Mysterious Phenomenon Research Articles

A solution to the mysteries of morality.

We propose that moral condemnation functions to guide bystanders to choose the same side as other bystanders in disputes. Humans interact in dense social networks, and this poses a problem for bystanders when conflicts arise: which side, if any, to support. Choosing sides is a difficult strategic problem because the outcome of a conflict critically depends on which side other bystanders support. One strategy is siding with the higher status disputant, which can allow bystanders to coordinate with one another to take the same side, reducing fighting costs. However, this strategy carries the cost of empowering high-status individuals to exploit others. A second possible strategy is choosing sides based on preexisting relationships. This strategy balances power but carries another cost: Bystanders choose different sides, and this discoordination causes escalated conflicts and high fighting costs. We propose that moral cognition is designed to manage both of these problems by implementing a dynamic coordination strategy in which bystanders coordinate side-taking based on a public signal derived from disputants' actions rather than their identities. By focusing on disputants' actions, bystanders can dynamically change which individuals they support across different disputes, simultaneously solving the problems of coordination and exploitation. We apply these ideas to explain a variety of otherwise mysterious moral phenomena.

Myth from a Psychological Point of View

One of the most mysterious phenomena in the world that engage the human's curious mind for long time is to discover the unknown world of myth. Believes and costumes of every nation is like a very strong and big tree. That has rooted in myth and their result has appeared in art and literature; and now we can understand the importance of myth. In this study we have tried to consider myth and theory's about collective subcontinent and dream and to make clear relationship be literature's notion with psychology and its branches and whatever that analysis in this interfiled research is cases that show the importance of relation between different fields that with more and penalized investigation we can find new information that maybe with more consideration and more attention to relation of these sciences; we can discover the hidden and unknown aspect of human's life and his behaviors.

Osho - Insights on sex

Sex is a mysterious phenomenon, which has puzzled even great sages. Human beings have researched and mastered the biology of sex. But that is not all. Sex needs to be understood from the spiritual perspective too. The vision of Osho is an enlightening experience in this regard. Out of the thousands of lectures, five lectures on sex made Osho most notorious. Born into a Jain family of Madhya Pradesh, Rajneesh, who later wanted himself to be called Osho, is a great master. He has spoken volumes on a wide range of topics ranging from sex to super-consciousness. His contributions in the area of sex are based on the principles of “Tantra” which has its origin from Buddhism. This article focuses on his life and insights on sex, which if understood properly, can be a stepping stone for enlightenment.

The epigenetic regulation of transposable elements by PIWI-interacting RNAs in <i>Drosophila</i>

A mechanism is required to repress the expression and transposition of transposable elements (TEs) to ensure the stable inheritance of genomic information. Accumulating evidence indicates that small non-coding RNAs are important regulators of TEs. Among small non-coding RNAs, PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) serve as guide molecules for recognizing and silencing numerous TEs and work in collaboration with PIWI subfamily proteins in gonadal cells. Disruption of the piRNA pathway correlates with loss of proper genomic organization, gene expression control and fertility. Moreover, recent studies on the molecular mechanisms of piRNA biogenesis and on piRNA function have shown that piRNAs act as maternally inherited genic elements, transferring information about repressed TEs to progeny. These findings enable a molecular explanation of mysterious epigenetic phenomena, such as hybrid dysgenesis and TE adaptation with age. Here, I review our current knowledge of piRNAs derived from biochemical and genetic studies and discuss how small RNAs are utilized to maintain genome organization and to provide non-DNA genetic information. I mainly focus on Drosophila but also discuss comparisons with other species.

A potential link among biogenic amines-based pesticides, learning and memory, and colony collapse disorder: A unique hypothesis

Pesticides are substances that have been widely used throughout the world to kill, repel, or control organisms such as certain forms of plants or animals considered as pests. Depending on their type, dose, and persistence in the environment, they can have impact even on non-target species such as beneficial insects (honeybees) in different ways, including reduction in their survival rate and interference with their reproduction process. Honeybee Apis mellifera is a major pollinator and has substantial economical and ecological values. Colony collapse disorder (CCD) is a mysterious phenomenon in which adult honeybee workers suddenly abandon from their hives, leaving behind food, brood, and queen. It is lately drawing a lot of attention due to pollination crisis as well as global agriculture and medical demands. If the problem of CCD is not resolved soon enough, this could have a major impact on food industry affecting world’s economy a big time. Causes of CCD are not known. In this overview, I discuss CCD, biogenic amines-based-pesticides (neonicotinoids and formamidines), and their disruptive effects on biogenic amine signaling causing olfactory dysfunction in honeybees. According to my hypothesis, chronic exposure of biogenic amines-based-pesticides to honeybee foragers in hives and agricultural fields can disrupt neural cholinergic and octopaminergic signaling. Abnormality in biogenic amines-mediated neuronal signaling impairs their olfactory learning and memory, therefore foragers do not return to their hive – a possible cause of CCD. This overview is an attempt to discuss a hypothetical link among biogenic amines-based pesticides, olfactory learning and memory, and CCD.

