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Sample records for alexander disease serial

  1. Computed tomography in Alexander's disease

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Holland, I M; Kendall, B E

    1980-10-01

    Two cases of biopsy-proven Alexander's disease are described with computed tomographic changes which, in our experience and on survey of the literature, have not occurred in any other condition. Such changes in a child with a progressive condition consistent with Alexander's disease, strongly support the diagnosis.

  2. Alexander disease as a cause of nocturnal vomiting in a 7-year-old girl

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Niinikoski, Harri [University of Turku, Department of Paediatrics, Turku (Finland); Haataja, Leena [University of Turku, Department of Paediatrics, Turku (Finland); University of Turku, Department of Pediatric Neurology, Turku (Finland); Brander, Antti [University of Tampere, Department of Radiology, Tampere (Finland); Valanne, Leena [University of Helsinki, Department of Radiology, Helsinki (Finland); Blaser, Susan [Hospital for Sick Children, Department of Radiology, Toronto (Canada)

    2009-08-15

    Alexander disease is a rare form of leukodystrophy with a highly variable clinical course. Occasionally night-time nausea and vomiting are the first symptoms of juvenile Alexander disease. A 7-year-old girl had recurrent night-time vomiting and her growth and weight gain had deteriorated after her sixth birthday. Cranial MRI demonstrated two small, symmetrical focal areas of abnormally high signal intensity in the dorsal medulla oblongata on T2-W and FLAIR images. These were suggestive of juvenile Alexander disease, and subsequent sequencing of the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) gene revealed a heterogeneous missense mutation in the GFAP gene in exon 6. Alexander disease should be considered in young patients with atypical anorexia nervosa-type symptoms. (orig.)

  3. Alexander disease as a cause of nocturnal vomiting in a 7-year-old girl

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Niinikoski, Harri; Haataja, Leena; Brander, Antti; Valanne, Leena; Blaser, Susan

    2009-01-01

    Alexander disease is a rare form of leukodystrophy with a highly variable clinical course. Occasionally night-time nausea and vomiting are the first symptoms of juvenile Alexander disease. A 7-year-old girl had recurrent night-time vomiting and her growth and weight gain had deteriorated after her sixth birthday. Cranial MRI demonstrated two small, symmetrical focal areas of abnormally high signal intensity in the dorsal medulla oblongata on T2-W and FLAIR images. These were suggestive of juvenile Alexander disease, and subsequent sequencing of the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) gene revealed a heterogeneous missense mutation in the GFAP gene in exon 6. Alexander disease should be considered in young patients with atypical anorexia nervosa-type symptoms. (orig.)

  4. Commentary. The diseases of Alexander the Great.

    Science.gov (United States)

    York, George K; Steinberg, David A

    2004-06-01

    The accompanying articles that speculate that Alexander the Great had a traumatic carotid dissection or congenital cervical scoliosis demonstrate the difficulties in retrospective diagnosis as a historical enterprise. The extant primary sources were written centuries after Alexander's death and are ambiguous in their original languages, and even more so in translation. Thus we cannot be certain what illness Alexander actually had. Furthermore, anachronistic diagnosis removes Alexander from the medical context of this time, telling us little of historical significance about him. Such investigations also illustrate the more general limits that the absence of context imposes on the study of ancient history.

  5. Infantile Alexander Disease: Spectrum of GFAP Mutations and Genotype-Phenotype Correlation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodriguez, Diana; Gauthier, Fernande; Bertini, Enrico; Bugiani, Marianna; Brenner, Michael; N'guyen, Sylvie; Goizet, Cyril; Gelot, Antoinette; Surtees, Robert; Pedespan, Jean-Michel; Hernandorena, Xavier; Troncoso, Monica; Uziel, Graziela; Messing, Albee; Ponsot, Gérard; Pham-Dinh, Danielle; Dautigny, André; Boespflug-Tanguy, Odile

    2001-01-01

    Heterozygous, de novo mutations in the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) gene have recently been reported in 12 patients affected by neuropathologically proved Alexander disease. We searched for GFAP mutations in a series of patients who had heterogeneous clinical symptoms but were candidates for Alexander disease on the basis of suggestive neuroimaging abnormalities. Missense, heterozygous, de novo GFAP mutations were found in exons 1 or 4 for 14 of the 15 patients analyzed, including patients without macrocephaly. Nine patients carried arginine mutations (four had R79H; four had R239C; and one had R239H) that have been described elsewhere, whereas the other five had one of four novel mutations, of which two affect arginine (2R88C and 1R88S) and two affect nonarginine residues (1L76F and 1N77Y). All mutations were located in the rod domain of GFAP, and there is a correlation between clinical severity and the affected amino acid. These results confirm that GFAP mutations are a reliable molecular marker for the diagnosis of infantile Alexander disease, and they also form a basis for the recommendation of GFAP analysis for prenatal diagnosis to detect potential cases of germinal mosaicism. PMID:11567214

  6. Alexander's disease: magnetic resonance imaging and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Report of three cases

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jurkiewicz, E.; Pakula-Kosciesza, I.; Mierzewska, H.; Walecki, J.; Bekiesinska-Figatowska, M.; Salomons, G.; Kmiec, T.

    2006-01-01

    Alexander's disease is a rare genetic leukodystrophy connected with mutation of the GFAP gene. Infantile, juvenile, and adult subtypes are described. We analyzed MR images in three and HMRS in two cases of Alexander's disease. The examinations were performed with a 1.5 T scanner in the SE, FSE, and FLAIR sequences in T1,T2 WI before and after gadolinium injection. Single voxel HMRS was performed. MRI showed extensive abnormal signal in the white matter of the frontal lobes, in external capsules, basal ganglia, posterior limbs of the internal capsules, and the hilus of dentate nuclei. Focal contrast enhancement was seen near the frontal horns. HMRS revealed increased Cho/Cr and mI/Cr ratios and decreased NAA/Cr ratio. The presence of lactate was also observed. MR is useful in imaging typical forms of Alexander's disease. Genetic investigation is necessary for definitive diagnosis. HMRS demonstrates metabolic abnormalities of white matter. (author)

  7. Infantile-onset Alexander disease: a genetically proven case with mild clinical course in a 6-year-old Indian boy

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ramesh, Konanki; Sharma, Suvasini; Kumar, Atin; Salomons, Gajja S.; van der Knaap, Marjo S.; Gulati, Sheffali

    2013-01-01

    Alexander disease is an autosomal dominant leukoencephalopathy characterized by developmental delay, macrocephaly, and characteristic neuroimaging abnormalities predominantly involving frontal lobes. We report a 6-year-old Indian boy with infantile-onset Alexander disease, who has an unusually mild

  8. [An atypical presentation of Infantile Alexander disease lacking macrocephaly].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Esmer, Carmen; Villegas-Aguilera, Miguel; Morales-Ibarra, Juan José; Bravo-Oro, Antonio

    Alexander disease is a rare form of leukodystrophy that involves mainly astrocytes; it is inherited in an autosomal recessive manner and occurs by mutations in the GFAP gene, located on chromosome 17q21. It can occur at any age and its infantile form is characterized by macrocephaly, seizures, severe motor and cognitive delay, and progressive spasticity or ataxia. An 8-month-old female was evaluated with a history of neurodevelopmental delay and unprovoked focal motor seizures. Physical examination showed normal head circumference, increased motor responses to tactile and noise stimuli, pyramidal signs and no visceromegalies. Widespread hypodense white matter was found on magnetic resonance and lumbar puncture showed hyperproteinorrachia. Krabbe disease was ruled out by enzymatic assay and gene sequencing of GALC. In the reassessment of the case, abnormalities in neuroimaging lead to suspicion of Alexander disease, and GFAP gene sequencing reported a pathogenic mutation in exon 4 c.716G>A, which caused a change of arginine to histidine at position 239 of the protein (p.Arg239His). The radiographic signs observed in the resonance were decisive for the diagnosis, later confirmed by molecular study. It is important to consider that certain mutations are not associated with macrocephaly, which may cause delay in diagnosis. Copyright © 2016 Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez. Publicado por Masson Doyma México S.A. All rights reserved.

  9. Alexander's disease in a neurologically normal child: a case report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guthrie, Scott O.; Knowles, Paul; Marshall, Robert; Burton, Edward M.

    2003-01-01

    We report the clinical and MRI findings of symmetric hyperintensity involving the deep and subcortical white matter of the frontal lobes in a neurologically normal child with macrocephaly. In this patient, a serum test for mutations in glial fibrillary acidic protein, used to diagnose Alexander's disease (AD), was positive. This case indicates an extraordinarily mild or early form of juvenile-onset AD. (orig.)

  10. Archetypal and new families with Alexander disease and novel mutations in GFAP

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Messing, Albee; Li, Rong; Naidu, Sakkubai; Taylor, J. Paul; Silverman, Lital; Flint, Daniel; van der Knaap, Marjo S.; Brenner, Michael

    2012-01-01

    To describe genetic analyses of the 2 most thoroughly studied, historically seminal multigenerational families with Alexander disease described prior to the identification of GFAP as the related gene, as well as 1 newly discovered family. Clinical histories were obtained and DNA was analyzed from

  11. Computing the Alexander Polynomial Numerically

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Mikael Sonne

    2006-01-01

    Explains how to construct the Alexander Matrix and how this can be used to compute the Alexander polynomial numerically.......Explains how to construct the Alexander Matrix and how this can be used to compute the Alexander polynomial numerically....

  12. Alexander the Great and West Nile virus encephalitis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marr, John S; Calisher, Charles H

    2003-12-01

    Alexander the Great died in Babylon in 323 BC. His death at age 32 followed a 2-week febrile illness. Speculated causes of death have included poisoning; assassination, and a number of infectious diseases. One incident, mentioned by Plutarch but not considered by previous investigators, may shed light on the cause of Alexander's death. The incident, which occurred as he entered Babylon, involved a flock of ravens exhibiting unusual behavior and subsequently dying at his feet. The inexplicable behavior of ravens is reminiscent of avian illness and death weeks before the first human cases of West Nile virus infection were identified in the United States. We posit that Alexander may have died of West Nile virus encephalitis.

  13. The death of Alexander the Great: malaria or typhoid fever?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cunha, Burke A

    2004-03-01

    Alexander the Great had a profound effect on world history. His conquests covered the entire known world at the time, and he was responsible for the spread of Greek culture throughout the ancient world. In Babylon in 323 BC, Alexander died when he was nearly 33 years old. Possible explanations for his death have included alcoholic liver disease and strychnine poisoning, but little data support either condition as the cause of his death. Alexander most likely died from malaria or typhoid fever, which were rampant in ancient Babylon. The description of his final illness from the royal diaries is consistent with typhoid fever or malaria but is most characteristic of typhoid fever.

  14. Alexander the Great's relationship with alcohol.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liappas, J A; Lascaratos, J; Fafouti, S; Christodoulou, G N

    2003-05-01

    This study sought to clarify if Alexander the Great indulged pathologically in alcohol and whether it contributed to his death. The texts of the historians Diodorus of Sicily, Plutarch, Arrian, Curtius Rufus, Athenaeus, Aelian and Justin were studied, with their information concerning wine consumption by Macedonians, and especially Alexander, and were evaluated. The surviving historical texts, all later than Alexander's epoch, are based on a series of contemporary histories and especially on the 'Royal Journals', an official diary written in the imperial court. Alexander consumed large quantities of undiluted wine periodically, reaching pathological intoxication. However, the existing data do not provide convincing evidence that Alexander the Great manifested abuse of or dependence on alcohol according to DSM-IV or ICD-10 criteria and it seems unlikely that alcohol was involved in his untimely death.

  15. The efficacy of medicine during the campaigns of Alexander the Great.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruffin, J R

    1992-09-01

    This paper examines the various factors that may have determined the efficacy of physicians during the campaigns of Alexander the Great. Such general variables as the adequacy of preparation, the nature of the medical profession, and the extent of preventative measures are all discussed at the outset of the paper, followed by a more detailed examination of the specific wounds, illnesses, and treatments of Alexander as described in the accounts of the Alexander historians Plutarch, Curtius, and Arrian. Where no remedy is given by these writers (as is usually the case), this paper speculates on the efficacy of possible treatments as advocated in the contemporary Hippocratic corpus. Casualty statistics of the campaigns are compared to a similar review of Homer's Iliad. From these examinations, this paper concludes that wound treatment efficacy was significantly greater than that of illness treatment, and that Alexander lost many more men to disease than to the wounds of war.

  16. What killed Alexander the Great?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Battersby, Cameron

    2007-01-01

    The cause of the death of the Macedonian King, Alexander the Great, at Babylon in 323 BC has excited interest and conjecture throughout the ages. The information available in the surviving ancient sources, none of which is contemporaneous, has been reviewed and compared with modern knowledge as set out in several well-known recent surgical texts. The ancient sources record epic drinking by the Macedonian nobility since at least the time of Phillip II, Alexander's father. Alexander's sudden illness and death is likely to have resulted from a surgical complication of acute alcoholic excess.

  17. Serial MR imaging in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Uchino, A.; Hata, H.; Ohno, M. (Kyushu Rosai Hospital, Kitakyushu (Japan). Dept. of Radiology); Yoshinaga, M.; Shiokawa, O. (Kyushu Rosai Hospital, Kitakyushu (Japan). Stroke Care Unit)

    1991-08-01

    Serial magnetic resonance (MR) imagings of two autopsied patients with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) are presented. Both patients showed a dramatic progression of brain atrophy. The initial MR imagings were, however, interpreted as normal except for localized mild cortical atrophy in one patient. When a normal MR image is obtained in a demented middle-aged or aged patient, CJD may still need to be ruled out: follow up MR imaging may be useful. (orig.).

  18. Serial MR imaging in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Uchino, A.; Hata, H.; Ohno, M.; Yoshinaga, M.; Shiokawa, O.

    1991-01-01

    Serial magnetic resonance (MR) imagings of two autopsied patients with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) are presented. Both patients showed a dramatic progression of brain atrophy. The initial MR imagings were, however, interpreted as normal except for localized mild cortical atrophy in one patient. When a normal MR image is obtained in a demented middle-aged or aged patient, CJD may still need to be ruled out: follow up MR imaging may be useful. (orig.)

  19. Impaired Processing of Serial Order Determines Working Memory Impairments in Alzheimer's Disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Belder, Maya; Santens, Patrick; Sieben, Anne; Fias, Wim

    2017-01-01

    Working memory (WM) problems are commonly observed in Alzheimer's disease (AD), but the affected mechanisms leading to impaired WM are still insufficiently understood. The ability to efficiently process serial order in WM has been demonstrated to be fundamental to fluent daily life functioning. The decreased capability to mentally process serial position in WM has been put forward as the underlying explanation for generally compromised WM performance. Determine which mechanisms, such as order processing, are responsible for deficient WM functioning in AD. A group of AD patients (n = 32) and their partners (n = 25), assigned to the control group, were submitted to an extensive battery of neuropsychological and experimental tasks, assessing general cognitive state and functioning of several aspects related to serial order WM. The results revealed an impaired ability to bind item information to serial position within WM in AD patients compared to controls. It was additionally observed that AD patients experienced specific difficulties with directing spatial attention when searching for item information stored in WM. The processing of serial order and the allocation of attentional resources are both disrupted, explaining the generally reduced WM functioning in AD patients. Further studies should now clarify whether this observation could explain disease-related problems for other cognitive functions such as verbal expression, auditory comprehension, or planning.

  20. Serial Noninvasive Assessment of Apoptosis During Right Ventricular Disease Progression in Rats

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Campian, Maria E.; Verberne, Hein J.; Hardziyenka, Maxim; de Bruin, Kora; Selwaness, Mariana; van den Hoff, Maurice J. B.; Ruijter, Jan M.; van Eck-Smit, Berthe L. F.; de Bakker, Jacques M. T.; Tan, Hanno L.

    2009-01-01

    Right ventricular (RV) function is the major determinant of survival in patients with pulmonary hypertension. Yet, the pathophysiologic basis of RV disease is unresolved. We aimed to study the role of apoptosis in RV disease by monitoring it serially during disease progression using in vivo

  1. A psychoanalytic study of Alexander the Great.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, K R

    1995-12-01

    The purpose of this paper was to demonstrate how Freudian concepts such as the Oedipus complex, castration anxiety, fear of loss of love, the psychosexual stages of development, and the tripartite structure of personality can be used to understand the life and achievements of Alexander the Great. To accomplish this purpose, specific incidents, myths, and relationships in Alexander's life were analyzed from a Freudian psychoanalytic perspective. Green (1991), in his recent biography of Alexander, has questioned the merit of using Freudian concepts to understand Alexander's character. In fact, he stated specifically: If he (Alexander) had any kind of Oedipus complex it came in a poor second to the burning dynastic ambition which Olympias so sedulously fostered in him; those who insist on his psychological motivation would do better to take Adler as their mentor than Freud (p.56). Later, in the concluding section of his book, Green (1991, pp. 486-487) discounted Freudian interpretations of Alexander's distaste for sex, the rumors of his homosexual liaisons, his partiality for middle-aged or elderly ladies, and the systematic domination of his early years by Olympias as little more than the projected fears and desires of the interpreters. And again, an Adlerian power-complex paradigm was suggested as the preferable theoretical framework to use. Green's argument was based primarily on an exchange, reported originally by Plutarch, which took place between Alexander and Philip prior to Alexander's tutorship with Aristotle. Purportedly, Philip enjoined his son to study hard and pay close attention to all Aristotle said "so that you may not do a great many things of the sort that I am sorry I have done." At this point, Alexander "somewhat pertly" took Philip to task "because he was having children by other women besides his wife." Philip's reply was: "Well then, if you have many competitors for the kingdom, prove yourself honorable and good, so that you may obtain the

  2. Serial MR findings of metaphyseal cyst in Legg-Calve-Perthes disease: a case report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shim, Chang Min; Na, Jae Boem; Moon, Haeng Jin

    2001-01-01

    Metaphyseal cysts are common findings in Lee-Calve-Perthes(LCP) disease, though usually disappear within 6-12 months several studies have described the MR imaging findings of these cysts, though serial MRI findings have not been documented. In this report, therefore, we report the serial MRI results of metaphyseal cyst in LCP patients

  3. Samuel Alexander Kinnier Wilson. Wilson's disease, Queen Square and neurology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Broussolle, E; Trocello, J-M; Woimant, F; Lachaux, A; Quinn, N

    2013-12-01

    This historical article describes the life and work of the British physician Samuel Alexander Kinnier Wilson (1878-1937), who was one of the world's greatest neurologists of the first half of the 20th century. Early in his career, Wilson spent one year in Paris in 1903 where he learned from Pierre-Marie at Bicêtre Hospital. He subsequently retained uninterrupted links with French neurology. He also visited in Leipzig the German anatomist Paul Flechsig. In 1904, Wilson returned to London, where he worked for the rest of his life at the National Hospital for the Paralysed and Epileptic (later the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, and today the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery) in Queen Square, and also at Kings' College Hospital. He wrote on 'the old motor system and the new', on disorders of motility and muscle tone, on the epilepsies, on aphasia, apraxia, tics, and pathologic laughing and crying, and most importantly on Wilson's disease. The other objective of our paper is to commemorate the centenary of Wilson's most important work published in 1912 in Brain, and also in Revue Neurologique, on an illness newly recognized and characterized by him entitled "Progressive lenticular degeneration, a familial nervous disease associated with liver cirrhosis". He analyzed 12 clinical cases, four of whom he followed himself, but also four cases previously published by others and a further two that he considered in retrospect had the same disease as he was describing. The pathological profile combined necrotic damage in the lenticular nuclei of the brain and hepatic cirrhosis. This major original work is summarized and discussed in the present paper. Wilson not only delineated what was later called hepato-lenticular degeneration and Wilson's disease, but also introduced for the first time the terms extrapyramidal syndrome and extrapyramidal system, stressing the role of the basal ganglia in motility. The present historical work emphasizes the special

  4. "Most brilliant in judgment": Alexander the Great and Aristotle.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lainas, Panagiotis; Panutsopulos, Dimitrios; Skandalakis, Panagiotis N; Zoras, Odysseas; Skandalakis, John E

    2005-03-01

    From historical sources, it is evident that Alexander the Great was indebted to one of his teachers, Aristotle of Stagira. It was the teaching of Aristotle that evoked all the nascent talents of young Alexander and turned him into a great man. Alexander was extremely interested in the secrets of medicine and considered it an art. The medical knowledge he acquired from Aristotle may have saved his life and the lives of his troops on many occasions. If Alexander did not possess medical knowledge and if his everyday life had not been so greatly influenced by medicine, he might never have been able to create his empire.

  5. Serial computed tomography findings in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schlenska, G.K.; Walter, G.F.

    1989-01-01

    Serial CT investigations of 3 patients with histologically confirmed Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease revealed persisting slight brain atrophy to progressive extreme atrophy corresponding to the absolute, not the individual duration of illness. No correlation was observed between CT findings and the patients condition or electroencephalographic results. In one case with a duration of about 16 months and a terminal brain weight of 750 g a massive bilateral, later unilateral subdural hygroma appeared which probably was caused by retraction of the brain showing an enormous atrophy. (orig.)

  6. Serial computed tomography findings in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schlenska, G.K.; Walter, G.F.

    1989-09-01

    Serial CT investigations of 3 patients with histologically confirmed Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease revealed persisting slight brain atrophy to progressive extreme atrophy corresponding to the absolute, not the individual duration of illness. No correlation was observed between CT findings and the patients condition or electroencephalographic results. In one case with a duration of about 16 months and a terminal brain weight of 750 g a massive bilateral, later unilateral subdural hygroma appeared which probably was caused by retraction of the brain showing an enormous atrophy. (orig.).

  7. Alexander Disease

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Administrator Channels Synapses Circuits Cluster Neurosurgery Research Fellowships Scientific Director, Division of Intramural Research ... Disease Information Page What research is being done? Recent discoveries show that most individuals (approximately 90 percent) with ...

  8. Effect of parental family history of Alzheimer's disease on serial position profiles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    La Rue, Asenath; Hermann, Bruce; Jones, Jana E; Johnson, Sterling; Asthana, Sanjay; Sager, Mark A

    2008-07-01

    An exaggerated recency effect (ie, disproportionate recall of last-presented items) has been consistently observed in the word list learning of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Our study sought to determine whether there were similar alterations in serial position learning among asymptomatic persons at risk for AD as a result of parental family history. Subjects included 623 asymptomatic middle-aged children of patients with AD (median, 53 years) and 157 control participants whose parents survived to at least age 70 without AD or other memory disorders. All participants were administered the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, which requires learning and recall of 15 unrelated nouns. There was no significant difference in total words recalled between the AD children and control groups. However, compared with controls, AD children exhibited a significantly greater tendency to recall words from the end (recency) versus beginning (primacy) of the list. Serial position effects were unrelated to apolipoprotein allele epsilon 4 or depressive symptoms. Asymptomatic persons at risk for AD by virtue of family history do not show a difference in total words recalled compared with controls, but they exhibit a distinctly different serial position curve, suggesting greater reliance on immediate as opposed to episodic memory. This is the same serial position pattern observed in mild AD, seen here in reduced severity. Longitudinal follow-up is planned to determine whether changes in serial position patterns are a meaningful marker for preclinical detection of AD.

  9. Computed tomography of neurodegenerative disease in childhood. Serial CT findings and their diagnostic values

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kataoka, Kenkichi; Nakagawa, Yoshihiro; Hojo, Hiroatsu

    1984-12-01

    Serial computed tomographic scans were performed on seven children with neurodegenerative disorders. In two cases of white-matter diseases (Krabbe's disease and metachromatic leukodystrophy), diffuse, low-density lesions of white matter were visible in the early stage of the diseases. In one case of adrenoleukodystrophy, regional low-density lesions of the white matter around the posterior horns and peculiar high-density strip lesions were visible in the early stage. In two cases of storage-type gray-matter diseases (Tay-Sachs' and infantile Gaucher's disease), there were no abnormalities in the early stage, but diffuse cortical atrophies in the late stage. In one case of Leigh's disease, there were small, low-density lesions of the basal ganglia and multiple low-density lesions of the gray matter in the early stage. In one case of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, there were no abnormalities in the early stage, but small, low-density lesions of the basal ganglia and diffuse cerebral atrophies in the late stage. Diagnostic values were recognized dominantly in two cases of adrenoleukodystrophy and Leigh's disease. In the other cases, however, serial CT scans were useful in the diagnostic process. (author).

  10. A complex-network perspective on Alexander's wholeness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Bin

    2016-12-01

    The wholeness, conceived and developed by Christopher Alexander, is what exists to some degree or other in space and matter, and can be described by precise mathematical language. However, it remains somehow mysterious and elusive, and therefore hard to grasp. This paper develops a complex network perspective on the wholeness to better understand the nature of order or beauty for sustainable design. I bring together a set of complexity-science subjects such as complex networks, fractal geometry, and in particular underlying scaling hierarchy derived by head/tail breaks - a classification scheme and a visualization tool for data with a heavy-tailed distribution, in order to make Alexander's profound thoughts more accessible to design practitioners and complexity-science researchers. Through several case studies (some of which Alexander studied), I demonstrate that the complex-network perspective helps reduce the mystery of wholeness and brings new insights to Alexander's thoughts on the concept of wholeness or objective beauty that exists in fine and deep structure. The complex-network perspective enables us to see things in their wholeness, and to better understand how the kind of structural beauty emerges from local actions guided by the 15 fundamental properties, and in particular by differentiation and adaptation processes. The wholeness goes beyond current complex network theory towards design or creation of living structures.

  11. The Pre-Battle Speeches of Alexander at Issus and Gaugamela

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. C. Iglesias-Zoido

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available Three complementary aspects of Alexander's speeches before Issus and Gaugamela--typology, style, and argumentation--are studied to clarify the distinct ways in which Alexander's words were presented by ancient historians.

  12. The Alexander the First collection of the Lausanne Museum

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Minina, E.L.

    2004-01-01

    Study of written sources in archives sometimes allows to restore the history of collections. A good example is the Alexander the First collection. In 1819, de la Harpe had sent an Etruscan vase to Alexander I as a gift, and had received a collection of Russian minerals in return. Alexander’s

  13. Whole rice bran for beef heifers raised on alexander grass pasture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. R. Salvador

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this study was to evaluate the development of beef heifers exclusively fed alexander grass (Urochloa plantaginea (Link Hitch or alexander grass and whole rice meal as supplement offered from Monday to Friday. The experimental design was completely randomized, with repeated measures over time, and consisted of two treatments and three replications of area. Heifers receiving whole rice meal exhibited higher average daily gain after day 42 of pasture use and a 21% higher body weight at the end of the grazing period. The stocking rate, weight gain per area, hip height, weight-height ratio, and body condition score were similar for heifers exclusively fed alexander grass and alexander grass plus rice bran. Beef heifers raised exclusively on alexander grass from 15 to 18 months of age reached adequate body development, reproductive tract score (4.22 points and pelvic area (206.3 cm² to be bred at 18-20 months of age.

  14. Alexander-equivalent Zariski pairs of irreducible sextics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eyral, Christophe; Oka, Mutsuo

    2009-01-01

    The existence of Alexander-equivalent Zariski pairs dealing with irreducible curves of degree 6 was proved by Degtyarev. However, no explicit example of such a pair is available (only the existence is known) in the literature. In this paper, we construct the first concrete example.......The existence of Alexander-equivalent Zariski pairs dealing with irreducible curves of degree 6 was proved by Degtyarev. However, no explicit example of such a pair is available (only the existence is known) in the literature. In this paper, we construct the first concrete example....

  15. ECONOMICS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT (15 vols + 4 cdroms) by Gregory Zorzos

    OpenAIRE

    Gregory Zorzos

    2002-01-01

    Research contains many ancient texts (Ancient Greek, Hebrews, Hieroglyphs, Assyrian, Sumerian, Babylonian, Latin, etc.). 1. (MICRO-MACRO ECONOMICS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT (5 vols + cdrom). Microeconomics and macroeconomics of Alexander the Great. Economic theories, feasibilities, economic plannings, general description of the campaign's business plan etc. 2. BANKS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT (2 vols + cdrom) Describes banking system, economists, financiers, investors, accountants, bookkeepers, etc,...

  16. Was the death of Alexander the Great due to poisoning? Was it Veratrum album?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schep, Leo J; Slaughter, Robin J; Vale, J Allister; Wheatley, Pat

    2014-01-01

    To investigate the death of Alexander the Great to determine if he died from natural causes or was poisoned and, if the latter, what was the most likely poison. OVID MEDLINE (January 1950-May 2013) and ISI Web of Science (1900-May 2013) databases were searched and bibliographies of identified articles were screened for additional relevant studies. These searches identified 53 relevant citations. Classical literature associated with Alexander's death. There are two divergent accounts of Alexander's death. The first has its origins in the Royal Diary, allegedly kept in Alexander's court. The second account survives in various versions of the Alexander Romance. Nature of the terminal illness. The Royal Diary describes a gradual onset of fever, with a progressive inability to walk, leading to Alexander's death, without offering a cause of his demise. In contrast, the Romance implies that members of Alexander's inner circle conspired to poison him. The various medical hypotheses include cumulative debilitation from his previous wounds, the complications of alcohol imbibing (resulting in alcohol hepatitis, acute pancreatitis, or perforated peptic ulcer), grief, a congenital abnormality, and an unhealthy environment in Babylon possibly exacerbated by malaria, typhoid fever, or some other parasitic or viral illness. Was it poisoning? Of all the chemical and botanical poisons reviewed, we believe the alkaloids present in the various Veratrum species, notably Veratrum album, were capable of killing Alexander with comparable symptoms to those Alexander reportedly experienced over the 12 days of his illness. Veratrum poisoning is heralded by the sudden onset of epigastric and substernal pain, which may also be accompanied by nausea and vomiting, followed by bradycardia and hypotension with severe muscular weakness. Alexander suffered similar features for the duration of his illness. If Alexander the Great was poisoned, Veratrum album offers a more plausible cause than arsenic

  17. Alexander's (356-323 BC) expeditionary Medical Corps 334-323 BC.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Retsas, Spyros

    2009-08-01

    Alexander had a profound interest in medicine and healing. Original Greek texts survive mainly from the works of Plutarch and Arrian. This paper examines original sources naming the physicians who participated in Alexander's expedition in Asia, the battle injuries he sustained and his final illness in Babylon.

  18. Did Alexander the Great die of acute pancreatitis?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sbarounis, C N

    1997-06-01

    I propose that Alexander the Great died of acute pancreatitis secondary to heavy alcohol consumption and a very rich meal. The cause of death of prominent historic or artistic figures attracts considerable interest of historians and researchers. This is especially the case for Alexander the Great. More than 20,000 publications, books, or monographs on the life and work of Alexander the Great have been published. There are several theories and hypotheses regarding the cause of his death, that are based on historic descriptions, diaries, notations, and interpretations of events. It is inevitable that history and myth intermingle in any investigative approach, no matter how scholarly. In this article, on the basis of several historic sources. I have made an effort to reconstruct the final 14 days of his life and record the course of medical events that preceded his death with the formulation of a plausible diagnosis.

  19. Serial position effects are sensitive predictors of conversion from MCI to Alzheimer's disease dementia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Egli, Simone C; Beck, Irene R; Berres, Manfred; Foldi, Nancy S; Monsch, Andreas U; Sollberger, Marc

    2014-10-01

    It is unclear whether the predictive strength of established cognitive variables for progression to Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) varies depending on time to conversion. We investigated which cognitive variables were best predictors, and which of these variables remained predictive for patients with longer times to conversion. Seventy-five participants with MCI were assessed on measures of learning, memory, language, and executive function. Relative predictive strengths of these measures were analyzed using Cox regression models. Measures of word-list position-namely, serial position scores-together with Short Delay Free Recall of word-list learning best predicted conversion to AD dementia. However, only serial position scores predicted those participants with longer time to conversion. Results emphasize that the predictive strength of cognitive variables varies depending on time to conversion to dementia. Moreover, finer measures of learning captured by serial position scores were the most sensitive predictors of AD dementia. Copyright © 2014 The Alzheimer's Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Evidence for the effectiveness of Alexander Technique lessons in medical and health-related conditions: a systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woodman, J P; Moore, N R

    2012-01-01

    Complementary medicine and alternative approaches to chronic and intractable health conditions are increasingly being used, and require critical evaluation. The aim of this review was to systematically evaluate available evidence for the effectiveness and safety of instruction in the Alexander Technique in health-related conditions. PUBMED, EMBASE, PSYCHINFO, ISI Web-of-Knowledge, AMED, CINHAL-plus, Cochrane library and Evidence-based Medicine Reviews were searched to July 2011. Inclusion criteria were prospective studies evaluating Alexander Technique instruction (individual lessons or group delivery) as an intervention for any medical indication/health-related condition. Studies were categorised and data extracted on study population, randomisation method, nature of intervention and control, practitioner characteristics, validity and reliability of outcome measures, completeness of follow-up and statistical analyses.   Of 271 publications identified, 18 were selected: three randomised, controlled trials (RCTs), two controlled non-randomised studies, eight non-controlled studies, four qualitative analyses and one health economic analysis. One well-designed, well-conducted RCT demonstrated that, compared with usual GP care, Alexander Technique lessons led to significant long-term reductions in back pain and incapacity caused by chronic back pain. The results were broadly supported by a smaller, earlier RCT in chronic back pain. The third RCT, a small, well-designed, well-conducted study in individuals with Parkinson's disease, showed a sustained increased ability to carry out everyday activities following Alexander lessons, compared with usual care. The 15 non-RCT studies are also reviewed. Strong evidence exists for the effectiveness of Alexander Technique lessons for chronic back pain and moderate evidence in Parkinson's-associated disability. Preliminary evidence suggests that Alexander Technique lessons may lead to improvements in balance skills in the

  1. THE BISHOP OF NOLINSK ALEXANDER (MALININ: FOGOTTEN CONFESSOR OF THE FAITH

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. KOSTRYUKOV

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available The article describes life of Vyatka diocese vicar bishop of Nolinsk Alexander (Malinin. Currently fates of hierarch who was ordained in 1920–1930 isn’t investigated. One of the problems in biography of bishop Alexander is mistake of Metropolitan Elevfery (Bogoyavlensky. He called this hierarch John in his book “A week in Patriarhiya”. As a result, bishop Alexander was mentioned twice in all directories — under his own name and under name “bishop John of Glazov”. Life of bishop Alexander was almost unknown. But his biography was managed to establish. According to an investigative case he was arrested two weeks later, after bishop’s ordination in the night from 10-th to 11-th of December. He was arrested because he said reckless statement during his ordination. In his speech he spoke about persecution of the Church and bishop’ arrests. This speech was pronounced in the in the presence of foreign hierarch — Elevfery (Bogoyavlensky. Bishop Alexander was blamed of trying to transmit information abroad about persecution of the Orthodox Church. He was senteneed to three years in camps. He died when he arrived of the place. In the article is concluded that we should approach to source (such as “A week in Patriarhiya” with precautions. Moreover, author pay attention that until recently name of bishop Alexander absented in passionless of casualties of Communist repressions. So, we must explore feats of Martyrs and Russian confessors more actively.

  2. Ludwig Leichhardt und Alexander von Humboldt

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aliya-Katarina Südfels

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available Zusammenfassung Im Juli des Jahres 1841 kommt es zu einem Treffen zwischen zwei Männern, das zunächst belanglos erscheint, sich aber Jahre später als wichtige historische Begebenheit herausstellen wird. In seinem Pariser Büro empfängt der 71jährige Naturforscher Alexander von Humboldt den jungen Preußen Ludwig Leichhardt. Der angehende Naturwissenschaftler erhofft sich Zuspruch und Empfehlung des berühmten Alexander von Humboldts. Die Unterredung ist kurz und verläuft für Leichhardt ergebnislos. Es wird das einzige Treffen der beiden Naturwissenschaftler bleiben. Aus heutiger Sicht unverständlich, da Ludwig Leichhardt und Alexander von Humboldt mehr verband, als ihre Leidenschaft für die Naturwissenschaften. Viel zu wenig ist sich bis jetzt den biographischen Analogien und den vergleichbaren geographischen Leistungen der beiden Preußen gewidmet worden. Abstract During July 1841 a meeting between two men takes place, which seems to have been extraneous, but turns out to be a significant historical incident. 71 year old natural scientist Alexander von Humboldt welcomes young Ludwig Leichhardt from Prussia in his office in Paris. The prospective young scientist expects help and references from famous Alexander von Humboldt. The conversation is short and ends from Leichhardt’s point of view without results. Unfortunately this is going to be the only meeting between the two scientists even though the two Prussians have more in common than their passion for the natural sciences. Way too seldomly have biographical analogy and geographical productivity of the two men been compared. Résumé En juillet 1841 une rencontre entre deux hommes a lieu, qui au premier abord semble sans importance, mais qui des années plus tard est considéré comme un événement historique majeur. Dans son bureau parisien, le naturaliste Alexandre de Humboldt, alors âgé de 71 ans, reçoit le jeune Prussien Ludwig Leichhardt. Le jeune scientifique en devenir

  3. The modern mythology of the left-handedness of Alexander the Great.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McManus, I C

    2006-11-01

    The prevalent modern suggestion that Alexander the Great was left-handed probably derives from Michael Barsley's (1966) book, Left-handed man is a right-handed word, perhaps by mutation from as earlier story cited by Wile in 1934 from a 17th century Rabbirical exegesis, which said that Alexander discovered a country where all the inhabitants were left-handed. That itself may derive in part from the medieval Hebrew Book of Jossippon, which mentions Alexander talking of the superiority of the left hand and of how "kings stemming from the tribe of kings are left-handed".

  4. Serial position effects in Alzheimer's disease, mild cognitive impairment, and normal aging: predictive value for conversion to dementia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cunha, Catarina; Guerreiro, Manuela; de Mendonça, Alexandre; Oliveira, Paulo Eduardo; Santana, Isabel

    2012-01-01

    Serial position effects in word list learning have been used to differentiate normal aging and dementia. Prominent recency and diminished primacy have consistently been observed in Alzheimer's disease (AD). We examined serial position effects in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), in patients with AD, and in normal healthy controls. Additionally, we classified MCI patients into those who progressed to AD (MCI-p) and those who did not (MCI-np). We compared two serial position measures: regional and standard scores. Regional scores, mainly the primacy effect, improved discrimination between MCI and controls and between MCI-np and MCI-p, proving to be more sensitive and specific than the recency effect.

  5. Serial CT scans and Menkes' kinky hair disease

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nakada, Eizo; Kameyama, Junji; Yoshimitsu, Hajime; Mori, Mikio; Tanaka, Mutsuo; Yoshimitsu, Kazunori.

    1988-01-01

    Menkes' kinky hair disease is a sex-linked recessive disorder of copper metabolism, characterized by progressive psychomotor deterioration, seizures, and peculiar hair structure. We examined serial CT scans of patients with this disease. A 2,210-g male infant was delivered after an uneventful gestation of 36 weeks. His one-minute Apgar score was 9. His uncle had died at 1 year of age. His first cousin was also diagnosed as having Menkes' kinky hair disease when our patient was 2 years old. Shortly after birth he had mild respiratory distress. At 5 days of age, he developed setting-sun signs. The first CT scan, at 10 days of age, revealed mild posterior fossa hemorrhages. At 3 months of age, myoclonic seizures began, and the CT scan revealed subdural effusion and mild brain atrophy. The seizures were controllable by using phenobarbital, valproic acid, and nitrazepam. He did not follow light or a fixate, but the fundi were normal. He was diffusely hypotonic. At 9 months of age, the seizures became uncontrollable. The CT scans at 15 and 31 months of age showed subdural hemorrhage and/or brain atrophy. At 15 months of age, the serum copper level was 42 μ g/dl, while the serum ceruloplasmin level was 3.2 mg/dl. He exhibited severe developmental failure. At 4 years of age, he died. (author)

  6. Alexander Falconer Sr Seamen's missionary in New Zealand, son Alexander Falconer medical superintendent for mentally ill, grandson Murray Falconer neurosurgeon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hawgood, Barbara J

    2016-08-01

    Alexander Falconer Sr (1843-1915) came from Scotland to New Zealand. A practical Christian, he set up places of relaxation for miners, sailors and soldiers; he became the Seamen's Missionary. Son, Dr Alexander Falconer (1874-1955) trained at Otago University Medical School. As medical superintendent for the mentally ill, he urged the early introduction of psychotherapy. His son, Murray Falconer (1910-1977) was the first Nuffield Dominions Clinical Fellow, training in neurosurgery in Oxford. He was the first director of the Guy's-Maudsley Neurosurgical Unit in London and was internationally known for the surgical management of temporal lobe epilepsy in adults and children. © The Author(s) 2016.

  7. 76 FR 28226 - Ndahendekire Barbara v. African Shipping; Njoroge Muhia; Alco Logistics, Llc; Brenda Alexander...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-05-16

    ... Muhia; Alco Logistics, Llc; Brenda Alexander; and AIR 7 Seas Transportlogistics, Inc.; Notice of Filing...; Njoroge Muhia, ALCO Logistics, LLC; Brenda Alexander; and Air 7 Seas Transport Logistics, Inc...; Respondent ALCO Logistics, LLC, is a freight forwarding and logistics company; Respondent Brenda Alexander is...

  8. The Haunting Influence of Alexander Graham Bell

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitchell, Sue H.

    1971-01-01

    The article examines the significance that Alexander Graham Bell's attitude and actions had on the social and economic conditions experienced by deaf people during his lifetime and into the present. (CD)

  9. The death of Alexander the Great--a spinal twist of fate.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ashrafian, Hutan

    2004-06-01

    Alexander the Great died in 323 B.C. from an unknown cause. Physical depictions of this historical figure reveal the likelihood of a cervical scoliotic deformity. This is substantiated with the medical history and is correlated with his untimely death. For the first time, it is concluded that Alexander's death may have ensued from the sequelae of congenital scoliotic syndrome.

  10. Serial in-office laser treatment of vocal fold leukoplakia: Disease control and voice outcomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koss, Shira L; Baxter, Peter; Panossian, Haig; Woo, Peak; Pitman, Michael J

    2017-07-01

    Although vocal fold (VF) leukoplakia is commonly treated with in-office laser, there is no data on its long-term effectiveness. This study hypothesizes that VF leukoplakia treated by serial in-office laser results in long-term disease control with maintenance of voice and minimal morbidity. Retrospective review (2008-2015). Forty-six patients with VF leukoplakia treated by in-office KTP (potassium titanyl phosphate) or PDL (pulsed dye laser) were included. Median follow-up from final laser treatment was 19.6 months. Main outcomes included: 1) rate of disease control, 2) percentage of disease regression using ImageJ analysis. Secondary outcomes included vocal assessment using the Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10). Patients underwent a median of 2 (range: 1-6) in-office laser treatments. Time between treatments was median 7.6 months. After final treatment, 19 patients (41.3%) had no disease; two patients (4.3%) progressed to invasive cancer; overall disease regression was median 77.1% (P office treatment only); failures were 13 patients (28.3%) who required operative intervention and two patients (4%) who underwent radiation. Compared to responders, failures demonstrated significantly shorter duration between treatments (median 2.3 vs. 8.9 months, P = 0.038) and significantly less regression (median 49.3% vs. 100%, P = 0.006). Serial outpatient KTP or PDL treatment of VF leukoplakia is effective for disease control with minimal morbidity and preservation of voice quality. We suggest that patients requiring repeated in-office treatment every 6 months may benefit from earlier operative intervention; other factors associated with in-office success remain unclear. 4. Laryngoscope, 127:1644-1651, 2017. © 2017 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.

  11. A Study of Combined Arms Warfare by Alexander the Great.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1998-06-05

    source of Greek literature written about Alexander is from the famous biographer Plutarch . He wrote the Life of Alexander in the second century C.E...emperor Trajan, was appointed governor of Greece for a short time, and like Arrian, also served as Archon. It was in his later years that Plutarch began...and heavy troops were positioned by their territory behind the main battle line. According to Arrian and Plutarch , 41 Darius’ army at this time

  12. History and Pre-History of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. Platikanov

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available In this paper a short review of the history of Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Bonn - Bad Godesberg, Germany, on the occasion of its 60th anniversary is presented. This outstanding German foundation is actually the third one with the same name. Earlier two other Alexander von Humboldt Foundations consequently existed and they consist its pre-history, which is also shortly reviewed. The establishment of the present Foundation in 1953, its development and growth, its activities, information about the six presidents and five executive directors, as well as the main features, principles and guidelines are considered. During the last 60 years the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation became an important institution for the promotion of international research cooperation, which significantly influences the world science. It supported more than 27700 Humboldt fellows to carry out scientific research in Germany, and they form a large Humboldt family: a world-wide network. Large number Bulgarian Humboldt fellows are among the best scientists in Bulgaria.

  13. Serial CT scans and Menkes' kinky hair disease

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nakada, Eizo; Kameyama, Junji; Yoshimitsu, Hajime; Mori, Mikio; Tanaka, Mutsuo; Yoshimitsu, Kazunori.

    1988-02-01

    Menkes' kinky hair disease is a sex-linked recessive disorder of copper metabolism, characterized by progressive psychomotor deterioration, seizures, and peculiar hair structure. We examined serial CT scans of patients with this disease. A 2,210-g male infant was delivered after an uneventful gestation of 36 weeks. His one-minute Apgar score was 9. His uncle had died at 1 year of age. His first cousin was also diagnosed as having Menkes' kinky hair disease when our patient was 2 years old. Shortly after birth he had mild respiratory distress. At 5 days of age, he developed setting-sun signs. The first CT scan, at 10 days of age, revealed mild posterior fossa hemorrhages. At 3 months of age, myoclonic seizures began, and the CT scan revealed subdural effusion and mild brain atrophy. The seizures were controllable by using phenobarbital, valproic acid, and nitrazepam. He did not follow light or a fixate, but the fundi were normal. He was diffusely hypotonic. At 9 months of age, the seizures became uncontrollable. The CT scans at 15 and 31 months of age showed subdural hemorrhage and/or brain atrophy. At 15 months of age, the serum copper level was 42 ..mu.. g/dl, while the serum ceruloplasmin level was 3.2 mg/dl. He exhibited severe developmental failure. At 4 years of age, he died.

  14. The Berlin tradition in Chicago: Franz Alexander and the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmidt, Erika S

    2010-01-01

    Freud considered Franz Alexander, the first graduate of the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute and an assistant in the Berlin Polyclinic, to be "one of our strongest hopes for the future." Alexander went on to become the first director of the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis in 1932 and modeled some of the Chicago Institute's mission on his Berlin experiences. He was also a researcher in psychosomatic medicine, a prolific writer about psychoanalysis and prominent in psychoanalytic organizations. As he proposed modifications in psychoanalytic technique, he became a controversial figure, especially in the elaboration of his ideas about brief therapy and the corrective emotional experience. This paper puts Alexander's achievements in historical context, draws connections between the Berlin and Chicago Institutes and suggests that, despite his quarrels with traditional psychoanalysis, Alexander's legacy may be in his attitude towards psychoanalysis, characterized by a commitment to scientific study, a willingness to experiment, and a conviction about the role of psychoanalysis within the larger culture.

  15. Serial position effects in patients with mild cognitive impairment and early and moderate Alzheimer's disease compared with healthy comparison subjects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moser, B; Deisenhammer, E A; Marksteiner, J; Papousek, I; Fink, A; Weiss, E M

    2014-01-01

    This study aimed to investigate whether the serial position effects in memory can differentiate patients with different subtypes of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) from healthy controls and patients with different stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The serial position effects was tested with the CERAD word list task in 184 persons (39 healthy control subjects, 15 amnestic MCI single domain subjects, 23 amnestic MCI multiple domain subjects, 31 nonamnestic MCI subjects, 45 early or mild AD patients, and 31 moderate AD patients). With progression of dementia, memory deficits increased and the impairment in the primacy effect during the learning trials advanced, whereas the recall of recent items was less impaired. The serial position profile of nonamnestic MCI patients resembled that of healthy control subjects, whereas amnestic MCI patients showed poorer performance in all 3 positions but no significant difference as a function of serial word position. Analyses of the serial position effect may be a useful complement to clinical neuropsychological measures for distinguishing amnestic MCI patients from normal aging and patients with different stages of dementia. © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  16. Zwei Briefe auf Guaraní in Alexander von Humboldts Handschrift

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Manfred Ringmacher

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Gegenstand des Aufsatzes von Manfred Ringmacher sind zwei Briefe auf Guaraní in Alexander von Humboldts Handschrift. Die Originale der Abschriften wurden im Jahr 1800 in der ehemals jesuitisch betreuten Indianersiedlung Santa María la Mayor am Río Uruguay geschrieben und an den Vizekönig des spanischen Vizekönigreichs La Plata gesandt. Sie sind mit einer zeitgenössischen spanischen Übersetzung versehen; außerdem hat Alexander von Humboldt in französischer Sprache noch einige Erläuterungen gegeben.

  17. Tartu ülikooli Vene ajaloo professor Alexander Brückner (1834-1896) / Tiit Rosenberg

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    Rosenberg, Tiit, 1946-

    2004-01-01

    Alexander Brückneri elust, vaadetest, loomingust ja perekonnast. Alexander Brücknerist kui Õpetatud Eesti Seltsi liikmest. Tartu Ülikooli vene ajaloo õppejõududest. Lühidalt Tartust pärit vene ajaloo uurijast Ernst Adolf Herrmannist

  18. A Case of Adult-Onset Alexander Disease Featuring Severe Atrophy of the Medulla Oblongata and Upper Cervical Cord on Magnetic Resonance Imaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yonezu, Tadahiro; Ito, Shoichi; Kanai, Kazuaki; Masuda, Saeko; Shibuya, Kazumoto; Kuwabara, Satoshi

    2012-01-01

    Adult-onset Alexander disease (AOAD) has been increasingly recognized since the identification of the glial fibrillary acidic protein gene mutation in 2001. We report on a 56-year-old man who was genetically confirmed as AOAD with the glial fibrillary acidic protein mutation of p.M74T. He developed spastic tetraparesis, sensory disturbances in four limbs, and mild cognitive impairment without apparent dysarthria and dysphagia. The case was characterized by severe atrophy of the medulla oblongata and upper cervical cord with intramedullary signal intensity changes on magnetic resonance imaging. While AOAD is diverse in clinical presentation, the peculiar magnetic resonance imaging findings of marked atrophy of the medulla oblongata and cervical cord are thought to be highly suggestive of the diagnosis of AOAD. PMID:23185175

  19. Alexander von Humboldt’s footnotes

    OpenAIRE

    Werner, Anja

    2015-01-01

    Alexander von Humboldts Fußnoten waren ihrer Zeit weit voraus, obwohl sie kaum den heutigen akademischen Standards entsprechen. Dieser Artikel untersucht die Fußnoten in Humboldts Essai politique sur l‘île de Cuba (1826). Zwar ist es nicht immer leicht, die manchmal recht geheimnisvollen Verweise zu entschlüsseln, dennoch lohnt sich der Versuch: Humboldts Fußnoten geben nicht nur Auskunft über seine umfassenden Netzwerke des Wissens. Sie verweisen auch auf Auseinandersetzungen verschiedener G...

  20. Alexander von Humboldt and Coenraad Jacob Temminck

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Raat, A.J.P.

    1976-01-01

    INTRODUCTION In the archives of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie in Leiden there is a map with three letters written by Alexander von Humboldt (17691859) to the first director of the Museum, Coenraad Jacob Temminck (1778-1858). The map, the hard cover of John Gould's "Synopsis of the birds

  1. Comparison of the serial position effect in very mild Alzheimer's disease, mild Alzheimer's disease, and amnesia associated with electroconvulsive therapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bayley, P J; Salmon, D P; Bondi, M W; Bui, B K; Olichney, J; Delis, D C; Thomas, R G; Thal, L J

    2000-03-01

    Individuals given a series of words to memorize normally show better immediate recall for items from the beginning and end of the list than for mid-list items. This phenomenon, known as the serial position effect, is thought to reflect the concurrent contributions of secondary and primary memory, respectively, to recall performance. The present study compared the serial position effects produced on Trial 1 of the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) in mildly demented (N = 25; M MMSE = 20.0) and very mildly demented (N = 25; M MMSE = 25.5) patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), and age- and education-matched normal control (NC) participants (N = 50). In addition, the serial position effects of the very mildly demented AD patients were compared to those of patients with a transient, circumscribed amnesia arising from a prescribed series of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) treatments for the relief of depressive illness (N = 11). While the NC group exhibited the typical serial position effect, AD patients recalled significantly fewer words than NC participants overall, and exhibited a significantly reduced primacy effect (i.e., recall of the first 2 list items) with a normal recency effect (i.e., recall of the last 2 list items). Patients with circumscribed amnesia due to ECT were as impaired as the very mildly demented AD patients on most standard CVLT measures of learning and memory, but exhibited primacy and recency effects, which were within normal limits. These results suggest that a reduction in the primacy effect, but not the recency effect, is an early and ubiquitous feature of the memory impairment of AD. It is not, however, a necessary feature of all causes of memory impairment.

  2. Holocene morphogenesis of Alexander the Great's isthmus at Tyre in Lebanon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marriner, Nick; Morhange, Christophe; Meulé, Samuel

    2007-05-01

    In 332 B.C., Alexander the Great constructed an ≈1,000-m-long causeway to seize the offshore island of Tyre. The logistics behind this engineering feat have long troubled archaeologists. Using the Holocene sedimentary record, we demonstrate that Alexander's engineers cleverly exploited a shallow proto-tombolo, or sublittoral sand spit, to breach the offshore city's defensive impregnability. We elucidate a three-phase geomorphological model for the spit's evolution. Settled since the Bronze Age, the area's geological record manifests a long history of natural and anthropogenic forcings. (i) Leeward of the island breakwater, the maximum flooding surface (e.g., drowning of the subaerial land surfaces by seawater) is dated ≈8000 B.P. Fine-grained sediments and brackish and marine-lagoonal faunas translate shallow, low-energy water bodies at this time. Shelter was afforded by Tyre's elongated sandstone reefs, which acted as a 6-km natural breakwater. (ii) By 6000 B.P., sea-level rise had reduced the dimensions of the island from 6 to 4 km. The leeward wave shadow generated by this island, allied with high sediment supply after 3000 B.P., culminated in a natural wave-dominated proto-tombolo within 1-2 m of mean sea level by the time of Alexander the Great (4th century B.C.). (iii) After 332 B.C., construction of Alexander's causeway entrained a complete anthropogenic metamorphosis of the Tyrian coastal system.

  3. Holocene morphogenesis of Alexander the Great's isthmus at Tyre in Lebanon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marriner, Nick; Morhange, Christophe; Meulé, Samuel

    2007-05-29

    In 332 B.C., Alexander the Great constructed an approximately 1,000-m-long causeway to seize the offshore island of Tyre. The logistics behind this engineering feat have long troubled archaeologists. Using the Holocene sedimentary record, we demonstrate that Alexander's engineers cleverly exploited a shallow proto-tombolo, or sublittoral sand spit, to breach the offshore city's defensive impregnability. We elucidate a three-phase geomorphological model for the spit's evolution. Settled since the Bronze Age, the area's geological record manifests a long history of natural and anthropogenic forcings. (i) Leeward of the island breakwater, the maximum flooding surface (e.g., drowning of the subaerial land surfaces by seawater) is dated approximately 8000 B.P. Fine-grained sediments and brackish and marine-lagoonal faunas translate shallow, low-energy water bodies at this time. Shelter was afforded by Tyre's elongated sandstone reefs, which acted as a 6-km natural breakwater. (ii) By 6000 B.P., sea-level rise had reduced the dimensions of the island from 6 to 4 km. The leeward wave shadow generated by this island, allied with high sediment supply after 3000 B.P., culminated in a natural wave-dominated proto-tombolo within 1-2 m of mean sea level by the time of Alexander the Great (4th century B.C.). (iii) After 332 B.C., construction of Alexander's causeway entrained a complete anthropogenic metamorphosis of the Tyrian coastal system.

