WorldWideScience

Sample records for brain surface cooperative

  1. Social Interaction in a Cooperative Brain-computer Interface Game

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Obbink, Michel; Gürkök, Hayrettin; Plass - Oude Bos, D.; Hakvoort, Gido; Poel, Mannes; Nijholt, Antinus; Camurri, Antonio; Costa, Cristina

    Does using a brain-computer interface (BCI) influence the social interaction between people when playing a cooperative game? By measuring the amount of speech, utterances, instrumental gestures and empathic gestures during a cooperative game where two participants had to reach a certain goal, and

  2. Brain Interaction during Cooperation: Evaluating Local Properties of Multiple-Brain Network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sciaraffa, Nicolina; Borghini, Gianluca; Aricò, Pietro; Di Flumeri, Gianluca; Colosimo, Alfredo; Bezerianos, Anastasios; Thakor, Nitish V; Babiloni, Fabio

    2017-07-21

    Subjects' interaction is the core of most human activities. This is the reason why a lack of coordination is often the cause of missing goals, more than individual failure. While there are different subjective and objective measures to assess the level of mental effort required by subjects while facing a situation that is getting harder, that is, mental workload, to define an objective measure based on how and if team members are interacting is not so straightforward. In this study, behavioral, subjective and synchronized electroencephalographic data were collected from couples involved in a cooperative task to describe the relationship between task difficulty and team coordination, in the sense of interaction aimed at cooperatively performing the assignment. Multiple-brain connectivity analysis provided information about the whole interacting system. The results showed that averaged local properties of a brain network were affected by task difficulty. In particular, strength changed significantly with task difficulty and clustering coefficients strongly correlated with the workload itself. In particular, a higher workload corresponded to lower clustering values over the central and parietal brain areas. Such results has been interpreted as less efficient organization of the network when the subjects' activities, due to high workload tendencies, were less coordinated.

  3. Cooperativity in Surface Bonding and Hydrogen Bonding of Water and Hydroxyl at Metal Surfaces

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schiros, T.; Ogasawara, H.; Naslund, L. A.

    2010-01-01

    of the mixed phase at metal surfaces. The surface bonding can be considered to be similar to accepting a hydrogen bond, and we can thereby apply general cooperativity rules developed for hydrogen-bonded systems. This provides a simple understanding of why water molecules become more strongly bonded...... to the surface upon hydrogen bonding to OH and why the OH surface bonding is instead weakened through hydrogen bonding to water. We extend the application of this simple model to other observed cooperativity effects for pure water adsorption systems and H3O+ on metal surfaces.......We examine the balance of surface bonding and hydrogen bonding in the mixed OH + H2O overlayer on Pt(111), Cu(111), and Cu(110) via density functional theory calculations. We find that there is a cooperativity effect between surface bonding and hydrogen bonding that underlies the stability...

  4. Preliminary notes on brain weight variation across labrid fish species with different levels of cooperative behaviour

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Marta C.SOARES; Gon(c)alo I.ANDR(E); José R.PAULA

    2015-01-01

    Brain size and weight vary tremendously in the animal kingdom.It has been suggested that brain structural development must evolve balanced between the advantages of dealing with greater social challenges and the energetic costs of maintaining and developing larger brains.Here we ask if interspecific differences in cooperative behaviour (i.e.cleaning behaviour) are related to brain weight variations in four close-related species of Labrid fish:two are obligatory cleanerfish throughout their entire life (Labroides dimidiatus and L.bicolor),one facultative cleaner fish Labropsis australis and one last species that never engage in cleaning Labrichthys unilineatus.We first search for the link between the rate of species' cooperation and its relative brain weight,and finally,if the degree of social complexity and cooperation are reflected in the weight of its major brain substructures.Overall,no differences were found in relative brain weight (in relation to body weight) across species.Fine-scale differences were solely demonstrated for the facultative cleaner L.australis,at the brainstem level.Furthermore,data visual examination indicates that the average cerebellum and brainstem weights appear to be larger for L.dimidiatus.Because variation was solely found at specific brain areas (such as cerebellum and brainstem) and not for the whole brain weight values,it suggests that species social-ecological and cognitive demands may be directly contributing to a selective investment in relevant brain areas.This study provides first preliminary evidence that links potential differences in cognitive ability in cooperative behaviour to how these may mediate the evolution of brain structural development in non-mammal vertebrate groups [Current Zoology 61 (2):274-280,2015].

  5. MR imaging of brain surface structures: Surface anatomy scanning

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Katada, K.; Koga, S.; Asahina, M.; Kanno, T.; Asahina, K.

    1987-01-01

    Preoperative evaluation of brain surface anatomy, including cortical sulci and veins, relative to cerebral and cerebellar lesions is an important subject for surgeons. Until now, no imaging modality existed that allowed direct visualization of brain surface anatomy. A new MR imaging technique (surface anatomy scanning) was developed to visualize brain surface structures. The technique uses a spin-echo pulse sequence with long repetition and echo times, thick sections and a surface coil. Cortical sulci, fissures, veins, and intracranial lesions were clearly identified with this technique. Initial clinical results indicate that surface anatomy scanning is useful for lesion localization and for detailed evaluation of cortical and subcortical lesions

  6. Workbench surface editor of brain cortical surface

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dow, Douglas E.; Nowinski, Wieslaw L.; Serra, Luis

    1996-04-01

    We have developed a 3D reach-in tool to manually reconstruct 3D cortical surface patches from 2D brain atlas images. The first application of our cortex editor is building 3D functional maps, specifically Brodmann's areas. This tool may also be useful in clinical practice to adjust incorrectly mapped atlas regions due to the deforming effect of lesions. The cortex editor allows a domain expert to control the correlation of control points across slices. Correct correlation has been difficult for 3D reconstruction algorithms because the atlas slices are far apart and because of the complex topology of the cortex which differs so much from slice to slice. Also, higher precision of the resulting surfaces is demanded since these define 3D brain atlas features upon which future stereotactic surgery may be based. The cortex editor described in this paper provides a tool suitable for a domain expert to use in defining the 3D surface of a Brodmann's area.

  7. MR imaging of brain surface structures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Katada, Kazuhiro; Anno, Hirofumi; Takesita, Gen; Koga, Sukehiko; Kanno, Tetuo; Sakakibara, Tatuo; Yamada, Kazuhiro; Suzuki, Hirokazu; Saito, Sigeki.

    1989-01-01

    An imaging technique that permits direct and non-invasive visualization of brain surface structures was proposed. This technique (Surface anatomy scanning, SAS) consists of long TE-long TR spin echo sequence, thick slice and surface coil. Initial clinical trials in 31 patients with various cerebral pathology showed excellent visualization of sulci, gyri and major cortical veins on the lateral surface of the brain together with cortical and subcortical lesions. Our preliminary results indicate that the SAS is an effective method for the diagnosis and localization of cortical and subcortical pathology, and the possible application of SAS to the surgical and the radiation therapy planning is sugessted. (author)

  8. MR brain scan tissues and structures segmentation: local cooperative Markovian agents and Bayesian formulation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Scherrer, B.

    2008-12-01

    Accurate magnetic resonance brain scan segmentation is critical in a number of clinical and neuroscience applications. This task is challenging due to artifacts, low contrast between tissues and inter-individual variability that inhibit the introduction of a priori knowledge. In this thesis, we propose a new MR brain scan segmentation approach. Unique features of this approach include (1) the coupling of tissue segmentation, structure segmentation and prior knowledge construction, and (2) the consideration of local image properties. Locality is modeled through a multi-agent framework: agents are distributed into the volume and perform a local Markovian segmentation. As an initial approach (LOCUS, Local Cooperative Unified Segmentation), intuitive cooperation and coupling mechanisms are proposed to ensure the consistency of local models. Structures are segmented via the introduction of spatial localization constraints based on fuzzy spatial relations between structures. In a second approach, (LOCUS-B, LOCUS in a Bayesian framework) we consider the introduction of a statistical atlas to describe structures. The problem is reformulated in a Bayesian framework, allowing a statistical formalization of coupling and cooperation. Tissue segmentation, local model regularization, structure segmentation and local affine atlas registration are then coupled in an EM framework and mutually improve. The evaluation on simulated and real images shows good results, and in particular, a robustness to non-uniformity and noise with low computational cost. Local distributed and cooperative MRF models then appear as a powerful and promising approach for medical image segmentation. (author)

  9. Generic strong coupling behavior of Cooper pairs in the surface of superfluid nuclei

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pillet, N.; Sandulescu, N.; Schuck, P.

    2007-01-01

    With realistic HFB calculations, using the D1S Gogny force, we reveal a generic behavior of concentration of small sized Cooper pairs (2-3 fm) in the surface of superfluid nuclei. This study confirms and extends previous results given in the literature that use more schematic approaches. It is shown that the strong concentration of pair probability of small Cooper pairs in the nuclear surface is a quite general and generic feature and that nuclear pairing is much closer to the strong coupling regime than previously assumed

  10. Generic strong coupling behavior of Cooper pairs in the surface of superfluid nuclei

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pillet, N. [DPTA/Service de Physique nucleaire, CEA/DAM Ile de France, BP12, F-91680 Bruyeres-le-Chatel (France); Sandulescu, N. [DPTA/Service de Physique nucleaire, CEA/DAM Ile de France, BP12, F-91680 Bruyeres-le-Chatel (France)]|[Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering, 76900 Bucharest (Romania)]|[Institut de Physique Nucleaire, CNRS, UMR 8608, Orsay, F-91406 (France); Schuck, P. [Institut de Physique Nucleaire, CNRS, UMR 8608, Orsay, F-91406 (France)]|[Universite Paris-Sud, Orsay, F-91505 (France)

    2007-01-15

    With realistic HFB calculations, using the D1S Gogny force, we reveal a generic behavior of concentration of small sized Cooper pairs (2-3 fm) in the surface of superfluid nuclei. This study confirms and extends previous results given in the literature that use more schematic approaches. It is shown that the strong concentration of pair probability of small Cooper pairs in the nuclear surface is a quite general and generic feature and that nuclear pairing is much closer to the strong coupling regime than previously assumed.

  11. Glycogen metabolism in brain and neurons - astrocytes metabolic cooperation can be altered by pre- and neonatal lead (Pb) exposure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baranowska-Bosiacka, Irena; Falkowska, Anna; Gutowska, Izabela; Gąssowska, Magdalena; Kolasa-Wołosiuk, Agnieszka; Tarnowski, Maciej; Chibowska, Karina; Goschorska, Marta; Lubkowska, Anna; Chlubek, Dariusz

    2017-09-01

    Lead (Pb) is an environmental neurotoxin which particularly affects the developing brain but the molecular mechanism of its neurotoxicity still needs clarification. The aim of this paper was to examine whether pre- and neonatal exposure to Pb (concentration of Pb in rat offspring blood below the "threshold level") may affect the brain's energy metabolism in neurons and astrocytes via the amount of available glycogen. We investigated the glycogen concentration in the brain, as well as the expression of the key enzymes involved in glycogen metabolism in brain: glycogen synthase 1 (Gys1), glycogen phosphorylase (PYGM, an isoform active in astrocytes; and PYGB, an isoform active in neurons) and phosphorylase kinase β (PHKB). Moreover, the expression of connexin 43 (Cx43) was evaluated to analyze whether Pb poisoning during the early phase of life may affect the neuron-astrocytes' metabolic cooperation. This work shows for the first time that exposure to Pb in early life can impair brain energy metabolism by reducing the amount of glycogen and decreasing the rate of its metabolism. This reduction in brain glycogen level was accompanied by a decrease in Gys1 expression. We noted a reduction in the immunoreactivity and the gene expression of both PYGB and PYGM isoform, as well as an increase in the expression of PHKB in Pb-treated rats. Moreover, exposure to Pb induced decrease in connexin 43 immunoexpression in all the brain structures analyzed, both in astrocytes as well as in neurons. Our data suggests that exposure to Pb in the pre- and neonatal periods results in a decrease in the level of brain glycogen and a reduction in the rate of its metabolism, thereby reducing glucose availability, which as a further consequence may lead to the impairment of brain energy metabolism and the metabolic cooperation between neurons and astrocytes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Clinical application of synthesized brain surface imaging for preoperative simulation of brain biopsy under local anesthesia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ogura, Yuko; Katada, Kazuhiro; Imai, Fumihiro; Fujisawa, Kazuhisa; Takeshita, Gen; Kanno, Tetsuo; Koga, Sukehiko

    1994-01-01

    Surface anatomy scanning (SAS) is the technique which permits the direct visualization of brain surface structures, including cortical sulci, guri, subcortical lesions as well as skin markings for craniotomy. A synthesized brain surface image is a technique that combines MR angiography (MRA) with SAS, and it proposed by us for detecting cerebral superficial veins with these surface structures on the same image. The purpose of this report is to present the result of applying the synthesized brain surface image to the preoperative simulation of biopsy under local anesthesia in 2 cases of multiple metastatic brain tumors. The parameters for SAS were TR/TE=50/40 msec, flip angle=60deg by the fast T 2 technique using refocused FID in steady-state (STERF technique). SAS images were processed by gray scale reversal. The MRA data were acquired with two-dimensional time of flight (TOF) sequence after intravenous administration of Gd-DTPA. Before imaging, the water-filled plastic tubes were placed on the patients scalp as markings for craniotomy. Their positions were planned by the neurosurgeons. On SAS, the markings for burr-hole appeared located above the tumors. However on the synthesized brain surface images, the positions of burr-hole were considered to be inadequate, since superficial cerebral vein and sinus were also visualized in the area of the markings. From these results, the positions of burr-hole were reset to avoid the venous structures, and so as to include the lesions in operations. The biopsies were performed successfully and safely because the venous structure could be excluded from the operative field. By this technique it was easy to confirm the relationships among lesions, skin markings and venous structures. The technique described appears to be a useful method for preoperative simulation of biopsies for multiple metastatic brain tumors under local anesthesia. (author)

  13. Correction: Cecotti, H. and Rivet, B. Subject Combination and Electrode Selection in Cooperative Brain-Computer Interface Based on Event Related Potentials. Brain Sci. 2014, 4, 335–355

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hubert Cecotti

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The authors wish to make the following correction to this paper (Cecotti, H.; Rivet, B. Subject Combination and Electrode Selection in Cooperative Brain-Computer Interface Based on Event Related Potentials. Brain Sci. 2014, 4, 335–355: Due to an internal error, the reference numbers in the original published paper were not shown, and the error was not due to the authors. The former main text should be replaced as below.

  14. Establishment of the method of surface shaded display for brain PET imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Xiangsong; Tang Anwu; He Zuoxiang

    2003-01-01

    Objective: To establish the method of surface shaded display (SSD) for brain PET imaging. Methods: The original brain PET images volume data were transferred to the personal computer by the local area network, and scaled into 256 grayscale values between 0 and 255. An appropriate threshold could be selected with three differential methods: depended on the histogram or maximum percentage of the volume data and the opposite value percentage of the lesion. The list of vertices and triangles describing the contour surface was produced with a high resolution three dimensional (3D) surface construction algorithm. Results: The final software of SSD for brain PET imaging with interactive user interface can produce 3D brain PET images which can be rotated, scaled, and saved or outputted with several image formats. Conclusion: The method of SSD for brain PET imaging can directly and integrally reflect the surface of brain cortex, and be helpful to locate lesions and display the range of lesions, but can not reflect the severity of lesions, nor can display the structure under brain cortex

  15. Sensitivity analysis of brain morphometry based on MRI-derived surface models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klein, Gregory J.; Teng, Xia; Schoenemann, P. T.; Budinger, Thomas F.

    1998-07-01

    Quantification of brain structure is important for evaluating changes in brain size with growth and aging and for characterizing neurodegeneration disorders. Previous quantification efforts using ex vivo techniques suffered considerable error due to shrinkage of the cerebrum after extraction from the skull, deformation of slices during sectioning, and numerous other factors. In vivo imaging studies of brain anatomy avoid these problems and allow repetitive studies following progression of brain structure changes due to disease or natural processes. We have developed a methodology for obtaining triangular mesh models of the cortical surface from MRI brain datasets. The cortex is segmented from nonbrain tissue using a 2D region-growing technique combined with occasional manual edits. Once segmented, thresholding and image morphological operations (erosions and openings) are used to expose the regions between adjacent surfaces in deep cortical folds. A 2D region- following procedure is then used to find a set of contours outlining the cortical boundary on each slice. The contours on all slices are tiled together to form a closed triangular mesh model approximating the cortical surface. This model can be used for calculation of cortical surface area and volume, as well as other parameters of interest. Except for the initial segmentation of the cortex from the skull, the technique is automatic and requires only modest computation time on modern workstations. Though the use of image data avoids many of the pitfalls of ex vivo and sectioning techniques, our MRI-based technique is still vulnerable to errors that may impact the accuracy of estimated brain structure parameters. Potential inaccuracies include segmentation errors due to incorrect thresholding, missed deep sulcal surfaces, falsely segmented holes due to image noise and surface tiling artifacts. The focus of this paper is the characterization of these errors and how they affect measurements of cortical surface

  16. ASIC subunit ratio and differential surface trafficking in the brain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Junjun; Xu, Yuanyuan; Jiang, Yu-Qing; Xu, Jiangping; Hu, Youjia; Zha, Xiang-ming

    2016-01-08

    Acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs) are key mediators of acidosis-induced responses in neurons. However, little is known about the relative abundance of different ASIC subunits in the brain. Such data are fundamental for interpreting the relative contribution of ASIC1a homomers and 1a/2 heteromers to acid signaling, and essential for designing therapeutic interventions to target these channels. We used a simple biochemical approach and semi-quantitatively determined the molar ratio of ASIC1a and 2 subunits in mouse brain. Further, we investigated differential surface trafficking of ASIC1a, ASIC2a, and ASIC2b. ASIC1a subunits outnumber the sum of ASIC2a and ASIC2b. There is a region-specific variation in ASIC2a and 2b expression, with cerebellum and striatum expressing predominantly 2b and 2a, respectively. Further, we performed surface biotinylation and found that surface ASIC1a and ASIC2a ratio correlates with their total expression. In contrast, ASIC2b exhibits little surface presence in the brain. This result is consistent with increased co-localization of ASIC2b with an ER marker in 3T3 cells. Our data are the first semi-quantitative determination of relative subunit ratio of various ASICs in the brain. The differential surface trafficking of ASICs suggests that the main functional ASICs in the brain are ASIC1a homomers and 1a/2a heteromers. This finding provides important insights into the relative contribution of various ASIC complexes to acid signaling in neurons.

  17. High-precision surface formation method and the 3-D shaded display of the brain obtained from CT images

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Niki, Noboru; Fukuda, Hiroshi

    1987-01-01

    Our aim is to display the precise 3-D appearance of the brain based on data provided by CT images. For this purpose, we have developed a method of precisely forming surfaces from brain contours. The method expresses the brain surface as the sum of several partial surfaces. Each partial surface is individually constructed from respective parts of brain contours. The brain surface is finally made up of a superposition of partial surfaces. Two surface formation algorithms based on this principle are presented. One expresses the brain surface as the sum of a brain outline surface and sulcus surfaces. The other expresses the brain surface as the sum of surfaces in the same part of the brain. The effectiveness of these algorithms is shown by evaluation of contours obtained from dog and human brain samples and CT images. The latter algorithm is shown to be superior for high-resolution CT images. Optional cut-away views of the brain constructed by these algorithms are also shown. (author)

  18. Imaging method of brain surface anatomy structures using conventional T2-weighted MR images

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hatanaka, Masahiko; Machida, Yoshio; Yoshida, Tadatoki; Katada, Kazuhiro.

    1992-01-01

    As a non-invasive technique for visualizing the brain surface structure by MRI, surface anatomy scanning (SAS) and the multislice SAS methods have been developed. Both techniques require additional MRI scanning to obtain images for the brain surface. In this paper, we report an alternative method to obtain the brain surface image using conventional T2-weighted multislice images without any additional scanning. The power calculation of the image pixel values, which is incorporated in the routine processing, has been applied in order to enhance the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) contrast. We think that this method is one of practical approaches for imaging the surface anatomy of the brain. (author)

  19. ABrIL - Advanced Brain Imaging Lab : a cloud based computation environment for cooperative neuroimaging projects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neves Tafula, Sérgio M; Moreira da Silva, Nádia; Rozanski, Verena E; Silva Cunha, João Paulo

    2014-01-01

    Neuroscience is an increasingly multidisciplinary and highly cooperative field where neuroimaging plays an important role. Neuroimaging rapid evolution is demanding for a growing number of computing resources and skills that need to be put in place at every lab. Typically each group tries to setup their own servers and workstations to support their neuroimaging needs, having to learn from Operating System management to specific neuroscience software tools details before any results can be obtained from each setup. This setup and learning process is replicated in every lab, even if a strong collaboration among several groups is going on. In this paper we present a new cloud service model - Brain Imaging Application as a Service (BiAaaS) - and one of its implementation - Advanced Brain Imaging Lab (ABrIL) - in the form of an ubiquitous virtual desktop remote infrastructure that offers a set of neuroimaging computational services in an interactive neuroscientist-friendly graphical user interface (GUI). This remote desktop has been used for several multi-institution cooperative projects with different neuroscience objectives that already achieved important results, such as the contribution to a high impact paper published in the January issue of the Neuroimage journal. The ABrIL system has shown its applicability in several neuroscience projects with a relatively low-cost, promoting truly collaborative actions and speeding up project results and their clinical applicability.

  20. High-precision surface formation and the 3-D shaded display of the brain obtained from CT images

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Niki, Noboru; Higuti, Kiyofumi; Takahashi, Yoshizo

    1986-01-01

    High-precision reconstruction of surface and 3-D shaded display of the target organ and lesions, obtained from CT images, aid in medical recognition. Firstly, this paper points out some problems of using a conventional method, in which brain surface is reconstructed from the known contour of brain slices, in 3-D shaded display of the brain in a dog. Secondly, a new high-precision technique for reconstructing complex brain surface from brain contour is proposed. The principle of the technique consists of extracting data of outline surface and fissures, smoothing of brain contour, and recomposition of the data of outline surface and fissures into a composite surface image. Finally, the validity of the method was verified by successfully reconstructing complex brain surface from the contour of dog brain slices. In addition, it was possible to cut brain surface, obtained by the newly developed technique, in any voluntary plane and to display CT values on the sections. (Namekawa, K.)

  1. Multivariate tensor-based brain anatomical surface morphometry via holomorphic one-forms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Yalin; Chan, Tony F; Toga, Arthur W; Thompson, Paul M

    2009-01-01

    Here we introduce multivariate tensor-based surface morphometry using holomorphic one-forms to study brain anatomy. We computed new statistics from the Riemannian metric tensors that retain the full information in the deformation tensor fields. We introduce two different holomorphic one-forms that induce different surface conformal parameterizations. We applied this framework to 3D MRI data to analyze hippocampal surface morphometry in Alzheimer's Disease (AD; 26 subjects), lateral ventricular surface morphometry in HIV/AIDS (19 subjects) and cortical surface morphometry in Williams Syndrome (WS; 80 subjects). Experimental results demonstrated that our method powerfully detected brain surface abnormalities. Multivariate statistics on the local tensors outperformed other TBM methods including analysis of the Jacobian determinant, the largest eigenvalue, or the pair of eigenvalues, of the surface Jacobian matrix.

  2. NIRS-Based Hyperscanning Reveals Inter-brain Neural Synchronization during Cooperative Jenga Game with Face-to-Face Communication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Ning; Mok, Charis; Witt, Emily E; Pradhan, Anjali H; Chen, Jingyuan E; Reiss, Allan L

    2016-01-01

    Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is an increasingly popular technology for studying social cognition. In particular, fNIRS permits simultaneous measurement of hemodynamic activity in two or more individuals interacting in a naturalistic setting. Here, we used fNIRS hyperscanning to study social cognition and communication in human dyads engaged in cooperative and obstructive interaction while they played the game of Jenga™. Novel methods were developed to identify synchronized channels for each dyad and a structural node-based spatial registration approach was utilized for inter-dyad analyses. Strong inter-brain neural synchrony (INS) was observed in the posterior region of the right middle and superior frontal gyrus, in particular Brodmann area 8 (BA8), during cooperative and obstructive interaction. This synchrony was not observed during the parallel game play condition and the dialog section, suggesting that BA8 was involved in goal-oriented social interaction such as complex interactive movements and social decision-making. INS was also observed in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), in particular Brodmann 9, during cooperative interaction only. These additional findings suggest that BA9 may be particularly engaged when theory-of-mind (ToM) is required for cooperative social interaction. The new methods described here have the potential to significantly extend fNIRS applications to social cognitive research.

  3. Brain-to-brain synchrony in parent-child dyads and the relationship with emotion regulation revealed by fNIRS-based hyperscanning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reindl, Vanessa; Gerloff, Christian; Scharke, Wolfgang; Konrad, Kerstin

    2018-05-25

    Parent-child synchrony, the coupling of behavioral and biological signals during social contact, may fine-tune the child's brain circuitries associated with emotional bond formation and the child's development of emotion regulation. Here, we examined the neurobiological underpinnings of these processes by measuring parent's and child's prefrontal neural activity concurrently with functional near-infrared spectroscopy hyperscanning. Each child played both a cooperative and a competitive game with the parent, mostly the mother, as well as an adult stranger. During cooperation, parent's and child's brain activities synchronized in the dorsolateral prefrontal and frontopolar cortex (FPC), which was predictive for their cooperative performance in subsequent trials. No significant brain-to-brain synchrony was observed in the conditions parent-child competition, stranger-child cooperation and stranger-child competition. Furthermore, parent-child compared to stranger-child brain-to-brain synchrony during cooperation in the FPC mediated the association between the parent's and the child's emotion regulation, as assessed by questionnaires. Thus, we conclude that brain-to-brain synchrony may represent an underlying neural mechanism of the emotional connection between parent and child, which is linked to the child's development of adaptive emotion regulation. Future studies may uncover whether brain-to-brain synchrony can serve as a neurobiological marker of the dyad's socio-emotional interaction, which is sensitive to risk conditions, and can be modified by interventions. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  4. The International Research Training Group on "Brain-Behavior Relationship of Normal and Disturbed Emotions in Schizophrenia and Autism" as an Example of German-American Cooperation in Doctoral Training

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schneider, Frank; Gur, Ruben C.

    2008-01-01

    The International Research Training Group "Brain-Behavior Relationship of Normal and Disturbed Emotions in Schizophrenia and Autism" (IRTG 1328), funded by the German Research Council (DFG), is a German-American cooperation. Its major aims are interdisciplinary and international scientific cooperation and the support of young scientists…

  5. Sugar for the brain: the role of glucose in physiological and pathological brain function.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mergenthaler, Philipp; Lindauer, Ute; Dienel, Gerald A; Meisel, Andreas

    2013-10-01

    The mammalian brain depends upon glucose as its main source of energy, and tight regulation of glucose metabolism is critical for brain physiology. Consistent with its critical role for physiological brain function, disruption of normal glucose metabolism as well as its interdependence with cell death pathways forms the pathophysiological basis for many brain disorders. Here, we review recent advances in understanding how glucose metabolism sustains basic brain physiology. We synthesize these findings to form a comprehensive picture of the cooperation required between different systems and cell types, and the specific breakdowns in this cooperation that lead to disease. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Visualization of brain surface structures by weighted summation technique using multislice MR images

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Machida, Yoshio; Hatanaka, Masahiko; Hagiwara, Masayuki; Sugimoto, Hiroshi; Yoshida, Tadatoki; Katada, Kazuhiro.

    1991-01-01

    Surface anatomy scanning (SAS) technique which visualizes brain surface structures has been developed since 1987. In this paper, we propose a modified method called 'multislice SAS', which also generates such surface structure images, and has several advantages compared with conventional SAS technique. The conventional SAS technique uses a very long echo time sequence (e.g. SE(3000, 250)) with a thick slice and a surface coil to enhance CSF on the brain surface. Our modified technique also uses a long echo time sequence. But, added multislice images, each appropriately weighted, are used in stead of a thick slice and a surface coil. Our basic studies have shown that this modified method has the following advantage: Several surface images with slightly different summation directions are obtained, and they are used for stereographic display and cine display. This is very useful for visualizing the spatial relationship of brain surface structures. By choosing appropriate weighting, we can obtain clinically legible surface images. This technique dose not require a surface coil. It means that flexibility of selecting imaging direction is high. We can make a lot of modifications, because the original multislice images of weighted summation are arbitrary. And we also clarify some limitation or disadvantage of this modified method. In conclusion, we think that this technique is one of the practical approaches for surface anatomy imaging. (author)

  7. Energy Metabolism of the Brain, Including the Cooperation between Astrocytes and Neurons, Especially in the Context of Glycogen Metabolism

    OpenAIRE

    Falkowska, Anna; Gutowska, Izabela; Goschorska, Marta; Nowacki, Przemys?aw; Chlubek, Dariusz; Baranowska-Bosiacka, Irena

    2015-01-01

    Glycogen metabolism has important implications for the functioning of the brain, especially the cooperation between astrocytes and neurons. According to various research data, in a glycogen deficiency (for example during hypoglycemia) glycogen supplies are used to generate lactate, which is then transported to neighboring neurons. Likewise, during periods of intense activity of the nervous system, when the energy demand exceeds supply, astrocyte glycogen is immediately converted to lactate, s...

  8. The Drosophila surface glia transcriptome: evolutionary conserved blood-brain barrier processes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael K DeSalvo

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available AbstractCentral nervous system (CNS function is dependent on the stringent regulation of metabolites, drugs, cells, and pathogens exposed to the CNS space. Cellular blood-brain barrier (BBB structures are highly specific checkpoints governing entry and exit of all small molecules to and from the brain interstitial space, but the precise mechanisms that regulate the BBB are not well understood. In addition, the BBB has long been a challenging obstacle to the pharmacologic treatment of CNS diseases; thus model systems that can parse the functions of the BBB are highly desirable. In this study, we sought to define the transcriptome of the adult Drosophila melanogaster BBB by isolating the BBB surface glia with FACS and profiling their gene expression with microarrays. By comparing the transcriptome of these surface glia to that of all brain glia, brain neurons, and whole brains, we present a catalog of transcripts that are selectively enriched at the Drosophila BBB. We found that the fly surface glia show high expression of many ABC and SLC transporters, cell adhesion molecules, metabolic enzymes, signaling molecules, and components of xenobiotic metabolism pathways. Using gene sequence-based alignments, we compare the Drosophila and Murine BBB transcriptomes and discover many shared chemoprotective and small molecule control pathways, thus affirming the relevance of invertebrate models for studying evolutionary conserved BBB properties. The Drosophila BBB transcriptome is valuable to vertebrate and insect biologists alike as a resource for studying proteins underlying diffusion barrier development and maintenance, glial biology, and regulation of drug transport at tissue barriers.

  9. The Drosophila surface glia transcriptome: evolutionary conserved blood-brain barrier processes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeSalvo, Michael K; Hindle, Samantha J; Rusan, Zeid M; Orng, Souvinh; Eddison, Mark; Halliwill, Kyle; Bainton, Roland J

    2014-01-01

    Central nervous system (CNS) function is dependent on the stringent regulation of metabolites, drugs, cells, and pathogens exposed to the CNS space. Cellular blood-brain barrier (BBB) structures are highly specific checkpoints governing entry and exit of all small molecules to and from the brain interstitial space, but the precise mechanisms that regulate the BBB are not well understood. In addition, the BBB has long been a challenging obstacle to the pharmacologic treatment of CNS diseases; thus model systems that can parse the functions of the BBB are highly desirable. In this study, we sought to define the transcriptome of the adult Drosophila melanogaster BBB by isolating the BBB surface glia with fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) and profiling their gene expression with microarrays. By comparing the transcriptome of these surface glia to that of all brain glia, brain neurons, and whole brains, we present a catalog of transcripts that are selectively enriched at the Drosophila BBB. We found that the fly surface glia show high expression of many ATP-binding cassette (ABC) and solute carrier (SLC) transporters, cell adhesion molecules, metabolic enzymes, signaling molecules, and components of xenobiotic metabolism pathways. Using gene sequence-based alignments, we compare the Drosophila and Murine BBB transcriptomes and discover many shared chemoprotective and small molecule control pathways, thus affirming the relevance of invertebrate models for studying evolutionary conserved BBB properties. The Drosophila BBB transcriptome is valuable to vertebrate and insect biologists alike as a resource for studying proteins underlying diffusion barrier development and maintenance, glial biology, and regulation of drug transport at tissue barriers.

  10. Energy Metabolism of the Brain, Including the Cooperation between Astrocytes and Neurons, Especially in the Context of Glycogen Metabolism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Falkowska, Anna; Gutowska, Izabela; Goschorska, Marta; Nowacki, Przemysław; Chlubek, Dariusz; Baranowska-Bosiacka, Irena

    2015-10-29

    Glycogen metabolism has important implications for the functioning of the brain, especially the cooperation between astrocytes and neurons. According to various research data, in a glycogen deficiency (for example during hypoglycemia) glycogen supplies are used to generate lactate, which is then transported to neighboring neurons. Likewise, during periods of intense activity of the nervous system, when the energy demand exceeds supply, astrocyte glycogen is immediately converted to lactate, some of which is transported to the neurons. Thus, glycogen from astrocytes functions as a kind of protection against hypoglycemia, ensuring preservation of neuronal function. The neuroprotective effect of lactate during hypoglycemia or cerebral ischemia has been reported in literature. This review goes on to emphasize that while neurons and astrocytes differ in metabolic profile, they interact to form a common metabolic cooperation.

  11. Three-dimensional reconstruction of brain surface anatomy: technique comparison between flash and diffusion-weighted imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sun Jianzhong; Wang Zhikang; Gong Xiangyang

    2006-01-01

    Objective: To compare two methods 3D flash and diffusion-weighted images (DWI) in reconstructing the brain surface anatomy, and to evaluate their displaying ability, advantages, limitations and clinical application. Methods: Thrity normal cases were prospectively examined with 3D flash sequence and echo-planar DWI. Three-dimensional images were acquired with volume-rendering on workstation. Brain surface structures were evaluated and scored by a group of doctors. Results: Main structures of brain surface were clearly displayed on three-dimensional images based on 3D flash sequence. Average scores were all above 2.50. For images based on DWI, precentral gyrus, postcentral gyrus, superior parietal lobule, superior frontal gyrus, precentral sulcus, central sulcus, postcentral sulcus, intraparietal sulcus and superior frontal sulcus were best shown with average scores between 2.60-2.75, However, supramarginal gyrus, angular gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, superior temporal gyrus, lateral sulcus, inferior frontal sulcus could not be well shown, with average scores between 1.67-2.48. Middle temporal gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus, superior temporal sulcus and inferior temporal sulcus can only get scores from 0.88 to 1.27. Scores of images based on 3D flash were much higher than that based on DWI with distinct differentiations, P values were all below 0.01. Conclusion: Three-dimensional images based on 3D flash can really display brain surface structures. It is very useful for anatomic researches. Three-dimensional reconstruction of brain surface based on DWI is a worthy technique to display brain surface anatomy, especially for frontal and parietal structures. (authors)

  12. Multivariate Tensor-based Brain Anatomical Surface Morphometry via Holomorphic One-Forms

    OpenAIRE

    Wang, Yalin; Chan, Tony F.; Toga, Arthur W.; Thompson, Paul M.

    2009-01-01

    Here we introduce multivariate tensor-based surface morphometry using holomorphic one-forms to study brain anatomy. We computed new statistics from the Riemannian metric tensors that retain the full information in the deformation tensor fields. We introduce two different holomorphic one-forms that induce different surface conformal parameterizations. We applied this framework to 3D MRI data to analyze hippocampal surface morphometry in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD; 26 subjects), lateral ventricula...

  13. Brain SPECT in children

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guyot, M.; Baulieu, J.L.

    1996-01-01

    Brain SPECT in child involves specific trends regarding the patient cooperation, irradiation, resolution and especially interpretation because of the rapid scintigraphic modifications related to the brain maturation. In a general nuclear medicine department, child brain SPECT represents about 2 % of the activity. The choice indications are the perfusion children: thallium and MIBI in brain tumours, pharmacological and neuropsychological interventions. In the future, brain dedicated detectors and new radiopharmaceuticals will promote the development of brain SPECT in children. (author)

  14. Production of a faithful realistic phantom to human head and thermal neutron flux measurement on the brain surface. Cooperative research

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yamamoto, Kazuyoshi; Kumada, Hiroaki; Kishi, Toshiaki; Torii, Yoshiya; Uchiyama, Junzo [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan). Tokai Research Establishment; Endo, Kiyoshi; Yamamoto, Tetsuya; Matsumura, Akira; Nose, Tadao [Tsukuba Univ., Tsukuba, Ibaraki (Japan)

    2002-12-01

    Thermal neutron flux is determined using the gold wires in current BNCT irradiation, so evaluation of arbitrary points after the irradiation is limited in the quantity of these detectors. In order to make up for the weakness, dose estimation of a patient is simulated by a computational dose calculation supporting system. In another way without computer simulation, a medical irradiation condition can be replicate experimentally using of realistic phantom which was produced from CT images by rapid prototyping technique. This phantom was irradiated at a same JRR-4 neutron beam as clinical irradiation condition of the patient and the thermal neutron distribution on the brain surface was measured in detail. This experimental evaluation technique using a realistic phantom is applicable to in vitro cell irradiation experiments for radiation biological effects as well as in-phantom experiments for dosimetry under the nearly medical irradiation condition of patient. (author)

  15. Production of a faithful realistic phantom to human head and thermal neutron flux measurement on the brain surface. Cooperative research

    CERN Document Server

    Yamamoto, K; Kishi, T; Kumada, H; Matsumura, A; Nose, T; Torii, Y; Uchiyama, J; Yamamoto, T

    2002-01-01

    Thermal neutron flux is determined using the gold wires in current BNCT irradiation, so evaluation of arbitrary points after the irradiation is limited in the quantity of these detectors. In order to make up for the weakness, dose estimation of a patient is simulated by a computational dose calculation supporting system. In another way without computer simulation, a medical irradiation condition can be replicate experimentally using of realistic phantom which was produced from CT images by rapid prototyping technique. This phantom was irradiated at a same JRR-4 neutron beam as clinical irradiation condition of the patient and the thermal neutron distribution on the brain surface was measured in detail. This experimental evaluation technique using a realistic phantom is applicable to in vitro cell irradiation experiments for radiation biological effects as well as in-phantom experiments for dosimetry under the nearly medical irradiation condition of patient.

  16. Mid-sagittal plane and mid-sagittal surface optimization in brain MRI using a local symmetry measure

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stegmann, Mikkel Bille; Skoglund, Karl; Ryberg, Charlotte

    2005-01-01

    , the mid-sagittal plane is not always planar, but a curved surface resulting in poor partitioning of the brain hemispheres. To account for this, this paper also investigates an optimization strategy which fits a thin-plate spline surface to the brain data using a robust least median of squares estimator...

  17. Variations and asymmetries in regional brain surface in the genus Homo.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balzeau, Antoine; Holloway, Ralph L; Grimaud-Hervé, Dominique

    2012-06-01

    Paleoneurology is an important field of research within human evolution studies. Variations in size and shape of an endocast help to differentiate among fossil hominin species whereas endocranial asymmetries are related to behavior and cognitive function. Here we analyse variations of the surface of the frontal, parieto-temporal and occipital lobes among different species of Homo, including 39 fossil hominins, ten fossil anatomically modern Homo sapiens and 100 endocasts of extant modern humans. We also test for the possible asymmetries of these features in a large sample of modern humans and observe individual particularities in the fossil specimens. This study contributes important new information about the brain evolution in the genus Homo. Our results show that the general pattern of surface asymmetry for the different regional brain surfaces in fossil species of Homo does not seem to be different from the pattern described in a large sample of anatomically modern H. sapiens, i.e., the right hemisphere has a larger surface than the left, as do the right frontal, the right parieto-temporal and the left occipital lobes compared with the contra-lateral side. It also appears that Asian Homo erectus specimens are discriminated from all other samples of Homo, including African and Georgian specimens that are also sometimes included in that taxon. The Asian fossils show a significantly smaller relative size of the parietal and temporal lobes. Neandertals and anatomically modern H. sapiens, who share the largest endocranial volume of all hominins, show differences when considering the relative contribution of the frontal, parieto-temporal and occipital lobes. These results illustrate an original variation in the pattern of brain organization in hominins independent of variations in total size. The globularization of the brain and the enlargement of the parietal lobes could be considered derived features observed uniquely in anatomically modern H. sapiens. Copyright

  18. Cooperation in carbon source degradation shapes spatial self-organization of microbial consortia on hydrated surfaces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tecon, Robin; Or, Dani

    2017-03-06

    Mounting evidence suggests that natural microbial communities exhibit a high level of spatial organization at the micrometric scale that facilitate ecological interactions and support biogeochemical cycles. Microbial patterns are difficult to study definitively in natural environments due to complex biodiversity, observability and variable physicochemical factors. Here, we examine how trophic dependencies give rise to self-organized spatial patterns of a well-defined bacterial consortium grown on hydrated surfaces. The model consortium consisted of two Pseudomonas putida mutant strains that can fully degrade the aromatic hydrocarbon toluene. We demonstrated that obligate cooperation in toluene degradation (cooperative mutualism) favored convergence of 1:1 partner ratio and strong intermixing at the microscale (10-100 μm). In contrast, competition for benzoate, a compound degraded independently by both strains, led to distinct segregation patterns. Emergence of a persistent spatial pattern has been predicted for surface attached microbial activity in liquid films that mediate diffusive exchanges while permitting limited cell movement (colony expansion). This study of a simple microbial consortium offers mechanistic glimpses into the rules governing the assembly and functioning of complex sessile communities, and points to general principles of spatial organization with potential applications for natural and engineered microbial systems.

  19. Analysis of neuron–astrocyte metabolic cooperation in the brain of db/db mice with cognitive decline using 13C NMR spectroscopy

    OpenAIRE

    Zheng, Hong; Zheng, Yongquan; Wang, Dan; Cai, Aimin; Lin, Qiuting; Zhao, Liangcai; Chen, Minjiang; Deng, Mingjie; Ye, Xinjian; Gao, Hongchang

    2016-01-01

    Type 2 diabetes has been linked to cognitive impairment, but its potential metabolic mechanism is still unclear. The present study aimed to explore neuron–astrocyte metabolic cooperation in the brain of diabetic (db/db, BKS.Cg-m+/+ Leprdb/J) mice with cognitive decline using 13C NMR technique in combination with intravenous [2-13C]-acetate and [3-13C]-lactate infusions. We found that the 13C-enrichment from [2-13C]-acetate into tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediate, succinate, was significant...

  20. Towards real-time diffuse optical tomography for imaging brain functions cooperated with Kalman estimator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Bingyuan; Zhang, Yao; Liu, Dongyuan; Ding, Xuemei; Dan, Mai; Pan, Tiantian; Wang, Yihan; Li, Jiao; Zhou, Zhongxing; Zhang, Limin; Zhao, Huijuan; Gao, Feng

    2018-02-01

    Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a non-invasive neuroimaging method to monitor the cerebral hemodynamic through the optical changes measured at the scalp surface. It has played a more and more important role in psychology and medical imaging communities. Real-time imaging of brain function using NIRS makes it possible to explore some sophisticated human brain functions unexplored before. Kalman estimator has been frequently used in combination with modified Beer-Lamber Law (MBLL) based optical topology (OT), for real-time brain function imaging. However, the spatial resolution of the OT is low, hampering the application of OT in exploring some complicated brain functions. In this paper, we develop a real-time imaging method combining diffuse optical tomography (DOT) and Kalman estimator, much improving the spatial resolution. Instead of only presenting one spatially distributed image indicating the changes of the absorption coefficients at each time point during the recording process, one real-time updated image using the Kalman estimator is provided. Its each voxel represents the amplitude of the hemodynamic response function (HRF) associated with this voxel. We evaluate this method using some simulation experiments, demonstrating that this method can obtain more reliable spatial resolution images. Furthermore, a statistical analysis is also conducted to help to decide whether a voxel in the field of view is activated or not.

  1. Defecting or not defecting: how to "read" human behavior during cooperative games by EEG measurements.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fabrizio De Vico Fallani

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Understanding the neural mechanisms responsible for human social interactions is difficult, since the brain activities of two or more individuals have to be examined simultaneously and correlated with the observed social patterns. We introduce the concept of hyper-brain network, a connectivity pattern representing at once the information flow among the cortical regions of a single brain as well as the relations among the areas of two distinct brains. Graph analysis of hyper-brain networks constructed from the EEG scanning of 26 couples of individuals playing the Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma reveals the possibility to predict non-cooperative interactions during the decision-making phase. The hyper-brain networks of two-defector couples have significantly less inter-brain links and overall higher modularity--i.e., the tendency to form two separate subgraphs--than couples playing cooperative or tit-for-tat strategies. The decision to defect can be "read" in advance by evaluating the changes of connectivity pattern in the hyper-brain network.

  2. Sex differences in neural and behavioral signatures of cooperation revealed by fNIRS hyperscanning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baker, Joseph M.; Liu, Ning; Cui, Xu; Vrticka, Pascal; Saggar, Manish; Hosseini, S. M. Hadi; Reiss, Allan L.

    2016-01-01

    Researchers from multiple fields have sought to understand how sex moderates human social behavior. While over 50 years of research has revealed differences in cooperation behavior of males and females, the underlying neural correlates of these sex differences have not been explained. A missing and fundamental element of this puzzle is an understanding of how the sex composition of an interacting dyad influences the brain and behavior during cooperation. Using fNIRS-based hyperscanning in 111 same- and mixed-sex dyads, we identified significant behavioral and neural sex-related differences in association with a computer-based cooperation task. Dyads containing at least one male demonstrated significantly higher behavioral performance than female/female dyads. Individual males and females showed significant activation in the right frontopolar and right inferior prefrontal cortices, although this activation was greater in females compared to males. Female/female dyad’s exhibited significant inter-brain coherence within the right temporal cortex, while significant coherence in male/male dyads occurred in the right inferior prefrontal cortex. Significant coherence was not observed in mixed-sex dyads. Finally, for same-sex dyads only, task-related inter-brain coherence was positively correlated with cooperation task performance. Our results highlight multiple important and previously undetected influences of sex on concurrent neural and behavioral signatures of cooperation. PMID:27270754

  3. Brain-Based Teaching/Learning and Implications for Religious Education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weber, Jean Marie

    2002-01-01

    Argues that physical activity and water can increase brain activity, and hence, learning. Findings of neuroscientists regarding the brain can inform educators. Brain-based teaching emphasizes teamwork, cooperative learning, and global responsibility. Argues against gathering information without relevance. Connects brain-based learning concepts to…

  4. Whole brain diffeomorphic metric mapping via integration of sulcal and gyral curves, cortical surfaces, and images

    Science.gov (United States)

    Du, Jia; Younes, Laurent; Qiu, Anqi

    2011-01-01

    This paper introduces a novel large deformation diffeomorphic metric mapping algorithm for whole brain registration where sulcal and gyral curves, cortical surfaces, and intensity images are simultaneously carried from one subject to another through a flow of diffeomorphisms. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that the diffeomorphic metric from one brain to another is derived in a shape space of intensity images and point sets (such as curves and surfaces) in a unified manner. We describe the Euler–Lagrange equation associated with this algorithm with respect to momentum, a linear transformation of the velocity vector field of the diffeomorphic flow. The numerical implementation for solving this variational problem, which involves large-scale kernel convolution in an irregular grid, is made feasible by introducing a class of computationally friendly kernels. We apply this algorithm to align magnetic resonance brain data. Our whole brain mapping results show that our algorithm outperforms the image-based LDDMM algorithm in terms of the mapping accuracy of gyral/sulcal curves, sulcal regions, and cortical and subcortical segmentation. Moreover, our algorithm provides better whole brain alignment than combined volumetric and surface registration (Postelnicu et al., 2009) and hierarchical attribute matching mechanism for elastic registration (HAMMER) (Shen and Davatzikos, 2002) in terms of cortical and subcortical volume segmentation. PMID:21281722

  5. Riemannian metric optimization on surfaces (RMOS) for intrinsic brain mapping in the Laplace-Beltrami embedding space.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gahm, Jin Kyu; Shi, Yonggang

    2018-05-01

    Surface mapping methods play an important role in various brain imaging studies from tracking the maturation of adolescent brains to mapping gray matter atrophy patterns in Alzheimer's disease. Popular surface mapping approaches based on spherical registration, however, have inherent numerical limitations when severe metric distortions are present during the spherical parameterization step. In this paper, we propose a novel computational framework for intrinsic surface mapping in the Laplace-Beltrami (LB) embedding space based on Riemannian metric optimization on surfaces (RMOS). Given a diffeomorphism between two surfaces, an isometry can be defined using the pullback metric, which in turn results in identical LB embeddings from the two surfaces. The proposed RMOS approach builds upon this mathematical foundation and achieves general feature-driven surface mapping in the LB embedding space by iteratively optimizing the Riemannian metric defined on the edges of triangular meshes. At the core of our framework is an optimization engine that converts an energy function for surface mapping into a distance measure in the LB embedding space, which can be effectively optimized using gradients of the LB eigen-system with respect to the Riemannian metrics. In the experimental results, we compare the RMOS algorithm with spherical registration using large-scale brain imaging data, and show that RMOS achieves superior performance in the prediction of hippocampal subfields and cortical gyral labels, and the holistic mapping of striatal surfaces for the construction of a striatal connectivity atlas from substantia nigra. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Formation of plasmon pulses in the cooperative decay of excitons of quantum dots near a metal surface

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shesterikov, A. B.; Gubin, M. Yu. [Vladimir State University (Russian Federation); Gladush, M. G. [Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Spectroscopy (Russian Federation); Prokhorov, A. V., E-mail: avprokhorov33@mail.ru [Vladimir State University (Russian Federation)

    2017-01-15

    The formation of pulses of surface electromagnetic waves at a metal–dielectric boundary is considered in the process of cooperative decay of excitons of quantum dots distributed near a metal surface in a dielectric layer. It is shown that the efficiency of exciton energy transfer to excited plasmons can, in principle, be increased by selecting the dielectric material with specified values of the complex permittivity. It is found that in the mean field approximation, the semiclassical model of formation of plasmon pulses in the system under study is reduced to the pendulum equation with the additional term of nonlinear losses.

  7. Learning to cooperate is essential for progress in physics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dickau, Jonathan J.

    2012-06-01

    At the 10th Frontiers of Fundamental Physics symposium, Gerard't Hooft stated that, for some of the advances we hope to see in Physics during the future, there must be a great deal of cooperation between physicists from different disciplines, as well as mathematicians, programmers, technologists, and others. This requires us to evolve a new mindset; however, as so much of our past progress has come out of a fiercely competitive process - especially since a critical review of our ideas about reality remains essential to making clear progress and checking our progress. We must also address the fact that some frameworks appear incompatible, as with relativity and quantum mechanics, whose unification remains distant despite years of attempts to find a quantum gravity theory. I explore the idea that playful exploration, using both left-brained and right-brained approaches to learning, allows us to resolve conflicting ideas by taking advantage of innate human developmental and learning strategies and brain structure. It may thus foster the kind of interdisciplinary cooperation we are hoping to see.

  8. Rutile TiO₂ particles exert size and surface coating dependent retention and lesions on the murine brain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Lili; Bai, Ru; Li, Bai; Ge, Cuicui; Du, Jiangfeng; Liu, Ying; Le Guyader, Laurent; Zhao, Yuliang; Wu, Yanchuan; He, Shida; Ma, Yongmei; Chen, Chunying

    2011-11-10

    The rising commercial use and large-scale production of engineered nanoparticles (NPs) may lead to unintended exposure to humans. The central nervous system (CNS) is a potential susceptible target of the inhaled NPs, but so far the amount of studies on this aspect is limited. Here, we focus on the potential neurological lesion in the brain induced by the intranasally instilled titanium dioxide (TiO₂) particles in rutile phase and of various sizes and surface coatings. Female mice were intranasally instilled with four different types of TiO₂ particles (i.e. two types of hydrophobic particles in micro- and nano-sized without coating and two types of water-soluble hydrophilic nano-sized particles with silica surface coating) every other day for 30 days. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) were used to determine the titanium contents in the sub-brain regions. Then, the pathological examination of brain tissues and measurements of the monoamine neurotransmitter levels in the sub-brain regions were performed. We found significant up-regulation of Ti contents in the cerebral cortex and striatum after intranasal instillation of hydrophilic TiO₂ NPs. Moreover, TiO₂ NPs exposure, in particular the hydrophilic NPs, caused obvious morphological changes of neurons in the cerebral cortex and significant disturbance of the monoamine neurotransmitter levels in the sub-brain regions studied. Thus, our results indicate that the surface modification of the NPs plays an important role on their effects on the brain. In addition, the difference in neurotoxicity of the two types of hydrophilic NPs may be induced by the shape differences of the materials. The present results suggest that physicochemical properties like size, shape and surface modification of the nanomaterials should be considered when evaluating their neurological effects. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Three-dimensional brain-surface MR images of brain anomalies in Fukuyama congenital muscular dystrophy and its differentiation from Duchenne muscular dystrophy with severe mental retardation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Toda, Tatsushi; Watanabe, Toshiaki; Shimizu, Teruo; Iwata, Makoto; Kanazawa, Ichiro (Tokyo Univ. (Japan). Faculty of Medicine); Matsumura, Kiichiro

    1993-12-01

    Fukuyama congenital muscular dystrophy (FCMD) is the second most common form of muscular dystrophy in Japan and is peculiarly associated with brain anomalies such as micropolygyria. Since these anomalies are preferentially observed on the brain surface, it is difficult to identify them by either X-ray CT or conventional MRI. In addition, FCMD has an atypical (mild) form in which the patients are capable of walking. In such cases, clinical differential diagnosis from Duchenne muscular dystrophy with severe mental retardation (DMD-MR) is not necessarily easy. We analyzed the brain-surface structures of 4 typical FCMD cases. 1 atypical FCMD case, 4 DMD-MR cases, and 1 undiagnosed case using a method of 3-dimensional (3-D) brain-surface MR imaging; we then compared the results with dystrophin immuno-stainings of the biopsied skeletal muscles. In both typical and atypical FCMD cases, micropolygyria could be clearly demonstrated, with individual variations. The 3-D images were verified by neuropathology. Of the 4 DMD-MR cases, 3 cases showed no gyral abnormality. However, in 1 DMD-MR case the diagnosis was corrected to atypical FCMD because of micropolygyria found on 3-D MRI. The one undiangosed case was diagnosed as DMD-MR on the basis of 3-D MRI. There was a good correspondence between the results of the 3-D imaging and the dystrophin test. Recently, some FCMD cases with a complete deficiency of dystrophin have been reported. Therefore, the detection of brain anomalies is important for the precise diagnosis of FCMD; the present method is considered effective for this purpose. (author).

  10. Three-dimensional brain-surface MR images of brain anomalies in Fukuyama congenital muscular dystrophy and its differentiation from Duchenne muscular dystrophy with severe mental retardation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Toda, Tatsushi; Watanabe, Toshiaki; Shimizu, Teruo; Iwata, Makoto; Kanazawa, Ichiro; Matsumura, Kiichiro.

    1993-01-01

    Fukuyama congenital muscular dystrophy (FCMD) is the second most common form of muscular dystrophy in Japan and is peculiarly associated with brain anomalies such as micropolygyria. Since these anomalies are preferentially observed on the brain surface, it is difficult to identify them by either X-ray CT or conventional MRI. In addition, FCMD has an atypical (mild) form in which the patients are capable of walking. In such cases, clinical differential diagnosis from Duchenne muscular dystrophy with severe mental retardation (DMD-MR) is not necessarily easy. We analyzed the brain-surface structures of 4 typical FCMD cases. 1 atypical FCMD case, 4 DMD-MR cases, and 1 undiagnosed case using a method of 3-dimensional (3-D) brain-surface MR imaging; we then compared the results with dystrophin immuno-stainings of the biopsied skeletal muscles. In both typical and atypical FCMD cases, micropolygyria could be clearly demonstrated, with individual variations. The 3-D images were verified by neuropathology. Of the 4 DMD-MR cases, 3 cases showed no gyral abnormality. However, in 1 DMD-MR case the diagnosis was corrected to atypical FCMD because of micropolygyria found on 3-D MRI. The one undiangosed case was diagnosed as DMD-MR on the basis of 3-D MRI. There was a good correspondence between the results of the 3-D imaging and the dystrophin test. Recently, some FCMD cases with a complete deficiency of dystrophin have been reported. Therefore, the detection of brain anomalies is important for the precise diagnosis of FCMD; the present method is considered effective for this purpose. (author)

  11. Cooperative catalysis designing efficient catalysts for synthesis

    CERN Document Server

    Peters, René

    2015-01-01

    Written by experts in the field, this is a much-needed overview of the rapidly emerging field of cooperative catalysis. The authors focus on the design and development of novel high-performance catalysts for applications in organic synthesis (particularly asymmetric synthesis), covering a broad range of topics, from the latest progress in Lewis acid / Br?nsted base catalysis to e.g. metal-assisted organocatalysis, cooperative metal/enzyme catalysis, and cooperative catalysis in polymerization reactions and on solid surfaces. The chapters are classified according to the type of cooperating acti

  12. The cooperation of the functional activation areas in human brain: an application of event-related fMRI study of the voluntary motor function

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li Enzhong; Tian Jie; Dai Ruwei

    2002-01-01

    Objective: To detect the cooperation of the functional activation areas in human brain using event-related fMRI technique developed in recent years. Methods: Forty-four subjects were selected in this experiment and scanned by GE Signa Horizon 1.5 Tesla superconductive MR system. A CUE-GO paradigm was used in this experiment. The data were analyzed in SUN and SGI workstation. Results: The activation areas were found in contralateral primary motor area (Ml), bilateral supplementary motor areas (SMA), pre-motor areas (PMA), basal ganglia, and cerebellar cortices. The time-signal curve of Ml was a typical single-peak curve, but the curves in PMA, basal ganglia, and cerebellar cortices were double-peak curves. SMA had 2 parts, one was Pre-SMA, and another was SMA Proper. The curve was double-peak type in Pre-SMA and single-peak type in SMA Proper. There was difference between the time-signal intensity curves in above-mentioned areas. Conclusion: (1) Ml is mainly associated with motor execution, while others with both motor preparation and execution. There are differences in the function at the variant areas in the brain. (2) The fact that bilateral SMA, PMA, basal ganglia, and cerebellar cortices were activated, is different from what the classical theories told. (3) Event-related fMRI technique has higher temporary and spatial resolutions. (4) There is cooperation among different cortical areas, basal ganglia, and cerebellum

  13. Cooperation driven coherence: Brains working hard together.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bezerianos, Anastasios; Sun, Yu; Chen, Yu; Woong, Kian Fong; Taya, Fumihiko; Arico, Pietro; Borghini, Gianluca; Babiloni, Fabio; Thakor, Nitish

    2015-01-01

    The current study aims to look at the difference in coupling of EEG activity of participant pairs while they perform a cooperative, concurrent, independent yet different task at high and low difficulty levels. Participants performed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) designed Multi-Attribute Task Battery (MATB-II) task which simulates a pilot and copilot operating an aircraft. Each participant in the pair was responsible for 2 out of 4 subtasks which were independent and different from one another while all tasks occurs concurrently in real time with difficulty levels being the frequency that adjustments are required for each subtask. We found that as the task become more difficult, there was more coupling between the pilot and copilot.

  14. Structural brain aging and speech production: a surface-based brain morphometry study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tremblay, Pascale; Deschamps, Isabelle

    2016-07-01

    While there has been a growing number of studies examining the neurofunctional correlates of speech production over the past decade, the neurostructural correlates of this immensely important human behaviour remain less well understood, despite the fact that previous studies have established links between brain structure and behaviour, including speech and language. In the present study, we thus examined, for the first time, the relationship between surface-based cortical thickness (CT) and three different behavioural indexes of sublexical speech production: response duration, reaction times and articulatory accuracy, in healthy young and older adults during the production of simple and complex meaningless sequences of syllables (e.g., /pa-pa-pa/ vs. /pa-ta-ka/). The results show that each behavioural speech measure was sensitive to the complexity of the sequences, as indicated by slower reaction times, longer response durations and decreased articulatory accuracy in both groups for the complex sequences. Older adults produced longer speech responses, particularly during the production of complex sequence. Unique age-independent and age-dependent relationships between brain structure and each of these behavioural measures were found in several cortical and subcortical regions known for their involvement in speech production, including the bilateral anterior insula, the left primary motor area, the rostral supramarginal gyrus, the right inferior frontal sulcus, the bilateral putamen and caudate, and in some region less typically associated with speech production, such as the posterior cingulate cortex.

