Dust storms cause yield losses

Farmers and research workers are well aware that heavy grazing during summer loosens and exposes soil to the action of strong winds and summer thunder storms. They also realise that dust storms mean soil loss from paddocks, but until now there has been little idea of the effect of these storms on crop yields in subsequent seasons

Sign language static gesture recognition using leap motion

Currently scientists and engineers are using near-infrared (NIR) technology to detect motions of human body parts, and can develop programming for gesture recognition. Software is being developed by researchers for both stationary and mobile NIR cameras to operate as Sign Language Recognition devices. This thesis focus was on adapting an application of a NIR camera to be used on any device with application compatibility, essentially allowing a Hearing Impaired (HI) person to use a highly portable camera to communicate with non-speakers of Sign Language. Some examples of the devices that are able to use this technology include computers, tablets, and smart phones. I have developed a Sign Language recognition technology to establish better techniques, databases, and interactive applications for improved function of communication in the HI culture. The algorithm performed at a 76.67% accuracy across all gestures tested for first-time participants

The rhetoric of revenge : atrocity and identity in the revolutionary Carolinas

"The Rhetoric of Revenge" addresses the way that individual acts of brutality during the War for Independence in North and South Carolina were perceived and interpreted by both Whig and Tory participants. This thesis looks at the processes of identity formation and contextualization, whereby individuals took the facts as they knew them and tried to make sense of both their own and their opponents’ place in the unfolding drama. It also examines the ways these events were incorporated into the rhetoric of each side and were used as tools in creating narratives of heroism on one side and brutality on the other. Through analysis of opposing accounts of the same event, this work is able to break through the facts of these events to understand the way individuals understood them. It is more interested in perception than reality, and in the choices that were made regarding the inclusion, exclusion, interpretation and exaggeration of individual factual elements. This work also use the journals of two young men, Thomas Young, a Whig, and Anthony Allaire, a Tory, throughout, as a common thread to tie together the many disparate and chaotic events that became a part of conflicting identities and ultimately created two opposing narratives of the events of the American Revolution, based on atrocity

Thinking About Emerging Adults and Violent Crime

In response to fears of an unrelenting crime wave, dramatic changes to sentencing policy, particularly for violent offenders, occurred in the 1980s and 1990s. Today, more than half of state prisoners are serving time for a violent offense. Increases in the severity of criminal justice sanctions (e.g., decision to prosecute, reclassification of charges, use of incarceration, and lengthening prison sentences) for those convicted of violent offenses has fueled mass incarceration. Despite major reductions of crime, including violence, over the past two decades, an intense focus on violent offenders as distinct and different endures. This brief summarizes research on violent criminal behavior over the life course. We focus special attention on emerging adults because they have the highest rates of both violent offending and violent victimization. First, drawing on a large body of longitudinal research on crime, we present the known ‘facts’ about violence. Note that this research literature uses criminal justice records of those officially sanctioned as well as self-reports of offending and victimization. Second, we discuss the experiences and consequences of living with violence. Third, we conclude with policy recommendations for responding to violent crime

Emotional support animals: Western Carolina University’s campus preparedness

Emotional support animals (ESAs) are sprouting up on college campuses around the country. The purpose of this disquisition is to explore their impact on the students who need them and one university who have them on campus. Through this research, I found that there is not that much literature on ESAs on college campuses; however, there is much research on animal assistance. Additionally, I found that several schools faced litigation for not allowing ESAs on their campus due to a no-pet policy. Moreover, colleges are hesitant to have ESAs on campus due to a lack of understanding of mental disorders. Although there are some hesitations, ESAs have proven beneficial to students, given the rise of mental health issues across the nation. Despite the benefits and the laws such as the Fair Housing Act, colleges are still reluctant to accept the fact that some students require emotional assistance.I addressed this challenge using improvement science. I used both qualitative (journalentries) and quantitative (Qualtrics surveys) research methods to analyze student, staff, andfaculty knowledge on the topic of ESAs. I used Emotion Coding to see the trends in the journalentries using qualitative methods. For the quantitative methods, I sent the pre-survey to the research participants; then I sent the educational intervention module with the post-survey as well. Overall, the data analysis supported the fact that there was a change after participants took the pre-survey, watched the educational intervention module, and then took the final post-survey. There were some limitations in the research, but with improvement science, those limitations became a strength

