cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Viewing Our Aged Selves: Age Progression Simulations Increase Young Adults' Aging Anxiety and Negative Stereotypes of Older Adults.

This experiment tests the effect of an old-age progression simulation on young adults' (N = 139) reported aging anxiety and perceptions about older adults as a social group. College students were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: self-aged simulation, stranger-aged simulation, or a control group. Compared with the control group, groups exposed to an age progression experienced more negative affect, and individuals in the self-aged condition reported greater aging anxiety. In accordance with stereotype activation theorizing, the self-age simulation group also perceived older adults as less competent and expressed more pity and less envy for older adults. Compared to the stranger-aged group, participants who observed their own age progression were also the more likely to deny the authenticity of their transformed image.These findings highlight potential negative social and psychological consequences of using age simulations to affect positive health outcomes, and they shed light on how virtual experiences can affect stereotyping of older adults.
DPLL based on DSP applied to solar grid-connection system

The technology about digital phase lock loop(DPLL) based on DSP was introduced for regulating frequency and phase of current from grid-connection of solar distributed power supply.The voltage of grid and current of solar generation were easily collected by capture unit,general timer and compare unit of DSP.The conditions of grid-connection about regulation of frequency and phase were achieved.This method was proved to be having high accuracy and high lock speed.And the reliability and high efficiency ccould be ensured.
The relative benefits of live versus online delivery: Evidence from virtual algebra I in North Carolina

Abstract Over one million K-12 students pursue virtual education every year, but researchers know very little about the effectiveness of such programs. This paper exploits a district policy change that suddenly shifted advanced eighth graders into a virtual classroom for Algebra I. After the policy, higher-ability eighth graders in the treatment district began taking Algebra I in the virtual classroom at rates similar to the statewide average of their peers in traditional classrooms. The change in course delivery provides a unique opportunity to study effects of a virtual course on academic outcomes. The analysis uses variation in program uptake across performance quintile, district, and year in a difference-in-difference-in-difference approach to estimate the causal effect of the virtual course, finding that eighth grade virtual students tend to underperform relative to eighth graders who took Algebra I in a traditional classroom and relative to pre-policy, same-district students who had to take the course in ninth grade.
Design of Flow Systems for Improved Networking and Reduced Noise in Biomolecular Signal Processing in Biocomputing and Biosensing Applications

We consider flow systems that have been utilized for small-scale biomolecular computing and digital signal processing in binary-operating biosensors. Signal measurement is optimized by designing a flow-reversal cuvette and analyzing the experimental data to theoretically extract the pulse shape, as well as reveal the level of noise it possesses. Noise reduction is then carried out numerically. We conclude that this can be accomplished physically via the addition of properly designed well-mixing flow-reversal cell(s) as an integral part of the flow system. This approach should enable improved networking capabilities and potentially not only digital but analog signal-processing in such systems. Possible applications in complex biocomputing networks and various sense-and-act systems are discussed.
ImageX: new and improved image explorer for astronomical images and beyond

The One Degree Imager - Portal, Pipeline, and Archive (ODI-PPA) has included the Image Explorer interactive image visualization tool since it went operational. Portal users were able to quickly open up several ODI images within any HTML5 capable web browser, adjust the scaling, apply color maps, and perform other basic image visualization steps typically done on a desktop client like DS9. However, the original design of the Image Explorer required lossless PNG tiles to be generated and stored for all raw and reduced ODI images thereby taking up tens of TB of spinning disk space even though a small fraction of those images were being accessed by portal users at any given time. It also caused significant overhead on the portal web application and the Apache webserver used by ODI-PPA. We found it hard to merge in improvements made to a similar deployment in another project's portal. To address these concerns, we re-architected Image Explorer from scratch and came up with ImageX, a set of microservices that are part of the IU Trident project software suite, with rapid interactive visualization capabilities useful for ODI data and beyond. We generate a full resolution JPEG image for each raw and reduced ODI FITS image before producing a JPG tileset, one that can be rendered using the ImageX frontend code at various locations as appropriate within a web portal (for example: on tabular image listings, views allowing quick perusal of a set of thumbnails or other image sifting activities). The new design has decreased spinning disk requirements, uses AngularJS for the client side Model/View code (instead of depending on backend PHP Model/View/Controller code previously used), OpenSeaDragon to render the tile images, and uses nginx and a lightweight NodeJS application to serve tile images thereby significantly decreasing the Time To First Byte latency by a few orders of magnitude. We plan to extend ImageX for non-FITS images including electron microscopy and radiology scan images, and its featureset to include basic functions like image overlay and colormaps. Users needing more advanced visualization and analysis capabilities could use a desktop tool like DS9+IRAF on another IU Trident project called StarDock, without having to download Gigabytes of FITS image data.
An efficient boosted classifier tree-based feature point tracking system for facial expression analysis