  15. A combined solenoid-surface RF coil for high-resolution whole-brain rat imaging on a 3.0 Tesla clinical MR scanner.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Underhill, Hunter R; Yuan, Chun; Hayes, Cecil E

    2010-09-01

    Rat brain models effectively simulate a multitude of human neurological disorders. Improvements in coil design have facilitated the wider utilization of rat brain models by enabling the utilization of clinical MR scanners for image acquisition. In this study, a novel coil design, subsequently referred to as the rat brain coil, is described that exploits and combines the strengths of both solenoids and surface coils into a simple, multichannel, receive-only coil dedicated to whole-brain rat imaging on a 3.0 T clinical MR scanner. Compared with a multiturn solenoid mouse body coil, a 3-cm surface coil, a modified Helmholtz coil, and a phased-array surface coil, the rat brain coil improved signal-to-noise ratio by approximately 72, 61, 78, and 242%, respectively. Effects of the rat brain coil on amplitudes of static field and radiofrequency field uniformity were similar to each of the other coils. In vivo, whole-brain images of an adult male rat were acquired with a T(2)-weighted spin-echo sequence using an isotropic acquisition resolution of 0.25 x 0.25 x 0.25 mm(3) in 60.6 min. Multiplanar images of the in vivo rat brain with identification of anatomic structures are presented. Improvement in signal-to-noise ratio afforded by the rat brain coil may broaden experiments that utilize clinical MR scanners for in vivo image acquisition. 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  16. Cooperative communication within and between single nanocatalysts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zou, Ningmu; Zhou, Xiaochun; Chen, Guanqun; Andoy, Nesha May; Jung, Won; Liu, Guokun; Chen, Peng

    2018-06-01

    Enzymes often show catalytic allostery in which reactions occurring at different sites communicate cooperatively over distances of up to a few nanometres. Whether such effects can occur with non-biological nanocatalysts remains unclear, even though these nanocatalysts can undergo restructuring and molecules can diffuse over catalyst surfaces. Here we report that phenomenologically similar, but mechanistically distinct, cooperative effects indeed exist for nanocatalysts. Using spatiotemporally resolved single-molecule catalysis imaging, we find that catalytic reactions on a single Pd or Au nanocatalyst can communicate with each other, probably via hopping of positively charged holes on the catalyst surface, over 102 nanometres and with a temporal memory of 101 to 102 seconds, giving rise to positive cooperativity among its surface active sites. Similar communication is also observed between individual nanocatalysts, however it operates via a molecular diffusion mechanism involving negatively charged product molecules, and its communication distance is many micrometres. Generalization of these long-range intra- and interparticle catalytic communication mechanisms may introduce a novel conceptual framework for understanding nanoscale catalysis.

  17. Promotion of technical cooperation in the field of energy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yu, Jung Kyung; Jung, Duk Yung; Suh, Seong Seog; Park, Myung Nam; Kim, Young Mi; Cho, Moo Kyung [Korea Inst. of Energy Research, Taejon (Korea, Republic of)

    1995-12-01

    This study aims to improve the quality of human resources and the capability of research and development through the promotion of technical cooperation with foreign energy organizations possessing advanced technologies, and at the same time to contribute to internationalizing energy technology through the active involvement in multilateral technical cooperation programs with international organizations. To attain these aims, practical cooperative relations has been strengthened with 34 organizations from 11 countries including 6 organizations with which new cooperative agreements has been concluded in 1995 from the USA, Australia, China, and Russia, through the promotion of the continuous exchange of information and personnel, and international joint projects. And also the positive participation in technical cooperation programs and research projects organized or sponsored by APEC, IEA, UNDP, UNESCO, WEC has been made. In addition, for the improvement in research capability, 200 researchers has been dispatched abroad for the presentation of papers, of for the discussion of joint research projects, and 30 foreign experts through diverse overseas personnel exchange programs including Brain Pool Program were invited for the contribution of advancing research projects. (author). 8 figs., 15 tabs.

  18. Trajectories of cortical surface area and cortical volume maturation in normal brain development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Simon Ducharme

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available This is a report of developmental trajectories of cortical surface area and cortical volume in the NIH MRI Study of Normal Brain Development. The quality-controlled sample included 384 individual typically-developing subjects with repeated scanning (1–3 per subject, total scans n=753 from 4.9 to 22.3 years of age. The best-fit model (cubic, quadratic, or first-order linear was identified at each vertex using mixed-effects models, with statistical correction for multiple comparisons using random field theory. Analyses were performed with and without controlling for total brain volume. These data are provided for reference and comparison with other databases. Further discussion and interpretation on cortical developmental trajectories can be found in the associated Ducharme et al.׳s article “Trajectories of cortical thickness maturation in normal brain development – the importance of quality control procedures” (Ducharme et al., 2015 [1].

  19. The adult brain tissue response to hollow fiber membranes of varying surface architecture with or without cotransplanted cells

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Ning

    A variety of biomaterials have been chronically implanted into the central nervous system (CNS) for repair or therapeutic purposes. Regardless of the application, chronic implantation of materials into the CNS induces injury and elicits a wound healing response, eventually leading to the formation of a dense extracellular matrix (ECM)-rich scar tissue that is associated with the segregation of implanted materials from the surrounding normal tissue. Often this reaction results in impaired performance of indwelling CNS devices. In order to enhance the performance of biomaterial-based implantable devices in the CNS, this thesis investigated whether adult brain tissue response to implanted biomaterials could be manipulated by changing biomaterial surface properties or further by utilizing the biology of co-transplanted cells. Specifically, the adult rat brain tissue response to chronically implanted poly(acrylonitrile-vinylchloride) (PAN-PVC) hollow fiber membranes (HFMs) of varying surface architecture were examined temporally at 2, 4, and 12 weeks postimplantation. Significant differences were discovered in the brain tissue response to the PAN-PVC HFMs of varying surface architecture at 4 and 12 weeks. To extend this work, whether the soluble factors derived from a co-transplanted cellular component further affect the brain tissue response to an implanted HFM in a significant way was critically exploited. The cells used were astrocytes, whose ability to influence scar formation process following CNS injury by physical contact with the host tissue had been documented in the literature. Data indicated for the first time that astrocyte-derived soluble factors ameliorate the adult brain tissue reactivity toward HFM implants in an age-dependent manner. While immature astrocytes secreted soluble factors that suppressed the brain tissue reactivity around the implants, mature astrocytes secreted factors that enhanced the gliotic response. These findings prove the feasibility

  20. Surface and volume three-dimensional displays of Tc-99m HMPAO brain SPECT images in stroke patients with three-head gamma camera

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shih, W.J.; Slevin, J.T.; Schleenbaker, R.E.; Mills, B.J.; Magoun, S.L.; Ryo, U.Y.

    1991-01-01

    This paper evaluates volume and surface 3D displays in Tc-99m HMPAO brain SPECT imaging in stroke patients. Using a triple-head gamma camera interfaced with a 64-bit supercomputer, 20 patients with stroke were studied. Each patient was imaged 30-60 minutes after an intravenous injection of 20 mCi of Tc-99m HMPAO. SPECT images as well as planar images were routinely obtained; volume and surface 3D display then proceeded, with the process requiring 5-10 minutes. Volume and surface 3D displays show the brain from all angles; thus the location and extension of lesion(s) in the brain are much easier to appreciate. While a cerebral lesion(s) was more clearly delineated by surface 3D imaging, crossed cerebellar diaschisis in seven patients was clearly exhibited with volume 3D but not with surface 3D imaging. Volume and surface 3D displays enhance continuity of structures and understanding of spatial relationships

  1. Building an organic computing device with multiple interconnected brains

    OpenAIRE

    Pais-Vieira, Miguel; Chiuffa, Gabriela; Lebedev, Mikhail; Yadav, Amol; Nicolelis, Miguel A. L.

    2015-01-01

    Recently, we proposed that Brainets, i.e. networks formed by multiple animal brains, cooperating and exchanging information in real time through direct brain-to-brain interfaces, could provide the core of a new type of computing device: an organic computer. Here, we describe the first experimental demonstration of such a Brainet, built by interconnecting four adult rat brains. Brainets worked by concurrently recording the extracellular electrical activity generated by populations of cortical ...

  2. Effect of Anti-Sticking Nanostructured Surface Coating on Minimally Invasive Electrosurgical Device in Brain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Han-Yi; Ou, Keng-Liang; Chiang, Hsi-Jen; Lin, Li-Hsiang

    2015-10-01

    The purpose of the present study was to examine the extent of thermal injury in the brain after the use of a minimally invasive electrosurgical device with a nanostructured copper-doped diamond-like carbon (DLC-Cu) surface coating. To effectively utilize an electrosurgical device in clinical surgery, it is important to decrease the thermal injury to the adjacent tissues. The surface characteristics and morphology of DLC-Cu thin film was evaluated using a contact angle goniometer, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. Three-dimensional biomedical brain models were reconstructed using magnetic resonance images to simulate the electrosurgical procedure. Results indicated that the temperature was reduced significantly when a minimally invasive electrosurgical device with a DLC-Cu thin film coating (DLC-Cu-SS) was used. Temperatures decreased with the use of devices with increasing film thickness. Thermographic data revealed that surgical temperatures in an animal model were significantly lower with the DLC-Cu-SS electrosurgical device compared to an untreated device. Furthermore, the DLC-Cu-SS device created a relatively small region of injury and lateral thermal range. As described above, the biomedical nanostructured film reduced excessive thermal injury with the use of a minimally invasive electrosurgical device in the brain.

  3. Application of cooperative and non-cooperative games in large-scale water quantity and quality management: a case study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahjouri, Najmeh; Ardestani, Mojtaba

    2011-01-01

    In this paper, two cooperative and non-cooperative methodologies are developed for a large-scale water allocation problem in Southern Iran. The water shares of the water users and their net benefits are determined using optimization models having economic objectives with respect to the physical and environmental constraints of the system. The results of the two methodologies are compared based on the total obtained economic benefit, and the role of cooperation in utilizing a shared water resource is demonstrated. In both cases, the water quality in rivers satisfies the standards. Comparing the results of the two mentioned approaches shows the importance of acting cooperatively to achieve maximum revenue in utilizing a surface water resource while the river water quantity and quality issues are addressed.

  4. Surgical Resection Followed by Whole Brain Radiotherapy Versus Whole Brain Radiotherapy Alone for Single Brain Metastasis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rades, Dirk; Kieckebusch, Susanne; Haatanen, Tiina; Lohynska, Radka; Dunst, Juergen; Schild, Steven E.

    2008-01-01

    Purpose: To compare the outcome of surgical resection followed by whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) with WBRT alone in patients treated for single brain metastasis. Methods and Materials: The data from 195 patients with single brain metastases were retrospectively evaluated. Of the 195 patients, 99 underwent resection of the metastasis followed by WBRT and 96 underwent WBRT alone. Seven additional potential prognostic factors were investigated: age, gender, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance score, tumor type, interval between initial tumor diagnosis and WBRT, extracranial metastases, and recursive partitioning analysis class. Both treatment groups were well balanced for these factors. Results: On multivariate analysis, improved survival was associated with resection (relative risk [RR], 1.20; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.11-1.31; p < 0.001), lower recursive partitioning analysis class (RR, 1.58; 95% CI, 1.22-2.06; p < 0.001), age ≤61 years (RR, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.23-2.61; p = 0.002), Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance score of 0-1 (RR, 2.47; 95% CI, 1.70-3.59; p < 0.001), and the absence of extracranial metastases (RR, 1.99; 95% CI, 1.41-2.79; p < 0.001). Improved local control was associated with resection (RR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.11-1.41; p < 0.001) and age ≤61 years (RR, 1.77; 95% CI, 1.09-2.88; p = 0.020). Improved brain control distant from the original site was associated with lower recursive partitioning analysis class (RR, 1.65; 95% CI, 1.03-2.69; p < 0.035), age ≤61 years (RR, 1.81; 95% CI, 1.12-2.96; p = 0.016), and the absence of extracranial metastases (RR, 2.42; 95% CI, 1.52-3.88; p < 0.001). Improved control within the entire brain was associated with surgery (RR, 1.24; 95% CI, 1.12-1.38; p < 0.001) and age ≤61 years (RR, 1.83; 95% CI, 1.21-2.77; p = 0.004). Conclusion: In patients with a single brain metastasis, the addition of resection to WBRT improved survival, local control at the original metastatic site, and control

  5. BRAIN Journal - The Impact of Cooperative Learning on Female Medical Students' Happiness and Social Support

    OpenAIRE

    Ali Taghinezhad; Rahim Pendar; Samira Rahimi; Maryam Jamalzadeh; Mahboobeh Azadikhah

    2017-01-01

    ABSTRACT Cooperative learning has appeared as a new approach to teaching. This approach is utilized for small heterogeneous groups of students who cooperate to achieve a common goal. This study aimed at investigating the impact of cooperative learning on female medical students’ happiness and social support. To this end, 72 female students of medicine at Shiraz Medical School were selected using cluster sampling and divided into experimental and control groups. The students were administe...

  6. Detergency of stainless steel surface soiled with human brain homogenate: an XPS study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Richard, M.; Le Mogne, Th.; Perret-Liaudet, A.; Rauwel, G.; Criquelion, J.; De Barros, M.I.; Cetre, J.C.; Martin, J.M.

    2005-01-01

    In the detergency field of re-usable medical devices, a special attention is focused on the non conventional transmissible agent called prions which is a proteinaceous infectious agent. Few cleaning procedures are effective against prions and few techniques are available to study cleaning effectiveness with respect to proteins in general. In our study, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) has been used to evaluate the effectiveness of detergent formulations to remove proteins from stainless steel surface soiled with a brain homogenate (BH) from human origin. Our results showed that XPS is a reliable surface analysis technique to study chemical species remaining on surface and substrate properties after cleaning procedures. A semi-quantitative evaluation of the detergency effectiveness could also be performed

  7. Detergency of stainless steel surface soiled with human brain homogenate: an XPS study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Richard, M. [Ecole Centrale de Lyon, UMR 5513 LTDS, 69 134 Ecully (France) and Laboratoires ANIOS, 59 260 Lille-Hellemmes (France)]. E-mail: marlene.richard@ec-lyon.fr; Le Mogne, Th. [Ecole Centrale de Lyon, UMR 5513 LTDS, 69 134 Ecully (France); Perret-Liaudet, A. [Hopital Neurologique de Lyon et INSERM U512, 69 394 Lyon (France); Rauwel, G. [Laboratoires ANIOS, 59 260 Lille-Hellemmes (France); Criquelion, J. [Laboratoires ANIOS, 59 260 Lille-Hellemmes (France); De Barros, M.I. [Ecole Centrale de Lyon, UMR 5513 LTDS, 69 134 Ecully (France); Cetre, J.C. [Unite d' Hygiene et d' Epidemiologie, Hopital de la Croix Rousse, 69 317 Lyon (France); Martin, J.M. [Ecole Centrale de Lyon, UMR 5513 LTDS, 69 134 Ecully (France)

    2005-02-15

    In the detergency field of re-usable medical devices, a special attention is focused on the non conventional transmissible agent called prions which is a proteinaceous infectious agent. Few cleaning procedures are effective against prions and few techniques are available to study cleaning effectiveness with respect to proteins in general. In our study, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) has been used to evaluate the effectiveness of detergent formulations to remove proteins from stainless steel surface soiled with a brain homogenate (BH) from human origin. Our results showed that XPS is a reliable surface analysis technique to study chemical species remaining on surface and substrate properties after cleaning procedures. A semi-quantitative evaluation of the detergency effectiveness could also be performed.

  8. When do people cooperate? The neuroeconomics of prosocial decision making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Declerck, Carolyn H; Boone, Christophe; Emonds, Griet

    2013-02-01

    Understanding the roots of prosocial behavior is an interdisciplinary research endeavor that has generated an abundance of empirical data across many disciplines. This review integrates research findings from different fields into a novel theoretical framework that can account for when prosocial behavior is likely to occur. Specifically, we propose that the motivation to cooperate (or not), generated by the reward system in the brain (extending from the striatum to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex), is modulated by two neural networks: a cognitive control system (centered on the lateral prefrontal cortex) that processes extrinsic cooperative incentives, and/or a social cognition system (including the temporo-parietal junction, the medial prefrontal cortex and the amygdala) that processes trust and/or threat signals. The independent modulatory influence of incentives and trust on the decision to cooperate is substantiated by a growing body of neuroimaging data and reconciles the apparent paradox between economic versus social rationality in the literature, suggesting that we are in fact wired for both. Furthermore, the theoretical framework can account for substantial behavioral heterogeneity in prosocial behavior. Based on the existing data, we postulate that self-regarding individuals (who are more likely to adopt an economically rational strategy) are more responsive to extrinsic cooperative incentives and therefore rely relatively more on cognitive control to make (un)cooperative decisions, whereas other-regarding individuals (who are more likely to adopt a socially rational strategy) are more sensitive to trust signals to avoid betrayal and recruit relatively more brain activity in the social cognition system. Several additional hypotheses with respect to the neural roots of social preferences are derived from the model and suggested for future research. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. The Neural Responses to Social Cooperation in Gain and Loss Context.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peng Sun

    Full Text Available Cooperation is pervasive and constitutes the core behavioral principle of human social life. Previous studies have revealed that mutual cooperation was reliably correlated with two reward-related brain regions, the ventral striatum and the orbitofrontal cortex. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI, this study sought to investigate how the loss and gain contexts modulated the neural responses to mutual cooperation. Twenty-five female participants were scanned when they played a series of one-shot prisoner's dilemma games in the loss and gain contexts. Specifically, participants and partners independently chose to either cooperate with each other or not, and each was awarded or deprived of (in the gain context or the loss context, respectively a sum of money which depended upon the interaction of their choices. Behavioral results indicated that participants cooperated in nearly half of the experiment trials and reported higher level of positive emotions for mutual cooperation in both contexts, but they cooperated more in the gain than in the loss context. At the neural level, stronger activities in the orbitofrontal cortex were observed for mutual cooperation compared with the other three outcomes in both contexts, while stronger activation in ventral striatum associated with mutual cooperation was observed in the gain context only. Together, our data indicated that, even in the one-shot interaction under loss context, participants still exhibited preference for cooperation and the rewarding experience from a mutually cooperative social interaction activated the ventral striatum and the orbitofrontal cortex, but the loss context weakened the association between the ventral striatum activation and mutual cooperation.

  10. Review: Leon N. Cooper's Science and Human Experience: Values, Culture, and the Mind.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lynch, Gary S

    2015-01-01

    Why are we reviewing a book written by someone who shared in the 1972 Nobel Prize in Physics for work on superconductivity? Because shortly after winning the prize, Leon N. Cooper transitioned into brain research-specifically, the biological basis of memory. He became director of the Brown University Institute for Brain and Neural Systems, whose interdisciplinary program allowed him to integrate research on the brain, physics, and even philosophy. His new book tackles a diverse spectrum of topics and questions, including these: Does science have limits? Where does order come from? Can we understand consciousness?

  11. The advantages of the surface Laplacian in brain-computer interface research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McFarland, Dennis J

    2015-09-01

    Brain-computer interface (BCI) systems frequently use signal processing methods, such as spatial filtering, to enhance performance. The surface Laplacian can reduce spatial noise and aid in identification of sources. In BCI research, these two functions of the surface Laplacian correspond to prediction accuracy and signal orthogonality. In the present study, an off-line analysis of data from a sensorimotor rhythm-based BCI task dissociated these functions of the surface Laplacian by comparing nearest-neighbor and next-nearest neighbor Laplacian algorithms. The nearest-neighbor Laplacian produced signals that were more orthogonal while the next-nearest Laplacian produced signals that resulted in better accuracy. Both prediction and signal identification are important for BCI research. Better prediction of user's intent produces increased speed and accuracy of communication and control. Signal identification is important for ruling out the possibility of control by artifacts. Identifying the nature of the control signal is relevant both to understanding exactly what is being studied and in terms of usability for individuals with limited motor control. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Social penalty promotes cooperation in a cooperative society.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ito, Hiromu; Yoshimura, Jin

    2015-08-04

    Why cooperation is well developed in human society is an unsolved question in biological and human sciences. Vast studies in game theory have revealed that in non-cooperative games selfish behavior generally dominates over cooperation and cooperation can be evolved only under very limited conditions. These studies ask the origin of cooperation; whether cooperation can evolve in a group of selfish individuals. In this paper, instead of asking the origin of cooperation, we consider the enhancement of cooperation in a small already cooperative society. We ask whether cooperative behavior is further promoted in a small cooperative society in which social penalty is devised. We analyze hawk-dove game and prisoner's dilemma introducing social penalty. We then expand it for non-cooperative games in general. The results indicate that cooperation is universally favored if penalty is further imposed. We discuss the current result in terms of the moral, laws, rules and regulations in a society, e.g., criminology and traffic violation.

  13. 33 CFR 165.709 - Security Zone; Charleston Harbor, Cooper River, South Carolina.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ..., Cooper River, South Carolina. 165.709 Section 165.709 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD... § 165.709 Security Zone; Charleston Harbor, Cooper River, South Carolina. (a) Regulated area. The Coast Guard is establishing a fixed security zone on all waters of the Cooper River, bank-to-bank and surface...

  14. Surface-based brain morphometry and diffusion tensor imaging in schizoaffective disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Landin-Romero, Ramón; Canales-Rodríguez, Erick J; Kumfor, Fiona; Moreno-Alcázar, Ana; Madre, Mercè; Maristany, Teresa; Pomarol-Clotet, Edith; Amann, Benedikt L

    2017-01-01

    The profile of grey matter abnormalities and related white-matter pathology in schizoaffective disorder has only been studied to a limited extent. The aim of this study was to identify grey- and white-matter abnormalities in patients with schizoaffective disorder using complementary structural imaging techniques. Forty-five patients meeting Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fourth Edition criteria and Research Diagnostic Criteria for schizoaffective disorder and 45 matched healthy controls underwent structural-T1 and diffusion magnetic resonance imaging to enable surface-based brain morphometry and diffusion tensor imaging analyses. Analyses were conducted to determine group differences in cortical volume, cortical thickness and surface area, as well as in fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity. At a threshold of p = 0.05 corrected, all measures revealed significant differences between patients and controls at the group level. Spatial overlap of abnormalities was observed across the various structural neuroimaging measures. In grey matter, patients with schizoaffective disorder showed abnormalities in the frontal and temporal lobes, striatum, fusiform, cuneus, precuneus, lingual and limbic regions. White-matter abnormalities were identified in tracts connecting these areas, including the corpus callosum, superior and inferior longitudinal fasciculi, anterior thalamic radiation, uncinate fasciculus and cingulum bundle. The spatial overlap of abnormalities across the different imaging techniques suggests widespread and consistent brain pathology in schizoaffective disorder. The abnormalities were mainly detected in areas that have commonly been reported to be abnormal in schizophrenia, and to some extent in bipolar disorder, which may explain the clinical and aetiological overlap in these disorders.

  15. Brain SPECT in children; Explorations scintigraphiques en neurologie et psychiatrie de l`enfant

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Guyot, M. [Hopital Pellegrin, 33 - Bordeaux (France); Baulieu, J.L. [Hopital Bretonneau, 37 - Tours (France)

    1996-12-31

    Brain SPECT in child involves specific trends regarding the patient cooperation, irradiation, resolution and especially interpretation because of the rapid scintigraphic modifications related to the brain maturation. In a general nuclear medicine department, child brain SPECT represents about 2 % of the activity. The choice indications are the perfusion children: thallium and MIBI in brain tumours, pharmacological and neuropsychological interventions. In the future, brain dedicated detectors and new radiopharmaceuticals will promote the development of brain SPECT in children. (author). 18 refs.

  16. International cooperation for Mars exploration and sample return

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levy, Eugene H.; Boynton, William V.; Cameron, A. G. W.; Carr, Michael H.; Kitchell, Jennifer H.; Mazur, Peter; Pace, Norman R.; Prinn, Ronald G.; Solomon, Sean C.; Wasserburg, Gerald J.

    1990-01-01

    The National Research Council's Space Studies Board has previously recommended that the next major phase of Mars exploration for the United States involve detailed in situ investigations of the surface of Mars and the return to earth for laboratory analysis of selected Martian surface samples. More recently, the European space science community has expressed general interest in the concept of cooperative Mars exploration and sample return. The USSR has now announced plans for a program of Mars exploration incorporating international cooperation. If the opportunity becomes available to participate in Mars exploration, interest is likely to emerge on the part of a number of other countries, such as Japan and Canada. The Space Studies Board's Committee on Cooperative Mars Exploration and Sample Return was asked by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to examine and report on the question of how Mars sample return missions might best be structured for effective implementation by NASA along with international partners. The committee examined alternatives ranging from scientific missions in which the United States would take a substantial lead, with international participation playing only an ancillary role, to missions in which international cooperation would be a basic part of the approach, with the international partners taking on comparably large mission responsibilities. On the basis of scientific strategies developed earlier by the Space Studies Board, the committee considered the scientific and technical basis of such collaboration and the most mutually beneficial arrangements for constructing successful cooperative missions, particularly with the USSR.

  17. Sex differences in brain organization: implications for human communication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanske-Petitpierre, V; Chen, A C

    1985-12-01

    This article reviews current knowledge in two major research domains: sex differences in neuropsychophysiology, and in human communication. An attempt was made to integrate knowledge from several areas of brain research with human communication and to clarify how such a cooperative effort may be beneficial to both fields of study. By combining findings from the area of brain research, a communication paradigm was developed which contends that brain-related sex differences may reside largely in the area of communication of emotion.

  18. A User Cooperation Stimulating Strategy Based on Cooperative Game Theory in Cooperative Relay Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ping Zhang

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposes a user cooperation stimulating strategy among rational users. The strategy is based on cooperative game theory and enacted in the context of cooperative relay networks. Using the pricing-based mechanism, the system is modeled initially with two nodes and a Base Station (BS. Within this framework, each node is treated as a rational decision maker. To this end, each node can decide whether to cooperate and how to cooperate. Cooperative game theory assists in providing an optimal system utility and provides fairness among users. Under different cooperative forwarding modes, certain questions are carefully investigated, including “what is each node's best reaction to maximize its utility?” and “what is the optimal reimbursement to encourage cooperation?” Simulation results show that the nodes benefit from the proposed cooperation stimulating strategy in terms of utility and thus justify the fairness between each user.

  19. A User Cooperation Stimulating Strategy Based on Cooperative Game Theory in Cooperative Relay Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jiang Fan

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposes a user cooperation stimulating strategy among rational users. The strategy is based on cooperative game theory and enacted in the context of cooperative relay networks. Using the pricing-based mechanism, the system is modeled initially with two nodes and a Base Station (BS. Within this framework, each node is treated as a rational decision maker. To this end, each node can decide whether to cooperate and how to cooperate. Cooperative game theory assists in providing an optimal system utility and provides fairness among users. Under different cooperative forwarding modes, certain questions are carefully investigated, including "what is each node's best reaction to maximize its utility?" and "what is the optimal reimbursement to encourage cooperation?" Simulation results show that the nodes benefit from the proposed cooperation stimulating strategy in terms of utility and thus justify the fairness between each user.

  20. Cooperation between brain and islet in glucose homeostasis and diabetes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwartz, Michael W.; Seeley, Randy J.; Tschöp, Matthias H.; Woods, Stephen C.; Morton, Gregory J.; Myers, Martin G.; D'Alessio, David

    2014-01-01

    Although a prominent role for the brain in glucose homeostasis was proposed by scientists in the nineteenth century, research throughout most of the twentieth century focused on evidence that the function of pancreatic islets is both necessary and sufficient to explain glucose homeostasis, and that diabetes results from defects of insulin secretion, action or both. However, insulin-independent mechanisms, referred to as ‘glucose effectiveness’, account for roughly 50% of overall glucose disposal, and reduced glucose effectiveness also contributes importantly to diabetes pathogenesis. Although mechanisms underlying glucose effectiveness are poorly understood, growing evidence suggests that the brain can dynamically regulate this process in ways that improve or even normalize glycaemia in rodent models of diabetes. Here we present evidence of a brain-centred glucoregulatory system (BCGS) that can lower blood glucose levels via both insulin-dependent and -independent mechanisms, and propose a model in which complex and highly coordinated interactions between the BCGS and pancreatic islets promote normal glucose homeostasis. Because activation of either regulatory system can compensate for failure of the other, defects in both may be required for diabetes to develop. Consequently, therapies that target the BCGS in addition to conventional approaches based on enhancing insulin effects may have the potential to induce diabetes remission, whereas targeting just one typically does not. PMID:24201279

  1. Insulin Regulates Astrocytic Glucose Handling Through Cooperation With IGF-I.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fernandez, Ana M; Hernandez-Garzón, Edwin; Perez-Domper, Paloma; Perez-Alvarez, Alberto; Mederos, Sara; Matsui, Takashi; Santi, Andrea; Trueba-Saiz, Angel; García-Guerra, Lucía; Pose-Utrilla, Julia; Fielitz, Jens; Olson, Eric N; Fernandez de la Rosa, Ruben; Garcia Garcia, Luis; Pozo, Miguel Angel; Iglesias, Teresa; Araque, Alfonso; Soya, Hideaki; Perea, Gertrudis; Martin, Eduardo D; Torres Aleman, Ignacio

    2017-01-01

    Brain activity requires a flux of glucose to active regions to sustain increased metabolic demands. Insulin, the main regulator of glucose handling in the body, has been traditionally considered not to intervene in this process. However, we now report that insulin modulates brain glucose metabolism by acting on astrocytes in concert with IGF-I. The cooperation of insulin and IGF-I is needed to recover neuronal activity after hypoglycemia. Analysis of underlying mechanisms show that the combined action of IGF-I and insulin synergistically stimulates a mitogen-activated protein kinase/protein kinase D pathway resulting in translocation of GLUT1 to the cell membrane through multiple protein-protein interactions involving the scaffolding protein GAIP-interacting protein C terminus and the GTPase RAC1. Our observations identify insulin-like peptides as physiological modulators of brain glucose handling, providing further support to consider the brain as a target organ in diabetes. © 2017 by the American Diabetes Association.

  2. Analysis of neuron–astrocyte metabolic cooperation in the brain of db/db mice with cognitive decline using 13C NMR spectroscopy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Hong; Zheng, Yongquan; Wang, Dan; Cai, Aimin; Lin, Qiuting; Zhao, Liangcai; Chen, Minjiang; Deng, Mingjie; Ye, Xinjian

    2016-01-01

    Type 2 diabetes has been linked to cognitive impairment, but its potential metabolic mechanism is still unclear. The present study aimed to explore neuron–astrocyte metabolic cooperation in the brain of diabetic (db/db, BKS.Cg-m+/+ Leprdb/J) mice with cognitive decline using 13C NMR technique in combination with intravenous [2-13C]-acetate and [3-13C]-lactate infusions. We found that the 13C-enrichment from [2-13C]-acetate into tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediate, succinate, was significantly decreased in db/db mice with cognitive decline compared with wild-type (WT, C57BLKS/J) mice, while an opposite result was obtained after [3-13C]-lactate infusion. Relative to WT mice, db/db mice with cognitive decline had significantly lower 13C labeling percentages in neurotransmitters including glutamine, glutamate, and γ-aminobutyric acid after [2-13C]-acetate infusion. However, [3-13C]-lactate resulted in increased 13C-enrichments in neurotransmitters in db/db mice with cognitive decline. This may indicate that the disturbance of neurotransmitter metabolism occurred during the development of cognitive decline. In addition, a reduction in 13C-labeling of lactate and an increase in gluconeogenesis were found from both labeled infusions in db/db mice with cognitive decline. Therefore, our results suggest that the development of cognitive decline in type 2 diabetes may be implicated to an unbalanced metabolism in neuron–astrocyte cooperation and an enhancement of gluconeogenesis. PMID:26762505

  3. Analysis of neuron-astrocyte metabolic cooperation in the brain of db/db mice with cognitive decline using 13C NMR spectroscopy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Hong; Zheng, Yongquan; Wang, Dan; Cai, Aimin; Lin, Qiuting; Zhao, Liangcai; Chen, Minjiang; Deng, Mingjie; Ye, Xinjian; Gao, Hongchang

    2017-01-01

    Type 2 diabetes has been linked to cognitive impairment, but its potential metabolic mechanism is still unclear. The present study aimed to explore neuron-astrocyte metabolic cooperation in the brain of diabetic (db/db, BKS.Cg-m +/+ Leprdb/J) mice with cognitive decline using 13 C NMR technique in combination with intravenous [2- 13 C]-acetate and [3- 13 C]-lactate infusions. We found that the 13 C-enrichment from [2- 13 C]-acetate into tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediate, succinate, was significantly decreased in db/db mice with cognitive decline compared with wild-type (WT, C57BLKS/J) mice, while an opposite result was obtained after [3- 13 C]-lactate infusion. Relative to WT mice, db/db mice with cognitive decline had significantly lower 13 C labeling percentages in neurotransmitters including glutamine, glutamate, and γ-aminobutyric acid after [2- 13 C]-acetate infusion. However, [3- 13 C]-lactate resulted in increased 13 C-enrichments in neurotransmitters in db/db mice with cognitive decline. This may indicate that the disturbance of neurotransmitter metabolism occurred during the development of cognitive decline. In addition, a reduction in 13 C-labeling of lactate and an increase in gluconeogenesis were found from both labeled infusions in db/db mice with cognitive decline. Therefore, our results suggest that the development of cognitive decline in type 2 diabetes may be implicated to an unbalanced metabolism in neuron-astrocyte cooperation and an enhancement of gluconeogenesis. © The Author(s) 2016.

  4. To cooperate or not to cooperate

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wessels, Josepha Ivanka

    To Cooperate or not to Cooperate...? discusses results of a research project to study the rehabilitation of 1500-year old water tunnels, so called "qanats", in Syria. Communities all over the world are using traditional technologies to extract drinkingwater, irrigate their lands and feed...... their livestock. But these often sustainable and ancient ways to make use of groundwater are in rapid decline worldwide. A research project started in 1999 to study the rehabilitation of 1500-year old water tunnels called "qanats"in Syria. To Cooperate or not to Cooperate...? discusses results and outcomes...

  5. Interbrains cooperation: Hyperscanning and self-perception in joint actions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balconi, Michela; Vanutelli, Maria Elide

    2017-08-01

    The aim of the present study was to investigate the neural bases of cooperative behaviors and social self-perception underlying the execution of joint actions by using a hyperscanning brain paradigm with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). We firstly found that an artificial positive feedback on the cognitive performance was able to affect the self-perception of social position and hierarchy (higher social ranking) for the dyad, as well as the cognitive performance (decreased error rate, ER, and response times, RTs). In addition, the shared cognitive strategy was concurrently improved within the dyad after this social reinforcing. Secondly, fNIRS measures revealed an increased brain activity in the postfeedback condition for the dyad. Moreover, an interbrain similarity was found for the dyads during the task, with higher coherent prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity for the interagents in the postfeedback condition. Finally, a significant prefrontal brain lateralization effect was revealed, with the left hemisphere being more engaged during the postfeedback condition. To summarize, the self-perception, the cognitive performance, and the shared brain activity were all reinforced by the social feedback within the dyad.

  6. 75 FR 10319 - Cooper Tools-Sumter, Cooper Tools Divisions, a Subsidiary of Cooper Industries, Inc., Including...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-03-05

    ... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employment and Training Administration [TA-W-71,602] Cooper Tools--Sumter, Cooper Tools Divisions, a Subsidiary of Cooper Industries, Inc., Including On-Site Leased Workers From... January 26, 2010, applicable to workers of Cooper Tools--Sumter, Cooper Tools Division, a subsidiary of...

  7. Facial Expression Recognition for Traumatic Brain Injured Patients

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ilyas, Chaudhary Muhammad Aqdus; Nasrollahi, Kamal; Moeslund, Thomas B.

    2018-01-01

    In this paper, we investigate the issues associated with facial expression recognition of Traumatic Brain Insured (TBI) patients in a realistic scenario. These patients have restricted or limited muscle movements with reduced facial expressions along with non-cooperative behavior, impaired reason...

  8. Establishing cooperation in a mixed-motive social dilemma. An fMRI study investigating the role of social value orientation and dispositional trust.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Emonds, Griet; Declerck, Carolyn H; Boone, Christophe; Seurinck, Ruth; Achten, Rik

    2014-02-01

    When people are confronted with social dilemmas, their decision-making strategies tend to be associated with individual social preferences; prosocials have an intrinsic willingness to cooperate, while proselfs need extrinsic motivators signaling personal gain. In this study, the biological roots for the proselfs/prosocials concept are explored by investigating the neural correlates of cooperative versus defect decisions when participants engage in a series of one-shot, anonymous prisoner's dilemma situations. Our data are in line with previous studies showing that prosocials activate several social cognition regions of the brain more than proselfs (here: medial prefrontal cortex, temporo-parietal junction, and precuneus BA 7 (Brodmann area 7), and that dispositional trust positively affects prosocials' decisions to cooperate. At the neural level, however, dispositional trust appears to exert a greater marginal effect on brain activity of proselfs in three social cognition regions, which does not translate into an increase in cooperation. An event-related analysis shows that cooperating prosocials show significantly more activation in the precuneus (BA 7) than proselfs. Based on previous research, we interpret this result to be consistent with prosocials' enhanced tendency to infer the intentions of others in social dilemma games, and the importance of establishing norm congruence when they decide to cooperate.

  9. Cooperation makes two less-creative individuals turn into a highly-creative pair.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xue, Hua; Lu, Kelong; Hao, Ning

    2018-05-15

    This study aimed to investigate which type of group (e.g., consisting of less-creative or highly-creative individuals) would perform better in solving creativity problems, and explore the underlying inter-brain neural correlates between team members. A preliminary test (an alternative-uses task) was performed to rank individuals' level of creativity, and divide participants into three types of dyads: high-high (two highly-creative individuals), low-low (two less-creative individuals), and high-low (one highly-creative and one less-creative individual). Dyads were then asked to solve a realistic presented problem (RPP; a typical creativity problem) during which a functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)-based hyperscanning device was used to record the variation of interpersonal brain synchronization (IBS). Results revealed that less-creative individuals, while working together, would perform as well as highly-creative individuals. The low-low dyads showed higher levels of cooperation behaviour than the other two types of dyads. The fNIRS results revealed increased IBS only for low-low dyads at PFC (prefrontal cortex) and rTPJ (right temporal-parietal junction) brain regions during RPP task performance. In the rDLPFC (right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex), the IBS in the low-low dyads was stronger than that of high-high and high-low dyads. In the rTPJ, the IBS in the low-low dyads was only stronger than that of the high-low dyads. Besides, the IBS at rDLPFC and rTPJ regions in the low-low dyads was positively correlated with their cooperation behaviour and group creative performance. These findings indicated when two less-creative individuals worked on a creativity problem together, they tended to cooperate with each other (indicated by both behaviour index and increased IBS at rDLPFC and rTPJ), which benefited their creative performance. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. SU-E-J-171: Surface Imaging Based Intrafraction Motion Assessments for Whole Brain Radiotherapy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wiant, D; Vanderstraeten, C; Maurer, J; Pursley, J; Terrell, J; Sintay, B

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: To quantify and characterize intrafraction motion for whole brain radiotherapy treatments in open face masks using 3D surface imaging. Methods: Fifteen whole brain patients were monitored with 3D surface imaging over a total of 202 monitoring sessions. Mean translations and rotations were calculated over each minute, each session, and over all sessions combined. The percentage of each session that the root mean square (RMS) of the linear translations were outside of 2 mm, 3 mm, 4 mm, and 5 mm were determined for each patient. Correlations between mean translations per minute and time and between standard deviation per minute and time were evaluated using Pearson's r value. Results: The mean RMS translation averaged over all patients was 1.45 mm +/− 1.52 mm. The patients spent an average of 18%, 10%, 6%, and 3% of the monitoring time outside of 2 mm, 3 mm, 4 mm, and 5 mm RMS tolerances, respectively. The RMS values averaged over all patients were 1.31 mm +/− 0.98 mm, 1.52 +/- 1.04, and 1.30 mm +/− 0.71 mm over the 1th, 5th, and 10th minutes of monitoring, respectively. Neither, the RMS values (p = 0.15) or the standard deviations of the RMS values (p = 0.16) showed significant correlations with time. Conclusion: The patients were positioned within 2 mm of isocenter, which was the initial set-up tolerance, for the majority of their treatments. The average position changed by < 0.3 mm over 10 minutes of monitoring. Short term movements, reflected by the standard deviations, where on the order of 1 mm. This immobilization system provides adequate immobilization over a course of treatment for whole brain radiotherapy. This system may also be suitable for head and neck or stereotactic radiosurgery treatments as well

  11. Brain SPECT in neurology: A critical review

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bartenstein, P.; Essen Univ.; Weiller, C.; Essen Univ.

    1994-01-01

    SPECT of the brain with radiopharmaceuticals monitoring regional cerebral blood flow, receptor binding and metabolism offers a wide variety of potentially clinically useful applications. These can be found in neuro-oncology, epilepsy, cerebrovascular diseases, extrapyramidal disorders, dementia and the determination of brain death. The evaluation of the benefit of these methods in routine use requires a close cooperation between nuclear medicine physicians and neurologists, not only in the interpretation and analysis of the actual clinical studies, but also in the design and realization of clinically oriented research with large series of patients. (orig.) [de

  12. Brain-computer interface supported collaborative work: Implications for rehabilitation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nam, C S; Lee, J; Bahn, S

    2013-01-01

    Working together and collaborating in a group can provide greater benefits for people with severe motor disability. However, it is still not clear how collaboration should be supported by BCI systems. The present study explored BCI-supported collaborative work by investigating differences in performance and brain activity between when a pair of users performs a task jointly with each other and when they do alone only through means of their brain activity. We found differences in performance and brain activity between different work conditions. The results of this research should provide fundamental knowledge of BCI-supported cooperative work.

  13. Unmanned solar systems exploration - An arena for international cooperation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herman, D. H.; Pacault, R.

    1974-01-01

    Mission profiles for a Mars Surface Sample Return (MSSR) mission are considered. A profile using separate launches for a lander/ascent module and an orbiter/return system could use present technology and is appropriate for international cooperation. The achievement of clean interfaces between major building blocks and ease of controlling back contamination are advantages offered by the concept. A spatially distributed surface sample could be obtained by using multiple landers delivering samples to a common orbiter. The Pioneer Venus program, originally planned as a cooperative NASA-ESRO project, resulted in development of a standardized spacecraft bus yielding benefits at minimized cost. The first joint US-European planetary mission now planned is the launch of a Pioneer class orbiter to Jupiter in 1980. Feasibility studies are being conducted.

  14. Enhancement of tunnel conductivity by Cooper pair fluctuations in electron-hole bilayer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Efimkin, D K; Lozovik, Yu E

    2012-01-01

    Influence of Cooper pair fluctuations that are precursor of pairing of electrons and holes located on opposite surfaces of topological insulator film on tunnel conductivity between the surfaces is investigated. Due to restrictions caused by momentum and energy conservation dependence of tunnel conductivity on external bias voltage has peak that becomes more prominent with decreasing of disorder and temperature. We have shown that Cooper pair fluctuations considerably enhance tunneling and height of the peak diverges in vicinity of critical temperature with critical index ν = 2. Width of the peak tends to zero in proximity of critical temperature. Pairing of electrons and holes can be suppressed by disorder and in vicinity of quantum critical point height of the peak also diverges as function of Cooper pair damping with critical index μ = 2.

  15. An fMRI study of joint action – varying levels of cooperation correlates with activity in sensorimotor control, but not mentalization, networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thierry eChaminade

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available As social agents, humans continuously interact with with the people around them. Here, motor cooperation was investigated by designing a situation in which pairs of participants, one being scanned with fMRI, controlled jointly a visually presented object with joystick movements. The object oscillated dynamically along two dimensions, shades of pink and width of gratings, corresponding to the two cardinal directions of joystick movements. While the overall control of each participant on the object was kept constant, the amount of cooperation along the two dimensions varied along four levels, from no (each participant controlled exclusively one dimension to full (each participant controlled half of each dimension cooperation. Increasing cooperation correlated with BOLD signal in the left parietal operculum and anterior cingulate cortex, while decreasing cooperation correlated with activity in the right inferior frontal and superior temporal gyri, in the intraparietal sulci and inferior temporal gyrii bilaterally, and in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. As joint control improved with the level of cooperation, we assessed the brain responses correlating with joint performance, and found that activity in most of the areas associated with levels of cooperation also correlated with the joint performance. The only brain area found exclusively in the negative correlation with cooperation was within the posterior region of the rostral medial frontal cortex, involved in the monitoring of action outcome. We therefore propose that this region responds to the predictability of visual feedback given the motor commands, which is maximal when participants do not cooperate as they fully control one dimension. Our results therefore indicate that, in the current experimental paradigm, the level of cooperation affects sensorimotor processing, but not mentalizing. Altogether, humans do not need to have access to others’ intentional states to cooperate on a joint

  16. Revisiting Einstein's brain in Brain Awareness Week.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Hao; Chen, Su; Zeng, Lidan; Zhou, Lin; Hou, Shengtao

    2014-10-01

    Albert Einstein's brain has long been an object of fascination to both neuroscience specialists and the general public. However, without records of advanced neuro-imaging of his brain, conclusions regarding Einstein's extraordinary cognitive capabilities can only be drawn based on the unique external features of his brain and through comparison of the external features with those of other human brain samples. The recent discovery of 14 previously unpublished photographs of Einstein's brain taken at unconventional angles by Dr. Thomas Stoltz Harvey, the pathologist, ignited a renewed frenzy about clues to explain Einstein's genius. Dr. Dean Falk and her colleagues, in their landmark paper published in Brain (2013; 136:1304-1327), described in such details about the unusual features of Einstein's brain, which shed new light on Einstein's intelligence. In this article, we ask what are the unique structures of his brain? What can we learn from this new information? Can we really explain his extraordinary cognitive capabilities based on these unique brain structures? We conclude that studying the brain of a remarkable person like Albert Einstein indeed provides us a better example to comprehensively appreciate the relationship between brain structures and advanced cognitive functions. However, caution must be exercised so as not to over-interpret his intelligence solely based on the understanding of the surface structures of his brain.

  17. International cooperation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2008-01-01

    In this chapter international cooperation of the Division for Radiation Safety, NPP Decommissioning and Radwaste Management of the VUJE, a. s. is presented. Very important is cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency. This cooperation has various forms - national and regional projects of technical cooperation, coordinated research activities, participation of our experts in preparation of the IAEA documentation etc.

  18. Brain SPECT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feistel, H.

    1991-01-01

    Brain SPECT investigations have gained broad acceptance since the introduction of the lipophilic tracer Tc-99m-HMPAO. Depending on equipment and objectives in different departments, the examinations can be divided into three groups: 1. Under normal conditions and standardised patient preparation the 'rest' SPECT can be performed in every department with a tomographic camera. In cerebrovascular disease there is a demand for determination of either the perfusion reserve in reversible ischemia or prognostic values in completed stroke. In cases of dementia, SPECT may yield useful results according to differential diagnosis. Central cerebral system involvement in immunologic disease may be estimated with higher sensitivity than in conventional brain imaging procedures. In psychiatric diseases there is only a relative indication for brain SPECT, since results during recent years have been contradictory and may be derived only in interventional manner. In brain tumor diagnostics SPECT with Tl-201 possibly permits grading. In inflammatory disease, especially in viral encephalitis, SPECT may be used to obtain early diagnosis. Normal pressure hydrocephalus can be distinguished from other forms of dementia and, consequently, the necessity for shunting surgery can be recognised. 2. In departments equipped for emergency cases an 'acute' SPECT can be performed in illnesses with rapid changing symptoms such as different forms of migraine, transient global amnesia, epileptic seizures (so-called 'ictal SPECT') or urgent forms like trauma. 3. In cooperation with several departments brain SPECT can be practised as an interventional procedure in clinical and in scientific studies. (orig./MG) [de

  19. Nanoparticle technology for treatment of Parkinson's disease: the role of surface phenomena in reaching the brain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leyva-Gómez, Gerardo; Cortés, Hernán; Magaña, Jonathan J; Leyva-García, Norberto; Quintanar-Guerrero, David; Florán, Benjamín

    2015-07-01

    The absence of a definitive treatment for Parkinson's disease has driven the emerging investigation in the search for novel therapeutic alternatives. At present, the formulation of different drugs on nanoparticles has represented several advantages over conventional treatments. This type of multifunctional carrier, owing to its size and composition, has different interactions in biological systems that can lead to a decrease in ability to cross the blood-brain barrier. Therefore, this review focuses on the latest advances in obtaining nanoparticles for Parkinson's disease and provides an overview of technical aspects in the design of brain drug delivery of nanoparticles and an analysis of surface phenomena, a key aspect in the development of functional nanoparticles for Parkinson's disease. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. When do people cooperate? The neuroeconomics of prosocial decision making

    OpenAIRE

    DECLERCK, Carolyn H.; BOONE, Christophe; EMONDS, Griet

    2011-01-01

    Understanding the roots of prosocial behavior is an interdisciplinary research endeavor that has generated an abundance of empirical data across many disciplines. This review integrates research findings from different fields into a theoretical framework that can account for when prosocial behavior is likely to occur. Specifically, we propose that the motivation to cooperate is generated by the reward system in the brain (extending from striatum to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex), and tha...

  1. Non-cooperative game theory in biology and cooperative reasoning in humans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kabalak, Alihan; Smirnova, Elena; Jost, Jürgen

    2015-06-01

    The readiness for spontaneous cooperation together with the assumptions that others share this cooperativity has been identified as a fundamental feature that distinguishes humans from other animals, including the great apes. At the same time, cooperativity presents an evolutionary puzzle because non-cooperators do better in a group of cooperators. We develop here an analysis of the process leading to cooperation in terms of rationality concepts, game theory and epistemic logic. We are, however, not attempting to reconstruct the actual evolutionary process. We rather want to provide the logical structure underlying cooperation in order to understand why cooperation is possible and what kind of reasoning and beliefs would lead to cooperative decision-making. Game theory depends on an underlying common belief in non-cooperative rationality of the players, and cooperativity similarly can utilize a common belief in cooperative rationality as its basis. We suggest a weaker concept of rational decision-making in games that encompasses both types of decision-making. We build this up in stages, starting from simple optimization, then using anticipation of the reaction of others, to finally arrive at reflexive and cooperative reasoning. While each stage is more difficult than the preceding, importantly, we also identify a reduction of complexity achieved by the consistent application of higher stage reasoning.

  2. Designing for cooperation - cooperating in design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kyng, Morten

    1991-01-01

    This article will discuss how to design computer applications that enhance the quality of work and products, and will relate the discussion to current themes in the field of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW). Cooperation is a key element of computer use and work practice, yet here...... a specific "CSCW approach is not taken." Instead the focus is cooperation as an important aspect of work that should be integrated into most computer support efforts in order to develop successful computer support, however, other aspects such as power, conflict and control must also be considered....

  3. Interaction between particles and grain boundaries under conditions of cooperative migration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marvina, L.A.; Marvin, V.B.

    1996-01-01

    The analysis of particle grain boundary interaction is performed for dispersion hardened alloys when cooperative migration takes place. It is shown that in a general case the particle experiences a Zener force and a force of grain boundary surface tension due to boundary bending between particles. Approximate numerical estimates are made for the force acting on a particle in dispersion hardened alloy Ni-HfO 2 . It is noted that during cooperative migration of particle and grain boundary the velocity of the particle is directed along the resulting force. The latter equals the sum of surface tension and Zener forces. 6 refs., 2 figs

  4. Interpersonal brain synchronization in the right temporo-parietal junction during face-to-face economic exchange.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Honghong; Mai, Xiaoqin; Wang, Shun; Zhu, Chaozhe; Krueger, Frank; Liu, Chao

    2016-01-01

    In daily life, interpersonal interactions are influenced by uncertainty about other people's intentions. Face-to-face (FF) interaction reduces such uncertainty by providing external visible cues such as facial expression or body gestures and facilitates shared intentionality to promote belief of cooperative decisions and actual cooperative behaviors in interaction. However, so far little is known about interpersonal brain synchronization between two people engaged in naturally occurring FF interactions. In this study, we combined an adapted ultimatum game with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning to investigate how FF interaction impacts interpersonal brain synchronization during economic exchange. Pairs of strangers interacted repeatedly either FF or face-blocked (FB), while their activation was simultaneously measured in the right temporo-parietal junction (rTPJ) and the control region, right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (rDLPFC). Behaviorally, FF interactions increased shared intentionality between strangers, leading more positive belief of cooperative decisions and more actual gains in the game. FNIRS results indicated increased interpersonal brain synchronizations during FF interactions in rTPJ (but not in rDLPFC) with greater shared intentionality between partners. These results highlighted the importance of rTPJ in collaborative social interactions during FF economic exchange and warrant future research that combines FF interactions with fNIRS hyperscanning to study social brain disorders such as autism. © The Author (2015). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  5. BrainNet Viewer: a network visualization tool for human brain connectomics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xia, Mingrui; Wang, Jinhui; He, Yong

    2013-01-01

    The human brain is a complex system whose topological organization can be represented using connectomics. Recent studies have shown that human connectomes can be constructed using various neuroimaging technologies and further characterized using sophisticated analytic strategies, such as graph theory. These methods reveal the intriguing topological architectures of human brain networks in healthy populations and explore the changes throughout normal development and aging and under various pathological conditions. However, given the huge complexity of this methodology, toolboxes for graph-based network visualization are still lacking. Here, using MATLAB with a graphical user interface (GUI), we developed a graph-theoretical network visualization toolbox, called BrainNet Viewer, to illustrate human connectomes as ball-and-stick models. Within this toolbox, several combinations of defined files with connectome information can be loaded to display different combinations of brain surface, nodes and edges. In addition, display properties, such as the color and size of network elements or the layout of the figure, can be adjusted within a comprehensive but easy-to-use settings panel. Moreover, BrainNet Viewer draws the brain surface, nodes and edges in sequence and displays brain networks in multiple views, as required by the user. The figure can be manipulated with certain interaction functions to display more detailed information. Furthermore, the figures can be exported as commonly used image file formats or demonstration video for further use. BrainNet Viewer helps researchers to visualize brain networks in an easy, flexible and quick manner, and this software is freely available on the NITRC website (www.nitrc.org/projects/bnv/).

  6. BrainNet Viewer: a network visualization tool for human brain connectomics.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mingrui Xia

    Full Text Available The human brain is a complex system whose topological organization can be represented using connectomics. Recent studies have shown that human connectomes can be constructed using various neuroimaging technologies and further characterized using sophisticated analytic strategies, such as graph theory. These methods reveal the intriguing topological architectures of human brain networks in healthy populations and explore the changes throughout normal development and aging and under various pathological conditions. However, given the huge complexity of this methodology, toolboxes for graph-based network visualization are still lacking. Here, using MATLAB with a graphical user interface (GUI, we developed a graph-theoretical network visualization toolbox, called BrainNet Viewer, to illustrate human connectomes as ball-and-stick models. Within this toolbox, several combinations of defined files with connectome information can be loaded to display different combinations of brain surface, nodes and edges. In addition, display properties, such as the color and size of network elements or the layout of the figure, can be adjusted within a comprehensive but easy-to-use settings panel. Moreover, BrainNet Viewer draws the brain surface, nodes and edges in sequence and displays brain networks in multiple views, as required by the user. The figure can be manipulated with certain interaction functions to display more detailed information. Furthermore, the figures can be exported as commonly used image file formats or demonstration video for further use. BrainNet Viewer helps researchers to visualize brain networks in an easy, flexible and quick manner, and this software is freely available on the NITRC website (www.nitrc.org/projects/bnv/.

  7. The Prospects of Whole Brain Emulation within the next Half- Century

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eth, Daniel; Foust, Juan-Carlos; Whale, Brandon

    2013-12-01

    Whole Brain Emulation (WBE), the theoretical technology of modeling a human brain in its entirety on a computer-thoughts, feelings, memories, and skills intact-is a staple of science fiction. Recently, proponents of WBE have suggested that it will be realized in the next few decades. In this paper, we investigate the plausibility of WBE being developed in the next 50 years (by 2063). We identify four essential requisite technologies: scanning the brain, translating the scan into a model, running the model on a computer, and simulating an environment and body. Additionally, we consider the cultural and social effects of WBE. We find the two most uncertain factors for WBE's future to be the development of advanced miniscule probes that can amass neural data in vivo and the degree to which the culture surrounding WBE becomes cooperative or competitive. We identify four plausible scenarios from these uncertainties and suggest the most likely scenario to be one in which WBE is realized, and the technology is used for moderately cooperative ends

  8. Wilson's disease: start with psychiatric symptoms. Brain magnetic resonance findings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nagel, Jorge; Miralles, Sabrina

    2007-01-01

    Wilson's disease - hepatolenticular degeneration - is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder, characterized by an excessive and toxic accumulation of cooper in different tissues. This accumulation is produced by an inherited defect in cooper's biliary excretion. This rare disorder affects approximately one on 30.000 individuals. Signs and symptoms of hepatic, neurologic and psychiatric disease are the most common clinical presentations of symptomatic Wilson's disease. The diagnosis can usually be made by laboratory tests that find a decreased cooper binding protein in blood called ceruloplasmin, an increase in the excretion of cooper in 24 hour urine and the appearance of corneal Kayser-Fleischer ring. We present a 28 years patient who began with depression and panic attacks, followed by neurologic symptoms. Brain MRI was performed and showed different alterations suggesting the diagnosis of this infrequent sickness. (author) [es

  9. 77 FR 38709 - Surface Transportation Environment and Planning Cooperative Research Program (STEP)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-06-28

    ... Planning Cooperative Research Program (STEP) AGENCY: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), DOT. ACTION... Research Program (STEP). The FHWA anticipates that the STEP or a similar program to provide resources for... stakeholders that can leverage limited research funding in the STEP with other stakeholders and partners in...

  10. 75 FR 38605 - Surface Transportation Environment and Planning Cooperative Research Program (STEP)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-02

    ... Planning Cooperative Research Program (STEP) AGENCY: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), DOT. ACTION... Research Program (STEP). The FHWA anticipates that the STEP or a similar program to provide resources for... limited research funding in the STEP with other stakeholders and partners in order to increase the total...

  11. 76 FR 50312 - Surface Transportation Environment and Planning Cooperative Research Program (STEP)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-08-12

    ... Planning Cooperative Research Program (STEP) AGENCY: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), DOT. ACTION... Research Program (STEP). The FHWA anticipates that the STEP or a similar program to provide resources for... limited research funding in the STEP with other stakeholders and partners in order to increase the total...

  12. Cooperative and Competitive Contextual Effects on Social Cognitive and Empathic Neural Responses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Minhye Lee

    2018-06-01

    s trait empathy score and changing empathic brain activations along with the exposure to the cooperative and competitive social contexts.

  13. International cooperation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1996-01-01

    In 1995, Nuclear Regulatory Authority of the Slovak Republic (NRA SR) ensured foreign cooperation particularly in the frame of the Slovak Republic is membership in the IAEA, as well as cooperation with the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD NEA), cooperation with European Union in the frame of PHARE programmes, and intergovernmental cooperation and cooperation among nuclear regulatory authorities. With respect to an international importance, prestige and a wide-scope possibilities of a technical assistance , either a direct one (expert assessments, technology supplies, work placement, scientific trips, training courses) or indirect one (participation at various conferences, seminars, technical committees, etc), the most important cooperation with the IAEA in Vienna. In 1994, the Slovak Republic, was elected to the Board Governors, the represent the group of Eastern European countries. The Slovak Government entrusted the NRA SR's Chairman with representing the Slovak Republic in the Board of Governors. Owing to a good name of Slovakia was elected to the one of two Vice-Chairmen of the Board of Governors at the 882-nd session on the Board. IAEA approved and developed 8 national projects for Slovakia in 1995. Generally, IAEA is contracting scientific contracts with research institutes, nuclear power plants and other organizations. Slovak organizations used these contracts as complementary funding of their tasks. In 1995, there were 12 scientific contracts in progress, or approved respectively. Other international activities of the NRA SR, international co-operations as well as foreign affairs are reported

  14. Multi circular-cavity surface coil for magnetic resonance imaging of monkey's brain at 4 Tesla

    Science.gov (United States)

    Osorio, A. I.; Solis-Najera, S. E.; Vázquez, F.; Wang, R. L.; Tomasi, D.; Rodriguez, A. O.

