Focusing Phenomenon Research Articles

When passions collide: Passion convergence in entrepreneurial teams.

Extant research on passion is replete with individual-level studies. Although team-level studies have emerged, these empirical studies have adopted a static approach. We pivot from the predominant static focus on passion by examining passion convergence, or the dynamic pattern of increasing similarity in passion among members of a team. Drawing on multilevel theory of emergence in teams and using the novel consensus emergence model approach, we theorize the phenomenon of passion convergence and focus on how within-team experiences of progress and setback shape passion convergence. We also analyze the impact of passion convergence on team performance. Data from 314 individuals nested in 82 new venture teams indicate that experiencing team progress facilitated passion convergence, whereas experiencing team setbacks did not have a significant impact on passion convergence. Results also suggest that teams with members converging on a high level of passion positively predicted team performance. We discuss the theoretical and practical significance of our study. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Psychology challenged

The challenges that psychology encounters when studying the human and the social in times of accelerating and heterogeneously composed processes of becoming, call for theorizing of and analytical attention to complexity at multiple levels. This attention needs to focus a comprehensive horizon of intra-acting elements and agencies, while still maintaining the human as an important focus of research. In this article I discuss how the efforts to pursue this ambition may find inspiration from some of the analytical perspectives offered by poststructuralist and new materialist frameworks. While surpassing orthodoxy in all versions I encourage a continuous diffractive reading of such perspectives with those of other theoretical traditions to maintain theorizing as a vital, processual and curious endeavor that remains relevant and sensitive to an always moving and surprising empirical reality. My reflections on psychology theorizing is nurtured by brief empirical examples from my own and my colleagues’ research. These examples include different versions of technologically involved human relating and agency, e.g., linked to children and young people’s use of social media, computer gaming among children, and young people’s involvement in digital sexual practices. The technologically mediated, formative processes entailed in digital participation among children and young people constantly open new horizons of potential identities, positionings, and body cultures that call for analytical sensitivity. In the last part of the paper, I discuss the ethical implications of a complexity sensitive psychology theorizing. I argue that the ethics of psychological empirical research must embrace the apparatuses that enable and enact social and subjective being, becoming, and agency as mattering and discursively entangled processes. Without losing sight of the individual, a retuning of research ethics therefore implies working on the vitalization and response-ability of the apparatus in its heterogeneous composition and the agential entanglement that produces the phenomena in focus.

Focused Patterning of Electrospun Nanofibers Using a Dielectric Guide Structure.

The patterning of electrospun fibers is a key technology applicable to various fields. This study reports a novel focused patterning method for electrospun nanofibers that uses a cylindrical dielectric guide. The finite elements method (FEM) was used to analyze the electric field focusing phenomenon and ground its explanation in established theory. The horizontal and vertical electric field strengths in the simulation are shown to be key factors in determining the spatial distribution of nanofibers. The experimental results demonstrate a relationship between the size of the cylindrical dielectric guide and that of the electrospun area accumulated in the collector. By concentrating the electric field, we were able to fabricate a pattern of less than 6 mm. The demonstration of continuous line and square patterning shows that the electrospun area can be well controlled. This novel patterning method can be used in a variety of applications, such as sensors, biomedical devices, batteries, and composites.

To improve the performance of focusing phenomenon related to energy consumption and removal efficiency in electrokinetic remediation of Cr-contaminated soil

The focusing phenomenon is a difficult point during the electrokinetic remediation (EKR) of contaminated soil. It restricts the extraction and removal of heavy metals. There is still a lack of methods to discern focusing position rapidly and take proper measures. Therefore, a total of seven tests with or without intervening and regulating measures were conducted. Among the four tests without regulating and intervening measures, focusing position often appeared in low-voltage region after three days’ treatment. When using ammonium citrate as electrolyte, the highest removal efficiency of total chromium (Cr) (32.20%) was achieved. The intervening measure that adding citric acid near section 4 decreased the area of high-voltage and made it move towards cathode. Meanwhile, the removal efficiency of Cr(VI) (60.17%) was significantly improved. Using sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as pretreatment agent and electrolyte made the position of high-voltage area move towards anode and removed 35.80% of total Cr and 53.47% of Cr(VI) eventually. Simultaneously, the energy consumption per gram of removed Cr was also the lowest. The focusing degree was reduced with intervening and regulating measures conducted but focusing position still existed in low voltage area, which further indicated that focusing position preferred to appear in low voltage area and we could discern focusing position through voltage distribution across the soil roughly.

