Reverse evolution in nanoscale Cu-rich precipitates of an aged Fe–Cu alloy under electropulsing

Nanoscale Cu-rich precipitates (CRPs) are one of the most important microstructural nano-features responsible for embrittlement and hardening of reactor pressure vessels (RPVs), which threaten the safe operation of nuclear power plants (NPPs) and hinder the lifetime extension of nuclear reactors. A thermally aged Fe-1.1 wt.%Cu alloy, which is used to simulate embrittlement of the irradiated RPV steels, was treated by electropulsing with various parameters. The effect of electropulsing on nanoscale CRPs was investigated by using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Compared to the traditional heat treatment, the electropulsing treatment (EPT) can accelerate the dissolution of CRPs in an aged Fe-Cu alloy on account of the higher atomic drift flux and the additional Gibbs free energy induced by electropulsing. More importantly, EPT is likely to be a new way of eliminating irradiation-induced Cu-rich precipitates.     

Beyond Science Wars Redux: Feminist Philosophy of Science as Trustworthy Science Criticism

Bruno Latour is not the only scholar to reflect on his earlier contributions to science studies with some regret and resolve over climate skepticism and science denialism. Given the ascendency of merchants of doubt, should those who share Latour’s concerns join the scientists they study in circling the wagons, or is there a productive role still for science studies to question and critique scientists and scientific institutions? I argue for the latter, looking to postpositivist feminist philosophy as exemplified by Alison Wylie and Lynn Nelson, among others, as a guide. Feminist philosophers of science who ground their analysis in a detailed understanding of scientific practice are not science’s champions nor its antagonists, but they do stand in a distinct relationship to science. If not merchants of doubt, are they scientific gadflies or perhaps in scientific loyal opposition? Though these notions can underwrite useful approaches to science studies, neither captures the distinctive interdependency and interestedness of feminist philosophers and science. I suggest that we would be better served by the notion of trustworthy science criticism, building on the analyses of trust and trustworthiness by Annette Baier, among others, attendant to the dynamics of interdependency in trust relationships.     

Analysing political deception: The virtues of Bernard Williams' anti‐tyranny argument

According to Bernard Williams' “anti‐tyranny argument,” it is important for citizens to have access to true information about the exercise of political power in order to check the tendency of governments and politicians to become tyrannous. Although Williams thinks the argument is one of the better arguments for the importance of truthfulness in politics, he acknowledges 2 limitations. First, it appears to offer little more than the truism that tyranny is a bad thing—a truism that will be accepted by all but tyrants themselves. Second, it may not offer any reasons for the importance of true information about forms of political power, which do not seem tyrannous. I argue that kind of political analysis required to apply the anti‐tyranny argument enables it to overcome both limitations. In so doing, I show that it has a clear advantage over rival arguments for the importance of truthfulness in politics.     

Truth and Consequence: Alternative Facts and Discordant Realities

The following is an essay in applied psychoanalysis delivered to the International Association of Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy in June 2018.* In this essay I attempt to apply what we know about the psychological sequelae of childhood abuse and what we know about the conditions necessary for secure attachment to our current political situation.     

The vocabulary spurt predicts the emergence of backward semantic inhibition in 18‐month‐old toddlers

The current study examines the relationship between 18‐month‐old toddlers’ vocabulary size and their ability to inhibit attention to no‐longer relevant information using the backward semantic inhibition paradigm. When adults switch attention from one semantic category to another, the former and no‐longer‐relevant semantic category becomes inhibited, and subsequent attention to an item that belongs to the inhibited semantic category is impaired. Here we demonstrate that 18‐month‐olds can inhibit attention to no‐longer relevant semantic categories, but only if they have a relatively large vocabulary. These findings suggest that an increased number of items (word knowledge) in the toddler lexical‐semantic system during the “vocabulary spurt” at 18‐months may be an important driving force behind the emergence of a semantic inhibitory mechanism. Possessing more words in the mental lexicon likely results in the formation of inhibitory links between words, which allow toddlers to select and deselect words and concepts more efficiently. Our findings highlight the role of vocabulary growth in the development of inhibitory processes in the emerging lexical‐semantic system.     

Illness perception clusters and relationship quality are associated with diabetes distress in adults with Type 2 diabetes

This report aims to augment what is already known about emotional distress in Type 2 diabetes, by assessing the predictive value of illness perception clusters and relationship quality on four subcategories of Diabetes Distress.162 individuals with Type 2 diabetes responded to a postal questionnaire assessing demographics, depression, diabetes distress, illness perceptions and relationship quality. Long-term blood glucose was retrieved from participants’ General Practitioner. Three illness perception clusters emerged from the data, capturing three subgroups of participants sharing similar illness perception schemas. Regression analyses were performed across each diabetes distress subscale, with demographics, illness perception clusters, and relationship variables entered into three blocks. Covariates explained 51.1% of the variance in emotional burden, 41% of the variance in regimen-related distress, 20% of the variance in interpersonal distress, and 8.6% of the variance in physician-related distress. Cluster membership was strongly associated with emotional burden, regimen-related distress, and to a lesser degree interpersonal distress, but was not associated with physician-related distress. Relationship quality most strongly predicted regimen-related distress. Illness perception schemas and interpersonal issues influence emotional adjustment in diabetes. This study provides direction for the content of a novel approach to identifying and reducing diabetes distress in people with Type 2 diabetes.     

A Positive Perspective on Attentional Bias: Positive Affectivity and Attentional Bias to Positive Information

In recent years there has been growing interest in determining the attentional basis of positive affectivity. Investigators have sought to evaluate the hypothesis that elevated positive affectivity is characterized by an attentional bias that favours the processing of positive information over neutral information. Unfortunately, in the studies carried out to date, the assessment procedures used by researchers to assess such attentional selectivity have either been methodologically limited or methodologically flawed. Hence, the validity of the hypothesis has remained indeterminate. To overcome the problems associated with attentional assessment procedures used in previous studies, and so shed light on the attentional basis of positive affectivity, we employed an appropriate variant of the attentional probe task. Our findings show that participants high in positive affectivity displayed greater relative attention to positive information compared to neutral information, than was the case for their low positive affectivity counterparts. Thus, the present results support the hypothesis that an attentional bias to positive information, relative to neutral information, is characteristic of elevated positive affectivity.     

The role of spatial frequency in emotional face classification

Previous studies with emotional face stimuli have revealed that our ability to identify different emotional states is dependent on the faces’ spatial frequency content. However, these studies typically only tested a limited number of emotional states. In the present study, we measured the consistency with which 24 different emotional states are classified when the faces are unfiltered, high-, or low-pass filtered, using a novel rating method that simultaneously measures perceived arousal (high to low) and valence (pleasant to unpleasant). The data reveal that consistent ratings are made for every emotional state independent of spatial frequency content. We conclude that emotional faces possess both high- and low-frequency information that can be relied on to facilitate classification.