Revolts Frequency during 1644–1911 in North China Plain and Its Relationship with Climate

Based on the records of social revolts in the Actual Annals of Qing Dynasty (a collection of official records), the revolts frequency (amount of counties where revolts happened every year) in North China Plain during the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) is reconstructed. By comparing revolts frequency with temperature and precipitation series, the interaction between climate and social responses is analyzed. It can be concluded that revolts broke out more frequently in colder periods and less frequently in warmer periods. There were much more revolts in drought decades than in wet decades, and the three fatal peasant uprisings in the Qing Dynasty were all ignited by severe droughts. The impacts of changes in temperature and precipitation on revolts should be estimated at different time scales. The correspondence emerged at neither decadal nor yearly scale until the turn between 18th and 19th centuries, the critical period when per capita cropland area decreased to a vulnerable level. Food crisis increased the vulnerability of local society, and changes in temperature and precipitation became an important trigger for revolts. Xiao, L., Y. Ye, and B. Wei, 2011: Revolts frequency during 1644–1911 in North China Plain and its relationship with climate. Adv. Clim. Change Res., 2 (4), doi:10.3724/SP.J.1248.2011.00218

Tax Liability Side Equivalence and Time Delayed Externalities

Past experimental research suggests that attitudes towards corrective taxes may depend on whether they are levied on the supply side or on the demand side of the market, violating the well-known Tax Liability-Side Equivalence Principle. Other experimental research has shown that consumers are more likely to oppose the introduction of corrective taxes if their benefits occur only in the future. This paper tests whether manipulating the statutory incidence of the tax interferes with the negative delay effect on public support for taxation. Data from our experiment show that the delay effect is robust regardless of the statutory incidence of the tax

Tax Liability Side Equivalence and Time Delayed Externalities

Past experimental research suggests that taxes levied on the buyer side are sometimes perceived as more acceptable than equivalent taxes levied on the seller side, violating the well-known Tax Liability-Side Equivalence Principle. This paper tests whether the statutory incidence of the tax mitigates the negative impact of delayed externality on public support for Pigouvian taxation. We show that the delay effect is robust regardless of the side the tax is levied on and regardless of whether buyers display a tax shifting bias

To listen or not to listen: An experimental study of optional communication

Resumen del trabajo presentado en el 6th International Meeting on Experimental and Behavioral Social Sciences (IMEBESS), celebrado en Utrech (Países Bajos), del 2 al 4 de mayo de 2019In a one-shot two-person lab experiment we study how behavior is affected by whether player 1 reads the message that player 2 has sent him/her. The issue of one’s communication being considered is relevant in organizations, bargaining and in public decision-making. Our work is motivated by our general interest in how free-form communication affects economic behavior. We have data from three treatments: Optional Communication (N=220), Fixed Communication (N=110) and No Communication (N=110), with the two latter treatments acting as controls. The experiment has two stages. In stage 1 of Optional Communication, player 1 has to choose between two payoff distributions affecting both players 1 and 2. Before player 1 makes the decision, player 2 can send a free-form message to player 1. Before player 1 makes the decision he can choose to read the message or not. In stage 2, player 2 can reward or punish player 1. We study behavior in two different tasks, which differ in the two payoff distributions that are possible. In task 1 (task 2) player 1 has to choose between the following payoff distributions: A ($24,$6) and B ($18,$12) (A ($24,$6) B ($4,$26)). In task 1 player’s 1 decision can be easily influenced by player 2’s message, whereas in task 2 it seems less likely that player 1 can be influenced. The experiments were run at the MONLEE lab at Monash using z-tree. The results show that player 2’s behavior is consistent with reacting differently to kind and unkind treatment and not by whether he/she is listened to or not. Player 1’s behavior is consistent with curiosity or respect and not with the exploitation of moral wiggle room or self-image concerns. We relate our results to several models of social preferences

Do we perceive failing to hear one's voice out as disrespectful?

