Political attitudes of the young electorate in the 2016 presidential election and parental influences on political identity formation.

We examined the political attitudes of college-aged students and the political identities of their parents to better understand the role that both parent-child political socialization and the liberal university environment play in political identity formation. We compared students explicit and implicit political attitudes and examined the relationships of these attitudes to the political identities of their parents. We also explored the uniqueness of two candidates, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump in the 2016 Presidential election. Our results supported the existing notion of parental influences on political identity formation and revealed that the university environment may not play as large of a role in shifting first and second year university students away from political identities established at home. However, data revealed greater support for the non-traditional candidate in our left-leaning participants, suggesting that factors other than parent influence could be at play in forming the political identities of the youth

Environmental and climate dynamics in northeastern Siberia according to diatom oxygen isotopes

The sedimentary sequence from Lake Emanda (65°17′N; 135°45′E; 675 m a.s.l), one large freshwater body (33.1 km2) in the continuous permafrost of the Verkhoyansk Mountains, has been investigated within the German-Russian ‘Paleolimnological Transect’ (PLOT) project. It provided important insight into the environmental and climate dynamics in northeastern Siberia

Lacustrine oxygen isotope records from biogenic silica (δ18OBSi) – a global compilation and review

Isotope records are crucial for proxy-model comparison in paleoclimatology because of their advantage of being directly comparable with isotope-enabled paleoclimate model outputs. Oxygen isotopes (δ18O) are commonly measured on carbonates (i.e. ostracods, authigenic carbonates) and biogenic silica (mainly diatoms). Oxygen isotopes in lacustrine carbonates (δ18OCaCO3) have been studied extensively for several decades, yet they are subject to complex species-dependent fractionation processes and not available globally. Lacustrine oxygen isotope records from biogenic silica (δ18OBSi), on the other hand, likely do not display species-dependent fractionation effects (or only very minor) and offer insight even in data-sparse regions devoid of carbonates, such as the Arctic. To date, more than 70 lacustrine δ18OBSi records have been published. These case studies have been complemented with additional efforts addressing climatic and hydrological backgrounds, laboratory techniques and possible species-dependent fractionation as well as deposition and dissolution effects. Here, we present the first comprehensive review and global compilation of lacustrine δ18OBSi records, with explicit regard to their individual lake basin parameters. With this work, we aim at contributing to bridging the gap between modelling and isotope geochemistry approaches regarding terrestrial archives in paleoclimatology. Departing from hitherto prevalent case studies, we assess what we can learn from lacustrine δ18OBSi records globally, considering lake basin characteristics, spatial and temporal coverage as well as hydrological background information. This improves both the usability of δ18OBSi for proxy-model comparison and our understanding of the general constraints for interpreting lacustrine δ18OBSi records

Lacustrine diatom oxygen isotopes as palaeo precipitation proxy - Holocene environmental and snowmelt variations recorded at Lake Bolshoye Shchuchye, Polar Urals, Russia

The diatom oxygen isotope composition (δ18Odiatom) from lacustrine sediments helps tracing the hydrological and climate dynamics in individual lake catchments, and is generally linked to changes in temperature and δ18Olake. Lake Bolshoye Shchuchye (67°53′N; 66°19′ E; 186 m a.s.l) is the largest and deepest freshwater reservoir in the Polar Urals, Arctic Russia. The diatom oxygen isotope interpretation is supported by modern (isotope) hydrology, local bioindicators such as chironomids, isotope mass-balance modelling and a digital elevation model of the catchment. The Bolshoye Shchuchye δ18Odiatom record generally follows a decrease in summer insolation and the northern hemisphere (NH) temperature history. However, it displays exceptional, short-term variations exceeding 5‰, especially in Mid and Late Holocene. This centennial-scale variability occurs roughly contemporaneously with and similar in frequency to Holocene NH glacier advances. However, larger Holocene glacier advances in the Lake Bolshoye Shchuchye catchment are unknown and have not left any significant imprint on the lake sediment record. As Lake Bolshoye Shchuchye is deep and voluminous, about 30–50% of its volume needs to be exchanged with isotopically different water within decades to account for these shifts in the δ18Odiatom record. A plausible source of water with light isotope composition inflow is snow, known to be transported in surplus by snow redistribution from the windward to the leeward side of the Polar Urals. Here, we propose snow melt variability and associated influx changes being the dominant mechanism responsible for the observed short-term changes in the δ18Odiatom record. This is the first time such drastic, centennial-scale hydrological changes in a catchment have been identified in Holocene lacustrine diatom oxygen isotopes, which, for Lake Bolshoye Shchuchye, are interpreted as proxy for palaeo precipitation and, on millennial timescales, for summer temperatures

