Integrated medical and behavioral laboratory measurement system engineering analysis and laboratory specification

Site selection, program planning, cost and design studies for support of the IMBLMS program were investigated. Accomplishments are reported for the following areas: analysis of responses to site selection criteria, space-oriented biotechnology, life sciences payload definition, and program information transfer

School Experiences Of Middle School Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder

This phenomenological study examined the school experiences of adolescents with high functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in sixth through eighth grade. Two research questions guided this study: what were the participants’ day to day experiences and what were their perceptions of those experiences? The results of the study yielded three conclusions. First, school can be a confusing and unpredictable source of stress. This stress can be ameliorated through increased predictability in the classroom and through adaptations to materials based on individualized needs and preferences. Specific classroom based strategies were identified and discussed, with clear shared preferences emergent. Participants indicated preferences for specific traits in teachers. Second, friendships were desirable, but symptomology associated with ASD makes it difficult to establish and maintain them. Participants needed peers to remain quiet in the classroom so they could focus and pay attention. The issue of bullying emerged as a shared concern, likely related to difficulties in accurately reading peers’ social cues. Third, individuals with ASD are capable of regulating emotions if they are taught how to identify early signs of dysregulation and are supported in using self-calming strategies. Great variability was demonstrated in the level of insight in identifying dysregulation and in using adaptive calming strategies across participants

The ionizing sources of luminous compact HII regions in the RCW106 and RCW122 clouds

Given the rarity of young O star candidates, compact HII regions embedded in dense molecular cores continue to serve as potential sites to peer into the details of high-mass star formation. To uncover the ionizing sources of the most luminous and compact HII regions embedded in the RCW106 and RCW122 giant molecular clouds, known to be relatively nearby (2-4 kpc) and isolated, thus providing an opportunity to examine spatial scales of a few hundred to a thousand AU in size. High spatial resolution (0.3"), mid-infrared spectra (R=350), including the fine structure lines [ArIII] and [NeII], were obtained for four luminous compact HII regions, embedded inside the dense cores within the RCW106 and RCW122 molecular cloud complexes. At this resolution, these targets reveal point-like sources surrounded by nebulosity of different morphologies, uncovering details at spatial dimensions of <1000AU. The point-like sources display [ArIII] and [NeII] lines - the ratios of which are used to estimate the temperature of the embedded sources. The derived temperatures are indicative of mid-late O type objects for all the sources with [ArIII] emission. Previously known characteristics of these targets from the literature, including evidence of disk or accretion suggest that the identified sources may grow more to become early-type O stars by the end of the star formation process

First record of an invasive shrimp from the family Processidae (Crustacea, Decapoda) in the Mediterranean Sea

This is the first recording on the genus Nikoides Paulson, 1875 in the Mediterranean Sea, with remarks on taxonomy and ecology

The effect of the Müller-Lyer illusion on saccades is modulated by spatial predictability and saccadic latency

Studies investigating the effect of visual illusions on saccadic eye movements have provided a wide variety of results. In this study, we test three factors that might explain this variability: the spatial predictability of the stimulus, the duration of the stimulus and the latency of the saccades. Participants made a saccade from one end of a Müller-Lyer figure to the other end. By changing the spatial predictability of the stimulus, we find that the illusion has a clear effect on saccades (16%) when the stimulus is at a highly predictable location. Even stronger effects of the illusion are found when the stimulus location becomes more unpredictable (19–23%). Conversely, manipulating the duration of the stimulus fails to reveal a clear difference in illusion effect. Finally, by computing the illusion effect for different saccadic latencies, we find a maximum illusion effect (about 30%) for very short latencies, which decreases by 7% with every 100 ms latency increase. We conclude that spatial predictability of the stimulus and saccadic latency influences the effect of the Müller-Lyer illusion on saccades

The social determinants of polymorphous prejudice against lesbian and gay individuals: the case of Portugal

In the present article, we analyze polymorphous prejudice against lesbians and gays according to a sample of Portuguese heterosexual individuals. We tested the differential importance of demographic-, ideological-, and psychological-level variables to predicting this phenomenon. Our results show that male, Catholic, right-wing respondents with fewer lesbian and gay (LG) friends prove the group exhibiting the highest levels of polymorphous prejudice. Furthermore, the introduction of psychological-level variables into the regression models increased the explained variance in polymorphous prejudice, above and beyond the remaining predictors. Additionally, we report different patterns of results when deploying regression analyses at the level of the sub-scales of polymorphous prejudice. We discuss our results within the light of contemporary sexual prejudice frameworks before reviewing the utility of results to interventions targeting discriminated LG individuals.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Site-selective mapping of metastable states using electron-beam induced luminescence microscopy

Metastable states created by electron or hole capture in crystal defects are widely used in dosimetry and photonic applications. Feldspar, the most abundant mineral in the Earth crust (>50%), generates metastable states with lifetimes of millions of years upon exposure to ionizing radiation. Although feldspar is widely used in dosimetry and geochronometry, the creation of metastable states and charge transfer across them is poorly understood. Understanding such phenomena requires next-generation methods based on high-resolution, site-selective probing of the metastable states. Recent studies using site-selective techniques such as photoluminescence (PL), and radioluminescence (RL) at 7 K have revealed that feldspar exhibits two near-infrared (NIR) emission bands peaking at 880 nm and 955 nm, which are believed to arise from the principal electron-trapping states. Here, we map for the first time the electron-trapping states in potassium-rich feldspar using spectrally-resolved cathodoluminescence microscopy at a spatial resolution of around 6 to 22 micrometer. Each pixel probed by a scanning electron microscope provides us a cathodoluminescence spectrum (SEM-CL) in the range 600-1000 nm, and elemental data from energy-dispersive x-ray (EDX) spectroscopy. We conclude that the two NIR emissions are spatially variable and, therefore, originate from different sites. This conclusion contradicts the existing model that the two emissions arise from two different excited states of a principal trap. Moreover, we are able to link the individual NIR emission peaks with the geochemical variations (K, Na and Fe concentration), and propose a cluster model that explains the quenching of the NIR emission by Fe4+

The sequence of low- and high-mass star formation in the young stellar cluster IRAS 19343+2026

BVRIJHK photometry, Spitzer-GLIMPSE photometry and HK-band spectroscopy were used to study the stellar content of IRAS 19343+2026, a (proto)star/cluster candidate, located close to the Galactic plane. The data suggest that IRAS 19343+2026 is a rich cluster associated with a massive protostar of 7.6 M⊙ with an age of ∼105 yr. Three point sources in the vicinity of the far-infrared peak are also found to be early B-type stars. The remaining (predominantly low mass) members of the cluster are best represented by a 1–3 Myr pre-main-sequence (PMS) population. HK-band spectra of two bright and five faint point sources in the cluster confirm that the results obtained from the photometry are good representations of their young stellar object (YSO) nature. Thus, IRAS 19343+2026 is a young cluster with at least four early B-type stars classified as young (104–105 yr), that are surrounded by a somewhat older (1–3 Myr) population of low-mass YSOs. Together, these results argue for a scenario in which low-mass stars form prior to massive stars in a cluster forming environment. We compute the initial mass function (IMF) for this cluster using the K-band luminosity function; the slope of the IMF is shallower than predicted by the Salpeter's mass function. The cluster mass, Mtotal, is estimated to be in the range ∼307 M⊙ (from the data completeness limit) to 585 M⊙ (extrapolated down to the brown dwarf limit, assuming a certain IMF)