    2014-11-01

    Animal models in medical research has been used to study humans diseases for several decades. The use of different imaging techniques together with different animal models offers a great advantage due to the possibility to study some human pathologies without the necessity of chirurgical intervention. The employ of magnetic resonance imaging for the acquisition of anatomical and functional images is an excellent tool because its noninvasive nature. Dedicated coils to perform magnetic resonance imaging experiments are obligatory due to the improvement on the signal-to-noise ratio and reduced specific absorption ratio. A specifically designed surface coil for magnetic resonance imaging of monkey's brain is proposed based on the multi circular-slot coil. Numerical simulations of the magnetic and electric fields were also performed using the Finite Integration Method to solve Maxwell's equations for this particular coil design and, to study the behavior of various vector magnetic field configurations and specific absorption ratio. Monkey's brain images were then acquired with a research-dedicated magnetic resonance imaging system at 4T, to evaluate the anatomical images with conventional imaging sequences. This coil showed good quality images of a monkey's brain and full compatibility with standard pulse sequences implemented in research-dedicated imager.

  15. Competition and Cooperation in Neural Nets : U.S.-Japan Joint Seminar

    CERN Document Server

    Arbib, Michael

    1982-01-01

    The human brain, wi th its hundred billion or more neurons, is both one of the most complex systems known to man and one of the most important. The last decade has seen an explosion of experimental research on the brain, but little theory of neural networks beyond the study of electrical properties of membranes and small neural circuits. Nonetheless, a number of workers in Japan, the United States and elsewhere have begun to contribute to a theory which provides techniques of mathematical analysis and computer simulation to explore properties of neural systems containing immense numbers of neurons. Recently, it has been gradually recognized that rather independent studies of the dynamics of pattern recognition, pattern format::ion, motor control, self-organization, etc. , in neural systems do in fact make use of common methods. We find that a "competition and cooperation" type of interaction plays a fundamental role in parallel information processing in the brain. The present volume brings together 23 papers ...

  16. International cooperation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prieto, F.E.

    1984-01-01

    It looks doubtless that the need for an international cooperation to solve the worldwide energy problems is already a concern of individuals, institutions, and governments. This is an improvement. But there is something lacking. The author refers to the Atoms for Peace speech, the origin of the IAEA and of the subsequent spreading of the nuclear option. He also refers back to the call made by the Mexican government for a worldwide energy cooperation. He stresses the need for governments to cooperate, so that this international cooperation on energy can be put into operation for the benefit of mankind

  17. Semiautomatic and Automatic Cooperative Inversion of Seismic and Magnetotelluric Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Le, Cuong V. A.; Harris, Brett D.; Pethick, Andrew M.; Takam Takougang, Eric M.; Howe, Brendan

    2016-09-01

    Natural source electromagnetic methods have the potential to recover rock property distributions from the surface to great depths. Unfortunately, results in complex 3D geo-electrical settings can be disappointing, especially where significant near-surface conductivity variations exist. In such settings, unconstrained inversion of magnetotelluric data is inexorably non-unique. We believe that: (1) correctly introduced information from seismic reflection can substantially improve MT inversion, (2) a cooperative inversion approach can be automated, and (3) massively parallel computing can make such a process viable. Nine inversion strategies including baseline unconstrained inversion and new automated/semiautomated cooperative inversion approaches are applied to industry-scale co-located 3D seismic and magnetotelluric data sets. These data sets were acquired in one of the Carlin gold deposit districts in north-central Nevada, USA. In our approach, seismic information feeds directly into the creation of sets of prior conductivity model and covariance coefficient distributions. We demonstrate how statistical analysis of the distribution of selected seismic attributes can be used to automatically extract subvolumes that form the framework for prior model 3D conductivity distribution. Our cooperative inversion strategies result in detailed subsurface conductivity distributions that are consistent with seismic, electrical logs and geochemical analysis of cores. Such 3D conductivity distributions would be expected to provide clues to 3D velocity structures that could feed back into full seismic inversion for an iterative practical and truly cooperative inversion process. We anticipate that, with the aid of parallel computing, cooperative inversion of seismic and magnetotelluric data can be fully automated, and we hold confidence that significant and practical advances in this direction have been accomplished.

  18. Mindfulness training increases cooperative decision making in economic exchanges: Evidence from fMRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirk, Ulrich; Gu, Xiaosi; Sharp, Carla; Hula, Andreas; Fonagy, Peter; Montague, P Read

    2016-09-01

    Emotions have been shown to exert influences on decision making during economic exchanges. Here we investigate the underlying neural mechanisms of a training regimen which is hypothesized to promote emotional awareness, specifically mindfulness training (MT). We test the hypothesis that MT increases cooperative economic decision making using fMRI in a randomized longitudinal design involving 8weeks of either MT or active control training (CT). We find that MT results in an increased willingness to cooperate indexed by higher acceptance rates to unfair monetary offers in the Ultimatum Game. While controlling for acceptance rates of monetary offers between intervention groups, subjects in the MT and CT groups show differential brain activation patterns. Specifically, a subset of more cooperative MT subjects displays increased activation in the septal region, an area linked to social attachment, which may drive the increased willingness to express cooperative behavior in the MT cohort. Furthermore, MT resulted in attenuated activity in anterior insula compared with the CT group in response to unfair monetary offers post-training, which may suggest that MT enables greater ability to effectively regulate the anterior insula and thereby promotes social cooperation. Finally, functional connectivity analyses show a coupling between the septal region and posterior insula in the MT group, suggesting an integration of interoceptive inputs. Together, these results highlight that MT may be employed in contexts where emotional regulation is required to promote social cooperation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Cooperation for a competitive position: The impact of hospital cooperation behavior on organizational performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Büchner, Vera Antonia; Hinz, Vera; Schreyögg, Jonas

    2015-01-01

    Several public policy initiatives, particularly those involving managed care, aim to enhance cooperation between partners in the health care sector because it is expected that such cooperation will reduce costs and generate additional revenue. However, empirical evidence regarding the effects of cooperation on hospital performance is scarce, particularly with respect to creating a comprehensive measure of cooperation behavior. The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of hospital cooperation behavior on organizational performance. We differentiate between horizontal and vertical cooperation using two alternative measures-cooperation depth and cooperation breadth-and include the interaction effects between both cooperation directions. Data are derived from a survey of German hospitals and combined with objective performance information from annual financial statements. Generalized linear regression models are used. The study findings provide insight into the nature of hospitals' cooperation behavior. In particular, we show that there are negative synergies between horizontal administrative cooperation behavior and vertical cooperation behavior. Whereas the depth and breadth of horizontal administrative cooperation positively affect financial performance (when there is no vertical cooperation), vertical cooperation positively affects financial performance (when there is no horizontal administrative cooperation) only when cooperation is broad (rather than deep). Horizontal cooperation is generally more effective than vertical cooperation at improving financial performance. Hospital managers should consider the negative interaction effect when making decisions about whether to recommend a cooperative relationship in a horizontal or vertical direction. In addition, managers should be aware of the limited financial benefit of cooperation behavior.

  20. Choosing the cooperative option

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    English, G. (National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (United States))

    1999-06-01

    Cooperatives do not ask to be exempted from the law. They do ask that laws and regulations be designed to allow them to meet the needs of their consumer-owners in accordance with cooperative principles, at a time that the marginal consumers being abandoned by for-profit utilities may be ready to gravitate toward cooperatives. The cooperative principles are worth reviewing because they explain the focus on the consumer and the cooperative concept of service: cooperatives are voluntary organizations, open to all persons able to use their services and willing to accept the responsibilities of membership; cooperatives are democratic organizations controlled by their members, who actively participate in setting policies and making decisions, the elected representatives are accountable to the membership; members contribute equitably to, and democratically control, the capital of their cooperative; cooperatives are autonomous, self-help organizations controlled by their members, if they enter into agreements with other organizations, including governments, they do so on terms that ensure democratic control by their members and maintain their cooperative autonomy; cooperatives provide education and training for their members, elected representatives, managers, and employees so they can contribute effectively to the development of their cooperatives, they inform the general public, particularly young people and opinion leaders, about the nature and benefits of cooperation; cooperatives serve their members most effectively and strength the cooperative movement by working together through local, national, regional, and international structures; and while focusing on member needs, cooperatives work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies accepted by their members.

  1. International co-operation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1998-01-01

    In this part the are reviewed: Co-operation with IAEA; Participation of the Slovakia on the 41 st session of the General Conference; The comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization; Co-operation with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development; co-operation with the European Commission; Fulfillment of obligations resulting from the international contracting documents

  2. 30 CFR 931.30 - State-Federal cooperative agreement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    .... 7401, et seq., and implementing regulations. 7. The Federal Water Pollution Control Act, 33 U.S.C. 1251... INTERIOR PROGRAMS FOR THE CONDUCT OF SURFACE MINING OPERATIONS WITHIN EACH STATE NEW MEXICO § 931.30 State-Federal cooperative agreement. The State of New Mexico (State) acting through the Governor and the...

  3. Third-party punishment increases cooperation in children through (misaligned) expectations and conditional cooperation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lergetporer, Philipp; Angerer, Silvia; Glätzle-Rützler, Daniela; Sutter, Matthias

    2014-05-13

    The human ability to establish cooperation, even in large groups of genetically unrelated strangers, depends upon the enforcement of cooperation norms. Third-party punishment is one important factor to explain high levels of cooperation among humans, although it is still somewhat disputed whether other animal species also use this mechanism for promoting cooperation. We study the effectiveness of third-party punishment to increase children's cooperative behavior in a large-scale cooperation game. Based on an experiment with 1,120 children, aged 7 to 11 y, we find that the threat of third-party punishment more than doubles cooperation rates, despite the fact that children are rarely willing to execute costly punishment. We can show that the higher cooperation levels with third-party punishment are driven by two components. First, cooperation is a rational (expected payoff-maximizing) response to incorrect beliefs about the punishment behavior of third parties. Second, cooperation is a conditionally cooperative reaction to correct beliefs that third party punishment will increase a partner's level of cooperation.

  4. Emotions and cooperation in economic games.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haselhuhn, Michael P; Mellers, Barbara A

    2005-04-01

    In this paper, we examine decisions to cooperate in economic games. We investigate which payoffs give players the greatest pleasure and whether the pleasure they feel about payoffs predicts their decisions to cooperate. To do this, we modify the ultimatum and dictator games by asking players to consider a fixed set of offers and report their preferences over all offers. Players also report the pleasure they imagine feeling from each possible payoff. Results show that players differ in the extent to which they derive pleasure from fairness or greediness. They also differ in the extent to which their choices depend on what we call "strategic" and "non-strategic" pleasure. Strategic pleasure is the expected pleasure of offers, whereas non-strategic pleasure is the pleasure of accepted payoffs. Players whose pleasure primarily depends on larger payoffs tend to make fair offers in the ultimatum game and selfish offers in the dictator game. They maximize strategic pleasure in the ultimatum game and non-strategic pleasure in the dictator game. Players who derive greater pleasure from fairness tend to act fairly in both games. These players maximize non-strategic pleasure. Brain imaging studies should address the question of whether the observed differences in pleasure and preference are systematically linked to differences in neurological activation.

  5. An automatic rat brain extraction method based on a deformable surface model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Jiehua; Liu, Xiaofeng; Zhuo, Jiachen; Gullapalli, Rao P; Zara, Jason M

    2013-08-15

    The extraction of the brain from the skull in medical images is a necessary first step before image registration or segmentation. While pre-clinical MR imaging studies on small animals, such as rats, are increasing, fully automatic imaging processing techniques specific to small animal studies remain lacking. In this paper, we present an automatic rat brain extraction method, the Rat Brain Deformable model method (RBD), which adapts the popular human brain extraction tool (BET) through the incorporation of information on the brain geometry and MR image characteristics of the rat brain. The robustness of the method was demonstrated on T2-weighted MR images of 64 rats and compared with other brain extraction methods (BET, PCNN, PCNN-3D). The results demonstrate that RBD reliably extracts the rat brain with high accuracy (>92% volume overlap) and is robust against signal inhomogeneity in the images. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Cortical surface-based analysis reduces bias and variance in kinetic modeling of brain PET data

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Greve, Douglas N; Svarer, Claus; Fisher, Patrick M

    2014-01-01

    Exploratory (i.e., voxelwise) spatial methods are commonly used in neuroimaging to identify areas that show an effect when a region-of-interest (ROI) analysis cannot be performed because no strong a priori anatomical hypothesis exists. However, noise at a single voxel is much higher than noise...... in a ROI making noise management critical to successful exploratory analysis. This work explores how preprocessing choices affect the bias and variability of voxelwise kinetic modeling analysis of brain positron emission tomography (PET) data. These choices include the use of volume- or cortical surface...

  7. Sorting and sustaining cooperation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vikander, Nick

    2013-01-01

    This paper looks at cooperation in teams where some people are selfish and others are conditional cooperators, and where lay-offs will occur at a fixed future date. I show that the best way to sustain cooperation prior to the lay-offs is often in a sorting equilibrium, where conditional cooperators...... can identify and then work with one another. Changes to parameters that would seem to make cooperation more attractive, such as an increase in the discount factor or the fraction of conditional cooperators, can reduce equilibrium cooperation if they decrease a selfish player's incentive to sort....

  8. Outer brain barriers in rat and human development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brøchner, Christian B; Holst, Camilla Bjørnbak; Møllgård, Kjeld

    2015-01-01

    Complex barriers at the brain's surface, particularly in development, are poorly defined. In the adult, arachnoid blood-cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) barrier separates the fenestrated dural vessels from the CSF by means of a cell layer joined by tight junctions. Outer CSF-brain barrier provides...... diffusion restriction between brain and subarachnoid CSF through an initial radial glial end feet layer covered with a pial surface layer. To further characterize these interfaces we examined embryonic rat brains from E10 to P0 and forebrains from human embryos and fetuses (6-21st weeks post...

  9. Cooperatives as Entrants

    OpenAIRE

    Richard J. Sexton; Terri A. Sexton

    1987-01-01

    A potential shortcoming of game-theoretic models in industrial organization is their failure to consider consumers as players. We introduce a customer coalition --- a cooperative -- as a potential entrant and compare the cooperative entry threat with that posed by the usual for-profit entrant. We identify four fundamental distinctions between cooperative and for-profit entrants and demonstrate that the strategic interplay between a cooperative and an incumbent firm may differ markedly from th...

  10. Drive the Dirac electrons into Cooper pairs in SrxBi2Se3

    Science.gov (United States)

    Du, Guan; Shao, Jifeng; Yang, Xiong; Du, Zengyi; Fang, Delong; Wang, Jinghui; Ran, Kejing; Wen, Jinsheng; Zhang, Changjin; Yang, Huan; Zhang, Yuheng; Wen, Hai-Hu

    2017-01-01

    Topological superconductors are a very interesting and frontier topic in condensed matter physics. Despite the tremendous efforts in exploring topological superconductivity, its presence is however still under heavy debate. The Dirac electrons have been proven to exist on the surface of a topological insulator. It remains unclear whether and how the Dirac electrons fall into Cooper pairing in an intrinsic superconductor with the topological surface states. Here we show the systematic study of scanning tunnelling microscope/spectroscopy on the possible topological superconductor SrxBi2Se3. We first demonstrate that only the intercalated Sr atoms can induce superconductivity. Then we show the full superconducting gaps without any in-gap density of states as expected theoretically for a bulk topological superconductor. Finally, we find that the surface Dirac electrons will simultaneously condense into the superconducting state within the superconducting gap. This vividly demonstrates how the surface Dirac electrons are driven into Cooper pairs. PMID:28198378

  11. Alternative vision or utopian fantasy? Cooperation, empowerment and women's cooperative development in India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mayoux, L

    1995-01-01

    The discussion addresses the costs and benefits of working in cooperatives in India, imposed participation, methods for increasing incomes, preconceived models, the importance of meeting the actual needs of women, and participatory options. This author evaluated 10 producer cooperatives in West Bengal, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu during 1984-92. It is argued that more discussion is needed on how ideals of cooperation and empowerment of women can occur simultaneous with the context in which cooperatives must operate. The ten study cooperatives were all officially registered cooperatives. Cooperatives varied in size, organizational structure, and forms of support. Four were determined to be successful in economic and participatory terms. Three were successful because of the efforts of the women themselves. All three cases were based on earning goals that were higher than the women could have achieved on their own. Six failed in terms of participatory decision making and cooperative operations. Lack of sufficient support and/or excessive bureaucratic red tape were involved in the six failures, but to varying degrees. Type of support and means of implementation were important in the six failures. All women used cooperatives as a means of increasing income. Participation rules were imposed by outside agencies. Women were given "cooperative" training. Disputes occurred because women selected to power positions were powerful leaders outside the cooperative. Consensus was difficult to reach. There were conflicts of interest between different departments. Quality control was made difficult by women's inability to provide discipline. Personal conflicts from outside were carried on within the cooperative. Incomes could be improved by training women in local marketing and networking, insuring adequate resources and capital, and providing savings schemes. Gender inequalities were a key factor limiting income for women, but cooperatives did not address this issue. Gains for women

  12. Effect of initial fraction of cooperators on cooperative behavior in evolutionary prisoner's dilemma game.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Keizo Shigaki

    Full Text Available We investigate the influence of initial fraction of cooperators on the evolution of cooperation in spatial prisoner's dilemma games. Compared with the results of heterogeneous networks, we find that there is a relatively low initial fraction of cooperators to guarantee higher equilibrium cooperative level. While this interesting phenomenon is contrary to the commonly shared knowledge that higher initial fraction of cooperators can provide better environment for the evolution of cooperation. To support our outcome, we explore the time courses of cooperation and find that the whole course can be divided into two sequent stages: enduring (END and expanding (EXP periods. At the end of END period, thought there is a limited number of cooperator clusters left for the case of low initial setup, these clusters can smoothly expand to hold the whole system in the EXP period. However, for high initial fraction of cooperators, superfluous cooperator clusters hinder their effective expansion, which induces many remaining defectors surrounding the cooperator clusters. Moreover, through intensive analysis, we also demonstrate that when the tendency of three cooperation cluster characteristics (cluster size, cluster number and cluster shape are consistent within END and EXP periods, the state that maximizes cooperation can be favored.

  13. Event-related potentials during individual, cooperative, and competitive task performance differ in subjects with analytic vs. holistic thinking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Apanovich, V V; Bezdenezhnykh, B N; Sams, M; Jääskeläinen, I P; Alexandrov, YuI

    2018-01-01

    It has been presented that Western cultures (USA, Western Europe) are mostly characterized by competitive forms of social interaction, whereas Eastern cultures (Japan, China, Russia) are mostly characterized by cooperative forms. It has also been stated that thinking in Eastern countries is predominantly holistic and in Western countries analytic. Based on this, we hypothesized that subjects with analytic vs. holistic thinking styles show differences in decision making in different types of social interaction conditions. We investigated behavioural and brain-activity differences between subjects with analytic and holistic thinking during a choice reaction time (ChRT) task, wherein the subjects either cooperated, competed (in pairs), or performed the task without interaction with other participants. Healthy Russian subjects (N=78) were divided into two groups based on having analytic or holistic thinking as determined with an established questionnaire. We measured reaction times as well as event-related brain potentials. There were significant differences between the interaction conditions in task performance between subjects with analytic and holistic thinking. Both behavioral performance and physiological measures exhibited higher variance in holistic than in analytic subjects. Differences in amplitude and P300 latency suggest that decision making was easier for the holistic subjects in the cooperation condition, in contrast to analytic subjects for whom decision making based on these measures seemed to be easier in the competition condition. The P300 amplitude was higher in the individual condition as compared with the collective conditions. Overall, our results support the notion that the brains of analytic and holistic subjects work differently in different types of social interaction conditions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. Brain cortical characteristics of lifetime cognitive ageing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cox, Simon R; Bastin, Mark E; Ritchie, Stuart J; Dickie, David Alexander; Liewald, Dave C; Muñoz Maniega, Susana; Redmond, Paul; Royle, Natalie A; Pattie, Alison; Valdés Hernández, Maria; Corley, Janie; Aribisala, Benjamin S; McIntosh, Andrew M; Wardlaw, Joanna M; Deary, Ian J

    2018-01-01

    Regional cortical brain volume is the product of surface area and thickness. These measures exhibit partially distinct trajectories of change across the brain's cortex in older age, but it is unclear which cortical characteristics at which loci are sensitive to cognitive ageing differences. We examine associations between change in intelligence from age 11 to 73 years and regional cortical volume, surface area, and thickness measured at age 73 years in 568 community-dwelling older adults, all born in 1936. A relative positive change in intelligence from 11 to 73 was associated with larger volume and surface area in selective frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital regions (r cognitive ageing and a thinner cortex for any region. Interestingly, thickness and surface area were phenotypically independent across bilateral lateral temporal loci, whose surface area was significantly related to change in intelligence. These findings suggest that associations between regional cortical volume and cognitive ageing differences are predominantly driven by surface area rather than thickness among healthy older adults. Regional brain surface area has been relatively underexplored, and is a potentially informative biomarker for identifying determinants of cognitive ageing differences.

  15. International co-operation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Klinda, J.; Lieskovska, Z.

    1998-01-01

    Within the Union Nations (UN) framework, the Slovak Republic participated in following activities on environment protection co-operation: UN European Economic Commission, UN Industrial Development Organization, UN Development Programme, UN Human Habitat Organization, UN Environment Programme, and UN Commission on Sustainable Development. Relevant activities of the Slovak Republic in these co-operations as well as in European Union and OECD activities are reviewed. International conventions and other forms of multilateral co-operation, bilateral co-operation, and international programmes and projects in which the Slovak Republic took participate are presented

  16. Cooperative and submolecular dissipation mechanisms of sliding friction in complex organic systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knorr, Daniel B; Gray, Tomoko O; Overney, René M

    2008-08-21

    Energy dissipation in single asperity sliding friction was directly linked to submolecular modes of mobility by intrinsic friction analysis, involving time-temperature superposition along with thermodynamic stress and reaction rate models. Thereby, polystyrene served as a representative tribological sample for organic and amorphous complex systems. This study reveals the significance of surface and subsurface (alpha-, beta-, and gamma-) relaxational modes, which couple under appropriate external conditions (load, temperature, and rate) with shear induced disturbances, and thus gives rise to material specific frictional dissipation. At low pressures and temperatures below the glass transition point, the phenyl pendant side groups of polystyrene, known for their preferential orientation at the free surface, were noticed to be the primary channel for dissipation of kinetic sliding-energy. While this process was found to be truly enthalpic (activation energy of 8 kcalmol), energy dissipation was shown to possess both enthalpic and cooperative entropic contributions above the loading capacity of the surface phenyl groups (9.9 kcalmol) or above the glass transition. Apparent Arrhenius activation energies of frictional dissipation of 22 and 90 kcalmol, respectively, and cooperative contributions up to 80% were found. As such, this study highlights issues critical to organic lubricant design, i.e., the intrinsic enthalpic activation barriers of mobile linker groups, the evaluation of cooperative mobility phenomena, and critical tribological parameters to access or avoid coupling between shear disturbances and molecular actuators.

  17. Cooperatives between truth and validity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guilherme Krueger

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The current declaration of the International Cooperative Alliance on cooperative identity since its 1995 Centennial Conference (which was held in Manchester makes no distinction between cooperation and cooperative. The lack of distinction between cooperation and cooperative has caused the Decennial Cooperative Action Plan to define cooperatives as a form, while their materiality is regarded as managerial: a business (activity under a cooperative form. An identity that is close to us cannot be reduced to form, without this being a problem. Therefore, the value underlying this identity —cooperation— must have a substantial basis, even if it is idealised, if it is to affect us.Received: 27.03.2014Accepted: 12.05.2014

  18. Conflictual cooperation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Axel, Erik

    2011-01-01

    , cooperation appeared as the continuous reworking of contradictions in the local arrangement of societal con- ditions. Subjects were distributed and distributed themselves according to social privileges, resources, and dilemmas in cooperation. Here, the subjects’ activities and understandings took form from...

  19. Traumatic Brain Injury: Exploring the Role of Cooperative Extension in Kansas Communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sellers, Debra M.; Garcia, Jane Mertz

    2012-01-01

    TBI"options" helps survivors of traumatic brain injury and their families identify, locate, and contact helpful organizations in their local communities to promote successful living. This article discusses the role of county agents in the program and the support offered by community partners. Results of pre- and post-surveys for both…

  20. Cortical and subcortical brain alterations in Juvenile Absence Epilepsy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Manuela Tondelli

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Despite the common assumption that genetic generalized epilepsies are characterized by a macroscopically normal brain on magnetic resonance imaging, subtle structural brain alterations have been detected by advanced neuroimaging techniques in Childhood Absence Epilepsy syndrome. We applied quantitative structural MRI analysis to a group of adolescents and adults with Juvenile Absence Epilepsy (JAE in order to investigate micro-structural brain changes using different brain measures. We examined grey matter volumes, cortical thickness, surface areas, and subcortical volumes in 24 patients with JAE compared to 24 healthy controls; whole-brain voxel-based morphometry (VBM and Freesurfer analyses were used. When compared to healthy controls, patients revealed both grey matter volume and surface area reduction in bilateral frontal regions, anterior cingulate, and right mesial-temporal lobe. Correlation analysis with disease duration showed that longer disease was correlated with reduced surface area in right pre- and post-central gyrus. A possible effect of valproate treatment on brain structures was excluded. Our results indicate that subtle structural brain changes are detectable in JAE and are mainly located in anterior nodes of regions known to be crucial for awareness, attention and memory.

  1. When cooperation begets cooperation: the role of key individuals in galvanizing support.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McAuliffe, Katherine; Wrangham, Richard; Glowacki, Luke; Russell, Andrew F

    2015-12-05

    Life abounds with examples of conspecifics actively cooperating to a common end, despite conflicts of interest being expected concerning how much each individual should contribute. Mathematical models typically find that such conflict can be resolved by partial-response strategies, leading investors to contribute relatively equitably. Using a case study approach, we show that such model expectations can be contradicted in at least four disparate contexts: (i) bi-parental care; (ii) cooperative breeding; (iii) cooperative hunting; and (iv) human cooperation. We highlight that: (a) marked variation in contributions is commonplace; and (b) individuals can often respond positively rather than negatively to the contributions of others. Existing models have surprisingly limited power in explaining these phenomena. Here, we propose that, although among-individual variation in cooperative contributions will be influenced by differential costs and benefits, there is likely to be a strong genetic or epigenetic component. We then suggest that selection can maintain high investors (key individuals) when their contributions promote support by increasing the benefits and/or reducing the costs for others. Our intentions are to raise awareness in--and provide testable hypotheses of--two of the most poorly understood, yet integral, questions regarding cooperative ventures: why do individuals vary in their contributions and when does cooperation beget cooperation? © 2015 The Author(s).

  2. Density of founder cells affects spatial pattern formation and cooperation in Bacillus subtilis biofilms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Gestel, Jordi; Weissing, Franz J; Kuipers, Oscar P; Kovács, Akos T

    2014-10-01

    In nature, most bacteria live in surface-attached sedentary communities known as biofilms. Biofilms are often studied with respect to bacterial interactions. Many cells inhabiting biofilms are assumed to express 'cooperative traits', like the secretion of extracellular polysaccharides (EPS). These traits can enhance biofilm-related properties, such as stress resilience or colony expansion, while being costly to the cells that express them. In well-mixed populations cooperation is difficult to achieve, because non-cooperative individuals can reap the benefits of cooperation without having to pay the costs. The physical process of biofilm growth can, however, result in the spatial segregation of cooperative from non-cooperative individuals. This segregation can prevent non-cooperative cells from exploiting cooperative neighbors. Here we examine the interaction between spatial pattern formation and cooperation in Bacillus subtilis biofilms. We show, experimentally and by mathematical modeling, that the density of cells at the onset of biofilm growth affects pattern formation during biofilm growth. At low initial cell densities, co-cultured strains strongly segregate in space, whereas spatial segregation does not occur at high initial cell densities. As a consequence, EPS-producing cells have a competitive advantage over non-cooperative mutants when biofilms are initiated at a low density of founder cells, whereas EPS-deficient cells have an advantage at high cell densities. These results underline the importance of spatial pattern formation for competition among bacterial strains and the evolution of microbial cooperation.

  3. Do patients with very few brain metastases from breast cancer benefit from whole-brain radiotherapy in addition to radiosurgery?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rades, Dirk; Huttenlocher, Stefan; Hornung, Dagmar; Blanck, Oliver; Schild, Steven E; Fischer, Dorothea

    2014-01-01

    An important issue in palliative radiation oncology is the whether whole-brain radiotherapy should be added to radiosurgery when treating a limited number of brain metastases. To optimize personalized treatment of cancer patients with brain metastases, the value of whole-brain radiotherapy should be described separately for each tumor entity. This study investigated the role of whole-brain radiotherapy added to radiosurgery in breast cancer patients. Fifty-eight patients with 1–3 brain metastases from breast cancer were included in this retrospective study. Of these patients, 30 were treated with radiosurgery alone and 28 with radiosurgery plus whole-brain radiotherapy. Both groups were compared for local control of the irradiated metastases, freedom from new brain metastases and survival. Furthermore, eight additional factors were analyzed including dose of radiosurgery, age at radiotherapy, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance score, number of brain metastases, maximum diameter of all brain metastases, site of brain metastases, extra-cranial metastases and the time from breast cancer diagnosis to radiotherapy. The treatment regimen had no significant impact on local control in the univariate analysis (p = 0.59). Age ≤59 years showed a trend towards improved local control on univariate (p = 0.066) and multivariate analysis (p = 0.07). On univariate analysis, radiosurgery plus whole-brain radiotherapy (p = 0.040) and ECOG 0–1 (p = 0.012) showed positive associations with freedom from new brain metastases. Both treatment regimen (p = 0.039) and performance status (p = 0.028) maintained significance on multivariate analysis. ECOG 0–1 was positively correlated with survival on univariate analysis (p < 0.001); age ≤59 years showed a strong trend (p = 0.054). On multivariate analysis, performance status (p < 0.001) and age (p = 0.041) were significant. In breast cancer patients with few brain metastases, radiosurgery plus whole-brain

  4. Regional growth and atlasing of the developing human brain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Makropoulos, Antonios; Aljabar, Paul; Wright, Robert; Hüning, Britta; Merchant, Nazakat; Arichi, Tomoki; Tusor, Nora; Hajnal, Joseph V; Edwards, A David; Counsell, Serena J; Rueckert, Daniel

    2016-01-15

    Detailed morphometric analysis of the neonatal brain is required to characterise brain development and define neuroimaging biomarkers related to impaired brain growth. Accurate automatic segmentation of neonatal brain MRI is a prerequisite to analyse large datasets. We have previously presented an accurate and robust automatic segmentation technique for parcellating the neonatal brain into multiple cortical and subcortical regions. In this study, we further extend our segmentation method to detect cortical sulci and provide a detailed delineation of the cortical ribbon. These detailed segmentations are used to build a 4-dimensional spatio-temporal structural atlas of the brain for 82 cortical and subcortical structures throughout this developmental period. We employ the algorithm to segment an extensive database of 420 MR images of the developing brain, from 27 to 45weeks post-menstrual age at imaging. Regional volumetric and cortical surface measurements are derived and used to investigate brain growth and development during this critical period and to assess the impact of immaturity at birth. Whole brain volume, the absolute volume of all structures studied, cortical curvature and cortical surface area increased with increasing age at scan. Relative volumes of cortical grey matter, cerebellum and cerebrospinal fluid increased with age at scan, while relative volumes of white matter, ventricles, brainstem and basal ganglia and thalami decreased. Preterm infants at term had smaller whole brain volumes, reduced regional white matter and cortical and subcortical grey matter volumes, and reduced cortical surface area compared with term born controls, while ventricular volume was greater in the preterm group. Increasing prematurity at birth was associated with a reduction in total and regional white matter, cortical and subcortical grey matter volume, an increase in ventricular volume, and reduced cortical surface area. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by

  5. Multidentate-Protected Colloidal Gold Nanocrystals: pH Control of Cooperative Precipitation and Surface Layer Shedding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kairdolf, Brad A.; Nie, Shuming

    2011-01-01

    Colloidal gold nanocrystals with broad size tunability and unusual pH-sensitive properties have been synthesized by using multidentate polymer ligands. Containing both carboxylic functional groups and sterically hindered aliphatic chains, the multidentate ligands are able to both reduce gold precursors and to stabilize gold nanoclusters during nucleation and growth. The “as-synthesized” nanocrystals are protected by an inner coordinating layer and an outer polymer layer, and are soluble in water and polar solvents. When the solution pH is lowered by just 0.6 units (from pH 4.85 to 4.25), the particles undergo a dramatic cooperative transition from being soluble to insoluble, allowing rapid isolation, purification, and redispersion of the multidentate-protected nanocrystals. A surprise finding is that when a portion of the surface carboxylate groups is neutralized by protonation, the particles irreversibly shed their outer polymer layer and become soluble in nonpolar organic solvents. Further, the multidentate polymer coatings are permeable to small organic molecules, in contrast to tightly packed self-assembled monolayers of alkanethiols on gold. These insights are important towards the design of “smart” imaging and therapeutic nanoparticles that are activated by small pH changes in the tumor interstitial space or endocytic organelles. PMID:21510704

  6. Effect of playing violent video games cooperatively or competitively on subsequent cooperative behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ewoldsen, David R; Eno, Cassie A; Okdie, Bradley M; Velez, John A; Guadagno, Rosanna E; DeCoster, Jamie

    2012-05-01

    Research on video games has yielded consistent findings that violent video games increase aggression and decrease prosocial behavior. However, these studies typically examined single-player games. Of interest is the effect of cooperative play in a violent video game on subsequent cooperative or competitive behavior. Participants played Halo II (a first-person shooter game) cooperatively or competitively and then completed a modified prisoner's dilemma task to assess competitive and cooperative behavior. Compared with the competitive play conditions, players in the cooperative condition engaged in more tit-for-tat behaviors-a pattern of behavior that typically precedes cooperative behavior. The social context of game play influenced subsequent behavior more than the content of the game that was played.

  7. Proto-cooperation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Herbert-Read, James E; Romanczuk, Pawel; Krause, Stefan

    2016-01-01

    beneficial if the cost of attacking is high, and only then when waiting times are short. Our findings provide evidence that cooperative benefits can be realized through the facilitative effects of individuals' hunting actions without spatial coordination of attacks. Such 'proto-cooperation' may be the pre...

  8. Cooperating to learn teaching to cooperate: adviser processes for program implement CA/AC

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Ramón LAGO

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper is present some results of advise strategy to introduce cooperative learning from the «Cooperating to Learn/ Learning to Cooperate» CL/LC Programme. The first part situates the research project and the research objective focused on how introduction of CL/LC program through a process of advice facilitates permanent improvements to the inclusion of students. In the second we analyzed the phases and tasks of an adviser process for the introduction of cooperative learning and three stages to build on cooperative learning in school: the introduction, generalization and consolidation. The third part is the central part. We describe five process of adviser to implement cooperative learning which we can observe different degrees and modalities of collaboration between teachers and counselors and between teachers. Is possible the first step of a network centers to work cooperatively.

  9. Cooperative Trust Games

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-01

    the more widely recognized competitive (non-cooperative) game theory. Cooperative game theory focuses on what groups of self-interested agents can...provides immediate justification for using non-cooperative game theory as the basis for modeling the purely competitive agents. 2.4. Superadditive...the competitive and altruistic contributions of the subset team. Definition: Given a payoff function ( ) in a subset team game , the total marginal

  10. Cooperative catalysis by silica-supported organic functional groups

    OpenAIRE

    Margelefsky, Eric L.; Zeidan, Ryan K.; Davis, Mark E.

    2008-01-01

    Hybrid inorganic–organic materials comprising organic functional groups tethered from silica surfaces are versatile, heterogeneous catalysts. Recent advances have led to the preparation of silica materials containing multiple, different functional groups that can show cooperative catalysis; that is, these functional groups can act together to provide catalytic activity and selectivity superior to what can be obtained from either monofunctional materials or homogeneous catalysts. This tutorial...

  11. Cooperative strategies European perspectives

    CERN Document Server

    Killing, J Peter

    1997-01-01

    Cooperative Strategies: European Perspectives is one of three geographically targeted volumes in which the contributors present the most current research on topics such as advances in theories of cooperative strategies, the formation of cooperative alliances, the dynamics of partner relationships, and the role of information and knowledge in cooperative alliances. Blending conceptual insights with empirical analyses, the contributors highlight commonalities and differences across national, cultural, and trade zones. The chapters in this volume are anchored in a wide set of theoretical approaches, conceptual frameworks, and models, illustrating how rich the area of cooperative strategies is for scholarly inquiry.

  12. Curved reformat of the paediatric brain MRI into a 'flat-earth map' - standardised method for demonstrating cortical surface atrophy resulting from hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simpson, Ewan; Andronikou, Savvas; Vedajallam, Schadie; Chacko, Anith; Thai, Ngoc Jade

    2016-09-01

    Hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy is optimally imaged with brain MRI in the neonatal period. However neuroimaging is often also performed later in childhood (e.g., when parents seek compensation in cases of alleged birth asphyxia). We describe a standardised technique for creating two curved reconstructions of the cortical surface to show the characteristic surface changes of hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy in children imaged after the neonatal period. The technique was applied for 10 cases of hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy and also for age-matched healthy children to assess the visibility of characteristic features of hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy. In the abnormal brains, fissural or sulcal widening was seen in all cases and ulegyria was identifiable in 7/10. These images could be used as a visual aid for communicating MRI findings to clinicians and other interested parties.

  13. Cooperatives management evaluation of four Savings and Credit Cooperatives of Quito, Ecuador

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Richard Joel Alba Caluguillin

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available The administrative management in cooperative enterprises develops in each of the stages of the administrative process of the traditional companies, which are planning, organization, direction and control, with the only difference that the savings and credit cooperatives comply with cooperative principles and values such as mutual aid, social responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. The objective of this research was to evaluate the process of administrative management in four selected savings and credit cooperatives from Quito city, Ecuador, were applied theoretical and empirical methods of research. From the empirical point of view, a survey was applied getting results from this process. In general, in the cooperatives evaluated, it was recognized the importance of comprehensive management, strategic planning, motivation as a key element for good job performance, the effectiveness of formal communication channels and other aspects inherent in administrative management, although there are certain deficiencies that limit the results of the cooperative activity.

  14. Inertia in Cooperative Remodeling

    OpenAIRE

    Nilsson, Jerker

    1997-01-01

    Which organization model is appropriate for a cooperative enterprise depends on the prerequisites in its business environment. When conditions are changing, the firm must adapt itself. The entry of Sweden, Finland, and Austria into the European Union led to radical changes for agricultural cooperation, especially for Swedish cooperatives since agricultural policy was not allowed a transitional period. After two years, Swedish cooperatives have still not adapted their organization model despit...

  15. NT-pro brain natriuretic peptide levels and the risk of death in the cooperative study of sickle cell disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Machado, Roberto F; Hildesheim, Mariana; Mendelsohn, Laurel; Remaley, Alan T; Kato, Gregory J; Gladwin, Mark T

    2011-08-01

    Epidemiological studies support a hypothesis that pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a common complication of sickle cell disease (SCD) that is associated with a high risk of death and evolves as a complication of haemolytic anaemia. This fundamental hypothesis has been recently challenged and remains controversial. In order to further test this hypothesis in a large and independent cohort of SCD patients we obtained plasma samples from the Cooperative Study of Sickle Cell Disease (CSSCD) for analysis of a biomarker, N-terminal-pro brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), which is elevated in the setting of pulmonary arterial and venous hypertension. A NT-pro-BNP value previously identified to predict PH in adults with SCD was used to determine the association between the risk of mortality in 758 CSSCD participants (428 children and 330 adults). An abnormally high NT-proBNP level ≥160ng/l was present in 27·6% of adult SCD patients. High levels were associated with markers of haemolytic anaemia, such as low haemoglobin level (P<0·001), high lactate dehydrogenase (P<0·001), and high total bilirubin levels (P<0·007). A NT-proBNP level ≥160ng/l was an independent predictor of mortality (RR 6·24, 95% CI 2·9-13·3, P<0·0001). These findings provide further support for an association between haemolytic anaemia and cardiovascular complications in this patient population. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  16. Topological Nodal Cooper Pairing in Doped Weyl Metals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Yi; Haldane, F. D. M.

    2018-02-01

    We generalize the concept of Berry connection of the single-electron band structure to that of a two-particle Cooper pairing state between two Fermi surfaces with opposite Chern numbers. Because of underlying Fermi surface topology, the pairing Berry phase acquires nontrivial monopole structure. Consequently, pairing gap functions have topologically protected nodal structure as vortices in the momentum space with the total vorticity solely determined by the pair monopole charge qp. The nodes of gap function behave as the Weyl-Majorana points of the Bogoliubov-de Gennes pairing Hamiltonian. Their relation with the connection patterns of the surface modes from the Weyl band structure and the Majorana surface modes inside the pairing gap is also discussed. Under the approximation of spherical Fermi surfaces, the pairing symmetry are represented by monopole harmonic functions. The lowest possible pairing channel carries angular momentum number j =|qp|, and the corresponding gap functions are holomorphic or antiholomorphic functions on Fermi surfaces. After projected on the Fermi surfaces with nontrivial topology, all the partial-wave channels of pairing interactions acquire the monopole charge qp independent of concrete pairing mechanism.

  17. Cooperation and cheating in microbes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gore, Jeff

    2011-03-01

    Understanding the cooperative and competitive dynamics within and between species is a central challenge in evolutionary biology. Microbial model systems represent a unique opportunity to experimentally test fundamental theories regarding the evolution of cooperative behaviors. In this talk I will describe our experiments probing cooperation in microbes. In particular, I will compare the cooperative growth of yeast in sucrose and the cooperative inactivation of antibiotics by bacteria. In both cases we find that cheater strains---which don't contribute to the public welfare---are able to take advantage of the cooperator strains. However, this ability of cheaters to out-compete cooperators occurs only when cheaters are present at low frequency, thus leading to steady-state coexistence. These microbial experiments provide fresh insight into the evolutionary origin of cooperation.

  18. Human serum albumin nanoparticles modified with apolipoprotein A-I cross the blood-brain barrier and enter the rodent brain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zensi, Anja; Begley, David; Pontikis, Charles; Legros, Celine; Mihoreanu, Larisa; Büchel, Claudia; Kreuter, Jörg

    2010-12-01

    Nanoparticles made of human serum albumin (HSA) and modified with apolipoproteins have previously been shown to transport drugs, which normally do not enter the brain, across the blood-brain barrier (BBB). However the precise mechanism by which nanoparticles with different apolipoproteins on their surface can target to the brain, as yet, has not been totally elucidated. In the present study, HSA nanoparticles with covalently bound apolipoprotein A-I (Apo A-I) as a targetor for brain capillary endothelial cells were injected intravenously into SV 129 mice and Wistar rats. The rodents were sacrificed after 15 or 30 min, and their brains were examined by transmission electron microscopy. Apo A-I nanoparticles could be found inside the endothelial cells of brain capillaries as well as within parenchymal brain tissue of both, mice and rats, whereas control particles without Apo A-I on their surface did not cross the BBB during our experiments. The maintenance of tight junction integrity and barrier function during treatment with nanoparticles was demonstrated by perfusion with a fixative containing lanthanum nitrate as an electron dense marker for the permeability of tight junctions.

  19. Retractor-induced brain shift compensation in image-guided neurosurgery

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fan, Xiaoyao; Ji, Songbai; Hartov, Alex; Roberts, David; Paulsen, Keith

    2013-03-01

    In image-guided neurosurgery, intraoperative brain shift significantly degrades the accuracy of neuronavigation that is solely based on preoperative magnetic resonance images (pMR). To compensate for brain deformation and to maintain the accuracy in image guidance achieved at the start of surgery, biomechanical models have been developed to simulate brain deformation and to produce model-updated MR images (uMR) to compensate for brain shift. To-date, most studies have focused on shift compensation at early stages of surgery (i.e., updated images are only produced after craniotomy and durotomy). Simulating surgical events at later stages such as retraction and tissue resection are, perhaps, clinically more relevant because of the typically much larger magnitudes of brain deformation. However, these surgical events are substantially more complex in nature, thereby posing significant challenges in model-based brain shift compensation strategies. In this study, we present results from an initial investigation to simulate retractor-induced brain deformation through a biomechanical finite element (FE) model where whole-brain deformation assimilated from intraoperative data was used produce uMR for improved accuracy in image guidance. Specifically, intensity-encoded 3D surface profiles at the exposed cortical area were reconstructed from intraoperative stereovision (iSV) images before and after tissue retraction. Retractor-induced surface displacements were then derived by coregistering the surfaces and served as sparse displacement data to drive the FE model. With one patient case, we show that our technique is able to produce uMR that agrees well with the reconstructed iSV surface after retraction. The computational cost to simulate retractor-induced brain deformation was approximately 10 min. In addition, our approach introduces minimal interruption to the surgical workflow, suggesting the potential for its clinical application.

  20. Lactoferrin bioconjugated solid lipid nanoparticles: a new drug delivery system for potential brain targeting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Indu; Swami, Rajan; Pooja, Deep; Jeengar, Manish Kumar; Khan, Wahid; Sistla, Ramakrishna

    2016-01-01

    Delivery of drugs to brain is a subtle task in the therapy of many severe neurological disorders. Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) easily diffuse the blood-brain barrier (BBB) due to their lipophilic nature. Furthermore, ligand conjugation on SLN surface enhances the targeting efficiency. Lactoferin (Lf) conjugated SLN system is first time attempted for effective brain targeting in this study. Preparation of Lf-modified docetaxel (DTX)-loaded SLN for proficient delivery of DTX to brain. DTX-loaded SLN were prepared using emulsification and solvent evaporation method and conjugation of Lf on SLN surface (C-SLN) was attained through carbodiimide chemistry. These lipidic nanoparticles were evaluated by DLS, AFM, FTIR, XRD techniques and in vitro release studies. Colloidal stability study was performed in biologically simulated environment (normal saline and serum). These lipidic nanoparticles were further evaluated for its targeting mechanism for uptake in brain tumour cells and brain via receptor saturation studies and distribution studies in brain, respectively. Particle size of lipidic nanoparticles was found to be optimum. Surface morphology (zeta potential, AFM) and surface chemistry (FTIR) confirmed conjugation of Lf on SLN surface. Cytotoxicity studies revealed augmented apoptotic activity of C-SLN than SLN and DTX. Enhanced cytotoxicity was demonstrated by receptor saturation and uptake studies. Brain concentration of DTX was elevated significantly with C-SLN than marketed formulation. It is evident from the cytotoxicity, uptake that SLN has potential to deliver drug to brain than marketed formulation but conjugating Lf on SLN surface (C-SLN) further increased the targeting potential for brain tumour. Moreover, brain distribution studies corroborated the use of C-SLN as a viable vehicle to target drug to brain. Hence, C-SLN was demonstrated to be a promising DTX delivery system to brain as it possessed remarkable biocompatibility, stability and efficacy than

  1. Cooperating for assisting intelligently operators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brezillon, P.; Cases, E.; CEA Centre d'Etudes de la Vallee du Rhone, 30 - Marcoule

    1995-01-01

    We are in the process of an intelligent cooperative system in a nuclear plant application. The system must cooperate with an operator who accomplishes a task of supervision of a real-world process. We point out in the paper that a cooperation between a cooperative system and an operator has two modes: a waking state and a participating state. During the waking state, the system observes the operator's behavior and the consequences on the process. During the participation state, the cooperative system builds jointly with the user a solution to the problem. In our approach, the cooperation depends on the system capabilities to explain, to incrementally acquire knowledge and to make explicit the context of the cooperation. We develop these ideas in the framework of the design of the cooperative system in the nuclear plant. (authors). 22 refs., 1 fig

  2. CT evaluation of cystic brain disease

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Joon Woo; Lee, Jin Woo; Joo, Yang Goo; Kim, Hong; Zeon, Seok Kil; Suh, Soo Jhi

    1987-01-01

    We retrospectively analysed CT findings of 47 cystic brain lesions of 44 patients, in which operation, biopsy or follow-up study was needed for their final diagnosis. The results were as follows: 1. The etiologic diseases of cystic brain lesions were 15 cases of brain abscess, 9 cases of astrocytoma, 5 cases of glioblastoma multiforme, 3 cases of meningioma, 5 cases of craniopharyngioma, 1 case of hemangioblastoma, 2 cases of dermoid cyst and 4 cases of metastasis. 2. We analyses the cystic lesions in view of their number, location, shape, perifocal edema, mass effect, wall and its thickness, evenness and characteristics of their inner and outer surfaces, mural nodule, calcification and contrast enhancement. a. 13.3% of brain abscess and 75% of metastases were multiple in number, but the remainder showed single lesion. b. The shape of cystic lesions were round or ovoid in 68%, lobulated in 8.5% and irregular in 23.5%, and no demonstrable difference of shape were noticed in different disease. c. In brain abscess, the wall of cystic lesions tend to be thin, even and smooth in inner surface, but the outer surfaces were equally smooth or irregular. d. Mural nodules were found in nearly half of the cases of astrocytoma, glioblastoma multiforme, metastasis and hemangioblastoma, but the brain abscess and dermoid cyst contained no mural nodule. e. Meningiomas were found to be attached to dura mater and showed thickening of the inner table of adjacent skull or of the falx. f. The presence of preceding infectious disease may be helpful in the diagnosis of brain abscess, but in 20% there were no demonstrable preceding infection. g. Lung cancer was confirmed as primary site in two of the cystic metastatic disease, but other 2 cases showed no demonstrable primary malignancy

  3. CT evaluation of cystic brain disease

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Joon Woo; Lee, Jin Woo; Joo, Yang Goo; Kim, Hong; Zeon, Seok Kil; Suh, Soo Jhi [Keimyung University, School of Medicine, Daegu (Korea, Republic of)

    1987-10-15

    We retrospectively analysed CT findings of 47 cystic brain lesions of 44 patients, in which operation, biopsy or follow-up study was needed for their final diagnosis. The results were as follows: 1. The etiologic diseases of cystic brain lesions were 15 cases of brain abscess, 9 cases of astrocytoma, 5 cases of glioblastoma multiforme, 3 cases of meningioma, 5 cases of craniopharyngioma, 1 case of hemangioblastoma, 2 cases of dermoid cyst and 4 cases of metastasis. 2. We analyses the cystic lesions in view of their number, location, shape, perifocal edema, mass effect, wall and its thickness, evenness and characteristics of their inner and outer surfaces, mural nodule, calcification and contrast enhancement. a. 13.3% of brain abscess and 75% of metastases were multiple in number, but the remainder showed single lesion. b. The shape of cystic lesions were round or ovoid in 68%, lobulated in 8.5% and irregular in 23.5%, and no demonstrable difference of shape were noticed in different disease. c. In brain abscess, the wall of cystic lesions tend to be thin, even and smooth in inner surface, but the outer surfaces were equally smooth or irregular. d. Mural nodules were found in nearly half of the cases of astrocytoma, glioblastoma multiforme, metastasis and hemangioblastoma, but the brain abscess and dermoid cyst contained no mural nodule. e. Meningiomas were found to be attached to dura mater and showed thickening of the inner table of adjacent skull or of the falx. f. The presence of preceding infectious disease may be helpful in the diagnosis of brain abscess, but in 20% there were no demonstrable preceding infection. g. Lung cancer was confirmed as primary site in two of the cystic metastatic disease, but other 2 cases showed no demonstrable primary malignancy.

  4. Cooperation in wireless networks principles and applications : real egoistic behavior is to cooperate!

    CERN Document Server

    Fitzek, Frank HP

    2006-01-01

    Covers the underlying principles of cooperative techniques as well as several applications demonstrating the use of such techniques in practical systems. This book also summarizes the strength of cooperation for wireless communication systems, motivating the use of cooperative techniques.

  5. Social heuristics shape intuitive cooperation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rand, David G; Peysakhovich, Alexander; Kraft-Todd, Gordon T; Newman, George E; Wurzbacher, Owen; Nowak, Martin A; Greene, Joshua D

    2014-04-22

    Cooperation is central to human societies. Yet relatively little is known about the cognitive underpinnings of cooperative decision making. Does cooperation require deliberate self-restraint? Or is spontaneous prosociality reined in by calculating self-interest? Here we present a theory of why (and for whom) intuition favors cooperation: cooperation is typically advantageous in everyday life, leading to the formation of generalized cooperative intuitions. Deliberation, by contrast, adjusts behaviour towards the optimum for a given situation. Thus, in one-shot anonymous interactions where selfishness is optimal, intuitive responses tend to be more cooperative than deliberative responses. We test this 'social heuristics hypothesis' by aggregating across every cooperation experiment using time pressure that we conducted over a 2-year period (15 studies and 6,910 decisions), as well as performing a novel time pressure experiment. Doing so demonstrates a positive average effect of time pressure on cooperation. We also find substantial variation in this effect, and show that this variation is partly explained by previous experience with one-shot lab experiments.

  6. Cooperative games and network structures

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Musegaas, Marieke

    2017-01-01

    This thesis covers various research topics involving cooperative game theory, a mathematical tool to analyze the cooperative behavior within a group of players. The focus is mainly on interrelations between operations research and cooperative game theory by analyzing specific types of cooperative

  7. How the embryonic chick brain twists.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Zi; Guo, Qiaohang; Dai, Eric; Forsch, Nickolas; Taber, Larry A

    2016-11-01

    During early development, the tubular embryonic chick brain undergoes a combination of progressive ventral bending and rightward torsion, one of the earliest organ-level left-right asymmetry events in development. Existing evidence suggests that bending is caused by differential growth, but the mechanism for the predominantly rightward torsion of the embryonic brain tube remains poorly understood. Here, we show through a combination of in vitro experiments, a physical model of the embryonic morphology and mechanics analysis that the vitelline membrane (VM) exerts an external load on the brain that drives torsion. Our theoretical analysis showed that the force is of the order of 10 micronewtons. We also designed an experiment to use fluid surface tension to replace the mechanical role of the VM, and the estimated magnitude of the force owing to surface tension was shown to be consistent with the above theoretical analysis. We further discovered that the asymmetry of the looping heart determines the chirality of the twisted brain via physical mechanisms, demonstrating the mechanical transfer of left-right asymmetry between organs. Our experiments also implied that brain flexure is a necessary condition for torsion. Our work clarifies the mechanical origin of torsion and the development of left-right asymmetry in the early embryonic brain. © 2016 The Author(s).

  8. What drives cooperative breeding?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Walter D Koenig

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Cooperative breeding, in which more than a pair of conspecifics cooperate to raise young at a single nest or brood, is widespread among vertebrates but highly variable in its geographic distribution. Particularly vexing has been identifying the ecological correlates of this phenomenon, which has been suggested to be favored in populations inhabiting both relatively stable, productive environments and in populations living under highly variable and unpredictable conditions. Griesser et al. provide a novel approach to this problem, performing a phylogenetic analysis indicating that family living is an intermediate step between nonsocial and cooperative breeding birds. They then examine the ecological and climatic conditions associated with these different social systems, concluding that cooperative breeding emerges when family living is favored in highly productive environments, followed secondarily by selection for cooperative breeding when environmental conditions deteriorate and within-year variability increases. Combined with recent work addressing the fitness consequences of cooperative breeding, Griesser et al.'s contribution stands to move the field forward by demonstrating that the evolution of complex adaptations such as cooperative breeding may only be understood when each of the steps leading to it are identified and carefully integrated.

  9. Cooperation in Construction:

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vogelius, Peter; Storgaard, Kresten

    2016-01-01

    The study presents a building project executed by a major Danish construction company, where cooperation and its staging were essential for achieving high productivity and competitiveness. The form of this cooperation is the main theme for the article. The contractor actively changed the communic......The study presents a building project executed by a major Danish construction company, where cooperation and its staging were essential for achieving high productivity and competitiveness. The form of this cooperation is the main theme for the article. The contractor actively changed...... the companies in the case can be understood as possessing a social capital which is enforced and united by initiatives of the main contractor. The social capital was built up and maintained through the actual constitution of cooperation already in the initial phase of bidding before the building process....... The management logic of the main contractor is interpreted as based on a sociology-inspired understanding focusing on norms and social values rather than on contractual (law) and functional (engineering) logic, which had hitherto been prevalent in Danish construction management....

  10. Inconscious, brain lateralization and parapsychology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alečković-Nikolić Mila S.

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we have tried to show that it is impossible to study and understand the language of parapsychology without knowing the problem of 'conscious' and 'unconscious' process and issues of brain lateralization. We tried to clarify the different concepts of the notion of the unconscious and to classify all parapsychological phenomena that can be explored. But the real survey of human creativity and those of physical and cognitive abilities of the human mind which are not sufficiently explained today, can not be possible without the cooperation of psychological sciences, clinical psychology, psychopathology, biochemistry, linguistics and quantum physics.

  11. The sound of cooperation: Musical influences on cooperative behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kniffin, Kevin M; Yan, Jubo; Wansink, Brian; Schulze, William D

    2017-03-01

    Music as an environmental aspect of professional workplaces has been closely studied with respect to consumer behavior while sparse attention has been given to its relevance for employee behavior. In this article, we focus on the influence of music upon cooperative behavior within decision-making groups. Based on results from two extended 20-round public goods experiments, we find that happy music significantly and positively influences cooperative behavior. We also find a significant positive association between mood and cooperative behavior. Consequently, while our studies provide partial support for the relevance of affect in relation to cooperation within groups, we also show an independently important function of happy music that fits with a theory of synchronous and rhythmic activity as a social lubricant. More generally, our findings indicate that music and perhaps other atmospheric variables that are designed to prime consumer behavior might have comparably important effects for employees and consequently warrant closer investigation. Copyright © 2016 The Authors Journal of Organizational Behavior Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  12. Transnational Research Co-operation: Opportunities and Challenges for transnational research co-operation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    of the NGOs have a lot of international experience (mainly in Denmark and Germany) as partners in different co-operation projects. Almost all the NGOs have recognized the important role of the scientific information in their activity. NGOs also feel the need for an easy access to required information...... for transnational co-operation like: an investigation/project concerning the driving forces behind urban development,or a co-operation in the field of wastewater reuse and minimization of wastewater loads and discharge, or a service page (internet) to search for potential partners. The governmental institutions...... in order to improve transnational cooperation are identified to be: • Search for national/international project partners • Access to existent co-operation projects or networks • Develop in common project proposals on themes requested by community groups • Exchange information/good operational practices...

  13. Cooperative Monitoring Center Occasional Paper/8: Cooperative Border Security for Jordan: Assessment and Options

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Qojas, M.

    1999-03-01

    This document is an analysis of options for unilateral and cooperative action to improve the security of Jordan's borders. Sections describe the current political, economic, and social interactions along Jordan's borders. Next, the document discusses border security strategy for cooperation among neighboring countries and the adoption of confidence-building measures. A practical cooperative monitoring system would consist of hardware for early warning, command and control, communications, and transportation. Technical solutions can expand opportunities for the detection and identification of intruders. Sensors (such as seismic, break-wire, pressure-sensing, etc.) can warn border security forces of intrusion and contribute to the identification of the intrusion and help formulate the response. This document describes conceptual options for cooperation, offering three scenarios that relate to three hypothetical levels (low, medium, and high) of cooperation. Potential cooperative efforts under a low cooperation scenario could include information exchanges on military equipment and schedules to prevent misunderstandings and the establishment of protocols for handling emergency situations or unusual circumstances. Measures under a medium cooperation scenario could include establishing joint monitoring groups for better communications, with hot lines and scheduled meetings. The high cooperation scenario describes coordinated responses, joint border patrols, and sharing border intrusion information. Finally, the document lists recommendations for organizational, technical, and operational initiatives that could be applicable to the current situation.

  14. A novel merozoite surface antigen of Plasmodium falciparum (MSP-3 identified by cellular-antibody cooperative mechanism antigenicity and biological activity of antibodies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claude Oeuvray

    1994-01-01

    Full Text Available We report the identification of a 48kDa antigen targeted by antibodies which inhibit Plasmodium falciparum in vitro growth by cooperation with blood monocytes in an ADCI assay correlated to the naturally acquired protection. This protein is located on the surface of the merozoite stage of P. falciparum, and is detectable in all isolates tested. Epidemiological studies demonstrated that peptides derived from the amino acid sequence of MSP-3 contain potent B and T-cell epitopes recognized by a majority of individuals living in endemic areas. Moreover human antibodies either purified on the recombinant protein, or on the synthetic peptide MSP-3b, as well as antibodies raised in mice, were all found to promote parasite killing mediated by monocytes.

  15. The story of technical cooperation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Yang Taek

    1989-09-01

    This book gives descriptions of technical cooperation, which is about why does technology transfer?, process of technology transfer with model, decisive cause and cooperation of technology transfer, cost and effect of technology transfer, historical experience of technology transfer, cases of technology transfer by field such as rubber tire, medicine and computer industry and automobile industry, technology transfer process and present condition of technical cooperation, and strategy for rising of technical cooperation : selection of technology for object of cooperation and development of human resources.

