The Yemeni Conflicts: A Mismatch Theory Interpretation

This article examines the causes of the current centrist and secessionist civil conflicts in Yemen. We argue that it is possible to explain the outbreak of the struggle of the Houthis against the central government as well as the acceleration of southern secessionist demands in light of the mismatch theory developed by Herrera, Morelli, and Nunnari (2019). In line with this model, we show that the two conflicts erupted once the relatively low political-economic power of the Houthis and of the southern secessionists was no longer matched by a parallel imbalance in their relative military strength vis-à-vis the central government. To examine the implications of the theory in Yemen, we use qualitative evidence on the two ongoing conflicts. The Yemeni case suggests that conflicts exhibiting a non-parallel asymmetry in relative military strength and political-economic power between the warring actors can be interpreted in light of the mismatch theory, regardless of their direction or the objectives their players pursue.

Motion Sickness Manifestations and Prevention

Motion sickness is an ancient problem associated with transportation (ships and other vehicles), which is affecting humans since ages. Motion sickness is characteristically occurring during abnormal movements induced by the motion and when there is a conflict between various senses such as visual, vestibular and motor system. Depending on the type of motion, various kinds of sicknesses, such as air sickness, car sickness, train sickness, seasickness, etc. may occur. A very less per cent of individuals are highly susceptible to motion sickness and very less per cent of individuals are highly insusceptible for motion sickness. However, most of the population comes in between. The primary symptoms of motion sickness include nausea, vomiting, wanes, and cold sweating. Varieties of drugs are available to reduce susceptibility to motion sickness. However, nausea, pallor, sweating, headache, dizziness, malaise, increased salivation, apathy, drowsiness, belching, hyperventilation and stomach awareness are the other symptoms of motion sickness. Anti-cholinergics and anti-histamines are the most effective motion sickness prophylactics with apparent side effects such as dry mouth, drowsiness, and depression. There are theories and mechanisms which include intra-vestibular (Canal-Otolith) mismatch theory, sensory conflict theory, visual-vestibular mismatch theory, the poison theory, the postural instability theory, and the movement program theory. Benzodiazepines, anticholinergics, anti-histamines and monoamine antagonists have commonly used treatment regimes. The traditional way of tackling the problem is the consumption of ginger, peppermint, lemon, fennel, marjoram, rosemary, basil. This review summarizes prediction and evaluation, behavioural strategies to prevent or minimize symptoms of motion sickness and available countermeasures of motion sickness.

Dynamic size-weight changes after object lifting reduce the size-weight illusion

In the size-weight illusion, the smaller object from two equally weighted objects is typically judged as being heavier. One explanation is that the mismatch between the weight expectation based on object size and actual sensory feedback influences heaviness perception. In most studies, the size of an object is perceived before its weight. We investigated whether size changes would influence weight judgement if both would be perceived simultaneously. We used virtual reality to change the size and weight of an object after lifting and asked participants to judge whether the object became lighter or heavier. We found that simultaneous size-weight changes greatly reduced the size-weight illusion to perceptual biases below discrimination thresholds. In a control experiment in which we used a standard size-weight illusion protocol with sequential lifts of small and large objects in the same virtual reality setup, we found a larger, typical perceptual bias. These results show that the size-weight illusion is smaller when size and weight information is perceived simultaneously. This provides support for the prediction mismatch theory explaining the size-weight illusion. The comparison between perceived and expected weight during the lifting phase could be a critical brain mechanism for mediating the size-weight illusion.

Abnormal phase transition and polarization mismatch phenomena in BaTiO3-based relaxor ferroelectrics

Relaxor ferroelectrics have been extensively studied due to their outstanding dielectric, piezoelectric, energy storage, and electro-optical properties. Although various theories were proposed to elaborate on the relaxation phenomena, polar nanoregions formed by disruption of the long-range-order structures are considered to play a key role in relaxor ferroelectrics. Generally, relaxor ferroelectrics are formed by aliovalent substitution or isovalent substitution in normal ferroelectrics, or further combinations of solid solutions. Herein, one category of BaTiO3-based relaxor ferroelectrics with abnormal phase transition and polarization mismatch phenomena is focused. Characteristic parameters of such BaTiO3-based relaxor ferroelectrics, including the Curie temperature, polarization, and lattice parameter, show a typical “U”-shaped variation with compositions. The studied BaTiO3-based relaxor ferroelectrics are mostly solid solutions of [Formula: see text]-site coupling and [Formula: see text]-site coupling ferroelectrics, exhibiting polarization mismatch in certain compositions [e.g., 0.9BaTiO3–0.1BiScO3, 0.8BaTiO3–0.2Bi([Formula: see text][Formula: see text]O3, 0.8BaTiO3–0.2Bi([Formula: see text][Formula: see text]O3, 0.5BaTiO3–0.5Pb([Formula: see text][Formula: see text]O3, 0.4BaTiO3–0.6Pb([Formula: see text][Formula: see text]O3, etc.]. Of particular interest is that excellent electrical properties can be achieved in the studied relaxor ferroelectrics. Therefore, polarization mismatch theory can also provide guidance for the design of new high-performance lead-free relaxor ferroelectrics.