Magnetic character of a large continental transform : an aeromagnetic survey of the Dead Sea Fault

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2007. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 8 (2007): Q07005, doi:10.1029/2007GC001582.New high-resolution airborne magnetic (HRAM) data along a 120-km-long section of the Dead Sea Transform in southern Jordan and Israel shed light on the shallow structure of the fault zone and on the kinematics of the plate boundary. Despite infrequent seismic activity and only intermittent surface exposure, the fault is delineated clearly on a map of the first vertical derivative of the magnetic intensity, indicating that the source of the magnetic anomaly is shallow. The fault is manifested by a 10–20 nT negative anomaly in areas where the fault cuts through magnetic basement and by a <5 nT positive anomaly in other areas. Modeling suggests that the shallow fault is several hundred meters wide, in agreement with other geophysical and geological observations. A magnetic expression is observed only along the active trace of the fault and may reflect alteration of magnetic minerals due to fault zone processes or groundwater flow. The general lack of surface expression of the fault may reflect the absence of surface rupture during earthquakes. The magnetic data also indicate that unlike the San Andreas Fault, the location of this part of the plate boundary was stable throughout its history. Magnetic anomalies also support a total left-lateral offset of 105–110 km along the plate boundary, as suggested by others. Finally, despite previous suggestions of transtensional motion along the Dead Sea Transform, we did not identify any igneous intrusions related to the activity of this fault segment.The project was funded by U.S.-AID Middle Eastern Regional Cooperation grant TA-MOU-01-M21-012

Facial Cosmetics and Attractiveness: Comparing the Effect Sizes of Professionally-Applied Cosmetics and Identity

Forms of body decoration exist in all human cultures. However, in Western societies, women are more likely to engage in appearance modification, especially through the use of facial cosmetics. How effective are cosmetics at altering attractiveness? Previous research has hinted that the effect is not large, especially when compared to the variation in attractiveness observed between individuals due to differences in identity. In order to build a fuller understanding of how cosmetics and identity affect attractiveness, here we examine how professionally-applied cosmetics alter attractiveness and compare this effect with the variation in attractiveness observed between individuals. In Study 1, 33 YouTube models were rated for attractiveness before and after the application of professionally-applied cosmetics. Cosmetics explained a larger proportion of the variation in attractiveness compared with previous studies, but this effect remained smaller than variation caused by differences in attractiveness between individuals. Study 2 replicated the results of the first study with a sample of 45 supermodels, with the aim of examining the effect of cosmetics in a sample of faces with low variation in attractiveness between individuals. While the effect size of cosmetics was generally large, between-person variability due to identity remained larger. Both studies also found interactions between cosmetics and identity-more attractive models received smaller increases when cosmetics were worn. Overall, we show that professionally- applied cosmetics produce a larger effect than self-applied cosmetics, an important theoretical consideration for the field. However, the effect of individual differences in facial appearance is ultimately more important in perceptions of attractiveness

Themis2/ICB1 Is a Signaling Scaffold That Selectively Regulates Macrophage Toll-Like Receptor Signaling and Cytokine Production

BACKGROUND: Thymocyte expressed molecule involved in selection 1 (Themis1, SwissProt accession number Q8BGW0) is the recently characterised founder member of a novel family of proteins. A second member of this family, Themis2 (Q91YX0), also known as ICB1 (Induced on contact with basement membrane 1), remains unreported at the protein level despite microarray and EST databases reporting Themis2 mRNA expression in B cells and macrophages. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here we characterise Themis2 protein for the first time and show that it acts as a macrophage signalling scaffold, exerting a receptor-, mediator- and signalling pathway-specific effect on TLR responses in RAW 264.7 macrophages. Themis2 over-expression enhanced the LPS-induced production of TNF but not IL-6 or Cox-2, nor TNF production induced by ligands for TLR2 (PAM3) or TLR3 (poly IratioC). Moreover, LPS-induced activation of the MAP kinases ERK and p38 was enhanced in cells over-expressing Themis2 whereas the activation of JNK, IRF3 or NF-kappaB p65, was unaffected. Depletion of Themis2 protein by RNA inteference inhibited LPS-induced TNF production in primary human macrophages demonstrating a requirement for Themis2 in this event. Themis2 was inducibly tyrosine phosphorylated upon LPS challenge and interacted with Lyn kinase (P25911), the Rho guanine nucleotide exchange factor, Vav (P27870), and the adaptor protein Grb2 (Q60631). Mutation of either tyrosine 660 or a proline-rich sequence (PPPRPPK) simultaneously interrupted this complex and reduced by approximately 50% the capacity of Themis2 to promote LPS-induced TNF production. Finally, Themis2 protein expression was induced during macrophage development from murine bone marrow precursors and was regulated by inflammatory stimuli both in vitro and in vivo. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We hypothesise that Themis2 may constitute a novel, physiological control point in macrophage inflammatory responses

