Unproved Assumption Research Articles

А.П. ЧЕХОВ И «БИОГРАФИИ С БОРОДАВКАМИ»: ГЕНЕЗИС, АЛГОРИТМЫ СОЗДАНИЯ И СПЕЦИФИКА ЖАНРА

The article is devoted to the phenomenon of “desacralizing” biography at the example of several studies of A.P. Chekhov’s life and works, and to the reasons of popularity of such biographies among the mass readers. This way to describe Chekhov’s life is partly connected with the memoir tradition, in particular, with the essay by N.M. Yezhov “Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (An attempt of characteristics)” (1909). N.M. Yezhov tried to create an objective yet creative psychological portrait of the writer, based on the experience of personal communication with A.P. Chekhov. The attempt was reduced to a many unprovable invectives and was perceived by the majority of contemporaries with a lot of skepticism. Today this genre of Chekhovian studies and literary criticism can be considered as an example of a postmodern approach to culture, which is characterized by de-canonizing of studies and depiction of classical cultural heritage. A book, which demonstrates all peculiar treats of the postmodern “desacralizing” way of cultural research, is the book written by D. Rayfield “Anton Chekhov: a life”. On the example of D. Rayfield’s book, we can see all the specific features of the phenomenon of “warts-and-all biography” (as the author describes the essence of this approach in one of his interviews): polemical references to the Chekhovian studies researches, quasi-scientific way of the presentation of the facts, the illusion of an objective presentation, combination of proven facts with the biographer’s unprovable assumptions. A careful analysis of all the components of desacralizing biographies allows us to conclude that the main target audience of their creators is the popular readers, which perceive de-canonizing works (pretending to be academic books) as a fully scientific evidence-based new look at certain aspects of Chekhov’s biography. In D. Rayfield’s work, this impression is also formed by the purposeful transformation of some ordinary facts of Chekhov’s biography into the crucial events in the writer’s life. The study of such works and the reaction of the wide readers to them is necessary for academic science to approach theoretically the contemporary cultural trends.

An improved BEMT model based on agent actuating disk with application to ship self-propulsion simulation

Propeller body-force model is a low-cost tool for numerical simulation of the ship self-propulsion test compared with discretized propeller model. As one of the most traditional theories of propeller model, Blade Element Momentum Theory (BEMT) has been proved to have considerable application potential with stability and accuracy. However, it's still hard for BEMT to keep accuracy in a relatively large range of working conditions due to unproved prior assumptions, which limits the application of BEMT in complex inflow conditions like ship self-propulsion. In the application of BEMT, the calculation method of Angle of Attack (AOA) has a great influence on the accuracy. In this paper, an "Agent Actuating Disk (AAD)" method is proposed to determine the AOA. AAD-BEMT method uses AAD to obtain the relationship between local velocity and inflow velocity so that the AOA can be defined by geometric Angle of Attack. This consideration avoids the inaccuracy of determining AOA by local velocity from discretized propeller flow field. The KP505 propeller open-water test is chosen to verify the accuracy of the proposed AAD-BEMT method. Then the numerical simulation of a KRISO Container Ship (KCS) self-propulsion test (Fr = 0.26) is carried out to investigate the performance of the AAD-BEMT body-force model as well as other different propeller models when dealing with non-uniform ship's wake. The open-water curve, propeller load distribution, and self-propulsion factor are presented and compared with the available experimental data. The results show that the predicted load distribution is accurate. In addition, not only the thrust and torque of the AAD-BEMT model can have a stable accuracy in a wide operating condition, but also the wake agrees well with the experimental result, which means that the proposed AAD-BEMT model can economically and accurately simulate the momentum transport of propeller under complex hull-propeller interaction condition.

