In-Orbit Performance of the GRACE Follow-on Laser Ranging Interferometer.

The Laser Ranging Interferometer (LRI) instrument on the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) Follow-On mission has provided the first laser interferometric range measurements between remote spacecraft, separated by approximately 220 km. Autonomous controls that lock the laser frequency to a cavity reference and establish the 5 degrees of freedom two-way laser link between remote spacecraft succeeded on the first attempt. Active beam pointing based on differential wave front sensing compensates spacecraft attitude fluctuations.

Text messaging reduces analgesic requirements during surgery.

Objective: This study aims to determine whether communicating via short message service text message during surgery procedures leads to decreased intake of fentanyl for patients receiving regional anesthesia below the waist compared with a distraction condition and no intervention.

Methods: Ninety-eight patients receiving regional anesthesia for minor surgeries were recruited from a hospital in Montreal, QC, between January and March 2012. Patients were randomly assigned to text message with a companion, text message with a stranger, play a distracting mobile phone game, or receive standard perioperative management.

One-time transfers of cash or capital have long-lasting effects on microenterprises in Sri Lanka.

Standard economic theory suggests that one-time business grants can have at most temporary effects, and accordingly, policies to increase incomes of the self-employed in developing countries typically rely on sustained engagement. In contrast, we found long-lasting impacts from one-time grants given in a randomized experiment to subsistence firms. Five years after we gave $100 or $200 to 115 of 197 male and 100 of 190 female Sri Lankan microenterprise owners, we found 10-percentage-point-higher enterprise survival rates, and $8-to-$12-per-month-higher profits for male-owned businesses that received the grants.

Electroencephalographic α-band and β-band correlates of perspective-taking and personal distress.

Perspective-taking and personal distress are argued to play contrasting roles in empathic processing, with perspective-taking promoting empathic concern and personal distress promoting egoistic motivations. Previous research has shown that emotionally negative valence imagery induced α and β power changes relative to neutral imagery and that α activity relates inversely to empathy. We therefore investigated the hypothesis that enhanced β is associated with personal distress and is accompanied by a correlation between α and perspective-taking.

Action execution engages human mirror neuron system more than action observation.

The existence of mirror neurons in Macaque monkeys helps to explain many social abilities of primates. Controversy exists, however, over whether human functional brain measures reveal mirror neuron activity. Claims have been made that measures such as electroencephalographic μ suppression reflect a human mirror neuron system such as that seen in monkeys, but more data are needed to support these claims.

Mental health recovery and economic recovery after the tsunami: high-frequency longitudinal evidence from Sri Lankan small business owners.

A sample of 561 Sri Lanka microenterprise owners affected to various extents by the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami were surveyed five times at quarterly intervals between March 2005 and April 2006. Mental health recovery was measured through questions on return to normalcy and change in life outlook. Business profits were used to measure livelihoods recovery.

Effects of 'local' clutter on human target detection.

In theory, properties of clutter can be defined globally or locally. However, in the literature, the distinction between local and global clutter is arbitrary, where the standard approach of setting the local domain to twice the expected target size, in applying local clutter metrics, is adopted without any justification. This paper addresses this problem and considers the implications for the application of clutter metrics.

Temporal dynamics of age-related differences in auditory incidental verbal learning.

Auditory response profiles for a group of ten healthy young and ten healthy elderly subjects, evoked by implicit memory and delayed verbal recognition tasks, were evaluated to determine if effects of stimulus repetition could be identified in the superior temporal gyrus (STG) and prefrontal cortical regions. We hypothesized that effects of stimulus repetition should occur both early in time and at early levels of the nervous system (STG) followed by later effects in prefrontal regions. Magnetoencephalographic (MEG) responses were recorded using a whole-head MEG system and automated, multi-start analysis methods were applied to the data in order to characterize the temporal response profiles from distributed but focal, cortical regions engaged in memory-related tasks.