Reducing the Dauer Larva: molecular models of biological phenomena in Caenorhabditis elegans research.

One important aspect of biological explanation is detailed causal modeling of particular phenomena in limited experimental background conditions. Recognising this allows a new avenue for intertheoretic reduction to be seen. Reductions in biology are possible, when one fully recognises that a sufficient condition for a reduction in biology is a molecular model of 1) only the demonstrated causal parameters of a biological model and 2) only within a replicable experimental background. These intertheoretic identifications –which are ubiquitous in biology and form the basis of ruthless reductions (Bickle 2003)- are criticised as merely “local” (Sullivan 2009) or “fragmentary” (Schaffner 2006). However, in an instructive case, a biological model is preserved in molecular terms, and a complex biological phenomenon has been successfully reduced. In doing this the molecular model remains valid in a broader range of background conditions and meaningfully unites disparate biological phenomena

Performance analysis of selected hypervisors (Virtual Machine Monitors - VMMs)

Virtualization of operating systems and network infrastructure plays an important role in current IT projects. With the number of services running on different hardware resources it is easy to provide availability, security and efficiency using virtualizers. All virtualization vendors claim that their hypervisor (virtual machine monitor - VMM) is better than their competitors. In this paper we evaluate performance of different solutions: proprietary software products (Hyper-V, ESXi, OVM, VirtualBox), and open source (Xen). We are using standard benchmark tools to compare efficiency of main hardware components, i.e. CPU (nbench), NIC (netperf), storage (Filebench), memory (ramspeed). Results of each tests are presented

Closing the Legal-Technical Gap in Digital Trade

As digital trade continues to reshape the global economic landscape, the key objective of this study is to bridge a significant Legal-Technical gap characterized by the discord between rapid technological advancements and slower-evolving legal frameworks. This paper delves into the complexities of this gap and emphasizes the need for a holistic approach to understand and address the multifaceted challenges it presents to businesses, policymakers, and the broader international trading system. This research offers a novel theoretical foundation for exploring and bridging the legal-technical gap in digital trade. Initially, it discusses the integration of legal and technical knowledge systems, which leads to the emergence of specific transdisciplinary knowledge as described by Andrew Sage's Theory of Systems. Subsequently, it explores the acquisition of universal knowledge about these systems through Herman Dooyeweerd's multi-aspectual philosophy. Furthermore, it proposes the development of a transdisciplinary knowledge representation using Fritz Zwicky's Morphological Method. Our analysis reveals that focusing on lingual, social, economic, and aesthetic aspects enables the prioritisation of critical factors essential for enhancing legal-technical functionality

Infants’ social evaluation abilities: testing their preference for prosocial agents at 6, 12 and 18 months with different social scenarios

International audienceA recent body of research suggests infants prefer prosocial behaviours. However, some studies failed to report this preference, and asked what specific parameters allow to observe it. We attempt to provide a part of answer to that question by investigating if the preference vary 1) with age (testing infants aged 6, 12, 18 months), 2) with the type of social behaviours (help, play and share), and 3) when the pro-and antisocial agents' appearance were manipulated (i.e., displaying neutral, own-race or other-race faces). To this end, we use an eye-tracking methodology to assess infants' preference between pro-and antisocial agents featured in animated cartoons. We found that the prosocial preference was not stable across ages and varied depending on social scenarios. No sound conclusion could be given about the influence of faces. Our results invite to wonder in which extent very young infants perceive the prosociality in complex social behaviours

Reducing Information’s Speed Improves Verbal Cognition and Behavior in Autism: A 2-Cases Report

