Emergent adulthood as a developmental stage in Ecuador

The following research proposal explores the topic of emerging adulthood, which is a developmental stage between 18 to 25 years old. It was coined by Jeffrey Jensen Arnett in 2004. This study suggests the application of the Inventory of Dimensions of Emergent Adulthood (IDEA) in a heterogeneous sample of college students at Universidad San Francisco de Quito. It is hypothesized that emergent adulthood exists as a developmental stage in Ecuador, but that it is limited to medium and high socioeconomic status. It is predicted that the results will corroborate the hypothesis. The conclusion of this study is that emerging adulthood is manifested in Ecuador but in a different way compared to other countries and cultures, since in this country there is large economic disparity and also many collectivistic values are encouraged by the society.La siguiente propuesta de investigación explora el tema de la adultez emergente, la cual es una etapa del desarrollo entre los 18 y 25 años de edad. Fue propuesta por Jeffrey Jensen Arnett en el año 2004. Este estudio propone la aplicación del Inventory of Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood (IDEA) en una muestra heterogénea de estudiantes de la Universidad San Francisco de Quito. La hipótesis de este estudio es que la adultez emergente existe como etapa del desarrollo en el Ecuador, pero que se limita a niveles socioeconómicos medios y altos. Se predice que los resultados van a corroborar esta hipótesis. Se concluye diciendo que la adultez emergente en el Ecuador se manifiesta pero de diferente manera comparada a otros países y culturas, ya que en este país hay mucha desigualdad económica y también se fomentan mucho los valores de sociedad colectivista

Europium cyclooctatetraene nanowire carpets: A low-dimensional, organometallic, and ferromagnetic insulator

We investigate the magnetic and electronic properties of europium cyclooctatetraene (EuCot) nanowires by means of low-temperature X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and spectroscopy (STS). The EuCot nanowires are prepared in situ on a graphene surface. STS measurements identify EuCot as an insulator with a minority band gap of 2.3 eV. By means of Eu M5,4 edge XMCD, orbital and spin magnetic moments of (−0.1 ± 0.3)μB and (+7.0 ± 0.6)μB, respectively, were determined. Field-dependent measurements of the XMCD signal at the Eu M5 edge show hysteresis for grazing X-ray incidence at 5 K, thus confirming EuCot as a ferromagnetic material. Our density functional theory calculations reproduce the experimentally observed minority band gap. Modeling the experimental results theoretically, we find that the effective interatomic exchange interaction between Eu atoms is on the order of millielectronvolts, that magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy is roughly half as big, and that dipolar energy is approximately ten times lower

Interface-related magnetic and vibrational properties in Fe/MgO heterostructures from nuclear resonant spectroscopy and first-principles calculations

We combine ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy and ⁵⁷Fe nuclear resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (NRIXS) on nanoscale polycrystalline [bcc−⁵⁷Fe/MgO] multilayers with various Fe-layer thicknesses and layer-resolved density-functional-theory (DFT)-based first-principles calculations of a (001)-oriented [Fe(8 ML)/MgO(8 ML)](001) heterostructure (where ML denotes monolayer) to unravel the interface-related atomic vibrational properties of a multilayer system. Being consistent in theory and experiment, we observe enhanced hyperfine magnetic fields B_(hf) in the multilayers as compared to B_(hf) in bulk bcc Fe; this effect is associated with the Fe/MgO interface layers. NRIXS and DFT both reveal a strong reduction of the longitudinal acoustic phonon peak in combination with an enhancement of the low-energy vibrational density of states (VDOS) suggesting that the presence of interfaces and the associated increase in the layer-resolved magnetic moments results in drastic changes in the Fe-partial VDOS. From the experimental and calculated VDOS, vibrational thermodynamic properties have been determined as a function of Fe thickness and were found to be in excellent agreement

Reduction of Plasma Gelsolin Levels Correlates with Development of Multiple Organ Dysfunction Syndrome and Fatal Outcome in Burn Patients

BACKGROUND: Depletion of the circulating actin-binding protein, plasma gelsolin (pGSN) has been described in critically ill surgical patients. We hypothesized that the extent of pGSN reduction might correlate with different outcome of burn patients. The study was performed to evaluate the prognostic implications of pGSN levels on the development of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) and fatal outcome in a group of severely burn patients. METHODS AND FINDINGS: 95 patients were included, and they were divided into three groups with different burn area: group I (n = 33), group II (n = 32) and group III (n = 30). According to whether there was development of MODS or not, patients were divided into MODS group (n = 28) and none-MODS group (n = 67); then the patients with MODS were further divided into non-survivor group (n = 17) and survivor group (n = 11). The peripheral blood samples were collected on postburn days (PBD) 1, 3, 7, 14, and 21. The levels of pGSN were determined and T cells were procured from the blood. The contents of cytokines (IL-2, IL-4 and IFN-γ) released by T cells were also measured. The related factors of prognosis were analyzed by using multivariate logistic regression analysis. The results showed that pGSN concentrations, as well as the levels of IL-2 and IFN-γ, decreased markedly on PBD 1-21, whereas, the levels of IL-4 increased markedly in all burn groups as compared with normal controls (P<0.05 or P<0.01), and there were obviously differences between group I and group III (P<0.05 or P<0.01). The similar results were found in MODS patients and the non-survivor group as compared with those without MODS and the survival group on days 3-21 postburn (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Moreover, as the pGSN levels decreased, the incidence of septic complication as well as MODS remarkably increased. CONCLUSIONS: pGSN levels appear to be an early prognostic marker in patients suffering from major burns

