julilili42/papers huggingface dataset:
Imaginative Resistance. An Emotion-Based Account
2009-01-01

For about fifteen years now there has been an increasingly vivid discussion of the so-called »puzzle of imaginative resistance«: we feel resistance to imagining worlds that are morally different from our world. In morally deviating worlds people do not just think differently about morality, but different things are morally good in these worlds. I will start with some introductory thoughts about the different dimensions of the problem. Then the general functioning of imagination has to be scrutinized. As I see it, imagining consists in the entertaining of a mental content without asserting it. However, this can be done in different ways: just by supposing the truth of a proposition, or in an experiential mode that involves also sensory and affective qualities. This brings us to a distinction made by Richard Moran (Philosophical Review 103: 75–106, 1994). He distinguishes two modes of imagining: a hypothetical and a dramatic one. Dramatic imagining is a form of imaginatively adopting a total perspective including thoughts, sensory qualities and emotions. From Moran's point of view, imaginative resistance depends mainly on the feelings involved in dramatic imagining. Therefore, I call it an affective account of imaginative resistance. Yet, it has been argued that imagined emotional responses are only »make-believe« or pretend. We, therefore, have to find out whether this objection is threatening the force of Moran's account. His answer to the challenge is based mostly on the affective aspect of dramatic imagining. Although he is right in emphasizing the role of feeling in emotional imagining, it does not suffice to explain the arousal of imaginative resistance. Therefore, we have to proceed from an affective to a full-fledged emotion-based account. Emotions in the full sense of the term cannot be reduced to mere feelings, they have a representational content. I suggest understanding the representational content of emotions following Kenny (Action, Emotion and Will, 1963) in terms of their formal objects which individuate emotions, make them intelligible and give their correctness conditions. If an imagined content is not presented as a viable instance of the formal object of an emotion, the imagining will fail. As a consequence, I will develop a multi-layered model of failures to imagine something emotionally due to the specific ways in which the representational content and the affective dimension interact in emotional imagining. We also have to get a firmer grip on the nature of the feelings involved in emotions in order to understand their impact on imaginative resistance. From my point of view this has to do with their nature as bodily feelings, which makes emotional imagining in a way intrusive that distinguishes it from other kinds of imagining. We will then have to reconsider how the bodily feelings involved in emotional imagining relate to their representational content. Finally, I will discuss why it is specific to imaginative resistance that the imagining does not just fail, but a feeling of repulsion is evoked.
Novel Cell Nucleus Directed Fluorescent Tetraazacyclododecane-Tetraacetic Acid Compounds
2009-01-01

Peptide conjugates derived from the SV 40 T antigen nuclear localisation sequence (NLS) have been successfully used to translocate both fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) and Gadolinium (Gd)-1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7,10-tetraacetic acid (DOTA) into the cytoplasm and nucleus of glioma cells. However, uptake occurred only in up to 35% of cells. To improve cellular uptake, we designed three novel FITC-labelled Gd-DOTA conjugates. In the first conjugate, the commonly used Gd-DOTA-complex was coupled to the nuclear localization sequence (NLS) of the Simian Virus (SV) 40 T antigen alone as a control. In the second conjugate, the Gd-DOTA-coupled SV 40 T antigen NLS was elongated by the HIV-1 tat peptide (HIV-NLS). A third conjugate, in which the Gd-DOTA-complex was coupled to the SV 40 T antigen NLS elongated by a peptide containing seven arginines and six aminohexanoic acids (Ahx6R7) was also synthesized (AHX-NLS). By means of confocal laser scanning microscopy, fluorescence activated cell sorting, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and viability tests we were able to demonstrate that the first conjugate containing only the NLS of the SV 40 T antigen stained the nuclei of no more than 10-12% of U373 and LN18 glioma cells, resulting in low signal intensity in MRI. The stained cells remained viable. After incubation with conjugates HIV-NLS and AHX-NLS the nuclei of up to 73% of U373 and LN18 glioma cells were stained. This was associated with high signal intensity in MRI and cell death. As previously shown, the gadolinium ion reduces cellular uptake of DOTA conjugates. To confirm this, the conjugates were produced with or without gadolinium. The gadolinium-free DOTA conjugates showed a higher cellular uptake rate and an increased cytotoxic potential.
Gender Medicine and Frankincense: Novel Findings in Inflammation Research
2009-01-01

