Length conservation and speed concepts: Organizational disequilibrium training between concepts.

Administered training to Ss at varying levels of cognitive organization. Ss were 60 middle-class Israeli 6-7 yr olds. The training condition exploited structural mix between operational length and intuitive speed concepts, such that Ss successively alternated partial structures underlying these concepts. Findings were that (a) training was effective for operational speed concept acquisition among Ss with structural mix; (b) training was not effective for Ss without structural mix; (c) those who acquired the operational speed concept also acquired operational reasoning for the concept of movement; and (d) all Ss who employed an integration strategy during training became operational for speed on the posttest, while none who used other strategies acquired operational reasoning for the speed concept. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An analysis of rates of polypeptide chain elongation in avian liver explants following in vivo estrogen treatment. I. Determination of average rates of polypeptide chain elongation

Average rates of polypeptide chain elongation have been determined in cockerel liver explants on 4 successive days following an in vivo injection of 17 beta-estradiol. Incorporation of [3H]leucine by the explants is linear for at least 24 h, and the rate of protein synthesis increases significantly after estrogen injection. The explants synthesize and secrete serum albumin. B-apolipoprotein, and the phosphoprotein vitellogenin at relative rates which are similar to those reported for liver in vivo. Using this system, changes in the average rates of polypeptide chain elongation have been analyzed as a temporal sequence following a single injection of 17 beta-estradiol into cockerels. For this, average ribosome half-transit times were determined by measuring the kinetics of transfer of labeled polypeptides from polysomal-bound to released polypeptides. The data revealed a dramatic effect of estradiol on the average ribosome half-transit time with a maximum increase of 4.6-fold; however, the average size of polypeptides synthesized by explants at the peak of induction increased only 15% when compared to uninduced liver explants. These findings indicate that injection of estradiol results in large changes in the actual rates at which amino acids are added to the growing nascent polypeptide chain; that is, rates of polypeptide chain elongation. Therefore, translation-level regulation of protein synthesis in cockerel livers plays a significant part in determining the magnitude of the response to hormone stimulation.     

Multi-input Functional Encryption in the Private-Key Setting: Stronger Security from Weaker Assumptions

We construct a general-purpose multi-input functional encryption scheme in the private-key setting. Namely, we construct a scheme where a functional key corresponding to a function f enables a user holding encryptions of \(x_1, \ldots , x_t\) to compute \(f(x_1, \ldots , x_t)\) but nothing else. This is achieved starting from any general-purpose private-key single-input scheme (without any additional assumptions) and is proven to be adaptively secure for any constant number of inputs t. Moreover, it can be extended to a super-constant number of inputs assuming that the underlying single-input scheme is sub-exponentially secure. Instantiating our construction with existing single-input schemes, we obtain multi-input schemes that are based on a variety of assumptions (such as indistinguishability obfuscation, multilinear maps, learning with errors, and even one-way functions), offering various trade-offs between security assumptions and functionality. Previous and concurrent constructions of multi-input functional encryption schemes either rely on stronger assumptions and provided weaker security guarantees (Goldwasser et al. in Advances in cryptology—EUROCRYPT, 2014; Ananth and Jain in Advances in cryptology—CRYPTO, 2015), or relied on multilinear maps and could be proven secure only in an idealized generic model (Boneh et al. in Advances in cryptology—EUROCRYPT, 2015). In comparison, we present a general transformation that simultaneously relies on weaker assumptions and guarantees stronger security.     

Dynamic memory processes in retrieving answers to questions: Recall failures, judgments of knowing, and acquisition of information.

Three experiments were conducted to show that engaging in an effort to answer a question markedly influences the processing of information subsequently encountered in the environment. On each of 2 successive days, participants were given a definition test that involved the recall of rare English words cued by their definitions. A lexical-decision task was administered between the 2 definition tests; the timing of the lexical-decision task varied across experiments. A strong target-to-definition priming effect occurred such that prior exposure to words during the lexical-decision task increased their likelihood of being recalled in the final definition test. It also appears that earlier attempts to answer questions affected the acquisition of relevant new material in long-term memory. The role of these priming effects is discussed with respect to the process of updating memory representations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of scent and game play experience on memory of a virtual environment

Scent has been well documented as having significant effects on emotion (Alaoui-Ismaili in Physiol Behav 62(4):713–720, 1997; Herz et al. in Motiv Emot 28(4):363–383, 2004), learning (Smith et al. in Percept Mot Skills 74(2):339–343, 1992; Morgan in Percept Mot Skills 83(3)(2):1227–1234, 1996), memory (Herz in Am J Psychol 110(4):489–505, 1997) and task performance (Barker et al. in Percept Mot Skills 97(3)(1):1007–1010, 2003). This paper describes an experiment in which environmentally appropriate scent was presented as an additional sensory modality consistent with other aspects of a virtual environment called DarkCon. Subjects’ game play habits were recorded as an additional factor for analysis. Subjects were randomly assigned to receive scent during the VE, and/or afterward during a task of recall of the environment. It was hypothesized that scent presentation during the VE would significantly improve recall, and that subjects who were presented with scent during the recall task, in addition to experiencing the scented VE, would perform the best on the recall task. Skin-conductance was a significant predictor of recall, over and above experimental groups. Finally, it was hypothesized that subjects’ game play habits would affect both their behavior in and recall of the environment. Results are encouraging to the use of scent in virtual environments, and directions for future research are discussed. The project described herein has been sponsored by the US Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command (RDECOM). Statements and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the position or the policy of the US Government; no official endorsement should be inferred.