. It is shown that the use of cavitation can increase the octane number up to 2.6 points in comparison with simple mechanical mixing of alcohol and gasoline. A comparison is made of the efficiency of using bioethanol and isobutanol for modifying gas condensate gasoline in a cavitation field. The effect of cavitation on the octane number was studied with a change in the concentration of alcohol in the mixture. A new way of modifying low-octane motor gasolines with bio-ethanol and other mixtures of alcohols of biochemical origin, which contain water impurities, is shown

Postresection Period-Specific Hazard of Recurrence as a Framework for Surveillance Strategy in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Multicenter Outcome Study

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> In spite of the high frequency of recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after resection, little evidence exists to directly help to plan a reasonable schedule for the frequency and intensity of postoperative surveillance for recurrence. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> 1,918 consecutive patients with Child-Turcott-Pugh class A who had T1- or T2-staged HCCs detected by active surveillance and underwent curative resection for their tumors at 3 teaching hospitals in Korea, followed by recurrence screening at 6-monthly or shorter intervals. To set an evidence-based timetable for postoperative surveillance, we investigated the annual hazard rate of recurrence through postoperative year 10 in patients undergoing hepatectomy for HCC, and the clinical and morphological phenotypes associated with early versus late recurrence. <b><i>Results:</i></b> The estimated hazard rate for recurrence peaked during year 0–1 (21.7%), with a subsequent gradual decrease through 5 years, followed by stabilization at &#x3c;7.0% until year 10, except in the case of cirrhotics, who had a rate of 10.5% during year 4–5. Multivariate time-to-recurrence analysis by recurrence period revealed that serum alpha-fetoprotein ≥200 ng/mL, larger size of tumor, tumor multiplicity, microvascular invasion, capsular invasion, and higher METAVIR fibrosis stage were significantly related to disease recurrence within 5 years after resection, while cirrhosis (METAVIR F4) alone was related to disease recurrence beyond 5 years (<i>P</i>s &#x3c; 0.05). Post-relapse overall survival was better in the latter group (<i>p</i> = 0.033). <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> Our chronological and morphological insights into recurrence after resection of primary HCCs may help implement an optimal intensity of surveillance for recurrence.

A Control Approach to Guide Nonpharmaceutical Interventions in the Treatment of COVID-19 Disease Using a SEIHRD Dynamical Model

The recent worldwide epidemic of COVID-19 disease, for which there are no medications to cure it and the vaccination is still at an early stage, led to the adoption of public health measures by governments and populations in most of the affected countries to avoid the contagion and its spread. These measures are known as nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), and their implementation clearly produces social unrest as well as greatly affects the economy. Frequently, NPIs are implemented with an intensity quantified in an ad hoc manner. Control theory offers a worthwhile tool for determining the optimal intensity of the NPIs in order to avoid the collapse of the healthcare system while keeping them as low as possible, yielding concrete guidance to policymakers. A simple controller, which generates a control law that is easy to calculate and to implement is proposed. This controller is robust to large parametric uncertainties in the model used and to some level of noncompliance with the NPIs.

Changes in Diversity Due to Long-Term Management in a High Natural Value Grassland

High nature value (HNV) grassland systems are increasingly important for the ecosystem services they provide and for their socio-economic impact in the current constant-changing context. The aim of our paper is to evaluate the long-term effect of organic fertilizers on HNV systems in the Apuseni Mountains, Romania. As an objective we want to identify the optimal intensity of conservation management and its recognition based on indicator value plant species. The experiments were established in 2001 on the boreal floor and analyze the effect of a gradient of four organic treatments with manure. Fertilization with 10 t ha−1 manure ensures an increase in yield and has a small influence on diversity, and could be a real possibility for the maintenance and sustainable use of HNV. Each fertilization treatment determined species with indicator value that are very useful in the identification and management of HNV. The indicator species are useful in forecasting the fluctuations and successions in grasslands, determined by the modification of the dominance-codominance ratio and the real coverage of each species.