Perceptual Distortions

This research project attempts to quantify the subjective quality of color vision that artists like Josef Albers have explored through their art. It is widely understood by artists and scientists that the appearance of a surface color is affected by its context. However, there are many questions yet to be answered about the specific spatial relationships between colors. This experiment uses an achromatic adjustment task to compare the context effect of colors inside and outside of a grid containing a test square. The results show that the color inside the grid has a greater affect on the appearance of the test square than the color outside the grid. This result was found across observers without exception. The idea that colors affect each other more when placed closer together may seem intuitive, but our results serve to confirm this assumption and to set the groundwork for further studies to develop a general theory of color interaction

Characterization of Piedmont Residual Soil and Saprolite in Maryland

Residual soils in the Eastern Piedmont Physiographic province are difficult to characterize because of the unique mineralogy and development of the soils. They are derived in place by weathering of the underlying gneiss and schist bedrock, and are characterized by a gradual transition from soil to decomposed-rock to rock with no clear demarcation between the strata. The soils generally consist of low plasticity micaceous clayey silts, sandy silts and silty sands. It is often difficult to obtain undisturbed samples of these soils and Intermediate Geo-Materials, so most shear strength and compressibility properties are derived from experience or correlations with index parameters such as the SPT N-value and Atterberg limits. For the State of Maryland’s Intercounty Connector (ICC) Project, the General Engineering Consultant (GEC), Intercounty Connector Corridor Partners (ICCCP) Joint Venture working directly for the Maryland State Highway Administration (MSHA), performed a Preliminary Geotechnical Subsurface Exploration (PGSE) during the procurement phase so that the Design-Build (DB) teams would develop preliminary designs on which to base their technical and price proposals. As part of the PGSE performed by the GEC for Contract A of the ICC, several undisturbed samples were obtained so that the shear strength parameters could be determined on relatively undisturbed samples. An attempt was made to correlate the SPT N-values and laboratory testing with seismic refraction geophysical exploration to estimate engineering parameters for design of cut slopes, shrink/swell, a cut/cover tunnel, and several bridges for the three general strata. Not only were undisturbed samples tested to determine the shear strength parameters, remolded samples, compacted to 95% of the modified Proctor maximum dry density, were also tested to determine the remolded shear strength parameters for embankment construction

Creating Intentional Paths to Citizenship: An Analysis of Participation in Student Organizations

This study examines undergraduate students’ that graduated from a Midwestern university in May 2013 through December 2015 and their perception of their development of core competencies identified by Bok (2006), related to their participation in student organizations. The results indicated that students who participate in student organizations are significantly more likely to develop citizenship and other related skills and abilities. Furthermore, their degree of involvement, measured by the number of organizations they participate in, their level of involvement and the role students have within the organization can impact their development of competencies.

Tied-Back Top-Down Wall to Support I-295 Ramp

Woodrow Wilson Replacement Bridge Project included widening the Washington Beltway (I-95/I-495) Outer Loop from three lanes to six-lanes. This required supporting two existing ramps that connect I-295 and MD 210 as well as the existing Mechanically Stabilized Earth (MSE) wall that supports the ramps. The MSE is about 17-ft tall, about 570-ft long, and at the top of a slope. A tied-back soldier pile and lagging wall with cast-in-place facing was selected to support the MSE and the ramps. The new wall will be about 1,376-ft long and will be as high as 37-ft. The closest approach of the wall to the existing MSE is about 3-ft. Laboratory testing was supplemented with Dilatometer Test (DMT) and Cone Penetration Test (CPT) soundings. PYWall and PLAXIS were used to estimate wall deflections and bending moments in the soldier piles. This paper reviews the analysis techniques, describes the design and the construction methods, and the instrumentation used to monitor the wall and MSE movements. The results of the computer simulations were compared to the inclinometer results. As work progressed simulations were updated by modifying the soil parameters to obtain calculated results that are more nearly consistent with the instrumentation readings

Spontaneous self-affirmation is associated with psychological well-being: evidence from a US national adult survey sample

Emerging evidence suggests that individuals spontaneously self-affirm, by reflecting on values and strengths, in response to daily threats. We examined the prevalence and demographic and well-being correlates of spontaneous self-affirmation in the general population. Participants (n = 3185) completed the cross-sectional, nationally representative 2013 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS 4, Cycle 3), and answered questions about spontaneous self-affirmation, demographic factors, well-being, and affect. The majority of the population reported spontaneously self-affirming. Black and Hispanic respondents reported engaging in more spontaneous self-affirmation. Engaging in spontaneous self-affirmation was related to greater happiness, hopefulness, optimism, subjective health, and personal health efficacy, and less anger and sadness

The Built Environment

The built environment, which includes not only buildings but infrastructure, mediates several important climate impacts on public health and is also subject to diverse legal requirements. It is a subject of particular focus for policy efforts aimed at promoting adaptive responses to climate change on the part of institutions and individuals. This chapter presents key examples of public health impacts that arise from climate change but are mediated—possibly mitigated, possibly exacerbated—by elements of the built environment. It also describes the process and substance of adaptive responses to those impacts. Having presented these physical and policy contexts in its first Section, this chapter’s second Section considers the role the law could play as individuals, organizations, and localities react to climate-driven harms and seek to adapt

