cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Capacity Region of Vector Gaussian Interference Channels with Generally Strong Interference
Creators: name: Shang, Xiaohu
name: Poor, H. Vincent
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Information Theory (cs.IT)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: An interference channel is said to have strong interference if for all input distributions, the receivers can fully decode the interference. This definition of strong interference applies to discrete memoryless, scalar and vector Gaussian interference channels. However, there exist vector Gaussian interference channels that may not satisfy the strong interference condition but for which the capacity can still be achieved by jointly decoding the signal and the interference. This kind of interference is called generally strong interference. Sufficient conditions for a vector Gaussian interference channel to have generally strong interference are derived. The sum-rate capacity and the boundary points of the capacity region are also determined.
description: 50 pages, 11 figures, submitted to IEEE trans. on Information Theory
A randomized pilot study to evaluate the stability, taste, and palatability of a novel liquid formulation of tenapanor
Creators: name: Sawant, Amit
name: Kanji, Nazim
name: DiMare, Marcello
name: Matusow, David
name: Edelstein, Susan
name: Menakuru, Somasekhar R
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: Biochemistry
subject: Microbiology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Physiology
subject: Pharmacology
subject: Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Immunology
subject: FOS: Clinical medicine
subject: Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified

description: This pilot study aimed to develop a liquid formulation of tenapanor and evaluate taste and palatability with different sweetener and flavor combinations. Significance: Tenapanor is a first-in-class, minimally absorbed, small molecule inhibitor of intestinal sodium/hydrogen exchanger 3, indicated (as tablets) to treat adults with constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome. It is also approved as add-on therapy to reduce serum phosphorus in adults with chronic kidney disease on dialysis who are intolerant of, or unacceptably responsive to, any dose of phosphate binder therapy. Since many patients have difficulty swallowing pills and pediatric studies are underway, a liquid formulation was developed, and taste profiles were evaluated for overall acceptability. Formulation of liquid tenapanor targeted a concentration of 5 mg/mL, for a dosing range of 1–50 mg twice daily. Improvements in solubility and stability of tenapanor in water were investigated with the use of buffers, cosolvents, and preservatives. Seven liquid formulations with different sweetener/flavor combinations were assessed for taste and palatability by healthy adult participants using the sip-and-spit method in a randomized design. An aqueous solution of tenapanor (5 mg/mL), pH 3.4, with 0.05% (w/v) benzoic acid, was stable at 2–8 °C for 12 months. The formulation with sucralose and raspberry flavor had the greatest improvement in overall acceptability and taste when compared to the reference solution without sweeteners or flavors. A suitable liquid formulation was identified for progression to patient studies.
Internet, Activism and Politics. The Repertoires and Rhetoric of Estonian Internet Activists
Creators: name: Vihma, Peeter
Publisher: name: Studies of Transition States and Societies
Year: 2016
Subjects: political activism, political rhetoric and repertoire, internet, sub-politics, East European non-political civil society

description: The literature on political participation and activism has gained from introducing a new term: ‘sub- activism’, which is used to describe individual, mostly internet-mediated activism of everyday choices. Yet there is ongoing work dedicated to the question of how these everyday choices relate to other repertoires of activism. Why do people choose to participate in politics in one form rather than in another? This paper contributes to the field by analysing the rhetoric and repertoire of activists who are organised around two NGOs: the Estonian Pirate Party and the Estonian Internet Society. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, analyses of online materials, and 15 in-depth interviews, findings indicate that the choice of repertoire is strongly connected to the activists’ views on the internet, activism and politics. Most importantly, understanding what ‘politics’ stands for influences the choice of sub- activism as suitable or unsuitable action for these groups. These findings are then discussed in the context of East European ‘apolitical’ activism and civil society.
description: Studies of Transition States and Societies, Vol 8, No 2 (2016)
Multiple Faces of Conventional Political Activism: A Youth Council Case Study
Creators: name: Pirk, Reelika
name: Nugin, Raili
Publisher: name: Studies of Transition States and Societies
Year: 2016
Subjects: youth, conventional institutional political participation, individualisation, post-socialist society, Estonia

