Methods of a Three-Component Analysis of Linguopragmatic Potential of an Internet Commentary in Political Internet Discourse

This article is devoted to the representation of the method of a three-component analysis of Internet commentary. Commentary is a special component of Internet discourse which is the reaction of representatives of society to any external or internal stimulus expressed linguistically, i.e. through the use of linguistic means. Due to insufficient coverage (for example, unlike Internet posts), commentary as a component of political Internet discourse represents a wide field for the study of linguists since, being a speech work, it can be analyzed from at least three positions, namely: the strategy and tactics used by the author, the means of stylistic expressiveness used and the type of speech act through which this commentary is put into use. A comprehensive analysis of these parameters makes it possible to establish the attitude of the audience (in this case, the electorate) to the personality of Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of Great Britain. Practical material for the study was the comments on the posts of Boris Johnson regarding Brexit (one of the key events in the political and public spheres of Great Britain’s life). The relevance of this work is due to the current anthropocentric paradigm in linguistics and the increased interest of linguists not only in humans as a participant of speech actions, but also in the interdisciplinary synthesis of scientific research methods to achieve the most voluminous, full-fledged, and complete results. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate an example of the implementation of the three-component analysis methodology for Internet commentary on the example of some of the most striking and connotatively colored linguistic materials selected by the method of continuous sampling in the social network “Twitter”.

Visual imagery vividness declines across the lifespan

The capacity to elicit vivid visual mental images varies within an extensive range across individuals between hyper- and aphantasia. It is not clear, however, whether imagery vividness is constant across the lifespan or changes during development and later in life. Without enforcing the constraints of strict experimental procedures and representativity across the entire population, our purpose was to take a first look at the self-reported level of imagery vividness and determine the relative proportion of aphantasic/hyperphantasic participants in different age-groups. Relying on the frequently used Vividness of Visual Mental Imagery questionnaire, we collected data on a random sample of 2252 participants between the ages of 12 to 60 years. We found a novel developmental pattern describing a declining ability to elicit vivid visual mental images in the group averages of different age-groups from adolescence to middle age. This effect involves both a decreasing proportion of individuals with very vivid imagery and an increasing proportion of individuals with weak imagery as maturation (assessed by boneage estimations in adolescents) and aging progresses. This finding may help to shed light on yet unknown developmental mechanisms of our internal, stimulus-independent processes, and might also help to determine genetic, maturational, and age-dependent factors in the extreme cases of hyper- and aphantasia.

Motor Imagery: A Resource in the Fatigue Rehabilitation for Return-to-Work in Multiple Sclerosis Patients—A Mini Systematic Review

Fatigue is a multidimensional symptom with both physical and cognitive aspects, which can affect the quality of daily and working life activities. Motor Imagery (MI) represents an important resource for use during the rehabilitation processes, useful, among others, for job integration/reintegration, of neurological pathologies, such as Multiple Sclerosis (MS). To define the effective rehabilitation protocols that integrate MI for the reduction of fatigue in patients with MS (PwMS), a literary review was performed through August 2020. Five articles were included in the qualitative synthesis, including two feasibility pilot randomized control trials (RCTs) and 3 RCTs with good quality according to the PEDro score and a low risk of bias according to the Cochrane Collaboration tool. The literature suggested that MI, in association with rhythmic-auditory cues, may be an effective rehabilitation resource for reducing fatigue. Positive effects were observed on perceived cognitive and psychological fatigue. PwMS require greater compensatory strategies than healthy individuals, and the use of rhythmic-auditory cues may be useful for optimizing the cognitive processing of MI, which acts as an internal stimulus that is enhanced and made more vivid by outside cues. These findings provide evidence that MI is a promising rehabilitation tool for reducing fatigue in PwMS and return to work strategies.

When unsupervised training benefits category learning

Humans continuously categorise inputs, but only rarely receive explicit feedback as to whether or not they are correct. This implies that they may be integrating unsupervised information together with their sparse supervised data -- a form of semi-supervised learning. However, experiments testing semi-supervised learning are rare, and are bedevilled with conflicting results about whether the unsupervised information affords any benefit. Here, we suggest that one important factor that has been paid insufficient attention is the alignment between subjects' internal representations of the stimulus material and the experimenter-defined representations that determine success in the tasks. Subjects' representations are shaped by prior biases and experience, and unsupervised learning can only be successful if the alignment suffices. Otherwise, unsupervised learning might harmfully strengthen incorrect assumptions. To test this hypothesis, we conducted an experiment in which subjects initially categorise items along a salient, but task-irrelevant, dimension, and only recover the correct categories when sufficient feedback draws their attention to the subtle, task-relevant, stimulus dimensions. By withdrawing feedback at different stages along this learning curve, we tested whether unsupervised learning improves or worsens performance when internal stimulus representations and task are sufficiently or insufficiently aligned, respectively. Our results demonstrate that unsupervised learning can indeed have opposing effects on subjects' learning. We also discuss factors limiting the degree to which such effects can be predicted from momentary performance. Our work implies that predicting and understanding human category learning in particular tasks requires assessment and consideration of the representational spaces that subjects entertain for the materials involved in those tasks. These considerations not only apply to studies in the lab, but could also help improve the design of tutoring systems and instruction.

