Biochemical Effects of Meditation: A Literature Review

Meditation is an activity that can help reduce stress and anxiety from daily life as well as help cultivate overall feel- ings of peacefulness, relaxation, and contentment. This review describes several studies that have been used to assess how meditation can influence the body at the molecular level. The presented results focus on small-molecule metab- olites, which are broadly defined as naturally-produced molecules that weigh less than approximately 1000 Da. The results show that meditation can significantly affect hormones and neurotransmitters such as cortisol, dehydroepi- androstrone, serotonin, melatonin, and epinephrine. Some common and modern experimental techniques that are relevant to these studies are also discussed, as well as some challenges of accurately interpreting the results. Overall, understanding the molecular-level effects of meditation can provide a more detailed understanding of its physiologi- cal effects because many of the affected molecules are known to be linked to changes in stress responses and mood

Challenges and Opportunities of Machine Learning for Monitoring and Operational Data Analytics in Quantitative Codesign of Supercomputers

This work examines the challenges and opportunities of Machine Learning (ML) for Monitoring and Operational Data Analytics (MODA) in the context of Quantitative Codesign of Supercomputers (QCS). MODA is employed to gain insights into the behavior of current High Performance Computing (HPC) systems to improve system efficiency, performance, and reliability (e.g. through optimizing cooling infrastructure, job scheduling, and application parameter tuning). In this work, we take the position that QCS in general, and MODA in particular, require close exchange with the ML community to realize the full potential of data-driven analysis for the benefit of existing and future HPC systems. This exchange will facilitate identifying the appropriate ML methods to gain insights into current HPC systems and to go beyond expert-based knowledge and rules of thumb

Bistability in organic magnetic materials: a comparative study of the key differences between hysteretic and non-hysteretic spin transitions in dithiazolyl radicals

Dithiazolyl (DTA)- based radicals have furnished many examples of organic spin- transition materials, some of them occurring with hysteresis and some others without. Herein, we present a combined computational and experimental study aimed at deciphering the factors controlling the existence or absence of hysteresis by comparing the phase transitions of 4- cyanobenzo- 1,3,2- dithiazolyl and 1,3,5trithia- 2,4,6- triazapentalenyl radicals, which are prototypical examples of non- bistable and bistable spin transitions, respectively. Both materials present low- temperature diamagnetic and high- temperature paramagnetic structures, characterized by dimerized (center dot center dot center dot A-A center dot center dot center dot A-A center dot center dot center dot) n and regular (center dot center dot center dot A center dot center dot center dot A center dot center dot center dot A center dot center dot center dot A center dot center dot center dot) n pi- stacks of radicals, respectively. We show that the regular pi-stacks are not potential energy minima but average structures arising from a dynamic inter-conversion between two degenerate dimerized configurations: (center dot center dot center dot A-A center dot center dot center dot A-A center dot center dot center dot)n (-A center dot center dot center dot A-A center dot center dot center dot A-)n. The emergence of this intrastack dynamics upon heating gives rise to a second-order phase transition that is responsible for the change in the dominant magnetic interactions of the system. This suggests that the promotion of a (center dot center dot center dot A-A center dot center dot center dot A-A center dot center dot center dot)n (-A center dot center dot center dot A-A center dot center dot center dot A-) n dynamics is a general mechanism for triggering spin transitions in DTA-based materials. Yet, this intra-stack dynamics does not suffice to generate bistability, which also requires a rearrangement of the intermolecular bonds between the pstacks via a first-order phase transition

Evaluation of chemical diversity of biotinylated chiral 1,3-diamines as a catalytic moiety in artificial imine reductase

The possibility of obtaining an efficient artificial imine reductase was investigated by introducing a chiral cofactor into artificial metalloenzymes based on biotin-streptavidin technology. In particular, a chiral biotinylated 1,3-diamine ligand in coordination with iridium(III) complex was developed. Optimized chemogenetic studies afforded positive results in the stereoselective reduction of a cyclic imine, the salsolidine precursor, as a standard substrate with access to both enantiomers. Various factors such as pH, temperature, number of binding sites, and steric hindrance of the catalytic moiety have been proved to affect both efficiency and enantioselectivity, underlining the great flexibility of this system in comparison with the achiral system. Computational studies were also performed to explain how the metal configuration, in the proposed system, might affect the observed stereochemical outcome

