Color versus form discrimination learning in 1-year-old infants.

A comparison of form and color discrimination learning in 48 Ss showed that none of the color-trained Ss reached criterion, whereas approximately half of the form-trained Ss did reach criterion. Analysis showed that, in contrast to Ss who were given color problems, Ss who were given form problems showed both an initial curiosity about changes in form and an ability to solve form problems. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Analysis of Instability in Electrical Machines

While there exist numerous studies of electromechanical instabilities of specific electrical machines in constant or periodic speed operation, a broader perspective is not commonly offered. In contrast, a general machine model is used here to present essential and common features of these stability analyses. Fundamental issues are illuminated at this level of generality before specialization to the details of a specific machine. To begin, Park-transformable machines in constant-speed operation are considered. The local dynamics of these machines are linear and time-invariant. For such machines it is shown that instability may be analyzed in a useful way via systematically obtained reduced-order models. This is illustrated by significantly expanding an earlier study of a hybrid stepping motor. The more general situation in which the linearized models that govern local behavior are periodically varying is considered next. Classical Floquet theory is reviewed to provide the tools needed for stability analysis in this situation.     

Transient signal propagation through an inhomogeneous plasma

The propagation of a transient electromagnetic field through a cold, isotropic, lossless, inhomogeneous plasma is considered. The electron density of the plasma decreases exponentially in the direction of propagation. For incident transient signals whose Laplace transforms are regular at infinity and whose only singularities are poles, the transient electric field propagated through the plasma can be expressed as a sum of exponential waves at discrete complex frequencies. The characteristic frequencies of the inhomogeneous plasma are related to the zeros of the modified Bessel function of the first kind of fixed argument and variable order. When the Laplace transform of the incident signal is not well-behaved at infinity, approximate methods may be used to evaluate the transient electric field. The propagation of a step sine wave and of a quasi-monochromatic Gaussian pulse are considered. It is found that for plasmas characteristic of reentry boundary layers, the effect of the plasma layer on dispersion is very small. The principal effect of the layer is to attenuate a signal propagated through it.     

Coenzymes Q in lemon shark liver

Earlier studies have shown that some extracts of nonpolar lipids from lemon shark liver are able to stimulate the reticuloendothelial system (RES) of experimental animals. This communication reports the identification of the coenzymes Q as the constituents of a fraction from lemon shark liver lipid which showed intense biological activity.     

Transforming growth factor-beta inhibits progesterone-induced enkephalinase expression in human endometrial stromal cells

The specific activity of enkephalinase in endometrial tissue of nonpregnant ovulatory women is correlated in a highly significant, positive manner with the plasma level of progesterone. The specific activity and levels of enkephalinase messenger ribonucleic acid and immunoreactive protein also are increased in human endometrial stromal cells in culture by treatment with a synthetic progestin, medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA), in a time- and dose-dependent manner. From an analysis of the temporal relationship between the specific activity and half-life of enkephalinase in endometrial tissue and the level of progesterone in plasma, it appeared highly likely that some mechanism, in addition to progesterone withdrawal, was operative to reduce enkephalinase activity in endometrium during the late luteal phase of the ovarian cycle before progesterone levels had declined below those known to be effective for progesterone action. In stromal cells previously (and concurrently) treated with MPA (10(-9) mol/L), the addition of transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF beta 1) or TGF beta 2 (1 ng/mL) to the medium caused a decrease in enkephalinase specific activity despite the continued presence of MPA. The half-life of enkephalinase (activity) in stromal cells treated with MPA plus TGF beta 1 was 2.8 days, which is similar to the computed half-life for enkephalinase in endometrial tissue during the mid- to late secretory phase of the endometrial cycle (2.5 days). Simultaneous treatment of endometrial stromal cells with MPA (10(-9) mol/L) and TGF beta 1 (1 ng/ mL) prevented the progestin-induced increase in enkephalinase specific activity and immunoreactive enkephalinase protein. Thus, TGF beta acts to oppose the progesterone-induced increase in enkephalinase expression in endometrial stromal cells, even in the continued presence of MPA.     

Degradation dynamics and breakdown of MgO gate oxides

The degradation dynamics of magnesium oxide (MgO) layers in MOS structures has been investigated. It is shown that the shift of the conduction characteristics caused by both ramped and constant voltage stresses is well described by power-law models and that the signature of charge trapping is still visible even after the dielectric breakdown (BD) of the insulating film. The occurrence of progressive BD in 20-nm thick films is also reported.     

Continuous and discrete data rebinning in time-of-flight PET

This paper investigates data compression methods for time-of-flight (TOF) positron emission tomography (PET), which rebin the 3-D TOF measurements into a set of 2-D TOF data for a stack of transaxial slices. The goal of this work is to develop rebinning algorithms that are more accurate than the TOF single-slice-rebinning (TOF-SSRB) method proposed by Mullani in 1982. Two approaches are explored. The first one is based on a partial differential equation, which expresses a consistency condition for TOF-PET data with a Gaussian TOF profile. From this equation we derive an analytical rebinning algorithm, which is unbiased in the limit of continuous sampling. The second approach is discrete: each 2-D rebinned data sample is calculated as a linear combination of the 3-D TOF samples in the same axial plane parallel to the axis of the scanner. The coefficients of the linear combination are precomputed by optimizing a cost function which enforces both accuracy and good variance reduction, models the TOF profile, the axial PSF of the LORs, and the specific sampling scheme of the scanner. Measurements of a thorax phantom on a prototype TOF-PET scanner with a resolution of 550 ps show that the proposed discrete method improves the bias-variance trade-off and is a promising alternative to TOF-SSRB when data compression is required to achieve clinically acceptable reconstruction time.     

Conductivity and space charge in LDPE containing nano- and micro-sized ZnO particles

DC conductivity and ac impedance measurements were made in air and in vacuum on samples of low density polyethylene to which nano-sized and micro-sized ZnO particles and a dispersant had been added. The samples were 150-200 mum thick. The temperature range was 30-70degC. The temperature dependence of the vacuum dc conductivity in samples containing the dispersant and 10% w/w nanosized ZnO followed an Arrhenius relationship closely, the conductivity being 1-2 orders of magnitude lower than that of a sample containing dispersant only. The addition of 10% w/w microsized ZnO had very little effect on the dc conductivity. The ac measurements were made in the frequency range 10 mHz-1 MHz. Addition of nanoparticles increased the ac conductivity at higher frequencies but decreased it at lower frequencies, the cross-over frequency increasing with increasing temperature. The real part of the relative permittivity of samples with nanoparticles was increased relative to that of samples containing dispersant only, at all temperatures, but the corresponding values in samples with microparticles were unchanged, within experimental error. Space charge profiles were obtained using the laser-intensity-modulation-method (LIMM). Space charge densities of order 300 Cm^-3 were measured in the bulk near the electrodes, several hours after poling at field strengths around 30 kV/mm.