Black Holes and Vacuum Cleaners: Using Metaphor, Relevance, and Inquiry in Labels for Space Images

This study extended research on the development of explanatory labels for astronomical images for the non-expert lay public. The research questions addressed how labels with leading questions/metaphors and relevance to everyday life affect comprehension of the intended message for deep space images, the desire to learn more, and the aesthetic appreciation of images. Participants were a convenience sample of 1,921 respondents solicited from a variety of websites and through social media who completed an online survey that used four high-resolution images as stimuli: Sagittarius A*, Solar Flare, Cassiopeia A, and the Pinwheel Galaxy (M101). Participants were randomly assigned initially to 1 of 3 label conditions: the standard label originally written for the image, a label with a leading question containing a metaphor related to the information for the image, or a label that contained a fact about the image relevant to everyday life. Participants were randomly assigned to 1 image and compared all labels for that image. Open-ended items at various points asked participants to pose questions to a hypothetical astronomer. Main findings were that the relevance condition was significantly more likely to increase wanting to learn more; the original label was most likely to increase overall appreciation; and, smart phone users were more likely to want to learn more and report increased levels of appreciation. Results are discussed in terms of the need to examine individual viewer characteristics and goals in creating different labels for different audiences.Comment: 50 pages, 7 tables, 2 figures, accepted by the journal "Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts

Critical review of the United Kingdoms "gold standard" survey of public attitudes to science

Since 2000, the UK government has funded surveys aimed at understanding the UK public’s attitudes toward science, scientists, and science policy. Known as the Public Attitudes to Science series, these surveys and their predecessors have long been used in UK science communication policy, practice, and scholarship as a source of authoritative knowledge about science-related attitudes and behaviors. Given their importance and the significant public funding investment they represent, detailed academic scrutiny of the studies is needed. In this essay, we critically review the most recently published Public Attitudes to Science survey (2014), assessing the robustness of its methods and claims. The review casts doubt on the quality of key elements of the Public Attitudes to Science 2014 survey data and analysis while highlighting the importance of robust quantitative social research methodology. Our analysis comparing the main sample and booster sample for young people demonstrates that quota sampling cannot be assumed equivalent to probability-based sampling techniques

The Human Thioesterase II Protein Binds to a Site on HIV-1 Nef Critical for CD4 Down-regulation

A HIV-1 Nef affinity column was used to purify a 35-kDa Nef-interacting protein from T-cell lysates. The 35-kDa protein was identified by peptide microsequence analysis as the human thioesterase II (hTE) enzyme, an enzyme previously identified in a yeast two-hybrid screen as a potential Nef-interacting protein. Immunofluorescence studies showed that hTE localizes to peroxisomes and that coexpression of Nef and hTE leads to relocalization of Nef to peroxisomes. Interaction of Nef and hTE was abolished by point mutations in Nef at residues Asp108, Leu112, Phe121, Pro122, and Asp123. All of these mutations also abrogated the ability of Nef to down-regulate CD4 from the surface of HIV-infected cells. Based on the x-ray and NMR structures of Nef, these residues define a surface on Nef critical for CD4 down-regulation. A subset of these mutations also affected the ability of Nef to down-regulate major histocompatibility complex class I. These results, taken together with previous studies, identify a region on Nef critical for most of its known functions. However, not all Nef alleles bind to hTE with high affinity, so the role of hTE during HIV infection remains uncertain

Modeling Factions for \u27Effects Based Operations\u27: Part II Behavioral Game Theory

Military, diplomatic, and intelligence analysts are increasingly interested in having a valid system of models that span the social sciences and interoperate so that one can determine the effects that may arise from alternative operations (courses of action) in different lands. Part I of this article concentrated on internal validity of the components of such a synthetic framework – a world diplomacy game as well as the agent architecture for modeling leaders and followers in different conflicts. But how valid are such model collections once they are integrated together and used out-of-sample (see Section 1)? Section 2 compares these realistic, descriptive agents to normative rational actor theory and offers equilibria insights for conflict games. Sections 3 and 4 offer two real world cases (Iraq and SE Asia) where the agent models are subjected to validity tests and an EBO experiment is then run for each case. We conclude by arguing that substantial effort on game realism, best-of-breed social science models, and agent validation efforts is essential if analytic experiments are to effectively explore conflicts and alternative ways to influence outcomes. Such efforts are likely to improve behavioral game theory as well

Probe Vehicle Bluetooth Study for Travel Time Savings Estimation

Interstate 69 is a new highway envisioned to eventually travel the length of the United States, from Canada to Mexico. In Indiana, the construction is being completed in a series of segments, as shown below. With the opening of new sections, the travel time savings for travelers can be quantified. By deploying Bluetooth data loggers to capture unique MAC addresses of travelers’ devices, timestamps for corresponding MAC addresses along the study route can be matched to determine travel time. Compared to the posted speeds and lengths of new interstate sections, the travel time saved by using I-69 can be estimated. One such study was completed for the previous opening of I-69 Sections 1-3, and researchers completed a study for Section 4, which opened to public traffic on December 6, 2015

