Beauvoir on how we can love authentically

Reading Beauvoir’s descriptions of love in The Second Sex (TSS), one would be forgiven for being pessimistic about the possibility of authentic love. What I will do in this paper is, using Beauvoir’s diagnosis of inauthentic love under patriarchy, construct a set of conditions that an authentic love would be guided by and strive to manifest. I will then defend the importance of Beauvoir’s views by demonstrating its explanatory power. Firstly, I will show how Beauvoir’s account can deal with two common contemporary problems that are often raised as objections against accounts of love that include a moral element. Then, in the third section, I will also show the value of this account by demonstrating its ability to explain why different kinds of love feel differently. The kind I will focus on will be unrequited love; this will be in dialogue with vision-based accounts to highlight Beauvoir’s unique contribution

Response of a peatland ecosystem to stratospheric ozone reduction in Tierra del Fuego

Tierra del Fuego, at the southernmost tip of South America, is influenced by ozone depletion. The landscape of southern and western Tierra de! Fuego is dominated by peatlands; they are important locally and in the context of global climate change, because they store large quantities of organic carbon. To determine the influence of solar ultraviolet-B radiation (UV-B) on a Tierra de! Fuego peatland, we selectively filtered solar UV-Bin ten pairs of plots. Polyfluorine filters were used to create the Near-Ambient-UV-B Treatment ( 90% solar UV-B), and polyester filters to create the Reduced-UV-B Treatment ( 17% solar UV-B). These filters were first installed in October 1996, and were maintained, September-March, for six years. Following previous plant growth measurements and samples of selected microorganisms under the two UV-B treatments (1996-1999), this dissertation is an account of the more detailed measurements made during the second three-year period of treatments (1999-2001 ). Seasonal sampling of the plant community, microfungi, microfauna, and biogeochemistry of the water and nutrients held by the Sphagnum capitulum was introduced, in an attempt to better understand ecosystem function. Solar UV-B reduced Sphagnum height growth, but this was compensated by more compressed and densely packed Sphagnum capitula. Emergent vascular plants, Nothofagus, Empetrum, and Tetroncium, were more affected than Sphagnum by nearambient UV-B. Solar UV-B altered the Sphagnum-capitulum microenvironment, resulting in: more dissolved organic carbon and phosphorous, higher electrical conductivity, and greater acidity under near-ambient UV-B. Additionally, the populations of testate amoebae and some species of fungi were consistently increased; however, microfungal diversity and rotifer, nematode, and mite populations decreased under near-ambient UV-B. Generally, Sphagnum minimizes the leaching of nutrients by effectively holding water at the capitulum. Solar UV-B altered Sphagnum-capitulum morphology, increased the volume of water held, and made this water more acidic and richer in nutrients. Based on these results, if current trends in ozone depletion were to persist over several decades, a reduction in vascular plant growth, and changes in the trophic relationships of the microorganismal community of the Sphagnum capitulum, would be predicted. These responses have the potential to affect peatland carbon storage and nutrient cycling in Tierra del Fuego

The Involvement of Sigma Receptor Modulation in the Antidepressant Effects of Ketamine and the Neurotoxic Actions of Methamphetamine

Depression is estimated to affect at least 30% of the world\u27s population at some point during their lives. Currently marketed antidepressants require a period of at least 2 to 3 weeks to display any antidepressant effects in clinical populations and rates of clinical resistance to the antidepressant effects of these drugs are high. Ketamine is an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonist and dissociative anesthetic that has been shown to display rapid acting and prolonged antidepressant activity in smallscale human clinical trials. Ketamine also binds to sigma receptors, which are believed to be protein targets for a potential new class of antidepressant medications. The purpose of this study was to determine the involvement of sigma receptors in the antidepressant-like actions of ketamine. Competition binding assays were performed to assess the affinity of ketamine for sigma-1 and sigma-2 receptors. The antidepressant-like effects of ketamine were assessed in vitro using a neurite outgrowth model and PC12 cells, and in vivo using the forced swim test. The sigma receptor antagonists, 4- methoxy-3-(2-phenylethoxy)-N,N-dipropylbenzeneethanamine hydrochloride (NE-100) and N-[2-(3,4- dichlorophenyl)ethyl]-N-methyl-2-(dimethylamino)ethylamine dihydrobromide (BD1047), were evaluated in conjunction with ketamine in these assays to determine the involvement of sigma receptors in the antidepressant-like effects of ketamine. Ketamine bound to both sigma-1 and sigma-2 receptors with iM affinities. Additionally, ketamine potentiated nerve growth factor (NGF)-induced neurite outgrowth in PC12 cells and this effect was attenuated in the presence of NE-100. Ketamine also displayed antidepressant-like effects in the forced swim test; however, these effects were not attenuated by pretreatment with NE-100 or BD1047. Taken together, these data suggest that sigma receptor-mediated neuronal remodeling may contribute to the antidepressant effects of ketamine

