Search

Who builds effective networks remains an elusive question, particularly given mounting evidence that many people actually feel conflicted or ambivalent about the idea of instrumental networking. Here, we turn to an important piece of the puzzle that has been under-theorized: lay beliefs and attitudes that inhibit networking. Borrowing from the literature on implicit theories in motivational psychology, our theoretical model examines people's beliefs about three basic aspects of networking: the fixed versus malleable nature of social intelligence, social relations, and social capital. We explain how each lay belief affects people's attitudes toward both the utility and morality of networking, with consequences for their engagement in different forms of networking (i.e. searching for new ties, maintaining existing ties, and leveraging social capital). We also consider their downstream effects for the size, diversity, and cohesiveness of networks people build. Overall, by examining the role of domain-specific beliefs and attitudes that undermine people's motivation to network, our model departs from existing views of networking based on rationality, personality, and perception to shed new light on the motivational psychology of networking

Photographic emulsion is a particle tracking device which features the best spatial resolution among particle detectors. For certain applications, for example muon radiography, large-scale detectors are required. Therefore, a huge surface has to be analyzed by means of automated optical microscopes. An improvement of the readout speed is then a crucial point to make these applications possible and the availability of a new type of photographic emulsions featuring crystals of larger size is a way to pursue this program. This would allow a lower magnification for the microscopes, a consequent larger field of view resulting in a faster data analysis. In this framework, we developed new kinds of emulsion detectors with a crystal size of 600-1000 nm, namely 3-5 times larger than conventional ones, allowing a 25 times faster data readout. The new photographic emulsions have shown a sufficient sensitivity and a good signal to noise ratio. The proposed development opens the way to future large-scale applications of the technology, e.g. 3D imaging of glacier bedrocks or future neutrino experiments., Comment: Version accepted for publication in JINST

Background—Two different types of secretory phospholipase A2 (PLA2), pancreatic group I (PLA2-I) and non-pancreatic group II (PLA2-II), have been identified and postulated to be associated with the pathogenesis of various diseases, such as acute pancreatitis, septic shock, and multiple organ failure. Aims—To investigate the type of secretory PLA2 responsible for its catalytic activity found in plasma and ascites of experimental acute pancreatitis. Methods—Acute pancreatitis of differing severity was induced by the injection of different concentrations (1% or 10%) of sodium deoxycholate (DCA) into the common biliopancreatic duct in rats, and catalytic PLA2 activity in plasma and ascites were differentiated by anti-PLA2-I antibody and specific inhibitor of PLA2-II. Survival rate and plasma amylase, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) were also measured. Results—In 1% and 10% DCA induced acute pancreatitis, plasma amylase values as well as PLA2 activity in ascites were greatly increased. PLA2 activity in plasma was also notably increased in 10% DCA induced acute pancreatitis, but not in 1% DCA induced acute pancreatitis. PLA2-I specific polyclonal antibody significantly inhibited PLA2 activity in ascites but not that in plasma. In contrast, plasma PLA2 activity was completely suppressed by PLA2-II specific inhibitor. In addition, a high mortality (93% at five hours) and a significant increase in plasma AST and ALT were noted in 10% DCA induced pancreatitis. Conclusion—Ascites PLA2 activity is mainly derived from PLA2-I, whereas plasma PLA2 activity is mostly derived from PLA2-II in severe acute pancreatitis, suggesting that increased plasma PLA2-II activity might be implicated in hepatic failure arising after severe acute pancreatitis.