Approaching the Conceptual Leap in Qualitative Research

This paper reviews the literature on an important but mysterious phenomenon in qualitative research methodology: the conceptual leap that generates abstract theoretical ideas from empirical data. Drawing on epistemological, prescriptive and reflexive writings, conceptual leaps are described as constituted by both ‘seeing’ and ‘articulating’, as grounded in abductive reasoning, and as part of an ongoing dialectical process. Methods for approaching conceptual leaps and the conditions for their realization are discussed in the context of four dialectic tensions: between deliberation and serendipity, between engagement and detachment, between knowing and not knowing, and between self‐expression and social connection. The literature review suggests that conceptual leaping is best portrayed as a form of bricolage, drawing resources from the different poles of the four dialectics. Moreover, written and verbal communication play important roles in enabling synthesis. The paper concludes by calling for greater openness and legitimacy for reflexive accounts, as well as further research into the process of discovery in qualitative research.

Period doubling and Blazhko modulation in BL Herculis hydrodynamic models

We present the hydrodynamic BL Herculis-type models which display a long-term modulation of pulsation amplitudes and phases. The modulation is either strictly periodic or it is quasi-periodic, with the modulation period and modulation pattern varying from one cycle to the other. Such behaviour has not been observed in any BL Her variable so far, however, it is a common property of their lower luminosity siblings - RR Lyrae variables showing the Blazhko effect. These models provide a support for the recent mechanism proposed by Buchler & Kollath to explain this still mysterious phenomenon. In their model, a half-integer resonance that causes the period doubling effect, discovered recently in the Blazhko RR Lyrae stars, is responsible for the modulation of the pulsation as well. Although our models are more luminous than is appropriate for RR Lyrae stars, they clearly demonstrate, through direct hydrodynamic computation, that the mechanism can indeed be operational. Of great importance are models which show quasi-periodic modulation - a phenomenon observed in Blazhko RR Lyrae stars. Our models coupled with the analysis of the amplitude equations show that such behaviour may be caused by the dynamical evolution occurring in the close proximity of the unstable single periodic saddle point.

Case fatality rates of different suicide methods within Ilam province of Iran

Background:There are few diverse studies that have reported the case fatality rates of different methods of suicide, none of them are originated from developing countries. The aim of the present article is to report the case fatality rates of different methods of suicide in Ilam province of Iran.Materials and Methods:Data on 611 cases of suicide and 1807 cases of deliberate self harm (DSH) that were recorded in a comprehensive registry during 1995 through 2002 were analyzed for both genders together and for males and females, separately.Findings:For both genders together, the two most fatal methods were hanging (75.4%) and self-immolation (68.3%); for males, hanging (76.3%) and self-immolation (64.7%); and for females, firearms (75%) and hanging (73.7%), respectively. The least fatal methods for both genders together and for females and males separately were drug ingestion and cutting.Conclusion:The results of present study, which for the first time has reported the case fatality rates of suicide methods in a developing world, would not only help to better plan the local suicide prevention strategies and clinical assessment of suicidal cases but to shed light on overall understanding of this mysterious human phenomenon.