  4. Kinesthetic Ventures Informed by the Work of F. M. Alexander, Stanislavski, Peirce, and Freud.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bouchard, Ed; Wright, Ben; Protzel, Michael, Ed.

    This book is about education harvested from self-observation. F. Matthias Alexander (1869-1955) studied the experience of self formation, working with motor habits. His method is used in performing arts training to enhance bodily and vocal expression. Like Alexander, Konstantine Stanislavski (1863-1938) and Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) studied human…

  5. Port Alexander, Alaska Tsunami Forecast Grids for MOST Model

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Port Alexander, Alaska Forecast Model Grids provides bathymetric data strictly for tsunami inundation modeling with the Method of Splitting Tsunami (MOST) model....

  6. Alexander Graham Bell (170th birthday anniversary

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. P. Samokhin

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available A brief overview of the main works and achievements of Alexander Graham Bell, an educated teacher for the hard of hearing and public figure, author of 30 US patents, is mainly given in the field of telephony and sound recording and reproduction. Biographical information about the Bell family, as well as some interesting facts from his life and activities are given. Scotsman by birth, A. Bell from his youthful years was carried away by the acoustic features of the human voice apparatus and devoted his entire life to teaching the deaf to the perception of oral speech. The first success in this field Bell reached, opening a private school for the deaf in Boston. Bell's creation of the phone was the result of his attempts to facilitate communication with the hard-of-hearing and led to the development of mass communications technology around the world. Alexander Bell is also known for his achievements in the design of hydroplanes, hydrofoils and as one of the founders of the popular magazine National Geographic. He was awarded many honorable awards and academic titles.

  7. Alexander the Great's Tomb at Siwa: The Astronomical Orientation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Papathanassiou, M.; Souvaltzis, Em.; Souvaltzi, L.; Moussas, X.

    A preliminary report on the possible astronomical orientation of the Tomb of Alexander the Great, recently found and excavated by the greek archaeologist Liana Souvaltzi. The tomb is a greek building of doric style. Its enormous dimensions make it the largest amongst the found macedonian tombs (much bigger than the tomb of Philip II, Alexander's father). The tomb faces generally south---west and its orientation could be related either to the constellation of Centaurus or to the star Canopus. The walls of the two long sides of the building have strickingly different widhts. Moreover each wall has three doors (opposite in pairs) of slightly different sizes. We examine the possibility the openings of the doors and their assymetries to be designed and constructed according to some astronomical (solar or stellar) orientations.

  8. Serial killers with military experience: applying learning theory to serial murder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castle, Tammy; Hensley, Christopher

    2002-08-01

    Scholars have endeavored to study the motivation and causality behind serial murder by researching biological, psychological, and sociological variables. Some of these studies have provided support for the relationship between these variables and serial murder. However, the study of serial murder continues to be an exploratory rather than explanatory research topic. This article examines the possible link between serial killers and military service. Citing previous research using social learning theory for the study of murder, this article explores how potential serial killers learn to reinforce violence, aggression, and murder in military boot camps. As with other variables considered in serial killer research, military experience alone cannot account for all cases of serial murder. Future research should continue to examine this possible link.

  9. The multivariable Alexander polynomial and modern knot theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saleur, H.

    1992-01-01

    This paper is a summary of several recent works (by the author and collaborators) that study the Conway-Alexander link invariant in the light of quantum groups and topological quantum field theories. Their purpose is to understand connections between modern knot theory and more classical topological concepts

  10. Alexander von Humboldt's invention of the natural landscape

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kwa, C.

    2005-01-01

    Landscape took on a new meaning through the new science of plant geography of Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1857). In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, "landscape" was foremost a painterly genre. Slowly, painted landscapes came to bear on natural surroundings, but by 1800 it was still not

  11. Alexander Graham Bell: Teacher of the Deaf.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bruce, Robert V.

    The lecture on Alexander Graham Bell by Dr. Robert V. Bruce, the author of a biography of Bell, focuses on Bell's association with the Clarke School for the Deaf in Massachusetts. Noted are Bell's employment by the school at 25 years of age and the preceding period during which Bell taught elocution at a boys' school in Scotland and used his…

  12. The multivariable Alexander polynomial and modern knot theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saleur, H.; Yale Univ., New Haven, CT

    1991-01-01

    This note is a summary of several recent works (by the author and collaborators) that study the Conway Alexander link invariant in the light of quantum groups and topological quantum field theories. Their purpose is to understand connections between ''modern'' knot theory and more classical topological concepts. (author)

  13. How Alexander von Humboldt's life story can inspire innovative soil research in developing countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Bouma

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available The pioneering vision of Alexander von Humboldt of science and society of the early 1800s is still highly relevant today. His open mind and urge to make many measurements characterizing the interconnected web of life are crucial ingredients as we now face the worldwide challenge of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Case studies in the Philippines, Vietnam, Kenya, Niger, and Costa Rica demonstrate, in Alexander's spirit, interaction with stakeholders and attention to unique local conditions, applying modern measurement and modeling methods and allowing inter- and transdisciplinary research approaches. But relations between science and society are increasingly problematic, partly as a result of the information revolution and post-truth, fact-free thinking. Overly regulated and financially restricted scientific communities in so-called developed countries may stifle intellectual creativity. Researchers in developing countries are urged to leapfrog these problems in the spirit of Alexander von Humboldt as they further develop their scientific communities. Six suggestions to the science community are made with particular attention to soil science. (The Humboldt lecture, presented by the 2017 recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt lecture, Johan Bouma, can be accessed at http://client.cntv.at/egu2017/ml1.

  14. How Alexander von Humboldt's life story can inspire innovative soil research in developing countries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bouma, Johan

    2017-09-01

    The pioneering vision of Alexander von Humboldt of science and society of the early 1800s is still highly relevant today. His open mind and urge to make many measurements characterizing the interconnected web of life are crucial ingredients as we now face the worldwide challenge of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Case studies in the Philippines, Vietnam, Kenya, Niger, and Costa Rica demonstrate, in Alexander's spirit, interaction with stakeholders and attention to unique local conditions, applying modern measurement and modeling methods and allowing inter- and transdisciplinary research approaches. But relations between science and society are increasingly problematic, partly as a result of the information revolution and post-truth, fact-free thinking. Overly regulated and financially restricted scientific communities in so-called developed countries may stifle intellectual creativity. Researchers in developing countries are urged to leapfrog these problems in the spirit of Alexander von Humboldt as they further develop their scientific communities. Six suggestions to the science community are made with particular attention to soil science. (The Humboldt lecture, presented by the 2017 recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt lecture, Johan Bouma, can be accessed at http://client.cntv.at/egu2017/ml1.)

  15. Alexander Meiklejohn in Search of Freedom and Dignity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Tony W.

    1982-01-01

    Assesses the contributions of the philosopher/educator Alexander Meiklejohn. Discusses the influences of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant, and the U.S. Constitution on Meiklejohn's educational theories, which stressed that human freedom and dignity can be enhanced by rigorous examination of U.S. Supreme Court decisions and the meaning of…

  16. A case of leukodystrophy, suspected of Alexander's diseases, and its magnetic resonance imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yoshimura, Nahoko; Nishizawa, Masatoyo; Hozumi, Isao; Yuasa, Tatsuhiko; Miyatake, Tadashi

    1987-01-01

    A 3-year-old boy was admitted to our hospital because of macrocephaly and developmental delay of motor function. He was the first son of non-consanguineous healthy parents. All other family members were normal. The increase of head circumference was first noted at 6 months of age. He could not walk until 1 1/2 years old. He had febrile convulsions at 1 1/2 and 2 years old. On admission (3 y 10 mo), his head circumference was 55.8 cm (more than 98th percentile). Intelligence was normal for his age. Neurological examination revealed ataxic-spastic gait and generalized hyperreflexia with bilateral ankle clonus. He could not run, or stand on one foot. Sensation was normal. CT scan showed diffuse low density areas in cerebral white matter, especially in frontal lobes. Ventricular systems were of normal size. Leukocyte lysosomal enzyme activities, blood and urinary amino acid analysis, the amount of very long chain fatty acids in plasma sphingomyelin, blood gas analysis, and organic acid levels in urine were all within normal range. Electroencephalogram, auditory-evoked response, nerve conduction velocities, and cerebrospinal fluid examination were also normal. The diagnosis of Alexander's disease was most likely. However, this case was atypical, in that his mental development was quite normal, and that regression of his motor activities was not noted so far. Magnetic resonance imaging (spin-echo image) revealed widespread abnormal signal intensity areas corresponding to the low densities shown by CT, where both T 1 and T 2 relaxation times were prolonged, suggesting the increase of free water content in the affected white matter. These changes were localized in cerebral white matter and more prominent in frontal lobes. On the other hand, the white matter of cerebellum and brain stem, internal capsule, and anterior commisure looked normal. (J.P.N.)

  17. Choking on food: a rare case of alexander leukodystrophy and choking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murty, O P; Mun, Keinseong; Gopinath, Neetu; Wong, Kum T

    2008-12-01

    Every body has to eat to survive but it becomes a matter of great concern, when the life provider food becomes an asphyxiating agent. In this case, a 60-year-old woman choked herself while swallowing biscuits. On autopsy examination, biscuits were found lodged in larygo-pharynx. Brain showed marked dystrophy and loosened lusterless white matter. On histopathologic examination, brain tissue had numerous eosinophilic globules representing astrocytic processes called "Rosenthal fibers"; hence, it was diagnosed as a case of Alexander dystrophy. It is a disease of white matter, where there is a progressive degeneration of the white matter of the brain because of imperfect growth or development of the myelin sheath. The histopathology of brain showed Rosenthal fibers in abundance. This is one of the rarest disease in which choking can occur because of lack of nervous and muscular coordination and weakness. Its specific relation to choking is documented in this report.

  18. The Century-Old Wisdom of Alexander Graham Bell.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cornett, Orin

    1990-01-01

    This article reflects on Alexander Graham Bell's 1888 testimony before the Royal Commission of the United Kingdom on the Condition of the Deaf and Dumb, Etc. Excerpts are grouped by reference to (1) language education for the hearing impaired; (2) speechreading; (3) methods of teaching; (4) speech; and (5) sign language. (Author/PB)

  19. Journalism and the Educational Views of Alexander Meiklejohn.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palmer, Mack R.

    Alexander Meiklejohn, who died in 1964 at the age of 92, was a constitutional scholar whose major interest was education. Among Meiklejohn's beliefs were the following: the social good should take precedence over individual achievement; the liberal arts college is the institution best suited to carry out an affirmative reading of the First…

  20. Q & A: Alexander Varshavsky.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Varshavsky, Alexander

    2003-07-01

    Alexander Varshavsky is Smits Professor of Cell Biology at the California Institute of Technology. He moved to Caltech in 1992, after 15 years at the MIT's Department of Biology. He was born and educated in Russia, and was 30 at the time of his emigration to the U.S. in 1977. In Russia, and for a while at MIT, he studied the structure and replication of chromosomes. Over the last 24 years, the work of his laboratory focused on the ubiquitin system and closely related fields. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and has received the Gairdner Award, the Lasker Award, the General Motors Sloan Prize, the Wolf Prize, the Horwitz Prize, and the Wilson Medal.

  1. Plutarcho Aleksandras: interpretacijos problemos. Plutarch‘s Alexander: Problems of Interpretation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nijolė Juchnevičienė

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Alexander‘ s character and his activities occupy a special position in the works of Plutarch. Alexander’s Life is the second largest life in the corpus, there are two elaborated speeches on him included into Moralia, and he is often mentioned in the other pieces of this corpus. The speeches, usually called De Alexandri Magni fortuna aut virtute (A and B, were written by the young Plutarch. They belong to the epideictic rhetoric tradition and are based on the opposition between the hero’s ἀρετήand τύχη, which was in general not favor­able to him. According to Plutarch, all Alexander’s life was a struggle between τύχη and ἀρ��τή. The speeches reveal the impressive portrait of Alexander not only as an invincible warrior, but also as a philosopher in arms, whose immortal achievements are the best proof of his ἀρετή. He managed to overcome the unfavorable τύχη and to civilize the world of the barbarians. There is a difference of interpretation of the character between the speeches and the Life. Alexander is not as perfect there as in the speeches, but his character still is in the center of the narration. The motive of ἀρετήvs. τύχη is also present and Plutarch still sticks to his earlier opinion that Alexander’s ἀρετή, not τύχη was the decisive factor in his life. Plutarch notices the changes in Alexander and his negative features, but at the same time, he tries to explain and extenuate his behavior pointing out to Alexander’s extreme valuation of his δόξα, which he regarded more important than the royal power and the life itself. In my opinion, Alexander’s attitude to his δόξα reveals the difference between the heroes of the pair, Alexander and Caesar. This differ­ence is also expanded in the detailed description of the post-mortal status and fate of their bodies, the effect that reminiscence of them makes on the living. I agree with the opinion, that Caesar is

  2. Randomised controlled trial of Alexander technique lessons, exercise, and massage (ATEAM) for chronic and recurrent back pain: economic evaluation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hollinghurst, Sandra; Sharp, Debbie; Ballard, Kathleen; Barnett, Jane; Beattie, Angela; Evans, Maggie; Lewith, George; Middleton, Karen; Oxford, Frances; Webley, Fran; Little, Paul

    2008-12-11

    An economic evaluation of therapeutic massage, exercise, and lessons in the Alexander technique for treating persistent back pain. Cost consequences study and cost effectiveness analysis at 12 month follow-up of a factorial randomised controlled trial. 579 patients with chronic or recurrent low back pain recruited from primary care. Normal care (control), massage, and six or 24 lessons in the Alexander technique. Half of each group were randomised to a prescription for exercise from a doctor plus behavioural counselling from a nurse. Costs to the NHS and to participants. Comparison of costs with Roland-Morris disability score (number of activities impaired by pain), days in pain, and quality adjusted life years (QALYs). Comparison of NHS costs with QALY gain, using incremental cost effectiveness ratios and cost effectiveness acceptability curves. Intervention costs ranged from pound30 for exercise prescription to pound596 for 24 lessons in Alexander technique plus exercise. Cost of health services ranged from pound50 for 24 lessons in Alexander technique to pound124 for exercise. Incremental cost effectiveness analysis of single therapies showed that exercise offered best value ( pound61 per point on disability score, pound9 per additional pain-free day, pound2847 per QALY gain). For two-stage therapy, six lessons in Alexander technique combined with exercise was the best value (additional pound64 per point on disability score, pound43 per additional pain-free day, pound5332 per QALY gain). An exercise prescription and six lessons in Alexander technique alone were both more than 85% likely to be cost effective at values above pound20 000 per QALY, but the Alexander technique performed better than exercise on the full range of outcomes. A combination of six lessons in Alexander technique lessons followed by exercise was the most effective and cost effective option.

  3. What is the perceived impact of Alexander technique lessons on health status, costs and pain management in the real life setting of an English hospital? The results of a mixed methods evaluation of an Alexander technique service for those with chronic back pain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McClean, Stuart; Brilleman, Sam; Wye, Lesley

    2015-07-28

    Randomised controlled trial evidence indicates that Alexander Technique is clinically and cost effective for chronic back pain. The aim of this mixed methods evaluation was to explore the role and perceived impact of Alexander Technique lessons in the naturalistic setting of an acute hospital Pain Management Clinic in England. To capture changes in health status and resource use amongst service users, 43 service users were administered three widely used questionnaires (Brief Pain Inventory, MYMOP and Client Service Resource Inventory) at three time points: baseline, six weeks and three months after baseline. We also carried out 27 telephone interviews with service users and seven face-to-face interviews with pain clinic staff and Alexander Technique teachers. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and qualitative data were analysed thematically. Those taking Alexander Technique lessons reported small improvements in health outcomes, and condition-related costs fell. However, due to the non-randomised, uncontrolled nature of the study design, changes cannot be attributed to the Alexander Technique lessons. Service users stated that their relationship to pain and pain management had changed, especially those who were more committed to practising the techniques regularly. These changes may explain the reported reduction in pain-related service use and the corresponding lower associated costs. Alexander Technique lessons may be used as another approach to pain management. The findings suggests that Alexander Technique lessons can help improve self-efficacy for those who are sufficiently motivated, which in turn may have an impact on service utilisation levels.

  4. Alexander the Great, the dahlia, and the tortoise.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Macmillan, Malcolm

    2004-06-01

    Some of the problems of establishing the cause of the death of Alexander the Great are like the attempts to find causes other than hysteria for Anna O.'s symptoms. The more general problem of using plausibility as a criterion of the truth of such reconstructions are illustrated by the arguments embedded in Tom Stoppard's Arcadia.

  5. Serial analysis of resected prostate cancer suggests up-regulation of type 1 IGF receptor with disease progression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turney, Benjamin W; Turner, Gareth D H; Brewster, Simon F; Macaulay, Valentine M

    2011-05-01

    • To compare immunostaining protocols using different antibodies for the type 1 insulin-like growth factor receptor (IGF-1R) in channel transurethal resection of the prostate (chTURP) chips, and to investigate how IGF-1R expression varies with time in serial prostate cancer specimens from individual patients. • We studied IGF-1R expression in 44 prostate cancer specimens from 18 patients who had undergone serial chTURP at least 3 months apart. • Retrospective analysis of the hospital notes was undertaken to obtain clinical information, including age, Gleason score, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level, hormone treatment and metastatic disease status at the time of each operation. • After an optimization process using three commercially-available IGF-1R antibodies, we used two antibodies for semiquantititve immunostaining of serial chTURP chips. • Santa Cruz antibody sc713 gave positive staining in IGF-1R null R- cells, and was not used further. Antibodies from Cell Signaling Technology (Beverly, MA, USA) (CS) and NeoMarkers Inc. (Fremont, CA, USA) (NM) did not stain R- cells and, in prostate tissue, showed staining of the glandular epithelium, with negligible stromal staining. All 44 chTURP samples contained identifiable malignant tissue and, of these, 73% and 64% scored moderately or strongly (score 3 or 4) with the CS and NM antibodies respectively. • There was significant correlation of IGF-1R scores of malignant tissue between the two antibodies (P < 0.001). By contrast, staining of benign glands showed poor correlation between antibodies: CS gave significantly weaker staining than malignant epithelium in the same sections (P < 0.001), whereas NM showed poor discrimination between malignant and benign glands. IGF-1R staining scores generated by the CS antibody were used to analyze the clinical data. • Most patients (six of seven) with falling IGF-1R staining scores were responding to androgen deprivation therapy (confirmed by PSA response

  6. Alexander Technique Lessons or Acupuncture Sessions for Persons With Chronic Neck Pain: A Randomized Trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacPherson, Hugh; Tilbrook, Helen; Richmond, Stewart; Woodman, Julia; Ballard, Kathleen; Atkin, Karl; Bland, Martin; Eldred, Janet; Essex, Holly; Hewitt, Catherine; Hopton, Ann; Keding, Ada; Lansdown, Harriet; Parrott, Steve; Torgerson, David; Wenham, Aniela; Watt, Ian

    2015-11-03

    Management of chronic neck pain may benefit from additional active self-care-oriented approaches. To evaluate clinical effectiveness of Alexander Technique lessons or acupuncture versus usual care for persons with chronic, nonspecific neck pain. Three-group randomized, controlled trial. (Current Controlled Trials: ISRCTN15186354). U.K. primary care. Persons with neck pain lasting at least 3 months, a score of at least 28% on the Northwick Park Questionnaire (NPQ) for neck pain and associated disability, and no serious underlying pathology. 12 acupuncture sessions or 20 one-to-one Alexander lessons (both 600 minutes total) plus usual care versus usual care alone. NPQ score (primary outcome) at 0, 3, 6, and 12 months (primary end point) and Chronic Pain Self-Efficacy Scale score, quality of life, and adverse events (secondary outcomes). 517 patients were recruited, and the median duration of neck pain was 6 years. Mean attendance was 10 acupuncture sessions and 14 Alexander lessons. Between-group reductions in NPQ score at 12 months versus usual care were 3.92 percentage points for acupuncture (95% CI, 0.97 to 6.87 percentage points) (P = 0.009) and 3.79 percentage points for Alexander lessons (CI, 0.91 to 6.66 percentage points) (P = 0.010). The 12-month reductions in NPQ score from baseline were 32% for acupuncture and 31% for Alexander lessons. Participant self-efficacy improved for both interventions versus usual care at 6 months (P neck pain and associated disability compared with usual care at 12 months. Enhanced self-efficacy may partially explain why longer-term benefits were sustained. Arthritis Research UK.

  7. Provintsist pärit IT-mõtleja / Alexander Galitsky ; interv. Viktoria Korpan

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    Galitsky, Alexander

    2005-01-01

    Venemaa tuntumaid info- ja kõrgtehnoloogiavaldkonna spetsialiste infotehnoloogiast ja selle erinevatest võimalustest, tehnoloogia lahendustest ning avastustest, turvaprobleemidest. Lisa: Alexander Galitsky

  8. A Metabiography of Alexander von Humboldt

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicolaas A. Rupke

    2006-04-01

    Full Text Available Article in English.The author's recently published monograph on Alexander von Humboldt describes the multiple images of this great cultural icon. The book is a metabiographical study that shows how from the middle of the nineteenth century to the present day Humboldt has served as a nucleus of crystallisation for a variety of successive socio-political ideologies, each producing its own distinctive representation of him. The historiographical implications of this biographical diversity are profound and support current attempts to understand historical scholarship in terms of memory cultures.

  9. Serial position effects in mild cognitive impairment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howieson, Diane B; Mattek, Nora; Seeyle, Adriana M; Dodge, Hiroko H; Wasserman, Dara; Zitzelberger, Tracy; Jeffrey, Kaye

    2011-03-01

    Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is often associated with the preclinical phase of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Special scoring of word-list recall data for serial position has been suggested to improve discrimination of normal aging from dementia. We examined serial position effects in word-list recall for MCI participants compared to Alzheimer patients and controls. Individuals with MCI, like Alzheimer patients, had a diminished primacy effect in recalling words from a list. No alternative scoring system was better than standard scoring of word-list recall in distinguishing MCI patients from controls. Retention weighted scoring improved the discrimination of MCI and AD groups.

  10. Siim Nestor soovitab : Ben Frost ja Alexander Robotnik Eclectical / Siim Nestor

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    Nestor, Siim, 1974-

    2007-01-01

    Austraalia muusik ja helilooja Ben Frost projektiga "6 guitars" esinemas festivali Eclectica raames 6. sept. Tartu klubis Rock ja Roll ja itaalia diskor Alexander Robotnik 7. sept. klubis Trehv, esinejatest

  11. Patients' views of receiving lessons in the Alexander technique and an exercise prescription for managing back pain in the ATEAM trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yardley, Lucy; Dennison, Laura; Coker, Rebecca; Webley, Frances; Middleton, Karen; Barnett, Jane; Beattie, Angela; Evans, Maggie; Smith, Peter; Little, Paul

    2010-04-01

    Lessons in the Alexander Technique and exercise prescription proved effective for managing low back pain in primary care in a clinical trial. To understand trial participants' expectations and experiences of the Alexander Technique and exercise prescription. A questionnaire assessing attitudes to the intervention, based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour, was completed at baseline and 3-month follow-up by 183 people assigned to lessons in the Alexander Technique and 176 people assigned to exercise prescription. Semi-structured interviews to assess the beliefs contributing to attitudes to the intervention were carried out at baseline with14 people assigned to the lessons in the Alexander Technique and 16 to exercise prescription, and at follow-up with 15 members of the baseline sample. Questionnaire responses indicated that attitudes to both interventions were positive at baseline but became more positive at follow-up only in those assigned to lessons in the Alexander Technique. Thematic analysis of the interviews suggested that at follow-up many patients who had learned the Alexander Technique felt they could manage back pain better. Whereas many obstacles to exercising were reported, few barriers to learning the Alexander Technique were described, since it 'made sense', could be practiced while carrying out everyday activities or relaxing, and the teachers provided personal advice and support. Using the Alexander Technique was viewed as effective by most patients. Acceptability may have been superior to exercise because of a convincing rationale and social support and a better perceived fit with the patient's particular symptoms and lifestyle.

  12. A Russian Man on Horseback: The Rise of General Alexander Lebed

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    O'Malley, Kevin

    1997-01-01

    General Alexander Lebed burst upon the Russian political scene like a man on horseback, promising to restore order out of chaos, crack down on crime and corruption, and resurrect Russian nationalism...

  13. The Windows serial port programming handbook

    CERN Document Server

    Bai, Ying

    2004-01-01

    The fundamentals of serial port communications. Serial port programming in ANSI C and Assembly languages for MS-DOS. Serial ports interface developed in VC++ 6.0. Serial port programming in Visual Basic. Serial port programming in LabVIEW. Serial port programming in MATLAB. Serial port programming in Smalltalk. Serial port programming in Java.

  14. Dr Alexander Graham Bell--audiologist and speech therapist.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chakravorty, R C

    1976-09-01

    Alexander Graham Bell is best known for his role in the invention of the telephone. However, he had a lifelong involvement in speech therapy and audiology besides many other medical investigations. He was also awarded an honorary MD degree from Heidelberg University. In this, the 100th anniversary of his invention of the telephone, his life and some of his medical interests are briefly reviewed.

  15. Die Ordnung der Weltkulturen. Alexander von Humboldts Ansichten der Kultur

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ottmar Ette

    2004-10-01

    Full Text Available Article in German,Abstracts in English, German and Spanish. Focussing Alexander von Humboldt's Vues des Cordillères et Monumens des peuples indigènes de l'Amérique (1810 - 1813 in the context of his monumental work, this essay tries to highlight not only the creation of a new discourse on the Americas but, at the same time, the project(ion of a new order of world cultures. From a transregional perspective, Humboldt's aesthetically most radical book can be fully understood as a musée imaginaire of world cultures whose spatial, temporal, social, literary, frictional, architextual and cultural dimensions allow new insights in one of the most fascinating texts of the early 19th century. Alexander von Humboldt's Vues are creating a transmedial kaleidoscope within a fractal vision of the cultures of the world in the second period of accelerated globalization.

  16. Adult-onset Alexander disease, associated with a mutation in an alternative GFAP transcript, may be phenotypically modulated by a non-neutral HDAC6 variant.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Melchionda, Laura; Fang, Mingyan; Wang, Hairong; Fugnanesi, Valeria; Morbin, Michela; Liu, Xuanzhu; Li, Wenyan; Ceccherini, Isabella; Farina, Laura; Savoiardo, Mario; D'Adamo, Pio; Zhang, Jianguo; Costa, Alfredo; Ravaglia, Sabrina; Ghezzi, Daniele; Zeviani, Massimo

    2013-05-01

    We studied a family including two half-siblings, sharing the same mother, affected by slowly progressive, adult-onset neurological syndromes. In spite of the diversity of the clinical features, characterized by a mild movement disorder with cognitive impairment in the elder patient, and severe motor-neuron disease (MND) in her half-brother, the brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) features were compatible with adult-onset Alexander's disease (AOAD), suggesting different expression of the same, genetically determined, condition. Since mutations in the alpha isoform of glial fibrillary acidic protein, GFAP-α, the only cause so far known of AOAD, were excluded, we applied exome Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) to identify gene variants, which were then functionally validated by molecular characterization of recombinant and patient-derived cells. Exome-NGS revealed a mutation in a previously neglected GFAP isoform, GFAP-ϵ, which disrupts the GFAP-associated filamentous cytoskeletal meshwork of astrocytoma cells. To shed light on the different clinical features in the two patients, we sought for variants in other genes. The male patient had a mutation, absent in his half-sister, in X-linked histone deacetylase 6, a candidate MND susceptibility gene. Exome-NGS is an unbiased approach that not only helps identify new disease genes, but may also contribute to elucidate phenotypic expression.

  17. Randomised controlled trial of Alexander technique lessons, exercise, and massage (ATEAM) for chronic and recurrent back pain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Little, Paul; Lewith, George; Webley, Fran; Evans, Maggie; Beattie, Angela; Middleton, Karen; Barnett, Jane; Ballard, Kathleen; Oxford, Frances; Smith, Peter; Yardley, Lucy; Hollinghurst, Sandra; Sharp, Debbie

    2008-08-19

    To determine the effectiveness of lessons in the Alexander technique, massage therapy, and advice from a doctor to take exercise (exercise prescription) along with nurse delivered behavioural counselling for patients with chronic or recurrent back pain. Factorial randomised trial. 64 general practices in England. 579 patients with chronic or recurrent low back pain; 144 were randomised to normal care, 147 to massage, 144 to six Alexander technique lessons, and 144 to 24 Alexander technique lessons; half of each of these groups were randomised to exercise prescription. Normal care (control), six sessions of massage, six or 24 lessons on the Alexander technique, and prescription for exercise from a doctor with nurse delivered behavioural counselling. Roland Morris disability score (number of activities impaired by pain) and number of days in pain. Exercise and lessons in the Alexander technique, but not massage, remained effective at one year (compared with control Roland disability score 8.1: massage -0.58, 95% confidence interval -1.94 to 0.77, six lessons -1.40, -2.77 to -0.03, 24 lessons -3.4, -4.76 to -2.03, and exercise -1.29, -2.25 to -0.34). Exercise after six lessons achieved 72% of the effect of 24 lessons alone (Roland disability score -2.98 and -4.14, respectively). Number of days with back pain in the past four weeks was lower after lessons (compared with control median 21 days: 24 lessons -18, six lessons -10, massage -7) and quality of life improved significantly. No significant harms were reported. One to one lessons in the Alexander technique from registered teachers have long term benefits for patients with chronic back pain. Six lessons followed by exercise prescription were nearly as effective as 24 lessons. National Research Register N0028108728.

  18. Decreasing Serial Cost Sharing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hougaard, Jens Leth; Østerdal, Lars Peter

    The increasing serial cost sharing rule of Moulin and Shenker [Econometrica 60 (1992) 1009] and the decreasing serial rule of de Frutos [Journal of Economic Theory 79 (1998) 245] have attracted attention due to their intuitive appeal and striking incentive properties. An axiomatic characterization...... of the increasing serial rule was provided by Moulin and Shenker [Journal of Economic Theory 64 (1994) 178]. This paper gives an axiomatic characterization of the decreasing serial rule...

  19. Decreasing serial cost sharing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hougaard, Jens Leth; Østerdal, Lars Peter Raahave

    2009-01-01

    The increasing serial cost sharing rule of Moulin and Shenker (Econometrica 60:1009-1037, 1992) and the decreasing serial rule of de Frutos (J Econ Theory 79:245-275, 1998) are known by their intuitive appeal and striking incentive properties. An axiomatic characterization of the increasing serial...... rule was provided by Moulin and Shenker (J Econ Theory 64:178-201, 1994). This paper gives an axiomatic characterization of the decreasing serial rule....

  20. Teachers' professional development needs and current practices at the Alexander Science Center School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gargus, Gerald Vincent

    This investigation represents an in-depth understanding of teacher professional development at the Alexander Science Center School, a dependent charter museum school established through a partnership between the California Science Center and Los Angeles Unified School District. Three methods of data collection were used. A survey was distributed and collected from the school's teachers, resulting in a prioritized list of teacher professional development needs, as well as a summary of teachers' opinions about the school's existing professional development program. In addition, six key stakeholders in the school's professional development program were interviewed for the study. Finally, documents related to the school's professional development program were analyzed. Data collected from the interviews and documents were used to develop an understand various components of the Alexander Science Center School's professional development program. Teachers identified seven areas that had a high-priority for future professional development including developing skills far working with below-grade-level students, improving the analytical skills of student in mathematics, working with English Language Learners, improving students' overall reading ability levels, developing teachers' content-area knowledge for science, integrating science across the curriculum, and incorporating hands-on activity-based learning strategies to teach science. Professional development needs identified by Alexander Science Center School teachers were categorized based on their focus on content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, or curricular knowledge. Analysis of data collected through interviews and documents revealed that the Alexander Science Center School's professional development program consisted of six venues for providing professional development for teachers including weekly "banked time" sessions taking place within the standard school day, grade-level meetings, teacher support

  1. New Models at Lasell: Q&A with President Michael Alexander

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harney, John O.

    2018-01-01

    The "New England Journal of Higher Education" ("NEJHE") Executive Editor John O. Harney had the chance to catch up with Lasell College President Michael Alexander about the small Newton, Massachusetts, college's plans to challenge the higher education business model. The interview is presented in this article.

  2. Alexander Graham Bell (170th birthday anniversary)

    OpenAIRE

    V. P. Samokhin; K. V. Meshcherinova

    2017-01-01

    A brief overview of the main works and achievements of Alexander Graham Bell, an educated teacher for the hard of hearing and public figure, author of 30 US patents, is mainly given in the field of telephony and sound recording and reproduction. Biographical information about the Bell family, as well as some interesting facts from his life and activities are given. Scotsman by birth, A. Bell from his youthful years was carried away by the acoustic features of the human voice apparatus and dev...

  3. On the Alexander polynominals of alternating two-component links

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mark E. Kidwell

    1979-01-01

    Full Text Available Let L be an alternating two-component link with Alexander polynomial Δ(x,y. Then the polynomials (1−xΔ(x,y and (1−yΔ(x,y are alternating. That is, (1−yΔ(x,y can be written as ∑i,jcijxiyj in such a way that (−1i+jcij≥0.

  4. Reflection in Russian public opinion accession to the throne of Emperor Alexander II

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maxim N. Krot

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The article deals with the perception of Russian society coming to the throne of Emperor Alexander II in 1855. The author analyzes the internal and external situation in Russia in this period, identifying the most significant factors that influenced the public's attitude to the new monarch, and the expectations that were associated with his coming to power. The article draws parallels between the initial period of the reign of the two liberal Russian monarchs of the XIX century – Alexander I and Alexander II, most clearly expressed not so much in the circumstances of their accession, but in the public mood that prevailed in the country. It presents a broad picture of the "awakening" of public consciousness and activity after the stagnation and oppression of the preceding reign, which was reflected primarily in an effort to think freely and to discuss pressing issues facing the country, as well as contribute to the supreme power in the modernization of social and political relations, awareness where necessary, at this time it becomes clearly. The author identifies semantic levels of social consciousness of the period, indicating the particular circumstances that have shaped them. Much attention is paid to the influence of Russian society of the Crimean War, which in many ways was the starting point of social upheaval transformed in 1855 from a national-patriotic in the socio-political. The author points out that at this time has unique conditions for overcoming the contradictions between state and society and their successful cooperation in the reform of the country. This suggests a significant, perhaps - the crucial role of the public in the selection of the vector conversion of Russia, which has become a feature of the reign of Alexander II.

  5. Der Briefwechsel zwischen Alexander von Humboldt und Karl Ernst von Baer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thomas Schmuck

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available Zusammenfassung Der kurze, nicht vollständig erhaltene Briefwechsel zwischen Alexander von Humboldt und Karl Ernst von Baer behandelt sehr verschiedene Themen: Politik, Kriegsgefahr, den Wissenschaftsbetrieb, Auszeichnungen und Tagungen, Embryologie und Cholera. Gemeinsam mit Briefen und Reden ergibt sich dabei ein differenziertes Bild der Beurteilung der beiden Wissenschaftler durch den jeweils anderen. Während Baer sich als Bewunderer Humboldts erweist, erscheint umgekehrt Humboldts Einschätzung Baers als ambivalent. Abstract The short, not completely preserved correspondence between Alexander von Humboldt and Karl Ernst von Baer deals with a wide range of subjects: politics and the danger of war, academic activities, scientific awards and conferences, aspects of embryology and the cholera. Letters to third persons and speeches, together with the correspondence between Humboldt and Baer show a differentiated pattern of mutual appraisal: While Baer always remained an admirer of the elder naturalist, Humboldt’s estimation was characterized by ambivalence.

  6. Alexander Kapp--The First Known User of the Andragogy Concept

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loeng, Svein

    2017-01-01

    The German gymnasium teacher Alexander Kapp (1800-1869) was to all appearances the first one to use the "andragogy concept" as a term for "adult learning." In 1833 he published the book "Platon's Erziehungslehre, als Pädagogik für die Einzelnen und als Staatspädagogik. Oder dessen praktische Philosophie." This book…

  7. The Old Serbian Alexander Romance and the Greek Phyllada

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Krzysztof Usakiewicz

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The paper includes a short introduction and four excerpts from the Old Serbian Alexander Romance translated into Polish by Maciej Falski.   Tekst zawiera krótką prezentację zagadnienia filiacji Opowieści o Aleksandrze w bałkańskiej przestrzeni kulturowej oraz przekład fragmentów tzw. Serbskiej Aleksandreidy na język polski.

  8. Teachers of the Alexander Technique in the UK and the people who take their lessons: A national cross-sectional survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eldred, J; Hopton, A; Donnison, E; Woodman, J; MacPherson, H

    2015-06-01

    Given the rising profile of the Alexander Technique in the UK, there is a need for a comprehensive description of its teachers and of those who currently take lessons. In a national survey of Alexander teachers, we set out to address this information gap. A cross-sectional survey of 871 UK members of three main Alexander Technique teachers' professional associations was conducted. A questionnaire requested information about their professional background, teaching practice and methods, and about the people who attend lessons and their reasons for seeking help. With an overall response rate of 61%, 534 teachers responded; 74% were female with median age of 58 years, 60% had a higher education qualification, and 95% were self-employed, many with additional non-Alexander paid employment. The majority (87%) offered lessons on their own premises or in a privately rented room, and 19% provided home visits; both individual and group lessons were provided. People who took lessons were predominantly female (66%) with a median age of 48 years, and 91% paid for their lessons privately. Nearly two-thirds (62%) began lessons for reasons related to musculoskeletal conditions, including back symptoms, posture, neck pain, and shoulder pain. Other reasons were general (18%, including well-being), performance-related (10%, including voice-, music-, and sport-related), psychological (5%) and neurological (3%). We estimate that Alexander teachers in the UK provide approximately 400,000 lessons per year. This study provides an overview of Alexander Technique teaching in the UK today and data that may be useful when planning future research. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Participating in and delivering the ATEAM trial (Alexander technique lessons, exercise, and massage) interventions for chronic back pain: A qualitative study of professional perspectives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beattie, Angela; Shaw, Alison; Yardley, Lucy; Little, Paul; Sharp, Debbie

    2010-01-01

    To outline professionals' experiences of participation, perceived benefits and acceptability of the interventions delivered in the ATEAM trial (Alexander technique lessons, exercise, and massage), for patients with chronic or recurrent back pain. Qualitative study using in-depth interviews was conducted with a purposeful sample of twenty professionals (general practitioners (GPs), nurses, Alexander technique teachers, and massage therapists). Data were recorded, transcribed, and analysed thematically using the constant comparison method. Evidence of effectiveness GPs wanted an evidence base for the interventions, whilst nurses, Alexander technique teachers and massage therapists perceived patient reports of benefit as evidence. Professionals' perception of the acceptability of the intervention: professional perspectives differed, with GPs and nurses viewing the structured nature of exercise prescription and Alexander technique lessons as more beneficial and acceptable than massage in alleviating patients' back pain. Economic cost: the cost to patients pursuing Alexander technique lessons and massage was perceived to be a barrier outside the trial. Inter-professional communication: there was little communication between the professionals groups within the trial. Valuable insights have been gained into the perceived benefits and acceptability of exercise, Alexander technique lessons and massage as interventions for chronic back pain. Lessons in the Alexander technique with or without exercise, was perceived as more beneficial and acceptable than massage by professionals who participated and delivered the ATEAM trial interventions. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Die gebruik van die mite in Die werfbobbejaan van Alexander Strachan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E. M.M. Klopper

    1996-05-01

    Full Text Available The use of myths in Die werfbobbejaan by Alexander Strachan This article focuses on the rote of Zulu myths in Alexander Strachan’s novel Die werfbobbejaan. It lakes as point of departure sources on mythology like Cuddon (1991, Baldick (1990, Grimal (1969, Levi-Strauss (1979 and Jung (1969. Die werfbobbejaan essentially recounts the story of a man (the adventurer, the academic, the writer, the hunter who also is the central character in Strachan's two preceding novels. Die werfbobbejaan focuses on the completion of an individuation process in the life of the central character, a process already begun in the preceding two novels and which in this novel finally culminates in the confrontation between hunter and baboon. The completion of this process is facilitated by the African milieu of Zululand where people give meaning to their existence by means of myths, and where no distinction is made between the mythic and rational modes of experiencing reality.

  11. Alexander Williamson and the modernisation of Japan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davies, Alwyn G

    2015-01-01

    One hundred and fifty years ago, five students were smuggled out of feudal Japan and came to London to learn Western technology, governance, and economics. They were put into the care of Alexander Williamson, who was Professor of Chemistry at University College London, and when they went back they, and the students who followed them, became the founders of the modern Japanese state. This is the British side of that remarkable story. Williamson's career and chemistry are briefly reviewed, followed by an account of the students' presence in Britain, and then the commemoration of the sesquicentenary of these events.

  12. Serial position markers in space: visuospatial priming of serial order working memory retrieval.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maya De Belder

    Full Text Available Most general theories on serial order working memory (WM assume the existence of position markers that are bound to the to-be-remembered items to keep track of the serial order. So far, the exact cognitive/neural characteristics of these markers have remained largely underspecified, while direct empirical evidence for their existence is mostly lacking. In the current study we demonstrate that retrieval from verbal serial order WM can be facilitated or hindered by spatial cuing: begin elements of a verbal WM sequence are retrieved faster after cuing the left side of space, while end elements are retrieved faster after cuing the right side of space. In direct complement to our previous work--where we showed the reversed impact of WM retrieval on spatial processing--we argue that the current findings provide us with a crucial piece of evidence suggesting a direct and functional involvement of space in verbal serial order WM. We outline the idea that serial order in verbal WM is coded within a spatial coordinate system with spatial attention being involved when searching through WM, and we discuss how this account can explain several hallmark observations related to serial order WM.

  13. Vincent Alexander Bochdalek (1801-1883).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loukas, Marios; El-Sedfy, Abraham; Tubbs, R Shane; Gribben, Walter B; Shoja, Mohammadali M; Cermakova, Andrea

    2008-10-01

    Vincent Alexander Bochdalek, Czech anatomist and professor, was one of the pioneers in describing congenital diaphragmatic hernias in newborns. Interestingly, there is very little in the literature and almost nothing in the English literature regarding this important medical figure. A dedicated individual, Bochdalek had great perseverance, which allowed him to surpass obstacles in both his personal life and career. He is recognized for his accurate description of posterior diaphragmatic herniation, for which during his lifetime, there was no treatment. In addition, Bochdalek has multiple eponyms in his honor: ganglion Bochdalecki, Bochdalek's basket, and the valves of Bochdalek. Always steadfast in his beliefs, Bochdalek fought for the creation of anatomy labs in Prague against society pressures. His devoted study of anatomy, especially of congenital diaphragmatic hernias, laid the foundation for the successful surgical correction of this once lethal anomaly.

  14. "In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great" PBS Series. Teacher's Guide.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Washington, DC.

    This teacher's guide correlates with the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) television series "In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great" hosted by historian Michael Wood. The four episodes of the series are entitled: "Son of God"; "Lord of Asia"; "Across the Hindu Kush"; and "To the Ends of the…

  15. Alexander Pechersky Testifies: an Open Page of Sobibor Death Camp History

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lev S. Simkin

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Here, the author introduces the interrogation of the witness Alexander Aronovich Pechersky, the leader of the German death camp Sobibor Revolt during the World War II. Special attention is attached to the daily life of the death camp. The picture of revolt preparation was completed

  16. De luchtvaart van Alexander de Grote in de verbeelding der Middeleeuwen.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schmidt, Victor Michael

    1988-01-01

    The story of Alexander the Great's Aerial Flight holds a special position among the manifold legendary traditions around the famous world conqueror that were known during the Middle Ages, since no other legend of his miraculous life was represented so often in art as this one. According to the

  17. Stubb : EL saavutas Gruusia kriisi ajal palju / Alexander Stubb ; interv. Liisi Poll

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    Stubb, Alexander, 1968-

    2008-01-01

    Intervjuu Soome välisministri Alexander Stubbiga, kes vastab küsimustele, mis puudutavad Euroopa Liidu positsiooni seoses Venemaa agressiooniga Gruusias ja Soome seisukohti seoses NATOga. Euroliidu reaktsioon Venemaa agressioonile Gruusias oli poliitiliselt tugev ja majanduslikult nõrk, arvab ta

  18. Astroglia in neurological diseases

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Verkhratsky, Alexei; Rodríguez Arellano, Jose Julio; Parpura, V.

    2013-01-01

    Roč. 8, č. 2 (2013), s. 149-158 ISSN 1479-6708 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GAP304/11/0184; GA ČR GA309/09/1696 Institutional support: RVO:68378041 Keywords : amyotrophic lateral sclerosis * Alzheimer's disease * Alexander disease Subject RIV: FH - Neurology

  19. Serial Expression Analysis: a web tool for the analysis of serial gene expression data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nueda, Maria José; Carbonell, José; Medina, Ignacio; Dopazo, Joaquín; Conesa, Ana

    2010-01-01

    Serial transcriptomics experiments investigate the dynamics of gene expression changes associated with a quantitative variable such as time or dosage. The statistical analysis of these data implies the study of global and gene-specific expression trends, the identification of significant serial changes, the comparison of expression profiles and the assessment of transcriptional changes in terms of cellular processes. We have created the SEA (Serial Expression Analysis) suite to provide a complete web-based resource for the analysis of serial transcriptomics data. SEA offers five different algorithms based on univariate, multivariate and functional profiling strategies framed within a user-friendly interface and a project-oriented architecture to facilitate the analysis of serial gene expression data sets from different perspectives. SEA is available at sea.bioinfo.cipf.es. PMID:20525784

  20. 78 FR 53630 - Airworthiness Directives; Alexander Schleicher GmbH & Co. Segelflugzeugbau Sailplanes

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-08-30

    ..., Kansas City, Missouri 64106. For information on the availability of this material at the FAA, call (816...; email: [email protected] . SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Discussion We issued a notice of proposed... rod for conformity following Alexander Schleicher Automatischer H[ouml]henruderanschlu[beta] (English...

  1. Developments in Serials: 1977

    Science.gov (United States)

    James, John R.

    1978-01-01

    Discusses issues and developments relating to several aspects of serials, including economics and acquisitions; bibliographic control; automation; education; serials literature and bibliographies; and copyrights. A bibliography is included. (Author/MBR)

  2. Malaysian Serials: Issues and Problems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bahri, Che Norma

    This paper analyzes the issues and problems while looking at the trends and developments of serials publishing in Malaysia. The first section provides background; topics addressed include the country and people of Malaysia, the history of serials publishing in Malaysia, categories and formats of serials publishing, academic publications,…

  3. Vorstenschool. Vier geschiedenisschrijvers over Alexander en hun visie op het keizerschap

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mulder-Bakker, Antje Beitske

    1983-01-01

    Alexander the Great has been renowned both in the middle ages and at other times as one of the most celebrated heroes. Stories of his deeds have been handed down in almost every language and civilization. He was known everywhere, loved by everyone. He was world famous. This very fact diminishes his

  4. Alexander Monro Tertius and his works on hydrocephalus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tubbs, R Shane; Tubbs, Isaiah; Loukas, Marios; Oakes, W Jerry

    2015-03-01

    The Monros of the University of Edinburgh reigned over anatomy instruction for over a century. The last of these men, Monro Tertius, was the weaker teacher of the family but still contributed to the anatomical and surgical literature. Herein, we describe the life of Alexander Monro Tertius and his writings, particularly on childhood hydrocephalus. Monro Tertius will not be remembered as a great anatomist or teacher. However, he collected and published important books on his observations and those of others on hydrocephalus. These texts contained the knowledge of his era on this topic.

  5. The army of Alexander the Great and combat stress syndrome (326 ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    In the summer of 326 BC, Alexander the Great's triumphal seven-year campaign in Asia was unexpectedly halted in the upper reaches of the Indus river — not by enemy action, but by the troops' refusal to march further eastwards. A possible reason for such drastic action by an army which had, until that point, followed its ...

  6. Connect the Book. Always Inventing: A Photobiography of Alexander Graham Bell

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brodie, Carolyn S.

    2004-01-01

    Cell phones, video phones, voice messaging?one wonders what Alexander Graham Bell would have thought about the many venues today for electronic communication with one another. Bell's March 10, 1876 invention is now 128 years old, but there is no doubt that Bell's "talking machine" changed the world. This article presents a brief review of the…

  7. CRNL library serials list

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alburger, T.P.

    1982-04-01

    A list of 1900 serial publications (periodicals, society transactions and proceedings, annuals and directories, indexes, newspapers, etc.) is presented with volumes and years held by the Main Library. This library is the largest in AECL as well as one of the largest scientific and technical libraries in North America, and functions as a Canadian resource for nuclear information. A main alphabetical list is followed by broad subject field lists representing research interests, and lists of abstract and index serials, general bibliographic serials, conference indexes, press releases, English translations, and original language journals

  8. What is the perceived impact of Alexander technique lessons on health status, costs and pain management in the real life setting of an English hospital? The results of a mixed methods evaluation of an Alexander technique service for those with chronic back pain

    OpenAIRE

    McClean, Stuart; Brilleman, Sam; Wye, Lesley

    2015-01-01

    Background: Randomised controlled trial evidence indicates that Alexander Technique is clinically and cost effective for chronic back pain. The aim of this mixed methods evaluation was to explore the role and perceived impact of Alexander Technique lessons in the naturalistic setting of an acute hospital Pain Management Clinic in England.\\ud \\ud Methods: To capture changes in health status and resource use amongst service users, 43 service users were administered three widely used questionnai...

  9. The chemical work of Alexander and Jane Marcet.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosenfeld, L

    2001-04-01

    Alexander Marcet was an authority on urinary calculi and their analysis when few medical practitioners appreciated the usefulness of chemistry in the explanation and treatment of disease. In An Essay on The Chemical History and Medical Treatment of Calculous Disorders, he described the discovery of an xanthine stone. He drew line illustrations of simple chemical apparatus useful for bedside analysis. His microtechnique used drops of solution and pinhead pieces of calculi; reagents were acids and alkalies and the blowpipe in conjunction with a small alcohol lamp. He reported the earliest description of a disorder later named "alcaptonuria". Marcet's work and that of a few others, on the chemical composition of urine and calculi, laid the foundations of our present knowledge. Between 1807 and 1820, his lectures to the medical students at Guy's Hospital were illustrated by experiments. Jane Haldimand Marcet wrote the very popular CONVERSATIONS: on Chemistry (16 editions in Great Britain). Her book dominated elementary chemical instruction during the first half of the 19th century. She followed Lavoisier's scheme of classification and explained chemical reactions in terms of affinity, aggregation, gravitation, and repulsion. Her advocacy that experimentation accompany lecture was new. The availability of serious scientific education in the new women's academies set the stage for increasing women's involvement in science. She also published a series of CONVERSATIONS: The topics were Political Economy, Natural Philosophy, and Vegetable Physiology.

  10. The presentation of the results of Alexander von Humboldt's voyage to Carlos IV

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Miguel Ángel Puig-Samper

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Resumen  Desde nuestras primeras investigaciones sobre la estancia de Alexander von Humboldt en España siempre nos sorprendió la ausencia de una mínima relación posterior del sabio prusiano con la corona española y sus autoridades. Iniciada una nueva investigación, encontramos que efectivamente se produjo el envío de un primer trabajo a Carlos IV desde Roma acompañado de una carta de gratitud por la protección recibida durante su viaje americano y de sumisión a la corona española, que ahora presentamos.   Summary Ever since our first research into Alexander von Humboldt's stay in Spain, the absence of an ensuing relationship between the wise Prussian and the Spanish Crown and Authorities had always surprised us. On starting new research, we found that indeed he sent his first work to Carlos IV from Rome accompanied by a letter of gratitude for the protection he had received during his American trip and submission to the Spanish Crown, which we now present. This first literary fruit of his voyage, which Alexander von Humboldt alluded to in the letter is the first instalment of his work Plantes Équinoxiales, Recueillies au Mexique, dans l’ile de Cuba, dans les provinces de Caracas, de Cumana etc., published in Paris in 1805.   Zusammenfassung Seit unseren ersten Forschungen über den Aufenthalt Alexander von Humboldts in Spanien hat uns das Fehlen einer hieran anschließenden Beziehung des preußischen Wissenschaftlers mit der spanischen Krone und ihren Behörden erstaunt. Im Laufe einer erneuten Aufnahme der Forschung, haben wir nun entdeckt, dass Humboldt in der Tat von Rom aus eine erste Arbeit an Karl IV gesandt hatte, zusammen mit einem Schreiben des Dankes (für den während der amerikanischen Reise erhaltenen Schutz sowie seiner Unterordnung unter die spanische Krone, das wir nun präsentieren. Das erste literarische Ergebnis seiner Reise, auf das Humboldt in diesem Brief verweist, ist der erste Faszikel seines Werkes

  11. Managing uncertainty in advanced liver disease: a qualitative, multiperspective, serial interview study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kimbell, Barbara; Boyd, Kirsty; Kendall, Marilyn; Iredale, John; Murray, Scott A

    2015-11-19

    To understand the experiences and support needs of people with advanced liver disease and those of their lay and professional carers to inform improvements in the supportive and palliative care of this rapidly growing but currently neglected patient group. Multiperspective, serial interviews. We conducted up to three qualitative in-depth interviews with each patient and lay carer over 12 months and single interviews with case-linked healthcare professionals. Data were analysed using grounded theory techniques. Patients with advanced liver disease of diverse aetiologies recruited from an inpatient hepatology ward, and their lay carers and case-linked healthcare professionals nominated by the patients. Primary and secondary care in South-East Scotland. 37 participants (15 patients, 11 lay and 11 professional carers) completed 51 individual and 13 joint patient-carer interviews. Nine patients died during the study. Uncertainty dominated experiences throughout the course of the illness, across patients' considerable physical, psychological, social and existential needs and affected patients, lay carers and professionals. This related to the nature of the condition, the unpredictability of physical deterioration and prognosis, poor communication and information-sharing, and complexities of care. The pervasive uncertainty also shaped patients' and lay carers' strategies for coping and impeded care planning. While patients' acute medical care was usually well coordinated, their ongoing care lacked structure and focus. Living, dying and caring in advanced liver disease is dominated by pervasive, enduring and universally shared uncertainty. In the face of high levels of multidimensional patient distress, professionals must acknowledge this uncertainty in constructive ways that value its contribution to the person's coping approach. Pervasive uncertainty makes anticipatory care planning in advanced liver disease challenging, but planning 'just in case' is vital to ensure

  12. Serial thallium-201 imaging after dipyridamole for coronary disease detection: quantitative analysis using myocardial clearance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Okada, R.D.; Dai, Y.H.; Boucher, C.A.; Pohost, G.M.

    1984-01-01

    After dipyridamole, canine studies have demonstrated a slower rate of myocardial thallium-201 clearance from zones distal to a coronary artery stenosis compared to normal zones. To determine if criteria based on canine myocardial thallium-201 clearance rates could be applied clinically, 40 patients with and 26 patients without coronary artery disease (CAD) had serial thallium-201 images obtained for 2 to 5 hours after dipyridamole. Regions of interest were manually placed over six left ventricular segments in two projections for each of three imaging times. The myocardial thallium-201 clearance rate was calculated for each of the six segments and, using the clearance rate criterion found in canine studies, was considered abnormal if less than 6.5%/hr. Using this criterion alone, 22 of 26 patients (85%) without CAD had normal and 30 of 40 patients (75%) with CAD had abnormal myocardial thallium-201 clearance rates. A quantitative analysis of regional inhomogeneity in tracer distribution (normal was greater than or equal to 25% difference between segments) was negative in 24 of 26 patients (92%) without CAD and positive in 20 of 40 patients (50%) with CAD. When both clearance rate and regional inhomogeneity were considered, 21 of 26 patients (81%) without CAD had negative and 36 of 40 patients (90%) with CAD had positive results. Thus, post-dipyridamole myocardial clearance rate criteria derived from canine studies can be applied to clinical thallium imaging. Quantitative analysis of serial thallium-201 images after dipyridamole is optimized by using myocardial thallium-201 clearance rates. Such an approach is independent of regional inhomogeneities in tracer distribution

  13. Scientific and Technical Serials Holdings Optimization in an Inefficient Market: A LSU Serials Redesign Project Exercise.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bensman, Stephen J.; Wilder, Stanley J.

