On practical applicability of the Jarzynski relation in statistical mechanics: a pedagogical example

We suggest and discuss a simple model of an ideal gas under the piston to gain an insight into the workings of the Jarzynski identity connecting the average exponential of the work over the non-equilibrium trajectories with the equilibrium free energy. We show that the Jarzynski identity is valid for our system due to the very rapid molecules belonging to the tail of the Maxwell distribution. For the most interesting extreme, when the system volume is large, while the piston is moving with large speed (compared to thermal velocity) for a very short time, the necessary number of independent experimental runs to obtain a reasonable approximation for the free energy from averaging the non-equilibrium work grows exponentially with the system size.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, submitted to JP

Effects of Ethanol on Social Behavior & Brain Structure

Autism spectrum disorders are a developmental disorder characterized by abnormal social behavior. Those with autism have problems with social interactions, repetitive behaviors, and both verbal and non-verbal communication. While the cause of autism is not yet know, studies have shown that there are both genetic and environmental factors linked with autism. The amygdala is considered to be part of the “social brain”, and atypical activation and morphology of the amygdala has been seen in those with autism. For this research project, I utilized rats subjected to acute ethanol exposure during gestation and examined exposure effects on the anatomy and biochemistry of the brain. Acute ethanol exposure allows a more direct examination of vulnerable windows of neuronal development, and previous studies have shown that ethanol exposure on specific gestation dates results in abnormal social behavior and neurological alterations similar to those seen in those with autism. Therefore, for this research project it was hypothesized that the atypical behaviors are due to alterations in the amygdala structure and protein expression in synaptic terminals. The different gestation ages when the rats are exposed to ethanol were gestation days G12 and G15, which correspond to early part of development in the amygdala and peak neuronal development in the amygdala respectively. Testing of social behavior was conducted on the two different postnatal days P42 and P75, corresponding to late adolescence and adulthood respectively. The objective for this project is to compare and contrast the effect of timing of ethanol on anatomical and biochemical makeup of the amygdala. To examine the anatomical structure of the amygdala, cytoarchitectonics was utilized on histochemically stained 12 mm sections of brain tissue collected following the social behavior tests. Sections containing the central nucleus of the amygdala were examined to determine the volume of the central nucleus, neuron packing density in the central nucleus, and the total number of neuron in the central nucleus of the amygdala. The biochemistry of the amygdala was analyzed using western blotting, in which a protein assay was run on excised punches of the central nucleus of the amygdala. The target proteins probed for were c-Fos, a-Synuclein, GABA-A receptor, and PSD-95 MAGUK scaffold protein to investigate the brain region activation and pre-synaptic & post-synaptic terminals. The anatomical analysis results of the central nucleus for the G12 treated group indicated a significant age effect, with a lower number total number of neurons and lower neuron packing density at P75 than P42. The analysis of the expression of the alpha1 subunit of the GABA-A receptor in this project suggests that ethanol exposure causes a decrease in expression of the GABA-A receptor. These effects were seen at both early and peak neuronal development in the amygdala (G12 & G15), indicating that the GABA system is a target of prenatal ethanol exposure. Also, protein expression analysis of c-Fos for G15 treated animals resulted in a significantly higher expression at P42 than P75, expression in ethanol treated animals was lower than control, and a age/treatment interaction. In summary, the results from this research project indicated that the timed-ethanol exposure affected the anatomical and biochemical makeup of the central nucleus of the amygdala

The Limits of Love: Infidelity in Philippe Garrel's Films

“Cinema is Freud plus Lumière,” is Philippe Garrel’s most-quoted refrain. And aptly so, for the French director whose quietly devastating films tease an emotional sublime out of every frame of reality. Watching his films, one engages with the work of both a Romantic and a romantic, but perhaps that oversimplifies his style—for he only deals with romance insofar as he deconstructs it. His recent films attempt to illuminate something ugly yet intensely vital about love, or more accurately, about infidelity, the spaces where love begins to break down. One of the lesser-known auteurs of the French New Wave, Garrel’s prolific filmography spans five decades, during which he simultaneously works within a formidable tradition of French cinema and seeks to define his own aesthetic with strains of philosophical introspection, moody black-and-white, and shades of flawed masculinity. Though the New Wave’s lingering influence continues to inform his particular brand of contemplative cinema, his post-2000 films mark a shift from his earlier work, which was coloured by the drug-hazy, agitational atmosphere in the aftermath of 1968. In this oeuvre within an oeuvre, it’s as if Garrel has taken all the simmering restlessness and discontent of that era and brought it into the domestic sphere, inflecting his relatively short filmic exercises with a bohemian melancholy. (Intriguingly, these films explore the unconventional, free-spirited relationships between artists exclusively—actors, painters, and filmmakers, among others.

