Criteria for judging the admissibility of eyewitness testimony of long past events.

Court cases of recovered memories of childhood abuse, in which the victim's testimony may constitute the only evidence available, and a growing body of research demonstrating the inexactitude and suggestibility of autobiographical memory of long past events, are forcing courts and cognitive scientists to seek scientific, principled criteria for admissibility of such testimony. The authors use as examples 2 recent court cases. In the 1st case, a concussion produced total retrograde amnesia for an accident for a period of 3 years, and then, over a few months, the driver claimed his memory returned. In the 2nd, 2 adults reported to the police that they witnessed their sister's murder 35 years earlier, when they were 3 and 5 years old, respectively. The authors provide objective guidelines for courts to determine whether testimony about recovered or very-long-term memory for eyewitnessed events should be admissible. The principles outlined can be expanded easily to include eyewitness testimony in general. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intact recognition of facial emotion in Parkinson's disease.

Although the basal ganglia have been shown to be critical for the expression of emotion in prosody and facial expressions, it is unclear whether they are also critical for recognition of emotions. Selective pathology of parts of the basal ganglia is a hallmark of individuals with Parkinson's disease, and such patients have been examined in several studies of emotion. We examined 18 patients with Parkinson's disease (11 men, 7 women) and 13 age-, education-, gender ratio-, and IQ-matched normal controls on their ability to recognize emotions signaled by facial expressions. Parkinson's patients performed entirely normally on a quantitative task of recognizing emotional facial expressions. The findings do not support the notion that the sectors of basal ganglia that are dysfunctional in Parkinson's disease are essential for recognizing emotion in facial expressions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cuticular hydrocarbons ofReticulitermes virginicus (Banks) and their role as potential species- and caste-recognition cues

The cuticular hydrocarbon components of four castes ofReticulitermes virginicus (Banks) have been identified and quantitated. Components identified includen-alkanes; 2-, 3-, 11-, 13-, and 15-methyl-alkanes; 11,15-dimethylalkanes, (Z)-9-alkenes; (Z,Z)-7,9-dienes; and (E/Z)-6,9-dienes ranging in carbon number from C₂₁ to C₄₀. All caste forms ofR.virginicus contained the same components, but showed caste-specific proportions. Comparison of these hydrocarbons with those of the sympatric termiteR. flavipes (Kollar) suggest that cuticular hydrocarbons might serve as species- and caste-recognition cues. A bioassay was developed to test this species-recognition hypothesis, with the experimental results supporting the hypothesis.Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae.     

Epoxy fatty acid ester plasticizers. Preparation and properties

Summary The preparation of epoxy fatty acid ester plasticizers has been reviewed. These plasticizers can be prepared by epoxidation reactions, utilizing a preformed peracid or anin-situ technique. A newin-situ epoxidation process, utilizing hydrogen peroxide and acetic acid in the presence of strong acid catalyst, has been described. Excellent conversions to epoxide have been achieved with a series of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated esters. Epoxy fatty acid esters are excellent plasticizers for vinyl resins. Their performance in a series of additional epoxy plasticizers of vegetable and marine origin is described. Novel epoxy plasticizers based upon mixed acetylated mono- and di-glyceride have been prepared and are found to have excellent plasticizer performance. Presented at the 28th fall meeting, American Oil Chemists’ Society, October 1954, Minneapolis, Minn.     

Raman spectra of Graphon carbon black

The Raman spectrum of Graphon carbon black has been recorded using rotating cell techniques. Angular dependence of scattering at 1360, 1580 and 2700 cm^?1 are reported and these data suggest that the 1360 cm^?1 line is associated with non-planar microstructure distortions. The excitation frequency dependence of the intensity ratio of the bands at 1360 (D) and 1580 cm^?1 (G) is interpreted in terms of resonance (vibronic) interaction. This dependence is primarily the result of an increase in the intensity of the 1360 cm ^?1 line. The disorder-associated line (D) exhibits a significant excitation-dependent shift from 1378 cm^i?1 (457.9 nm Ar⁺) to 1330 cm^?1 (647.1 nm Kr⁺). The “graphite” (G) line position is less sensitive to changes in excitation frequency. The spectral features are discussed in terms of factor group, C_6v⁴, and layer site symmetry, C_3v. Also the possible role of localized alkene-like structure in zones of structural distortion is considered.     

