Does selecting one visual object from several require inhibition of the actions associated with nonselected objects?

Four experiments are described in which 1 visual object (the target) was selected from another (the distractor) according to its color (Experiments 1, 2, and 4) or its relative location (Experiment 3) and then was classified according to a simple geometric property. Object classification was signaled as fast as possible by a precision or power grip response, and this grip was either compatible or incompatible with either object. When targets were selected by color, target-compatible grip responses were facilitated, but distractor-compatible grip responses were impaired. When targets were selected by location, similar results were obtained for target-compatible grip responses, but not distractor-compatible grip responses. These data are explained in terms of the involvement of action codes in object-level selection. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluation of the effectiveness of NSAIDs in the prevention of postoperative pain. Comparison between pre- and postoperative administration of sodium naproxen in orthopedic surgery

The aim of the study was to assess the efficacy of the preoperative sodium Naproxen administration to reduce analgesic requirements in the postoperative period. 75 patients (ASA I-II), 50 male and 25 female, aged between 25 and 70 years and weighed between 50 and 90 kg, undergoing lumbar laminectomy were subjected to the same anesthetic technique. Patients were allocated randomly to one of three groups. Group I received intravenous sodium naproxen (550 mg) immediately after induction of anesthesia. Group II received intravenous sodium Naproxen (550 mg) at the end of surgery. Group III received intravenous normal saline immediately after induction of anesthesia. Postoperative every patient was given by request intramuscular Buprenorphine (0.3 mg) for pain relief (at 6 h intervals). Buprenorphine requirements in the group I were significantly lower than in either of the other groups (p < 0.01 and p < 0.0001 respectively), while significant differences were not observed between group II and III. Moreover the 54% of patients in the group I did not require analgesic drugs in the postoperative period in opposition to the 20% of pts. in the group II and the 12% of pts. in the group III (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01 respectively). We conclude that NSAIDs when given before tissue damage may prevent nociceptor sensitisation and probably reduce hyperexcitability of the spinal cord. Preoperative administration of NSAIDs provides better protection against peripheral nerve sensitisation than postoperative administration.     

Mapping the identity of a viewed hand in the motor system: Evidence from stimulus–response compatibility.

Brain-imaging research has shown that a viewed acting hand is mapped to the observer's hand representation that corresponds with the identity of the hand. In contrast, behavioral research has suggested that rather than representing a seen hand in relation to one's own manual system, it is represented in relation to the midline of an imaginary body. This view was drawn from the finding that indicated that the posture of the viewed hand determines how the hand facilitates responses. The present study explored how an identity of a viewed static hand facilitates responses by varying the onset time and the posture of the hand. The results were in line with the view that an observed hand can activate the observer's hand representation that corresponds with the identity of the hand. However, the posture of the hand did not influence these mapping processes. What mattered was the perspective (i.e., egocentric vs. allocentric) from which the hand was viewed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Examining the content of mental health intake assessments from a biopsychosocial perspective.

Psychotherapists' approach to intake assessment has a major impact on mental health case conceptualization and treatment. Despite the importance of this issue, very little is known about the actual intake assessment practices of therapists providing mental health care in the community. This appears to be the first study that has investigated which aspects of biological, psychological, and sociocultural functioning are documented by therapists in their client intake assessments, how thoroughly these issues are assessed, and how well the information collected is then integrated into the assessment findings and case conceptualization. The examination of 163 client files from 3 mental health clinics found that therapists were regularly collecting client information regarding a wide range of biopsychosocial issues, though not in a detailed or comprehensive manner. There was also little evidence that the information was being integrated in a manner designed to maximize treatment effectiveness. These findings have major implications for training and practice in mental health assessment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preparation and Characterization of Solid Dispersions of Piroxicam with Hydrophilic Carriers

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study was to improve the dissolution rate of a poor water soluble drug, piroxicam, by solid dispersion technique. Solid dispersions were prepared by three different methods depending on the type of carrier. The dissolution rate of piroxicam was markedly increased in solid dispersion of myrj 52, Eudragit® E100 and mannitol. Solubility studies revealed a marked increase in the solubility of piroxicam with an increase in myrj 52 and Eudragit® E100 concentrations. Data from the X-ray diffraction and FT-IR spectroscopy showed that piroxicam was amorphous in the solid dispersions prepared with dextrin and Eudragit® E100.     

A Polynomial-Time Algorithm for Max-Min Partitioning of Ladders

Given a grid graph with two rows, an arbitrary number N of columns (briefly, a ladder ) and a weight function defined on its vertex set V , one wants to partition V into a given number p of connected components, so as to maximize the smallest weight of a component. We present an O(N ⁴ pmax {p,log N}) -time algorithm, which combines dynamic programming with pre-processing and search techniques. An O(N) -time algorithm for the case p=2 is also given. In a companion paper [2] we show that the problem for a grid graph with three rows is NP-hard, and we give approximate algorithms for grid graphs with an arbitrary number of rows. Received September 21, 1999. Online publication April 9, 2001.     