International audienc

Adaptation to salinity in Atlantic cod from different regions of the Baltic Sea

Highlights: • The stress response to salinity in subpopulations of the Baltic cod was examined. • Two different profiles of response to salinity were observed. • Changes in response profiles may be a functional adaptation to variable salinity. • Adaptation protects cod against stress during vertical and long-distance migrations. • Salinity is a barrier maintaining the genetic and physiological separations of cod. Abstract: Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) occur in marine water of different salinities: from oceanic waters at salinity of 35 to Baltic Sea waters where the lowest level of salinity reaches 5–6. The stress response to different salinities in the eastern and western Baltic cod populations was examined. Two genes of Na +, K + -ATPase 1a (atp1a) and heat shock protein 70 (hsp70) expression, plasma cortisol and osmolality were used as markers of osmotic stress to characterize the reaction profiles of two populations of G. morhua from the western and eastern parts of the Baltic Sea. Atlantic cod were sampled in November 2012 from western Kiel Bight (KIEL, salinity of 18) and eastern Gdańsk Bay (GDA, salinity of 8). Live fish were transported to the Marine Station of the University of Gdańsk in Hel and were settled in tanks (3500 L). Cod were kept at 10 °C in recirculated water, which simulated the natural salinities of the geographic source region of the fish. Results showed that in the reduced and elevated salinity water of the KIEL group, we observed no change in expression of atp1a and slightly increased expression of hsp70. In the GDA group, there were no significant changes of hsp70 expression but the level of atp1a was significantly increased in both salinities. In both groups, concentration of cortisol increased after exposure to elevated salinity, while in fish exposed to reduced salinity, a significantly higher concentration of cortisol was observed after 72 h. The high expression of atp1a that observed in the eastern group (GDA) supports the thesis of a genetic background to the adaptation to variable salinity. This adaptation may protect this species against an osmotic stress caused by daily vertical migrations and long-distance migration to spawning areas. At the same life-time, salinity is a barrier maintaining the genetic and physiological separations between G. morhua stocks and affecting the structure of this fish subpopulation in the Baltic Sea

Absolutist Words From Search Volume Data Predict State-Level Suicide Rates in the United States

Suicide continues to be a major public health issue, especially in the United States. It is a well-established fact that depression and suicidal ideation are risk factors for suicide. Drawing on recent research that shows that absolutist words (e.g., “completely,” “totally”) constitute linguistic markers of suicidal ideation, we created an online index of absolutist thinking (ATI) using search query data (i.e., Google Trends time series). Mixed-model analyses of age-adjusted suicide rates in the United States from 2004 to 2017 revealed that ATI is linked with suicides, β = 0.22, 95% CI = [0.12, 0.31], p &lt; .001, and predicts suicides within 1 year, β = 0.16, 95% CI = [0.05, 0.28], p = .006, independently of state characteristics and historical trends. It is the first time that a collective measure of absolutist thinking is used to predict real-world suicide outcomes. Therefore, the present study paves the way for novel research avenues in clinical psychological research. </jats:p

Distributed Evolutionary Design: Island-Model-based Optimization of Steel Skeleton Structures in Tall Buildings

This paper presents results of a study on distributed, or parallel, evolutionary computation in the topological design of steel structural systems in tall buildings. It describes results of extensive experimental research on various parallel evolutionary architectures applied to a complex structural design problem. The experiments were conducted using Inventor 2003, a networkbased evolutionary design support tool developed at George Mason University. First, a general introduction to evolutionary computation is provided with an emphasis on recent developments in parallel evolutionary architectures. Next, a discussion of conceptual design of steel structural systems in tall buildings is presented. Further, Inventor 2003 is briefly introduced as well as its design representation and evolutionary computation characteristics. Next, the results obtained from systematic design experiments conducted with Inventor 2003 are discussed. The objective of these experiments was to qualitatively and quantitatively investigate evolution of steel structural systems in tall buildings during a distributed evolutionary design process as well as to compare efficiency and effectiveness of various parallel evolutionary architectures with the traditional evolutionary design approaches. Two connectivity topologies (ring topology and fully-connected topology) have been investigated for four populations of structural designs evolving in parallel and using various migration strategies. Also, results of the initial sensitivity studies are reported in which two ways of initializing distributed evolutionary design processes were investigated, using either arbitrarily selected designs as initial parents or randomly generated ones. Finally, initial research conclusions are presented

Leucin-enkefalin u pankreasu ovaca ima zajedničku izražajnost s tvari P, galaninom i somatostatinom

