Independent Regulation Research Articles

No need to choose: Independent regulation of cognitive stability and flexibility challenges the stability-flexibility trade-off.

Adaptive behavior requires the ability to focus on a current task and protect it from distraction (cognitive stability), as well as the ability to rapidly switch to another task in light of changing circumstances (cognitive flexibility). Cognitive stability and flexibility have been conceptualized as opposite endpoints on a stability-flexibility trade-off continuum, implying an obligatory reciprocity between the two: Greater flexibility necessitates less stability, and vice versa. Surprisingly, rigorous empirical tests of this critical assumption are lacking. Here, we acquired simultaneous measurements of cognitive stability (congruency effects) and flexibility (switch costs) on the same stimuli within the same task while independently varying contextual demands on these functions with block-wise manipulations of the proportion of incongruent trials and task switches, respectively. If cognitive stability and flexibility are reciprocal, increases in flexibility in response to higher switch rates should lead to commensurate decreases in stability, and increases in stability in response to more frequent incongruent trials should result in decreased flexibility. Across three experiments, using classic cued task-switching (Experiments 1 and 3) and attentional set-shifting (Experiment 2) protocols, we found robust evidence against an obligatory stability-flexibility trade-off. Although we observed the expected contextual adaptation of stability and flexibility to changing demands, strategic adjustments in stability had little influence on flexibility, and vice versa. These results refute the long-held assumption of a stability-flexibility trade-off, documenting instead that the cognitive processes mediating these functions can be regulated independently-it is possible to be both stable and flexible at the same time. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Current Mode Proportional Resonant Controlled DC Micro Grid System with Enhanced Response

Closed-loop DC Micro-Grid containing sustainable power sources, stockpiling components and burdens are introduced. The regulators for helping the control of mico-grid are numerous in the power-frameworks, yet the most normally utilized one is PI regulator. Aside from PI there are, an entire bundle of independent regulators and hybrid regulators that can serve significantly better compared to PI for microgrid framework relevance’s. Closed-loop DC microgrid framework system with FOPID-FOPID (Fractional-order-Proportional-Integral Derivative controller) and PR—PR (Proportional-Resonant Controller) based DCMG structures are investigated and re-enacted utilizing Simulink in MATLAB and their outcomes are introduced. After re-enactment analyses, some preliminary eventual outcomes of FOPID-FOPID and PR-PR controlled DCMG framework are given to actually look at the sufficiency of the proposed framework.

The The impact of board independence on earnings management

The study aims at investigating the association between family firms and earnings management through an advanced panel data regression model-Hybrid model that control for unobserved cross-sectional heterogeneity across firms and time, while estimating the coefficient of dichotomous variable - family firms. Further, the statutory backup of board independence in India provides unique setting to investigate the moderating role of board independence on the association between family firms and earnings management. Based on a sample of 2074 Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) listed firms, spanning over 13 years from 2005 to 2017, the empirical results show that family firms are less likely to be engaged in earnings management in comparison to their non-family counterparts. Besides, results show that that board independence has constraining (liberating) effect on earnings management practices of non-family (family) firms, implying that a common board independence regulation does not strengthen the mechanism of internal corporate governance for all categories of firms. Hence, separate statutory provisions should be made for family and non-family firms to curb this corporate misfeasance. These results are robust to the alternative specification of earnings management.

Precision Temperature Control System with Low EMI for Applications in Analyzing Thermal Properties of Highly Sensitive Piezoelectric Sensors.

A low electromagnetic interference (EMI), precision temperature control system for sensitive piezoelectric sensors stabilization and their thermal characteristics research was proposed. Quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) was chosen as the device to be tested. Recently, QCMs found use in many fields of study such as biology, chemistry, and aerospace. They often operate in harsh environments and are exposed to many external factors including temperature fluctuations, to which QCMs are highly susceptible. Such disturbances can cause undesirable resonant frequency shifts resulting in measurement errors that are difficult to eliminate. The proposed solution enables measurements of QCMs thermal characteristics, effectiveness evaluation of temperature compensation methods, and testing of the frequency stability. As a part of the developed solution, two independent temperature regulators were used: first to maintain the QCM crystal at desired temperature, and second to keep the QCM oscillator circuit at fixed temperature. The single regulator consists of a thermoelectric module (TEC) used for both heating and cooling. Two considered TEC driving methods were compared in terms of EMI and their impact on the QCM signal quality. The proposed system was examined for its temperature stabilization capability showing high stability of 11 mKp-p for one hour and the setpoint accuracy of ±15 mK in the full temperature range.

