10,431 research outputs found
DScent Final Report
DScent was a joint project between five UK universities combining research theories in the disciplines of computational inference, forensic psychology and expert decision-making in the area of counter-terrorism. This document discusses the work carried out by Leeds Metropolitan University which covers the research, design and development work of an investigator support system in the area of deception using artificial intelligence. For the purposes of data generation along with system and hypothesis testing the project team devised two closed world games, the Cutting Corners Board Game and the Location Based Game. DScentTrail presents the investigator with a âscent trailâ of a suspectâs behaviour over time, allowing the investigator to present multiple challenges to a suspect from which they may prove the suspect guilty outright or receive cognitive or emotional clues of deception (Ekman 2002; Ekman & Frank 1993; Ekman & Yuille 1989; Hocking & Leathers 1980; Knapp & Comadena 1979). A scent trail is a collection of ordered, relevant behavioural information over time for a suspect. There are links into a neural network, which attempts to identify deceptive behavioural patterns of individuals. Preliminary work was carried out on a behavioural based AI module which would work separately alongside the neural network, with both identifying deception before integrating their results to update DScentTrail. Unfortunately the data that was necessary to design such a system was not provided and therefore, this section of research only reached its preliminary stages. To date research has shown that there are no specific patterns of deceptive behaviour that are consistent in all people, across all situations (Zuckerman 1981). DScentTrail is a decision support system, incorporating artificial intelligence (AI), which is intended to be used by investigators and attempts to find ways around the problem stated by Zuckerman above
Exploring the fate of the tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane radical anion in weakly coordinating solvents
Achievement goals, self-handicapping, and performance: A 2 Ă 2 achievement goal perspective
Elliot and colleagues (2006) examined the effects of experimentally induced achievement goals, proposed by the
trichotomous model, on self-handicapping and performance in physical education. Our study replicated and extended the
work of Elliot et al. by experimentally promoting all four goals proposed by the 262 model (Elliot & McGregor, 2001),
measuring the participantsâ own situational achievement goals, using a relatively novel task, and testing the participants in a group setting. We used a randomized experimental design with four conditions that aimed to induce one of the four goals advanced by the 262 model. The participants (nÂŒ138) were undergraduates who engaged in a dart-throwing task. The results pertaining to self-handicapping partly replicated Elliot and colleaguesâ findings by showing that experimentally promoted performance-avoidance goals resulted in less practice. In contrast, the promotion of mastery-avoidance goals did
not result in less practice compared with either of the approach goals. Dart-throwing performance did not differ among the four goal conditions. Personal achievement goals did not moderate the effects of experimentally induced goals on selfhandicapping and performance. The extent to which mastery-avoidance goals are maladaptive is discussed, as well as the interplay between personal and experimentally induced goals
On the controversy concerning the definition of quark and gluon angular momentum
A major controversy has arisen in QCD as to how to split the total angular
momentum into separate quark and gluon contributions, and as to whether the
gluon angular momentum can itself be split, in a gauge invariant way, into a
spin and orbital part. Several authors have proposed various answers to these
questions and offered a variety of different expressions for the relevant
operators. I argue that none of these is acceptable and suggest that the
canonical expression for the momentum and angular momentum operators is the
correct and physically meaningful one. It is then an inescapable fact that the
gluon angular momentum operator cannot, in general, be split in a gauge
invariant way into a spin and orbital part. However, the projection of the
gluon spin onto its direction of motion i.e. its helicity is gauge invariant
and is measured in deep inelastic scattering on nucleons. The Ji sum rule,
relating the quark angular momentum to generalized parton distributions, though
not based on the canonical operators, is shown to be correct, if interpreted
with due care. I also draw attention to several interesting aspects of QED and
QCD, which, to the best of my knowledge, are not commented upon in the standard
textbooks on Field Theory.Comment: 41 pages; Some incorrect statements have been rectified and a
detailed discussion has been added concerning the momentum carried by quarks
and the Ji sum rule for the angular momentu
Facile Protocol for Water-Tolerant âFrustrated Lewis Pairâ-Catalyzed Hydrogenation
Despite rapid advances in the field of metal-free, âfrustrated Lewis pairâ (FLP)-catalyzed hydrogenation, the need for strictly anhydrous reaction conditions has hampered wide-scale uptake of this methodology. Herein, we report that, despite the generally perceived moisture sensitivity of FLPs, 1,4-dioxane solutions of B(C6F5)3 actually show appreciable moisture tolerance and can catalyze hydrogenation of a range of weakly basic substrates without the need for rigorously inert conditions. In particular, reactions can be performed directly in commercially available nonanhydrous solvents without subsequent drying or use of internal desiccants
Observation of a temperature dependent electrical resistance minimum above the magnetic ordering temperature in GdPdSi
Results on electrical resistivity, magnetoresistance, magnetic Results on
electrical resistivity, magnetoresistance, magnetic susceptibility, heat
capacity and Gd Mossbauer measurements on a Gd-based intermetallic compound,
GdPdSi are reported. A finding of interest is that the resistivity
unexpectedly shows a well-defined minimum at about 45 K, well above the long
range magnetic ordering temperature (21 K), a feature which gets suppressed by
the application of a magnetic field. This observation in a Gd alloy presents an
interesting scenario. On the basis of our results, we propose electron
localization induced by s-f (or d-f) exchange interaction prior to long range
magnetic order as a mechanism for the electrical resistance minimum.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Neural signatures of cognitive flexibility and reward sensitivity following nicotinic receptor stimulation in dependent smokers : a randomized trial
IMPORTANCE Withdrawal from nicotine is an important contributor to smoking relapse. Understanding how reward-based decision making is affected by abstinence and by pharmacotherapies such as nicotine replacement therapy and varenicline tartrate may aid cessation treatment.
