Cooper pair splitting is predicted to occur in hybrid devices where a superconductor is coupled to two ferromagnetic wires placed at a distance less than the superconducting coherence length. This thesis searches for signatures of this process, called crossed Andreev reflection (CAR), in three device geometries. The first devices studied are…

This paper describes an interesting sound phenomenon from a modern copy of the Chinese ancient variable bell which can emit distinctly different sounds at different temperatures. By means of audition--spectrum analyser software--and PC, the sound signals of the variable bell are collected and the fundamental spectra are shown on the PC. The…

Five pigeons responded on steady-state concurrent variable-interval variable-interval schedules of food presentation in which half of the foods were removed and replaced with nonfood stimuli. Across conditions, the stimuli were either paired or unpaired with food, and the correlation between the ratio of food deliveries on the two alternatives and…

Categories underlie a variety of functions beyond just classification, including inference and explanation. To classify, people need to distinguish between categories, but other functions rely on within-category information (things true of a particular category, independent of others). Despite the need for both types of knowledge, recent work…

How do we estimate the number of objects in a set? Two types of visual representations might underlie this ability--an unsegmented visual image or a segmented collection of discrete objects. We manipulated whether individual objects were isolated from each other or grouped into pairs by irrelevant lines. If number estimation operates over an…

Six studies investigated the relationship between production and comprehension by examining how relative clause production mechanisms influence the probabilistic information used by comprehenders to understand these structures. Two production experiments show that accessibility-based mechanisms that are influenced by noun animacy and verb type…

These studies investigate children's use of scientific reasoning to infer the reality status of novel entities. Four- to 8-year-olds heard about novel entities and were asked to infer their reality status from 3 types of evidence: supporting evidence, irrelevant evidence, and no evidence. Experiment 1 revealed that children used supporting versus…

The human ability to focus memory retrieval operations on a particular list, episode or memory structure has not been fully appreciated or documented. In Experiment 1-3, we make it increasingly difficult for participants to switch between a less recent list (multiple study opportunities), and a more recent list (single study opportunity). Task…

Four masked priming experiments are reported investigating the effect of inserting an unrelated word between the masked prime and the target. When the intervening word is visible, identity priming is reduced to the level of one-letter-different form priming, but form priming is largely unaffected. However, when the intervening word is itself…

Currently, it has become a fundamental goal for the engineering major to cultivate high-quality engineering technicians with innovation ability in scientific research which is an important academic ability necessary for them. This paper mainly explores the development of comprehensive and designing experiments in automation based on scientific…

The Chemistry Outreach Program (ChOP) of Virginia Tech was a university-based outreach program that addressed the needs of high school chemistry classes in underfunded rural and inner-city school districts. The primary features of ChOP were a mobile chemistry laboratory (MCL), a shipping-based outreach program (ChemKits), and teacher workshops.…

Video self-modeling (VSM) has been used for decades to effectively improve individuals' behaviors and skills. The purpose of this review is to locate and analyze published studies that used VSM for typical school-based academic skills to determine the effect of VSM interventions on students' academic performance. Only eight studies were located…

Introducing students to the process of scientific inquiry is a major goal of high school and college labs. Environmental toxins are of great concern and public interest. Modifications of a vertebrate developmental toxicity assay using the frog Xenopus laevis can support student-initiated toxicology experiments that are relevant to humans. Teams of…

Many students do not recognize that individual organisms within populations vary, and this may make it difficult for them to recognize the essential role variation plays in natural selection. Also, many students have weak scientific reasoning skills, and this makes it difficult for them to recognize misconceptions they might have. This paper…

The present study proposes and examines the multidimensional vector (MDV) model framework as a modeling schema for choice response times. MDV extends the Thurstonian model, as well as signal detection theory, to classification tasks by taking into account the influence of response properties on stimulus discrimination. It is capable of accounting…