Interactions of form and orientation

It is well known that the orientation of an optical pattern relative to egocentric or extraneous references affects its figural quality, that is, alters its perceived form and concomitantly delays or quickens its identification (Rock 1973). A square presented in the frontal plane to an upright person (S), for instance, changes from a box to a diamond when it is rotated with respect to the S's median plane by 45 deg. This angle, that is, the angle between the orientations of the pattern in which the two apparent figures (Gestalten) attain a summit of purity and distinctness, will be called the figural disparity of the pattern. If, as in this case, the S is upright, the retinal meridian and the subjective vertical (SV) are both in the viewer's median plane. The question arises with respect to which of these orientation references the two figures are identified. The answer may be found when the pattern and the S are oriented in such a way that the projections of the retinal meridian and the SV into the plane of the pattern diverge by the pattern's figural disparity or its periodic multiples: that is, in this case of a square by 45 or 135 deg, respectively. Similarly, which reference determines whether an equilateral triangle is seen as a pyramid or a traffic warning sign may be revealed at a divergence of SV and retinal meridian of 60 or 180 deg, respectively. It is generally found that for head roll tilts (Rho) and figural disparities of up to 90 deg, the figure whose axis coincides with the SV is seen. At head tilts of Rho=180 deg, however, the retinal reference dominates, as a rule independently of the figural disparity

Publishing in socially oriented journals - the state of play in Asia

Purpose: This paper examines this issue by examining institutional publishing in six socially oriented marketing journals generally and then explores the performance within Asian institutions and those within Australia and New Zealand, in detail.Design/Methodology/Approach: Authorships of Journal of Macromarketing, Journal of Public Policy &amp; Marketing, Journal of Consumer Affairs, Journal of Non-Profit and Public Sector Marketing, International Journal of Non-Profit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, and Social Marketing Quarterly, from 1999-2003 were tracked, by institution and nationality of school. Results are reported for both number of authors and percent of authorship.Findings: There is a dominance of publishing by North American Academics within the social area. Asia academics appear to be generally under-represented, based on the region&rsquo;s size, although scholars in Australia and New Zealand perform relatively better than one might anticipate.Research Limitations/Implications: A review of socially oriented publishing performance by institutions in Asia identifies that socially oriented research appears to be a focus in Australia and New Zealand across a range of institutions, but occurs less frequently in other Asian countries.Practical Implications: Results are useful for understanding the role of socially oriented research among scholars in Asia and the Pacific. While Australia and New Zealand have made marks in socially oriented research, it appears to be a potential &ldquo;growth area&rdquo; for marketing scholars in Asia and the Pacific.Originality/Value: This is the first paper to examine the role of geography in publishing among those interested in social issues in marketing.<br /

Why Quantum Theory is Possibly Wrong

Quantum theory is a tremendously successful physical theory, but nevertheless suffers from two serious problems: the measurement problem and the problem of interpretational underdetermination. The latter, however, is largely overlooked as a genuine problem of its own. Both problems concern the doctrine of realism, but pull, quite curiously, into opposite directions. The measurement problem can be captured such that due to scientific realism about quantum theory common sense anti-realism follows, while theory underdetermination usually counts as an argument against scientific realism. I will also consider the more refined distinctions of ontic and epistemic realism and demonstrate that quantum theory in its most viable interpretations conflicts with at least one of the various realism claims. A way out of the conundrum is to come to the bold conclusion that quantum theory is, possibly, wrong (in the realist sense)

Publishing in 20 leading marketing journals – an examination of global performance

Purpose of this paper was to examine the global contribution of academics to marketing literature between 1999 and 2003. This was done based on an examination of the location of academics institution of employment, as reported in published works within the targeted journals. This was then used to examine the globally dispersion of publishing by institutions.Design/approach. The paper used a content analysis. The authorship of all articles in 20 leading journals was examined between 1999 and 2003. Empirical examination of institutions performance was undertaken across geographic regions. There was also an examination of whether the type of journal impacted on regional performance, using Polonsky and Whitelaw&rsquo;s (2006) A, B and C journal groupings.Findings. The research found that there is a significant &ldquo;bias&rdquo; of authorship within the 20 journals examined, with the majority of works published by academics at institutions in North America. There is some variation in regional performance based on the type of journal examined. However, when one considers the number of universities within each country/region, it is identified that the proportion of institutions within a country/region publishing within the targeted journals is in fact hight outside North America.Limitations. There was no attempt to examine why any differences exist. The study also only focused on a sample of 20 English language journals over 5 years, although these journals have been &lsquo;defined&rsquo; as a leading marketing journal for European marketing academics.Practical Implications. The research suggests that there may in fact be a range of differences in publishing behaviour. It is unclear if these differences relate to variations in the &ldquo;objectives&rdquo; of institutions within each country or other factors. The research posits that a marketing knowledge may be unnecessarily restricted, if there is a bias against non-north American perspectives.Originality. While there have been other works examining research performance of institutions, there have not been any marketing-related works that focused on the nation in which authors work. This work therefore takes a global &ldquo;snapshot&rdquo; of national research performance within marketing.<br /

Location, Firm Size and International Trade: Simultaneous Measurement of the Effects of Internal and External Scale Economies on Exporting

International Relations/Trade,

Safeguarding the Rights of Sexual Minorities: The Incremental and Legal Approaches to Enforcing International Human Rights Obligations

