Cognition-Enhancing Drugs: Can We Say No?

Normative analysis of cognition-enhancing drugs frequently weighs the liberty interests of drug users against egalitarian commitments to a level playing field. Yet those who would refuse to engage in neuroenhancement may well find their liberty to do so limited in a society where such drugs are widespread. To the extent that unvarnished emotional responses are world-disclosive, neurocosmetic practices also threaten to provide a form of faulty data to their users. This essay examines underappreciated liberty-based and epistemic rationales for regulating cognition-enhancing drugs

Contribution of citizen science towards international biodiversity monitoring

To meet collective obligations towards biodiversity conservation and monitoring, it is essential that the world's governments and non-governmental organisations as well as the research community tap all possible sources of data and information, including new, fast-growing sources such as citizen science (CS), in which volunteers participate in some or all aspects of environmental assessments. Through compilation of a database on CS and community-based monitoring (CBM, a subset of CS) programs, we assess where contributions from CS and CBM are significant and where opportunities for growth exist. We use the Essential Biodiversity Variable framework to describe the range of biodiversity data needed to track progress towards global biodiversity targets, and we assess strengths and gaps in geographical and taxonomic coverage. Our results show that existing CS and CBM data particularly provide large-scale data on species distribution and population abundance, species traits such as phenology, and ecosystem function variables such as primary and secondary productivity. Only birds, Lepidoptera and plants are monitored at scale. Most CS schemes are found in Europe, North America, South Africa, India, and Australia. We then explore what can be learned from successful CS/CBM programs that would facilitate the scaling up of current efforts, how existing strengths in data coverage can be better exploited, and the strategies that could maximise the synergies between CS/CBM and other approaches for monitoring biodiversity, in particular from remote sensing. More and better targeted funding will be needed, if CS/CBM programs are to contribute further to international biodiversity monitoring

An integral equation approach to effective interactions between polymers in solution

We use the thread model for linear chains of interacting monomers, and the ``polymer reference interaction site model'' (PRISM) formalism to determine the monomer-monomer pair correlation function $h_{mm}(r)$ for dilute and semi-dilute polymer solutions, over a range of temperatures from very high (where the chains behave as self-avoiding walks) to below the $\theta$ temperature, where phase separation sets in. An inversion procedure, based on the HNC integral equation, is used to extract the effective pair potential between ``average'' monomers on different chains. An accurate relation between $h_{mm}(r)$, $h_{cc}(r)$ [the pair correlation function between the polymer centers of mass (c.m.)], and the intramolecular form factors is then used to determine $h_{cc}(r)$, and subsequently extract the effective c.m.-c.m. pair potential $v_{cc}(r)$ by a similar inversion procedure. $v_{cc}(r)$ depends on temperature and polymer concentration, and the predicted variations are in reasonable agreement with recent simulation data, except at very high temperatures, and below the $\theta$ temperature.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures, revtex ; revised versio

Delayed-Onset Continuous Bruxism with Olivary Hypertrophy After Top of the Basilar Syndrome

Delayed-onset continuous bruxism due to brain stem infarction has not yet been reported. A 49-year old man presented with quadriplegia and ophthalmoplegia. Brain MRI showed acute infarction in the bilateral midbrain, right thalamus and the superior cerebellum. One month later, the patient developed bruxism which persisted during sleep. A palatal myoclonus was not observed. Follow up MRI taken 4 months later showed bilateral olivary hypertrophy. We suggest that the patient's bruxism may be related to the olivary hypertrophy. The bruxism generator may be located in the pontine-reticular-formation (PRF). Bilateral large midbrain lesions interrupting the cortical inhibition may have produced bilateral olivary hypertrophy, which could stimulate the PRF, producing continuous bruxism

The Emergence and Evolution of the Multidimensional Organization

The article discusses multidimensional organizations and the evolution of complex organizations. The six characteristics of multidimensional organizations, disadvantages of the successful organizational structure that is categorized as a multidivisional, multi-unit or M-form, research by the Foundation for Management Studies which suggests that synergies across business divisions can be exploited by the M-form, a team approach to creating economic value, examples of multidimensional firms such as PricewaterhouseCoopers, and a comparison of various organization types including the matrix form are mentioned

The value and opportunities of community-and citizen-based approaches to tropical forest biodiversity monitoring

The biodiversity sourcebook is accessible in pdf format for free from:•GOFC-GOLD Land Cover Office website: http://www.gofcgold.wur.nl/sites/gofcgold-geobon_biodiversitysourcebook.php•GEO BON website:http://geobon.org

Exploring interaction differences in Microblogging Word of Mouth between entrepreneurial and conventional service providers

In this study, we explore the interaction network properties of Microblogging Word of Mouth (MWOM), and how it is utilized by two different types of service providers, namely entrepreneurial and conventional. We use social network analysis, involving network metrics, sentiment, content and semantic analysis of real time data collected via Twitter, to compare two providers in terms of how they leverage MWOM in their social interactions. Results demonstrate that MWOM is utilized in an inherently different manner by an entrepreneurial provider, compared to a conventional one. Based on the findings, the study identifies distinctions between the entrepreneurial and conventional service providers in how they utilize MWOM on social media. Specifically, the entrepreneurial provider capitalizes on the interactive nature and dialogic capabilities of Twitter; whereas the conventional provider mostly relies on focal information sharing, thus neglecting the network members’ content creation and relationship building capability of social media networks. The study has significant implications as it provides key insights and lessons in terms of how companies should respond to emerging digital opportunities in their online social interactions