Bribes for Faster Delivery

OpenAIRE

Sanyal, Amal

2000-01-01

The paper models the practice of charging bribes for faster delivery of essential services in third world countries. It then examines the possibility of curbing corruption by supervision, and secondly, by introducing competition among delivery agents. It is argued that a supervisory solution eludes the problem because no hard evidence of the reduction of corruption can be established for this type of offenses. It is also shown that using more than one supplier cannot eliminate the practice, a...

The hard-won benefits of familiarity in visual search: naturally familiar brand logos are found faster.

Science.gov (United States)

Qin, Xiaoyan Angela; Koutstaal, Wilma; Engel, Stephen A

2014-05-01

Familiar items are found faster than unfamiliar ones in visual search tasks. This effect has important implications for cognitive theory, because it may reveal how mental representations of commonly encountered items are changed by experience to optimize performance. It remains unknown, however, whether everyday items with moderate levels of exposure would show benefits in visual search, and if so, what kind of experience would be required to produce them. Here, we tested whether familiar product logos were searched for faster than unfamiliar ones, and also familiarized subjects with previously unfamiliar logos. Subjects searched for preexperimentally familiar and unfamiliar logos, half of which were familiarized in the laboratory, amongst other, unfamiliar distractor logos. In three experiments, we used an N-back-like familiarization task, and in four others we used a task that asked detailed questions about the perceptual aspects of the logos. The number of familiarization exposures ranged from 30 to 84 per logo across experiments, with two experiments involving across-day familiarization. Preexperimentally familiar target logos were searched for faster than were unfamiliar, nonfamiliarized logos, by 8 % on average. This difference was reliable in all seven experiments. However, familiarization had little or no effect on search speeds; its average effect was to improve search times by 0.7 %, and its effect was significant in only one of the seven experiments. If priming, mere exposure, episodic memory, or relatively modest familiarity were responsible for familiarity's effects on search, then performance should have improved following familiarization. Our results suggest that the search-related advantage of familiar logos does not develop easily or rapidly.

Faster Simulation Methods for the Non-Stationary Random Vibrations of Non-Linear MDOF Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Askar, A.; Köylüoglu, H. U.; Nielsen, Søren R. K.

subject to nonstationary Gaussian white noise excitation, as an alternative to conventional direct simulation methods. These alternative simulation procedures rely on an assumption of local Gaussianity during each time step. This assumption is tantamount to various linearizations of the equations....... Such a treatment offers higher rates of convergence, faster speed and higher accuracy. These procedures are compared to the direct Monte Carlo simulation procedure, which uses a fourth order Runge-Kutta scheme with the white noise process approximated by a broad band Ruiz-Penzien broken line process...

The faster-X effect: integrating theory and data.

Science.gov (United States)

Meisel, Richard P; Connallon, Tim

2013-09-01

Population genetics theory predicts that X (or Z) chromosomes could play disproportionate roles in speciation and evolutionary divergence, and recent genome-wide analyses have identified situations in which X or Z-linked divergence exceeds that on the autosomes (the so-called 'faster-X effect'). Here, we summarize the current state of both the theory and data surrounding the study of faster-X evolution. Our survey indicates that the faster-X effect is pervasive across a taxonomically diverse array of evolutionary lineages. These patterns could be informative of the dominance or recessivity of beneficial mutations and the nature of genetic variation acted upon by natural selection. We also identify several aspects of disagreement between these empirical results and the population genetic models used to interpret them. However, there are clearly delineated aspects of the problem for which additional modeling and collection of genomic data will address these discrepancies and provide novel insights into the population genetics of adaptation. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Acute topiramate differentially affects human aggressive responding at low vs. moderate doses in subjects with histories of substance abuse and antisocial behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Lane, Scott D; Gowin, Joshua L; Green, Charles E; Steinberg, Joel L; Moeller, F Gerard; Cherek, Don R

2009-04-01

Anticonvulsant drugs have demonstrated efficacy in the management of irritability and aggression in a variety of psychiatric populations. We examined the acute effects of topiramate on aggression using a laboratory model of human aggression (PSAP) in individuals at high risk for aggressive and violent behavior.Twelve subjects, on parole/probation and with an Axis-II personality disorder and/or a substance use disorder, received 100, 200, 300, and 400 mg in an ascending sequence, with intervening placebo doses.Subjects participated 2-3 days per week over 4-6 weeks. Due to cognitive side effects at 300 mg, two subjects only completed through the 200 mg dose. Topiramate produced an inverted U-shaped dose response curve, with increases in aggression peaking at 200 mg and a modest decrease at 400 mg. Statistical analysis revealed a polynomial trend for dose (p=0.001). The observed inverted U-shaped function in aggressive responding is consistent with non-human aggression studies of GABA-A modulators. Acute topiramate doses >400 mg may have anti-aggressive effects, but dose levels in the 200-300 mg range may produce increases in aggression and side effects.

Criticality Safety Basics for INL Emergency Responders

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Valerie L. Putman

2012-08-01

This document is a modular self-study guide about criticality safety principles for Idaho National Laboratory emergency responders. This guide provides basic criticality safety information for people who, in response to an emergency, might enter an area that contains much fissionable (or fissile) material. The information should help responders understand unique factors that might be important in responding to a criticality accident or in preventing a criticality accident while responding to a different emergency.

This study guide specifically supplements web-based training for firefighters (0INL1226) and includes information for other Idaho National Laboratory first responders. However, the guide audience also includes other first responders such as radiological control personnel.

For interested readers, this guide includes clearly marked additional information that will not be included on tests. The additional information includes historical examples (Been there. Done that.), as well as facts and more in-depth information (Did you know …).

INL criticality safety personnel revise this guide as needed to reflect program changes, user requests, and better information. Revision 0, issued May 2007, established the basic text. Revision 1 incorporates operation, program, and training changes implemented since 2007. Revision 1 increases focus on first responders because later responders are more likely to have more assistance and guidance from facility personnel and subject matter experts. Revision 1 also completely reorganized the training to better emphasize physical concepts behind the criticality controls that help keep emergency responders safe. The changes are based on and consistent with changes made to course 0INL1226.

Compressing bitmap indexes for faster search operations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, Kesheng; Otoo, Ekow J.; Shoshani, Arie

2002-01-01

In this paper, we study the effects of compression on bitmap indexes. The main operations on the bitmaps during query processing are bitwise logical operations such as AND, OR, NOT, etc. Using the general purpose compression schemes, such as gzip, the logical operations on the compressed bitmaps are much slower than on the uncompressed bitmaps. Specialized compression schemes, like the byte-aligned bitmap code(BBC), are usually faster in performing logical operations than the general purpose schemes, but in many cases they are still orders of magnitude slower than the uncompressed scheme. To make the compressed bitmap indexes operate more efficiently, we designed a CPU-friendly scheme which we refer to as the word-aligned hybrid code (WAH). Tests on both synthetic and real application data show that the new scheme significantly outperforms well-known compression schemes at a modest increase in storage space. Compared to BBC, a scheme well-known for its operational efficiency, WAH performs logical operations about 12 times faster and uses only 60 percent more space. Compared to the uncompressed scheme, in most test cases WAH is faster while still using less space. We further verified with additional tests that the improvement in logical operation speed translates to similar improvement in query processing speed

Compressing bitmap indexes for faster search operations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wu, Kesheng; Otoo, Ekow J.; Shoshani, Arie

2002-04-25

In this paper, we study the effects of compression on bitmap indexes. The main operations on the bitmaps during query processing are bitwise logical operations such as AND, OR, NOT, etc. Using the general purpose compression schemes, such as gzip, the logical operations on the compressed bitmaps are much slower than on the uncompressed bitmaps. Specialized compression schemes, like the byte-aligned bitmap code(BBC), are usually faster in performing logical operations than the general purpose schemes, but in many cases they are still orders of magnitude slower than the uncompressed scheme. To make the compressed bitmap indexes operate more efficiently, we designed a CPU-friendly scheme which we refer to as the word-aligned hybrid code (WAH). Tests on both synthetic and real application data show that the new scheme significantly outperforms well-known compression schemes at a modest increase in storage space. Compared to BBC, a scheme well-known for its operational efficiency, WAH performs logical operations about 12 times faster and uses only 60 percent more space. Compared to the uncompressed scheme, in most test cases WAH is faster while still using less space. We further verified with additional tests that the improvement in logical operation speed translates to similar improvement in query processing speed.

Faster than Nyquist signaling algorithms to silicon

CERN Document Server

Dasalukunte, Deepak; Rusek, Fredrik; Anderson, John B

2014-01-01

This book addresses the challenges and design trade-offs arising during the hardware design of Faster-than-Nyquist (FTN) signaling transceivers. The authors describe how to design for coexistence between the FTN system described and Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) systems, enabling readers to design FTN specific processing blocks as add-ons to the conventional transceiver chain.   • Provides a comprehensive introduction to Faster-than-Nyquist (FTN) signaling transceivers, covering both theory and hardware implementation; • Enables readers to design systems that achieve bandwidth efficiency by making better use of the available spectrum resources; • Describes design techniques to achieve 2x improvement in bandwidth usage with similar performance as that of an OFDM system.  

Faster-X evolution: Theory and evidence from Drosophila.

Science.gov (United States)

Charlesworth, Brian; Campos, José L; Jackson, Benjamin C

2018-02-12

A faster rate of adaptive evolution of X-linked genes compared with autosomal genes can be caused by the fixation of recessive or partially recessive advantageous mutations, due to the full expression of X-linked mutations in hemizygous males. Other processes, including recombination rate and mutation rate differences between X chromosomes and autosomes, may also cause faster evolution of X-linked genes. We review population genetics theory concerning the expected relative values of variability and rates of evolution of X-linked and autosomal DNA sequences. The theoretical predictions are compared with data from population genomic studies of several species of Drosophila. We conclude that there is evidence for adaptive faster-X evolution of several classes of functionally significant nucleotides. We also find evidence for potential differences in mutation rates between X-linked and autosomal genes, due to differences in mutational bias towards GC to AT mutations. Many aspects of the data are consistent with the male hemizygosity model, although not all possible confounding factors can be excluded. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Please respond ASAP: workplace telepressure and employee recovery.

Science.gov (United States)

Barber, Larissa K; Santuzzi, Alecia M

2015-04-01

Organizations rely heavily on asynchronous message-based technologies (e.g., e-mail) for the purposes of work-related communications. These technologies are primary means of knowledge transfer and building social networks. As a by-product, workers might feel varying levels of preoccupations with and urges for responding quickly to messages from clients, coworkers, or supervisors--an experience we label as workplace telepressure. This experience can lead to fast response times and thus faster decisions and other outcomes initially. However, research from the stress and recovery literature suggests that the defining features of workplace telepressure interfere with needed work recovery time and stress-related outcomes. The present set of studies defined and validated a new scale to measure telepressure. Study 1 tested an initial pool of items and found some support for a single-factor structure after problematic items were removed. As expected, public self-consciousness, techno-overload, and response expectations were moderately associated with telepressure in Study 1. Study 2 demonstrated that workplace telepressure was distinct from other personal (job involvement, affective commitment) and work environment (general and ICT work demands) factors and also predicted burnout (physical and cognitive), absenteeism, sleep quality, and e-mail responding beyond those factors. Implications for future research and workplace practices are discussed. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Standardized Index of Shape (SIS): a quantitative DCE-MRI parameter to discriminate responders by non-responders after neoadjuvant therapy in LARC

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Petrillo, Antonella; Fusco, Roberta; Petrillo, Mario; Granata, Vincenza [Istituto Nazionale Tumori Fondazione Giovanni Pascale - IRCCS, Naples (Italy). Div. of Radiology; Sansone, Mario [Naples Univ. ' ' Federico II' ' (Italy). Dept. of Biomedical, Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering; Avallone, Antonio [Istituto Nazionale Tumori Fondazione Giovanni Pascale - IRCCS, Naples (Italy). Div. of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology; Delrio, Paolo [Istituto Nazionale Tumori Fondazione Giovanni Pascale - IRCCS, Naples (Italy). Div. of Gastrointestinal surgical Oncology; Pecori, Biagio [Istituto Nazionale Tumori Fondazione Giovanni Pascale - IRCCS, Naples (Italy). Div. of Radiotherapy; Tatangelo, Fabiana [Istituto Nazionale Tumori Fondazione Giovanni Pascale - IRCCS, Naples (Italy). Div. of Diagnostic Pathology; Ciliberto, Gennaro [Istituto Nazionale Tumori Fondazione Giovanni Pascale - IRCCS, Naples (Italy)

2015-07-15

To investigate the potential of DCE-MRI to discriminate responders from non-responders after neoadjuvant chemo-radiotherapy (CRT) for locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC). We investigated several shape parameters for the time-intensity curve (TIC) in order to identify the best combination of parameters between two linear parameter classifiers. Seventy-four consecutive patients with LARC were enrolled in a prospective study approved by our ethics committee. Each patient gave written informed consent. After surgery, pathological TNM and tumour regression grade (TRG) were estimated. DCE-MRI semi-quantitative analysis (sqMRI) was performed to identify the best parameter or parameter combination to discriminate responders from non-responders in response monitoring to CRT. Percentage changes of TIC shape descriptors from the baseline to the presurgical scan were assessed and correlated with TRG. Receiver operating characteristic analysis and linear classifier were applied. Forty-six patients (62.2 %) were classified as responders, while 28 subjects (37.8 %) were considered as non-responders. sqMRI reached a sensitivity of 93.5 % and a specificity of 82.1 % combining the percentage change in Maximum Signal Difference (ΔMSD) and Wash-out Slope (ΔWOS), the Standardized Index of Shape (SIS). SIS obtains the best result in discriminating responders from non-responders after CRT in LARC, with a cut-off value of -3.0 %. (orig.)

Semantic size does not matter: "bigger" words are not recognized faster.

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, Sean H K; Yap, Melvin J; Tse, Chi-Shing; Kurby, Christopher A

2011-06-01

Sereno, O'Donnell, and Sereno (2009) reported that words are recognized faster in a lexical decision task when their referents are physically large than when they are small, suggesting that "semantic size" might be an important variable that should be considered in visual word recognition research and modelling. We sought to replicate their size effect, but failed to find a significant latency advantage in lexical decision for "big" words (cf. "small" words), even though we used the same word stimuli as Sereno et al. and had almost three times as many subjects. We also examined existing data from visual word recognition megastudies (e.g., English Lexicon Project) and found that semantic size is not a significant predictor of lexical decision performance after controlling for the standard lexical variables. In summary, the null results from our lab experiment--despite a much larger subject sample size than Sereno et al.--converged with our analysis of megastudy lexical decision performance, leading us to conclude that semantic size does not matter for word recognition. Discussion focuses on why semantic size (unlike some other semantic variables) is unlikely to play a role in lexical decision.

Faster Increases in Human Life Expectancy Could Lead to Slower Population Aging

Science.gov (United States)

2015-01-01

Counterintuitively, faster increases in human life expectancy could lead to slower population aging. The conventional view that faster increases in human life expectancy would lead to faster population aging is based on the assumption that people become old at a fixed chronological age. A preferable alternative is to base measures of aging on people’s time left to death, because this is more closely related to the characteristics that are associated with old age. Using this alternative interpretation, we show that faster increases in life expectancy would lead to slower population aging. Among other things, this finding affects the assessment of the speed at which countries will age. PMID:25876033

Autonomic and subjective responsivity to emotional images in people with dissociative seizures.

Science.gov (United States)

Pick, Susannah; Mellers, John D C; Goldstein, Laura H

2018-06-01

People with dissociative seizures (DS) report a range of difficulties in emotional functioning and exhibit altered responding to emotional facial expressions in experimental tasks. We extended this research by investigating subjective and autonomic reactivity (ratings of emotional valence, arousal and skin conductance responses [SCRs]) to general emotional images in 39 people with DS relative to 42 healthy control participants, whilst controlling for anxiety, depression, cognitive functioning and, where relevant, medication use. It was predicted that greater subjective negativity and arousal and increased SCRs in response to the affective pictures would be observed in the DS group. The DS group as a whole did not differ from controls in their subjective responses of valence and arousal. However, SCR amplitudes were greater in 'autonomic responders' with DS relative to 'autonomic responders' in the control group. A positive correlation was also observed between SCRs for highly arousing negative pictures and self-reported ictal autonomic arousal, in DS 'autonomic responders'. In the DS subgroup of autonomic 'non-responders', differences in subjective responses were observed for some conditions, compared to control 'non-responders'. The findings indicate unaffected subjective responses to emotional images in people with DS overall. However, within the group of people with DS, there may be subgroups characterized by differences in emotional responding. One subgroup (i.e., 'autonomic responders') exhibit heightened autonomic responses but intact subjective emotional experience, whilst another subgroup (i.e., 'autonomic non-responders') seem to experience greater subjective negativity and arousal for some emotional stimuli, despite less frequent autonomic reactions. The current results suggest that therapeutic interventions targeting awareness and regulation of physiological arousal and subjective emotional experience could be of value in some people with this disorder

Reasons anglers did not respond to an internet survey and evaluation of data quality

Science.gov (United States)

Gigliotti, Larry M.; Henderson, Kjetil R.

2015-01-01

Natural resource management agencies have traditionally used statewide mail surveys to gather information from anglers, but cost savings and faster returns occur using the internet. This study examined mail or internet fishery survey return rates and associated data by license type of South Dakota resident anglers. Junior anglers (ages 16-18; Junior Combination license) had the lowest internet and mail survey return rates (20% and 28%, respectively), followed by adult anglers (ages 19-64; Adult Fishing and Adult Combination licenses; 30% and 39%, respectively), and senior anglers (ages 65+; Senior Fishing and Senior Combination licenses; 42% and 66%, respectively). The three age groups were significantly different on three email use characteristics (shared email, frequency of use, and comfort level). The primary reason for not responding to the internet survey was not receiving or noticing the email request, and secondarily, being too busy to respond. Although having a relatively low response rate, data collected by the internet compared to follow-up mail surveys of internet non-respondents were similar.

Adrenaline in cardiac arrest: Prefilled syringes are faster.

Science.gov (United States)

Helm, Claire; Gillett, Mark

2015-08-01

Standard ampoules and prefilled syringes of adrenaline are widely available in Australasian EDs for use in cardiac arrest. We hypothesise that prefilled syringes can be administered more rapidly and accurately when compared with the two available standard ampoules. This is a triple arm superiority study comparing the time to i.v. administration and accuracy of dosing of three currently available preparations of adrenaline. In their standard packaging, prefilled syringes were on average more than 12 s faster to administer than the 1 mL 1:1000 ampoules and more than 16 s faster than the 10 mL 1:10,000 ampoules (P adrenaline utilising a Minijet (CSL Limited, Parkville, Victoria, Australia) is faster than using adrenaline in glass ampoules presented in their plastic packaging. Removing the plastic packaging from the 1 mL (1 mg) ampoule might result in more rapid administration similar to the Minijet. Resuscitation personnel requiring rapid access to adrenaline should consider storing it as either Minijets or ampoules devoid of packaging. These results might be extrapolatable to other clinical scenarios, including pre-hospital and anaesthesia, where other drugs are required for rapid use. © 2015 Australasian College for Emergency Medicine and Australasian Society for Emergency Medicine.

Longer - Faster - Purer

CERN Multimedia

Caroline Duc

2013-01-01

The MR-ToF-MS, a new ion trap, has been integrated into ISOLTRAP, the experiment that performs accurate mass measurements on short-lived nuclides produced at ISOLDE. When used as a mass separator and spectrometer, it extends ISOLTRAP’s experimental reach towards the limits of nuclear stability.   Susanne Kreim, the ISOLTRAP local group leader at CERN in front of a part of the ISOLTRAP device. When mass measurement experiments like ISOLTRAP* are placed in an on-line radioactive ion-beam facility they face a major challenge: the efficient and fast transfer of the nuclide of interest to the location where the mass measurement is performed. The biggest yield of one selected nuclide, without contaminants, needs to be transferred to the set-up as quickly as possible in order to measure its mass with the greatest precision. Recently, the ISOLTRAP collaboration installed a new device that provides a faster separation of isobars.** It has significantly improved ISOLTRAP’s purificat...

Teaching innovation system applied in business management subjects.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rafael Rosillo

2017-06-01

Blunder offers a fun mobile training. We can know which student learns faster, learns more or learns better a particular topic. If a student plays the subject that the teacher has explained in class the level of learning affects to the final evaluation positively.

Differences in change in coping styles between good responders, moderate responders and non-responders to pulmonary rehabilitation.

Science.gov (United States)

Stoilkova-Hartmann, Ana; Janssen, Daisy J A; Franssen, Frits M E; Wouters, Emiel F M

2015-12-01

Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) improves exercise tolerance and health status in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Data on the effects of PR on coping styles are limited. Aim of the present study was to compare changes in coping styles between patients who had a good, moderate and no improvement in either exercise tolerance or health status after PR. Coping styles of 439 COPD patients undergoing PR were assessed by the Utrecht Coping List (UCL) at baseline and after PR. Patients' pulmonary function, six-minute walking distance (6MWD), St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-A and HADS-D) were recorded. Good, moderate and non-responders were defined on the basis of minimally clinically important difference (MCID) for SGRQ total score and/or 6MWD. Overall, 54.0% of the patients fulfilled the criteria for good responders, while 22.1% were moderate responders. Change in passive reaction pattern coping style differed significantly between good responders and non-responders following PR (p styles after PR occurred among the good responders, whereas the majority of moderate responders' and non-responders' coping styles were not significantly influenced by PR. Good responders decreased their passive reaction pattern coping style in contrast to non-responders after PR. In general, PR did not change the coping among moderate and non-responders. Further research is warranted to determine whether including interventions targeting coping styles may modify coping behaviour of COPD patients, as well as improvement in exercise tolerance or health status after PR. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Faster and timing-attack resistant AES-GCM

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Käsper, E.; Schwabe, P.; Clavier, C.; Gaj, K.

2009-01-01

We present a bitsliced implementation of AES encryption in counter mode for 64-bit Intel processors. Running at 7.59 cycles/byte on a Core 2, it is up to 25% faster than previous implementations, while simultaneously offering protection against timing attacks. In particular, it is the only

Drug use among complete responders, partial responders and non-responders in a longitudinal survey of nonagenarians

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wastesson, Jonas W; Rasmussen, Lotte; Oksuzyan, Anna

2017-01-01

PURPOSE: In observational studies, non-response can limit representativity and introduce bias. We aimed to investigate the longitudinal changes in the number of used drugs among complete responders, partial responders, and non-responders in a whole birth cohort of Danish nonagenarians participati...

Faster than light, slower than time

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rucker, R.

1981-01-01

The problem with faster-than-light travel is that, in the framework of Special Relativity, it is logically equivalent to time-travel. The problem with time-travel is that it leads to two types of paradoxes. The paradoxes, and the various means of skirting them, are all discussed here. Virtually all the examples are drawn from science-fiction novels, which are a large and neglected source of thought-experiments. (Auth.)

ZKBoo: Faster Zero-Knowledge for Boolean Circuits

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Giacomelli, Irene; Madsen, Jesper; Orlandi, Claudio

2016-01-01

variants of IKOS, which highlights their pros and cons for practically rele- vant soundness parameters; ◦ A generalization and simplification of their approach, which leads to faster Σ-protocols (that can be made non-interactive using the Fiat-Shamir heuristic) for state- ments of the form “I know x...

Adipose Gene Expression Prior to Weight Loss Can Differentiate and Weakly Predict Dietary Responders

Science.gov (United States)

Mutch, David M.; Temanni, M. Ramzi; Henegar, Corneliu; Combes, Florence; Pelloux, Véronique; Holst, Claus; Sørensen, Thorkild I. A.; Astrup, Arne; Martinez, J. Alfredo; Saris, Wim H. M.; Viguerie, Nathalie; Langin, Dominique; Zucker, Jean-Daniel; Clément, Karine

2007-01-01

Background The ability to identify obese individuals who will successfully lose weight in response to dietary intervention will revolutionize disease management. Therefore, we asked whether it is possible to identify subjects who will lose weight during dietary intervention using only a single gene expression snapshot. Methodology/Principal Findings The present study involved 54 female subjects from the Nutrient-Gene Interactions in Human Obesity-Implications for Dietary Guidelines (NUGENOB) trial to determine whether subcutaneous adipose tissue gene expression could be used to predict weight loss prior to the 10-week consumption of a low-fat hypocaloric diet. Using several statistical tests revealed that the gene expression profiles of responders (8–12 kgs weight loss) could always be differentiated from non-responders (diet is able to differentiate responders from non-responders as well as serve as a weak predictor of subjects destined to lose weight. While the degree of prediction accuracy currently achieved with a gene expression snapshot is perhaps insufficient for clinical use, this work reveals that the comprehensive molecular signature of adipose tissue paves the way for the future of personalized nutrition. PMID:18094752

Faster and Energy-Efficient Signed Multipliers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. Ramkumar

2013-01-01

Full Text Available We demonstrate faster and energy-efficient column compression multiplication with very small area overheads by using a combination of two techniques: partition of the partial products into two parts for independent parallel column compression and acceleration of the final addition using new hybrid adder structures proposed here. Based on the proposed techniques, 8-b, 16-b, 32-b, and 64-b Wallace (W, Dadda (D, and HPM (H reduction tree based Baugh-Wooley multipliers are developed and compared with the regular W, D, H based Baugh-Wooley multipliers. The performances of the proposed multipliers are analyzed by evaluating the delay, area, and power, with 65 nm process technologies on interconnect and layout using industry standard design and layout tools. The result analysis shows that the 64-bit proposed multipliers are as much as 29%, 27%, and 21% faster than the regular W, D, H based Baugh-Wooley multipliers, respectively, with a maximum of only 2.4% power overhead. Also, the power-delay products (energy consumption of the proposed 16-b, 32-b, and 64-b multipliers are significantly lower than those of the regular Baugh-Wooley multiplier. Applicability of the proposed techniques to the Booth-Encoded multipliers is also discussed.

Cortex Matures Faster in Youths With Highest IQ

Science.gov (United States)

... NIH Cortex Matures Faster in Youths With Highest IQ Past Issues / Summer 2006 Table of Contents For ... on. Photo: Getty image (StockDisc) Youths with superior IQ are distinguished by how fast the thinking part ...

Zero bugs and program faster

CERN Document Server

Thompson, Kate

2015-01-01

A book about programming, improving skill, and avoiding mistakes. The author spent two years researching every bug avoidance technique she could find. This book contains the best of them. If you want to program faster, with fewer bugs, and write more secure code, buy this book! "This is the best book I have ever read." - Anonymous reviewer "Four score and seven years ago this book helped me debug my server code." -Abraham Lincoln "Would my Javascript have memory leaks without this book? Would fishes fly without water?" -Socrates "This book is the greatest victory since the Spanish Armada, and the best about programming." -Queen Elizabeth

Size matters: bigger is faster.

Science.gov (United States)

Sereno, Sara C; O'Donnell, Patrick J; Sereno, Margaret E

2009-06-01

A largely unexplored aspect of lexical access in visual word recognition is "semantic size"--namely, the real-world size of an object to which a word refers. A total of 42 participants performed a lexical decision task on concrete nouns denoting either big or small objects (e.g., bookcase or teaspoon). Items were matched pairwise on relevant lexical dimensions. Participants' reaction times were reliably faster to semantically "big" versus "small" words. The results are discussed in terms of possible mechanisms, including more active representations for "big" words, due to the ecological importance attributed to large objects in the environment and the relative speed of neural responses to large objects.

Fast-responding property of electromagnetically induced transparency in Rydberg atoms

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Qi; Bai, Zhengyang; Huang, Guoxiang

2018-04-01

We investigate the transient optical response property of an electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in a cold Rydberg atomic gas. We show that both the transient behavior and the steady-state EIT spectrum of the system depend strongly on Rydberg interaction. Especially, the response speed of the Rydberg-EIT can be five times faster (and even higher) than the conventional EIT without the Rydberg interaction. For comparison, two different theoretical approaches (i.e., two-atom model and many-atom model) are considered, revealing that Rydberg blockade effect plays a significant role for increasing the response speed of the Rydberg-EIT. The fast-responding Rydberg-EIT by using the strong, tunable Rydberg interaction uncovered here is not only helpful for enhancing the understanding of the many-body dynamics of Rydberg atoms but also useful for practical applications in quantum information processing by using Rydberg atoms.

Dorsal hippocampus inactivation impairs spontaneous recovery of Pavlovian magazine approach responding in rats

Science.gov (United States)

Campese, Vincent D.; Delamater, Andrew R.

2014-01-01

Destruction or inactivation of the dorsal hippocampus (DH) has been shown to eliminate the renewal of extinguished fear [1–4]. However, it has recently been reported that the contextual control of responding to extinguished appetitive stimuli is not disrupted when the DH is destroyed or inactivated prior to tests for renewal of Pavlovian conditioned magazine approach [5]. In the present study we extend the analysis of DH control of appetitive extinction learning to the spontaneous recovery of Pavlovian conditioned magazine approach responding. Subjects were trained to associate two separate stimuli with the delivery of food and had muscimol or vehicle infused into the DH prior to a single test-session for spontaneous recovery occurring immediately following extinction of one of these stimuli, but one week following extinction of the other. While vehicle treated subjects showed more recovery to the distally extinguished stimulus than the proximal one, muscimol treated subjects failed to show spontaneous recovery to either stimulus. This result suggests that, while the DH is not involved in the control of extinction by physical contexts [5], it may be involved when time is the gating factor controlling recovery of extinguished responding. PMID:24742862

Pedestrian crowd dynamics in merging sections: Revisiting the ;faster-is-slower; phenomenon

Science.gov (United States)

Shahhoseini, Zahra; Sarvi, Majid; Saberi, Meead

2018-02-01

The study of the discharge of active or self-driven matter in narrow passages has become of the growing interest in a variety of fields. The question has particularly important practical applications for the safety of pedestrian human flows notably in emergency scenarios. It has been suggested predominantly through simulation in some theoretical studies as well as through few experimentations that under certain circumstances, an elevated vigour to escape may exacerbate the outflow and cause further delay although the experimental evidence is rather mixed. The dimensions of this complex phenomenon known as the "faster-is slower" effect are of crucial importance to be understood owing to its potential practical implications for the emergency management. The contextual requirements of observing this phenomenon are yet to be identified. It is not clear whether a "do not speed up" policy is universally beneficial and advisable in an evacuation scenario. Here for the first time we experimentally examine this phenomenon in relation to the pedestrian flows at merging sections as a common geometric feature of crowd egress. Various merging angles and three different speed regimes were examined in high-density laboratory experiments. The measurements of flow interruptions and egress efficiency all indicated that the pedestrians were discharged faster when moving at elevated speed levels. We also observed clear dependencies between the discharge rate and the physical layout of the merging with certain designs clearly outperforming others. But regardless of the design, we observed faster throughput and greater avalanche sizes when we instructed pedestrians to run. Our results give the suggestion that observation of the faster-is-slower effect may necessitate certain critical conditions including passages being overly narrow relative to the size of participles (pedestrians) to create long-lasting blockages. The faster-is-slower assumption may not be universal and there may be

Academics respond

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hazel, Spencer

2015-01-01

Contribution to the article "Academics respond: Brexit would weaken UK university research and funding", Guardian Witness, The Guardian, UK......Contribution to the article "Academics respond: Brexit would weaken UK university research and funding", Guardian Witness, The Guardian, UK...

Adipose gene expression prior to weight loss can differentiate and weakly predict dietary responders.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David M Mutch

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The ability to identify obese individuals who will successfully lose weight in response to dietary intervention will revolutionize disease management. Therefore, we asked whether it is possible to identify subjects who will lose weight during dietary intervention using only a single gene expression snapshot. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The present study involved 54 female subjects from the Nutrient-Gene Interactions in Human Obesity-Implications for Dietary Guidelines (NUGENOB trial to determine whether subcutaneous adipose tissue gene expression could be used to predict weight loss prior to the 10-week consumption of a low-fat hypocaloric diet. Using several statistical tests revealed that the gene expression profiles of responders (8-12 kgs weight loss could always be differentiated from non-responders (<4 kgs weight loss. We also assessed whether this differentiation was sufficient for prediction. Using a bottom-up (i.e. black-box approach, standard class prediction algorithms were able to predict dietary responders with up to 61.1%+/-8.1% accuracy. Using a top-down approach (i.e. using differentially expressed genes to build a classifier improved prediction accuracy to 80.9%+/-2.2%. CONCLUSION: Adipose gene expression profiling prior to the consumption of a low-fat diet is able to differentiate responders from non-responders as well as serve as a weak predictor of subjects destined to lose weight. While the degree of prediction accuracy currently achieved with a gene expression snapshot is perhaps insufficient for clinical use, this work reveals that the comprehensive molecular signature of adipose tissue paves the way for the future of personalized nutrition.

Breaking the Myth That Relay Swimming Is Faster Than Individual Swimming.

Science.gov (United States)

Skorski, Sabrina; Etxebarria, Naroa; Thompson, Kevin G

2016-04-01

To investigate if swimming performance is better in a relay race than in the corresponding individual race. The authors analyzed 166 elite male swimmers from 15 nations in the same competition (downloaded from www.swimrankings.net). Of 778 observed races, 144 were Olympic Games performances (2000, 2004, 2012), with the remaining 634 performed in national or international competitions. The races were 100-m (n = 436) and 200-m (n = 342) freestyle events. Relay performance times for the 2nd-4th swimmers were adjusted (+ 0.73 s) to allow for the "flying start." Without any adjustment, mean individual relay performances were significantly faster for the first 50 m and overall time in the 100-m events. Furthermore, the first 100 m of the 200-m relay was significantly faster (P > .001). During relays, swimmers competing in 1st position did not show any difference compared with their corresponding individual performance (P > .16). However, swimmers competing in 2nd-4th relay-team positions demonstrated significantly faster times in the 100-m (P individual events (P team positions were adjusted for the flying start no differences were detected between relay and individual race performance for any event or split time (P > .17). Highly trained swimmers do not swim (or turn) faster in relay events than in their individual races. Relay exchange times account for the difference observed in individual vs relay performance.

Better Faster Noise with the GPU

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wyvill, Geoff; Frisvad, Jeppe Revall

Filtered noise [Perlin 1985] has, for twenty years, been a fundamental tool for creating functional texture and it has many other applications; for example, animating water waves or the motion of grass waving in the wind. Perlin noise suffers from a number of defects and there have been many atte...... attempts to create better or faster noise but Perlin’s ‘Gradient Noise’ has consistently proved to be the best compromise between speed and quality. Our objective was to create a better noise cheaply by use of the GPU....

Skin graft donor site: a procedure for a faster healing.

Science.gov (United States)

Cuomo, Roberto; Grimaldi, Luca; Brandi, Cesare; Nisi, Giuseppe; D'Aniello, Carlo

2017-10-23

The authors want to evaluate the efficacy of fibrillary tabotamp dressing in skin graft-donor site. A comparison was made with Vaseline gauzes. Tabotamp is an absorbable haemostatic product of Ethicon (Johnson and Johnson) obtained by sterile and oxidized regenerated cellulose (Rayon). It is used for mild to moderate bleeding. 276 patients were subject to skin graft and divided into two group: Group A and Group B. The donor site of patients in Group A was medicated with fibrillary tabotamp, while the patients of Group B were medicated only with Vaseline gauze. We recorded infection, timing of healing, number of dressing change, the pain felt during and after the dressing change with visual analog scale (VAS) and a questionnaire. Patients allocated in Group A healed faster than the Group B. Questionnaires and VAS analysis showed lower pain felt, lower intake of pain drugs and lower infection rate in the Group A than the Group B. Analysis of coast showed lower dressing change in Group A than the Group B. We believe that the use of tabotamp is a very viable alternative to improve healing.

Quantum mechanics and faster-than-light communication: methodological considerations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ghirardi, G.C.; Weber, T.

1983-06-01

A detailed quantum mechanical analysis of a recent proposal of faster than light communication through wave packet reduction is performed. The discussion allows us to focus on some methodological problems about critical investigations in physical theories. (author)

Slow light brings faster communications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gauthier, D.

2006-01-01

Two teams of researchers have managed to significantly reduce the speed of light in an optical fibre, which could open the door to all-optical routers for telecommunications, as Daniel Gauthier explains. Optical engineers around the globe are working hard to meet the ever-growing demand for higher-speed information networks, and the latest systems being developed operate at rates close to 160 GB per second - which is over 100 times quicker than the fastest broadband services currently available and a world away from the 56 kb per second dial-up connections of the early years of the Internet. Paradoxically, it seems that making light travel slower rather than faster might be the best way to meet these high-speed challenges. (U.K.)

Impact of natalizumab on ambulatory improvement in secondary progressive and disabled relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Diego Cadavid

Full Text Available There is an unmet need for disease-modifying therapies to improve ambulatory function in disabled subjects with multiple sclerosis.Assess the effects of natalizumab on ambulatory function in disabled subjects with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS or secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS.We retrospectively reviewed ambulatory function as measured by timed 25-foot walk (T25FW in clinical trial subjects with an Expanded Disability Status Scale score ≥3.5, including RRMS subjects from the phase 3 AFFIRM and SENTINEL trials, relapsing SPMS subjects from the phase 2 MS231 study, and nonrelapsing SPMS subjects from the phase 1b DELIVER study. For comparison, SPMS subjects from the intramuscular interferon beta-1a (IM IFNβ-1a IMPACT study were also analyzed. Improvement in ambulation was measured using T25FW responder status; response was defined as faster walking times over shorter (6-9-month or longer (24-30-month treatment periods relative to subjects' best predose walking times.There were two to four times more T25FW responders among disabled MS subjects in the natalizumab arms than in the placebo or IM IFNβ-1a arms. Responders walked 25 feet an average of 24%-45% faster than nonresponders.Natalizumab improves ambulatory function in disabled RRMS subjects and may have efficacy in disabled SPMS subjects. Confirmation of the latter finding in a prospective SPMS study is warranted.

Value correlates of the motivations to respond without prejudice / Correlatos valorativos das motivações para responder sem preconceito

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Valdiney V. Gouveia

2006-01-01

Full Text Available The current study aimed at establishing to what extent both internal and external motivations to respond without prejudice towards Blacks would correlate with human values. As many as 308 subjects from João Pessoa – comprising high school and university students as well as individuals from the community as a whole – were considered. The Basic Values Questionnaire, the Impression Management Scale and the Scale of Internal and External Motivation to Respond without Prejudice, and also demographic questions were applied. Results showed that the internal motivation was positively correlated with the suprapersonal values, specifically maturity, beauty and knowledge. Moreover, the external motivation did correlate, predominantly, with the achievement values, specifically those of prestige and privacy. Such results are in line with those found in the literature, which indicate the opposition between egalitarianism (suprapersonal vs. protestant ethic (achievement values so as to explicate the prejudice and the motivations that would prevent such attitude.

Multiple Object Tracking Using the Shortest Path Faster Association Algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhenghao Xi

2014-01-01

Full Text Available To solve the persistently multiple object tracking in cluttered environments, this paper presents a novel tracking association approach based on the shortest path faster algorithm. First, the multiple object tracking is formulated as an integer programming problem of the flow network. Then we relax the integer programming to a standard linear programming problem. Therefore, the global optimum can be quickly obtained using the shortest path faster algorithm. The proposed method avoids the difficulties of integer programming, and it has a lower worst-case complexity than competing methods but better robustness and tracking accuracy in complex environments. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm takes less time than other state-of-the-art methods and can operate in real time.

New analytical approaches for faster or greener phytochemical analyses

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Shen, Y.

2015-01-01

Summary

Chapter 1 provides a short introduction into the constraints of phytochemical analysis. In order to make them faster, less laborious and greener, there is a clear scope for miniaturized and simplified sample preparation, solvent-free extractions

Increasing the Capital Income Tax Leads to Faster Growth

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Uhlig, H.F.H.V.S.; Yanagawa, N.

1994-01-01

This paper shows that under rather mild conditions, higher capital income taxes lead to faster growth in an overlapping generations economy with endogenous growth. Government expenditures are financed with labor income taxes as well as capital income taxes. Since capital income accrues to the old,

Withholding response to self-face is faster than to other-face.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Min; Hu, Yinying; Tang, Xiaochen; Luo, Junlong; Gao, Xiangping

2015-01-01

Self-face advantage refers to adults' response to self-face is faster than that to other-face. A stop-signal task was used to explore how self-face advantage interacted with response inhibition. The results showed that reaction times of self-face were faster than that of other-face not in the go task but in the stop response trials. The novelty of the finding was that self-face has shorter stop-signal reaction time compared to other-face in the successful inhibition trials. These results indicated the processing mechanism of self-face may be characterized by a strong response tendency and a corresponding strong inhibition control.

Dedicated workspaces: Faster resumption times and reduced cognitive load in sequential multitasking

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jeuris, Steven; Bardram, Jakob Eyvind

2016-01-01

Studies show that virtual desktops have become a widespread approach to window management within desktop environments. However, despite their success, there is no experimental evidence of their effect on multitasking. In this paper, we present an experimental study incorporating 16 participants...... to perform the same tasks. Results show that adopting virtual desktops as dedicated workspaces allows for faster task resumption (10 s faster on average) and reduced cognitive load during sequential multitasking. Within our experiment the majority of users already benefited from using dedicated workspaces...

Psychiatric Morbidity among Subjects with Leprosy and Albinism in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Subjects and Methods: One hundred subjects with leprosy and 100 with albinism were interviewed. .... change negative mind-sets and sociocultural stereotypes about albinism in ... respondent's age, gender, marital status, occupation, the highest ... Variables such as age, sex, marital status, occupation, level of education,.

Progressive taxation and the subjective well-being of nations.

Science.gov (United States)

Oishi, Shigehiro; Schimmack, Ulrich; Diener, Ed

2012-01-01

Using data from the Gallup World Poll, we examined whether progressive taxation is associated with increased levels of subjective well-being. Consistent with Rawls's theory of justice, our results showed that progressive taxation was positively associated with the subjective well-being of nations. However, the overall tax rate and government spending were not associated with the subjective well-being of nations. Furthermore, controlling for the wealth of nations and income inequality, we found that respondents living in a nation with more-progressive taxation evaluated their lives as closer to the best possible life and reported having more positive and less negative daily experiences than did respondents living in a nation with less-progressive taxation. Finally, we found that the association between more-progressive taxation and higher levels of subjective well-being was mediated by citizens' satisfaction with public goods, such as education and public transportation.

Discriminant cognitive factors in responder and non-responder patients with schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Stip, E; Lussier, I; Ngan, E; Mendrek, A; Liddle, P

1999-12-01

To identify which improvements in cognitive function are associated with symptom resolution in schizophrenic patients treated with atypical antipsychotics. a prospective open trial with atypical neuroleptics (risperidone, clozapine, quetiapine). Inpatient and outpatient units, Institute of Psychiatry. Thirty-nine patients with schizophrenia according to DSM-IV criteria were included. Clinical and cognitive assessment were done at baseline (T0) and again after six months of treatment (T2). Twenty-five patients completed the trial. New-generation antipsychotics during six months. Patients were considered as responders if their PANSS score decreased at least 20% (n = 15) and non-responders if it did not (n = 10). a computerized cognitive assessment comprised tests of short-term-memory (digit span), explicit long-term memory (word pair learning), divided attention, selective attention and verbal fluency (orthographic and semantic). Clinical assessment included PANSS and ESRS. A discriminant function analysis was performed to determine which changes in cognitive performance predicted symptomatic response status. Semantic fluency and orthographic fluency were significant predictors. Together they correctly predicted responder status in 88% of cases. Memory was not a significant predictor of symptomatic response. Verbal fluency discriminated the responder from the non-responder group during a pharmacological treatment.

Ethanol induces impulsive-like responding in a delay-of-reward operant choice procedure: impulsivity predicts autoshaping.

Science.gov (United States)

Tomie, A; Aguado, A S; Pohorecky, L A; Benjamin, D

1998-10-01

Autoshaping conditioned responses (CRs) are reflexive and targeted motor responses expressed as a result of experience with reward. To evaluate the hypothesis that autoshaping may be a form of impulsive responding, within-subjects correlations between performance on autoshaping and impulsivity tasks were assessed in 15 Long-Evans hooded rats. Autoshaping procedures [insertion of retractable lever conditioned stimulus (CS) followed by the response-independent delivery of food (US)] were followed by testing for impulsive-like responding in a two-choice lever-press operant delay-of-reward procedure (immediate small food reward versus delayed large food reward). Delay-of-reward functions revealed two distinct subject populations. Subjects in the Sensitive group (n=7) were more impulsive-like, increasing immediate reward choices at longer delays for large reward, while those in the Insensitive group (n=8) responded predominantly on only one lever. During the prior autoshaping phase, the Sensitive group had performed more autoshaping CRs, and correlations revealed that impulsive subjects acquired the autoshaping CR in fewer trials. In the Sensitive group, acute injections of ethanol (0, 0.25, 0.50, 1.00, 1.50 g/kg) given immediately before delay-of-reward sessions yielded an inverted U-shaped dose-response curve with increased impulsivity induced by the 0.25, 0.50, and 1.00 g/kg doses of ethanol, while choice strategy of the Insensitive group was not influenced by ethanol dose. Ethanol induced impulsive-like responding only in rats that were flexible in their response strategy (Sensitive group), and this group also performed more autoshaping CRs. Data support the hypothesis that autoshaping and impulsivity are linked.

Faster Smith-Waterman database searches with inter-sequence SIMD parallelisation.

Science.gov (United States)

Rognes, Torbjørn

2011-06-01

The Smith-Waterman algorithm for local sequence alignment is more sensitive than heuristic methods for database searching, but also more time-consuming. The fastest approach to parallelisation with SIMD technology has previously been described by Farrar in 2007. The aim of this study was to explore whether further speed could be gained by other approaches to parallelisation. A faster approach and implementation is described and benchmarked. In the new tool SWIPE, residues from sixteen different database sequences are compared in parallel to one query residue. Using a 375 residue query sequence a speed of 106 billion cell updates per second (GCUPS) was achieved on a dual Intel Xeon X5650 six-core processor system, which is over six times more rapid than software based on Farrar's 'striped' approach. SWIPE was about 2.5 times faster when the programs used only a single thread. For shorter queries, the increase in speed was larger. SWIPE was about twice as fast as BLAST when using the BLOSUM50 score matrix, while BLAST was about twice as fast as SWIPE for the BLOSUM62 matrix. The software is designed for 64 bit Linux on processors with SSSE3. Source code is available from http://dna.uio.no/swipe/ under the GNU Affero General Public License. Efficient parallelisation using SIMD on standard hardware makes it possible to run Smith-Waterman database searches more than six times faster than before. The approach described here could significantly widen the potential application of Smith-Waterman searches. Other applications that require optimal local alignment scores could also benefit from improved performance.

Visual Motion Processing Subserves Faster Visuomotor Reaction in Badminton Players.

Science.gov (United States)

Hülsdünker, Thorben; Strüder, Heiko K; Mierau, Andreas

2017-06-01

Athletes participating in ball or racquet sports have to respond to visual stimuli under critical time pressure. Previous studies used visual contrast stimuli to determine visual perception and visuomotor reaction in athletes and nonathletes; however, ball and racquet sports are characterized by motion rather than contrast visual cues. Because visual contrast and motion signals are processed in different cortical regions, this study aimed to determine differences in perception and processing of visual motion between athletes and nonathletes. Twenty-five skilled badminton players and 28 age-matched nonathletic controls participated in this study. Using a 64-channel EEG system, we investigated visual motion perception/processing in the motion-sensitive middle temporal (MT) cortical area in response to radial motion of different velocities. In a simple visuomotor reaction task, visuomotor transformation in Brodmann area 6 (BA6) and BA4 as well as muscular activation (EMG onset) and visuomotor reaction time (VMRT) were investigated. Stimulus- and response-locked potentials were determined to differentiate between perceptual and motor-related processes. As compared with nonathletes, athletes showed earlier EMG onset times (217 vs 178 ms, P < 0.001), accompanied by a faster VMRT (274 vs 243 ms, P < 0.001). Furthermore, athletes showed an earlier stimulus-locked peak activation of MT (200 vs 182 ms, P = 0.002) and BA6 (161 vs 137 ms, P = 0.009). Response-locked peak activation in MT was later in athletes (-7 vs 26 ms, P < 0.001), whereas no group differences were observed in BA6 and BA4. Multiple regression analyses with stimulus- and response-locked cortical potentials predicted EMG onset (r = 0.83) and VMRT (r = 0.77). The athletes' superior visuomotor performance in response to visual motion is primarily related to visual perception and, to a minor degree, to motor-related processes.

Minoxidil dose response study in female pattern hair loss patients determined to be non-responders to 5% topical minoxidil.

Science.gov (United States)

McCoy, J; Goren, A; Kovacevic, M; Shapiro, J

2016-01-01

Topical minoxidil is the only US FDA approved drug for the treatment of female pattern hair loss (FPHL). 5% minoxidil foam is only effective at re-growing hair in a minority of women (approximately 40%). Thus, the majority of FPHL patients remain untreated. Previously, we demonstrated that nonresponders to 5% minoxidil have low metabolism of minoxidil in hair follicles. As such, we hypothesized that increasing the dosage of topical minoxidil to low metabolizers would increase the number of responders without increasing the incidence of adverse events. In this study, we recruited FPHL subjects that were identified as non-responders to 5% topical minoxidil utilizing the previously validated assay for minoxidil response. Subjects were treated for 12 weeks with a novel 15% topical minoxidil solution. At 12 weeks, 60% of subjects achieved a clinically significant response based on target area hair counts (>13.7% from baseline), as well as significant improvement in global photographic assessment. None of the subjects experienced significant hemodynamic changes or any other adverse events. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate the potentially beneficial effect of a higher dosage of minoxidil in FPHL subjects who fail to respond to 5% minoxidil.

No evidence for faster male hybrid sterility in population crosses of an intertidal copepod (Tigriopus californicus).

Science.gov (United States)

Willett, Christopher S

2008-06-01

Two different forces are thought to contribute to the rapid accumulation of hybrid male sterility that has been observed in many inter-specific crosses, namely the faster male and the dominance theories. For male heterogametic taxa, both faster male and dominance would work in the same direction to cause the rapid evolution of male sterility; however, for taxa lacking differentiated sex chromosomes only the faster male theory would explain the rapid evolution of male hybrid sterility. It is currently unknown what causes the faster evolution of male sterility, but increased sexual selection on males and the sensitivity of genes involved in male reproduction are two hypotheses that could explain the observation. Here, patterns of hybrid sterility in crosses of genetically divergent copepod populations are examined to test potential mechanisms of faster male evolution. The study species, Tigriopus californicus, lacks differentiated, hemizygous sex chromosomes and appears to have low levels of divergence caused by sexual selection acting upon males. Hybrid sterility does not accumulate more rapidly in males than females in these crosses suggesting that in this taxon male reproductive genes are not inherently more prone to disruption in hybrids.

The Faster, Better, Cheaper Approach to Space Missions: An Engineering Management Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Hamaker, Joe

2000-01-01

This paper describes, in viewgraph form, the faster, better, cheaper approach to space missions. The topics include: 1) What drives "Faster, Better, Cheaper"? 2) Why Space Programs are Costly; 3) Background; 4) Aerospace Project Management (Old Culture); 5) Aerospace Project Management (New Culture); 6) Scope of Analysis Limited to Engineering Management Culture; 7) Qualitative Analysis; 8) Some Basic Principles of the New Culture; 9) Cause and Effect; 10) "New Ways of Doing Business" Survey Results; 11) Quantitative Analysis; 12) Recent Space System Cost Trends; 13) Spacecraft Dry Weight Trend; 14) Complexity Factor Trends; 15) Cost Normalization; 16) Cost Normalization Algorithm; 17) Unnormalized Cost vs. Normalized Cost; and 18) Concluding Observations.

Occupation as a factor of personality subjective wellbeing.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karapetyan L.V.

2015-06-01

Full Text Available This article examines personality subjective well-being and describes its psychological structure, general components and characteristics. An overview of foreign theories and studies on subjective well-being is presented. Correlations among related concepts such as happiness, life satisfaction and subjective well-being are also described. Subjective well-being is seen as a multivariate construction of a stable nature in mobile equilibrium. It is argued that a type of professional activity can have great importance and a positive impact on an individual’s social life, health, identity shaping and psychological wellness. This article’s findings are substantiated by the survey administered to 2229 respondents divided into groups according to their area of business: students, psychologists, doctors, teachers, engineering and technical staff, representatives of service industries, workers, military men, and prisoners. The descriptors identified two types of natures: positive, directed to a person’s inner world (happy, lucky, optimistic and to the outer world (trustworthy, competent, successful, and negative (pessimistic, unhappy, envious. This division of nature type was categorized according to the participants’ subjective well-being index. Empirical evidence has shown that occupational specificity influences a person’s subjective well-being. A substantial difference was found in subjective well-being index of the respondents. A higher index is typical of students and military men. Educators and industrial intelligentsia also demonstrate an increased level of subjective well-being, whereas prisoners tend to have a low level of subjective well-being. The same low index is characteristic of servicing trade representatives and psychologists.

Creating single-subject design graphs in Microsoft Excel 2007.

Science.gov (United States)

Dixon, Mark R; Jackson, James W; Small, Stacey L; Horner-King, Mollie J; Lik, Nicholas Mui Ker; Garcia, Yors; Rosales, Rocio

2009-01-01

Over 10 years have passed since the publication of Carr and Burkholder's (1998) technical article on how to construct single-subject graphs using Microsoft Excel. Over the course of the past decade, the Excel program has undergone a series of revisions that make the Carr and Burkholder paper somewhat difficult to follow with newer versions. The present article provides task analyses for constructing various types of commonly used single-subject design graphs in Microsoft Excel 2007. The task analyses were evaluated using a between-subjects design that compared the graphing skills of 22 behavior-analytic graduate students using Excel 2007 and either the Carr and Burkholder or newly developed task analyses. Results indicate that the new task analyses yielded more accurate and faster graph construction than the Carr and Burkholder instructions.

Faster Smith-Waterman database searches with inter-sequence SIMD parallelisation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rognes Torbjørn

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The Smith-Waterman algorithm for local sequence alignment is more sensitive than heuristic methods for database searching, but also more time-consuming. The fastest approach to parallelisation with SIMD technology has previously been described by Farrar in 2007. The aim of this study was to explore whether further speed could be gained by other approaches to parallelisation. Results A faster approach and implementation is described and benchmarked. In the new tool SWIPE, residues from sixteen different database sequences are compared in parallel to one query residue. Using a 375 residue query sequence a speed of 106 billion cell updates per second (GCUPS was achieved on a dual Intel Xeon X5650 six-core processor system, which is over six times more rapid than software based on Farrar's 'striped' approach. SWIPE was about 2.5 times faster when the programs used only a single thread. For shorter queries, the increase in speed was larger. SWIPE was about twice as fast as BLAST when using the BLOSUM50 score matrix, while BLAST was about twice as fast as SWIPE for the BLOSUM62 matrix. The software is designed for 64 bit Linux on processors with SSSE3. Source code is available from http://dna.uio.no/swipe/ under the GNU Affero General Public License. Conclusions Efficient parallelisation using SIMD on standard hardware makes it possible to run Smith-Waterman database searches more than six times faster than before. The approach described here could significantly widen the potential application of Smith-Waterman searches. Other applications that require optimal local alignment scores could also benefit from improved performance.

Time Perspective and Emotion Regulation as Predictors of Age-Related Subjective Passage of Time.

Science.gov (United States)

Wittmann, Marc; Rudolph, Tina; Linares Gutierrez, Damisela; Winkler, Isabell

2015-12-17

Hardly any empirical work exists concerning the relationship between the intra-individually stable time perspective relating to the past, present, and future and the subjective speed of time passing in everyday life. Moreover, studies consistently show that the subjective passage of time over the period of the last ten years speeds up as we get older. Modulating variables influencing this phenomenon are still unknown. To investigate these two unresolved issues, we conducted an online survey with n = 423 participants ranging in age between 17 and 81 assessing trait time perspective of the past, present, and future, and relating these subscales with a battery of measures pertaining to the subjective passage of time. Moreover, the subjective passage of time as an age-dependent variable was probed in relationship to emotion awareness, appraisal and regulation. Results show how present hedonism is linked with having fewer routines in life and a faster passage of the last week; the past negative perspective is related to time pressure, time expansion and more routine; a pronounced future perspective is related to a general faster passage of time. Importantly, increased emotion regulation and a balanced time perspective are related to a slower passage of the last ten years. These novel findings are discussed within models of time perception and the time perspective.

Subject Relative Clauses Are Not Universally Easier to Process: Evidence from Basque

Science.gov (United States)

Carreiras, Manuel; Dunabeitia, Jon Andoni; Vergara, Marta; de la Cruz-Pavia, Irene; Laka, Itziar

2010-01-01

Studies from many languages consistently report that subject relative clauses (SR) are easier to process than object relatives (OR). However, Hsiao and Gibson (2003) report an OR preference for Chinese, a finding that has been contested. Here we report faster OR versus SR processing in Basque, an ergative, head-final language with pre-nominal…

Interaction Between Subjective Well-Being, Economic Activity and Education in the EU

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Artūras Gataūlinas

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The article examines the impact of professional well-being of EU citizens on their life satisfaction at both micro and macro levels. The following indicators were selected to describe the professional well-being: involvment in the official employment, level of education, and job satisfaction. The findings of the article suggest that employed respondents evaluated their subjective well-being significantly higher as compared to those not participating in the labour market. Similar findings were drawn when comparing subjective well-being of the respondents in relation to their education. Respondents with higher education reported significantly higher statistically proven subjective well-being than those with lower education. In the article, the interpretation of the findings is based on the conceptual model of subjective well-being of needs as well as on the role of employment and education in satisfaction of physiological and socially acceptable needs of individuals. Work activity is more directly linked with the satisfaction of individual needs than education. However, engagement in work has only an impact on subjective well-being if work activity is perceived as job satisfaction. If employment is perceived by individuals as providing greater satisfaction, it tends to make a more positive impact on the subjective well-being of individuals compared to activities that are perceived as providing less satisfaction.

Subject-Environment Interactions with Television and the Internet in the Context of Traditional and Modern Gender Representations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lidskaya E.V.,

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The article focuses on the identification of the relationship between gender representations and subject-environment interactions using the example of TV and the Internet. Among the considered interactions are object, subject and quasi-subject types. The survey involved 400 respondents, 40% male and 60% female, aged 18 to 65 years. The respondents filled out two online questionnaires. One questionnaire (GRBS was aimed at assessing the respondents’ propensity to traditional or modern gender-role representations. The other questionnaire was a technique developed on the basis of eco-psychological types of interaction with the information environment. The study revealed a correlation between gender representations and the types of interaction with TV and the Internet. Interactions with TV most often refer to the object type, and least often to the quasi-subject one. The indicators for all three types of interactions were higher in the respondents with traditional gender beliefs as compared to the respondents with modern gender beliefs. The correlation between gender stereotypes and the Internet was found only in women and only in the case of quasi-subject type of interactions.

Senp1 drives hypoxia-induced polycythemia via GATA1 and Bcl-xL in subjects with Monge's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Azad, Priti; Zhao, Huiwen W; Cabrales, Pedro J; Ronen, Roy; Zhou, Dan; Poulsen, Orit; Appenzeller, Otto; Hsiao, Yu Hsin; Bafna, Vineet; Haddad, Gabriel G

2016-11-14

In this study, because excessive polycythemia is a predominant trait in some high-altitude dwellers (chronic mountain sickness [CMS] or Monge's disease) but not others living at the same altitude in the Andes, we took advantage of this human experiment of nature and used a combination of induced pluripotent stem cell technology, genomics, and molecular biology in this unique population to understand the molecular basis for hypoxia-induced excessive polycythemia. As compared with sea-level controls and non-CMS subjects who responded to hypoxia by increasing their RBCs modestly or not at all, respectively, CMS cells increased theirs remarkably (up to 60-fold). Although there was a switch from fetal to adult HgbA0 in all populations and a concomitant shift in oxygen binding, we found that CMS cells matured faster and had a higher efficiency and proliferative potential than non-CMS cells. We also established that SENP1 plays a critical role in the differential erythropoietic response of CMS and non-CMS subjects: we can convert the CMS phenotype into that of non-CMS and vice versa by altering SENP1 levels. We also demonstrated that GATA1 is an essential downstream target of SENP1 and that the differential expression and response of GATA1 and Bcl-xL are a key mechanism underlying CMS pathology. © 2016 Azad et al.

The Development of Functional Overreaching Is Associated with a Faster Heart Rate Recovery in Endurance Athletes.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anaël Aubry

Full Text Available The aim of the study was to investigate whether heart rate recovery (HRR may represent an effective marker of functional overreaching (f-OR in endurance athletes.Thirty-one experienced male triathletes were tested (10 control and 21 overload subjects before (Pre, and immediately after an overload training period (Mid and after a 2-week taper (Post. Physiological responses were assessed during an incremental cycling protocol to exhaustion, including heart rate, catecholamine release and blood lactate concentration. Ten participants from the overload group developed signs of f-OR at Mid (i.e. -2.1 ± 0.8% change in performance associated with concomitant high perceived fatigue. Additionally, only the f-OR group demonstrated a 99% chance of increase in HRR during the overload period (+8 ± 5 bpm, large effect size. Concomitantly, this group also revealed a >80% chance of decreasing blood lactate (-11 ± 14%, large, plasma norepinephrine (-12 ± 37%, small and plasma epinephrine peak concentrations (-51 ± 22%, moderate. These blood measures returned to baseline levels at Post. HRR change was negatively correlated to changes in performance, peak HR and peak blood metabolites concentrations.These findings suggest that i a faster HRR is not systematically associated with improved physical performance, ii changes in HRR should be interpreted in the context of the specific training phase, the athletes perceived level of fatigue and the performance response; and, iii the faster HRR associated with f-OR may be induced by a decreased central command and by a lower chemoreflex activity.

