Scale-effects on mean and standard deviation of the mechanical properties of condensed matter: an energy-based unified approach

The size effects on the mean values of the mechanical properties of condensed matter and on the related variances are analysed by means of a unified approach based on the multiscale character of energy dissipation. In particular, the scaling law for fragmentation energy density is obtained taking into account the self-similarity of fragments. It is based on a generalization of the three classical comminution laws that has been performed to evaluate the energy dissipation, computing volume and surface area of the particles for one- two- and three-dimensional fragmented objects. The result is general and can be applied to different fractal energy dissipation mechanisms, e.g., plasticity. Based on this approach, the scaling laws for mean and standard deviation values of the main mechanical properties of materials can be derived, like Young's and shear elastic moduli, ultimate normal and shear stresses and strains, fracture energy and toughness.     

Development of contrast sensitivity and temporal-frequency selectivity in primate lateral geniculate nucleus

We studied the development of spatial contrast-sensitivity and temporal-frequency selectivity for neurons in the monkey lateral geniculate nucleus. During postnatal week 1, the spatial properties of P-cells and M-cells are hardly distinguishable, with low contrast-sensitivity, sluggish responses, and poor spatial resolution. The acuity of P-cells improves progressively until at least 8 months, but there is no obvious increase in their maximum contrast-sensitivity with age. The contrast sensitivity of M-cells is already clearly higher than that of P-cells by 2 months, and at 8 months of age this characteristic difference between M- and P-cells approaches the adult pattern. There is a major increase in responsiveness during the first 2 postnatal months, especially for M-cells, the peak firing rate of which rises fivefold, on average, between birth and 2 months. Many P-cells in the neonatal and 2-month-old animals did not give statistically reliable responses to achromatic gratings, even at the highest contrasts: this unresponsiveness of P-cells might result from low gain and/or chromatic opponency. The upper limit of temporal resolution in the neonate is low--about one-third of that in the adult. Among M-cells, the improvement in temporal resolution, like that in contrast sensitivity, is rapid over the first 2 months, followed by a slower change approaching the adult value by 8 months of age. The development of contrast sensitivity, responsiveness and temporal tuning are little affected, if at all, by binocular deprivation of pattern vision from birth for even a prolonged period.     

Nutrition and cognitive development

While ultrasound has been well accepted as an accurate test for the diagnosis of both femoral and popliteal deep venous thrombosis (DVT), its role in the detection of calf DVT has been less clear. There have been variable results between studies in the accuracy of colour Doppler or compression sonographic techniques in demonstrating calf DVT. Many of these studies have suffered from high rates of technically inadequate examinations. Power Doppler (colour Doppler energy) has a higher sensitivity than conventional colour Doppler. It should therefore allow the detection of slow venous flow in patent vessels, that may not be demonstrated by conventional colour Doppler. This should decrease the number of technically inadequate examinations as well as decreasing the false-positive rate of the test. A prospective blinded reader study was undertaken comparing power Doppler to the gold standard venography, in the diagnosis of isolated calf deep venous thrombosis (DVT). Both examinations were successfully performed in 50 patients, in whom proximal DVT had been excluded by compression ultrasonography. Fifteen patients had positive evidence of an isolated calf DVT on the gold standard technique, venography. Power Doppler demonstrated a sensitivity of 100%, a specificity of 79%, a positive predictive value of 71% and a negative predictive value of 100%, in detecting an isolated calf DVT. There were no technically inadequate ultrasound examinations. Where venous flow is demonstrated, power Doppler is a highly accurate test in excluding a calf DVT. The specificity of the test, however, is limited, as the absence of flow does not always signify a DVT.     

Myeloma stem cells in autografting in multiple myeloma

Autologous transplantation has been used increasingly over the last 10 years for the treatment of multiple myeloma. As is the case in other cancers treated by high-dose therapy and stem cell rescue, the contribution of occult tumor cells in the graft to relapse posttransplant remains to be resolved. In this report, we review the biology and differentiation of plasma cells in the context of their significance as an origin of relapse in multiple myeloma.     

