Narrow Results

The rise of empires can be elucidated by treating them as living organisms, and the celebrated Verhulst or Lotka–Volterra dynamics can be used to understand the growth mechanisms of empires. The fast growth can be expressed by an exponential function as in the case of Macedonian empire of the Alexander the Great whereas a sigmoidal growth can be expressed by power-law equation as in the case of Roman and Ottoman empires. The superpowers Russia and the USA follow somehow different mechanisms, Russia displays two different exponential growth behaviors whereas the USA follows two different power-law behaviors. They did not disturb and mobilize their social capacity much during the course of their rise. The decline and the collapse of an empire occur through a kind of fragmentation process, and the consequently formed small states become rather free in their behavior. The lands of the new states formed exhibit a hierarchical pattern, and the number of the states having an area smaller than the largest one can be given either by an exponential or power-law function. The exponential distribution pattern occurs when the states are quite free in their pursuits, but the power-law behavior occurs when they are under the pressure of an empire or a strong state in the region. The geological and geographical conditions also affect whether there occurs exponential or power-law behavior. The new unions formed such as the European Union and the Shanghai Cooperation increase the power-law exponent implying that they increase the stress in the international affairs. The viscoelastic behavior of the empires can be found from the scattering diagrams, and the storage $(G^{\prime })$and loss modulus $(G^{\prime \prime })$, and the associated work-like and heat-like terms can be determined in the sense of thermodynamics. The $G^{\prime }$ of Ottomans was larger than that of Romans implying that they confronted severe resistance during their expansion. The $G^{\prime }$ of Russia is also larger than that of the USA; in fact the USA did not face severe resistance as they had an overwhelming superiority over native Americans. The $G^{\prime }>G^{\prime \prime }$ indicates solidity in the social structure and Romans, Ottomans, and Russians all have $G^{\prime }$ larger than $G^{\prime \prime }$. The $G^{\prime }$ is slightly larger than $G^{\prime \prime }$ for the USA indicating that they have had a very flexible social structure. By the same token the ratio of the work-like term to the internal energy is larger for Ottomans than that of Romans, and larger for the USA than that of Russia. That means the fraction of the total energy allocated to improve the social capacity is larger for Romans than that of Ottomans, and is larger for Russians than that of the USA.

In this letter, by using the properties of the entropy function and the fundamental equation of thermodynamics, we discuss the reasons that there exist different proposals for relativistic temperature transformation. Further, we illustrate this point by studying a concrete thermodynamic system-blackbody radiation.

SINGAPORE – Letting Go.

SINGAPORE & JAPAN – ASLAN Pharmaceuticals Announces First Patient Enrolled in Phase 1 Study of Varlitinib in Japan.

JAPAN & UNITED STATES – Santen and twoXAR Announce Strategic Research Collaboration to Discover New Glaucoma Treatments.

UNITED STATES – New Study Finds Extensive Use of Fluorinated Chemicals in Fast Food Wrappers.

UNITED STATES – What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger.

UNITED STATES – Non-Invasive Test Offers Quick Skin Cancer Diagnosis.

UNITED STATES – Life Under Pressure.

AUSTRALIA & THAILAND – Commencement of BIT225 Phase 2 HIV-1 Clinical Trial.

CANADA – Understanding the Genetics of Human Height.

TAIWAN – TLC Announces Collaboration with CMUH in Exploring Solutions for Unmet Medical Needs in Oncology and Osteoarthritis.

Purpose: The main aim of this paper is to study the influence of temperature on multiscale entropy (MSE) and multiscale time irreversibility (MTI) through the use of short-term measurements. Methods: A total of 12 physically active, healthy, and nonsmoker individuals ($25.6\pm 3.9$ years old; $174.2\pm 7.5$cm of height; and $68.6\pm 11.1$kg of body mass) voluntarily participated in this study. Two beat-to-beat recordings of 15min length were performed on every participant, one under hot conditions ($35^{\circ }$C) and the other assessment under cool conditions ($19^{\circ }$C). The order of these two assessments was randomly assigned. Multiscale sample entropy and MTI were assessed in every measurement through 10 scales. Results: Entropy was significantly higher under hot conditions ($p<0.05$) from the fifth scale compared to cool conditions. On the contrary, MTI values were significantly lower under hotter conditions ($p<0.05$). Conclusions: The study of MSE and time irreversibility of short RR measurements presents consistent and reliable data. Moreover, exposures to hot conditions provoke an increment of interbeat complexity throughout larger scales and a decrease in the MTI in a healthy population.

By assuming a hierarchical interaction with the environments within the Houtappel approximation, decoherence effects on a Quantum Information System (QIS) are studied. In order to avoid a harmful "always on" effect it is assumed that such interaction happens in a single one step. As a result the decoherence times are quantized and inversely proportional to the strength of the couplings of the QIS with the environment. The decoherence is manifested as a liberated heat by the QIS. By Landauer's principle this effect erases the information. Our theoretical results are applied to three different Nuclear Magnetic Resonance systems. Bounds to the probability of erasing the information are imposed for these systems.

Addressing the urban heat island effect is critical in mitigating the threat of heat from the perspective of land use planning and design. This paper, therefore, presents a structured review of urban heat island mitigation policy that is contained in the local-level planning policy documents and regulation of 20 large municipalities throughout the United States and Canada. It explores how the issue of the urban heat island effect is framed and approached and, therewith, facilitates an understanding of how aware municipalities are of the issue and its impacts. The review identifies a total of 307 instances of mitigation policy measures among 19 of the 20 municipalities, with the most commonly applied: approaches to mitigation being the promotion of latent heat flux, albedo modification, and provision of shade cover; and, framing contexts being public health, air quality, energy, comfort, and climate change. Although the review indicates that there is widespread awareness of the issue, it notes that only 79, or 25.7 percent, of the 307 mitigation policy measures were framed in any context. Thus, the majority of policy measures do not communicate an understanding of the significance and potential impacts of the urban heat island effect or provide a lens through which it should be perceived and, therewith, addressed. Indeed, they call for blind action. This suggests a need to promote awareness of the potential impacts of the urban heat island effect and communicate same in local planning policy documents and regulations.

Some people think that carbon and sustainable development are not compatible. This textbook shows that carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the air and bio-carbon from biomass are our best allies in the energy transition, towards greater sustainability. We pose the problem of the decarbonation (or decarbonization) of our economy by looking at ways to reduce our dependence on fossil carbon (coal, petroleum, natural gas, bitumen, carbonaceous shales, lignite, peat). The urgent goal is to curb the exponential increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and hydrosphere (Figures 1.1 and 1.2) that is directly related to our consumption of fossil carbon for our energy and materials The goal of the Paris agreement (United Nations COP 21, Dec. 12, 2015) of limiting the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees (compared to the pre-industrial era, before 1800) is becoming increasingly unattainable (Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), report of Aug. 6, 2021). On Aug. 9, 2021 Boris Johnson, prime minister of the United Kingdom, declared that coal needs to be consigned to history to limit global warming. CO₂ has an important social cost…