Real-time vehicle detection and tracking in video based on faster R-CNN

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yongjie; Wang, Jian; Yang, Xin

2017-08-01

Vehicle detection and tracking is a significant part in auxiliary vehicle driving system. Using the traditional detection method based on image information has encountered enormous difficulties, especially in complex background. To solve this problem, a detection method based on deep learning, Faster R-CNN, which has very high detection accuracy and flexibility, is introduced. An algorithm of target tracking with the combination of Camshift and Kalman filter is proposed for vehicle tracking. The computation time of Faster R-CNN cannot achieve realtime detection. We use multi-thread technique to detect and track vehicle by parallel computation for real-time application.

Evaluation of Respondent-Driven Sampling

Science.gov (United States)

McCreesh, Nicky; Frost, Simon; Seeley, Janet; Katongole, Joseph; Tarsh, Matilda Ndagire; Ndunguse, Richard; Jichi, Fatima; Lunel, Natasha L; Maher, Dermot; Johnston, Lisa G; Sonnenberg, Pam; Copas, Andrew J; Hayes, Richard J; White, Richard G

2012-01-01

Background Respondent-driven sampling is a novel variant of link-tracing sampling for estimating the characteristics of hard-to-reach groups, such as HIV prevalence in sex-workers. Despite its use by leading health organizations, the performance of this method in realistic situations is still largely unknown. We evaluated respondent-driven sampling by comparing estimates from a respondent-driven sampling survey with total-population data. Methods Total-population data on age, tribe, religion, socioeconomic status, sexual activity and HIV status were available on a population of 2402 male household-heads from an open cohort in rural Uganda. A respondent-driven sampling (RDS) survey was carried out in this population, employing current methods of sampling (RDS sample) and statistical inference (RDS estimates). Analyses were carried out for the full RDS sample and then repeated for the first 250 recruits (small sample). Results We recruited 927 household-heads. Full and small RDS samples were largely representative of the total population, but both samples under-represented men who were younger, of higher socioeconomic status, and with unknown sexual activity and HIV status. Respondent-driven-sampling statistical-inference methods failed to reduce these biases. Only 31%-37% (depending on method and sample size) of RDS estimates were closer to the true population proportions than the RDS sample proportions. Only 50%-74% of respondent-driven-sampling bootstrap 95% confidence intervals included the population proportion. Conclusions Respondent-driven sampling produced a generally representative sample of this well-connected non-hidden population. However, current respondent-driven-sampling inference methods failed to reduce bias when it occurred. Whether the data required to remove bias and measure precision can be collected in a respondent-driven sampling survey is unresolved. Respondent-driven sampling should be regarded as a (potentially superior) form of convenience

Evaluation of respondent-driven sampling.

Science.gov (United States)

McCreesh, Nicky; Frost, Simon D W; Seeley, Janet; Katongole, Joseph; Tarsh, Matilda N; Ndunguse, Richard; Jichi, Fatima; Lunel, Natasha L; Maher, Dermot; Johnston, Lisa G; Sonnenberg, Pam; Copas, Andrew J; Hayes, Richard J; White, Richard G

2012-01-01

Respondent-driven sampling is a novel variant of link-tracing sampling for estimating the characteristics of hard-to-reach groups, such as HIV prevalence in sex workers. Despite its use by leading health organizations, the performance of this method in realistic situations is still largely unknown. We evaluated respondent-driven sampling by comparing estimates from a respondent-driven sampling survey with total population data. Total population data on age, tribe, religion, socioeconomic status, sexual activity, and HIV status were available on a population of 2402 male household heads from an open cohort in rural Uganda. A respondent-driven sampling (RDS) survey was carried out in this population, using current methods of sampling (RDS sample) and statistical inference (RDS estimates). Analyses were carried out for the full RDS sample and then repeated for the first 250 recruits (small sample). We recruited 927 household heads. Full and small RDS samples were largely representative of the total population, but both samples underrepresented men who were younger, of higher socioeconomic status, and with unknown sexual activity and HIV status. Respondent-driven sampling statistical inference methods failed to reduce these biases. Only 31%-37% (depending on method and sample size) of RDS estimates were closer to the true population proportions than the RDS sample proportions. Only 50%-74% of respondent-driven sampling bootstrap 95% confidence intervals included the population proportion. Respondent-driven sampling produced a generally representative sample of this well-connected nonhidden population. However, current respondent-driven sampling inference methods failed to reduce bias when it occurred. Whether the data required to remove bias and measure precision can be collected in a respondent-driven sampling survey is unresolved. Respondent-driven sampling should be regarded as a (potentially superior) form of convenience sampling method, and caution is required

Faster quantum chemistry simulation on fault-tolerant quantum computers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cody Jones, N; McMahon, Peter L; Yamamoto, Yoshihisa; Whitfield, James D; Yung, Man-Hong; Aspuru-Guzik, Alán; Van Meter, Rodney

2012-01-01

Quantum computers can in principle simulate quantum physics exponentially faster than their classical counterparts, but some technical hurdles remain. We propose methods which substantially improve the performance of a particular form of simulation, ab initio quantum chemistry, on fault-tolerant quantum computers; these methods generalize readily to other quantum simulation problems. Quantum teleportation plays a key role in these improvements and is used extensively as a computing resource. To improve execution time, we examine techniques for constructing arbitrary gates which perform substantially faster than circuits based on the conventional Solovay–Kitaev algorithm (Dawson and Nielsen 2006 Quantum Inform. Comput. 6 81). For a given approximation error ϵ, arbitrary single-qubit gates can be produced fault-tolerantly and using a restricted set of gates in time which is O(log ϵ) or O(log log ϵ); with sufficient parallel preparation of ancillas, constant average depth is possible using a method we call programmable ancilla rotations. Moreover, we construct and analyze efficient implementations of first- and second-quantized simulation algorithms using the fault-tolerant arbitrary gates and other techniques, such as implementing various subroutines in constant time. A specific example we analyze is the ground-state energy calculation for lithium hydride. (paper)

Object Detection Based on Fast/Faster RCNN Employing Fully Convolutional Architectures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yun Ren

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Modern object detectors always include two major parts: a feature extractor and a feature classifier as same as traditional object detectors. The deeper and wider convolutional architectures are adopted as the feature extractor at present. However, many notable object detection systems such as Fast/Faster RCNN only consider simple fully connected layers as the feature classifier. In this paper, we declare that it is beneficial for the detection performance to elaboratively design deep convolutional networks (ConvNets of various depths for feature classification, especially using the fully convolutional architectures. In addition, this paper also demonstrates how to employ the fully convolutional architectures in the Fast/Faster RCNN. Experimental results show that a classifier based on convolutional layer is more effective for object detection than that based on fully connected layer and that the better detection performance can be achieved by employing deeper ConvNets as the feature classifier.

Differing Event-Related Patterns of Gamma-Band Power in Brain Waves of Fast- and Slow-Reacting Subjects

Science.gov (United States)

1994-05-01

Wilhelm Wundt proposed that there are two types of subjects in sim- ple RT experiments: fast-reacting subjects, who respond before they fully...quickly as possible to auditory stimuli. This result appears to confirm long-standing speculations of Wundt that fast- and slow-reacting subjects...accord with the hypothesis of Wundt and others that slower ("sensorial") responders wait to fully perceive a stimulus and then react to their perception

29 CFR 98.1000 - Respondent.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Respondent. 98.1000 Section 98.1000 Labor Office of the Secretary of Labor GOVERNMENTWIDE DEBARMENT AND SUSPENSION (NONPROCUREMENT) Definitions § 98.1000 Respondent. Respondent means a person against whom an agency has initiated a debarment or suspension action. ...

Amitriptyline converts non-responders into responders to low-frequency electroacupuncture-induced analgesia in rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Fais, Rafael S; Reis, G M; Rossaneis, A C; Silveira, J W S; Dias, Q M; Prado, W A

2012-07-26

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the use of intraperitoneal or intrathecal amitriptyline combined with electroacupuncture modifies the tail-flick reflex and incision pain in rats that normally do not have analgesia to electroacupuncture in the tail-flick test (non-responder rats). Changes in the nociceptive threshold of intraperitoneal or intrathecal saline- or amitriptyline-treated non-responder rats were evaluated using the tail-flick or incision pain tests before, during and after a 20-min period of electroacupuncture, applied at 2 Hz to the Zusanli and Sanynjiao acupoints. Amitriptyline was used at doses of 0.8 mg/kg or 30 μg/kg by intraperitoneal or intrathecal route, respectively. At these doses, amitriptyline has no effect against thermal or incision pain in rats. Rats selected as non-responders to the analgesic effect of electroacupuncture 2 Hz in tail-flick and incision pain tests become responders after an intraperitoneal or intrathecal injection of amitriptyline. Amitriptyline converts non-responder rats to rats that respond to electroacupuncture with analgesia in a model of thermal phasic pain and anti-hyperalgesia in a model of incision pain. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Factors associated with the intention of health care personnel to respond to a disaster.

Science.gov (United States)

Connor, Susan B

2014-12-01

Over the past decade, numerous groups of researchers have studied the willingness of health care personnel (HCP) to respond when a disaster threatens the health of a community. Not one of those studies reported that 100% of HCP were willing to work during a public-health event (PHE). The objective of this study was to explore factors associated with the intent of HCP to respond to a future PHE. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) framed this cross-sectional study. Data were obtained via a web-based survey from 305 HCP. Linear associations between the TPB-based predictor and outcome variables were examined using Pearson's correlations. Differences between two groups of HCP were calculated using independent t tests. A model-generating approach was used to develop and assess a series of TBP-based observed variable structural equation models for prediction of intent to respond to a future PHE and to explore moderating and mediating effects. The beginning patterns of relationships identified by the correlation matrix and t tests were evident in the final structural equation model, even though the patterns of prediction differed from those posited by the theory. Outcome beliefs had both a significant, direct effect on intention and an indirect effect on intention that was mediated by perceived behavioral control. Control beliefs appeared to influence intention through perceived behavioral control, as posited by the TPB, and unexpectedly through subjective norm. Subjective norm not only mediated the relationship between control beliefs and intention, but also the relationship between referent beliefs and intention. Additionally, professional affiliation seemed to have a moderating effect on intention. The intention to respond was influenced primarily by normative and control factors. The intent of nurses to respond to a future PHE was influenced most by the control factors, whereas the intent of other HCP was shaped more by the normative factors. Health care educators

Senp1 drives hypoxia-induced polycythemia via GATA1 and Bcl-xL in subjects with Monge’s disease

Science.gov (United States)

Azad, Priti; Zhao, Huiwen W.; Ronen, Roy; Zhou, Dan; Poulsen, Orit; Hsiao, Yu Hsin; Bafna, Vineet

2016-01-01

In this study, because excessive polycythemia is a predominant trait in some high-altitude dwellers (chronic mountain sickness [CMS] or Monge’s disease) but not others living at the same altitude in the Andes, we took advantage of this human experiment of nature and used a combination of induced pluripotent stem cell technology, genomics, and molecular biology in this unique population to understand the molecular basis for hypoxia-induced excessive polycythemia. As compared with sea-level controls and non-CMS subjects who responded to hypoxia by increasing their RBCs modestly or not at all, respectively, CMS cells increased theirs remarkably (up to 60-fold). Although there was a switch from fetal to adult HgbA0 in all populations and a concomitant shift in oxygen binding, we found that CMS cells matured faster and had a higher efficiency and proliferative potential than non-CMS cells. We also established that SENP1 plays a critical role in the differential erythropoietic response of CMS and non-CMS subjects: we can convert the CMS phenotype into that of non-CMS and vice versa by altering SENP1 levels. We also demonstrated that GATA1 is an essential downstream target of SENP1 and that the differential expression and response of GATA1 and Bcl-xL are a key mechanism underlying CMS pathology. PMID:27821551

Time Perspective and Emotion Regulation as Predictors of Age-Related Subjective Passage of Time

Science.gov (United States)

Wittmann, Marc; Rudolph, Tina; Linares Gutierrez, Damisela; Winkler, Isabell

2015-01-01

Hardly any empirical work exists concerning the relationship between the intra-individually stable time perspective relating to the past, present, and future and the subjective speed of time passing in everyday life. Moreover, studies consistently show that the subjective passage of time over the period of the last ten years speeds up as we get older. Modulating variables influencing this phenomenon are still unknown. To investigate these two unresolved issues, we conducted an online survey with n = 423 participants ranging in age between 17 and 81 assessing trait time perspective of the past, present, and future, and relating these subscales with a battery of measures pertaining to the subjective passage of time. Moreover, the subjective passage of time as an age-dependent variable was probed in relationship to emotion awareness, appraisal and regulation. Results show how present hedonism is linked with having fewer routines in life and a faster passage of the last week; the past negative perspective is related to time pressure, time expansion and more routine; a pronounced future perspective is related to a general faster passage of time. Importantly, increased emotion regulation and a balanced time perspective are related to a slower passage of the last ten years. These novel findings are discussed within models of time perception and the time perspective. PMID:26694439

Time Perspective and Emotion Regulation as Predictors of Age-Related Subjective Passage of Time

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marc Wittmann

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Hardly any empirical work exists concerning the relationship between the intra-individually stable time perspective relating to the past, present, and future and the subjective speed of time passing in everyday life. Moreover, studies consistently show that the subjective passage of time over the period of the last ten years speeds up as we get older. Modulating variables influencing this phenomenon are still unknown. To investigate these two unresolved issues, we conducted an online survey with n = 423 participants ranging in age between 17 and 81 assessing trait time perspective of the past, present, and future, and relating these subscales with a battery of measures pertaining to the subjective passage of time. Moreover, the subjective passage of time as an age-dependent variable was probed in relationship to emotion awareness, appraisal and regulation. Results show how present hedonism is linked with having fewer routines in life and a faster passage of the last week; the past negative perspective is related to time pressure, time expansion and more routine; a pronounced future perspective is related to a general faster passage of time. Importantly, increased emotion regulation and a balanced time perspective are related to a slower passage of the last ten years. These novel findings are discussed within models of time perception and the time perspective.

Elastic coupling of limb joints enables faster bipedal walking

Science.gov (United States)

Dean, J.C.; Kuo, A.D.

2008-01-01

The passive dynamics of bipedal limbs alone are sufficient to produce a walking motion, without need for control. Humans augment these dynamics with muscles, actively coordinated to produce stable and economical walking. Present robots using passive dynamics walk much slower, perhaps because they lack elastic muscles that couple the joints. Elastic properties are well known to enhance running gaits, but their effect on walking has yet to be explored. Here we use a computational model of dynamic walking to show that elastic joint coupling can help to coordinate faster walking. In walking powered by trailing leg push-off, the model's speed is normally limited by a swing leg that moves too slowly to avoid stumbling. A uni-articular spring about the knee allows faster but uneconomical walking. A combination of uni-articular hip and knee springs can speed the legs for improved speed and economy, but not without the swing foot scuffing the ground. Bi-articular springs coupling the hips and knees can yield high economy and good ground clearance similar to humans. An important parameter is the knee-to-hip moment arm that greatly affects the existence and stability of gaits, and when selected appropriately can allow for a wide range of speeds. Elastic joint coupling may contribute to the economy and stability of human gait. PMID:18957360

How to Elect a Leader Faster than a Tournament

OpenAIRE

Alistarh, Dan; Gelashvili, Rati; Vladu, Adrian

2014-01-01

The problem of electing a leader from among $n$ contenders is one of the fundamental questions in distributed computing. In its simplest formulation, the task is as follows: given $n$ processors, all participants must eventually return a win or lose indication, such that a single contender may win. Despite a considerable amount of work on leader election, the following question is still open: can we elect a leader in an asynchronous fault-prone system faster than just running a $\\Theta(\\log n...

A family history of Type 1 alcoholism differentiates alcohol consumption in high cortisol responders to stress.

Science.gov (United States)

Brkic, Sejla; Söderpalm, Bo; Söderpalm Gordh, Anna

2015-03-01

The differentiation between high and low cortisol responders to stress is of interest in determining the risk factors which may, along with genetic vulnerability, influence alcohol intake. Thirty-two healthy volunteers, family history positive to alcoholism (FHP, n = 16) and family history negative (FHN, n = 16) attended two laboratory sessions during which alcohol or placebo was offered. There were no differences in consumption of alcohol or placebo between FHP and FHN subjects. STUDY 2: Fifty-eight healthy social drinkers, FHP (n = 27) and FHN (n = 31) attended two laboratory sessions. They were administered either alcohol or placebo in both sessions they attended. All subjects underwent either a stress task (the Trier Social Stress Test, TSST) or a stress-free period, at two separate occasions, before being offered beverage. After the salivary cortisol analysis, subjects in each group were divided into high (HCR) or low (LCR) cortisol responders. After stress, subjects who were FHP-HCR consumed more alcohol than FHN-HCR. There were no differences in the placebo intake between FHP and FHN subjects regardless of their cortisol response. This result indicates that stress promotes alcohol consumption only in subjects with a family history of Type 1 alcoholism who show an increase in cortisol response to stress. This behaviour is similar to that previously observed in alcohol dependent individuals after stress and thus could represent an endophenotype posing a risk for future development of alcohol use disorders. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Inc.

CBT for childhood anxiety disorders: differential changes in selective attention between treatment responders and non-responders.

Science.gov (United States)

Legerstee, Jeroen S; Tulen, Joke H M; Dierckx, Bram; Treffers, Philip D A; Verhulst, Frank C; Utens, Elisabeth M W J

2010-02-01

This study examined whether treatment response to stepped-care cognitive-behavioural treatment (CBT) is associated with changes in threat-related selective attention and its specific components in a large clinical sample of anxiety-disordered children. Ninety-one children with an anxiety disorder were included in the present study. Children received a standardized stepped-care CBT. Three treatment response groups were distinguished: initial responders (anxiety disorder free after phase one: child-focused CBT), secondary responders (anxiety disorder free after phase two: child-parent-focused CBT), and treatment non-responders. Treatment response was determined using a semi-structured clinical interview. Children performed a pictorial dot-probe task before and after stepped-care CBT (i.e., before phase one and after phase two CBT). Changes in selective attention to severely threatening pictures, but not to mildly threatening pictures, were significantly associated with treatment success. At pre-treatment assessment, initial responders selectively attended away from severely threatening pictures, whereas secondary responders selectively attended toward severely threatening pictures. After stepped-care CBT, initial and secondary responders did not show any selectivity in the attentional processing of severely threatening pictures. Treatment non-responders did not show any changes in selective attention due to CBT. Initial and secondary treatment responders showed a reduction of their predisposition to selectively attend away or toward severely threatening pictures, respectively. Treatment non-responders did not show any changes in selective attention. The pictorial dot-probe task can be considered a potentially valuable tool in assigning children to appropriate treatment formats as well as for monitoring changes in selective attention during the course of CBT.

Comparing the validity of informant and self-reports of personality using laboratory indices of emotional responding as criterion variables.

Science.gov (United States)

Lieberman, Lynne; Liu, Huiting; Huggins, Ashley A; Katz, Andrea C; Zvolensky, Michael J; Shankman, Stewart A

2016-09-01

Personality traits relate to risk for psychopathology and can inform predictions about treatment outcome. In an effort to obtain a comprehensive index of personality, informant reports of personality are sometimes obtained in addition to self-reports of personality. However, there is limited research comparing the validity of self- and informant reports of personality, particularly among those with internalizing psychopathology. This is important given that informants may provide an additional (and perhaps different) perspective on individuals' personality. The present study therefore compared how both reports of positive affectivity (PA) and negative affectivity (NA) relate to psychophysiological and subjective measures of emotional responding to positive and negative stimuli. Given that our sample (n = 117) included individuals with no history of psychopathology, as well as individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) and/or panic disorder (PD), we were also able to explore whether these internalizing diagnoses moderated the association between personality reports and measures of emotional responding. Informant-reported PA predicted physiological responses to positive stimuli (but not negative). Informant-reported NA predicted physiological responses to negative stimuli (but not positive). Self-reported personality did not predict physiological responding, but did predict subjectively measured emotional responding (NA for negative responding, PA for positive responding). Diagnoses of internalizing psychopathology (PD or MDD) did not moderate these associations. Results suggest self- and informant reports of personality may each provide valid indices of an individual's emotional response tendencies, but predict different aspects of those tendencies. © 2016 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Comparing the Validity of Informant- and Self-reports of Personality Using Laboratory Indices of Emotional Responding as Criterion Variables

Science.gov (United States)

Lieberman, Lynne; Liu, Huiting; Huggins, Ashley A.; Katz, Andrea C.; Zvolensky, Michael J.; Shankman, Stewart A.

2016-01-01

Personality traits relate to risk for psychopathology and can inform predictions about treatment outcome. In an effort to obtain a comprehensive index of personality, informant-reports of personality are sometimes obtained in addition to self-reports of personality. However, there is limited research comparing the validity of self- and informant-reports of personality, particularly among those with internalizing psychopathology. This is important given that informants may provide an additional (and perhaps different) perspective on individuals’ personality. The present study therefore compared how both reports of positive affectivity (PA) and negative affectivity (NA) relate to psychophysiological and subjective measures of emotional responding to positive and negative stimuli. Given that our sample (n = 117) included individuals with no history of psychopathology, as well as individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) and/or panic disorder (PD), we were also able to explore whether these internalizing diagnoses moderated the association between personality reports and measures of emotional responding. Informant-reported PA predicted physiological responses to positive stimuli (but not negative). Informant reported NA predicted physiological responses to negative stimuli (but not positive). Self-reported personality did not predict physiological responding, but did predict subjectively measured emotional responding (NA for negative responding; PA for positive responding). Diagnoses of internalizing psychopathology (PD or MDD) did not moderate these associations. Results suggest self- and informant-reports of personality may each provide valid indices of an individual’s emotional response tendencies, but predict different aspects of those tendencies. PMID:27273802

Faster magnet sorting with a threshold acceptance algorithm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lidia, S.; Carr, R.

1995-01-01

We introduce here a new technique for sorting magnets to minimize the field errors in permanent magnet insertion devices. Simulated annealing has been used in this role, but we find the technique of threshold acceptance produces results of equal quality in less computer time. Threshold accepting would be of special value in designing very long insertion devices, such as long free electron lasers (FELs). Our application of threshold acceptance to magnet sorting showed that it converged to equivalently low values of the cost function, but that it converged significantly faster. We present typical cases showing time to convergence for various error tolerances, magnet numbers, and temperature schedules

CSRtrack Faster Calculation of 3-D CSR Effects

CERN Document Server

Dohlus, Martin

2004-01-01

CSRtrack is a new code for the simulation of Coherent Synchrotron radiation effects on the beam dynamics of linear accelerators. It incorporates the physics of our previous code, TraFiC4, and adds new algorithms for the calculation of the CSR fields. A one-dimensional projected method allows quick estimates and a greens function method allows 3D calculations about ten times faster than with the `direct' method. The tracking code is written in standard FORTRAN77 and has its own parser for comfortable input of calculation parameters and geometry. Phase space input and the analysis of the traced particle distribution is done with MATLAB interface programs.

Robustness of a bisimulation-type faster-than preorder

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katrin Iltgen

2009-11-01

Full Text Available TACS is an extension of CCS where upper time bounds for delays can be specified. Luettgen and Vogler defined three variants of bismulation-type faster-than relations and showed that they all three lead to the same preorder, demonstrating the robustness of their approach. In the present paper, the operational semantics of TACS is extended; it is shown that two of the variants still give the same preorder as before, underlining robustness. An explanation is given why this result fails for the third variant. It is also shown that another variant, which mixes old and new operational semantics, can lead to smaller relations that prove the same preorder.

Faster magnet sorting with a threshold acceptance algorithm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lidia, S.

1994-08-01

The authors introduce here a new technique for sorting magnets to minimize the field errors in permanent magnet insertion devices. Simulated annealing has been used in this role, but they find the technique of threshold acceptance produces results of equal quality in less computer time. Threshold accepting would be of special value in designing very long insertion devices, such as long FEL's. Their application of threshold acceptance to magnet sorting showed that it converged to equivalently low values of the cost function, but that it converged significantly faster. They present typical cases showing time to convergence for various error tolerances, magnet numbers, and temperature schedules

Partitioning and mobilization of photoassimilate in alfalfa subjected to water deficits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hall, M.H.; Sheaffer, C.C.; Heichel, G.H.

1988-01-01

Faster regrowth of a stressed alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) crop compared to an unstressed crop after rewatering has been reported. The bases of this compensatory response are unknown, but they may be important to understanding adaptation to water stress and to developing crop water management strategies. The authors objectives was to determine the effect of stress induced by water deficit on photoassimilate partitioning and the utilization of stored assimilates during regrowth of alfalfa. Field and greenhouse experiments were conducted using cultivars differing in winterhardiness. Plants were subjected to water stress, pulse-labeled with 14 CO 2 , and sampled following 0, 1, 14, 21, and 28-d translocation periods. Following the 14-d sampling, herbage was harvested and water stress was removed. Cultivars contrasting in winterhardiness responded similarly to water stress. Stressed plant roots contained 73 and 114% more total plant radioactivity (TPR) than the control at the 1 and 14-d translocation periods, respectively. Water stress significantly increased root starch and TPR percentage in the starch fraction, but had much smaller effects on root soluble-sugar concentration and TPR percentage of the root sugar fraction. Herbage regrowth mass following harvest and rewatering of the water-stressed plants was similar to that of the control. Compared to the control, water-stressed alfalfa has greater total nonstructural carbohydrates in the roots, apparently due to increased photoassimilate partitioning to the roots. However, the greater root carbohydrate concentrations did not result in compensatory herbage regrowth following rewatering

Chapter 5. The contradictions of self-enterprising migrant worker subjects

OpenAIRE

Alvarez Tinajero, Sandra Paola

2014-01-01

Migrant agricultural and care workers share similar conditions of work and social positions in the receiving labor market. The construction of their shared condition as low-wage laborers involves parallel processes of subject formation (or subjectification) and identity construction. The study of migration as a process of subject formation is not new. Here it serves to articulate the subject level of analysis to respond to the question about what the parallel experiences of migrant farm and c...

Vehicle parts detection based on Faster - RCNN with location constraints of vehicle parts feature point

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Liqin; Sang, Nong; Gao, Changxin

2018-03-01

Vehicle parts detection plays an important role in public transportation safety and mobility. The detection of vehicle parts is to detect the position of each vehicle part. We propose a new approach by combining Faster RCNN and three level cascaded convolutional neural network (DCNN). The output of Faster RCNN is a series of bounding boxes with coordinate information, from which we can locate vehicle parts. DCNN can precisely predict feature point position, which is the center of vehicle part. We design an output strategy by combining these two results. There are two advantages for this. The quality of the bounding boxes are greatly improved, which means vehicle parts feature point position can be located more precise. Meanwhile we preserve the position relationship between vehicle parts and effectively improve the validity and reliability of the result. By using our algorithm, the performance of the vehicle parts detection improve obviously compared with Faster RCNN.

Correlatos valorativos das motivações para responder sem preconceito Value correlates of the motivations to respond without prejudice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Valdiney V. Gouveia

2006-01-01

Full Text Available O presente estudo teve como objetivo principal conhecer em que medida as motivações interna e externa para responder sem preconceito frente aos negros se correlacionam com os valores humanos. Para tanto, contou-se com a participação de 308 pessoas da cidade de João Pessoa (PB, distribuídas entre estudantes do ensino médio e universitário, bem como pessoas da população geral. Estes responderam, além de questões demográficas, o Questionário dos Valores Básicos, Escala de Desejabilidade Social e a Escala de Motivação Interna e Externa para Responder sem Preconceito. De acordo com os resultados, a motivação interna se correlacionou de modo positivo principalmente com os valores suprapessoais, como maturidade, beleza e conhecimento. No caso da motivação externa, esta o fez unicamente com os valores de realização, destacando-se entre eles prestígio e privacidade. Estes resultados são coerentes com aqueles apresentados na literatura, que indicam a oposição entre os valores de igualitarismo (suprapessoais vs. ética protestante (realização para explicar o preconceito e as motivações para não apresentar este tipo de atitude.The current study aimed at establishing to what extent both internal and external motivations to respond without prejudice towards Blacks would correlate with human values. As many as 308 subjects from João Pessoa - comprising high school and university students as well as individuals from the community as a whole - were considered. The Basic Values Questionnaire, the Impression Management Scale and the Scale of Internal and External Motivation to Respond without Prejudice, and also demographic questions were applied. Results showed that the internal motivation was positively correlated with the suprapersonal values, specifically maturity, beauty and knowledge. Moreover, the external motivation did correlate, predominantly, with the achievement values, specifically those of prestige and privacy. Such

Dyslexics' faster decay of implicit memory for sounds and words is manifested in their shorter neural adaptation.

Science.gov (United States)

Jaffe-Dax, Sagi; Frenkel, Or; Ahissar, Merav

2017-01-24

Dyslexia is a prevalent reading disability whose underlying mechanisms are still disputed. We studied the neural mechanisms underlying dyslexia using a simple frequency-discrimination task. Though participants were asked to compare the two tones in each trial, implicit memory of previous trials affected their responses. We hypothesized that implicit memory decays faster among dyslexics. We tested this by increasing the temporal intervals between consecutive trials, and by measuring the behavioral impact and ERP responses from the auditory cortex. Dyslexics showed a faster decay of implicit memory effects on both measures, with similar time constants. Finally, faster decay of implicit memory also characterized the impact of sound regularities in benefitting dyslexics' oral reading rate. Their benefit decreased faster as a function of the time interval from the previous reading of the same non-word. We propose that dyslexics' shorter neural adaptation paradoxically accounts for their longer reading times, since it reduces their temporal window of integration of past stimuli, resulting in noisier and less reliable predictions for both simple and complex stimuli. Less reliable predictions limit their acquisition of reading expertise.

Inverse Effects of Oxytocin on Attributing Mental Activity to Others in Depressed and Healthy Subjects: A Double-Blind Placebo Controlled fMRI Study.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Pincus

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Background: Oxytocin is a stress-attenuating and pro-social neuropeptide. To date, no study has looked at the effects of oxytocin in modulating brain activity in depressed individuals nor attempted to correlate this activity with attribution of mental activity in others. Method: We enrolled 10 unmedicated depressed adults and 10 matched healthy controls in a crossover, double blind placebo controlled fmri 40 i.u. intra-nasal oxytocin study (20 i.u. per nostril. Each subject performed Reading the Mind in the Eyes task (RMET before and after inhalation of oxytocin or placebo control for a total of 80 scans. Results: Before oxytocin administration, RMET engaged medial and lateral prefrontal cortex, amygdala, insula and associative areas. Depressed subjects showed increased anterior ventral activation for the RMET minus gender identification contrast whereas matched controls showed increased dorsal and frontal activity. Compared to placebo, oxytocin in depressed subjects showed increased activity in the superior middle frontal gyrus and insula, while controls exhibited more activity in ventral regions. Oxytocin also led to inverse effects in reaction times on attribution task between groups, with controls getting faster and depressed individuals slower to respond. Conclusion: Depression is associated with increased paralimbic activity during emotional mental attribution of others, appearing to be distinctly modulated by oxytocin when compared to healthy controls. Further studies are needed to explore long-term exposure to pro-social neuropeptides on mood in depressed populations and assess their clinical relevance.

Different gene-specific mechanisms determine the 'revised-response' memory transcription patterns of a subset of A. thaliana dehydration stress responding genes.

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Liu, Ning; Ding, Yong; Fromm, Michael; Avramova, Zoya

2014-05-01

Plants that have experienced several exposures to dehydration stress show increased resistance to future exposures by producing faster and/or stronger reactions, while many dehydration stress responding genes in Arabidopsis thaliana super-induce their transcription as a 'memory' from the previous encounter. A previously unknown, rather unusual, memory response pattern is displayed by a subset of the dehydration stress response genes. Despite robustly responding to a first stress, these genes return to their initial, pre-stressed, transcript levels during the watered recovery; surprisingly, they do not respond further to subsequent stresses of similar magnitude and duration. This transcriptional behavior defines the 'revised-response' memory genes. Here, we investigate the molecular mechanisms regulating this transcription memory behavior. Potential roles of abscisic acid (ABA), of transcription factors (TFs) from the ABA signaling pathways (ABF2/3/4 and MYC2), and of histone modifications (H3K4me3 and H3K27me3) as factors in the revised-response transcription memory patterns are elucidated. We identify the TF MYC2 as the critical component for the memory behavior of a specific subset of MYC2-dependent genes. © The Author(s) 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Factors influencing healthcare provider respondent fatigue answering a globally administered in-app survey

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Vikas N. O’Reilly-Shah

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Background Respondent fatigue, also known as survey fatigue, is a common problem in the collection of survey data. Factors that are known to influence respondent fatigue include survey length, survey topic, question complexity, and open-ended question type. There is a great deal of interest in understanding the drivers of physician survey responsiveness due to the value of information received from these practitioners. With the recent explosion of mobile smartphone technology, it has been possible to obtain survey data from users of mobile applications (apps on a question-by-question basis. The author obtained basic demographic survey data as well as survey data related to an anesthesiology-specific drug called sugammadex and leveraged nonresponse rates to examine factors that influenced respondent fatigue. Methods Primary data were collected between December 2015 and February 2017. Surveys and in-app analytics were collected from global users of a mobile anesthesia calculator app. Key independent variables were user country, healthcare provider role, rating of importance of the app to personal practice, length of time in practice, and frequency of app use. Key dependent variable was the metric of respondent fatigue. Results Provider role and World Bank country income level were predictive of the rate of respondent fatigue for this in-app survey. Importance of the app to the provider and length of time in practice were moderately associated with fatigue. Frequency of app use was not associated. This study focused on a survey with a topic closely related to the subject area of the app. Respondent fatigue rates will likely change dramatically if the topic does not align closely. Discussion Although apps may serve as powerful platforms for data collection, responses rates to in-app surveys may differ on the basis of important respondent characteristics. Studies should be carefully designed to mitigate fatigue as well as powered with the

Earlier time to aerobic exercise is associated with faster recovery following acute sport concussion.

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Lawrence, David Wyndham; Richards, Doug; Comper, Paul; Hutchison, Michael G

2018-01-01

To determine whether earlier time to initiation of aerobic exercise following acute concussion is associated with time to full return to (1) sport and (2) school or work. A retrospective stratified propensity score survival analysis of acute (≤14 days) concussion was used to determine whether time (days) to initiation of aerobic exercise post-concussion was associated with, both, time (days) to full return to (1) sport and (2) school or work. A total of 253 acute concussions [median (IQR) age, 17.0 (15.0-20.0) years; 148 (58.5%) males] were included in this study. Multivariate Cox regression models identified that earlier time to aerobic exercise was associated with faster return to sport and school/work adjusting for other covariates, including quintile propensity strata. For each successive day in delay to initiation of aerobic exercise, individuals had a less favourable recovery trajectory. Initiating aerobic exercise at 3 and 7 days following injury was associated with a respective 36.5% (HR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.53-0.76) and 73.2% (HR, 0.27; 95% CI, 0.16-0.45) reduced probability of faster full return to sport compared to within 1 day; and a respective 45.9% (HR, 0.54; 95% CI, 0.44-0.66) and 83.1% (HR, 0.17; 95% CI, 0.10-0.30) reduced probability of faster full return to school/work. Additionally, concussion history, symptom severity, LOC deleteriously influenced concussion recovery. Earlier initiation of aerobic exercise was associated with faster full return to sport and school or work. This study provides greater insight into the benefits and safety of aerobic exercise within the first week of the injury.

A Data-Driven Approach to Responder Subgroup Identification after Paired Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation

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Tonio Heidegger

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Background: Modulation of cortical excitability by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS is used for investigating human brain functions. A common observation is the high variability of long-term depression (LTD-like changes in human (motor cortex excitability. This study aimed at analyzing the response subgroup distribution after paired continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS as a basis for subject selection.Methods: The effects of paired cTBS using 80% active motor threshold (AMT in 31 healthy volunteers were assessed at the primary motor cortex (M1 corresponding to the representation of the first dorsal interosseous (FDI muscle of the left hand, before and up to 50 min after plasticity induction. The changes in motor evoked potentials (MEPs were analyzed using machine-learning derived methods implemented as Gaussian mixture modeling (GMM and computed ABC analysis.Results: The probability density distribution of the MEP changes from baseline was tri-modal, showing a clear separation at 80.9%. Subjects displaying at least this degree of LTD-like changes were n = 6 responders. By contrast, n = 7 subjects displayed a paradox response with increase in MEP. Reassessment using ABC analysis as alternative approach led to the same n = 6 subjects as a distinct category.Conclusion: Depressive effects of paired cTBS using 80% AMT endure at least 50 min, however, only in a small subgroup of healthy subjects. Hence, plasticity induction by paired cTBS might not reflect a general mechanism in human motor cortex excitability. A mathematically supported criterion is proposed to select responders for enrolment in assessments of human brain functional networks using virtual brain lesions.

A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) Over the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Healthy and Neuropsychiatric Samples: Influence of Stimulation Parameters.

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Dedoncker, Josefien; Brunoni, Andre R; Baeken, Chris; Vanderhasselt, Marie-Anne

2016-01-01

Research into the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex on cognitive functioning is increasing rapidly. However, methodological heterogeneity in prefrontal tDCS research is also increasing, particularly in technical stimulation parameters that might influence tDCS effects. To systematically examine the influence of technical stimulation parameters on DLPFC-tDCS effects. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of tDCS studies targeting the DLPFC published from the first data available to February 2016. Only single-session, sham-controlled, within-subject studies reporting the effects of tDCS on cognition in healthy controls and neuropsychiatric patients were included. Evaluation of 61 studies showed that after single-session a-tDCS, but not c-tDCS, participants responded faster and more accurately on cognitive tasks. Sub-analyses specified that following a-tDCS, healthy subjects responded faster, while neuropsychiatric patients responded more accurately. Importantly, different stimulation parameters affected a-tDCS effects, but not c-tDCS effects, on accuracy in healthy samples vs. increased current density and density charge resulted in improved accuracy in healthy samples, most prominently in females; for neuropsychiatric patients, task performance during a-tDCS resulted in stronger increases in accuracy rates compared to task performance following a-tDCS. Healthy participants respond faster, but not more accurate on cognitive tasks after a-tDCS. However, increasing the current density and/or charge might be able to enhance response accuracy, particularly in females. In contrast, online task performance leads to greater increases in response accuracy than offline task performance in neuropsychiatric patients. Possible implications and practical recommendations are discussed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Rocuronium blockade reversal with sugammadex vs. neostigmine: randomized study in Chinese and Caucasian subjects

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

Background This study compared efficacy and safety of the selective relaxant binding agent sugammadex (2 mg/kg) with neostigmine (50 μg/kg) for neuromuscular blockade (NMB) reversal in Chinese and Caucasian subjects. Methods This was a randomized, active-controlled, multicenter, safety-assessor-blinded study (NCT00825812) in American Society of Anesthesiologists Class 1-3 subjects undergoing surgery with propofol anesthesia. Rocuronium 0.6 mg/kg was administered for endotracheal intubation, with 0.1–0.2 mg/kg maintenance doses given as required. NMB was monitored using TOF-Watch® SX. At second twitch reappearance, after last rocuronium dose, subjects received sugammadex 2 mg/kg or neostigmine 50 μg/kg plus atropine 10–20 μg/kg, according to randomization. Primary efficacy variable was time from sugammadex/neostigmine to recovery of the train-of-four (TOF) ratio to 0.9. Results Overall, 230 Chinese subjects (sugammadex, n = 119, neostigmine, n = 111); and 59 Caucasian subjects (sugammadex, n = 29, neostigmine, n = 30) had evaluable data. Geometric mean (95% CI) time to recovery to TOF ratio 0.9 was 1.6 (1.5–1.7) min with sugammadex vs 9.1 (8.0–10.3) min with neostigmine in Chinese subjects. Corresponding times for Caucasian subjects were 1.4 (1.3–1.5) min and 6.7 (5.5–8.0) min, respectively. Sugammadex 2 mg/kg was generally well tolerated, with no serious adverse events reported. There was no residual NMB or recurrence of NMB. Conclusion Both Chinese and Caucasian subjects recovered from NMB significantly faster after sugammadex 2 mg/kg vs neostigmine 50 μg/kg, with a ~5.7 times (p < 0.0001) faster recovery with sugammadex vs neostigmine in Chinese subjects. Sugammadex was generally well tolerated. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00825812. PMID:25187755

Transcriptional changes induced by bevacizumab combination therapy in responding and non-responding recurrent glioblastoma patients

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Urup, Thomas; Staunstrup, Line Maersk; Michaelsen, Signe Regner

2017-01-01

Background: Bevacizumab combined with chemotherapy produces clinical durable response in 25-30% of recurrent glioblastoma patients. This group of patients has shown improved survival and quality of life. The aim of this study was to investigate changes in gene expression associated with response...... and resistance to bevacizumab combination therapy.Methods: Recurrent glioblastoma patients who had biomarker-accessible tumor tissue surgically removed both before bevacizumab treatment and at time of progression were included. Patients were grouped into responders (n = 7) and non-responders (n = 14). Gene...... expression profiling of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumor tissue was performed using RNA-sequencing.Results: By comparing pretreatment samples of responders with those of non-responders no significant difference was observed. In a paired comparison analysis of pre- and posttreatment samples of non...

Motivational salience signal in the basal forebrain is coupled with faster and more precise decision speed.

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Avila, Irene; Lin, Shih-Chieh

2014-03-01

The survival of animals depends critically on prioritizing responses to motivationally salient stimuli. While it is generally believed that motivational salience increases decision speed, the quantitative relationship between motivational salience and decision speed, measured by reaction time (RT), remains unclear. Here we show that the neural correlate of motivational salience in the basal forebrain (BF), defined independently of RT, is coupled with faster and also more precise decision speed. In rats performing a reward-biased simple RT task, motivational salience was encoded by BF bursting response that occurred before RT. We found that faster RTs were tightly coupled with stronger BF motivational salience signals. Furthermore, the fraction of RT variability reflecting the contribution of intrinsic noise in the decision-making process was actively suppressed in faster RT distributions with stronger BF motivational salience signals. Artificially augmenting the BF motivational salience signal via electrical stimulation led to faster and more precise RTs and supports a causal relationship. Together, these results not only describe for the first time, to our knowledge, the quantitative relationship between motivational salience and faster decision speed, they also reveal the quantitative coupling relationship between motivational salience and more precise RT. Our results further establish the existence of an early and previously unrecognized step in the decision-making process that determines both the RT speed and variability of the entire decision-making process and suggest that this novel decision step is dictated largely by the BF motivational salience signal. Finally, our study raises the hypothesis that the dysregulation of decision speed in conditions such as depression, schizophrenia, and cognitive aging may result from the functional impairment of the motivational salience signal encoded by the poorly understood noncholinergic BF neurons.

Exceptional Responders Initial Feasibility Results

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A pilot study evaluating identification of cancer patients who respond to treatment that is ineffective in at least 90 percent of patients found that it was indeed able to confirm a majority of proposed patients as exceptional responders based on clinical

Mindfulness Training: Worthwhile as a Means to Enhance First Responder Crisis Decision Making

Science.gov (United States)

2016-09-01

control, tolerance for challenging experience, heightened awareness, and the elimination or reduction of negative emotions , anxieties, biases, and...biochemical evidence in the argument for MT training, branding mindfulness, and MT with terms that would tend to be attractive to first responders, crafting...strictly cerebral, but invariably involves social and emotional components, and therefore, subjectivity. He clarifies, “The point we want to make here is

A Bayesian truth serum for subjective data.

Science.gov (United States)

Prelec, Drazen

2004-10-15

Subjective judgments, an essential information source for science and policy, are problematic because there are no public criteria for assessing judgmental truthfulness. I present a scoring method for eliciting truthful subjective data in situations where objective truth is unknowable. The method assigns high scores not to the most common answers but to the answers that are more common than collectively predicted, with predictions drawn from the same population. This simple adjustment in the scoring criterion removes all bias in favor of consensus: Truthful answers maximize expected score even for respondents who believe that their answer represents a minority view.

Economic Shocks and Subjective Well-Being

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hariri, Jacob Gerner; Bjørnskov, Christian; Justesen, Mogens Kamp

This paper examines how economic shocks affect individual well-being in developing countries. Using the case of a sudden and unanticipated currency devaluation in Botswana as a quasi-experiment, we examine how this monetary shock affects individuals’ evaluations of well-being. We do so by using...... micro-level survey data, which – incidentally – was collected in the days surrounding the devaluation. The chance occurrence of the devaluation during the time of the survey enables us to use pre-treatment respondents, surveyed before the devaluation, as approximate counterfactuals for post......-treatment respondents, surveyed after the devaluation. Our estimates show that the devaluation had a large and significantly negative effect on individuals’ evaluations of subjective well-being. These results suggest that macroeconomic shocks, such as unanticipated currency devaluations, may have significant short...

Economic Shocks and Subjective Well-being

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hariri, Jacob Gerner; Bjørnskov, Christian; Justesen, Mogens Kamp

This paper examines how economic shocks affect individual well-being in developing countries. Using the case of a sudden and unanticipated currency devaluation in Botswana as a quasi-experiment, we examine how this monetary shock affects individuals’ evaluations of well-being. We do so by using...... micro-level survey data, which – incidentally – was collected in the days surrounding the devaluation. The chance occurrence of the devaluation during the time of the survey enables us to use pre-treatment respondents, surveyed before the devaluation, as approximate counterfactuals for post......-treatment respondents, surveyed after the devaluation. Our estimates show that the devaluation had a large and significantly negative effect on individuals’ evaluations of subjective well-being. These results suggest that macroeconomic shocks, such as unanticipated currency devaluations, may have significant short...

On the evils of group averaging: commentary on Nevin's "Resistance to extinction and behavioral momentum".

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Gallistel, C R

2012-05-01

Except under unusually favorable circumstances, one can infer from functions obtained by averaging across the subjects neither the form of the function that describes the behavior of the individual subject nor the central tendencies of descriptive parameter values. We should restore the cumulative record to the place of honor as our means of visualizing behavioral change, and we should base our conclusions on analyses that measure where the change occurs in these response-by-response records of the behavior of individual subjects. When that is done, we may find that the extinction of responding to a continuously reinforced stimulus is faster than the extinction of responding to a partially reinforced stimulus in a within-subject design because the latter is signaled extinction. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Question order sensitivity of subjective well-being measures: focus on life satisfaction, self-rated health, and subjective life expectancy in survey instruments.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Sunghee; McClain, Colleen; Webster, Noah; Han, Saram

2016-10-01

This study examines the effect of question context created by order in questionnaires on three subjective well-being measures: life satisfaction, self-rated health, and subjective life expectancy. We conducted two Web survey experiments. The first experiment (n = 648) altered the order of life satisfaction and self-rated health: (1) life satisfaction asked immediately after self-rated health; (2) self-rated health immediately after life satisfaction; and (3) two items placed apart. We examined their correlation coefficient by experimental condition and further examined its interaction with objective health. The second experiment (n = 479) asked life expectancy before and after parental mortality questions. Responses to life expectancy were compared by order using ANOVA, and we examined interaction with parental mortality status using ANCOVA. Additionally, response time and probes were examined. Correlation coefficients between self-rated health and life satisfaction differed significantly by order: 0.313 (life satisfaction first), 0.508 (apart), and 0.643 (self-rated health first). Differences were larger among respondents with chronic conditions. Response times were the shortest when self-rated health was asked first. When life expectancy asked after parental mortality questions, respondents reported considering parents more for answering life expectancy; and respondents with deceased parents reported significantly lower expectancy, but not those whose parents were alive. Question context effects exist. Findings suggest placing life satisfaction and self-rated health apart to avoid artificial attenuation or inflation in their association. Asking about parental mortality prior to life expectancy appears advantageous as this leads respondents to consider parental longevity more, an important factor for true longevity.

7 CFR 3017.1000 - Respondent.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 15 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Respondent. 3017.1000 Section 3017.1000 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) OFFICE OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE GOVERNMENTWIDE DEBARMENT AND SUSPENSION (NONPROCUREMENT) Definitions § 3017.1000 Respondent...

Faster than light motion does not imply time travel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andréka, Hajnal; Madarász, Judit X; Németi, István; Székely, Gergely; Stannett, Mike

2014-01-01

Seeing the many examples in the literature of causality violations based on faster than light (FTL) signals one naturally thinks that FTL motion leads inevitably to the possibility of time travel. We show that this logical inference is invalid by demonstrating a model, based on (3+1)-dimensional Minkowski spacetime, in which FTL motion is permitted (in every direction without any limitation on speed) yet which does not admit time travel. Moreover, the Principle of Relativity is true in this model in the sense that all observers are equivalent. In short, FTL motion does not imply time travel after all. (paper)

Acquisition of peak responding: what is learned?

Science.gov (United States)

Balci, Fuat; Gallistel, Charles R; Allen, Brian D; Frank, Krystal M; Gibson, Jacqueline M; Brunner, Daniela

2009-01-01

We investigated how the common measures of timing performance behaved in the course of training on the peak procedure in C3H mice. Following fixed interval (FI) pre-training, mice received 16 days of training in the peak procedure. The peak time and spread were derived from the average response rates while the start and stop times and their relative variability were derived from a single-trial analysis. Temporal precision (response spread) appeared to improve in the course of training. This apparent improvement in precision was, however, an averaging artifact; it was mediated by the staggered appearance of timed stops, rather than by the delayed occurrence of start times. Trial-by-trial analysis of the stop times for individual subjects revealed that stops appeared abruptly after three to five sessions and their timing did not change as training was prolonged. Start times and the precision of start and stop times were generally stable throughout training. Our results show that subjects do not gradually learn to time their start or stop of responding. Instead, they learn the duration of the FI, with robust temporal control over the start of the response; the control over the stop of response appears abruptly later.

Faster recovery of a diatom from UV damage under ocean acidification.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Yaping; Campbell, Douglas A; Gao, Kunshan

2014-11-01

Diatoms are the most important group of primary producers in marine ecosystems. As oceanic pH declines and increased stratification leads to the upper mixing layer becoming shallower, diatoms are interactively affected by both lower pH and higher average exposures to solar ultraviolet radiation. The photochemical yields of a model diatom, Phaeodactylum tricornutum, were inhibited by ultraviolet radiation under both growth and excess light levels, while the functional absorbance cross sections of the remaining photosystem II increased. Cells grown under ocean acidification (OA) were less affected during UV exposure. The recovery of PSII under low photosynthetically active radiation was much faster than in the dark, indicating that photosynthetic processes were essential for the full recovery of photosystem II. This light dependent recovery required de novo synthesized protein. Cells grown under ocean acidification recovered faster, possibly attributable to higher CO₂ availability for the Calvin cycle producing more resources for repair. The lower UV inhibition combined with higher recovery rate under ocean acidification could benefit species such as P.tricornutum, and change their competitiveness in the future ocean. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Subjective sexual well-being and sexual behavior in young women with breast cancer

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kedde, H.; van de Wiel, H. B. M.; Schultz, W. C. M. Weijmar; Wijsen, C.

The aim of this study was to systematically describe the nature and context of subjective sexual well-being and sexual behavior in young women with breast cancer. Data on sexual behavior and subjective sexual well-being were collected through an internet questionnaire. Respondents were included if

Serum PCSK9 Levels Distinguish Individuals Who Do Not Respond to High-Dose Statin Therapy with the Expected Reduction in LDL-C

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Beth A. Taylor

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the present report was to examine whether proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9 levels differ in individuals who do not exhibit expected reductions in low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C with statin therapy. Eighteen nonresponder subjects treated with 80 mg atorvastatin treatment for 6 months without substantial reductions in LDL-C (ΔLDL-C: 2.6 ± 11.4% were compared to age- and gender-matched atorvastatin responders (ΔLDL-C: 50.7 ± 8.5% and placebo-treated subjects (ΔLDL-C: 9.9 ± 21.5%. Free PCSK9 was marginally higher in nonresponders at baseline (P=0.07 and significantly higher in atorvastatin responders after 6 months of treatment (P=0.04. The change in free PCSK9 over 6 months with statin treatment was higher (P<0.01 in atorvastatin responders (134.2 ± 131.5 ng/mL post- versus prestudy than in either the nonresponders (39.9 ± 87.8 ng/mL or placebo subjects (27.8 ± 97.6 ng/mL. Drug compliance was not lower in the nonresponders as assessed by pill counts and poststudy plasma atorvastatin levels. Serum PCSK9 levels, both at baseline and in response to statin therapy, may differentiate individuals who do versus those who do not respond to statin treatment.

Experimental study of electromagnetic radiation from a faster-than-light vacuum macroscopic source

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bessarab, A.V. [Russian Federal Nuclear Center-All-Russia Scientific Research Institute of Experimental Physics, Sarov, Nizhni Novgorod region, 607188 (Russian Federation); Martynenko, S.P. [Russian Federal Nuclear Center-All-Russia Scientific Research Institute of Experimental Physics, Sarov, Nizhni Novgorod region, 607188 (Russian Federation); Prudkoi, N.A. [Russian Federal Nuclear Center-All-Russia Scientific Research Institute of Experimental Physics, Sarov, Nizhni Novgorod region, 607188 (Russian Federation); Soldatov, A.V. [Russian Federal Nuclear Center-All-Russia Scientific Research Institute of Experimental Physics, Sarov, Nizhni Novgorod region, 607188 (Russian Federation)]. E-mail: soldatov@vniief.ru; Terekhin, V.A. [Russian Federal Nuclear Center-All-Russia Scientific Research Institute of Experimental Physics, Sarov, Nizhni Novgorod region, 607188 (Russian Federation)

2006-08-15

The effect which manifests itself in the form of directed electromagnetic pulses (EMP) initiated by an X-ray incident obliquely upon a conducting surface has been confirmed and investigated experimentally in detail. A planar accelerating diode comprising a metallic cathode and grid anode was initiated with an oblique short soft-X-ray pulse from a point laser-plasma source. Then a source of directed EMP-a current of accelerated photoelectrons-was formed whose boundary ran along the anode external surface with a faster-than-light velocity. The plasma was formed when short-pulse ({approx}0.3ns) laser radiation from ISKRA-5 facility was focused on a plane Au target. The amplitude-in-time and spatial characteristics of radiation emitted by the faster-than-light source have been measured. Parameters of the accelerated electron current have been measured too.

Mobile-Only Web Survey Respondents

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lugtig, P.J.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/304824658; Toepoel, V.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/304576034; amin, alerk

2016-01-01

Web surveys are no longer completed on just a desktop or laptop computer. Respondents increasingly use mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones to complete web surveys. In this article, we study how respondents in the American Life Panel complete surveys using varying devices. We show that

Within-Subject Testing of the Signaled-Reinforcement Effect on Operant Responding as Measured by Response Rate and Resistance to Change

Science.gov (United States)

Reed, Phil; Doughty, Adam H.

2005-01-01

Response rates under random-interval schedules are lower when a brief (500 ms) signal accompanies reinforcement than when there is no signal. The present study examined this signaled-reinforcement effect and its relation to resistance to change. In Experiment 1, rats responded on a multiple random-interval 60-s random-interval 60-s schedule, with…

The Dimensions of Subjective Well-Being among Black Americans: A Structural Model Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Tran, Thanh V.; And Others

1994-01-01

Analysis of data from 668 black adult respondents to the 1980 National Survey of Black Americans suggests that subjective well-being among black Americans is multidimensional. A three-factor model of subjective well-being encompassing strain (depressive symptoms), life satisfaction, and self-esteem was empirically supported and consistently…

Responder Technology Alert (February 2015)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Upton, Jaki F. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Stein, Steven L. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

2015-04-10

As part of technology foraging for the Responder Technology Alliance, established by the Department of Homeland Science and Technologies First Responders Group, this report summarizes technologies that are relevant in the area of “wearables,” with the potential for use by first responders. The content was collected over the previous month(s) and reproduced from a general Internet search using the term wearables. Additional information is available at the websites provided. This report is not meant to be an exhaustive list nor an endorsement of any technology described herein. Rather, it is meant to provide useful information about current developments in the areas wearable technology.

Increasing the amount of payment to research subjects

Science.gov (United States)

Resnick, DB

2014-01-01

This article discusses some ethical issues that can arise when researchers decide to increase the amount of payment offered to research subjects to boost enrollment. Would increasing the amount of payment be unfair to subjects who have already consented to participate in the study? This article considers how five different models of payment—the free market model, the wage payment model, the reimbursement model, the appreciation model, and the fair benefits model—would approach this issue. The article also considers several practical problems related to changing the amount of payment, including determining whether there is enough money in the budget to offer additional payments to subjects who have already enrolled, ascertaining how difficult it will be to re-contact subjects, and developing a plan of action for responding to subjects who find out they are receiving less money and demand an explanation. PMID:18757614

Differential rate in decline in ovarian reserve markers in women with polycystic ovary syndrome compared with control subjects: results of a longitudinal study.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmad, Asima K; Kao, Chia-Ning; Quinn, Molly; Lenhart, Nikolaus; Rosen, Mitchell; Cedars, Marcelle I; Huddleston, Heather

2018-03-01

To estimate rates of ovarian aging in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) subjects versus a community control population. Longitudinal. Tertiary academic center. PCOS subjects diagnosed according to the 2004 Rotterdam criteria were systematically enrolled in a PCOS cohort study. The comparison control subjects were from the Ovarian Aging study, a prospective longitudinal study of ovarian aging in healthy women with regular menstrual cycles. Clinical data collection over two study visits. Antral follicle count (AFC), ovarian volume (OV), and antimüllerian hormone level (AMH). PCOS subjects were found to have higher baseline values for all ovarian reserve markers compared with control subjects. Univariate models indicated that, compared with control subjects, PCOS patients experienced significantly faster rates of decline for both AFC and AMH. Change in OV did not differ significantly. To account for potential confounder effects, multiple analysis of covariance models were evaluated for the best fit, considering age, body mass index, and baseline ovarian reserve markers. Adjusted models demonstrated that PCOS patients do not experience a significant difference in AFC decline compared with control subjects, but they do experience a faster rate of decline in AMH (POvarian aging in PCOS is characterized by a more rapid decline in AMH and a slower decline in OV compared with control subjects. Copyright © 2017 American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Faster, Better, Cheaper Approach to Space Missions: An Engineering Management Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Hamaker, Joseph W.

1999-01-01

NASA was chartered as an independent civilian space agency in 1958 following the Soviet Union's dramatic launch of the Sputnik 1 (1957). In his state of the union address in May of 1961, President Kennedy issued to the fledging organization his famous challenge for a manned lunar mission by the end of the decade. The Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs that followed put the utmost value on high quality, low risk (as low as possible within the context of space flight), quick results, all with little regard for cost. These circumstances essentially melded NASAs culture as an organization capable of great technological achievement but at extremely high cost. The Space Shuttle project, the next major agency endeavor, was put under severe annual budget constraints in the 1970's. NASAs response was to hold to the high quality standards, low risk and annual cost and let schedule suffer. The result was a significant delay in the introduction of the Shuttle as well as overall total cost growth. By the early 1990's, because NASA's budget was declining, the number of projects was also declining. Holding the same cost and schedule productivity levels as before was essentially causing NASA to price itself out of business. In 1992, the helm of NASA was turned over to a new Administrator. Dan Goldin's mantra was "faster, better, cheaper" and his enthusiasm and determination to change the NASA culture was not to be ignored. This research paper documents the various implementations of "faster, better, cheaper" that have been attempted, analyzes their impact and compares the cost performance of these new projects to previous NASA benchmarks. Fundamentally, many elements of "faster, better, cheaper" are found to be working well, especially on smaller projects. Some of the initiatives are found to apply only to smaller or experimental projects however, so that extrapolation to "flagship" projects may be problematic.

DOE translation tool: Faster and better than ever

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El-Chakieh, T.; Vincent, C.

2006-01-01

CAE's constant push to advance power plant simulation practices involves continued investment in our technologies. This commitment has yielded many advances in our simulation technologies and tools to provide faster maintenance updates, easier process updates and higher fidelity models for power plant simulators. Through this quest, a comprehensive, self-contained and user-friendly DCS translation tool for plant control system emulation was created. The translation tool converts an ABB Advant AC160 and/or AC450 control system, used in both gas turbine-based, fossil and nuclear power plants, into Linux or Windows-based ROSE[reg] simulation schematics. The translation for a full combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant that comprises more than 5,300 function plans distributed over 15 nodes is processed in less than five hours on a dual 2.8Ghz Xeon Linux platform in comparison to the 12 hours required by CAE's previous translation tool. The translation process, using the plant configuration files, includes the parsing of the control algorithms, the databases, the graphic and the interconnection between nodes. A Linux or Windows API is then used to automatically populate the ROSE[reg] database. Without such a translation, tool or if ?stimulation? of real control system is not feasible or too costly, simulation of the DCS manually takes months of error prone manual coding. The translation can be performed for all the nodes constituting the configuration files of the whole plant DCS, or in order to provide faster maintenance updates and easier process updates, partial builds are possible at 3 levels: a. single schematic updates, b. multi-schematic updates and c. single node updates based on the user inputs into the Graphical User Interface. improvements including: - Process time reduction of over 60%; - All communication connections between nodes are fully automated; - New partial build for one schematic, a group of schematics or a single node; - Availability on PC

Faster and more accurate transport procedures for HZETRN

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Slaba, T.C.; Blattnig, S.R.; Badavi, F.F.

