College success requires development of self-regulated learning skills. This study describes a self-regulated learning strategy intervention in a large general education Introductory Psychology ...course, focusing on the second exam. Students' reflection responses across five time periods were compared with exam performance. Increased self-regulated learning strategies usage correlated with decreased passive learning strategies usage, increased hours of study, and increased academic performance. Strategy project interventions can be effective for introductory courses. However, because students may revert to passive strategies that worked in the past, strategy instruction should be extended throughout a course.
Abstract
This article pits two diplomatic strategies in competition for policy officials' support. Distributive strategies promote one party's goals at the expense of another. Integrative strategies ...promote goals that are in conflict with those of another state. The focus is strategy choice and strategy's bargaining potential of less developed countries (LDC) coalitions in the GATT/WTO regime. Amrita Narlikar, whose study of LDC coalitions is relied upon here, finds that many LDC states employ distributive strategy because of asymmetric structure, which emphasizes the gap between LDC and developed state capabilities, yet she critiques that strategy as ineffective in supporting LDC objectives. This disconnect is probed in this article, which concludes that LDC distributive strategy must be improved and that the integrative strategy's success in attaining LDC objectives can be important enough to override the structural argument for distributive strategy.
Abstract
Magnetic doping is expected to open a band gap at the Dirac point of topological insulators by breaking time-reversal symmetry and to enable novel topological phases. Epitaxial (Bi
1−
x
Mn
x
...)
2
Se
3
is a prototypical magnetic topological insulator with a pronounced surface band gap of ∼100 meV. We show that this gap is neither due to ferromagnetic order in the bulk or at the surface nor to the local magnetic moment of the Mn, making the system unsuitable for realizing the novel phases. We further show that Mn doping does not affect the inverted bulk band gap and the system remains topologically nontrivial. We suggest that strong resonant scattering processes cause the gap at the Dirac point and support this by the observation of in-gap states using resonant photoemission. Our findings establish a mechanism for gap opening in topological surface states which challenges the currently known conditions for topological protection.
Finding the dominant cause(s) of variation in process improvement projects is an important task. Before trying to reduce variation in the dominant cause or mitigate the effect of variation in the ...dominant cause to reduce output variation, it is strongly recommended that we verify we have identified the true (dominant) cause. This article is about how best to verify we have correctly identified a dominant cause, as the existing literature does not properly answer this question. Although it may seem that a randomized controlled experiment is sufficient for this purpose, we show that experimental studies alone cannot provide all the required information. An experiment identifies whether a suspect is a cause of variation; however, we also require additional information (i.e., from observational studies) to determine whether it is dominant and not just significant. This article lists some viable composite study designs, assesses their relative merits, and recommends proper sample sizes. We also investigate how to systematically conduct a verification study in the era of smart manufacturing. Moreover, we provide a tangible example to illustrate our proposed procedure.
Rationale. Evaluation of the potential allergenicity of proteins derived from genetically modified foods has involved a weight of evidence approach that incorporates an evaluation of protein ...digestibility in pepsin. Currently, there is no standardized protocol to assess the digestibility of proteins using simulated gastric fluid. Potential variations in assay parameters include: pH, pepsin purity, pepsin to target protein ratio, target protein purity, and method of detection. The objective was to assess the digestibility of a common set of proteins in nine independent laboratories to determine the reproducibility of the assay when performed using a common protocol.
Methods. A single lot of each test protein and pepsin was obtained and distributed to each laboratory. The test proteins consisted of Ara h 2 (a peanut conglutin-like protein), β-lactoglobulin, bovine serum albumin, concanavalin A, horseradish peroxidase, ovalbumin, ovomucoid, phosphinothricin acetyltransferase, ribulose diphosphate carboxylase, and soybean trypsin inhibitor. A ratio of 10
U of pepsin activity/μg test protein was selected for all tests (3:1 pepsin to protein, w:w). Digestions were performed at pH 1.2 and 2.0, with sampling at 0.5, 2, 5, 10, 20, 30, and 60
min. Protein digestibility was assessed from stained gels following SDS–PAGE of digestion samples and controls.
Results. Results were relatively consistent across laboratories for the full-length proteins. The identification of proteolytic fragments was less consistent, being affected by different fixation and staining methods. Overall, assay pH did not influence the time to disappearance of the full-length protein or protein fragments, however, results across laboratories were more consistent at pH 1.2 (91% agreement) than pH 2.0 (77%).
Conclusions. These data demonstrate that this common protocol for evaluating the in vitro digestibility of proteins is reproducible and yields consistent results when performed using the same proteins at different laboratories.
