Values Following a Major Terrorist Incident: Finnish Adolescent and Student Values Before and After September 11, 2001

The horrific terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, left an indelible mark on perceptions of security and threat across the world. This paper uses Schwartz’s (1992) value circumplex model to examine value change across matched high school and university student samples in Finland, questioned before and after the World Trade Center (WTC) and associated attacks. In Study 1 (N5419), security values of adolescents were higher the day following the WTC attacks than before, but fell back toward pre-attack levels in the subsequent two samples. In contrast, levels of stimulation were lower following the terrorist incidents. In Study 2 (N5222), security levels of students were also higher following the WTC attacks, but again were closer to pre-attack levels in a subsequent cohort

Executive Dismissal or Retention? A Study of Performance, Power, and Survival for College Basketball Coaches

This study applies upper echelons theory associated with executive dismissal and power to examine the relationships of performance and four types of executive power—structural, prestige, expert, and governance concentration—with dismissal. Using the context of National Collegiate Athletic Association college basketball, in which coaches are completely responsible for strategies and human capital acquisition and retention, a curvilinear relationship between performance and dismissal is found. Significant relationships for prestige and expert power with dismissal are also found, but the “honeymoon period” is longer than prior studies of executive and coach dismissal have shown. Surprisingly, concentrated governance is found to be negatively associated with the likelihood of dismissal

Suicide Fads: Frequency and Characteristics of Hydrogen Sulfide Suicides in the United States

Objective: To assess the frequency of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) suicides and describe the characteristics of victims in the United States (U.S.) since the technique became common in Japan in 2007.Methods: To ascertain the frequency of intentional H2S related deaths in the U.S. prior to the start of the Japanese trend in 2007, we searched the multiple-cause-of-death data from the National Vital Statistics System. To collect as much information about the victims as possible, we sent an email to the National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME) listserv asking for their cooperation in identifying cases of H2S suicide. To identify cases that were not voluntarily reported by medical examiners but were reported by the media, we conducted Google searches using the search terms: “hydrogen sulfide suicide,” “H2S suicide,” “detergent suicide,” “chemical suicide,” and “suicide fad.” We obtained all available autopsy reports and abstracted information, including the site of the incident, the presence of a note warning others about the toxic gas and the demographic characteristics of the victims. We contacted medical examiners who potentially had custody of the cases that were identified through media reports and requested autopsies of these victims. When unable to obtain the autopsies, we gathered information from the media reports.Results: Forty-five deaths from H2S exposure occurred in the U.S. from 1999 to 2007, all unintentional. Responses from the NAME listserv yielded autopsy reports for 11 victims, and Google searches revealed an additional 19 H2S suicides in the U.S. since 2008. Overall (n=30), two cases were identified during 2008, 10 in 2009, and 18 in 2010. The majority of victims were white males, less than 30-years-old, left a warning note, and were found in cars. There were five reports of injuries to first responders, but no secondary fatalities.Conclusion: H2S suicides are increasing in the U.S., and their incidence is probably underestimated by public health officials and physicians. First responders are at risk when assessing these victims due to the severe toxicity of the gas. Emergency providers must be aware of H2S suicides to educate others and care for the rare survivor. [West J Emerg Med. 2011;12(3):300-304.

Multi-scale continuum mechanics: from global bifurcations to noise induced high-dimensional chaos

Many mechanical systems consist of continuum mechanical structures, having either linear or nonlinear elasticity or geometry, coupled to nonlinear oscillators. In this paper, we consider the class of linear continua coupled to mechanical pendula. In such mechanical systems, there often exist several natural time scales determined by the physics of the problem. Using a time scale splitting, we analyze a prototypical structural–mechanical system consisting of a planar nonlinear pendulum coupled to a flexible rod made of linear viscoelastic material. In this system both low-dimensional and high-dimensional chaos is observed. The low-dimensional chaos appears in the limit of small coupling between the continua and oscillator, where the natural frequency of the primary mode of the rod is much greater than the natural frequency of the pendulum. In this case, the motion resides on a slow manifold. As the coupling is increased, global motion moves off of the slow manifold and high-dimensional chaos is observed. We present a numerical bifurcation analysis of the resulting system illustrating the mechanism for the onset of high-dimensional chaos. Constrained invariant sets are computed to reveal a process from low-dimensional to high-dimensional transitions. Applications will be to both deterministic and stochastic bifurcations. Practical implications of the bifurcation from low-dimensional to high-dimensional chaos for detection of damage as well as global effects of noise will also be discussed

Numerical Modeling of Transport Properties and Comparison to Laboratory Measurements

