Predictors of enhancing human physical attractiveness: Data from 93 countries

People across the world and throughout history have gone to great lengths to enhance their physical appearance. Evolutionary psychologists and ethologists have largely attempted to explain this phenomenon via mating preferences and strategies. Here, we test one of the most popular evolutionary hypotheses for beauty-enhancing behaviors, drawn from mating market and parasite stress perspectives, in a large cross-cultural sample. We also test hypotheses drawn from other influential and non-mutually exclusive theoretical frameworks, from biosocial role theory to a cultural media perspective. Survey data from 93,158 human participants across 93 countries provide evidence that behaviors such as applying makeup or using other cosmetics, hair grooming, clothing style, caring for body hygiene, and exercising or following a specific diet for the specific purpose of improving ones physical attractiveness, are universal. Indeed, 99% of participants reported spending >10 min a day performing beauty-enhancing behaviors. The results largely support evolutionary hypotheses: more time was spent enhancing beauty by women (almost 4 h a day, on average) than by men (3.6 h a day), by the youngest participants (and contrary to predictions, also the oldest), by those with a relatively more severe history of infectious diseases, and by participants currently dating compared to those in established relationships. The strongest predictor of attractiveness-enhancing behaviors was social media usage. Other predictors, in order of effect size, included adhering to traditional gender roles, residing in countries with less gender equality, considering oneself as highly attractive or, conversely, highly unattractive, TV watching time, higher socioeconomic status, right-wing political beliefs, a lower level of education, and personal individualistic attitudes. This study provides novel insight into universal beauty-enhancing behaviors by unifying evolutionary theory with several other complementary perspectives

Lap Joint Dissimilar Welding of Aluminium AA6061 and Galvanized Iron Using TIG Welding

In this paper, aluminium AA6061-O and galvanized iron were lap-joined using tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding. The experiments were conducted using Si-rich filler metals ER4043 (Si 5 wt.%) and ER4047 (Si 12 wt.%). The mechanical properties and the microstructure of the samples were analysed using dye penetrant non-destructive tests (NDT), optical microscope observation and shear tests. All samples showed good quality joints, with Al-GI specimens showing better quality. Through optical microscope observation, the intermetallic compounds (IMC) of specimens using ER4043 fillers show a thin IMC layer ranging from 4 µm to 7 µm, compared to ER4047 samples which ranged between 20 µm and 40 µm. The shear tests show that the GI-Al group fractured at the IMC layer, while the Al-GI group fractured at the FZ-HAZ aluminium matrix. The highest shear strength value obtained was 89.82 MPa and 76.59 MPa for the Al-GI and GI-Al positions, respectively. It can be concluded that the GI-Al (galvanized iron on top and aluminium at the bottom) configuration with filler type ER4043 (Si 5 wt.%) has the optimum mechanical properties with a thin IMC layer and tensile strength of 76.59 MPa

Wells turbine for wave energy conversion for Malaysian ocean

Malaysia is surrounded by ocean, therefore Malaysia is a perfect candidate for harvesting ocean energy as electrical generator to distribute to main grid. Malaysian electrical generation still greatly influences by non-renewable energy and the electrical cost increase as the natural resource depleting. The only solution for this problem is to use renewable energy, due to geography of Malaysian land which surround by ocean; ocean energy is the best renewable energy for Malaysia. One method of converting this energy is to use Oscillating Water Column using wells turbine as converter from pneumatic energy to mechanical energy thus convert by generator to electrical energy. However, wave characteristic of Malaysian ocean make conversion of wave energy really difficult.Some parameter that affect the performance of wells turbine need to be changed, so the new geometry turbine can work effectively in Malaysian ocean of the poor ocean characteristics such as low wave high and low frequency. According to Malaysian wave data, the average wave height is from 0.5m to 1.5m with average wave frequency of 0.1 to 0.3Hz and wave period 3.34s to 10s