466 research outputs found
Pylons ablaze: Examining the role of 5G COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs and support for violence
Amid increased acts of violence against telecommunication engineers and property, this preâregistered study (N = 601 Britons) investigated the association between beliefs in 5G COVIDâ19 conspiracy theories and the justification and willingness to use violence. Findings revealed that belief in 5G COVIDâ19 conspiracy theories was positively correlated with state anger, which in turn, was associated with a greater justification of realâlife and hypothetical violence in response to an alleged link between 5G mobile technology and COVIDâ19, alongside a greater intent to engage in similar behaviours in the future. Moreover, these associations were strongest for those highest in paranoia. Furthermore, we show that these patterns are not specific to 5G conspiratorial beliefs: General conspiracy mentality was positively associated with justification and willingness for general violence, an effect mediated by heightened state anger, especially for those most paranoid in the case of justification of violence. Such research provides novel evidence on why and when conspiracy beliefs may justify the use of violence
Certification of the Specific Micropore Volume and the Median Micropore Width of Two Microporous Reference Materials According to Draft-DIN 66135-4, BCR-704, BCR-705.
Abstract not availableJRC.D-Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (Geel
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The influence of soil communities on the temperature sensitivity of soil respiration
Soil respiration represents a major carbon flux between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere, and is expected to accelerate under climate warming. Despite its importance in climate change forecasts, however, our understanding of the effects of temperature on soil respiration (RS) is incomplete. Using a metabolic ecology approach we link soil biota metabolism, community composition and heterotrophic activity, to predict RS rates across five biomes. We find that accounting for the ecological mechanisms underpinning decomposition processes predicts climatological RS variations observed in an independent dataset (n = 312). The importance of community composition is evident because without it RS is substantially underestimated. With increasing temperature, we predict a latitudinal increase in RS temperature sensitivity, with Q10 values ranging between 2.33 ±0.01 in tropical forests to 2.72 ±0.03 in tundra. This global trend has been widely observed, but has not previously been linked to soil communities
Measurement of the Neutron Lifetime by Counting Trapped Protons in a Cold Neutron Beam
A measurement of the neutron lifetime performed by the absolute
counting of in-beam neutrons and their decay protons has been completed.
Protons confined in a quasi-Penning trap were accelerated onto a silicon
detector held at a high potential and counted with nearly unit efficiency. The
neutrons were counted by a device with an efficiency inversely proportional to
neutron velocity, which cancels the dwell time of the neutron beam in the trap.
The result is s, which
is the most precise measurement of the lifetime using an in-beam method. The
systematic uncertainty is dominated by neutron counting, in particular the mass
of the deposit and the Li({\it{n,t}}) cross section. The measurement
technique and apparatus, data analysis, and investigation of systematic
uncertainties are discussed in detail.Comment: 71 pages, 20 figures, 9 tables; submitted to PR
Dynamic subcanopy leaf traits drive resistance of net primary production across a disturbance severity gradient
Across the globe, the forest carbon sink is increasingly vulnerable to an expanding array of low- to moderate-severity disturbances. However, some forest ecosystems exhibit functional resistance (i.e., the capacity of ecosystems to continue functioning as usual) following disturbances such as extreme weather events and insect or fungal pathogen outbreaks. Unlike severe disturbances (e.g., stand-replacing wildfires), moderate severity disturbances do not always result in near-term declines in forest production because of the potential for compensatory growth, including enhanced subcanopy production. Community-wide shifts in subcanopy plant functional traits, prompted by disturbance-driven environmental change, may play a key mechanistic role in resisting declines in net primary production (NPP) up to thresholds of canopy loss. However, the temporal dynamics of these shifts, as well as the upper limits of disturbance for which subcanopy production can compensate, remain poorly characterized. In this study, we leverage a 4-year dataset from an experimental forest disturbance in northern Michigan to assess subcanopy community trait shifts as well as their utility in predicting ecosystem NPP resistance across a wide range of implemented disturbance severities. Through mechanical girdling of stems, we achieved a gradient of severity from 0% (i.e., control) to 45, 65, and 85% targeted gross canopy defoliation, replicated across four landscape ecosystems broadly representative of the Upper Great Lakes ecoregion. We found that three of four examined subcanopy community weighted mean (CWM) traits including leaf photosynthetic rate (p = 0.04), stomatal conductance (p = 0.07), and the red edge normalized difference vegetation index (p < 0.0001) shifted rapidly following disturbance but before widespread changes in subcanopy light environment triggered by canopy tree mortality. Surprisingly, stimulated subcanopy production fully compensated for upper canopy losses across our gradient of experimental severities, achieving complete resistance (i.e., no significant interannual differences from control) of whole ecosystem NPP even in the 85% disturbance treatment. Additionally, we identified a probable mechanistic switch from nutrient-driven to light-driven trait shifts as disturbance progressed. Our findings suggest that remotely sensed traits such as the red edge normalized difference vegetation index (reNDVI) could be particularly sensitive and robust predictors of production response to disturbance, even across compositionally diverse forests. The potential of leaf spectral indices to predict post-disturbance functional resistance is promising given the capabilities of airborne to satellite remote sensing. We conclude that dynamic functional trait shifts following disturbance can be used to predict production response across a wide range of disturbance severities
Topology by Design in Magnetic nano-Materials: Artificial Spin Ice
Artificial Spin Ices are two dimensional arrays of magnetic, interacting
nano-structures whose geometry can be chosen at will, and whose elementary
degrees of freedom can be characterized directly. They were introduced at first
to study frustration in a controllable setting, to mimic the behavior of spin
ice rare earth pyrochlores, but at more useful temperature and field ranges and
with direct characterization, and to provide practical implementation to
celebrated, exactly solvable models of statistical mechanics previously devised
to gain an understanding of degenerate ensembles with residual entropy. With
the evolution of nano--fabrication and of experimental protocols it is now
possible to characterize the material in real-time, real-space, and to realize
virtually any geometry, for direct control over the collective dynamics. This
has recently opened a path toward the deliberate design of novel, exotic
states, not found in natural materials, and often characterized by topological
properties. Without any pretense of exhaustiveness, we will provide an
introduction to the material, the early works, and then, by reporting on more
recent results, we will proceed to describe the new direction, which includes
the design of desired topological states and their implications to kinetics.Comment: 29 pages, 13 figures, 116 references, Book Chapte
Increasing trends of soil greenhouse gas fluxes in Japanese forests from 1980 to 2009
Forest soils are a source/sink of greenhouse gases, and have significant impacts on the budget of these terrestrial greenhouse gases. Here, we show climate-driven changes in soil GHG fluxes (CO2 emission, CH4 uptake, and N2O emission) in Japanese forests from 1980 to 2009, which were estimated using a regional soil GHG model that is data-oriented. Our study reveals that the soil GHG fluxes in Japanese forests have been increasing over the past 30 years at the rate of 0.31 Tg C yrâ2 for CO2 (0.23 % yrâ1, relative to the average from 1980 to 2009), 0.40 Gg C yrâ2 for CH4 (0.44 % yrâ1), and 0.0052 Gg N yrâ2 for N2O (0.27 % yrâ1). Our estimates also show large interannual variations in soil GHG fluxes. The increasing trends and large interannual variations in soil GHG fluxes seem to substantially affect Japan's Kyoto accounting and future GHG mitigation strategies
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