A meta-analysis of performance on emotion recognition tasks in Parkinson’s disease.

Individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) have shown deficits in the ability to recognize emotion. However, these results have been inconsistent. In addition, questions remain about whether any deficit in PD is secondary to depression and broader cognitive impairments, and the effects of stimulus modality, task type, and specific emotion remain unclear. A meta-analysis of 34 comparisons, using data from 1,295 individual participants, was conducted to (a) provide a reliable estimate of the magnitude of the purported deficit in emotion recognition and (b) examine the influence of several potential moderators of emotion recognition abilities in PD. Results show a robust link between PD and specific deficits in recognizing emotion, from both the face and the voice (overall effect size g = 0.52). The deficit extends across stimulus modalities and task types and is particularly acute with respect to negative emotions. Although this deficit does not appear to be secondary to comorbid depression or visuospatial impairments, the potential role of working memory constraints warrants further investigation. We highlight the potential implications of these findings for communication abilities in PD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stabilization of injection-locked lasers using spatial modeinterference

We report the use of spatial-mode-interference, or tilt-locking, for the active stabilization of injection-locking of a Nd:YAG laser. We show that this control scheme is robust and adds negligible frequency noise to the injection-locked laser     

Palomar Receive Terminal (PRT) for the Mars Laser Communication Demonstration (MLCD) Project

Significant technological advances were made toward utilizing the Hale telescope for receiving the faint laser communication signals transmitted from an optical transceiver on a spacecraft orbiting Mars. The so-called Palomar receive terminal design, which would have supported nominal downlink data rates of 1-30 Mbps, is described. Testing to validate technologies for near-Sun (3deg from edge of solar disc) daytime operations is also discussed. Finally, a laboratory end-to-end link utilizing a 64-ary pulse-position modulated photon-counting receiver and decoder that achieved predicted near-capacity (within 1.4 dB) performance is described.     

Prudent practices for the design and installation of heat‐producing devices near wood materials

The conditions required to cause ignition of solid wood materials under short‐term heating are examined, and it is found that the appropriate ignition temperature applicable under these conditions is 250°C. It is then shown that ignition requirements are different if long‐term heating is involved and that ignition can occur at exposure temperatures much lower than the ignition temperature pertinent to short‐term heating. It is shown that hot surfaces of 77 °C or higher, if located for a long duration next to a wood member are liable to lead to its ignition in a self‐heating mode. Recommendation is made that prudent practices for design or installation must also involve a suitable safety factor. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

TREATING FLOODPLAIN LAKES OF LARGE RIVERS AS STUDY UNITS FOR VARIABLES THAT VARY WITHIN LAKES; AN EVALUATION USING CHLOROPHYLL A AND INORGANIC SUSPENDED SOLIDS DATA FROM FLOODPLAIN LAKES OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER

Contiguous floodplain lakes (‘lakes’) have historically been used as study units for comparative studies of limnological variables that vary within lakes. The hierarchical nature of these studies implies that study variables may be correlated within lakes and that covariate associations may differ not only among lakes but also by spatial scale. We evaluated the utility of treating lakes as study units for limnological variables that vary within lakes based on the criteria of important levels of among‐lake variation in study variables and the observation of covariate associations that vary among lakes. These concerns were selected, respectively, to ensure that lake signatures were distinguishable from within‐lake variation and that lake‐scale effects on covariate associations might provide inferences not available by ignoring those effects. Study data represented chlorophyll a (CHL) and inorganic suspended solids (ISS) data from lakes within three reaches of the Upper Mississippi River. Sampling occurred in summer from 1993 through 2005 (except 2003); numbers of lakes per reach varied from 7 to 19, and median lake area varied from 53 to 101 ha. CHL and ISS levels were modelled linearly, with lake, year and lake × year effects treated as random. For all reaches, the proportions of variation in CHL and ISS attributable to differences among lakes (including lake and lake × year effects) were substantial (range: 18%–73%). Finally, among‐lake variation in CHL and ISS was strongly associated with covariates and covariate effects that varied by lakes or lake‐years (including with vegetation levels and, for CHL, log(ISS)). These findings demonstrate the utility of treating floodplain lakes as study units for the study of limnological variables and the importance of addressing hierarchy within study designs when making inferences from data collected within floodplain lakes. Published 2011. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.     