description: Youth political participation via state-sponsored institutional settlements has always been considered a goal of youth policies, representing a means of creating politically active and caring citizens. Throughout Europe, however, the number of politically active young people seems to be diminishing, with youth frequently described as apathetic and disengaged. While a growing body of academic research has concentrated on exploring the reasons behind political inactivity, this article explores the motivation and activities of some of the young people who are involved in institutionalised youth organisations, asking if the meanings behind institutional political participation are undergoing a process of change together with the rest of the society. Based on qualitative in-depth interviews, participant observation and analysis of documents (including online communication) collected as part of the research project MYPLACE, we examine the meanings young people attach to their participation. We show that the character of these organisations and motivations behind participation are miscellaneous; sometimes strikingly similar to the forms of participation not traditionally associated with political activism but rather ascribed to disengaged youth.
description: Studies of Transition States and Societies, Vol 8, No 2 (2016)
Reply to Comment on "High-field studies of superconducting fluctuations in high-Tc cuprates: Evidence for a small gap distinct from the large pseudogap" by M.V. Ramallo et al
Creators: name: Rullier-Albenque, F.
name: Alloul, H.
name: Rikken, G.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)
subject: Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The experimental investigations done in our paper Phys.Rev.B84,014522(2011) allowed us to establish that the superconducting fluctuations (SCF) always die out sharply with increasing T. But contrary to the claim done in the comment of Ramallo et al., this sharp cutoff of SCF measured in YBa2Cu3O{6+x} depends on hole doping and/or disorder. So our data cannot be used to claim for a universality of the extended gaussian Ginzburg Landau theory proposed by the authors of the comment. Furthermore, to explain quantitatively our data near optimal doping using this model they need to consider that fluctuations in the two CuO2 planes of a bilayer are totally decoupled, which is not physically well justified. On the contrary a consistent interpretation of all our data (paraconductivity, Nernst effect and magnetoresistance) has been done by considering that the coupling between the two layers of the unit cell is dominant at least up to 1.1Tc.
description: Reply to the comment published in Phys. Rev. B 85,106501 (2012)
Solid Dispersion of Alectinib HCl: Preclinical Evaluation for Improving Bioavailability and Establishing an IVIVC Model
Creators: name: Saha, Sumit Kumar
name: Arya, Vipin
name: Jadhav, Ajinkya
name: Kailash, Some Jhanana
name: Panigrahi, Bala Krishna
name: Joshi, Amita
name: Singh, Romi
name: Dubey, Kiran
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: Biochemistry
subject: Pharmacology
subject: Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Ecology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Immunology
subject: FOS: Clinical medicine
subject: Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Cancer

description: Alectinib HCl (ALB-HCl) is a BCS class IV molecule with low solubility and low oral bioavailability. Owing to its low bioavailability, a high dose of ALB-HCl is recommended with food to meet clinical efficacy. Thus, there is a need for a delivery system to overcome the bioavailability concerns. Three solid dispersion formulations (I, II & III) were evaluated for in-vitro dissolution and in-vivo pharmacokinetics study in Wistar rats. An In-vitro and In-vivo correlation (IVIVC) model was developed to establish a relationship between in-vitro dissolution data and in-vivo pharmacokinetic data. The formulations were subjected to stability studies. All formulations showed enhanced dissolution in all the media except Formulation I in FaSSIF media. In-vivo pharmacokinetics studies displayed that Formulation I was inferior to API alone. Formulations II & III (amorphous solid dispersion, ASD) exhibited two-fold higher Cmax and AUC0-last than API alone. Level A IVIVC model was established for Cmax and AUC0-last with an acceptable % prediction error (PE). When evaluated for external predictability, the model was found validated for Cmax (% PE <10%), however, it was inconclusive for AUC0-last (%PE -14.03). Stability studies showed ASD formulations were stable during storage. A stable ASD formulation of ALB-HCl was successfully developed with improved bioavailability. Developing an IVIVC model can act as a surrogate to predict in-vivo performance. The selection of formulation components in ASD shall be rationalized for bioavailability and stability before clinical evaluation.
Contextualising Participation in a Transition Society
Creators: name: Cairns, David
name: Allaste, Airi-Alina
Publisher: name: Studies of Transition States and Societies
Year: 2016

description: This special issue of Studies of Transition States and Societies closes with a concluding discussion that aims to contextualise some of the key findings from the preceding articles. To do so, we use comparative level evidence drawn from other regions included in the MYPLACE consortium, identifyng contrasts and commonalities in how youth politics is practiced across different European regions. The basic approach is one of assessing the extent to which patterns of participation in Estonia diverge from activism elsewhere, thus locating Estonian youth within a broader analytical framework.
description: Studies of Transition States and Societies, Vol 8, No 2 (2016)
Non-axisymmetric instability of shear-banded Taylor-Couette flow
Creators: name: Nicolas, Alexandre
name: Morozov, Alexander
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft)
subject: Fluid Dynamics (physics.flu-dyn)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Recent experiments show that shear-banded flows of semi-dilute worm-like micelles in Taylor-Couette geometry exhibit a flow instability in the form of Taylor-like vortices. Here we perform the non-axisymmetric linear stability analysis of the diffusive Johnson-Segalman model of shear banding and show that the nature of this instability depends on the applied shear rate. For the experimentally relevant parameters, we find that at the beginning of the stress plateau the instability is driven by the interface between the bands, while most of the stress plateau is occupied by the bulk instability of the high-shear-rate band. Our work significantly alters the recently proposed stability diagram of shear-banded flows based on axisymmetric analysis.
description: 6 pages, 5 figures, main text and supplementary material; accepted to Phys. Rev. Lett
Trapped in ‘Involuntary’ Work in the Late Career? Retirement Expectations versus the ‘Desire to Retire’ in Estonia
Creators: name: Lindemann, Kristina
name: Unt, Marge
Publisher: name: Studies of Transition States and Societies
Year: 2016
Subjects: Estonia, late career workers, retirement expectations, retirement preferences, transition to retirement

