Pretentiously detecting power cancellation

Granville and Soundararajan have recently introduced the notion of pretentiousness in the study of multiplicative functions of modulus bounded by 1, essentially the idea that two functions which are similar in a precise sense should exhibit similar behavior. It turns out, somewhat surprisingly, that this does not directly extend to detecting power cancellation - there are multiplicative functions which exhibit as much cancellation as possible in their partial sums that, modified slightly, give rise to functions which exhibit almost as little as possible. We develop two new notions of pretentiousness under which power cancellation can be detected, one of which applies to a much broader class of multiplicative functions

Identity development in adolescents with mental problems

Background: In the revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5), "Identity" is an essential diagnostic criterion for personality disorders (self-related personality functioning) in the alternative approach to the diagnosis of personality disorders in Section III of DSM-5. Integrating a broad range of established identity concepts, AIDA (Assessment of Identity Development in Adolescence) is a new questionnaire to assess pathology-related identity development in healthy and disturbed adolescents aged 12 to 18 years. Aim of the present study is to investigate differences in identity development between adolescents with different psychiatric diagnoses. Methods: Participants were 86 adolescent psychiatric in- and outpatients aged 12 to 18 years. The test set includes the questionnaire AIDA and two semi-structured psychiatric interviews (SCID-II, K-DIPS). The patients were assigned to three diagnostic groups (personality disorders, internalizing disorders, externalizing disorders). Differences were analyzed by multivariate analysis of variance MANOVA. Results: In line with our hypotheses, patients with personality disorders showed the highest scores in all AIDA scales with T>70. Patients with externalizing disorders showed scores in an average range compared to population norms, while patients with internalizing disorders lay in between with scores around T=60. The AIDA total score was highly significant between the groups with a remarkable effect size of f= 0.44. Conclusion: Impairment of identity development differs between adolescent patients with different forms of mental disorders. The AIDA questionnaire is able to discriminate between these groups. This may help to improve assessment and treatment of adolescents with severe psychiatric problems

Are there counterexamples to the immunity principle? : Some restrictions and clarifications ; a commentary on Caleb Liang

Our commentary focuses on the sense of experiential ownership and its implications for the Immunity Principle. In general we think that Liang elaborates the self-as-object and the self-as-subject in an interesting and refreshing way. Nevertheless, there are some problems that we want to address. (1) First, we argue that the sense of experiential ownership cannot misrepresent the fact of experiential ownership. (2) Second, we argue that neither the sense of experiential ownership in particular nor phenomenal states in general are eligible for identity judgments. (3) Then we claim that the two alleged counterexamples actually do not provide any valid argument against IEM. (4) We close by evaluating whether it makes sense to talk about the Immunity Principle as a non-trivial property, or whether the relevant properties are just mispredication or misguided reference

Offshoring and Sequential Production Chains: A General-Equilibrium Analysis

In this paper, we develop a two-sector general equilibrium trade model which includes offshoring, sequential production, and endogenous market structures. We analyze how relative factor endowments and various forms of globalization and technological change affect equilibrium offshoring patterns. We show that, against common belief, a reduction in trade costs lowers the range of tasks offshored even though the aggregate volume of offshoring may increase

Offshoring and sequential production chains: A general-equilibrium analysis

In this paper, we develop a two-sector general equilibrium trade model which includes offshoring, sequential production, and endogenous market structures. We analyze how relative factor endowments and various forms of globalization and technological change affect equilibrium offshoring patterns. We show that, against common belief, a reduction in trade costs lowers the range of tasks offshored even though the aggregate volume of offshoring may increase

Renal AA-amyloidosis in intravenous drug users - a role for HIV-infection?

