Tyranny Plagued the French Revolution

Liberty, equality, and fraternity were the three original pillars of the French Revolution at the start in 1789. The slogan became the rallying cry for the embittered French people in their initial pursuit for political and social transformation. The French Revolution is perhaps the most prominent contemporary illustration of a violent revolution which ultimately was successful, resulting in a model of democratic government. The French Revolution reached a decade in length wherein there were countless demonstrations, massacres, wars, civil unrest, and political enlightenment. The disorganized nature of the revolution cultivated a vast array of political beliefs, which ranged from radical revolutionaries, moderates, and anti-revolutionaries. This incoherence generated monumental brutality and a serious lack of fluidity. The French Revolution is a perplexing topic because regardless of the overt tyranny, excessive violence of a savage nature, and the unjustified infringement upon civil rights perpetrated by the revolutionary government, the French nation did ultimately develop into a successful democratic republic. It is this conclusive and extraordinary eventual success of the French Revolution which is compelling. I intend to investigate and explain how the French Revolution materialized and for what reasons, as well as to analyze the effectiveness of the revolution through the administration of tyranny. Furthermore, I intend to explore how the Reign of Terror culminated and became an emblematic component of the French Revolution. There is a unique paradoxical relationship regarding tyranny which occurred wherein the revolutionary government administered tyrannical laws and perpetrated unnecessary violence against the people of France in a desperate effort to preserve the new regime. I intend to examine the design of this phenomena and explain why this paradox occurred

The new information and communication technologies and SME: an analysis on the diffusion of internet sites in the Biella district

The new information and communication technologies represent both an important challenge and an opportunity for small and medium enterprises. In case of the industrial districts, low-price technologies, easy to implement and flexible to use could give a new impulse to the competitiveness of local enterprises. This working paper, after a theoretical framework concerning the impact of ICTs on SMEs, presents an empirical analysis about the diffusion of web sites among the firms of the textile district of Biella. This analysis, led on the basis of a questionnaire, shows that the largest part of the enterprises, even if provided with a web site, never take advantage of the actual potentialities of the instrument, but they only use it as a showroom to get a better visibility, and not as a strategic support or as a platform for e-commerce.industrial districts, ICT, Internet, SME

Insulin signaling in insulin resistance states and cancer: A modeling analysis

Insulin resistance is the common denominator of several diseases including type 2 diabetes and cancer, and investigating the mechanisms responsible for insulin signaling impairment is of primary importance. A mathematical model of the insulin signaling network (ISN) is proposed and used to investigate the dose-response curves of components of this network. Experimental data of C2C12 myoblasts with phosphatase and tensin homologue (PTEN) suppressed and data of L6 myotubes with induced insulin resistance have been analyzed by the model. We focused particularly on single and double Akt phosphorylation and pointed out insulin signaling changes related to insulin resistance. Moreover, a new characterization of the upstream signaling of the mammalian target of rapamycin complex 2 (mTORC2) is presented. As it is widely recognized that ISN proteins have a crucial role also in cell proliferation and death, the ISN model was linked to a cell population model and applied to data of a cell line of acute myeloid leukemia treated with a mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitor with antitumor activity. The analysis revealed simple relationships among the concentrations of ISN proteins and the parameters of the cell population model that characterize cell cycle progression and cell death

On the evolution of household income

We present a markovian homogeneous model that mimics the evolution of household income. With three parameters only, the model generates a set of theoretical curves that closely fit actual income distributions, as observed in 19 advanced economies in the period 1967-2004. The fit is better, and theoretically more consistent, than that obtained with other models customarily used in the literature, for instance log-normal or power-law models

The Relevance of Academic Libraries in the Twenty-First Century

The biggest challenge facing the library profession in the twenty-first century is staying relevant to its users. It is often stated that the Internet and Google have changed librarianship. This challenge, while significant, does not mean that libraries will go away. It is causing us to re-evaluate what we do, how we do it, and what role libraries have in the academy and in our culture at large. This column addresses some of the ways in which academic libraries can stay relevant throughout the twenty-first century

