Increasing body satisfaction of body concerned women through evaluative conditioning using social stimuli.

Objective: Many women show weight and body concerns that leave them vulnerable to body dissatisfaction, lowered self-esteem, psychological distress, and eating disorders. This study tested whether body satisfaction could be increased by means of evaluative conditioning. Design: In the experimental condition (n = 26), women with low and high body concern completed a conditioning procedure in which pictures of their bodies were selectively linked to positive social stimuli (pictures of smiling faces). Pictures of control bodies were linked to neutral or negative social stimuli (neutral and frowning faces). In a control condition (n = 28), low and high body concerned women underwent a procedure in which pictures of their own body and of control bodies were randomly followed by positive, neutral, and negative social stimuli. Main Outcome Measures: Changes in body satisfaction and self-esteem before and after the conditioning task. Results: Women with high body concern demonstrated an increase in body satisfaction and global self-esteem when pictorial representations of their own bodies were associated with positive stimuli that signaled social acceptance. Conclusion: A simple conditioning procedure increased body satisfaction in healthy, normal weight women who were concerned about their shape and weight. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of Traffic Management on Black Carbon Emissions: a Microsimulation Study

This paper investigates the effectiveness of traffic management tools, including traffic signal control and en-route navigation provided by variable message signs (VMS), in reducing traffic congestion and associated emissions of CO₂, NO_x, and black carbon. The latter is among the most significant contributors of climate change, and is associated with many serious health problems. This study combines traffic microsimulation (S-Paramics) with emission modeling (AIRE) to simulate and predict the impacts of different traffic management measures on a number traffic and environmental Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) assessed at different spatial levels. Simulation results for a real road network located in West Glasgow suggest that these traffic management tools can bring a reduction in travel delay and BC emission respectively by up to 6 % and 3 % network wide. The improvement at local levels such as junctions or corridors can be more significant. However, our results also show that the potential benefits of such interventions are strongly dependent on a number of factors, including dynamic demand profile, VMS compliance rate, and fleet composition. Extensive discussion based on the simulation results as well as managerial insights are provided to support traffic network operation and control with environmental goals. The study described by this paper was conducted under the support of the FP7-funded CARBOTRAF project.     

Modeling farm nutrient flows in the North China Plain to reduce nutrient losses

Years of poor nutrient management practices in the agriculture industry in the North China Plain have led to large losses of nutrients to the environment, causing severe ecological consequences. Analyzing farm nutrient flows is urgently needed in order to reduce nutrient losses. A farm-level nutrient flow model was developed in this study based on the NUFER (NUtrient flows in Food chains, Environment and Resources use) model, and was used to analyze nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) flows, use efficiencies, and losses for nine representative farm types in the North China Plain. Data from 401 farms were evaluated for the years 2012–2015. The analysis showed that mixed farms were more efficient in nutrient utilization than crop-based or landless livestock farms. The efficiencies of N and P used in crop production were highest for mixed dairy farms, reaching 67% for N and 68% for P. Consistently, mixed dairy farms had the lowest N and P surpluses and losses in crop production. Mixed swine farms were 5 and 9% higher in N and P efficiency in livestock production than landless swine farms, respectively. Losses of N and P from the animal manure management chain were 20–42% lower for mixed swine and 69–78% lower for mixed poultry farms than for landless farms of the same animal type. This is at least partially due to more frequent manure removal. Integrated crop-livestock production using livestock wastes as crop fertilizer was shown to be the most sustainable model in nutrient use for the agriculture industry in the North China Plain.     

The contribution of activity-based transport models to air quality modelling: A validation of the ALBATROSS-AURORA model chain

The potential advantages of using activity-based transport models for air quality purposes have been recognized for a long time but models that have been developed along these lines are still scarce. In this paper we demonstrate that an activity-based model provides useful information for predicting hourly ambient pollutant concentrations. For this purpose, the traffic emissions obtained in a previous application of the activity-based model ALBATROSS were used as input for the AURORA air quality model to predict hourly concentrations of NO₂, PM₁₀ and O₃ in the Netherlands. Predicted concentrations were compared with measured concentrations at 37 monitoring stations from the Dutch air quality monitoring network. A statistical analysis was performed to evaluate model performance for different pollutants, locations and time periods. Results confirm that modelled and measured concentrations present the same geographical and temporal variation. The overall index of agreement for the prediction of hourly pollutant concentrations amounted to 0.64, 0.75 and 0.57 for NO₂, O₃ and PM₁₀ respectively. Concerning the predictions for NO2, a major traffic pollutant, a more thorough analysis revealed that the ALBATROSS-AURORA model chain yielded better predictions near traffic locations than near background stations. Further, the model performed better in urban areas, on weekdays and during the day, consistent with the emission results obtained in a previous study. The results in this paper demonstrate the ability of the activity-based model to predict the contribution of traffic sources to local air pollution with sufficient accuracy and confirms the usefulness of activity-based transport models for air quality purposes. The fact that the ALBATROSS-AURORA chain provides reliable pollutant concentrations on hourly basis for the whole Netherlands instead of using only daily averages near traffic stations is a plus for future exposure studies aiming at more realistic exposure analyses and health impact assessments.     

