The Influence of Anton Chekhov on Samuel Beckett: Inaction and Investment of Hope Into Godot-like Figures in Three Sisters and Waiting for Godot

Anton Chekhov has been very much influential on modern drama, especially on the Theatre of the Absurd; however, not much work has been done on his influence on the absurdist playwrights. Considering Harold Bloom's definition of ‘influence'—writing “much like” someone in the past—the seminal influence of Chekhov on Beckett is studied in this article. Chekhov in his plays, especially his major plays, very much like Beckett's waiting for Godot, portrays people who are passively waiting and investing their entire hope into Godot-like figures without taking any action. Thus, the sense of ennui, desperation and consequently disappointment of these characters originates from their unreasonable inaction, stagnancy and their passivity while waiting, rather than ‘waiting for Godot figures'. This article tries to show the influence of Chekhov on Samuel Beckett, investigating the similarities in form, atmosphere and theme between Waiting for Godot, the paradigm of the Theatre of the Absurd, and Three Sisters, one of Chekhov's major play

Interatomic potentials for ionic systems with density functional accuracy based on charge densities obtained by a neural network

Based on an analysis of the short range chemical environment of each atom in a system, standard machine learning based approaches to the construction of interatomic potentials aim at determining directly the central quantity which is the total energy. This prevents for instance an accurate description of the energetics of systems where long range charge transfer is important as well as of ionized systems. We propose therefore not to target directly with machine learning methods the total energy but an intermediate physical quantity namely the charge density, which then in turn allows to determine the total energy. By allowing the electronic charge to distribute itself in an optimal way over the system, we can describe not only neutral but also ionized systems with unprecedented accuracy. We demonstrate the power of our approach for both neutral and ionized NaCl clusters where charge redistribution plays a decisive role for the energetics. We are able to obtain chemical accuracy, i.e. errors of less than a milli Hartree per atom compared to the reference density functional results. The introduction of physically motivated quantities which are determined by the short range atomic environment via a neural network leads also to an increased stability of the machine learning process and transferability of the potential.Comment: 4 figure

A review of significant molecular mechanisms of flavonoids in prevention of prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is the third most common cancer among men. Risk factors for prostate cancer contain environmental factors such as diet rich of reactive oxygen species. Epidemiological studies recommend dietary consumption of plant-derived foods may decrease the risk of prostate, colon, pancreas, breast and lung cancers. However, it has been difficult to identify specific components responsible for this effect. Many phytochemicals have been shown to be biologically active compounds and they may act as a protective factor against cancer. Recent researches have revealed that diets based on flavonoids have the potential benefits for cancer prevention. Flavonoids are part of a large class of polyphenols that are found widely in diet. Nowadays, experimental researches have suggested developing proof for the valuable action of flavonoids on multiple cancer-related biological pathways. Although the outcomes of studies about flavonoids and prostate cancer are still limited and conflicting, some protective associations have been suggested for flavonoid-rich foods. The current review presented molecular mechanism of the main flavonoids on prostate cancer. The main mechanisms are in three different directions. These mechanisms contain antioxidant activity and inhibition of DNA damage of its oxidizing agents, anti-cell proliferation and induction of apoptosis