Knowledge Update

​London, Nov 3 (IANS) Larger violation of social norms in public spaces may not lead to stronger reaction from public than smaller violations, finds a new study.

The research team investigated how people respond to large and small violations of social norms in public spaces. 

The study published in the journal Nature Communications refutes the assumption that larger violations tend to be punished more severely than smaller offences. 

The researchers staged small violations (littering a coffee cup) and large violations (littering a coffee cup and bag of trash) at train stations in Germany and recorded how travellers responded in more than 800 trials. 

The implicit assumption was that bystanders would react more strongly if more garbage was littered, hence the norm violation was greater. 

However, the size of the violation did not affect the likelihood that the litterer would be reprimanded -- nor did it affect the intensity of the reprimand.

Travellers have more negative emotions toward the larger violation and felt that it should be reprimanded more severely. 

Despite these emotional responses, however, the surveyed individuals admitted that they would be reluctant to confront or punish such violations in real-life settings.

The scientists explain this reluctance with the perceived risk of retaliation by the norm violator. The greater the norm violation, the greater the retaliation might be. 

Bystanders feared that in cases of a more severe social norm violation, the person's reaction would be stronger when confronted or reprimanded. 

"The study shows that social self-regulation has its limits. Up to a certain point, we reprimand each other for bad behaviour. But in cases of more extreme norm violations, social self-regulation no longer works and we need authorities, police and security personnel," said Bettina Rockenbach, Professor at the University of Cologne, Germany.

​New York, Nov 2 (IANS) Making canola oil part of your diet may help you burn extra abdominal fat in less than four weeks, finds a new study.

"Visceral, or abdominal, fat increases the risk for cardiovascular disease, and is also associated with increased risk for conditions such as metabolic syndrome and diabetes. Monounsaturated fats in canola oil decreases fat that has adverse health effects," said Penny M. Kris-Etherton, Professor at the Pennsylvania State University, US.

For the study, the researchers tested the effect of five different vegetable oil blended in 101 participants' diets through a controlled study. 

The subjects were randomly assigned to follow for four weeks each of the treatment oil diets: conventional canola, high-oleic acid canola, high-oleic acid canola with DHA (a type of omega-3 fatty acid), corn/safflower and flax/safflower. 

After each four-week diet period, participants were given a four-week break before starting the next diet period.

All of the participants had abdominal obesity, or increased waist circumference, and were either at risk for or had metabolic syndrome -- a group of conditions including obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, low HDL (also known as good cholesterol) and excess body fat around the waist.

When participants consumed conventional canola oil or high-oleic acid canola oil for just four weeks, they lost abdominal fat.

The researchers found that after one month of adhering to diets that included canola oil, participants had 11 kgs, or a quarter pound, less belly fat than they did before the diet. 

They also found that the weight lost from the mid-section did not redistribute elsewhere in the body. 

In order to incorporate canola oil into the diet the researchers suggested using it when sauteing foods, in baking, adding it to a smoothie and in salad dressings.

The researchers presented their study at The Obesity Society's Annual Scientific Meeting.

​New York, Nov 3 (IANS) The constant feeling of being lonely and isolated may be due to the increased amyloid levels in the brain and can be indicative of preclinical Alzheimer's disease, researchers have found.

Loneliness -- characterised by subtle feelings of social detachment -- may be associated with early brain changes in preclinical Alzheimer's disease, prior to mild cognitive impairment.

The findings showed that higher brain amyloid burden was associated with more frequent feelings of isolation, being left out, and lacking companionship, independent of sociodemographic factors, objective measures of social network, depressive and anxiety symptoms.

"The study reports a novel association of loneliness and cortical amyloid burden in cognitively normal adults and present evidence for loneliness as a neuropsychiatric symptom relevant to preclinical Alzheimer's disease," said Nancy J. Donovan, M.D., of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard in Boston.

Emotional and behavioural symptoms in cognitively normal older people may be direct manifestations of Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathophysiology at the preclinical stage, prior to the onset of mild cognitive impairment, the study stated. 

For the study, the team included 43 women and 36 men with an average age of about 76 years. Out of these, 22 (28 per cent) were carriers of the genetic risk factor apolipoprotein, and 25 (32 per cent) were in the amyloid-positive group based on volume in imaging. 

The participants' average loneliness score was 5.3 on a scale of 3 to 12.

Higher cortical amyloid levels were associated with greater loneliness after controlling for age, sex, genetic risk, socioeconomic status, depression, anxiety and social network. 

The participants in the amyloid-positive group were 7.5 times more likely to be classified as lonely than non-lonely compared with individuals in the amyloid-negative group. 

The association between high amyloid levels and loneliness was also stronger in APOE 4 carriers than in non-carriers.

"The study will inform new research into the neurobiology of loneliness and other socioemotional changes in late life and may enhance early detection and intervention research in Alzheimer's disease," Donovan said in the study appearing online in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.

New York, Nov 3 (IANS) US researchers have identified a possible trigger of chronic inflammation in people with diabetes which could be targeted for preventing complications such as heart attacks, strokes, kidney problems and other related health issues.

