346 research outputs found

    How Loneliness Affects Problematic Facebook Use

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    The main objective of this paper is to show how loneliness affects problematic Facebook use. We integrated the concept of loneliness in the advanced cognitive-behavioral model of generalized problematic Internet use and empirically tested the model with 200 Facebook users. Our findings suggested that loneliness predisposes individuals to the development of problematic Facebook use and confirmed that the preference for online social interaction and mood regulation predict deficient self-regulation of Facebook use and which in turn leads to negative outcomes

    Ocean Science Series: Redistribution of Fish Catch by Climate Change

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    Global climate change is expected to affect marine fisheries productivity because of changes in water temperature, ocean currents and other ocean conditions. Marine fisheries are an important food source, and changes in the total amount or geographic distribution of fish available for catch could affect food security. Changes in marine food supply due to climate change, however, were previously unknown

    Sociocultural Differences in Self- Construal and Subjective Well-Being: A Test of Four Cultural Models

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    In this study, the authors tested four cultural models—independence, interdependence, conflict, and integration—that describe the hypothesized relationships between dimensions of self-construal and components of subjective well-being among individualistic and collectivistic countries. Collectivistic countries that have undergone rapid socioeconomic changes (i.e., East Asian countries) and those with limited changes (i.e., African countries) were differentiated. Participants were 791 university students from four Western countries, 749 university students from three East Asian countries, and 443 university students from three African countries. Findings provided some support for the applicability of (a) the independence model to individuals from Western countries and (b) the integration model to individuals from East Asian countries. Mixed results were found among the African countries. The interdependence model is more applicable to African participants from the sub-Saharan region, but the integration model is more applicable to those from the North African region

    Data-driven approach for highlighting priority areas for protection in marine areas beyond national jurisdiction

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    One of the aims of the United Nations (UN) negotiations on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) is to develop a legal process for the establishment of area-based management tools, including marine protected areas, in ABNJ. Here we use a conservation planning algorithm to integrate 55 global data layers on ABNJ species diversity, habitat heterogeneity, benthic features, productivity, and fishing as a means for highlighting priority regions in ABNJ to be considered for spatial protection. We also include information on forecasted species distributions under climate change. We found that parameterizing the planning algorithm to protect at least 30% of these key ABNJ conservation features, while avoiding areas of high fishing effort, yielded a solution that highlights 52,545,634 km2 (23.7%) of ABNJ as high priority regions for protection. Instructing the planning model to avoid ABNJ areas with high fishing effort resulted in relatively minor shifts in the planning solution, when compared to a separate model that did not consider fishing effort. Integrating information on climate change had a similarly minor influence on the planning solution, suggesting that climate-informed ABNJ protected areas may be able to protect biodiversity now and in the future. This globally standardized, data-driven process for identifying priority ABNJ regions for protection serves as a valuable complement to other expert-driven processes underway to highlight ecologically or biologically significant ABNJ regions. Both the outputs and methods exhibited in this analysis can additively inform UN decision-making concerning establishment of ABNJ protected areas

    MicroRNA clusters integrate evolutionary constraints on expression and target affinities : the miR-6/5/4/286/3/309 cluster in Drosophila

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    This research was supported by the Hong Kong Research Grant Council GRF Grant (14103516), The Chinese University of Hong Kong Direct Grant (4053248), and TUYF Charitable Trust (6903957) (JHLH).A striking feature of microRNAs is that they are often clustered in the genomes of animals. The functional and evolutionary consequences of this clustering remain obscure. Here, we investigated a microRNA cluster miR-6/5/4/286/3/309 that is conserved across drosophilid lineages. Small RNA sequencing revealed expression of this microRNA cluster in Drosophila melanogaster leg discs, and conditional overexpression of the whole cluster resulted in leg appendage shortening. Transgenic overexpression lines expressing different combinations of microRNA cluster members were also constructed. Expression of individual microRNAs from the cluster resulted in a normal wild-type phenotype, but either the expression of several ancient microRNAs together (miR-5/4/286/3/309) or more recently evolved clustered microRNAs (miR-6-1/2/3) can recapitulate the phenotypes generated by the whole-cluster overexpression. Screening of transgenic fly lines revealed down-regulation of leg patterning gene cassettes in generation of the leg-shortening phenotype. Furthermore, cell transfection with different combinations of microRNA cluster members revealed a suite of downstream genes targeted by all cluster members, as well as complements of targets that are unique for distinct microRNAs. Considered together, the microRNA targets and the evolutionary ages of each microRNA in the cluster demonstrates the importance of microRNA clustering, where new members can reinforce and modify the selection forces on both the cluster regulation and the gene regulatory network of existing microRNAs.PostprintPeer reviewe

    Color-Octet J/ψJ/\psi Production in the ΄\Upsilon Decay

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    The direct production rate of ψ\psi in the ΄\Upsilon decay is shown to be dominated by the process ΄→ggg∗ \Upsilon \to ggg^* followed by g∗→ψg^* \to \psi via the color-octet mechanism proposed recently to explain the anomalous prompt charmonium production at the Tevatron. We show that this plausibly dominant process has a branching ratio compatible with the experimental data. Further experimental study in this channel is important to test the significance of the color-octet component of ccˉc\bar c pair inside the ψ\psi system.Comment: 20 pages, Standard LaTeX, 2 figures; a couple of new processes added, but conclusion unchange
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