1,782 research outputs found
Face-gender discrimination is possible in the near-absence of attention
The attentional cost associated with the visual discrimination of the gender of a face was investigated. Participants performed a face-gender discrimination task either alone (single-task) or concurrently (dual-task) with a known attentional demanding task (5-letter T/L discrimination). Overall performance on face-gender discrimination suffered remarkably little under the dual-task condition compared to the single-task condition. Similar results were obtained in experiments that controlled for potential training effects or the use of low-level cues in this discrimination task. Our results provide further evidence against the notion that only low-level representations can be accessed outside the focus of attention
Pyrolysis of Dried Wastewater Biosolids Can Be Energy Positive
Pyrolysis is a thermal process that converts biosolids into biochar (a soil amendment), py-oil and py-gas, which can be energy sources. The objectives of this research were to determine the product yield of dried biosolids during pyrolysis and the energy requirements of pyrolysis. Bench-scale experiments revealed that temperature increases up to 500 °C substantially decreased the fraction of biochar and increased the fraction of py-oil. Py-gas yield increased above 500 °C. The energy required for pyrolysis was approximately 5-fold less than the energy required to dry biosolids (depending on biosolids moisture content), indicating that, if a utility already uses energy to dry biosolids, then pyrolysis does not require a substantial amount of energy. However, if a utility produces wet biosolids, then implementing pyrolysis may be costly because of the energy required to dry the biosolids. The energy content of py-gas and py-oil was always greater than the energy required for pyrolysis
Observations and Analysis of High-Resolution Magnetic Field Structures in Molecular Clouds
Recent high-angular-resolution (up to 0.7") dust polarization observations
toward star forming regions are summarized. With the Sub-Millimeter Array, the
emission from the dense structures is traced and resolved. The detected
magnetic field morphologies vary from hourglass-like structures to isolated
patches depending on the evolutionary stage of the source. These observed
features have also served as a testbed to develop new analysis methods, with a
particular focus on quantifying the role of the magnetic field in the star
formation process.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures; To appear in Proceedings of Magnetic Fields in
the Universe: From Laboratory and Stars to Primordial Structures Aug. 21st -
27th 2011, Zakopane, Poland Eds. M. Soida, K. Otmianowska-Mazur, E.M. de
Gouveia Dal Pino & A. Lazaria
Propapation and attenuation characteristics of multilayered media
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Ocean Engineer at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Master of Science in Ocean Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1979An algorithm is proposed to numerically integrate the inhomogeneous
depth-separated wave equation using a state variable technique. The solution
obtained for two simple shallow water models is shown to agree well
with the known exact solutions. Integration grid density is discussed and
a minimum required density specified.
The use of complex sound speeds to simulate bottom attenuation is
reviewed. A numerical instability inherent to the technique that arises
during the use of complex sound speeds is investigated.
The algorithm is also applied to a deep ocean profile, and the solution
characteristics discussed. Sensitivity problems that arise when modelling
the seafloor as a layered elastic medium are analyzed
The Affective Presidency
This dissertation explores the relationship between affect, political emotions, and presidential rhetoric. In examining the political philosophy and presidency of Woodrow Wilson, this dissertation explores how presidential rhetoric captures, channels, and/or directs the passions of the people. Drawing on research by Sarah Ahmed and Brian Masummi, this dissertation argues that presidential rhetoric intervenes into the affective process by directing the passions of citizens towards promises of happiness and investment in presidential power. Two case studies, one focusing on Wilson’s tour in support of the League of Nations and the other on presidential museums, highlight the affective function of presidential rhetoric. The dissertation concludes with an examination of how Donald Trump’s campaign can be understood through the lens of the affective presidency and the state of American Democracy in 2016
Combining Spreadsheet Smells for Improved Fault Prediction
Spreadsheets are commonly used in organizations as a programming tool for
business-related calculations and decision making. Since faults in spreadsheets
can have severe business impacts, a number of approaches from general software
engineering have been applied to spreadsheets in recent years, among them the
concept of code smells. Smells can in particular be used for the task of fault
prediction. An analysis of existing spreadsheet smells, however, revealed that
the predictive power of individual smells can be limited. In this work we
therefore propose a machine learning based approach which combines the
predictions of individual smells by using an AdaBoost ensemble classifier.
Experiments on two public datasets containing real-world spreadsheet faults
show significant improvements in terms of fault prediction accuracy.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, to be published in 40th International Conference
on Software Engineering: New Ideas and Emerging Results Trac
Galactic Pal-eontology:abundance analysis of the disrupted globular cluster Palomar 5
We present a chemical abundance analysis of the tidally disrupted globular cluster (globular cluster) Palomar 5. By co-adding highresolution spectra of 15 member stars from the cluster’s main body, taken at low-signal-to-noise with the Keck/HIRES spectrograph, we were able to measure integrated abundance ratios of 24 species of 20 elements including all major nucleosynthetic channels (namely the light element Na; α-elements Mg, Si, Ca, Ti; Fe-peak and heavy elements Sc, V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn; and the neutroncapture elements Y, Zr, Ba, La, Nd, Sm, Eu). The mean metallicity of −1.47±0.02±0.06 dex (statistical and systematic errors) agrees well with the values from individual, low-resolution measurements of individual stars, but it is lower than previous high-resolution results of a small number of stars in the literature. Comparison with Galactic halo stars and other disrupted and unperturbed globular clusters renders Pal 5 a typical representative of the Milky Way halo population, as has been noted before, emphasizing that the early chemical evolution of such clusters is decoupled from their later dynamical history. We also performed a test as to the detectability of light element variations in this co-added abundance analysis technique and find that this approach is not sensitive even in the presence of a broad range in sodium of ∼0.6 dex, a value typically found in the old halo globular clusters. Thus, while methods of determining the global abundance patterns of such objects are well suited to study their overall enrichment histories, chemical distinctions of their multiple stellar populations is still best obtained from measurements of individual stars
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