Lying to identity: analysis of latencies from interviews.

openDetecting liars of personal identities is becoming an increasingly important goal. However, an obstacle to this endeavor is that deceivers can prepare a "lie script" prior to investigative interviews, producing narratives that are indistinguishable from those of truth tellers. To overcome this limitation, specific interview techniques have been developed that pose cognitive disadvantages for deceivers, such as including unexpected questions alongside control and expected questions. Unexpected questions can be considered a "rehearsal averting strategy" since liars cannot anticipate and prepare responses in advance. Consequently, when confronted with unexpected questions, liars are compelled to generate an immediate deceptive statement, inhibit the truth, and replace it with a fabricated narrative, while ensuring that the deception remains undetectable to the interviewer. This process of information reconstruction leads to increased response times and error rates for unexpected questions. Even truth tellers will experience an increase in cognitive load when responding to unexpected questions, but their responses, based on genuine memory traces, will be more comparable. The purpose of this study is to assess whether it is possible to discriminate between identity liars and truth tellers by analyzing response times and errors obtained from face-to-face interviews that implement unexpected questions.Detecting liars of personal identities is becoming an increasingly important goal. However, an obstacle to this endeavor is that deceivers can prepare a "lie script" prior to investigative interviews, producing narratives that are indistinguishable from those of truth tellers. To overcome this limitation, specific interview techniques have been developed that pose cognitive disadvantages for deceivers, such as including unexpected questions alongside control and expected questions. Unexpected questions can be considered a "rehearsal averting strategy" since liars cannot anticipate and prepare responses in advance. Consequently, when confronted with unexpected questions, liars are compelled to generate an immediate deceptive statement, inhibit the truth, and replace it with a fabricated narrative, while ensuring that the deception remains undetectable to the interviewer. This process of information reconstruction leads to increased response times and error rates for unexpected questions. Even truth tellers will experience an increase in cognitive load when responding to unexpected questions, but their responses, based on genuine memory traces, will be more comparable. The purpose of this study is to assess whether it is possible to discriminate between identity liars and truth tellers by analyzing response times and errors obtained from face-to-face interviews that implement unexpected questions

Arterial Network Geometric Characteristics and Regulation of Capillary Blood Flow in Hamster Skeletal Muscle Microcirculation

This study was aimed to characterize the geometric arrangement of hamster skeletal muscle arteriolar networks and to assess the in vivo rhythmic diameter changes of arterioles to clarify regulatory mechanisms of the capillary perfusion. The experimental study was carried out in male Syrian hamsters implanted with a plastic chamber in the dorsum skin under pentobarbital anesthesia. The skeletal muscle microvessels were visualized by fluorescence microscopy. The vessel diameters, lengths and the rhythmic diameter changes of arterioles were analyzed with computer-assisted techniques. The arterioles were classified according to a centripetal ordering scheme. In hamster skeletal muscle microvasculature the terminal branchings, differentiated in long and short terminal arteriolar trees (TATs), originated from anastomotic vessels, defined “arcading” arterioles. The long TATs presented different frequencies along the branching vessels; order 4 arterioles had frequencies lower than those observed in the order 3, 2, and 1 vessels. The short TAT order 3 arterioles, directly originating from “arcading” parent vessels, showed a frequency dominating all daughter arterioles. The amplitude of diameter variations in larger vessels was in the range 30–40% of mean diameter, while it was 80–100% in order 3, 2, and 1 vessels. Therefore, the complete constriction of arterioles, caused an intermittent capillary blood perfusion. L-arginine or papaverine infusion caused dilation of arterioles and transient disappearing of vasomotion waves and induced perfusion of all capillaries spreading from short and long TAT arrangements. Therefore, the capillary blood flow was modulated by changes in diameter of terminal arterioles penetrating within the skeletal muscle fibers, facilitating redistribution of blood flow according to the metabolic demands of tissues

A biorobotic simulator of vocal folds for the reproduction and analysis of electroglottographic signals

Vocal folds simulators have been identified as useful tool for understanding the human larynx behavior in pathophysiological conditions. The main objective of the present study is to develop a vocal folds simulator and to provide a quantitative method for monitoring synthetic replica vibration in pathophysiologic conditions, based on electroglottography (EGG). The biorobotic simulator is developed following the composition of a three-layer synthetic model with the addition of a superficial conductive layer in order to acquire an electrical signal to be compared to an EGG signal. Results showed an inverse correlation between vocal folds contact area and resistance during vibration, suggesting that the developed simulator is able to replicate the EGG signal in physiological conditions. This tool has potential for simulating multiple pathologies and clustering the derived EGG signals according to their characteristics, in order to help clinicians in the diagnosis of laryngeal diseases

