Prediction and diagnosis of Tropical Cyclone formation in an NWP system. Part I

J. Atmos. Sci., 63 3077-3090The article of record as published may be located at http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JAS3765.

Communication and Group Perception: Extending the `Saying is Believing' Effect

The saying-is-believing (SIB) effect occurs when tailoring a message to suit an audience influences a communicator's subsequent memories and impressions about the communication topic. Previous studies were restricted to one-person audiences and individuals as the communication topic. The present studies explored the SIB effect with multiple-person audiences and groups as the communication topic. In Study 1, the SIB effect occurred with a 1-person, but not a 3-person, audience. In Study 2, the SIB effect occurred with a 3-person audience when the audience explicitly validated communicators' messages. These findings demonstrate the generalizability of the SIB effect to group contexts, provide further evidence for a shared reality interpretation of this effect, and suggest a potentially important mechanism underlying stereotype development

Individual differences in chimpanzee reconciliation relate to social switching behaviour

In recent years, the presence of stable individual variation in animal behaviour has been corroborated by studies across a wide variety of taxa and research disciplines. Reconciliation, or postconflict affiliation between former opponents, is a behavioural domain in which individual differences have not been systematically studied. Using a long-term data set comprising over 2000 conflict and postconflict observations in two groups of outdoor-housed chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, we provide evidence for stable individual variation in reconciliation and test several hypotheses on how this postconflict mechanism relates to social switching behaviour. Results of generalized multilevel models revealed that individual differences remained a substantial source of variation in reconciliation after controlling for a number of situational variables (e.g. the nature of the relationship between opponents) shown by previous research to influence its occurrence. We further demonstrated a positive association between an individual’s conciliatory tendency and three separate indices of social switching behaviour, proposing that individual differences in reconciliation may reflect a more fundamental motivation to switch between different social states. In addition to a discussion of potential motivational underpinnings, we provide an impetus for future work to consider how reconciliation relates to the broader constructs and themes identified within animal personality research. To the extent that individual differences in other aspects of conflict and postconflict repertoires exhibit temporal and cross-situational consistency, they too should inform our understanding of animal personalities. Delineating how these and other dimensions of sociality are in part driven by stable individual variation not only has implications for how social interactions themselves unfold, but ultimately for the fitness of the individuals therein

Patient and physician discordance of global disease assessment in juvenile dermatomyositis: Findings from the Childhood Arthritis & Rheumatology Research Alliance Legacy Registry

© 2020 The Author(s). Background: Global disease activity scores (gVAS) capture patient or family (PF) and physician (MD) assessments of disease. This study sought to measure discordance between PF and MD global activity scores in juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM), and determine factors associated with discordance. Methods: Patients with JDM were included from the Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance (CARRA) Legacy Registry (N = 563). PF and MD gVAS were assessed for discordance, defined as a ≥ 2-point difference. Factors associated with discordant gVAS were compared in univariate analysis. Multivariable regression analysis was used to identify predictors of discordance. Results: Almost 40% (N = 219) of PF and MD gVAS were discordant. Among discordant scores, 68% of PF rated gVAS ≥2-points above MD, which was associated with calcinosis and lower quality of life and functional scores (p \u3c 0.01). MD gVAS rated ≥2-points above PF in 32%, which was associated with abnormal laboratory results, weakness, arthritis, rash and other skin changes, and current intravenous steroid treatment (p \u3c 0.01). In multivariate analysis, predictors for higher PF rating included calcinosis, lower quality of life and functional scores, while predictors for higher MD rating included rash, calcinosis, nailfold capillaroscopy changes, and current intravenous steroid treatment. Conclusions: Discordance between PF and MD gVAS was common in this JDM cohort. Overall, higher PF rating was associated with poorer patient reported outcome (PRO) scores, while higher MD rating was associated with poorer objective measures. This suggests PF and MD assessments of gVAS may be measuring different aspects of disease, highlighting the importance of integrating PROs into clinical practice and research

