Compressive sensing allows signals to be efficiently captured by exploiting their inherent sparsity. Here we implement sparse sampling to capture the electronic structure and ultrafast dynamics of molecular systems using phase-resolved 2D coherent spectroscopy. Until now, 2D spectroscopy has been hampered by its reliance on array detectors that operate in...
The broad-based implementation of thermoelectric materials in converting heat to electricity hinges on the achievement of high conversion efficiency. Here we demonstrate a thermoelectric figure of merit ZT of 2.5 at 923 K by the cumulative integration of several performance-enhancing concepts in a single material system. Using non-equilibrium processing we show...
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) mediate intercellular communication through transfer of RNA and protein between cells. Thus, understanding how cargo molecules are loaded and delivered by EVs is of central importance for elucidating the biological roles of EVs and developing EV-based therapeutics. While some motifs modulating the loading of biomolecular cargo into...
In 2015, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommended targeted screening for prediabetes and diabetes (dysglycemia) in adults who are aged 40 to 70 y old and overweight or obese. Given increasing prevalence of dysglycemia at younger ages and lower body weight, particularly among racial/ethnic minorities, we sought...
Air within the bladder wall, or bladder pneumatosis, is a very rare finding typically resulting from an infectious etiology, as in emphysematous cystitis (EC). However, there have been reports of bladder pneumatosis occurring without clear infectious origins. We present a case of a female patient found to have concurrent bladder...
A very active area of materials research is to devise methods that use machine learning to automatically extract predictive models from existing materials data. While prior examples have demonstrated successful models for some applications, many more applications exist where machine learning can make a strong impact. To enable faster development...
In Sub-Saharan Africa, epidemiological studies have reported an increasing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCD) among people living with HIV. NCD management can be feasibly integrated into HIV care; however, clinic readiness to provide NCD services in these settings should first be assessed and gaps in care identified. A cross-sectional survey...
Quantum frequency conversion (QFC) of photonic signals preserves quantum information while simultaneously changing the signal wavelength. A common application of QFC is to translate the wavelength of a signal compatible with the current fiber-optic infrastructure to a shorter wavelength more compatible with high-quality single-photon detectors and optical memories. Recent work...
Cathode degradation is a key factor that limits the lifetime of Li-ion batteries. To identify functional coatings that can suppress this degradation, we present a high-throughput density functional theory based framework which consists of reaction models that describe thermodynamic and electrochemical stabilities, and acid-scavenging capabilities of materials. Screening more than...
US surveillance of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) is often delayed and incomplete which creates missed opportunities to identify and respond to trends in disease. Internet search engine data has the potential to be an efficient, economical and representative enhancement to the established surveillance system. Google Trends allows the download of...
Since Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation “Plus” (REDD+) starting gaining traction in the UN climate negotiations in 2007, its architects and scholars have grappled with its community-level justice implications. On the one hand, supporters argue that REDD+ will help the environment and forest-dependent communities by generating payments for forest...
Transposable elements (TEs) have been recognized as potentially powerful drivers of genomic evolutionary change, but factors affecting their mobility and regulation remain poorly understood. Chaperones such as Hsp90 buffer environmental perturbations by regulating protein conformation, but are also part of the PIWI-interacting RNA pathway, which regulates genomic instability arising from...
Acoustic stimulation methods applied during sleep in young adults can increase slow wave activity (SWA) and improve sleep-dependent memory retention. It is unknown whether this approach enhances SWA and memory in older adults, who generally have reduced SWA compared to younger adults. Additionally, older adults are at risk for age-related...
In the United States, African-Americans’ (AAs) HIV infection rates are higher than any other racial group, and AA men who have sex with women (MSW) are a significant proportion of new cases. There is little research into AA MSW HIV/AIDS knowledge, barriers, and facilitators of HIV testing in Chicago. We...
Electronic and vibrational correlations report on the dynamics and structure of molecular species, yet revealing these correlations experimentally has proved extremely challenging. Here, we demonstrate a method that probes correlations between states within the vibrational and electronic manifold with quantum coherence selectivity. Specifically, we measure a fully coherent four-dimensional spectrum...