Interview with Dr. Belton Fleisher (Executive Editor, China Economic Review)

Belton Fleisher serves as the Executive Editor for China Economic Review. His research has focused on China’s economy since 1990, and he has authored and co-authored over 40 articles in professional journals. One of his books, “Labor Economics: Theory and Evidence” (1970) is considered by many to be the first modern labor economics textbook. He is currently a professor of economics at the Ohio State University (OSU), where he has been working on faculty since 1965. Dr. Fleisher received his PhD in economics from Stanford University (1961), and has worked at the University of Chicago, the London School of Economics, and Renmin University of China in Beijing, as well as OSU. He is also a Senior Fellow and Special Term Professor of the China Center for Human Capital and Labor Market Research at the Central University of Finance and Economics in Beijing. Belton Fleisher 担任《中国经济评论》的执行主编。自1990年以来，他的研究主要集中在中国经济领域，并且撰写和合作撰写了40余篇专业期刊文章。他编著的《劳动经济学：理论与实证》（1970）一书是公认的第一部现代劳动经济学教程。他从1965年起在俄亥俄州立大学（Ohio State University）担任教职，目前是该大学的经济学教授。 Fleisher教授1961年在斯坦福大学获得经济学博士，并且曾经在芝加哥大学、伦敦经济学院、中国人民大学（北京）以及俄亥俄州立大学任职。此外，他还是中央财经大学中国人力资本与劳力经济研究中心（北京）的资深研究员和特聘教授

Media Review: AI Commons - appreciativeinquiry.champlain.edu

This media review offers both a description and a critique of the Appreciative Inquiry (AI) Commons website, housed by the David L. Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry at Champlain College. The purpose of this media review is to highlight the resources available on the AI Commons website as well as to offer some suggestions for improvement

Probabilistic fracture finite elements

The Probabilistic Fracture Mechanics (PFM) is a promising method for estimating the fatigue life and inspection cycles for mechanical and structural components. The Probability Finite Element Method (PFEM), which is based on second moment analysis, has proved to be a promising, practical approach to handle problems with uncertainties. As the PFEM provides a powerful computational tool to determine first and second moment of random parameters, the second moment reliability method can be easily combined with PFEM to obtain measures of the reliability of the structural system. The method is also being applied to fatigue crack growth. Uncertainties in the material properties of advanced materials such as polycrystalline alloys, ceramics, and composites are commonly observed from experimental tests. This is mainly attributed to intrinsic microcracks, which are randomly distributed as a result of the applied load and the residual stress

Liberating Sexual Harassment Law

Sexual harassment law and the proposed solutions to that paradigm’s deficiencies teach a disheartening and peculiar lesson to women and gender performance minorities: “You may be disadvantaged at work because of your gender or your gender performance nonconformity. Discrimination against you is okay.” This albatross has inexplicably burdened sexual harassment law for the more than thirty-five years since it emerged as a redressable form of unlawful discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This Article coherently explains the reason for it. It makes a simple claim: Sexual harassment law has failed to eradicate workplace gender discrimination, not because that goal is beyond its capacity, as is frequently claimed, but because it is beyond its scope. Sexual harassment law might have changed workplace relations (for the better), but it has not made sexual harassment an anomaly because it was not meant to do so. To accomplish its task, the Article reframes the intractability of problems within the sexual harassment paradigm by viewing the law as an educative process structured by a clear curriculum. Drawing together educational literature and sexual harassment discourse, it (1) maps how sexual harassment law conforms to the essential elements of the dominant curriculum model; (2) shows how existing critiques function within that model; and (3) proposes an alternative critique of sexual harassment law that pinpoints the main deficiency of sexual harassment in its conformity to a educational model that serves to maintain the status quo and inhibit, rather than promote, liberatory social change. On this foundation, the Article argues that the challenge is to create a “dialogical” method for law in which the beneficiaries of sexual harassment law are empowered to determine what behaviors serve to entrench their marginalization and, thereby, define their world and the change they want to see in it. Through its reframing of sexual harassment law, this Article liberates sexual harassment law from its reified limitations, creating space for a legal revolution that will liberate workers