Metamemory judgments of the origin and content of course information: Comparing text and lecture materials.

The accuracy and relations between students' specific and general knowledge of content and origin were examined. Students answered multiple-choice questions derived from the text, lecture, or both sources, decided whether each question originated from one of these sources or from their own conclusions, decided whether they had lecture information in their notes, and rated their confidence in these judgments. The three types of questions were equally difficult to answer but were significantly different in the accuracy and confidence of origin judgments, and confidence in the answers' correctness. Students' origin judgments were equivalent when they correctly and incorrectly answered questions. Students who knew fewer correct answers tended to be more confused about the origin of their knowledge. The dissociation between origin and content knowledge is discussed within M. K. Johnson and C. L. Raye's (see record 1981-06694-001) reality-monitoring model, with emphasis on the inference and retrieval processes involved in judging the origin of one's knowledge. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Robustness of a Spline Element Method with Constraints

The spline element method with constraints is a discretization method where the unknowns are expanded as polynomials on each element and Lagrange multipliers are used to enforce the interelement conditions, the boundary conditions and the constraints in numerical solution of partial differential equations. Spaces of piecewise polynomials with global smoothness conditions are known as multivariate splines and have been extensively studied using the Bernstein-Bézier representation of polynomials. It is used here to write the constraints mentioned above as linear equations. In this paper, we illustrate the robustness of this approach on two singular perturbation problems, a fourth order problem and a Stokes-Darcy flow. It is shown that the method converges uniformly in the perturbation parameter.     

STUDY AND MODELLING OF COATED CAR PAINTING FILM BY INFRARED OR CONVECTIVE DRYING

In this study, we described and modelled some coupled material transformations with heat and mass transfer phenomena which occur during the convective or the infrared drying of coated films of model car paintings. For these very complex reactive systems -highly shrinking, hygroscopic, semi-transparent (infrared)- the vaporization process is coupled with the polymerization reaction itself which determines significantly the material properties of the dry paint coating. Three model systems (paint + support) were successively defined and investigated by association of five supports of different radiative or adhesive properties -polish aluminium, blackened aluminium, glass, galvanized iron and composite plastic (SMC)- with three model paintings : epoxy-amine system, polyurethane system and polyvinylalcohol (PVA). Two laboratory combined dryers (convective or infrared) were set up in order to control and regulate precisely the main process parameters: aerothermic conditions (temperature and velocity), spectrum (NIR or MIR) and flux density of infrared radiation.

Firstly, the kinetics of the polymerization were followed all along the process by three different techniques : DSC (Differential Scanning Calorimetry), SEC (Size Exclusion Chromatography), FT-ERS (FOURIER Transform Infrared Spectroscopy). The glass transition temperature of the material during the drying process was deduced from DSC data with the fractional conversion of the monomer. These two parameters were well correlated by the DI BENEDETTO'S relationship, thus defining some characteristic curve of the painting system. Drying curves -temperature profiles and drying rates- were determined for PVA systems for many operating conditions, principally infrared flux density, spectra type or air velocity. The two main coating properties necessary for the modeling were deduced from drying experiments 1: the mean radiative absorptivity as a function of the mean moisture content, 2: the water apparent mass diffusivity as a function of the temperature and of the local moisture content. A diffusive model - written with a mobile frame of coordinates (lagrangian coordinates)- associated with an overall heat balance of the support + coating system, has proved capable of predecting very well the drying curves and the temperatures profiles So, this whole set of results -associated with other material properties (rheological, adhesive, color, etc ⃛)- will be useful to rationally optimize the industrial dryers operating in the car manufactories.     

Use of a non-rigid region in T4 lysozyme to design an adaptable metal-binding site

It is not easy to find candidate sites within a given proteinwhere the geometry of the polypeptide chain matches that ofmetal-binding sites in known protein structures. By choosinga location in T4 lysozyme that is inherently flexible, it waspossible to engineer a two-histidine site that binds differentdivalent cations. Crystallographic analysis shows that the geometryof binding of zinc is distorted tetrahedral while that of cobaltand nickel is octahedral. Insofar as spectroscopic data canbe measured, they indicate that similar modes of coordinationare retained in solution. The two substitutions, Thr21     

Rearing experience differentially affects somatic and cardiac startle responses in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta).

The present study reports, for the first time, somatic and cardiac responses to acoustic startle in 2 groups of rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) with different rearing experiences. Both groups showed a significant direct relationship between startle amplitude and the intensity of the acoustic startle stimulus (80-120 dB) and rapid heart rate acceleration after a 120-dB stimulus. Monkeys reared with a same-age peer (PR) showed higher startle amplitudes than those reared with their mothers (MR), consistent with rearing effects in rodents. The MR monkeys, however, showed faster heart rate acceleration of greater overall magnitude than that of the PR group. The results are discussed with regard to a monkey model for neuropsychiatric disease. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)