Lifting the curtain on the Wizard of Oz: Biased voice-based impressions of speaker size.

The consistent, but often wrong, impressions people form of the size of unseen speakers are not random but rather point to a consistent misattribution bias, one that the advertising, broadcasting, and entertainment industries also routinely exploit. The authors report 3 experiments examining the perceptual basis of this bias. The results indicate that, under controlled experimental conditions, listeners can make relative size distinctions between male speakers using reliable cues carried in voice formant frequencies (resonant frequencies, or timbre) but that this ability can be perturbed by discordant voice fundamental frequency (F?, or pitch) differences between speakers. The authors introduce 3 accounts for the perceptual pull that voice F? can exert on our routine (mis)attributions of speaker size and consider the role that voice F? plays in additional voice-based attributions that may or may not be reliable but that have clear size connotations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Double immunochemical screening test (hemoglobin and albumin) for the detection of occult intestinal bleeding

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Chlamydia trachomatis antigen testing of clinical specimens is replacing culture as the test of choice. Because of a potential for false positive results in low prevalence populations, there is an apparent need for confirming specimens positive by enzyme immunoassay (EIA). GOAL OF THIS STUDY: To examine specimens falsely positive in the Chlamydiazyme EIA assay according to gender and specimen type. STUDY DESIGN: Testing of genitourinary specimens from men and women consecutively enrolled from five health care delivery sources in an urban Canadian population. All specimens were initially tested in the Chlamydiazyme test and all positives repeated in a confirmatory blocking assay provided by the manufacturer. Additional confirmatory testing was performed using immunofluorescence (IF) staining for C. trachomatis elementary bodies (EB's) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). RESULTS: From Jan. 1, 1990 to June 1, 1991, multiple specimens from 656 men and 5,628 women of varying population prevalences were screened. EIA-positive specimens from women had a repeat negative rate of 22% to 27% from cervical swabs and 29% from urethral swabs. Male urethral swabs had a high repeat negative rate of 22% when EIA was the only positive test, but 2.4% when the specimen was positive by EIA and culture. EIA-positive first void urine (FVU) specimens from men had a repeat negative rate of 8.7% as opposed to 17% to 32% from women. Only 1.7% (2/115) of male FVU did not block compared to rates of 47% (22/47) to 80% (4/5) in FVU from women. Analysis of EIA optical densities (OD's) and EB counts showed an association between the absorbance range 0.1 to 1.4 OD and 0-85 EB's. The greatest number of EB's and highest OD's were seen with cervical specimens, followed by urine and urethral specimens in women infected at all three specimens. All 55 specimens that did not confirm in the blocking test had no EB's and a convenience sample of seven were negative by PCR. All of a subset of 50 blocked specimens contained EB's or were positive by PCR. CONCLUSIONS: Although a variable proportion of specimens may not repeat positive in the EIA, use of the blocking reagent to confirm the repeat positives is highly recommended and the rate of blocking may be heavily influenced by gender and specimen type.     

Single unit activity in the rat superior colliculus during reward magnitude task performance.

Long-Evans hooded rats were trained to run an alternation pattern in a t-maze with low reward (1 pellet) in the food cup of one arm and high reward (3 pellets) in the food cup of the other arm. Single units in the intermediate and deep layers of the superior colliculus were recorded using moveable microelectrodes. Most units showed activity that was associated with food retrieval, with a phasic increase in activity either upon the cessation of running or upon the insertion of the snout into the food cup. Some units (16%) showed different activity patterns upon retrieval of the two magnitudes of reward. Although 70% of the units showed either unimodal or multimodal sensory sensitivity, usually in response to tactile stimulation of the snout, this property was not related to activity associated with food retrieval. These data support previous observations that cells in the rat SC exhibit activity related to food retrieval, and indicate that for some of these neurons the coding reflects the characteristics of the reward stimulus. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Round-Robin Test of Heat Flux Sensors

The first intercomparison on the density of heat flow-rate measurements has been organized by MKEH (Hungarian Trade Licensing Office, Metrology Division) within the framework of EUROMET (Project No. 426). This round-robin test gives evidence about the measurement capabilities of the local realizations of a density of a heat flow-rate scale up to 100 W · m^?2. Two types of heat flux plate sensors differing in their size were circulated among partner laboratories. Each one of the six partners calibrated the sensors using its own calibration system, a guarded hot plate or a heat flow meter apparatus. This article compares all the results of the round-robin test and gives the mutual differences among the partners. The participants could benefit from the measurement results by improving, in case of need, their calibration methods and procedures and by reducing their uncertainties. The impact of this comparison will go directly to the users in industry.     

