Psychopathic Personality Traits and Iowa Gambling Task Performance in Incarcerated Offenders

There is a paucity of research on how psychopathy relates to decision-making. In this study, we assessed the relationship between affective decision-making and psychopathic personality. A sample of prisoners (n D 49) was characterized in terms of psychopathic traits using the Psychopathic Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV). Decision-making was assessed using the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). Higher levels of psychopathy related to more advantageous choices (p D .003). Also counter-intuitively, higher levels of antisocial traits (facet 4) predicted advantageous choices during the learning phase of the task (p D .004). Our findings suggest that some psychopathic facets may be more relevant to decisionmaking under risk, and highlight the importance of further investigations considering facet and trait-level relationships with decision-making

Bostonia. Volume 6

Founded in 1900, Bostonia magazine is Boston University's main alumni publication, which covers alumni and student life, as well as university activities, events, and programs

Condensation Coefficient Measurement for Water in the UMR Cloud Simulation Chamber

A systematic series of condensation coefficient measurements of water have been made using the University of Missouri-Rolla cooled-wall expansion chamber which simulates the thermodynamics of cloud. This coefficient is seen to decrease from a value near unity, at the outset of simulation, to a value in the neighborhood of 0.01 toward the end of a simulation. Final values of this coefficient are sufficiently low as to contribute significantly to the broadening of the drop-size distribution in cloud

Modeling the Frozen-In Anticyclone in the 2005 Arctic Summer Stratosphere

Immediately following the breakup of the 2005 Arctic spring stratospheric vortex, a tropical air mass, characterized by low potential vorticity (PV) and high nitrous oxide (N2O), was advected poleward and became trapped in the easterly summer polar vortex. This feature, known as a "Frozen-In Anticyclone (FrIAC)", was observed in Earth Observing System (EOS) Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) data to span the potential temperature range from approximately 580 to 1100 K (approximately 25 to 40 km altitude) and to persist from late March to late August 2005. This study compares MLS N2O observations with simulations from the Global Modeling Initiative (GMI) chemistry and transport model, the GEOS-5/MERRA Replay model, and the VanLeer Icosahedral Triangular Advection isentropic transport model to elucidate the processes involved in the lifecycle of the FrIAC which is here divided into three distinct phases. During the "spin-up phase" (March to early April), strong poleward flow resulted in a tight isolated anticyclonic vortex at approximately 70-90 deg N, marked with elevated N2O. GMI, Replay, and VITA all reliably simulted the spin-up of the FrIAC, although the GMI and Replay peak N2O values were too low. The FrIAC became trapped in the developing summer easterly flow and circulated around the polar region during the "anticyclonic phase" (early April to the end of May). During this phase, the FrIAC crossed directly over the pole between the 7th and 14th of April. The VITA and Replay simulations transported the N2O anomaly intact during this crossing, in agreement with MLS, but unrealistic dispersion of the anomaly occurred in the GMI simulation due to excessive numerical mixing of the polar cap. The vortex associated with the FrIAC was apparently resistant to the weak vertical hear during the anticyclonic phase, and it thereby protected the embedded N20 anomaly from stretching. The vortex decayed in late May due to diabatic processes, leaving the N2O anomaly exposed to horizontal and vertical wind shears during the "shearing phase" (June to August). The observed lifetime of the FrIAC during this phase is consistent with time-scales calculated from the ambient horizontal and vertical wind shear. Replay maintained the horizontal structure of the N2O anomaly similar to NILS well into August. The VITA simulation also captured the horizontal structure of the FrIAC during this phase, but VITA eventually developed fine-scale N2O structure not observed in MLS data

KELT-1b: A Strongly Irradiated, Highly Inflated, Short Period, 27 Jupiter-mass Companion Transiting a mid-F Star

We present the discovery of KELT-1b, the first transiting low-mass companion from the wide-field Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope-North (KELT-North) survey. The V=10.7 primary is a mildly evolved, solar-metallicity, mid-F star. The companion is a low-mass brown dwarf or super-massive planet with mass of 27.23+/-0.50 MJ and radius of 1.110+0.037-0.024 RJ, on a very short period (P=1.21750007) circular orbit. KELT-1b receives a large amount of stellar insolation, with an equilibrium temperature assuming zero albedo and perfect redistribution of 2422 K. Upper limits on the secondary eclipse depth indicate that either the companion must have a non-zero albedo, or it must experience some energy redistribution. Comparison with standard evolutionary models for brown dwarfs suggests that the radius of KELT-1b is significantly inflated. Adaptive optics imaging reveals a candidate stellar companion to KELT-1, which is consistent with an M dwarf if bound. The projected spin-orbit alignment angle is consistent with zero stellar obliquity, and the vsini of the primary is consistent with tidal synchronization. Given the extreme parameters of the KELT-1 system, we expect it to provide an important testbed for theories of the emplacement and evolution of short-period companions, and theories of tidal dissipation and irradiated brown dwarf atmospheres.Comment: 30 pages, 19 figures. Submitted to Ap

KELT-2Ab: A Hot Jupiter Transiting the Bright (V=8.77) Primary Star of a Binary System

We report the discovery of KELT-2Ab, a hot Jupiter transiting the bright (V=8.77) primary star of the HD 42176 binary system. The host is a slightly evolved late F-star likely in the very short-lived "blue-hook" stage of evolution, with \teff=6148\pm48{\rm K}, $\log{g}=4.030_{-0.026}^{+0.015}$ and \feh=0.034\pm0.78. The inferred stellar mass is $M_*=1.314_{-0.060}^{+0.063}$\msun\ and the star has a relatively large radius of $R_*=1.836_{-0.046}^{+0.066}$\rsun. The planet is a typical hot Jupiter with period $4.11379\pm0.00001$ days and a mass of $M_P=1.524\pm0.088$\mj\ and radius of $R_P=1.290_{-0.050}^{+0.064}$\rj. This is mildly inflated as compared to models of irradiated giant planets at the $\sim$4 Gyr age of the system. KELT-2A is the third brightest star with a transiting planet identified by ground-based transit surveys, and the ninth brightest star overall with a transiting planet. KELT-2Ab's mass and radius are unique among the subset of planets with $V<9$ host stars, and therefore increases the diversity of bright benchmark systems. We also measure the relative motion of KELT-2A and -2B over a baseline of 38 years, robustly demonstrating for the first time that the stars are bound. This allows us to infer that KELT-2B is an early K-dwarf. We hypothesize that through the eccentric Kozai mechanism KELT-2B may have emplaced KELT-2Ab in its current orbit. This scenario is potentially testable with Rossiter-McLaughlin measurements, which should have an amplitude of $\sim$44 m s$^{-1}$.Comment: 9 pages, 2 tables, 4 figures. A short video describing this paper is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVS8lnkXXlE. Revised to reflect the ApJL version. Note that figure 4 is not in the ApJL versio

Calibration of Gas Flow Meters using Choked Flow and an Evacuated Vessel

The measurement of gas flow rates is of great importance in a wide range of modern technologies. This paper introduces a simple, yet accurate technique for in-house calibration of gas FMs (mass and volumetric) even under harsh environmental conditions such as encountered during field measurement campaigns. The method requires only readily available, low cost components: a vessel of known volume, an air pump, a pressure sensor and a metal plate orifice or a needle valve to act as a CO. The unique property of choked flow in the CO is used here for flow calibration. In the method presented here a vessel is evacuated to below the critical pressure ( \u3c 0.53 of upstream pressure) and then allowed to refill with ambient air (or some other process gas) under so-called choked flow conditions through the CO. The method presented here leverages that the flow rate upstream of the CO is not only constant but readily determined from (a) the known V VESS, (b) the measured time rate of change of the absolute pressure in the vessel and (c) the ideal gas law. This calculated flow rate can be used for calibration of FMs. The accuracy of the method depends only on the accuracy of the pressure measurement, the timer and the value of the V VESS. The flow rate computed in this way is found to be in excellent agreement (typically 1% difference) with the flow rate measured by a soap film FM (Gilibrator). As expected from theory this method is found to work for all kinds of CFRs (here: various types of metal plate orifices and needle valves were tested), gas types (here: air, Argon, and CO2) and upstream pressures (here: between 650 hPa and 1400 hPa). The accuracy of this technique (∼1%) is as good as that of standard volume displacement methods (e.g. soap film FMs) (typically 1% difference), the standard of laboratory-based flow calibrators, but less expensive and more suitable for harsh environments

KELT-12b: A P ~ 5 day, Highly Inflated Hot Jupiter Transiting A Mildly Evolved Hot Star

We announce the discovery of KELT-12b, a highly inflated Jupiter-mass planet transiting the mildly evolved, V = 10.64 host star TYC 2619-1057-1. We followed up the initial transit signal in the KELT-North survey data with precise ground-based photometry, high-resolution spectroscopy, precise radial velocity measurements, and high-resolution adaptive optics imaging. Our preferred best-fit model indicates that the host star has = 6279 ± 51 K, = 3.89 ± 0.05,[Fe/H] = , = , and = 2.37 ± 0.17 . The planetary companion has = 0.95 ± 0.14 , = , = , and density = g cm −3 , making it one of the most inflated giant planets known. Furthermore, for future follow-up, we report a high-precision time of inferior conjunction in of 2,457,083.660459 ± 0.000894 and period of days. Despite the relatively large separation of ∼0.07 au implied by its ∼5.03-day orbital period, KELT-12b receives significant flux of erg s −1 cm −2 from its host. We compare the radii and insolations of transiting gas giant planets around hot ( K) and cool stars, noting that the observed paucity of known transiting giants around hot stars with low insolation is likely due to selection effects. We underscore the significance of long-term ground-based monitoring of hot stars and space-based targeting of hot stars with the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite to search for inflated gas giants in longer-period orbits