2010-01-01

The deterministic transport code HZETRN was developed for research scientists and design engineers studying the effects of space radiation on astronauts and instrumentation protected by various shielding materials and structures. In this work, several aspects of code verification are examined. First, a detailed derivation of the light particle (A ≤ 4) and heavy ion (A > 4) numerical marching algorithms used in HZETRN is given. References are given for components of the derivation that already exist in the literature, and discussions are given for details that may have been absent in the past. The present paper provides a complete description of the numerical methods currently used in the code and is identified as a key component of the verification process. Next, a new numerical method for light particle transport is presented, and improvements to the heavy ion transport algorithm are discussed. A summary of round-off error is also given, and the impact of this error on previously predicted exposure quantities is shown. Finally, a coupled convergence study is conducted by refining the discretization parameters (step-size and energy grid-size). From this study, it is shown that past efforts in quantifying the numerical error in HZETRN were hindered by single precision calculations and computational resources. It is determined that almost all of the discretization error in HZETRN is caused by the use of discretization parameters that violate a numerical convergence criterion related to charged target fragments below 50 AMeV. Total discretization errors are given for the old and new algorithms to 100 g/cm 2 in aluminum and water, and the improved accuracy of the new numerical methods is demonstrated. Run time comparisons between the old and new algorithms are given for one, two, and three layer slabs of 100 g/cm 2 of aluminum, polyethylene, and water. The new algorithms are found to be almost 100 times faster for solar particle event simulations and almost 10 times

They all like it hot: faster cleanup of contaminated soil and groundwater

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Newmark, R., LLNL

1998-03-01

Clean up a greasy kitchen spill with cold water and the going is slow. Us hot water instead and progress improves markedly. So it makes sense that cleanup of greasy underground contaminants such as gasoline might go faster if hot water or steam were somehow added to the process. The Environmental Protection Agency named hundreds of sites to the Superfund list - sites that have been contaminated with petroleum products or petroleum products or solvents. Elsewhere across the country, thousands of properties not identified on federal cleanup lists are contaminated as well. Given that under current regulations, underground accumulations of solvent and hydrocarbon contaminants (the most serious cause of groundwater pollution) must be cleaned up, finding a rapid and effective method of removing them is imperative. In the early 1990`s, in collaboration with the School of Engineering at the University of California at Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore developed dynamic underground stripping. This method for treating underground contaminants with heat is much faster and more effective than traditional treatment methods.

The Ruins of Neo-Liberalism and the Construction of a New (Scientific) Subjectivity

Science.gov (United States)

Lather, Patti

2012-01-01

Given my long-time interests in neoliberalism and questions of subjectivity, I am pleased to respond to Jesse Bazzul's paper, "Neoliberal Ideology, global capitalism, and science education: Engaging the question of subjectivity." In what follows, I first summarize what I see as Bazzul's contributions to pushing science education in "post"…

Knowing what to respond in the future does not cancel the influence of past events.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elisabet Tubau

Full Text Available Everyday tasks seldom involve isolate actions but sequences of them. We can see whether previous actions influence the current one by exploring the response time to controlled sequences of stimuli. Specifically, depending on the response-stimulus temporal interval (RSI, different mechanisms have been proposed to explain sequential effects in two-choice serial response tasks. Whereas an automatic facilitation mechanism is thought to produce a benefit for response repetitions at short RSIs, subjective expectancies are considered to replace the automatic facilitation at longer RSIs, producing a cost-benefit pattern: repetitions are faster after other repetitions but they are slower after alternations. However, there is not direct evidence showing the impact of subjective expectancies on sequential effects. By using a fixed sequence, the results of the reported experiment showed that the repetition effect was enhanced in participants who acquired complete knowledge of the order. Nevertheless, a similar cost-benefit pattern was observed in all participants and in all learning blocks. Therefore, results of the experiment suggest that sequential effects, including the cost-benefit pattern, are the consequence of automatic mechanisms which operate independently of (and simultaneously with explicit knowledge of the sequence or other subjective expectancies.

Knowing what to respond in the future does not cancel the influence of past events.

Science.gov (United States)

Tubau, Elisabet; López-Moliner, Joan

2009-05-29

Everyday tasks seldom involve isolate actions but sequences of them. We can see whether previous actions influence the current one by exploring the response time to controlled sequences of stimuli. Specifically, depending on the response-stimulus temporal interval (RSI), different mechanisms have been proposed to explain sequential effects in two-choice serial response tasks. Whereas an automatic facilitation mechanism is thought to produce a benefit for response repetitions at short RSIs, subjective expectancies are considered to replace the automatic facilitation at longer RSIs, producing a cost-benefit pattern: repetitions are faster after other repetitions but they are slower after alternations. However, there is not direct evidence showing the impact of subjective expectancies on sequential effects. By using a fixed sequence, the results of the reported experiment showed that the repetition effect was enhanced in participants who acquired complete knowledge of the order. Nevertheless, a similar cost-benefit pattern was observed in all participants and in all learning blocks. Therefore, results of the experiment suggest that sequential effects, including the cost-benefit pattern, are the consequence of automatic mechanisms which operate independently of (and simultaneously with) explicit knowledge of the sequence or other subjective expectancies.

First Responders and Criticality Accidents

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Valerie L. Putman; Douglas M. Minnema

2005-11-01

Nuclear criticality accident descriptions typically include, but do not focus on, information useful to first responders. We studied these accidents, noting characteristics to help (1) first responders prepare for such an event and (2) emergency drill planners develop appropriate simulations for training. We also provide recommendations to help people prepare for such events in the future.

20 Recipes for Programming MVC 3 Faster, Smarter Web Development

CERN Document Server

Munro, Jamie

2011-01-01

There's no need to reinvent the wheel every time you run into a problem with ASP.NET's Model-View-Controller (MVC) framework. This concise cookbook provides recipes to help you solve tasks many web developers encounter every day. Each recipe includes the C# code you need, along with a complete working example of how to implement the solution. Learn practical techniques for applying user authentication, providing faster page reloads, validating user data, filtering search results, and many other issues related to MVC3 development. These recipes help you: Restrict access to views with password

Predictors of subjective well-being among older Ghanaians | Calys ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The single item measure of life satisfaction was used to determine subjective wellbeing. Descriptive statistics as well as logistic regression analysis were carried out to determine the predictors of SWB. Results: A total of 4724 individuals aged 50 years and above responded to the questionnaires. Of these 50.4% were males.

The probability of reinforcement per trial affects posttrial responding and subsequent extinction but not within-trial responding.

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, Justin A; Kwok, Dorothy W S

2018-01-01

During magazine approach conditioning, rats do not discriminate between a conditional stimulus (CS) that is consistently reinforced with food and a CS that is occasionally (partially) reinforced, as long as the CSs have the same overall reinforcement rate per second. This implies that rats are indifferent to the probability of reinforcement per trial. However, in the same rats, the per-trial reinforcement rate will affect subsequent extinction-responding extinguishes more rapidly for a CS that was consistently reinforced than for a partially reinforced CS. Here, we trained rats with consistently and partially reinforced CSs that were matched for overall reinforcement rate per second. We measured conditioned responding both during and immediately after the CSs. Differences in the per-trial probability of reinforcement did not affect the acquisition of responding during the CS but did affect subsequent extinction of that responding, and also affected the post-CS response rates during conditioning. Indeed, CSs with the same probability of reinforcement per trial evoked the same amount of post-CS responding even when they differed in overall reinforcement rate and thus evoked different amounts of responding during the CS. We conclude that reinforcement rate per second controls rats' acquisition of responding during the CS, but at the same time, rats also learn specifically about the probability of reinforcement per trial. The latter learning affects the rats' expectation of reinforcement as an outcome of the trial, which influences their ability to detect retrospectively that an opportunity for reinforcement was missed, and, in turn, drives extinction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

L-059: EPR-First responders: Radiological emergency manual for first responders

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2011-01-01

This conference is an emergency manual review about the first responders knowledge. The IAEA safety standard manuals, the medical gestion, the security forces and the fast communications are very important in a radiological emergency

Functional effects of treadmill-based gait training at faster speeds in stroke survivors: a prospective, single-group study.

Science.gov (United States)

Mohammadi, Roghayeh; Ershad, Navid; Rezayinejad, Marziyeh; Fatemi, Elham; Phadke, Chetan P

2017-09-01

To examine the functional effects of walking retraining at faster than self-selected speed (SSS). Ten individuals with chronic stroke participated in a 4-week training over a treadmill at walking speeds 40% faster than SSS, three times per week, 30 min/session. Outcome measures assessed before, after, and 2 months after the end of intervention were the Timed Up and Go, the 6-Minute Walk, the 10-Meter Walk test, the Modified Ashworth Scale, SSS, and fastest comfortable speed. After 4 weeks of training, all outcome measures showed clinically meaningful and statistically significant improvements (Ptraining. The results showed that a strategy of training at a speed 40% faster than SSS can improve functional activity in individuals with chronic stroke, with effects lasting up to 2 months after the intervention.

The characteristics of non-respondents and respondents of a mental health survey among evacuees in a disaster: The Fukushima Health Management Survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Horikoshi, Naoko; Iwasa, Hajime; Yasumura, Seiji; Maeda, Masaharu

2017-12-19

The Fukushima Medical University conducted a mental health care program for evacuees after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident. However, the mental health status of non-respondents has not been considered for surveys using questionnaires. Therefore, the aim of this study was to clarify the characteristics of non-respondents and respondents. The target population of the survey (FY2011-2013) is people living in the nationally designated evacuation zone of Fukushima prefecture. Among these, the participants were 967 people (20 years or older). We examined factors that affected the difference between the groups of participants (i.e., non-respondents and respondents) using multivariate logistic regression analysis. Employment was higher in non-respondents (p=0.022) and they were also more socially isolated (p=0.047) when compared to respondents; non-respondents had a higher proportional risk of psychological distress compared to respondents (pemployment status (OR=1.99, 95% confidence interval [CI]:1.12-3.51) and psychological distress (OR=2.17, 95% CI:1.01-4.66). We found that non-respondents had a significantly higher proportion of psychological distress compared to the respondents. Although the non-respondents were the high-risk group, it is not possible to grasp the complexity of the situation by simply using questionnaire surveys. Therefore, in the future it is necessary to direct our efforts towards the mental health of non-respondents and respondents alike.

Charged Particles are Prevented from Going Faster than the Speed of Light by Light Itself: A Biophysical Cell Biologist's Contribution to Physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wayne, R.

2010-01-01

Investigations of living organisms have led biologists and physicians to introduce fundamental concepts, including Brownian motion, the First Law of Thermodynamics, Poiseuille's Law of fluid flow, and Fick's Law of diffusion into physics. Given the prominence of viscous forces within and around cells and the experience of identifying and quantifying such resistive forces, biophysical cell biologists have an unique perspective in discovering the viscous forces that cause moving particles to respond to an applied force in a nonlinear manner. Using my experience as a biophysical cell biologist, I show that in any space consisting of a photon gas with a temperature above absolute zero, Doppler-shifted photons exert a velocity-dependent viscous force on moving charged particles. This viscous force prevents charged particles from exceeding the speed of light. Consequently, light itself prevents charged particles from moving faster than the speed of light. This interpretation provides a testable alternative to the interpretation provided by the Special Theory of Relativity, which contends that particles are prevented from exceeding the speed of light as a result of the relativity of time. (author)

Longitudinal Lung Function Decrease in Subjects with Spontaneous Healed Pulmonary Tuberculosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Seung Heon; Kwon, Amy M; Yang, Hae-Chung; Lee, Seung Ku; Kim, Young; Choi, Jong Hyun; Kim, Je Hyeong; Shin, Chol

2016-01-01

We compared the longitudinal course of post-bronchodilator Forced Expiratory Volume in 1 second (pFEV1) over a 10-year period in subjects with spontaneous healed pulmonary tuberculosis (SHPTB) with that in normal subjects. We prospectively investigated 339 subjects with SHPTB and 3211 normal subjects. pFEV1 values measured biannually over 10 years were analyzed using mixed effects model. At baseline, there were no differences in gender, smoking amount, and mean height, except mean age (50.0 ± 8.1 VS. 48.1 ± 7.3, P< 0.001) between the SHPTB and normal group. 52% of the 339 participants with SHPTB and 56% of the 3211 normal participants participated till the end of study. According to the final model, the SHPTB group showed significantly larger decrease in the average pFEV1 over the time than the normal group (P< 0.001) adjusted for gender, age, height, smoking pack years, and time effects. Especially, the interaction effect between time and group was statistically significant (P = 0.036). The average lung function in terms of pFEV1 decreases faster in subjects with SHPTB than in normal individuals over time.

Investigating the Mpemba Effect: When Hot Water Freezes Faster than Cold Water

Science.gov (United States)

Ibekwe, R. T.; Cullerne, J. P.

2016-01-01

Under certain conditions a body of hot liquid may cool faster and freeze before a body of colder liquid, a phenomenon known as the Mpemba Effect. An initial difference in temperature of 3.2 °C enabled warmer water to reach 0 °C in 14% less time than colder water. Convection currents in the liquid generate a temperature gradient that causes more…

Dependent Interviewing and Sub-Optimal Responding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Johannes Eggs

2015-02-01

Full Text Available With proactive dependent interviewing (PDI respondents are reminded of the answer they gave in the previous interview, before being asked about their current status. PDI is used in panel surveys to assist respondent recall and reduce spurious changes in responses over time. PDI may however provide scope for new errors if respondents falsely accept the previous information as still being an accurate description of their current situation. In this paper we use data from the German Labour Market and Social Security panel study, in which an error was made with the preload data for a PDI question about receipt of welfare benefit. The survey data were linked to individual administrative records on receipt of welfare benefit. A large proportion of respondents accepted the false preload. This behaviour seems mainly driven by the difficulty of the response task: respondents with a more complex history of receipt according to the records were more likely to confirm the false preload. Personality also seemed related to the probability of confirming. Predictors of satisficing, indicators of satisficing on other items in the survey, and characteristics of the survey and interviewer were not predictive of confirming the false preload.

Subjective Fatigue in Children with Hearing Loss Assessed Using Self- and Parent-Proxy Report

Science.gov (United States)

Hornsby, Benjamin W. Y.; Gustafson, Samantha J.; Lancaster, Hope; Cho, Sun-Joo; Camarata, Stephen; Bess, Fred H.

2017-01-01

Purpose: The primary purposes of this study were to examine the effects of hearing loss and respondent type (self- vs. parent-proxy report) on subjective fatigue in children. We also examined associations between child-specific factors and fatigue ratings. Method: Subjective fatigue was assessed using the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory…

Even Faster Web Sites Performance Best Practices for Web Developers

CERN Document Server

Souders, Steve

2009-01-01

Performance is critical to the success of any web site, and yet today's web applications push browsers to their limits with increasing amounts of rich content and heavy use of Ajax. In this book, Steve Souders, web performance evangelist at Google and former Chief Performance Yahoo!, provides valuable techniques to help you optimize your site's performance. Souders' previous book, the bestselling High Performance Web Sites, shocked the web development world by revealing that 80% of the time it takes for a web page to load is on the client side. In Even Faster Web Sites, Souders and eight exp

SYSTEM EDUCATION CONCEPTS OF THE SUBJECT AND ITS GRAPHIC REPRESENTATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Артём Авенирович Михайлюк

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The article draws attention to the fact that the teacher in the course of constructing the course of the subject there is a need for systematization and structuring of the system of concepts of the academic subject, which is the basis of the future course. The choice of the system of concepts and ways to represent it depends on the period of the course and the cognitive abilities of the students. The presentation of a system of concepts in the form of infographics can help a teacher to develop a training course faster and more efficiently, and to teach it to his students. Beautiful clear graphs and diagrams are better perceived and remembered. And modern information technology allows you to create and share knowledge and research results in a spectacular, long- remembered form. And we must match time, and moreover, teach children to work with information in such a way that it would be desirable to look at it. In the process of such training, the teacher and students are formed interest in the subject, developing visual thinking.

Insulin resistance in clomiphene responders and non-responders with polycystic ovarian disease and therapeutic effects of metformin.

Science.gov (United States)

Parsanezhad, M E; Alborzi, S; Zarei, A; Dehbashi, S; Omrani, G

2001-10-01

To evaluate the clinical features, endocrine and metabolic profiles in clomiphene (CC) responders and non-responders with polycystic ovarian disease (PCOD), and to examine the effects of metformin (MTF) on the above parameters of CC resistance. A prospective clinical trial was undertaken at the infertility division of a university teaching hospital. Forty-one CC responders were selected and their hormonal and clinical features were determined. Forty-one CC-resistant PCOD women were also selected and clinical features; metabolic and hormonal profiles before and after treatment with MTF 1500 mg/day for 6-8 weeks were evaluated. Women who failed to conceive were treated by CC while continuing to take MTF. CC responders had higher insulin levels while non-responders were hyperinsulinemic. Menstrual irregularities improved in 30%. Mean+/-S.D. area under curve of insulin decreased from 297.58+/-191.33 to 206+/-0.1 mIU/ml per min (P=0.005). Only 39.39% ovulated and 24.24% conceived. PCOD is associated with insulin resistance (IR) particularly in CC-resistant women. Insulin resistance and androgen levels are significantly higher in obese patients. MTF therapy improved hyperandrogenemia, IR, and pregnancy rate.

Subjective and objective observation of skin graft recovery on Indonesian local cat with different periods of transplantation time.

Science.gov (United States)

Erwin; Gunanti; Handharyani, Ekowati; Noviana, Deni

2016-05-01

The success of a skin graft in a cat is highly dependent on the granulation formed by the base of recipient bed. Granulation by the base of recipient bed will form after several days after injury. This research aimed to observe subjective and objective profile of skin graft recovery on forelimb of cats with different periods of donor skin placement. Nine male Indonesian local cats aged 1-2 years old, weighing 3-4 kg were divided into three groups. The first surgery for creating defect wound of 2 cm×2 cm in size was performed in the whole group. The wound was left for several days with the respective interval for each group, respectively: Group I (for 2 days), Group II (for 4 days), and Group III (for 6 days). In the whole group, the second surgery was done by the harvesting skin of thoracic area which then applied on recipient bed of respective groups. The donor skin on Group II was accepted faster compared to Group I and Group III. The donor skin did not show color differences compared to surrounding skin, painless, bright red in bleeding test had faster both hair growth and drug absorption. Test toward the size of donor skin and the effect of drugs did not show a significant difference between each group. The observe subjective and objective profile of skin graft recovery on forelimb of cats on Group II were accepted faster compared to Group I and III.

Differentially-Expressed Genes Associated with Faster Growth of the Pacific Abalone, Haliotis discus hannai.

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Mi-Jin; Kim, Gun-Do; Kim, Jong-Myoung; Lim, Han Kyu

2015-11-18

The Pacific abalone Haliotis discus hannai is used for commercial aquaculture in Korea. We examined the transcriptome of Pacific abalone Haliotis discus hannai siblings using NGS technology to identify genes associated with high growth rates. Pacific abalones grown for 200 days post-fertilization were divided into small-, medium-, and large-size groups with mean weights of 0.26 ± 0.09 g, 1.43 ± 0.405 g, and 5.24 ± 1.09 g, respectively. RNA isolated from the soft tissues of each group was subjected to RNA sequencing. Approximately 1%-3% of the transcripts were differentially expressed in abalones, depending on the growth rate. RT-PCR was carried out on thirty four genes selected to confirm the relative differences in expression detected by RNA sequencing. Six differentially-expressed genes were identified as associated with faster growth of the Pacific abalone. These include five up-regulated genes (including one specific to females) encoding transcripts homologous to incilarin A, perlucin, transforming growth factor-beta-induced protein immunoglobulin-heavy chain 3 (ig-h3), vitelline envelope zona pellucida domain 4, and defensin, and one down-regulated gene encoding tomoregulin in large abalones. Most of the transcripts were expressed predominantly in the hepatopancreas. The genes identified in this study will lead to development of markers for identification of high-growth-rate abalones and female abalones.

Differentially-Expressed Genes Associated with Faster Growth of the Pacific Abalone, Haliotis discus hannai

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mi-Jin Choi

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The Pacific abalone Haliotis discus hannai is used for commercial aquaculture in Korea. We examined the transcriptome of Pacific abalone Haliotis discus hannai siblings using NGS technology to identify genes associated with high growth rates. Pacific abalones grown for 200 days post-fertilization were divided into small-, medium-, and large-size groups with mean weights of 0.26 ± 0.09 g, 1.43 ± 0.405 g, and 5.24 ± 1.09 g, respectively. RNA isolated from the soft tissues of each group was subjected to RNA sequencing. Approximately 1%–3% of the transcripts were differentially expressed in abalones, depending on the growth rate. RT-PCR was carried out on thirty four genes selected to confirm the relative differences in expression detected by RNA sequencing. Six differentially-expressed genes were identified as associated with faster growth of the Pacific abalone. These include five up-regulated genes (including one specific to females encoding transcripts homologous to incilarin A, perlucin, transforming growth factor-beta-induced protein immunoglobulin-heavy chain 3 (ig-h3, vitelline envelope zona pellucida domain 4, and defensin, and one down-regulated gene encoding tomoregulin in large abalones. Most of the transcripts were expressed predominantly in the hepatopancreas. The genes identified in this study will lead to development of markers for identification of high-growth-rate abalones and female abalones.

Responders and non-responders to drug treatment in social phobia : Differences at baseline and prediction of response

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Slaap, BR; Westenberg, HGM; DenBoer, JA

1996-01-01

Differences between responders and non-responders to drug therapy were investigated in social phobia. Two previously published studies were pooled to obtain data of 30 patients who were treated for 12 weeks with brofaromine or fluvoxamine. Four criterion variables were used to divide patients in

Sex and the stimulus-movement effect: Differences in acquisition of autoshaped responding in cynomolgus monkeys.

Science.gov (United States)

Rice, Nathaniel C; Makar, Jennifer R; Myers, Todd M

2017-03-15

The stimulus-movement effect refers to the phenomenon in which stimulus discrimination or acquisition of a response is facilitated by moving stimuli as opposed to stationary stimuli. The effect has been found in monkeys, rats, and humans, but the experiments conducted did not provide adequate female representation to investigate potential sex differences. The current experiment analyzed acquisition of stimulus touching in a progressive series of classical conditioning procedures in cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) as a function of sex and stimulus movement. Classical conditioning tasks arrange two or more stimuli in relation to each other with different temporal and predictive relations. Autoshaping procedures overlay operant contingencies onto a classical-conditioning stimulus arrangement. In the present case, a neutral stimulus (a small gray square displayed on a touchscreen) functioned as the conditional stimulus and a food pellet functioned as the unconditional stimulus. Although touching is not required to produce food, with repeated stimulus pairings subjects eventually touch the stimulus. Across conditions of increasing stimulus correlation and temporal contiguity, male monkeys acquired the response faster with a moving stimulus. In contrast, females acquired the response faster with a stationary stimulus. These results demonstrate that the stimulus-movement effect may be differentially affected by sex and indicate that additional experiments with females are needed to determine how sex interacts with behavioral phenomena discovered and elaborated almost exclusively using males. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Responder Technology Alert Monthly (January 2015)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Upton, Jaki F. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Stein, Steven L. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

2015-02-01

As part of technology foraging for the Responder Technology Alliance, established by the Department of Homeland Science and Technologies First Responders Group, this report summarizes technologies that are relevant in the area of “wearables,” with the potential for use by first responders. The content was collected over the previous month(s) and reproduced from a general Internet search using the term wearables. Additional information is available at the websites provided. This report is not meant to be an exhaustive list nor an endorsement of any technology described herein. Rather, it is meant to provide useful information about current developments in the areas wearable technology.

Responder Technology Alert Monthly (December 2014)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Upton, Jaki F. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Stein, Steven L. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

2015-02-13

As part of technology foraging for the Responder Technology Alliance, established by the Department of Homeland Science and Technologies First Responders Group, this report summarizes technologies that are relevant in the area of “wearables,” with the potential for use by first responders. The content was collected over the previous month(s) and reproduced from a general Internet search using the term wearables. Additional information is available at the websites provided. This report is not meant to be an exhaustive list nor an endorsement of any technology described herein. Rather, it is meant to provide useful information about current developments in the areas wearable technology.

Suppression dampens unpleasant emotion faster than reappraisal: Neural dynamics in a Chinese sample.

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, JiaJin; Long, QuanShan; Ding, NanXiang; Lou, YiXue; Liu, YingYing; Yang, JieMin

2015-05-01

The timing dynamics of regulating negative emotion with expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal were investigated in a Chinese sample. Event-Related Potentials were recorded while subjects were required to view, suppress emotion expression to, or reappraise emotional pictures. The results showed a similar reduction in self-reported negative emotion during both strategies. Additionally, expressive suppression elicited larger amplitudes than reappraisal in central-frontal P3 component (340-480 ms). More importantly, the Late Positive Potential (LPP) amplitudes were decreased in each 200 ms of the 800-1600 ms time intervals during suppression vs. viewing conditions. In contrast, LPP amplitudes were similar for reappraisal and viewing conditions in all the time windows, except for the decreased amplitudes during reappraisal in the 1400-1600 ms. The LPP (but not P3) amplitudes were positively related to negative mood ratings, whereas the amplitudes of P3, rather than LPP, predict self-reported expressive suppression. These results suggest that expressive suppression decreases emotion responding more rapidly than reappraisal, at the cost of greater cognitive resource involvements in Chinese individuals.

The impact of accelerating faster than exponential population growth on genetic variation.

Science.gov (United States)

Reppell, Mark; Boehnke, Michael; Zöllner, Sebastian

2014-03-01

Current human sequencing projects observe an abundance of extremely rare genetic variation, suggesting recent acceleration of population growth. To better understand the impact of such accelerating growth on the quantity and nature of genetic variation, we present a new class of models capable of incorporating faster than exponential growth in a coalescent framework. Our work shows that such accelerated growth affects only the population size in the recent past and thus large samples are required to detect the models' effects on patterns of variation. When we compare models with fixed initial growth rate, models with accelerating growth achieve very large current population sizes and large samples from these populations contain more variation than samples from populations with constant growth. This increase is driven almost entirely by an increase in singleton variation. Moreover, linkage disequilibrium decays faster in populations with accelerating growth. When we instead condition on current population size, models with accelerating growth result in less overall variation and slower linkage disequilibrium decay compared to models with exponential growth. We also find that pairwise linkage disequilibrium of very rare variants contains information about growth rates in the recent past. Finally, we demonstrate that models of accelerating growth may substantially change estimates of present-day effective population sizes and growth times.

Dishonest responding or true virtue?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zettler, Ingo; Hilbig, Benjamin E.; Moshagen, Morten

2015-01-01

but troubling proposition that high scores in impression management scales actually reflect honesty rather than dishonest responding. In line with findings indicating that respondents answer to personality questionnaires rather accurately in typical low demand situations, we herein suggest that high impression...... management scores indeed reflect true virtues rather than dishonesty under such conditions. We found support for this idea by replicating previous correlations between impression management scores and virtue-related basic personality traits (including honesty-humility), and additionally provided conclusive...

A whey-protein supplement increases fat loss and spares lean muscle in obese subjects: a randomized human clinical study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ward Loren S

2008-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background This study evaluated a specialized whey fraction (Prolibra™, high in leucine, bioactive peptides and milk calcium for use as a dietary supplement to enhance weight loss. Methods This was a randomized, double-blind, parallel-arm, 12-week study. Caloric intake was reduced 500 calories per day. Subjects consumed Prolibra or an isocaloric ready-to-mix beverage 20 minutes before breakfast and 20 minutes before dinner. Body fat and lean muscle tissue were measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA. Body weight and anthropometric measurements were recorded every 4 weeks. Blood samples were taken at the beginning and end of the study. Statistical analyses were performed on all subjects that completed (completer analysis and all subjects that lost at least 2.25 kg of body weight (responder analysis. Within group significance was determined at P Results Both groups lost a significant amount of weight and the Prolibra group tended to lose more weight than the control group; however the amount of weight loss was not significantly different between groups after 12 weeks. Prolibra subjects lost significantly more body fat compared to control subjects for both the completer (2.81 vs. 1.62 kg P = 0.03 and responder (3.63 vs. 2.11 kg, P = 0.01 groups. Prolibra subjects lost significantly less lean muscle mass in the responder group (1.07 vs. 2.41 kg, P = 0.02. The ratio of fat to lean loss (kg fat lost/kg lean lost was much larger for Prolibra subjects for both completer (3.75 vs. 1.05 and responder (3.39 vs. 0.88 groups. Conclusion Subjects in both the control and treatment group lost a significant amount of weight with a 500 calorie reduced diet. Subjects taking Prolibra lost significantly more body fat and showed a greater preservation of lean muscle compared to subjects consuming the control beverage. Because subjects taking Prolibra lost 6.1% of their body fat mass, and because a 5% reduction of body fat mass has been shown to

A comparison of physical and psychological features of responders and non-responders to cervical facet blocks in chronic whiplash

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Background Cervical facet block (FB) procedures are often used as a diagnostic precursor to radiofrequency neurotomies (RFN) in the management of chronic whiplash associated disorders (WAD). Some individuals will respond to the FB procedures and others will not respond. Such responders and non-responders provided a sample of convenience to question whether there were differences in their physical and psychological features. This information may inform future predictive studies and ultimately the clinical selection of patients for FB procedures. Methods This cross-sectional study involved 58 individuals with chronic WAD who responded to cervical FB procedures (WAD_R); 32 who did not respond (WAD_NR) and 30 Healthy Controls (HC)s. Measures included: quantitative sensory tests (pressure; thermal pain thresholds; brachial plexus provocation test); nociceptive flexion reflex (NFR); motor function (cervical range of movement (ROM); activity of the superficial neck flexors during the cranio-cervical flexion test (CCFT). Self-reported measures were gained from the following questionnaires: neuropathic pain (s-LANSS); psychological distress (General Health Questionnaire-28), post-traumatic stress (PDS) and pain catastrophization (PCS). Individuals with chronic whiplash attended the laboratory once the effects of the blocks had abated and symptoms had returned. Results Following FB procedures, both WAD groups demonstrated generalized hypersensitivity to all sensory tests, decreased neck ROM and increased superficial muscle activity with the CCFT compared to controls (p 0.05). Both WAD groups demonstrated psychological distress (GHQ-28; p < 0.05), moderate post-traumatic stress symptoms and pain catastrophization. The WAD_NR group also demonstrated increased medication intake and elevated PCS scores compared to the WAD_R group (p < 0.05). Conclusions Chronic WAD responders and non-responders to FB procedures demonstrate a similar presentation of sensory disturbance, motor

Individual survival curves comparing subjective and observed mortality risks.

Science.gov (United States)

Bissonnette, Luc; Hurd, Michael D; Michaud, Pierre-Carl

2017-12-01

We compare individual survival curves constructed from objective (actual mortality) and elicited subjective information (probability of survival to a given target age). We develop a methodology to estimate jointly subjective and objective individual survival curves accounting for rounding on subjective reports of perceived survival. We make use of the long follow-up period in the Health and Retirement Study and the high quality of mortality data to estimate individual survival curves that feature both observed and unobserved heterogeneity. This allows us to compare objective and subjective estimates of remaining life expectancy for various groups and compare welfare effects of objective and subjective mortality risk using the life cycle model of consumption. We find that subjective and objective hazards are not the same. The median welfare loss from misperceptions of mortality risk when annuities are not available is 7% of current wealth at age 65 whereas more than 25% of respondents have losses larger than 60% of wealth. When annuities are available and exogenously given, the welfare loss is substantially lower. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Responding to Misbehavior

OpenAIRE

Telep, Valya Goodwin, 1955-

2009-01-01

This series of lessons was prepared for parents like you - parents who want to do a better job of disciplining their children. The lessons were especially written for parents of preschool children, ages two to six, but some of the discipline methods are appropriate for older children, too. This lesson focuses on responding to misbehavior.

Effect of risperidone versus haloperidol on emotional responding in schizophrenic patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Fakra, E; Khalfa, S; Da Fonseca, D; Besnier, N; Delaveau, P; Azorin, J M; Blin, O

2008-10-01

Studies on emotional processing report that schizophrenic patients present a specific pattern of emotional responding that usually includes deficits in emotional expressiveness, increased feelings of unpleasant emotion but decreased feelings of pleasant emotion, and increased physiological reactivity. However, studies have rarely controlled the nature of antipsychotic medication. Yet, the influence of these drugs on emotional response is uncertain and could vary depending on their pharmacological profile. This prospective and randomized study aimed to compare the effects of an atypical antipsychotic, risperidone, to a typical one, haloperidol, on patients' emotional responding during an emotional induction task. Twenty-five schizophrenic patients underwent two emotional and clinical evaluations: one before treatment initiation and a second 4 weeks after. Emotional states of fear, sadness, anger, joy, and disgust were induced, as well as a neutral baseline state. Video recordings of patients during the induction task allowed for assessment of emotional expressiveness. Self-reports and measures of skin conductance and heart rate were performed to determine both subjective and physiological reactions to emotional experience. Compared to haloperidol, risperidone did not reduce patients' facial expressiveness, decreased physiological reactivity, and decreased experience of unpleasant emotion but maintained experience of pleasant emotion. Emotional expressiveness was negatively correlated to parkisonism. Our preliminary results suggest that atypical antipsychotics allow for better-adapted patterns of emotional responding than typical ones do. We suggest that this effect is due to reduced striatal D2 blockade, therefore, attenuating akinesia, coupled with increased 5HT and DA levels in prefrontal cortex, which improves emotional regulation.

Empirical Tryout of a New Statistic for Detecting Temporally Inconsistent Responders.

Science.gov (United States)

Kerry, Matthew J

2018-01-01

Statistical screening of self-report data is often advised to support the quality of analyzed responses - For example, reduction of insufficient effort responding (IER). One recently introduced index based on Mahalanobis's D for detecting outliers in cross-sectional designs replaces centered scores with difference scores between repeated-measure items: Termed person temporal consistency ( D 2 ptc ). Although the adapted D 2 ptc index demonstrated usefulness in simulation datasets, it has not been applied to empirical data. The current study addresses D 2 ptc 's low uptake by critically appraising its performance across three empirical applications. Independent samples were selected to represent a range of scenarios commonly encountered by organizational researchers. First, in Sample 1, a repeat-measure of future time perspective (FTP) inexperienced working adults (age >40-years; n = 620) indicated that temporal inconsistency was significantly related to respondent age and item reverse-scoring. Second, in repeat-measure of team efficacy aggregations, D 2 ptc successfully detected team-level inconsistency across repeat-performance cycles. Thirdly, the usefulness of the D 2 ptc was examined in an experimental study dataset of subjective life expectancy indicated significantly more stable responding in experimental conditions compared to controls. The empirical findings support D 2 ptc 's flexible and useful application to distinct study designs. Discussion centers on current limitations and further extensions that may be of value to psychologists screening self-report data for strengthening response quality and meaningfulness of inferences from repeated-measures self-reports. Taken together, the findings support the usefulness of the newly devised statistic for detecting IER and other extreme response patterns.

Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis reactivity to psychological stress and memory in middle-aged women: high responders exhibit enhanced declarative memory performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Domes, G; Heinrichs, M; Reichwald, U; Hautzinger, M

2002-10-01

According to recent studies, elevated cortisol levels are associated with impaired declarative memory performance. This specific effect of cortisol has been shown in several studies using pharmacological doses of cortisol. The present study was designed to determine the effects of endogenously stimulated cortisol secretion on memory performance in healthy middle-aged women. For psychological stress challenging, we employed the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Subjects were assigned to either the TSST or a non-stressful control condition. Declarative and non-declarative memory performance was measured by a combined priming-free-recall-task. No significant group differences were found for memory performance. Post hoc analyses of variance indicated that regardless of experimental condition the subjects with remarkably high cortisol increase in response to the experimental procedure (high responders) showed increased memory performance in the declarative task compared to subjects with low cortisol response (low responders). The results suggest that stress-induced cortisol failed to impair memory performance. The results are discussed with respect to gender-specific effects and modulatory effects of the sympathetic nervous system and psychological variables. Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd.

Internal and External Factors Shaping Educational Beliefs of High School Teachers of "Sacred" Subjects to Girls

Science.gov (United States)

Iluz, Shira; Rich, Yisrael

2009-01-01

This research investigated pedagogical beliefs of teachers of "sacred" school subjects, curricular topics that the school community deems culturally valued, unassailable and inviolate. Two hundred and fifty-five teachers of girls only who taught sacred or secular subjects in Jewish modern religious high schools responded to questionnaires focusing…

Responding to Tragedy

Science.gov (United States)

Coopman, J. T.

2009-01-01

In this article, the author, a superintendent of Clark-Pleasant School Corporation in Whiteland, Indiana, relates how she and the school community responded to a car accident that killed two students. The author stresses the need to develop a comprehensive crisis plan. It is also important to be sensitive to the needs of family members who are…

[The level of job satisfaction and its relation to midwives' subjective quality of life].

Science.gov (United States)

Babiarczyk, Beata; Małgorzata, Frás; Ulman-Włodarz, Izabela; Jarosova, Darja

2014-01-01

According to the so called Transactional Model of Quality of Life, job satisfaction is a part of subjective well-being. The aim of this study was to explore the relationships between professional commitment, expressed as job satisfaction or dissatisfaction, consideration of leaving the profession or/and workplace, and subjective assessment of well-being among midwives working at hospitals. The study was a part of the international research project, coordinated by the University of Ostrava. The group of respondents consisted of 176 midwives working at selected hospitals in the Silesian region. The study was conducted using the method of diagnostic survey, questionnaire techniques and standardized research tools, such as McCloskey/Mueller Satisfaction Scale (MMSS), Personal Wellbeing Index-Adult (PWI-A) and Subjective Emotional Habitual Wellbeing Scale (SEHP). The overall midwives' job satisfaction was found to be at a medium level. Respondents less satisfied with various aspects of work (interaction, co-workers, professional opportunities, praise/recognition, control/responsibility) and life (standard of living and achievements in life) were significantly more often considering changing their jobs. Dissatisfaction with the extrinsic rewards (salary, vacation, benefits package) had additionally influenced the frequency of considering changing the profession. The respondents were characterized by much lower sense of present and future security than that observed in Western countries, as well as by low satisfaction with standard of living and feeling part of the society. Job satisfaction and subjective well-being remain in strong relationship, and although it is difficult to determine the direction of these relationships, they seem to have a significant impact on each other.

Subjective and objective observation of skin graft recovery on Indonesian local cat with different periods of transplantation time

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erwin

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Aim: The success of a skin graft in a cat is highly dependent on the granulation formed by the base of recipient bed. Granulation by the base of recipient bed will form after several days after injury. This research aimed to observe subjective and objective profile of skin graft recovery on forelimb of cats with different periods of donor skin placement. Materials and Methods: Nine male Indonesian local cats aged 1-2 years old, weighing 3-4 kg were divided into three groups. The first surgery for creating defect wound of 2 cm×2 cm in size was performed in the whole group. The wound was left for several days with the respective interval for each group, respectively: Group I (for 2 days, Group II (for 4 days, and Group III (for 6 days. In the whole group, the second surgery was done by the harvesting skin of thoracic area which then applied on recipient bed of respective groups. Result: The donor skin on Group II was accepted faster compared to Group I and Group III. The donor skin did not show color differences compared to surrounding skin, painless, bright red in bleeding test had faster both hair growth and drug absorption. Test toward the size of donor skin and the effect of drugs did not show a significant difference between each group. Conclusion: The observe subjective and objective profile of skin graft recovery on forelimb of cats on Group II were accepted faster compared to Group I and III.

Selection Demands and Working Memory Mediate Interference during Naming

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julie W Hughes

2015-05-01

Analyzing RTs, we replicated previous SI effects in BCN in healthy subjects and patients (reported effects’ p’s < .05. Subjects responded more slowly to items in semantically related vs. unrelated groups, and this interference increased across cycles (evidence of increasing selection demands; Figures 1a/c. Indicative of WM, healthy subjects were faster to name items as the number of unrelated items to be named (i.e., remembered decreased. However, this was attenuated by selection demand, as there was no decrease in RTs across repeated related items (Figure 1b. Converging evidence from patients demonstrated more impaired selection capacity produced increasingly slower RTs across item positions within the related condition (high selection demand (Figure 1d. Larger WM capacity (rhyme probe but not category probe, p = .54 produced increasingly faster RTs across items positions in the unrelated condition (low selection demand (Figure 1e. Together, these findings suggest that both selection demand and phonological WM processes mediate interference during naming.

Click trains and the rate of information processing: does "speeding up" subjective time make other psychological processes run faster?

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Luke A; Allely, Clare S; Wearden, John H

2011-02-01

A series of experiments demonstrated that a 5-s train of clicks that have been shown in previous studies to increase the subjective duration of tones they precede (in a manner consistent with "speeding up" timing processes) could also have an effect on information-processing rate. Experiments used studies of simple and choice reaction time (Experiment 1), or mental arithmetic (Experiment 2). In general, preceding trials by clicks made response times significantly shorter than those for trials without clicks, but white noise had no effects on response times. Experiments 3 and 4 investigated the effects of clicks on performance on memory tasks, using variants of two classic experiments of cognitive psychology: Sperling's (1960) iconic memory task and Loftus, Johnson, and Shimamura's (1985) iconic masking task. In both experiments participants were able to recall or recognize significantly more information from stimuli preceded by clicks than those preceded by silence.

Comparison of MicroRNAs Mediated in Reactivation of the γ-Globin in β-Thalassemia Patients, Responders and Non-Responders to Hydroxyurea.

Science.gov (United States)

Hojjati, Mohammad T; Azarkeivan, Azita; Pourfathollah, Ali A; Amirizadeh, Naser

2017-03-01

Drug induction of Hb F seems to be an ideal therapy for patients with hemoglobin (Hb) disorders, and many efforts have been made to reveal the mechanism behind it. Thus, we examined in vivo expression of some microRNAs (miRNAs) that are thought to be involved in this process. Among β-thalassemia (β-thal) patients who were undergoing hydroxyurea (HU) therapy in the past 3 months and five healthy individuals, five responders and five non-responders, were also included in the study. Erythroid progenitors were isolated by magnetic activated cell sorting (MACS) and miRNA expression analyzed using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). We showed that γ-globin, miR-210 and miR-486-3p had higher levels in the responders than the non-responders group. Moreover, miR-150 and miR-320 had higher levels in the healthy group than both non-responders and responders groups, but the expression of miR-96 did not show any significant difference between the study groups. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study proposing that 'induction of cellular hypoxic condition by Hb F inducing agents' could be the milestone of possible mechanisms that explain why responders are able to reactivate γ-globin genes and subsequently, more production of Hb F, in response to these agents in comparison to non-responders. However, further investigations need to be performed to verify this hypothesis.

Two-ply channels for faster wicking in paper-based microfluidic devices.

Science.gov (United States)

Camplisson, Conor K; Schilling, Kevin M; Pedrotti, William L; Stone, Howard A; Martinez, Andres W

2015-12-07

This article describes the development of porous two-ply channels for paper-based microfluidic devices that wick fluids significantly faster than conventional, porous, single-ply channels. The two-ply channels were made by stacking two single-ply channels on top of each other and were fabricated entirely out of paper, wax and toner using two commercially available printers, a convection oven and a thermal laminator. The wicking in paper-based channels was studied and modeled using a modified Lucas-Washburn equation to account for the effect of evaporation, and a paper-based titration device incorporating two-ply channels was demonstrated.

Semantic Size Does Not Matter: “Bigger” Words Are Not Recognised Faster

OpenAIRE

Kang, Sean H.K.; Yap, Melvin J.; Tse, Chi-Shing; Kurby, Christopher A.

2011-01-01

Sereno, O’Donnell, and Sereno (2009) reported that words are recognised faster in a lexical decision task when their referents are physically large rather than small, suggesting that “semantic size” might be an important variable that should be considered in visual word recognition research and modelling. We sought to replicate their size effect, but failed to find a significant latency advantage in lexical decision for “big” words (cf. “small” words), even though we used the same word stimul...

Innovations for competitiveness: European views on "better-faster-cheaper"

Science.gov (United States)

Atzei, A.; Groepper, P.; Novara, M.; Pseiner, K.

1999-09-01

The paper elaborates on " lessons learned" from two recent ESA workshops, one focussing on the role of Innovation in the competitiveness of the space sector and the second on technology and engineering aspects conducive to better, faster and cheaper space programmes. The paper focuses primarily on four major aspects, namely: a) the adaptations of industrial and public organisations to the global market needs; b) the understanding of the bottleneck factors limiting competitiveness; c) the trends toward new system architectures and new engineering and production methods; d) the understanding of the role of new technology in the future applications. Under the pressure of market forces and the influence of many global and regional players, applications of space systems and technology are becoming more and more competitive. It is well recognised that without major effort for innovation in industrial practices, organisations, R&D, marketing and financial approaches the European space sector will stagnate and loose its competence as well as its competitiveness. It is also recognised that a programme run according to the "better, faster, cheaper" philosophy relies on much closer integration of system design, development and verification, and draws heavily on a robust and comprehensive programme of technology development, which must run in parallel and off-line with respect to flight programmes. A company's innovation capabilities will determine its future competitive advantage (in time, cost, performance or value) and overall growth potential. Innovation must be a process that can be counted on to provide repetitive, sustainable, long-term performance improvements. As such, it needs not depend on great breakthroughs in technology and concepts (which are accidental and rare). Rather, it could be based on bold evolution through the establishment of know-how, application of best practices, process effectiveness and high standards, performance measurement, and attention to

Subjective heat stress of urban citizens: influencing factors and coping strategies

Science.gov (United States)

Kunz-Plapp, Tina; Hackenbruch, Julia; Schipper, Hans

2014-05-01

Given urbanization trend and a higher probability of heat waves in Europe, heat discomfort or heat stress for the population in cities is a growing concern that is addressed from various perspectives, such as urban micro climate, urban and spatial planning, human health, work performance and economic impacts. This presentation focuses on subjective heat stress experienced by urban citizens. In order to better understand individual subjective heat stress of urban citizens and how different measures to cope with heat stress in everyday life are applied, a questionnaire survey was conducted in Karlsruhe, Germany. Karlsruhe is located in one of the warmest regions in Germany and holds the German temperature record of 40.2°C in August 2003. In 2013, two hot weather periods with continuous heat warnings by the German Weather Service for 7 and 8 days occurred during the last 10 days of July and first 10 days of August 2013 with an inofficial maximum temperature of again 40.2°C on July 27th in Karlsruhe (not taken by the official network of the German Weather Service). The survey data was collected in the six weeks after the heat using an online-questionnaire on the website of the South German Climate Office that was announced via newspapers and social media channels to reach a wide audience in Karlsruhe. The questionnaire was additionally sent as paper version to groups of senior citizens to ensure having enough respondents from this heat sensitive social group in the sample. The 428 respondents aged 17-94 show differences in subjective heat stress experienced at home, at work and during various typical activities in daily routine. They differ also in the measures they used to adjust to and cope with the heat such as drinking more, evading the heat, seeking cooler places, changing daily routines, or use of air condition. Differences in heat stress can be explained by housing type, age, subjective health status, employment, and different coping measures and strategies

Hexagonal undersampling for faster MRI near metallic implants.

Science.gov (United States)

Sveinsson, Bragi; Worters, Pauline W; Gold, Garry E; Hargreaves, Brian A

2015-02-01

Slice encoding for metal artifact correction acquires a three-dimensional image of each excited slice with view-angle tilting to reduce slice and readout direction artifacts respectively, but requires additional imaging time. The purpose of this study was to provide a technique for faster imaging around metallic implants by undersampling k-space. Assuming that areas of slice distortion are localized, hexagonal sampling can reduce imaging time by 50% compared with conventional scans. This work demonstrates this technique by comparisons of fully sampled images with undersampled images, either from simulations from fully acquired data or from data actually undersampled during acquisition, in patients and phantoms. Hexagonal sampling is also shown to be compatible with parallel imaging and partial Fourier acquisitions. Image quality was evaluated using a structural similarity (SSIM) index. Images acquired with hexagonal undersampling had no visible difference in artifact suppression from fully sampled images. The SSIM index indicated high similarity to fully sampled images in all cases. The study demonstrates the ability to reduce scan time by undersampling without compromising image quality. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Responding to Mechanical Antigravity

Science.gov (United States)

Millis, Marc G.; Thomas, Nicholas E.

2006-01-01

Based on the experiences of the NASA Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project, suggestions are offered for constructively responding to proposals that purport breakthrough propulsion using mechanical devices. Because of the relatively large number of unsolicited submissions received (about 1 per workday) and because many of these involve similar concepts, this report is offered to help the would-be submitters make genuine progress as well as to help reviewers respond to such submissions. Devices that use oscillating masses or gyroscope falsely appear to create net thrust through differential friction or by misinterpreting torques as linear forces. To cover both the possibility of an errant claim and a genuine discovery, reviews should require that submitters meet minimal thresholds of proof before engaging in further correspondence; such as achieving sustained deflection of a level-platform pendulum in the case of mechanical thrusters.

An Adaptive Neuromuscular Controller for Assistive Lower-Limb Exoskeletons: A Preliminary Study on Subjects with Spinal Cord Injury.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Amy R; Dzeladini, Florin; Brug, Tycho J H; Tamburella, Federica; Tagliamonte, Nevio L; van Asseldonk, Edwin H F; van der Kooij, Herman; Ijspeert, Auke J

2017-01-01

Versatility is important for a wearable exoskeleton controller to be responsive to both the user and the environment. These characteristics are especially important for subjects with spinal cord injury (SCI), where active recruitment of their own neuromuscular system could promote motor recovery. Here we demonstrate the capability of a novel, biologically-inspired neuromuscular controller (NMC) which uses dynamical models of lower limb muscles to assist the gait of SCI subjects. Advantages of this controller include robustness, modularity, and adaptability. The controller requires very few inputs (i.e., joint angles, stance, and swing detection), can be decomposed into relevant control modules (e.g., only knee or hip control), and can generate walking at different speeds and terrains in simulation. We performed a preliminary evaluation of this controller on a lower-limb knee and hip robotic gait trainer with seven subjects ( N = 7, four with complete paraplegia, two incomplete, one healthy) to determine if the NMC could enable normal-like walking. During the experiment, SCI subjects walked with body weight support on a treadmill and could use the handrails. With controller assistance, subjects were able to walk at fast walking speeds for ambulatory SCI subjects-from 0.6 to 1.4 m/s. Measured joint angles and NMC-provided joint torques agreed reasonably well with kinematics and biological joint torques of a healthy subject in shod walking. Some differences were found between the torques, such as the lack of knee flexion near mid-stance, but joint angle trajectories did not seem greatly affected. The NMC also adjusted its torque output to provide more joint work at faster speeds and thus greater joint angles and step length. We also found that the optimal speed-step length curve observed in healthy humans emerged for most of the subjects, albeit with relatively longer step length at faster speeds. Therefore, with very few sensors and no predefined settings for

Recruiting an Internet Panel Using Respondent-Driven Sampling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Schonlau Matthias

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Respondent-driven sampling (RDS is a network sampling technique typically employed for hard-to-reach populations when traditional sampling approaches are not feasible (e.g., homeless or do not work well (e.g., people with HIV. In RDS, seed respondents recruit additional respondents from their network of friends. The recruiting process repeats iteratively, thereby forming long referral chains.

Learning to Play in a Day: Faster Deep Reinforcement Learning by Optimality Tightening

OpenAIRE

He, Frank S.; Liu, Yang; Schwing, Alexander G.; Peng, Jian

2016-01-01

We propose a novel training algorithm for reinforcement learning which combines the strength of deep Q-learning with a constrained optimization approach to tighten optimality and encourage faster reward propagation. Our novel technique makes deep reinforcement learning more practical by drastically reducing the training time. We evaluate the performance of our approach on the 49 games of the challenging Arcade Learning Environment, and report significant improvements in both training time and...

Hebei Spirit Oil Spill Exposure and Subjective Symptoms in Residents Participating in Clean-Up Activities

OpenAIRE

Cheong, Hae-Kwan; Ha, Mina; Lee, Jong Seong; Kwon, Hojang; Ha, Eun-Hee; Hong, Yun-Chul; Choi, Yeyong; Jeong, Woo-Chul; Hur, Jongil; Lee, Seung-Min; Kim, Eun-Jung; Im, Hosub

2011-01-01

Objectives This study was conducted to examine the relationship between crude oil exposure and physical symptoms among residents participating in clean-up work associated with the Hebei Spirit oil spill, 2007 in Korea. Methods A total of 288 residents responded to a questionnaire regarding subjective physical symptoms, sociodemographic characteristics and clean-up activities that occurred between two and eight weeks after the accident. Additionally, the urine of 154 of the respondents was ana...

Efficacy and safety of a hyaluronic acid filler in subjects treated for correction of midface volume deficiency: a 24 month study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Callan P

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Peter Callan,1 Greg J Goodman,2 Ian Carlisle,3 Steven Liew,4 Peter Muzikants,5 Terrence Scamp,6 Michael B Halstead,7 John D Rogers71Peter Callan Plastic Surgery, Geelong, VIC, 2Dermatology Institute of Victoria, South Yarra, VIC, 3Erase Skin Rejuvenation Specialists, Malvern, VIC, 4Shape Clinic and Medispa, Darlinghurst, NSW, 5Ada Cosmetic Medicine, Glebe, NSW, 6Esteem Beauty and Day Spa, Main Beach, QLD, 7Allergan Medical Affairs, Gordon, ACT, AustraliaBackground: Hyaluronic acid (HA fillers are an established intervention for correcting facial volume deficiency. Few studies have evaluated treatment outcomes for longer than 6 months. The purpose of this study was to determine the durability of an HA filler in the correction of midface volume deficiency over 24 months, as independently evaluated by physician investigators and subjects.Methods: Subjects received treatment with Juvéderm™ Voluma™ to the malar area, based on the investigators' determination of baseline severity and aesthetic goals. The treatment was administered in one or two sessions over an initial 4-week period. Supplementary treatment was permissible at week 78, based on protocol-defined criteria. A clinically meaningful response was predefined as at least a one-point improvement on the MidFace Volume Deficit Scale (MFVDS and on the Global Aesthetic Improvement Scale (GAIS.Results: Of the 103 subjects enrolled, 84% had moderate or significant volume deficiency at baseline. At the first post-treatment evaluation (week 8, 96% were documented to be MFVDS responders, with 98% and 100% graded as GAIS responders when assessed by the subjects and investigators, respectively. At week 78, 81.7% of subjects were still MFVDS responders, with 73.2% and 78.1% being GAIS responders, respectively. Seventy-two subjects completed the 24-month study, of whom 45 did not receive supplementary Voluma™ at week 78. Forty-three of the 45 (95.6% subjects were MFVDS responders, with 82.2% and 91

Resilience among first responders | Pietrantoni | African Health ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Nine hundred and sixty-one first responders filled out an on-line questionnaire, containing measure of sense of community, collective efficacy, self-efficacy and work-related mental health outcomes (compassion fatigue, burnout and compassion satisfaction). Results. First responders reported high level of compassion ...

Dissociating indifferent, directional, and extreme responding in personality data

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zettler, Ingo; Lang, Jonas W B; Hülsheger, Ute R

2015-01-01

- and observer reports of personality traits. The three-process model captures indifferent, directional, and extreme responding. Substantively, we hypothesize that, and test whether, trait Honesty-Humility is negatively linked to extreme responding. METHOD: We applied the three-process model to personality data......-process model. Second, we show that the various response processes show a pattern of correlations across traits and rating sources which is in line with the idea that indifferent and extreme responding are person-specific tendencies, whereas directional responding is content-specific. Third, we report findings...... of N = 577 dyads (self- and observer reports of the HEXACO Personality Inventory-Revised) of Dutch and German respondents. RESULTS: First, we provide evidence that indifferent, directional, and extreme responding can be separated from each other in personality data through the use of the three...

National health expenditure projections, 2013-23: faster growth expected with expanded coverage and improving economy.

Science.gov (United States)

Sisko, Andrea M; Keehan, Sean P; Cuckler, Gigi A; Madison, Andrew J; Smith, Sheila D; Wolfe, Christian J; Stone, Devin A; Lizonitz, Joseph M; Poisal, John A

2014-10-01

In 2013 health spending growth is expected to have remained slow, at 3.6 percent, as a result of the sluggish economic recovery, the effects of sequestration, and continued increases in private health insurance cost-sharing requirements. The combined effects of the Affordable Care Act's coverage expansions, faster economic growth, and population aging are expected to fuel health spending growth this year and thereafter (5.6 percent in 2014 and 6.0 percent per year for 2015-23). However, the average rate of increase through 2023 is projected to be slower than the 7.2 percent average growth experienced during 1990-2008. Because health spending is projected to grow 1.1 percentage points faster than the average economic growth during 2013-23, the health share of the gross domestic product is expected to rise from 17.2 percent in 2012 to 19.3 percent in 2023. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

WS-020: EPR-First Responders: Cards of response measures for first responders

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2011-01-01

The purpose of this working session is that the participants know how to use the cards of response measures for first responders. In a radiological emergency is useful to have cards which contains a list of the steps to be followed as well as the protection instructions and risk evaluation

The level of job satisfaction and its relation to midwives' subjective quality of life

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Beata Babiarczyk

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Background: According to the so called Transactional Model of Quality of Life, job satisfaction is a part of subjective well-being. The aim of this study was to explore the relationships between professional commitment, expressed as job satisfaction or dissatisfaction, consideration of leaving the profession or/and workplace, and subjective assessment of well-being among midwives working at hospitals. Materials and Methods: The study was a part of the international research project, coordinated by the University of Ostrava. The group of respondents consisted of 176 midwives working at selected hospitals in the Silesian region. The study was conducted using the method of diagnostic survey, questionnaire techniques and standardized research tools, such as McCloskey/Mueller Satisfaction Scale (MMSS, Personal Wellbeing Index-Adult (PWI-A and Subjective Emotional Habitual Wellbeing Scale (SEHP. Results: The overall midwives' job satisfaction was found to be at a medium level. Respondents less satisfied with various aspects of work (interaction, co-workers, professional opportunities, praise/recognition, control/responsibility and life (standard of living and achievements in life were significantly more often considering changing their jobs. Dissatisfaction with the extrinsic rewards (salary, vacation, benefits package had additionally influenced the frequency of considering changing the profession. The respondents were characterized by much lower sense of present and future security than that observed in Western countries, as well as by low satisfaction with standard of living and feeling part of the society. Conclusions: Job satisfaction and subjective well-being remain in strong relationship, and although it is difficult to determine the direction of these relationships, they seem to have a significant impact on each other. Med Pr 2014;65(1:99–108

Careless responding in internet-based quality of life assessments.

Science.gov (United States)

Schneider, Stefan; May, Marcella; Stone, Arthur A

2018-04-01

Quality of life (QoL) measurement relies upon participants providing meaningful responses, but not all respondents may pay sufficient attention when completing self-reported QoL measures. This study examined the impact of careless responding on the reliability and validity of Internet-based QoL assessments. Internet panelists (n = 2000) completed Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS®) short-forms (depression, fatigue, pain impact, applied cognitive abilities) and single-item QoL measures (global health, pain intensity) as part of a larger survey that included multiple checks of whether participants paid attention to the items. Latent class analysis was used to identify groups of non-careless and careless responders from the attentiveness checks. Analyses compared psychometric properties of the QoL measures (reliability of PROMIS short-forms, correlations among QoL scores, "known-groups" validity) between non-careless and careless responder groups. Whether person-fit statistics derived from PROMIS measures accurately discriminated careless and non-careless responders was also examined. About 7.4% of participants were classified as careless responders. No substantial differences in the reliability of PROMIS measures between non-careless and careless responder groups were observed. However, careless responding meaningfully and significantly affected the correlations among QoL domains, as well as the magnitude of differences in QoL between medical and disability groups (presence or absence of disability, depression diagnosis, chronic pain diagnosis). Person-fit statistics significantly and moderately distinguished between non-careless and careless responders. The results support the importance of identifying and screening out careless responders to ensure high-quality self-report data in Internet-based QoL research.

Efficacy of Stochastic Vestibular Stimulation to Improve Locomotor Performance During Adaptation to Visuomotor and Somatosensory Distortion.