description: In light of recent policies aiming to promote the prolongation of working life, one of the key questions is how people have adjusted their retirement expectations (i.e., realistic plans) and preferences (i.e., wishes and desires). We explore which social groups plan to continue working after the statutory retirement age, and whether they wish to do it or whether it is a forced choice (‘involuntary’ work). Overall, almost all employed late career workers plan to work until or beyond retirement age in Estonia, especially men and those who have more educational and health resources. Still, results of a joint analysis of plans and wishes indicate that two groups have a higher risk of ‘involuntary’ work. First, a higher education combined with a low job satisfaction predicts staying longer in the labour despite the wish to retire as early as possible. Second, individuals who have poor health and a low job satisfaction often wish to retire as early as possible but stay in the labour market until reaching to the compulsory retirement age. Thus, policy measures increasing merely the statutory retirement age create tensions, especially among those not satisfied with their jobs. More analytical work and policy measures are needed to provide solutions at the workplace level that would enable a prolonged work career.
description: Studies of Transition States and Societies, Vol 8, No 3 (2016)
Russian Youth on Labour Market: ‘Portfolioability’ as New Desire and Demand
Creators: name: Goncharova, Natalya
name: Krupets, Yana
name: Nartova, Nadya
name: Sabirova, Guzel
Publisher: name: Studies of Transition States and Societies
Year: 2016
Subjects: career, Russian youth, labour market, portfolioability

description: This article contributes to the debate about portfolio and organizational careers and presents the results of qualitative research of Russian young employees. During perestroika, Soviet career structures were almost completely destroyed. This led to the fact that working population of post-Soviet Russia had to adapt to new structures and/or create new conditions to be able to work and to ensure security. Such local uncertainty and instability coincided with intensive globalisation of the national economy and society, which had an even stronger effect: local instability combined with global instability.The analysis of biographical interviews demonstrated that a lot of young Russians on contemporary labour market can be characterised by portfolioability—a property that unites young professionals with different type of employment. We mean by this term a kind of attitude towards work typical for Russian youth, which reflects inner flexibility, experience, transferable skills and multiple employment practices. Moreover, it is portfolioability that in some cases becomes a resource to improve security/confidence concerning the labour market, as well as to develop agency. Besides, the lack of portfolioability results in a more vulnerable position and dependence on conditions.
description: Studies of Transition States and Societies, Vol 8, No 3 (2016)
Individualisation of Migration from the East? Comparison of Different Socio-Demographic Groups and their Migration Intentions
Creators: name: Saar, Maarja
Publisher: name: Studies of Transition States and Societies
Year: 2016
Subjects: migration motives, individualization, Eastern Europe

description: Recent studies on Eastern European migration argue that moving for self-development reasons is becoming increasingly common among this group. Furthermore, it is suggested that migration from the East is becoming individualised and less dependent on social surroundings. Nevertheless, most such results rely on interviews conducted among certain social groups, such as the young and highly skilled. Hence, the comparison between different social groups and their motivations is rarely provided and, therefore, the claims about increased individualisation might be premature. This article uses the Estonian Household Module Survey, including responses from 620 Estonians intending to migrate, to evaluate if migration flows are indeed becoming more individualised and less dependent on social surroundings. Using cluster analysis, three different groups — self-development, economic and life quality migrants — are formed, which are then tested using regression analysis to check for the influence of socio-demographic variables. The article concludes that socio-demographic variables such as gender, age, ethnicity, family status and socio-economic status are still relevant for migration intentions. Indeed, a new group of Eastern European migrants, mainly oriented towards self-development, is emerging; however, it is small and consists mostly of young, Estonian-speaking females. The results complicate the notions of free mobility and liquid migration from Eastern Europe and illustrate that there is a need to pay attention to the increasing group differences in these societies
description: Studies of Transition States and Societies, Vol 8, No 3 (2016)
Family Background and School Choice in Cities of Russia and Estonia: Selective Agenda of the Soviet Past and Present
Creators: name: Põder, Kaire
name: Lauri, Triin
name: Ivaniushina, Valeria
name: Alexandrov, Daniel
Publisher: name: Studies of Transition States and Societies
Year: 2016
Subjects: PISA data, school choice, admission policy, education policy, Estonia, Russia

