Diamond Nanowire Transistor with High Current Capability

Carrier confinement in nanowire (NW) structures can offer a host of new material properties compared to bulk electronic devices. Diamond can be considered an ultimate semiconductor given its superlative electronic, physical, and optical properties. However, the development of diamond device technology has been hindered by doping problems in conventional device structures. Here, heavily doped diamond NWs, some 15 nm wide and only 1–2 nm deep overcome these issues and offer a significant advance in NW technology; transistor action can be induced with remote side gates alone, without the need for semiconductor junctions. Quasi-ballistic transport is most-likely responsible for extraordinary current handling capability of the NW transistors fabricated here at some 20 MA cm−2, being around 0.04 G0. This unipolar technology opens up a new paradigm in diamond nanoelectronic device technology

Prospective and dyadic associations between expectant parents’ prenatal hormone changes and postpartum parenting outcomes

During the transition to parenthood, both men and women experience hormone changes that are thought to promote parental care. Yet very few studies have explicitly tested the hypothesis that prenatal hormone changes are associated with postpartum parenting behavior. In a longitudinal study of 27 first‐time expectant couples, we assessed whether prenatal hormone changes were moderated by self‐ and partner‐reported parenting outcomes at 3 months postpartum. Expectant fathers showed prenatal declines in testosterone and estradiol, and larger declines in these hormones were associated with greater contributions to household and infant care tasks postpartum. Women whose partners showed larger testosterone declines also reported receiving more support and more help with household tasks. Expectant mothers showed prenatal increases in testosterone and estradiol, and larger increases in these hormones were associated with lower partner‐rated support. Together, our findings provide some of the first evidence that prenatal hormone changes may indeed be functional and that the implications of these changes may be detectable by co‐parents.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135629/1/dev21469_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135629/2/dev21469.pd

As formas de expressâo do preconceito na infância

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada ao Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada para obtenção de grau de Mestre na especialidade de Psicologia Educacional.O objectivo deste estudo é verificar de que forma a idade das crianças influencia a forma de expressão de preconceito das mesmas, ou seja, de que forma se expressa o preconceito na infância, em dois grupos diferentes de idade (seis/sete anos e nove/dez anos), esperando-se que as crianças mais novas expressem o preconceito de forma directa e as mais velhas de forma indirecta, por terem interiorizado a norma social vigente anti-racista. Este estudo é experimental, tendo sido recolhida uma amostra de 120 participantes de uma escola homogénea da região de Cascais. Para testar as hipóteses colocadas recorreu-se a ANOVAS e ao Teste de Scheffé (comparação múltipla de médias). Desta forma, observa-se que, ao contrário do que se tinha proposto, tanto as crianças mais novas como as crianças mais velhas expressam-se de forma indirecta no que diz respeito ao preconceito face a indivíduos negros, ou seja, estas crianças são justas na distribuição de recursos, mas por exemplo, as crianças mais novas ao colocarem-se no papel de outro, como a mãe e o melhor amigo, já expressam o racismo de forma indirecta. Deve ainda referir-se que as crianças mais novas e mais novas seguem a norma social do pai.The goal of this study is to determine how children’s age influences their way of expressing prejudice, or in other words, how prejudice is expressed in childhood, in two different age groups (six/seven and nine/ten years hold), expecting that younger children will expressed directly prejudice, and the oldest children indirectly, because they have already internalized the social norm of anti-racism. This is an experimental study, with a sample of 120 participants from one homogeneous school in the Cascais area. In order to test the hypothesis, ANOVAS and Scheffé test (multiple comparison of averages), were used. In spite of what was initially proposed, it was observed that both younger and older children express their prejudice towards black individuals in an indirect way. Thus, these children distributed the resources with justice, but for example, younger children express an indirect racism when assuming the role of their mother or the role of their best friend. Both younger and older children tend to follow the social norm of their father

Implementing Diversity Training Targeting Faculty Microaggressions and Inclusion: Practical Insights and Initial Findings

Despite the importance of faculty diversity training for advancing an inclusive society, little research examines whether participation improves inclusion perceptions and belongingness. Integrating training and diversity education literature concepts, this study examines the effectiveness of training targeting microaggressions in six STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) oriented departments at a research-intensive university. Reactions data collected at the end of face-to-face training suggested that participation generally increased inclusion understanding. Self-assessments on inclusion concepts collected from 45% of participants before and three weeks after training suggest participation increases perceptions of the importance of inclusion, microaggression allyship awareness, inclusive behaviors, and organizational identification. Compared to white men, women and minorities reported a greater increase in satisfaction with their department affiliation. While self-assessment results are exploratory and have limitations, analysis suggests that diversity training may enhance knowledge of microaggressions, allyship, inclusive behaviors, and belongingness perceptions. We provide insights for evaluating and implementing diversity training interventions

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure, obesity and childhood asthma in an urban cohort