Transport properties, such as permeability and electrical conductivity, are important in many geophysical and petroleum applications. The microstructure of a porous medium and physical characteristics of the solid and the fluids that occupy the pore space determine the macroscopic transport properties of the medium. The computation of macroscopic properties from the rock microtomography is becoming an increasingly studied topic. The transport properties are especially difficult to determine at the microscopic scale. The purpose of this paper is to test the applicabilities to numerically calculate the geometrical and transport properties (electrical conductivity, permeability, specific surface area and surface conductivity) of porous, permeable rocks, given the digital CT microtomography images. To better address the relationship between geometrical properties and transport properties, we use a number of artificial low, medium- to high-porosity Finney’s (1970) sphere packs. Numerically calculated transport properties are compared with analytical and empirical equations on the Finney pack. In particular, numerically computed permeability on the Finney pack agrees well with the permeability calculated from the computed formation factor using an empirical relationship on the same structure. This illustrates the consistence of resolving different transport properties on the same structure and the possibility of multiphysics coupling in the future. We also apply all the numerical simulations on the 3D X-ray microtomography of 23.6% porosity Berea Sandstone with 2.8 micron resolution. Numerical calculations of electrical conductivity, permeability and specific surface area on mm[superscript 3] image will be compared to the laboratory measurements with those parameters on cm[superscript 3] core samples. The upscaling issue will be discussed when we compare the numerical results with laboratory measurements at a different scale. We also analyze the image resolution impact on different properties to better understand the discrepancy between numerical computations and laboratory measurements. This paper provides a complete work on the numerical simulations on different physics at different scales. Numerical calculations are compared with analytic, empirical rock physics equations and laboratory measurements.Schlumberger Limite

Stochastic bifurcation in a driven laser system: Experiment and theory

We analyze the effects of stochastic perturbations in a physical example occurring as a higher-dimensional dynamical system. The physical model is that of a class-B laser, which is perturbed stochastically with finite noise. The effect of the noise perturbations on the dynamics is shown to change the qualitative nature of the dynamics experimentally from a stochastic periodic attractor to one of chaoslike behavior, or noise-induced chaos. To analyze the qualitative change, we apply the technique of the stochastic Frobenius-Perron operator [L. Billings et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 234101 (2002)] to a model of the experimental system. Our main result is the identification of a global mechanism to induce chaoslike behavior by adding stochastic perturbations in a realistic model system of an optics experiment. In quantifying the stochastic bifurcation, we have computed a transition matrix describing the probability of transport from one region of phase space to another, which approximates the stochastic Frobenius-Perron operator. This mechanism depends on both the standard deviation of the noise and the global topology of the system. Our result pinpoints regions of stochastic transport whereby topological deterministic dynamics subjected to sufficient noise results in noise-induced chaos in both theory and experiment

ΔSCOPE: A New Method to Quantify 3D Biological Structures and Identify Differences in Zebrafish Forebrain Development

Research in the life sciences has traditionally relied on the analysis of clear morphological phenotypes, which are often revealed using increasingly powerful microscopy techniques analyzed as maximum intensity projections (MIPs). However, as biology turns towards the analysis of more subtle phenotypes, MIPs and qualitative approaches are failing to adequately describe these phenotypes. To address these limitations and quantitatively analyze the three-dimensional (3D) spatial relationships of biological structures, we developed the computational method and program called ∆SCOPE (Changes in Spatial Cylindrical Coordinate Orientation using PCA Examination). Our approach uses the fluorescent signal distribution within a 3D data set and reorients the fluorescent signal to a relative biological reference structure. This approach enables quantification and statistical analysis of spatial relationships and signal density in 3D multichannel signals that are positioned around a well-defined structure contained in a reference channel. We validated the application of ∆SCOPE by analyzing normal axon and glial cell guidance in the zebrafish forebrain and by quantify- ing the commissural phenotypes associated with abnormal Slit guidance cue expression in the forebrain. Despite commissural phenotypes which display disruptions to the reference structure, ∆SCOPE was able to detect subtle, previously uncharacterized changes in zebrafish forebrain midline crossing axons and glia. This method has been developed as a user-friendly, open source program. We propose that ∆SCOPE is an innovative approach to advancing the state of image quantification in the field of high resolution microscopy, and that the techniques presented here are of broad applications to the life science field

Knot commensurability and the Berge conjecture

We investigate commensurability classes of hyperbolic knot complements in the generic case of knots without hidden symmetries. We show that such knot complements which are commensurable are cyclically commensurable, and that there are at most $3$ hyperbolic knot complements in a cyclic commensurability class. Moreover if two hyperbolic knots have cyclically commensurable complements, then they are fibered with the same genus and are chiral. A characterisation of cyclic commensurability classes of complements of periodic knots is also given. In the non-periodic case, we reduce the characterisation of cyclic commensurability classes to a generalization of the Berge conjecture.Comment: v3: This version is reorganized with minor errors fixed. Proposition 4.1, Corollary 4.2, and Proposition 5.8 were added. Question 7.2 was upgraded to Theorem 7.2. 30 pages, 1 figur

Cross-cultural evidence of value structures and priorities in childhood

We broaden the developmental focus of the theory of universals in basic human values (Schwartz, 1992) by presenting supportive evidence on children’s values from six countries: Germany, Italy, Poland, Bulgaria, the USA, and New Zealand. 3,088 7-11-year-old children completed the Picture-Based Value Survey for Children (PBVS-C, Döring et al., 2010). Grade 5 children also completed the Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ, Schwartz, 2003). Findings reveal that the broad value structures, sex-differences in value priorities, and pan-cultural value hierarchies typical of adults have already taken form at this early age. We discuss the conceptual implications of these findings for the new field of children’s basic values by embedding them in the recent developmental literature