Estimating critical surface tension from droplet spreading area

Critical surface tension (CST) is a measure of solid surface tension and is mainly determined by measuring the contact angle of a droplet on a target solid surface. The concept of CST makes it possible to determine solid surface tension without any unprovable assumptions such as the Fowkes hypothesis. However, it requires somewhat special devices and skills for measuring the contact angle. In this work, we propose a simple method to determine the CST of a solid by measuring the droplet spreading area. This method is developed by combining the conventional CST with a simple analytical droplet model. The difference in estimated CSTs between our method and the conventional one is within 3.0%. Our method enables a quick and simple evaluation of the solid surface tension without special devices for measuring the contact angle.

The Role of Distributions and Control Charts in Metrology

In this paper it is suggested to change radically the existing metrology paradigm for measurement data analysis, namely to reject from searching the appropriate Distribution Function (DF) and use nonparametric methods for uncertainty estimation in all circumstances. This let to avoid using limiting and unprovable assumptions that lead to invalid conclusions. In the paper it is offered to use Shewhart Control Charts (ShCC) as an indispensable method to monitor the current state of measurement system. And this method does not require any assumptions about specific type of DF.

On Photography: A Philosophical Inquiry

In this short book Diarmuid Costello presents a valuable new framework for philosophical discussion on photography. Costello aims ‘to treat photography philosophically’ (2). He thoroughly investigates our intuitions about the essence of photography, showing that the most sophisticated ‘theoretical’—in a broad sense—claims often turn out to be only reformulations of basic folk intuitions about some uses of photography or paradigmatic examples that are unduly taken to stand for photography per se. Debunking many fallacious distinctions, he introduces new questions that philosophers could ask about photography—as an imaging process first, but also as a set of practices. Theoretical texts about photography have focused on two distinct dimensions of photographic practices: the epistemic dimension and the aesthetic/artistic dimension, which happens to parallel the distinction between mechanical and handmade pictures. Either ‘photographs are taken to be accurate sources of information about the world because a machine rather than a human being does the recording’ and therefore support inferences about the world, or they are appreciated aesthetically insofar as the artist’s intentions are made visible by departing from the pure causal mechanism of photography (4). The tension between handmade and mechanical images or between epistemic capabilities and aesthetic uses is not new and has already been well documented. Still, the way Costello aims to escape the tension is new: it is not enough to distinguish between an ‘information-preserving pure photography’ and a ‘non-information-preserving impure photographic art’ because that is only a way to say that photography can be objective or artistic but not both. Rather than ‘saving the possibility of photographic art, but only at the cost of denying its purity’, Costello considers the possibility of pure photography being art, in virtue of its being pure photography. Demonstrating this possibility is a serious challenge. By clarifying the debates and focusing on two different ways of dealing philosophically with photography (namely Orthodoxy versus New Theory), Costello invites the reader to choose a side and at the same time choose the kind of questions that one thinks philosophy should answer. The boundary between Orthodoxy and New Theory results from the way one considers the opposition between hand-made and machine-made images. If you regard the distinction as strict, if you hold that it parallels the distinction between painting and photography and if this makes it difficult to account for the photographer’s agency, then you are on the side of Orthodoxy. If you hold that both categories cut across one another, if you do not assume that painting and photography are distinct by nature and if you criticize the identification of the essence of photography with the recording event, and criticize the analogy between a trace and a photograph, then you are a New Theorist. One implicit aim of the book is to orient research in good directions. To make progress, Costello starts by divesting the existing views of all the unproved assumptions or unclear intuitions and, for several cases, one must admit that after his criticism, backwards steps seem unlikely. To give one example, he shows that by comparing photography and imprinting, André Bazin conflates the automatic dimension of the image-rendering process with its natural dimension: ‘In sum, a process can be both natural and causal (sunburn, freckles) or both causal and automatic (photography), but one and the same process cannot be both natural and automatic—if “natural” is taken, as it is by Bazin, to contrast with “human”’ (42).1

Evaluating the potential role of pleiotropy in Mendelian randomization studies.