Detailed insights into the pathobiochemical mechanisms of the inflammatory process and the molecular actions of anti-inflammatory drugs are determinants for successful intervention with inflammatory diseases. Gender differences regarding susceptibility to inflammatory diseases are well known, for example rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus more often affect women. In asthma, sex differences are apparent with a male predominance in childhood, whereas after puberty females predominate, due to a drop in males, reflecting a protective function of androgens. However, the biochemical mechanisms underlying these gender disparities are not understood. Leukotrienes, generated by the 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO) pathway, are involved in inflammatory and allergic disorders, and leukotriene receptor antagonists are used in asthma therapy. We found that leukotriene formation is substantially higher in females versus males, accompanied by different 5-LO trafficking, due to male-specific activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERKs). The differences are directly related to male/female testosterone levels. Our data suggest that gender issues should be considered in the use of anti-leukotrienes as therapeutics to optimize pharmacological therapy, in men and women. The anti-inflammatory properties of frankincense, the gum resin derived from Boswellia species, are well-recognized. Boswellic acids (BAs) are major ingredients of frankincense that were shown to inhibit 5-LO in vitro, but recent data question the pharmacological relevance of such interference in vivo. We report about the identification of human cathepsin G as pharmacologically relevant target of BAs. In particular, the major naturally occurring β-BA, reaching pharmacological relevant plasma levels (6.5–10 μM) after oral intake of medical frankincense preparations, potently inhibits cathepsin G in vitro and ex vivo, and exhibits high efficacy in animal models of inflammation, supporting an anti-inflammatory efficacy of frankincense in patients.
Changes in Muscular Lipids in Unilateral Isolated Hypertrophy of Gastrocnemius Muscle Can Be Revealed by1H MR Spectroscopy
2009-01-01

Muscular lipids are substrates for metabolism and can be assessed non-invasively by (1)H-MRS. (1)H-MRS is considered to be a helpful tool in clinical assessment of muscle metabolism in cases with muscular hypo- or hypertrophy.
A granular constitutive relation derived from hydrodynamics
2009-01-01

Employing the hydrodynamic approach,normal elasticity theory is generalized in a natural way to account for granular media.The result is a set of partial differential equations that can be used to calculate all relevant physical quantities,including stress,deformation,energy,energy flux and heat production.Especially,a constitutive relation appropriate for granular media and expressed in thermodynamic quantities—— something of great engineering significance and not yet fully established—— is deduced from the theory.This constitutive relation is complex and nonlinear,containing gradients of stress,velocity and density,even for the simplest possible input of a free energy expression and transport coefficients.This amply demonstrates the difficulties of arriving at an appropriate constitutive relation starting directly from experimental data.
Exercise and menstrual cycle dependent expression of a truncated alternative splice variant of Hif1alpha in leukocytes.
2009-01-01

HIF1alpha is a subunit of the transcription factor HIF1 and a key regulator of angiogenesis, glucose metabolism and innate immune response. Recently, it has been shown that increases in free DNA in the plasma induce expression of HIF1alpha. Large increases of free DNA in plasma are typically found after exercise. HIF1alpha is therefore a potential candidate to orchestrate gene expression changes that initiate adaptations of the innate immune response after exercise. Although differential gene expression of HIF1alpha in response to exercise has been studied extensively and increases in expression are described for the skeletal muscle, no significant changes have been reported in leukocytes so far. Here we show a highly significant increase in expression of the alternative splice variant HIF1alpha-2 coding for a truncated 736 amino acid protein in peripheral blood derived mononuclear cells following a 1h aerobic exercise. In contrast, expression of the regular full length HIF1alpha mRNA remained unchanged. Initial increase of HIF1alpha-2 mRNA expression and subsequent return to baseline levels was not different between twelve men and nine women. The latter were studied in the follicular and luteal phases of their menstrual cycle. Baseline expression of HIF1alpha-2 but not HIF1alpha-1 was significantly higher in the follicular phase than in the luteal phase. So far studies on the effects of HIF1 routinely measure only HIF1alpha-1. Further studies are needed to elucidate the hitherto unknown influence of HIF1alpha-2 on regulation of the innate immune response.
Movement patterns and habitat selection of the giant day gecko (Phelsuma madagascariensis grandis) in the Masoala rainforest exhibit, Zurich Zoo
2009-01-01