Plasma Gelsolin Depletion and Circulating Actin in Sepsis—A Pilot Study

Background: Depletion of the circulating actin-binding protein, plasma gelsolin (pGSN) has been described in septic patients and animals. We hypothesized that the extent of pGSN reduction correlates with outcomes of septic patients and that circulating actin is a manifestation of sepsis. Methodology/Principal Findings: We assayed pGSN in plasma samples from non-surgical septic patients identified from a pre-existing database which prospectively enrolled patients admitted to adult intensive care units at an academic hospital. We identified 21 non-surgical septic patients for the study. Actinemia was detected in 17 of the 21 patients, suggesting actin released into circulation from injured tissues is a manifestation of sepsis. Furthermore, we documented the depletion of pGSN in human clinical sepsis, and that the survivors had significantly higher pGSN levels than the non-survivors (163647 mg/L vs. 89648 mg/L, p = 0.01). pGSN levels were more strongly predictive of 28-day mortality than APACHE III scores. For every quartile reduction in pGSN, the odds of death increased 3.4-fold. Conclusion: We conclude that circulating actin and pGSN deficiency are associated with early sepsis. The degree of pGS

Electron population dynamics in resonant non-linear x-ray absorption in nickel at a free-electron laser

Free-electron lasers provide bright, ultrashort, and monochromatic x-ray pulses, enabling novel spectroscopic measurements not only with femtosecond temporal resolution: The high fluence of their x-ray pulses can also easily enter the regime of the non-linear x-ray–matter interaction. Entering this regime necessitates a rigorous analysis and reliable prediction of the relevant non-linear processes for future experiment designs. Here, we show non-linear changes in the L3-edge absorption of metallic nickel thin films, measured with fluences up to 60 J/cm2. We present a simple but predictive rate model that quantitatively describes spectral changes based on the evolution of electronic populations within the pulse duration. Despite its simplicity, the model reaches good agreement with experimental results over more than three orders of magnitude in fluence, while providing a straightforward understanding of the interplay of physical processes driving the non-linear changes. Our findings provide important insights for the design and evaluation of future high-fluence free-electron laser experiments and contribute to the understanding of non-linear electron dynamics in x-ray absorption processes in solids at the femtosecond timescale

The interplay of local electron correlations and ultrafast spin dynamics in fcc Ni

The complex electronic structure of metallic ferromagnets is determined by a balance between exchange interaction, electron hopping leading to band formation, and local Coulomb repulsion. The interplay between the respective terms of the Hamiltonian is of fundamental interest, since it produces most, if not all, of the exotic phenomena observed in the solid state. By combining high energy and temporal resolution in femtosecond time-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy with ab initio time-dependent density functional theory we analyze the electronic structure in fcc Ni on the time scale of these interactions in a pump-probe experiment. We distinguish transient broadening and energy shifts in the absorption spectra, which we demonstrate to be caused by electron repopulation and correlation-induced modifications of the electronic structure, respectively. Importantly, the theoretical description of this experimental result hence requires to take the local Coulomb interaction into account, revealing a temporal interplay between band formation, exchange interaction, and Coulomb repulsion

Photon shot-noise limited transient absorption soft X-ray spectroscopy at the European XFEL

Femtosecond transient soft X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) is a very promising technique that can be employed at X-ray Free Electron Lasers (FELs) to investigate out-of-equilibrium dynamics for material and energy research. Here we present a dedicated setup for soft X-rays available at the Spectroscopy & Coherent Scattering (SCS) instrument at the European X-ray Free Electron Laser (EuXFEL). It consists of a beam-splitting off-axis zone plate (BOZ) used in transmission to create three copies of the incoming beam, which are used to measure the transmitted intensity through the excited and unexcited sample, as well as to monitor the incoming intensity. Since these three intensity signals are detected shot-by-shot and simultaneously, this setup allows normalized shot-by-shot analysis of the transmission. For photon detection, the DSSC imaging detector, which is capable of recording up to 800 images at 4.5 MHz frame rate during the FEL burst, is employed and allows approaching the photon shot-noise limit. We review the setup and its capabilities, as well as the online and offline analysis tools provided to users