When making serial predictions in a binary decision task, there is a clear tendency to assume that after a series of the same external outcome (e.g., heads in a coin flip), the next outcome will be the opposing one (e.g., tails), even when the outcomes are independent of one another....
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has expanded health coverage for thousands of Illinois residents. Expanded coverage, however, does not guarantee appropriate health care. Diabetes and its ocular complications serve as an example of how providers in underserved urban areas may not be able to keep up with new demand for...
Metabolic syndrome has become a major public health challenge worldwide. The association between metabolic syndrome and DNA methylation is of great research interest. We constructed a binomial model to investigate the association between a metabolic syndrome index and DNA methylation in the Normative Aging Study. We applied the Iterative Sure...
Many preventable behaviors contribute to adolescent mortality and morbidity. Non-adherence to preventive measures represents a challenge and has been associated with worse health outcomes in this population. The widespread use of electronic communication technologies by adolescents, particularly the use of text messaging (short message service, SMS) and mobile phones, presents...
We investigated the racial content of perceivers’ mental images of different socioeconomic categories. We selected participants who were either high or low in prejudice toward the poor. These participants saw 400 pairs of visually noisy face images. Depending on condition, participants chose the face that looked like a poor person,...
The diverse circuits and functional contributions of the basal ganglia, coupled with known differences in dopaminergic function in patients with schizophrenia, suggest they may be an important contributor to the etiology of the hallmark symptoms and cognitive dysfunction experienced by these patients. Using activation-likelihood-estimation meta-analysis of functional imaging research, we...
In his essay on Mali, Bruce Whitehouse of Lehigh University shows how failures of elected leaders, state institutions, and external donors can shift power to the streets and an uncertain contest among armed forces.
The Center for Advanced Cement-Based Materials (ACBM) is a consortium of researchers from: Northwestern University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Purdue University, The University of Michigan, and The National Institute of Standards and Technology. This ACBM update contains information on the article "A better Maturity Meter?" by Surendra P. Shah...
The nondestructive, in-situ testing of early-age concrete properties is a crucial point for the progress of many construction projects in the building sector. The application of such techniques can establish e.g. the earliest possible form removal from concrete construction elements, thereby opening highways to traffic or releasing prestress from steel...
The Avalon Media System (Avalon) provides access and management for digital audio and video collections in libraries and archives. The open source project is led by the libraries of Indiana University Bloomington and Northwestern University and is funded in part by grants from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Institute...
Concern over construction vibration-induced cracking has led to development of a new approach to vibration monitoring called autonomous crack measurement (ACM) and illustrated in Figure 1. This paper describes the concept as well as sensor performance in the first test house fitted an ACM system. Response of three cracks in...
There have been numerous studies that have aimed at improving the low tensile strength, stiffness, and toughness of cementitious materials. This study aims to show that all of these characteristics can be greatly improved by the addition of ladder scale reinforcement at the nano and micro scale. Carbon nanofibers (CNFs)...
The Northwestern University Libraries Repository and Digital Curation (RDC)
department is tasked with digitising and creating digital collections from the materials managed by the Libraries’ curators. The previous process for the intake and management of these projects created a situation of feast or famine regarding project work that was ready...
Welcome to the inaugural issue of Politica Northwestern . Politica Northwestern is the academic journal of Politics & Policy ( P&P ), a student publication at Northwestern University. P&P looks at the world in terms of what impact events will have. Political events happen all the time, but their impacts...
Innovative companies such as Uber and Airbnb have pioneered a new mode of business: the sharing economy. Uber, a car-sharing service, allows individual car owners to act as taxi drivers, connecting individuals seeking rides with those with cars willing to drive them, through a mobile app. Airbnb is a similar...
As the world continues to grapple with dramatically lower oil prices, economic and political implications for certain major oil producers are beginning to materialize. Some countries, like Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest petroleum exporter, were more prepared for the global downturn than others. Unlike many oil producers, the Saudis are...
On December 17th, Turkish police detained around 50 individuals accused of corruption and bribery. The scandal , which implicated Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was that the arrested ranged from sons of government ministers to political allies in Turkey's financial sector. Thus began a new chapter in Mr Erdoğan’s battle...
For the better part of 2014, anti-government protests have been raging in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. These protests received international attention when three people were killed on February 12th. Since then violence on the street has claimed 17 lives and injured hundreds of people. The protests, ostensibly anti-government in...