Filamentation and focusing of electron beams due to interactions with plasma waves.

Results of numerical modeling of the interaction of an electron beam propagating across relativistic plasma waves indicate that electron beam filamentation and focusing may occur under certain conditions. The model is based on solving the relativistic equation of motion in three dimensions for the individual electrons in a tenuous Gaussian beam, as they pass through a relativistic plasma wave. Several electron beam and plasma wave parameters were varied, and the results are summarized. One of the results is that the spacing of the electron beam filaments correlates with the wavelength of the plasma wave. The electron beam filaments appear as vertical slabs after the beam exits the plasma waves. The electron beam also compresses to a focus after it exits the plasma, and the focal distance depends on several parameters including the electron beam energy and phase velocity of the relativistic plasma wave. It is suggested that these focusing and filamentation phenomena may be the basis for diagnostics schemes for laser plasma interactions. The parameters used in the model were electron beam energies in the 5-50 keV range and plasma wave properties typical for the beat-wave produced by CO2 lasers, which correspond to the facilities available in our laboratory. The limitations of these results to lower energy density beam and plasma regimes and to higher energy density regimes will be discussed.

LINGUISTIC MEMORY STUDIES: TRACK RECORD AND PROSPECTS

The paper discusses potential prospects of expanding the official limits of contemporary language theory as to bring into its focus phenomena syncretically connected with the language and speech faculty but formally standing outside the linguistic field of study. Specifically, the author raises the question of legitimizing the area of linguistic research dealing with studies of verbal representation of memory, mnemonic phenomena and memorial practices. The emergence of linguistic memory studies as a new discipline is in line with the present-day vibrant research in humanities and agrees with prime trends in cognitive science. The paper states that integrating various studies of memory as a linguocognitive system of organizing personal and collective experience into a common framework could homogenize results achieved in different fields and lay a solid foundation for future advances. It is suggested that linguistic memory studies should rely upon the cognitive-communicative paradigm currently gaining momentum in linguistics. The basic principles of the cognitive-communicative approach include that of communication cognitivity and communicative determinedness of cognitive processes. The paper enunciates issues of current interest in studies of memory that could be resolved within the cognitive-communicative paradigm and discusses perspectives for future research related to cultural, social, psychological, gender, age and professional factors.

Treatment of Soil Polluted with Cadmium by Electrokinetics with Solar Power: Effects of Electrolyte

The research aims to analyse the treatment possibility of Cd-polluted soil using electrokinetics driven by solar power in comparison with driving by direct current power. Meanwhile, the effects of electrolyte on electrokinetics were investigated. Five runs of electrokinetics were carried out using different electrolytes and energy sources. Experimental results showed that the combined application of electrokinetics and solar power was effective for the treatment of Cd-polluted soil and electrolyte-affected Cd removal significantly. Run B (direct current power, KNO3 as anolyte, HCl as catholyte, the removal efficiency of Cd was 91.5%) had the highest removal efficiency in all runs because of stable working voltage, the highest electro-osmotic flow, and the advantages of using HCl as catholyte which could dissolve Cd(OH)2 of the cathode region and reduce focusing phenomena. In run C (solar power, KNO3 as anolyte, HCl as catholyte, the removal efficiency of Cd was 84.21%), replacing direct current power with solar power could not only reduce energy consumption but also provide better efficiency in Cd removal under fine weather conditions. Meanwhile, electrokinetics changed the chemical forms of Cd in soil. After electrokinetics, Cd of soil existed mainly in less toxic residual fraction.

Focusing characteristics of linearly polarized ultrashort pulses at the focal plane.

The dynamic focusing characteristics of linearly polarized ultrashort pulses are studied. Both the complex source-sink model (CSSM) and the Richards-Wolf diffraction integral theory (RWT) are used to study the focusing phenomena. For the central focus spot, the descriptions of both the CSSM and the RWT are well consistent. Also, the CSSM can describe the super-resolution focused spot very conveniently, and only the beam waist parameters need to be changed. The dynamic convergence and divergence focusing phenomena of linearly polarized ultrashort pulse are studied by both the CSSM and RWT. The numerical simulation results of both the CSSM and the RWT are not consistent. In the convergent focusing process, there are dynamic focusing phenomena transitions from the halo to two light lobes to the elliptical focus spot. In the divergent defocusing process, the phenomena are the inverse process of the phenomena in the focusing process. The peak power of halos versus the beam convergence angles are studied. The specific angles corresponding to the significantly reduced peak powers of halos are given. These studies may be applied in the field of particle manipulation and acceleration.

