A Mannerist Psychomachy

Includes bibliographical reference

Two Parisian Gold Snuffboxes

"The aristocratic mania for ever more exquisite, artful and elegant snuffboxes reached its dazzling zenith in the eighteenth century. Contriving to satisfy this excessive if cultured appetite by the production of an extraordinarily large number of boxes of beauty and high quality, the goldsmiths of Paris early established their city as the unrivaled international center of snuffbox manufacture. Fashioned from wonderfully rich materials -- gold, silver, ivory, hardstones, lacquer, tortoise-shell, porcelain, mother-of-pearl, horn, diamond and other precious stones among them -- and displaying their makers' ingenuity and consummate craftsmanship, the rare Parisian boxes, more highly prized than any others, were avidly sought after and collected. The Museum of Art and Archaeology has in its holdings, as a part of the Sarah Catherine France Collection, two gold snuffboxes representative of Parisian orfevres, or precious metalware. Solid gold, of simple shapes simply decorated, these boxes bear witness to the careful and loving attention lavished by Parisian orfevres on even their most modest creations."--First paragraph.Includes bibliographical reference

Warped Axions

We study a number of realizations of axions existing in a multi-`throat' generalization of the warped throat geometry of a Randall-Sundrum slice of $AdS_5$. As argued by previous authors, the problem of generating a suitable, phenomenologically allowed Peccei-Quinn scale is simply and elegantly solved by the warping. In compactifications with two or more throats it is possible to simultaneously solve the Standard Model hierarchy problem by the Randall-Sundrum mechanism while implementing interesting warped axion models. The constructions discussed are related to holographic duals of previously studied models of composite axions arising from strongly coupled four-dimensional dynamics.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figure, references adde

Towards a Theory of Flavor from Orbifold GUTs

We show that the recently constructed 5-dimensional supersymmetric $S^1/(Z_2\times Z_2')$ orbifold GUT models allow an appealing explanation of the observed hierarchical structure of the quark and lepton masses and mixing angles. Flavor hierarchies arise from the geometrical suppression of some couplings when fields propagate in different numbers of dimensions, or on different fixed branes. Restrictions arising from locality in the extra dimension allow interesting texture zeroes to be easily generated. In addition the detailed nature of the SU(5)-breaking orbifold projections lead to simple theories where $b-\tau$ unification is maintained but similar disfavored SU(5) relations for the lighter generations are naturally avoided. We find that simple 5d models based on $S^1/(Z_2\times Z_2')$ are strikingly successful in explaining many features of the masses and mixing angles of the 2nd and 3rd generation. Successful three generation models of flavor including neutrinos are constructed by generalizing the $S^1/(Z_2\times Z'_2)$ model to six dimensions. Large angle neutrino mixing is elegantly accommodated. Novel features of these models include a simple $m_u=0$ configuration leading to a solution of the strong CP problem.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figure

Foundations of object-based specification design

To enhance applicability and encourage its use, a component or a component-based system must have a well-designed set of interface features as well as a proper explanation of these features. The dual problem of designing a suitable set of interface features in addition to properly explaining its behavior is termed the specification design problem. This dissertation identifies observability, controllability, and a performance-motivated pragmatic criterion as essential properties of desirable formal specifications for reusable object-based software components. The pragmatic criterion guides the design of component interfaces and component libraries to a suitable set of features so that they are widely applicable, both in terms of functionality and performance, yet minimal in size, whereas observability and controllability considerations lead to most suitable formal explanations of the interfaces.;This dissertation formally defines the principles of observability and controllability for object-based software specifications, including those with relational behavior. These principles, in addition to the minimality and performance considerations embodied in the pragmatic criterion, lead to the unique collection of concepts in the RESOLVE component specification library. These principles form a basis for evaluation of existing object-based software specifications, and also lead to designs of new specifications that are among the most desirable in terms of understandability and utility

On the Prioritized Processing of Threat in a Dual Implicit Process Model of Evaluation

Dual-process models of attitudes distinguish between implicit and explicit processes in which the valence (i.e., positivity or negativity) of a stimulus influences judgments and behavior toward the stimulus. Developing parallel to the dual-process literature has been a threat detection literature suggesting that the mind is preferentially attuned to threats to immediate bodily harm. That literature reveals early privileged responses (e.g., shorter latency of detection, stronger reflexive reactions, and faster and stronger physiological responses) to threatening stimuli relative to negative, neutral, and positive stimuli. By integrating those literatures, I develop the Dual Implicit Process Model that postulates two functionally distinct and serially linked automatic processes in which an implicit threat process precedes (and potentially influences) an implicit valence process (positive vs. negative) which precedes (and potentially influences) explicit processes. In what follows, I review existing dual-process models of evaluation and a threat detection literature that developed parallel to (but in isolation of) the former. I then consider weaknesses of dual-process approach given the threat literature, but also limitations in the threat literature that preclude making strong claims about unique threat processing. I then describe three studies that overcome those limitations and introduce the Dual Implicit Process Model (DIPM), which integrates key aspects of both literatures. I subsequently offer two studies that apply the DIPM’s underlying dynamics to explore the basic mechanisms of implicit social cognition that often lead to prejudice. Finally, I close by discussing how the DIP may apply to certain other psychological phenomenon and discuss some open conceptual questions about the model

