Brain and Behavioral Asymmetry: A Lesson From Fish.

It is widely acknowledged that the left and right hemispheres of human brains display both anatomical and functional asymmetries. For more than a century, brain and behavioral lateralization have been considered a uniquely human feature linked to language and handedness. However, over the past decades this idea has been challenged by an increasing number of studies describing structural asymmetries and lateralized behaviors in non-human species extending from primates to fish. Evidence suggesting that a similar pattern of brain lateralization occurs in all vertebrates, humans included, has allowed the emergence of different model systems to investigate the development of brain asymmetries and their impact on behavior. Among animal models, fish have contributed much to the research on lateralization as several fish species exhibit lateralized behaviors. For instance, behavioral studies have shown that the advantages of having an asymmetric brain, such as the ability of simultaneously processing different information and perform parallel tasks compensate the potential costs associated with poor integration of information between the two hemispheres thus helping to better understand the possible evolutionary significance of lateralization. However, these studies inferred how the two sides of the brains are differentially specialized by measuring the differences in the behavioral responses but did not allow to directly investigate the relation between anatomical and functional asymmetries. With respect to this issue, in recent years zebrafish has become a powerful model to address lateralization at different level of complexity, from genes to neural circuitry and behavior. The possibility of combining genetic manipulation of brain asymmetries with cutting-edge in vivo imaging technique and behavioral tests makes the zebrafish a valuable model to investigate the phylogeny and ontogeny of brain lateralization and its relevance for normal brain function and behavior

Renormalization of Coulomb interactions in s-wave superconductor Nax_xCoO2_2

We study the renormalized Coulomb interactions due to retardation effect in Na$_x$CoO$_2$. Although the Morel-Anderson's pseudo potential for $a_{1g}$ orbital $\mu^*_{a1g}$ is relatively large because the direct Coulomb repulsion $U$ is large, that for interband transition between $a_{1g}$ and $e_g'$ orbitals $\mu^*_{a1g,eg'}$ is very small since the renormalization factor for pair hopping $J$ is square of that for $U$. Therefore, the s-wave superconductivity due to valence-band Suhl-Kondo mechanism will survive against strong Coulomb interactions. The interband hopping of Cooper pairs due to shear phonons is essential to understand the superconductivity in Na$_x$CoO$_2$.Comment: 2pages, 2figures, Proceedings of ICM in Kyoto, 200

Adsorption features of various inorganic materials for the drug removal from water and synthetic urine medium: A multi-technique time-resolved in situ investigation

Pharmaceutical active compounds, including hundreds of different substances, are counted among the emerging contaminants in waterbodies, whose presence raises a growing concern for the ecosystem. Drugs are metabolized and excreted mainly through urine as an unchanged active ingredient or in the form of metabolites. These emerging contaminants are not effectively removed with the technologies currently in use, making them a relevant environmental problem. This study proposes the treatment of urine and water at the source that can allow an easier removal of dissolved drugs and metabolites. The treatment of synthetic urine, with dissolved ibuprofen as a model compound, by adsorption, using various classes of inorganic materials, such as clays, hierarchical zeolites and ordered mesoporous silica (MCM-41), is presented. A multi-technique approach involving X-ray powder diffraction, solid-state NMR, UV-Vis and Raman spectroscopies was employed to investigate the adsorption process in inorganic adsorbents. Moreover, the uptake, the ensuing competition, the efficiency and selectivity as well as the packing of the model compound in ordered mesoporous silica during the incipient wetness impregnation process were all thoroughly monitored by a novel approach, involving combined complementary time-resolved in situ1 H and13 C MAS NMR spectroscopy as well as X-ray powder diffraction

Symmetry breaking at the (111) interfaces of SrTiO3{_3} hosting a 2D-electron system

We used x-ray absorption spectroscopy to study the orbital symmetry and the energy band splitting of (111) LaAlO${_3}$/SrTiO${_3}$ and LaAlO${_3}$/EuTiO${_3}$/SrTiO${_3}$ heterostructures, hosting a quasi two-dimensional electron system (q2DES), and of a Ti-terminated (111) SrTiO${_3}$ single crystal, also known to form a q2DES at its surface. We demonstrate that the bulk tetragonal Ti-3d D${_4}$${_h}$ crystal field is turned into trigonal D${_3}$${_d}$ crystal field in all cases. The symmetry adapted a${_1}$${_g}$ and e${^\pi_g}$ orbitals are non-degenerate in energy and their splitting, \Delta, is positive at the bare STO surface but negative in the heterostructures, where the a${_1}$${_g}$ orbital is lowest in energy. These results demonstrate that the interfacial symmetry breaking induced by epitaxial engineering of oxide interfaces has a dramatic effect on their electronic properties, and it can be used to manipulate the ground state of the q2DES.Comment: 6 pages article, plus 5 pages supplementary informatio

Energy and symmetry of dddd excitations in undoped layered cuprates measured by Cu L3L_3 resonant inelastic x-ray scattering

