Effects of polarization on the transmission and localization of classical waves in weakly scattering metamaterials

We summarize the results of our comprehensive analytical and numerical studies of the effects of polarization on the Anderson localization of classical waves in one-dimensional random stacks. We consider homogeneous stacks composed entirely of normal materials or metamaterials, and also mixed stacks composed of alternating layers of a normal material and metamaterial. We extend the theoretical study developed earlier for the case of normal incidence [A. A. Asatryan et al, Phys. Rev. B 81, 075124 (2010)] to the case of off-axis incidence. For the general case where both the refractive indices and layer thicknesses are random, we obtain the long-wave and short-wave asymptotics of the localization length over a wide range of incidence angles (including the Brewster ``anomaly'' angle). At the Brewster angle, we show that the long-wave localization length is proportional to the square of the wavelength, as for the case of normal incidence, but with a proportionality coefficient substantially larger than that for normal incidence. In mixed stacks with only refractive-index disorder, we demonstrate that p-polarized waves are strongly localized, while for s-polarization the localization is substantially suppressed, as in the case of normal incidence. In the case of only thickness disorder, we study also the transition from localization to delocalization at the Brewster angle.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in PR

An Always Correlated gene expression landscape for ovine skeletal muscle, lessons learnt from comparison with an “equivalent” bovine landscape

BACKGROUND: We have recently described a method for the construction of an informative gene expression correlation landscape for a single tissue, longissimus muscle (LM) of cattle, using a small number (less than a hundred) of diverse samples. Does this approach facilitate interspecies comparison of networks? FINDINGS: Using gene expression datasets from LM samples from a single postnatal time point for high and low muscling sheep, and from a developmental time course (prenatal to postnatal) for normal sheep and sheep exhibiting the Callipyge muscling phenotype gene expression correlations were calculated across subsets of the data comparable to the bovine analysis. An “Always Correlated” gene expression landscape was constructed by integrating the correlations from the subsets of data and was compared to the equivalent landscape for bovine LM muscle. Whilst at the high level apparently equivalent modules were identified in the two species, at the detailed level overlap between genes in the equivalent modules was limited and generally not significant. Indeed, only 395 genes and 18 edges were in common between the two landscapes. CONCLUSIONS: Since it is unlikely that the equivalent muscles of two closely related species are as different as this analysis suggests, within tissue gene expression correlations appear to be very sensitive to the samples chosen for their construction, compounded by the different platforms used. Thus users need to be very cautious in interpretation of the differences. In future experiments, attention will be required to ensure equivalent experimental designs and use cross-species gene expression platform to enable the identification of true differences between different species

When the going gets tough: Employee reactions to large‐scale organizational change and the role of employee Machiavellianism

Large-scale, long-term change initiatives take time to unfold, which can be a source ofuncertainty and strain. Investigating the initial 19 months of a large-scale change, weargue that during these stages, employees' change-related beliefs become more negativeover time, which negatively affects their work engagement and, ultimately, increasestheir turnover intentions. Furthermore, we investigate the impact of a trait, Machiavel-lianism, on change reactions and propose that employees high in Machiavellianism reactmore negatively during change processes as they are especially susceptible to uncer-tainty and stress. We test our (cross-level) moderated mediation model in a three-wavelongitudinal study among employees undergoing a large-scale change (T1: n = 1,602; T2:n =1,113;T3:n = 759). We find that employees' beliefs about the impact and value ofthe change are indeed negatively related to change duration and that decreases in theseperceptions come with a decline in engagement and increases in turnover intentions.Moreover, employees high in Machiavellianism react more strongly to a deterioration inchange-related beliefs, showing stronger reductions in engagement and strongerincreases in turnover intentions than employees low in Machiavellianism. Our studyoffers explanations for the negative effects of large-scale changes including an explana-tory factor for disparate employee reactions to change over time

Optimization of impact pile driving using optical fiber Bragg-grating measurements

