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Microscale Variations in Eclogite-Facies Trace Element Redistribution Controlled by Mineral Banding
No full textMicroanalysis of trace elements in garnet can yield new and important insights into the kinetics of garnet growth, metamorphic reactions and fluid–rock interaction in subduction zones; however, differentiating the effects of these processes on a garnet-by-garnet basis can be challenging. In this study, we couple microanalyses of trace elements and stable oxygen isotopes in garnet to isolate the causes of trace element variation in mineralogically banded blueschists and eclogites from the Franciscan Complex. Trace element variations in garnet are not apparently driven by interaction with externally derived fluids as recorded by rimward decreases in δ18O and can be best explained by local mineral reactions. Intrasample heterogeneity in garnet trace element zoning patterns can be attributed to localized differences in mineral assemblages, which impact the availability of trace elements to growing garnets. These mineralogical heterogeneities also control the extent of reaction with externally derived fluid and resulting δ18O zoning patterns through differences in reaction-induced porosity. Our study highlights the importance of linking petrography to advanced microanalysis and has important implications for understanding the chemical composition and physical pathways of fluids in the eclogitized downgoing slab
Overcoming Pluralistic Ignorance—Brief Exposure to Positive Thoughts and Actions of Others Can Enhance Social Norms Related to Climate Action and Support for Climate Policy
No full textMost U.S. residents are concerned about and support action on climate change. They also overwhelmingly underestimate the extent to which others are likewise concerned, a phenomenon known as pluralistic ignorance. This is a problem because when individuals perceive that others don’t care, they are less likely to take action themselves. We assessed whether brief exposure to positive thoughts and actions of others might make climate action more normative and increase support for climate policy. Specifically, we exposed people to “Community Voices” (CV), a form of social media designed to promote pro-environmental and pro-social norms. We hypothesized that exposure to CV content (related and unrelated to climate change) would enhance positive climate-related norms and increase climate policy support. We further hypothesized that this shift would be stronger when the content was directly related to climate change and when the content came from participants’ geographic region. Online recruits (N = 969) from national and regional (Northeast Ohio) samples were exposed to either no CV content (control), pro-social CV content (unrelated to climate) or CV content depicting climate action in NE Ohio. Brief exposure to both pro-social and climate action-focused CV content increased both descriptive and prescriptive climate action norms and significantly decreased participants’ psychological distance from climate change. As expected, exposure to climate-focused content increased descriptive norms more than exposure to pro-social content. Pro-social CV content increased policy support. That increase was explained by increased norms and decreased psychological distance. Pro-social CV content significantly increased positive emotions, while climate-focused CV content did not. NE Ohio participants who viewed regional climate-focused content exhibited lower positive emotions and had more difficulty imagining a positive future than those in the national sample. Results suggest that exposure to positive thoughts and actions of others can achieve the critical goals of elevating descriptive norms (thereby reducing pluralistic ignorance) and elevating support for climate policy. However, the psychological impact of exposing people to positive climate-action content is nuanced and complex
Super-resolution imaging reveals resistance to mass transfer in functionalized stationary phases
No full textChemical separations are costly in terms of energy, time, and money. Separation methods are optimized with inefficient trial-and-error approaches that lack insight into the molecular dynamics that lead to the success or failure of a separation and, hence, ways to improve the process. We perform super-resolution imaging of fluorescent analytes in five different commercial liquid chromatography materials. Unexpectedly, we observe that chemical functionalization can block more than 50% of the material\u27s porous interior, rendering it inaccessible to small-molecule analytes. Only in situ imaging unveils the inaccessibility when compared to the industry-accepted ex situ characterization methods. Selectively removing some of the functionalization with solvent restores pore access without substantially altering the single-molecule kinetics that underlie the separation and agree with bulk chromatography measurements. Our molecular results determine that commercial fully porous stationary phases are over-functionalized and provide an alternative avenue to characterize and direct separation material design from the bottom-up
Prime Theta-Curves from Torus Knots
