To blame? The effects of moralized feedback on implicit racial bias

Implicit bias training (IBT) is now frequently provided by employers, in order to raise awareness of the problems related to implicit biases, and of how to safeguard against discrimination that may result. However, as Atewologun et al (2018) have noted, there is very little systematicity in IBT, and there are many unknowns about what constitutes good IBT. One important issue concerns the tone of information provided regarding implicit bias. This paper engages this question, focusing in particular on the observation that much bias training is delivered in exculpatory tone, emphasising that individuals are not to blame for possessing implicit biases. Normative guidance around IBT exhorts practitioners to adopt this strategy (Moss-Racusin et al 2014). However, existing evidence about the effects of moralized feedback about implicit bias is equivocal (Legault et al 2011; Czopp et al 2006). Through a series of studies, culminating in an experiment with a pre-registered analysis plan, we develop a paradigm for evaluating the impact of moralized feedback on participants’ implicit racial bias scores. We also conducted exploratory analyses of the impact on their moods, and behavioural intentions. Our results indicated that an exculpatory tone, rather than a blaming or neutral tone, did not make participants less resistant to changing their attitudes and behaviours. In fact, participants in the blame condition had significantly stronger explicit intentions to change future behaviour than those in the ‘no feedback’ condition (see experiment 3). These results indicate that considerations of efficacy do not support the need for implicit bias feedback to be exculpatory. We tease out the implications of these findings, and directions for future research

Finite-size effects for anisotropic bootstrap percolation: logarithmic corrections

In this note we analyze an anisotropic, two-dimensional bootstrap percolation model introduced by Gravner and Griffeath. We present upper and lower bounds on the finite-size effects. We discuss the similarities with the semi-oriented model introduced by Duarte.Comment: Key words: Bootstrap percolation, anisotropy, finite-size effect

Radiation Chemical Effects of X-Rays on Liquids

This review describes some of the chemical changes induced by photoelectrons which are released in liquids when X-rays are absorbed. Both experimental studies and theory are discussed. In part 1, the basic processes occurring upon absorption of X-rays are described. Parts 2 and 3 deal with hydrocarbon liquids; in part 2 the ion yields, including effects at K-edges, and in part 3, the yields of excited states. Part 4 discusses chemical effects of X-rays in aqueous solutions. The authors end with a summary of future needs and directions

Metastability threshold for anisotropic bootstrap percolation in three dimensions

In this paper we analyze several anisotropic bootstrap percolation models in three dimensions. We present the order of magnitude for the metastability threshold for a fairly general class of models. In our proofs we use an adaptation of the technique of dimensional reduction. We find that the order of the metastability threshold is generally determined by the "easiest growth direction" in the model. In contrast to the anisotropic bootstrap percolation in two dimensions, in three dimensions the order of the metatstability threshold for anisotropic bootstrap percolation can be equal to that of isotropic bootstrap percolation.Comment: 19 page

Analytic solutions of the Rolie Poly model in time-dependent shear

We consider shear flows that comprise of step changes in the shear rate. For these flows, we derive analytic solutions of the Rolie-Poly constitutive equation. Our method involves piecing together solutions for constant rate shear in a variety of flow rate regimes. We obtain solutions for interrupted shear, recoverable strain and non-linear relaxation following cessation of flow. Whenever strong flow is present we neglect reptation, as other mechanisms dominate and for interrupted shear our solution is approximate as we neglect convective constraint release. Our analytic solutions provide new insight in several ways. These include revealing the mechanism of some experimental features of these flows; suggesting a method to extract the polymer contribution to the normal stress in the velocity gradient direction (σyy) from shear stress measurements alone; and a method to isolate the influence of convective constraint release (CCR) from damping function measurements. We also run complementary GLaMM model calculations to verify that insight from our analytic approach translates to this more detailed model

Metastable behavior for bootstrap percolation on regular trees

We examine bootstrap percolation on a regular (b+1)-ary tree with initial law given by Bernoulli(p). The sites are updated according to the usual rule: a vacant site becomes occupied if it has at least theta occupied neighbors, occupied sites remain occupied forever. It is known that, when b>theta>1, the limiting density q=q(p) of occupied sites exhibits a jump at some p_t=p_t(b,theta) in (0,1) from q_t:=q(p_t)p_t. We investigate the metastable behavior associated with this transition. Explicitly, we pick p=p_t+h with h>0 and show that, as h decreases to 0, the system lingers around the "critical" state for time order h^{-1/2} and then passes to fully occupied state in time O(1). The law of the entire configuration observed when the occupation density is q in (q_t,1) converges, as h tends to 0, to a well-defined measure.Comment: 10 pages, version to appear in J. Statist. Phy

Phylogeny, biogeography and diversification patterns of side-necked turtles (Testudines: Pleurodira)

