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Since its outbreak, COVID-19 has impacted world regions differentially. Whereas some regions still record tens of thousands of new infections daily, other regions have contained the virus. What explains these striking regional differences? We advance a cultural psychological perspective on mask usage, a precautionary measure vital for curbing the pandemic. Four large-scale studies provide evidence that collectivism (versus individualism) positively predicts mask usage—both within the United States and across the world. Analyzing a dataset of all 3,141 counties of the 50 US states (based on 248,941 individuals), Study 1a revealed that mask usage was higher in more collectivistic US states. Study 1b replicated this finding in another dataset of 16,737 individuals in the 50 US states. Analyzing a dataset of 367,109 individuals in 29 countries, Study 2 revealed that mask usage was higher in more collectivistic countries. Study 3 replicated this finding in a dataset of 277,219 Facebook users in 67 countries. The link between collectivism and mask usage was robust to a host of control variables, including cultural tightness–looseness, political affiliation, demographics, population density, socioeconomic indicators, universal health coverage, government response stringency, and time. Our research suggests that culture fundamentally shapes how people respond to crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding cultural differences not only provides insight into the current pandemic, but also helps the world prepare for future crises.

We report results from a global simulation of the September 2017 geomagnetic storm. The global model comprises the ionospheric code SAMI3 and the atmosphere/thermosphere code WACCM‐X. We show that a train of large‐scale EPBs form in the Pacific sector during the storm recovery phase on 8 September 2017. The EPBs are associated with storm‐induced modification of the zonal and meridional winds. These changes lead to an eastward electric field which in turn causes an upward E × B drift in the post‐midnight sector. A large decrease in the Pedersen conductance caused by meridional equatorward winds leads to an increase in the growth rate of the generalized Rayleigh‐Taylor instability that causes EPBs to develop. Interestingly, several EPBs reach altitudes above 3,000 km. Plain Language Summary The uppermost layer of the atmosphere, the thermosphere, is heated at high latitudes during geomagnetic storms by energy inputs from the magnetosphere. This heating significantly modulates the thermosphere winds on a global scale that results in the modification of the electrodynamics of the ionosphere at low‐ to mid‐latitudes. Using the coupled SAMI3/WACCM‐X model, we show that equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) (large‐scale depletions of the electron density in the ionosphere) can develop because of these stormtime changes to the winds and electric field. This is significant because EPBs can adversely impact space‐based communication and navigation systems by degrading the reception of electromagnetic signals that pass through them. Key Points Stormtime modulation of the zonal and meridional winds increase the eastward electric field at night in the Pacific sector Equatorial plasma bubbles subsequently develop in the Pacific sector during the September 2017 storm on September 8 Several equatorial plasma bubbles rise to over 3,000 km with upward velocities exceeding 300 m/s

Topical application of pathogen-specific double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) for virus resistance in plants represents an attractive alternative to transgenic RNA interference (RNAi). However, the instability of naked dsRNA sprayed on plants has been a major challenge towards its practical application. We demonstrate that dsRNA can be loaded on designer, non-toxic, degradable, layered double hydroxide (LDH) clay nanosheets. Once loaded on LDH, the dsRNA does not wash off, shows sustained release and can be detected on sprayed leaves even 30 days after application. We provide evidence for the degradation of LDH, dsRNA uptake in plant cells and silencing of homologous RNA on topical application. Significantly, a single spray of dsRNA loaded on LDH (BioClay) afforded virus protection for at least 20 days when challenged on sprayed and newly emerged unsprayed leaves. This innovation translates nanotechnology developed for delivery of RNAi for human therapeutics to use in crop protection as an environmentally sustainable and easy to adopt topical spray. Application of pathogen-specific double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) was proposed as an approach against plant viruses. However, the instability of dsRNA hampers its application. Now, a study has used clay nanosheets to deliver dsRNA and obtain sustained protection against viruses.

Air pollution is a serious problem that affects billions of people globally. Although the environmental and health costs of air pollution are well known, the present research investigates its ethical costs. We propose that air pollution can increase criminal and unethical behavior by increasing anxiety. Analyses of a 9-year panel of 9,360 U.S. cities found that air pollution predicted six major categories of crime; these analyses accounted for a comprehensive set of control variables (e.g., city and year fixed effects, population, law enforcement) and survived various robustness checks (e.g., balanced panel, nonparametric bootstrapped standard errors). Three subsequent experiments involving American and Indian participants established the causal effect of psychologically experiencing a polluted (vs. clean) environment on unethical behavior. Consistent with our theoretical perspective, results revealed that anxiety mediated this effect. Air pollution not only corrupts people’s health, but also can contaminate their morality.

Synchrotron microbeam radiotherapy (MRT), which has entered the clinical transfer phase, requires the development of appropriate quality assurance (QA) tools due to very high dose rates and spatial hyperfractionation. A microstrip plastic scintillating detector system with associated modules was proposed in the context of real-time MRT QA. A prototype of such a system with 105 scintillating microstrips was developed and tested under MRT conditions. The signal obtained from each microstrip when irradiated was reproducible, linear with the dose, and independent of both the dose rate and the beam energy. The detector prototype was capable of measuring an entire 52-microbeam field in real time and exhibited outstanding radiation hardness. It could withstand more than 100 kGy absorbed dose, which is at least ten times higher than the doses reported in the literature for plastic scintillators before deterioration. The potential of this detector system in MRT QA was demonstrated in this study.

