Gate stability of GaN-Based HEMTs with P-Type Gate

status: publishe

Lack of Temporal Impairment in Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment

In the present study, we investigate possible temporal impairment in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and the amount of temporal distortions caused by the presentation of emotional facial expressions (anger, shame, and neutral) in MCI patients and controls. Twelve older adults with MCI and 14 healthy older adults were enrolled in the present study. All participants underwent a complete neuropsychological evaluation. We used three timing tasks to tap temporal abilities, namely time bisection (standard intervals lasting 400 and 1600 ms), finger-tapping (free and 1 s), and simple reaction-time tasks. The stimuli used in the time bisection task were facial emotional stimuli expressing anger or shame to investigate a possible contribution of emotional information as previously observed in healthy adults. MCI patients showed temporal abilities comparable to controls. We observed an effect of facial emotional stimuli on time perception when data were analyzed in terms of proportion of long responses, and this result was mainly driven by the temporal overestimation when a facial expression of anger was presented in controls. Results seem to suggest that the severity of the cognitive dysfunction accounts more for subjective temporal impairment than a compromised internal clock

Comparison of 30 THz impulsive burst time development to microwaves, H-alpha, EUV, and GOES soft X-rays

The recent discovery of impulsive solar burst emission in the 30 THz band is raising new interpretation challenges. One event associated with a GOES M2 class flare has been observed simultaneously in microwaves, H-alpha, EUV, and soft X-ray bands. Although these new observations confirm some features found in the two prior known events, they exhibit time profile structure discrepancies between 30 THz, microwaves, and hard X-rays (as inferred from the Neupert effect). These results suggest a more complex relationship between 30 THz emission and radiation produced at other wavelength ranges. The multiple frequency emissions in the impulsive phase are likely to be produced at a common flaring site lower in the chromosphere. The 30 THz burst emission may be either part of a nonthermal radiation mechanism or due to the rapid thermal response to a beam of high-energy particles bombarding the dense solar atmosphere.Comment: accepted to Astronomy and Astrophysic

A caring interpretation of stakeholder management for the social enterprise. Evidence from a regional survey of micro social co-operatives in the Italian welfare mix

The stakeholder literature on the social enterprise is still a nascent and largely under investigated field of knowledge. This literature is characterized by the existence of two persistently divergent theorizings, broadly, the ‘corporate’ and the ‘socio-political’ approach. We assume that the reason of this divergence lies in the absence of proper moral justifications underpinning the notion of stakeholder legitimacy, which results in devaluations and misinterpretations of the normative foundations of stakeholder management. In order to bridge this gap, we propose to conceive of the two theorizings as if they were empirical streams of research of a common normative framework of stakeholder thought. A special focus is given to the feminist theory, and, especially, to the ‘ethics of care’ (Gilligan 1982, Noddings 1984, 1999; Held, 2003), as meaningful moral grounding for advancing descriptions and managerial interpretations of the particular nature and functions of firm-stakeholder relationships in social enterprises. To the purpose, we draw from the specialized literature on caring both insights and criteria of an ideal architecture of firm as ‘caring organization’ (Liedtka, 1996) in order to offer an operationally meaningful conceptualization of how social enterprises might simultaneously enhance both the effectiveness and the moral quality of stakeholder management. Then, we test these assumptions on a regional survey of micro social co-operatives in the Italian welfare mix. Findings reveal that the caring for attribute of ‘proximity’ shaping firm-stakeholder relationships offers a lot of useful insights to conceive of caring as suitable moral grounding for a common stakeholder theorizing of social enterprise

A CARING INTERPRETATION OF NONPROFIT AND THIRD SECTOR ORGANIZATIONS

The paper aims to present care morality as a normative stakeholder approach for advancing meaningful conceptions and interpretations of the responsibility principle in nonprofit and third sector organizations. The language and method of care, with their focus on both dialogue and the reciprocal strengthening of interpersonal relationships as a primary means of moral deliberation, prove to be sound and defensible for enhancing proper justifications of the legitimacy of stakeholder and ‘organization-stakeholder’ relationships in European third sector environments. A reasoned review of the main literature on caring offers new insights and suggestions to conceive of nonprofit and third sector organizations as ideal ‘architectures of care’ that might simultaneously enhance the effectiveness and moral quality of public service provision in local communities. The validity of our arguments is circumscribed to membership-based nonprofit and third sector organizations (voluntary organizations and social enterprises); assets-based organizations (foundations) are not addressed

A bright impulsive solar burst detected at 30 THz

Ground- and space-based observations of solar flares from radio wavelengths to gamma-rays have produced considerable insights but raised several unsolved controversies. The last unexplored wavelength frontier for solar flares is in the range of submillimeter and infrared wavelengths. Here we report the detection of an intense impulsive burst at 30 THz using a new imaging system. The 30 THz emission exhibited remarkable time coincidence with peaks observed at microwave, mm/submm, visible, EUV and hard X-ray wavelengths. The emission location coincides with a very weak white-light feature, and is consistent with heating below the temperature minimum in the atmosphere. However, there are problems in attributing the heating to accelerated electrons. The peak 30 THz flux is several times larger than the usual microwave peak near 9 GHz, attributed to non-thermal electrons in the corona. The 30 THz emission could be consistent with an optically thick spectrum increasing from low to high frequencies. It might be part of the same spectral component found at sub-THz frequencies whose nature remains mysterious. Further observations at these wavelengths will provide a new window for flare studies.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures, accepted by Astrophysical Journal, March 23, 201

Biological Properties of IRIM, the Iridium(III) Analogue of (Imidazolium (Bisimidazole) Tetrachlororuthenate) (ICR)

Some biological aspects of the new complex imidazolium bisimidazole tetrachloro iridate(III)-IRIM- the iridium(III) analogue of ICR, were considered. More in detail the conformational effects produced by IRIM on DNA and the cytotoxic properties of IRIM on some selected human cell lines were measured. Dialysis experiments and DNA thermal denaturation studies are suggestive of poor binding of IRIM to DNA; formation of interstrand crosslinks is not observed. In any case CD measurements suggest that addition of increasing amounts of IRIM to calf thymus DNA results into significant spectral changes, that are diagnostic of a direct interaction with DNA. A number of experiments carried out on the A2780 human ovarian carcinoma, B16 murine melanoma, MCF7 and TS mammary adenocarcinoma tumor cell lines strongly point out that IRIM does not exhibit significant growth inhibition effects within the concentration range 10-4-10-6 M. It is suggested that the lower biological effects of IRIM compared to ICR are a consequence of the larger kinetic inertness of the iridium(III) center with respect to ruthenium(III)