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20,211 real negative results, null findings, and replication failures · Negative / Null Result Report. Search the index →

WASTE indexes published research — it does not host or republish full papers. Each entry is a metadata record compiled from open scholarly databases; the abstract is shown in full only where the paper is openly licensed, otherwise a short excerpt under fair use. Classifications are automated and approximate.

Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessNeuroscience

Electrophysiological indices of hierarchical speech processing differentially reflect the comprehension of speech in noise

Shyanthony R. Synigal, Andrew J. Anderson, Edmund C. Lalor · 2026 · eNeuro

ABSTRACT The past few years have seen an increase in the use of encoding models to explain neural responses to natural speech. The goal of these models is to characterize how the human brain converts acoustic energy into distinct linguistic representations that enable everyday speech comprehension. For example, researchers have shown that electroencephalography (EEG) data can be modeled in terms of acoustic features of speech, such as its amplitude envelope or spectrogram, linguistic features such as phonemes and phoneme probability, and higher-level linguistic features like context-based word

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMathematics

Selecting the number of components in PCA via random signflips

David Hong, Yue Sheng, Edgar Dobriban · 2026 · Journal of the American Statistical Association

Principal component analysis (PCA) is a foundational tool in modern data analysis, and a crucial step in PCA is selecting the number of components to keep. However, classical selection methods (e.g., scree plots, parallel analysis, etc.)…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Physical activity for public health in the 21st century

Deborah Salvo, Inácio Crochemore-Silva, Andrea Wendt et al. · 2026 · Nature Medicine

With over 5 million attributed deaths per year, physical inactivity is a major global public health issue. Although the importance of physical activity is well recognized within the scope of obesity and cardiometabolic disease prevention…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessSocial Sciences

The Road to Stock Market Participation

Sumit Agarwal, Meghana Ayyagari, Yuxi Cheng et al. · 2026 · Management Science

This paper examines how infrastructure development affects stock market participation in India using trading data from more than 13 million individuals. Using the phased rollout of a national road construction program as a natural…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

No ordered arguments needed for nouns

Scott Grimm, Louise McNally · 2026 · Proceedings of the Amsterdam Colloquium

Syntacticians have widely assumed since [11] that there is a fundamental difference between so-called argument structure nominals (AS-nominals, also called Complex Event Nominals), e.g. destruction, and non-AS-nominals, e.g. book ([1, 5], i.a.). Grimshaw provided a list of properties characterizing AS-nominals, most notably that they have obligatory arguments (e.g. the destruction *(of Carthage) by the Romans). She and others have associated having argument structure with having event structure, but it has never been clear what having or lacking such structures amounts to semantically. In this

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessEngineering

Experimental Investigation of the Bearing-Deformation Behavior of Broken Rocks in Goafs Under Various Influencing Factors

Yue Zhao, Jiang Su, Zhengzhen An et al. · 2026 · Applied Sciences

Coal gangue is one of the most abundant solid wastes generated during coal mining. The use of coal gangue for underground backfilling is widely recognized as an effective approach to reducing waste accumulation and promoting sustainable utilization. To further investigate the bearing and deformation behavior of underground gangue filling materials, combined with the underground occurrence conditions of crushed gangue in goaf, a self-designed loading apparatus for crushed gangue was employed to perform lateral compression experiments on crushed gangue. The compaction deformation, fractal dimens

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

A matter of timing? Effects of parent–adolescent conflict on adolescent negative affect and depressive symptoms on six timescales.

Anne Bülow, Savannah Boele, Jessica P. Lougheed et al. · 2025 · Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science

= 14.37 years, 72% girls, 96% Dutch, data collection: 2019-2020) were used. By aggregating measurements, multiple timescales could be assessed within the same data set. Multilevel structural equation modeling revealed that conflict…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Rise of precision medicine: can it deliver on its promise in IBD?

