Understanding Pretrial Publicity: Predecisional Distortion of Evidence by Mock Jurors.

Prejudicial pretrial publicity (PTP) constitutes a serious source of juror bias. The current study examined differences in predecisional distortion for mock jurors exposed to negative PTP (N-PTP) versus nonexposed control participants. According to work by K. A. Carlson and J. E. Russo (2001), predecisional distortion occurs when jurors bias new evidence in favor of their current leading party (prosecution or defense) rather than evaluating this information for its actual probative properties. Jury-eligible university students (N=116) acted as jurors in a mock trial. Elevated rates of guilty verdicts were observed in the N-PTP condition. Predecisional distortion scores were significantly higher in the N-PTP condition and reflected a proprosecution bias. The effect of prejudicial PTP on verdict outcomes was mediated by predecisional distortion in the evaluation of testimony. Results are discussed in relation to motivated decision making and confirmation biases. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

CFD-based analysis of entropy generation due to mean and fluctuating fields during turbulent natural convection in a square enclosure

The current study aims to numerically investigate the entropy generation during the natural convection flow of air in a square cavity. The governing equations for the conservation of mass, momentum, energy, and turbulence are solved using a control volume-based technique employing the commercial code Fluent. Runs have been performed for both laminar and turbulent flow regimes by varying the Rayleigh number (Ra) from 10³ to 10¹⁰. On the other hand, various viscous distribution coefficients (ϕ = 10⁻⁴, 10⁻³, and 10⁻²) and constant Prandtl number (Pr = 0.71) were considered. Given the conflicting perspectives in the literature regarding the entropy generation under turbulent regimes, more research is needed to better understand the impact that the fluctuating flow has on entropy production. The four terms of entropy generation inherent to turbulent natural convection (entropy generation due to dissipation in the mean and the fluctuating velocity fields in addition to the heat flux due to the mean and the fluctuating temperature) are computed in the present work and compared to calculations based on only mean values of temperature and velocity gradients. It was found that taking into account the fluctuating terms of temperatures and velocities augment the total entropy generation by 10.10%, 14.43%, and, 17.70%, up to 32.60%, respectively, for Ra = 5 × 10⁸, Ra = 10⁹, Ra = 1.58 × 10⁹, and Ra = 10¹⁰. The gain shows the tendency to increase with the Rayleigh number. Thus, the fluctuating terms cannot be neglected particularly for high Rayleigh numbers. Furthermore, unlike entropy production due to the mean flow field, numerical outcomes reveal that the generated irreversibilities due to fluctuating flow are located around the upper hot and the lower cold corners of the heated walls. In addition, a numerical relationship between the first and the second laws of thermodynamics has been derived. A promising result that emerged from this study has shown that the Nusselt number and therefore the first law of thermodynamics is sufficient to estimate the heat part of entropy generation without the necessity of using the second law.     

On the effects of traffic mixtures in direct broadcast satellite networks

In this paper we present a multi‐criterion control simulation in a realistically complex environment of a satellite network, involving non‐symmetric up and downlinks. Direct broadcast satellite (DBS) networks carrying heterogeneous traffic is characterized with challenges, such as high traffic burstiness, wireless channel dynamics, and large, but limited capacity. On the other hand, there are system characteristics that can be leveraged to address these challenges such as in centralized topology, different levels in quality of service (QoS) and priorities, availability of side information about channel conditions, flexibility in delivery of delay insensitive traffic, etc. We have developed an adaptive resource allocation and management (ARAM) system that takes the advantage of such characteristics to maximize the utilization of the available capacity on the forward DBS link, while maintaining QoS in the presence of channel effects and congestion in the network. Since variable‐bit‐rate (VBR) video traffic is given priority over available‐bit‐rate (ABR) data traffic in the ARAM concept, in this paper we investigate the impact of the fraction of VBR load in overall load. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Polarographic studies on 4,5-DIIODO-(R)-fluorescein

Polarographic examination of title compound (0.2 mol m^?3) in 10% ethanolic Britton—Robinson universal buffers (ionic strength, 0.5 mol dm^?3 with added KCl), using gelatin (0.004%) as maximum suppressor, and its millicoulometry reveal two two- and four-electron steps in acidic solutions, which merge into one wave at intermediate pH-values, and separate out again into two waves of varying heights in the alkaline pH-range. That the second four-electron step involves splitting of the two CI bonds has been prove by recording anodic waves for the liberated iodide ions (i) by using Kalousek commutator technique, and (ii) after carrying out cpe. The other product of cpe has been identified as fluorescin (leuco-fluorescein) by polarographic comparison of its aerial oxidation product with authentic fluorescein. The low negative halfwave potential of the first wave indicates that the title compound is reduced in the more readily reducible quinonoid form or as its ionic mesomer instead of in the difficultly reducible lactoid (furanoid) form as suggested by the earlier workers. Further, we did not obtain any significant evidence for the opening of the pyrone ring as suggested by them. The course of electrode process at various pH-values has been suggested.     

