Action Embellishment: An Intention Bias in the Perception of Success

Naïve theories of behavior hold that actions are caused by an agent’s intentions, and the subsequent success of an action is measured by the satisfaction of those intentions. But when an action is not as successful as intended, the expected causal link between intention and action may distort perception of the action itself. Four studies found evidence of an intention bias in perceptions of action. Actors perceived actions to be more successful when given a prior choice (e.g., choose between two words to type) and also when they felt greater motivation for the action (e.g., hitting pictures of disliked people). When the intent was to fail (e.g., singing poorly) choice led to worse estimates of performance. A final experiment suggested that intention bias works independent from self-enhancement motives. In observing another actor hit pictures of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, shots were distorted to match the actor’s intentions, even when it opposed personal wishes. Together these studies indicate that judgments of action may be automatically distorted, and that these inferences arise from the expected consistency between intention and action in agency.Psycholog

Development of Micro-/Nano-Architectures for Intracellular Sensing Platform

Currently available nanotechnologies are capable of creating various nanostructures in controlled dimensions such as particles (0D), wires (1D), membranes (2D), and cubes (3D) by exploiting “top-down” or “bottom-up” methods. However, there exist limitations to systematically construct hierarchical nanostructures with geometric complexities. This study is focused on developing a novel nanofabrication strategy that can rationally produce a set of hierarchical nanostructures configured with precisely engineered facets, tip shapes, and tectonic motifs. We aim to identify a collection of optimal materials, array layouts, basic components, and nanofabrication techniques for the production of hierarchical nanostructures by exploiting device-grade semiconducting silicon materials. To accomplish this, device-grade silicon was processed by traditional photolithographic methods to create precisely engineered three-dimensional shapes. The three-dimensional structures were then layered with random patterns by exploiting metal-assisted chemical etching, leading to significantly increased surface areas with arbitrary morphological complexity

Smartphone-Based Microscope for Pathogen Detection

Vibrio cholerae is a water and food borne bacteria that causes cholera, a severe acute diarrheal disease, when ingested and when left untreated, can cause patient death within hours. Currently there is a lack of both sensitive and rapid portable detection technologies of V. cholerae for testing water and food samples. Combining nucleic acid amplification and particle diffusometry present an alternative detection method for V. cholerae in under 30 minutes, but the process requires an expensive laboratory microscope. In this work, we develop a smartphone-based microscope to detect V. cholerae DNA in environmental water samples using particle diffusometry. A modular iPhone case is designed with a detachable cartridge and an integrated ball lens to image a microfluidic sample slide. This sample slide is essential for performing the DNA amplification assay and contains the microparticles necessary for imaging and particle diffusometry measurements. The ball lenses to image these particles have diameters of 1.0, 0.79, and 0.5 millimeters and are tested in conjunction with the iPhone 6 camera to determine optimal magnification and focal length. We demonstrate the ability to detect the Brownian motion of 1.0 micrometer particles using a 0.5 millimeter ball lens with brightfield imaging. This field-portable imaging platform provides the capability to perform rapid detection of V. cholerae in the field, and in the future, can be applied toward detecting other diseases at the point of care

Field Blue Stragglers and Related Mass Transfer Issues

This chapter contains my impressions and perspectives about the current state of knowledge about field blue stragglers (FBS) stars, drawn from an extensive literature that I searched. I conclude my review of issues that attend FBS and mass transfer, by a brief enumeration of a few mildly disquieting observational facts.Comment: Chapter 4, in Ecology of Blue Straggler Stars, H.M.J. Boffin, G. Carraro & G. Beccari (Eds), Astrophysics and Space Science Library, Springe

Epidemic space

The aim of this article is to highlight the importance of 'spatiality' in understanding the materialization of risk society and cultivation of risk sensibilities. More specifically it provides a cultural analysis of pathogen virulence (as a social phenomenon) by means of tracing and mapping the spatial flows that operate in the uncharted zones between the microphysics of infection and the macrophysics of epidemics. It will be argued that epidemic space consists of three types of forces: the vector, the index and the vortex. It will draw on Latour's Actor Network Theory to argue that epidemic space is geared towards instability when the vortex (of expanding associations and concerns) displaces the index (of finding a single cause)

A nanocrystal-based ratiometric pH sensor for natural pH ranges

A ratiometric fluorescent pH sensor based on CdSe/CdZnS nanocrystal quantum dots (NCs) has been designed for biological pH ranges. The construct is formed from the conjugation of a pH dye (SNARF) to NCs coated with a poly(amido amine) (PAMAM) dendrimer. The sensor exhibits a well–resolved ratio response at pH values between 6 and 8 under linear or two–photon excitation, and in the presence of a 4% bovine serum albumin (BSA) solution.Chemistry and Chemical Biolog

Appropriate disclosure of a diagnosis of dementia : identifying the key behaviours of 'best practice'