The study of facial movement and expression has been a prominent area of research since the early work of Charles Darwin. The Facial Action Coding System (FACS), developed by Paul Ekman, introduced the first universal method of coding and measuring facial movement. Human-Computer Interaction seeks to make human interaction with computer systems more effective, easier, safer, and more seamless. Facial expression recognition can be broken down into three distinctive subsections: Facial Feature Localization, Facial Action Recognition, and Facial Expression Classification. The first and most important stage in any facial expression analysis system is the localization of key facial features. Localization must be accurate and efficient to ensure reliable tracking and leave time for computation and comparisons to learned facial models while maintaining real-time performance. Two possible methods for localizing facial features are discussed in this dissertation. The Active Appearance Model is a statistical model describing an object's parameters through the use of both shape and texture models, resulting in appearance. Statistical model-based training for object recognition takes multiple instances of the object class of interest, or "positive" samples, and multiple "negative" samples, i.e., images that do not contain objects of interest. Viola and Jones present a highly robust real-time face detection system, and a statistically boosted "attentional" detection cascade composed of many weak feature detectors. A basic algorithm for the elimination of unnecessary sub-frames while using Viola-Jones face detection is presented to further reduce image search time. A real-time emotion detection system is presented which is capable of identifying seven affective states (agreeing, concentrating, disagreeing, interested, thinking, unsure, and angry) from a near-infrared video stream. The Active Appearance Model is used to place 23 landmark points around key areas of the eyes, brows, and mouth. A prioritized binary decision tree then detects, based on the actions of these key points, if one of the seven emotional states occurs as frames pass. The completed system runs accurately and achieves a real-time frame rate of approximately 36 frames per second. A novel facial feature localization technique utilizing a nested cascade classifier tree is proposed. A coarse-to-fine search is performed in which the regions of interest are defined by the response of Haar-like features comprising the cascade classifiers. The individual responses of the Haar-like features are also used to activate finer-level searches. A specially cropped training set derived from the Cohn-Kanade AU-Coded database is also developed and tested. Extensions of this research include further testing to verify the novel facial feature localization technique presented for a full 26-point face model, and implementation of a real-time intensity sensitive automated Facial Action Coding System.
Tracking weight change, insulin resistance, stress, and aerobic fitness over 4 years of college

ABSTRACTObjective: To determine if weight gain is accompanied by development of insulin resistance (IR) during 4 years in college. Participants: Two cohorts of college students were enrolled in fall semesters 2009 and 2010 and tracked for 4 years. Methods: Following a 12-hour fast, subjects reported for measurement of body mass index (BMI), perceived stress (PSS), aerobic fitness, and blood glucose, insulin, and lipids. Results: In the first year, 33% of subjects were overweight or obese, and 20% were hyperinsulinemic. Year 4 had 29 remaining subjects with disproportionate attrition of overweight and obese individuals. Just over half the subjects gained weight (WI), whereas nearly 30% lost considerable amounts (WD). WD showed significant decline in fasting insulin, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and PSS from year 1. WI was primarily highly fit men who did not demonstrate increased IR. Conclusion: WI was not associated with IR over 4 years of college.
Investigation of adsorption of p-cresol on coconut shell-derived activated carbon

Abstract Mitigation of odorous volatile organic compounds, such as p -cresol from wastewater needs simple and practical technologies such as adsorption. In this research, an NaOH-activated carbon was prepared from coconut shell (CSAC-SH). Characterization of CSAC-SH suggested that the adsorbent possessed a well-developed microporous/mesoporous structure. To evaluate the performance of CSAC-SH, a series of batch experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of contact time (0–24 h), initial concentration (50–1000 mg L −1 ) and adsorbent dosage (1–20 mg L −1 ) on adsorption of p -cresol. The equilibrium data were found to conform to Redlich–Peterson, Fritz–Schluender, and Langmuir isotherms. The maximum monolayer adsorption capacity of 256.9 mg g −1 (298 K) suggested that the prepared adsorbent has a high affinity toward p -cresol. A second-order kinetic model best described the experimental data and adsorption was governed by intraparticle diffusion. The thermodynamic analysis suggested that the adsorption was feasible, spontaneous, and exothermic (298–328 K). Furthermore, a desorption study suggested that chemisorption was dominant in the adsorption process. Results indicate that sodium hydroxide-activated carbon is effective in mitigating p -cresol from wastewater.
Inhibiting factors in design for testability higher education

