Genetic and environmental risk factors for sexual distress and its association with female sexual dysfunction

A. Burri, Q. Rahman and T. Spector (2011). Genetic and environmental risk factors for sexual distress and its association with female sexual dysfunction. Psychological Medicine, 41, pp 2435-2445. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S003329171100049

Barrier loci and progress towards evolutionary generalities

No abstract available

Decoding non-Abelian topological quantum memories

The possibility of quantum computation using non-Abelian anyons has been considered for over a decade. However the question of how to obtain and process information about what errors have occurred in order to negate their effects has not yet been considered. This is in stark contrast with quantum computation proposals for Abelian anyons, for which decoding algorithms have been tailor-made for many topological error-correcting codes and error models. Here we address this issue by considering the properties of non-Abelian error correction in general. We also choose a specific anyon model and error model to probe the problem in more detail. The anyon model is the charge submodel of $D(S_3)$. This shares many properties with important models such as the Fibonacci anyons, making our method applicable in general. The error model is a straightforward generalization of those used in the case of Abelian anyons for initial benchmarking of error correction methods. It is found that error correction is possible under a threshold value of $7 \%$ for the total probability of an error on each physical spin. This is remarkably comparable with the thresholds for Abelian models

Deliberating Risks Under Uncertainty: Experience, Trust, and Attitudes in a Swiss Nanotechnology Stakeholder Discussion Group

Scientific knowledge has not stabilized in the current, early, phase of research and development of nanotechnologies creating a challenge to ‘upstream' public engagement. Nevertheless, the idea that the public should be involved in deliberative discussions and assessments of emerging technologies at this early stage is widely shared among governmental and nongovernmental stakeholders. Many forums for public debate including focus groups, and citizen juries, have thus been organized to explore public opinions on nanotechnologies in a variety of countries over the past few years. In Switzerland the Centre for Technology Assessment (TA-Swiss) organized such a citizen panel in fall 2006. Drawing from an ethnographic study of this panel called ‘publifocus on nanotechnologies, health, and environment' this paper looks at the ways members of a stakeholder group deal with the epistemic uncertainty in their deliberation of nanotechnologies. By exploring the statements of the participants in the stakeholder discussion group, this paper reconstructs the narratives that constitute the epistemic foundations of the participants' evaluations of nanotechnologie

Die persönliche Lernbiographie in der Lehrerbildung

Absicht des vorliegenden Forschungsprojektes ist es, ein Verfahren zu entwickeln, welches künftigen Lehrern und Lehrerinnen während ihrer Berufsgrundausbildung die Gelegenheit bietet, sich systematisch mit der eigenen Lernbiografie im Dienste ihres späteren Berufes auseinanderzusetzen. Die persönliche "Lern- und Bildungsgeschichte" soll als eigentliches Ausbildungselement im erziehungswissenschaftlichen Unterricht einen Platz finden. Zn einer Pilotstudie haben Studierende der Höheren Pädagogischen Lehranstalt (HPL) im Rahmen des Psychologieunterrichtes in einem ausführlichen Setting ihre Lernbiografie unter berufsspezifischen Fragestellungen zum Thema gemacht

Digital Technologies and Traditional Cultural Expressions: A Positive Look at a Difficult Relationship

Digital technologies have often been perceived as imperilling traditional cultural expressions (TCE). This angst has interlinked technical and sociocultural dimensions. On the technical side, it is related to the affordances of digital media that allow instantaneous access to information without real location constraints, data transport at the speed of light and effortless reproduction of the original without any loss of quality. In a sociocultural context, digital technologies have been regarded as the epitome of globalization forces—not only driving and deepening the process of globalization itself but also spreading its effects. The present article examines the validity of these claims and sketches a number of ways in which digital technologies may act as benevolent factors. It illustrates in particular that some digital technologies can be instrumentalized to protect TCE forms, reflecting more appropriately the specificities of TCE as a complex process of creation of identity and culture. The article also seeks to reveal that digital technologies—and more specifically the Internet and the World Wide Web—have had a profound impact on the ways cultural content is created, disseminated, accessed and consumed. It is argued that this environment may have generated various opportunities for better accommodating TCE, especially in their dynamic sense of human creativit

The International Law of Culture: Prospects and Challenges: 23-25 May 2012, University of Göttingen, Germany

The international law of culture is a broad field, which certainly goes beyond the United Nations Educational, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), as the international organization entrusted with, among other things, cultural affairs. Indeed, if one considers the far-reaching definition of culture, then a vast number of institutions, rules of hard and soft law, and initiatives of different scope and shape exist, and new ones come into being. This institutional complexity and the ensuing rule fragmentation are indicative of multiple scenes of contestation, denoted by different actors, politics, dynamics, and often strong path dependencies, which make meaningful communication between them and a solution-oriented forward thinking difficult. In scholarship, too, there appears to be increasing specialization, which carves out topics and subtopics, such as the UNESCO versus the World Trade Organization (WTO) clash, cultural heritage preservation, or indigenous peoples' rights. This may, despite the deeper knowledge won, hinder pinpointing appropriate regulatory responses at the international level, which could address cultural rights comprehensivel