Mental Number Representations are Spatially Mapped both by Their Magnitudes and Ordinal Positions

One of the most fundamental effects used to investigate number representations is the Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) effect showing that responses to small/large numbers are faster with the left/right hand, respectively. However, in recent years, it is hotly debated whether the SNARC effect is based upon cardinal representation of number magnitude or ordinal representation of number sequence in working memory. However, one problem is that evidence comes from different paradigms, e.g., evidence for ordinal sequences comes usually from experiments, where ordinal sequences have to be learnt and it has been ar-gued that this secondary task triggers the effect. Therefore, in this preregistered study we em-ployed a SNARC task, without secondary ordinal sequence learning, in which we can dissociate ordinal and magnitude accounts by careful manipulation of experimental stimulus sets and com-pare magnitude and ordinal models. The results indicate that even though the observed data is better accounted for by the magnitude model, the ordinal position seems to matter as well. Thus, it appears that the mechanisms described by both accounts play a significant role when mental numbers are temporarily mapped onto space even when no ordinal learning is involved.

Exploring light exposure of hospital nurses working rapidly rotating shifts in relation to sleepiness and sleep

Nightshift work can negatively impact sleep, performance, and health. Careful manipulation of light exposure patterns can help reduce these negative effects but is challenging in conditions of rapidly rotating shiftwork and due to individual differences. As chronotype is related to shiftwork tolerance, we explored patterns of sleep, sleepiness, and light exposure during the first day of nightshift work between earlier and later chronotypes, based on data from an observational field study among rapidly rotating hospital nurses. Due to the limited sample size, only descriptive analyses and visual inspection were conducted. In line with findings of lower shiftwork tolerance, earlier chronotypes (N=6) seemed to be sleepier during work and sleep less than later types (N=7). Differences were also observed in light exposure patterns, revealing potential for light exposure interventions, and suggesting a contribution to shiftwork tolerance. For future intervention studies in aiming to identify a light exposure strategy, our findings highlight the importance of investigating light exposure relative to the individual circadian phase.

ROS Regulation Mechanism for Mitigation of Abiotic Stress in Plants

Plants respond to various stresses during their lifecycle among which abiotic stress is the most severe one comprising heat, cold, drought, salinity, flooding, etc. which take a heavy toll on crop yield worldwide in every corresponding year. ROS has a dual role in abiotic stress mechanisms where, at high levels, they are toxic to cells while at the same time, the same molecule can function as a signal transducer that activates a local as well as a systemic plant defense response against stress. The most common ROS species are Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), Superoxide anions (O2-), Hydroxyl radicals (OH-), and Singlet oxygen (1O2) which are results of physiological metabolism often controlled by enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant defense systems. ROS generally accumulate in plants during abiotic and biotic stress conditions resulting in oxidative damage which ultimately leads to programmed cell death. Many ROS scavenging pathways have been well studied against stress responses. Through careful manipulation of ROS levels in plants, we can enhance stress tolerance in plants under unfavorable environmental conditions. This chapter presents an overview of ROS regulation in plants and the essential enzymes involved in the abiotic stress tolerance mechanisms which are thoroughly discussed below.

The Role of Indians in Imperialistic India as portrayed in Amitav Ghoshs’ The Ibis Trilogy

Amitav Ghosh’s Ibis Trilogy is a saga of the Opium War and the imperialistic monopoly of Great Britain over almost half the world. The British conquered India and ruled over the sub-continent with an iron hand, but at the same time being flexible with certain practices of the Indians. The Indians on the other hand, apert from sporadic outbursts, supported the British in their rule, with money and men. The symbiotic relationship of the British rulers and the Indian subjects was complex and incomprehensible to outsiders. The British through careful manipulation made the Indians do their bidding and this is reflected by Ghosh in his trilogy.

The Role of Indians in Imperialistic India as portrayed in Amitav Ghoshs’ The Ibis Trilogy

Amitav Ghosh’s Ibis Trilogy is a saga of the Opium War and the imperialistic monopoly of Great Britain over almost half the world. The British conquered India and ruled over the sub-continent with an iron hand, but at the same time being flexible with certain practices of the Indians. The Indians on the other hand, apert from sporadic outbursts, supported the British in their rule, with money and men. The symbiotic relationship of the British rulers and the Indian subjects was complex and incomprehensible to outsiders. The British through careful manipulation made the Indians do their bidding and this is reflected by Ghosh in his trilogy.