Many engineering students are not graduating with the necessary knowledge or experience in design for testability (DFT), automatic test equipment (ATE), or diagnostics in order to work in these fields. They typically do not demonstrate a consistent understanding of integrated diagnostics, or have an appreciation of the need. These same “fresh out” engineers will ultimately derive the low-level requirements for developing diagnostic systems, and this lack of knowledge of testing environments will have a significant impact. Failure to adequately address the integrated diagnostics and testing needs of a system greatly impacts its supportability and, consequently, the cost of that system throughout its life cycle. Integrated diagnostics is a career field for which there currently exists no standard set of basic qualifications, few educational opportunities to study at the university level, no clear processes within most organizations for practicing integrated diagnostics as a systems engineering activity, and no uniform method of sharing techniques and lessons learned with new employees. Studies have found that the majority of test engineer training is on-the-job, rather than knowledge acquired as part of a higher education degree program, or a formal training process [1]-[7]. As a result, it requires two to three years for any recent graduate to become competent in the field of test engineering. There are three main inhibiting factors to teaching design for testability as part of post-secondary education. The first factor is cost. The high cost, and quick obsolescence, of many ATE systems is a barrier to entry to any small- or medium-sized college's engineering department budget. Even accounting for corporate donations, there are hidden costs, such as facilities and equipment maintenance, which make ATE prohibitively expensive. Moreover, in the United States, all engineering curricula must be accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). It is an arduous process, even for such well-worn topics as electrical engineering or mechanical engineering. A department chair is unlikely to risk the department's accreditation, or prolong the accreditation process, by including an exotic topic such as DFT or diagnostics. Finally, it is the goal of most institutions that their students will obtain employment upon graduation. To that end, curricula are often tailored to the demands of local employers. If surrounding industry is not asking for skilled diagnostic or DFT engineers, then there is no incentive for an engineering department to include it in a degree curriculum. This paper explores each of these factors in depth, and provides mitigations for overcoming the challenges that each presents.
Spatial references and perspective in natural language instructions for collaborative manipulation

As humans and robots collaborate together on spatial tasks, they must communicate clearly about the objects they are referencing. Communication is clearer when language is unambiguous which implies the use of spatial references and explicit perspectives. In this work, we contribute two studies to understand how people instruct a partner to identify and pick up objects on a table. We investigate spatial features and perspectives in human spatial references and compare word usage when instructing robots vs. instructing other humans. We then focus our analysis on the clarity of instructions with respect to perspective taking and spatial references. We find that only about 42% of instructions contain perspective-independent spatial references. There is a strong correlation between participants' accuracy in executing instructions and the perspectives that the instructions are given in, as well between accuracy and the number of spatial relations that were required for the instruction. We conclude that sentence complexity (in terms of spatial relations and perspective taking) impacts understanding, and we provide suggestions for automatic generation of spatial references.
Sauve kapandji procedure

This chapter details the steps in performing the Sauve–Kapandji Procedure. The distal radioulnar joint (DRUJ) is exposed and a segment of the ulnar shaft is resected. Kirschner wires are placed through the ulnar head and the arthrodesis site is packed with autologous bone grafts and fixed with two cannulated screws. Indications, essential steps, postoperative care, and sample operative dictation are included.
“Islamic Coins” from a Hindu Temple: Reconsidering Ghaznavid Interactions with Hindu Sacred Sites through New Numismatic Evidence from Gandhara

This paper examines enigmatic, small, Arabic-inscribed copper coins that were minted or circulated in the environs of a Hindu cave temple complex in northern Gandhara. Based on legends and typology, most of these issues can be attributed to the Ghaznavid period. This new numismatic evidence calls into question long-standing narratives of the Ghaznavid invasion of Hindustan, which posit that the Ghaznavids pursued a uniformly iconoclastic policy toward Hindu sacred sites. The evidence also suggests that the Ghaznavids embraced diverse modes of interaction with the Hindustani frontier zones. These went beyond the well documented raiding expeditions to realize short-term financial gains. Rather, the Ghaznavids may also have had long-term economic objectives, which necessitated preserving existing sacred institutions and their administrative and fiscal machinery and patronage networks.
Exploring structural effects in single-chain “folding” mediated by intramolecular thermal Diels–Alder chemistry

We describe a method to fold single polymer chains into nanoparticles using simple thermal Diels–Alder (DA) chemistry. Two different folding strategies are explored, one employing “chain-internal folding” and the other using external, multi-functional cross-linkers. In the first strategy, random terpolymers were designed with varying incorporations of methyl methacrylate (MMA), furfuryl methacrylate (FMA) and a maleimide functionalized methacrylate (MIMA) to achieve internal folding through a thermal DA reaction between pendent furan and maleimide groups. In the second method, the synthesis of random copolymers of MMA and FMA forms nanoparticles after effecting a thermal DA reaction between pendent furan groups and external bi- or tri-maleimide functionalized cross-linkers. This multifaceted approach compares different synthetic designs of linear polymers as well as multiple cross-linker species as a means to explore the effect these synthetic differences have on the resulting SCNP. The two polymer series designed in this study allow for a direct comparison between chain internal cross-linking of multiple internal pendent groups and external cross-linker mediated collapse.
Roughness effects on the second-order turbulence statistics in oscillatory flows

