Studying the Process of Phosphogypsum Recycling into a Calcium Sulphide-Based Luminophor.

Currently, one of the most important problems of environmental protection is the deep and complex processing of mineral raw materials. This problem is especially relevant when processing substandard ores and production waste, one of which is phosphogypsum. This study examines the process of CaSO4/CaS composite material formation during the reduction of phosphogypsum with citric acid. The composite structure formation mechanism is proposed. The resulting materials are characterized using various methods, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy, the Scherrer method, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and FT-IR spectroscopy. The reduced sample emits orange radiation in the range of 500-750 nm with a quantum yield of 0.17. Experimental results showed that the sample decomposition process in the solid state consisted of two components with a predominant contribution from the long-lived component (~46 ns). The optimal conditions for producing luminescent materials by reducing phosphogypsum with citric acid were determined: a heat treatment temperature of 1073 K, a holding time of 60 min, and a reducing agent mole fraction of 37%. It was found that an increase in temperature with a simultaneous decrease in heat treatment time, as well as a decrease in temperature with a simultaneous increase in heat treatment time, led to a decrease in the luminescent properties of the synthesized material compared to optimal values. The results can be used to develop technology for recycling large-tonnage waste from the chemical industry into luminescent materials.

Frequency response areas of neurons in the mouse inferior colliculus. III. Time-domain responses: Constancy, dynamics, and precision in relation to spectral resolution, and perception in the time domain.

The auditory midbrain (central nucleus of inferior colliculus, ICC) receives multiple brainstem projections and recodes auditory information for perception in higher centers. Many neural response characteristics are represented in gradients (maps) in the three-dimensional ICC space. Map overlap suggests that neurons, depending on their ICC location, encode information in several domains simultaneously by different aspects of their responses. Thus, interdependence of coding, e.g. in spectral and temporal domains, seems to be a general ICC principle. Studies on covariation of response properties and possible impact on sound perception are, however, rare. Here, we evaluated tone-evoked single neuron activity from the mouse ICC and compared shapes of excitatory frequency-response areas (including strength and shape of inhibition within and around the excitatory area; classes I, II, III) with types of temporal response patterns and first-spike response latencies. Analyses showed covariation of sharpness of frequency tuning with constancy and precision of responding to tone onsets. Highest precision (first-spike latency jitter < 1 ms) and stable phasic responses throughout frequency-response areas were the quality mainly of class III neurons with broad frequency tuning, least influenced by inhibition. Class II neurons with narrow frequency tuning and dominating inhibitory influence were unsuitable for time domain coding with high precision. The ICC center seems specialized rather for high spectral resolution (class II presence), lateral parts for constantly precise responding to sound onsets (class III presence). Further, the variation of tone-response latencies in the frequency-response areas of individual neurons with phasic, tonic, phasic-tonic, or pauser responses gave rise to the definition of a core area, which represented a time window of about 20 ms from tone onset for tone-onset responding of the whole ICC. This time window corresponds to the roughly 20 ms shortest time interval that was found critical in several auditory perceptual tasks in humans and mice.

The HEXACO-100 Across 16 Languages: A Large-Scale Test of Measurement Invariance.

The HEXACO Personality Inventory-Revised (HEXACO-PI-R) has become one of the most heavily applied measurement tools for the assessment of basic personality traits. Correspondingly, the inventory has been translated to many languages for use in cross-cultural research. However, formal tests examining whether the different language versions of the HEXACO-PI-R provide equivalent measures of the 6 personality dimensions are missing. We provide a large-scale test of measurement invariance of the 100-item version of the HEXACO-PI-R across 16 languages spoken in European and Asian countries (N = 30,484). Multigroup exploratory structural equation modeling and confirmatory factor analyses revealed consistent support for configural and metric invariance, thus implying that the factor structure of the HEXACO dimensions as well as the meaning of the latent HEXACO factors is comparable across languages. However, analyses did not show overall support for scalar invariance; that is, equivalence of facet intercepts. A complementary alignment analysis supported this pattern, but also revealed substantial heterogeneity in the level of (non)invariance across facets and factors. Overall, results imply that the HEXACO-PI-R provides largely comparable measurement of the HEXACO dimensions, although the lack of scalar invariance highlights the necessity for future research clarifying the interpretation of mean-level trait differences across countries.

