Acceptance of Genetically Modified rice in Shanxi Province, China

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Leaders do not look back, or do they?

We study the effect of adding to a directed chain of interconnected systems a directed feedback from the last element in the chain to the first. The problem is closely related to the fundamental question of how a change in network topology may influence the behavior of coupled systems. We begin the analysis by investigating a simple linear system. The matrix that specifies the system dynamics is the transpose of the network Laplacian matrix, which codes the connectivity of the network. Our analysis shows that for any nonzero complex eigenvalue $\lambda$ of this matrix, the following inequality holds: $\frac{|\Im \lambda |}{|\Re \lambda |} \leq \cot\frac{\pi}{n}$. This bound is sharp, as it becomes an equality for an eigenvalue of a simple directed cycle with uniform interaction weights. The latter has the slowest decay of oscillations among all other network configurations with the same number of states. The result is generalized to directed rings and chains of identical nonlinear oscillators. For directed rings, a lower bound $\sigma_c$ for the connection strengths that guarantees asymptotic synchronization is found to follow a similar pattern: $\sigma_c=\frac{1}{1-\cos\left( 2\pi /n\right)}$. Numerical analysis revealed that, depending on the network size $n$, multiple dynamic regimes co-exist in the state space of the system. In addition to the fully synchronous state a rotating wave solution occurs. The effect is observed in networks exceeding a certain critical size. The emergence of a rotating wave highlights the importance of long chains and loops in networks of oscillators: the larger the size of chains and loops, the more sensitive the network dynamics becomes to removal or addition of a single connection

The impact of calorie and physical activity labelling on consumer’s emo-sensory perceptions and food choices

Providing labelling information is one of the strategies used to help consumers make healthier choices. However, although the type of information has the potential to assist consumers, it is important to evaluate their sensory and emotional perceptions. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of different labelling information on consumers' sensory and emotional perceptions and their choices, for three different products (potato chips, juice and yogurt). A total of 480 participants were randomly assigned to one of four information conditions (no information (blind), kilocalorie (kcal) information, physical activity (PA) information [duration of walking required to burn the kcal in the product], kcal + PA information). For each information condition, participants were provided with higher kcal and lower kcal equivalent food pairs and were required to choose one. The participants evaluated their overall liking using a 9-point hedonic scale and answered rate-all-thatapply (RATA) questions related to the sensory and emotional characteristics of the products. The results showed no significant impact of calorie and physical activity labelling on consumers' overall liking for juice and yogurt samples and no impact of PA information for chips. Significant differences in overall liking were found when comparing the blind condition with kcal and kcal + PA information, with lower acceptance of the chips samples when this information was presented. Although providing calorie and physical activity labelling had little impact on consumers' sensory and emotional perceptions, consumers perceived unhealthy attributes and negative emotions, such as fatty and guilty, when information was presented. The present work suggests that, although nutrition labelling may be presented as an important strategy to assist consumers, it is important to evaluate consumers' lifestyles, considering that non-dieters and those low and moderate in dietary restraint may not be impacted by this information