Televised self-confrontation and recalled affect: A new look at videotape recall.

Utilized 2 analogy studies of videotape feedback to investigate the extent to which 10 graduate students with previous video feedback training could recall feelings they experienced during a dyadic interaction, when shown a televised replay of that interaction. Pairs of Ss were trained to continuously rate their degree of comfort or discomfort during the actual ("live") interaction and, subsequently, as they watched a replay of their interaction. A push-button recording system was employed with the self-rating data from live and recall sessions, with the 2 sessions exactly synchronized for the purpose of analysis. Results of 2 studies with role-playing counseling students and with intimate male-female couples yielded moderate correlations between live self-ratings and those recalled under videotape stimulation. It was also found that playing the client rather than the counselor role (Study 1) or having one's self-ratings disclosed to a partner (Study 2) significantly increased the association between live and recalled self-ratings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Time and false electromyographic feedback: Effect on tension headache.

Measured frontalis EMG amplitude in 20 19–38 yr old Ss with tension headaches. Of these, 10 were given auditory feedback that accurately reflected EMG levels, and the other 10 received false feedback. Ss receiving relevant feedback significantly decreased both EMG and number of headaches as compared to controls. Controls did, however, show decreasing trends in the 2 variables. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comment on Kaufman's "Should short-form validity coefficients be corrected?"

As more and more subtests are added to the short form, its validity as determined by McNemar's formula approaches unity, whereas the upper limit to its validity as determined by the corrected formula is the reliability of the Full Scale. This difference seems to correspond to Kaufman's distinction between using the short form as part of the Full Scale and using it as a replacement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cumulative deficit in IQ of Blacks in the rural South.

Investigated the cumulative deficit hypothesis with respect to age decrement in IQ between the ages of 5 and 18 in 826 Black and 653 White school children in rural Georgia. Age decrement in verbal and nonverbal IQ (California Test of Mental Maturity) was measured by the average IQ difference between younger and older siblings. It was found that Blacks (but not Whites) showed significant and substantial decrements in both verbal and nonverbal IQs as a linear function of age in the rank from about 5 to 16 yrs of age. An environmental interpretation of the age decrement in IQ seems reasonable in view of the comparative lack of such a decrement in a parallel study (A. R. Jensen, see record 1975-04914-001) of California Blacks whose environmental circumstances were markedly better than those of the Black sample from rural Georgia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Polypropylene/Montmorillonite Nanocomposites Containing Nisin as Antimicrobial Food Packaging

Antimicrobial nanocomposites prepared with polypropylene, montmorillonite, and nisin were developed as food packaging material. Nisin was incorporated at 1, 2.5, and 5 % (w/w) and the characterization included antimicrobial, mechanical, thermal, barrier, and structural properties. Composite films inhibited the Gram-positive bacteria Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, and Clostridium perfringens when tested on skimmed milk agar plates. Antimicrobial activity was released in food simulants after contact with the nanocomposites, increasing until 48 h in solutions containing the surfactant Tween 20 or acetic acid. The addition of nisin caused no significant modification in deformation at break values as compared with control films. However, results of tensile strength and Young modulus differed significantly among samples. The higher value for Young modulus was observed for films with 5 % nisin. Water vapor barrier properties were not significantly different among control and antimicrobial films, whereas oxygen permeability was higher for nanocomposites containing nisin. The nanocomposites tested had no significant differences in the melting temperature (165 to 167 °C), and the crystallization temperature ranged from 121 to 129 °C, with lower values for films containing 5 % nisin. Scanning electron microscopy showed that nanocomposites containing 1 and 2.5 % nisin present similar homogeneity to that of control films. Some film properties were affected after nisin incorporation in polypropylene/montmorillonite matrix but active antimicrobial films were obtained, showing suitable behavior as a food packaging material.     

On the evaluation of unsupervised outlier detection: measures,datasets, and an empirical study

The evaluation of unsupervised outlier detection algorithms is a constant challenge in data mining research. Little is known regarding the strengths and weaknesses of different standard outlier detection models, and the impact of parameter choices for these algorithms. The scarcity of appropriate benchmark datasets with ground truth annotation is a significant impediment to the evaluation of outlier methods. Even when labeled datasets are available, their suitability for the outlier detection task is typically unknown. Furthermore, the biases of commonly-used evaluation measures are not fully understood. It is thus difficult to ascertain the extent to which newly-proposed outlier detection methods improve over established methods. In this paper, we perform an extensive experimental study on the performance of a representative set of standard k nearest neighborhood-based methods for unsupervised outlier detection, across a wide variety of datasets prepared for this purpose. Based on the overall performance of the outlier detection methods, we provide a characterization of the datasets themselves, and discuss their suitability as outlier detection benchmark sets. We also examine the most commonly-used measures for comparing the performance of different methods, and suggest adaptations that are more suitable for the evaluation of outlier detection results.     

Kernel density estimation based on Ripley’s correction

In this paper, we investigate a technique inspired by Ripley’s circumference method to correct bias of density estimation of edges (or frontiers) of regions. The idea of the method was theoretical and difficult to implement. We provide a simple technique – based of properties of Gaussian kernels – to efficiently compute weights to correct border bias on frontiers of the region of interest, with an automatic selection of an optimal radius for the method. We illustrate the use of that technique to visualize hot spots of car accidents and campsite locations, as well as location of bike thefts.