Blue light and UV radiation accelerate spring and autumn leaf phenology in temperate tree species

Non peer reviewe

The roles of species' relatedness and climate of origin in determining optical leaf traits over a large set of taxa growing at high elevation and high latitude

Climate change is driving many mountain plant species to higher elevations and northern plant species to higher latitudes. However, various biotic or abiotic constraints may restrict any range shift, and one relevant factor for migration to higher elevations could be species' ability to tolerate high UV-doses. Flavonoids are engaged in photoprotection, but also serve multiple ecological roles. We compared plant optical leaf trait responses of a large set of taxa growing in two botanical gardens (French Alps and southern Finland), considering potential constraints imposed by the relatedness of taxa and the legacy of climatic conditions at plants' original collection sites. The segregation of optically measured leaf traits along the phylogeny was studied using a published mega-tree GBOTB.extended.tre for vascular plants as a backbone. For a subset of taxa, we investigated the relationship between climatic conditions (namely solar radiation, temperature and precipitation at a coarse scale) at the plants' original collection site and current trait values. Upon testing the phylogenetic signal (Pagel's lambda), we found a significant difference but intermediate lambda values overall for flavonol or flavone index (I-flav) and anthocyanin index (I-ant), indicating that phylogenetic relatedness alone failed to explain the changes in trait values under a Brownian motion model of trait evolution. The local analysis (local indicator of phylogenetic association) indicated mostly positive autocorrelations for I-flav i.e. similarities in optically measured leaf traits, often among species from the same genus. We found significant relationships between climatic variables and leaf chlorophyll index (I-chl), but not I-flav, particularly for annual solar radiation. Changes in plants' I-flav across microhabitats differing in UV irradiance and predominately high F-v/F-m indicated that most plants studied had sufficient flexibility in photoprotection, conferred by I-flav, to acclimate to contemporary UV irradiances in their environment. While not explaining the mechanisms behind observed trait values, our findings do suggest that some high-elevation taxa display similar leaf flavonoid accumulation responses. These may be phylogenetically constrained and hence moderate plants' capacity to adjust to new combinations of environmental conditions resulting from climate change.Peer reviewe

The Relationship Between Crowdsourcing and Consumer Power

This research investigates consumer power in the context of crowdsourcing. In a series of studies, this research explores differences in consumer perceptions of power based on whether they participate in idea crowdsourcing (in which consumers submit ideas for new offerings) or in crowd voting (in which consumers are invited to vote for various options for new offerings). This research also manipulates whether the crowdsourced ideas or votes were accepted or rejected by the firm, and provides an investigation of consumer perceptions of power. Implications for marketers in terms of optimizing the management of a crowdsourcing initiative are discussed

Transmission of ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared solar radiation to plants within a seasonal snow pack

Sunlight is strongly attenuated by the snowpack, causing irradiance to decrease exponentially with depth. The strength of attenuation is wavelength dependent across the spectrum. Changes in received irradiance and its spectral composition are used by plants as cues for the timing of phenology, and it is known that at shallow depths in the snowpack there is sufficient light for plants to photosynthesize if conditions are otherwise favourable. The spectral composition of solar radiation under snow in the visible region was already determined in the 1970s using scanning spectroradiometers, but spectral attenuation within the ultraviolet region (UV-B 280-315 nm, UV-A 315-400 nm) has not been well characterised because it is difficult to measure. We measured vertical transects of spectral irradiance (290-900 nm) transmitted through a settled seasonal snowpack. The peak transmission of radiation was in the UV-A region in the upper centimetres of the snowpack and transmittance generally declined at longer wavelengths. Given the known action spectra of plant photoreceptors, these results illustrate the possibility that changing UV-A:visible and red:far-red radiation ratios under the snowpack may serve as spectral cues for plants; potentially priming plants for the less stable environment they experience following snowmelt. Array spectrometers open opportunities for rapid and continuous measurement of irradiance in challenging environments, e.g. beneath the snowpack, and capturing changing light conditions for plants. Future research is needed to couple the spectral transmittance of snowpacks differing in their longevity and crystal structure with measurements of the perception and response to radiation by plants under snow.Peer reviewe