  16. What is a cooperative?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kimberly Zeuli

    2006-01-01

    Groups of individuals throughout time have worked together in pursuit of common goals. The earliest forms of hunting and agriculture required a great deal of cooperation among humans. Although the word "cooperative" can be applied to many different types of group activities, in this publication it refers to a formal business model. Cooperative businesses are...

  17. Gap43 transcription modulation in the adult brain depends on sensory activity and synaptic cooperation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicole Rosskothen-Kuhl

    Full Text Available Brain development and learning is accompanied by morphological and molecular changes in neurons. The growth associated protein 43 (Gap43, indicator of neurite elongation and synapse formation, is highly expressed during early stages of development. Upon maturation of the brain, Gap43 is down-regulated by most neurons with the exception of subdivisions such as the CA3 region of hippocampus, the lateral superior olive (LSO and the central inferior colliculus (CIC. Little is known about the regulation of this mRNA in adult brains. We found that the expression of Gap43 mRNA in specific neurons can be modulated by changing sensory activity of the adult brain. Using the central auditory system of rats as a model, Gap43 protein and mRNA levels were determined in LSO and CIC of hearing-experienced rats unilaterally or bilaterally deafened or unilaterally stimulated by a cochlear implant (CI. Our data indicate that Gap43 is a marker useful beyond monitoring neuronal growth and synaptogenesis, reflecting also specific patterns of synaptic activities on specific neurons. Thus, unilateral loss of input to an adult auditory system directly causes asymmetrical expression of Gap43 mRNA between LSOs or CICs on both sides of the brainstem. This consequence can be prevented by simple-patterned stimulation of a dysfunctional ear by way of a CI. We suggest that as a function of input balance and activity pattern, Gap43 mRNA expression changes as cells associate converging afferent signals.

  18. Targeting brain tumor cAMP: the case for sex-specific therapeutics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicole M Warrington

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available A relationship between cyclic adenosine 3’, 5’-monophosphate (cAMP levels and brain tumor biology has been evident for nearly as long as cAMP and its synthetase, adenylate cyclase (ADCY have been known. The importance of the pathway in brain tumorigenesis has been demonstrated in vitro and in multiple animal models. Recently, we provided human validation for a cooperating oncogenic role for cAMP in brain tumorigenesis when we found that SNPs in ADCY8 were correlated with glioma (brain tumor risk in individuals with Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1. Together, these studies provide a strong rationale for targeting cAMP in brain tumor therapy. However, the cAMP pathway is well known to be sexually dimorphic, and SNPs in ADCY8 affected glioma risk in a sex-specific fashion, elevating the risk for females while protecting males. The cAMP pathway can be targeted at multiple levels in the regulation of its synthesis and degradation. Sex differences in response to drugs that target cAMP regulators indicate that successful targeting of the cAMP pathway for brain tumor patients is likely to require matching specific mechanisms of drug action with patient sex.

  19. Scandinavian Cooperative Advantage

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Strand, Robert; Freeman, R. Edward

    2015-01-01

    . We conclude by endorsing the expression “Scandinavian cooperative advantage” in an effort to draw attention to the Scandinavian context and encourage the field of strategic management to shift its focus from achieving a competitive advantage toward achieving a cooperative advantage....

  20. Milk marketing under cooperative and non-cooperative marketing channels: Evidence from west Bengal

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sarker Debnarayan

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available The present study is an attempt to empirically investigate the price spread, marketing costs, marketing margins, marketing efficiency, and profit efficiency among market middlemen under cooperative and non-cooperative marketing channels in the domestic trade market of liquid milk in West Bengal. One of the important findings of this study is that, although the inter-market (and intramarket price variation for liquid milk under the cooperative marketing agency in not far from uniformity, and all marketing agencies under cooperative channels receive much lower abnormal profit per unit of milk as compared with non-cooperative channels, the former fails to provide much economic benefit, either to the producer or to the consumer, because of the burden of much higher fixed cost per unit of liquid milk.

  1. Systemic delivery of blood-brain barrier-targeted polymeric nanoparticles enhances delivery to brain tissue.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saucier-Sawyer, Jennifer K; Deng, Yang; Seo, Young-Eun; Cheng, Christopher J; Zhang, Junwei; Quijano, Elias; Saltzman, W Mark

    2015-01-01

    Delivery of therapeutic agents to the central nervous system is a significant challenge, hindering progress in the treatment of diseases such as glioblastoma. Due to the presence of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), therapeutic agents do not readily transverse the brain endothelium to enter the parenchyma. Previous reports suggest that surface modification of polymer nanoparticles (NPs) can improve their ability to cross the BBB, but it is unclear whether the observed enhancements in transport are large enough to enhance therapy. In this study, we synthesized two degradable polymer NP systems surface-modified with ligands previously suggested to improve BBB transport, and tested their ability to cross the BBB after intravenous injection in mice. All the NP preparations were able to cross the BBB, although generally in low amounts (brain uptake (∼0.8% of the injected dose): a block copolymer of polylactic acid and hyperbranched polyglycerol, surface modified with adenosine (PLA-HPG-Ad). PLA-HPG-Ad NPs provided controlled release of camptothecin, killing U87 glioma cells in culture. When administered intravenously in mice with intracranial U87 tumors, they failed to increase survival. These results suggest that enhancing NP transport across the BBB does not necessarily yield proportional pharmacological effects.

  2. Group Cooperation without Group Selection: Modest Punishment Can Recruit Much Cooperation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krasnow, Max M; Delton, Andrew W; Cosmides, Leda; Tooby, John

    2015-01-01

    Humans everywhere cooperate in groups to achieve benefits not attainable by individuals. Individual effort is often not automatically tied to a proportionate share of group benefits. This decoupling allows for free-riding, a strategy that (absent countermeasures) outcompetes cooperation. Empirically and formally, punishment potentially solves the evolutionary puzzle of group cooperation. Nevertheless, standard analyses appear to show that punishment alone is insufficient, because second-order free riders (those who cooperate but do not punish) can be shown to outcompete punishers. Consequently, many have concluded that other processes, such as cultural or genetic group selection, are required. Here, we present a series of agent-based simulations that show that group cooperation sustained by punishment easily evolves by individual selection when you introduce into standard models more biologically plausible assumptions about the social ecology and psychology of ancestral humans. We relax three unrealistic assumptions of past models. First, past models assume all punishers must punish every act of free riding in their group. We instead allow punishment to be probabilistic, meaning punishers can evolve to only punish some free riders some of the time. This drastically lowers the cost of punishment as group size increases. Second, most models unrealistically do not allow punishment to recruit labor; punishment merely reduces the punished agent's fitness. We instead realistically allow punished free riders to cooperate in the future to avoid punishment. Third, past models usually restrict agents to interact in a single group their entire lives. We instead introduce realistic social ecologies in which agents participate in multiple, partially overlapping groups. Because of this, punitive tendencies are more expressed and therefore more exposed to natural selection. These three moves toward greater model realism reveal that punishment and cooperation easily evolve by

  3. Group Cooperation without Group Selection: Modest Punishment Can Recruit Much Cooperation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Max M Krasnow

    Full Text Available Humans everywhere cooperate in groups to achieve benefits not attainable by individuals. Individual effort is often not automatically tied to a proportionate share of group benefits. This decoupling allows for free-riding, a strategy that (absent countermeasures outcompetes cooperation. Empirically and formally, punishment potentially solves the evolutionary puzzle of group cooperation. Nevertheless, standard analyses appear to show that punishment alone is insufficient, because second-order free riders (those who cooperate but do not punish can be shown to outcompete punishers. Consequently, many have concluded that other processes, such as cultural or genetic group selection, are required. Here, we present a series of agent-based simulations that show that group cooperation sustained by punishment easily evolves by individual selection when you introduce into standard models more biologically plausible assumptions about the social ecology and psychology of ancestral humans. We relax three unrealistic assumptions of past models. First, past models assume all punishers must punish every act of free riding in their group. We instead allow punishment to be probabilistic, meaning punishers can evolve to only punish some free riders some of the time. This drastically lowers the cost of punishment as group size increases. Second, most models unrealistically do not allow punishment to recruit labor; punishment merely reduces the punished agent's fitness. We instead realistically allow punished free riders to cooperate in the future to avoid punishment. Third, past models usually restrict agents to interact in a single group their entire lives. We instead introduce realistic social ecologies in which agents participate in multiple, partially overlapping groups. Because of this, punitive tendencies are more expressed and therefore more exposed to natural selection. These three moves toward greater model realism reveal that punishment and cooperation

  4. Variable postpartum responsiveness among humans and other primates with "cooperative breeding": A comparative and evolutionary perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hrdy, Sarah B

    2016-01-01

    This article is part of a Special Issue "Parental Care".Until recently, evolutionists reconstructing mother-infant bonding among human ancestors relied on nonhuman primate models characterized by exclusively maternal care, overlooking the highly variable responsiveness exhibited by mothers in species with obligate reliance on allomaternal care and provisioning. It is now increasingly recognized that apes as large-brained, slow maturing, and nutritionally dependent for so long as early humans were, could not have evolved unless "alloparents" (group members other than genetic parents), in addition to parents, had helped mothers to care for and provision offspring, a rearing system known as "cooperative breeding." Here I review situation-dependent maternal responses ranging from highly possessive to permissive, temporarily distancing, rejecting, or infanticidal, documented for a small subset of cooperatively breeding primates. As in many mammals, primate maternal responsiveness is influenced by physical condition, endocrinological priming, prior experience and local environments (especially related to security). But mothers among primates who evolved as cooperative breeders also appear unusually sensitive to cues of social support. In addition to more "sapient" or rational decision-making, humankind's deep history of cooperative breeding must be considered when trying to understand the extremely variable responsiveness of human mothers. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Police Officers' Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Brain Death and Organ Donation in Korea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, H S; Yoo, Y S; Cho, O-H; Lee, C E; Choi, Y-H; Kim, H J; Park, J Y; Park, H S; Kwon, Y J

    2018-05-01

    Administrative processing by the police may affect the process involved in organ donation in the event of an accidental brain injury. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the knowledge and attitude of police toward brain-dead donors and organ donation. This was a descriptive research study using a 41-item questionnaire. As of July 19, 2017, 11 police stations in Seoul had collected questionnaires completed by 115 police officers. Data were analyzed using SAS (version 9.4) software. There were statistically significant differences in the scores on knowledge about brain death/donation according to religion (P = .022). Attitude was significantly positively correlated with the knowledge about brain-death organ donation (P = .029). It is necessary to understand and cooperate with the police when processing brain death organs from accidents. Education about organ donation can enhance the information and knowledge of the police and can also help to establish a positive attitude about organ donation. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Spontaneous cooperation for prosocials, but not for proselfs: Social value orientation moderates spontaneous cooperation behavior

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mischkowski, Dorothee; Glöckner, Andreas

    2016-01-01

    Cooperation is essential for the success of societies and there is an ongoing debate whether individuals have therefore developed a general spontaneous tendency to cooperate or not. Findings that cooperative behavior is related to shorter decision times provide support for the spontaneous cooperation effect, although contrary results have also been reported. We show that cooperative behavior is better described as person × situation interaction, in that there is a spontaneous cooperation effect for prosocial but not for proself persons. In three studies, one involving population representative samples from the US and Germany, we found that cooperation in a public good game is dependent on an interaction between individuals’ social value orientation and decision time. Increasing deliberation about the dilemma situation does not affect persons that are selfish to begin with, but it is related to decreasing cooperation for prosocial persons that gain positive utility from outcomes of others and score high on the related general personality trait honesty/humility. Our results demonstrate that the spontaneous cooperation hypothesis has to be qualified in that it is limited to persons with a specific personality and social values. Furthermore, they allow reconciling conflicting previous findings by identifying an important moderator for the effect. PMID:26876773

  7. Extending the Cooperative Phenotype: Assessing the Stability of Cooperation across Countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reigstad, Amanda G; Strømland, Eirik A; Tinghög, Gustav

    2017-01-01

    This paper studies whether individual cooperation is stable across settings and over time. Involving more than 7,000 subjects on two different continents, this study documents positive correlation in cooperative behavior across economic games in Norway, Sweden, Austria, and the United States. The game measures also correlate with a tendency to make deontological judgments in moral dilemmas, and display of general trust toward strangers. Using time-variation in the data, we test whether temporal stability of behavior is similar in the United States and Norway, and find similar stability estimates for both the American and Norwegian samples. The findings here provide further evidence of the existence of a stable behavioral inclination toward prosociality - a "cooperative phenotype," as it has recently been termed. Also in line with previous research, we find that punishment and cooperation seem to be uncorrelated.

  8. Excited cooper pairs

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lopez-Arrietea, M. G.; Solis, M. A.; De Llano, M. [Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico, D.F (Mexico)

    2001-02-01

    Excited cooper pairs formed in a many-fermion system are those with nonzero total center-of mass momentum (CMM). They are normally neglected in the standard Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory of superconductivity for being too few compared with zero CMM pairs. However, a Bose-Einstein condensation picture requires both zero and nonzero CMM pairs. Assuming a BCS model interaction between fermions we determine the populations for all CMM values of Cooper pairs by actually calculating the number of nonzero-CMM pairs relative to that of zero-CMM ones in both 2D and 3D. Although this ratio decreases rapidly with CMM, the number of Cooper pairs for any specific CMM less than the maximum (or breakup of the pair) momentum turns out to be typically larger than about 95% of those with zero-CMM at zero temperature T. Even at T {approx}100 K this fraction en 2D is still as large as about 70% for typical quasi-2D cuprate superconductor parameters. [Spanish] Los pares de cooper excitados formados en un sistema de muchos electrones, son aquellos con momentos de centro de masa (CMM) diferente de cero. Normalmente estos no son tomados en cuenta en la teoria estandar de la superconductividad de Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) al suponer que su numero es muy pequeno comparados con los pares de centro de masa igual a cero. Sin embargo, un esquema de condensacion Bose-Einstein requiere de ambos pares, con CMM cero y diferente de cero. Asumiendo una interaccion modelo BCS entre los fermiones, determinamos la poblacion de pares cooper con cada uno de todos los posibles valores del CMM calculando el numero de pares con momentos de centro de masa diferente de cero relativo a los pares de CMM igual a cero, en 2D y 3D. Aunque esta razon decrece rapidamente con el CMM, el numero de pares de cooper para cualquier CMM especifico menor que el momento maximo (o rompimiento de par) es tipicamente mas grande que el 95% de aquellos con CMM cero. Aun a T {approx}100 K esta fraccion en 2D es

  9. A joint mid-course and terminal course cooperative guidance law for multi-missile salvo attack

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jie ZENG

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available Salvo attacking a surface target by multiple missiles is an effective tactic to enhance the lethality and penetrate the defense system. However, existing cooperative guidance laws in the mid-course or terminal course are not suitable for long- and medium-range missiles or stand-off attacking. Because the initial conditions of cooperative terminal guidance that are generally generated from the mid-course flight may not lead to a successful cooperative terminal guidance without proper mid-course flight adjustment. Meanwhile, cooperative guidance in the mid-course cannot solely guarantee the accuracy of a simultaneous arrival of multiple missiles. Therefore, a joint mid-course and terminal course cooperative guidance law is developed. By building a distinct leader-follower framework, this paper proposes an efficient coordinated Dubins path planning method to synchronize the arrival time of all engaged missiles in the mid-course flight. The planned flight can generate proper initial conditions for cooperative terminal guidance, and also benefit an earliest simultaneous arrival. In the terminal course, an existing cooperative proportional navigation guidance law guides all the engaged missiles to arrive at a target accurately and simultaneously. The integrated guidance law for an intuitive application is summarized. Simulations demonstrate that the proposed method can generate fast and accurate salvo attack. Keywords: Cooperative systems, Dubins path, Mid-course flight, Missile guidance, Salvo attack

  10. Curved reformat of the paediatric brain MRI into a 'flat-earth map' - standardised method for demonstrating cortical surface atrophy resulting from hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Simpson, Ewan; Andronikou, Savvas; Vedajallam, Schadie; Chacko, Anith; Thai, Ngoc Jade

    2016-01-01

    Hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy is optimally imaged with brain MRI in the neonatal period. However neuroimaging is often also performed later in childhood (e.g., when parents seek compensation in cases of alleged birth asphyxia). We describe a standardised technique for creating two curved reconstructions of the cortical surface to show the characteristic surface changes of hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy in children imaged after the neonatal period. The technique was applied for 10 cases of hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy and also for age-matched healthy children to assess the visibility of characteristic features of hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy. In the abnormal brains, fissural or sulcal widening was seen in all cases and ulegyria was identifiable in 7/10. These images could be used as a visual aid for communicating MRI findings to clinicians and other interested parties. (orig.)

  11. Curved reformat of the paediatric brain MRI into a 'flat-earth map' - standardised method for demonstrating cortical surface atrophy resulting from hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Simpson, Ewan [Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, Department of Pediatric Radiology, Bristol (United Kingdom); Andronikou, Savvas [Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, Department of Pediatric Radiology, Bristol (United Kingdom); University of Bristol, CRICBristol, Bristol (United Kingdom); Vedajallam, Schadie; Chacko, Anith; Thai, Ngoc Jade [University of Bristol, CRICBristol, Bristol (United Kingdom)

    2016-09-15

    Hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy is optimally imaged with brain MRI in the neonatal period. However neuroimaging is often also performed later in childhood (e.g., when parents seek compensation in cases of alleged birth asphyxia). We describe a standardised technique for creating two curved reconstructions of the cortical surface to show the characteristic surface changes of hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy in children imaged after the neonatal period. The technique was applied for 10 cases of hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy and also for age-matched healthy children to assess the visibility of characteristic features of hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy. In the abnormal brains, fissural or sulcal widening was seen in all cases and ulegyria was identifiable in 7/10. These images could be used as a visual aid for communicating MRI findings to clinicians and other interested parties. (orig.)

  12. International co-operation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1997-01-01

    In 1996, Nuclear Regulatory Authority of the Slovak Republic (NRA SR) ensured the Slovak Republic (SR) obligations with relation to the international agreements and with the SR membership in the IAEA.International co-operation has been ensured on the basis of the bilateral international agreements. With the Ministry of Foreign Affairs co-operation, the SR fulfilled its financial obligations to this organization in due time and in the full scope. Representing Central and Eastern Europe interest in the Board of Governors, the SR participation in the highest executive in the highest executive authority was finished in 1996.The Board of Governors Vice-chairman position was executed by NRA SR Chairman. 5 national and 6 regional technical co-operation and assistance projects were realized in 1996. 12 organizations participated in these projects and accordingly 104 experts took part in training programmes, scientific visits or as the mission members abroad. Besides, Slovak experts participated at work of technical advisory and consultation groups with the significant assistance. In the framework of IAEA co-operation, the SR was visited by 11 expert missions formed by 28 experts from 19 countries including IAEA. Slovak organizations, namely institutes of the Academy of Sciences, Slovak research centres and universities participated in IAEA scientific and research activities through NRA SR. 15 scientific contracts in total were approved and realized and these contracts are utilized as supplementary financing of the own scientific and research projects. Other international co-operation and regional co-operation activities of the NRA SR in 1996 are reviewed

  13. Strategies of EU agro-food cooperatives to confront globalization: The case of wine cooperatives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juan Sebastián Castillo Valero

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Due to globalization and market integration, the agro-food cooperative sector needs to be more competitive. This generates new challenges for cooperative enterprises in the agro-food sector. In this article the analysis of the wine producing sector is undertaken in the area of greatest world-wide wine production and commercialization, Castilla-La Mancha. EU wineries and cooperatives should propose strategic lines within an economy marked by a globalization process in world markets. The paradigmatic case is analyzed in this paper of the comparison of strategies followed by cooperatives confronting capitalist winery enterprises. Therefore, the degree of suitability is aimed to be elucidated and the success of the foundations of international commercial strategies that cooperative enterprises of the sector have followed, depending on their characteristics. Moreover, an exhaustive diagnosis is offered of the current strategic situation of cooperatives and their probability of gaining access to and/or growing in the international market. The parameters that have resulted significant are used as conclusions and recommendations so that cooperatives will reformulate their strategies and the organizations linked to the agro-food sector will know what factors to foment and support in their internationalization and global competitive positioning.

  14. Regional cooperation in nuclear energy development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chung, K.; Muntzing, L.M.

    1987-01-01

    In November 1985, PBNCC (the Pacific Basin Nuclear Cooperation Committee) was formally established. Currently six Pacific Basin members have been participating in PBNCC: Canada, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Taiwan of Chian, and the United States of America. The People's Republic of China has sent observes to the PBNCC meetings. The technical contents of PBWCC working groups are as follows: 1. Regional cooperative for pooled spare parts of nuclear power plants and inventory management; 2. Regional cooperation in nuclear training; 3. Regional cooperation on nuclear safety; 4. Regional cooperation in Codes and Standards; 5. Regional Cooperation in public acceptance; 6. Regional cooperation on radwaste management. (Liu)

  15. International cooperation workshop. Regional workshop for CTBTO international cooperation: Africa

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1999-08-01

    Pursuant to the 1999 programme of work, and following the International Cooperation Workshop held in Vienna, Austria, in 1998, the Provisional Technical Secretariat (PTS) of the Preparatory Commission for the CTBTO (Prep Com) held a regional Workshop for CTBTO International Cooperation in Cairo. The purpose of the workshop was to identify how and by what means the Africa region can promote international cooperation in CTBT verification related technologies, and how the region can benefit from and contribute to Prep Com activity. PTS staff briefed the 40 participants from 22 African States who attended the Workshop on general aspects, including costs, of the establishment and operation of the CTBT verification system, including its four monitoring technologies. Participants were informed on opportunities for local institutions in the establishment of monitoring stations and on possible support for national and regional data centres. National experts presented their research and development activities and reviewed existing experiences on bi/multi-lateral cooperation. The main points of the discussion focused on the need to engage governments to advance signature/ratification, and further training opportunities for African states

  16. Brain SPECT. SPECT in der Gehirndiagnostik

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Feistel, H. (Erlangen-Nuernberg Univ., Erlangen (Germany). Nuklearmedizinische Klinik mit Poliklinik)

    1991-12-01

    Brain SPECT investigations have gained broad acceptance since the introduction of the lipophilic tracer Tc-99m-HMPAO. Depending on equipment and objectives in different departments, the examinations can be divided into three groups: 1. Under normal conditions and standardised patient preparation the 'rest' SPECT can be performed in every department with a tomographic camera. In cerebrovascular disease there is a demand for determination of either the perfusion reserve in reversible ischemia or prognostic values in completed stroke. In cases of dementia, SPECT may yield useful results according to differential diagnosis. Central cerebral system involvement in immunologic disease may be estimated with higher sensitivity than in conventional brain imaging procedures. In psychiatric diseases there is only a relative indication for brain SPECT, since results during recent years have been contradictory and may be derived only in interventional manner. In brain tumor diagnostics SPECT with Tl-201 possibly permits grading. In inflammatory disease, especially in viral encephalitis, SPECT may be used to obtain early diagnosis. Normal pressure hydrocephalus can be distinguished from other forms of dementia and, consequently, the necessity for shunting surgery can be recognised. 2. In departments equipped for emergency cases an 'acute' SPECT can be performed in illnesses with rapid changing symptoms such as different forms of migraine, transient global amnesia, epileptic seizures (so-called 'ictal SPECT') or urgent forms like trauma. 3. In cooperation with several departments brain SPECT can be practised as an interventional procedure in clinical and in scientific studies. (orig./MG).

  17. Extending the Cooperative Phenotype: Assessing the Stability of Cooperation across Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amanda G. Reigstad

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available This paper studies whether individual cooperation is stable across settings and over time. Involving more than 7,000 subjects on two different continents, this study documents positive correlation in cooperative behavior across economic games in Norway, Sweden, Austria, and the United States. The game measures also correlate with a tendency to make deontological judgments in moral dilemmas, and display of general trust toward strangers. Using time-variation in the data, we test whether temporal stability of behavior is similar in the United States and Norway, and find similar stability estimates for both the American and Norwegian samples. The findings here provide further evidence of the existence of a stable behavioral inclination toward prosociality – a “cooperative phenotype,” as it has recently been termed. Also in line with previous research, we find that punishment and cooperation seem to be uncorrelated.

  18. The significance of the interconnection of second-level cooperatives and their peer-associated cooperatives for productivity growth

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martínez-Victoria, M.; Maté-Sánchez-Val, M.L.; Arcas-Lario, N.

    2017-01-01

    Cooperatives are especially important in current agri-food markets. These companies have responded to the current demand requirements with greater market orientation strategies to attract and satisfy customers. To do so, cooperatives have adopted different collaboration alternatives. In Spain, the most common alliance between cooperatives is materialised in second-level cooperatives, which are cooperatives integrated by at least two first-level cooperatives. The aim of this study was to analyse the interaction effects between first- and second level agri-food cooperatives on their productive growth and its components. To get this purpose, a Cobb-Douglas specification with spatial econometrics techniques was applied to evaluate this relationship. We included a spatial connectivity matrix to establish the interconnection among cooperatives of first- and second-level. Our results show a positive interaction effect highlighting the importance of these alliances on the productivity growth in the agri-food sector. The scarce amount of empirical papers explaining how second-level cooperatives influence the performance of first-level cooperatives shows the relevance of our study.

  19. The significance of the interconnection of second-level cooperatives and their peer-associated cooperatives for productivity growth

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Martínez-Victoria, M.; Maté-Sánchez-Val, M.L.; Arcas-Lario, N.

    2017-09-01

    Cooperatives are especially important in current agri-food markets. These companies have responded to the current demand requirements with greater market orientation strategies to attract and satisfy customers. To do so, cooperatives have adopted different collaboration alternatives. In Spain, the most common alliance between cooperatives is materialised in second-level cooperatives, which are cooperatives integrated by at least two first-level cooperatives. The aim of this study was to analyse the interaction effects between first- and second level agri-food cooperatives on their productive growth and its components. To get this purpose, a Cobb-Douglas specification with spatial econometrics techniques was applied to evaluate this relationship. We included a spatial connectivity matrix to establish the interconnection among cooperatives of first- and second-level. Our results show a positive interaction effect highlighting the importance of these alliances on the productivity growth in the agri-food sector. The scarce amount of empirical papers explaining how second-level cooperatives influence the performance of first-level cooperatives shows the relevance of our study.

  20. Brain surface anatomy in adults with autism: the relationship between surface area, cortical thickness, and autistic symptoms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ecker, Christine; Ginestet, Cedric; Feng, Yue; Johnston, Patrick; Lombardo, Michael V; Lai, Meng-Chuan; Suckling, John; Palaniyappan, Lena; Daly, Eileen; Murphy, Clodagh M; Williams, Steven C; Bullmore, Edward T; Baron-Cohen, Simon; Brammer, Michael; Murphy, Declan G M

    2013-01-01

    Neuroimaging studies of brain anatomy in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have mostly been based on measures of cortical volume (CV). However, CV is a product of 2 distinct parameters, cortical thickness (CT) and surface area (SA), that in turn have distinct genetic and developmental origins. To investigate regional differences in CV, SA, and CT as well as their relationship in a large and well-characterized sample of men with ASD and matched controls. Multicenter case-control design using quantitative magnetic resonance imaging. Medical Research Council UK Autism Imaging Multicentre Study. A total of 168 men, 84 diagnosed as having ASD and 84 controls who did not differ significantly in mean (SD) age (26 [7] years vs 28 [6] years, respectively) or full-scale IQ (110 [14] vs 114 [12], respectively). Between-group differences in CV, SA, and CT investigated using a spatially unbiased vertex-based approach; the degree of spatial overlap between the differences in CT and SA; and their relative contribution to differences in regional CV. Individuals with ASD differed from controls in all 3 parameters. These mainly consisted of significantly increased CT within frontal lobe regions and reduced SA in the orbitofrontal cortex and posterior cingulum. These differences in CT and SA were paralleled by commensurate differences in CV. The spatially distributed patterns for CT and SA were largely nonoverlapping and shared only about 3% of all significantly different locations on the cerebral surface. Individuals with ASD have significant differences in CV, but these may be underpinned by (separable) variations in its 2 components, CT and SA. This is of importance because both measures result from distinct developmental pathways that are likely modulated by different neurobiological mechanisms. This finding may provide novel targets for future studies into the etiology of the condition and a new way to fractionate the disorder.

  1. Three-dimensional reconstruction of functional brain images

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Inoue, Masato; Shoji, Kazuhiko; Kojima, Hisayoshi; Hirano, Shigeru; Naito, Yasushi; Honjo, Iwao

    1999-01-01

    We consider PET (positron emission tomography) measurement with SPM (Statistical Parametric Mapping) analysis to be one of the most useful methods to identify activated areas of the brain involved in language processing. SPM is an effective analytical method that detects markedly activated areas over the whole brain. However, with the conventional presentations of these functional brain images, such as horizontal slices, three directional projection, or brain surface coloring, makes understanding and interpreting the positional relationships among various brain areas difficult. Therefore, we developed three-dimensionally reconstructed images from these functional brain images to improve the interpretation. The subjects were 12 normal volunteers. The following three types of images were constructed: routine images by SPM, three-dimensional static images, and three-dimensional dynamic images, after PET images were analyzed by SPM during daily dialog listening. The creation of images of both the three-dimensional static and dynamic types employed the volume rendering method by VTK (The Visualization Toolkit). Since the functional brain images did not include original brain images, we synthesized SPM and MRI brain images by self-made C++ programs. The three-dimensional dynamic images were made by sequencing static images with available software. Images of both the three-dimensional static and dynamic types were processed by a personal computer system. Our newly created images showed clearer positional relationships among activated brain areas compared to the conventional method. To date, functional brain images have been employed in fields such as neurology or neurosurgery, however, these images may be useful even in the field of otorhinolaryngology, to assess hearing and speech. Exact three-dimensional images based on functional brain images are important for exact and intuitive interpretation, and may lead to new developments in brain science. Currently, the surface

  2. Three-dimensional reconstruction of functional brain images

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Inoue, Masato; Shoji, Kazuhiko; Kojima, Hisayoshi; Hirano, Shigeru; Naito, Yasushi; Honjo, Iwao [Kyoto Univ. (Japan)

    1999-08-01

    We consider PET (positron emission tomography) measurement with SPM (Statistical Parametric Mapping) analysis to be one of the most useful methods to identify activated areas of the brain involved in language processing. SPM is an effective analytical method that detects markedly activated areas over the whole brain. However, with the conventional presentations of these functional brain images, such as horizontal slices, three directional projection, or brain surface coloring, makes understanding and interpreting the positional relationships among various brain areas difficult. Therefore, we developed three-dimensionally reconstructed images from these functional brain images to improve the interpretation. The subjects were 12 normal volunteers. The following three types of images were constructed: routine images by SPM, three-dimensional static images, and three-dimensional dynamic images, after PET images were analyzed by SPM during daily dialog listening. The creation of images of both the three-dimensional static and dynamic types employed the volume rendering method by VTK (The Visualization Toolkit). Since the functional brain images did not include original brain images, we synthesized SPM and MRI brain images by self-made C++ programs. The three-dimensional dynamic images were made by sequencing static images with available software. Images of both the three-dimensional static and dynamic types were processed by a personal computer system. Our newly created images showed clearer positional relationships among activated brain areas compared to the conventional method. To date, functional brain images have been employed in fields such as neurology or neurosurgery, however, these images may be useful even in the field of otorhinolaryngology, to assess hearing and speech. Exact three-dimensional images based on functional brain images are important for exact and intuitive interpretation, and may lead to new developments in brain science. Currently, the surface

  3. Astrocytic TYMP and VEGFA drive blood-brain barrier opening in inflammatory central nervous system lesions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chapouly, Candice; Tadesse Argaw, Azeb; Horng, Sam; Castro, Kamilah; Zhang, Jingya; Asp, Linnea; Loo, Hannah; Laitman, Benjamin M; Mariani, John N; Straus Farber, Rebecca; Zaslavsky, Elena; Nudelman, German; Raine, Cedric S; John, Gareth R

    2015-06-01

    In inflammatory central nervous system conditions such as multiple sclerosis, breakdown of the blood-brain barrier is a key event in lesion pathogenesis, predisposing to oedema, excitotoxicity, and ingress of plasma proteins and inflammatory cells. Recently, we showed that reactive astrocytes drive blood-brain barrier opening, via production of vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA). Here, we now identify thymidine phosphorylase (TYMP; previously known as endothelial cell growth factor 1, ECGF1) as a second key astrocyte-derived permeability factor, which interacts with VEGFA to induce blood-brain barrier disruption. The two are co-induced NFκB1-dependently in human astrocytes by the cytokine interleukin 1 beta (IL1B), and inactivation of Vegfa in vivo potentiates TYMP induction. In human central nervous system microvascular endothelial cells, VEGFA and the TYMP product 2-deoxy-d-ribose cooperatively repress tight junction proteins, driving permeability. Notably, this response represents part of a wider pattern of endothelial plasticity: 2-deoxy-d-ribose and VEGFA produce transcriptional programs encompassing angiogenic and permeability genes, and together regulate a third unique cohort. Functionally, each promotes proliferation and viability, and they cooperatively drive motility and angiogenesis. Importantly, introduction of either into mouse cortex promotes blood-brain barrier breakdown, and together they induce severe barrier disruption. In the multiple sclerosis model experimental autoimmune encephalitis, TYMP and VEGFA co-localize to reactive astrocytes, and correlate with blood-brain barrier permeability. Critically, blockade of either reduces neurologic deficit, blood-brain barrier disruption and pathology, and inhibiting both in combination enhances tissue preservation. Suggesting importance in human disease, TYMP and VEGFA both localize to reactive astrocytes in multiple sclerosis lesion samples. Collectively, these data identify TYMP as an

  4. The hard problem of cooperation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kimmo Eriksson

    Full Text Available Based on individual variation in cooperative inclinations, we define the "hard problem of cooperation" as that of achieving high levels of cooperation in a group of non-cooperative types. Can the hard problem be solved by institutions with monitoring and sanctions? In a laboratory experiment we find that the answer is affirmative if the institution is imposed on the group but negative if development of the institution is left to the group to vote on. In the experiment, participants were divided into groups of either cooperative types or non-cooperative types depending on their behavior in a public goods game. In these homogeneous groups they repeatedly played a public goods game regulated by an institution that incorporated several of the key properties identified by Ostrom: operational rules, monitoring, rewards, punishments, and (in one condition change of rules. When change of rules was not possible and punishments were set to be high, groups of both types generally abided by operational rules demanding high contributions to the common good, and thereby achieved high levels of payoffs. Under less severe rules, both types of groups did worse but non-cooperative types did worst. Thus, non-cooperative groups profited the most from being governed by an institution demanding high contributions and employing high punishments. Nevertheless, in a condition where change of rules through voting was made possible, development of the institution in this direction was more often voted down in groups of non-cooperative types. We discuss the relevance of the hard problem and fit our results into a bigger picture of institutional and individual determinants of cooperative behavior.

  5. The hard problem of cooperation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eriksson, Kimmo; Strimling, Pontus

    2012-01-01

    Based on individual variation in cooperative inclinations, we define the "hard problem of cooperation" as that of achieving high levels of cooperation in a group of non-cooperative types. Can the hard problem be solved by institutions with monitoring and sanctions? In a laboratory experiment we find that the answer is affirmative if the institution is imposed on the group but negative if development of the institution is left to the group to vote on. In the experiment, participants were divided into groups of either cooperative types or non-cooperative types depending on their behavior in a public goods game. In these homogeneous groups they repeatedly played a public goods game regulated by an institution that incorporated several of the key properties identified by Ostrom: operational rules, monitoring, rewards, punishments, and (in one condition) change of rules. When change of rules was not possible and punishments were set to be high, groups of both types generally abided by operational rules demanding high contributions to the common good, and thereby achieved high levels of payoffs. Under less severe rules, both types of groups did worse but non-cooperative types did worst. Thus, non-cooperative groups profited the most from being governed by an institution demanding high contributions and employing high punishments. Nevertheless, in a condition where change of rules through voting was made possible, development of the institution in this direction was more often voted down in groups of non-cooperative types. We discuss the relevance of the hard problem and fit our results into a bigger picture of institutional and individual determinants of cooperative behavior.

  6. Cost of disorders of the brain in Luxembourg.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bisdorff, A; Sobocki, P; Cloos, J M; Andrée, C; Graziano, M E

    2006-01-01

    Brain disorders (psychiatric, neurological and neurosurgical diseases) are leading causes of disease and disability. According to WHO data they cause 35% of the burden of all diseases in Europe. The present study aims to estimate the cost of defined brain disorders and adds all selected disorders to arrive at the total cost for Luxembourg. A model combining published economic and epidemiological data retrieved from the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) and Eurostat databases on brain disorders in Europe (EU member countries, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) was used. We transformed and converted data for a defined period into the same currency (Euro 2004) and adjusted country specific economic data for purchasing power and relative size of economy and imputed data where no local data were available. There are an estimated 123000 people in Luxembourg currently living with a brain disorder. The total annual cost of brain disorders is estimated at Euro 500 million in 2004 or an average of Euro 1100 per inhabitant. Mental disorders constitute 62% of the total cost (excluding dementia), followed by neurological diseases (excluding dementia) 22%, neurosurgical diseases excluding herniated discs 2.2%. Direct medical expenditures (outpatient care, hospitalization, drugs) have a share of 32%, direct non-medical costs (social services, informal care, adaptation, transportation) 18% and indirect costs (sick leave, early retirement and premature death) 51%.

  7. Piecewise Loglinear Estimation of Efficient Production Surfaces

    OpenAIRE

    Rajiv D. Banker; Ajay Maindiratta

    1986-01-01

    Linear programming formulations for piecewise loglinear estimation of efficient production surfaces are derived from a set of basic properties postulated for the underlying production possibility sets. Unlike the piecewise linear model of Banker, Charnes, and Cooper (Banker R. D., A. Charnes, W. W. Cooper. 1984. Models for the estimation of technical and scale inefficiencies in data envelopment analysis. Management Sci. 30 (September) 1078--1092.), this approach permits the identification of ...

  8. Efficiency in Microfinance Cooperatives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    HARTARSKA, Valentina

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available In recognition of cooperatives’ contribution to the socio-economic well-being of their participants, the United Nations has declared 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives. Microfinance cooperatives make a large part of the microfinance industry. We study efficiency of microfinance cooperatives and provide estimates of the optimal size of such organizations. We employ the classical efficiency analysis consisting of estimating a system of equations and identify the optimal size of microfinance cooperatives in terms of their number of clients (outreach efficiency, as well as dollar value of lending and deposits (sustainability. We find that microfinance cooperatives have increasing returns to scale which means that the vast majority can lower cost if they become larger. We calculate that the optimal size is around $100 million in lending and half of that in deposits. We find less robust estimates in terms of reaching many clients with a range from 40,000 to 180,000 borrowers.

  9. Non-cooperative game theory

    CERN Document Server

    Fujiwara-Greve, Takako

    2015-01-01

    This is a textbook for university juniors, seniors, and graduate students majoring in economics, applied mathematics, and related fields. Each chapter is structured so that a core concept of that chapter is presented with motivations, useful applications are given, and related advanced topics are discussed for future study. Many helpful exercises at various levels are provided at the end of each chapter. Therefore, this book is most suitable for readers who intend to study non-cooperative game theory rigorously for both theoretical studies and applications. Game theory consists of non-cooperative games and cooperative games. This book covers only non-cooperative games, which are major tools used in current economics and related areas. Non-cooperative game theory aims to provide a mathematical prediction of strategic choices by decision makers (players) in situations of conflicting interest. Through the logical analyses of strategic choices, we obtain a better understanding of social (economic, business) probl...

  10. Cooperative Communications for Wireless Information Assurance: Secure Cooperative Communications and Testbed Development

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Li, Xiaohua

    2007-01-01

    ..., and have invented a new cooperative OFDM transmission scheme to combat transmission asynchronism. They are helpful to the development of future physical-layer wireless information assurance techniques as well as the cooperative communication techniques...

  11. Conditional cooperation on three continents

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kocher, M.G.; Cherry, T.; Kroll, S.; Netzer, R.; Sutter, M.

    2007-01-01

    We show in a public goods experiment on three continents that conditional cooperation is a universal behavioral regularity. Yet, the number of conditional cooperators and the extent of conditional cooperation are much higher in the U.S.A. than anywhere else.

  12. The Drosophila surface glia transcriptome: evolutionary conserved blood-brain barrier processes

    OpenAIRE

    DeSalvo, Michael K.; Hindle, Samantha J.; Rusan, Zeid M.; Orng, Souvinh; Eddison, Mark; Halliwill, Kyle; Bainton, Roland J.

    2014-01-01

    Central nervous system (CNS) function is dependent on the stringent regulation of metabolites, drugs, cells, and pathogens exposed to the CNS space. Cellular blood-brain barrier (BBB) structures are highly specific checkpoints governing entry and exit of all small molecules to and from the brain interstitial space, but the precise mechanisms that regulate the BBB are not well understood. In addition, the BBB has long been a challenging obstacle to the pharmacologic treatment of CNS diseases; ...

  13. Study on Control of Brain Temperature for Brain Hypothermia Treatment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaohua, Lu; Wakamatsu, Hidetoshi

    The brain hypothermia treatment is an attractive therapy for the neurologist because of its neuroprotection in hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy patients. The present paper deals with the possibility of controlling the brain and other viscera in different temperatures from the viewpoint of system control. It is theoretically attempted to realize the special brain hypothermia treatment to cool only the head but to warm the body by using the simple apparatus such as the cooling cap, muffler and warming blanket. For this purpose, a biothermal system concerning the temperature difference between the brain and the other thoracico-abdominal viscus is synthesized from the biothermal model of hypothermic patient. The output controllability and the asymptotic stability of the system are examined on the basis of its structure. Then, the maximum temperature difference to be realized is shown dependent on the temperature range of the apparatus and also on the maximum gain determined from the coefficient matrices A, B and C of the biothermal system. Its theoretical analysis shows the realization of difference of about 2.5°C, if there is absolutely no constraint of the temperatures of the cooling cap, muffler and blanket. It is, however, physically unavailable. Those are shown by simulation example of the optimal brain temperature regulation using a standard adult database. It is thus concluded that the surface cooling and warming apparatus do no make it possible to realize the special brain hypothermia treatment, because the brain temperature cannot be cooled lower than those of other viscera in an appropriate temperature environment. This study shows that the ever-proposed good method of clinical treatment is in principle impossible in the actual brain hypothermia treatment.

  14. Cooperative effects in (ethanol)3-water heterotetramers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mejia, Sol; Espinal, Juan F; Mondragon, Fanor

    2009-01-01

    Density Functional Theory (DFT: B3LYP/6-31 + G(d)) was used for the optimization of clusters on the potential energy surface of (ethanol)3-water heterotetramers. The tetramerization energies can reach values up to -21.00 kcal/ mol. This energy can not be obtained by just considering the contributions from interactions between two cluster molecules, which suggests of the presence of global cooperative effects (positive). These effects are reflected in smaller hydrogen bond distances and smaller oxygen-oxygen distances, as well as in greater elongations of the O-H proton donor bond with a stronger red-shift in the heterotetramers compared to the ethanol-water heterodimers and the ethanol dimer. The largest cooperativity effect was observed in the four hydrogen bonds arranged in the largest possible cyclic geometric pattern, where all the molecules act as proton acceptor and donor simultaneously. A similar analysis to the characterization of (ethanol)3-water heterotetramers was carried out on (methanol)3-water heterotetramers, and ethanol and methanol tetramers, whose comparison showed a great similarity between all evaluated parameters for the clusters with equal geometric pattern.

  15. Hierarchy is Detrimental for Human Cooperation

    OpenAIRE

    Cronin, Katherine A.; Acheson, Daniel J.; Hernández, Penélope; Sánchez, Angel

    2016-01-01

    Studies of animal behavior consistently demonstrate that the social environment impacts cooperation, yet the effect of social dynamics has been largely excluded from studies of human cooperation. Here, we introduce a novel approach inspired by nonhuman primate research to address how social hierarchies impact human cooperation. Participants competed to earn hierarchy positions and then could cooperate with another individual in the hierarchy by investing in a common effort. Cooperation was ac...

  16. Agricultural Co-Operatives in Ethiopia

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tefera, Delelegne A.; Bijman, Jos; Slingerland, Maja A.

    2017-01-01

    To what extent can co-operatives strengthen rural development in sub-Saharan Africa? This paper explores the development of agricultural co-operatives in Ethiopia, particularly the changes in economic functions. Co-operative development in Ethiopia has been strongly influenced by various political

  17. International cooperation for operating safety

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dupuis, M.C.

    1989-03-01

    The international-cooperation organization in nuclear safety domain is discussed. The nuclear energy Direction Committee is helped by the Security Committee for Nuclear Power Plants in the cooperation between security organizations of member countries and in the safety and nuclear activity regulations. The importance of the cooperation between experts in human being and engine problems is underlined. The applied methods, exchange activities and activity analysis, and the cooperation of the Nuclear Energy Agency and international organizations is analysed [fr

  18. Cooperation in regional nuclear training

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Newstead, C.M.; Lee, D.S.; Spitalnik, J.

    1985-01-01

    This paper presents an overview of the nuclear training currently being undertaken in the countries of the co-authors, and considers the degree to which training problems are amenable to common solutions such as cooperative regional training programs. Different types of cooperation are discussed including the development of regional and international training centers, cooperative bilateral and multilateral training, and the proposed US International Nuclear Safety Training Academy. The paper provides suggestions of ways for enhancing regional cooperation

  19. BrainK for Structural Image Processing: Creating Electrical Models of the Human Head

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kai Li

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available BrainK is a set of automated procedures for characterizing the tissues of the human head from MRI, CT, and photogrammetry images. The tissue segmentation and cortical surface extraction support the primary goal of modeling the propagation of electrical currents through head tissues with a finite difference model (FDM or finite element model (FEM created from the BrainK geometries. The electrical head model is necessary for accurate source localization of dense array electroencephalographic (dEEG measures from head surface electrodes. It is also necessary for accurate targeting of cerebral structures with transcranial current injection from those surface electrodes. BrainK must achieve five major tasks: image segmentation, registration of the MRI, CT, and sensor photogrammetry images, cortical surface reconstruction, dipole tessellation of the cortical surface, and Talairach transformation. We describe the approach to each task, and we compare the accuracies for the key tasks of tissue segmentation and cortical surface extraction in relation to existing research tools (FreeSurfer, FSL, SPM, and BrainVisa. BrainK achieves good accuracy with minimal or no user intervention, it deals well with poor quality MR images and tissue abnormalities, and it provides improved computational efficiency over existing research packages.

  20. Models in cooperative game theory

    CERN Document Server

    Branzei, Rodica; Tijs, Stef

    2008-01-01

    This book investigates models in cooperative game theory in which the players have the possibility to cooperate partially. In a crisp game the agents are either fully involved or not involved at all in cooperation with some other agents, while in a fuzzy game players are allowed to cooperate with infinite many different participation levels, varying from non-cooperation to full cooperation. A multi-choice game describes the intermediate case in which each player may have a fixed number of activity levels. Different set and one-point solution concepts for these games are presented. The properties of these solution concepts and their interrelations on several classes of crisp, fuzzy, and multi-choice games are studied. Applications of the investigated models to many economic situations are indicated as well. The second edition is highly enlarged and contains new results and additional sections in the different chapters as well as one new chapter.

  1. Brain volume measurement using three-dimensional magnetic resonance images

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ishimaru, Yoshihiro

    1996-01-01

    This study was designed to validate accurate measurement method of human brain volume using three dimensional (3D) MRI data on a workstation, and to establish optimal correcting method of human brain volume on diagnosis of brain atrophy. 3D MRI data were acquired by fast SPGR sequence using 1.5 T MR imager. 3D MRI data were segmented by region growing method and 3D image was displayed by surface rendering method on the workstation. Brain volume was measured by the volume measurement function of the workstation. In order to validate the accurate measurement method, phantoms and a specimen of human brain were examined. Phantom volume was measured by changing the lower level of threshold value. At the appropriate threshold value, percentage of error of phantoms and the specimen were within 0.6% and 0.08%, respectively. To establish the optimal correcting method, 130 normal volunteers were examined. Brain volumes corrected with height weight, body surface area, and alternative skull volume were evaluated. Brain volume index, which is defined as dividing brain volume by alternative skull volume, had the best correlation with age (r=0.624, p<0.05). No gender differences was observed in brain volume index in contrast to in brain volume. The clinical usefulness of this correcting method for brain atrophy diagnosis was evaluated in 85 patients. Diagnosis by 2D spin echo MR images was compared with brain volume index. Diagnosis of brain atrophy by 2D MR image was concordant with the evaluation by brain volume index. These results indicated that this measurement method had high accuracy, and it was important to set the appropriate threshold value. Brain volume index was the appropriate indication for evaluation of human brain volume, and was considered to be useful for the diagnosis of brain atrophy. (author)

  2. [Child protection--cooperation and conflict management].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Averbeck, Birgit; Hermans, Björn Enno

    2010-01-01

    When people have to deal with conflicts or opposing views they often refer to the term cooperation. But after lengthy discussions the question may be raised if it is more useful not to cooperate. The authors of this article analyse why cooperation is often called for but frequently fails. In this article key prerequisites for successful cooperation are described before the authors present their practical method of 'sYpport'. 'SYpport' mostly refers to trans-institutional cooperation and focuses on the required attitude of those involved. The authors' simple but crucial conclusion is that cooperation requires faith in others.

  3. Theoretical insight into the solvent effect of H2O and formamide on the cooperativity effect in HMX complex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meng, Rui-Hong; Cao, Xiong; Hu, Shuang-Qi; Hu, Li-Shuang

    2017-08-01

    The cooperativity effects of the H-bonding interactions in HMX (1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazacyclooctane)∙∙∙HMX∙∙∙FA (formamide), HMX∙∙∙HMX∙∙∙H 2 O and HMX∙∙∙HMX∙∙∙HMX complexes involving the chair and chair-chair HMX are investigated by using the ONIOM2 (CAM-B3LYP/6-31++G(d,p):PM3) and ONIOM2 (M06-2X/6-31++G(d,p):PM3) methods. The solvent effect of FA or H 2 O on the cooperativity effect in HMX∙∙∙HMX∙∙∙HMX are evaluated by the integral equation formalism polarized continuum model. The results show that the cooperativity and anti-cooperativity effects are not notable in all the systems. Although the effect of solvation on the binding energy of ternary system HMX∙∙∙HMX∙∙∙HMX is not large, that on the cooperativity of H-bonds is notable, which leads to the mutually strengthened H-bonding interaction in solution. This is perhaps the reason for the formation of different conformation of HMX in different solvent. Surface electrostatic potential and reduced density gradient are used to reveal the nature of the solvent effect on cooperativity effect in HMX∙∙∙HMX∙∙∙HMX. Graphical abstract RDG isosurface and electrostatic potential surface of HMX∙∙∙HMX∙∙∙HMX.

  4. Polaron-Driven Surface Reconstructions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michele Reticcioli

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Geometric and electronic surface reconstructions determine the physical and chemical properties of surfaces and, consequently, their functionality in applications. The reconstruction of a surface minimizes its surface free energy in otherwise thermodynamically unstable situations, typically caused by dangling bonds, lattice stress, or a divergent surface potential, and it is achieved by a cooperative modification of the atomic and electronic structure. Here, we combined first-principles calculations and surface techniques (scanning tunneling microscopy, non-contact atomic force microscopy, scanning tunneling spectroscopy to report that the repulsion between negatively charged polaronic quasiparticles, formed by the interaction between excess electrons and the lattice phonon field, plays a key role in surface reconstructions. As a paradigmatic example, we explain the (1×1 to (1×2 transition in rutile TiO_{2}(110.

  5. Subgame consistent cooperation a comprehensive treatise

    CERN Document Server

    Yeung, David W K

    2016-01-01

    Strategic behavior in the human and social world has been increasingly recognized in theory and practice. It is well known that non-cooperative behavior could lead to suboptimal or even highly undesirable outcomes. Cooperation suggests the possibility of obtaining socially optimal solutions and the calls for cooperation are prevalent in real-life problems. Dynamic cooperation cannot be sustainable if there is no guarantee that the agreed upon optimality principle at the beginning is maintained throughout the cooperation duration. It is due to the lack of this kind of guarantees that cooperative schemes fail to last till its end or even fail to get started. The property of subgame consistency in cooperative dynamic games and the corresponding solution mechanism resolve this “classic” problem in game theory. This book is a comprehensive treatise on subgame consistent dynamic cooperation covering the up-to-date state of the art analyses in this important topic. It sets out to provide the theory, solution tec...

  6. Evidence for strategic cooperation in humans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burton-Chellew, Maxwell N; El Mouden, Claire; West, Stuart A

    2017-06-14

    Humans may cooperate strategically, cooperating at higher levels than expected from their short-term interests, to try and stimulate others to cooperate. To test this hypothesis, we experimentally manipulated the extent an individual's behaviour is known to others, and hence whether or not strategic cooperation is possible. In contrast with many previous studies, we avoided confounding factors by preventing individuals from learning during the game about either pay-offs or about how other individuals behave. We found clear evidence for strategic cooperators-just telling some individuals that their groupmates would be informed about their behaviour led to them tripling their initial level of cooperation, from 17 to 50%. We also found that many individuals play as if they do not understand the game, and their presence obscures the detection of strategic cooperation. Identifying such players allowed us to detect and study strategic motives for cooperation in novel, more powerful, ways. © 2017 The Author(s).

  7. Neural correlates of social cooperation and non-cooperation as a function of psychopathy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rilling, James K; Glenn, Andrea L; Jairam, Meeta R; Pagnoni, Giuseppe; Goldsmith, David R; Elfenbein, Hanie A; Lilienfeld, Scott O

    2007-06-01

    Psychopathy is a disorder involving a failure to experience many emotions that are necessary for appropriate social behavior. In this study, we probed the behavioral, emotional, and neural correlates of psychopathic traits within the context of a dyadic social interaction. Thirty subjects were imaged with functional magnetic resonance imaging while playing an iterated Prisoner's Dilemma game with human confederates who were outside the scanner. Subjects also completed two self-report psychopathy questionnaires. Subjects scoring higher on psychopathy, particularly males, defected more often and were less likely to continue cooperating after establishing mutual cooperation with a partner. Further, they experienced more outcomes in which their cooperation was not reciprocated (cooperate-defect outcome). After such outcomes, subjects scoring high in psychopathy showed less amygdala activation, suggesting weaker aversive conditioning to those outcomes. Compared with low-psychopathy subjects, subjects higher in psychopathy also showed weaker activation within orbitofrontal cortex when choosing to cooperate and showed weaker activation within dorsolateral prefrontal and rostral anterior cingulate cortex when choosing to defect. These findings suggest that whereas subjects scoring low on psychopathy have emotional biases toward cooperation that can only be overcome with effortful cognitive control, subjects scoring high on psychopathy have an opposing bias toward defection that likewise can only be overcome with cognitive effort.

  8. 'Shared-rhythm cooperation' in cooperative team meetings in acute psychiatric inpatient care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vuokila-Oikkonen, P; Janhonen, S; Vaisanen, L

    2004-04-01

    The cooperative team meeting is one of the most important interventions in psychiatric care. The purpose of this study was to describe the participation of patients and significant others in cooperative team meetings in terms of unspoken stories. The narrative approach focused on storytelling. The data consisted of videotaped cooperative team meetings (n = 11) in two acute closed psychiatric wards. The QRS NVivo computer program and the Holistic Content Reading method were used. During the process of analysis, the spoken and unspoken stories were analysed at the same time. According to the results, while there was some evident shared-rhythm cooperation (the topics of discussion were shared and the participants had eye contact), there were many instances where the interaction was controlled and defined by health care professionals. This lack of shared rhythm in cooperation, as defined in terms of storytelling, was manifested as monologue and the following practices: the health care professionals controlled the storytelling by sticking to their opinions, by giving the floor or by pointing with a finger and visually scanning the participants, by interrupting the speaker or by allowing the other experts to sit passively. Implications for mental health nursing practice are discussed.

  9. From cooperation to globalization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gabriela UNGUREANU

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available Globalization is seen as a consequence of cross-border business. This complex and irreversible process can be seen as an extension of capitalist relations of production or increased interdependence in the economic system. Globalization has given rise to more and more fields of activity worldwide. To meet the challenges of business globalization, many companies form strategic alliances, cooperate or merge with other companies. Cooperation is seen by many companies as an alternative path to success. In recent years joint international associations, licensing, co-production agreements, joint research programs, exploration of consortia and other cooperative relationships between two or more corporations with potential have increased. We notice a cooperation tendency among small-sized companies, especially among those from the developing countries.

  10. Formation, “Gold Rule” for the cooperative development

    OpenAIRE

    Alcides López Labrada

    2013-01-01

    Before the arising of the cooperative movement in the world, cooperation already existed. So, it is logical to affirm that there can be cooperation without cooperative movement. But there cannot be cooperative movement without cooperation, because cooperation is an indispensable premise for the existence of cooperative movement. Both the precursors of the cooperative movement and the classics of Marxism agreed on the necessity of cooperative formation. Lenin called socialism “the regime o...

  11. Cooperative Learning: Developments in Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gillies, Robyn M.

    2014-01-01

    Cooperative learning is widely recognized as a pedagogical practice that promotes socialization and learning among students from kindergarten through to college level and across different subject areas. Cooperative learning involves students working together to achieve common goals or complete group tasks. Interest in cooperative learning has…

  12. Reciprocity Outperforms Conformity to Promote Cooperation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Romano, Angelo; Balliet, Daniel

    2017-10-01

    Evolutionary psychologists have proposed two processes that could give rise to the pervasiveness of human cooperation observed among individuals who are not genetically related: reciprocity and conformity. We tested whether reciprocity outperformed conformity in promoting cooperation, especially when these psychological processes would promote a different cooperative or noncooperative response. To do so, across three studies, we observed participants' cooperation with a partner after learning (a) that their partner had behaved cooperatively (or not) on several previous trials and (b) that their group members had behaved cooperatively (or not) on several previous trials with that same partner. Although we found that people both reciprocate and conform, reciprocity has a stronger influence on cooperation. Moreover, we found that conformity can be partly explained by a concern about one's reputation-a finding that supports a reciprocity framework.

  13. 7 CFR 1425.19 - Member cooperatives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 10 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Member cooperatives. 1425.19 Section 1425.19... OF AGRICULTURE LOANS, PURCHASES, AND OTHER OPERATIONS COOPERATIVE MARKETING ASSOCIATIONS § 1425.19 Member cooperatives. A CMA may obtain loans or LDP's on behalf of a member cooperative when the member...

  14. Predisposed to cooperate

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cathryn Costello

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Recent research in Toronto and Geneva indicates that asylum seekers and refugees are predisposed to be cooperative with the refugee status determination system and other immigration procedures, and that the design of alternatives to detention can create, foster and support this cooperative predisposition – or can undermine or even demolish it.

  15. Helping Children Cooperate

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pica, Rae

    2011-01-01

    There are occasions in life when the competitive process is appropriate. But when people consider the relationships in their lives--with friends, family members, coworkers, and the larger community--they realize the value of cooperation. When adults give children the chance to cooperate, to work together toward a solution or a common goal like…

  16. Soft cooperation systems and games

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fernández, J. R.; Gallego, I.; Jiménez-Losada, A.; Ordóñez, M.

    2018-04-01

    A cooperative game for a set of agents establishes a fair allocation of the profit obtained for their cooperation. In order to obtain this allocation, a characteristic function is known. It establishes the profit of each coalition of agents if this coalition decides to act alone. Originally players are considered symmetric and then the allocation only depends on the characteristic function; this paper is about cooperative games with an asymmetric set of agents. We introduced cooperative games with a soft set of agents which explains those parameters determining the asymmetry among them in the cooperation. Now the characteristic function is defined not over the coalitions but over the soft coalitions, namely the profit depends not only on the formed coalition but also on the attributes considered for the players in the coalition. The best known of the allocation rules for cooperative games is the Shapley value. We propose a Shapley kind solution for soft games.

  17. Political Ideology, Trust, and Cooperation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balliet, Daniel; Tybur, Joshua M.; Wu, Junhui; Antonellis, Christian; Van Lange, Paul A. M.

