Direct measurement of molecular stiffness and damping in confined water layers

We present {\em direct} and {\em linear} measurements of the normal stiffness and damping of a confined, few molecule thick water layer. The measurements were obtained by use of a small amplitude (0.36 $\textrm{\AA}$), off-resonance Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) technique. We measured stiffness and damping oscillations revealing up to 7 layers separated by 2.56 $\pm$ 0.20 $\textrm{\AA}$. Relaxation times could also be calculated and were found to indicate a significant slow-down of the dynamics of the system as the confining separation was reduced. We found that the dynamics of the system is determined not only by the interfacial pressure, but more significantly by solvation effects which depend on the exact separation of tip and surface. Thus ` solidification\rq seems to not be merely a result of pressure and confinement, but depends strongly on how commensurate the confining cavity is with the molecule size. We were able to model the results by starting from the simple assumption that the relaxation time depends linearly on the film stiffness.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, will be submitted to PR

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia in Alcohol‐Dependent Veterans: A Randomized, Controlled Pilot Study

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149521/1/acer14030.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149521/2/acer14030-sup-0001-FigS1-S3.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149521/3/acer14030_am.pd

Searching for gravitational waves from known pulsars

We present upper limits on the amplitude of gravitational waves from 28 isolated pulsars using data from the second science run of LIGO. The results are also expressed as a constraint on the pulsars' equatorial ellipticities. We discuss a new way of presenting such ellipticity upper limits that takes account of the uncertainties of the pulsar moment of inertia. We also extend our previous method to search for known pulsars in binary systems, of which there are about 80 in the sensitive frequency range of LIGO and GEO 600.Comment: Accepted by CQG for the proceeding of GWDAW9, 7 pages, 2 figure

Crime, bandits, and community: how public panic shaped the social control of territory in the Ottoman Empire

This study explores the role of crime, bandits, and public panic in in the nineteenth century Ottoman society by using archival documents and employing a comparative perspective. In addition to the social bandit concept of Eric Hobsbawm, there is an introduction of two new banditry forms in this study—opportunist bandits and imagined bandits. The comparison of different bandit forms clarifies that social bandits and opportunist bandits aggravated public panic and produced imagined bandits. Hence, public panic and the dissent of local people unveiled through rumors about the imagined bandits. The exploration of different forms of bandits in the Ottoman Empire is a response to the vexed issue concerning the challenges in the social control of territories in a multiethnic and multi-religious empire. This study provides new conceptual tools to rethink about the spatial dimensions in the emergence of bandits. This article shows that spatial factors in the social control of territory can be influenced by the reaction of local people from bottom-to-top and, in doing so, can determine the response of state authority. The present study, therefore, unveils the power relationship in the social control of territory whether it is manifested by physical force or public panic.N/

Stiffening Effect of Bolt-On Transducers on Strain Measurements

The strain of a structural element is often measured indirectly by determining the strain of a transducer that is supposed to follow the deformation of the element perfectly, and with negligible interaction, around the mounting point. However, this assumption is not always true, and depends on the stiffness of the transducer relative to the local stiffness of the piece to which it is attached. This paper deals with the problem of evaluating the influence that a relatively rigid transducer (the HBM SLB-700A was chosen as an example) has on the strain field, studied from both the theoretical and the experimental points of view. The findings of the research have shown that, in order to interpret the measurements obtained from this kind of instruments correctly, the perturbation induced on the strain field cannot be disregarded. A corrective factor, obtained numerically by means of the FEM and discussed in the paper, can be used as a first approximation to evaluate the true strain, stress and forces in common structural steel element

Search for Gravitational Waves from Primordial Black Hole Binary Coalescences in the Galactic Halo

We use data from the second science run of the LIGO gravitational-wave detectors to search for the gravitational waves from primordial black hole (PBH) binary coalescence with component masses in the range 0.2--$1.0 M_\odot$. The analysis requires a signal to be found in the data from both LIGO observatories, according to a set of coincidence criteria. No inspiral signals were found. Assuming a spherical halo with core radius 5 kpc extending to 50 kpc containing non-spinning black holes with masses in the range 0.2--$1.0 M_\odot$, we place an observational upper limit on the rate of PBH coalescence of 63 per year per Milky Way halo (MWH) with 90% confidence.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, to be submitted to Phys. Rev.

A Broadly Implementable Research Course in Phage Discovery and Genomics for First-Year Undergraduate Students

Engaging large numbers of undergraduates in authentic scientific discovery is desirable but difficult to achieve. We have developed a general model in which faculty and teaching assistants from diverse academic institutions are trained to teach a research course for first-year undergraduate students focused on bacteriophage discovery and genomics. The course is situated within a broader scientific context aimed at understanding viral diversity, such that faculty and students are collaborators with established researchers in the field. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Science Education Alliance Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science (SEA-PHAGES) course has been widely implemented and has been taken by over 4,800 students at 73 institutions. We show here that this alliance-sourced model not only substantially advances the field of phage genomics but also stimulates students’ interest in science, positively influences academic achievement, and enhances persistence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Broad application of this model by integrating other research areas with large numbers of early-career undergraduate students has the potential to be transformative in science education and research training