Collective amplification of nearby nanoparticles in the Coulomb blockade restricted charging of a single nanoparticle

The characterization of charges in oxide supported metal nanoparticles (NP) is of high interest in research fields like heterogeneous catalysis and microelectronics. A general desire is to manipulate the charge of an oxide supported single NP and to characterize afterwards the charge and its interference with the insulating support but also with nearby NPs in the vicinity. By using noncontact AFM (nc-AFM) and Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) in ultra-high vacuum (UHV) and at room temperature we show that a ~5 nm small AuNP can be directly charged with electrons by the AFM tip and that upon the charging, nearby AuNPs sensitively change their electrostatic potential with a large impact on the charge detection by nc-AFM and KPFM. The AuNPs are supported on a 40 nm thick insulating Al2O3 film, which is grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) on Si(001). Due to Coulomb blockades, the NP charging appears in the form of large and discrete peaks in detuning versus bias voltage curves. Finite element method (FEM) calculations reveal that the large peaks can only be observed when the potentials of nearby insulated NPs get modified by the NP's electron charge, according to the electrostatic induction principle. In view of the number of transferred electrons, we anticipate that after the charging, the electrons are transferred from the AuNP to the NP-Al2O3 interface or into Al2O3 subsurface regions directly underneath.

Petr Rychkov’s Map of Iske (Inner or Old) Kazan of 4 July 1770

Research objectives: On the basis of a recently discovered map – found in the manuscript library of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg – of Iske Kazan’s fortification made by P.N. Rychkov in 1770, this article investigates the manner in which its population protected itself against its foes in the restless era that witnessed the dissolution of the Golden Horde and the transition to the Kazan khanate. It additionally asks why in fact this map was composed. Research materials: Combining the evidence of Rychkov’s map with archaeological findings and in dialogue with the relevant historiography, the authors place the map in its historical context and ponder its significance, and suggest why this map was made in 1770. Results and novelty of the research: It appears that Iske Kazan’s inhabitants turned to a unique manner to defend themselves against their enemies, using a wall-moat-wall design to prevent any storming by mounted troops, different from what has been hitherto thought about the ruins of this defensive structure. This manner of defending seems eminently well suited to the restless conditions prevailing in the Volga-Kama region around 1400 and the art of war as practiced in this region. The article additionally suggests why this map was made in 1770, linking it to the general desire of the Romanov government to discover much more precisely how its subjects lived their lives. This impetus was born from the introduction of the Western-European scientific mindset in Peter I’s reign, which paid much closer heed to a realistic understanding of nature and culture. The Russian Academy of Sciences mounted from the 1720s onward a host of scientific expeditions, which almost resemble voyages of discovery, to map the tsarist empire, of which Rychkov’s travels formed a part. The article hints at the possibility that such fact-finding missions gradually allowed the central government in St. Petersburg to increase its power over its subject peoples.

‘A wee kick up the arse’: Mentoring, motivation and desistance from crime

Mentoring is an increasingly popular approach for supporting people who have a history of offending. Previous research provides some evidence that it may contribute to reductions in offending behaviour and support desistance from crime. The present study analysed interviews with 33 people who used mentoring services in Scotland to examine the relationships between mentoring, motivation and desistance. The findings suggest that the offer of mentoring may translate a general desire to change into motivation by providing the means to achieve this change. Mentoring may help people develop ‘hooks for change’ through practical assistance that leads to positive changes and by encouraging people see the value of such changes. Mentors can also model ways of being that outline possible future selves and services can structure in pro-social activities that support stakes in conformity. The article contributes to theoretical understandings of motivation and desistance by specifying the interplay of agency and structure.