    1998-01-01

    Analyzes the structure of the library market for scientific and technical (ST) serials. Describes an exercise aimed at a theoretical reconstruction of the ST-serials holdings of Louisiana State University (LSU) Libraries. Discusses the set definitions, measures, and algorithms necessary in the design of a computer program to appraise ST serials.…

  14. Book review: An Introduction to Audio Content Analysis: Applications in Signal Processing and Music Informatics by Alexander Lerch

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sturm, Bob L.

    2013-01-01

    A critical review of the book: An Introduction to Audio Content Analysis: Applications in Signal Processing and Music Informatics, by Alexander Lerch, October 2012, Wiley-IEEE Press. ISBN: 978-1-118-26682-3, Hardcover, 272 pages, 503 references. List price $125.00......A critical review of the book: An Introduction to Audio Content Analysis: Applications in Signal Processing and Music Informatics, by Alexander Lerch, October 2012, Wiley-IEEE Press. ISBN: 978-1-118-26682-3, Hardcover, 272 pages, 503 references. List price $125.00...

  15. Union Listing via OCLC's Serials Control Subsystem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Malley, Terrence J.

    1984-01-01

    Describes library use of Conversion of Serials Project's (CONSER) online national machine-readable database for serials to create online union lists of serials via OCLC's Serial Control Subsystem. Problems in selection of appropriate, accurate, and authenticated records and prospects for the future are discussed. Twenty sources and sample records…

  16. Identität und Differenz Goethes Faust und Alexander von Humboldt

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Heinz Krumpel

    2007-04-01

    Full Text Available Article in German, Abstracts in English, Spanish and GermanIn the article “Identity and difference between Goethe`s Faust and Alexander von Humboldt” the issue of how much Faust is contained in Humboldt and in which way Goethe`s Faust has to be related to Alexander von Humboldt is discussed. Here the connection of activity, knowledge and vision as well as the relationship between humans and nature are central to the examination. Goethe and Humboldt were greatly influenced by the enlightenment. Their ideas and visions show us today that modernity is an incomplete project. In Goethe`s Faust the question of the essence of mankind is posed because there is a hint of Faust and Mephisto in each human. With Humboldt those principles acted among other things as a driving force for greater productitivity and the extraction of knowledge. Even though Faust did not fail in his bet with Mephisto, on the other hand he also did not win. Humboldt, however, would have won the bet. Considering the global ecological crisis and regional conflicts today the idea of the relation of Goethe´s Faust and Humboldt has an astonishing relevance.

  17. Russia's Literary Genius Alexander Pushkin: The Great-Grandson of an African Slave.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lounsbery, Anne

    2000-01-01

    Alexander Pushkin, Russia's most celebrated literary figure, descended from an African slave. On both parents' sides, he was related to Avram Petrovich Gannibal, who was born to an African prince and abducted to become a slave to a Russian diplomat. Pushkin chose to pride himself on both his aristocratic life and his African ancestry. (SM)

  18. Handbook of serial communications interfaces a comprehensive compendium of serial digital input/output (I/O) standards

    CERN Document Server

    Frenzel, Louis

    2015-01-01

    This book catalogs the most popular and commonly used serial-port interfaces and provides details on the specifications and the latest standards, enabling you to select an interface for a new design or verify that an interface is working correctly. Each chapter is based on a different interface and is written in an easy to follow, standard format. With this book you will learn: The most widely used serial interfacesHow to select the best serial interface for a specific application or designThe trade-offs between data rate and distance (length or range)The operation and benefits of serial

  19. Trace element analysis of Alexander the Great's silver tetradrachms minted in Macedonia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kallithrakas-Kontos, N.; Katsanos, A.A.; Touratsoglou, J.

    2000-01-01

    The coinage of Alexander the Great presents a special interest because of its international character in the frame of the ancient times. At least 31 mints (from Aigai to Babylon and from Pella to Alexandreia) operated in the vast state, which was created by Alexander in just over 10 years (334-323 BC). Impressive quantities of tetradrachms were consequently minted for the economic affairs of an expanding state. The mints continued to be active and after the premature death of the Macedonian king, producing among others and tetradrachms in his name. The elemental chemical composition of silver tetradrachms minted in Amphipolis as well as in other Macedonian Greek cities was analysed by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF), and 12 elements were determined. The problem of the patina (silver corrosion layer) effects on the results was examined by analysis before and after the corrosion product removal. From the results of the chemical composition, a similar numismatic policy is deduced for all the analysed coin as well as metal provenance indications for some of the coins

  20. UKRAINIAN HUT AS THE ARCHETYPAL MODEL IN THE WORKS OF ALEXANDER DOVZHENKO

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    YEVSEYEVA H. P.

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Raising of problem. Archetypal model of national dwelling is the basic and determining element of material and spiritual culture, because design features, decorative artwork, ornamentation housing, amulet symbols as elements of the home’s interior structure the ideological system and act as a kind of code for understanding the primary landmark of the national worldview. The purpose. Identify the main components of the design features of the Ukrainian house image on the material of the story "Izba" and the tale "the Enchanted Desna" Alexander Dovzhenko. Conclusions. Research of reproduction features of the Ukrainian hut image in the art world of Alexander Dovzhenko allowed to structure arhetipo model of national dwelling, which appears as the center of the universe and as the source of all organic life forms. Antagonism of the profane and of the sacred can be solved through a paradoxical focus of such binary oppositions as power/spiritual strength, closeness/openness. An important means of the essential characteristics revealing of the house image is the apophaticism device.

  1. Marathon man: the stubborn persistence of Alexander Kluge, German cinema's polymathic master strategist

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Elsaesser, T.

    2008-01-01

    On the occasion of his 75th birthday in 2008, German filmmaker Alexander Kluge is profiled in detail, and his films are examined in chronological order. The movies discussed are "Abscied von Gestern" ("Yesterday Girl," 1966), "Die Artisten in der Zirkuskuppel: Ratlos" ("Artists Under the Big Top:

  2. Outcomes following Serial Intragastric Balloon Therapy for Obesity and Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in a Single Centre

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vi Nguyen

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Background. The incidence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD continues to parallel the rise in obesity rates. Endobariatric devices such as the intragastric balloon (IGB may provide an alternative treatment option. Methods. Outcomes following IGB treatment in 135 patients with obesity and NAFLD (mean baseline weight 117.9 kg; BMI 41.7 kg/m2; HOMA-IR 3.6 were retrospectively examined. Clinical, anthropometric, and biochemical changes were analysed at six months and after consecutive treatment with two and three serial IGBs. Results. After six months, significant changes were seen with weight and BMI (mean reductions of 11.3 kg and 4.1 kg/m2, resp., p<0.01 for both. Significant improvements were also seen with ALT, GGT, and HOMA-IR, with all changes corresponding with weight loss. Forty-eight patients received two IGBs, and 20 were treated with three serial IGBs. The greatest amount of total weight loss was observed after the first 6 months (mean weight lost 7.4 kg, versus 3.6 kg and 1.9 kg with two and three IGBs, resp.. Conclusions. IGB therapy is an effective, alternative nonsurgical means for weight loss in the management of obesity and NAFLD over the short term, with greatest outcomes observed after six months. Improvements in insulin resistance and hepatic transaminases correlated with weight change.

  3. Serial MR imaging and 1H-MR spectroscopy in monozygotic twins with Tay-Sachs disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Imamura, A; Miyajima, H; Ito, R; Orii, K O

    2008-10-01

    Four-year-old monozygotic female twins with early onset Tay-Sachs disease are described. The sisters showed similar slowly progressive clinical symptoms and deterioration, however the younger sister also demonstrated intractable myoclonus in the right leg. The serial MR images and (1)H-MR spectroscopy of the brain were obtained in both twins. MR images showed high intensity on T (2)-weighted image in the bilateral white matter, however there were no signal changes in the basal ganglia and thalamus during any of the phases. The ratio of N-acetylaspartate (NAA)/creatine (Cr) was decreased in the both white matter lesions and the corpus striatum, and that of myoinositol (mI)/Cr was increased in the damaged white matter on MR spectroscopy. The elevation of the lactate peak was clearly demonstrated in the left basal ganglia of the younger sister; however it was not shown in cerebral lesions of the elder sister. Changes in metabolites on MR spectroscopy were closely linked to the respective clinical features of each twin. Follow-up examination by (1)H-MR spectroscopy is useful for the evaluation of neuronal changes in children with Tay-Sachs disease.

  4. Reminescência da Guerra Fria: Alexander Haig (02-12-1924 a 20-02-2010

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Virgílio Caixeta Arraes

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available O artigo biografa o General Alexander Haig, figura de destaque na gestão de Richard Nixon e Ronald Reagan. Descreve a ambição do militar em ser ele mesmo Presidente dos Estados Unidos.

  5. Alexander Kratochvil. Aufbruch und Rückkehr: Ukrainische und tschechische Prosa im Zeichen der Postmoderne.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marko Pavlyshyn

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Alexander Kratochvil. Aufbruch und Rückkehr: Ukrainische und tschechische Prosa im Zeichen der Postmoderne. [Venturing Forth and Coming Back: Ukrainian and Czech Prose in the Context of Postmodernity.] Berlin: Kulturverlag Kadmos, 2013. 311 pp. Bibliography. Index. Paper.

  6. Reminescência da Guerra Fria: Alexander Haig (02-12-1924 a 20-02-2010

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Virgílio Caixeta Arraes

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available O artigo biografa o General Alexander Haig, figura de destaque na gestão de Richard Nixon e Ronald Reagan. Descreve a ambição do militar em ser ele mesmo Presidente dos Estados Unidos.

  7. Serial high resolution CT in non-specific interstitial pneumonia: prognostic value of the initial pattern

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Screaton, N.J. [Department of Radiology, Addenbrooke' s Hospital, Cambridge (United Kingdom)]. E-mail: nicholas.screaton@papworth.nhs.uk; Hiorns, M.P. [Department of Radiology, Great Ormond Street Hospital, London (United Kingdom); Lee, K.S. [Samsung Medical Centre, Seoul (Korea); Franquet, T. [Hospital de Saint Pau, Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona, Barcelona (Spain); Johkoh, T. [Department of Medical Physics and Radiology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka (Japan); Fujimoto, K. [Department of Radiology, Kurume University School of Medicine, Kurume (Japan); Ichikado, K. [First Department of Internal Medicine, Kumamoto University School of Medicine, Kumamoto (Japan); Colby, T.V. [Department of Laboratory Medicine/Pathology, Mayo Clinic Scottsdale, AZ (United States); Mueller, N.L. [Department of Radiology, Vancouver General Hospital, Vancouver (Canada)

    2005-01-01

    AIM: To assess the relationship between initial CT pattern and serial changes in CT findings and pulmonary function tests (PFTs) in patients with non-specific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Serial high resolution (HR) CTs and PFTs were retrospectively analyzed in 38 cases of histologically proven NSIP, including 4 with cellular NSIP, 13 with mixed cellular and fibrotic NSIP, and 21 with fibrotic NSIP. The presence and extent of various CT findings were assessed. A fibrosis index (defined as the ratio of the extent of a reticular/honeycomb pattern to the overall extent of abnormal parenchyma) was derived. RESULTS: The predominant CT pattern was reticular/honeycomb in 27 (84%) cases and ground-glass/consolidation in 6 (16%) cases. Between scans, mean disease extent reduced by 5.2%. Disease extent reduced by >10% in 13 (34%) and increased by >10% in 6 (16%) patients. Histopathological subtype of NSIP did not correlate with individual CT pattern, predominant pattern, fibrosis index or serial change in disease extent on CT or PFTs. Response on follow-up CT was associated with fibrosis index, predominant pattern and extent of consolidation on initial CT. CONCLUSION: In NSIP disease, progression on CT correlates with the predominant CT pattern, fibrosis index, and extent of consolidation but not with histopathological subtype. An inflammatory (ground-glass/consolidation) predominant pattern is associated with better outcome in terms of disease extent on HRCT.

  8. Friendly Letters on the Correspondence of Helen Keller, Anne Sullivan, and Alexander Graham Bell.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blatt, Burton

    1985-01-01

    Excerpts from the letters between Alexander Graham Bell and Anne Sullivan and Helen Keller are given to illustrate the educational and personal growth of Helen Keller as well as the educational philosophy of Bell regarding the education of the deaf blind. (DB)

  9. La pasión de Alexander Crichton

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matusevich, Daniel

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Alexander Crichton was born in Edinburgh in 1763; he graduated from Leyden University and travelled through Berlín, Paris, Stuttgart, Prague and Gotinga to perfect his knowledge in medicine while he establish a deep connection between the social media and the culture of those places. On 1798 he published An inquiry into the nature and origin of Mental Derangement, the only book he wrote dedicated to madness. In this paper we review some questions referred to the general method that the author applies, his contributions to the semiotics of the mind and to the analysis of the process of aging and the function of the attention; we also take a look to his conception of the world of passions and of madness, who influenced Philippe Pinel and Dominique Esquirol and also constitute a cornerstone in the birth of psychiatry.Alexander Crichton, nació en Edimburgo en 1763, se graduó en la Universidad de Leyden y completó su formación médica en Berlín, Paris, Stuttgart, Praga y Gotinga, vinculándose estrechamente con el ambiente social y cultural de esos prestigiosos centros europeos. En el año 1798 publicó An Inquiry into the nature and origin of Mental Derangement (Investigación sobre la naturaleza y el origen del trastorno mental, única obra de su autoría dedicada a la locura. En este artículo se analizan algunas cuestiones referidas al método general que aplica el autor para la concepción de su obra, sus contribuciones a la semiología de la mente, al análisis del proceso de envejecimiento y a la función de la atención, para detenernos, finalmente, en su conceptuación del mundo de las pasiones y de la locura que fueron retomadas por otros autores como Philippe Pinel y Dominique Esquirol, y que constituyeron un antecedente fundamental en el nacimiento de la psiquiatría.

  10. On the carbonic acid distributed in the atmosphere, of Alexander Von Humboldt

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pelkoswski, Joaquin

    2001-01-01

    Translation that is made of a essay of Alexander Von Humboldt in which describes their own experiences related with the carbon dioxide (denominated carbonic acid in that time) in the atmosphere and in the we can capture the big difficulties around their measurement and their presence in the great gassy cover that surrounds us and it allows us to live

  11. Leni Alexander Pollack (1924-2005

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Raquel Bustos Valderrama

    2007-06-01

    Full Text Available El estudio de Leni Alexander Pollack, considerada la compositora nacional más importante del siglo XX, expande y profundiza nuestro conocimiento del aporte de la mujer a la creación musical chilena. En el presente trabajo las entrevistas personales fueron no sólo la fuente primaria para obtener los antecedentes biográficos iniciales, sino también una oportunidad para discutir y aclarar asuntos de estética, tendencias y estilo. Sobre estas bases se analizan tres obras específicas, consideradas como demarcatorias de la evolución de sus recursos creativos. El catálogo de sus obras es una muestra vívida de la gran versatilidad de la compositora en el libre uso de los parámetros musicales, como elementos básicos generadores de toda una obra y, a la vez, en las sugerencias que hace a los instrumentistas- intérpretes o a los actores de su hörspiel o "teatro para escuchar". En suma, sus composiciones y escritos académicos, a los que se agrega la difusión radial comentada de la música contemporánea en Chile y en el extranjero, confirman su calidad de representante itinerante y portavoz de la vanguardia musical del siglo XXLeni Alexander Pollack, has been considered the most important national female composer of the 20th century. The study of her musical composition has contributed to further our knowledge of women's contributions to musical creation in Chile. For the present paper, personal interviews were not only a primary source for the initial biographical information, but also an opportunity to discuss with the composer topics related to aesthetics, tendencies and style. Upon these bases, three specific works are analyzed, which are considered turning points in the evolution of her creative resources. The catalog of her work is a vivid demonstration of her versatility in the free use of musical parameters, which can be seen as basic element in the generation of complete works, as well as in the suggestions she offers to the

  12. Review of the secret committees deal with old beliver’s schism in the reign of the Emperor Alexander I

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Serebrjakova Julija

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available The article discusses a history of secret committees deal with measures against old believer’s schism. The author studied archival documents possible to consider confessional politics of the Emperor Alexander I as a new stage of struggle with the old believer’s schism. The first secret committee was established by order of Emperor Alexander I in 1820. This committee was a unique phenomenon in the history of the secret committees of the 19th century and the first experience ofjoint efforts of Church and State against.

  13. The 'horns' of a medical dilemma: Alexander the Great.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Russell, Gül A

    2004-06-01

    Retrospective 'diagnosis' of clinical disorders of famous historical figures has been of medical interest. In the absence of a patient's 'body', the validity of 'physical symptoms' and their interpretation by contemporary diagnostic criteria are questionable. When the symptoms have been gleaned from the patients's effigy which, as in the case of Alexander the Great, is submerged in legend, the enterprise becomes inherently hazardous. In the present paper, some of the conceptual problems underlying retrospective diagnoses will be identified. Then the use of iconographic records, such as numismatics and sculpture, to provide evidence of clinical symptoms will be shown to be highly misleading.

  14. Alexander von Humboldt's perceptions of colonial Spanish America.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rebok, Sandra

    2009-01-01

    This study presents an in-depth analysis of Alexander von Humboldt's descriptions and critical comments on the colonial society of the different regions he visited during his well-known expedition through the Americas (1799-1804). The criticisms of colonialism that he expressed, reflecting his personal convictions, have already been the focal point of many studies, but Humboldt also was able to offer a more differentiated assessment through comparisons of regional and local traditions and developments. This essay focuses on his personal diaries, which offer many interesting comments on colonial societies. These considerations and impressions made during the expedition are of particular scholarly value since they were not subject to censorship of any kind.

  15. Alexander William Bickerton: New Zealand’s First Astrophysicist?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gilmore, Gerard F.

    Alexander Bickerton (1842-1929) is of interest to the student of New Zealand astronomical history in several ways. He was the first Professor at Canterbury University College, and had a significant effect on the early development of the University; he was a prominent and successful teacher, Ernest Rutherford being his most famous student; he was a social activist in Victorian Christchurch, eventually establishing a small commune; and he was the originator of the stellar collision theory of novae and other astronomical phenomena. This chapter, which is a slightly revised version of Gilmore (Southern Stars, 29, 87-108, 1982), provides a summary of Bickerton's life and theories, and a bibliography for further reading.

  16. Reframing Serial Murder Within Empirical Research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gurian, Elizabeth A

    2017-04-01

    Empirical research on serial murder is limited due to the lack of consensus on a definition, the continued use of primarily descriptive statistics, and linkage to popular culture depictions. These limitations also inhibit our understanding of these offenders and affect credibility in the field of research. Therefore, this comprehensive overview of a sample of 508 cases (738 total offenders, including partnered groups of two or more offenders) provides analyses of solo male, solo female, and partnered serial killers to elucidate statistical differences and similarities in offending and adjudication patterns among the three groups. This analysis of serial homicide offenders not only supports previous research on offending patterns present in the serial homicide literature but also reveals that empirically based analyses can enhance our understanding beyond traditional case studies and descriptive statistics. Further research based on these empirical analyses can aid in the development of more accurate classifications and definitions of serial murderers.

  17. German-Iowan Strategies in Celebrating the Centennial of Alexander von Humboldt’s Birth

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bill Roba

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The two largest cities of Eastern Iowa on the shore of the Mississippi River are Dubuque and Davenport. In each city, an elite group of German-Iowan leaders emerged by the late 1850s. Bill Roba describes and examines their strategies in celebrating the Centennial of Alexander von Humboldt’s Birth.

  18. Female serial killing: review and case report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frei, Andreas; Völlm, Birgit; Graf, Marc; Dittmann, Volker

    2006-01-01

    Single homicide committed by women is rare. Serial killing is very infrequent, and the perpetrators are usually white, intelligent males with sadistic tendencies. Serial killing by women has, however, also been described. To conduct a review of published literature on female serial killers and consider its usefulness in assessing a presenting case. A literature review was conducted, after searching EMBASE, MEDLINE and PsycINFO. The presenting clinical case is described in detail in the context of the literature findings. Results The literature search revealed few relevant publications. Attempts to categorize the phenomenon of female serial killing according to patterns of and motives for the homicides have been made by some authors. The most common motive identified was material gain or similar extrinsic gratification while the 'hedonistic' sadistic or sexual serial killer seems to be extremely rare in women. There is no consistent theory of serial killing by women, but psychopathic personality traits and abusive childhood experiences have consistently been observed. The authors' case did not fit the description of a 'typical' female serial killer. In such unusual circumstances as serial killing by a woman, detailed individual case formulation is required to make sense of the psychopathology in each case. Publication of cases in scientific journals should be encouraged to advance our understanding of this phenomenon. Copyright (c) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  19. Alexander of Macedon, the greatest warrior of all times: did he have seizures?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hughes, John R

    2004-10-01

    Alexander the Great (356-323 BC) was likely "the most incomparable general the world has ever seen." His name is often listed among the famous individuals in history who have had seizures. Examination of his illnesses reveals that in 333 BC he entered Tarsus, hot and exhausted, and plunged himself into the River Cydnus, ice-cold from melting mountain snows. His cramps were so severe that he was rescued half-conscious and ashen white, and quickly developed acute pneumonia. Only one doctor dared give him a medication, known for producing powerful and immediate effects. Immediately after drinking this medicine "he lost his speech and falling into a swoon, he had scarcely any sense or pulse left" (Plutarch, ad 75). His reactions were the direct effect of the medication, and this and only this phrase represents the "evidence" for epilepsy. None of his other illnesses involved seizures. Clearly, Alexander the Great did not have epilepsy and his name should be removed from the list of famous individuals who have had seizures.

  20. Alexander von Humboldt” als Name für Forschungsschiffe vor dem Hintergrund seiner meereskundlichen Arbeiten

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gerhard Kortum

    2002-10-01

    Full Text Available Article in German, Abstract in English. A. v. Humboldt as a Name of Research VesselsA number of special purpose vessels in the world carried or carry the name of Alexander von Humboldt, who had substantial interests in oceanography. However, most of his marine texts are scattered over his major works, and he never finished his manuscript on ocean circulation. But there is a general agreement that A. v. Humboldt was one of the pioneers of marine sciences. He made his own observations on the sailing vessels he used on his expedition to the Neotropics, mainly concerning sea surface temperatures. In 2002 there was a discussion in Germany about the name of a new research vessel which is going to be commissioned in the summer of 2004. It was suggested by the science community to take the name of „Alexander von Humboldt“ again, as the new vessel is replacing a medium-sized ship with this name operated now by the Baltic Sea Research Institute in Rostock-Warnemünde. This vessel has been in service from 1970 to 1990 for the Academy of Sciences of the former German Democratic Republic. The first German research vessel „Alexander von Humboldt“ was a fishing trawler (1939. Furthermore, Peru and Mexico operate research vessels bearing Humboldt’s name. The best known „Alexander von Humboldt“ is an ocean going sailing ship of the International Sail Training Association, based in Bremen. She is engaged in educational programmes and went the South America in 1999 following Humboldt’s route. Thus, Humboldt’s marine legacy is preserved. The proposal to use the undisputed name of this great all-round scientist for the new German vessel under construction now was not successful. A high-ranking jury decided to prefer “Maria Sibylla Merian” (1647-1717, which was suggested by a young student in a nation-wide competition to find a name. As Humboldt 100 years later, she went to South America to study plants and other fields of natural history.

  1. Reluctant genius Alexander Graham Bell and the passion for invention

    CERN Document Server

    Gray, Charlotte

    2011-01-01

    The popular image of Alexander Graham Bell is that of an elderly American patriarch, memorable only for his paunch, his Santa Claus beard, and the invention of the telephone. In this magisterial reassessment based on thorough new research, acclaimed biographer Charlotte Gray reveals Bell's wide-ranging passion for invention and delves into the private life that supported his genius. The child of a speech therapist and a deaf mother, and possessed of superbly acute hearing, Bell developed an early interest in sound. His understanding of how sound waves might relate to electrical waves enabled h

  2. Close to the Clothes : Materiality and Sophisticated Archaism in Alexander van Slobbe’s Design Practices

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Baronian, M.-A.

    This article looks at the work of contemporary Dutch fashion designer Alexander van Slobbe (1959) and examines how, since the 1990s, his fashion practices have consistently and consciously put forward a unique reflection on questions related to materiality, sophisticated archaism, luxury,

  3. Close to the Clothes: Materiality and Sophisticated Archaism in Alexander van Slobbe’s Design Practices

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Baronian, M.-A.

    This article looks at the work of contemporary Dutch fashion designer Alexander van Slobbe (1959) and examines how, since the 1990s, his fashion practices have consistently and consciously put forward a unique reflection on questions related to materiality, sophisticated archaism, luxury,

  4. The eyeball killer: serial killings with postmortem globe enucleation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coyle, Julie; Ross, Karen F; Barnard, Jeffrey J; Peacock, Elizabeth; Linch, Charles A; Prahlow, Joseph A

    2015-05-01

    Although serial killings are relatively rare, they can be the cause of a great deal of anxiety while the killer remains at-large. Despite the fact that the motivations for serial killings are typically quite complex, the psychological analysis of a serial killer can provide valuable insight into how and why certain individuals become serial killers. Such knowledge may be instrumental in preventing future serial killings or in solving ongoing cases. In certain serial killings, the various incidents have a variety of similar features. Identification of similarities between separate homicidal incidents is necessary to recognize that a serial killer may be actively killing. In this report, the authors present a group of serial killings involving three prostitutes who were shot to death over a 3-month period. Scene and autopsy findings, including the unusual finding of postmortem enucleation of the eyes, led investigators to recognize the serial nature of the homicides. © 2015 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

  5. “It’s Always the Same, and It’s Always Different” Mythologisation and the Serial Killer in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.

    OpenAIRE

    Smyth, David A.

    2015-01-01

    Serial killers are important in American horror because of their ability to exist between ‘myth’ and ‘reality’. The serial killer is one of the most important American myths, but it is one firmly rooted in real life: unlike Paul Bunyan or Superman, serial killers do exist. This essay examines the relationship between the ‘myth’ and the ‘reality’ of serial killers, and the complex relationship between the American public and the serial killer, using Henry: Portrait of a Serial K...

  6. Trace element analysis of Alexander the Great's silver tetradrachms minted in Macedonia

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kallithrakas-Kontos, N. E-mail: kalli@mred.tuc.gr; Katsanos, A.A.; Touratsoglou, J

    2000-11-01

    The coinage of Alexander the Great presents a special interest because of its international character in the frame of the ancient times. At least 31 mints (from Aigai to Babylon and from Pella to Alexandreia) operated in the vast state, which was created by Alexander in just over 10 years (334-323 BC). Impressive quantities of tetradrachms were consequently minted for the economic affairs of an expanding state. The mints continued to be active and after the premature death of the Macedonian king, producing among others and tetradrachms in his name. The elemental chemical composition of silver tetradrachms minted in Amphipolis as well as in other Macedonian Greek cities was analysed by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF), and 12 elements were determined. The problem of the patina (silver corrosion layer) effects on the results was examined by analysis before and after the corrosion product removal. From the results of the chemical composition, a similar numismatic policy is deduced for all the analysed coin as well as metal provenance indications for some of the coins.

  7. Serial CT scans and MRI scans of Tay-Sachs disease

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shimoizumi, Hideo; Miyao, Masutomo; Ichihashi, Koh; Sawa, Rituko; Yamamoto, Yoshifumi; Tanaka, Osamu; Yanagisawa, Masayoshi; Kamoshita, Shigehiko.

    1986-01-01

    Serial X-ray CT and MRI were performed on 2 cases of Tay-Sachs disease. Case 1 : a 3-year-10-month-old girl. Her developmental milestones were normal until the age of 6 months. At the age of 10 months, hypotonia and unduly sensitiveness to sounds were noticed. She had cherry red spots in both fundi, and the serum hexosaminidase A activity was low. Significant clinical features during the next 3 years included regression of developmental milestones to the level of one month, and myoclonic and generalised seizures. After 3 years she showed megalencephaly, unstable body temperature, and respiratory disorders. Case 2 : a 2-year-6-month-old boy. His developmental milestones were normal until the age of 5 months. Then he manifested hyperreaction to noises and further developments ceased. He started to deteriorate from the age of 1 year and 2 months, and had no head control at the age of 1 year and 6 months. Cherry red spots were detected and the serum hexsosaminidase A activity was low, too. X-ray CT at the early stage of cases 1 and 2 showed mild cerebral atrophy and high density areas in bilateral thalami and basal ganglia. At the late stage of Case 1, high density areas appeared in occipital and frontal white matters. MRI in both patients were strikingly similar. In their grey matters, linear light areas were demonstrated on IR images. Their white matters showed extensive dark (long T 1 ) areas on IR images, and extensive light (long T 2 ) areas on SE images. Bilateral thalami and basal ganglia were light on IR images and dark on SE images. The findings of MRI in our patients seemed to correlate well with pathological and biochemical changes in their brains. (author)

  8. A Single Amino Acid Change in the Marburg Virus Glycoprotein Arises during Serial Cell Culture Passages and Attenuates the Virus in a Macaque Model of Disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alfson, Kendra J; Avena, Laura E; Delgado, Jenny; Beadles, Michael W; Patterson, Jean L; Carrion, Ricardo; Griffiths, Anthony

    2018-01-01

    Marburg virus (MARV) causes disease with high case fatality rates, and there are no approved vaccines or therapies. Licensing of MARV countermeasures will likely require approval via the FDA's Animal Efficacy Rule, which requires well-characterized animal models that recapitulate human disease. This includes selection of the virus used for exposure and ensuring that it retains the properties of the original isolate. The consequences of amplification of MARV for challenge studies are unknown. Here, we serially passaged and characterized MARV through 13 passes from the original isolate. Surprisingly, the viral genome was very stable, except for a single nucleotide change that resulted in an amino acid substitution in the hydrophobic region of the signal peptide of the glycoprotein (GP). The particle/PFU ratio also decreased following passages, suggesting a role for the amino acid in viral infectivity. To determine if amplification introduces a phenotype in an animal model, cynomolgus macaques were exposed to either 100 or 0.01 PFU of low- and high-passage-number MARV. All animals succumbed when exposed to 100 PFU of either passage 3 or 13 viruses, although animals exposed to the high-passage-number virus survived longer. However, none of the passage 13 MARV-exposed animals succumbed to 0.01-PFU exposure compared to 75% of passage 3-exposed animals. This is consistent with other filovirus studies that show some particles that are unable to yield a plaque in cell culture can cause lethal disease in vivo . These results have important consequences for the design of experiments that investigate MARV pathogenesis and that test the efficacy of MARV countermeasures. IMPORTANCE Marburg virus (MARV) causes disease with a high case fatality rate, and there are no approved vaccines or therapies. Serial amplification of viruses in cell culture often results in accumulation of mutations, but the effect of such cell culture passage on MARV is unclear. Serial passages of MARV

  9. Alexander's law revisited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacobson, Gary P; McCaslin, Devin L; Kaylie, David M

    2008-09-01

    It is a common occurrence in the balance function laboratory to evaluate patients in the post-acute period following unilateral vestibular system impairment. It is important to be able to differentiate spontaneous nystagmus (SN) emanating from peripheral vestibular system impairments from asymmetric gaze-evoked nystagmus (GEN) that originates from central ocular motility impairment. To describe the three elements of Alexander's Law (AL) that have been used to define SN from unilateral peripheral impairment. Additionally, a fourth element is described (i.e., augmentation of spontaneous nystagmus from unilateral peripheral vestibular system impairment) that differentiates nystagmus of peripheral vestibular system origin from nystagmus that originates from a central eye movement disorder. Case reports. Case data were obtained from two patients both showing a nystagmus that followed AL. None Videonystagmography (VNG), rotational, vestibular evoked myogenic potential (VEMP), and neuro-imaging studies were presented for each patient. The nystagmus in Case 1 occurred as a result of a unilateral, peripheral, vestibular system impairment. The nystagmus was direction-fixed and intensified in the vision-denied condition. The nystagmus in Case 2, by appearance identical to that in Case 1, was an asymmetric gaze-evoked nystagmus originating from a space-occupying lesion in the cerebello-pontine angle. Unlike Case 1, the nystagmus did not augment in the vision-denied condition. Although nystagmus following AL usually occurs in acute peripheral vestibular system impairment, it can occur in cases of central eye movement impairment. The key element is whether the SN that follows AL is attenuated or augmented in the vision-denied condition. The SN from a unilateral peripheral vestibular system impairment should augment in the vision denied condition. An asymmetric GEN will either not augment, decrease in magnitude, or disappear entirely, in the vision-denied condition.

  10. Serial interprocessor communications system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Labiak, W.; Siemens, P.; Bailey, C.

    1980-01-01

    A serial communications system based on the EIA RS232-C standard with modem control lines has been developed. The DLV11-E interface is used for this purpose. All handshaking is done with the modem control lines. This allows totally independent full duplex communication. The message format consists of eight bit data with odd parity and a sixteen bit checksum on the whole message. All communications are fully interrupt driven. A program was written to load a program into a remote LSI-11 using the serial line without bootstrap ROM

  11. A Survey of Electronic Serials Managers Reveals Diversity in Practice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laura Costello

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available A Review of: Branscome, B. A. (2013. Management of electronic serials in academic libraries: The results of an online survey. Serials Review, 39(4, 216-226. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.serrev.2013.10.004 Abstract Objective – To examine industry standards for the management of electronic serials and measure the adoption of electronic serials over print. Design – Survey questionnaire. Setting – Email lists aimed at academic librarians working in serials management. Subjects – 195 self-selected subscribers to serials email lists. Methods – The author created a 20 question survey that consisted primarily of closed-ended questions pertaining to the collection demographics, staff, budget, and tools of serials management groups in academic libraries. The survey was conducted via Survey Monkey and examined using the analytical features of the tool. Participants remained anonymous and the survey questions did not ask them to reveal identifiable information about their libraries. Main Results – Collection demographics questions revealed that 78% of surveyed librarians estimated that print-only collections represented 40% or fewer of their serials holdings. The author observed diversity in the factors that influence print to digital transitions in academic libraries. However 71.5% of participants indicated that publisher technology support like IP authentication was required before adopting digital subscriptions. A lack of standardization also marked serials workflows, department responsibilities, and department titles. The author did not find a correlation between serials budget and the enrollment size of the institution. Participants reported that they used tools from popular serials management vendors like Serials Solutions, Innovative Interfaces, EBSCO, and Ex Libris, but most indicated that they used more than one tool for serials management. Participants specified 52 unique serials management products used in their libraries. Conclusion

  12. Criminal psychological profiling of serial arson crimes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kocsis, Richard N; Cooksey, Ray W

    2002-12-01

    The practice of criminal psychological profiling is frequently cited as being applicable to serial arson crimes. Despite this claim, there does not appear to be any empirical research that examines serial arson offence behaviors in the context of profiling. This study seeks to develop an empirical model of serial arsonist behaviors that can be systematically associated with probable offender characteristics. Analysis has produced a model of offence behaviors that identify four discrete behavior patterns, all of which share a constellation of common nondiscriminatory behaviors. The inherent behavioral themes of each of these patterns are explored with discussion of their broader implications for our understanding of serial arson and directions for future research.

  13. CMOS serial link for fully duplexed data communication

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Kyeongho; Kim, Sungjoon; Ahn, Gijung; Jeong, Deog-Kyoon

    1995-04-01

    This paper describes a CMOS serial link allowing fully duplexed 500 Mbaud serial data communication. The CMOS serial link is a robust and low-cost solution to high data rate requirements. A central charge pump PLL for generating multiphase clocks for oversampling is shared by several serial link channels. Fully duplexed serial data communication is realized in the bidirectional bridge by separating incoming data from the mixed signal on the cable end. The digital PLL accomplishes process-independent data recovery by using a low-ratio oversampling, a majority voting, and a parallel data recovery scheme. Mostly, digital approach could extend its bandwidth further with scaled CMOS technology. A single channel serial link and a charge pump PLL are integrated in a test chip using 1.2 micron CMOS process technology. The test chip confirms upto 500 Mbaud unidirectional mode operation and 320 Mbaud fully duplexed mode operation with pseudo random data patterns.

  14. The Productivity Advantage of Serial Entrepreneurs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Shaw, Kathryn L.; Sørensen, Anders

    Serial entrepreneurs, who open more than one business, are found to have higher sales and higher productivity than novice entrepreneurs, who open one business. Using panel data on entrepreneurs and their firms from Denmark for 2001-2013, the serial entrepreneur has 67% higher sales than the novice......, but also opens firms that are larger in terms of the initial capital and labor, and thus is 39% more productive. There are subsets of firms that perform especially well – serial entrepreneurs that hold a portfolio of overlapping ongoing firms perform the best, as do those that open as limited liability...

  15. The American Serialization of Lord Jim

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stephen Donovan

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This essay presents the discovery of the American serialization of Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim in New York’s Evening Telegram in 1903. This ‘lost’ serialization, it argues, invites a new perspective on Conrad’s early career by foregrounding the role of newspaper serialization and syndication in establishing his literary standing. After surveying the principal differences in the respective reading experiences of the periodical versus the book, it concludes by proposing that the prominence of women among Conrad’s first audiences requires us to reassess the basis for his success in North America and elsewhere.

  16. Broad ion beam serial section tomography

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Winiarski, B., E-mail: b.winiarski@manchester.ac.uk [School of Materials, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL (United Kingdom); Materials Division, National Physical Laboratory, Teddington TW11 0LW (United Kingdom); Gholinia, A. [School of Materials, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL (United Kingdom); Mingard, K.; Gee, M. [Materials Division, National Physical Laboratory, Teddington TW11 0LW (United Kingdom); Thompson, G.E.; Withers, P.J. [School of Materials, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL (United Kingdom)

    2017-01-15

    Here we examine the potential of serial Broad Ion Beam (BIB) Ar{sup +} ion polishing as an advanced serial section tomography (SST) technique for destructive 3D material characterisation for collecting data from volumes with lateral dimensions significantly greater than 100 µm and potentially over millimetre sized areas. Further, the associated low level of damage introduced makes BIB milling very well suited to 3D EBSD acquisition with very high indexing rates. Block face serial sectioning data registration schemes usually assume that the data comprises a series of parallel, planar slices. We quantify the variations in slice thickness and parallelity which can arise when using BIB systems comparing Gatan PECS and Ilion BIB systems for large volume serial sectioning and 3D-EBSD data acquisition. As a test case we obtain 3D morphologies and grain orientations for both phases of a WC-11%wt. Co hardmetal. In our case we have carried out the data acquisition through the manual transfer of the sample between SEM and BIB which is a very slow process (1–2 slice per day), however forthcoming automated procedures will markedly speed up the process. We show that irrespective of the sectioning method raw large area 2D-EBSD maps are affected by distortions and artefacts which affect 3D-EBSD such that quantitative analyses and visualisation can give misleading and erroneous results. Addressing and correcting these issues will offer real benefits when large area (millimetre sized) automated serial section BIBS is developed. - Highlights: • In this work we examine how microstructures can be reconstructed in three-dimensions (3D) by serial argon broad ion beam (BIB) milling, enabling much larger volumes (>250×250×100µm{sup 3}) to be acquired than by serial section focused ion beam-scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM). • The associated low level of damage introduced makes BIB milling very well suited to 3D-EBSD acquisition with very high indexing rates. • We explore

  17. The Doors to Home and History: Post-Colonial Identities in Meena Alexander and Bharati Mukherjee.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dave, Shilpa

    1993-01-01

    Examines postcolonial inquiry and studies of identity in Asians of Indian descent, focusing on the works of Meena Alexander and Bharati Mukherjee. Their commentaries on India and immigrant cultures are constantly influenced by a history dependent on Western tradition, although both authors resist the stereotypical definitions imposed by the West.…

  18. Leukocyte scintigraphy: correlation of serial scintigraphic findings and clinical progression of inflammatory bowel disease

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ho, Y.; Kelly, M.J.; Kaliff, V.

    1997-01-01

    Full text: This study was performed (a) to determine whether the clinical progress of individual patients with inflammatory bowel disease mirrored changes in leukocyte scans, and (b) to assess the reasons for significant discrepancies. Two nuclear medicine physicians reviewed 44 white cell scans in 20 consecutive patients (4 males, 18 females) who were referred for two or more leukocyte scans (using either the 111 In Oxine or 99m Tc HMPAO labelling methods) by three gastroenterologists between 1 January 1992 and 1 June 1996. The sequential scanpairs (range 2-18 months apart) were classified by consensus reading as showing no change, more severe or less severe disease. Questionnaires were sent to the referring gastroenterologists to determine whether the overall clinical status of each patient was unchanged, better or worse in the interval between the two scans. There was complete agreement between clinical and scintigraphic assessment in 45% (10/22) of the study pairs. Review of responses of the three individual gastroenterologists showed a wide range of agreement (4/4, 4/5, 2/13). Review of data showed that most disagreement was based on subjective clinical assessment, and hence of uncertain significance. In two patients, however, potentially preventable false negative leukocyte scans occurred in patients with active proctitis. This may be overcome by rigorous attention to ensure complete emptying of radioactivity from the bladder when 99m Tc HMPAO is used. It was concluded that serial leukocyte scans add to clinical assessment but careful technique is needed to avoid false negative scans in the rectum

  19. Serial Position Functions in General Knowledge

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelley, Matthew R.; Neath, Ian; Surprenant, Aimée M.

    2015-01-01

    Serial position functions with marked primacy and recency effects are ubiquitous in episodic memory tasks. The demonstrations reported here explored whether bow-shaped serial position functions would be observed when people ordered exemplars from various categories along a specified dimension. The categories and dimensions were: actors and age;…

  20. Serial Entrepreneurship, Learning by Doing and Self-selection

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rocha, Vera; Carneiro, Anabela; Varum, Celeste

    2015-01-01

    of the person-specific effect, using information on individuals’ past histories in paid employment, confirm that serial entrepreneurs exhibit, on average, a larger person-specific effect than non-serial business owners. Moreover, ignoring serial entrepreneurs’ self-selection overestimates learning by doing......It remains a question whether serial entrepreneurs typically perform better than their novice counterparts owing to learning by doing effects or mostly because they are a selected sample of higher-than-average ability entrepreneurs. This paper tries to unravel these two effects by exploring a novel...... empirical strategy based on continuous time duration models with selection. We use a large longitudinal matched employer-employee dataset that allows us to identify about 220,000 individuals who have left their first entrepreneurial experience, out of which over 35,000 became serial entrepreneurs. We...

  1. Analysis of assembly serial number usage in domestic light-water reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reich, W.J.; Moore, R.S.

    1991-05-01

    Domestic light-water reactor (LWR) fuel assemblies are identified by a serial number that is placed on each assembly. These serial numbers are used as identifiers throughout the life of the fuel. The uniqueness of assembly serial numbers is important in determining their effectiveness as unambiguous identifiers. The purpose of this study is to determine what serial numbering schemes are used, the effectiveness of these schemes, and to quantify how many duplicate serial numbers occur on domestic LWR fuel assemblies. The serial numbering scheme adopted by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) ensures uniqueness of assembly serial numbers. The latest numbering scheme adopted by General Electric (GE), was also found to be unique. Analysis of 70,971 fuel assembly serial numbers from permanently discharged fuel identified 11,948 serial number duplicates. Three duplicate serial numbers were found when analysis focused on duplication within the individual fuel inventory at each reactor site, but these were traced back to data entry errors and will be corrected by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). There were also three instances where the serial numbers used to identify assemblies used for hot cell studies differed from the serial numbers reported to the EIA. It is recommended that fuel fabricators and utilities adhere to the ANSI serial numbering scheme to ensure serial number uniqueness. In addition, organizations collecting serial number information, should request that all known serial numbers physically attached or associated with each assembly be reported and identified by the corresponding number scheme. 10 refs., 5 tabs

  2. Hypertextuality in the Alexander von Humboldt Digital Library

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Detlev Doherr

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available To do justice to the legacy of Alexander von Humboldt, a 19th century German scientist and explorer an information and knowledge management system is required to preserve the author's original intent and promote an awareness of all his relevant works. Although all of Humboldt's works can be found on the internet as digitized papers, the complexity and internal interconnectivity of the writings is not very transparent. Humboldt's concepts of interaction cannot be adequately represented only by digitized papers or scanned documents. The Humboldt Portal is an attempt to create a new generation of digital libraries, providing a new form of interaction and synthesis between humanistic texts and scientific observation. The digital version of his documents supplies dynamic links to sources, maps, images, graphs and relevant texts in accordance with his visions, because "everything is interconnectedness".

  3. Comparative-historical method in Slavic linguistics and Alexander Vostokov’s philological intuitions

    OpenAIRE

    Melkov Andrey Sergeevich

    2015-01-01

    The article is devoted to the estimation of Alexander Vostokov’s (1781-1864) contribution to the formation and development of the Slavic philology as a scientific discipline. In the foundation of the research there is the analyses of Vostokov’s work “Judgement about the Slavic language”, which has become the result of the scientist’s study the oldest Russian manuscript “Ostromir Gospels”. Vostokov devised a new method for the Slavic philology, which is used to call comparative-historical in m...

  4. A Review of Passionate Patron: The Life of Alexander Hardcastle and the Greek Temples of Agrigento

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Antonino Crisa

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Richardson’s 143-page book provides an interesting account on the life of Alexander Hardcastle (London, 1872 – Agrigento, 1933, a rich English patron and archaeologist, who operated in Sicily during the early twentieth century. Son of Hernt and Marie Sophie Hardcastle Herschel, Alexander took his military service in the Royal Navy, gaining a thorough technical knowledge, which he successfully used in Sicily. After he obtained a passport in December 1920, Hardcastle moved to Girgenti (now Agrigento, where he purchased a new house, the so-called Villa Aurea , and allocated private funds to perform excavations and massive renovation works at the nearby Greek temples of Akragas . In particular, he restored eight columns of the Temples of Herakles  and Demetra , and excavated part of the ancient city walls in the 1920s. His activity caused a great sensation in both Sicily and Great Britain, as articles in newspapers clearly testify.

  5. Implementation of a Multichannel Serial Data Streaming Algorithm using the Xilinx Serial RapidIO Solution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doxley, Charles A.

    2016-01-01

    In the current world of applications that use reconfigurable technology implemented on field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), there is a need for flexible architectures that can grow as the systems evolve. A project has limited resources and a fixed set of requirements that development efforts are tasked to meet. Designers must develop robust solutions that practically meet the current customer demands and also have the ability to grow for future performance. This paper describes the development of a high speed serial data streaming algorithm that allows for transmission of multiple data channels over a single serial link. The technique has the ability to change to meet new applications developed for future design considerations. This approach uses the Xilinx Serial RapidIO LOGICORE Solution to implement a flexible infrastructure to meet the current project requirements with the ability to adapt future system designs.

  6. SERIAL TELEVISI DEXTER SEBAGAI ANAKRONISME DALAM SASTRA POPULER

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ida Rochani Adi

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available In the popular literature context, this study aims to investigate: (1 how the formulation of the characterization of Dexter in the television serial Dexter violates the tradition of literary characterization, and (2 how the formula of moral values is dramatized through Dexter, who is a sociopath, psychopath, serial killer, and person without moral. The research object was the television serial Dexter, which ranks five in popularity in the world. The data were collected by documenting 84 episodes of the serial having been broadcast since 2006. They were analyzed by means of content analysis and qualitative descriptive techniques. Based on the findings, the conclusions are as follows. First, there is a violation or anachronism of characterization through the main character in the serial. Second, the dramatized moral values still contain conventional values although they are in different forms.

  7. The architect Alexander Iosif Bernardazzi (1831–1907 and his first projects in Bessarabia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alla Chastina

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available This year marks the 185th birthday of the famous architect A. I. Bernardazzi, who is also known for creating various historic buildings in the Northern Caucasus, Ukraine and Bessarabia. The archival documents provide evidence of the beginning of Bernardazzi’s architectural career, when he was appointed as technician for the arrangement of the towns Akkerman and Bendery in 1853, as well as for building some bridges and causeways in those districts. In 1855 he participated in the setting of the third market at the Forest square, which was his first mission in Kishinev. Alexander Bernardazzi performed the duty of municipal architect from 1856 to 1878 replacing Luca Zaushkevich, another architect of Kishinev. In Bessarabia he designed and built buildings such as the temporary theatre, the Lutheran school, the railway station, the Greek Church, Manuk-Bey’s Palace etc. He also dealt with the pavement of streets, the construction of the urban water supply system and the cast-iron fence in Kishinev public garden. After his departure to Odessa, in the second half of the XX century, Alexander Bernardazzi continued to design social facilities in Bessarabia, which became best examples of European architecture.

  8. Reconstructing genealogies of serial samples under the assumption of a molecular clock using serial-sample UPGMA.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drummond, A; Rodrigo, A G

    2000-12-01

    Reconstruction of evolutionary relationships from noncontemporaneous molecular samples provides a new challenge for phylogenetic reconstruction methods. With recent biotechnological advances there has been an increase in molecular sequencing throughput, and the potential to obtain serial samples of sequences from populations, including rapidly evolving pathogens, is fast being realized. A new method called the serial-sample unweighted pair grouping method with arithmetic means (sUPGMA) is presented that reconstructs a genealogy or phylogeny of sequences sampled serially in time using a matrix of pairwise distances. The resulting tree depicts the terminal lineages of each sample ending at a different level consistent with the sample's temporal order. Since sUPGMA is a variant of UPGMA, it will perform best when sequences have evolved at a constant rate (i.e., according to a molecular clock). On simulated data, this new method performs better than standard cluster analysis under a variety of longitudinal sampling strategies. Serial-sample UPGMA is particularly useful for analysis of longitudinal samples of viruses and bacteria, as well as ancient DNA samples, with the minimal requirement that samples of sequences be ordered in time.

  9. Delaware's first serial killer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Inguito, G B; Sekula-Perlman, A; Lynch, M J; Callery, R T

    2000-11-01

    The violent murder of Shirley Ellis on November 29, 1987, marked the beginning of the strange and terrible tale of Steven Bryan Pennell's reign as the state of Delaware's first convicted serial killer. Three more bodies followed the first victim, and all had been brutally beaten and sadistically tortured. The body of a fifth woman has never been found. State and county police collaborated with the FBI to identify and hunt down their suspect, forming a task force of over 100 officers and spending about one million dollars. Through their knowledge and experience with other serial killers, the FBI was able to make an amazingly accurate psychological profile of Delaware's serial killer. After months of around-the-clock surveillance, Steven Pennell was arrested on November 29, 1988, one year to the day after the first victim was found. Pennell was found guilty in the deaths of the first two victims on November 29, 1989, and plead no contest to the murder of two others on October 30, 1991. Still maintaining his innocence, he asked for the death penalty so that he could spare his family further agony. Steven Pennell was executed by lethal injection on March 15, 1992.

  10. Classifying serial killers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Promish, D I; Lester, D

    1999-11-08

    We attempted to match the appearance and demeanor of 27 serial killers to the postmortem 'signatures' found on their victims' bodies. Our results suggest that a link may exist between postmortem signatures and two complementary appearance-demeanor types.

  11. CAMAC serial highway interface for the LSI-11

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lau, N.H.

    1980-01-01

    A CAMAC Serial Highway Interface has been designed for the Local Control and Instrumentation System of the Mirror Fusion Test Facility. There are over 50 distinguishable systems in the facility, each of which consists of the LSI-11 computer, fiber optic communication links, and the CAMAC system. The LSI-11 computer includes a 32k memory, serial modem interface and the CAMAC Serial Highway Interface

  12. Notorious Cases of Serial Killers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iosub Elena-Cătălina

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available The reconstruction of a death scene provides an overall picture of the crime and will indicate the murder as an event or one of a series of events and also the criminal. But when the criminal is declared a serial killer, many questions are raised up. How could a person kill some else without a reason or why people react in such a disorganized way and become so brutal or what made them act like that and so many questions with also so many answers. This project explains the psychology of a murderer, his own way of thinking and acting by presuming that we may accurately discover what is in their minds when they kill. It is about a very complex issue regarding murder investigations, biological factors and psychological profile of a serial killer. Dealing with this problem we will at last reach to the question that could solve finally the puzzle: ―Are serial murderers distorted reflections of society's own values?

  13. Alexander Claver, Dutch Commerce and Chinese Merchants in Java. Colonial Relationships in Trade and Finance, 1800-1942

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kwee Hui Kian

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Alexander Claver, Dutch Commerce and Chinese Merchants in Java. Colonial Relationships in Trade and Finance, 1800-1942 (Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 291; Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2014, xxiv + 442 pp., ISBN 978 90 04 25657 6.

  14. Modus operandi of female serial killers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, W; Hilton, T

    1998-04-01

    The modus operandi of female serial killers was examined from a chronology of 58 cases in America and 47 cases in 17 other countries, compiled over 25-year intervals. Female serial killers in other countries accounted for a disproportionately greater number of victims, but those in America managed a longer killing career when associated with a low profile modus operandi.

  15. The birth of Russian intelligentsia from the spirit of the enlightenment: Alexander Radishchev

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Subotić Milan

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available This text is the second part of a study about Alexander Radishchev, one of the leading representatives of Enlightenment in Russia's XVIII Century. Starting with explanation of the 'enlightened absolutism' of Catherine the Great, the author analyses the political and social ideas presented in Radishchev's book Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Considering Radishchev as a 'father of Russian intelligentsia', the author stress that Radishchev's social criticism anticipated the later phenomenon of 'dissidence'.

  16. Idiopathic Supraglottic Stenosis Refractory to Multiple Interventions Improved With Serial Office-based Steroid Injections.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoffman, Matthew R; Mai, Johnny P; Dailey, Seth H

    2017-10-30

    The objective of this study was to describe a patient with idiopathic supraglottic stenosis who experienced persistent disease despite multiple office-based and operative interventions, whose disease is now better controlled with scheduled serial office-based steroid injections. This is a case report and literature review. A 42-year-old female was referred for worsening supraglottic stenosis despite systemic steroids. She underwent awake tracheotomy. A thorough historical, histologic, and laboratory workup did not reveal an etiology to her stenosis. She later underwent endoscopic partial laryngectomy and was able to be decannulated. She underwent a second endoscopic partial laryngectomy two years later for worsening disease and then was managed over the next seven years with intermittent systemic steroids. Over the last year, she has undergone eight office-based steroid injections with improvement in her degree of stenosis and symptom burden. There are only four prior reported cases of idiopathic supraglottic stenosis, none of which has been managed with serial office-based steroid injections. This case report adds to the small body of literature on the management of this rare disease and proposes a new office-based treatment pathway that may help induce regression of stenosis. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Serial position effects scoring in the assessment of memory in Alzheimer's disease and major depression

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bemelmans, Karel Jozef

    2009-01-01

    The objective of this thesis was to validate serial position effects (SPE’S) scoring in the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). The RAVLT is a much used clinical method for assessing memory performance, but the method of scoring obfuscates that two memory processes underlie free recall. This

  18. Epidemic Intelligence. Langmuir and the Birth of Disease Surveillance

    OpenAIRE

    Lyle Fearnley

    2010-01-01

    In the wake of the SARS and influenza epidemics of the past decade, one public health solution has become a refrain: surveillance systems for detection of disease outbreaks. This paper is an effort to understand how disease surveillance for outbreak detection gained such paramount rationality in contemporary public health. The epidemiologist Alexander Langmuir is well known as the creator of modern disease surveillance. But less well known is how he imagined disease surveillance as one part o...

  19. SERIAL TELEVISI DEXTER SEBAGAI ANAKRONISME DALAM SASTRA POPULER

    OpenAIRE

    Ida Rochani Adi

    2014-01-01

    In the popular literature context, this study aims to investigate: (1) how the formulation of the characterization of Dexter in the television serial Dexter violates the tradition of literary characterization, and (2) how the formula of moral values is dramatized through Dexter, who is a sociopath, psychopath, serial killer, and person without moral. The research object was the television serial Dexter, which ranks five in popularity in the world. The data were collected by documenting 84 epi...

