Cultural differences in preferences for facial coloration

Effects of facial coloration on facial attractiveness judgments are hypothesized to be “universal” (i.e., similar across cultures). Cross-cultural similarity in facial color preferences is a critical piece of evidence for this hypothesis. However, only two studies have directly compared facial color preferences in two cultures. Both of those studies reported that White UK and Black African participants showed similar preferences for facial coloration. By contrast with the cross-cultural similarity reported in those studies, here we show cultural differences in the effects of facial coloration on Chinese and White UK participants' facial attractiveness judgments. While Chinese participants preferred faces with decreased yellowness to faces with increased yellowness, White UK participants preferred faces with increased yellowness to faces with decreased yellowness. Chinese participants also demonstrated weaker preferences for facial redness and stronger preferences for facial lightness than did White UK participants. These results suggest that preferences for facial coloration are not universal.     

The environmental zero‐point problem in evolutionary reaction norm modeling

There is a potential problem in present quantitative genetics evolutionary modeling based on reaction norms. Such models are state‐space models, where the multivariate breeder's equation in some form is used as the state equation that propagates the population state forward in time. These models use the implicit assumption of a constant reference environment, in many cases set to zero. This zero‐point is often the environment a population is adapted to, that is, where the expected geometric mean fitness is maximized. Such environmental reference values follow from the state of the population system, and they are thus population properties. The environment the population is adapted to, is, in other words, an internal population property, independent of the external environment. It is only when the external environment coincides with the internal reference environment, or vice versa, that the population is adapted to the current environment. This is formally a result of state‐space modeling theory, which is an important theoretical basis for evolutionary modeling. The potential zero‐point problem is present in all types of reaction norm models, parametrized as well as function‐valued, and the problem does not disappear when the reference environment is set to zero. As the environmental reference values are population characteristics, they ought to be modeled as such. Whether such characteristics are evolvable is an open question, but considering the complexity of evolutionary processes, such evolvability cannot be excluded without good arguments. As a straightforward solution, I propose to model the reference values as evolvable mean traits in their own right, in addition to other reaction norm traits. However, solutions based on an evolvable G matrix are also possible.     

Dynamical facilitation of the ideal free distribution in nonideal populations

The ideal free distribution (IFD) requires that individuals can accurately perceive density‐dependent habitat quality, while failure to discern quality differences below a given perception threshold results in distributions approaching spatial uniformity. Here, we investigate the role of population growth in restoring a nonideal population to the IFD. We place a simple model of discrete patch choice under limits to the resolution by which patch quality is perceived and include population growth driven by that underlying quality. Our model follows the population's distribution through both breeding and dispersal seasons when perception limits differ in their likely influence. We demonstrate that populations of perception limited movers can approximate an IFD provided sufficient population growth; however, the emergent IFD would be temporally inconstant and correspond to reproductive events. The time to emergence of the IFD during breeding is shorter under exponential growth than under logistic growth. The IFD during early colonization of a community persists longer when more patches are available to individuals. As the population matures and dispersal becomes increasingly random, there is an oscillation in the observance of IFD, with peaks most closely approximating the IFD occurring immediately after reproductive events, and higher reproductive rates producing distributions closer to the IFD.     

Patchwork, Pastoralists, and Perception: Dune Sand as a Valued Resource Among Herders of Inner Mongolia

Scholars have rarely reflected upon dune sand in any context other than that of environmental hazard. Yet recent anthropological research conducted among ethnic Mongol herders in the Keerqin Sandy Lands of Northeast China indicates that native inhabitants exhibit a surprising degree of tolerance, appreciation, and even preference for dune sand at specific spatio-temporal scales. Survey data, gathered primarily through the use of photographic prompts and pile sort exercises during household interviews, reveal that many residents even regard dune sand as the constituent element of a distinctive home environment and cherished way of life. This research underscores the relevance of perception to the policies and practices of human resource management. It also calls into question the authority with which officials and scholars in China and elsewhere indiscriminantly depreciate the various social utilities of dune sand in stock-herding populations.     