Collagen organization plays an important role in maintaining structural integrity and determining tissue function. Polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PSOCT) is a promising noninvasive three-dimensional imaging tool for mapping collagen organization in vivo. While PSOCT systems with multiple polarization inputs have demonstrated the ability to visualize depth-resolved collagen organization, systems, which use a single input polarization state have not yet demonstrated sufficient reconstruction quality. Herein we describe a PSOCT based polarization state transmission model that reveals the depth-dependent polarization state evolution of light backscattered within a birefringent sample. Based on this model, we propose a polarization state tracing method that relies on a discrete differential geometric analysis of the evolution of the polarization state in depth along the Poincare sphere for depth-resolved birefringent imaging using only one single input polarization state. We demonstrate the ability of this method to visualize depth-resolved myocardial architecture in both healthy and infarcted rodent hearts (ex vivo) and collagen structures responsible for skin tension lines at various anatomical locations on the face of a healthy human volunteer (in vivo).Discrete differential geometry-based polarization tracing method enables PSOCT imaging of depth-resolved collagen organizations.

In the United States, Asians are commonly assumed to excel across all educational stages. We challenge this assumption by revealing the underperformance of ethnic East Asians in US law schools and business schools, two prevalent professional schools that are consequential gateways to societal influence. Whereas most educational and governmental statistics lump all Asians together, we distinguish culturally between East Asians (e.g., ethnic Chinese) and South Asians (e.g., ethnic Indians), the two largest Asian groups in the United States. We propose that East Asians—but not South Asians—underperform academically because their low verbal assertiveness is culturally incongruent with the assertive class participation prized by US law schools and business schools. Across six large studies (n = 19,194), East Asians had lower grades than South Asians and Whites despite performing well on admission tests (e.g., Law School Admission Test, Graduate Management Admissions Test). East Asians’ underperformance was not explained by academic motivation but by lower assertiveness (whether assessed by self-ratings, peer ratings, or class participation scores)—after controlling for factors such as birth country and English proficiency. Consistent with the assertiveness mechanism, East Asians’ underperformance was more pronounced in social courses emphasizing class participation (e.g., leadership, strategy) than in quantitative courses (e.g., accounting, finance). Notably, we found that East Asians’ underperformance was mitigated in online classes conducted via Zoom, a communication medium characterized by lower social presence than in-person classes. By revealing a “Bamboo Ceiling” in the classroom, this research highlights the importance of fostering an inclusive classroom for students from diverse cultural backgrounds.

The mobility of dislocation loops in materials is a principle factor in understanding the mechanical strength, and the evolution of microstructures due to deformation and radiation. In body-centered cubic (BCC) iron, the common belief is that interstitial dislocation loops are immobile once formed. However, using self-adaptive accelerated molecular dynamics (SSAMD), a new diffusion mechanism has been discovered for interstitial dislocation loops. The key aspect of the mechanism is the changing of the habit planes between the {100} plane and the {110} plane, which provides a path for the loops to diffuse one-dimensionally. The migration behavior modeled with SSAMD is further confirmed by in-situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements, and represents a significant step for understanding the formation of loop walls and the mechanical behavior of BCC Fe under irradiation. The mobility of dislocation loops in materials is of key importance to understanding their deformation behavior. Here the authors using self-adaptive accelerated molecular dynamics show self-diffusion of interstitial loops in body-centered cubic (BCC) iron by changing its habit plane as also confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements.

In most contemporary life forms, the confinement of cell membranes provides localized concentration and protection for biomolecules, leading to efficient biochemical reactions. Similarly, confinement may have also played an important role for prebiotic compartmentalization in early life evolution when the cell membrane had not yet formed. It remains an open question how biochemical reactions developed without the confinement of cell membranes. Here we mimic the confinement function of cells by creating a hydrogel made from geological clay minerals, which provides an efficient confinement environment for biomolecules. We also show that nucleic acids were concentrated in the clay hydrogel and were protected against nuclease and that transcription and translation reactions were consistently enhanced. Taken together, our results support the importance of localized concentration and protection of biomolecules in early life evolution and also implicate a clay hydrogel environment for biochemical reactions during early life evolution.

Scattering of high energy particles from nucleons probes their structure, as was done in the experiments that established the non-zero size of the proton using electron beams 1 . The use of charged leptons as scattering probes enables measuring the distribution of electric charges, which is encoded in the vector form factors of the nucleon 2 . Scattering weakly interacting neutrinos gives the opportunity to measure both vector and axial vector form factors of the nucleon, providing an additional, complementary probe of their structure. The nucleon transition axial form factor, F A , can be measured from neutrino scattering from free nucleons, ν μ n  →  μ − p and ν ¯ μ p → μ + n , as a function of the negative four-momentum transfer squared ( Q 2 ). Up to now, F A ( Q 2 ) has been extracted from the bound nucleons in neutrino–deuterium scattering 3 – 9 , which requires uncertain nuclear corrections 10 . Here we report the first high-statistics measurement, to our knowledge, of the ν ¯ μ p → μ + n cross-section from the hydrogen atom, using the plastic scintillator target of the MINERvA 11 experiment, extracting F A from free proton targets and measuring the nucleon axial charge radius, r A , to be 0.73 ± 0.17 fm. The antineutrino–hydrogen scattering presented here can access the axial form factor without the need for nuclear theory corrections, and enables direct comparisons with the increasingly precise lattice quantum chromodynamics computations 12 – 15 . Finally, the tools developed for this analysis and the result presented are substantial advancements in our capabilities to understand the nucleon structure in the weak sector, and also help the current and future neutrino oscillation experiments 16 – 20 to better constrain neutrino interaction models. The authors measure the nucleon axial vector form factor, which encodes information on the distribution of the nucleon weak charge, through antineutrino–proton scattering.