We measured high resolution Cu $L_3$ edge resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) of the undoped cuprates La$_2$CuO$_4$, Sr$_2$CuO$_2$Cl$_2$, CaCuO$_2$ and NdBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_6$. The dominant spectral features were assigned to $dd$ excitations and we extensively studied their polarization and scattering geometry dependence. In a pure ionic picture, we calculated the theoretical cross sections for those excitations and used them to fit the experimental data with excellent agreement. By doing so, we were able to determine the energy and symmetry of Cu-3$d$ states for the four systems with unprecedented accuracy and confidence. The values of the effective parameters could be obtained for the single ion crystal field model but not for a simple two-dimensional cluster model. The firm experimental assessment of $dd$ excitation energies carries important consequences for the physics of high $T_c$ superconductors. On one hand, having found that the minimum energy of orbital excitation is always $\geq 1.4$ eV, i.e., well above the mid-infrared spectral range, leaves to magnetic excitations (up to 300 meV) a major role in Cooper pairing in cuprates. On the other hand, it has become possible to study quantitatively the effective influence of $dd$ excitations on the superconducting gap in cuprates.Comment: 22 pages, 11 figures, 1 tabl

Study of equilibrium carrier transfer in LaAlO3/SrTiO3 from an epitaxial La1 12x Sr x MnO3 ferromagnetic layer

Using x-ray magnetic circular dichroism and ab-initio calculations, we explore the La1-xSrxMnO3/LaAlO3/SrTiO3 (001) heterostructure as a mean to induce transfer of spin polarized carriers from ferromagnetic La1-xSrxMnO3 layer into the 2DEG (two-dimensional electron gas) at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface. By out-of-plane transport measurements, the tunneling across the LaAlO3 barrier is also analyzed. Our results suggest small or vanishing spin-polarization for the 2DEG: magnetic dichroism does not reveal a neat signal on Ti atoms, while calculations predict, for the pristine stoichiometric interface, a small spin-resolved mobile charge of 2.5 x 10(13) cm(-2) corresponding to a magnetic moment of 0.038 mu(B) per Ti atom, tightly confined within the single SrTiO3 layer adjacent to LaAlO3. Such a small magnetization is hard to be detected experimentally and perhaps not robust enough to survive to structural disorder, native doping, or La1-xSrxMnO3 dead-layer effects. Our analysis suggests that, while some spin-diffusion cannot be completely ruled out, the use of ferromagnetic La1-xSrxMnO3 epilayers grown on-top of LaAlO3/SrTiO3 is not effective enough to induce robust spin-transport properties in the 2DEG. The examined heterostructure is nevertheless an excellent test-case to understand some fundamental aspects of the spin-polarized charge transfer in 2D wells

Effect of Housing Quality on the Mental Health of University Students during the COVID-19 Lockdown

COVID-19 outbreak imposed rapid and severe public policies that consistently impacted the lifestyle habits and mental health of the general population. Despite vaccination, lockdown restrictions are still considered as potential measures to contrast COVID-19 variants spread in several countries. Recent studies have highlighted the impacts of lockdowns on the population\u2019s mental health; however, the role of the indoor housing environment where people spent most of their time has rarely been considered. Data from 8177 undergraduate and graduate students were collected in a large, cross-sectional, web-based survey, submitted to a university in Northern Italy during the first lockdown period from 1 April to 1 May 2020. Logistic regression analysis showed significant associations between moderate and severe depression symptomatology (PHQ-9 scores 65 15), and houses with both poor indoor quality and small dimensions (OR = 4.132), either medium dimensions (OR = 3.249) or big dimensions (OR = 3.522). It was also found that, regardless of housing size, poor indoor quality is significantly associated with moderate\u2013severe depressive symptomatology. Further studies are encouraged to explore the long-term impact of built environment parameter modifications on mental health, and therefore support housing and public health policies

RATIONAL AND EXPERIENTIAL DECISION-MAKING IN PRODUCT DESIGN

Several studies on decision-making allow us to observe that professionals use one of two systems to define their projects: rational (i.e., inferential or analytical system that operates by rules of reasoning, relatively affect-free) or experiential/ intuitive (i.e., learning or automatic system that is intimately associated with affect). Professionals from creativity related areas may often need to make decisions without much concrete data, which requires the use of their intuition. This paper presents a study that aims to evaluate the reasoning process of making decisions by product designers in comparison to other professionals that work in the same field (i.e., engineers and architects). For this purpose, we used the Rational-Experiential Inventory (REI). Overall, our results show a significant difference between engineers and the other professionals: they make decisions based on a more rational and less experiential system than architects and designers, although we didn’t find huge differences between designers and architects.Diversos estudos referentes à tomada de decisão permitem observar que profissionais utilizam um dos dois sistemas para definir seus projetos: o racional (sistema inferencial ou analítico que opera através de regras de raciocínio, relativamente livres de emoção) ou experiencial/intuitivo (aprendizagem ou sistema automático que está intimamente associado a elementos emocionais). Profissionais de áreas relacionadas à criatividade podem muitas vezes precisar tomar decisões sem muitos dados concretos, necessitando utilizar sua intuição. Com isso em mente, este artigo apresenta um estudo cujo objetivo é avaliar o processo de tomada de decisão de designers de produto em comparação a outros profissionais que atuam na mesma área (engenheiros e arquitetos). Com esse propósito, foi utilizado o Inventário Racional-Experimental (Rational-Experiential Inventory). De forma geral, os resultados mostraram uma diferença significativa entre engenheiros e outros profissionais: eles tomam decisões baseando-se em um sistema mais racional e menos experiencial do que arquitetos e designers, mas diferenças consistentes entre designers e arquitetos não foram identificadas