Stefan Schreiber, Konrad Aden, Florian Tran et al. · 2025 · Gut

The clinical and molecular heterogeneity of IBD—both between patients and within the same individual over time—continues to pose a significant challenge to the implementation of truly personalised treatment strategies. Unlike oncology,…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Organ-on-a-Chip Models of the Female Reproductive System: Current Progress and Future Perspectives

Pan Min, Huike Chen, Kai Deng et al. · 2025 · Micromachines

The female reproductive system represents a highly complex regulatory network governing critical physiological functions, encompassing reproductive capacity and endocrine regulation that maintains female physiological homeostasis. The in vitro simulation system provides a novel tool for biomedical research and can be used as physiological and pathological models to study the female reproductive system. Recent advances in this technology have evolved from 2D and 3D printing to organ-on-a-chip (OOC) and microfluidic systems, which has emerged as a transformative platform for modeling the female

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessNeuroscience

The role of plasma inflammatory markers in late-life depression and conversion to dementia: a 3-year follow-up study

Mariia Bocharova, Tom Borza, Leiv Otto Watne et al. · 2025 · Molecular Psychiatry

Late-life depression (LLD) has been linked to increased likelihood of dementia, although mechanisms responsible for this association remain largely unknown. One feature frequently observed in both LLD and dementia is elevated levels of plasma inflammatory markers. The present study aimed to compare the levels of 12 plasma inflammatory markers between older people with LLD and controls, and to explore whether these markers, along with clinical characteristics, can predict dementia in patients with LLD within 3 years of follow-up. Using multiple linear regression with stepwise adjustment, we com

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMaterials Science

Innovative Strategies to Overcome Stability Challenges of Single-Atom Nanozymes

Rong Guo, Qiuzheng Du, Yaping He et al. · 2026 · Nano-Micro Letters

Single-atom nanozymes (SAzymes) exhibit exceptional catalytic efficiency due to their maximized atom utilization and precisely modulated metal-carrier interactions, which have attracted significant attention in the biomedical field. However, stability issues may impede the clinical translation of SAzymes. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the applications of SAzymes in various biomedical fields, including disease diagnosis (e.g., biosensors and diagnostic imaging), antitumor therapy (e.g., photothermal therapy, photodynamic therapy, sonodynamic therapy, and immunotherapy), antim

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPhysics and Astronomy

Hitting the slopes: a spectroscopic view of UV continuum slopes of galaxies reveals a reddening at z > 9.5

Aayush Saxena, Alex J. Cameron, Harley Katz et al. · 2026 · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

ABSTRACT The ultraviolet (UV) continuum slope of galaxies, $\beta$, is a powerful diagnostic of the metallicity and ages of stars, nebular gas properties, dust content, and the escape of Lyman continuum (LyC) photons. In this study, we present $\beta$ measurements for 395 spectroscopically confirmed galaxies at $5 \lt z \lt 14.3$ selected primarily from JADES, using high-quality JWST (James Webb Space Telescope) NIRSpec/PRISM spectra. We find a median $\beta = -2.15$, finding a mild increase in blueness of $\beta$ with increasing redshift and fainter UV magnitudes. Interestingly, we find evide

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Artificial Intelligence for Exosomal Biomarker Discovery for Cardiovascular Diseases: Multi-Omics Integration, Reproducibility, and Translational Prospects

Rasit Dinc, Nurittin Ardıç · 2026 · Cells

Exosomes and other extracellular vesicles (EVs) carry microRNAs, proteins, and lipids that reflect cardiovascular pathophysiology and can enable minimally invasive biomarker discovery. However, EV datasets are highly dimensional and heterogeneous, strongly influenced by pre-analytic variables and non-standardized isolation/characterization workflows, limiting reproducibility across studies. Artificial intelligence (AI), including machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL), and network-based approaches, can support EV biomarker development by integrating multi-omics profiles with clinical metada

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessAgricultural and Biological Sciences

Effects of adding an automated monitoring device to the health screening of postpartum Holstein cows on survival and productive and reproductive performances

Manuel A. Silva, Anderson Veronese, Anna Luiza Belli et al. · 2021 · Journal of Dairy Science

kg) than cows diagnosed with a clinical disease that had an AMD alert. Adding AMD-generated health alerts to the health screening of postpartum cows in a herd with an existing screening program did not improve survival, milk yield, or…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMathematics

The Effect of Omitted Variables on the Sign of Regression Coefficients

Matthew A. Masten, Alexandre Poirier · 2026 · American Economic Review

We show that, depending on how the impact of omitted variables is measured, it can be substantially easier for omitted variables to flip coefficient signs than to drive them to zero. This behavior occurs with “Oster's delta” (Oster 2019a),…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessSocial Sciences

