Scattering of SH Waves by Truncated Semicircular Canyon

The judicious region-matching technique is adopted to derive a series solution for shear horizontal waves scattering from a truncated semicircular canyon on the ground surface. A circular-arc auxiliary boundary is introduced to divide the analyzed region into two subregions. The antiplane motion of each subregion is represented in terms of an infinite series of cylindrical wavefunctions with unknown coefficients. By employing the Graf’s addition formula, boundary conditions on the curved canyon surface and continuity conditions on the auxiliary boundary, the unknown coefficients can be determined. Two modifications of the present theoretical derivation are done for the semicircular canyon and free surface cases. The plotted results reveal how the surface displacement amplitudes are influenced by varying the truncation depth.     

Granular Bed Baffled Reactor (Grabbr): Solution to a Two-Phase Anaerobic Digestion System

A single unit anaerobic granular bed baffled reactor (GRABBR) is proposed as an alternative to a separately operated two-phase anaerobic digestion system. This overcomes the problems related to wastewater treatment at high loading rates which usually results in accumulation of intermediate acid products, and consequently inhibits methanogenesis. This study was carried out to evaluate the stability of a five compartment GRABBR system when treating synthetic glucose wastewater at various operational conditions. The reactor was started with volumetric organic loading rate (OLR) of 1 kg chemical oxygen demand (COD)/m3?day, equivalent to 120 h hydraulic retention time (HRT), and loading rates were gradually increased at suitable intervals to up to 20 kg COD/m3?day (6 h HRT). At steady state, the overall soluble COD (SCOD) removal was over 95% under all applied loading conditions. At lower loadings, the reactor operated as a completely mixed system, and most of the treatment was achieved in the first compartment. At higher loadings, the entire system transformed into different phases, acidogenesis being dominant near the influent point, whilst methanogenesis was the main activity in the compartments near the effluent point. Granule breaking and flotation was observed in the acidogenic zone, whilst the methanogenic zone retained its original granular form. High assimilation rate of influent nitrogen was observed in the first compartment with the formation of nongranular biomass, identified as Klebsiella pneumoniae. The success of GRABBR as a single unit two-phase anaerobic digestion system could save the cost of an extra unit traditionally employed to achieve similar goals in treatment of high strength wastewaters.     

Independent retrieval of source dimensions: An extension of results by Starns and Hicks (2005) and a comment on the ACSIM measure.

Recently, J. J. Starns and J. L. Hicks (2005) have argued that source dimensions are retrieved independently from memory (see record 2005-15992-004). In their innovative experiment, manipulating the retrievability of 1 source feature did not affect memory for a 2nd feature. Following C. S. Dodson and A. P. Shimamura (2000; see record 2000-08540-012), the authors argue that the source memory measure that Starns and Hicks used (known as the average conditional source identification measure) is vulnerable to a response bias in this particular paradigm, and this may undermine Starns and Hicks's conclusion. Starns and Hicks, however, acknowledged this possibility. The authors substantiate this claim by a simulation and by replicating Starns and Hicks's experiment. In 2 further experiments, the authors use an extended multinomial model to analyze data showing that Starns and Hicks's conclusion holds even if results cannot be attributed to response biases. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rapid detection of snakes by Japanese monkeys (Macaca fuscata): An evolutionarily predisposed visual system.

Humans appear extremely sensitive to biologically threatening stimuli, such as snakes. In visual search tasks, humans respond to pictures of snakes faster than pictures of flowers. The authors report that macaque monkeys (Macaca fuscata), reared in a laboratory and with no experience with snakes, respond, as do humans, to pictures of snakes among flowers faster than vice versa (Experiment 1). This was also the case when grayscale pictures were used (Experiment 2). These results provide the first evidence of enhanced visual detection of evolutionarily relevant threat stimuli in nonhuman primates. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive decline and human (Homo sapiens) aging: An investigation using a comparative neuropsychological approach.

Using a comparative neuropsychological approach, the authors compared performance of younger and healthy older adults ages 65 and over on tasks originally developed to measure cognition in animals. A battery of 6 tasks was used to evaluate object discrimination, egocentric spatial abilities, visual and spatial working memory, and response shifting. Older adults performed more poorly than younger adults on tasks that evaluate egocentric spatial abilities, response shifting, and to a lesser extent object recognition. The two groups did not differ for tasks that evaluate spatial working memory and object discrimination. The impairments the authors observed in tasks that evaluate response shifting and object recognition are consistent with those found in canines and primates as well as those found in Alzheimer's disease. The results are consistent with the notion that cognitive processes supported by the amygdala and the orbitofrontal cortex are among the first to decline with increasing age in both humans and animals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Visuospatial reaching preferences of common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus): An assessment of individual biases across a variety of tasks.

