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"Cyril Thomas"
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Nanomaterials modified bio asphalt as cutting-edge material for pavement construction: a review on the present status and future outlook
Nanomaterials research field has gained prominence in scientific community. The current scenario of exhaustion of sustainable resources and excessive energy usage have impacted the research thrust on potential use of cutting-edge materials and technologies. The current scenario of nanomaterials modified bio asphalt (NMBA) for pavements is reviewed. Firstly, the blends of nanomaterial and bio asphalt studies with their performance aspects are summarized in a methodical manner highlighting the enhancements of conventional properties like penetration, ductility, softening point, viscosity, rheological characteristics namely age, fatigue, high and low temperatures. The outcomes of the review present that nano materials could considerably show improved viscosity, Low & high-temperature property of NMBA. The low temperature of NMBA is marginally reduced in comparison to bio-asphalt without nanoparticles. Additionally, sustainability of biochar modified bitumen is assessed, taking into account its economic viability, environmental impact, life cycle evaluation, and reduction of carbon footprint. Subsequently, potential paths ahead are explored unearthing its prospective applications and future prospects to support safer and sustainable roads. Large scale and real time implementation of such studies would contribute to reducing environmental burden and will pave way for achieving sustainable development goals.
Journal Article
Scientific Study of Magic: Binet’s Pioneering Approach Based on Observations and Chronophotography
In 1894, French psychologist Alfred Binet (1857–1911) published an article titled “The Psychology of Prestidigitation” that reported the results of a study conducted in collaboration with two of the best magicians of that period. By using a new method and new observation techniques, Binet was able to reveal some of the psychological mechanisms involved in magic tricks. Our article begins by presenting Binet's method and the principal professional magicians who participated in his studies. Next, we present the main psychological tools of magicians described by Binet and look at some recent studies dealing with those mechanisms. Finally, we take a look at the innovative technique used by Binet for his study on magic: the chronophotograph.
Journal Article
Anchoring effect induces false memories
While many studies have highlighted the existence of the anchoring effect in a wide variety of domains, no study to date has investigated its impact on memory. The present study aimed to test whether an irrelevant numerical anchor not only influences an estimate but also modifies the memory of the associated event. Two experiments (total
N
= 259) were conducted, combining the methodology used by Loftus and Palmer (Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior,
13
, 585–589, 1974) and a classic anchoring paradigm. The results show that an irrelevant numerical anchor can modify the estimate of a car’s speed and produce false memories of the event. We discuss the link between the processes underlying the anchoring effect and the false memory phenomenon.
Journal Article
The Vanishing Coin Illusion: When sound congruence affects visual representation of motion
In the “classic” vanishing ball illusion (VBI), a magician pretends to throw a ball and the audience sees it go up and then disappear. To gain a better understanding of the mechanisms involved, we conducted two experiments to analyze the permeability of this type of illusion to auditory information. A modified version of the VBI (i.e., the Vanishing Coin Illusion [VCI]), was presented, and this was either accompanied by a sound or was not. The results show that the presence of a sound adds to the success of the illusion (Experiment 1), especially when this sound is congruent with the illusion (Experiment 2). Based on these results, we discuss the mechanisms at work in this illusion.
Journal Article
The ball vanishes in the air: can we blame representational momentum?
In the vanishing ball illusion (VBI), the magician throws a ball up into the air twice and then pretends to do a third throw. On the third (fake) throw, the audience sees the ball go up and then disappear. In this article, we study the psychological mechanisms at play in this magic trick. We test the hypothesis that the illusion is based on representational momentum (RM), a psychological phenomenon in which the observer perceives the stopping point of a moving scene as being located farther ahead in the direction of motion than it really is. To determine whether the mechanisms involved in VBI are similar to those underlying RM, we compared the results of a standard VBI task to those obtained on an RM task designed to be very close to the VBI task. The results showed that VBI sensitivity was not associated with a higher anticipation score on the RM task. Unexpectedly, we found that participants who were sensitive to the illusion even obtained a weaker RM effect. We discuss several hypotheses that might account for these results.
Journal Article
No need for a social cue! A masked magician can also trick the audience in the vanishing ball illusion
In the vanishing ball illusion (VBI), a magician throws a ball up in the air twice, after which he pretends to toss it up again, when in fact it remains secretly concealed in his hand. Observers perceive an imaginary ball disappearing into the air. According to Kuhn and Land (
2006
), the VBI during the fake throw is mediated by the magician’s gaze and/or head direction (also called “social cues”) as he looks toward the imaginary ball. The aim of this article is to test an alternative interpretation. According to our hypothesis, the magician’s social cues are not essential to the VBI. We compared the numbers of participants experiencing the VBI when the magician’s social cues were directed toward the illusory ball and when the magician’s social cues were either hidden behind a black mask (Exp.
