112 research outputs found
Environmental influences on affect and cognition: A study of natural and commercial semi-public spaces
Research has consistently shown differences in affect and cognition after exposure to different physical environments. The time course of these differences emerging or fading during exploration of environments is less explored, as most studies measure dependent variables only before and after environmental exposure. In this within-subject study, we used repeated surveys to measure differences in thought content and affect throughout a 1-h environmental exploration of a nature conservatory and a large indoor mall. At each survey, participants reported on aspects of their most recent thoughts (e.g., thinking of the present moment vs. the future; thinking positively vs. negatively) and state affect. Using Bayesian multi-level models, we found that while visiting the conservatory, participants were more likely to report thoughts about the past, more positive and exciting thoughts, and higher feelings of positive affect and creativity. In the mall, participants were more likely to report thoughts about the future and higher feelings of impulsivity. Many of these differences in environments were present throughout the 1-h walk, however some differences were only evident at intermediary time points, indicating the importance of collecting data during exploration, as opposed to only before and after environmental exposures. We also measured cognitive performance with a dual n-back task. Results on 2-back trials replicated results from prior work that interacting with nature leads to improvements in working-memory performance. This study furthers our understanding of how thoughts and feelings are influenced by the surrounding physical environment and has implications for the design and use of public spaces
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Carbon Monitoring System Flux Net Biosphere Exchange 2020 (CMS-Flux NBE 2020)
Here we present a global and regionally resolved terrestrial net biosphere exchange (NBE) dataset with corresponding uncertainties between 2010-2018: Carbon Monitoring System Flux Net Biosphere Exchange 2020 (CMS-Flux NBE 2020). It is estimated using the NASA Carbon Monitoring System Flux (CMS-Flux) top-down flux inversion system that assimilates column CO2 observations from the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT) and NASA\u27s Observing Carbon Observatory 2 (OCO-2). The regional monthly fluxes are readily accessible as tabular files, and the gridded fluxes are available in NetCDF format. The fluxes and their uncertainties are evaluated by extensively comparing the posterior CO2 mole fractions with CO2 observations from aircraft and the NOAA marine boundary layer reference sites. We describe the characteristics of the dataset as the global total, regional climatological mean, and regional annual fluxes and seasonal cycles. We find that the global total fluxes of the dataset agree with atmospheric CO2 growth observed by the surface-observation network within uncertainty. Averaged between 2010 and 2018, the tropical regions range from close to neutral in tropical South America to a net source in Africa; these contrast with the extra-tropics, which are a net sink of 2.5±0.3 Gt C/year. The regional satellite-constrained NBE estimates provide a unique perspective for understanding the terrestrial biosphere carbon dynamics and monitoring changes in regional contributions to the changes of atmospheric CO2 growth rate. The gridded and regional aggregated dataset can be accessed at http://doi.org/10.25966/4v02-c391 (Liu et al., 2020).
The mu-rhythm can mirror: insights from experimental design, and looking past the controversy
Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA)
The Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) is a staged experiment to
measure 21 cm emission from the primordial intergalactic medium (IGM)
throughout cosmic reionization (), and to explore earlier epochs of our
Cosmic Dawn (). During these epochs, early stars and black holes
heated and ionized the IGM, introducing fluctuations in 21 cm emission. HERA is
designed to characterize the evolution of the 21 cm power spectrum to constrain
the timing and morphology of reionization, the properties of the first
galaxies, the evolution of large-scale structure, and the early sources of
heating. The full HERA instrument will be a 350-element interferometer in South
Africa consisting of 14-m parabolic dishes observing from 50 to 250 MHz.
Currently, 19 dishes have been deployed on site and the next 18 are under
construction. HERA has been designated as an SKA Precursor instrument.
In this paper, we summarize HERA's scientific context and provide forecasts
for its key science results. After reviewing the current state of the art in
foreground mitigation, we use the delay-spectrum technique to motivate
high-level performance requirements for the HERA instrument. Next, we present
the HERA instrument design, along with the subsystem specifications that ensure
that HERA meets its performance requirements. Finally, we summarize the
schedule and status of the project. We conclude by suggesting that, given the
realities of foreground contamination, current-generation 21 cm instruments are
approaching their sensitivity limits. HERA is designed to bring both the
sensitivity and the precision to deliver its primary science on the basis of
proven foreground filtering techniques, while developing new subtraction
techniques to unlock new capabilities. The result will be a major step toward
realizing the widely recognized scientific potential of 21 cm cosmology.Comment: 26 pages, 24 figures, 2 table
Human longevity is influenced by many genetic variants: evidence from 75,000 UK Biobank participants
This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.Variation in human lifespan is 20 to 30% heritable in twins but few genetic variants have been identified. We undertook a Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) using age at death of parents of middle-aged UK Biobank participants of European decent (n=75,244 with father's and/or mother's data, excluding early deaths). Genetic risk scores for 19 phenotypes (n=777 proven variants) were also tested. In GWAS, a nicotine receptor locus(CHRNA3, previously associated with increased smoking and lung cancer) was associated with fathers' survival. Less common variants requiring further confirmation were also identified. Offspring of longer lived parents had more protective alleles for coronary artery disease, systolic blood pressure, body mass index, cholesterol and triglyceride levels, type-1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease and Alzheimer's disease. In candidate analyses, variants in the TOMM40/APOE locus were associated with longevity, but FOXO variants were not. Associations between extreme longevity (mother >=98 years, fathers >=95 years, n=1,339) and disease alleles were similar, with an additional association with HDL cholesterol (p=5.7x10-3). These results support a multiple protective factors model influencing lifespan and longevity (top 1% survival) in humans, with prominent roles for cardiovascular-related pathways. Several of these genetically influenced risks, including blood pressure and tobacco exposure, are potentially modifiable.This work was generously funded by an award to DM,
TF, AM, LH and CB by the Medical Research Council
MR/M023095/1. This research has been conducted
using the UK Biobank Resource, under application
1417. The authors wish to thank the UK Biobank
participants and coordinators for this unique dataset.
