Infant sensitivity to trajectory forms.

The authors investigated whether infants are sensitive to visual event trajectory forms, and whether they are sensitive to the underlying dynamics of trajectory forms. The authors habituated 8-month-old infants to a videotaped event run either forward or reversed in time and then switched them to the same event run in the opposite direction. Infants dishabituated when switched to the event with the novel direction in time, indicating sensitivity to the form of the trajectory. Infants exhibited equivalent habituation rates and looking times for forward and reversed events, thus failing to provide evidence that infants are sensitive to the underlying dynamics. In a partial replication of this first experiment, the same pattern of results was found. Both experiments revealed infant sensitivity to the trajectory forms, but not the underlying dynamics of events. The authors discuss implications for methods used in infant event perception studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A new interpretation of depth-age profiles

Dosimetry and other techniques provide depth-age profiles in materials as diverse as sediments and ice. A frequent characteristic feature of these plots is a non-linear curve with a foreshortened depth scale. Whilst the age analyses from the dosimetry do not present a problem, many authors have made subsequent assumptions on the basis of the curve shape with respect to climate and environmental changes. Such claims should be strongly questioned, as by using a model which includes the effects of compaction, most of the original curves transform into linear plots corresponding to constant depositional rates. The corrections and the implications for models of climate change are discussed.     

Estimating the Hydraulic Conductivity of Landfilled Municipal Solid Waste Using the Borehole Permeameter Test

This paper reports the in situ field saturated hydraulic conductivity of municipal solid waste at a landfill in Florida. The saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) was estimated at 23 locations using the borehole permeameter test, a method commonly used for determination of the Ks of unsaturated soil. The Ks of the landfilled waste was found to range from 5.4×10?6 to 6.1×10?5?cm/s. The Ks was found to be on the lower end of the range of Ks reported by previous studies. The hydraulic conductivity of the waste decreased with depth, the likely result of greater overburden pressures associated with deep locations of the landfill. Permeability values (kw) of the landfilled waste calculated based on Ks were compared with permeability values estimated using air as the fluid (air permeability, ka). Values of ka were found to be approximately three orders of magnitude greater than those of kw. The lower permeability of the waste to water was primarily attributed to entrapped gas. Other factors such as potential clogging of media and short-circuiting of air along the well may also have contributed to the differences in ka and kw.     

Performance and design of InGaAs /InP photodiodes for single-photon counting at 1.55 microm

The performance of selected, commercially available InGaAs/InP avalanche photodiodes operating in a photon-counting mode at an incident wavelength of 1.55 mum is described. A discussion on the optimum operating conditions and their relationship to the electric field distribution within the device is presented.     

Foundations of psychological assessment: Implications for cognitive assessment in clinical science.

We examine psychological assessment within the broader framework of psychology's efforts to build and test useful scientific theories. In the first section, we consider in detail a number of fundamental epistemological, conceptual, and methodological issues that tend either to inhibit or to foster theoretical progress in psychology. In light of these issues, we then recommend that psychology adopt an information-based, quantitative approach to theory building and testing. This approach should help us model the dynamic, stochastic processes underlying human behavior. In the second section, we explore the implications of the issues and strategies that we outlined in the first section for the future of clinical assessment, with a particular focus on the clinical assessment of cognitive processes. We conclude by advocating a conceptual and methodological integration of clinical and cognitive neuroscience in psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Single photon interference in 10 km long optical fibre interferometer

Single-photon interference fringes with greater than 90% visibility were measured using a 10 km long optical fibre interferometer. The experiment employed a pulsed semiconductor laser source operating at a wavelength of 1.3 mu m and a novel single-photon counting scheme using high-speed germanium avalanche photodiodes. Interferometers of this type could form the basis of future quantum cryptography systems.<>     

Fast fully 3-D image reconstruction in PET using planograms

We present a method of performing fast and accurate three-dimensional (3-D) backprojection using only Fourier transform operations for line-integral data acquired by planar detector arrays in positron emission tomography. This approach is a 3-D extension of the two-dimensional (2-D) linogram technique of Edholm. By using a special choice of parameters to index a line of response (LOR) for a pair of planar detectors, rather than the conventional parameters used to index a LOR for a circular tomograph, all the LORs passing through a point in the field of view (FOV) lie on a 2-D plane in the four-dimensional (4-D) data space. Thus, backprojection of all the LORs passing through a point in the FOV corresponds to integration of a 2-D plane through the 4-D "planogram." The key step is that the integration along a set of parallel 2-D planes through the planogram, that is, backprojection of a plane of points, can be replaced by a 2-D section through the origin of the 4-D Fourier transform of the data. Backprojection can be performed as a sequence of Fourier transform operations, for faster implementation. In addition, we derive the central-section theorem for planogram format data, and also derive a reconstruction filter for both backprojection-filtering and filtered-backprojection reconstruction algorithms. With software-based Fourier transform calculations we provide preliminary comparisons of planogram backprojection to standard 3-D backprojection and demonstrate a reduction in computation time by a factor of approximately 15.     

A simulation-based embedded probe technique for human-computer interaction evaluation

There is growing interest in developing video-based methods to evaluate the usefulness and usability of computerised tools in healthcare. In this paper, we propose a human-computer interaction evaluation method that protects the confidentiality of patient information and reduces litigation risks for participants by embedding and analysing performance on probes in complex scenarios with high face validity in a simulated setting. We describe the application of the method to a series of three studies of bar code medication administration (BCMA) software, used to reduce medication errors in the Veterans Administration.     

Restricted use of success cues in retrieval during posthypnotic amnesia.

Evaluated memory for successful and unsuccessful responses to hypnotic suggestions in partially amnesic Ss and in those Ss with normal forgetting. Two analyses (278 undergraduates) demonstrated that highly hypnotizable Ss experiencing partial posthypnotic amnesia tended to show no selective recall for their successes or failures during amnesia, whereas the remainder of the Ss showed definite selective recall of hypnotic success posthypnotically. These findings support F. J. Evans and J. F. Kihlstrom's (see record 1974-06307-001) hypothesis that posthypnotic amnesia involves a disruption of memory organization and suggest that the phenomenon may be mediated by a restriction in the use of normally employed retrieval cues. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An analysis of a puncture wound case with medical intervention

A worker noted a small wound to his thumb when leaving a work site that was undergoing decontamination because of past operations with plutonium (Pu) and americium (Am). Direct surveys of the wound site confirmed the presence of contamination. The chelating agent Ca-DTPA was administered via a nebuliser within an hour after discovery of the wound. External measurements were made of the wound site and wound dressings; 24-h urinary excretion data were collected periodically and the Pu and Am urine content was determined. Zn-DTPA was administered on three occasions. The ICRP Pu systemic model was modified to consider the enhanced urinary excretion following administration of the chelating agents. The analysis indicated that the wound resulted in an initial deposition of 400 Bq 238Pu, 2240 Bq (239/240)Pu and 1060 Bq 241Am. About 70% of the initial wound activity was removed by surgical procedures and less than 1% of the wound activity was removed by chelation therapy. This paper compares the observed urinary excretion data with that indicated by a simulation of the kinetics of the transfer from the wound site and the kinetics of the chelating agent and Pu.