Science.gov (United States)

Temple, David R; De Dios, Yiri E; Layne, Charles S; Bloomberg, Jacob J; Mulavara, Ajitkumar P

2018-01-01

Astronauts exposed to microgravity face sensorimotor challenges affecting balance control when readapting to Earth's gravity upon return from spaceflight. Small amounts of electrical noise applied to the vestibular system have been shown to improve balance control during standing and walking under discordant sensory conditions in healthy subjects, likely by enhancing information transfer through the phenomenon of stochastic resonance. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that imperceptible levels of stochastic vestibular stimulation (SVS) could improve short-term adaptation to a locomotor task in a novel sensory discordant environment. Healthy subjects (14 males, 10 females, age = 28.7 ± 5.3 years, height = 167.2 ± 9.6 cm, weight = 71.0 ± 12.8 kg) were tested for perceptual thresholds to sinusoidal currents applied across the mastoids. Subjects were then randomly and blindly assigned to an SVS group receiving a 0-30 Hz Gaussian white noise electrical stimulus at 50% of their perceptual threshold (stim) or a control group receiving zero stimulation during Functional Mobility Tests (FMTs), nine trials of which were done under conditions of visual discordance (wearing up/down vision reversing goggles). Time to complete the course (TCC) was used to test the effect of SVS between the two groups across the trials. Adaptation rates from the normalized TCCs were also compared utilizing exponent values of power fit trendline equations. A one-tailed independent-samples t -test indicated these adaptation rates were significantly faster in the stim group ( n = 12) than the control ( n = 12) group [ t (16.18) = 2.00, p = 0.031]. When a secondary analysis was performed comparing "responders" (subjects who showed faster adaptation rates) of the stim ( n = 7) group to the control group ( n = 12), independent-samples t -tests revealed significantly faster trial times for the last five trials with goggles in the stim group "responders" than the controls. The data

Recruitment of faster motor units is associated with greater rates of fascicle strain and rapid changes in muscle force during locomotion.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Sabrina S M; de Boef Miara, Maria; Arnold, Allison S; Biewener, Andrew A; Wakeling, James M

2013-01-15

Animals modulate the power output needed for different locomotor tasks by changing muscle forces and fascicle strain rates. To generate the necessary forces, appropriate motor units must be recruited. Faster motor units have faster activation-deactivation rates than slower motor units, and they contract at higher strain rates; therefore, recruitment of faster motor units may be advantageous for tasks that involve rapid movements or high rates of work. This study identified motor unit recruitment patterns in the gastrocnemii muscles of goats and examined whether faster motor units are recruited when locomotor speed is increased. The study also examined whether locomotor tasks that elicit faster (or slower) motor units are associated with increased (or decreased) in vivo tendon forces, force rise and relaxation rates, fascicle strains and/or strain rates. Electromyography (EMG), sonomicrometry and muscle-tendon force data were collected from the lateral and medial gastrocnemius muscles of goats during level walking, trotting and galloping and during inclined walking and trotting. EMG signals were analyzed using wavelet and principal component analyses to quantify changes in the EMG frequency spectra across the different locomotor conditions. Fascicle strain and strain rate were calculated from the sonomicrometric data, and force rise and relaxation rates were determined from the tendon force data. The results of this study showed that faster motor units were recruited as goats increased their locomotor speeds from level walking to galloping. Slow inclined walking elicited EMG intensities similar to those of fast level galloping but different EMG frequency spectra, indicating that recruitment of the different motor unit types depended, in part, on characteristics of the task. For the locomotor tasks and muscles analyzed here, recruitment patterns were generally associated with in vivo fascicle strain rates, EMG intensity and tendon force. Together, these data provide

Recruitment of faster motor units is associated with greater rates of fascicle strain and rapid changes in muscle force during locomotion

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Sabrina S. M.; de Boef Miara, Maria; Arnold, Allison S.; Biewener, Andrew A.; Wakeling, James M.

2013-01-01

SUMMARY Animals modulate the power output needed for different locomotor tasks by changing muscle forces and fascicle strain rates. To generate the necessary forces, appropriate motor units must be recruited. Faster motor units have faster activation–deactivation rates than slower motor units, and they contract at higher strain rates; therefore, recruitment of faster motor units may be advantageous for tasks that involve rapid movements or high rates of work. This study identified motor unit recruitment patterns in the gastrocnemii muscles of goats and examined whether faster motor units are recruited when locomotor speed is increased. The study also examined whether locomotor tasks that elicit faster (or slower) motor units are associated with increased (or decreased) in vivo tendon forces, force rise and relaxation rates, fascicle strains and/or strain rates. Electromyography (EMG), sonomicrometry and muscle-tendon force data were collected from the lateral and medial gastrocnemius muscles of goats during level walking, trotting and galloping and during inclined walking and trotting. EMG signals were analyzed using wavelet and principal component analyses to quantify changes in the EMG frequency spectra across the different locomotor conditions. Fascicle strain and strain rate were calculated from the sonomicrometric data, and force rise and relaxation rates were determined from the tendon force data. The results of this study showed that faster motor units were recruited as goats increased their locomotor speeds from level walking to galloping. Slow inclined walking elicited EMG intensities similar to those of fast level galloping but different EMG frequency spectra, indicating that recruitment of the different motor unit types depended, in part, on characteristics of the task. For the locomotor tasks and muscles analyzed here, recruitment patterns were generally associated with in vivo fascicle strain rates, EMG intensity and tendon force. Together, these

An Adaptive Neuromuscular Controller for Assistive Lower-Limb Exoskeletons: A Preliminary Study on Subjects with Spinal Cord Injury

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Amy R.; Dzeladini, Florin; Brug, Tycho J. H.; Tamburella, Federica; Tagliamonte, Nevio L.; van Asseldonk, Edwin H. F.; van der Kooij, Herman; Ijspeert, Auke J.

2017-01-01

Versatility is important for a wearable exoskeleton controller to be responsive to both the user and the environment. These characteristics are especially important for subjects with spinal cord injury (SCI), where active recruitment of their own neuromuscular system could promote motor recovery. Here we demonstrate the capability of a novel, biologically-inspired neuromuscular controller (NMC) which uses dynamical models of lower limb muscles to assist the gait of SCI subjects. Advantages of this controller include robustness, modularity, and adaptability. The controller requires very few inputs (i.e., joint angles, stance, and swing detection), can be decomposed into relevant control modules (e.g., only knee or hip control), and can generate walking at different speeds and terrains in simulation. We performed a preliminary evaluation of this controller on a lower-limb knee and hip robotic gait trainer with seven subjects (N = 7, four with complete paraplegia, two incomplete, one healthy) to determine if the NMC could enable normal-like walking. During the experiment, SCI subjects walked with body weight support on a treadmill and could use the handrails. With controller assistance, subjects were able to walk at fast walking speeds for ambulatory SCI subjects—from 0.6 to 1.4 m/s. Measured joint angles and NMC-provided joint torques agreed reasonably well with kinematics and biological joint torques of a healthy subject in shod walking. Some differences were found between the torques, such as the lack of knee flexion near mid-stance, but joint angle trajectories did not seem greatly affected. The NMC also adjusted its torque output to provide more joint work at faster speeds and thus greater joint angles and step length. We also found that the optimal speed-step length curve observed in healthy humans emerged for most of the subjects, albeit with relatively longer step length at faster speeds. Therefore, with very few sensors and no predefined settings for

An Adaptive Neuromuscular Controller for Assistive Lower-Limb Exoskeletons: A Preliminary Study on Subjects with Spinal Cord Injury

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amy R. Wu

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Versatility is important for a wearable exoskeleton controller to be responsive to both the user and the environment. These characteristics are especially important for subjects with spinal cord injury (SCI, where active recruitment of their own neuromuscular system could promote motor recovery. Here we demonstrate the capability of a novel, biologically-inspired neuromuscular controller (NMC which uses dynamical models of lower limb muscles to assist the gait of SCI subjects. Advantages of this controller include robustness, modularity, and adaptability. The controller requires very few inputs (i.e., joint angles, stance, and swing detection, can be decomposed into relevant control modules (e.g., only knee or hip control, and can generate walking at different speeds and terrains in simulation. We performed a preliminary evaluation of this controller on a lower-limb knee and hip robotic gait trainer with seven subjects (N = 7, four with complete paraplegia, two incomplete, one healthy to determine if the NMC could enable normal-like walking. During the experiment, SCI subjects walked with body weight support on a treadmill and could use the handrails. With controller assistance, subjects were able to walk at fast walking speeds for ambulatory SCI subjects—from 0.6 to 1.4 m/s. Measured joint angles and NMC-provided joint torques agreed reasonably well with kinematics and biological joint torques of a healthy subject in shod walking. Some differences were found between the torques, such as the lack of knee flexion near mid-stance, but joint angle trajectories did not seem greatly affected. The NMC also adjusted its torque output to provide more joint work at faster speeds and thus greater joint angles and step length. We also found that the optimal speed-step length curve observed in healthy humans emerged for most of the subjects, albeit with relatively longer step length at faster speeds. Therefore, with very few sensors and no predefined

Fast Physics Testbed for the FASTER Project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lin, W.; Liu, Y.; Hogan, R.; Neggers, R.; Jensen, M.; Fridlind, A.; Lin, Y.; Wolf, A.

2010-03-15

This poster describes the Fast Physics Testbed for the new FAst-physics System Testbed and Research (FASTER) project. The overall objective is to provide a convenient and comprehensive platform for fast turn-around model evaluation against ARM observations and to facilitate development of parameterizations for cloud-related fast processes represented in global climate models. The testbed features three major components: a single column model (SCM) testbed, an NWP-Testbed, and high-resolution modeling (HRM). The web-based SCM-Testbed features multiple SCMs from major climate modeling centers and aims to maximize the potential of SCM approach to enhance and accelerate the evaluation and improvement of fast physics parameterizations through continuous evaluation of existing and evolving models against historical as well as new/improved ARM and other complementary measurements. The NWP-Testbed aims to capitalize on the large pool of operational numerical weather prediction products. Continuous evaluations of NWP forecasts against observations at ARM sites are carried out to systematically identify the biases and skills of physical parameterizations under all weather conditions. The highresolution modeling (HRM) activities aim to simulate the fast processes at high resolution to aid in the understanding of the fast processes and their parameterizations. A four-tier HRM framework is established to augment the SCM- and NWP-Testbeds towards eventual improvement of the parameterizations.

Responder Technology Alert Monthly (Oct-Nov 2014)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Upton, Jaki F. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Stein, Steven L. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

2015-01-21

As part of technology foraging for the Responder Technology Alliance, established by the Department of Homeland Science and Technologies First Responders Group, this report summarizes technologies that are relevant in the area of “wearables,” with the potential for use by first responders. The content was collected over the previous month(s) and reproduced from a general Internet search using the term wearables. Additional information is available at the websites provided. This report is not meant to be an exhaustive list nor an endorsement of any technology described herein. Rather, it is meant to provide useful information about current developments in the areas wearable technology.

Behavior of prestressed concrete subjected to low temperatures and cyclic loading

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berner, D.E.

1984-01-01

Concrete has exhibited excellent behavior in cryogenic containment vessels for several decades under essentially static conditions. Tests were conducted to determine the response of prestressed lightweight concrete subjected to high-intensity cyclic loading and simultaneous cryogenic thermal shock, simulating the relatively dynamic conditions encountered offshore or in seismic areas. Lightweight concrete has several attractive properties for cryogenic service including: (1) very low permeability, (2) good strain capacity, (3) relatively low thermal conductivity, and (4) a low modulus of elasticity. Experimental results indicated that the mechanical properties of plain lightweight concrete significantly increase with moisture content at low temperatures, while cyclic loading fatigue effects are reduced at low temperatures. Also, tests on uniaxially and on biaxially prestressed lightweight concrete both indicate that the test specimens performed well under severe cyclic loading and cryogenic thermal shock with only moderate reduction in flexural stiffness. Supplementary tests conducted in this study indicate that conventionally reinforced concrete degrades significantly faster than prestressed concrete when subjected to cyclic loading and thermal shock

Multispectral Image Enhancement Through Adaptive Wavelet Fusion

Science.gov (United States)

2016-09-14

Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a...faster reaction times and ultimately improved situational awareness (Toet et al., 2014). A crucial step in this coloring process is the choice of a...better match the natural daytime colors. Reference (c.q. deliverable) Hogervorst, M.A., & Toet, A. (2016). Improved Colour Matching Technique

Faster-than-real-time robot simulation for plan development and robot safety

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Crane, C.D. III; Dalton, R.; Ogles, J.; Tulenko, J.S.; Zhou, X.

1990-01-01

The University of Florida, in cooperation with the Universities of Texas, Tennessee, and Michigan and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), is developing an advanced robotic system for the US Department of Energy under the University Program for Robotics for Advanced Reactors. As part of this program, the University of Florida has been pursuing the development of a faster-than-real-time robotic simulation program for planning and control of mobile robotic operations to ensure the efficient and safe operation of mobile robots in nuclear power plants and other hazardous environments

Faster algorithms for RNA-folding using the Four-Russians method.

Science.gov (United States)

Venkatachalam, Balaji; Gusfield, Dan; Frid, Yelena

2014-03-06

The secondary structure that maximizes the number of non-crossing matchings between complimentary bases of an RNA sequence of length n can be computed in O(n3) time using Nussinov's dynamic programming algorithm. The Four-Russians method is a technique that reduces the running time for certain dynamic programming algorithms by a multiplicative factor after a preprocessing step where solutions to all smaller subproblems of a fixed size are exhaustively enumerated and solved. Frid and Gusfield designed an O(n3logn) algorithm for RNA folding using the Four-Russians technique. In their algorithm the preprocessing is interleaved with the algorithm computation. We simplify the algorithm and the analysis by doing the preprocessing once prior to the algorithm computation. We call this the two-vector method. We also show variants where instead of exhaustive preprocessing, we only solve the subproblems encountered in the main algorithm once and memoize the results. We give a simple proof of correctness and explore the practical advantages over the earlier method.The Nussinov algorithm admits an O(n2) time parallel algorithm. We show a parallel algorithm using the two-vector idea that improves the time bound to O(n2logn). We have implemented the parallel algorithm on graphics processing units using the CUDA platform. We discuss the organization of the data structures to exploit coalesced memory access for fast running times. The ideas to organize the data structures also help in improving the running time of the serial algorithms. For sequences of length up to 6000 bases the parallel algorithm takes only about 2.5 seconds and the two-vector serial method takes about 57 seconds on a desktop and 15 seconds on a server. Among the serial algorithms, the two-vector and memoized versions are faster than the Frid-Gusfield algorithm by a factor of 3, and are faster than Nussinov by up to a factor of 20. The source-code for the algorithms is available at http://github.com/ijalabv/FourRussiansRNAFolding.

Cognitive aspects of haptic form recognition by blind and sighted subjects.

Science.gov (United States)

Bailes, S M; Lambert, R M

1986-11-01

Studies using haptic form recognition tasks have generally concluded that the adventitiously blind perform better than the congenitally blind, implicating the importance of early visual experience in improved spatial functioning. The hypothesis was tested that the adventitiously blind have retained some ability to encode successive information obtained haptically in terms of a global visual representation, while the congenitally blind use a coding system based on successive inputs. Eighteen blind (adventitiously and congenitally) and 18 sighted (blindfolded and performing with vision) subjects were tested on their recognition of raised line patterns when the standard was presented in segments: in immediate succession, or with unfilled intersegmental delays of 5, 10, or 15 seconds. The results did not support the above hypothesis. Three main findings were obtained: normally sighted subjects were both faster and more accurate than the other groups; all groups improved in accuracy of recognition as a function of length of interstimulus interval; sighted subjects tended to report using strategies with a strong verbal component while the blind tended to rely on imagery coding. These results are explained in terms of information-processing theory consistent with dual encoding systems in working memory.

Acute Chemical Incidents With Injured First Responders, 2002-2012.

Science.gov (United States)

Melnikova, Natalia; Wu, Jennifer; Yang, Alice; Orr, Maureen

2018-04-01

IntroductionFirst responders, including firefighters, police officers, emergency medical services, and company emergency response team members, have dangerous jobs that can bring them in contact with hazardous chemicals among other dangers. Limited information is available on responder injuries that occur during hazardous chemical incidents. We analyzed 2002-2012 data on acute chemical incidents with injured responders from 2 Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry chemical incident surveillance programs. To learn more about such injuries, we performed descriptive analysis and looked for trends. The percentage of responders among all injured people in chemical incidents has not changed over the years. Firefighters were the most frequently injured group of responders, followed by police officers. Respiratory system problems were the most often reported injury, and the respiratory irritants, ammonia, methamphetamine-related chemicals, and carbon monoxide were the chemicals more often associated with injuries. Most of the incidents with responder injuries were caused by human error or equipment failure. Firefighters wore personal protective equipment (PPE) most frequently and police officers did so rarely. Police officers' injuries were mostly associated with exposure to ammonia and methamphetamine-related chemicals. Most responders did not receive basic awareness-level hazardous material training. All responders should have at least basic awareness-level hazardous material training to recognize and avoid exposure. Research on improving firefighter PPE should continue. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;12:211-221).

First Responders Guide to Computer Forensics: Advanced Topics

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Nolan, Richard; Baker, Marie; Branson, Jake; Hammerstein, Josh; Rush, Kris; Waits, Cal; Schweinsberg, Elizabeth

2005-01-01

First Responders Guide to Computer Forensics: Advanced Topics expands on the technical material presented in SEI handbook CMU/SEI-2005-HB-001, First Responders Guide to Computer Forensics [Nolan 05...

The Development of Future Orientation is Associated with Faster Decline in Hopelessness during Adolescence.

Science.gov (United States)

Mac Giollabhui, Naoise; Nielsen, Johanna; Seidman, Sam; Olino, Thomas M; Abramson, Lyn Y; Alloy, Lauren B

2018-01-05

Hopelessness is implicated in multiple psychological disorders. Little is known, however, about the trajectory of hopelessness during adolescence or how emergent future orientation may influence its trajectory. Parallel process latent growth curve modelling tested whether (i) trajectories of future orientation and hopelessness and (ii) within-individual change in future orientation and hopelessness were related. The study was comprised of 472 adolescents [52% female, 47% Caucasian, 47% received free lunch] recruited at ages 12-13 who completed measures of future orientation and hopelessness at five annual assessments. The results indicate that a general decline in hopelessness across adolescence occurs quicker for those experiencing faster development of future orientation, when controlling for age, sex, low socio-economic status in addition to stressful life events in childhood and adolescence. Stressful childhood life events were associated with worse future orientation at baseline and negative life events experienced during adolescence were associated with both an increase in the trajectory of hopelessness as well as a decrease in the trajectory of future orientation. This study provides compelling evidence that the development of future orientation during adolescence is associated with a faster decline in hopelessness.

Ear Detection under Uncontrolled Conditions with Multiple Scale Faster Region-Based Convolutional Neural Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yi Zhang

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Ear detection is an important step in ear recognition approaches. Most existing ear detection techniques are based on manually designing features or shallow learning algorithms. However, researchers found that the pose variation, occlusion, and imaging conditions provide a great challenge to the traditional ear detection methods under uncontrolled conditions. This paper proposes an efficient technique involving Multiple Scale Faster Region-based Convolutional Neural Networks (Faster R-CNN to detect ears from 2D profile images in natural images automatically. Firstly, three regions of different scales are detected to infer the information about the ear location context within the image. Then an ear region filtering approach is proposed to extract the correct ear region and eliminate the false positives automatically. In an experiment with a test set of 200 web images (with variable photographic conditions, 98% of ears were accurately detected. Experiments were likewise conducted on the Collection J2 of University of Notre Dame Biometrics Database (UND-J2 and University of Beira Interior Ear dataset (UBEAR, which contain large occlusion, scale, and pose variations. Detection rates of 100% and 98.22%, respectively, demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Consistently low prevalence of syphilis among female sex workers in Jinan, China: findings from two consecutive respondent driven sampling surveys.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Meizhen Liao

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Routine surveillance using convenient sampling found low prevalence of HIV and syphilis among female sex workers in China. Two consecutive surveys using respondent driven sampling were conducted in 2008 and 2009 to examine the prevalence of HIV and syphilis among female sex workers in Jinan, China. METHODS: A face-to-face interview was conducted to collect demographic, behavioral and service utilization information using a structured questionnaire. Blood samples were drawn for serological tests of HIV-1 antibody and syphilis antibody. Respondent Driven Sampling Analysis Tool was used to generate population level estimates. RESULTS: In 2008 and in 2009, 363 and 432 subjects were recruited and surveyed respectively. Prevalence of syphilis was 2.8% in 2008 and 2.2% in 2009, while no HIV case was found in both years. Results are comparable to those from routine sentinel surveillance system in the city. Only 60.8% subjects in 2008 and 48.3% in 2009 reported a consistent condom use with clients during the past month. Over 50% subjects had not been covered by any HIV-related services in the past year, with only 15.6% subjects in 2008 and 13.1% in 2009 ever tested for HIV. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the low prevalence of syphilis and HIV, risk behaviors are common. Targeted interventions to promote the safe sex and utilization of existing intervention services are still needed to keep the epidemic from growing.

Identifying Armed Respondents to Domestic Violence Restraining Orders and Recovering Their Firearms: Process Evaluation of an Initiative in California

Science.gov (United States)

Frattaroli, Shannon; Claire, Barbara E.; Vittes, Katherine A.; Webster, Daniel W.

2014-01-01

Objectives. We evaluated a law enforcement initiative to screen respondents to domestic violence restraining orders for firearm ownership or possession and recover their firearms. Methods. The initiative was implemented in San Mateo and Butte counties in California from 2007 through 2010. We used descriptive methods to evaluate the screening process and recovery effort in each county, relying on records for individual cases. Results. Screening relied on an archive of firearm transactions, court records, and petitioner interviews; no single source was adequate. Screening linked 525 respondents (17.7%) in San Mateo County to firearms; 405 firearms were recovered from 119 (22.7%) of them. In Butte County, 88 (31.1%) respondents were linked to firearms; 260 firearms were recovered from 45 (51.1%) of them. Nonrecovery occurred most often when orders were never served or respondents denied having firearms. There were no reports of serious violence or injury. Conclusions. Recovering firearms from persons subject to domestic violence restraining orders is possible. We have identified design and implementation changes that may improve the screening process and the yield from recovery efforts. Larger implementation trials are needed. PMID:24328660

Student's Readiness Level towards Implementation of paper 3 Subject History

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Siti Aishah Suhaimi

2017-11-01

Full Text Available This study focuses on the student towards paper implementation 3 subject of history. This study use where survey research design as many as 50 from respondent 4 in School orchid, Cheras, chosen by gregarious sample and use instrument in obtaining quantitative data. This research using Social learning theory Albert Bandura, theory of constructivism and also Bloom's Taxonomy model. Data analyzed by using Excel Microsoft software 2010 (Statistic pack 2.0 (SPSS. Finding of correlation analysis show there is a significant relationship between student attitude approach with students’ knowledge towards paper of 3 history subject (r, =.846=, n=50, p<.0.5. Therefore, the paper 3 subject of history is seen as platform that is able to increase the understanding and performance of students in the general history often associated with subjects that are boring and hard to get better performance by students in examinations due to lack of interest, learning techniques are obsolete and inadequate learning.

Investigating Empathy-Like Responding to Conspecifics' Distress in Pet Dogs.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mylene Quervel-Chaumette

Full Text Available Empathy covers a wide range of phenomena varying according to the degree of cognitive complexity involved; ranging from emotional contagion, defined as the sharing of others' emotional states, to sympathetic concern requiring animals to have an appraisal of the others' situation and showing concern-like behaviors. While most studies have investigated how animals reacted in response to conspecifics' distress, dogs so far have mainly been targeted to examine cross-species empathic responses. To investigate whether dogs would respond with empathy-like behavior also to conspecifics, we adopted a playback method using conspecifics' vocalizations (whines recorded during a distressful event as well as control sounds. Our subjects were first exposed to a playback phase where they were subjected either to a control sound, a familiar whine (from their familiar partner or a stranger whine stimulus (from a stranger dog, and then a reunion phase where the familiar partner entered the room. When exposed to whines, dogs showed a higher behavioral alertness and exhibited more stress-related behaviors compared to when exposed to acoustically similar control sounds. Moreover, they demonstrated more comfort-offering behaviors toward their familiar partners following whine playbacks than after control stimuli. Furthermore, when looking at the first session, this comfort offering was biased towards the familiar partner when subjects were previously exposed to the familiar compared to the stranger whines. Finally, familiar whine stimuli tended to maintain higher cortisol levels while stranger whines did not. To our knowledge, these results are the first to suggest that dogs can experience and demonstrate "empathic-like" responses to conspecifics' distress-calls.

Hand 'stress' arthritis in young subjects: effects of Flexiqule (pharma-standard Boswellia extract). A preliminary case report.

Science.gov (United States)

Belcaro, G; Feragalli, B; Cornelli, U; Dugall, M

2015-10-22

This case report (supplement registry study) evaluated subjects with painful 'stress' arthritis of the hand mainly localized at the joints. The patients received a suggestion to follow a rehabilitation plan (standard management; SM). A second group also used the same SM in association with the oral, pharma-standard supplement FlexiQule (Alchem) a new standardized, phytosomal preparation manufactured from the Boswellia plant, which can be used for self-management in inflammatory conditions (150 mg / 3 times daily). The two resulting registry groups included 12 subjects using SM+Flexiqule and and 11 controls (SM only). The groups were comparable. Serology showed no significant alterations: only ESR was slightly elevated (minimal elevation). After 2 weeks, the ESR was normal in the supplement group and mildly elevated in controls (p<0.05%). The decrease in hypertermic areas was greater/faster (p<0.05) in the supplement group. The identification of a working stress and the localization to the dominant hand was comparable in both groups. At 2 weeks, the decrease in pain was significantly faster and more important with the supplement (p<0.05). The hand became more usable in time and the score was better with the supplement (p<0.05). No supplemented patient had to use other drugs, while in the control group 3 subjects eventually used NSAIDs to control pain and stiffness and one used corticosteroids. In conclusion, the natural extract Flexiqule was effective in controlling work-related stress arthritis (without inflammaìtory signs) over a 2 weeks period, better than only Standard Management. More prolonged and larger studies are needed.

Differential Responding by Rhesus Monkeys (Macaca mulatta and Humans (Homo sapiens to Variable Outcomes in the Assurance Game

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Audrey E. Parrish

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Behavioral flexibility in how one responds to variable partner play can be examined using economic coordination games in which subjects play against a variety of partners and therefore may need to alter their behavior to produce the highest payoff. But how do we study this behavioral flexibility once players have settled on a response? Here, we investigated how responding by rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta and humans (Homo sapiens playing a computerized single-player version of a coordination game, the Assurance game, changed as a function of the variable responses (Stag/Hare generated by multiple simulations (SIMs. We were interested in whether individuals could track and differentially respond to changing frequencies of Stag and Hare play by the SIMs, especially with regard to the payoff dominant (Stag-Stag outcome, something that could not be done with real partners as they quickly settled on the Stag response. For both monkeys and humans, there was a linear relationship between proportion of Stag play by the subject and the likelihood of the Stag choice by the SIM such that both species increased their use of Stag as the SIM increased its use of the Stag response. However, humans more closely matched their proportion of Stag responses to that of the SIM, whereas monkeys adopted a different, but equally effective, strategy of exploiting the higher-paying Stag alternative. These results suggest that monkeys and humans demonstrate sensitivity to a dynamic game environment in which they encounter variable contingencies for the same response options, although they may employ different strategies to maximize reward.

Gender differences associated with orienting attentional networks in healthy subjects

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

LIU Gang; HU Pan-pan; FAN Jin; WANG Kai

2013-01-01

Background Selective attention is considered one of the main components of cognitive functioning.A number of studies have demonstrated gender differences in cognition.This study aimed to investigate the gender differences in selective attention in healthy subjects.Methods The present experiment examined the gender differences associated with the efficiency of three attentional networks:alerting,orienting,and executive control attention in 73 healthy subjects (38 males).All participants performed a modified version of the Attention Network Test (ANT).Results Females had higher orienting scores than males (t=2.172,P ＜0.05).Specifically,females were faster at covert orienting of attention to a spatially cued location.There were no gender differences between males and females in alerting (t=0.813,P ＞0.05) and executive control (t=0.945,P ＞0.05) attention networks.Conclusions There was a significant gender difference between males and females associated with the orienting network.Enhanced orienting attention in females may function to motivate females to direct their attention to a spatially cued location.

Faster native vowel discrimination learning in musicians is mediated by an optimization of mnemonic functions.

Science.gov (United States)

Elmer, Stefan; Greber, Marielle; Pushparaj, Arethy; Kühnis, Jürg; Jäncke, Lutz

2017-09-01

The ability to discriminate phonemes varying in spectral and temporal attributes constitutes one of the most basic intrinsic elements underlying language learning mechanisms. Since previous work has consistently shown that professional musicians are characterized by perceptual and cognitive advantages in a variety of language-related tasks, and since vowels can be considered musical sounds within the domain of speech, here we investigated the behavioral and electrophysiological correlates of native vowel discrimination learning in a sample of professional musicians and non-musicians. We evaluated the contribution of both the neurophysiological underpinnings of perceptual (i.e., N1/P2 complex) and mnemonic functions (i.e., N400 and P600 responses) while the participants were instructed to judge whether pairs of native consonant-vowel (CV) syllables manipulated in the first formant transition of the vowel (i.e., from /tu/ to /to/) were identical or not. Results clearly demonstrated faster learning in musicians, compared to non-musicians, as reflected by shorter reaction times and higher accuracy. Most notably, in terms of morphology, time course, and voltage strength, this steeper learning curve was accompanied by distinctive N400 and P600 manifestations between the two groups. In contrast, we did not reveal any group differences during the early stages of auditory processing (i.e., N1/P2 complex), suggesting that faster learning was mediated by an optimization of mnemonic but not perceptual functions. Based on a clear taxonomy of the mnemonic functions involved in the task, results are interpreted as pointing to a relationship between faster learning mechanisms in musicians and an optimization of echoic (i.e., N400 component) and working memory (i.e., P600 component) functions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dopamine D2/3- and μ-opioid receptor antagonists reduce cue-induced responding and reward impulsivity in humans.

Science.gov (United States)

Weber, S C; Beck-Schimmer, B; Kajdi, M-E; Müller, D; Tobler, P N; Quednow, B B

2016-07-05

Increased responding to drug-associated stimuli (cue reactivity) and an inability to tolerate delayed gratification (reward impulsivity) have been implicated in the development and maintenance of drug addiction. Whereas data from animal studies suggest that both the dopamine and opioid system are involved in these two reward-related processes, their role in humans is less clear. Moreover, dopaminergic and opioidergic drugs have not been directly compared with regard to these functions, even though a deeper understanding of the underlying mechanisms might inform the development of specific treatments for elevated cue reactivity and reward impulsivity. In a randomized, double-blind, between-subject design we administered the selective dopamine D2/D3 receptor antagonist amisulpride (400 mg, n=41), the unspecific opioid receptor antagonist naltrexone (50 mg, n=40) or placebo (n=40) to healthy humans and measured cue-induced responding with a Pavlovian-instrumental transfer task and reward impulsivity with a delay discounting task. Mood was assessed using a visual analogue scale. Compared with placebo, amisulpride significantly suppressed cue-induced responding and reward impulsivity. The effects of naltrexone were similar, although less pronounced. Both amisulpride and naltrexone decreased average mood ratings compared with placebo. Our results demonstrate that a selective blockade of dopamine D2/D3 receptors reduces cue-induced responding and reward impulsivity in healthy humans. Antagonizing μ-opioid receptors has similar effects for cue-induced responding and to a lesser extent for reward impulsivity.

Faster proton transfer dynamics of water on SnO2 compared to TiO2.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Nitin; Kent, Paul R C; Bandura, Andrei V; Kubicki, James D; Wesolowski, David J; Cole, David R; Sofo, Jorge O

2011-01-28

Proton jump processes in the hydration layer on the iso-structural TiO(2) rutile (110) and SnO(2) cassiterite (110) surfaces were studied with density functional theory molecular dynamics. We find that the proton jump rate is more than three times faster on cassiterite compared with rutile. A local analysis based on the correlation between the stretching band of the O-H vibrations and the strength of H-bonds indicates that the faster proton jump activity on cassiterite is produced by a stronger H-bond formation between the surface and the hydration layer above the surface. The origin of the increased H-bond strength on cassiterite is a combined effect of stronger covalent bonding and stronger electrostatic interactions due to differences of its electronic structure. The bridging oxygens form the strongest H-bonds between the surface and the hydration layer. This higher proton jump rate is likely to affect reactivity and catalytic activity on the surface. A better understanding of its origins will enable methods to control these rates.

Methodology for Assessing Radiation Detectors Used by Emergency Responders

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Piotr Wasiolek; April Simpson

2008-01-01

The threat of weapons of mass destruction terrorism resulted in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security deploying large quantities of radiation detectors throughout the emergency responder community. However, emergency responders specific needs were not always met by standard health physics instrumentation used in radiation facilities. Several American National Standards Institute standards were developed and approved to evaluate the technical capabilities of detection equipment. Establishing technical capability is a critical step, but it is equally important to emergency responders that the instruments are easy to operate and can withstand the rugged situations they encounter. The System Assessment and Validation for Emergency Responders (SAVER) Program (managed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Grants and Training, Systems Support Division) focuses predominantly on the usability, ergonomics, readability, and other features of the detectors, rather than performance controlled by industry standards and the manufacturers. National Security Technologies, LLC, as a SAVER Technical Agent, conducts equipment evaluations using active emergency responders who are familiar with the detection equipment and knowledgeable of situations encountered in the field, which provides more relevant data to emergency responders

Simultaneous development of laparoscopy and robotics provides acceptable perioperative outcomes and shows robotics to have a faster learning curve and to be overall faster in rectal cancer surgery: analysis of novice MIS surgeon learning curves.

Science.gov (United States)

Melich, George; Hong, Young Ki; Kim, Jieun; Hur, Hyuk; Baik, Seung Hyuk; Kim, Nam Kyu; Sender Liberman, A; Min, Byung Soh

2015-03-01

Laparoscopy offers some evidence of benefit compared to open rectal surgery. Robotic rectal surgery is evolving into an accepted approach. The objective was to analyze and compare laparoscopic and robotic rectal surgery learning curves with respect to operative times and perioperative outcomes for a novice minimally invasive colorectal surgeon. One hundred and six laparoscopic and 92 robotic LAR rectal surgery cases were analyzed. All surgeries were performed by a surgeon who was primarily trained in open rectal surgery. Patient characteristics and perioperative outcomes were analyzed. Operative time and CUSUM plots were used for evaluating the learning curve for laparoscopic versus robotic LAR. Laparoscopic versus robotic LAR outcomes feature initial group operative times of 308 (291-325) min versus 397 (373-420) min and last group times of 220 (212-229) min versus 204 (196-211) min-reversed in favor of robotics; major complications of 4.7 versus 6.5 % (NS), resection margin involvement of 2.8 versus 4.4 % (NS), conversion rate of 3.8 versus 1.1 (NS), lymph node harvest of 16.3 versus 17.2 (NS), and estimated blood loss of 231 versus 201 cc (NS). Due to faster learning curves for extracorporeal phase and total mesorectal excision phase, the robotic surgery was observed to be faster than laparoscopic surgery after the initial 41 cases. CUSUM plots demonstrate acceptable perioperative surgical outcomes from the beginning of the study. Initial robotic operative times improved with practice rapidly and eventually became faster than those for laparoscopy. Developing both laparoscopic and robotic skills simultaneously can provide acceptable perioperative outcomes in rectal surgery. It might be suggested that in the current milieu of clashing interests between evolving technology and economic constrains, there might be advantages in embracing both approaches.

Thematic orders and the comprehension of subject-extracted relative clauses in Mandarin Chinese

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chien-Jer Charles Lin

2015-09-01

Full Text Available This study investigates the comprehension of three kinds of subject-extracted relative clauses (SRs in Mandarin Chinese: standard SRs, relative clauses involving the disposal ba construction (‘disposal SRs’, and relative clauses involving the long passive bei constructions (‘passive SRs’. In a self-paced reading experiment, the regions before the relativizer (where the sentential fragments are temporarily ambiguous showed reading patterns consistent with expectation-based incremental processing: standard SRs (with the highest constructional frequency and the least complex syntactic structure were processed faster than the other two variants. However, in the regions after the relativizer and the head noun (where the existence of a relative clause is unambiguously indicated, a top-down global effect of thematic ordering was observed: passive SRs (whose thematic role order conforms to the canonical thematic order of Chinese were read faster than both the standard SRs and the disposal SRs. Taken together, these results suggest that two expectation-based processing factors are involved in the comprehension of Chinese relative clauses, including both the structural probabilities of pre-relativizer constituents and the overall surface thematic orders in the relative clauses.

Slow fashion and sustainability in Spain: How can local manufacturing improve sustainability and how do consumers respond?

OpenAIRE

Karaosman, Hakan; Morales Alonso, Gustavo; Brun, Alessandro

2014-01-01

"Slow Fashion" attempts to offset the demand for fast fashion and mass production (Fletcher, 2007). Consumers' response to sustainability-based practices is a limited discourse and studies for slow fashion concept are scarce. This study thus aims to enlighten the subject of how slow fashion concept could improve local economies and how Spanish consumers respond to such initiatives. This paper is based on an exploratory qualitative research for which focus group interviews including three grou...

Testosterone for Poor Ovarian Responders

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Polyzos, Nikolaos P; Davis, Susan R; Drakopoulos, Panagiotis

2016-01-01

Testosterone, an androgen that directly binds to the androgen receptor, has been shown in previous small randomized controlled trials to increase the reproductive outcomes of poor ovarian responders. In most of these studies, transdermal testosterone in relatively high doses was administered before...... ovarian stimulation with a duration varying from 5 to 21 days. Nevertheless, the key question to be asked is whether, based on ovarian physiology and testosterone pharmacokinetics, a short course of testosterone administration of more than 10 mg could be expected to have any beneficial effect...... stages. In addition, extreme testosterone excess is not only likely to induce adverse events but has also the potential to be ineffective and even detrimental. Thus, evidence from clinical studies is not enough to either "reopen" or "close" the "androgen chapter" in poor responders, mainly because...

Responding to Children's Drawings

Science.gov (United States)

Watts, Robert

2010-01-01

This article aims to explore the issues that face primary school teachers when responding to children's drawings. Assessment in art and design is an ongoing concern for teachers with limited experience and confidence in the area and, although children's drawings continue to be a focus of much research, the question of what it is that teachers say…

Analysing how plants in coastal wetlands respond to varying tidal regimes throughout their life cycles.

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Tian; Cui, Baoshan; Li, Shanze

2017-10-15

Important to conserve plant species in coastal wetlands throughout their life cycle. All life stages in these habitats are exposed to varying tidal cycles. It is necessary to investigate all life stages as to how they respond to varying tidal regimes. We examine three wetlands containing populations of an endangered halophyte species, each subjected to different tidal regimes: (1). wetlands completely closed to tidal cycles; (2). wetlands directly exposed to tidal cycles (3). wetlands exposed to a partially closed tidal regime. Our results showed that the most threatened stage varied between wetlands subjected to these varying tidal regimes. We hypothesis that populations of this species have adapted to these different tidal regimes. Such information is useful in developing management options for coastal wetlands and modifying future barriers restricting tidal flushing. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Aping expressions? Chimpanzees produce distinct laugh types when responding to laughter of others.

Science.gov (United States)

Davila-Ross, Marina; Allcock, Bethan; Thomas, Chris; Bard, Kim A

2011-10-01

Humans have the ability to replicate the emotional expressions of others even when they undergo different emotions. Such distinct responses of expressions, especially positive expressions, play a central role in everyday social communication of humans and may give the responding individuals important advantages in cooperation and communication. The present work examined laughter in chimpanzees to test whether nonhuman primates also use their expressions in such distinct ways. The approach was first to examine the form and occurrence of laugh replications (laughter after the laughter of others) and spontaneous laughter of chimpanzees during social play and then to test whether their laugh replications represented laugh-elicited laugh responses (laughter triggered by the laughter of others) by using a quantitative method designed to measure responses in natural social settings. The results of this study indicated that chimpanzees produce laugh-elicited laughter that is distinct in form and occurrence from their spontaneous laughter. These findings provide the first empirical evidence that nonhuman primates have the ability to replicate the expressions of others by producing expressions that differ in their underlying emotions and social implications. The data further showed that the laugh-elicited laugh responses of the subjects were closely linked to play maintenance, suggesting that chimpanzees might gain important cooperative and communicative advantages by responding with laughter to the laughter of their social partners. Notably, some chimpanzee groups of this study responded more with laughter than others, an outcome that provides empirical support of a socialization of expressions in great apes similar to that of humans.

Sexual attraction to others: a comparison of two models of alloerotic responding in men.

Science.gov (United States)

Blanchard, Ray; Kuban, Michael E; Blak, Thomas; Klassen, Philip E; Dickey, Robert; Cantor, James M

2012-02-01

The penile response profiles of homosexual and heterosexual pedophiles, hebephiles, and teleiophiles to laboratory stimuli depicting male and female children and adults may be conceptualized as a series of overlapping stimulus generalization gradients. This study used such profile data to compare two models of alloerotic responding (sexual responding to other people) in men. The first model was based on the notion that men respond to a potential sexual object as a compound stimulus made up of an age component and a gender component. The second model was based on the notion that men respond to a potential sexual object as a gestalt, which they evaluate in terms of global similarity to other potential sexual objects. The analytic strategy was to compare the accuracy of these models in predicting a man's penile response to each of his less arousing (nonpreferred) stimulus categories from his response to his most arousing (preferred) stimulus category. Both models based their predictions on the degree of dissimilarity between the preferred stimulus category and a given nonpreferred stimulus category, but each model used its own measure of dissimilarity. According to the first model ("summation model"), penile response should vary inversely as the sum of stimulus differences on separate dimensions of age and gender. According to the second model ("bipolar model"), penile response should vary inversely as the distance between stimulus categories on a single, bipolar dimension of morphological similarity-a dimension on which children are located near the middle, and adult men and women are located at opposite ends. The subjects were 2,278 male patients referred to a specialty clinic for phallometric assessment of their erotic preferences. Comparisons of goodness of fit to the observed data favored the unidimensional bipolar model.

Learning Faster by Discovering and Exploiting Object Similarities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tadej Janež

2013-03-01

Full Text Available In this paper we explore the question: “Is it possible to speed up the learning process of an autonomous agent by performing experiments in a more complex environment (i.e., an environment with a greater number of different objects?” To this end, we use a simple robotic domain, where the robot has to learn a qualitative model predicting the change in the robot's distance to an object. To quantify the environment's complexity, we defined cardinal complexity as the number of objects in the robot's world, and behavioural complexity as the number of objects' distinct behaviours. We propose Error reduction merging (ERM, a new learning method that automatically discovers similarities in the structure of the agent's environment. ERM identifies different types of objects solely from the data measured and merges the observations of objects that behave in the same or similar way in order to speed up the agent's learning. We performed a series of experiments in worlds of increasing complexity. The results in our simple domain indicate that ERM was capable of discovering structural similarities in the data which indeed made the learning faster, clearly superior to conventional learning. This observed trend occurred with various machine learning algorithms used inside the ERM method.

Contextual Change After Fear Acquisition Affects Conditioned Responding and the Time Course of Extinction Learning-Implications for Renewal Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Sjouwerman, Rachel; Niehaus, Johanna; Lonsdorf, Tina B

2015-01-01

Context plays a central role in retrieving (fear) memories. Accordingly, context manipulations are inherent to most return of fear (ROF) paradigms (in particular renewal), involving contextual changes after fear extinction. Context changes are, however, also often embedded during earlier stages of ROF experiments such as context changes between fear acquisition and extinction (e.g., in ABC and ABA renewal). Previous studies using these paradigms have however focused exclusively on the context switch after extinction (i.e., renewal). Thus, the possibility of a general effect of context switch on conditioned responding that may not be conditional to preceding extinction learning remains unstudied. Hence, the current study investigated the impact of a context switch between fear acquisition and extinction on immediate conditioned responding and on the time-course of extinction learning by using a multimodal approach. A group that underwent contextual change after fear conditioning (AB; n = 36) was compared with a group without a contextual change from acquisition to extinction (AA; n = 149), while measuring physiological (skin conductance and fear potentiated startle) measures and subjective fear ratings. Contextual change between fear acquisition and extinction had a pronounced effect on both immediate conditioned responding and on the time course of extinction learning in skin conductance responses and subjective fear ratings. This may have important implications for the mechanisms underlying and the interpretation of the renewal effect (i.e., contextual switch after extinction). Consequently, future studies should incorporate designs and statistical tests that disentangle general effects of contextual change from genuine ROF effects.

Interviewer-Respondent Interactions in Conversational and Standardized Interviewing

Science.gov (United States)

Mittereder, Felicitas; Durow, Jen; West, Brady T.; Kreuter, Frauke; Conrad, Frederick G.

2018-01-01

Standardized interviewing (SI) and conversational interviewing are two approaches to collect survey data that differ in how interviewers address respondent confusion. This article examines interviewer-respondent interactions that occur during these two techniques, focusing on requests for and provisions of clarification. The data derive from an…

Mischievous responding in Internet Gaming Disorder research.

Science.gov (United States)

Przybylski, Andrew K

2016-01-01

The most recent update to the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) included Internet Gaming Disorder as a new potential psychiatric condition that merited further scientific study. The present research was conducted in response to the APA Substance-Related Disorders Working Group's research call to estimate the extent to which mischievous responding-a known problematic pattern of participant self-report responding in questionnaires-is relevant to Internet Gaming Disorder research. In line with a registered sampling and analysis plan, findings from two studies (n tot = 11,908) provide clear evidence that mischievous responding is positively associated with the number of Internet Gaming Disorder indicators participants report. Results are discussed in the context of ongoing problem gaming research and the discussion provides recommendations for improving the quality of scientific practice in this area.

Agreement between Dietary Intake of Older Adults and Proxy Respondents Assessed by a Food Frequency Questionnaire.

Science.gov (United States)

Dias Medici Saldiva, S R; Bassani, L; da Silva Castro, A L; Gonçalves, I B; de Oliveira Sales, C R; Lobo Marchioni, D M

2017-01-01

To evaluate the degree of agreement of dietary intake reported by the patient subject with the dietary intake reported by a respondent (a next-of-kin or a caregiver), collected by a validated Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ). 126 adults, both sexes, the average age was 65.9 years for patients and 54.4 years for respondents. They were recruited from the General Practice Clinic at the Clinical Hospital of São Paulo (AGD-FMUSP). The agreement between the responses given by patients and respondents was assessed using Spearman, weighted Kappa and Bland Altman tests. The analysis for accuracy between responses (Spearman test) showed a moderate degree of agreement (0.31-0.39) for Energy, Total fat, Total Saturated Fatty Acids (SFA), Total Monounsaturated Fatty Acids (MUFA). Regarding food groups a moderate agreement was found for the majority of the foods (fruits (0.30), dairy products (0.50), natural juices (0.45), beans (0.48), butter/margarine (0.55), coffee (0.41) and soda (0.45), with the exception of vegetables (0.12) and rice (0.63). The ingestion differences did not exceeded the limit of the two standard deviations for the majority of the pairs (Bland Altman). A respondent subsample composed only of husband/wives (N = 36) revealed a moderate agreement concordance for most macronutrients studied (0.30 - 0.58), except polyunsaturated fats (0.25). The results of this study show that, the FFQ may be used in cases where is impossible to get the answers directly from the patients.

Evaluation of subjective thermal strain in different kitchen working environments using subjective judgment scales.

Science.gov (United States)

Haruyama, Yasuo; Muto, Takashi; Matsuzuki, Hiroe; Ito, Akiyoshi; Tomita, Shigeru; Muto, Shigeki; Haratani, Takashi; Seo, Akihiko; Ayabe, Makoto; Katamoto, Shizuo

2010-01-01

To elucidate the subjective thermal strain of workers in kitchen working environments, we performed a cross-sectional study involving 991 workers in 126 kitchen facilities in Japan, using a self-reporting questionnaire survey and subjective judgment scales (SJS). The ambient temperature, mean radiant temperature (MRT), and wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) index were measured in 10 kitchen facilities of the 126 kitchens. The association of SJS with the types of kitchen was estimated by multiple logistic regression models. Of the 991 kitchen workers, 809 (81%) responded to the questionnaire survey. Compared with the electric kitchens, the proportion of workers who perceived the room temperature as hot to very hot was significantly higher, and the ambient temperature, MRT, and WBGT were significantly higher in the gas kitchens. Compared with the electric kitchens, workers in gas kitchens had a more than fivefold (males) and tenfold (females) higher SJS adjusted for confounding factors (male odds ratio (OR), 5.13; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.65-15.9; and female OR, 10.9; 95%CI, 3.89-30.5). Although SJS was affected by some confounding factors, our results suggest that workers in gas kitchens might be exposed to a higher heat strains than those in electric kitchens.

Faster gastric emptying of a liquid meal in rats after hypothalamic dorsomedial nucleus lesion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Denofre-Carvalho S.

1997-01-01

Full Text Available The effects of dorsomedial hypothalamic (DMH nucleus lesion on body weight, plasma glucose levels, and the gastric emptying of a liquid meal were investigated in male Wistar rats (170-250 g. DMH lesions were produced stereotaxically by delivering a 2.0-mA current for 20 s through nichrome electrodes (0.3-mm tip exposure. In a second set of experiments, the DMH and the ventromedial hypothalamic (VMH nucleus were lesioned with a 1.0-mA current for 10 s (0.1-mm tip exposure. The medial hypothalamus (MH was also lesioned separately using a nichrome electrode (0.3-mm tip exposure with a 2.0-mA current for 20 s. Gastric emptying was measured following the orogastric infusion of a liquid test meal consisting of physiological saline (0.9% NaCl, w/v plus phenol red dye (6 mg/dl as a marker. Plasma glucose levels were determined after an 18-h fast before the lesion and on the 7th and 15th postoperative day. Body weight was determined before lesioning and before sacrificing the rats. The DMH-lesioned rats showed a significantly faster (P<0.05 gastric emptying (24.7% gastric retention, N = 11 than control (33.0% gastric retention, N = 8 and sham-lesioned (33.5% gastric retention, N = 12 rats, with a transient hypoglycemia on the 7th postoperative day which returned to normal by the 15th postoperative day. In all cases, weight gain was slower among lesioned rats. Additional experiments using a smaller current to induce lesions confirmed that DMH-lesioned rats had a faster gastric emptying (25.1% gastric retention, N = 7 than control (33.4% gastric retention, N = 17 and VMH-lesioned (34.6% gastric retention, N = 7 rats. MH lesions resulted in an even slower gastric emptying (43.7% gastric retention, N = 7 than in the latter two groups. We conclude that although DMH lesions reduce weight gain, they do not produce consistent changes in plasma glucose levels. These lesions also promote faster gastric emptying of an inert liquid meal, thus suggesting a role for

International Scavenging for First Responder Guidance and Tools: IAEA Products

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stern, W. [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Berthelot, L. [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Bachner, K. [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

2017-05-05

In fiscal years (FY) 2016 and 2017, with support from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) examined the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) radiological emergency response and preparedness products (guidance and tools) to determine which of these products could be useful to U.S. first responders. The IAEA Incident and Emergency Centre (IEC), which is responsible for emergency preparedness and response, offers a range of tools and guidance documents for responders in recognizing, responding to, and recovering from radiation emergencies and incidents. In order to implement this project, BNL obtained all potentially relevant tools and products produced by the IAEA IEC and analyzed these materials to determine their relevance to first responders in the U.S. Subsequently, BNL organized and hosted a workshop at DHS National Urban Security Technology Laboratory (NUSTL) for U.S. first responders to examine and evaluate IAEA products to consider their applicability to the United States. This report documents and describes the First Responder Product Evaluation Workshop, and provides recommendations on potential steps the U.S. federal government could take to make IAEA guidance and tools useful to U.S. responders.

Faster dissolution of PuO2 in nitrous media by means of electrolytic oxidation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baumgaertner, F.; Kim, J.I.; Luckner, N.; Brueckl, N.; Lieberer, E.

1984-03-01

The contribution shows that the dissolution of PuO 2 in HNO 3 can be accelerated considerably by means of electrolytic oxidation. A glass apparatus has been developed which uses platinum electrodes providing for sufficient contact between electrodes and solids. Increase of temperature, acid concentration, and electrode current density, and a good contact between electrode and metal oxide will improve the dissolution kinetics. The reaction could be made even faster by addition of Ce 4+ . (orig.) [de

Effectiveness of a high-throughput genetic analysis in the identification of responders/non-responders to CYP2D6-metabolized drugs.

Science.gov (United States)

Savino, Maria; Seripa, Davide; Gallo, Antonietta P; Garrubba, Maria; D'Onofrio, Grazia; Bizzarro, Alessandra; Paroni, Giulia; Paris, Francesco; Mecocci, Patrizia; Masullo, Carlo; Pilotto, Alberto; Santini, Stefano A

2011-01-01

Recent studies investigating the single cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2D6 allele *2A reported an association with the response to drug treatments. More genetic data can be obtained, however, by high-throughput based-technologies. Aim of this study is the high-throughput analysis of the CYP2D6 polymorphisms to evaluate its effectiveness in the identification of patient responders/non-responders to CYP2D6-metabolized drugs. An attempt to compare our results with those previously obtained with the standard analysis of CYP2D6 allele *2A was also made. Sixty blood samples from patients treated with CYP2D6-metabolized drugs previously genotyped for the allele CYP2D6*2A, were analyzed for the CYP2D6 polymorphisms with the AutoGenomics INFINITI CYP4502D6-I assay on the AutoGenomics INFINITI analyzer. A higher frequency of mutated alleles in responder than in non-responder patients (75.38 % vs 43.48 %; p = 0.015) was observed. Thus, the presence of a mutated allele of CYP2D6 was associated with a response to CYP2D6-metabolized drugs (OR = 4.044 (1.348 - 12.154). No difference was observed in the distribution of allele *2A (p = 0.320). The high-throughput genetic analysis of the CYP2D6 polymorphisms better discriminate responders/non-responders with respect to the standard analysis of the CYP2D6 allele *2A. A high-throughput genetic assay of the CYP2D6 may be useful to identify patients with different clinical responses to CYP2D6-metabolized drugs.

FDG-PET imaging in HIV-infected subjects: relation with therapy and immunovirological variables

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lucignani, Giovanni; Orunesu, Eva [Neurological Institute Milan, Laboratory of Cellular Neurophysiology, IRCCS Foundation, Milan (Italy); Cesari, Miriam [Univ. of Milan (Italy). Dept. of Clinical Science; Marzo, Katia; Chiti, Arturo [IRCCS Humanitas, Milan (Italy). Dept. of Nuclear Medicine; Pacei, Michela [Milan Univ. (Italy). Lab. of Immunology; Bechi, Giulia [IRCCS Foundation, Milan (Italy). Lab. of Cellular Neurophysiology; Gori, Andrea [Univ. of Milan Biococca, Monza (Italy). Inst. of Infectious Disseases; Gaito, Sabrina [Milan Univ. (Italy). Dept. of Computer Science; Clerici, Mario [Milan Univ. (Italy). Dept. of Biomedical Sciences and Technologies

2009-04-15

To characterise tissue sites of immune activation and HIV replication we performed FDG-PET in ART-treated and ART-naive HIV-infected individuals. Specific aims were to establish whether HIV-infected patients can be differentiated on the basis of the detection of specific locations of viral replication, even in the presence of an apparently optimal immunovirological response to ART, and whether these FDG-PET findings can be related to immunovirological variables and AIDS history status. Patients were divided into five groups as follows: subgroup A1 (full responders, n=8): current ART treatment, CD4+ T lymphocytes >500/mL, viral load <50 copies/mL; subgroup A2 (full responders, n=5): same criteria as A-1, but with a previous history of AIDS; subgroup A3 (immunological non responders, n=5): current ART treatment, viral load <50 copies/mL, low CD4+ T lymphocytes (<200/mL); group B (virological non responders, n = 2): current ART treatment, CD4+ T lymphocytes around 500/mL, viral load >50,000 copies/mL; group C (ART-naive, n=5): no current or previous ART treatment, increased viral load. PET images revealed different patterns of FDG uptake. All ART-treated patients with either suppressed (<50 copies/mL; Group A) or high viremia (group B) showed a normal pattern of FDG uptake. On the contrary, the ART-naive subjects with high viraemia (group C) displayed multiple foci of increased glucose metabolism in the lymph nodes. In the ART-naive subjects, FDG uptake, apparently related to viraemia level, was observed in the upper torso mainly in the axillary nodes bilaterally in patients with viraemia below 100,000 copies/mL; in those with viraemia higher than 100,000 copies/mL, FDG uptake was also observed in the inguinal lymph nodes. The emergence, in our study, of a correlation between the percentage of CD8+/CD38+/RO+ T cells (well established markers of progression to AIDS independently of CD4+ T lymphocytes) and positive FDG-PET in ART-naive patients is a novel finding that

Paying more for faster care? Individuals' attitude toward price-based priority access in health care.

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Benning, Tim M; Dellaert, Benedict G C

2013-05-01

Increased competition in the health care sector has led hospitals and other health care institutions to experiment with new access allocation policies that move away from traditional expert based allocation of care to price-based priority access (i.e., the option to pay more for faster care). To date, little is known about individuals' attitude toward price-based priority access and the evaluation process underlying this attitude. This paper addresses the role of individuals' evaluations of collective health outcomes as an important driver of their attitude toward (price-based) allocation policies in health care. The authors investigate how individuals evaluate price-based priority access by means of scenario-based survey data collected in a representative sample from the Dutch population (N = 1464). They find that (a) offering individuals the opportunity to pay for faster care negatively affects their evaluations of both the total and distributional collective health outcome achieved, (b) however, when health care supply is not restricted (i.e., when treatment can be offered outside versus within the regular working hours of the hospital) offering price-based priority access affects total collective health outcome evaluations positively instead of negatively, but it does not change distributional collective health outcome evaluations. Furthermore, (c) the type of health care treatment (i.e., life saving liver transplantation treatment vs. life improving cosmetic ear correction treatment - priced at the same level to the individual) moderates the effect of collective health outcome evaluations on individuals' attitude toward allocation policies. For policy makers and hospital managers the results presented in this article are helpful because they provide a better understanding of what drives individuals' preferences for health care allocation policies. In particular, the results show that policies based on the "paying more for faster care" principle are more

Understanding and Responding to Adolescent Girls' Online Cruelty

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Sokal, Laura

2012-01-01

Many school counsellors have identified "cyber-bullying" among adolescent girls as a growing concern. In order to respond to this issue, this article begins with a new model of cyber-communications from the unique perspective of adolescent girls. Next, it explores the limitations of responding to this model, based on current understandings of…

Elevated baseline serum glutamate as a pharmacometabolomic biomarker for acamprosate treatment outcome in alcohol-dependent subjects

Science.gov (United States)

Nam, H W; Karpyak, V M; Hinton, D J; Geske, J R; Ho, A M C; Prieto, M L; Biernacka, J M; Frye, M A; Weinshilboum, R M; Choi, D-S

2015-01-01

Acamprosate has been widely used since the Food and Drug Administration approved the medication for treatment of alcohol use disorders (AUDs) in 2004. Although the detailed molecular mechanism of acamprosate remains unclear, it has been largely known that acamprosate inhibits glutamate action in the brain. However, AUD is a complex and heterogeneous disorder. Thus, biomarkers are required to prescribe this medication to patients who will have the highest likelihood of responding positively. To identify pharmacometabolomic biomarkers of acamprosate response, we utilized serum samples from 120 alcohol-dependent subjects, including 71 responders (maintained continuous abstinence) and 49 non-responders (any alcohol use) during 12 weeks of acamprosate treatment. Notably, baseline serum glutamate levels were significantly higher in responders compared with non-responders. Importantly, serum glutamate levels of responders are normalized after acamprosate treatment, whereas there was no significant glutamate change in non-responders. Subsequent functional studies in animal models revealed that, in the absence of alcohol, acamprosate activates glutamine synthetase, which synthesizes glutamine from glutamate and ammonia. These results suggest that acamprosate reduces serum glutamate levels for those who have elevated baseline serum glutamate levels among responders. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that elevated baseline serum glutamate levels are a potential biomarker associated with positive acamprosate response, which is an important step towards development of a personalized approach to treatment for AUD. PMID:26285131

Not all group hypnotic suggestibility scales are created equal: individual differences in behavioral and subjective responses.

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Barnes, Sean M; Lynn, Steven Jay; Pekala, Ronald J

2009-03-01

To examine the influence of hypnotic suggestibility testing as a source of individual differences in hypnotic responsiveness, we compared behavioral and subjective responses on three scales of hypnotic suggestibility: The Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (HGSHS: A; Shor, R. E., Orne, E. C. (1962). Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility. Berlin: Consulting Psychologists Press); the Carleton University Responsiveness to Suggestion Scale (CURSS; Spanos, N. P., Radtke, H. L., Hodgins, D. C., Stam, H. J., Bertrand, L. D. (1983b). The Carleton University Responsiveness to Suggestion Scale: Normative data and psychometric properties. Psychological Reports, 53, 523-535); and the Group Scale of Hypnotic Ability (GSHA; Hawkins, R., Wenzel, L. (1999). The Group Scale of Hypnotic Ability and response booklet. Australian Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 27, 20-31). Behavioral and subjective responses to the CURSS were significantly different than those on the HGSHS: A and GSHA. More participants were classified as "low suggestible" on the CURSS and they reported subjective experiences more similar to everyday mentation. Attitudes and expectancies of participants who received the GSHA were less predictive of responding, but rates of responding and subjective experiences were similar on the GSHA and the HGSHS: A. Discussion focuses on implications for the use of group hypnotic suggestibility scales.