In 2003, Zurich Zoo opened the Masoala exhibit to help preserving the endemic flora and fauna\\nof Madagascar and to raise public awareness of the threats to this biodiversity hotspot. The enclosure houses more than 45 animal taxa and over 35000 individual plants on almost 11000 m2. After three years of establishment of food webs and demographic changes in the community, there is an urgent demand for animal population monitoring. Therefore, this paper aims (i) to determine how increasing gecko density affects gecko movement patterns in the exhibit and (ii) to assess habitat selection in 12 heterogeneous areas within the exhibit, differing in various environmental parameters (e.g., plant species, sun hours, and food sources). In contrast to an earlier study on this gecko population, our results on gecko movement patterns show that moved distances are evenly distributed amongst distances between 0 to 70 m. Moreover, geckos showed strong habitat preferences for certain areas; plants like Ravenala madagascariensis and Pandanus spp. as well as ventilation tubes and cages were most frequently used as perch sites. When discussed in the framework of the ideal free distribution theory, our results suggest that gecko movement patterns are strongly affected by increasing gecko density.
UV spectroscopy of the hybrid PG 1159-type central stars of the planetary nebulae NGC 7094 and Abell 43
2009-01-01

Die Serie Communications in Asteroseismology (CoAst) stellt eine international gefragte Plattform für wissenschaftliche Publikationen der neuesten Forschungsergebnisse auf dem Gebiet der Asteroseismologie dar. Forschungsgegenstand der Asteroseismologie sind veränderliche und pulsierende Sterne. Neben den halbjährlich erscheinenden regulären Ausgaben mit Beiträgen aus der laufenden Forschung werden auch Sonderausgaben für Konferenzberichte bzw. Programmhandbücher herausgegeben. JENAM (Joint European and National Astronomy Meeting) ist die größte jährliche Zusammenkunft der europäischen Berufsastronomen, die diesmal im September 2008 in Wien stattfand. Die Konferenz beherbergte neun Minisymposien, wobei eines der Asteroseismologie gewidmet war. Die neuesten Entwicklungen auf diesem Gebiet sind im vorliegenden Band im Rahmen von Übersichts- und Detailartikeln zusammengefasst.
CRESST
2009-01-01

The CRESST-II direct Dark Matter search is located in the Gran Sasso underground laboratories, Italy. CaWO4 crystals are used as scintillating targets for WIMP (weakly interacting massive particle) interactions. They are operated as cryogenic calorimeters in combination with a second cryogenic detector used to measure the scintillation light produced in the target crystal. For each particle interaction, the combination of phonon and light signals provides an event by event discrimination which allows to distinguish known particles (alphas, betas, gammas, neutrons) from the expected signal of WIMPs. A major upgrade of the setup comprises modifications of the shielding, installation of a muon-veto, and new read out electronics, as well as a new detector-support structure to accommodate up to 33 detector modules, i.e. 10 kg of target mass. The experiment was thereafter successfully commissioned in 2007. Data obtained during this commissioning phase from 2 detector modules are presented here. Combining the data collected with these two detector modules with data from one single module obtained during the CRESST-I phase, the experiment could already place a limit of ~6 × 10-7 pb for the spin independent WIMP-nucleon scattering cross section at a WIMP mass of ~60 GeV/c2.
World space observatory-ultraviolet
2009-01-01

The World Space Observatory UltraViolet (WSO-UV) project is an international space observatory designed for observations in the ultraviolet domain. The observatory includes a single 170 cm aperture telescope capable of high-resolution spectroscopy, long slit low-resolution spectroscopy and deep UV and optical imaging.
Granularity and the acquisition of grammatical gender: How order-of-acquisition affects what gets learned
2009-01-01