The upper limit and lift force within inertial focusing in high aspect ratio curved microfluidics

Microfluidics exploiting the phenomenon of inertial focusing have attracted much attention in the last decade as they provide the means to facilitate the detection and analysis of rare particles of interest in complex fluids such as blood and natural water. Although many interesting applications have been demonstrated, the systems remain difficult to engineer. A recently presented line of the technology, inertial focusing in High Aspect Ratio Curved microfluidics, has the potential to change this and make the benefits of inertial focusing more accessible to the community. In this paper, with experimental evidence and fluid simulations, we provide the two necessary equations to design the systems and successfully focus the targets in a single, stable, and high-quality position. The experiments also revealed an interesting scaling law of the lift force, which we believe provides a valuable insight into the phenomenon of inertial focusing.

Effect of Rehydration Ratio and Inlet Pressure on Shock Wave Focus in Hemispherical Concave Cavity

Shock wave focus is a phenomenon where energy is rapidly converged in a small area of the medium through the interaction of shock waves, resulting in extremely high temperature and pressure near the aerodynamic focus. Experimental and numerical studies are in progress using the high energy area generated by shock wave focus to induce detonation to study shock wave focus phenomenon, the experiments of shock wave focus in the hemispherical concave cavity was carried out. The emphasis is placed on the effect of ring vent width and inlet pressure. By comparing the peak pressure at the bottom of the concave cavity under different ring vent widths, it was found that the reflection of the incident shock wave formed in the channel decreased with the width of the ring vent as well as the intensity of the shock wave increased. The greater the intensity, the more likely it is to produce the focusing of the shock wave. When the subsonic speed airflow flowed into the cavity through the ring vent, it was found that under the influence of the reflection of the concave cavity and complex motion of shock wave, a local high temperature and high pressure area was formed. By comparing the pressure spectrum at the bottom of the concave cavity under different flow pressures, it was found that with the increase of the flow pressure, there were two whistling modes on the spectrum map, C1 and D1 modes, respectively. It was also found that the pressure pulsation in the concave cavity was more disordered and the magnitude was smaller when the inlet pressure decreased, which means the shock waves were not well focused. It can be concluded that in ignition experiments, inlet pressure is significant to shock wave focusing phenomenon and there is a prompt rehydration ratio which lead to better shock wave focusing.

РЕАЛИСТИЧЕСКАЯ СТРАТЕГИЯ ПОП-АРТА В ОПТИКЕ СТРУКТУРНОГО ПСИХОАНАЛИЗА ЖАКА ЛАКАНА

Pop-art challenges the boundaries of art, polemicize with the traditional idea of a valuable piece of art, not only operating its inner, objective substance, but also transforming the external cultural context – art-object becomes a subject of the art-discourse, and its utterances built in a frame of the consumer paradigm. An open integration of a piece of art into the discourses, which are conterminous to the art, permits to speak about a specific realistic quality of the artistic strategies of pop-art. The investigations of American pop-art rely heavily on the aesthetic tradition of postfreidism, foregrounding the methods of the structural psychoanalysis developed by Jacques Lacan. The present article is devoted to the research of the American pop-art realistic strategy in a dialogue with the psychical structure of a perceiving subject. The problematization of the pop-art phenomenon in focus of Lacanian theory, the main concept of which is a subject/person of language, reveals the paradoxical nature of a piece of art as a sign, which in a same time locks the circuit of signifiers and refers something beyond its limits.