Sol-gel-based porous Ti-doped tungsten oxide films for high-performance dual-band electrochromic smart windows

Dual-band electrochromic smart windows (DESWs) with independent control of the transmittance of near-infrared and visible light show great potential in the application of smart and energy-saving buildings. The current strategy for building DESWs is to screen materials for composite or prepare plasmonic nanocrystal films. These rigorous preparation processes seriously limit the further development of DESWs. Herein, we report a facile and effective sol–gel strategy using a foaming agent to achieve porous Ti-doped tungsten oxide film for the high performance of DESWs. The introduction of foaming agent polyvinylpyrrolidone during the film preparation can increase the specific surface area and free carrier concentration of the films and enhance their independent regulation ability of near-infrared electrochromism. As a result, the optimal film shows excellent dual-band electrochromic properties, including high optical modulation (84.9% at 633 nm and 90.3% at 1200 nm), high coloration efficiency (114.9 cm2 C-1 at 633 nm and 420.3 cm2 C-1 at 1200 nm), quick switching time, excellent bistability, and good cycle stability (the transmittance modulation losses at 633 and 1200 nm were 11% and 3.5% respectively after 1000 cycles). A demonstrated DESW fabricated by the sol–gel film showed effective management of heat and light of sunlight. This study represents a significant advance in the preparation of dual-band electrochromic films, which will shed new light on advancing electrochromic technology for future energy-saving smart buildings.

SINGLE-DC-SOURCE QUASI-Z-SOURCE CASCADED MULTILEVEL INVERTER WITH ACTIVE POWER SHARING

This paper proposes a novel cascaded multilevel topology, named Single-dc-Source quasi-Z Source Cascade Multilevel Inverter. This inverter has the ability to provide independent regulation of the dc bus voltage of each H-bridge, ensuring real power balancing and true symmetric to the multilevel waveforms. In addition, the Single-dc-Source quasi-Z Source Cascade Multilevel Inverter allows operating with a single low power PV array. This paper provides a detailed analysis of operation with a design methodology for the hardware, as well as modeling and controller design. Simulation results are provided to verify the proposed system operation and control strategy.

The Regulatory Space of Baseball: Is Global Regulation Needed to Govern the International Movement of Players?

Occupying baseball’s regulatory space are multiple regimes that govern global labour mobility and the international transfer of amateur and professional players. Professional leagues are the key regulatory actors in this space, non-state actors responsible for establishing the controls on a player’s labour mobility within the league and to foreign competitions. The dominant regulator in baseball is Major League Baseball (‘MLB’) that acts as a de facto international sports federation and custodian of baseball. This article uses regulatory space theory to explore how globalisation forced the increased interaction between professional baseball leagues around the world. Despite the subsequent accelerated evolution of the rules and processes governing the international movement of professional baseballers, the global regime primarily consists of bilateral player agreements involving either MLB or Nippon Professional Baseball (‘NPB’) and other professional leagues in Latin America and Asia. This article will analyse how this system of regulation created numerous problems in the recruitment and movement of amateur and professional players, most notably an exploitative labour system in Latin America that potentially violates various international human rights laws and led to the human trafficking of Cuban baseball players. In response to these regulatory failures the authors propose a number of urgent reforms to ensure the global regulation of labour mobility in baseball facilitates the movement of players in line with international human rights through a global player transfer system that includes independent dispute resolution and that is operated by an independent global regulator.

