The effects of materialism and ego depletion on intertemporal choice: An event-related potential study

ObjectiveThe study aims to promote human beings to make scientific and reasonable decisions for the long-term and beautiful future.MethodsWe designed two experiments to explore the influence of materialism and ego depletion from the perspective of behavioral decision-making and neural mechanism.ResultsIn Experiment 1, there was asymmetry in intertemporal choice between gain and loss situations. In the gain situation, high materialism were more likely to choose the later and larger option (LL). However, in a loss situation, we found a reverse sign effect, and the proportion of subjects choosing sooner and smaller options (SS) increased. In Experiment 2, in the gain situation, after adding the low ego depletion task, there was a marginal significant difference between high and low materialism in the percentage of choosing LL options, F(1, 40) = 3.37, P = 0.07, η2 = 0.08; After adding the high ego depletion task, the percentage of choosing LL options was no difference, F(1, 40) = 1.42, P > 0.05. In the loss situation, whether in the high ego depletion task [F(1, 40) = 2.25, P > 0.05) or in the low ego depletion task [F(1, 40) = 1.44, P > 0.05), there was no difference between high and low materialism in the percentage of choosing LL options, and they both tended to choose SS options. The EEG study showed that in high materialism, there was a significant difference between the high and low ego depletion conditions, and the N1 amplitude induced under the low ego depletion condition was larger than that under the high ego depletion condition. However, there was no significant difference in N1 amplitude between the high and low ego depletion conditions in the low materialism. The amplitude of P2 evoked in the loss situation was larger than that in the gain situation.ConclusionIn conclusion, Materialism dominated people’s intertemporal choices, and ego depletion affected the intertemporal choice to a certain extent by influencing the subjects’ thinking activities. The COVID-19 epidemic maybe affected intertemporal choice indirectly by acting on materialistic values and subjects’ emotions

Displacement mechanism of polymeric surfactant in chemical cold flooding for heavy oil based on microscopic visualization experiments

 In order to study the microscopic oil displacement mechanism of polymeric surfactant in chemical cold flooding for heavy oil, the indoor microscopic visualization displacement experiments were carried out. The flooding experiment of heavy oil was conducted by using water, osmotic modified oil displacing agent (a kind of polymeric surfactant) and water-in-oil emulsion (obtained by mixing polymeric surfactant and heavy oil) as displacing phases to study the mechanism of polymeric surfactant to enhance oil recovery in heavy oil reservoir. The experimental results show that the polymeric surfactant can increase the viscosity of the water phase, reduce the water-oil mobility ratio, expand the swept area, and there is no obvious fingering phenomenon which occurs during water flooding. The polymeric surfactant has the surfactant characteristics which can reduce the interfacial tension between oil and water to promote the formation of oil droplets with smaller droplet diameter. And the interfacial film composed of polymeric surfactant molecules will be formed on the surface of oil droplets to prevent the coalescence of oil droplets and improve the flow ability of oil phase. The water-in-oil emulsion can be miscible with the oil in heavy oil displacement process, and thus sweeps the areas such as the dead pores which cannot be swept by water and polymeric surfactant flooding, which increases the sweep efficiency to a certain extent.Cited as: Xu, F., Chen, Q., Ma, M., Wang, Y., Yu, F., Li, J. Displacement mechanism of polymeric surfactant in chemical cold flooding for heavy oil based on microscopic visualization experiments. Advances in Geo-Energy Research, 2020, 4(1): 77-85, doi: 10.26804/ager.2020.01.0

No major association between TGFBR1*6A and prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men and one of the leading causes of cancer deaths. There is strong genetic evidence indicating that a large proportion of prostate cancers are caused by heritable factors but the search for prostate cancer susceptibility genes has thus far remained elusive. TGFBR1*6A, a common hypomorphic variant of the type I Transforming Growth Factor Beta receptor, is emerging as a tumor susceptibility allele that predisposes to the development of breast, colon and ovarian cancer. The association with prostate cancer has not yet been explored. A total of 907 cases and controls from New York City were genotyped to test the hypothesis that TGFBR1*6A may contribute to the development of prostate cancer. TGFBR1*6A allelic frequency among cases (0.086) was slightly higher than among controls (0.080) but the differences in TGFBR1*6A genotype distribution between cases and controls did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.67). Our data suggest that TGFBR1*6A does not contribute to the development of prostate cancer