  20. Das Ganze der Natur Alexander von Humboldt und das romantische Forschungsprogramm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kristian Köchy

    2002-10-01

    Full Text Available Article in German, Abstracts in English, German and Spanish. The wholeness of natureAlexander von Humboldt and the romantic research programIt does not seem to be clear whether there is a tight junction between the humboldian science and the romantic research program. But by recognizing the principal aim of Humboldts concept – the representation of nature as a whole – one can see how Humboldts view has been developed in contact with romantic ideas. This investigation analyses Humboldts research program in consideration of its main features and the special relations between science, philosophy of nature, feeling of nature, history and art.

  1. The Serial Murderer's Motivations: An Interdisciplinary Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeHart, Dana D.; Mahoney, John M.

    1994-01-01

    Defines serial killer as individual who murders two or more victims over an extended period of time, ranging from days to years, with the crimes often being sexually motivated. Reviews existing motivational theories of serial murder and proposes additional explications from range of disciplines. Presents suggestions for future research and…

  2. From animal cruelty to serial murder: applying the graduation hypothesis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wright, Jeremy; Hensley, Christopher

    2003-02-01

    Although serial murder has been recorded for centuries, limited academic attention has been given to this important topic. Scholars have attempted to examine the causality and motivations behind the rare phenomenon of serial murder. However, scant research exists which delves into the childhood characteristics of serial murderers. Using social learning theory, some of these studies present supporting evidence for a link between childhood animal cruelty and adult aggression toward humans. Based on five case studies of serial murderers, we contribute to the existing literature by exploring the possible link between childhood cruelty toward animals and serial murder with the application of the graduation hypothesis.

  3. The remarkable medical lineage of the Monro family: contributions of Alexander primus, secundus, and tertius.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Osmond C; Manjila, Sunil; Malakooti, Nima; Cohen, Alan R

    2012-06-01

    Among the families that have influenced the development of modern medicine into what it is today, the Monro lineage stands as one of the most notable. Alexander Monro primus (1697-1767) was the first of 3 generations with the same name, a dynasty that spanned 126 years occupying the Chair of Anatomy one after the other at the University of Edinburgh. After becoming Professor of Anatomy at the University of Edinburgh in 1719, Monro primus played a principal role in the establishment of the University of Edinburgh School of Medicine and the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. In 1726, he published The Anatomy of the Humane Bones, of which 8 editions were printed during his lifetime. His son, Alexander Monro secundus (1733-1817), arguably the most notable of the 3 men, succeeded him as Professor of Anatomy. A highly regarded lecturer and anatomist, Monro secundus studied under many great physicians, including William Hunter and Johann Friedrich Meckel the Elder, and was also teacher to other well-known figures at the time, such as Joseph Black and Thomas Trotter. His most notable contributions include his work with the lymphatic system, the interventricular foramen (of Monro), and the Monro-Kellie doctrine. Alexander Monro tertius (1773-1859), the last of the dynasty, also succeeded his father as Professor of Anatomy. His work included insights into abdominal aortic aneurysms and the anatomy of the genitourinary system. The prominent association of the Monro family with the University of Edinburgh and the effects of a tenured professorship under the concept of "Ad vitam aut culpam" over successive generations are also described. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this historical review of the Monro family is among the few published in neurosurgical literature. A vivid historical overview of the medical contributions of the most famous and influential dynasty of physicians in Edinburgh at that time is provided, with relevant excerpts from original publications.

  4. Serial Austen. Mashingups with Zombies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eleonora Federici

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Jane Austen sells. She sells in all possible ways, her novels have been adapted for the cinema and the stage, they have been rewritten as comics and graphic novels. Jane austen is a cultural icon. The interest in her life is so strong that many biographies have been written in order to recover new facts and details. The places where she has lived and the places depicted in her novels have become tourist sites for literary pilgrims. Austen is a cross-over phenomenon, with regency costume balls recreated in her name and an endless proliferation of her works in all media. My essay will investigate Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2009, a mash-up novel which has become a real cultural phenomenon of the last decade and will demonstrate how it can be considered a serial narrative. If as Henry Jenkins asserts, seriality implies the unfolding of a story over time through a process of “chunking” (that is creating meaningful parts of the same story and of “dispersal” (that is breaking the story into more parts and in more genres and media, mash-ups seems to do this.  Austen’s story remains as a “story hook” which pushes the reader to come back to different products for a continuation of the same story. So, if on the one hand, seriality occurs within the same text, the story-telling of Austen’s stories across genres and media is part of a seriality process.

  5. Sensing the Opaque : Seriality and the Aesthetics of Televisual Form

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dasgupta, S.; Kelleter, F.

    2017-01-01

    Recent work on TV seriality focuses on the deference of meaning through narrative extension. Contemporary seriality, it has been argued, exploits this expanding textuality to construct complicated narratives that tip the pleasures of seriality toward detecting the meaning of the plot's

  6. EVANGELICAL IMAGES AND MOTIFS IN SERGEY ORLOV'S POEMS ABOUT THE BATTLE OF KULIKOVO (IN COMPARISON WITH ALEXANDER BLOK'S CYCLE OF POEMS "ON THE FIELD OF KULIKOVO"

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Svetlana Olegovna Zakharchenko

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available The Battle of Kulikovo is one of the most significant events in Russian history. This article studies five poems by Alexander Blok and Sergey Orlov devoted to this battle. Alexander Blok's cycle of poems On the Field of Kulikovo prophetically predicts future changes in Russia. Sergey Orlov's poems devoted to this historical event can be seen as a certain indicator of his creative evolution. The image of the homeland, as well as the image of his wife (widow, both in Blok's and Orlov's poems originates from the image of the Mother of God. Images of a celestial body used by both poets are associated with military paraphernalia and arise from the evangelical images, while the warrior image is based on the evangelical image of brotherhood. Poetic experience of Alexander Blok and Sergey Orlov reveals Orthodox roots that nourish the entire Russian culture.

  7. Serial private infrastructures

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van den Berg, V.A.C.

    2013-01-01

    This paper investigates private supply of two congestible infrastructures that are serial, where the consumer has to use both in order to consume. Four market structures are analysed: a monopoly and 3 duopolies that differ in how firms interact. It is well known that private supply leads too high

  8. Serial murder: An unusual stereotype.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sane, Mandar R; Mugadlimath, Anand B; Farooqui, Jamebaseer M; Janagond, Anand B; Mishra, Pradeep K

    2017-12-01

    Serial murders attract attention from the media, mental health experts, academia, and the general public. We present a case of serial murders that took place in a limited area and which caused public anxiety and anguish in central India. All the victims were homeless beggars, who were bludgeoned to death (crush injury). Individual murders were initially investigated by different police stations; fortunately, since they sent all the bodies to a common autopsy centre, a forensic pathologist was able to link all the cases, the first person to do so. This emphasises the need for sharing information among police stations and autopsy centres.

  9. Child serial murder-psychodynamics: closely watched shadows.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turco, R

    2001-01-01

    There is a malignant transformation in object relations resulting in an identification with an omnipotent and cruel object resulting in an identity transformation. If the tension, desperation, and dissociation increase, serial murder becomes spree murder. The presence of pathological narcissism and psychopathic tendencies are of diagnostic significance in understanding the murderer's personality functioning and motivation to kill. Meloy (1988) considered the degree of sadism and aggression combined with narcissistic qualities to reflect the "malignancy" of the psychopathic disturbance where gratification (of aggression) occurs in the service of narcissistic functioning--that is, cruelty toward others in the form of a triumphant victory over a rejecting object. Meloy also believes that dissociation is ubiquitious in the psychopath. The initial murder of the serial murderer may reflect a "new identity." The pathological object-relations of narcissism and the malignant narcissism are important diagnostic indicators in the personality functioning of serial killers and the occurrence of these phenomena is a significant factor in the formation of the personalities of serial killers, their inner motivations, and their pattern of commission.

  10. IMPLEMENTATION OF SERIAL AND PARALLEL BUBBLE SORT ON FPGA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dwi Marhaendro Jati Purnomo

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Sorting is common process in computational world. Its utilization are on many fields from research to industry. There are many sorting algorithm in nowadays. One of the simplest yet powerful is bubble sort. In this study, bubble sort is implemented on FPGA. The implementation was taken on serial and parallel approach. Serial and parallel bubble sort then compared by means of its memory, execution time, and utility which comprises slices and LUTs. The experiments show that serial bubble sort required smaller memory as well as utility compared to parallel bubble sort. Meanwhile, parallel bubble sort performed faster than serial bubble sort

  11. A high speed serializer ASIC for ATLAS Liquid Argon calorimeter upgrade

    CERN Document Server

    Liu, T; The ATLAS collaboration

    2011-01-01

    The current front-end electronics of the ATLAS Liquid Argon calorimeters need to be upgraded to sustain the higher radiation levels and data rates expected at the upgraded LHC machine (HL-LHC), which will have 5 times more luminosity than the LHC in its ultimate configuration. This upgrade calls for an optical link system of 100 Gbps per front-end board (FEB). A high speed, low power, radiation tolerant serializer is the critical component in this system. In this paper, we present the design and test results of a single channel 16:1 serializer and the design of a double-channel 16:1 serializer. Both designs are based on a commercial 0.25 μm silicon-on-sapphire CMOS technology. The single channel serializer consists of a serializing unit, a PLL clock generator and a line driver implemented in current mode logic (CML). The serializing unit multiplexes 16 bit parallel LVDS data into 1-bit width serial CMOS data. The serializing unit is composed of a cascade of 2:1 multiplexing circuits based on static D-flip-fl...

  12. A stone at the Siege of Cyropolis and the death of Alexander the Great.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Andrew N; Arnott, Robert

    2004-06-01

    Alexander the Great was struck by a stone at the Siege of Cyropolis in 329 BC and was rendered temporarily blind and inaudible as a result. Although other authors have written extensively about the likely pathological effects of this injury, none have suggested carotid artery dissection as a possible cause. We present evidence that this should be considered as a differential diagnosis and how it might explain an unusual symptom seen at his deathbed in Babylon six years later.

  13. Unterwegs zum Weltbewußtsein. Alexander von Humboldts Wissenschaftsverständnis und die Entstehung einer ethisch fundierten Weltanschauung

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ottmar Ette

    2000-10-01

    Full Text Available Article in German, Abstracts in English and Spanish. Towards Global Consciousness. Alexander von Humboldt's Conception of Science and the emerging ethical Weltanschauung. In the context of recent reflections upon global ethics (Hans Küng, global democracy (Otfried Höffe and a new cultural situation after the end of the Cold War (Clifford Geertz, Alexander von Humboldt's concept of global consciousness (Weltbewußtsein marks a decisive point in the ungoing process of the construction of a new ethics of globalization. This article tries to show how Humboldt's transdisciplinary and intercultural conception of sience as WorldWideWeb integrates Kant's philosophical visions of global political institutions and formulates a critique of the non-empirical foundations of Hegel's teleological Weltanschauung. From his Visions of Nature and his Personal Narrative to his Cosmos, Humboldt's theory and practice of science help us to find a new ethos and new answers to the contemporary questions of divergent modernities.

  14. Geschichte der Natur bei Alexander von Humboldt

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christian Helmreich

    2009-05-01

    Full Text Available Article in German, Abstracts in English, German and French.This article analyses the importance of an historical view of nature in the works of Alexander von Humboldt. In several of his first writings, Humboldt seems to outline the importance of what one may call history of nature. But even before his famous American travel, his position changed and he became reluctant to accept the seriousness of historical enquiry in the area of natural sciences: if we want to reconstruct the past state of nature, we cannot rely on empirical proofs; and history of nature is therefore necessarily based on uncertain hypotheses. Humboldt kept his sceptical attitude in the first decades of the 19th century, despite the positive results of the palaeontological researches of his scientific colleagues. However, he gradually convinced himself of the scientific interest of historical investigations in the natural sciences. The Cosmos paradoxally displays two apparently conflicting points of view: in his methodological remarks, Humboldt maintains that precise accounts of the past state of nature are out of reach of human knowledge, yet elsewhere in the same Cosmos he gives broad and rather vivid descriptions of the eventful history of nature.

  15. [The serial murder: a few theoretical perspectives].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leistedt, S; Linkowski, P

    2011-01-01

    Despite numbers of publications and effort to try to establish the definition, the classification, the epidemiology, the clinical aspects and the psychopathology of serial killers, a universal consensus seems to say the least. Crime, though reduced in some countries, appears to impact more and more consistent worldwide, generating controversial ideas and a multitude of possible explanations. The serial killer usually presents as a caucasian man, aged between 20 and 40 years, often embedded socially and in his family, but with serious psychiatric, personal and especially family history. Usually acting alone, the serial killer plans a crime well in advance, but sometimes within the scope of impulsivity for a minority, the victim not being previously selected. In the latter case, an actual mental illness like psychosis is found. It is clear from numerous psychopathological studies conducted so far that most serial killers are defined as psychopathic sexual sadists, whose childhood was difficult, if not flouted, punctuated by physical and psychological violence situations. In addition, pervasive fantasies combined with thoughts of death, sex and violence are as much in common with the original acts of which they are the instigators. Beyond a relentless media that is constantly watering the public with stories and pictures depicting them as such, serial killers remain an enigma. We can therefore attempt to answer the various questions raised by this phenomenon, the way these people operate and how we can curb the rise, thanks to the neurobiological and neurophysiological approaches that science offers us.

  16. The Alexander Technique and musicians: a systematic review of controlled trials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klein, Sabine D; Bayard, Claudine; Wolf, Ursula

    2014-10-24

    Musculoskeletal disorders, stress and performance anxiety are common in musicians. Therefore, some use the Alexander Technique (AT), a psycho-physical method that helps to release unnecessary muscle tension and re-educates non-beneficial movement patterns through intentional inhibition of unwanted habitual behaviours. According to a recent review AT sessions may be effective for chronic back pain. This review aimed to evaluate the evidence for the effectiveness of AT sessions on musicians' performance, anxiety, respiratory function and posture. The following electronic databases were searched up to February 2014 for relevant publications: PUBMED, Google Scholar, CINAHL, EMBASE, AMED, PsycINFO and RILM. The search criteria were "Alexander Technique" AND "music*". References were searched, and experts and societies of AT or musicians' medicine contacted for further publications. 237 citations were assessed. 12 studies were included for further analysis, 5 of which were randomised controlled trials (RCTs), 5 controlled but not randomised (CTs), and 2 mixed methods studies. Main outcome measures in RCTs and CTs were music performance, respiratory function, performance anxiety, body use and posture. Music performance was judged by external experts and found to be improved by AT in 1 of 3 RCTs; in 1 RCT comparing neurofeedback (NF) to AT, only NF caused improvements. Respiratory function was investigated in 2 RCTs, but not improved by AT training. Performance anxiety was mostly assessed by questionnaires and decreased by AT in 2 of 2 RCTs and in 2 of 2 CTs. A variety of outcome measures has been used to investigate the effectiveness of AT sessions in musicians. Evidence from RCTs and CTs suggests that AT sessions may improve performance anxiety in musicians. Effects on music performance, respiratory function and posture yet remain inconclusive. Future trials with well-established study designs are warranted to further and more reliably explore the potential of AT in the

  17. Development of serial magnification angiography and its clinical significance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sasaki, Tsuneo; Matsubara, Kazuhito; Ishiguchi, Tsuneo; Mashita, Shinichi; Kaii, Osamu

    1979-01-01

    In order to apply serial magnification angiography to clinical examinations so easily, a serial cardioangiography apparatus was equipped with a tube having 0.1 mm focal spot and with DRX-431HD diode. A CAT-FK Type catheter bed (Toshiba) was used as a roentgenographic table and a PUCK film changer was used. Thus, serial magnification angiography can be easily used to clinical examinations, and can be set in a usual x-ray photographic studio. Serial magnification angiography was used to examine the cerebral vessels in 6 patients, vessels of the pulmonary circulation in 1 patient, bronchial arteries in 6 patients, the celiac artery in 18 patients, the superior mesenteric artery in 2 patients, inferior mesenteric artery in 2 patients, the renal artery in 2 patients, and the adrenal vein in 7 patients. Owing to this angiography, minute changes in the vessel in the lesion can be observed and fine neovascularity can be detected. Thus, serial magnification angiography makes diagnoses of vascular disorders easier. (Ichikawa, K.)

  18. Riding on the Back of a Giant: Adding Malta to the "5 Cultures" Study by Robin Alexander

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peresso, Randolph

    2017-01-01

    This paper focuses on the methodology adopted for Malta+5, which builds on Robin Alexander's work by comparing the five pedagogical cultures he studied to the one in Malta. It reflects critically on the research process adopted in this study, and shows how, despite the very limited experience and resources, applying the methodology, frameworks and…

  19. How Do We Write about Performance in Serial Television?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elliott Logan

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Television studies has produced few sustained analyses of performance in serial television. Yet film studies scholarship has shown how attending to the integration of performances with other aspects of film style is crucial to the interpretation and appreciation of expression and meaning in filmed narrative fictions. However, as a particle form of filmed serial narrative, series television raises a number of questions about performance that will not necessarily be satisfyingly addressed by the direct adoption and application of approaches to writing about performance that have been honed in regard to film. How, then, do we write about performance in television serials in ways that recognise and accommodate the form’s relationship to film, while at the same time appropriately acknowledging and responding to long-form television’s serial status? To examine the difficulties and opportunities of approaching performance in serial television this way, the article conducts close readings of various pieces of television studies writing on performance, by scholars such as Jason Mittell, Sue Turnbull, George Toles, and Steven Peacock. Their work brings into view film and television’s points of common relation, and the distinctive challenges, achievements, and rewards of appreciating the best television serials, and the performances in them.

  20. Determination of motive of serial invaders as a stage of serial murders investigation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Davydov A.B.

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available the article discusses the existing classification of motives of serial murderers. The author provides the classification, which is based on the technique of extreme meanings offered by D.A. Leontyev.

  1. Playing at Serial Acquisitions

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    J.T.J. Smit (Han); T. Moraitis (Thras)

    2010-01-01

    textabstractBehavioral biases can result in suboptimal acquisition decisions-with the potential for errors exacerbated in consolidating industries, where consolidators design serial acquisition strategies and fight escalating takeover battles for platform companies that may determine their future

  2. PORNOGRAFI DALAM SERIAL ANIME ANAK (ANALISIS SEMIOTIKA DALAM SERIAL CRAYON SHIN CHAN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    - Sangidun

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Crayon Shin Chan, a Japanese two-dimension animation series broadcast in one of private Indonesian TVs, is categorized into child’s program since it is broadcast at child’s prime time, Sunday 08.30 a.m. In spite of its broadcast time, this series consist of symbols directed not for children, such as some acts that are not appropriate to be done by children, especially in Indonesia. Moreover, adult symbols of sex are also found in the program. For this reason it will be interesting to analyze it using semiotic analysis. Semiotics is the study of symbol and its meaning which its principle concept is that both signifier and signified consist of symbols and are related to denotation and connotation.   Crayon Shin Chan merupakan serial animasi dua dimensi yang tayang di salah satu stasiun televisi swasta di Indonesia. Ini merupakan produk animasi 2 dimensi yang diimpor dari Jepang. Di Indonesia, serial ini masuk dalam kategori acara anak. Hal ini dapat dilihat dari jam penayangannya yang merupakan waktu prime time bagi anak, yakni pada hari minggu pukul 08.30. Akan tetapi, pada serial ini banyak simbol-simbol yang mengarah pada tayangan yang bukan untuk anak-anak, yakni adeganadegan yang tidak pantas dilakukan oleh anak khususnya di Indonesia. Serta adanya pula simbol-simbol yang mengarah pada tayangan berbau dewasa. Tentu akan menarik jika tayangan ini diteliti menggunakan analisis semiotika. Semiotika sendiri merupakan kajian ilmu mengenai tanda dan makna. Yang pada prinsipnya, konsep penting seperti penanda (signifier dan petanda (signified sama-sama terdiri dari tanda dan terkait dengan denotasi dan konotasi.

  3. Stochastic modeling of a serial killer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simkin, M V; Roychowdhury, V P

    2014-08-21

    We analyze the time pattern of the activity of a serial killer, who during 12 years had murdered 53 people. The plot of the cumulative number of murders as a function of time is of "Devil's staircase" type. The distribution of the intervals between murders (step length) follows a power law with the exponent of 1.4. We propose a model according to which the serial killer commits murders when neuronal excitation in his brain exceeds certain threshold. We model this neural activity as a branching process, which in turn is approximated by a random walk. As the distribution of the random walk return times is a power law with the exponent 1.5, the distribution of the inter-murder intervals is thus explained. We illustrate analytical results by numerical simulation. Time pattern activity data from two other serial killers further substantiate our analysis. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Alexander the Great's tombolos at Tyre and Alexandria, eastern Mediterranean

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marriner, N.; Goiran, J. P.; Morhange, C.

    2008-08-01

    Tyre and Alexandria's coastlines are today characterised by wave-dominated tombolos, peculiar sand isthmuses that link former islands to the adjacent continent. Paradoxically, despite a long history of inquiry into spit and barrier formation, understanding of the dynamics and sedimentary history of tombolos over the Holocene timescale is poor. At Tyre and Alexandria we demonstrate that these rare coastal features are the heritage of a long history of natural morphodynamic forcing and human impacts. In 332 BC, following a protracted seven-month siege of the city, Alexander the Great's engineers cleverly exploited a shallow sublittoral sand bank to seize the island fortress; Tyre's causeway served as a prototype for Alexandria's Heptastadium built a few months later. We report stratigraphic and geomorphological data from the two sand spits, proposing a chronostratigraphic model of tombolo evolution.

  5. Alexander von Humboldt: The American Hemisphere and TransArea Studies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ottmar Ette

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available From the very first landing in a bounteous tropical world, European wonderment in the face of so many marvels naturally possessed a dimension that strived for knowledge and tried to conjoin a new world with old and antiquarian knowledge in a very reductionist fashion. Is Alexander von Humboldt therefore merely a new, a “second Columbus,” as he was so often described in the further course of the history of his reception? Does he simply repeat the gestures and res gestae for which the great discoverers had already set the example and in a way even predetermined? Are Humboldt and Bonpland thus caught in the trap of the perception of the other in occidental culture that enters the gray area of colonial expansion and an imperial(ist view?

  6. An Investigation of Selective College and University Libraries' Serial Arrangement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kesler, Elizabeth Gates; Teborek, Gay

    Data from a survey on serials arrangement procedures and policies at academic libraries was used by the University of Rhode Island (URI) Library in changing current serials policies. Ten libraries, four of which have similar serial holdings and user populations to URI, responded to a questionnaire. Information was obtained on classification versus…

  7. Serials cataloging at the turn of the century

    CERN Document Server

    Williams, James W

    2014-01-01

    An overview of the research topics and trends that have appeared over the last five years, Serials Cataloging at the Turn of the Century doesn't just tell you that there has been a lot of change--that the information environment is something of a chameleon, always beguiling and slipping out of grasp. Instead, it gives you the plain facts on the specific challenges serials catalogers have been facing and how they're meeting adversity head-on, ready to gain the advantage in the rumble with proliferating information and formats.Comprehensive, resource-packed, and easy-to-digest, Serials Catalogin

  8. Fast Grasp Contact Computation for a Serial Robot

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, Jianying (Inventor); Hargrave, Brian (Inventor); Diftler, Myron A. (Inventor)

    2015-01-01

    A system includes a controller and a serial robot having links that are interconnected by a joint, wherein the robot can grasp a three-dimensional (3D) object in response to a commanded grasp pose. The controller receives input information, including the commanded grasp pose, a first set of information describing the kinematics of the robot, and a second set of information describing the position of the object to be grasped. The controller also calculates, in a two-dimensional (2D) plane, a set of contact points between the serial robot and a surface of the 3D object needed for the serial robot to achieve the commanded grasp pose. A required joint angle is then calculated in the 2D plane between the pair of links using the set of contact points. A control action is then executed with respect to the motion of the serial robot using the required joint angle.

  9. Representation of the serial killer on the Italian Internet.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Villano, P; Bastianoni, P; Melotti, G

    2001-10-01

    The representation of serial killers was examined from the analysis of 317 Web pages in the Italian language to study how the psychological profiles of serial killers are described on the Italian Internet. The correspondence analysis of the content of these Web pages shows that in Italy the serial killer is associated with words such as "monster" and "horror," which suggest and imply psychological perversion and aberrant acts. These traits are peculiar for the Italian scenario.

  10. Effects of Serial Rehearsal Training on Memory Search

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCauley, Charley; And Others

    1976-01-01

    Half the subjects were trained to use a serial rehearsal strategy during target set storage and half were given no strategy training. The results indicate that the rate of memory search is IQ-related, and that serial rehearsal training facilitates memory search when rehearsal is covert. (Author/BW)

  11. Highlights in radiation measuring technique's - Serial Micro Channel SMC 2100

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kandler, M.; Hoffmann, Ch.

    2002-01-01

    The Serial Micro Channel SMC 2100 offers an ''intelligent stand alone'' electronics for the radiation measuring technique's. First it is designed of being connected to a serial interface RS232 of a PC. With a RS485 serial interface on a PC, a network structure can be generated. It has all functional modules which are necessary for the measurement of detector signals. Hence it is possible to directly connect any detector for radiation measurement to a PC, laptop, or notebook. All variations can be operated without PC support too. It has a modular structure and consists of two blocks, the functional modules and the basic modules. The Serial Micro Channel SMC 2100 may be directly coupled to a detector, which therefore makes the realisation of an ''intelligent radiation detector'' with serial link RS232 or RS485. (orig.)

  12. Examining the relationship between free recall and immediate serial recall: the serial nature of recall and the effect of test expectancy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bhatarah, Parveen; Ward, Geoff; Tan, Lydia

    2008-01-01

    In two experiments, we examined the relationship between free recall and immediate serial recall (ISR), using a within-subjects (Experiment 1) and a between-subjects (Experiment 2) design. In both experiments, participants read aloud lists of eight words and were precued or postcued to respond using free recall or ISR. The serial position curves were U-shaped for free recall and showed extended primacy effects with little or no recency for ISR, and there was little or no difference between recall for the precued and the postcued conditions. Critically, analyses of the output order showed that although the participants started their recall from different list positions in the two tasks, the degree to which subsequent recall was serial in a forward order was strikingly similar. We argue that recalling in a serial forward order is a general characteristic of memory and that performance on ISR and free recall is underpinned by common memory mechanisms.

  13. Multistage parallel-serial time averaging filters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Theodosiou, G.E.

    1980-01-01

    Here, a new time averaging circuit design, the 'parallel filter' is presented, which can reduce the time jitter, introduced in time measurements using counters of large dimensions. This parallel filter could be considered as a single stage unit circuit which can be repeated an arbitrary number of times in series, thus providing a parallel-serial filter type as a result. The main advantages of such a filter over a serial one are much less electronic gate jitter and time delay for the same amount of total time uncertainty reduction. (orig.)

  14. Converting serial networks to Ethernet communications

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rosado, Elroy [Freewave Technologies, Inc., Boulder, CO (United States). Latin America

    2008-07-01

    Many oil and gas producers and pipeline companies find themselves in an awkward position. They have invested millions of dollars in legacy serial communications systems and in most cases, millions more in older SCADA remote terminal units and electronic flow meters. There is a desire throughout most of the industry to convert these systems to Ethernet. This presentation will explore how Ethernet protocol offers advantages over the older serial communications in terms of peer to peer communication, faster polling cycles, and the ability to poll multiple devices at the same time. (author)

  15. Implementation of Serial and Parallel Bubble Sort on Fpga

    OpenAIRE

    Purnomo, Dwi Marhaendro Jati; Arinaldi, Ahmad; Priyantini, Dwi Teguh; Wibisono, Ari; Febrian, Andreas

    2016-01-01

    Sorting is common process in computational world. Its utilization are on many fields from research to industry. There are many sorting algorithm in nowadays. One of the simplest yet powerful is bubble sort. In this study, bubble sort is implemented on FPGA. The implementation was taken on serial and parallel approach. Serial and parallel bubble sort then compared by means of its memory, execution time, and utility which comprises slices and LUTs. The experiments show that serial bubble sort r...

  16. Serial forced displacement in American cities, 1916-2010.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fullilove, Mindy Thompson; Wallace, Rodrick

    2011-06-01

    Serial forced displacement has been defined as the repetitive, coercive upheaval of groups. In this essay, we examine the history of serial forced displacement in American cities due to federal, state, and local government policies. We propose that serial forced displacement sets up a dynamic process that includes an increase in interpersonal and structural violence, an inability to react in a timely fashion to patterns of threat or opportunity, and a cycle of fragmentation as a result of the first two. We present the history of the policies as they affected one urban neighborhood, Pittsburgh's Hill District. We conclude by examining ways in which this problematic process might be addressed.

  17. Comparing the radiosensitivity of cervical and thoracic spinal cord using the relative seriality model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adamus-Gorka, M.; Lind, B.K.; Brahme, A.

    2003-01-01

    Spinal cord is one of the most important normal tissues that are aimed to be spared during radiation therapy of cancer. This organ has been known for its strongly serial character and its high sensitivity to radiation. In order to compare the sensitivity of different parts of spinal cord, the early data (1970's) for radiation myelopathy available in the literature could be used. In the present study the relative seriality model (Kallman et al. 1992) has been fitted to two different sets of clinical data for spinal cord irradiation: radiation myelitis of cervical spinal cord after treating 248 patients for malignant disease of head and neck (Abbatucci et al. 1978) and radiation myelitis of thoracic spinal cord after radiation treating 43 patients with lung carcinoma (Reinhold et al. 1976). The maximum likelihood method was applied for the fitting and the corresponding parameters together with their 68% confidence intervals calculated for each of the datasets respectively. The alpha-beta ratio for the thoracic survival was also obtained. On the basis of the present study the following conclusions can be drawn: 1. radiation myelopathy is a strongly serial endpoint, 2. it appears to be differences in radiosensitivity between the cervical and thoracic region of spinal cord, 3. thoracic spinal cord revealed very serial characteristic of dose response, while the cervical myelopathy seems to be a bit less serial endpoint, 4. the dose-response curve is much steeper in case of myelopathy of cervical spinal cord, due to the much higher gamma value for this region. This work compares the fitting of NTCP model to the cervical and thoracic regions of the spinal cord and shows quite different responses. In the future more data should be tested for better understanding the mechanism of spinal cord sensitivity to radiation

  18. Presentación atípica de la enfermedad de Alexander infantil sin macrocefalia

    OpenAIRE

    Carmen Esmer; Miguel Villegas-Aguilera; Juan José Morales-Ibarra; Antonio Bravo-Oro

    2016-01-01

    Introducción: La enfermedad de Alexander consiste en una forma de leucodistrofia poco frecuente que afecta principalmente a los astrocitos; tiene un patrón de herencia autosómica recesiva y es causada por mutaciones en el gen GFAP, localizado en el cromosoma 17q21. Puede presentarse a cualquier edad y la forma infantil se caracteriza por macrocefalia, crisis convulsivas, retraso motor y cognitivo grave y espasticidad o ataxia progresivas. Caso clínico: Paciente de sexo femenino de 8 meses ...

  19. Teaching Nuclear Radiation and the Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lapp, David R.

    2008-03-01

    The recent international story about the death of the former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko has more than just a few wondering about radiation poisoning and the sinister sounding polonium-210. I was preparing to begin a nuclear radiation unit the Monday after Thanksgiving 2006. As it turned out, Litvinenko died Thanksgiving Day after a short and terrible three-week illness. Having the story continue to unfold throughout the next two weeks of the new unit provided a daily opportunity for students to see the relevance of what we were doing in class. My students were able to have meaningful and informed conversations with their peers and parents over an important international event. They even began to feel a bit like authorities themselves when listening to experts respond to media questions about polonium-210 and nuclear radiation in general. This paper discusses some of the ways that the story of Litvinenko was used while presenting the topic of nuclear radiation.

  20. In Memoru of Alexander M. Poniatoff (1892 – 1980

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. P. Samokhin

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available A brief overview of the life and works of the main achievements of Alexander M. Poniatoff is given. He was an outstanding engineer and founder of AMPEX – American company that won the world recognition in the field of magnetic recording of signals. The description of life AM Poniatowa in childhood and youth, his education in Russia and Germany, in the imperial service, and the "white" army, emigration and employment in the United States, including the establishment of the company AMPEX details and interesting facts from its progressive development into a global leader audio and video equipment. The AMPEX engineers created the world's first tape recorders and videotape recorders of professional quality, which contributed to the radical improvement of the radio and television broadcasting technologies. Twelve development AMPEX awarded prizes Emmy Awards, awarded by the American Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and the four recognized as the best in the category Monitor Awards International Society of television production.

  1. Kinematics and dynamics analysis of a novel serial-parallel dynamic simulator

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hu, Bo; Zhang, Lian Dong; Yu, Jingjing [Parallel Robot and Mechatronic System Laboratory of Hebei Province, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao, Hebei (China)

    2016-11-15

    A serial-parallel dynamics simulator based on serial-parallel manipulator is proposed. According to the dynamics simulator motion requirement, the proposed serial-parallel dynamics simulator formed by 3-RRS (active revolute joint-revolute joint-spherical joint) and 3-SPR (Spherical joint-active prismatic joint-revolute joint) PMs adopts the outer and inner layout. By integrating the kinematics, constraint and coupling information of the 3-RRS and 3-SPR PMs into the serial-parallel manipulator, the inverse Jacobian matrix, velocity, and acceleration of the serial-parallel dynamics simulator are studied. Based on the principle of virtual work and the kinematics model, the inverse dynamic model is established. Finally, the workspace of the (3-RRS)+(3-SPR) dynamics simulator is constructed.

  2. Kinematics and dynamics analysis of a novel serial-parallel dynamic simulator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hu, Bo; Zhang, Lian Dong; Yu, Jingjing

    2016-01-01

    A serial-parallel dynamics simulator based on serial-parallel manipulator is proposed. According to the dynamics simulator motion requirement, the proposed serial-parallel dynamics simulator formed by 3-RRS (active revolute joint-revolute joint-spherical joint) and 3-SPR (Spherical joint-active prismatic joint-revolute joint) PMs adopts the outer and inner layout. By integrating the kinematics, constraint and coupling information of the 3-RRS and 3-SPR PMs into the serial-parallel manipulator, the inverse Jacobian matrix, velocity, and acceleration of the serial-parallel dynamics simulator are studied. Based on the principle of virtual work and the kinematics model, the inverse dynamic model is established. Finally, the workspace of the (3-RRS)+(3-SPR) dynamics simulator is constructed

  3. Recommendations for CAMAC Serial Highway drivers and LAM Graders for the SCC-L2 Serial Crate Controller

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1978-01-01

    The functional requirements of Drivers for the CAMAC Serial Highway defined in IEEE Standard 595-1976 are described. The description is independent of the implementation, and in particular no assumption is made about the boundary between hardware and software within the Driver. Topics covered are the user interface, the supporting system services required, demand handling, and a detailed discussion of the message analysis for various levels of error recovery. An appendix describes the recommended features of LAM Graders for use with the Serial Crate Controller Type L2 of IEEE Std 595-1976

  4. A psychological profile of a serial killer: a case report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dogra, T D; Leenaars, Antoon A; Chadha, R K; Manju, Mehta; Lalwani, Sanjeev; Sood, Mamta; Lester, David; Raina, Anupuma; Behera, C

    2012-01-01

    Serial killers have always fascinated society. A serial killer is typically defined as a perpetrator who murders three or more people over a period of time. Most reported cases of serial killers come from the United States and Canada. In India, there are few reported cases. We present, to the best of our knowledge, the first Indian case in the literature. The present case is of a 28-year-old man, Surinder Koli. The Department of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delphi handled the forensic study. We present a most unique psychological investigation into the mind of a serial killer.

  5. Malignant sex and aggression: an overview of serial sexual homicide.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Myers, W C; Reccoppa, L; Burton, K; McElroy, R

    1993-01-01

    Serial murderers have attracted considerable attention in the popular press and criminal justice field, but scientific literature about these individuals is limited. This article provides an overview, from a psychiatric perspective, of serial sexual homicide, one type of serial killing. Characteristics of this type of murder and of these offenders are discussed. Defining qualities and diagnoses applicable to serial sexual killers are reviewed. Various etiologic theories are discussed, with emphasis on the role of fantasy and psychodynamic explanations. Governmental agencies involved in combating this type of crime, along with the role of mental health professionals in criminal profiling, are presented. Finally, the authors explore the reaction of society to this phenomenon.

  6. Alexander fractional differential window filter for ECG denoising.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verma, Atul Kumar; Saini, Indu; Saini, Barjinder Singh

    2018-06-01

    The electrocardiogram (ECG) non-invasively monitors the electrical activities of the heart. During the process of recording and transmission, ECG signals are often corrupted by various types of noises. Minimizations of these noises facilitate accurate detection of various anomalies. In the present paper, Alexander fractional differential window (AFDW) filter is proposed for ECG signal denoising. The designed filter is based on the concept of generalized Alexander polynomial and the R-L differential equation of fractional calculus. This concept is utilized to formulate a window that acts as a forward filter. Thereafter, the backward filter is constructed by reversing the coefficients of the forward filter. The proposed AFDW filter is then obtained by averaging of the forward and backward filter coefficients. The performance of the designed AFDW filter is validated by adding the various type of noise to the original ECG signal obtained from MIT-BIH arrhythmia database. The two non-diagnostic measure, i.e., SNR, MSE, and one diagnostic measure, i.e., wavelet energy based diagnostic distortion (WEDD) have been employed for the quantitative evaluation of the designed filter. Extensive experimentations on all the 48-records of MIT-BIH arrhythmia database resulted in average SNR of 22.014 ± 3.806365, 14.703 ± 3.790275, 13.3183 ± 3.748230; average MSE of 0.001458 ± 0.00028, 0.0078 ± 0.000319, 0.01061 ± 0.000472; and average WEDD value of 0.020169 ± 0.01306, 0.1207 ± 0.061272, 0.1432 ± 0.073588, for ECG signal contaminated by the power line, random, and the white Gaussian noise respectively. A new metric named as morphological power preservation measure (MPPM) is also proposed that account for the power preservance (as indicated by PSD plots) and the QRS morphology. The proposed AFDW filter retained much of the original (clean) signal power without any significant morphological distortion as validated by MPPM measure that were 0

  7. Transtornos de personalidade, psicopatia e serial killers Personality disorders, psychopathy and serial killers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hilda C P Morana

    2006-10-01

    Full Text Available OBJETIVO: Apresentar as características básicas dos diversos transtornos específicos de personalidade, mas centrando-se no transtorno de personalidade anti-social, fazendo sua diferenciação com psicopatia. O estudo ainda se propõe a abordar a figura do serial killer, apontando a presença de aspectos psicopáticos no homicídio seriado. MÉTODO: Uma revisão bibliográfica foi feita no sentido de se abordar convergências e divergências entre diversos autores sobre um assunto tão polêmico, sobretudo quanto à viabilidade de tratamento dessa clientela forense. RESULTADOS: Enquanto o transtorno de personalidade anti-social é um diagnóstico médico, pode-se entender o termo "psicopatia", pertencente à esfera psiquiátrico-forense, como um "diagnóstico legal". Não se pode falar ainda de tratamento eficaz para os chamados "serial killers". CONCLUSÃO: Os transtornos de personalidade, especialmente o tipo anti-social, representam ainda hoje um verdadeiro desafio para a psiquiatria forense. O local mais adequado e justo para seus portadores, bem como recomendação homogênea e padronizada de tratamento são questões ainda não respondidas.OBJECTIVE: To illustrate the basic characteristics of several specific personality disorders, focusing mainly in antisocial personality disorder. The differences between antisocial personality disorder and psychopathy are highlighted. Serial killers and its psychopathic aspects are also discussed. METHOD: A bibliographic review was completed in order to outline convergences and divergences among different authors about this controversial issue, especially those concerning the possibility of treatment. RESULTS: While anti-social personality disorder is a medical diagnosis, the term "psychopathy" (which belongs to the sphere of forensic psychiatry may be understood as a "legal diagnosis". It is not still possible to identify an effective treatment for serial killers. CONCLUSION: Personality disorders

  8. Semiótica para Horn of Plenty: estética da violência por Alexander Mcqueen

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fábio Pezzi Parode

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available O propósito deste artigo é refletir e caracterizar a estética da violência na obra de Alexander Mcqueen, a partir da semiótica de Horn of Plenty, desfile do outono e inverno de 2009/2010. O problema enfrentado é a construção do sentido, no âmbito da experiência estética, pautada pelos mecanismos da arte e da moda.

  9. Selection and Serial Entrepreneurs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Chen, Jing

    2011-01-01

    Although it has been broadly evidenced that entrepreneurial experience plays a substantial role in the emergence of serial entrepreneurship, the debate is still going on about whether this relationship should be attributed to learning by doing or instead be explained by selection on ability. This...

  10. Suicide in serial killers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lester, David; White, John

    2010-02-01

    In a sample of 248 killers of two victims in America from 1900 to 2005, obtained from an encyclopedia of serial killers by Newton (2006), those completing suicide did not differ in sex, race, or the motive for the killing from those who were arrested.

  11. Optimization and Interpretation of Serial QuantiFERON Testing to Measure Acquisition of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nemes, Elisa; Rozot, Virginie; Geldenhuys, Hennie; Bilek, Nicole; Mabwe, Simbarashe; Abrahams, Deborah; Makhethe, Lebohang; Erasmus, Mzwandile; Keyser, Alana; Toefy, Asma; Cloete, Yolundi; Ratangee, Frances; Blauenfeldt, Thomas; Ruhwald, Morten; Walzl, Gerhard; Smith, Bronwyn; Loxton, Andre G; Hanekom, Willem A; Andrews, Jason R; Lempicki, Maria D; Ellis, Ruth; Ginsberg, Ann M; Hatherill, Mark; Scriba, Thomas J

    2017-09-01

    Conversion from a negative to positive QuantiFERON-TB test is indicative of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection, which predisposes individuals to tuberculosis disease. Interpretation of serial tests is confounded by immunological and technical variability. To improve the consistency of serial QuantiFERON-TB testing algorithms and provide a data-driven definition of conversion. Sources of QuantiFERON-TB variability were assessed, and optimal procedures were identified. Distributions of IFN-γ response levels were analyzed in healthy adolescents, Mtb-unexposed control subjects, and patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. Individuals with no known Mtb exposure had IFN-γ values less than 0.2 IU/ml. Among individuals with IFN-γ values less than 0.2 IU/ml, 0.2-0.34 IU/ml, 0.35-0.7 IU/ml, and greater than 0.7 IU/ml, tuberculin skin test positivity results were 15%, 53%, 66%, and 91% (P 0.7 IU/ml) would allow more definitive detection of recent Mtb infection and potentially improve identification of those more likely to develop disease.

  12. The serial message-passing schedule for LDPC decoding algorithms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Mingshan; Liu, Shanshan; Zhou, Yuan; Jiang, Xue

    2015-12-01

    The conventional message-passing schedule for LDPC decoding algorithms is the so-called flooding schedule. It has the disadvantage that the updated messages cannot be used until next iteration, thus reducing the convergence speed . In this case, the Layered Decoding algorithm (LBP) based on serial message-passing schedule is proposed. In this paper the decoding principle of LBP algorithm is briefly introduced, and then proposed its two improved algorithms, the grouped serial decoding algorithm (Grouped LBP) and the semi-serial decoding algorithm .They can improve LBP algorithm's decoding speed while maintaining a good decoding performance.

  13. Tevatron serial data repeater system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ducar, R.J.

    1981-01-01

    A ten megabit per second serial data repeater system has been developed for the 6.28km Tevatron accelerator. The repeaters are positioned at each of the thirty service buildings and accommodate control and abort system communications as well as distribution of the Tevatron time and energy clocks. The repeaters are transparent to the particular protocol of the transmissions. Serial data are encoded locally as unipolar two volt signals employing the self-clocking Manchester Bi-Phase code. The repeaters modulate the local signals to low-power bursts of 50 MHz rf carrier for the 260m transmission between service buildings. The repeaters also demodulate the transmission and restructure the data for local utilization. The employment of frequency discrimination techniques yields high immunity to the characteristic noise spectrum

  14. Nanoflow electrospinning serial femtosecond crystallography

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sierra, Raymond G.; Laksmono, Hartawan; Kern, Jan; Tran, Rosalie; Hattne, Johan; Alonso-Mori, Roberto; Lassalle-Kaiser, Benedikt; Glöckner, Carina; Hellmich, Julia; Schafer, Donald W.; Echols, Nathaniel; Gildea, Richard J.; Grosse-Kunstleve, Ralf W.; Sellberg, Jonas; McQueen, Trevor A.; Fry, Alan R.; Messerschmidt, Marc M.; Miahnahri, Alan; Seibert, M. Marvin; Hampton, Christina Y.; Starodub, Dmitri; Loh, N. Duane; Sokaras, Dimosthenis; Weng, Tsu-Chien; Zwart, Petrus H.; Glatzel, Pieter; Milathianaki, Despina; White, William E.; Adams, Paul D.; Williams, Garth J.; Boutet, Sébastien; Zouni, Athina; Messinger, Johannes; Sauter, Nicholas K.; Bergmann, Uwe; Yano, Junko; Yachandra, Vittal K.; Bogan, Michael J.

    2012-01-01

    A low flow rate liquid microjet method for delivery of hydrated protein crystals to X-ray lasers is presented. Linac Coherent Light Source data demonstrates serial femtosecond protein crystallography with micrograms, a reduction of sample consumption by orders of magnitude. An electrospun liquid microjet has been developed that delivers protein microcrystal suspensions at flow rates of 0.14–3.1 µl min −1 to perform serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) studies with X-ray lasers. Thermolysin microcrystals flowed at 0.17 µl min −1 and diffracted to beyond 4 Å resolution, producing 14 000 indexable diffraction patterns, or four per second, from 140 µg of protein. Nanoflow electrospinning extends SFX to biological samples that necessitate minimal sample consumption

  15. Nanoflow electrospinning serial femtosecond crystallography

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sierra, Raymond G.; Laksmono, Hartawan [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA 94025 (United States); Kern, Jan [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA 94025 (United States); Tran, Rosalie; Hattne, Johan [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Alonso-Mori, Roberto [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA 94025 (United States); Lassalle-Kaiser, Benedikt [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Glöckner, Carina; Hellmich, Julia [Technische Universität Berlin, Strasse des 17 Juni 135, 10623 Berlin (Germany); Schafer, Donald W. [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA 94025 (United States); Echols, Nathaniel; Gildea, Richard J.; Grosse-Kunstleve, Ralf W. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Sellberg, Jonas [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA 94025 (United States); Stockholm University, S-106 91 Stockholm (Sweden); McQueen, Trevor A. [Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94025 (United States); Fry, Alan R.; Messerschmidt, Marc M.; Miahnahri, Alan; Seibert, M. Marvin; Hampton, Christina Y.; Starodub, Dmitri; Loh, N. Duane; Sokaras, Dimosthenis; Weng, Tsu-Chien [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA 94025 (United States); Zwart, Petrus H. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Glatzel, Pieter [European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Grenoble (France); Milathianaki, Despina; White, William E. [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA 94025 (United States); Adams, Paul D. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Williams, Garth J.; Boutet, Sébastien [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA 94025 (United States); Zouni, Athina [Technische Universität Berlin, Strasse des 17 Juni 135, 10623 Berlin (Germany); Messinger, Johannes [Umeå Universitet, Umeå (Sweden); Sauter, Nicholas K. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Bergmann, Uwe [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA 94025 (United States); Yano, Junko; Yachandra, Vittal K. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Bogan, Michael J., E-mail: mbogan@slac.stanford.edu [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA 94025 (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA 94025 (United States)

    2012-11-01

    A low flow rate liquid microjet method for delivery of hydrated protein crystals to X-ray lasers is presented. Linac Coherent Light Source data demonstrates serial femtosecond protein crystallography with micrograms, a reduction of sample consumption by orders of magnitude. An electrospun liquid microjet has been developed that delivers protein microcrystal suspensions at flow rates of 0.14–3.1 µl min{sup −1} to perform serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) studies with X-ray lasers. Thermolysin microcrystals flowed at 0.17 µl min{sup −1} and diffracted to beyond 4 Å resolution, producing 14 000 indexable diffraction patterns, or four per second, from 140 µg of protein. Nanoflow electrospinning extends SFX to biological samples that necessitate minimal sample consumption.

  16. „Vater einer großen Nachkommenschaft von Forschungsreisenden ...“ Ehrungen Alexander von Humboldts im Jahre 1869

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ilse Jahn

    2004-04-01

    Full Text Available Article in German, Abstracts in English and GermanIn 1869 the “Naturwissenschaftlicher Verein” was founded in Magdeburg (Saxony Anhalt. That was the time when the scientific world celebrated Alexander von Humboldt’s 100th birthday. In this context, Humboldt’s achievements were remembered during the founding ceremony of that society. The paper which was read in September 2003 on a meeting of this organisation, focuses on three famous naturalists who celebrated Humboldt because they owed him much help in their own professional careers. The botanist Matthias Jacob Schleiden gave a memorial speech in 1869 in Dresden. The physiologist and pioneer of electro-biology Emil du Bois-Reymond honoured his mentor A. v. Humboldt on the occasion of the dedication of the statues of Wilhelm and Alexander in 1883 in Berlin. Charles Darwin expressed his gratitude to Humboldt by sending him in 1839 the report of his travels and received an interesting reply. These three scholars represented a new epoch in the development of the natural sciences. The paper includes a recently re-discovered letter from Humboldt to Schleiden, dated April 13, 1842.

  17. On the Social Psychology of Higher Education: A Bibliography of Alexander W. Astin. Public Administration Series Bibliography, P-688.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quay, Richard H.

    A bibliography of articles by Alexander W. Astin on the social psychology of higher education is presented. Entries are presented by year, starting with 1980 and dating back to 1956. Topics that are covered include: equal access to higher education, student persistence and attrition, higher education policy, selective admissions and open…

  18. Three more semantic serial position functions and a SIMPLE explanation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelley, Matthew R; Neath, Ian; Surprenant, Aimée M

    2013-05-01

    There are innumerable demonstrations of serial position functions-with characteristic primacy and recency effects-in episodic tasks, but there are only a handful of such demonstrations in semantic memory tasks, and those demonstrations have used only two types of stimuli. Here, we provide three more examples of serial position functions when recalling from semantic memory. Participants were asked to reconstruct the order of (1) two cartoon theme song lyrics, (2) the seven Harry Potter books, and (3) two sets of movies, and all three demonstrations yielded conventional-looking serial position functions with primacy and recency effects. The data were well-fit by SIMPLE, a local distinctiveness model of memory that was originally designed to account for serial position effects in short- and long-term episodic memory. According to SIMPLE, serial position functions in both episodic and semantic memory tasks arise from the same type of processing: Items that are more separated from their close neighbors in psychological space at the time of recall will be better remembered. We argue that currently available evidence suggests that serial position functions observed when recalling items that are presumably in semantic memory arise because of the same processes as those observed when recalling items that are presumably in episodic memory.

  19. Natural born killers?: the development of the sexually sadistic serial killer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, B R; Becker, J V

    1997-01-01

    Today's society seems enthralled with serial killers in the news and the media. Forensic psychiatrists often interview serial killers after they have been caught. There are retrospective studies and case reports of individuals who have committed sexually sadistic serial murders. However, there exists a dearth of case reports on adolescents who have expressed serious fantasies about becoming serial killer prior to actualizing their fantasy. This article presents nine clinical cases of 14- to 18-year-olds who have clinically significant fantasies of becoming a serial killer. Similarities exist in these adolescent cases when compared with retrospective studies and case reports of serial killers on the role of sexually sadistic fantasies and actual killings. Since it has been established that sexual paraphilias may develop at a young age, one can surmise that sadistic paraphilias may also develop in some adolescents. The question is posed, can we predict which of these adolescents may go on to actually become serial killers? This article focuses on how the sexually sadistic fantasy can eventually be acted out and possible motives for the act to be repeated multiple times. Finally, recommendations are made about assessing and treating a youngster who expresses violent sexually sadistic killing fantasies so that attempts can be made to interrupt the progression to actual killing.

  20. Using Serial and Discrete Digit Naming to Unravel Word Reading Processes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Altani, Angeliki; Protopapas, Athanassios; Georgiou, George K

    2018-01-01

    During reading acquisition, word recognition is assumed to undergo a developmental shift from slow serial/sublexical processing of letter strings to fast parallel processing of whole word forms. This shift has been proposed to be detected by examining the size of the relationship between serial- and discrete-trial versions of word reading and rapid naming tasks. Specifically, a strong association between serial naming of symbols and single word reading suggests that words are processed serially, whereas a strong association between discrete naming of symbols and single word reading suggests that words are processed in parallel as wholes. In this study, 429 Grade 1, 3, and 5 English-speaking Canadian children were tested on serial and discrete digit naming and word reading. Across grades, single word reading was more strongly associated with discrete naming than with serial naming of digits, indicating that short high-frequency words are processed as whole units early in the development of reading ability in English. In contrast, serial naming was not a unique predictor of single word reading across grades, suggesting that within-word sequential processing was not required for the successful recognition for this set of words. Factor mixture analysis revealed that our participants could be clustered into two classes, namely beginning and more advanced readers. Serial naming uniquely predicted single word reading only among the first class of readers, indicating that novice readers rely on a serial strategy to decode words. Yet, a considerable proportion of Grade 1 students were assigned to the second class, evidently being able to process short high-frequency words as unitized symbols. We consider these findings together with those from previous studies to challenge the hypothesis of a binary distinction between serial/sublexical and parallel/lexical processing in word reading. We argue instead that sequential processing in word reading operates on a continuum

  1. Comparative-historical method in Slavic linguistics and Alexander Vostokov’s philological intuitions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Melkov Andrey Sergeevich

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available The article is devoted to the estimation of Alexander Vostokov’s (1781-1864 contribution to the formation and development of the Slavic philology as a scientific discipline. In the foundation of the research there is the analyses of Vostokov’s work “Judgement about the Slavic language”, which has become the result of the scientist’s study the oldest Russian manuscript “Ostromir Gospels”. Vostokov devised a new method for the Slavic philology, which is used to call comparative-historical in modern science. The scientist gave the beginning of Old Church Slavonic and Old Russian written monuments scientific researching. Thanks to Vostokov’s discoveries, there has been formed the basis of Russian comparative-historical linguistics.

  2. The Organized/Disorganized Typology of Serial Murder: Myth or Model?

    OpenAIRE

    Canter, David V.; Alison, Laurence J.; Alison, Emily; Wentink, Natalia

    2004-01-01

    Despite weaknesses in the organized/disorganized classification of serial killers, it is drawn on for "offender profiles," theories of offending, and in murder trials. This dichotomy was therefore tested by the multidimensional scaling of the co-occurrence of 39 aspects of serial killings derived 100 murders committed by 100 U.S. serial killers. Results revealed no distinct subsets of offense characteristics reflecting the dichotomy. They showed a subset of organized features typical of most ...

  3. Political Storytelling on Instagram: Key Aspects of Alexander Van der Bellen's Successful 2016 Presidential Election Campaign

    OpenAIRE

    Liebhart, Karin; Bernhardt, Petra

    2017-01-01

    This article addresses the strategic use of Instagram in election campaigns for the office of the Austrian Federal President in 2016. Based on a comprehensive visual analysis of 504 Instagram posts from Green-backed but independent presidential candidate Alexander Van der Bellen, who resulted as winner after almost one year of campaigning, this contribution reconstructs key aspects of digital storytelling on Instagram. By identifying relevant image types central to the self-representation of ...

