Pennsylvania State University

Dimer-interface effects on tetramer stabilization and tryptophan dynamics in allosterically modulated TPH-II

Tryptophan hydroxylase-II (TPH-II) controls the rate-limiting step of neuronal serotonin biosynthesis and plays a central role in neuropsychiatric health. As proper tetramer formation is essential for TPH-II stability and function, targeting its quaternary structure through allos...

How Criminal History Informs—and Misinforms—Decision-Making in the Criminal Legal System

Criminal history is among the most influential factors shaping decisions in the modern criminal legal system. Prior record affects outcomes at every stage, from charging through parole. Although long considered relevant to punishment, contemporary policies and practices dispropor...

Application of machine learning for identifying plutonium diversion in molten salt reactors

Molten salt reactors (MSRs) have advantages over traditional light water reactors; however, nuclear material safeguards remain an obstacle to their deployment. The nontraditional liquid fuel of the MSR designs examined in this work and additional material flow streams create chal...

Advertising with HAART: Introducing Human–AI Asymmetric Relationship Theory

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI)is rapidly reconfiguring advertising from message delivery and optimization to relationship-like exchanges between consumers and brands. While existing work has explained these interactions through social response accounts and interperson...

Perceived reliability modulates predictions: foreign accent effects on gender processing

In two experiments, the study explores how listeners adapt their predictions to the perceived reliability of a speaker by investigating whether native German listeners use gender cues on articles to predict upcoming nouns (e.g. dermasc → Mannmasc/Käsemasc “the → man/cheese”) in e...

Chirality-Induced One-Way Magnetoresistance in Gold Nanocrystals

Abstract Magnetoresistance (MR), a cornerstone for quantum materials and quantum devices, is usually symmetric (sometimes antisymmetric) under magnetic field reversal. Here, we report a chirality-induced one-way magnetoresistance (ChiMR) in gold nanocrystals, where MR is strongly...

Universal Dilation of Linear Itô SDEs: Quantum Trajectories and Lindblad Simulation of Second Moments

We present a universal framework for simulating N -dimensional linear Itô stochastic differential equations (SDEs) on quantum computers with additive or multiplicative noises. Building on a unitary dilation technique, we establish a rigorous mapping from the general linear SDEs d...

Fairness Invariants: A Relational Approach to Explaining and Mitigating Fairness Bugs

Data-driven software systems are increasingly deployed in high-stakes socio-economic domains, from criminal justice to financial lending. However, these systems often exhibit individual discrimination—unjustified disparities in which a program yields different outcomes for simila...

Evaluating the Reliability, Accuracy, and Readability of ChatGPT-3.5 and GPT-4 in Providing Patient Education Related to Glenohumeral Joint Osteoarthritis.

OBJECTIVES: Chatbots have been increasingly recognized as modern tools that provide patients with reliable health-related information. This study aimed to evaluate and compare ChatGPT-3.5 and GPT-4's ability to answer glenohumeral osteoarthritis-related questions. METHODS: Fiftee...

The first annotated checklist of the bees of Colombia reveals an overlooked diversity and areas with major data deficiencies

Background Most existing knowledge about bee biodiversity comes from temperate regions, where diversity is presumed highest—yet substantial data gaps across the tropics confound this pattern. Checklists are critical for documenting species presence, identifying knowledge gaps, an...

How Terrain Geometry and Environmental Instability Shape Precipitation in Mountain‐Crossing Mesoscale Convective Systems

Abstract This study uses idealized large‐eddy simulations to systematically examine how terrain geometry and environmental instability modulate precipitation produced by a mountain‐crossing mesoscale convective system (MCS). A suite of simulations isolates the effects of base‐sta...

Landscape and mutational dynamics of G-quadruplexes across the complete human genome

Abstract Background G-quadruplexes (G4s) are alternative DNA structures with diverse biological roles, but their examination in highly repetitive parts of the human genome has been hindered by the lack of reliable sequencing technologies. Recent long-read based genome assemblies...

Genomic and biochemical contexts determine the physiological role of a horizontally acquired gene

ABSTRACT The horizontally acquired mgtC gene from Salmonella enterica confers on this bacterium the abilities to survive episodes of magnesium (Mg 2+ ) starvation and to replicate in mammalian macrophages. The former property allows bacteria to persist in the environment during M...

PPG as a Bridge: Cross-Device Authentication for Smart Wearables with Photoplethysmography

As smart wearable devices become increasingly powerful and pervasive, protecting user privacy on these devices has emerged as a critical challenge. While existing authentication mechanisms are available for interaction-rich devices such as smartwatches, enabling on-device authent...

Women's identity as forest owners: Exploring perceptions and responses to forest management amidst changing climate

Background Women in the United States are increasingly acquiring forest land through inheritance and/or direct purchase. This trend presents an opportunity for women to contribute meaningfully to climate change solutions through effective forest management. However, historical ge...

Social bilingual language use is associated with neural efficiency in inhibitory control: Evidence from ERPs

Abstract Cognitive control supports flexible goal maintenance and conflict resolution. Although bilingual experience has been proposed to enhance its efficiency through sustained language control, emerging evidence suggests these effects reflect adaptive recalibration driven by i...

Hydrothermally assisted sintering of calcium hydroxide sputtering targets: a route to quantum-grade CaO thin films

Abstract In this report, we demonstrate dense polycrystalline calcium hydroxide ceramics fabricated by hydrothermally assisted sintering—often referred to as cold sintering—to produce high-purity calcium hydroxide targets for calcium oxide thin film deposition. Calcium hydroxide...

Herodotus on the death of Atys: an Anatolian heroic archetype

Abstract Herodotus’ story of the death of Atys, son of Croesus (1.34–45), has long been seen as an example of his willingness to embroider if not invent stories to give his narrative dramatic effect. Images on a distinctive class of funerary monuments from Anatolia demonstrate th...

Epitaxially Integrated Electro‐Optic KNbO 3 Thin Films on Silicon

ABSTRACT The absence of a native electro‐optic effect in silicon remains a fundamental limitation for integrated photonics, motivating the integration of ferroelectric oxides as active materials. Here, we report the first epitaxial integration of KNbO 3 thin films on silicon, est...

Comprehensive Psychometric Evaluation of the Child/Adult and Family Quality of Life Scale : Third Edition

PURPOSE: Quality of life (QoL) has become a key concept for understanding the impact of neurodevelopmental conditions and for monitoring intervention progress. Existing QoL measures often focus on health-related QoL in neurotypical populations or were developed specifically for a...