Subject Matter Specialists and Organizational Effectiveness of Krishi Vigyan Kendras of Tamil Nadu and Kerala

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Bimal Puthuparambil Bashir

2017-04-01

Full Text Available The study was undertaken with the objective of determining the socio-personal characteristics of Subject Matter Specialists (SMS of Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK and their relationship with organizational effectiveness. Altogether 65 SMS’ from 12 KVKs across Tamil Nadu and Kerala were selected. The study has concluded that most of respondents were middle aged with more than half of them being female. Majority of them was married, had work experience of below five years and had attended three to five trainings. Most of the respondents had high level of job satisfaction team-work and one-fourth felt a medium to high job stress. More than half of the respondents felt medium level of work load. There was a positive and significant correlation at one per cent level between job satisfaction / team work and organizational effectiveness of KVKs whereas job stress had a negative and significant correlation at five per cent level. Hence it may be concluded that team work, job satisfaction and job stress play a significant role in improving the organizational effectiveness of KVK. More emphasis must be given for team building enhance the job satisfaction level and reduce the job stress among Subject Matter Specialists of KVKs.

[The influence of musical rhythms on the perception of subjective states of adult patients on dialysis].

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Caminha, Leandro Bechert; da Silva, Maria Júlia Paes; Leão, Eliseth Ribeiro

2009-12-01

Being submitted to dialysis four hours a day, three times a week can mean experiencing boredom, besides discomfort. Patients often report that the time seems to take longer to go by. The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of two different musical rhythms in the states of mind and perception of adult patients undergoing dialysis, since the literature on this subject is scarce. The study was performed at a private hospital with 43 patients, who participated in two sessions of musical improvisation with a keyboard. The subjective states and perception were evaluated before and after the intervention. Over 80% of the patients felt that time went by faster after the interventions in both rhythms. However, the pace was a decisive factor in the kind of emotional experience that the patients had.

Economic Shocks and Subjective Well-Being: Evidence from a Quasi-Experiment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hariri, Jacob Gerner; Bjørnskov, Christian; Justesen, Mogens Kamp

2016-01-01

This paper examines how economic shocks affect individual well-being in developing countries. Using the case of a sudden and unanticipated currency devaluation in Botswana as a quasi-experiment, we examine how this monetary shock affects individuals’ evaluations of well-being. We do so by using...... micro-level survey data, which – incidentally – was collected in the days surrounding the devaluation. The chance occurrence of the devaluation during the time of the survey enables us to use pre-treatment respondents, surveyed before the devaluation, as approximate counterfactuals for post......-treatment respondents, surveyed after the devaluation. Our estimates show that the devaluation had a large and significantly negative effect on individuals’ evaluations of subjective well-being. These results suggest that macroeconomic shocks, such as unanticipated currency devaluations, may have significant short...

Evolution and plasticity: Divergence of song discrimination is faster in birds with innate song than in song learners in Neotropical passerine birds.

Science.gov (United States)

Freeman, Benjamin G; Montgomery, Graham A; Schluter, Dolph

2017-09-01

Plasticity is often thought to accelerate trait evolution and speciation. For example, plasticity in birdsong may partially explain why clades of song learners are more diverse than related clades with innate song. This "song learning" hypothesis predicts that (1) differences in song traits evolve faster in song learners, and (2) behavioral discrimination against allopatric song (a proxy for premating reproductive isolation) evolves faster in song learners. We tested these predictions by analyzing acoustic traits and conducting playback experiments in allopatric Central American sister pairs of song learning oscines (N = 42) and nonlearning suboscines (N = 27). We found that nonlearners evolved mean acoustic differences slightly faster than did leaners, and that the mean evolutionary rate of song discrimination was 4.3 times faster in nonlearners than in learners. These unexpected results may be a consequence of significantly greater variability in song traits in song learners (by 54-79%) that requires song-learning oscines to evolve greater absolute differences in song before achieving the same level of behavioral song discrimination as nonlearning suboscines. This points to "a downside of learning" for the evolution of species discrimination, and represents an important example of plasticity reducing the rate of evolution and diversification by increasing variability. © 2017 The Author(s). Evolution © 2017 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

RESPONDING AND ANALYSING: STAGES OF TEACHING FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR IN INDONESIAN CONTEXT

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Lala Bumela

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract: This paper offers an alternative to the teaching of a functional grammar course in Indonesian TEFL tertiary level context. An issue raised here is whether the course should directly require students to undertake textual analysis or provide them first with subjective reading experiences.  This issue is inspired by Jones and Lock¹s approach to teaching grammar in context (2011. This paper reports on a study that focused on two related phases of dealing with texts: responding and analyzing.  In the first phase, students were encouraged to take a personalised approach in responding to written English texts.  They had the freedom to decide whether the texts were meaningful for them in certain ways. Mckee (2003 and Lehtonen (2000 posit that as the sole decision maker in meaning negotiation, readers perceive the meaningfulness of texts in very diverse ways. In the second phase of the study, the students undertook an individual analysis of different text types.  This study reveals that a successful textual analysis is determined by how students make sense of the texts. The analysis of context of situation, for example, becomes meaningful to students after they demonstrate a proper position as a reader.  This, in turn, helps them in gaining insights into the structure and grammar of those texts.   Keywords: systemic functional linguistics, genre-based approach, textual analysis

Subjective deficits of attention, cognition and depression in patients with narcolepsy.

Science.gov (United States)

Zamarian, Laura; Högl, Birgit; Delazer, Margarete; Hingerl, Katharina; Gabelia, David; Mitterling, Thomas; Brandauer, Elisabeth; Frauscher, Birgit

2015-01-01

Patients with narcolepsy often complain about attention deficits in everyday situations. In comparison with these subjective complaints, deficits in objective testing are subtler. The present study assessed the relationships between subjective complaints, objectively measured cognitive performance, disease-related variables, and mood. A total of 51 patients with narcolepsy and 35 healthy controls responded to questionnaires regarding subjectively perceived attention deficits, sleepiness, anxiety and depression. Moreover, they performed an extensive neuropsychological assessment tapping into attention, executive functions, and memory. Patients rated their level of attention in everyday situations to be relatively poor. In an objective assessment of cognitive functioning, they showed only slight attention and executive function deficits. The subjective ratings of attention deficits significantly correlated with ratings of momentary sleepiness, anxiety, and depression, but not with objectively measured cognitive performance. Momentary sleepiness and depression predicted almost 39% of the variance in the ratings of subjectively perceived attention deficits. The present study showed that sleepiness and depression, more than objective cognitive deficits, might play a role in the subjectively perceived attention deficits of patients with narcolepsy. The results suggested that when counselling and treating patients with narcolepsy, clinicians should pay attention to potential depression because subjective cognitive complaints may not relate to objective cognitive impairments. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A 3-lever discrimination procedure reveals differences in the subjective effects of low and high doses of MDMA.

Science.gov (United States)

Harper, David N; Langen, Anna-Lena; Schenk, Susan

2014-01-01

Drug discrimination studies have suggested that the subjective effects of low doses of (±)3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) are readily differentiated from those of d-amphetamine (AMPH) and that the discriminative stimulus properties are mediated by serotonergic and dopaminergic mechanisms, respectively. Previous studies, however, have primarily examined responses to doses that do not produce substantial increases in extracellular dopamine. The present study determined whether doses of MDMA that produce increases in synaptic dopamine would also produce subjective effects that were more like AMPH and were sensitive to pharmacological manipulation of D1-like receptors. A three-lever drug discrimination paradigm was used. Rats were trained to respond on different levers following saline, AMPH (0.5mg/kg, IP) or MDMA (1.5mg/kg, IP) injections. Generalization curves were generated for a range of different doses of both drugs and the effect of the D1-like antagonist, SCH23390 on the discriminative stimulus effects of different doses of MDMA was determined. Rats accurately discriminated MDMA, AMPH and saline. Low doses of MDMA produced almost exclusive responding on the MDMA lever but at doses of 3.0mg/kg MDMA or higher, responding shifted to the AMPH lever. The AMPH response produced by higher doses of MDMA was attenuated by pretreatment with SCH23390. The data suggest that low doses and higher doses of MDMA produce distinct discriminative stimuli. The shift to AMPH-like responding following administration of higher doses of MDMA, and the decrease in this response following administration of SCH23390 suggests a dopaminergic component to the subjective experience of MDMA at higher doses. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS’ OPINIONS ABOUT THE CURRICULAR DOCUMENTS USED FOR STUDYING THE MATHEMATICS AND ENVIRONMENTAL EXPLORATION SUBJECT

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Ioana-Cristina MAGDAȘ

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Due to the introduction in 2013 into the new Framework Plan for the primary education of the integrated Mathematics and Environmental Exploration (MEE subject, of new textbooks and auxiliaries, we considered it necessary to find the the teachers’ opinions regarding the way in which the curriculum documents facilitate the study of the MEE subject. The present article is based on a research performed using a survey carried out voluntarily and anonymously by 131 teachers for primary education. Through the responses to the questionnaire, we identified several important issues. Regarding teachers’ sources of documentation, we found out that they prefered online sources (websites, blogs and specialized forums, which was surprising because these sources did not have the reliability of correct information. Only on the next places were placed the official documents or those elaborated by specialists. Teachers assigned scores of about four (out of a maximum of five to the clarity of all components of the school curriculum. In terms of textbooks and auxiliaries, respondents scored better auxiliaries across all the indicators considered. The biggest benefit of introducing the MEE subject identified by I.-C. MAGDAȘ, M. E. DULAMĂ, O.-R. ILOVAN, I.C. CRIȘAN 6 respondents was that activities were more attractive or motivating for learning. At the opposite end, the smallest benefits related to ensuring the rigour and learning durability of both Mathematics and Environmental Exploration. Regarding the limitations, disadvantages or problems of studying the MEE subject, the lack of support materials was the first reported by the respondents. On the next places were placed the need for specific lessons with mathematical content or the heavy design of thematic units and lessons.

Contextual change after fear acquisition affects conditioned responding and the time course of extinction learning – Implications for renewal research

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Rachel eSjouwerman

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Context plays a central role in retrieving (fear memories. Accordingly, context manipulations are inherent to most return of fear (ROF paradigms (in particular renewal, involving contextual changes after fear extinction. Context changes are, however, also often embedded during earlier stages of ROF experiments such as context changes between fear acquisition and extinction (e.g. in ABC and ABA renewal. Previous studies using these paradigms have however focused exclusively on the context switch after extinction (i.e. renewal. Thus, the possibility of a general effect of a context switch on conditioned responding that may not be conditional to preceding extinction learning remains unstudied.Hence, the current study investigated the impact of a context switch between fear acquisition and extinction on immediate conditioned responding and on the time-course of extinction learning by using a multimodal approach. A group that underwent contextual change after fear conditioning (AB; n = 36 was compared with a group without a contextual change from acquisition to extinction (AA; n = 149, while measuring autonomic (skin conductance and fear potentiated startle measures and subjective fear ratings. Contextual change between fear acquisition and extinction had a pronounced effect on both immediate conditioned responding and on the time course of extinction learning in skin conductance responses and subjective fear ratings. This may have important implications for the mechanisms underlying and the interpretation of the renewal effect (i.e. contextual switch after extinction. Consequently, future studies should incorporate designs and statistical tests that disentangle general effects of contextual change from genuine ROF effects.

Probabilistic information transmission in a network of coupled oscillators reveals speed-accuracy trade-off in responding to threats

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Chicoli, Amanda; Paley, Derek A.

2016-11-01

Individuals in a group may obtain information from other group members about the environment, including the location of a food source or the presence of a predator. Here, we model how information spreads in a group using a susceptible-infected-removed epidemic model. We apply this model to a simulated shoal of fish using the motion dynamics of a coupled oscillator model, in order to test the biological hypothesis that polarized or aligned shoaling leads to faster and more accurate escape responses. The contributions of this study are the (i) application of a probabilistic model of epidemics to the study of collective animal behavior; (ii) testing the biological hypothesis that group cohesion improves predator escape; (iii) quantification of the effect of social cues on startle propagation; and (iv) investigation of the variation in response based on network connectivity. We find that when perfectly aligned individuals in a group are startled, there is a rapid escape by individuals that directly detect the threat, as well as by individuals responding to their neighbors. However, individuals that are not startled do not head away from the threat. In startled groups that are randomly oriented, there is a rapid, accurate response by individuals that directly detect the threat, followed by less accurate responses by individuals responding to neighbor cues. Over the simulation duration, however, even unstartled individuals head away from the threat. This study illustrates a potential speed-accuracy trade-off in the startle response of animal groups, in agreement with several previous experimental studies. Additionally, the model can be applied to a variety of group decision-making processes, including those involving higher-dimensional motion.

A faster sample preparation method for determination of polonium-210 in fish

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sadi, B.B.; Jing Chen; Kochermin, Vera; Godwin Tung; Sorina Chiorean

2016-01-01

In order to facilitate Health Canada’s study on background radiation levels in country foods, an in-house radio-analytical method has been developed for determination of polonium-210 ( 210 Po) in fish samples. The method was validated by measurement of 210 Po in a certified reference material. It was also evaluated by comparing 210 Po concentrations in a number of fish samples by another method. The in-house method offers faster sample dissolution using an automated digestion system compared to currently used wet-ashing on a hot plate. It also utilizes pre-packed Sr-resin® cartridges for rapid and reproducible separation of 210 Po versus time-consuming manually packed Sr-resin® columns. (author)

Preferences and Beliefs in a Sequential Social Dilemma: A Within-Subjects Analysis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Blanco, Mariana; Engelmann, Dirk; Koch, Alexander

Within-subject data from sequential social dilemma experiments reveal a correlation of first and second-mover decisions for which two channels may be responsible, that our experiment allows to separate: i) a direct, preference-based channel that influences both first- and second-mover decisions; ii......) an indirect channel, where second-mover decisions influence beliefs via a consensus effect, and the first-mover decision is a best response to these beliefs. We find strong evidence for the indirect channel: beliefs about second-mover cooperation are biased toward own second-mover behavior, and most subjects...... best respond to stated beliefs. But when first movers know the true probability of second-mover cooperation, subjects' own second moves still have predictive power regarding their first moves, suggesting that the direct channel also plays a role....

A piece of paper falling faster than free fall

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vera, F; Rivera, R

2011-01-01

We report a simple experiment that clearly demonstrates a common error in the explanation of the classic experiment where a small piece of paper is put over a book and the system is let fall. This classic demonstration is used in introductory physics courses to show that after eliminating the friction force with the air, the piece of paper falls with acceleration g. To test if the paper falls behind the book in a nearly free fall motion or if it is dragged by the book, we designed a version of this experiment that includes a ball and a piece of paper over a book that is forced to fall using elastic cords. We recorded a video of our experiment using a high-speed video camera at 300 frames per second that shows that the book and the paper fall faster than the ball, which falls well behind the book with an acceleration approximately equal to g. Our experiment shows that the piece of paper is dragged behind the book and therefore the paper and book demonstration should not be used to show that all objects fall with acceleration g independently of their mass.

Faster Double-Size Bipartite Multiplication out of Montgomery Multipliers

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Yoshino, Masayuki; Okeya, Katsuyuki; Vuillaume, Camille

This paper proposes novel algorithms for computing double-size modular multiplications with few modulus-dependent precomputations. Low-end devices such as smartcards are usually equipped with hardware Montgomery multipliers. However, due to progresses of mathematical attacks, security institutions such as NIST have steadily demanded longer bit-lengths for public-key cryptography, making the multipliers quickly obsolete. In an attempt to extend the lifespan of such multipliers, double-size techniques compute modular multiplications with twice the bit-length of the multipliers. Techniques are known for extending the bit-length of classical Euclidean multipliers, of Montgomery multipliers and the combination thereof, namely bipartite multipliers. However, unlike classical and bipartite multiplications, Montgomery multiplications involve modulus-dependent precomputations, which amount to a large part of an RSA encryption or signature verification. The proposed double-size technique simulates double-size multiplications based on single-size Montgomery multipliers, and yet precomputations are essentially free: in an 2048-bit RSA encryption or signature verification with public exponent e=216+1, the proposal with a 1024-bit Montgomery multiplier is at least 1.5 times faster than previous double-size Montgomery multiplications.

A piece of paper falling faster than free fall

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vera, F; Rivera, R, E-mail: fvera@ucv.cl [Instituto de Fisica, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de ValparaIso, Av. Universidad 330, Curauma, ValparaIso (Chile)

2011-09-15

We report a simple experiment that clearly demonstrates a common error in the explanation of the classic experiment where a small piece of paper is put over a book and the system is let fall. This classic demonstration is used in introductory physics courses to show that after eliminating the friction force with the air, the piece of paper falls with acceleration g. To test if the paper falls behind the book in a nearly free fall motion or if it is dragged by the book, we designed a version of this experiment that includes a ball and a piece of paper over a book that is forced to fall using elastic cords. We recorded a video of our experiment using a high-speed video camera at 300 frames per second that shows that the book and the paper fall faster than the ball, which falls well behind the book with an acceleration approximately equal to g. Our experiment shows that the piece of paper is dragged behind the book and therefore the paper and book demonstration should not be used to show that all objects fall with acceleration g independently of their mass.

Causal events enter awareness faster than non-causal events

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Pieter Moors

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Philosophers have long argued that causality cannot be directly observed but requires a conscious inference (Hume, 1967. Albert Michotte however developed numerous visual phenomena in which people seemed to perceive causality akin to primary visual properties like colour or motion (Michotte, 1946. Michotte claimed that the perception of causality did not require a conscious, deliberate inference but, working over 70 years ago, he did not have access to the experimental methods to test this claim. Here we employ Continuous Flash Suppression (CFS—an interocular suppression technique to render stimuli invisible (Tsuchiya & Koch, 2005—to test whether causal events enter awareness faster than non-causal events. We presented observers with ‘causal’ and ‘non-causal’ events, and found consistent evidence that participants become aware of causal events more rapidly than non-causal events. Our results suggest that, whilst causality must be inferred from sensory evidence, this inference might be computed at low levels of perceptual processing, and does not depend on a deliberative conscious evaluation of the stimulus. This work therefore supports Michotte’s contention that, like colour or motion, causality is an immediate property of our perception of the world.

N-Terminal Domains in Two-Domain Proteins Are Biased to Be Shorter and Predicted to Fold Faster Than Their C-Terminal Counterparts

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Etai Jacob

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Computational analysis of proteomes in all kingdoms of life reveals a strong tendency for N-terminal domains in two-domain proteins to have shorter sequences than their neighboring C-terminal domains. Given that folding rates are affected by chain length, we asked whether the tendency for N-terminal domains to be shorter than their neighboring C-terminal domains reflects selection for faster-folding N-terminal domains. Calculations of absolute contact order, another predictor of folding rate, provide additional evidence that N-terminal domains tend to fold faster than their neighboring C-terminal domains. A possible explanation for this bias, which is more pronounced in prokaryotes than in eukaryotes, is that faster folding of N-terminal domains reduces the risk for protein aggregation during folding by preventing formation of nonnative interdomain interactions. This explanation is supported by our finding that two-domain proteins with a shorter N-terminal domain are much more abundant than those with a shorter C-terminal domain.

42 CFR 93.225 - Respondent.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Respondent. 93.225 Section 93.225 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES HEALTH ASSESSMENTS AND HEALTH EFFECTS STUDIES OF HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES RELEASES AND FACILITIES PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE POLICIES ON RESEARCH...

Ultrasound based evaluation of hepatic steatosis and fibrosis in hepatitis c non-responders

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sohail, S.; Aziz, S.

2013-01-01

To determine the accuracy of ultrasound in the diagnosis and grading of steatosis and fibrosis in Hepatitis C (HCV) patients not responding to ribavarin-interferon therapy. Study Design: A cross-sectional, analytical study. Place and Duration of Study: Radiology Department, Civil Hospital, Karachi, from March 2008 to August 2010. Methodology: Patients with positive HCV RNA despite 24 weeks ribavarin-interferon therapy (non-responders) were subjected to ultrasound and biopsy prior to institution of pegylated interferon therapy for detection and grading of steatosis and fibrosis. Using histopathology as the gold standard, sensitivity, specificity, negative and positive predictive values for ultrasound were determined. Results: The sensitivity of ultrasound for hepatic steatosis was 90.9% for no steatosis (NS), 100% for moderate and gross steatosis and 84.4% for mild steatosis with 100% specificity. The senitivity for fibrosis was 25% for no fibrosis, 100% for mild fibrosis, 89.74% for moderate fibrosis and 100% for gross fibrosis. The overall accuracy for detection of steatosis was 95.39% and that for fibrosis was 98.02%. Hepatic vein showed increased dampening of flow with advancing grades of steatosis and fibrosis. Conclusion: Ultrasound has a high accuracy in the diagnosis and grading of steatosis and fibrosis in HCV nonresponders. Mild fibrosis may confound the diagnosis of mild steatosis. (author)

Defense Technology Opportunities for First Responders

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

White, Rodney; Bedard, Louis; Derrah, Scott; Boucher, Robert

2004-01-01

For this study, the US and Canadian governments assessed the potential for technology transfer of five technologies, which were developed to meet military requirements, to civilian first responders...

Development of responder criteria for multicomponent non-pharmacological treatment in fibromyalgia.

Science.gov (United States)

Vervoort, Vera M; Vriezekolk, Johanna E; van den Ende, Cornelia H

2017-01-01

There is a need to identify individual treatment success in patients with fibromyalgia (FM) who received non-pharmacological treatment. The present study described responder criteria for multicomponent non-pharmacological treatment in FM, and estimated and compared their sensitivity and specificity. Candidate responder sets were 1) identified in literature; and 2) formulated by expert group consensus. All candidate responder sets were tested in a cohort of 129 patients with FM receiving multicomponent non-pharmacological treatment. We used two gold standards (both therapist's and patient's perspective), assessed at six months after the start of treatment. Seven responder sets were defined (three identified in literature and four formulated by expert group consensus), and comprised combinations of domains of 1) pain; 2) fatigue; 3) patient global assessment (PGA); 4) illness perceptions; 5) limitations in activities of daily living (ADL); and 6) sleep. The sensitivity and specificity of literature-based responder sets (n=3) ranged between 17%-99% and 15%-95% respectively, whereas the expert-based responder sets (n=4) performed slightly better with regard to sensitivity (range 41%-81%) and specificity (range 50%-96%). Of the literature-based responder sets the OMERACT-OARSI responder set with patient's gold standard performed best (sensitivity 63%, specificity 75% and ROC area = 0.69). Overall, the expert-based responder set comprising the domains illness perceptions and limitations in ADL with patient's gold standard performed best (sensitivity 47%, specificity 96% and ROC area = 0.71). We defined sets of responder criteria for multicomponent non-pharmacological treatment in fibromyalgia. Further research should focus on the validation of those sets with acceptable performance.

Emergency First Responders' Experience with Colorimetric Detection Methods

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sandra L. Fox; Keith A. Daum; Carla J. Miller; Marnie M. Cortez

2007-10-01

Nationwide, first responders from state and federal support teams respond to hazardous materials incidents, industrial chemical spills, and potential weapons of mass destruction (WMD) attacks. Although first responders have sophisticated chemical, biological, radiological, and explosive detectors available for assessment of the incident scene, simple colorimetric detectors have a role in response actions. The large number of colorimetric chemical detection methods available on the market can make the selection of the proper methods difficult. Although each detector has unique aspects to provide qualitative or quantitative data about the unknown chemicals present, not all detectors provide consistent, accurate, and reliable results. Included here, in a consumer-report-style format, we provide “boots on the ground” information directly from first responders about how well colorimetric chemical detection methods meet their needs in the field and how they procure these methods.

Amygdala signals subjective appetitiveness and aversiveness of mixed gambles

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gelskov, Sofie V.; Henningsson, Susanne; Madsen, Kristoffer Hougaard

2015-01-01

People are more sensitive to losses than to equivalent gains when making financial decisions. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to illuminate how the amygdala contributes to loss aversion. The blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) response of the amygdala was mapped while healthy...... individuals were responding to 50/50 gambles with varying potential gain and loss amounts. Overall, subjects demanded twice as high potential gain as loss to accept a gamble. The individual level of loss aversion was expressed by the decision boundary, i.e., the gain-loss ratio at which subjects accepted...... and rejected gambles with equal probability. Amygdala activity increased the more the gain-loss ratio deviated from the individual decision boundary showing that the amygdala codes action value. This response pattern was more strongly expressed in loss aversive individuals, linking amygdala activity...

Subjective wellbeing and income: Empirical patterns in the rural developing world

Science.gov (United States)

Reyes-García, Victoria; Babigumira, Ronnie; Pyhälä, Aili; Wunder, Sven; Zorondo-Rodríguez, Francisco; Angelsen, Arild

2016-01-01

A commonality in the economics of happiness literature is that absolute income matters more for the subjective wellbeing of people at low income levels. In this article, we use a large sample of people in rural areas of developing countries with relatively low income levels to test whether subjective wellbeing an increasing function of absolute income in our sample, and to analyze the existence of adaptation and social comparison effects on subjective wellbeing. Our sample includes 6973 rural households in 23 countries throughout Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The average total income per adult equivalent in our sample was US$1555, whereas levels of subjective wellbeing resembled levels found in previous research using cross-country data. We find that, despite low levels of absolute income, levels of subjective wellbeing of our respondents resemble levels found in previous research using cross-country data. We also find remarkable similarities in many of the determinants of subjective wellbeing previously tested. Our data show that absolute income covariates with subjective wellbeing, but -as for richer samples- the magnitude of the association is lower once we control for adaptation and social comparison. Finally, our results suggest that social comparison has a stronger effect than adaptation in explaining the subjective wellbeing of our sample. Our findings highlight the importance of adaptation and social comparison even at low levels of absolute income. PMID:27642259

The Patient-Worker: A Model for Human Research Subjects and Gestational Surrogates.

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Ryman, Emma; Fulfer, Katy

2017-01-13

We propose the 'patient-worker' as a theoretical construct that responds to moral problems that arise with the globalization of healthcare and medical research. The patient-worker model recognizes that some participants in global medical industries are workers and are owed worker's rights. Further, these participants are patient-like insofar as they are beneficiaries of fiduciary relationships with healthcare professionals. We apply the patient-worker model to human subjects research and commercial gestational surrogacy. In human subjects research, subjects are usually characterized as either patients or as workers. Through questioning this dichotomy, we argue that some subject populations fit into both categories. With respect to commercial surrogacy, we enrich feminist discussions of embodied labor by describing how surrogates are beneficiaries of fiduciary obligations. They are not just workers, but patient-workers. Through these applications, the patient-worker model offers a helpful normative framework for exploring what globalized medical industries owe to the individuals who bear the bodily burdens of medical innovation. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Identification of Homophily and Preferential Recruitment in Respondent-Driven Sampling.

Science.gov (United States)

Crawford, Forrest W; Aronow, Peter M; Zeng, Li; Li, Jianghong

2018-01-01

Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) is a link-tracing procedure used in epidemiologic research on hidden or hard-to-reach populations in which subjects recruit others via their social networks. Estimates from RDS studies may have poor statistical properties due to statistical dependence in sampled subjects' traits. Two distinct mechanisms account for dependence in an RDS study: homophily, the tendency for individuals to share social ties with others exhibiting similar characteristics, and preferential recruitment, in which recruiters do not recruit uniformly at random from their network alters. The different effects of network homophily and preferential recruitment in RDS studies have been a source of confusion and controversy in methodological and empirical research in epidemiology. In this work, we gave formal definitions of homophily and preferential recruitment and showed that neither is identified in typical RDS studies. We derived nonparametric identification regions for homophily and preferential recruitment and showed that these parameters were not identified unless the network took a degenerate form. The results indicated that claims of homophily or recruitment bias measured from empirical RDS studies may not be credible. We applied our identification results to a study involving both a network census and RDS on a population of injection drug users in Hartford, Connecticut (2012-2013). © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Cost per responder of TNF-α therapies in Germany.

Science.gov (United States)

Gissel, Christian; Repp, Holger

2013-12-01

Tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) inhibitors ranked highest in German pharmaceutical expenditure in 2011. Their most important application is the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Our objective is to analyze cost per responder of TNF-α inhibitors for RA from the German Statutory Health Insurance funds' perspective. We aim to conduct the analysis based on randomized comparative effectiveness studies of the relevant treatments for the German setting. For inclusion of effectiveness studies, we require results in terms of response rates as defined by European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) or American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria. We identify conventional triple therapy as the relevant comparator. We calculate cost per responder based on German direct medical costs. Direct clinical comparisons could be identified for both etanercept and infliximab compared to triple therapy. For infliximab, cost per responder was 216,392 euros for ACR50 and 432,784 euros for ACR70 responses. For etanercept, cost per ACR70 responder was 321,527 euros. Cost was lower for response defined by EULAR criteria, but data was only available for infliximab. Cost per responder is overestimated by 40% due to inclusion of taxes and mandatory rebates in German drugs' list prices. Our analysis shows specific requirements for cost-effectiveness analysis in Germany. Cost per responder for TNF-α treatment in the German setting is more than double the cost estimated in a similar analysis for the USA, which measured against placebo. The difference in results shows the critical role of the correct comparator for a specific setting.

Responding to Bullying: What Works?

Science.gov (United States)

Craig, Wendy; Pepler, Debra; Blais, Julie

2007-01-01

Children who are bullied are often told to "solve the problems themselves"; however, when bullying is repeated over time, it becomes increasingly difficult for victimized children to stop the torment because of their relative lack of power. We examine the ways in which children respond to bullying and their evaluations of the…

Interaction in the Research Interview and Drug-Related Disclosures among Respondents.

Science.gov (United States)

Myers, Vincent

1979-01-01

Interviewers and respondents judged interview interactions during a survey of drug-related sentiments. Pronounced variability in interviewer-respondent judgements occurred in unanticipated ways related to gender, role, and ethnicity of participants. Positive interaction yielded different respondent cognitions and reports of illicit drug ingestion…

Do Subjects with Whiplash-Associated Disorders Respond Differently in the Short-Term to Manual Therapy and Exercise than Those with Mechanical Neck Pain?

Science.gov (United States)

Castaldo, Matteo; Catena, Antonella; Chiarotto, Alessandro; Fernández-de-Las-Peñas, César; Arendt-Nielsen, Lars

2017-04-01

To compare the short-term effects of manual therapy and exercise on pain, related disability, range of motion, and pressure pain thresholds between subjects with mechanical neck pain and whiplash-associated disorders. Twenty-two subjects with mechanical neck pain and 28 with whiplash-associated disorders participated. Clinical and physical outcomes including neck pain intensity, neck-related disability, and pain area, as well as cervical range of motion and pressure pain thresholds over the upper trapezius and tibialis anterior muscles, were obtained at baseline and after the intervention by a blinded assessor. Each subject received six sessions of manual therapy and specific neck exercises. Mixed-model repeated measures analyses of covariance (ANCOVAs) were used for the analyses. Subjects with whiplash-associated disorders exhibited higher neck-related disability ( P  = 0.021), larger pain area ( P  = 0.003), and lower pressure pain thresholds in the tibialis anterior muscle ( P  = 0.009) than those with mechanical neck pain. The adjusted ANCOVA revealed no between-group differences for any outcome (all P  > 0.15). A significant main effect of time was demonstrated for clinical outcomes and cervical range of motion with both groups experiencing similar improvements (all P   0.222). The current clinical trial found that subjects with mechanical neck pain and whiplash-associated disorders exhibited similar clinical and neurophysiological responses after a multimodal physical therapy intervention, suggesting that although greater signs of central sensitization are present in subjects with whiplash-associated disorders, this does not alter the response in the short term to manual therapy and exercises. © 2016 American Academy of Pain Medicine. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

Having your cake and eating it - Staphylococcus aureus small colony variants can evolve faster growth rate without losing their antibiotic resistance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gerrit Brandis

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Staphylococcus aureus can produce small colony variants (SCVs during infections. These cause significant clinical problems because they are difficult to detect in standard microbiological screening and are associated with persistent infections. The major causes of the SCV phenotype are mutations that inhibit respiration by inactivation of genes of the menadione or hemin biosynthesis pathways. This reduces the production of ATP required to support fast growth. Importantly, it also decreases cross-membrane potential in SCVs, resulting in decreased uptake of cationic compounds, with reduced susceptibility to aminoglycoside antibiotics as a consequence. Because SCVs are slow-growing (mutations in men genes are associated with growth rates in rich medium ~30% of the wild-type growth rate bacterial cultures are very susceptible to rapid takeover by faster-growing mutants (revertants or suppressors. In the case of reversion, the resulting fast growth is obviously associated with the loss of antibiotic resistance. However, direct reversion is relatively rare due to the very small genetic target size for such mutations. We explored the phenotypic consequences of SCVs evolving faster growth by routes other than direct reversion, and in particular whether any of those routes allowed for the maintenance of antibiotic resistance. In a recent paper (mBio 8: e00358-17 we demonstrated the existence of several different routes of SCV evolution to faster growth, one of which maintained the antibiotic resistance phenotype. This discovery suggests that SCVs might be more adaptable and problematic that previously thought. They are capable of surviving as a slow-growing persistent form, before evolving into a significantly faster-growing form without sacrificing their antibiotic resistance phenotype.

The ruins of neo-liberalism and the construction of a new (scientific) subjectivity

Science.gov (United States)

Lather, Patti

2012-12-01

Given my long-time interests in neoliberalism and questions of subjectivity, I am pleased to respond to Jesse Bazzul's paper, "Neoliberal Ideology, global capitalism, and science education: Engaging the question of subjectivity." In what follows, I first summarize what I see as Bazzul's contributions to pushing science education in `post' directions. I next introduce the concept of "post-neoliberalism" as a tool in this endeavor. Finally, I address what all of this might have to do with subjectivity in the context of science education. I speak as a much-involved veteran of a version of the science wars fought out in education research for the last decade (NRC 2002). My interest is to use this "battle" to think politics and science anew toward an engaged social science, without certainty, rethinking subjectivity, the unconscious and bodies where I ask "what kind of science for what kind of politics?"

The acquisition of conditioned responding.

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, Justin A

2011-04-01

This report analyzes the acquisition of conditioned responses in rats trained in a magazine approach paradigm. Following the suggestion by Gallistel, Fairhurst, and Balsam (2004), Weibull functions were fitted to the trial-by-trial response rates of individual rats. These showed that the emergence of responding was often delayed, after which the response rate would increase relatively gradually across trials. The fit of the Weibull function to the behavioral data of each rat was equaled by that of a cumulative exponential function incorporating a response threshold. Thus, the growth in conditioning strength on each trial can be modeled by the derivative of the exponential--a difference term of the form used in many models of associative learning (e.g., Rescorla & Wagner, 1972). Further analyses, comparing the acquisition of responding with a continuously reinforced stimulus (CRf) and a partially reinforced stimulus (PRf), provided further evidence in support of the difference term. In conclusion, the results are consistent with conventional models that describe learning as the growth of associative strength, incremented on each trial by an error-correction process.

The Influence of Agreeableness and Ego Depletion on Emotional Responding.

Science.gov (United States)

Finley, Anna J; Crowell, Adrienne L; Harmon-Jones, Eddie; Schmeichel, Brandon J

2017-10-01

Agreeable individuals report more intense withdrawal-oriented negative emotions across aversive situations. Two studies tested the hypothesis that self-regulatory depletion (i.e., ego depletion) moderates the relationship between trait Agreeableness and negative emotional responding. Ego depletion was manipulated using a writing task. Emotional responding was measured with startle eye-blink responses (Study 1, N = 71) and self-reported valence, arousal, and empathic concern (Study 2, N = 256) during emotional picture viewing. Trait Agreeableness was measured using a questionnaire. In Study 1, Agreeableness predicted especially large startle responses during aversive images and especially small startles during appetitive images. After exercising self-control, the relationship between startle magnitudes and Agreeableness decreased. In Study 2, Agreeableness predicted more empathic concern for aversive images, which in turn predicted heightened self-reported negative emotions. After exercising self-control, the relationship between Agreeableness and empathic concern decreased. Agreeable individuals exhibit heightened negative emotional responding. Ego depletion reduced the link between Agreeableness and negative emotional responding in Study 1 and moderated the indirect effect of Agreeableness on negative emotional responding via empathic concern in Study 2. Empathic concern appears to be a resource-intensive process underlying heightened responding to aversive stimuli among agreeable persons. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Sex differences in cognitive functioning in at-risk mental state for psychosis, first episode psychosis and healthy control subjects.

Science.gov (United States)

Ittig, S; Studerus, E; Papmeyer, M; Uttinger, M; Koranyi, S; Ramyead, A; Riecher-Rössler, A

2015-02-01

Several sex differences in schizophrenia have been reported including differences in cognitive functioning. Studies with schizophrenia patients and healthy controls (HC) indicate that the sex advantage for women in verbal domains is also present in schizophrenia patients. However, findings have been inconsistent. No study focused on sex-related cognitive performance differences in at-risk mental state for psychosis (ARMS) individuals yet. Thus, the aim of the present study was to investigate sex differences in cognitive functioning in ARMS, first episode psychosis (FEP) and HC subjects. We expected a better verbal learning and memory performance of women in all groups. The neuropsychological data analysed in this study were collected within the prospective Früherkennung von Psychosen (FePsy) study. In total, 118 ARMS, 88 FEP individuals and 86 HC completed a cognitive test battery covering the domains of executive functions, attention, working memory, verbal learning and memory, IQ and speed of processing. Women performed better in verbal learning and memory regardless of diagnostic group. By contrast, men as compared to women showed a shorter reaction time during the working memory task across all groups. The results provide evidence that women generally perform better in verbal learning and memory, independent of diagnostic group (ARMS, FEP, HC). The finding of a shorter reaction time for men in the working memory task could indicate that men have a superior working memory performance since they responded faster during the target trials, while maintaining a comparable overall working memory performance level. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Subjective well-being and social media use: Do personality traits moderate the impact of social comparison on Facebook?

OpenAIRE

Gerson, J.; Plagnol, A.; Corr, P. J.

2016-01-01

The purpose of the study was to explore whether personality traits moderate the association between social comparison on Facebook and subjective well-being, measured as both life satisfaction and eudaimonic well-being. Data were collected via an online questionnaire which measured Facebook use, social comparison behavior and personality traits for 337 respondents. The results showed positive associations between Facebook intensity and both measures of subjective well-being, and negative assoc...

Identifying Careless Responding With the Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised Validity Scales.

Science.gov (United States)

Marcus, David K; Church, Abere Sawaqdeh; O'Connell, Debra; Lilienfeld, Scott O

2018-01-01

The Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised (PPI-R) includes validity scales that assess Deviant Responding (DR), Virtuous Responding, and Inconsistent Responding. We examined the utility of these scales for identifying careless responding using data from two online studies that examined correlates of psychopathy in college students (Sample 1: N = 583; Sample 2: N = 454). Compared with those below the cut scores, those above the cut on the DR scale yielded consistently lower validity coefficients when PPI-R scores were correlated with corresponding scales from the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure. The other three PPI-R validity scales yielded weaker and less consistent results. Participants who completed the studies in an inordinately brief amount of time scored significantly higher on the DR and Virtuous Responding scales than other participants. Based on the findings from the current studies, researchers collecting PPI-R data online should consider identifying and perhaps screening out respondents with elevated scores on the DR scale.

Transforming Higher Education in the Information Age: Presidents Respond.

Science.gov (United States)

Breslin, Richard D.; And Others

1991-01-01

College presidents respond to an article by Richard Nolan challenging college and university presidents and chancellors to transform their campuses for survival and competitive advantage in the information age. Respondents include Richard D. Breslin, David M. Clarke, Joseph Cronin, Thomas Ehrlich, Donald N. Langenberg, Harold McAninch, and Donald…

Bird on Your Smartphone: How to make identification faster?

Science.gov (United States)

Hidayat, T.; Kurniawan, I. S.; Tapilow, F. S.

2018-01-01

Identification skills of students are needed in the field activities of animal ecology course. Good identification skills will help students to understand the traits, determine differences and similarities in order to naming of birds’ species. This study aims to describe the identification skill of students by using smart phone applications designed in such a way as a support in the field activities. Research method used was quasi experiment involving 60 students which were divided into two groups, one group that use smartphone applications (SA) and other group using a guidebook (GB). This study was carried out in the classroom and outside (the field). Instruments used in this research included tests and questionnaire. The identification skills were measured by tests, indicated by an average score (AS). The results showed that the identification skills of SA students were higher (AS = 3.12) than those of GB one (AS = 2.91). These results are in accordance with response of students. The most of students (90.08%) mentioned that the use of smart phone applications in identifying birds is helpful, more effective and convenience to make identification faster. For further implementation, however, performance of the smartphone used here need to be enhanced to improve the identification skills of students and for wider use.

Conversion of Type III penumococcal polysaccharide low responders to high responders by immunization with a thymus-dependent form of antigen

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Braley-Mullen, H.; Sharp, G.C.

1974-01-01

C57BL/Ks mice immunized with 0.6 μg Type III pneumococcal polysaccharide (S3) or with 10 9 S3 conjugated sheep erythrocytes (S3-SRBC) produced 5 to 7 times fewer S3-specific plaque-forming cells than similarly immunized BALB/c mice. However, when mice were primed with the SRBC carrier prior to challenge with S3-SRBC the low responder C57BL/Ks mice responded as well as the high-responder BALBc strain. The cell activated by the carrier priming was shown to be a thymus-derived (T) cell and the antibody produced by primed mice was mercaptoethanol sensitive (presumably IgM). Nonspecific T cell activation by unrelated antigens did not enhance C57BL/Ks responses to the same degree as specific carrier priming. These findings are discussed in relation to the possible cellular basis for genetic control of the S3 immune response

Parental Perspectives on a Pediatric Human Non-Subjects Biobank.

Science.gov (United States)

Brothers, Kyle B; Clayton, Ellen Wright

2012-01-01

BACKGROUND: Genomic biorepositories will be important tools to help unravel the effect of common genetic variants on risk for common pediatric diseases. Our objective was to explore how parents would respond to the inclusion of children in an opt-out model biobank. METHODS: We conducted semi-structured interviews with parents in hospital-based pediatric clinics. Participants responded to a description of a biorepository already collecting samples from adults. Two coders independently analyzed and coded interviews using framework analysis. Opt-out forms were later piloted in a clinic area. Parental opt-out choices were recorded electronically, with opt-out rates reported here. RESULTS: Parents strongly supported medical research in general and expressed a high level of trust that Vanderbilt University would keep their child's medical information private. Parents were more likely to allow their child's sample to be included in the biorepository than to allow their child to participate in a hypothetical study that would not help or harm their child, but might help other children. Only a minority were able to volunteer a concern raised by the description of the biobank. The opt-out rate was initially high compared with the opt-out rate in the adult biorepository, but after the first week decreased to near the baseline in adult clinics. CONCLUSION: Parents in our study generally support an opt-out model biobank in children. Most would allow their own child's sample to be included. Institutions seeking to build pediatric biobanks may consider the human non-subjects model as a viable alternative to traditional human-subjects biobanks.

Rocuronium blockade reversal with sugammadex vs. neostigmine: randomized study in Chinese and Caucasian subjects.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Xinmin; Oerding, Helle; Liu, Jin; Vanacker, Bernard; Yao, Shanglong; Dahl, Vegard; Xiong, Lize; Claudius, Casper; Yue, Yun; Huang, Yuguang; Abels, Esther; Rietbergen, Henk; Woo, Tiffany

2014-01-01

This study compared efficacy and safety of the selective relaxant binding agent sugammadex (2 mg/kg) with neostigmine (50 μg/kg) for neuromuscular blockade (NMB) reversal in Chinese and Caucasian subjects. This was a randomized, active-controlled, multicenter, safety-assessor-blinded study (NCT00825812) in American Society of Anesthesiologists Class 1-3 subjects undergoing surgery with propofol anesthesia. Rocuronium 0.6 mg/kg was administered for endotracheal intubation, with 0.1-0.2 mg/kg maintenance doses given as required. NMB was monitored using TOF-Watch(®) SX. At second twitch reappearance, after last rocuronium dose, subjects received sugammadex 2 mg/kg or neostigmine 50 μg/kg plus atropine 10-20 μg/kg, according to randomization. Primary efficacy variable was time from sugammadex/neostigmine to recovery of the train-of-four (TOF) ratio to 0.9. Overall, 230 Chinese subjects (sugammadex, n = 119, neostigmine, n = 111); and 59 Caucasian subjects (sugammadex, n = 29, neostigmine, n = 30) had evaluable data. Geometric mean (95% CI) time to recovery to TOF ratio 0.9 was 1.6 (1.5-1.7) min with sugammadex vs 9.1 (8.0-10.3) min with neostigmine in Chinese subjects. Corresponding times for Caucasian subjects were 1.4 (1.3-1.5) min and 6.7 (5.5-8.0) min, respectively. Sugammadex 2 mg/kg was generally well tolerated, with no serious adverse events reported. There was no residual NMB or recurrence of NMB. Both Chinese and Caucasian subjects recovered from NMB significantly faster after sugammadex 2 mg/kg vs neostigmine 50 μg/kg, with a ~5.7 times (p sugammadex vs neostigmine in Chinese subjects. Sugammadex was generally well tolerated. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00825812.

Chronic tiagabine administration and aggressive responding in individuals with a history of substance abuse and antisocial behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Gowin, Joshua L; Green, Charles E; Alcorn, Joseph L; Swann, Alan C; Moeller, F Gerard; Lane, Scott D

2012-07-01

Anticonvulsants, notably those which modulate GABA activity, have shown efficacy in reducing aggressive behavior. Previously, we found dose-related decreases in human aggressive responding following acute tiagabine administration. Here, we examined the effects of chronic tiagabine over a 5-week period. Twelve individuals at increased risk for aggressive and violent behavior (currently on parole/probation with personality and/or substance use disorders) were randomly assigned to placebo (n = 6) or an escalating dose sequence of placebo, 4 mg, 8 mg, 12 mg, placebo (n = 6). Data were analyzed using both frequentist and Bayesian mixed models, evaluating aggressive behavior as a function of time, dose condition, and their interaction. For aggressive responding, there was a significant interaction of drug condition and time. Aggression in the tiagabine condition decreased for each additional week in the study, while participants in the placebo condition failed to demonstrate similar change over time. For monetary-reinforced responding, no drug or drug by time interactions were observed, suggesting specificity of drug effects on aggression. The small number of subjects limits the generality of the findings, and previous studies with tiagabine are limited to acute dosing and case report investigations. However, the present data provide an indication that tiagabine merits further examination as an agent for management of impulsive aggression.

Training Law Enforcement Officials on Responding to Equine Calls

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Kathleen P.; Stauffer, Gary; Stauffer, Monte; Anderson, Doug; Biodrowski, Kristie

2016-01-01

The occurrence of equine abuse/neglect cases is an ongoing issue. However, officials responding to equine cases are rarely experienced in handling horses. Therefore, workshops teaching basic horse husbandry were offered to better equip and prepare officials to respond to equine cases. Trainings consisted of both classroom and hands-on sessions.…

An Adaptive Tuning Mechanism for Phase-Locked Loop Algorithms for Faster Time Performance of Interconnected Renewable Energy Sources

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hadjidemetriou, Lenos; Kyriakides, Elias; Blaabjerg, Frede

2015-01-01

Interconnected renewable energy sources (RES) require fast and accurate fault ride through (FRT) operation, in order to support the power grid, when faults occur. This paper proposes an adaptive phase-locked loop (adaptive dαβPLL) algorithm, which can be used for a faster and more accurate response...

The Relational Responding Task: Toward a New Implicit Measure of Beliefs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jan eDe Houwer

2015-03-01

Full Text Available We introduce the Relational Responding Task (RRT as a tool for capturing beliefs at the implicit level. Flemish participants were asked to respond as if they believed that Flemish people are more intelligent than immigrants (e.g., respond true to the statement Flemish people are wiser than immigrants or to respond as if they believed that immigrants are more intelligent than Flemish people (e.g., respond true to the statement Flemish people are dumber than immigrants. The difference in performance between these two tasks correlated with ratings of the extent to which participants explicitly endorsed the belief that Flemish people are more intelligent than immigrants and with questionnaire measures of subtle and blatant racism. The current study provides a first step towards validating RRT effects as a viable measure of implicit beliefs.

Information needs at the beginning of foraging: grass-cutting ants trade off load size for a faster return to the nest.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martin Bollazzi

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Acquisition of information about food sources is essential for animals that forage collectively like social insects. Foragers deliver two commodities to the nest, food and information, and they may favor the delivery of one at the expenses of the other. We predict that information needs should be particularly high at the beginning of foraging: the decision to return faster to the nest will motivate a grass-cutting ant worker to reduce its loading time, and so to leave the source with a partial load.Field results showed that at the initial foraging phase, most grass-cutting ant foragers (Acromyrmex heyeri returned unladen to the nest, and experienced head-on encounters with outgoing workers. Ant encounters were not simply collisions in a probabilistic sense: outgoing workers contacted in average 70% of the returning foragers at the initial foraging phase, and only 20% at the established phase. At the initial foraging phase, workers cut fragments that were shorter, narrower, lighter and tenderer than those harvested at the established one. Foragers walked at the initial phase significantly faster than expected for the observed temperatures, yet not at the established phase. Moreover, when controlling for differences in the fragment-size carried, workers still walked faster at the initial phase. Despite the higher speed, their individual transport rate of vegetable tissue was lower than that of similarly-sized workers foraging later at the same patch.At the initial foraging phase, workers compromised their individual transport rates of material in order to return faster to the colony. We suggest that the observed flexible cutting rules and the selection of partial loads at the beginning of foraging are driven by the need of information transfer, crucial for the establishment and maintenance of a foraging process to monopolize a discovered resource.

Faster than Hermitian Quantum Mechanics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bender, Carl M.; Brody, Dorje C.; Jones, Hugh F.; Meister, Bernhard K.

2007-01-01

Given an initial quantum state vertical bar ψ I > and a final quantum state vertical bar ψ F >, there exist Hamiltonians H under which vertical bar ψ I > evolves into vertical bar ψ F >. Consider the following quantum brachistochrone problem: subject to the constraint that the difference between the largest and smallest eigenvalues of H is held fixed, which H achieves this transformation in the least time τ? For Hermitian Hamiltonians τ has a nonzero lower bound. However, among non-Hermitian PT-symmetric Hamiltonians satisfying the same energy constraint, τ can be made arbitrarily small without violating the time-energy uncertainty principle. This is because for such Hamiltonians the path from vertical bar ψ I > to vertical bar ψ F > can be made short. The mechanism described here is similar to that in general relativity in which the distance between two space-time points can be made small if they are connected by a wormhole. This result may have applications in quantum computing

Process Fragment Libraries for Easier and Faster Development of Process-based Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Schumm

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The term “process fragment” is recently gaining momentum in business process management research. We understand a process fragment as a connected and reusable process structure, which has relaxed completeness and consistency criteria compared to executable processes. We claim that process fragments allow for an easier and faster development of process-based applications. As evidence to this claim we present a process fragment concept and show a sample collection of concrete, real-world process fragments. We present advanced application scenarios for using such fragments in development of process-based applications. Process fragments are typically managed in a repository, forming a process fragment library. On top of a process fragment library from previous work, we discuss the potential impact of using process fragment libraries in cross-enterprise collaboration and application integration.

Cone-Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) Versus CT in Lung Ablation Procedure: Which is Faster?

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Cazzato, Roberto Luigi; Battistuzzi, Jean-Benoit; Catena, Vittorio; Grasso, Rosario Francesco; Zobel, Bruno Beomonte; Schena, Emiliano; Buy, Xavier; Palussiere, Jean

2015-10-01

To compare cone-beam CT (CBCT) versus computed tomography (CT) guidance in terms of time needed to target and place the radiofrequency ablation (RFA) electrode on lung tumours. Patients at our institution who received CBCT- or CT-guided RFA for primary or metastatic lung tumours were retrospectively included. Time required to target and place the RFA electrode within the lesion was registered and compared across the two groups. Lesions were stratified into three groups according to their size (20 mm). Occurrences of electrode repositioning, repositioning time, RFA complications, and local recurrence after RFA were also reported. Forty tumours (22 under CT, 18 under CBCT guidance) were treated in 27 patients (19 male, 8 female, median age 67.25 ± 9.13 years). Thirty RFA sessions (16 under CBCT and 14 under CT guidance) were performed. Multivariable linear regression analysis showed that CBCT was faster than CT to target and place the electrode within the tumour independently from its size (β = -9.45, t = -3.09, p = 0.004). Electrode repositioning was required in 10/22 (45.4 %) tumours under CT guidance and 5/18 (27.8 %) tumours under CBCT guidance. Pneumothoraces occurred in 6/14 (42.8 %) sessions under CT guidance and in 6/16 (37.5 %) sessions under CBCT guidance. Two recurrences were noted for tumours receiving CBCT-guided RFA (2/17, 11.7 %) and three after CT-guided RFA (3/19, 15.8 %). CBCT with live 3D needle guidance is a useful technique for percutaneous lung ablation. Despite lesion size, CBCT allows faster lung RFA than CT.

Humility when responding to the abuse of adults with mental disabilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Skowron, Paul

Legal theorists often reduce the ethics of responding to the abuse of another person to a clash between the principles of autonomy and protection. This reduction is a problem. Responding to suspected abuse requires humility - the potential responder must be aware of and respect their own limits - but humility cannot be usefully reduced to protection and autonomy. Using examples from the Court of Protection of England and Wales, this article examines the different ways that someone responding to abuse should respect their own limits, and suggests that a failure to do so will disproportionately affect people with mental disabilities. It is therefore necessary to attend to whether the law fosters humility among those who respond to abuse, although this must be tempered by humility about legal reform itself. Finally, the article shows how attention to humility can assist the interpretation of Article 16 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; and suggests that, so interpreted, the Convention may help to promote humility when responding to abuse. Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Faster Movement Speed Results in Greater Tendon Strain during the Loaded Squat Exercise

Science.gov (United States)

Earp, Jacob E.; Newton, Robert U.; Cormie, Prue; Blazevich, Anthony J.

2016-01-01

Introduction: Tendon dynamics influence movement performance and provide the stimulus for long-term tendon adaptation. As tendon strain increases with load magnitude and decreases with loading rate, changes in movement speed during exercise should influence tendon strain. Methods: Ten resistance-trained men [squat one repetition maximum (1RM) to body mass ratio: 1.65 ± 0.12] performed parallel-depth back squat lifts with 60% of 1RM load at three different speeds: slow fixed-tempo (TS: 2-s eccentric, 1-s pause, 2-s concentric), volitional-speed without a pause (VS) and maximum-speed jump (JS). In each condition joint kinetics, quadriceps tendon length (LT), patellar tendon force (FT), and rate of force development (RFDT) were estimated using integrated ultrasonography, motion-capture, and force platform recordings. Results: Peak LT, FT, and RFDT were greater in JS than TS (p < 0.05), however no differences were observed between VS and TS. Thus, moving at faster speeds resulted in both greater tendon stress and strain despite an increased RFDT, as would be predicted of an elastic, but not a viscous, structure. Temporal comparisons showed that LT was greater in TS than JS during the early eccentric phase (10–14% movement duration) where peak RFDT occurred, demonstrating that the tendon's viscous properties predominated during initial eccentric loading. However, during the concentric phase (61–70 and 76–83% movement duration) differing FT and similar RFDT between conditions allowed for the tendon's elastic properties to predominate such that peak tendon strain was greater in JS than TS. Conclusions: Based on our current understanding, there may be an additional mechanical stimulus for tendon adaptation when performing large range-of-motion isoinertial exercises at faster movement speeds. PMID:27630574

Immunotherapy, an evolving approach for the management of triple negative breast cancer: Converting non-responders to responders.

Science.gov (United States)

Tolba, Mai F; Omar, Hany A

2018-02-01

Immunotherapy comprises a promising new era in cancer therapy. Immune checkpoint inhibitors targeting either the programmed death (PD)-1 receptor or its ligand PD-L1 were first approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the management of metastatic melanoma in 2011. The approval of this class is being extended to include other types of immunogenic tumors. Although breast cancer (BC) was first categorized as non-immunogenic tumor type, there are certain subsets of BC that showed a high level of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). Those subsets include the triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) and HER-2 positive breast tumors. Preliminary data from clinical trials presented promising outcomes for patients with advanced stage/metastatic TNBC. While the objective response rate (ORR) was relatively low, it is still promising because of the observation that the patients who respond to the treatment with immune checkpoint blockade have favorable prognosis and often show a significant increase in the overall survival. Therefore, the main challenge is to find ways to enhance the tumor response to such therapy and to convert the non-responders to responders. This will consequently bring new hopes for patients with advanced stage metastatic TNBC and help to decrease death tolls from this devastating disease. In the current review, we are highlighting and discussing the up-to-date strategies adopted at either the preclinical or the clinical settings to enhance tumor responsiveness to immunotherapy. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

How to respond to referee comments for scientific articles?

Science.gov (United States)

Kalemci, Mustafa Serdar; Turna, Burak

2013-09-01

Currently, the increasing number of article submissions to scientific journals forces editors to be more selective in their acceptance of papers. Consequently, editors have increased the frequency of their use of scientific referee mechanisms. For many researchers, the publication of a scientific article in a high impact factor journal is a gradual and difficult process. After preparation and submission of a manuscript, one of the most important issue is responding to the comments of referees. However, there is a paucity of published reports in the literature describing how to respond to these comments. The aim of this review is to assist researchers/authors in responding to referee comments as part of the publication process for scientific articles.

Reliability of proxy respondents for patients with stroke: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Oczkowski, Colin; O'Donnell, Martin

2010-01-01

Proxy respondents are an important aspect of stroke medicine and research. We performed a systematic review of studies evaluating the reliability of proxy respondents for stroke patients. Studies were identified by searches of MEDLINE, Google, and the Cochrane Library between January 1969 and June 2008. All were prospective or cross-sectional studies reporting the reliability of proxy respondents for patients with a history of previous stroke or transient ischemic attack. One author abstracted data. For each study, intraclass correlation (ICC) or the k-statistic was categorized as poor (0.80). Thirteen studies, with a total of 2618 participants, met our inclusion criteria. Most studies recruited patients >3 months after their stroke. Of these studies, 5 (360 participants; 5 scales) evaluated reliability of proxy respondents for activities of daily living (ADL), and 9 (2334 participants; 9 scales) evaluated reliability of proxy respondents for quality of life (QoL). One study evaluated both. In studies, the ICC/k for scales ranged from 0.61 to 0.91 for ADL and from 0.41 to 0.8 for QoL. Most studies reported that proxy respondents overestimated impairments compared with patient self-reports. Stroke severity and objective nature of questions were the most consistent determinants of disagreement between stroke patient and proxy respondent. Our data indicate that beyond the acute stroke period, the reliability of proxy respondents for validated scales of ADL was substantial to excellent, while that of scales for QoL was moderate to substantial. Copyright (c) 2010 National Stroke Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The effect and safety of highly standardized Ginger (Zingiber officinale) and Echinacea (Echinacea angustifolia) extract supplementation on inflammation and chronic pain in NSAIDs poor responders. A pilot study in subjects with knee arthrosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Rondanelli, Mariangela; Riva, Antonella; Morazzoni, Paolo; Allegrini, Pietro; Faliva, Milena Anna; Naso, Maurizio; Miccono, Alessandra; Peroni, Gabriella; Degli Agosti, Irene; Perna, Simone

2017-06-01

The study aimed to evaluate the effect of Zingiber officinale and Echinacea angustifolia extract supplementation (25 mg of ginger and 5 mg of Echinacea) for 30 days on inflammation and chronic pain in knee osteoarthritis (OA). Consecutive nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory-drugs (NSAIDs) poor responders with chronic inflammation and pain due to knee arthrosis were assessed (15 subjects, age: 67.2 ± 7.9, body mass index: 30.6 ± 7.1, men/women:2/13). The primary endpoint was to determine pain improvement from baseline to Day 30 by Tegner Lysholm Knee Scoring. The secondary endpoints were the assessment of Visual Analog Scale for Pain, health-related quality of life, by the ShortForm36 (SF-36), anthropometric parameters, hydration. After supplementation, a significant improvement of 12.27 points was observed for Lysholm scale score (p < 0.05), SF-36 (p < 0.05), and a decrease in -0.52 cm in knee circumference (left) (p < 0.01). This pilot study provides feasibility and safety data for the use of highly standardised ginger and Echinacea extract supplementation in people with knee OA.

Medial Orbitofrontal Cortex Mediates Effort-related Responding in Rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Münster, Alexandra; Hauber, Wolfgang

2017-11-17

The medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) is known to support flexible control of goal-directed behavior. However, limited evidence suggests that the mOFC also mediates the ability of organisms to work with vigor towards a selected goal, a hypothesis that received little consideration to date. Here we show that excitotoxic mOFC lesion increased responding under a progressive ratio (PR) schedule of reinforcement, that is, the highest ratio achieved, and increased the preference for the high effort-high reward option in an effort-related decision-making task, but left intact outcome-selective Pavlovian-instrumental transfer and outcome-specific devaluation. Moreover, pharmacological inhibition of the mOFC increased, while pharmacological stimulation reduced PR responding. In addition, pharmacological mOFC stimulation attenuated methylphenidate-induced increase of PR responding. Intact rats tested for PR responding displayed higher numbers of c-Fos positive mOFC neurons than appropriate controls; however, mOFC neurons projecting to the nucleus accumbens did not show a selective increase in neuronal activation implying that they may not play a major role in regulating PR responding. Collectively, these results suggest that the mOFC plays a major role in mediating effort-related motivational functions. Moreover, our data demonstrate for the first time that the mOFC modulates effort-related effects of psychostimulant drugs. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

LTP-like plasticity in the visual system and in the motor system appear related in young and healthy subjects

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Stefan eKlöppel

2015-09-01

Full Text Available LTP-like plasticity measured by visual evoked potentials (VEP can be induced in the intact human brain by presenting checkerboard reversals. Also associated with LTP-like plasticity, around two third of participants respond to transcranial magnetic stimulation with a paired-associate stimulation (PAS protocol with a potentiation of their motor evoked potentials. LTP-like processes are also required for verbal and motor learning tasks. We compared effect sizes, responder rates and intercorrelations as well as the potential influence of attention between these four assessments in a group of 37 young and healthy volunteers. We observed a potentiation effect of the N75 and P100 VEP component which positively correlated with plasticity induced by PAS. Subjects with a better subjective alertness were more likely to show PAS and VEP potentiation. No correlation was found between the other assessments. Effect sizes and responder rates of VEP potentiation were higher compared to PAS. Our results indicate a high variability of LTP-like effects and no evidence for a system-specific nature. As a consequence, studies wishing to assess individual levels of LTP-like plasticity should employ a combination of multiple assessments.