Abstract Effects of roughness on the near-bed turbulence characteristics in oscillatory flows are studied by means of particle-resolved direct numerical simulations (DNS). Two particle sizes of diameter 375 and 125 in wall units in a very rough turbulent flow regime are studied. A double-averaging technique is employed to study the nature of the wake field, i.e., the spatial inhomogeneity at the roughness length scale. This introduced dispersive stresses along with additional production and transport terms in the double-averaged Reynolds stress budget, indicating alternate pathways of turbulent energy transfer mechanisms. While overall nature of the elementary processes responsible for energy transport in both flow cases remains identical, there are some discernible differences with regards to the near-bed turbulence structure. It is shown that the roughness modulates the near-bed turbulence, distorts and breaks the streamwise horseshoe structures, and therefore reduces the large-scale anisotropy; a result of redistribution of energy from streamwise component to other two components of the Reynolds stress and is illustrated by studying their individual budgets. In comparison to the small diameter, such effects are found to be significant in the case of large diameter particle-bed. In addition, redistribution of energy in the large diameter particle case shows reduced dependence on the flow oscillations, while for the small diameter particle it is more pronounced towards the end of an acceleration cycle.
A novel justification for legal restrictions on non-compete clauses

Abstract This paper analyzes the use of non-compete clauses that deter a worker from using what she has learned with the firm to start a new firm. It shows, first, that such clauses are only likely to be used when the worker is subject to liquidity constraints. Second, when the worker is sufficiently liquidity constrained, legal restrictions on the length of the non-compete clause can increase the joint welfare of the worker and the firm. The model does not, however, justify a complete ban on non-compete clauses.
Hybrid laser/arc welding of thick high-strength steel in different configurations

In this investigation, hybrid laser/arc welding (HLAW) was employed to join 8-mm-thick high-strength quenched and tempered steel (HSQTS) plates in the butt- and T-joint configurations. The influences of welding parameters, such as laser power, welding speed, stand-off distance (SD) between the arc of gas metal arc welding, and the laser heat source on the weld quality and mechanical properties of joints, were studied to obtain non-porous and crack-free fully-penetrated welds. The weld microstructure, cross-section, and mechanical properties were evaluated by an optical microscope, and microhardness and tensile tests. In addition, a finite element model was developed to investigate the thermal history and molten pool geometry of the HLAW process to join the HSQTS. The numerical study demonstrated that the SD had a paramount role in good synergy between the heat sources and the stability of the keyhole. For the butt-joint configuration, the results showed that, at a higher welding speed (35 mm/s) and optimum SD between the arc and laser, a fully-penetrated sound weld could be achieved. A non-porous weld in the T-joint configuration was obtained at a lower welding speed (10 mm/s). Microstructural evaluations indicated that the formation of residual austenite and the continuous network of martensitic structure along the grain boundary through the heat affected zone were the primary reasons of the softening behavior of this area. This was confirmed by the sharp hardness reduction and failure behavior of the tensile coupons in this area.
The Biostatistics of Aging: From Gompertzian Mortality to an Index of Aging-Relatedness

Book review By Gilberto Levy and Bruce Levin. ISBN 978-1-118-64585-7, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Hoboken, NJ 2014
Fundamentals of Adhesion

Adhesion is the interaction that develops between two dissimilar bodies when they are contacted. Adhesion is thus a multidisciplinary science dealing with the chemistry and physics of surfaces and interfaces as well as the mechanics of deformation and fracture of adhesive joints. In this overview, these various aspects of adhesion are discussed. We begin by describing the general types of adhesive bonds. This is followed by sections on solid surfaces and their characterization, interfacial properties, surface treatment, and finally a discussion of the mechanics of adhesive joints.
Experimental investigations of three-dimensional effects near a crack tip using computer vision

An experimental study of the near tip deformation fields for a Single Edge-Cracked specimen (SEC) has been completed. The surface deformation fields for a thin SEC plexiglas specimen have been obtained in the region 0.15 <- r/t <- 0.60, where r is radial distance from the crack tip and t is the specimen thickness, by using a novel computer vision method. The results of the study indicate that the value of the J-Integral obtained from the measured surface deformation, and under the assumption of plane stress linearly elastic behavior, is essentially path independent over a region that is considered to be within the crack tip three-dimensional zone by researchers who have performed tests on other materials. However, the near-tip, in-plane displacement field does show a deviation from the traditional linear elastic crack tip singularity over the same region, suggesting the need for further studies to address this inconsistency.
Theory Building, Enriching, and Fact Gathering: Alternative Purposes of Psychotherapy Research

