Improvement of the 3ω\omega thermal conductivity measurement technique at nanoscale

The reduction of the thermal conductivity in nanostructures opens up the possibility of exploiting for thermoelectric purposes also materials such as silicon, which are cheap, available and sustainable but with a high thermal conductivity in their bulk form. The development of thermoelectric devices based on these innovative materials requires reliable techniques for the measurement of thermal conductivity on a nanometric scale. The approximations introduced by conventional techniques for thermal conductivity measurements can lead to unreliable results when applied to nanostructures, because heaters and temperature sensors needed for the measurement cannot have a negligible size, and therefore perturb the result. In this paper we focus on the 3$\omega$ technique, applied to the thermal conductivity measurement of suspended silicon nanomembranes. To overcome the approximations introduced by conventional analytical models used for the interpretation of the 3$\omega$ data, we propose to use a numerical solution, performed by means of finite element modeling, of the thermal and electrical transport equations. An excellent fit of the experimental data will be presented, discussed, and compared with an analytical model

DATA ON ARTS ORGANIZATIONS: A REVIEW AND NEEDS ASSESSMENT, WITH DESIGN IMPLICATIONS

This project describes the data resources on arts organizations that are currently available to inform the efforts of policy makers, arts managers, and researchers working in the arts field. It assesses the adequacy of different data sources for identifying the population of arts and cultural organizations in a community. The report is based on a review of more than a dozen sources of information about arts and cultural organizations, interviews with researchers and data specialists, and an empirical study of arts organizations in three metropolitan areas - Philadelphia, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Minneapolis-St. Paul. The report concludes with recommendations for improving data quality and for establishing an ongoing national database on the arts sector.

Skilling seniors in computers: Community training responses to the digital divide

As computers pervade further the lives of older adults the need for relevant affordable training grows. Older adults, not through frailty or age but because accessing training can be difficult, do experience the digital divide sharply. The intent of this paper is to suggest successful ways of teaching computers through the discussion of a case study of Skylarkers 60 and Better Program and a longitudinal study conducted there. Centre managers can benefit from knowing the types of teaching methods that may make their computer training beneficial and useful to older adults

Effects of Salinity on Reproduction and Survival of the Calanoid Copepod Pseudodiaptomus Pelagicus

Four experiments were conducted on the calanoid copepod, Pseudodiaptomus pelagicus, to determine the effects of salinity on survival, development time, reproductive output, and population growth in order to define the optimal salinity for culture. To determine the appropriate experimental salinity range we exposed nauplii and adults to abrupt salinity changes from 35 g/L to 5, 10, 15, 35, 42, and 48 g/L at 30 °C and determined survival after 24 hours. The second experiment stocked early stage nauplii into 1 L beakers after which they were cultured using standard procedures for 10 days at six salinities (10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 g/L); from this survival, sex ratio, time to maturation, and fecundity were measured. The third experiment evaluated the effects of salinity on brood size, brood interval, and nauplii production by stocking individual adult pairs and monitoring nauplii production daily for 10 days. The fourth experiment determined the effects of salinity on population growth and composition of the population produced by stocking 10 adult pairs and culturing them until five days after the first mature adults were observed. Results from the abrupt salinity change experiment showed nauplii survival decreased following abrupt changes in salinity from 35 g/L to \u3c 15 g/L and \u3e 35 g/L. Additionally, adults do not tolerate rapid changes in salinity from 35 g/L to \u3c 15 g/L but are rather tolerant of changes in salinity up to 48 g/L. Survival from early nauplii to adult was not significantly affected by salinity but survival declined at 35 g/L. Time to first maturation and maturation of the entire population was significantly influenced by salinity and took from 6.3 to 9.5 days. In the individual paired adults experiment, salinity significantly affected nauplii production by affecting brood interval and brood size. The percentage of ovigerous females peaked at 20 g/L and declined at salinities above and below this value. When developing production objectives, aquaculturists must consider salinity because of its numerous effects on the culture of P. pelagicus. The optimal salinity range to achieve high survival and the greatest nauplii production is 15–25 g/L

An Agent-Based Model of Collective Emotions in Online Communities

We develop a agent-based framework to model the emergence of collective emotions, which is applied to online communities. Agents individual emotions are described by their valence and arousal. Using the concept of Brownian agents, these variables change according to a stochastic dynamics, which also considers the feedback from online communication. Agents generate emotional information, which is stored and distributed in a field modeling the online medium. This field affects the emotional states of agents in a non-linear manner. We derive conditions for the emergence of collective emotions, observable in a bimodal valence distribution. Dependent on a saturated or a superlinear feedback between the information field and the agent's arousal, we further identify scenarios where collective emotions only appear once or in a repeated manner. The analytical results are illustrated by agent-based computer simulations. Our framework provides testable hypotheses about the emergence of collective emotions, which can be verified by data from online communities.Comment: European Physical Journal B (in press), version 2 with extended introduction, clarification