Pharmacokinetic Effects of Antidrug Antibodies Occurring in Healthy Subjects After a Single Dose of Intravenous Infliximab.

Science.gov (United States)

Ehrenpreis, Eli D

2017-12-01

Infliximab pharmacokinetic studies have been performed in patients receiving chronic infliximab therapy. In these patients, infliximab antidrug antibodies (ADAs) increase infliximab clearance and decrease serum levels and drug efficacy. This study analyzed the pharmacokinetic effect of infliximab ADAs in healthy subjects receiving a single dose of intravenous infliximab. Data were obtained from a single-blind, parallel-group, single-dose study of healthy subjects receiving 5 mg/kg of intravenous SB2 (infliximab biosimilar), EU-sourced Remicade (EU-IFX) or US-sourced Remicade (US-IFX). Serum infliximab was measured at 1, 2, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 h and at 5, 7, 14, 21, 28, 42, 56, and 70 days after administration. ADAs were measured pre-dose and at 29 and 71 days. Data from the first ten subjects randomized to each treatment arm were utilized for this study. A two-compartment model of the serum infliximab vs. time curve was developed using nonlinear regression. At 10 weeks, 11 subjects (37%) developed ADAs. ADAs were detected in four subjects after SB2, one subject after EU-IFX, and six subjects after US-IFX infusion. Of these, neutralizing antibodies occurred in one subject after SB2, in no subjects after EU-IFX, and in three subjects after US-IFX infusion. Infliximab clearance was increased in subjects with ADAs vs. those without ADAs (12.89 ± 2.69 vs. 9.90 ± 1.74 ml/h; p ADAs (282.4 ± 56.4 vs. 343.3 ± 61.9 h; p ADAs are common in healthy subjects after a single intravenous dose of infliximab and result in faster infliximab clearance, shorter elimination time, and lower serum infliximab levels. These data confirm that ADAs are common with biologic therapy and significantly impact the efficacy of these drugs.

Visual Motor Integration as a Screener for Responders and Non-Responders in Preschool and Early School Years: Implications for Inclusive Assessment in Oman

Science.gov (United States)

Emam, Mahmoud Mohamed; Kazem, Ali Mahdi

2016-01-01

Visual motor integration (VMI) is the ability of the eyes and hands to work together in smooth, efficient patterns. In Oman, there are few effective methods to assess VMI skills in children in inclusive settings. The current study investigated the performance of preschool and early school years responders and non-responders on a VMI test. The full…

The Conscientious Responders Scale Helps Researchers Verify the Integrity of Personality Questionnaire Data.

Science.gov (United States)

Marjanovic, Zdravko; Bajkov, Lisa; MacDonald, Jennifer

2018-01-01

The Conscientious Responders Scale is a five-item embeddable validity scale that differentiates between conscientious and indiscriminate responding in personality-questionnaire data (CR & IR). This investigation presents further evidence of its validity and generalizability across two experiments. Study 1 tests its sensitivity to questionnaire length, a known cause of IR, and tries to provoke IR by manipulating psychological reactance. As expected, short questionnaires produced higher Conscientious Responders Scale scores than long questionnaires, and Conscientious Responders Scale scores were unaffected by reactance manipulations. Study 2 tests concerns that the Conscientious Responders Scale's unusual item content could potentially irritate and baffle responders, ironically increasing rates of IR. We administered two nearly identical questionnaires: one with an embedded Conscientious Responders Scale and one without the Conscientious Responders Scale. Psychometric comparisons revealed no differences across questionnaires' means, variances, interitem response consistencies, and Cronbach's alphas. In sum, the Conscientious Responders Scale is highly sensitive to questionnaire length-a known correlate of IR-and can be embedded harmlessly in questionnaires without provoking IR or changing the psychometrics of other measures.

When to Blink and when to Think: Preference for Intuitive Decisions Results in Faster and Better Tactical Choices

Science.gov (United States)

Raab, Markus; Laborde, Sylvain

2011-01-01

Intuition is often considered an effective manner of decision making in sports. In this study we investigated whether a preference for intuition over deliberation results in faster and better lab-based choices in team handball attack situations with 54 male and female handball players of different expertise levels. We assumed that intuitive…

Consistency between subjectively and objectively measured hazard perception skills among young male drivers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Abele, Liva; Haustein, Sonja; Møller, Mette

2018-01-01

. Subjective measures of HPS include self-reports derived based on the Hazard Perception Questionnaire (HPQ), Driving Skill Questionnaire (DSQ), and Brief Sensation Seeking Scale (BSSS). Results show that drivers who respond to the hazards on time, as compared to drivers who do not respond, have higher scores......Young male drivers have lower hazard perception skills (HPS) than older and more experienced drivers and a tendency to overestimate their skills in hazardous situations. Both factors contribute to an over-representation in traffic accidents. Based on a sample of 63 drivers aged 18-24, this study...... negatively when the hazard is visible. To enhance the HPS among young drivers, the results of this study suggest that specific hazard perception training is relevant, especially for hazards that require more advanced HPS....

Many random walks are faster than one

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Alon, N.; Avin, Ch.; Koucký, Michal; Kozma, G.; Lotker, Z.; Tuttle, M.R.

2011-01-01

Roč. 20, č. 4 (2011), s. 481-502 ISSN 0963-5483 R&D Projects: GA ČR GP201/07/P276; GA ČR GA201/05/0124 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10190503 Keywords : multiple random walks * parallel random walks Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics Impact factor: 0.778, year: 2011 http://journals.cambridge.org/ action /displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=8280727

Subjective Oral Health in Dutch Adults

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gijsbert H.W. Verrips

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Aim: To determine whether the subjective oral health (SOH of the Dutch adult population was associated with clinical and demographic variables. Methods: A clinical examination was conducted in a sample of 1,018 people from the Dutch city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch. SOH was measured using the Dutch translation of the short form of the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-NL14. Results: The average score on the OHIP-NL14 was 2.8 ± 5.9 and 51% of the respondents had a score of 0. Dental status was the most important predictor of SOH. Conclusions:  The SOH in the Dutch adult population was much better than in groups of adults in Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. Nevertheless, there were important variations in SOH related to dental and socio-economic status.

What is wrong with non-respondents?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Anne Illemann; Ekholm, Ola; Gray, Linsay

2015-01-01

AIM: Response rates in health surveys have diminished over the last two decades, making it difficult to obtain reliable information on health and health-related risk factors in different population groups. This study compared cause-specific mortality and morbidity among survey respondents and dif...

Higher Resolution and Faster MRI of 31Phosphorus in Bone

Science.gov (United States)

Frey, Merideth; Barrett, Sean; Sethna, Zachary; Insogna, Karl; Vanhouten, Joshua

2013-03-01

Probing the internal composition of bone on the sub-100 μm length scale is important to study normal features and to look for signs of disease. However, few useful non-destructive techniques are available to evaluate changes in the bone mineral chemical structure and functional micro-architecture on the interior of bones. MRI would be an excellent candidate, but bone is a particularly challenging tissue to study given the relatively low water density, wider linewidths of its solid components leading to low spatial resolution, and the long imaging time compared to conventional 1H MRI. Our lab has recently made advances in obtaining high spatial resolution (sub-400 μm)3 three-dimensional 31Phosphorus MRI of bone through use of the quadratic echo line-narrowing sequence (1). In this talk, we describe our current results using proton decoupling to push this technique even further towards the factor of 1000 increase in spatial resolution imposed by fundamental limits. We also discuss our work to speed up imaging through novel, faster reconstruction algorithms that can reconstruct the desired image from very sparse data sets. (1) M. Frey, et al. PNAS 109: 5190 (2012).

Commentary: Considering Assumptions in Associations Between Music Preferences and Empathy-Related Responding

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Susan A O'Neill

2015-09-01

Full Text Available This commentary considers some of the assumptions underpinning the study by Clark and Giacomantonio (2015. Their exploratory study examined relationships between young people's music preferences and their cognitive and affective empathy-related responses. First, the prescriptive assumption that music preferences can be measured according to how often an individual listens to a particular music genre is considered within axiology or value theory as a multidimensional construct (general, specific, and functional values. This is followed by a consideration of the causal assumption that if we increase young people's empathy through exposure to prosocial song lyrics this will increase their prosocial behavior. It is suggested that the predictive power of musical preferences on empathy-related responding might benefit from a consideration of the larger pattern of psychological and subjective wellbeing within the context of developmental regulation across ontogeny that involves mutually influential individual—context relations.

Speech perception performance of subjects with type I diabetes mellitus in noise

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Bárbara Cristiane Sordi Silva

Full Text Available Abstract Introduction: Diabetes mellitus (DM is a chronic metabolic disorder of various origins that occurs when the pancreas fails to produce insulin in sufficient quantities or when the organism fails to respond to this hormone in an efficient manner. Objective: To evaluate the speech recognition in subjects with type I diabetes mellitus (DMI in quiet and in competitive noise. Methods: It was a descriptive, observational and cross-section study. We included 40 participants of both genders aged 18-30 years, divided into a control group (CG of 20 healthy subjects with no complaints or auditory changes, paired for age and gender with the study group, consisting of 20 subjects with a diagnosis of DMI. First, we applied basic audiological evaluations (pure tone audiometry, speech audiometry and immittance audiometry for all subjects; after these evaluations, we applied Sentence Recognition Threshold in Quiet (SRTQ and Sentence Recognition Threshold in Noise (SRTN in free field, using the List of Sentences in Portuguese test. Results: All subjects showed normal bilateral pure tone threshold, compatible speech audiometry and "A" tympanometry curve. Group comparison revealed a statistically significant difference for SRTQ (p = 0.0001, SRTN (p < 0.0001 and the signal-to-noise ratio (p < 0.0001. Conclusion: The performance of DMI subjects in SRTQ and SRTN was worse compared to the subjects without diabetes.

An Architecturally Constrained Model of Random Number Generation and its Application to Modelling the Effect of Generation Rate

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicholas J. Sexton

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Random number generation (RNG is a complex cognitive task for human subjects, requiring deliberative control to avoid production of habitual, stereotyped sequences. Under various manipulations (e.g., speeded responding, transcranial magnetic stimulation, or neurological damage the performance of human subjects deteriorates, as reflected in a number of qualitatively distinct, dissociable biases. For example, the intrusion of stereotyped behaviour (e.g., counting increases at faster rates of generation. Theoretical accounts of the task postulate that it requires the integrated operation of multiple, computationally heterogeneous cognitive control ('executive' processes. We present a computational model of RNG, within the framework of a novel, neuropsychologically-inspired cognitive architecture, ESPro. Manipulating the rate of sequence generation in the model reproduced a number of key effects observed in empirical studies, including increasing sequence stereotypy at faster rates. Within the model, this was due to time limitations on the interaction of supervisory control processes, namely, task setting, proposal of responses, monitoring, and response inhibition. The model thus supports the fractionation of executive function into multiple, computationally heterogeneous processes.

Imitation in patients with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome--a behavioral study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jonas, Melanie; Thomalla, Götz; Biermann-Ruben, Katja

2010-01-01

Echophenomena in Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS) may relate to deficient processing of observed biological movements. This would be reflected in altered effects of movement observation on motor responses in these patients. We studied reaction times in 11 unmedicated GTS patients without...... in both groups, provided stimulus presentation and response initiation coincided. Healthy subjects responded faster to compatible biological than nonbiological stimuli. In contrast, GTS patients responded slower to incompatible biological than nonbiological stimuli. Patients' mean reaction time...... in experiment 2 correlated with phonic tic-frequency. Motor facilitation by observing biological movements appears to rely on concomitance of stimuli and responses in GTS patients and healthy individuals. Differing behavioral effects of movement observation in GTS might reflect altered activation of an action...

High Fidelity, “Faster than Real-Time” Simulator for Predicting Power System Dynamic Behavior - Final Technical Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Flueck, Alex [Illinois Inst. of Technology, Chicago, IL (United States)

2017-07-14

The “High Fidelity, Faster than Real­Time Simulator for Predicting Power System Dynamic Behavior” was designed and developed by Illinois Institute of Technology with critical contributions from Electrocon International, Argonne National Laboratory, Alstom Grid and McCoy Energy. Also essential to the project were our two utility partners: Commonwealth Edison and AltaLink. The project was a success due to several major breakthroughs in the area of large­scale power system dynamics simulation, including (1) a validated faster than real­ time simulation of both stable and unstable transient dynamics in a large­scale positive sequence transmission grid model, (2) a three­phase unbalanced simulation platform for modeling new grid devices, such as independently controlled single­phase static var compensators (SVCs), (3) the world’s first high fidelity three­phase unbalanced dynamics and protection simulator based on Electrocon’s CAPE program, and (4) a first­of­its­ kind implementation of a single­phase induction motor model with stall capability. The simulator results will aid power grid operators in their true time of need, when there is a significant risk of cascading outages. The simulator will accelerate performance and enhance accuracy of dynamics simulations, enabling operators to maintain reliability and steer clear of blackouts. In the long­term, the simulator will form the backbone of the newly conceived hybrid real­time protection and control architecture that will coordinate local controls, wide­area measurements, wide­area controls and advanced real­time prediction capabilities. The nation’s citizens will benefit in several ways, including (1) less down time from power outages due to the faster­than­real­time simulator’s predictive capability, (2) higher levels of reliability due to the detailed dynamics plus protection simulation capability, and (3) more resiliency due to the three­ phase unbalanced simulator’s ability to

Faster but not smarter: effects of caffeine and caffeine withdrawal on alertness and performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Rogers, Peter J; Heatherley, Susan V; Mullings, Emma L; Smith, Jessica E

2013-03-01

Despite 100 years of psychopharmacological research, the extent to which caffeine consumption benefits human functioning remains unclear. To measure the effects of overnight caffeine abstinence and caffeine administration as a function of level of habitual caffeine consumption. Medium-high (n = 212) and non-low (n = 157) caffeine consumers completed self-report measures and computer-based tasks before (starting at 10:30 AM) and after double-blind treatment with either caffeine (100 mg, then 150 mg) or placebo. The first treatment was given at 11:15 AM and the second at 12:45 PM, with post-treatment measures repeated twice between 1:45 PM and 3:30 PM. Caffeine withdrawal was associated with some detrimental effects at 10:30 AM, and more severe effects, including greater sleepiness, lower mental alertness, and poorer performance on simple reaction time, choice reaction time and recognition memory tasks, later in the afternoon. Caffeine improved these measures in medium-high consumers but, apart from decreasing sleepiness, had little effect on them in non-low consumers. The failure of caffeine to increase mental alertness and improve mental performance in non-low consumers was related to a substantial caffeine-induced increase in anxiety/jitteriness that offset the benefit of decreased sleepiness. Caffeine enhanced physical performance (faster tapping speed and faster simple and choice reaction times) in both medium-high and non-low consumers. While caffeine benefits motor performance and tolerance develops to its tendency to increase anxiety/jitteriness, tolerance to its effects on sleepiness means that frequent consumption fails to enhance mental alertness and mental performance.

Plasma cytokine profiles in depressed patients who fail to respond to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor therapy.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

O'Brien, Sinead M

2012-02-03

OBJECTIVE: Approximately 30% of patients with depression fail to respond to a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). Few studies have attempted to define these patients from a biological perspective. Studies suggest that overall patients with depression show increased production of proinflammatory cytokines. We examined pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine levels in patients who were SSRI resistant. METHODS: Plasma concentrations of IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF-alpha and sIL-6R were measured with enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) in DSM-1V major depressives who were SSRI resistant, in formerly SSRI resistant patients currently euthymic and in healthy controls. RESULTS: Patients with SSRI-resistant depression had significantly higher production of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 (p=0.01) and TNF-alpha (p=0.004) compared to normal controls. Euthymic patients who were formerly SSRI resistant had proinflammatory cytokine levels which were similar to the healthy subject group. Anti-inflammatory cytokine levels did not differ across the 3 groups. CONCLUSION: Suppression of proinflammatory cytokines does not occur in depressed patients who fail to respond to SSRIs and is necessary for clinical recovery.

Effects of sucrose concentration and water deprivation on Pavlovian conditioning and responding for conditioned reinforcement.

Science.gov (United States)

Tabbara, Rayane I; Maddux, Jean-Marie N; Beharry, Priscilla F; Iannuzzi, Jessica; Chaudhri, Nadia

2016-04-01

An appetitive Pavlovian conditioned stimulus (CS) can predict an unconditioned stimulus (US) and acquire incentive salience. We tested the hypothesis that US intensity and motivational state of the subject would influence Pavlovian learning and impact the attribution of incentive salience to an appetitive Pavlovian CS. To this end, we examined the effects of sucrose concentration and water deprivation on the acquisition of Pavlovian conditioning and responding for a conditioned reinforcer. Male Long-Evans rats (Harlan; 220-240 g) receiving 3% (3S) or 20% (20S) sucrose were either non-water deprived or given water for 1 hr per day. During Pavlovian conditioning sessions, half the rats in each concentration and deprivation condition received a 10-s CS paired with 0.2 ml of sucrose (16 trials/session; 3.2 ml/session). The remainder received unpaired CS and US presentations. Entries into a port where sucrose was delivered were recorded. Next, responding for conditioned reinforcement was tested, wherein pressing an active lever produced the CS and pressing an inactive lever had no consequences. CS-elicited port entries increased, and latency to the first CS-elicited port entry decreased across sessions in paired groups. Water deprivation augmented these effects, whereas sucrose concentration had no significant impact on behavior. Responding for conditioned reinforcement was observed in the 20S water-deprived, paired group. Thus, water deprivation can facilitate the acquisition of Pavlovian conditioning, potentially by enhancing motivational state, and a high-intensity US and a high motivational state can interact to heighten the attribution of incentive salience to an appetitive Pavlovian CS. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Collaboration and interaction of first responders with the general public

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Emmerik, M. van; Dinesen, C.; Rijk, R. van; Bird, M.; Wester, M.; Hansen, L.J.; Vinther-Larsen, L.; Padron, C.; Boswinkel, R.; Ven, J. van de

2016-01-01

There is an increased focus on the need for collaboration between first responders and the general public. This type of collaboration requires soft skills that are not necessarily included in more traditional command and control trainings for first responders. Learning to collaborate with the

Histomorphological changes in hepatitis C non-responders with respect to viral genotypes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adnan, U.; Mirza, T.; Naz, E.; Aziz, S.

2013-01-01

Objective: To evaluate the distinct histopathological changes of chronic hepatitis C (CHC) non-responders in association with viral genotypes. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the histopathology section of the Dow Diagnostic Research and Reference Laboratory, Dow University of Health Sciences in collaboration with Sarwar Zuberi Liver Centre, Civil Hospital, Karachi from September 2009 to August 2011. Seventy-five non-responders (end-treatment-response [ETR] positive patients) from a consecutive series of viral-RNA positive CHC patients with known genotypes were selected. Their genotypes and pertinent clinical history was recorded. They were subjected to liver biopsies which were assessed for grade, stage, steatosis, stainable iron and characteristic histological lesions. Results: Majority of the patients (63, 84%) had genotype 3 while 12(16%) cases had genotype 1. The genotype 1 patients had significantly higher scores of inflammation (p<0.03) and fibrosis (p<0.04) as compared to genotype 3. Steatosis was significantly present in all genotype 3 patients in higher scores (p<0.001) compared to genotype 1. Stainable iron scores were generally low in the patients in this study, however, it was more commonly seen in genotype 3. The distribution of characteristic histological lesions was noteworthy in both the groups, irrespective of genotype. Conclusion: In this series, the predominant genotype was 3. However, genotype 1 patients were more prone to the aggressive nature of the disease with significantly higher scores of inflammation and fibrosis. Steatosis was characteristically observed in genotype 3 group. Stainable iron could not be attributed as a cause of non-response. (author)

Subjective assessment of the effectiveness of physiotherapeutic methods in lumbosacral discogenic pain syndrome

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Michał Grzegorczyk

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Aging society, lack of habit shaping attitude to correct posture among children and youth and a lifestyle that often requires excessive effort make lumbosacral discogenic pain syndrome a social disease. It is essential that effective methods for the prevention and treatment of these changes go hand in hand with the frequently occurring pains of the lumbosacral spine. Aim of the study: Comparison of the subjective assessment of the patient's feelings related to the lumbosacral discogenic pain. Material and method: The research group included 60 people diagnosed with a lumbosacral discogenic pain. All patients were divided into three groups of 20 people. Each group was subjected to a different type of rehabilitation, depending on the method analyzed - PNF, manual therapy, and physical treatments. The questionnaire was used as the research tool, it was filled in by the respondents. Results: The patients, before and after the treatments, regardless of the type of rehabilitation to which they were subjected, declared that the most common pain is in the buttock, thigh and calf. Before the rehabilitation, the most frequent additional complaints of the examined patients were numbness and muscle weakness, after rehabilitation it was muscle weakness. After the rehabilitation, the number of painkillers taken by the respondents decreased. Only in the case of patients who underwent physiotherapeutic procedures, the number of people taking medication increased. Conclusions: The best results from the analyzed therapies were obtained after manual therapy. The second most effective was PNF therapy, while the weakest result was achieved by physiotherapeutic procedures.

Time Course and Association of Functional and Biochemical Markers in Severe Semitendinosus Damage Following Intensive Eccentric Leg Curls: Differences between and within Subjects

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Gerard Carmona

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Purpose: To investigate the extent and evolution of hamstring muscle damage caused by an intensive bout of eccentric leg curls (ELCs by (1 assessing the time course and association of different indirect markers of muscle damage such as changes in the force-generating capacity (FGC, functional magnetic resonance (fMRI, and serum muscle enzyme levels and (2 analyzing differences in the degree of hamstring muscle damage between and within subjects (limb-to-limb comparison.Methods: Thirteen male participants performed six sets of 10 repetitions of an ELC with each leg. Before and at regular intervals over 7 days after the exercise, FGC was measured with maximal isometric voluntary contraction (MVC. Serum enzyme levels, fMRI transverse relaxation time (T2 and perceived muscle soreness were also assessed and compared against the FGC.Results: Two groups of subjects were identified according to the extent of hamstring muscle damage based on decreased FGC and increased serum enzyme levels: high responders (n = 10, severe muscle damage and moderate responders (n = 3, moderate muscle damage. In the high responders, fMRI T2 analysis revealed that the semitendinosus (ST muscle suffered severe damage in the three regions measured (proximal, middle, and distal. The biceps femoris short head (BFsh muscle was also damaged and there were significant differences in the FGC within subjects in the high responders.Conclusion: FGC and serum enzyme levels measured in 10 of the subjects from the sample were consistent with severe muscle damage. However, the results showed a wide range of peak MVC reductions, reflecting different degrees of damage between subjects (high and moderate responders. fMRI analysis confirmed that the ST was the hamstring muscle most damaged by ELCs, with uniform T2 changes across all the measured sections of this muscle. During intensive ELCs, the ST muscle could suffer an anomalous recruitment pattern due to fatigue and damage, placing an

An empirical comparison of respondent-driven sampling, time location sampling, and snowball sampling for behavioral surveillance in men who have sex with men, Fortaleza, Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Kendall, Carl; Kerr, Ligia R F S; Gondim, Rogerio C; Werneck, Guilherme L; Macena, Raimunda Hermelinda Maia; Pontes, Marta Kerr; Johnston, Lisa G; Sabin, Keith; McFarland, Willi

2008-07-01

Obtaining samples of populations at risk for HIV challenges surveillance, prevention planning, and evaluation. Methods used include snowball sampling, time location sampling (TLS), and respondent-driven sampling (RDS). Few studies have made side-by-side comparisons to assess their relative advantages. We compared snowball, TLS, and RDS surveys of men who have sex with men (MSM) in Forteleza, Brazil, with a focus on the socio-economic status (SES) and risk behaviors of the samples to each other, to known AIDS cases and to the general population. RDS produced a sample with wider inclusion of lower SES than snowball sampling or TLS-a finding of health significance given the majority of AIDS cases reported among MSM in the state were low SES. RDS also achieved the sample size faster and at lower cost. For reasons of inclusion and cost-efficiency, RDS is the sampling methodology of choice for HIV surveillance of MSM in Fortaleza.

The Future of Responder Family Preparedness: The New Normal

Science.gov (United States)

2013-12-01

smart practices. Though responder family preparedness measures may be occurring on a very limited basis, it was found that nothing was prevalent in the...family preparedness for their employees. If any such programs exist, they are not well known or prevalent in the literature. First responders are... Beaver and Harriet Nelson of Father Knows Best. This predominant family structure was the societal norm and framed Killian’s problem and analysis

A faster and more reliable data acquisition system for the full performance of the SciCRT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sasai, Y.; Matsubara, Y.; Itow, Y.; Sako, T.; Kawabata, T.; Lopez, D.; Hikimochi, R.; Tsuchiya, A.; Ikeno, M.; Uchida, T.; Tanaka, M.; Munakata, K.; Kato, C.; Nakamura, Y.; Oshima, T.; Koike, T.; Kozai, M.; Shibata, S.; Oshima, A.; Takamaru, H.

2017-01-01

The SciBar Cosmic Ray Telescope (SciCRT) is a massive scintillator tracker to observe cosmic rays at a very high-altitude environment in Mexico. The fully active tracker is based on the Scintillator Bar (SciBar) detector developed as a near detector for the KEK-to-Kamioka long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment (K2K) in Japan. Since the data acquisition (DAQ) system was developed for the accelerator experiment, we determined to develop a new robust DAQ system to optimize it to our cosmic-ray experiment needs at the top of Mt. Sierra Negra (4600 m). One of our special requirements is to achieve a 10 times faster readout rate. We started to develop a new fast readout back-end board (BEB) based on 100 Mbps SiTCP, a hardware network processor developed for DAQ systems for high energy physics experiments. Then we developed the new BEB which has a potential of 20 times faster than the current one in the case of observing neutrons. Finally we installed the new DAQ system including the new BEBs to a part of the SciCRT in July 2015. The system has been operating since then. In this paper, we describe the development, the basic performance of the new BEB, the status after the installation in the SciCRT, and the future performance.

A faster and more reliable data acquisition system for the full performance of the SciCRT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sasai, Y., E-mail: sasaiyoshinori@isee.nagoya-u.ac.jp [Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601 (Japan); Matsubara, Y.; Itow, Y.; Sako, T.; Kawabata, T.; Lopez, D.; Hikimochi, R.; Tsuchiya, A. [Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601 (Japan); Ikeno, M.; Uchida, T.; Tanaka, M. [High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, KEK, 1-1 Oho, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0801 (Japan); Munakata, K.; Kato, C.; Nakamura, Y.; Oshima, T.; Koike, T. [Department of Physics, Shinshu University, Asahi, Matsumoto 390-8621 (Japan); Kozai, M. [Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (ISAS/JAXA), Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-5210 (Japan); Shibata, S.; Oshima, A.; Takamaru, H. [College of Engineering, Chubu University, Kasugai 487-8501 (Japan); and others

2017-06-11

The SciBar Cosmic Ray Telescope (SciCRT) is a massive scintillator tracker to observe cosmic rays at a very high-altitude environment in Mexico. The fully active tracker is based on the Scintillator Bar (SciBar) detector developed as a near detector for the KEK-to-Kamioka long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment (K2K) in Japan. Since the data acquisition (DAQ) system was developed for the accelerator experiment, we determined to develop a new robust DAQ system to optimize it to our cosmic-ray experiment needs at the top of Mt. Sierra Negra (4600 m). One of our special requirements is to achieve a 10 times faster readout rate. We started to develop a new fast readout back-end board (BEB) based on 100 Mbps SiTCP, a hardware network processor developed for DAQ systems for high energy physics experiments. Then we developed the new BEB which has a potential of 20 times faster than the current one in the case of observing neutrons. Finally we installed the new DAQ system including the new BEBs to a part of the SciCRT in July 2015. The system has been operating since then. In this paper, we describe the development, the basic performance of the new BEB, the status after the installation in the SciCRT, and the future performance.

Smoothness without smoothing: why Gaussian naive Bayes is not naive for multi-subject searchlight studies.

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Rajeev D S Raizada

Full Text Available Spatial smoothness is helpful when averaging fMRI signals across multiple subjects, as it allows different subjects' corresponding brain areas to be pooled together even if they are slightly misaligned. However, smoothing is usually not applied when performing multivoxel pattern-based analyses (MVPA, as it runs the risk of blurring away the information that fine-grained spatial patterns contain. It would therefore be desirable, if possible, to carry out pattern-based analyses which take unsmoothed data as their input but which produce smooth images as output. We show here that the Gaussian Naive Bayes (GNB classifier does precisely this, when it is used in "searchlight" pattern-based analyses. We explain why this occurs, and illustrate the effect in real fMRI data. Moreover, we show that analyses using GNBs produce results at the multi-subject level which are statistically robust, neurally plausible, and which replicate across two independent data sets. By contrast, SVM classifiers applied to the same data do not generate a replication, even if the SVM-derived searchlight maps have smoothing applied to them. An additional advantage of GNB classifiers for searchlight analyses is that they are orders of magnitude faster to compute than more complex alternatives such as SVMs. Collectively, these results suggest that Gaussian Naive Bayes classifiers may be a highly non-naive choice for multi-subject pattern-based fMRI studies.

Identifying Factors Associated with Risk Assessment Competencies of Public Health Emergency Responders.

Science.gov (United States)

Hao, Jiejing; Ren, Jiaojiao; Wu, Qunhong; Hao, Yanhua; Sun, Hong; Ning, Ning; Ding, Ding

2017-06-04

This study aimed to better understand the current situation of risk assessment and identify the factors associated with competence of emergency responders in public health risk assessment. The participants were selected by a multi-stage, stratified cluster sampling method in Heilongjiang Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The questionnaires that measured their perceptions on risk assessment competences were administered through the face-to-face survey. A final sample of 1889 staff was obtained. Of this sample, 78.6% of respondents rated their own risk assessment competences as "relatively low", contrasting with 21.4% rated as "relatively high". Most of the respondents (62.7%) did not participate in any risk assessment work. Only 13.7% and 42.7% of respondents reported participating in risk assessment training and were familiar with risk assessment tools. There existed statistical significance between risk assessment-related characteristics of respondents and their self-rated competences scores. Financial support from the government and administrative attention were regarded as the important factors contributing to risk assessment competences of CDC responders. Higher attention should be given to risk assessment training and enhancing the availability of surveillance data. Continuous efforts should be made to remove the financial and technical obstacles to improve the competences of risk assessment for public health emergency responders.

Development of Novel Faster-Dissolving Microneedle Patches for Transcutaneous Vaccine Delivery.

Science.gov (United States)

Ono, Akihiko; Ito, Sayami; Sakagami, Shun; Asada, Hideo; Saito, Mio; Quan, Ying-Shu; Kamiyama, Fumio; Hirobe, Sachiko; Okada, Naoki

2017-08-03

Microneedle (MN) patches are promising for transcutaneous vaccination because they enable vaccine antigens to physically penetrate the stratum corneum via low-invasive skin puncturing, and to be effectively delivered to antigen-presenting cells in the skin. In second-generation MN patches, the dissolving MNs release the loaded vaccine antigen into the skin. To shorten skin application time for clinical practice, this study aims to develop novel faster-dissolving MNs. We designed two types of MNs made from a single thickening agent, carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) or hyaluronan (HN). Both CMC-MN and HN-MN completely dissolved in rat skin after a 5-min application. In pre-clinical studies, both MNs could demonstrably increase antigen-specific IgG levels after vaccination and prolong antigen deposition compared with conventional injections, and deliver antigens into resected human dermal tissue. In clinical research, we demonstrated that both MNs could reliably and safely puncture human skin without any significant skin irritation from transepidermal water loss measurements and ICDRG (International Contact Dermatitis Research Group) evaluation results.

Effect of Graded Unilateral Sanding Exercise on Metabolic and Cardiopulmonary Function in the Healthy and the Hemiparetic Elderly Subjects

OpenAIRE

Muraki, Toshiaki

1997-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate how 18 elderly subjects with cerebral vascular accident (CVA) (14 men and 4 women) and 19 healthy elderly subjects (6 men and 13 women) would respond to a five-step graded unilateral sanding activity. Three indicators of pulmonary function such as expiratory tidal volume, respiratory rate, and expiratory volume and four indicators of cardiometabolic function such as metabolic equivalents (METS), systolic blood pressure, heart rate, and pressure rat...

Increasing Poverty: How Do Leaders in One Suburban District Respond?

Science.gov (United States)

Spencer, Jennifer Dawn

2014-01-01

This dissertation addresses the question of how suburban school district leaders in one large Midwestern school district respond to increasing student poverty. The purpose of this study was to determine how suburban school district leaders respond to increasing student poverty in their decision making and actions. Data for this study came from one…

Boosting recovery rather than buffering reactivity: Higher stress-induced oxytocin secretion is associated with increased cortisol reactivity and faster vagal recovery after acute psychosocial stress.

Science.gov (United States)

Engert, Veronika; Koester, Anna M; Riepenhausen, Antje; Singer, Tania

2016-12-01

Animal models and human studies using paradigms designed to stimulate endogenous oxytocin release suggest a stress-buffering role of oxytocin. We here examined the involvement of stress-induced peripheral oxytocin secretion in reactivity and recovery phases of the human psychosocial stress response. Healthy male and female participants (N=114) were subjected to a standardized laboratory stressor, the Trier Social Stress Test. In addition to plasma oxytocin, cortisol was assessed as a marker of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA-) axis activity, alpha-amylase and heart rate as markers of sympathetic activity, high frequency heart rate variability as a marker of vagal tone and self-rated anxiety as an indicator of subjective stress experience. On average, oxytocin levels increased by 51% following psychosocial stress. The stress-induced oxytocin secretion, however, did not reduce stress reactivity. To the contrary, higher oxytocin secretion was associated with greater cortisol reactivity and peak cortisol levels in both sexes. In the second phase of the stress response the opposite pattern was observed, with higher oxytocin secretion associated with faster vagal recovery. We suggest that after an early stage of oxytocin and HPA-axis co-activation, the stress-reducing action of oxytocin unfolds. Due to the time lag it manifests as a recovery-boosting rather than a reactivity-buffering effect. By reinforcing parasympathetic autonomic activity, specifically during stress recovery, oxytocin may provide an important protective function against the health-compromising effects of sustained stress. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Farm Mapping to Assist, Protect, and Prepare Emergency Responders: Farm MAPPER.

Science.gov (United States)

Reyes, Iris; Rollins, Tami; Mahnke, Andrea; Kadolph, Christopher; Minor, Gerald; Keifer, Matthew

2014-01-01

Responders such as firefighters and emergency medical technicians who respond to farm emergencies often face complex and unknown environments. They may encounter hazards such as fuels, solvents, pesticides, caustics, and exploding gas storage cylinders. Responders may be unaware of dirt roads within the farm that can expedite their arrival at critical sites or snow-covered manure pits that act as hidden hazards. A response to a farm, unless guided by someone familiar with the operation, may present a risk to responders and post a challenge in locating the victim. This project explored the use of a Web-based farm-mapping application optimized for tablets and accessible via easily accessible on-site matrix barcodes, or quick response codes (QR codes), to provide emergency responders with hazard and resource information to agricultural operations. Secured portals were developed for both farmers and responders, allowing both parties to populate and customize farm maps with icons. Data were stored online and linked to QR codes attached to mailbox posts where emergency responders may read them with a mobile device. Mock responses were conducted on dairy farms to test QR code linking efficacy, Web site security, and field usability. Findings from farmer usability tests showed willingness to enter data as well as ease of Web site navigation and data entry even with farmers who had limited computer knowledge. Usability tests with emergency responders showed ease of QR code connectivity to the farm maps and ease of Web site navigation. Further research is needed to improve data security as well as assess the program's applicability to nonfarm environments and integration with existing emergency response systems. The next phases of this project will expand the program for regional and national use, develop QR code-linked, Web-based extrication guidance for farm machinery for victim entrapment rescue, and create QR code-linked online training videos and materials for limited

Saddleworth, Responding to a Landscape

OpenAIRE

Murray, Matthew

2017-01-01

Matthew Murray's Landscape publication Saddleworth, Responding To A Landscape. Forward by Martin Barnes Senior Curator of Photographs at The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Artist Richard Billingham and Maartje van den Heuvel Curator Photography and Media Culture -Leiden Institute. \\ud \\ud ‘Every trip I have taken to Saddleworth Moor over four years has encapsulated each season, weather and cloud pattern, rain, sunshine, snow, early morning clear skies and the sense of the bitter cold of ...

Are non-responders in a quitline evaluation more likely to be smokers?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gilljam Hans

2005-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background In evaluation of smoking cessation programs including surveys and clinical trials the tradition has been to treat non-responders as smokers. The aim of this paper is to assess smoking behaviour of non-responders in an evaluation of the Swedish national tobacco cessation quitline a nation-wide, free of charge service. Methods A telephone interview survey with a sample of people not participating in the original follow-up. The study population comprised callers to the Swedish quitline who had consented to participate in a 12 month follow-up but had failed to respond. A sample of 84 (18% of all non-responders was included. The main outcome measures were self-reported smoking behaviour at the time of the interview and at the time of the routine follow-up. Also, reasons for not responding to the original follow-up questionnaire were assessed. For statistical comparison between groups we used Fischer's exact test, odds ratios (OR and 95% confidence intervals (CI on proportions and OR. Results Thirty-nine percent reported to have been smoke-free at the time they received the original questionnaire compared with 31% of responders in the original study population. The two most common reasons stated for not having returned the original questionnaire was claiming that they had returned it (35% and that they had not received the questionnaire (20%. Non-responders were somewhat younger and were to a higher degree smoke-free when they first called the quitline. Conclusion Treating non-responders as smokers in smoking cessation research may underestimate the true effect of cessation treatment.

Will small energy consumers be faster in transition? Evidence from the early shift from coal to oil in Latin America

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rubio, M.d.Mar; Folchi, Mauricio

2012-01-01

This paper provide evidence of the early transition from coal to oil for 20 Latin American countries over the first half of the 20th century, which does not fit the transition experiences of large energy consumers. These small energy consumers had earlier and faster transitions than leading nations. We also provide evidence for alternative sequences (inverse, revertible) in the transition from coal to oil. Furthermore, we demonstrate that ‘leapfrogging’ allowed a set of follower economies to reach the next rung of the energy ladder (oil domination) 30 years in advance of the most developed economies. We examine these follower economies, where transition took place earlier and faster than the cases historically known, in order to understand variation within the energy transitions and to expand the array of feasible pathways of future energy transitions. We find that being a small energy consumer makes a difference for the way the energy transition takes place; but also path dependence (including trade and technological partnerships), domestic energy endowment (which dictates relative prices) and policy decisions seem to be the variables that shaped past energy transitions. - Highlights: ► We provide evidence of the early transition from coal to oil for 20 Latin American. ► We find that being a small energy consumer makes a difference for the way the energy transition takes place. ► Followers had earlier and faster transitions than leading nations. ► ‘Leapfrogging’ allowed extremely fast energy transitions. ► Alternative forms (revertible, inverse) of energy transition also exist.

Cone-Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) Versus CT in Lung Ablation Procedure: Which is Faster?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cazzato, Roberto Luigi, E-mail: r.cazzato@unicampus.it; Battistuzzi, Jean-Benoit, E-mail: j.battistuzzi@bordeaux.unicancer.fr; Catena, Vittorio, E-mail: vittoriocatena@gmail.com [Institut Bergonié, Department of Radiology (France); Grasso, Rosario Francesco, E-mail: r.grasso@unicampus.it; Zobel, Bruno Beomonte, E-mail: b.zobel@unicampus.it [Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Department of Radiology and Diagnostic Imaging (Italy); Schena, Emiliano, E-mail: e.schena@unicampus.it [Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Unit of Measurements and Biomedical Instrumentations, Biomedical Engineering Laboratory (Italy); Buy, Xavier, E-mail: x.buy@bordeaux.unicancer.fr; Palussiere, Jean, E-mail: j.palussiere@bordeaux.unicancer.fr [Institut Bergonié, Department of Radiology (France)

2015-10-15

AimTo compare cone-beam CT (CBCT) versus computed tomography (CT) guidance in terms of time needed to target and place the radiofrequency ablation (RFA) electrode on lung tumours.Materials and MethodsPatients at our institution who received CBCT- or CT-guided RFA for primary or metastatic lung tumours were retrospectively included. Time required to target and place the RFA electrode within the lesion was registered and compared across the two groups. Lesions were stratified into three groups according to their size (<10, 10–20, >20 mm). Occurrences of electrode repositioning, repositioning time, RFA complications, and local recurrence after RFA were also reported.ResultsForty tumours (22 under CT, 18 under CBCT guidance) were treated in 27 patients (19 male, 8 female, median age 67.25 ± 9.13 years). Thirty RFA sessions (16 under CBCT and 14 under CT guidance) were performed. Multivariable linear regression analysis showed that CBCT was faster than CT to target and place the electrode within the tumour independently from its size (β = −9.45, t = −3.09, p = 0.004). Electrode repositioning was required in 10/22 (45.4 %) tumours under CT guidance and 5/18 (27.8 %) tumours under CBCT guidance. Pneumothoraces occurred in 6/14 (42.8 %) sessions under CT guidance and in 6/16 (37.5 %) sessions under CBCT guidance. Two recurrences were noted for tumours receiving CBCT-guided RFA (2/17, 11.7 %) and three after CT-guided RFA (3/19, 15.8 %).ConclusionCBCT with live 3D needle guidance is a useful technique for percutaneous lung ablation. Despite lesion size, CBCT allows faster lung RFA than CT.

Attention switching after dietary brain 5-HT challenge in high impulsive subjects.

Science.gov (United States)

Markus, C Rob; Jonkman, Lisa M

2007-09-01

High levels of impulsivity have adverse effects on performance in cognitive tasks, particularLy in those tasks that require high attention investment. Furthermore, both animal and human research has indicated that reduced brain serotonin (5-HT) function is associated with increases in impulsive behaviour or decreased inhibition ability, but the effects of 5-HT challenge have not yet been investigated in subjects vulnerable to impulsivity. The present study aimed to investigate whether subjects with high trait impulsivity perform worse than low impulsive subjects in a task switching paradigm in which they have to rapidly shift their attention between two response rules, and to investigate the influence of a 5-HT enhancing diet. Healthy subjects with high ( n = 19) and low (n = 18) trait impulsivity scores participated in a double-blind placebo-controlled study. All subjects performed the attention switch task in the morning following breakfast containing either tryptophan-rich alpha-lactalbumin (4.8 g/100 g TRP) or placebo protein (1.4 g/100 g TRP). Whereas there were no baseline differences between high and low impulsive subjects in task switching abilities, high impulsive subjects made significantly more switch errors and responded slower after dietary 5-HT stimulation, whereas no dietary effects were found on task switching performance in low-impulsive subjects. The deterioration in task switching performance induced by the 5-HT enhancing diet in high impulsive subjects was suggested to be established by general arousal/attention-reducing effects of 5-HT, which might have a larger impact in high impulsive subjects due to either different brain circuitry involved in task switching in this group or lower baseline arousal levels.

Human preferences for symmetry: subjective experience, cognitive conflict and cortical brain activity.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David W Evans

Full Text Available This study examines the links between human perceptions, cognitive biases and neural processing of symmetrical stimuli. While preferences for symmetry have largely been examined in the context of disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder and autism spectrum disorders, we examine various these phenomena in non-clinical subjects and suggest that such preferences are distributed throughout the typical population as part of our cognitive and neural architecture. In Experiment 1, 82 young adults reported on the frequency of their obsessive-compulsive spectrum behaviors. Subjects also performed an emotional Stroop or variant of an Implicit Association Task (the OC-CIT developed to assess cognitive biases for symmetry. Data not only reveal that subjects evidence a cognitive conflict when asked to match images of positive affect with asymmetrical stimuli, and disgust with symmetry, but also that their slowed reaction times when asked to do so were predicted by reports of OC behavior, particularly checking behavior. In Experiment 2, 26 participants were administered an oddball Event-Related Potential task specifically designed to assess sensitivity to symmetry as well as the OC-CIT. These data revealed that reaction times on the OC-CIT were strongly predicted by frontal electrode sites indicating faster processing of an asymmetrical stimulus (unparallel lines relative to a symmetrical stimulus (parallel lines. The results point to an overall cognitive bias linking disgust with asymmetry and suggest that such cognitive biases are reflected in neural responses to symmetrical/asymmetrical stimuli.

Effects of caffeine, theophylline and theobromine on scheduled controlled responding in rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Carney, J. M.

1982-01-01

1 Rats were trained to respond under a variable interval 30 s (VI 30) schedule of food reinforcement. Caffeine (0.32-32 mg/kg), theophylline (1.0-56 mg/kg) and theobromine (10-320 mg/kg) in general produced dose-related decreases in operant responding. At relatively low doses, caffeine (1.0 mg/kg) and theophylline (3.2 mg/kg) produced slight but nonsignificant increases in VI 30 responding. 3 The rank order of potency for producing decreases in responding was caffeine greater than theophylline greater than theobromine. 4 Daily caffeine injections (32 mg/kg, i.p.) resulted in the development of caffeine tolerance. This tolerance was characterized by a 6 fold shift to the right in the caffeine dose-effect curve. Saline substitution for the 32.0 mg/kg caffeine maintenance dose resulted in a substantial decrease in responding. PMID:7066599

Factors of subjective heat stress of urban citizens in contexts of everyday life

Science.gov (United States)

Kunz-Plapp, Tina; Hackenbruch, Julia; Schipper, Janus Willem

2016-04-01

Heat waves and the consequent heat stress of urban populations have a growing relevance in urban risk management and strategies of urban adaptation to climate change. In this context, social science studies on subjective experiencing of heat as stress by urban citizens are a new emerging field. To contribute to the understanding of self-reported subjective heat stress and its major determinants in a daily life perspective, we conducted a questionnaire survey with 323 respondents in Karlsruhe, Germany, after heat waves in July and August 2013. Statistical data analysis showed that subjective heat stress is an issue permeating everyday activities. Subjective heat stress at home was lower than at work and in general. Subjective heat stress in general, at home, and at work was determined by the health impairments experienced during the heat and the feeling of being helplessly exposed to the heat. For subjective heat stress at home, characteristics of the residential building and the built environment additionally played a role. Although the rate of implemented coping measures was rather high, coping measures showed no uniform effect for the subjective heat stress. We conclude that in terms of urban adaptation strategies, further research is needed to understand how various processes of daily social (work) life enable or limit individual coping and that communication strategies are important for building capacities to better cope with future heat waves.

The Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding Short Form (BIDR-16

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claire M. Hart

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Self-report studies often call for assessment of socially desirable responding. Many researchers use the Marlowe–Crowne Scale for its brief versions; however, this scale is outdated, and contemporary models of social desirability emphasize its multi-dimensional nature. The 40-item Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR incorporates Self-Deceptive Enhancement (honest but overly positive responding and Impression Management (bias toward pleasing others. However, its length limits its practicality. This article introduces the BIDR-16. In four studies, we shorten the BIDR from 40 items to 16 items, while retaining its two-factor structure, reliability, and validity. This short form will be invaluable to researchers wanting to assess social desirability when time is limited.

Bridging the radiation science divide between scientists and first responders

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Musolinol, V.; Stephen, A.; Frederick, B.; Harper, T.; Schlueck, C. Richard

2018-01-01

To be prepared for a response to a complex radiological or nuclear emergency, the first responder community must incorporate radiation protection principles, and be able to conduct tactical operational measurements, assess data, and determine associated health risks. While these actions must occur promptly in the first hours of an unfolding crisis, the on-scene responders must do so with no scientific support from radiation protection experts, such as from the central government. To further the challenges to effectively perform these actions, local hazardous material (HAZMAT) response teams, which are usually the source of technical expertise at the scene of a hazardous materials release, rarely encounter radiological materials or respond to large-scale radiological or nuclear emergencies

Does contingency in adults' responding influence 12-month-old infants' social referencing?

Science.gov (United States)

Stenberg, Gunilla

2017-11-01

In two experiments we examined the influence of contingent versus non-contingent responding on infant social referencing behavior. EXPERIMENT 1: Forty 12-month-old infants were exposed to an ambiguous toy in a social referencing situation. In one condition an unfamiliar adult who in a previous play situation had responded contingently to the infant's looks gave the infant positive information about the toy. In the other condition an unfamiliar adult who previously had not responded contingently delivered the positive information. EXPERIMENT 2: Forty-eight 12-month-old infants participated in Experiment 2. In this experiment it was examined whether the familiarity of the adult influences infants' reactions to contingency in responding. In one condition a parent who previously had responded contingently to the infant's looks provided positive information about the ambiguous toy, and in the other condition a parent who previously had not responded contingently provided the positive information. The infants looked more at the contingent experimenter in Experimenter 1, and also played more with the toy after receiving positive information from the contingent experimenter. No differences in looking at the parent and in playing with the toy were found in Experiment 2. The results indicate that contingency in responding, as well as the familiarity of the adult, influence infants' social referencing behavior. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

NARAC Dispersion Model Product Integration With RadResponder

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aluzzi, Fernando [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

2015-09-30

Work on enhanced cooperation and interoperability of Nuclear Incident Response Teams (NIRT) is a joint effort between DHS/FEMA, DOE/NNSA and EPA. One such effort was the integration between the RadResponder Network, a resource sponsored by FEMA for the management of radiological data during an emergency, and the National Atmospheric Advisory Center (NARAC), a DOE/NNSA modeling resource whose predictions are used to aid radiological emergency preparedness and response. Working together under a FEMA-sponsored project these two radiological response assets developed a capability to read and display plume model prediction results from the NARAC computer system in the RadResponder software tool. As a result of this effort, RadResponder users have been provided with NARAC modeling predictions of contamination areas, radiological dose levels, and protective action areas (e.g., areas warranting worker protection or sheltering/evacuation) to help guide protective action decisions and field monitoring surveys, and gain key situation awareness following a radiological/nuclear accident or incident (e.g., nuclear power plant accident, radiological dispersal device incident, or improvised nuclear detonation incident). This document describes the details of this integration effort.

Suspected Child Maltreatment: Recognize and Respond

Science.gov (United States)

Kemple, Kristen Mary; Kim, Hae Kyoung

2011-01-01

Early childhood educators spend extensive amounts of time with young children, so they are often the first adults to notice signs that a child may be abused or neglected. All educators are required by law to report suspected maltreatment, and can play an important role in preventing and responding to abuse and neglect of young children. What is…

Occupational health surveillance: Pulmonary function testing in emergency responders

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

James D McCluskey

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Emergency responders may be exposed to a variety of fumes, gases, and particulates during the course of their job that can affect pulmonary function (PF and require the use of respiratory protection. This investigation used occupational health monitoring examination data to characterize PF in a population currently employed as emergency responders. PF tests for workers who required health examinations to ensure fitness for continued respirator use were compared to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III Raw Spirometry database to determine if decreased PF was associated with employment as an emergency responder. The results of this research indicated that the emergency responders experienced a modest, but statistically significant, increase in forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1 and forced vital capacity (FVC mean values over the NHANES III population in both total and stratified analyses, including stratification by age, gender, height, and smoking history. Results are likely due to a combination of effectively controlled exposures in the workplace, and the healthy worker effect among long-term workers. PF testing required by the Occupational and Safety Health Administration (OSHA has substantial utility for conducting occupational surveillance at the population level. In this investigation, we were able to quickly evaluate if abnormal PF existed in an industrial sector known to have exposures that, when uncontrolled, can lead to PF impairment.

Mischievous responding in Internet Gaming Disorder research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew K. Przybylski

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The most recent update to the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5 included Internet Gaming Disorder as a new potential psychiatric condition that merited further scientific study. The present research was conducted in response to the APA Substance-Related Disorders Working Group’s research call to estimate the extent to which mischievous responding—a known problematic pattern of participant self-report responding in questionnaires—is relevant to Internet Gaming Disorder research. In line with a registered sampling and analysis plan, findings from two studies (ntot = 11,908 provide clear evidence that mischievous responding is positively associated with the number of Internet Gaming Disorder indicators participants report. Results are discussed in the context of ongoing problem gaming research and the discussion provides recommendations for improving the quality of scientific practice in this area.

Rapid kinetics of iron responsive element (IRE) RNA/iron regulatory protein 1 and IRE-RNA/eIF4F complexes respond differently to metal ions.

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, Mateen A; Ma, Jia; Walden, William E; Merrick, William C; Theil, Elizabeth C; Goss, Dixie J

2014-06-01

Metal ion binding was previously shown to destabilize IRE-RNA/IRP1 equilibria and enhanced IRE-RNA/eIF4F equilibria. In order to understand the relative importance of kinetics and stability, we now report rapid rates of protein/RNA complex assembly and dissociation for two IRE-RNAs with IRP1, and quantitatively different metal ion response kinetics that coincide with the different iron responses in vivo. kon, for FRT IRE-RNA binding to IRP1 was eight times faster than ACO2 IRE-RNA. Mn(2+) decreased kon and increased koff for IRP1 binding to both FRT and ACO2 IRE-RNA, with a larger effect for FRT IRE-RNA. In order to further understand IRE-mRNA regulation in terms of kinetics and stability, eIF4F kinetics with FRT IRE-RNA were determined. kon for eIF4F binding to FRT IRE-RNA in the absence of metal ions was 5-times slower than the IRP1 binding to FRT IRE-RNA. Mn(2+) increased the association rate for eIF4F binding to FRT IRE-RNA, so that at 50 µM Mn(2+) eIF4F bound more than 3-times faster than IRP1. IRP1/IRE-RNA complex has a much shorter life-time than the eIF4F/IRE-RNA complex, which suggests that both rate of assembly and stability of the complexes are important, and that allows this regulatory system to respond rapidly to change in cellular iron. © The Author(s) 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Sensibility and Subjectivity: Levinas’ Traumatic Subject

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Rashmika Pandya

2011-02-01

Full Text Available The importance of Levinas’ notions of sensibility and subjectivity are evident in the revision of phenomenological method by current phenomenologists such as Jean-Luc Marion and Michel Henry. The criticisms of key tenants of classical phenomenology, intentionality and reduction, are of a particular note. However, there are problems with Levinas’ characterization of subjectivity as essentially sensible. In “Totality and Infinity” and “Otherwise than Being”, Levinas criticizes and recasts a traditional notion of subjectivity, particularly the notion of the subject as the first and foremost rational subject. The subject in Levinas’ works is characterized more by its sensibility and affectedness than by its capacity to reason or affect its world. Levinas ties rationality to economy and suggests an alternative notion of reason that leads to his analysis of the ethical relation as the face-to-face encounter. The ‘origin’ of the social relation is located not in our capacity to know but rather in a sensibility that is diametrically opposed to the reason understood as economy. I argue that the opposition in Levinas’ thought between reason and sensibility is problematic and essentially leads to a self-conflicted subject. In fact, it would seem that violence characterizes the subject’s self-relation and, thus, is also inscribed at the base of the social relation. Rather than overcoming a problematic tendency to dualistic thought in philosophy Levinas merely reverses traditional hierarchies of reason/emotion, subject/object and self/other. 

Examining The Relationships between Attitude Towards Behaviour, Subjective Norms and Entrepreneurial Intention among Engineering Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saraih Ummi Naiemah

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationships between attitude towards behaviour, subjective norm and entrepreneurial intention among engineering students from Public Higher Educational Institution (PHEI in Malaysia. This research is carried out by using the quantitative method (questionnaire. Data are gathered from 345 respondents which consisted of the final year students from one PHEI in Malaysia. Results presented that entrepreneurial intention are positively associated with attitude towards behaviour (β=.62, p<.01 and subjective norm (β=.25, p<.01. Thus, it is confirmed that both factors of Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB, namely attitude towards behaviour and subjective norm are significantly related to entrepreneurial intention among the engineering students in this institution. Elevating the degree of attitude towards behaviour and subjective norm are the best strategies to enhance the level of entrepreneurial intention among the engineering students in this institution. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed. In this line, recommendations for the institution management are provided

FirstAED emergency dispatch, global positioning of community first responders with distinct roles

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Henriksen, Finn Lund; Schorling, Per; Hansen, Bruno

2016-01-01

their roles in a team structure to reduce response times, ensure citizens' safety and offer equal possibility of early defibrillation. First aid is provided by community first responders who use their smartphone. FirstAED global positioning system (GPS)-tracks the nine nearby first responders and enables......FirstAED is a supplement to the existing emergency response systems. The aim is to shorten the community first responder response times at emergency calls to below five minutes in a bridge connected island area. FirstAED defines a way to dispatch the nearby three first responders and organise...... the emergency dispatcher to send an organised team of three first responders with distinct roles to the scene automatically. During the first 24 months the FirstAED system was used 718 times. Three first responders arrived in ∼89% of the cases, and they arrived before the ambulance in ∼94% of the cases. First...

Shampoo-clay heals diaper rash faster than calendula officinalis.

Science.gov (United States)

Adib-Hajbaghery, Mohsen; Mahmoudi, Mansoreh; Mashaiekhi, Mahdi

2014-06-01

Diaper rash is one of the most common skin disorders of infancy and childhood. Some studies have shown that Shampoo-clay was effective to treat chronic dermatitis. Then, it is supposed that it may be effective in diaper rash; however, no published studies were found in this regard. This study aimed to compare the effects of Shampoo-clay (S.C) and Calendula officinalis (C.O) to improve infantile diaper rash. A randomized, double blind, parallel controlled, non-inferiority trial was conducted on 60 outpatient infants referred to health care centers or pediatric clinics in Khomein city and diagnosed with diaper rash. Patients were randomly assigned into two treatment groups including S.C group (n = 30) and C.O group (n = 30) by using one to one allocation ratio. The rate of complete recovery in three days was the primary outcome. Data was collected using a checklist and analyzed using t-test, Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests and risk ratio. Totally, 93.3% of lesions in the S.C group healed in the first 6 hours, while this rate was 40% in C.O group (P < 0.001). The healing ratio for improvement in the first 6 hours was 7 times more in the S.C group. In addition, 90% of infants in the SC group and 36.7% in the C.O group were improved completely in the first 3 days (P < 0.001). S.C was effective to heal diaper rash, and also had faster effects compared to C.O.

Prejudice control and interracial relations: the role of motivation to respond without prejudice.

Science.gov (United States)

Butz, David A; Plant, E Ashby

2009-10-01

A decade of research indicates that individual differences in motivation to respond without prejudice have important implications for the control of prejudice and interracial relations. In reviewing this work, we draw on W. Mischel and Y. Shoda's (1995, 1999) Cognitive-Affective Processing System (CAPS) to demonstrate that people with varying sources of motivation to respond without prejudice respond in distinct ways to situational cues, resulting in differing situation-behavior profiles in interracial contexts. People whose motivation is self-determined (i.e., the internally motivated) effectively control prejudice across situations and strive for positive interracial interactions. In contrast, people who respond without prejudice to avoid social sanction (i.e., the primarily externally motivated) consistently fail at regulating difficult to control prejudice and respond with anxiety and avoidance in interracial interactions. We further consider the nature of the cognitive-affective units of personality associated with motivation to respond without prejudice and their implications for the quality of interracial relations.

Visual BOLD Response in Late Blind Subjects with Argus II Retinal Prosthesis.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E Castaldi

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Retinal prosthesis technologies require that the visual system downstream of the retinal circuitry be capable of transmitting and elaborating visual signals. We studied the capability of plastic remodeling in late blind subjects implanted with the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis with psychophysics and functional MRI (fMRI. After surgery, six out of seven retinitis pigmentosa (RP blind subjects were able to detect high-contrast stimuli using the prosthetic implant. However, direction discrimination to contrast modulated stimuli remained at chance level in all of them. No subject showed any improvement of contrast sensitivity in either eye when not using the Argus II. Before the implant, the Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD activity in V1 and the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN was very weak or absent. Surprisingly, after prolonged use of Argus II, BOLD responses to visual input were enhanced. This is, to our knowledge, the first study tracking the neural changes of visual areas in patients after retinal implant, revealing a capacity to respond to restored visual input even after years of deprivation.

Subject-Oriented Approach in the Professional Formation of the Future Music Teacher

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Svetlana V. Karkina

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The article deals with the possibilities of introducing a subject-oriented approach into the practice of professional education of the future music teacher. Particular attention is paid to the forms and methods used in this field, as well as to the conditions of the modern cultural environment, which allows for the free self-realization of the individual in accordance with his subject needs. Subject-oriented approach is the practice-oriented research. The study identified a number of the most significant components in the preparation of a music teacher, such as individual forms of studies and a number of special methods, which include the method of artistic associations, verbal "allegories", metaphors, the method of heuristic tasks for mastering creative activities. The openness of the musical and pedagogical system has great importance in its ability to respond to changes in the music and educational environment, which includes educational institutions and various cultural institutions: theaters, concert halls, orchestral and choir groups. All that conditions are necessary to ensure the possibility of creative self-realization and self-actualization of future music teachers.