description: In this article, we demonstrate the size of family background eff ects in various regions of Russia and Estonia, concentrating on urban and rural diff erences, addressing the idea that the family background effect is moderated by school level admission policies. Having common path-dependent educational institutions from the communist period, the countries diff er in both the extensiveness of the welfare state and system level school choice policies. However, we see many commonalities in both systems, especially at the urban school level. The family background eff ect is defi ned as the dependence of student achievement on family background characteristics, such as parental education, income and social status. In operationalising family background, the number of books at home and parental education are used as proxies, and its eff ect is measured as a percentage of the individual level PISA 2012 score. We contribute to the literature by studying school choice, its key characteristics and moderating eff ects by school level admission policy in an urban environment.
description: Studies of Transition States and Societies, Vol 8, No 3 (2016)
The Case of ‘Trust’ – Research on Social Capital in V4 Countries
Creators: name: Kovalčíková, Iveta
name: Lačný, Martin
Publisher: name: Studies of Transition States and Societies
Year: 2016
Subjects: social capital, trust, elements of trust, trustworthiness, AGA technique

description: Abstract The purpose of this article is firstly to discuss the basic theoretical approaches used to interpret the concept of trust in the context of social capital and then to present the results of research conducted on trust. The analysis concentrates on elements related to trust in the literature, reflecting the methodological approaches for assessing and measuring trust. In theoretically conceptualising trust we generally adopt Hardin’s explanations (1991, 2002a, 2002b, 2006), which are then used as an interpretational framework for our research results. The paper mainly analyses and interprets subjective conceptual mental maps of trust developed on the basis of associations obtained in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia using the Associative Group Analysis Technique. The participants were management and economics students and there were 100 of them in each country (50 female and 50 male; 50 from each capital – Prague, Budapest, Warsaw and Bratislava; 50 from a smaller town in each country – Ostrava, Szeged, Olsztyn and Prešov). Altogether 400 students in four countries completed the tasks. In this article we mainly present the results relating to the Slovak section of the research sample.
description: Studies of Transition States and Societies, Vol 8, No 3 (2016)
Faithful compact quantum group actions on connected compact metrizable spaces
Creators: name: Huang, Huichi
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Operator Algebras (math.OA)
subject: Quantum Algebra (math.QA)
subject: FOS: Mathematics

description: We construct faithful actions of quantum permutation groups on connected compact metrizable spaces. This disproves a conjecture of Goswami.
description: 8 pages
Distribution of Energy-Momentum in a Schwarzschild-Quintessence Space-time Geometry
Creators: name: Radinschi, Irina
name: Grammenos, Theophanes
name: Spanou, Andromahi
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: An analysis of the energy-momentum localization for a four-dimensional\break Schwarzschild black hole surrounded by quintessence is presented in order to provide expressions for the distributions of energy and momentum. The calculations are performed by using the Landau-Lifshitz and Weinberg energy-momentum complexes. It is shown that all the momenta vanish, while the expression for the energy depends on the mass $M$ of the black hole, the state parameter $w_{q}$ and the normalization factor $c$. The special case of $w_{q}=-2/3$ is also studied, and two limiting cases are examined.
description: 9 pages
Solar Cycle Variations in the Elemental Abundance of Helium and Fractionation of Iron in the Fast Solar Wind - Indicators of an Evolving Energetic Release of Mass from the Lower Solar Atmosphere
Creators: name: McIntosh, Scott W.
name: Kiefer, Kandace K.
name: Leamon, Robert J.
name: Kasper, Justin C.
name: Stevens, Michael S.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We present and discuss the strong correspondence between evolution of the emission length scale in the lower transition region and in situ measurements of the fast solar wind composition during this most recent solar minimum. We combine recent analyses demonstrating the variance in the (supergranular) network emission length scale measured by SOHO (and STEREO) with that of the Helium abundance (from WIND) and the degree of Iron fractionation in the solar wind (from the ACE and Ulysses). The net picture developing is one where a decrease in the Helium abundance and the degree of Iron fractionation (approaching values expected of the photosphere) in the fast wind indicate a significant change in the process loading material into the fast solar wind during the recent solar minimum. This result is compounded by a study of the Helium abundance during the space age using the NASA OMNI database which shows a slowly decaying amount of Helium being driven into the heliosphere over the course of the several solar cycles.
description: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted to appear in the Astrophysical Journal Letters
Electoral Violence in Putin´s Russia: Modern Authoritarianism in Practice
Creators: name: Mochtak, Michal
name: Holzer, Jan
Publisher: name: Studies of Transition States and Societies
Year: 2017
Subjects: Authoritarianism; new authoritarianism; election; violence; electoral violence; Putin´s Russia

