"On the intricacies involved in the study of similarity judgments: Comment on Ritov, Gati, and Tversky": Reply.

G. Keren's (see record 1990-27344-001) alternative interpretation is refuted by the data in Table 14 of I. Ritov et al's (see record 1990-27355-001) article on differential weighting of common and distinctive components. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Euler Spiral for Shape Completion

In this paper we address the curve completion problem, e.g., the geometric continuation of boundaries of objects which are temporarily interrupted by occlusion. Also known as the gap completion or shape completion problem, this problem is a significant element of perceptual grouping of edge elements and has been approached by using cubic splines or biarcs which minimize total curvature squared (elastica), as motivated by a physical analogy. Our approach is motivated by railroad design methods of the early 1900's which connect two rail segments by transition curves, and by the work of Knuth on mathematical typography. We propose that in using an energy minimizing solution completion curves should not penalize curvature as in elastica but curvature variation. The minimization of total curvature variation leads to an Euler Spiral solution, a curve whose curvature varies linearly with arclength. We reduce the construction of this curve from a pair of points and tangents at these points to solving a nonlinear system of equations involving Fresnel Integrals, whose solution relies on optimization from a suitable initial condition constrained to satisfy given boundary conditions. Since the choice of an appropriate initial curve is critical in this optimization, we analytically derive an optimal solution in the class of biarc curves, which is then used as the initial curve. The resulting interpolations yield intuitive interpolation across gaps and occlusions, and are extensible, in contrast to the scale-invariant version of elastica. In addition, Euler Spiral segments can be used in other applications of curve completions, e.g., modeling boundary segments between curvature extrema or modeling skeletal branch geometry.     

Identification of a modified optimal control model for the human operator

The optimal control model for the human operator has emerged as one of the most promising models for the study of human performance in complex tasks. Previous applications of this model have used heuristic methods based on empirical data to establish numerical values for the model parameters. This was necessary because of the absence of any systematic identification method for the direct extraction of model parameters from experimental data. In this paper, the standard optimal control model is analyzed from the viewpoint of system identification. It is shown that the existing model structure is overparameterized and can be simplified by modifying some of the original assumptions. Identifiability of the resulting modified optimal control model is investigated. As a result, a systematic procedure for the identification of the modified optimal control model parameters from available data is developed. This procedure is validated by application to experimental data from simulation of a piloted tracking task. The paper concludes with recommendations for further simplification in the human operator model structure.     

Impacts and implications of mobile water payments in East Africa

The rapid growth in Africa's mobile communications sector offers new opportunities to address the continent's enduring water service challenges. This paper examines the impacts and implications of mobile water payments in East Africa. Based on interviews with managers from water service providers across four countries and analysis of household survey and billing data from a water supply scheme in Kenya, the study quantifies the impacts of mobile water payments and reveals the factors that drive and curtail customer adoption. Results suggest that if broader behavioural and operational constraints can be overcome, partnerships between mobile network operators and water service providers could lead to more sustainable water service access for inclusive, developmental outcomes.     

Microstructure-Property Relationship of High Strength Low Alloy Steels During Tensile Testing at High Strain Rates

The influence of strain-rate on the room temperature mechanical properties of Dual-Phase and Transformation Induced Plasticity (TRIP) steels was investigated.The results showed that both plastic strain,and strength properties increased with increasing strain rates at high strain rates.At strain rates lower than approximateil 1s-1 the properties no longer have an advantageous proportionality to strain rate and remain strain rate neutral.Possible explanations are offered for trends exhibited,in terms of thermal and athermal considerations,in relation to the respective microstructures of the two steels.     

Antimicrobial resistance in food and clinical Aeromonas isolates

This study highlights the incidence of resistance and the presence of plasmids in human and food isolates of Aeromonas in Brazil. A total of 83 Aeromonas spp. strains (28 isolated from human and 55 from fresh lettuce) were studied. Thirty-five were identified as A. hydrophila complex and 48 as A. caviae complex. All strains were shown to be susceptible to imipenem, amikacin, gentamicin, tobramycin and ciprofloxacin by the disk diffusion method. Resistance to antimicrobial agents was observed in strains of both food and clinical origin. The food strains were resistant to ampicillin/sulbactam, cefoxitin and tetracycline, while the clinical strains presented resistance to ampicillin/sulbactam, cefotaxime, ceftazidime, cefoxitin, sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim, chloramphenicol and tetracycline. The minimal inhibitory concentrations of chloramphenicol, tetracycline and sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim were tested by agar dilution. Thirteen strains isolated from vegetables were resistant to tetracycline (MIC 16 microg ml-1). Two A. hydrophila strains and one A. caviae strain presented extracromosomal DNA (3 and 15 kb plasmids, respectively). The tetracycline resistance phenotype determinant was related to the 15 kb plasmid according to cure and transformation experiments.     