  4. Alexander Numan (1780-1852 en de veredeling van de Nederlandse schapenrassen

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jesper Oldenburger

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Alexander Numan and the improvement of the Dutch sheep breedsAlexander Numan’s life and work provide a splendid illustration of the early nineteenth-century Dutch scientist’s view of the role of science and scientists in society. As a professor at the Utrecht veterinary school he spent a substantial part of his time on a practical endeavour: the improvement of the wool quality of the Dutch sheep breeds. He did not confine his activities to the scientific aspects only, but aimed to obtain the active involvement of all relevant stakeholders in his project: the government, the sheep farmers and the wool industry.In the literature, Numan’s project is seen as a failure: the stakeholders were skeptical about his project from the beginning, as wool improvement was seen as a misguided aim. The Dutch wool industry was perfectly satisfied with the quality of the Dutch wool, and the trend among sheep breeders was to improve their sheeps’ meat meat quality rather than their wool. Eventually, the government withdrew its indispensable support.Nevertheless, Numan clung doggedly to the aim he had set himself, and the question we want to answer is this paper is why. We argue that the answer is to be found in Numan’s view of the role of science in society. His motives were not merely economic, but, first and foremost, of a moral nature. Wool quality, for him, was a measure of the level of civilization a country had reached. Social and cultural progress went hand in hand with the availability of higher quality clothing, the raw materials for which the Dutch sheep were as yet unable to provide. By providing these materials Numan was convinced to contribute directly to the well-being and cultural enhancement of the Dutch population, an objective that was characteristic of the self-fashioned private and public persona of the early nineteenth-century Dutch scientist.

  5. Short- and long-term memory contributions to immediate serial recognition: evidence from serial position effects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Purser, Harry; Jarrold, Christopher

    2010-04-01

    A long-standing body of research supports the existence of separable short- and long-term memory systems, relying on phonological and semantic codes, respectively. The aim of the current study was to measure the contribution of long-term knowledge to short-term memory performance by looking for evidence of phonologically and semantically coded storage within a short-term recognition task, among developmental samples. Each experimental trial presented 4-item lists. In Experiment 1 typically developing children aged 5 to 6 years old showed evidence of phonologically coded storage across all 4 serial positions, but evidence of semantically coded storage at Serial Positions 1 and 2. In a further experiment, a group of individuals with Down syndrome was investigated as a test case that might be expected to use semantic coding to support short-term storage, but these participants showed no evidence of semantically coded storage and evidenced phonologically coded storage only at Serial Position 4, suggesting that individuals with Down syndrome have a verbal short-term memory capacity of 1 item. Our results suggest that previous evidence of semantic effects on "short-term memory performance" does not reflect semantic coding in short-term memory itself, and provide an experimental method for researchers wishing to take a relatively pure measure of verbal short-term memory capacity, in cases where rehearsal is unlikely.

  6. A Alexander von Humboldt, el Ciudadano Universal, en su natalicio 245

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Leonardo De Sousa

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Hace 245 años, en la escala del tiempo del planeta, Alexander von Humboldt vislumbró la luz de la vida el día 14 de septiembre de 1769. A nuestro entender fue el máximo y, quizás, uno de los últimos exponentes de ese movimiento del Enciclopedismo Europeo conocido como la Ilustración . Tal fue su contribución al conocimiento integral del territorio americano que fue calificado por el Libertador Simón Bolívar como el “ descubridor científico del Nuevo Mundo ” y declarado como Ciudadano Mexicano, en 1827, por Guadalupe Victoria (primer presidente de México y luego, como Benemérito de la Patria por el presidente mexicano Benito Juárez.

  7. Utilization of serial resources in libraries of selected tertiary ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Information Impact: Journal of Information and Knowledge Management ... security personnel for adequate monitoring of the serial materials, as well as the need for authors and stakeholders in education to donate more serial materials in order to enrich the collections in the library and enhance academic performance.

  8. IT-based Value Creation in Serial Acquisitions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Henningsson, Stefan; Yetton, Philip

    2013-01-01

    serial acquirers realize IT-based value, we integrate and model the findings on individual acquisitions from the extant literature, and extend that model to explain the effects of sequential acquisitions in a growth-by-acquisition strategy. This extended model, drawing on the Resource-Based Theory......The extant research on post-acquisition IT integration analyzes how acquirers realize IT-based value in individual acquisitions. However, serial acquirers make 60% of acquisitions. These acquisitions are not isolated events, but are components in growth-by-acquisition programs. To explain how...

  9. Opportunity recognition: delineating the process and motivators for serial entrepreneurs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Boris Urban

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available Opportunity recognition is a fundamental research issue in entrepreneurship which this paper empirically investigates for serial entrepreneurs. Initially key definitions and boundary conditions of opportunity recognition are explored to elucidate the relevant motivators driving serial entrepreneurs. After operationalising the various concepts, data is collected by surveying serial entrepreneurs (n= 77 based on pre-determined selection criteria. Since the study’s objective is to build solid theory on these new phenomena, descriptive analysis on the empirical results is provided. To test the hypotheses inferential statistics employing parametric and non-parametric tests are used. The findings reveal that the opportunity recognition behaviours are manifest among serial entrepreneurs, with few significant differences on how many new, major businesses have been pursued, or whether they can be said to be successes.

  10. Neurodegeneration in D-bifunctional protein deficiency: diagnostic clues and natural history using serial magnetic resonance imaging

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Khan, Aneal [University of Calgary, Department of Medical Genetics and Pediatrics, Alberta Children' s Hospital, Calgary, AB (Canada); Wei, Xing-Chang [University of Calgary, Department of Radiology, Alberta Children' s Hospital, Calgary, AB (Canada); Snyder, Floyd F. [Alberta Children' s Hospital, Biochemical Genetics Laboratory, Calgary, AB (Canada); Mah, Jean K. [University of Calgary, Division of Neurology, Department of Pediatrics, Calgary, AB (Canada); Waterham, Hans; Wanders, Ronald J.A. [University of Amsterdam, Academic Medical Center, Lab Genetic Metabolic Diseases, Amsterdam (Netherlands)

    2010-12-15

    We report serial neurodegenerative changes on neuroimaging in a rare peroxisomal disease called D-bifunctional protein deficiency. The pattern of posterior to anterior demyelination with white matter disease resembles X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy. We feel this case is important to (1) highlight that D-bifunctional protein deficiency should be considered in cases where the neuroimaging resembles X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy, (2) to show different stages of progression to help identify this disease using neuroimaging in children, and (3) to show that neuroimaging suggesting a leukodystrophy can warrant peroxisomal beta-oxidation studies in skin fibroblasts even when plasma very long chain fatty acids are normal. (orig.)

  11. Proton NMR-based metabolite analyses of archived serial paired serum and urine samples from myeloma patients at different stages of disease activity identifies acetylcarnitine as a novel marker of active disease.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alessia Lodi

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Biomarker identification is becoming increasingly important for the development of personalized or stratified therapies. Metabolomics yields biomarkers indicative of phenotype that can be used to characterize transitions between health and disease, disease progression and therapeutic responses. The desire to reproducibly detect ever greater numbers of metabolites at ever diminishing levels has naturally nurtured advances in best practice for sample procurement, storage and analysis. Reciprocally, since many of the available extensive clinical archives were established prior to the metabolomics era and were not processed in such an 'ideal' fashion, considerable scepticism has arisen as to their value for metabolomic analysis. Here we have challenged that paradigm. METHODS: We performed proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy-based metabolomics on blood serum and urine samples from 32 patients representative of a total cohort of 1970 multiple myeloma patients entered into the United Kingdom Medical Research Council Myeloma IX trial. FINDINGS: Using serial paired blood and urine samples we detected metabolite profiles that associated with diagnosis, post-treatment remission and disease progression. These studies identified carnitine and acetylcarnitine as novel potential biomarkers of active disease both at diagnosis and relapse and as a mediator of disease associated pathologies. CONCLUSIONS: These findings show that samples conventionally processed and archived can provide useful metabolomic information that has important implications for understanding the biology of myeloma, discovering new therapies and identifying biomarkers potentially useful in deciding the choice and application of therapy.

  12. Female serial murderers: directions for future research on a hidden population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gurian, Elizabeth A

    2011-02-01

    This comprehensive overview on a sample of 65 cases (134 total offenders, including some partnered teams of more than 2 offenders) provides information on female serial murderers who either work in a mixed-sex offending group or alone. These female serial homicide offenders have a distinct set of offender-victim characteristics, including specific victim preferences, methods, and motivations: Partnered serial homicide offenders are more likely to target adult strangers and dispatch them using a combination of methods, whereas solo female serial murderers are most likely to target adult family members and murder them with poison. These patterns have the potential to add to our understanding of the possible similarities and differences of serial homicide cases by building on established offender characteristics. Convictions and sentences for the offenders are included and areas of future research and implications for treatment with this sample are also explored.

  13. IEEE 1394/firewire a low cost, high speed, digital serial bus

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gaunt, R.

    1997-05-01

    Does the world need yet another 1/0 bus standard? If you need fast and cheap serial video communication, then the answer is yes. As technology advances, so too must data transport mechanisms advance. You can`t expect RS-232 to support real-time digital video, and if you can`t afford expensive professional serial video interfaces, (such as Sony`s Serial Digital Interface), Firewire may be a good solution. IEEE 1394, or commonly known as Firewire, is a general purpose serial bus that meets many of the 1/0 needs of today`s video and multimedia developers. For those of you who only read the first paragraph, here`s Firewire in a nutshell: It provides a guaranteed transfer rate of 10OMbps or 20OMbps of digital data (such as video direct from camera to computer), over an inexpensive, non-proprietary serial bus. Here is a list of its features.

  14. Indexing Serialized Fiction: May the Force Be with You.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barr, Melissa M.

    The adult novel offers indexers an unusual opportunity to create a serialized fiction index. This research paper involved designing and creating a Character Index, Thesaurus, Glossary, and Abstract (with descriptors) for 21 novels based on the "Star Wars" movies. The novels are an unusual example of serialized fiction featuring main…

  15. Stress in Harmonic Serialism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pruitt, Kathryn Ringler

    2012-01-01

    This dissertation proposes a model of word stress in a derivational version of Optimality Theory (OT) called Harmonic Serialism (HS; Prince and Smolensky 1993/2004, McCarthy 2000, 2006, 2010a). In this model, the metrical structure of a word is derived through a series of optimizations in which the "best" metrical foot is chosen…

  16. The relationship between serial sexual murder and autoerotic asphyxiation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Myers, Wade C; Bukhanovskiy, Alexandr; Justen, Elle; Morton, Robert J; Tilley, John; Adams, Kenneth; Vandagriff, Virgil L; Hazelwood, Robert R

    2008-04-07

    This case series documents and examines the association between autoerotic asphyxiation, sadomasochism, and serial sexual murderers. Autoerotic asphyxiation, along with other paraphilias found in this population, is reviewed. Five cases of serial sexual killers who engaged in autoerotic asphyxiation were identified worldwide: four from the United States and one from Russia. Case reports for each are provided. All (100%) were found to have sexual sadism in addition to autoerotic asphyxiation. Furthermore, two (40%) had bondage fetishism, and two (40%) had transvestic fetishism, consistent with these paraphilias co-occurring in those with autoerotic asphyxiation. Overall the group averaged 4.0 lifetime paraphilias. Some possible relationships were observed between the offenders' paraphilic orientation and their modus operandi, e.g., all of these serial killers strangled victims-suggesting an association between their sadistic and asphyxiative paraphilic interests. The overlap of seemingly polar opposite paraphilias in this sample--sexual sadism and autoerotic asphyxiation--is explored from a historical and clinical perspective. Multiple commonalities shared between these five offenders and serial sexual murderers in general are addressed. A primary limitation of this study is its small sample size and empirical basis; the results may not be generalizable beyond the sample. The findings from this study support the supposition that crime scene behaviors often reflect paraphilic disturbances in those who commit serial sexual homicides.

  17. Growing Community: The Impact of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program on the Social and Learning Environment in Primary Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Block, Karen; Gibbs, Lisa; Staiger, Petra K.; Gold, Lisa; Johnson, Britt; Macfarlane, Susie; Long, Caroline; Townsend, Mardie

    2012-01-01

    This article presents results from a mixed-method evaluation of a structured cooking and gardening program in Australian primary schools, focusing on program impacts on the social and learning environment of the school. In particular, we address the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program objective of providing a pleasurable experience that has…

  18. Testing Cross-Sectional Correlation in Large Panel Data Models with Serial Correlation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Badi H. Baltagi

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available This paper considers the problem of testing cross-sectional correlation in large panel data models with serially-correlated errors. It finds that existing tests for cross-sectional correlation encounter size distortions with serial correlation in the errors. To control the size, this paper proposes a modification of Pesaran’s Cross-sectional Dependence (CD test to account for serial correlation of an unknown form in the error term. We derive the limiting distribution of this test as N , T → ∞ . The test is distribution free and allows for unknown forms of serial correlation in the errors. Monte Carlo simulations show that the test has good size and power for large panels when serial correlation in the errors is present.

  19. Serial-order short-term memory predicts vocabulary development: evidence from a longitudinal study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leclercq, Anne-Lise; Majerus, Steve

    2010-03-01

    Serial-order short-term memory (STM), as opposed to item STM, has been shown to be very consistently associated with lexical learning abilities in cross-sectional study designs. This study investigated longitudinal predictions between serial-order STM and vocabulary development. Tasks maximizing the temporary retention of either serial-order or item information were administered to kindergarten children aged 4 and 5. At age 4, age 5, and from age 4 to age 5, serial-order STM capacities, but not item STM capacities, were specifically associated with vocabulary development. Moreover, the increase of serial-order STM capacity from age 4 to age 5 predicted the increase of vocabulary knowledge over the same time period. These results support a theoretical position that assumes an important role for serial-order STM capacities in vocabulary acquisition.

  20. [Proceedings of the VII international symposium 'Cultural heritage in geosciences, mining and metallurgy : libraries, archives, museums' : "Museums and their collections" held at the Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum Leiden (The Netherlands), 19-23 May, 2003 / Cor F. Winkler Prins and Stephen K. Donovan (editors)]: The Alexander the First collection of the Lausanne Museum

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Minina, E.L.

    2004-01-01

    Study of written sources in archives sometimes allows to restore the history of collections. A good example is the Alexander the First collection. In 1819, de la Harpe had sent an Etruscan vase to Alexander I as a gift, and had received a collection of Russian minerals in return. Alexander's

  1. The metallogeny of Late Triassic rifting of the Alexander terrane in southeastern Alaska and northwestern British Columbia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, C.D.; Premo, W.R.; Meier, A.L.; Taggart, J.E.

    2008-01-01

    A belt of unusual volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) occurrences is located along the eastern margin of the Alexander terrane throughout southeastern Alaska and northwestern British Columbia and exhibits a range of characteristics consistent with a variety of syngenetic to epigenetic deposit types. Deposits within this belt include Greens Creek and Windy Craggy, the economically most significant VMS deposit in Alaska and the largest in North America, respectively. The occurrences are hosted by a discontinuously exposed, 800-km-long belt of rocks that consist of a 200- to 800-m-thick sequence of conglomerate, limestone, marine elastic sedimentary rocks, and tuff intercalated with and overlain by a distinctive unit of mafic pyroclastic rocks and pillowed flows. Faunal data bracket the age of the host rocks between Anisian (Middle Triassic) and late Norian (late Late Triassic). This metallogenic belt is herein referred to as the Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt. The VMS occurrences show systematic differences in degree of structural control, chemistry, and stratigraphic setting along the Alexander Triassic metallogenic belt that suggest important spatial or temporal changes in the tectonic environment of formation. At the southern end of the belt, felsic volcanic rocks overlain by shallow-water limestones characterize the lower part of the sequence. In the southern and middle portion of the belt, a distinctive pebble conglomerate marks the base of the section and is indicative of high-energy deposition in a near slope or basin margin setting. At the northern end of the belt the conglomerates, limestones, and felsic volcanic rocks are absent and the belt is composed of deep-water sedimentary and mafic volcanic rocks. This northward change in depositional environment and lithofacies is accompanied by a northward transition from epithermal-like structurally controlled, discontinuous, vein- and pod-shaped, Pb-Zn-Ag-Ba-(Cu) occurrences with relatively simple mineralogy

  2. Antisocial personality disorder, sexual sadism, malignant narcissism, and serial murder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Geberth, V J; Turco, R N

    1997-01-01

    This paper examines the research on serial murder and its relationship to antisocial personality disorder and sexual sadism. The concept of malignant narcissism is also discussed. Case studies of serial killers are examined regarding the nature of sexual violation and crime scene behavior.

  3. Hemispatial neglect and serial order in verbal working memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Antoine, Sophie; Ranzini, Mariagrazia; van Dijck, Jean-Philippe; Slama, Hichem; Bonato, Mario; Tousch, Ann; Dewulf, Myrtille; Bier, Jean-Christophe; Gevers, Wim

    2018-01-09

    Working memory refers to our ability to actively maintain and process a limited amount of information during a brief period of time. Often, not only the information itself but also its serial order is crucial for good task performance. It was recently proposed that serial order is grounded in spatial cognition. Here, we compared performance of a group of right hemisphere-damaged patients with hemispatial neglect to healthy controls in verbal working memory tasks. Participants memorized sequences of consonants at span level and had to judge whether a target consonant belonged to the memorized sequence (item task) or whether a pair of consonants were presented in the same order as in the memorized sequence (order task). In line with this idea that serial order is grounded in spatial cognition, we found that neglect patients made significantly more errors in the order task than in the item task compared to healthy controls. Furthermore, this deficit seemed functionally related to neglect severity and was more frequently observed following right posterior brain damage. Interestingly, this specific impairment for serial order in verbal working memory was not lateralized. We advance the hypotheses of a potential contribution to the deficit of serial order in neglect patients of either or both (1) reduced spatial working memory capacity that enables to keep track of the spatial codes that provide memorized items with a positional context, (2) a spatial compression of these codes in the intact representational space. © 2018 The British Psychological Society.

  4. Der Briefwechsel zwischen Karl Kreil und Alexander von Humboldt, ein wichtiger Beitrag zur Geschichte des Erdmagnetismus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karin Reich

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract The correspondence between Alexander von Humboldt und Karl Kreil was voluminous, it concerned earth magnetism. But only one letter has survived. This letter was written by Kreil on September 3, 1836; one day later Kreil wrote a letter to Carl Friedrich Gauss with nearly the same contents, some sentences are even literally corresponding. Four letters from Kreil to Humboldt were published in the „Annalen der Physik und Chemie“. Some letters were mentioned in the biographical literature dealing with Kreil. These letters show, that the correspondence covered at least the period until 1851 and give information about the intensive relationship between the two scientists. A further interesting source is the library of Humboldt which unfortunately has not survived. The catalogue mentions nine works of Kreil some of them where annotated by Humboldt. This makes it plausible that the contacts even lasted until 1856. Zusammenfassung Die Korrespondenz zwischen Alexander von Humboldt und Karl Kreil war umfangreich und betraf den Erdmagnetismus. Aber heute ist nur noch ein einziger Brief im Original bekannt. Dieser Brief, den Kreil am 3. September 1836 Alexander von Humboldt zukommen ließ, stimmt inhaltlich und teilweise wortwörtlich mit dem Brief überein, den Kreil nur einen Tag später, am 4. September 1836, an Carl Friedrich Gauß schickte. Vier Briefe von Kreil an Humboldt wurden in den „Annalen der Physik und Chemie“ publiziert, eine nicht allzu große Anzahl weiterer Briefe an Humboldt wurde in der biographischen Literatur über Kreil und in Briefen Kreils an Koller und Gauß erwähnt. Aber nicht nur die lückenhafte und bruchstückhaft bekannte Korrespondenz zwischen Humboldt und Kreil, die bis 1851 reicht, gibt Aufschluss über die Beziehungen, sondern von besonderer Bedeutung ist des Weiteren der Bestand an Kreiliana in der Bibliothek Humboldts. Es handelt sich um neun Werke Kreils, das letzte aus dem Jahr 1856. Nachweisbare

  5. Attractive Serial Dependence in the Absence of an Explicit Task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fornaciai, Michele; Park, Joonkoo

    2018-03-01

    Attractive serial dependence refers to an adaptive change in the representation of sensory information, whereby a current stimulus appears to be similar to a previous one. The nature of this phenomenon is controversial, however, as serial dependence could arise from biased perceptual representations or from biased traces of working memory representation at a decisional stage. Here, we demonstrated a neural signature of serial dependence in numerosity perception emerging early in the visual processing stream even in the absence of an explicit task. Furthermore, a psychophysical experiment revealed that numerosity perception is biased by a previously presented stimulus in an attractive way, not by repulsive adaptation. These results suggest that serial dependence is a perceptual phenomenon starting from early levels of visual processing and occurring independently from a decision process, which is consistent with the view that these biases smooth out noise from neural signals to establish perceptual continuity.

  6. Using Behavior Sequence Analysis to Map Serial Killers' Life Histories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keatley, David A; Golightly, Hayley; Shephard, Rebecca; Yaksic, Enzo; Reid, Sasha

    2018-03-01

    The aim of the current research was to provide a novel method for mapping the developmental sequences of serial killers' life histories. An in-depth biographical account of serial killers' lives, from birth through to conviction, was gained and analyzed using Behavior Sequence Analysis. The analyses highlight similarities in behavioral events across the serial killers' lives, indicating not only which risk factors occur, but the temporal order of these factors. Results focused on early childhood environment, indicating the role of parental abuse; behaviors and events surrounding criminal histories of serial killers, showing that many had previous convictions and were known to police for other crimes; behaviors surrounding their murders, highlighting differences in victim choice and modus operandi; and, finally, trial pleas and convictions. The present research, therefore, provides a novel approach to synthesizing large volumes of data on criminals and presenting results in accessible, understandable outcomes.

  7. Serial murder by healthcare professionals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yorker, Beatrice Crofts; Kizer, Kenneth W; Lampe, Paula; Forrest, A R W; Lannan, Jacquetta M; Russell, Donna A

    2008-01-01

    The prosecution of Charles Cullen, a nurse who killed at least 40 patients over a 16-year period, highlights the need to better understand the phenomenon of serial murder by healthcare professionals. The authors conducted a LexisNexis search which yielded 90 criminal prosecutions of healthcare providers that met inclusion criteria for serial murder of patients. In addition we reviewed epidemiologic studies, toxicology evidence, and court transcripts, to provide data on healthcare professionals who have been prosecuted between 1970 and 2006. Fifty-four of the 90 have been convicted; 45 for serial murder, four for attempted murder, and five pled guilty to lesser charges. Twenty-four more have been indicted and are either awaiting trial or the outcome has not been published. The other 12 prosecutions had a variety of legal outcomes. Injection was the main method used by healthcare killers followed by suffocation, poisoning, and tampering with equipment. Prosecutions were reported from 20 countries with 40% taking place in the United States. Nursing personnel comprised 86% of the healthcare providers prosecuted; physicians 12%, and 2% were allied health professionals. The number of patient deaths that resulted in a murder conviction is 317 and the number of suspicious patient deaths attributed to the 54 convicted caregivers is 2113. These numbers are disturbing and demand that systemic changes in tracking adverse patient incidents associated with presence of a specific healthcare provider be implemented. Hiring practices must shift away from preventing wrongful discharge or denial of employment lawsuits to protecting patients from employees who kill.

  8. Selection and Serial Entrepreneurs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Chen, Jing

    2013-01-01

    There is substantial evidence that serial entrepreneurs outperform de novo entrepreneurs. But is this positive association between prior experience and performance the result of learning by doing or of selection on ability? This paper proposes a strategy that combines the fixed-effects model and IV...... when the analysis focuses on founding new startups in sectors closely related to entrepreneurs' previous ventures....

  9. A combination strategy for tracking the serial criminal

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Chuan; Zhang, Yuan-Biao; Wan, Jiadi; Yu, Wenjing

    2010-08-01

    We build a Geographic Profiling Model to generate the criminal's geographical profile, by combining two complementary strategies: the Spatial Distribution Strategy and the Probability Distance Strategy. In the first strategy, we designate the mean of all the known crime sites as the anchor point, and build a Standard Deviational Ellipse Model, considering the effect of landscape. In the second strategy, we take many factors such as the buffer zone and distance decay theory into consideration and calculate the probability of the offender's residence in a certain area by using the Bayesian Theorem and the Rossmo Algorithm. Then, we combine the result of two strategies and get three search areas suit different conditions of the police to track the serial criminal. Apply the model to the English serial killer Peter Sutcliffe's case, the calculation result shows that the model can effectively be used to track serial criminal.

  10. Spatial attention interacts with serial-order retrieval from verbal working memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Dijck, Jean-Philippe; Abrahamse, Elger L; Majerus, Steve; Fias, Wim

    2013-09-01

    The ability to maintain the serial order of events is recognized as a major function of working memory. Although general models of working memory postulate a close link between working memory and attention, such a link has so far not been proposed specifically for serial-order working memory. The present study provided the first empirical demonstration of a direct link between serial order in verbal working memory and spatial selective attention. We show that the retrieval of later items of a sequence stored in working memory-compared with that of earlier items-produces covert attentional shifts toward the right. This observation suggests the conceptually surprising notion that serial-order working memory, even for nonspatially defined verbal items, draws on spatial attention.

  11. Serial CSTR digester configuration for improving biogas production from manure

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Boe, Kanokwan; Angelidaki, Irini

    2009-01-01

    distribution ratio of 80/20 and 90/10, and total HRT of 15 days. The results showed that the serial CSTR could obtain 11% higher biogas yield compared to the single CSTR. The increased biogas yield in the serial CSTR was mainly from the second reactor, which accounted for 16% and 12% of total biogas yield......A new configuration of manure digesters for improving biogas production has been investigated in laboratory scale. A single thermophilic continuous-flow stirred tank reactor (CSTR) operated with a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 15 days was compared to a serial CSTR configuration with volume...

  12. Coeliac disease and lymphangiectasia.

    OpenAIRE

    Perisic, V N; Kokai, G

    1992-01-01

    Two out of 74 children with coeliac disease demonstrated severe intestinal protein loss. In both children a serial small bowel biopsy specimen showed intestinal lymphangiectasia to be also present. Intestinal lymphangiectasia is another disorder that may be associated with coeliac disease.

  13. Whole-pattern fitting technique in serial femtosecond nanocrystallography

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ruben A. Dilanian

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Serial femtosecond X-ray crystallography (SFX has created new opportunities in the field of structural analysis of protein nanocrystals. The intensity and timescale characteristics of the X-ray free-electron laser sources used in SFX experiments necessitate the analysis of a large collection of individual crystals of variable shape and quality to ultimately solve a single, average crystal structure. Ensembles of crystals are commonly encountered in powder diffraction, but serial crystallography is different because each crystal is measured individually and can be oriented via indexing and merged into a three-dimensional data set, as is done for conventional crystallography data. In this way, serial femtosecond crystallography data lie in between conventional crystallography data and powder diffraction data, sharing features of both. The extremely small sizes of nanocrystals, as well as the possible imperfections of their crystallite structure, significantly affect the diffraction pattern and raise the question of how best to extract accurate structure-factor moduli from serial crystallography data. Here it is demonstrated that whole-pattern fitting techniques established for one-dimensional powder diffraction analysis can be feasibly extended to higher dimensions for the analysis of merged SFX diffraction data. It is shown that for very small crystals, whole-pattern fitting methods are more accurate than Monte Carlo integration methods that are currently used.

  14. Сharitable activities of Alexander Andreevich Zhelobovskiy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhukova Lekkha

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available The article is devoted to charitable works of Alexander Andreevich Zhelobovskiy, and his participation in various charitable General communities. He was the first Russian protopresbyter of the military clergy and did much to shape the staff of experienced and knowledgeable priests who actively worked not only to ensure religious worship in the army, but also for the Patriotic upbringing of soldiers. In these purposes and based on personal beliefs, Zhelobovskiy set up several scholarships for talented students studying in the Theological Academies. In addition, Zhelobovskiy made a great contribution to provision of pensions little-haves elderly priests, as well as to their widows and orphans. To help the poor, by Zhelobovskiy’s own money was built candle factory, profit from which amounted to “orphan’s capital”. The scope of the paper includes the activities of the first Russian protopresbyter of the military clergy on the planting and construction of military and regimental churches in various cities. Until 1901 military churches were required to actively participate in the search of philanthropists. One of the themes of this article is the charity organization and own philanthropy activities Zhelobovskiy during the Russo-Japanese war. Special attention is paid to the contribution of Zhelobovskiy in the case of charity on his «small Motherland». Where Zhelobovskiy not only built the temple, but also established the hospice and also did much to Belozersky spiritual school.

  15. "Die Toten reiten schnelle." Literarische Zitate in Briefen von und an Alexander von Humboldt

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ingo Schwarz

    2007-04-01

    Full Text Available Article in GermanAbstract in English and GermanAlexander von Humboldt and his correspondents liked to enrich or embellish their letters with quotations from classic works of ancient literature as well as from recent poems, plays, or novels. This paper tries to show that references to literature were very often used in order to express thoughts and feelings more clearly not so much for impressing the recipients of letters with high education. In educated circles a good knowledge of ancient and modern works of literature was a standard requirement, which often allowed the letter writers to use quotations in a playful manner.

  16. Serial killer: il database mondiale

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gaetano parente

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available The complex and multisided study of serial killers is partly made difficult by the current level of progress that has led these deviant people to evolve in relation to the aspects of shrewdness (concerning the staging and mobility. Despite the important work of some scholars who proposed important theories, all this shows that, concerning serial murders, it is still particularly frequent not to pay attention to links among homicides committed by the same person but in different parts of the world. It is therefore crucial to develop a worldwide database that allows all police forces to access information collected on crime scenes of murders which are particularly absurd and committed without any apparent reason. It will then be up to the profiler, through ad hoc and technologically advanced tools, to collect this information on the crime scene that would be made available to all police forces thanks to the worldwide database.

  17. Numerical discrepancy between serial and MPI parallel computations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sang Bong Lee

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Numerical simulations of 1D Burgers equation and 2D sloshing problem were carried out to study numerical discrepancy between serial and parallel computations. The numerical domain was decomposed into 2 and 4 subdomains for parallel computations with message passing interface. The numerical solution of Burgers equation disclosed that fully explicit boundary conditions used on subdomains of parallel computation was responsible for the numerical discrepancy of transient solution between serial and parallel computations. Two dimensional sloshing problems in a rectangular domain were solved using OpenFOAM. After a lapse of initial transient time sloshing patterns of water were significantly different in serial and parallel computations although the same numerical conditions were given. Based on the histograms of pressure measured at two points near the wall the statistical characteristics of numerical solution was not affected by the number of subdomains as much as the transient solution was dependent on the number of subdomains.

  18. A comparison of serial order short-term memory effects across verbal and musical domains.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gorin, Simon; Mengal, Pierre; Majerus, Steve

    2018-04-01

    Recent studies suggest that the mechanisms involved in the short-term retention of serial order information may be shared across short-term memory (STM) domains such as verbal and visuospatial STM. Given the intrinsic sequential organization of musical material, the study of STM for musical information may be particularly informative about serial order retention processes and their domain-generality. The present experiment examined serial order STM for verbal and musical sequences in participants with no advanced musical expertise and experienced musicians. Serial order STM for verbal information was assessed via a serial order reconstruction task for digit sequences. In the musical domain, serial order STM was assessed using a novel melodic sequence reconstruction task maximizing the retention of tone order information. We observed that performance for the verbal and musical tasks was characterized by sequence length as well as primacy and recency effects. Serial order errors in both tasks were characterized by similar transposition gradients and ratios of fill-in:infill errors. These effects were observed for both participant groups, although the transposition gradients and ratios of fill-in:infill errors showed additional specificities for musician participants in the musical task. The data support domain-general serial order STM effects but also suggest the existence of additional domain-specific effects. Implications for models of serial order STM in verbal and musical domains are discussed.

  19. The predictive diagnostic value of serial daily bedside ultrasonography for severe dengue in Indonesian adults.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Meta Michels

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Identification of dengue patients at risk for progressing to severe disease is difficult. Significant plasma leakage is a hallmark of severe dengue infection which can suddenly lead to hypovolemic shock around the time of defervescence. We hypothesized that the detection of subclinical plasma leakage may identify those at risk for severe dengue. The aim of the study was to determine the predictive diagnostic value of serial ultrasonography for severe dengue. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Daily bedside ultrasounds were performed with a handheld ultrasound device in a prospective cohort of adult Indonesians with dengue. Timing, localization and relation to dengue severity of the ultrasonography findings were determined, as well as the relation with serial hematocrit and albumin values. The severity of dengue was retrospectively determined by WHO 2009 criteria. A total of 66 patients with proven dengue infection were included in the study of whom 11 developed severe dengue. Presence of subclinical plasma leakage at enrollment had a positive predictive value of 35% and a negative predictive value of 90% for severe dengue. At enrollment, 55% of severe dengue cases already had subclinical plasma leakage, which increased to 91% during the subsequent days. Gallbladder wall edema was more pronounced in severe than in non-severe dengue patients and often preceded ascites/pleural effusion. Serial hematocrit and albumin measurements failed to identify plasma leakage and patients at risk for severe dengue. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Serial ultrasonography, in contrast to existing markers such as hematocrit, may better identify patients at risk for development of severe dengue. Patients with evidence of subclinical plasma leakage and/or an edematous gallbladder wall by ultrasonography merit intensive monitoring for development of complications.

  20. S3-1: The Serial Dependence of Visual Perception

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Whitney

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available In our moment-to-moment perceptual experience, visual scenes can change, but objects rarely spontaneously come into or out of existence. The visual system may therefore delicately balance the need to optimize sensitivity to image changes (e.g., by adapting to changes in color, orientation, object identity, etc with the desire to represent the temporal continuity of objects—the likelihood that objects perceived at this moment tend to exist in subsequent moments. One way that the visual system may promote such stability is through the introduction of serial dependence to visual perception: by biasing the current percept toward what was seen at previous moments, the brain could compensate for variability in visual input that might otherwise disrupt perceptual continuity. Here, in two sets of experiments, we tested for serial dependence in visual perception of orientation and facial expression. We found that on a given trial, a subject's perception of the orientation of a grating reflected not only the currently viewed stimulus, but also a systematic attraction toward the orientations of the previously viewed stimuli. We found the same serial dependence in the perception of facial expression. This perceptual attraction extended over several trials and seconds, and displayed clear tuning to the difference (in orientation or facial expression between the sequential stimuli. Furthermore, serial dependence in object perception was spatially specific and selective to the attended object within a scene. Several control experiments showed that the perceptual serial dependence we report cannot be explained by effects of priming, known hysteresis effects, visual short-term memory, or expectation. Our results reveal a systematic influence of recent visual experiences on perception at any given moment: visual percepts, even of unambiguous stimuli, are attracted toward what was previously seen. We propose that such serial dependence helps to maintain

  1. Some Considerations on Seriality and Synchronicity

    OpenAIRE

    Elena Nechita

    2010-01-01

    This paper presents an overview of the results that have been obtained lately on seriality and synchronicity and their link, in the light of the new theories and within the frame of complexity science.

  2. A 16:1 Serializer ASIC for Data Transmission at 5 Gbps

    CERN Document Server

    Gong, D; The ATLAS collaboration

    2010-01-01

    A high speed, low power 16:1 serializer has been developed with a commercial 0.25 μm silicon-on-sapphire CMOS technology. The serializer operates from 4.0 to 5.7 Gbps. Total jitter is 62 ps and the eye openning of the bathtub curve is 122 ps at bit rate error of 10-12 at 5 Gbps. Power consumption is 463 mW at 5 Gbps. A proton beam test indicates the serializer is suitable for applications in high energy physics experiments.

  3. Serial Learning Process: Test of Chaining, Position, and Dual-Process Hypotheses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giurintano, S. L.

    1973-01-01

    The chaining, position, and dual-process hypotheses of serial learning (SL) as well as serial recall, reordering, and relearning of paired-associate learning were examined to establish learning patterns. Results provide evidence for dual-process hypothesis. (DS)

  4. A reappraisal of serial isotope bone scans in prostate cancer

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    O' Donoghue, J M; Rogers, E; Grimes, H; McCarthy, P; Corcoran, M; Bredin, H; Given, H F [University College Hospital, Galway (Ireland)

    1993-08-01

    The authors have evaluated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP) as alternatives to conventional serial bone scanning in 129 patients with newly diagnosed prostate cancer over a period of 3 years. Although serum PSA did not reflect local tumour burden at presentation, it was significantly elevated in those with stage D disease (p < 0.01). 45 patients presented de novo with metastatic bone deposits and a further 18 patients developed metastases during the study. The sensitivity of PSA in detecting secondary deposits at presentation for levels in excess of 100 [mu]g/l was 93.75%, the positive predictive value 95.7% and the negative predictive value for levels less than 5 [mu]g/l was 90.6%. During the follow-up period sensitivity was 94.4%, the positive predictive value 100%, the negative predictive value 100%, with a median lead time of 3 months in predicting metastases in the 18 patients with progressive disease. (author).

  5. The Effect of Concurrent Semantic Categorization on Delayed Serial Recall

    Science.gov (United States)

    Acheson, Daniel J.; MacDonald, Maryellen C.; Postle, Bradley R.

    2011-01-01

    The influence of semantic processing on the serial ordering of items in short-term memory was explored using a novel dual-task paradigm. Participants engaged in 2 picture-judgment tasks while simultaneously performing delayed serial recall. List material varied in the presence of phonological overlap (Experiments 1 and 2) and in semantic content…

  6. Infants' Memory Processing of a Serial List: List Length Effects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gulya, Michele; Sweeney, Becky; Rovee-Collier, Carolyn

    1999-01-01

    Three experiments demonstrated that increasing the length of a mobile serial list impaired 6-month olds' memory for serial order. Findings indicated that the primacy effect was absent on a 24-hour delayed recognition test and was exhibited on a reactivation test, adding to growing evidence that young infants possess two functionally distinct…

  7. Position Analysis of a Hybrid Serial-Parallel Manipulator in Immersion Lithography

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jie-jie Shao

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposes a novel hybrid serial-parallel mechanism with 6 degrees of freedom. The new mechanism combines two different parallel modules in a serial form. 3-P̲(PH parallel module is architecture of 3 degrees of freedom based on higher joints and specializes in describing two planes’ relative pose. 3-P̲SP parallel module is typical architecture which has been widely investigated in recent researches. In this paper, the direct-inverse position problems of the 3-P̲SP parallel module in the couple mixed-type mode are analyzed in detail, and the solutions are obtained in an analytical form. Furthermore, the solutions for the direct and inverse position problems of the novel hybrid serial-parallel mechanism are also derived and obtained in the analytical form. The proposed hybrid serial-parallel mechanism is applied to regulate the immersion hood’s pose in an immersion lithography system. Through measuring and regulating the pose of the immersion hood with respect to the wafer surface simultaneously, the immersion hood can track the wafer surface’s pose in real-time and the gap status is stabilized. This is another exploration to hybrid serial-parallel mechanism’s application.

  8. Motor cortical encoding of serial order in a context-recall task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carpenter, A F; Georgopoulos, A P; Pellizzer, G

    1999-03-12

    The neural encoding of serial order was studied in the motor cortex of monkeys performing a context-recall memory scanning task. Up to five visual stimuli were presented successively on a circle (list presentation phase), and then one of them (test stimulus) changed color; the monkeys had to make a single motor response toward the stimulus that immediately followed the test stimulus in the list. Correct performance in this task depends on memorization of the serial order of the stimuli during their presentation. It was found that changes in neural activity during the list presentation phase reflected the serial order of the stimuli; the effect on cell activity of the serial order of stimuli during their presentation was at least as strong as the effect of motor direction on cell activity during the execution of the motor response. This establishes the serial order of stimuli in a motor task as an important determinant of motor cortical activity during stimulus presentation and in the absence of changes in peripheral motor events, in contrast to the commonly held view of the motor cortex as just an "upper motor neuron."

  9. The birth of Russian intelligentsia from the spirit of enlightenment: Alexander Radishchev (I

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Subotić Milan

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available This text is the first part of a larger study about Alexander Radishchev, one of the leading representatives of Enlightenment in Russia's XVIII Century. Analyzing Voltaire's and Diderot's relationship with Catherine II, the Empress of Russia, in the Introduction of this article, the author formulates the reasons for thematization of Russian reception of Enlightenment. Since Radishchev is considered as 'the father of Russian intelligentsia', different approaches to the meaning of the concept of 'Russian intelligentsia' are considered in the first chapter. Radishchev's biography is interpreted in the second chapter in order to facilitate the understanding of his ideas. Interpretation of his ideas, as well as of Catherina's 'enlightened absolutism', will be subject to further consideration in the second part of the study.

  10. Reaction kinetics in open reactors and serial transfers between closed reactors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blokhuis, Alex; Lacoste, David; Gaspard, Pierre

    2018-04-01

    Kinetic theory and thermodynamics of reaction networks are extended to the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of continuous-flow stirred tank reactors (CSTR) and serial transfers. On the basis of their stoichiometry matrix, the conservation laws and the cycles of the network are determined for both dynamics. It is shown that the CSTR and serial transfer dynamics are equivalent in the limit where the time interval between the transfers tends to zero proportionally to the ratio of the fractions of fresh to transferred solutions. These results are illustrated with a finite cross-catalytic reaction network and an infinite reaction network describing mass exchange between polymers. Serial transfer dynamics is typically used in molecular evolution experiments in the context of research on the origins of life. The present study is shedding a new light on the role played by serial transfer parameters in these experiments.

  11. The effects of nidopallium caudolaterale inactivation on serial-order behaviour in pigeons (Columba livia).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnston, Melissa Jane; Clarkson, Andrew N; Gowing, Emma K; Scarf, Damian; Colombo, Mike

    2018-06-06

    Serial-order behaviour is the ability to complete a sequence of responses in a predetermined order to achieve a reward. In birds, serial-order behaviour is thought to be impaired by damage to the nidopallium caudolaterale (NCL). In the current study, we examined the role of the NCL in serial-order behaviour by training pigeons on a 4-item serial-order task and a go/no-go discrimination task. Following training, pigeons were received infusions of 1μl of either tetrodotoxin (TTX) or saline. Saline infusions had no impact on serial-order behaviour whereas TTX infusions resulted in a significant decrease in performance. The serial-order impairments, however, were not the results of errors of any specific error at any specific list item. With respect to the go/no-go discrimination task, saline infusions also had no impact on performance whereas TTX infusions impaired pigeons' discrimination abilities. Given the impairments on the go/no-go discrimination task, which does not require processing of serial-order information, we tentatively conclude that damage to the NCL does not impair serial-order behaviour per se, but rather results in a more generalised impairment that may impact performance across a range of tasks.

  12. Some Considerations on Seriality and Synchronicity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elena Nechita

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents an overview of the results that have been obtained lately on seriality and synchronicity and their link, in the light of the new theories and within the frame of complexity science.

  13. [Baltisches Welterlebnis. Die kulturgeschichtliche Bedeutung von Alexander, Eduard und Hermann Graf Keyserling. Beiträge eines internationalen Symposium in Tartu vom 19. bis 21. September 2003

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    Garleff, Michael, 1940-

    2011-01-01

    Baltisches Welterlebnis. Die kulturgeschichtliche Bedeutung von Alexander, Eduard und Hermann Graf Keyserling. Beiträge eines internationalen Symposium in Tartu vom 19. bis 21. September 2003. Heidelberg : Universitätsverlag Winter, 2007

  14. [Personality disorders, psychopathy and serial killers].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morana, Hilda C P; Stone, Michael H; Abdalla-Filho, Elias

    2006-10-01

    To illustrate the basic characteristics of several specific personality disorders, focusing mainly in antisocial personality disorder. The differences between antisocial personality disorder and psychopathy are highlighted. Serial killers and its psychopathic aspects are also discussed. A bibliographic review was completed in order to outline convergences and divergences among different authors about this controversial issue, especially those concerning the possibility of treatment. While anti-social personality disorder is a medical diagnosis, the term "psychopathy" (which belongs to the sphere of forensic psychiatry) may be understood as a "legal diagnosis". It is not still possible to identify an effective treatment for serial killers. Personality disorders, especially of the antisocial type, still represent a formidable challenge to forensic psychiatry today. Questions as yet unanswered include the best and most humane place for patients with this condition and the nature of a standardised treatment recommendation.

  15. How Do We Write about Performance in Serial Television?

    OpenAIRE

    Elliott Logan

    2015-01-01

    Television studies has produced few sustained analyses of performance in serial television. Yet film studies scholarship has shown how attending to the integration of performances with other aspects of film style is crucial to the interpretation and appreciation of expression and meaning in filmed narrative fictions. However, as a particle form of filmed serial narrative, series television raises a number of questions about performance that will not necessarily be satisfyingly addressed by th...

  16. Serial cranial ultrasonography or early MRI for detecting preterm brain injury?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Plaisier, Annemarie; Raets, Marlou M A; Ecury-Goossen, Ginette M; Govaert, Paul; Feijen-Roon, Monique; Reiss, Irwin K M; Smit, Liesbeth S; Lequin, Maarten H; Dudink, Jeroen

    OBJECTIVE: To investigate detection ability and feasibility of serial cranial ultrasonography (CUS) and early MRI in preterm brain injury. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: Level III neonatal intensive care unit. PATIENTS: 307 infants, born below 29 weeks of gestation. METHODS: Serial CUS

  17. Paths to destruction: the lives and crimes of two serial killers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wolf, Barbara C; Lavezzi, Wendy A

    2007-01-01

    Although research into the phenomenon of serial murder has revealed that serial killers frequently do not fit the initially described paradigm in terms of their physical and psychological profiles, backgrounds, and motives to kill, the media continues to sensationalize the figures of such killers and the investigators who attempt to analyze them on the basis of aspects of their crimes. Although the so-called "typical" profile of the serial murderer has proven accurate in some instances, in many other cases the demographics and behaviors of these killers have deviated widely from the generalized assumptions. This report details two unusual cases in which five and eight murders were committed in upstate New York. The lives and crimes of these offenders illustrate the wide spectrum of variations in the backgrounds, demographics, motivations, and actions witnessed among serial murderers, and highlight the limitations and dangers of profiling based on generalities.

  18. Successfully Managed Acute Transverse Myelitis Related to Scrub Typhus and Serial Image Findings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yun, Jae Sung; Song, Ji Soo; Choi, Eun Jung; Hwang, Jeong-Hwan; Lee, Chang-Seop; Park, Eun Hae

    2017-03-01

    AbstractCentral nervous system involvement manifesting as meningitis or meningoencephalitis is a known complication of scrub typhus, but very few spinal cord lesions such as acute transverse myelitis (ATM) have been reported in association with this disease. Scrub typhus patients with a spinal lesion present with neurologic symptoms including dysuria, motor, and sensory weakness. Herein, we describe a rare case of ATM associated with scrub typhus. Clinical characteristics, cerebrospinal fluid cytology, Orientia tsutsugamushi serum antibody titer, and serial magnetic resonance imaging scans resulted in a diagnosis of ATM associated with scrub typhus.

  19. New developments in electron microscopy for serial image acquisition of neuronal profiles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kubota, Yoshiyuki

    2015-02-01

    Recent developments in electron microscopy largely automate the continuous acquisition of serial electron micrographs (EMGs), previously achieved by laborious manual serial ultrathin sectioning using an ultramicrotome and ultrastructural image capture process with transmission electron microscopy. The new systems cut thin sections and capture serial EMGs automatically, allowing for acquisition of large data sets in a reasonably short time. The new methods are focused ion beam/scanning electron microscopy, ultramicrotome/serial block-face scanning electron microscopy, automated tape-collection ultramicrotome/scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscope camera array. In this review, their positive and negative aspects are discussed. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Japanese Society of Microscopy. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  20. Rehearsal in serial memory for visual-spatial information: evidence from eye movements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tremblay, Sébastien; Saint-Aubin, Jean; Jalbert, Annie

    2006-06-01

    It is well established that rote rehearsal plays a key role in serial memory for lists of verbal items. Although a great deal of research has informed us about the nature of verbal rehearsal, much less attention has been devoted to rehearsal in serial memory for visual-spatial information. By using the dot task--a visual-spatial analogue of the classical verbal serial recall task--with delayed recall, performance and eyetracking data were recorded in order to establish whether visual-spatial rehearsal could be evidenced by eye movement. The use of eye movement as a form of rehearsal is detectable (Experiment 1), and it seems to contribute to serial memory performance over and above rehearsal based on shifts of spatial attention (Experiments 1 and 2).

  1. SMALL SERIAL AND SERIAL PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT IN UNSTABLE DEMAND ENVIROUMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tsomaeva I. V.

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available The work presents the methodological approach to production program of the enterprise serial engineering for the current period in the conditions of uncertainty of demand. Here are two problems with this. The first is connected with the formation of the production program of the next quarter, year. Objective could be to stochastic programming, but this task is difficult. Therefore, in this paper we proposed a simple solution. On the basis of statistical historical information about the deviation of actual sales data products from predicted by Monte Carlo generated a lot of production programs. Fixed worst key performance (sales, profit etc. The difference between the values of the planned target and the settlement defines stochastic reserve, to be established at the expense of additional innovations. The second problem is connected with the formation of the production program production in the planned month, taking into account the creation of stocks of production in the conditions when for a short period of time is difficult to build a pattern of change in the quantity demanded by month for serial production, as in some months of the year the products are not produced nor sold. To justify the level of inventories of finished products is information on deviations from the fact plan for past periods. Built function of frequency distribution of the values of deviations. This allows you to further build the methodology for determining the level of production (taking into account the reserves and sales of products that deliver maximum economic effect from the sales in the conditions of a random process of realization of production.

  2. DDCMP protocol on a DMA serial-line board

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hunt, D.N.; Kessler, G.C.

    1982-01-01

    The Nuclear Chemistry Division of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is in the midst of an upgrade to their radiation counting facility. The result of this upgrade wil be a computer-based data acquisition network, the Nuclear Chemistry Counting Facility Network (NCCF-NET). This network will consist of forty dedicated LSI-11/2 based controllers, ten interactive LSI-11/23 based workstations and a VAX-11/750 central node for data reduction and storage. One of the data acquisition instruments used in this network is a Nuclear Data pulse-height analyzer, the ND66L. This analyzer communicates to a host system over a 9600-baud serial line, using the DDCMP link level protocol. In order to relieve the host computer from the overhead of handling the DDCMP protocol, an in-house designed DMA serial line board was implemented to communicate with the ND66L. The hardware used and its environment will be duscussed along with the design and implementation of the firmware, which implements the serial DDCMP link

  3. A network-based Macintosh serial host interface program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wight, J.

    1991-03-01

    A program has been written for the Apple Macintosh to replace conventional host RS232 terminals with customizable user interfaces. Serial port NuBus cards in the Macintosh allow many simultaneous sessions to be maintained. A powerful system is attained by connecting multiple Macintoshes on a network, each running this program. Each is then able to share incoming data from any of its serial ports with any other Macintosh, as well as accept data from any other Macintosh for output to any of its serial ports. The program has been used to eliminate multiple host terminals, modernize the user interface, and to centralize operation of a complex control system. Minimal changes to host software have been required. By making extensive use of Macintosh resources, the same executable code serves in a variety of roles. An object oriented C language with a class library made the development straightforward and easy to modify. This program is used to control a 2 MW neutral beam system on the DIII-D magnetic fusion tokamak. 7 figs

  4. Publishing at "the request of friends": Alexander Ross and James Beattie’s Authorial Networks in Eighteenth-Century Aberdeen

    OpenAIRE

    Ruth Knezevich

    2016-01-01

    Authorship in eighteenth-century Aberdeen often functioned differently than in London and Edinburgh. The Aberdeen model of authorship relied heavily on an intricate network of booksellers, patrons, readers, and critics involved in preparing a text to be consumed by the reading public; yet the prevailing narrative of the author as rising to “inspired genius” disallows for this network. The authorial career of poet Alexander Ross and his friend/mentorship with philosopher James Beattie offers a...

  5. Serial casting for reconstruction of a deformed Charcot foot: a case report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosenblum, Jonathan I; Weiss, Shmuel; Gazes, Michael; Amit-Kohn, Michal

    2015-05-01

    Charcot neuroarthropathy may occur in patients with peripheral neuropathy who do not notice pain while their bones and joints collapse or breakdown under the constant pressure of body weight. This can lead to ulcerations from severe deformity and potentially limb-threatening and life-threatening infections. Current treatments vary from immobilization to extensive reconstructive surgical interventions. Serial casting, used to correct many pediatric deformities while bones are often more pliable, was used with a 63-year-old male patient who presented with an active phase of Charcot foot with ulceration. The patient previously underwent foot reconstruction and had all hardware removed prior to serial casting. Due to the potential pliability of the bones, serial casting was attempted to reform the shape and position of the foot in a reverse Ponseti-type serial casting to create a more stable structure with less deformity that could lead to epithelial breakdown. The patient regained full ambulation with a plantargrade foot and no wounds, and was followed without complications for 36 months. Serial weekly casting was an effective modality for treatment of this patient's Charcot foot deformity.

  6. The utilization of forensic science and criminal profiling for capturing serial killers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    White, John H; Lester, David; Gentile, Matthew; Rosenbleeth, Juliana

    2011-06-15

    Movies and nightly television shows appear to emphasize highly efficient regimens in forensic science and criminal investigative analysis (profiling) that result in capturing serial killers and other perpetrators of homicide. Although some of the shows are apocryphal and unrealistic, they reflect major advancements that have been made in the fields of forensic science and criminal psychology during the past two decades that have helped police capture serial killers. Some of the advancements are outlined in this paper. In a study of 200 serial killers, we examined the variables that led to police focusing their attention on specific suspects. We developed 12 categories that describe how serial killers come to the attention of the police. The results of the present study indicate that most serial killers are captured as a result of citizens and surviving victims contributing information that resulted in police investigations that led to an arrest. The role of forensic science appears to be important in convicting the perpetrator, but not necessarily in identifying the perpetrator. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Spatial patterns of serial murder: an analysis of disposal site location choice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lundrigan, S; Canter, D

    2001-01-01

    Although the murders committed by serial killers may not be considered rational, there is growing evidence that the locations in which they commit their crimes may be guided by an implicit, if limited rationality. The hypothesized logic of disposal site choice of serial killers led to predictions that (a) their criminal domains would be around their home base and relate to familiar travel distances, (b) they would have a size that was characteristic of each offender, (c) the distribution would be biased towards other non-criminal activities, and (d) the size of the domains would increase over time. Examination of the geographical distribution of the sites at which 126 US and 29 UK serial killers disposed of their victims' bodies supported all four hypotheses. It was found that rational choice and routine activity models of criminal behavior could explain the spatial choices of serial murderers. It was concluded that the locations at which serial killers dispose of their victims' bodies reflect the inherent logic of the choices that underlie their predatory activities. Copyright 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  8. Assessing Working Memory in Mild Cognitive Impairment with Serial Order Recall.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Emrani, Sheina; Libon, David J; Lamar, Melissa; Price, Catherine C; Jefferson, Angela L; Gifford, Katherine A; Hohman, Timothy J; Nation, Daniel A; Delano-Wood, Lisa; Jak, Amy; Bangen, Katherine J; Bondi, Mark W; Brickman, Adam M; Manly, Jennifer; Swenson, Rodney; Au, Rhoda

    2018-01-01

    Working memory (WM) is often assessed with serial order tests such as repeating digits backward. In prior dementia research using the Backward Digit Span Test (BDT), only aggregate test performance was examined. The current research tallied primacy/recency effects, out-of-sequence transposition errors, perseverations, and omissions to assess WM deficits in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Memory clinic patients (n = 66) were classified into three groups: single domain amnestic MCI (aMCI), combined mixed domain/dysexecutive MCI (mixed/dys MCI), and non-MCI where patients did not meet criteria for MCI. Serial order/WM ability was assessed by asking participants to repeat 7 trials of five digits backwards. Serial order position accuracy, transposition errors, perseverations, and omission errors were tallied. A 3 (group)×5 (serial position) repeated measures ANOVA yielded a significant group×trial interaction. Follow-up analyses found attenuation of the recency effect for mixed/dys MCI patients. Mixed/dys MCI patients scored lower than non-MCI patients for serial position 3 (p Mixed/dys MCI patients also produced more transposition errors than both groups (p order parameters obtained from the BDT may provide a useful operational definition as well as additional diagnostic information regarding working memory deficits in MCI.