A diversity control mechanism in many objective optimizations

Multi-objective evolutionary optimization algorithms are among the best optimizers for solving problems in control systems, engineering and industrial planning. The performance of these algorithms degrades severely due to the loss of selection pressure exerted by the Pareto dominance relation which will cause the algorithm to act randomly. Various recent methods tried to provide more selection pressure but this would cause the population to converge to a specific region which is not desirable. Diversity reduction in high dimensional problems which decreases the capabilities of these approaches is a decisive factor in the overall performance of these algorithms. The novelty of this paper is to propose a new diversity measure and a diversity control mechanism which can be used in combination to remedy the mentioned problem. This measure is based on shortest Hamiltonian path for capturing an order of the population in any dimension. In order to control the diversity of population, we designed an adaptive framework which adjusts the selection operator according to diversity variation in the population using different diversity measures as well as our proposed one. This study incorporates the proposed framework in MOEA/D, an efficient widely used evolutionary algorithm. The obtained results validate the motivation on the basis of diversity and performance measures in comparison with the state-of-the-art algorithms and demonstrate the applicability of our algorithm/method in handling many-objective problems. Moreover, an extensive comparison with several diversity measure algorithms reveals the competitiveness of our proposed measure.     

Recursive evaluation of time convolution integrals in the spectral boundary integral method for mode III dynamic fracture problems

The shear crack, propagating spontaneously on a frictional interface, is a useful idealization of a natural earthquake. However, the corresponding boundary value problems are quite challenging in terms of required memory and processor power. While the huge computation amount is reduced by the spectral boundary integral method, the computation effort is still huge. In this paper, a recursive method for the evaluation of convolution integrals was tested in the spectral formulation of the boundary integral method applied to 2D anti-plane crack propagation problems. It is shown that analysis of a 2D anti-plane crack propagation problem involving N_t time steps, based on the recursive evaluation of convolution integrals, requires O(αN_t) computational resources for each Fourier mode (as opposed to O(N_t²) for a classical algorithm), where α is a constant depending on the implementation of the method with typical values much less than N_t. Therefore, this recursive scheme renders feasible investigation of long deformational processes involving large surfaces and long periods of time, while preserving accuracy. The computation methodology implemented here can be extended easily to 3D cases where it can be employed for the simulation of complex spontaneously fault rupture problems which carry a high computational cost.     

Reversible Image Contrast Manipulation with Thermally Tunable Dielectric Metasurfaces

Increasing demand for higher resolution of miniaturized displays requires techniques achieving high contrast tunability of the images. Employing metasurfaces for image contrast manipulation is a new and rapidly growing field of research aiming to address this need. Here, a new technique to achieve image tuning in a reversible fashion is demonstrated by dielectric metasurfaces composed of subwavelength resonators. It is demonstrated that by controlling the temperature of a metasurface the encoded transmission pattern can be tuned. To this end, two sets of nanoresonators composed of nonconcentric silicon disks with a hole that exhibit spectrally sharp Fano resonances and forming a Yin‐Yang pattern are designed and fabricated. Through exploitation of the thermo‐optical properties of silicon, full control of the contrast of the Yin‐Yang image is demonstrated by altering the metasurface temperature by ΔT ≈ 100 °C. This is the first demonstrated technique to control an image contrast by temperature. Importantly, the turning technique does not require manipulating the external stimulus, such as polarization or angle of the illumination and/or the refractive index of this environment. These results open many opportunities for transparent displays, optical switches, and tunable illumination systems.     

Estimating the moisture damage of asphalt mixture modified with nano zinc oxide

One of the main distresses of hot mix asphalt (HMA) is moisture damage. The most common method for decreasing this type of distress is using antistrip additives. In this study, the effect of nanoparticles was evaluated as an antistrip agent on the moisture damage of HMA. Two types of aggregates were evaluated in this study with different sensitivities against moisture damage (limestone and granite aggregate) and the asphalt binder with 60/70 penetration grade and nano zinc oxide (ZnO) in two different percentages by weight of the asphalt binder. The tests employed to evaluate the effects of modifying asphalt binder by nanomaterials on the moisture damage of asphalt mixture were surface free energy (SFE) and AASHTO T283. The results showed that the ratio of wet/dry values of indirect tensile strength for the mixtures containing nano ZnO for two types of aggregate were higher than the control mixtures. In addition, the results of the SFE method showed that adding nano ZnO increased the total SFE of the asphalt binder, which led to better coating of the aggregate with asphalt binder. Nano ZnO decreased the acid to base ratio of SFE of asphalt binder, while it led to improving adhesion between the asphalt binder and acidic aggregate that are prone to moisture damage.