Prospective memory: when reminders fail

The present study examined fingertip forces during the replacement and release of an instrumented object on a table in eight subjects with Parkinson's disease (PD) both off and on medication and eight age-matched control subjects. Subjects performed the task at (1) their preferred speeds and (2) as fast as possible. During performance of the task at preferred speed, the duration of object replacement, the rate, and duration of force decrease following table contact for PD subjects were similar to that observed in the control subjects and were unaffected by medication. In contrast, the rates were significantly lower and durations longer in the PD subjects when the task was performed as fast as possible irrespective of medication. A similar result was obtained when subjects were asked to release their pinch force from predefined force levels while the object was fixed to the table surface. These results emphasize the importance of considering task requirements in order to delineate the specific task parameters associated with the movement impairments in Parkinson's disease.     

Lateral Load Capacity of Drilled Shafts in Jointed Rock

Large vertical (axial) and lateral loads often act on the heads of drilled shafts in jointed rock. In current design practice, the p-y curve method used in design of laterally loaded drilled shafts in soil is often also used for shafts in jointed rock. The p-y curve method treats the soil as a continuum, which is not appropriate in jointed rock, particularly when failure occurs due to sliding on joints. A new discontinuum model was developed to determine the lateral load capacity of drilled shafts or piers in a jointed rock mass with two and three joint sets. It consists two parts: a kinematic and a kinetic analysis. In the kinematic analysis, Goodman and Shi’s block theory is expanded to analyze the removability of a combination of blocks laterally loaded by a pier. Based on the expanded theory, a method was developed to select removable combinations of blocks using easily constructed two-dimensional diagrams. In the kinetic analysis, each kinematically selected removable combination of blocks is examined with the limit equilibrium approach to determine the ultimate lateral load capacity. Although the procedure is similar to slope stability analysis, it is more complicated with the addition of a lateral force and the vertical load exerted by the pier. Simple analytical relations were developed to solve for the ultimate lateral load capacity.     

Comparison of Reticular and Rectal Core Body Temperatures in Lactating Dairy Cows

The Phase IV Cattle Temperature Monitoring System (CTMS; Phase IV Engineering Inc., Boulder, CO) marketed by MaGiiX (MaGiiX Inc., Post Falls, ID) uses a passive bolus equipped with a temperature sensor, a panel reader placed at a parlor entrance or exit to query the bolus, and a software package to collect, analyze, and view data. The biologically inert bolus resides in the cow's reticulum and is queried each time the cow passes the reader. Reticular temperature (RETT) and rectal temperature (RECT) were recorded simultaneously in the milking parlor exit lane in 4 consecutive milkings in each of 4 seasons, totaling 16 measurements per cow. The RETT were obtained by using the phase IV CTMS, whereas the RECT were obtained manually with a GLA M750 thermometer (GLA Agricultural Electronics, San Luis Obispo, CA). Data were edited to remove RETT likely to have been affected by a recent drinking bout. For the 2,042 observations used in analyses, means (±SD) were 39.28 (±0.41), 38.83 (±0.36), and 0.45 (±0.33) for RETT, RECT, and the difference between RETT and RECT, respectively. The RETT and RECT were strongly correlated (r = 0.645). The relationship between RETT and RECT varied by season, milking, housing system, and parity. Because dairy producers and veterinarians are accustomed to viewing rectal temperatures, equations to adjust reticular temperatures to a rectal-based scale may increase the utility of the phase IV CTMS. The resulting conversion equations were RECT = 19.23 + 0.496(RETT) for the a.m. milking and RECT = 15.88 + 0.587(RETT) for the p.m. milking.     

GRAIL: a multi-agent neural network system for gene identification

Identifying genes within large regions of uncharacterized DNA is a difficult undertaking and is currently the focus of many research efforts. We describe a gene localization and modeling system, called GRAIL. GRAIL is a multiple sensor-neural network-based system. It localizes genes in anonymous DNA sequence by recognizing features related to protein-coding regions and the boundaries of coding regions, and then combines the recognized features using a neural network system. Localized coding regions are then “optimally” parsed into a gene model. Through years of extensive testing GRAIL consistently achieves about 90% of coding portions of test genes with a false positive rate of about 10% A number of genes for major genetic diseases have been located through the use of GRAIL, and over 1000 research laboratories worldwide use GRAIL on regular bases for localization of genes on their newly sequenced DNA     

Updating the Decision Aids for Tunneling

The “Decision Aids for Tunneling” are a procedure and computer code that can be used to assess the effect on construction cost and time of geologic/geotechnical uncertainties and uncertainties in the construction process. Previously, it was only possible to make predictions prior to construction. There is, however, a need for updated predictions while construction is in progress. Such predictions can be used to improve scheduling, resource allocation, financial planning, and so on. This article presents an updating procedure that allows one to refine predictions during construction. Updating not only involves replacing the original prediction with actual data from the excavation, but also includes a learning component using information from the actual excavation to arrive at an improved prediction for the unexcavated part of a tunnel.     