Organisations going virtual

This paper deals with the different meanings given to the concept of virtual organisation. A typology developed by Campbell, consisting of four forms of virtual organisation, is presented. We illustrate this categorisation with practical examples. We will explain why we use the term virtual organising rather than virtual organisation. Our conclusion is that organisations planning to go virtual have to make technological and organisational decisions that are intertwined at a strategic level, resulting in a specific sociotechnical configuration of virtual organising.     

The Effect of Thermal Treatment on the Morphology and Charge Carrier Dynamics in a Polythiophene–Fullerene Bulk Heterojunction

The influence of various thermal treatment steps on the morphology and the photoconductive properties of a non‐contacted, 50 nm thick blend (50:50 wt.‐%) of [6,6]‐phenyl C₆₁‐butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) and poly(3‐hexyl thiophene) (P3HT) spin‐coated from chloroform has been studied using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and the electrodeless time‐resolved microwave conductivity technique. After annealing the film for 5 min at 80 °C, TEM images show the formation of crystalline fibrils of P3HT due to a more ordered packing of the polymer chains. The thermal treatment results in a large increase of the photoconductivity, due to an enhancement of the hole mobility in these crystalline P3HT domains from 0.0056 cm² V^–1 s ^–1 for the non‐annealed sample to 0.044 cm² V^–1 s ^–1 for the sample annealed at 80 °C. In contrast, the temporal shape of the photoconductivity, with typical decay half‐times, τ_1/2, of 1 μs for the lowest excitation intensities, is unaffected by the temperature treatment. Further annealing of the sample at 130 °C results in the formation of three different substructures within the heterojunction: a PCBM:P3HT blend with PCBM‐rich clusters, a region depleted of PCBM, and large PCBM single crystals. Only a minor increase in the amplitude, but a tenfold rise of the decay time of the photoconductivity, is observed. This is explained by the formation of PCBM‐rich clusters and large PCBM single crystals, resulting in an increased diffusional escape probability for mobile charge carriers and hence reduced recombination.     

Nitrogen inputs to rivers, estuaries and continental shelves and related nitrous oxide emissions in 1990 and 2050: a global model

The purpose of the current paper is to estimate future trends (up to the year 2050) in the global geographical distribution of nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions in rivers, estuaries, and continental shelf regions due to biological processes, particularly as they are affected by anthropogenic nitrogen (N) inputs, and to compare these to 1990 emissions. The methodology used is from Seitzinger and Kroeze (1998) who estimated 1990 emissions assuming that N₂O production in these systems is related to nitrification and denitrification. Nitrification and denitrification in rivers and estuaries were related to external inputs of nitrogen to those systems. The model results indicate that between 1990 and 2050 the dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) export by rivers more than doubles to 47.2 Tg N in 2050. This increase results from a growing world population, associated with increases in fertilizer use and atmospheric deposition of nitrogen oxides (NOy). By 2050, 90% of river DIN export can be considered anthropogenic. N₂O emissions from rivers, estuaries and continental shelves are calculated to amount to 4.9 (1.3 – 13.0) Tg N in 2050, of which two-thirds are from rivers. Aquatic emissions of N₂O are calculated to increase faster than DIN export rates: between 1990 and 2050, estuarine and river emissions increase by a factor of 3 and 4, respectively. Emissions from continental shelves, on the other hand, are calculated to increase by only 12.5%.     

Mouth movements diminish taste adaptation, but rate of mouth movement does not affect adaptation

The degree of adaptation to five concentrations of sucrose was measured. Solutions were kept in the mouth for 25 s; a sweetness judgement was given every 5 s. There were four conditions of mouth movements: no movement, slow, medium and fast mouth movements. It was found that when mouth movements are made there is less adaptation than when there is no mouth movement; however, the rate of movement does not appear to influence the degree of adaptation. Furthermore concentration was found to have an effect. In the no-movement condition, the degree of adaptation seems to rise with concentration, whereas in the movement conditions the opposite effect occurs, i.e. a decrease in the degree of adaptation occurs with increasing sucrose concentration. These phenomena might be explained by the stimulated tongue area, or by taste constancy.