On the visual perception of the eyes in adult Hyalomma truncatum ticks (Acari: Ixodidae)

Adult Hyalomma truncatum ticks with uncovered and foil-covered eyes were exposed to an upright-positioned rectangle as a target giving a luminance contrast ratio of 5:1 at a sun-simulating radiation. The transmission rate of the foil was less than 0.003%. Significantly (p0.05) more locomotorally active ticks with uncovered eyes (36.6%) responded to the target than ticks with foil-covered eyes (7.3%). When the rectangle was illuminated by monochromatic light at wavelengths ranging between 420 and 648 nm, the target induced a positive scototaxis in ticks with uncovered eyes regardless of the wavelength range. In contrast, ticks with covered eyes did not exhibita positive scototaxis at wavelength ranges of 553–585 and 608–648 nm and very few ticks responded only to other wavelength ranges. The results indicate that the eyes are the only or at least the most essential sense organs in the visual system of adult H. truncatum ticks.     

Differences between attractive diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae), sex pheromone lures are not determinable through analysis of emissions

1 Conjoint comparisons were made between trap captures of male diamondback moths, Plutella xylostella (L.), and gas chromatographic measures of sex pheromone emissions from grey and red rubber septa. The objective was to correlate trap captures with emissions. 2 Irrespective of their composition, all mixtures that were released from grey septa effected the capture of more males than the same mixtures released from red septa. There was no difference between captures by any of the mixtures when emitted from grey septa. However, when emitted from red septa, a nominal 50 : 50 ratio of (Z)-11-hexadecenal (Z11–16:Al) and (Z)-11-hexadecenyl acetate (Z11–16:Ac) effected the capture of more males than either nominal 70 : 30 or 67 : 23 ratios. Generally, the emitted ratios of Z11–16:Al and Z11–16:Ac from both types of septa were variable, ranging between 6 : 10 to about 40 : 10. 3 No statistical correlation was found between the emissions and trap captures by any single component, group or ratio of components. These results suggest that the environment substantially affects the emission of sex pheromone components from rubber septa. As a result, the demonstration of geographical biotypes of diamondback moths and other insects may be difficult.     

Environmentally Conscious Product Design: A Collaborative Internet-based Modeling Approach

This paper proposes a computer-based method for providing product designers with real-time environmental impact assessment. In this concurrent modeling approach, environmental experts build life-cycle models, define their interfaces, and publish them as distributed objects on the Internet. Traditional designers integrating these objects into their design models have access to the impact assessment methods provided by the environmental expert. In this paradigm, the focus shifts from providing techniques that let non-expert designers perform life-cycle impact assessments to tools that facilitate timely communication and information transfer between designers and appropriate environmental experts. Establishing real-time communication between the product design models and the environmental life-cycle models is the primary focus of this paper. Methods for establishing and maintaining the interaction between life-cycle and product design models are described. A beverage container design example illustrates how this collaborative approach can use environmental and traditional design goals to determine effective tradeoffs between design alternatives.     

Embedding Science in Politics: "Complex Utilization" and Industrial Ecology as Models of Natural Resource Use

Throughout the short history of industrial ecology, issues of implementation have been heavily emphasized. Less attention has been given to the ways in which the technical models of industrial ecology interact with social processes. Yet the practitioners of industrial ecology frequently encounter challenges pertaining to contextualization when embedding a general model in different local contexts. In addition, there are reasons to believe that the models of industrial ecological systems become politically meaningful only when they are carefully contextualized and linked to localized needs. In this article, we aim at a better understanding of the political embedding of industrial ecology. In order to demonstrate some general mechanisms of embedding, we first conduct a frame analysis of complex utilization—a scientific policy instrument analogous to industrial ecology, developed in the Kola Peninsula, Russia. We identify five frames in which complex utilization has been promoted between 1935 and 2005. These frames are then compared to six frames identified in the industrial symbiosis in Kalundborg, Denmark. We find that effective political embedding relies on frames that function both on a general level and in specific contexts. General frames, such as efficiency, economy, and environment, need to be aligned with localized perceptions of particular issues. What is more, sensitivity to purely context-specific frames is necessary for effective political embedding. Finally, the political processes of framing also shape the scientific-technical models that are being promoted.     

Observations on graphing paleozoological data: Suggestions for better graphs

Paleozoologists have long used graphs of diverse styles to describe, analyze, and summarize their data. Some of these graphs provide excellent visual representations of complex data and are readily deciphered. Other graph styles require close study to be interpreted. Ease of visual decoding of information contained in a graph – graph perception – varies from graph style to graph style. Historical instances of graphing paleozoological data indicate some difficult to decipher graph styles have been used for at least a century. Graphs with three-dimensions, moiré effects, superimposed lines, or segmented bars, or which demand simultaneous decipherment of position and magnitude, are ill-advised. Temporal trends in data are best graphed following the principle of superposition such that data from old material is graphed at the bottom and data from younger material is graphed at the top of the diagram.