Beyond the beauty of occlusion: Medical masks increase facial attractiveness more than other face coverings

The sanitary-mask effect (Miyazaki and Kawahara in Jpn Psychol Res 58(3):261–272, 2016) is the finding that medical face masks prompt an image of disease and thus result in lower ratings of facial attractiveness of the wearer. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, medical masks have been found to increase attractiveness (Patel et al. in Plast Reconstruct Surg Glob Open 8(8), 2020) although this could have been a general effect of occlusion. To further explore this issue, female participants were presented with a series of male faces of low or high attractiveness that were occluded with a medical mask, cloth mask, book or not occluded and asked to rate them on attractiveness. The results show that faces were considered as most attractive when covered by medical masks and significantly more attractive when occluded with cloth masks than when not occluded. Contrary to expectation, base attractiveness did not interact with the type of occlusion, suggesting that this is not simply due to occlusion of negative features. The present findings are contrary to the sanitary-mask effect and explanations in terms of social desirability, and the association of medical masks with caregiving professions is explored

"Uninformed consent" in clinical trials with cancer patients: a qualitative analysis of patients' and support persons' communication experiences and needs

Objective Cancer patients are often overwhelmed when being informed about clinical trials. However, there is a lack of evidence-based strategies to improve physician-patient communication in this area. This study assessed the experiences and needs of cancer patients and their support persons (SPs) during the informed consent (IC) process prior to participation in clinical trials. Methods 17 semi-structured interviews with cancer patients and their SP were conducted and analysed using a framework analysis. Results Most respondents reported feeling well informed about the clinical trial. However, core aspects of the study were often not understood highlighting a dissonance between perceived and actual recall and understanding. Many participants trusted that the trial recommended was the best available care and only skimmed the consent form or did not read it at all. Conclusions This is the first German study to analyse both cancer patients’ and SPs’ perspectives on IC processes. Although many feel well informed, our results suggest a significant gap in recall and understanding of core components of clinical trials which hinders IC. Practice Implications Further interventional research is required to improve the consent processes prior to clinical trials in order to provide optimal, patient-centred care

Frequency analysis of air quality time series for traffic related pollutants

In the present work, annual time series of traffic related pollutants (CO and PM10) were considered for frequency analysis (Fourier series) with the aim to understand the underlying physical processes and the influence of emission sources on the variability of the air pollutant concentrations. Several urban traffic and suburban background air quality stations located in Porto metropolitan area (Portugal) were analysed. The results obtained for CO and PM10 reveal the important contributions of short-term fluctuations (12 h and 24 h periods). However, the spectrum signals at low frequencies are significantly different between these pollutants thus stressing that temporal variations of CO and PM10 are influenced by different processes. Cross-spectrum analysis of the air quality time series against wind measurements and traffic counts allowed us to identify the contribution of long-range transport over a period of about 21 days to the PM10 fluctuations. Also, a correlation of over 80% between the pollution levels in the vicinity of traffic sources and suburban background levels are found for these harmonic components in the PM10 spectrum, while correlations for CO is below a significant level. Thus, the spectrum and cross-spectrum analysis performed in this study reveal the distinct influence of local traffic emissions and long-range transport to CO and PM10 fluctuations in the polluted urban area. The methodology shows to be a powerful tool for the analysis of the causes of air pollution

“Uninformed consent” in clinical trials with cancer patients: A qualitative analysis of patients’ and support persons’ communication experiences and needs

Objective Cancer patients are often overwhelmed when being informed about clinical trials. However, there is a lack of evidence-based strategies to improve physician-patient communication in this area. This study assessed the experiences and needs of cancer patients and their support persons (SPs) during the informed consent (IC) process prior to participation in clinical trials. Methods 17 semi-structured interviews with cancer patients and their SP were conducted and analysed using a framework analysis. Results Most respondents reported feeling well informed about the clinical trial. However, core aspects of the study were often not understood highlighting a dissonance between perceived and actual recall and understanding. Many participants trusted that the trial recommended was the best available care and only skimmed the consent form or did not read it at all. Conclusions This is the first German study to analyse both cancer patients’ and SPs’ perspectives on IC processes. Although many feel well informed, our results suggest a significant gap in recall and understanding of core components of clinical trials which hinders IC. Practice implications Further interventional research is required to improve the consent processes prior to clinical trials in order to provide optimal, patient-centred care

The role of sustainable purpose in today’s entrepreneurship : An empirical study

Purpose of the study. This thesis deals with the role of sustainable purpose in the formation of sustainable start-ups. It aims to determine if sustainable purpose was a reason to start a company, what caused the emergence of sustainable purpose within the entrepreneurs, and how this purpose can benefit the enterprise. The study design. The study first defines sustainable purpose by juxtaposing selected concepts, models, and frameworks that aim to harmonize doing business and positive contribution to the planet and people. Based on that, we conducted semi-structured interviews with founders of sustainable start-ups (N=9). These were analysed via a qualitative content analysis and cross evaluation. Major findings. The findings were divided into six major categories. Interviewees contributed knowledge and opinion about their founding motivations, their source of sustainable purpose, how sustainable purpose benefits their business, what their view on sustainability is, what they criticise about today’s business world, and what the characteristics of themselves and their business are. Summary of interpretation. The collected data suggests that sustainable purpose was a reason for entrepreneurs to start a business that positively impacts society and the planet. Impactful life events influenced entrepreneurs to think critically about doing business and contributing to a better world. These impactful life events can be identified as the source of sustainable purpose within entrepreneurs. Lastly, entrepreneurs did identify benefits of having a sustainable purpose

Mengabdi Agama, Nusa dan Bangsa

255 hal : 21 c

Signature of superconductivity in UBe13 as seen by neutron scattering Superconducting and magnetic energy scales

We here present inelastic neutron scattering results on the strongly correlated cubic superconductor UBe13 Tc 0.85 K obtained on a large single crystal by high resolution cold neutron three axis spectroscopy. We observed spin dynamics at a unique momentum space position building up below T amp; 8764;50 K and changing significantly on entering the superconducting state. The observed short range longitudinal character of the correlations can be understood as a result of competing magnetic interactions. The energy dependence in the normal state reflects the energy scales determined from specific heat, whereas the low temperature data suggest the opening of a superconducting gap. Our findings are consistent with a superconducting order parameter exhibiting s or d wave symmetry and placing pure UBe13 in the strong coupling regim

Arterioventricular interaction after coarctation repair

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