“Green Pockets” as Microclimate Modifiers in UK Urban Schools

The rapid densification of many UK cities poses significant pressure on the design of schools within inner city centres. London’s air quality has been associated to increased mortality, and pollution and noise levels have exceeded acceptable standards. As a consequence, most schools are mechanically ventilated and have little or no contact with the outdoors, with detrimental effects for the physical and mental development of students (Charles, 2015). This study investigates the possibility of improving the design of usually neglected and underexploited outdoor and semi-outdoor spaces within urban learning environments in order to convert these spaces into microclimatic modifiers and natural air filters. The research focused on the integration of green spaces into three different environments: outdoor courtyard, semi-outdoor break-out space and indoor classroom. The findings of the analysis and design implementations indicate that the positive microclimatic effect of the green courtyard can be successfully used to achieve thermal comfort in semi-outdoor and indoor spaces throughout the year while improving visual comfort and air quality

In-ovo feeding with creatine monohydrate: implications for chicken energy reserves and breast muscle development during the pre-post hatching period

The most dynamic period throughout the lifespan of broiler chickens is the pre-post-hatching period, entailing profound effects on their energy status, survival rate, body weight, and muscle growth. Given the significance of this pivotal period, we evaluated the effect of in-ovo feeding (IOF) with creatine monohydrate on late-term embryos’ and hatchlings’ energy reserves and post-hatch breast muscle development. The results demonstrate that IOF with creatine elevates the levels of high-energy-value molecules (creatine and glycogen) in the liver, breast muscle and yolk sac tissues 48 h post IOF, on embryonic day 19 (p < 0.03). Despite this evidence, using a novel automated image analysis tool on day 14 post-hatch, we found a significantly higher number of myofibers with lower diameter and area in the IOF creatine group compared to the control and IOF NaCl groups (p < 0.004). Gene expression analysis, at hatch, revealed that IOF creatine group had significantly higher expression levels of myogenin (MYOG) and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1), related to differentiation of myogenic cells (p < 0.01), and lower expression of myogenic differentiation protein 1 (MyoD), related to their proliferation (p < 0.04). These results imply a possible effect of IOF with creatine on breast muscle development through differential expression of genes involved in myogenic proliferation and differentiation. The findings provide valuable insights into the potential of pre-hatch enrichment with creatine in modulating post-hatch muscle growth and development

Vegetation history and climatic fluctuations on a transect along the Dead Sea west shore and impact on past societies over the last 3500 years.

This study represents the vegetation history of the last 3500 years and conducts an analysis of the climatic fluctuations on a 75 km long transect on the western Dead Sea shore. Palynological and sedimentological data are available from six cores near Mount Sedom, Ein Boqueq, and Ein Gedi and from outcrops near Ze'elim and Ein Feshkha. The comparison of the pollen data with the lake levels shows synchronous trends. During the Middle Bronze Age, Iron Age and Hellenistic to Byzantine Period the high lake level of the Dead Sea signals an increase in precipitation. Contemporaneously, values of cultivated plants indicate an increase in agriculture. Lake level is low during the Late Bronze Age, within the Iron Age and at the end of the Byzantine period, indicating dry periods when all pds show a decrease of cultivated plants. Forest regeneration led by drought-resistant pines is observed in all pollen diagrams (pds) following the agricultural decline in the Byzantine period and, in the pds near Ein Boqeq, Ze'elim and Ein Feshkha, during the late Iron Age. The modern vegetation gradient is reflected in the palaeo-records: a stronger expansion of Mediterranean vegetation and cultivated plants in the northern sites is recognisable

Monte Carlo study of the random-field Ising model

Using a cluster-flipping Monte Carlo algorithm combined with a generalization of the histogram reweighting scheme of Ferrenberg and Swendsen, we have studied the equilibrium properties of the thermal random-field Ising model on a cubic lattice in three dimensions. We have equilibrated systems of LxLxL spins, with values of L up to 32, and for these systems the cluster-flipping method appears to a large extent to overcome the slow equilibration seen in single-spin-flip methods. From the results of our simulations we have extracted values for the critical exponents and the critical temperature and randomness of the model by finite size scaling. For the exponents we find nu = 1.02 +/- 0.06, beta = 0.06 +/- 0.07, gamma = 1.9 +/- 0.2, and gammabar = 2.9 +/- 0.2.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, self-expanding uuencoded compressed PostScript fil

Hippocampal-midbrain circuit enhances the pleasure of anticipation in the prefrontal cortex

Having something to look forward to is a keystone of well-being. Anticipation of a future reward, like an upcoming vacation, can be more gratifying than the experience of reward itself. Theories of anticipation have described how it causes behaviors ranging from beneficial information-seeking to harmful addiction. Here, we investigated how the brain generates and enhances anticipatory pleasure, by analyzing brain activity of human participants who received information predictive of future pleasant outcomes in a decision-making task. Using a computational model of anticipation, we show that three regions orchestrate anticipatory pleasure. We show ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) tracks the value of anticipation; dopaminergic midbrain responds to information that enhances anticipation, while the sustained activity in hippocampus provides for functional coupling between these regions. This coordinating role for hippocampus is consistent with its known role in the vivid imagination of future outcomes. Our findings throw new light on the neural underpinnings of how anticipation influences decision-making, while also unifying a range of phenomena associated with risk and time-delay preference