description: The paper identifies and analyses the acts of electoral violence that occurred during the 2011 parliamentary and 2012 presidential elections in the Russian Federation, and connects them with the practices of modern authoritarian regimes. The analytical tool employed is based on an electoral violence research framework, which provides insight into the negative dynamics of an electoral competition and its outcomes. The authors argue that electoral violence is used to advance the Russian authoritarian regime, which is a modern form of authoritarian rule. By analysing the post-electoral turmoil and the response of authorities to public demonstrations, we depict the regime's ability to adapt its position to maximise outcomes in the political conflict and opportunistically select the best tool to achieve its goals. We further argue that Russia, with its authoritarian tendencies, utilises confrontation dynamics during elections in order to allow the politicisation of various latent conflicts (interest- or value-oriented) that are impossible to solve in the everyday depoliticised routine of the undemocratic system.
description: Studies of Transition States and Societies, Vol 9, No 1 (2017)
Quantitative Analysis of Web Content in Support of Qualitative Research. Examples from the Study of Post-Soviet De Facto States
Creators: name: Comai, Giorgio
Publisher: name: Studies of Transition States and Societies
Year: 2017
Subjects: content analysis, word frequency, de facto states

description: In recent years, the internet has been increasingly adopted as a key means of communication by local authorities, organisations and news media throughout the post-Soviet context. This has led to the creation and on-line publication of content that is routinely consulted and quoted by scholars of area studies, who, however, seemingly approach the web as an inordinate mass of content that can be superficially explored thanks to search engines and meaningful keywords. Structured analysis of content is still uncommon in area studies for a few reasons: it is considered to be time consuming, difficult to learn and, fundamentally, relevant datasets are usually not readily available. This paper briefly presents how to overcome these obstacles by introducing an open source package developed by the author that facilitates the creation of structured textual datasets from web content, and allows for basic word frequency analysis in a straightforward web interface. This article argues in favour of a wider use of quantitative methods based on the analysis of word frequency in textual datasets extracted from the internet as a starting point for in depth research with established qualitative methods. The examples presented in this paper relate to the study of post-Soviet de facto states.
description: Studies of Transition States and Societies, Vol 9, No 1 (2017)
Quasi-equilibrium models of magnetized compact objects
Creators: name: Markakis, Charalampos
name: Uryu, Koji
name: Gourgoulhon, Eric
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We report work towards a relativistic formulation for modeling strongly magnetized neutron stars, rotating or in a close circular orbit around another neutron star or black hole, under the approximations of helical symmetry and ideal MHD. The quasi-stationary evolution is governed by the first law of thermodynamics for helically symmetric systems, which is generalized to include magnetic fields. The formulation involves an iterative scheme for solving the Einstein-Maxwell and relativistic MHD-Euler equations numerically. The resulting configurations for binary systems could be used as self-consistent initial data for studying their inspiral and merger.
description: Talk given at the 14th Conference on Recent Developments in Gravity (NEB XIV), Ioannina, Greece, 8-11 Jun 2010
Active region formation through the negative effective magnetic pressure instability
Creators: name: Kemel, Koen
name: Brandenburg, Axel
name: Kleeorin, Nathan
name: Mitra, Dhrubaditya
name: Rogachevskii, Igor
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The negative effective magnetic pressure instability operates on scales encompassing many turbulent eddies and is here discussed in connection with the formation of active regions near the surface layers of the Sun. This instability is related to the negative contribution of turbulence to the mean magnetic pressure that causes the formation of large-scale magnetic structures. For an isothermal layer, direct numerical simulations and mean-field simulations of this phenomenon are shown to agree in many details in that their onset occurs at the same depth. This depth increases with increasing field strength, such that the maximum growth rate of this instability is independent of the field strength, provided the magnetic structures are fully contained within the domain. A linear stability analysis is shown to support this finding. The instability also leads to a redistribution of turbulent intensity and gas pressure that could provide direct observational signatures.
description: 19 pages, 10 figures, submitted to Solar Physics
The Kazakhstani Youth’s Engagement in Politics
Creators: name: Kilybayeva, Shugyla
name: Nassimova, Gulnar
name: Massalimova, Aliya
Publisher: name: Studies of Transition States and Societies
Year: 2017
Subjects: political participation, latent participation, activism, youth, interest in politics, Kazakhstan.

