Higher Order Radiative Corrections in QCD

The spectacular physics results collected during the first two runs of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) present compelling evidence that the Standard Model of Particle Physics describes nature with a very high degree of accuracy [...]

No Strong Evidence of Stereotype Threat in Females: A Reassessment of the Meta-Analysis

Recently, Picho-Kiroga (2021) published a meta-analysis on the effect of stereotype threat on females. Their conclusion was that the average effect size for stereotype threat studies was d = .28, but that effects are overstated because the majority of studies on stereotype threat in females include methodological characteristics that inflate the apparent effect size. In this response, I show that Picho-Kiroga et al. (2021) committed fundamental errors in their meta-analysis that undermine confidence in the article and warrant major corrections. But even if the data were not flawed, the conclusion that Picho-Kiroga et al. (2021) should have reached is that their results are most consistent with a population effect size of zero. There is no compelling evidence that stereotype threat is a real phenomenon in females.

Golden Syrian Hamsters as a Model for Revisiting the Role of Biological Sex Differences in SARS-CoV-2 Infection

There is growing evidence that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) affects males more severely than females, including compelling evidence indicating that biological sex is an important clinical factor influencing disease pathology and outcomes. In their recent article in mBio , Dhakal et al. find further evidence to support this hypothesis as they interrogate biological sex differences in the pathogenesis and clinical features of COVID-19 in the golden Syrian hamster model.

Understanding a Resource Curse Hypothesis: The Nigerian Archetype

In continuation to understanding how Nigeria is emblematic of a resource curse model nation, this study presented an intricate look at national, regional and global data-sets which provided credence to the hypothesis that the country is indeed a resource cursed archetype. While report of compelling evidence showed that oil as a resource has been the bane on the growth of the Nigerian economy, with implicit structural disturbances occasioned by poor leadership, the study presented the sordid state of the country in this regard, but also offered policy initiatives that could help the country manage its malaise.

EEG evidence for the effective proactive control of emotional distraction

<p>Recent behavioural studies using an emotional flanker task have found that task-irrelevent emotional images are more distracting than neutral images under infrequent, but not frequent, distractor conditions.It has been proposed the effective control of distraction in the high distractor frequency condition may be due to a shift to a proactive control strategy, whereby a potential distraction is anticipated and minimised in advance. However, although it is well established that proactive control is effective at reducingneutral distraction, it is not yet clear whether emotional distraction can be effectively proactively controlled. In this thesis, I used EEG to measure pre-stimulus indices of proactive control in order to determine whether proactive control is responsible for the effective control of emotional and neutral distraction in the high distractor frequency condition, as well asto examine whether proactive control differs according whether a neutral or emotional distraction is anticipated.In addition to replicating the previous behavioural findings, posterior EEG alpha was found to be tonically suppressed in the high compared to low distractor frequency condition, strongly supporting the hypothesis that proactive control was engaged in the high distractor frequency condition. By contrast, there was no difference in phasic alpha suppression (i.e., the drop in alpha in response to fixation onset) between conditions, indicating that the more effective control of distraction in the high frequency distractor conditions was due to a sustained proactive control strategy, rather than greater trial-by-trial preparation to attend to the target. In addition, no alpha lateralisation was found, indicating the mechanisms by which distraction was proactively controlled did not include the preparatory suppression of expected distractor locations. Finally, tonic alpha did not differ according to the expected distractor valence, but phasic alpha suppression was more pronounced when negative, compared to neutral or positive, distractors were expected, independent of distractor frequency condition. This suggests proactive control was also used to some extent in the low distractor frequency condition, but more importantly also provides initial evidence that the proactive control of negative distraction may be unique. Taken together, my findings provide compelling evidence that emotional distraction can be effectively proactively controlled. Future research is needed to determine the mechanisms by which this occurs, and whether the proactive control of emotional distraction is particularly effortful.</p>

