Bringing Students with Low Agreeableness to Attend Collegiate Sports: A Moderated Mediation Model with Team Identification and Student Involvement

In a college athletics setting, we investigated a moderated mediation model of the effect of team identification on attendance intention where student involvement was the mediator and agreeableness was the moderator. Results showed that student involvement mediated the relationship between team identification and attendance intention, and agreeableness moderated the effect of student involvement on attendance intention. In particular, the interaction effect by agreeableness indicated how less agreeable students would be more willing to attend games when they are more involved in campus activities. Details of this study, including theoretical and practical implications, research limitations, and future directions, are discussed

High-precision THz Dielectric Spectroscopy of Tris-HCl Buffer

Tris-HCl buffer solution is extensively used in biochemistry and molecular biology to maintain a stablepH for biomolecules such as nucleic acids and proteins. Here we report on the high-precision THz dielectricspectroscopy of a 10 mM Tris-HCl buffer. Using a double Debye model, including conductivity of ionicspecies, we measured the complex dielectric functions of Tris-HCl buffer. The fast relaxation time of watermolecules in Tris-HCl buffer is ~20% longer than that in pure water while the slow relaxation time changeslittle. This means that the reorientation dynamics of Tris-HCl buffer with such a low Tris concentrationis quite different from that of pure water.1111Ysciescopuskc

Combination of early rhythm control and healthy lifestyle on the risk of stroke in elderly patients with new-onset atrial fibrillation: a nationwide population-based cohort study

Background: The impact of early rhythm control (ERC) combined with healthy lifestyle (HLS) on the risk of ischemic stroke in elderly patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) remains unaddressed. Objective: To evaluate the impact of combined ERC and HLS on the risk of stroke in elderly patients with new-onset AF. Methods: Using the Korean National Health Insurance Service database, we included patients aged ≥75 years with new-onset AF from January 2009 to December 2016 (n = 41,315). Patients who received rhythm control therapy within 2 years of AF diagnosis were defined as the ERC group. Non-smoking, non-to-mild alcohol consumption (&lt;105 g/week), and regular exercise were defined as HLS. Subjects were categorized into four groups: group 1 (without ERC and HLS, n = 25,093), 2 (HLS alone, n = 8,351), 3 (ERC alone, n = 5,565), and 4 (both ERC and HLS, n = 2,306). We assessed the incidence of ischemic stroke as the primary outcome, along with admissions for heart failure, all-cause death, and the composite of ischemic stroke, admission for heart failure, and all-cause death. Results: Median follow-up duration of the study cohort was 3.4 years. After adjusting for multiple variables, groups 2 and 3 were associated with a lower stroke risk (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR]: 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.867, 0.794–0.948 and 0.713, 0.637–0.798, respectively) than that of group 1. Compared to Group 1, group 4 showed the lowest stroke risk (aHR: 0.694, 95% CI: 0.586–0.822) among all groups, followed by group 3 (0.713, 0.637–0.798) and group 2 (0.857, 0.794–0.948), respectively. Group 4 was associated with the lowest risk of all-cause death (aHR: 0.680, 95% CI: 0.613–0.754) and the composite outcome (aHR: 0.708, 95% CI: 0.649–0.772). Conclusion: ERC and HLS were associated with a lower risk of ischemic stroke in elderly patients with new-onset AF. Concurrently implementing ERC and maintaining HLS was associated with the lowest risk of death and the composite outcome, with a modest synergistic effect on stroke prevention.</p

Regularization of chaos by noise in electrically driven nanowire systems

The electrically driven nanowire systems are of great importance to nanoscience and engineering. Due to strong nonlinearity, chaos can arise, but in many applications it is desirable to suppress chaos. The intrinsically high-dimensional nature of the system prevents application of the conventional method of controlling chaos. Remarkably, we find that the phenomenon of coherence resonance, which has been well documented but for low-dimensional chaotic systems, can occur in the nanowire system that mathematically is described by two coupled nonlinear partial differential equations, subject to periodic driving and noise. Especially, we find that, when the nanowire is in either the weakly chaotic or the extensively chaotic regime, an optimal level of noise can significantly enhance the regularity of the oscillations. This result is robust because it holds regardless of whether noise is white or colored, and of whether the stochastic drivings in the two independent directions transverse to the nanowire are correlated or independent of each other. Noise can thus regularize chaotic oscillations through the mechanism of coherence resonance in the nanowire system. More generally, we posit that noise can provide a practical way to harness chaos in nanoscale systems.open