Pleurodires or side-necked turtles are today restricted to freshwater environments of South America, Africa– Madagascar and Australia, but in the past they were distributed much more broadly, being found also on Eurasia, India and North America, and marine environments. Two hypotheses were proposed to explain this distribution; in the first, vicariance would have shaped the current geographical distribution and, in the second, extinctions constrained a previously widespread distribution. Here, we aim to reconstruct pleurodiran biogeographic history and diversification patterns based on a new phylogenetic hypothesis recovered from the analysis of the largest morphological dataset yet compiled for the lineage, testing which biogeographical process prevailed during its evolutionary history. The resulting topology generally agrees with previous hypotheses of the group and shows that most diversification shifts were related to the exploration of new niches, e.g. littoral or marine radiations. In addition, as other turtles, pleurodires do not seem to have been much affected by either the Cretaceous– Palaeogene or the Eocene–Oligocene mass extinctions. The biogeographic analyses highlight the predominance of both anagenetic and cladogenetic dispersal events and support the importance of transoceanic dispersals as a more common driver of area changes than previously thought, agreeing with previous studies with other non-turtle lineages.Fil: Ferreira, Gabriel S.. Universidade de Sao Paulo; Brasil. Senckenberg Centre For Human Evolution And Palaeoenvironment; Alemania. Universität Tübingen; AlemaniaFil: Bronzati Filho, Mario. Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie; AlemaniaFil: Langer, Max C.. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Sterli, Juliana. Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Stress corrosion cracking in Al-Zn-Mg-Cu aluminum alloys in saline environments

Copyright 2013 ASM International. This paper was published in Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A, 44A(3), 1230 - 1253, and is made available as an electronic reprint with the permission of ASM International. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic or multiple reproduction, distribution to multiple locations via electronic or other means, duplications of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modification of the content of this paper are prohibited.Stress corrosion cracking of Al-Zn-Mg-Cu (AA7xxx) aluminum alloys exposed to saline environments at temperatures ranging from 293 K to 353 K (20 °C to 80 °C) has been reviewed with particular attention to the influences of alloy composition and temper, and bulk and local environmental conditions. Stress corrosion crack (SCC) growth rates at room temperature for peak- and over-aged tempers in saline environments are minimized for Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys containing less than ~8 wt pct Zn when Zn/Mg ratios are ranging from 2 to 3, excess magnesium levels are less than 1 wt pct, and copper content is either less than ~0.2 wt pct or ranging from 1.3 to 2 wt pct. A minimum chloride ion concentration of ~0.01 M is required for crack growth rates to exceed those in distilled water, which insures that the local solution pH in crack-tip regions can be maintained at less than 4. Crack growth rates in saline solution without other additions gradually increase with bulk chloride ion concentrations up to around 0.6 M NaCl, whereas in solutions with sufficiently low dichromate (or chromate), inhibitor additions are insensitive to the bulk chloride concentration and are typically at least double those observed without the additions. DCB specimens, fatigue pre-cracked in air before immersion in a saline environment, show an initial period with no detectible crack growth, followed by crack growth at the distilled water rate, and then transition to a higher crack growth rate typical of region 2 crack growth in the saline environment. Time spent in each stage depends on the type of pre-crack (“pop-in” vs fatigue), applied stress intensity factor, alloy chemistry, bulk environment, and, if applied, the external polarization. Apparent activation energies (E a) for SCC growth in Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys exposed to 0.6 M NaCl over the temperatures ranging from 293 K to 353 K (20 °C to 80 °C) for under-, peak-, and over-aged low-copper-containing alloys (~0.8 wt pct), they are typically ranging from 20 to 40 kJ/mol for under- and peak-aged alloys, and based on limited data, around 85 kJ/mol for over-aged tempers. This means that crack propagation in saline environments is most likely to occur by a hydrogen-related process for low-copper-containing Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys in under-, peak- and over-aged tempers, and for high-copper alloys in under- and peak-aged tempers. For over-aged high-copper-containing alloys, cracking is most probably under anodic dissolution control. Future stress corrosion studies should focus on understanding the factors that control crack initiation, and insuring that the next generation of higher performance Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys has similar longer crack initiation times and crack propagation rates to those of the incumbent alloys in an over-aged condition where crack rates are less than 1 mm/month at a high stress intensity factor

Cooperative Behavior of Kinetically Constrained Lattice Gas Models of Glassy Dynamics

Kinetically constrained lattice models of glasses introduced by Kob and Andersen (KA) are analyzed. It is proved that only two behaviors are possible on hypercubic lattices: either ergodicity at all densities or trivial non-ergodicity, depending on the constraint parameter and the dimensionality. But in the ergodic cases, the dynamics is shown to be intrinsically cooperative at high densities giving rise to glassy dynamics as observed in simulations. The cooperativity is characterized by two length scales whose behavior controls finite-size effects: these are essential for interpreting simulations. In contrast to hypercubic lattices, on Bethe lattices KA models undergo a dynamical (jamming) phase transition at a critical density: this is characterized by diverging time and length scales and a discontinuous jump in the long-time limit of the density autocorrelation function. By analyzing generalized Bethe lattices (with loops) that interpolate between hypercubic lattices and standard Bethe lattices, the crossover between the dynamical transition that exists on these lattices and its absence in the hypercubic lattice limit is explored. Contact with earlier results are made via analysis of the related Fredrickson-Andersen models, followed by brief discussions of universality, of other approaches to glass transitions, and of some issues relevant for experiments.Comment: 59 page

Calling for a plurality of perspectives on design futuring: an un-manifesto

The Futures Cone, a prominent model in design futuring, is useful for promoting discussions about possible, plausible, probable, and preferable futures. Yet this model has limitations, such as representing diverse human experiences as a singular point of “the present” and implicitly embedding notions of linear progress. Responding to this, we argue that a plurality of perspectives is needed to engage imaginations that depict a diverse unfolding of potential futures. Through reflecting on our own cultural and professional backgrounds, we offer five perspectives for design futuring as a contribution to this plurality: Parallel Presents, “I Am Time”, Epithelial Metaphors, the Uncertainties Cone, and Meet (with) “Speculation”. These perspectives open alternative approaches to design futuring, move outside prevalent notions of technological progress, and foreground interdependent, relational agencies