OBJECTIVE To independently assess the effects of nicotine dependence and stimulation of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor on the ability to interpret valence information (reward sensitivity) and subsequently alter behavior as reward contingencies change (cognitive flexibility) in a probabilistic reversal learning task.
DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Nicotine-dependent smokers and nonsmokers completed a probabilistic reversal learning task during acquisition of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a 2-drug, double-blind placebo-controlled crossover design conducted from January 21, 2009, to September 29, 2011. Smokers were abstinent from cigarette smoking for 12 hours for all sessions. In a fully Latin square fashion, participants in both groups underwent MRI twice while receiving varenicline and twice while receiving a placebo pill, wearing either a nicotine or a placebo patch. Imaging analysis was performed from June 15, 2015, to August 10, 2016.
MAIN OUTCOME AND MEASURES A well-established computational model captured effects of smoking status and administration of nicotine and varenicline on probabilistic reversal learning choice behavior. Neural effects of smoking status, nicotine, and varenicline were tested for on MRI contrasts that captured reward sensitivity and cognitive flexibility.
RESULTS The study included 24 nicotine-dependent smokers (12 women and 12 men; mean [SD] age, 35.8 [9.9] years) and 20 nonsmokers (10 women and 10 men; mean [SD] age, 30.4 [7.2] years). Computational modeling indicated that abstinent smokers were biased toward response shifting and that their decisions were less sensitive to the available evidence, suggesting increased impulsivity during withdrawal. These behavioral impairments were mitigated with nicotine and varenicline. Similarly, decreased mesocorticolimbic activity associated with cognitive flexibility in abstinent smokers was restored to the level of nonsmokers following stimulation of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (familywise error-corrected P<.05). Conversely, neural signatures of decreased reward sensitivity in smokers (vs nonsmokers; familywise error-corrected P<.05) in the dorsal striatum and anterior cingulate cortex were not mitigated by nicotine or varenicline.
CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE There was a double dissociation between the effects of chronic nicotine dependence on neural representations of reward sensitivity and acute effects of stimulation of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors on behavioral and neural signatures of cognitive flexibility in smokers. These chronic and acute pharmacologic effects were observed in overlapping mesocorticolimbic regions, suggesting that available pharmacotherapies may alleviate deficits in the same circuitry for certain mental computations but not for others
Genetic Analysis of the Bovine Papillomavirus E2 Transcriptional Activation Domain
AbstractThe bovine papillomavirus type 1 E2 transactivator has a large amino-terminal 215-residue transcriptional activation domain (TAD) that is active inSaccharomyces cerevisiaeand higher eukaryotic cells. Comparison to other transcriptional activators suggests that its functions may be mediated in part through two acidic regions, A1 and A2, in this domain. We have characterized the functional elements within the E2 TAD using LexAâE2 fusions and by screening randomly generated libraries of E2 mutations for transcriptional activation in yeast. The A1 region was highly sensitive to substitutions that reduce negative charge, although there was not a perfect correlation between overall charge and transcriptional activity. Mutations were isolated within a hydrophobic amino acid motif that overlaps the A2 region and resembles elements described in other viral and cellular transactivation domains. When fused to the LexA DNA binding domain, this hydrophobic motif within the acidic A2 region was unable to activate transcription inS. cerevisiae.Multiple highly defective mutations primarily altering hydrophobic amino acids were identified in the distal third of the E2 TAD. The transcription phenotype of many of these E2 TAD mutations was similar in yeast and COS cells
De-biased Populations of Kuiper Belt Objects from the Deep Ecliptic Survey
The Deep Ecliptic Survey (DES) discovered hundreds of Kuiper Belt objects
from 1998-2005. Follow-up observations yielded 304 objects with good dynamical
classifications (Classical, Scattered, Centaur, or 16 mean-motion resonances
with Neptune). The DES search fields are well documented, enabling us to
calculate the probability of detecting objects with particular orbital
parameters and absolute magnitudes at a randomized point in each orbit.
Grouping objects together by dynamical class leads, we estimate the orbital
element distributions (a, e, i) for the largest three classes (Classical, 3:2,
and Scattered) using maximum likelihood. Using H-magnitude as a proxy for the
object size, we fit a power law to the number of objects for 8 classes with at
least 5 detected members (246 objects). The best Classical slope is
alpha=1.02+/-0.01 (observed from 5<=H<=7.2). Six dynamical classes (Scattered
plus 5 resonances) are consistent in slope with the Classicals, though the
absolute number of objects is scaled. The exception to the power law relation
are the Centaurs (non-resonant with perihelia closer than Neptune, and thus
detectable at smaller sizes), with alpha=0.42+/-0.02 (7.5<H<11). This is
consistent with a knee in the H-distribution around H=7.2 as reported elsewhere
(Bernstein et al. 2004, Fraser et al. 2014). Based on the Classical-derived
magnitude distribution, the total number of objects (H<=7) in each class are:
Classical (2100+/-300 objects), Scattered (2800+/-400), 3:2 (570+/-80), 2:1
(400+/-50), 5:2 (270+/-40), 7:4 (69+/-9), 5:3 (60+/-8). The independent
estimate for the number of Centaurs in the same H range is 13+/-5. If instead
all objects are divided by inclination into "Hot" and "Cold" populations,
following Fraser et al. (2014), we find that alphaHot=0.90+/-0.02, while
alphaCold=1.32+/-0.02, in good agreement with that work.Comment: 26 pages emulateapj, 6 figures, 5 tables, accepted by A
- âŠ