The negated conditional: A litmus test for the suppositional conditional?

Under the suppositional account of conditionals, when people think about a conditional assertion, "if p then q," they engage in a mental simulation in which they imagine p holds and evaluate the probability that q holds under this supposition. One implication of this account is that belief in a conditional equates to conditional probability [P(q/p)]. In this paper, the authors examine a further implication of this analysis with respect to the wide-scope negation of conditional assertions, "it is not the case that if p then q." Under the suppositional account, nothing categorically follows from the negation of a conditional, other than a second conditional, "if p then not-q." In contrast, according to the mental model theory, a negated conditional is consistent only with the determinate state of affairs, p and not-q. In 4 experiments, the authors compare the contrasting predictions that arise from each of these accounts. The findings are consistent with the suppositional theory but are incongruent with the mental model theory of conditionals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The visual control of reaching and grasping: Binocular disparity and motion parallax.

The primary visual sources of depth and size information are binocular cues and motion parallax. Here, the authors determine the efficacy of these cues to control prehension by presenting them in isolation from other visual cues. When only binocular cues were available, reaches showed normal scaling of the transport and grasp components with object distance and size. However, when only motion parallax was available, only the transpont component scaled reliably. No additional increase in scaling was found when both cues were available simultaneously. Therefore, although equivalent information is available from binocular and motion parallax information, the latter may be of relatively limited use for the control of the grasp. Binocular disparity appears selectively important for the control of the grasp. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Viscous and Aeroelastic Effects on Wind Turbine Blades. The VISCEL project. Part I: 3D Navier–Stokes Rotor simulations

Aerodynamic modelling of HAWT rotors by means of “engineering methods” has reached a saddle point, where no further development can be expected without a breakthrough in understanding the physics of unsteady, rotating three‐dimensional flows. However, such a breakthrough becomes ever more necessary, as the size of the wind turbines increases. With the experimental work in that direction being mostly limited to observing the phenomena and interpreting the associated mechanisms, and its increased cost, alternatives are being sought. The use of CFD techniques and state‐of‐the‐art Navier–Stokes solvers is considered a very serious contender, a belief shared by the members of the present consortium, which has worked on the VISCEL JOR3‐CT98‐0208 Joule III project. This project's goal was to determine the aerodynamic characteristics as well as the aeroelastic behaviour of wind turbine blades across their broad range of operational conditions, from attached to highly separated flow regimes. The work programme included specific tasks for the validation and assessment of existing 3D solvers, for the parametric study of 3D flow around realistic blades and for the investigation of aeroelastic stability, at the blade section level. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mechanisms in damping of mechanical vibration by piezoelectric ceramic-polymer composite materials

The piezoelectric ceramic (piezoceramic) component of a polymer-piezoelectric ceramic composite converts mechanical energy into electrical energy and this electrical energy is dissipated as heat in a load resistance, R _x, simulated by a shunted resistance, but provided in practice by a conductive polymer composite matrix. The composite therefore dissipates the input mechanical energy via the damping mechanism provided by piezoelectric ceramic-conductive matrix material, as well as the conventional viscoelastic damping provided by the polymer. Mathematical models have been developed to characterize the damping behaviour of the composites, and the maximum damping ratio of composites can be as high as 23%. A two degrees-of-freedom (2DOF) experimental setup was developed to test the validity of the models. The experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical predictions.     

A C-terminal region of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae transcription factor ADR1 plays an important role in the regulation of peroxisome proliferation by fatty acids

We examined the hypoxic tolerance phenomenon in vitro. Brief exposure to hypoxia induced the production of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) mRNA and protein in rat cortical neurons and protected them from hypoxic injury. Cortical neurons were cultured from 18th-day rat embryos in a serum-free medium and subjected to brief (4 h) and/or prolonged (24 h) hypoxia. Neuronal damage was assessed by quantifying lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity in the medium. After brief hypoxia, LDH release was identical to that of the controls, whereas prolonged hypoxia caused a significant increase in LDH release, indicating neuronal death. However, if brief hypoxia was applied 2 days prior to the prolonged hypoxia, no increase in LDH release was observed. The bFGF mRNA expression was assessed with Northern blot and protein immunoreactivity with Western blot analysis. The brief period of hypoxia caused a 2.5-fold increase in bFGF mRNA and considerable bFGF protein expression 1 day later, but prolonged hypoxia caused increase in the expression of bFGF mRNA at 2 days and no protein expression until 3 days after the start of the hypoxia. When cells were subjected to prolonged hypoxia 2 days after brief hypoxia, however, no increase in bFGF mRNA was observed, while bFGF protein was expressed continuously. We also observed that exogenously applied bFGF reduced neuronal injury produced by prolonged hypoxia. The results obtained with this model suggest that brief hypoxia induces bFGF protein and thus tolerance to subsequent lethal hypoxia. Basic FGF might play a role as a tolerance-associated factor in this process. Thus, an in vitro model is useful for assessing the response of cortical neurons to hypoxic stress and for researching new factors related to ischemic tolerance.     

