323,333 research outputs found
Benevolent characteristics promote cooperative behaviour among humans
No full textCooperation is fundamental to the evolution of human society. We regularly observe cooperative behaviour in everyday life and in controlled experiments with anonymous people, even though standard economic models predict that they should deviate from the collective interest and act so as to maximise their own individual payoff. However, there is typically heterogeneity across subjects: some may cooperate, while others may not. Since individual factors promoting cooperation could be used by institutions to indirectly prime cooperation, this heterogeneity raises the important question of who these cooperators are. We have conducted a series of experiments to study whether benevolence, defined as a unilateral act of paying a cost to increase the welfare of someone else beyond one's own, is related to cooperation in a subsequent one-shot anonymous Prisoner's dilemma. Contrary to the predictions of the widely used inequity aversion models, we find that benevolence does exist and a large majority of people behave this way. We also find benevolence to be correlated with cooperative behaviour. Finally, we show a causal link between benevolence and cooperation: priming people to think positively about benevolent behaviour makes them significantly more cooperative than priming them to think malevolently. Thus benevolent people exist and cooperate more
Banach spaces which embed into their dual
No full textWe use Birkhoff-James' orthogonality in Banach spaces to provide new conditions for the converse of the classical Riesz representation theorem
Rendering-Aware Point Cloud Coding for Mixed Reality Devices
No full textThe recent diffusion of wearable and portable Augmented and Mixed Reality devices have highlighted some open problems in the transmission and visualization of three-dimensional point clouds such as the adaptation of the bit stream to different devices and networks or the optimization of the rendering/coding complexity.The current paper proposes a rendering-aware approach for the compression of static point cloud models that employs a multi-resolution representation of the model in spherical coordinates. This approach proves to be extremely effective in shaping the transmitted bit stream and rendering operations according to the complexity of the 3D model and the available calculation resources. Experimental results show that the proposed solution outperforms one of the most recent state-of-the-art solutions in terms of rate-distortion performance and computional effort
Cooperative Equilibria in Iterated Social Dilemmas
No full textThe implausibility of the extreme rationality assumptions of Nash equilibrium has been attested by numerous experimental studies with human players. In particular, the fundamental social dilemmas such as the Traveler’s dilemma, the Prisoner’s dilemma, and the Public Goods game demonstrate high rates of deviation from the unique Nash equilibrium, dependent on the game parameters or the environment in which the game is played. These results inspired several attempts to develop suitable solution concepts to more accurately explain human behaviour. In this line, the recently proposed notion of cooperative equilibrium, [5], [6], based on the idea that players have a natural attitude to cooperation, has shown promising results for single-shot games. In this paper, we extend this approach to iterated settings. Specifically, we define the Iterated Cooperative Equilibrium (ICE) and show it makes statistically precise predictions of population average behaviour in the aforementioned domains. Importantly, the definition of ICE does not involve any free parameters, and so it is fully predictive
Assessment of chenopodin anti-inflammatory activity for the valorization of quinoa by-products rich in protein
No full textQuinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) has been cultivated in the Andean Region for several
thousand years. Quinoa’s world production has kept increasing because of the nutritional and the techno-functional features of its seed’s components [1]. The major components of quinoa seeds are starch (30 to 70% of the dry matter), mainly contained in the perisperm, and proteins (12–19%), essentially present in the embryo. The starch fraction, because of its physico-chemical properties has been used in the preparation of infant food [2]. In the starch production process, the embryo constitutes a by-product material, giving rise to interesting perspectives concerning its possible upcycling.
The present work aims to lay the basis for possible uses of the discarded protein fraction as
source for nutraceutical molecules. We were able to separate two different forms of chenopodin, the main quinoa storage protein, indicated as LcC (Low charge Chenopodin, 30% of total chenopodin) and HcC (High charge Chenopodin, 70% of total chenopodin). The biological effects of LcC and HcC were investigated by measuring NF-κB activation and IL-8 expression studies in undifferentiated Caco-2 cells.
Inflammation was elicited using IL-1β. The results indicate that LcC and HcC show potential antiinflammatory activities in an intestinal cell model, and that the different forms can act differently, depending on their structural features. Furthermore, the molecular mechanisms of action and the structural/functional relationships of the protein at the basis of the observed bioactivities were investigated using in silico analyses and structural predictions. According to these latter, chenopodins could mimic the agonist effect exerted by Anakinra, a recombinant form of IL-1RA approved for treatment of autoinflammatory disorders. Three regions showed a high level of sequence similarity and were predicted to lie close to each other in the native conformation of chenopodin homo-hexamer suggesting a possible propensity of the inhibition of the local inflammatory effects of IL-1β. Finally, five amino acids are described as crucial for the interaction of IL-1RA with IL-1R. In chenopodins, all these amino acids are located in the regions with the highest similarities and four out of five are either conserved or substituted with similar ones [3].