Scandinavian or Slavic? Translation of culture-specific elements from Polish into Swedish in Den sista önskningen of Andrzej Sapkowski

Przedmiotem pracy była analiza i opis tłumaczenia elementów specyficznych kulturowo z języka polskiego na szwedzki w Den sista önskningen Andrzeja Sapkowskiego. Bliższej analizie zostało poddanych pięć kategorii elementów kulturowych, tj. imiona osób, nazwy miejsc, nazwy roślin, nazwy istot nadprzyrodzonych i nazwy związane z realiami historycznymi. Celem pracy było zbadanie tłumaczenia elementów kulturowych z języka polskiego na język szwedzki, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem przypadków zamiany typowo słowiańskich określeń na skandynawskie. Tekst źródłowy został porównany z tekstem docelowym, aby sprawdzić czy efekt oryginału został zrekonstruowany w tłumaczeniu.Analiza wykazała, że domestykacja była globalną strategią tłumaczeniową, co wyraża się w podmianie większości typowo słowiańskich elementów kulturowych na skandynawskie. Co więcej, nie odnaleziono przypadków stosowania akulturacji przez tłumacza w celu wyrównania nasycenia kulturowego obu tekstów, co powoduje, że tekst docelowy jest uboższy w nawiązania kulturowe. Straty widoczne są szczególnie w kategoriach nazw istot nadprzyrodzonych oraz słów związanych z realiami historycznymi. Niemniej jednak tekst źródłowy zawiera również wiele elementów kulturowych, które nie wymagają domestykacji, ponieważ nie odsyłają czytelnika do kultury słowiańskiej, lecz do nordyckiej, czy szerzej: germańskiej. Tyczy się to głównie toponimów, niektórych antroponimów, autentycznych nazw roślin oraz istot nadprzyrodzonych pochodzących z mitologii nordyckiej, germańskiej.The aim of this thesis is to describe the translation of culture-specific elements from Polish into Swedish in a fantasy work Den sista önskningen of Andrzej Sapkowski. I analyze in detail five categories of cultural terms - names of people, names of places, words for plants, words for supernatural beings and words for historical realities. My method is nearest to qualitative. My purpose was to examine how the culture-bound references have been translated from Polish into Swedish, especially how the typically Slavic words have been replaced with the Scandinavian. I compare the source text with the target text to find out if the effect of the source text has been successfully recreated in the target text. My analysis shows that domestication was the global translation strategy, which is expressed in the exchange of the most typically Slavic culture-specific elements to the Scandinavian. Since the translator does not compensate them elsewhere by applying acculturation, the target text becomes culturally less attractive than the source text. The losses concern especially words for historical realities and supernatural beings. However, there are quite a few cultural terms that do not require domestication owing to the fact that they refer to other cultures, including Germanic and Nordic. It concerns namely most toponyms, some anthroponyms, authentic plant names and the creatures that derive from the Germanic and Norse mythology.Den föreliggande uppsatsen handlar om att redogöra för översättning av kulturspecifika element från polska till svenska i fantasyverket Den sista önskningen av Andrzej Sapkowski. Jag analyserar närmare fem kategorier av kulturspecifika element - namn på personer, namn på orter, ord för växter, ord för övernaturliga väsen och ord för historisk realia. Min metod är närmast kvalitativ. Syftet är att undersöka hur de kulturbundna referenserna har översatts från polska till svenska, särskilt hur de typiskt slaviska beteckningarna har ersatts med de skandinaviska. Källtexten jämförs med måltexten för att ta reda på om källtextens effekt har återskapats i måltexten.Min analys visar att domesticering är global översättningsstrategi, vilket uttrycks i ett utbyte av de flesta typiskt slaviska kulturspecifika elementen mot de skandinaviska. Eftersom översättaren inte ersätter dem på andra ställen genom att tillämpa ackulturation blir måltexten kulturellt fattigare än källtexten. Förluster gäller i synnerhet ord för historisk realia och övernaturliga väsen. Det finns dock rätt många kulturella referenser som inte kräver domesticering därför att de hänvisar till andra kulturer, bl.a. germanska och nordiska. Det angår nämligen de flesta toponymerna, vissa antroponymer, autentiska växtnamn och de varelser som hämtas från den germanska eller nordiska mytologin