Pleiotropy, the phenomenon of a single genetic variant influencing multiple traits, is likely widespread in the human genome. If pleiotropy arises because the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) influences one trait, which in turn influences another (‘vertical pleiotropy’), then Mendelian randomization (MR) can be used to estimate the causal influence between the traits. Of prime focus among the many limitations to MR is the unprovable assumption that apparent pleiotropic associations are mediated by the exposure (i.e. reflect vertical pleiotropy), and do not arise due to SNPs influencing the two traits through independent pathways (‘horizontal pleiotropy’). The burgeoning treasure trove of genetic associations yielded through genome wide association studies makes for a tantalizing prospect of phenome-wide causal inference. Recent years have seen substantial attention devoted to the problem of horizontal pleiotropy, and in this review we outline how newly developed methods can be used together to improve the reliability of MR.

A short note on the Bruiner–Kohnen sign equidistribution conjecture and Halász’ theorem

In this note, we improve earlier results towards the Bruinier–Kohnen sign equidistribution conjecture for half-integral weight modular eigenforms in terms of natural density by using a consequence of Halász’ theorem. Moreover, by applying a result of Serre, we remove all unproved assumptions.

Is electrospray emission really due to columbic forces?

Electrospray ionization (ESI) is a widely adopted soft ionization method for mass spectroscopy (MS). In spite of the undeniable success of the technique, its mechanisms are difficult to be analytically modelled because the process is characterized by non-equilibrium conditions. The common belief is that the formation of gas-phase ions takes place at the apex of the Taylor cone via electrophoretic charging. The charge balance implies that a conversion of electrons to ions should occur at the metal-liquid interface of the injector needle. We have detected that the above description is based on unproved assumptions which are not consistent with the correct evaluation of the problem. The comparison between experiments performed under the usual geometry and observations obtained under symmetric field configurations suggests that the emitted droplets cannot be significantly charged or, at least, that any possible ionization mechanism is so poorly efficient to ensure that columbic forces cannot play a major role in jet formation, even in cases where the liquid consists of a solution of ionic species. Further work is required to clearly understand how ionization occurs in ESI-MS.

Classification of hand movements in amputated subjects by sEMG and accelerometers.

Numerous recent studies have aimed to improve myoelectric control of prostheses. However, the majority of these studies is characterized by two problems that could be easily fulfilled with recent resources supplied by the scientific literature. First, the majority of these studies use only intact subjects, with the unproved assumption that the results apply equally to amputees. Second, usually only electromyography data are used, despite other sensors (e.g., accelerometers) being easy to include into a real life prosthesis control system. In this paper we analyze the mentioned problems by the classification of 40 hand movements in 5 amputated and 40 intact subjects, using both sEMG and accelerometry data and applying several different state of the art methods. The datasets come from the NinaPro database, which supplies publicly available sEMG data to develop and test machine learning algorithms for prosthetics. The number of subjects can seem small at first sight, but it is not considering the literature of the field (which has to face the difficulty of recruiting trans-radial hand amputated subjects). Our results indicate that the maximum average classification accuracy for amputated subjects is 61.14%, which is just 15.86% less than intact subjects, and they show that intact subjects results can be used as proxy measure for amputated subjects. Finally, our comparison shows that accelerometry as a modality is less affected by amputation than electromyography, suggesting that real life prosthetics performance may easily be improved by inclusion of accelerometers.