S.E.J. is funded by the Medical Research Council
(grant: MR/M005070/1). J.T. is funded by a Diabetes
Research and Wellness Foundation Fellowship. R.B. is
funded by the Wellcome Trust and Royal Society grant:
104150/Z/14/Z. M.A.T., M.N.W. and A.M. are
supported by the Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic
Support Award (WT097835MF). R.M.F. is a Sir Henry
Dale Fellow (Wellcome Trust and Royal Society grant:
104150/Z/14/Z). A.R.W. H.Y., and T.M.F. are
supported by the European Research Council grant:
323195:GLUCOSEGENES-FP7-IDEAS-ERC. The
funders had no influence on study design, data
collection and analysis, decision to publish, or
preparation of the manuscript.
The Framingham Heart Study is supported by Contract
No. N01-HC-25195 and HHSN268201500001I and its
contract with Affymetrix, Inc for genotyping services
(Contract No. N02-HL-6-4278). The phenotypegenotype
association analyses were supported by
National Institute of Aging R01AG29451.
This work has made use of the resources provided by
the University of Exeter Science Strategy and resulting
Systems Biology initiative. Primarily these include
high-performance computing facilities managed by
Konrad Paszkiewicz of the College of Environmental
and Life Sciences and Pete Leggett of the University of
Exeter Academics services unit
Do I turn left or right? Effects of sex, age, experience and exit route on maze test performance in sheep
HI 21cm Cosmology and the Bi-spectrum: Closure Diagnostics in Massively Redundant Interferometric Arrays
New massively redundant low frequency arrays allow for a novel investigation
of closure relations in interferometry. We employ commissioning data from the
Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array to investigate closure quantities in this
densely packed grid array of 14m antennas operating at 100 MHz to 200 MHz. We
investigate techniques that utilize closure phase spectra for redundant triads
to estimate departures from redundancy for redundant baseline visibilities. We
find a median absolute deviation from redundancy in closure phase across the
observed frequency range of about 4.5deg. This value translates into a
non-redundancy per visibility phase of about 2.6deg, using prototype
electronics. The median absolute deviations from redundancy decrease with
longer baselines. We show that closure phase spectra can be used to identify
ill-behaved antennas in the array, independent of calibration. We investigate
the temporal behavior of closure spectra. The Allan variance increases after a
one minute stride time, due to passage of the sky through the primary beam of
the transit telescope. However, the closure spectra repeat to well within the
noise per measurement at corresponding local sidereal times (LST) from day to
day. In future papers in this series we will develop the technique of using
closure phase spectra in the search for the HI 21cm signal from cosmic
reionization.Comment: 32 pages. 11 figures. Accepted to Radio Scienc
Mitigating Internal Instrument Coupling for 21 cm Cosmology. II. A Method Demonstration with the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array
We present a study of internal reflection and cross-coupling systematics in Phase I of the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA). In a companion paper, we outlined the mathematical formalism for such systematics and presented algorithms for modeling and removing them from the data. In this work, we apply these techniques to data from HERA's first observing season as a method demonstration. The data show evidence for systematics that, without removal, would hinder a detection of the 21 cm power spectrum for the targeted Epoch of Reionization (EoR) line-of-sight modes in the range 0.2 h −1 Mpc−1 < < 0.5 h −1 Mpc−1. In particular, we find evidence for nonnegligible amounts of spectral structure in the raw autocorrelations that overlaps with the EoR window and is suggestive of complex instrumental effects. Through systematic modeling on a single night of data, we find we can recover these modes in the power spectrum down to the integrated noise floor, achieving a dynamic range in the EoR window of 106 in power (mK2 units) with respect to the bright galactic foreground signal. Future work with deeper integrations will help determine whether these systematics can continue to be mitigated down to EoR levels. For future observing seasons, HERA will have upgraded analog and digital hardware to better control these systematics in the field
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