[1] FAOSTAT (Statistics Division of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). Available
from: http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#search/quinoa [Accessed on 09 June 2021].
[2] FAO & CIRAD. 2015. State of the Art Report of Quinoa in the World in 2013, by D. Bazile, D. Bertero
& C. Nieto, eds. Rome.
[3] Capraro J., De Benedetti S., Di Dio M., Bona E., Abate A., Corsetto P.A., Scarafoni A. Biomolecules
(2020), 10, 795
Diet containing dairy foods positively affects weight and fat loss and cytokines blood levels in premenopausal obese women.
No full textBACKGROUND: Several researches studied the relationship between Ca assumption and overweight/obesity. Levels of Ca supplementation higher than requirement, were related to increased fat loss in subjects at ipo-caloric diet and Ca from dairy foods resulted more effective than Ca from mineral source in the promotion of weight loss.
OBJECTIVE: Since the available studies were conducted using very high levels of Ca supplementation or on subjects fed Ca lacking diet, we studied the role of Ca from dairy foods on subjects receiving ipo-caloric diet, with Ca content adequate to the requirements.
METHODOLOGY: 40 pre-menopausal, women nursed for their obesity and eating or not dairy foods, were recruited for the study. They received ipo-caloric diets, with Ca equal to requirements. Subjects avoiding dairy products received also a Ca supplement (No Dairy group, n = 15), while other women eating at least 2 servings/d of low fat dairy products (Dairy group, n = 40). Body weight, abdominal fat and blood parameters were monitored at the beginning and at the end (3 months) of the experiment. Age and BMI were: 37.7 + 7.5 years and 34.4 + 3.7 for subjects included in the Dairy group and 39.8 + 9.8 years and 33.8 + 3.5 for women of No Dairy group.
RESULTS: Women in the Dairy group showed a weight loss of 7.03% respect the initial weight, while in women avoiding dairy products the weight loss was 3.21% (P<0.01). The whole body fat loss was 10.79% and 6,0%, for Dairy and No Dairy respectively, however the consumption of Ca from dairy foods did not affect waist circumference and abdominal-visceral fat.
No evidence of significant effect of the food treatments on the main haematological parameters related to the adipose tissue metabolism were seen. Insulin levels did not showed significant variations. Leptin concentration in blood decreased between the beginning and the conclusion of the trial as a consequence of fat mass decrease (P < 0.10), but without difference between the dietary treatments. Instead the IL-6 showed a higher reduction in subjects receiving the Dairy+ diet compared to diet without dairy products. The IL-6 levels showed a significant decrease between the beginning and the end of the experiment, apart from the diet (1.20 vs 0.66 pg/ml; P 0.0135).
Both the adiponectin and the unesterified fatty-acid concentration were not influenced by the diet but, while adiponectin decreased between the beginning and the end of the study, NEFA did not show significant variations along time.
IL-6 was positively correlated with leptin and fat mass, confirming the relationship between fat accumulation and inflammatory status.
CONCLUSIONS: Diets containing dairy foods have increased body weight and fat loss compared to diet lacking of milk and derivatives. Also the blood levels of IL-6 resulted lower in Dairy diets
Polymeric stilbene derivatives in winemaking byproducts affect NF-kB mediated inflammatory response in Caco-2 cells
No full textResiduals from winemaking represents one of the most important byproducts in the Italian agri-food
scenario. Grape skins and stems reportedly contain high levels of various phenolics-based bioactives that - in
the family of stilbenoids - include resveratrol and the products ensuing from its radical-based polymerization.
Among these is the family of viniferins, that reportedly are able to interfere with the glucose metabolism in the
gut, by inhibiting extracellular or membrane enzymes involved in the final steps of starch breakdown and –
eventually - in glucose uptake[1, 2]. These same reports also highlighted the possibility that molecules in the
stilbenoids family could display some physiologically relevant synergism in their inhibitory activities[2].
Whereas resveratrol is known to interfere with a number of cellular processes, including suppression of
NF-B mediated responses, little is known about the ability of polymeric or modified stilbenoids in this regard.
