The Role of Consistency in Detecting Deception: The Superiority of Correspondence over Coherence

Inconsistency is often considered an indication of deceit. The conceptualization of consistency used in deception research, however, has not made a clear distinction between two concepts long differentiated by philosophers: coherence and correspondence. The existing literature suggests that coherence is not generally useful for deception detection. Correspondence, however, appears to be quite useful. The present research developed a model of how correspondence is utilized to make judgments, and this article reports on four studies designed to elaborate on the model. The results suggest that judges attend strongly to correspondence and that they do so in an additive fashion. As noncorrespondent information accumulates, an increasingly smaller proportion of judges make truthful assessments of guilty suspects. This work provides a basic framework for examining how information is utilized to make deception judgments and forms the correspondence and coherence module of truth-default theory.     

Synthesis of RC transfer immittance functions with a minimum number of capacitors

In this paper a method for the realization of RC transfer immittance functions with an unsymmetrical lattice is presented. The method yields minimal capacitor realizations for Z₁₂(s) with no pole at s = 0 and ?y₁₂(s) having no pole at s = ∞. The number of resistors needed are only two more than the minimum needed.     

Troponin T and Heart Type Fatty Acid Binding Protein (h-Fabp) as Biomarkers in Patients Presenting with Chest Pain

Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is a term for a range of clinical signs and symptoms suggestive of myocardial ischemia. It results in functional and structural changes and ultimately releasing protein from injured cardiomyocytes. These cardiac markers play a major role in diagnosis and prognosis of ACS. This study aims to assess the efficacy of heart type fatty acid binding protein (h-FABP) as a marker for ACS along with the routinely used hs-TropT. In our observational study, plasma h-FABP (cut-off 6.32 ng/ml) and routinely done hs-Trop T (cutoff 0.1 and 0.014 ng/ml) were estimated by immunometric laboratory assays in 88 patients with acute chest pain. Based on the clinical and laboratory test findings the patients were grouped into ACS (n = 41) and non-ACS (n = 47). The diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, NPV, PPV and ROC curve at 95 % CI were determined. Sensitivity of hs-TropT (0.1 ng/ml), hs-TropT (0.014 ng/ml) and h-FABP were 53, 86 and 78 % respectively and specificity for the same were 98, 73 and 70 % respectively. Sensitivity, specificity and NPV calculated for a cut-off combination of hs-TropT 0.014 ng/ml and h-FABP was 100, 51 and 100 % respectively. These results were substantiated by ROC analysis. Measurement of plasma h-FABP and hs-TropT together on admission appears to be more precise predictor of ACS rather than either hs-Trop T or h-FABP.     

Prostate specific antigen in patients of benign prostate hypertrophy and carcinoma prostate

Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) has emerged as the most applicable and important tumor marker for carcinoma prostate. In the present study PSA was determined in serum of healthy subjects, patients of benign prostate hypertrophy (BPH) and Carcinoma Prostate (Ca−P) to evaluate its diagnostic efficiency in day to day management of prostate cancer patients and in differentiating patients of early prostate cancer from those with BPH. Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) revealed 2 ng/ml and 10 ng/ml cut off serum PSA level for BPH and untreated carcinoma prostate patients (Ca−P). An extremely significant increase (P<0.0001) was observed in mean PSA concentration in BPH patients and adenocarcinoma prostate patients when compared to healthy males. Clinical relevance of PSA was highlighted by a case study of cancer patient prior to any therapy till death.     

The CSGU: a measure of controllability, stability, globality, and universality attributions

This article reports initial evidence of construct validity for a four-factor measure of attributions assessing the dimensions of controllability, stability, globality, and universality (the CSGU). In Study 1, using confirmatory factor analysis, factors were confirmed across least successful and most successful conditions. In Study 2, following less successful performances, correlations supported hypothesized relationships between subscales of the CSGU and subscales of the CDSII (McAuley, Duncan, & Russell, 1992). In Study 3, following less successful performances, moderated hierarchical regression analyses demonstrated that individuals have higher subsequent self-efficacy when they perceive causes of performance as controllable, and/or specific, and/or universal. An interaction for controllability and stability demonstrated that if causes are perceived as likely to recur, it is important to perceive that causes are controllable. Researchers are encouraged to use the CSGU to examine main and interactive effects of controllability and generalizability attributions upon outcomes such as self-efficacy, emotions, and performance.     

Ladder realizations of multivariable positive real functions

Necessary and sufficient conditions are obtained for the realization of an m-variable positive real function (PRF) as the impedence function of a resistively-terminated ladder network of m lossless two-ports connected in cascade. Each two-port is a single-variable lossless ladder with all of its transmission zeros either at the origin or at finity. Conditions are also obtained when each of the two-ports is a Fujisawa-type lowpass ladder.     

Academic Self‐Perceptions,Effort, and Strategy Use in Students with Learning Disabilities: Changes Over Time

This study investigated changes in teachers' and students' perceptions of students' effort, strategy use, and academic difficulties when strategy instruction was infused into the classroom curriculum. The sample consisted of 201 students with learning disabilities, 210 average achievers, and 57 teachers from Grades 4–9 in two urban and suburban communities. After six months of classroom‐based strategy instruction, students with learning disabilities reported more consistent use of strategies with their schoolwork and perceived themselves as struggling less in reading, writing, and spelling. Teachers perceived the students with learning disabilities as more strategic and as applying more effort to their schoolwork. Teachers also perceived their students as showing significant improvements in spelling, regardless of whether they had learning disabilities. These findings extended the results of previous investigations and indicated the small, positive impact of classroom‐based strategy instruction. Further investigations are critical to evaluate the generalizability of these findings.