    2016-01-01

    Theories suggest that political ideology relates to cooperation, with conservatives being more likely to pursue selfish outcomes, and liberals more likely to pursue egalitarian outcomes. In study 1, we examine how political ideology and political party affiliation (Republican vs. Democrat) predict cooperation with a partner who self-identifies as Republican or Democrat in two samples before (n = 362) and after (n = 366) the 2012 US presidential election. Liberals show slightly more concern for their partners’ outcomes compared to conservatives (study 1), and in study 2 this relation is supported by a meta-analysis (r = .15). However, in study 1, political ideology did not relate to cooperation in general. Both Republicans and Democrats extend more cooperation to their in-group relative to the out-group, and this is explained by expectations of cooperation from in-group versus out-group members. We discuss the relation between political ideology and cooperation within and between groups. PMID:29593363

  18. Formation, “Gold Rule” for the cooperative development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alcides López Labrada

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Before the arising of the cooperative movement in the world, cooperation already existed. So, it is logical to affirm that there can be cooperation without cooperative movement. But there cannot be cooperative movement without cooperation, because cooperation is an indispensable premise for the existence of cooperative movement. Both the precursors of the cooperative movement and the classics of Marxism agreed on the necessity of cooperative formation. Lenin called socialism “the regime of cultured cooperators” and the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA contemplated the following, among the seven universal principles of the cooperative movement: education, formation and training of cooperative members, as one of the most important and strategic principles. They have been recognized as the golden rule of the cooperative movement. The changes occurred in Cuba (the existence and evolution of different types of cooperatives, the updating of the economic model, the dynamics of the agrarian sector and the opening of the cooperative movement towards other sectors of the National Economy fully justify the achievement of a cooperative culture, not only of cooperative members but also the actors that perform around cooperatives, the decision- makers and all society. Among the most significant proposals for the achievement of a cooperative culture in Cuba the following can be found: to integrate the different actors that participate in the cooperative formation by means of a national network for cooperative formation by identifying the training demand and training the people that should really implement the change, while building capacities of all the individuals involved in the cooperative movement in a direct or indirect way.

  19. Swept-source optical coherence tomography powered by a 1.3-μm vertical cavity surface emitting laser enables 2.3-mm-deep brain imaging in mice in vivo

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Woo June; Wang, Ruikang K.

    2015-10-01

    We report noninvasive, in vivo optical imaging deep within a mouse brain by swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT), enabled by a 1.3-μm vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL). VCSEL SS-OCT offers a constant signal sensitivity of 105 dB throughout an entire depth of 4.25 mm in air, ensuring an extended usable imaging depth range of more than 2 mm in turbid biological tissue. Using this approach, we show deep brain imaging in mice with an open-skull cranial window preparation, revealing intact mouse brain anatomy from the superficial cerebral cortex to the deep hippocampus. VCSEL SS-OCT would be applicable to small animal studies for the investigation of deep tissue compartments in living brains where diseases such as dementia and tumor can take their toll.

  20. Hierarchy is Detrimental for Human Cooperation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cronin, Katherine A; Acheson, Daniel J; Hernández, Penélope; Sánchez, Angel

    2015-12-22

    Studies of animal behavior consistently demonstrate that the social environment impacts cooperation, yet the effect of social dynamics has been largely excluded from studies of human cooperation. Here, we introduce a novel approach inspired by nonhuman primate research to address how social hierarchies impact human cooperation. Participants competed to earn hierarchy positions and then could cooperate with another individual in the hierarchy by investing in a common effort. Cooperation was achieved if the combined investments exceeded a threshold, and the higher ranked individual distributed the spoils unless control was contested by the partner. Compared to a condition lacking hierarchy, cooperation declined in the presence of a hierarchy due to a decrease in investment by lower ranked individuals. Furthermore, hierarchy was detrimental to cooperation regardless of whether it was earned or arbitrary. These findings mirror results from nonhuman primates and demonstrate that hierarchies are detrimental to cooperation. However, these results deviate from nonhuman primate findings by demonstrating that human behavior is responsive to changing hierarchical structures and suggests partnership dynamics that may improve cooperation. This work introduces a controlled way to investigate the social influences on human behavior, and demonstrates the evolutionary continuity of human behavior with other primate species.

  1. Density of founder cells affects spatial pattern formation and cooperation in Bacillus subtilis biofilms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Gestel, Jordi; Weissing, Franz J.; Kuipers, Oscar P.; Kovacs, Akos T.

    2014-01-01

    In nature, most bacteria live in surface-attached sedentary communities known as biofilms. Biofilms are often studied with respect to bacterial interactions. Many cells inhabiting biofilms are assumed to express 'cooperative traits', like the secretion of extracellular polysaccharides (EPS). These

  2. Partial Cooperative Equilibria: Existence and Characterization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amandine Ghintran

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available We study the solution concepts of partial cooperative Cournot-Nash equilibria and partial cooperative Stackelberg equilibria. The partial cooperative Cournot-Nash equilibrium is axiomatically characterized by using notions of rationality, consistency and converse consistency with regard to reduced games. We also establish sufficient conditions for which partial cooperative Cournot-Nash equilibria and partial cooperative Stackelberg equilibria exist in supermodular games. Finally, we provide an application to strategic network formation where such solution concepts may be useful.

  3. Creation of Spin-Triplet Cooper Pairs in the Absence of Magnetic Ordering

    Science.gov (United States)

    Breunig, Daniel; Burset, Pablo; Trauzettel, Björn

    2018-01-01

    In superconducting spintronics, it is essential to generate spin-triplet Cooper pairs on demand. Up to now, proposals to do so concentrate on hybrid structures in which a superconductor (SC) is combined with a magnetically ordered material (or an external magnetic field). We, instead, identify a novel way to create and isolate spin-triplet Cooper pairs in the absence of any magnetic ordering. This achievement is only possible because we drive a system with strong spin-orbit interaction—the Dirac surface states of a strong topological insulator (TI)-out of equilibrium. In particular, we consider a bipolar TI-SC-TI junction, where the electrochemical potentials in the outer leads differ in their overall sign. As a result, we find that nonlocal singlet pairing across the junction is completely suppressed for any excitation energy. Hence, this junction acts as a perfect spin-triplet filter across the SC, generating equal-spin Cooper pairs via crossed Andreev reflection.

  4. Exotic Paired States with Anisotropic Spin-Dependent Fermi Surfaces

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feiguin, Adrian E.; Fisher, Matthew P. A.

    2009-01-01

    We propose a model for realizing exotic paired states in cold Fermi gases by using a spin-dependent optical lattice to engineer mismatched Fermi surfaces for each hyperfine species. The BCS phase diagram shows a stable paired superfluid state with coexisting pockets of momentum space with gapless unpaired carriers, similar to the Sarma state in polarized mixtures, but in our case the system is unpolarized. We propose the possible existence of an exotic 'Cooper-pair Bose-metal' phase, which has a gap for single fermion excitations but gapless and uncondensed 'Cooper-pair' excitations residing on a 'Bose surface' in momentum space.

  5. Cooperative Learning in Elementary Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slavin, Robert E.

    2015-01-01

    Cooperative learning refers to instructional methods in which students work in small groups to help each other learn. Although cooperative learning methods are used for different age groups, they are particularly popular in elementary (primary) schools. This article discusses methods and theoretical perspectives on cooperative learning for the…

  6. Nuclear energy and international cooperation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oshima, Keiichi

    1981-01-01

    There is no need to emphasize that nuclear energy cannot be developed without international cooperation at either the industrial or the academic level. In the meanwhile, there have been some marked political, economic and social changes in recent years which are posing constraints to the international cooperation in nuclear energy. The problems and constraints impeding nuclear power programs cannot be overcome by only one nation; international cooperation with common efforts to solve the problems is essential. Nuclear energy is different from fossil energy resources in that it is highly technology-intensive while others are resource-intensive. International cooperation in technology has an entirely different importance in the field of nuclear energy. Educational institutions will play a role in a new era of the international cooperation. (Mori, K.)

  7. Transparency in Cooperative Online Education

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dalsgaard, Christian; Paulsen, Morten Flate

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to discuss the following question: What is the potential of social networking within cooperative online education? Social networking does not necessarily involve communication, dialogue, or collaboration. Instead, the authors argue that transparency is a unique...... feature of social networking services. Transparency gives students insight into each other’s actions. Cooperative learning seeks to develop virtual learning environments that allow students to have optimal individual freedom within online learning communities. This article demonstrates how cooperative...... learning can be supported by transparency. To illustrate this with current examples, the article presents NKI Distance Education’s surveys and experiences with cooperative learning. The article discusses by which means social networking and transparency may be utilized within cooperative online education...

  8. Cooperation: the foundation of improvement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clemmer, T P; Spuhler, V J; Berwick, D M; Nolan, T W

    1998-06-15

    Cooperation--working together to produce mutual benefit or attain a common purpose--is almost inseparable from the quest for improvement. Although the case for cooperation can be made on ethical grounds, neither the motivation for nor the effects of cooperation need to be interpreted solely in terms of altruism. Cooperation can be a shrewd and pragmatic strategy for accomplishing personal goals in an interdependent system. Earlier papers in this series have explored the conceptual roots of modern approaches to improvement, which lie in systems theory. To improve systems, we must usually attend first and foremost to interactions. Among humans, "better interaction" is almost synonymous with "better cooperation." Physicians have ample opportunities and, indeed, an obligation to cooperate with other physicians in the same or different specialties, with nurses and other clinical workers, with administrators, and with patients and families. Many intellectual disciplines have made cooperation an object of study. These include anthropology; social psychology; genetics; biology; mathematics; game theory; linguistics; operations research; economics; and, of course, moral and rational philosophy. Scientifically grounded methods to enhance cooperation include developing a shared purpose; creating an open, safe environment; including all who share a common purpose and encouraging diverse viewpoints; negotiating agreement; and insisting on fairness and equity in the application of rules. These methods apply at the organizational level and at the level of the individual physician. This paper describes the application of these methods at the organizational level and focuses on one especially successful example of system-level cooperation in a care delivery site where interactions matter a great deal: the modern intensive care unit.

  9. Evidence for a zinc/proton antiporter in rat brain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colvin, R A; Davis, N; Nipper, R W; Carter, P A

    2000-05-01

    The data presented in this paper are consistent with the existence of a plasma membrane zinc/proton antiport activity in rat brain. Experiments were performed using purified plasma membrane vesicles isolated from whole rat brain. Incubating vesicles in the presence of various concentrations of 65Zn2+ resulted in a rapid accumulation of 65Zn2+. Hill plot analysis demonstrated a lack of cooperativity in zinc activation of 65Zn2+ uptake. Zinc uptake was inhibited in the presence of 1 mM Ni2+, Cd2+, or CO2+. Calcium (1 mM) was less effective at inhibiting 65Zn2+ uptake and Mg2+ and Mn2+ had no effect. The initial rate of vesicular 65Zn2+ uptake was inhibited by increasing extravesicular H+ concentration. Vesicles preloaded with 65Zn2+ could be induced to release 65Zn2+ by increasing extravesicular H+ or addition of 1 mM nonradioactive Zn2+. Hill plot analysis showed a lack of cooperativity in H+ activation of 65Zn2+ release. Based on the Hill analyses, the stoichiometry of transport may include Zn2+/Zn2+ exchange and Zn2+/H+ antiport, the latter being potentially electrogenic. Zinc/proton antiport may be an important mode of zinc uptake into neurons and contribute to the reuptake of zinc to replenish presynaptic vesicle stores after stimulation.

  10. Localization, correlation, and visualization of electroencephalographic surface electrodes and brain anatomy in epilepsy studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brinkmann, Benjamin H.; O'Brien, Terence J.; Robb, Richard A.; Sharbrough, Frank W.

    1997-05-01

    Advances in neuroimaging have enhanced the clinician's ability to localize the epileptogenic zone in focal epilepsy, but 20-50 percent of these cases still remain unlocalized. Many sophisticated modalities have been used to study epilepsy, but scalp electrode recorded electroencephalography is particularly useful due to its noninvasive nature and excellent temporal resolution. This study is aimed at specific locations of scalp electrode EEG information for correlation with anatomical structures in the brain. 3D position localizing devices commonly used in virtual reality systems are used to digitize the coordinates of scalp electrodes in a standard clinical configuration. The electrode coordinates are registered with a high- resolution MRI dataset using a robust surface matching algorithm. Volume rendering can then be used to visualize the electrodes and electrode potentials interpolated over the scalp. The accuracy of the coordinate registration is assessed quantitatively with a realistic head phantom.

  11. Game controller modification for fMRI hyperscanning experiments in a cooperative virtual reality environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trees, Jason; Snider, Joseph; Falahpour, Maryam; Guo, Nick; Lu, Kun; Johnson, Douglas C; Poizner, Howard; Liu, Thomas T

    2014-01-01

    Hyperscanning, an emerging technique in which data from multiple interacting subjects' brains are simultaneously recorded, has become an increasingly popular way to address complex topics, such as "theory of mind." However, most previous fMRI hyperscanning experiments have been limited to abstract social interactions (e.g. phone conversations). Our new method utilizes a virtual reality (VR) environment used for military training, Virtual Battlespace 2 (VBS2), to create realistic avatar-avatar interactions and cooperative tasks. To control the virtual avatar, subjects use a MRI compatible Playstation 3 game controller, modified by removing all extraneous metal components and replacing any necessary ones with 3D printed plastic models. Control of both scanners' operation is initiated by a VBS2 plugin to sync scanner time to the known time within the VR environment. Our modifications include:•Modification of game controller to be MRI compatible.•Design of VBS2 virtual environment for cooperative interactions.•Syncing two MRI machines for simultaneous recording.

  12. Does intuition cause cooperation?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verkoeijen, Peter P J L; Bouwmeester, Samantha

    2014-01-01

    Recently, researchers claimed that people are intuitively inclined to cooperate with reflection causing them to behave selfishly. Empirical support for this claim came from experiments using a 4-player public goods game with a marginal return of 0.5 showing that people contributed more money to a common project when they had to decide quickly (i.e., a decision based on intuition) than when they were instructed to reflect and decide slowly. This intuitive-cooperation effect is of high scientific and practical importance because it argues against a central assumption of traditional economic and evolutionary models. The first experiment of present study was set up to examine the generality of the intuitive-cooperation effect and to further validate the experimental task producing the effect. In Experiment 1, we investigated Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT) workers' contributions to a 4-player public goods game with a marginal return of 0.5 while we manipulated the knowledge about the other players' contribution to the public goods game (contribution known vs. contribution unknown), the identity of the other players (humans vs. computers randomly generating contributions) and the time constraint (time pressure/intuition vs. forced delay/reflection). However, the results of Experiment 1 failed to reveal an intuitive-cooperation effect. Furthermore, four subsequent direct replications attempts with AMT workers (Experiments 2a, 2b, 2c and Experiment 3, which was conducted with naïve/inexperienced participants) also failed to demonstrate intuitive-cooperation effects. Taken together, the results of the present study could not corroborate the idea that people are intuitively cooperative, hence suggesting that the theoretical relationship between intuition and cooperation should be further scrutinized.

  13. Does intuition cause cooperation?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter P J L Verkoeijen

    Full Text Available Recently, researchers claimed that people are intuitively inclined to cooperate with reflection causing them to behave selfishly. Empirical support for this claim came from experiments using a 4-player public goods game with a marginal return of 0.5 showing that people contributed more money to a common project when they had to decide quickly (i.e., a decision based on intuition than when they were instructed to reflect and decide slowly. This intuitive-cooperation effect is of high scientific and practical importance because it argues against a central assumption of traditional economic and evolutionary models. The first experiment of present study was set up to examine the generality of the intuitive-cooperation effect and to further validate the experimental task producing the effect. In Experiment 1, we investigated Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT workers' contributions to a 4-player public goods game with a marginal return of 0.5 while we manipulated the knowledge about the other players' contribution to the public goods game (contribution known vs. contribution unknown, the identity of the other players (humans vs. computers randomly generating contributions and the time constraint (time pressure/intuition vs. forced delay/reflection. However, the results of Experiment 1 failed to reveal an intuitive-cooperation effect. Furthermore, four subsequent direct replications attempts with AMT workers (Experiments 2a, 2b, 2c and Experiment 3, which was conducted with naïve/inexperienced participants also failed to demonstrate intuitive-cooperation effects. Taken together, the results of the present study could not corroborate the idea that people are intuitively cooperative, hence suggesting that the theoretical relationship between intuition and cooperation should be further scrutinized.

  14. Chromodynamics of cooperation in finite populations.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arne Traulsen

    2007-03-01

    Full Text Available The basic idea of tag-based models for cooperation is that individuals recognize each other via arbitrary signals, so-called tags. If there are tags of different colors, then cooperators can always establish new signals of recognition. The resulting "chromodynamics" is a mechanism for the evolution of cooperation. Cooperators use a secret tag until they are discovered by defectors who then destroy cooperation based on this tag. Subsequently, a fraction of the population manages to establish cooperation based on a new tag.We derive a mathematical description of stochastic evolutionary dynamics of tag-based cooperation in populations of finite size. Benefit and cost of cooperation are given by b and c. We find that cooperators are more abundant than defectors if b/c > 1+2u/v, where u is the mutation rate changing only the strategy and v is the mutation rate changing strategy and tag. We study specific assumptions for u and v in two genetic models and one cultural model.In a genetic model, tag-based cooperation only evolves if a gene encodes both strategy and tag. In a cultural model with equal mutation rates between all possible phenotypes (tags and behaviors, the crucial condition is b/c > (K+1/(K-1, where K is the number of tags. A larger number of tags requires a smaller benefit-to-cost ratio. In the limit of many different tags, the condition for cooperators to have a higher average abundance than defectors becomes b > c.

  15. The governance of cooperative societies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yaiza Juanes Sobradillo

    2005-12-01

    Full Text Available The present work aims to expose the appropriate legislation for cooperative societies to which Article 129 of the Spanish Constitution refers, deepen the analysis of the organs of management and control based on the Spanish and Basque Laws on Cooperatives and the Statute for the European Cooperative Societies.

  16. Does facial resemblance enhance cooperation?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Trang Giang

    Full Text Available Facial self-resemblance has been proposed to serve as a kinship cue that facilitates cooperation between kin. In the present study, facial resemblance was manipulated by morphing stimulus faces with the participants' own faces or control faces (resulting in self-resemblant or other-resemblant composite faces. A norming study showed that the perceived degree of kinship was higher for the participants and the self-resemblant composite faces than for actual first-degree relatives. Effects of facial self-resemblance on trust and cooperation were tested in a paradigm that has proven to be sensitive to facial trustworthiness, facial likability, and facial expression. First, participants played a cooperation game in which the composite faces were shown. Then, likability ratings were assessed. In a source memory test, participants were required to identify old and new faces, and were asked to remember whether the faces belonged to cooperators or cheaters in the cooperation game. Old-new recognition was enhanced for self-resemblant faces in comparison to other-resemblant faces. However, facial self-resemblance had no effects on the degree of cooperation in the cooperation game, on the emotional evaluation of the faces as reflected in the likability judgments, and on the expectation that a face belonged to a cooperator rather than to a cheater. Therefore, the present results are clearly inconsistent with the assumption of an evolved kin recognition module built into the human face recognition system.

  17. Cooperative Tagging Center (CTC)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Cooperative Tagging Center (CTC) began as the Cooperative Game Fish Tagging Program (GTP) at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) in 1954. The GTP was...

  18. Surface Support Systems for Co-Operative and Integrated Human/Robotic Lunar Exploration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mueller, Robert P.

    2006-01-01

    Human and robotic partnerships to realize space goals can enhance space missions and provide increases in human productivity while decreasing the hazards that the humans are exposed to. For lunar exploration, the harsh environment of the moon and the repetitive nature of the tasks involved with lunar outpost construction, maintenance and operation as well as production tasks associated with in-situ resource utilization, make it highly desirable to use robotic systems in co-operation with human activity. A human lunar outpost is functionally examined and concepts for selected human/robotic tasks are discussed in the context of a lunar outpost which will enable the presence of humans on the moon for extended periods of time.

  19. Astronaut Gordon Cooper during flight tests

    Science.gov (United States)

    1963-01-01

    Astronaut L. Gordon Cooper, prime pilot for the Mercury-Atlas 9 mission, relaxes while waiting for weight and balance tests to begin (03974); Cooper prior to entering the Mercury Spacecraft for a series of simulated flight tests. During these tests NASA doctors, engineers and technicians monitor Cooper's performance (03975); Cooper undergoing suit pressurization tests (03976).

  20. Surface anatomy scanning (SAS) in intracranial tumours: comparison with surgical findings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sumida, M.; Uozumi, T.; Kiya, K.; Arita, K.; Kurisu, K.; Onda, J.; Satoh, H.; Ikawa, F.; Yukawa, O.; Migita, K.; Hada, H.; Katada, K.

    1995-01-01

    We evaluated the usefulness of surface anatomy scanning (SAS) in intracranial tumours, comparing it with surgical findings. We examined 31 patients with brain tumours preoperatively. The tumours included 16 meningiomas, 8 gliomas, 4 metastases and 3 others. SAS clearly demonstrated the tumours, allowing them to be distinguished from the structures of the brain surface, including oedema, except in cases of metastasis. SAS clearly demonstrated large cortical veins. SAS is useful for three-dimensional delineation of the brain surface before surgery. (orig.)

  1. 26 CFR 1.1382-3 - Taxable income of cooperatives; special deductions for exempt farmers' cooperatives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... deductions for exempt farmers' cooperatives. 1.1382-3 Section 1.1382-3 Internal Revenue INTERNAL REVENUE... Patrons § 1.1382-3 Taxable income of cooperatives; special deductions for exempt farmers' cooperatives. (a) In general. (1) Section 1382(c) provides that in determining the taxable income of a farmers', fruit...

  2. Exploring the limits of cooperative phenomena using complex plasmas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schwabe, M.; Zhdanov, S.; Ivlev, A. V.; Thomas, H. M.; Morfill, G. E.

    2011-01-01

    With the advancing miniaturization of technological applications, processes on the mesoscale become increasingly important. This is the scale where the individual movement of particles transforms into cooperative behavior-behavior that cannot be explained by investigating the motion of individual particles alone.Complex plasmas are ideally suited to study the limits of cooperative behavior. The time scales of the dynamics of the microparticles embedded in the plasma are such that their movement can be fully resolved, and an investigation on the atomistic (kinetic) level is possible. In addition, complex plasmas can be considered a model system for ordinary fluids: The internal microparticle dynamics is basically undamped and is characterized by the similarity parameters matching those of other fluids. This similarity does not break down even at small scales: For instance, in [2], microparticle droplets comprised of only a few 1000-10000 particles were examined. In these experiments, the Weber number (the ratio of inertia to surface tension forces) matches that of falling water drops. As another example, the onset of a Rayleigh-Taylor instability in a complex plasma can be described by the ordinary dispersion relation, even at scales of only few particle layers. This allows investigating the 'nanoscale' of fluid flows, and, hence, the limits of cooperative behavior.

  3. Multimodal surface-based morphometry reveals diffuse cortical atrophy in traumatic brain injury.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sorenson Donna J

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI often present with significant cognitive deficits without corresponding evidence of cortical damage on neuroradiological examinations. One explanation for this puzzling observation is that the diffuse cortical abnormalities that characterize TBI are difficult to detect with standard imaging procedures. Here we investigated a patient with severe TBI-related cognitive impairments whose scan was interpreted as normal by a board-certified radiologist in order to determine if quantitative neuroimaging could detect cortical abnormalities not evident with standard neuroimaging procedures. Methods Cortical abnormalities were quantified using multimodal surfaced-based morphometry (MSBM that statistically combined information from high-resolution structural MRI and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI. Normal values of cortical anatomy and cortical and pericortical DTI properties were quantified in a population of 43 healthy control subjects. Corresponding measures from the patient were obtained in two independent imaging sessions. These data were quantified using both the average values for each lobe and the measurements from each point on the cortical surface. The results were statistically analyzed as z-scores from the mean with a p Results The TBI patient showed significant regional abnormalities in cortical thickness, gray matter diffusivity and pericortical white matter integrity that replicated across imaging sessions. Consistent with the patient's impaired performance on neuropsychological tests of executive function, cortical abnormalities were most pronounced in the frontal lobes. Conclusions MSBM is a promising tool for detecting subtle cortical abnormalities with high sensitivity and selectivity. MSBM may be particularly useful in evaluating cortical structure in TBI and other neurological conditions that produce diffuse abnormalities in both cortical structure and tissue properties.

  4. The Cooperative Education as central axis for the integral Formation in the cooperative sector

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iriadna Marín de León

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available The cooperative constitutes one of the most important sectors in the economy in any economic formation - social, its fundamental cell is the man's integral development who should be capable for, from a reflexive and creative position, to assume the challenges that it implies an efficient and effective administration in function of the cooperative company. It is the educational dimension in cooperative values the key for the future, conceived in a systematic way and assuming an appropriate methodological conception. In this perspective, leaving of the theoretical foundation of the administration of the human resources in general, he intends to be carried out an integral analysis of the formation processes and education for the cooperative with the purpose of valuing the central aspects of this thematic one, leaving of the fact that the education constitutes the medullary element that leads to a true cooperative formation.

  5. Segmentation and Visualisation of Human Brain Structures

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hult, Roger

    2003-10-01

    In this thesis the focus is mainly on the development of segmentation techniques for human brain structures and of the visualisation of such structures. The images of the brain are both anatomical images (magnet resonance imaging (MRI) and autoradiography) and functional images that show blood flow (functional magnetic imaging (fMRI), positron emission tomography (PET), and single photon emission tomography (SPECT)). When working with anatomical images, the structures segmented are visible as different parts of the brain, e.g. the brain cortex, the hippocampus, or the amygdala. In functional images, the activity or the blood flow that be seen. Grey-level morphology methods are used in the segmentations to make tissue types in the images more homogenous and minimise difficulties with connections to outside tissue. A method for automatic histogram thresholding is also used. Furthermore, there are binary operations such as logic operation between masks and binary morphology operations. The visualisation of the segmented structures uses either surface rendering or volume rendering. For the visualisation of thin structures, surface rendering is the better choice since otherwise some voxels might be missed. It is possible to display activation from a functional image on the surface of a segmented cortex. A new method for autoradiographic images has been developed, which integrates registration, background compensation, and automatic thresholding to get faster and more reliable results than the standard techniques give.

  6. Segmentation and Visualisation of Human Brain Structures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hult, Roger

    2003-01-01

    In this thesis the focus is mainly on the development of segmentation techniques for human brain structures and of the visualisation of such structures. The images of the brain are both anatomical images (magnet resonance imaging (MRI) and autoradiography) and functional images that show blood flow (functional magnetic imaging (fMRI), positron emission tomography (PET), and single photon emission tomography (SPECT)). When working with anatomical images, the structures segmented are visible as different parts of the brain, e.g. the brain cortex, the hippocampus, or the amygdala. In functional images, the activity or the blood flow that be seen. Grey-level morphology methods are used in the segmentations to make tissue types in the images more homogenous and minimise difficulties with connections to outside tissue. A method for automatic histogram thresholding is also used. Furthermore, there are binary operations such as logic operation between masks and binary morphology operations. The visualisation of the segmented structures uses either surface rendering or volume rendering. For the visualisation of thin structures, surface rendering is the better choice since otherwise some voxels might be missed. It is possible to display activation from a functional image on the surface of a segmented cortex. A new method for autoradiographic images has been developed, which integrates registration, background compensation, and automatic thresholding to get faster and more reliable results than the standard techniques give

  7. China-Africa: New Directions of Cooperation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L V Ponomarenko

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available This article analyzes the policy of fifth generation of Chinese leadership with regard to African states. The article deals with the concept of “Chinese Dream”, which was first declared in Africa, an innovative model of international cooperation in the framework of the formation of “economic zone of the Silk Road”. The authors reveal three basic directions of cooperation - political, economic and humanitarian cooperation. Political cooperation is characterized by the activation of mutual visits at the highest level, the interaction in the framework of the UN General Assembly, participation in UN peacekeeping operations. Economic cooperation is characterized by the activation of bilateral trade, the transition to a “modernized version of” investment cooperation, implementation of the strategy of “going abroad” of Chinese products, imports of natural resources from Africa, creating jobs for the local population, financing of infrastructure projects, the transfer of labor-intensive industries in Africa. Humanitarian cooperation includes training program for Africa, the implementation of the Sino-African programs, technology partnerships, research and exchange, and the China-Africa Forum “Think Tank”. Cooperation in health care also plays an important role. The authors note that the new Chinese leadership declares transition to an upgraded version of the Sino-African cooperation.

  8. Hierarchy is Detrimental for Human Cooperation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cronin, Katherine A.; Acheson, Daniel J.; Hernández, Penélope; Sánchez, Angel

    2015-01-01

    Studies of animal behavior consistently demonstrate that the social environment impacts cooperation, yet the effect of social dynamics has been largely excluded from studies of human cooperation. Here, we introduce a novel approach inspired by nonhuman primate research to address how social hierarchies impact human cooperation. Participants competed to earn hierarchy positions and then could cooperate with another individual in the hierarchy by investing in a common effort. Cooperation was achieved if the combined investments exceeded a threshold, and the higher ranked individual distributed the spoils unless control was contested by the partner. Compared to a condition lacking hierarchy, cooperation declined in the presence of a hierarchy due to a decrease in investment by lower ranked individuals. Furthermore, hierarchy was detrimental to cooperation regardless of whether it was earned or arbitrary. These findings mirror results from nonhuman primates and demonstrate that hierarchies are detrimental to cooperation. However, these results deviate from nonhuman primate findings by demonstrating that human behavior is responsive to changing hierarchical structures and suggests partnership dynamics that may improve cooperation. This work introduces a controlled way to investigate the social influences on human behavior, and demonstrates the evolutionary continuity of human behavior with other primate species. PMID:26692287

  9. Cladding-like waveguide fabricated by cooperation of ultrafast laser writing and ion irradiation: characterization and laser generation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lv, Jinman; Shang, Zhen; Tan, Yang; Vázquez de Aldana, Javier Rodríguez; Chen, Feng

    2017-08-07

    We report the surface cladding-like waveguide fabricated by the cooperation of the ultrafast laser writing and the ion irradiation. The ultrafast laser writes tracks near the surface of the Nd:YAG crystal, constructing a semi-circle columnar structure with a decreased refractive index of - 0.00208. Then, the Nd:YAG crystal is irradiated by the Carbon ion beam, forming an enhanced-well in the semi-circle columnar with an increased refractive index of + 0.0024. Tracks and the enhanced-well consisted a surface cladding-like waveguide. Utilizing this cladding-like waveguide as the gain medium for the waveguide lasing, optimized characterizations were observed compared with the monolayer waveguide. This work demonstrates the refractive index of the Nd:YAG crystal can be well tailored by the cooperation of the ultrafast laser writing and the ion irradiation, which provides an convenient way to fabricate the complex and multilayered photonics devices.

  10. Exploring Hope, Self-Efficacy, Procrastination, and Study Skills between Cooperative and Non-Cooperative Education Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drysdale, Maureen T. B.; McBeath, Margaret

    2014-01-01

    The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between participation in cooperative education, and several psychological constructs believed to be related to success in both academic and professional settings. Participants, undergraduate cooperative (n = 1224) and non-cooperative education (n = 746) students in all years of study and from…

  11. Surface-associated plasminogen binding of Cryptococcus neoformans promotes extracellular matrix invasion.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jamal Stie

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available The fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans is a leading cause of illness and death in persons with predisposing factors, including: malignancies, solid organ transplants, and corticosteroid use. C. neoformans is ubiquitous in the environment and enters into the lungs via inhalation, where it can disseminate through the bloodstream and penetrate the central nervous system (CNS, resulting in a difficult to treat and often-fatal infection of the brain, called meningoencephalitis. Plasminogen is a highly abundant protein found in the plasma component of blood and is necessary for the degradation of fibrin, collagen, and other structural components of tissues. This fibrinolytic system is utilized by cancer cells during metastasis and several pathogenic species of bacteria have been found to manipulate the host plasminogen system to facilitate invasion of tissues during infection by modifying the activation of this process through the binding of plasminogen at their surface.The invasion of the brain and the central nervous system by penetration of the protective blood-brain barrier is a prerequisite to the establishment of meningoencephalitis by the opportunistic fungal pathogen C. neoformans. In this study, we examined the ability of C. neoformans to subvert the host plasminogen system to facilitate tissue barrier invasion. Through a combination of biochemical, cell biology, and proteomic approaches, we have shown that C. neoformans utilizes the host plasminogen system to cross tissue barriers, providing support for the hypothesis that plasminogen-binding may contribute to the invasion of the blood-brain barrier by penetration of the brain endothelial cells and underlying matrix. In addition, we have identified the cell wall-associated proteins that serve as plasminogen receptors and characterized both the plasminogen-binding and plasmin-activation potential for this significant human pathogen.The results of this study provide evidence for the

  12. Nordic Energy Policy Cooperation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jørgensen, Birte Holst

    2016-01-01

    Brundtland Commission Report, and climate change became a common concern. Energy technology cooperation was an integral part of Nordic energy policy cooperation from the very beginning. The Nordic Energy Research Programme was established with funding from each of the Nordic countries, and was earmarked...... by a committee of senior officials and a secretariat. This was characterised by an incremental development of the cooperation based on consensus, mutual understanding and trust facilitated through exchange of experiences, work groups, seminars, educational activities and mobility schemes for energy policy...

  13. Hormonal mechanisms of cooperative behaviour

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soares, Marta C.; Bshary, Redouan; Fusani, Leonida; Goymann, Wolfgang; Hau, Michaela; Hirschenhauser, Katharina; Oliveira, Rui F.

    2010-01-01

    Research on the diversity, evolution and stability of cooperative behaviour has generated a considerable body of work. As concepts simplify the real world, theoretical solutions are typically also simple. Real behaviour, in contrast, is often much more diverse. Such diversity, which is increasingly acknowledged to help in stabilizing cooperative outcomes, warrants detailed research about the proximate mechanisms underlying decision-making. Our aim here is to focus on the potential role of neuroendocrine mechanisms on the regulation of the expression of cooperative behaviour in vertebrates. We first provide a brief introduction into the neuroendocrine basis of social behaviour. We then evaluate how hormones may influence known cognitive modules that are involved in decision-making processes that may lead to cooperative behaviour. Based on this evaluation, we will discuss specific examples of how hormones may contribute to the variability of cooperative behaviour at three different levels: (i) within an individual; (ii) between individuals and (iii) between species. We hope that these ideas spur increased research on the behavioural endocrinology of cooperation. PMID:20679116

  14. Forestry cooperatives: past and present

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mark G. Rickenbach

    2006-01-01

    Forest landowner cooperatives are not a new phenomenon, but past efforts to create and sustain these businesses have been largely unsuccessful in the U.S. Before and just after World War II saw significant investment in cooperative development that failed to create durable business. The purpose of this chapter is to briefly describe the history of forestry cooperatives...

  15. Cooperative Bacterial Foraging Optimization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hanning Chen

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Bacterial Foraging Optimization (BFO is a novel optimization algorithm based on the social foraging behavior of E. coli bacteria. This paper presents a variation on the original BFO algorithm, namely, the Cooperative Bacterial Foraging Optimization (CBFO, which significantly improve the original BFO in solving complex optimization problems. This significant improvement is achieved by applying two cooperative approaches to the original BFO, namely, the serial heterogeneous cooperation on the implicit space decomposition level and the serial heterogeneous cooperation on the hybrid space decomposition level. The experiments compare the performance of two CBFO variants with the original BFO, the standard PSO and a real-coded GA on four widely used benchmark functions. The new method shows a marked improvement in performance over the original BFO and appears to be comparable with the PSO and GA.

  16. Signaling emotion and reason in cooperation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levine, Emma E; Barasch, Alixandra; Rand, David; Berman, Jonathan Z; Small, Deborah A

    2018-05-01

    We explore the signal value of emotion and reason in human cooperation. Across four experiments utilizing dyadic prisoner dilemma games, we establish three central results. First, individuals infer prosocial feelings and motivations from signals of emotion. As a result, individuals believe that a reliance on emotion signals that one will cooperate more so than a reliance on reason. Second, these beliefs are generally accurate-those who act based on emotion are more likely to cooperate than those who act based on reason. Third, individuals' behavioral responses towards signals of emotion and reason depend on their own decision mode: those who rely on emotion tend to conditionally cooperate (that is, cooperate only when they believe that their partner has cooperated), whereas those who rely on reason tend to defect regardless of their partner's signal. These findings shed light on how different decision processes, and lay theories about decision processes, facilitate and impede cooperation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  17. ¿EXISTE UNA CULTURA COOPERATIVA ORGANIZACIONAL EN TRABAJADORES COOPERATIVISTAS Y NO COOPERATIVISTAS?/IS THERE A CULTURE IN ORGANIZATIONAL COOPERATIVE WORKERS COOPERATIVES AND NO COOPERATIVES?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francisco DIAZ BRETONES

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available En este trabajo se explora si el tipo de cultura cooperativa influye en la estructura de valores personales. Asumiendo que los valores son elementos cambiantes, hipotetizamos que aquellas personas que trabajan en cooperativas desarrollarán perfiles de valores más colectivistas que otros trabajadores de empresas no cooperativas, de manera que la cooperativa tendría una función formativa y de conformación en el desarrollo de valores más colectivistas hacia todos sus integrantes, frete a otro tipo de empresas. Para estudiar este problema de investigación, llevamos a cabo una investigación en dos empresas cooperativas y otras dos no cooperativas. En total se recogieron 148 cuestionarios (74 de trabajadores de cooperativas y 74 de no cooperativas. Los resultados muestran como ambos grupos poseen diferencias significativas aunque no el sentido esperado. /In this work it is explored if the type of cooperative culture influences the structure of personal values. Assuming that the values are changeable elements, suppose that those persons who are employed at cooperatives will develop profiles of more collectivist values than other workpeople of not cooperative companies, so that the cooperative would have a formative function in the development of the most collectivist values towards all his members, opposite to another type of companies. To study this investigation problem, we carry out an investigation in two cooperative companies and other two not co-operatives. In whole there were gathered 148 questionnaires (74 of workpeople of cooperatives and 74 of not cooperatives.The results show both groups possess significant differences although not the awaited ones.

  18. Cooperative Mobile Web Browsing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Perrucci, GP; Fitzek, FHP; Zhang, Qi

    2009-01-01

    This paper advocates a novel approach for mobile web browsing based on cooperation among wireless devices within close proximity operating in a cellular environment. In the actual state of the art, mobile phones can access the web using different cellular technologies. However, the supported data......-range links can then be used for cooperative mobile web browsing. By implementing the cooperative web browsing on commercial mobile phones, it will be shown that better performance is achieved in terms of increased data rate and therefore reduced access times, resulting in a significantly enhanced web...

  19. Cooperation, trust and confidence

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Korver, T.; Oeij, P.R.A.; Urze, P.C.G.D.

    2007-01-01

    Environmental complexity may strain cooperative relationships, both within and beyond organizations, for two reasons. First, when complexity implies uncertainty the predictability of change disappears. Secondly, change may and often will entail different estimates of the cooperating partners on the

  20. Tax cooperation among member states of European Union and Directive on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Josimovski Aleksandar G.

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Countries have possibility to choose between several alternatives for cooperation in international tax matters at global level. They can decide not to cooperate or provide some form of tax cooperation. Because of harmful tax competition among countries and efforts of international organizations, all countries in the world are oblidged to comply with one of multiple alternatives for tax cooperation. Situation in European Union (hereinafter EU is specific. EU is not country or classic international organization. By the reason of its successful functioning, EU has need for tax cooperation. EU has attempted to harmonise tax policies of member states, but member states did not approve that. Only indirect taxes are harmonized on EU level, direct taxes are harmonized only to the point necessarily for functioning of single market. That is why tax cooperation instruments are so important. Object of this paper are procedures and measures, stipulated by the most important instrument in the field of tax cooperation enacted by institutions of EU, its development and status in international tax law. Regulatives and directives in field of tax cooperation in the EU are 'pioneers' in tax matters. EU instruments provide standards which are subsequently accepted by several international organizations - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD and United Nations (UN. Our purpose is to present positive and negative aspects of tax cooperation in the EU. In time of crisis efficient tax cooperation provides higher revenues for the member states, on the other hand, taxpayers and tax administrations have increased expenses as result of tax cooperation which are not fairly distributed.

  1. ATP as a Multi-target Danger Signal in the Brain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ricardo J Rodrigues

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available ATP is released in an activity-dependent manner from different cell types in the brain, fulfilling different roles as a neurotransmitter, neuromodulator, astrocyte-to-neuron communication, propagating astrocytic responses and formatting microglia responses. This involves the activation of different ATP P2 receptors (P2R as well as adenosine receptors upon extracellular ATP catabolism by ecto-nucleotidases. Notably, brain noxious stimuli trigger a sustained increase of extracellular ATP, which plays a key role as danger signal in the brain. This involves a combined action of extracellular ATP in different cell types, namely increasing the susceptibility of neurons to damage, promoting astrogliosis and recruiting and formatting microglia to mount neuroinflammatory responses. Such actions involve the activation of different receptors, as heralded by neuroprotective effects resulting from blockade mainly of P2X7R, P2Y1R and adenosine A2A receptors (A2AR, which hierarchy, cooperation and/or redundancy is still not resolved. These pleiotropic functions of ATP as a danger signal in brain damage prompt a therapeutic interest to multi-target different purinergic receptors to provide maximal opportunities for neuroprotection.

  2. Cooperative Experimental System Development - cooperative techniques beyound initial design and analysis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grønbæk, Kaj; Kyng, Morten; Mogensen, Preben Holst

    1995-01-01

    This chapter represents a step towards the establishment of a new system development approach, called Cooperative Experimental System Development (CESD). CESD seeks to overcome a number of limitations in existing approaches: specification oriented methods usually assume that system design can....../design activities of development projects. In contrast, the CESD approach is characterized by its focus on: active user involvement throughout the entire development process; prototyping experiments closely coupled to work-situations and use-scenarios; transforming results from early cooperative analysis...... be based solely on observation and detached reflection; prototyping methods often have a narrow focus on the technical construction of various kinds of prototypes; Participatory Design techniques—including the Scandinavian Cooperative Design (CD) approaches—seldom go beyond the early analysis...

  3. Social learning in cooperative dilemmas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lamba, Shakti

    2014-07-22

    Helping is a cornerstone of social organization and commonplace in human societies. A major challenge for the evolutionary sciences is to explain how cooperation is maintained in large populations with high levels of migration, conditions under which cooperators can be exploited by selfish individuals. Cultural group selection models posit that such large-scale cooperation evolves via selection acting on populations among which behavioural variation is maintained by the cultural transmission of cooperative norms. These models assume that individuals acquire cooperative strategies via social learning. This assumption remains empirically untested. Here, I test this by investigating whether individuals employ conformist or payoff-biased learning in public goods games conducted in 14 villages of a forager-horticulturist society, the Pahari Korwa of India. Individuals did not show a clear tendency to conform or to be payoff-biased and are highly variable in their use of social learning. This variation is partly explained by both individual and village characteristics. The tendency to conform decreases and to be payoff-biased increases as the value of the modal contribution increases. These findings suggest that the use of social learning in cooperative dilemmas is contingent on individuals' circumstances and environments, and question the existence of stably transmitted cultural norms of cooperation. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

  4. Can earth's magnetic micropulsations induce brain activities modifications?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Assis, Altair Souza de

    2008-01-01

    Full text: We present in this paper preliminary study on which level earth's magnetic micro pulsations might interact with human brain activities. Magnetic micro pulsations are magnetospheric plasma wave Eigenmodes that are generated at the earth's magnetosphere and, via magnetospheric-ionospheric coupling induce ionospheric currents, and this ionospheric current pattern creates surface geomagnetic perturbations, which induce earth's surface electrical currents, and they are easily detected by earth's based magnetometers. These Eigenmodes are basically of Alfven type, and can be generated, for instance, by magnetic storms, situation where they are more intense and, in principle, might be felt by a more sensible human brain. Here, we also show how the modes are generated and present theirs basic physical properties. Finally, we compare the magnetic field level at the brain with the micro pulsation magnetic intensity. (author)

  5. Engaging ESP Students with Brain-Based Learning for Improved Listening Skills, Vocabulary Retention and Motivation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salem, Ashraf Atta Mohamed Safein

    2017-01-01

    The concept of teaching and learning has changed drastically over the past few years by the virtue of both research results carried out in the fields of second/foreign language learning and acquisition. Of all these researches, findings related to the brain structure and functions in cooperation with cognitive aspects of the education process,…

  6. Blood-brain transfer of Pittsburgh compound B in humans

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gjedde, Albert; Aanerud, Joel; Braendgaard, Hans

    2013-01-01

    -brain barrier is held to be high but the permeability-surface area product and extraction fractions in patients or healthy volunteers are not known. We used PET to determine the clearance associated with the unidrectional blood-brain transfer of [(11)C]PiB and the corresponding cerebral blood flow rates...... with the observation that numerically, but insignificantly, unidirectional blood-brain clearances are lower and extraction fractions higher in the patients. The evidence of unchanged permeability-surface area products in the patients implies that blood flow changes can be deduced from the unidirectional blood......In the labeled form, the Pittsburgh compound B (2-(4'-{N-methyl-[(11)C]}methyl-aminophenyl)-6-hydroxy-benzothiazole, [(11)C]PiB), is used as a biomarker for positron emission tomography (PET) of brain β-amyloid deposition in Alzheimer's disease (AD). The permeability of [(11)C]PiB in the blood...

  7. Receptor-Mediated Endocytosis and Brain Delivery of Therapeutic Biologics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guangqing Xiao

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Transport of macromolecules across the blood-brain-barrier (BBB requires both specific and nonspecific interactions between macromolecules and proteins/receptors expressed on the luminal and/or the abluminal surfaces of the brain capillary endothelial cells. Endocytosis and transcytosis play important roles in the distribution of macromolecules. Due to the tight junction of BBB, brain delivery of traditional therapeutic proteins with large molecular weight is generally not possible. There are multiple pathways through which macromolecules can be taken up into cells through both specific and nonspecific interactions with proteins/receptors on the cell surface. This review is focused on the current knowledge of receptor-mediated endocytosis/transcytosis and brain delivery using the Angiopep-2-conjugated system and the molecular Trojan horses. In addition, the role of neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn in regulating the efflux of Immunoglobulin G (IgG from brain to blood, and approaches to improve the pharmacokinetics of therapeutic biologics by generating Fc fusion proteins, and increasing the pH dependent binding affinity between Fc and FcRn, are discussed.

  8. Five Rules for the Evolution of Cooperation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nowak, Martin A.

    2006-12-01

    Cooperation is needed for evolution to construct new levels of organization. Genomes, cells, multicellular organisms, social insects, and human society are all based on cooperation. Cooperation means that selfish replicators forgo some of their reproductive potential to help one another. But natural selection implies competition and therefore opposes cooperation unless a specific mechanism is at work. Here I discuss five mechanisms for the evolution of cooperation: kin selection, direct reciprocity, indirect reciprocity, network reciprocity, and group selection. For each mechanism, a simple rule is derived that specifies whether natural selection can lead to cooperation.

  9. ITDB Cooperation With International Organizations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2010-01-01

    IAEA illicit trafficking database cooperates with many international organizations. Among these organizations are Interpol, Universal Postal Union,and World Customs Organization. Other organizations are Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, UN Economic Commission for Europe, UN-Department of Disarmament Affairs and UN office for Drug and Crime. The cooperation with Interpol involves consultations on issues of training and technical assistance and other matters of common interest.

  10. KAMEDIN: a telemedicine system for computer supported cooperative work and remote image analysis in radiology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Handels, H; Busch, C; Encarnação, J; Hahn, C; Kühn, V; Miehe, J; Pöppl, S I; Rinast, E; Rossmanith, C; Seibert, F; Will, A

    1997-03-01

    The software system KAMEDIN (Kooperatives Arbeiten und MEdizinische Diagnostik auf Innovativen Netzen) is a multimedia telemedicine system for exchange, cooperative diagnostics, and remote analysis of digital medical image data. It provides components for visualisation, processing, and synchronised audio-visual discussion of medical images. Techniques of computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) synchronise user interactions during a teleconference. Visibility of both local and remote cursor on the conference workstations facilitates telepointing and reinforces the conference partner's telepresence. Audio communication during teleconferences is supported by an integrated audio component. Furthermore, brain tissue segmentation with artificial neural networks can be performed on an external supercomputer as a remote image analysis procedure. KAMEDIN is designed as a low cost CSCW tool for ISDN based telecommunication. However it can be used on any TCP/IP supporting network. In a field test, KAMEDIN was installed in 15 clinics and medical departments to validate the systems' usability. The telemedicine system KAMEDIN has been developed, tested, and evaluated within a research project sponsored by German Telekom.

  11. Cooperation, compensation and transition

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ju, Y.

    2004-01-01

    Cooperation and compensation are two important and well-linked issues in economics. The central question in cooperation is how to share the joint gains among participating players. Compensation is a specific aspect of surplus sharing problems providing incentives for agents to sacrifice their own

  12. Industrial Buyer-Supplier Cooperation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Olsen, Rasmus Friis

    The dissertation considers industrial buyer-supplier cooperation from a systems and management perspective. The purpose is to discuss and elaborate on the buying company’s choice of cooperation strategy (governance mechanism). It is stated that no single governance mechanism will be the best in all...

  13. The cooperation between family and school in cooperative education of children and youth in the Second Polish Republic (1918-1939

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ELŻBIETA MAGIERA

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Pedagogical journalism and literature of the interwar period emphasised importance of the cooperation between family and school with respect to cooperative education of school-age children and youth. Cooperative education started usually in family through the formation of reason, will and emotions. Family home constituted a basic level of education and could repeatedly stimulate cooperative interests. Common work of the family at family farm or in craft or cottage industry business became the first school of cooperation and joint-action on which cooperative activity was based. Family home played a supporting part in the development of student cooperative. The acceptance of parents and their recognition, and sometimes their involvement in the work of student cooperation, were a form of encouragement for students and teachers for further activity of the cooperative. At the same time, student cooperative – in particular in rural areas – was a medium stimulating the parents of these students and the environment to cooperatistic actions. The social life of school was guided by the principle of convergence, i.e. its interpenetration and complementation by the family home and environment life. The idea of cooperation in the interwar educational system being accomplished in practice by means of student cooperatives had the possibilities of playing a very big part. This was determined by its broad application in educational activity of the Polish school as well as its understanding and acceptance by the family and environment. Important part was played by the tutor of student cooperative. His / her duty was to tighten the cooperation between student cooperative and family home which, on the one hand, ensured the understanding of teacher's actions and, on the other hand, provided material and moral assistance for the cooperative. At the same time, teacher – through student cooperative – could influence socially and educationally the family and

  14. Cognitive Load and Cooperation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Døssing, Felix Sebastian; Piovesan, Marco; Wengström, Erik Roland

    2017-01-01

    We study the effect of intuitive and reflective processes on cooperation using cognitive load. Compared with time constraint, which has been used in the previous literature, cognitive load is a more direct way to block reflective processes, and thus a more suitable way to study the link between...... intuition and cooperation. Using a repeated public goods game, we study the effect of different levels of cognitive load on contributions. We show that a higher cognitive load increases the initial level of cooperation. In particular, subjects are significantly less likely to fully free ride under high...... cognitive load....

  15. Prospects for regional cooperation. Regional cooperation in remote monitoring for nuclear nonproliferation and transparency

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Olsen, John

    2006-01-01

    The JAEA and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) have cooperated for a decade in development and testing of remote monitoring technologies in support of international safeguards. With this technology approaching maturity, the JAEA/SNL partnership now envisions regional cooperation to use these technologies to advance nuclear transparency and strengthen nonproliferation, as well. This presentation summarizes the technical evolution and notes the opportunity for regional cooperation to include institutions in the ROK, as well as Japan and the US. (author)

  16. Territorial Cooperation With Non-Eu Regions

    OpenAIRE

    Rodriguez-Cohard, Juan Carlos; Alfonso, Javier; Vázquez-Barquero, Antonio

    2012-01-01

    TERRITORIAL COOPERATION WITH NON-EU REGIONS Territorial Cooperation (TC) has been possible because there is a trajectory of many years of work invested by the local actors, participants who have become the architects of TC through the city or region involved. Transcontinental cooperation as studied by the European Union TERCO project is providing important lessons for understanding TC. The purpose of the presentation is to analyze the Andalusian-North of Morocco territorial cooperation during...

  17. Applied clinical and pathogenetic aspects of interdisciplinary cooperation in the diagnosis and treatment of concussion of brain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. N. Hertsev

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available The article discusses the issues of pathogenesis and diagnostics of different variants of dizziness, as one of the main symptoms of traumatic brain injury. Along with traumatic brain injury raises concussion of the labyrinth benign paroxysmal positional vertigo and others described a range of diagnostic assessment techniques and differential diagnosis of post-traumatic nystagmus, as well as the adequacy of the practical application of a number of vestibulometric studies, caloric tests, tests, medical maneuvers, and their effectiveness from a position of evidence-based medicine.

  18. Theoretical and methodological bases of the cooperation and the cooperative

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claudio Alberto Rivera Rodríguez

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The present work has the purpose to approach the theoretical and methodological foundations of the rise of the cooperatives. In this article are studied the logical antecedents of the cooperativism, the premises  establish by  the Industrial Revolution for the emergence of the first modern cooperative “The Pioneers of Rochdale”  that  is  the inflection point of  cooperativism, until analyzing the contributions of the whole thinking  of the time that maintain this process.

  19. Three-dimensional surface display with [sup 123]I-IMP brain perfusion imaging in patients with dementia

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tomino, Yoshio; Tachibana, Hisao; Sugita, Minoru [Hyogo Coll. of Medicine, Nishinomiya (Japan)

    1994-04-01

    We reconstructed three-dimensional (3D) surface images from SPECT data with N-isopropyl-p [[sup 123]I]-iodo-amphetamine ([sup 123]I-IMP) in 27 patients with Parkinson's disease (group 1), 16 patients with Alzheimer's disease (group 2), 9 patients with Binswanger's disease (group 3), and 11 elderly normal subjects (control group). Three-D reconstruction was performed using distance-shaded method at the threshold levels at intervals of 5% from 45% to 80%. In the control group, no perfusion defects were found in any region at threshold values below 60%, although the frontal and temporal cortices occasionally showed perfusion defects at threshold levels from 60% to 80%. In the group 1 of patients with dementia, perfusion defects were diffuse, particularly in the parietal and temporal cortices even at a threshold of 45%. The group 2 also showed diffuse perfusion defects, particularly in parietal and temporal cortices even at threshold levels as low as 45%. The primary visual cortex was less affected in this group. The demented patients in the group 1 demonstrated perfusion defects similar to those of patients in the group 2, although perfusion defects were more prominent in the group 2. In the group 3, patchy perfusion defects were found most frequently in the frontal region. Perfusion defects in the cerebellum and sensory motor cortex were more frequent in the group 3 than the other two groups, as well as the control group. The demented patients in the group 1 showed perfusion defects in the temporal and parietal cortices and demonstrated a perfusion pattern similar to those in the group 2. The patterns of brain perfusion in the group 3 were obviously different from those in the other two groups. In conclusion, 3D surface display of brain perfusion imaging may be useful for evaluating the cortical hypoperfusion regions in patients with dementia. It may also be of value in the differential diagnosis of cognitive disorders. (J.P.N.).

  20. Advisory and autonomous cooperative driving systems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Broek, T.H.A. van den; Ploeg, J.; Netten, B.D.

    2011-01-01

    In this paper, the traffic efficiency of an advisory cooperative driving system, Advisory Acceleration Control is examined and compared to the efficiency of an autonomous cooperative driving system, Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control. The algorithms and implementation thereof are explained. The

  1. A visual description of the dissection of the cerebral surface vasculature and associated meninges and the choroid plexus from rat brain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bowyer, John F; Thomas, Monzy; Patterson, Tucker A; George, Nysia I; Runnells, Jeffrey A; Levi, Mark S

    2012-11-14

    This video presentation was created to show a method of harvesting the two most important highly vascular structures, not residing within the brain proper, that support forebrain function. They are the cerebral surface (superficial) vasculature along with associated meninges (MAV) and the choroid plexus which are necessary for cerebral blood flow and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) homeostasis. The tissue harvested is suitable for biochemical and physiological analysis, and the MAV has been shown to be sensitive to damage produced by amphetamine and hyperthermia. As well, the major and minor cerebral vasculatures harvested in MAV are of potentially high interest when investigating concussive types of head trauma. The MAV dissected in this presentation consists of the pial and some of the arachnoid membrane (less dura) of the meninges and the major and minor cerebral surface vasculature. The choroid plexus dissected is the structure that resides in the lateral ventricles as described by Oldfield and McKinley. The methods used for harvesting these two tissues also facilitate the harvesting of regional cortical tissue devoid of meninges and larger cerebral surface vasculature, and is compatible with harvesting other brain tissues such as striatum, hypothalamus, hippocampus, etc. The dissection of the two tissues takes from 5 to 10 min total. The gene expression levels for the dissected MAV and choroid plexus, as shown and described in this presentation can be found at GSE23093 (MAV) and GSE29733 (choroid plexus) at the NCBI GEO repository. This data has been, and is being, used to help further understand the functioning of the MAV and choroid plexus and how neurotoxic events such as severe hyperthermia and AMPH adversely affect their function.

  2. Cooperation induces other cooperation: Fruiting bodies promote the evolution of macrocysts in Dictyostelium discoideum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shibasaki, Shota; Shirokawa, Yuka; Shimada, Masakazu

    2017-05-21

    Biological studies of the evolution of cooperation are challenging because this process is vulnerable to cheating. Many mechanisms, including kin discrimination, spatial structure, or by-products of self-interested behaviors, can explain this evolution. Here we propose that the evolution of cooperation can be induced by other cooperation. To test this idea, we used a model organism Dictyostelium discoideum because it exhibits two cooperative dormant phases, the fruiting body and the macrocyst. In both phases, the same chemoattractant, cyclic AMP (cAMP), is used to collect cells. This common feature led us to hypothesize that the evolution of macrocyst formation would be induced by coexistence with fruiting bodies. Before forming a mathematical model, we confirmed that macrocysts coexisted with fruiting bodies, at least under laboratory conditions. Next, we analyzed our evolutionary game theory-based model to investigate whether coexistence with fruiting bodies would stabilize macrocyst formation. The model suggests that macrocyst formation represents an evolutionarily stable strategy and a global invader strategy under this coexistence, but is unstable if the model ignores the fruiting body formation. This result indicates that the evolution of macrocyst formation and maintenance is attributable to coexistence with fruiting bodies. Therefore, macrocyst evolution can be considered as an example of evolution of cooperation induced by other cooperation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Cooperative Prototyping Experiments

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bødker, Susanne; Grønbæk, Kaj

    1989-01-01

    This paper describes experiments with a design technique that we denote cooperative prototyping. The experiments consider design of a patient case record system for municipal dental clinics in which we used HyperCard, an off the shelf programming environment for the Macintosh. In the ecperiments we...... tried to achieve a fluent work-like evaluation of prototypes where users envisioned future work with a computer tool, at the same time as we made on-line modifications of prototypes in cooperation with the users when breakdown occur in their work-like evaluation. The experiments showed...... that it was possible to make a number of direct manipulation changes of prototypes in cooperation with the users, in interplay with their fluent work-like evaluation of these. However, breakdown occurred in the prototyping process when we reached the limits of the direct manipulation support for modification. From...

  4. Cooperative decision making in a stochastic environment

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Suijs, J.P.M.

    1998-01-01

    Cooperative game theory is a mathematical tool to analyze situations involving several individuals who can obtain certain benefits by cooperating. The main questions this theory addresses are who will cooperate with whom and how will the corresponding benefits be divided. Most results of cooperative

  5. Is Cooperative Memory Special? The Role of Costly Errors, Context, and Social Network Size When Remembering Cooperative Actions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tim Winke

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Theoretical studies of cooperative behavior have focused on decision strategies, such as tit-for-tat, that depend on remembering a partner’s last choices. Yet, an empirical study by Stevens et al. (2011 demonstrated that human memory may not meet the requirements that needed to use these strategies. When asked to recall the previous behavior of simulated partners in a cooperative memory task, participants performed poorly, making errors in 10–24% of the trials. However, we do not know the extent to which this task taps specialized cognition for cooperation. It may be possible to engage participants in more cooperative, strategic thinking, which may improve memory. On the other hand, compared with other situations, a cooperative context may already engage improved memory via cheater detection mechanisms. This study investigated the specificity of memory in cooperative contexts by varying (1 the costs of errors in memory by making forgetting defection more costly and (2 whether the recall situation is framed as a cooperative or neutral context. Also, we investigated whether variation in participants’ social network size could account for individual differences observed in memory accuracy. We found that neither including differential costs for misremembering defection nor removing the cooperative context influenced memory accuracy for cooperation. Combined, these results suggest that memory accuracy is robust to differences in the cooperative context: Adding more strategic components does not help accuracy, and removing cooperative components does not hurt accuracy. Social network size, however, did correlate with memory accuracy: People with larger networks remembered the events better. These findings suggest that cooperative memory does not seem to be special compared with other forms of memory, which aligns with previous work demonstrating the domain generality of memory. However, the demands of interacting in a large social network may

  6. Establishment of International Cooperative Network and Cooperative Research Strategy Between Korea and USA on Nuclear Thermal Hydraulics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baek, Won Pil; Song, Chul Hwa; Jeong, Jae Jun; Choi, Ki Yong; Kang, Kyoung Ho

    2004-07-01

    1. Scope and Objectives of the Project - Successful holding of the NURETH-10 - Analysis of the international trends in technology development and applications for nuclear thermal-hydraulics - Establishment of the international cooperative network and cooperative research strategy between Korea and USA on nuclear thermal-hydraulics 2. Research Results - Successful holding of the NURETH-10 - Analysis of the international trends in technology development and applications for nuclear thermal-hydraulics: - Establishment of international cooperative network and cooperative research strategy focused between Korea and USA on nuclear thermal-hydraulics: 3. Application Plan of the Research Results - Utilization as the basic data/information in establishing the domestic R and D directions and the international cooperative research strategy, - Application of the relevant experiences and data bases of NURETH-10 for holding future international conferences, - Promote more effective and productive research cooperation between Korea and USA

  7. South-South Development Cooperation and Soft Power. The case of Brazil's foreign policy and technical cooperation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bry, Sandra

    's participation in development cooperation and how these international political ambitions influence the project model of its South-South Development Cooperation, called technical cooperation. This was done by investigating the manifestations of ‘soft power’ in Brazilian development cooperation activities...... of the agent's attractive actions without which a country's soft power is non-existent. Therefore this thesis maintains that soft power theory should shift its current analytical focus from the agent to the subject and enhance the analysis on the role of subject's perceptions in the creation of ‘soft...