Design and analysis of a novel hybrid-driven continuum robot with variable stiffness

• Hybrid-driven variable stiffness continuum robot with dual-plane constraint design. • Independent robot stiffness regulation and endpoint positioning. • Stiffness independent of PMA radius, making design extensible to multiple sections. • Static model for describing the robot's behavior. Compliance and lower inertia are two essential features for safe physical human-robot interaction (pHRI). Continuum robots exhibit great potential for such situations due to their intrinsic compliance and lightweight links. However, there is a trade-off between compliance and positioning accuracy, of which variable stiffness is a potential method to address this conflict. This paper presents a novel hybrid-driven continuum robot with a dual-plane backbone structure, in which the stiffness regulation is independent from the positioning. Through the dual-plane constraint, the robot's stiffness is made independent of the pneumatic muscle actuations’ (PMAs) radius, making the design easily extensible to multiple sections. Then, a static model based on virtual work is further constructed to characterize the robot's behavior. Experiments and simulations show that the proposed stiffness regulation mechanism has stiffness range of over 278%, and the ratio of positioning error at the endpoint of continuum robot to the total robot length is 2.54%. The modeling simplicity and the decoupling between positioning and stiffness regulation provide a solution for the conflict between positioning accuracy and safety.

Outsourcing and children's social care services: an observational longitudinal analysis of inspection outcomes among English children's homes and local authorities

BackgroundMost children's social care services in England are operated by for-profit companies, but the implications of this development are not well understood. We aimed to evaluate the associations between for-profit outsourcing and quality of service provision among local authorities and children's home providers in England, UK. MethodsWe did an observational longitudinal analysis of inspection outcomes among English children's homes and local authorities. We created and analysed a novel, longitudinal dataset of inspections from Ofsted (ie, the independent regulator of children's social care in England) over a period of 7 years (2014–21; n=13 452). We also analysed the association between Ofsted local authority ratings (n=147) and the use of for-profit outsourcing. FindingsWe found that for-profit children's home providers are significantly more likely to be rated of lower quality than both public and third sector services across all provider level Ofsted inspection domains. For example, for-profit providers have 33·7% lower odds (odds ratio [OR] 0·663; 95% CI 0·522–0·842) than local authority providers of being rated “Outstanding”, “Good”, or “Requires Improvement”, as opposed to “Inadequate” in the main “Overall Experiences” Ofsted category. For-profit services also violate more legal requirements (OR 0·380 [95% CI 0·186–0·575]) and receive more recommendations (0·391 [0·242–0·540]) than local authority providers. These findings are robust to model specification and consistent over the full analysed period. Further, we found provisional evidence that local authority Ofsted ratings are negatively correlated with the percentage of for-profit outsourcing, suggesting that poorly performing local authorities tend to outsource a greater amount of their services than well performing local authorities. InterpretationOur findings are of considerable concern given the focus of these services on society's most vulnerable service users. However, caution is needed in terms of regulating the sector going forward, as the role of for-profit providers cannot be replaced without substantial coordination and long-term planning. FundingThe John Fell Fund and the Carlsberg Foundation.

Genetic and environmental perturbations alter the rhythmic expression pattern of a circadian long non-coding RNA, Per2AS, in mouse liver.

Background: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play a wide variety of biological roles without encoding a protein. Although the functions of many lncRNAs have been uncovered in recent years, the regulatory mechanism of lncRNA expression is still poorly understood despite that the expression patterns of lncRNAs are much more specific compared to mRNAs. Here, we investigated the rhythmic expression of Per2AS, a novel lncRNA that regulates circadian rhythms. Given that Per2AS expression is antiphasic to Period2 ( Per2), a core circadian clock gene, and transcribed from the antisense strand of Per2, we hypothesized that the rhythmic Per2AS expression is driven either by its own promoter or by the rhythmic Per2 transcription via transcriptional interference. Methods: We leveraged existing circadian RNA-seq datasets and analyzed the expression patterns of Per2AS and Per2in response to the genetic or environmental disruption of the circadian rhythm in mouse liver. We tested our hypotheses by comparing the changes in the expression patterns of Per2AS and Per2. Conclusions: We found that, in some cases, Per2AS expression is independently controlled by other circadian transcription factors. In other cases, the pattern of expression change is consistent with both transcriptional interference and independent regulation hypotheses. Although additional experiments will be necessary to distinguish these possibilities, findings from this work contribute to a deeper understanding of the mechanism of how the expression of lncRNA is regulated.

