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No influence of emotional expression on size underestimation of upright faces
Get PDFFaces are a primary means of conveying social information between humans. One important factor modulating the perception of human faces is emotional expression. Face inversion also affects perception, including judgments of emotional expression, possibly through the disruption of configural processing. One intriguing inversion effect is an illusion whereby faces appear to be physically smaller when upright than when inverted. This illusion appears to be highly selective for faces. In this study, we investigated whether the emotional expression of a face (neutral, happy, afraid, and angry) modulates the magnitude of this size illusion. Results showed that for all four expressions, there was a clear bias for inverted stimuli to be judged as larger than upright ones. This demonstrates that there is no influence of emotional expression on the size underestimation of upright faces, a surprising result given that recognition of different emotional expressions is known to be affected unevenly by inversion. Results are discussed considering recent neuroimaging research which used population receptive field (pRF) mapping to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying face perception features and which may provide an explanation for how an upright face appears smaller than an inverted one. Elucidation of this effect would lead to a greater understanding of how humans communicate
QUIN 2.0 - new release of the QUaternary fault strain INdicators database from the Southern Apennines of Italy
Get PDFQUIN database integrates and organizes structural-geological information from published and unpublished sources to constrain deformation in seismotectonic studies. The initial release, QUIN1.0, comprised 3,339 Fault Striation Pairs, mapped on 445 sites exposed along the Quaternary faults of central Italy. The present Data Descriptor introduces the QUIN 2.0 release, which includes 4,297 Fault Striation Pairs on 738 Structural Sites from southern Italy. The newly investigated faults span ~500 km along the Apennines chain, with strikes transitioning from ~SE to ~SW and comprehensively details Fault Striation Pairs’ location, attitude, kinematics, and deformation axes. Additionally, it offers a shapefile of the fault traces hosting the data. The QUIN 2.0 release offers a significant geographic extension to the QUIN 1.0, with comprehensive description of local geometric-kinematic complexities of the regional pattern. The QUIN data may be especially relevant for constraining intra-Apennine potential seismogenic deformation patterns, where earthquake data only offer scattered or incomplete information. QUIN’s data will support studies aimed at enhancing geological understanding, hazard assessment and comprehension of fault rupture propagation and barriers
A structural and dynamic visualization of the interaction between MAP7 and microtubules
Get PDFMicrotubules (MTs) are key components of the eukaryotic cytoskeleton and are essential for intracellular organization, organelle trafficking and mitosis. MT tasks depend on binding and interactions with MT-associated proteins (MAPs). MT-associated protein 7 (MAP7) has the unusual ability of both MT binding and activating kinesin-1-mediated cargo transport along MTs. Additionally, the protein is reported to stabilize MTs with its 112 amino-acid long MT binding domain (MTBD). Here we investigate the structural basis of the interaction of MAP7 MTBD with the MT lattice. Using a combination of solid and solution-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy with electron microscopy, fluorescence anisotropy and isothermal titration calorimetry, we shed light on the binding mode of MAP7 to MTs at an atomic level. Our results show that a combination of interactions between MAP7 and MT lattice extending beyond a single tubulin dimer and including tubulin C-terminal tails contribute to formation of the MAP7-MT complex
Enhancing life cycle product design decision-making processes: insights from normal accident theory and satisficing framework
Get PDFLife Cycle Assessment (LCA), a computational tool used in sustainable product design decision making, faces challenges in the interpretation phase, where conclusions are drawn for improvement recommendations. This necessitate the need to incorporate into LCA management-relevant theoretical underpinnings to strengthen decision-making processes. Comparative LCA case studies of lead-based piezoelectric material (lead zirconate titanate – PZT) and lead-free alternatives
(potassium sodium niobate – KNN, sodium bismuth titanate – NBT), was employed to demonstrate how two theoretical lenses, namely Normal Accident Theory (NAT) and Satisficing Framework, are