"The number of people with diabetes has quadrupled worldwide over the last 20 years," said Clay F. Semenkovich, Professor at the Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, in the US. 

Too much fat in the diet promotes insulin resistance by spurring chronic inflammation. 

But blocking the production of fat inside immune cells may prevent inflammation in people with diabetes and even in other conditions, such as arthritis and cancer, in which chronic inflammation plays a role. 

This could have a profound impact on health, Semenkovich added.

For the study, Semenkovich's team made genetically altered mice that could not make the enzyme for fatty acid synthase (FAS) in immune cells called macrophages. 

Without the enzyme, it was impossible for the mice to synthesise fatty acids, a normal part of cell metabolism.

"We were surprised to find that the mice were protected from diet-induced diabetes. They did not develop the insulin resistance and diabetes that normally would have been induced by a high-fat diet," said Xiaochao Wei from the Washington University. 

Further, through a series of experiments in the animals and in cell cultures, the researchers found that if macrophages could not synthesise fat from within, the external membranes of those cells could not respond to fat from outside the cells. That prevented the cells from contributing to inflammation.

But, eliminating inflammation altogether is not the answer to preventing diabetic complications because inflammation is also vital for clearing infectious pathogens from the body and helps wounds heal, Semenkovich said.

The study is published online in the journal Nature.

​London, Nov 3 (IANS) Consuming foods rich in proteins such as lean meat, fish, legumes and almonds can significantly reduce fat accumulated in the liver within six weeks, researchers say.

The findings showed that liver fat levels dropped by up to 48 per cent after eating high-protein diet regardless of whether it came from a plant or animal source, and also prevented the occurrence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease -- a very common disorder where excess fat accumulates in the liver -- especially in people with diabetes.

"When left untreated, fatty liver is an important step progress to Type 2 diabetes and can develop into liver cirrhosis, which can have life-threatening effects," said lead author Andreas F.H. Pfeiffer, Endocrinologist at the German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke (DifE), in Germany. 

Further, the study showed that high-protein diet caused favourable changes in the liver and lipid metabolism, improved insulin sensitivity and led to a significant reduction in the hormone fibroblast growth factor 21 in the blood.

For the study, the researchers investigated the effects of two high-protein diets -- plant- or animal-based -- on the metabolism of 37 female and male subjects between the ages of 49 and 78 years suffering from Type 2 diabetes and, in most cases, from fatty liver. 

The main source for the plant protein group were foods such as noodles or bread that were enriched with pea protein. The animal protein group consumed lean milk products as well as white meat and fish as protein sources.

The results showed that no negative effect was observed on renal function or glucose metabolism and all study participants benefited from the high-protein diet. 

The liver fat content decreased significantly, in half of the study participants by more than 50 per cent. 

The study was published in the journal Gastroenterology.

​Washington, Nov 3 (IANS) US space agency NASA has completed the construction of the world's largest space telescope, after almost two decades.

The James Webb Space Telescope is considered to be the successor to NASA's 26-year-old Hubble Space Telescope, the agency announced on Wednesday.

NASA said an Ariane 5 rocket will launch it from French Guiana in October 2018, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Today, we're celebrating the fact that our telescope is finished and we're about to prove that it works," Nobel laureate and Webb's senior project scientist John Mather said during a news conference posted on Youtube, adding that the new telescope will open up "a whole new territory of astronomy".

"We will see things we have not seen before because this telescope is much more powerful than even the great Hubble telescope," Mather said, adding "To give you some perspective about what we can do with it. If you were a bumblebee at a distance of the moon, we will be able to see you, both by your reflective sunlight and by thermal radiation and heat you emitted."

According to NASA, its engineers and technicians on Wednesday successfully completed the first important optical measurement of Webb's fully assembled primary mirror, known as a Centre of Curvature test, to measure the mirror's shape.

Next, the 6.5-metre primary mirror consisting of 18 hexagonal mirrors will go through a series of rigorous tests that will simulate the violent sound and vibration environments the telescope will experience inside its rocket on its way out into space.

The Centre of Curvature test will be repeated after the launch environment testing and the results compared to find if there are any changes or damages to the optical system.

NASA said the Webb telescope will be used to observe distant objects in the universe, provide images of the first galaxies formed and see unexplored planets around distant stars.

The $8.7 billion project is led by NASA but also supported by the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

​New York, Nov 2 (IANS) Positive school climate helps students not just to achieve academic excellence but also improve outcomes for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, according to a new study.

Researchers found substantial evidence that schools with positive climates can narrow achievement gaps among students of different socioeconomic backgrounds and between students with stronger and weaker academic abilities.

"Our analysis shows that schools do matter and can do much to improve academic outcomes. Our findings suggest that by promoting a positive climate, schools can allow greater equality in educational opportunities, decrease socioeconomic inequalities, and enable more social mobility," said Ron Avi Astor, professor at the University of Southern California, in the US. 

For their study, published in the Review of Educational Research, the researchers analysed 78 studies that focused on the relationship between school or classroom climate, academic achievement, and socioeconomic status.

