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What are the Characteristics of Respondents using Different Devices in Mixed-device Online Surveys? Evidence from Six UK Surveys
There is a move towards online data collection across the world. Online survey response is complicated by respondents using different devices. So far, no research has been conducted in the UK to study characteristics of people using different devices in mixedâdevice online surveys. This analysis uses all publicly available UK social surveys with an online component: Understanding Society Innovation Panel, Community Life Survey, European Social Survey, 1958 National Child Development Study and the Second Longitudinal Study of Young People in England. Descriptive analysis and logistic regressions are used to explore significant correlates of device use in online surveys. The results of bivariate analysis suggest that age, gender, marital status, employment, religion, household size, children in household, household income, number of cars and frequency of internet use are significantly associated with device used across surveys. The associations with age, gender, employment status, household size and education are consistent with the findings from other countries. The knowledge about respondents' characteristics using different devices in online surveys in the UK will help to understand better the response process in online surveys and to target certain subgroups more effectively. It is also important for designs of online surveys, understanding of data quality and postâsurvey adjustments
AutoClickChem: Click Chemistry in Silico
Academic researchers and many in industry often lack the financial resources available to scientists working in âbig pharma.â High costs include those associated with high-throughput screening and chemical synthesis. In order to address these challenges, many researchers have in part turned to alternate methodologies. Virtual screening, for example, often substitutes for high-throughput screening, and click chemistry ensures that chemical synthesis is fast, cheap, and comparatively easy. Though both in silico screening and click chemistry seek to make drug discovery more feasible, it is not yet routine to couple these two methodologies. We here present a novel computer algorithm, called AutoClickChem, capable of performing many click-chemistry reactions in silico. AutoClickChem can be used to produce large combinatorial libraries of compound models for use in virtual screens. As the compounds of these libraries are constructed according to the reactions of click chemistry, they can be easily synthesized for subsequent testing in biochemical assays. Additionally, in silico modeling of click-chemistry products may prove useful in rational drug design and drug optimization. AutoClickChem is based on the pymolecule toolbox, a framework that may facilitate the development of future python-based programs that require the manipulation of molecular models. Both the pymolecule toolbox and AutoClickChem are released under the GNU General Public License version 3 and are available for download from http://autoclickchem.ucsd.edu
Studying the effects of thalamic interneurons in a thalamocortical neural mass model
Neural mass models of the thalamocortical circuitry are
often used to mimic brain activity during sleep and
wakefulness as observed in scalp electroencephalogram
(EEG) signals [1]. It is understood that alpha rhythms
(8-13 Hz) dominate the EEG power-spectra in the resting-state
[2] as well as the period immediately before
sleep [3]. Literature review shows that the thalamic
interneurons (IN) are often ignored in thalamocortical
population models; the emphasis is on the connections
between the thalamo cortical relay (TCR) and the thalamic
reticular nucleus (TRN). In this work, we look into
the effects of the IN cell population on the behaviour of
an existing thalamocortical model containing the TCR
and TRN cell populations [4]. A schematic of the
extended model used in this work is shown in Fig.1.
The model equations are solved in Matlab using the
Runge-Kutta method of the 4th/5th order. The model
shows high sensitivity to the forward and reverse rates
of reactions during synaptic transmission as well as on
the membrane conductance of the cell populations. The
input to the model is a white noise signal simulating
conditions of resting state with eyes closed, a condition
well known to be associated with dominant alpha band
oscillations in EEG e.g. [5]. Thus, the model parameters
are calibrated to obtain a set of basal parameter values
when the model oscillates with a dominant frequency
within the alpha band. The time series plots and the
power spectra of the model output are compared with
those when the IN cell population is disconnected from
the circuit (by setting the inhibitory connectivity parameter
from the IN to the TCR to zero). We observe
(Fig. 2 inset) a significant difference in time series output
of the TRN cell population with and without the IN
cell population in the model; this in spite of the IN
having no direct connectivity to and from the TRN cell
population (Fig. 1). A comparison of the power spectra
behaviour of the model output within the delta
(1-3.5Hz), theta (3.75-7.5Hz), alpha (7.75-13.5Hz) and
beta (13.75-30.5Hz) bands is shown in Fig. 2. Disconnecting
the IN cell population shows a significant drop in the
alpha band power and the dominant frequency of oscillation
now lies within the theta band. An overall âslowingâ
(left-side shift) of the power spectra is observed with an
increase within the delta and theta bands and a decrease
in the alpha and beta bands. Such a slowing of EEG is a
signature of slow wave sleep in healthy individuals, and
this suggests that the IN cell population may be centrally
involved in the phase transition to slow wave sleep [6]. It
is also characteristic of the waking EEG in Alzheimerâs
disease, and may help us to understand the role of the IN
cell population in modulating TCR and TRN cell behaviour
in pathological brain conditions
Molecular dynamics simulations and drug discovery
This review discusses the many roles atomistic computer simulations of macromolecular (for example, protein) receptors and their associated small-molecule ligands can play in drug discovery, including the identification of cryptic or allosteric binding sites, the enhancement of traditional virtual-screening methodologies, and the direct prediction of small-molecule binding energies. The limitations of current simulation methodologies, including the high computational costs and approximations of molecular forces required, are also discussed. With constant improvements in both computer power and algorithm design, the future of computer-aided drug design is promising; molecular dynamics simulations are likely to play an increasingly important role