CRISPR transcriptional repression devices and layered circuits in mammalian cells

A key obstacle to creating sophisticated genetic circuits has been the lack of scalable device libraries. Here we present a modular transcriptional repression architecture based on clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeats (CRISPR) system and examine approaches for regulated expression of guide RNAs in human cells. Subsequently we demonstrate that CRISPR regulatory devices can be layered to create functional cascaded circuits, which provide a valuable toolbox for engineering purposes.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant 5R01CA155320-04)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant P50 GM098792)Korea (South). Ministry of Science, Information and Communication Technolgy. Intelligent Synthetic Biology Center of Global Frontier Project (2013M3A6A8073557

The effects of clinical task interruptions on subsequent performance of a medication pre-administration task

There is a surge of research exploring the role of task interruptions in the manifestation of primary task errors both in controlled experimental settings, and safety critical workplaces such as healthcare. Despite such research providing valuable insights into the disruptive properties of task interruption, and, the importance of considering the likely disruptive consequences of clinical task interruptions in healthcare environments, there is an urgent need for an approach that best mimics complex working environments such as healthcare, whilst allowing better control over experimental variables with minimal constraints. We propose that this can be achieved with ecologically sensitive experimental tasks designed to have high levels of experimental control so that theoretical as well as practical parameters and factors can be tested. We developed a theoretically and ecologically informed procedural memory-based task - the CAMROSE Medication Pre-Administration Task. Results revealed significantly more sequence errors were made on low, moderate and high complex conditions compared to no interruption condition. There was no significant difference in non-sequence errors. Findings reveal the importance of developing ecologically valid tasks to explore non-observable characteristics of clinical task interruptions. Both theoretical and possible practical implications are discussed

Utilisation of an operative difficulty grading scale for laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background A reliable system for grading operative difficulty of laparoscopic cholecystectomy would standardise description of findings and reporting of outcomes. The aim of this study was to validate a difficulty grading system (Nassar scale), testing its applicability and consistency in two large prospective datasets. Methods Patient and disease-related variables and 30-day outcomes were identified in two prospective cholecystectomy databases: the multi-centre prospective cohort of 8820 patients from the recent CholeS Study and the single-surgeon series containing 4089 patients. Operative data and patient outcomes were correlated with Nassar operative difficultly scale, using Kendall’s tau for dichotomous variables, or Jonckheere–Terpstra tests for continuous variables. A ROC curve analysis was performed, to quantify the predictive accuracy of the scale for each outcome, with continuous outcomes dichotomised, prior to analysis. Results A higher operative difficulty grade was consistently associated with worse outcomes for the patients in both the reference and CholeS cohorts. The median length of stay increased from 0 to 4 days, and the 30-day complication rate from 7.6 to 24.4% as the difficulty grade increased from 1 to 4/5 (both p < 0.001). In the CholeS cohort, a higher difficulty grade was found to be most strongly associated with conversion to open and 30-day mortality (AUROC = 0.903, 0.822, respectively). On multivariable analysis, the Nassar operative difficultly scale was found to be a significant independent predictor of operative duration, conversion to open surgery, 30-day complications and 30-day reintervention (all p < 0.001). Conclusion We have shown that an operative difficulty scale can standardise the description of operative findings by multiple grades of surgeons to facilitate audit, training assessment and research. It provides a tool for reporting operative findings, disease severity and technical difficulty and can be utilised in future research to reliably compare outcomes according to case mix and intra-operative difficulty

High order structure preserving explicit methods for solving linear-quadratic optimal control problems

