Some comments on Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics methods

We highlight some links between molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo algorithms used to simulate condensed matter systems. Special attention is paid to the question of sampling the desired statistical ensemble

Folding kinetics of a polymer [corrigendum]

In our original article (Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2012, 14, 60446053) a convergence problem resulted in an averaging error in computing the entropy from a set of Wang-Landau Monte-Carlo simulations. Here we report corrected results for the freezing temperature of the homopolymer chain as a function of the range of the non-bonded interaction. We find that the previously reported forward-flux sampling (FFS) and brute-force (BF) simulation results are in agreement with the revised Wang-Landau (WL) calculations. This confirms the utility of FFS for computing crystallisation rates in systems of this kind.Comment: 2 pages, 4 figure

Diagnostic relapse in Borderline Personality Disorder: risk and protective factors

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is one of the more common personality disorder diagnoses observed in psychiatric inpatients and outpatients. Previous studies have found that individuals with BPD may be expected to experience difficulties throughout their lifetimes and they may repeatedly return for psychological treatment. Whereas previous studies have attempted to identify various factors related to relapse in other chronically recurring disorders such as depression, schizophrenia, and substance abuse, studies examining factors associated with relapse in BPD, and personality disorders in general, are absent from the scientific literature. This exploratory study examined whether specific risk and protective factors (dynamic and/or static) identified from the general relapse literature were associated with diagnostic relapse in BPD. Results revealed that variables related to an increased likelihood for BPD relapse included: substance abuse or Major Depressive Disorder, higher Neuroticism, and lower Conscientiousness. In addition, having a steady work or school status after remission was found to protect against a BPD relapse in the presence of various risk factors. Although this study has several limitations, these results provide some of the first insights to the processes of relapse and continued remission in BPD patients. Continued research efforts in this area can help to identify individuals who are at a greater risk for BPD relapse and potentially to design effective relapse-prevention strategies for the treatment of BPD

Hey ChatGPT, give me a title for a paper about degree apathy and student use of AI for assignment writing

ChatGPT could allow students to plagiarize the content of their coursework with little risk of detection. Little is known about undergraduate willingness to use AI tools. In this study, psychology undergraduates (N = 160) from the United Kingdom, indicated their willingness to use, and history of using, ChatGPT to write university assignments. Almost a third (32%) indicated that they would use such tools; 15% indicated that they had used them already. Neither personality (conscientiousness, agreeableness, Machiavellianism, narcissism), academic performance, nor study skills self-efficacy could predict future use of AI tools. A novel Degree Apathy Scale was the only significant predictor. Willingness to use AI tools was greater when the risk of getting caught was low, and punishment was light, particularly for those high in degree apathy. Findings suggest that degree apathy is a key risk factor in academic misconduct. Wider research and pedagogical applications of degree apathy are discussed

Personality traits and stress perception as predictors of students' online engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic coupled with increasing student numbers means online learning will remain a prevalent feature of the university experience, therefore it is vital that we understand how personality can influence student online engagement. The current study examined whether students' personality traits and stress perception predicted their online engagement with their studies during the COVID-19 pandemic. A sample of 301 first year psychology students completed the Big Five Inventory, Challenge and Hindrance Stress Scales, and the Online Student Engagement Scale, which measured students': engagement skills, emotional engagement, participation and performance. Results revealed that conscientiousness positively predicted all types of online engagement. Extraversion predicted participation and performance. Neuroticism predicted engagement skills, emotional engagement and performance, whilst agreeableness and openness to experience respectively predicted participation and emotional engagement. Additionally, stress perceived as a hindrance negatively predicted performance. These results reveal that students' personality traits and stress perception influence their online engagement and might enable educators to identify those who may require support in engaging with their studies

Syllabus for a Course "The History of 20th Century Artistic Research"

Syllabus for a Course "The History of 20th Century Artistic Research" attempts to reconstruct (or rewrite!) the history or art in the 20th century from the perspective of artistic research. The paper should be understood as a functional proposal for an actual class, but it can also be seen as a statement both about what "artistic research" or "art-based research" could signify and how these notions might help us to look differently at the meeting place between art history, art practice and the humanities. 30.03.2015 | David Quigley (Stuttgart

Political contributions, voter turnout, and the effects of redistricting

Individual contributions to political campaigns are a significant aspect of the political process in the United States. Understanding how the political environment affects these contributions increases the understanding of what drives elections and political campaigns. One aspect of the political environment is that political campaigns for the U.S. Senate overlap with campaigns for the U.S. House of Representatives. This may cause individual contributors to substitute a political contribution to one campaign with a political contribution to another campaign. Conversely, individual contributors may see contributions to overlapping campaigns as complements. Individual contributors are also impacted by redistricting which is the redrawing of the geographic boundaries of U.S. Congressional Districts every 10 years after the completion of the U.S. Census. In both these cases, more competitive elections lead to more individual contributions, and the evidence suggests campaign contributions to different political campaigns are complements rather than substitutes. The available political information also affects potential voters and their decision to vote or not to vote. A public signal on candidate quality can decrease voter turnout preventing elections from revealing the private information of potential voters on candidate quality. Finally, political campaigns themselves react to the political environment spending more on advertising and fundraising when they are more significantly impacted by redistricting. By analyzing all these processes, both empirically and theoretically, we can reach a more complete view of how the interactions between political actors generate the important political outcomes that we see

Translating the 10 golden rules of reforestation for coral reef restoration

Efforts are accelerating to protect and restore ecosystems globally. With trillions of dollars in ecosystem services at stake, no clear framework exists for developing or prioritizing approaches to restore coral reefs even as efforts and investment opportunities to do so grow worldwide. Restoration may buy time for climate change mitigation, but it lacks rigorous guidance to meet objectives of scalability and effectiveness. Lessons from restoration of terrestrial ecosystems can and should be rapidly adopted for coral reef restoration. We propose how the 10 golden rules of effective forest restoration can be translated to accelerate efforts to restore coral reefs based on established principles of resilience, management, and local stewardship. We summarize steps to undertake reef restoration as a management strategy in the context of the diverse ecosystem service values that coral reefs provide. Outlining a clear blueprint is timely as more stakeholders seek to undertake restoration as the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration begins

Enhancement of island size by dynamic substrate disorder in simulations of graphene growth

We demonstrate a new mechanism in the early stages of sub-monolayer epitaxial island growth, using Monte Carlo simulations motivated by experimental observations on the growth of graphene on copper foil. In our model, the substrate is “dynamically rough”, by which we mean (i) the interaction strength between Cu and C varies randomly from site to site, and (ii) these variable strengths themselves migrate from site to site. The dynamic roughness provides a simple representation of the near-molten state of the Cu substrate in the case of real graphene growth. Counterintuitively, the graphene island size increases when dynamic roughness is included, compared to a static and smooth substrate. We attribute this effect to destabilisation of small graphene islands by fluctuations in the substrate, allowing them to break up and join larger islands which are more stable against roughness. In the case of static roughness, when process (ii) is switched off, island growth is strongly inhibited and the scale-free behaviour of island size distributions, present in the smooth-static and rough-dynamic cases, is destroyed. The effects of the dynamic substrate roughness cannot be mimicked by parameter changes in the static cases