A General Model for the Effect of Crop Management on Plant Disease Epidemics at Different Scales of Complexity

A general and flexible model was developed to simulate progress over time of the epidemics caused by a generic polycyclic pathogen on aerial plant parts. The model includes all of the epidemiological parameters involved in the pathogen life cycle: between-season survival, production of primary inoculum, occurrence of primary infections, production and dispersal of secondary inoculum both inside and outside the crop, and concatenation of secondary infection cycles during the host's growing season. The model was designed to include the effect of the main crop management actions that affect disease levels in the crop. Policy-oriented, strategic, and tactical actions were considered at the different levels of complexity (from the agro-ecosystem to the farming and cropping system). All effects due to disease management actions were translated into variations in the epidemiological components of the model, and the model quantitatively simulates the effect of these actions on epidemic development, expressed as changes in final disease and in the area under the disease progress curve. The model can help researchers, students and policy makers understand how management decisions (especially those commonly recommended as part of Integrated Pest Management programs) will affect plant disease epidemics at different scales of complexity

Causality estimates among brain cortical areas by Partial Directed Coherence: simulations and application to real data

The problem of the definition and evaluation of brain connectivity has become a central one in neuroscience during the latest years, as a way to understand the organization and interaction of cortical areas during the execution of cognitive or motor tasks. Among various methods established during the years, the Partial Directed Coherence (PDC) is a frequency-domain approach to this problem, based on a multivariate autoregressive modeling of time series and on the concept of Granger causality. In this paper we propose the use of the PDC method on cortical signals estimated from high resolution EEG recordings, a non invasive method which exhibits a higher spatial resolution than conventional cerebral electromagnetic measures. The principle contributions of this work are the results of a simulation study, testing the performances of PDC, and a statistical analysis (via the ANOVA, analysis of variance) of the influence of different levels of Signal to Noise Ratio and temporal length, as they have been systematically imposed on simulated signals. An application to high resolution EEG recordings during a foot movement is also presented

Duodenal-Jejunal Bypass and Jejunectomy Improve Insulin Sensitivity in Goto-Kakizaki Diabetic Rats Without Changes in Incretins or Insulin Secretion

Gastric bypass surgery can dramatically improve type 2 diabetes. It has been hypothesized that by excluding duodenum and jejunum from nutrient transit, this procedure may reduce putative signals from the proximal intestine that negatively influence insulin sensitivity (SI). To test this hypothesis, resection or bypass of different intestinal segments were performed in diabetic Goto-Kakizaki and Wistar rats. Rats were randomly assigned to five groups: duodenal-jejunal bypass (DJB), jejunal resection (jejunectomy), ileal resection (ileectomy), pair-fed sham-operated, and nonoperated controls. Oral glucose tolerance test was performed within 2 weeks after surgery. Baseline and poststimulation levels of glucose, insulin, glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) were measured. Minimal model analysis was used to assess SI. SI improved after DJB (SI = 1.14 ± 0.32 × 10−4 min−1 ⋅ pM−1) and jejunectomy (SI = 0.80 ± 0.14 × 10−4 min−1 ⋅ pM−1), but not after ileectomy or sham operation/pair feeding in diabetic rats. Both DJB and jejunal resection normalized SI in diabetic rats as shown by SI levels equivalent to those of Wistar rats (SI = 1.01 ± 0.06 × 10−4 min−1 ⋅ pM−1; P = NS). Glucose effectiveness did not change after operations in any group. While ileectomy increased plasma GIP levels, no changes in GIP or GLP-1 were observed after DJB and jejunectomy. These findings support the hypothesis that anatomic alterations of the proximal small bowel may reduce factors associated with negative influence on SI, therefore contributing to the control of diabetes after gastric bypass surgery