Therefore, we took advantage of the introduction of a RT-qPCR-based assay for intracellular expression of
NF-B[3] to assess whether a number of naturally occurring and semi-synthetic resveratrol polymers (at
concentrations in the 5-25 M range) may affect intracellular expression of NF-B in response to the addition
of IL-1β, and to verify whether any effect of these species was synergistic with those observed for resveratrol
alone (at a fixed 5 M concentration).
In short, we observed concentration-dependent suppression of NF-B expression for all the tested
compounds but pterostilbene and pallidol (see structures here below). The inhibitory effect was in the order -
viniferin > L34 -viniferin > L23> resveratrol, where L34 (trimethoxy-resveratrol) and L23 (pterostilbene-transdihydrodimer)
represent a fully methylated analogue of resveratrol and a vastly methylated analogue of -
viniferin, respectively. However, L23 and L34 elicited only modest effects when added at 5-20 M to 5 M
resveratrol in synergistic studies. On the contrary, similar concentrations of the naturally occurring viniferins
significantly increased the effects of 5 M resveratrol, with -viniferin providing the largest suppressive effects,
evident already at viniferin concentrations as low as 5 M.
These data suggest that the bioactivities associated with resveratrol derivatives in wine and
winemaking byproducts are dictated by specific molecular features, and are not limited to the inhibition of
extracellular enzymes. Evidence is also provided as for possible co-operativity occurring – rather than
competition – among chemically related species. Further studies will verify whether these observations can be
of practical relevance, but these data circumstantially appear to support the “food better than pills” working
hypothesis as for outlining possible intervention strategies.
[1] Lavelli V., Harsha P. S. C. S., Ferranti P., Scarafoni A. & Iametti S. (2016) Grape skin phenolics as inhibitors
of mammalian alpha-glucosidase and alpha-amylase - effect of food matrix and processing on efficacy. Food
& Function 7, 1655-1663.
[2] Mattio L. M., Marengo M., Parravicini C., Eberini I., Dallavalle S., Bonomi F., Iametti S. & Pinto A. (2019)
Inhibition of pancreatic alpha-amylase by resveratrol derivatives: Biological activity and molecular modelling
evidence for cooperativity between viniferin enantiomers. Molecules 24, Art. Nr: 3225, DOI:
10.3390/molecules24183225
[3] Barbiroli, A., Capraro, J., Marulo, S., Gamba, M. & Scarafoni, A. (2019). Effects on the Caco-2 cells of a
hypoglycemic protein from lupin seeds in a solution and adsorbed on polystyrene nanoparticles to mimic a
complex food matrix. Biomolecules, 9(10), 606; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom910060
"I Think This News Is Accurate": Endorsing Accuracy Decreases the Sharing of Fake News and Increases the Sharing of Real News
No full textAccuracy prompts, nudges that make accuracy salient, typically decrease the sharing of fake news, while having little effect on real news. Here, we introduce a new accuracy prompt that is more effective than previous prompts, because it does not only reduce fake news sharing, but it also increases real news sharing. We report four preregistered studies showing that an "endorsing accuracy" prompt ("I think this news is accurate"), placed into the sharing button, decreases fake news sharing, increases real news sharing, and keeps overall engagement constant. We also explore the mechanism through which the intervention works. The key results are specific to endorsing accuracy, rather than accuracy salience, and endorsing accuracy does not simply make participants apply a "source heuristic." Finally, we use Pennycook et al.'s limited-attention model to argue that endorsing accuracy may work by making people more carefully consider their sharing decisions
Coreografías para fuentes musicales
No full text[EN] This paper describes different possibilities to answer the question of automatically creating a choreography for musical fountains using mathematical modeling. The possibilities for an implementation range from a short project in the middle school, which has large parts in mathematics, to long-term projects, which deal with the physical background, an implementation with the help of the computer and in the highest expansion stage even a technical realization. In the article different variants are described, supplemented by experiences from practice and extension possibilities are pointed out. All in all, the readers should be enabled to design and practically implement their own project according to the individual local conditions such as time frame, learning level of the target group and possibilities for interdisciplinary cooperation. (This article is a translation and update of the German first edition Bracke, M. & Capraro, P. (2021)).