Concurrent task demands and individual differences in the architecture of reading: Discriminating artifacts from real McCoys.

K. R. Paap and R. W. Noel (1991) observed a striking effect in which low-frequency exception words were pronounced faster under a larger memory load although other types of words slowed down. This effect strongly favored dual-route models of pronunciation. S. E. Bernstein and T. H. Carr (1996) reported that only certain selected readers produced Paap and Noel's effect, suggesting individual differences in reading-system architecture. P. M. Pexman and S. J. Lupker (1998) criticized Bernstein and Carr's finding as artifactual and failed to replicate it with a different way of selecting readers. They also failed to support an alternative individual-difference hypothesis of their own. In the current article, the authors developed a new approach to identifying individual differences and applied the approach to a variety of data. They found little evidence of systematic individual differences in the occurrence of Paap and Noel's effect, and indeed, they found little evidence that the effect could be replicated at all. Therefore, they gave up. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multicenter study of case finding in elderly emergency department patients

OBJECTIVES: To assess the feasibility of a brief comprehensive case-finding program for detecting functional, cognitive, and social impairments among elderly ED patients and to estimate the prevalence of unknown, undetected, or untreated impairments elderly patients may have. METHODS: A multicenter prospective study conducted at five private and public hospital EDs in five different communities across the country. Patients aged 60 years and older released to their homes during 52 randomly selected evening and weekend shifts between February 1 and April 30, 1993, were eligible for the case-finding program. They were evaluated by medical students who received special training (instructional videotape, supervised examinations, and conference calls) in the administration of a standardized 17-item protocol that included an interview and simple tests of function. The patients' physicians were notified of the screening results and were asked to return a one-month follow-up questionnaire. The physicians answered whether the presumed problem had been confirmed and whether a treatment plan for a new problem had been developed. RESULTS: Patient acceptance of the case-finding program was good; 252 of 338 eligible patients (75%) agreed to participate, and 281 conditions were detected for 242 screened patients (96%). The most frequently reported problems were with: performing the activities of daily living (79%); vision (55%); lack of influenza vaccination (54%); home environment (49%); mental status (46%); general health (41%); falls (40%); and depression (36%). The physicians returned questionnaires for 153 patients (63%); 76 patients (50%) were evaluated at follow-up visits, during which 47 newly identified problems (62%) were confirmed and treatment plans were developed for 25 problems (53%) among 21 patients. A mean time of 17.7 +/- 10.2 minutes was required to complete the screen. CONCLUSIONS: A brief comprehensive case-finding program for functional, cognitive, and social impairment among elderly ED patients is feasible. The screening uncovered a significant amount of morbidity among older patients visiting EDs.     

Murine NIMA-related kinases are expressed in patterns suggesting distinct functions in gametogenesis and a role in the nervous system

NIMA protein kinase is a major regulator of progression into mitosis in Aspergillus nidulans. Dominant negative forms of NIMA protein prevent entrance into mitosis in HeLa cells, suggesting that mammals have a similar pathway. We have reported previously the isolation of a murine NIMA-related kinase, designated Nek1, and more recently several additional NIMA-related human kinases have been cloned. The existence of several mammalian NIMA-related genes raises the questions of whether the different mammalian members have redundant, overlapping or distinct functions, and whether these functions are related to the role of NIMA in controlling mitosis. To address these questions we have studied the expression patterns of the different murine nek genes. To this end, we isolated a murine nek2 cDNA and compared its patterns of expression, during both gametogenesis and embryogenesis, to those of nek1. Both genes were highly expressed in developing germ cells, albeit in distinct patterns. In both females and males, nek1 is expressed much earlier than nek2, suggesting only limited ability for functional redundancy. Surprisingly, a striking specificity of nek1 expression was found: high levels of nek1 RNA were observed in distinct regions of the nervous system, most notably in neurons of the peripheral ganglia. These patterns suggest that the different mammalian NIMA-related kinases participate in different phases of the meiotic process and may also have functions other than cell cycle control.     

Size distribution of CdS nanocrystal-doped silica xerogels

Pure and porous silica xerogels doped with CdS nanocrystals have been prepared by a sol-gel process. In order to determine parameters convenient for non-linear optical properties, particle size distributions were obtained by two complementary techniques: transmission electron microscopy (conventional, CTEM, and high resolution, HRTEM) and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). Monolithic samples having CdO concentrations varying from 5 to 20 wt% have been studied. Details are given of an image analysis technique used to study the CTEM micrographs.     

A 100-MHz macropipelined VAX microprocessor

A macropipelined CISC microprocessor was implemented in a 0.75-μm CMOS 3.3-V technology. The 1.3-million-transistor custom chip measures 1.62×1.46 cm² and dissipates 16.3 W. The 100-MHz parts were benchmarked at 50 SPEC marks. The on-chip clocking system and several high-performance logic and circuit techniques are described. Macroinstruction handling, micropipeline management, and control store structures highlight the design architecture. The hierarchical array organization and fast tag comparison technique of the primary cache are discussed. Power estimation procedures are outlined, and the results are compared to measurements. Physical design and verification methods, and CAD tools are also described. After extensive functional verification efforts are described, chip and system test results are presented     

Encapsulation process development for flexible-circuit based chip scale packages

The ultimate driving forces for the development of small form-factor chip scale packages (CSPs) are the market demands for small, light and high performance products. The flex-based /spl mu/BGA technology has been a very successful package format, and tremendous efforts have been implemented in the process development for the technology. In this article, three flex-based chip scale packages (based on patented /spl mu/BGA technology) will be discussed. The focus will be on the encapsulation process development. Because of the unique package structures and material sets used in the flex-based CSPs, various encapsulation challenges were raised. The encapsulation solutions are compared and discussed for each type of flex-based /spl mu/BGA technologies, including the dispensing pump technologies, material characterization, process characterization and optimization. Based on the evaluation results, type C /spl mu/BGA technology is recommended for its simple assemble process flow, balanced protection on beam leads and solder ball joints and shorter manufacturing cycle time as well.