Geriatric Respondents and Non-Respondents To Probiotic Intervention Can Be Differentiated By Inherent Gut Microbiome Composition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suja eSenan

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Scope: Probiotic interventions are known to have been shown to influence the composition of the intestinal microbiota in geriatrics. The growing concern is the apparent variation in response to identical strain dosage among human volunteers. One factor that governs this variation is the host gut microbiome. In this study, we attempted to define a core gut metagenome which could act as a predisposition signature marker of inherent bacterial community that can help predict the success of a probiotic intervention. Methods and Results: To characterize the geriatric gut microbiome we designed primers targeting the 16S rRNA hypervariable region V2-V3 followed by semiconductor sequencing using Ion Torrent PGM. Among respondents and non- respondents the chief genera of phylum Firmicutes that showed significant differences are Lactobacillus, Clostridium, Eubacterium, and Blautia (q< 0.002 while in the genera of phylum Proteobacteria included Shigella, Escherichia, Burkholderia and Camphylobacter (q <0.002. Conclusion: We have identified potential microbial biomarkers and taxonomic patterns that correlate with a positive response to probiotic intervention in geriatric volunteers. Future work with larger cohorts of geriatrics with diverse dietary influences could reveal the potential of the signature patterns of microbiota for personalized nutrition.

Subjectivity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jesús Vega Encabo

2015-11-01

Full Text Available In this paper, I claim that subjectivity is a way of being that is constituted through a set of practices in which the self is subject to the dangers of fictionalizing and plotting her life and self-image. I examine some ways of becoming subject through narratives and through theatrical performance before others. Through these practices, a real and active subjectivity is revealed, capable of self-knowledge and self-transformation. 

Infant differential behavioral responding to discrete emotions.

Science.gov (United States)

Walle, Eric A; Reschke, Peter J; Camras, Linda A; Campos, Joseph J

2017-10-01

Emotional communication regulates the behaviors of social partners. Research on individuals' responding to others' emotions typically compares responses to a single negative emotion compared with responses to a neutral or positive emotion. Furthermore, coding of such responses routinely measure surface level features of the behavior (e.g., approach vs. avoidance) rather than its underlying function (e.g., the goal of the approach or avoidant behavior). This investigation examined infants' responding to others' emotional displays across 5 discrete emotions: joy, sadness, fear, anger, and disgust. Specifically, 16-, 19-, and 24-month-old infants observed an adult communicate a discrete emotion toward a stimulus during a naturalistic interaction. Infants' responses were coded to capture the function of their behaviors (e.g., exploration, prosocial behavior, and security seeking). The results revealed a number of instances indicating that infants use different functional behaviors in response to discrete emotions. Differences in behaviors across emotions were clearest in the 24-month-old infants, though younger infants also demonstrated some differential use of behaviors in response to discrete emotions. This is the first comprehensive study to identify differences in how infants respond with goal-directed behaviors to discrete emotions. Additionally, the inclusion of a function-based coding scheme and interpersonal paradigms may be informative for future emotion research with children and adults. Possible developmental accounts for the observed behaviors and the benefits of coding techniques emphasizing the function of social behavior over their form are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Responding book banning in indonesia

Science.gov (United States)

Aji, RNB; Artono; Liana, C.

2018-01-01

The prohibition of books conducted by the government through its apparatus without any due process of law is unfortunate. The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia (MKRI) in 2010 was decided that book banning is contradictory to the 1945 Constitution (UUD 1945). The purpose of this paper is to know Indonesia, according to the Constitutional Court must absolutely carry out the function of due process of law that is law enforcement in a judicial system when it wants to prohibit printed material which is a book, whether it is a book that is considered criticism and books that teach radicalism. It would be wise for anyone who disagrees with a book, and then responds by writing through a book. The result of this article is to support and suggest that the government and its apparatus in the state of the law should not arbitrarily impose a book ban. Likewise, people should not take violence action to respond this issue. In historical records, the prohibition of books without due process of law is always followed by the withdrawal of books and make people unable to deal with differences, especially in knowledge. That’s why, the government and its apparatus must create a conducive situation and support the creation of various perspectives in the framework of the progress of science through a book. It would implicate that people can respect in any perspective and thought.

Sequence-based heuristics for faster annotation of non-coding RNA families.

Science.gov (United States)

Weinberg, Zasha; Ruzzo, Walter L

2006-01-01

Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are functional RNA molecules that do not code for proteins. Covariance Models (CMs) are a useful statistical tool to find new members of an ncRNA gene family in a large genome database, using both sequence and, importantly, RNA secondary structure information. Unfortunately, CM searches are extremely slow. Previously, we created rigorous filters, which provably sacrifice none of a CM's accuracy, while making searches significantly faster for virtually all ncRNA families. However, these rigorous filters make searches slower than heuristics could be. In this paper we introduce profile HMM-based heuristic filters. We show that their accuracy is usually superior to heuristics based on BLAST. Moreover, we compared our heuristics with those used in tRNAscan-SE, whose heuristics incorporate a significant amount of work specific to tRNAs, where our heuristics are generic to any ncRNA. Performance was roughly comparable, so we expect that our heuristics provide a high-quality solution that--unlike family-specific solutions--can scale to hundreds of ncRNA families. The source code is available under GNU Public License at the supplementary web site.

Antibody Responses with Fc-Mediated Functions after Vaccination of HIV-Infected Subjects with Trivalent Influenza Vaccine

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kristensen, Anne B; Lay, William N; Ana-Sosa-Batiz, Fernanda

2016-01-01

to immunize this at-risk group. IMPORTANCE: Infection with HIV is associated with increasing disease severity following influenza infections, and annual influenza vaccinations are recommended for this target group. However, HIV-infected individuals respond relatively poorly to vaccination compared to healthy......This study seeks to assess the ability of seasonal trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (TIV) to induce nonneutralizing antibodies (Abs) with Fc-mediated functions in HIV-uninfected and HIV-infected subjects. Functional influenza-specific Ab responses were studied in 30 HIV-negative and 27 HIV......-positive subjects immunized against seasonal influenza. All 57 subjects received the 2015 TIV. Fc-mediated antihemagglutinin (anti-HA) Ab activity was measured in plasma before and 4 weeks after vaccination using Fc-receptor-binding assays, NK cell activation assays, and phagocytosis assays. At baseline, the HIV...

The Forgotten Disaster Victim: Reducing Responder Injury

Science.gov (United States)

2017-03-01

Approved by: Anke Richter Thesis Advisor Michael Petrie EMS Bureau, County of Monterey Second Reader Erik Dahl Associate Chair for Instruction...RESPONDERS IN DISASTERS .............20 1. Oklahoma City Bombing .............................................................20 2. World Trade Center...Categories, 2008–2014..................................................................................................19 Figure 4. Oklahoma City Bombing

Use of World Wide Web-based directories for tracing subjects in epidemiologic studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Koo, M M; Rohan, T E

2000-11-01

The recent availability of World Wide Web-based directories has opened up a new approach for tracing subjects in epidemiologic studies. The completeness of two World Wide Web-based directories (Canada411 and InfoSpace Canada) for subject tracing was evaluated by using a randomized crossover design for 346 adults randomly selected from respondents in an ongoing cohort study. About half (56.4%) of the subjects were successfully located by using either Canada411 or InfoSpace. Of the 43.6% of the subjects who could not be located using either directory, the majority (73.5%) were female. Overall, there was no clear advantage of one directory over the other. Although Canada411 could find significantly more subjects than InfoSpace, the number of potential matches returned by Canada411 was also higher, which meant that a longer list of potential matches had to be examined before a true match could be found. One strategy to minimize the number of potential matches per true match is to first search by InfoSpace with the last name and first name, then by Canada411 with the last name and first name, and finally by InfoSpace with the last name and first initial. Internet-based searches represent a potentially useful approach to tracing subjects in epidemiologic studies.

Satisfied and Happy: Establishing Link between Job Satisfaction and Subjective Well- Being

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Glenn Medallon Calaguas

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Job satisfaction pertains to people’s reactions and feelings towards their jobs. It is an indicator of emotional well-being or psychological health. On the other hand, subjective well-being refers to how people evaluate their lives which may include cognitive judgments and affective evaluations. With the aim of knowing the possible relationship between job satisfaction and subjective well-being, 251 teachers who came from 52 government schools were asked to respond to the Generic Job Satisfaction Scale (GJSS and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS. The item on the GJSS which registered the highest mean pertained to job security (M=4.35, SD=.62 while the lowest means were observed on items that pertained to concern of the management towards the teacher (M=4.04, SD=.61 and getting along with supervisors (M=4.04, SD=.64. As to the items in the SWLS, the highest mean was observed on the item that pertained to satisfaction with life (M=5.65, SD=1.09 while the item with lowest mean pertained to getting the important things one wants in life (M=5.21, SD=1.28. Generally, the participants of the study had high job satisfaction and subjective well-being. Also, it was revealed that job satisfaction was significantly related to subjective well-being with job satisfaction predicting subjective well-being.

Sense and Respond Logistics: Integrating Prediction, Responsiveness, and Control Capabilities

Science.gov (United States)

2006-01-01

location. In the current environment, increased ambiguity has diminished this advantage and increased the need for a sense and respond combat...readily be applied to system dynamics prob- lems in business and organization processes. ABMs bring the “natu- ralness” advantage (which allows more...negotiation) as part of eCommerce applications being achieved by 2007. In the general opinion of AgentLink’s respondents, as well as our technology

WS-008: EPR-First Responders: Establishment of facilities and zones of response

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2011-01-01

The purpose of this working session is that the participants can apply their knowledge in a city explosion. The first responder have to identify the incident commander, the type of response required, the risks of the emergency, the requirements for transporting the victims to the hospital and the actors involved in a radiological emergency. The first responder have to know the time of the emergency, the number of potential victims, the equipment required and the responder number

Differences in emotional stimuli processing in subjects with MTLE with and without depression.

Science.gov (United States)

Preglej, Lidija; Marinković, Ksenija; Hećimović, Hrvoje

2017-09-01

In healthy people, a preference in attention maintenance and memory for words with emotional valence comparing to neutral words has been shown. The pattern of emotional stimuli processing may be different in people with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) and it may be sensitive to the presence of depressive symptoms. In order to explore these possibilities, we applied the emotional spatial cueing attentional task and the free recall memory task to participants (N=39) with MTLE and compared them with healthy controls. We hypothesized that the pattern of maintaining attention and remembering emotional words is different in people with MTLE. Current literature indicates that this pattern will change from positive bias in the controls, though no emotional bias in the participants with MTLE without depression (MTLE-d), and in this work we examined this pattern in the participants with MTLE with depressive symptoms (MTLE+d). Our results show that in both attention and memory, control subjects exhibit positive emotional bias, the subjects with MTLE-d show nonemotional bias and the subjects with MTLE+d have bias away from positive words. Participants with MTLE+d maintained attention for positive words shorter than others. Participants with MTLE+d had worse recall for positive words than the participants with MTLE-d and for all words when compared to controls. We found that faster attention disengagement from positive words and worse memory for positive words is associated with elevated levels of depressive symptoms. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Editorial: How to respond to reviewers' comments

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Soji, Zimkhitha

Is the content and writing satisfactory enough to make it worth reviewing? Not adequately addressing concerns raised by the reviewers and/or editors does not help the peer-review and publishing processes. Poor judgement when responding to reviewers'/editors' comments often produces a undesirable outcome. Merely ...

Phosphine Exposure Among Emergency Responders - Amarillo, Texas, January 2017.

Science.gov (United States)

Hall, Emily M; Patel, Ketki; Victory, Kerton R; Calvert, Geoffrey M; Nogueira, Leticia M; Bojes, Heidi K

2018-04-06

Phosphine is a highly toxic gas that forms when aluminum phosphide, a restricted-use pesticide* typically used in agricultural settings, reacts with water. Acute exposure can lead to a wide range of respiratory, cardiovascular, and gastrointestinal symptoms, and can be fatal (1). On January 2, 2017, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) was notified by the Texas Panhandle Poison Center of an acute phosphine exposure incident in Amarillo, Texas. DSHS investigated potential occupational phosphine exposures among the 51 on-scene emergency responders; 40 (78.4%) did not use respiratory protection during response operations. Fifteen (37.5%) of these 40 responders received medical care for symptoms or as a precaution after the incident, and seven (17.5%) reported new or worsening symptoms consistent with phosphine exposure within 24 hours of the incident. Emergency response organizations should ensure that appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) is used during all incidents when an unknown hazardous substance is suspected. Additional evaluation is needed to identify targeted interventions that increase emergency responder PPE use during this type of incident.

Cognitive Attributes of Adequate and Inadequate Responders to Reading Intervention in Middle School

Science.gov (United States)

Miciak, Jeremy; Stuebing, Karla K.; Vaughn, Sharon; Roberts, Greg; Barth, Amy E.; Fletcher, Jack M.

2014-01-01

No studies have investigated the cognitive attributes of middle school students who are adequate and inadequate responders to Tier 2 reading intervention. We compared students in Grades 6 and 7 representing groups of adequate responders (n = 77) and inadequate responders who fell below criteria in (a) comprehension (n = 54); (b) fluency (n = 45);…

Respondent Cooperation in Telephone Surveys: The Effects of Using Volunteer Interviewers.

Science.gov (United States)

Braverman, Marc T.

1988-01-01

The effects of using volunteer interviewers on respondent cooperation in telephone surveys were studied, using data on 241 interviews, 99 refusals, and 251 non-contacts. A random, national survey on public knowledge of and attitudes toward a county 4-H youth services program indicated respondent cooperation for professional program staff and…

Responding to Destructive Interpersonal Interactions: A way forward ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Responding to Destructive Interpersonal Interactions: A way forward for ... cultural intolerance and other destructive interpersonal interactions and relationships clearly ... This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Professional Music Training and Novel Word Learning: From Faster Semantic Encoding to Longer-lasting Word Representations.

Science.gov (United States)

Dittinger, Eva; Barbaroux, Mylène; D'Imperio, Mariapaola; Jäncke, Lutz; Elmer, Stefan; Besson, Mireille

2016-10-01

On the basis of previous results showing that music training positively influences different aspects of speech perception and cognition, the aim of this series of experiments was to test the hypothesis that adult professional musicians would learn the meaning of novel words through picture-word associations more efficiently than controls without music training (i.e., fewer errors and faster RTs). We also expected musicians to show faster changes in brain electrical activity than controls, in particular regarding the N400 component that develops with word learning. In line with these hypotheses, musicians outperformed controls in the most difficult semantic task. Moreover, although a frontally distributed N400 component developed in both groups of participants after only a few minutes of novel word learning, in musicians this frontal distribution rapidly shifted to parietal scalp sites, as typically found for the N400 elicited by known words. Finally, musicians showed evidence for better long-term memory for novel words 5 months after the main experimental session. Results are discussed in terms of cascading effects from enhanced perception to memory as well as in terms of multifaceted improvements of cognitive processing due to music training. To our knowledge, this is the first report showing that music training influences semantic aspects of language processing in adults. These results open new perspectives for education in showing that early music training can facilitate later foreign language learning. Moreover, the design used in the present experiment can help to specify the stages of word learning that are impaired in children and adults with word learning difficulties.

Pleasant touch moderates the subjective but not objective aspects of body perception

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Donna Marie Lloyd

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Un-myelinated C tactile afferents (CT afferents are a key finding in affective touch. These fibres, which activate in response to a caress-like touch to hairy skin (CT afferents are not found in palm skin, may have more in common with interoceptive systems encoding body ownership, than afferent systems processing other tactile stimuli. We tested whether subjective embodiment of a rubber hand (measured through questionnaire items was increased when tactile stimulation was applied to the back of the hand at a rate optimal for CT afferents (3cm/s vs. stimulation of glabrous skin (on the palm of the hand or at a non-optimal rate (30cm/s, which should not activate these fibres. We also collected ratings of tactile pleasantness and a measure of perceived limb position, proprioceptive drift, which is mediated by different mechanisms of multisensory integration than those responsible for feelings of ownership. The results of a multiple regression analysis revealed that proprioceptive drift was a significant predictor of subjective strength of the illusion when tactile stimuli were applied to the back of the hand, regardless of stroking speed. This relationship was modified by pleasantness, with higher ratings when stimulation was applied to the back of the hand at the slower vs. faster stroking speed. Pleasantness was also a unique predictor of illusion strength when fast stroking was applied to the palm of the hand. However, there were no conditions under which pleasantness was a significant predictor of drift. Since the illusion was demonstrated at a non-optimal stroking speed an integrative role for CT afferents within the illusion cannot be fully supported. Pleasant touch, however, does moderate the subjective aspects of the rubber hand illusion, which under certain tactile conditions may interact with proprioceptive information about the body or have a unique influence on subjective body perception.

Responding to Children Victimized by Their Peers

Science.gov (United States)

Nickerson, Amanda B.; Brock, Stephen E.; Chang, Yiping; O'Malley, Meagan D.

2006-01-01

Because victimization results from the dynamic interplay between the victim and his or her parents, peers, and teachers, responding to this problem should involve both direct and indirect interventions. This paper describes and reviews empirically supported direct interventions with victims, as well as indirect interventions with parents, peers,…

Methods for Handling Missing Secondary Respondent Data

Science.gov (United States)

Young, Rebekah; Johnson, David

2013-01-01

Secondary respondent data are underutilized because researchers avoid using these data in the presence of substantial missing data. The authors reviewed, evaluated, and tested solutions to this problem. Five strategies of dealing with missing partner data were reviewed: (a) complete case analysis, (b) inverse probability weighting, (c) correction…

School Principals and Racism: Responding to Aveling

Science.gov (United States)

Charles, Claire; Mahoney, Caroline; Fox, Brandi; Halse, Christine

2016-01-01

This study responds to Nado Aveling's call in "Anti-racism in Schools: A question of leadership?" ("Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education," 2007, 28(1), 69-85) for further investigation into racism in Australian schools. Aveling's interview study concluded that an overwhelming number of school principals…

Amitriptyline Intoxication Responded to Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

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Güldem Turan

2012-04-01

Full Text Available The most severe effects in amitriptiline intoxications are related with central nervous system and cardiovascular system. Amitriptiline intoxication especially with high doses has severe cardiac effects and can result in cardiac arrest. Most favorable responses can be achieved with efficient and prolonged cardiopulmonary resuscitation. We wanted to present a case ingested high dose of amitriptiline for attempt to suicide and responded to prolonged cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Experiments of the EPR-type involving CP-violation do not allow faster-than-light communication between distant observers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ghirardi, G.C.; Grassi, R.; Weber, T.; Rimini, A.

1987-11-01

The proof that faster-than-light communication is not permitted by quantum mechanics derived some years ago by three of us, is extended to cover the case of measurements which do not fit within the standard scheme based on sets of orthogonal projections. A detailed discussion of a recent proposal of superluminal transmission making resort to a CP-violating interaction is presented. It is shown that such a proposal cannot work. (author). 8 refs

Temperature Response in Hardened Concrete Subjected to Tropical Rainforest Environment

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E. I. Egba

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The objective of this paper is to characterize concrete micro-environment temperature response to the natural climate of the tropical rainforest. The peculiar warmth, high humidity, and low pressure nature of the tropical rainforest necessitated the present study. Temperature probes were inserted into concrete specimens subjected to the sheltered and unsheltered environment to measure the micro-environment temperature of the concrete, and study the hysteresis characteristics in relation to the climate temperature. Some mathematical relationships for forecasting the internal temperature of concrete in the tropical rainforest environment were proposed and tested. The proposed relationships were found reliable. It was observed that the micro-environment temperature was lower at the crest, and higher at the trough than the climate environment temperature with a temperature difference of 1-3 oC. Also, temperature response in concrete for the unsheltered micro-environment was 1.85 times faster than the response in the sheltered micro-environment. The findings of the study may be used to assist the durability assessment of concrete.

Subjective evaluation of the effectiveness of whole-body cryotherapy in patients with osteoarthritis

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Tomasz Chruściak

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Objectives: One of the treatments for osteoarthritis (OA is whole-body cryotherapy (WBC. The aim of this study is to assess the effect of whole-body cryotherapy on the clinical status of patients with osteoarthritis (OA, according to their subjective feelings before and after the application of a 10-day cold treatment cycle. The aim is also to assess the reduction of intensity and frequency of pain, the reduction of the painkiller medication used, and to assess the possible impact on physical activity. Material and methods : The study involved 50 people, including 30 women (60% and 20 men (40%. Thirty-one patients had spondyloarthritis (62% of respondents, 10 had knee osteoarthritis (20%, and 9 hip osteoarthritis (18%. The overall average age was 50.1 ±10.9 years; the youngest patient was 29 years old and the oldest 73 years old. The average age of the women was 6 years higher. The study used a questionnaire completed by patients, and consisted of three basic parts. The modified Laitinen pain questionnaire contained questions concerning the intensity and frequency of pain, frequency of painkiller use and the degree of limited mobility. The visual analogue scale (VAS was used in order to subjectively evaluate the therapy after applying the ten-day treatment cycle. Results: According to the subjective assessment of respondents, after the whole-body cryotherapy treatments, a significant improvement occurred in 39 patients (78%, an improvement in 9 patients (18%, and no improvement was only declared by 2 patients (4%. Conclusions : Whole-body cryotherapy resulted in a reduction in the frequency and degree of pain perception in patients with osteoarthritis. WBC reduced the number of analgesic medications in these patients. It improved the range of physical activity and had a positive effect on the well-being of patients.

28 CFR 51.42 - Failure of the Attorney General to respond.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Failure of the Attorney General to... Failure of the Attorney General to respond. It is the practice and intention of the Attorney General to respond to each submission within the 60-day period. However, the failure of the Attorney General to make...

Survey sustainability Biomass. Appendix. Results of the international respondents

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bergsma, G.C.; Groot, M.I.

2006-06-15

As part of an array of strategies to combat climate change, biomass is being used increasingly as a substitute for fossil fuels. It is important that the sustainability benefits thus accruing to the Netherlands are not at the expense of sustainable development in producer countries. Against this background the 'Sustainable biomass imports' project group is developing a set of criteria for evaluating the sustainability of biomass projects. To assess support for such criteria, CE conducted an internet survey among the various stakeholders (NGOs, industry, government), drawing a total of 104 responses. This report presents all the results and conclusions of the survey, for each category of stakeholders and overall. Among the most striking conclusions are the following: The majority of respondents see a sustainability audit on biomass as feasible, provided the sustainability criteria are adequate for the purpose (68%); Almost all the respondents are of the opinion that such sustainability criteria should apply to all applications of biomass (90%); On the issue of whether these criteria should vary according to the producer region concerned, respondents were divided (50% for, 50% against); Many NGOs state there should be different sustainability criteria in force for different biomass flows (50%), in contrast to industry, which argues for a uniform set of criteria for all flows; Most respondents hold that any biomass criteria should apply to both subsidised and unsubsidised projects; At the same time, a sizable majority of respondents state that subsidisation of biomass projects should depend on the degree of sustainability (72%) and in particular on the CO2 emission cuts achieved, this being regarded as the single most important factor; When it comes to the issue of GMO, opinions differ markedly between NGOs and industry, with some 75% of NGOs wanting this aspect included, but only 10% of industry; Respondents also commented on a number of additional issues

High levels of the type III inorganic phosphate transporter PiT1 (SLC20A1) can confer faster cell adhesion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kongsfelt, Iben Boutrup; Byskov, Kristina; Pedersen, Lasse Ebdrup

2014-01-01

overexpression led to faster cell spreading. The final total numbers of attached cells did, however, not differ between cultures of PiT1 overexpressing cells and control cells of neither cell type. We suggest that the PiT1-mediated fast adhesion potentials allow the cells to go faster out of G0/G1 and thereby......The inorganic phosphate transporter PiT1 (SLC20A1) is ubiquitously expressed in mammalian cells. We recently showed that overexpression of human PiT1 was sufficient to increase proliferation of two strict density-inhibited cell lines, murine fibroblastic NIH3T3 and pre-osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells......, and allowed the cultures to grow to higher cell densities. In addition, upon transformation NIH3T3 cells showed increased ability to form colonies in soft agar. The cellular regulation of PiT1 expression supports that cells utilize the PiT1 levels to control proliferation, with non-proliferating cells showing...

The subjective experience of psychiatric hospitalization : a case study approach / Mark Edward de la Rey

OpenAIRE

De la Rey, Mark Edward

2006-01-01

The aim of the research was to explore the subjective experience of patients admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Sub-aims were to explore how these experiences relate to self management, stress and psychological well-being. This study was motivated by research literature that documents a wide variety of negative experiences by patients. A recent psychiatric patient survey conducted in England and Wales (Mind, 2004) found that more than 50% of respondents indicated that hospital...

Hybrid Processing of Measurable and Subjective Data; TOPICAL

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

COOPER, J. ARLIN; ROGINSKI, ROBERT J.

2001-01-01

Conventional systems surety analysis is basically restricted to measurable or physical-model-derived data. However, most analyses, including high-consequence system surety analysis, must also utilize subjective information. In order to address this need, there has been considerable effort on analytically incorporating engineering judgment. For example, Dempster-Shafer theory establishes a framework in which frequentist probability and Bayesian incorporation of new data are subsets. Although Bayesian and Dempster-Shafer methodology both allow judgment, neither derives results that can indicate the relative amounts of subjective judgment and measurable data in the results. The methodology described in this report addresses these problems through a hybrid-mathematics-based process that allows tracking of the degree of subjective information in the output, thereby providing more informative (as well as more appropriate) results. In addition, most high consequence systems offer difficult-to-analyze situations. For example, in the Sandia National Laboratories nuclear weapons program, the probability that a weapon responds safely when exposed to an abnormal environment (e.g., lightning, crush, metal-melting temperatures) must be assured to meet a specific requirement. There are also non-probabilistic DOE and DoD requirements (e.g., for determining the adequacy of positive measures). The type of processing required for these and similar situations transcends conventional probabilistic and human factors methodology. The results described herein address these situations by efficiently utilizing subjective and objective information in a hybrid mathematical structure in order to directly apply to the surety assessment of high consequence systems. The results can also improve the quality of the information currently provided to decision-makers. To this end, objective inputs are processed in a conventional manner; while subjective inputs are derived from the combined engineering

Violence Exposure, Posttraumatic Stress, and Subjective Well-Being in a Sample of Russian Adults: A Facebook-Based Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Bogolyubova, Olga; Tikhonov, Roman; Ivanov, Victor; Panicheva, Polina; Ledovaya, Yanina

2017-03-01

Exposure to violence has been shown to negatively affect mental health and well-being. The goal of this Facebook-based study was to describe the rates of exposure to violence in a sample of Russian adults and to assess the impact of these experiences on subjective well-being and victimization-related psychological distress. Three types of victimization were assessed: physical assault by a stranger, physical assault by someone known to victim, and nonconsensual sexual experiences. The 5-item World Health Organization Well-Being Index (WHO-5) was used to assess subjective well-being, and Primary Care PTSD Screen (PC-PTSD) was employed as an indicator of victimization-related psychological distress. Data were obtained from 6,724 Russian-speaking Facebook users. Significant levels of lifetime victimization were reported by the study participants. Lifetime physical assault by a stranger, physical assault by someone known to victim, and sexual assault were reported by 56.9%, 64.2%, and 54.1% of respondents, respectively. Respondents exposed to violence were more likely to report posttraumatic stress symptoms and lower levels of subjective well-being. Participants who were exposed to at least one type of violence were more likely to experience symptoms of traumatic stress ( U = 1,794,250.50, p violence was associated with more severe traumatic stress symptoms ( r s = .257, p violence ( t = 8.37, p violence exposure is associated with reduced well-being among Russian adults. Our findings highlight the negative impact of violence exposure on subjective well-being and underscore the necessity to develop programs addressing violence exposure in Russian populations.

Subjective Outcome Evaluation of the Project P.A.T.H.S. (Secondary 2 Program: Views of the Program Participants

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Daniel T. L. Shek

2009-01-01

Full Text Available A total of 196 secondary schools participated in the Secondary 2 Program of the Full Implementation Phase of the Project P.A.T.H.S. (Positive Adolescent Training through Holistic Social Programmes. After completion of the Tier 1 Program, 30,731 students responded to the Subjective Outcome Evaluation Form (Form A to assess their perceptions of the program, instructors, and perceived effectiveness of the program. Based on the consolidated reports submitted by the schools to the funding body, the research team aggregated the consolidated data to form a “reconstructed” overall profile on the perceptions of the program participants. Findings demonstrated that high proportions of the respondents had positive perceptions of the program and the instructors, and roughly four-fifths of the respondents regarded the program as beneficial to them. Correlation analyses showed that perceived program and instructor characteristics were positively associated with perceived benefits of the program.

Subjective Social Status in select Ukrainians, Vietnamese, and Mongolians living in the Czech Republic.

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Vacková, Jitka; Veleminsky, Milos; Brabcová, Iva; Záleská, Veronika

2014-01-01

This article discusses methods of examining subjective social status (SSS), which is based on the concept of social determinants of health described by Wilkinson and Marmot in 1998. SSS research was conducted with Cooperation from the Scientific and Technical Research (COST) program, with financial support from the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports. This study is part of a project entitled the "Health and Social Status of Immigrants and Asylum Seekers in the Czech Republic" (registration number OC 10031), which was started in 2010 and concluded in May 2011. The study included 246 respondents of which: 69 (28.1%) had emigrated from Vietnam; 93 (37.8%) from the Ukraine; and 84 (34.1%) from Mongolia. In terms of qualitative strategies, 13 individual immigrants and asylum seekers were personally interviewed. This research was thus conceived as being both quantitative-qualitative, which included the use of the appropriate technical tools (i.e., questionnaires and interviews with select immigrants and asylum seekers). SSS was determined using the Pearson's chi-square test, as well as through correspondence and cluster analyzes. Sign schemes were used to detect select significant relationships in contingency tables. The minimum significance level chosen was α ≤ 0.05. When examining the SSS of select nationalities, differences were observed in the perception of subjective social status. The correspondence analysis results clearly show that Ukrainians best perceived their social status (within the selected parameters). One measure of subjectively perceived social status related to Czech language proficiency (i.e., one criterion was the comprehension of spoken Czech; e.g., whether the respondent could read or speak Czech, or how they assessed their own Czech proficiency). The SSS study clearly revealed typical links among select nationalities living in the Czech Republic, and highlighted risks related to the degree of integration (and its relationship to

Biodetection Technologies for First Responders

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baird, Cheryl L.; Seiner, Derrick R.; Ozanich, Richard M.; Bartholomew, Rachel A.; Colburn, Heather A.; Straub, Tim M.; Bruckner-Lea, Cindy J.

2012-10-24

In a white powder scenario, there are a large number of field-deployable assays that can be used to determine if the suspicious substance contains biological material and warrants further investigation. This report summarizes commercially available technologies that are considered hand portable and can be used by first responders in the field. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list, nor do the authors endorse any of the technologies described herein. Rather, it is meant to provide useful information about available technologies to help end-users make informed decisions about biodetection technology procurement and use.

FDG-PET imaging in HIV-infected subjects: relation with therapy and immunovirological variables

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lucignani, Giovanni; Orunesu, Eva; Cesari, Miriam; Marzo, Katia; Chiti, Arturo; Pacei, Michela; Bechi, Giulia; Gori, Andrea; Gaito, Sabrina; Clerici, Mario

2009-01-01

To characterise tissue sites of immune activation and HIV replication we performed FDG-PET in ART-treated and ART-naive HIV-infected individuals. Specific aims were to establish whether HIV-infected patients can be differentiated on the basis of the detection of specific locations of viral replication, even in the presence of an apparently optimal immunovirological response to ART, and whether these FDG-PET findings can be related to immunovirological variables and AIDS history status. Patients were divided into five groups as follows: subgroup A1 (full responders, n=8): current ART treatment, CD4+ T lymphocytes >500/mL, viral load 50,000 copies/mL; group C (ART-naive, n=5): no current or previous ART treatment, increased viral load. PET images revealed different patterns of FDG uptake. All ART-treated patients with either suppressed (<50 copies/mL; Group A) or high viremia (group B) showed a normal pattern of FDG uptake. On the contrary, the ART-naive subjects with high viraemia (group C) displayed multiple foci of increased glucose metabolism in the lymph nodes. In the ART-naive subjects, FDG uptake, apparently related to viraemia level, was observed in the upper torso mainly in the axillary nodes bilaterally in patients with viraemia below 100,000 copies/mL; in those with viraemia higher than 100,000 copies/mL, FDG uptake was also observed in the inguinal lymph nodes. The emergence, in our study, of a correlation between the percentage of CD8+/CD38+/RO+ T cells (well established markers of progression to AIDS independently of CD4+ T lymphocytes) and positive FDG-PET in ART-naive patients is a novel finding that seems to confer prognostic value on FDG uptake. FDG uptake is strongly associated with response to ART independently of a previous AIDS diagnosis. Notably, no differences were observed between ART-treated subjects classed as immunological responders and those classed as non responders. Data herewith indicate that FDG uptake and immunological variables are

Different gonadotropin releasing hormone agonist doses for the final oocyte maturation in high-responder patients undergoing in vitro fertilization/intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection

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Emre Goksan Pabuccu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Context: Efficacy of gonadotropin releasing hormone agonists (GnRH-a for ovulation in high-responders. Aims: The aim of the current study is to compare the impact of different GnRH-a doses for the final oocyte maturation on cycle outcomes and ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS rates in high-responder patients undergoing ovarian stimulation. Settings And Designs: Electronic medical records of a private in vitro fertilization center, a retrospective analysis. Subjects and Methods: A total of 77 high-responder cases were detected receiving GnRH-a. Group I consisted of 38 patients who received 1 mg of agonist and Group II consisted of 39 patients who received 2 mg of agonist. Statistical Analysis: In order to compare groups, Student′s t-test, Mann-Whitney U-test, Pearson′s Chi-square test or Fisher′s exact test were used where appropriate. A P < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Result: Number of retrieved oocytes (17.5 vs. 15.0, P = 0.510, implantation rates (46% vs. 55.1%, P = 0.419 and clinical pregnancy rates (42.1% vs. 38.5%, P = 0.744 were similar among groups. There were no mild or severe OHSS cases detected in Group I. Only 1 mild OHSS case was detected in Group II. Conclusion: A volume of 1 or 2 mg leuprolide acetate yields similar outcomes when used for the final oocyte maturation in high-responder patients.

Laparoscopic Sacropexy: A Retrospective Analysis of the Subjective Outcome in 310 Cases

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B. Bojahr

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Background and Objective. The aim of this study was to assess the subjective outcome following laparoscopic sacropexy. Methods. We performed a retrospective cohort study among women treated for descensus with laparoscopic sacropexy between January 2000 and December 2007. 310 patients received questionnaires during followup assessing major pre- and postoperative symptoms and overall satisfaction. Results. 214 (69% patients responded to the questionnaire. Mean followup was 24.5 months. The number of patients with back or lower abdominal pain, foreign body sensation in the vagina and prolapse-related symptoms, urinary symptoms, vaginal and bladder infections, and the need for pessary usage decreased significantly postsurgically. Bowel symptoms increased slightly but not significantly. Two years after surgery, nearly 2 thirds of the women were satisfied or very satisfied with the outcome. Conclusion. Laparoscopic sacropexy is an effective treatment of descensus, with favorable or satisfactory subjective outcomes.

The perception for Good Death of community dwelling Japanese and Thailand respondents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michiyo Ando

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Having a “good death” is a very important goal of palliative care, and it is useful for nurses to understand cultural differences in the perception of a good death to propose nursing care. The purpose of this study was to compare the perception of a “good death” among community-dwelling Japanese and Thai people. Three hundred sixty-nine respondents completed the Good Death Questionnaire. The research design was a cross-sectional study. The scores of the Japanese respondents on “good relationships with medical staff,” “being respected as an individual,” and “fighting against cancer” were higher among Thai respondents. On the other hand, “environmental comfort,” “unawareness of death,” “control over the future,” and “religious and spiritual comfort” were higher among the Japanese respondents. Among the Japanese, the score for “life completion” was significantly correlated with “role accomplishment and contribution to others.” Among the Thai respondents, the score for “good relationships with family” was significantly correlated with “physical and cognitive control.” The implications of these results were that Japanese respondents preferred medical treatments, maintaining a good relationship with physicians, and demanding to be respected as an individual. Thai respondent’s preferred “environmental comfort” and “religious and spiritual comfort.” In the future, medical staff members will need to consider these cultural differences when proposing nursing care.

The Role of the Nucleus Accumbens in Knowing when to Respond

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Teghpal; McDannald, Michael A.; Takahashi, Yuji K.; Haney, Richard Z.; Cooch, Nisha K.; Lucantonio, Federica; Schoenbaum, Geoffrey

2011-01-01

While knowing what to expect is important, it is equally important to know when to expect it and to respond accordingly. This is apparent even in simple Pavlovian training situations in which animals learn to respond more strongly closer to reward delivery. Here we report that the nucleus accumbens core, an area well-positioned to represent…

24 CFR 15.112 - How will HUD respond to my appeal?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false How will HUD respond to my appeal... respond to my appeal? (a) How much time does HUD have to decide my appeal? HUD will decide your appeal of a denial of expedited processing within 10 working days after its receipt. For any other type of...

The subjective content of historical memory in autobiographical narratives of representatives of titular ethnic group and national diaspora (based on the example of the Volga Germans

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Rakhmatulina D.V.

2017-07-01

Full Text Available the article contains a justification of the research approach to the detection of subjective content of historical memory among groups of respondents from different ethnic background; presents the results of a study of two groups of respondents, who are descendants of the Volga Germans and the representatives of the titular nation (Russian; establishes the main cultural and historical events of life of the peoples that make up the historical memory.

Responding to Children's Fears: A Partnership Approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Sorin, Reesa

2002-01-01

Describes a study into children's fears and suggests that forging partnerships between parents, children, and teachers is one positive step toward addressing fear in young children. Defines partnerships and asserts that they can help in better recognizing fear displays in young children and in sharing ideas about best practice in responding to…

A semi-parametric within-subject mixture approach to the analyses of responses and response times.

Science.gov (United States)

Molenaar, Dylan; Bolsinova, Maria; Vermunt, Jeroen K

2018-05-01

In item response theory, modelling the item response times in addition to the item responses may improve the detection of possible between- and within-subject differences in the process that resulted in the responses. For instance, if respondents rely on rapid guessing on some items but not on all, the joint distribution of the responses and response times will be a multivariate within-subject mixture distribution. Suitable parametric methods to detect these within-subject differences have been proposed. In these approaches, a distribution needs to be assumed for the within-class response times. In this paper, it is demonstrated that these parametric within-subject approaches may produce false positives and biased parameter estimates if the assumption concerning the response time distribution is violated. A semi-parametric approach is proposed which resorts to categorized response times. This approach is shown to hardly produce false positives and parameter bias. In addition, the semi-parametric approach results in approximately the same power as the parametric approach. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

Faster processing of multiple spatially-heterodyned direct to digital holograms

Science.gov (United States)

Hanson, Gregory R [Clinton, TN; Bingham, Philip R [Knoxville, TN

2008-09-09

Systems and methods are described for faster processing of multiple spatially-heterodyned direct to digital holograms. A method includes of obtaining multiple spatially-heterodyned holograms, includes: digitally recording a first spatially-heterodyned hologram including spatial heterodyne fringes for Fourier analysis; digitally recording a second spatially-heterodyned hologram including spatial heterodyne fringes for Fourier analysis; Fourier analyzing the recorded first spatially-heterodyned hologram by shifting a first original origin of the recorded first spatially-heterodyned hologram including spatial heterodyne fringes in Fourier space to sit on top of a spatial-heterodyne carrier frequency defined as a first angle between a first reference beam and a first object beam; applying a first digital filter to cut off signals around the first original origin and performing an inverse Fourier transform on the result; Fourier analyzing the recorded second spatially-heterodyned hologram by shifting a second original origin of the recorded second spatially-heterodyned hologram including spatial heterodyne fringes in Fourier space to sit on top of a spatial-heterodyne carrier frequency defined as a second angle between a second reference beam and a second object beam; and applying a second digital filter to cut off signals around the second original origin and performing an inverse Fourier transform on the result, wherein digitally recording the first spatially-heterodyned hologram is completed before digitally recording the second spatially-heterodyned hologram and a single digital image includes both the first spatially-heterodyned hologram and the second spatially-heterodyned hologram.

Effects of worry on physiological and subjective reactivity to emotional stimuli in generalized anxiety disorder and nonanxious control participants.

Science.gov (United States)

Llera, Sandra J; Newman, Michelle G

2010-10-01

The present study examined the effect of worry versus relaxation and neutral thought activity on both physiological and subjective responding to positive and negative emotional stimuli. Thirty-eight participants with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and 35 nonanxious control participants were randomly assigned to engage in worry, relaxation, or neutral inductions prior to sequential exposure to each of four emotion-inducing film clips. The clips were designed to elicit fear, sadness, happiness, and calm emotions. Self reported negative and positive affect was assessed following each induction and exposure, and vagal activity was measured throughout. Results indicate that worry (vs. relaxation) led to reduced vagal tone for the GAD group, as well as higher negative affect levels for both groups. Additionally, prior worry resulted in less physiological and subjective responding to the fearful film clip, and reduced negative affect in response to the sad clip. This suggests that worry may facilitate avoidance of processing negative emotions by way of preventing a negative emotional contrast. Implications for the role of worry in emotion avoidance are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

Tips for Disaster Responders: Preventing and Managing Stress

Science.gov (United States)

... actions to prevent stress and to strengthen your stress management skills is before your disaster assignment. Responder stress ... the disaster role, developing a personal toolkit of stress management skills, and preparing yourself and your loved ones. ...

Letting Students Take the Lead: A User-Centred Approach to Evaluating Subject Guides

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Kimberley Hintz

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Objective – What do students need and want from library subject guides? Options such as Web 2.0 enhancement are now available to librarians creating subject-specific web pages. Librarians may be eager to implement these new tools, but are such add-ons a priority forstudents? This paper aims to start a dialogue on this issue by presenting the findings of the University of British Columbia (UBC Library’s Subject Guides Working Group (SGWG, which was tasked with assessing current library subject guides in order to make recommendations for the update and future development of UBC Library subject guides.Methods – The working group solicited feedback through a questionnaire that was distributed to undergraduate and graduate students from a variety of disciplines at UBC. The questionnaire included an evaluation of UBC subject guides, as well as guides from other academic libraries that used various platforms such as LibGuides and SubjectsPlus.Results – Respondents to the student questionnaire indicated that a simple and clean layout was of primary importance. Students also desired succinct annotations to resources and limited page scrolling. Meanwhile, few students identified Web 2.0 features such as rating systems and discussion forums as being important for their needs. The working group used the questionnaire data to create a “Top Ten” list of student recommendations.Conclusions – The “Top Ten” list of student recommendations was combined with stakeholder feedback from faculty, liaison librarians and Library Systems and Information Technology representatives to create the SGWG’s final recommendation for subject guide revision and enhancement. For the SGWG these findings called into question the necessity of Web 2.0 technologies within subject guide pages and highlighted the need for further research on the topic of subject guide usability and effectiveness.

Subjective and objective cognitive function among older adults with a history of traumatic brain injury: A population-based cohort study.

Science.gov (United States)

Gardner, Raquel C; Langa, Kenneth M; Yaffe, Kristine

2017-03-01

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is extremely common across the lifespan and is an established risk factor for dementia. The cognitive profile of the large and growing population of older adults with prior TBI who do not have a diagnosis of dementia, however, has not been well described. Our aim was to describe the cognitive profile associated with prior TBI exposure among community-dwelling older adults without dementia-an understudied but potentially vulnerable population. In this population-based cohort study, we studied 984 community-dwelling older adults (age 51 y and older and their spouses) without dementia who had been randomly selected from respondents to the 2014 wave of the Health and Retirement Study to participate in a comprehensive TBI survey and who either reported no prior TBI (n = 737) or prior symptomatic TBI resulting in treatment in a hospital (n = 247). Mean time since first TBI was 38 ± 19 y. Outcomes assessed included measures of global cognitive function, verbal episodic memory, semantic fluency, and calculation as well as a measure of subjective memory ("How would you rate your memory at the present time?"). We compared outcomes between the two TBI groups using regression models adjusting for demographics, medical comorbidities, and depression. Sensitivity analyses were performed stratified by TBI severity (no TBI, TBI without loss of consciousness [LOC], and TBI with LOC). Respondents with TBI were younger (mean age 64 ± 10 y versus 68 ± 11 y), were less likely to be female, and had higher prevalence of medical comorbidities and depression than respondents without TBI. Respondents with TBI did not perform significantly differently from respondents without TBI on any measure of objective cognitive function in either raw or adjusted models (fully adjusted: global cognitive function score 15.4 versus 15.2, p = 0.68; verbal episodic memory score 4.4 versus 4.3, p = 0.79; semantic fluency score 15.7 versus 14.0, p = 0.21; calculation impairment

Subjective and objective cognitive function among older adults with a history of traumatic brain injury: A population-based cohort study.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raquel C Gardner

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Traumatic brain injury (TBI is extremely common across the lifespan and is an established risk factor for dementia. The cognitive profile of the large and growing population of older adults with prior TBI who do not have a diagnosis of dementia, however, has not been well described. Our aim was to describe the cognitive profile associated with prior TBI exposure among community-dwelling older adults without dementia-an understudied but potentially vulnerable population.In this population-based cohort study, we studied 984 community-dwelling older adults (age 51 y and older and their spouses without dementia who had been randomly selected from respondents to the 2014 wave of the Health and Retirement Study to participate in a comprehensive TBI survey and who either reported no prior TBI (n = 737 or prior symptomatic TBI resulting in treatment in a hospital (n = 247. Mean time since first TBI was 38 ± 19 y. Outcomes assessed included measures of global cognitive function, verbal episodic memory, semantic fluency, and calculation as well as a measure of subjective memory ("How would you rate your memory at the present time?". We compared outcomes between the two TBI groups using regression models adjusting for demographics, medical comorbidities, and depression. Sensitivity analyses were performed stratified by TBI severity (no TBI, TBI without loss of consciousness [LOC], and TBI with LOC. Respondents with TBI were younger (mean age 64 ± 10 y versus 68 ± 11 y, were less likely to be female, and had higher prevalence of medical comorbidities and depression than respondents without TBI. Respondents with TBI did not perform significantly differently from respondents without TBI on any measure of objective cognitive function in either raw or adjusted models (fully adjusted: global cognitive function score 15.4 versus 15.2, p = 0.68; verbal episodic memory score 4.4 versus 4.3, p = 0.79; semantic fluency score 15.7 versus 14.0, p = 0.21; calculation

Better, faster and cheaper energy facades for transformation of multi-storey blocks built between 1960 and 1976

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vestergaard, Inge

2013-01-01

an innovative process. The aim is to inspire clients and consultants to think smart through optimizing the planning and design process as well as the building process. Through this way of thinking we can secure a better, cheaper and faster energy renovation of the existing building stock. The project is under...... scale projects have been driven by the housing association AL2bolig, Tilst, Denmark. Author was part of the architectural discussion through planning process and the evaluation of the first frame competition. The methods used are: - participation through the development process - comparable research...

Communication: Listening and Responding. Affective 4.0.

Science.gov (United States)

Borgers, Sherry B., Comp.; Ward, G. Robert, Comp.

This module is designed to provide practice in listening effectively and in responding to messages sent by another. The module is divided into two sets of activities, the first is the formation of a triad enabling the student to investigate the following: do you listen, listening and the unrelated response, incomplete listening, listening for…

Strengthening Capacity to Respond to Computer Security Incidents ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

... in the form of spam, improper access to confidential data and cyber theft. ... These teams are usually known as computer security incident response teams ... regional capacity for preventing and responding to cyber security incidents in Latin ...

Does the Length of Fielding Period Matter? Examining Response Scores of Early Versus Late Responders

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sigman Richard

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This article discusses the potential effects of a shortened fielding period on an employee survey’s item and index scores and respondent demographics. Using data from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s 2011 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, we investigate whether early responding employees differ from later responding employees. Specifically, we examine differences in item and index scores related to employee engagement and global satisfaction. Our findings show that early responders tend to be less positive, even after adjusting their weights for nonresponse. Agencies vary in their prevalence of late responders, and score differences become magnified as this proportion increases. We also examine the extent to which early versus late responders differ on demographic characteristics such as grade level, supervisory status, gender, tenure with agency, and intention to leave, noting that nonminorities and females are the two demographic characteristics most associated with responding early.

Towards high dynamic range extensions of HEVC: subjective evaluation of potential coding technologies

Science.gov (United States)

Hanhart, Philippe; Řeřábek, Martin; Ebrahimi, Touradj

2015-09-01

This paper reports the details and results of the subjective evaluations conducted at EPFL to evaluate the responses to the Call for Evidence (CfE) for High Dynamic Range (HDR) and Wide Color Gamut (WCG) Video Coding issued by Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). The CfE on HDR/WCG Video Coding aims to explore whether the coding efficiency and/or the functionality of the current version of HEVC standard can be signi_cantly improved for HDR and WCG content. In total, nine submissions, five for Category 1 and four for Category 3a, were compared to the HEVC Main 10 Profile based Anchor. More particularly, five HDR video contents, compressed at four bit rates by each proponent responding to the CfE, were used in the subjective evaluations. Further, the side-by-side presentation methodology was used for the subjective experiment to discriminate small differences between the Anchor and proponents. Subjective results shows that the proposals provide evidence that the coding efficiency can be improved in a statistically noticeable way over MPEG CfE Anchors in terms of perceived quality within the investigated content. The paper further benchmarks the selected objective metrics based on their correlations with the subjective ratings. It is shown that PSNR-DE1000, HDRVDP- 2, and PSNR-Lx can reliably detect visible differences between the proposed encoding solutions and current HEVC standard.

A Simulation Learning Approach to Training First Responders for Radiological Emergencies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sanders, Robert Lon; Rhodes, Graham S.

2007-01-01

This paper describes the application of simulation learning technology, popularized by the emerging serious games industry, for training first responders to properly act in the event of a radiological emergency. Using state-of-the-art video game production tools and runtime engines as an enabling technology, simulation learning combines interactive virtual worlds based on validated engineering models with engaging storylines and scenarios that invoke the emotional response-and the corresponding human stress level-that first responders would encounter during a real-world emergency. For the application discussed here, in addition to providing engaging instruction about the fundamentals of radiological environments and the proper usage of radiological equipment, simulation learning prepares first responders to perform effectively under high stress and enables them to practice in teams

Sleep electroencephalography and heart rate variability interdependence amongst healthy subjects and insomnia/schizophrenia patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Chaparro-Vargas, Ramiro; Schilling, Claudia; Schredl, Michael; Cvetkovic, Dean

2016-01-01

The quantification of interdependencies within autonomic nervous system has gained increasing importance to characterise healthy and psychiatric disordered subjects. The present work introduces a biosignal processing approach, suggesting a computational resource to estimate coherent or synchronised interactions as an eventual supportive aid in the diagnosis of primary insomnia and schizophrenia pathologies. By deploying linear, nonlinear and statistical methods upon 25 electroencephalographic and electrocardiographic overnight sleep recordings, the assessment of cross-correlation, wavelet coherence and [Formula: see text]:[Formula: see text] phase synchronisation is focused on tracking discerning features amongst the clinical cohorts. Our results indicate that certain neuronal oscillations interact with cardiac power bands in distinctive ways responding to standardised sleep stages and patient groups, which promotes the hypothesis of subtle functional dynamics between neuronal assembles and (para)sympathetic activity subject to pathophysiological conditions.

Enhancing Syndromic Surveillance With Online Respondent-Driven Detection

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stein, Mart L; van Steenbergen, Jim E; Buskens, Vincent; van der Heijden, Peter G M; Koppeschaar, Carl E; Bengtsson, Linus; Thorson, Anna; Kretzschmar, MEE

OBJECTIVES: We investigated the feasibility of combining an online chain recruitment method (respondent-driven detection) and participatory surveillance panels to collect previously undetected information on infectious diseases via social networks of participants. METHODS: In 2014, volunteers from 2

Enhancing syndromic surveillance with online respondent-driven detection

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stein, Mart L.; Van Steenbergen, Jim E.; Buskens, Vincent; Van Der Heijden, Peter G M; Koppeschaar, Carl E.; Bengtsson, Linus; Thorson, Anna; Kretzschmar, Mirjam E E

2015-01-01

Objectives. We investigated the feasibility of combining an online chain recruitment method (respondent-driven detection) and participatory surveillance panels to collect previously undetected information on infectious diseases via social networks of participants. Methods. In 2014, volunteers from 2

Osmium Atoms and Os2 Molecules Move Faster on Selenium-Doped Compared to Sulfur-Doped Boronic Graphenic Surfaces.

Science.gov (United States)

Barry, Nicolas P E; Pitto-Barry, Anaïs; Tran, Johanna; Spencer, Simon E F; Johansen, Adam M; Sanchez, Ana M; Dove, Andrew P; O'Reilly, Rachel K; Deeth, Robert J; Beanland, Richard; Sadler, Peter J

2015-07-28

We deposited Os atoms on S- and Se-doped boronic graphenic surfaces by electron bombardment of micelles containing 16e complexes [Os(p-cymene)(1,2-dicarba-closo-dodecarborane-1,2-diselenate/dithiolate)] encapsulated in a triblock copolymer. The surfaces were characterized by energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis and electron energy loss spectroscopy of energy filtered TEM (EFTEM). Os atoms moved ca. 26× faster on the B/Se surface compared to the B/S surface (233 ± 34 pm·s(-1) versus 8.9 ± 1.9 pm·s(-1)). Os atoms formed dimers with an average Os-Os distance of 0.284 ± 0.077 nm on the B/Se surface and 0.243 ± 0.059 nm on B/S, close to that in metallic Os. The Os2 molecules moved 0.83× and 0.65× more slowly than single Os atoms on B/S and B/Se surfaces, respectively, and again markedly faster (ca. 20×) on the B/Se surface (151 ± 45 pm·s(-1) versus 7.4 ± 2.8 pm·s(-1)). Os atom motion did not follow Brownian motion and appears to involve anchoring sites, probably S and Se atoms. The ability to control the atomic motion of metal atoms and molecules on surfaces has potential for exploitation in nanodevices of the future.

Visual input that matches the content of vist of visual working memory requires less (not faster) evidence sampling to reach conscious access

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gayet, S.; van Maanen, L.; Heilbron, M.; Paffen, C.L.E.; Van Der Stigchel, S.

2016-01-01

The content of visual working memory (VWM) affects the processing of concurrent visual input. Recently, it has been demonstrated that stimuli are released from interocular suppression faster when they match rather than mismatch a color that is memorized for subsequent recall. In order to investigate

Responding with Care to Students Facing Trauma

Science.gov (United States)

Souers, Kristin

2018-01-01

Exposure to trauma--which many experts view as include ongoing life stressors like poverty, parents divorcing, death of a family member, or drug abuse in the home--is prevalent among school-aged children. Teachers know that facing trauma impedes students' ability to focus and learn, but it can be challenging to keep responding caringly to a…

Are dentists happy? A study among dental practitioners in coastal Andhra Pradesh using subjective happiness scale

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sudhakar Kaipa

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction: The role of dental professionals in the society is vital. This profession allows the flexibility to balance a professional and personal life. Practice of dentistry at times is quite stressful, and stress impedes happiness and subjective well-being. Several studies have reported about stress among dental professionals and their various effects; however, studies evaluating the level of happiness (happiness index among dentists are few and lack in this geographic region. Objectives: The present study was conducted to assess the subjective happiness level among dental professionals. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 194 dentists in Andhra Pradesh, India. A questionnaire measuring dimensions of professional satisfaction by Subjective Happiness Scale was used to assess the happiness level. The results were expressed in percentages, means, and mean rank. Independent samples nonparametric tests (Mann–Whitney U-test and Kruskal–Wallis test and multivariable analyses were used to assess the determinants of happiness. Results: The mean happiness index of the respondents was 21.71 (0.26 standard error. Overall 67% of the respondents had an above average happiness score. Higher happiness score was found to be significantly associated with age, postgraduate degree, male gender, type of professional attachment, duration of practice, urban location of practice, and spouse employment status in univariate analysis. However, multivariable analysis showed association with type of professional attachment only. Conclusion: Although dentistry has been recognized as a stressful profession, majority of the dentists under study had a happiness score above the mean, and the level of satisfaction was influenced by various sociodemographic factors.

Using Video Modeling to Teach Children with PDD-NOS to Respond to Facial Expressions

Science.gov (United States)

Axe, Judah B.; Evans, Christine J.

2012-01-01

Children with autism spectrum disorders often exhibit delays in responding to facial expressions, and few studies have examined teaching responding to subtle facial expressions to this population. We used video modeling to train 3 participants with PDD-NOS (age 5) to respond to eight facial expressions: approval, bored, calming, disapproval,…

Public transportation's role in responding to climate change

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

This paper details the role public transportation has in responding to the challenge of climate change. It collects and analyzes data from across the country on public transportation fuel use, vehicles deployed, rides taken, and other key metrics, dr...

SUBJECTIVE SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS AND HEALTH: RELATIONSHIPS RECONSIDERED

Science.gov (United States)

Nobles, Jenna; Ritterman Weintraub, Miranda; Adler, Nancy

2013-01-01

Subjective status, an individual’s perception of her socioeconomic standing, is a robust predictor of physical health in many societies. To date, competing interpretations of this correlation remain unresolved. Using longitudinal data on 8,430 older adults from the 2000 and 2007 waves of the Indonesia Family Life Survey, we test these oft-cited links. As in other settings, perceived status is a robust predictor of self-rated health, and also of physical functioning and nurse-assessed general health. These relationships persist in the presence of controls for unobserved traits, such as difficult-to-measure aspects of family background and persistent aspects of personality. However, we find evidence that these links likely represent bi-directional effects. Declines in health that accompany aging are robust predictors of declines in perceived socioeconomic status, net of observed changes to the economic profile of respondents. The results thus underscore the social value afforded good health status. PMID:23453318

Cognitive Attributes of Adequate and Inadequate Responders to Reading Intervention in Middle School

OpenAIRE

Miciak, Jeremy; Stuebing, Karla K.; Vaughn, Sharon; Roberts, Greg; Barth, Amy Elizabeth; Fletcher, Jack M.

2014-01-01

No studies have investigated the cognitive attributes of middle school students who are adequate and inadequate responders to Tier 2 reading intervention. We compared students in Grades 6 and 7 representing groups of adequate responders (n = 77) and inadequate responders who fell below criteria in (a) comprehension (n = 54); (b) fluency (n = 45); and (c) decoding, fluency, and comprehension (DFC; n = 45). These students received measures of phonological awareness, listening comprehension, rap...

Social skills group training in high-functioning autism: A qualitative responder study.

Science.gov (United States)

Choque Olsson, Nora; Rautio, Daniel; Asztalos, Jenny; Stoetzer, Ulrich; Bölte, Sven

2016-11-01

Systematic reviews show some evidence for the efficacy of group-based social skills group training in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder, but more rigorous research is needed to endorse generalizability. In addition, little is known about the perspectives of autistic individuals participating in social skills group training. Using a qualitative approach, the objective of this study was to examine experiences and opinions about social skills group training of children and adolescents with higher functioning autism spectrum disorder and their parents following participation in a manualized social skills group training ("KONTAKT"). Within an ongoing randomized controlled clinical trial (NCT01854346) and based on outcome data from the Social Responsiveness Scale, six high responders and five low-to-non-responders to social skills group training and one parent of each child (N = 22) were deep interviewed. Interestingly, both high responders and low-to-non-responders (and their parents) reported improvements in social communication and related skills (e.g. awareness of own difficulties, self-confidence, independence in everyday life) and overall treatment satisfaction, although more positive intervention experiences were expressed by responders. These findings highlight the added value of collecting verbal data in addition to quantitative data in a comprehensive evaluation of social skills group training. © The Author(s) 2016.

