David W. Johnson: Award for Distinguished Contributions of Applications of Psychology to Education and Training.

Provides the biography of David W. Johnson and announces that he has won the Award for Distinguished Contributions of Applications of Psychology to Education and Training for programmatic research, comprehensive research reviews, and revision of theory over four decades of persistence that have provided the knowledge foundation for cooperative learning, constructive controversy, conflict resolution, and peer mediation training. A selected bibliography is also provided. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Low temperature adsorption of ethylene and butadiene on platinum and palladium surfaces: A theoretical study of the diσ/π competition

The different low temperature coordination modes of ethylene and butadiene on a platinum (111) face, (110) face and on a palladium (111) face are compared on the basis of extended Hückel calculations. The nature of the chemical interaction between the olefin and the surface is detailed and the electronic factors that govern the coordination mode of the hydrocarbon are underlined. The different surfaces are modelled by a 49 or a 44 atoms cluster. A correction is applied in the calculation in order to minimize the artefact introduced by this cluster representation of an extended surface. For the adsorption, the respective importance of two electrons interactions and four electrons repulsions is the key point for the determination of the preferred mode. The di- coordination is more stable on platinum (111) but on the platinum (110) face the coordination yields the same adsorption energy than the di- one. This is roughly the same result for the palladium (111) face. The mode is there favored by a decrease of the four electrons repulsions caused either by a smaller number of metal neighbours for the surface atom (Pt(110)) or by a reduced radial expansion of the metal orbitals (Pd(111)). This coordination is associated with a smaller hybridization of the ethylene molecule. The results are extended to the adsorption of butadiene and this allows a qualitative explanation of the better selectivity for butadiene partial hydrogenation on palladium compared with platinum.     

Ruthenium‐Catalyzed One‐Pot Tandem Isomerization–Transfer Hydrogenation Reactions of γ‐Trifluoromethylated Allylic Alcohols and β‐Trifluoromethylated Enones

The ruthenium–2‐propanol combination was found to transform γ‐trifluoromethylated allylic alcohols and β‐trifluoromethylated enones into the corresponding saturated alcohols in excellent yields via a one‐pot tandem process involving isomerization and transfer hydrogenation(s). High stereospecificity was demonstrated and evidence for two mechanistic pathways is provided. The method was applied to a rapid synthesis of trifluoromethylated citronellol.     

Charge‐recombination processes in oligomer‐ and polymer‐based light‐emitting diodes: A molecular picture

Abstract— An overview of our recent work on the mechanisms of singlet and triplet exciton formation in electroluminescent π‐conjugated materials will be presented. According to simple spin statistics, only one‐fourth of the excitons are formed as singlets. However, deviations from that statistics can occur if the initially formed triplet charge‐transfer (CT) excited states are amenable to intersystem crossing or dissociation. Although the electronic couplings between the CT states and the neutral exciton states are expected to be largest for the lowest singlet and triplet excitons (S¹ and T¹, respectively), the possibility for direct recombination into T¹ is always very small due to the large exchange energy. In small molecules, spin statistics is expected to be observed because both singlet and triplet exciton formations proceed via higher‐lying S_n/T_n states with similar electronic couplings and fast formation rates. In extended conjugated chains, however, that the ¹CT → S¹ pathway is faster while the ³CT → ^Tn channels become much slower, opening the route to intersystem crossing or dissociation among the ³CT states.     

Automatic fog detection and estimation of visibility distance through use of an onboard camera

