Taboo tattoos? A study of the gendered effects of body art on consumers' attitudes toward visibly tattooed front line staff

The purpose of this experiment is to examine the gendered effects of body art on consumers’ attitudes toward visibly tattooed employees. We analyse the reaction of 262 respondents with exposure to male and female front line staff in two distinct job contexts: a surgeon and an automobile mechanic. The results demonstrate differences on three dimensions: a) job context, b) sex of face and c) stimulus (i.e., tattooed or not). We demonstrate significant interaction effects on those three dimensions, and our findings point to the intersectionality of gender-based and tattoo-based discrimination. Consumers have a negative reaction to body art, but perceptions of tattoos on male and female front line staff differ significantly. A key marketing challenge is how to balance employees’ individual rights to self-expression and at the same time cater to consumers’ expectations regarding appearance of staff. Our study forms the basis for this debate that is only just emerging.PostprintPeer reviewe

Eccentric Contractions Disrupt FKBP12 Content in Mouse Skeletal Muscle

Strength deficits associated with eccentric contraction-induced muscle injury stem, in part, from impaired voltage-gated sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca2+ release. FKBP12 is a 12-kD immunophilin known to bind to the SR Ca2+ release channel (ryanodine receptor, RyR1) and plays an important role in excitation-contraction coupling. To assess the effects of eccentric contractions on FKBP12 content, we measured anterior crural muscle (tibialis anterior [TA], extensor digitorum longus [EDL], extensor hallucis longus muscles) strength and FKBP12 content in pellet and supernatant fractions after centrifugation via immunoblotting from mice before and after a single bout of either 150 eccentric or concentric contractions. There were no changes in peak isometric torque or FKBP12 content in TA muscles after concentric contractions. However, FKBP12 content was reduced in the pelleted fraction immediately after eccentric contractions, and increased in the soluble protein fraction 3 day after injury induction. FKBP12 content was correlated (P = 0.025; R2 = 0.38) to strength deficits immediately after injury induction. In summary, eccentric contraction-induced muscle injury is associated with significant alterations in FKBP12 content after injury, and is correlated with changes in peak isometric torque

Dynamic modelling of diesel engine emissions using the parametric Volterra series

The design of powertrain controllers relies on the availability of data-driven models of the emissions formation from internal-combustion engines. Typically these are in the form of tables or statistical regression models based on data obtained from stabilised experiments. However, as the complexity of engine systems increases, the number of experiments required to obtain the effects of each actuator becomes large. In addition, the models are only valid under stable operating conditions and do not give any information as to dynamic behaviour. In this paper, the use of the Volterra series (dynamic polynomial models) calculated from dynamic measurements is presented as an alternative to the steady-state models. Dynamic measurements of gaseous exhaust emissions were taken for a 2.0 l automotive diesel engine installed on a transient engine dynamometer. Sinusoidally based excitations were used to vary the engine speed, the load, the main injection timing, the exhaust gas recirculation valve position and the fuel injection pressure. Volterra models calculated for nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide emissions presented high levels of fit with R2 values of 0.85 and 0.91 respectively and normalised r.m.s. error values of 6.8% and 6.6% respectively for a cold-start New European Driving Cycle. Models for carbon monoxide and total hydrocarbon emissions presented poorer levels of fit (normalised r.m.s. errors of 26% and 17% respectively), with difficulties in obtaining the high non-linearities of the measured data, notably for very high emission levels. </jats:p

CMBPol Mission Concept Study: Gravitational Lensing

Gravitational lensing of the cosmic microwave background by large-scale structure in the late universe is both a source of cosmological information and a potential contaminant of primordial gravity waves. Because lensing imprints growth of structure in the late universe on the CMB, measurements of CMB lensing will constrain parameters to which the CMB would not otherwise be sensitive, such as neutrino mass. If the instrumental noise is sufficiently small (<~ 5 uK-arcmin), the gravitational lensing contribution to the large-scale B-mode will be the limiting source of contamination when constraining a stochastic background of gravity waves in the early universe, one of the most exciting prospects for future CMB polarization experiments. High-sensitivity measurements of small-scale B-modes can reduce this contamination through a lens reconstruction technique that separates the lensing and primordial contributions to the B-mode on large scales. A fundamental design decision for a future CMB polarization experiment such as CMBpol is whether to have coarse angular resolution so that only the large-scale B-mode (and the large-scale E-mode from reionization) is measured, or high resolution to additionally measure CMB lensing. The purpose of this white paper is to evaluate the science case for CMB lensing in polarization: constraints on cosmological parameters, increased sensitivity to the gravity wave B-mode via lens reconstruction, expected level of contamination from non-CMB foregrounds, and required control of beam systematics