Using multiple measures of hand preference, the authors investigated lateralization at an individual level in 21 common marmosets. Despite showing group biases for sensory and communication functions, these same marmosets did not show a group bias in direction of lateralized hand use. Hand preferences were recorded on four novel reaching tasks requiring different levels of visual guidance and postural control. As found for simple food holding (with the same subjects), they displayed strong individual hand preferences but no group bias indicative of handedness. The strength of hand preference was influenced by task demands: stronger preferences were expressed when subjects adopted a suspended posture, and when "successful" versus "unsuccessful" foraging strategies were compared. Comparisons between visuospatial reaching and simple food holding preferences also revealed that half of the subjects displayed a division of function between the hands/hemispheres; subjects displayed opposing preferences in simple and visuospatial reaching, which would be beneficial for the performance of coordinated bimanual tasks. Given the apparent absence of a selective advantage for handedness, the authors suggest that hand preferences may reflect hemispheric dominance of other cognitive domains (i.e., temperament). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of Initial pH and Linoleic Acid (C18:2) on Hydrogen Production by a Mesophilic Anaerobic Mixed Culture

Hydrogen production from glucose using a mixed anaerobic culture was assessed under batch conditions by adjusting the initial pH and adding linoleic acid (LA). At an initial pH of 5.0, hydrogen (1.9?mol?H2?mol?1 glucose) was detected after the first glucose injection in the controls (no LA added). At the latter initial pH and in cultures fed 2,000?mg?l?1 LA, the yield reached a maximum of 2.4?mol?H2?mol?1 glucose when glucose was injected again. Hydrogen was detected after the second glucose injection in cultures with the initial pH adjusted to 5.0 and 6.0. In cultures receiving LA and adjusted to pH 7.6, the hydrogen yield reached 1.4?mol?H2?mol?1 glucose when glucose was injected again. Acetate, propionate, and butyrate were detected under all conditions; however, the quantities were variable and dependent on the conditions examined. In comparison to the amount of volatile fatty acids produced, relatively low quantities of alcohols (ethanol, i-propanol, n-butanol, and i-butanol) were detected during the initial lag phase of 96?to?120?h.     

"Social influences on the selection of a protein-sufficient diet by Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus)": Correction to Beck and Galef (1989).

Reports an error in "Social influences on the selection of a protein-sufficient diet by Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus)" by Matthew Beck and Bennett G. Galef (Journal of Comparative Psychology, 1989[Jun], Vol 103[2], 132-139). There was a misstatement. On page 137, second column, second paragraph, the sentence that begins on line 7 ought to read as follows: Protected t tests revealed that subjects in the Different Food-Same Place Group gained a significantly smaller percentage of body weight than did subjects in each of the other two groups (LSD = .67, both ps 1989-31944-001.) Investigated effects of interactions between naive and knowledgeable rats (Rattus norvegicus) on selection of a nutritionally adequate diet by the naive. We found that during a 7-day test, isolated rats choosing among 4 foods, 3 of which were protein-deficient and 1 of which was protein-rich, failed to learn to prefer the protein-rich diet and lost weight. Conversely, those rats that interacted with conspecifics trained to eat the protein-rich diet developed a strong preference for that diet and thrived. The authors also found that Ss were more strongly influenced in their diet selection by the flavor of the foods eaten by conspecifics than by the locations where conspecifics fed. The results suggest that social influence may be important in development of adaptive patterns of diet choice by rats (or other dietary generalists) that need to find nutritionally adequate diets in demanding environments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Simultaneous development of vocal and physical object combinations by a grey parrot (Psittaus erithacus): Bottle caps, lids, and labels.

On the basis of primarily behavioral data, researchers (e.g., P. M. Greenfield, 1991) have argued (a) that parallel development of communicative and physical object (manual) combinatorial abilities exists in young children; (b) that these abilities initially have a common neural substrate; (c) that a homologous substrate in great apes allows for similar, if limited, parallel development of these 2 abilities; and (d) that such abilities thus may indicate a shared evolutionary history for both communicative and physical behavior (J. Johnson-Pynn, D. M. Fragaszy, E. M. Hirsh, K. E. Brakke, & P. M. Greenfield, 1999). The authors of the present study found a comparable, if limited, parallel combinatorial development in a Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus). Given the evolutionary distance between parrots and primates, the authors suggest that the search for and arguments concerning responsible substrates and common behavior should be approached with care and should not be restricted to the primate line. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The use of bouts and frequencies in the evaluation of hand preferences for a coordinated bimanual task in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): An empirical study comparing two different indices of laterality.

Hand preferences for a coordinated bimanual task were assessed in 109 chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Hand preference was evaluated for 4 test sessions using bouts and frequencies of hand use to compare the sensitivity of each level of analysis in evaluating individual variation in handedness. Overall, significant population-level right-handedness was found using several different measures of hand use. Handedness indices based on bouts and frequencies were highly and significantly correlated. Moreover, hand preferences were consistent across tests despite efforts to situationally bias preference during each test. Taken together, these data do not support the view that bouts are a better level of analysis for evaluating hand preference. The results further suggest that hand preferences for coordinated bimanual actions are not influenced by situational factors and may reflect an inherent specialization of the left hemisphere for motor skill. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preparation of M2B5O9Cl:Eu2+(M=Sr,Ca) blue phosphors by a facile low-temperature self-reduction method and their enhanced luminescent properties

In this work,through a facile method of low-temperature(only 350 ℃) self-reduction,1D nano-sized M₂B₅O₉CI:Eu²⁺(M=Sr,Ca) blue phosphors with highly efficient performance can be obtained.The crystal structure,morphology and photoluminescence(PL) properties including thermal stability of M₂B₅O₉CI:Eu²⁺(M=Sr,Ca) phosphors were investigated.The M₂B₅O₉CI:Eu²⁺(M=Sr,Ca) phos...