Background: Exposure to traffic-related air pollutants, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from traffic emissions and other combustion sources, and childhood obesity, have been implicated as risk factors for developing asthma. However, the interaction between these two on asthma among young urban children has not been studied previously. Methods: Exposure to early childhood PAHs was measured by two week residential indoor monitoring at age 5–6 years in the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health birth cohort (n=311). Semivolatile [e.g., methylphenanthrenes] and nonvolatile [e.g., benzo(a)pyrene] PAHs were monitored. Obesity at age 5 was defined as a body mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to the 95th percentile of the year 2000 age- and sex-specific growth charts (Center for Disease Control). Current asthma and recent wheeze at ages 5 and 7 were determined by validated questionnaires. Data were analyzed using a modified Poisson regression in generalized estimating equations (GEE) to estimate relative risks (RR), after adjusting for potential covariates. Results: Neither PAH concentrations or obesity had a main effect on asthma or recent wheeze. In models stratified by presence/absence of obesity, a significant positive association was observed between an interquartile range (IQR) increase in natural log-transformed 1-methylphenanthrene (RR [95% CI]: 2.62 [1.17–5.88] with IQRln=0.76), and 9-methylphenanthrene (2.92 [1.09–7.82] with IQRln=0.73) concentrations and asthma in obese children (n=63). No association in non-obese (n=248) children was observed at age 5 (Pinteraction<0.03). Similar associations were observed for 3-methylphenanthrene, 9-methylphenanthrene, and 3,6-dimethylphenanthrene at age 7. Conclusions: Obese young children may be more likely to develop asthma in association with greater exposure to PAHs, and methylphenanthrenes in particular, than non-obese children

Staged parser combinators for efficient data processing

Parsers are ubiquitous in computing, and many applications depend on their performance for decoding data efficiently. Parser combinators are an intuitive tool for writing parsers: tight integration with the host language enables grammar specifications to be interleaved with processing of parse results. Unfortunately, parser combinators are typically slow due to the high overhead of the host language abstraction mechanisms that enable composition. We present a technique for eliminating such overhead. We use staging, a form of runtime code generation, to dissociate input parsing from parser composition, and eliminate intermediate data structures and computations associated with parser composition at staging time. A key challenge is to maintain support for input dependent grammars, which have no clear stage distinction. Our approach applies to top-down recursive-descent parsers as well as bottom-up nondeterministic parsers with key applications in dynamic programming on sequences, where we auto-generate code for parallel hardware. We achieve performance comparable to specialized, hand-written parsers

Reclamation of reactive metal oxides from complex minerals using alkali roasting and leaching- an improved approach to process engineering

In nature, the commonly occurring reactive metal oxides of titanium, chromium, aluminium, and vanadium often chemically combine with the transition metal oxides such as iron oxides and form complex minerals. Physico-chemical separation of transition metal oxides from the remaining reactive metal oxides is therefore an important step in the purification of reactive oxide constituents. Each purification step has quite a high energy requirement at present. Current practice in industry yields sulphate and neutralized chloride waste from titanium dioxide enrichment, red mud from bauxite refining, slag and leach residues from vanadium extraction and chromite ore process residue (COPR) from chromate processes. In this review article, a novel alkali-based oxidative roasting and aqueous leaching for the extraction of mineral oxides is explained in the context of the original work of Le Chatelier in 1850, which was unsuccessful in the industrialization of bauxite processing for alumina extraction. However, much later in the 19th century the alkali-based oxidative mineral roasting was successfully developed for industrial scale manufacturing of chromate chemicals, which yields COPR. The crystal chemistry of mineral oxides, namely alumina, titanium dioxide, and chromium oxide in naturally occurring minerals is briefly reviewed in the context of chemical extraction, which is then developed as a model for developing thermodynamic chemical equilibrium principles for analyzing the physical separation and enrichment of such reactive metal oxides by forming water-soluble and water-insoluble alkali complexes. The involvement of the alkali roasting chemistry of non-magnetic titaniferous mineral waste is also reported in the initial separation of rare-earth oxide mixtures for subsequent separation of individual oxides. The paper concludes with a generic approach to process chemistry which minimizes waste generation and therefore helps in reducing the overall process and energy costs. Examples of recovering alkali from high pH solution using carbon dioxide are also demonstrated

Considering the role of cognitive control in expert performance

© 2014, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. Dreyfus and Dreyfus’ (1986) influential phenomenological analysis of skill acquisition proposes that expert performance is guided by non-cognitive responses which are fast, effortless and apparently intuitive in nature. Although this model has been criticised (e.g., by Breivik Journal of Philosophy of Sport, 34, 116–134 2007, Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, 40, 85–106 2013; Eriksen 2010; Montero Inquiry:An interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy, 53, 105–122 2010; Montero and Evans 2011) for over-emphasising the role that intuition plays in facilitating skilled performance, it does recognise that on occasions (e.g., when performance goes awry for some reason) a form of ‘detached deliberative rationality’ may be used by experts to improve their performance. However, Dreyfus and Dreyfus (1986) see no role for calculative problem solving or deliberation (i.e., drawing on rules or mental representations) when performance is going well. In the current paper, we draw on empirical evidence, insights from athletes, and phenomenological description to argue that ‘continuous improvement’ (i.e., the phenomenon whereby certain skilled performers appear to be capable of increasing their proficiency even though they are already experts; Toner and Moran 2014) among experts is mediated by cognitive (or executive) control in three distinct sporting situations (i.e., in training, during pre-performance routines, and while engaged in on-line skill execution). We conclude by arguing that Sutton et al. Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology, 42, 78–103 (2011) ‘applying intelligence to the reflexes’ (AIR) approach may help to elucidate the process by which expert performers achieve continuous improvement through analytical/mindful behaviour during training and competition