description: Current research on the Kazakhstani youth’s political participation has usually been informed by a rather traditional understanding of the concept of political participation, without considering the impact of social media and other non-traditional forms of political engagement. This article advocates for a more nuanced understanding of political participation in the country, and particularly among the younger generation, who – it will be shown, display a wide interest in the political developments of the country and are possibly encouraged by a wider access to information and social media through the internet. By pushing the boundaries of political participation, we suggest that young Kazakhs are more active in political debates than usually considered by a number of previous studies.
description: Studies of Transition States and Societies, Vol 9, No 1 (2017)
Ambiguity as a Condition of Possibility: the European Endowment for Democracy and Democracy Promotion in the Caucasus
Creators: name: Tordjman, Simon
Publisher: name: Studies of Transition States and Societies
Year: 2017
Subjects: European Union, European Endowment for Democracy, Democratisation, Caucasus, Civil Society

description: In June 2012, the European Endowment for Democracy (EED) was established with an aim to address the shortcomings of existing EU programmes and provide direct assistance to opposition forces and civil society groups in both the Southern and Eastern Neighbourhood. According to its Statutes, the EED is governed by EU member states and institutions, but is officially registered as a private foundation under the Belgian law. Institutional ambiguity was meant to enable the EED to operate in a more flexible and less bureaucratic manner. Yet, the blurred position of the Endowment has also catalysed a constellation of interests and divergent approaches related to the mere methods and objectives of democratisation policies (regime change vs. incremental transformation, empowering subjects vs. democratising institutions, visibility vs. discrete operations). Through a particular focus on EED interventions in Armenia and Azerbaijan, based on participant observation and a series of interviews conducted in Brussels and the Caucasus, the contribution argues that ambiguity does not represent an obstacle to the operationalisation of the EU democracy support policy. On the contrary, oversights and differences of interpretation about the “problem” to be addressed and the methods to be implemented constitute the very condition of possibility for the autonomisation of democracy assistance and the maintenance of several initiatives in the region.
description: Studies of Transition States and Societies, Vol 9, No 1 (2017)
General Quantum Fidelity Susceptibilities for the J1-J2 Chain
Creators: name: Thesberg, Mischa
name: Sorensen, Erik
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We study slightly generalized quantum fidelity susceptibilities where the differential change in the fidelity is measured with respect to a different term than the one used for driving the system towards a quantum phase transition. As a model system we use the spin-1/2 J1-J2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chain. For this model, we study three fidelity susceptibilities, chi_p, chi_D and chi_AF, which are related to the spin stiffness, the dimer order and antiferromagnetic order, respectively. All these ground-state fidelity susceptibilities are sensitive to the phase diagram of the J1-J2 model. We show that they all can accurately identify a quantum critical point in this model occurring at J2 = 0.241J1 between a gapless Heisenberg phase for J2 < J2_critical and a dimerized phase for J2 > J2_critical. This phase transition, in the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless universality class, is controlled by a marginal operator and is therefore particularly difficult to observe.
The formation of young dense star clusters through mergers
Creators: name: Fujii, Michiko S.
name: Saitoh, Takayuki R.
name: Zwart, Simon F. Portegies
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Young star clusters like R136 in the Large Magellanic Cloud and NGC 3603, Westerlund 1, and 2 in the Milky Way are dynamically more evolved than expected based on their current relaxation times. In particular, the combination of a high degree of mass segregation, a relatively low central density, and the large number of massive runaway stars in their vicinity are hard to explain with the monolithic formation of these clusters. Young star clusters can achieve such a mature dynamical state if they formed through the mergers of a number of less massive clusters. The shorter relaxation times of less massive clusters cause them to dynamically evolve further by the time they merge, and the merger product preserves the memory of the dynamical evolution of its constituent clusters. With a series of $N$-body simulations, we study the dynamical evolution of single massive clusters and those that are assembled through merging smaller clusters together. We find that the formation of massive star clusters through the mergers of smaller clusters can reproduce the currently observed spatial distribution of massive stars, the density, and the characteristics (number and mass distribution) of the stars ejected as runaways from young dense clusters. We therefore conclude that these clusters and possibly other young massive star clusters formed through the mergers of smaller clusters.
description: 13 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
Simplicial gauge theory and quantum gauge theory simulation
Creators: name: Halvorsen, Tore Gunnar
name: Sørensen, Torquil Macdonald
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Lattice (hep-lat)
subject: Mathematical Physics (math-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: 2010: 35Q40, 65M50, 74S05, 81T13, 81T25

description: We propose a general formulation of simplicial lattice gauge theory inspired by the finite element method. Numerical tests of convergence towards continuum results are performed for several SU(2) gauge fields. Additionaly, we perform simplicial Monte Carlo quantum gauge field simulations involving measurements of the action as well as differently sized Wilson loops as functions of $β$.
description: 20 pages, 6 figures
Path Dependency and Communal Tolerance in Indonesia
Creators: name: Metera, Gde Dwitya Arief
Publisher: name: Studies of Transition States and Societies
Year: 2017

description: Book review Menchik, Jeremy (2016). Islam and Democracy in Indonesia: Tolerance without Liberalism.
description: Studies of Transition States and Societies, Vol 9, No 1 (2017)
Arginine combination with fluoride and calcium glycerophosphate: effects of concentration and on biofilm fluid
Creators: name: Miranda, Marina Lins
name: Salomão, Karina Borges
name: Delbem, Alberto Carlos Botazzo
name: Danelon, Marcelle
name: Barbosa, Elis Rodrigues Oliveira
name: Sampaio, Caio
name: Campos, Lucas Arrais
name: Brighenti, Fernanda Lourenção
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2025
Subjects: subject: Biochemistry
subject: Microbiology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Ecology
subject: Astronomical and Space Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Virology