Adaptations in models of urological regulation and their application to sub-Saharan Africa.

Regulation of medical care is something that has grown from humble roots in professional craft groups to huge establishment in well-resourced, high-income countries. Self-regulation was the preferred method of determining appropriate behaviour initially, but a lack of public trust in this, and the desire of patients to contribute to the establishment of the standard of care that they receive, has meant that most Anglophone countries have adopted some form of independent regulation. Regulators are responsible for the registration of doctor's qualifications, licensing them to practise, accrediting institutions to provide undergraduate and postgraduate education and certifying the attainment of accepted standards of achievement by some form of assessment process. Regulators also have powers to sanction individuals whose practice falls outside expected levels of competence. Both centralized and devolved models of regulation have evolved. Much of the accreditation for postgraduate education and training has been handed down to collegiate bodies, or non-governmental organizations, who can also certify completion of training. Evidence-based medicine and clinical practice guidelines have enforced an informal tier of regulation in high-income countries; guideline-derived practice is now widely regarded as an accepted standard of care. In low- and middle-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa the governmental and legislative structures and finance available to provide the regulation espoused in more privileged environments is rarely available. The workforce is structured in a completely different way and some care groups are totally unregulated. Medical councils in sub-Saharan Africa fulfil a registration and licensing function but surgical collegiate bodies provide the structure for postgraduate training. The East and West African Colleges of Surgeons have developed into robust organizations, who have verifiable, quality-assured, accreditation systems that have helped improve standards of care for the large populations for which their member surgeons are responsible. Formal regulation of continuing practice and sanctions are challenges that are, at present, largely unaddressed.

Independent regulation of mitochondrial DNA quantity and quality in Caenorhabditis elegans primordial germ cells.

Mitochondria harbor an independent genome, called mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which contains essential metabolic genes. Although mtDNA mutations occur at high frequency, they are inherited infrequently, indicating that germline mechanisms limit their accumulation. To determine how germline mtDNA is regulated, we examined the control of mtDNA quantity and quality in C. elegans primordial germ cells (PGCs). We show that PGCs combine strategies to generate a low point in mtDNA number by segregating mitochondria into lobe-like protrusions that are cannibalized by adjacent cells, and by concurrently eliminating mitochondria through autophagy, reducing overall mtDNA content twofold. As PGCs exit quiescence and divide, mtDNAs replicate to maintain a set point of ~200 mtDNAs per germline stem cell. Whereas cannibalism and autophagy eliminate mtDNAs stochastically, we show that the kinase PTEN-induced kinase 1 (PINK1), operating independently of Parkin and autophagy, preferentially reduces the fraction of mutant mtDNAs. Thus, PGCs employ parallel mechanisms to control both the quantity and quality of the founding population of germline mtDNAs.

Double Fano Resonance and Independent Regulation Characteristics in a Rectangular-like Nanotetramer Metasurface Structure.

Fano resonance, which is based on a plasmonic metasurface, has many potential applications in various fields, such as biochemical sensors, slow light effect, and integrated optical circuits. In this study, a rectangular-like nanotetramer metasurface structure composed of four round-head nanorods was designed. The transmission spectrum, surface charge, and electrical field distributions of the proposed structure were simulated using the finite element method. A double Fano resonance profile was observed in the transmission spectrum. One of the Fano resonances was caused by the symmetry breaking and plasmon hybridization between the horizontal double rods, whereas the other resonance was due to the plasmonic modes’ hybridization among four nanorods. These resonances could be independently tuned because of different formation mechanisms. The number of Fano resonances could be adjusted by changing the coupling distance between the horizontal and vertical rods. The results contributed to designing the highly sensitive sensors based on the plasmonic metasurface.

The wicked problem of B(A)ME degree award gaps and systemic racism in our universities.