On astrophysical solution to ultra high energy cosmic rays

We argue that an astrophysical solution to UHECR problem is viable. The pectral features of extragalactic protons interacting with CMB are calculated in model-independent way. Using the power-law generation spectrum $\propto E^{-\gamma_g}$ as the only assumption, we analyze four features of the proton spectrum: the GZK cutoff, dip, bump and the second dip. We found the dip, induced by electron-positron production on CMB, as the most robust feature, existing in energy range $1\times 10^{18} - 4\times 10^{19}$ eV. Its shape is stable relative to various phenomena included in calculations. The dip is well confirmed by observations of AGASA, HiRes, Fly's Eye and Yakutsk detectors. The best fit is reached at $\gamma_g =2.7$, with the allowed range 2.55 - 2.75. The dip is used for energy calibration of the detectors. After the energy calibration the fluxes and spectra of all three detectors agree perfectly, with discrepancy between AGASA and HiRes at $E> 1\times 10^{20}$ eV being not statistically significant. The agreement of the dip with observations should be considered as confirmation of UHE proton interaction with CMB. The dip has two flattenings. The high energy flattening at $E \approx 1\times 10^{19}$ eV automatically explains ankle. The low-energy flattening at $E \approx 1\times 10^{18}$ eV provides the transition to galactic cosmic rays. This transition is studied quantitatively. The UHECR sources, AGN and GRBs, are studied in a model-dependent way, and acceleration is discussed. Based on the agreement of the dip with existing data, we make the robust prediction for the spectrum at $1\times 10^{18} - 1\times 10^{20}$ eV to be measured in the nearest future by Auger detector.Comment: Revised version as published in Phys.Rev. D47 (2006) 043005 with a small additio

Iron‐Catalyzed Olefin Metathesis: Recent Theoretical and Experimental Advances

Abstract The “metathesis reaction” is a straightforward and often metal‐catalyzed chemical reaction that transforms two hydrocarbon molecules to two new hydrocarbons by exchange of molecular fragments. Alkane, alkene and alkyne metathesis have become an important tool in synthetic chemistry and have provided access to complex organic structures. Since the discovery of industrial olefin metathesis in the 1960s, many modifications have been reported; thus, increasing scope and improving reaction selectivity. Olefin metathesis catalysts based on high‐valent group six elements or Ru(IV) have been developed and improved through ligand modifications. In addition, significant effort was invested to realize olefin metathesis with a non‐toxic, bio‐compatible and one of the most abundant elements in the earth′s crust; namely, iron. First evidences suggest that low‐valent Fe(II) complexes are active in olefin metathesis. Although the latter has not been unambiguously established, this review summarizes the key advances in the field and aims to guide through the challenges

Dithionite and sulfinate complexes from the reaction of SO2 with decamethylsamarocene

The reaction of [(η5-C5Me5)2Sm(THF)2] with SO2 resulted in four different products. The dimeric samarium complex [{(η5-C5Me5)2Sm(C5Me5SO2)}2] (1) crystallized from the reaction mixture first. The dithionite–sulfinate complex [{(η5-C5Me5)2Sm(S2O4)}2{(η5-C5Me5)Sm(C5Me5SO2)}2] (2), was obtained as the second major product after workup of the filtrate. Additionally, the dithionite complex [{(η5-C5Me5)2Sm}2(S2O4)] (3) and the sulfinate complex [{(η5-C5Me5)Sm}2(C5Me5SO2)4] (4) were isolated as minor products. All compounds were characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction. As major reaction pathways, the reductive coupling of two SO2 molecules to form the dithionite anion S2O42− and the nucleophilic attack of one samarocene C5Me5 ligand on the sulfur atom of SO2 were observed

People with schizophrenia and depression have a low omega-3 index

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is higher in people with mental illness and is associated with a 30 year higher mortality rate in this population. Erythrocyte docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) plus eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) (omega-3 index)≤4% is a marker for increased mortality risk from CVD while \u3e8% is protective. Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids are also important for brain function and may ameliorate symptoms of mental illness. We investigated the erythrocyte omega-3 index in people with mental illness. One hundred and thirty adults aged 18-65 years (32.6% male) with schizophrenia (n=14) and depression (n=116) provided blood samples and completed physiological assessments and questionnaires. Both populations had risk factors for metabolic syndrome and CVD. The average omega-3 index was 3.95% (SD=1.06), compared to an estimated 5% in the Australian population. These data indicate an unfavourable omega-3 profile in people with mental illness that could contribute to higher CVD risk