The Dark Triad Traits from a Life History Perspective in Six Countries.

Work on the Dark Triad traits has benefited from the use of a life history framework but it has been limited to primarily Western samples and indirect assessments of life history strategies. Here, we examine how the Dark Triad traits (i.e., psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism) relate to two measures of individual differences in life history strategies. In Study 1 (N = 937), we replicated prior observed links between life history strategies, as measured by the Mini-K, and the Dark Triad traits using samples recruited from three countries. In Study 2 (N = 1032), we measured life history strategies using the Consideration of Future Consequences Scale and correlated it with the Dark Triad traits in samples recruited from three additional countries. While there was some variability across participants' sex and country, the results were generally consistent in that psychopathy and (to a lesser extent) Machiavellianism were related to faster life history strategies and narcissism was related to slower life history strategies. These results add cross-cultural data and the use of two measures of life history speed to understand the Dark Triad traits from a life history perspective.

Spectral summation and facilitation in on- and off-responses for optimized representation of communication calls in mouse inferior colliculus.

Selectivity for processing of species-specific vocalizations and communication sounds has often been associated with the auditory cortex. The midbrain inferior colliculus, however, is the first center in the auditory pathways of mammals integrating acoustic information processed in separate nuclei and channels in the brainstem and, therefore, could significantly contribute to enhance the perception of species' communication sounds. Here, we used natural wriggling calls of mouse pups, which communicate need for maternal care to adult females, and further 15 synthesized sounds to test the hypothesis that neurons in the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus of adult females optimize their response rates for reproduction of the three main harmonics (formants) of wriggling calls. The results confirmed the hypothesis showing that average response rates, as recorded extracellularly from single units, were highest and spectral facilitation most effective for both onset and offset responses to the call and call models with three resolved frequencies according to critical bands in perception. In addition, the general on- and/or off-response enhancement in almost half the investigated 122 neurons favors not only perception of single calls but also of vocalization rhythm. In summary, our study provides strong evidence that critical-band resolved frequency components within a communication sound increase the probability of its perception by boosting the signal-to-noise ratio of neural response rates within the inferior colliculus for at least 20% (our criterion for facilitation). These mechanisms, including enhancement of rhythm coding, are generally favorable to processing of other animal and human vocalizations, including formants of speech sounds.

Spectral coding in auditory midbrain neurons.

The data of frequency properties of single neurons in the auditory midbrain center, central nucleus of the inferior colliculus and morphologic aspects of its functional ordering are reviewed. On the basis of reconstruction of single units frequency receptive fields and morphophysiologic mapping of their location within the frequency-band lamina of the central nucleus the model of spectral coding by auditory midbrain neurons is developed. The main structural basement of spectral coding in the auditory midbrain is the tonotopic organization of its central nucleus as well as the order in its morphological structure expressed in alternation of layers of disc-shaped neurons and neuropil. The main neural mechanism of spectral coding is a critical bands mechanism. The critical bandwidth is controlled by inhibitory disc-shaped neurons which constitute an essential part of the population of the central nucleus disc-shaped cells.

Vascular-protective effects of high-density lipoprotein include the downregulation of the angiotensin II type 1 receptor.