ARISTOTLE AND EUCLID'S POSTULATES

Book 1 of Euclid's Elements opens with a set of unproved assumptions: definitions (ὅροι), postulates, and ‘common notions’ (κοιναὶ ἔννοιαι). The common notions are general rules validating deductions that involve the relations of equality and congruence. The attested postulates are five in number, even if a part of the manuscript tradition adds a sixth, almost surely spurious (‘two straight lines do not contain a space’), that in some manuscripts features as the ninth, and last, common notion. The postulates are called αἰτήματα both in the manuscripts of the Elements and in the ancient exegetic tradition. It is not said, however, that this denomination is original, as it coincides with the nomen rei actae associated with the verbal form introducing the postulates themselves. Since antiquity it has been recognized that the postulates naturally split into two groups of quite different character: the first three are rules licensing basic constructions, the fourth and the fifth are assertions stating properties of particular geometric objects (see Procl. In Euc. 182–4 and 188–93). I transcribe postulates 1–3 in the text established by Heiberg (Euclidis Elementa 1.4.14–5.2): ᾐτήσθω ἀπὸ παντὸς σημείου ἐπὶ πᾶν σημεῖον εὐθεῖαν γραμμὴν ἀγαγεῖνκαὶ πεπερασμένην εὐθεῖαν κατὰ τὸ συνεχὲς ἐπ᾽ εὐθείας ἐκβαλεῖνκαὶ παντὶ κέντρῳ καὶ διαστήματι κύκλον γράϕεσθαι

Second‐trimester soft markers: relation to first‐trimester nuchal translucency in unaffected pregnancies

Genetic sonography following first-trimester combined screening appears to increase substantially detection rates for Down syndrome but it relies on the unproved assumption of independence between these tests. In this study we aimed to investigate the relationship between first-trimester nuchal translucency (NT) and a series of second-trimester soft markers and structural defects in unaffected pregnancies. NT measurement in the first trimester was followed by second-trimester scan (18 to 23 + 6 weeks) including examination for three categorical markers (intracardiac echogenic foci, hyperechogenic bowel and structural defects) and measurement of nasal bone length, nuchal-fold thickness, femur length, humerus length, renal pelvis diameter and prenasal thickness. All continuous variables were expressed in multiples of the median (MoM) for gestation and correlation coefficients between log-transformed NT and second-trimester variables were calculated. In addition, frequencies of soft markers and structural defects in cases with increased NT were compared to those with normal NT, using MoM cut-offs. In a dataset of 1970 cases, NT was significantly correlated (P < 0.05) with all second-trimester continuous variables, the correlation being strongest for nuchal-fold thickness (r = 0.10). There was a higher frequency of cases with second-trimester nuchal-fold thickness above the 97.5(th) centile (10.7 vs. 2.2%) and hyperechogenic bowel (2.4 vs. 0.1%) in cases with increased NT. Straightforward reassessment of risk using likelihood ratios derived from the second-trimester genetic sonogram might lead to inaccurate estimates. Multivariate models using continuous second-trimester variables might be preferable in sequential screening strategies.

INVESTIGATIONS INTO SOUTHERN AUSTRALIAN ULVA (ULVOPHYCEAE, CHLOROPHYTA) TAXONOMY AND MOLECULAR PHYLOGENY INDICATE BOTH COSMOPOLITANISM AND ENDEMIC CRYPTIC SPECIES1

Appreciation of the true species diversity of the genus Ulva in Australian waters has been blinkered by the unproved assumption that its representatives there are largely cosmopolitan. As species of Ulva are some of the longest‐standing and most widely reported taxa of macroalgae, the presumption that they are worldwide in distribution has led to most Australian members being equated with species originally described from extra‐Australian type localities. Ulva species can be notoriously difficult to identify due to the few and often variable characters on which classical taxonomic studies focus so that names of specimens in hand, as well as names appearing in historical distribution records, are frequently difficult or impossible to verify. The combination of morphological and molecular analyses, the latter involving both nuclear (internal transcribed spacer [ITS]) and plastid (rbcL) markers, is critically important in taxonomic studies of the genus and has here been applied to selected Ulva populations from mostly cool‐temperate southern Australian localities. It has been determined that habit‐ and anatomy‐based keys of standard taxonomic literature are largely adequate for assigning species names based on classical concepts, but they often obscure a number of cryptic and pseudocryptic species that do not conform to extra‐Australian populations of the same designation, as indicated by the corresponding molecular data. Here, we present six species (Ulva australis Aresch., U. compressa Forssk., U. fasciata Delile, U. intestinalis L., U. laetevirens Aresch., U. tanneri H. S. Hayden et J. R. Waaland) for which anatomical and molecular data were congruent with both classical concepts and GenBank accession data and confirm these as cosmopolitan taxa in Australia. We also present six putative species designations based on anatomy [U. clathrata (Roth) C. Agardh, U. flexuosa Wulfen, U. linza L., U. prolifera O. F. Müll., U. stenophylla Setch. et N. L. Gardner, U. brisbanensis sp. nov.] that are inconsistent with molecular data, suggesting novel or cryptic taxa not represented in GenBank.