Electromagnet Weight Reduction in a Magnetic Levitation System for Contactless Delivery Applications

This paper presents an optimum design of a lightweight vehicle levitation electromagnet, which also provides a passive guide force in a magnetic levitation system for contactless delivery applications. The split alignment of C-shaped electromagnets about C-shaped rails has a bad effect on the lateral deviation force, therefore, no-split positioning of electromagnets is better for lateral performance. This is verified by simulations and experiments. This paper presents a statistically optimized design with a high number of the design variables to reduce the weight of the electromagnet under the constraint of normal force using response surface methodology (RSM) and the kriging interpolation method. 2D and 3D magnetostatic analysis of the electromagnet are performed using ANSYS. The most effective design variables are extracted by a Pareto chart. The most desirable set is determined and the influence of each design variable on the objective function can be obtained. The generalized reduced gradient (GRG) algorithm is adopted in the kriging model. This paper’s procedure is validated by a comparison between experimental and calculation results, which shows that the predicted performance of the electromagnet designed by RSM is in good agreement with the simulation results

Development of an Evaluation Methodology for Loss of Large Area induced from Extreme Events with malicious origin

Event of loss of large area (LOLA) induced from extreme external event at multi-units nuclear installation has been emerged a new challenges in the realm of nuclear safety and regulation after Fukushima Dai-Ichi accident. The relevant information and experience on evaluation methodology and regulatory requirements are rarely available and negative to share due to the security sensitivity. Most of countries has been prepared their own regulatory requirements and methodologies to evaluate impact of LOLA at nuclear power plant. In Korea, newly amended the Nuclear Safety Acts requires to assess LOLA in terms of EDMG (Extended Damage Mitigation Guideline). Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS) has performed a pilot research project to develop the methodology and regulatory review guidance on LOLA at multi-units nuclear power plant since 2014. Through this research, we proposed a methodology to identify the strategies for preventive and mitigation of the consequences of LOLA utilizing PSA techniques or its results. The proposed methodology is comprised of 8 steps including policy consideration, threat evaluation, identification of damage path sets, SSCs capacity evaluation and identification of mitigation measures and strategies. The consequence of LOLA due to malevolent aircraft crash may significantly susceptible with analysis assumptions including type of aircraft, amount of residual fuel, and hittable angle and so on, which cannot be shared overtly. This paper introduces a evaluation methodology for LOLA using PSA technique and its results. Also we provide a case study to evaluate hittable access angle using flight simulator for two types of aircrafts and to identify potential path sets leading to core damage by affected SSCs within damaged area

Clustering of Unhealthy Lifestyle and the Risk of Adverse Events in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation

BACKGROUND: Little is known regarding the risk of clinical outcomes depending on the clustering of lifestyle behaviors after atrial fibrillation (AF) diagnosis. This study evaluated the association between a cluster of healthy lifestyle behaviors and the risk of adverse outcomes in patients with AF. METHODS: Using the Korean National Insurance Service database, patients who were newly diagnosed with AF between 2009 and 2016 were included. A healthy lifestyle behavior score (HLS) was calculated by assigning 1 point each for non-current smoking, for non-drinking, and for performing regular exercise from the self-reported questionnaire in health examinations. The primary outcome was defined as major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE), including ischemic stroke, myocardial infarction, and hospitalization for heart failure. RESULTS: A total of 208,662 patients were included; 7.1% in HLS 0, 22.7% in HLS 1, 58.6% in HLS 2, and 11.6% in HLS 3 groups. Patients with HLS 1, 2, and 3 were associated with a lower risk of MACE than those with HLS 0 (adjusted hazard ratio [95% confidence interval (CI)]: 0.788 [0.762–0.855], 0.654 [0.604–0.708], and 0.579 [0.527–0.636], respectively). After propensity score weighting, consistent results were observed. The risk reduction of healthy lifestyle combinations was consistently observed in various subgroups, regardless of the CHA(2)DS(2)-VASc score and oral anticoagulant use. CONCLUSION: Increased number of healthy lifestyle behaviors was significantly associated with lower MACE risk in patients with new-onset AF. These findings support the promotion of a healthy lifestyle to reduce the risk of adverse events in patients with AF