The Study of International Regimes

Hundreds or even thousands of international legal instruments on "the environment" are in existence. What happens to international environmental agreements once they are signed, and how does the process of implementing such agreements influence their effectiveness? These are the questions that motivate the IIASA project "Implementation and Effectiveness of International Environmental Commitments (IEC)". Research teams are examining these questions from many angles and with different methods. In this paper, the authors survey the literature on international "regimes". Regimes are social institutions that influence the behavior of states and their subjects. They consist of informal and formalized principles and norms, as well as specific rules and procedures. The term is explicitly broad and captures the unwritten understandings and relationships, as well as the formal legal agreements, that influence how states and individuals behave in any given issue-area. Scholarship over the last decade has elaborated how regimes are formed; this paper surveys that work and focuses on more recent scholarship that has turned from the formation of regimes to the question of what makes regimes "effective". The paper is one foundation for IEC's effort to build a database about the characteristics of international regimes. The database will consist of key variables related to the formation and implementation of international agreements and will allow systematic use of historical evidence from a large number of cases. The goal is to make possible the testing of hypotheses and the drawing of general conclusions about which variables are causally linked to "effectiveness". Existing research has led to hypotheses and tests based on single case studies or small samples of cases, but conclusions have been difficult to generalize to other cases because variables are left uncontrolled and the social processes are complex. In contrast, the IEC effort will include all the major variables related to effectiveness. The team will employ experts in each case to perform the coding, thus allowing for assessments (including subjective evaluations) of a wide range of data. The team is now preparing and testing a data protocol, as well as a manual that describes the major questions in the data protocol and how they should be answered. The protocol and manual will refine the variables we are coding and their relationship to major hypotheses

Reduced maximum capacity of glycolysis in brown adipose tissue of genetically obese, diabetic (db/db) mice and its restoration following treatment with a thermogenic β-adrenoceptor agonist

AbstractThe maximal activities of the key glycolytic enzymes hexokinase and 6-phosphofructokinase, were reduced in brown adipose tissue in db/db mice compared to their lean littermates. Treatment of db/db mice with the thermogenic β-adrenoceptor agonist, BRL 26830, restored normoglycaemia. The only significant increase in activity of hexokinase and 6-phosphofructokinase in the BRL 26830-treated db/db mice occurred in brown adipose tissue where the total tissue activity increased 10- and 11-fold respectively. These changes together with increased 2-deoxyglucose uptake in vivo suggest that brown adipose tissue can play a quantitatively important role in the removal of glucose from the blood

Stress distribution in orthodontic mini-implants

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a distribuição de tensões na resina em contato com os filetes de roscas de mini-implantes cilíndricos e cônicos, submetidos à carga lateral e torção de inserção. Um modelo fotoelástico foi confeccionado com gelatina transparente, para simular o osso alveolar. O modelo foi observado com um polariscópio plano e fotografado antes e após a ativação dos mini-implantes com força lateral e de inserção. A aplicação de cargas laterais provocou momentos fletores nos mini-implantes, aparecimento de franjas isocromáticas ao longo dos filetes do corpo dos mini-implantes e no ápice. Quando foi aplicado o torque de inserção, verificou-se a concentração de tensões próxima ao ápice. Concluiu-se que: (1) o mini-implante cilíndrico apresentou maior concentração de tensões no ápice, e (2) o mini-implante cônico apresentou maior concentração de tensões nos filetes de rosca apicais.The objective of this study was to evaluate the stress distribution in the resin in contact with the spirals of cylindrical and conical mini-implants, when submitted to lateral load and insertion torsion. A photoelastic model was fabricated using transparent gelatin to simulate the alveolar bone. The model was observed with a plane polariscope and photographically recorded before and after activation of the two screws with a lateral force and torsion. The lateral force application caused bending moments on both mini-implants, with the uprising of fringes or isochromatics, characteristics of stresses, along the threads of the mini-implants and in the apex. When the torsion was exerted in the mini-implants, a great concentration of stress upraised close to the apex. The conclusion was that, comparing conical with cylindrical mini-implants under lateral load, the stresses were similar on the traction sides. The differences appear (1) on the apex, where the cylindrical mini-implant showed a greater concentration of stress, and (2) along the spirals, in the compression side, where the conical mini-implant showed a greater concentration of stress. The greater part of the stress produced by both mini-implants, after torsion load in insertion, were concentrated on the apex. With the cylindrical mini-implant, the greater concentration of tension was close to the apex, while with the conical one, the stresses were distributed along a greater amount of apical threads

