Esthetic decision‐making: How do people select colours for real settings?

A feature of the empirical literature in colour psychology is that little attention has been given to how people in real settings engage in colour selection. Surprisingly, with rare exceptions, we know almost nothing about this. Besides its theoretical significance within psychology, this question has practical implications for industries where colour choice is important. A study is reported into that most ubiquitous of activities, selecting a paint colour for the home. This used a retrospective method supported by qualitative data analysis (NVivo) in which participants described their process of colour selection. The results indicate a process that is far from uniform, but one that consists of two essential stages. The first involves arriving at what we refer to as an affective specification of the qualities sought. Once constructed, this leads to the second stage of matching colour attributes to that specification. Selecting a wall colour emerges as a surprisingly complex process, and one that corresponds more closely to a search than to a simple affective choice. A parallel is drawn with decision research, particularly the field of naturalistic decision‐making. From participants' reports, colour selection also emerges as a process that women appear to understand better than men. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 33, 55–60, 2008     

Interaction of inositol phosphate with calcite

The interaction of myo-inositol hexaphosphate with calcite was studied to evaluate the adsorption mechanisms and the electrochemical modifications induced by interaction of a molecule at such a high-charge density. In addition to quantitative information through the construction of adsorption isotherms, FT-IR and Laser Doppler Velocimetry - Photon Correlation Spectroscopy (LDV-PCS) were employed to investigate the nature of the adsorbent-adsorbate bonds and to determine the electrophoretic mobility and size of the particles before and after sorption. The experiments were also run with orthophosphate (Pi) for comparison. The amount of sorbed P increased to reach a plateau at 17.8 mol m^-2 for inositol hexaphosphate (IHP) while for Pi rose 1.4 mol m^-2 but at C_e > 610^-4 M it had a sharp increase reaching 155 mol m^-2. As expected, for Pi, adsorption predominated up Ce 610^-4 M by covering about 20% of total surface. The adsorption occurred at sites that behaved as nucleus of formation of the clustering of Ca- and PO₄-ions with the ending formation of calcium phosphate precipitates at C_e higher than 610^-4 M. The reaction of inositol hexaphosphate with calcite involves, besides adsorption, precipitation of Ca salts and hence calcite dissolution also at the lowest added IHP concentrations, accounting for the large amount retained by calcite. Sorption of IHP on calcite caused aggregation of particles at low concentrations followed by an increase of their negative charge and hence re-dispersion at higher concentrations. These results indicate a great IHP-fixing capacity of calcite that can affect its accumulation in soils and P bioavailability, and a considerable change of calcite electrochemical properties and particle size distribution that can modify aggregate stability.     

<i>Trypanosoma rangeli:</i> growth in mammalian cells <i>in vitro</i> and action of a repositioned drug (17-AAG) and a natural extract (<i>Artemisia sp</i>. essential oil)

Trypanosoma rangeli and T. cruzi are both parasitic unicellular species that infect humans. Unlike T. cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease, T. rangeli is an infective and non-pathogenic parasite for humans, but pathogenic for vectors from the Rhodnius genus. Because both species can coexist in different hosts and overlap their infective cycles but very little is known about the infection of T. rangeli in mammalian cells, we decided to characterize both the development of this parasite in cell culture and the effect of therapeutic agents with potential trypanocidal action on it. We found that T. rangeli exhibits a cycle of infection in Vero cells similar to that for T. cruzi and that the repurposed drug, 17-AAG, and the natural extract Artemisia sp. essential oil produce a toxic effect on epimastigotes showing a trypanocidal action from the fifth day of culture. Both treatments also affected the infection of trypomastigotes and reduced the capacity of replication of amastigotes of T. rangeli. Since T. cruzi / T. rangeli coinfection cases have been reported, the finding of drugs with potential activity against both species could be significant in the future. Furthermore, studies of susceptibility of both species to drugs could also help to know the different mechanisms of pathogenicity in humans displayed by T. cruzi that are absent in T. rangeli     

Mundane aesthetics.

With the publication of Zür experimentalen ?sthetik (1871) and Vorschule der ?sthetik (1876), Fechner laid the foundations for a new field termed experimental aesthetics, and provided three methods for empirical research. Of these, the method of choice has dominated subsequent research. It is argued that this method, in combination with a narrow, post-Baumgarten definition of aesthetics as pertaining mainly to the experience of art, has not served aesthetics well. In so doing it has overlooked the vast corpus of everyday objects for which people engage in aesthetic choice. Termed mundane aesthetics, this represents the low end, design, as distinct from the high end, art. The aesthetics of the mundane represents everyday reality, far removed from the rarefied pursuit of art. A study is reported into that most mundane and ubiquitous activity, selecting a paint color for the home. It eschews the laboratory and, instead, uses a retrospective method supported by qualitative data analysis (NVivo). The results indicate that aesthetic choice involves processes that are far from uniform, far from instantaneous (cf. laboratory studies), and that employ both internal and external aids reflecting cognitive, emotional, and social considerations. Selecting a wall color emerges as a surprisingly sophisticated process and, on the basis of the present study, one that women appear better equipped to perform than men. A parallel is drawn with the domain of decision research, particularly naturalistic decision-making. Mundane aesthetics involves a decision process, and not simply an affective choice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of native species Crenicichla menezesi (Ariidae) as a model for in situ evaluation of genotoxicity in surface water

