Local spectroscopy and atomic imaging of tunneling current, forces and dissipation on graphite

Theory predicts that the currents in scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and the attractive forces measured in atomic force microscopy (AFM) are directly related. Atomic images obtained in an attractive AFM mode should therefore be redundant because they should be \emph{similar} to STM. Here, we show that while the distance dependence of current and force is similar for graphite, constant-height AFM- and STM images differ substantially depending on distance and bias voltage. We perform spectroscopy of the tunneling current, the frequency shift and the damping signal at high-symmetry lattice sites of the graphite (0001) surface. The dissipation signal is about twice as sensitive to distance as the frequency shift, explained by the Prandtl-Tomlinson model of atomic friction.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted at Physical Review Letter

“You’re free from just a girl or a boy”:Nonbinary children’s understanding of their gender

BackgroundIn recent years, research on gender diversity in early childhood has increased significantly. However, much of the published literature still focuses on children whose experiences align with binary gender norms, inadvertently excluding nonbinary experiences from analysis.AimsWe seek to explore how nonbinary children, aged five to eight, perceive and understand their gender modality and experiences.MethodsNine American nonbinary children were interviewed using a semi-structured approach, which included two book readings, a drawing activity, and approximately 23 pre-determined questions. Inductive reflexive thematic analysis was utilized for developing, analyzing, and interpreting patterns across a qualitative dataset. All authors engaged in various aspects of reflexivity throughout the process, including personal, functional, and disciplinary reflexivity.AnalysisWe constructed five themes, which were evident across the accounts of participating children. The first one, Being nonbinary has different meanings for different people, illustrates the diverse interpretations of nonbinary identities. Gender is hard to describe but my pronouns help me make sense of it, highlights the challenges of explaining gender, yet pronouns help participants lucidly put their and others’ gender into words. People can change their gender for good or just for a little while, reflect participants’ view of gender as dynamic and fluid. “I have the agency to decide who I am with a little help of others”: feeling, learning, choosing and telling, explores participants’ journey in adopting the label “nonbinary”. Lastly, Being nonbinary is both easy and hard: easy because I am myself, hard because of other people, depicts the multifaceted experiences of being nonbinary, from the affirmation to bullying.DiscussionIn an era marked by a contentious political climate and ongoing debates about trans/nonbinary individuals, these young children defy conventional norms and establish themselves as active architects of their identity narratives, driven by their agency and self-determination

Thermal effects on atomic friction

We model friction acting on the tip of an atomic force microscope as it is dragged across a surface at non-zero temperatures. We find that stick-slip motion occurs and that the average frictional force follows $|\ln v|^{2/3}$, where $v$ is the tip velocity. This compares well to recent experimental work (Gnecco et al, PRL 84, 1172), permitting the quantitative extraction of all microscopic parameters. We calculate the scaled form of the average frictional force's dependence on both temperature and tip speed as well as the form of the friction-force distribution function.Comment: Accepted for publication, Physical Review Letter

Event-based prospective remembering in a virtual world

Most laboratory-based prospective memory (PM) paradigms pose problems that are very different from those encountered in the real world. Several PM studies have reported conflicting results when comparing laboratory with naturalistic based studies (e.g., Bailey,Henry, Rendell, Phillips & Kliegel, 2010). One key contrast is that for the former, how and when the PM cue is encountered typically is determined by the experimenter, whereas in the latter case, cue availability is determined by participant actions. However, participant-driven access to the cue has not been examined in laboratory studies focused on healthy young adults, and its relationship with planned intentions is poorly understood. Here we report a study of PM performance in a controlled, laboratory setting, but with participant-driven actions leading to the availability of the PM cue. This uses a novel PM methodology based upon analysis of participant movements as they attempted a series of errands in a large virtual building on the computer screen. A PM failure was identified as a situation in which a participant entered and exited the “cue” area outside an errand related room without performing the required errand whilst still successfully remembering that errand post-test. Additional individual difference measures assessed retrospective and working memory capacity, planning ability and PM. Multiple regression analysis showed that the independent measures of verbal working memory span, planning ability and PM were significant predictors of PM failure. Correlational analyses with measures of planning suggest that sticking with an original plan (good or bad) is related to better overall PM performance

