Neural Predictors of Changes in Party Closeness after Exposure to Corruption Messages: An fMRI Study

Daily worldwide newspapers are filled with campaigning unveiling political corruption. Despite this information be worrying to many citizens, political researchers have not identified any consistent trend of decline of support among party sympathizers. This study utilizes neuroimaging for the first time to examine the neuropsychological origin of party closeness variation among backers of a liberal (Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, PSOE) and a conservative party (Popular Party, PP) in Spain after a month receiving corruption messages among their preferred party. Brain data provide some explanation as to the origin of party closeness reduction among liberal sympathizers: areas involved with negative feelings, disappointment and self-relevance served to predict party closeness reduction 30 days in advance. Implications for liberals and conservatives’ campaigns are discussed.

Brown frog breeding phenology in south Sweden 1990 – 2017: are data subsets robust?

Field data on breeding phenology of Rana arvalis and R. temporaria for the period 1990 - 2017 in Scania, Sweden are presented and analysed. There was no temporal trend for R. temporaria. For R. arvalis the results were mixed, one out of two approaches found a trend to earlier breeding. The lack of a consistent trend in breeding phenology is unsurprising considering that local mean air temperatures in February, March and April showed no significant trends over the study period. To test the robustness of the conclusion, different subsets of the data (years or ponds) were also analysed for trends. For most subsets the conclusions remained the same. Possible bias arising from the choice of which years to include in an analysis of trends is discussed.

Lightning Characteristics and Electric Charge Structure of a Hail-Producing Thunderstorm on the Eastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau

An isolated hail-producing thunderstorm that occurred on 20 August 2012, from the Composite Observing Experiment for Lightning project carried out in the Da Tong Region of Qinghai Province, China, was studied. In most stages, the charge structure in the storm showed a positive tripole structure, which resulted in a low positive ground lightning rate for the whole event. In the thunderstorm process, 202 lightning flashes were detected. The peak lightning rate of lightning was 28 times/5 min. The average number of return strokes of negative ground flash was 2.4, and only one return stroke of positive ground lightning occurred. The duration of the in-cloud process prior to the first return stroke was relatively long. Dynamic transport had a considerable influence on the charge structure of the cloud. Before and after hail landing, the ground electric field of several stations showed a consistent trend of reversal.

Effect of Water Deficit Stress on Yield Performances in Wet Seeded Rice

Worldwide fresh water scarcity and labour unavailability in agriculture are driving researchers and farmers to find management strategies that will increase water productivity and reduce labour requirement. Wet seeding instead of transplanting rice greatly reduces the labour requirement for crop establishment, while use of alternate wetting and drying (AWD) instead of continuous flooding reduces irrigation input. However, the safe threshold for irrigating wet seeded rice (WSR) at different crop stages has not been investigated. Therefore, experiment was conducted to determine the effects of different degrees of water stress during different crop growth stages on yield performance of WSR. This was done in greenhouse experiment in the 2011 wet season 2011 at the International Rice Research Institute, Los Baños, Philippines. In the experiment, water stresses were applied by withholding irrigation until soil water tension increased to 10, 20 or 40 kPa (kilo pascal) at 10 cm below the soil surface. Soil water tension was measured using 30 cm long guage tensiometer installed with the center of the ceramic cup. The stresses were applied during three crop stages: 3-leaf (3L) to panicle initiation (PI), PI to flowering (FL), and FL to physiological maturity (PM). The experiment also included a continuously flooded (CF) treatment. The number of drying events ranged from 8-12 during 3L-PI, 6-10 during PI-FL and 6-10 during FL-PM. There was a consistent trend for a decline in the number of irrigations and irrigation input with increasing irrigation threshold, and thresholds of 20 and 40 kPa resulted in significantly lower input than with CF. There were consistent trends for lower grain yield as the level of water deficit stress increased, and imposition of stresses of 20 and 40 kPa at any or all three stages significantly reduced grain yield compared with CF. There was a trend for the reduction in grain yield to be greater when the stresses were imposed at all three stages compared with a single stage, but the differences were not significant. There was a consistent trend for irrigation water productivity (WPi) to decrease as the irrigation threshold increased, with significantly lower values for a 40 kPa threshold at any stage, in comparison with CF. This was because the decline in water input to the pots was less than the decline in yield as the threshold increased. The results suggest that the optimum threshold for irrigation of WSR is 10 kPa during the vegetative and grain filling stages, and that the soil should be kept at close to saturation during PI-FLBangladesh Rice j. 2017, 21(1): 1-12

In Dogs That Have Had Intussusception Does Enterοplication Prevent Recurrence?

<p><strong>Clinical bottom line</strong></p><p>The number of published primary papers on enteroplication as a preventative surgical procedure for recurrent intussusception is currently low with a relatively small number of cases reported in the studies. The studies did not demonstrate a statistical difference in the recurrence rate with or without the procedure although there was a consistent trend for a reduction in the recurrence rate with enteroplication.</p><p>Enterοplication has also been associated with severe complications, thus surgeοns must weigh the risk of recurrent intussusception against the risk of complications with enterοplication. More definitive conclusions cannot be made until higher quality evidence is available on the tοpic.</p><br /> <img src="https://www.veterinaryevidence.org/rcvskmod/icons/oa-icon.jpg" alt="Open Access" /> <img src="https://www.veterinaryevidence.org/rcvskmod/icons/pr-icon.jpg" alt="Peer Reviewed" />

Tren Pertumbuhan Lembaga Pendidikan Pesantren di Bima Tahun 2001-2012

Studies on pesantren growth and development remains urgent. This paper aims to reveal the trend of pesantren growth in Bima (both District of Bima and Municipality of Bima), during 2001 to 2012 which was divided into three four-years, ie 2001-2004, 2005-2008, and 2009- 2012. Utilizing and analyzing data from the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Bima, the authors found that: (1) In the first four-years, 11 new pesantren emerged (growth average 2.75 per year) with a relatively consistent trend. (2) In the second four-years, 21 new pesantren born (average 5.25 per year) with very volatile trend. (3) In the third four-years, 11 new pesantren born (average 2.75 per year) with a fairly volatile trend. (4) Overall, during 2001 to 2012, 43 pesantren born (average 3.58 per year) with a fluctuative growth rate. Pesantren growth reached its peak in 2008 when 10 (23.26%) new pesantren born.

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON FLAME PROPAGATION IN A STRAIGHT PIPE

Flame propagation in a closed pipe with diameter 0.1 m and 5.1 m long, as well as length to diameter ratio (L/D) of 51, was studied experimentally. Hydrogen/air, acetylene/air and methane/air with stoichiometric concentration were used to observe the trend of flame propagation throughout the pipe. Experimental work was carried out at operating condition: pressure 1 atm and temperature 273 K. Results showed that all fuels are having a consistent trend of flame propagation in one-half of the total pipe length in which the acceleration is due to the piston-like effect. Beyond the point, fuel reactivity and tulip phenomenon were considered to lead the flame being quenched and decrease the overpressures drastically. The maximum overpressure for all fuels are approximately 1.5, 7, 8.5 barg for methane, hydrogen, and acetylene indicating that acetylene explosion is more severe.