Litter size influences rumen microbiota and fermentation efficiency, thus determining host early growth in goats

IntroductionMultiple litters are accompanied by low birth weight, low survival rates, and growth rates in goats during early life. Regulating rumen microbiota structure can indirectly or directly affect host metabolism and animal growth. However, the relationship between high litter size and rumen microbiome, rumen fermentation, and growth performance in goat kids is unclear.MethodsIn the present study, thirty 6-month-old, female goats were investigated, of which 10 goats were randomly chosen from single, twin and triplet goats respectively, and their birth weight was recorded. From birth, all goats were subjected to the same feed and management practices. Individual weaning and youth body weight were measured, and the rumen fluid samples were collected to characterize the bacterial communities and to determine the ruminal volatile fatty acids (VFA), free amino acids (AA), and free fatty acids (FA) concentration of those young goats.Results and DiscussionCompared with the single and twin goats, triplet goats have lower weaning and youth body weight and average daily gain (ADG). Ruminal propionate, butyrate, and total VFA were decreased in triplet goats. Meanwhile, ruminal AA, such as branched chain amino acids (BCAA), essential amino acids (EAA), unsaturated fatty acids (UFA), and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) were decreased, while saturated fatty acids (SFA) and odd and branched chain fatty acids (OBCFA) were increased in triplet goats. Our results also revealed that litter size significantly affected the rumen bacterial communities, and triplet goats had a lower the Firmicutes: Bacteroidota ratio, the abundance of Firmicutes phylum, Rikenellaceae family, and Rikenellaceae RC9 gut group, and had a higher proportion of Prevotellaceae family, and several genera of Prevotellaceae, such as Prevotella, and unclassified f Prevotellaceae. Furthermore, Spearman’s correlation network analysis showed that the changes in the rumen bacteria were associated with changes in rumen metabolites. In conclusion, this study revealed that high litter size could bring disturbances to the microbial communities and decrease the rumen fermentation efficiency and growth performance, which can be utilized to better understand variation in microbial ecology that will improve growth performance in triplet goats

Extinction Effect of Foliar Dust Retention on Urban Vegetation as Estimated by Atmospheric PM10 Concentration in Shenzhen, China

Foliar dust retention is a crucial source of uncertainty when monitoring the vegetation index using satellite remote sensing. As ground sampling conditions are limited by vegetation dust retention, separating the extinction effect of foliar dust retention from the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) poses a significant challenge. In this study, we conducted a correlation test between the relative change in NDVI (δNDVI, an indicator of extinction effect) retrieved by the Gaofen-4 satellite and the atmospheric PM10 concentration in different meteorological periods (before, during, and after rainfall) across 14 stations in Shenzhen City, China. The results showed a significant correlation between δNDVI and atmospheric PM10 concentration during the before-rainfall period and weaker correlations for the other periods (R = 0.680, p n = 63 when excluding the during- and after-rainfall data). The correlation was more significant for the stations with low NDVI values, and a coastal station had a distinct regression slope of δNDVI versus PM10 from the other stations, indicating that the extinction effect of foliar dust retention in high-NDVI and coastal areas may not be well predicted by the general δNDVI–PM10 relationship. This provides a new quantitative basis for estimating the extinction effect of foliar dust retention using PM10 data for future improvement of the accuracy of vegetation monitoring by remote sensing

Extinction Effect of Foliar Dust Retention on Urban Vegetation as Estimated by Atmospheric PM10 Concentration in Shenzhen, China

