Identification. The missing link between joint attention and imitation

In this paper we outline our hypothesis that human intersubjective engagement entails identifying with other people. We tested a prediction derived from this hypothesis that concerned the relation between a component of joint attention and a specific form of imitation. The empirical investigation involved “blind” ratings of videotapes from a recent study in which we tested matched children with and without autism for their propensity to imitate the self-/other-orientated aspects of another person's actions. The results were in keeping with three a priori predictions, as follows: (a) children with autism contrasted with control participants in spending more time looking at the objects acted upon and less time looking at the tester; (b) participants with autism showed fewer “sharing” looks toward the tester, and although they also showed fewer “checking” and “orientating” looks, they were specifically less likely to show any sharing looks; and, critically, (c) within each group, individual differences in sharing looks (only) were associated with imitation of self–other orientation. We suggest that the propensity to adopt the bodily anchored psychological stance of another person is essential to certain forms of joint attention and imitation, and that a weak tendency to identify with others is pivotal for the developmental psychopathology of autism

Removal of microcystins from a waste stabilisation lagoon: evaluation of a packed-bed continuous flow TiO2 reactor.

Photocatalysis has been shown to successfully remove microcystins (MC) in laboratory experiments. Most research to date has been performed under ideal conditions in pure or ultrapure water. In this investigation the efficiency of photocatalysis using titanium dioxide was examined in a complex matrix (waste stabilisation lagoon water). A flow-through photocatalytic reactor was used for the photocatalytic removal of four commonly-occurring microcystin analogues (MC-YR, MC-RR, MC-LR, and MC-LA). Up to 51% removal for single MC analogues in waste lagoon water was observed. Similar removal rates were observed when a mixture of all four MC analogues was treated. Although treatment of MC-containing cyanobacterial cells of Microcystis aeruginosa resulted in no decline in cell numbers, or viability with the current reactor design and treatment regime, the photocatalytic treatment did improve the overall quality of waste lagoon water. This study demonstrates that, despite the presence of natural organic matter, the microcystins could be successfully degraded in a complex environmental matrix

Infant Responding to Joint Attention, Executive Processes, and Self-Regulation in Preschool Children

Infant joint attention is related to behavioral and social outcomes, as well as language in childhood. Recent research and theory suggests that the relations between joint attention and social–behavioral outcomes may reflect the role of executive self-regulatory processes in the development of joint attention. To test this hypothesis two studies were conducted. The first, cross-sectional study examined the development of responding to joint attention (RJA) skill in terms of increasing executive efficiency of responding between 9 and 18 months of age. The results indicated that development of RJA was characterized by a decreased latency to shift attention in following another person\u27s gaze and head turn, as well as an increase in the proportion of correct RJA responses exhibited by older infants. The second study examined the longitudinal relations between 12-month measures of responding to joint attention and 36-month attention regulation in a delay of gratification task. The results indicated that responding to joint attention at 12-months was significantly related to children\u27s use of three types of self-regulation behaviors while waiting for a snack reward at 36 months of age. These observations are discussed in light of a developmental theory of attention regulation and joint attention in infancy

Foundation of Statistical Mechanics under experimentally realistic conditions

We demonstrate the equilibration of isolated macroscopic quantum systems, prepared in non-equilibrium mixed states with significant population of many energy levels, and observed by instruments with a reasonably bound working range compared to the resolution limit. Both properties are fulfilled under many, if not all, experimentally realistic conditions. At equilibrium, the predictions and limitations of Statistical Mechanics are recovered.Comment: Accepted in Phys. Rev. Let

Equilibration of isolated macroscopic quantum systems

We investigate the equilibration of an isolated macroscopic quantum system in the sense that deviations from a steady state become unmeasurably small for the overwhelming majority of times within any sufficiently large time interval. The main requirements are that the initial state, possibly far from equilibrium, exhibits a macroscopic population of at most one energy level and that degeneracies of energy eigenvalues and of energy gaps (differences of energy eigenvalues) are not of exceedingly large multiplicities. Our approach closely follows and extends recent works by Short and Farrelly [2012 New J. Phys. 14 013063], in particular going beyond the realm of finite-dimensional systems and large effective dimensions.Comment: 19 page