Insufficient treatment of severe depression in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder

OBJECTIVE: To investigate depression frequency, severity, current treatment, and interactions with somatic symptoms among patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD). METHODS: In this dual-center observational study, we included 71 patients diagnosed with NMOSD according to the International Panel for NMO Diagnosis 2015 criteria. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was classified into severe, moderate, or minimal/no depressive state category. We used the Fatigue Severity Scale to evaluate fatigue. Scores from the Brief Pain Inventory and the PainDETECT Questionnaire were normalized to estimate neuropathic pain. Psychotropic, pain, and immunosuppressant medications were tabulated by established classes. RESULTS: Twenty-eight percent of patients with NMOSD (n = 20) had BDI scores indicative of moderate or severe depression; 48% of patients (n = 34) endorsed significant levels of neuropathic pain. Severity of depression was moderately associated with neuropathic pain (r = 0.341, p < 0.004) but this relationship was confounded by levels of fatigue. Furthermore, only 40% of patients with moderate or severe depressive symptoms received antidepressant medical treatment. Fifty percent of those treated reported persistent moderate to severe depressive symptoms under treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Moderate and severe depression in patients with NMOSD is associated with neuropathic pain and fatigue and is insufficiently treated. These results are consistent across 2 research centers and continents. Future research needs to address how depression can be effectively managed and treated in NMOSD

Universal Quantum Computation using Exchange Interactions and Teleportation of Single-Qubit Operations

We show how to construct a universal set of quantum logic gates using control over exchange interactions and single- and two-spin measurements only. Single-spin unitary operations are teleported instead of being executed directly, thus eliminating a major difficulty in the construction of several of the most promising proposals for solid-state quantum computation, such as spin-coupled quantum dots, donor-atom nuclear spins in silicon, and electrons on helium. Contrary to previous proposals dealing with this difficulty, our scheme requires no encoding redundancy. We also discuss an application to superconducting phase qubits.Comment: 4.5 pages, including 2 figure

Electron correlation resonances in the transport through a single quantum level

Correlation effects in the transport properties of a single quantum level coupled to electron reservoirs are discussed theoretically using a non-equilibrium Green functions approach. Our method is based on the introduction of a second-order self-energy associated with the Coulomb interaction that consistently eliminates the pathologies found in previous perturbative calculations. We present results for the current-voltage characteristic illustrating the different correlation effects that may be found in this system, including the Kondo anomaly and Coulomb blockade. We finally discuss the experimental conditions for the simultaneous observation of these effects in an ultrasmall quantum dot.Comment: 4 pages (two columns), 3 figures under reques

Interaction energy functional for lattice density functional theory: Applications to one-, two- and three-dimensional Hubbard models

The Hubbard model is investigated in the framework of lattice density functional theory (LDFT). The single-particle density matrix $\gamma_{ij}$ with respect the lattice sites is considered as the basic variable of the many-body problem. A new approximation to the interaction-energy functional $W[\gamma]$ is proposed which is based on its scaling properties and which recovers exactly the limit of strong electron correlations at half-band filling. In this way, a more accurate description of $W$ is obtained throughout the domain of representability of $\gamma_{ij}$, including the crossover from weak to strong correlations. As examples of applications results are given for the ground-state energy, charge-excitation gap, and charge susceptibility of the Hubbard model in one-, two-, and three-dimensional lattices. The performance of the method is demonstrated by comparison with available exact solutions, with numerical calculations, and with LDFT using a simpler dimer ansatz for $W$. Goals and limitations of the different approximations are discussed.Comment: 25 pages and 8 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.