Features of the dynamics of the heavy bubble magma state in explosive volcanic eruptions

The explosive eruption of a volcano that occurs when a volcanic canal is suddenly depressurized is one of the mysterious phenomena of nature, the mechanism of which is associated with the sudden decompression of a high-pressure magma containing dissolved gas and microcrystallites and with its transition to a multiphase state. With the obvious lack of the possibility to directly investigate these processes, the problem of experimental and numerical modeling, and creation of mathematical models that would allow describing the state of magma during various stages of eruption with a certain degree of adequacy are becoming topical. A model combining systems of equations of the mechanics of multiphase media is proposed. The model is formulated on the basis of the modified Iordansky–Kogarko–van Wijngaarden model with the Navier-Stokes equation for the variable viscosity, and the full range of kinetic relationships, including spontaneous nucleation and saturation dynamics of magma with cavitation nuclei. An analysis of a pre-explosive state of a number of volcanoes was carried out, which showed that the structural features of explosive volcanoes are analogous to the schemes of hydrodynamic shock tubes (UT), such as Glass-Heuckroth. Experimental modeling of the flow structure demonstrates the probability of the formation of the projectile regime as a consequence of coalescence of bubbles in the flow. A physical model of combined explosive volcanic eruptions is proposed; the process of formation in the magma flux of an independent flow of crystalline clusters (magmatic ”bombs“) moving with respect to the flow of cavitating magma at a much higher rate is experimentally studied.

Olfaction: the physics of how smell works?

Smell is a physical process used by us all, but fully understood by none. A physicist seeks to understand the mysterious phenomena of nature and so it is natural to apply physics to this problem. There is a reluctance in the field of olfactory science to explore the physical processes of fundamental interactions in odorant recognition because the system is complex. However, nature is often compliant to our simple models, and part of the art is to reduce the problem to a soluble one, and part of the beauty of science is often that the simple model with the simple answers give the right ones. This article reviews the applicability of some physical models to olfaction and looks in particular at one theory within the realm of olfactory science. This theory was first endorsed by Turin in 1996, that smell signalling may be based on a form of Inelastic Electron Tunnelling (IETS). This review looks at the mystery of olfaction and the physical principles that may unveil such mysterious phenomena.

Laser Ablation of the Zebrafish Pronephros to Study Renal Epithelial Regeneration

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is characterized by high mortality rates from deterioration of renal function over a period of hours or days that culminates in renal failure1. AKI can be caused by a number of factors including ischemia, drug-based toxicity, or obstructive injury1. This results in an inability to maintain fluid and electrolyte homeostasis. While AKI has been observed for decades, effective clinical therapies have yet to be developed. Intriguingly, some patients with AKI recover renal functions over time, a mysterious phenomenon that has been only rudimentally characterized1,2. Research using mammalian models of AKI has shown that ischemic or nephrotoxin-injured kidneys experience epithelial cell death in nephron tubules1,2, the functional units of the kidney that are made up of a series of specialized regions (segments) of epithelial cell types3. Within nephrons, epithelial cell death is highest in proximal tubule cells. There is evidence that suggests cell destruction is followed by dedifferentiation, proliferation, and migration of surrounding epithelial cells, which can regenerate the nephron entirely1,2. However, there are many unanswered questions about the mechanisms of renal epithelial regeneration, ranging from the signals that modulate these events to reasons for the wide variation of abilities among humans to regenerate injured kidneys. The larval zebrafish provides an excellent model to study kidney epithelial regeneration as its pronephric kidney is comprised of nephrons that are conserved with higher vertebrates including mammals4,5. The nephrons of zebrafish larvae can be visualized with fluorescence techniques because of the relative transparency of the young zebrafish6. This provides a unique opportunity to image cell and molecular changes in real-time, in contrast to mammalian models where nephrons are inaccessible because the kidneys are structurally complex systems internalized within the animal. Recent studies have employed the aminoglycoside gentamicin as a toxic causative agent for study of AKI and subsequent renal failure: gentamicin and other antibiotics have been shown to cause AKI in humans, and researchers have formulated methods to use this agent to trigger kidney damage in zebrafish7,8. However, the effects of aminoglycoside toxicity in zebrafish larvae are catastrophic and lethal, which presents a difficulty when studying epithelial regeneration and function over time. Our method presents the use of targeted cell ablation as a novel tool for the study of epithelial injury in zebrafish. Laser ablation gives researchers the ability to induce cell death in a limited population of cells. Varying areas of cells can be targeted based on morphological location, function, or even expression of a particular cellular phenotype. Thus, laser ablation will increase the specificity of what researchers can study, and can be a powerful new approach to shed light on the mechanisms of renal epithelial regeneration. This protocol can be broadly applied to target cell populations in other organs in the zebrafish embryo to study injury and regeneration in any number of contexts of interest.

