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Empirical evaluations of uncertainty visualizations often employ complex experimental tasks to ensure ecological validity. However, if training for such tasks is not sufficient for naïve participants, differences in performance could be due to the visualizations or to differences in task comprehension, making interpretation of findings problematic. Research has begun to assess how training is related to performance on decision-making tasks using uncertainty visualizations. This study continues this line of research by investigating how training, in general, and feedback, in particular, affect performance on a simulated resource allocation task. Additionally, we examined how this alters metacognition and workload to produce differences in cognitive efficiency. Our results suggest that, on a complex decision-making task, training plays a critical role in performance with respect to accuracy, subjective workload, and cognitive efficiency. This study has implications for improving research on complex decision making, and for designing more efficacious training interventions to assess uncertainty visualizations.

Peroxy radicals can complex with water vapor. These complexes affect tropospheric chemistry. In this study, β-HEP (hydroxyethyl peroxy radical) serves as a model system for investigating the effect of water vapor on the kinetics and product branching ratio of the self-reaction of peroxy radicals. The self-reaction rate coefficient was determined at 274–296 K with water vapor between 1.0 × 1015 and 2.5 × 1017 molecules cm−3 at 200 Torr total pressure by slow-flow laser flash photolysis coupled with UV time-resolved spectroscopy and long-path, wavelength modulated, diode-laser spectroscopy. The overall self-reaction rate constant expressed as the product of both a temperature-dependent and water vapor–dependent term is , suggesting formation of a β-HEP-H2O complex is responsible for the increase in the self-reaction rate coefficient with increasing water concentration. Complex formation is supported by computational results identifying three local energy minima for the β-HEP-H2O complex. As the troposphere continues to get warmer and wetter, more of the peroxy radicals present will be complexed with water. Investigating the effect of water vapor on kinetics of atmospherically relevant radicals and determining the effects of these altered kinetics on tropospheric ozone concentrations is thus important.

The results of an ab initio study on a family of hydroxy peroxy radical–water complexes formed from the oxidation of E-2-hexenal, which constitutes an important component of biogenic atmospheric emissions, are reported. Binding energies for the β-hydroxy-γ-peroxy hexanal (β- and γ-positions are relative to the carbonyl) radical–water complex and the γ-hydroxy-β-peroxy hexanal radical–water complex are predicted to be to 3.8 and 3.6 kcal/mol, respectively, computed at the MP2/6-311++G(2d,2p)//B3LYP/6-311++G(2d,2p) computational level. Natural bond orbital reveals that conventional hydrogen bonding between the water and the hydroxy and aldehyde functional groups of the radical are primarily responsible for the stability of the complex. It can be shown that the peroxy moiety contributes very little to the stability of the radical–water complexes. Thermochemistry calculations reveal estimated equilibrium constants that are comparable to those recently reported for several hydroxy isoprene radical–water complexes. The results of this report suggest that the hexanal peroxy radical–water complexes are expected to play a significant role in the complex chemistry of the atmosphere. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2011

Rates of reactions can be expressed as dn/dt = kf(n), where n is moles of reaction, k is a rate constant, and f(n) is a function of the properties of the sample. Instrumental measurement of rates requires c(dn/dt) = ckf(n), where c is the proportionality constant between the measured variable and the rate of reaction. When the product of instrument time constant, τ, and k is ≪ 1, the reaction is much slower than the time response of the instrument and measured rates are unaffected by instrument response. When τ k 1, the reaction rate and instrument response rate are sufficiently comparable that measured rates are significantly affected by instrument response and correction for instrument response must be done to obtain accurate reaction kinetics. This paper describes a method for simultaneous determination of τ, k, c, and instrument baseline by fitting equations describing the combined instrument response and rate law to rates observed as a function of time. When τ cannot be neglected, correction for instrument response has previously been done by truncating early data or by use of the Tian equation. Both methods can lead to significant errors that increase as τk increases. Inclusion of instrument baseline as a fitting parameter significantly reduced variability in k and c compared with use of measured instrument baselines. The method was tested with data on the heat rate from acid-catalyzed hydrolysis of sucrose collected with three types of calorimeters. In addition, to demonstrate the generality of this method of data analysis, equations including τ, k, c, and instrument baseline are derived for the relation between the reaction rate and the observed rate for first order, second order (first in each reactant), nth order in one reactant, autocatalytic, Michaelis–Menten kinetics, and the Ng equation. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 43: 53–61, 2011

Herein we report an extensive ab initio study on the existence of eight beta-hydroxy isoprene peroxy radical-water complexes. Binding energies calculated at the MP2(full)/6-311++G(2d,2p)//CCSD(T)/6-311++G(d,p) level of theory range between 3.85 and 5.66 kcal mol(-1). The results of natural bond orbital calculations are presented to help rationalize complex formation. Atmospheric lifetimes, equilibrium constants, heats of formation, and the relative abundance of complexed to uncomplexed peroxy radicals are also reported and discussed.