used inductively to enhance decision making regarding unintended consequences in the value chain revealed by LCA outputs. The environmental analysis reveals NAT attributes of interactive complexity and tight coupling in piezoelectric materials, based on systems’ predictability, observability, and applicability, leading to the introduction of Environmental Impact Accident (EIA) as a new concept. EIA facilitates early assessment of the associated complexities influencing the sustainability credentials of piezoelectric materials, informing mitigation strategies. However, a conundrum is created when considering multiple objectives that conflict or trade-off between alternative piezoelectric materials with different environmental and health impacts across the value chain but was resolved using the Satisficing Framework. The paper concludes by proposing theoretical and practical policy options for incorporating LCA into product life cycle decision making
Strategic behaviours in a labour market with mobility-restricting contractual provisions: evidence from the National Hockey League
Get PDFWe follow workers' performance along an unbalanced panel dataset over multiple years and study how performance varies at the end of fixed-term contracts, in a labour market where some people face a mobility restricting clause (i.e., a noncompete clause). Focusing on the labour market of the National Hockey League, we analyse players' performance data and contracts with a fixed effect estimator to address empirical limitations in previous studies. We find that, on average, NHL players' performance does not vary. However, our estimations detect substantially heterogeneous behaviours, depending on tenure, perceived expected performance and mobility. Only younger players (i.e., restricted free-agents) with high expected mobility but low expected performance tend to behave strategically and perform better. Differently, older players (i.e., unrestricted free-agents) with high expected mobility tend to underperform, as the option of moving back to European tournaments is more appealing
A hidden diversity of ornithischian dinosaurs: UK Middle Jurassic microvertebrate faunas shed light on a poorly represented period
No full textCurrent research suggests that ornithischians originated in the Middle–Late Triassic and achieved a global distribution by the Early Jurassic, but the Middle Jurassic was a pivotal period in which the clade underwent rapid diversification and radiation. However, Middle Jurassic ornithischian fossils are rare, with few named taxa and numerous occurrences of isolated teeth with disputed identifications. Here, we apply detailed morphological comparisons to a suite of isolated ornithischian teeth from Bathonian microvertebrate sites in the U.K., to assess their taxonomic affinities. These reveal a hitherto unknown, highly diverse ornithischian fauna that significantly increases the known diversity of ornithischians from this time period in the U.K. Comparisons indicate the presence of six ornithischian morphotypes: an indeterminate ornithischian, a heterodontosaurid, two indeterminate thyreophorans, a stegosaur, and an ankylosaur. These results confirm the predictions made by phylogenetic studies that Ornithischia rapidly diversified in the Middle Jurassic, fill in temporal gaps within lineages, and also include recognition of one of the oldest global occurrences of stegosaurs. In addition, the mixture of non-eurypodan and eurypodan morphotypes identified suggests that not only did non-eurypodans survive until at least the Middle Jurassic but they also co-existed with early eurypodans
The triple helix model and working with Loet Leyesdorff
Get PDFThis paper is a reflection on the enormous debt that I owe Loet for his kindness, generosity and intellectual mentorship. This is over a period of some twenty years. Loet also became part of the Centre for Innovation Management Research (CIMR) at Birkbeck, University of London. In one of our final articles together, Loet drew the different stands of his work together by exploring synergies in scholarship of members of CIMR
The Hippocratic background to Aristotle’s gynaecology
Get PDFThis chapter details overlaps between the ancient medical works on women’s health and Aristotle’s De generatione animalium and Historia animalium Book 7. With respect to Hist. an. 7, Balme dismissed any medical influence on the grounds that Aristotle “makes statements that conflict with Hippocratic views”. While Balme’s attitude toward Hippocratic influence has been popular in the past, the medical background to Aristotle’s biology is now receiving increasing philosophical attention. However, with certain exceptions, the way in which Aristotle’s biology interacts with ancient gynaecology has not been systematically investigated. This chapter takes some steps towards finding Hippocratic and other medical influences in the field of Aristotelian gynaecology. Directing one’s attention in this manner reveals certain tension within Aristotle’s biological project as well as his attempts to resolve them
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