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a new international financial institution created by China, recently gained media attention following the induction of several new high-profile members. The bank was initially proposed by China and then launched last October with 20 other countries. Since then, many more nations – including some...
On February 13th, US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia passed away, radically altering the makeup of the America’s highest court and raising the stakes for the 2016 presidential election. Mr Scalia leaves behind a Court that would be almost unrecognizable as the one he joined when he was appointed by...
The recent military-style assault on the office of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo , followed by a separate hostage standoff at a Kosher supermarket traumatized Paris and sent shock waves across Europe. The three-day terror spree in Paris ended with the deaths of 17 victims and three gunmen. The...
In February, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that Britain would vote on the continuation of their membership within the EU. This has led to ministers quickly splitting into factions either in support or opposition to British exit from the EU, now often referred to as “Brexit”. Positions have been...
Most people imagine hacking to be an exceedingly complex crime, requiring an understanding of computing systems that goes far beyond that of average, functionally literate PC users. While there are sophisticated hacking techniques which do fit this description, many forms of hacking require little more than the ability to install...
Several phosphonate-functionalized molecular
squares have been successfully synthesized,
and the fabrication of multilayer films
on both conductive and semiconducting
platforms has been demonstrated. These
films were grown using the well-documented
zirconium phosphonate multilayer method.
The layer-by-layer growth rate is uniform.
Experiments suggest, however, that the
molecular squares adopt a semi-collapsed...
The development and applications of
organic/DNA molecules for the use of DNA
detection systems are reported here. In particular,
two different hybrids are synthesized:
DNA/polymer hybrids and small-molecule
DNA hybrids. DNA/polymer hybrids are especially
useful considering that their functionality
may be varied according to the polymer
selected. The hybrids are...
Recent research suggests that ultraviolet
illumination is essential for the creation of
monolayers of Undecylenic Acid Methyl
Ester (UDAME), as it is believed that the
UV illumination initiates the radical-chain
polymerization. Samples created without
UV illumination, however, also show signs
of a monolayer. In this study, samples were
analyzed using...
This research project explores two different
processes that can be used to pattern
organic molecules on silicon. In the first
process, hydrogen-terminated silicon surfaces
were anodized in nanometer scale with
a contact-mode atomic force microscope
(AFM). Anodization was done by applying a
positive bias voltage to the surface with
respect...
Feedback-controlled lithography (FCL)
enables atomically precise patterning of
individual molecules on the technologically
significant Si(100)-2 x 1:H surface. However,
because it is performed in an ultrahigh vacuum
(UHV) environment, FCL has thus far
been restricted to surface chemistries that
can be delivered in the gas phase. The present
research attempts...
Transmission and reflection diffraction
gratings were fabricated by micropatterning
polymers on transparent substrates and
drop-coating polymers onto etched silicon
wafers. Exposure of these gratings to three
nerve toxin mimics at very low concentrations
resulted in mimic sorption by the polymers,
changing the polymer’s refractive
index. As a result, the grating’s...
The effects of 13 nm Au colloid and 10 nm Ag
colloid on the growth of the yeast species
Saccharomyces cerevisiae were compared
to control samples cultured in a growth
media of yeast extract, bacto peptone, and
dextrose (YPD) to determine the toxicity of
nanoparticles. Growth curves were generated
for...
In modern medicine, physicians destroy
otherwise healthy tissues in patients’ bodies
because of the lack of site-target specificity
and sensitivity in detecting and attacking
cancerous cells. Many cancer patients are
left with the difficult task of weighing the
benefits against the harm of undergoing
current cancer treatments. Members of the...
Chemists and physicists have been interested
in the optical properties of metal nanoparticles
since the time of Michael Faraday.1
New approximation techniques for different
sizes and geometries have created renewed
interest in and investigation of these particles.
Many different arrays of particle extinctions
of various shapes and sizes have been...
While nanoscale device prototypes using
carbon nanotubes abound, no mass
production-scale technique exists for examining
properties of a batch of nanotubes.
Dielectrophoresis, on the other hand, has
received much attention in the press as a
method of separating and trapping particles.
In this research, a method of developing
mass production-scale...