103 research outputs found
Right-Wing Politicians Prefer the Emotional Left
Physiological research suggests that social attitudes, such as political beliefs, may be partly hard-wired in the brain. Conservatives have heightened sensitivity for detecting emotional faces and use emotion more effectively when campaigning. As the left face displays emotion more prominently, we examined 1538 official photographs of conservative and liberal politicians from Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States for an asymmetry in posing. Across nations, conservatives were more likely than liberals to display the left cheek. In contrast, liberals were more likely to face forward than were conservatives. Emotion is important in political campaigning and as portraits influence voting decisions, conservative politicians may intuitively display the left face to convey emotion to voters
Magnetism, FeS colloids, and Origins of Life
A number of features of living systems: reversible interactions and weak
bonds underlying motor-dynamics; gel-sol transitions; cellular connected
fractal organization; asymmetry in interactions and organization; quantum
coherent phenomena; to name some, can have a natural accounting via
interactions, which we therefore seek to incorporate by expanding the horizons
of `chemistry-only' approaches to the origins of life. It is suggested that the
magnetic 'face' of the minerals from the inorganic world, recognized to have
played a pivotal role in initiating Life, may throw light on some of these
issues. A magnetic environment in the form of rocks in the Hadean Ocean could
have enabled the accretion and therefore an ordered confinement of
super-paramagnetic colloids within a structured phase. A moderate H-field can
help magnetic nano-particles to not only overcome thermal fluctuations but also
harness them. Such controlled dynamics brings in the possibility of accessing
quantum effects, which together with frustrations in magnetic ordering and
hysteresis (a natural mechanism for a primitive memory) could throw light on
the birth of biological information which, as Abel argues, requires a
combination of order and complexity. This scenario gains strength from
observations of scale-free framboidal forms of the greigite mineral, with a
magnetic basis of assembly. And greigite's metabolic potential plays a key role
in the mound scenario of Russell and coworkers-an expansion of which is
suggested for including magnetism.Comment: 42 pages, 5 figures, to be published in A.R. Memorial volume, Ed
Krishnaswami Alladi, Springer 201
Effect of Stocking Rate on Soil-Atmosphere CH4 Flux during Spring Freeze-Thaw Cycles in a Northern Desert Steppe, China
BACKGROUND: Methane (CH(4)) uptake by steppe soils is affected by a range of specific factors and is a complex process. Increased stocking rate promotes steppe degradation, with unclear consequences for gas exchanges. To assess the effects of grazing management on CH(4) uptake in desert steppes, we investigated soil-atmosphere CH(4) exchange during the winter-spring transition period. METHODOLOGY/MAIN FINDING: The experiment was conducted at twelve grazing plots denoting four treatments defined along a grazing gradient with three replications: non-grazing (0 sheep/ha, NG), light grazing (0.75 sheep/ha, LG), moderate grazing (1.50 sheep/ha, MG) and heavy grazing (2.25 sheep/ha, HG). Using an automatic cavity ring-down spectrophotometer, we measured CH(4) fluxes from March 1 to April 29 in 2010 and March 2 to April 27 in 2011. According to the status of soil freeze-thaw cycles (positive and negative soil temperatures occurred in alternation), the experiment was divided into periods I and II. Results indicate that mean CH(4) uptake in period I (7.51 Âľg CH(4)-C m(-2) h(-1)) was significantly lower than uptake in period II (83.07 Âľg CH(4)-C m(-2) h(-1)). Averaged over 2 years, CH(4) fluxes during the freeze-thaw period were -84.76 Âľg CH(4)-C m(-2) h(-1) (NG), -88.76 Âľg CH(4)-C m(-2) h(-1) (LG), -64.77 Âľg CH(4)-C m(-2) h(-1) (MG) and -28.80 Âľg CH(4)-C m(-2) h(-1) (HG). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: CH(4) uptake activity is affected by freeze-thaw cycles and stocking rates. CH(4) uptake is correlated with the moisture content and temperature of soil. MG and HG decreases CH(4) uptake while LG exerts a considerable positive impact on CH(4) uptake during spring freeze-thaw cycles in the northern desert steppe in China
Environmental and vegetation controls on the spatial variability of CH4 emission from wet-sedge and tussock tundra ecosystems in the Arctic
Aims
Despite multiple studies investigating the environmental controls on CH4 fluxes from arctic tundra ecosystems, the high spatial variability of CH4 emissions is not fully understood. This makes the upscaling of CH4 fluxes from plot to regional scale, particularly challenging. The goal of this study is to refine our knowledge of the spatial variability and controls on CH4 emission from tundra ecosystems.
Methods
CH4 fluxes were measured in four sites across a variety of wet-sedge and tussock tundra ecosystems in Alaska using chambers and a Los Gatos CO2 and CH4 gas analyser.
Results
All sites were found to be sources of CH4, with northern sites (in Barrow) showing similar CH4 emission rates to the southernmost site (ca. 300 km south, Ivotuk). Gross primary productivity (GPP), water level and soil temperature were the most important environmental controls on CH4 emission. Greater vascular plant cover was linked with higher CH4 emission, but this increased emission with increased vascular plant cover was much higher (86 %) in the drier sites, than the wettest sites (30 %), suggesting that transport and/or substrate availability were crucial limiting factors for CH4 emission in these tundra ecosystems.
Conclusions
Overall, this study provides an increased understanding of the fine scale spatial controls on CH4 flux, in particular the key role that plant cover and GPP play in enhancing CH4 emissions from tundra soils
Nematode parasites of Pescada Gó, Macrodon ancylodon Bloch and Schneider, 1801 (Osteichthyes, Sciaenidae), from Vila dos Pescadores, Bragança-PA, Brazil
Effect of CLA supplementation to low-protein diets on the growth performance, carcass characteristics, plasma urea nitrogen concentration, and fatty acid profile in the meat of pigs
Indications of suppression of excited ÎĽ states in Pb-Pb collisions at âsNN = 2.76TeV
This is the pre-print version of the Published Article which can be accessed from the link below.A comparison of the relative yields of ÎĽ resonances in the Îź+Îź- decay channel in Pb-Pb and pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of 2.76 TeV is performed with data collected with the CMS detector at the LHC. Using muons of transverse momentum above 4ââGeV/c and pseudorapidity below 2.4, the double ratio of the ÎĽ(2S) and ÎĽ(3S) excited states to the ÎĽ(1S) ground state in Pb-Pb and pp collisions, [ÎĽ(2S+3S)/ÎĽ(1S)]Pb-Pb/[ÎĽ(2S+3S)/ÎĽ(1S)]pp, is found to be 0.31-0.15+0.19(stat)Âą0.03(syst). The probability to obtain the measured value, or lower, if the true double ratio is unity, is calculated to be less than 1%
A randomized phase III study evaluating pegylated liposomal doxorubicin versus capecitabine as first-line therapy for metastatic breast cancer: results of the PELICAN study
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