Building public trust: Actions to respond to the report of the Advisory Committee on human radiation experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1997-03-01

Democratic government requires trust: people need to know and believe that the government is telling the truth. Without information about what the government is doing and why, citizens cannot exercise democratic control over government institutions. During his first year in office, President Clinton became concerned about reports that the government had conducted unethical secret human radiation experiments during the Cold War. To address this issue, in January 1994, President Clinton established the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments (ACHRE), chaired by bioethicist Dr. Ruth Faden of Johns Hopkins University. The President also directed all Federal agencies to search for records related to human subjects radiation research and provide them to the Advisory Committee. This report presents the Administration's actions to respond to the ACHRE's findings and recommendations

Faster, more intense! The relation between electrophysiological reflections of attentional orienting, sensory gain control, and speed of responding

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Talsma, D.; Mulckhuyse, Manon; Slagter, Heleen A.; Theeuwes, Jan

2007-01-01

Selective visual attention is thought to facilitate goal-directed behavior by biasing the system in advance to favor certain stimuli over others, resulting in their selective processing. The aim of the present study was to gain more insight into the link between control processes that induce a

Examining the independent protective effect of subjective well-being on severe psychological distress among Canadian adults with a history of child maltreatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Baiden, Philip; Tarshis, Sarah; Antwi-Boasiako, Kofi; den Dunnen, Wendy

2016-08-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the independent protective effect of subjective well-being on severe psychological distress among adult Canadians with a history of child maltreatment. Data for this study were obtained from the 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey-Mental Health (CCHS-MH). A sample of 8126 respondents aged 20-69 years old who experienced at least one child maltreatment event was analyzed using binary logistic regression with severe psychological distress as the outcome variable. Of the 8126 respondents with a history of child maltreatment, 3.9% experienced severe psychological distress within the past month. Results from the multivariate logistic regression revealed that emotional and psychological well-being each had a significant effect on severe psychological distress. For each unit increase in emotional well-being, the odds of a respondent having severe psychological distress were predicted to decrease by a factor of 28% and for each unit increase in psychological well-being, the odds of a respondent having severe psychological distress were predicted to decrease by a factor of 10%, net the effect of demographic, socioeconomic, and health factors. Other factors associated with psychological distress included: younger age, poor self-perceived physical health, and chronic condition. Having post-secondary education, having a higher income, and being non-White predicted lower odds of severe psychological distress. Although, child maltreatment is associated with stressful life events later in adulthood, subjective well-being could serve as a protective factor against severe psychological distress among adults who experienced maltreatment when they were children. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fire fighters as basic life support responders: A study of successful implementation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christensen Erika

2009-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background First responders are recommended as a supplement to the Emergency Medical Services (EMS in order to achieve early defibrillation. Practical and organisational aspects are essential when trying to implement new parts in the "Chain of Survival"; areas to address include minimizing dispatch time, ensuring efficient and quick communication, and choosing areas with appropriate driving distances. The aim of this study was to implement a system using Basic Life Support (BLS responders equipped with an automatic external defibrillator in an area with relatively short emergency medical services' response times. Success criteria for implementation was defined as arrival of the BLS responders before the EMS, attachment (and use of the AED, and successful defibrillation. Methods This was a prospective observational study from September 1, 2005 to December 31, 2007 (28 months in the city of Aarhus, Denmark. The BLS responder system was implemented in an area up to three kilometres (driving distance from the central fire station, encompassing approximately 81,500 inhabitants. The team trained on each shift and response times were reduced by choice of area and by sending the alarm directly to the fire brigade dispatcher. Results The BLS responders had 1076 patient contacts. The median response time was 3.5 minutes (25th percentile 2.75, 75th percentile 4.25. The BLS responders arrived before EMS in 789 of the 1076 patient contacts (73%. Cardiac arrest was diagnosed in 53 cases, the AED was attached in 29 cases, and a shockable rhythm was detected in nine cases. Eight were defibrillated using an AED. Seven of the eight obtained return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC. Six of the seven obtaining ROSC survived more than 30 days. Conclusion In this study, the implementation of BLS responders may have resulted in successful resuscitations. On basis of the close corporation between all participants in the chain of survival this project

Life-history traits in an evergreen Mediterranean oak respond differentially to previous experimental environments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. M. Rey Benayas

2008-06-01

Full Text Available Living organisms respond both to current and previous environments, which can have important consequences on population dynamics. However, there is little experimental evidence based on long-term field studies of the effects of previous environments on the performance of individuals. We tested the hypothesis that trees that establish under different environmental conditions perform differently under similar post-establishment conditions. We used the slow-growing, evergreen Mediterranean oak Quercus ilex subsp. rotundifolia as target species. We analyzed the effects of previous environments, competition effects and tradeoffs among life-history traits (survival, growth, and reproduction. We enhanced seedling establishment for three years by reducing abiotic environmental harshness by means of summer irrigation and artificial shading in 12 experimental plots, while four plots remained as controls. Then these treatments were interrupted for ten years. Seedlings under ameliorated environmental conditions survived and grew faster during early establishment. During the post-management period, previous treatments 1 did not have any effect on survival, 2 experienced a slower above-ground growth, 3 decreased root biomass as indicated from reflectivity of Ground Penetration Radar, 4 increased acorn production mostly through a greater canopy volume and 5 increased acorn production effort. The trees exhibited a combination of effects related to acclimation for coping with abiotic stress and effects of intra-specific competition. In accordance with our hypothesis, tree performance overall depended on previous environmental conditions, and the response was different for different life-history traits. We recommend early management because it increased plot cover, shortened the time to attain sexual maturity and increased the amount of acorn production. Plots such as those assessed in this study may act as sources of propagules in deforested

Plasma membrane NADH oxidase of maize roots responds to gravity and imposed centrifugal forces

Science.gov (United States)

Bacon, E.; Morre, D. J.

2001-01-01

NADH oxidase activities measured with excised roots of dark-grown maize (Zea mays) seedlings and with isolated plasma membrane vesicles from roots of dark-grown maize oscillated with a regular period length of 24 min and were inhibited by the synthetic auxin 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic [correction of dichorophenoxyacetic] acid. The activities also responded to orientation with respect to gravity and to imposed centrifugal forces. Turning the roots upside down resulted in stimulation of the activity with a lag of about 10 min. Returning the sections to the normal upright position resulted in a return to initial rates. The activity was stimulated reversibly to a maximum of about 2-fold with isolated plasma membrane vesicles, when subjected to centrifugal forces of 25 to 250 x g for 1 to 4 min duration. These findings are the first report of a gravity-responsive enzymatic activity of plant roots inhibited by auxin and potentially related to the gravity-induced growth response. c2001 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.

11 CFR 111.38 - Can the respondent appeal the Commission's final determination?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 11 Federal Elections 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Can the respondent appeal the Commission's final determination? 111.38 Section 111.38 Federal Elections FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION GENERAL... determination under 11 CFR 111.37, the respondent may submit a written petition to the district court of the...

Faster Than Light (FTL) Travel and Causality in the Context of the Gravity-Electro-Magnetism (GEM) Theory of Field Unification

Science.gov (United States)

Brandenburg, J. E.

2010-01-01

In The GEM (Brandenburg, 2006) theory, direct manipulation of space-time geometry is possible leading to the possibility of transformation of a starship into a tachyon moving Faster Than Light (FTL). The GEM theory is reviewed and Causality in terms of the time ordering of experienced events is considered as well as examining the space-time curvature signature of such FTL particles. Time ordering and time flow is found to be determined by the 2nd law of thermodynamics and is used to derive a Cosmic time flow in terms of the expansion of the universe. The rate of increase of cosmic entropy is approximately dS/dt = c3/(Gmp), the rate that light transits from a proton-mass Black Hole, reminiscent of the Dirac Larger Number Hypothesis relating Cosmic and subatomic quantities. It is found that the tachyon FTL method, rather than allowing reversal of time ordering of experienced events, actually makes the cosmos age faster by contributing to an increase in ``Dark Energy'' and thus FTL travel via tachyons irreversibly changes the cosmos. Therefore, it appears that FTL travel can be accomplished without violation of Causality.

Responding to oil spills in the open ocean environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wood, A.E.

1994-01-01

The primary objectives in responding to any oil spill is to control the source of the spill, then, contain, collect, and recover the spilled product. Accomplishing those objectives is an immense challenge. It becomes much more difficult when attempted in the open ocean environment due to the more complex logistical and communications problems one encounters when operating miles from the nearest land. Often times, too, the response must be coordinated with either a salvage operation, a fire-fighting operation, a well control operation or a combination of any of these. There have been volumes of papers comparing the relative merits of mechanical recovery, in-situ burning, dispersant application, and bioremediation in responding to open ocean spills. Although each approach deserves special consideration in different circumstances, this presentation focuses on mechanical methods; the specialized equipment and operational tactics that are best utilized in responding to a major spill in the open ocean. This paper is divided into two sections. The first section, Equipment Used in Open Ocean Spills, addresses in general terms, the special equipment required in an offshore response operation. The second section, entitled Operational Tactics Used In Open Ocean Spills offers an overview of the tactics employed to achieve the general objectives of containment, collection, recovery, and temporary storage

Revisit the faster-is-slower effect for an exit at a corner

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Jun Min; Lin, Peng; Wu, Fan Yu; Li Gao, Dong; Wang, Guo Yuan

2018-02-01

The faster-is-slower effect (FIS), which means that crowd at a high enough velocity could significantly increase the evacuation time to escape through an exit, is an interesting phenomenon in pedestrian dynamics. Such phenomenon had been studied widely and has been experimentally verified in different systems of discrete particles flowing through a centre exit. To experimentally validate this phenomenon by using people under high pressure is difficult due to ethical issues. A mouse, similar to a human, is a kind of self-driven and soft body creature with competitive behaviour under stressed conditions. Therefore, mice are used to escape through an exit at a corner. A number of repeated tests are conducted and the average escape time per mouse at different levels of stimulus are analysed. The escape times do not increase obviously with the level of stimulus for the corner exit, which is contrary to the experiment with the center exit. The experimental results show that the FIS effect is not necessary a universal law for any discrete system. The observation could help the design of buildings by relocating their exits to the corner in rooms to avoid the formation of FIS effect.

Rescue Emergency Drone (RED) for Fast Response to Medical Emergencies Due to Traffic Accidents

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mehmood, Saqib; Kristensen, Anders Schmidt; Ahmed, Shakeel

2017-01-01

of inflicted persons can be reduced significantly. Smart and innovative technologies can play a pivotal role to respond faster to traffic crash emergencies comparing conventional means of transportation. For instance, Rescue Emergency Drone (RED) can provide faster and real-time crash site risk assessment...

Coding strategies in number space : Memory requirements influence spatial-numerical associations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lindemann, Oliver; Abolafia, Juan M.; Pratt, Jay; Bekkering, Harold

The tendency to respond faster with the left hand to relatively small numbers and faster with the right hand to relatively large numbers (spatial numerical association of response codes, SNARC effect) has been interpreted as an automatic association of spatial and numerical information. We

Rescue Emergency Drone for Fast Response to Medical Emergencies Due to Traffic Accidents

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kristensen, Anders Schmidt; Ahsan, Dewan; Mehmood, Saqib

2017-01-01

of inflicted persons can be reduced significantly. Smart and innovative technologies can play a pivotal role to respond faster to traffic crash emergencies comparing conventional means of transportation. For instance, Rescue Emergency Drone (RED) can provide faster and real-time crash site risk assessment...

Policy options to respond to rapid climate change

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Swart, R.J.; Marinova, N.A.; Bakker, S.; Tilburg, van X.

2009-01-01

Ongoing research on climate change indicates that we cannot rule out the possibility of extreme climatic changes, beyond current IPCC scenarios. The thinking about policy responses to address these risks is still in its infancy. This study explores the possibilities for responding to extreme

16 CFR 5.62 - Hearing rights of respondent.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 16 Commercial Practices 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Hearing rights of respondent. 5.62 Section 5.62 Commercial Practices FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION ORGANIZATION, PROCEDURES AND RULES OF PRACTICE STANDARDS OF CONDUCT Disciplinary Actions Concerning Postemployment Conflict of Interest § 5.62 Hearing...

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)

An adaptive Phase-Locked Loop algorithm for faster fault ride through performance of interconnected renewable energy sources

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hadjidemetriou, Lenos; Kyriakides, Elias; Blaabjerg, Frede

2013-01-01

Interconnected renewable energy sources require fast and accurate fault ride through operation in order to support the power grid when faults occur. This paper proposes an adaptive Phase-Locked Loop (adaptive dαβPLL) algorithm, which can be used for a faster and more accurate response of the grid...... side converter control of a renewable energy source, especially under fault ride through operation. The adaptive dαβPLL is based on modifying the control parameters of the dαβPLL according to the type and voltage characteristic of the grid fault with the purpose of accelerating the performance...

An adjoint method of sensitivity analysis for residual vibrations of structures subject to impacts

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Kun; Cheng, Gengdong

2018-03-01

For structures subject to impact loads, the residual vibration reduction is more and more important as the machines become faster and lighter. An efficient sensitivity analysis of residual vibration with respect to structural or operational parameters is indispensable for using a gradient based optimization algorithm, which reduces the residual vibration in either active or passive way. In this paper, an integrated quadratic performance index is used as the measure of the residual vibration, since it globally measures the residual vibration response and its calculation can be simplified greatly with Lyapunov equation. Several sensitivity analysis approaches for performance index were developed based on the assumption that the initial excitations of residual vibration were given and independent of structural design. Since the resulting excitations by the impact load often depend on structural design, this paper aims to propose a new efficient sensitivity analysis method for residual vibration of structures subject to impacts to consider the dependence. The new method is developed by combining two existing methods and using adjoint variable approach. Three numerical examples are carried out and demonstrate the accuracy of the proposed method. The numerical results show that the dependence of initial excitations on structural design variables may strongly affects the accuracy of sensitivities.

Bats Respond to Very Weak Magnetic Fields

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Lan-Xiang; Pan, Yong-Xin; Metzner, Walter; Zhang, Jin-Shuo; Zhang, Bing-Fang

2015-01-01

How animals, including mammals, can respond to and utilize the direction and intensity of the Earth’s magnetic field for orientation and navigation is contentious. In this study, we experimentally tested whether the Chinese Noctule, Nyctalus plancyi (Vespertilionidae) can sense magnetic field strengths that were even lower than those of the present-day geomagnetic field. Such field strengths occurred during geomagnetic excursions or polarity reversals and thus may have played an important role in the evolution of a magnetic sense. We found that in a present-day local geomagnetic field, the bats showed a clear preference for positioning themselves at the magnetic north. As the field intensity decreased to only 1/5th of the natural intensity (i.e., 10 μT; the lowest field strength tested here), the bats still responded by positioning themselves at the magnetic north. When the field polarity was artificially reversed, the bats still preferred the new magnetic north, even at the lowest field strength tested (10 μT), despite the fact that the artificial field orientation was opposite to the natural geomagnetic field (Preversed tens of times over the past fifty million years. PMID:25922944

rRNA and Poly-β-Hydroxybutyrate Dynamics in Bioreactors Subjected to Feast and Famine Cycles

Science.gov (United States)

Frigon, Dominic; Muyzer, Gerard; van Loosdrecht, Mark; Raskin, Lutgarde

2006-01-01

Feast and famine cycles are common in activated sludge wastewater treatment systems, and they select for bacteria that accumulate storage compounds, such as poly-β-hydroxybutyrate (PHB). Previous studies have shown that variations in influent substrate concentrations force bacteria to accumulate high levels of rRNA compared to the levels in bacteria grown in chemostats. Therefore, it can be hypothesized that bacteria accumulate more rRNA when they are subjected to feast and famine cycles. However, PHB-accumulating bacteria can form biomass (grow) throughout a feast and famine cycle and thus have a lower peak biomass formation rate during the cycle. Consequently, PHB-accumulating bacteria may accumulate less rRNA when they are subjected to feast and famine cycles than bacteria that are not capable of PHB accumulation. These hypotheses were tested with Wautersia eutropha H16 (wild type) and W. eutropha PHB-4 (a mutant not capable of accumulating PHB) grown in chemostat and semibatch reactors. For both strains, the cellular RNA level was higher when the organism was grown in semibatch reactors than when it was grown in chemostats, and the specific biomass formation rates during the feast phase were linearly related to the cellular RNA levels for cultures. Although the two strains exhibited maximum uptake rates when they were grown in semibatch reactors, the wild-type strain responded much more rapidly to the addition of fresh medium than the mutant responded. Furthermore, the chemostat-grown mutant culture was unable to exhibit maximum substrate uptake rates when it was subjected to pulse-wise addition of fresh medium. These data show that the ability to accumulate PHB does not prevent bacteria from accumulating high levels of rRNA when they are subjected to feast and famine cycles. Our results also demonstrate that the ability to accumulate PHB makes the bacteria more responsive to sudden increases in substrate concentrations, which explains their ecological

rRNA and poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate dynamics in bioreactors subjected to feast and famine cycles.

Science.gov (United States)

Frigon, Dominic; Muyzer, Gerard; van Loosdrecht, Mark; Raskin, Lutgarde

2006-04-01

Feast and famine cycles are common in activated sludge wastewater treatment systems, and they select for bacteria that accumulate storage compounds, such as poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate (PHB). Previous studies have shown that variations in influent substrate concentrations force bacteria to accumulate high levels of rRNA compared to the levels in bacteria grown in chemostats. Therefore, it can be hypothesized that bacteria accumulate more rRNA when they are subjected to feast and famine cycles. However, PHB-accumulating bacteria can form biomass (grow) throughout a feast and famine cycle and thus have a lower peak biomass formation rate during the cycle. Consequently, PHB-accumulating bacteria may accumulate less rRNA when they are subjected to feast and famine cycles than bacteria that are not capable of PHB accumulation. These hypotheses were tested with Wautersia eutropha H16 (wild type) and W. eutropha PHB-4 (a mutant not capable of accumulating PHB) grown in chemostat and semibatch reactors. For both strains, the cellular RNA level was higher when the organism was grown in semibatch reactors than when it was grown in chemostats, and the specific biomass formation rates during the feast phase were linearly related to the cellular RNA levels for cultures. Although the two strains exhibited maximum uptake rates when they were grown in semibatch reactors, the wild-type strain responded much more rapidly to the addition of fresh medium than the mutant responded. Furthermore, the chemostat-grown mutant culture was unable to exhibit maximum substrate uptake rates when it was subjected to pulse-wise addition of fresh medium. These data show that the ability to accumulate PHB does not prevent bacteria from accumulating high levels of rRNA when they are subjected to feast and famine cycles. Our results also demonstrate that the ability to accumulate PHB makes the bacteria more responsive to sudden increases in substrate concentrations, which explains their ecological

Episodic memory for spatial context biases spatial attention.

Science.gov (United States)

Ciaramelli, Elisa; Lin, Olivia; Moscovitch, Morris

2009-01-01

The study explores the bottom-up attentional consequences of episodic memory retrieval. Individuals studied words (Experiment 1) or pictures (Experiment 2) presented on the left or on the right of the screen. They then viewed studied and new stimuli in the centre of the screen. One-second after the appearance of each stimulus, participants had to respond to a dot presented on the left or on the right of the screen. The dot could follow a stimulus that had been presented, during the study phase, on the same side as the dot (congruent condition), a stimulus that had been presented on the opposite side (incongruent condition), or a new stimulus (neutral condition). Subjects were faster to respond to the dot in the congruent compared to the incongruent condition, with an overall right visual field advantage in Experiment 1. The memory-driven facilitation effect correlated with subjects' re-experiencing of the encoding context (R responses; Experiment 1), but not with their explicit memory for the side of items' presentation (source memory; Experiment 2). The results indicate that memory contents are attended automatically and can bias the deployment of attention. The degree to which memory and attention interact appears related to subjective but not objective indicators of memory strength.

Genetic Influences on Physiological and Subjective Responses to an Aerobic Exercise Session among Sedentary Adults

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karoly, H. C.; Stevens, C.; Harlaar, N.; Hutchison, K. E.; Bryan, A. D.; Magnan, R. E.

2012-01-01

To determine whether genetic variants suggested by the literature to be associated with physiology and fitness phenotypes predicted differential physiological and subjective responses to a bout of aerobic exercise among inactive but otherwise healthy adults. Method. Participants completed a 30-minute submaximal aerobic exercise session. Measures of physiological and subjective responding were taken before, during, and after exercise. 14 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that have been previously associated with various exercise phenotypes were tested for associations with physiological and subjective response to exercise phenotypes. Results. We found that two SNPs in the FTO gene (rs8044769 and rs3751812) were related to positive affect change during exercise. Two SNPs in the CREB1 gene (rs2253206 and 2360969) were related to change in temperature during exercise and with maximal oxygen capacity (VO 2 max). The SLIT2 SNP rs1379659 and the FAM5C SNP rs1935881 were associated with norepinephrine change during exercise. Finally, the OPRM1 SNP rs1799971 was related to changes in norepinephrine, lactate, and rate of perceived exertion (RPE) during exercise. Conclusion. Genetic factors influence both physiological and subjective responses to exercise. A better understanding of genetic factors underlying physiological and subjective responses to aerobic exercise has implications for development and potential tailoring of exercise interventions.

Sentiments and Perceptions of Business Respondents on Social Media: an Exploratory Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Torres van Grinsven Vanessa

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The perceptions and sentiments of business respondents are considered important for statistical bureaus. As perceptions and sentiments are related to the behavior of the people expressing them, gaining insights into the perceptions and sentiments of business respondents is of interest to understand business survey response. In this article we present an exploratory analysis of expressions in the social media regarding Statistics Netherlands. In recent years, social media have become an important infrastructure for communication flows and thus an essential network in our social structure. Within that network participants are actively involved in expressing sentiments and perceptions. The results of our analysis provide insights into the perceptions and sentiments that business respondents have of this national statistical institute and specifically its business surveys. They point towards the specific causes that have led to a positive or a negative sentiment. Based on these results, recommendations aimed at influencing the perceptions and sentiments will be discussed, with the ultimate goal of stimulating survey participation. We also suggest recommendations regarding social media studies on sentiments and perceptions of survey respondents.

Impaired leukocyte influx in cervix of postterm women not responding to prostaglandin priming

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Masironi Britt

2008-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Prolonged pregnancies are associated with increased rate of maternal and fetal complications. Post term women could be divided into at least two subgroups, one where parturition is possible to induce by prostaglandins and one where it is not. Our aim was to study parameters in cervical biopsies in women with spontaneous delivery at term (controls and compare to those that are successfully induced post term (responders, and those that are not induced (non-responders, by local prostaglandin treatment. Methods Stromal parameters examined in this study were the accumulation of leukocytes (CD45, CD68, mRNAs and/or proteins for the extracellular matrix degrading enzymes (matrix metalloproteinase (MMP-2, MMP-8 and MMP-9, their inhibitors (tissue inhibitor of MMP (TIMP-1 and TIMP-2, interleukin-8 (IL-8, the platelet activating factor-receptor (PAF-R, syndecan-1 and estrogen binding receptors (estrogen receptor (ERα, ERβ and G-coupled protein receptor (GPR 30 as well as the proliferation marker Ki-67. Results The influx of leukocytes as assessed by CD45 was strongest in the responders, thereafter in the controls and significantly lower in the non-responders. IL-8, PAF-R and MMP-9, all predominantly expressed in leukocytes, showed significantly reduced immunostaining in the group of non-responders, while ERα and GPR30 were more abundant in the non-responders, as compared to the controls. Conclusion The impaired leukocyte influx, as reflected by the reduced number of CD45 positive cells as well as decreased immunostaining of IL-8, PAF-R and MMP-9 in the non-responders, could be one explanation of the failed ripening of the cervix in post term women. If the decreased leukocyte influx is a primary explanation to absent ripening or secondary, as a result of other factors, is yet to be established.

Adhesion and migration of cells responding to microtopography.

Science.gov (United States)

Estévez, Maruxa; Martínez, Elena; Yarwood, Stephen J; Dalby, Matthew J; Samitier, Josep

2015-05-01

It is known that cells respond strongly to microtopography. However, cellular mechanisms of response are unclear. Here, we study wild-type fibroblasts responding to 25 µm(2) posts and compare their response to that of FAK(-/-) fibroblasts and fibroblasts with PMA treatment to stimulate protein kinase C (PKC) and the small g-protein Rac. FAK knockout cells modulated adhesion number and size in a similar way to cells on topography; that is, they used more, smaller adhesions, but migration was almost completely stalled demonstrating the importance of FAK signaling in contact guidance and adhesion turnover. Little similarity, however, was observed to PKC stimulated cells and cells on the topography. Interestingly, with PKC stimulation the cell nuclei became highly deformable bringing focus on these surfaces to the study of metastasis. Surfaces that aid the study of cellular migration are important in developing understanding of mechanisms of wound healing and repair in aligned tissues such as ligament and tendon. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Train-the-trainer training for EV first responders

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anon

2011-11-15

This paper presents Electrical Line magazine. The magazine covers new product releases, provides expert opinion on solving problems posted by readers, has updated industry news and posts event calendars, among other features. This paper discusses industry news and various topics on electric vehicles. Nova Scotia Power is researching the convenience of electric charging and the readiness of the provincial electric grid to support electric vehicles as well as their cost effectiveness and performance. The paper describes how Hydro-Quebec is supporting the use of such vehicles through the selection of ten Boucherville businesses to participate in an electric vehicles trial program. The ten company names are listed. Recently, the national alternative fuels training consortium (NAFTC) conducted a safety-training workshop for electric drive vehicle first responders at the Tesla Motors headquarters in California. The aim was to ensure that first responders had the opportunity to enhance their knowledge of electric drive vehicle accident response procedures.

Using respondent uncertainty to mitigate hypothetical bias in a stated choice experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Richard C. Ready; Patricia A. Champ; Jennifer L. Lawton

2010-01-01

In a choice experiment study, willingness to pay for a public good estimated from hypothetical choices was three times as large as willingness to pay estimated from choices requiring actual payment. This hypothetical bias was related to the stated level of certainty of respondents. We develop protocols to measure respondent certainty in the context of a choice...

An Investigation into How Students Respond to Being Victimized by Peer Aggression

Science.gov (United States)

Sulkowski, Michael L.; Bauman, Sheri A.; Dinner, Stephanie; Nixon, Charisse; Davis, Stan

2014-01-01

This study investigates how students respond to peer aggression. Results indicate that boys tend to use more retaliatory responses to peer aggression compared with girls, who are more likely to confide in their friends. The use of humor in response to being victimized also was found to be a promising way to respond to being victimized, especially…

Motivações para responder sem preconceito: evidências de uma medida frente a gays e lésbicas Motivation to respond without prejudice: evidences of a measure toward gays and lesbians

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Valdiney V. Gouveia

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Este artigo objetivou conhecer evidências psicométricas da Escala de Motivações Externa e Interna para Responder sem Preconceito ([EMEI], Plant & Devine, 1998, considerando dois grupos-alvo: gays e lésbicas. Realizaram-se dois estudos. No Estudo 1 participaram 234 pessoas da população geral de João Pessoa (PB, com média de idade de 26 anos, a maioria do sexo feminino (54,3% e heterossexual (95%. Eles responderam a versão da EMEI para gays. Análises fatoriais confirmatórias revelaram como mais adequado o modelo bifatorial (AGFI = 0,94, CFI = 0,98 e RMSEA = 0,05. Os Alfas de Cronbach dos fatores foram 0,74 (motivação interna e 0,76 (motivação externa. No Estudo 2 participaram 202 pessoas da população geral da mesma cidade, com idade média de 25 anos, a maioria do sexo feminino (60,9% e heterossexual (95%. Eles responderam a versão da EMEI para lésbicas. Corroborando o estudo anterior, uma estrutura bifatorial se mostrou mais adequada (AGFI = 0,90, CFI = 0,95 e RMSEA = 0,08. Os Alfas de Cronbach para os dois fatores foram 0,71 (motivação interna e 0,84 (motivação externa. Reuniram-se evidências complementares de validade de construto destas versões. Concluindo, os resultados apoiaram a adequação psicométrica (validade fatorial, validade convergente-discriminante e consistência interna da EMEI, que poderá ser empregada em pesquisas futuras sobre preconceito frente a gays e lésbicas.The current article aimed to find psychometric evidences in the Internal and External Motivation to Respond without Prejudice Scale (Plant & Devine, 1998 taking into account two target-groups: gays and lesbians. Two studies were carried out. In Study 1 participants were 234 subjects from the general population of João Pessoa-PB, with mean age of 26 years old, most of them female (54.3% and heterosexual (95%. They answered the gay version of the Internal and External Motivation to Respond without Prejudice Scale (IEM Scale. Confirmatory

Building public trust: Actions to respond to the report of the Advisory Committee on human radiation experiments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1997-03-01

Democratic government requires trust: people need to know and believe that the government is telling the truth. Without information about what the government is doing and why, citizens cannot exercise democratic control over government institutions. During his first year in office, President Clinton became concerned about reports that the government had conducted unethical secret human radiation experiments during the Cold War. To address this issue, in January 1994, President Clinton established the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments (ACHRE), chaired by bioethicist Dr. Ruth Faden of Johns Hopkins University. The President also directed all Federal agencies to search for records related to human subjects radiation research and provide them to the Advisory Committee. This report presents the Administration`s actions to respond to the ACHRE`s findings and recommendations.

In search of the comfortable indoor environment: A comparison of the utility of objective and subjective indicators of indoor comfort

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fransson, Niklas; Skoog, Jennie [Building Services Engineering, Department of Energy and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg (Sweden); Vaestfjaell, Daniel [Department of Psychology, Goeteborg University (Sweden)

2007-05-15

Today, many procedures for assessing the indoor environment rely on both subjective and objective indicators (e.g. ANSI/ASHRAE 55-2004; ISO 10551). It is however unclear how these two types of measurements are related to perceived comfort. This article aims at assessing the relative utility of subjective (rating scale measures) and objective indicators of perceived comfort of indoor environments. In a hospital setting, physical environmental variables (e.g. temperature, relative humidity and noise level) were simultaneously measured as respondents (both patients and staff) rated their perception of the indoor environment. Regression analyses indicated that the subjective sensory ratings were significantly better than objective indicators at predicting overall rated indoor comfort. These results are discussed in relation to existing measurement procedures and standards. (author)

Fast Responding Voltage Regulator and Dynamic VAR Compensator

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Divan, Deepak [Varentec, Incorporated, San Jose, CA (United States); Moghe, Rohit [Varentec, Incorporated, San Jose, CA (United States); Tholomier, Damien [Varentec, Incorporated, San Jose, CA (United States)

2014-12-31

The objectives of this project were to develop a dynamic VAR compensator (DVC) for voltage regulation through VAR support to demonstrate the ability to achieve greater levels of voltage control on electricity distribution networks, and faster response compared to existing grid technology. The goal of the project was to develop a prototype Fast Dynamic VAR Compensator (Fast DVC) hardware device, and this was achieved. In addition to developing the dynamic VAR compensator device, Varentec in partnership with researchers at North Carolina State University (NCSU) successfully met the objectives to model the potential positive impact of such DVCs on representative power networks. This modeling activity validated the ability of distributed dynamic VAR compensators to provide fast voltage regulation and reactive power control required to respond to grid disturbances under high penetration of fluctuating and intermittent distributed energy resources (DERs) through extensive simulation studies. Specifically the following tasks were set to be accomplished: 1) Development of dynamic VAR compensator to support dynamic voltage variations on the grid through VAR control 2) Extensive testing of the DVC in the lab environment 3) Present the operational DVC device to the DOE at Varentec’s lab 4) Formulation of a detailed specification sheet, unit assembly document, test setup document, unit bring-up plan, and test plan 5) Extensive simulations of the DVC in a system with high PV penetration. Understanding the operation with many DVC on a single distribution system 6) Creation and submittal of quarterly and final reports conveying the design documents, unit performance data, modeling simulation charts and diagrams, and summary explanations of the satisfaction of program goals. This report details the various efforts that led to the development of the Fast DVC as well as the modeling & simulation results. The report begins with the introduction in Section II which outlines the

Constructions of religiosity, subjective well-being, anxiety, and depression in two cultures: Kuwait and USA.

Science.gov (United States)

Abdel-Khalek, Ahmed M; Lester, David

2012-03-01

The aim of the present study was to explore the associations of religiosity with subjective well-being (SWB) and psychopathology (anxiety and depression) among college students recruited from two different cultures, Kuwait (n = 192) and the USA (n = 158). The students responded to the following scales in their native languages, Arabic and English, respectively: the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire, the Love of Life Scale, the Kuwait University Anxiety Scale and the Center for Epidemiological Studies - Depression Scale. They also responded to six self-rating scales assessing happiness, satisfaction with life, mental health, physical health, religiosity and strength of religious belief. The Kuwaiti students obtained higher mean scores on religiosity, religious belief and depression than did their American counterparts, whereas American students had higher mean scores on happiness and love of life. Two factors were extracted: 'SWB versus psychopathology' and 'Religiosity'. Based on the responses of the present two samples, it was concluded that those who consider themselves as religious experienced greater well-being.

Nuclear Fallout Decision Tool for First Responders

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Archibald, E. J. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Buddemeier, B. R. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

2010-08-11

If terrorists detonated an improvised nuclear device (IND) in an urban area, thousands of people would die from the blast, and many more would become sick or die from exposure to fallout radiation. Proper sheltering and evacuation can protect people from fallout and save lives. This project provides guidance to first responders as to when to evacuate and what route to take to protect themselves against fallout radiation.

The influence of indirect collective trauma on first responders' alcohol use.

Science.gov (United States)

Homish, Gregory G; Frazer, Bonita S; Carey, Mary G

2012-01-01

Previous research has suggested increased risk for negative outcomes such as increased alcohol use among first responders who are involved with the response to a community disaster; however it is not clear how indirect exposure to a critical incident impacts first responders. This work examined the impact of secondary or indirect trauma on changes in alcohol use among urban firefighters who were not directly involved in the response to a large scale community-level disaster. Firefighters enrolled in larger trial of health outcomes whose interview period coincided with the crash of a commercial airplane were the basis for the current report. Aggregate level data on changes in alcohol consumption for these firefighters were examined pre- and post-incident. There was a significant increase in alcohol use following the critical incident. This increase did not occur immediately; it was observed within several days and peaked about 8 days post-incident. Post-hoc analyses revealed that the increased alcohol consumption persisted for several months, finally returning to pre-incident levels by 8 months post-incident. Indirect trauma effects, likely operationalized in part through the "brotherhood" of the firefighters, clearly placed firefighters at risk for negative outcomes following a disaster. Intervention/prevention efforts aimed at distress reduction among first responders should not solely focus on responders with direct involvement in a disaster.

An alternative framework for responding to the amphibian crisis

Science.gov (United States)

Muths, Erin L.; Fisher, Robert N.

2017-01-01

Volumes of data illustrate the severity of the crisis affecting amphibians, where > 32% of amphibians worldwide are threatened with declining populations. Although there have been isolated victories, the current approach to the issue is unsuccessful. We suggest that a radically different approach, something akin to human emergency response management (i.e. the Incident Command System), is one alternative to addressing the inertia and lack of cohesion in responding to amphibian issues. We acknowledge existing efforts and the useful research that has been conducted, but we suggest that a change is warranted and that the identification of a new amphibian chytrid provides the impetus for such a change. Our goal is to recognize that without a centralized effort we (collectively) are likely to fail in responding to this challenge.

Quality of courses evaluated by 'predictions' rather than opinions: Fewer respondents needed for similar results.

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen-Schotanus, Janke; Schönrock-Adema, Johanna; Schmidt, Henk G

2010-01-01

A well-known problem with student surveys is a too low response rate. Experiences with predicting electoral outcomes, which required much smaller sample sizes, inspired us to adopt a similar approach to course evaluation. We expected that having respondents estimate the average opinions of their peers required fewer respondents for comparable outcomes than giving own opinions. Two course evaluation studies were performed among successive first-year medical students (N = 380 and 450, respectively). Study 1: Half the cohort gave opinions on nine questions, while the other half predicted the average outcomes. A prize was offered for the three best predictions (motivational remedy). Study 2: Half the cohort gave opinions, a quarter made predictions without a prize and a quarter made predictions with previous year's results as prior knowledge (cognitive remedy). The numbers of respondents required for stable outcomes were determined following an iterative process. Differences between numbers of respondents required and between average scores were analysed with ANOVA. In both studies, the prediction conditions required significantly fewer respondents (p < 0.001) for comparable outcomes. The informed prediction condition required the fewest respondents (N < 20). Problems with response rates can be reduced by asking respondents to predict evaluation outcomes rather than giving opinions.

Preferences for partner notification method: variation in responses between respondents as index patients and contacts.

Science.gov (United States)

Apoola, A; Radcliffe, K W; Das, S; Robshaw, V; Gilleran, G; Kumari, B S; Boothby, M; Rajakumar, R

2007-07-01

There have been very few studies focusing on what form of communication patients would find acceptable from a clinic. This study looks at the differences in preferences for various partner notification methods when the respondents were index patients compared with when they had to be contacted because a partner had a sexually transmitted infection (STI). There were 2544 respondents. When the clinic had to notify partners, respondents were more likely to report the method as good when a partner had an STI and they were being contacted compared with when the respondents had an infection and the partner was being contacted. The opposite was true for patient referral partner notification. Therefore, there are variations in the preferences of respondents for partner notification method, which depend on whether they see themselves as index patients or contacts.

An examination of within-session responding following access to reinforcing stimuli.

Science.gov (United States)

Rispoli, Mandy; O'Reilly, Mark; Lang, Russell; Machalicek, Wendy; Kang, Soyeon; Davis, Tonya; Neely, Leslie

2016-01-01

Previous research has shown tangibly maintained challenging behavior can be temporarily decreased by providing presession access to the relevant tangible. However, the duration of this beneficial effect is unknown. We measured the subsequent duration of behavior reduction effects following presession access during extended classroom observation sessions by analyzing within-session patterns of responding in three children with autism. An alternating treatments design was used to analyze within- and across-session responding following presession access and presession restriction conditions. The cumulative frequency of challenging behavior was higher following the presession restriction condition for all participants and lower following presession access. Within-session analysis revealed the same basic pattern of responding across participants. Specifically, the first half of the sessions contained very little, if any, challenging behavior; however, after 60 min, the rate of challenging behavior began to increase rapidly for two of the three participants. Results are discussed in terms of implications for practitioners, satiation, habituation, and behavioral contrast. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

How to define responders in osteoarthritis

Science.gov (United States)

Cooper, Cyrus; Adachi, Jonathan D.; Bardin, Thomas; Berenbaum, Francis; Flamion, Bruno; Jonsson, Helgi; Kanis, John A.; Pelousse, Franz; Lems, Willem F.; Pelletier, Jean-Pierre; Martel-Pelletier, Johanne; Reiter, Susanne; Reginster, Jean-Yves; Rizzoli, René; Bruyère, Olivier

2013-01-01

Background Osteoarthritis is a clinical syndrome of failure of the joint accompanied by varying degrees of joint pain, functional limitation, and reduced quality of life due to deterioration of articular cartilage and involvement of other joint structures. Scope Regulatory agencies require relevant clinical benefit on symptoms and structure modification for registration of a new therapy as a disease-modifying osteoarthritis drug (DMOAD). An international Working Group of the European Society on Clinical and Economic Aspects of Osteoporosis and Osteoarthritis (ESCEO) and International Osteoporosis Foundation was convened to explore the current burden of osteoarthritis, review current regulatory guidelines for the conduct of clinical trials, and examine the concept of responder analyses for improving drug evaluation in osteoarthritis. Findings The ESCEO considers that the major challenges in DMOAD development are the absence of a precise definition of the disease, particularly in the early stages, and the lack of consensus on how to detect structural changes and link them to clinically meaningful endpoints. Responder criteria should help identify progression of disease and be clinically meaningful. The ideal criterion should be sensitive to change over time and should predict disease progression and outcomes such as joint replacement. Conclusion The ESCEO considers that, for knee osteoarthritis, clinical trial data indicate that radiographic joint space narrowing >0.5 mm over 2 or 3 years might be a reliable surrogate measure for total joint replacement. On-going research using techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging and biochemical markers may allow the identification of these patients earlier in the disease process. PMID:23557069

A subjective scheduler for subjective dedicated networks

Science.gov (United States)

Suherman; Fakhrizal, Said Reza; Al-Akaidi, Marwan

2017-09-01

Multiple access technique is one of important techniques within medium access layer in TCP/IP protocol stack. Each network technology implements the selected access method. Priority can be implemented in those methods to differentiate services. Some internet networks are dedicated for specific purpose. Education browsing or tutorial video accesses are preferred in a library hotspot, while entertainment and sport contents could be subjects of limitation. Current solution may use IP address filter or access list. This paper proposes subjective properties of users or applications are used for priority determination in multiple access techniques. The NS-2 simulator is employed to evaluate the method. A video surveillance network using WiMAX is chosen as the object. Subjective priority is implemented on WiMAX scheduler based on traffic properties. Three different traffic sources from monitoring video: palace, park, and market are evaluated. The proposed subjective scheduler prioritizes palace monitoring video that results better quality, xx dB than the later monitoring spots.

Responding to inequities: gorillas try to maintain their competitive advantage during play fights.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Leeuwen, Edwin J C; Zimmermann, Elke; Ross, Marina Davila

2011-02-23

Humans respond to unfair situations in various ways. Experimental research has revealed that non-human species also respond to unequal situations in the form of inequity aversions when they have the disadvantage. The current study focused on play fights in gorillas to explore for the first time, to our knowledge, if/how non-human species respond to inequities in natural social settings. Hitting causes a naturally occurring inequity among individuals and here it was specifically assessed how the hitters and their partners engaged in play chases that followed the hitting. The results of this work showed that the hitters significantly more often moved first to run away immediately after the encounter than their partners. These findings provide evidence that non-human species respond to inequities by trying to maintain their competitive advantages. We conclude that non-human primates, like humans, may show different responses to inequities and that they may modify them depending on if they have the advantage or the disadvantage.

Called to respond: The potential of unveiling hiddens

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alison L Black

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Interested in exploring how personal stories and aesthetic modes of representing experiences can nudge open academic and educational spaces, this article/collection of particles seeks to document our encounters of being affected and called to respond to things the other has written and represented. As a way of engaging with questions about what research and research data might be and become, our attention has been drawn to stories and images from our lives that we have not shaken off – and to how, as we have opened these to the other, making once private moments public, our hiddens have morphed tenderly into a shared knowing and being. As we have acted on the call we have felt to respond we have found ourselves entering spaces of collaboration, communion, contemplation, and conversation – spaces illuminated by what we have not been able to – and cannot – set aside. Using visual and poetic materials we explore heartfelt and heartbroken aspects of our educational worlds and lives, to be present with each other and our (reemerging personal and professional meanings. We see the shared body (of work, of writing, of image that develops from the taking of brave steps and the risky slipping off of academic masks and language, as a manifestation of the trusted and nurturing spaces that can be generated through collaborative opportunities to gather together. These steps towards unveiling hiddens are producing in us and of us a friendship, fluency, and fluidity as we write new ways of becoming. In turn, we hope the uncovering and revealing of our dialogue in the public gathering of this journal might supports readers’ telling of their own life stories through what calls them to respond.

Reassessing word frequency as a determinant of word recognition for skilled and unskilled readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuperman, Victor; Van Dyke, Julie A

2013-06-01

The importance of vocabulary in reading comprehension emphasizes the need to accurately assess an individual's familiarity with words. The present article highlights problems with using occurrence counts in corpora as an index of word familiarity, especially when studying individuals varying in reading experience. We demonstrate via computational simulations and norming studies that corpus-based word frequencies systematically overestimate strengths of word representations, especially in the low-frequency range and in smaller-size vocabularies. Experience-driven differences in word familiarity prove to be faithfully captured by the subjective frequency ratings collected from responders at different experience levels. When matched on those levels, this lexical measure explains more variance than corpus-based frequencies in eye-movement and lexical decision latencies to English words, attested in populations with varied reading experience and skill. Furthermore, the use of subjective frequencies removes the widely reported (corpus) Frequency × Skill interaction, showing that more skilled readers are equally faster in processing any word than the less skilled readers, not disproportionally faster in processing lower frequency words. This finding challenges the view that the more skilled an individual is in generic mechanisms of word processing, the less reliant he or she will be on the actual lexical characteristics of that word. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).

Reassessing word frequency as a determinant of word recognition for skilled and unskilled readers

Science.gov (United States)

Kuperman, Victor; Van Dyke, Julie A.

2013-01-01

The importance of vocabulary in reading comprehension emphasizes the need to accurately assess an individual’s familiarity with words. The present article highlights problems with using occurrence counts in corpora as an index of word familiarity, especially when studying individuals varying in reading experience. We demonstrate via computational simulations and norming studies that corpus-based word frequencies systematically overestimate strengths of word representations, especially in the low-frequency range and in smaller-size vocabularies. Experience-driven differences in word familiarity prove to be faithfully captured by the subjective frequency ratings collected from responders at different experience levels. When matched on those levels, this lexical measure explains more variance than corpus-based frequencies in eye-movement and lexical decision latencies to English words, attested in populations with varied reading experience and skill. Furthermore, the use of subjective frequencies removes the widely reported (corpus) frequency-by-skill interaction, showing that more skilled readers are equally faster in processing any word than the less skilled readers, not disproportionally faster in processing lower-frequency words. This finding challenges the view that the more skilled an individual is in generic mechanisms of word processing the less reliant he/she will be on the actual lexical characteristics of that word. PMID:23339352

Respondent-Driven Sampling – Testing Assumptions: Sampling with Replacement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Barash Vladimir D.

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Classical Respondent-Driven Sampling (RDS estimators are based on a Markov Process model in which sampling occurs with replacement. Given that respondents generally cannot be interviewed more than once, this assumption is counterfactual. We join recent work by Gile and Handcock in exploring the implications of the sampling-with-replacement assumption for bias of RDS estimators. We differ from previous studies in examining a wider range of sampling fractions and in using not only simulations but also formal proofs. One key finding is that RDS estimates are surprisingly stable even in the presence of substantial sampling fractions. Our analyses show that the sampling-with-replacement assumption is a minor contributor to bias for sampling fractions under 40%, and bias is negligible for the 20% or smaller sampling fractions typical of field applications of RDS.

Event-related potentials in response to emotional words in patients with major depressive disorder and healthy controls.

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Liu, Hong; Yin, Hui-fang; Wu, Da-xing; Xu, Shu-jing

2014-01-01

Dysfunctional cognitive processing and abnormal brain activation in response to emotional stimuli have long been recognized as core features of the major depressive disorder (MDD). The aim of this study was to examine how Chinese patients with MDD process Chinese emotional words presented to either the left (LH) or right hemisphere (RH). Reaction time (RT) and the late positive component of the event-related potential were measured while subjects judged the valence (positive or negative) of emotional words written in Chinese. Compared to healthy controls, patients with MDD exhibited slower RTs in response to negative words. In all subjects, the RTs in response to negative words were significantly faster than RTs in response to positive words presented to the LH, as well as significantly faster than responses to negative words presented to the RH. Compared to healthy controls, MDD patients exhibited reduced activation of the central and left regions of the brain in response to both negative and positive words. In healthy controls, the posterior brain areas were more active than the anterior brain areas when responding to negative words. All individuals showed faster RTs in response to negative words compared to positive words. In addition, MDD patients showed lateralization of brain activity in response to emotional words, whereas healthy individuals did not show this lateralization. Posterior brain areas appear to play an especially important role in discriminating and experiencing negative emotional words. This study provides further evidence in support of the negative bias hypothesis and the emotional processing theory.

Leisure participation and subjective well-being: Exploring gender differences among elderly in Shanghai, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Wei; Feng, Qiushi; Lacanienta, Joy; Zhen, Zhihong

To explore the association between leisure participation and subjective well-being and the role gender in this issue among elderly Chinese in Shanghai, China. Principal components analysis and logistic regressions are used to analyze the cross-sectional data of the 2013 Shanghai Elderly Life and Opinion Survey that contains 2884 respondents (60+ with a mean age of 72.6) recruited from a multistage cluster sampling design. Subjective well-being is measured by happiness and life satisfaction, and leisure participation is examined by the type and diversity of leisure activities. Principal components analysis identifies four major types of leisure activity that elderly Chinese are actively engaged in-detachment-recovery, aesthetic, social, and performing-arts activities. Among them, social activities and performing-arts activities have the most relevance to subjective well-being. Females are more likely to engage in social and performing-arts activities whereas males are more likely to engage in detachment-recovery and aesthetic activities. Performing-arts activities promote subjective well-being only for females. Social activities are beneficial for both gender groups, but more so for males than for females. While increased levels of leisure diversity are linearly related to increased odds of subjective well-being for females, moderate level of leisure diversity is found to be the most important for males. Leisure participation is positively related to subjective well-being among elderly Chinese, and thus could play a critical role in promoting healthy aging. The major gender differences as observed suggest the need to further explore gender-specific barriers in leisure participation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Findings from within-subjects comparisons of drug use and sexual risk behaviour in men who have sex with men in England.

Science.gov (United States)

Melendez-Torres, G J; Hickson, Ford; Reid, David; Weatherburn, Peter; Bonell, Chris

2017-03-01

Epidemiological evidence for the encounter-level association between sexualised drug use and unprotected anal intercourse in men who have sex with men is unclear and has not examined men who have sex with men in England. To estimate this association, we compared dyadic sexual encounters within respondents. We used encounter-level data from a longitudinal online survey of men who have sex with men living in England and multilevel models to test univariate and multivariate associations between any respondent or partner drug use, specific respondent drug use, additional situational characteristics and unprotected anal intercourse. Based on 6742 encounters from 2142 men who have sex with men, respondent drug use and respondent use of certain specific drugs were associated with increased unprotected anal intercourse odds. In univariate models, partner drug use was associated with increased unprotected anal intercourse odds, but in multivariate models, only non-specific knowledge of partner drug use was associated with the same. Encounters with non-regular-and-steady partners or that were not HIV-seroconcordant were associated with decreased unprotected anal intercourse odds. This is the first within-subjects comparison of drug use and unprotected anal intercourse conducted on a sample from England, and the largest of its kind. Findings are consistent with other studies, though associations between drug use and unprotected anal intercourse are shaped by social contexts that may change over time.

Relative speed of processing determines color-word contingency learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Forrin, Noah D; MacLeod, Colin M

2017-10-01

In three experiments, we tested a relative-speed-of-processing account of color-word contingency learning, a phenomenon in which color identification responses to high-contingency stimuli (words that appear most often in particular colors) are faster than those to low-contingency stimuli. Experiment 1 showed equally large contingency-learning effects whether responding was to the colors or to the words, likely due to slow responding to both dimensions because of the unfamiliar mapping required by the key press responses. For Experiment 2, participants switched to vocal responding, in which reading words is considerably faster than naming colors, and we obtained a contingency-learning effect only for color naming, the slower dimension. In Experiment 3, previewing the color information resulted in a reduced contingency-learning effect for color naming, but it enhanced the contingency-learning effect for word reading. These results are all consistent with contingency learning influencing performance only when the nominally irrelevant feature is faster to process than the relevant feature, and therefore are entirely in accord with a relative-speed-of-processing explanation.

Genes responding to water deficit in apple (Malus × domestica Borkh.) roots.

Science.gov (United States)

Bassett, Carole Leavel; Baldo, Angela M; Moore, Jacob T; Jenkins, Ryan M; Soffe, Doug S; Wisniewski, Michael E; Norelli, John L; Farrell, Robert E

2014-07-08

Individual plants adapt to their immediate environment using a combination of biochemical, morphological and life cycle strategies. Because woody plants are long-lived perennials, they cannot rely on annual life cycle strategies alone to survive abiotic stresses. In this study we used suppression subtractive hybridization to identify genes both up- and down-regulated in roots during water deficit treatment and recovery. In addition we followed the expression of select genes in the roots, leaves, bark and xylem of 'Royal Gala' apple subjected to a simulated drought and subsequent recovery. In agreement with studies from both herbaceous and woody plants, a number of common drought-responsive genes were identified, as well as a few not previously reported. Three genes were selected for more in depth analysis: a high affinity nitrate transporter (MdNRT2.4), a mitochondrial outer membrane translocase (MdTOM7.1), and a gene encoding an NPR1 homolog (MpNPR1-2). Quantitative expression of these genes in apple roots, bark and leaves was consistent with their roles in nutrition and defense. Additional genes from apple roots responding to drought were identified using suppression subtraction hybridization compared to a previous EST analysis from the same organ. Genes up- and down-regulated during drought recovery in roots were also identified. Elevated levels of a high affinity nitrate transporter were found in roots suggesting that nitrogen uptake shifted from low affinity transport due to the predicted reduction in nitrate concentration in drought-treated roots. Suppression of a NPR1 gene in leaves of drought-treated apple trees may explain in part the increased disease susceptibility of trees subjected to dehydrative conditions.

Lateralized direct and indirect semantic priming effects in subjects with paranormal experiences and beliefs.

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Pizzagalli, D; Lehmann, D; Brugger, P

2001-01-01

The present investigation tested the hypothesis that, as an aspect of schizotypal thinking, the formation of paranormal beliefs was related to spreading activation characteristics within semantic networks. From a larger student population (n = 117) prescreened for paranormal belief, 12 strong believers and 12 strong disbelievers (all women) were invited for a lateralized semantic priming task with directly and indirectly related prime-target pairs. Believers showed stronger indirect (but not direct) semantic priming effects than disbelievers after left (but not right) visual field stimulation, indicating faster appreciation of distant semantic relations specifically by the right hemisphere, reportedly specialized in coarse rather than focused semantic processing. These results are discussed in the light of recent findings in schizophrenic patients with thought disorders. They suggest that a disinhibition with semantic networks may underlie the formation of paranormal belief. The potential usefulness of work with healthy subjects for neuropsychiatric research is stressed. Copyright 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel

Analyzing Trends in Subjective Well-Being in 15 European Countries, 1973-2002

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bjørnskov, Christian; Gupta, Nabanita Datta; Pedersen, Peder J.

2008-01-01

by exploiting a long and complete time-series from the Eurobarometer Survey, 1973-2002 allowing an examination of trends in life satisfaction across 15 European countries employing a modified version of Kendall's Tau. Our results show that while current GDP growth does not affect trends in well......-being, accelerations in GDP growth do. In addition, faster GDP growth and faster growth of government consumption than in neighbouring countries induces positive trends in life satisfaction. Our findings are consistent with the predictions of aspirations theory and the theory of reference group comparisons.  ...

11 CFR 111.39 - When must the respondent pay the civil money penalty?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 11 Federal Elections 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false When must the respondent pay the civil money penalty? 111.39 Section 111.39 Federal Elections FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION GENERAL COMPLIANCE PROCEDURE... penalty? (a) If the respondent does not submit a written petition to the district court of the United...

Sentiments and Perceptions of Business Respondents on Social Media: an Exploratory Analysis

OpenAIRE

Torres van Grinsven Vanessa; Snijkers Ger

2015-01-01

The perceptions and sentiments of business respondents are considered important for statistical bureaus. As perceptions and sentiments are related to the behavior of the people expressing them, gaining insights into the perceptions and sentiments of business respondents is of interest to understand business survey response. In this article we present an exploratory analysis of expressions in the social media regarding Statistics Netherlands. In recent years, social media have become an import...

Editor's Note Responding to suggestions from the research ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Admin

Responding to suggestions from the research fellowship of the Institute of African Studies for a re-branding of the. Research Review, which began publication in the early 1960s soon after the establishment of the Institute, the old title has now been replaced with a new title — Contemporary Journal of African Studies. This is ...

45 CFR 5.24 - Responding to your request.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... information on paper, we will do this if it is the only way to respond to a request. Nor are we required to... copying them all. Moreover, we are required to furnish only one copy of a record and usually impose that limit. If information exists in different forms, we will provide the record in the form that best...

The Self as a Responding-and Responsible-Artifact

OpenAIRE

Dennett, Daniel C.

2003-01-01

The powerful illusion of a unified, Cartesian self responsible for intentional action is contrasted with the biologically sounder model of competitive processes that yield an only partially coherent agency, and the existence of the illusion of self is explained as an evolved feature of communicating agents, capable of responding to requests and queries about their own decisions and actions.

Responding to the Challenge of True Uncertainty

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hallin, Carina Antonia; Andersen, Torben Juul

We construe a conceptual framework for responding effectively to true uncertainty in the business environment. We drill down to the essential micro-foundational capabilities - sensing and seizing of dynamic capabilities - and link them to classical strategic issue management theory with suggestions...... on how to operationalize these essential capabilities. By definition true uncertainty represents environmental conditions that are hard to foresee, which can catch the unprepared by surprise while presenting opportunities to the conscious organization. We demonstrate that organizations relying...

Learning as change: Responding to socio-scientific issues through informal education

Science.gov (United States)

Allen, Lauren Brooks

Informal learning is an important venue for educating the general public about complex socio-scientific issues: intersections of scientific understanding and society. My dissertation is a multi-tiered analysis of how informal education, and particularly informal educators, can leverage learning to respond to one particular socio-scientific issue: climate change. Life-long, life-wide, and life-deep learning not only about the science of climate change, but how communities and society as a whole can respond to it in ways that are commensurate with its scale are necessary. In my three-article dissertation, I investigated the changes in practice and learning that informal educators from a natural history museum underwent in the process of implementing a new type of field trip about climate change. This study focused on inquiry-based learning principles taken on by the museum educators, albeit in different ways: learner autonomy, conversation, and deep investigation. My second article, a short literature review, makes the argument that climate change education must have goals beyond simply increasing learners' knowledge of climate science, and proposes three research-based principles for such learning: participation, relevance, and interconnectedness. These principles are argued to promote learning to respond to climate change as well as increased collective efficacy, necessary for responding. Finally, my third article is an in-depth examination of a heterogeneous network of informal educators and environmental professionals who worked together to design and implement a city-wide platform for informal climate change learning. By conceptualizing climate change learning at the level of the learning ecology, educators and learners are able to see how it can be responded to at the community level, and understand how climate change is interconnected with other scientific, natural, and social systems. I briefly discuss a different socio-scientific issue to which these

QERx- A Faster than Real-Time Emulator for Space Processors

Science.gov (United States)

Carvalho, B.; Pidgeon, A.; Robinson, P.

2012-08-01

Developing software for space systems is challenging. Especially because, in order to be sure it can cope with the harshness of the environment and the imperative requirements and constrains imposed by the platform were it will run, it needs to be tested exhaustively. Software Validation Facilities (SVF) are known to the industry and developers, and provide the means to run the On-Board Software (OBSW) in a realistic environment, allowing the development team to debug and test the software.But the challenge is to be able to keep up with the performance of the new processors (LEON2 and LEON3), which need to be emulated within the SVF. Such processor emulators are also used in Operational Simulators, used to support mission preparation and train mission operators. These simulators mimic the satellite and its behaviour, as realistically as possible. For test/operational efficiency reasons and because they will need to interact with external systems, both these uses cases require the processor emulators to provide real-time, or faster, performance.It is known to the industry that the performance of previously available emulators is not enough to cope with the performance of the new processors available in the market. SciSys approached this problem with dynamic translation technology trying to keep costs down by avoiding a hardware solution and keeping the integration flexibility of full software emulation.SciSys presented “QERx: A High Performance Emulator for Software Validation and Simulations” [1], in a previous DASIA event. Since then that idea has evolved and QERx has been successfully validated. SciSys is now presenting QERx as a product that can be tailored to fit different emulation needs. This paper will present QERx latest developments and current status.

Expanding subjectivities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lundgaard Andersen, Linda; Soldz, Stephen

2012-01-01

A major theme in recent psychoanalytic thinking concerns the use of therapist subjectivity, especially “countertransference,” in understanding patients. This thinking converges with and expands developments in qualitative research regarding the use of researcher subjectivity as a tool......-Saxon and continental traditions, this special issue provides examples of the use of researcher subjectivity, informed by psychoanalytic thinking, in expanding research understanding....

Individualized controlled ovarian stimulation in expected poor-responders: an update.

Science.gov (United States)

Haahr, Thor; Esteves, Sandro C; Humaidan, Peter

2018-03-09

Controlled ovarian stimulation with subsequent multi-follicular development continues to be a keystone in ART. Evidence supports an individualized approach to ovarian stimulation, usually involving combinations of ovarian reserve tests, body mass index and age to tailor the exogenous gonadotropin dose, and potentially adjuvant treatment aiming for high safety and a shortening of time to live birth. While stimulation and trigger concepts have been developed successfully in normo- and hyperresponder patients, the poor responder patient remains difficult to manage. However, recent advances in definition and classification of the expected poor ovarian responder patient might enable a more accurate and clinically useful interpretation of new treatment concepts in a more homogenous study population. In the present review, we discuss the classification of the expected poor ovarian responder patient as well as clinically useful measurements of efficacy for controlled ovarian stimulation, and finally, we discuss the evidence for clinical management of patients with expected poor ovarian response, including adjuvant treatments such as growth hormone, androgens, and LH activity.In conclusion, the best available evidence supports that the treatment of the expected poor ovarian response patient should be individualized in all steps of ART, including the choice of GnRH analogue, the gonadotropin type and dose, ovulation trigger, and the possible use of adjuvant therapies.

Faster Growth of Road Transportation CO2 Emissions in Asia Pacific Economies: Exploring Differences in Trends of the Rapidly Developing and Developed Worlds

Science.gov (United States)

Marcotullio, Peter J.

2006-01-01

Researchers have identified how in some rapidly developing countries, road and aviation transportation CO2 emissions are rising faster (over time) when compared to the experiences of the USA at similar levels of economic development. While suggestive of how experiences of the rapidly developing Asia are different from those of the developed world…

Data for First Responder Use of Photoionization Detectors for Vapor Chemical Constituents

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Keith A. Daum; Matthew G. Watrous; M. Dean Neptune; Daniel I. Michael; Kevin J. Hull; Joseph D. Evans

2006-11-01

First responders need appropriate measurement technologies for evaluating incident scenes. This report provides information about photoionization detectors (PIDs), obtained from manufacturers and independent laboratory tests, and the use of PIDs by first responders, obtained from incident commanders in the United States and Canada. PIDs are valued for their relatively low cost, light weight, rapid detection response, and ease of use. However, it is clear that further efforts are needed to provide suitable instruments and decision tools to incident commanders and first responders for assessing potential hazardous chemical releases. Information provided in this report indicates that PIDs should always be part of a decision-making context in which other qualitative and more definitive tests and instruments are used to confirm a finding. Possible amelioratory actions ranging from quick and relatively easy fixes to those requiring significant additional effort are outlined in the report.