Why do L1 and L2 learners usually achieve different levels of language mastery? We examine how prior knowledge and experience might influence the size of the linguistic units employed in learning, and as a consequence, what gets learned. We hypothesize that adults learn from more segmented representations, and these can hinder learning about the relations between segments (e.g. between articles and nouns). In particular, we focus on the acquisition of grammatical gender, an aspect of language L2 learners show difficulty on compared to native speakers. We show that adult learners were better at learning grammatical gender in an artificial language when they were exposed to article-noun sequences first and only then to noun-labels compared to learners that started out with noun-labels and only then heard article-noun sequences (frequency of exposure was equal in the two conditions). We discuss how the units children and adults learn from impact language learning.
A Fast Event Preprocessor and Sequencer for the Simbol-X Low Energy Detector
2009-01-01

The Simbol‐X Low Energy Detector (LED), a 128×128 pixel DEPFET (Depleted Field Effect Transistor) array, will be read out at a very high rate (8000 frames/second) and, therefore, requires a very fast on board electronics. We present an FPGA‐based LED camera electronics consisting of an Event Preprocessor (EPP) for on board data preprocessing and filtering of the Simbol‐X low‐energy detector and a related Sequencer (SEQ) to generate the necessary signals to control the readout.
Towards the Neural Basis of Spatial Attention: Studies in Monkey and Man
2009-01-01

Our capacity for the processing of information is limited. At any time, only a small part of the information available at the level of the sensory surfaces is perceived consciously and able to influence our behaviour. The term attention captures the cognitive functions which are responsible for filtering out unwanted information and bringing to consciousness what is relevant for the organism. Our brain continuously assigns priority to some aspects of sensory information over others and this selection is likely to determine which of the signals will gain entry to consciousness and to memory and will influence our overt behaviour and our trains of thoughts. In this review, we address two aspects of the functional architecture of attention; first, the relationship between attention shifting and eye movements and, secondly, the question of how attention is guided under natural conditions and how it helps us to contribute to social interactions. We try to justify the conclusion that the common substrate of attention shifting and eye movements posited by the ‘pre-motor theory of attention’ is the superior colliculus. We also discuss recent comparative work on the role of the eyes of others in the guidance of attention and how this ‘gaze following’ may allow us to develop a ‘theory of mind’.
Glycosylated CU/ZN-Superoxide Dismutase fromKluyveromycesYeast, Determined by Mass Spectrometry
2009-01-01

The primary structure of Cu/Zn SOD from Kluyveromyces marxianus NBIMCC 1984 (Cu/Zn-KmSOD) was elucidated by N-terminal sequencing of the intact protein and by determination of the amino acid sequences of the tryptic peptides through MALDI-TOF-TOF. The molecular mass of the SOD homodimer subunit, containing 152 amino acid residues, was calculated to be 15858,3 Da while by MALDI-TOF 17096,63 Da were determined. Only one typtophan residue at position 33 and one linkage site—Asn-Ile/Leu-Thr- were identified in the polypeptide chain of Cu/Zn-KmSOD.The full oligosaccharide structure of the naturally glycosylated superoxide dismutase was determined by mass spectrometry. Enzymatialyc liberated N-glycan from the enzyme was analysed using MALDI-TOF and tandem mass spectrometry on a Q- Trap mass spectrometer. One methylated hexose and an external fucose, linked to the hexoses were identified in the glycan.
Nph, DC and chromatin-mediated pathogenesis in systemic lupus erythematosus
2009-01-01

Nucleosomes (Nuc) are key lupus autoantigen and have been shown to activate several types of immune cells as well as the complement system, resulting in inflammation. The elevated concentrations and the immunostimulatory capacities of circulating Nuc may favour the break of peripheral tolerance in genetically predisposed individuals. Nevertheless, in most cases the signalling pathways involved are not elucidated yet, although Tir8/Sigirr deficiency has been recently shown to enhance cell activation upon exposure to Nuc-containing immune complexes.
Percutaneous tissue engineered pulmonary valved stent implantation
2009-01-01

