Location errors in tachistoscopic recognition: Guesses, probe errors, or spatial confusions?

Examined whether location errors in tachistoscopic visual probe tasks reflect (1) uncertainty about the actual position of items, (2) inappropriate guesses, encouraged by a requirement to respond, or (3) confusion about the position being tested. 46 undergraduates completed probe tasks in which they provided confidence ratings on each trial and tasks that substituted a color cue for a visual pointer or used a double bar probe. Results suggest that location errors on visual probe tasks reflect confusion about the spatial position of target items. Findings are consistent with data questioning the concept of iconic memory and imply that the bar-probe task cannot be used to study precategorical visual memory. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of widowhood on physical and mental health, health behaviors, and health outcomes: The Women's Health Initiative.

This study examined whether widowhood was associated with physical and mental health, health behaviors, and health outcomes using a cross-sectional (N=72,247) and prospective (N=55,724) design in women aged 50-79 years participating in the Women's Health Initiative observational study (85.4% White). At baseline, married women reported better physical and mental health and generally better health behaviors than widowed women. Whereas women who remained married over the 3-year period showed stability in mental health, recent widows experienced marked impairments and longer term widows showed stability or slight improvements. Both groups of widows reported more unintentional weight loss over the 3-year period. Changes in physical health and health behaviors were inconsistent, with generally small effect sizes. Findings underscore the resilience of older women and their capacity to reestablish connections, but point to the need for services that strengthen social support among women who have difficulty during this transition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patterns of discrimination in hiring job applicants with disabilities: The role of disability type, job complexity, and public contact.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of disability type, job complexity, and public contact on hiring decisions. Design and Participants: An Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA; 1990) fact sheet and matched resumes with vocational and medical histories including chronic mental illness, developmental disability, closed head injury, and back injury were provided to 295 undergraduate business-related majors, who rated the applicants' suitability for 2 job positions and work shifts. Results: Findings indicated disparities in ratings of employability as a function of disability type. Paired comparisons yielded complementary findings, with effects of disability type and Disability Type × Job Complexity, but no effects of public contact. Conclusions: Stereotyping and discrimination in employment decisions apparently persist, more than 10 years after the ADA. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learning Automata from Ordered Examples

Connectionist learning models have had considerable empirical success, but it is hard to characterize exactly what they learn. The learning of finite-state languages (FSL) from example strings is a domain which has been extensively studied and might provide an opportunity to help understand connectionist learning. A major problem is that traditional FSL learning assumes the storage of all examples and thus violates connectionist principles. This paper presents a provably correct algorithm for inferring any minimum-state deterministic finite-state automata (FSA) from a complete ordered sample using limited total storage and without storing example strings. The algorithm is an iterative strategy that uses at each stage a current encoding of the data considered so far, and one single sample string. One of the crucial advantages of our algorithm is that the total amount of space used in the course of learning for encoding any finite prefix of the sample is polynomial in the size of the inferred minimum state deterministic FSA. The algorithm is also relatively efficient in time and has been implemented. More importantly, there is a connectionist version of the algorithm that preserves these properties. The connectionist version requires much more structure than the usual models and has been implemented using the Rochester Connectionist Simulator. We also show that no machine with finite working storage can iteratively identify the FSL from arbitrary presentations.     

Potentiation of a three drug chemotherapy regimen by radiation

The combination of N-(phosphonacetyl)-L-aspartate, 6-methylmercaptopurine, and 6-aminonicotinamide has been shown to be an effective antineoplastic regimen and also to enhance the effects of other chemotherapeutic agents. The mechanism of action of this combination of drugs is not known definitively, but one possible mechanism is biochemical modulation of energy metabolism and inhibition of production of tumor ATP. Tumor-bearing mice were treated with N-(phosphonacetyl)-L-aspartate, followed 17 h later by 6-methylmercaptopurine and 6-aminonicotinamide. 31P nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic studies demonstrated a significant depletion of high energy phosphates at 10 h post-6-methylmercaptopurine and 6-aminonicotinamide. The addition of radiation at this time was shown to induce a significantly longer tumor growth delay and a greater number of regressions (including durable complete regressions) than either chemotherapy or radiation alone. The combination of chemotherapy and radiation was found to be supra-additive compared to the antineoplastic effects of either modality administered separately, without a measurable increase in host toxicity.     

Psychological impact of colorectal cancer screening.

This article examines the psychological impact of participating in sigmoidoscopy screening for colorectal cancer prevention. The 1st study examined psychological well-being at 3 months, in relation to screening outcome, in 4,153 individuals. The 2nd study used longitudinal data to examine changes in psychological functioning from before to after screening in relation both to screening outcome and baseline indicators of vulnerability. There were few psychological differences between those who had received negative results or had polyps detected. These findings were confirmed in the longitudinal study, which also found no evidence for vulnerability to adverse effects among those who were initially most anxious or who perceived their risk of cancer to be higher. The longitudinal data suggested that screening might produce transient positive effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Biapenem versus imipenem/cilastatin in the treatment of complicated intra-abdominal infections: report from a Swedish Study Group

The objective of this study is to describe usual medical management and costs associated with recurrent respiratory infections in subjects with chronic obstructive bronchitis in France. A prospective survey was performed in Autumn 1994 on a national sample of private practice pulmonologists (N = 71). Two hundred forty-four patients, presenting at least one infection of the lower respiratory tract, were included. Bronchitis was the most frequent acute exacerbation observed (94%). Pneumonia concerned 9% of the patients. Biological tests, X-rays and pulmonary function tests were prescribed for, respectively, 59, 65 and 45% of the patients. Following the visit, 15 patients were hospitalized (6%). The direct medical cost per acute exacerbation was estimated 3,289 francs (1994 value) of which 60% were hospital-related. An average 10.4 day sick-leave was prescribed to 21% of patients in employment. For those patients, this sick-leave was associated to an extra-cost of 1,264-1,876 francs for Social Security and of 0-2,553 francs out of pocket per episode varying according to their Benefit Regimen.     

An overview of FDA medical device regulation as it relates to deep brain stimulation devices.

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is charged with assuring the safety and effectiveness of a variety of medical products and the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health is responsible for premarket and postmarket regulation of medical devices. In this paper, we review--from device classification and clinical studies to the final marketing application--FDA's premarket requirements and postmarket requirements as they relate to deep brain stimulation devices.     

Software architecture-centric methods and agile development

The agile software development paradigm and plan-driven approaches each have their strengths and shortcomings. The former emphasizes rapid, flexible development, while the latter emphasizes project and process infrastructure. Many practitioners, particularly of agile methods, tend-to view software architecture in light of the plan-driven side of the spectrum. They think that architecture-centric methods are too much work, equating them with high-ceremony processes emphasizing document production. But many elements make up a successful development approach, including process, product, technology, people, and tools. Software architecture is part of product quality and isn't tied to a particular process, technology, culture, or tool. This article explores the relationship and synergies between architecture-centric design and analysis methods and the extreme programming framework. We chose to focus on XP because it's one of the most mature and best-known agile practices.