Seymour Wapner (1917-2003).

Presents an obituary for Seymour Wapner, who died in Worcester, Massachusetts, on September 28, 2003, at the age of 85. An innovative educator, he was also an exceptionally productive scientist who made notable contributions to research in the psychology of perception and in environmental psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Partnering with physicians to achieve quality improvement

BACKGROUND: The Maine Medical Assessment Foundation (MMAF) has successfully involved hundreds of Maine physicians in study groups to analyze data on small-area variation and assess physician decision-making patterns. In 1991 the MMAF model was replicated across a tri-state area (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont) in an effort called the Outcomes Dissemination Project, which is funded by a five-year grant from the U.S. Agency for Health Care Policy and Research. THE OUTCOMES DISSEMINATION PROJECT: Five specialty study groups, each meeting three times a year, examine local and national utilization data, examine guidelines and research findings, participate in outcomes studies and patient education, and disseminate their findings through specialty society presentations and other feedback efforts. The MMAF study group process is based on the beliefs that medicine is a subculture with a complex set of professional values, beliefs, socialization processes, and norms, and that quality improvement efforts work best when they are nonpunitive and educational. ISSUES IN OBTAINING PHYSICIAN INVOLVEMENT: (1) Physicians are willing to change their practices if they are brought into a culturally appropriate improvement program. (2) Related specialties (for example, internists and family practitioners) can often work together effectively on issues of common interest. (3) Involving respected clinical leaders has helped establish the legitimacy of MMAF methods among physicians. (4) Area- and physician-specific data are not made public, so as to build a sense of confidentiality among participants. CONCLUSIONS: The project continues to function as a powerful education process and serves as a model for replication elsewhere.     

Exercise attenuates oral intake of amphetamine in rats

The effects of wheel running on oral intake of amphetamine were examined in six male Sprague-Dawley rats given a 0.075-mg/ml amphetamine sulfate solution as their sole source of liquid, six rats given a 0.15-mg/ml amphetamine solution, and four rats given water as their sole source of liquid. All animals were housed in Wahmann running wheels and adjoining cages, and had ad lib access to ground Purina Chow. For the first 7 days of the experiment, the doors to the running wheels were closed; the wheels were then opened for 6 days. This cycle was repeated a second time. Animals drinking the 0.15-mg/ml amphetamine solution consumed significantly less food and gained less weight than animals in the other two groups. Although there was no difference in food intake between rats drinking water and rats drinking the 0.075-mg/ml amphetamine solution, rats in the water group gained significantly more weight than rats in the 0.075-mg/ml amphetamine group. With respect to drug intake, rats consumed significantly less amphetamine when running in the wheels than when access to the wheels was prohibited. Access to running wheels did not alter water intake. These latter results suggest that drug intake can be reduced by the provision of an alternate behavior.     

Pediatric emergency medicine fellow clinical work requirements

A wide range of clinical requirements exists among PEM fellowship programs. Programs are equally split concerning the question of whether fellows should work with supervision or independently in the first year; a significant number of fellowship programs require continued supervision of fellows in subsequent years. Orientation for first year fellows and requirements for completion of PALS, advanced pediatric life support (APLS), ACLS, or ATLS courses prior to their first independent shift varied greatly. In particular, a minority of programs required ATLS completion even though a majority of overall fellowship programs operate in a hospital designated as a Level 1 Trauma Center. Programs in which first-year fellows worked independently had fewer attendings and were less likely to provide 24-hour coverage. Fellows appear to work a similar or less demanding schedule than PEM attendings in most fellowship programs, and most fellowship directors feel that their fellows should continue with their current schedule.     

Manufacture and testing of prototype microturbine module

The practical testing of a prototype microturbine module has shown that the levitation of the rotor that was predicted from previous simulation results does indeed take place and can enhance the performance of the device since contact friction can be considerably reduced. Some preliminary results on the operation of the module are presented.     

Temporal Discounting When the Choice Is Between Two Delayed Rewards.

The present experiments extend the temporal discounting paradigm from choice between an immediate and a delayed reward to choice between 2 delayed rewards: a smaller amount of money available sooner and a larger amount available later. Across different amounts and delays, the data were consistently well described by a hyperbola-like discounting function, and the degree of discounting decreased systematically as the delay to the sooner reward increased. Three theoretical models (the elimination-by-aspects, present-value comparison, and common-aspect attenuation hypotheses) were evaluated. The best account of the data was provided by the common-aspect attenuation hypothesis, according to which the common aspect of the choice alternatives (i.e., the time until the sooner reward is available) receives less weight in the decision-making process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Network numerical analysis for the smoother and the lagged joint-process estimator

Motivated by the fact that the a priori least-squares-order-recursive lattice (LSORL) smoother is more robust than the LSORL joint-process estimator with lagged desired signals in the finite precision, we model numerical properties of the two algorithms by virtue of previous efforts. Then, we give the reason why the smoother is substantially more robust than the lagged joint-process estimator by providing the explicit analysis for the performance difference of the two algorithms.     

Equilibrium bulk polymerization of 1,3-dioxolan

Cationic bulk polymerization of 1,3-dioxolan has been carried out in sealed ampoules using a high vacuum technique. The polymerization is initiated with triethyl oxonium hexafluorophosphate and the equilibrium between monomer and active polymer is attained within a few hours. Specific volumes of pure monomer and polymer in solution of its own monomer have been measured. Equilibrium measurements have been performed in the 40° to 141·4°C temperature range and the ceiling temperature is estimated to be 144° ± 2°C. The effect of short polymer chains on the equilibrium is discussed briefly. Values of ΔG_lc, the free energy of polymerization of one mole of pure liquid monomer to one base-mole of amorphous polymer, are computed making allowance for the non-ideal mixing. Respective values of ?17.5 ± 0.8 kJ/mol and ?47.9 ± 2.2JK^?1mol^?1 are deduced for the corresponding ΔH_lc and ΔS_lc. ΔG_lc is also computed from published data on equilibrium polymerization of 1,3-dioxolan in various solvents and the combined results for both types of polymerization yield ΔH_lc = ?16.7 ± 0.5kJ/mol and ΔS_lc = ?45.8 ± 1.5JK^?1mol^?1 for the 20° to 140°C range.     

Preparation of lot samples of nut meats for mycotoxin assay

A procedure has been devised for preparing lot samples of mycotoxin-contaminated nut meats so that a representative analytical sample may be removed. The sample is rapidly reduced to coarse size. A relatively large portion (about 1/10 of total sample) of subsample is then split out and further comminuted to a fine particle size with the aid of a fat solvent (meat-solvent, w/v, 3:2). The analytical sample is removed from this mixture. The procedure was tested with shelled almonds and shelled walnuts using radioactive nuts to simulate the mycotoxin contamination and provide a simple, precise measure of the contaminated nut meat distribution. The pooled coefficient of variation was 18% for the subsamples and 4.4% for the analytical samples. Considering the dilution factors used (1.50 and 2.14 contaminated nuts/10⁴ nuts) and the low degree of reliability of the lot sample, the sample preparation methods tested appear to be practical and reliable.