Background: Chronic renal disease is a serious complication of long-term intravenous drug use (IVDU). Recent reports have postulated a changing pattern of underlying nephropathy over the last decades. Methods: Retrospective investigation including all patients with prior or present IVDU that underwent renal biopsy because of chronic kidney disease between 01.04.2002 and 31.03.2012 in the city of Frankfurt/Main, Germany. Results: Twenty four patients with IVDU underwent renal biopsy because of progressive chronic kidney disease or proteinuria. Renal AA-amyloidosis was the predominant cause of renal failure in 50% of patients. Membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (GN) was the second most common cause found in 21%. Patients with AA-amyloidosis were more likely to be HIV infected (67 vs.17%; p=0.036) and tended to have a higher rate of repeated systemic infections (92 vs. 50%; p=0.069). Patients with AA-amyloidosis presented with progressive renal disease and nephrotic-range proteinuria but most patients had no peripheral edema or systemic hypertension. Development of proteinuria preceded the decline of GFR for approximately 1--2 years. Conclusions: AA-amyloidosis was the predominant cause of progressive renal disease in the last 10 years in patients with IVDU. The highest rate of AA-amyloidosis observed was seen in HIV infected patients with IVDU. We speculate that chronic HIV-infection as well as the associated immunosuppression might promote development of AA-amyloidosis by increasing frequency and duration of infections acquired by IVDU

Microgel that swims to the beat of light

Complementary to the quickly advancing understanding of the swimming of microorganisms, we demonstrate rather simple design principles for systems that can mimic swimming by body shape deformation. For this purpose, we developed a microswimmer that could be actuated and controlled by fast temperature changes through pulsed infrared light irradiation. The construction of the microswimmer has the following features: (i) it is a bilayer ribbon with a length of 80 or 120 μm, consisting of a thermo-responsive hydrogel of poly-N-isopropylamide coated with a 2-nm layer of gold and equipped with homogeneously dispersed gold nanorods; (ii) the width of the ribbon is linearly tapered with a wider end of 5 μm and a tip of 0.5 μm; (iii) a thickness of only 1 and 2 μm that ensures a maximum variation of the cross section of the ribbon along its length from square to rectangular. These wedge-shaped ribbons form conical helices when the hydrogel is swollen in cold water and extend to a filament-like object when the temperature is raised above the volume phase transition of the hydrogel at 32∘C. The two ends of these ribbons undergo different but coupled modes of motion upon fast temperature cycling through plasmonic heating of the gel-objects from inside. Proper choice of the IR-light pulse sequence caused the ribbons to move at a rate of 6 body length/s (500 μm/s) with the wider end ahead. Within the confinement of rectangular container of 30 μm height and 300 μm width, the different modes can be actuated in a way that the movement is directed by the energy input between spinning on the spot and fast forward locomotion

DIGITAL NUDGES FOR USER ONBOARDING: TURNING VISITORS INTO USERS

Two design recommendations (digital nudges) for decreasing user churn in mobile apps are presented. We examine commitment and personalization nudges, both of which are linked to the extant literature, in the context of a randomized online experiment with 150 participants. Our experimental study reveals that commitment and personalization cues distinctly affect consumers\u27 intention to use a mobile app. Moreover, our study demonstrates that personalization amplifies the effect of commitment cues on users\u27 intention to use a mobile app

Activation of Rac-1 and RhoA contributes to podocyte injury in chronic kidney disease

Rho-family GTPases like RhoA and Rac-1 are potent regulators of cellular signaling that control gene expression, migration and inflammation. Activation of Rho-GTPases has been linked to podocyte dysfunction, a feature of chronic kidney diseases (CKD). We investigated the effect of Rac-1 and Rho kinase (ROCK) inhibition on progressive renal failure in mice and studied the underlying mechanisms in podocytes. SV129 mice were subjected to 5/6-nephrectomy which resulted in arterial hypertension and albuminuria. Subgroups of animals were treated with the Rac-1 inhibitor EHT1846, the ROCK inhibitor SAR407899 and the ACE inhibitor Ramipril. Only Ramipril reduced hypertension. In contrast, all inhibitors markedly attenuated albumin excretion as well as glomerular and tubulo-interstitial damage. The combination of SAR407899 and Ramipril was more effective in preventing albuminuria than Ramipril alone. To study the involved mechanisms, podocytes were cultured from SV129 mice and exposed to static stretch in the Flexcell device. This activated RhoA and Rac-1 and led via TGFβ to apoptosis and a switch of the cells into a more mesenchymal phenotype, as evident from loss of WT-1 and nephrin and induction of α-SMA and fibronectin expression. Rac-1 and ROCK inhibition as well as blockade of TGFβ dramatically attenuated all these responses. This suggests that Rac-1 and RhoA are mediators of podocyte dysfunction in CKD. Inhibition of Rho-GTPases may be a novel approach for the treatment of CKD