Laser Ablation of the Zebrafish Pronephros to Study Renal Epithelial Regeneration

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is characterized by high mortality rates from deterioration of renal function over a period of hours or days that culminates in renal failure1. AKI can be caused by a number of factors including ischemia, drug-based toxicity, or obstructive injury1. This results in an inability to maintain fluid and electrolyte homeostasis. While AKI has been observed for decades, effective clinical therapies have yet to be developed. Intriguingly, some patients with AKI recover renal functions over time, a mysterious phenomenon that has been only rudimentally characterized1,2. Research using mammalian models of AKI has shown that ischemic or nephrotoxin-injured kidneys experience epithelial cell death in nephron tubules1,2, the functional units of the kidney that are made up of a series of specialized regions (segments) of epithelial cell types3. Within nephrons, epithelial cell death is highest in proximal tubule cells. There is evidence that suggests cell destruction is followed by dedifferentiation, proliferation, and migration of surrounding epithelial cells, which can regenerate the nephron entirely1,2. However, there are many unanswered questions about the mechanisms of renal epithelial regeneration, ranging from the signals that modulate these events to reasons for the wide variation of abilities among humans to regenerate injured kidneys.The larval zebrafish provides an excellent model to study kidney epithelial regeneration as its pronephric kidney is comprised of nephrons that are conserved with higher vertebrates including mammals4,5. The nephrons of zebrafish larvae can be visualized with fluorescence techniques because of the relative transparency of the young zebrafish6. This provides a unique opportunity to image cell and molecular changes in real-time, in contrast to mammalian models where nephrons are inaccessible because the kidneys are structurally complex systems internalized within the animal. Recent studies have employed the aminoglycoside gentamicin as a toxic causative agent for study of AKI and subsequent renal failure: gentamicin and other antibiotics have been shown to cause AKI in humans, and researchers have formulated methods to use this agent to trigger kidney damage in zebrafish7,8. However, the effects of aminoglycoside toxicity in zebrafish larvae are catastrophic and lethal, which presents a difficulty when studying epithelial regeneration and function over time. Our method presents the use of targeted cell ablation as a novel tool for the study of epithelial injury in zebrafish. Laser ablation gives researchers the ability to induce cell death in a limited population of cells. Varying areas of cells can be targeted based on morphological location, function, or even expression of a particular cellular phenotype. Thus, laser ablation will increase the specificity of what researchers can study, and can be a powerful new approach to shed light on the mechanisms of renal epithelial regeneration. This protocol can be broadly applied to target cell populations in other organs in the zebrafish embryo to study injury and regeneration in any number of contexts of interest.

Chiral magnetic effect from Q-balls

We apply a generic framework of linear sigma models for revealing a mechanism of the mysterious phenomenon, the chiral magnetic effect, in quark-gluon plasma. An electric current arises along a background magnetic field, which is given rise to by Q-balls (nontopological solitons) of the linear sigma model with axial anomaly. We find additional alternating current due to quark mass terms. The mesonic Q-balls, baby boson stars, may be created in heavy-ion collisions.

Observation of Geometric Phases in Quantum Erasers

We introduce a simple experiment involving a double-slit interferometer by which one can learn basic concepts of quantum interference such as which-path marking, quantum erasers, and geometric phases. Each of them exhibits seemingly mysterious phenomena in quantum physics. In our experiment, we use the double-slit interference of visible light with the polarization as an internal state to demonstrate the disappearance of fringes by which-path marking, recovery of interference using quantum erasers, and the rapid shifting of the fringe pattern induced by the geometric phase. We also present a simple theoretical analysis of an interferometer with an internal state.

Transport Phenomenon of Multilayer Zero-Gap Conductor in the Quantum Limit

Mysterious transport phenomena observed in a zero gap conductor α-(BEDT-TTF) 2 I 3 were investigated. In particular, the electron system in the quantum limit where electrons in the Landau level with index 0 dominate the transport was of interest. In order to determine the magnetic field dependence of the electron transport, we utilized a conductivity tensor. We showed how each component of the conductivity tensor changes with the magnetic field. All the components were found to be expressed by simple functions of magnetic field. Interlayer Hall resistance (Hall effect observed in the interlayer current) was observed for the first time.