The Dark Tetrad empowered: the Dark Tetrad and power motivations within the normal personality space

Within personality psychology there has been a surge in research regarding the Dark Tetrad of personality (Buckels, Jones, & Paulhus, 2014). This research has focused on the way these constructs are related to diverse variables of interest. The present research builds on the prior studies by expanding the exploration into the common features that comprise the four constructs. The hypotheses were that each construct would correlate with facets of Honesty/Humility, Emotionality, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness, along with four aspects of power motivations, and that narcissism would be connected to Extraversion. Also, it was hypothesized that facets of these domains, as well as power motivations. would be predictive of levels of the dark constructs. These hypotheses were tested against a sample of 300 subjects from Western Carolina University. Results showed predictive significance on the hypothesized models explaining variance within each of the four constructs of Sadism (R2 = 0.27), Machiavellianism (R2 = 0.31), Psychopathy (R2 = 0.40), and Narcissism (R2 = 0.66)

Charting New Territories in Health Psychology:A reflection on the EHPS 2022 ‘Digital Divide’ hybrid roundtable by Chairs, Presenters, and Participants

This paper reflects on the roundtable session at the 36th annual conference of the European Health Psychology Society titled ‘Mind the digital divide: How to reduce socialinequalities in digital health promotion?’, chaired by Dr Laura M König and Dr Max JWestern. The session was intended to present contemporary evidence on the existence of a digital divide in health behaviour promotion via two brief presentations of recent evidence syntheses by Dr Eline Smit and Dr Max Western, followed by two short talks on potential underlying mechanisms of the digital divide by Professors Efrat Neter and Falko Sniehotta. Finally, we aimed to explore through a panel discussion and an audience workshop how we, the health psychology community, could focus our research on better understanding and addressing this phenomenon. In the following, we will discuss how the roundtable was implemented and which aspects were perceived to be most useful from the perspectives of the organising chairs, presentersand participants, to provide input for roundtable organisers at future conferences

Spectroscopy of free radicals and radical containing entrance-channel complexes in superfluid helium nano-droplets

The spectroscopy of free radicals and radical containing entrance-channel complexes embedded in superfluid helium nano-droplets is reviewed. The collection of dopants inside individual droplets in the beam represents a micro-canonical ensemble, and as such each droplet may be considered an isolated cryo-reactor. The unique properties of the droplets, namely their low temperature (0.4 K) and fast cooling rates ($\sim10^{16}$ K s$^{-1}$) provides novel opportunities for the formation and high-resolution studies of molecular complexes containing one or more free radicals. The production methods of radicals are discussed in light of their applicability for embedding the radicals in helium droplets. The spectroscopic studies performed to date on molecular radicals and on entrance / exit-channel complexes of radicals with stable molecules are detailed. The observed complexes provide new information on the potential energy surfaces of several fundamental chemical reactions and on the intermolecular interactions present in open-shell systems. Prospects of further experiments of radicals embedded in helium droplets are discussed, especially the possibilities to prepare and study high-energy structures and their controlled manipulation, as well as the possibility of fundamental physics experiments.Comment: 25 pages, 12 figures, 4 tables (RevTeX

The modulation of SiO maser polarization by Jovian planets

Searching for planets in the atmosphere of AGB stars is difficult, due to confusion with the stellar wind and pulsations. The aim here is to provide a complementary strategy for planet search in such a dense environment. The polarization properties of SiO masers, especially their circular polarization, are, under certain conditions, good tracers for rapid magnetospheric events. A Jovian planet with a magnetosphere whose dipole axis is misaligned with its rotation axis, naturally provides such conditions. Here I present several models showing that the polarization will be periodically modulated. Single-dish monitoring with a sufficiently dense time sampling and a carefully calibrated polarimeter, in combination with VLBI observations, are suited to detect and locate a periodic modulation of the circular maser polarization due to a precessing Jovian magnetosphere. The phenomenon will be rare, because a favourable arrangement of maser and magnetosphere is needed, otherwise the polarization may be below the detection threshold, especially if the maser is unsaturated. Linear polarization, though exhibiting a qualitatively similar modulation, is likely to suffer more from confusion due to beam dilution, even in VLBI observations