Affective focus increases the concordance between implicit and explicit attitudes

Two attitude dichotomies - implicit versus explicit and affect versus cognition - are presumed to be related. Following a manipulation of attitudinal focus (affective or cognitive), participants completed two implicit measures (Implicit Association Test and the Sorting Paired Features task) and three explicit attitude measures toward cats/dogs (Study 1) and gay/straight people (Study 2). Based on confirmatory factor analysis, both studies showed that explicit attitudes were more related to implicit attitudes in an affective focus than in a cognitive focus. We suggest that, although explicit evaluations can be meaningfully parsed into affective and cognitive components, implicit evaluations are more related to affective than cognitive components of attitudes

Estimating the Market Effect of a Food Scare: The Case of Genetically Modified StarLink Corn

Genetic modification of crops has revolutionized food production, but it remains controversial due to food safety and environmental concerns. A recent food safety scare provides a natural experiment on the corn market's willingness to accept unapproved genetically modified organisms. In 2000, a genetically modified corn variety called StarLink was discovered in the food-corn supply, even though it was not approved for human consumption. To estimate the price impact of this event, we develop the relative price of a substitute method, which applies not only to the StarLink event but also to rare events in other markets. We apply this method to measure the price impact of the StarLink contamination on the U.S. corn market. We find that the contamination led to a 7 percent suppression of corn prices that lasted for at least a year.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Q11, Q18, C22,

The Market Effect of a Food Scare: The Case of Genetically Modified StarLink Corn

Genetic modification of crops has revolutionized food production, but it remains controversial due to food safety concerns. A recent food safety scare provides a natural experiment on the market's willingness to accept an increase in perceived risk from genetically modified (GM) food. We analyze the market impact of contamination of the U.S. food-corn supply by a GM variety called StarLink. We find that the contamination led to a 6.8 percent discount in corn prices and that the suppression of prices lasted for at least a year.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing,

RosettaBackrub--a web server for flexible backbone protein structure modeling and design.

The RosettaBackrub server (http://kortemmelab.ucsf.edu/backrub) implements the Backrub method, derived from observations of alternative conformations in high-resolution protein crystal structures, for flexible backbone protein modeling. Backrub modeling is applied to three related applications using the Rosetta program for structure prediction and design: (I) modeling of structures of point mutations, (II) generating protein conformational ensembles and designing sequences consistent with these conformations and (III) predicting tolerated sequences at protein-protein interfaces. The three protocols have been validated on experimental data. Starting from a user-provided single input protein structure in PDB format, the server generates near-native conformational ensembles. The predicted conformations and sequences can be used for different applications, such as to guide mutagenesis experiments, for ensemble-docking approaches or to generate sequence libraries for protein design

Transport problems facing large cities

This paper considers the problems facing transport policy in large cities. As the world’s cities have become home to the vast majority of their national population, governments are faced with the challenge of providing transport infrastructure to accommodate the needs of their citizens. In many of the world’s largest cities, the majority of travel is by private car, which poses two problems – road congestion and greenhouse gas emissions

Elastic response of a nematic liquid crystal to an immersed nanowire

We study the immersion of a ferromagnetic nanowire within a nematic liquid crystal using a lattice Boltzmann algorithm to solve the full three-dimensional equations of hydrodynamics. We present an algorithm for including a moving boundary, to simulate a nanowire, in a lattice Boltzmann simulation. The nematic imposes a torque on a wire that increases linearly with the angle between the wire and the equilibrium direction of the director field. By rotation of these nanowires, one can determine the elastic constants of the nematic.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure

Fusing Information in a 3D Chart-of-the-Future Display

The Data Visualization Research Lab at the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping is investigating how three-dimensional navigational displays can most effectively be constructed. This effort is progressing along multiple paths and is implemented in the GeoNav3D system, a 3D chart-of-the-future research prototype. We present two lines of investigation here. First, we explore how tide, depth, and planning information can be combined (fused) into a single view, in order to give the user a more realistic picture of effective water depths. In the GeoNav3D system, 3D shaded bathymetry, coded for color depth, is used to display navigable areas. As in ENC displays, different colors are used to easily identify areas that are safe, areas where under-keel clearance is minimal, and areas where depths are too shallow. Real-time or model-generated tide information is taken into account in dynamically color-coding the depths. One advantage to using a continuous bathymetric model, versus discrete depth areas, is that the model can be continuously adjusted for water level. This concept is also extended for planning purposes by displaying the color-coded depths along a proposed corridor at the expected time of reaching each point. In our second line of investigation, we explore mechanisms for linking information from multiple 3D views into a coherent whole. In GeoNav3D, it is possible to create a variety of plan and perspective views, and these views can be attached to moving reference frames. This provides not only semi-static views such as from-the-bridge and under-keel along-track profile views, but also more dynamic, interactive views. These views are linked through visual devices that allow the fusion of information from among the views. We present several such devices and show how they highlight relevant details and help to minimize user confusion. Investigation into the utility of various linked views for aiding realsituation decision-making is ongoin

Spatial Control of Rabies on Heterogeneous Landscapes

Rabies control in terrestrial wildlife reservoirs relies heavily on an oral rabies vaccine (ORV). In addition to direct ORV delivery to protect wildlife in natural habitats, vaccine corridors have been constructed to control the spread; these corridors are often developed around natural barriers, such as rivers, to enhance the effectiveness of vaccine deployment. However, the question of how to optimally deploy ORV around a river (or other natural barrier) to best exploit the barrier for rabies control has not been addressed using mathematical models. Given an advancing epidemic wave, should the vaccine be distributed on both sides of barrier, behind the barrier, or in front of it? Here, we introduce a new mathematical model for the dynamics of raccoon rabies on a spatially heterogeneous landscape that is both simple and realistic. We demonstrate that the vaccine should always be deployed behind a barrier to minimize the recurrence of subsequent epidemics. Although the oral rabies vaccine is sufficient to induce herd immunity inside the vaccinated area, it simultaneously creates a demographic refuge. When that refuge is in front of a natural barrier, seasonal dispersal from the vaccine corridor into an endemic region sustains epidemic oscillations of raccoon rabies. When the vaccine barrier creates a refuge behind the river, the low permeability of the barrier to host movement limits dispersal of the host population from the protected populations into the rabies endemic area and limits subsequent rabies epidemics

GeoZui3D: Data Fusion for Interpreting Oceanographic Data

GeoZui3D stands for Geographic Zooming User Interface. It is a new visualization software system designed for interpreting multiple sources of 3D data. The system supports gridded terrain models, triangular meshes, curtain plots, and a number of other display objects. A novel center of workspace interaction method unifies a number of aspects of the interface. It creates a simple viewpoint control method, it helps link multiple views, and is ideal for stereoscopic viewing. GeoZui3D has a number of features to support real-time input. Through a CORBA interface external entities can influence the position and state of objects in the display. Extra windows can be attached to moving objects allowing for their position and data to be monitored. We describe the application of this system for heterogeneous data fusion, for multibeam QC and for ROV/AUV monitoring