description: Aim: To study the influence of varying concentrations of arginine (Arg) combined with fluoride (F) and/or calcium glycerophosphate (CaGP) on biofilms. Materials & methods: Biofilms were analyzed for acidogenicity, microbial viability and Ca, F and inorganic phosphorus (P) concentrations. Results: For total bacteria, the lowest viability was found in F-containing groups, regardless of the arginine concentrations and presence of CaGP. For aciduric bacteria, no significant differences were found among arginine concentrations in the presence of F. For MS, arginine concentrations did not influence MS viability in the presence of fluoride and CaGP only decreased viability at 3.2% Arg concentration. The arginine-treated groups showed the lowest acidogenicity. For ion concentrations in biofilms, CaGP showed the highest values for P; Arg+F for F; and CaGP/Arg+CaGP for Ca. Conclusion: Different concentrations of arginine did not affect the microbial viability or acidogenicity of biofilms. Moreover, 0.8% Arg did not increase ion concentration in biofilm fluid. This study evaluated the combination of arginine with calcium glycerophosphate and fluoride. Arginine can modulate dental biofilms by increasing the pH and modifying the microbiota. Arginine promotes an ecological balance of biofilms. The combination of 0.8% Arg with NaF and/or CaGP did not influence the ion concentration in biofilms. Increasing the arginine concentration did not decrease microbial viability of the biofilms. There was no clear influence of different concentrations of arginine (Arg) in microbial viability of biofilm acidogenicity. Due to the early pH increase in the biofilm observed at 32 h, we recommend the use of the lowest Arg concentration.
Estimating the bias of a noisy coin
Creators: name: Ferrie, Christopher
name: Blume-Kohout, Robin
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Statistics Theory (math.ST)
subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Optimal estimation of a coin's bias using noisy data is surprisingly different from the same problem with noiseless data. We study this problem using entropy risk to quantify estimators' accuracy. We generalize the "add Beta" estimators that work well for noiseless coins, and we find that these hedged maximum-likelihood (HML) estimators achieve a worst-case risk of O(N^{-1/2}) on noisy coins, in contrast to O(1/N) in the noiseless case. We demonstrate that this increased risk is unavoidable and intrinsic to noisy coins, by constructing minimax estimators (numerically). However, minimax estimators introduce extreme bias in return for slight improvements in the worst-case risk. So we introduce a pointwise lower bound on the minimum achievable risk as an alternative to the minimax criterion, and use this bound to show that HML estimators are pretty good. We conclude with a survey of scientific applications of the noisy coin model in social science, physical science, and quantum information science.
description: 10 pages
Changes in the gut microbiota and derived fecal metabolites may play a role in tacrolimus-induced diabetes in mice
Creators: name: Qian, Minyan
name: Jiang, Zhenwei
name: Xu, Caomei
name: Wang, Liying
name: Hu, Nan
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: Biochemistry
subject: Microbiology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Cell Biology
subject: Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Ecology
subject: Cancer

