Assessment of the Rescorla-Wagner model.

The Rescorla-Wagner model has been the most influential theory of associative learning to emerge from the study of animal behavior over the last 25 years. Recently, equivalence to this model has become a benchmark in assessing connectionist models, with such equivalence often achieved by incorporating the Widrow-Hoff delta rule. This article presents the Rescorla-Wagner model's basic assumptions, reviews some of the model's predictive successes and failures, relates the failures to the model's assumptions, and discusses the model's heuristic value. It is concluded that the model has had a positive influence on the study of simple associative learning by stimulating research and contributing to new model development. However, this benefit should neither lead to the model being regarded as inherently "correct" nor imply that its predictions can be profitably used to assess other models. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attitudes and beliefs of Canadian infection control decision-makers towards 'borderline' methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

'Borderline' methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains are inhibited by drug concentrations of 2 to 8 micrograms/mL. This type of resistance is usually mediated by 'hyper beta-lactamase' production which is detectable in vitro by susceptibility to combinations of a beta-lactam and a beta-lactamase inhibitor (ie, amoxicillin and clavulanic acid). A survey of Canadian infection control experts was performed to assess the knowledge, attitudes and beliefs regarding the containment requirements for borderline MRSA strains in acute health care facilities. Twenty-three of 38 Canadian infection control experts (61%) (members of the Canadian Hospital Epidemiology Committee [CHEC] or the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of American [SHEA]) returned a questionnaire about a fictional patient with a postoperative wound infection with such a strain. Eleven respondents (48%) considered the isolate as an MRSA, 11 did not and one was unsure. All who did not believe the strain to be MRSA would not have isolated or cohorted the patient. Four in the latter group would have isolated the patient if he or she were on a neurosurgery or cardiovascular surgery unit, indicating a desire to restrict spread of this isolate on those units. Seven of the 12 individuals who had managed at least one patient with a borderline MRSA did not advocate patient isolation or cohorting, and five did. This survey has supported the belief that there are discrepancies among infection control decision-makers in Canada regarding the approach, precautions and therapy of patients infected with borderline strains of MRSA. Further data on virulence of and effective therapy for these isolates are needed to assess whether the additional cost is warranted in controlling the nosocomial spread of these isolates.     

Diffusion induced grain boundary migration and recrystallization during oxidation of a Ni- 48.5 Pet Cu alloy

Diffusion induced grain boundary migration (DIGM) was observed to occur in a Ni-48.5 wt pct Cu alloy during oxidation at 450 °C, 500 °C, 600 °C, and 707 °C in air. The DIGM zones are Cu enriched. A Ni depleted zone, consisting of small recrystallized grains, formed in the matrix beneath the metal-oxide interface during oxidation at 600 °C and 707 °C. This process is referred to as oxidation-induced recrystallization (OIR). Growth of the small OIR grains was observed to be associated with Cu-rich DIGM. No Cu-rich DIGM was found in the same alloy when annealed in Ar at 707 °C. Oxidation of this alloy in air resulted in the formation of a duplex oxide: an inner NiO layer and an outer CuO layer. The NiO layer was observed to grow at a faster rate than the CuO layer. The occurrence of Cu-rich DIGM is interpreted in terms of this preferential oxidation of Ni.     

Phenomena-based thermal-hydraulic modeling requirements for systems analysis of a Modular High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor

The Modular High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (MHTGR) is a candidate design for new production and commercial power nuclear reactors. The MHTGR has inherent safety features including: (1) passive shutdown and decay heat removal, (2) reduced requirements for operator intervention, thereby reducing sensitivity to operator error, and (3) long time intervals for corrective action. In support of the Department of Energy's (DOE) initial development of the design, the authors have completed an evaluation of the thermal-hydraulic phenomena that will dominate the plant response during representative normal, off-normal and accident conditions. Phenomena having significance to the plant behavior have been identified, and ranked with respect to their relative importance in satisfying operational, investment and/or safety criteria. The resulting information provides the basis for evaluating the applicability of existing computer codes, and defines the requirements for the development of new codes, for thermal-hydraulic systems analysis. The phenomena-based requirements also support the quality assurance related verification and validation of these codes. This paper briefly describes the methodology employed, and gives illustrative examples of the resulting requirements. References are cited for reports that document the full body of requirements and provide additional information for the methodology.     

Analysis of an antijam FH acquisition scheme

An easily implemented matched filter scheme for acquiring hopping code synchronization of incoming frequency-hopping (FH) signals is analyzed, and its performance is evaluated for two types of jamming: partial-band noise jamming and partial-band multitone jamming. The system is designed to reduce jammer-induced false alarms. The system's matched filter output is compared to an adaptive threshold that is derived from a measurement of the number of acquisition channels being jammed. Example performance calculations are given for the frequency coverage of the jamming either fixed over the entire acquisition period or hopped, that is, changed for each acquisition pulse. It is shown that the jammer's optimum strategy (the worst case) is to maximize the false alarm probability without regard for the effect on detection probability, for both partial-band noise and multitone jamming. It is also shown that a significantly lower probability of false acquisition results from using an adaptive matched filter threshold, demonstrating that the strategy studied here is superior to conventional nonadaptive threshold schemes