Distinct motivations to seek out information in healthy individuals and problem gamblers

As massive amounts of information are becoming available to people, understanding the mechanisms underlying information-seeking is more pertinent today than ever. In this study, we investigate the underlying motivations to seek out information in healthy and addicted individuals. We developed a novel decision-making task and a novel computational model which allows dissociating the relative contribution of two motivating factors to seek out information: a desire for novelty and a general desire for knowledge. To investigate whether/how the motivations to seek out information vary between healthy and addicted individuals, in addition to healthy controls we included a sample of individuals with gambling disorder—a form of addiction without the confound of substance consumption and characterized by compulsive gambling. Our results indicate that healthy subjects and problem gamblers adopt distinct information-seeking “modes”. Healthy information-seeking behavior was mostly motivated by a desire for novelty. Problem gamblers, on the contrary, displayed reduced novelty-seeking and an increased desire for accumulating knowledge compared to healthy controls. Our findings not only shed new light on the motivations driving healthy and addicted individuals to seek out information, but they also have important implications for the treatment and diagnosis of behavioral addiction.

A Combined Model and Data-Driven Approach for the Determination of Rotor Temperature in an Induction Machine

The need for protection of electrical machines comes as a demand of safety regulations in the automotive industry as well as a result of the general desire to obtain a robust and reliable electric powertrain. This paper introduces a hybrid method for estimating the temperature of the rotor of an Induction Machine (IM) based on a Nonlinear Autoregressive Network with Exogenous inputs (NARX) used as a prediction function within a particle filter. The temperature of the stator case is measured, and the information is used as an input to a NARX network and as a variable to a thermal process with first-order dynamics which serves as an observation function. Uncertainties of the NARX and thermal model are determined and used to correct the posterior estimate. Experimental data are used from a real IM test-bench and the results prove the applicability and good performance.

Standardization of Procedures to Contain Cost and Reduce Variability of Care After the Pandemic

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has changed many aspects of our private and professional routine. In particular, the lockdowns have severely affected the entire healthcare system and hospital activities, forcing it to rethink the protocols in force. We suggest that this scenario, in spite of the new challenges involving so far complex healthcare providers, may lead to the unique opportunity to rethink pathways and management of patients. Indeed, having to resume institutional activity after a long interruption that has completely canceled the previously existing schemes, healthcare providers have the unique opportunity to overcome obsolete and “we have always done in this way” model on the wave of the general desire to resume a normal life. Furthermore, the pandemic has highlighted some flaws in our health system, highlighting those critical issues that most need to be addressed. This article is a review of pre-pandemic literature addressing the use of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) and standardization processes in thoracic surgery to improve efficiency. Our goal is to identify the main issues that could be successfully improved along the entire pathway of a patient from the first referral to diagnosis, hospitalization, and surgical operation up to convalescence. Furthermore, we aim to identify the standardization processes that have been implemented to achieve significant improvements in patient outcomes while reducing costs. The methods and goals that could be used in the near future to modernize our healthcare systems are drawn up from a careful reading and interpretation in light of the pandemic of the most significant review articles in the literature.

Different Pasts for Different Political Folk: Political Orientation Predicts Collective Nostalgia Content

Collective nostalgia is a bittersweet emotion that reflects sentimental longing for valued aspects of the past of one’s group. Given that conservatism is typically associated with a general desire to preserve the societal status quo or return society to its traditional way of being, nostalgia has been theorized to be characteristic of those on the political right (i.e., conservatives). In the current work, we proposed and tested the hypothesis that collective nostalgia is experienced by both conservatives and liberals, but the content of their nostalgizing differs. Across three studies in three socio-political contexts—United States (Study 1, MTurk, N = 352), Canada (Study 2, student sample, N = 154), and England (Study 3, online panel, N = 2,345)—we found that both conservatives and liberals experienced collective nostalgia for a more homogenous and open society. However, conservatives experienced more homogeneity-focused collective nostalgia, whereas liberals experienced more openness-focused collective nostalgia. Replicating previous findings, homogeneity-focused nostalgia emerged as a positive, whereas openness-focused nostalgia emerged as a negative, predictor of intergroup attitudes. The results have both theoretical and practical significance for understanding political attitudes and behaviors. To the point, variance in the conservative and liberal political agendas is, in part, a function of a difference in their respective predisposition to nostalgize about and thus desire the return of a particular aspect of the in-group’s past.