  9. S- and T-matrices for the super U(1,1) WZW model application to surgery and 3-manifolds invariants based on the Alexander-Conway polynomial

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rozansky, L.; Saleur, H.

    1993-01-01

    We carry on (in a self-contained fashion) the study of the Alexander-Conway invariant from the quantum field theory point of view started earlier. We investigate for that purpose various aspects of WZW models on supergroups. We first discuss in details S- and T-matrices for the U(1,1) super WZW model and obtain, for the level k an integer, new finite-dimensional representations of the modular group. These have the remarkable property that some of the S-matrix elements are infinite (we show how to properly handle such divergences). Moreover, typical and atypical representations as well as indecomposable blocks are mixed: Truncation to maximally atypical representations, as advocated in some recent papers, is not consistent. Using our approach, multivariable Alexander invariants for links in S 3 can now be fully computed by surgery. Examples of torus and cable knots are discussed. Consistency with classical results provides independent checks of the solution of the U(1,1) WZW model. The main topological application of this work is the computation of Alexander invariants for 3-manifolds and more generally for links in 3-manifolds. Invariants of 3-manifolds themselves seem to depend trivially on the level k, but still contain interesting topological information. For Seifer manifolds for instance, they essentially coincide with the order (number of elements) of the first homology group. Examples of invariants of links in 3-manifolds are given. They exhibit interesting arithmetic properties. (orig.)

  10. A serial-kinematic nanopositioner for high-speed atomic force microscopy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wadikhaye, Sachin P., E-mail: sachin.wadikhaye@uon.edu.au; Yong, Yuen Kuan; Reza Moheimani, S. O. [School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW (Australia)

    2014-10-15

    A flexure-guided serial-kinematic XYZ nanopositioner for high-speed Atomic Force Microscopy is presented in this paper. Two aspects influencing the performance of serial-kinematic nanopositioners are studied in this work. First, mass reduction by using tapered flexures is proposed to increased the natural frequency of the nanopositioner. 25% increase in the natural frequency is achieved due to reduced mass with tapered flexures. Second, a study of possible sensor positioning in a serial-kinematic nanopositioner is presented. An arrangement of sensors for exact estimation of cross-coupling is incorporated in the proposed design. A feedforward control strategy based on phaser approach is presented to mitigate the dynamics and nonlinearity in the system. Limitations in design approach and control strategy are discussed in the Conclusion.

  11. A serial-kinematic nanopositioner for high-speed atomic force microscopy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wadikhaye, Sachin P.; Yong, Yuen Kuan; Reza Moheimani, S. O.

    2014-01-01

    A flexure-guided serial-kinematic XYZ nanopositioner for high-speed Atomic Force Microscopy is presented in this paper. Two aspects influencing the performance of serial-kinematic nanopositioners are studied in this work. First, mass reduction by using tapered flexures is proposed to increased the natural frequency of the nanopositioner. 25% increase in the natural frequency is achieved due to reduced mass with tapered flexures. Second, a study of possible sensor positioning in a serial-kinematic nanopositioner is presented. An arrangement of sensors for exact estimation of cross-coupling is incorporated in the proposed design. A feedforward control strategy based on phaser approach is presented to mitigate the dynamics and nonlinearity in the system. Limitations in design approach and control strategy are discussed in the Conclusion

  12. Serial Millisecond Crystallography of Membrane Proteins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jaeger, Kathrin; Dworkowski, Florian; Nogly, Przemyslaw; Milne, Christopher; Wang, Meitian; Standfuss, Joerg

    2016-01-01

    Serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) at X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) is a powerful method to determine high-resolution structures of pharmaceutically relevant membrane proteins. Recently, the technology has been adapted to carry out serial millisecond crystallography (SMX) at synchrotron sources, where beamtime is more abundant. In an injector-based approach, crystals grown in lipidic cubic phase (LCP) or embedded in viscous medium are delivered directly into the unattenuated beam of a microfocus beamline. Pilot experiments show the application of microjet-based SMX for solving the structure of a membrane protein and compatibility of the method with de novo phasing. Planned synchrotron upgrades, faster detectors and software developments will go hand-in-hand with developments at free-electron lasers to provide a powerful methodology for solving structures from microcrystals at room temperature, ligand screening or crystal optimization for time-resolved studies with minimal or no radiation damage.

  13. Serial-position effects on a free-recall task in bilinguals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoo, Jeewon; Kaushanskaya, Margarita

    2016-01-01

    In this study, we examined mechanisms that underlie free-recall performance in bilinguals' first language (L1) and second language (L2) through the prism of serial-position effects. On free-recall tasks, a typical pattern of performance follows a U-shaped serial-position curve, where items from the beginning of the list (the primacy effect) and items from the end of the list (the recency effect) are recalled with higher accuracy than items from the middle of the list. The present study contrasted serial-position effects on the free-recall task in Korean-English bilinguals' L1 vs. L2 and examined the relationship between an independent working memory (WM) measure and serial-position effects in bilinguals' two languages. Results revealed stronger pre-recency (primacy and middle) effects in L1 than in L2, but similar recency effects in the two languages. A close association was observed between WM and recall performance in the pre-recency region in the L1 but not in the L2. Together, these findings suggest that linguistic knowledge constrains free-recall performance in bilinguals, but only in the pre-recency region.

  14. A study on the utilization of serial resources in selected tertiary ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    A study on the utilization of serial resources in selected tertiary institutions in Ogun State. ... Lagos Journal of Library and Information Science ... Serial resources are publications either in printed form or electronic format issued in successive parts usually having numerical or chronological designations and intended to be ...

  15. The Grothendieck festschrift a collection of articles written in honor of the 60th birthday of Alexander Grothendieck

    CERN Document Server

    Cartier, Pierre; Katz, Nicholas; Manin, Yuri; Illusie, Luc; Laumon, Gérard; Ribet, Kenneth

    2009-01-01

    This three-volume work contains articles collected on the occasion of Alexander Grothendieck's sixtieth birthday and originally published in 1990. The articles were offered as a tribute to one of the world's greatest living mathematicians. Many of the groundbreaking contributions in these volumes contain material that is now considered foundational to the subject. Topics addressed by these top-notch contributors match the breadth of Grothendieck's own interests, including: functional analysis, algebraic geometry, algebraic topology, number theory, representation theory, K-theory, category theo

  16. Subject-Verb Agreement in Children and Adults: Serial or Hierarchical Processing?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Negro, Isabelle; Chanquoy, Lucile; Fayol, Michel; Louis-Sidney, Maryse

    2005-01-01

    Two processes, serial and hierarchical, are generally opposed to account for grammatical encoding in language production. In a developmental perspective, the question addressed here is whether the subject-verb agreement during writing is computed serially, once the words are linearly ordered in the sentence, or hierarchically, as soon as the…

  17. Serial Position Effects in the Identification of Letters, Digits, and Symbols

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tydgat, Ilse; Grainger, Jonathan

    2009-01-01

    In 6 experiments, the authors investigated the form of serial position functions for identification of letters, digits, and symbols presented in strings. The results replicated findings obtained with the target search paradigm, showing an interaction between the effects of serial position and type of stimulus, with symbols generating a distinct…

  18. Efficient multitasking: parallel versus serial processing of multiple tasks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fischer, Rico; Plessow, Franziska

    2015-01-01

    In the context of performance optimizations in multitasking, a central debate has unfolded in multitasking research around whether cognitive processes related to different tasks proceed only sequentially (one at a time), or can operate in parallel (simultaneously). This review features a discussion of theoretical considerations and empirical evidence regarding parallel versus serial task processing in multitasking. In addition, we highlight how methodological differences and theoretical conceptions determine the extent to which parallel processing in multitasking can be detected, to guide their employment in future research. Parallel and serial processing of multiple tasks are not mutually exclusive. Therefore, questions focusing exclusively on either task-processing mode are too simplified. We review empirical evidence and demonstrate that shifting between more parallel and more serial task processing critically depends on the conditions under which multiple tasks are performed. We conclude that efficient multitasking is reflected by the ability of individuals to adjust multitasking performance to environmental demands by flexibly shifting between different processing strategies of multiple task-component scheduling.

  19. The neural signature of emotional memories in serial crimes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chassy, Philippe

    2017-10-01

    Neural plasticity is the process whereby semantic information and emotional responses are stored in neural networks. It is hypothesized that the neural networks built over time to encode the sexual fantasies that motivate serial killers to act should display a unique, detectable activation pattern. The pathological neural watermark hypothesis posits that such networks comprise activation of brain sites that reflect four cognitive components: autobiographical memory, sexual arousal, aggression, and control over aggression. The neural sites performing these cognitive functions have been successfully identified by previous research. The key findings are reviewed to hypothesise the typical pattern of activity that serial killers should display. Through the integration of biological findings into one framework, the neural approach proposed in this paper is in stark contrast with the many theories accounting for serial killers that offer non-medical taxonomies. The pathological neural watermark hypothesis offers a new framework to understand and detect deviant individuals. The technical and legal issues are briefly discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Automated detection of multiple sclerosis lesions in serial brain MRI

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Llado, Xavier; Ganiler, Onur; Oliver, Arnau; Marti, Robert; Freixenet, Jordi; Valls, Laia; Vilanova, Joan C.; Ramio-Torrenta, Lluis; Rovira, Alex

    2012-01-01

    Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a serious disease typically occurring in the brain whose diagnosis and efficacy of treatment monitoring are vital. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is frequently used in serial brain imaging due to the rich and detailed information provided. Time-series analysis of images is widely used for MS diagnosis and patient follow-up. However, conventional manual methods are time-consuming, subjective, and error-prone. Thus, the development of automated techniques for the detection and quantification of MS lesions is a major challenge. This paper presents an up-to-date review of the approaches which deal with the time-series analysis of brain MRI for detecting active MS lesions and quantifying lesion load change. We provide a comprehensive reference source for researchers in which several approaches to change detection and quantification of MS lesions are investigated and classified. We also analyze the results provided by the approaches, discuss open problems, and point out possible future trends. Lesion detection approaches are required for the detection of static lesions and for diagnostic purposes, while either quantification of detected lesions or change detection algorithms are needed to follow up MS patients. However, there is not yet a single approach that can emerge as a standard for the clinical practice, automatically providing an accurate MS lesion evolution quantification. Future trends will focus on combining the lesion detection in single studies with the analysis of the change detection in serial MRI. (orig.)

  1. Automated detection of multiple sclerosis lesions in serial brain MRI

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Llado, Xavier; Ganiler, Onur; Oliver, Arnau; Marti, Robert; Freixenet, Jordi [University of Girona, Computer Vision and Robotics Group, Girona (Spain); Valls, Laia [Dr. Josep Trueta University Hospital, Department of Radiology, Girona (Spain); Vilanova, Joan C. [Girona Magnetic Resonance Center, Girona (Spain); Ramio-Torrenta, Lluis [Dr. Josep Trueta University Hospital, Institut d' Investigacio Biomedica de Girona, Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology Unit, Girona (Spain); Rovira, Alex [Vall d' Hebron University Hospital, Magnetic Resonance Unit, Department of Radiology, Barcelona (Spain)

    2012-08-15

    Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a serious disease typically occurring in the brain whose diagnosis and efficacy of treatment monitoring are vital. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is frequently used in serial brain imaging due to the rich and detailed information provided. Time-series analysis of images is widely used for MS diagnosis and patient follow-up. However, conventional manual methods are time-consuming, subjective, and error-prone. Thus, the development of automated techniques for the detection and quantification of MS lesions is a major challenge. This paper presents an up-to-date review of the approaches which deal with the time-series analysis of brain MRI for detecting active MS lesions and quantifying lesion load change. We provide a comprehensive reference source for researchers in which several approaches to change detection and quantification of MS lesions are investigated and classified. We also analyze the results provided by the approaches, discuss open problems, and point out possible future trends. Lesion detection approaches are required for the detection of static lesions and for diagnostic purposes, while either quantification of detected lesions or change detection algorithms are needed to follow up MS patients. However, there is not yet a single approach that can emerge as a standard for the clinical practice, automatically providing an accurate MS lesion evolution quantification. Future trends will focus on combining the lesion detection in single studies with the analysis of the change detection in serial MRI. (orig.)

  2. Changing Series: Narrative Models and the Role of the Viewer in Contemporary Television Seriality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Veronica Innocenti

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available In the past few years television serial narratives have gone through some severe changes in the way they are organized from a narrative point of view, as well as in the way they are perceived by the audiences. Our article originates from the necessity of investigating the products of this new wave of serial production, with the purpose of focusing on narrative formulas and on the relationships that serial products establish with their users. Vast serialized narratives are not just texts anymore, they have become complex universes of meaning that last for long time and that have a strong influence on the audiences. The article aims to investigate serial narratives as usable objects, that are not just seen by the public, but that are part of a complex experience.

  3. Alcohol purchase age laws and the serial beginning drinker in New York.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, J

    1995-08-01

    Raising the drinking age twice in New York State in the 1980s might have created a generation of "serial beginning drinkers." Findings indicate that when young adults become beginning drinkers, their chances of drinking-driving increase; when they become serial beginning drinkers, their involvement in drinking-driving remains high over time. The beginning drinkers belong to a special historical period and are only composed of birth cohorts of 3 or 4 years (mainly early 1960s). The effect of the serial beginning drinker should fade out as those birth cohorts grow into maturity.

  4. Synchronic Seriality: The Dissolving of Diegetic Borders Through Metalepsis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paige M. Piper

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available In dialogue with Gérard Genette’s literary concept of metalepsis to television, this paper considers instances of meta-textual actor/character portrayals in serial narratives to show that meta-narrative intrusion fosters a greater empathetic link between the spectator and character, whilst simultaneously inviting the viewer to appreciate the technique as an artifice-aware gesture. The fluidity of diegetic borders brought on by the conflation of performer/performance replicates Baudrillard’s simulacra, creating a synchronic form of seriality and transcending rigid genre classifications.

  5. Spatial serial order processing in schizophrenia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fraser, David; Park, Sohee; Clark, Gina; Yohanna, Daniel; Houk, James C

    2004-10-01

    The aim of this study was to examine serial order processing deficits in 21 schizophrenia patients and 16 age- and education-matched healthy controls. In a spatial serial order working memory task, one to four spatial targets were presented in a randomized sequence. Subjects were required to remember the locations and the order in which the targets were presented. Patients showed a marked deficit in ability to remember the sequences compared with controls. Increasing the number of targets within a sequence resulted in poorer memory performance for both control and schizophrenia subjects, but the effect was much more pronounced in the patients. Targets presented at the end of a long sequence were more vulnerable to memory error in schizophrenia patients. Performance deficits were not attributable to motor errors, but to errors in target choice. The results support the idea that the memory errors seen in schizophrenia patients may be due to saturating the working memory network at relatively low levels of memory load.

  6. Quick, sensitive serial NMR experiments with Radon transform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dass, Rupashree; Kasprzak, Paweł; Kazimierczuk, Krzysztof

    2017-09-01

    The Radon transform is a potentially powerful tool for processing the data from serial spectroscopic experiments. It makes it possible to decode the rate at which frequencies of spectral peaks shift under the effect of changing conditions, such as temperature, pH, or solvent. In this paper we show how it also improves speed and sensitivity, especially in multidimensional experiments. This is particularly important in the case of low-sensitivity techniques, such as NMR spectroscopy. As an example, we demonstrate how Radon transform processing allows serial measurements of 15 N-HSQC spectra of unlabelled peptides that would otherwise be infeasible. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Alexander von Humboldt und die transnationale Wissenschaftskommunikation im 19. Jahrhundert

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ulrich Päßler

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available Article in german, abstracts in english and frenchAlexander von Humboldt has been labelled a “scientific cosmopolitan”. Through his vast correspondence and a network of personal contacts, he upheld a form of scientific exchange that was characteristic of the eighteenth-century “republic of letters”.This article examines how Humboldt adapted this cosmopolitan tradition of communication to a nineteenth century scientific culture that was largely institutionalized and was becoming increasingly nationalized. Humboldt quite successfully fostered scientific exchange between Berlin and Paris after 1830 and, on various occasions between the 1830s and 1850s, readily advocated international large-scale projects. These examples demonstrate that Humboldt observed the development of nationally defined scientific cultures and the opening of the sciences towards the public realm. Moreover, they indicate how he was able to make use of these developments as he promoted the sciences in Prussia. In scientific controversies within the Parisian scientific community, Humboldt was involuntarily assigned the role of a “neutral” foreign arbitrator. Thus, the development of nineteenth century sciences also jeopardized Humboldt’s unique position as an independent “homme des lettres”.

  8. Disease progression in usual interstitial pneumonia compared with desquamative interstitial pneumonia. Assessment with serial CT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hartman, T.E.; Primack, S.L.; Kang, E.Y.

    1997-01-01

    Objective. To determine the outcome of areas of ground-glass attenuation and assess disease progression on serial high-resolution CT (HRCT) scans of patients with biopsy specimen-proved usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) and desquamative interstitial pneumonia (DIP). Materials and methods. Twelve patients with biopsy specimen-proved UIP and 11 patients with biopsy specimen-proved DIP who had initial and follow-up HRCT scans (median interval, 10 months) were reviewed. Eleven patients with UIP and 11 with DIP received treatment between the initial and follow-up CT scans. The scans were evaluated for the presence and extent of ground-glass attenuation, irregular linear opacities and honeycombing, and overall extent of parenchymal involvement. Results. On initial CT scans, all 12 patients with UIP had areas of ground-glass attenuation (mean±SD extent, 30±16%) and irregular lines (mean±SD extent, 17±7%) and 10 patients had honeycombing (mean±SD extent, 10±6%). All 11 patients with DIP had areas of ground-glass attenuation on initial HRCT scans (mean±SD extent, 51±26%), 5 patients had irregular linear opacities (mean±SD extent, 5±5%), and 1 patient had honeycombing. Nine of the 12 patients with UIP showed increase in the extent of ground-glass attenuation (n=6) or progression to irregular lines (n=2) or honeycombing (n=4) on follow-up as compared with only 2 patients with DIP who showed progression to irregular lines (n=1) or honeycombing (n=1) (p 2 test). Conclusion. In patients with UIP, areas of ground-glass attenuation usually increase in extent or progress to fibrosis despite treatment. Areas of ground-glass attenuation in most patients with DIP remain stable or improve with treatment. (authors)

  9. Measuring propagation delay over a coded serial communication channel using FPGAs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jansweijer, P.P.M.; Peek, H.Z.

    2011-01-01

    Measurement and control applications are increasingly using distributed system technologies. In such applications, which may be spread over large distances, it is often necessary to synchronize system timing and know with great precision the time offsets between parts of the system. Measuring the propagation delay over a coded serial communication channel using serializer/deserializer (SerDes) functionality in FPGAs is described. The propagation delay between transmitter and receiver is measured with a resolution of a single unit interval (i.e. a serial link running at 3.125 Gbps provides a 320 ps resolution). The technique has been demonstrated to work over 100 km fibre to verify the feasibility for application in the future KM3NeT telescope.

  10. Serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Ruissen, Fred; Baas, Frank

    2007-01-01

    In 1995, serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) was developed as a versatile tool for gene expression studies. SAGE technology does not require pre-existing knowledge of the genome that is being examined and therefore SAGE can be applied to many different model systems. In this chapter, the SAGE

  11. Auditory distraction and serial memory: The avoidable and the ineluctable

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dylan M Jones

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available One mental activity that is very vulnerable to auditory distraction is serial recall. This review of the contemporary findings relating to serial recall charts the key determinants of distraction. It is evident that there is one form of distraction that is a joint product of the cognitive characteristics of the task and of the obligatory cognitive processing of the sound. For sequences of sound, distraction appears to be an ineluctable product of similarity-of-process, specifically, the serial order processing of the visually presented items and the serial order coding that is the by-product of the streaming of the sound. However, recently emerging work shows that the distraction from a single sound (one deviating from a prevailing sequence results in attentional capture and is qualitatively distinct from that of a sequence in being restricted in its action to encoding, not to rehearsal of list members. Capture is also sensitive to the sensory task load, suggesting that it is subject to top-down control and therefore avoidable. These two forms of distraction-conflict of process and attentional capture-may be two consequences of auditory perceptual organization processes that serve to strike the optimal balance between attentional selectivity and distractability.

  12. THE TRADITIONS OF ERMOLAY-ERAZMUS'S "THE TALE OF PETER AND FEVRONIA" IN ALEXANDER PUSHKIN'S NOVEL "THE CAPTAIN'S DAUGHTER"

    OpenAIRE

    Natalya Gennadievna Komar

    2013-01-01

    This article raises the question of the Old Russian sources of Alexander Pushkin’s novel The Captain’s Daughter and presents an attempt to identify the traditions of Ermolay-Erazmus’s The Tale of Peter and Fevronia in it. The main purpose of the research was to identify the parallelism between Pushkin’s novel and The Tale at the imaginative, narrative and thematic levels. Therefore, it was based on application of the comparative method. The main characters of both the books are compared in su...

  13. Kinematics/statics analysis of a novel serial-parallel robotic arm with hand

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lu, Yi; Dai, Zhuohong; Ye, Nijia; Wang, Peng [Yanshan University, Hebei (China)

    2015-10-15

    A robotic arm with fingered hand generally has multi-functions to complete various complicated operations. A novel serial-parallel robotic arm with a hand is proposed and its kinematics and statics are studied systematically. A 3D prototype of the serial-parallel robotic arm with a hand is constructed and analyzed by simulation. The serial-parallel robotic arm with a hand is composed of an upper 3RPS parallel manipulator, a lower 3SPR parallel manipulator and a hand with three finger mechanisms. Its kinematics formulae for solving the displacement, velocity, acceleration of are derived. Its statics formula for solving the active/constrained forces is derived. Its reachable workspace and orientation workspace are constructed and analyzed. Finally, an analytic example is given for solving the kinematics and statics of the serial-parallel robotic arm with a hand and the analytic solutions are verified by a simulation mechanism.

  14. Kinematics/statics analysis of a novel serial-parallel robotic arm with hand

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lu, Yi; Dai, Zhuohong; Ye, Nijia; Wang, Peng

    2015-01-01

    A robotic arm with fingered hand generally has multi-functions to complete various complicated operations. A novel serial-parallel robotic arm with a hand is proposed and its kinematics and statics are studied systematically. A 3D prototype of the serial-parallel robotic arm with a hand is constructed and analyzed by simulation. The serial-parallel robotic arm with a hand is composed of an upper 3RPS parallel manipulator, a lower 3SPR parallel manipulator and a hand with three finger mechanisms. Its kinematics formulae for solving the displacement, velocity, acceleration of are derived. Its statics formula for solving the active/constrained forces is derived. Its reachable workspace and orientation workspace are constructed and analyzed. Finally, an analytic example is given for solving the kinematics and statics of the serial-parallel robotic arm with a hand and the analytic solutions are verified by a simulation mechanism.

  15. Piezoelectric micromotor based on the structure of serial bending arms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tong, Jianhua; Cui, Tianhong; Shao, Peige; Wang, Liding

    2003-09-01

    This paper presents a new piezoelectric micromotor based on the structure of serial bending arms. Serial bending arms are composed of two piezoelectric bimorphs with one end fixed and the other end free, driven by two signals of a biased square wave with a phase difference of pi/2. The free end of a cantilever arm will move along an elliptic orbit so that the cantilever is used to drive a cylinder rotor. The rotor's end surface contacts the free end of the cantilever, resulting in the rotor's rotation. There are six serial bending arms anchored on the base. The driving mechanism of the micromotor is proposed and analyzed. A new micromotor prototype, 5 mm in diameter, has been fabricated and characterized. The maximum rotational speed reaches 325 rpm, and the output torque is about 36.5 microNm.

  16. Finding revelation in anthropology: Alexander Winchell, William Robertson Smith and the heretical imperative.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Livingstone, David N

    2015-09-01

    Anthropological inquiry has often been considered an agent of intellectual secularization. Not least is this so in the sphere of religion, where anthropological accounts have often been taken to represent the triumph of naturalism. This metanarrative, however, fails to recognize that naturalistic explanations could sometimes be espoused for religious purposes and in defence of confessional creeds. This essay examines two late nineteenth-century figures--Alexander Winchell in the United States and William Robertson Smith in Britain--who found in anthropological analysis resources to bolster rather than undermine faith. In both cases these individuals found themselves on the receiving end of ecclesiastical censure and were dismissed from their positions at church-governed institutions. But their motivation was to vindicate divine revelation, in Winchell's case from the physical anthropology of human origins and in Smith's from the cultural anthropology of Semitic ritual.

  17. Serial position learning in honeybees.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Randolf Menzel

    Full Text Available Learning of stimulus sequences is considered as a characteristic feature of episodic memory since it contains not only a particular item but also the experience of preceding and following events. In sensorimotor tasks resembling navigational performance, the serial order of objects is intimately connected with spatial order. Mammals and birds develop episodic(-like memory in serial spatio-temporal tasks, and the honeybee learns spatio-temporal order when navigating between the nest and a food source. Here I examine the structure of the bees' memory for a combined spatio-temporal task. I ask whether discrimination and generalization are based solely on simple forms of stimulus-reward learning or whether they require sequential configurations. Animals were trained to fly either left or right in a continuous T-maze. The correct choice was signaled by the sequence of colors (blue, yellow at four positions in the access arm. If only one of the possible 4 signals is shown (either blue or yellow, the rank order of position salience is 1, 2 and 3 (numbered from T-junction. No learning is found if the signal appears at position 4. If two signals are shown, differences at positions 1 and 2 are learned best, those at position 3 at a low level, and those at position 4 not at all. If three or more signals are shown these results are corroborated. This salience rank order again appeared in transfer tests, but additional configural phenomena emerged. Most of the results can be explained with a simple model based on the assumption that the four positions are equipped with different salience scores and that these add up independently. However, deviations from the model are interpreted by assuming stimulus configuration of sequential patterns. It is concluded that, under the conditions chosen, bees rely most strongly on memories developed during simple forms of associative reward learning, but memories of configural serial patterns contribute, too.

  18. Advances in Serials Management. Volume 6.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hepfer, Cindy, Ed.; Gammon, Julia, Ed.; Malinowski, Teresa, Ed.

    In order to further discussion and support constructive change, this volume presents the following eight papers on various dimensions of serials management: (1) "CD-ROMs, Surveys, and Sales: The OSA [Optical Society of America] Experience" (Frank E. Harris and Alan Tourtlotte); (2) "Management and Integration of Electronic Journals into the…

  19. Impact of Serials Management, Access and Use on Publication Output of Lecturers in Nigerian Universities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akinbode, Rahmon O. Onaolapo; Nwalo, Kenneth Ivo Ngozi

    2017-01-01

    This study investigates serials management in university libraries, determines the extent to which serials are accessed and used and appraises the influence of availability, accessibility and use of serials on publications output of lecturers in federal universities in Nigeria. Questionnaire administration method was adopted to accumulate data for…

  20. Fungal myositis in children: serial ultrasonographic findings

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kwon, Jung Hwa; Lee, Hee Jung; Choi, Jin Soo [Keimyung University School of Medicine, Daegu (Korea, Republic of)

    2003-08-01

    To evaluate serial ultrasonographic findings of fungal myositis in children. Eleven lesions caused by fungal myositis and occurring in six children were included in this study. Eight lesions in five children were histopathologically proven and the other three were clinically diagnosed. Serial ultrasonographic findings were retrospectively evaluated in terms of size, location, margin, internal echotexture and adjacent cortical change occurring during the follow-up period ranging from five days to two months. Three patients (50%) had multiple lesions. The sites of involvment were the thigh (n=4), calf (n=3), chest wall (n=2), abdominal wall (n=1) and forearm (n=1). Initially, diffuse muscular swelling was revealed, with ill-defined hypoechoic lesions confined to the muscle layer (n=8). Follow-up examination of eight lesions over a period of 5-10 days showed that round central echogenic lesions were surrounded by previous slightly echogenic lesions (n=6, 75%). Long-term follow-up of five lesions over a two-month period revealed periosteal thickening in one case (20%), and the peristence of echogenic solid nodules in four (80%). Pathologic examination showed that the central lesions correlated with a fungus ball and the peripheral slightly echogenic lesions corresponded to hematoma and necrosis. Serial ultrasonographic findings of fungal myositis in children revealed relatively constant features in each case. In particular, the findings of muscular necrosis and a fungus ball over a period of 5-14 days were thought to be characteristic.

  1. Fungal myositis in children: serial ultrasonographic findings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kwon, Jung Hwa; Lee, Hee Jung; Choi, Jin Soo

    2003-01-01

    To evaluate serial ultrasonographic findings of fungal myositis in children. Eleven lesions caused by fungal myositis and occurring in six children were included in this study. Eight lesions in five children were histopathologically proven and the other three were clinically diagnosed. Serial ultrasonographic findings were retrospectively evaluated in terms of size, location, margin, internal echotexture and adjacent cortical change occurring during the follow-up period ranging from five days to two months. Three patients (50%) had multiple lesions. The sites of involvment were the thigh (n=4), calf (n=3), chest wall (n=2), abdominal wall (n=1) and forearm (n=1). Initially, diffuse muscular swelling was revealed, with ill-defined hypoechoic lesions confined to the muscle layer (n=8). Follow-up examination of eight lesions over a period of 5-10 days showed that round central echogenic lesions were surrounded by previous slightly echogenic lesions (n=6, 75%). Long-term follow-up of five lesions over a two-month period revealed periosteal thickening in one case (20%), and the peristence of echogenic solid nodules in four (80%). Pathologic examination showed that the central lesions correlated with a fungus ball and the peripheral slightly echogenic lesions corresponded to hematoma and necrosis. Serial ultrasonographic findings of fungal myositis in children revealed relatively constant features in each case. In particular, the findings of muscular necrosis and a fungus ball over a period of 5-14 days were thought to be characteristic

  2. Race as Seriality: A Response to David Benatar and Zimitri Erasmus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gouws, A.

    2010-01-01

    In this article I draw on the Sarte's notion of "seriality" as theorized in his book "Dialectic of Reason" and as interpreted by Iris Marion Young. I argue that seriality can be used to escape the false essentialism and identity politics of race as a category for admissions to universities. A series is a social collective whose members are unified…

  3. A high speed serializer ASIC for ATLAS Liquid Argon calorimeter upgrade

    CERN Document Server

    Liu, T; The ATLAS collaboration

    2014-01-01

    We have been developing a serializer application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) based on a commercial 0.25-μm silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) CMOS technology for the ATLAS liquid argon calorimeter front-end electronics upgrade. The first prototype, a 5 Gbps 16:1 serializer has been designed, fabricated, and tested in lab environment and in 200 MeV proton beam. The test results indicate that the first prototype meets the design goals. The second prototype, a double-lane, 8 Gbps per lane serializer is under development. The post layout simulation indicates that 8 Gbps is achievable. In this paper we present the design and the test results of the first prototype and the design and status of the second prototype.

  4. Facial rejuvenation: Serial fat graft transfer

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Saad Mohamed Saad Ibrahiem

    2016-02-01

    Feb 1, 2016 ... This a clinical study carried out to test the aesthetic outcome of serial injection of the cryo-preserved fat cells for both aesthetic and reconstructive purposes. Methods: Clinical ..... ucts, devices, or drugs mentioned in this manuscript that might create a ... Adipose stem cells and regenerative medicine. 7th ed.

  5. Smart grid serialization comparison: Comparision of serialization for distributed control in the context of the Internet of Things

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Petersen, Bo Søborg; Bindner, Henrik W.; You, Shi

    2017-01-01

    within a given timeframe, especially in the context of the Internet of Things, using low-bandwidth data connections and constrained devices. The paper shows that there are better alternatives than XML & JAXB and gives guidance in choosing the most appropriate serialization format and library depending...

  6. Comparison of SUV and Patlak slope for monitoring of cancer therapy using serial PET scans

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Freedman, Nanette M.T.; Sundaram, Senthil K.; Kurdziel, Karen; Carrasquillo, Jorge A.; Whatley, Millie; Carson, Joann M.; Sellers, David; Libutti, Steven K.; Yang, James C.; Bacharach, Stephen L.

    2003-01-01

    The standardized uptake value (SUV) and the slope of the Patlak plot (K) have both been proposed as indices to monitor the progress of disease during cancer therapy. Although a good correlation has been reported between SUV and K, they are not equivalent, and may not be equally affected by metabolic changes occurring during disease progression or therapy. We wished to compare changes in tumor SUV with changes in K during serial positron emission tomography (PET) scans for monitoring therapy. Thirteen patients enrolled in a protocol to treat renal cell carcinoma metastases were studied. Serial dynamic fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET scans and computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) scans were performed once prior to treatment, once at 36±2 days after the start of treatment, and (in 7/13 subjects, 16/27 lesions) a third time at 92±9 days after the start of treatment. This resulted in a total of 33 scans, and 70 tumor Patlak and SUV values (one value for each lesion at each time point). SUV and K were measured over one to four predefined tumors/patient at each time point. The input function was obtained from regions of interest over the heart, combined, if necessary, with late blood samples. Over all tumors and scans, SUV and K correlated well (r=0.97, P<0.0001). However, change in SUV with treatment over all tumor scan pairs was much less well correlated with the corresponding change in K (r=0.73, P<0.0001). The absolute difference in % change was outside the 95% confidence limits expected from previous variability studies in 6 of 43 pairs of tumor scans, and greater than 50% in 2 of 43 tumor scan pairs. In four of the six cases, the two indices predicted opposing therapeutic outcomes. Similar results were obtained for SUV normalized by body weight or body surface area and for SUVs using mean or maximum count. Changes in CT and MR tumor cross-product dimensions correlated poorly with each other (r=0.47, P=NS), and so could not be used to determine the

  7. Analysis of aging in lager brewing yeast during serial repitching.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bühligen, Franziska; Lindner, Patrick; Fetzer, Ingo; Stahl, Frank; Scheper, Thomas; Harms, Hauke; Müller, Susann

    2014-10-10

    Serial repitching of brewing yeast inoculates is an important economic factor in the brewing industry, as their propagation is time and resource intensive. Here, we investigated whether replicative aging and/or the population distribution status changed during serial repitching in three different breweries with the same brewing yeast strain but different abiotic backgrounds and repitching regimes with varying numbers of reuses. Next to bud scar numbers the DNA content of the Saccharomyces pastorianus HEBRU cells was analyzed. Gene expression patterns were investigated using low-density microarrays with genes for aging, stress, storage compound metabolism and cell cycle. Two breweries showed a stable rejuvenation rate during serial repitching. In a third brewery the fraction of virgin cells varied, which could be explained with differing wort aeration rates. Furthermore, the number of bud scars per cell and cell size correlated in all 3 breweries throughout all runs. Transcriptome analyses revealed that from the 6th run on, mainly for the cells positive gene expression could be seen, for example up-regulation of trehalose and glycogen metabolism genes. Additionally, the cells' settling in the cone was dependent on cell size, with the lowest and the uppermost cone layers showing the highest amount of dead cells. In general, cells do not progressively age during extended serial repitching. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  8. Native sulfur/chlorine SAD phasing for serial femtosecond crystallography

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nakane, Takanori; Song, Changyong; Suzuki, Mamoru; Nango, Eriko; Kobayashi, Jun; Masuda, Tetsuya; Inoue, Shigeyuki; Mizohata, Eiichi; Nakatsu, Toru; Tanaka, Tomoyuki; Tanaka, Rie; Shimamura, Tatsuro; Tono, Kensuke; Joti, Yasumasa; Kameshima, Takashi; Hatsui, Takaki; Yabashi, Makina; Nureki, Osamu; Iwata, So; Sugahara, Michihiro

    2015-01-01

    Sulfur SAD phasing facilitates the structure determination of diverse native proteins using femtosecond X-rays from free-electron lasers via serial femtosecond crystallography. Serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) allows structures to be determined with minimal radiation damage. However, phasing native crystals in SFX is not very common. Here, the structure determination of native lysozyme from single-wavelength anomalous diffraction (SAD) by utilizing the anomalous signal of sulfur and chlorine at a wavelength of 1.77 Å is successfully demonstrated. This sulfur SAD method can be applied to a wide range of proteins, which will improve the determination of native crystal structures

  9. The death of recency: Relationship between end-state comfort and serial position effects in serial recall: Logan and Fischman (2011) revisited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Logan, Samuel W; Fischman, Mark G

    2015-12-01

    Two experiments examined the dynamic interaction between cognitive resources in short-term memory and bimanual object manipulation by extending recent research by Logan and Fischman (2011). In Experiment 1, 16 participants completed a bimanual end-state comfort task and a memory task requiring serial recall of 12 words or pictures. The end-state comfort task involved moving two glasses between two shelves. Participants viewed the items, performed the end-state comfort task, and then serially recalled the items. Recall was evaluated by the presence or absence of primacy and recency effects. The end-state comfort effect (ESCE) was assessed by the percentage of initial hand positions that allowed the hands to end comfortably. The main findings indicated that the ESCE was disrupted; the primacy effect remained intact; and the recency effect disappeared regardless of the type of memory item recalled. In Experiment 2, 16 participants viewed six items, performed an end-state comfort task, viewed another six items, and then serially recalled all 12 items. Results were essentially the same as in Experiment 1. Findings suggest that executing a bimanual end-state comfort task, regardless of when it is completed during a memory task, diminishes the recency effect irrespective of the type of memory item. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. On the Performance of the Python Programming Language for Serial and Parallel Scientific Computations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xing Cai

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available This article addresses the performance of scientific applications that use the Python programming language. First, we investigate several techniques for improving the computational efficiency of serial Python codes. Then, we discuss the basic programming techniques in Python for parallelizing serial scientific applications. It is shown that an efficient implementation of the array-related operations is essential for achieving good parallel performance, as for the serial case. Once the array-related operations are efficiently implemented, probably using a mixed-language implementation, good serial and parallel performance become achievable. This is confirmed by a set of numerical experiments. Python is also shown to be well suited for writing high-level parallel programs.

  11. Huntington's disease

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hjermind, Lena Elisabeth; Law, Ian; Jønch, Aia

    2011-01-01

    In this open-label pilot study, the authors evaluated the effect of memantine on the distribution of brain glucose metabolism in four Huntington's disease (HD) patients as determined by serial 18-fluoro-deoxyglucose [F(18)]FDG-PET scans over a period of 3-4 months (90-129 days, with one patient...

  12. A prospective study to investigate the role of serial serum mesothelin in monitoring mesothelioma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Fonseka, Duneesha; Arnold, David T; Stadon, Louise; Morley, Anna; Keenan, Emma; Darby, Michael; Armstrong, Lynne; Virgo, Paul; Maskell, Nick A

    2018-02-17

    Radiological monitoring of malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) using modified RECIST criteria is limited by low sensitivity and inter-observer variability. Serial serum mesothelin measurement has shown utility in the assessment of treatment response during chemotherapy but has never been assessed in the longer term follow up of patients. This is a single centre study of consecutive patients diagnosed with MPM who received chemotherapy or best supportive care (BSC). Serum mesothelin measurements with paired 6 monthly CT scans were performed following the completion of chemotherapy, or from baseline in the BSC group. Changes in mesothelin were correlated with radiological progression and overall survival. Forty-one patients with MPM were recruited and followed up for a minimum of 12 months (range 12-21 months). The majority of patients (n = 23) received chemotherapy with pemetrexed and cisplatin. Across the cohort a 10% rise in serum mesothelin could predict radiological progression with a sensitivity of 96% (IQR; 79-100) and specificity of 74% (IQR; 50-91). Sensitivity fell to 80% in sarcomatoid only disease. Patients with a rising mesothelin at 6 months had significantly worse overall survival (175 days) compared to stable/falling levels (448 days) (p = 0.003). This is the first study to assess serum mesothelin's ability to detect progression of MPM following chemotherapy or during BSC. A 10% rise in serum mesothelin level showed excellent sensitivity at predicting progressive disease. Mesothelin measurement has several advantages over serial CT imaging including reducing hospital visits and cost.

  13. Ice-dammed lateral lake and epishelf lake insights into Holocene dynamics of Marguerite Trough Ice Stream and George VI Ice Shelf, Alexander Island, Antarctic Peninsula

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davies, Bethan J.; Hambrey, Michael J.; Glasser, Neil F.; Holt, Tom; Rodés, Angél; Smellie, John L.; Carrivick, Jonathan L.; Blockley, Simon P. E.

    2017-12-01

    We present new data regarding the past dynamics of Marguerite Trough Ice Stream, George VI Ice Shelf and valley glaciers from Ablation Point Massif on Alexander Island, Antarctic Peninsula. This ice-free oasis preserves a geological record of ice stream lateral moraines, ice-dammed lakes, ice-shelf moraines and valley glacier moraines, which we dated using cosmogenic nuclide ages. We provide one of the first detailed sediment-landform assemblage descriptions of epishelf lake shorelines. Marguerite Trough Ice Stream imprinted lateral moraines against eastern Alexander Island at 120 m at Ablation Point Massif. During deglaciation, lateral lakes formed in the Ablation and Moutonnée valleys, dammed against the ice stream in George VI Sound. Exposure ages from boulders on these shorelines yielded ages of 13.9 to 9.7 ka. Following recession of the ice stream, George VI Ice Shelf formed in George VI Sound. An epishelf lake formed at 15-20 m asl in Ablation and Moutonnée valleys, dated from 9.4 to 4.6 ka, suggesting that the lake was stable and persistent for some 5000 years. Lake-level lowering occurred after this, with the lake level at 12 m at 3.1 ± 0.4 ka and at 5 m asl today. A readvance of the valley glaciers on Alexander Island at 4.4 ± 0.7 ka is recorded by valley glacier moraines overlying epishelf lake sediments. We speculate that the glacier readvance, which occurred during a period of warmth, may have been caused by a dynamic response of the glaciers to a lowering in surface elevation of George VI Ice Shelf.

  14. Serializing off-the-shelf MOSFETs by Magnetically Coupling Their Gate Electrodes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dimopoulos, Emmanouil; Munk-Nielsen, Stig

    2013-01-01

    While the semiconductor industry struggles with the inherent trade-offs of solid-state devices, serialization of power switches, like the Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET) or the Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT), has been proven to be an advantageous alternative...... to acquire a high-efficient, high-voltage, fast-switching device. More than twenty years of research, on the serialization of solid-state devices, have resulted into several different stacking concepts. Among the prevailing ones, the gate balancing core technique, which has demonstrated very good performance...... in strings of high-power IGBT modules. In this paper, the limitations of the gate balancing core technique, when employed to serialize low or medium power off-the-shelf switches, are identified via experimental results. A new design specification for the interwinding capacitance of the employed transformer...

  15. Recalling visual serial order for verbal sequences

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Logie, R.H.; Saito, S.; Morita, A.; Varma, S.; Norris, D.

    2016-01-01

    We report three experiments in which participants performed written serial recall of visually presented verbal sequences with items varying in visual similarity. In Experiments 1 and 2 native speakers of Japanese recalled visually presented Japanese Kanji characters. In Experiment 3, native speakers

  16. A matter of emphasis: Linguistic stress habits modulate serial recall.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, John C; Macken, Bill; Jones, Dylan M

    2015-04-01

    Models of short-term memory for sequential information rely on item-level, feature-based descriptions to account for errors in serial recall. Transposition errors within alternating similar/dissimilar letter sequences derive from interactions between overlapping features. However, in two experiments, we demonstrated that the characteristics of the sequence are what determine the fates of items, rather than the properties ascribed to the items themselves. Performance in alternating sequences is determined by the way that the sequences themselves induce particular prosodic rehearsal patterns, and not by the nature of the items per se. In a serial recall task, the shapes of the canonical "saw-tooth" serial position curves and transposition error probabilities at successive input-output distances were modulated by subvocal rehearsal strategies, despite all item-based parameters being held constant. We replicated this finding using nonalternating lists, thus demonstrating that transpositions are substantially influenced by prosodic features-such as stress-that emerge during subvocal rehearsal.

  17. Serial consolidation of orientation information into visual short-term memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Taosheng; Becker, Mark W

    2013-06-01

    Previous research suggests that there is a limit to the rate at which items can be consolidated in visual short-term memory (VSTM). This limit could be due to either a serial or a limited-capacity parallel process. Historically, it has proven difficult to distinguish between these two types of processes. In the present experiment, we took a novel approach that allowed us to do so. Participants viewed two oriented gratings either sequentially or simultaneously and reported one of the gratings' orientation via method of adjustment. Performance was worse for the simultaneous than for the sequential condition. We fit the data with a mixture model that assumes performance is limited by a noisy memory representation plus random guessing. Critically, the serial and limited-capacity parallel processes made distinct predictions regarding the model's guessing and memory-precision parameters. We found strong support for a serial process, which implies that one can consolidate only a single orientation into VSTM at a time.

  18. [Some criminological and psychopathologic reflexions about serial crimes].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Romi, Juan Carlos

    2011-01-01

    This article reviews the concept of serial crime, including murder as well as any action for the purpose of inflicting bodily harm upon any person. It characterizes three types of multi-murderers: serial killers, mass murderers, and spree killers. These offenders often have a specific (ritual) behavior that is idiosyncratic and repeated on each crime, which allows the psychological profiling of the murderer. Examples, a psychopathological background, and a description of both their criminal behavior and dynamics are provided for each of these criminals. They are further classified according to their different motivations: psychotic, prophetic or enlightened, pleasure, secondary or pecuniary profits, power or control. Finally, the author shares his personal experience over 20 years in the assessment of sexual offenders.

  19. Quantification of dynamic posterior translation in modified bilateral Alexander views and correlation with clinical and radiological parameters in patients with acute acromioclavicular joint instability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Minkus, Marvin; Hann, Carmen; Scheibel, Markus; Kraus, Natascha

    2017-06-01

    Classification of AC-joint instability is based on radiologic evaluation of anteroposterior (a.p.) stress views of both shoulders, neglecting the horizontal component of instability. Recent studies have proposed an association of dynamic posterior translation (DPT) and inferior clinical results. The purpose of this study was to quantify DPT in modified Alexander views and correlate it with other radiological and clinical data. Thirty-two patients (4 f, 28 m, mean age 34.1) with acute AC-joint dislocation (16 = RW III, 16 = RW V) underwent radiological examination including bilateral a.p. stress views with measurement of the coracoclavicular distance (CCD) and bilateral modified Alexander views with different approaches to quantify DPT (overlapping area OA AC , overlapping length OL AC ). In addition, the Constant Score, Subjective Shoulder Value, Taft Score (TF), and the Acromioclavicular Joint Instability Score (ACJI) were obtained. In Rockwood (RW) type III injuries, a mean CCD of 15.8 (9.8-22.8) mm, OA AC of 50.9 (0-216.6) mm 2 , and OL AC of 6.5 (-4.7-17.9) mm were found. RW V patients showed a CCD of 23.1 (13.7-32.0) mm; OA AC 7.0 (0-92.3) mm 2 ; and OL AC -4.8 (-19.6-9.8) mm. Particularly in RW III the CCD, OA AC and OL AC revealed significant correlation with the ACJI (r = -0.64/r = 0.72/r = 0.68, p  0.05 and OL AC with TF: r = -0.45, p > 0.05). Measuring the OL AC is a convenient way for quantifying DPT in modified Alexander views. It showed significant correlation with clinical scores, indicating the relevance of DPT in patients with AC-joint injury.

  20. Serial-omics characterization of equine urine.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Min Yuan

    Full Text Available Horse urine is easily collected and contains molecules readily measurable using mass spectrometry that can be used as biomarkers representative of health, disease or drug tampering. This study aimed at analyzing microliter levels of horse urine to purify, identify and quantify proteins, polar metabolites and non-polar lipids. Urine from a healthy 12 year old quarter horse mare on a diet of grass hay and vitamin/mineral supplements with limited pasture access was collected for serial-omics characterization. The urine was treated with methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE and methanol to partition into three distinct layers for protein, non-polar lipid and polar metabolite content from a single liquid-liquid extraction and was repeated two times. Each layer was analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography-high resolution tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS to obtain protein sequence and relative protein levels as well as identify and quantify small polar metabolites and lipids. The results show 46 urine proteins, many related to normal kidney function, structural and circulatory proteins as well as 474 small polar metabolites but only 10 lipid molecules. Metabolites were mostly related to urea cycle and ammonia recycling as well as amino acid related pathways, plant diet specific molecules, etc. The few lipids represented triglycerides and phospholipids. These data show a complete mass spectrometry based-omics characterization of equine urine from a single 333 μL mid-stream urine aliquot. These omics data help serve as a baseline for healthy mare urine composition and the analyses can be used to monitor disease progression, health status, monitor drug use, etc.

  1. Serial SPECT in children with partial epilepsy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hosoya, Machiko; Ushiku, Hideo

    1995-01-01

    We performed serial single-photon emission CT (SPECT) with N-isopropyl-p-( 123 I)-Iodoamphetamine to measure the regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in 15 children with partial epilepsy. SPECT showed focal changes in 14 cases. Ten cases had abnormalities in the initial SPECT and another four cases in the second test. The cases with normal rCBF in initial SPECT had been tested in an early phase after the onset, and then decreased rCBF were observed in the second SPECT. The cases with both abnormal rCBF in the initial SPECT and improved rCBF in the second SPECT showed good prognosis in clinico-electrophysiological evolutions. In cases with abnormal changes of rCBF in the second SPECT, clinical prognosis was found to be not so good. These findings suggest that serial SPECT may be used to follow the course of epilepsy. (author)

  2. Decentralised energy supply as our future energy supply system? - An interview with Prof. Alexander Wokaun

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nagel, Ch.

    2002-01-01

    In this interview with Professor Alexander Wokaun, head of General Energy Research at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Villigen, Switzerland, the decentralised use of small, gas-fired combined heat and power (CHP) units is discussed as a means of meeting Switzerland's Kyoto CO 2 commitments. The question on which of several new CHP technologies such as gas-fired engines and turbines, Stirling engines, fuel cells and thermo-photovoltaics will win the race is discussed. The efficiency and application areas of CHP technologies are examined and the problems involved when controlling complex electricity grids with many small decentrally placed generating facilities is discussed. Finally, Professor Wokaun is asked for his opinion on what the Swiss power mix will look like in 20 years

  3. Serial perfusion in native lungs in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and other interstitial lung diseases after single lung transplantation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sokai, Akihiko; Handa, Tomohiro; Chen, Fengshi; Tanizawa, Kiminobu; Aoyama, Akihiro; Kubo, Takeshi; Ikezoe, Kohei; Nakatsuka, Yoshinari; Oguma, Tsuyoshi; Hirai, Toyohiro; Nagai, Sonoko; Chin, Kazuo; Date, Hiroshi; Mishima, Michiaki

    2016-04-01

    Lung perfusions after single lung transplantation (SLT) have not been fully clarified in patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD). The present study aimed to investigate temporal changes in native lung perfusion and their associated clinical factors in patients with ILD who have undergone SLT. Eleven patients were enrolled. Perfusion scintigraphy was serially performed up to 12 months after SLT. Correlations between the post-operative perfusion ratio in the native lung and clinical parameters, including pre-operative perfusion ratio and computed tomography (CT) volumetric parameters, were evaluated. On average, the perfusion ratio of the native lung was maintained at approximately 30% until 12 months after SLT. However, the ratio declined more significantly in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) than in other ILDs (p = 0.014). The perfusion ratio before SLT was significantly correlated with that at three months after SLT (ρ = 0.64, p = 0.048). The temporal change of the perfusion ratio in the native lung did not correlate with those of the CT parameters. The pre-operative perfusion ratio may predict the post-operative perfusion ratio of the native lung shortly after SLT in ILD. Perfusion of the native lung may decline faster in IPF compared with other ILDs. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  4. Obituary: Alexander (Andy) Franz Lubenow, 1956-2005

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buie, Marc William

    2006-12-01

    Alexander (Andy) Franz Lubenow, Program Coordinator at the Space Telescope Science Institute, was diagnosed with cancer of the gallbladder, pancreas, and liver in May 2005 and died on 29 September 2005. He was forty-nine. Andy was born to Bodo and Helen Lubenow in St. Paul, Minnesota on 4 January 1956. In 1964 at the age of eight, he moved with his family to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and attended the American Community School there until returning with his family in 1973 to St. Paul. Argentina had a big impact on Andy's future as an astronomer. He later recalled how he had observed and was puzzled by the "upside-down" appearance of the Moon in the southern hemisphere. In Argentina, he built his first telescope using a mirror he had ground himself. He never parted ways with that instrument. Andy did not follow a standard educational track. He spent two years at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, before transferring to the University of Minnesota, where he earned his bachelor's degree and began work towards a master's degree in astrophysics. Later he transferred to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he remained until Dr. Peter Stockman hired him to work on the Hubble Space Telescope project. While in school, he worked as a teacher's assistant, taught night school, and gave demonstrations of stargazing. He was an excellent teacher and had a flair for writing. He later wrote articles for a sailing magazine and a pilot's magazine. Andy was a very practical, meticulous, and steady worker, attributes that he combined with an understated and dry sense of humor. He was always able to find a way through a problem, no matter how sticky. If a job required him to roll up his sleeves and get it done through hard work, he would persevere. Nevertheless, he was always on the lookout for an easier way. He had no patience for being forced to deal with stupid things for stupid reasons. At work at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), Andy was

  5. The Question of Sign-Language and the Utility of Signs in the Instruction of the Deaf: Two Papers by Alexander Graham Bell (1898)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marschark, M.

    2005-01-01

    Alexander Graham Bell is often portrayed as either hero or villain of deaf individuals and the Deaf community. His writings, however, indicate that he was neither, and was not as clearly definite in his beliefs about language as is often supposed. The following two articles, reprinted from The Educator (1898), Vol. V, pp. 3?4 and pp. 38?44,…

  6. Woody Allen, serial schlemiel ?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Frédérique Brisset

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available Woody Allen a développé au fil des années une persona cinématographique de schlemiel new-yorkais aisément reconnaissable par le spectateur. Elle marque nombre de ses films, qu’il y apparaisse en tant qu’acteur ou y dirige des substituts comédiens comme déclinaisons de lui-même. Si cette figure prototypique est le fondement de la sérialité dans sa filmographie, il est des traits stylistiques qui en portent trace tout au long de son œuvre : la récurrence annuelle de ses réalisations, la signature formelle symbolisée par ses génériques à la typographie singulière, le rythme de ses dialogues ponctués d’interjections et l’usage de l’autocitation sont autant de procédés qui marquent son cinéma d’un sceau très personnel. Ils fonctionnent comme des clins d’œil au spectateur qui reçoit dès lors LE Woody Allen millésimé comme une invitation à retrouver son microcosme. Ainsi la sérialité se pose comme à la fois initiale et conséquentielle de son système filmique, processus de création unique dans le cinéma américain.Woody Allen has long constructed a cinematographic persona of schlemiel New- Yorker that the audience can easily identify. It impacts most of his films, whether he stars in them or directs “substitute” actors to impersonate his character. If this prototypical figure is the basis of seriality in his cinematography, serial stylistic features can also be found all along his career: the annual recurrence of his productions, the formal signature symbolised by the typography of his singular credit titles, his rhythmical interjection-punctuated dialogues and the use of self-quotation imprint a very personal seal upon his movies. They all work as a recognition signals for the audience who thus receive THE Woody Allen vintage as an invitation to re-enter his microcosm. Seriality is then both initial and consequential to his cinematographic system, a unique creative process in American film history.

  7. Juvenility and serial vegetative propagation of Norway spruce clones (Picea abies Karst.).

    Science.gov (United States)

    J.B. St. Clair; J. Kleinschmit; J. Svolba

    1985-01-01

    Effects associated with progressive maturation of clones are of greatest concern in clonal tree improvement programs. Serial propagation has been in use at the Lower Saxony Forest Research Institute since 1968 to arrest maturation in Norway spruce clones. By 1980 cuttings were established in the nursery that had been serially propagated from one to five cycles. This...

