Insect Telepresence: Using Robotic Tele-Embodiment to Bring Insects Face-to-Face with Humans

The Insect Telepresence project combines expertise from the robotics and human-computer interaction communities to create a robot exhibit that enables telepresence in scale. The underlying mission of this work is educational: to promote appreciation for insect life and small-scale complexity through exploration of live insect colonies. In this article we describe the robot hardware and software used to bring students face-to-face with insects. We also summarize the user-centered design process and formal HCI methods used to design and evaluate the Insect Telepresence robot. The complete working exhibit, now installed as a permanent robot-entomology station at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, is presented in this paper in words and pictures.     

Memory association and personality as predictors of alcohol use: mediation and moderator effects

We investigated the nature of the effects of memory associations on alcohol use and abuse. First, we determined if effects of memory associations on drinking problems are mediated entirely through the frequency of alcohol consumption or, alternatively, if such effects are more direct. Second, personality traits were assessed to evaluate whether they were confounded with memory association in their effects or whether they might moderate the effects of memory associations on alcohol use and abuse. The results showed that memory association measures directly and independently predicted alcohol consumption; these measures indirectly predicted problems from drinking, including drunk driving. None of the assessed personality variables moderated the predictive effects of memory association. The results are consistent with the view that memory associations influence behavior through cognitive processes that are not affected by personality traits or by cognitions emanating from such traits.     

Altruism on American Television: Examining the Amount of, and Context Surrounding, Acts of Helping and Sharing

Using a representative sample of television content featuring 2,227 programs across different genres and 18 different channels, the frequency and context of altruistic actions were content analyzed. A social cognitive theory approach was taken to guide the selection of contextual variables. The results showed that 73% of the programs in the sample featured instances of helping/sharing at a rate of 2.92 incidents per hour. Further, the actions were most likely to be initiated by adult White males and many acts were depicted in a humorous, realistic, and rewarding context. In terms of channel differences, shows on children's basic cable featured not only the highest proportion of programs with one or more instances of altruism but also the highest rate per hour (4.02 acts). Differences in contextual features and channel type are discussed in terms of social cognitive theory below.     

Garlic supplementation and lipoprotein oxidation susceptibility

Interventions which make serum lipoproteins less susceptible to oxidation may be antiatherogenic. The antioxidant properties of garlic which have been demonstratedin vitro led us to investigate the effects of garlic supplements on lipoprotein oxidation susceptibility in humans. Ten healthy volunteers were given 600 mg/d of garlic powder (6 tablets of Kwai^®) for two weeks in a placebo-controlled, randomized, double-blind crossover trial. We found that although serum lipid and lipoprotein levels were not lowered in this short time period, theex vivo susceptibility of apolipoprotein B-containing lipoproteins to oxidation was significantly decreased (?34%). Because garlic has been reported to beneficially affect serum lipid levels, platelet function, fibrinolysis and blood pressure, this additional effect of retarding lipoprotein oxidation may contribute to the potential antiatherosclerotic effect of garlic.     

Depth-Resolved Porosity Investigation of EB-PVD Thermal Barrier Coatings Using High-Energy X-rays

Demands for designing prime reliant, energy-efficient, and high-performance thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) in gas turbines have led to a growing interest toward comprehensive microstructural characterization. Here we investigate the novel use of high-energy X-rays for small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), together with wide-angle scattering and radiography, for the depth-resolved characterization of TBCs grown by electron beam physical vapor deposition (EB-PVD). The coating microstructure is found to consist of columns perpendicular to the substrate, extending through the thickness, with a [001] growth texture and significant intercolumnar porosity. In addition, overshadowing effects during deposition together with gas entrapment give rise to nanoscale intracolumnar porosity consisting of featherlike and globular pores. Radiography showed an increase in the total porosity, from 15% near the substrate to 25% near the coating surface, which is ascribed to an increase in the intercolumnar spacing at the top of the coating. By contrast, the small-angle scattering studies, which are sensitive to fine features, showed the pore internal surface area to be greatest near the substrate.     

Conceptualizing Exposure to Community Violence: An Application of Confirmatory Factor Analysis.

The primary goal of the present study was to demonstrate how the technique of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) could be applied to common measurement issues within the school psychology literature. Specifically, the CFA technique was used to test several alternative factor structures thought to underlie a commonly used measure of exposure to community violence. Data were collected from 242 elementary and middle-school, inner city, African American students. Results illustrate the potential benefits and limitations of applying CFA. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

New bubble materials with high peak velocity

Peak velocities higher than 40000 cm s^-1and domain wall mobilities of the order of 1500 cm s^-1Oe^-1were measured by the dynamic bubble collapse method in garnet films having an orthorhombic anisotropy. The orthorhombic anisotropy was realized by growing garnet films with positive magnetostriction constants under strong compression on     

Semiconductor cylinder fibers

We report on the fabrication and test of semiconductor cylinder fibers (SCFs). To date, we have used two semiconductors CdTe and CdS. Characterization indicates that the semiconductors survive the fabrication process. A number of fibers of each kind were fabricated with reproducible results     

Real-Time Numerical Filtering of Physiological Signals

The minimization of the sampling rate necessary to store a signal frequently requires filtering of unwanted higher frequency components in order to avoid aliasing errors. In many physiological situations the desired cutoff frequency is too low to be realized by a practical passive analog filter. In such a case either an active analog filter may be used, or the signal may be initially sampled at a higher rate to avoid aliasing, then numerically filtered in real-time, and the resulting smoothed signal sampled at a lower rate (the effective sampling frequency). The purpose of this communication is to describe the use of a class of low-pass digital filters which we have found useful for this purpose.