The aim of this work was to analyze the genotoxicity in surface water from the Pitimbú River (Natal, Brazil) using a neotropical species Crenicichla menezesi as bioindicator for in situ evaluation. The genotoxicity was analyzed using the micronucleus (MN) and comet assays in erythrocytes. The animals were collected from five sites of the river. A significant increase of MN frequency and comet class L1 to L4 were observed only in specimens collected from three sampling sites (SS3, SS4 and SS5) located into urban areas. These same sites also presented high metals concentration. Correlation of DNA damage and concentrations of Cu (Spearman r = 0.8080), Cr (Spearman r = 0.9772), and Ni (Spearman r = 0.9909) were observed. These data indicate the presence of genotoxic agents. Moreover the C. menezesi species showed to be a good indicator for prompt analyses since this species presents sedentary and carnivore habits.     

Glyphosate transport through weathered granite soils under irrigated and non-irrigated conditions — Barcelona, Spain

The transport of Glyphosate ([N-phosphonomethyl] glycine), AMPA (aminomethylphosphonic acid, CH₆NO₃P), and Bromide (Br⁻) has been studied, in the Mediterranean Maresme area of Spain, north of Barcelona, where groundwater is located at a depth of 5.5 m. The unsaturated zone of weathered — granite soils was characterized in adjacent irrigated and non-irrigated experimental plots where 11 and 10 boreholes were drilled, respectively. At the non irrigated plot, the first half of the period was affected by a persistent and intense rainfall. After 69 days of application residues of Glyphosate up to 73.6 μgg^− 1 were detected till a depth of 0.5 m under irrigated conditions, AMPA, analyzed only in the irrigated plot was detected till a depth of 0.5 m. According to the retardation coefficient of Glyphosate as compared to that of Br⁻ for the topsoil and subsoil (80 and 83, respectively) and the maximum observed migration depth of Br⁻ (2.9 m) Glyphosate and AMPA should have been detected till a depth of 0.05 m only. Such migration could be related to the low content of organic matter and clays in the soils; recharge generated by irrigation and heavy rain, and possible preferential solute transport and/or colloidal mediated transport.     

Large‐Area Fabrication of Periodic Arrays of Nanoholes in Metal Films and Their Application in Biosensing and Plasmonic‐Enhanced Photovoltaics

Plasmonics is a fast developing research area with a great potential for practical applications. However, the implementation of plasmonic devices requires low cost methodologies for the fabrication of organized metallic nanostructures that covers a relative large area (～1 cm²). Here the patterning of periodic arrays of nanoholes (PANHs) in gold films by using a combination of interference lithography, metal deposition, and lift off is reported. The setup allows the fabrication of periodic nanostructures with hole diameters ranging from 110 to 1000 nm, for 450 and 1800 nm of periodicity, respectively. The large areas plasmonic substrates consist of 2 cm × 2 cm gold films homogeneously covered by nanoholes and gold films patterned with a regular microarray of 200 μm diameter circular patches of PANHs. The microarray format is used for surface plasmon resonance (SPR) imaging and its potential for applications in multiplex biosensing is demonstrated. The gold films homogeneously covered by nanoholes are useful as electrodes in a thin layer organic photovoltaic. This is first example of a large area plasmonic solar cell with organized nanostructures. The fabrication approach reported here is a good candidate for the industrial‐scale production of metallic substrates for plasmonic applications in photovoltaics and biosensing.     

Springtime Monitoring of Passive Cool Roofs in Subtropical Climate

Passive strategies for acclimatization of buildings have been studied by several authors in many countries, especially the evaporative and radiant cooling techniques. Fiber cement tiles are very common in popular constructions due to their low cost. However, they have over twice of the value thermal transmittance indicated to this bioclimatic zone according to Brazilian guidelines. The objective is to present an alternative to reduce high temperatures on fiber cement tiles. In this paper, the monitoring of passive cooling of roofing during the spring season in a city with subtropical climate is described. Single and combined reflective and evaporative cooling systems were studied in different environmental conditions. Internal surface temperatures of tiles were monitored together with weather variables. Results show a decrease of about 6 ℃, 9 ℃, 10 ℃ and 11 ℃ as compared to the original tiles according to environment conditions and the combined passive cooling techniques. These results allow for the conclusion that the use of passive cooling techniques opens up new possibilities to attenuate the internal surface temperatures of tiles and to consequently decrease the roofing solar heat gain into buildings, thus, providing less air cooling energy consumption.