This paper reports the use of optical fiber Bragg-grating (FBG) sensors to monitor the stress waves generated below ground during pile driving, combined with measurements using conventional pile driving analyzer (PDA) sensors mounted at the pile head. Fourteen tubular steel piles with a diameter of 508 mm and embedded length-to-diameter ratios of 6∶20 were impact driven at an established chalk test site in Kent, United Kingdom. The pile shafts were instrumented with multiple FBG strain gauges and pile head PDA sensors, which monitored the piles’ responses under each hammer blow. A high-frequency (5 kHz) fiber optic interrogator allowed a previously unseen resolution of the stress wave propagation along the pile. Estimates of the base soil resistances to driving and distributions of shaft shear resistances were found through signal matching that compared the time series of pile head PDA measurements and FBG strains measured below the ground surface. Numerical solutions of the one-dimensional wave equation were optimized by taking account of the data from multiple FBG gauges, leading to significant advantages that have potential for widespread application in cases where high-resolution strain measuremen

Predicting Carotid Artery Disease and Plaque Instability from Cell-derived Microparticles

ObjectivesCell-derived microparticles (MPs) are small plasma membrane-derived vesicles shed from circulating blood cells and may act as novel biomarkers of vascular disease. We investigated the potential of circulating MPs to predict (a) carotid plaque instability and (b) the presence of advanced carotid disease.MethodsThis pilot study recruited carotid disease patients (aged 69.3 ± 1.2 years [mean ± SD], 69% male, 90% symptomatic) undergoing endarterectomy (n = 42) and age- and sex-matched controls (n = 73). Plaques were classified as stable (n = 25) or unstable (n = 16) post surgery using immunohistochemistry. Blood samples were analysed for MP subsets and molecular biomarkers. Odds ratios (OR) are expressed per standard deviation biomarker increase.ResultsEndothelial MP (EMP) subsets, but not any vascular, inflammatory, or proteolytic molecular biomarker, were higher (p < .05) in the unstable than the stable plaque patients. The area under the receiver operator characteristic curve for CD31+41− EMP in discriminating an unstable plaque was 0.73 (0.56–0.90, p < .05). CD31+41− EMP predicted plaque instability (OR = 2.19, 1.08–4.46, p < .05) and remained significant in a multivariable model that included transient ischaemic attack symptom status. Annexin V+ MP, platelet MP (PMP) subsets, and C-reactive protein were higher (p < .05) in cases than controls. Annexin V+ MP (OR = 3.15, 1.49–6.68), soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (OR = 1.64, 1.03–2.59), and previous smoking history (OR = 3.82, 1.38–10.60) independently (p < .05) predicted the presence of carotid disease in a multivariable model.ConclusionsEMP may have utility in predicting plaque instability in carotid patients and annexin V+ MPs may predict the presence of advanced carotid disease in aging populations, independent of established biomarkers

Psychometric properties of three measures of “Facebook engagement and/or addiction” among a sample of English speaking Pakistani university students

For researchers interested in measuring the construct of “Facebook engagement and/or addiction,” there are a number of existing measures including the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale, the Facebook Intensity Scale, and the Addictive Tendencies Scale. Currently, there is limited data on the psychometric properties of these three scales, especially among South Asian samples. The present aim was to address this shortfall. A sample of 308 English-speaking Pakistani university students completed the scales, in their original English versions, on two occasions separated by four weeks. Results demonstrated that for each of the scales, across both administrations, satisfactory psychometric properties were found, including internal reliability, temporal stability, and construct validity. Moreover, for these three scales, using confirmatory factor analysis, a one-factor structure was generally found to be a good description of the data for both male and female samples. These data provide further evidence for the reliability and validity of three scales concerned with “Facebook engagement and/or addiction.

A Trait‐Based Framework for Assessing the Vulnerability of Marine Species to Human Impacts

Marine species and ecosystems are widely affected by anthropogenic stressors, ranging from pollution and fishing to climate change. Comprehensive assessments of how species and ecosystems are impacted by anthropogenic stressors are critical for guiding conservation and management investments. Previous global risk or vulnerability assessments have focused on marine habitats, or on limited taxa or specific regions. However, information about the susceptibility of marine species across a range of taxa to different stressors everywhere is required to predict how marine biodiversity will respond to human pressures. We present a novel framework that uses life-history traits to assess species’ vulnerability to a stressor, which we compare across more than 44,000 species from 12 taxonomic groups (classes). Using expert elicitation and literature review, we assessed every combination of each of 42 traits and 22 anthropogenic stressors to calculate each species’ or representative species group’s sensitivity and adaptive capacity to stressors, and then used these assessments to derive their overall relative vulnerability. The stressors with the greatest potential impact were related to biomass removal (e.g., fisheries), pollution, and climate change. The taxa with the highest vulnerabilities across the range of stressors were mollusks, corals, and echinoderms, while elasmobranchs had the highest vulnerability to fishing-related stressors. Traits likely to confer vulnerability to climate change stressors were related to the presence of calcium carbonate structures, and whether a species exists across the interface of marine, terrestrial, and atmospheric realms. Traits likely to confer vulnerability to pollution stressors were related to planktonic state, organism size, and respiration. Such a replicable, broadly applicable method is useful for informing ocean conservation and management decisions at a range of scales, and the framework is amenable to further testing and improvement. Our framework for assessing the vulnerability of marine species is the first critical step toward generating cumulative human impact maps based on comprehensive assessments of species, rather than habitats

