6,923 research outputs found
Motivation and Error Processing During the Transition to School.
In this dissertation, the event-related potential technique is used to explore specific patterns of brain responses associated with error processing and cognitive control – namely, the error-related negativity (ERN) and error positivity (Pe) – as a way to better understand the nature of EF and motivation in young children. In the first study, the links between children’s perceived competence and intrinsic task value beliefs on the ERN and Pe were explored, as well as children’s temperamental levels of anger/frustration, an important achievement-related emotion. Individual differences in motivation were not related to the ERN. However, stronger perceived competence beliefs were related to a larger Pe, whereas stronger intrinsic task value beliefs predicted a smaller Pe. Higher temperamental levels of anger/frustration were related to a larger Pe. In the second study, a regression discontinuity design was used to explore whether early schooling has unique effects on children’s early reading and math outcomes, behavioral measures of inhibitory control, and electrophysiological measures related to EF and motivation. Kindergarten schooling uniquely influenced children’s reading skills but not math skills. Kindergarten also predicted faster reaction times on error trials, but did not predict electrophysiological correlates of motivation and EF. Both studies integrate brain and behavioral perspectives and methods in order to better understand the nature of EF and motivation in young children during the school transition period.PhDPsychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111585/1/mattkim_1.pd
Engineering multiple levels of specificity in an RNA viral vector
Synthetic molecular circuits could provide powerful therapeutic capabilities, but delivering them to specific cell types and controlling them remains challenging. An ideal "smart" viral delivery system would enable controlled release of viral vectors from "sender" cells, conditional entry into target cells based on cell-surface proteins, conditional replication specifically in target cells based on their intracellular protein content, and an evolutionarily robust system that allows viral elimination with drugs. Here, combining diverse technologies and components, including pseudotyping, engineered bridge proteins, degrons, and proteases, we demonstrate each of these control modes in a model system based on the rabies virus. This work shows how viral and protein engineering can enable delivery systems with multiple levels of control to maximize therapeutic specificity
Stress analysis of compression of aluminium with rotating tools
Compression tests carried out on aluminium specimens showed that when the die was rotated the compression load dropped. A slab method is employed to examine this process. The load reduction is explained by the deviation of friction vector due to the relative circumferential movement between the die and the material. This mechanism is incorporated into a theoretical model and an expression is derived for compression pressure. Analytical solutions established compare favourably with experimental results. It is also shown that there is a limitation to the load reduction: the compressive load can never be lower than 70 percent of the yield limit.<br /
Low Pressure Ethenolysis of Renewable Methyl Oleate in a Microchemical System
A microchemical system for ethenolysis of renewable methyl oleate was developed, in which the dual-phase, microfluidic design enabled efficient diffusion of ethylene gas into liquid methyl oleate through an increased contact area. The increased mass transfer of ethylene favored the formation of desired commodity chemicals with significantly suppressed homometathesis when compared to the bulk system. In addition to higher selectivity and conversion, this system also provides the typical advantages of a microchemical system, including the possibility of convenient scale-up
Dwarf Galaxies with Ionizing Radiation Feedback. I: Escape of Ionizing Photons
We describe a new method for simulating ionizing radiation and supernova
feedback in the analogues of low-redshift galactic disks. In this method, which
we call star-forming molecular cloud (SFMC) particles, we use a ray-tracing
technique to solve the radiative transfer equation for ultraviolet photons
emitted by thousands of distinct particles on the fly. Joined with high
numerical resolution of 3.8 pc, the realistic description of stellar feedback
helps to self-regulate star formation. This new feedback scheme also enables us
to study the escape of ionizing photons from star-forming clumps and from a
galaxy, and to examine the evolving environment of star-forming gas clumps. By
simulating a galactic disk in a halo of 2.3e11 Msun, we find that the average
escape fraction from all radiating sources on the spiral arms (excluding the
central 2.5 kpc) fluctuates between 0.08% and 5.9% during a ~20 Myr period with
a mean value of 1.1%. The flux of escaped photons from these sources is not
strongly beamed, but manifests a large opening angle of more than 60 degree
from the galactic pole. Further, we investigate the escape fraction per SFMC
particle, f_esc(i), and how it evolves as the particle ages. We discover that
the average escape fraction f_esc is dominated by a small number of SFMC
particles with high f_esc(i). On average, the escape fraction from a SFMC
particle rises from 0.27% at its birth to 2.1% at the end of a particle
lifetime, 6 Myrs. This is because SFMC particles drift away from the dense gas
clumps in which they were born, and because the gas around the star-forming
clumps is dispersed by ionizing radiation and supernova feedback. The framework
established in this study brings deeper insight into the physics of photon
escape fraction from an individual star-forming clump, and from a galactic
disk.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures, Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journal, Image resolution reduced, High-resolution version of this article is
available at http://www.jihoonkim.org/index/research.html#sfm
Dwarf Galaxies with Ionizing Radiation Feedback. II: Spatially-resolved Star Formation Relation
We investigate the spatially-resolved star formation relation using a
galactic disk formed in a comprehensive high-resolution (3.8 pc) simulation.
Our new implementation of stellar feedback includes ionizing radiation as well
as supernova explosions, and we handle ionizing radiation by solving the
radiative transfer equation rather than by a subgrid model. Photoheating by
stellar radiation stabilizes gas against Jeans fragmentation, reducing the star
formation rate. Because we have self-consistently calculated the location of
ionized gas, we are able to make spatially-resolved mock observations of star
formation tracers, such as H-alpha emission. We can also observe how stellar
feedback manifests itself in the correlation between ionized and molecular gas.
Applying our techniques to the disk in a galactic halo of 2.3e11 Msun, we find
that the correlation between star formation rate density (estimated from mock
H-alpha emission) and molecular hydrogen density shows large scatter,
especially at high resolutions of <~ 75 pc that are comparable to the size of
giant molecular clouds (GMCs). This is because an aperture of GMC size captures
only particular stages of GMC evolution, and because H-alpha traces hot gas
around star-forming regions and is displaced from the molecular hydrogen peaks
themselves. By examining the evolving environment around star clusters, we
speculate that the breakdown of the traditional star formation laws of the
Kennicutt-Schmidt type at small scales is further aided by a combination of
stars drifting from their birthplaces, and molecular clouds being dispersed via
stellar feedback.Comment: 16 pages, 15 figures, Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journal, Image resolution greatly reduced, High-resolution version of this
article is available at http://www.jihoonkim.org/index/research.html#sfm
The Effects of Kindergarten and First Grade Schooling on Executive Function and Academic Skill Development: Evidence from a School Cutoff Design
Early executive function (EF) skills reliably predict school readiness and future academic success. While children’s skills undergo rapid development during the transition to formal schooling, it remains unclear the extent to which schooling exerts a unique influence on the accelerated development of EF and academic skills during the early years of schooling. In the present study, a quasi-experimental technique known as the school cutoff design was used to examine whether same-aged children who made vs. missed the age cutoff for school entry significantly differed on EF, reading, and math outcomes. Data from 166 pre-k, kindergarten, and first grade children (Range = 3.75–7.58 years, 92 girls) from a longitudinal study of literacy development were analyzed. Children were assessed on EF, reading, and math skills in fall and spring. Results revealed unique effects of kindergarten, but not first grade, on growth in EF and reading over and above the effect of age. Schooling was unrelated to growth in math. Because kindergarten represents the first year of elementary school and children’s first exposure to a formal schooling environment, kindergarten schooling may be uniquely positioned to produce greater gains in academic and behavioral outcomes compared to other grades
- …