The existence of a series of organic peroxy radical-water complexes [CH3O2.H2O (methyl peroxy); CH3CH2O2.H2O (ethyl peroxy); CH3C(O)O2.H2O (acetyl peroxy); CH3C(O)CH2O2.H2O (acetonyl peroxy); CH2(OH)O2.H2O (hydroxyl methyl peroxy); CH2(OH)CH2O2.H2O (2-hydroxy ethyl peroxy); CH2(F)O2.H2O (fluoro methyl peroxy); CH2(F)CH2O2.H2O (2-fluoro ethyl peroxy)] is evaluated using high level ab initio calculations. A wide range of binding energies is predicted for these complexes, in which the difference in binding energies can be explained by examination of the composition of the R group attached to the peroxy moiety. The general trend in binding energies has been determined to be as follows: fluorine approximately alkylcarbonylalcohol. The weakest bound complex, CH3O2.H2O, is calculated to be bound by 2.3 kcal mol-1, and the strongest, the CH2(OH)O2.H2O complex, is bound by 5.1 kcal mol-1. The binding energy of the peroxy radical-water complexes which contain carbonyl and alcohol groups indicates that these complexes may perturb the kinetics and product branching ratios of reactions involving these complexes.

The article to which this erratum refers was published in Int J Chem Kinet 2015, 47, 395-409 (2015) (10.1002/kin.20917).

This initial study evaluates the use of ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) as a rapid test procedure for potential detection of adulterated perfumes and speciation of plant life. Sample types measured consist of five genuine perfumes, two species of sagebrush, and four species of flowers. Each sample type is treated as a separate classification problem. It is shown that discrimination using principal component analysis with K-nearest neighbors can distinguish one class from another. Discriminatory models generated using principal component regressions are not as effective. Results from this examination are encouraging and represent an initial phase demonstrating that perfumes and plants possess characteristic chemical signatures that can be used for reliable identification.

The formation of sulfuric acid (H(2)SO(4)), nitric acid (HNO(3)), acetic acid (CH(3)C(O)OH), and formic acid (HC(O))H) complexes with ammonia (NH(3)), amidogen radical (NH(2)), and imidogen radical (NH) was studied using natural bond orbital calculations. The equilibrium structures, binding energies, and harmonic frequencies were calculated for each acid-NH(x) complex using hybrid density functional (B3LYP) and second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation approximation methods with the 6-311++G(3df,3pd) basis set. The results presented here suggest that the effect of NH(2) on the formation of new condensation nuclei will be similar to that of NH(3), but to a lesser degree and confined primarily to complexes with H(2)SO(4) and HNO(3). The NH radical is not expected to play a significant role in the formation of new atmospheric condensation nuclei.

Rate coefficients k for the OH+Cl(2)O reaction are measured as a function of temperature (230-370 K) and pressure by using pulsed laser photolysis to produce OH radicals and laser-induced fluorescence to monitor their loss under pseudo-first-order conditions in OH. The reaction rate coefficient is found to be independent of pressure, within the precision of our measurements at 30-100 Torr (He) and 100 Torr (N(2)). The rate coefficients obtained at 100 Torr (He) showed a negative temperature dependence with a weak non-Arrhenius behavior. A room-temperature rate coefficient of k(1)(297 K)=(7.5±1.1)×10(-12) cm(3) molecule(-1) s(-1) is obtained, where the quoted uncertainties are 2σ and include estimated systematic errors. Theoretical methods are used to examine OH···OCl(2) and OH···ClOCl adduct formation and the potential-energy surfaces leading to the HOCl+ClO (1a) and Cl+HOOCl (1d) products in reaction (1) at the hybrid density functional UMPW1K/6-311++G(2df,p) level of theory. The OH···OCl(2) and OH···ClOCl adducts are found to have binding energies of about 0.2 kcal mol(-1). The reaction is calculated to proceed through weak pre-reactive complexes. Transition-state energies for channels (1a) and (1d) are calculated to be about 1.4 and about 3.3 kcal mol(-1) above the energy of the reactants. The results from the present study are compared with previously reported rate coefficients, and the interpretation of the possible non-Arrhenius behavior is discussed.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is promoting the development and application of sampling methods for the semicontinuous determination of fine particulate matter (PM2.5, particles with an aerodynamic diameter2.5 microm) mass and chemical composition. Data obtained with these methods will significantly improve the understanding of the primary sources, chemical conversion processes, and meteorological atmospheric processes that lead to observed PM2.5 concentrations and will aid in the understanding of the etiology of PM2.5-related health effects. During January and February 2007, several semicontinuous particulate matter (PM) monitoring systems were compared at the Utah State Lindon Air Quality Sampling site. Semicontinuous monitors included instruments to measure total PM2.5 mass (filter dynamic measurement system [FDMS] tapered element oscillating microbalance [TEOM], GRIMM), nonvolatile PM2.5 mass (TEOM), sulfate and nitrate (two PM2.5 and one PM10 [PM with an aerodynamic diameter10 microm] ion-chromatographic-based samplers), and black carbon (aethalometer). PM10 semicontinuous mass measurements were made with GRIMM and TEOM instruments. These measurements were all made on a 1-hr average basis. Source apportionment analysis indicated that sources impacting the site were mainly urban sources and included mobile sources (gasoline and diesel) and residential burning of wood, with some elevated concentrations because of the effect of winter inversions. The FDMS TEOM and GRIMM instruments were in good agreement, but TEOM monitor measurements were low because of the presence of significant semi-volatile material. Semi-volatile mass was present dominantly in the PM2.5 mass.