Increasing Resistance to the Negative Effects of Set

Two experimental studies were reported in which attempts were made to increase resistance to the negative effects of set. Set interference was measured by performance on 1) a task in which a set was experimentally induced, 2) a series of problems presumed to involve implicit sets, and 3) a test of creativity presumed to involve implicit sets. The experimental treatments consisted of tasks which required set-breaking. An important aspect of this research was that no hints or instructions concerning sets were provided. The findings offer modest support for the view that learning experiences can be designed which will increase resistance to interference from set. Suggestions for future research on this problem were discussed. These experiments utilized a novel research design in which each group of subjects acted as both an experimental and a control group. Thus, each study was, in essence, two studies. The advantages and limitations of this design were discussed

Endorsement ads are primarily used by incumbents and female candidates in the early stages of campaigns.

Political endorsements play an important role in shaping public opinion about candidates. While scholars have researched the impact of endorsements, few have examined the factors that determine how and where endorsements are used in campaigns. Using political advertising data from the 2008 election cycle, Newly Paul and Chance York find that four factors—candidate characteristics, campaign characteristics, ad format, and timing—affect whether an ad containing an endorsement is aired. They find that endorsements are more likely to appear in positive ads, are primarily used by incumbents and female candidates, are less likely to appear in competitive races, and tend to air less frequently as a campaign progresses

Estimating European volatile organic compound emissions using satellite observations of formaldehyde from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument

Emission of non-methane Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) to the atmosphere stems from biogenic and human activities, and their estimation is difficult because of the many and not fully understood processes involved. In order to narrow down the uncertainty related to VOC emissions, which negatively reflects on our ability to simulate the atmospheric composition, we exploit satellite observations of formaldehyde (HCHO), an ubiquitous oxidation product of most VOCs, focusing on Europe. HCHO column observations from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) reveal a marked seasonal cycle with a summer maximum and winter minimum. In summer, the oxidation of methane and other long-lived VOCs supply a slowly varying background HCHO column, while HCHO variability is dominated by most reactive VOC, primarily biogenic isoprene followed in importance by biogenic terpenes and anthropogenic VOCs. The chemistry-transport model CHIMERE qualitatively reproduces the temporal and spatial features of the observed HCHO column, but display regional biases which are attributed mainly to incorrect biogenic VOC emissions, calculated with the Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosol from Nature (MEGAN) algorithm. These "bottom-up" or a-priori emissions are corrected through a Bayesian inversion of the OMI HCHO observations. Resulting "top-down" or a-posteriori isoprene emissions are lower than "bottom-up" by 40% over the Balkans and by 20% over Southern Germany, and higher by 20% over Iberian Peninsula, Greece and Italy. We conclude that OMI satellite observations of HCHO can provide a quantitative "top-down" constraint on the European "bottom-up" VOC inventories

Industry Structure and Market Potential for Value-added Wood Products in Northwest Louisiana (Bulletin #872)

This bulletin explains how value-added secondary wood processing offers opportunities for increased profitability through higher margins and increased profits. It also includes information on how secondary manufacturers can generally increase prices to make up for lost profits when raw material costs rise.https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/agcenter_bulletins/1030/thumbnail.jp

A Timber Resource Assessment of Northwest Louisiana (Bulletin #873)

This publication focuses on forest resources and implications for industry development in this region.https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/agcenter_bulletins/1027/thumbnail.jp

Reflections on the Adaptation of DIT’s RoboSumo Robot-Building Initiative within ITB’s Module on Professional Development for Engineers

This paper details a pilot initiative within the Engineering Department at Ireland’s Institute of Technology Blanchardstown (ITB) where a competitive, team-based robot-building activity has been embedded within the first year module Professional Development for Engineers. As part of the 2015 programmatic review process at ITB, an existing first year module Personal Development was significantly re-designed. The resulting module Professional Development for Engineers was delivered to Engineering students in semester 1 of year 1 of the 2015/16 academic year. A core aim of this initiative is to enhance the first year engineering student experience. The initiative is an adaptation of a robot-building activity run within the School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering at the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) for the past twelve years. The two lead authors, as part of a larger ITB programme design team, partnered with DIT to deliver a series of workshops that equipped ITB staff to deliver RoboSumo to their students at ITB. Arising from this preparatory work, ITB have implemented a slimmed down version of RoboSumo within ITB’s Professional Development for Engineers module. This paper outlines the curriculum design approach taken and then discusses challenges that encountered before and during implementation. An action plan for improvement of the next iteration is identified; it has been informed by the evaluation and analysis of the initial pilot project discussed here

Seasonal and interannual variability of North American isoprene emissions as determined by formaldehyde column measurements from space

Formaldehyde (HCHO) columns measured from space by solar UV backscatter allow mapping of reactive hydrocarbon emissions. The principal contributor to these emissions during the growing season is the biogenic hydrocarbon isoprene, which is of great importance for driving regional and global tropospheric chemistry. We present seven years (1995-2001) of HCHO column data for North America from the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME), and show that the general seasonal and interannual variability of these data is consistent with knowledge of isoprene emission. There are some significant regional discrepancies with the seasonal patterns predicted from current isoprene emission models, and we suggest that these may reflect flaws in the models. The interannual variability of HCHO columns observed by GOME appears to follow the interannual variability of surface temperature, as expected from current isoprene emission models

Air mass factor formulation for spectroscopic measurements from satellites: Application to formaldehyde retrievals from the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment

Abstract. We present a new formulation for the air mass factor (AMF) to convert slant column measurements of optically thin atmospheric species from space into total vertical columns. Because of atmospheric scattering, the AMF depends on the vertical distribution of the species. We formulate the AMF as the integral of the relative vertical distribution (shape factor) of the species over the depth of the atmosphere, weighted by altitudedependent coefficients (scattering weights) computed independently from a radiative transfer model. The scattering weights are readily tabulated, and one can then obtain the AMF for any observation scene by using shape factors from a three dimensional (3-D) atmospheric chemistry model for the period of observation. This approach subsequently allows objective evaluation of the 3-D model with the observed vertical columns, since the shape factor and the vertical column in the model represent two independent pieces of information. We demonstrate the AMF method by using slant column measurements of formaldehyde at 346 nm from the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment satellite instrument over North America during July 1996. Shape factors are computed with the Global Earth Observing System CHEMistry (GEOS-CHEM) global 3-D model and are checked for consistency with the few available aircraft measurements. Scattering weights increase by an order of magnitude from the surface to the upper troposphere. The AMFs are typically 20-40 % less over continents than over the oceans and are approximately half the values calculated in the absence of scattering. Model-induced errors in the AMF are estimated to be • 10%. The GEOS-CHEM model captures 50 % and 60 % of the variances in the observed slant and vertical columns, respectively. Comparison of the simulated and observed vertical columns allows assessment of model bias. 1