Search

Imagine driving a three-story house while using only a few small windows, and you will have an idea of what it is like driving many of the dump trucks currently [...]

Numerous workers of surface mining operations get killed due to collisions of haulage equipment. A proximity warning system (PWS) based on global positioning system (GPS) has reduced a number of accidents and has improved the technology, too.

Facial expressions are described traditionally as monolithic or unitary entities. However, humans have the capacity to produce facial blends of emotion in which the upper and lower face simultaneously display different expressions. Recent neuroanatomical studies in monkeys have demonstrated that there are separate cortical motor areas for controlling the upper and lower face in each hemisphere that, presumably, also occur in humans. Using high-speed videography, we began measuring the movement dynamics of spontaneous facial expressions, including facial blends, to develop a more complete understanding of the neurophysiology underlying facial expressions. In our part 1 publication in Cortex(2016), we found that hemispheric motor control of the upper and lower face is overwhelmingly independent; 242 (99%) of the expressions were classified as demonstrating independent hemispheric motor control whereas only 3 (1%) were classified as demonstrating dependent hemispheric motor control. In this companion paper (part 2), 251 unitary facial expressions that occurred on either the upper or lower face were analyzed. 164 (65%) expressions demonstrated dependent hemispheric motor control whereas 87 (35%) expressions demonstrated independent or dual hemispheric motor control, indicating that some expressions represent facial blends of emotion that occur across the vertical facial axis. These findings also support the concepts that 1) spontaneous facial expressions are organized predominantly across the horizontal facial axis and secondarily across the vertical facial axis and 2) facial expressions are complex, multi-component, motoric events. Based on the Emotion-type hypothesis of cerebral lateralization, we propose that facial expressions modulated by a primary-emotional response to an environmental event are initiated by the right hemisphere on the left side of the face whereas facial expressions modulated by a social-emotional response to an environmental event are initiated by the left hemisphere on the right side of the face.

Facial expressions are described traditionally as monolithic entities. However, humans have the capacity to produce facial blends, in which the upper and lower face simultaneously display different emotional expressions. This, in turn, has led to the Component Theory of facial expressions. Recent neuroanatomical studies in monkeys have demonstrated that there are separate cortical motor areas for controlling the upper and lower face that, presumably, also occur in humans. The lower face is represented on the posterior ventrolateral surface of the frontal lobes in the primary motor and premotor cortices and the upper face is represented on the medial surface of the posterior frontal lobes in the supplementary motor and anterior cingulate cortices. Our laboratory has been engaged in a series of studies exploring the perception and production of facial blends. Using high-speed videography, we began measuring the temporal aspects of facial expressions to develop a more complete understanding of the neurophysiology underlying facial expressions and facial blends. The goal of the research presented here was to determine if spontaneous facial expressions in adults are predominantly monolithic or exhibit independent motor control of the upper and lower face. We found that spontaneous facial expressions are very complex and that the motor control of the upper and lower face is overwhelmingly independent, thus robustly supporting the Component Theory of facial expressions. Seemingly monolithic expressions, be they full facial or facial blends, are most likely the result of a timing coincident rather than a synchronous coordination between the ventrolateral and medial cortical motor areas responsible for controlling the lower and upper face, respectively. In addition, we found evidence that the right and left face may also exhibit independent motor control, thus supporting the concept that spontaneous facial expressions are organized predominantly across the horizontal facial axis and secondarily across the vertical axis.

Time-of-flight neutron measurements have been made at 20, 400 and 650oC on δ-processed Inconel 718 in order to measure the load sharing between the γ-phase matrix and the orthorhombic δ-phase. The strain response parallel and perpendicular to the applied stress was measured for seven γ-phase reflections and five δ-phase reflections. The latter were about 50 times weaker than the former suggesting a 2.0% concentration of the δ-phase. At all temperatures the δ-phase strain becomes strongly tensile parallel to the loading direction but also exhibits plastic deformation. However, the nature of the three orthorhombic strains changes with temperature.