Influence of climatic variables on crown condition in pine forests of Northern Spain
ProducciĂłn CientĂficaThe aim of this study was to find relationships between crown condition and
some climatic parameters to identify which are those having a main influence on
crown condition, and how this influence is shown in the tree (crown transparency),
and to contribute to the understanding of how these parameters will affect under
future climate change scenarios
Resonant nonlinear magneto-optical effects in atoms
In this article, we review the history, current status, physical mechanisms,
experimental methods, and applications of nonlinear magneto-optical effects in
atomic vapors. We begin by describing the pioneering work of Macaluso and
Corbino over a century ago on linear magneto-optical effects (in which the
properties of the medium do not depend on the light power) in the vicinity of
atomic resonances, and contrast these effects with various nonlinear
magneto-optical phenomena that have been studied both theoretically and
experimentally since the late 1960s. In recent years, the field of nonlinear
magneto-optics has experienced a revival of interest that has led to a number
of developments, including the observation of ultra-narrow (1-Hz)
magneto-optical resonances, applications in sensitive magnetometry, nonlinear
magneto-optical tomography, and the possibility of a search for parity- and
time-reversal-invariance violation in atoms.Comment: 51 pages, 23 figures, to appear in Rev. Mod. Phys. in Oct. 2002,
Figure added, typos corrected, text edited for clarit
Orientation dependent molecular electrostatics drives efficient charge generation in homojunction organic solar cells
Organic solar cells usually utilise a heterojunction between electron-donating (D) and electron-accepting (A) materials to split excitons into charges. However, the use of D-A blends intrinsically limits the photovoltage and introduces morphological instability. Here, we demonstrate that polycrystalline films of chemically identical molecules offer a promising alternative and show that photoexcitation of α-sexithiophene (α-6T) films results in efficient charge generation. This leads to α-6T based homojunction organic solar cells with an external quantum efficiency reaching up to 44% and an open-circuit voltage of 1.61 V. Morphological, photoemission, and modelling studies show that boundaries between α-6T crystalline domains with different orientations generate an electrostatic landscape with an interfacial energy offset of 0.4 eV, which promotes the formation of hybridised exciton/charge-transfer states at the interface, dissociating efficiently into free charges. Our findings open new avenues for organic solar cell design where material energetics are tuned through molecular electrostatic engineering and mesoscale structural control
Size-dependent response of foraminiferal calcification to seawater carbonate chemistry
Michael J. Henehan acknowledges financial support from the Yale Peabody Museum.The response of the marine carbon cycle to changes in atmospheric CO2 concentrations will be determined, in part, by the relative response of calcifying and non-calcifying organisms to global change. Planktonic foraminifera are responsible for a quarter or more of global carbonate production, therefore understanding the sensitivity of calcification in these organisms to environmental change is critical. Despite this, there remains little consensus as to whether, or to what extent, chemical and physical factors affect foraminiferal calcification. To address this, we directly test the effect of multiple controls on calcification in culture experiments and core-top measurements of Globigerinoides ruber. We find that two factors, body size and the carbonate system, strongly influence calcification intensity in life, but that exposure to corrosive bottom waters can overprint this signal post mortem. Using a simple model for the addition of calcite through ontogeny, we show that variable body size between and within datasets could complicate studies that examine environmental controls on foraminiferal shell weight. In addition, we suggest that size could ultimately play a role in determining whether calcification will increase or decrease with acidification. Our models highlight that knowledge of the specific morphological and physiological mechanisms driving ontogenetic change in calcification in different species will be critical in predicting the of foraminiferal calcification to future change in atmospheric pCO2.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
Dependence of spin pumping and spin transfer torque upon Ni81Fe19 thickness in Ta/Ag/Ni81Fe19/Ag/Co2MnGe/Ag/Ta spin-valve structures
This is the final version of the article. Available from American Physical Society via the DOI in this record.Spin pumping has been studied within Ta / Ag /
Ni
81
Fe
19
(0â5 nm) / Ag (6 nm) /
Co
2
MnGe
(5 nm) / Ag / Ta large-area spin-valve structures, and the transverse spin current absorption of
Ni
81
Fe
19
sink layers of different thicknesses has been explored. In some circumstances, the spin current absorption can be inferred from the modification of the
Co
2
MnGe
source layer damping in vector network analyzer ferromagnetic resonance (VNA-FMR) experiments. However, the spin current absorption is more accurately determined from element-specific phase-resolved x-ray ferromagnetic resonance (XFMR) measurements that directly probe the spin transfer torque (STT) acting on the sink layer at the source layer resonance. Comparison with a macrospin model allows the real part of the effective spin mixing conductance to be extracted. We find that spin current absorption in the outer Ta layers has a significant impact, while sink layers with thicknesses of less than 0.6 nm are found to be discontinuous and superparamagnetic at room temperature, and lead to a noticeable increase of the source layer damping. For the thickest 5-nm sink layer, increased spin current absorption is found to coincide with a reduction of the zero frequency FMR linewidth that we attribute to improved interface quality. This study shows that the transverse spin current absorption does not follow a universal dependence upon sink layer thickness but instead the structural quality of the sink layer plays a crucial role.The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of EPSRC Grant No. EP/J018767/1, and the award of the Exeter-Brown Scholarship in High Frequency Spintronics to C.J.D
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