Neonicotinoid seed treatments of soybean provide negligible benefits to US farmers

Neonicotinoids are the most widely used insecticides worldwide and are typically deployed as seed treatments (hereafter NST) in many grain and oilseed crops, including soybeans. However, there is a surprising dearth of information regarding NST effectiveness in increasing soybean seed yield, and most published data suggest weak, or inconsistent yield benefit. The US is the key soybean-producing nation worldwide and this work includes soybean yield data from 194 randomized and replicated field studies conducted specifically to evaluate the effect of NSTs on soybean seed yield at sites within 14 states from 2006 through 2017. Here we show that across the principal soybean-growing region of the country, there are negligible and management-specific yield benefits attributed to NSTs. Across the entire region, the maximum observed yield benefits due to fungicide (FST = fungicide seed treatment) + neonicotinoid use (FST + NST) reached 0.13 Mg/ha. Across the entire region, combinations of management practices affected the effectiveness of FST + N ST to increase yield but benefits were minimal ranging between 0.01 to 0.22 Mg/ha. Despite widespread use, this practice appears to have little benefit for most of soybean producers; across the entire region, a partial economic analysis further showed inconsistent evidence of a break-even cost of FST or FST + N ST. These results demonstrate that the current widespread prophylactic use of NST in the key soybean-producing areas of the US should be re-evaluated by producers and regulators alike

Neonicotinoid seed treatments of soybean provide negligible benefits to US farmers

Neonicotinoids are the most widely used insecticides worldwide and are typically deployed as seed treatments (hereafter NST) in many grain and oilseed crops, including soybeans. However, there is a surprising dearth of information regarding NST effectiveness in increasing soybean seed yield, and most published data suggest weak, or inconsistent yield benefit. The US is the key soybean-producing nation worldwide and this work includes soybean yield data from 194 randomized and replicated field studies conducted specifically to evaluate the effect of NSTs on soybean seed yield at sites within 14 states from 2006 through 2017. Here we show that across the principal soybean-growing region of the country, there are negligible and management-specific yield benefits attributed to NSTs. Across the entire region, the maximum observed yield benefits due to fungicide (FST = fungicide seed treatment) + neonicotinoid use (FST + NST) reached 0.13 Mg/ha. Across the entire region, combinations of management practices affected the effectiveness of FST + N ST to increase yield but benefits were minimal ranging between 0.01 to 0.22 Mg/ha. Despite widespread use, this practice appears to have little benefit for most of soybean producers; across the entire region, a partial economic analysis further showed inconsistent evidence of a break-even cost of FST or FST + N ST. These results demonstrate that the current widespread prophylactic use of NST in the key soybean-producing areas of the US should be re-evaluated by producers and regulators alike

Children’s rights and digital technologies

Digital technologies have reshaped children’s lives, resulting in new opportunities for and risks to their well-being and rights. This chapter investigates the impact of digital technologies on children’s rights through the lens of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Up until now, not all rights have received the same level of attention in the digital context. Legal and policy discourse in the area of children and digital media predominantly focuses on ‘protection’ rights, albeit with a growing awareness of the tension between ‘protection’ and ‘participation’ rights. ‘Provision’ rights are not often emphasised, other than in the important domain of education. However, all children’s rights should be supported, valued and developed in both online and offline spheres of engagement. Governments, parents, educators, industry, civil society and children’s rights commissioners or ombudspersons should all take up their responsibility to enhance children’s rights in relation to digital technologies, while actively listening and taking account of children’s views when developing laws, policies, programmes and other measures in this field