Nano-electro-mechanical in dynamical cellular processes

Report for the scientific sojourn carried out at the Department of Structure and Constituents of Matter during 2007.The main focus of the work was on phenomena related to nano-electromechanical processes that take place on a cellular level. Additionally, it has also been performed independent work related to charge and energy transfer in bio molecules, energy transfer in coupled spin systems as well as electrodynamics of nonlinear metamaterials.

Fact And Fictions In FX Arbitrage Processes

The efficient markets hypothesis implies that arbitrage opportunities in markets such as those for foreign exchange (FX) would be, at most, short-lived. The present paper surveys the fragmented nature of FX markets, revealing that information in these markets is also likely to be fragmented. The “quant” workforce in the hedge fund featured in The Fear Index novel by Robert Harris would have little or no reason for their existence in an EMH world. The four currency combinatorial analysis of arbitrage sequences contained in Cross, Kozyakin, O’Callaghan, Pokrovskii and Pokrovskiy (2012) is then considered. Their results suggest that arbitrage processes, rather than being self-extinguishing, tend to be periodic in nature. This helps explain the fact that arbitrage dealing tends to be endemic in FX markets.

What is the Causal Effect of Information and Learning about a Public Good on Willingness to Pay?

In this study we elicit agents’ prior information set regarding a public good, exogenously give information treatments to survey respondents and subsequently elicit willingness to pay for the good and posterior information sets. The design of this field experiment allows us to perform theoretically motivated hypothesis testing between different updating rules: non-informative updating, Bayesian updating, and incomplete updating. We find causal evidence that agents imperfectly update their information sets. We also field causal evidence that the amount of additional information provided to subjects relative to their pre-existing information levels can affect stated WTP in ways consistent overload from too much learning. This result raises important (though familiar) issues for the use of stated preference methods in policy analysis.

The Causal effect of education on aggregate income

Empirical studies assume that the macro Mincer return on schooling is con- stant across countries. Using a large sample of countries this paper shows that countries with a better quality of education have on average relatively higher macro Mincer coeficients. As rich countries have on average better educational quality, differences in human capital between countries are larger than has been typically assumed in the development accounting literature. Consequently, factor accumulation explains a considerably larger share of income differences across countries than what is usually found.

Quantifying rates of landscape evolution and tectonic processes by thermochronology and numerical modeling of crustal heat transport using PECUBE

PECUBE is a three-dimensional thermal-kinematic code capable of solving the heat production-diffusion-advection equation under a temporally varying surface boundary condition. It was initially developed to assess the effects of time-varying surface topography (relief) on low-temperature thermochronological datasets. Thermochronometric ages are predicted by tracking the time-temperature histories of rock-particles ending up at the surface and by combining these with various age-prediction models. In the decade since its inception, the PECUBE code has been under continuous development as its use became wider and addressed different tectonic-geomorphic problems. This paper describes several major recent improvements in the code, including its integration with an inverse-modeling package based on the Neighborhood Algorithm, the incorporation of fault-controlled kinematics, several different ways to address topographic and drainage change through time, the ability to predict subsurface (tunnel or borehole) data, prediction of detrital thermochronology data and a method to compare these with observations, and the coupling with landscape-evolution (or surface-process) models. Each new development is described together with one or several applications, so that the reader and potential user can clearly assess and make use of the capabilities of PECUBE. We end with describing some developments that are currently underway or should take place in the foreseeable future. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effects of anxiety on visuospatial pattern discrimination and decision-making processes: what can we learn from brain dynamics ?