Strong exciton-photon coupling with colloidal nanoplatelets in an open microcavity

Colloidal semiconductor nanoplatelets exhibit quantum size effects due to their thickness of only few monolayers, together with strong optical band-edge transitions facilitated by large lateral extensions. In this article we demonstrate room temperature strong coupling of the light and heavy hole exciton transitions of CdSe nanoplatelets with the photonic modes of an open planar microcavity. Vacuum Rabi splittings of $66 \pm 1$ meV and $58 \pm 1$ meV are observed for the heavy and light hole excitons respectively, together with a polariton-mediated hybridisation of both transitions. By measuring the concentration of platelets in the film we compute the transition dipole moment of a nanoplatelet exciton to be $\mu = (575 \pm 110)$ D. The large oscillator strength and fluorescence quantum yield of semiconductor nanoplatelets provide a perspective towards novel photonic devices, combining polaritonic and spinoptronic effects.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

MEASURING SQUASH HITTING ACCURACY USING THE ‘HUNT SQUASH ACCURACY TEST’

The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability and validity of the Hunt Squash Accuracy Test (HSAT). Reliability: ten male squash players performed the HSAT twice within seven days. Each test consisted of 375 shots across 13 different types of squash strokes on both the forehand and backhand side. Reliability was measured using a typical error (TE) score from consecutive pairs of trials. The overall TE score for the test was 1.82%, demonstrating that the HSAT is very reliable at the 90% confidence limit. Validity: measured using a correlation analysis comparing the results of 8 individual’s HSAT scores against a round-robin tournament ranking where all 8 players played against each other, as well as coach rankings of player ability. Validity was considered high with correlation coefficients of 0.93 for both the round-robin and coach ranking

Parents' perceived obstacles to pediatric clinical trial participation: Findings from the clinical trials transformation initiative.

Enrollment of children into pediatric clinical trials remains challenging. More effective strategies to improve recruitment of children into trials are needed. This study used in-depth qualitative interviews with parents who were approached to enroll their children in a clinical trial in order to gain an understanding of the barriers to pediatric clinical trial participation. Twenty-four parents whose children had been offered the opportunity to participate in a clinical trial were interviewed: 19 whose children had participated in at least 1 clinical trial and 5 who had declined participation in any trial. Each study aspect, from the initial explanation of the study to the end of the study, can affect the willingness of parents to consent to the proposed study and future studies. Establishing trust, appropriate timing, a transparent discussion of risks and benefits oriented to the layperson, and providing motivation for children to participate were key factors that impacted parents' decisions. In order for clinical trial accrual to be successful, parents' priorities and considerations must be a central focus, beginning with initial trial design. The recommendations from the parents who participated in this study can be used to support budget allocations that ensure adequate training of study staff and improved staffing on nights and weekends. Studies of parent responses in outpatient settings and additional inpatient settings will provide valuable information on the consent process from the child's and parent's perspectives. Further studies are needed to explore whether implementation of such strategies will result in improved recruitment for pediatric clinical trials

New methods for digital modeling of historic sites

We discuss new methods for building 3D models of historic sites. Our algorithm automatically computes pairwise registrations between individual scans, builds a topological graph, and places the scans in the same frame of reference

Physical Activity Levels in Children with Sensory problems: Cross-sectional Analyses from the Millennium Cohort Study

Background: Hearing and vision impairments/problems are associated with increased risk of premature mortality in adulthood. One potential pathway explaining this association is reduced levels of physical activity. Reductions in activity levels due to sensory impairments may commence earlier in life; however, associations between sensory impairments/problems and activity levels in childhood are not well understood. Objective: The objective of this study was to examine associations between hearing and vision problems and objectively measured activity levels in a representative sample of British children. Methods: Data were drawn from sweep 4 of the Millennium Cohort Study, a prospective cohort study among children aged 7. Child hearing and vision problems were reported by parents in a postal survey. Children were also invited to have their physical activity measured objectively via accelerometry. A total of 6410 children had valid accelerometry data accompanied by complete survey data on the variables of interest. The main outcomes were objectively measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, steps and sedentary time. Adjusted linear regression was used to examine associations between vision and hearing problems and objectively measured activity levels. Results: In this sample of 7-year old children, 16.7% (n = 1068) had a reported vision problem and 11.6% (n = 745) had a hearing problem. Reported vision problems in both eyes, but not one eye, was associated with 2 fewer minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day (B = −2.1 95% Confidence Intervals [CI] −3.9 to −0.4) and almost 200 fewer steps per day (B = −198.4 95% CI, −398.4 to 1.6). Hearing problems were not associated with activity levels in either one or both ears. Conclusion: Children with visual problems affecting both eyes, but not one eye, are likely to have lower levels of physical activity. Strategies to promote physical activity in children with visual problems are warranted