  8. Steers performance fed diets with Alexander grass silage (Urochloa plantaginea x sorghum silage (Sorghum bicolor (L. Moench

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Flânia Mônego Argenta

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available This study aimed to evaluate the parameters related to feedlot beef steers fed with Alexander grass silage or sorghum silage as roughage source. Twelve animals with initial average of weight and age of 245 kg and 20 months, respectively, belonging to Nellore (N, Charolais (C, 21/32 N 11/32 C, 21/32 C 11/32 N; 43/64 N 21/64 C and 43/64 C 21/64 N genetic groups were used. The ration was composed by a roughage:concentrate relation of 50:50 (dry matter basis, offered at ease. The dry matter, crude protein, ether extract, neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber daily intake didn’t differ between roughage sources, being the medium values of 10.18; 1.28; 0.20; 4.96 and 2.51 kg/day, respectively. However, the ether extract intake by metabolic size and by corporal weight percentage were higher for the one that consumed sorghum silage, obtaining values of 2.74 and 2.36 g/metabolic size and 0.06 and 0.05 kg/100 kg of live weight. The same behavior was observed for digestible energy intake, presenting values of 364.87 and 302.83 g/metabolic size and 8.10 and 7.02 kg/100 kg of live weight. The daily average gain, final corporal score and feed conversion weren’t influenced by roughage type, being the values of 1.31 kg; 4.05 points and 7.78 kg of DM/kg of weight gain, respectively. The Alexander grass silage is a feasible alternative as its substitution in relation to sorghum silage.

  9. Jade aus Amerika und weitere Grünsteinobjekte von Alexander von Humboldt aus dem Berliner Mineralienkabinett

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Renate Nöller

    2002-04-01

    Full Text Available Article in German, Abstracts in English, Spanish and German.Alexander von Humboldt sent samples of minerals from America not only for scientific or economic purposes. We also find carved pieces made out of green stone material known as Jade, that has been culturally very important in Mesoamerica. In Europe these green stone objects have been treated differently. The Jade-Celt and the Sun-Disc - known as “Humboldt-Axt” and “Humboldt-Scheibe” - both lost during the second world war, had gained great interest, whereas a small head-pendant - made out of Jade has been totally forgotten. The samples reflect the understanding of their worth in distinct cultural contexts.

  10. Serials Management In Polytechnic Libraries in Nigeria: A ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Serials Management In Polytechnic Libraries in Nigeria: A Comparative Study of Kaduna Polytechnic And Yaba College of Technology Libraries. ... Samaru Journal of Information Studies. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced ...

  11. The Functional Determinants of Short-Term Memory: Evidence from Perceptual-Motor Interference in Verbal Serial Recall

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hughes, Robert W.; Marsh, John E.

    2017-01-01

    A functional, perceptual-motor, account of serial short-term memory (STM) is examined by investigating the way in which an irrelevant spoken sequence interferes with verbal serial recall. Even with visual list-presentation, verbal serial recall is particularly susceptible to disruption by irrelevant spoken stimuli that have the same identity…

  12. Analysis of the karyotype of Callisia elegans Alexand. (Commelinaceae including differential staining of chromosomes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elżbieta Weryszko-Chmielewska

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The number and morphology of Callisia elegans Alexand. chromosomes were studied employing staining with acetic carmine and differential Giemsa staining. It was found that its karyotype was 2n = 12 chromosomes, whose lengths fell in the range of 16.8 to 8.8 µm. The chomosomes, arranged in order of length, were classified respectively to types: sm, t, t, t, t, st. The distribution of C-banding is given for this karyotype. The presence of microsatellites on the long and short arms was found in the chromosomes of the second pair. Frequently there were 4 nucleoli of unequal size in interphase nuclei. In many cells, lower numbers of nucleoli (3-1 were seen which was -probably due to their fusion. The maximum number of nucleoli corresponded to the number of nucleolar organizers accompanying the satellites.

  13. Neurodevelopmental and psychosocial risk factors in serial killers and mass murderers

    OpenAIRE

    Allely, Clare S.; Minnis, Helen; Thompson, Lucy; Wilson, Philip; Gillberg, Christopher

    2014-01-01

    Multiple and serial murders are rare events that have a very profound societal impact. We have conducted a systematic review, following PRISMA guidelines, of both the peer reviewed literature and of journalistic and legal sources regarding mass and serial killings. Our findings tentatively indicate that these extreme forms of violence may be a result of a highly complex interaction of biological, psychological and sociological factors and that, potentially, a significant proportion of mass or...

  14. Malingering, coaching, and the serial position effect.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suhr, Julie A

    2002-01-01

    The normal pattern of performance on list-learning tasks is to recall more words from the beginning (primacy) and end (recency) of the list. This pattern is also seen in patients with closed head injury, but malingerers tend to recall less words from the beginning of word lists, leading to a suppressed primacy effect. The present study examined this pattern on both learning trials and delayed recall of the Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT) in 34 persons performing with normal effort, 38 naive malingerers, 33 warned malingerers, and 29 head-injured patients. Both malingering groups had lower scores on the primacy portion of the list during learning trials, while normals and head-injured patients had normal serial position curves. During delayed recall, normals and head-injured patients did better than the two malingering groups on middle and recency portions of the list. Findings suggest that the serial position effect during learning trials may be a useful pattern of performance to watch for when suspicious of malingering.

  15. BRAIN Journal - Some Considerations on Seriality and Synchronicity

    OpenAIRE

    Elena Nechita

    2017-01-01

    ABSTRACT This paper presents an overview of the results that have been obtained lately on seriality and synchronicity and their link, in the light of the new theories and within the frame of complexity science.

  16. Fault tolerance based on serial communication of FPGA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Peng Jing; Fang Zongliang; Xu Quanzhou; Hu Jiewei; Ma Guizhen

    2012-01-01

    There maybe appear mistake in serial communication. This paper was described the intellectual detector of γ dose ratemeter communication with FPGA. The software of FPGA designed the code about fault tolerance, prevented mistake effectively. (authors)

  17. Ranking serials in oceanography: An analysis based on the Indian contributions and their citations

    Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

    Tapaswi, M.P.; Maheswarappa, B.S.

    An analysis of serials preferred and cited in various communications by the Indian oceanographers during 1963 to 1992 is presented. A shift in preference of serials from general sciences to oceanography (interdisciplinary) and to core subject...

  18. Serial measurements of serum human placental lactogen (hPL) and serial ultrasound examinations in the evaluation of fetal growth

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, Steen; von Tabouillot, D; Schioler, V

    2000-01-01

    Serial serum hPL measurements and serial ultrasound fetometry were compared in the evaluation of fetal growth by relating these two parameters to size at birth and to clinical factors known to influence size at birth. The data were from a prospective study of 1000 consecutive pregnant women...... considered to be at risk for fetal growth retardation with retrospective analysis. Serum hPL was measured by radioimmunoassay and fetal weight estimated by ultrasound every 3 weeks during the last trimester. hPL values were expressed as multiples of the median (MoM) and linear regression analysis of the h......PL MoM values was carried out for each pregnancy to find the slope of the line (hPL-slope); at least 3 serum hPL values were required. The estimated fetal weight and weight-for-age at birth was expressed in Z-scores. The individual intrauterine growth velocity was calculated by regression analysis...

  19. A serial founder effect model for human settlement out of Africa

    OpenAIRE

    Deshpande, Omkar; Batzoglou, Serafim; Feldman, Marcus W.; Luca Cavalli-Sforza, L.

    2008-01-01

    The increasing abundance of human genetic data has shown that the geographical patterns of worldwide genetic diversity are best explained by human expansion out of Africa. This expansion is modelled well by prolonged migration from a single origin in Africa with multiple subsequent serial founding events. We discuss a new simulation model for the serial founder effect out of Africa and compare it with results from previous studies. Unlike previous models, we distinguish colonization events fr...

  20. Shakespeare à l’écran : Makibefo d’Alexander Abela, un exemple extrême d’appropriation culturelle Alexander Abela’s Makibefo: an Example of Radical Cultural Appropriation on Screen

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anne-Marie Costantini-Cornède

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available Alexander Abela’s Makibefo (1999 shot in Madagascar and played by non-professional actors. The use of the Antandroy people or “an ancient tribe” who had never even seen a film before, is an example of cultural appropriation or a “transcultural” approach to the play, a complex process of rewriting which consists in a narrative and aesthetic remoulding of the play adapted. By transposing the play Macbeth to an unusual context, a poor fishermen’s village lost at the other end of the world, the filmmaker means to enhance its mythic and universal dimension. He resorts to various narrative and aesthetic strategies such as plot displacements, character suppressions or dialogue simplifications as well as ample and systematic use of cinematic rhetoric (camera movements, framing and angle shot effects or light contrasts, which helps create a filmic mode. The process is paradoxical, as it is not so much meant to deconstruct the play as to reconstruct its essential meaning in a novel, powerful and visionary way, thus offering an alternative reading of the play.

  1. Evaluation of Serial Casting for Boys with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy: A Case Report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carroll, Kate; de Valle, Katy; Kornberg, Andrew; Ryan, Monique; Kennedy, Rachel

    2018-02-01

    To report the effects of below-knee serial casting in two boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy who presented with well-preserved strength and calf shortening. Bilateral below-knee serial casts were applied over two weeks with follow-up of daily stretching and wearing of customized night splints. Outcome measures were performed at baseline, 1, 3, 6, and 12 months post-casting. These included measures of calf length, leg strength, motor function, endurance, and spatio-temporal gait parameters. Both boys completed serial casting with gains in muscle length. No adverse effects on strength or motor function were observed over a 12-month follow-up period.

  2. Serial network simplifies the design of multiple microcomputer systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Folkes, D.

    1981-01-01

    Recently there has been a lot of interest in developing network communication schemes for carrying digital data between locally distributed computing stations. Many of these schemes have focused on distributed networking techniques for data processing applications. These applications suggest the use of a serial, multipoint bus, where a number of remote intelligent units act as slaves to a central or host computer. Each slave would be serially addressable from the host and would perform required operations upon being addressed by the host. Based on an MK3873 single-chip microcomputer, the SCU 20 is designed to be such a remote slave device. The capabilities of the SCU 20 and its use in systems applications are examined.

  3. Serial murder in America: case studies of seven offenders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beasley, James O

    2004-01-01

    This article summarizes and compares information on seven interviewed serial killers in an ongoing project designed to study similarities and differences among these individuals. The aim of this article is to increase our collective knowledge of the dynamics of serial murder by examining the perpetrators' backgrounds, as well as the unique ways in which they view themselves and the world around them. Although qualitative interview research alone is not sufficient to fully understand such behavior, it is useful in many ways. Some of the information discussed based on the seven offenders interviewed is compared with broader epidemiological studies, and the strengths and limitations of each type of research are discussed. Published in 2004 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  4. Cognitive, emotional and social markers of serial murdering.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Angrilli, Alessandro; Sartori, Giuseppe; Donzella, Giovanna

    2013-01-01

    Although criminal psychopathy is starting to be relatively well described, our knowledge of the characteristics and scientific markers of serial murdering is still very poor. A serial killer who murdered more than five people, KT, was administered a battery of standardized tests aimed at measuring neuropsychological impairment and social/emotional cognition deficits. KT exhibited a striking dissociation between a high level of emotional detachment and a low score on the antisocial behavior scale on the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 showed a normal pattern with the psychotic triad at borderline level. KT had a high intelligence score and showed almost no impairment in cognitive tests sensitive to frontal lobe dysfunction (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Theory of Mind, Tower of London, this latter evidenced a mild impairment in planning performance). In the tests on moral, emotional and social cognition, his patterns of response differed from matched controls and from past reports on criminal psychopaths as, unlike these individuals, KT exhibited normal recognition of fear and a relatively intact knowledge of moral rules but he was impaired in the recognition of anger, embarrassment and conventional social rules. The overall picture of KT suggests that serial killing may be closer to normality than psychopathy defined according to either the DSM IV or the PCL-R, and it would be characterized by a relatively spared moral cognition and selective deficits in social and emotional cognition domains.

  5. Evidence for spontaneous serial refreshing in verbal working memory?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vergauwe, Evie; Langerock, Naomi; Cowan, Nelson

    2018-04-01

    Working memory (WM) keeps information temporarily accessible for ongoing cognition. One proposed mechanism to keep information active in WM is refreshing. This mechanism is assumed to operate by bringing memory items into the focus of attention, thereby serially refreshing the content of WM. We report two experiments in which we examine evidence for the spontaneous occurrence of serial refreshing in verbal WM. Participants had to remember series of red letters, while black probe letters were presented between these memory items, with each probe to be judged present in or absent from the list presented so far, as quickly as possible (i.e., the probe-span task). Response times to the probes were used to infer the status of the representations in WM and, in particular, to examine whether the content of the focus of attention changed over time, as would be expected if serial refreshing occurs spontaneously during inter-item pauses. In sharp contrast with this hypothesis, our results indicate that the last-presented memory item remained in the focus of attention during the inter-item pauses of the probe-span task. We discuss how these findings help to define the boundary conditions of spontaneous refreshing of verbal material in WM, and discuss implications for verbal WM maintenance and forgetting.

  6. Computed tomography of neurodegenerative disease in childhood

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kataoka, Kenkichi; Nakagawa, Yoshihiro; Hojo, Hiroatsu

    1984-01-01

    Serial computed tomographic scans were performed on seven children with neurodegenerative disorders. In two cases of white-matter diseases (Krabbe's disease and metachromatic leukodystrophy), diffuse, low-density lesions of white matter were visible in the early stage of the diseases. In one case of adrenoleukodystrophy, regional low-density lesions of the white matter around the posterior horns and peculiar high-density strip lesions were visible in the early stage. In two cases of storage-type gray-matter diseases (Tay-Sachs' and infantile Gaucher's disease), there were no abnormalities in the early stage, but diffuse cortical atrophies in the late stage. In one case of Leigh's disease, there were small, low-density lesions of the basal ganglia and multiple low-density lesions of the gray matter in the early stage. In one case of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, there were no abnormalities in the early stage, but small, low-density lesions of the basal ganglia and diffuse cerebral atrophies in the late stage. Diagnostic values were recognized dominantly in two cases of adrenoleukodystrophy and Leigh's disease. In the other cases, however, serial CT scans were useful in the diagnostic process. (author)

  7. Cross-domain interference costs during concurrent verbal and spatial serial memory tasks are asymmetric

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Morey, Candice C.; Mall, Jonathan T.

    2012-01-01

    Some evidence suggests that memory for serial order is domain-general. Evidence also points to asymmetries in interference between verbal and visual-spatial tasks. We confirm that concurrently remembering verbal and spatial serial lists provokes substantial interference compared with remembering a

  8. Significance of increased lung thallium-201 activity on serial cardiac images after dipyridamole treatment in coronary heart disease

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Okada, R.D.; Dai, Y.H.; Boucher, C.A.; Pohost, G.M.

    1984-01-01

    Increased lung thallium-201 (Tl-201) activity occurs in patients with severe coronary artery disease (CAD) on initial postexercise images. To determine the significance of assessing lung Tl-201 on serial imaging after dipyridamole therapy, initial and delayed (2 to 3 hours) Tl-201 imaging was performed in 40 patients with CAD and 26 normal control subjects. Lung Tl-201 activity was quantitated as a percentage of maximal myocardial activity for each imaging time (lung Tl-201 index). The mean initial lung Tl-201 activity was 42 +/- 2% (+/- standard error of the mean) in 26 control subjects, 56 +/- 2% in 25 patients with 2- or 3-vessel CAD (p less than 0.001) and 53 +/- 2% in 15 patients with 1-vessel CAD (p less than 0.005 compared with control subjects) (difference not significant between 1-vessel and multivessel CAD). Dipyridamole lung Tl-201 activity decreased relative to the myocardium from initial to delayed images (p less than 0.001) in patients with CAD but not in control subjects. When a dipyridamole lung Tl-201 index of 58% (mean +/- 2 standard deviations for control subjects) was chosen as the upper limit of normal, 14 of 40 of the CAD patients (35%) had abnormal values and all control patients had values within normal limits. These 14 patients with CAD and abnormal initial lung Tl-201 indexes had rest ejection fractions that were not significantly different from those in patients with CAD, and normal initial dipyridamole lung Tl-201 index (58 +/- 4% and 63 +/- 2%, respectively)

  9. Nanoflow electrospinning serial femtosecond crystallography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sierra, Raymond G.; Laksmono, Hartawan; Kern, Jan; Tran, Rosalie; Hattne, Johan; Alonso-Mori, Roberto; Lassalle-Kaiser, Benedikt; Glöckner, Carina; Hellmich, Julia; Schafer, Donald W.; Echols, Nathaniel; Gildea, Richard J.; Grosse-Kunstleve, Ralf W.; Sellberg, Jonas; McQueen, Trevor A.; Fry, Alan R.; Messerschmidt, Marc M.; Miahnahri, Alan; Seibert, M. Marvin; Hampton, Christina Y.; Starodub, Dmitri; Loh, N. Duane; Sokaras, Dimosthenis; Weng, Tsu-Chien; Zwart, Petrus H.; Glatzel, Pieter; Milathianaki, Despina; White, William E.; Adams, Paul D.; Williams, Garth J.; Boutet, Sébastien; Zouni, Athina; Messinger, Johannes; Sauter, Nicholas K.; Bergmann, Uwe; Yano, Junko; Yachandra, Vittal K.; Bogan, Michael J.

    2012-01-01

    An electrospun liquid microjet has been developed that delivers protein microcrystal suspensions at flow rates of 0.14–3.1 µl min−1 to perform serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) studies with X-ray lasers. Thermolysin microcrystals flowed at 0.17 µl min−1 and diffracted to beyond 4 Å resolution, producing 14 000 indexable diffraction patterns, or four per second, from 140 µg of protein. Nanoflow electrospinning extends SFX to biological samples that necessitate minimal sample consumption. PMID:23090408

  10. Identification of Bodies by Unique Serial Numbers on Implanted Medical Devices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blessing, Melissa M; Lin, Peter T

    2018-05-01

    Visual identification is the most common identification method used by medical examiners but is not always possible. Alternative methods include X-ray, fingerprint, or DNA comparison, but these methods require additional resources. Comparison of serial numbers on implanted medical devices is a rapid and definitive method of identification. To assess the practicality of using this method, we reviewed 608 consecutive forensic autopsies performed at a regional medical examiner office. Of these, 56 cases required an alternative method of identification due to decomposition (n = 35), gunshot wound (n = 9), blunt trauma (n = 6), or charring (n = 6). Of these 56 cases, eight (14.3%) were known to have an implanted medical device. Of these eight cases, five (63%) could be positively identified by comparing serial numbers. If an implanted medical device is known to be present, and medical records are available, identification by medical device serial number should be a first-line method. © 2017 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

  11. Serial casting for elbow flexion contractures in neonatal brachial plexus palsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duijnisveld, B J; Steenbeek, D; Nelissen, R G H H

    2016-09-02

    The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of serial casting of elbow flexion contractures in neonatal brachial plexus palsy. A prospective consecutive cohort study was performed with a median follow-up of 5 years. Forty-one patients with elbow flexion contractures ≥ 30° were treated with serial casting until the contracture was ≤ 10°, for a maximum of 8 weeks. Range of motion, number of recurrences and patient satisfaction were recorded and analyzed using Wilcoxon signed-rank and Cox regression tests. Passive extension increased from a median of -40° (IQR -50 to -30) to -15° (IQR -10 to -20, p casting had to be prematurely replaced by night splinting due to complaints. Serial casting improved elbow flexion contractures, although recurrences were frequent. The severity of elbow flexion contracture is a predictor of recurrence. We recommend more research on muscle degeneration and determinants involved in elbow flexion contractures to improve treatment strategies and prevent side-effects.

  12. Nonlinear registration of serial coronary CT angiography (CCTA) for assessment of changes in atherosclerotic plaque

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Woo, Jonghye; Dey, Damini; Cheng, Victor Y.; Hong, Byung-Woo; Ramesh, Amit; Sundaramoorthi, Ganesh; Nakazato, Ryo; Berman, Daniel S.; Germano, Guido; Kuo, C.-C. Jay; Slomka, Piotr J.

    2010-01-01

    Purpose: Coronary CT angiography (CCTA) is a high-resolution three-dimensional imaging technique for the evaluation of coronary arteries in suspected or confirmed coronary artery disease (CAD). Coregistration of serial CCTA scans would allow precise superimposition of images obtained at two different points in time, which could aid in recognition of subtle changes and precise monitoring of coronary plaque progression or regression. To this end, the authors aimed at developing a fully automatic nonlinear volume coregistration for longitudinal CCTA scan pairs. Methods: The algorithm combines global displacement and local deformation using nonlinear volume coregistration with a volume-preserving constraint. Histogram matching of intensities between two serial scans is performed prior to nonlinear coregistration with dense nonparametric local deformation in which sum of squared differences is used as a similarity measure. The approximate segmentation of coronary arteries obtained from commercially available software provides initial anatomical landmarks for the coregistration algorithm that help localize and emphasize the structure of interest. To avoid possible bias caused by incorrect segmentation, the authors convolve the Gaussian kernel with the segmented binary coronary tree mask and define an extended weighted region of interest. A multiresolution approach is employed to represent coarse-to-fine details of both volumes and the energy function is optimized using a gradient descent method. The authors applied the algorithm in ten paired CCTA datasets (20 scans in total) obtained within 10.7±5.7 months from each other on a dual source CT scanner to monitor progression of CAD. Results: Serial CCTA coregistration was successful in 9/10 cases as visually confirmed. The global displacement and local deformation of target registration error obtained from four anatomical landmarks were 2.22±1.15 and 1.56±0.74 mm, respectively, and the inverse consistency error of local

  13. Annotated translation of "Die Wasserversorgung einiger Nordseebäder [The water supply of some North Sea spas]" by Alexander Herzberg (1901)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Houben, Georg

    2018-05-01

    The publication "The water supply of some North Sea spas" by Alexander Herzberg in 1901 is a cornerstone of coastal groundwater research. It was fundamental to the development of the Ghijben-Herzberg principle, which describes the hydrostatic equilibrium between fresh and saline groundwater. Due to its age and the language barrier, the paper is often cited but probably rarely read. Therefore, the original paper has been translated from German into English, accompanied by an introduction and notes explaining the historical context.

  14. IN MEMORIAM: In Memoriam: Alexander A Golovin and Alexei M Oparin In Memoriam: Alexander A Golovin and Alexei M Oparin

    Science.gov (United States)

    2008-10-01

    In Memoriam of Alexander A Golovin (1962-2008) Alexander (Sasha) Golovin passed away on 10 September 2008. Sasha's scientific heritage includes seminal works in different fields of physics, from Marangoni convection to self-assembly of quantum dots, and from combustion fronts to anomalous diffusion in flows and on a crystal surface. A graduate of the Moscow Institute for Physics and Technology, he had very broad scientific interests and a unique ability to identify and solve new, intellectually challenging and technologically important problems. One of the basic fields of Sasha's research was the fluid dynamics in systems with interfaces. His favorite subject was the motion of droplets, bubbles and particles in the presence of heat and mass transfer. Sasha's early works contained the discovery of the spontaneous motion of droplets due to the Marangoni effect and the investigation of the interaction between solid particles, bubbles and droplets caused by the Marangoni effect, which is a crucial factor that determines the effect of heat/mass transfer on the rate of coalescence. In both cases, Sasha's work was the first in a long sequence of papers written by different authors. Later, Sasha returned to that field when studying such fascinating subjects as levitation of droplets above the surface of an evaporating liquid and encapsulation of particles and bubbles by an advancing solidification front. The subject of interfacial hydrodynamics overlaps with another basic field of Sasha's research, the theory of pattern formation. The contribution of Sasha's work to the modern understanding of the variety of pattern formation phenomena is significant. It includes the analysis of the interaction between long-wave and short-wave instability modes in Marangoni convection, investigation of the large-scale Marangoni convection that led to the prediction of different patterns including quasipatterns, and the description of various non-potential effects in Marangoni convection

  15. Rapid-Sequence Serial Sexual Homicides.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schlesinger, Louis B; Ramirez, Stephanie; Tusa, Brittany; Jarvis, John P; Erdberg, Philip

    2017-03-01

    Serial sexual murderers have been described as committing homicides in a methodical manner, taking substantial time between offenses to elude the authorities. The results of our study of the temporal patterns (i.e., the length of time between homicides) of a nonrandom national sample of 44 serial sexual murderers and their 201 victims indicate that this representation may not always be accurate. Although 25 offenders (56.8%) killed with longer than a 14-day period between homicides, a sizeable subgroup was identified: 19 offenders (43.2%) who committed homicides in rapid-sequence fashion, with fewer than 14 days between all or some of the murders. Six offenders (13.6%) killed all their victims in one rapid-sequence, spree-like episode, with homicides just days apart or sometimes two murders in the same day. Thirteen offenders (29.5%) killed in one or two rapid-sequence clusters (i.e., more than one murder within a 14-day period, as well as additional homicides with greater than 14 days between each). The purpose of our study was to describe this subgroup of rapid-sequence offenders who have not been identified until now. These findings argue for accelerated forensic assessments of dangerousness and public safety when a sexual murder is detected. Psychiatric disorders with rapidly occurring symptom patterns, or even atypical mania or mood dysregulation, may serve as exemplars for understanding this extraordinary group of offenders. © 2017 American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.

  16. [The life history of Alexander Numan (1780-1852) during his time in Groningen].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mathijsen, A H

    2001-01-01

    Until the time Numan took on his professorship at the newly established Veterinary School in Utrecht in 1822, he had lived in the Province of Groningen. In order to understand why the minister of Public Education appointed a village doctor from the north of the country as professor for the practice of veteriary medicine, and after some years as director of the school, it was felt essential to investigate his earlier life period. The main sources used are two obituaries, resp. written by his son who was a professor of Law at Groningen University, and by his friend prof. Willem Vrolik who was the secretary of the Academy of Science, supplemented by family histories and some archival research. After a short description of his descent, youth adn education follows the main part devoted to his writings, his medical practice and membership of the Provincial Medical Commission and the Commission for Agriculture. In an appendix some genealogical data are presented on the family of his wife and their children. Alexander lost his father, who was a minister of the Reformed Church, when he was ten years old. He received his education in the circle of family members. A brother of his father, also a minister, teached him Greek and Latin. After this uncle had left the province, he lived in the home of another minister who teached him the modern languages. As this man was involved in politics of the Baravian Republic, young Alexander was exposed to many discussions on the polity of the State. After his mother had remarried with a medical doctor, this man, and also his brother who had a medical practice in another part of the province, complemented the education with an introduction in the sciences. Experiences in their dispensaries, where some knowledge of botany and chemistry could be obtained, and discussions when accompanying them on their visits to patients, were decisive in the choice of his profession. Only at the age of twenty he entered the Medical Faculty of Groningen

  17. Smart grid communication comparison: Distributed control middleware and serialization comparison for the Internet of Things

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Petersen, Bo Søborg; Bindner, Henrik W.; Poulsen, Bjarne

    2017-01-01

    To solve the problems caused by intermittent renewable energy production, communication between Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) and system operators is necessary. The communication middleware and serialization used for communication are essential to ensure delivery of the messages within...... communication middleware and serialization format/library, aided by the authors' earlier work, which investigates the performance and characteristics of communication middleware and serialization independently. Given the performance criteria of the paper, ZeroMQ, YAMI4, and ICE are the middleware that performs...

  18. Test amnioinfusion to determine suitability for serial therapeutic amnioinfusion in midtrimester premature rupture of membranes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tan, L-K; Kumar, S; Jolly, M; Gleeson, C; Johnson, P; Fisk, N M

    2003-01-01

    To evaluate whether a test amnioinfusion procedure is useful in selecting cases of midtrimester preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM) which may benefit from serial amnioinfusions if the initial fluid is retained. The Centre for Fetal Care database between 1992 and 2000 was reviewed for women with PPROM amnioinfusion. Amniotic fluid index (AFI) was assessed before and after a test amnioinfusion procedure. Those who retained fluid > or =48 h underwent serial AFI assessment with a view to serial amnioinfusion when oligohydramnios recurred. Eighty-five amnioinfusion procedures were performed in 60 women with oligohydramnios. Nineteen of these women presented with confirmed PPROM at a median gestation of 19 (range 15-22) weeks and severe olighohydramnios (median AFI 1, range 0-3 cm), in whom 20 test amnioinfusions were carried out. Two amnioinfusions were abandoned during the procedure because of fetal bradycardia and both mothers opted for termination of pregnancy. Only 4 women retained fluid during the test amnioinfusion, 1 of whom miscarried at 19 weeks before serial amnioinfusion could be started. The remaining 3 underwent a median of 4 (range 1-6) serial amnioinfusion procedures; none had evidence of pulmonary hypoplasia. Thirteen (68%) leaked fluid within 48 h; within this group there was 1 subsequent miscarriage and 9 pregnancy terminations. The remaining 3 pregnancies resulted in livebirths 2 of which had pulmonary hypoplasia with 1 early neonatal death. Overall survival was poor (4/19), largely attributed to the high incidence of terminations in the presence of persistent severe oligohydramnios. In continuing pregnancies reaching viability survival was 67% (4 of 6). Three quarters of women with mid-trimester PPROM lose fluid at test amnioinfusion and therefore would not be suitable candidates for serial amnioinfusion. However, if infused fluid is retained, this allows subsequent serial amnioinfusion and prolongation of pregnancy in about 75%, with an

  19. The motivation behind serial sexual homicide: is it sex, power, and control, or anger?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Myers, Wade C; Husted, David S; Safarik, Mark E; O'Toole, Mary Ellen

    2006-07-01

    Controversy exists in the literature and society regarding what motivates serial sexual killers to commit their crimes. Hypotheses range from the seeking of sexual gratification to the achievement of power and control to the expression of anger. The authors provide theoretical, empirical, evolutionary, and physiological support for the argument that serial sexual murderers above all commit their crimes in pursuit of sadistic pleasure. The seeking of power and control over victims is believed to serve the two secondary purposes of heightening sexual arousal and ensuring victim presence for the crime. Anger is not considered a key component of these offenders' motivation due to its inhibitory physiological effect on sexual functioning. On the contrary, criminal investigations into serial sexual killings consistently reveal erotically charged crimes, with sexual motivation expressed either overtly or symbolically. Although anger may be correlated with serial sexual homicide offenders, as it is with criminal offenders in general, it is not causative. The authors further believe serial sexual murderers should be considered sex offenders. A significant proportion of them appear to have paraphilic disorders within the spectrum of sexual sadism. "sexual sadism, homicidal type" is proposed as a diagnostic subtype of sexual sadism applicable to many of these offenders, and a suggested modification of DSM criteria is presented.

  20. Raster-scanning serial protein crystallography using micro- and nano-focused synchrotron beams

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Coquelle, Nicolas [Université Grenoble Alpes, IBS, 38044 Grenoble (France); CNRS, IBS, 38044 Grenoble (France); CEA, IBS, 38044 Grenoble (France); Brewster, Aaron S. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Kapp, Ulrike; Shilova, Anastasya; Weinhausen, Britta [European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, BP 220, 38043 Grenoble (France); Burghammer, Manfred, E-mail: burgham@esrf.fr [European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, BP 220, 38043 Grenoble (France); Ghent University, Ghent B-9000 (Belgium); Colletier, Jacques-Philippe, E-mail: burgham@esrf.fr [Université Grenoble Alpes, IBS, 38044 Grenoble (France); CNRS, IBS, 38044 Grenoble (France); CEA, IBS, 38044 Grenoble (France)

    2015-05-01

    A raster scanning serial protein crystallography approach is presented, that consumes as low ∼200–700 nl of sedimented crystals. New serial data pre-analysis software, NanoPeakCell, is introduced. High-resolution structural information was obtained from lysozyme microcrystals (20 µm in the largest dimension) using raster-scanning serial protein crystallography on micro- and nano-focused beamlines at the ESRF. Data were collected at room temperature (RT) from crystals sandwiched between two silicon nitride wafers, thereby preventing their drying, while limiting background scattering and sample consumption. In order to identify crystal hits, new multi-processing and GUI-driven Python-based pre-analysis software was developed, named NanoPeakCell, that was able to read data from a variety of crystallographic image formats. Further data processing was carried out using CrystFEL, and the resultant structures were refined to 1.7 Å resolution. The data demonstrate the feasibility of RT raster-scanning serial micro- and nano-protein crystallography at synchrotrons and validate it as an alternative approach for the collection of high-resolution structural data from micro-sized crystals. Advantages of the proposed approach are its thriftiness, its handling-free nature, the reduced amount of sample required, the adjustable hit rate, the high indexing rate and the minimization of background scattering.

  1. Emotional prosody of task-irrelevant speech interferes with the retention of serial order.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kattner, Florian; Ellermeier, Wolfgang

    2018-04-09

    Task-irrelevant speech and other temporally changing sounds are known to interfere with the short-term memorization of ordered verbal materials, as compared to silence or stationary sounds. It has been argued that this disruption of short-term memory (STM) may be due to (a) interference of automatically encoded acoustical fluctuations with the process of serial rehearsal or (b) attentional capture by salient task-irrelevant information. To disentangle the contributions of these 2 processes, the authors investigated whether the disruption of serial recall is due to the semantic or acoustical properties of task-irrelevant speech (Experiment 1). They found that performance was affected by the prosody (emotional intonation), but not by the semantics (word meaning), of irrelevant speech, suggesting that the disruption of serial recall is due to interference of precategorically encoded changing-state sound (with higher fluctuation strength of emotionally intonated speech). The authors further demonstrated a functional distinction between this form of distraction and attentional capture by contrasting the effect of (a) speech prosody and (b) sudden prosody deviations on both serial and nonserial STM tasks (Experiment 2). Although serial recall was again sensitive to the emotional prosody of irrelevant speech, performance on a nonserial missing-item task was unaffected by the presence of neutral or emotionally intonated speech sounds. In contrast, sudden prosody changes tended to impair performance on both tasks, suggesting an independent effect of attentional capture. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  2. Trasmigrazione di piante trasferimenti di concetti: la lettura scientifica ed estetica del paesaggio sud americano in Alexander von Humboldt

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexander Di Bartolo

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available The institution of plant geography as a science in Alexander von Humboldt implies for the first time the emergence of concept of migration concerning plants and animals. But plant geography and the study on vegetation in Humboldt’s books aims to conjugate various natural sciences in order to reach an understanding of the geographical distribution of vegetation. A new approach in South American analysis, connected with an aestethic lecture of Tropical lands of New Word, redefines the idea of “New” thanks to use of analogic concepts based on science and European aestethic lexicon.

  3. The Effect of Concurrent Semantic Categorization on Delayed Serial Recall

    Science.gov (United States)

    Acheson, Daniel J.; MacDonald, Maryellen C.; Postle, Bradley R.

    2010-01-01

    The influence of semantic processing on the serial ordering of items in short-term memory was explored using a novel dual-task paradigm. Subjects engaged in two picture judgment tasks while simultaneously performing delayed serial recall. List material varied in the presence of phonological overlap (Experiments 1 and 2) and in semantic content (concrete words in Experiment 1 and 3; nonwords in Experiments 2 and 3). Picture judgments varied in the extent to which they required accessing visual semantic information (i.e., semantic categorization and line orientation judgments). Results showed that, relative to line orientation judgments, engaging in semantic categorization judgments increased the proportion of item ordering errors for concrete lists but did not affect error proportions for nonword lists. Furthermore, although more ordering errors were observed for phonologically similar relative to dissimilar lists, no interactions were observed between the phonological overlap and picture judgment task manipulations. These results thus demonstrate that lexical-semantic representations can affect the serial ordering of items in short-term memory. Furthermore, the dual-task paradigm provides a new method for examining when and how semantic representations affect memory performance. PMID:21058880

  4. Time does not cause forgetting in short-term serial recall.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lewandowsky, Stephan; Duncan, Matthew; Brown, Gordon D A

    2004-10-01

    Time-based theories expect memory performance to decline as the delay between study and recall of an item increases. The assumption of time-based forgetting, central to many models of serial recall, underpins their key behaviors. Here we compare the predictions of time-based and event-based models by simulation and test them in two experiments using a novel manipulation of the delay between study and retrieval. Participants were trained, via corrective feedback, to recall at different speeds, thus varying total recall time from 6 to 10 sec. In the first experiment, participants used the keyboard to enter their responses but had to repeat a word (called the suppressor) aloud during recall to prevent rehearsal. In the second experiment, articulation was again required, but recall was verbal and was paced by the number of repetitions of the suppressor in between retrieval of items. In both experiments, serial position curves for all retrieval speeds overlapped, and output time had little or no effect. Comparative evaluation of a time-based and an event-based model confirmed that these results present a particular challenge to time-based approaches. We conclude that output interference, rather than output time, is critical in serial recall.

  5. Serial position curves in free recall.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laming, Donald

    2010-01-01

    The scenario for free recall set out in Laming (2009) is developed to provide models for the serial position curves from 5 selected sets of data, for final free recall, and for multitrial free recall. The 5 sets of data reflect the effects of rate of presentation, length of list, delay of recall, and suppression of rehearsal. Each model accommodates the serial position curve for first recalls (where those data are available) as well as that for total recalls. Both curves are fit with the same parameter values, as also (with 1 exception) are all of the conditions compared within each experiment. The distributions of numbers of recalls are also examined and shown to have variances increased above what would be expected if successive recalls were independent. This is taken to signify that, in those experiments in which rehearsals were not recorded, the retrieval of words for possible recall follows the same pattern that is observed following overt rehearsal, namely, that retrieval consists of runs of consecutive elements from memory. Finally, 2 sets of data are examined that the present approach cannot accommodate. It is argued that the problem with these data derives from an interaction between the patterns of (covert) rehearsal and the parameters of list presentation.

  6. Serial MRI studies using gadolinium DTPA in active multiple sclerosis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miller, D.H.; Johnson, G.; Barnes, D.; Rudge, P.; McDonald, W.I.

    1988-01-01

    It has been suggested that blood brain barrier (BBB) impairment is a necessary early event in the pathogenesis of the multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions. To evaluate such an hypothesis in vivo would require: (1) serial imaging studies using a modality with high sensitivity for detecting plaques; (2) a contrast enhancing agent which demonstrates BBB impairment. A serial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study was undertaken of a group of MS patients using the contrast agent gadolinium-DTPA. As it has been suggested that T 1 and T 2 relaxation times are longer in acute than chronic MS lesions, these were also measured. 3 refs.; 1 figure

  7. Development of parallel/serial program analyzing tool

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Watanabe, Hiroshi; Nagao, Saichi; Takigawa, Yoshio; Kumakura, Toshimasa

    1999-03-01

    Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute has been developing 'KMtool', a parallel/serial program analyzing tool, in order to promote the parallelization of the science and engineering computation program. KMtool analyzes the performance of program written by FORTRAN77 and MPI, and it reduces the effort for parallelization. This paper describes development purpose, design, utilization and evaluation of KMtool. (author)

  8. Long-Term Resolution of Severe Ankle Contractures Using Botulinum Toxin, Serial Casting, Splinting, and Motor Retraining.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leung, Joan; Stroud, Katarina

    2018-01-01

    Purpose: Serial casting for ankle contractures is traditionally performed in prone, a position that patients may not easily tolerate. Also, although serial casting is effective in correcting contracture, its effect dissipates quickly. This case report describes a procedure for performing casting for ankle contractures in a supine or sitting position. It also describes a process that enables the effect of serial casting to be maintained long term. Client Description: The client was an adult who had suffered traumatic brain injury and severe bilateral ankle contractures. Intervention: He received botulinum toxin and serial casting for his bilateral ankle contractures, one ankle at 8 months and the other at 13 months after the injury. He then underwent a programme of splinting and motor training. Measures and Outcome: The client gained more than 40° dorsiflexion for both ankles after receiving botulinum toxin injections and serial casting. The improvement in ankle range enabled him to progress to walking practice. Ankle splinting was gradually reduced. On discharge at 25 months post-injury, the ankle joint range was maintained. Implications: The use of botulinum toxin and serial casting, followed by an intensive programme of splinting and motor training, may be an option to consider for effective long-term resolution of severe contractures after acquired brain injury.

  9. Serial Killers: Academic Libraries Respond to Soaring Costs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCarthy, Paul

    1994-01-01

    Discusses ways in which academic libraries are responding to rising costs of serials. Topics addressed include pricing by publishers; the effect of journal cancellations on research activities; interlibrary loans and document delivery services; coordinated cancelling; electronic journals; and experiences at the University of Arizona. (LRW)

  10. Characteristics of voltage regulators with serial NPN transistor in the fields of medium and high energy photons

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vukic, V.; Osmokrovic, P.

    2007-01-01

    Variation of collector - emitter dropout voltage on serial transistors of voltage regulators LM2990T-5 and LT1086CT5 were used as the parameter for detection of examined devices' radiation hardness in X and ? radiation fields. Biased voltage regulators with serial super-β transistor in the medium dose rate X radiation field had significantly different response from devices with conventional serial NPN transistor. Although unbiased components suffered greater damage in most cases, complete device failure happened only among the biased components with serial super-β transistor in Bremsstrahlung field. Mechanisms of transistors degradation in ionizing radiation fields were analysed [sr

  11. Alexander Graham Bell's Patent for the Telephone and Thomas Edison's Patent for the Electric Lamp. The Constitution Community: The Development of the Industrial United States (1870-1900).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schur, Joan Brodsky

    In 1876 Americans held a Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) to celebrate the nation's birth 100 years earlier. Machinery Hall drew the most admiration and wonder. Alexander Graham Bell exhibited the first telephone, and Thomas Alva Edison presented the automatic telegraph, one of more than 1,000 inventions he would patent in his…

  12. Epidemic Intelligence. Langmuir and the Birth of Disease Surveillance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lyle Fearnley

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available In the wake of the SARS and influenza epidemics of the past decade, one public health solution has become a refrain: surveillance systems for detection of disease outbreaks. This paper is an effort to understand how disease surveillance for outbreak detection gained such paramount rationality in contemporary public health. The epidemiologist Alexander Langmuir is well known as the creator of modern disease surveillance. But less well known is how he imagined disease surveillance as one part of what he called “epidemic intelligence.” Langmuir developed the practice of disease surveillance during an unprecedented moment in which the threat of biological warfare brought civil defense experts and epidemiologists together around a common problem. In this paper, I describe how Langmuir navigated this world, experimenting with new techniques and rationales of epidemic control. Ultimately, I argue, Langmuir′s experiments resulted in a set of techniques and infrastructures – a system of epidemic intelligence – that transformed the epidemic as an object of human art.

  13. Memory for serial order across domains: An overview of the literature and directions for future research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hurlstone, Mark J; Hitch, Graham J; Baddeley, Alan D

    2014-03-01

    From vocabulary learning to imitating sequences of motor actions, the ability to plan, represent, and recall a novel sequence of items in the correct order is fundamental for many verbal and nonverbal higher level cognitive activities. Here we review phenomena of serial order documented across the verbal, visual, and spatial short-term memory domains and interpret them with reference to the principles of serial order and ancillary assumptions instantiated in contemporary computational theories of memory for serial order. We propose that functional similarities across domains buttress the notion that verbal, visual, and spatial sequences are planned and controlled by a competitive queuing (CQ) mechanism in which items are simultaneously active in parallel and the strongest item is chosen for output. Within the verbal short-term memory CQ system, evidence suggests that serial order is represented via a primacy gradient, position marking, response suppression, and cumulative matching. Evidence further indicates that output interference operates during recall and that item similarity effects manifest during both serial order encoding and retrieval. By contrast, the principles underlying the representation of serial order in the visual and spatial CQ systems are unclear, largely because the relevant studies have yet to be performed. In the spatial domain, there is some evidence for a primacy gradient and position marking, whereas in the visual domain there is no direct evidence for either of the principles of serial order. We conclude by proposing some directions for future research designed to bridge this and other theoretical gaps in the literature.

  14. Preserved regional cerebral blood flow in the occipital cortices, brainstem, and cerebellum of patients with V180I-129M genetic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in serial SPECT studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hayashi, Yuichi; Yoshikura, Nobuaki; Takekoshi, Akira; Yamada, Megumi; Asano, Takahiko; Kimura, Akio; Satoh, Katsuya; Kitamoto, Tetsuyuki; Inuzuka, Takashi

    2016-11-15

    Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) with a causative point mutation of valine to isoleucine at codon 180 (V180I) is one of the major types of genetic CJD (gCJD) in Japan. V180I gCJD is rarely accompanied by a family history, and its clinical characteristics include late-onset, long disease duration, and edematous cortical hyperintensity in diffusion, fluid attenuate inversion and T2-weighted MRI. We performed serial imaging with single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and MRI in three V180I gCJD cases over long-term observation. All cases were characterized by progressive dementia, parkinsonism, and the absence of cerebellar signs or cortical visual dysfunction in their clinical courses. Moreover, during the end-stage, SPECT findings showed preserved regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in the occipital cortices, brainstem, and cerebellum. Similarly, no apparent atrophy or increased signal intensities were observed in MRI images of the occipital and cerebellar regions. In conclusion, we report a decrease in rCBF predominantly in the frontal and temporal cortices during the early-stage, which became more widespread as the disease progressed. Importantly, rCBF was preserved in the occipital cortices, brainstem, and cerebellar regions until the end-stage, which may be distinct to V180I gCJD cases. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. PRAYER IN ALEXANDER BLOK'S LYRIC POETRY ("A GIRL WAS SINGING IN THE CHURCH CHOIR..."

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irina Aleksandrovna Spiridonova

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available The article examines the genre clash of a prayer and stanzas in Alexander Blok’s poem A girl was singing in the church choir... (1905. Prayer is the main ecclesiastical source, shaping the poem’s lyric model. The genre canon of stanzas with the strophes detached substantially and compositionally, transforms the central musical theme into four scene-developments linked by dissonance. Each of the strophes in A girl was singing in the church choir... has its own semantic point (prayer – singings – illusion – enlightenment and reveals a different content of the event, intensifies and develops the tragic theme of two worlds, intended and unintended substitutions, spiritual quest and time losses. Blok’s stanzas are poetic evidence of a modern man’s exit from a prayerful concentration. The model of “conflicting synthesis” of ecclesiastical and literary genres reflects the religious/mystical opposition in symbolism aesthetics and strengthens the tragic pathos of Blok’s lyric poetry.

  16. E-serials cataloging access to continuing and integrating resources via the catalog and the web

    CERN Document Server

    Cole, Jim

    2014-01-01

    This comprehensive guide examines the state of electronic serials cataloging with special attention paid to online capacities. E-Serials Cataloging: Access to Continuing and Integrating Resources via the Catalog and the Web presents a review of the e-serials cataloging methods of the 1990s and discusses the international standards (ISSN, ISBD[ER], AACR2) that are applicable. It puts the concept of online accessibility into historical perspective and offers a look at current applications to consider. Practicing librarians, catalogers and administrators of technical services, cataloging and serv

  17. Semi-automatic analysis of standard uptake values in serial PET/CT studies in patients with lung cancer and lymphoma

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ly John

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Changes in maximum standardised uptake values (SUVmax between serial PET/CT studies are used to determine disease progression or regression in oncologic patients. To measure these changes manually can be time consuming in a clinical routine. A semi-automatic method for calculation of SUVmax in serial PET/CT studies was developed and compared to a conventional manual method. The semi-automatic method first aligns the serial PET/CT studies based on the CT images. Thereafter, the reader selects an abnormal lesion in one of the PET studies. After this manual step, the program automatically detects the corresponding lesion in the other PET study, segments the two lesions and calculates the SUVmax in both studies as well as the difference between the SUVmax values. The results of the semi-automatic analysis were compared to that of a manual SUVmax analysis using a Philips PET/CT workstation. Three readers did the SUVmax readings in both methods. Sixteen patients with lung cancer or lymphoma who had undergone two PET/CT studies were included. There were a total of 26 lesions. Results Linear regression analysis of changes in SUVmax show that intercepts and slopes are close to the line of identity for all readers (reader 1: intercept = 1.02, R2 = 0.96; reader 2: intercept = 0.97, R2 = 0.98; reader 3: intercept = 0.99, R2 = 0.98. Manual and semi-automatic method agreed in all cases whether SUVmax had increased or decreased between the serial studies. The average time to measure SUVmax changes in two serial PET/CT examinations was four to five times longer for the manual method compared to the semi-automatic method for all readers (reader 1: 53.7 vs. 10.5 s; reader 2: 27.3 vs. 6.9 s; reader 3: 47.5 vs. 9.5 s; p Conclusions Good agreement was shown in assessment of SUVmax changes between manual and semi-automatic method. The semi-automatic analysis was four to five times faster to perform than the manual analysis. These findings show the

  18. Using identification in entertainment-education drama serials to ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The study used two entertainment-education drama serials which were designed using Albert Bandura's theoretical framework to communicate positive messages of women's rights to real life audiences in select communities. The study sought to find out if there was any significant relationship i.e. identification between TV ...

  19. Experiment und Wissensvermittlung. Alexander von Humboldts Darstellungsmethoden in seinen Versuchen über die gereizte Muskel- und Nervenfaser

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexander Stöger

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Zusammenfassung Alexander von Humboldt hat sich in jungen Jahren mit galvanischen Experimenten beschäftigt und die Resultate in einem umfassenden, zweibändigen Werk publiziert. Dabei zeigte er nicht nur, dass er als Experimentator und Teil der wissenschaftlichen Gemeinschaft fähig war, sich mit einem so neuen und komplexen Phänomen zu beschäftigen. Es lässt sich auch erkennen, dass er bereits in dieser frühen Schrift versuchte, das umfangreiche Wissen dem Leser zugänglich zu machen. Der Artikel betrachtet Humboldts Galvanismusschrift Versuche über die gereizte Muskel- und Nervenfaser (1797–1798 und untersucht einige Elemente wie Anhänge und Schreibstil, die Humboldt nutzte, um die umfangreichen Informationen zu ordnen und dem Leser so neben den Big Data seiner Erkenntnisse auch passende Suchfunktionen zur Verfügung zu stellen, die eine gezielte Nutzung überhaupt ermöglichen.  Abstract In the early stages of his scientific career, Alexander von Humboldt took an interest in experiments in galvanism. He publicised the results in a two-volume work under the title Versuche über die gereizte Muskel- und Nervenfaser (Experiments on the Stimulated Muscle and Nerve Fibre in 1797 and 1798. In this treatise, he presented himself as competent experimenter and member of the scientific community, but also demonstrated that he was capable of researching new and complex phenomena. These volumes also provide insight into his early attempts to facilitate the readers’ access to the extensive information he had compiled. This article analyses some aspects of Humboldt’s efforts to arrange his vast numbers of observations and theories, for example by means of appendices and narrative style, which he used not only to present the resulting big data collected during his research, but also to make it possible for the reader to organise and utilise this data.   Resumen A temprana edad Alexander von Humboldt se dedicó a galvanismo. En 1797 y 1798

  20. Working memory capacity and controlled serial memory search.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mızrak, Eda; Öztekin, Ilke

    2016-08-01

    The speed-accuracy trade-off (SAT) procedure was used to investigate the relationship between working memory capacity (WMC) and the dynamics of temporal order memory retrieval. High- and low-span participants (HSs, LSs) studied sequentially presented five-item lists, followed by two probes from the study list. Participants indicated the more recent probe. Overall, accuracy was higher for HSs compared to LSs. Crucially, in contrast to previous investigations that observed no impact of WMC on speed of access to item information in memory (e.g., Öztekin & McElree, 2010), recovery of temporal order memory was slower for LSs. While accessing an item's representation in memory can be direct, recovery of relational information such as temporal order information requires a more controlled serial memory search. Collectively, these data indicate that WMC effects are particularly prominent during high demands of cognitive control, such as serial search operations necessary to access temporal order information from memory. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Short-term Memory in Childhood Dyslexia: Deficient Serial Order in Multiple Modalities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cowan, Nelson; Hogan, Tiffany P; Alt, Mary; Green, Samuel; Cabbage, Kathryn L; Brinkley, Shara; Gray, Shelley

    2017-08-01

    In children with dyslexia, deficits in working memory have not been well-specified. We assessed second-grade children with dyslexia, with and without concomitant specific language impairment, and children with typical development. Immediate serial recall of lists of phonological (non-word), lexical (digit), spatial (location) and visual (shape) items were included. For the latter three modalities, we used not only standard span but also running span tasks, in which the list length was unpredictable to limit mnemonic strategies. Non-word repetition tests indicated a phonological memory deficit in children with dyslexia alone compared with those with typical development, but this difference vanished when these groups were matched for non-verbal intelligence and language. Theoretically important deficits in serial order memory in dyslexic children, however, persisted relative to matched typically developing children. The deficits were in recall of (1) spoken digits in both standard and running span tasks and (2) spatial locations, in running span only. Children with dyslexia with versus without language impairment, when matched on non-verbal intelligence, had comparable serial order memory, but differed in phonology. Because serial orderings of verbal and spatial elements occur in reading, the careful examination of order memory may allow a deeper understanding of dyslexia and its relation to language impairment. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  2. Karl Ove Knausgård’s My Struggle and the Serial Self

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Inge van de Ven

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available This article analyzes Karl Ove Knausgård’s six-volume autobiography My Struggle in the frame of an emerging cross-medial aesthetics of the ‘serial self’. This aesthetics is informed by the technological potentialities of digital media, and by social media practices like taking a selfie or posting a blog every single day and accumulating these self-representations, without selection. The serial self is marked by continuity, real-time effects, open-endedness, rhythm, repetition, and a thematic attention to the mundane. It can be discerned in the daily comic strip, the daily selfie, and time-lapse cinema. The article embeds My Struggle in this larger, intermedial framework. Moreover, it refers to the work of psychologist Galen Strawson to argue that the self-representations in Knausgård’s work should be understood as episodic rather than diachronic in nature. This results in a sequential and paratactic, rather than causal and hierarchical, presentation of memorial material. It is claimed that serial self-representations of this type are increasingly central to our current media ecology. They offer a valuable medium for investigating, materializing, and mapping on the page the traces left by the passage of time, as serialization lends itself to performative and cumulative representations of a ‘self’ in flux, that dramatize and perform the struggles of the episodic personality in search for continuity.

  3. Therapeutic modulation of the natural history of coronary atherosclerosis: lessons learned from serial imaging studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andrews, Jordan; Puri, Rishi; Kataoka, Yu; Nicholls, Stephen J; Psaltis, Peter J

    2016-08-01

    Despite advances in risk prediction, preventive and therapeutic strategies, atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease remains a major public health challenge worldwide, carrying considerable morbidity, mortality and health economic burden. There continues to be a need to better understand the natural history of this disease to guide the development of more effective treatment, integral to which is the rapidly evolving field of coronary artery imaging. Various imaging modalities have been refined to enable detailed visualization of the pathological substrate of atherosclerosis, providing accurate and reproducible measures of coronary plaque burden and composition, including the presence of high-risk characteristics. The serial application of such techniques, including coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA), intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) have uncovered important insights into the progression of coronary plaque over time in patients with stable and unstable coronary artery disease (CAD), and its responsiveness to therapeutic interventions. Here we review the use of different imaging modalities for the surveillance of coronary atherosclerosis and the lessons they have provided about the modulation of CAD by both traditional and experimental therapies.

  4. Pulse shaping for all-optical signal processing of ultra-high bit rate serial data signals

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Palushani, Evarist

    The following thesis concerns pulse shaping and optical waveform manipulation for all-optical signal processing of ultra-high bit rate serial data signals, including generation of optical pulses in the femtosecond regime, serial-to-parallel conversion and terabaud coherent optical time division...