No full textClassical knot theory is the placement problem for a circle in Euclidean 3-space or in the 3-sphere. That problem has been generalized in numerous ways. Knotted graph theory replaces the circle with a graph. Knotting of certain graphs has been well-studied. That includes the theta-graph consisting of two vertices connected by three edges---a copy of the letter theta. A theta-curve is an embedding of the theta-graph in 3-space or in the 3-sphere. Connected sum of knots yields the notion of a prime knot. Similarly, one may sum two theta-curves at a vertex and one may sum a theta-curve and a knot along an edge. Those two operations yield the notion of a prime theta-curve. Our work was prompted by the question: How can one add an arc to a prime knot to obtain a prime theta-curve? We will show a way of doing that successfully
Investigating Properties of Mined Programs from Science Publications
No full textIn many scientific fields, writing software is an integral part of the research process. Software developed for scientific research has unique properties which differentiate it from code written by professional software engineers. Existing studies focus on how scientists write code, but to our knowledge, there are no analyses of the code itself. We introduce a dataset of public, permissively-licensed software repositories sourced from papers published by the predominantly biology-focused, open-access publisher PLOS. We employ software mining techniques to extract all possible links to software from each paper and currently curate the GitHub repositories. We present preliminary results on the attributes of the repositories, including licensing and choice of programming language, by paper and by research area. By sharing this dataset, we hope to facilitate further research on how scientists develop, use, and share software
Augmenting soil with biochar generated from on-site pruning likely results in long-term carbon storage and changes in soil properties
No full textAgricultural systems can result in greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change while also providing opportunities for mitigation. For example, fruit and nut orchards produce waste wood as a result of pruning and coppicing operations. We investigated two possible options for using this byproduct as a soil amendment to sequester soil carbon on-site. Specifically, following a baseline study by Balmuth et al. (2022), we compared the carbon sequestration potential and effects on soil moisture properties caused by adding either wood chips or biochar produced from orchard trimmings into the system\u27s soil. Biochar is a carbon-rich solid produced by anaerobic combustion of organic waste. Although results can be highly variable, prior studies have found that biochar can remain sequestered in soil for hundreds or even thousands of years. In our system, an experimental hazelnut orchard maintained by Oberlin College, three separate treatments were investigated: soil amended with wood chips, soil amended with biochar, and a control. After sampling, soil organic matter (SOM) and soil moisture content were investigated. Our results showed that wood chips, which had been applied nearly five years earlier, showed little difference from the control with regards to either SOM or moisture content. However, three years after its application, plots containing biochar showed dramatically increased SOM and moisture content at depths of both 0-7.5 cm and 7.5-15 cm. These findings suggest that biochar is much more effective than wood chips as a tool for on site carbon sequestration and soil moisture enhancement in orchard systems
Predicting MLB Hitter Performance Using Hierarchical Bayesian Modeling of Weighted On-Base Average (wOBA)
No full textEast Asian American Identities and Asexualities
No full textThis research explores how the forces of sexualization, racialization, and gendering intertwine and interact with one another for asexual East Asian Americans.
Asexuality, or the absence of sexual attraction, disrupts stereotyped conceptions of East Asian Americans’ sexualities by questioning sex’s normativity and how its structures support hegemonic ideas about a “correct” sexuality. Asexual scholars focus on the pervasive nature of compulsory sexuality and acephobia, which assumes the belief that everyone desires sex and those who do not are abnormal. Few scholars have addressed asexuality among East Asian American identities, which is interesting because of the hypersexualization of Asian women and the desexualization of Asian men. Theory on the gendered nature of Asian American sexualities identifies stereotypes and explains strategies for reacting to sexualization.
Through seventeen in-depth interviews, participants reported that their asexual identities were not as salient in everyday life. Instead, Asian Americans reported that their gendered and queer identities exerted a more overarching influence. Additionally, although all of the interviewees were aware of racial stereotypes about Asians, the majority of participants expressed a lack of stereotyping in their lived experiences. These emerging findings offer surprising insights into the intersection between asexuality and East Asian American identities, with implications for our understandings of sexuality, racialized genders, and the salience of identities in everyday life
