Temporal Shifts in Weapon Focus: Comparing Retrograde and Anterograde Effects

When an eyewitness suffers an impairment of memory for a criminal\u27s face because the criminal used a weapon during the commission of the crime, this impairment is called the weapon focus effect. Literature provides two explanations for how this effect arises: some implicate the narrowing of attentional cues to the weapon during the commission of a crime because arousal of the victim increases, while others claim that the weapon is merely a novel object in most everyday contexts, and novel objects demand more attention than contextually appropriate ones. The current study employed a simulated crime paradigm taking place in a bar where a criminal brandished either a drinking glass (normal object), a rubber chicken (novel object), or a gun (weapon). Timing of the object\u27s presentation was also manipulated such that it was visible before, after, or during the time when the culprit\u27s face was visible. Target-present and target-absent lineups, cued-recall questions, and retrospective identification confidence questions were administered. The weapon focus effect was found on diagnosticity ratios of lineup selections when objects were presented after the face such that the glass was more diagnostic of suspect guilt than the gun or the chicken. When objects were presented in tandem with the face, the glass was only more diagnostic of guilt than the gun. Eyewitness confidence suffered most when the chicken was seen. Implications for current theories of weapon focus and public policy are discussed

Recognition Training for Faces Across Age Gaps

Face recognition is a problem that has theoretical and applied value. However, the fact of facial aging is rarely addressed in research and unmentioned in the major theories of face recognition. Facial aging also has ramifications for missing persons and fugitive cases, confounding attempts by law enforcement to recover these people whose last known images are years or decades out of date. This dissertation reports three studies aimed at measuring baseline age-gap recognition ability and testing various training regimens designed to increase accuracy rates for this unique kind of recognition task

When age-progressed images are unreliable: The roles of external features and age range

When children go missing for many years, investigators commission age-progressed images from forensic artists to depict an updated appearance. These images have anecdotal success, and systematic research has found they lead to accurate recognition rates comparable to outdated photos. The present study examines the reliability of age progressions of the same individuals created by different artists. Eight artists first generated age progressions of eight targets across three age ranges. Eighty-five participants then evaluated the similarity of these images against other images depicting the same targets progressed at the same age ranges, viewing either whole faces or faces with external features concealed. Similarities were highest over shorter age ranges and when external features were concealed. Implications drawn from theory and application are discussed

The Impact of Weapons and Unusual Objects on the Construction of Facial Composites

The presence of a weapon in the perpetration of a crime can impede an observer’s ability to describe and/or recognise the person responsible. In the current experiment, we explore whether weapons when present at encoding of a target identity interfere with construction of a facial composite. Participants encoded an unfamiliar target face seen either on its own or paired with a knife. Encoding duration (10 or 30 seconds) was also manipulated. The following day, participants recalled the face and constructed a composite of it using a holistic system (EvoFIT). Correct naming of the participants’ composites was found to reduce reliably when target faces were paired with the weapon at 10 seconds but not at 30 seconds. These data suggest that the presence of a weapon reduces the effectiveness of facial composites following short encoding duration. Implications for theory and police practice are discussed

Effects of Anacetrapib in Patients with Atherosclerotic Vascular Disease

BACKGROUND: Patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease remain at high risk for cardiovascular events despite effective statin-based treatment of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels. The inhibition of cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) by anacetrapib reduces LDL cholesterol levels and increases high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels. However, trials of other CETP inhibitors have shown neutral or adverse effects on cardiovascular outcomes. METHODS: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial involving 30,449 adults with atherosclerotic vascular disease who were receiving intensive atorvastatin therapy and who had a mean LDL cholesterol level of 61 mg per deciliter (1.58 mmol per liter), a mean non-HDL cholesterol level of 92 mg per deciliter (2.38 mmol per liter), and a mean HDL cholesterol level of 40 mg per deciliter (1.03 mmol per liter). The patients were assigned to receive either 100 mg of anacetrapib once daily (15,225 patients) or matching placebo (15,224 patients). The primary outcome was the first major coronary event, a composite of coronary death, myocardial infarction, or coronary revascularization. RESULTS: During the median follow-up period of 4.1 years, the primary outcome occurred in significantly fewer patients in the anacetrapib group than in the placebo group (1640 of 15,225 patients [10.8%] vs. 1803 of 15,224 patients [11.8%]; rate ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval, 0.85 to 0.97; P=0.004). The relative difference in risk was similar across multiple prespecified subgroups. At the trial midpoint, the mean level of HDL cholesterol was higher by 43 mg per deciliter (1.12 mmol per liter) in the anacetrapib group than in the placebo group (a relative difference of 104%), and the mean level of non-HDL cholesterol was lower by 17 mg per deciliter (0.44 mmol per liter), a relative difference of -18%. There were no significant between-group differences in the risk of death, cancer, or other serious adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease who were receiving intensive statin therapy, the use of anacetrapib resulted in a lower incidence of major coronary events than the use of placebo. (Funded by Merck and others; Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN48678192 ; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01252953 ; and EudraCT number, 2010-023467-18 .)