Performance limiting effects inX-band accelerators

Acceleration gradient is a critical parameter for the design of future TeV-scale linear colliders. The major obstacle to higher gradient in room-temperature accelerators is rf breakdown, which is still a very mysterious phenomenon that depends on the geometry and material of the accelerator as well as the input power and operating frequency. Pulsed heating has been associated with breakdown for many years; however, there have been no experiments that clearly separate field and heating effects on the breakdown rate. Recently, such experiments have been performed at SLAC with both standing-wave and traveling-wave structures. These experiments have demonstrated that pulsed heating is limiting the gradient. Nevertheless the $X$-band structures breakdown studies show damage to the iris surfaces in locations of high electric field rather than of high magnetic field after thousands of breakdowns. It is not yet clear how the relative roles of electric field, magnetic field, and heating factor into the damage caused by rf breakdown. Thus, a dual-moded cavity has been designed to better study the electric field, magnetic field, and pulsed heating effects on breakdown damage.

Surveying the Manifold Divergence of an Entire Protein Class for Statistical Clues to Underlying Biochemical Mechanisms

Certain residues have no known function yet are co-conserved across distantly related protein families and diverse organisms, suggesting that they perform critical roles associated with as-yet-unidentified molecular properties and mechanisms. This raises the question of how to obtain additional clues regarding these mysterious biochemical phenomena with a view to formulating experimentally testable hypotheses. One approach is to access the implicit biochemical information encoded within the vast amount of genomic sequence data now becoming available. Here, a new Gibbs sampling strategy is formulated and implemented that can partition hundreds of thousands of sequences within a major protein class into multiple, functionally-divergent categories based on those pattern residues that best discriminate between categories. The sampler precisely defines the partition and pattern for each category by explicitly modeling unrelated, non-functional and related-yet-divergent proteins that would otherwise obscure the analysis. To aid biological interpretation, auxiliary routines can characterize pattern residues within available crystal structures and identify those structures most likely to shed light on the roles of pattern residues. This approach can be used to define and annotate automatically subgroup-specific conserved domain profiles based on statistically-rigorous empirical criteria rather than on the subjective and labor-intensive process of manual curation. Incorporating such profiles into domain database search sites (such as the NCBI BLAST site) will provide biologists with previously inaccessible molecular information useful for hypothesis generation and experimental design. Analyses of P-loop GTPases and of AAA+ ATPases illustrate the sampler's ability to obtain such information.

Granular Space and the Problem of Large Numbers

Two and a half thousand years ago the ancient atomists made a suggestion that space has a cellular structure, is material and consists of elementary cells. In 1900 Plank found the elementary length L*=10-33 cm. This notion has been widely used in modern physics ever since. The properties of granular space are studied in this article on the assumption that a three-dimensional material cell with the size of Planck’s elementary length is the only material for the construction of the whole Universe. This approach allows one to account for such mysterious phenomena as inertia, ultimate velocity of transfer of material body interactions and huge difference between gravitational and Coulomb forces - the so called “Large Numbers Problem”, as well essence of electric charge and Pauli exclusions principle.

Healing Through Prayer

A qualitative study using a semistructured interview process explored the experience of being healed through prayer in 20 participants from several Protestant Christian faith traditions. Five cluster themes and their subthemes were identified, such as Spirituality and Suffering (subthemes of Purpose of Suffering and Spiritual Meaning of Suffering); The Healing Experience (subthemes of Problems that Were Healed, Incomplete Healings or Recurrences, and Healing of Friends and Family Members); The Connecting Network of Prayer (subthemes of Connection to God, Connection to Others, Meaning of Prayer, Methods of Prayer, and Unanswered Prayer); Spiritual Transformation of Prayer (subthemes of Changed Lives and Sense of Purpose); and Spiritual Phenomena (subthemes of Sense of God's Presence, Use of Complementary and Alternative Practices, and Mysterious Phenomena).

The Fifth Funeral in Beowulf : “fyr on flode” as a Viking Burial and Other Untenable Claims

Scholars and translators of Beowulf have offered a number of mutually exclusive interpretations of the literal and symbolic meaning of the description that Hrođgar gives of the mysterious phenomenon of the “fyr on flode” at Grendel’s mere. Reading this confusion as symptomatic of the mere’s larger function in the poem as the quintessential site of the proliferation of signification, we can discern in particular the mere’s central role in negotiating Christian and pagan constructions of the passage from life to death. The resonance of the imagery used to describe the mere with that used to describe the poem’s many funerals allows us to establish a parallel that suggests the equally uncertain and fluid nature of the poem’s depiction of these conflicting spiritual temporalities. Comparing the mere imagery with its sources or analogues, including those in the Eddic tradition, will sharpen our sense of this conflict, but finally the mere must remain ungraspable as anything but ungraspable.