Governmental Philosophies of Plato, Saint Augustine, Machiavelli, and Montesquieu

The purpose of this paper is not to give an in depth discussion of the various books. The purpose, rather, is to give scattered statements which reveal the flavor of the books as much as revealing the contents. Each of the books included reflect highly the era in which they were written, and must be weighed in the understanding of the books

Anomalous relaxation kinetics of biological lattice-ligand binding models

We discuss theoretical models for the cooperative binding dynamics of ligands to substrates, such as dimeric motor proteins to microtubules or more extended macromolecules like tropomyosin to actin filaments. We study the effects of steric constraints, size of ligands, binding rates and interaction between neighboring proteins on the binding dynamics and binding stoichiometry. Starting from an empty lattice the binding dynamics goes, quite generally, through several stages. The first stage represents fast initial binding closely resembling the physics of random sequential adsorption processes. Typically this initial process leaves the system in a metastable locked state with many small gaps between blocks of bound molecules. In a second stage the gaps annihilate slowly as the ligands detach and reattach. This results in an algebraic decay of the gap concentration and interesting scaling behavior. Upon identifying the gaps with particles we show that the dynamics in this regime can be explained by mapping it onto various reaction-diffusion models. The final approach to equilibrium shows some interesting dynamic scaling properties. We also discuss the effect of cooperativity on the equilibrium stoichiometry, and their consequences for the interpretation of biochemical and image reconstruction results.Comment: REVTeX, 20 pages, 17 figures; review, to appear in Chemical Physics; v2: minor correction

The benchmark aeroelastic models program: Description and highlights of initial results

An experimental effort was implemented in aeroelasticity called the Benchmark Models Program. The primary purpose of this program is to provide the necessary data to evaluate computational fluid dynamic codes for aeroelastic analysis. It also focuses on increasing the understanding of the physics of unsteady flows and providing data for empirical design. An overview is given of this program and some results obtained in the initial tests are highlighted. The tests that were completed include measurement of unsteady pressures during flutter of rigid wing with a NACA 0012 airfoil section and dynamic response measurements of a flexible rectangular wing with a thick circular arc airfoil undergoing shock boundary layer oscillations

Perspectives on next steps in classification of oro-facial pain - part 1: role of ontology

The purpose of this study was to review existing principles of oro-facial pain classifications and to specify design recommendations for a new system that would reflect recent insights in biomedical classification systems, terminologies and ontologies. The study was initiated by a symposium organised by the International RDC/TMD Consortium Network in March 2013, to which the present authors contributed. The following areas are addressed: problems with current classification approaches, status of the ontological basis of pain disorders, insufficient diagnostic aids and biomarkers for pain disorders, exploratory nature of current pain terminology and classification systems, and problems with prevailing classification methods from an ontological perspective. Four recommendations for addressing these problems are as follows: (i) develop a hypothesis-driven classification structure built on principles that ensure to our best understanding an accurate description of the relations among all entities involved in oro-facial pain disorders; (ii) take into account the physiology and phenomenology of oro-facial pain disorders to adequately represent both domains including psychosocial entities in a classification system; (iii) plan at the beginning for field-testing at strategic development stages; and (iv) consider how the classification system will be implemented. Implications in relation to the specific domains of psychosocial factors and biomarkers for inclusion into an oro-facial pain classification system are described in two separate papers