Sizing and characterization of ultrasonic indications using imaging techniques

For discontinuity analysis more and more sophisticated methods are used in the nuclear industry. The rapid development of computer technology offers the possibility to use imaging techniques. Instead of specialized focusing transducers the more flexible synthetic focusing techniques can be used. Presupposing that the material is ultrasonically isotropic and homogeneous, imaging techniques make it possible to visualize the reflectivity of the volume to be tested.Siemens developed the high speed holographic instrument Holo 3000 in cooperation with the University of Bochum. In this paper the method of Broad Band Holography is presented in the context of other imaging techniques.Different filtering methods have been investigated in order to achieve highest resolution and best signal to noise ratio with a given dataset. Different transducers respective wave modes have been applied to austenitic welds and claddings. The reconstructed image was evaluated using image processing techniques in order to investigate the possibilities to produce results easier to be quantifed than the original reconstruction.The results presented show a reliable expert tool for analysis measurements which also can be used for flaw detection.     

Fatal accident to a horse from a narrow transverse beam in the box door

It is reported on the fatal accident of a horse due to a cross-beam too low above the door of the stable, in which the animal suffered several skull fractures and a tear of the musculus longus capitis from the base of the skull. The aim of this article is, to supply a contribution to the establishment of minimal requirements for the housing of horses, in this case for the request of the minimum height of stable doors and ceilings as well as for constructions on horse transporters. On the grounds of this example, the natural behaviour of horses is discussed at the hand of the literature and the efforts are shown to improve the existing inadequacies in the housing and transport of horses with regard to the judicial situation. In the light of section 2 of the animal protection law, as to the construction of horse stables the importance is especially emphasized to consider the panic behaviour in connection with abrupt flight reactions as physiologic in the prevention of accidents.     

Non-amphetaminic mechanism of stimulant locomotor effect of modafinil in mice

Previously established dose-response curves indicated that modafinil 20-40 mg/kg i.p. elicited in mice an obvious stimulation of locomotor activity roughly similar to that induced by (+)amphetamine 2-4 mg/kg. The effects of various agents modifying dopamine transmission were compared on the locomotor response to both drugs. The preferential D2 dopamine receptor antagonist haloperidol 37.5-150 micrograms/kg i.p. suppressed the stimulant effect of (+)amphetamine in a dose dependent manner, but not that of modafinil. The D1 dopamine receptor antagonist SCH 23390 (7.5-30 micrograms/kg s.c.) reversed the (+)amphetamine but not the modafinil induced hyperactivity. The tyrosine hydroxylase inhibitor alpha-methyl-para-tyrosine (200 mg/kg) suppressed the hyperactivity induced by 4 mg/kg dexamphetamine but not that induced by 20 mg/kg modafinil. Associating L-DOPA 150 mg/kg and benserazide 37.5 mg/kg with (+)amphetamine 2 mg/kg resulted in stereotyped climbing behavior, that was not observed with modafinil 10-80 mg/kg. The profound akinesia induced by reserpine (4 mg/kg s.c.; 5 h before testing) was reversed by (+)amphetamine 2 mg/kg but not by modafinil 40 mg/kg. Finally, on synaptosomes prepared from mouse striata preloaded with [3H]dopamine, modafinil 10(-5) M did not increase the spontaneous [3H]dopamine release whereas (+)amphetamine, at the same concentration, doubled it. From all these differences between the two drugs, it is concluded that the mechanism underlying the modafinil induced stimulant locomotor effect differs completely from that of (+)amphetamine.