There is growing evidence that a cross-talk exists between the renin-angiotensin (Ang) system and lipoproteins. We investigated the role of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) on Ang II type 1 receptor (AT1R) regulation and subsequent Ang II-mediated signaling under diabetic conditions. To investigate the effect of HDL on AT1R expression in vivo, apolipoprotein A-I gene transfer was performed 5 days after streptozotocin injection. Six weeks after apolipoprotein A-I gene transfer, the 1.9-fold (P=0.001) increase of HDL cholesterol was associated with a 4.7-fold (P<0.05) reduction in diabetes mellitus-induced aortic AT1R expression. Concomitantly, NAD(P)H oxidase activity, Nox 4, and p22(phox) mRNA expression were reduced 2.6-fold, 2.0-fold, and 1.5-fold (P<0.05), respectively, whereas endothelial NO synthase dimerization was increased 3.3-fold (P<0.005). Apolipoprotein A-I transfer improved NO bioavailability as indicated by ameliorated acetylcholine-dependent vasodilation in the streptozotocin-Ad.hapoA-I group compared with streptozotocin-induced diabetes mellitus. In vitro, HDL reduced the hyperglycemia-induced upregulation of the AT1R in human aortic endothelial cells. This was associated with a 1.3-fold and 2.2-fold decreases in reactive oxygen species and NAD(P)H oxidase activity, respectively (P<0.05). Finally, HDL reduced the responsiveness to Ang II, as indicated by decreased oxidative stress in the hyperglycemia+HDL+Ang II group compared with the hyperglycemia+Ang II group. In conclusion, vascular-protective effects of HDL include the downregulation of the AT1R.

Tonotopy and inhibition in the midbrain inferior colliculus shape spectral resolution of sounds in neural critical bands.

Frequency resolution and spectral integration in acoustic perception is investigated psychacoustically by measuring critical bands (CBs) or equivalent quantities. In general, CB bandwidths increase with increasing sound frequency but remain constant over a large range of sound pressure levels (SPL; intensity independence). These CB properties have previously been found, on average, in responses of midbrain inferior colliculus neurons. Here, we use single-neuron recordings from the central nucleus of mouse inferior colliculus (ICC) to study neurons' excitatory and inhibitory frequency receptive fields together with neural critical bands (NCBs) measured in a narrowband noise-masking paradigm at SPLs up to 85 dB. We aim to clarify whether and how neurons with very different shapes of excitatory and inhibitory receptive fields express CB properties, whether and how inhibition contributes to set boundaries of NCBs, and where these boundaries are located in the excitatory-inhibitory receptive fields. The main results are: the above-mentioned general CB properties exist in neurons independent of the shapes of their receptive fields, that is, frequency filtering related to single tones (tuning curves) and frequency resolution related to complex sounds (NCBs) are different neuronal properties; NCB boundaries match the boundaries of an area devoid of inhibition around the characteristic frequencies in 67% of the neurons, that is, the inhibitory influence is adjusted to frequency resolution in part of the neurons; filter bandwidths of NCBs are, relative to their centre frequencies, about on average 1/3 octave wide, equaling the average frequency distance between frequency-band laminae as found in the cat ICC.

Frequency response areas of mouse inferior colliculus neurons: II. Critical bands.

Critical bands are perceptual filters that detect and separate spectral peaks in complex sounds. Here, we show that the main properties of psychophysically defined critical bands, as measured in narrow-band noise masking tests (species-specific frequency dependence and intensity independence of the bandwidths), are present in single neurons of the mouse's central nucleus of the inferior colliculus. Bandwidths of critical bands amount to, on average, 3/8-1/3 octave related to the neurons' characteristic frequencies. They are not determined by the shapes of the neurons' excitatory receptive fields. The results support the view that frequency resolution in the auditory system is shaped to its perceptual level in the main nucleus of the auditory midbrain.

Spatial map of frequency tuning-curve shapes in the mouse inferior colliculus.

Neurons in the central nucleus of the auditory midbrain inferior colliculus divide into four classes according to the shapes of their receptive fields. Neurons of two of these classes - sharply tuned, inhibition-dominated neurons of class II, and broadly tuned neurons of class III - show systematic gradients in their abundance on isofrequency contours. Sharp tuning is most prevalent in the center, broad tuning in the periphery of the ICC. This new map of tuning-curve shape adds to the six previously described maps of neural response properties on isofrequency contours of the ICC and stresses the fact that very different sensitivities and selectivities to sound properties are combined in local clusters of collicular neurons.