Monkey see monkey do:\ud A cognitive model to loss of free will\ud

Free will (if any) may be lost because of fear and our dependence on others. In this paper, we develop cognitive models to support this argument. We do not describe what free will is but what free will is not. Our results indicate that moral responsibility is reversed and society is at fault. We argue that judgment (by society) is similar to pouring gasoline on fire, and forgiveness is the only way to regain free will if any

Assessment of scientific impact of the russian university of the urals federal district: institutional approach

Цель работы – анализ научной результативности университетов на основе методологии институциональной экономической теории. В ходе исследования применялись методы системного, логического и экономического анализа, при обработке эмпирической информации использовались методы статистического анализа, корреляционного анализа. В результате исследования были идентифицированы институты научной результативности университета, предложены критерии эффективности этих институтов. Университеты Уральского федерального округа были сгруппированы по параметрам качества институтов научной результативности.The work purpose – the analysis of scientific productivity of universities on the basis of methodologies of the institutional economics. During research methods of the system, logical and economic analysis were applied, when processing empirical information methods of the statistical analysis, correlation analysis were used. As a result of research institutions for scientific productivity of university were identified, criteria of efficiency of these institutions are offered. Universities of Ural federal district were grouped in parameters of quality of institutions of scientific productivity (including to existence of effective institutions, institutional traps, institutional dysfunctions). Some dependences between efficiency of institutions of scientific productivity and sources of financing are revealed

A high-density EEG study on cortical activity in response to visual motion perception: Longitudinal comparison of preterm and full-term infants

Electroencephalogram (EEG) was used to investigate brain electrical activity of full-term and preterm infants at 5 and 12 months of age as a functional response mechanism to structured forwards optic flow, structured reversed optic flow, and random visual motion. EEG data were recorded with a 128-channel sensor array and visually evoked potentials (VEPs) were analysed. VEP results showed a significant improvement in full-term infants with age in latencies to forwards and reversed optic flow, but not to random visual motion. In addition, full-term infants at 12 months significantly differentiated between the three motion conditions. They showed the shortest latency to forwards optic flow and the longest latency to random visual motion. On the other hand, preterm infants did not improve their latencies with age, nor were they capable of differentiating between the three motion conditions at 12 months. It appeared that full-term infants at 12 months with a substantial amount of self-produced locomotor experience and accompanying neural maturation, rely on the perception of structured optic flows to move around in the environment efficiently, and that they are negatively affected by the lack of structure in random visual motion. It was concluded that the preterm infants’ poorer performances are related to impairment of the dorsal visual stream which is specialized in processing visual motion. To better understand the fundamentals of early neurodevelopment and how it differs in prematurity, more research comparing data on the changes in brain activity in response to visual motion perception during infancy is suggested

An approch to the security problems in the TCP/IP protocol suite for a network security monitor design

Thesis (Master)--Izmir Institute of Technology, Computer Engineering, Izmir, 1999Includes bibliographical references (leaves: 99-102)Text in English; Abstract: Turkish and Englishxii, 102 leavesThere are a number of security problems in the TCP/IP protocol suite. In this thesis these problems will be analyzed in detail. The problems in several existing prevention methods will be analyzed as well in order to show that security policies based merely on preventive measures are not completely secure and convenient. Therefore, "network security moniJoring" will be proposed as an alternative and supplementary approach against Internet attacks

Measurement of the ttbar Production Cross Section in ppbar Collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV using Lepton + Jets Events with Lifetime b-tagging

We present a measurement of the top quark pair ($t\bar{t}$) production cross section ($\sigma_{t\bar{t}}$) in $p\bar{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=1.96$ TeV using 230 pb$^{-1}$ of data collected by the D0 experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. We select events with one charged lepton (electron or muon), missing transverse energy, and jets in the final state. We employ lifetime-based b-jet identification techniques to further enhance the $t\bar{t}$ purity of the selected sample. For a top quark mass of 175 GeV, we measure $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}=8.6^{+1.6}_{-1.5}(stat.+syst.)\pm 0.6(lumi.)$ pb, in agreement with the standard model expectation.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, 3 tables Submitted to Phys.Rev.Let

Pocket Bluff : A cooperation enforcing scheduled pocket switching protocol

We propose Pocket Bluff; a novel pocket switched message forwarding protocol that can foil selfish/malicious nodes that deliberately drop data. Pocket Bluff hides the path of a message from intermediary nodes. It employs hook and snake shaped paths so that an intermediary node can `also' be the final destination of a message. By deliberately dropping a message, a selfish/malicious intermediary node risks loosing incoming data. We detail the Pocket Bluff protocol, and its design rational step-by-step