Femoroacetabular Impingement: Caution Is Warranted in Making Imaging-based Assumptions and Diagnoses

Owing to limited understanding of femoroacetabular impingement and unproved assumptions, caution is warranted when interpreting images.

Pullback attractors for a class of extremal solutions of the 3D Navier–Stokes system

In this paper we construct a dynamical process (in general, multivalued) generated by the set of solutions of an optimal control problem for the three-dimensional Navier–Stokes system. We prove the existence of a pullback attractor for such multivalued process. Also, we establish the existence of a uniform global attractor containing the pullback attractor. Moreover, under the unproved assumption that strong globally defined solutions of the three-dimensional Navier–Stokes system exist, which guaranties the existence of a global attractor for the corresponding multivalued semiflow, we show that the pullback attractor of the process coincides with the global attractor of the semiflow.

Annealing a magnetic cactus into phyllotaxis

The appearance of mathematical regularities in the disposition of leaves on a stem, scales on a pine-cone, and spines on a cactus has puzzled scholars for millennia; similar so-called phyllotactic patterns are seen in self-organized growth, polypeptides, convection, magnetic flux lattices and ion beams. Levitov showed that a cylindrical lattice of repulsive particles can reproduce phyllotaxis under the (unproved) assumption that minimum of energy would be achieved by two-dimensional Bravais lattices. Here we provide experimental and numerical evidence that the Phyllotactic lattice is actually a ground state. When mechanically annealed, our experimental "magnetic cactus" precisely reproduces botanical phyllotaxis, along with domain boundaries (called transitions in Botany) between different phyllotactic patterns. We employ a structural genetic algorithm to explore the more general axially unconstrained case, which reveals multijugate (multiple spirals) as well as monojugate (single-spiral) phyllotaxis.

