CASA and LEAD: Adaptive Cyberinfrastructure for Real-Time Multiscale Weather Forecasting

Two closely linked projects aim to dramatically improve storm forecasting speed and accuracy. CASA is creating a distributed, collaborative, adaptive sensor network of low-power, high-resolution radars that respond to user needs. LEAD offers dynamic workflow orchestration and data management in a Web services framework designed to support on-demand, real-time, dynamically adaptive systems     

Computational complexity and constraint logic programming languages

We give a complexity analysis of a variety of languages across the spectrum of the CLP scheme. By varying the logic and memory management, the role of the constraints and the role of the logic can be measured. The analysis clarifies the relation between linear/integer programming and constraint logic programming. We also determine how the power of constraints can easily lead to undecidable queries in Datalog languages with constraints. This work is motivated in large part by the problems of efficient implementation of CLP languages and the concomitant need for low level constraint languages.Research partially supported by PSC-CUNY Grant 669287.Research partially supported by NSF Grant IRI-8902511.     

Traumatic brain injury and memory: The role of hippocampal atrophy.

In traumatically brain-injured (TBI) patients (n?=?83), memory performance was examined on the Warrington Recognition Memory Test, Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure, and the Logical Memory and Visual Reproduction subtests of the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised in relationship to time postinjury and structural changes based on MRI volumetry, including hippocampus volume. Significant trauma-induced changes were observed, including hippocampal atrophy. Structure-function relationships generally became significant only after 90 days postinjury. Memory tended to relate more to the degree of hippocampal atrophy, particularly left hippocampus, than to nonspecific indicators such as the temporal horns or the ventricle-to-brain ratio. A stronger relationship with left versus right hippocampus was evident for measures of verbal and supposedly nonverbal memory. These results are discussed with regard to the role the hippocampus may play in a neural system of memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A mucosal IgA response, but no systemic antibody response, is evoked by intranasal immunisation of dogs with Echinococcus granulosus surface antigens iscoms

Current understanding of the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis has provided evidence that therapeutic benefit can be achieved by using antagonists targeted to the inflammatory cytokines involved, mainly tumour necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-1. Gene delivery of antagonists, which can inhibit the production or action of these cytokines and other mediators, has been achieved in experimental animal models. This new method of delivery can produce therapeutic effects at lower concentrations and in a local environment, overcoming the adverse effects that often accompany protein therapy. However, several technological and biological restraints preclude the immediate adaptation of this method to human treatment. Based on the experimental evidence, possible target therapeutic genes, cell types and vector systems that could be used are discussed in this article.     

Neonatal exposure to cocaine enhances the reward-potentiating properties of the drug in young adult animals.

Either cocaine (20 mg/kg) or saline vehicle was administered to rat pups once daily on postnatal days 1–8. The enhancement of braid stimulation reward (BSR) by acute administration of cocaine (2.5, 5, and 10 mg/kg ip) was assessed in adult offspring (70–90 days of age) using a rate-frequency curve-shift paradigm. Acute administration of cocaine produced orderly dose-related shifts of the rate-frequency function toward lower frequencies in all groups indicating a reward-enhancing effect of the drug on BSR. However, offspring neonatally exposed to cocaine displayed a greater drug-induced potentiation of BSR. Of particular note, the small but significant enhancement of the reward-potentiating properties of cocaine was more pronounced in female offspring neonatally exposed to the drug. These findings indicate that the rewarding properties of cocaine were altered by neonatal exposure to the drug in a sexually dimorphic fashion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social scientists and decision makers look at the usefulness of mental health research.

Interviewed 100 social scientists and 155 decision makers in mental health about what makes social research useful for public policy. Contrary to the expectations of the social scientists, the 2 groups evaluated research and the research-to-policy connection in much the same ways. Where there were disagreements, social scientists overestimated the role of political considerations and underestimated the role of scientific merit in decision makers' judgments of what is useful. The pattern of results suggests that the most important difference between groups lies in their notions of what it means to use research. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Infants' reactions to perceptual paradox during mother–infant interaction.

36 3-mo-old infants interacted with their mothers under conditions in which they could see and hear their mothers (correlated auditory plus visual information: A?+?V), see but not hear their mothers (V), and hear but not see their mothers (A); the latter 2 conditions are termed perceptual paradox. The interactions were videotaped, and the Ss' behavior was judged by naive observers who used a subjective 7-point rating scale of infant affect. For 2 groups of Ss, 3 1-min presentations of the A?+?V condition were alternated with 3 1-min presentations of either A (Group 1) or V (Group 2) conditions. In both groups, Ss were judged as being more distressed during unimodal presentations than during bimodal presentations. In a 3rd group, unimodal (A) presentations were alternated with unimodal (V) presentations. Ss in this group were significantly more distressed when they could hear but not see their mothers than when they could see but not hear their mothers. Results demonstrate the suitability of global subjective ratings of affective state in studies of infant perception. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Child custody decisions in divorce proceedings: A survey of judges.

Examined 57 judges' self-report of the relative importance they assign various factors in deciding custody in a divorce. Results of the survey demonstrate a hierarchical consideration of factors and the presence of 2 major dimensions in the judges' decision process: Judges assess parents according to their status as responsible members of the community and take into account alternative opinions on what will be best for the child. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

As failures mount: Affective and cognitive consequences of ability demotion in the classroom.

Hypothesized that reduced plausibility of explanations, such as insufficient study, lead to increasing self-attributions to inability that in turn mediate shame and lowered expectancies for future success. 339 undergraduates were administered a series of tests and the Michigan State Self-Concept of Ability Scale. Ss who experienced successive subjective failure gave postdictive explanations for each failure, indicated degree of shame, and rated expectancy for future success. Ss experiencing belated success after an initial failure were also examined. Path analysis confirmed self-worth predictions and suggested that despair observed in the learned helplessness paradigm occurred not so much from the noncontingent reinforcement of effort as from Ss' failure to protect a sense of personal competency. (65 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dietary intake of essential and long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in pregnancy

The dietary intake of EFA and long-chain PUFA (LCPUFA) by women with (n=14) and without (n=31) gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) was determined by repeated 24-h recalls. Women with GDM consumed significantly more energy as fat compared with women who had uncomplicated pregnancies; absolute dietary fat did not differ. Dietary n−3 LCPUFA was substantially lower than the current recommendation for pregnancy, whereas intake of saturated FA (SFA) exceeded it. We conclude that replacing dietary sources of SFA with those of EFA and LCPUFA, especially n−3 LCPUFA, would benefit the dietary fat profiles of all pregnant women.