manipulative techniques

Although a rich academic literature examines the use of fake news by foreign actors for political manipulation, there is limited research on potential foreign intervention in capital markets. To address this gap, we construct a comprehensive database of (negative) fake news regarding U.S. firms by scraping prominent fact-checking sites. We identify the accounts that spread the news on Twitter (now X) and use machine-learning techniques to infer the geographic locations of these fake news spreaders. Our analysis reveals that corporate fake news is more likely than corporate non-fake news to be spread by foreign accounts...

This chapter aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the methodologies available to dissect genetic regulation of the nervous systems in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. These techniques encompass genetic screens and genetic tools to unravel the spatial-temporal contribution of genes on neural structure and function. Unbiased genetic screens on random mutations induced by ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) or target gene silencing by genome-wide RNA interference (RNAi) help progress our understanding of the genetic control of neural development and functions...

INTRODUCTION: Subjective tinnitus, the perception of sound without an external acoustic source, is often subsequent to noise-induced hearing loss or ototoxic medications. The condition is believed to result from neuroplastic alterations in the auditory centers, characterized by heightened spontaneous neural activities and increased synchrony due to an imbalance between excitation and inhibition. However, the role of the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN), a structure composed exclusively of GABAergic neurons involved in thalamocortical oscillations, in the pathogenesis of tinnitus remains largely unexplored...

Visual crowding, the phenomenon in which the ability to distinguish objects is hindered in cluttered environments, has critical implications for various ophthalmic and neurological disorders. Traditional methods for assessing crowding involve time-consuming and attention-demanding psychophysical tasks, making routine examination challenging. This study sought to compare trial-based Alternative Forced-Choice (AFC) paradigms using either manual or eye movement responses and a continuous serial search paradigm employing eye movement responses to evaluate their efficiency in rapidly assessing peripheral crowding...

Different grasping gestures result in the change of muscular activity of the forearm muscles. Similarly, the muscular activity changes with a change in grip force while grasping the object. This change in muscular activity, measured by a technique called Electromyography (EMG) is used in the upper limb bionic devices to select the grasping gesture. Previous research studies have shown gesture classification using pattern recognition control schemes. However, the use of EMG signals for force manipulation is less focused, especially during precision grasping...

Optical and acoustic tweezers, despite operating on different physical principles, offer non-contact manipulation of microscopic and mesoscopic objects, making them essential in fields like cell biology, medicine, and nanotechnology. The advantages and limitations of optical and acoustic manipulation complement each other, particularly in terms of trapping size, force intensity, and flexibility. We use photoacoustic effects to generate localized Lamb wave fields capable of mapping arbitrary laser pattern shapes...

In microfluidics, water droplets are often used as independent biochemical microreactor units, enabling the implementation of massively parallel screening assays where only a few of the reacting water droplets yield a positive result. However, sampling the product of these few successful reactions is an unsolved challenge. One possible solution is to use acoustic tweezers, which are lab-free, easily miniaturized, and biocompatible manipulation tools, and existing acoustic tweezers manipulating particles or cells, and water droplet manipulation in oil with an acoustic tweezer is absent...

Understanding driver behaviors in varied traffic scenarios is critical to the design of safe and efficient roadways and traffic control device. This research presents an analysis of driver cognitive workload, situation awareness (SA) and performance for three different scenarios, including a standard intersection and contraflow grade-separated intersections (C-GSI) and quadrant GSI (Q-GSI) with lane assignment sign manipulations. The study used a simulator-based driving experiment with application of the NASA Task Load Index and Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique to assess the influence of the scenarios on driver behavioral responses...

BACKGROUND: Cervical sagittal alignment is crucial for distributing the head load to lower cervical segments and maintaining normal cervical spine function, but its biomechanical effect on the cervical spine was not fully elucidated. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of cervical sagittal alignment on dynamic intervertebral kinematics. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. METHODS: Healthy participants without neck pain were recruited and divided into lordosis, straight and kyphosis groups according to the C2-C7 Cobb angle at the neutral position...

Passive radiative cooling (PRC) has been acknowledged to be an environmentally friendly cooling technique, and especially artificial photonic materials with manipulating light-matter interaction ability are more favorable for PRC. However, scalable production of radiative cooling materials with advanced biologically inspired structures, fascinating properties, and high throughput is still challenging. Herein, we reported a bioinspired design combining surface ordered pyramid arrays and internal three-dimensional hierarchical pores for highly efficient PRC based on mimicking natural photonic structures of the white beetle Cyphochilus ' wings...