“Is It Overtraining or Just Work Ethic?”: Coaches’ Perceptions of Overtraining in High-Performance Strength Sports

Optimal physical performance is achieved through the careful manipulation of training and recovery. Short-term increases in training demand can induce functional overreaching (FOR) that can lead to improved physical capabilities, whereas nonfunctional overreaching (NFOR) or the overtraining syndrome (OTS) occur when high training-demand is applied for extensive periods with limited recovery. To date, little is known about the OTS in strength sports, particularly from the perspective of the strength sport coach. Fourteen high-performance strength sport coaches from a range of strength sports (weightlifting; n = 5, powerlifting; n = 4, sprinting; n = 2, throws; n = 2, jumps; n = 1) participated in semistructured interviews (mean duration 57; SD = 10 min) to discuss their experiences of the OTS. Reflexive thematic analysis resulted in the identification of four higher order themes: definitions, symptoms, recovery and experiences and observations. Additional subthemes were created to facilitate organisation and presentation of data, and to aid both cohesiveness of reporting and publicising of results. Participants provided varied and sometimes dichotomous perceptions of the OTS and proposed a multifactorial profile of diagnostic symptoms. Prevalence of OTS within strength sports was considered low, with the majority of participants not observing or experiencing long-term reductions in performance with their athletes.

Economics of the Sacramental Bread Ordeal in the Russian Princedoms Period

The paper analyses the economics behind the ordeal by sacramental bread — a method of criminal dispute resolution in the Russian Princedoms period. Contributing to the framework advanced by Leeson (2011, 2012a, 2012b) [Trial by battle. Journal of Legal Analysis, 3(1), 341–375; An Austrian approach to law and economics, with special reference to superstition. The Review of Austrian Economics, 25(3), 185–198; Ordeals. The Journal of Law and Economics, 55(3), 691–714], this paper advances a hypothesis that the ordeal could have been designed as a ‘pressure valve’ to reduce scepticism in relation to other ordeals. To prove this, a model is constructed showing that when high scepticism causes fixed-outcome ordeals to become costly, the clergy could resort to creating an ordeal, the verdicts of which would not be argued against through a careful manipulation of its costs and benefits. In this ordeal, guilt was determined by the proband’s inability to swallow the bread due to stress and thus relied on a biological reaction instead of a predetermined outcome. Investigations showed that even if the ordeal delivered false verdicts, appealing the verdict was not beneficial to the proband. This was achieved by only employing the ordeal in resolution of petty theft, which made the potential losses from a false verdict very minimal. Further, the ordeal was staged as a confession, which reduced the possibility of a proband facing social ostracism.

Numerical Modeling of Freestream Turbulence Decay Using Different Commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics Codes

This work models the spatial decay of freestream turbulence using three different commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes: Fluent, star-ccm+, and cfx. The two-equation shear stress transport k–ω (SST-k–ω) steady Reynolds-averaged-Navier–Stokes (RANS) model was used, within each of these three different commercial codes, and the modeling variations were analyzed. Comparison of the results from the SST-k–ω model with experiments and large eddy simulation (LES) (carried out using star-ccm+) were also made, which reveal that all the commercial CFD codes demonstrate either a higher or slower rate of spatial turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) decay. Attempts were then made to unify the resultant modeling approach between these three CFD tools, by careful manipulation of the inlet boundary conditions and subsequent fine-tuning of the SST-k–ω model constant (β∞∗). The results obtained not only displayed uniformity among the three CFD codes but also demonstrated a much better agreement to the experiments and the LES results. Thereafter, the optimized model coefficient (β∞∗) was integrated with the three-equation k–kl–ω transition model to examine its applicability in modeling a turbulent boundary layer flow over a flat plate with low incoming turbulence. The results showed good agreement with the theoretical boundary layer correlations, with correct prediction of the transition location. The findings from this study can be used as a suitable modeling method to accurately model the effects of freestream turbulence on bluff-body and boundary layer flows.

Probing the electronic structure of ether functionalised ionic liquids using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

The charge distribution associated with individual components in functionalised ionic liquids (ILs) can be tuned by careful manipulation of the substituent groups incorporated into the ions.

Picturing the Immaterial

The article explores a significant trait in Ellen Thesleff’s art. Her artistic practices were deeply embedded in the development of European artistic circles at the end of the nineteenth century with a shift towards colour and meaning – when ‘material’ colour became part of the content – which was one of the main manifestations of Early Modernism in Finnish art. Her paintings from the 1890s reflect the ideals of correspondence, musicality and atmospheric tonality, a technique which she used in many of her early works. However, I will also propose that Thesleff’s take on the strict achromatic colour scheme, as well as the specific ascetic and tonalist technique which she used during the 1890s until the early-1900s, gave her subdued paintings and drawings new meaning and possibilities beyond the symbolist credo. The article discusses the interconnectedness between music and art using the nineteenth-century concepts of musicality and indistinctness. The difficult goal of using tangible form to reference intangible ideas was accomplished through careful manipulation of both style and subject. Such heavy manipulation, characterises the symbolist artist’s work, a form of non-compliance with traditional rules of representational art. By introducing extreme manipulation of form, colour, and technique, Thesleff announces to the viewer that her art is not an illusion of reality but rather a jumping-off image into the realm of ideas. However, these highly valued aspects of symbolist painting continued to be explored by artists also during the twentieth century. The method of tonality – one unifying colour to tone the whole painting – is something to which Thesleff surprisingly returns in the 1920s and 1930s.