Sublime Worlds: Early Modern French Literature by Emma Gilby

MLR, I03.3, 2oo8 85I The book's very fullbibliography, that includes often-ignored German and Dutch scholarship and cross-lists studies bymultiple authors, is a veritable treasure trove. Kelly's footnotes are especially rich and dense, sometimes summing up in a few lines virtually all themajor studies on particular points, and often documenting multiple subjects. The book's index is unusually thorough in that it includes references to modern critics. A fewminor criticisms can be made. The fourth chapter on Christine's changing ideas about courtly love could have been developed furtherby including theDebat de deux amans, thatpresents opposing views on the ennobling powers of love.Addition ally, some aspects ofKelly's analyses could be disputed. For example, one could find his interpretation of theopening part of theCity ofLadies over-literal, as it isdifficult to imagine Christine's claim to have been swayed bymisogynist views as anything other than a rhetorical pose. Moreover, Kelly's discussion of theChemin de longestude as a rejection of self-interest does not explore thepolitical overtones in thatwork. One notes, inaddition, some blurring of historical considerations inChapter 5 (especially p. 147), the inconsistent use of the capital for the allegorical figureFortune (pp. 3, I5, i6, 20, 50, 75, etc.), and the presentation as factof the quite likelybut unproved assumption thatChristine spent her finalyears in theDominican convent inPoissy (p. 147 etc.). These areminor flaws in a rich, careful, original, and well-written study thatmakes frequent use ofmedieval terminology and that accomplishes its aim of showing how a latemedieval audience might have understood Christine de Pizan's vast and varied works. VASSARCOLLEGE CHRISTINEM. RENO Sublime Worlds: Early Modern French Literature. By EMMA GILBY. London: Le genda. 2006. I6opp. ?45. ISBN 978-1-904350-65-I. This cryptically entitled book is, the author explains from theoutset, not aword his toryof the sublime, nor a straightforward account of the reception ofLonginus's the ory inearlymodern France. Nor is itconcerned with the rhetorical sublime style,nor indeed exclusively with loftygenres such as tragedy. Instead, Emma Gilby's task is to identify theLonginian sublime as a kind of successful literarycommunication, and to see how concepts related to itappear in thewritings ofCorneille, Pascal, and Boileau. In Chapter i she reminds the unwary reader thatLonginus's sublimity, despite the 'height' implicit in itsGreek and Latin terminology, should not be read primarily as a simple synonym forgrandness. Longinus is concerned with themoment that meaning is conveyed brilliantly and exquisitely to the reader, a moment inwhich cognition and recognition (of real-life images and contingency) are privileged over ecstatic transcendence. In Chapters 2, 3, and 4 Corneille comes under scrutiny.Gilby looks in turn at his dissatisfaction with aspects ofAristotelian poetics and plot structure in theDiscours, his rewriting of theOedipus play, and critical reactions to his drama. In Cinna's apprehension of human unpredictability and in themultiplication of plot strands in (Edipe, she persuasively detects the imprintofLonginian concerns. She furthermore illustrates how earlymodern attacks on iEdipe (and modern Corneille scholarship) betray thedreaded attempt toequate the sublime with grandeur, heroic magnanimity, and admiration. In Chapters 5, 6, and 7Gilby moves from literary fiction toconsider Pascal. Here even more than in the preceding chapters Longinus becomes a conceptual intertext rather than source of direct inspiration. Gilby boldly reclaims Pascal's high regard for reason, and shows how his understanding of its relationship to spiritual experi ence ismodelled by the structures of the Longinian sublime. These arguments are 852 Reviews also mobilized to illuminate Pascal's defence ofMontaigne in the face of criticswho rejected theyoking of loftytranscendence tohuman rationality. In the book's thirdpart (Chapters 8 and 9) Gilby turns toBoileau, evoked fleet ingly inChapter 4 as a perceptive judge of theCornelian sublime. As in previous chapters, she is committed to showing the priority of 'horizontal' communicative movement over 'vertical' loftiness: to Boileau, translating Longinus's treatise into French in i674, and to another (anonymous) translator of the I640s, thispoint has particular pertinence. The strands ofGilby's argument thus farare brought together as she shows Boileau grappling with the idea of successful communication, and the anonymous translatormaking explicit connections between the sublime, persuasion, and, controversially, the vraisemblance of action-packed plots. In her final chapter, on theQuerelle...

Comment on “Record of MIS 5 sea-level highstands based on U/Th dated coral terraces of Haiti” by Dumas et al. [Quaternary International 2006 106–118

The opening sentence of the introduction [Dumas, B., Hoang, C.-T., Raffy, J., 2006. Record of MIS 5 sea-level highstands based on dated coral terraces of Haiti. Quaternary International 145–146, 106–118] “Quaternary sea-level changes are mainly deduced from the study of raised coral terraces” involves a flawed premise. As two undefined variables operate simultaneously (sea-level changes and vertical tectonic motion; both perhaps having up and down components) to produce a succession of terraces, it is impossible to solve the equation without supplying real numbers for either variable. Hence, to deduce sea-level history, either largely unprovable assumption about constant uplift and/or featureless sea-level histories are required, or a model of sea level must be imported from regions that have not experienced tectonic displacement. Furthermore, coral reefs are less than ideal monitors of sea-level change; rather, they might be preferred as monitors of sea level stability, as their response time and depositional tempo may be measured in hundreds or thousands of years. Reefs may grow and flourish during slow rise of sea level. Once accommodation space is filled, vertical growth ceases, and only erosion and diagenesis of the reef occurs, until sea level changes once more. Major intervals of sea-level change may thus be lost or never recorded in the rocks.

