The Effects of Health-Promoting Signs Encouraging Stair Use in Parking Structures

This research study aims to promote physical activity by encouraging stair use rather than elevators using persuasive point-of-choice prompts. The current investigation is comprised of two sub-studies: pilot testing, which we have completed; and the main study, which will be conducted in the fall. While most studies in this area use observation to count pedestrian traffic, a novel component of the current research is that we will use a pressure mat to measure stair and elevator use. As such, before completing the main study, we completed two pilot studies to test the feasibility of the mat technology and the messaging of the persuasive prompts. We researched the type of mat that would be ideal for recording pedestrian traffic and considered features such as wired/wireless, battery-powered, open-switch, minimal threshold activation, and high-frequency recording. We completed various trials to determine the validity and accuracy of the mats in different settings and situations and the results of this analysis will be discussed. Additionally, the results from the survey conducted to evaluate potential messages on the point-of-choice prompts will also be detailed. Within this survey, message categories were narrowed to motivational/encouraging and nudging/humor messages. The survey was administered in Chapman University classes and students’ responses to several sample messages in each of these categories were compared via a series of six, semantic differential adjectives, rated on seven-point scales. Qualitative feedback on an open-ended question after each message was also solicited. The highest rated messages will be used in the main study. There are three key components to the main study, which we will complete in the fall: 1) objectively measure stair and elevator use for two weeks; 2) introduce point-of-choice prompts and measure stair and elevator use for two weeks; 3) remove signs and continue recording for an additional two weeks to observe potential effects

A new theoretical framework jointly explains behavioral and neural variability across subjects performing flexible decision-making

The ability to flexibly select and accumulate relevant information to form decisions, while ignoring irrelevant information, is a fundamental component of higher cognition. Yet its neural mechanisms remain unclear. Here we demonstrate that, under assumptions supported by both monkey and rat data, the space of possible network mechanisms to implement this ability is spanned by the combination of three different components, each with specific behavioral and anatomical implications. We further show that existing electrophysiological and modeling data are compatible with the full variety of possible combinations of these components, suggesting that different individuals could use different component combinations. To study variations across subjects, we developed a rat task requiring context-dependent evidence accumulation, and trained many subjects on it. Our task delivers sensory evidence through pulses that have random but precisely known timing, providing high statistical power to characterize each individual’s neural and behavioral responses. Consistent with theoretical predictions, neural and behavioral analysis revealed remarkable heterogeneity across rats, despite uniformly good task performance. The theory further predicts a specific link between behavioral and neural signatures, which was robustly supported in the data. Our results provide a new experimentally-supported theoretical framework to analyze biological and artificial systems performing flexible decision-making tasks, and open the door to the study of individual variability in neural computations underlying higher cognition

Numerical simulation of time delay interferometry for eLISA/NGO

eLISA/NGO is a new gravitational wave detection proposal with arm length of 10^6 km and one interferometer down-scaled from LISA. Just like LISA and ASTROD-GW, in order to attain the requisite sensitivity for eLISA/NGO, laser frequency noise must be suppressed to below the secondary noises such as the optical path noise, acceleration noise etc. In previous papers, we have performed the numerical simulation of the time delay interferometry (TDI) for LISA and ASTROD-GW with one arm dysfunctional by using the CGC 2.7 ephemeris. The results are well below their respective limits which the laser frequency noise is required to be suppressed. In this paper, we follow the same procedure to simulate the time delay interferometry numerically. To do this, we work out a set of 1000-day optimized mission orbits of the eLISA/NGO spacecraft starting at January 1st, 2021 using the CGC 2.7 ephemeris framework. We then use the numerical method to calculate the residual optical path differences in the second-generation TDI solutions as in our previous papers. The maximum path length difference, for all configurations calculated, is below 13 mm (43 ps). It is well below the limit which the laser frequency noise is required to be suppressed for eLISA/NGO. We compare and discuss the resulting differences due to the different arm lengths for various mission proposals -- eLISA/NGO, an NGO-LISA-type mission with a nominal arm length of 2 x 10^6 km, LISA and ASTROD-GW.Comment: 17 pages, 13 figures, 3 tables, minor changes in description to match the accepted version of Classical and Quantum Gravity. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1102.496

Dynamical Gauge Theory for the XY Gauge Glass Model

Dynamical systems of the gauge glass are investigated by the method of the gauge transformation.Both stochastic and deterministic dynamics are treated. Several exact relations are derived among dynamical quantities such as equilibrium and nonequilibrium auto-correlation functions, relaxation functions of order parameter and internal energy. They provide physical properties in terms of dynamics in the SG phase, a possible mixed phase and the Griffiths phase, the multicritical dynamics and the aging phenomenon. We also have a plausible argument for the absence of re-entrant transition in two or higher dimensions.Comment: 3 figure

Changes in synaptic transmission and protein expression in the brains of adult offspring after prenatal inhibition of the kynurenine pathway