Sonic Boom: From the Physics of Nonlinear Waves to Acoustic Ecology (a Review)

A history of the topic is presented. First, information is given about the development of supersonic aviation. Then, the history of studying the phenomenon of sonic boom generated by flying bullets and projectiles is briefly described. The results of the renowned aeroacoustic scientists K. Doppler and E. Mach are presented, as well as little-known historical facts found in old foreign sources. The need for correct use of the term “sonic boom” is pointed out, which is not limited to aviation acoustics problems, but is inherent to many natural and technogenic phenomena. A 100-year priority of the acoustic effect over its weaker optical counterpart, Vavilov–Cherenkov radiation, is mentioned. Problems related to calculating the generation of perturbations in the interaction of transonic and supersonic flows with real bodies are described: the need to take into account the details of the shape of the aerodynamic profile, peculiarities in the behavior of the boundary layer, the formation of shock waves, generation of flow turbulence, and the kinetics (relaxation and dissociation) of atmospheric gases. The phenomenon of wave resonance, responsible for the formation of the boom when breaking the sound barrier, is discussed. Nonlinear processes in N-wave formation in the propagation of complexly shaped signal are described. The influence of the main effects distorting the N-shaped profile is explained: diffraction, focusing, and multiple relaxation phenomena broadening the shock front. The theory of N-waves in an inhomogeneous medium is discussed. Examples of ray patterns in a standard atmosphere and in the region behind the turbulent boundary layer are constructed. Calculation methods based on nonlinear geometric acoustics and nonlinear quasioptics approximations are presented. Problems related to the consequences of sonic booms and their harmful effects on the environment, structures, and living organisms are indicated. An extensive bibliography and a list of fundamental reviews in the domestic and foreign literature are presented.

The flexural-wave-based lens design for energy focusing via the trajectory prediction and the phase modulation

A plane lens that has the ability of focusing the flexural wave emitting from a point source into a focal point has been successfully designed by two methods, i.e., the trajectory prediction and the phase modulation. For the trajectory prediction, the lens makes the flexural waves along different paths arriving at the focal point simultaneously. For the phase modulation, the lens is designed via letting the waves producing the same phase at the theoretical focal position. Correspondingly, two media with the flexural wave velocity respectively larger and smaller than that in the matrix plate are adopted to construct the lens. The results show that the two methods are available because the wave energy at the actual focal positions has been respectively enlarged nearly 20 and 22 times after passing through the lens, compared with the case of a flat plate without any lenses. Meanwhile, both of lenses based on the two methods are broadband, and can work efficiently in the regions centered the designed frequency. Actually, not limited by the wave focusing phenomenon, the two methods presented in this paper are generalized applicable, which is exemplified by steering the flexural wave propagation at a random refraction angle.

Diffraction Focusing of Electromagnetic Radiation by Transmission through Sub-Wavelength Nanoapertures

It is shown theoretically, that the phenomenon of radiation focusing in a small region of the near zone inside a dielectric film can present due to electromagnetic wave transmission through sub-wavelength nanoapertures. The confirmation is based on the rigorous theory of plane wave diffraction by a slot in a perfectly conducting screen of finite thickness in the presence of a plane dielectric film on a substrate, which plays the role of a radiation detector.

Reconfigurable Acoustic Arrays With Deployable Structure Based on a Hoberman–Miura System Synthesis

Abstract Curved surfaces are often used to radiate and focus acoustic waves. Yet, when tessellated into reconfigurable surfaces for sake of deployability needs, origami-inspired acoustic arrays may be challenging to hold into curved shape and may not retain flat foldability. On the other hand, deployable mechanisms such as the Hoberman ring are as low-dimensional as many origami tessellations and may maintain curved shape with ease due to ideal rigid bar compositions. This research explores an interface between a Hoberman ring and Miura-ori tessellation that maintain kinematic and geometric compatibility for sake of maintaining curved shapes for sound focusing. The Miura-ori facets are considered to vibrate like baffled pistons and generate acoustic waves that radiate from the ring structure. An analytical model is built to reveal the near field acoustic behavior of acoustic arrays resulting from a Hoberman–Miura system synthesis. Acoustic wave focusing capability is scrutinized and validated through proof-of-principle experiments. Studies reveal wave focusing phenomena distinct to this manifestation of the acoustic array and uncover design and operational influences on wave focusing effectiveness. The results encourage exploration of new interfaces between reconfigurable mechanisms and origami devices where low-dimensional shape change is desired.

Self-focusing in nodal semimetals

We analyze the Kerr index, associated critical power, and focal length for nodal semimetals in a Weyl, Dirac, and gapped semimetal phase. Our model produces a Kerr index of 10 − 15 − 10 − 20 m 2 / W in the micro-meter wavelength range. Novel dependence of the Kerr index, critical power, and focal length on temperature, chemical potential, bandgap, and node separation are readily obtained through our model and show that the tunability of the non-linear response of a nodal semimetal persists in its focusing phenomenon.