The independent regulator for higher education in England, the Office for Students (OfS), set new national targets in late 2018 to achieve equality of opportunity in higher education by tackling degree award gaps. The sector response to this was to measure degree award gaps between B(A)ME students and white students in their higher education institutions. Analysis of degree award gaps using quantitative methods has revealed an “unexplained gap”. We argue that the existence of this “unexplained gap” is evidence of “systemic racism”. However, the factors influencing a degree award and their associated gaps across different racialized groups of students are so complex, that its problematisation, never-mind its solution is inherently complex. It is our view, therefore, racialized degree award gaps are a wicked problem. Despite this, it is also our view that it is an important social justice endeavor that we must still seek to address as a sector. To do so, we propose a mixed methods approach that uses dynamic centring and an intersectional lens to better understand the experiences of racialized students within the higher education “system”. Current quantitative analysis of degree award gaps simply tells us how different groups of racialized students experience the system. In using a mixed methods approach in the way we outline, we may better understand the racialized lived experience of our students and the factors influencing the experience of different racialized groups within the “system”. This solution-focused approach can help create opportunities that enable students to better navigate social structures and systems and improve their experience in the system. However, this will not address the wicked problem of degree award gaps itself, which is complex, pervasive, and messy.

Regulating India’s Coal Sector: Lessons for the Future, from the Past

This essay will examine the desirability of establishing a regulator for the coal sector, and demonstrate its essentiality. The argument is centrally premised on the Government’s policy towards the coal sector, and how these policies are poised to turn the sector into the biggest contributor to India’s 5 trillion USD economic goal. With such lofty ambitions, it becomes imperative to ensure that there is an independent regulator, who can steer the sector into eficiency while balancing competing interests. Analysing the need for a coal-sector regulator becomes all the more important when considering how the history of the sector has been coloured with concerns of ineficiency, scams, human rights abuses, and environmental concerns. This paper will look at the historical context of the sector’s operation in India and the current policies, evaluate the eficiency of the sector by looking at the policy for allotments of coal blocks and the surrounding litigation, and attempts to chart out a way forward.

The impact of participatory policy formulation on regulatory legitimacy: the case of Great Britain’s Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem)

Energy markets policy in Great Britain has been largely delegated from elected representatives to a market regulator: the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem). Regulatory legitimacy requires due process and appropriate expertise to expose the regulator to democratic influence. As the legitimacy of regulatory participation processes start to be discussed more intensively in the European context, this timely article examines the relationship between the use of policy formulation tools and the resulting legitimacy gained by an independent market regulator. It employs a detailed case study analysing how participatory policy formulation tools – deliberative focus groups with members of the public, and stakeholder consultations – were used in energy markets policy formulation in Ofgem between 2007 and 2016. Through assessing the actors, venues, capacities and effects associated with selection and use of the tools, it finds there were inequalities of influence between different policy actors which posed a significant challenge to legitimacy.

The Future of Football Fanzines: Have they Lost their Voice in this Digitalised and Deregulated Age?

AbstractFootball fanzines once stood at the vanguard of fan activism. Historically, they have served as the voice of supporters, largely independent of the clubs they are associated with. Indeed, a recurring characteristic of these fanzines is that they often challenge and question authority. In the halcyon days of past decades, they proliferated and often acted as a powerful vector of change within football. Increasingly though, they have been pushed to the margins, for a number of reasons, ranging from the increasing digitalisation of media to the growing distance between fans and club owners as a consequence of the money that's now in the game. Football's inexorable drift towards deregulation means that fanzines alone can no longer act as agents of change and challenge. They need to work in synch with supporters’ groups in order to make their voices heard. More than that, this needs to happen not just at a local, but a national level, so that supporters from top to bottom of English football's shaky pyramid are seen to speak with one voice. Perhaps above all, there is a need for independent regulation of the game's governance.

