Is acting prosocially beneficial for the credit market?

This article argues that behaving prosocially implies more transparent information during the negotiation process of a financial contract and more cooperation among the parties to respect the terms of the contract. For this reason this work considers interest rate on loans and insolvency rate functions of prosocial behaviour along with the traditional socio-economic and financial collaterals. The context of study is Italy and the analysis is developed at a cross-regional level. We collect data from the two reports on “Relatives and Safety Net” produced by the Italian Centre Bureau of Statistics (ISTAT) in 1998 and 2003 and from the reports on “Regional Economics” produced by the Bank of Italy in the same years. A two-period panel model shows two interesting outcomes. Firstly, regions with a higher proportion of prosocial individuals report lower interest rates on loans and insolvency rates. Secondly, when we include the efficiency of legal enforcement, evidence supports the idea that a more efficient legal framework can act as a more reliable transmission mechanism of institutional norms and facilitate the internalisation of social norms

Monacha samsunensis (Pfeiffer, 1868): another Anatolian species introduced to Western Europe, where it is known as Monacha atacis Gittenberger & de Winter, 1985 (Gastropoda: Eupulmonata: Hygromiidae)

Populations of Monacha atacis from southern Occitania in France and of M. samsunensis from northern Anatolia in Turkey (Atakum/Samsun and Kastamonu) were investigated by an integrative approach based on morphological (shell and genitalia) and molecular (mitochondrial and nuclear gene sequences) features. Morphological examination revealed a complex pattern of variation within and between geographically separated populations, while molecular analysis showed strong similarity between the two species, confirming earlier suggestions that the species are conspecific. Pfeiffer’s name Helix samsunensis introduced in 1868 has priority over the name M. atacis given by Gittenberger & de Winter in 1985. © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

A small slug from a tropical greenhouse reveals a new rathouisiid lineage with triaulic tritrematic genitalia (Gastropoda: Systellommatophora)

A small slug found in the tropical greenhouse of the Science Museum (MUSE) of Trento (Italy) turned out to be a species of the little-known systellommatophoran family Rathouisiidae. We undertook detailed comparative anatomical and molecular studies using specimens of the MUSE slug, Rathouisia sinensis, and sequences of other systellommatophoran species deposited in GenBank to conduct a systematic and phylogenetic assessment. Analysis of the genitalia of the MUSE slug and R. sinensis revealed an unusual triaulic tritrematic structure: two separate female ducts – one for egg release (oviduct), the other for intake of allosperm (vagina) – and a separate male duct for autosperm release. Analysis of the nucleotide sequences of several mitochondrial (COI, 16S rDNA) and nuclear (18S rDNA, ITS2 flanked by 5.8S and 28S rDNA fragments, H3) gene fragments supported assignation of the MUSE slug to Rathouisiidae, but also its distinction from the other rathouisiid genera Atopos, Granulilimax, Rathouisia and an undescribed genus from the Ryukyu Islands (Japan). Therefore, we decided to describe the MUSE slug as a new species in a new genus: Barkeriella museensis gen. et sp. nov. The species is certainly an alien introduced into the tropical greenhouse of MUSE, but its origin is unknown and calls for further investigation. © 2022 The Linnean Society of London

CIAS-DM: A Model-Based, Human-Centered Architectural Modeling Method + Tool

A recent trend in architecture is for the built environment pro-actively contributes to enhancing human health, well-being, performance, and social interactions in measurable, predictable, and adaptable ways. Buildings are becoming interfaces and digital machines and their roles and capabilities are expanding. Accommodating this trend will require architectural design methods and tools to evolve. Sensing, monitoring, actuation, intelligence, and communication subsystems are now integral components of environmental designers’ vocabularies and considerations when designing space and form. At present, the theories, methods, and tools for representing and incorporating these elements during design do not exist. Developing these artifacts is an active area of research. This dissertation focuses on representing the affordances of complex, interactive, architectural systems (CIAS) and proposes, evaluates, and refines the Complex, Interactive, Architectural Systems Design Methodology (CIAS-DM). The purpose of CIAS-DM is to aid designers in making sure they understand the design challenge well at the start of the project. The Validation Square Research Design is used to evaluate CIAS-DM. Results are preliminary, but indicate that using a method similar to CIAS-DM may be useful for helping designers manage the scope of complex,interactive design challenges

Large-FSR Thermally Tunable Double-Ring Filters for WDM Applications in Silicon Photonics