Background: Despite growing evidence that many people with dementia want to know their diagnosis, there is wide variation in attitudes of professionals towards disclosure. The disclosure of the diagnosis of dementia is increasingly recognised as being a process rather than a one-off behaviour. However, the different behaviours that contribute to this process have not been comprehensively defined. No intervention studies to improve diagnostic disclosure in dementia have been reported to date. As part of a larger study to develop an intervention to promote appropriate disclosure, we sought to identify important disclosure behaviours and explore whether supplementing a literature review with other methods would result in the identification of new behaviours. Methods: To identify a comprehensive list of behaviours in disclosure we conducted a literature review, interviewed people with dementia and informal carers, and used a consensus process involving health and social care professionals. Content analysis of the full list of behaviours was carried out. Results: Interviews were conducted with four people with dementia and six informal carers. Eight health and social care professionals took part in the consensus panel. From the interviews, consensus panel and literature review 220 behaviours were elicited, with 109 behaviours over-lapping. The interviews and consensus panel elicited 27 behaviours supplementary to the review. Those from the interviews appeared to be self-evident but highlighted deficiencies in current practice and from the panel focused largely on balancing the needs of people with dementia and family members. Behaviours were grouped into eight categories: preparing for disclosure; integrating family members; exploring the patient's perspective; disclosing the diagnosis; responding to patient reactions; focusing on quality of life and well-being; planning for the future; and communicating effectively. Conclusion: This exercise has highlighted the complexity of the process of disclosing a diagnosis of dementia in an appropriate manner. It confirms that many of the behaviours identified in the literature (often based on professional opinion rather than empirical evidence) also resonate with people with dementia and informal carers. The presence of contradictory behaviours emphasises the need to tailor the process of disclosure to individual patients and carers. Our combined methods may be relevant to other efforts to identify and define complex clinical practices for further study.This project is funded by UK Medical Research Council, Grant reference number G0300999

Two Stellar Components in the Halo of the Milky Way

The halo of the Milky Way provides unique elemental abundance and kinematic information on the first objects to form in the Universe, which can be used to tightly constrain models of galaxy formation and evolution. Although the halo was once considered a single component, evidence for its dichotomy has slowly emerged in recent years from inspection of small samples of halo objects. Here we show that the halo is indeed clearly divisible into two broadly overlapping structural components -- an inner and an outer halo -- that exhibit different spatial density profiles, stellar orbits and stellar metallicities (abundances of elements heavier than helium). The inner halo has a modest net prograde rotation, whereas the outer halo exhibits a net retrograde rotation and a peak metallicity one-third that of the inner halo. These properties indicate that the individual halo components probably formed in fundamentally different ways, through successive dissipational (inner) and dissipationless (outer) mergers and tidal disruption of proto-Galactic clumps.Comment: Two stand-alone files in manuscript, concatenated together. The first is for the main paper, the second for supplementary information. The version is consistent with the version published in Natur

Autonomous tracking and sampling of the deep chlorophyll maximum layer in an open-ocean eddy by a long-range autonomous underwater vehicle

© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Zhang, Y., Kieft, B., Hobson, B. W., Ryan, J. P., Barone, B., Preston, C. M., Roman, B., Raanan, B., Marin,Roman,,III, O'Reilly, T. C., Rueda, C. A., Pargett, D., Yamahara, K. M., Poulos, S., Romano, A., Foreman, G., Ramm, H., Wilson, S. T., DeLong, E. F., Karl, D. M., Birch, J. M., Bellingham, J. G., & Scholin, C. A. Autonomous tracking and sampling of the deep chlorophyll maximum layer in an open-ocean eddy by a long-range autonomous underwater vehicle. IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, 45(4), (2020): 1308-1321, doi:10.1109/JOE.2019.2920217.Phytoplankton communities residing in the open ocean, the largest habitat on Earth, play a key role in global primary production. Through their influence on nutrient supply to the euphotic zone, open-ocean eddies impact the magnitude of primary production and its spatial and temporal distributions. It is important to gain a deeper understanding of the microbial ecology of marine ecosystems under the influence of eddy physics with the aid of advanced technologies. In March and April 2018, we deployed autonomous underwater and surface vehicles in a cyclonic eddy in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre to investigate the variability of the microbial community in the deep chlorophyll maximum (DCM) layer. One long-range autonomous underwater vehicle (LRAUV) carrying a third-generation Environmental Sample Processor (3G-ESP) autonomously tracked and sampled the DCM layer for four days without surfacing. The sampling LRAUV's vertical position in the DCM layer was maintained by locking onto the isotherm corresponding to the chlorophyll peak. The vehicle ran on tight circles while drifting with the eddy current. This mode of operation enabled a quasi-Lagrangian time series focused on sampling the temporal variation of the DCM population. A companion LRAUV surveyed a cylindrical volume around the sampling LRAUV to monitor spatial and temporal variation in contextual water column properties. The simultaneous sampling and mapping enabled observation of DCM microbial community in its natural frame of reference.10.13039/501100008982 - National Science Foundation 10.13039/100000936 - Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation 10.13039/100000008 - David and Lucile Packard Foundation 10.13039/100016377 - Schmidt Ocean Institute 10.13039/100000893 - Simons Foundatio