Reactions of lignin model compounds in ionic liquids

Lignin, a readily available form of biomass, is a potential source of renewable aromatic chemicals through catalytic conversion. Recent work has demonstrated that ionic liquids are excellent solvents for processing woody biomass and lignin. Seeking to exploit ionic liquids as media for depolymerization of lignin, we investigated reactions of lignin model compounds in these solvents. Using Brønsted acid catalysts in 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium triflate at moderate temperatures below 200 °C, we obtained up to 11.6% molar yield of the dealkylation product 2-methoxyphenol from the model compound 2-methoxy-4-(2-propenyl)phenol and cleaved 2-phenylethyl phenyl ether, a model for lignin ethers. Despite these successes, acid catalysis failed in dealkylation of the saturated-chain model compound 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol and did not produce monomeric products from organosolv lignin, demonstrating that further work is required to understand the complex chemistry of lignin depolymerization.     

Data Management in the Worldwide Sensor Web

Harvesting the benefits of a sensor-rich world presents many data management challenges. Recent advances in research and industry aim to address these challenges. With the rapidly increasing number of large-scale sensor network deployments, the vision of a worldwide sensor Web is close to becoming a reality.     

Intercomparison of the Realization of the ITS-90 at the Freezing Points of Al and Ag among European NMIs

The EUROMET.T-K4 comparison is the regional extension of CCT-K4, an intercomparison of the realizations of the freezing points of Al (660.323°C) and Ag (961.78°C). The intercomparison was organized in four loops. Long-stem standard platinum resistance thermometers (SPRTs) were used as traveling standards: 25 Ω thermometers to be used only at the Al freezing point and two high-temperature standard platinum resistance thermometers (HTSPRTs) to be used only at the Ag freezing point in each loop. Parallel to the measurements with thermometers, the pilots and sub-pilots organized an internal intercomparison using an Ag fixed-point cell. Most HTSPRTs showed a strong drift which is mainly due to mechanical stress and poisoning of the sensor by impurities. This drift can be partially compensated by a correction based on Matthiessen’s rule. An evaluation of the data taking into account both HTSPRTs in each loop, the linkage of the sub-pilots by measurements at the Ag freezing point, and a possible compensation according to Matthiessens’s rule, allows calculation of the results of the participants’ measurements at the Ag freezing point. The results of the participating laboratories are summarized, and proposals for key comparison reference values and linking of the results to CCT-K3 and CCT-K4 are presented.     

Mixed tenure communities as a policy instrument for educational outcomes in a deprived urban context?

This article considers mixed community strategies, enacted through planning and regeneration policies, as a policy approach to the improvement of educational outcomes in schools. Analysis is undertaken of educational outcomes across secondary schools in Glasgow. The level of owner occupation in the catchment is positively associated with both examination results at S4 and positive destinations post-school, particularly at the more deprived end of the school spectrum. The results suggest that tenure mix may be both directly and indirectly related to school performance, with neighbourhood context effects not being entirely mediated through the school context.     

Hydrogen adsorption characteristics of magnesium combustion derived graphene at 77 and 293 K

Bulk graphene was prepared by the method of magnesium combustion in a CO₂ atmosphere, producing large quantities of material which had a different morphology and importantly, a more ordered carbon lattice than reduced graphene oxide and other bulk graphene synthetic methodologies. Despite a low surface area of 235.5 m²/g and ca 9 at.% of magnesium and its oxides which do not contribute to hydrogen adsorption, we observe 0.85 wt.% of H₂ at 65 bar and 77 K, and 0.9 wt.% of H₂ at 300 bar and 293 K. As this methodology readily produces many-gram quantities with cheap starting materials, we anticipate that with further enhancements to the synthetic methodology, improving both surface area and reducing reaction by-products, this material will provide a robust platform for further H₂ adsorption investigations.