[EN] We consider the numerical integration of linear-quadratic optimal control problems. This problem requires the solution of a boundary value problem: a non-autonomous matrix Riccati differential equation (RDE) with final conditions coupled with the state vector equation with initial conditions. The RDE has positive definite matrix solution and to numerically preserve this qualitative property we propose first to integrate this equation backward in time with a sufficiently accurate scheme. Then, this problem turns into an initial value problem, and we analyse splitting and Magnus integrators for the forward time integration which preserve the positive definite matrix solutions for the RDE. Duplicating the time as two new coordinates and using appropriate splitting methods, high order methods preserving the desired property can be obtained. The schemes make sequential computations and do not require the storrage of intermediate results, so the storage requirements are minimal. The proposed methods are also adapted for solving linear-quadratic N-player differential games. The performance of the splitting methods can be considerably improved if the system is a perturbation of an exactly solvable problem and the system is properly split. Some numerical examples illustrate the performance of the proposed methods.The author wishes to thank the University of California San Diego for its hospitality where part of this work was done. He also acknowledges the support of the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (Spain) under the coordinated project MTM2010-18246-C03. The author also acknowledges the suggestions by the referees to improve the presentation of this work.Blanes Zamora, S. (2015). High order structure preserving explicit methods for solving linear-quadratic optimal control problems. Numerical Algorithms. 69:271-290. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11075-014-9894-0S27129069Abou-Kandil, H., Freiling, G., Ionescy, V., Jank, G.: Matrix Riccati equations in control and systems theory. Basel, Burkhäuser Verlag (2003)Al-Mohy, A.H., Higham, N.J.: Computing the Action of the Matrix Exponential, with an Application to Exponential Integrators. SIAM. J. Sci. Comp. 33, 488–511 (2011)Anderson, B.D.O., Moore, J.B.: Optimal control: linear quadratic methods. Dover, New York (1990)Ascher, U.M., Mattheij, R.M., Russell, R.D.: Numerical solutions of boundary value problems for ordinary differential equations. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs (1988)Bader, P., Blanes, S., Ponsoda, E.: Structure preserving integrators for solving linear quadratic optimal control problems with applications to describe the flight of a quadrotor. J. Comput. Appl. Math. 262, 223–233 (2014)Basar, T., Olsder, G.J.: Dynamic non cooperative game theory, 2nd Ed, SIAM, Philadelphhia (1999)Blanes, S., Casas, F.: On the necessity of negative coefficients for operator splitting schemes of order higher than two. Appl. Num. Math. 54, 23–37 (2005)Blanes, S., Casas, F., Farrés, A., Laskar, J., Makazaga, J., Murua, A.: New families of symplectic splitting methods for numerical integration in dynamical astronomy. Appl. Numer. Math. 68, 58–72 (2013)Blanes, S., Casas, F., Oteo, J.A., Ros, J.: The Magnus expansion and some of its applications. Phys. Rep. 470, 151–238 (2009)Blanes, S., Casas, F., Ros, J.: High order optimized geometric integrators for linear differential equations. BIT 42, 262–284 (2002)Blanes, S., Diele, F., Marangi, C., Ragni, S.: Splitting and composition methods for explicit time dependence in separable dynamical systems. J. Comput. Appl. Math. 235, 646–659 (2010)Blanes, S., Moan, P.C.: Practical symplectic partitioned Runge-Kutta and Runge-Kutta-Nystrm methods. J. Comput. Appl. Math. 142, 313–330 (2002)Blanes, S., Ponsoda, E.: Magnus integrators for solving linear-quadratic differential games. J. Comput. Appl. Math. 236, 3394–3408 (2012)Brif, C., Chakrabarti, R., Rabitz, H.: Control of quantum phenomena: past, present and future. New J. Phys. 12, 075008(68pp) (2010)Cruz, J.B., Chen, C.I.: Series Nash solution of two person non zero sum linear quadratic games. J. Optim. Theory Appl. 7, 240–257 (1971)Dieci, L., Eirola, T.: Positive definitness in the numerical solution of Riccati differential quations. Numer. Math. 67, 303–313 (1994)Engwerda, J.: LQ dynamic optimization and differential games. Wiley (2005)Hairer, E., Lubich, C., Wanner, G.: Geometric Numerical Integration. Structure-Preserving Algorithms for Ordinary Differential Equations (2nd edition). Springer Series in Computational Mathematics, 31. Springer-Verlag (2006)Hochbruck, M., Ostermann, A.: Exponential integrators. Acta Numerica 19, 209–286 (2010)Horn, R.A., Johnson, C.R.: Matrix Analysis. Cambridge University Press, New York (1985)Iserles, A., Munthe-Kaas, H.Z., Nørsett, S.P., Zanna, A.: Lie group methods. Acta Numerica 9, 215–365 (2000)Iserles, A., Nørsett, S.P.: On the solution of linear differential equations in Lie groups. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A 357, 983–1019 (1999)Jódar, L., Ponsoda, E.: Non-autonomous Riccati-type matrix differential equations: existence interval, construction of continuous numerical solutions and error bounds. IMA. J. Num. Anal. 15, 61–74 (1995)Jódar, L., Ponsoda, E., Company, R.: Solutions of coupled Riccati equations arising in differential games. Control. Cybern. 24, 117–128 (1995)Kaitala, V, Pohjola, M. In: Carraro, Filar (eds.) : Sustainable international agreement on greenhouse warming. A game theory study. Control and Game Theoretic Models of the Environment, pp 67–87. Birkhauser, Boston (1995)Keller, H.B.: Numerical solution of two point boundary value problems. In: CBMS-NSF Regional Conference Series in Applied Mathematics, Vol. 24. SIAM, Philadelphia (1976)McLachlan, R.I.: Composition methods in the presence of small parameters. BIT 35, 258–268 (1995)McLachlan, R.I., Quispel, R.: Splitting Methods. Acta Numer. 11, 341–434 (2002)Moler, C.B., Van Loan, C.F.: Nineteen Dubious Ways to Compute the Exponential of a Matrix, twenty-five years later. SIAM Rev. 45, 3–49 (2003)Na, T.Y.: Computational methods in engineering boundary value problems. In: Mathematics in Science and Engineering, Vol. 145. Accademic Press, New York (1979)Palao, J.P., Kosloff, R.: Quantum computing by an optimal control algorithm for unitry transformations. Phys. Rev. Lett. 28 (2002)Peirce, A.P., Dahleh, M.A., Rabitz, H.: Optimal control of quantum-mechanical systems: existence, numerical approximation, and applications. Phys. Rev. A 37, 4950–4967 (1988)Reid, W.T.: Riccati Differential Equations. Academic, New York (1972)Sanz-Serna, J.M., Calvo, M.P.: Numerical Hamiltonian Problems. Chapman & Hall, London (1994)Sidje, R.B.: Expokit: a software package for computing matrix exponentials. ACM Trans. Math. Software 24, 130–156 (1998)Speyer, J.L., Jacobson, D.H.: Primer on optimal control theory. SIAM, Philadelphia (2010)Starr, A.W., Ho, Y.C.: Non-zero sum differential games. J. Optim. Theory and Appl 3, 179–197 (1969)Zhu, W., Rabitz, H.: A rapid monotonically convergent iteration algorithm for quantum optimal control ever the expectation value of a positive definite operator. J. Chem. Phys. 109, 385–391 (1998

