External and intrinsic anchoring in nematic liquid crystals: A Monte Carlo study

We present a Monte Carlo study of external surface anchoring in nematic cells with partially disordered solid substrates, as well as of intrinsic anchoring at free nematic interfaces. The simulations are based on the simple hexagonal lattice model with a spatially anisotropic intermolecular potential. We estimate the corresponding extrapolation length $b$ by imposing an elastic deformation in a hybrid cell-like nematic sample. Our estimates for $b$ increase with increasing surface disorder and are essentially temperature--independent. Experimental values of $b$ are approached only when both the coupling of nematic molecules with the substrate and the anisotropy of nematic--nematic interactions are weak.Comment: Revisions primarily in section I

Epistemic Beliefs in Science—A Systematic Integration of Evidence From Multiple Studies

Recent research has integrated developmental and dimensional perspectives on epistemic beliefs by implementing an approach in which profiles of learners’ epistemic beliefs are modeled across multiple dimensions. Variability in study characteristics has impeded the comparison of profiles of epistemic beliefs and their relations with external variables across studies. We examined this comparability by integrating data on epistemic beliefs about the source, certainty, development, and justification of knowledge in science from six studies comprising N = 10,932 German students from elementary to upper secondary school. Applying latent profile analyses to these data, we found that profiles of epistemic beliefs that were previously conceptualized were robust across multiple samples. We found indications that profiles of epistemic beliefs homogenize over the course of students’ education, are related to school tracking, and demonstrate robust relations with students’ personal characteristics and socioeconomic background. We discuss implications for the theory, assessment, and education of epistemic beliefs. © 2022, The Author(s)

Supplemental vision screening tests: The mean values for an adult population

The adult population has been neglected as to the standardization and quantification of supplemental screening tests. A population of subjects ages 18 to 35 was tested with specific instructions for seven optometric tests: accommodative rock, prism rock, Groffman Visual Tracing Test modified for ten feet, Groffman Visial Tracing Test, Stern Fixation Test, Percon Saccadic Fixation Test and the Pierce Saccade Test. A statistical analysis was performed and the means are presented . These means can be used in patient evaluation decisions by the optometric profession

The Iliad’s big swoon: a case of innovation within the epic tradition

In book 5 of the Iliad Sarpedon suffers so greatly from a wound that his ‘‘ψυχή leaves him’. Rather than dying, however, Sarpedon lives to fight another day. This paper investigates the phrase τὸν δὲ λίπε ψυχή in extant archaic Greek poetry to gain a sense of its traditional referentiality and better assess the meaning of Sarpedon’s swoon. Finding that all other instances of the ψυχή leaving the body signify death, it suggests that the Iliad exploits a traditional unit of utterance to flag up the importance of Sarpedon to this version of the Troy story

Human Dermal Microvascular Endothelial Cells Produce Matrix Metalloproteinases in Response to Angiogenic Factors and Migration

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a family of inducible enzymes that degrade extracellular matrix components, allowing cells to traverse connective tissue structures efficiently. Specific tissue inhibitors (TIMPs) function as physiologic inhibitors of MMP activity. Because neovascularization may require various proteinases, we characterized the profile of metalloenzyme production by microvascular endothelial cells (MEC) and the modulation of expression by phorbol esters (PMA) and by the physiologically relevant cytokines tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), basic fibroblast growth factor, and interferon-γ. MMP expression by MEC and large-vessel human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, immunoprecipitation, Northern hybridization, and transfection assays. Constitutive expression of MMPs by endothelial cells was low. PMA stimulated the production of collagenase, stromelysin, 92-kDa gelatinase, and TIMP-1 in both endothelial cell types. TIMP-2 was constitutively expressed by MEC and HUVEC, but was down-regulated by PMA. TNF-α induced an endothelial-cell-specific up-regulation of collagenase with a concomitant inhibition of PMA-induced TIMP-1 up-regulation, a response that is distinct from that of fibroblasts. Interferon-γ up-regulated TIMP-1 production by MEC and blocked PMA and TNT-induced up-regulation of collagenase. Northern hybridization assays showed pretranslational control of PMA-, basic fibroblast growth factor-, and TNF-α–induced MM.P expression. Collagenase-promoter CAT constructs containing 2.28 kb of the 5' region of the collagenase gene demonstrated transcriptional regulation. The potential physiologic relevance of such regulation was shown in an in vitro migration assay. MEC were stimulated to migrate by wounding and exposure to TNF-α. Collagenase mRNA was prominently expressed by the migrating cells, as shown by in situ hybridization. In sum, MEC have a unique profile of MMP expression and regulation compared with other cell types, which may be important for wound healing and angiogenesis, particularly during the early phase of migration

Sequential Deliberation for Social Choice

In large scale collective decision making, social choice is a normative study of how one ought to design a protocol for reaching consensus. However, in instances where the underlying decision space is too large or complex for ordinal voting, standard voting methods of social choice may be impractical. How then can we design a mechanism - preferably decentralized, simple, scalable, and not requiring any special knowledge of the decision space - to reach consensus? We propose sequential deliberation as a natural solution to this problem. In this iterative method, successive pairs of agents bargain over the decision space using the previous decision as a disagreement alternative. We describe the general method and analyze the quality of its outcome when the space of preferences define a median graph. We show that sequential deliberation finds a 1.208- approximation to the optimal social cost on such graphs, coming very close to this value with only a small constant number of agents sampled from the population. We also show lower bounds on simpler classes of mechanisms to justify our design choices. We further show that sequential deliberation is ex-post Pareto efficient and has truthful reporting as an equilibrium of the induced extensive form game. We finally show that for general metric spaces, the second moment of of the distribution of social cost of the outcomes produced by sequential deliberation is also bounded