Nonclinical Development of Biologics: Integrating Safety, Pharmacokinetics, and Pharmacodynamics to Create Smarter and More Flexible Nonclinical Safety Programs Optimizing Animal Use

Safety assessment of biological drugs has its challenges due to the multiple new different modalities, for example, antibody-drug conjugates, bispecifics, nanobodies, fusion proteins and advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs), their different pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties, and their ability to trigger immunogenicity and toxicity. In the public and in the pharmaceutical industry, there is a strong and general desire to reduce the number of animals used in research and development of drugs and in particular reducing the use of nonhuman primates. Important discussions and activities are ongoing investigating the smarter designs of early research and dose range finding studies, reuse of animals, and replacing animal experiments with in vitro studies. Other important challenges include absence of a relevant species and design of studies and developing genetically modified animals for special investigative toxicology studies. Then, the learnings and challenges from the development of the first ATMPs are available providing valuable insights in the development path for these new potentially transformative treatments. Finally, development of strategies for assessment of immunogenicity and prediction of translation of immunogenicity and associated findings to the clinic. On this, the eighth meeting for the European BioSafe members, these challenges served as the basis for the presentations and discussions during the meeting. This article serves as the workshop report reviewing the presentations and discussions at the meeting.

TRANSFORMATION OF GENDER STEREOTYPES IN THE KARACHAY-CHERKASS REPUBLIC (ON THE BASIS OF THE SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH)

The study of the processes of genesis, renewal and evolution of the modern Russian society is impossible without studying innovative social and cultural roles and norms, where special attention is paid to a fundamentally new way of women's existence in ethnocultural communities. Their social and cultural status is changing in the modern globalization and information society, in connection with which the issues related to the revision and adjustment of traditional positions and views on gender stereotypes, the distribution of emphasis in the field of gender equality, and ideas about the business activity of women are being actualized. To solve research problems, a structural-functional method, comparative analysis, a socio-gender approach with the use of the principles of consistency, historicism, objectivity have been used, allowing to analyze the nature of modifications in women's business activity. It has been noted that in the region under consideration there is a special transformation of gender stereotypes, a specific delimitation of the space of "masculine" and "feminine", which, on the one hand, are conditioned by the patriarchal nature of traditional culture, the presence of stable religious factors, a special mentality, and on the other hand, by the general desire for the processes of globalization, development of civil society. In this regard, the problem arises of the formation and assimilation of values by women in modern society. It has been revealed that modern representatives of the fairer sex are clearly aware that it is necessary to strive for greater financial independence, to have their own stable income in order to feel confident in the future, despite the ongoing socio-economic changes that have lead to the transformation of family relations and the culture of society. At the same time, a woman's business activity is aimed at controlling time in favor of preserving many traditional views on the position of women in the community of the region and finding a balance between work and family, innovations and traditions.

FEASIBILITY OF AN INTENSIVE SPEECHLANGUAGE THERAPY PROGRAM FOR PRIMARY PROGRESSIVE APHASIA

Background: Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is caused by selective neurodegeneration of the specific language areas in the brain. Until recently, this area had been dominated by impairment-focused interventions, more specifically, word-retrieval therapies. The compensatory-based approach targets everyday use of conversation between a people with PPA (pwPPA) and the family member or carer, and is underpinned by an assessment of those strategies which facilitate communication and those that act as a barrier. Objective: To analyze the feasibility of an intensive SLT program for pwPPA. Methods: Three patients with PPA (1 with PPA-S, 1 PPA-NF and 1 PPA-L) received the treatment (2 by face-to-face format and one by videoconference/telerehabilitation). The program comprised an initial evaluation of 2 hours (day 1), five 1-hour treatment sessions on consecutive days (days 2 to 6), followed by a post-treatment evaluation (day 7) to determine the results of the intensive therapy. Results: The treatment provided a greater load of cognitive-linguistic stimuli, which promoted some gains in speech intelligibility, functional communication improving general desire to engage in communicative exchanges relative to baseline. Conclusions: The intensive program was feasible and that some gains in functional communication can be made after five consecutive sessions in the same week.