Sex Acculturation and Risk Perceptions: Information Seeking and Processing Among Chinese Students in the U.S.

The number of Chinese students studying in the United States is increasing each year and studying in the U.S. provides them with more access to risk information of sexual activities than that of their counterparts in China. Chinese students in the U.S. have shown higher knowledge level about HIV/STI than Chinese students in China. However, their risk perceptions about HIV/STI are relatively low compared to American students due to a lack of formal sex education and a sex-conservative society. Method: this study collected 385 online surveys via Survey Monkey from Chinese students studying in the U.S. The questionnaire was designed to examine Chinese students’ risk perceptions and their information seeking and processing behaviors about HIV/STI. Results: the study showed that Chinese students were most motivated by their perceived informational gathering capacity to seek more information about HIV/STI (beta = .38, p ≤ .001) and process it in depth (beta = .30, p ≤ .001). Both informational subjective norms (beta = .16, p ≤ .001) and informational insufficiency (beta = .19, p ≤ .001) predicted information seeking behaviors but only informational subjective norms predicted significant systematic processing (beta = .17, p ≤ .001). However, current knowledge was very high and did not motivate processing behaviors. Future studies should explore motivations for information seeking and processing when current knowledge level is high and unable to motivate seeking and processing behaviors

Unique genotype-phenotype correlations within LAMA2-related limb girdle muscular dystrophy in Chinese patients

BackgroundLAMA2-related limb girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD R23) is rare. The detailed clinical phenotypes and genetic information associated with LGMD R23 are unknown.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective cross-sectional and longitudinal study on 19 LGMD R23 patients.ResultsNormal early motor development was observed in 84.2% patients. Mild orthopedic complications were observed in 42.1% patients. 36.8% patients had seizures, which is unusually frequent in LGMD. Epilepsy was eventually diagnosed in 26.3% patients. 46.7% patients presented with motor neuropathy. Genetic analysis identified 29 pathogenic variants, with missense and frameshift variants being the most common. The mutant sites were mainly distributed in the N-terminal and G-like domains of laminin. The missense variants are distributed near the N-terminus (exons 3–11), whereas frameshift variants are distributed in exons 12–65. Five patients were diagnosed with epilepsy and all of them harbor at least one missense variants in exon 4. 71.4% variants of patients with motor neuropathy located in the LN domain.ConclusionsMissense variants in exon 4 maybe correlated with epilepsy and variants in the LN domain maybe correlated with motor neuropathy in Chinese patients. Our study expands the clinical and genetic spectrum caused by LAMA2 variations and provides novel genotype-phenotype correlations of LGMD R23

Genetic algorithm for design optimization of multibody dynamics using differential–algebraic equation integrators

Based on the general model of design optimization of multibody dynamics, a modified genetic algorithm with adaptive crossover and mutation rates is developed to find optimal design variables which satisfy the dynamic constraints and obtain optimum objective values. Generalized-α projection method and higher order variational integrators with Lagrangian polynomial and Gauss quadrature formula are used to solve differential–algebraic equations during optimization process. Efficiency and accuracy of the numerical results obtained by intelligent design optimization with different differential–algebraic equation solving methods are compared

Correction Strategies and Effects for Combatting Vaccine Misinformation on Social Media

Health misinformation on social media has consistently posed harms to public health efforts especially in the topic of vaccination. Vaccine misinformation has contributed to the delay and refusal of routine and possibly Covid-19 vaccinations. Studies have mainly been focused on reduction of misperceptions as an outcome of health misinformation corrections. However, vaccination intention and its predictors, such as attitude towards vaccination, perceived vaccine effectiveness, and vaccine safety concerns, are more important outcomes to be tested as they contribute to the actual vaccination uptake. Therefore, this dissertation takes the initiative on investigating what correction methods are the most effective and why, how corrections work in mitigating the harms brought by misinformation on vaccination intention, and whether corrections would have similar effects on real social media platforms. The first study investigated the effects of two-sided refutational messages on vaccination intentions. Results showed that two-sided refutational messages increased vaccination intentions through increasing positive attitudes towards vaccines in comparison to corresponding misinformation messages. This study showed that the effects of correction did not backfire as participants with different levels of conspiracy beliefs had the same correction outcomes. The second study tested whether falsification labels had effects on correcting attitude and perceived harms of vaccines, what were the most effective sources to correct and why. Results showed that all falsification labels increased attitude toward vaccination and lowered perceived harms of vaccines. It also revealed that both medical institutions and research universities were more effective sources to correct misinformation, as they had higher perceived source expertise on vaccines. This study found that correction effects were significant among participants with high and medium levels of conspiracy beliefs. The last study has combined the correction strategies of both studies one and two and shifted the correction environment onto Twitter. This online field experiment explored whether corrections with falsification labeling, sources, and correction explanations could mitigate the harms of misinformation on vaccination intentions among flu and Covid-19 vaccines through attitude, perceived vaccine effectiveness, and vaccine safety concerns. The findings showed that the utilized correction methods increased flu and Covid-19 vaccination intentions through increasing positive attitude. Moreover, correction effects were significant only among participants with the highest level of conspiracy beliefs. This last study showed corrections are effective on social media and could be used to target more vulnerable populations

