The shuriken effect of fertile alpha emitters : a physical process behind findings of chemical toxicity of depleted uranium

This letter is a contribution on the study of nanoparticles for in situ observation and general understanding of nanoparticle physics. The positing that “chemical” effects from alpha emitters found by researchers actually come from the particular physical effect demonstrated with firmness here is not always possible (as alpha decay also interferes) but a case where this is definitive is given.

Time of imagery’s effect on performance and self-efficacy in college baseball players

The relationships among the time of imagery use on performance and self-efficacy in college baseball players during a hitting task was examined. Participants (n=24) were randomly assigned to one of three imagery conditions: (a) before practice, (b) during practice, (c) after practice. A one-shot MG-M imagery intervention was used. Results from a 3 (imagery group) ×2 (pretest and posttest) repeated measures ANOVA showed only a significant time by imagery group interaction for self-efficacy (F (2, 21)=4.67, p<0.05). These findings suggest that imagery had a stronger psychological effect than physical effect.

Two lines of evidence for physiological control of insensible evaporative water loss by a tiny marsupial

ABSTRACTWe present two independent lines of evidence that a tiny dasyurid marsupial, the ningaui (Ningaui spp.), has acute physiological control of its insensible evaporative water loss below and within thermoneutrality. Perturbation of the driving force for evaporation by varying relative humidity, and therefore the water vapour pressure deficit between the animal and the ambient air, does not have the expected physical effect on evaporative water loss. Exposure to a helox atmosphere also does not have the expected physical effect of increasing evaporative water loss for live ningauis (despite it having the expected effect of increasing heat loss for live ningauis), but increases evaporative water loss for dead ningauis. We discuss the relative advantages and disadvantages of both experimental approaches for demonstrating physiological control of insensible evaporative water loss. An appreciation of physiological control is important because insensible evaporative water loss contributes to both water and heat balance, is clearly under environmental selection pressure, and potentially impacts the distribution of endotherms and their response to environmental change.

Three Versions of Physical Closure

The Exclusion Argument has been regarded as the most powerful challenge to non-reductive physicalism. This argument presupposes a crucial thesis, Causal Closure of the Physical, which asserts that every physical effect has a sufficient physical cause. Although this thesis is widely accepted in contemporary philosophy of mind, philosophers say surprisingly little about what notion of physical entities should be adopted in the context. In this article, the author distinguishes between three versions of Closure that appeal to a narrow, a moderate, and a wide notion of the physical, respectively. The author then argues that none of the three versions can challenge non-reductive physicalism.

Falling verbs in Shughni

The article deals with the system of falling verbs in Shughni, which is one of the Pamir languages of the Southeastern Iranian group. It presents the original data collected from native speakers and the data from Karamshoev’s dictionary [1988], checked during our fi eld work. The paper argues that the Shughni system of falling verbs, though not dominant in the proper sense of the term, has a central specialized verb wêx̌tow covering the main situations of falling: falling from an elevated surface (a cup from the table), falling of a person, falling of a vertically oriented artifacts like road poles, etc. There are also several “minor” verbs of falling: for falling with non-vertical trajectory (etymologically opaque phrasal verb ole sittow), for collapsing (čuk ðêdow) or falling accompanied with disintegration, like falling into pieces / fragments or falling of a pipe / heap of objects (nixix̌tow). In addition, there are non-falling verbs which are used for lexifi cation of some important falling frames. For example, the verb of rotation gāx̌tow with the meaning ‘turn’ is used for trees falling because of the strong wind; the verb of upward motion zibidow ‘jump’ is used to denote diff erent situations of detachment of one object from another including parts from wholes, like a damaged wheel being detached from the car during the trip. The causative verb of destruction ðêdow ‘hit’ (which by default denotes aggressive physical effect of one person to another), when applied to falling situations, means falling of an object from above with the clear accent on the result. The Shughni system reveals the main oppositions relevant for falling verbs cross-linguistically. However, this system is quite abnormal, because apart of the central verb wêx̌tow it does not have dedicated verbs of falling (with some very marginal exceptions): all the other markers are borrowed from other semantic fi elds. It means that Shughni data may serve as an important source for lexical typology illuminating the points of intersection of FALLING with other semantic domains.

Learning Novel Skills From Iconic Gestures: A Developmental and Evolutionary Perspective

Cumulative cultural learning has been argued to rely on high-fidelity copying of other individuals’ actions. Iconic gestures of actions have no physical effect on objects in the world but merely represent actions that would have an effect. Learning from iconic gestures thus requires paying close attention to the teacher’s precise bodily movements—a prerequisite for high-fidelity copying. In three studies, we investigated whether 2- and 3-year-old children ( N = 122) and great apes ( N = 36) learn novel skills from iconic gestures. When faced with a novel apparatus, participants watched an experimenter perform either an iconic gesture depicting the action necessary to open the apparatus or a gesture depicting a different action. Children, but not great apes, profited from iconic gestures, with older children doing so to a larger extent. These results suggest that high-fidelity copying abilities are firmly in place in humans by at least 3 years of age.

RISIKO DAN REFLEKSIVITAS GAY TERHADAP KEKERASAN (Studi Kasus pada Komunitas Gay di Surakarta)

<p>Gay is a minority group the existence of which is still unacceptable to the society. It puts the gay into a group vulnerable to violence risk. The objective of research is to study the risk and the reflexivity of violence in gay community in Surakarta. This qualitative with case study approach took place in Surakarta. The sampling technique used was purposive sampling one. The informant of research consisted of chairperson and administrators of Surakarta Gaya Mahardhika Foundation, gays becoming the victim of violence, community fellow members, and administrators of Mitra Alam Surakarta NGO. Data was collected through observation, in-depth interview, and documentation. To validate data, source triangulation was used. Technique of analyzing data used was Miles and Huberman’s interactive model of analysis with Ulrich Beck’s Risk Society theory. </p>The result of research showed that violence risk encountered by gay in Surakarta included physical violence such as being thrown with sharp weapon, being struck and slapped; physical/emotional violence such as cynical and disliking view, expulsion, threat and negative stigma intended to gay organization; sexual violence such as sexual abuse conducted by police officer by touching the victim’s body organ; economic violence such as money and product expropriation by sexual partner; and verbal violence such as being insulted and mocked by some people on the street. The effect of violence consisted of physical effect such as bruise, gash, and pain still felt until today, and physical effect such as fear, trauma, discomfort and fidget, disappointment, resentfulness, anger, pique, and regret. The reflectivity of gay in dealing with violence included interacting or looking for acquaintance or partner more alertly and selectively; adapting, comporting; building intimacy an self-image by conducting positive activities within society; conducting homosexual activity more carefully such as fulfilling their sexual need in their known place rather than doing it in opened space that has been known by mass organization; and providing advocacy to the gay becoming the victim of violence.