NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF THERMOLUMINESCENCE QUARTZ PARTICLE

One of the widely used methods for studying minerals is the thermoluminescent (TL) method, which is used to date Quaternary sedimentary rocks. Usually, the difficulty in using TL dating is the lack of information about the structure of the mineral used in the experiment. For reliable interpretation of experimental data, the authors applied the digital twin method. In this case, all stages of the transformation of the mineral used are modeled from its burial in sedimentary rocks to the stimulation of the TL-signal splash in it under laboratory conditions on special installations, taking into account the unevenness heat transfer inside the sample of this mineral. The paper presents the results of numerical simulation of the TL signal from a spherical particle of natural quartz. The modeling was carried out in two stages. At the first stage, the influence of the burial time of quartz in the sedimentary rocks on its TL signal was determined. For this, the problem was posed of the accumulation of the crystal lattice quartz, information about the time of its presence in the natural radiation field. At the second stage, the TL signal from a spherical particle was simulated, which was heated in an experimental setup from the surface according to a linear law. It was found that, firstly, the burial time of quartz affects the shape of the TL-curve and, therefore, the mineral is applicable for dating. Secondly, it is necessary to control the heating mode of the quartz sample, since at high heating rates, heat transfer irregularities are significant for particles with a large radius. It also affects the shape of the TL signal and, as a result, can make it difficult to obtain age definitions or distort them. To assess the effect of non-uniformity of heat transfer, a dimensionless similarity parameter was proposed, which connects the radius of the particles and the heating rate.

Twin Study: A Comparison of Nature vs Nurture on Cognitive Skills in Academic Achievement in Identical and Fraternal Twins

This research study is looking at the academic achievement levels in identical and fraternal twins at the high school level through a measurable cognitive perspective. The purpose is to see if the data collected agrees with past research on how much academic achievement is due to genetics or environmental influences (nature vs nurture). Twins were asked to take three online cognitive tests and score differences were computed to determine statistical significance. I then drew connections on how much the scores were due to genetics while accounting for confounding variables in the environmental influence’s aspect. Therefore, the study concludes that the majority of academic achievement is due to genetics in both identical and fraternal twin sets. This indicates my research supports past research that shows genetics plays the majority factor in academic achievement whether twins are younger or older in age. This study is purely correlational and analyzes data with the twin method which means it in no way proves anything but rather shows a connection between academic achievement and genetics. This research adds more support to the current body of knowledge, but also brings up an important point of how future research can study environmental influences in-depth to see how it influences academic achievement beyond what can be measured in the classroom.

Examining Mindset and Grit in Concurrent and Future Reading Comprehension: A Twin Study

Non-cognitive factors have gained attention in recent years as potential intervention targets for academic achievement improvement in students. Two notable facets, intelligence mindset and grit, have been of particular interest. Both have been shown to consistently improve educational outcomes, although little work has focused on reading ability. We used a correlational and twin method design to preliminary test if mindset and grit could be potential intervention targets to increase reading ability. As such, we examined the relation between both grit and mindset on current, future, and change in reading comprehension ability in a twin sample. We used data from 422 twin pairs (171 monozygotic pairs, 251 dizygotic pairs) drawn from the Florida Twin Project on Reading, Behavior and Environment (Taylor et al., 2019). Twins were on average 13 years old when the questionnaire and first reading ability measure were collected, and on average 15 years old when the second reading ability measure was collected. Weak and moderate positive correlations were found between both mindset and grit with each reading ability score and neither were significantly related to change in reading ability. Twin modeling suggested little to no common genetic or environmental influences between mindset and grit to reading ability. In total, our results do not lend support to the notion of mindset or grit being a mechanism of change for reading ability.

A. R. Luria and the Twin Method in Modern Medical Genetics

The twin method is one of the classical methods of medical genetics which aids in defining the role of factors of heredity and environment in traits of norm and pathology, to study development of multifactorial diseases and development of genetics of intellectual activity. From the genetic point of view twins may be either monozygotic or dizygotic. The field of intellectual activity, in particular learning ability, attention and memory is most difficult and inaccessible for the genetic analyses of twins. The very beginning of research of twins’ intellectual activity was laid by A.R. Luria in years 1920-1930 and the features of development of twins of various age wererevealed. Using tasks that required mental capacities of different levels: immediate memory vs cultural forms of mediated memory, Luria’s group compared results of monozygotic and dizygotic twins of different ages (5-7 and 11-13). It has been shown that monozygotic twins are much more similar between themselves concerningmental capacities, natural forms of memory than dizygotic twins. In the older group it was the same difference in natural forma, but much less difference between monozygotic and dizygotic tweens in culturally determined forms of memory. Much more similarity was observed between monozygotic twins who grew separately, thanbetween dizygotic, being raised in the identical social environment. During these researches a number of assumptions have been stated about « the influence of heredity on intellectual activity which will be revealed in the solution of tasks which don’t demand special knowledge». Prospects of modern researches are in comparison of concordance mono-and dizygotic twins, confirming A. R. Luria’s assumption of interrelation of natural memory and intellectual endowments of twins with their genotype. Medical genetics confirmsthat the extent of development of various intellectual traits of monozygotic and dizygotic twins is caused first of all by influence of the environment – training and experience which is revealed is increased in increased variability of most intellectual characteristics at the age of 14–16 years. Keywords: A.R.Luria, twin method, medical genetics, epigenetic changes.

Heritable aspects of biological motion perception and its covariation with autistic traits

The ability to detect biological motion (BM) and decipher the meaning therein is essential to human survival and social interaction. However, at the individual level, we are not equally equipped with this ability. In particular, impaired BM perception and abnormal neural responses to BM have been observed in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a highly heritable neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by devastating social deficits. Here, we examined the underlying sources of individual differences in two abilities fundamental to BM perception (i.e., the abilities to process local kinematic and global configurational information of BM) and explored whether BM perception shares a common genetic origin with autistic traits. Using the classical twin method, we found reliable genetic influences on BM perception and revealed a clear dissociation between its two components—whereas genes account for about 50% of the individual variation in local BM processing, global BM processing is largely shaped by environment. Critically, participants’ sensitivity to local BM cues was negatively correlated with their autistic traits through the dimension of social communication, with the covariation largely mediated by shared genetic effects. These findings demonstrate that the ability to process BM, especially with regard to its inherent kinetics, is heritable. They also advance our understanding of the sources of the linkage between autistic symptoms and BM perception deficits, opening up the possibility of treating the ability to process local BM information as a distinct hallmark of social cognition.

A longitudinal study of twins from birth to adulthood

Temperamental variation in infancy was the starting point for this longitudinal study of twins followed from<br />birth to adulthood. The influence of early individuality on later development was a research question in the<br />follow-ups, and by choosing twins as a group, it was possible to uncover the effect of environmental and<br />genetic factors at the different ages. Developmental psychopathology turned out to be a relevant framework,<br />where mental health and well-being are seen as the result of a continuous transaction between geneticallybased<br />individuality and a changing and varying environment (Maughan &amp; Rutter, 2008). The twin method<br />was an adequate tool to gain a better understanding of these processes. The overall clear message from the<br />study is that whereas heritability of temperament can be seen from infancy on, environmental factors are of<br />crucial importance for an understanding of mental development and health, but the effect of environmental<br />factors probably varies a great deal in dependency upon the genetic disposition of the person.