Novel phosphonium and ammonium ionic liquids for green applications

textNew phosphonium and ammonium ionic liquids were prepared for use in two green applications. Ionic liquids are generating considerable current interest as media for electrochemical processes such as electrodeposition, which can be used to create thin films of a variety of compounds. For the first time, silicon deposition has been achieved in the phosphonium ionic liquid triethyl(2-methoxyethyl)phosphonium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)amide (P201-TFSI). Subsequently, silicon has been deposited from a wide variety of precursors in order to optimize the thickness and morphology of the deposited films. The silicon films electrodeposited in the phosphonium ionic liquid show marked differences from those deposited in organic solvents, imidizolium and pyrrolidinium based ionic liquids. Phosphonium and ammonium ionic liquids were also investigated for use in carbon dioxide capture. Task-specific ionic liquids have shown great promise as agents for the physisorption and chemisorption of CO2 from combustion gas streams. Efforts to synthesize new task specific ionic liquids with multiple amine functionalities for CO2 capture are reported. Four different reaction pathways were explored for the synthesis of these materials. While this goal was not achieved in this work, task-specific phosphonium and ammonium ionic liquids offer the promise of opening up new areas in ionic liquid research.Chemistr

The impact of a noise stressor on capsaicin-induced primary and secondary hyperalgesia

In searching for new human pain models that more closely resemble clinical pain states, the capsaicin pain model has emerged as a viable model for both inflammatory and neuropathic pain states. A principal benefit of the capsaicin model is that it allows study of two different pain processes, primary and secondary hyperalgesia. Primary hyperalgesia is characterized by spontaneous pain and both heat and mechanical hyperalgesia. In addition, it is likely the result of activation and sensitization of both peripheral and central nociceptors. In contrast, secondary hyperalgesia is characterized by only mechanical hyperalgesia and is caused by the sensitization of central nociceptive neurons. Previous research utilizing the capsaicin pain model has primarily focused on the neural properties with little focus on the impact of affective states on capsaicin-related pain processes. The present study examined the impact of a noise stressor on both primary and secondary hyperalgesia. Results indicated that the effects of the noise stressor impacted secondary hyperalgesia, but not primary hyperalgesia

Menstrual cycle effects on pain modulation and autonomic arousal

Animal research has elucidated the neurobiological substrates and environmental determinants of pain modulation. Despite these advances, relatively little is known about how psychological processes activate pain modulatory systems. One psychological process that is thought to play an important role in regulating pain sensitivity is emotion. In addition, previous research into the human menstrual cycle and the animal estrous cycle have determined that either the presence of certain gonadal hormones or the fluctuations of these hormones may lead to changes in how females perceive pain, regulate emotion, and modulate pain. The present study examines both the role of emotion and the human menstrual cycle in pain modulation. Participants were 39 female undergraduate students with a mean age of 18.7 years (SD=1.46). Results are consistent with prior studies indicating that progesterone has antiinflammatory effects. Specifically, significant effects were observed primarily in the luteal phase. Subjects in the luteal phase demonstrated less sympathetic arousal during the experiment but greater autonomic arousal during the noise stressor. Participants in the luteal phase also demonstrated an analgesic/anti-inflammatory response evidenced by an observed decrease in secondary hyperalgesia for those that did not receive the noise stressor. No such changes in pain perception were discovered in the ovulation and follicular phases. Finally, in response to the noise stressor, an inhibition of the analgesic/anti-inflammatory effects was observed in the luteal phase. No such evidence of stress-induced pain modulation was discovered in the ovulation and follicular phases. Although the specific mechanisms of this action still remain unclear, prior evidence points to the role of centrally-mediated pain modulation. It is likely that the stressor worked to inhibit the anti-inflammatory effects commonly observed in the luteal phase to persistent inflammatory pain through centrally-mediated pain modulatory mechanisms. It is hypothesized that hormone-mediated effects at the level of the amygdala influenced the impact of affective pain modulation

The effect of conversational agent skill on user behavior during deception

Conversational agents (CAs) are an integral component of many personal and business interactions. Many recent advancements in CA technology have attempted to make these interactions more natural and human-like. However, it is currently unclear how human-like traits in a CA impact the way users respond to questions from the CA. In some applications where CAs may be used, detecting deception is important. Design elements that make CA interactions more human-like may induce undesired strategic behaviors from human deceivers to mask their deception. To better understand this interaction, this research investigates the effect of conversational skill—that is, the ability of the CA to mimic human conversation—from CAs on behavioral indicators of deception. Our results show that cues of deception vary depending on CA conversational skill, and that increased conversational skill leads to users engaging in strategic behaviors that are detrimental to deception detection. This finding suggests that for applications in which it is desirable to detect when individuals are lying, the pursuit of more human-like interactions may be counter-productive

Developing a measure of adversarial thinking in social engineering scenarios

Social engineering is a major issue for organizations. In this paper, we propose that increasing adversarial thinking can improve individual resistance to social engineering attacks. We formalize our understanding of adversarial thinking using Utility Theory. Next a measure of adversarial thinking in a text-based context. Lastly the paper reports on two studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of the newly developed measure. We show that the measure of adversarial thinking has variability, can be manipulated with training, and that it is not influenced significantly by priming. The paper also shows that social engineering training has an influence on adversarial thinking and that practicing against an adversarial conversational agent has a positive influence on adversarial thinking

Facilitating Natural Conversational Agent Interactions: Lessons from a Deception Experiment

This study reports the results of a laboratory experiment exploring interactions between humans and a conversational agent. Using the ChatScript language, we created a chat bot that asked participants to describe a series of images. The two objectives of this study were (1) to analyze the impact of dynamic responses on participants’ perceptions of the conversational agent, and (2) to explore behavioral changes in interactions with the chat bot (i.e. response latency and pauses) when participants engaged in deception. We discovered that a chat bot that provides adaptive responses based on the participant’s input dramatically increases the perceived humanness and engagement of the conversational agent. Deceivers interacting with a dynamic chat bot exhibited consistent response latencies and pause lengths while deceivers with a static chat bot exhibited longer response latencies and pause lengths. These results give new insights on social interactions with computer agents during truthful and deceptive interactions