The epistemological problem in neurosciences and its effect on psychiatry

Currently a comprehensive discipline, neurobiology is the field of examining the essence of mind in contrast to psychophysiology. It is becoming more and more apparent that this aim cannot be satisfied. Neurobiology is hampered by its deeply rooted paradigm of mechanistic materialism. Thus we learn about yet unsolved "hard problems." In order to recognize them as pseudoproblems, we must avoid unprovable metaphysical assumptions such as e.g., treating matter and mind as components of one organism rather than complementary but logically incommensurable means of description. To our physicalistically oriented university psychiatry, reintroducing the subject is of primary importance. At first glance, this would confront us again with unsolvable problems supposedly avoided by the psychiatric 'brain technicians' preferring object-oriented study (neuromaging, receptors). One such question is the 'fact' adverse to physical law of psychophysical interactions: it does not actually represent an insoluble hard problem but is a typical pseudoproblem resulting from false premises.

TLQP-21, a VGF-derived peptide, increases energy expenditure and prevents the early phase of diet-induced obesity

The vgf gene has been identified as an energy homeostasis regulator. Vgf encodes a 617-aa precursor protein that is processed to yield an incompletely characterized panel of neuropeptides. Until now, it was an unproved assumption that VGF-derived peptides could regulate metabolism. Here, a VGF peptide designated TLQP-21 was identified in rat brain extracts by means of immunoprecipitation, microcapillary liquid chromatography-tandem MS, and database searching algorithms. Chronic intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) injection of TLQP-21 (15 mug/day for 14 days) increased resting energy expenditure (EE) and rectal temperature in mice. These effects were paralleled by increased epinephrine and up-regulation of brown adipose tissue beta2-AR (beta2 adrenergic receptor) and white adipose tissue (WAT) PPAR-delta (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor delta), beta3-AR, and UCP1 (uncoupling protein 1) mRNAs and were independent of locomotor activity and thyroid hormones. Hypothalamic gene expression of orexigenic and anorexigenic neuropeptides was unchanged. Furthermore, in mice that were fed a high-fat diet for 14 days, TLQP-21 prevented the increase in body and WAT weight as well as hormonal changes that are associated with a high-fat regimen. Biochemical and molecular analyses suggest that TLQP-21 exerts its effects by stimulating autonomic activation of adrenal medulla and adipose tissues. In conclusion, we present here the identification in the CNS of a previously uncharacterized VGF-derived peptide and prove that its chronic i.c.v. infusion effected an increase in EE and limited the early phase of diet-induced obesity.

The Role of Dynamic Networks in Social Capital: A Simulation Experiment

L’objectiu d’aquest article és doble: d’una banda, entendre per què importen les xarxes en la creació i manteniment de capital social i, d’una altra, explorar moltes de les assumpcions (no provades) que sorgeixen quan el concepte de capital social s’aplica al camp de la participació política. Tots dos objectius es duen a terme amb l’ajuda d’un experiment de simulació. L’article comença exposant els termes del problema teòric. Segueix amb un resum de les assumpcions que apareixen en la literatura sobre el rol que les xarxes tenen en el funcionament del capital social i les contrasta amb el que se sap sobre el funcionament de xarxes dinàmiques. La tercera secció proporciona una breu introducció a la naturalesa metodològica de la simulació multiagent. Segueix amb una descripció del model de simulació i dels seus resultats. El primer conjunt d’experiments explora les propietats estructurals de diferents xarxes pel que fa a la difusió d’informació. El segon conjunt analitza un principi d’acció responsable de la formació de xarxes de capital social. Les implicacions teòriques d’aquests resultats són valorades en la conclusió. També es discuteixen futures línies d’investigació.