Structure Aware Visual Cryptography

Visual cryptography is an encryption technique that hides a secret image by distributing it between some shared images made up of seemingly random black‐and‐white pixels. Extended visual cryptography (EVC) goes further in that the shared images instead represent meaningful binary pictures. The original approach to EVC suffered from low contrast, so later papers considered how to improve the visual quality of the results by enhancing contrast of the shared images. This work further improves the appearance of the shared images by preserving edge structures within them using a framework of dithering followed by a detail recovery operation. We are also careful to suppress noise in smooth areas.     

Function of sulfur dioxide in the kinetic mechanism of oxidation of carbon

Retardation of the gasification reaction of carbon with oxygen by SO₂ was observed. Rates of oxidation were determined by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) of a nuclear graphite in the temperature range of 550–700°C, and of a coconut charcoal in the temperature range of 400–505°C. The oxidant gases were dry air containing 0–6% SO₂. Reduction of the rate by SO₂ varied with burn-off. Differential thermal analysis (DTA) was also applied to detect the retardation effect of SO₂. The technique of infrared internal reflection spectroscopy (IRS) was used to examine the surface species of reacted charcoal samples. Absorption bands were assigned to surface carbonyls, lactones, and a chemisorbed SO₂ in the form of sulfate. Chemisorption of SO₂ was attributed to cause the retardation of the oxidation reaction.     

The Effects of Experience and Strategy on Visual Attention Allocation in an Automated Multiple-Task Environment

Operators and users interacting with computer environments often have to deal with multiple tasks at once, responding to each in series. Diagnostic automation, that is, automation that alerts users when and where to look, has been suggested to support the unique challenges of multiple task environments: activating tasks, switching between tasks, and tasks interfering with each other. Automation is not always reliable, however. Because of the common interaction with novel systems and the importance of training, the Simultaneous Task Environment Platform program—a multiple-task environment—was developed to understand the effects of experience on interaction with these automation-supported systems, as well as what strategies were developed. It was found that participants became more efficient with experience only when they interacted with higher reliability automation. Furthermore, the strategies participants developed focused on the differences between tasks and patterns across those tasks. Automated systems training should be sure to employ these findings.     

Effects of mite resistance mechanism of geraniums on mortality and behavior of foxglove aphid (Acyrthosiphon solani Kaltenbach)

Geraniums (Pelargonium xhortorum Bailey) possess a pest-resistance mechanism, based on glandular trichomes and the exudate they produce, that has been shown to be effective against the two-spotted spider mite (Tetranychus urticae Koch). Using an intact plant bioassay, the effectiveness of the resistance mechanism was determined for another potential pest, the foxglove aphid (Acyrthosiphon solani Kaltenbach). Comparisons were made between plant lines previously analyzed for their degree of resistance to mites, as well as their glandular trichome density and trichome exudate production. Over 100 aphid adults were bioassayed on each of the five plant lines used in the experiment. In addition to adult aphid survival, the production and survival of nymphs was determined in this bioassay. The results indicate that plant lines that are resistant to the two-spotted spider mite are also resistant to the foxglove aphid, while lines susceptible to mites are susceptible to the aphids. To evaluate the physical impediment features of the trichome exudate, the behavior of foxglove aphid nymphs was compared on two geranium lines, one a resistant line with high trichome densities and large quantities of exudate and the second a susceptible line with few trichomes and reduced exudate. A third leaf surface type was produced by washing the exudate from resistant leaves using a mildly basic buffer solution prior to the bioassay. Aphid behavior was divided into five categories: feeding or probing, resting, wandering, struggling, and immobilized. On both susceptible leaves and resistant leaves from which the exudate had been removed by washing, the aphids settled quickly and were observed with inserted stylets during most of the observation intervals. In contrast, aphids on the unwashed resistant leaf surfaces often became ensnared in the sticky trichome exudate and had difficulty in settling to probe the leaf. Physical entrapment by glandular trichome exudate appears to be an important aspect of aphid resistance in geraniums.     

A comparison of pyrrolidide and picolinyl ester derivatives for the identification of fatty acids in natural samples by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

The pyrrolidide and picolinyl ester derivatives of the fatty acids in two natural lipid samples rich in unsaturated fatty acids, pig testis lipids and cod liver oil were satisfactorily resolved on capillary columns of fused silica coated with stationary phases of varying polarity. The picolinyl esters, in particular, when subjected to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry on a column containing a cross-linked methyl silicone, gave distinctive mass spectra, which could be interpreted in terms of both the numbers and positions of the double bonds.