Supermom and Super-Maman : The Transition to New Motherhood in American and French Mothers

The aim of the proposed study is to examine the effects of the transition into new motherhood and the differences in these effects among American and French primiparous mothers. The study establishes the societal pressures and cultural expectations placed on the motherhood role, historically and to the present day, and presents possible sources for maternal guilt, role strain, and a sense of loss of individuated self in the transition to new motherhood. This mixed methods study uses semi-structured interviews, vignettes, the Job-Family Role Strain Scale, and the Motherhood Salience Scale to determine the effects of the transition into the new mother role. American mothers, compared with French mothers, are expected to feel more societal pressure related to motherhood, practice more intensive mothering, feel more “Supermom” pressure, feel more role strain related to work-family balance, feel more maternal guilt, place motherhood higher on their identity salience hierarchy, and feel more of a loss of individuated self. This research may provide a fuller understanding of the motherhood role and how the shift into new motherhood is felt cross-culturally

Effects of action on children’s and adults’ mental imagery

The aim of this study was to investigate whether and which aspects of a concurrent motor activity can facilitate children’s and adults’ performance in a dynamic imagery task. Children (5-, 7-, and 9-year-olds) and adults were asked to tilt empty glasses, filled with varied amounts of imaginary water, so that the imagined water would reach the rim. Results showed that in a manual tilting task where glasses could be tilted actively with visual feedback, even 5-year-olds performed well. However, in a blind tilting task and in a static judgment task, all age groups showed markedly lower performance. This implies that visual movement information facilitates imagery. In a task where the tilting movement was visible but regulated by means of an on-and-off remote control, a clear age trend was found, indicating that active motor control and motor feedback are particularly important in imagery performance of younger children

Tight Bounds for MIS in Multichannel Radio Networks

Daum et al. [PODC'13] presented an algorithm that computes a maximal independent set (MIS) within $O(\log^2 n/F+\log n \mathrm{polyloglog} n)$ rounds in an $n$-node multichannel radio network with $F$ communication channels. The paper uses a multichannel variant of the standard graph-based radio network model without collision detection and it assumes that the network graph is a polynomially bounded independence graph (BIG), a natural combinatorial generalization of well-known geographic families. The upper bound of that paper is known to be optimal up to a polyloglog factor. In this paper, we adapt algorithm and analysis to improve the result in two ways. Mainly, we get rid of the polyloglog factor in the runtime and we thus obtain an asymptotically optimal multichannel radio network MIS algorithm. In addition, our new analysis allows to generalize the class of graphs from those with polynomially bounded local independence to graphs where the local independence is bounded by an arbitrary function of the neighborhood radius.Comment: 37 pages, to be published in DISC 201

The reaction np→ppπ−{n} {p} \to {p} {p} \pi^{-} from threshold up to 570 MeV

The reaction ${n} {p} \to {p} {p} \pi^{-}$ has been studied in a kinematically complete measurement with a large acceptance time-of-flight spectrometer for incident neutron energies between threshold and 570 MeV. The proton-proton invariant mass distributions show a strong enhancement due to the pp($^{1}{S}_{0}$) final state interaction. A large anisotropy was found in the pion angular distributions in contrast to the reaction ${p}{p} \to {p}{p} \pi^{0}$. At small energies, a large forward/backward asymmetry has been observed. From the measured integrated cross section $\sigma({n}{p} \to {\rm p}{p} \pi^{-})$, the isoscalar cross section $\sigma_{01}$ has been extracted. Its energy dependence indicates that mainly partial waves with Sp final states contribute. Note: Due to a coding error, the differential cross sections ${d \sigma}/{d M_{pp}}$ as shown in Fig. 9 are too small by a factor of two, and inn Table 3 the differential cross sections ${d \sigma}/{d \Omega_{\pi}^{*}}$ are too large by a factor of $10/2\pi$. The integrated cross sections and all conclusions remain unchanged. A corresponding erratum has been submitted and accepted by European Physics Journal.Comment: 18 pages, 16 figure

Analysing powers for the reaction n⃗p→ppπ−\vec{\rm n} {\rm p} \to {\rm p} {\rm p} \pi^{-} and for np elastic scattering from 270 to 570 MeV

The analysing power of the reaction ${\rm n}{\rm p} \to {\rm p}{\rm p} \pi^{-}$ for neutron energies between threshold and 570 MeV has been determined using a transversely polarised neutron beam at PSI. The reaction has been studied in a kinematically complete measurement using a time-of-flight spectrometer with large acceptance. Analysing powers have been determined as a function of the c.m. pion angle in different regions of the proton-proton invariant mass. They are compared to other data from the reactions ${\rm n}{\rm p} \to {\rm p}{\rm p} \pi^{-}$ and ${{\rm p}{\rm p} \to {\rm p}{\rm p} \pi^{0}}$. The np elastic scattering analysing power was determined as a by-product of the measurements.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, subitted to EPJ-

Novel Approaches towards Highly Selective Self-Powered Gas Sensors

The prevailing design approaches of semiconductor gas sensors struggle to overcome most of their current limitations such as poor selectivity, and high power consumption. Herein, a new sensing concept based on devices that are capable of detecting gases without the need of any external power sources required to activate interaction of gases with sensor or to generate the sensor read out signal. Based on the integration of complementary functionalities (namely; powering and sensing) in a singular nanostructure, self-sustained gas sensors will be demonstrated. Moreover, a rational methodology to design organic surface functionalization that provide high selectivity towards single gas species will also be discussed. Specifically, theoretical results, confirmed experimentally, indicate that precisely tuning of the sterical and electronic structure of sensor material/organic interfaces can lead to unprecedented selectivity values, comparable to those typical of bioselective processes. Finally, an integrated gas sensor that combine both the self-powering and selective detection strategies in one single device will also be presented. © 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Does the KARMEN time anomaly originate from a beam-correlated background?

The time anomaly of neutrino events observed in the KARMEN detector at the ISIS facility is discussed. We show that beam-correlated neutron events are not completely suppressed by the KARMEN lower energy cut and could cause the observed deviation of the measured time distribution from an exponential curve with tau = 2.2 microseconds.Comment: 12 pages including figure captions, 2 figures, 1 tabl

IFMIF suitability for evaluation of fusion functional materials

The International FusionMaterials Irradiation Facility (IFMIF) is a future neutron source based on the D-Li stripping reaction, planned to test candidate fusionmaterials at relevant fusion irradiation conditions. During the design of IFMIF special attention was paid to the structural materials for the blanket and first wall, because they will be exposed to the most severe irradiation conditions in a fusion reactor. Also the irradiation of candidate materials for solid breeder blankets is planned in the IFMIF reference design. This paper focuses on the assessment of the suitability of IFMIF irradiation conditions for testing functionalmaterials to be used in liquid blankets and diagnostics systems, since they are been also considered within IFMIF objectives. The study has been based on the analysis and comparison of the main expected irradiation parameters in IFMIF and DEMO reactor