Semi-supervised model adaptation for statistical machine translation

Statistical machine translation systems are usually trained on large amounts of bilingual text (used to learn a translation model), and also large amounts of monolingual text in the target language (used to train a language model). In this article we explore the use of semi-supervised model adaptation methods for the effective use of monolingual data from the source language in order to improve translation quality. We propose several algorithms with this aim, and present the strengths and weaknesses of each one. We present detailed experimental evaluations on the French–English EuroParl data set and on data from the NIST Chinese–English large-data track. We show a significant improvement in translation quality on both tasks.     

Mathematical determination of feeding patterns and its consequence on correlational studies

The cell cycle regulatory proteins, which include cyclin-dependent kinases (cdks), cdk inhibitors (CKIs), cyclins, and the pRB, and E2F families of proteins, constitute a network of interacting factors which govern exit from or passage through the mammalian cell cycle. While the proteins within these families have similar structural characteristics, each family member exhibits distinct expression patterns during embryogenesis and distinct biological activities. In order to begin to understand the tissue-specific roles of these interacting factors, we determined the expression pattern and activity of the pRB, E2F, cyclin, cdk, and CKI families of cell cycle regulatory proteins during retinoic acid-induced (neuronal pathway) and DMSO-induced (cardiac muscle pathway) differentiation of the pluripotent murine embryonal carcinoma cell line, P19. We demonstrate here that P19 terminal differentiation causes lineage-specific changes in the expression and activity of distinct members of the E2F, pRB, cyclin, and CKI families. Furthermore, dynamic changes in the activities of these cell cycle regulatory proteins occur through several overlapping mechanisms, culminating in repression of DNA-binding activity by all of the E2F family members as cells terminally differentiate.     

Coping with uncertainty: police strategies for resilient decision-making and action implementation

This study uses a hostage negotiation setting to demonstrate how a team of strategic police officers can utilize specific coping strategies to minimize uncertainty at different stages of their decision-making in order to foster resilient decision-making to effectively manage a high-risk critical incident. The presented model extends the existing research on coping with uncertainty by (1) applying the RAWFS heuristic (Lipshitz and Strauss in Organ Behav Human Decis Process 69:149–163, 1997) of individual decision-making under uncertainty to a team critical incident decision-making domain; (2) testing the use of various coping strategies during “in situ” team decision-making by using a live simulated hostage negotiation exercise; and (3) including an additional coping strategy (“reflection-in-action”; Schön in The reflective practitioner: how professionals think in action. Temple Smith, London, 1983) that aids naturalistic team decision-making. The data for this study were derived from a videoed strategic command meeting held within a simulated live hostage training event; these video data were coded along three themes: (1) decision phase; (2) uncertainty management strategy; and (3) decision implemented or omitted. Results illustrate that, when assessing dynamic and high-risk situations, teams of police officers cope with uncertainty by relying on “reduction” strategies to seek additional information and iteratively update these assessments using “reflection-in-action” (Schön 1983) based on previous experience. They subsequently progress to a plan formulation phase and use “assumption-based reasoning” techniques in order to mentally simulate their intended courses of action (Klein et al. 2007), and identify a preferred formulated strategy through “weighing the pros and cons” of each option. In the unlikely event that uncertainty persists to the plan execution phase, it is managed by “reduction” in the form of relying on plans and standard operating procedures or by “forestalling” and intentionally deferring the decision while contingency planning for worst-case scenarios.     

A microfluidic optical beam steerer

This paper reports the fabrication and characterization of a prototype microfluidic device that can act as a periodic beam steerer. The prototype is formed by a simple T-junction followed by a serpentine channel that allows generation of a periodical segmented flow of air and water bubbles. If light hits the channel wall with a suitable angle, it can be either transmitted or reflected by the segmented flow, giving rise to an alternating beam steerer. The duty cycle, switching frequency, and overall stability and reproducibility of this prototype system are presented and discussed.