Emotional Expression: Novel Measures and Relation to Emotion Recognition in Schizotypy

poster abstractThis study investigated emotional expression and emotion recognition in a psychometric schizotypy sample of individuals with subclinical traits which are related to psychotic disorders. Both emotional expression and emotion recognition have been observed to be diminished in schizotypy, although there is conflicting evidence when considering of multiple studies. Using a novel measure of emotional expression that relies upon observation informed by objective criteria as well as utilizing facial recognition software, the study proposes three main hypotheses: 1) Emotion recognition skill will be poorer and the frequency and average magnitude of emotional expression will be lower in the schizotypy group compared to the non-schizotypy group; 2) Facial recognition software will demonstrate high convergent validity with the observational measure; 3) Emotion recognition skill will be positively correlated with levels of emotional expression, as measured by observer ratings and software, in both schizotypy and nonschizotypy groups. For each of these hypotheses, there is no expected variation with regards to any specific basic emotion (happiness, sadness, surprise, fear, anger, or disgust), and tests will determine if this prediction is supported. Participants with schizotypy (n = 17) and without (n =14) completed an emotion recognition measure and a semi-structured interview which was video recorded. This video was processed through both measures. Data analysis is still in process, with preliminary results showing small differences between groups in emotional expression for negative affect only

Electrically Small Folded Slot Antenna Utilizing Capacitive Loaded Slot Lines

This paper presents an electrically small, coplanar waveguide fed, folded slot antenna that uses capacitive loading. Several antennas are fabricated with and without capacitive loading to demonstrate the ability of this design approach to reduce the resonant frequency of the antenna, which is analogous to reducing the antenna size. The antennas are fabricated on Cu-clad Rogers Duriod(TM) 6006 with multilayer chip capacitors to load the antennas. Simulated and measured results show close agreement, thus, validating the approach. The electrically small antennas have a measured return loss greater than 15 dB and a gain of 5.4, 5.6, and 2.7 dBi at 4.3, 3.95, and 3.65 GHz, respectively

Measurement of quasi-elastic 12C(p,2p) scattering at high momentum transfer

We measured the high-momentum quasi-elastic 12C(p,2p) reaction (at center of mass angle near 90 degrees) for 6 and 7.5 GeV/c incident protons. The three-momentum components of both final state protons were measured and the missing energy and momentum of the target proton in the nucleus were determined. The validity of the quasi-elastic picture was verified up to Fermi momenta of about 450 MeV/c, where it might be questionable. Transverse and longitudinal Fermi momentum distributions of the target proton were measured and compared to independent particle models which do not reproduce the large momentum tails. We also observed that the transverse Fermi distribution gets wider as the longitudinal component increases in the beam direction, in contrast to a simple Fermi gas model.Comment: 4 pages including 3 figure

Progress in Three-Dimensional Coherent X-Ray Diffraction Imaging

The Fourier inversion of phased coherent diffraction patterns offers images without the resolution and depth-of-focus limitations of lens-based tomographic systems. We report on our recent experimental images inverted using recent developments in phase retrieval algorithms, and summarize efforts that led to these accomplishments. These include ab-initio reconstruction of a two-dimensional test pattern, infinite depth of focus image of a thick object, and its high-resolution (~10 nm resolution) three-dimensional image. Developments on the structural imaging of low density aerogel samples are discussed.Comment: 5 pages, X-Ray Microscopy 2005, Himeji, Japa

Helix vs. Sheet Formation in a Small Peptide

Segments with the amino acid sequence EKAYLRT appear in natural occurring proteins both in $\alpha$-helices and $\beta$-sheets. For this reason, we have use this peptide to study how secondary structure formation in proteins depends on the local environment. Our data rely on multicanonical Monte Carlo simulations where the interactions among all atoms are taken into account. Results in gas phase are compared with that in an implicit solvent. We find that both in gas phase and solvated EKAYLRT forms an $\alpha$-helix when not interacting with other molecules. However, in the vicinity of a $\beta$-strand, the peptide forms a $\beta$-strand. Because of this change in secondary structure our peptide may provide a simple model for the $\alpha \to \beta$ transition that is supposedly related to the outbreak of Prion diseases and similar illnesses.Comment: to appear in Physical Review

Plastic flow and failure resistance of metallic glass: Insight from \u3cem\u3ein situ\u3c/em\u3e compression of nanopillars

We report in situ nanocompression tests of Cu-Zr-Al metallic glass (MG) pillars in a transmission electron microscope. This technique is capable of spatially and temporally resolving the plastic flow in MGs. The observations reveal the intrinsic ability of fully glassy MGs to sustain large plastic strains, which would otherwise be preempted by catastrophic instability in macroscopic samples and conventional tests. The high ductility in volume-limited MGs and the sample size effects in suppressing the rapid failure common to MGs are analyzed by modeling the evolution of the collectivity of flow defects toward localization