Three reversible states controlled on a gold monoatomic contact by the electrochemical potential

Conductance of an Au mono atomic contact was investigated under the electrochemical potential control. The Au contact showed three different behaviors depending on the potential: 1 $G_{0}$ ($G_{0}$ = $2e^{2}/h$), 0.5 $G_{0}$ and not-well defined values below 1 $G_{0}$ were shown when the potential of the contact was kept at -0.6 V (double layer potential), -1.0 V (hydrogen evolution potential), and 0.8 V (oxide formation potential) versus Ag/AgCl in 0.1 M Na$_{2}$SO$_{4}$ solution, respectively. These three reversible states and their respective conductances could be fully controlled by the electrochemical potential. These changes in the conductance values are discussed based on the proposed structure models of hydrogen adsorbed and oxygen incorporated on an Au mono atomic contact.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, to be appeared in Physical Review

Adapting the Number of Questions Based on Detected Psychological Distress for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy With an Embodied Conversational Agent: Comparative Study

BackgroundThe high prevalence of mental illness is a critical social problem. The limited availability of mental health services is a major factor that exacerbates this problem. One solution is to deliver cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) using an embodied conversational agent (ECA). ECAs make it possible to provide health care without location or time constraints. One of the techniques used in CBT is Socratic questioning, which guides users to correct negative thoughts. The effectiveness of this approach depends on a therapist’s skill to adapt to the user’s mood or distress level. However, current ECAs do not possess this skill. Therefore, it is essential to implement this adaptation ability to the ECAs. ObjectiveThis study aims to develop and evaluate a method that automatically adapts the number of Socratic questions based on the level of detected psychological distress during a CBT session with an ECA. We hypothesize that this adaptive approach to selecting the number of questions will lower psychological distress, reduce negative emotional states, and produce more substantial cognitive changes compared with a random number of questions. MethodsIn this study, which envisions health care support in daily life, we recruited participants aged from 18 to 65 years for an experiment that involved 2 different conditions: an ECA that adapts a number of questions based on psychological distress detection or an ECA that only asked a random number of questions. The participants were assigned to 1 of the 2 conditions, experienced a single CBT session with an ECA, and completed questionnaires before and after the session. ResultsThe participants completed the experiment. There were slight differences in sex, age, and preexperimental psychological distress levels between the 2 conditions. The adapted number of questions condition showed significantly lower psychological distress than the random number of questions condition after the session. We also found a significant difference in the cognitive change when the number of questions was adapted based on the detected distress level, compared with when the number of questions was fewer than what was appropriate for the level of distress detected. ConclusionsThe results show that an ECA adapting the number of Socratic questions based on detected distress levels increases the effectiveness of CBT. Participants who received an adaptive number of questions experienced greater reductions in distress than those who received a random number of questions. In addition, the participants showed a greater amount of cognitive change when the number of questions matched the detected distress level. This suggests that adapting the question quantity based on distress level detection can improve the results of CBT delivered by an ECA. These results illustrate the advantages of ECAs, paving the way for mental health care that is more tailored and effective

Automatic Thoughts and Facial Expressions in Cognitive Restructuring With Virtual Agents

Cognitive restructuring is a well-established mental health technique for amending automatic thoughts, which are distorted and biased beliefs about a situation, into objective and balanced thoughts. Since virtual agents can be used anytime and anywhere, they are expected to perform cognitive restructuring without being influenced by medical infrastructure or patients' stigma toward mental illness. Unfortunately, since the quantitative analysis of human-agent interaction is still insufficient, the effect on the user's cognitive state remains unclear. We collected interaction data between virtual agents and users to observe the mood improvements associated with changes in automatic thoughts that occur in user cognition and addressed the following two points: (1) implementation of a virtual agent that helps a user identify and evaluate automatic thoughts; (2) identification of the relationship between a user's facial expressions and the extent of the mood improvement subjectively felt by users during the human-agent interaction. We focus on these points because cognitive restructuring by a human therapist starts by identifying automatic thoughts and seeking sufficient evidence to find balanced thoughts (evaluation of automatic thoughts). Therapists also use such non-verbal behaviors as facial expressions to detect changes in a user's mood, which is an important indicator for guidance. Based on the results of this analysis, we provide a technical guidance framework that fully automates the identification and evaluation of automatic thoughts to achieve a virtual agent that can interact with users by taking into account their verbal and non-verbal behaviors in face-to-face situations. This research supports the possibility of improving the effectiveness of mental health care in cognitive restructuring using virtual agents

Effectiveness and safety of adalimumab in Japanese patients with rheumatoid arthritis: retrospective analyses of data collected during the first year of adalimumab treatment in routine clinical practice (HARMONY study)

We retrospectively investigated the ability of adalimumab (ADA) to reduce disease activity, improve physical function, and retard the progression of structural damage in 167 patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Clinical and functional outcomes were compared between patients with or without prior biologic treatment and those with or without concomitant methotrexate (MTX) treatment. At week 52, 38.3% achieved clinical remission: 42.4 and 28.6% of patients achieved remission in those without and with previous biologics, respectively, while 42.7 and 12.5% of patients achieved remission in those with and without concomitant MTX, respectively. ADA treatment significantly reduced the rate of radiographic progression from 27.1 ± 46.0 (median 13.6; 25th–75th percentiles 8.3 to 28.9) at baseline to 0.8 ± 5.0 (median 0.0; 25th–75th percentiles −0.9 to 2.0) at week 52 (P < 0.0001). Radiographic progression was absent in 59.8% of patients. Sixty adverse events (34.21/100 patient-years) were reported, 16 of which were serious (9.12/100 patient-years). ADA therapy is highly effective for reducing disease activity, improving physical function, and limiting radiographic progression. It is generally safe and well tolerated by Japanese RA patients in routine clinical practice

Achievements of KEKB

The machine commissioning of KEKB started in December 1998 and its operation was terminated at the end of June 2010 to upgrade KEKB to SuperKEKB. In this paper, we summarize the history of KEKB and show the achievements made there

The International Linear Collider: Report to Snowmass 2021

The International Linear Collider (ILC) is on the table now as a new global energy-frontier accelerator laboratory taking data in the 2030s. The ILC addresses key questions for our current understanding of particle physics. It is based on a proven accelerator technology. Its experiments will challenge the Standard Model of particle physics and will provide a new window to look beyond it. This document brings the story of the ILC up to date, emphasizing its strong physics motivation, its readiness for construction, and the opportunity it presents to the US and the global particle physics community

The International Linear Collider: Report to Snowmass 2021

International audienceThe International Linear Collider (ILC) is on the table now as a new global energy-frontier accelerator laboratory taking data in the 2030s. The ILC addresses key questions for our current understanding of particle physics. It is based on a proven accelerator technology. Its experiments will challenge the Standard Model of particle physics and will provide a new window to look beyond it. This document brings the story of the ILC up to date, emphasizing its strong physics motivation, its readiness for construction, and the opportunity it presents to the US and the global particle physics community