Protein unfolding and aggregation near an hydrophobic interface [TFG]

Treballs Finals de Grau de Física, Facultat de Física, Universitat de Barcelona, Curs: 2020, Tutor: Giancarlo FranzeseThe behaviour of proteins in a crowded environment is a relevant matter of study for biological and medical purposes. Previous results show that, when the protein concentration increases, the proteins unfold and, at higher concentration, aggregate. Here we study if the presence of a hydrophobic surface affects this sequence of events. To this goal, we simulate a coarse-grained model of a particular sequence of amino acids, with a known native structure, near an ideal hydrophobic surface in aqueous environment. We discuss how the protein folding and the aggregation depends on the temperature and the protein concentration. We find that the sequence of events of unfolding and aggregation is not affected by the hydrophobic interface for this specfic sequence of amino acids. This work opens the way for further systematic studies on this topic, with possible relevant implications in biotechnology

Cheyenne and Sioux Indian relations along the Oregon Trail

"Summary: The relationship between the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians and the emigrants before the Treaty of Laramie in 1851 may be characterized as fairly amicable in spite of mutual irritations. The Indians were at first surprised and then alarmed at the volume of migration through their territory. This alarm was due to the continual destruction of the game, grass and timber; and the widespread epidemics of measles, smallpox and cholera. Many small fights occurred; yet there was no general movement against the whites, and most of the hostile acts that did occur resulted from the desire of the young men to "score a coup." On the other hand, few emigrant trains escaped the nuisance of Indian visits with their consequent begging and stealing, and there was usually danger for any small party which wandered too far from the trail. These incidental hostilities resulted in the demand that the Government afford protection for the emigrant. The efforts of the Government in this direction, however, were almost ludicrous. By 1850 only three military posts had been established by the Government along the trail that was almost two thousand miles long and these posts were never adequately garrisoned. Dragoons sent out to scour the plains may have impressed the savages at times with the power of the United States, but such lessons were soon forgotten and, therefore, had to be frequently repeated. More protection was supplied by the emigrants themselves and by the very size of the migration. The good will of the Indians was partially secured by promises of subsequent material rewards, which the Government saw t1t to fulfill 1n the Treaty or Laramie. After the Treaty of Laramie the Indians remained true to their obligations to remain at peace and not molest the "llh1tes. This state of things continued until the month of August, 1854, when it was interrupted by the Grattan massacre, an event which was at least partly due to the folly of the military author1t1es. The series of Sioux depredations that followed were brought to a close by another massacre, that of Little Thunder's band by the expedition of General Harney. No sooner had peace been established with the Sioux than serious trouble w1th the Cheyenne began. The series of depredations by them 1n the neighborhood of Fort Kearney can be traced back to the episode of the Pour Horses near the crossing of the North Platte. In order to protect small part.1es on the plains from being attacked by the angry Cheyennes, Agent Twiss arranged for a council with the Cheyenne at which time peace was agreed upon. In spite of this Colonel Sumner was ordered to lead an expedition against the India.11s, which was, on the whole, not very successful, but did possibly have a quieting effect upon them as both the Sioux and Cheyenne remained peaceful during the remainder of the period under consideration. In the last analysis, the history of the Indian relations with the whites during this period is the old story found wherever the white man went. Whether the Indians fought or- whether they made a treaty, they eventually forfeited their rights and lost their territory."--Pages 82-84

Histone deacetylase 2 is phosphorylated, ubiquitinated, and degraded by cigarette smoke

Cigarette smoke (CS)–induced lung inflammation involves the reduction of histone deacetylase 2 (HDAC2) abundance, which is associated with steroid resistance in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and in individuals with severe asthma who smoke cigarettes. However, the molecular mechanism of CS-mediated reduction of HDAC2 is not clearly known. We hypothesized that HDAC2 is phosphorylated and subsequently degraded by the proteasome in vitro in macrophages (MonoMac6), human bronchial and primary small airway epithelial cells, and in vivo in mouse lungs in response to chronic CS exposure. Cigarette smoke extract (CSE) exposure in MonoMac6 and in bronchial and airway epithelial cells led to phosphorylation of HDAC2 on serine/threonine residues by a protein kinase CK2-mediated mechanism, decreased HDAC2 activity, and increased ubiquitin-proteasome–dependent HDAC2 degradation. CK2 and proteasome inhibitors reversed CSE-mediated HDAC2 degradation, whereas serine/threonine phosphatase inhibitor, okadaic acid, caused phosphorylation and subsequent ubiquitination of HDAC2. CS-induced HDAC2 phosphorylation was detected in mouse lungs from 2 weeks to 4 months of CS exposure, and mice showed significantly lower lung HDAC2 levels. Thus, CS-mediated down-regulation of HDAC2 in human macrophages and lung epithelial cells in vitro and in mouse lung in vivo involves the induction of serine/threonine phosphorylation and proteasomal degradation, which may have implications for steroid resistance and abnormal inflammation caused by cigarette smoke