When does prior knowledge disproportionately benefit older adults' memory?

Material consistent with knowledge/experience is generally more memorable than material inconsistent with knowledge/experience – an effect that can be more extreme in older adults. Four experiments investigated knowledge effects on memory with young and older adults. Memory for familiar and unfamiliar proverbs (Experiment 1) and for common and uncommon scenes (Experiment 2) showed similar knowledge effects across age groups. Memory for person-consistent and person-neutral actions (Experiment 3) showed a greater benefit of prior knowledge in older adults. For cued recall of related and unrelated word pairs (Experiment 4), older adults benefited more from prior knowledge only when it provided uniquely useful additional information beyond the episodic association itself. The current data and literature suggest that prior knowledge has the age-dissociable mnemonic properties of (1) improving memory for the episodes themselves (age invariant), and (2) providing conceptual information about the tasks/stimuli extrinsically to the actual episodic memory (particularly aiding older adults)

Interactions between metal ions and DNA

84 years elapsed between the announcements of the periodic table and that of the DNA double helix in 1953, and the two have been combined in many ways since then. In this chapter an outline of the fundamentals of DNA structure leads into a range of examples showing how the natural magnesium and potassium ions found in nature can be substituted in a diversity of applications. The dynamic structures found in nature have been studied in the more controlled but artificial environment of the DNA crystal using examples from sodium to platinum and also in a range of DNA-binding metal complexes. While NMR is an essential technique for studying nucleic acid structure and conformation, most of our knowledge of metal ion binding has come from X-ray crystallography. These days the structures studied, and therefore also the diversity of metal binding, go beyond the double helix to triplexes, hairpin loops, junctions and quadruplexes, and the chapter describes briefly how these pieces fit into the DNA jigsaw. In a final section, the roles of metal cations in the crystallisation of new DNA structures are discussed, along with an introduction to the versatility of the periodic table of absorption edges for nucleic acid structure determination

Chromo- and Fluorogenic Organometallic Sensors

Compounds that change their absorption and/or emission properties in the presence of a target ion or molecule have been studied for many years as the basis for optical sensing. Within this group of compounds, a variety of organometallic complexes have been proposed for the detection of a wide range of analytes such as cations (including H+), anions, gases (e.g. O 2, SO2, organic vapours), small organic molecules, and large biomolecules (e.g. proteins, DNA). This chapter focuses on work reported within the last few years in the area of organometallic sensors. Some of the most extensively studied systems incorporate metal moieties with intense long-lived metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) excited states as the reporter or indicator unit, such as fac-tricarbonyl Re(I) complexes, cyclometallated Ir(III) species, and diimine Ru(II) or Os(II) derivatives. Other commonly used organometallic sensors are based on Pt-alkynyls and ferrocene fragments. To these reporters, an appropriate recognition or analyte-binding unit is usually attached so that a detectable modification on the colour and/or the emission of the complex occurs upon binding of the analyte. Examples of recognition sites include macrocycles for the binding of cations, H-bonding units selective to specific anions, and DNA intercalating fragments. A different approach is used for the detection of some gases or vapours, where the sensor's response is associated with changes in the crystal packing of the complex on absorption of the gas, or to direct coordination of the analyte to the metal centre

Electrochemical and photophysical properties of DNA metallo-intercalators containing the ruthenium(II) tris(1-pyrazolyl)methane unit.

Three new ruthenium(II) complexes containing the tris(1-pyrazolyl)methane (tpm) ligand have been prepared: [Ru(tpm)(L)(dppn)]n+ (where n = 1; L = Cl (5), n = 2; L = MeCN (6) and pyridine (7); dppn = benzo[i]dipyrido[3,2-a:2',3'-c]phenazine). Complex 6 was structurally characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Binding parameters of these complexes with calf thymus DNA are reported and compared to those obtained for a previously reported monocation, [RuCl(tpm)(dppz)]+. Binding studies with the dications and the synthetic oligonucleotides poly(dA).poly(dT) and poly(dG).poly(dC) have also been determined. Photophysical and electrochemical properties of 5-7 have been investigated and compared with their dipyridophenazine (dppz) analogues

Two-Dimensional, Pyrazine-Based Nonlinear Optical Chromophores with Ruthenium(II) Ammine Electron Donors

The Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) is a marine exotic species that has successfully been introduced into the Oosterschelde estuary in the Netherlands in the 1960’s. It is still spreading, and can now be considered a part of the local ecosystem. Along with C. gigas other exotic species have been introduce

Syntheses, structures, and magnetic properties of copper(II) complexes with 1,3-[bis(2-pyridylmethyl)amino]benzene (1,3-tpbd) as ligand.

The dinuclear copper(II) complexes {[Cu2(1,3-tpbd)- (H2O)(OAc)2](ClO4)2}0.23{[Cu2(1,3-tpbd)(H2O)2(OAc)]- (ClO4)3}0.77·0.77H2O (1), [Cu2(1,3-tpbd)(H2O)2(OAc)2]- (ClO4)2·2H2O (2), and the tetranuclear copper(II) complex [Cu4(1,3-tpbd)2(H2O)2(SO4)4]·8H2O (3) {1,3-tpbd = 1,3- bis[bis(2-pyridylmethyl)amino]benzene} were synthesised and structurally characterised by X-ray diffraction. Variable temperature (2.0-290 K) magnetic susceptibility measurements on these complexes as well as on the dinuclear copper(II) complex [Cu2(1,3-tpbd)(H2O)2(ClO4)3]ClO4 (4) (whose structure was published earlier) were performed. In contrast to 2 and 3, significant ferromagnetic coupling with J = +9.3 cm-1 was observed for 4 (the Hamiltonian being defined as Hˆ = -J Sˆ 1·Sˆ 2). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were used successfully for the interpretation of the ferromagnetic coupling observed in 4

The Drivers of Carbon Disclosure: Evidence from China's Sustainability Plans

[[abstract]]This paper adopts the legitimacy theory and stakeholder theory perspectives to explore the drivers of voluntary carbon disclosure among Chinese firms under the 11th and 12th Five-Year Plans. We use the coding technique of content analysis to capture quantitative data of carbon reduction and classify sample firms by disclosure content into three groups and then apply ordinal logit regression to test the proposed hypotheses. Firm size (Size) and profitability (Profit) are positively related to carbon disclosure; SOE blockholder (State-bloc) and high carbon emission industries (HCEI) are significantly more dedicated to carbon disclosure. However, POE blockholder (Private-bloc) and creditors (Lev) are negatively related to carbon disclosure. We also find that the effects of HCEI and Ownership differ most widely between firms in coastal areas and firms in non-coastal areas; State-bloc is more significantly related to carbon disclosure in the 12th-five period than in the 11th-five period. Chinese firms should understand that taking substantive actions of carbon disclosure, fulfilling social responsibilities, and aligning their operations to the planned economy can contribute to their sustainable development. This paper offers evidence of variations in drivers of carbon disclosure, and such variations are attributable to the differences between the two plan periods and between geographical regions. The evidence is helpful for understanding what have motivated Chinese firms to disclose carbon emission information in the two different plan periods and in different geographical areas.[[notice]]補正完