Detection and discrimination of visuospatial input involve at least extracting, selecting and encoding relevant information and decision-making processes allowing selecting a response. These two operations are altered, respectively, by attentional mechanisms that change discrimination capacities, and by beliefs concerning the likelihood of uncertain events. Information processing is tuned by the attentional level that acts like a filter on perception, while decision-making processes are weighed by subjective probability of risk. In addition, it has been shown that anxiety could affect the detection of unexpected events through the modification of the level of arousal. Consequently, purpose of this study concerns whether and how decision-making and brain dynamics are affected by anxiety. To investigate these questions, the performance of women with either a high (12) or a low (12) STAI-T (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Spielberger, 1983) was examined in a decision-making visuospatial task where subjects have to recognize a target visual pattern from non-target patterns. The target pattern was a schematic image of furniture arranged in such a way as to give the impression of a living room. Non-target patterns were created by either the compression or the dilatation of the distances between objects. Target and non-target patterns were always presented in the same configuration. Preliminary behavioral results show no group difference in reaction time. In addition, visuo-spatial abilities were analyzed trough the signal detection theory for quantifying perceptual decisions in the presence of uncertainty (Green and Swets, 1966). This theory treats detection of a stimulus as a decision-making process determined by the nature of the stimulus and cognitive factors. Astonishingly, no difference in d' (corresponding to the distance between means of the distributions) and c (corresponds to the likelihood ratio) indexes was observed. Comparison of Event-related potentials (ERP) reveals that brain dynamics differ according to anxiety. It shows differences in component latencies, particularly a delay in anxious subjects over posterior electrode sites. However, these differences are compensated during later components by shorter latencies in anxious subjects compared to non-anxious one. These inverted effects seem indicate that the absence of difference in reaction time rely on a compensation of attentional level that tunes cortical activation in anxious subjects, but they have to hammer away to maintain performance.

On making causal claims: A review and recommendations

Social scientists often estimate models from correlational data, where the independent variable has not been exogenously manipulated; they also make implicit or explicit causal claims based on these models. When can these claims be made? We answer this question by first discussing design and estimation conditions under which model estimates can be interpreted, using the randomized experiment as the gold standard. We show how endogeneity--which includes omitted variables, omitted selection, simultaneity, common methods bias, and measurement error--renders estimates causally uninterpretable. Second, we present methods that allow researchers to test causal claims in situations where randomization is not possible or when causal interpretation is confounded, including fixed-effects panel, sample selection, instrumental variable, regression discontinuity, and difference-in-differences models. Third, we take stock of the methodological rigor with which causal claims are being made in a social sciences discipline by reviewing a representative sample of 110 articles on leadership published in the previous 10 years in top-tier journals. Our key finding is that researchers fail to address at least 66 % and up to 90 % of design and estimation conditions that make causal claims invalid. We conclude by offering 10 suggestions on how to improve non-experimental research.

De novo mutation in the KCNQ1 gene causal to Jervell and Lange-Nielsen syndrome.

Jervell and Lange-Nielsen syndrome (JLNS) is an autosomal recessive disorder, clinically characterized by severe cardiac arrhythmias [due to prolonged QTc interval in electrocardiogram (ECG)] and bilateral sensory neural deafness. Molecular defects causal to JLNS are either homozygous or compound heterozygous mutations, predominantly in the KCNQ1 gene and occasionally in the KCNE1 gene. As the molecular defect is bi-allelic, JLNS patients inherit one pathogenic mutation causal to the disorder from each parent. In this report, we show for the first time that such a disorder could also occur due to a spontaneous de novo mutation in the affected individual, not inherited from the parent, which makes this case unique unlike the previously reported JLNS cases.

Aprender investigando. Una experiencia formativa en el ámbito de la enfermería = Research teaching processes used as a methodological strategy in the education of healthcare professionals

Este trabajo tiene como propósito presentar y valorar, desde la perspectiva del alumnado participante, un proyecto de investigación-formación puesto en marcha durante el curso 2003-2004 en la elaboración del trabajo de tesina, fin de carrera, en la Escuela de Enfermería de Vitoria, dentro del programa de Licenciatura Europea de Enfermería. Constituye el punto de partida de un proyecto a largo plazo, iniciado con la intención de desarrollar principios teóricos y procedimientos prácticos que nos permitan sistematizar procesos formativos que, centrados en la investigación, articulen la teoría y la práctica e integren una perspectiva comunicativa y cooperativa.