Ion association of (1:1) electrolytes in pure alcohols at 25°C

Conductances of S-n-buis Br, S-n-amis Br, S-meis I, S-n-buis I, S-n-amis-I, S-n-heptis I, S-n-pris Pi, S-n-buis Pi, S-n-amis Pi and S-n-heptis Pi are reported in EtOH, n-PrOH and n-BuOH. The results are analyzed using the Fuoss and Onsager equation (1959) to obtain the three characteristic parameters; conductance at infinite dilution Λ₀, contact distance å and association constant K_A. The results are also analyzed using Fuoss' equation (1975-1977), from which the true values of Λ₀, the cosphere diameter R and K_A are obtained.     

Lipid/peptide/nucleotide separation with MALDI-ion mobility-TOF MS

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization when combined with ion mobility-orthogonal time-of-flight mass spectrometry is a viable technique for fast separation and analysis of biomolecules in complex mixtures. Isobaric lipid, peptide, and oligonucleotide ions are preseparated before mass analysis by differences of up to 30% in mobility drift time. Ions of similar chemical type fall along well-defined "trend lines" (with deviations of approximately 3%) when plotted in two-dimensional representations of ion mobility as a function of m/z. Discussion of fundamental and technical limitations of the technique point to its potential for being most useful when applied to systems such as bodily fluids and intact tissue, where an alternative chemical or chromatographic preseparation step prior to mass analysis is either impractical or undesirable.     

Improvement of silicone endothelialization by treatment with allylamine and/or acrylic acid low‐pressure plasma

Plasma polymerization of allylamine, acrylic acid, and an allylamine/acrylic acid mixture on Silastic® silicone rubber led to a strong increase in the silicone rubber's hydrophilicity and surface energy. Analysis of the deposited layer by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy with 20° and 70° takeoff angles showed segregation of the atoms according to the depth and the incorporation of amino groups, oxygenated groups, and both. The endothelialization of untreated and treated samples was evaluated by the seeding and growth of aorta epithelial cells from pigs in cellular adherence (%), doubling time (in hours), and confluent density (10⁴ cells/cm²). The best results were obtained with the allylamine/acrylic acid mixture treatment, which brought a biocompatibility to Silastic® similar to classic tissue culture on polystyrene plates. The interpretation was based on the presence of NH/CO_2? microareas in the deposited layer. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 87: 1794–1802, 2003     

Scheduling on parallel machines with preemption and transportation delays

This paper deals with an identical parallel machines scheduling problem, where independent jobs can be preempted and transported from one machine to another. The transportation of a preempted job requires a time called the transportation delay. The goal is to find a solution that minimizes the total completion time (makespan). We first study the case of equal-size jobs where new complexity results are given. Then, to solve the problem with two identical machines, we present a dynamic programming algorithm and a fully polynomial time approximation scheme (FPTAS). Experimental results show the efficiency of the FPTAS compared to a previously published heuristic.     

QoS-aware optimal and automated semantic web service composition with user’s constraints

Automated semantic web service composition is one of the critical research challenges of service-oriented computing, since it allows users to create an application simply by specifying the inputs that the application requires, the outputs it should produce, and any constraints it should respect. The composition problem has been handled using a variety of techniques, from artificial intelligence planning to optimization algorithms. However no approach so far has focused on handling three composition dimensions simultaneously, producing solutions that are: (1) fully functional (i.e., fully executable) by using a mechanism of semantic matching between the services involved in the solutions, (2) are optimized according to non-functional quality-of-service (QoS) measurements, and (3) respect global QoS constraints. This paper presents a novel approach based on a Harmony Search algorithm that addresses these three dimensions simultaneously through a fitness function, to select the optimal or near-optimal solution in semantic web service composition. In our approach, the search space is modeled as a planning-graph structure which encodes all the possible composition solutions for a given user request. To improve the selection process we have compared the original Harmony Search algorithm with its recently developed variants Improved Harmony Search (IHS) algorithm and Global Best Harmony Search (GHS) algorithm. An experimentation of the approach conducted with an extended version of the Web Service Challenge 2009 dataset showed that: (1) our approach is efficient and effective to extract the optimal or near-optimal composition in diverse scenarios; and (2) both variants IHS and GHS algorithms have brought improvements in terms of fitness and execution time.     

Spectral definition of the macro-algae Ulva curvata in the back-barrier bays of the Eastern Shore of Virginia,USA

We have developed methods to determine the visible (VIS) to near-infrared (NIR) spectral properties of thalli and epiphytes of bloom-forming and green macrophyte Ulva curvata in back-barrier lagoons in Virginia, USA. A 2% increase in NIR thalli reflectance from winter to summer (ca. 9.5%) matched the drop in summer NIR transmittance (ca. 90%). In contrast, summer and winter VIS reflectance (reaching 6%) were nearly identical while winter transmittance (ca. 85%) was 10–20% higher. NIR absorption remained at 5% but VIS absorption increased by 10–20% from winter to summer. Replicate consistency substantiated the high transmittance difference indicating thallus composition changed from summer to winter. Epiphytes increased thallus reflectance (<ca. 4%) and decreased transmittance (<ca. 10%) and exhibited broadband VIS and NIR absorptions in summer and selective peaks in winter. A simulation coupling water extinction with thallus reflectance and transmittance found seven submerged thalli maximized the surface reflectance enhancement (ca. 2.5%).