Section II provides a brief background on the sources of international law used to advocate for and enforce LGBT rights. Section III describes some examples of recent and current legal issues arising out of situations in which nations have decided not to follow their international treaty obligations and examines why these nations might have so chosen. Section III also distinguishes among three different types of situations-laws violating international human rights obligations that predate treaty obligations (III.A), laws predating treaty obligations that are now being reinforced to further violate those obligations (III.B), and laws proposed after treaties have already been signed (III.C)-and, for each, analyzes the legal arguments to be made on both sides of the debate and evaluates potential responses to the actions of these nations. Section IV concludes that combining an incremental approach and an increased emphasis on legal arguments would be the most effective way for international human rights organizations to effect change and to protect the rights of sexual minorities in many cases-but in situations where the offending legislation predates the treaty, legal arguments will likely be less effective

RIMs and RIM interacting proteins : localization and function under physiological and pathophysiological conditions

Neurons transmit signals to their target cells at specialized contact sites called synapses. At chemical synapses the signal propagation is mediated by the fusion of neurotransmitter filled synaptic vesicles with the presynaptic plasma membrane and the subsequent release of transmitter into the synaptic cleft. As compared to other cellular fusion events, the exocytotic release of neurotransmitter is extremely fast, highly regulated and spatially restricted, but also dynamically modulated. Fusion occurs only at a specialized region of the presynaptic plasma membrane, called the active zone. It is precisely aligned with the postsynaptic reception apparatus, and electron microscopic studies clearly show electron-dense structures lining the plasma membrane on both sides of the synaptic cleft. In the presynaptic terminal this electron-dense cytoskeletal matrix is referred to as the cytomatrix at the active zone (CAZ). So far five protein families have been identified to be highly enriched at active zones: Munc13s, RIMs, ELKS, Bassoon/Piccolo and Liprin-α. Additionally, the proteins linking the Active Zone to other functional parts of the presynapse, like the synaptic vesicle cycle or voltage gated calcium channels, play crucial roles in the regulation of transmitter release. In recent years studies using genetic, biochemical, structural and electrophysiological approaches have begun to elucidate how some these proteins are involved in the regulation of synaptic vesicle exocytose, in mediating use-dependent changes during different forms of plasticity and in the structural organization of the active zone. In this study I concentrated on some of the protein families potentially involved in the process of synaptic vesicle fusion. Besides further biochemical and genetic characterization of the Active Zone proteins RIM1 and RIM2 in double knockout animals as well as the adaptor protein family RIM-BP and the Synaptotagmin family I also quantified the differential regulation of presynaptically expressed genes in response to pathologically increased synaptic activity in an animal model of temporal lobe epilepsy. The results of my work will help to look further into the function of interesting proteins and protein families identified in this study that potentially play crucial roles in the regulation of synaptic vesicle exocytosis.RIMs und RIM interagierende Proteine: Lokalisation und Funktion unter physiologischen und pathologischen Bedingungen Die Weiterleitung eines elektrischen Stimulus von einer Nervenzelle zur nächsten erfolgt an spezialisierten zellulären Schnittstellen, den Synapsen. Diese Signalübertragung erfolgt an chemischen Synapsen durch die Fusion synaptischer Vesikel mit der präsynaptischen Membran und die Freisetzung darin enthaltener Neurotransmitter in den synaptischen Spalt. Verglichen mit anderen zellulären sekretorischen Prozessen läuft diese Fusion extrem schnell, streng kontrolliert und örtlich begrenzt ab, gleichzeitig ist er durch eine Vielzahl von Faktoren dynamisch reguliert. Der spezialisierte Bereich der Präsynapse, in dem die Fusion stattfindet, heißt Aktive Zone, und liegt exakt gegenüber des postsynaptischen Neurotransmitterrezeptionsapparats. Die beiden funktionellen Untereinheiten der Synapse lassen sich ultrastrukturell durch elektronendichte Strukturen an den Plasmamembranen auf beiden Seiten des synaptischen Spaltes abgrenzen. Dieses elektronendichte Material wird an der Präsynapse als Cytomatrix an der Aktiven Zone (CAZ) oder präsynaptisches Netz bezeichnet. Bis heute wurden fünf Proteinfamilien identifiziert, deren Mitglieder spezifisch an der Aktiven Zone angereichert sind: Munc13s, RIMs, ELKS, Bassoon/Piccolo und Liprin-α. Neben diesen Poteinen, die aufgrund ihrer Lokalisation offensichtlich an der Regulation der Fusion synaptischer Vesikel, der Vermittlung verschiedener Formen synaptischer Plastizität und/oder der strukturellen Organisation der Aktiven Zone beteiligt sind, konnte bei weiteren Proteinen eine fundamentale Rolle bei der Transmitterfreisetzung nachgewiesen werden. So bildet die Synaptptagmin Familie eine diverse Gruppe von Transmembranproteinen, die über eine potentielle Kalzium-Bindedomäne verfügen und deren Mitglieder teilweise auf synaptischen Vesikeln oder im Umfeld der Aktiven Zone anzutreffen sind. Im Rahmen meiner Dissertation habe ich mich mit der Verteilung dieser Familien im murinen Gehirn befasst, und neben der molekularbiologischen Charakterisierung auch die transkriptionale und translationale Regulation im Tiermodell für chronische Temporallappenepilepsie untersucht, um genauere Einsichten in die molekularen Grundlagen der synaptischen Vesikelfusion und Plastizität in Reaktion auf gesteigerte synaptische Aktivität zu erlangen. Des weiteren konnte ich durch die Charakterisierung der RIM1α/RIM2α Doppelknockout-Maus erheblich zum Verständnis der gemeinsamen und unterschiedlichen Funktionen dieser beiden Mitglieder der RIM-Familie beitragen