When seeing is more than looking:Intentional gaze modulates object desirability

Objects in the environment have a perceived value that can be changed through social influence. A subtle way to influence object evaluation is through eye gaze: Objects looked at by others are perceived as more likable than objects that are not looked at. In 3 experiments, we directly tested the hypothesis that this liking effect depends on the processing of the intentional relation between other's eye gaze and the object being looked at. To this end, we used a novel paradigm in which participants observed a face looking left or right behind an opaque barrier. Under all tested conditions, we found a gaze cueing effect on attention: Looked-at objects were categorized faster than looked-away objects. In contrast, observed gaze only led to a boost in affective evaluation for the target object when observers had the impression that the face could see the object behind the barrier, but not when observers had the impression that the face could not see the object. These findings indicate that observers make a sophisticated use of social gaze cues in the affective evaluation of objects: Objects looked at by others are liked more than objects looked away but only when others can see the objects

Spatial and Statistical Analysis of the Causes of Saltmarsh Loss Along the Texas Coast

In the state of Texas, cities and counties located along the coastline have all experienced an increase in population due to its navigable waterways and natural resources. Policy makers are faced with a difficult task to plan for the growth of urban development while using natural resources in a sustainable fashion. Despite efforts to protect valuable natural areas such as marshes, wetland loss continues to occur. In a study conducted in 2015 by Armitage et al., it was recently discovered that saltmarsh areas on the Texas coastline decreased by 77.8 km^2 from 1990-2010 within the Coastal Zone Management (CZM) boundary. When a formerly extensive area of salt marshes has been reduced by conversion to agricultural land, urban development or for industrial use and port facilities it can become quite a significant problem (Boorman,1999). Saltmarshes are given great value due to their ability to absorb impacts from storms, provide wildlife habitat, and provide social and economic benefits. It then becomes critical that analysis be conducted to identify the major causes of wetland loss along the Texas coastline. This thesis aims to understand the major drivers of saltmarsh change throughout the 20-year time frame. Using the change in saltmarsh area for 1990-2010 as the dependent variable and watersheds as the unit of analysis, a regression model was estimated to evaluate drivers of saltmarsh change. Results indicate that if more saltmarsh area was present prior to 2010, then the change would decrease significantly. Additionally, Section 404 permits granted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that permitted the alteration of wetlands indicated that as more permits were distributed, the change that occurred from 1990-2010 increased significantly. Change in population proved quite the opposite. As population change occurred, it decreased the amount of area change in saltmarshes. Similarly, sea level rise also demonstrated to decrease the amount of change exhibited by saltmarsh area. Discussion of the results for all four statistically significant variables reveal that more studies will need to be conducted to further understand their effects on saltmarshes

Analytic treatment of geodesics in five-dimensional Myers-Perry space--times

We present the complete set of analytical solutions of the geodesic equation in the five-dimensional Myers-Perry space-time with equal rotation parameter in terms of the Weierstra{\ss}' elliptic and Weierstra{\ss}' zeta and sigma functions. We study the underlying polynomials in the polar and radial equations which depend on the parameters of the metric and conserved quantities of a test particle and characterize the motion by their zeros. We exemplify the efficiency of the analytical method on the orbits of test particles.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, to be published in PRD. Version with improved reference

Dispersion for the Schr\"odinger Equation on Networks

In this paper we consider the Schr\"odinger equation on a network formed by a tree with the last generation of edges formed by infinite strips. We give an explicit description of the solution of the linear Schr\"odinger equation with constant coefficients. This allows us to prove dispersive estimates, which in turn are useful for solving the nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation. The proof extends also to the laminar case of positive step-function coefficients having a finite number of discontinuities.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figure

Perspectives on Caucasus Issues

From 29 March to 1 April 2000 several Humanitarian Non- Governmental Organizations, based in the Former Soviet Union (FSU) and calling themselves the Caucasus Forum, met to discuss humanitarian issues in the northern Caucasus. The goal of their conference was to define the issues facing the region and to develop

A Survey of Islamic Fundamentalist Activism in Central Asia and the Caucasus

This survey of regional elites, conducted in November of 2001, concludes that the goals of the region’s Islamic fundamentalist groups include mobilization of Islamic faithful into radical activities, planning for sabotage of US military operations, and working to overthrow secular regimes

Black Females, Invisibility, and College Campuses: Disenfranchised and Mental Wellness

This presentation will draw from the presenters’ personal and professional knowledge and experiences as African American women, Black female college students (past and present), and as college counselors and licensed professional counselors to address the Black female college students’ social development, mental health, and emotional well-being, and the impact of all three on their mental health. The presenters will also share prevention and intervention strategies for working with Black female college students. The workshop will be grounded in real cases and experiences of the presenters and the audience and will provide opportunities and safe spaces for the Black females and others from different cultural and gendered backgrounds to share their stories. Resources will be provided and shared