In pressure-atomized sprays, the liquid droplets and the gas in the two-phase flow field may exhibit self-similar properties, so that the spray flow as a whole may be described as self-similar. This ...description is used to model the mass transfer from the droplets to the ambient gas by evaporation of the droplet liquid. The concentration of the vapor phase is described as the solution of the related transport equation in a self-similar form. The self-similar transform of the mass source of vapor representing the effect of droplet evaporation is compared against profiles obtained from the Frössling correlation for the Sherwood number as a function of the Schmidt and Reynolds numbers. The vapor concentration at the droplet surface depends on the droplet temperature, which converges to the wet-bulb temperature determined by the local vapor content of the ambient air and the dry-bulb air temperature. The self-similar structure of the vapor concentration field and the respective vapor source are determined.
A variety of random graph models have been proposed in the literature to model the associations within an interconnected system and to realistically account for various structures and attributes of ...such systems. In particular, much research has been devoted to modeling the interaction of humans within social networks. However, such networks in real-life tend to be extremely sparse and existing methods do not adequately address this issue. In this article, we propose an extension to ordinary and degree corrected stochastic blockmodels that accounts for a high degree of sparsity. Specifically, we propose hurdle versions of these blockmodels to account for community structure and degree heterogeneity in sparse networks. We use simulation to ensure parameter estimation is consistent and precise, and we propose the use of likelihood ratio-type tests for model selection. We illustrate the necessity for hurdle blockmodels with a small research collaboration network as well as the infamous Enron E-mail exchange network. Methods for determining goodness of fit and performing model selection are also proposed.
Supplementary materials
for this article are available online.
In order to achieve the climate goals, the implementation of sustainable construction is becoming more and more topical in the construction sector. Due to very long service lifes especially in ...railway projects, the consideration of life-cycle aspects into the early design process is of great importance. Regarding the assessment of the economic pillar of sustainability, life-cycle costing has become an established method. This study presents the application of life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) for decision aiding in railway construction. The two tunnel tubes of the project Koralmtunnel (KAT) are connected with approximately 70 cross-passages (CPs) at intervals of around 500 m. These CPs serve as escape-ways and additionally host utility rooms for technical equipment (telecomunication, power supply and remote control). First thermal simulations revealed indoor temperatures up to 80openbulletC due to the heat release of the technical equipment without implementation of technical cooling systems in operation phase. This is caused by the limited heat transfer with the surrounding rock and with the adjacent running tubes. Therefore, the implementation of a cooling system is necessary. It is stated that higher indoor temperatures lead to reduced service lifes of the installed telecommunication systems. By the application of Arrhenius equation, the influence of several indoor target temperatures on the expected life time of the installed telecommunication systems has been determined. In order to meet target temperature requirements appropriate scenarios including different cooling scenarios have been designed. Finally, LCCA by application of the net-present value-method (NPV-method) was conducted in order to determine the most economical solution regarding CPs cooling systems based on selected target-temperatures.
Progress has been made in characterizing the secretases involved in endoproteolytic processing of the β-amyloid precursor protein — the precursor of the amyloid β-peptide (Aβ), which is the main ...constituent of amyloid plaques that form in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease. It is now thought that Aβ is pivotal in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease, and that reducing brain Aβ levels may help to treat or prevent the disease. Two essential factors for the proteolytic generation of Aβ have been identified, β-secretase and the presenilins, which might aid the design of drugs against this disease.
The loss of synapses is a strong histological correlate of the cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Amyloid β-peptide (Aβ), a cleavage product of the amyloid precursor protein (APP), exerts ...detrimental effects on synapses, a process thought to be causally related to the cognitive deficits in AD. Here, we used in vivo two-photon microscopy to characterize the dynamics of axonal boutons and dendritic spines in APP/Presenilin 1 (APP(swe)/PS1(L166P))-green fluorescent protein (GFP) transgenic mice. Time-lapse imaging over 4 weeks revealed a pronounced, concerted instability of pre- and postsynaptic structures within the vicinity of amyloid plaques. Treatment with a novel sulfonamide-type γ-secretase inhibitor (GSI) attenuated the formation and growth of new plaques and, most importantly, led to a normalization of the enhanced dynamics of synaptic structures close to plaques. GSI treatment did neither affect spines and boutons distant from plaques in amyloid precursor protein/presenilin 1-GFP (APPPS1-GFP) nor those in GFP-control mice, suggesting no obvious neuropathological side effects of the drug.
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