Aims: Transfemoral application of pulmonary heart valves has been recently introduced clinically. An autologous tissue-engineering approach was pursued to overcome the current limitations of degeneration, calcification, and limited longevity of bovine jugular vein valves.
ON THE NUMBER OF ALLELIC TYPES FOR SAMPLES TAKEN FROM EXCHANGEABLE COALESCENTS WITH MUTATION
2009-01-01

Let Kn denote the number of types of a sample of size n taken from an exchangeable coalescent process (S-coalescent) with mutation. A distributional recursion for the sequence (Kn)ne^ is derived. If the coalescent does not have proper frequencies, i.e. if the characterizing measure S on the infinite simplex A does not have mass at 0 and satisfies fA \\x\\E(dx)/(x, x) oo to a limiting variable K that is characterized by an exponential integral of the subordinator associated with the coalescent process. For so-called simple measures S satisfying fA E(dx)/(x, x) < oo, we characterize the distribution of K via a fixed-point equation.
The Evolution of O(He) Stars
2009-01-01

Spectral analyses of H‐deficient post‐AGB stars have shown that a small group of four extremely hot objects exists which have almost pure He absorption‐line spectra in the optical. These are classified as O(He) stars. For their origin there are two scenarios: They could be the long‐sought hot successors of RCrB stars, which have not been identified up to now. If this turns out to be true, then a third post‐AGB evolutionary sequence is revealed, which is probably the result of a double‐degenerate merging process. An alternative explanation might be that O(He) stars are post early‐AGB stars. These depart from the AGB just before they experience their first thermal pulse (TP) which will then occur as a late thermal pulse (LTP). This would be a link to the low‐mass He‐enriched sdO stars and low‐mass, particularly He‐rich PG 1159 stars. We present results of a spectral analysis of FUSE observations of the O(He) stars by means of NLTE model‐atmosphere techniques and summarize our present picture of their evolutionary scenario.
On B-injectors of symmetric groups Snand alternating groups An: a new approach
2009-01-01

The aim of this paper is to introduce the notion of -injectors of finite groups and invoke this notion to determine the -injectors of and and to prove that they are conjugate. This paper provides a new, more straightforward and construc
Recursion in XQuery: put your distributivity safety belt on
2009-01-01

We introduce a controlled form of recursion in XQuery, an inflationary fixed point operator, familiar from the context of relational databases. This operator imposes restrictions on the expressible types of recursion, but it is sufficiently versatile to capture a wide range of interesting use cases, including Regular XPath and its core transitive closure operator. While the optimization of general user-defined recursive functions in XQuery appears elusive, we describe how inflationary fixed points can be efficiently evaluated, provided that the recursive XQuery expressions are distributive. We test distributivity syntactically and algebraically, and provide experimental evidence that XQuery processors can benefit substantially from this mode of evaluation. 1.
Off-loading compute intensive tasks for insurance products using a just-in-time compiler on a hybrid system
2009-01-01

This paper focuses on building a hybrid system, which consists of IBM System z and IBM POWER processor-based blades as accelerators. The business application under investigation is an insurance software that is used to perform batch runs and thus requires valuable compute cycles on System z. Therefore, we present a novel technology to accelerate mathematical insurance calculations by implementing a just-in-time compiler based on LLVM. The resulting code is optimized for network attached accelerator platforms and thus runs faster and more efficiently. Overall, the hybrid solution is able to achieve a higher calculation throughput as opposed to a System z-only solution. We are able to achieve a high speed-up compared to interpretation with simple mathematical calculations.
Rotation of scissioning nuclei observed in ternary fission induced by polarized neutrons
2009-01-01

Angular distributions of light charged particles relative to the momentum of the light fission fragment were studied in ternary fission induced by cold polarized neutrons. It was discovered that the angular distribution is asymmetric with respect to a plane determined by the direction of incident neutron spin and the light fragment momentum. The violation of the mirrorlike symmetry was established at the level of ∼10−2–10−4 for three reactions studied: 233U(n,f), 235U(n,f) and 239Pu(n,f). In spite of the smallness of the effects the neutron spin flip method allowed to make reliable measurements. The current status of the experimental studies of the effect and its interpretation are presented. Perspectives for further studies of the new phenomenon are discussed.