Religious Leaders in Politics: Rio de Janeiro Under the Mayor-Bishop in the Times of the Pandemic

The authors discuss the phenomenon of religious and political leadership focusing on Bishop Marcelo Crivella from the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (IURD), the current mayor of the city of Rio de Janeiro, in the context of the political involvement of his religious institution and the beginnings of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the article, selected concepts of leadership are applied in the background of the theories of a religious field, existential security, and the market theory of religion, to analyze the case of the IURD leadership political involvement and bishop/mayor Crivella’s city management before and during the pandemic, in order to show how his office constitutes an important part of the strategies of growth implemented by the IURD charismatic leader Edir Macedo, the founder and the head of this religious institution and, at the same time, Crivella’s uncle. The authors prove how Crivella’s policies mingle the religious and the political according to Macedo’s political alliances at the federal level, in order to strengthen the church and assure its political influence.

A Consideration of the Relationship Between Music and Collective Identity: From the Viewpoint of Cultural Psychology of Music

The aim of the present study lies in an effort of converging anthropological, ethnomusicological and psychological approach to the relationship between music and collective identity. Music is considered a socio-cultural artifact, which mediates the processes of collective identity construction, and whose function in such process can be multiple. In order to understand the ways in which it is sutured into (in)formal processes of collective (self)identification, we propose simultaneous consideration of various dimensions: cultural, social, political, psychological. Although there already has been interdisciplinary research of the role of music in the emergence of identity, we advocate for a more complementary approach, by a consideration of the psychological accounts, adjusted to the needs of ethno-anthropological analysis. As the most comprehensive theoretical approach, we propose cultural psychology of music. Future empirical research on specific identity processes mediation by music as cultural artifact, should include the analysis of intersecting local and global social trends, aspects of musicological analysis, specificities of psychological development of identity, the role of socio-political strategies of identity formation, and, last but not least, cultural specificity of the community in focus of the research. We find the complexity of the phenomenon in focus to be obligatory for the complexity of the theoretical and methodological approach.

Electrokinetic stacking of particle zones in confined channels enabling their UV absorbance detection on microchips

In this article, we report a simple approach to stacking micro- and nanoparticle zones by electrokinetically migrating them through moderately confined channels of uniform cross-section. Experiments show the reported pre-concentration process to initiate at the tail end of the zone following its electrokinetic injection, with the stacked region migrating faster than the rest of the sample band. This effect causes the particles traveling in front to merge into the stacked region making it grow both in size and concentration. Because the stacked zone also gradually loses particles from its trailing edge, it eventually disintegrates upon running out of particles at its front end. Nevertheless, enhancements in peak height by over 100-fold were recorded using the reported approach for polystyrene beads with diameters comparable to the channel depth. This enhancement however, exhibited a temporal variation as the particle band migrated through the analysis column reaching a maximum value that depended on the particle diameter, particle concentration, channel depth, electric field strength, electroosmotic mobility, etc. Interestingly, the peak area recorded by the detector remained relatively constant during this particle migration period allowing reliable sample quantitation. Moreover, upon incubating antibody-coated particles against an antigen sample, the peak area for the particle zone was seen to scale linearly with the antigen concentration establishing the utility of the reported focusing phenomenon for chemical/biochemical analysis. The noted stacking technique was further applied to enabling UV absorbance detection of particle zones on microchips which then allowed us to determine the colloidal content in actual natural water samples. .

Surface Evolution and Wave Loads on a Horizontal Plate in Different Tsunami-like Waves

Physical experiments are conducted to study the interaction between the tsunami-like waves and the horizontal plate. The surface evolution and wave-induced loads are measured to explore the hydrodynamic characteristics when different waves are employed to simulate the tsunami. The solitary wave, surge wave, and undular bore are generated in laboratory as the simplification of the offshore tsunami wave. The bottom-fixed plate places near the free surface. It is found that the elevated plate attenuates the solitary waves locally, while the submerged plate leads to the wave focus phenomenon. The plate has less influence on the surface variation of the surge wave propagating. Results of loads show the different loading process of each tsunami-like wave. The inertial wave force and the local pressure from the rising surface dominate the inline force and vertical force, respectively. The value of loads induced by the surge wave is less than that of the solitary wave. The undular bore is generated by the superimposition of the solitary wave on the surge wave. The part of the solitary wave plays a local role in the wave force, while the surge part dominates the surface evolution.