Screened and Unscreened Phases in Sedimenting Suspensions

A coarse-grained stochastic hydrodynamical description of velocity and concentration fluctuations in steadily sedimenting suspensions is constructed, and analyzed using self-consistent and renormalization group methods. We find that there exists a dynamical, non-equilibrium phase transition from an "unscreened" phase in which we recover the Caflisch-Luke (R.E. Caflisch and J.H.C. Luke, Phys. Fluids 28, 759 (1985)) divergence of the velocity variance to a "screened" phase where the velocity fluctuations have a finite correlation length growing as $\phi^{-1/3}$ where $\phi$ is the particle volume fraction, in agreement with Segr\`e et. al. (Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 2574 (1997)) and the velocity variance is independent of system size. Detailed predictions are made for the correlation function in both phases and at the transition.Comment: 4 pages, revtex 1 figur

Numerical model for granular compaction under vertical tapping

A simple numerical model is used to simulate the effect of vertical taps on a packing of monodisperse hard spheres. Our results are in agreement with an experimantal work done in Chicago and with other previous models, especially concerning the dynamics of the compaction, the influence of the excitation strength on the compaction efficiency, and some ageing effects. The principal asset of the model is that it allows a local analysis of the packings. Vertical and transverse density profiles are used as well as size and volume distributions of the pores. An interesting result concerns the appearance of a vertical gradient in the density profiles during compaction. Furthermore, the volume distribution of the pores suggests that the smallest pores, ranging in size between a tetrahedral and an octahedral site, are not strongly affected by the tapping process, in contrast to the largest pores which are more sensitive to the compaction of the packing.Comment: 8 pages, 15 figures (eps), to be published in Phys. Rev. E. Some corrections have been made, especially in paragraph IV

Latent Classes of Childhood Poly-victimization and Associations with Suicidal Behavior among Adult Trauma Victims: Moderating Role of Anger

The aims of the present study were first to identify discrete patterns of childhood victimization experiences including crime, child maltreatment, peer/sibling victimization, sexual violence, and witnessing violence among adult trauma victims using latent class analysis; second, to examine the association between class-membership and suicidal behavior, and third to investigate the differential role of dispositional anger on the association between class-membership and suicidal behavior. We hypothesized that those classes with accumulating exposure to different types of childhood victimization (e.g., poly-victimization) would endorse higher suicidal behavior, than the other less severe classes, and those in the most severe class with higher anger trait would have stronger association with suicidal behavior. Respondents were 346 adults (N = 346; Mage = 35.0 years; 55.9% female) who had experienced a lifetime traumatic event. Sixty four percent had experienced poly-victimization (four or more victimization experiences) and 38.8% met the cut-off score for suicidal behavior. Three distinct classes emerged namely, the Least victimization (Class 1), the Predominantly crime and sibling/peer victimization (Class 2), and the Poly-victimization (Class 3) classes. Regression analysis controlling for age and gender indicated that only the main effect of anger was significantly associated with suicidal behavior. The interaction term suggested that those in the Poly-victimization class were higher on suicidal behavior as a result of a stronger association between anger and suicidal behavior in contrast to the association found in Class 2. Clinical implications of findings entail imparting anger management skills to facilitate wellbeing among adult with childhood poly-victimization experiences

Applying a User-centred Approach to Interactive Visualization Design

Analysing users in their context of work and finding out how and why they use different information resources is essential to provide interactive visualisation systems that match their goals and needs. Designers should actively involve the intended users throughout the whole process. This chapter presents a user-centered approach for the design of interactive visualisation systems. We describe three phases of the iterative visualisation design process: the early envisioning phase, the global specification hase, and the detailed specification phase. The whole design cycle is repeated until some criterion of success is reached. We discuss different techniques for the analysis of users, their tasks and domain. Subsequently, the design of prototypes and evaluation methods in visualisation practice are presented. Finally, we discuss the practical challenges in design and evaluation of collaborative visualisation environments. Our own case studies and those of others are used throughout the whole chapter to illustrate various approaches