In their analysis, the authors found great variation in the school climate definitions and measurements used by researchers, reflecting the absence of clear and uniform standards.

The analysis also found no correlation between socioeconomic status and perceptions of school climate. This suggests that schools serving students of lower socioeconomic status do not necessarily have poor climates and that positive climates can be nurtured in these schools.

"Positive school climate has the potential to break the negative influences that stem from poor socioeconomic backgrounds and to mitigate risk factors that threaten academic achievement," said Ruth Berkowitz, assistant professor of social work at the University of Haifa, Israel. 

​Washington, Nov 2 (IANS) A sensing technique that the US military currently uses to remotely monitor the air to detect potentially life-threatening chemicals, toxins, and pathogens has inspired a new instrument that could "sniff" for life on Mars.

The Bio-Indicator Lidar Instrument, or BILI is a fluorescence-based lidar, a type of remote-sensing instrument similar to radar in principle and operation. 

Instead of using radio waves, however, lidar instruments use light to detect and ultimately analyse the composition of particles in the atmosphere.

Although NASA has used fluorescence instruments to detect chemicals in Earth's atmosphere as part of its climate-studies research, the agency so far hasn't employed the technique in planetary studies. 

"NASA has never used it before for planetary ground level exploration. If the agency develops it, it will be the first of a kind," said Branimir Blagojevic, a NASA technologist at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Blagojevic, who formerly worked for Science and Engineering Services, LLC, that developed the sensor, has applied the technology to create an instrument prototype, proving in testing that the same remote-sensing technology used to identify bio-hazards in public places also could be effective at detecting organic bio-signatures on Mars.

The beauty of BILI is its ability to detect in real-time small levels of complex organic materials from a distance of several hundred meters, Blagojevic added in a NASA statement.

Therefore, it could autonomously search for bio-signatures in plumes above recurring slopes -- areas not easily traversed by a rover carrying a variety of in-situ instruments for detailed chemical and biological analysis. 

Furthermore, because it could do a ground-level aerosol analysis from afar, BILI reduces the risk of sample contamination that could skew the results.

"This makes our instrument an excellent complementary organic-detection instrument, which we could use in tandem with more sensitive, point sensor-type mass spectrometers that can only measure a small amount of material at once," Blagojevic said. 

"BILI's measurements do not require consumables other than electrical power and can be conducted quickly over a broad area. This is a survey instrument, with a nose for certain molecules," Blagojevic noted.

With such a tool, which also could be installed on an orbiting spacecraft, NASA could dramatically increase the probability of finding bio-signatures in the solar system, he added.

"We are ready to integrate and test this novel instrument, which would be capable of detecting a number organic bio-signatures," Blagojevic said.

​San Diego, Nov 2 (IANS) Investing in creativity pays off with tangible benefits -- from higher income to greater national competitiveness and productivity, a new Adobe report said on Wednesday.

The report, "State of Create: 2016", released on the eve of Adobe MAX 2016 creativity conference, revealed that people who identify as creators globally report household income that is 13 per cent higher than non-creators.

Globally, more than two-thirds believe that being creative helps make people better workers, leaders, parents and students, the report highlighted. It incorporates responses from more than 5,000 adults across five countries.

"Creativity and productivity go hand in hand, but investing in creativity isn't on the agenda for enough of today's leaders," Mala Sharma, Vice President and General Manager of Creative Cloud at Adobe, said in a statement. 

"This survey provides a big wake-up call to businesses that they need to think differently and give employees the tools and freedom to be creative," she added.

According to the report, US respondents said that being creative is valuable to the economy (77 per cent) and society (82 per cent).

Only five in 10 respondents (55 per cent) describe themselves as creative and 44 per cent say they are living up to their creative potential, showed the survey that found US creators earning 17 per cent more than non-creators.

"Businesses benefit from prioritising creativity and good design. Nearly 88 per cent believe that businesses that invest in creativity are more likely to foster innovation and 89 per cent believe that those who have adopted creativity have satisfied customers," the report found.

The report pointed out that governments that invest in creativity are viewed more positively but agrees that there is a clear disconnect between the high value society places on creativity and the lack of investment in creative education. 

Seventy-one per cent of respondents believe that creativity is being stifled by the educational system, and only 41 per cent feel that the government encourages schools to teach students to be creative.

The report also found that Japan is the most creative country and Tokyo the most creative city followed by the US and New York respectively.

​Beijing, Nov 2 (IANS) Chinese aircraft manufacturer AVIC unveiled the country's first unmanned plane during the International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition held this week in Zhuhai, China.

The plane, which is capable of flying at high altitudes of more than 14,000 m, is designed for reconnaissance and attack missions, Efe news reported.

Named 'Cloud Shadow', the plane has a maximum speed of 620 kmph, a control system that allows a range of 290 km, and is available for export, according to defence experts.

Other noteworthy specifications include its autonomy of six hours, maximum load of 400 kg and compatibility with several air-to-surface missiles, bombs and other new weapons. 

The International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition offers a peek into the latest developments in China's civil and military airline industry.