  5. Non-Euclidean Space, Movement and Astronomy in Modern Art: Alexander Calder’s Mobiles and Ben Nicholson’s Reliefs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Malloy Vanja

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available John Keats once wrote that ‘there is no such thing as time and space’ rather, believing that time and space are mental constructs that are subject to a variety of forms and as diverse as the human mind. In the 1920s through the 1930s, modern physics in many ways supported this idea through the various philosophical writings on the Theory of General Relativity to the masses by scientists such as Arthur Eddington and Albert Einstein. These new concepts of modern physics fundamentally changed our understanding of time and space and had substantial philosophical implications, which were absorbed by modern artists resulting in the 1936 Dimensionist Manifesto. Seeking to internalize the developments of modern science within modern art, this manifesto was widely endorsed by the most prominent figures of the avant-garde such as Marcel Duchamp, Jean Arp, Naum Gabo, Joan Miró, László Moholy-Nagy, Wassily Kandinsky and Alexander Calder. Of particular interest to this manifesto was the new concept of the fourth-dimension, which in many ways revolutionized the arts. Importantly, its interpretation varied widely in the artistic community, ranging from a purely physical four-dimensional space, to a kinetic concept of space in which space and time are linked, to a metaphysical interest in a space that exists beyond the material realm. The impact of modern science and astronomy on avant-garde art is currently a bourgeoning area of research with considerable implications to our rethinking of substantial artistic figures of this era. Through a case study of Alexander Calder’s Mobiles and Ben Nicholson’s Reliefs, this paper explores how these artworks were informed by an interest in modern science.

  6. Impact of the Alexander technique on well-being: a randomised controlled trial involving older adults with visual impairment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gleeson, Michael; Sherrington, Catherine; Lo, Serigne; Auld, Robin; Keay, Lisa

    2017-11-01

    Older adults with visual loss have high rates of depression, restricted participation and reduced quality of life. We sought to measure the impact of lessons in the Alexander technique on vision-related emotional and social well-being, as secondary outcomes to a study on improving physical functioning in this population. This is a single-blind randomised controlled trial. One hundred and twenty community-dwelling adults aged 50 to 90 years with visual impairments were randomised to either 12 Alexander lessons over 12 weeks and usual care or usual care. The Perceived Visual Ability Scale, the Keele Assessment of Participation, the emotional subscale of the Impact of Vision Impairment Profile, the Positive and Negative Affect Scale and the five-item Geriatric Depression Scale were administered at baseline and three and 12 months. Participants were receiving services from Guide Dogs NSW/ACT. None of the validated questionnaires found statistically significant improvements after adjustment for baseline at three or 12 months, although the emotional subscale of the Impact of Vision Impairment approached significance in favour of the intervention group (4.54 points, 95 per cent CI: -0.14 to 9.21, p = 0.06). Depressive symptoms were prevalent and associated with greater impact of visual impairment on emotional well-being (odds ratio: 1.12, 95 per cent CI: 1.07 to 1.17, p visual impairment showed a trend toward less distress in the intervention group. Our data found that emotional distress associated with visual impairment influences depressive symptoms but contrary to expectations, the level of social support received was not significant. Additionally, gait speed is a significant predictor of depressive symptoms, suggesting that general mobility is of importance to the well-being of older adults with visual impairments. © 2017 Optometry Australia.

  7. Identification of serial number on bank card using recurrent neural network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Li; Huang, Linlin; Xue, Jian

    2018-04-01

    Identification of serial number on bank card has many applications. Due to the different number printing mode, complex background, distortion in shape, etc., it is quite challenging to achieve high identification accuracy. In this paper, we propose a method using Normalization-Cooperated Gradient Feature (NCGF) and Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) based on Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) for serial number identification. The NCGF maps the gradient direction elements of original image to direction planes such that the RNN with direction planes as input can recognize numbers more accurately. Taking the advantages of NCGF and RNN, we get 90%digit string recognition accuracy.

  8. Taking serial correlation into account in tests of the mean

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zwiers, F.W.; Storch, H. von

    1993-01-01

    The comparison of means derived from samples of noisy data is a standard part of climatology. When the data are not serially correlated the appropriate statistical tool for this task is usually the conventional Student's t-test. However, data frequently are serially correlated in climatological applications with the result that the t-tests in its standard form is not applicable. The usual solution to this problem is to scale the t-statistic by a factor which depends upon the equivalent sample size n e . We show, by means of simulations, that the revised t-test is often conservative (the actual significance level is smaller than the specified significance level) when the equivalent sample size is known. However, in most practical cases the equivalent sample size is not known. Then the test becomes liberal (the actual significance level is greater than the specified significance level). This systematic error becomes small when the true equivalent sample size is large (greater than approximately 30). We re-examine the difficulties inherent in difference of means tests when there is serial dependence. We provide guidelines for the application of the 'usual' t-test and propose two alternative tests which substantially improve upon the 'usual' t-test when samples are small. (orig.)

  9. Simple measuring rod method for the coaxiality of serial holes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Lei; Yang, Tongyu; Wang, Zhong; Ji, Yuchen; Liu, Changjie; Fu, Luhua

    2017-11-01

    Aiming at the rapid coaxiality measurement of serial hole part with a small diameter, a coaxiality measuring rod for each layer hole with a single LDS (laser displacement sensor) is proposed. This method does not require the rotation angle information of the rod, and the coaxiality of serial holes can be calculated from the measured values of LDSs after randomly rotating the measuring rod several times. With the mathematical model of the coaxiality measuring rod, each factor affecting the accuracy of coaxiality measurement is analyzed by simulation, and the installation accuracy requirements of the measuring rod and LDSs are presented. In the tolerance of a certain installation error of the measuring rod, the relative center of the hole is calculated by setting the over-determined nonlinear equations of the fitting circles of the multi-layer holes. In experiment, coaxiality measurement accuracy is realized by a 16 μm precision LDS, and the validity of the measurement method is verified. The manufacture and measurement requirements of the coaxiality measuring rod are low, by changing the position of LDSs in the measuring rod, the serial holes with different sizes and numbers can be measured. The rapid coaxiality measurement of parts can be easily implemented in industrial sites.

  10. The wounding of Alexander the Great in Cyropolis (329 BC): the first reported case of the syndrome of transient cortical blindness?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lascaratos, J

    1997-01-01

    I believe that the transient blindness which presented Alexander the Great after his being wounded on his head and/or his neck by a stone from a catapult during the siege of Cyropolis (329 BC) was in all probability a case of transient cortical blindness that was recognized as a special entity in the 1960s. I reached this conclusion after the comparative study of the Emperor's clinical picture provided by ancient texts, especially those of Plutarch and Quintus Curtius Rufus, with that of a modern medical bibliography.

  11. Galileo - The Serial-Production AIT Challenge

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ragnit, Ulrike; Brunner, Otto

    2008-01-01

    The Galileo Project is one of the most demanding projects of ESA, being Europe's autarkic navigation system and a constellation composed of 30 satellites. This presentation points out the different phases of the project up to the full operational capability and the corresponding launch options with respect to launch vehicles as well as launch configurations. One of the biggest challenges is to set up a small serial 'production line' for the overall integration and test campaign of satellites. This production line demands an optimization of all relevant tasks, taking into account also backup and recovery actions. A comprehensive AIT concept is required, reflecting a tightly merged facility layout and work flow design. In addition a common data management system is needed to handle all spacecraft related documentation and to have a direct input-out flow for all activities, phases and positions at the same time. Process optimization is a well known field of engineering in all small high tech production lines, nevertheless serial production of satellites are still not the daily task in space business and therefore new concepts have to be put in place. Therefore, and in order to meet the satellites overall system optimization, a thorough interface between unit/subsystem manufacturing and satellite AIT must be realized to ensure a smooth flow and to avoid any process interruption, which would directly lead to a schedule impact.

  12. From Alexander von Humboldt to Frederic Edwin Church: Voyages of Scientific Exploration and Artistic Creativity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Frank Baron

    2005-04-01

    Full Text Available Article in English, Abstracts in Spanish, German and English.Stephen Jay Gould wrote recently that “when Church began to paint his great canvases, Alexander von Humboldt may well have been the world’s most famous and influential intellectual.” Humboldt’s influence in the case of the landscape artist Church is especially interesting. If we examine the precise relationship between the German explorer and his American admirer, we gain an insight into how Humboldt transformed Church’s life and signaled a new phase in the career of the artist. Church retraced Humboldt’s travels in Ecuador and in Mexico. If we compare the texts available to Church and the comparison of Church’s paintings and the texts and images of Humboldt’s works we can arrive at new perspectives on Humboldt’s extraordinary influence on American landscape painting in the nineteenth century.

  13. Lipidic cubic phase serial millisecond crystallography using synchrotron radiation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Przemyslaw Nogly

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Lipidic cubic phases (LCPs have emerged as successful matrixes for the crystallization of membrane proteins. Moreover, the viscous LCP also provides a highly effective delivery medium for serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX at X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs. Here, the adaptation of this technology to perform serial millisecond crystallography (SMX at more widely available synchrotron microfocus beamlines is described. Compared with conventional microcrystallography, LCP-SMX eliminates the need for difficult handling of individual crystals and allows for data collection at room temperature. The technology is demonstrated by solving a structure of the light-driven proton-pump bacteriorhodopsin (bR at a resolution of 2.4 Å. The room-temperature structure of bR is very similar to previous cryogenic structures but shows small yet distinct differences in the retinal ligand and proton-transfer pathway.

  14. Serials Management by Microcomputer: The Potential of DBMS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vogel, J. Thomas; Burns, Lynn W.

    1984-01-01

    Describes serials management at Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science library via a microcomputer, a file manager called PFS, and a relational database management system called dBase II. Check-in procedures, programing with dBase II, "static" and "active" databases, and claim procedures are discussed. Check-in forms are…

  15. Differential diagnosis of Jakob-Creutzfeldt disease

    OpenAIRE

    Paterson, RW; Torres-Chae, CC; Kuo, AL; Ando, T; Nguyen, EA; Wong, K; DeArmond, SJ; Haman, A; Garcia, P; Johnson, DY; Miller, BL; Geschwind, MD

    2012-01-01

    Objectives: To identify the misdiagnoses of patients with sporadic Jakob-Creutzfeldt disease (sCJD) during the course of their disease and determine which medical specialties saw patients with sCJD prior to the correct diagnosis being made and at what point in the disease course a correct diagnosis was made. Design: Retrospective medical record review. Setting: A specialty referral center of a tertiary academic medical center. Participants: One hundred sixty-three serial patients over a 5.5-y...

  16. Alexander von Humboldt und Carlos Montúfar als Reisegefährten: ein Vergleich ihrer Tagebücher zum Chimborazo-Aufstieg

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Reinhard Andress

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available ZusammenfassungAls Alexander von Humboldt im Juni 1802 von Quito aus zum Rest seiner lateinamerikanischen Forschungsreise aufbrach, begleitete ihn, abgesehen von Aimé Bonpland, Carlos Montúfar bis nach Europa zurück begleitet, u.a. auch auf beim Versuch, den Chimborazo zu ersteigen. Bis kurz vor der Stadt Cajamarca im heutigen Peru schrieb Montúfar ein relativ unbekanntes Tagebuch zur Reise. Nach einem kurzen Ausflug in das Leben von Humboldts Begleiter steht im Zentrum der weiteren Ausführungen die Frage, ob sein Tagebuch ein anderes Licht auf Humboldt und speziell auf den Aufstiegsversuch wirft. Das läuft auf einen Vergleich der Tagebücher der beiden Reisegefährten hinaus und auf den Versuch, die scheinbaren Widersprüche aufzulösen.AbstractWhen Alexander von Humboldt left Quito in June 1802 in order to undertake the rest of his Latin-American trip of exploration, he was accompanied, aside from Aimé Bonpland, by Carlos Montúfar all the way back to Europe, including the attempt to scale the Chimborazo. Up to shortly before the city of Cajamarca in today’s Peru, Montúfar wrote an relatively unknown diary account of their travels. After a brief excursion into the life of Humboldt’s companion, the question is considered whether his diary sheds a different light on Humboldt and specifically on the mountain climb. That amounts to a comparison of the diaries of the two travel companions and to an attempt to explain the apparent contradictions.ResumenCuando Alexander von Humboldt salió de Quito en junio de 1802 para continuar con el resto de su viaje de exploración por la América Latina, fue acompañado por Carlos Montúfar además de Aimé Bonpland hasta que volvieron a Europa. Este trayecto incluía la tentativa de llegar a la cima del Chimborazo. Hasta un poco antes de la cuidad de Cajamarca que está en el Perú de hoy día, Montúfar mantenía un diario relativamente no conocido del viaje. Después de una breve excursión por

  17. Serials collection management in recessionary times

    CERN Document Server

    Lawson, Karen G

    2015-01-01

    Strategic planning, collaboration, continual stewardship, best practices, and re-engineering can provide librarians with a toolkit of innovative strategies that meets the worst of economic times with bold, persistent experimentation. This book covers the implications for libraries of a broad range of technological and economic challenges. These challenges include the fallout from the global economic crisis, the positioning of usage statistics, the advent of open access scholarship, database management, responding to budgetary constrictions and general access to serials. Taken as a whole, this

  18. Serial Echocardiographic Characteristics, Novel Biomarkers and Cachexia Development in Patients with Stable Chronic Heart Failure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaggin, Hanna K; Belcher, Arianna M; Gandhi, Parul U; Ibrahim, Nasrien E; Januzzi, James L

    2016-12-01

    Little is known regarding objective predictors of cachexia affecting patients with heart failure (HF). We studied 108 stable chronic systolic HF patients with serial echocardiography and biomarker measurements over 10 months. Cachexia was defined as weight loss ≥5 % from baseline or final BMI cachexia. While there were no significant differences in baseline or serial echocardiographic measures in those developing cachexia, we found significant differences in baseline amino-terminal pro-B type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), highly sensitive troponin I, sST2, and endothelin-1. Baseline log NT-proBNP (hazard ratio (HR) = 2.57, p = 0.004) and edema (HR = 3.36, p = 0.04) were predictive of cachexia in an adjusted analysis. When serial measurement of biomarkers was considered, only percent time with NT-proBNP ≥1000 pg/mL was predictive of cachexia. Thus, a close association exists between baseline and serial measurement of NT-proBNP and HF cachexia.

  19. Serial binary interval ratios improve rhythm reproduction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiang eWu

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available Musical rhythm perception is a natural human ability that involves complex cognitive processes. Rhythm refers to the organization of events in time, and musical rhythms have an underlying hierarchical metrical structure. The metrical structure induces the feeling of a beat and the extent to which a rhythm induces the feeling of a beat is referred to as its metrical strength. Binary ratios are the most frequent interval ratio in musical rhythms. Rhythms with hierarchical binary ratios are better discriminated and reproduced than rhythms with hierarchical non-binary ratios. However, it remains unclear whether a superiority of serial binary over non-binary ratios in rhythm perception and reproduction exists. In addition, how different types of serial ratios influence the metrical strength of rhythms remains to be elucidated. The present study investigated serial binary vs. non-binary ratios in a reproduction task. Rhythms formed with exclusively binary (1:2:4:8, non-binary integer (1:3:5:6, and non-integer (1:2.3:5.3:6.4 ratios were examined within a constant meter. The results showed that the 1:2:4:8 rhythm type was more accurately reproduced than the 1:3:5:6 and 1:2.3:5.3:6.4 rhythm types, and the 1:2.3:5.3:6.4 rhythm type was more accurately reproduced than the 1:3:5:6 rhythm type. Further analyses showed that reproduction performance was better predicted by the distribution pattern of event occurrences within an inter-beat interval, than by the coincidence of events with beats, or the magnitude and complexity of interval ratios. Whereas rhythm theories and empirical data emphasize the role of the coincidence of events with beats in determining metrical strength and predicting rhythm performance, the present results suggest that rhythm processing may be better understood when the distribution pattern of event occurrences is taken into account. These results provide new insights into the mechanisms underlining musical rhythm perception.

  20. Serial binary interval ratios improve rhythm reproduction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Xiang; Westanmo, Anders; Zhou, Liang; Pan, Junhao

    2013-01-01

    Musical rhythm perception is a natural human ability that involves complex cognitive processes. Rhythm refers to the organization of events in time, and musical rhythms have an underlying hierarchical metrical structure. The metrical structure induces the feeling of a beat and the extent to which a rhythm induces the feeling of a beat is referred to as its metrical strength. Binary ratios are the most frequent interval ratio in musical rhythms. Rhythms with hierarchical binary ratios are better discriminated and reproduced than rhythms with hierarchical non-binary ratios. However, it remains unclear whether a superiority of serial binary over non-binary ratios in rhythm perception and reproduction exists. In addition, how different types of serial ratios influence the metrical strength of rhythms remains to be elucidated. The present study investigated serial binary vs. non-binary ratios in a reproduction task. Rhythms formed with exclusively binary (1:2:4:8), non-binary integer (1:3:5:6), and non-integer (1:2.3:5.3:6.4) ratios were examined within a constant meter. The results showed that the 1:2:4:8 rhythm type was more accurately reproduced than the 1:3:5:6 and 1:2.3:5.3:6.4 rhythm types, and the 1:2.3:5.3:6.4 rhythm type was more accurately reproduced than the 1:3:5:6 rhythm type. Further analyses showed that reproduction performance was better predicted by the distribution pattern of event occurrences within an inter-beat interval, than by the coincidence of events with beats, or the magnitude and complexity of interval ratios. Whereas rhythm theories and empirical data emphasize the role of the coincidence of events with beats in determining metrical strength and predicting rhythm performance, the present results suggest that rhythm processing may be better understood when the distribution pattern of event occurrences is taken into account. These results provide new insights into the mechanisms underlining musical rhythm perception.

  1. Biceps Tendon Lengthening Surgery for Failed Serial Casting Patients With Elbow Flexion Contractures Following Brachial Plexus Birth Injury.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nath, Rahul K; Somasundaram, Chandra

    2016-01-01

    Assessment of surgical outcomes of biceps tendon lengthening (BTL) surgery in obstetric brachial plexus injury (OBPI) patients with elbow flexion contractures, who had unsuccessful serial casting. Serial casting and splinting have been shown to be effective in correcting elbow flexion contractures in OBPI. However, the possibilities of radial head dislocations and other complications have been reported in serial casting and splinting. Literature indicates surgical intervention when such nonoperative techniques and range-of-motion exercises fail. Here, we demonstrated a significant reduction of the contractures of the affected elbow and improvement in arm length to more normal after BTL in these patients, who had unsuccessful serial casting. Ten OBPI patients (6 girls and 4 boys) with an average age of 11.2 years (4-17.7 years) had BTL surgery after unsuccessful serial casting. Mean elbow flexion contracture was 40° before and 37° (average) after serial casting. Mean elbow flexion contracture was reduced to 8° (0°-20°) post-BTL surgical procedure with an average follow-up of 11 months. This was 75% improvement and statistically significant (P casting. These OBPI patients in our study had 75% significant reduction in elbow flexion contractures and achieved an improved and more normal length of the affected arm after the BTL surgery when compared to only 7% insignificant reduction and no improvement in arm length after serial casting.

  2. Il ruolo della neurocriminologia nella costruzione di un profilo criminologico dell’omicida seriale

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Samuel Occhi

    2015-09-01

    The purpose of this article is to analyse modalities permitting the investigators to determine the profile of a serial killer according to their neurocriminological characteristics. The phenomenon of serial killing is described in the introduction. This descriptive analysis takes into account the typically used classifications, the criminogenesis, and the criminodynamics. In the second part, neurocriminological variables associated with this criminal profile are reviewed. Among them, the main variables are genetics and brain functioning.

  3. Serial crystallography captures enzyme catalysis in copper nitrite reductase at atomic resolution from one crystal

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sam Horrell

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Relating individual protein crystal structures to an enzyme mechanism remains a major and challenging goal for structural biology. Serial crystallography using multiple crystals has recently been reported in both synchrotron-radiation and X-ray free-electron laser experiments. In this work, serial crystallography was used to obtain multiple structures serially from one crystal (MSOX to study in crystallo enzyme catalysis. Rapid, shutterless X-ray detector technology on a synchrotron MX beamline was exploited to perform low-dose serial crystallography on a single copper nitrite reductase crystal, which survived long enough for 45 consecutive 100 K X-ray structures to be collected at 1.07–1.62 Å resolution, all sampled from the same crystal volume. This serial crystallography approach revealed the gradual conversion of the substrate bound at the catalytic type 2 Cu centre from nitrite to nitric oxide, following reduction of the type 1 Cu electron-transfer centre by X-ray-generated solvated electrons. Significant, well defined structural rearrangements in the active site are evident in the series as the enzyme moves through its catalytic cycle, namely nitrite reduction, which is a vital step in the global denitrification process. It is proposed that such a serial crystallography approach is widely applicable for studying any redox or electron-driven enzyme reactions from a single protein crystal. It can provide a `catalytic reaction movie' highlighting the structural changes that occur during enzyme catalysis. The anticipated developments in the automation of data analysis and modelling are likely to allow seamless and near-real-time analysis of such data on-site at some of the powerful synchrotron crystallographic beamlines.

  4. Alur Kerja Tahap Produksi Karakter Animasi Serial 3D Menggunakan Perangkat Lunak Maxon Cinema 4D

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ardiyan Ardiyan

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available 3D Animation serial for television needs have been showed in the national television program, especially fantasy theme and educational program for children. There are so many and sequential needs which tricked by instant and high quality production so the work flow in creating 3D animation serial are facilitating the producers. The article will explain specifically how the software of Maxon Cinema 4D in process production in 3D animation serial. The article will also clarify and focus on how the work flow of Maxon Cinema 4D software in processing production and post-production stages. The writer does research including audio visual tutorial, end-result comparison and rendering time between some software, self-observation of work flow in creating 3D animation serial using Maxon Cinema 4D software and digital literature study (e-book.  

  5. A Serializer ASIC for High Speed Data Transmission in Cryogenic and HiRel Environment

    CERN Document Server

    Liu, T; The ATLAS collaboration

    2010-01-01

    A high speed 16:1 serializer ASIC has been developed using a commercial 0.25 μm silicon-on-sapphire CMOS technology. At room temperature the ASIC operates from 4.0 to 5.7 Gbps with power consumption of 463 mW. The total jitter is 62 ps at the bit error rate of 10-12 at 5 Gbps. A 200-MeV proton beam test indicates that the ASIC is suitable for high energy physics applications. A liquid nitrogen temperature test indicates that the ASIC may be used at cryogenic temperature applications. The reliability of the serializer at liquid nitrogen temperature is to be studied. A 6-lane serializer array with 10 Gbps/lane with redundancy capability is under development.

  6. Update on the high speed serializer ASIC development for ATLAS Liquid Argon calorimeter upgrade

    CERN Document Server

    Liu, T; The ATLAS collaboration

    2011-01-01

    We have been developing a serializer application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) based on a commercial 0.25-μm silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) CMOS technology for the ATLAS liquid argon calorimeter front-end electronics upgrade. The first prototype, a 5 Gbps 16:1 serializer has been designed, fabricated, and tested in lab environment and in a 200 MeV proton beam. The test results indicate that the first prototype meets the design goals. The second prototype, a double-lane, 8 Gbps per lane serializer is under development. The post-layout simulation indicates that 8 Gbps is achievable. In this paper we present the design and the test results of the first prototype and the design and status of the second prototype.

  7. Co-simulation of dynamic systems in parallel and serial model configurations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sweafford, Trevor; Yoon, Hwan Sik

    2013-01-01

    Recent advancement in simulation software and computation hardware make it realizable to simulate complex dynamic systems comprised of multiple submodels developed in different modeling languages. The so-called co-simulation enables one to study various aspects of a complex dynamic system with heterogeneous submodels in a cost-effective manner. Among several different model configurations for co-simulation, synchronized parallel configuration is regarded to expedite the simulation process by simulation multiple sub models concurrently on a multi core processor. In this paper, computational accuracies as well as computation time are studied for three different co-simulation frameworks : integrated, serial, and parallel. for this purpose, analytical evaluations of the three different methods are made using the explicit Euler method and then they are applied to two-DOF mass-spring systems. The result show that while the parallel simulation configuration produces the same accurate results as the integrated configuration, results of the serial configuration, results of the serial configuration show a slight deviation. it is also shown that the computation time can be reduced by running simulation in the parallel configuration. Therefore, it can be concluded that the synchronized parallel simulation methodology is the best for both simulation accuracy and time efficiency.

  8. Cervical Necrotizing Fasciitis: A Potentially Fatal Disease with ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    management of this disease.[11] We report two ... aggressive and serial debridement were the bedrock of management in these cases. Keywords: ..... because of its relatively poor blood supply. .... soft tissue infections: Obstacles in diagnosis.

  9. Large scale serial two-photon microscopy to investigate local vascular changes in whole rodent brain models of Alzheimer's disease

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delafontaine-Martel, P.; Lefebvre, J.; Damseh, R.; Castonguay, A.; Tardif, P.; Lesage, F.

    2018-02-01

    In this study, an automated serial two-photon microscope was used to image a fluorescent gelatin filled rodent's brain in 3D. A method to compute vascular density using automatic segmentation was combined with coregistration techniques to build group-level vasculature metrics. By studying the medial prefrontal cortex and the hippocampal formation of 3 age groups (2, 4.5 and 8 months old), we compared vascular density for both WT and an Alzheimer model transgenic brain (APP/PS1). We observe a loss of vascular density caused by the ageing process and we propose further analysis to confirm our results.

  10. Visual and Phonological Similarity Effects in Verbal Immediate Serial Recall: A Test with Kanji Materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saito, Satoru; Logie, Robert H.; Morita, Aiko; Law, Anna

    2008-01-01

    In a series of three experiments, native speakers of Japanese performed serial ordered written recall of visually presented Japanese kanji characters that varied systematically in visual and phonological similarity. Overall effects of phonological similarity were observed for retention of serial order under silent reading in Experiments 1 and 3…

  11. Inverse Kinematics of a Serial Robot

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amici Cinzia

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This work describes a technique to treat the inverse kinematics of a serial manipulator. The inverse kinematics is obtained through the numerical inversion of the Jacobian matrix, that represents the equation of motion of the manipulator. The inversion is affected by numerical errors and, in different conditions, due to the numerical nature of the solver, it does not converge to a reasonable solution. Thus a soft computing approach is adopted to mix different traditional methods to obtain an increment of algorithmic convergence.

  12. CAR-T cells are serial killers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davenport, Alexander J; Jenkins, Misty R; Ritchie, David S; Prince, H Miles; Trapani, Joseph A; Kershaw, Michael H; Darcy, Phillip K; Neeson, Paul J

    2015-12-01

    Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells have enjoyed unprecedented clinical success against haematological malignancies in recent years. However, several aspects of CAR T cell biology remain unknown. We recently compared CAR and T cell receptor (TCR)-based killing in the same effector cell and showed that CAR T cells can not only efficiently kill single tumor targets, they can also kill multiple tumor targets in a sequential manner. Single and serial killing events were not sustained long term due to CAR down-regulation after 20 hours.

  13. Serial office-based steroid injections for treatment of idiopathic subglottic stenosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoffman, Matthew R; Coughlin, Adam R; Dailey, Seth H

    2017-11-01

    Current treatment options for idiopathic subglottic stenosis include endoscopic interventions, resection, and tracheotomy. Recently, serial office-based steroid injections were proposed as an alternative that may stabilize or induce regression of airway stenosis without the need for repeated operations. Procedure completion rate, pain, complications, effect on stenosis, time since the last operation, and limitations have not been described. Retrospective case series. Retrospective series of 19 patients undergoing serial office-based steroid injection for idiopathic subglottic stenosis. Outcome measures included completion rate, procedure-related pain scores, complications, percentage of airway stenosis, and time since the last operative intervention. Procedure completion rate was 98.8%. Average pain score during the procedure was 2.3 ± 1.7 on a 10-point scale. There were no immediate complications. One patient underwent awake tracheotomy 8 days after her second injection and was later decannulated. Average stenosis decreased from 35% ± 15% to 25% ± 15% (n = 16; P = .086) over the first of three injections and 40% ± 15% to 25% ± 10% to 20% ± 10% (n = 8; P = .002) for those patients completing two sets of three injections. Fourteen of 17 patients undergoing at least three injections have not returned to the operating room since the first injection. Office-based steroid injection represents a promising new treatment pathway for a disease that requires long-term management, offering a purely pharmacologic approach to a disorder that has traditionally been approached from a mechanical perspective. It is safe, well tolerated, and effective. Furthermore, it may help patients and physicians avoid repeated trips to the operating room and the associated risks. 4. Laryngoscope, 127:2475-2481, 2017. © 2017 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.

  14. Serial millisecond crystallography of membrane and soluble protein microcrystals using synchrotron radiation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin-Garcia, Jose M; Conrad, Chelsie E; Nelson, Garrett; Stander, Natasha; Zatsepin, Nadia A; Zook, James; Zhu, Lan; Geiger, James; Chun, Eugene; Kissick, David; Hilgart, Mark C; Ogata, Craig; Ishchenko, Andrii; Nagaratnam, Nirupa; Roy-Chowdhury, Shatabdi; Coe, Jesse; Subramanian, Ganesh; Schaffer, Alexander; James, Daniel; Ketwala, Gihan; Venugopalan, Nagarajan; Xu, Shenglan; Corcoran, Stephen; Ferguson, Dale; Weierstall, Uwe; Spence, John C H; Cherezov, Vadim; Fromme, Petra; Fischetti, Robert F; Liu, Wei

    2017-07-01

    Crystal structure determination of biological macromolecules using the novel technique of serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) is severely limited by the scarcity of X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) sources. However, recent and future upgrades render microfocus beamlines at synchrotron-radiation sources suitable for room-temperature serial crystallography data collection also. Owing to the longer exposure times that are needed at synchrotrons, serial data collection is termed serial millisecond crystallography (SMX). As a result, the number of SMX experiments is growing rapidly, with a dozen experiments reported so far. Here, the first high-viscosity injector-based SMX experiments carried out at a US synchrotron source, the Advanced Photon Source (APS), are reported. Microcrystals (5-20 µm) of a wide variety of proteins, including lysozyme, thaumatin, phycocyanin, the human A 2A adenosine receptor (A 2A AR), the soluble fragment of the membrane lipoprotein Flpp3 and proteinase K, were screened. Crystals suspended in lipidic cubic phase (LCP) or a high-molecular-weight poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO; molecular weight 8 000 000) were delivered to the beam using a high-viscosity injector. In-house data-reduction (hit-finding) software developed at APS as well as the SFX data-reduction and analysis software suites Cheetah and CrystFEL enabled efficient on-site SMX data monitoring, reduction and processing. Complete data sets were collected for A 2A AR, phycocyanin, Flpp3, proteinase K and lysozyme, and the structures of A 2A AR, phycocyanin, proteinase K and lysozyme were determined at 3.2, 3.1, 2.65 and 2.05 Å resolution, respectively. The data demonstrate the feasibility of serial millisecond crystallography from 5-20 µm crystals using a high-viscosity injector at APS. The resolution of the crystal structures obtained in this study was dictated by the current flux density and crystal size, but upcoming developments in beamline optics and the planned APS

  15. Serial millisecond crystallography of membrane and soluble protein microcrystals using synchrotron radiation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jose M. Martin-Garcia

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Crystal structure determination of biological macromolecules using the novel technique of serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX is severely limited by the scarcity of X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL sources. However, recent and future upgrades render microfocus beamlines at synchrotron-radiation sources suitable for room-temperature serial crystallography data collection also. Owing to the longer exposure times that are needed at synchrotrons, serial data collection is termed serial millisecond crystallography (SMX. As a result, the number of SMX experiments is growing rapidly, with a dozen experiments reported so far. Here, the first high-viscosity injector-based SMX experiments carried out at a US synchrotron source, the Advanced Photon Source (APS, are reported. Microcrystals (5–20 µm of a wide variety of proteins, including lysozyme, thaumatin, phycocyanin, the human A2A adenosine receptor (A2AAR, the soluble fragment of the membrane lipoprotein Flpp3 and proteinase K, were screened. Crystals suspended in lipidic cubic phase (LCP or a high-molecular-weight poly(ethylene oxide (PEO; molecular weight 8 000 000 were delivered to the beam using a high-viscosity injector. In-house data-reduction (hit-finding software developed at APS as well as the SFX data-reduction and analysis software suites Cheetah and CrystFEL enabled efficient on-site SMX data monitoring, reduction and processing. Complete data sets were collected for A2AAR, phycocyanin, Flpp3, proteinase K and lysozyme, and the structures of A2AAR, phycocyanin, proteinase K and lysozyme were determined at 3.2, 3.1, 2.65 and 2.05 Å resolution, respectively. The data demonstrate the feasibility of serial millisecond crystallography from 5–20 µm crystals using a high-viscosity injector at APS. The resolution of the crystal structures obtained in this study was dictated by the current flux density and crystal size, but upcoming developments in beamline optics and the

  16. Rune Frederiksen, Elizabeth R. Gebhard & Alexander Sokolicek (eds.), The Architecture of the Ancient Greek Theatre, Monographs of the Danish Institute, Volume 17 (Aarhus: Aarhus University Press and The Danish Institute at Athens, 2015)

    OpenAIRE

    William C. Miller

    2017-01-01

    A review of the book: Rune Frederiksen, Elizabeth R. Gebhard & Alexander Sokolicek (eds.), The Architecture of the Ancient Greek Theatre, Monographs of the Danish Institute, Volume 17 (Aarhus: Aarhus University Press and The Danish Institute at Athens, 2015)

  17. Serial MRI and MRS studies with unusual findings in Rasmussen's encephalitis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tuerkdogan-Soezueer, D.; Oezek, M.M.; Pamir, M.N.; Sav, A.; Dincer, A.

    2000-01-01

    Rasmussen's syndrome is characterized by intractable seizures and progressive neuropsychiatric deterioration secondary to unilateral cortical inflammation and tissue destruction. Diagnosis of Rasmussen's syndrome in the early phase depends mainly on the clinical features. Neuroimaging and histopathologic examinations may not be specific during this period. We report a case of Rasmussen's syndrome followed by serial MRI and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) studies over a 3- to 16-month period. A healthy 6-year-old boy presented with focal motor seizures. An MRI study demonstrated prominent enlargement and T2 hyperintensity of the left mesial temporal lobe and perisylvian region. This early finding evolved to volume loss and later progressive atrophy of the ipsilateral hemisphere when epilepsia partialis continua occurred. Being aware of those early MRI features in a patient with increasing frequency of focal motor seizures should suggest Rasmussen's syndrome. In addition, we found prominently increased myoinositol concentration in atrophic cortex which might reflect increased gliosis in the late period of the disease. (orig.)

  18. The Cannery Formation--Devonian to Early Permian arc-marginal deposits within the Alexander Terrane, Southeastern Alaska

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karl, Susan M.; Layer, Paul W.; Harris, Anita G.; Haeussler, Peter J.; Murchey, Benita L.

    2011-01-01

    cherts on both Admiralty and Kupreanof Islands contain radiolarians as young as Permian, the age of the Cannery Formation is herein extended to Late Devonian through early Permian, to include the early Permian rocks exposed in its type locality. The Cannery Formation is folded and faulted, and its stratigraphic thickness is unknown but inferred to be several hundred meters. The Cannery Formation represents an extended period of marine deposition in moderately deep water, with slow rates of deposition and limited clastic input during Devonian through Pennsylvanian time and increasing argillaceous, volcaniclastic, and bioclastic input during the Permian. The Cannery Formation comprises upper Paleozoic rocks in the Alexander terrane of southeastern Alaska. In the pre-Permian upper Paleozoic, the tectonic setting of the Alexander terrane consisted of two or more evolved oceanic arcs. The lower Permian section is represented by a distinctive suite of rocks in the Alexander terrane, which includes sedimentary and volcanic rocks containing early Permian fossils, metamorphosed rocks with early Permian cooling ages, and intrusive rocks with early Permian cooling ages, that form discrete northwest-trending belts. After restoration of 180 km of dextral displacement of the Chilkat-Chichagof block on the Chatham Strait Fault, these belts consist, from northeast to southwest, of (1) bedded chert, siliceous argillite, volcaniclastic turbidites, pillow basalt, and limestone of the Cannery Formation and the Porcupine Slate of Gilbert and others (1987); (2) greenschist-facies Paleozoic metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks that have Permian cooling ages; (3) silty limestone and calcareous argillite interbedded with pillow basalt and volcaniclastic rocks of the Halleck Formation and the William Henry Bay area; and (4) intermediate-composition and syenitic plutons. These belts correspond to components of an accretionary complex, contemporary metamorphic rocks, forearc-basin deposits,

  19. Serial casting versus stretching technique to treat knee flexion contracture in children with spina bifida: a comparative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-Oraibi, S; Tariah, Hashem Abu; Alanazi, Abdullah

    2013-01-01

    Severe knee contractures that develop soon after muscle imbalance may not improve with stretching exercises and splinting. An alternative treatment is serial casting, which has been used to promote increased range of motion. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of using serial casting and passive stretching approaches to treat knee flexion contracture in children with spina bifida. In a pre/post randomized controlled study, ten participants were included in the serial casting group, while eight participants were included in the passive stretching intervention group. The degree of knee extension was measured at baseline, immediately after intervention, and at a one-year follow-up using a standard goniometer. Both groups showed significant improvements in the degree of flexion contracture at the post-treatment evaluation and the follow-up evaluation. The serial casting group showed significant improvements in knee flexion contracture at the post-treatment evaluation, t (9)=13.4, p casting group compared with passive stretching group in relation to the degree of flexion contracture were found at the immediate post-treatment evaluation, F(1, 15)=246, p=0.0001, and the one-year follow-up evaluation, F (1, 15)=51.5, p=0.0001. The outcomes of this study provide the first evidence that serial casting may be a useful intervention in treating knee flexion contracture in children with spina bifida. However, further investigations into serial casting, as well as investigations into the use of serial casting with other interventions, are warranted.

  20. The Serial Link Processor for the Fast TracKer (FTK) at ATLAS

    CERN Document Server

    Annovi, A; The ATLAS collaboration; Beccherle, R; Beretta, M; Biesuz, N; Billereau, W; Combe, J M; Citterio, M; Citraro, S; Crescioli, F; Dimas, D; Donati, S; Gentsos, C; Giannetti, P; Kordas, K; Lanza, A; Liberali, V; Luciano, P; Magalotti, D; Neroutsos, P; Nikolaidis, S; Piendibene, M; Rossi, E; Sakellariou, A; Shojaii, S; Sotiropoulou, C-L; Stabile, A; Vulliez, P

    2014-01-01

    The Associative Memory (AM) system of the FTK processor has been designed to perform pattern matching using the hit information of the ATLAS silicon tracker. The AM is the heart of the FTK and it finds track candidates at low resolution that are seeds for a full resolution track fitting. To solve the very challenging data traffic problem inside the FTK, multiple designs and tests have been performed. The currently proposed solution is named the “Serial Link Processor” and is based on an extremely powerful network of 2 Gb/s serial links. This paper reports on the design of the Serial Link Processor consisting of the AM chip, an ASIC designed and optimized to perform pattern matching, and two types of boards, the Local Associative Memory Board (LAMB), a mezzanine where the AM chips are mounted, and the Associative Memory Board (AMB), a 9U VME board which holds and exercises four LAMBs. We report also on the performance of a first prototype based on the use of a min@sic AM chip, a small but complete version ...

  1. A Serializer ASIC at 5 Gbps for Detector Front-end Electronics Readout

    CERN Document Server

    Gong, D; The ATLAS collaboration; Liu, T; Xiang, A; Ye, J

    2010-01-01

    High speed and ultra low power serial data transmission over fiber optics plays an essential roll in detector front-end electronics readout for experiments at the LHC. The ATLAS Liquid Argon Calorimeter front-end readout upgrade for the sLHC calls for an optical link system with a data bandwidth of 100 Gbps per each front-end board (FEB), a factor of 62 increase compared with the present optical link system. The transmitter of this optical link will have to withstand the radiation environment where the front-end crates are situated, and stay within the current power dissipation budget limited by the present FEB cooling capacity. To meet these challenges, we developed a 16:1 serializer based on a commercial 0.25 μm silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) CMOS technology. This serializer, designed to work at 5 Gbps, is a key component in an optical link system. Test results of this ASIC will be reported. A system design for the 100 Gbps optical link system will also be presented, with discussions about key components identi...

  2. Superior serial memory in the blind: a case of cognitive compensatory adjustment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raz, Noa; Striem, Ella; Pundak, Golan; Orlov, Tanya; Zohary, Ehud

    2007-07-03

    In the absence of vision, perception of space is likely to be highly dependent on memory. As previously stated, the blind tend to code spatial information in the form of "route-like" sequential representations [1-3]. Thus, serial memory, indicating the order in which items are encountered, may be especially important for the blind to generate a mental picture of the world. In accordance, we find that the congenitally blind are remarkably superior to sighted peers in serial memory tasks. Specifically, subjects heard a list of 20 words and were instructed to recall the words according to their original order in the list. The blind recalled more words than the sighted (indicating better item memory), but their greatest advantage was in recalling longer word sequences (according to their original order). We further show that the serial memory superiority of the blind is not merely a result of their advantage in item recall per se (as we additionally confirm via a separate recognition memory task). These results suggest the refinement of a specific cognitive ability to compensate for blindness in humans.

  3. An application of stereoscopy and image processing in forensics: recovering obliterated firearms serial number

    Science.gov (United States)

    da Silva Nunes, L. C.; dos Santos, Paulo Acioly M.

    2004-10-01

    We present an application of the use of stereoscope to recovering obliterated firearms serial number. We investigate a promising new combined cheap method using both non-destructive and destructive techniques. With the use of a stereomicroscope coupled with a digital camera and a flexible cold light source, we can capture the image of the damaged area, and with continuous polishing and sometimes with the help of image processing techniques we could enhance the observed images and they can also be recorded as evidence. This method has already proven to be useful, in certain cases, in aluminum dotted pistol frames, whose serial number is printed with a laser, when etching techniques are not successful. We can also observe acid treated steel surfaces and enhance the images of recovered serial numbers, which sometimes lack of definition.

  4. The Locus of Serial Processing in Reading Aloud: Orthography-to-Phonology Computation or Speech Planning?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mousikou, Petroula; Rastle, Kathleen; Besner, Derek; Coltheart, Max

    2015-01-01

    Dual-route theories of reading posit that a sublexical reading mechanism that operates serially and from left to right is involved in the orthography-to-phonology computation. These theories attribute the masked onset priming effect (MOPE) and the phonological Stroop effect (PSE) to the serial left-to-right operation of this mechanism. However,…

  5. A constrained rasch model of trace redintegration in serial recall.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roodenrys, Steven; Miller, Leonie M

    2008-04-01

    The notion that verbal short-term memory tasks, such as serial recall, make use of information in long-term as well as in short-term memory is instantiated in many models of these tasks. Such models incorporate a process in which degraded traces retrieved from a short-term store are reconstructed, or redintegrated (Schweickert, 1993), through the use of information in long-term memory. This article presents a conceptual and mathematical model of this process based on a class of item-response theory models. It is demonstrated that this model provides a better fit to three sets of data than does the multinomial processing tree model of redintegration (Schweickert, 1993) and that a number of conceptual accounts of serial recall can be related to the parameters of the model.

  6. Plastic optical fiber serial communications link for distributed control system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saxena, Piyush; Sharangpani, K. K.; Vora, H. S.; Nakhe, S. V.; Jain, R.; Shenoy, N. M.; Bhatnagar, R.; Shirke, N. D.

    2001-09-01

    One of the most common interface for communications specified is RS 232C standard. Though widely accepted, RS232 has limited transmission speed, range and networking capabilities. RS 422 standard overcomes limitations by using differential signal lines. In automation of the operation of gas discharge lasers, multiple processors are used for control of lasers, cooling system, vacuum system etc. High EMI generated by lasers interfere through galvanic transmission or by radiation over the length of cables, and hang up operation of processors or control PC. A serial communications link was designed eliminating copper transmission media, using plastic optical fiber cables and components, to connect local controllers with the master PC working on RS232 protocols. The paper discusses the design and implementation of a high ly reliable EMI harden serial communications link.

  7. The effect and complication of botulinum toxin type a injection with serial casting for the treatment of spastic equinus foot.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Sook Joung; Sung, In Young; Jang, Dae Hyun; Yi, Jin Hwa; Lee, Jin Ho; Ryu, Ju Seok

    2011-06-01

    To identify the effect of serial casting combined with Botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A) injection on spastic equinus foot. Twenty-nine children with cerebral palsy who had equinus foot were recruited from the outpatient clinic of Rehabilitation Medicine. The children were divided into 2 groups, one of which received serial casting after BTX-A injection, and the other which only received BTX-A injection. Serial casting started 3 weeks after the BTX-A injection, and was changed weekly for 3 times. Spasticity of the ankle joint was evaluated using the modified Ashworth scale (MAS), and the modified Tardieu scale (MTS). Gait pattern was measured using the physician's rating scale (PRS). The degree of ankle dorsiflexion and the MAS improved significantly until 12 weeks following the BTX-A injection in the serial casting group (pcasting. Our study demonstrated that the effect of BTX-A injection with serial casting was superior and lasted longer than the effect of BTX-A injection only in patients with spastic equinus foot. We therefore recommend BTX-A injection with serial casting for the treatment of equinus foot. However, physicians must also consider the possible complications associated with serial casting.

  8. Energy Information Data Base: serial titles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1980-06-01

    The Department of Energy Technical Information Center (TIC) is responsible for creating bibliographic data bases that are used in the announcement and retrieval of publications dealing with all phases of energy. The TIC interactive information processing system makes use of a number of computerized authorities so that consistency can be maintained and indexes can be produced. One such authority is the Energy Information Data Base: Serial Titles. This authority contains the full and abbreviated journal title, country of publication, CODEN, and certain codes. This revision replaces previous revisions of this document

  9. Personality disorders, psychopathy and serial killers

    OpenAIRE

    Morana, Hilda C P; Stone, Michael H; Abdalla-Filho, Elias

    2006-01-01

    OBJETIVO: Apresentar as características básicas dos diversos transtornos específicos de personalidade, mas centrando-se no transtorno de personalidade anti-social, fazendo sua diferenciação com psicopatia. O estudo ainda se propõe a abordar a figura do serial killer, apontando a presença de aspectos psicopáticos no homicídio seriado. MÉTODO: Uma revisão bibliográfica foi feita no sentido de se abordar convergências e divergências entre diversos autores sobre um assunto tão polêmico, sobretudo...

  10. Rune Frederiksen, Elizabeth R. Gebhard & Alexander Sokolicek (eds., The Architecture of the Ancient Greek Theatre, Monographs of the Danish Institute, Volume 17 (Aarhus: Aarhus University Press and The Danish Institute at Athens, 2015

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    William C. Miller

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available A review of the book: Rune Frederiksen, Elizabeth R. Gebhard & Alexander Sokolicek (eds., The Architecture of the Ancient Greek Theatre, Monographs of the Danish Institute, Volume 17 (Aarhus: Aarhus University Press and The Danish Institute at Athens, 2015

  11. Le politique, opérateur de la construction des savoirs géographiques modernes: l'exemple des voyages d'Alexander von Humboldt

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laura Péaud

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available RésuméA la charnière du XVIIIème et du XIXème siècle, Alexander von Humboldt réalise une série de voyages scientifiques et géographiques en Europe, en Amérique et en Asie. Connus en grande partie par sa très riche correspondance, ces voyages sont tous marqués par la présence et l’intervention d’acteurs du monde politique européen. Par leur soutien financier, matériel et moral, ainsi que par leur délimitation spatiale, temporelle voire thématique des objets des expéditions, ceux-ci structurent pratiquement et intellectuellement le déroulement des expéditions humboldtiennes.Aux alentours du moment 1800, la géographie se trouve alors engagée dans un mouvement de construction disciplinaire, questionnant ses objets, ses méthodes et ses pratiques. Inséré dans ce processus, le voyage constitue un enjeu identitaire fort de l’élaboration et de la définition des savoirs géographiques modernes. La participation des acteurs politiques dans les voyages interroge leur rôle d’opérateurs de la fabrique scientifique. A partir de l’exemple humboldtien, dans une optique d’histoire et d’épistémologie de la géographie, cet article propose d’engager une analyse relationnelle du couple géographie/politique.ZusammenfassungZwischen 1799 und 1829 unternahm Alexander von Humboldt eine Reihe wissenschaftlicher Reisen durch Europa, Amerika und Asien. Nicht zuletzt dank der überlieferten Korrespondenz sind die Reisen sehr gut dokumentiert: Politische Akteure spielten eine große Rolle bei der Planung und Umsetzung der Reisen. So unterstützten sie Humboldts Reisen sowohl mit materiellen als auch ideellen Mitteln. Mitunter nahmen sie Einfluss auf Routen sowie auf Dauer und thematische Ausrichtung der Reisen. Dies strukturierte die Humboldt’schen Reisen intellektuell und in ihrer praktischen Umsetzung.Um 1800 bildete sich die Geographie zur wissenschaftlichen Disziplin heraus, ihre Forschungsgegenstände, Methoden und

  12. The stand-alone test and decreasing serial cost sharing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hougaard, Jens Leth; Thorlund-Petersen, Lars

    2000-01-01

    The rule of decreasing serial cost sharing defined in de Frutos [1] over the class of concave cost functions may violate the important stand-alone test. Sufficient conditions for the test to be satisfied are given, in terms of individual rationality as well as coalitional stability...

  13. Mixed-List Phonological Similarity Effects in Delayed Serial Recall

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farrell, Simon

    2006-01-01

    Recent experiments have shown that placing dissimilar items on lists of phonologically similar items enhances accuracy of ordered recall of the dissimilar items [Farrell, S., & Lewandowsky, S. (2003). Dissimilar items benefit from phonological similarity in serial recall. "Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition," 29,…

  14. RProtoBuf: Efficient Cross-Language Data Serialization in R

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dirk Eddelbuettel

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Modern data collection and analysis pipelines often involve a sophisticated mix of applications written in general purpose and specialized programming languages. Many formats commonly used to import and export data between different programs or systems, such as CSV or JSON, are verbose, inefficient, not type-safe, or tied to a specific programming language. Protocol Buffers are a popular method of serializing structured data between applications - while remaining independent of programming languages or operating systems. They offer a unique combination of features, performance, and maturity that seems particularly well suited for data-driven applications and numerical computing. The RProtoBuf package provides a complete interface to Protocol Buffers from the R environment for statistical computing. This paper outlines the general class of data serialization requirements for statistical computing, describes the implementation of the RProtoBuf package, and illustrates its use with example applications in large-scale data collection pipelines and web services.

  15. 3D Topography of the Young Adult Anal Sphincter Complex Reconstructed from Undeformed Serial Anatomical Sections

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wu, Yi; Dabhoiwala, Noshir F.; Hagoort, Jaco; Shan, Jin-Lu; Tan, Li-Wen; Fang, Bin-Ji; Zhang, Shao-Xiang; Lamers, Wouter H.

    2015-01-01

    Pelvic-floor anatomy is usually studied by artifact-prone dissection or imaging, which requires prior anatomical knowledge. We used the serial-section approach to settle contentious issues and an interactive 3D-pdf to make the results widely accessible. 3D reconstructions of undeformed thin serial

  16. Serial right ventricle 201Tl imaging after exercise: relation to anatomy of the right coronary artery

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brown, K.A.; Boucher, C.A.; Okada, R.D.; Strauss, H.W.; McKusick, K.A.; Pohost, G.M.

    1982-01-01

    The relation of the appearance of the right ventricle on serium 201 Tl myocardial imaging to coronary artery anatomy was examined in 88 consecutive patients undergoing exercise 201 Tl testing and coronary angiography for the evaluation of chest pain. Transient defects in the right ventricle were found in 8 patients. All had high grade (greater than or equal to 90%) stenosis of the proximal right coronary artery. Nonvisualization of right ventricular (RV) activity occurred in 10 patients. Nine of the 10 (90%) had significant (greater than or equal to 50% stenosis) disease of the proximal right coronary artery and 7 (70%) had high grade stenosis. The right ventricle appeared normal in 70 patients. Twenty-nine (41%) of these patients had significant proximal right coronary artery disease. Right ventricular appearance was not affected by the presence or absence of disease of the left anterior descending or left circumflex artery or by the appearance of the left ventricle. Thus, with serial RV thallium-201 myocardial imaging after exercise, we found that (1) RV transient defects suggest the presence of high grade proximal right coronary artery stenosis, (2) non-visualization of RV activity also predicts significant proximal right coronary disease, and (3) the right ventricle frequently appears normal despite proximal right coronary artery disease and therefore this finding does not exclude such disease

  17. Serial type-specific human papillomavirus (HPV) load measurement allows differentiation between regressing cervical lesions and serial virion productive transient infections

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Depuydt, Christophe E; Jonckheere, Jef; Berth, Mario; Salembier, Geert M; Vereecken, Annie J; Bogers, Johannes J

    2015-01-01

    Persistent high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is strongly associated with the development of high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) or cancer. Not all persistent infections lead to cancer. Viral load measured at a single time-point is a poor predictor of the natural history of HPV infections. However the profile of viral load evolution over time could distinguish nonprogressive from progressive (carcinogenic) infections. A retrospective natural history study was set up using a Belgian laboratory database including more than 800,000 liquid cytology specimens. All samples were submitted to qPCR identifying E6/E7 genes of 18 HPV types. Viral load changes over time were assessed by the linear regression slope. Database search identified 261 untreated women with persistent type-specific HPV DNA detected (270 infections) in at least three of the last smears for a average period of 3.2 years. Using the coefficient of determination (R²) infections could be subdivided in a latency group (n = 143; R² < 0.85) and a regressing group (n = 127; R² ≥ 0.85). In (≥3) serial viral load measurements, serial transient infections with latency is characterized by a nonlinear limited difference in decrease or increase of type-specific viral load (R² < 0.85 and slopes between 2 measurements 0.0010 and −0.0010 HPV copies/cell per day) over a longer period of time (1553 days), whereas regression of a clonal cell population is characterized by a linear (R² ≥ 0.85) decrease (−0.0033 HPV copies/cell per day) over a shorter period of time (708 days; P < 0.001). Using serial HPV type-specific viral load measurements we could for the first time identify regressing CIN2 and CIN3 lesions. Evolution of the viral load is an objective measurable indicator of the natural history of HPV infections and could be used for future triage in HPV-based cervical screening programs

  18. Analysis of the main activities of the city center of Alexander's psychosomatic hospital of St. Petersburg, focused on the choice of priorities in perfection of treatment and prophylaxis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. P. Vanchakova

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The authors have analyzed the results of the City Psychosomatic Centre (CPSC activity in 2009-2011 ys in order to find out the most important trends in the clinical work that may be helpful in planning of management and prophylaxis. The methods applied were statistical and clinico-statistical analyses of the results of of the Center work in 2009-2011 ys. There were changes in the structure by increasing the incidence of diseases associated with stress and organic damage brain with mental disorders, showed an increase in the flow of male patients. Found that the average length of stay in bed in the center of psychosomatic inpatient unit was 9.2-9.7 days, which creates barriers to good practice the use of antidepressants. Overcoming of these challenges can be achieved through the formation of new forms of continuity between the departments of the psychosomatic center, the health center and the offices of St. Petersburg SHCI «Alexander's Hospital,» and other medical institutions of the city.

  19. Energy information data base. Serial titles, February 1978--June 1979

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1979-06-01

    This supplement contains changes and additions to TID-4579-R10 (the authority list for serial titles used by TIC), and is intended to be used with that publication. Supplements are cumulative until another revision is issued

  20. Selective interference of grasp and space representations with number magnitude and serial order processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Dijck, Jean-Philippe; Fias, Wim; Andres, Michael

    2015-10-01

    It has been proposed that the metrics of space, time and other magnitudes relevant for action are coupled through a generalized magnitude system that also contribute to number representation. Several studies capitalized on stimulus-response compatibility effects to show that numbers map onto left-right representations and grasp representations as a function of their magnitude. However, the tasks typically used do not allow disentangling magnitude from serial order processing. Here, we devised a working memory (WM) task where participants had to remember random sequences of numbers and perform a precision/whole-hand grip (Experiment 1) or a uni-manual left/right button press (Experiment 2) in response to numbers presented during the retention interval. This task does allow differentiating the interference of number magnitude and serial order with each set of responses. Experiment 1 showed that precision grips were initiated faster than whole-hand grips in response to small numbers, irrespective of their serial position in WM. In contrast, Experiment 2 revealed an advantage of right over left button presses as serial position increased, without any influence of number magnitude. These findings demonstrate that grasping and left-right movements overlap with distinct dimensions of number processing. These findings are discussed in the light of different theories explaining the interactions between numbers, space and action.