Muscle thixotropy: more than just cross-bridges?

AbstractAlthough Campbell and Lakie in a Comment to the Editor in this issue of Biophysical Journal suggested that exclusive cross-bridge action is behind muscle thixotropy, recent findings and our preliminary observations suggest that additional mechanisms could also be involved

Gendered self-views across 62 countries: a test of competing models

Social role theory posits that binary gender gaps in agency and communion should be larger in less egalitarian countries, reflecting these countries’ more pronounced sex-based power divisions. Conversely, evolutionary and self-construal theorists suggest that gender gaps in agency and communion should be larger in more egalitarian countries, reflecting the greater autonomy support and flexible self-construction processes present in these countries. Using data from 62 countries (N = 28,640), we examine binary gender gaps in agentic and communal self-views as a function of country-level objective gender equality (the Global Gender Gap Index) and subjective distributions of social power (the Power Distance Index). Findings show that in more egalitarian countries, gender gaps in agency are smaller and gender gaps in communality are larger. These patterns are driven primarily by cross-country differences in men’s self-views and by the Power Distance Index (PDI) more robustly than the Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI). We consider possible causes and implications of these findings

Psychometric Properties and Correlates of Precarious Manhood Beliefs in 62 Nations

Precarious manhood beliefs portray manhood, relative to womanhood, as a social status that is hard to earn, easy to lose, and proven via public action. Here, we present cross-cultural data on a brief measure of precarious manhood beliefs (the Precarious Manhood Beliefs scale [PMB]) that covaries meaningfully with other cross-culturally validated gender ideologies and with country-level indices of gender equality and human development. Using data from university samples in 62 countries across 13 world regions (N = 33,417), we demonstrate: (1) the psychometric isomorphism of the PMB (i.e., its comparability in meaning and statistical properties across the individual and country levels); (2) the PMB’s distinctness from, and associations with, ambivalent sexism and ambivalence toward men; and (3) associations of the PMB with nation-level gender equality and human development. Findings are discussed in terms of their statistical and theoretical implications for understanding widely-held beliefs about the precariousness of the male gender role

The metamorphoses of civil justice and civil procedure: The challenges of new paradigms - unity and diversity

In 1975, mauro cappelletti predicted a profound transformation in the area of civil justice. In his view, the complexity of contemporary societies required new and enhanced methods of dispute resolution since the traditional means were increasingly insufficient to address societal (and even civilizational) challenges. It is questionable, however, whether this transformation has indeed occurred. In order to evaluate cappelletti’s prediction, the present contribution addresses a selection of changes in the area of civil justice that have occurred since cappelletti’s prediction and tries to identify the driving forces of change. Subsequently it identifies seven main transformation areas in civil procedure, evaluating both their present impact on civil justice and their possible future effects. The relevant areas are (1) transformation by borrowing from national and transnational sources; (2) transformation by technological modernization; (3) transformation by the reorganization of courts and a redefinition of court functions; (4) transformation by the establishment of a multi-dimensional procedure for civil cases; (5) transformation by the pursuit of alternatives to litigation; (6) transformation by the collectivization of decision-making processes; and (7) transformation by ‘dejudicialization’ (privatization, outsourcing) of judicial tasks. The contribution serves as an introduction to the papers collected in the present volume, written by authors from a wide variety of jurisdictions in europe and around the globe

subCULTron - Cultural development as a tool in underwater robotics

This paper presents the research done in the field of robotic cultural evolution in challenging real world environments. We hereby present these efforts, as part of project subCULTron, where we will create an artificial society of three cooperating sub-cultures of robotic agents operating in a challenging real-world habitat. We introduce the novel concept of “cultural learning”, which will allow a swarm of agents to locally adapt to a complex environment and exchange the information about this adaptation with other subgroups of agents. Main task of the presented robotic system is autonomous environmental monitoring including self organised task allocation and organisation of swarm movement processes. One main focus of the project is on the development and implementation of bio-inspired controllers, as well as novel bio-inspired sensor systems, communication principles, energy harvesting and morphological designs. The main scientific objective is to enable and study the emergence of a collective long-term autonomous cognitive system in which information survives the operational lifetime of individuals, allowing cross-generation learning of the society by self-optimising.SCOPUS: cp.kinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Gendered Self-Views Across 62 Countries: A Test of Competing Models

Social role theory posits that binary gender gaps in agency and communion should be larger in less egalitarian countries, reflecting these countries' more pronounced sex-based power divisions. Conversely, evolutionary and self-construal theorists suggest that gender gaps in agency and communion should be larger in more egalitarian countries, reflecting the greater autonomy support and flexible self-construction processes present in these countries. Using data from 62 countries (N = 28,640), we examine binary gender gaps in agentic and communal self-views as a function of country-level objective gender equality (the Global Gender Gap Index) and subjective distributions of social power (the Power Distance Index). Findings show that in more egalitarian countries, gender gaps in agency are smaller and gender gaps in communality are larger. These patterns are driven primarily by cross-country differences in men's self-views and by the Power Distance Index (PDI) more robustly than the Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI). We consider possible causes and implications of these findings