Bio-inspired Highly Scattering Networks via Polymer Phase Separation

A common strategy to optimize whiteness in living organisms consists in using three-dimensional random networks with dense and polydisperse scattering elements constituted by relatively low-refractive index materials. Inspired by these natural architectures, we developed a fast and scalable method to produce highly scattering porous polymer films via phase separation. By varying the molecular weight of the polymer, we modified the morphology of the porous films and therefore tuned their scattering properties. The achieved transport mean free paths are in the micrometer range, improving the scattering strength of analogous low-refractive index systems, e.g. standard white paper, by an order of magnitude. The produced porous films show a broadband reflectivity of approximately 75 % whilst only 4 m thick. In addition, the films are flexible and can be readily index-matched with water (i.e. they become transparent when wet), allowing for various applications such as coatings with tunable transmittance and responsive paints

Electromagnetic Simulation and Design of a Novel Waveguide RF Wien Filter for Electric Dipole Moment Measurements of Protons and Deuterons

The conventional Wien filter is a device with orthogonal static magnetic and electric fields, often used for velocity separation of charged particles. Here we describe the electromagnetic design calculations for a novel waveguide RF Wien filter that will be employed to solely manipulate the spins of protons or deuterons at frequencies of about 0.1 to 2 MHz at the COoler SYnchrotron COSY at J\"ulich. The device will be used in a future experiment that aims at measuring the proton and deuteron electric dipole moments, which are expected to be very small. Their determination, however, would have a huge impact on our understanding of the universe.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, 4 table

Phase Transitions of an Oscillator Neural Network with a Standard Hebb Learning Rule

Studies have been made on the phase transition phenomena of an oscillator network model based on a standard Hebb learning rule like the Hopfield model. The relative phase informations---the in-phase and anti-phase, can be embedded in the network. By self-consistent signal-to-noise analysis (SCSNA), it was found that the storage capacity is given by $\alpha_c = 0.042$, which is better than that of Cook's model. However, the retrieval quality is worse. In addition, an investigation was made into an acceleration effect caused by asymmetry of the phase dynamics. Finally, it was numerically shown that the storage capacity can be improved by modifying the shape of the coupling function.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure

You can't see what you can't see: Experimental evidence for how much relevant information may be missed due to Google's Web search personalisation

The influence of Web search personalisation on professional knowledge work is an understudied area. Here we investigate how public sector officials self-assess their dependency on the Google Web search engine, whether they are aware of the potential impact of algorithmic biases on their ability to retrieve all relevant information, and how much relevant information may actually be missed due to Web search personalisation. We find that the majority of participants in our experimental study are neither aware that there is a potential problem nor do they have a strategy to mitigate the risk of missing relevant information when performing online searches. Most significantly, we provide empirical evidence that up to 20% of relevant information may be missed due to Web search personalisation. This work has significant implications for Web research by public sector professionals, who should be provided with training about the potential algorithmic biases that may affect their judgments and decision making, as well as clear guidelines how to minimise the risk of missing relevant information.Comment: paper submitted to the 11th Intl. Conf. on Social Informatics; revision corrects error in interpretation of parameter Psi/p in RBO resulting from discrepancy between the documentation of the implementation in R (https://rdrr.io/bioc/gespeR/man/rbo.html) and the original definition (https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1852106) as per 20/05/201

Мобильное приложение для организации проектной деятельности студента

Объектом исследования является процесс организации проектной деятельности студента. Цель работы – проектирование и разработка мобильного приложения для организации проектной деятельности студента. В результате разработано мобильное приложение для организации проектной деятельности студента со следующим функционалом: учет выполняемых проектов, учет посещаемости консультаций проектного обучения, учет и контроль выполнения оперативных задач проекта, анализ исполнительской дисциплины.The object of research is the process of organizing student project activities. The purpose of the work is the design and development of a mobile application for the organization of student project activities. As a result, a mobile application was developed for organizing a student’s project activity with the following functionalities: accounting for ongoing projects, accounting for attendance of project training consultations, accounting for and monitoring the implementation of operational tasks of the project, analysis of performing discipline

Distance dependence of force and dissipation in non-contact atomic force microscopy on Cu(100) and Al(111)

The dynamic characteristics of a tip oscillating in the nc-AFM mode in close vicinity to a Cu(100)-surface are investigated by means of phase variation experiments in the constant amplitude mode. The change of the quality factor upon approaching the surface deduced from both frequency shift and excitation versus phase curves yield to consistent values. The optimum phase is found to be independent of distance. The dependence of the quality factor on distance is related to 'true' damping, because artefacts related to phase misadjustment can be excluded. The experimental results, as well as on-resonance measurements at different bias voltages on an Al(111) surface, are compared to Joule dissipation and to a model of dissipation in which long-range forces lead to viscoelastic deformations