4,292 research outputs found
The Weirdest People in the World?
Behavioral scientists routinely publish broad claims about human psychology and behavior in the world’s top journals based on samples drawn entirely from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic (WEIRD) societies. Researchers—often implicitly—assume that either there is little variation across human populations, or that these “standard subjects” are as representative of the species as any other population. Are these assumptions justified? Here, our review of the comparative database from across the behavioral sciences suggests both that there is substantial variability in experimental results across populations and that WEIRD subjects are particularly unusual compared with the rest of the species—frequent outliers. The domains reviewed include visual perception, fairness, cooperation, spatial reasoning, categorization and inferential induction, moral reasoning, reasoning styles, selfconcepts and related motivations, and the heritability of IQ. The findings suggest that members of WEIRD societies, including young children, are among the least representative populations one could find for generalizing about humans. Many of these findings involve domains that are associated with fundamental aspects of psychology, motivation, and behavior—hence, there are no obvious a priori grounds for claiming that a particular behavioral phenomenon is universal based on sampling from a single subpopulation. Overall, these empirical patterns suggests that we need to be less cavalier in addressing questions of human nature on the basis of data drawn from this particularly thin, and rather unusual, slice of humanity. We close by proposing ways to structurally re-organize the behavioral sciences to best tackle these challenges.external validity, population variability, experiments, cross-cultural research, culture, human universals, generalizability, evolutionary psychology, cultural psychology, behavioral economics
Local effective dynamics of quantum systems: A generalized approach to work and heat
By computing the local energy expectation values with respect to some local
measurement basis we show that for any quantum system there are two
fundamentally different contributions: changes in energy that do not alter the
local von Neumann entropy and changes that do. We identify the former as work
and the latter as heat. Since our derivation makes no assumptions on the system
Hamiltonian or its state, the result is valid even for states arbitrarily far
from equilibrium. Examples are discussed ranging from the classical limit to
purely quantum mechanical scenarios, i.e. where the Hamiltonian and the density
operator do not commute.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, published versio
Leveraging Strategic Institutional Partnerships: Creating a Phased Learning Commons at the University of Idaho Library
Following an energizing reorganization of the first floor, the University of Idaho Library sought additional strategies to support student learning and success. Building on previous successful collaborations with the Dean of Students Office, the Library and Tutoring Services created a model to offer peer-tutoring services in the library. Several philosophical and practical guidelines were considered, and implementation of the service, while challenging, was ultimately successful. Strategies for proposing, building, and maintaining similar partnerships with student services units are discussed, with best practices offered for other institutions seeking similar collaboration
Marital quality in later years of marriage with dual-career spouses
This research project studied highly successful, long-term marriages where both spouses also actively pursued professional careers. Ethnographic methodologies were used to interview couples meeting specific criteria to uncover specific domains/characteristics indicative of this culture. The objective of this project was not to describe how to have a successful marriage as well as a successful career, but instead to find characteristics of this population in a manner that is subject informed. Nine specific domains were identified in the interview/analysis process. They are: Commitment, Faith, Time Alone, Children, Goals/Priorities, Trust/Mutual Respect, Different Personalities, Novelty, and Job Descriptions. Each of these domains is considered to be included terms for the higher domain of marital quality in later years of marriage for dual-career couples. On the next lower level, each of these nine domains are broken down into specific included terms and described in further detail. Implications for the usefulness of this methodology and results are also discussed
Bond formation and slow heterogeneous dynamics in adhesive spheres with long--ranged repulsion: Quantitative test of Mode Coupling Theory
A colloidal system of spheres interacting with both a deep and narrow
attractive potential and a shallow long-ranged barrier exhibits a prepeak in
the static structure factor. This peak can be related to an additional
mesoscopic length scale of clusters and/or voids in the system. Simulation
studies of this system have revealed that it vitrifies upon increasing the
attraction into a gel-like solid at intermediate densities. The dynamics at the
mesoscopic length scale corresponding to the prepeak represents the slowest
mode in the system. Using mode coupling theory with all input directly taken
from simulations, we reveal the mechanism for glassy arrest in the system at
40% packing fraction. The effects of the low-q peak and of polydispersity are
considered in detail. We demonstrate that the local formation of physical bonds
is the process whose slowing down causes arrest.