During early brain development, N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors are involved in cell migration, neuritogenesis, axon guidance and synapse formation, but the mechanisms which regulate NMDA receptor density and function remain unclear. The kynurenine pathway of tryptophan metabolism includes an agonist (quinolinic acid) and an antagonist (kynurenic acid) at NMDA receptors and we have previously shown that inhibition of the pathway using the kynurenine-3-monoxygenase inhibitor Ro61-8048 in late gestation produces rapid changes in protein expression in the embryos and effects on synaptic transmission lasting until postnatal day 21 (P21). The present study sought to determine whether any of these effects are maintained into adulthood. After prenatal injections of Ro61-8048 the litter was allowed to develop to P60 when some offspring were euthanized and the brains removed for examination. Analysis of protein expression by Western blotting revealed significantly reduced expression of the GluN2A subunit (32%) and the morphogenetic protein sonic hedgehog (31%), with a 29% increase in the expression of doublecortin, a protein associated with neurogenesis. No changes were seen in mRNA abundance using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Neuronal excitability was normal in the CA1 region of hippocampal slices but paired-pulse stimulation revealed less inhibition at short interpulse intervals. The amount of long-term potentiation was decreased by 49% in treated pups and recovery after low-frequency stimulation was delayed. The results not only strengthen the view that basal, constitutive kynurenine metabolism is involved in normal brain development, but also show that changes induced prenatally can affect the brains of adult offspring and those changes are quite different from those seen previously at weaning (P21). Those changes may be mediated by altered expression of NMDAR subunits and sonic hedgehog

Gravitational Waves From Known Pulsars: Results From The Initial Detector Era

We present the results of searches for gravitational waves from a large selection of pulsars using data from the most recent science runs (S6, VSR2 and VSR4) of the initial generation of interferometric gravitational wave detectors LIGO (Laser Interferometric Gravitational-wave Observatory) and Virgo. We do not see evidence for gravitational wave emission from any of the targeted sources but produce upper limits on the emission amplitude. We highlight the results from seven young pulsars with large spin-down luminosities. We reach within a factor of five of the canonical spin-down limit for all seven of these, whilst for the Crab and Vela pulsars we further surpass their spin-down limits. We present new or updated limits for 172 other pulsars (including both young and millisecond pulsars). Now that the detectors are undergoing major upgrades, and, for completeness, we bring together all of the most up-to-date results from all pulsars searched for during the operations of the first-generation LIGO, Virgo and GEO600 detectors. This gives a total of 195 pulsars including the most recent results described in this paper.United States National Science FoundationScience and Technology Facilities Council of the United KingdomMax-Planck-SocietyState of Niedersachsen/GermanyAustralian Research CouncilInternational Science Linkages program of the Commonwealth of AustraliaCouncil of Scientific and Industrial Research of IndiaIstituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare of ItalySpanish Ministerio de Economia y CompetitividadConselleria d'Economia Hisenda i Innovacio of the Govern de les Illes BalearsNetherlands Organisation for Scientific ResearchPolish Ministry of Science and Higher EducationFOCUS Programme of Foundation for Polish ScienceRoyal SocietyScottish Funding CouncilScottish Universities Physics AllianceNational Aeronautics and Space AdministrationOTKA of HungaryLyon Institute of Origins (LIO)National Research Foundation of KoreaIndustry CanadaProvince of Ontario through the Ministry of Economic Development and InnovationNational Science and Engineering Research Council CanadaCarnegie TrustLeverhulme TrustDavid and Lucile Packard FoundationResearch CorporationAlfred P. Sloan FoundationAstronom

Impacts of the 2014-2015 Holuhraun eruption on the UK atmosphere

Volcanic emissions, specifically from Iceland, pose a pan-European risk and are on the UK National Risk Register due to potential impacts on aviation, public health, agriculture, the environment and the economy, both from effusive and explosive activity. During the 2014-2015 fissure eruption at Holuhraun in Iceland, the UK atmosphere was significantly perturbed. This study focuses one major incursion in September 2014, affecting the surface concentrations of both aerosols and gases across the UK, with sites in Scotland experiencing the highest sulfur dioxide (SO2) concentrations. The perturbation event observed was confirmed to originate from the fissure eruption using satellite data from GOME2B and the chemical transport model, EMEP4UK, which was used to establish the spatial distribution of the plume over the UK during the event of interest. At the two UK European Monitoring and Evaluation Program (EMEP) supersite observatories (Auchencorth Moss, SE Scotland and Harwell, SE England) significant alterations in sulfate (SO42-) content of PM10 and PM2.5 during this event, concurrently with evidence of an increase in ultrafine aerosol, most likely due to nucleation and growth of aerosol within the plume, were observed. At Auchencorth Moss, higher hydrochloric acid (HCl) concentrations during the September event (max = 1.21 µg m-3, c.f annual average 0.12 µg m-3 35 in 2013), were assessed to be due to acid displacement of chloride (Cl-) from sea salt (NaCl) to form HCl gas rather than due to primary emissions of HCl from Holuhraun. The gas and aerosol partioning at Auchencorth moss of inorganic species by thermodynamic modelling, confirmed the observed partioning of HCl. Using the data from the chemical thermodynamic model, ISORROPIA-II, there is evidence that the background aerosol, which is typically basic at this site, became acidic with an estimated pH of 3.8 during the peak of the event. Volcano plume episodes were periodically observed by the majority of the UK air quality monitoring networks during the first 4 months of the eruption (August – December 2014), at both hourly and monthly resolution. In the low resolution networks, which provide monthly SO2 averages, concentrations were found to be significantly elevated at remote “clean” sites in NE Scotland and SW England, with record high SO2 concentrations for some sites in September 2014. For sites which are regularly influenced by anthropogenic emissions, taking into account the underlying trends, the eruption led to statistically unremarkable SO2 concentrations (return probabilities >0.1, ~10 months). However for a few sites, SO2 concentrations were clearly much higher than has been previously observed (return probability 3000 months). The Holuhraun Icelandic eruption has resulted in a unique study providing direct evidence of atmospheric chemistry perturbation of both gases and aerosols in the UK background atmosphere. The measurements can be used to both challenge and verify existing atmospheric chemistry of volcano plumes, especially those originating from effusive eruptions, which have been under-explored, due to limited observations available in the literature. If all European data sets were collated this would allow improved model verification and risk assessments for future volcanic eruptions of this type