Foliar dust retention is a crucial source of uncertainty when monitoring the vegetation index using satellite remote sensing. As ground sampling conditions are limited by vegetation dust retention, separating the extinction effect of foliar dust retention from the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) poses a significant challenge. In this study, we conducted a correlation test between the relative change in NDVI (δNDVI, an indicator of extinction effect) retrieved by the Gaofen-4 satellite and the atmospheric PM10 concentration in different meteorological periods (before, during, and after rainfall) across 14 stations in Shenzhen City, China. The results showed a significant correlation between δNDVI and atmospheric PM10 concentration during the before-rainfall period and weaker correlations for the other periods (R = 0.680, p < 0.001, n = 63 when excluding the during- and after-rainfall data). The correlation was more significant for the stations with low NDVI values, and a coastal station had a distinct regression slope of δNDVI versus PM10 from the other stations, indicating that the extinction effect of foliar dust retention in high-NDVI and coastal areas may not be well predicted by the general δNDVI–PM10 relationship. This provides a new quantitative basis for estimating the extinction effect of foliar dust retention using PM10 data for future improvement of the accuracy of vegetation monitoring by remote sensing

Resveratrol against Cardiac Fibrosis: Research Progress in Experimental Animal Models

Cardiac fibrosis is a heterogeneous disease, which is characterized by abundant proliferation of interstitial collagen, disordered arrangement, collagen network reconstruction, increased cardiac stiffness, and decreased systolic and diastolic functions, consequently developing into cardiac insufficiency. With several factors participating in and regulating the occurrence and development of cardiac fibrosis, a complex molecular mechanism underlies the disease. Moreover, cardiac fibrosis is closely related to hypertension, myocardial infarction, viral myocarditis, atherosclerosis, and diabetes, which can lead to serious complications such as heart failure, arrhythmia, and sudden cardiac death, thus seriously threatening human life and health. Resveratrol, with the chemical name 3,5,4′-trihydroxy-trans-stilbene, is a polyphenol abundantly present in grapes and red wine. It is known to prevent the occurrence and development of cardiovascular diseases. In addition, it may resist cardiac fibrosis through a variety of growth factors, cytokines, and several cell signaling pathways, thus exerting a protective effect on the heart

The complete mitochondrial genome of Semblis atrata (Trichoptera: Phryganeidae)

Semblis atrata is one of three Semblis species distributed in clean brooks and streams in northern Eurasia. Genomic DNA of an S. atrata sample was extracted and sequenced for assembly and annotation of its complete mitogenome. The complete mitochondrial genome of S. atrata was 14,909 bp in length and consisted of 13 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNA genes, and 22 tRNA genes. The S. atrata COX1 gene features a CGA start codon, and COX1, COX2, ND1, and ND5 exhibit incomplete stop codons that are presumed to be completed by the addition of 3’ A residues to the mRNA. The nucleotide composition was highly AT biased, accounting for 77.71% of the whole mitogenome. Phylogenetic analysis placed Semblis as sister to Eubasilissa. The complete mitochondrial genome will be helpful for further studies on the population genetics of this species and phylogenetic analyses of Trichoptera

Automatic measurement of three-phase contact angles in pore throats based on digital images

With the help of digital image processing technology, an automatic measurement method for the three-phase contact angles in the pore throats of the microfluidic model was established using the microfluidic water flooding experiment videos as the data source. The results of the new method were verified through comparing with the manual measurement data. On this basis, the dynamic changes of the three-phase contact angles under flow conditions were clarified by the contact angles probability density curve and mean value change curve. The results show that, for water-wetting rocks, the mean value of the contact angles is acute angle during the early stage of the water flooding process, and it increases with the displacement time and becomes obtuse angle in the middle-late stage of displacement as the dominant force of oil phase gradually changes from viscous force to capillary force. The droplet flow in the remaining oil occurs in the central part of the pore throats, without three-phase contact angle. The contact angles for the porous flow and the columnar flow change slightly during the displacement and present as obtuse angles in view of mean values, which makes the remaining oil poorly movable and thus hard to be recovered. The mean value of the contact angle for the cluster flow tends to increase in the flooding process, which makes the remaining oil more difficult to be recovered. The contact angles for the membrane flow are mainly obtuse angles and reach the highest mean value in the late stage of displacement, which makes the remaining oil most difficult to be recovered. After displacement, the remaining oils under different flow regimes are just subjected to capillary force, with obtuse contact angles, and the wettability of the pore throat walls in the microfluidic model tends to be oil-wet under the action of crude oil