Direct and Relational Representation During Transitive List Linking in Pinyon Jays (\u3ci\u3eGymnorhinus cyanocephalus\u3c/i\u3e)

The authors used the list-linking procedure (Treichler & Van Tilburg, 1996) to explore the processes by which animals assemble cognitive structures from fragmentary and often contradictory data. Pinyon jays (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus) were trained to a high level of accuracy on two implicit transitive lists. They were then given linkage training on the single pair that linked the two lists into a composite, 10-item hierarchy. Following linkage training, the birds were tested on nonadjacent probe pairs drawn both from within (B-D and 2–4) and between (D-1, E-2, B-2, C-3) each original list. Linkage training resulted in a significant transitory disruption in performance, and the adjustment to the resulting implicit hierarchy was far from instantaneous. Detailed analysis of the course of the disruption and its subsequent recovery provided important insights into the roles of direct and relational encoding in implicit hierarchies

Solve a Complex Issue with The BRIDGE

Complex issues in work, school, community or life can significantly impact productivity, performance, and goal attainment. Collective brainpower can many times be the best way to creatively solve the issues. The BRIDGE is a tool that communities, businesses, educators, staff, volunteers, and youth can use to structure the collection of those creative ideas and streamline the process for developing an implementation plan. The BRIDGE fluidly incorporates adaptations of several organization analysis tools designed by business scholars arranged in a logical flow: Covey's Circle of Control/Influence, Lewin's Force Field Analysis, SWOT, and Kotter's Change Model. The BRIDGE model supports the research of Welsh scholar David Snowden and his Cynefin Decision Making Framework. Snowden contends that different situations require different responses to successfully navigate them. His framework interprets complexity theory with four domains of decision making: obvious, complicated, complex and chaotic. Decisions in the complex domain require experimentation and creativity to come up with a new approach. The BRIDGE model lends itself well to solving those complex decisions. The BRIDGE has been used to solve complex issues with a variety of groups: 1) a nonprofit start-up created structure, policies and procedures to run their new organization; 2) a 4-H group identified a new training program; 3) a focus group of leaders in the long-term services and supports industry identified talent development as a critical concern, which led to the creation of two new non-credit curricula to improve workforce skills; 4) a training department for a for-profit company developed a plan for management approval to implement a new initiative; 5) an FFA chapter developed several service learning projects for their school and community and at the same time learned valuable critical-thinking skills; and 6) a trucking company created a strategic plan to lead the company into a new phase of services. The BRIDGE model actively engages groups of diverse people. The structure of the process allows for dynamic exchange of ideas that are captured on idea cards and ultimately churn and meld into synthesized solutions supported by the entire group.AUTHOR AFFILIATION: Myra Wilson, program director, Ohio State Alber Enterprise Center, [email protected] (Corresponding Author); Cynthia Bond, assistant professor and OSU Extension educator, community development; David Marrison, associate professor and OSU Extension educator, agriculture and natural resources; Emily Marrison, OSU Extension educator, family and consumer sciences; Amanda Woods, Healthy Finances program specialist, OSU Extension family and consumer sciences; Kyle White, OSU Extension area leader and educator, community developmentComplex issues in work, school, community, or life can significantly impact productivity, performance, and goal attainment. Collective brainpower can many times be the best way to creatively solve issues. The BRIDGE is a tool that communities, businesses, educators, staff, volunteers, and youth can use to structure the collection of those creative ideas and streamline the process for developing an implementation plan. The BRIDGE model actively engages groups of diverse people. The structure of the process allows for dynamic exchange of ideas that are captured on idea cards and ultimately churn and meld into synthesized solutions supported by the entire group. Learn how you can become a certified facilitator of The BRIDGE

A cryogenic rotation stage with a large clear aperture for the half-wave plates in the Spider instrument

