International School for Advanced Studies

About: International School for Advanced Studies is a education organization based out in Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Galaxy & Dark matter. The organization has 3751 authors who have published 13433 publications receiving 588454 citations. The organization is also known as: SISSA & Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati.

The Social Sense: Susceptibility to Others’ Beliefs in Human Infants and Adults

Abstract: Human social interactions crucially depend on the ability to represent other agents' beliefs even when these contradict our own beliefs, leading to the potentially complex problem of simultaneously holding two conflicting representations in mind. Here, we show that adults and 7-month-olds automatically encode others' beliefs, and that, surprisingly, others' beliefs have similar effects as the participants' own beliefs. In a visual object detection task, participants' beliefs and the beliefs of an agent (whose beliefs were irrelevant to performing the task) both modulated adults' reaction times and infants' looking times. Moreover, the agent's beliefs influenced participants' behavior even after the agent had left the scene, suggesting that participants computed the agent's beliefs online and sustained them, possibly for future predictions about the agent's behavior. Hence, the mere presence of an agent automatically triggers powerful processes of belief computation that may be part of a "social sense" crucial to human societies.

Diisopropylammonium Bromide Is a High-Temperature Molecular Ferroelectric Crystal

Abstract: Molecular ferroelectrics are highly desirable for their easy and environmentally friendly processing, light weight, and mechanical flexibility. We found that diisopropylammonium bromide (DIPAB), a molecular crystal processed from aqueous solution, is a ferroelectric with a spontaneous polarization of 23 microcoulombs per square centimeter [close to that of barium titanate (BTO)], high Curie temperature of 426 kelvin (above that of BTO), large dielectric constant, and low dielectric loss. DIPAB exhibits good piezoelectric response and well-defined ferroelectric domains. These attributes make it a molecular alternative to perovskite ferroelectrics and ferroelectric polymers in sensing, actuation, data storage, electro-optics, and molecular or flexible electronics.

Transport in Out-of-Equilibrium XXZ Chains: Exact Profiles of Charges and Currents.

Abstract: We consider the nonequilibrium time evolution of piecewise homogeneous states in the XXZ spin-1/2 chain, a paradigmatic example of an interacting integrable model. The initial state can be thought of as the result of joining chains with different global properties. Through dephasing, at late times, the state becomes locally equivalent to a stationary state which explicitly depends on position and time. We propose a kinetic theory of elementary excitations and derive a continuity equation which fully characterizes the thermodynamics of the model. We restrict ourselves to the gapless phase and consider cases where the chains are prepared: (1) at different temperatures, (2) in the ground state of two different models, and (3) in the "domain wall" state. We find excellent agreement (any discrepancy is within the numerical error) between theoretical predictions and numerical simulations of time evolution based on time-evolving block decimation algorithms. As a corollary, we unveil an exact expression for the expectation values of the charge currents in a generic stationary state.

Global protein function prediction from protein-protein interaction networks

Abstract: Determining protein function is one of the most challenging problems of the post-genomic era. The availability of entire genome sequences and of high-throughput capabilities to determine gene coexpression patterns has shifted the research focus from the study of single proteins or small complexes to that of the entire proteome 1 . In this context, the search for reliable methods for assigning protein function is of primary importance. There are various approaches available for deducing the function of proteins of unknown function using information derived from sequence similarity or clustering patterns of coregulated genes 2,3 , phylogenetic profiles 4 , protein-protein interactions (refs. 5‐8 and Samanta, M.P. and Liang, S., unpublished data), and protein complexes 9,10 . Here we propose the assignment of proteins to functional classes on the basis of their network of physical interactions as determined by minimizing the number of protein interactions among different functional categories. Function assignment is proteome-wide and is determined by the global connectivity pattern of the protein network. The approach results in multiple functional assignments, a consequence of the existence of multiple equivalent solutions. We apply the method to analyze the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae protein-protein interaction network 5 .

Carbon nanotube substrates boost neuronal electrical signaling.

Abstract: We demonstrate the possibility of using carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as potential devices able to improve neural signal transfer while supporting dendrite elongation and cell adhesion. The results strongly suggest that the growth of neuronal circuits on a CNT grid is accompanied by a significant increase in network activity. The increase in the efficacy of neural signal transmission may be related to the specific properties of CNT materials, such as the high electrical conductivity.