A biomimetic neural encoder for spiking neural network

Spiking neural networks (SNNs) promise to bridge the gap between artificial neural networks (ANNs) and biological neural networks (BNNs) by exploiting biologically plausible neurons that offer faster inference, lower energy expenditure, and event-driven information processing capabilities. However, implementation of SNNs in future neuromorphic hardware requires hardware encoders analogous to the sensory neurons, which convert external/internal stimulus into spike trains based on specific neural algorithm along with inherent stochasticity. Unfortunately, conventional solid-state transducers are inadequate for this purpose necessitating the development of neural encoders to serve the growing need of neuromorphic computing. Here, we demonstrate a biomimetic device based on a dual gated MoS2 field effect transistor (FET) capable of encoding analog signals into stochastic spike trains following various neural encoding algorithms such as rate-based encoding, spike timing-based encoding, and spike count-based encoding. Two important aspects of neural encoding, namely, dynamic range and encoding precision are also captured in our demonstration. Furthermore, the encoding energy was found to be as frugal as ≈1–5 pJ/spike. Finally, we show fast (≈200 timesteps) encoding of the MNIST data set using our biomimetic device followed by more than 91% accurate inference using a trained SNN.

Autophagy-dependent survival is controlled with a unique regulatory network upon various cellular stress events

Although autophagy is a type of programmed cell death, it is also essential for cell survival upon tolerable level of various stress events. For the cell to respond adequately to an external and/or internal stimulus induced by cellular stress, autophagy must be controlled in a highly regulated manner. By using systems biology techniques, here we explore the dynamical features of autophagy induction. We propose that the switch-like characteristic of autophagy induction is achieved by a control network, containing essential feedback loops of four components, so-called autophagy inducer, autophagy controller, mTORC1 and autophagy executor, respectively. We show how an autophagy inducer is capable to turn on autophagy in a cellular stress-specific way. The autophagy controller acts as a molecular switch and not only promotes autophagy but also blocks the permanent hyperactivation of the process via downregulating the autophagy inducer. In this theoretical analysis, we explore in detail the properties of all four proposed controlling elements and their connections. Here we also prove that the kinetic features of this control network can be considered accurate in various stress processes (such as starvation, endoplasmic reticulum stress and oxidative stress), even if the exact components may be different. The robust response of the resulting control network is essential during cellular stress.

Internal Stimulus Factors as Antecedents of Impulse Buying: Gap Identification and Future Direction

Impulse buying is an important area of consumer behaviour. The process of impulse buying is influenced by various external, situational, and internal stimulus factors. The extant literature review suggests that various external and situational factors are studied in great detail; however, studies on various internal stimulus factors are rare. Hence, this study explores relevant research gaps, and, in this process, it identifies three internal stimulus factors such as materialism, hedonism and perceived risk as potential antecedents to impulse buying. This article also suggests the use of moderator variables, individualism, and income, the impact of which is to be tested on the respective proposed relationships. This article reviews the contributions of all seminal as well as other important works from 1950 through 2018 conducted in the field of impulse buying. In this process, it includes relevant published academic and research papers through a comprehensive search from the database of Scopus, electronic sources such as Sage Journals, Science Direct, Emerald Insight and aggregators such as JSTOR and EBSCOhost. However, consequently, it excludes unpublished doctoral thesis, conference proceedings, working papers, and dissertations. The reviewed literature are all written and documented in the English language.

Marketing Activity Models Affecting Behaviour of Social Media Detox Groups in the Bangkok Metropolitan