The Hubble rate in averaged cosmology

The calculation of the averaged Hubble expansion rate in an averaged perturbed Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker cosmology leads to small corrections to the background value of the expansion rate, which could be important for measuring the Hubble constant from local observations. It also predicts an intrinsic variance associated with the finite scale of any measurement of H_0, the Hubble rate today. Both the mean Hubble rate and its variance depend on both the definition of the Hubble rate and the spatial surface on which the average is performed. We quantitatively study different definitions of the averaged Hubble rate encountered in the literature by consistently calculating the backreaction effect at second order in perturbation theory, and compare the results. We employ for the first time a recently developed gauge-invariant definition of an averaged scalar. We also discuss the variance of the Hubble rate for the different definitions.Comment: 12 pages, 25 figures, references added, clarity improved, frame switching subtlety fixed, results unchanged, v3 minor typos fixe

The Mummy Explorer—a self-regulated open-access online teaching tool

Background and objectives: Virtual teaching tools have gained increasing importance in recent years. In particular, the COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the need for media-based and self-regulated tools. What is missing are tools that allow us to interlink highly interdisciplinary fields such as evolutionary medicine and, at the same time, allow us to adapt content to different lectures. Methodology: We designed an interactive online teaching tool, namely, the Mummy Explorer, using open-access software (Google Web Designer), and we provided a freely downloadable template. We tested the tool on students and lecturers of evolutionary medicine using questionnaires and improved the tool according to their feedback. Results: The tool has a modular design and provides an overview of a virtual mummy excavation, including the subfields of palaeopathology, paleoradiology, cultural and ethnographic context, provenance studies, paleogenetics, and physiological analyses. The template allows lecturers to generate their own versions of the tool for any topic of interest by simply changing the text and pictures. Tests undertaken with students of evolutionary medicine showed that the tool was helpful during their studies. Lecturers commented that they appreciated having a similar tool in other fields. Conclusions and implications: Mummy Explorer fills a gap in the virtual teaching landscape of highly interdisciplinary fields such as evolutionary medicine. It will be offered for free download and can be adapted to any educational topic. Translations into German and possibly other languages are in progress

Ancestors of domestic cats in Neolithic Central Europe : isotopic evidence of a synanthropic diet

Cat remains from Poland dated to 4,200 to 2,300 y BCE are currently the earliest evidence for the migration of the Near Eastern cat (NE cat), the ancestor of domestic cats, into Central Europe. This early immigration preceded the known establishment of housecat populations in the region by around 3,000 y. One hypothesis assumed that NE cats followed the migration of early farmers as synanthropes. In this study, we analyze the stable isotopes in six samples of Late Neolithic NE cat bones and further 34 of the associated fauna, including the European wildcat. We approximate the diet and trophic ecology of Late Neolithic felids in a broad context of contemporary wild and domestic animals and humans. In addition, we compared the ecology of Late Neolithic NE cats with the earliest domestic cats known from the territory of Poland, dating to the Roman Period. Our results reveal that human agricultural activity during the Late Neolithic had already impacted the isotopic signature of rodents in the ecosystem. These synanthropic pests constituted a significant proportion of the NE cat’s diet. Our interpretation is that Late Neolithic NE cats were opportunistic synanthropes, most probably free-living individuals (i.e., not directly relying on a human food supply). We explore niche partitioning between studied NE cats and the contemporary native European wildcats. We find only minor differences between the isotopic ecology of both these taxa. We conclude that, after the appearance of the NE cat, both felid taxa shared the ecological niches

DBI Inflation using a One-Parameter Family of Throat Geometries

We demonstrate the possibility of examining cosmological signatures in the DBI inflation setup using the BGMPZ solution, a one-parameter family of geometries for the warped throat which interpolate between the Maldacena-Nunez and Klebanov-Strassler solutions. The warp factor is determined numerically and subsequently used to calculate cosmological observables including the scalar and tensor spectral indices, for a sample point in the parameter space. As one moves away from the KS solution for the throat the warp factor is qualitatively different, which leads to a significant change for the observables, but also generically increases the non-Gaussianity of the models. We argue that the different models can potentially be differentiated by current and future experiments.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures; v2: section 4 expanded, references added; v3: typos fixe

Defining a Cutoff for Progression of Macular Holes.

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to determine a cutoff for progression of idiopathic full-thickness macular hole (MH) size.MethodsRetrospective analysis of consecutive patients waiting 4 weeks for MH surgery. Two observers performed 3 repeat sets of MH size measurements on optical coherence tomography (OCT) high-density radial scans taken at first presentation and 4 weeks later before surgery. Primary outcome was the definition of a cutoff for true enlargement of MH size versus measurement error. Secondary outcomes were risk factors for change in minimum linear diameter (MLD) size and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA).ResultsFifty-one patients were included with a mean MH size of 334 µm (±179 µm; range 39 to 793 µm). The cutoff for an increase in MLD size calculated as the outer confidence limit for the 99.73% limits of agreement was 31 µm. This was independent of MH size. Using this cutoff, MLD size increased in 9/34 (26.5%) of patients without and in 14 of 17 (82.4%) of patients with vitreomacular traction (VMT; P 400 µm) changed over the 4-week period.ConclusionsUsing a cutoff discriminates change from measurement error. A significant proportion of MHs progressed by 4 weeks, particularly in the presence of VMT.Translational relevanceThe established cutoff enables clinicians to differentiate true MH enlargement from measurement error