Microwave transmissivity of a metamaterial–dielectric stack

Copyright © 2009 American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. The following article appeared in Applied Physics Letters 95 (2009) and may be found at http://link.aip.org/link/?APPLAB/95/174101/1A metamaterial layer comprising of a conducting square mesh surrounding subwavelength holes has a largely pure imaginary effective refractive index. We explore the microwave transmissivity of a stack of such metamaterial layers separated by dielectric spacers. As expected, a family of high transmissivity bands is experimentally observed. It is found that the lowest frequency edge is independent of the number of unit cells making up the structure and is highly tunable by appropriate geometrical design of the metamaterial layers

Diet segregation between two colonies of little penguins Eudyptula minor in southeast Australia

We studied foraging segregation between two different sized colonies of little penguins Eudyptula minor with overlapping foraging areas in pre-laying and incubation. We used stomach contents and stable isotope measurements of nitrogen (δ 15N) and carbon (δ 13C) in blood to examine differences in trophic position, prey-size and nutritional values between the two colonies. Diet of little penguins at St Kilda (small colony) relied heavily on anchovy while at Phillip Island (large colony), the diet was more diverse and anchovies were larger than those consumed by St Kilda penguins. Higher δ 15N values at St Kilda, differences in δ 13C values and the prey composition provided further evidence of diet segregation between colonies. Penguins from each colony took anchovies from different cohorts and probably different stocks, although these sites are only 70km apart. Differences in diet were not reflected in protein levels in the blood of penguins, suggesting that variation in prey between colonies was not related to differences in nutritional value of the diet. Anchovy is currently the only available prey to penguins throughout the year and its absence could have a negative impact on penguin food supply, particularly at St Kilda where the diet is dominated by this species. While it is difficult to establish whether diet segregation is caused by inter- or intra-colony competition or spatial differences in foraging areas, we have shown that colonies with broadly overlapping foraging ranges could have significant differences in trophic position, diet composition and prey size while maintaining a diet of similar nutritional value. © 2011 The Authors. Austral Ecology © 2011 Ecological Society of Australia.Peer Reviewe

Strong exciton–photon coupling in a low-Q all-metal mirror microcavity

Copyright © 2002 American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. The following article appeared in Applied Physics Letters 81 (2002) and may be found at http://link.aip.org/link/?APPLAB/81/3519/1We report the experimental observation of strong exciton–photon coupling in a planar microcavity composed of an organic semiconductor positioned between two metallic (silver) mirrors. Via transmission and reflectivity measurements, we observe a very large, room temperature Rabi splitting in excess of 300 meV. We show that the Rabi-splitting is enhanced in all-metal microcavities by a factor of more than 2 compared to an organic film positioned between a silver mirror and a dielectric mirror. This enhancement results from the significantly larger optical fields that are confined within all-metal microcavities

Canonical thermalization

For quantum systems that are weakly coupled to a much 'bigger' environment, thermalization of possibly far from equilibrium initial ensembles is demonstrated: for sufficiently large times, the ensemble is for all practical purposes indistinguishable from a canonical density operator under conditions that are satisfied under many, if not all, experimentally realistic conditions

Non-parametric comparison of histogrammed two-dimensional data distributions using the Energy Test

When monitoring complex experiments, comparison is often made between regularly acquired histograms of data and reference histograms which represent the ideal state of the equipment. With the larger HEP experiments now ramping up, there is a need for automation of this task since the volume of comparisons could overwhelm human operators. However, the two-dimensional histogram comparison tools available in ROOT have been noted in the past to exhibit shortcomings. We discuss a newer comparison test for two-dimensional histograms, based on the Energy Test of Aslan and Zech, which provides more conclusive discrimination between histograms of data coming from different distributions than methods provided in a recent ROOT release.The Science and Technology Facilities Council, U