description: A notable scarcity of research has focused on examining alterations in gut microbiota and its metabolites within tacrolimus (TAC)-induced diabetes models. Tacrolimus-induced changes in glucose and lipid metabolism indices were analyzed through different routes of administration. The potential role of gut microbiota and its metabolites in TAC-induced diabetes was investigated using 16S rRNA sequencing and non-targeted metabolomics. After intraperitoneal(ip) and oral(po) administration of TAC, the α-diversity index of gut microbiota was significantly increased. The gut microbiota of the three groups of mice was significantly separated, and there were significant changes in composition and functional genes. Fecal metabolites changed significantly after TAC administration by different routes, and 53 metabolites (38 down-regulated and 15 up-regulated) were identified (CON vs. TACip). Similarly, 29 metabolites (8 down-regulated and 21 up-regulated) were identified (CON vs. TACpo). KEGG pathway analysis identified 4 and 13 significantly altered metabolic pathways, respectively. Correlation analysis suggested that microbiota and metabolites were involved in the pathogenesis of TAC-induced diabetes. This study investigated the alterations in gut microbiota and fecal metabolites in TAC-induced diabetic mice and evaluated the correlation between these changes. These findings provide valuable insights into potential biomarkers in the development of TAC-induced diabetes. The study investigated the effects of tacrolimus (TAC), an immunosuppressive drug widely used to prevent organ rejection in transplant patients, on the development of diabetes. Gut bacteria and the metabolites they produce play an important role in health and disease, including diabetes. Not much is known about how these bacteria and their metabolites play a role when TAC induces diabetes. To explore this, we studied mice given TAC by two methods, intraperitoneal injection and oral administration, and looked at the changes in their gut bacteria and feces. We found that TAC changed the species and function of gut bacteria. These changes are linked to changes in important biological processes, such as the pathways that break down fats and other chemicals. Mice treated with TAC by different routes all showed signs of diabetes, such as elevated blood glucose levels. We suggest that specific bacteria and metabolites may play a role in causing diabetes after TAC treatment.
Size-dependent Transport Study of In0.53Ga0.47As Gate-all-around Nanowire MOSFETs: Impact of Quantum Confinement and Volume Inversion
Creators: name: Gu, Jiangjiang J.
name: Wu, Heng
name: Liu, Yiqun
name: Neal, Adam T.
name: Gordon, Roy G.
name: Ye, Peide D.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
subject: Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: InGaAs gate-all-around nanowire MOSFETs with channel length down to 50nm have been experimentally demonstrated by top-down approach. The nanowire size-dependent transport properties have been systematically investigated. It is found that reducing nanowire dimension leads to higher on-current, transconductance and effective mobility due to stronger quantum confinement and the volume inversion effect. TCAD quantum mechanical simulation has been carried out to study the inversion charge distribution inside the nanowires. Volume inversion effect appears at a larger dimension for InGaAs nanowire MOSFET than its Si counterpart.
description: 3 pages, 4 figures, to appear in IEEE Electron Device Letters
Electronic supplementary material, figure S1: from Revisiting the ‘nuclear species’ concept: do we really know what we think we know?
Creators: name: Bangal, Priti
name: Sridhar, Hari
Publisher: name: The Royal Society
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Ecology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: 60801 Animal Behaviour

description: Rank–ordered graph of cited papers based on number of source papers by which it is cited. Papers cited >5 times are excluded from the figure but can be found in electronic supplementary material, table S4. Full citations of papers mentioned are in electronic supplementary material, table S2.
Implementation of Web-Based Respondent-Driven Sampling among Men who Have Sex with Men in Vietnam
Creators: name: Bengtsson, Linus
name: Lu, Xin
name: Nguyen, Quoc Cuong
name: Camitz, Martin
name: Hoang, Nguyen Le
name: Liljeros, Fredrik
name: Thorson, Anna
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Methodology (stat.ME)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: Objective: Lack of representative data about hidden groups, like men who have sex with men (MSM), hinders an evidence-based response to the HIV epidemics. Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) was developed to overcome sampling challenges in studies of populations like MSM for which sampling frames are absent. Internet-based RDS (webRDS) can potentially circumvent limitations of the original RDS method. We aimed to implement and evaluate webRDS among a hidden population. Methods and Design: This cross-sectional study took place 18 February to 12 April, 2011 among MSM in Vietnam. Inclusion criteria were men, aged 18 and above, who had ever had sex with another man and were living in Vietnam. Participants were invited by an MSM friend, logged in, and answered a survey. Participants could recruit up to four MSM friends. We evaluated the system by its success in generating sustained recruitment and the degree to which the sample compositions stabilized with increasing sample size. Results: Twenty starting participants generated 676 participants over 24 recruitment waves. Analyses did not show evidence of bias due to ineligible participation. Estimated mean age was 22 year and 82% came from the two large metropolitan areas. 32 out of 63 provinces were represented. The median number of sexual partners during the last six months was two. The sample composition stabilized well for 16 out of 17 variables. Conclusion: Results indicate that webRDS could be implemented at a low cost among Internet-using MSM in Vietnam. WebRDS may be a promising method for sampling of Internet-using MSM and other hidden groups. Key words: Respondent-driven sampling, Online sampling, Men who have sex with men, Vietnam, Sexual risk behavior
To Whom Is Contact Use Beneficial? The Impacts of Self-Selected Contact Use on Gender Income Differentials in the Transitional Economy of Urban China
Creators: name: Shen, Jing
name: Kogan, Irena
Publisher: name: Studies of Transition States and Societies
Year: 2018
Subjects: Self-selection; contact use; gender income differentials; gender segregation; urban China

description: In this study, we examined the effect of contact use on the gender earnings gap in urban China, by taking into account the existence of self-selection effect. We theorised two sources of individuals’ self-selected job obtainment behaviour; namely, the structuralised gender-segregated employment environment and one’s internalisation of the structural constraints. Based on data collected from the highly marketized Chinese city Xiamen, our estimations from the Endogenous Switching Regression model show that there is indeed a significant tendency, in which women with marketable qualifications use social contacts to find jobs, even though their obtained income would have increased significantly had they chosen not to rely on contacts to find jobs. Men enjoyed premiums from their job search strategies, whether they relied on contact use or not.
description: Studies of Transition States and Societies, Vol 9, No 2 (2017)