In this chapter, I draw distinctions among three classes of research purposes: theory building, enriching, and fact gathering. Theory-building research seeks to test, improve, and extend a particular theory. Enriching research seeks to deepen and enrich people’s appreciation or understanding of a phenomenon. Fact-gathering research seeks to discover facts without explicitly focusing on a unified theory or systematically unpacking the meanings in a phenomenon. Insofar as the distinction concerns the purposes of research, not the methods, any method may be used to advance any of the purposes.
Motivational factors in makerspaces: a mixed methods study of elementary school students’ situational interest, self-efficacy, and achievement emotions

Design-based learning and makerspace programs have been shown to be effective in increasing student motivation for STEM learning. Since these programs have largely been implemented for middle school and older students, less is known about their motivational implications in elementary school contexts. The purpose of this study was to understand how elementary school students’ (grades 3–6) self-efficacy changed throughout the semester of a design-based makerspace course, and how these changes are associated with experiences of positive and negative achievement emotions. Additionally, this study investigated how self-efficacy and achievement emotions are related to students’ interest development in the makerspace course. Results of hierarchical growth modeling showed that although students’ self-efficacy and situational interest remained moderately high during the course, both declined over the makerspace semester. Further, self-efficacy, as well as experiences of excitement and frustration with project tasks were found to be associated with students’ situational interest. Interpretive analysis of student think-aloud interviews and classroom observations supported these findings. Design-based makerspaces have the potential to trigger elementary school students’ interest in STEM activities. However, the iterative design process can lead to suboptimal outcomes on students’ self-efficacy and interest. Instructors should offer context-sensitive efficacy- and emotion-related scaffolds to foster positive makerspace experiences.
Point-of-care colorimetric analysis through smartphone video

Point-of-care (POC) tests often rely on smartphone image methods for colorimetric analysis, but the results of such methods are frequently difficult to reproduce or standardize. The problem is aggravated by unpredictable image capture conditions, which pose a significant challenge when low limits of detection (LOD) are needed. Application-specific smartphone attachments are often used to standardize imaging conditions, but there has recently been an interest in equipment-free POC colorimetric analysis. Improved output metrics and preprocessing methods have been developed, but equipment-free imaging often has a high LOD and is inappropriate for quantitative tasks. Additional work is necessary to replace external smartphone attachments with algorithms. Towards this end, we have developed a video processing method that synthesizes many images into a single output metric. We use image features to select the best inputs from a large set of video frames and demonstrate that the resulting output values have a stronger correlation with laboratory methods and a lower standard error. The developed algorithm only requires 20 seconds of video and can easily be integrated with existing processing methods. We apply our algorithm to the NS1-based sandwich ELISA for Zika detection and show that the LOD is two times lower when our video-based method is used.
Quark and Glue Momenta and Angular Momenta in the Proton — a Lattice Calculation

We report a complete calculation of the quark and glue momenta and angular momenta in the proton. These include the quark contributions from both the connected and disconnected insertions. The calculation is carried out on a $16^3 \times 24$ quenched lattice at $\beta = 6.0$ and for Wilson fermions with $\kappa = 0.154, 0.155,$ and 0.1555 which correspond to pion masses at 650, 538, and 478 MeV. The quark loops are calculated with $Z_4$ noise and signal-to-noise is improved further with unbiased subtractions. The glue operator is comprised of gauge-field tensors constructed from the overlap operator. The $u$ and $d$ quark momentum/angular momentum fraction is 0.66(5)/0.72(5), the strange momentum/angular momentum fraction is 0.024(6)/0.023(7), and that of the glue is 0.31(6)/0.25(8). The orbital angular momenta of the quarks are obtained from subtracting the angular momentum component from its corresponding spin. As a result, the quark orbital angular momentum constitutes 0.50(2) of the proton spin, with almost all it coming from the disconnected insertion. The quark spin carries a fraction 0.25(12) and glue carries a fraction 0.25(8) of the total proton spin.
Cyclone: Detecting Contention-Based Cache Information Leaks Through Cyclic Interference

Micro-architecture units like caches are notorious for leaking secrets across security domains. An attacker program can contend for on-chip state or bandwidth and can even use speculative execution in processors to drive this contention; and protecting against all contention-driven attacks is exceptionally challenging. Prior works can mitigate contention channels through caches by partitioning the larger, lower-level caches or by looking for anomalous performance or contention behavior. Neither scales to large number of fine-grained domains as required by browsers and web-services that place many domains within the same address space. We observe that cache contention channels have a unique property - contention leaks information only when it is cyclic, i.e., domain A interferes with domain B, followed by interference from B to A. We propose to use this cyclic interference property to detect micro-architectural attacks as anomalous cyclic interference. Unlike partitioning, our detection approach scales to many concurrent domains in a single address space; and unlike prior anomaly detectors, cyclic interference is robust to noise from benign interference. We track cyclic interference using non-intrusive detectors in an out-of-order core and stress test our prototype, Cyclone, with fine-grained isolation in browsers (against speculation-driven attacks) and coarse-grained isolation of cores (against covert-channels embedded in database and machine learning workloads). Full-system simulations on an ARM micro-architecture show close to perfect detection rates and 260 - 1000× lower false positives than using (state-of-the-art) contention alone, with slowdowns of only ~3.6%.
White, Male, and Bartending in Detroit: Masculinity Work in a Hipster Scene:

The hipster scene in Detroit, Michigan, is explored via participant observation and in-depth interviews. Participants used hipster norms as a resource for masculinity dilemmas, including a lack of ...
Antiferromagnetic and dielectric behavior in polycrystalline GdFe0.5Cr0.5O3 thin film

Single phase materials with both spontaneous electric polarization and magnetization are rare, despite remarkable efforts in developing magnetoelectric multiferroics. In this work, a single-phase polycrystalline GdFe0.5Cr0.5O3 (GFCO) thin film was spin-coated onto a platinized silicon substrate. X-ray diffraction data suggest that the film exhibits an orthorhombic perovskite structure with a Pbnm space group. No other impurity phases were detected. Magnetization measurements reveal the Neel temperature of the GFCO film to be ∼220 K and illustrate a weak ferromagnetic component at 5 K, which could be due to spin canting. Frequency dependent ferroelectric–paraelectric transition was observed around 480 K, indicating the diffuse relaxor-like behavior. The electric field dependent polarization measurements show a lossy behavior below 200 K. The electric field dependent dielectric constant (tunability) measured at 1 MHz in a wide temperature range reveals that the tunability maximizes near the observed dielectric maxima, which further confirms the ferroelectric to paraelectric transition in the present film.
Environmental Risks to Kidney Health.

Environmental pollution is well recognized as a threat to public health. The United States Environmental Protection Agency, the federal agency charged with protecting human health and the environment, was established 50 years ago and now has a budget of $8.8 billion and 14,172 employees. Although
Inevitable consequences of ion–neutral damping of intermediate MHD waves in Sun-like stars

In the context of the solar atmosphere, we re-examine the role of of neutral and ionized species in dissipating the ordered energy of intermediate-mode MHD waves into heat. We solve conservation equations for the hydrodynamics and for hydrogen and helium ionization stages, along closed tubes of magnetic field. First, we examine the evolution of coronal plasma under conditions where coronal heating has abruptly ceased. We find that cool ($ 10^4 $) K long ($>$ several Mm) tubes of plasma arise by the same mechanism. We speculate on the relevance of these solutions to observed properties of the Sun and similar stars whose atmospheres are permeated with emerging magnetic fields and stirred by convection. Perhaps this elementary process might help explain the presence of ``cool loops'' in the solar transition region and the production of broad components of transition region lines. The production of ionized hydrogen from such a simple and perhaps inevitable mechanism may be an important step towards finding the more complex mechanisms needed to generate coronae with temperatures in excess of 10$^6$K, independent of a star's metallicity.
Active control of a 3-D flow separation induced by a transonic shock

Transonic shock formation and its coupling to local flow separation and streamwise vortices are considered in three-dimensional internal flow over the first turn of a serpentine diffuser. The present investigations indicate that the shock strength is highest at the diffuser’s spanwise corners, where it locks flow separation to its root, with separation decoupling and gradually being displaced downstream toward the midspan, as the shock progressively weakens spanwise. In addition, two counter-rotating vortices that originate at each corner of the D-shaped diffuser inlet strengthen and become displaced along the flow separation domain envelope as a result of interaction of the corner flow with the shock. Fluidic-based flow control is utilized to directly target flow separation, through which it indirectly controls both the dominant streamwise vortices and shock due to inherent internal flow coupling through the pressure field. It is shown that the flow control expands the central domain of the attached flow toward the edges, thereby confining the shock extent to the corners, while decoupling the joint action of the corner vortices as the vortex pair. In addition, some flow control realizations split the shock footprint into the two consecutive legs, arguably altering the normal shock topology into the lambda shape. Along with changing the shock footprint topology, flow control displaces the streamwise vortex pair farther apart and thereby diminishes the cooperative advection of a low-momentum fluid from the wall region into the core flow, thereby effectively coupling to the long-range alteration of the bulk flow. This global effect on the internal flow was quantified by the overall reduction in the total pressure circumferential nonuniformity by about 30%, associated with 1% reduction in total pressure losses.
Correcting Vaccine Misinformation: Recognition and Effects of Source Type on Misinformation via Perceived Motivations and Credibility

This study offers a roadmap to employing and expanding the Persuasion Knowledge Model (Friestad & Wright, 1994) as a useful theoretical framework for studying persuasive misinformation and corrections. Within the context of correcting vaccine-related misinformation, this experimental study (N = 1,067) indicates that the source of misinformation has significantly more correspondence to the belief of misinformation and on behavioral intentions than correction sources, bringing new urgency to the gatekeeping responsibilities of social media.
Decoding of Moderate Length LDPC Codes via Learned Clustered Check Node Scheduling

