In-kind and out-of-kind penalties: Preference and valuation.

Utilitarian and economic theories of deterrence hold that the relation of the penalty to the misdeed should be irrelevant. In 5 experiments using hypothetical cases, judgments of penalties depended on whether this relation was in kind (IK) or out of kind (OK). When victims were identifiable, IK penalties were higher than OK and preferred to OK. Subjects seemed to confuse penalties and compensation. When there were no identifiable victims (e.g., environmental damage), IK penalties were preferred, but OK penalties were higher. Here, OK judgments were more uncertain, and subjects preferred to err on the side of overpunishing. The results can be explained in terms of overgeneralization of usually useful heuristics. Alternative hypotheses concerning aggression and scale compatibility are rejected. The findings have implications for the setting of penalties in legal cases (e.g., the Exxon Valdez) and for lay theories of punishment in nonlegal settings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Surface energy-mediated fibronectin adsorption and osteoblast responses on nanostructured diamond

Nanostructured diamond have potential applications in many biomedical related fields and demonstrated extraordinary capacity to influence cellular responses. Studying the surface property of nanodiamond and its influence to protein adsorption and subsequent cellular responses along with the mechanism behind such capacity becomes more important. Here the role of surface energy associated with nanostructured diamond in modulating fibronectin and osteoblast(OB, bone forming cells) responses was investigated. Nanocrystalline diamond(NCD) and submicron crystalline diamond(SMCD) films with controllable surface energy were prepared by microwave-enhanced plasma chemical vapor deposition(MPCVD) techniques. Fibronectin adsorption on the diamond films with varied surface energy values was measured via the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) and the relationship between the surface energy and fibronectin adsorption was studied. The result indicated that fibronectin adsorption on nanostructured surfaces was closely related to both surface energy and material microstructures. The spreading and migration of OB aggregates(each containing 30–50 cells) on the NCD with varied surface energy values were also studied. The result indicates a correlation between the cell spreading and migration on nanodiamond and the surface energy of nanostructured surface.     

Computational and mutagenesis studies of the streptavidin native dimer interface

Wt streptavidin forms a domain swapped tetramer consisting of two native dimers. The role of tetramerization has been studied previously and is known to contribute to biotin binding by allowing the exchange of W120 between adjacent subunits. However, the role of dimer formation in streptavidin folding and function has been largely overlooked to date, although native dimers are necessary for tetramer formation and thus for high affinity biotin binding. To understand how the side chain interactions at the dimer interface stabilize the subunit association, we studied the structural and functional consequences of introducing interfacial mutations by a combination of molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and biochemical characterization. In particular, we introduced rational mutations at the dimer interface to engineer new side chain interactions and measured the stability and function of the resulting mutants. We focused on two residues that form a "knob" and a "hole" pair, G74 and T76, since steric complementarity plays an important role at these positions. We introduced mutations that would change the polarity and side chain packing to test if the interface can be rationally redesigned. Both energy calculation and geometric parameterization were used to interpret the simulated structures and predict how the mutations affect the dimer stability. In this regard, obtaining precise energy estimates was difficult because the simulated structures have large stochastic variations and some mutants did not reach an equilibrium by the end of the simulation. In contrast, comparing the wt and mutants to one another and parameterizing the simulation using a geometric parameter, i.e. the degree of solvation of the buried interface, resulted in a testable prediction regarding which mutations would result in a stable dimer. We present experimental data (denaturation and binding measurements) to show that an intuitive parameter based on physical reasoning can be useful for characterizing simulations that are difficult to analyze quantitatively.     

Investigation of short range ordering in polymers by means of radial distribution functions derived from X-ray diffraction

Four samples of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), with different thermal histories were investigated by radial distribution function (RDF) methods. Intramolecular distances in the polymer repeat unit were successfully attributed to peaks in the RDF plot up to values of r 5 Å. A broad peak at 4 Å was attributed to nearest neighbour intermolecular ordering, but there was no evidence of ordering beyond this distance in samples annealed for prolonged periods at temperatures close to the polymer T _g. This evidence does not support previous models proposing the presence of extensive para-crystalline ordering in amorphous PET. Low frequency broad peaks, with a periodicity of 4 Å, were resolved out to values of r 20 Å in the RDF plot for a sample with a density crystallinity index of 20%, thus confirming the sensitivity of the RDF analysis to short range intermolecular ordering.     

Nonlinear Transient and Distortion Analysis via Frequency Domain Volterra Series

This paper presents a novel approach for transient and distortion analyses for time-invariant and periodically time-varying mildly nonlinear analog circuits. Our method is based on a frequency domain Volterra series representation of nonlinear circuits. It computes the nonlinear responses using a nonlinear current method that recursively solves a series of linear Volterra circuits to obtain linear and higher-order responses of a nonlinear circuit. Unlike existing approaches, where Volterra circuits are solved mainly in the time domain, the new method solves the linear Volterra circuits directly in the frequency domain via an efficient graph-based technique, which can derive transfer functions for any large linear network efficiently. As a result, both frequency domain characteristics, like harmonic and intermodulation distortion, and time domain waveforms can be computed efficiently. The new algorithm takes advantage of identical Volterra circuits for second- and higher-order responses, which results in significant savings in driving the transfer functions. Experimental results for two circuits—a low-noise amplifier and a switching mixer—are obtained and compared with SPICE3 to validate the effectiveness of this method.     

Catalyst Design by NH4OH Treatment of USY Zeolite

Hierarchical zeolites are a class of superior catalysts which couples the intrinsic zeolitic properties to enhanced accessibility and intracrystalline mass transport to and from the active sites. The design of hierarchical USY (Ultra‐Stable Y) catalysts is achieved using a sustainable postsynthetic room temperature treatment with mildly alkaline NH₄OH (0.02 m ) solutions. Starting from a commercial dealuminated USY zeolite (Si/Al = 47), a hierarchical material is obtained by selective and tuneable creation of interconnected and accessible small mesopores (2–6 nm). In addition, the treatment immediately yields the NH₄⁺ form without the need for additional ion exchange. After NH₄OH modification, the crystal morphology is retained, whereas the microporosity and relative crystallinity are decreased. The gradual formation of dense amorphous phases throughout the crystal without significant framework atom leaching rationalizes the very high material yields (>90%). The superior catalytic performance of the developed hierarchical zeolites is demonstrated in the acid‐catalyzed isomerization of α‐pinene and the metal‐catalyzed conjugation of safflower oil. Significant improvements in activity and selectivity are attained, as well as a lowered susceptibility to deactivation. The catalytic performance is intimately related to the introduced mesopores, hence enhanced mass transport capacity, and the retained intrinsic zeolitic properties.