  8. Computerized analysis of brain perfusion parameter images

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Turowski, B.; Haenggi, D.; Wittsack, H.J.; Beck, A.; Aurich, V.

    2007-01-01

    Purpose: The development of a computerized method which allows a direct quantitative comparison of perfusion parameters. The display should allow a clear direct comparison of brain perfusion parameters in different vascular territories and over the course of time. The analysis is intended to be the basis for further evaluation of cerebral vasospasm after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). The method should permit early diagnosis of cerebral vasospasm. Materials and Methods: The Angiotux 2D-ECCET software was developed with a close cooperation between computer scientists and clinicians. Starting from parameter images of brain perfusion, the cortex was marked, segmented and assigned to definite vascular territories. The underlying values were averages for each segment and were displayed in a graph. If a follow-up was available, the mean values of the perfusion parameters were displayed in relation to time. The method was developed under consideration of CT perfusion values but is applicable for other methods of perfusion imaging. Results: Computerized analysis of brain perfusion parameter images allows an immediate comparison of these parameters and follow-up of mean values in a clear and concise manner. Values are related to definite vascular territories. The tabular output facilitates further statistic evaluations. The computerized analysis is precisely reproducible, i. e., repetitions result in exactly the same output. (orig.)

  9. 45 CFR 46.114 - Cooperative research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... Welfare DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GENERAL ADMINISTRATION PROTECTION OF HUMAN SUBJECTS Basic HHS Policy for Protection of Human Research Subjects § 46.114 Cooperative research. Cooperative... conduct of cooperative research projects, each institution is responsible for safeguarding the rights and...

  10. Building up active membership in cooperatives

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Verhees, F.J.H.M.; Sergaki, P.; Dijk, van G.

    2015-01-01

    Abstract Active membership is crucial for agricultural cooperatives as it engenders better performance. It even is the key for cooperative competitiveness. Active membership, however, decreases in many cooperatives. Thus, it is important to know what galvanizes members to become active members. The

  11. 7 CFR 1220.107 - Cooperator organization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 10 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Cooperator organization. 1220.107 Section 1220.107... CONSUMER INFORMATION Soybean Promotion and Research Order Definitions § 1220.107 Cooperator organization. The term Cooperator Organization means the American Soybean Association, or any successor organization...

  12. 50 CFR 81.3 - Cooperative Agreement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ...) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE-WILDLIFE SPORT FISH RESTORATION PROGRAM CONSERVATION OF ENDANGERED AND THREATENED SPECIES OF FISH, WILDLIFE, AND PLANTS-COOPERATION WITH THE STATES § 81.3 Cooperative Agreement. Upon... Project Agreement can be approved for endangered or threatened species projects. A cooperative agreement...

  13. A Nucleolus for Stochastic Cooperative Games

    OpenAIRE

    Suijs, J.P.M.

    1996-01-01

    This paper extends the definition of the nucleolus to stochastic cooperative games, that is, to cooperative games with random payoffs to the coalitions. It is shown that the nucleolus is nonempty and that it belongs to the core whenever the core is nonempty. Furthermore, it is shown for a particular class of stochastic cooperative games that the nucleolus can be determined by calculating the traditional nucleolus introduced by Schmeidler (1969) of a specific deterministic cooperative game.

  14. On the relative advantage of cooperatives

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Albæk, Svend; Schultz, Christian

    1998-01-01

    We show that the fact that farmers in a cooperative individually decide how much to supply to the cooperative may serve as a commitment device for credibly (and profitably) gaining market share in competition with a profit maximizing firm......We show that the fact that farmers in a cooperative individually decide how much to supply to the cooperative may serve as a commitment device for credibly (and profitably) gaining market share in competition with a profit maximizing firm...

  15. Regional cooperation planning. Project planning for JAEA/SNL regional cooperation on remote monitoring

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Olsen, John

    2006-01-01

    Developing cooperation between the JAEA's NPSTC and the NNCA may take advantage of bilateral activities between those parties and SNL. The merger of JNC and JAERI has affected the schedule for JAEA/SNL cooperation. Also, the evolution of the NNCA as an independent agency has slowed the projected schedule for cooperation between the JAEA and the NNCA. A potential schedule for establishment of a quadrilateral remote monitoring system may include interim activities, securing an agreement of some type, and actual establishment of VPN links. A parallel schedule might exist for informing other regional parties and gaining their interest. (author)

  16. Subsidizing R&D cooperatives

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hinloopen, J.

    2001-01-01

    A framework is developed with which the implementation of two commonly used R&D-stimulating policies can be evaluated: providing R&D subsidies and sustaining the formation of R&D cooperatives. Subsidized R&D cooperatives can also be analyzed. The analysis shows that providing R&D subsidies is more

  17. Total brain, cortical and white matter volumes in children previously treated with glucocorticoids

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Holm, Sara K; Madsen, Kathrine S; Vestergaard, Martin

    2018-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Perinatal exposure to glucocorticoids and elevated endogenous glucocorticoid-levels during childhood can have detrimental effects on the developing brain. Here, we examined the impact of glucocorticoid-treatment during childhood on brain volumes. METHODS: Thirty children and adolescents...... with rheumatic or nephrotic disease previously treated with glucocorticoids and 30 controls matched on age, sex, and parent education underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain. Total cortical grey and white matter, brain, and intracranial volume, and total cortical thickness and surface area were...... were mainly driven by the children with rheumatic disease. Total cortical thickness and cortical surface area did not significantly differ between groups. We found no significant associations between glucocorticoid-treatment variables and volumetric measures. CONCLUSION: Observed smaller total brain...

  18. University-Company Cooperation in a Hydroelectric Plant: Cooperation Study in Environmental Management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fabricio Mussi

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Hydroelectric power plants are considered strategic for the country when considering their relevance and impact on other sectors of the economy. However, the dynamics of the operation of a plant, its support structure and power generation activities can cause impacts on the environment, which must be constantly monitored in order to mitigate any environmental risks. The purpose of this study is to examine the partnership relations between a plant by menas of the creation of a department within the environmental management and universities and research institutes to identify specific partnerships in environmental management and hydroelectric plants. Six projects have been selected for analysis, four of them related to projects with universities and two related to cooperation with research institutes. The focus of the analysis was restricted to the main points observed in the management of these partnerships, which are: (a motivation for establishing partnerships, (b the composition of the estimated costs for implementing these partnerships, (c the difficulties of reconciling technical management and financial management, and (d the measurement of results and contributions from these interactions. Administrative practices of management of partnerships were also analyzed in the stages preceding cooperation for cooperation and further cooperation. Although other such studies are needed to strengthen the findings presented, one can conclude that the purposes of the establishment of cooperation in environmental management differ from those observed in other fields of knowledge such as engineering and biotechnology, for example.

  19. Soviet/Russian-American space cooperation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karash, Yuri Y.

    This dissertation seeks to answer two questions: (1) what are the necessary conditions for the emergence of meaningful space cooperation between Russia and the United States, and (2) might this cooperation continue developing on its own merit, contributing to the further rapprochement between the two countries, even if the conditions that originated the cooperation were to change? The study examines the entire space era up to this point, 1957 to 1997, from the first satellite launch through the joint U.S.-Russian work on the ISS project. It focuses on the analysis of three distinct periods of possible and real cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union/Russia. The first possibility for a limited Soviet-American cooperation in space emerged in the late 1950s, together with the space age, and continued until the mid-1960s. The major potential joint project of this period was a human expedition to the Moon. The global competition/confrontation between the two countries prevented actual cooperation. The second period was from the late 1960s until 1985 with consideration of experimental docking missions, including the docking of a reusable U.S. shuttle to a Soviet Salyut-type station. The global U.S.-Soviet competition still continued, but the confrontation was replaced by detente for a brief period of time lasting from the end of 1960s until mid-1970s. Detente gave the first example of U.S.-Soviet cooperation in space---the Apollo-Soyuz joint space flight (ASTP) which took place in 1975. However, the lack of interest of political leaderships in continuation of broad-scale cooperation between the two countries, and the end of detente, removed ASTP-like projects out of question at least until 1985. The third period started together with Mikhail Gorbachev's Perestroika in 1985 and continues until now. It involves almost a hundred of joint space projects both at the governmental and at the private sectors levels. The mainstream of the joint activities

  20. Post-socialist agricultural cooperatives in Russia : A case study of top-down cooperatives in the Belgorod region

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    A. Kurakin (Alexander); O. Visser (Oane)

    2017-01-01

    markdownabstractThrough a study of agricultural service cooperatives in Russia’s Belgorod region, this article addresses two gaps in the literature: _first_, the dearth of empirical studies on cooperatives in post-socialist Russia; _second_, the lack of attention to top-down cooperatives in

  1. Organizational choices for international cooperation: East-West European cooperation on regional environmental problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Connolly, Barbara Mary

    This dissertation applies theoretical insights from transaction cost economics to explain and predict the organizational form of cooperative agreements between Eastern and Western Europe in areas of regional environmental and political concern. It examines five contracting problems related to nuclear power safety and acid rain, and describes the history of international negotiations to manage these problems. It argues that the level of interdependence in a given issue area, or costly effects experienced in one state due to activities and decisions of other states, along with the level of transactional vulnerability, or sunk costs invested in support of a particular contractual relationship among these states, are key determinants of the governance structures states choose to facilitate cooperation in that issue area. Empirically, the dissertation traces the evolution of three sets of institutional arrangements related to nuclear safety: governance for western nuclear safety assistance to Eastern Europe, negotiations of a global convention on safety standards for nuclear power plants, and contracts among utilities and multilateral banks to build new nuclear power plants in Eastern Europe. Next it studies European acid rain, chronicling the history of international acid rain controls within the UNECE Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP) and the European Union, and finally examining institutional arrangements for burden-sharing to promote European bargains on emissions reduction, including bilateral aid transfers and proposals for multilateral burden sharing. Political actors have a wide range of choice among institutional arrangements to facilitate international cooperation, from simple market-type exchanges, to arbitration-type regimes that provide information and enhance reputation effects, to self-enforcing agreements such as issue-linkage, to supranational governance. The governance structures states devise to manage their cooperative

  2. Coordinating choice in partial cooperative equilibrium

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mallozzi, L.; Tijs, S.H.

    2009-01-01

    In this paper we consider symmetric aggregative games and investigate partial cooperation between a portion of the players that sign a cooperative agreement and the rest of the players. Existence results of partial cooperative equilibria are obtained when the players who do not sign the agreement

  3. Report: National Conference on Cooperative Education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bureau of Occupational and Adult Education (DHEW/OE), Washington, DC. Div. of Vocational and Technical Education.

    The conference report on cooperative vocational education contains four main sections. The first, background papers, contains three papers: Education in a Changing Society, Carl H. Madden; A Prospectus for Cooperative Vocational Education, William F. Pierce; and Critical Issues in Cooperative Vocational Education, Robert M. Worthington. The second…

  4. Human cooperation by lethal group competition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Egas, Martijn; Kats, Ralph; van der Sar, Xander; Reuben, Ernesto; Sabelis, Maurice W

    2013-01-01

    Why humans are prone to cooperate puzzles biologists, psychologists and economists alike. Between-group conflict has been hypothesized to drive within-group cooperation. However, such conflicts did not have lasting effects in laboratory experiments, because they were about luxury goods, not needed for survival ("looting"). Here, we find within-group cooperation to last when between-group conflict is implemented as "all-out war" (eliminating the weakest groups). Human subjects invested in helping group members to avoid having the lowest collective pay-off, whereas they failed to cooperate in control treatments with random group elimination or with no subdivision in groups. When the game was repeated, experience was found to promote helping. Thus, not within-group interactions alone, not random group elimination, but pay-off-dependent group elimination was found to drive within-group cooperation in our experiment. We suggest that some forms of human cooperation are maintained by multi-level selection: reciprocity within groups and lethal competition among groups acting together.

  5. The level of influence of trust, commitment, cooperation, and power in the interorganizational relationships of Brazilian credit cooperatives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Denise Maria Martins

    Full Text Available Abstract This article aims to analyze the level of influence of trust, commitment, cooperation, and power in the interrelationships of individual credit cooperatives and their central organization in Brazil. The quantitative and descriptive research was developed in unique credit unions linked to the Central Bank of Brazil and the Organization of Brazilian Cooperatives. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling, with the estimation through partial least squares. The results obtained for the coefficients of determination (R2 of the endogenous latent variables confirmed the assumptions found in the theoretical models of Morgan and Hunt (1994 and Coote, Forrest, and Tam (2003. Statistical significance was also found in the relationships between power and trust, commitment and cooperation, trust and commitment, trust and cooperation, and power and commitment. However, in this study the relationship between power and commitment characterized the significance and was positive between the individual credit cooperatives and their central organization. This is in line with the understanding that power is the solution to resolving conflicts. The research identifies how the constructs of trust, commitment, cooperation, and power show relevance to the alignment of relations between individual credit cooperatives and their central organization.

  6. Cooperation between territorial communities: theory and practice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    П. М. Любченко

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Problem Setting. The paper analyzes the problems in the system of legal regulation of cooperation between communities, highlights the advantages and disadvantages of such cooperation in Ukrainian local government. Analysis of the recent researches and publications. The legal basis for cooperation in the field of local government are provisions of the Constitution and laws of Ukraine, by-laws. The organizational principles of communities cooperation, principles, forms and mechanisms of such cooperation and its promotion, financing and monitoring prescribed by the Law of Ukraine «On cooperation of local communities» 17 June 2014, which provides five possible forms of cooperation. Paper main body. The first form - delegation to one party of cooperation by another parties of cooperation execution of one or few tasks with transferring of appropriate resources - one of the most difficult to implement, therefore in Ukraine it is not yet implemented. The second form – realization of joint projects, involving coordination of activities between parties of cooperation and accumulating them for a certain period resources to joint implementation of appropriate measures - one of the most common. This  form is popular because of its simplicity and versatility. Parties are determining the purpose of the project, terms and conditions of its implementation, a list of activities and conditions for their implementation, financial liabilities, other forms of local governments participation in implementation of the project and mechanism of coordination. The third and fourth forms aimed on the creation and maintenance of communal enterprises, institutions and organizations - joint infrastructure projects by parties of cooperation. This form of cooperation with the prospect of widespread use because it is aimed at ensuring effective use of resources of local communities based on common application available in one of the subjects of cooperation of municipal

  7. Latin American cooperation on nuclear energy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Faria, N.M. de; Associacao Brasileira de Direito Nuclear, Rio de Janeiro)

    1984-01-01

    The cooperation between Latin American countries on nuclear matters in which Brazil should play a significant role is presented. The possible areas for cooperation, particularly the nuclear law, are focused. The cooperation should be developed on bilateral or multilateral basis, by governmental and non governmental entities. (Author) [pt

  8. Co-Operative Learning and Development Networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hodgson, V.; McConnell, D.

    1995-01-01

    Discusses the theory, nature, and benefits of cooperative learning. Considers the Cooperative Learning and Development Network (CLDN) trial in the JITOL (Just in Time Open Learning) project and examines the relationship between theories about cooperative learning and the reality of a group of professionals participating in a virtual cooperative…

  9. Autonomic computing enabled cooperative networked design

    CERN Document Server

    Wodczak, Michal

    2014-01-01

    This book introduces the concept of autonomic computing driven cooperative networked system design from an architectural perspective. As such it leverages and capitalises on the relevant advancements in both the realms of autonomic computing and networking by welding them closely together. In particular, a multi-faceted Autonomic Cooperative System Architectural Model is defined which incorporates the notion of Autonomic Cooperative Behaviour being orchestrated by the Autonomic Cooperative Networking Protocol of a cross-layer nature. The overall proposed solution not only advocates for the inc

  10. Fostering cooperative activism through critical design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Menendez Blanco, Maria; Bjørn, Pernille; De Angeli, Antonella

    2017-01-01

    Critical design is gaining momentum in interaction design, yet little CSCW research has focused on articulating the cooperative potentials of critical design artefacts. We address this gap by reflecting upon a design project aimed at overturning the prevailing narrative regarding dyslexia in Italy....... The adversarial propositions embedded in our critical design artefacts challenged the description of dyslexia as a learning disorder putting forward the view of a learning difference. These artefacts demonstrated their capacity to bridge heterogeneous social worlds (those of teachers, children, and parents......) into one cooperative entity and mobilise cooperative activism. The contribution to CSCW is two-fold. Firstly, we introduce the cooperative potentials of critical design artefacts; secondly, we propose critical design as a strategy for researchers engaging with cooperative activism....

  11. Cooperative learning in 21st century

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David W. Johnson

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available The 21st century brings four important challenges in which cooperation plays a central role: (1 a rapidly increasing global interdependence that will result in increasing local diversity as well as more frequent and intense conflicts, (2 the increasing number of democracies throughout the world, (3 the need for creative entrepreneurs, and (4 the growing importance of interpersonal relationships that affect the development of personal identity. The tools for meeting these challenges include cooperative learning. In this article the nature of cooperative learning will be reviewed, the underlying theory of social interdependence will be discussed, and the results of the research on cooperative learning will be briefly reviewed. The way in which cooperative learning contributes to meeting the four challenges will then be discussed.

  12. The Professionalization of Intelligence Cooperation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Svendsen, Adam David Morgan

    "Providing an in-depth insight into the subject of intelligence cooperation (officially known as liason), this book explores the complexities of this process. Towards facilitating a general understanding of the professionalization of intelligence cooperation, Svendsen's analysis includes risk...... management and encourages the realisation of greater resilience. Svendsen discusses the controversial, mixed and uneven characterisations of the process of the professionalization of intelligence cooperation and argues for a degree of 'fashioning method out of mayhem' through greater operational...

  13. Partner Choice in Raven (Corvus corax) Cooperation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asakawa-Haas, Kenji; Schiestl, Martina; Bugnyar, Thomas; Massen, Jorg J M

    2016-01-01

    Although social animals frequently make decisions about when or with whom to cooperate, little is known about the underlying mechanisms of partner choice. Most previous studies compared different dyads' performances, though did not allow an actual choice among partners. We tested eleven ravens, Corvus corax, in triads, giving them first the choice to cooperate with either a highly familiar or a rather unfamiliar partner and, second, with either a friend or a non-friend using a cooperative string-pulling task. In either test, the ravens had a second choice and could cooperate with the other partner, given that this one had not pulled the string in the meantime. We show that during the experiments, these partner ravens indeed learn to wait and inhibit pulling, respectively. Moreover, the results of these two experiments show that ravens' preferences for a specific cooperation partner are not based on familiarity. In contrast, the ravens did show a preference based on relationship quality, as they did choose to cooperate significantly more with friends than with non-friends and they were also more proficient when cooperating with a friend. In order to further identify the proximate mechanism of this preference, we designed an open-choice experiment for the whole group where all birds were free to cooperate on two separate apparatuses. This set-up allowed us to distinguish between preferences for close proximity and preferences to cooperate. The results revealed that friends preferred staying close to each other, but did not necessarily cooperate with one another, suggesting that tolerance of proximity and not relationship quality as a whole may be the driving force behind partner choice in raven cooperation. Consequently, we stress the importance of experiments that allow such titrations and, suggest that these results have important implications for the interpretations of cooperation studies that did not include open partner choice.

  14. The good governance and management  of cooperative societies under cooperative values: a didactic review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Eduardo Souza de Miranda

    2005-12-01

    Full Text Available Regarding the administrative management of cooperative enterprises, the various cooperative laws establish the need to organize a social-democratic structure formed by all members of society.

  15. Predicting Human Cooperation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John J Nay

    Full Text Available The Prisoner's Dilemma has been a subject of extensive research due to its importance in understanding the ever-present tension between individual self-interest and social benefit. A strictly dominant strategy in a Prisoner's Dilemma (defection, when played by both players, is mutually harmful. Repetition of the Prisoner's Dilemma can give rise to cooperation as an equilibrium, but defection is as well, and this ambiguity is difficult to resolve. The numerous behavioral experiments investigating the Prisoner's Dilemma highlight that players often cooperate, but the level of cooperation varies significantly with the specifics of the experimental predicament. We present the first computational model of human behavior in repeated Prisoner's Dilemma games that unifies the diversity of experimental observations in a systematic and quantitatively reliable manner. Our model relies on data we integrated from many experiments, comprising 168,386 individual decisions. The model is composed of two pieces: the first predicts the first-period action using solely the structural game parameters, while the second predicts dynamic actions using both game parameters and history of play. Our model is successful not merely at fitting the data, but in predicting behavior at multiple scales in experimental designs not used for calibration, using only information about the game structure. We demonstrate the power of our approach through a simulation analysis revealing how to best promote human cooperation.

  16. Three-dimensional morphology of the human embryonic brain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. Shiraishi

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available The morphogenesis of the cerebral vesicles and ventricles was visualized in 3D movies using images derived from human embryo specimens between Carnegie stage 13 and 23 from the Kyoto Collection. These images were acquired with a magnetic resonance microscope equipped with a 2.35-T superconducting magnet. Three-dimensional images using the same scale demonstrated brain development and growth effectively. The non-uniform thickness of the brain tissue, which may indicate brain differentiation, was visualized with thickness-based surface color mapping. A closer view was obtained of the unique and complicated differentiation of the rhombencephalon, especially with regard to the internal view and thickening of the brain tissue. The present data contribute to a better understanding of brain and cerebral ventricle development.

  17. Functional asymmetry and interhemispheric cooperation in the perception of emotions from facial expressions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tamietto, Marco; Latini Corazzini, Luca; de Gelder, Beatrice; Geminiani, Giuliano

    2006-05-01

    The present study used the redundant target paradigm on healthy subjects to investigate functional hemispheric asymmetries and interhemispheric cooperation in the perception of emotions from faces. In Experiment 1 participants responded to checkerboards presented either unilaterally to the left (LVF) or right visual half field (RVF), or simultaneously to both hemifields (BVF), while performing a pointing task for the control of eye movements. As previously reported (Miniussi et al. in J Cogn Neurosci 10:216-230, 1998), redundant stimulation led to shorter latencies for stimulus detection (bilateral gain or redundant target effect, RTE) that exceeded the limit for a probabilistic interpretation, thereby validating the pointing procedure and supporting interhemispheric cooperation. In Experiment 2 the same pointing procedure was used in a go/no-go task requiring subjects to respond when seeing a target emotional expression (happy or fearful, counterbalanced between blocks). Faster reaction times to unilateral LVF than RVF emotions, regardless of valence, indicate that the perception of positive and negative emotional faces is lateralized toward the right hemisphere. Simultaneous presentation of two congruent emotional faces, either happy or fearful, produced an RTE that cannot be explained by probability summation and suggests interhemispheric cooperation and neural summation. No such effect was present with BVF incongruent facial expressions. In Experiment 3 we studied whether the RTE for emotional faces depends on the physical identity between BVF stimuli, and we set a second BVF congruent condition in which there was only emotional but not physical or gender identity between stimuli (i.e. two different faces expressing the same emotion). The RTE and interhemispheric cooperation were present also in this second BVF congruent condition. This shows that emotional congruency is the sufficient condition for the RTE to take place in the intact brain and that the

  18. Mobility, fitness collection, and the breakdown of cooperation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gelimson, Anatolij; Cremer, Jonas; Frey, Erwin

    2013-04-01

    The spatial arrangement of individuals is thought to overcome the dilemma of cooperation: When cooperators engage in clusters, they might share the benefit of cooperation while being more protected against noncooperating individuals, who benefit from cooperation but save the cost of cooperation. This is paradigmatically shown by the spatial prisoner's dilemma model. Here, we study this model in one and two spatial dimensions, but explicitly take into account that in biological setups, fitness collection and selection are separated processes occurring mostly on vastly different time scales. This separation is particularly important to understand the impact of mobility on the evolution of cooperation. We find that even small diffusive mobility strongly restricts cooperation since it enables noncooperative individuals to invade cooperative clusters. Thus, in most biological scenarios, where the mobility of competing individuals is an irrefutable fact, the spatial prisoner's dilemma alone cannot explain stable cooperation, but additional mechanisms are necessary for spatial structure to promote the evolution of cooperation. The breakdown of cooperation is analyzed in detail. We confirm the existence of a phase transition, here controlled by mobility and costs, which distinguishes between purely cooperative and noncooperative absorbing states. While in one dimension the model is in the class of the voter model, it belongs to the directed percolation universality class in two dimensions.

  19. Forskningsoversigt - Effekterne af Cooperative Learning

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Larsen, Lea Lund

    Kan Cooperative Learning - en undervisningsform hvor lærerens tid ved tavlen mindskes og hvor de lærende samarbejder om stoffet - maksimere de lærendes indlæring og medvirke til en forbedring af deres interpersonelle og kommunikative kompetencer, samt øge deres motivation for læring? Den megen...... forskning fra USA viser, at Cooperative Learning øger lærerens bevidsthed om, hvilken adfærd, han er medvirkende til at skabe blandt de lærende. Og den øger lærerens bevidsthed omkring interaktioner i klasserummet, og giver god plads og taletid til hver enkelt lærende. Set i lyset heraf kan Cooperative......, at Cooperative Learning har lige så høj grad af positiv effekt, som den viser sig at have på grundskoleområdet. Det er sigtet med denne oversigt over den empiriske forskning. Til start præsenteres Cooperative Learning som metode, dens rødder og udvikling, dernæst skitseres den omfattende forskning omkring...

  20. Effect of operating microscope light on brain temperature during craniotomy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gayatri, Parthasarathi; Menon, Girish G; Suneel, Puthuvassery R

    2013-07-01

    Operating microscopes used during neurosurgery are fitted with xenon light. Burn injuries have been reported because of xenon microscope lighting as the intensity of xenon light is 300 W. We designed this study to find out if the light of operating microscope causes an increase in temperature of the brain tissue, which is exposed underneath. Twenty-one adult patients scheduled for elective craniotomies were enrolled. Distal esophageal temperature (T Eso), brain temperature under the microscope light (T Brain), and brain temperature under dura mater (T Dura) were measured continuously at 15-minute intervals during microscope use. The irrigation fluid temperature, room temperature, intensity of the microscope light, and the distance of the microscope from the brain surface were kept constant. The average age of the patients was 44±15 years (18 males and 3 females). The mean duration of microscope use was 140±39 minutes. There were no significant changes in T Brain and T Dura and T Eso over time. T Dura was significantly lower than T Brain both at time 0 and 60 minutes but not at 90 minutes. T Brain was significantly lower than T Eso both at time 0 and 60 minutes but not at 90 minutes. The T Dura remained significantly lower than T Eso at 0, 60, and 90 minutes. Our study shows that there is no significant rise in brain temperature under xenon microscope light up to 120 minutes duration, at intensity of 60% to 70%, from a distance of 20 to 25 cm from the brain surface.

  1. International cooperation on breeder reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gray, J.E.; Kratzer, M.B.; Leslie, K.E.; Paige, H.W.; Shantzis, S.B.

    1978-01-01

    In March 1977, as the result of discussions which began in the fall of 1976, the Rockefeller Foundation requested International Energy Associates Limited (IEAL) to undertake a study of the role of international cooperation in the development and application of the breeder reactor. While there had been considerable international exchange in the development of breeder technology, the existence of at least seven major national breeder development programs raised a prima facie issue of the adequacy of international cooperation. The final product of the study was to be the identification of options for international cooperation which merited further consideration and which might become the subject of subsequent, more detailed analysis. During the course of the study, modifications in U.S. breeder policy led to an expansion of the analysis to embrace the pros and cons of the major breeder-related policy issues, as well as the respective views of national governments on those issues. The resulting examination of views and patterns of international collaboration emphasizes what was implicit from the outset: Options for international cooperation cannot be fashioned independently of national objectives, policies and programs. Moreover, while similarity of views can stimulate cooperation, this cannot of itself provide compelling justification for cooperative undertakings. Such undertakings are influenced by an array of other national factors, including technological development, industrial infrastructure, economic strength, existing international ties, and historic experience

  2. How feeling betrayed affects cooperation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramazi, Pouria; Hessel, Jop; Cao, Ming

    2015-01-01

    For a population of interacting self-interested agents, we study how the average cooperation level is affected by some individuals' feelings of being betrayed and guilt. We quantify these feelings as adjusted payoffs in asymmetric games, where for different emotions, the payoff matrix takes the structure of that of either a prisoner's dilemma or a snowdrift game. Then we analyze the evolution of cooperation in a well-mixed population of agents, each of whom is associated with such a payoff matrix. At each time-step, an agent is randomly chosen from the population to update her strategy based on the myopic best-response update rule. According to the simulations, decreasing the feeling of being betrayed in a portion of agents does not necessarily increase the level of cooperation in the population. However, this resistance of the population against low-betrayal-level agents is effective only up to some extend that is explicitly determined by the payoff matrices and the number of agents associated with these matrices. Two other models are also considered where the betrayal factor of an agent fluctuates as a function of the number of cooperators and defectors that she encounters. Unstable behaviors are observed for the level of cooperation in these cases; however, we show that one can tune the parameters in the function to make the whole population become cooperative or defective.

  3. How feeling betrayed affects cooperation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pouria Ramazi

    Full Text Available For a population of interacting self-interested agents, we study how the average cooperation level is affected by some individuals' feelings of being betrayed and guilt. We quantify these feelings as adjusted payoffs in asymmetric games, where for different emotions, the payoff matrix takes the structure of that of either a prisoner's dilemma or a snowdrift game. Then we analyze the evolution of cooperation in a well-mixed population of agents, each of whom is associated with such a payoff matrix. At each time-step, an agent is randomly chosen from the population to update her strategy based on the myopic best-response update rule. According to the simulations, decreasing the feeling of being betrayed in a portion of agents does not necessarily increase the level of cooperation in the population. However, this resistance of the population against low-betrayal-level agents is effective only up to some extend that is explicitly determined by the payoff matrices and the number of agents associated with these matrices. Two other models are also considered where the betrayal factor of an agent fluctuates as a function of the number of cooperators and defectors that she encounters. Unstable behaviors are observed for the level of cooperation in these cases; however, we show that one can tune the parameters in the function to make the whole population become cooperative or defective.

  4. Integration of sparse electrophysiological measurements with preoperative MRI using 3D surface estimation in deep brain stimulation surgery

    Science.gov (United States)

    Husch, Andreas; Gemmar, Peter; Thunberg, Johan; Hertel, Frank

    2017-03-01

    Intraoperative microelectrode recordings (MER) have been used for several decades to guide neurosurgeons during the implantation of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) electrodes, especially when targeting the subthalamic nucleus (STN) to suppress the symptoms of Parkinson's Disease. The standard approach is to use an array of up to five MER electrodes in a fixed configuration. Interpretation of the recorded signals yields a spatially very sparse set of information about the morphology of the respective brain structures in the targeted area. However, no aid is currently available for surgeons to intraoperatively integrate this information with other data available on the patient's individual morphology (e.g. MR imaging data used for surgical planning). This integration might allow surgeons to better determine the most probable position of the electrodes within the target structure during surgery. This paper suggests a method for reconstructing a surface patch from the sparse MER dataset utilizing additional a priori knowledge about the geometrical configuration of the measurement electrodes. The conventional representation of MER measurements as intervals of target region/non-target region is therefore transformed into an equivalent boundary set representation, allowing ecient point-based calculations. Subsequently, the problem is to integrate the resulting patch with a preoperative model of the target structure, which can be formulated as registration problem minimizing a distance measure between the two surfaces. When restricting this registration procedure to translations, which is reasonable given certain geometric considerations, the problem can be solved globally by employing an exhaustive search with arbitrary precision in polynomial time. The proposed method is demonstrated using bilateral STN/Substantia Nigra segmentation data from preoperative MRIs of 17 Patients with simulated MER electrode placement. When using simulated data of heavily perturbed electrodes

  5. International nuclear cooperation in Asia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lim, Yong-Kyu

    1987-01-01

    Nuclear power project traditionally involve huge financial investment, highly sophisticated technology, and long lead time. Many countries, particularly developing ones, find it impossible to implement their nuclear power programs without technical cooperation and assistance from advanced countries. In this Asia and Pacific Region, seven countries have commercial nuclear power units in operation and/or under construction. Korea has six nuclear power units in operation, and three under construction. Active nuclear cooperation has been instrumental in implementing her abmitious nuclear power programs successfully. Nuclear cooperation is one of the widely recognized necessities, which is quite often talked about among the countries of the Asia and Pacific Region. But the differences in nuclear maturity and national interests among those in the region seem to be standing against it. Given the constraints, it is not easy to select appropriate areas for cooperation. There is no doubt, however, that they should include the nuclear policy, nuclear safety, radwaste management, radiological protection, and the management of nuclear units. In order to effectively promote nuclear cooperation in the Region, the scope of RCA activities must be expanded to include the nuclear power area. The Regional Nuclear Data Bank, the Regional Training Center and the Nuclear Emergency Response Center, for example, would be the effective tools for cooperation to meet the demands of the countries in the Region. In view of the technological gap between Japan and all others in the region, we cannot speak of a regional nuclear cooperation without heavily counting on Japan, the most advanced nuclear state in the region. For these reasons, Japan is expected to share an increasing portion of her nuclear technology with others. (author)

  6. Need for cooperative work in education

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rodolfo Acosta Padrón

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper claims for the use of cooperative work to achieve democratic, communicative and socializing learning; Furthermore, theoretical grounds for cooperative work are presented, from sociological and psychological positions about the development of cooperative work on the basis of Vigotsky, Kart Lewin and Dewey ́s works, among others.

  7. Cooperation arrangements related to technology transfer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eysel, G.

    1986-04-01

    A developing country which considers to launch a nuclear program should put as much as possible efforts to elaborate a program which suits the country's needs as well as reflects its capabilities. It deems advantageous that a developing country makes use of the experience and knowledge in the nuclear field of a partner country already in the phase when exploring the technical and commercial aspects of a nuclear power program. For the different stages of cooperation between two countries a three-level concept appears advisable for establishing the basis for individual cooperation agreement. The first level are agreements between the governments of both countries on joint scientific research projects and technical development programs covering a broad spectrum of activities not limited to the energy sector. At the second level cooperation agreements can already concentrate on the energy sector and e.g. specifically investigate the energy structure of the developing country. If this investigation results in the decision of the developing country to establish a nuclear power program the next level will cover a broad based cooperation in the nuclear field including a large number of different cooperation contracts in various fields. In this stage of bilateral cooperation the main emphasis will be put on industrial cooperation. Cooperation agreements to be concluded between respective partners of both countries may cover fields related to research and development, engineering of a nuclear power plant, manufacturing of its components, erection and installation as well as operation of the plant. The most common agreements refer to technical cooperation, which covers not only the transfer of blueprints but also training of the recipient's personnel in the partner's country and delegation of experts to the recipient's country. The most comprehensive form of cooperation is the foundation of a joint venture company where the technology partner does not only transfer his know

  8. International relations and co-operation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2002-01-01

    This bulletin contains information about activities of the Nuclear Regulatory Authority of the Slovak Republic (UJD). In this leaflet the international relations and co-operation of the UJD are presented. International community is aware of the fact that nuclear energy shall be used exclusively for peaceful purposes and on condition of high standard of nuclear safety. Therefore, the long-term aim of UJD in the area of international relations is to maintain and develop internationally recognised system of state supervision upon the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to reach internationally accepted level of nuclear safety in the Slovak Republic. There are many important international treaties (Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Convention on Nuclear Safety, etc.) to which slovakia is a party. In order to meet the obligations of these treaties UJD has the main aim for contribute to the process of international disarmament, and to a mutually advantageous co-operation. By means of the most important international organisations (e.g. International Atomic Energy Agency) the Slovak Republic actively participates in the international co-operation. Under the leadership of UJD, Slovak institutions participate in many projects and activities which have the aim to improve the safety of nuclear international obligations. In addition, UJD actively participates in the integration process of the Slovak Republic into European and Trans-Atlantic structures. Since 1993 the co-operation with the European Commission and the Nuclear Energy Agency of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and development (OECD/NEA) has been successfully implemented. Besides multilateral co-operation UJD attaches extraordinary importance to bilateral co-operation, in particular with neighbouring countries. Regular meetings of senior Slovak experts with foreign experts are organised, with the aim to exchange the newest experiences and information on peaceful use of nuclear energy. Also in

  9. Diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease using brain SPECT with three-dimensional stereotactic surface projections

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hanyu, Haruo; Asano, Tetsuichi; Kogure, Daiji; Abe, Shine; Iwamoto, Toshihiko; Takasaki, Masaru

    2001-01-01

    We compared the diagnostic usefulness of three-dimensional stereotactic surface projection (3D-SSP) with that of standard transaxial images in brain SPECT in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The subjects consisted of 69 patients with AD and 60 patients with non-AD, including vascular dementia, Parkinson's disease with dementia, frontotemporal dementia, other dementing diseases and neuropsychiatric diseases. Standard transaxial section and 3D-SSP SPECT images with N-isopropyl-p-[ 123 I] iodoamphetamine were blindly interpreted by three examiners and were classified into the following three patterns: typical AD, atypical AD, and not indicative AD patterns. The 3D-SSP images demonstrated reductions of cerebral blood flow in the parieto-temporal association cortex and posterior cingulate gyrus more clearly and easily than the standard transaxial images. The diagnostic sensitivity and specificity were 93% and 85% with 3D-SSP and 83% and 82% with standard transaxial section respectively. 3D-SSP was especially useful for early or atypical AD which showed no characteristic perfusion abnormalities on standard transaxial images. These results suggest that SPECT with 3D-SSP provides an sensitive as well as accurate tool for the diagnosis of AD. (author)

  10. Uptake Mechanism of ApoE-Modified Nanoparticles on Brain Capillary Endothelial Cells as a Blood-Brain Barrier Model

    OpenAIRE

    Wagner, Sylvia; Zensi, Anja; Wien, Sascha L.; Tschickardt, Sabrina E.; Maier, Wladislaw; Vogel, Tikva; Worek, Franz; Pietrzik, Claus U.; Kreuter, Jörg; von Briesen, Hagen

    2012-01-01

    Background: The blood-brain barrier (BBB) represents an insurmountable obstacle for most drugs thus obstructing an effective treatment of many brain diseases. One solution for overcoming this barrier is a transport by binding of these drugs to surface-modified nanoparticles. Especially apolipoprotein E (ApoE) appears to play a major role in the nanoparticle-mediated drug transport across the BBB. However, at present the underlying mechanism is incompletely understood. Methodology/Principal Fi...

  11. Proposals for regional cooperation in Africa

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Diaco, T.

    1999-01-01

    This presentation includes proposals for regional cooperation in Africa in the field of seismic monitoring and proposes future actions for establishing this cooperation. It emphasises the benefits of regional cooperation meaning scientific benefit from an established data base, as well as benefit in the field of geology, meteorology, geophysics and in unified budgets and logistics

  12. Culture and Cooperation during the Interwar Period

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anişoara Popa

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Starting from the most important Publications of the International Institute for Intellectual Cooperation (1925-1946 we will explore the ideas concerning culture and personalities involved in the intellectual cooperation during the Interwar Period. Pointing out the role that the International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation had and the Romanian contribution to this cooperation is another purpose of this article.

  13. High-resolution 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging at 1.5 and 3 Tesla of the human brain: development of techniques and applications for patients with primary brain tumors and multiple sclerosis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stadlbauer, A.

    2004-05-01

    The aim of this work was to develop several strategies and software-packages for the evaluation of in-vivo-data of the human brain, which were acquired with high-resolution 1H-MRSI at 1.5 and 3 T. Several studies involving phantoms, volunteers and patients were performed. Quality assurance studies were conducted in order to evaluate the reproducibility of the applied MR-techniques at both field strengths. A qualitative comparison-study between MRSI-data from a 1.5 T clinical MR-scanner and a 3 T research MR-scanner showed the advantages of the more advanced MRSI sequences and higher field strength (3 T). A study involving patients with primary brain tumours (gliomas) was performed in cooperation with the Department of Neurosurgery (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg). The methods developed in the course of this study, such as the integration of MRS-data into a stereotactic-system, the segmentation of metabolic maps and the correlation with histopathological findings represent a package of vital information for diagnostics and therapy of primary brain tumors, neurodegenerative disorders or epilepsy. In the course of two pilot-studies in cooperation with the MR-Centre of Excellence (Medical University of Vienna) the advantages of high-resolution 3D in-vivo-1H-MRSI at 3T were qualitatively evaluated via measurements on patients with brain tumors and multiple sclerosis (MS). It was demonstrated that 1H-MRSI may be valuable for the diagnosis, follow-up and prediction of 'seizures' with MS-patients. In conclusion, this work contains an overview of potential and advantages of in-vivo-1H-MRS-methods at 1.5 and 3 T for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of patients with gliomas and MS. (author)

  14. The Emergence of Relationship-based Cooperation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Bo; Wang, Jianwei

    2015-11-01

    This paper investigates the emergence of relationship-based cooperation by coupling two simple mechanisms into the model: tie strength based investment preference and homophily assumption. We construct the model by categorizing game participants into four types: prosocialists (players who prefers to invest in their intimate friends), antisocialists (players who prefer to invest in strangers), egoists (players who never cooperate) and altruists (players who cooperate indifferently with anyone). We show that the relationship-based cooperation (prosocialists) is favored throughout the evolution if we assume players of the same type have stronger ties than different ones. Moreover, we discover that strengthening the internal bonds within the strategic clusters further promotes the competitiveness of prosocialists and therefore facilitates the emergence of relationship-based cooperation in our proposed scenarios. The robustness of the model is also tested under different strategy updating rules and network structures. The results show that this argument is robust against the variations of initial conditions and therefore can be considered as a fundamental theoretical framework to study relationship-based cooperation in reality.

  15. Foreign cooperative technology development and transfer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schassburger, R.J.; Robinson, R.A.

    1988-01-01

    It is the policy of the US Department of Energy (DOE) that, in pursuing the development of mined geologic repositories in the United States, the waste isolation program will continue to actively support international cooperation and exchange activities that are judged to be in the best interest of the program and in compliance with the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, Sec. 223. Because there are common technical issues and because technology development often requires large expenditures of funds and dedication of significant capital resources, it is advantageous to cooperate with foreign organizations carrying out similar activities. The DOE's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management is working on cooperative nuclear waste isolation technology development programs with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development/Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD/NEA), Canada's Atomic Energy of Canada, Limited (AECL), Sweden, Switzerland, and the Federal Republic of Germany. This paper describes recent technology results that have been obtained in DOE's foreign cooperative programs. Specific technology development studies are discussed for cooperative efforts with Canada, OECD/NEA, and a natural analog project in Brazil

  16. A Project in Support of International Nuclear Cooperation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Myung Ro; Kim, Kyoung Pyo; Lee, Jeong Kong; Jung, Sung Hyon; Shim, Jae Sun

    2009-01-01

    The objective of this study is to establish the strategies of international cooperation in order to promote our nation's leading role in international community, to lay the foundation for the effective transfer of nuclear technology to developing countries, and to cope with the rapidly changing in the international nuclear communities. This study contains the work undertaken to promote multilateral cooperation within the framework of international nuclear related organizations and regional cooperative agreements and the relevant forums, to enhance bilateral cooperation with foreign nuclear related research institutes as well as to promote cooperation through the exchange of foreign scientists. As for multilateral cooperation, activities for promoting cooperation within the IAEA and regional cooperative frameworks are introduced. Regarding bilateral cooperation, activities for concluding arrangements and MOUs with foreign research institutes and for participation in joint nuclear coordinating committee meetings between Korea and other countries are presented. For promoting personnel exchanges, activities for inviting and utilizing foreign scientists and mutual discussions with foreign experts, who have visited KAERI, are also described. Continuous efforts to contributing towards the international community through utilizing Korea's experience gained in the process of technical self-reliance and development of human resources are needed. Also efforts to establish the foundation of international cooperation and to make inroad into overseas nuclear markets for export of our nuclear technologies should be made. Meanwhile in the bilateral cooperation, we need to beef up cooperation with U.S.A. and Canada through the joint committee for the joint export to third countries. It is expected that this study would be utilized as a basic material for the international cooperation of nuclear energy, especially for the KAERI's international cooperation in an effective way

  17. Evolution of Cooperation in Public Goods Games

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xia Chengyi; Zhang Juanjuan; Wang Jinsong; Wang Yiling

    2011-01-01

    We investigate the evolution of cooperation with evolutionary public goods games based on finite populations, where four pure strategies: cooperators, defectors, punishers and loners who are unwilling to participate are considered. By adopting approximate best response dynamics, we show that the magnitude of rationality not only quantitatively explains the experiment results in [Nature (London) 425 (2003) 390], but also it will heavily influence the evolution of cooperation. Compared with previous results of infinite populations, which result in two equilibriums, we show that there merely exists a special equilibrium and the relevant high value of bounded rationality will sustain cooperation. In addition, we characterize that loner's payoff plays an active role in the maintenance of cooperation, which will only be warranted for the low and moderate values of loner's payoff. It thus indicates the effects of rationality and loner's payoff will influence the cooperation. Finally, we highlight the important result that the introduction of voluntary participation and punishment will facilitate cooperation greatly. (general)

  18. The Regulatory Cooperation Forum, an Opportunity to Strengthen International Cooperation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lachaume, J.L.; Mamoru, M.

    2016-01-01

    The Regulatory Cooperation Forum (RCF) is a member-driven forum of nuclear power regulators created in 2010 that promotes the sharing of regulatory knowledge and experience through international cooperation and collaboration using the IAEA Safety Standards as its basis. The RCF involves countries with advanced nuclear power programmes, countries embarking on nuclear power for the first time and countries with smaller programmes considering expansion. The primary objectives of the RCF are: • To promote collaboration and cooperation among RCF members to improve coordination of support for regulatory infrastructure development; • To contribute to achieving and sustaining a high level of nuclear safety, consistent with the IAEA Safety Standards and Guidance; • To optimize resources among RCF members and avoid unnecessary support duplication through improved coordination. Membership of the RCF is open to all Member States of the IAEA. Participants in RCF activities will normally be senior representatives from regulatory bodies in Member States and from other providers, including the IAEA, European Commission (EC) and the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). So far, more than 30 countries are members of the RCF. The RCF has developed Action Plans to support Jordan, Vietnam, Belarus and Poland. The IAEA’s Nuclear Safety Action Plan urges Member States to strengthen the effectiveness of national regulatory bodies as well as base the development of their nuclear infrastructures on IAEA Safety Standards. The RCF assists Member States in implementing both of these actions for embarking, existing and expanding nuclear programmes. (author)

  19. Cooperativeness and competitiveness as two distinct constructs: validating the Cooperative and Competitive Personality Scale in a social dilemma context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Su; Au, Wing-Tung; Jiang, Feng; Xie, Xiaofei; Yam, Paton

    2013-01-01

    The present research validated the construct and criterion validities of the Cooperative and Competitive Personality Scale (CCPS) in a social dilemma context. The results from three studies supported the notion that cooperativeness and competitiveness are two independent dimensions, challenging the traditional view that they are two ends of a single continuum. First, confirmatory factor analyses revealed that a two-factor structure fit the data significantly better than a one-factor structure. Moreover, cooperativeness and competitiveness were either not significantly correlated (Studies 1 and 3) or only moderately positively correlated (Study 2). Second, cooperativeness and competitiveness were differentially associated with Schwartz's Personal Values. These results further supported the idea that cooperativeness and competitiveness are two distinct constructs. Specifically, the individuals who were highly cooperative emphasized self-transcendent values (i.e., universalism and benevolence) more, whereas the individuals who were highly competitive emphasized self-enhancement values (i.e., power and achievement) more. Finally, the CCPS, which adheres to the trait perspective of personality, was found to be a useful supplement to more prevalent social motive measures (i.e., social value orientation) in predicting cooperative behaviors. Specifically, in Study 2, when social value orientation was controlled for, the CCPS significantly predicted cooperative behaviors in a public goods dilemma (individuals who score higher on cooperativeness scale contributed more to the public goods). In Study 3, when social value orientation was controlled for, the CCPS significantly predicted cooperative behaviors in commons dilemmas (individuals who score higher on cooperativeness scale requested fewer resources from the common resource pool). The practical implications of the CCPS in conflict resolution, as well as in recruitment and selection settings, are discussed.

  20. Delivery of chemotherapeutics across the blood-brain barrier: challenges and advances.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doolittle, Nancy D; Muldoon, Leslie L; Culp, Aliana Y; Neuwelt, Edward A

    2014-01-01

    The blood-brain barrier (BBB) limits drug delivery to brain tumors. We utilize intraarterial infusion of hyperosmotic mannitol to reversibly open the BBB by shrinking endothelial cells and opening tight junctions between the cells. This approach transiently increases the delivery of chemotherapy, antibodies, and nanoparticles to brain. Our preclinical studies have optimized the BBB disruption (BBBD) technique and clinical studies have shown its safety and efficacy. The delivery of methotrexate-based chemotherapy in conjunction with BBBD provides excellent outcomes in primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) including stable or improved cognitive function in survivors a median of 12 years (range 2-26 years) after diagnosis. The addition of rituximab to chemotherapy with BBBD for PCNSL can be safely accomplished with excellent overall survival. Our translational studies of thiol agents to protect against platinum-induced toxicities led to the development of a two-compartment model in brain tumor patients. We showed that delayed high-dose sodium thiosulfate protects against carboplatin-induced hearing loss, providing the framework for large cooperative group trials of hearing chemoprotection. Neuroimaging studies have identified that ferumoxytol, an iron oxide nanoparticle blood pool agent, appears to be a superior contrast agent to accurately assess therapy-induced changes in brain tumor vasculature, in brain tumor response to therapy, and in differentiating central nervous system lesions with inflammatory components. This chapter reviews the breakthroughs, challenges, and future directions for BBBD. © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. Delivery of Chemotherapeutics Across the Blood–Brain Barrier: Challenges and Advances

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doolittle, Nancy D.; Muldoon, Leslie L.; Culp, Aliana Y.; Neuwelt, Edward A.

    2017-01-01

    The blood–brain barrier (BBB) limits drug delivery to brain tumors. We utilize intraarterial infusion of hyperosmotic mannitol to reversibly open the BBB by shrinking endothelial cells and opening tight junctions between the cells. This approach transiently increases the delivery of chemotherapy, antibodies, and nanoparticles to brain. Our preclinical studies have optimized the BBB disruption (BBBD) technique and clinical studies have shown its safety and efficacy. The delivery of methotrexate-based chemotherapy in conjunction with BBBD provides excellent outcomes in primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) including stable or improved cognitive function in survivors a median of 12 years (range 2–26 years) after diagnosis. The addition of rituximab to chemotherapy with BBBD for PCNSL can be safely accomplished with excellent overall survival. Our translational studies of thiol agents to protect against platinum-induced toxicities led to the development of a two-compartment model in brain tumor patients. We showed that delayed high-dose sodium thiosulfate protects against carboplatin-induced hearing loss, providing the framework for large cooperative group trials of hearing chemoprotection. Neuroimaging studies have identified that ferumoxytol, an iron oxide nanoparticle blood pool agent, appears to be a superior contrast agent to accurately assess therapy-induced changes in brain tumor vasculature, in brain tumor response to therapy, and in differentiating central nervous system lesions with inflammatory components. This chapter reviews the breakthroughs, challenges, and future directions for BBBD. PMID:25307218

  2. Neuropathological biomarker candidates in brain tumors: key issues for translational efficiency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hainfellner, J A; Heinzl, H

    2010-01-01

    Brain tumors comprise a large spectrum of rare malignancies in children and adults that are often associated with severe neurological symptoms and fatal outcome. Neuropathological tumor typing provides both prognostic and predictive tissue information which is the basis for optimal postoperative patient management and therapy. Molecular biomarkers may extend and refine prognostic and predictive information in a brain tumor case, providing more individualized and optimized treatment options. In the recent past a few neuropathological brain tumor biomarkers have translated smoothly into clinical use whereas many candidates show protracted translation. We investigated the causes of protracted translation of candidate brain tumor biomarkers. Considering the research environment from personal, social and systemic perspectives we identified eight determinants of translational success: methodology, funding, statistics, organization, phases of research, cooperation, self-reflection, and scientific progeny. Smoothly translating biomarkers are associated with low degrees of translational complexity whereas biomarkers with protracted translation are associated with high degrees. Key issues for translational efficiency of neuropathological brain tumor biomarker research seem to be related to (i) the strict orientation to the mission of medical research, that is the improval of medical practice as primordial purpose of research, (ii) definition of research priorities according to clinical needs, and (iii) absorption of translational complexities by means of operatively beneficial standards. To this end, concrete actions should comprise adequate scientific education of young investigators, and shaping of integrative diagnostics and therapy research both on the local level and the level of influential international brain tumor research platforms.

  3. MULTI: a shared memory approach to cooperative molecular modeling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Darden, T; Johnson, P; Smith, H

    1991-03-01

    A general purpose molecular modeling system, MULTI, based on the UNIX shared memory and semaphore facilities for interprocess communication is described. In addition to the normal querying or monitoring of geometric data, MULTI also provides processes for manipulating conformations, and for displaying peptide or nucleic acid ribbons, Connolly surfaces, close nonbonded contacts, crystal-symmetry related images, least-squares superpositions, and so forth. This paper outlines the basic techniques used in MULTI to ensure cooperation among these specialized processes, and then describes how they can work together to provide a flexible modeling environment.

  4. Social rank and social cooperation: Impact of social comparison processes on cooperative decision-making.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xu Gong

    Full Text Available Successful navigation of our complex social world requires the capability to recognize and judge the relative status of others. Hence, social comparison processes are of great importance in our interactions, informing us of our relative standing and in turn potentially motivating our behavior. However, so far few studies have examined in detail how social comparison can influence interpersonal decision-making. One aspect of social decision-making that is of particular importance is cooperative behavior, and identifying means of maintaining and promoting cooperation in the provision of public goods is of vital interest to society. Here, we manipulated social comparison by grading performance rankings on a reaction time task, and then measured cooperative decisions via a modified Public Goods Game (PGG. Findings revealed that individuals ranked highest tended to be more cooperative as compared to those who placed in the bottom rank. Interestingly, this effect was regardless of whether the comparison group members were the subsequent players in the PGG or not, and this effect was stronger in those with higher social orientation. In summary, the present research shows how different social comparison processes (assessed via social rankings can operate in our daily interaction with others, demonstrating an important effect on cooperative behavior.

  5. Brain computed tomography findings of aged schizophrenics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oomori, Masao; Koshino, Yoshifumi; Murata, Tetsuhito; Murata, Ichirou; Tani, Kazuhiko; Horie, Tan; Isaki, Kiminori

    1992-01-01

    Brain CT was performed in a total of 30 aged schizophrenic patients, consisting of 20 with no history of psychosurgery (lobotomy) and the other 10 lobotomized patients. The CT findings were compared with those from healthy aged persons. The group of schizophrenic patients had marked atrophy of the frontal lobe and dilatated Sylvian fissure as compared with the control group. There was no significant difference in ventricular factors between the two groups. These findings may have implications for the different mechanisms of the occurrence of atrophied brain surface and enlarged ventricle. The cerebral cortex involved in the occurrence of schizophrenia may be affected by aging-related cerebral atrophy, in addition to the morphological changes due to schizophrenia. Thus, schizophrenic cerebral atrophy was more noticeable than physiological aging-related atrophy. However, enlargement of the ventricle in the schizophrenic group progressed with aging in the same manner as that in the normal group. In comparing schizophrenic patients with or without a history of lobotomy, atrophy of the brain surface and enlargement of the ventricle were more marked in the lobotomized patients than the non-lobotomized patients. This confirmed that lobotomy, as well as surgical scar, is involved in the morphology of schizophrenic brain. (N.K.)

  6. Upcrowding energy co-operatives - Evaluating the potential of crowdfunding for business model innovation of energy co-operatives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dilger, Mathias Georg; Jovanović, Tanja; Voigt, Kai-Ingo

    2017-08-01

    Practice and theory have proven the relevance of energy co-operatives for civic participation in the energy turnaround. However, due to a still low awareness and changing regulation, there seems an unexploited potential of utilizing the legal form 'co-operative' in this context. The aim of this study is therefore to investigate the crowdfunding implementation in the business model of energy co-operatives in order to cope with the mentioned challenges. Based on a theoretical framework, we derive a Business Model Innovation (BMI) through crowdfunding including synergies and differences. A qualitative study design, particularly a multiple-case study of energy co-operatives, was chosen to prove the BMI and to reveal barriers. The results show that although most co-operatives are not familiar with crowdfunding, there is strong potential in opening up predominantly local structures to a broader group of members. Building on this, equity-based crowdfunding is revealed to be suitable for energy co-operatives as BMI and to accompany other challenges in the same way. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. COalitions in COOperation Networks (COCOON): Social Network Analysis and Game Theory to Enhance Cooperation Networks

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sie, Rory

    2012-01-01

    Sie, R. L. L. (2012). COalitions in COOperation Networks (COCOON): Social Network Analysis and Game Theory to Enhance Cooperation Networks (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). September, 28, 2012, Open Universiteit in the Netherlands (CELSTEC), Heerlen, The Netherlands.

  8. 7 CFR 4285.2 - Cooperative agreement purposes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... agency to: (a) Conduct marketing research related to agricultural cooperatives. (b) Assist other organizations in conducting marketing research related to agricultural cooperatives. ... RURAL UTILITIES SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS Federal-State Research on...

  9. Cooperation and deception in primates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hall, Katie; Brosnan, Sarah F

    2017-08-01

    Though competition and cooperation are often considered opposing forces in an arms race driving natural selection, many animals, including humans, cooperate in order to mitigate competition with others. Understanding others' psychological states, such as seeing and knowing, others' goals and intentions, and coordinating actions are all important for complex cooperation-as well as for predicting behavior in order to take advantage of others through tactical deception, a form of competition. We outline evidence of primates' understanding of how others perceive the world, and then consider how the evidence from both deception and cooperation fits this framework to give us a more complete understanding of the evolution of complex social cognition in primates. In experimental food competitions, primates flexibly manipulate group-mates' behavior to tactically deceive them. Deception can infiltrate cooperative interactions, such as when one takes an unfair share of meat after a coordinated hunt. In order to counter competition of this sort, primates maintain cooperation through partner choice, partner control, and third party punishment. Yet humans appear to stand alone in their ability to understand others' beliefs, which allows us not only to deceive others with the explicit intent to create a false belief, but it also allows us to put ourselves in others' shoes to determine when cheaters need to be punished, even if we are not directly disadvantaged by the cheater. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Gossip and ostracism promote cooperation in groups.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feinberg, Matthew; Willer, Robb; Schultz, Michael

    2014-03-01

    The widespread existence of cooperation is difficult to explain because individuals face strong incentives to exploit the cooperative tendencies of others. In the research reported here, we examined how the spread of reputational information through gossip promotes cooperation in mixed-motive settings. Results showed that individuals readily communicated reputational information about others, and recipients used this information to selectively interact with cooperative individuals and ostracize those who had behaved selfishly, which enabled group members to contribute to the public good with reduced threat of exploitation. Additionally, ostracized individuals responded to exclusion by subsequently cooperating at levels comparable to those who were not ostracized. These results suggest that the spread of reputational information through gossip can mitigate egoistic behavior by facilitating partner selection, thereby helping to solve the problem of cooperation even in noniterated interactions.

