MSAT an alternative choice?

A number of potential applications are described of MSAT that use the unique properties of this transportation mechanism. Emphasis is placed on the market introduction strategy for the North American system

Emotion Processing Deficits in Psychopathy: Does Cueing to Relevant Facial Features Increase Cognitive and Emotional Empathy?

Psychopathy is a multifaceted disorder characterized by a lack of cognitive and emotional empathy. The traditional model of psychopathy divides the disorder into two factors: Factor 1 consists of the interpersonal and affective traits of psychopathy while Factor 2 measures antisocial behaviors and lifestyle choices. The attention-to-the-eyes hypothesis argues that psychopathic individuals have impaired emotion recognition (specifically for fear) due to deficits in orienting attention to salient facial features like the eyes. Psychopathic individuals also display blunted autonomic responding to emotional stimuli, though whether this is due to attention-orienting deficits remains to be clarified. The present project investigated whether empathy-related deficits (poor emotion recognition and low levels of autonomic arousal) were the result of attention-based difficulties in young adults with psychopathic traits. Two different samples of Brooklyn College students participated in an emotion recognition study to see if varying levels of psychopathic traits affected autonomic arousal and the ability to successfully categorize emotional expressions. In both studies, participants completed the Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised to assess self-reported levels of psychopathic traits. They also completed an emotion recognition task during continuous physiological recording (heart rate and skin conductance) and tracking of eye movements. There was a free gaze and cued-gaze condition; during the cued condition, participants directed their attention to either the eyes or the mouth of the emotional face. The principal aims of this project were to see if 1) psychopathic traits affected fixation to the eyes, emotion recognition accuracy, and autonomic arousal, and 2) whether cueing to the eyes, a threatening and salient facial feature, improved emotion recognition accuracy and increased arousal for participants with high levels of psychopathic traits. In Experiment 1, we found that Factor 2 psychopathic traits were related to reduced fixation duration to the eye region, partially supporting the attention-to-the-eyes hypothesis. However, when cued to the eye region, performance on the emotion recognition task decreased as Factor 2 traits increased. We did not replicate this finding in Experiment 2. Results across both studies revealed that there was no relationship between psychopathic traits and emotion recognition accuracy nor under-arousal during free gaze conditions. In fact, participants with high levels of Factor 1 traits showed a pattern of heightened engagement with the task that was reflected in elevated skin conductance responses during the free gaze condition and increases in heart rate during the cued condition. Participants with concurrently high levels of Factor 1 and Factor 2 traits did not show an increase in physiological responding when cued to specific facial features, suggesting alternate methods are necessary to boost emotional empathy in these individuals. Overall, this project reinforced the value of looking at the separate and interactive effects of psychopathy factors to understand the mechanisms that underlie physiological and behavioral responses to emotional content

A Letter from the President

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Cranial sutures work collectively to distribute strain throughout the reptile skull

The skull is composed of many bones that come together at sutures. These sutures are important sites of growth, and as growth ceases some become fused while others remain patent. Their mechanical behaviour and how they interact with changing form and loadings to ensure balanced craniofacial development is still poorly understood. Early suture fusion often leads to disfiguring syndromes, thus is it imperative that we understand the function of sutures more clearly. By applying advanced engineering modelling techniques, we reveal for the first time that patent sutures generate a more widely distributed, high level of strain throughout the reptile skull. Without patent sutures, large regions of the skull are only subjected to infrequent low-level strains that could weaken the bone and result in abnormal development. Sutures are therefore not only sites of bone growth, but could also be essential for the modulation of strains necessary for normal growth and development in reptiles

The Impact of Vein Mechanical Compliance on Arteriovenous Fistula Outcomes

© 2016 Elsevier Inc. Background Arteriovenous fistulae (AVFs) are the preferred access for hemodialysis but suffer a high early failure rate. The aim of this study was to determine how venous distensibility, as measured in vitro, relates to early outcomes of AVF formed with the sampled vein. Methods Ethical approval was obtained for all aspects of this study. During AVF formation a circumferential segment of the target vein was sampled. Mechanical stress testing of the venous segments was undertaken using a dynamic mechanical analyzer, with progressive stress loading at 2 N/min to a maximum of 10 N or until sample disruption. Stress-strain curves were obtained for vein samples and Young's modulus (YM) calculated. Duplex assessment of the fistulae was undertaken at 30 days. Results Thirty patients consented to participate with 29 samples obtained for analysis. Statistical comparison of YM demonstrated no relationship with common cardiovascular risk factors or dialysis status. Subject age greater than 65 was the only patient factor which showed a significant difference in YM (P = 0.05). Furthermore, a negative correlation was confirmed between age and YM (Pearson's r = -0.465, P < 0.05). Nine of the 29 subjects suffered an early AVF failure. Mann-Whitney U testing for differences in distribution reported that YM was significantly higher in those fistulas which failed (P < 0.005). Conclusions Reduced venous compliance appears to result in higher failure rates of AVFs. With the advancement of clinical tools such as speckle tracing ultrasound identification of vessel compliance in vivo may produce valuable additional information for clinicians planning AVF surgery

The biomechanical role of the chondrocranium and sutures in a lizard cranium

The role of soft tissues in skull biomechanics remains poorly understood. Not least, the chondrocranium, the portion of the braincase which persists as cartilage with varying degrees of mineralization. It also remains commonplace to overlook the biomechanical role of sutures despite evidence that they alter strain distribution. Here, we examine the role of both the sutures and the chondrocranium in the South American tegu lizard Salvator merianae. We use multi-body dynamics analysis (MDA) to provide realistic loading conditions for anterior and posterior unilateral biting and a detailed finite element model to examine strain magnitude and distribution. We find that strains within the chondrocraniumare greatest during anterior biting and are primarily tensile; also that strain within the cranium is not greatly reduced by the presence of the chondrocraniumunless it is given the same material properties as bone. This result contradicts previous suggestions that the anterior portion (the nasal septum) acts as a supporting structure. Inclusion of sutures to the cranium model not only increases overall strain magnitudes but also leads to a more complex distribution of tension and compression rather than that of a beam under sagittal bending

Silicon and III-V compound nanotubes: structural and electronic properties

Unusual physical properties of single-wall carbon nanotubes have started a search for similar tubular structures of other elements. In this paper, we present a theoretical analysis of single-wall nanotubes of silicon and group III-V compounds. Starting from precursor graphene-like structures we investigated the stability, energetics and electronic structure of zigzag and armchair tubes using first-principles pseudopotential plane wave method and finite temperature ab-initio molecular dynamics calculations. We showed that (n,0) zigzag and (n,n) armchair nanotubes of silicon having n > 6 are stable but those with n < 6 can be stabilized by internal or external adsorption of transition metal elements. Some of these tubes have magnetic ground state leading to spintronic properties. We also examined the stability of nanotubes under radial and axial deformation. Owing to the weakness of radial restoring force, stable Si nanotubes are radially soft. Undeformed zigzag nanotubes are found to be metallic for 6 < n < 11 due to curvature effect; but a gap starts to open for n > 12. Furthermore, we identified stable tubular structures formed by stacking of Si polygons. We found AlP, GaAs, and GaN (8,0) single-wall nanotubes stable and semiconducting. Our results are compared with those of single-wall carbon nanotubes.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figure

Foreign direct investment and U.S. national security: CFIUS under the Obama Administration

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States review process slowed during the inaugural year of the Obama Administration. The authors examine the origins of this shift and suggest actions that parties can take to facilitate the process