Disruption of Model Membranes by PAMAM Dendrimers and Quantitative Nanoscale Analysis of Type I Collagen.

erionic DPPC in the gel phase. Generation 5 and 7 Poly(amidoamine) dendrimers preferentially disrupt the fluid layer. For the first time, dendrimer can be observed collecting on top of the lipid preceding removal. The location of the dendrimer is verified by phase imaging. Molecular Dynamics simulations also support that dendrimers are on top of the bilayer. These simulations show that the dendrimer deforms more when interacting with a fluid lipid bilayer. This increase in deformation is observed in AFM images through an analysis of the edge profiles of the dendrimer adhered to the surface. Finally, following removal, no dendrimer is adhered to the mica substrate. This observation, coupled with observations of the dendrimer on top of the lipid, supports that disruption is due to lipid encapsulating dendrimer and not a disruption of the interaction of lipid and substrate. Turning to the second part of the thesis, collagen fibrils exhibit a characteristic banding pattern roughly 67 nm in spacing. A 2D Fast Fourier Transform technique has been developed to measure both the spacing and orientation of fibrils within AFM images. Computer simulations and experimental data show at least 9 D-Period repeats must be measured to minimize the potential for error. The resolution limit of the 2D-FFT technique is 0.8 nm. Large populations of fibrils from Ovine samples, exhibit a distribution of fibril spacing—significantly larger than the resolution limit—around a central mean. A distribution of spacings also exists in electron microscope images. X-Ray scattering data also shows similar sized distributions in spacing. Finally, statistical comparisons show a significant change in the distribution caused by estrogen depletion in Ovine samples.Ph.D.BiophysicsUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/77761/1/berick_1.pd

The weapon focus effect in target-present and target-absent line-ups: The roles of threat, novelty, and timing

When an eyewitness suffers an impairment of memory for a perpetrator because the criminal used a weapon during the crime, this impairment is called the weapon focus effect. The literature is split on how this arises: Some implicate the narrowing of attentional cues to the weapon because the arousal of the victim increases, whereas others claim that the weapon is a novel object in most everyday contexts, and novel objects demand more attention than contextually appropriate ones. The current study employed a simulated crime paradigm featuring a normal, novel, or threatening object. Timing of the object\u27s presentation was manipulated such that it was visible before, after, or during the time when the culprit\u27s face was visible. Target-present and target-absent line-ups as well as retrospective questions were administered. Both the novel object and the weapon resulted in increased mistaken identifications in target-absent line-ups. Structural equation modeling suggested that object novelty mediated this effect. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Subversion of Religious Canon in Pullman’s His Dark Materials

In 2000 the final volume of the fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials was published in London. Although it was only after New Line Cinema announced the film adaptation that it attracted world wide attention, it is undeniable that Pullman’s work made an immense contribution not only to children’s literature, but to British literature in general. The fact that Pullman was the first children’s author to receive The Whitbread Award, as well as the sales of more than 15 million, speak in favour of the significance his work. However, because of his public outbursts against the boycotters of his works, Pullman came under strident criticism. Unconventional usage of traditional religious and Church-related concepts as literary devices brought into question his integrity as an author and designated him as a fervent atheist. The central aim of this paper is to show how Pullman uses various religious concepts, which are mainly related to Christian tradition and doctrines. The resonant imagery of His Dark Materials carries numerous canonical references, primarily from the Bible, but also from Milton’s Paradise Lost and the works of William Blake. Pullman employs different strategies throughout the volumes to introduce these, somewhat dogmatic, precepts; they are either rewritten in a way that casts new light upon the matters they relate to or are presented unaltered per se, but in a completely new context that enables a different, allegorical reading of the canonical item. This paper opens with a short explication of the religious canon, followed by examples of its subversion in His Dark Materials. Special emphasis is placed on the transfer and modification of the traditional Christian religious concepts into fantasy fiction context and a relatively critical replica of the Catholic Church in His Dark Materials