Leucine-enkephalin (Leu-Enk) is an endogenous opioid peptide that binds to opioid receptors. Leu-Enk is widely distributed in the central and peripheral nervous system. The aim of the present immunofluorescence study was to examine the distribution of Leu-Enk-immunoreactive (IR) neuronal elements in the ovine pancreas. Using double immunohistochemical staining, the co-localization of Leu-Enk with galanin, somatostatin and substance P was also studied. In the intrapancreatic ganglia, immunoreactivity to Leu-Enk was found in 64.9 ± 1.7% of neurons. Small arterioles and the ductal system were innervated by numerous Leu-Enk-IR nerve terminals. Moderate Leu-Enk-IR nerve fibres surrounded the islets of Langerhans but none of them penetrated into spaces between endocrine cells. In 66.7 ± 4.3% of Leu-Enk-immunoreactive intrapancreatic neurons, expression of galanin was found. A statistically smaller subpopulation of Leu-Enk-IR intrapancreatic neurons (37.4 ± 6.2%) exhibited immunoreactivity to SP. The expression of somatostatin was detected in the relatively smallest group (21.2 ± 3.8%) of Leu-Enk-positive intrapancreatic neurons. Co-expression of Leu-Enk and SP was detected in nerve terminals encircling the pancreatic small arterioles, connective tissue and ducts. Leu-Enk-positive nerve fibres around the islets of Langerhans were not immunoreactive for SP. None of the Leu-ENK-positive nerve fibres around the islets of Langerhans co-stored somatostatin. In general, there was also no co-localization between Leu-Enk and somatostatin in nerve terminals supplying small arterioles and veins. Co-expression of GAL and Leu-Enk was observed well in nerve fibres encircling the blood vessels, but not in nerve fibres of the connective tissue. We conclude that abundant immunoreactivity to Leu-Enk in the ovine pancreas and the co-localization of Leu-Enk with other regulatory neuropeptides may reflect the possible involvement of Leu-Enk as a regulator of the exocrine and endocrine pancreatic functions, as well as in regulation of pancreatic blood flow.Leucin-enkefalin (Leu-Enk) je endogeni opioidni peptid koji se veže na opioidne receptore. Leu-Enk je široko rasprostranjen u središnjem i perifernom živčanom sustavu. Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je pomoću imunofluorescencije utvrditi raspodjelu Leu-Enk-imunoreaktivnih (IR) neuronskih elemenata u pankreasu ovaca. Primjenom dvostrukog imunohistokemijskog bojenja, istražena je i zajednička lokalizacija Leu-Enk s galaninom, somatostatinom i tvari P. U intrapankreasnim ganglijima imunoreaktivnost prema Leu-Enku pronađena je u 64,9 ± 1,7% neurona. Male arteriole i kanalni sustav bili su inervirani mnogim Leu-Enk-IR živčanim završetcima. Umjerena Leu-Enk-IR živčana vlakna okruživala su Langerhansove otočiće, ali nijedno od njih nije prodrlo u prostore između endokrinih stanica. U 66,7 ± 4,3% Leu-Enk-imunoreaktivnih intrapankreasnih neurona otkrivena je ekspresija galanina. Statistički niža subpopulacija Leu-Enk-IR intrapankreasnih neurona (37,4 ± 6,2%) pokazala je imunoreaktivnost prema SP. Izražajnost somatostatina otkrivena je u relativno najmanjoj skupini (21,2 ± 3,8%) Leu-Enk-pozitivnih intrapankreasnih neurona. Zajednička izražajnost Leu-Enk i SP otkrivena je u živčanim završetcima koji okružuju male arteriole pankreasa, vezivno tkivo i kanale. Leu-Enk-pozitivna vlakna živaca oko Langerhansovih otočića nisu bila imunoreaktivna na SP. Nijedno od Leu-Enk-pozitivnih živčanih vlakana oko Langerhansovih otočića nije bilo zajednički lokalizirano sa somatostatin-imunoreaktivnim živčanim završetcima. Općenito, nije bilo zajedničke lokalizacije između Leu-Enka i somatostatin živčanih završetaka koji opskrbljuju male arteriole i vene. Zajednička izražajnost GAL i Leu-Enk dobro je vidljiva u živčanim vlaknima koja okružuju krvne žile, ali ne i u živčanim vlaknima vezivnog tkiva. Zaključeno je da obilna imunoreaktivnost Leu-Enk u pankreasu ovaca, te njegova zajednička lokalizacija s drugim regulatornim neuropeptidima, može odražavati moguću uključenost Leu-Enk u regulaciju egzokrine i endokrine funkcije pankreasa odnosno u regulaciju optjecaja krvi u pankreasu