Water: A critical resource in the thermoelectric power industry

Water availability represents a growing concern for meeting future power generation needs. In the United States, projected population growth rates, energy consumption patterns, and demand from competing water use sectors will increase pressure on power generators to reduce water use. Water availability and use also exhibit strong regional variations, complicating the nature of public policy and technological response.     

Resilience is not control: healthcare,crisis management,and ICT

Like other high hazard sectors, successful crisis response relies on a well-founded understanding of the work domain and the manner in which operators perceive and deal with obstacles to achieving goals. That understanding is essential to the development of information and communications technology (ICT) that are intended to support operator performance. While crises are uncommon in other high hazard sectors such as nuclear power generation and aviation, acute and ambulatory healthcare work encounters life-and-death crises daily. This makes healthcare a useful living laboratory to develop ICT in order to manage crises. This paper shows how healthcare organizations that continually deal with complex, uncertain, high-tempo operations can serve as a model to develop ICT that supports crisis management. We illustrate the results of using these methods through an example of cognitive systems engineering research that identifies ambulatory care risks to patients. We then describe multiple methods that can be used together to efficiently study complex, high hazard work settings. We conclude with an example of how it can support the development of a cognitive aid for diabetic care to support work in that setting.     

Continuous manufacturing of fiber-reinforced metal matrix composite wires — technology and product characteristics

A new continuous processing method is presented for the production of continuous-fiber-reinforced metal matrix composite (MMC) wires. The process currently yields MMC wires with the diameter of 0.5–1.6 mm at a maximum speed of 0.3 m/s for (fiber)–(metal) combinations of (Al₂O₃, Si–Ti Carbide, SiC, Carbon)–(Aluminum, 2024A1, 6061A1) with a fiber volume fraction of 0.50–0.65. The process operation, mechanical/materials characteristics of the MMC wires as well as their relationships are described as an overview of the new materials processing technology.     

Effect of a prolonged-release formation of N-methionyl bovine somatotropin (sometribove) on milk composition.

Forty Holstein cows received bi-weekly injections of prolonged-release formulation of bST, and 39 received bi-weekly injections of excipient, in a study to evaluate the effects of long-term bST administration on milk composition and component production. Injections began at 60 +/- 3 d postpartum. Administration of bST increased production of milk and of all measured components. Concentrations of lactose (4.85 and 4.81%), fat (3.76 and 3.67%), total solids (12.57 and 12.44%), SNF (8.83 and 8.75%), casein (2.56 and 2.53%), and true protein (3.13 and 3.08%) were similar in milks from cows receiving bST and excipient, respectively. Percentages of NPN (times 6.38) and total protein were greater in milk from bST-treated cows (.179% NPN and 3.32% total protein) compared with milk from cows injected with excipient (.172% NPN and 3.24% total protein). Use of bST did not change the relative percentages of alpha s-casein, beta-casein, kappa-casein, beta-lactoglobulin, alpha-lactalbumin, or casein proteolysis products. A cyclical pattern of milk production, component production, and composition within each 14-d injection interval was observed. This suggests that a diminishing amount of bST was delivered during the latter third of each injection interval. There were no effects of bST on milk composition that would be of any practical significance to dairy product manufacturers or consumers.     

Fast approximate identification of nonlinear systems

In this paper, a method is presented to extend the classical identification methods for linear systems towards nonlinear modelling of linear systems that suffer from nonlinear distortions. A well chosen, general nonlinear model structure is proposed that is identified in a two-step procedure. First, a best linear approximation is identified using the classical linear identification methods. In the second step, the nonlinear extensions are identified with a linear least-squares method. The proposed model not only includes Wiener and Hammerstein systems, it is also suitable to model nonlinear feedback systems. The stability of the nonlinear model can be easily verified. The method is illustrated on experimental data.