Subduction and obduction processes in the Swiss Alps

The significance of the Brianconnais domain in the Alpine orogen is reviewed in the light of data concerning its collision with the active Adriatic margin and the passive Helvetic margin. The Brianconnais which formerly belonged to the Iberian plate, was located on the northern margin of the Alpine Tethys (Liguro-Piemont ocean) since its opening in the early-Middle Jurassic. Together with the Iberian plate the Brianconnais terrane was separated from the European plate in the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous, following the northern Atlantic, Bay of Biscay, Valais ocean opening. This was accompanied by the onset of subduction along the northern margin of Adria and the closure of the Alpine Tethys. Stratigraphic and metamorphic data regarding this subduction and the geohistory of the Brianconnais allows the scenario of subduction-obduction processes during the Late Cretaceous-early Tertiary in the eastern and western Alps to be specified. HP-LT metamorphism record a long-lasting history of oceanic subduction-accretion, followed in the Middle Eocene by the incorporation of the Brianconnais as an exotic terrane into the accretionary prism. Middle to Late Eocene cooling ages of the Brianconnais basement and the presence of pelagic, anorogenic sedimentation lasting until the Middle Eocene on the Brianconnais preclude any sort of collision before that time between this domain and the active Adria margin or the Helvetic margin. This is confirmed by plate reconstructions constrained by magnetic anomalies in the Atlantic domain. Only a small percentage of the former Brianconnais domain was obducted, most of the crust and lithospheric roots were subducted. This applies also to domains formerly belonging to the southern Alpine Tethys margin (Austroalpine-inner Carpathian domain). It is proposed that there was a single Palaeogene subduction zone responsible for the Alpine orogen formation (from northern Spain to the East Carpathians), with the exception of a short-lived Late Cretaceous partial closure of the Valais ocean. Subduction in the western Tethyan domain originated during the closure of the Meliata ocean during the Jurassic incorporating the Austroalpine-Carpathian domain as terranes during the Cretaceous. The subduction zone propagated into the northern margin of Adria and then to the northern margin of the Iberian plate, where it gave birth to the Pyrenean-Provencal orogenic belt. This implies the absence of a separated Cretaceous subduction zone within the Austro-Carpathian Penninic ocean. Collision of Iberia with Europe forced the subduction to jump to the SE margin of Iberia in the Eocene, creating the Apenninic orogenic wedge and inverting the vergence of subduction from south- to north-directed. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Aprendizaje causal en humanos: detectando la fuerza causal en contextos que varían en la tasa base del efecto

El beneficio principal de contar con una representación de la potencia causal (Cheng, 1997) es que ésta supone una descripción contexto-independiente de la influencia de una determinada causa sobre el efecto. Por lo tanto, una forma adecuada de poner a prueba la existencia de estos modelos mentales es crear situaciones en las que la gente observa o predice la efectividad de las causas diana en múltiples contextos. La naturaleza trans-situacional de la potencia trae consigo una serie de consecuencias testables que hemos puesto a prueba a lo largo de tres series experimentales. En la primera serie experimental investigamos la transferencia de la fuerza causal, aprendida en un contexto específico, a un contexto en el que la probabilidad o tasa base del efecto es diferente. Los participantes debían predecir la probabilidad del efecto dada la introducción de la causa en el nuevo contexto. En la segunda serie experimental estudiamos las estrategias utilizadas por las personas a la hora de descubrir relaciones causales. De acuerdo con el modelo de la potencia causal, si pretendemos descubrir la potencia de una causa, entonces lo más apropiado es introducirla en el contexto más informativo y menos ambiguo posible. En los distintos experimentos de la serie combinamos tanto contextos como causas probabilísticas y determinísticas. En la tercera serie experimental intentamos extender los hallazgos de Liljeholm & Cheng (2007), en los se encontró que la generalización entre contextos ocurre según las predicciones del modelo de potencia. Parece probable que el procedimiento de dos fases utilizado por los autores promueva la tendencia a ignorar algunos ensayos, generando artificialmente resultados consistentes con los esperados por la potencia. Además, cuando controlamos la P(E|C) independientemente de la potencia, el patrón de resultados se invirtió, contradiciendo lo esperado por el modelo de Cheng. En conclusión, existe cierta evidencia que apoya la existencia de modelos causales pero es necesario buscar formas adecuadas de poner a prueba estos modelos.

On the maintenance of sex-chromosome polymorphism by sex-antagonistic selection

Complex sex-determination systems are a priori unstable and require specific selective forces for their maintenance. Analytical derivations have suggested that sex-antagonistic selection may play such a role, but this assumed absence of recombination between the sex-determining and sex-antagonistic genes. Using individual-based simulations, and focusing on the sex chromosome and coloration polymorphisms of platy fishes as a case study, we show that the conditions for polymorphism maintenance induce female-biases in primary sex ratios, so that sex-ratio selection makes the system collapse towards male- or female heterogamety as soon as recombinant genotypes appear. However, a polymorphism can still be maintained under scenarios comprising strong sexual selection against dull males, mild natural selection against bright females, and low recombination rates. Though such conditions are plausibly met in natural populations of fishes harbouring such polymorphisms, quantitative empirical evaluations are required to properly test whether sex-antagonistic selection is a causal agent, or if other selective processes are required (such as local mate competition favouring female biased sex ratios).