Gender agreement attraction in Greek comprehension

This work explores gender agreement attraction in comprehension. Attraction occurs when an agreement error (such as, “the key to the cabinets are rusty”) goes unnoticed, leading to the illusion of grammaticality due to a mismatch between the value of the head and the value of a local intervening phase (attractor). According to retrieval accounts, these errors occur during cue retrieval from memory and predict illusions of grammaticality. Alternatively, representational accounts predict that the errors occur due to the faulty representation of certain features, thus, illusions of ungrammaticality are also expected. In four experiments we explore: (a) whether gender agreement attraction occurs in Greek and the strategy/-ies employed, (b) the role of the agreement target, (c) the timing of gender agreement attraction, (d) the role of phonological matching between the nominal inflectional morphemes of the attractor and the agreement target, and (e) participants’ sensitivity to agreement when there is no conflict from the attractor. In all four experiments, the grammaticality of the sentence and the attractor value (match or mismatch with the head) and also the phonological matching between the attractor and the agreement target in ungrammatical sentences were manipulated. The agreement target was either an adjectival predicate or an object-clitic and the gender value of the head was feminine or neuter. Attraction was found in all measures during the time-course of adjectival predicates (Experiment 1) and object-clitics (Experiment 2), and in timed (Experiment 3), and untimed (Experiment 4) judgments. Even more, both gender values showed attraction and the results mainly suggest that participants experience illusions of grammaticality, confirming retrieval accounts. Phonological matching did not modulate attraction in any of the experiments, suggesting that the similarity in the morphophonological realization between the agreement target and the attractor does not increase attraction. Furthermore, participants were sensitive to gender agreement violations in the absence of gender mismatch between the head and the attractor, suggesting that they respect agreement rules and have both neuter and feminine available in their feature content repertoire, although with some tendency in favor of neuter in feminine agreement contexts. The impact of these findings is discussed within the concept of attraction and sensitivity to agreement violations

Nanostructured polymers for additive manufacturing

Fused filament fabrication (FFF) is one of the most widely employed techniques of additive manufacturing, which produces three dimensional (3D) printed objects by the layering of melt-extruded thermoplastic-based filaments. Despite its ease of use and environmentally friendly nature, FFF has so far only provided a narrow range of potential applications due to the limited number of materials (mostly thermoplastic-based composites, with metal or ceramic fillers) compatible with this technique. Another obstacle for the wider application of 3D printed parts is their inferior mechanical performance compared to that of their conventionally-manufactured counterparts. A strategy for overcoming this deficiency is by merging polymer/clay nanocomposites with 3D printing. However, the incorporation of clays in the nanocomposite feedstock filament usually incurs several processing challenges, including clay agglomeration to the detriment of the formation of the printed part. This research aims to provide a systematic investigation and understanding of the influence of clay fillers and additives (coupling agents) on the mechanical properties and morphology of 3D printed nanocomposites. A series of polylactide (PLA)/clay nanostructured composite filaments were developed and successfully printed by an open-source 3D printer based on FFF. The effect of filament composition on the mechanical properties and morphology was investigated and correlated with the extent of intercalation of different clay types. The mechanical behaviour of the printed composite samples was influenced significantly by the clay type and content. For example, the samples containing organoclay with the same clay content exhibited a higher modulus of elasticity and strength than those with natural clay. In addition, the Halpin-Tsai model was found to be successful in predicting the moduli of the PLA/clay systems. Based on the experimental results, the mechanical properties of the PLA/clay composite systems were shown to be correlated to the extent of clay intercalation. An implication from the model is that clay intercalation was more effective as a reinforcement technique than raising the total clay content. Upon the introduction of Garamite clay in the polymer matrix, the flowability of the melt was improved followed by a decrease in the die swell ratio of the composite samples. As a consequence, the composite feedstock filaments provided an enhanced print resolution compared to neat PLA and resulted to a printed part with a more compact mesostructure. The research showed that the dispersibility of the nanophase was a general difficulty affecting nanocomposite performance. As a result, grafted PLA was added to act as a compatibiliser to the Garamite and Cloisite composite systems, in order to promote the dispersion of clays in the polymer matrix. It was found that the mechanism underlying the mechanical performance of the grafted PLA/PLA/clay composites was dependent on the clay morphology. Upon the addition of grafted PLA in the PLA/Cloisite composite, the mechanical properties were improved due to the increased interfacial interaction and wetting between PLA and Cloisite platelets. In the case of the PLA/Garamite system, however, the addition of various concentrations of grafted PLA did not substantially improve the mechanical properties. These findings could act as a guideline in the design and development of feedstock filaments for 3D printing

The influence of nanostructure on the mechanical properties of 3D printed polylactide/nanoclay composites