In this paper, we will present a technique for measuring visibility distances under foggy weather conditions using a camera mounted onboard a moving vehicle. Our research has focused in particular on the problem of detecting daytime fog and estimating visibility distances; thanks to these efforts, an original method has been developed, tested and patented. The approach consists of dynamically implementing Koschmieder's law. Our method enables computing the meteorological visibility distance, a measure defined by the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) as the distance beyond which a black object of an appropriate dimension is perceived with a contrast of less than 5%. Our proposed solution is an original one, featuring the advantage of utilizing a single camera and necessitating the presence of just the road and sky in the scene. As opposed to other methods that require the explicit extraction of the road, this method offers fewer constraints by virtue of being applicable with no more than the extraction of a homogeneous surface containing a portion of the road and sky within the image. This image preprocessing also serves to identify the level of compatibility of the processed image with the set of Koschmieder's model hypotheses. Nicolas Hautiére graduated from the École Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'État, France (2002). He received his M.S. and Ph.D. degree in computer vision, respectively, in 2002 and 2005 from Saint-Étienne University (France). From 2002, he is a researcher in the Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussées (LCPC), Paris, France. His research interests include trafic engineering, computer vision, and pattern recognition. Jean-Philippe Tarel graduated from the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, Paris, France (1991). He received his Ph.D. degree in Applied Mathematics from Paris IX-Dauphine University in 1996 and he was with the Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et Automatique (INRIA) from 1991 to 1996. From 1997 to 1998, he was a research associate at Brown University, USA. From 1999, he is a researcher in the Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussées (LCPC), Paris, France, and from 2001 to 2003 in the INRIA. His research interests include computer vision, pattern recognition, and shape modeling. Jean Lavenant graduated from the École Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'État, Lyon, France (2001). He received the M.S. degree in Computer Vision from Jean Monnet university of Saint-Étienne in 2001. In 2001, he was a researcher in the Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussées (LCPC). In 2002, he was a system engineer in Chicago (USA). He is currently an engineer for the french ministry of transports. Didier Aubert received the M.S. and Ph.D. degree, respectively, in 1985 and 1989 from the National Polytechnical Institut of Grenoble (INPG). From 1989--1990, he worked as a research scientist on the development of an automatic road following system for the NAVLAB at Carnegie Mellon University. From 1990–1994, he worked in the research department of a private company (ITMI). During this period he was the project leader of several projects dealing with computer vision. He is currently a researcher at INRETS since 1995 and works on Road traffic measurements, crowd monitoring, automated highway systems, and driving assistance systems for vehicles. He is an image processing expert for several companies, teaches at Universities (Paris VI, Paris XI, ENPC, ENST) and is at the editorial board of RTS (Research - Transport - Safety).     

A New Criteria Decision Applied on the Primary Synchronization in the DS-WCDMA Interface of the UMTS System

In DS-WCDMA mobile systems such the UMTS, asynchronous cell site operation,assigning different long spreading code to each cell, yields the advantageof flexible system deployment. We can design an indoor system basedon an outdoor one. However, in general, much longer search time isrequired in asynchronous operation than in synchronous. This paperproposes three techniques to take decisions about synchronizationbased on observation of correlated signals. Classical decision criterialike maximum and threshold criterion are presented. A new decisioncriteria that we call Threshold&Max combined decision criteriais analyzed. The results of this new introduced technique is comparedwith the classical ones.     

Liquefaction/Solubilization of Low-Rank Turkish Coals by White-Rot Fungus (Phanerochaete chrysosporium)

Microbial coal liquefaction/solubilization of three low-rank Turkish coals (Bursa-Kestelek, Kütahya-Seyitömer and Mu?la-Yata?an lignite) was attempted by using a white-rot fungus (Phanerochaete chrysosporium DSM No. 6909); chemical compositions of the products were investigated. The lignite samples were oxidized by nitric acid under moderate conditions and then oxidized samples were placed on the agar medium of Phanerochaete chrysosporium. FTIR spectra of raw lignites, oxidized lignites and liquid products were recorded, and the acetone-soluble fractions of these samples were identified by GC-MS technique. Results show that the fungus affects the nitro and carboxyl/carbonyl groups in oxidized lignite sample, the liquid products obtained by microbial effects are the mixture of water-soluble compounds, and show limited organic solubility.     

Award for distinguished contribution to education and training in psychology: Jill N. Reich.

Presents the citation, biography, and selected bibliography of Jill N. Reich, one of the 1993 recipients of the American Psychological Association's Award for Distinguished Contribution to Education and Training in Psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)