6LiF Converters for Neutron Detection: Production Procedures and Detector Tests

Several methods to detect thermal neutrons make use of the naturally occurring 6Li isotope, as it has a rather high cross-section for neutron capture followed by a decay into an alpha particle and a triton. Due to the high chemical reactivity of lithium, the use of the stable isotopic salt 6LiF is generally preferred to the pure 6Li. The typical method for depositing thin layers of 6LiF on suitable substrates, therefore creating so-called neutron converters, is evaporation under vacuum. The evaporation technique, as well as a newly developed chemical deposition process, are described along with their benefits and drawbacks, and the results of neutron detection tests performed with the two types of converters coupled to silicon diodes show convenient performances

Conductive Silicone Vocal Folds Reproducing Electroglottographic Signal in Pathophysiological Conditions

The development of larynx simulators as platforms for clinical investigations has been identified as a useful tool for understanding the pathophysiology of vocal folds. The primary goal of this study was the realization of electrically conductive silicone vocal folds able to replicate an electroglottography (EGG) signal under pathophysiological conditions, in order to provide a quantitative method for monitoring the vocal folds vibratory characteristics. Both simulators showed an oscillatory behavior similar to human counterpart, thanks to the materials used for their realization. In addition, the synthetic simulators are made conductive by a silicone-based conductive solution applied to the surface of the synthetic vocal folds, in order to acquire an electrical signal to be compared to an EGG signal. Results showed a direct correlation between conductance variation and the occurrence of vocal folds contact, as it happens for the real EGG signal. In addition, results suggested that both simulators are able to replicate the vibratory characteristics of healthy and pathological vocal folds and to reproduce an electrical signal that is comparable to a real EGG. This will represent a powerful tool to characterize and cluster different vocal folds pathologies, which can lead to a significant improvement of prevention programs and an early diagnosis for laryngeal diseases

Preparation and characterisation of High Oriented Pyrolytic Graphite backed targets for the NUMEN project

International audienceThe equipment for target production and characterisation at the Laboratori Nazionali del Sud – INFN (Catania, Italy) is described. In particular, the CACTUS system used for target thickness and non-uniformity measurements is detailed. First trials in view of the production of Cadmium targets, under development for the NUclear Matrix Elements for Neutrinoless double β decay (NUMEN) project, are reported and discussed

The Timecourse of Electrophysiological Brain–Heart Interaction in DoC Patients

Disorders of Consciousness (DOC) are a spectrum of pathologies affecting one’s ability to interact with the external world. Two possible conditions of patients with DOC are Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome/Vegetative State (UWS/VS) and Minimally Conscious State (MCS). Analysis of spontaneous EEG activity and the Heart Rate Variability (HRV) are effective techniques in exploring and evaluating patients with DOC. This study aims to observe fluctuations in EEG and HRV parameters in the morning/afternoon resting-state recording. The study enrolled 13 voluntary Healthy Control (HC) subjects and 12 DOC patients (7 MCS, 5 UWS/VS). EEG and EKG were recorded. PSDalpha, PSDtheta powerband, alpha-blocking, alpha/theta of the EEG, Complexity Index (CI) and SDNN of EKG were analyzed. Higher values of PSDalpha, alpha-blocking, alpha/theta and CI values and lower values of PSD theta characterized HC individuals in the morning with respect to DOC patients. In the afternoon, we detected a significant difference between groups in the CI, PSDalpha, PSDtheta, alpha/theta and SDNN, with lower PSDtheta value for HC. CRS-R scores showed a strong correlation with recorded parameters mainly during evaluations in the morning. Our finding put in evidence the importance of the assessment, as the stimulation of DOC patients in research for behavioural response, in the morning

Salvage Hypofractionated Radiotherapy in Combination with Bevacizumab in Patients with Recurrent High Grade Glioma: A Mono-institutional Experience

Background: After the detection of recurrent high-grade glioma, there are no standard approaches; salvage surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy are often used despite the fact that no real clinical benefit has been confirmed and the combination of these approaches has not yet been fully investigated. Objective: In the present retrospective study, we reported the results of a mono-institutional experience studying the association of salvage hypofractionated stereotactic radiotherapy in combination with bevacizumab in patients with recurrent glioblastoma after standard up-front therapy with the Stupp protocol. Method: From May 2010 to December 2016, eight patients with recurrent glioblastoma were treated with hypofractionated radiotherapy 25 Gy in 5 fractions in combination with bevacizumab at the University Hospital of Pisa. Results: All patients showed appreciable improvements in Karnofsky Performance Status and median survival following the beginning of radiotherapy treatment to 7 months (range 3–15 months). Severe toxicity has not been recorded. Conclusion: Hypofractionated radiotherapy associated with bevacizumab may represent a valid therapeutic option in selected patients with recurrent high-grade gliom

Thickness and uniformity analysis of thin and heat-resistant targets

International audienceThe thickness and uniformity characterisation of the first prototypes of thin tellurium and germanium targets evaporated on Highly Oriented Pyrolytic Graphite for NUMEN project is reported. The contribution of such targets to the energy resolution on reaction ejectiles is evaluated