1
) or stationary (Exp.
2
). The results showed that the number of observers experiencing the VBI was high (almost two-thirds of the participants), regardless of whether the magician’s social cueing was directed toward the illusion, hidden behind a mask, or stationary. In a third experiment (Exp.
3
), we replicated Kuhn and Land’s initial results and attempted to further explain their “anti-illusion” social-cue effect. This study confirms that social cueing is not required in the VBI: Its presence did not increase the number of participants experiencing the illusion.
Journal Article
Promoting Ag/Al2O3 Performance in Low-Temperature H2-C3H6-SCR by Thermal Pretreatment of γ-Alumina in Water
The present work highlights for the first time that a thermal treatment of γ-Al
2
O
3
in water at 80 °C for 24 h prior to Ag deposition (Ag/Al
2
O
3
-OH) leads to a drastic enhancement of H
2
-C
3
H
6
-SCR performance at low temperature. This enhancement is attributed to the higher NO
x
coverage on Ag/Al
2
O
3
-OH compared with that of Ag/Al
2
O
3
. The higher NO
x
adsorption capacity of the sample prepared from the γ-Al
2
O
3
thermally-treated in water is proposed to result from the preferential interaction of Ag with newly-created Al
2
O
3
anchoring sites (Al(OH)
3
bayerite domains), which were not available on the untreated pristine support.
Graphical Abstract
Journal Article
Selective Catalytic Reduction of NOx over Au/Al2O3: Influence of the Gold Loading on the Promoting Effect of H2 in H2-Assisted C3H6-SCR of NOx
This article reports on the promotional effect of adding H
2
to the reaction feed for the selective catalytic reduction of NO
x
with propene (H
2
–C
3
H
6
-SCR) over Au/Al
2
O
3
catalysts. For this purpose, the influence of the Au loading in H
2
–C
3
H
6
-SCR was investigated. The H
2
promoting effect in C
3
H
6
-SCR, well-established for Ag/Al
2
O
3
, was also demonstrated for Au/Al
2
O
3
. Although less pronounced than for Ag-based systems, the H
2
effect allowed for a substantial increase in NO
x
conversion at temperatures higher than 250 °C on Au/Al
2
O
3
samples. The highest NO
x
to N
2
conversion in H
2
–C
3
H
6
-SCR was obtained for lowly-loaded gold samples (~ 1 wt% Au) with the smallest gold particle sizes. An increase in H
2
concentration in the reaction feed also led to an increase in NO
x
conversion. The experiments performed in the present study as a function of the reaction temperature underlined the fact that concomitant activation of H
2
and C
3
H
6
is critical to achieve a high H
2
promoting effect in H
2
–C
3
H
6
-SCR. Whereas this requirement is fulfilled for Ag/Al
2
O
3
, a temperature gap between the oxidation profiles of H
2
and C
3
H
6
remains for Au/Al
2
O
3
due to the early oxidation of H
2
on gold nanoparticles, which therefore limits the NO
x
conversion at low temperature.
Graphical Abstract
Journal Article
On the limits of statistical learning: Intertrial contextual cueing is confined to temporally close contingencies
Since the seminal study by Chun and Jiang (
Cognitive Psychology, 36
, 28–71,
1998
), a large body of research based on the contextual-cueing paradigm has shown that the cognitive system is capable of extracting statistical contingencies from visual environments. Most of these studies have focused on how individuals learn regularities found within an
intratrial
temporal window: A context predicts the target position within a given trial. However, Ono, Jiang, and Kawahara (
Journal of Experimental Psychology, 31
, 703–712,
2005
) provided evidence of an
intertrial
implicit-learning effect when a distractor configuration in preceding trials
N
− 1 predicted the target location in trials
N
. The aim of the present study was to gain further insight into this effect by examining whether it occurs when predictive relationships are impeded by interfering task-relevant noise (Experiments
2
and
3
) or by a long delay (Experiments
1
,
4
, and
5
). Our results replicated the
intertrial
contextual-cueing effect, which occurred in the condition of temporally close contingencies. However, there was no evidence of integration across long-range spatiotemporal contingencies, suggesting a temporal limitation of statistical learning.
Journal Article