Spinoza

"Spinoza", second edition. Encyclopedia entry for the Springer Encyclopedia of EM Phil and the Sciences, ed. D. Jalobeanu and C. T. Wolfe

The social psychology of collective victimhood

Collective victimhood, which results from the experience of being targeted as members of a group, has powerful effects on individuals and groups. The focus of this Special Issue is on how people respond to collective victimhood and how these responses shape intergroup relations. We introduce the Special Issue with an overview of emerging social psychological research on collective victimhood. To date, this research has focused mostly on destructive versus positive consequences of collective victimhood for relations with an adversary group, and examined victim groups' needs, victim beliefs, and underlying social identity and categorization processes. We identify several neglected factors in this literature, some of which are addressed by the empirical contributions in the current issue. The Special Issue offers novel perspectives on collective victimhood, presenting findings based on a diverse range of methods with mostly community samples that have direct and vicarious experiences of collective harm in different countries

Differential Regulation of PI3K Related Transcripts in Visceral Adipose Tissue from Obese Adolescent African-American Females

Please view abstract in the attached PDF file

Diffusion in the Continuous-Imaginary-Time Quantum World-Line Monte Carlo Simulations with Extended Ensembles

The dynamics of samples in the continuous-imaginary-time quantum world-line Monte Carlo simulations with extended ensembles are investigated. In the case of a conventional flat ensemble on the one-dimensional quantum S=1 bi-quadratic model, the asymmetric behavior of Monte Carlo samples appears in the diffusion process in the space of the number of vertices. We prove that a local diffusivity is asymptotically proportional to the number of vertices, and we demonstrate the asymmetric behavior in the flat ensemble case. On the basis of the asymptotic form, we propose the weight of an optimal ensemble as $1/\sqrt{n}$, where $n$ denotes the number of vertices in a sample. It is shown that the asymmetric behavior completely vanishes in the case of the proposed ensemble on the one-dimensional quantum S=1 bi-quadratic model.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, update a referenc

Langevin Trajectories between Fixed Concentrations

We consider the trajectories of particles diffusing between two infinite baths of fixed concentrations connected by a channel, e.g. a protein channel of a biological membrane. The steady state influx and efflux of Langevin trajectories at the boundaries of a finite volume containing the channel and parts of the two baths is replicated by termination of outgoing trajectories and injection according to a residual phase space density. We present a simulation scheme that maintains averaged fixed concentrations without creating spurious boundary layers, consistent with the assumed physics

Random Walks on a Fluctuating Lattice: A Renormalization Group Approach Applied in One Dimension

We study the problem of a random walk on a lattice in which bonds connecting nearest neighbor sites open and close randomly in time, a situation often encountered in fluctuating media. We present a simple renormalization group technique to solve for the effective diffusive behavior at long times. For one-dimensional lattices we obtain better quantitative agreement with simulation data than earlier effective medium results. Our technique works in principle in any dimension, although the amount of computation required rises with dimensionality of the lattice.Comment: PostScript file including 2 figures, total 15 pages, 8 other figures obtainable by mail from D.L. Stei

Chromosomes of the Asian flying squirrel Petaurista petaurista (Pallas)

Хромосомы были изучаны летаги Petaurista petaurista из Ингии; диплоидное число (2 n ) было 38 и число аутосом плечи (NF) было 72. Родство между хромосомами рода Petaurista и рода Glaucomys подсемейства Petauristinae, и Между Petaurista и Sciurus (подсемейство Sciurinae) было описывано. Находка, что диплондное число Petauristia было 38, оказывала понятие, что родовые Sciuridae обладали 2 n =38–40.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42484/1/18_2005_Article_BF02286944.pd

On central tendency and dispersion measures for intervals and hypercubes

The uncertainty or the variability of the data may be treated by considering, rather than a single value for each data, the interval of values in which it may fall. This paper studies the derivation of basic description statistics for interval-valued datasets. We propose a geometrical approach in the determination of summary statistics (central tendency and dispersion measures) for interval-valued variables

Thermal and mechanical characterization of high-performance polymer fabrics for applications in wearable devices

With advances in fexible and wearable device technology, thermal regulation will become increasingly important. Fabrics and substrates used for such applications will be required to efectively spread any heat generated in the devices to ensure user comfort and safety, while also preventing overheating of the electronic components. Commercial fabrics consisting of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMW-PE) fbers are currently used in personal body armor and sports gear owing to their high strength, durability, and abrasion resistance. In addition to superior mechanical properties, UHMW-PE fbers exhibit very high axial thermal conductivity due to a high degree of polymer chain orientation. However, these materials have not been widely explored for thermal management applications in fexible and wearable devices. Assessment of their suitability for such applications requires characterization of the thermal and mechanical properties of UHMW-PE in the fabric form that will ultimately be used to construct heat spreading materials. Here, we use advanced techniques to characterize the thermal and mechanical properties of UHMW-PE fabrics, as well as other conventional fexible materials and fabrics. An infrared microscopy-based approach measures the efective in-plane thermal conductivity, while an ASTM-based bend testing method quantifes the bending stifness. We also characterize the efective thermal behavior of fabrics when subjected to creasing and thermal annealing to assess their reliability for relevant practical engineering applications. Fabrics consisting of UHMW-PE fbers have signifcantly higher thermal conductivities than the benchmark conventional materials while possessing good mechanical fexibility, thereby showcasing great potential as substrates for fexible and wearable heat spreading application

Benefits of biomarker selection and clinico-pathological covariate inclusion in breast cancer prognostic models

Introduction: Multi-marker molecular assays have impacted management of early stage breast cancer, facilitating adjuvant chemotherapy decisions. We generated prognostic models that incorporate protein-based molecular markers and clinico-pathological variables to improve survival prediction. Methods: We used a quantitative immunofluorescence method to study protein expression of 14 markers included in the Oncotype DX™ assay on a 638 breast cancer patient cohort with 15-year follow-up. We performed cross-validation analyses to assess performance of multivariate Cox models consisting of these markers and standard clinico-pathological covariates, using an average time-dependent Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic curves and compared it to nested Cox models obtained by robust backward selection procedures. Results: A prognostic index derived from of a multivariate Cox regression model incorporating molecular and clinico-pathological covariates (nodal status, tumor size, nuclear grade, and age) is superior to models based on molecular studies alone or clinico-pathological covariates alone. Performance of this composite model can be further improved using feature selection techniques to prune variables. When stratifying patients by Nottingham Prognostic Index (NPI), the most prognostic markers in high and low NPI groups differed. Similarly, for the node-negative, hormone receptor-positive sub-population, we derived a compact model with three clinico-pathological variables and two protein markers that was superior to the full model. Conclusions: Prognostic models that include both molecular and clinico-pathological covariates can be more accurate than models based on either set of features alone. Furthermore, feature selection can decrease the number of molecular variables needed to predict outcome, potentially resulting in less expensive assays.This work was supported by a grant from the Susan G Komen Foundation (to YK)