Trabajo presentado en el EUI Interdisciplinary Experimental Working Group, organizado por el European University Institute, en Italia, el 12 de octubre de 2017In an experimental study of a modified dictator game, a recipient can send out a message to a proposer before the proposer makes the payoff division. The proposer can choose to ignore the message. Then in the next stage, before revealing proposers’ decisions, recipients can punish or reward proposers at their own costs conditional on which payoff division was made and whether messages were read. We show that 1) recipients tend to punish more harshly when they read recipients’ messages but still selected a more selfish payoff division; however, 2) recipients tend to reward more generously when they did not read recipients’ messages and nonetheless selected a more prosocial payoff division. Our findings suggest that people do not simply interpret failing to hear one’s voice out as disrespectful. It seems that respect is more about whether the ask is followed than whether the voice was heardN

2-[2-(2-Nitrophenyl)-4,5-diphenyl-1H-imidazol-1-yl]-3-phenylpropan-1-ol

In the title compound, C30H25N3O3, the central imidazole ring forms dihedral angles of 77.34 (6), 12.56 (6) and 87.04 (6)°, respectively, with the o-nitrobenzene ring and the phenyl substituents in the 5- and 4-positions. The molecular conformation is stabilized by weak intramolecular C—H...π interactions. In the crystal, molecules are linked by O—H...N hydrogen bonds, forming chains running parallel to the b-axis direction

Intravoxel Incoherent Motion (IVIM) Diffusion-Weighted Imaging (DWI) in Patients with Liver Dysfunction of Chronic Viral Hepatitis: Segmental Heterogeneity and Relationship with Child-Turcotte-Pugh Class at 3 Tesla

Background. Few studies focused on the region of interest- (ROI-) related heterogeneity of liver intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). The aim of the study was to evaluate the differences of liver IVIM parameters among liver segments in cirrhotic livers (chronic viral hepatitis). Material and Methods. This was a retrospective study of 82 consecutive patients with chronic liver disease who underwent MRI examination at the Jinan Infectious Diseases Hospital between January 2015 and December 2016. IVIM DWI (seven different b values) was performed on a Siemens 3.0-T MRI scanner. Pure molecular diffusion (D), pseudodiffusion (D∗), and perfusion fraction (f) in different liver segments were evaluated. Results. f, D, and D∗ were different among the liver segments (all p0.29, the AUC was 0.88 (95% CI: 0.81-0.96), with 86.8% sensitivity and 81.8% specificity for predicting CTP class A from CTP class B + C. Conclusion. Liver IVIM could be a promising method for classifying the severity of segmental liver dysfunction of chronic viral hepatitis as evaluated by the CTP class, which provides a noninvasive alternative for evaluating segmental liver dysfunction with accurate selection of ROIs. Potentially it can be used to monitor the progression of CLD and LC in the future

Bioactive procyanidins from dietary sources: the relationship between bioactivity and polymerization degree

Financiado para publicación en acceso aberto: Universidade de Vigo/CISUGBackground: Procyanidins, commonly found in plant natural sources, are polymerized forms of flavanols, which are a subclass of flavonoids. They have been reported to exhibit broad benefits to human health and used in the prevention of cancers, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, etc. Bioactivities of procyanidins depend on many factors including the structures of procyanidins. Differences in composition of the monomers and degree of polymerization (DP) contribute to the variation in procyanidins.Scope and approach: The basic structures and natural sources of procyanidins have been summarized in detail. Importantly, the structure-activity relationships of procyanidins, especially the relationship between degrees of polymerization and their antioxidant, anticancer, antidiabetic, anti-obesity, and cardioprotective effects as well as their potential mechanisms have been reviewed in detail. Additionally, current challenges in the studies of procyanidins have been discussed.Key findings and conclusions: Procyanidins are structurally diverse compounds and can be classified as monomeric, oligomeric, or polymeric variants depending on the DP, which plays a role in manifesting various effects that are associated with human health. The diversity and complexity of these chemical compounds and the difficulties encountered in the isolation of plant procyanidins continue to be major challenges. A better understanding of this information may promote the use of procyanidins in improving human health

Novel synthesis of steryl esteryl esters from β-sitosterol and <i>N</i>-phosphoryl amino acid under microwave irradiation

<p>Ten novel <i>N</i>-phosphoryl amino acids β-sitosterol esters were synthesized by coupling the <i>N</i>-phosphoryl amino acids with β-sitosterol under microwave irradiation, and their structures were elucidated by IR, NMR, and HR MS. Various reaction conditions including the catalyst, solvent, temperature and time were investigated. Under the optimal conditions, the reaction was finished in 20 min with 60–87% yields by employing DCC/DMAP as a catalyst system at room temperature.</p