Most recent epidemics have originated in complex human-nature interactions and yet, our knowledge is very limited regarding the psychological aspects of humannature relationships that underlie individual human responses in times of pandemic crises. We propose that the concept of connectedness with nature and associated individual difference measures offer a relevant and useful lens to inform us about how humans think, feel and behave in such critical times. Our two-wave study, conducted with 486 United States residents at the end of March 2020 (wave 1) and 533 United States residents at the beginning of May 2020 (wave 2), focuses on the 2020 coronavirus situation. It maps individual responses to the current pandemic in terms of mental representations, behavioral tendencies and perceived impact, and explores the relationships of these constructs to individual levels of connectedness with nature. As this research employs an exploratory methodology, our results provide an account of potential relationships rather than their validation and thus represent an encouraging steppingstone for research on human behavior in the time of a global pandemic. We identify a series of research propositions and questions for systematic future inquiry.

International audienceWe study the bending of a thin plate, stiffened with a thin elastic layer, of thickness delta. We describe the complete construction of an asymptotic expansion with respect to delta of the solution of the Kirchhoff-Love model and give optimal estimates for the remainder. We identify approximate boundary conditions, which take into account the effect of the stiffener at various orders. Thanks to the tools of multi-scale analysis, we give optimal estimates for the error between the approximate problems and the original one. We deal with a layer of constant stiffness, as well as with a stiffness in delta(-1

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Abstract. We consider a dynamic nonlinear model for a heterogeneous thermoelastic plate consisting of a thin highly rigid body of high thermal conductivity perfectly glued on a portion of the boundary of an elastic plate. This model, which describes the nonlinear oscillations of a plate subjected to thermal effects is referred to as the "full von Karman thermoelastic system". Our aim is to model this junction and reproduce the effect of the thin body by means of approximate boundary conditions, obtained by an asymptotic analysis with respect to the thickness of this body.

Extant research finds that environmental identity is an important motivational factor for proenvironmental behavior. However, studies typically focus on investigating the effects of the strength of this identity. Based on insights from identity research, we theorize that the influence of individuals’ environmental identity on their proenvironmental behavior may depend on other identity dimensions as well. We argue that the frequency of activation of environmental identity in relevant life domains—environmental identity salience—may predict proenvironmental behavior beyond what environmental identity strength can explain. To test our theorizing, we propose a parsimonious measure of environmental identity salience. In four empirical studies, we establish that the new measure has sound psychometric properties in terms of internal consistency and discriminant validity with regard to measures of environmental identity strength. Importantly, our measure of environmental identity salience reliably predicts a range of self-reported and actual proenvironmental behaviors beyond the effects of environmental identity strength. In line with theoretical predictions, our data suggests that environmental identity salience and strength are related but distinct constructs. We conclude that investigating the nature and effects of environmental identity salience leads to a fruitful path to a more comprehensive understanding of proenvironmental behavior. The proposed new measure may serve as a helpful tool in this endeavor.