EEG evidence for the effective proactive control of emotional distraction

<p>Recent behavioural studies using an emotional flanker task have found that task-irrelevent emotional images are more distracting than neutral images under infrequent, but not frequent, distractor conditions.It has been proposed the effective control of distraction in the high distractor frequency condition may be due to a shift to a proactive control strategy, whereby a potential distraction is anticipated and minimised in advance. However, although it is well established that proactive control is effective at reducingneutral distraction, it is not yet clear whether emotional distraction can be effectively proactively controlled. In this thesis, I used EEG to measure pre-stimulus indices of proactive control in order to determine whether proactive control is responsible for the effective control of emotional and neutral distraction in the high distractor frequency condition, as well asto examine whether proactive control differs according whether a neutral or emotional distraction is anticipated.In addition to replicating the previous behavioural findings, posterior EEG alpha was found to be tonically suppressed in the high compared to low distractor frequency condition, strongly supporting the hypothesis that proactive control was engaged in the high distractor frequency condition. By contrast, there was no difference in phasic alpha suppression (i.e., the drop in alpha in response to fixation onset) between conditions, indicating that the more effective control of distraction in the high frequency distractor conditions was due to a sustained proactive control strategy, rather than greater trial-by-trial preparation to attend to the target. In addition, no alpha lateralisation was found, indicating the mechanisms by which distraction was proactively controlled did not include the preparatory suppression of expected distractor locations. Finally, tonic alpha did not differ according to the expected distractor valence, but phasic alpha suppression was more pronounced when negative, compared to neutral or positive, distractors were expected, independent of distractor frequency condition. This suggests proactive control was also used to some extent in the low distractor frequency condition, but more importantly also provides initial evidence that the proactive control of negative distraction may be unique. Taken together, my findings provide compelling evidence that emotional distraction can be effectively proactively controlled. Future research is needed to determine the mechanisms by which this occurs, and whether the proactive control of emotional distraction is particularly effortful.</p>

Franchise extension and fiscal structure in the UK 1820–1913: a new test of the Redistribution Hypothesis

The Redistribution Hypothesis predicts that franchise extension causes an increase in state-sponsored redistribution. We test this hypothesis by considering the relationship between franchise extension and selected aspects of fiscal structure at both central and local government levels in the UK from 1820 to 1913. We do so without imposing a priori restrictions on the direction of causality using a novel method for causal investigation of non-experimental data proposed by Hoover (2001). This method is based on tests for structural breaks in the conditional and marginal distributions of the franchise and fiscal structure time series preceded by a detailed historical narrative analysis. We do not find compelling evidence supporting the Redistribution Hypothesis.

Waiting for PARIS—A Biological Target in Search of a Drug

A recent breakthrough paper published in Science Translational Medicine has provided compelling evidence that inhibition of Parkin Interacting Substrate (PARIS) may offer clinical researchers an important new therapeutic approach since it shows considerable promise as an important biological target potentially capable of pharmaceutical intervention to slow long term neurodegeneration in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). We present several PD-relevant perspectives on this paper that were not discussed in that otherwise entirely scientific narrative. We also outline the some of the work leading up to it, including the massive drug screen that proved necessary to discover a clinically suitable inhibitor of PARIS (Farnesol), as well as relevant PD research within the wider drug class, issues surrounding its future formulation, and next steps in translating this new knowledge into the clinic to evaluate possible long-term PD patient benefits.

Thomas Aquinas and Albertus Magnus on the Problem of Evil: Insights from their Commentaries on the Book of Job

This article broadly considers the commentaries on Job of Thomas Aquinas and Albert the Great as offering a helpful theological alternative to some modern philosophical approaches to the ‘problem of evil’. We seek to show that whereas some modern philosophers understand evil as a problem for the very existence of God, whether and how God can coexist with evil was never a question that evil seriously raised in the minds of Aquinas and Albert. In fact, although the suffering of the just in particular led our medieval Dominicans to wonder about divine providence and our ability to know God in this life, they understood the reality of evil as compelling evidence for the existence of God.

Copy raising as a lexical rule

The paper argues that there is compelling evidence for analyzing copy raising in English as a lexical rule that converts a subtype of perception verb with a stimulus subject (so-called “flip-perception” verbs) into a semantically bleached verb of mild evidentiary force, roughly equivalent to seem in some uses, which identifies the index of its external argument with the index of the pronominally expressed external argument of its complement.