  11. A Project in Support of International Nuclear Cooperation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Myung Ro; Kim, Kyoung Pyo; Lee, Jeong Kong; Jung, Sung Hyon; Shim, Jae Sun

    2008-12-15

    The objective of this study is to establish the strategies of international cooperation in order to promote our nation's leading role in international community, to lay the foundation for the effective transfer of nuclear technology to developing countries, and to cope with the rapidly changing in the international nuclear communities. This study contains the work undertaken to promote multilateral cooperation within the framework of international nuclear related organizations and regional cooperative agreements and the relevant forums, to enhance bilateral cooperation with foreign nuclear related research institutes as well as to promote cooperation through the exchange of foreign scientists. As for multilateral cooperation, activities for promoting cooperation within the IAEA and regional cooperative frameworks are introduced. Regarding bilateral cooperation, activities for concluding arrangements and MOUs with foreign research institutes and for participation in joint nuclear coordinating committee meetings between Korea and other countries are presented. For promoting personnel exchanges, activities for inviting and utilizing foreign scientists and mutual discussions with foreign experts, who have visited KAERI, are also described. Continuous efforts to contributing towards the international community through utilizing Korea's experience gained in the process of technical self-reliance and development of human resources are needed. Also efforts to establish the foundation of international cooperation and to make inroad into overseas nuclear markets for export of our nuclear technologies should be made. Meanwhile in the bilateral cooperation, we need to beef up cooperation with U.S.A. and Canada through the joint committee for the joint export to third countries. It is expected that this study would be utilized as a basic material for the international cooperation of nuclear energy, especially for the KAERI's international cooperation in an

  12. A Project in Support of International Nuclear Cooperation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Myung Ro; Kim, Kyoung Pyo; Lee, Jeong Kong; Jung, Sung Hyon; Shim, Jae Sun

    2009-01-15

    The objective of this study is to establish the strategies of international cooperation in order to promote our nation's leading role in international community, to lay the foundation for the effective transfer of nuclear technology to developing countries, and to cope with the rapidly changing in the international nuclear communities. This study contains the work undertaken to promote multilateral cooperation within the framework of international nuclear related organizations and regional cooperative agreements and the relevant forums, to enhance bilateral cooperation with foreign nuclear related research institutes as well as to promote cooperation through the exchange of foreign scientists. As for multilateral cooperation, activities for promoting cooperation within the IAEA and regional cooperative frameworks are introduced. Regarding bilateral cooperation, activities for concluding arrangements and MOUs with foreign research institutes and for participation in joint nuclear coordinating committee meetings between Korea and other countries are presented. For promoting personnel exchanges, activities for inviting and utilizing foreign scientists and mutual discussions with foreign experts, who have visited KAERI, are also described. Continuous efforts to contributing towards the international community through utilizing Korea's experience gained in the process of technical self-reliance and development of human resources are needed. Also efforts to establish the foundation of international cooperation and to make inroad into overseas nuclear markets for export of our nuclear technologies should be made. Meanwhile in the bilateral cooperation, we need to beef up cooperation with U.S.A. and Canada through the joint committee for the joint export to third countries. It is expected that this study would be utilized as a basic material for the international cooperation of nuclear energy, especially for the KAERI's international cooperation in an

  13. Cooper Pairs in Insulators?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Valles, James

    2008-01-01

    Nearly 50 years elapsed between the discovery of superconductivity and the emergence of the microscopic theory describing this zero resistance state. The explanation required a novel phase of matter in which conduction electrons joined in weakly bound pairs and condensed with other pairs into a single quantum state. Surprisingly, this Cooper pair formation has also been invoked to account for recently uncovered high-resistance or insulating phases of matter. To address this possibility, we have used nanotechnology to create an insulating system that we can probe directly for Cooper pairs. I will present the evidence that Cooper pairs exist and dominate the electrical transport in these insulators and I will discuss how these findings provide new insight into superconductor to insulator quantum phase transitions.

  14. Risk of Credit Cooperatives: An analysis based on the profile of the cooperated

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Roberto de Souza Francisco

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available This work has as purpose to analyze among the credit operations, those that generate larger breach of contract risk for the cooperative, with base in the profile of the cooperated, and to identify which the strategies can be pointed to avoid possible flaws in the next credit analyses. The work was divided in three stages. The first stage refers to the National Financial System, with the objective of demonstrating as in him the Cooperatives of Credit are inserted. The second stage approaches the System of Cooperative Credit, it presents that form is structured and his/her hierarchical level. The third stage treats of the System of Risk of Credit, in the which the risk, administration and the models of credit evaluation will be analyzed. It was verified that the most appropriate models for analysis of the Cooperatives of Credit are Credit Scoring Models and Credit Bureau, us which, through statistical techniques as the analysis discriminante and regression logistics, the characteristics of considered credits of larger breach of contract risk were demonstrated. The analysis based on identifying the "worse customer", because this generates larger breach of contract risk and it influences in the financial administration. It was ended that the most relevant variables to identify the breach of contract risk were the rude monthly income and the value liberated in the credit concession, because the largest concentration of breach of contract risk.

  15. States, Social Capital and Cooperation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Anthony, Denise L.; Campbell, John L.

    2011-01-01

    This paper reflects on Elinor Ostrom’s classic book, Governing the Commons, and much work in sociology, political science and organization studies that has appeared since its publication. We do so in order to expand our understanding of the conditions under which cooperation occurs resulting...... in the production of collective goods. We explore two issues that were underdeveloped in her book that have subsequently received much attention. First, we discuss how states can facilitate cooperative behavior short of coercively imposing it on actors. Second, we discuss how social capital can facilitate...... or undermine cooperative behavior. In both cases we focus on the important mechanisms by which each one contributes to the development of cooperative behavior and collective goods. We conclude by extending our arguments to a brief analysis of one of the world’s newest and largest collective goods...

  16. Cooperative strings and glassy interfaces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salez, Thomas; Salez, Justin; Dalnoki-Veress, Kari; Raphaël, Elie; Forrest, James A

    2015-07-07

    We introduce a minimal theory of glass formation based on the ideas of molecular crowding and resultant string-like cooperative rearrangement, and address the effects of free interfaces. In the bulk case, we obtain a scaling expression for the number of particles taking part in cooperative strings, and we recover the Adam-Gibbs description of glassy dynamics. Then, by including thermal dilatation, the Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann relation is derived. Moreover, the random and string-like characters of the cooperative rearrangement allow us to predict a temperature-dependent expression for the cooperative length ξ of bulk relaxation. Finally, we explore the influence of sample boundaries when the system size becomes comparable to ξ. The theory is in agreement with measurements of the glass-transition temperature of thin polymer films, and allows quantification of the temperature-dependent thickness hm of the interfacial mobile layer.

  17. Study on Banana Cooperatives in Hainan Province

    OpenAIRE

    Huang, Huide; Zhang, Wanzhen; Liu, Enping; Zhang, Xizhu

    2013-01-01

    This paper gives an overview of the distribution, member scale, production and operation of banana cooperatives in Hainan Province, and points out the market risk and natural risk faced by the production of banana cooperatives in Hainan Province. In order to promote the banana cooperatives to form new agricultural management system integrating organization and intensification, this paper puts forth the production and operation recommendations, such as joint production of banana cooperatives, ...

  18. Introduction: cooperative learning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José-Manuel Serrano

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available The principal objective of this revision is the recognition of cooperative learning as a highly effective strategy for the accomplishment of the general goals in learning. The different investigations assessed validate the potential that a cooperative organization of the classroom could entail for academic achievement, self-esteem, interpersonal attraction or social support. The solidity of the existing research contributes to its external and internal validity and, thus, to conclude that the results are consistent and can be extrapolated to different cultures, ethnic groups or countries.

  19. Research on effect of rough surface on FMCW laser radar range accuracy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tao, Huirong

    2018-03-01

    The non-cooperative targets large scale measurement system based on frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) laser detection and ranging technology has broad application prospects. It is easy to automate measurement without cooperative targets. However, the complexity and diversity of the surface characteristics of the measured surface directly affects the measurement accuracy. First, the theoretical analysis of range accuracy for a FMCW laser radar was studied, the relationship between surface reflectivity and accuracy was obtained. Then, to verify the effect of surface reflectance for ranging accuracy, a standard tool ball and three standard roughness samples were measured within 7 m to 24 m. The uncertainty of each target was obtained. The results show that the measurement accuracy is found to increase as the surface reflectivity gets larger. Good agreements were obtained between theoretical analysis and measurements from rough surfaces. Otherwise, when the laser spot diameter is smaller than the surface correlation length, a multi-point averaged measurement can reduce the measurement uncertainty. The experimental results show that this method is feasible.

  20. A Probabilistic and Highly Efficient Topology Control Algorithm for Underwater Cooperating AUV Networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Ning; Cürüklü, Baran; Bastos, Joaquim; Sucasas, Victor; Fernandez, Jose Antonio Sanchez; Rodriguez, Jonathan

    2017-05-04

    The aim of the Smart and Networking Underwater Robots in Cooperation Meshes (SWARMs) project is to make autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), remote operated vehicles (ROVs) and unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) more accessible and useful. To achieve cooperation and communication between different AUVs, these must be able to exchange messages, so an efficient and reliable communication network is necessary for SWARMs. In order to provide an efficient and reliable communication network for mission execution, one of the important and necessary issues is the topology control of the network of AUVs that are cooperating underwater. However, due to the specific properties of an underwater AUV cooperation network, such as the high mobility of AUVs, large transmission delays, low bandwidth, etc., the traditional topology control algorithms primarily designed for terrestrial wireless sensor networks cannot be used directly in the underwater environment. Moreover, these algorithms, in which the nodes adjust their transmission power once the current transmission power does not equal an optimal one, are costly in an underwater cooperating AUV network. Considering these facts, in this paper, we propose a Probabilistic Topology Control (PTC) algorithm for an underwater cooperating AUV network. In PTC, when the transmission power of an AUV is not equal to the optimal transmission power, then whether the transmission power needs to be adjusted or not will be determined based on the AUV's parameters. Each AUV determines their own transmission power adjustment probability based on the parameter deviations. The larger the deviation, the higher the transmission power adjustment probability is, and vice versa. For evaluating the performance of PTC, we combine the PTC algorithm with the Fuzzy logic Topology Control (FTC) algorithm and compare the performance of these two algorithms. The simulation results have demonstrated that the PTC is efficient at reducing the transmission power

  1. A Probabilistic and Highly Efficient Topology Control Algorithm for Underwater Cooperating AUV Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ning Li

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the Smart and Networking Underwater Robots in Cooperation Meshes (SWARMs project is to make autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs, remote operated vehicles (ROVs and unmanned surface vehicles (USVs more accessible and useful. To achieve cooperation and communication between different AUVs, these must be able to exchange messages, so an efficient and reliable communication network is necessary for SWARMs. In order to provide an efficient and reliable communication network for mission execution, one of the important and necessary issues is the topology control of the network of AUVs that are cooperating underwater. However, due to the specific properties of an underwater AUV cooperation network, such as the high mobility of AUVs, large transmission delays, low bandwidth, etc., the traditional topology control algorithms primarily designed for terrestrial wireless sensor networks cannot be used directly in the underwater environment. Moreover, these algorithms, in which the nodes adjust their transmission power once the current transmission power does not equal an optimal one, are costly in an underwater cooperating AUV network. Considering these facts, in this paper, we propose a Probabilistic Topology Control (PTC algorithm for an underwater cooperating AUV network. In PTC, when the transmission power of an AUV is not equal to the optimal transmission power, then whether the transmission power needs to be adjusted or not will be determined based on the AUV’s parameters. Each AUV determines their own transmission power adjustment probability based on the parameter deviations. The larger the deviation, the higher the transmission power adjustment probability is, and vice versa. For evaluating the performance of PTC, we combine the PTC algorithm with the Fuzzy logic Topology Control (FTC algorithm and compare the performance of these two algorithms. The simulation results have demonstrated that the PTC is efficient at reducing the

  2. The benefit of sustainable industrial cooperation. Study on the economical and ecological benefits of industrial cooperatives

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hansen, D.H.J.M.; Lavrijsen, T.; Vermeulen, W.J.V.

    2005-01-01

    From scientific literature and policy memoranda it appears that sustainable industrial cooperatives result into economical and ecological benefits. However, little empirical data on practical results is available. Therefore, recently, an analysis has been carried out determining the benefit of industrial cooperation. The economical and ecological offer businesses a cost-effective option to reduce the environmental burden. Still, real implementation of such cooperatives is only realized yet by forerunners in the field of environmental management [nl

  3. Oxytocin and vasopressin effects on the neural response to social cooperation are modulated by sex in humans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feng, Chunliang; Hackett, Patrick D; DeMarco, Ashley C; Chen, Xu; Stair, Sabrina; Haroon, Ebrahim; Ditzen, Beate; Pagnoni, Giuseppe; Rilling, James K

    2015-12-01

    Recent research has examined the effects of oxytocin (OT) and vasopressin (AVP) on human social behavior and brain function. However, most participants have been male, while previous research in our lab demonstrated sexually differentiated effects of OT and AVP on the neural response to reciprocated cooperation. Here we extend our previous work by significantly increasing the number of participants to enable the use of more stringent statistical thresholds that permit more precise localization of OT and AVP effects in the brain. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 153 men and 151 women were randomized to receive 24 IU intranasal OT, 20 IU intranasal AVP or placebo. Afterwards, they were imaged with fMRI while playing an iterated Prisoner's Dilemma Game with same-sex partners. Sex differences were observed for effects of OT on the neural response to reciprocated cooperation, such that OT increased the caduate/putamen response among males, whereas it decreased this response among females. Thus, 24 IU OT may increase the reward or salience of positive social interactions among men, while decreasing their reward or salience among women. Similar sex differences were also observed for AVP effects within bilateral insula and right supramarginal gyrus when a more liberal statistical threshold was employed. While our findings support previous suggestions that exogenous nonapeptides may be effective treatments for disorders such as depression and autism spectrum disorder, they caution against uniformly extending such treatments to men and women alike.

  4. Parochial trust and cooperation across 17 societies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Romano, Angelo; Balliet, Daniel; Liu, James H.

    2017-01-01

    International challenges such as climate change, poverty, and intergroup conflict require countries to cooperate to solve these complex problems. However, the political tide in many countries has shifted inward, with skepticism and reluctance to cooperate with other countries. Thus, cross-societal investigations are needed to test theory about trust and cooperation within and between groups. We conducted an experimental study in 17 countries designed to test several theories that explain why, who, and where people trust and cooperate more with ingroup members, compared with outgroup members. The experiment involved several interactions in the trust game, either as a trustor or trustee. We manipulated partner group membership in the trust game (ingroup, outgroup, or unknown) and if their reputation was at stake during the interaction. In addition to the standard finding that participants trust and cooperate more with ingroup than outgroup members, we obtained findings that reputational concerns play a decisive role for promoting trust and cooperation universally across societies. Furthermore, men discriminated more in favor of their ingroup than women. Individual differences in cooperative preferences, as measured by social value orientation, predicted cooperation with both ingroup and outgroup members. Finally, we did not find support for three theories about the cross-societal conditions that influence the degree of ingroup favoritism observed across societies (e.g., material security, religiosity, and pathogen stress). We discuss the implications for promoting cooperation within and between countries. PMID:29133403

  5. Dissipation and spontaneous symmetry breaking in brain dynamics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Freeman, Walter J; Vitiello, Giuseppe

    2008-01-01

    We compare the predictions of the dissipative quantum model of the brain with neurophysiological data collected from electroencephalograms resulting from high-density arrays fixed on the surfaces of primary sensory and limbic areas of trained rabbits and cats. Functional brain imaging in relation to behavior reveals the formation of coherent domains of synchronized neuronal oscillatory activity and phase transitions predicted by the dissipative model

  6. The evolution of cooperation by the Hankshaw effect.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hammarlund, Sarah P; Connelly, Brian D; Dickinson, Katherine J; Kerr, Benjamin

    2016-06-01

    The evolution of cooperation-costly behavior that benefits others-faces one clear obstacle. Namely, cooperators are always at a competitive disadvantage relative to defectors, individuals that reap the benefits, but evade the cost of cooperation. One solution to this problem involves genetic hitchhiking, where the allele encoding cooperation becomes linked to a beneficial mutation, allowing cooperation to rise in abundance. Here, we explore hitchhiking in the context of adaptation to a stressful environment by cooperators and defectors with spatially limited dispersal. Under such conditions, clustered cooperators reach higher local densities, thereby experiencing more mutational opportunities than defectors. Thus, the allele encoding cooperation has a greater probability of hitchhiking with alleles conferring stress adaptation. We label this probabilistic enhancement the "Hankshaw effect" after the character Sissy Hankshaw, whose anomalously large thumbs made her a singularly effective hitchhiker. Using an agent-based model, we reveal a broad set of conditions that allow the evolution of cooperation through this effect. Additionally, we show that spite, a costly behavior that harms others, can evolve by the Hankshaw effect. While in an unchanging environment these costly social behaviors have transient success, in a dynamic environment, cooperation and spite can persist indefinitely. © 2016 The Author(s). Evolution © 2016 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

  7. A Running Start or a Clean Slate? How a History of Cooperation Affects the Ability of Cities to Cooperate on Environmental Governance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rui Mu

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available Since 2013, the Chinese central government has pushed cooperation on environmental governance in Urban Agglomerations (UAs. In some of these UAs, cities have previously been developing environmental governance activities autonomously, in the absence of inter-city cooperation, while on others, spontaneous cooperation has previously taken place. These differences in historical context provide us with an opportunity to study, in a comparative way, how a history of cooperation influences the effectiveness of inter-city cooperation on environmental governance. Our approach to carrying out this comparison is to reconstruct the trajectories of events that describe the evolution of environmental governance in two UAs (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and Yangtze River Delta, covering the period from the early 90s to 2016. The main findings of this study are that the trajectory of environmental governance in a historical context of prior spontaneous cooperation is more effective in achieving goal intertwinement than that in a historical context of no prior cooperation; and that informal forms of cooperation, along with decentralized coordination by local actors, are critical and more influential in bringing about more effective cooperation. On the other hand, in a historical context of no prior cooperation there is an opportunity to design a cooperative structure from scratch; in this process attention should be paid to the creation of an equal playing ground, with balanced costs and benefits for all partners. By contrast, cooperation on environmental governance in a context where there is a history of spontaneous cooperation the central government can still play a role in the further facilitation of cooperation.

  8. Brain Morphometry on Congenital Hand Deformities based on Teichmüller Space Theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peng, Hao; Wang, Xu; Duan, Ye; Frey, Scott H; Gu, Xianfeng

    2015-01-01

    Congenital Hand Deformities (CHD) are usually occurred between fourth and eighth week after the embryo is formed. Failure of the transformation from arm bud cells to upper limb can lead to an abnormal appearing/functioning upper extremity which is presented at birth. Some causes are linked to genetics while others are affected by the environment, and the rest have remained unknown. CHD patients develop prehension through the use of their hands, which affect the brain as time passes. In recent years, CHD have gain increasing attention and researches have been conducted on CHD, both surgically and psychologically. However, the impacts of CHD on brain structure are not well-understood so far. Here, we propose a novel approach to apply Teichmüller space theory and conformal welding method to study brain morphometry in CHD patients. Conformal welding signature reflects the geometric relations among different functional areas on the cortex surface, which is intrinsic to the Riemannian metric, invariant under conformal deformation, and encodes complete information of the functional area boundaries. The computational algorithm is based on discrete surface Ricci flow, which has theoretic guarantees for the existence and uniqueness of the solutions. In practice, discrete Ricci flow is equivalent to a convex optimization problem, therefore has high numerically stability. In this paper, we compute the signatures of contours on general 3D surfaces with surface Ricci flow method, which encodes both global and local surface contour information. Then we evaluated the signatures of pre-central and post-central gyrus on healthy control and CHD subjects for analyzing brain cortical morphometry. Preliminary experimental results from 3D MRI data of CHD/control data demonstrate the effectiveness of our method. The statistical comparison between left and right brain gives us a better understanding on brain morphometry of subjects with Congenital Hand Deformities, in particular, missing

  9. Cross-border innovation cooperation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hjaltadóttir, Rannveig Edda; Makkonen, Teemu; Sørensen, Nils Karl

    2017-01-01

    Finding a suitable partner is paramount for the success of innovation cooperation. Thus, this paper sets out to analyse the determinants of cross-border innovation cooperation in Denmark by focusing on partner selection. The aim of the article is to investigate determinants of partner selection...... by taking the location of the partners into account. In particular, the discussion is tied to the notion of varying knowledge bases firms utilize in their innovation creation processes. Firm level data from the 2010 Community Innovation Survey in Denmark was utilized to analyse cross-border innovation...... of innovativeness increase the likelihood of cross-border innovation cooperation. Accordingly, geographical proximity to international borders is found to have a significant, positive effect on selecting partners within the European Union. The multivariate probit model shows that the decision of choosing a domestic...

  10. Co-operation and Self-Organization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christian Fuchs

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available Co-operation has its specific meanings in physical (dissipative, biological (autopoietic and social (re-creative systems. On upper hierarchical systemic levels there are additional, emergent properties of co-operation, co-operation evolves dialectically. The focus of this paper is human cooperation. Social systems permanently reproduce themselves in a loop that mutually connects social structures and actors. Social structures enable and constrain actions, they are medium and outcome of social actions. This reflexive process is termed re-creation and describes the process of social selforganization. Co-operation in a very weak sense means coaction and takes place permanently in re-creative systems: two or more actors act together in a co-ordinated manner so that a new emergent property emerges. Co-action involves the formation of forces, environment and sense (dispositions, decisions, definitions. Mechanistic approaches conceive coaction in terms of rational planning, consciousness, intention, predictability, and necessity. Holistic approaches conceive coaction in terms of spontaneity, unconscious and unintended actions, non-predictability, chance. Dialectic approaches conceive co-action in terms of a unity of rational planning and spontaneous emergence, a unity of conscious and unconscious aspects and consequences, and a unity of necessity and chance. Co-operation in a strong sense that is employed in this paper means that actors work together, create a new emergent reality, have shared goals, all benefit from co-operating, can reach their goals in joint effort more quickly and more efficiently than on an individual basis, make concerted use of existing structures in order to produce new structures, learn from each other mutually, are interconnected in a social network, and are mutually dependent and responsible. There is a lack of cooperation, self-determination, inclusion and direct democracy in modern society due to its antagonistic

  11. When Reputation Enforces Evolutionary Cooperation in Unreliable MANETs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Changbing; Li, Ang; Li, Xiang

    2015-10-01

    In self-organized mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs), network functions rely on cooperation of self-interested nodes, where a challenge is to enforce their mutual cooperation. In this paper, we study cooperative packet forwarding in a one-hop unreliable channel which results from loss of packets and noisy observation of transmissions. We propose an indirect reciprocity framework based on evolutionary game theory, and enforce cooperation of packet forwarding strategies in both structured and unstructured MANETs. Furthermore, we analyze the evolutionary dynamics of cooperative strategies and derive the threshold of benefit-to-cost ratio to guarantee the convergence of cooperation. The numerical simulations verify that the proposed evolutionary game theoretic solution enforces cooperation when the benefit-to-cost ratio of the altruistic exceeds the critical condition. In addition, the network throughput performance of our proposed strategy in structured MANETs is measured, which is in close agreement with that of the full cooperative strategy.

  12. Can German wine cooperatives compete on quality?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Schamel Guenter H.

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper analyzes how German cooperative wineries compete with private (i.e. non-cooperative wineries regarding reputation, quality categorization and varietal selection. Among the reasons why German cooperatives lag behind in terms of reputation for quality wine are organization principles of cooperatives and the difficulty to manage growers supplying grapes of different qualities. Cooperatives turn their supply of grapes into wine often classified as quality wine without much distinction. Conversely, privately owned wineries growing their own grapes may have more control over quality along their production chain and are able to produce more distinctive wines. In turn, they gain more reputation with final consumers with respect to quality. We analyze data for private and cooperative wineries from Germany. Our objective is to identify key differences in terms of reputation for quality wine production. Specifically, we look at interaction effects based on organizational form (cooperative vs. private and the German wine quality categorization (i.e. basic quality wine vs. Kabinett, Spätlese, or Auslese as well as varietal effects. We employ a hedonic pricing model to test the hypothesis that wines produced by private producers receive a reputation premium relative to cooperatives. Moreover, we hypothesize that private wineries receive a price premium relative to coopera- tives for other than basic quality wines and distinct varieties such as Riesling and Pinot Noir. The empirical analysis confirms both hypotheses. The estimated coefficients indicate that cooperatives are unable to gain quality premium for most quality cat- egories and gain price premiums only for non-distinct varieties such as Lemberger and Dornfelder. We can argue that German cooperatives are stuck in the low quality corner of the quality and variety spectrum and are currently not able to compete with private wineries in terms of quality. This result supports the observation

  13. Marketing Cooperatives and Financial Structure

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hendrikse, G.W.J.; Veerman, C.P.

    1995-01-01

    The relationship between the financial structure of marketing cooperatives and the requirement of the domination of control by the members of the cooperative is analysed with an emphasis on incomplete contracts and system complementarities. It is argued that the disappearance of shortage markets in

  14. Making Cooperative Learning Groups Work.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hawley, James; De Jong, Cherie

    1995-01-01

    Discusses the use of cooperative-learning groups with middle school students. Describes cooperative-learning techniques, including group roles, peer evaluation, and observation and monitoring. Considers grouping options, including group size and configuration, dyads, the think-pair-share lecture, student teams achievement divisions, jigsaw groups,…

  15. Cooperative Change and the Myth of Rationality

    OpenAIRE

    Rokholt, Per Ove; Borgen, Svein Ole

    2000-01-01

    Much of the current research on agricultural cooperatives is biased towards weaknesses of the cooperative organization form. The literature says very little about the strengths and advantages of the cooperative form and what is necessary to develop the form's uniqueness into a sustainable competitive advantage. We argue that for cooperatives to remain viable and competitive, the advantages of the form must be clearly manifested. There is now a lack of systematic theorizing in this field. Typi...

  16. POPULAR COOPERATIVE RECYCLING: THE CASE OF COOPERATIVE RECYCLABLE MATERIAL RIBEIRÃO PRETO

    OpenAIRE

    Mantovani, Daielly Melina Nassif; Leite, Maria FLavia Barbosa

    2015-01-01

    The social cooperatives, in view of supportive economy, are pointed as a necessity to social inclusion of many marginalized employees in the work market and society. Thisarticlepresentsthe case oftheRecycling Material Cooperativefrom Ribeirão Preto (Cooperativa dos Catadores de Material Reciclável de Ribeirão Preto). The cooperative, in partner with a non-governmental organization (Casa das Mangueiras) tries to improve the social conditions of the employees and their fair social inclusion. Th...

  17. Co-operatives and Normative Control

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bregn, Kirsten; Jagd, Søren

    1992-01-01

    This paper explores the conditions for applying normative control in co-operatives. For normative control to be effective two conditions are found particularly important: Individuals must be morally involved and the organization must have a system of making it possible to link common norms...... and individual action. If these conditions are not fulfilled, as may be the case in many co-operatives, normative control cannot be expected to work. The problems of normative control in co-operatives may then not be caused by the use of normative control as such, but may instead be a problem of securing...

  18. Altered Markers of Brain Development in Crohn's Disease with Extraintestinal Manifestations - A Pilot Study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anne K Thomann

    Full Text Available Alterations of brain morphology in Crohn's disease have been reported, but data is scarce and heterogenous and the possible impact of disease predisposition on brain development is unknown. Assuming a systemic course of the disease, brain involvement seems more probable in presence of extraintestinal manifestations, but this question has not yet been addressed. The present study examined the relationship between Crohn's disease and brain structure and focused on the connection with extraintestinal manifestations and markers of brain development.In a pilot study, brains of 15 patients with Crohn's disease (of which 9 had a history of extraintestinal manifestations, i.e. arthritis, erythema nodosum and primary sclerosing cholangitis were compared to matched healthy controls using high resolution magnetic resonance imaging. Patients and controls were tested for depression, fatigue and global cognitive function. Cortical thickness, surface area and folding were determined via cortical surface modeling.The overall group comparison (i.e. all patients vs. controls yielded no significant results. In the patient subgroup with extraintestinal manifestations, changes in cortical area and folding, but not thickness, were identified: Patients showed elevated cortical surface area in the left middle frontal lobe (p<0.05 and hypergyrification in the left lingual gyrus (p<0.001 compared to healthy controls. Hypogyrification of the right insular cortex (p<0.05 and hypergyrification of the right anterior cingulate cortex (p<0.001 were detected in the subgroup comparison of patients with against without extraintestinal manifestations. P-values are corrected for multiple comparisons.Our findings lend further support to the hypothesis that Crohn's disease is associated with aberrant brain structure and preliminary support for the hypothesis that these changes are associated with a systemic course of the disease as indicated by extraintestinal manifestations. Changes

  19. Do Coffee Farmers Benefit in Food Security from Participating in Coffee Cooperatives? Evidence from Southwest Ethiopia Coffee Cooperatives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shumeta, Zekarias; D'Haese, Marijke

    2018-06-01

    Most coffee in Ethiopia is produced by smallholder farmers who face a daily struggle to get sufficient income but also to feed their families. At the same time, many smallholder coffee producers are members of cooperatives. Yet, literature has paid little attention to the effect of cooperatives on combating food insecurity among cash crop producers including coffee farmers. The objective of the study was to investigate how coffee cooperative membership may affect food security among coffee farm households in Southwest Ethiopia. The study used cross-sectional household data on income, expenditure on food, staple food production (maize and teff), and utilization of improved inputs (fertilizer and improved seed) collected from 256 randomly selected farm households (132 cooperative members and 124 nonmembers) and applied an inverse probability weighting (IPW) estimation to assess the impact of cooperative membership on food security. The result revealed that cooperative membership has a positive and significant effect on staple food production (maize and teff) and facilitated technological transformation via increased utilization of fertilizer and improved seeds. Nonetheless, the effect on food expenditure and income could not be confirmed. Findings suggest a trade-off between coffee marketing and input supply functions of the cooperatives, impairing their true food security impact from the pooled income and production effect.

  20. The evolution of cooperation in spatial groups

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Jianlei; Zhang Chunyan; Chu Tianguang

    2011-01-01

    Research highlights: → We propose a model of evolutionary games in which individuals are organized into networked groups. → We show that the social dilemma can be resolved and high cooperation levels are attained. → Larger average group size would lead to lower cooperation level but higher average payoffs. → The results show that higher expectations can bring the system with larger average payoffs. - Abstract: Much of human cooperation remains an evolutionary riddle. There is evidence that individuals are often organized into groups in many social situations. Inspired by this observation, we propose a simple model of evolutionary public goods games in which individuals are organized into networked groups. Here, nodes in the network represent groups; the edges, connecting the nodes, refer to the interactions between the groups. Individuals establish public goods games with partners in the same group and migrate among neighboring groups depending on their payoffs and expectations. We show that the paradigmatic public goods social dilemma can be resolved and high cooperation levels are attained in structured groups, even in relatively harsh conditions for cooperation. Further, by means of numerical simulations and mean-field analysis, we arrive at the result: larger average group size and milder cooperation environment would lead to lower cooperation level but higher average payoffs of the entire population. Altogether, these results emphasize that our understanding of cooperation can be enhanced by investigations of how spatial groups of individuals affect the evolution dynamics, which might help in explaining the emergence and evolution of cooperation.

  1. Comparisons of Cooperative and Non-Cooperative Students: An Analysis of Student Accounting System Data. Interim Report, June, 1981.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frazier, Don

    The major purpose of this study was to identify unique effects of cooperative vocational education. This interim report is of results of the analyses of existing data bases. Comparisons of cooperative and non-cooperative vocational programs are made on the following variables: enrollments by age, sex and race, school status, work status,…

  2. Enresa International Cooperation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rodriguez Beceiro, A.

    1998-01-01

    The Empresa Nacional de Residuos Radiactivos, S.A. (ENRESA) was set up in 1984 with the mandate to undertake responsibility for radioactive waste management in Spain. From the very beginning, ENRESA was fully aware of the fact that international cooperation plays a very important role in the development of national programmes. Aspects such as the setting up of international databases, the development and validation of models or site characterization technique such enormous efforts and amounts of resources that they could hardly be undertaken individually. Furthermore, joint participation in research, development and demonstration projects reinforces the level of confidence, not only in the decision-making process but also in the technologies, techniques and practices used. ENRESA's participation in the international contexts is largely defined, on the one hand, by the needs arising from its technical programme, as reflected in the General Radioactive Waste Plan and in the Research and Development Plan, and on the other by the need to support spanish governmental institutions in their participation in inter-governmental institutions in their participation in inter-governmental forums. The formula for cooperation varies according to needs, this cooperation generally being accomplished by means of bilateral agreements with other institutions having similar competence or by participating in the programmes of inter-governmental organizations. In particular, ENRESA has reached cooperation agreements with most of the agencies with similar responsibilities in other countries and participates very actively in the programmes of the European Union, the Nuclear energy Agency (NEA/OECD) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). (Author)

  3. The principle of cooperation in environmental law

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rengeling, H.W.

    1988-01-01

    The study prepared by order of the Federal Office for Environmental Protection describes the cooperation principle in German environmental policy. It presents examples from various areas of environmental protection, i.a. the participation of third-parties in government decisions. The functions, advantages, problems and risks of cooperation are dealt with. The study focuses on the constitutional and administrative fundamentals for the evaluation of the admissibility and limits of cooperation. On the one hand, there has to be cooperation between State and Society, on the other, there is a normative separation of the two in accordance with constitutional law. The study points out scopes of action for cooperation between State and Society. (RST) [de

  4. Selfishness and Cooperation: Challenge for Social Life

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Szocik Konrad

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Cooperation is a great challenge for natural selection. Some scholars assume that cooperation could not evolve within the framework of natural selection. It is undeniable that natural selection, at least at the individual level, favors selfishness and defectors. Nonetheless, this selfish tendency does not necessarily imply that cooperation could not evolve by means of natural selection. In this paper, we specifically acknowledge certain basic challenges for the evolution of the human ability to cooperate at the level of large groups. In this paper, we discuss topics like the human ability for “supercooperation,” the importance of repetition and reputation, and Multilevel Selection Theory as the basic mechanisms of evolution of cooperation.

  5. Analysis of outcome in patients reirradiated for brain metastases

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wong, William W.; Schild, Steven E.; Sawyer, Timothy E.; Shaw, Edward G.

    1996-01-01

    Purpose: Patients with newly diagnosed brain metastases generally benefit from whole brain radiation therapy (WBRT). However, the role of reirradiation for patients who develop progressive brain metastases has been controversial. This retrospective study examines our experience with reirradiation of patients for progressive brain metastases after an initial course of WBRT. Methods and Materials: From 1975-1993, 2658 patients received WBRT for brain metastases at our institution. Eighty-six patients were subsequently reirradiated for progressive brain metastases. The median age of these patients was 58 (range: 31-81). The most common primary sites were breast and lung. Fifty patients had metastatic disease at other sites. Most patients had an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 2 (40 patients) or 3 (38 patients). The median dose of the first course of irradiation was 30 Gy (range: 1.5-50.6 Gy). The median dose of the second course of irradiation was 20 Gy (range: 8.0-30.6 Gy). Results: Twenty-three patients (27%) had resolution of neurologic symptoms, 37 patients (43%) had partial improvement of neurologic symptoms, and 25 patients (29%) had either no change or worsened after reirradiation. The median survival following reirradiation was 4 months (range: 0.25-72 months). The majority of patients had no significant toxicity secondary to reirradiation. Five patients had radiographic abnormalities of their brain consistent with radiation-related changes. One patient had symptoms of dementia that was thought to be caused by radiotherapy. Various potential prognostic factors were evaluated for possible associations with survival, including age, sex, primary site, ECOG performance status, RTOG neurologic functional class, absence of extracranial metastases, number of brain metastases, and dose of reirradiation. Absence of extracranial metastasis, solitary brain metastasis, and a retreatment dose > 20 Gy were associated with improved survival in

  6. Testing cooperative systems with the MARS simulator

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Netten, B.D.; Wedemeijer, H.

    2010-01-01

    The complexity of cooperative systems makes the use of high fidelity simulation essential in the development and testing of cooperative applications and their interactions with other cooperative systems. In SAFESPOT a simulator test bench is setup to test the safety margin applications running on

  7. 75 FR 9246 - Cooperative Share Loan Insurance

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-03-01

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT [Docket No. FR-5376-N-14] Cooperative Share Loan... comments on the subject proposal. New guidance for cooperative housing loan insurance will be published to update existing policies, and better enable mortgagees to submit cooperative share loans for FHA...

  8. Cooperation under indirect reciprocity and imitative trust.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saavedra, Serguei; Smith, David; Reed-Tsochas, Felix

    2010-10-27

    Indirect reciprocity, a key concept in behavioral experiments and evolutionary game theory, provides a mechanism that allows reciprocal altruism to emerge in a population of self-regarding individuals even when repeated interactions between pairs of actors are unlikely. Recent empirical evidence show that humans typically follow complex assessment strategies involving both reciprocity and social imitation when making cooperative decisions. However, currently, we have no systematic understanding of how imitation, a mechanism that may also generate negative effects via a process of cumulative advantage, affects cooperation when repeated interactions are unlikely or information about a recipient's reputation is unavailable. Here we extend existing evolutionary models, which use an image score for reputation to track how individuals cooperate by contributing resources, by introducing a new imitative-trust score, which tracks whether actors have been the recipients of cooperation in the past. We show that imitative trust can co-exist with indirect reciprocity mechanisms up to a threshold and then cooperation reverses -revealing the elusive nature of cooperation. Moreover, we find that when information about a recipient's reputation is limited, trusting the action of third parties towards her (i.e. imitating) does favor a higher collective cooperation compared to random-trusting and share-alike mechanisms. We believe these results shed new light on the factors favoring social imitation as an adaptive mechanism in populations of cooperating social actors.

  9. Cooperation under indirect reciprocity and imitative trust.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Serguei Saavedra

    Full Text Available Indirect reciprocity, a key concept in behavioral experiments and evolutionary game theory, provides a mechanism that allows reciprocal altruism to emerge in a population of self-regarding individuals even when repeated interactions between pairs of actors are unlikely. Recent empirical evidence show that humans typically follow complex assessment strategies involving both reciprocity and social imitation when making cooperative decisions. However, currently, we have no systematic understanding of how imitation, a mechanism that may also generate negative effects via a process of cumulative advantage, affects cooperation when repeated interactions are unlikely or information about a recipient's reputation is unavailable. Here we extend existing evolutionary models, which use an image score for reputation to track how individuals cooperate by contributing resources, by introducing a new imitative-trust score, which tracks whether actors have been the recipients of cooperation in the past. We show that imitative trust can co-exist with indirect reciprocity mechanisms up to a threshold and then cooperation reverses -revealing the elusive nature of cooperation. Moreover, we find that when information about a recipient's reputation is limited, trusting the action of third parties towards her (i.e. imitating does favor a higher collective cooperation compared to random-trusting and share-alike mechanisms. We believe these results shed new light on the factors favoring social imitation as an adaptive mechanism in populations of cooperating social actors.

  10. Computed tomography of the ''armored brain''

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ludwig, B.; Nix, W.; Lanksch, W.

    1983-01-01

    A classified chronic subdural hematoma may cover the surface of the cerebral hemispheres to such an extent that one can talk of an ''armored brain''. Pathogenesis, clinical course and treatment are discussed based on the computed tomograms of five cases. (orig.)

  11. Hydrophobic/Hydrophilic Cooperative Janus System for Enhancement of Fog Collection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cao, Moyuan; Xiao, Jiasheng; Yu, Cunming; Li, Kan; Jiang, Lei

    2015-09-09

    Harvesting micro-droplets from fog is a promising method for solving global freshwater crisis. Different types of fog collectors have been extensively reported during the last decade. The improvement of fog collection can be attributed to the immediate transportation of harvested water, the effective regeneration of the fog gathering surface, etc. Through learning from the nature's strategy for water preservation, the hydrophobic/hydrophilic cooperative Janus system that achieved reinforced fog collection ability is reported here. Directional delivery of the surface water, decreased re-evaporation rate of the harvested water, and thinner boundary layer of the collecting surface contribute to the enhancement of collection efficiency. Further designed cylinder Janus collector can facilely achieve a continuous process of efficient collection, directional transportation, and spontaneous preservation of fog water. This Janus fog harvesting system should improve the understanding of micro-droplet collection system and offer ideas to solve water resource crisis. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  12. Random and cooperative sequential adsorption

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evans, J. W.

    1993-10-01

    Irreversible random sequential adsorption (RSA) on lattices, and continuum "car parking" analogues, have long received attention as models for reactions on polymer chains, chemisorption on single-crystal surfaces, adsorption in colloidal systems, and solid state transformations. Cooperative generalizations of these models (CSA) are sometimes more appropriate, and can exhibit richer kinetics and spatial structure, e.g., autocatalysis and clustering. The distribution of filled or transformed sites in RSA and CSA is not described by an equilibrium Gibbs measure. This is the case even for the saturation "jammed" state of models where the lattice or space cannot fill completely. However exact analysis is often possible in one dimension, and a variety of powerful analytic methods have been developed for higher dimensional models. Here we review the detailed understanding of asymptotic kinetics, spatial correlations, percolative structure, etc., which is emerging for these far-from-equilibrium processes.

  13. 7 CFR 1124.11 - Cooperative reserve supply unit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Cooperative reserve supply unit. 1124.11 Section 1124... MARKETING AREA Order Regulating Handling Definitions § 1124.11 Cooperative reserve supply unit. Cooperative reserve supply unit means any cooperative association or its agent that is a handler pursuant to § 1000.9...

  14. Systematization, distribution and territory of the caudal cerebral artery on the brain's surface of the turkey (Meleagris gallopavo

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amarílis Díaz de Carvalho

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Thirty Meleagris gallopavo heads with their neck segments were used. Animals were contained and euthanized with the association of mebezonium iodide, embutramide and tetracaine hydrochloride (T 61, Intervet by intravenous injection. The arterial system was rinsed with cold saline solution (15°C, with 5000IU heparin and filled with red-colored latex. The samples were fixed in 20% formaldehyde for seven days. The brains were removed with a segment of cervical spinal cord and after, the dura-mater was removed and the arteries dissected. The cerebral carotid arteries, after the intercarotid anastomosis, were projected around the hypophysis, until they reached the tuber cinereum and divided into their terminal branches, the caudal branch and the rostral branch. The rostral branch was projected rostrolateralwards and gave off, in sequence, two collateral branches, the caudal cerebral and the middle cerebral arteries and the terminal branch was as cerebroethmoidal artery. The caudal cerebral artery of one antimere formed the interhemispheric artery, which gave off dorsal hemispheric branches to the convex surface of both antimeres. Its dorsal tectal mesencephalic branch, of only one antimere, originated the dorsal cerebellar artery. In the interior of the cerebral transverse fissure, after the origin of the dorsal tectal mesencephalic artery, the caudal cerebral artery emitted occipital hemispheric branches, pineal branches and medial hemispheric branches, on both antimeres. The caudal cerebral artery's territory comprehended the entire surface of the dorsal hemioptic lobe, the rostral surface of the cerebellum, the diencephalic structures, the caudal pole and the medial surface of the cerebral hemisphere and in the convex surface, the sagittal eminence except for its most rostral third. Due to the asymmetry found in the caudal cerebral arteries' ramifications, the models were classified into three types and their respective subtypes.

  15. Monitoring emotions and cooperative behavior

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gorbunov, R.D.

    2013-01-01

    Cooperation among people in teams that are bound to perform a common goal is one of the main factors determining success of these teams. Cooperation becomes even more important for small teams performing long-term missions in isolation. Examples of such missions include missions performed on the

  16. Cooperative newsvendor games : a review

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Montrucchio, L.; Norde, H.; Ozen, U.; Scarsini, M.; Slikker, M.; Choi, T.-M.

    2012-01-01

    In this survey, we review some of the main contributions to the cooperative approach of newsvendor situations. We show how newsvendor situations with several retailers can be modeled as a transferable-utility cooperative game and we concentrate on one solution concept: the core. First, we examine

  17. Türkiye’de Kooperatiflerin Vergilendirilmesi(Taxation on Cooperatives In Turkey

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    O. Murat KOÇTÜRK

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Cooperatives are regarded as the third sector in line with the private and the public sectors in most countries. According to Turkey National Cooperatives Union’s by 2004 there are 58 414 cooperatives and 7 544 872 cooperative members both in rural and urban cooperatives in Turkey. Therefore, the cooperatives in Turkey are supported by the government with various instruments such as tax exemptions and reductions. In this paper, taxation on cooperatives and their implementation on cooperative sector were examined. Being an important instrument of social economy, cooperatives undertake significant roles in EU countries. It is thought that those exemption and redections on cooperative sector would make a considerable contribution to the Turkish cooperative movement.

  18. Strategic interaction between government and central bank in framework of cooperative and non-cooperative games

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mahmoudinia, D.; Engwerda, Jacob; Esfahani, Rahim Dallali; Dastjerdi, R.B.; Fakhar, M.

    2016-01-01

    In this paper we analyzed the strategic interaction between government and central bank in Iranian economy. Using dynamic differential games and Nash equilibrium within cooperative and non-cooperative setting, we try to find the optimal values of debt, deficit and monetary base. The results of

  19. Co-operatives as heating entrepreneurs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Honkasalo, M.

    2000-01-01

    The objective of heating entrepreneurship functioning in the form of a co operative is to make the use of the wood chips competitive primarily through district heating of municipal centres. When compared with the conventional heating mode the reliability of chip delivery and the remuneration paid to the co-operative for attending to the running of the heating centres are considered to be the competitive advantages. The system has proven to be a working one; one indication of this is its growing application in the country. In the spring of the year 2000 there were 26 chip-based energy co-operative active in Finland. The first time that the use of bioenergy underwent a powerful rise was in the 1970s as a consequence of the oilcrises. Subsequently the enthusiasm shown to this energy form subsided. Then in the early 1990s, biofuels once again became a subject of interest mainly due to environmental issues, the restructuring of rural areas and silvicultural reasons. With the past decades' experiences forming the basis, the development needs associated with the use of bioenergy were in fresh memory and they were addressed on a wide font. Boiler technology related to solid fuels evolved rapidly and the least successful manufacturers had been eliminated by the recession. In the case of co-operative heating entrepreneurship, the commonest form neither the district heating centre nor the system of heat-transfer pipes belong to co-operative society. The co-operative is responsible only for the delivery of the fuel and for looking after the heating plant. Remuneration is generally based on the amount of energy leaving the district heating plant. Thus the heat dissipated at the heating plant is the co-operative's problem and the heat dissipated during transfer are the energy buyer's problem. The investor in the equipments usually the local municipality or an energy utility. In some cases the co-operative owns the equipments well, in which case it is correct to speak of

  20. Treatment of capital in Brasilian cooperative societies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vergílio Frederico Perius

    2005-12-01

    Full Text Available The early history of the cooperative system never taxed much importance to capital formation in cooperatives. The first German consumer cooperative had no equity in their accounting records. We want to analyze, even though the capital was not essential, what is its function actually.

  1. Prognostic index to identify patients who may not benefit from whole brain radiotherapy for multiple brain metastases from lung cancer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sundaresan, P.; Yeghiaian, R.; Gebski, V.

    2010-01-01

    Full text: Palliative whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) is often recommended in the management of multiple brain metastases. Allowing for WBRT waiting time, duration of the WBRT course and time to clinical response, it may take 6 weeks from the point of initial assessment for a benefit from WBRT to manifest. Patients who die within 6 weeks ('early death') may not benefit from WBRT and may instead experience a decline in quality of life. This study aimed to develop a prognostic index (PI) that identifies the subset of patients with lung cancer with multiple brain metastases who may not benefit from WBRT because of'early death'. The medical records of patients with lung cancer who had WBRT recommended for multiple brain metastases over a 10-year period were retrospectively reviewed. Patients were classified as either having died within 6 weeks or having lived beyond 6 weeks. Potential prognostic indicators were evaluated for correlation with 'early death'. A PI was constructed by modelling the survival classification to determine the contribution of these factors towards shortened survival. Of the 275 patients recommended WBRT, 64 (23.22%) died within 6 weeks. The main prognostic factor predicting early death was Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) status >2. Patients with a high PI score (>13) were at higher risk of'early death'. Twenty-three per cent of patients died prior to benefit from WBRT. ECOG status was the most predictive for 'early death'. Other factors may also contribute towards a poor outcome. With further refinement and validation, the PI could be a valuable clinical decision tool.

  2. Cooperative Dynamics in Lattice-Embedded Scale-Free Networks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shang Lihui; Zhang Mingji; Yang Yanqing

    2009-01-01

    We investigate cooperative behaviors of lattice-embedded scale-free networking agents in the prisoner's dilemma game model by employing two initial strategy distribution mechanisms, which are specific distribution to the most connected sites (hubs) and random distribution. Our study indicates that the game dynamics crucially depends on the underlying spatial network structure with different strategy distribution mechanism. The cooperators' specific distribution contributes to an enhanced level of cooperation in the system compared with random one, and cooperation is robust to cooperators' specific distribution but fragile to defectors' specific distribution. Especially, unlike the specific case, increasing heterogeneity of network does not always favor the emergence of cooperation under random mechanism. Furthermore, we study the geographical effects and find that the graphically constrained network structure tends to improve the evolution of cooperation in random case and in specific one for a large temptation to defect.

  3. Cooperative path planning of unmanned aerial vehicles

    CERN Document Server

    Tsourdos, Antonios; Shanmugavel, Madhavan

    2010-01-01

    An invaluable addition to the literature on UAV guidance and cooperative control, Cooperative Path Planning of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles is a dedicated, practical guide to computational path planning for UAVs. One of the key issues facing future development of UAVs is path planning: it is vital that swarm UAVs/ MAVs can cooperate together in a coordinated manner, obeying a pre-planned course but able to react to their environment by communicating and cooperating. An optimized path is necessary in order to ensure a UAV completes its mission efficiently, safely, and successfully. Focussing on the path planning of multiple UAVs for simultaneous arrival on target, Cooperative Path Planning of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles also offers coverage of path planners that are applicable to land, sea, or space-borne vehicles. Cooperative Path Planning of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles is authored by leading researchers from Cranfield University and provides an authoritative resource for researchers, academics and engineers working in...

  4. Recent developments in cooperative control and optimization

    CERN Document Server

    Murphey, Robert; Pardalos, Panos

    2004-01-01

    Over the past several years, cooperative control and optimization has un­ questionably been established as one of the most important areas of research in the military sciences. Even so, cooperative control and optimization tran­ scends the military in its scope -having become quite relevant to a broad class of systems with many exciting, commercial, applications. One reason for all the excitement is that research has been so incredibly diverse -spanning many scientific and engineering disciplines. This latest volume in the Cooperative Systems book series clearly illustrates this trend towards diversity and creative thought. And no wonder, cooperative systems are among the hardest systems control science has endeavored to study, hence creative approaches to model­ ing, analysis, and synthesis are a must! The definition of cooperation itself is a slippery issue. As you will see in this and previous volumes, cooperation has been cast into many different roles and therefore has assumed many diverse meanings. P...

  5. Morphometric variability of precuneus in relation to gender and the hemisphere of human brain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Spasojević Goran

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available Precuneus, a quadrangular gyrus of the medial surface of the human parietal lobe, is bound by three primary brain sulci and by superior hemispheric border. Precise encephalometric data about precuneus are important in the studies of brain lateralization, sex dimorphism, and brain functions in general. In this study, total and visible (exstrasulcal surface area of the precuneus were measured on 50 brains of the adult persons (31 male, and 29 female, together with the investigation of its relationship to the side (left/right and gender (sex dimorphism. The average total surface area of the precuneus was 16.07 cm2 on the right (males 16.44 cm2, females 15.27 cm2, and 15.44 cm2 on the left (males 15.67 cm2, females 14.62 cm2. The average visible (extrasulcal surface area of cortex of precuneus was 9.97 cm2 on the left (males 10.75 cm2, females 8.91 cm2, and 9.38 cm2 on the right (males 10.25 cm2, females 8.19 cm2. Exstrasulcal surface area of the left precuneus was larger, by 0.59 cm on the average, which was not statistically significant. Total surface area of precuneus of males was significantly larger on the right (16.44 cm2 (p<0.01 than on the left (15.67 cm2. In females it was also larger on the right (15.27 cm2 than on the left (14.62 cm2, but with no statistical significance. Visible (exstrasulcal surface area of both, (left and right precuneus of males was highly significantly larger in comparison with the females (p<0.001. The obtained results and other facts suggested that sex dimorphism of human brain, including precuneus, was present, but not always easily observable studied or proven in all the details.

  6. Generation Z, Meet Cooperative Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Igel, Charles; Urquhart, Vicki

    2012-01-01

    Today's Generation Z teens need to develop teamwork and social learning skills to be successful in the 21st century workplace. Teachers can help students develop these skills and enhance academic achievement by implementing cooperative learning strategies. Three key principles for successful cooperative learning are discussed. (Contains 1 figure.)

  7. Evolution, epigenetics and cooperation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bateson, Patrick

    2014-04-01

    Explanations for biological evolution in terms of changes in gene frequencies refer to outcomes rather than process. Integrating epigenetic studies with older evolutionary theories has drawn attention to the ways in which evolution occurs. Adaptation at the level of the gene is givingway to adaptation at the level of the organism and higher-order assemblages of organisms. These ideas impact on the theories of how cooperation might have evolved. Two of the theories, i.e. that cooperating individuals are genetically related or that they cooperate for self-interested reasons, have been accepted for a long time. The idea that adaptation takes place at the level of groups is much more controversial. However, bringing together studies of development with those of evolution is taking away much of the heat in the debate about the evolution of group behaviour.

  8. "A model co-operative country": Irish-Finnish co-operative contacts at the turn of the twentieth century

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hilson, Mary

    2017-01-01

    Agricultural co-operative societies were widely discussed across late nineteenth-century Europe as a potential solution to the problems of agricultural depression, land reform and rural poverty. In Finland, the agronomist Hannes Gebhard drew inspiration from examples across Europe in founding the...... that even before the First World War it was Finland, not Ireland, that had begun to be regarded as ‘a model co-operative country’....... between Irish and Finnish co-operators around the turn of the century, and examines the ways in which the parallels between the two countries were constructed and presented by those involved in these exchanges. I will also consider the reasons for the divergence in the development of cooperation, so...

  9. Heuristics guide cooperative behaviors in public goods game

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Yongjie; Chen, Tong

    2015-12-01

    In public goods game (PGG), player's cooperative behavior is not pure economical rationality, but social preference and prosocial intuition play extremely important roles as well. Social preference and prosocial intuition can be guided by heuristics from one's neighbors in daily life. To better investigate the impacts of heuristics on the evolution of cooperation, four types of agents are introduced into our spatial PGG. Through numerical simulations, results show that the larger percentages of cooperators with independent thought, the easier emergence and maintenance of collective cooperative behaviors. Additionally, we find that differentia heuristic capability has great effect on the equilibrium of PGG. Cooperation can be obviously promoted, when heuristic capability of cooperators with independent thought is stronger than that of defectors with independent thought. Finally, we observe that cooperators with independent thought and defectors with independent thought are favorable for the formation of some high quality clusters, which can resist the invasion between each other. Our work may help us understand more clearly the mechanism of cooperation in real world.

  10. 26 CFR 301.7701-14 - Cooperative bank.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 26 Internal Revenue 18 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Cooperative bank. 301.7701-14 Section 301.7701... ADMINISTRATION PROCEDURE AND ADMINISTRATION Definitions § 301.7701-14 Cooperative bank. For taxable years beginning after October 16, 1962, the term “cooperative bank” means an institution without capital stock...

  11. Internal Control Good Cooperative Governance And Performance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andry Arifian Rachman

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available This study aims to examine the influence of internal control and good cooperative governance partially and simultaneously to the performance of cooperatives in West Java Province. The research method used in this research is descriptive and verification. The sample in this research is 22 boards as manager of cooperative in West Java Province. The data used in the research is the primary data through questionnaire collection. Validity and reliability testing is performed before hypothesis testing. This research uses multiple regression analysis technique. Based on hypothesis testing obtained 1 internal control has no significant effect on performance 2 good cooperative governance has a significant effect on performance and 3 internal control and good cooperative governance have a significant effect on performance.

  12. Attraction and cooperative behavior

    OpenAIRE

    Donja Darai; Silvia Grätz

    2012-01-01

    Being good-looking seems to generate substantial benefits in many social interactions, making the "beauty premium" a not to be underrated economic factor. This paper investigates how physical attractiveness enables people to generate these benefits in the case of cooperation, using field data from a modified one-shot prisoner's dilemma played in a high-stakes television game show. While attractive contestants are not more or less cooperative than less attractive ones, facial attractiveness pr...

  13. Post-treatment intracranial hemorrhage of brain metastases from hepatocellular carcinoma

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Kyung Su; Kim, Kyu Bo; Chie, Eui Kyu; Kim, Yoon Jun; Yoon, Jung Hwan; Lee, Hyo Suk; Ha, Sung W. [Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2015-03-15

    To evaluate the incidence and risk factors of post-treatment intracranial hemorrhage of brain metastases from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Medical records of 81 patients who have been diagnosed of brain metastases from HCC and underwent surgery, radiosurgery and/or whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) between January 2000 and December 2013 were retrospectively reviewed. Intracranial hemorrhage was present in 64 patients (79%) at the time of diagnosis. Median value of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level was 1,700 ng/mL. The Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status for 20 patients was greater than 2. Fifty-seven patients underwent WBRT and the others were treated with surgery and/or radiosurgery without WBRT. During follow-up, 12 events of intracranial hemorrhage after treatment were identified. Three-month post-treatment hemorrhage rate was 16.1%. Multivariate analyses revealed that ECOG performance status, AFP, and WBRT were associated with post-treatment hemorrhage (p = 0.013, 0.013, and 0.003, respectively). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that 3-month post-treatment hemorrhage rate of new lesion was higher in patients treated without WBRT, although statistical significance was not reached. (18.6% vs. 4.6%; p = 0.104). Ten of 12 patients with post-treatment hemorrhage died with neurologic cause. WBRT should be considered to prevent post-treatment hemorrhage in the treatment of brain metastases from HCC.

  14. Recruiting specialized macrophages across the borders to restore brain functions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corraliza, Inés

    2014-01-01

    Although is well accepted that the central nervous system has an immune privilege protected by the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and maintained by the glia, it is also known that in homeostatic conditions, peripheral immune cells are able to penetrate to the deepest regions of brain without altering the structural integrity of the BBB. Nearly all neurological diseases, including degenerative, autoimmune or infectious ones, compromising brain functions, develop with a common pattern of inflammation in which macrophages and microglia activation have been regarded often as the "bad guys." However, recognizing the huge heterogeneity of macrophage populations and also the different expression properties of microglia, there is increasing evidence of alternative conditions in which these cells, if primed and addressed in the correct direction, could be essential for reparative and regenerative functions. The main proposal of this review is to integrate studies about macrophage's biology at the brain borders where the ultimate challenge is to penetrate through the BBB and contribute to change or even stop the course of disease. Thanks to the efforts made in the last century, this special wall is currently recognized as a highly regulated cooperative structure, in which their components form neurovascular units. This new scenario prompted us to review the precise cross-talk between the mind and body modes of immune response.

  15. On hybrid cooperation in underlay cognitive radio networks

    KAUST Repository

    Mahmood, Nurul Huda

    2013-09-01

    Cooperative communication is a promising strategy to enhance the performance of a communication network as it helps to improve the coverage area and the outage performance. However, such enhancement comes at the expense of increased resource utilization, which is undesirable; more so in the case of opportunistic wireless systems such as cognitive radio networks. In order to balance the performance gains from cooperative communication against the possible over-utilization of resources, we propose and analyze an adaptive-cooperation technique for underlay cognitive radio networks, termed as hybrid-cooperation. Under the proposed cooperation scheme, secondary users in a cognitive radio network cooperate adaptively to enhance the spectral efficiency and the error performance of the network. The bit error rate, the spectral efficiency and the outage performance of the network under the proposed hybrid cooperation scheme with amplify-and-forward relaying are analyzed in this paper, and compared against conventional cooperation technique. Findings of the analytical performance analyses are further validated numerically through selected computer-based Monte-Carlo simulations. The proposed scheme is found to achieve significantly better performance in terms of the spectral efficiency and the bit error rate, compared to the conventional amplify-and-forward cooperation scheme. © 2013 IEEE.