Tunnel reinforcement with rockbolts

Closed-form solutions are presented for a tunnel supported with Discretely Mechanically or Frictionally Coupled (DMFC) and with Continuously Mechanically Coupled (CMC) or Continuously Frictionally Coupled (CFC) rockbolts. The formulation is based on the following assumptions: (1) circular cross section; (2) deep tunnel; (3) K_o = 1, i.e. axisymmetric problem; (4) homogeneous and isotropic ground; (5) elasto-plastic ground, with brittle failure governed by the Coulomb criterion and non-associated flow rule; (6) elastic reinforcement and (7) construction effects approximated with the β-method (reduction of internally applied stresses). The analytical solutions are compared with results obtained with a Finite Element Method. The comparisons show that the analytical solutions provide reasonable results for DMFC rockbolts and for CMC/CFC rockbolts with low to moderate spacing. For the same rock properties, tunnel geometry and construction, and reinforcement characteristics, CMC/CFC rockbolts result in slightly smaller convergence but somewhat larger rockbolt stresses than DMFC rockbolts. The behavior of DMFC rockbolts and rock response depends on “average” response of the rock between the two end points, while for CMC/CFC rockbolts the maximum stress in the rockbolt occurs at the location of maximum radial strain in the rock. In both cases the solution strongly depends on the relative stiffness between the rockbolt and the deformed rock. Practically speaking, placement of the reinforcement while the rock undergoes elastic deformations may not result in a substantial reduction of tunnel convergence. Instead, it appears that best results are obtained by placing the rockbolts while the rock undergoes plastic deformations. It has also been observed that when the distribution of rockbolts around the tunnel perimeter is linked to the far-field stresses, smaller convergence and reduced reinforcement stresses are possible.     

Hypoelastic soft tissues

In Part I, a novel hypoelastic framework for soft-tissues was presented. One of the hallmarks of this new theory is that the well-known exponential behavior of soft-tissues arises consistently and spontaneously from the integration of a rate based formulation. In Part II, we examine the application of this framework to the problem of biaxial kinematics, which are common in experimental soft-tissue characterization. We confine our attention to an isotropic formulation in order to highlight the distinction between non-linearity and anisotropy. In order to provide a sound foundation for the membrane extension of our earlier hypoelastic framework, the kinematics and kinetics of in-plane biaxial extension are revisited, and some enhancements are provided. Specifically, the conventional stress-to-traction mapping for this boundary value problem is shown to violate the conservation of angular momentum. In response, we provide a corrected mapping. In addition, a novel means for applying loads to in-plane biaxial experiments is proposed. An isotropic, isochoric, hypoelastic, constitutive model is applied to an in-plane biaxial experiment done on glutaraldehyde treated bovine pericardium. The experiment is comprised of eight protocols that radially probe the biaxial plane. Considering its simplicity (two adjustable parameters) the model does a reasonably good job of describing the non-linear normal responses observed in these experimental data, which are more prevalent than are the anisotropic responses exhibited by this tissue.     

The bizarreness effect: It's not surprising, it's complex.

Higher recall of bizarre images relative to common images (the bizarreness effect) is consistently found when bizarreness is varied as a within-subject (mixed-list) variable. In Experiment 1, mixed lists, rather than the smaller number of bizarre sentences typically used in such lists, determined the occurrence of the bizarreness effect. Contrary to predictions from expectation-violation theory, Experiments 2 and 3 showed that manipulations designed to augment or attenuate surprise reactions to bizarre sentences had little impact on the bizarreness effect. Experiments 4 and 5 indicated that mixing affected the degree to which participants differentially encoded order information for bizarre and common items. A new account of the bizarreness effect is presented that combines considerations of distinctiveness with the differential use of order information across bizarre and common items. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Note-taking, individual differences, and memory for lecture information.

Investigated the encoding function of note taking and processing differences between successful and less successful students in lecture situations in 2 experiments. In Exp I, 48 undergraduates either took notes or listened during a lecture. Different memory patterns were found for these 2 groups, with note-takers recalling many more high- than low-importance propositions and listeners recalling an equal number of high- and low-importance propositions. Results suggest that note taking enhanced organizational processing of lecture information. In Exp II, the notes and recall of 80 successful and less successful students were compared. Successful Ss recalled more of the most important propositions, but these 2 groups of Ss did not differ in their recall of less important propositions. For both groups of Ss, recall content was closely related to the content of the notes, with successful Ss recording more high-importance propositions in their notes. Also, successful and less successful Ss were similar in their note-taking styles and the degree to which they benefited from reviewing their notes. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)