Development and Criterion Validity of Differentiated and Elevated Vocational Interests in Adolescence

Interest differentiation and elevation are supposed to provide important information about a person’s state of interest development, yet little is known about their development and criterion validity. The present study explored these constructs among a group of Swiss adolescents. Study 1 applied a cross-sectional design with 210 students in 11th grade. Study 2 applied a 1-year longitudinal design with 289 students in 7th to 8th grade. gender, personality traits, and career exploration were significant predictors of state and development of differentiation and elevation. Increase in differentiation predicted increase in career decidedness above traits. elevation could not predict increase in exploration behavior over traits. The results provide support for differentiation and elevation as important aspects of adolescents’ vocational interests.

Temperature Dependent Effects of Elevated CO2 on Shell Composition and Mechanical Properties of Hydroides elegans: Insights from a Multiple Stressor Experiment

The majority of marine benthic invertebrates protect themselves from predators by producing calcareous tubes or shells that have remarkable mechanical strength. An elevation of CO2 or a decrease in pH in the environment can reduce intracellular pH at the site of calcification and thus interfere with animal's ability to accrete CaCO3. In nature, decreased pH in combination with stressors associated with climate change may result in the animal producing severely damaged and mechanically weak tubes. This study investigated how the interaction of environmental drivers affects production of calcareous tubes by the serpulid tubeworm, Hydroides elegans. In a factorial manipulative experiment, we analyzed the effects of pH (8.1 and 7.8), salinity (34 and 27), and temperature (23°C and 29°C) on the biomineral composition, ultrastructure and mechanical properties of the tubes. At an elevated temperature of 29°C, the tube calcite/aragonite ratio and Mg/Ca ratio were both increased, the Sr/Ca ratio was decreased, and the amorphous CaCO3 content was reduced. Notably, at elevated temperature with decreased pH and reduced salinity, the constructed tubes had a more compact ultrastructure with enhanced hardness and elasticity compared to decreased pH at ambient temperature. Thus, elevated temperature rescued the decreased pH-induced tube impairments. This indicates that tubeworms are likely to thrive in early subtropical summer climate. In the context of climate change, tubeworms could be resilient to the projected near-future decreased pH or salinity as long as surface seawater temperature rise at least by 4°C.

Multiple stressor effects of near-future elevated seawater temperature and decreased pH on righting and escape behaviors of two common Antarctic gastropods

Warming seawater temperatures and ocean acidification on the coastal western Antarctic Peninsula pose unique challenges to stenothermal marine invertebrates. The present study examines prospective sub-lethal effects of elevated temperature, pCO2, and resultant decrease in seawater pH, on righting behavior and maximal escape speeds for two common gastropods, the limpet Nacella concinna (Strebel) and mesogastropod snail Margarella antarctica (Lamy). Replicate individuals held in individual containers were exposed to four combinations of seawater temperature (1.5 °C-current average, 3.5 °C-projected average by 2100) and pH (pH 8.0-current average, pH 7.8-projected average by 2100 as a result of elevated pCO2 levels) for a period of 6 weeks. Following this chronic exposure, righting behavior, determined for the limpets as proportion to right over 24 h and for snails as time to right, as well as maximum escape speed following contact with a sea star predator were measured. We found no significant differences in proportions of limpets displaying the capacity to right among the four temperature-pH treatments. However, there was a significant temperature-pH interaction effect for mean righting times in snails, indicating that the effect of pH on the time to right is dependent on temperature. We found no significant effects of temperature or pH on mean maximal escape speed in limpets. Additionally, we observed a significant temperature-pH interaction effect for mean maximal escape speed in snails. These interactive effects make it difficult to make clear predictions about how these environmental factors may impact behavioral responses.

On the Mahalanobis Distance Classification Criterion for Multidimensional Normal Distributions

Many existing engineering works model the statistical characteristics of the entities under study as normal distributions. These models are eventually used for decision making, requiring in practice the definition of the classification region corresponding to the desired confidence level. Surprisingly enough, however, a great amount of computer vision works using multidimensional normal models leave unspecified or fail to establish correct confidence regions due to misconceptions on the features of Gaussian functions or to wrong analogies with the unidimensional case. The resulting regions incur in deviations that can be unacceptable in high-dimensional models. Here we provide a comprehensive derivation of the optimal confidence regions for multivariate normal distributions of arbitrary dimensionality. To this end, firstly we derive the condition for region optimality of general continuous multidimensional distributions, and then we apply it to the widespread case of the normal probability density function. The obtained results are used to analyze the confidence error incurred by previous works related to vision research, showing that deviations caused by wrong regions may turn into unacceptable as dimensionality increases. To support the theoretical analysis, a quantitative example in the context of moving object detection by means of background modeling is given.

A general stability criterion for switched linear systems having stable and unstable subsystems

We report conditions on a switching signal that guarantee that solutions of a switched linear systems converge asymptotically to zero. These conditions are apply to continuous, discrete-time and hybrid switched linear systems, both those having stable subsystems and mixtures of stable and unstable subsystems.

Consideration of Multi-Phase Criterion in the Differential Protection Algorithm for High-Impedance Grounded Synchronous Generators

The generator differential protection is one of the most important electrical protections of synchronous generator stator windings. Its operation principle is based on the comparison of the input current and output current at each phase winding. Unwanted trip commands are usually caused by CT saturation, wrong CT selection, or the fact that they may come from different manufacturers. In generators grounded through high impedance, only phase-to-phase or three-phase faults can be detected by the differential protection. This kind of fault causes differential current to flow in, at least, two phases of the winding. Several cases of unwanted trip commands caused by the appearance of differential current in only one phase of the generator have been reported. In this paper multi-phase criterion is proposed for generator differential protection algorithm when applied to high impedance grounded generators.

An Energy Optimization Criterion for Branching Water Networks

La dependencia energética de las redes hidráulicas para su explotación hace que, a lo largo de los años, sus costos variables lleguen a ensombrecer los costos de construcción o costos fijos. El objetivo de este artículo es la minimización de los costos de explotación en redes ramificadas simples ya existentes y estudia la aplicación de las técnicas de sectorización, junto con el uso de variadores de velocidad, como medida de eficiencia energética. Se sugiere un criterio para determinar bajo qué circunstancias resulta favorable aplicar la sectorización. Se aplica en un caso de estudio real: una red simple ramificada existente con cuatro zonas hidráulicas usada para regadío en la provincia de Segovia, España, resultando en un ahorro energético de un 7.52%, pudiéndose llegar hasta un 26.31%, ampliando la franja horaria del bombeo inicial.

A coupled elastoplastic-damage constitutive model with Lode angle dependent failure criterion

A coupled elastoplastic-damage constitutive model with Lode angle dependent failure criterion for high strain and ballistic applications is presented. A Lode angle dependent function is added to the equivalent plastic strain to failure definition of the Johnson–Cook failure criterion. The weakening in the elastic law and in the Johnson–Cook-like constitutive relation implicitly introduces the Lode angle dependency in the elastoplastic behaviour. The material model is calibrated for precipitation hardened Inconel 718 nickel-base superalloy. The combination of a Lode angle dependent failure criterion with weakened constitutive equations is proven to predict fracture patterns of the mechanical tests performed and provide reliable results. Additionally, the mesh size dependency on the prediction of the fracture patterns was studied, showing that was crucial to predict such patterns