An obstacle for wider application of 3D printed parts is their inferior mechanical performance compared with those from conventional fabrication. This research aims to overcome this deficiency by developing nanostructured PLA/clay composite filaments that are 3D printable by the FFF technique, investigating the effect of filament composition on mechanical properties, and correlating it with the extent of intercalation of different types of clay. The results showed the addition of 5 wt% organomodified clay to PLA raised the elastic and flexural modulus by 10% and 14% respectively. Einstein’s composite theory did not hold for the PLA/organoclay composites but the Halpin-Tsai model was successful in interpreting the measured moduli of the organoclays. The model also showed that increasing the clay intercalation was much more effective than raising the total clay content

Palestine and the will to theorise decolonial queering

Το άρθρο διατυπώνει μια θεωρία της αποαποικιοποίησης σε σχέση με το κουήρ, όπως αυτό αναδύεται στο εποικιστικό-αποικιακό πλαίσιο της Παλαιστίνης, αυτό που ονομάζω αποαποικιακή κουηροποίηση (decolonial queering). Το πρώτο μέρος προσφέρει μια νέα ανάγνωση της σιωνιστικής εποικιστικής-αποικιοκρατίας, την οποία ορίζω ως ετερο-κατάκτηση. Η καινοτομία του βασίζεται στο ότι θέτει ξανά κεντρικά το ζήτημα της αποικιοκρατίας στην γηγενή από-τα-κάτω γνώση της κουηροποίησης (queering), υποδεικνύοντας παράλληλα τους περιορισμούς των υπαρχουσών μελετών των οποίων τα πλαίσια έγκεινται κυρίως σε αμερικανικά περιβάλλοντα ή/και περιβάλλοντα ρατσισμού και ομοεθνικισμού του Παγκόσμιου Βορρά. Ιχνηλατώντας τη σύγχρονη συνέχεια της ετερο-κατάκτησης στην Παλαιστίνη, το δεύτερο μέρος αναλύει την ανάγκη για μια ριζοσπαστική θεωρία απελευθέρωσης που συνυφαίνει την αποαποικιοποίηση με το κουήρ. Φέρνοντας σε διάλογο την Sara Ahmed και τον Frantz Fanon, μια τέτοια θεωρία προκύπτει από το αμάλγαμα ιστοριών, γεωγραφιών και σωμάτων, των οποίων η αποκατάσταση, πέρα από τους περιορισμούς της ετερο-κατάκτησης, ανοίγει το δρόμο για μια ριζοσπαστική πολυεπίπεδη πολιτική της απελευθέρωσης. [Το κείμενο αποτελεί μετάφραση του αυθεντικού κειμένου που δημοσιεύτηκε από το περιοδικό Taylor & Francis in Middle East Critique: Alqaisiya, Walaa (2019). Palestine and the Will to Theorise Decolonial Queering. Middle East Critique, 29(1), 87–113. DOI: 10.1080/19436149.2020.1704505. This is a translation of an article originally published by Taylor & Francis in Middle East Critique: Alqaisiya, Walaa (2019). Palestine and the Will to Theorise Decolonial Queering. Middle East Critique, 29(1), 87–113. DOI: 10.1080/19436149.2020.1704505]This article posits a theorisation of decolonisation in relation to queer as it emerges from the settler-colonial context of Palestine, what I call decolonial queering. The first part provides a new reading of Zionist settler-colonialism, which I define as hetero-conquest. Its novelty lies in refocusing the question of colonialism in native grounded knowledge of queering, while showing the limitations of those existing studies whose frames emanate mainly from American and/or global north contexts of racism and homo-nationalism. By tracing the contemporary continuity of hetero-conquest in Palestine, the second part unpacks the need for a radical theory of liberation that weaves decolonization into queer. Bringing Sara Ahmed and Frantz Fanon into dialogue, such a theory emanates from the amalgam of histories, geographies and bodies, whose restoration beyond the strictures of hetero-conquest opens the way for a radical multi-scalar politics of liberation. [This abstract belongs to an article originally published by Taylor & Francis in Middle East Critique: Alqaisiya, Walaa (2019). Palestine and the Will to Theorise Decolonial Queering. Middle East Critique, 29(1), 87–113. DOI: 10.1080/19436149.2020.1704505

Effect of composition on the mechanical properties of 3d printed polymer nanocomposites

Fused filament fabrication (FFF) is one of the most widely employed techniques in additive manufacturing. Despite its ease of use and environmentally friendly nature, FFF has only demonstrated a narrow range of applications due to the limited number of materials compatible with the technique. Furthermore, FFF printed parts exhibit inferior mechanical properties compared to those of their conventionally manufactured counterparts. An approach for tailoring the properties of printing materials and extending the applicability of FFF is the addition of nanoparticles to the polymer, such as organo-modified nanoclays. To date, there has been only limited research using this approach but some improvement in properties has been obtained. This research concerns polylactide-nanoclay composites and investigates the effect of the clay type and content on the 3D printed product. This is the first systematic study on the mechanical properties of 3D printed PLA/clay samples by an extrusion-based technique. The introduction of clays to the PLA matrix was found to improve the modulus of elasticity of the 3D printed PLA/clay samples. However, this behaviour was accompanied by a decrease in the ultimate tensile strength and elongation at break, while the flexural properties exhibited similar trend to the tensile properties. The quality of the printed filament was related to the non-uniform dispersion of clays in the polymer matri

