Public smog knowledge,risk perception,and intention to reduce car use: Evidence from China

ABSTRACT

Smog pollution has received widely attention in recent years due to its negative effects. There is consensus that the motor vehicle exhaust emission is one of the sources of smog pollution and reduced private car use would significantly improve the air quality and alleviate the smog pollution problem. In this research, we aim to investigate how public smog knowledge and risk perception (physical health risk perception and mental health risk perception) affect public attitude and intention to reduce car use. A questionnaire survey of 334 randomly sampled respondents was designed to test these relationships. The results show that public smog knowledge is positively and significantly related to physical health risk perception, mental health risk perception, attitude and intention to reduce car use. Public smog knowledge has the largest impact on intention to reduce car use. Furthermore, physical health risk perception and mental health risk perception are positively and significantly associated with attitude and intention to reduce car use. In addition, the results also indicated that public smog knowledge is at a low level. Based on the results, implications and suggestions for future research were discussed.     

Chloroplast clustering around the nucleus is a general response to pathogen perception in Nicotiana benthamiana

It is increasingly clear that chloroplasts play a central role in plant stress responses. Upon activation of immune responses, chloroplasts are the source of multiple defensive signals, including reactive oxygen species (ROS). Intriguingly, it has been described that chloroplasts establish physical contact with the nucleus, through clustering around it and extending stromules, following activation of effector-triggered immunity (ETI). However, how prevalent this phenomenon is in plant–pathogen interactions, how its induction occurs, and what the underlying biological significance is are important questions that remain unanswered. Here, we describe that the chloroplast perinuclear clustering seems to be a general plant response upon perception of an invasion threat. Indeed, activation of pattern-triggered immunity, ETI, transient expression of the Rep protein from geminiviruses, or infection with viruses or bacteria all are capable of triggering this response in Nicotiana benthamiana. Interestingly, this response seems non-cell-autonomous, and exogenous treatment with H₂O₂ is sufficient to elicit this relocalization of chloroplasts, which appears to require accumulation of ROS. Taken together, our results indicate that chloroplasts cluster around the nucleus during plant–pathogen interactions, suggesting a fundamental role of this positioning in plant defence, and identify ROS as sufficient and possibly required for the onset of this response.     

Effects of Song Experience and Song Quality on Immediate Early Gene Expression in Female Canaries (Serinus canaria)

Female songbirds are thought to make mate choices based on aspects of male song quality. Male canaries (Serinus canaria) produce songs with “special” syllables that have been shown to be highly salient to female listeners – eliciting high rates of sexual displays and enhanced immediate early gene (IEG) expression. Immunohistochemistry for the IEG ZENK was used to examine the effects of experience with these syllables on activity in the caudal mesopallium (CMM) and nidocaudal mesopallium (NCM), two auditory areas important in processing conspecific song. Photostimulated female canaries were housed in sound attenuated chambers and played pseudosongs containing either three special syllables or three non‐special syllables, an intro, and an outro sequence. Females that heard special syllable pseudosongs exhibited higher ZENK expression in CMM. To assess the effects of experience, photostimulated females were pair housed and exposed to playback of song with or without special syllables for 14 days. After transfer to individual housing, birds were played one of the aforementioned stimuli or silence. ZENK expression in CMM and NCM was equivalent for song with and without special syllables, but significantly lower for silence. Females who experienced song with special syllables had lower plasma estradiol concentrations after final song playback. This study indicates that CMM exhibits an IEG response bias to special syllables in limited acoustic contexts, but not in full song, which may contain additional biologically relevant information. Furthermore, estradiol concentrations may mediate changes in song responses, serving as a mechanism for modulating mate choice in differing song environments.     

The uniquely human capacity to throw evolved from a non-throwing primate: an evolutionary dissociation between action and perception

Humans are uniquely endowed with the ability to engage in accurate, high-momentum throwing. Underlying this ability is a unique morphological adaptation that enables the characteristic rotation of the arm and pelvis. What is unknown is whether the psychological mechanisms that accompany the act of throwing are also uniquely human. Here we explore this problem by asking whether free-ranging rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta), which lack both the morphological and neural structures to throw, nonetheless recognize the functional properties of throwing. Rhesus not only understand that human throwing represents a threat, but that some aspects of a throwing event are more relevant than others; specifically, rhesus are sensitive to the kinematics, direction and speed of the rotating arm, the direction of the thrower's eye gaze and the object thrown. These results suggest that the capacity to throw did not coevolve with psychological mechanisms that accompany throwing; rather, this capacity may have built upon pre-existing perceptual processes. These results are consistent with a growing body of work showing that non-human animals often exhibit perceptual competencies that do not show up in their motor responses, suggesting evolutionary dissociations between the systems of perception that provide understanding of the world and those that mediate action on the world.     

The existence value of the Antillean manatee in the unprotected Hondo River (Mexico) as a fundamental component for its conservation

The Hondo River is the natural border between Mexico and Belize, and it is part of the distribution area of the Endangered Antillean manatee Trichechus manatus manatus. Currently, the Hondo River does not have any special protection. Employing qualitative research methods, we documented the social perception and local knowledge from riverside communities to assess conservation status and trends of manatees in the area. Fifty semi-structured interviews were carried out to river users in 16 Mexican communities, distributed in six segments along the riverbed. The claims of the inhabitants agree with boat-based surveys: most of the current and historical manatee sightings were reported in segments of the main watercourses, but also in small tributaries, which are usually shallow and rich in aquatic vegetation. Additionally, the local perception about manatee conservation status can be helpful to understand population trends and threats: 48 % of the interviewees claimed that nowadays the number of sighted manatees is less than that observed 10 years ago. The responders identified water pollution due to cane cultivation practices, motorized vessels traffic, and presence of fishing nets as potential threats to manatees. This study provides evidence of relevant local knowledge about the manatee ecology and its habitat, critical in the construction of binational conservation strategies for the species. Therefore, local resources users may play an increasingly significant role in manatee management and monitoring. Although manatees are poached for their meat in several areas of their distribution, the most common value attributed to manatees in Hondo River was non-use existence values. Local people recognize the challenges to observe this cryptic species in this river, but also identified manatees as potential flag species, suggesting that it may represent a valuable resource for ecotourism. We suggest that the non-extractive use of manatees has the potential for promoting species conservation and local economic growth.     

Metaphysical realism as a pre-condition of visual perception

In this paper I present a transcendental argument based on the findings of cognitive psychology and neurophysiology which invites two conclusions: First and foremost, that a pre-condition of visual perception itself is precisely what the Aristotelian and other commonsense realists maintain, namely, the independent existence of a featured, or pre-packaged world; second, this finding, combined with other reflections, suggests that, contra McDowell and other neo-Kantians, human beings have access to things as they are in the world via non-projective perception. These two conclusions taken together form the basis of Aristotelian metaphysical realism and a refutation of the neo-Kantian two-factor approach to perception.