In this work, we consider the sequential decoding of moderate length low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes via reinforcement learning (RL). The sequential decoding scheme is modeled as a Markov decision process (MDP), and an optimized decoding policy is subsequently obtained via RL. In contrast to our previous works, where an agent learns to schedule only a single check node (CN) within a group (cluster) of CNs per iteration, in this work we train the agent to schedule all CNs in a cluster, and all clusters in every iteration. That is, in each RL step, an agent learns to schedule CN clusters sequentially depending on the reward associated with the outcome of scheduling a particular cluster. We also propose a modified MDP and a uniform sequential decoding policy, enabling the RL-based decoder to be suitable for much longer LDPC codes than the ones studied in our previous work. The proposed RL-based decoder exhibits an SNR gain of almost 0.8 dB for fixed bit error probability over the standard flooding approach.
Entropic interaction between fluctuating twin boundaries

Abstract Nanotwinned metals have opened up exciting avenues for the design of high-strength, high-ductility materials owing to the extraordinary properties of twin boundaries. The recent advances in the fabrication of nanostructured materials with twin lamella on the order of a mere few atomic layers call for a closer examination of the stability of these structural motifs, especially at high temperatures. This paper presents a study of the entropic interaction between fluctuating twin boundaries by way of atomistic simulations and statistical mechanics based analysis. The simulations reveal that fluctuations of twin boundaries are considerably enhanced in the presence of adjoining twin boundaries as their spacing, d, decreases. In addition, the theoretical analysis shows that fluctuating twin boundaries indeed exhibit an attractive entropic interaction which enhances their thermal fluctuations and that the entropic force decreases as 1 / d 2 . This finite temperature interaction between twin boundaries is fundamentally distinct from the well-known repulsive entropic interaction followed by fluctuating lipid membranes as well as many crystalline membranes and interfaces. This rather surprising attraction between fluctuating twin boundaries is attributed to their shear coupled normal motion.
Learning Different Types of New Attributes by Combining the Neural Network and Iterative Attribute Construction

Most of the current constructive induction algorithms degrade performance as the target concept becomes larger and more complex in terms of Boolean combinations. Most are only capable of constructing relatively smaller new attributes. Though it is impossible to build a learner to learn any arbitrarily large and complex concept, there are some large and complex concepts that could be represented in a simple relation such as prototypical concepts, e.g., m-of-n, majority, etc. In this paper, we propose a new approach that combines the neural net and iterative attribute construction to learn relatively short but complex Boolean combinations and prototypical structures. We also carried a series of systematic experiments to characterize our approach.
A stochastic model for particle disintegration—I: Grinding mechanism

A Stochastic model is developed to account for the particle disintegration associated with the grinding mechanism. The probability that the particle is in class i at a given time that was in class k initially is derived for the situation when the intensity of particle disintegration is constant. Variation of the particle size distribution along with the mean and variance of the distribution during the course of the disintegration is presented.
Promotion Systems and Organizational Performance: A Contingency Model

This study explores the organizational impact of a variety of important promotion systems commonly practiced in organizations including up-or-out systems, absolute merit-based systems, relative merit-based systems, and seniority-based systems. Through the computer simulation of organizations in a distributed decision making setting, the results indicate that the effectiveness of any promotion system is dependent on a range of factors including the nature of the task environment, the design of the organizational structure, the frequency of monitoring, the criteria of performance, and the transferability of task knowledge. This study has implications not only for understanding organizational promotion systems from the contingency perspective, but also for bridging the fields of strategic human resource management and computational organization theory.
Inhibition of Aminoglycoside 6’ -N-Acetyltransferase Type Ib-Mediated Amikacin Resistance in Klebsiella pneumoniae by Zinc and Copper Pyrithione

The in vitro activity of the aminoglycoside 6'-N-acetyltransferase type Ib [AAC(6')-Ib] was inhibited by CuCl2 with a 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 2.8 μM. The growth of an amikacin-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae strain isolated from a neonate with meningitis was inhibited when amikacin was supplemented by the addition of Zn(2+) or Cu(2+) in complex with the ionophore pyrithione. Coordination complexes between cations and ionophores could be developed for their use, in combination with aminoglycosides, to treat resistant infections.
Thermo-chromic materials based on polymer-embedded silver clusters

Abstract Thermo-chromic films based on silver/polystyrene nanocomposites have been prepared by thermal annealing of silver dodecylmercaptide/polystyrene blends at ca. 200 °C. The rapid and reversible color switch (from dark-brown to light-yellow) observed at ca. 80 °C is probably related to a change in the surface-plasmon absorption of silver nanoparticles that follows to variation of inter-particle distances because of polymer expansion. This polymeric material is potentially useful for a number of functional applications (e.g., optical switches, etc.).
Brain networks for analyzing eye gaze

