Startle phenomenon

Below 146°C, two phases of Agl exist y-Agl, which has the zinc blende structure, and (3-Agl with the wurtzite structure. Both are based on a close-packed array of iodide ions with half of the tetrahedral holes filled. However, above 146°C a new phase, a-AgI, is observed where the iodide ions now have a body-centred cubic lattice. If you look back to Figure 5.7, you can see that a dramatic increase in conductivity is observed for this phase the conductivity of a-Agl is very high, 131 S m , a factor of 10 higher than that of (3- or y-AgI, comparable with the conductivity of the best conducting liquid electrolytes. How can we explain this startling phenomenon ... 

On a calm day an observer who finds the right place on a stream or a river will see an unobtrusive yet startling phenomenon, a line on the surface of the water. The line may lie still, or it may contort itself, one way and another, in response to eddies. Very likely he will think a spider thread has fallen onto the water and try to cut it with his canoe paddle. As the disturbance caused by the cutting fades, the line reappears, mended and whole. 

Although the heterogeneity of the system complicates the kinetics of polymerisation, and the partition of the monomer between the solvent and the precipitated polymer may accelerate the reaction, it seems that these observations do not disprove the reality of helical growth. The existence of this phenomenon is indicated most convincingly by the startling effect of D-isomer on the growth of L-polymer or vice versa. 

Whatever the reasons for it, everyone agrees the Flynn effect is a real phenomenon. And some of its apparent implications are startling. If IQs have been rising with each generation, then... 

But no matter the culture, a critical phenomenon needs to be emphasized the impact of culture on the fetal environment, one environment influencing another environment, the fetal environment translating cultural forces into biological effects that shape the development of the brain and nervous system. This connection between culture and brain development is as much anthropology as neuroscience—which makes the connection intriguing and even startling. But more important is that the connection is crucial for public policy. 

A basic tenet behind quantified risk models is that they are objective. This should mean that, if two or more people model the same scenario, their results should be more or less the same. In practice, anyone who has actually conducted hazards analyses knows that this statement is only approximately true at best. Each analyst will bring to the model his or her assumptions and values— particularly with respect to the failure rate data that they use. (The same phenomenon can be seen with respect to Hazard and Operability studies. When two teams analyze essentially similar systems, it can be startling to see how much the respective results differ from one another.)... 

About three months after the addition of iodate to bread in Tasmania there was a startling increase in the incidence of thyrotoxicosis in middleaged and elderly people. In depth investigation of this phenomenon revealed that the population as a whole was receiving much more iodine than could be expected from bread alone and that the principal source pf the ingested iodine was from dairy products (milk, cheese, etc.), inadvertently contaminated by iodine containing disinfectants (lodophores) used by farmers and factories processing milk and milk products. lodophores contain up to 2% (w/v) of... 

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