[ES] Este artículo describe diferentes posibilidades para responder a la cuestión de la creación automática de una coreografía para fuentes musicales utilizando el modelado matemático. Las posibilidades de una implementación van desde un proyecto corto en la escuela media, que tiene grandes partes en matemáticas, hasta proyectos a largo plazo, que tratan el fondo físico, una implementación con la ayuda del ordenador y en la etapa de mayor expansión incluso una realización técnica. En el artículo se describen diferentes variantes, complementadas con experiencias de la práctica y se señalan las posibilidades de ampliación. En definitiva, los lectores deberían estar capacitados para diseñar y poner en práctica su propio proyecto de acuerdo con las condiciones locales individuales, tales como el marco de tiempo, el nivel de aprendizaje del grupo objetivo y las posibilidades de cooperación interdisciplinaria. (Este artículo es una traducción y actualización de la primera edición en alemán de Bracke, M. & Capraro, P. (2021)).SchuMaMoMINT project financially supported by the European Social Fund (ESF) of the state of Rhineland-PalatinateBracke, M.; Capraro, P. (2022). Choreographies for musical fountains. Modelling in Science Education and Learning. 15(1):29-60. https://doi.org/10.4995/msel.2022.16224OJS2960151Gudjons, H. (1986). Action-oriented teaching and learning: Project teaching and student activity (in German). Klinkhardt.Bock, W., & Bracke, M. (2015). Applied School Mathematics - Made in Kaiserslautern. In H. Neunzert & D. Prätzel-Wolters (Eds.), Currents in Industrial Mathematics: From Concepts to Research to Education. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-48258-2_11Benetos, E., Dixon, S., Duan, Z., & Ewert, S. (2019). Automatic music transcription: An overview. IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, 36(1), 20-30. doi: 10.1109/ MSP.2018.2869928 https://doi.org/10.1109/MSP.2018.2869928Bracke, M., & Capraro, P. (2021). Choreografien für Musikbrunnen (in german). In M. Bracke, M. Ludwig, & K. Vorhölter (Eds.), Neue Materialien für einen realitätsbezogenen Mathematikunterricht 8. Springer Spektrum. doi: 10.1007/ 978-3-658-33012-5 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-33012-5Zillmann, R. (2020). Die Notenschleuder. Retrieved from https://www.free-notes.netDemtröder, W. (2003). Experimental Physics 1: Mechanics and Heat (in German). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-08597-4Saygushev, D. (2016). Fourier analysis in the classroom - an application-based approach with implementation in school (in German) (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Kaiserslautern, Department of Mathematics, Kaiserslautern.Butz T. (2011). Fourier transform for pedestrian (in German).Vieweg + Teubner.Bronstein, I., Semendjajew, K., Musiol, G., & Mühlig, H. (2013). Handbook of Mathematics. Springer.Meyer, S. (2019). Modeling of a musical fountain - with implementation in the upper secondary school (in German) (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Kaiserslautern, Department of Mathematics, Kaiserslautern.Lüders, K., & Pohl, R. O. E. (2017). Pohl's Introduction to Physics, Vol. 1: Mechanics, Acoustics and Thermodynamics. Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40046-4Lesch, H. (2020). School of the future - learning from the lockdown (in German). Retrieved from https://www.zdf.de/wissen/leschs-kosmos/lernen -fuer-die-zukunft-100.htmlWickert, M. (2013). Signals & systems for dummies. Wiley.Kaiser G., Schukajlow S. and Stillman G. (2022). A psyccologically - driven view on mathematical modelling processes. Mathematical Thinking and Learning.Winter H. (1995). Mathematikunterricht und Allgemeinbildung. Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft f¨ur Didaktik der Mathematik 61 37-4
Economía Política de la crisis de deuda en Europa
No full textIl saggio analizza la crisi del debito pubblico nell'Eurozona discutendo le principali interpretazioni del fenomeno, sia quella che ne attribuisce la responsabilità alle autorità politiche dei paesi in crisi, per avere concesso ai propri cittadini di vivere al di sopra elle possibilità reali dell'economia, sia quella che ne attribuisce la responsabilità alle autorità di tutta l'UNione Europa per avere mantenuto in vita un'iorganizzazione istituzionale difettosa del processo di coordinazione tra le politiche monetarie e fiscali. L'articolo presenta argumenti teorici ed empirici che criticano l'ipotesi che l'austerità stabilizza il debito pubblico e propone come alternativa di politica economica una riforma del processo di coordinamento delle politiche basata nell'istituzione di un'Agenzia Fiscale Europea che possa generare migliori risultati favorendo l'adozione di politiche fiscali coordinate ed espansive
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