The “Wallpaper Effect” Revisited: Divergent Findings on the Effects of Intergroup Contact on Attitudes in Diverse Versus Nondiverse Contexts

Katharina Schmid, Ralf Wölfer, Herman Swart et al. · 2017 · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

This article reexamines the so-called "wallpaper effect" of intergroup contact, which contends that for minority group members living in areas more densely populated by majority group members, intergroup contact fails to reduce prejudice. We tested this claim in five studies, using data from five countries, two types of contexts, a range of measures, and involving different minority versus majority groups. Using multilevel cross-level interaction models, we considered whether effects of contact on outgroup attitudes were moderated by relative outgroup size. Results failed to replicate the prev

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Population Levels Assessment of the Distribution of Disease-Associated Variants With Emphasis on Armenians – A Machine Learning Approach

Maria Nikogհosyan, Siras Hakobyan, Anahit Hovhannisyan et al. · 2019 · Frontiers in Genetics

Background: During last decades a number of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) has identified numerous single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with different complex diseases. However, associations reported in one population are often conflicting and did not replicate when studied in other populations. One of the reasons could be that most of GWAS employ case-control design in one or a limited number of populations, but little attention was paid to global distribution of disease associated alleles across different populations. Moreover, the majority of GWAS have been performed on

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessNeuroscience

Retrograde Interference in Perceptual Learning of a Peripheral Hyperacuity Task

Shao-Chin Hung, Aaron R. Seitz · 2011 · PLoS ONE

Consolidation, a process that stabilizes memory trace after initial acquisition, has been studied for over a century. A number of studies have shown that a skill or memory must be consolidated after acquisition so that it becomes resistant to interference from new information. Previous research found that training on a peripheral 3-dot hyperacuity task could retrogradely interfere with earlier training on the same task but with a mirrored stimulus configuration. However, a recent study failed to replicate this finding. Here we address the controversy by replicating both patterns of results, ho

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Identifying statistically significant combinatorial markers for survival analysis

Raissa Relator, Aika Terada, Jun Sese · 2018 · BMC Medical Genomics

BACKGROUND: Survival analysis methods have been widely applied in different areas of health and medicine, spanning over varying events of interest and target diseases. They can be utilized to provide relationships between the survival time of individuals and factors of interest, rendering them useful in searching for biomarkers in diseases such as cancer. However, some disease progression can be very unpredictable because the conventional approaches have failed to consider multiple-marker interactions. An exponential increase in the number of candidate markers requires large correction factor

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

The HDAC inhibitor romidepsin renders liver cancer vulnerable to RTK targeting and immunologically active

Celia Sequera, Margherita Grattarola, Floriane Cannet et al. · 2025 · Nature Communications

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are epigenetic regulators frequently altered in cancer. Here we report that overexpression of HDAC1/2 occurs in Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) patients, correlating with poor prognosis. We show that romidepsin,…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Pre-existing cross-reactive immunity to highly pathogenic avian influenza 2.3.4.4b A(H5N1) virus in the United States

Zhu‐Nan Li, Feng Liu, Yu‐Jin Jung et al. · 2025 · Nature Communications

The unprecedented 2.3.4.4b. A(H5N1) outbreak in dairy cattle, poultry, and spillover to humans in the United States (US) poses a major public health threat. Population immunity is a critical component of influenza pandemic risk assessment. We assessed the pre-existing cross-reactive immunity to 2.3.4.4b A(H5N1) viruses and analyzed 1794 sera from 723 people (0.5-88 yrs) in multiple US geographic regions during 2021-2024. Pre-existing neutralizing and hemagglutinin (HA)-head-binding antibodies to A(H5N1) were low, but there were substantial cross-reactive binding antibodies to N1 neuraminidase

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPhysics and Astronomy

An International Study of Factors Affecting Variability of Dosimetry Calculations, Part 4: Impact of Fitting Functions in Estimated Absorbed Doses

Sara Kurkowska, Julia Brosch-Lenz, Yuni K. Dewaraja et al. · 2025 · Journal of Nuclear Medicine

Individualized radiopharmaceutical therapies guided by patient-specific absorbed dose (AD) assessments using nuclear medicine imaging have the potential to improve both efficacy and safety. Understanding sources of variability in AD calculations is critical for standardization. The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Dosimetry Task Force launched the 177Lu Dosimetry Challenge to evaluate variability across steps within the dosimetry workflow. This work aimed to assess the variability in ADs due to different fitting and integration methods. Methods: Anonymized datasets from 2 pati

