18-month-olds use different cues to categorize plants and artifacts

One key adaptive problem that humans had to solve was to identify safe plants while avoiding dangerous ones. The ability to reliably categorize plants was likely critical to accomplishing this task and avoid confusing non-toxic plants with similar-looking toxic ones. Here, we investigated which cues 18-month-old infants (Study 1, N = 40) from Germany, and adults (Study 2, N = 145) recruited online use to categorize plants and manmade artifacts. To this end, in Study 1, we presented infants with plants with different leaf shapes in brightly colored pots and feature-matched artifacts that had the same variation in shape and color as the plants. The results of the categorization task indicate that infants relied on variation in leaf shape to categorize plants more than they relied on similar variation in shape to categorize artifacts. In Study 2, using a modified version of the task from Study 1, we found that adults were less willing to categorize plants using features other than leaf shape, while they were more willing to do so for artifacts. We conclude that infants use different features to categorize plants and artifacts and that aspects of this categorization strategy persist into adulthood. The features infants use to categorize plants would have reliably differentiated between plant types over ancestral time and thus reliance on these features may be based on their conceptual relevance to plants

Physical properties of the planetary systems WASP-45 and WASP-46 from simultaneous multiband photometry

Accurate measurements of the physical characteristics of a large number of exoplanets are useful to strongly constrain theoretical models of planet formation and evolution, which lead to the large variety of exoplanets and planetary-system configurations that have been observed. We present a study of the planetary systems WASP-45 and WASP-46, both composed of a main-sequence star and a close-in hot Jupiter, based on 29 new high-quality light curves of transits events. In particular, one transit of WASP-45 b and four of WASP-46 b were simultaneously observed in four optical filters, while one transit of WASP-46 b was observed with the NTT obtaining a precision of 0.30 mmag with a cadence of roughly 3 min. We also obtained five new spectra of WASP-45 with the FEROS spectrograph. We improved by a factor of 4 the measurement of the radius of the planet WASP-45 b, and found that WASP-46 b is slightly less massive and smaller than previously reported. Both planets now have a more accurate measurement of the density (0.959 ± 0.077 ρ_(Jup) instead of 0.64 ± 0.30 ρ_(Jup) for WASP-45 b, and 1.103 ± 0.052 ρ_(Jup) instead of 0.94 ± 0.11 ρ_(Jup) for WASP-46 b). We tentatively detected radius variations with wavelength for both planets, in particular in the case of WASP-45 b we found a slightly larger absorption in the redder bands than in the bluer ones. No hints for the presence of an additional planetary companion in the two systems were found either from the photometric or radial velocity measurements

Estimation of Spin-Spin Interaction by Weak Measurement Scheme

Precisely knowing an interaction Hamiltonian is crucial to realize quantum information tasks, especially to experimentally demonstrate a quantum computer and a quantum memory. We propose a scheme to experimentally evaluate the spin-spin interaction for a two-qubit system by the weak measurement technique initiated by Yakir Aharonov and his colleagues. Furthermore, we numerically confirm our proposed scheme in a specific system of a nitrogen vacancy center in diamond. This means that the weak measurement can also be taken as a concrete example of the quantum process tomography.Comment: 4 pages, 1 table, 2 figures, to appear in Europhysics Letter

Interaction of quasilocal harmonic modes and boson peak in glasses

The direct proportionality relation between the boson peak maximum in glasses, $\omega_b$, and the Ioffe-Regel crossover frequency for phonons, $\omega_d$, is established. For several investigated materials $\omega_b = (1.5\pm 0.1)\omega_d$. At the frequency $\omega_d$ the mean free path of the phonons $l$ becomes equal to their wavelength because of strong resonant scattering on quasilocal harmonic oscillators. Above this frequency phonons cease to exist. We prove that the established correlation between $\omega_b$ and $\omega_d$ holds in the general case and is a direct consequence of bilinear coupling of quasilocal oscillators with the strain field.Comment: RevTex, 4 pages, 1 figur

The Paper Industry: Strategic Alliances, Joint Ventures, and Electronic Commerce Are Reshaping Our Business Models

J. Ben Reeves, MBA, is a wood and fiber procurement manager, Georgia-Pacific Corperation, Lynchburg, VA 24503. Deanna S. Stepp, MBA, CRP, is a marketing director, Lawrence Transportation, Roanoke, VA 24012. Lewis E. Wertz, Jr., MBA, MSCE, P.E., is an engineer-planner, R & K Engineering Inc., Roanoke, VA 24012. Dale A. Henderson, Ph.D., is assistant professor of management, Department of Management, Radford University, Radford, VA 24142

Development of high temperature refractory-based multi-principle-component alloys by thermodynamic calculations and rapid alloy prototyping

Recently, new refractory-based high entropy alloys (HEAs) have been investigated for potential use as high temperature structural alloys, and some alloys exhibit excellent high temperature strength and ductility. While the high entropy alloy community is generally concerned with obtaining single phase solid-solution phases, secondary strengthening phases are usually required to achieve an adequate balance of mechanical and physical properties for structural applications. This contribution will report on new Mo,Nb-based alloys that have been developed using HEA design guidelines, as well as new tools that enable thermodynamic property predictions and rapid alloy prototyping and assessment. An elemental palette of Mo-Nb-Hf-Ta-Ti-V-W-Zr was chosen in order to promote the formation of a single body-centered cubic (BCC) solid-solution phase upon solidification, which facilitates homogenization heat treatments. Al, Cr, and Si were also included to promote secondary phase formation. These 11 elements were then used to calculate the phases present and their reaction temperatures of 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-component alloy compositions from all of the available PandatTM databases. Mo and Nb were required to be present in each alloy composition in order to maintain modest alloy costs and densities. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Drying of Beulah-Zap Lignite

Lignite dried in a stream of dry nitrogen at moderate temperatures (20-80-degrees-C) loses water in two distinguishable modes. The first mode represents about 80-85% of the loss of moisture. The second represents the other 15-20% lost under these conditions. The rate follows a unimolecular mechanism (like radioactive decay) for each mode. The activation energy for the first mode is close to the heat of vaporization of water. The rate is dependent upon the gas flow around the sample and the weight (or thickness) of the sample. Work at Amoco Oil Company indicated that the oil yield was higher for the dried coal than for raw or partly dried lignite. Work at Southern Illinois University showed that the mechanism was the same when differential scanning calorimetry was used to follow the kinetics of drying. Other work at the University of Southern Mississippi showed that the physical structure of the lignite (measured by X-rav diffraction) is measurably different for the dried and raw materials

PIKES Analysis Reveals Response to Degraders and Key Regulatory Mechanisms of the CRL4 Network

Co-opting Cullin4 RING ubiquitin ligases (CRL4s) to inducibly degrade pathogenic proteins is emerging as a promising therapeutic strategy. Despite intense efforts to rationally design degrader molecules that co-opt CRL4s, much about the organization and regulation of these ligases remains elusive. Here, we establish protein interaction kinetics and estimation of stoichiometries (PIKES) analysis, a systematic proteomic profiling platform that integrates cellular engineering, affinity purification, chemical stabilization, and quantitative mass spectrometry to investigate the dynamics of interchangeable multiprotein complexes. Using PIKES, we show that ligase assemblies of Cullin4 with individual substrate receptors differ in abundance by up to 200-fold and that Cand1/2 act as substrate receptor exchange factors. Furthermore, degrader molecules can induce the assembly of their cognate CRL4, and higher expression of the associated substrate receptor enhances degrader potency. Beyond the CRL4 network, we show how PIKES can reveal systems level biochemistry for cellular protein networks important to drug development