Rewilding Gestalt: Creative Connection to Self, Other, and Planet

Organizations create cultures to protect their theories of change, and culture undermines strategy.—AYNI InstituteI became engaged with change as a young child, around four years old, from the moment my instincts guided me to clutch small change in my own hand, pretending to drop it into a basket, known as the silent collection at a fundamentalist church led by the infamous Reverend Ian Paisley. Surrounded by familiar, yet alien giants I relied on and loved, and intimidated by their strict and punitive culture, I chose to self-organize a form of equine therapy. Hanging out with horses, riding, falling, getting injured, and getting back on. My growing up in one form of cultural coercion with its self-organizing liberation, shifted when I was 10. The State responded to the north of Ireland’s civil rights uprising, with violence that did not cease beyond the official ceasefires of 1994, or the Good Friday peace agreement of 1999. I empathized with rebellion from my felt sense (Gendlin 2003), exploring community as support in changing fields (see Burrows 2020). From 1990, I embraced the Gestalt perspective of as “life as adventure,” which supported my work with social change for 30 years at every level of system (see Nevis 2005), including:In my experience, we need to—what I call—rewild the Gestalt approach to include trauma-informed risk assessment, genuinely supportive and independent regulation of Institutes, and so evolve creative Eco Gestalt approach to change. Rewilding Gestalt theory and practice aligned to neuroscience, developmental theory, and dynamics of connection/disconnection, which embrace human diversity and other-than-human biodiversity outdoors as much as indoors. I am evolving fresh Gestalt concepts and a holistic, ethical, and compassionate approach to working with inner and outer relational dynamics inclusive of the local and wider ecosystem we rely on. This is aligned to what Malcolm Parlett (2015) calls holistic intelligence, relevant to now-to-next local and global dynamics in need of sustainable transformation, as we confront with courage and creativity the 2030 target for zero carbon emissions (Figueres and Rivett-Carnac 2020). Let us rewild and decolonize for the sheer joy of a deeper connection to who we truly are, for our own sake, for future generations, and for this beautiful earth.

Genetic and environmental perturbations alter the rhythmic expression pattern of a circadian long non-coding RNA, Per2AS, in mouse liver

Background: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play a wide variety of biological roles without encoding a protein. Although the functions of many lncRNAs have been uncovered in recent years, the regulatory mechanism of lncRNA expression is still poorly understood despite that the expression patterns of lncRNAs are much more specific compared to mRNAs. Here, we investigated the rhythmic expression of Per2AS, a novel lncRNA that regulates circadian rhythms. Given that Per2AS expression is antiphasic to Period2 ( Per2), a core circadian clock gene, and transcribed from the antisense strand of Per2, we hypothesized that the rhythmic Per2AS expression is driven either by its own promoter or by the rhythmic Per2 transcription via transcriptional interference. Methods: We leveraged existing circadian RNA-seq datasets and analyzed the expression patterns of Per2AS and Per2 in response to the genetic or environmental disruption of the circadian rhythm in mouse liver. We tested our hypotheses by comparing the changes in the expression patterns of Per2AS and Per2. Conclusions: We found that, in some cases, Per2AS expression is independently controlled by other circadian transcription factors. In other cases, the pattern of expression change is consistent with both transcriptional interference and independent regulation hypotheses. Although additional experiments will be necessary to distinguish these possibilities, findings from this work contribute to a deeper understanding of the mechanism of how the expression of lncRNA is regulated.

Genetic and environmental perturbations alter the rhythmic expression pattern of a circadian long non-coding RNA, Per2AS, in mouse liver.

Background: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play a wide variety of biological roles without encoding a protein. Although the functions of many lncRNAs have been uncovered in recent years, the regulatory mechanism of lncRNA expression is still poorly understood despite that the expression patterns of lncRNAs are much more specific compared to mRNAs. Here, we investigated the rhythmic expression of Per2AS, a novel lncRNA that regulates circadian rhythms. Given that Per2AS expression is antiphasic to Period2 ( Per2), a core circadian clock gene, and transcribed from the antisense strand of Per2, we hypothesized that the rhythmic Per2AS expression is driven either by its own promoter or by the rhythmic Per2 transcription via transcriptional interference. Methods: We leveraged existing circadian RNA-seq datasets and analyzed the expression patterns of Per2AS and Per2in response to the genetic or environmental disruption of the circadian rhythm in mouse liver. We tested our hypotheses by comparing the changes in the expression patterns of Per2AS and Per2. Conclusions: We found that, in some cases, Per2AS expression is independently controlled by other circadian transcription factors. In other cases, the pattern of expression change is consistent with both transcriptional interference and independent regulation hypotheses. Although additional experiments will be necessary to distinguish these possibilities, findings from this work contribute to a deeper understanding of the mechanism of how the expression of lncRNA is regulated.