Psychosocial rehabilitation of cranial trauma and stroke patients

This paper presents the results of a longitudinal psychosocial study of 22 cranial trauma patients and 14 stroke patients from the time preceding injury (using retrospective data), through a 4-5 month intensive rehabilitation programme, to a follow-up 1 year after completion of the programme. Although the two groups of patients differed on several demographic and medical characteristics, essentially similar patterns for psychosocial decline following injury and improvement following rehabilitation could be observed. For both groups, the proportion in marital or cohabitational relationships returned to pre-injury levels, and for both groups the proportion requiring assistance in their living situation declined following rehabilitation, as did use of the health services. Virtually all patients in both groups had been in employment or undergoing education at the time of the injury, and although this percentage declined in practice to a small minority of both groups post-injury, there was a significant increase in the proportions working or in education following the rehabilitation programme. Similarly, the pattern of leisure-time activities in both groups declined post-injury and was restored following rehabilitation. Since both groups entered the programme at over 2.5 years post-injury, these generally encouraging results seem less likely to reflect spontaneous recovery than a beneficial effect of the programme itself.     

Enhancing heat transfer ability of drag reducing surfactant solutions with static mixers and honeycombs

Solutions containing drag reducing additives also show reduced heat transfer which limits their use in district heating and cooling recirculation systems where heat exchange is critical. In this study, static mixers A and B and honeycombs were installed at the entrance to a heat exchanger to break the solution microstructure temporarily and thereby enhancing their heat transfer ability when passing through the heat exchanger. The effectiveness of the destructive devices in enhancing the heat transfer ability of drag reducing cationic and mixed zwitterionic/anionic surfactant solutions was investigated together with the microstructure recovery time and pressure drop penalty paid for the heat transfer enhancement.     

Subsurface Characterization at Ground Failure Sites in Adapazari, Turkey

Ground failure in Adapazari, Turkey during the 1999 Kocaeli earthquake was severe. Hundreds of structures settled, slid, tilted, and collapsed due in part to liquefaction and ground softening. Ground failure was more severe adjacent to and under buildings. The soils that led to severe building damage were generally low plasticity silts. In this paper, the results of a comprehensive investigation of the soils of Adapazari, which included cone penetration test (CPT) profiles followed by borings with standard penetration tests (SPTs) and soil index tests, are presented. The effects of subsurface conditions on the occurrence of ground failure and its resulting effect on building performance are explored through representative case histories. CPT- and SPT-based liquefaction triggering procedures adequately identified soils that liquefied if the clay-size criterion of the Chinese criteria was disregarded. The CPT was able to identify thin seams of loose liquefiable silt, and the SPT (with retrieved samples) allowed for reliable evaluation of the liquefaction susceptibility of fine-grained soils. A well-documented database of in situ and index testing is now available for incorporating in future CPT- and SPT-based liquefaction triggering correlations.     

An efficient return algorithm for non-associated plasticity with linear yield criteria in principal stress space

An efficient return algorithm for stress update in numerical plasticity computations is presented. The yield criterion must be linear in principal stress space and can be composed of any number of yield planes. Each of these yield planes may have an associated or non-associated flow rule. The stress return and the formation of the constitutive matrix is carried out in principal stress space. Here the manipulations simplify and rely on geometrical arguments. The singularities arising at the intersection of yield planes are dealt with in a straightforward way also based on geometrical considerations. The method is exemplified on non-associated Mohr–Coulomb plasticity throughout the paper.     

Skewed symmetry: A nonaccidental property used to perceive visual forms.

Mathematically, skewed symmetry is a nonaccidental property because it can be interpreted as bilateral symmetry in depth viewed from a nonorthogonal angle. To find out whether this is a useful property in the perception of visual forms, 4 experiments were designed in which the Ss had to determine whether 2 symmetric or random patterns were the same regardless of possible affine transformations between them. The results provided mixed evidence: Although there was always a large symmetry advantage, skewed symmetry was only perceived as bilateral symmetry in depth for dot patterns with higher order types of symmetry (Exp 1), when the dots were connected to form closed polygons (Exp 2 and 4), or when they were surrounded by a frame to enhance their planarity (Exp 3). In other cases, Ss relied on local groupings on the basis of proximity or curvilinearity, which are qualitatively affine invariant. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

High‐error approximate dictionary search using estimate hash comparisons

A method for finding all matches in a pre‐processed dictionary for a query string q and with at most k differences is presented. A very fast constant‐time estimate using hashes is presented. A tree structure is used to minimize the number of estimates made. Practical tests are performed, showing that the estimate can filter out 99% of the full comparisons for 40% error rates and dictionaries of up to four million words. The tree is found to be efficient up to a 50% error rate. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rehabilitation planned in accordance with the Luria neuropsychological investigation: A case history of a patient with left sided aneurysm.

After suffering a rupture of a left-sided aneurysm on the middle cerebral artery with prolonged arterial spasms, the prognosis for recovery of speech and motor functions of a 27-yr-old male patient was considered to be poor. Based on a Luria neuropsychological investigation that revealed many areas of preserved brain functions, rehabilitation efforts were directed toward training of specific abilities as well as compensatory skills using intact functions. This case demonstrates the interaction between the training program and the levels of motivation and persistence of the S and his family necessary to produce optimal rehabilitation outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)