Lipid-free Antigen B subunits from echinococcus granulosus: oligomerization, ligand binding, and membrane interaction properties

Background: The hydatid disease parasite Echinococcus granulosus has a restricted lipid metabolism, and needs to harvest essential lipids from the host. Antigen B (EgAgB), an abundant lipoprotein of the larval stage (hydatid cyst), is thought to be important in lipid storage and transport. It contains a wide variety of lipid classes, from highly hydrophobic compounds to phospholipids. Its protein component belongs to the cestode-specific Hydrophobic Ligand Binding Protein family, which includes five 8-kDa isoforms encoded by a multigene family (EgAgB1-EgAgB5). How lipid and protein components are assembled into EgAgB particles remains unknown. EgAgB apolipoproteins self-associate into large oligomers, but the functional contribution of lipids to oligomerization is uncertain. Furthermore, binding of fatty acids to some EgAgB subunits has been reported, but their ability to bind other lipids and transfer them to acceptor membranes has not been studied.<p></p> Methodology/Principal Findings: Lipid-free EgAgB subunits obtained by reverse-phase HPLC were used to analyse their oligomerization, ligand binding and membrane interaction properties. Size exclusion chromatography and cross-linking experiments showed that EgAgB8/2 and EgAgB8/3 can self-associate, suggesting that lipids are not required for oligomerization. Furthermore, using fluorescent probes, both subunits were found to bind fatty acids, but not cholesterol analogues. Analysis of fatty acid transfer to phospholipid vesicles demonstrated that EgAgB8/2 and EgAgB8/3 are potentially capable of transferring fatty acids to membranes, and that the efficiency of transfer is dependent on the surface charge of the vesicles.<p></p> Conclusions/Significance: We show that EgAgB apolipoproteins can oligomerize in the absence of lipids, and can bind and transfer fatty acids to phospholipid membranes. Since imported fatty acids are essential for Echinococcus granulosus, these findings provide a mechanism whereby EgAgB could engage in lipid acquisition and/or transport between parasite tissues. These results may therefore indicate vulnerabilities open to targeting by new types of drugs for hydatidosis therapy.<p></p&gt

Deletion of Tsc2 in nociceptors reduces target innervation, ion channel expression, and sensitivity to heat

AbstractThe mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) is known to regulate cellular growth pathways, and its genetic activation is sufficient to enhance regenerative axon growth following injury to the central or peripheral nervous systems. However, excess mTORC1 activation may promote innervation defects, and mTORC1 activity mediates injury-induced hypersensitivity, reducing enthusiasm for the pathway as a therapeutic target. While mTORC1 activity is required for full expression of some pain modalities, the effects of pathway activation on nociceptor phenotypes and sensory behaviors are currently unknown. To address this, we genetically activated mTORC1 in mouse peripheral sensory neurons by conditional deletion of its negative regulator Tuberous Sclerosis Complex 2 (Tsc2). Consistent with the well-known role of mTORC1 in regulating cell size, soma size and axon diameter of C-nociceptors were increased in Tsc2-deleted mice. Glabrous skin and spinal cord innervation by C-fiber neurons were also disrupted. Transcriptional profiling of nociceptors enriched by fluorescence-associated cell sorting (FACS) revealed downregulation of multiple classes of ion channels as well as reduced expression of markers for peptidergic nociceptors in Tsc2-deleted mice. In addition to these changes in innervation and gene expression, Tsc2-deleted mice exhibited reduced noxious heat sensitivity and decreased injury-induced cold hypersensitivity, but normal baseline sensitivity to cold and mechanical stimuli. Together, these data show that excess mTORC1 activity in sensory neurons produces changes in gene expression, neuron morphology and sensory behavior.</jats:p

As duas culturas e os reflexos no mundo atual nas Ciências e na Ciência da Informação

Refers to the differences between the Sciences and the Humanities as described in Charles Snow's famous lecture on The Two Cultures, presented at the University of Cambridge in 1959. For Snow, the industrialization was the only path to advancement by poor countries. That argument was not altogether new. In the Unites States, there had been occasions when the importance of the Sciences for the development of that country had been debated, and the relevance of the Humanities, as well, as the basis of forming productive thinking habits. Despite the marked differences between the various disciplines of the Sciences and between those and the Humanities, there are similarities in the methods of the Two Cultures. In History, for instance, scholarly communication practices approximate those in the Sciences. Recent research in Information Science in Brazil, looking at the current practices of historians of Colonial Brazil, show similarities to practices that until the 1980s were especially characteristic of the Natural Science, such as multiple authorship of articles, participation in collaborative projects, and the heavy use of technologies of information and communication There is evidence that nowadays the gap between the Sciences and the Humanities has become smaller. Snow’s ideas are a contribution to the History of Sciences and to Information Science, even though the Sciences have suffered major transformations due to the epistemic approximations proper of interdisciplinarity