Effects of semantic priming on visual encoding of pictures.

We investigated the effects of semantic priming on initial encoding of briefly presented pictures of objects and scenes. Pictures in 4 experiments were presented for varying durations and were followed immediately by a mask. In Exps 1 and 2, pictures of simple objects were either preceded or not preceded by the object's category name (e.g., dog). In Exp 1 we measured immediate object identification; in Exp 2 we measured delayed old/new recognition in which targets and distractors were from the same categories. In Exp 3 naturalistic scenes were either preceded or not preceded by the scene's category name (e.g., supermarket). We measured delayed recognition in which targets and distractors were described by the same category names. In Exps 1–3, performance was better for primed than for unprimed pictures. Exp 4 was similar to Exp 2 in that we measured delayed recognition for simple objects. As in Exps 1–3, a prime that preceded the object improved subsequent memory performance for the object. However, a prime that followed the object did not affect subsequent performance. Together, these results imply that priming leads to more efficient information acquisition. We offer a picture-processing model that accounts for these results. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of therapist experience and patient diagnosis on countertransference.

336 therapists completed questionnaires (including the authors' Experience and Attitude Scale) that assessed attitudes regarding emotional reactions in treatment and reactions to vignettes describing depressed, borderline, and schizophrenic patients, using the Vignette Rating Scale (VRS). Compared to experienced clinicians, students and interns (PhD candidates) were more likely to regret saying things to patients and to feel that their emotions were too strong, too frequent, and needed to be defended against. Patient diagnosis was significantly related to therapist ratings on 19 of the 20 VRS items. Depressed patients evoked a predominance of positive countertransference reactions; borderline patients evoked the greatest degree of anger and irritation and the least degree of liking, empathy, and nurturance; schizophrenic patients received the most complex mix of countertransference feelings, along with the highest perceived need for referral. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hepatitis C virus infection in dialysis patients

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a global health problem, common worldwide, leading to acute and chronic hepatitis and its consequences of hepatocirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Patients on hemodialysis belong to the high-risk group of HCV infection. The prevalence of HCV infection in dialysis patients ranges from 4% to more than 70% in some countries. The main reasons for such a high incidence of infections are a high prevalence of HCV infection in the general population, lack of standard infection precautions and effective vaccination, inadequate disinfection procedures of dialysis machines and other medical equipment, as well as spread of infection from patient to patient, especially in dialytic centers with a high percentage of infected patients. The diagnostic procedures useful in the evaluation of HCV infection are detection of anti-HCV antibodies, identification of HCV RNA, counts of virus copies, and identification of its genome. From the 6 major genotypes and multiple subtypes of the HCV, genotypes 1a and 1b are the most common in Europe and Japan, and 1b is responsible for more severe liver disease and aggressive course leading to liver fibrosis. Antiviral therapy of HCV+ dialysis patients with interferon-alpha (INF-alpha) gives slightly better results than in the general population, but is poorly tolerated and associated with side effects. Although ribavirin in not recommended for dialysis patients, the addition of small doses of this compound to pegylated INF is discussed, especially for patients in whom previous infection treatment failed.     

Aligned carbon nanotubes sandwiched in epitaxial NbC film for enhanced superconductivity

Highly aligned carbon nanotube (CNT) ribbons were sandwiched in epitaxial superconducting NbC films by a chemical solution deposition method. The incorporation of aligned long CNTs into NbC film enhances the normal-state conductivity and improves the superconducting properties of the assembly.     

Holding parents responsible: Is vicarious responsibility the public's answer to juvenile crime?

Parental responsibility laws hold parents accountable for the delinquent behaviors of their children even when parents' actions are not the direct cause of an offense. Despite the prevalence of these laws, we know little about their perceived fairness. Is it reasonable to make parents vicariously responsible for outcomes they could not have foreseen and if so, under what circumstances? Our series of three studies addressed those questions by systematically examining the impact of various situational and dispositional factors on public opinions regarding parental responsibility. Respondents attributed most of the responsibility for a crime to the child, and attributions of responsibility to the parents varied as a function of the child's age. Case characteristics including the type of crime committed and the described parents' actions versus inactions did not consistently influence responsibility attributions. We conclude that people feel rather lukewarm about the notion of vicarious parental responsibility and this indifference may be related to issues surrounding the laws' enforcement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Beneficial Effect of Pt and of Pre-Oxidation on the Oxidation Behaviour of an NiCoCrAlYTa Bond-Coating for Thermal Barrier Coating Systems

The oxidation behaviour of a thermal barrier coating (TBC) system is a major concern as the growth of the thermally grown oxide (TGO) layer on the bond-coating creates stresses that greatly favour the thermal barrier spallation. To delay the loss of the thermal protection provided, research has focused on the bond-coating composition and microstructure as well as on the parameters required for a suitable pre-oxidation treatment before the deposition of the ceramic top coat. Platinum is known to enhance the oxidation/corrosion resistance of MCrAlY coatings. The effect of Pt on the oxidation behaviour of a NiCoCrAlYTa coating was assessed in this study. In addition, pre-oxidation treatments were conducted to determine if the oxidation behaviour of the modified NiCoCrAlYTa coating could be further improved.     

Comparing clinical automated,medical record,and hybrid data sources for diabetes quality measures

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the relative reliability of medical record and clinical automated data, sources commonly used to assess diabetes quality of care. The agreement between diabetes quality measures constructed from clinical automated versus medical record data sources was compared, and the performance of hybrid measures derived from a combination of the two data sources was examined. METHODS: Medical records were abstracted for 1,032 patients with diabetes who received care from 21 facilities in 4 Veterans Integrated Service Networks. Automated data were obtained from a central Veterans Health Administration diabetes registry containing information on laboratory tests and medication use. RESULTS: Success rates were higher for process measures derived from medical record data than from automated data, but no substantial differences among data sources were found for the intermediate outcome measures. Agreement for measures derived from the medical record compared with automated data was moderate for process measures but high for intermediate outcome measures. Hybrid measures yielded success rates similar to those of medical record-based measures but would have required about 50% fewer chart reviews. CONCLUSIONS: Agreement between medical record and automated data was generally high. Yet even in an integrated health care system with sophisticated information technology, automated data tended to underestimate the success rate in technical process measures for diabetes care and yielded different quartile performance rankings for facilities. Applying hybrid methodology yielded results consistent with the medical record but required less data to come from medical record reviews.     

Near-lossless and lossy compression of imaging spectrometer data: comparison of information extraction performance

We investigate the ability to derive meaningful information from decompressed imaging spectrometer data. Hyperspectral images are compressed with near-lossless and lossy coding methods. Linear prediction between the bands is used in both cases. Each band is predicted by a previously transmitted band. The residual is formed by subtracting the prediction from the original data and then is compressed either with a near-lossless bit-plane coder or with the lossy JPEG2000 algorithm. We study the effects of these two types of compression on hyperspectral image processing such as mineral and vegetation content classification using whole- and mixed pixel analysis techniques. The results presented in this paper indicate that an efficient lossy coder outperforms near-lossless method in terms of its impact on final hyperspectral data applications.