A Framework and Model for Understanding the Creation and Sources of Trust

With the advent of the internet and rise of less personal, face to face interaction in online commerce, as well as increasing reports of fraud and security breaches, trust has become a critical part of conducting business in the digital economy. This paper develops a framework and model for understanding and building trust by combining some landmark research on the creation and production of trust with the dimensions of trust identified in the literature: ability, benevolence and integrity. By combining these dimensions in a matrix with the types of trust production based on characteristics, process and institutions, the paper develops a robust 3 x 3 matrix which to categorize and understand trust production and sources of trust. This framework can help researchers, practitioners and consumers understand trust creation and assist businesses in developing a comprehensive strategy for managing trust

Thermocapillary actuation of droplets on chemically patterned surfaces by programmable microheater arrays

We have designed a microfluidic device for the actuation of liquid droplets or continuous streams on a solid surface by means of integrated microheater arrays. The microheaters provide control of the surface temperature distribution with high spatial resolution. These temperature gradients locally alter the surface tension along droplets and thin films thus propelling the liquid toward the colder regions. In combination with liquophilic and liquophobic chemical surface patterning, this device can be used as a logistic platform for the parallel and automated routing, mixing and reacting of a multitude of liquid samples, including alkanes, poly(ethylene glycol) and water

GPDs and DVCS with Positrons

The beam charge asymmetry helps to isolate the real part of the deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) amplitude. It is discussed what information can be gained both from the real and imaginary part of the DVCS amplitude.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, invited talk at `Workshop on Positrons at Jefferson Lab

New measurement of charge asymmetry xF3x{F}_3 from HERA

After presenting the recent measurements of neutral current cross section in DIS at HERA, we explain the effect of the $\gamma-Z_0$ interference at the electro-weak scale, visible on these data. Then, the beam charge difference $x{F}_3$ is measured and the interference itself is extracted. Results are discussed in the context of perturbative QCD.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, proceedings of the International Workshop on Positrons at Jefferson Lab (March 25-27, 2009), Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, Newport News, V

Two-photon exchange measurements with positrons and electrons

Two-photon exchange contributions have potentially broad ranging impact on several charged lepton scattering measurements. Previously believed to be extremely small, based in part on comparisons of positron scattering and electron scattering in the 1950s and 1960s, recent data suggest that the corrections may be larger than expected, in particular in kinematic regions that were inaccessible in these early positron scattering measurements. Additional measurements using positron beams at Jefferson Lab would allow for a detailed investigation of these contributions in a range of reactions and observables.Comment: 6 pages, proceedings from the International Workshop on Positrons at Jefferson Lab (JPOS09), Jefferson Lab, Newport News, VA, March 25-27, 200

Stem, root, and older leaf N:P ratios are more responsive indicators of soil nutrient availability than new foliage

Author Posting. © Ecological Society of America, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of Ecological Society of America for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Ecology 95 (2014): 2062–2068, doi:10.1890/13-1671.1.Foliar nitrogen to phosphorus (N:P) ratios are widely used to indicate soil nutrient availability and limitation, but the foliar ratios of woody plants have proven more complicated to interpret than ratios from whole biomass of herbaceous species. This may be related to tissues in woody species acting as nutrient reservoirs during active growth, allowing maintenance of optimal N:P ratios in recently produced, fully expanded leaves (i.e., “new” leaves, the most commonly sampled tissue). Here we address the hypothesis that N:P ratios of newly expanded leaves are less sensitive indicators of soil nutrient availability than are other tissue types in woody plants. Seedlings of five naturally established tree species were harvested from plots receiving two years of fertilizer treatments in a lowland tropical forest in the Republic of Panama. Nutrient concentrations were determined in new leaves, old leaves, stems, and roots. For stems and roots, N:P ratios increased after N addition and decreased after P addition, and trends were consistent across all five species. Older leaves also showed strong responses to N and P addition, and trends were consistent for four of five species. In comparison, overall N:P ratio responses in new leaves were more variable across species. These results indicate that the N:P ratios of stems, roots, and older leaves are more responsive indicators of soil nutrient availability than are those of new leaves. Testing the generality of this result could improve the use of tissue nutrient ratios as indices of soil nutrient availability in woody plants.Data are from Santiago et al. (2012), which was supported by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to S. J. Wright, a Smithsonian Institute Scholarly Studies grant to S. J. Wright and J. B. Yavitt, and a University of California Regent’s Faculty Fellowship to L. S. Santiago. L. A. Schreeg was partially supported through a Marine Biological Laboratory-Brown University SEED grant to Z. Cardon, S. Porder, and L. A. Schreeg

Vowel height and velum position in German: Insights from a real-time magnetic resonance imaging study

Velum position was analysed as a function of vowel height in German tense and lax vowels preceding a nasal or oral consonant. Findings from previous research suggest an interdependence between vowel height and the degree of velum lowering, with a higher velum during high vowels and a more lowered velum during low vowels. In the current study, data were presented from 33 native speakers of Standard German who were measured via non-invasive high quality real-time magnetic resonance imaging. The focus was on exploring the spatiotemporal extent of velum lowering in tense and lax /a, i, o, ø/, which was done by analysing velum movement trajectories over the course of VN and VC sequences in CVNV and CVCV sequences by means of functional principal component analysis. Analyses focused on the impact of the vowel category and vowel tenseness. Data indicated that not only the position of the velum was affected by these factors but also the timing of velum closure. Moreover, it is argued that the effect of vowel height was to be better interpreted in terms of the physiological constriction location of vowels, i.e., the specific tongue position rather than phonetic vowel height

Visible Region Photooxidation on TiO_2 with a Chromophore−Catalyst Molecular Assembly

Nanocrystalline films of TiO_2 derivatized by adsorption of polypyridyl complexes of RuII have provided a basis for a family of solution photoelectrochemical devices. At the molecular level, a key feature in these devices is irreversible photoinjection into the TiO_2 conduction band following metal-to-ligand charge-transfer (MLCT) excitation giving Ru^(III). Reduction of Ru^(III) by I^- followed by I_3^- reduction at the anode completes the cell. It should be possible to exploit this basic scheme for the photoproduction of high-energy chemicals, and we report preliminary results on such an example based on an adsorbed chromophore−oxidant molecular assembly

Visible Region Photooxidation on TiO_2 with a Chromophore−Catalyst Molecular Assembly

Nanocrystalline films of TiO_2 derivatized by adsorption of polypyridyl complexes of RuII have provided a basis for a family of solution photoelectrochemical devices. At the molecular level, a key feature in these devices is irreversible photoinjection into the TiO_2 conduction band following metal-to-ligand charge-transfer (MLCT) excitation giving Ru^(III). Reduction of Ru^(III) by I^- followed by I_3^- reduction at the anode completes the cell. It should be possible to exploit this basic scheme for the photoproduction of high-energy chemicals, and we report preliminary results on such an example based on an adsorbed chromophore−oxidant molecular assembly