Measurement of Semileptonic Branching Fractions of B Mesons to Narrow D** States

Using the data accumulated in 2002-2004 with the DO detector in proton-antiproton collisions at the Fermilab Tevatron collider with centre-of-mass energy 1.96 TeV, the branching fractions of the decays B -> \bar{D}_1^0(2420) \mu^+ \nu_\mu X and B -> \bar{D}_2^{*0}(2460) \mu^+ \nu_\mu X and their ratio have been measured: BR(\bar{b}->B) \cdot BR(B-> \bar{D}_1^0 \mu^+ \nu_\mu X) \cdot BR(\bar{D}_1^0 -> D*- pi+) = (0.087+-0.007(stat)+-0.014(syst))%; BR(\bar{b}->B)\cdot BR(B->D_2^{*0} \mu^+ \nu_\mu X) \cdot BR(\bar{D}_2^{*0} -> D*- \pi^+) = (0.035+-0.007(stat)+-0.008(syst))%; and (BR(B -> \bar{D}_2^{*0} \mu^+ \nu_\mu X)BR(D2*0->D*- pi+)) / (BR(B -> \bar{D}_1^{0} \mu^+ \nu_\mu X)\cdot BR(\bar{D}_1^{0}->D*- \pi^+)) = 0.39+-0.09(stat)+-0.12(syst), where the charge conjugated states are always implied.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Retrospective analysis of patients with adrenal incidentaloma referred to the endocrinology outpatient clinic (2019–2023)

Giriş ve Amaç: Adrenal insidentalomalar, gelişen görüntüleme yöntemlerinin yaygınlaşmasıyla daha sık saptanmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, insidentaloma tanısı alan hastalar retrospektif olarak değerlendirildi. Gereç ve Metot: Ocak 2019-Aralık 2023 arasında Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart Üniversitesi Hastanesi Endokrinoloji ve Metabolizma Polikliniğine başvuran veya refere edilen 212 hastanın verileri incelendi. Hastane otomasyon sistemi kullanılarak demografik bilgiler, laboratuvar değerleri, görüntüleme sonuçları, klinik notlar ve cerrahi uygulanan olguların histopatolojik raporları kayıt altına alındı. Bulgular: Hastaların çoğu kadındı (%68,9) ve ortalama tanı yaşı 59 idi. Kitle boyutlarının medyan değeri 24 mm bulundu. En sık eşlik eden komorbiditeler hipertansiyon (%56,6) ve diyabet (%34,43) olarak belirlendi. En sık rastlanan hormon profili nonfonksiyone adenom (NFA)(%65,09) olarak saptandı. Fonksiyonel olgular içinde Hafif Otonom Kortizol Sekresyonu (MACS) %26,4 oranla en yüksek paya sahipti; daha az sayıda Feokromositoma (FEO), Cushing sendromu (CS) ve Primer Hiperaldosteronizm (PHA) vakası belirlendi. Alt gruplar lokalizasyon, kitle çapı, yaş, cinsiyet açısından kıyaslandı. Alt gruplarda yaş ve cinsiyet dağılımında anlamlı fark saptanmazken, kitle çapı ve lokalizasyon açısından farklılıklar gözlendi. FEO ve CS olgularında kitlelerin daha büyük; MACS ve PHA olgularında daha küçük olduğu, ayrıca MACS olgularında iki taraflı tutulumun daha sık görüldüğü dikkat çekti. Takip süresince çoğu vakada anlamlı bir boyut artışı gözlenmedi. Sonuç: Bu çalışma, adrenal insidentalomaların büyük çoğunluğunun nonfonksiyonel adenom olarak sınıflandırıldığını ve hormon aktivitesi ile lezyon boyutları açısından genellikle stabil bir seyir izlediğini ortaya koymuştur. Polikliniğimizde takip edilen hastalara ait verilerin bütüncül bir şekilde incelenmesi, hasta yönetiminde daha etkin yaklaşımlar geliştirilmesi için önemli bir temel sunmaktadır. Bu bulguların, daha geniş ölçekli ve prospektif çalışmalarla desteklenmesi önerilmektedir.Introduction and Objective: Adrenal incidentalomas are being detected with increasing frequency due to the widespread use of advanced imaging modalities. This study retrospectively evaluated patients diagnosed with adrenal incidentalomas. Materials and Methods: The study included 212 patients who presented to or were referred to the Endocrinology and Metabolism Outpatient Clinic of Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University Hospital between January 2019 and December 2023. Demographic data, laboratory results, imaging findings, clinical notes, and histopathological reports of surgical cases were systematically recorded using the hospital's electronic medical records system. Results: The majority of patients were female (68.9%), with a mean age at diagnosis of 59 years. The median mass diameter was 24 mm. The most common comorbidities were hypertension (56.6%) and diabetes mellitus (34.43%). Nonfunctioning adenoma (NFA) was the most frequently observed hormonal profile (65.09%). Among functional cases, Mild Autonomous Cortisol Secretion (MACS) was the most prevalent, with a rate of 26.4%, followed by fewer cases of pheochromocytoma (FEO), Cushing's syndrome (CS), and primary hyperaldosteronism (PHA). Subgroup comparisons revealed no significant differences in age or gender distribution, but significant differences were noted in terms of mass diameter and localization. Larger masses were observed in FEO and CS cases, whereas smaller masses were associated with MACS and PHA cases. Bilateral involvement was more frequently noted in MACS cases. Most masses showed no significant increase in size during follow-up. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that the majority of adrenal incidentalomas were classified as nonfunctioning adenomas, exhibiting a generally stable course in terms of hormonal activity and lesion size. A comprehensive evaluation of patients followed in our clinic provides a valuable basis for developing more effective approaches to patient management. These findings should be validated through larger-scale and prospective studies