It remains largely unaffected by the large-scale heterogeneities, and sets
the clock for the slow cluster mode. Results from mode-coupling theory without
adjustable parameters agree semi-quantitatively with the local density
correlators but overestimate the lifetime of the mesoscopic structure (voids).Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure
Critical behavior in an evolutionary Ultimatum Game
Experimental studies have shown the ubiquity of altruistic behavior in human
societies. The social structure is a fundamental ingredient to understand the
degree of altruism displayed by the members of a society, in contrast to
individual-based features, like for example age or gender, which have been
shown not to be relevant to determine the level of altruistic behavior. We
explore an evolutionary model aiming to delve how altruistic behavior is
affected by social structure. We investigate the dynamics of interacting
individuals playing the Ultimatum Game with their neighbors given by a social
network of interaction. We show that a population self-organizes in a critical
state where the degree of altruism depends on the topology characterizing the
social structure. In general, individuals offering large shares but in turn
accepting large shares, are removed from the population. In heterogeneous
social networks, individuals offering intermediate shares are strongly selected
in contrast to random homogeneous networks where a broad range of offers, below
a critical one, is similarly present in the population.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure
Sensitization of renal carcinoma cells to TRAIL-induced apoptosis by rocaglamide and analogs
Rocaglamide has been reported to sensitize several cell types to TRAIL-induced apoptosis. In recent years, advances in synthetic techniques have led to generation of novel rocaglamide analogs. However, these have not been extensively analyzed as TRAIL sensitizers, particularly in TRAIL-resistant renal cell carcinoma cells. Evaluation of rocaglamide and analogs identified 29 compounds that are able to sensitize TRAIL-resistant ACHN cells to TRAIL-induced, caspase-dependent apoptosis with sub-µM potency which correlated with their potency as protein synthesis inhibitors and with loss of cFLIP protein in the same cells. Rocaglamide alone induced cell cycle arrest, but not apoptosis. Rocaglates averaged 4–5-fold higher potency as TRAIL sensitizers than as protein synthesis inhibitors suggesting a potential window for maximizing TRAIL sensitization while minimizing effects of general protein synthesis inhibition. A wide range of other rocaglate effects (e.g. on JNK or RAF-MEK-ERK signaling, death receptor levels, ROS, ER stress, eIF4E phosphorylation) were assessed, but did not contribute to TRAIL sensitization. Other than a rapid loss of MCL-1, rocaglates had minimal effects on mitochondrial apoptotic pathway proteins. The identification of structurally diverse/mechanistically similar TRAIL sensitizing rocaglates provides insights into both rocaglate structure and function and potential further development for use in RCC-directed combination therapy.This project has been funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, under Contract No. HHSN261200800001E. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of Health and Human Services, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. This research was supported [in part] by the Intramural Research Program of NIH, Frederick. National Lab, Center for Cancer Research. Research performed at Boston University was supported in part by NIH R35 GM118173. Work at the BU-CMD is supported by R24 GM111625. (HHSN261200800001E - National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health; Intramural Research Program of NIH, Frederick. National Lab, Center for Cancer Research; R35 GM118173 - NIH; R24 GM111625)Published versio
Knot Fertility and Lineage
In this paper, we introduce a new type of relation between knots called the
descendant relation. One knot is a descendant of another knot if
can be obtained from a minimal crossing diagram of by some number of
crossing changes. We explore properties of the descendant relation and study
how certain knots are related, paying particular attention to those knots,
called fertile knots, that have a large number of descendants. Furthermore, we
provide computational data related to various notions of knot fertility and
propose several open questions for future exploration.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, 14 table
Einseitiger Arterienastverschluss und retinale "white dots"
Zusammenfassung: Hintergrund: Seit den 1990er Jahre ist eine Zunahme der Inzidenz von Syphilis zu beobachten. Der klassische Verlauf der Syphilis lässt sich in drei Stadien unterteilen. Eine okuläre Beteiligung ist besonders im Stadium III möglich. Die Erkrankung ist durch antibiotische Therapie effizient behandelbar. Methode: Wir berichten über einen 38-jährigen Patienten, der sich wegen eines 2Wochen zuvor plötzlich aufgetretenen nasalen Gesichtsfeldausfalls und Schleiersehens am linken Auge vorstellte. Vorausgegangen war eine intravitreale Triamcinolon-Injektion 6Wochen zuvor bei vorwiegend linksseitigem zystoidem Makulaödem, das als Manifestation einer hypertensiven Retinopathie bei Blutdruckwerten um 200/130 interpretiert worden war. Ergebnisse: Biomikroskopisch zeigen sich links ein Arterienastverschluss temporal superior sowie multiple kleine, scharf begrenzte, weißlich-gelbliche epi- und intraretinale Flecken. Es besteht leichte Papillenrandunschärfe. In der Lues-Serologie finden sich hoch positive Titer. Nach Therapie mit Pencillin G i.v. über 2Wochen zeigt sich deutliche Regredienz der chorioretinitische Herde, jedoch Persistenz der Visusminderung und des Gesichtsfeldausfalls. Schlussfolgerung: Aufgrund der Zunahme der Inzidenz der Syphilis wird es immer wichtiger, die Erkrankung als Differenzialdiagnose nicht nur bei unklaren Symptomkomplexen, sondern auch in vermeintlich eindeutigen Situationen in Betracht zu ziehe
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