The eyes convey a wealth of information in social interactions. This information is analyzed by multiple brain networks, which we identified using functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Subjects attempted to detect a particular directional cue provided either by gaze changes on an image of a face or by an arrow presented alone or by an arrow superimposed on the face. Another control condition was included in which the eyes moved without providing meaningful directional information. Activation of the superior temporal sulcus accompanied extracting directional information from gaze relative to directional information from an arrow and relative to eye motion without relevant directional information. Such selectivity for gaze processing was not observed in face-responsive fusiform regions. Brain activations were also investigated while subjects viewed the same face but attempted to detect when the eyes gazed directly at them. Most notably, amygdala activation was greater during periods when direct gaze never occurred than during periods when direct gaze occurred on 40% of the trials. In summary, our results suggest that increases in neural processing in the amygdala facilitate the analysis of gaze cues when a person is actively monitoring for emotional gaze events, whereas increases in neural processing in the superior temporal sulcus support the analysis of gaze cues that provide socially meaningful spatial information.
Arousal, Anxiety, and Performance: A Reexamination of the Inverted-U Hypothesis

Abstract Until recently, the traditional Inverted-U hypothesis had been the primary model used by sport psychologists to describe the arousal-performance relationship. However, many sport psychology researchers have challenged this relationship, and the current trend is a shift toward a more “multidimensional” view of arousal-anxiety and its effects on performance. In the current study, 104 college-age participants performed a simple response time task while riding a bicycle ergometer. Participants were randomly assigned to one of eight arousal groups (between 20 and 90% of heart rate reserve) and were told they were competing for a cash prize. Prior to the task, the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 and Sport Anxiety Scale (SAS) were administered to assess the influence of cognitive and somatic anxiety. As hypothesized, regression analysis revealed a significant quadratic trend for arousal and reaction time. This accounted for 13.2% of the variance, F change (1, 101) = 15.10, p < .001, in performance...
Amiodarone and desethylamiodarone increase intrasynaptosomal free calcium through receptor mediated channel

Long term amiodarone (AM) therapy has been associated with several side effects including neurotoxicity. Since AM alters Ca2+ regulated events, we have studied its effects on the compartmentation of free Ca2+ in the synaptosomes as an attempt to understand the mechanism of AM and its metabolite, desethylamiodarone (DEA)-induced neurotoxicity. Intact brain synaptosomes were prepared from male Sprague-Dawley rats. Both AM and DEA produced a concentration dependent increase in intrasynaptosomal free Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) to micromolar levels. The increase in [Ca2+]i was not transient and a steady rise was observed with time. Omission of Ca2+ from the external medium prevented the AM- and DEA-induced rise in [Ca2+]i suggesting that AM and DEA increased the intracellular [Ca2+]i due to increased influx of Ca2+ from external medium. AM- and DEA-induced increase in intrasynaptosomal [Ca2+]i was neither inhibited by a calcium channel blocker, verapamil, nor with a Na+ channel blocker, tetrodotoxin. However, the blockade of [Ca2+]i rise by AM and DEA was observed with MK-801, a receptor antagonist indicating that AM and DEA induced rise in [Ca2+]i is through receptor mediated channel. Both AM and DEA also inhibited N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA)-receptor binding in synaptic membranes in a concentration dependent manner, DEA being more effective, indicating that AM and DEA compete for the same site as that of NMDA and confirm the observation that these drugs increase intrasynaptosomal [Ca2+]i through receptor mediated channel. 45Ca accumulation into brain microsomes and mitochondria was significantly inhibited by AM and DEA, but without any effect on the Ca2+ release from these intracellular organelles. Also, both these drugs did not interfere with inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate induced Ca2+ release from microsomes even at 10 μM concentration. These results clearly indicate that both AM and DEA increase intrasynaptosomal [Ca2+]i by an action on receptor mediated channel in plasma membrane, but not due to the release of Ca2+ from intracellular storage sites. This initial rise in [Ca2+]i, together with other changes in Ca2+ homeostasis, might be responsible for AM and DEA-induced neurotoxicity.
Low-temperature growth of Ge1 − xSnx thin films with strain control by molecular beam epitaxy

Abstract High-quality Ge 1 − x Sn x thin films on InGaAs buffer layers have been demonstrated using low-temperature growth by molecular beam epitaxy. X-ray diffraction and secondary ion mass spectrometry are used to determine the strain and Sn concentration. Up to 10.5% Sn has been incorporated into the Ge 1 − x Sn x thin film without Sn precipitation, as verified by transmission electron microscopy. Roughened surfaces are found for tensile strained Ge 1 − x Sn x layers.