Age, individuality, and context as factors in sustained visual attention during the preschool years

In 3 studies, the authors explored age changes and individual differences in preschool children's sustained attention in several different contexts--watching a videotape, playing with toys, and performing reaction time tasks. Various indexes of attention increased from 30 months to 54 months, whereas inattention decreased. Changes tended to occur earlier for play and television viewing than for the reaction time task. Together, the results also provide evidence for individual differences in measures of attention and inattention through high internal consistency and stability over time within situations. Correlations across situations, however, were low to modest. These results suggest that children have stable tendencies to focus and sustain attention in particular contexts but that their attention varies with the demands of the task and their ability or interest in meeting those demands.     

Sources and determinants of social support for caregivers of persons with AIDS

Endocrine studies of captive strepsirrhine primates suggest that physical environment and social factors mediate inter-individual variations in testicular function and serum testosterone (sT) in males. While these studies have made major contributions to our understanding of the individual proximate mechanisms influencing androgen activity in male strepsirrhines, none have investigated how these mechanisms work coincidentally in free-ranging populations. In this study we used fecal steroid analysis to examine androgen-behavior interactions associated with reproduction in free-ranging male Propithecus verreauxi. Behavioral and hormone data were collected from two social groups during the 1990-91 and 1991-92 breeding seasons at Beza Mahafaly, Madagascar. Solid phase and radioimmunoassay techniques were used to quantify testosterone (T) in 105 desiccated fecal samples collected weekly from seven males. Results suggest that 1) solid phase extraction and radioimmunoassay techniques were reliable and accurate methods for quantifying T in sifaka feces; 2) fecal T (fT) elevations spanned a minimum of 4 months, peak levels occurring 1 month prior to the January onset of the breeding season; 3) fecal T concentrations were influenced by developmental factors and, among mature males, social factors associated with rank, intergroup aggression, and group instability.     

Is the chest radiograph a reliable tool in the assessment of tumor response after radiotherapy in nonsmall cell lung carcinoma?

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the chest radiograph is a reliable tool to assess response to radiotherapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Pre- and post-treatment chest radiographs and computed tomographs (CT) of 63 patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated by radiotherapy were reviewed by four observers with regard to suitability for tumor measurement, and response. Suitability for tumor measurement was expressed as the number of measurable diameters. In addition, the consequences to clinical outcome were studied by survival analysis. RESULTS: The CT turned out to be more suited for tumor measurement before as well as after radiotherapy, resulting in an increase of the number of measurable cases. The number of measurable cases with CT was 52 (83%) as compared to 28 (44%) with chest radiography. Especially in case of centrally localized tumors, the presence of an atelectasis, or squamous cell carcinoma, CT contributed to a higher rate of measurable cases. The interobserver agreement with regard to response using chest radiograph was good (mean kappa = 0.74). In 25 of 28 cases (89%) measurable with CT as well as with chest radiograph, response was equally classified. When CT was used, the median survival of the responders was 14.2 months as compared to 6.8 months of the nonresponders. When chest radiograph was used, the median survival of these groups was 12.0 and 6.6 months respectively, which was not significantly different when response was assessed by CT. CONCLUSION: We conclude that CT is more suited for tumor measurement because more measurable lesions can be found and more evaluable lesions on chest radiograph become measurable on CT. The chest radiograph does have a valuable role to play in those lesions that are measurable because of the good interobserver agreement with regard to the response classification, the high overall agreement between CT and chest radiograph in case of measurable cases, and the lack of important differences with regard to survival.     

Psychosocial characteristics of pregnant and nonpregnant HIV-seropositive women

Thirty-three HIV-positive women, 12 of whom were pregnant, participated in semistructured interviews to define areas of psychosocial need. Eighty-eight percent of the subjects reported current unemployment. A history of substance abuse was reported by 82 percent, suicide attempts by 52 percent, and sexual problems by 43 percent. Approximately 30 percent reported elevated levels of depressive symptoms on standardized symptom inventories. The pregnant women appeared psychologically healthier than the nonpregnant group. HIV-positive women face multiple psychosocial stressors and may experience significant psychological distress.     

医院信息系统的维护和管理

目前,医院信息系统已经成为基础设施中的一个不可缺少的部分,可一旦信息系统出现故障,将损失到医院经济利益,同时也在社会公信方面造成不良影响。探讨了当前维护和管理HIS工作当中所面临的一些问题以及HIS的维护和管理措施。     

Application of enzyme biosensors

酶传感器是电化学生物传感器中研究最早、应用最广的一类传感器,也是近年来生物传感器研究的热点.简要介绍了酶传感器的发展历程,着重介绍酶传感器在食品工业、环境监测、生物医学、军事领域等方面的应用,并对酶传感器的发展进行了展望.     

基于FPGA的小型光纤光谱仪系统设计

设计了一种小型光纤光谱仪,以FPGA为控制核心,通过CCD实现光电转换,利用USB接口实现光谱仪的供电以及与计算机之间的通讯,采用C++Builder开发计算机软件同时用汞灯谱线进行标定,最后以低压汞灯作为光源对光纤光谱仪进行了性能测试。测试数据表明:该光纤光谱仪在400nm—800nm的有效范围内光谱仪波长扫描精度可达到1nm、像元分辨率可以达到0.12nm/pixel。     

基于测后模拟原理的半波长输电线路暂态量纵联保护

针对特高压半波长超长的输电距离带来的继电保护难题,提出基于测后模拟原理的半波长输电线路暂态量纵联保护方法。特高压半波长交流输电具有传输距离远、输送容量大、全线无功自平衡等优点,可以作为未来清洁能源电力输送的一种可选方案。通过分析现有输电线路保护方法对于半波长交流输电线路的不适用性,对特高压半波长输电线路在区内外故障情况下,推导至中点的暂态量电流和的绝对值在短时窗内积分方向的不同进行理论分析;以贝杰龙模型为基础,利用测后模拟原理构成输电线路暂态量纵联保护方法,进行仿真实验;进而判别输电线路单相接地故障时故障初始角、故障位置和过渡电阻对故障判据的影响。仿真实验证明,此方法构成的保护计算精度高,相较于工频量构成的保护其动作速度更快且几乎不受过渡电阻、故障距离及故障初始角变化的影响,理论分析与实际的仿真结果相一致。     

基于 SSD目标检测的硬压板图像识别

为了减少变电站运维人员由于人为记录而导致硬压板状态误投退操作,本文提出了对传统SSD目标检测法进行改进,运用所改进的SSD网络模型对变电站中的硬压板图像进行识别,通过收集来的硬压板图片进行数据扩充、网络训练,得到能够识别硬压板状态的改进型SSD目标识别网络,最后通过验证集进行网路验证,结果证明了所提出的改进型SSD目标检测算法能够很好的识别硬压板状态,提高了变电站智能化水平.