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Optimising Analysis Choices for Multivariate Decoding: Creating Pseudotrials Using Trial Averaging and Resampling

Catriona L. Scrivener, Tijl Grootswagers, Alexandra Woolgar · 2026 · European Journal of Neuroscience

Multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) is a popular technique that can distinguish between condition-specific patterns of activation. Applied to neuroimaging data, MVPA decoding for inference uses above chance decoding to identify statistically robust condition-specific information in neuroimaging data, which may be missed by univariate methods. However, several analysis choices influence decoding results, and the combined effects of these choices have not been fully evaluated. In particular, an increasingly popular approach is to average data from several trials together before training an MVPA

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Crafting the wearable computer: Design process and user experience

Sarah Kettley · 2026 · Edinburgh Napier Research Repository (Edinburgh Napier University)

The purpose of the research described in this thesis was to develop a design methodology for Wearable Computing concepts that could potentially embody authenticity. The Wearables community, still firmly rooted in the disciplines of engineering and ergonomics, had made clear its aspirations to the mainstream market (DeVaul et al 2001). However, at this point, there was a distinct lack of qualitative studies on user perceptions of Wearable products. A review of the market research literature revealed significant consumer demand for authenticity in goods and services, and it was this need that dr

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMaterials Science

Electrospun PLA/PVP K90 Biphasic-Release Sublingual Film for Motion Sickness Treatment

Wenwen Zhang, Qilin Wang, Wei Yi et al. · 2026 · Biomolecules

To overcome the limitations of traditional motion sickness medications—slow onset of action, short duration of efficacy, and poor patient compliance—this study employed coaxial electrospinning technology. Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and polyvinylpyrrolidone K90 (PVP K90) were used as composite carrier materials. The sheath layer is composed of highly hydrophilic PVP K90, loaded with the antihistamine diphenhydramine (DPH). The core layer, composed of biodegradable PLA with excellent sustained-release properties, carries the anticholinergic drug scopolamine hydrobromide (SH). This core–sheath nanos

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Anatomic Risk Factors for Initial and Secondary Noncontact Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury: A Prospective Cohort Study in 880 Female Elite Handball and Soccer Players

Yusuke Kamatsuki, Marie Synnøve Qvale, Kathrin Steffen et al. · 2024 · The American Journal of Sports Medicine

Background: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is one of the most severe injuries for athletes. It is important to identify risk factors because a better understanding of injury causation can help inform athletes about risk and increase their understanding of and motivation for injury prevention. Purpose: To investigate the relationship between anatomic factors and risk for future noncontact ACL injuries. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 2. Methods: A total of 870, excluding 9 players with a new contact ACL injury and a player with a new noncontact ACL injury just before the

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMaterials Science

Fast Dissolving Resveratrol–Polyvinylpyrrolidone Nanofibrous Films Fabricated in Bulk Using a Special Hole Electrospinning Technique

Qiuyun Guo, He Lv, Ran Dong et al. · 2026 · Polymers

Batch production of nanomaterials is highly desired for developing commercial nanoproducts. Here, a brand-new electrospinning method, termed hole electrospinning, was developed for batch production of drug-loaded polymeric nanofibers. Using resveratrol and polyvinylpyrrolidone as model drug and filament-forming matrix, respectively, both hole and single-needle electrospinning were conducted. The resultant nanofibrous films were compared in terms of morphology, physical and thermal properties, mechanical performance, fast-dissolution rate, and antioxidant activity. Analytical and characterizati

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPsychology

Measuring Semantic Deviation: Operationalizations, Experiments, and Falsification Conditions for a Theory of Meaning as Field Deformation

Nobel Glas · 2026 · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)

EA-GLAS-02 v1.0. A self-contained empirical white paper presenting the measurement program for the Semantic Deviation Principle (Sharks 2026). Defines meaning as the time-integrated divergence a sign induces from the most probable trajectory of a semantic field, extending the Bar-Hillel and Carnap (1953) program into distributional and temporal domains. Two primary operationalizations. (F1) Closed-system trajectory deviation within a frozen language model, where the counterfactual baseline is read from logits, building on surprisal theory (Hale 2001; Levy 2008) and decomposing it into signed d

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