Computational modelling reveals novel insights into GnRH receptor activation and binding dynamics

Gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) regulates the mammalian reproductive system by binding to its receptor (GnRH1R) and is a target for treating reproductive hormone-dependent disorders and cancers. While the inactive structure of GnRH1R is known, the active conformation and GnRH binding mode that lead to receptor activation are not fully understood. The mechanism of GnRH-induced receptor activation remains poorly understood due to the absence of experimental structures of the active GnRH1R-GnRH complex. To address this gap, we employed computational docking simulations using Rosetta, coupled with a custom Python-based elimination protocol, to identify near-native binding poses. This approach yielded two top-ranked candidates, ROS-1 and ROS-2. Molecular dynamics simulations revealed that ROS-1 induced GnRH1R activation within 1.0 s, characterised by a 4 Å outward shift of the cytoplasmic end of TM6. Key interactions included stacking between GnRH and GnRH1R (notably Y5 with Y283, Y290, and F309) and hydrogen bonds with L286. Intramolecular interactions within GnRH (Y5 and W3) also played a significant role. Two main communication pathways initiated by R8 of GnRH were identified. R8 formed cation- interactions with W280 and communicated with N87 and the DPxxY motif via water-mediated hydrogen bonds. Additional interactions involved M125 and the PAF and DRS motifs, which are critical for receptor activation. Key differences in interactions at they cytosolic end of TM7 between active and inactive states were identified due to the reorganisation of the DPxxY motif. Finally, GnRH1R communication with lipids through hydrogen bonds involving R240, R75, and S140 was observed. This study provides insights into the active conformation and binding dynamics of the GnRH-GnRH1R complex, advancing our current understanding by providing a coherent picture that consolidates previous interpretations, thereby paving the way to better therapeutic applications

Kisspeptin a potential therapeutic target in treatment of both metabolic and reproductive dysfunction

Kisspeptins (KPs) are proteins that were first recognized to have antimetastatic action. Later, the critical role of this peptide in the regulation of reproduction was proved. In recent years, evidence has been accumulated supporting a role for KPs in regulating metabolic processes in a sexual dimorphic manner. It has been proposed that KPs regulate metabolism both indirectly via gonadal hormones and/or directly via the kisspeptin receptor in the brain, brown adipose tissue, and pancreas. The aim of the review is to provide both experimental and clinical evidence indicating that KPs are peptides linking metabolism and reproduction. We propose that KPs could be used as a potential target to treat both metabolic and reproductive abnormalities. Thus, we focus on the consequences of disruptions in KPs and their receptors in metabolic conditions such as diabetes, undernutrition, obesity, and reproductive disorders (hypogonadotropic hypogonadism and polycystic ovary syndrome). Data from both animal models and human subjects indicate that alterations in KPs in the case of metabolic imbalance lead also to disruptions in reproductive functions. Changes both in the hypothalamic and peripheral KP systems in animal models of the aforementioned disorders are discussed. Finally, an overview of current clinical studies involving KP in fertility and metabolism show fewer studies on metabolism (15%) and only one to date on both. Presented data indicate a dynamic and emerging field of KP studies as possible therapeutic targets in treatments of both reproductive and metabolic dysfunctions

Decreased serpin C1 in extracellular vesicles predicts response to methotrexate treatment in patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis

Background: Sarcoidosis is a systemic granulomatous disease of unknown etiology primarily affecting the lungs. Treatment is needed when disease symptoms worsen and organ function deteriorates. In pulmonary sarcoidosis, prednisone and methotrexate (MTX) are the most common anti-inflammatory therapies. However, there is large inter-patient variability in response to treatment, and predictive response markers are currently lacking. Objective: In this study, we investigated the predictive potential of biomarkers in extracellular vesicles (EVs) isolated from biobanked serum of patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis stored prior to start of therapy. Methods: Protein concentrations of a four-protein test panel of inflammatory proteins were measured in a discovery (n = 16) and replication (n = 129) cohort of patients with sarcoidosis and 47 healthy controls. Response to therapy was defined as an improvement of the absolute score of > 5% forced vital capacity (FVC) and/or > 10% diffusion lung of carbon monoxide (DLCO) after 24 weeks compared to baseline (before treatment). Results: Serum protein levels differed between EV fractions and serum, and between sarcoidosis cases and controls. Serpin C1 concentrations in the low density lipid particle EV fraction were lower at baseline in the group of patients with a good response to MTX treatment in both the discovery cohort (p = 0.059) and in the replication cohort (p = 0.032). EV Serpin C1 showed to be a significant predictor for response to treatment with MTX (OR 0.4; p = 0.032). Conclusion: This study shows that proteins isolated from EVs harbor a distinct signal and have potential as new predictive therapy response biomarkers in sarcoidosis