The status of rapid response learning in aging.

Strong evidence exists for an age-related impairment in associative processing under intentional encoding and retrieval conditions, but the status of incidental associative processing has been less clear. In 2 experiments, we examined the effects of age on rapid response learning—the incidentally learned stimulus–response association that results in a reduction in priming when a learned response becomes inappropriate for a new task. Specifically, we tested whether priming was equivalently sensitive in both age groups to reversal of the task-specific decision cue. Experiment 1 showed that cue inversion reduced priming in both age groups with a speeded inside/outside classification task, and in Experiment 2, cue inversion eliminated priming on an associative version of this task. Thus, the ability to encode an association between a stimulus and its initial task-specific response appears to be preserved in aging. These findings provide an important example of a form of associative processing that is unimpaired in older adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Arachidyl amido cholanoic acid (aramchol) is a cholesterol solubilizer and prevents the formation of cholesterol gallstones in inbred mice

We have recently synthesized fatty acid bile acid conjugates (FABAC) that were able to reduce and retard cholesterol crystallization in model and human biles. When given orally, they prevented the formation of cholesterol crystals in the bile of hamsters. The aim of the present study was to determine whether the FABAC are cholesterol solubilizers, whether they can dissolve pre-existing crystals, whether they can prevent the formation of cholesterol gallstones, and to investigate the optimal type of bond between the fatty acid and bile acid. The presence of cholesterol crystals was determined by light microscopy, and the total crystal mass of precipitated crystals was measured by chemical means. Inbred (C57J/L) mice on a lithogenic diet were used to evaluate cholesterol crystal formation, dissolution, and gallstone formation in vivo. Arachidyl amido cholanoic acid (Aramchol) was the FABAC used in the present experiments. At equimolar amounts, the cholesterol-solubilizing capacity of Aramchol was higher than that of taurocholate and similar to that of phosphatidylcholine. The addition of Aramchol dissolved approximately 50% of pre-existing crystals in model bile solutions. The same phenomenon was demonstrated in human bile ex vivo, with a dose-response effect. All inbred mice developed cholesterol crystals in bile after 10-14 d on the lithogenic diet. Thereafter, supplementation of the diet with Aramchol progressively reduced the proportion of mice with crystals to 25% after 28 d. On the lithogenic diet, 100% of inbred mice developed cholesterol gallstones in the gallbladder by day 21. None of the mice whose diet was supplemented with 0.5 mg or 1.0 mg of Aramchol/d developed stones or crystals. FABAC are a new class of molecules that are cholesterol solubilizers and which are able to dissolve cholesterol crystals in bile. Upon oral administration, they dissolve pre-existing cholesterol crystals and prevent the formation of gallstones in gallstone-susceptible mice.     

Desorption of cadmium from algal biosorbent

Desorption of metal-laden new biosorbent material was studied using batch and column equilibrium elution processes. Equilibrium screening tests of cadmium desorption established a solution of HC1 as the most appropriate eluant at approximately pH 1.0. The desorption of Cd by protons was indicated to be a reversible exchange with a stoichiometric coefficient of 1.24. The solid to liquid ratio (biosorbent mass to elutant volume) is described as a key parameter in determination of elution efficiency, affecting simultaneously the pH at desorption equilibrium, the concentration of cadmium released, and the concentration ratio of the overall metal recovery process. When the pH is maintained constant, the solid to liquid ratio has little influence on metal recovery but still controls the concentration ratio. Recycling a small amount of eluant through a desorption column with metal-laden biosorbent material resulted in very high solid-to-liquid ratios (up to 130 g/L) leading to high value of 70 for the metal concentration ratio of the sorption/desorption process. No loss of cadmium biosorbent properties was observed in three consecutive metal uptake/desorption cycles.     

Molecular Dynamics of Methylamine Following C?H and N?H Vibrational Excitation and Promotion to the à State

The molecular dynamics of methylamine, CH₃NH₂, was investigated via vibrationally mediated photodissociation. It was found that the ∼243.1 nm photolysis of initially excited N–H and C–H fundamental stretches and combinations and overtones of methyl deformation yields H photofragments. Surprisingly, the deformations promote the H atom release more effectively, implying mode-dependent enhancement of photodissociation in a relatively large molecule with a torsional degree of freedom. The H Doppler profiles correspond to low translational energies, supporting the dominant non-adiabatic N–H dissociation channel.