International audience; We present the design procedure and experimental results of thermally tunable double ring resonators for integrated wavelength division multiplexing applications. A detailed analytical model specific for double rings is described, and a modified racetrack geometry using Bezier bends is used to reduce bending loss. We demonstrate devices with a free-spectral-range up to 2.4 THz ( 19 nm) around 1550 nm and nonadjacent channel rejection higher than 35 dB. The experimental results of thermally tunable double ring resonators is also presented with doped silicon integrated heaters, allowing the device to be used as a tunable filter or a switch

Tunability and Losses of Mid-infrared Plasmonics in Heavily Doped Germanium Thin Films

Heavily-doped semiconductor films are very promising for application in mid-infrared plasmonic devices because the real part of their dielectric function is negative and broadly tunable in this wavelength range. In this work we investigate heavily n-type doped germanium epilayers grown on different substrates, in-situ doped in the $10^{17}$ to $10^{19}$ cm$^{-3}$ range, by infrared spectroscopy, first principle calculations, pump-probe spectroscopy and dc transport measurements to determine the relation between plasma edge and carrier density and to quantify mid-infrared plasmon losses. We demonstrate that the unscreened plasma frequency can be tuned in the 400 - 4800 cm$^{-1}$ range and that the average electron scattering rate, dominated by scattering with optical phonons and charged impurities, increases almost linearly with frequency. We also found weak dependence of losses and tunability on the crystal defect density, on the inactivated dopant density and on the temperature down to 10 K. In films where the plasma was optically activated by pumping in the near-infrared, we found weak but significant dependence of relaxation times on the static doping level of the film. Our results suggest that plasmon decay times in the several-picosecond range can be obtained in n-type germanium thin films grown on silicon substrates hence allowing for underdamped mid-infrared plasma oscillations at room temperature.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figure

The actinobacterial transcription factor RbpA binds to the principal sigma subunit of RNA polymerase

RbpA is a small non-DNA-binding transcription factor that associates with RNA polymerase holoenzyme and stimulates transcription in actinobacteria, including Streptomyces coelicolor and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. RbpA seems to show specificity for the vegetative form of RNA polymerase as opposed to alternative forms of the enzyme. Here, we explain the basis of this specificity by showing that RbpA binds directly to the principal σ subunit in these organisms, but not to more diverged alternative σ factors. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy revealed that, although differing in their requirement for structural zinc, the RbpA orthologues from S. coelicolor and M. tuberculosis share a common structural core domain, with extensive, apparently disordered, N- and C-terminal regions. The RbpA-σ interaction is mediated by the C-terminal region of RbpA and σ domain 2, and S. coelicolor RbpA mutants that are defective in binding σ are unable to stimulate transcription in vitro and are inactive in vivo. Given that RbpA is essential in M. tuberculosis and critical for growth in S. coelicolor, these data support a model in which RbpA plays a key role in the σ cycle in actinobacteria

The Structural Basis for Promoter −35 Element Recognition by the Group IV σ Factors

The control of bacterial transcription initiation depends on a primary σ factor for housekeeping functions, as well as alternative σ factors that control regulons in response to environmental stresses. The largest and most diverse subgroup of alternative σ factors, the group IV extracytoplasmic function σ factors, directs the transcription of genes that regulate a wide variety of responses, including envelope stress and pathogenesis. We determined the 2.3-Å resolution crystal structure of the −35 element recognition domain of a group IV σ factor, Escherichia coli σ(E) (4), bound to its consensus −35 element, GGAACTT. Despite similar function and secondary structure, the primary and group IV σ factors recognize their −35 elements using distinct mechanisms. Conserved sequence elements of the σ(E) −35 element induce a DNA geometry characteristic of AA/TT-tract DNA, including a rigid, straight double-helical axis and a narrow minor groove. For this reason, the highly conserved AA in the middle of the GGAACTT motif is essential for −35 element recognition by σ(E) (4), despite the absence of direct protein–DNA interactions with these DNA bases. These principles of σ(E) (4)/−35 element recognition can be applied to a wide range of other group IV σ factors

Cytological and transcript analyses reveal fat and lazy persister-like bacilli in tuberculous sputum

As nonreplicating tubercle bacilli are tolerant to the cidal action of antibiotics and resistant to multiple stresses, identification of this persister-like population of tubercle bacilli in sputum presents exciting and tractable new opportunities to investigate both responses to chemotherapy and the transmission of tuberculosis