Neutron diffraction measurements of strain in austenitic stainless steel alloys are presented to examine whether there are contributions to the shifts from deformation induced stacking faults. Differences between successive orders of reflections are consistent with the presence of stacking faults for 316 stainless steel but not for a NiCrFe steel.

On Friday June 26, 2009, the neutron beam shutter for the VULCAN diffractometer at the SNS was opened for the first time. Initial measurements to characterize the instrument performance are reported. It is shown that the measurement results are by and large in agreement with design calculations. New research opportunities with VULCAN are discussed.

Hexagonal close-packed and lower symmetry metals often exhibit anisotropic mechanical properties because the dominant slip system forbids slip in certain lattice directions. Rod-textured Zircaloy-2 is a model system which can act as a road map for understanding more complex cases. In this case prism slip is dominant and pyramidal slip is only initiated at higher applied stresses. Tensile twinning does not always play a role since its initiation depends on the starting texture. Along the rod axis, Zircaloy-2 exhibits a very strong weighting of poles lying within the basal plane of the structure such as <10 1 0>, <11 2 0> etc. However, perpendicular to the rod axis, all poles are present. The coefficients of thermal expansion are unequal along the a- and c-axes of the crystal structure, so there are always large intrinsic thermal strains. Likewise, the mechanical properties perpendicular to the rod axis are dominated by the interaction of grains with hard and soft plastic response. Over two decades, the residual strains and the in-situ strain response parallel and perpendicular to the rod axis have been measured by neutron diffraction for both tensile and compressive applied stress. The paper reviews our understanding of the strain development for tensile and compressive applied stress in Zircaloy-2 in terms of slip and tensile twinning, the crucial part played by the thermal strains and the simplifying role of the strong texture.

AbstractAlthough various points of Hume's canonical works hint at a critique of religious affect, his most explicit attack on such sentiments occurs in a letter of June 30th 1743 to his friend William Mure. In this letter Hume sets out an objection to all affective attitudes that are putatively directed toward God, and maintains that the Deity is not in fact the natural object of any human passion. I examine this claim and canvass three possible interpretations of Hume's challenge to religious affect, according to which Hume is, alternatively, (i) asserting the impropriety of all religious affect, (ii) denying that our affective states can secure reference to the divine, or (iii) rejecting the psychological possibility of affective states that take God as their object. Hume's argument may be best understood, I suggest, as a combination of all three criticisms. I close with an examination of Hume's diagnosis of the self-deceit involved in putative cases of religious feeling, and connect the argument of his letter to the similar analyses in Essays, Moral and Politicaland the Natural History of Religion.

Abstract:This paper presents a new analysis of the logical structure of Hume's attack on the theological objection to suicide. I suggest that Hume intends his reasoning in "Of Suicide" to generalize, covering not just suicide but any arbitrary action: his implied conclusion is that no human action can violate a duty to God. I contrast my reading with a series of recent interpretations, and argue that the various criticisms of Hume's reasoning are based on a misunderstanding of what he is about. Finally, I also show the integration of Hume's discussion of suicide with his broader critique of attempts to generate moral conclusions by way of natural religion.

Not Available

Not Available

Not Available

The cause of acute liver failure in a postoperative patient may be exceedingly difficult to determine. In the case presented, liver failure occurred after a cesarean-hysterectomy in a severe preeclamptic. Presentation of the case is followed by a discussion of potential causes. Those considered were toxemia of pregnancy, obstetric fatty liver, viral hepatitis, hepatotoxic drugs and anesthetic hepatitis. Analysis of the case following the discussion of potential causes incriminated halothane or cross-sensitization between halothane and methoxyflurane as the most likely cause, however, this could not be proved since no specific clinical test for halothane-induced hepatitis exists at the present time. Recommendations are made for preoperative hepatic evaluation of all patients. These may be valuable as baseline studies for future reference.