"Hypnotic-like" suggestibility in children and adults.

724 Ss of ages 6-22 were told that they were to be tested for imaginative ability, and were then given 8 standardized test suggestions as follows: Arm Lowering, Arm Levitation, Hand Lock, Thirst "Hallucination," Verbal Inhibition, Body Immobility, "Posthypnotic-Like" Response, and Selective Amnesia. The sexes did not differ in response to the suggestions. Ss between 6 and 12 were more "suggestible" than adults. Children of 8-10 showed the highest level of response. No differences in "suggestibility" were found among Ss of ages 14-22. Suggestibility in both children and adults was inversely related to "conscious" (verbalizable) resistance to the test suggestions. (29 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a theory of hypnotic behavior: Effects on suggestibility of defining the situation as hypnosis and defining response to suggestions as easy.

96 Ss participated in a 2 X 2 factorial experiment which was designed to assess the effects on suggestibility of: defining the situation as hypnosis or as control, and defining response to suggestions as easy or as difficult. The dependent variables consisted of responses to 8 standardized test suggestions (Barber Suggestibility Scale). Ss told "You are in the hypnosis group" were more responsive to suggestions than Ss told "You are in the control group." Ss told that it was easy to respond to test suggestions were more suggestible than Ss told that it was difficult. The suggestibility-enhancing effects of the independent variables were additive: the level of suggestibility was highest when the situation was defined as hypnosis and the test suggestions as easy; next highest when either the situation was defined as hypnosis or the suggestions as easy; and lowest when the situation was defined as control and the suggestions as difficult. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Production of hydrogen for fuel cells by catalytic partial oxidation of ethanol over structured Ni catalysts

Cordierite monoliths, ceramic foams made from mullite and zirconia–alumina as well as γ-Al₂O₃ pellets were employed as supports for Ni/La₂O₃ structured catalysts for the production of hydrogen by catalytic partial oxidation of ethanol. Although all catalysts were very active for ethanol conversion and very selective towards the desired products, the one supported on the zirconia–alumina ceramic foam produced slightly better results. Tested under a wide variety of process conditions, the catalyst supported on the monolith exhibited excellent catalytic performance and long-term stability. In addition to this catalyst, which was prepared by washcoating the active phase on the support, catalysts were prepared on monoliths by adsorption and sol–gel techniques. Adsorption from solutions produced the catalyst with the weakest performance while the sol–gel method resulted in a catalyst with intriguing behavior. Overall, catalysts produced by washcoating on cordierite monoliths are the most promising candidates for the production of hydrogen by partial oxidation of ethanol. Other supports and preparation methods have the potential to produce better catalytic materials but require further optimization.     

Activity Enhancement of Bimetallic Rh-Ag/Al2O3 Catalysts for Selective Catalytic Reduction of NO by C3H6

The catalytic performance of bimetallic rhodium–silver clusters for the selective catalytic reduction of NO by propylene has been examined over 1%(Rh-Ag)/A₂O₃ catalysts of variable Ag content. It was found that substitution of small amounts of Rh by Ag results in a significant increase of the catalytic activity, which goes through a maximum for catalysts with metal compositions of ca. 95%Rh-5%Ag. This behaviour is tentatively attributed to the formation of rhodium-rich phase alloys, which may stabilize Rh in its reduced state at reaction conditions.     

Novel interaction techniques for neurosurgical planning and stereotactic navigation

Neurosurgical planning and image guided neurosurgery require the visualization of multimodal data obtained from various functional and structural image modalities, such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Computed Tomography (CT), functional MRI, Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and so on. In the case of epilepsy neurosurgery for example, these images are used to identify brain regions to guide intracranial electrode implantation and resection. Generally, such data is visualized using 2D slices and in some cases using a 3D volume rendering along with the functional imaging results. Visualizing the activation region effectively by still preserving sufficient surrounding brain regions for context is exceedingly important to neurologists and surgeons. We present novel interaction techniques for visualization of multimodal data to facilitate improved exploration and planning for neurosurgery. We extended the line widget from VTK to allow surgeons to control the shape of the region of the brain that they can visually crop away during exploration and surgery. We allow simple spherical, cubical, ellipsoidal and cylindrical (probe aligned cuts) for exploration purposes. In addition we integrate the cropping tool with the image-guided navigation system used for epilepsy neurosurgery. We are currently investigating the use of these new tools in surgical planning and based on further feedback from our neurosurgeons we will integrate them into the setup used for image-guided neurosurgery.     

Pathways of solar light-induced photocatalytic degradation of azo dyes in aqueous TiO2 suspensions

The photocatalytic degradation of aqueous solutions of Acid Orange 7 in TiO₂ suspensions has been investigated with the use of a solar light simulating source. The photoreaction was followed by monitoring the degradation of the dye and the formation of intermediates and final products, as functions of time of irradiation, both in solution and on the photocatalyst surface. It has been found that the dye adsorbs on TiO₂ and undergoes a series of oxidation steps, which lead to decolorization and formation of a number of intermediates, mainly aromatic and aliphatic acids. These molecules are further oxidized toward compounds of progressively lower molecular weight and, eventually, to CO₂ and inorganic ions, such as sulfate, nitrate and ammonium ions. A TiO₂-mediated photodegradation mechanism for Acid Orange 7 is proposed on the basis of quantitative and qualitative detection of intermediate compounds.     

Mechanistic aspects of carbon dioxide reforming of methane to synthesis gas over Ni catalysts

A study of the kinetic isotope effect (CH₄/CO₂ CD₄/CO₂) for carbon dioxide reforming of methane to synthesis gas shows that an isotope effect exists with k_{CH 4}/k_{CD 4} ratio of 1.05–1.97, depending on reaction temperature and catalyst applied. The attainment of stable performance over Ni/La₂O₃ catalyst is found to be related to the strong chemisorption of CO₂, weak chemisorption of CH₄ and slow rate of CH_x formation, and fast rate for CH_x removal by oxidation.     

Touch detection for planar interactive displays based on lateral depth views

Multimedia Tools and Applications - This work regards fingertip contact detection and localization upon planar surfaces, for the purpose of providing interactivity in augmented, interactive...     

Augmented interaction with physical books in an Ambient Intelligence learning environment

This paper presents an augmented reality environment for students' improved learning, which is based on unobtrusive monitoring of the natural reading and writing process. This environment, named SESIL, is able to perform recognition of book pages and of specific elements of interest within a page, as well as to perceive interaction with actual books and pens/pencils, without requiring any special interaction device. As a result, unobtrusive, context - aware student assistance can be provided. In this way, the learning process can be enhanced during reading with the retrieval and presentation of related material and, during writing, by the provision of assistance to accomplish writing tasks whenever appropriate. The SESIL environment is evaluated in terms of robustness, accuracy and usability.