Northern Illinois University

About: Northern Illinois University is a education organization based out in DeKalb, Illinois, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Large Hadron Collider & Population. The organization has 8818 authors who have published 20008 publications receiving 632341 citations. The organization is also known as: NIU.

An approach through the looking-glass

Abstract: Forty food-deprived cockerel chicks were tested individually in a straight runway containing a familiar food cup that moved when the chicks moved. The food cup always moved in the same direction as the chick: For 20 experimental chicks it moved twice as far as the chick; for 20 control chicks it moved half as far. In Lewis Carroll’s (1898/1926) picturesque terminology, the experimental chicks were tested in Alice’s “room through the looking-glass,” in which, in order to approach the food cup, they had to “walk the other way.” Although the control chicks performed well, the experimental chicks evinced the runway behavior that characterizes positive feedback: They persistently chased the food cup away. This means that the spatial polarity of visual feedback is critical and implies that an ordinary approach response is but an automatic (closed-loop) realization of an intended visual perception.

Perceived Social Support among High-Stress Adolescents The Role of Peers and Family

Abstract: A total of 505 students from the 11th and 12th grade participated in a study investigating the moderating effects of perceived family and peer social support among a group of adolescents experiencing elevated levels of stress. Both intemalizing and externalizing symptomatology were examined through the use of self-report inventories assessing depression and delinquent behaviors. Adolescents with high perceived family support reported fewer depression and delinquency outcomes. Adolescents with high perceived peer support presented a more complicated pattern, reporting lower levels of depression but inconsistent levels of delinquent behaviors. Additionally, gender of the adolescent emerged as an important individual difference. The complexity of the social support construct and its role as a buffer against psychopathology among adolescents experiencing high levels of stress are discussed.

Asymmetric Orbital-Lattice Interactions in Ultrathin Correlated Oxide Films

Abstract: Using resonant x-ray spectroscopies combined with density functional calculations, we find an asymmetric biaxial strain-induced d-orbital response in ultrathin films of the correlated metal LaNiO3 which are not accessible in the bulk. The sign of the misfit strain governs the stability of an octahedral ‘‘breathing’’ distortion, which, in turn, produces an emergent charge-ordered ground state with an altered ligand-hole density and bond covalency. Control of this new mechanism opens a pathway to rational orbital engineering, providing a platform for artificially designed Mott materials.

Methylglyoxal Bypass Identified as Source of Chiral Contamination in l (+) and d (−)-lactate Fermentations by Recombinant Escherichia coli

Abstract: Two new strains of Escherichia coli B were engineered for the production of lactate with no detectable chiral impurity. All chiral impurities were eliminated by deleting the synthase gene (msgA) that converts dihydroxyacetone-phosphate to methylglyoxal, a precursor for both l(+)- and d(−)-lactate. Strain TG113 contains only native genes and produced optically pure d(−)-lactate. Strain TG108 contains the ldhL gene from Pediococcus acidilactici and produced only l(+)-lactate. In mineral salts medium containing 1 mM betaine, both strains produced over 115 g (1.3 mol) lactate from 12% (w/v) glucose, >95% theoretical yield.