Kent State University

About: Kent State University is a education organization based out in Kent, Ohio, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Liquid crystal & Population. The organization has 10897 authors who have published 24607 publications receiving 720309 citations. The organization is also known as: Kent State & KSU.

Azimuthal Anisotropy at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider: The First and Fourth Harmonics

Abstract: We report the first observations of the first harmonic (directed flow, v(1)) and the fourth harmonic (v(4)), in the azimuthal distribution of particles with respect to the reaction plane in Au+Au collisions at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). Both measurements were done taking advantage of the large elliptic flow (v(2)) generated at RHIC. From the correlation of v(2) with v(1) it is determined that v(2) is positive, or in-plane. The integrated v(4) is about a factor of 10 smaller than v(2). For the sixth (v(6)) and eighth (v(8)) harmonics upper limits on the magnitudes are reported.

Neutron skin of (208)pb from coherent pion photoproduction.

Abstract: Information on the size and shape of the neutron skin on (208)Pb is extracted from coherent pion photoproduction cross sections measured using the Crystal Ball detector together with the Glasgow tagger at the MAMI electron beam facility. On exploitation of an interpolated fit of a theoretical model to the measured cross sections, the half-height radius and diffuseness of the neutron distribution are found to be c(n)=6.70±0.03(stat.) fm and a(n)=0.55±0.01(stat.)(-0.03)(+0.02)(sys.) fm, respectively, corresponding to a neutron skin thickness Δr(np)=0.15±0.03(stat.)(-0.03)(+0.01)(sys.) fm. The results give the first successful extraction of a neutron skin thickness with an electromagnetic probe and indicate that the skin of (208)Pb has a halo character. The measurement provides valuable new constraints on both the structure of nuclei and the equation of state for neutron-rich matter.

Psychopathy and Physiological Response to Emotionally Evocative Sounds.

Abstract: Despite considerable evidence that psychopathic criminals are deviant in their emotional reactions, few studies have examined responses to both pleasurable and aversive stimuli or assessed the role of different facets of psychopathy in affective deviations. This study investigated physiological reactions to emotional sounds in prisoners selected according to scores on the 2 factors of Hare’s Psychopathy Checklist—Revised (PCL–R; R. D. Hare, 1991). Offenders high on the PCL-R emotional–interpersonal factor, regardless of scores on the social deviance factor, showed diminished skin conductance responses to both pleasant and unpleasant sounds, suggesting a deficit in the action mobilization component of emotional response. Offenders who scored high only on the social deviance factor showed a delay in heart rate differentiation between affective and neutral sounds. These findings indicate abnormal reactivity to both positive and negative emotional stimuli in psychopathic individuals, and suggest differing roles for the 2 facets of psychopathy in affective processing deviations. Cleckley (1976) characterized psychopathy as a “mask of sanity” in which overtly normal intelligence and verbal presentation disguise a severe underlying pathology. Cleckley theorized that the disjunction between the psychopath’s surface demeanor and his or her self-defeating actions and disturbed interpersonal relations reflected a fundamental disconnection between cognition and affect. Research to date has provided considerable support for this conceptualization, including findings of reduced electrodermal reactivity to cues signaling noxious stimulation (cf. Arnett, 1997; Hare, 1978; Siddle & Trasler, 1981), reduced electrocortical discrimination between affective and neutral words (e.g., Kiehl, Hare, McDonald, & Brink, 1999; Williamson, Harpur, & Hare, 1991), and diminished potentiation of the defensive startle reflex during exposure to aversive emotional pictures or warning cues (Levenston, Patrick, Bradley, & Lang, 2000; Patrick, 1994; Patrick, Bradley, & Lang, 1993). A limitation of this existing literature is that most published studies have assessed reactivity to unpleasant emotional cues only, typically in the context of conditioning or quasi-conditioning (stressor anticipation) paradigms. Only a few studies have examined responses to appetitive as well as aversive stimuli, and all of these have used visual affective stimuli. The current study extended the existing literature by investigating physiological reactions to both pleasurable and aversive acoustic stimuli in psychopathic individuals.