Search results for "Q Science"

Pharmaceuticals and other urban contaminants threaten Amazonian freshwater ecosystems

2021

Abstract Urban areas in the Brazilian Amazon have grown at an unprecedented rate during the last years. About 90% of the wastewater produced by these urban areas are discharged untreated into Amazonian freshwater ecosystems, constituting a potential environmental pathway for pharmaceuticals and other chemicals consumed by modern societies (e.g. psychostimulants, personal-care products, hormones). The distribution of these chemicals into the Amazon River and their potential risks for freshwater biodiversity have not been evaluated so far. Here, we show the results of the largest chemical monitoring campaign conducted in the Amazon region. We assessed exposure patterns for 43 pharmaceuticals …

Effects of multiple stressors on the dimensionality of ecological stability

2021

Abstract Ecological stability is a multidimensional construct. Investigating multiple stability dimensions is key to understand how ecosystems respond to disturbance. Here, we evaluated the single and combined effects of common agricultural stressors (insecticide, herbicide and nutrients) on four dimensions of stability (resistance, resilience, recovery and invariability) and on the overall dimensionality of stability (DS) using the results of a freshwater mesocosm experiment. Functional recovery and resilience to pesticides were enhanced in nutrient‐enriched systems, whereas compositional recovery was generally not achieved. Pesticides did not affect compositional DS, whereas functional DS…

Eutrophic status influences the impact of pesticide mixtures and predation on Daphnia pulex populations

2021

Abstract Pesticides, nutrients, and ecological stressors such as competition or predation co‐occur in freshwater ecosystems impacted by agriculture. The extent to which combinations of these stressors affect aquatic populations and the role of nutrients availability in modulating these responses requires further understanding. In this study, we assessed how pesticides affecting different taxonomic groups and predation influence the response of Daphnia pulex populations under different trophic conditions. An outdoor experiment was designed following a factorial design, with the insecticide chlorpyrifos, the herbicide diuron, and the predation by Notonecta sp. individuals as key stressors. Th…

Consciousness is Quantum Computed Beyond the Limits of the Brain: A Perspective Conceived from Cases Studied for Hydranencephaly

2016

Hydranencephaly is a developmental malady, where the cerebral hemispheres of the brain are reduced partly or entirely too membranous sacs filled with cerebrospinal fluid. Infants with this malady are presumed to have reduced life expectancy with a survival of weeks to few years and which solely depends on care and fostering of these individuals. During their life span these individuals demonstrate behaviours that are termed “vegetative” by neuroscientists but can be comparable to the state of being “aware” or “conscious”. Based on the most simplified definition for consciousness i.e. “awareness” or “to be aware”, these individuals are undeniably aware of their existence and therefore should…

Magic informationally complete POVMs with permutations

2017

Eigenstates of permutation gates are either stabilizer states (for gates in the Pauli group) or magic states, thus allowing universal quantum computation [M. Planat and Rukhsan-Ul-Haq, Preprint 1701.06443]. We show in this paper that a subset of such magic states, when acting on the generalized Pauli group, define (asymmetric) informationally complete POVMs. Such IC-POVMs, investigated in dimensions $2$ to $12$, exhibit simple finite geometries in their projector products and, for dimensions $4$ and $8$ and $9$, relate to two-qubit, three-qubit and two-qutrit contextuality.

Laus vitae scholasticae

2016

De laude vitae scholasticae oratio, dicta a D. Melch. Fendio in promotione Magistrorum. Pronuntiata anno 1536.

Combined effects of heatwaves and micropollutants on freshwater ecosystems: Towards an integrated assessment of extreme events in multiple stressors …

2022

Freshwater ecosystems are strongly influenced by weather extremes such as heatwaves, which are predicted to increase in frequency and magnitude in the future. In addition to these climate extremes, the freshwater realm is impacted by the exposure to various classes of chemicals emitted by anthropogenic activities. Currently, there is limited knowledge on how the combined exposure to heatwaves and chemicals affects the structure and functioning of freshwater ecosystems. Here, we review the available literature describing the single and combined effects of heatwaves and chemicals on different levels of biological organization, to obtain a holistic view of their potential interactive effects. …

Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research 1(5). Focus Issue — Time & Consciousness: Two Faces of One Mystery?

2010

Table of Contents Guest Editorial 1. Time and Experience: Twins of the Eternal Now, Gregory M. Nixon, 482-489 Research Essay 1. Why Time Flies When You’re Having Fun, William A. Adams, 490-500 2. Liberation and Its Constraints: A Philosophical Analysis of Key Issues in Psychiatry, Steven Bindeman, 501-510 3. Now, Gordon Globus, 511-515 4. ‘Landscapes’ of Mentality, Consciousness and Time, Chris Nunn 516-528 5. Special Relativity and Perception: The Singular Time of Psychology and Physics, Stephen E. Robbins, 529-559 6. Phenomenal Time and its Biological Correlates, Ram L. P. Vimal & Christopher J. Davia, 560-572 Explorations 1. Time and Its Relationship to Consciousness: An Overview, Mansoo…

The UQV (Ultimate Questioner’s Vanity) Theory

The UQV theory is a metaphysical theory that the universe is the consequence of the ultimate questioner’s vanity . This theory builds on the NSTP (Non – Spatial Thinking Process) theoretical metaphysical semi-solipsism, the position, which specifically regards the NSTP theoretical superhuman mind as a personal philosophical questioning supermind. The UQV theory further speculates the existence of the ultimate questioner, which, existing logically/conceptually beyond the superhuman mind, initiated the existence of my NSTP in order to ask an apparently unanswerable (philosophical) question about the nature of its own existence. And since the NSTP is extremely orderly and deterministic, the ul…

Dažas domas, lasot Mario Livio grāmatu «Vai Dievs ir matemātiķis?»

2022

Galvenais grāmatas jautājums ir: Vai matemātika ir atklājums vai izgudrojums?