  16. The emergence of cooperation in tie strength models

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu, Bo; Yue, Yunpeng

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, we propose a tie strength model to explain the emergence of cooperation in spatial prisoner's dilemma games, assuming that cooperators preferentially allocate their investments to friends with strong ties. Two types of prisoner's dilemma models are examined in this study: the traditional two-strategy model considering only cooperators and defectors; the expanded three-strategy model consisting cooperators, defectors and extortioners. The results show that tie strength model contributes to the promotion of cooperation in both types of prisoner's dilemma games. However, we point out that the influence of the investment preference is quite different in the two prisoner's dilemma game settings. In the two-strategy prisoner's dilemma game, only small preference contributes to the promotion of cooperation. Once this preference exceeds a critical value, cooperation will be prohibited. We explain this phenomenon by arguing that extremely strong investment preference undermines the ability of cooperative clusters to resist defectors. Moreover, we extend the analysis into the three-strategy case and discover that the catalytic effect of extortioners can eliminate this first up and then down trend in the two-strategy model. The equilibrium fraction of cooperators is always positively correlated to the level of investment preference in three-strategy models.

  17. A project in support of international nuclear cooperation activities

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Jeongkong; Kim, Myungro; Choi, Pyunghoon; Kim, Kyungpyo; Jung, Sunghyon; Park, Jiyeon; Eom, Jaesik; Kim, Wangkeun; Chung, Byungsun

    2011-12-15

    This study contains the work undertaken to promote multilateral cooperation within the framework of international nuclear related organizations and regional cooperative agreements and the relevant forums, to enhance bilateral cooperation with foreign nuclear related research institutes as well as to promote cooperation through the exchange of foreign scientists. As for multilateral cooperation, activities for promoting cooperation within the IAEA and regional cooperative frameworks are introduced. Regarding bilateral cooperation, activities for concluding arrangements and MOUs with foreign research institutes and for participation in joint nuclear coordinating committee meetings between Korea and other countries are presented. For promoting personnel exchanges, activities for inviting and utilizing foreign scientists and mutual discussions with foreign experts, who have visited KAERI, are also described. Continuous efforts to contributing towards the international community through utilizing Korea's experience gained in the process of technical self-reliance and development of human resources are needed. Also efforts to establish the foundation of international cooperation and to make inroad into overseas nuclear markets for export of our nuclear technologies should be made. Meanwhile in the bilateral cooperation, we need to beef up cooperation with U. S. A. and Canada through the joint committee for the joint export to third countries. It is expected that this study would be utilized as a basic material for the international cooperation of nuclear energy, especially for the KAERI's international cooperation in an effective way.

  18. Regional cooperation on nuclear safety

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kato, W.Y.; Chen, J.H.; Kim, D.H.; Simmons, R.B.V.; Surguri, S.

    1985-01-01

    A review has been conducted of a number of multi-national and bilateral arrangements between governments and between utility-sponsored organizations which provide the framework for international cooperation in the field of nuclear safety. These arrangements include the routine exchange operational data, experiences, technical reports and regulatory data, provision of special assistance when requested, collaboration in safety research, and the holding of international conferences and seminars. Areas which may be better suited for cooperation on a regional basis are identified. These areas include: exchange of operational data and experience, sharing of emergency planning information, and collaboration in safety research. Mechanisms to initiate regional cooperation in these areas are suggested

  19. [Social cooperatives in Italy].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Villotti, P; Zaniboni, S; Fraccaroli, F

    2014-06-01

    This paper describes the role of social cooperatives in Italy as a type of economic, non-profit organization and their role in contributing to the economic and social growth of the country. The purpose of this paper is to learn more about the experience of the Italian social cooperatives in promoting the work integration process of disadvantaged workers, especially those suffering from mental disorders, from a theoretical and an empirical point of view. Social enterprise is the most popular and consolidated legal and organizational model for social enterprises in Italy, introduced by Law 381/91. Developed during the early 1980s, and formally recognized by law in the early 1990s, social cooperatives aim at pursuing the general interest of the community to promote the human needs and social inclusion of citizens. They are orientated towards aims that go beyond the interest of the business owners, the primary beneficiary of their activities is the community, or groups of disadvantaged people. In Italy, Law 381/91 distinguishes between two categories of social cooperatives, those producing goods of social utility, such as culture, welfare and educational services (A-type), and those providing economic activities for the integration of disadvantaged people into employment (B-type). The main purpose of B-type social cooperatives is to integrate disadvantaged people into the open labour market. This goal is reached after a period of training and working experience inside the firm, during which the staff works to improve both the social and professional abilities of disadvantaged people. During the years, B-type social co-ops acquired a particular relevance in the care of people with mental disorders by offering them with job opportunities. Having a job is central in the recovery process of people suffering from mental diseases, meaning that B-type social co-ops in Italy play an important rehabilitative and integrative role for this vulnerable population of workers. The

  20. LOGISMOS-B for primates: primate cortical surface reconstruction and thickness measurement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oguz, Ipek; Styner, Martin; Sanchez, Mar; Shi, Yundi; Sonka, Milan

    2015-03-01

    Cortical thickness and surface area are important morphological measures with implications for many psychiatric and neurological conditions. Automated segmentation and reconstruction of the cortical surface from 3D MRI scans is challenging due to the variable anatomy of the cortex and its highly complex geometry. While many methods exist for this task in the context of the human brain, these methods are typically not readily applicable to the primate brain. We propose an innovative approach based on our recently proposed human cortical reconstruction algorithm, LOGISMOS-B, and the Laplace-based thickness measurement method. Quantitative evaluation of our approach was performed based on a dataset of T1- and T2-weighted MRI scans from 12-month-old macaques where labeling by our anatomical experts was used as independent standard. In this dataset, LOGISMOS-B has an average signed surface error of 0.01 +/- 0.03mm and an unsigned surface error of 0.42 +/- 0.03mm over the whole brain. Excluding the rather problematic temporal pole region further improves unsigned surface distance to 0.34 +/- 0.03mm. This high level of accuracy reached by our algorithm even in this challenging developmental dataset illustrates its robustness and its potential for primate brain studies.

  1. Gender and Cooperation in Children

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cardenas, Juan-Camilo; Dreber, Anna; Essen, Emma von

    2014-01-01

    In this article we compare cooperation among Colombian and Swedish children aged 9-12. We illustrate the dynamics of the prisoner’s dilemma in a new task that is easily understood by children and performed during a physical education class. We find no robust evidence of a difference in cooperation...

  2. Cooperative synchronized assemblies enhance orientation discrimination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Samonds, Jason M; Allison, John D; Brown, Heather A; Bonds, A B

    2004-04-27

    There is no clear link between the broad tuning of single neurons and the fine behavioral capabilities of orientation discrimination. We recorded from populations of cells in the cat visual cortex (area 17) to examine whether the joint activity of cells can support finer discrimination than found in individual responses. Analysis of joint firing yields a substantial advantage (i.e., cooperation) in fine-angle discrimination. This cooperation increases to more considerable levels as the population of an assembly is increased. The cooperation in a population of six cells provides encoding of orientation with an information advantage that is at least 2-fold in terms of requiring either fewer cells or less time than independent coding. This cooperation suggests that correlated or synchronized activity can increase information.

  3. Creating physical 3D stereolithograph models of brain and skull.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel J Kelley

    2007-10-01

    Full Text Available The human brain and skull are three dimensional (3D anatomical structures with complex surfaces. However, medical images are often two dimensional (2D and provide incomplete visualization of structural morphology. To overcome this loss in dimension, we developed and validated a freely available, semi-automated pathway to build 3D virtual reality (VR and hand-held, stereolithograph models. To evaluate whether surface visualization in 3D was more informative than in 2D, undergraduate students (n = 50 used the Gillespie scale to rate 3D VR and physical models of both a living patient-volunteer's brain and the skull of Phineas Gage, a historically famous railroad worker whose misfortune with a projectile tamping iron provided the first evidence of a structure-function relationship in brain. Using our processing pathway, we successfully fabricated human brain and skull replicas and validated that the stereolithograph model preserved the scale of the VR model. Based on the Gillespie ratings, students indicated that the biological utility and quality of visual information at the surface of VR and stereolithograph models were greater than the 2D images from which they were derived. The method we developed is useful to create VR and stereolithograph 3D models from medical images and can be used to model hard or soft tissue in living or preserved specimens. Compared to 2D images, VR and stereolithograph models provide an extra dimension that enhances both the quality of visual information and utility of surface visualization in neuroscience and medicine.

  4. 77 FR 26583 - Notice Pursuant to the National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993-Cooperative...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-05-04

    ... Production Act of 1993--Cooperative Research Group on Evaluation of Distributed Leak Detection Systems... Institute-- Cooperative Research Group on Evaluation of Distributed Leak Detection Systems--Performance... detection systems for offshore pipelines. Laboratory testing of distributed temperature and distributed...

  5. The Globalization of Cooperative Groups.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valdivieso, Manuel; Corn, Benjamin W; Dancey, Janet E; Wickerham, D Lawrence; Horvath, L Elise; Perez, Edith A; Urton, Alison; Cronin, Walter M; Field, Erica; Lackey, Evonne; Blanke, Charles D

    2015-10-01

    The National Cancer Institute (NCI)-supported adult cooperative oncology research groups (now officially Network groups) have a longstanding history of participating in international collaborations throughout the world. Most frequently, the US-based cooperative groups work reciprocally with the Canadian national adult cancer clinical trial group, NCIC CTG (previously the National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group). Thus, Canada is the largest contributor to cooperative groups based in the United States, and vice versa. Although international collaborations have many benefits, they are most frequently utilized to enhance patient accrual to large phase III trials originating in the United States or Canada. Within the cooperative group setting, adequate attention has not been given to the study of cancers that are unique to countries outside the United States and Canada, such as those frequently associated with infections in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Global collaborations are limited by a number of barriers, some of which are unique to the countries involved, while others are related to financial support and to US policies that restrict drug distribution outside the United States. This article serves to detail the cooperative group experience in international research and describe how international collaboration in cancer clinical trials is a promising and important area that requires greater consideration in the future. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. The Globalization of Cooperative Groups

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valdivieso, Manuel; Corn, Benjamin W.; Dancey, Janet E.; Wickerham, D. Lawrence; Horvath, L. Elise; Perez, Edith A.; Urton, Alison; Cronin, Walter M.; Field, Erica; Lackey, Evonne; Blanke, Charles D.

    2015-01-01

    The National Cancer Institute-supported adult cooperative oncology research groups (now officially Network groups) have a long-standing history of participating in international collaborations throughout the world. Most frequently, the U.S. based cooperative groups work reciprocally with the Canadian national adult cancer clinical trial group, NCIC CTG (previously the National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group). Thus, Canada is the largest contributor to cooperative groups based in the U.S., and vice versa. Although international collaborations have many benefits, they are most frequently utilized to enhance patient accrual to large phase III trials originating in the U.S. or Canada. Within the cooperative group setting, adequate attention has not been given to the study of cancers that are unique to countries outside the U.S. and Canada, such as those frequently associated with infections in Latin America, Asia and Africa. Global collaborations are limited by a number of barriers, some of which are unique to the countries involved, while others are related to financial support and to U.S. policies that restrict drug distribution outside the U.S. This manuscript serves to detail the cooperative group experience in international research and describe how international collaboration in cancer clinical trials is a promising and important area that requires greater consideration in the future. PMID:26433551

  7. Theoretical Outline about Cooperative Entrepreneurial Management System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Angie Fernández Lorenzo

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The essence of Cooperativism prints some particular characters to the cooperatives management process, especially the need to integrate the technical, economic and social edges in shaping and improving its. Considering that documented precedent studies have not led to analyze the whole process of cooperative management, but only to solve problems in specific subsystems, in this paper we the theoretical fundaments of Cooperatives Business Management System, under the criteria of integrity and balance between these edges, which is the basis for the proposal of functional subsystems to ensure the whole cooperatives performance.

  8. Nudging Cooperation in a Crowd Experiment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niella, Tamara; Stier-Moses, Nicolás; Sigman, Mariano

    2016-01-01

    We examine the hypothesis that driven by a competition heuristic, people don't even reflect or consider whether a cooperation strategy may be better. As a paradigmatic example of this behavior we propose the zero-sum game fallacy, according to which people believe that resources are fixed even when they are not. We demonstrate that people only cooperate if the competitive heuristic is explicitly overridden in an experiment in which participants play two rounds of a game in which competition is suboptimal. The observed spontaneous behavior for most players was to compete. Then participants were explicitly reminded that the competing strategy may not be optimal. This minor intervention boosted cooperation, implying that competition does not result from lack of trust or willingness to cooperate but instead from the inability to inhibit the competition bias. This activity was performed in a controlled laboratory setting and also as a crowd experiment. Understanding the psychological underpinnings of these behaviors may help us improve cooperation and thus may have vast practical consequences to our society.

  9. Evolutionary dynamics of cooperation in neutral populations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Szolnoki, Attila; Perc, Matjaž

    2018-01-01

    Cooperation is a difficult proposition in the face of Darwinian selection. Those that defect have an evolutionary advantage over cooperators who should therefore die out. However, spatial structure enables cooperators to survive through the formation of homogeneous clusters, which is the hallmark of network reciprocity. Here we go beyond this traditional setup and study the spatiotemporal dynamics of cooperation in a population of populations. We use the prisoner's dilemma game as the mathematical model and show that considering several populations simultaneously gives rise to fascinating spatiotemporal dynamics and pattern formation. Even the simplest assumption that strategies between different populations are payoff-neutral with one another results in the spontaneous emergence of cyclic dominance, where defectors of one population become prey of cooperators in the other population, and vice versa. Moreover, if social interactions within different populations are characterized by significantly different temptations to defect, we observe that defectors in the population with the largest temptation counterintuitively vanish the fastest, while cooperators that hang on eventually take over the whole available space. Our results reveal that considering the simultaneous presence of different populations significantly expands the complexity of evolutionary dynamics in structured populations, and it allows us to understand the stability of cooperation under adverse conditions that could never be bridged by network reciprocity alone.

  10. Experiential learning implementation based on joint responsibility in women's cooperative development (Case study on Farmer Women Cooperative, Sumedang, West Java)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suseno, Gijanto Purbo; Nataliningsih

    2017-09-01

    Cooperative extension is one form of non-formal education. The follow up of cooperative extension is a coaching that aims to cooperative boards and members apply the knowledge and skills acquired during extension. Learning from the experience (experience learning) of others combined with the concept of joint responsibility is expected to develop the participation of cooperative members as indicated by the repayment of loans on time. The research was conducted at Sumedang Farmer Women Cooperative of West Java with the stages of cooperative extension and coaching for 6 months so it can be evaluated its impact. The results showed that from 30 extension participants who stated willingness to be a member of joint responsibility group as many as 15 people (50%), which then divided into 3 groups of mutual responsibility with member of each group is 5 people. The result of impact evaluation showed the development of group dynamics of the joint liability shown by 9 people (60%) developing business, 3 people (20%) business stagnant and 3 (20%) less profitable business. Implementation of experiental learning based on the concept of mutual responsibility encourages the improvement of entrepreneurship and cooperative skills and the ability of members to pay loan installments on cooperatives in a timely manner.

  11. Cooperation for knowledge demands know-how for cooperation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    L. de la Rive Box (Louk)

    2010-01-01

    textabstractValedictory Address by Louk de la Rive Box, Professor of international cooperation and Rector of the International Institute of Social Studies (22 April 2010). Which Knowledge and for Which Development? Old Timers and New Players More than a decade ago the cyber-revolution gave rise

  12. Cognitive accuracy and intelligent executive function in the brain and in business.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bailey, Charles E

    2007-11-01

    This article reviews research on cognition, language, organizational culture, brain, behavior, and evolution to posit the value of operating with a stable reference point based on cognitive accuracy and a rational bias. Drawing on rational-emotive behavioral science, social neuroscience, and cognitive organizational science on the one hand and a general model of brain and frontal lobe executive function on the other, I suggest implications for organizational success. Cognitive thought processes depend on specific brain structures functioning as effectively as possible under conditions of cognitive accuracy. However, typical cognitive processes in hierarchical business structures promote the adoption and application of subjective organizational beliefs and, thus, cognitive inaccuracies. Applying informed frontal lobe executive functioning to cognition, emotion, and organizational behavior helps minimize the negative effects of indiscriminate application of personal and cultural belief systems to business. Doing so enhances cognitive accuracy and improves communication and cooperation. Organizations operating with cognitive accuracy will tend to respond more nimbly to market pressures and achieve an overall higher level of performance and employee satisfaction.

  13. Cortical surface area and cortical thickness in the precuneus of adult humans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bruner, E; Román, F J; de la Cuétara, J M; Martin-Loeches, M; Colom, R

    2015-02-12

    The precuneus has received considerable attention in the last decade, because of its cognitive functions, its role as a central node of the brain networks, and its involvement in neurodegenerative processes. Paleoneurological studies suggested that form changes in the deep parietal areas represent a major character associated with the origin of the modern human brain morphology. A recent neuroanatomical survey based on shape analysis suggests that the proportions of the precuneus are also a determinant source of overall brain geometrical differences among adult individuals, influencing the brain spatial organization. Here, we evaluate the variation of cortical thickness and cortical surface area of the precuneus in a sample of adult humans, and their relation with geometry and cognition. Precuneal thickness and surface area are not correlated. There is a marked individual variation. The right precuneus is thinner and larger than the left one, but there are relevant fluctuating asymmetries, with only a modest correlation between the hemispheres. Males have a thicker cortex but differences in cortical area are not significant between sexes. The surface area of the precuneus shows a positive allometry with the brain surface area, although the correlation is modest. The dilation/contraction of the precuneus, described as a major factor of variability within adult humans, is associated with absolute increase/decrease of its surface, but not with variation in thickness. Precuneal thickness, precuneal surface area and precuneal morphology are not correlated with psychological factors such as intelligence, working memory, attention control, and processing speed, stressing further possible roles of this area in supporting default mode functions. Beyond gross morphology, the processes underlying the large phenotypic variation of the precuneus must be further investigated through specific cellular analyses, aimed at considering differences in cellular size, density

  14. Manufacturer's pricing strategies in cooperative and non-cooperative advertising supply chain under retail competition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. C. Giri

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available This article studies the manufacturer's pricing strategy in a supply chain with a single manufacturer and two competing retailers. The manufacturer, as a Stackelberg leader specifies wholesale prices to two retailers who face advertisement dependent demand. Based on this gaming structure, two mathematical models are developed - the cooperative advertising model where manufacturer shares a fraction of retailers' advertising costs and the non-cooperative advertising model where manufacturer does not share any retailer's advertising expenses. The optimal strategies of the manufacturer and retailers are determined and a numerical example is taken to illustrate the theoretical results derived. We show that cooperative advertising policy is beneficial not only for the participating entities but also for the entire supply chain.

  15. Multiple UAV Cooperation for Wildfire Monitoring

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Zhongjie

    Wildfires have been a major factor in the development and management of the world's forest. An accurate assessment of wildfire status is imperative for fire management. This thesis is dedicated to the topic of utilizing multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to cooperatively monitor a large-scale wildfire. This is achieved through wildfire spreading situation estimation based on on-line measurements and wise cooperation strategy to ensure efficiency. First, based on the understanding of the physical characteristics of the wildfire propagation behavior, a wildfire model and a Kalman filter-based method are proposed to estimate the wildfire rate of spread and the fire front contour profile. With the enormous on-line measurements from on-board sensors of UAVs, the proposed method allows a wildfire monitoring mission to benefit from on-line information updating, increased flexibility, and accurate estimation. An independent wildfire simulator is utilized to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. Second, based on the filter analysis, wildfire spreading situation and vehicle dynamics, the influence of different cooperation strategies of UAVs to the overall mission performance is studied. The multi-UAV cooperation problem is formulated in a distributed network. A consensus-based method is proposed to help address the problem. The optimal cooperation strategy of UAVs is obtained through mathematical analysis. The derived optimal cooperation strategy is then verified in an independent fire simulation environment to verify its effectiveness.

  16. Cooperative learning as an approach to pedagogy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nolinske, T; Millis, B

    1999-01-01

    Lecture-based pedagogical approaches cannot adequately prepare students in professional and technical occupational therapy programs. Faculty members in other disciplines are turning to a well-known and well-researched teaching approach called cooperative learning, which is more carefully structured and defined than most other forms of small group learning. Cooperative learning includes several key principles: positive interdependence, individual responsibility, appropriate grouping, group maintenance, cooperative skills, and promotive (interaction) time. This article provides ideas for managing the classroom with cooperative learning activities and describes eight of them: Three-Step Interview, Roundtable, Think-Pair-Share, Structured Problem Solving, Send/Pass-a-Problem, Generic Question Stems, Double Entry Journal, and Dyadic Essay Confrontation. Each activity is applied to content embedded in professional and technical occupational therapy curricula. A cooperative learning approach to evaluating learning is also presented.

  17. Environmental influences on cooperation in social dilemmas on networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xie, Yunya; Chang, Shuhua; Yan, Ming; Zhang, Zhipeng; Wang, Xinyu

    2018-02-01

    Environmental influence on cooperation is a classical topic that is widely applicable to social interactions. Here, we introduce a realistic model which depends on both the payoff and the strategy of the environment. As the strategy of the environment rather than the neighbor is imitated with a probability, the model takes more attention on the comprehensive influence of the nearby neighbors. The simulation results show that the cooperation level can be widely enhanced for the prisoner's dilemma game and the snowdrift game with this environment factor. In this environmental model, the mechanism of the survival of cooperators is deeply studied, and the corresponding results can be derived. Although the survival of cooperators also depends on the formation of the cooperator clusters, the enhancement of the cooperation level can be interpreted as the accumulation effect of the transformation of defection into cooperation. Interestingly, there exists a threshold of the initial fraction of the cooperators, and the cooperation increases significantly when this threshold is reached Moreover, the square cooperative cluster is stable, and robust against different levels of the noise parameter and temptation in the strategy adoption process. This work may shed light on the mechanism of cooperation in the real world.

  18. Kazakh Initiatives on Cooperation with European Union

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rustem S. Kurmanguzhin

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The author of this article presents initiatives of the Republic of Kazakhstan to develop cooperation with the European Union that was initiated through 2000 - 2009. In 2000 the Republic of Kazakhstan proposed to EU Comment cooperation doctrine in Central Asia. The purpose of the doctrine lied in expanding cooperation in the areas of trade, economy and investment; in granting access to commodities and services from European markets; in developing collaboration in the areas of energy, transport, communication, finance and banking. In 2006 Kazakhstan introduced a new set of prepossess to the new European Union Strategy for Central Asian 2007-2013 that was developed under the chairmanship of Germany of the EU in the first half of 2007. The Strategy covered areas of cooperation such as regional integration, economic development, democratization, energy and security. In 2008 under the instructions of the President of Kazakhstan Ministry of Foreign Affairs in cooperation with other ministries developed a state programme "Path to Europe" for 2009 - 2011, which aided the priorities of cooperation between Kazakhstan and the European Union. "Path to Europe" has become a key initiative of the Kazakh foreign policy that was successfully implemented, as well as the most important document aimed at modernization of the national economy and the Kazakh society. In the beginning of2009 using the accumulated positive experience of cooperation with the EU and experience of a number of countries in Europe and Asia, Kazakhstan devised and submitted a concept of a new treaty which was supposed to replace the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement of 1995. The Republic of Kazakhstan's influence eventually persuaded the European Union to agree on the necessity of devising the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement.

  19. Cooperation of TOM and TIM23 complexes during translocation of proteins into mitochondria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waegemann, Karin; Popov-Čeleketić, Dušan; Neupert, Walter; Azem, Abdussalam; Mokranjac, Dejana

    2015-03-13

    Translocation of the majority of mitochondrial proteins from the cytosol into mitochondria requires the cooperation of TOM and TIM23 complexes in the outer and inner mitochondrial membranes. The molecular mechanisms underlying this cooperation remain largely unknown. Here, we present biochemical and genetic evidence that at least two contacts from the side of the TIM23 complex play an important role in TOM-TIM23 cooperation in vivo. Tim50, likely through its very C-terminal segment, interacts with Tom22. This interaction is stimulated by translocating proteins and is independent of any other TOM-TIM23 contact known so far. Furthermore, the exposure of Tim23 on the mitochondrial surface depends not only on its interaction with Tim50 but also on the dynamics of the TOM complex. Destabilization of the individual contacts reduces the efficiency of import of proteins into mitochondria and destabilization of both contacts simultaneously is not tolerated by yeast cells. We conclude that an intricate and coordinated network of protein-protein interactions involving primarily Tim50 and also Tim23 is required for efficient translocation of proteins across both mitochondrial membranes. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Nuclear energy in Asia and regional co-operation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ishii, M.

    1997-01-01

    There is increasing concern in East Asia about regional cooperation in the field of nuclear power. At the APEC conference in Osaka in 1995, APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) established an Energy Research Center. The center has started to perform joint research forecasts on energy supply and demand for the region. Japan proposed the inauguration of a Conference on Nuclear Safety in Asia at the Moscow Nuclear Energy Summit in 1996. The first conference was held in Tokyo that year. This year, the conference will be held in Seoul. Japan's Atomic Energy Commission sponsors the International Conference for Nuclear Cooperation in Asia every year. This year marks the eighth conference. The outstanding feature of this year's conference was that so many countries stressed regional cooperation. South Korea proposed the installation of a regional online radiation monitoring system. The Philippines asserted the need for a cooperative mechanism on the lines of ASIATOM. Why is so much concern now being focused on nuclear power cooperation in East Asia? What kind of regional cooperation is necessary, and what kind is possible? What are the unique features of nuclear power cooperation in East Asia? These are the points addressed in this paper. (author)

  1. A clearer view of the insect brain – combining bleaching with standard whole-mount immunocytochemistry allows confocal imaging of pigment-covered brain areas for 3D reconstruction.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna Lisa Stöckl

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available In the study of insect neuroanatomy, three-dimensional reconstructions of neurons and neuropils have become a standard technique. As images have to be obtained from whole-mount brain preparations, pigmentation on the brain surface poses a serious challenge to imaging. In insects, this is a major problematic in the first visual neuropil of the optic lobe, the lamina, which is obstructed by the pigment of the retina as well as by the pigmented fenestration layer. This has prevented inclusion of this major processing center of the insect visual system into most neuroanatomical brain atlases and hinders imaging of neurons within the lamina by confocal microscopy. It has recently been shown that hydrogen peroxide bleaching is compatible with immunohistochemical labeling in insect brains, and we therefore developed a simple technique for removal of pigments on the surface of insect brains by chemical bleaching. We show that our technique enables imaging of the pigment-obstructed regions of insect brains when combined with standard protocols for both anti-synapsin-labeled as well as neurobiotin-injected samples. This method can be combined with different fixation procedures, as well as different fluorophore excitation wavelengths without negative effects on staining quality. It can therefore serve as an effective addition to most standard histology protocols used in insect neuroanatomy.

  2. Cooperative communications hardware, channel and PHY

    CERN Document Server

    Dohler, Mischa

    2010-01-01

    Facilitating Cooperation for Wireless Systems Cooperative Communications: Hardware, Channel & PHY focuses on issues pertaining to the PHY layer of wireless communication networks, offering a rigorous taxonomy of this dispersed field, along with a range of application scenarios for cooperative and distributed schemes, demonstrating how these techniques can be employed. The authors discuss hardware, complexity and power consumption issues, which are vital for understanding what can be realized at the PHY layer, showing how wireless channel models differ from more traditional

  3. Cooperative relationships and competitiveness in supermarket sector

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andressa Centenaro

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Purpose – This article aims to investigate the influence of cooperative relations in the performance of companies in the supermarket sector, comparing the companies associated networks with companies not associated. Design/methodology/approach – The research method employed was a survey research with 31 companies. Findings – The results indicate that the cooperative relationships with suppliers have a positive impact on companies of performance, while the cooperative relationships with competitors and local institutions do not influence the performance. Moreover, it appears that there is no relationship between participation in a network of cooperation and achieving superior performance. However, companies linked to the network present better cooperative relationships with suppliers, which positively impacts the performance and therefore have competitive advantages over companies not associated to networks. Originality/value – The cooperative relationships with suppliers can provide benefits such as reducing logistics costs, improved product portfolio, better negotiating prices and terms, partnership for conducting marketing strategies among others, thus increasing the competitiveness of companies in the supermarket sector.

  4. Fashion, Cooperation, and Social Interactions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cao, Zhigang; Gao, Haoyu; Qu, Xinglong; Yang, Mingmin; Yang, Xiaoguang

    2013-01-01

    Fashion plays such a crucial rule in the evolution of culture and society that it is regarded as a second nature to the human being. Also, its impact on economy is quite nontrivial. On what is fashionable, interestingly, there are two viewpoints that are both extremely widespread but almost opposite: conformists think that what is popular is fashionable, while rebels believe that being different is the essence. Fashion color is fashionable in the first sense, and Lady Gaga in the second. We investigate a model where the population consists of the afore-mentioned two groups of people that are located on social networks (a spatial cellular automata network and small-world networks). This model captures two fundamental kinds of social interactions (coordination and anti-coordination) simultaneously, and also has its own interest to game theory: it is a hybrid model of pure competition and pure cooperation. This is true because when a conformist meets a rebel, they play the zero sum matching pennies game, which is pure competition. When two conformists (rebels) meet, they play the (anti-) coordination game, which is pure cooperation. Simulation shows that simple social interactions greatly promote cooperation: in most cases people can reach an extraordinarily high level of cooperation, through a selfish, myopic, naive, and local interacting dynamic (the best response dynamic). We find that degree of synchronization also plays a critical role, but mostly on the negative side. Four indices, namely cooperation degree, average satisfaction degree, equilibrium ratio and complete ratio, are defined and applied to measure people’s cooperation levels from various angles. Phase transition, as well as emergence of many interesting geographic patterns in the cellular automata network, is also observed. PMID:23382799

  5. Cooperative Agreement on Pesticide Safety Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    EPA is awarding the eXtension Foundation with a cooperative agreement to establish a system to distribute EPA funds to Pesticide Safety Education Programs (PSEPs) in State Cooperative Extension Services at Land Grant Universities.

  6. Researches on Agricultural Cooperative Economic Organization Promoting Agricultural Insurance Development

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2011-01-01

    The advantages of cooperative economic organization being the effective carrier of agricultural insurance development are analyzed. Firstly, cooperative economic organization promotes scale management and solves the problem of decentralized operation of small households. Secondly, cooperative economic organization can settle the problem of peasants’ low systematization. Thirdly, cooperative economic organization can largely reduce the costs of agricultural insurance operation. Fourthly, cooperative organization decreases moral risks as well as adverse selection to some extent. Lastly, cooperative organization, to a certain degree, reduces the risks of agricultural production and increases the insurability of agricultural risks. Meanwhile, limitations of agricultural cooperative economic organization being the carrier of agricultural insurance operation are pointed out. Firstly, cooperative economic organization has limited coverage and small size of organization, which is harmful to the diversification of agricultural risks. Secondly, cooperative economic organization lacks capital funds and its development is not standard, which is not perfect for the function exertion as a carrier. Lastly, members of professional cooperative organization have low cultural qualities, which restrict the implementation of agricultural insurance. The modes of farmers’ cooperative economic organization promoting agricultural insurance development are proposed, including mode of agricultural insurance cooperative ( mutual corporation), mode of "leading enterprises (companies) + professional cooperative organization (planting majors) + insurance" and mode of professional cooperatives serving as agricultural insurance agent. Last of all, the promoting role of agricultural insurance in agricultural cooperative economic organization is briefly illustrated.

  7. Danish wind energy co-operatives

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tranaes, Flemming

    1993-01-01

    An outline is given of the historical development of Danish wind energy cooperatives. Topics covered include wind turbine owners and their relations with parliament and public authorities, the power station companies and the wind turbine industry. Interest in the environment and support of popular cooperative activities in the local community are essential to success. (UK)

  8. Surface boxplots

    KAUST Repository

    Genton, Marc G.; Johnson, Christopher; Potter, Kristin; Stenchikov, Georgiy L.; Sun, Ying

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, we introduce a surface boxplot as a tool for visualization and exploratory analysis of samples of images. First, we use the notion of volume depth to order the images viewed as surfaces. In particular, we define the median image. We use an exact and fast algorithm for the ranking of the images. This allows us to detect potential outlying images that often contain interesting features not present in most of the images. Second, we build a graphical tool to visualize the surface boxplot and its various characteristics. A graph and histogram of the volume depth values allow us to identify images of interest. The code is available in the supporting information of this paper. We apply our surface boxplot to a sample of brain images and to a sample of climate model outputs.

  9. Surface boxplots

    KAUST Repository

    Genton, Marc G.

    2014-01-22

    In this paper, we introduce a surface boxplot as a tool for visualization and exploratory analysis of samples of images. First, we use the notion of volume depth to order the images viewed as surfaces. In particular, we define the median image. We use an exact and fast algorithm for the ranking of the images. This allows us to detect potential outlying images that often contain interesting features not present in most of the images. Second, we build a graphical tool to visualize the surface boxplot and its various characteristics. A graph and histogram of the volume depth values allow us to identify images of interest. The code is available in the supporting information of this paper. We apply our surface boxplot to a sample of brain images and to a sample of climate model outputs.

  10. Novel Concepts of Cooperative Wireless Networking

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhang, Qi

    2008-01-01

    ; secondly, the increasing density of the wireless devices makes cooperation possible; last, the cost of information exchange (i.e. transmission power, transmission time, spectrum, etc.) is very low if information exchange over short-range link is needed. Cooperation changes the way of information delivery......Although wireless networks have achieved great success in the lastest two decades, the current wireless networks have difficulties to fulll users' ever-increasing expectations and needs. It is mainly due to available spectrum resource scarcity, limited battery capacity of wireless device......, unreliable wireless radio link, etc. To tackle these issues, a new telecommunication paradigm has been proposed, referred to as cooperative wireless networking [1]. The basic idea of cooperative wireless networking is that wireless devices work together to achieve their individual goals or one common goal...

  11. Designing Dexter-based cooperative hypermedia systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grønbæk, Kaj; Madsen, Ole Lehrmann; Sloth, Lennard

    1993-01-01

    This paper discusses issues for the design of a Dexter-based cooperative hypermedia architecture and a specific system, DeVise Hypermedia (DHM), developed from this architecture. The Dexter Hypertext Reference Model [Hala90] was used as basis for designing the architecture. The Dexter model...... provides a general and solid foundation for designing a general hypermedia architecture. It introduces central concepts and proposes a layering of the architecture. However, to handle cooperative work aspects, such as sharing material and cooperative authoring, we have to go beyond the Dexter model...... concepts. To deal with such aspects we have extended our implementation of the Dexter concepts with support for long-term transactions, locking and event notification as called for by Halasz [Hala88]. The result is a platform independent architecture for developing cooperative hypermedia systems...

  12. Cooperation: New Players in Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Philippe Hugon

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available In the context of globalisation and the current global financial crisis, new players are emerging in cooperation in Africa. These partners loosen financial constraints and conditionalities, increase the room for manoeuvre and stimulate commodity markets. On the other hand, they also increase the risks of renewed indebtedness and potentially weaken the coordination of aid policies. Do these partnerships call the new cooperation practices of OECD countries into question? Do they justify the return to a realpolitik or are they repeating the earlier mistakes of industrial powers? Can these mistakes be corrected? The question also arises as to whether the global crisis, which has a profound effect on Africa, will lead to a withdrawal or to a passing of the baton on to new, emerging powers. This article highlights the new geopolitical issues concerning Africa in a multipolar world, then discusses the new players involved in cooperation in Africa, before going on to explore the horizons that are opening up for cooperation in Africa, in particular with regard to the global crisis.

  13. The glycocalyx promotes cooperative binding and clustering of adhesion receptors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Guang-Kui; Qian, Jin; Hu, Jinglei

    2016-05-18

    Cell adhesion plays a pivotal role in various biological processes, e.g., immune responses, cancer metastasis, and stem cell differentiation. The adhesion behaviors depend subtly on the binding kinetics of receptors and ligands restricted at the cell-substrate interfaces. Although much effort has been directed toward investigating the kinetics of adhesion molecules, the role of the glycocalyx, anchored on cell surfaces as an exterior layer, is still unclear. In this paper, we propose a theoretical approach to study the collective binding kinetics of a few and a large number of binders in the presence of the glycocalyx, representing the cases of initial and mature adhesions of cells, respectively. The analytical results are validated by finding good agreement with our Monte Carlo simulations. In the force loading case, the on-rate and affinity increase as more bonds form, whereas this cooperative effect is not observed in the displacement loading case. The increased thickness and stiffness of the glycocalyx tend to decrease the affinity for a few bonds, while they have less influence on the affinity for a large number of bonds. Moreover, for a flexible membrane with thermally-excited shape fluctuations, the glycocalyx is exhibited to promote the formation of bond clusters, mainly due to the cooperative binding of binders. This study helps to understand the cooperative kinetics of adhesion receptors under physiologically relevant loading conditions and sheds light on the novel role of the glycocalyx in cell adhesion.

  14. Cooperation percolation in spatial prisoner's dilemma game

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang, Han-Xin; Rong, Zhihai; Wang, Wen-Xu

    2014-01-01

    The paradox of cooperation among selfish individuals still puzzles scientific communities. Although a large amount of evidence has demonstrated that the cooperator clusters in spatial games are effective in protecting the cooperators against the invasion of defectors, we continue to lack the condition for the formation of a giant cooperator cluster that ensures the prevalence of cooperation in a system. Here, we study the dynamical organization of the cooperator clusters in spatial prisoner's dilemma game to offer the condition for the dominance of cooperation, finding that a phase transition characterized by the emergence of a large spanning cooperator cluster occurs when the initial fraction of the cooperators exceeds a certain threshold. Interestingly, the phase transition belongs to different universality classes of percolation determined by the temptation to defect b. Specifically, on square lattices, 1 < b < 4/3 leads to a phase transition pertaining to the class of regular site percolation, whereas 3/2 < b < 2 gives rise to a phase transition subject to invasion percolation with trapping. Our findings offer a deeper understanding of cooperative behavior in nature and society. (paper)

  15. Intuition, deliberation, and the evolution of cooperation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bear, Adam; Rand, David G

    2016-01-26

    Humans often cooperate with strangers, despite the costs involved. A long tradition of theoretical modeling has sought ultimate evolutionary explanations for this seemingly altruistic behavior. More recently, an entirely separate body of experimental work has begun to investigate cooperation's proximate cognitive underpinnings using a dual-process framework: Is deliberative self-control necessary to reign in selfish impulses, or does self-interested deliberation restrain an intuitive desire to cooperate? Integrating these ultimate and proximate approaches, we introduce dual-process cognition into a formal game-theoretic model of the evolution of cooperation. Agents play prisoner's dilemma games, some of which are one-shot and others of which involve reciprocity. They can either respond by using a generalized intuition, which is not sensitive to whether the game is one-shot or reciprocal, or pay a (stochastically varying) cost to deliberate and tailor their strategy to the type of game they are facing. We find that, depending on the level of reciprocity and assortment, selection favors one of two strategies: intuitive defectors who never deliberate, or dual-process agents who intuitively cooperate but sometimes use deliberation to defect in one-shot games. Critically, selection never favors agents who use deliberation to override selfish impulses: Deliberation only serves to undermine cooperation with strangers. Thus, by introducing a formal theoretical framework for exploring cooperation through a dual-process lens, we provide a clear answer regarding the role of deliberation in cooperation based on evolutionary modeling, help to organize a growing body of sometimes-conflicting empirical results, and shed light on the nature of human cognition and social decision making.

  16. Is cooperation viable in mobile organisms? Simple Walk Away rule favors the evolution of cooperation in groups

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aktipis, C. Athena

    2011-01-01

    The evolution of cooperation through partner choice mechanisms is often thought to involve relatively complex cognitive abilities. Using agent-based simulations I model a simple partner choice rule, the ‘Walk Away’ rule, where individuals stay in groups that provide higher returns (by virtue of having more cooperators), and ‘Walk Away’ from groups providing low returns. Implementing this conditional movement rule in a public goods game leads to a number of interesting findings: 1) cooperators have a selective advantage when thresholds are high, corresponding to low tolerance for defectors, 2) high thresholds lead to high initial rates of movement and low final rates of movement (after selection), and 3) as cooperation is selected, the population undergoes a spatial transition from high migration (and a many small and ephemeral groups) to low migration (and large and stable groups). These results suggest that the very simple ‘Walk Away’ rule of leaving uncooperative groups can favor the evolution of cooperation, and that cooperation can evolve in populations in which individuals are able to move in response to local social conditions. A diverse array of organisms are able to leave degraded physical or social environments. The ubiquitous nature of conditional movement suggests that ‘Walk Away’ dynamics may play an important role in the evolution of social behavior in both cognitively complex and cognitively simple organisms. PMID:21666771

  17. The incorporation of a cooperative society

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Javier Divar Garteiz-Aurrecoa

    2005-12-01

    Full Text Available The new Spanish General Law regulates cooperatives and qualifies them as economic entities for conducting business, so its commercial nature is recognized aside positions that defend the absence of profit in cooperatives.

  18. Cooperatives for “fair globalization”? Indigenous people, cooperatives, and corporate social responsibility in the Brazilian Amazon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burke, Brian J

    2010-01-01

    Cooperatives and socially responsible corporations are being hailed as possible correctives to the socioeconomic and ecological exploitation of transnational capitalism. AmazonCoop—a cooperative linking indigenous Brazil nut harvesters and the multinational firm The Body Shop through trade and development projects—capitalized on indigenous symbolism to generate significant material benefits for both parties. At the same time, however, it made indigenous people more vulnerable and dependent, failed to promote participatory development, masked the effects of unfavorable state policies, and perpetuated discriminatory distinctions among indigenous people. Furthermore, the cooperative did not provide an organizational framework to ameliorate the vulnerabilities of indigenous identity politics or transform symbolic capital into enduring political-economic change. This case strongly supports arguments that cooperatives must be rooted in participation, democratic member control, and autonomy if they are to promote “fair globalization” or social transformation rather than institutionalize existing patterns of exploitation.

  19. On Hybrid Cooperation in Underlay Cognitive Radio Networks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mahmood, Nurul Huda; Yilmaz, Ferkan; Øien, Geir E.

    2013-01-01

    of opportunistic wireless systems such as cognitive radio networks. In order to balance the performance gains from cooperative communication against the possible over-utilization of resources, we propose and analyze an adaptive-cooperation technique for underlay cognitive radio networks, termed as hybrid......Cooperative communication is a promising strategy to enhance the performance of a communication network as it helps to improve the coverage area and the outage performance. However, such enhancement comes at the expense of increased resource utilization, which is undesirable; more so in the case......-cooperation. Under the proposed cooperation scheme, secondary users in a cognitive radio network cooperate adaptively to enhance the spectral efficiency and the error performance of the network. The bit error rate, the spectral efficiency and the outage performance of the network under the proposed hybrid...

  20. Imitative learning as a connector of collective brains.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José F Fontanari

    Full Text Available The notion that cooperation can aid a group of agents to solve problems more efficiently than if those agents worked in isolation is prevalent in computer science and business circles. Here we consider a primordial form of cooperation - imitative learning - that allows an effective exchange of information between agents, which are viewed as the processing units of a social intelligence system or collective brain. In particular, we use agent-based simulations to study the performance of a group of agents in solving a cryptarithmetic problem. An agent can either perform local random moves to explore the solution space of the problem or imitate a model agent - the best performing agent in its influence network. There is a trade-off between the number of agents N and the imitation probability p, and for the optimal balance between these parameters we observe a thirtyfold diminution in the computational cost to find the solution of the cryptarithmetic problem as compared with the independent search. If those parameters are chosen far from the optimal setting, however, then imitative learning can impair greatly the performance of the group.

  1. Asymmetry and sexual dimorphism of the medial frontal gyrus visible surface in humans

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Spasojević Goran

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Background/Aim. Studies of visible (extrasulcal surface of the brain hemispheres are not feasible for measurements of the brain size, but are valuable for analysis and quantification of sexual dimorphism and/or asymmetries of the human brain. Morphological and morphometric investigations of the brain may contribute in genetic studies of the human nervous system. The aim of this study was to determine and to quantify sexual dimorphism and the right/left morphological asymmetry of the visible surface of medial frontal gyrus (gyrus frontalis medialis - GFM. Methods. Measurements and analysis of the visible surface of GFM were done on 84 hemispheres (42 brains from the persons of both sexes: 26 males and 16 females, 20-65 years of age. After fixation in 10% formalin and dissection, digital morphometric measurements were performed. We studied these in relation to the side of the hemisphere and the person's sex. Standardized digital AutoCAD planimetry of the visible surface of GFM was enabled by the use of coordinate system of intercommissural line. Results. In the whole sample, the visible surface of the right GFM (21.39 cm2 was statistically significantly greater (p < 0.05 than the left GFM (18.35 cm2 indicating the right/left asymmetry of the visible surface of GFM. Also, the visible surface of the right GFM in the males (22.66 cm2 was significantly greater (p < 0.05 than in the females (19.35 cm2, while the difference in size of the left GFM between the males and the females was not significant (p > 0.05. Conclusion. Morphological analysis of visible surface of GFM performed by digital planimetry showed sexual dimorphism of the visible surface and the presence of right/left asymmetry of GFM.

  2. The financing of cooperative businesses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alfredo Ispizua

    2005-12-01

    Full Text Available Concern for adequate funding, both at birth and consolidation of the cooperative enterprise, has been, is and will be a constant concern in the cooperative world. So, have emerged in the legal field, a number of financial instruments of various kinds: as equity securities or special interests that seek to cover traditional financing gaps.

  3. Progress of international evaluation cooperation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shibata, Keiichi [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan). Tokai Research Establishment

    1998-03-01

    The international evaluation cooperation started to remove the differences among major nuclear data libraries such as JENDL, ENDF, and JEF. The results obtained from the cooperation have been used to improve the quality of the libraries. This paper describes the status of the ongoing projects and several remarkable results so far obtained from the projects already finished. (author)

  4. Brain Morphology of the Zhoukoudian H.erectus Half a Million Years Ago

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    WU Xiujie

    2010-01-01

    @@ In the process of human evolution,how has the brain changed? When did it happen? Why did it happen?These questions are some of the hottest topics in paleoanthropology today.The study of brain evolution falls into the sub-discipline of paleoneurology and is based on direct examination of the fossil record of humans and their closest hominid relatives.Unfortunately,brains are not preserved in the fossil record.The most direct evidence of ancestral brains is available,however,from endocasts.An endocast is the impression taken from the inside of a cranium retaining the surface features of the brain.

  5. U.S. Geological Survey cooperative water-resources programs in Chester County, Pennsylvania

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wood, Charles R.

    1998-01-01

    Since 1969, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has had a cooperative water-resources investigation program with Chester County to measure and describe the water resources of the County. Generally, the USGS provides one-half of the program funding, and local cooperators are required to provide matching funds. Cooperation has been primarily with the Chester County Water Resources Authority (CCWRA), with participation from the Chester County Health Department and funding from the Chester County Board of Commissioners. Municipalities and the Red Clay Valley Association also have provided part of the funding for several projects. This report describes how the long-term partnership between the USGS and Chester County, Pa., provides the County with the information that it needs for sound water-resources management.The CCWRA was created in 1961, primarily for land acquisition and planning for flood-control and water-supply projects. With the backing of the Brandywine Valley Association, the CCWRA started its first cooperative project with the USGS in 1969. It was a study of the water-quality condition of Chester County streams with an emphasis on benthic macroinvertebrates and stream chemistry.The kinds of projects and data collection conducted by the USGS have changed with the needs of Chester County and the mission of the CCWRA. Chester County is experiencing rapid population growth (it had the tenth-highest rate of growth in the nation from 1980 to 1990). This growth places considerable stress on water resources and has caused the CCWRA to broaden its focus from flood control to water-supply planning, water quality, and ground-water and surface-water management. The results of USGS studies are used by the CCWRA and other County agencies, including the Planning Commission, Health Department, and Parks and Recreation Department, for conducting day-to-day activities and planning for future growth. The results also are used by the CCWRA to provide guidance and technical

  6. How to increase the benefits of cooperation: Effects of training in transactive communication on cooperative learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jurkowski, Susanne; Hänze, Martin

    2015-09-01

    Transactive communication means referring to and building on a learning partner's idea, by, for example, extending the partner's idea or interlinking the partner's idea with an idea of one's own. This transforms the partner's idea into a more elaborate one. Previous research found a positive relationship between students' transactive communication and their learning results when working in small groups. To increase the benefits of cooperation, we developed and tested a module for training students in transactive communication. We assumed that this training would enhance students' transactive communication and also increase their knowledge acquisition during cooperative learning. Further, we distinguished between an actor's transactive communication and a learning partner's transactive communication and expected both to be positively associated with an actor's knowledge acquisition. Participants were 80 university students. In an experiment with pre- and post-test measurements, transactive communication was measured by coding students' communication in a cooperative learning situation before training and in another cooperative learning situation after training. For the post-test cooperative learning situation, knowledge was pre-tested and post-tested. Trained students outperformed controls in transactive communication and in knowledge acquisition. Positive training effects on actors' knowledge acquisition were partially mediated by the improved actors' transactive communication. Moreover, actors' knowledge acquisition was positively influenced by learning partners' transactive communication. Results show a meaningful increase in the benefits of cooperation through the training in transactive communication. Furthermore, findings indicate that students benefit from both elaborating on their partner's ideas and having their own ideas elaborated on. © 2015 The British Psychological Society.

  7. STRATEGY OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC COOPERATION: METHODOLOGICAL ASPECTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aliona DANILIUC

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available In the present article, the authors describe the essence of cooperation and those strategic problems that can be solved internationally only through cooperation efforts. In this context, the authors propose to understand cooperation as the actions of a few companies, corporations from one country or several countries that through their activities contribute to the achievement of goals of economic, ecological and social importance for a region, a country, many countries or for all humanity. Cooperation in such cases, contribute to realization of synergistic results and development of preconditions for each participant to carry out its activities according to its own optimization criteria. Cooperation generates productive systems based on principles and technologies, it can be multispectral, creates preconditions for demand increasing, solves some marketing problems, creates a comfortable space for the activities of all economic subjects.

  8. Cooperative and networking strategies in small business

    CERN Document Server

    Ferreira, João

    2017-01-01

    The book aims to collect the most recent research and best practices in the cooperative and networking small business field identifying new theoretical models and describing the relationship between cooperation and networks in the small business strategy context. It examines different concepts and analytical techniques better understand the links between cooperative strategies and networks in small business. It also studies the existing economic conditions of network and strategic implications to small business from the point of view of their internal and external consistency. Cooperation and networks is a fashionable topic. It is receiving increasing attention in popular management publications, as well as specialized academic journals. Cooperation between firms and industries is a means of leveraging and aggregating knowledge also generating direct benefits in terms of innovation, productivity and competitiveness. Various options and decisions made within the framework of strategic alliances may be identifi...

  9. Strategy of International Economic Cooperation: methodological aspects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maximilian Silvestru

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available In the present article, the authors describe the essence of cooperation and those strategic problems that can be solved internationally only through cooperation efforts. In this context, the authors propose to understand cooperation as the actions of a few companies, corporations from one country or several countries that through their activities contribute to the achievement of goals of economic, ecological and social importance for a region, a country, many countries or for all humanity. Cooperation in such cases, contribute to realization of synergistic results and development of preconditions for each participant to carry out its activities according to its own optimization criteria. Cooperation generates productive systems based on principles and technologies, it can be multispectral, creates preconditions for demand increasing, solves some marketing problems, creates a comfortable space for the activities of all economic subjects.

  10. An information economic rationale for cooperatives

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bogetoft, Peter

    2005-01-01

    We consider how to organise the processing and marketing of an agricultural product when farming costs are known only by the individual farmers. We show that when marginal costs are uncorrelated, the market for final goods is competitive, and the market for processing is non-competitive, the soci......-competitive, the socially optimal production levels are sustained by a cooperative and a cooperative only. We show also that the cooperative form is particularly useful when the cost uncertainty is large and the net average revenue product is small....

  11. Pre-clinical testing of a phased array ultrasound system for MRI-guided noninvasive surgery of the brain--a primate study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hynynen, Kullervo; McDannold, Nathan; Clement, Greg; Jolesz, Ferenc A; Zadicario, Eyal; Killiany, Ron; Moore, Tara; Rosen, Douglas

    2006-08-01

    MRI-guided and monitored focused ultrasound thermal surgery of brain through intact skull was tested in three rhesus monkeys. The aim of this study was to determine the amount of skull heating in an animal model with a head shape similar to that of a human. The ultrasound beam was generated by a 512 channel phased array system (Exablate 3000, InSightec, Haifa, Israel) that was integrated within a 1.5-T MR-scanner. The skin was pre-cooled by degassed temperature controlled water circulating between the array surface and the skin. Skull surface temperature was measured with invasive thermocouple probes. The results showed that by applying surface cooling the skin and skull surface can be protected, and that the brain surface temperature becomes the limiting factor. The MRI thermometry was shown to be useful in detecting the tissue temperature distribution next to the bone, and it should be used to monitor the brain surface temperature. The acoustic intensity values during the 20 s sonications were adequate for thermal ablation in the human brain provided that surface cooling is used.

  12. Creating conditions for cooperative learning: Basic elements

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ševkušić-Mandić Slavica G.

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available Although a large number of research evidence speak out in favor of cooperative learning, its effectiveness in teaching does not depend only on teacher’s and students’ enthusiasm and willingness to work in such a manner. Creating cooperative situations in learning demands a serious preparation and engagement on the part of teacher who is structuring various aspects of work in the classroom. Although there exist a large number of models and techniques of cooperative learning, which vary in the way in which students work together, in the structure of learning tasks as well as in the degree to which cooperative efforts of students are coupled with competition among groups, some elements should be present in the structure of conditions irrespective of the type of group work in question. Potential effects of cooperation are not likely to emerge unless teachers apply five basic elements of cooperative structure: 1. structuring of the learning task and students’ positive interdependence, 2. individual responsibility, 3. upgrading of "face to face" interaction, 4. training of students’ social skills, and 5. evaluation of group processes. The paper discusses various strategies for establishing the mentioned elements and concrete examples for teaching practice are provided, which should be of assistance to teachers for as much successful cooperative learning application as possible in work with children.

  13. Determinants of public cooperation in multiplex networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Battiston, Federico; Perc, Matjaž; Latora, Vito

    2017-07-01

    Synergies between evolutionary game theory and statistical physics have significantly improved our understanding of public cooperation in structured populations. Multiplex networks, in particular, provide the theoretical framework within network science that allows us to mathematically describe the rich structure of interactions characterizing human societies. While research has shown that multiplex networks may enhance the resilience of cooperation, the interplay between the overlap in the structure of the layers and the control parameters of the corresponding games has not yet been investigated. With this aim, we consider here the public goods game on a multiplex network, and we unveil the role of the number of layers and the overlap of links, as well as the impact of different synergy factors in different layers, on the onset of cooperation. We show that enhanced public cooperation emerges only when a significant edge overlap is combined with at least one layer being able to sustain some cooperation by means of a sufficiently high synergy factor. In the absence of either of these conditions, the evolution of cooperation in multiplex networks is determined by the bounds of traditional network reciprocity with no enhanced resilience. These results caution against overly optimistic predictions that the presence of multiple social domains may in itself promote cooperation, and they help us better understand the complexity behind prosocial behavior in layered social systems.

  14. Cooperation and Competition with Hyperscanning Methods: Review and Future Application to Emotion Domain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michela Balconi

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Cooperation and competition, as two common and opposite examples of interpersonal dynamics, are thought to be reflected by different cognitive, neural, and behavioral patterns. According to the conventional approach, they have been explored by measuring subjects' reactions during individual performance or turn-based interactions in artificial settings, that don't allow on-line, ecological enactment of real-life social exchange. Considering the importance of these factors, and accounting for the complexity of such phenomena, the hyperscanning approach emerged as a multi-subject paradigm since it allows the simultaneous recording of the brain activity from multiple participants interacting. In this view, the present paper aimed at reviewing the most significant work about cooperation and competition by EEG hyperscanning technique, which proved to be a promising tool in capturing the sudden course of social interactions. In detail, the review will consider and group different experimental tasks that have been developed so far: (1 paradigms that used rhythm, music and motor synchronization; (2 card tasks taken from the Game Theory; (3 computerized tasks; and (4 possible real-life applications. Finally, although highlighting the potential contribution of such approach, some important limitations about these paradigms will be elucidated, with a specific focus on the emotional domain.

  15. Brain inspired high performance electronics on flexible silicon

    KAUST Repository

    Sevilla, Galo T.

    2014-06-01

    Brain\\'s stunning speed, energy efficiency and massive parallelism makes it the role model for upcoming high performance computation systems. Although human brain components are a million times slower than state of the art silicon industry components [1], they can perform 1016 operations per second while consuming less power than an electrical light bulb. In order to perform the same amount of computation with today\\'s most advanced computers, the output of an entire power station would be needed. In that sense, to obtain brain like computation, ultra-fast devices with ultra-low power consumption will have to be integrated in extremely reduced areas, achievable only if brain folded structure is mimicked. Therefore, to allow brain-inspired computation, flexible and transparent platform will be needed to achieve foldable structures and their integration on asymmetric surfaces. In this work, we show a new method to fabricate 3D and planar FET architectures in flexible and semitransparent silicon fabric without comprising performance and maintaining cost/yield advantage offered by silicon-based electronics.

  16. Personality, Organizational Culture, and Cooperation: Evidence from a Business Simulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chatman, Jennifer A.; Barsade, Sigal G.

    1995-01-01

    Explored personal and situational sources of cooperation. Assessed MBA students' disposition to cooperate and randomly assigned them to simulated organizations emphasizing either collectivistic or individualistic cultural values. Coworkers rated cooperative subjects in collectivistic cultures as most cooperative. Cooperative people were most…

  17. [Ethics and esthetics in international cooperation].

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Aranzabal Agudo, Maite; Hermana Tezanos, María Teresa

    2011-09-01

    Although more optimistic, the new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) continues to cast horrifying statistics on inequalities, not only in life expectancy but in many areas. Many Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) related to medicine seek to address this imbalance. To cooperate does not in any way appeal to the call of sentimentality. Cooperation moves money and is accountable. It requires a strong background in both professional and human values. It requires research on vaccines and diseases foreign to our society. To cooperate means "operate with" local counterparts, according to their needs and global health project. And finally, cooperation implies the demand for change in certain aspects of the global economic order. We reflect on these questions and describe the different ethical frameworks for the population and NGOs. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

  18. Web-based Cooperative Learning in College Chemistry Teaching

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bin Jiang

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available With the coming of information era, information process depend on internet and multi-media technology in education becomes the new approach of present teaching model reform. Web-based cooperative learning is becoming a popular learning approach with the rapid development of web technology. The paper aims to how to carry out the teaching strategy of web-based cooperative learning and applied in the foundation chemistry teaching.It was shown that with the support of modern web-based teaching environment, students' cooperative learning capacity and overall competence can be better improved and the problems of interaction in large foundation chemistry classes can be solved. Web-based cooperative learning can improve learning performance of students, what's more Web-based cooperative learning provides students with cooperative skills, communication skills, creativity, critical thinking skills and skills in information technology application.

  19. Peer pressure: Enhancement of cooperation through mutual punishment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Han-Xin; Wu, Zhi-Xi; Rong, Zhihai; Lai, Ying-Cheng

    2015-02-01

    An open problem in evolutionary game dynamics is to understand the effect of peer pressure on cooperation in a quantitative manner. Peer pressure can be modeled by punishment, which has been proved to be an effective mechanism to sustain cooperation among selfish individuals. We investigate a symmetric punishment strategy, in which an individual will punish each neighbor if their strategies are different, and vice versa. Because of the symmetry in imposing the punishment, one might intuitively expect the strategy to have little effect on cooperation. Utilizing the prisoner's dilemma game as a prototypical model of interactions at the individual level, we find, through simulation and theoretical analysis, that proper punishment, when even symmetrically imposed on individuals, can enhance cooperation. Also, we find that the initial density of cooperators plays an important role in the evolution of cooperation driven by mutual punishment.

  20. Responsibility, administration and social balance in the cooperative companies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juan Luis Alfonso Alemán

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The Declaration of Values and Cooperative Principles approved in the General Assembly of the International Cooperative Alliance (ACI, taken place in Manchester in 1995 he responds to the demands that it demands the modern cooperative, amid an environment that he/she forces to the consolidation of their cooperative identity. In this declaration the seven principles that govern the operation of all the organizations that you/they conform the cooperative, included movement the Cuban Agricultural Cooperatives settle down, however it is valid to clarify that in the Cuban case our Legislation outlines eleven principles that in a way or another coincides in its content with the seven settled down by the ACI. The execution of these principles demands from the cooperatives an instrument or evaluation mechanism that it considers so much its economic aspects as social. In their great one our majority organizations has instruments of economic administration that are shared by other managerial forms in many cases and they don't respond neither they contribute to the establishment of the cooperative ideal, to the consolidation of its true identity. It is for it that the cooperatives, in spite of its already grateful history and existence, they lack specifically in many places of mechanisms and administration methodologies cooperative.