We describe the cryogenic half-wave plate rotation mechanisms built for and used in Spider, a polarization-sensitive balloon-borne telescope array that observed the Cosmic Microwave Background at 95 GHz and 150 GHz during a stratospheric balloon flight from Antarctica in January 2015. The mechanisms operate at liquid helium temperature in flight. A three-point contact design keeps the mechanical bearings relatively small but allows for a large (305 mm) diameter clear aperture. A worm gear driven by a cryogenic stepper motor allows for precise positioning and prevents undesired rotation when the motors are depowered. A custom-built optical encoder system monitors the bearing angle to an absolute accuracy of +/- 0.1 degrees. The system performed well in Spider during its successful 16 day flight.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, Published in Review of Scientific Instruments. v2 includes reviewer changes and longer literature revie

Modeling and characterization of the SPIDER half-wave plate

Spider is a balloon-borne array of six telescopes that will observe the Cosmic Microwave Background. The 2624 antenna-coupled bolometers in the instrument will make a polarization map of the CMB with approximately one-half degree resolution at 145 GHz. Polarization modulation is achieved via a cryogenic sapphire half-wave plate (HWP) skyward of the primary optic. We have measured millimeter-wave transmission spectra of the sapphire at room and cryogenic temperatures. The spectra are consistent with our physical optics model, and the data gives excellent measurements of the indices of A-cut sapphire. We have also taken preliminary spectra of the integrated HWP, optical system, and detectors in the prototype Spider receiver. We calculate the variation in response of the HWP between observing the CMB and foreground spectra, and estimate that it should not limit the Spider constraints on inflation

Pointing control for the SPIDER balloon-borne telescope

We present the technology and control methods developed for the pointing system of the SPIDER experiment. SPIDER is a balloon-borne polarimeter designed to detect the imprint of primordial gravitational waves in the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation. We describe the two main components of the telescope's azimuth drive: the reaction wheel and the motorized pivot. A 13 kHz PI control loop runs on a digital signal processor, with feedback from fibre optic rate gyroscopes. This system can control azimuthal speed with < 0.02 deg/s RMS error. To control elevation, SPIDER uses stepper-motor-driven linear actuators to rotate the cryostat, which houses the optical instruments, relative to the outer frame. With the velocity in each axis controlled in this way, higher-level control loops on the onboard flight computers can implement the pointing and scanning observation modes required for the experiment. We have accomplished the non-trivial task of scanning a 5000 lb payload sinusoidally in azimuth at a peak acceleration of 0.8 deg/s$^2$, and a peak speed of 6 deg/s. We can do so while reliably achieving sub-arcminute pointing control accuracy.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures, Presented at SPIE Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes V, June 23, 2014. To be published in Proceedings of SPIE Volume 914

Organic chloramines in drinking water: An assessment of formation, stability, reactivity and risk

© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. Although organic chloramines are known to form during the disinfection of drinking water with chlorine, little information is currently available on their occurrence or toxicity. In a recent in vitro study, some organic chloramines (e.g. N-chloroglycine) were found to be cytotoxic and genotoxic even at micromolar concentrations. In this paper, the formation and stability of 21 different organic chloramines, from chlorination of simple amines and amino acids, were studied, and the competition between 20 amino acids during chlorination was also investigated. For comparison, chlorination of two amides was also conducted. The formation and degradation of selected organic chloramines were measured using either direct UV spectroscopic or colorimetric detection. Although cysteine, methionine and tryptophan were the most reactive amino acids towards chlorination, they did not form organic chloramines at the chlorine to precursor molar ratios that were tested. Only 6 out of the 21 organic chloramines formed had a half-life of more than 3 h, although this group included all organic chloramines formed from amines. A health risk assessment relating stability and reactivity data from this study to toxicity and precursor abundance data from the literature indicated that only N-chloroglycine is likely to be of concern due to its stability, toxicity and abundance in water. However, given the stability of organic chloramines formed from amines, more information about the toxicity and precursor abundance for these chloramines is desirable