Connect 4: a novel paradigm to elicit positive and negative insight and search problem solving.

This Document is Protected by copyright and was first published by Frontiers. All rights reserved. it is reproduced with permissionResearchers have typically defined insight as a sudden new idea or understanding accompanied by an emotional feeling of Aha. Recently, examples of negative insight in everyday creative problem solving have been identified. These are seen as sudden and sickening moments of realisation experienced as an Uh-oh rather than Aha. However, such experiences have yet to be explored from an experimental perspective. One barrier to doing so is that methods to elicit insight in the lab. are constrained to positive insight. This study therefore aimed to develop a novel methodology that elicits both positive and negative insight solving, and additionally provides the contrasting experiences of analytic search solving in the same controlled conditions. The game of Connect 4 was identified as having the potential to produce these experiences, with each move representing a solving episode (where best to place the counter). Eighty participants played six games of Connect 4 against a computer and reported each move as being a product of positive search, positive insight, negative search or negative insight. Phenomenological ratings were then collected to provide validation of the experiences elicited. The results demonstrated that playing Connect 4 saw reporting of insight and search experiences that were both positive and negative, with the majority of participants using all four solving types. Phenomenological ratings suggest that these reported experiences were comparable to those elicited by existing laboratory methods focused on positive insight. This establishes the potential for Connect 4 to be used in future problem solving research as a reliable elicitation tool of insight and search experiences for both positive and negative solving. Furthermore, Connect 4 may be seen to offer more true to life solving experiences than other paradigms where a series of problems are solved working towards an overall superordinate goal rather than the presentation of stand-alone and un-related problems. Future work will need to look to develop versions of Connect 4 with greater control in order to fully utilise this methodology for creative problem solving research in experimental psychology and neuroscience contexts

Constitutivism

A brief explanation and overview of constitutivism

The twilight of the Liberal Social Contract? On the Reception of Rawlsian Political Liberalism

This chapter discusses the Rawlsian project of public reason, or public justification-based 'political' liberalism, and its reception. After a brief philosophical rather than philological reconstruction of the project, the chapter revolves around a distinction between idealist and realist responses to it. Focusing on political liberalism’s critical reception illuminates an overarching question: was Rawls’s revival of a contractualist approach to liberal legitimacy a fruitful move for liberalism and/or the social contract tradition? The last section contains a largely negative answer to that question. Nonetheless the chapter's conclusion shows that the research programme of political liberalism provided and continues to provide illuminating insights into the limitations of liberal contractualism, especially under conditions of persistent and radical diversity. The programme is, however, less receptive to challenges to do with the relative decline of the power of modern states