A Fermi Surface study of Ba1−x_{1-x}Kx_{x}BiO3_{3}

We present all electron computations of the 3D Fermi surfaces (FS's) in Ba$_{1-x}$K$_{x}$BiO$_{3}$ for a number of different compositions based on the selfconsistent Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker coherent-potential-approximation (KKR-CPA) approach for incorporating the effects of Ba/K substitution. By assuming a simple cubic structure throughout the composition range, the evolution of the nesting and other features of the FS of the underlying pristine phase is correlated with the onset of various structural transitions with K doping. A parameterized scheme for obtaining an accurate 3D map of the FS in Ba$_{1-x}$K$_{x}$BiO$_{3}$ for an arbitrary doping level is developed. We remark on the puzzling differences between the phase diagrams of Ba$_{1-x}$K$_{x}$BiO$_{3}$ and BaPb$_{x}$Bi$_{1-x}$O$_{3}$ by comparing aspects of their electronic structures and those of the end compounds BaBiO$_{3}$, KBiO$_3$ and BaPbO$_3$. Our theoretically predicted FS's in the cubic phase are relevant for analyzing high-resolution Compton scattering and positron-annihilation experiments sensitive to the electron momentum density, and are thus amenable to substantial experimental verification.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Media events and cosmopolitan fandom:"Playful nationalism' in the Eurovision Song Contest

Academic literature on media events is increasingly concerned with their global dimensions and the applicability of Dayan and Katz's (1992) theoretical concept in a post-national context. This paper contributes to this debate by exploring the Eurovision Song Contest as a global media event. In particular, we employ a perspective from 'inside the media event', drawing upon empirical material collected during the 2014 Eurovision final in Copenhagen and focusing on the experiences of fans attending the contest. We argue that the ESC as a media event is experienced by its fans as a cosmopolitan space, open and diverse, whereas national belonging is expressed in a playful way tied to the overall visual aesthetics of the contest. However, the bounded and narrow character of participation render this cosmopolitan space rather limited

Signal Propagation in Feedforward Neuronal Networks with Unreliable Synapses

In this paper, we systematically investigate both the synfire propagation and firing rate propagation in feedforward neuronal network coupled in an all-to-all fashion. In contrast to most earlier work, where only reliable synaptic connections are considered, we mainly examine the effects of unreliable synapses on both types of neural activity propagation in this work. We first study networks composed of purely excitatory neurons. Our results show that both the successful transmission probability and excitatory synaptic strength largely influence the propagation of these two types of neural activities, and better tuning of these synaptic parameters makes the considered network support stable signal propagation. It is also found that noise has significant but different impacts on these two types of propagation. The additive Gaussian white noise has the tendency to reduce the precision of the synfire activity, whereas noise with appropriate intensity can enhance the performance of firing rate propagation. Further simulations indicate that the propagation dynamics of the considered neuronal network is not simply determined by the average amount of received neurotransmitter for each neuron in a time instant, but also largely influenced by the stochastic effect of neurotransmitter release. Second, we compare our results with those obtained in corresponding feedforward neuronal networks connected with reliable synapses but in a random coupling fashion. We confirm that some differences can be observed in these two different feedforward neuronal network models. Finally, we study the signal propagation in feedforward neuronal networks consisting of both excitatory and inhibitory neurons, and demonstrate that inhibition also plays an important role in signal propagation in the considered networks.Comment: 33pages, 16 figures; Journal of Computational Neuroscience (published

Risk, Unexpected Uncertainty, and Estimation Uncertainty: Bayesian Learning in Unstable Settings

Recently, evidence has emerged that humans approach learning using Bayesian updating rather than (model-free) reinforcement algorithms in a six-arm restless bandit problem. Here, we investigate what this implies for human appreciation of uncertainty. In our task, a Bayesian learner distinguishes three equally salient levels of uncertainty. First, the Bayesian perceives irreducible uncertainty or risk: even knowing the payoff probabilities of a given arm, the outcome remains uncertain. Second, there is (parameter) estimation uncertainty or ambiguity: payoff probabilities are unknown and need to be estimated. Third, the outcome probabilities of the arms change: the sudden jumps are referred to as unexpected uncertainty. We document how the three levels of uncertainty evolved during the course of our experiment and how it affected the learning rate. We then zoom in on estimation uncertainty, which has been suggested to be a driving force in exploration, in spite of evidence of widespread aversion to ambiguity. Our data corroborate the latter. We discuss neural evidence that foreshadowed the ability of humans to distinguish between the three levels of uncertainty. Finally, we investigate the boundaries of human capacity to implement Bayesian learning. We repeat the experiment with different instructions, reflecting varying levels of structural uncertainty. Under this fourth notion of uncertainty, choices were no better explained by Bayesian updating than by (model-free) reinforcement learning. Exit questionnaires revealed that participants remained unaware of the presence of unexpected uncertainty and failed to acquire the right model with which to implement Bayesian updating