Being Dishonest About Our Prejudices: Moral Dissonance and Self-Justification

We applied the moral dissonance reduction framework, used to explain the maintenance of a positive self-concept in dishonest behavior, to understand self-justification of prejudice. Participants identified ambiguously negative intergroup behaviors, then evaluated those behaviors when performed by others and themselves. As predicted by moral dissonance reduction, participants were less critical of their own behavior when considering others\u27 behaviors before their own. In a third study directly comparing prejudiced and dishonest behavior, participants\u27 responses showed the greatest self-justification in the initial question about their behavior regardless of the content of the question, whereas subsequent questions showed more stability, consistent with the idea that participants adjusted their initial self-reports to avoid damage to their self-concepts

Exploring Body Comparison Tendencies: Women Are Self-Critical Whereas Men Are Self-Hopeful

Our study examined similarities and differences in women’s and men’s comparison tendencies and perfection beliefs when evaluating their face, body shape, and physical abilities, as well as how these tendencies and beliefs relate to their body esteem. College students (90 women and 88 men) completed the Body Esteem Scale (Franzoi & Shields, 1984) and answered questions concerning their social comparison and temporal comparison tendencies related to face, body shape, and physical abilities evaluations as well as personal perfection body beliefs. As predicted, women were more likely than men to compare their face and bodies to other same-sex persons whom they perceived as having either similar or better physical qualities than themselves in those body domains, with their most likely comparison tendency being upward social comparison. More men than women held body-perfection beliefs for all three body domains, and men were most likely to rely on future temporal comparison when evaluating their body shape. Comparison tendencies and perfection beliefs also were differentially related to women\u27s and men\u27s body esteem; whereas women rely on self-critical social comparison strategies associated with negative body esteem, men’s comparison strategies and perfection beliefs are more self-hopeful. Implications for practitioners treating body-image issues are discussed

Propuesta de modelo de negocio de un food truck de venta de desayunos en una universidad privada de Chiclayo, 2016

El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo establecer un modelo de negocio para un food truck de desayunos en una universidad privada de Chiclayo. La metodología aplicada para la investigación es cualitativa – exploratoria, se fundamenta en un proceso inductivo (explorar, describir y luego generar perspectivas teóricas), es decir va de lo particular a lo general; esta metodología permite obtener información en base a entrevistas realizadas a la comunidad universitaria. La investigación busca conocer la aceptación del modelo de food truck de venta de desayuno, se basó en el modelo Lean Canvas, desarrollado en el libro Running Lean de Ash Maurya, nos da un enfoque de nueve (9) dimensiones para tener en cuenta y poder lograr un modelo de negocio de éxito. La propuesta de valor obtenida, consiste en vender productos saludables que les ayude a promover la calidad y bienestar de la salud de nuestros clientes, por ello se ofrecerán desayunos elaborados a base de frutas, cereales andinos y sándwich preparados al instante, ofrecidos en unos envases biodegradables, cumpliendo con los estándares de salubridad. Asimismo se tendrá variedad en los productos a ofrecer, para que el cliente pueda escoger y se brindará una atención rápida y personalizada con la finalidad de cumplir con uno de los aspectos que los clientes valoran

Research Reports, Andean Past 13

This section of Andean Past consists of short reports on macrofloral remains from the Peruvian Early Horizon site of Cayan, on vertebrate remains from Cayan, on a Ychsma or Inca mortuary bundle, and on figurines from the Mareniyoc site in the Callejon de Huaylas

The NOX toolbox: validating the role of NADPH oxidases in physiology and disease

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are cellular signals but also disease triggers; their relative excess (oxidative stress) or shortage (reductive stress) compared to reducing equivalents are potentially deleterious. This may explain why antioxidants fail to combat diseases that correlate with oxidative stress. Instead, targeting of disease-relevant enzymatic ROS sources that leaves physiological ROS signaling unaffected may be more beneficial. NADPH oxidases are the only known enzyme family with the sole function to produce ROS. Of the catalytic NADPH oxidase subunits (NOX), NOX4 is the most widely distributed isoform. We provide here a critical review of the currently available experimental tools to assess the role of NOX and especially NOX4, i.e. knock-out mice, siRNAs, antibodies, and pharmacological inhibitors. We then focus on the characterization of the small molecule NADPH oxidase inhibitor, VAS2870, in vitro and in vivo, its specificity, selectivity, and possible mechanism of action. Finally, we discuss the validation of NOX4 as a potential therapeutic target for indications including stroke, heart failure, and fibrosis

TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits - the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants - determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits - almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives

The genetic architecture of the human cerebral cortex

The cerebral cortex underlies our complex cognitive capabilities, yet little is known about the specific genetic loci that influence human cortical structure. To identify genetic variants that affect cortical structure, we conducted a genome-wide association meta-analysis of brain magnetic resonance imaging data from 51,665 individuals. We analyzed the surface area and average thickness of the whole cortex and 34 regions with known functional specializations. We identified 199 significant loci and found significant enrichment for loci influencing total surface area within regulatory elements that are active during prenatal cortical development, supporting the radial unit hypothesis. Loci that affect regional surface area cluster near genes in Wnt signaling pathways, which influence progenitor expansion and areal identity. Variation in cortical structure is genetically correlated with cognitive function, Parkinson's disease, insomnia, depression, neuroticism, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead