High-stakes lies: Verbal and nonverbal cues to deception in public appeals for help with missing or murdered relatives

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Psychiatry, Psychology and Law on 23/9/2013 available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/10.1080/13218719.2013.839931Low ecological validity is a common limitation in deception studies. The present study investigated the real life, high stake context of public appeals for help with missing or murdered relatives. Behaviours which discriminated between honest and deceptive appeals included some previously identified in research on high stakes lies (deceptive appeals contained more equivocal language, gaze aversion, head shaking, and speech errors), and a number of previously unidentified behaviours (honest appeals contained more references to norms of emotion/behaviour, more expressions of hope of finding the missing relative alive, more expressions of positive emotion towards the relative, more expressions of concern/pain, and an avoidance of brutal language). Case by case analyses yielded 78% correct classifications. Implications are discussed with reference to the importance of using ecologically valid data in deception studies, the context specific nature of some deceptive behaviours, and social interactionist, and individual behavioural profile, accounts of cues to deception.ESRC grant number [ES/I90316X/1

Subjective cues to deception/honesty in a high stakes situation: An exploratory approach

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in The Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied on 7/5/2014 available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/10.1080/00223980.2014.911140The low ecological validity of much of the research on deception detection is a limitation recognised by researchers in the field. Consequently, the present studies investigated subjective cues to deception using the real life, high stakes situation of people making public appeals for help with missing or murdered relatives. It was expected that cues related to affect would be particularly salient in this context. Study 1 was a qualitative investigation identifying cues to deception reportedly used by people accurate at detecting deception. Studies 2 and 3 were then empirical investigations which mainly employed the cues reported in Study 1. A number of subjective cues were found to discriminate between honest and deceptive appeals, including some previously unidentified cues, and cues likely to be context-specific. Most could be categorised under the themes of authenticity of emotion, and negative and positive affective reactions to the appealer. It is concluded that some cues to deception may emerge only in real life, high stakes situations; however, it is argued that some of these may be influenced by observers’ perceptions of the characteristics of offenders, rather than acts of deception per se.ESRC grant number ES/I90316X/

The use of airborne ultrasound for Varroa destructor mite control in beehives

The declining health of honey bee (Apis mellifera) populations is of global concern, as they are arguably the most important pollinator insect. The Varroa destructor mite weakens bees by sucking their haemolymph and spreads debilitating illnesses such as Deformed Wing Virus. Current methods of Varroa mite control are usually pesticide-based with potential side effects for the bees or the beekeeper, and can leave residues in the honey or wax. The mites can also develop resistance to these pesticides. The objective of the current work is to investigate the use of high-frequency, high-intensity airborne ultrasound to control the Varroa mite populations using a chemical-free technology. A prototype ultrasonic system that generates airborne ultrasonic waves at different frequencies and intensities was constructed and tested. In initial studies, small transparent enclosures were used to observe directly the effects of the ultrasound on the bees. Preliminary in-hive tests were then conducted. Bee hives with varying levels of Varroa mite infestation were temporarily sealed to prevent bee traffic and then the bees inside were exposed to the ultrasound. The mite drop from the hive was recorded for (i)30 minutes before, (ii)during 30 minutes of ultrasound exposure, and (iii)30 minutes after ultrasonic treatment. The bees in the transparent enclosures exhibited normal behavior and appeared to be unaffected by the ultrasound. Preliminary results from the in-hive experiments indicate a significant increase in the rate of Varroa mite drop after only 30 minutes of exposure to the airborne ultrasound inside some of the hives, with the effect continuing after the ultrasonic system was switched off. Long-term field trials of ultrasonic in-hive systems are ongoing

Combined Paramagnetic and Diamagnetic Response of YBCO

It has been predicted that the zero frequency density of states of YBCO in the superconducting phase can display interesting anisotropy effects when a magnetic field is applied parallel to the copper-oxide planes, due to the diamagnetic response of the quasi-particles. In this paper we incorporate paramagnetism into the theory and show that it lessens the anisotropy and can even eliminate it altogether. At the same time paramagnetism also changes the scaling with the square root of the magnetic field first deduced by Volovik leading to an experimentally testable prediction. We also map out the analytic structure of the zero frequency density of states as a function of the diamagnetic and paramagnetic energies. At certain critical magnetic field values we predict kinks as we vary the magnetic field. However these probably lie beyond currently accessible field strengths

Oxygen-rich dust production in IC 10

We report the detection of oxygen-rich circumstellar envelopes in stars of the nearby (700 kpc) starburst galaxy IC 10. The star formation history and the chemical environment of this galaxy makes it an ideal target to observe dust production by high-mass stars in a low-metallicity environment. The goal of this study is to identify oxygen-rich stars in IC 10 and to constrain their nature between asymptotic giant branch stars (AGBs), red supergiants (RSGs), and other infrared bright sources. We examine the mass-loss rate of the stars and compare to results obtained for the Magellanic Clouds. Our objectives are to (1) assess whether RSGs can be significant dust producers in IC 10, and (2), solve the discrepancy between the star formation history of IC 10 and the relatively low number of RSGs detected in the optical. We search for silicate dust in emission by using the spectral map observed with the Infrared Spectrograph on board the Spitzer Space Telescope. The optical (UBVRI) and infrared (JHK, Spitzer/IRAC and Spitzer/MIPS) photometry is used to assert the membership of the stars to IC 10 and disentangle between AGBs and RSGs. Radiative models are used to infer mass-loss rates and stellar luminosities. The luminosity and colors of at least 9 silicate emission sources are consistent with stars within IC 10. Furthermore, the photometry of 2 of these sources is consistent with RSGs. We derive dust mass-loss rates similar to the values found in the Magellanic Clouds. Accounting for the sample completeness, RSGs are not important contributors to the dust mass budget in IC 10.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&

Heritability and reliability of automatically segmented human hippocampal formation subregions

The human hippocampal formation can be divided into a set of cytoarchitecturally and functionally distinct subregions, involved in different aspects of memory formation. Neuroanatomical disruptions within these subregions are associated with several debilitating brain disorders including Alzheimer's disease, major depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. Multi-center brain imaging consortia, such as the Enhancing Neuro Imaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis (ENIGMA) consortium, are interested in studying disease effects on these subregions, and in the genetic factors that affect them. For large-scale studies, automated extraction and subsequent genomic association studies of these hippocampal subregion measures may provide additional insight. Here, we evaluated the test-retest reliability and transplatform reliability (1.5 T versus 3 T) of the subregion segmentation module in the FreeSurfer software package using three independent cohorts of healthy adults, one young (Queensland Twins Imaging Study, N=39), another elderly (Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, ADNI-2, N=163) and another mixed cohort of healthy and depressed participants (Max Planck Institute, MPIP, N=598). We also investigated agreement between the most recent version of this algorithm (v6.0) and an older version (v5.3), again using the ADNI-2 and MPIP cohorts in addition to a sample from the Netherlands Study for Depression and Anxiety (NESDA) (N=221). Finally, we estimated the heritability (h(2)) of the segmented subregion volumes using the full sample of young, healthy QTIM twins (N=728). Test-retest reliability was high for all twelve subregions in the 3 T ADNI-2 sample (intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC)=0.70-0.97) and moderate-to-high in the 4 TQTIM sample (ICC=0.5-0.89). Transplatform reliability was strong for eleven of the twelve subregions (ICC=0.66-0.96); however, the hippocampal fissure was not consistently reconstructed across 1.5 T and 3 T field strengths (ICC=0.47-0.57). Between-version agreement was moderate for the hippocampal tail, subiculum and presubiculum (ICC=0.78-0.84; Dice Similarity Coefficient (DSC)=0.55-0.70), and poor for all other subregions (ICC=0.34-0.81; DSC=0.28-0.51). All hippocampal subregion volumes were highly heritable (h(2)=0.67-0.91). Our findings indicate that eleven of the twelve human hippocampal subregions segmented using FreeSurfer version 6.0 may serve as reliable and informative quantitative phenotypes for future multi-site imaging genetics initiatives such as those of the ENIGMA consortium. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc

Towards a resolution of some outstanding issues in transitive research: an empirical test on middle childhood

Transitive Inference (deduce B > D from B > C and C > D) can help us to understand other areas of sociocognitive development. Across three experiments, learning, memory, and the validity of two transitive paradigms were investigated. In Experiment 1 (N = 121), 7-year-olds completed a three-term nontraining task or a five-term task requiring extensive-training. Performance was superior on the three-term task. Experiment 2 presented 5–10-year-olds with a new five-term task, increasing learning opportunities without lengthening training (N = 71). Inferences improved, suggesting children can learn five-term series rapidly. Regarding memory, the minor (CD) premise was the best predictor of BD-inferential performance in both task-types. However, tasks exhibited different profiles according to associations between the major (BC) premise and BD inference, correlations between the premises, and the role of age. Experiment 3 (N = 227) helped rule out the possible objection that the above findings simply stemmed from three-term tasks with real objects being easier to solve than computer-tasks. It also confirmed that, unlike for five-term task (Experiments 1 & 2), inferences on three-term tasks improve with age, whether the age range is wide (Experiment 3) or narrow (Experiment 2). I conclude that the tasks indexed different routes within a dual-process conception of transitive reasoning: The five-term tasks indexes Type 1 (associative) processing, and the three-term task indexes Type 2 (analytic) processing. As well as demonstrating that both tasks are perfectly valid, these findings open up opportunities to use transitive tasks for educability, to investigate the role of transitivity in other domains of reasoning, and potentially to benefit the lived experiences of persons with developmental issues

ENIGMA and global neuroscience: A decade of large-scale studies of the brain in health and disease across more than 40 countries

This review summarizes the last decade of work by the ENIGMA (Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta Analysis) Consortium, a global alliance of over 1400 scientists across 43 countries, studying the human brain in health and disease. Building on large-scale genetic studies that discovered the first robustly replicated genetic loci associated with brain metrics, ENIGMA has diversified into over 50 working groups (WGs), pooling worldwide data and expertise to answer fundamental questions in neuroscience, psychiatry, neurology, and genetics. Most ENIGMA WGs focus on specific psychiatric and neurological conditions, other WGs study normal variation due to sex and gender differences, or development and aging; still other WGs develop methodological pipelines and tools to facilitate harmonized analyses of "big data" (i.e., genetic and epigenetic data, multimodal MRI, and electroencephalography data). These international efforts have yielded the largest neuroimaging studies to date in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance use disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorders, epilepsy, and 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. More recent ENIGMA WGs have formed to study anxiety disorders, suicidal thoughts and behavior, sleep and insomnia, eating disorders, irritability, brain injury, antisocial personality and conduct disorder, and dissociative identity disorder. Here, we summarize the first decade of ENIGMA's activities and ongoing projects, and describe the successes and challenges encountered along the way. We highlight the advantages of collaborative large-scale coordinated data analyses for testing reproducibility and robustness of findings, offering the opportunity to identify brain systems involved in clinical syndromes across diverse samples and associated genetic, environmental, demographic, cognitive, and psychosocial factors

Stellar Astrophysics and Exoplanet Science with the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer (MSE)

The Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer (MSE) is a planned 11.25-m aperture facility with a 1.5 square degree field of view that will be fully dedicated to multi-object spectroscopy. A rebirth of the 3.6m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Maunakea, MSE will use 4332 fibers operating at three different resolving powers (R ~ 2500, 6000, 40000) across a wavelength range of 0.36-1.8mum, with dynamical fiber positioning that allows fibers to match the exposure times of individual objects. MSE will enable spectroscopic surveys with unprecedented scale and sensitivity by collecting millions of spectra per year down to limiting magnitudes of g ~ 20-24 mag, with a nominal velocity precision of ~100 m/s in high-resolution mode. This white paper describes science cases for stellar astrophysics and exoplanet science using MSE, including the discovery and atmospheric characterization of exoplanets and substellar objects, stellar physics with star clusters, asteroseismology of solar-like oscillators and opacity-driven pulsators, studies of stellar rotation, activity, and multiplicity, as well as the chemical characterization of AGB and extremely metal-poor stars.Comment: 31 pages, 11 figures; To appear as a chapter for the Detailed Science Case of the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explore

astroplan: An Open Source Observation Planning Package in Python

We present astroplan - an open source, open development, Astropy affiliated package for ground-based observation planning and scheduling in Python. astroplan is designed to provide efficient access to common observational quantities such as celestial rise, set, and meridian transit times and simple transformations from sky coordinates to altitude-azimuth coordinates without requiring a detailed understanding of astropy's implementation of coordinate systems. astroplan provides convenience functions to generate common observational plots such as airmass and parallactic angle as a function of time, along with basic sky (finder) charts. Users can determine whether or not a target is observable given a variety of observing constraints, such as airmass limits, time ranges, Moon illumination/separation ranges, and more. A selection of observation schedulers are included which divide observing time among a list of targets, given observing constraints on those targets. Contributions to the source code from the community are welcome