Higher Order Variational Integrators for Multibody System Dynamics with Constraints

The continuous and discrete Euler-Lagrangian equations with holonomic constraints are presented based on continuous and discrete Hamiltonian Principle. Using Lagrangian polynomial to interpolate state variables and Gauss quadrature formula to approximate Hamiltonian action integral, the higher order variational Galerkin integrators for multibody system dynamics with constraints and the computation procedure are given. Numerical examples are provided to show the long-time behavior of the methods proposed in this paper via comparisons with traditional Runge-Kutta methods

Equilibria and Free Vibration of a Two-Pulley Belt-Driven System with Belt Bending Stiffness

Nonlinear equilibrium curvatures and free vibration characteristics of a two-pulley belt-driven system with belt bending stiffness and a one-way clutch are investigated. With nonlinear dynamical tension, the transverse vibrations of the translating belt spans and the rotation motions of the pulleys and the accessory shaft are coupled. Therefore, nonlinear piecewise discrete-continuous governing equations are established. Considering the bending stiffness of the translating belt spans, the belt spans are modeled as axially moving beams. The pattern of equilibria is a nontrivial solution. Furthermore, the nontrivial equilibriums of the dynamical system are numerically determined by using two different approaches. The governing equations of the vibration near the equilibrium solutions are derived by introducing a coordinate transform. The natural frequencies of the dynamical systems are studied by using the Galerkin method with various truncations and the differential and integral quadrature methods. Moreover, the convergence of the Galerkin truncation is investigated. Numerical results reveal that the study needs 16 terms after truncation in order to determine the free vibration characteristics of the pulley-belt system with the belt bending stiffness. Furthermore, the first five natural frequencies are very sensitive to the bending stiffness of the translating belt

Negative Poisson’s Ratio Re-Entrant Base Modeling and Vibration Isolation Performance Analysis

Negative Poisson’s ratio materials are increasingly used in the design of vibration isolation bases due to their unique tensile properties. In this paper, based on the expansion feature of the negative Poisson’s ratio re-entrant structure, the influence of the size of the re-entrant structure within a single structure was analyzed, and a honeycomb base was designed with a negative Poisson’s ratio re-entrant structure. A new modeling method for the honeycomb base is proposed. In the modeling process, the honeycomb base was analyzed according to its symmetry using the Lagrange equation for base modeling and the finite element consistent mass matrix was introduced to simplify the calculation. The vibration isolation performance of the honeycomb base was evaluated by vibration level difference. COMSOL software was used to simulate and analyze the cellular base in order to verify the correctness of the results obtained from numerical modeling. In conclusion, the honeycomb base had a vibration isolation effect on external excitation in the vertical direction of the base. Furthermore, the vibration isolation performance of the base was greatly related to the wall thickness and Poisson’s ratio of the re-entrant structure

Negative Poisson’s Ratio Re-Entrant Base Modeling and Vibration Isolation Performance Analysis

Negative Poisson’s ratio materials are increasingly used in the design of vibration isolation bases due to their unique tensile properties. In this paper, based on the expansion feature of the negative Poisson’s ratio re-entrant structure, the influence of the size of the re-entrant structure within a single structure was analyzed, and a honeycomb base was designed with a negative Poisson’s ratio re-entrant structure. A new modeling method for the honeycomb base is proposed. In the modeling process, the honeycomb base was analyzed according to its symmetry using the Lagrange equation for base modeling and the finite element consistent mass matrix was introduced to simplify the calculation. The vibration isolation performance of the honeycomb base was evaluated by vibration level difference. COMSOL software was used to simulate and analyze the cellular base in order to verify the correctness of the results obtained from numerical modeling. In conclusion, the honeycomb base had a vibration isolation effect on external excitation in the vertical direction of the base. Furthermore, the vibration isolation performance of the base was greatly related to the wall thickness and Poisson’s ratio of the re-entrant structure

The Negative Poisson’s Ratio Ship Base Design and Vibration Isolation Performance Analysis

This paper mainly studies the vibration isolation of negative Poisson’s ratio structure in the honeycomb base of ships. Based on the structure of the negative Poisson’s ratio structure, different laying methods and different cell structure are used to construct the honeycomb base with the re-entrant hexagonal cell, the mathematical expression of Poisson’s ratio of a single re-entrant hexagonal cell structure is obtained through theoretical analysis. The negative Poisson ratio and relative density could be got by changing the angle and side thickness of the cell structure. Based on the different energy band of the re-entrant hexagonal cell structure, the different negative Poisson’s ratio re-entrant hexagonal honeycomb base was got, the energy band and the frequency response curve of the ship base are analyzed by COMSOL software. The energy band diagram and the frequency response of the structure are obtained to analyze the vibration isolation performance of the honeycomb base. By comparing the experimental results, the following conclusions can be gotten: (1) Compared with the traditional base, the negative Poisson’s ratio base has better vibration isolation effect on external excitation; (2) Different laying method and Poisson ratios can get different isolation effect. The combined base structure can provide better isolation effect to the external excitation in a larger frequency band; (3) By adding different mass blocks to the inner or peripheral angles of the basic re-entrant hexagonal cell, the vibration isolation performance of the structure can be changed to better