The purpose of this research is to study patterns of marketing activities that affect behavior of social media detox group which variables consist of demographic characteristics motivation factors, behavioral science factors, cognitive factors, and interest factors. In this research, a descriptive research study was conducted. The sample used in this research was the populations of Bangkok Metropolitan with social media detox behaviors of 400 people. Using the sampling method, which is cluster random sampling. The use of survey tools for data collection was by questionnaires. The research results were found that most of the respondents were female, aged 34-42 years with a bachelor's degree, occupation as a private company employee earning an average monthly income of 10,000-20,000 baht. The reason for a social media detox is to spend free time with family or peers. The reason to choose an alternative social media detox app as a way to find inspiration. An alternative app format for social media detoxes group because it is a motivational application. Internal stimulus that influences the motivation of a social media detox is because of emotional and emotional balance. External stimulus that influences social media motivation to detox is because of the changing technology. How to do a social media detox of a social media detox group is to look for other activities instead of choosing to view products or services on the ads of the social media detox group, choose to view products that search about Food / Drink. Most social media detox group of online advertising perception channels are perceived through social media. Most of the social media detox channels of online advertising perception are through television. Friends are the influencers of social media detox advertisement viewing. Reasons to watch social media detox advertisement as a guide to making decisions before purchasing alternative applications that social media detox groups have as an entertainment application. The survey takers spent the night (7.01 p.m.-11.00 p.m.) using an alternative application of the social media detox group. The usage period of the alternative social media detox application is 30 minutes-1 hours. The frequency of use of alternative social media detox applications is less than 10. Online advertising is affecting the behavior of detox social media group. Various applications offline advertisement is predominantly from the television. The use of sales representatives had the greatest effect on the behavior of social media detox group. Social and environmental responsibility activities have the greatest impact on the behavior of the detox social media group. Direct marketing using internet media can influence the behavior of social media detox groups. The sale/ giveaway will help promote sales, and the choice of entertainment applications will be able to generate the interest of the detox social media group.

Smart Responsive Nanoformulation for Targeted Delivery of Active Compounds From Traditional Chinese Medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been used to treat disorders in China for ~1,000 years. Growing evidence has shown that the active ingredients from TCM have antibacterial, antiproliferative, antioxidant, and apoptosis-inducing features. However, poor solubility and low bioavailability limit clinical application of active compounds from TCM. “Nanoformulations” (NFs) are novel and advanced drug-delivery systems. They show promise for improving the solubility and bioavailability of drugs. In particular, “smart responsive NFs” can respond to the special external and internal stimuli in targeted sites to release loaded drugs, which enables them to control the release of drug within target tissues. Recent studies have demonstrated that smart responsive NFs can achieve targeted release of active compounds from TCM at disease sites to increase their concentrations in diseased tissues and reduce the number of adverse effects. Here, we review “internal stimulus–responsive NFs” (based on pH and redox status) and “external stimulus–responsive NFs” (based on light and magnetic fields) and focus on their application for active compounds from TCM against tumors and infectious diseases, to further boost the development of TCM in modern medicine.

Dynamics of Mitochondrial Transmembrane Potential Changes in Blood Monocytes in Conditions of Development and Course of Experimental Periodontitis and the Effect of Korvityn on it

Inflammatory diseases of periodontal tissues remain one of the most complex and unresolved problems of modern dentistry. The most important internal stimulus for triggering apoptosis is DNA damage in response to various factors (including reactive oxygen species). Mitochondrial transmembrane potential (Δψm) is generated by the electrochemical gradient of protons on both sides of the membrane and is closely related to the functioning of mitochondria, its support is provided by the processes of electron transfer in the respiratory chain. The purpose of our study was to elucidate the pathogenetic role of changes in mitochondrial transmebranic potential in the dynamics of the inflammatory response in experimental bacterial-immune periodontitis and the effects of quercetin (Korvityn) on it. Material and methods. The study was performed on white clinically healthy rats. Experimental bacterial-immune periodontitis in experimental animals was induced by injection of a mixture of microorganisms diluted with egg protein into the tissues of the periodontal complex. Quercetin was administered by intramuscular injection for correction. Evaluation of changes in mitochondrial transmembrane potential of leukocytes was performed by flow cytofluorimetry. Results and discussion. In experimental bacterial-immune periodontitis, the percentage of cells with reduced mitochondrial transmembrane potential among blood monocytes significantly increased. In animals on the 7th day of the study, the number of cells with reduced mitochondrial transmembrane potential among blood monocytes increased significantly compared with the control group. For the next study period (14th day), the number of cells with reduced ∆ψm decreased compared to the 7th day of the experiment. Having analyzed the data of mitochondrial transmembrane potential of blood monocytes on the 30th day of the experiment, we noted that they decreased relative to those obtained on the 14th day of the study, indicating profound oxidative imbalance in cells and destabilization of the mitochondrial membrane. The use of quercetin led to a decrease in the values compared to the data of animals with our simulated pathology on the 14th day, the experiment without the introduction of flavonol, but they remained significantly higher than the control group of animals. Conclusion. Flavonol (Korvityn) quercetin reduced mitochondrial transmembrane potential in experimental bacterial-immune periodontitis, which was evidence by stabilization and attenuation of the inflammatory process