Power can increase overconfidence and illusory thinking. We investigated whether power is also related to the illusion of explanatory depth (IOED), people's tendency to think they understand the world in more detail, coherence, and depth than they actually do. Abstract thinking was reported as a reason for the IOED, and according to the social distance theory of power, power increases abstract thinking. We linked these literatures and tested construal style as a mediator. Further, predispositions can moderate effects of power and we considered narcissism as a candidate because narcissism leads to overconfidence and may thus increase the IOED especially in combination with high power...

In this manuscript, we developed a nonlinear fractional order Ebola virus with a novel piecewise hybrid technique to observe the dynamical transmission having eight compartments. The existence and uniqueness of a solution of piecewise derivative is treated for a system with Arzel'a-Ascoli and Schauder conditions. We investigate the effects of classical and modified fractional calculus operators, specifically the classical Caputo piecewise operator, on the behavior of the model. A model shows that a completely continuous operator is uniformly continuous, and bounded according to the equilibrium points...

CONTEXT.—: Rapid advancements in the understanding and manipulation of tumor-immune interactions have led to the approval of immune therapies for patients with non-small cell lung cancer. Certain immune checkpoint inhibitor therapies require the use of companion diagnostics, but methodologic variability has led to uncertainty around test selection and implementation in practice. OBJECTIVE.—: To develop evidence-based guideline recommendations for the testing of immunotherapy/immunomodulatory biomarkers, including programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) and tumor mutation burden (TMB), in patients with lung cancer...

To improve the laser utilization efficiency and avoid photodamage in surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), it is imperative to introduce photon technology into the field of SERS detection. A major challenge is the inefficient interaction between the substrate and the incident wavelength, resulting in limited Raman enhancement at a relatively low level. Here, we sputtered plasmonic Au nanoparticles (NPs) onto photonic TiO x nanocavities, creating a novel hybrid photonic-plasmonic resonator that achieves a large degree of optical manipulation and long-term localization...

Droplet manipulation plays a critical role in both fundamental research and practical applications, especially when combined with smart materials and external fields to achieve multifunctional droplet manipulation. Light control of droplets has emerged as a significant and widely used strategy, driven primarily by photochemistry, photomechanics, light-induced Marangoni effects, and light-induced electric effects. This approach allowing for droplet manipulation with high spatial and temporal resolution, all while maintaining a remote and non-contact mode of operation...

AIM: Determining patients' perceptions of multiple sclerosis, a disease with varying symptoms and prognosis for each individual, can significantly contribute to directing care and treatment. Metaphors may be an opportunity to determine perceptions of this unique illness experience. The aim of this study was to reveal the perceptions of patients with multiple sclerosis about "multiple sclerosis" through metaphors. METHODS: This study was conducted with metaphor analysis technique based on phenomenological method...

Targeted Memory Reactivation (TMR) is a noninvasive tool to manipulate memory consolidation during sleep. TMR builds on the brain's natural processes of memory reactivation during sleep and aims to facilitate or bias these processes in a certain direction. The basis of this technique is the association of learning content with sensory cues, such as odors or sounds, that are presented during subsequent sleep to promote memory reactivation. Research on TMR has drastically increased over the last decade with rapid developments...

The ability to deploy decentralized laboratories with autonomous and reliable disease diagnosis holds the potential to deliver accessible healthcare services for public safety. While microfluidic technologies provide precise manipulation of small fluid volumes with improved assay performance, their limited automation and versatility confine them to laboratories. Herein, we report the utility of multicolor assay-on-a-chip processed by robotic operation (MACpro), to address this unmet need. The MACpro platform comprises a robot-microfluidic interface and an eye-in-hand module that provides flexible yet stable actions to execute tasks in a programmable manner, such as the precise manipulation of the microfluidic chip along with different paths...

Temporomandibular joint internal disorders commonly present with limited mouth opening and pain. Treatment options range from invasive surgical procedures to minimally invasive interventions. This technical note aims to introduce a modification to the arthrocentesis technique in which a pressure infusion cuff (VBM Classic Infusor, Medizintechnik GmbH, Germany) is used for irrigation instead of syringes or peristaltic pumps. A pressure infusion cuff (bag) is an inflatable bag with a hand pump and a sphygmomanometer that allows monitorization of the pressure, and it is intended to apply pressure on IV fluid bags to assist with rapid infusion of fluids...

Coordinated signaling pathway activity directs early patterning to set up the vertebrate body plan. Perturbations in the timing or location of signal molecule expression impacts embryo morphology and organ formation. In this study, we present a laboratory course to use zebrafish for studying the role of Wnt signaling in specifying the early embryonic axes. Students are exposed to basic techniques in molecular and developmental biology, including embryo manipulation, fluorescence microscopy, image processing, and data analysis...