Empathic and cognitive processing in people with schizophrenia: a study on an Italian sample

The aim of this study was to explore the relationships among empathy processes in terms of self-report empathy evaluation and recognition of emotional cues and Theory of Mind components. We used the Empathy Quotient – short form (EQ-s), the Pictures of Facial Affect (POFA) system, a (ToM) Irony appreciation task and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), respectively. The Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale (PANSS) and Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) were also used to investigate the relationship with symptomatology and functioning. The sample consisted of 30 participants with diagnosis of schizophrenia. Our results found no significant correlations between EQ-s and other cognitive or clinical variables. PoFA total score and recognition of fear correlated with time spent to give a correct response to the ToM irony comprehension. Time spent to correctly respond to both ToM and physical vignettes correlated with negative symptoms. Positive, negative and cognitive clusters of the PANSS correlated with the GAF. The relationships we found among the considered constructs suggest that empathic processing acts on functionality improving the personal efficiency, in terms of readiness and rapidity, to cope with one’s environment, in the multifaceted social setting. Given that emotion perception in particular has been connected to social competence, independent living and community functioning, it is conceivable that emotion processing may be a potential catalyst within the mindreading process, which can have an impact both on symptomatology and social functioning

With a little help from my friends: An analysis of the role of social support in digital inequalities

This article reports an empirical study on the composition and socio-economic background of social support networks and their moderating role in explaining digital inequalities. It conceptually draws upon and empirically reaffirms Van Dijk’s multiple access model, acknowledging motivational, material, skill and usage divides, while focussing on the under-researched issue of social support as indispensible source of social learning. Besides a small group of self-reliants, the results indicate a pattern of relatively socially disadvantaged domestic support receivers, characterized by lower digital resources. A second social support pattern points to a relatively socially advantaged non-domestic support receivers (i.e. friends/colleagues), high in digital resources. Drawing upon the concept of homophily in social networks, the results indicate a link between offline and online exclusion, perpetuating digital inequalities

Metacognition Is Necessary for the Emergence of Motivation in People With Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders: A Necessary Condition Analysis

Metacognition deficits are a putative cause of reduced motivation in people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. However, it is unclear whether certain levels of metacognition are necessary for motivation to emerge. This study used a Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA) to test whether metacognition was necessary for the presence of motivation and to identify the minimum level of metacognition necessary for high motivation to be possible in people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (N=175). Participants completed clinician-rated measures of metacognition and motivation. NCA revealed that metacognition is a necessary condition for motivation and that high levels of motivation were only possible, although not guaranteed, when at least a basic level of metacognition was present. Findings suggest that metacognition is a necessary building block for the development of motivation. Results suggest that targeting metacognition may be essential for improving motivation among people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders who do not meet this metacognition threshold

Entrepreneurial sons, patriarchy and the Colonels' experiment in Thessaly, rural Greece

Existing studies within the field of institutional entrepreneurship explore how entrepreneurs influence change in economic institutions. This paper turns the attention of scholarly inquiry on the antecedents of deinstitutionalization and more specifically, the influence of entrepreneurship in shaping social institutions such as patriarchy. The paper draws from the findings of ethnographic work in two Greek lowland village communities during the military Dictatorship (1967–1974). Paradoxically this era associated with the spread of mechanization, cheap credit, revaluation of labour and clear means-ends relations, signalled entrepreneurial sons’ individuated dissent and activism who were now able to question the Patriarch’s authority, recognize opportunities and act as unintentional agents of deinstitutionalization. A ‘different’ model of institutional change is presented here, where politics intersects with entrepreneurs, in changing social institutions. This model discusses the external drivers of institutional atrophy and how handling dissensus (and its varieties over historical time) is instrumental in enabling institutional entrepreneurship

Motivations for innovation in the built environment: new directions for research

Innovation in the built environment involves multiple actors with diverse motivations. Policy-makers find it difficult to promote changes that require cooperation from these numerous and dispersed actors and to align their sometimes divergent interests. Established research traditions on the economics and management of innovation pay only limited attention to stakeholder choices, engagement and motivation. This paper reviews the insights that emerge as research in these traditions comes into contact with work on innovation from sociological and political perspectives. It contributes by highlighting growing areas of research on user involvement in complex innovation, collective action, distributed innovation and transition management. To differing extents, these provide approaches to incorporate the motivations of different actors into theoretical understanding. These indicate new directions for research that promise to enrich understanding of innovation