Sequential conformational rearrangements in flavivirus membrane fusion

The West Nile Virus (WNV) envelope protein, E, promotes membrane fusion during viral cell entry by undergoing a low-pH triggered conformational reorganization. We have examined the mechanism of WNV fusion and sought evidence for potential intermediates during the conformational transition by following hemifusion of WNV virus-like particles (VLPs) in a single particle format. We have introduced specific mutations into E, to relate their influence on fusion kinetics to structural features of the protein. At the level of individual E subunits, trimer formation and membrane engagement of the threefold clustered fusion loops are rate-limiting. Hemifusion requires at least two adjacent trimers. Simulation of the kinetics indicates that availability of competent monomers within the contact zone between virus and target membrane makes trimerization a bottleneck in hemifusion. We discuss the implications of the model we have derived for mechanisms of membrane fusion in other contexts. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.04389.00

Smoke-free air laws and quit attempts: evidence for a moderating role of spontaneous self-affirmation

Background: In addition to their primary goal of protecting nonsmokers from secondhand smoke, smoke-free air laws may also encourage intentions to quit smoking, quit attempts, and cessation among smokers. However, laws may not encourage quitting if smokers feel threatened by them and react defensively. Objective: This study examined whether spontaneous self-affirmation - the extent to which people think about their values or strengths when they feel threatened - may reduce smokers' reactance to smoke-free laws, enhancing the ability of the laws to encourage quitting. Method: We linked state-level information on the comprehensiveness of U.S. smoke-free laws (compiled in January, 2013 by the American Lung Association) with data from a U.S. health survey (Health Information National Trends Survey) collected from September-December, 2013 (N = 345 current smokers; 587 former smokers). Results: Smoke-free laws interacted with self-affirmation to predict quit attempts in the past year and intentions to quit in the next six months: Smokers higher in self-affirmation reported more quit attempts and quit intentions if they lived in states with more comprehensive smoke-free laws. There was some evidence of a "boomerang" effect (i.e., less likelihood of making a quit attempt) among smokers low in self-affirmation if living in states with more comprehensive smoke-free laws, but this effect was significant only among smokers extremely low in self-affirmation. For quit intentions, there was no evidence for a boomerang effect of smoke-free laws even among smokers extremely low in self-affirmation. More comprehensive smoke-free laws were not associated with smoking status (former vs. current smoker) or average amount smoked per day, nor did they interact with self-affirmation to predict these outcomes. Conclusions: The impact of smoke-free policies on quit attempts and quit intentions may be moderated by psychological characteristics such as the tendency to spontaneously self-affirm. Follow-ups should experimentally manipulate self-affirmation and examine effects of smoke-free laws in controlled contexts

Target gene selectivity of the myogenic basic helix–loop–helix transcription factor myogenin in embryonic muscle

AbstractThe myogenic regulatory factors MyoD and myogenin are crucial for skeletal muscle development. Despite their importance, the mechanisms by which these factors selectively regulate different target genes are unclear. The purpose of the present investigation was to compare embryonic skeletal muscle from myogenin+/+ and myogenin−/− mice to identify genes whose expression was dependent on the presence of myogenin but not MyoD and to determine whether myogenin-binding sites could be found within regulatory regions of myogenin-dependent genes independent of MyoD. We identified a set of 140 muscle-expressed genes whose expression in embryonic tongue muscle of myogenin−/− mice was downregulated in the absence of myogenin, but in the presence of MyoD. Myogenin bound within conserved regulatory regions of several of the downregulated genes, but MyoD bound only to a subset of these same regions, suggesting that many downregulated genes were selective targets of myogenin. The regulatory regions activated gene expression in cultured myoblasts and fibroblasts overexpressing myogenin or MyoD, indicating that expression from exogenously introduced DNA could not recapitulate the selectivity for myogenin observed in vivo. The results identify new target genes for myogenin and show that myogenin's target gene selectivity is not based solely on binding site sequences

Evaluation of three lidar scanning strategies for turbulence measurements

Several errors occur when a traditional Doppler beam swinging (DBS) or velocity–azimuth display (VAD) strategy is used to measure turbulence with a lidar. To mitigate some of these errors, a scanning strategy was recently developed which employs six beam positions to independently estimate the <i>u</i>, <i>v</i>, and <i>w</i> velocity variances and covariances. In order to assess the ability of these different scanning techniques to measure turbulence, a Halo scanning lidar, WindCube v2 pulsed lidar, and ZephIR continuous wave lidar were deployed at field sites in Oklahoma and Colorado with collocated sonic anemometers.</br></br>Results indicate that the six-beam strategy mitigates some of the errors caused by VAD and DBS scans, but the strategy is strongly affected by errors in the variance measured at the different beam positions. The ZephIR and WindCube lidars overestimated horizontal variance values by over 60 % under unstable conditions as a result of variance contamination, where additional variance components contaminate the true value of the variance. A correction method was developed for the WindCube lidar that uses variance calculated from the vertical beam position to reduce variance contamination in the <i>u</i> and <i>v</i> variance components. The correction method reduced WindCube variance estimates by over 20 % at both the Oklahoma and Colorado sites under unstable conditions, when variance contamination is largest. This correction method can be easily applied to other lidars that contain a vertical beam position and is a promising method for accurately estimating turbulence with commercially available lidars