Nicotine withdrawal in chippers and regular smokers: Subjective and cognitive effects.

From previous studies, chippers (very light, long-time cigarette smokers) seem not to be nicotine dependent, despite decades of smoking. The effect of tobacco deprivation on chippers' withdrawal reactions was examined. Matched groups of 26 chippers and 25 regular smokers were studied while abstaining or smoking for 2-day blocks, with assessments administered 5 times daily by palm-top computers. As hypothesized, chippers showed no changes as a result of nicotine deprivation. In contrast, regular smokers demonstrated distinct changes in craving, mood, arousal, and sleep disturbance. The computers also tested participants' cognitive performance. Unlike chippers, regular smokers' performance on complex tasks was slower under deprivation; the effect could not be explained by changes in motor performance or simple reaction time. Results suggest performance may have been improved by nicotine rather than worsened by withdrawal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

BetweenIT: An Interactive Tool for Tight Inbetweening

The generation of inbetween frames that interpolate a given set of key frames is a major component in the production of a 2D feature animation. Our objective is to considerably reduce the cost of the inbetweening phase by offering an intuitive and effective interactive environment that automates inbetweening when possible while allowing the artist to guide, complement, or override the results. Tight inbetweens, which interpolate similar key frames, are particularly time‐consuming and tedious to draw. Therefore, we focus on automating these high‐precision and expensive portions of the process. We have designed a set of user‐guided semi‐automatic techniques that fit well with current practice and minimize the number of required artist‐gestures. We present a novel technique for stroke interpolation from only two keys which combines a stroke motion constructed from logarithmic spiral vertex trajectories with a stroke deformation based on curvature averaging and twisting warps. We discuss our system in the context of a feature animation production environment and evaluate our approach with real production data.     

Australia's housing choices: Retrospect and prospect

This article identifies issues around the Auckland Region's strategy for urban intensification and discusses the ensuing policy implications. Medium density housing forms an important element of the strategy for growth management. Implications for its success are primarily drawn from research into a major housing development in Waitakere City. It is argued that for ideological, political and technical reasons the strategy could be easily undermined. The article also suggests that something of a paradigm shift is underway in urban planning.     

Effects of task strain, social conflict, and emotional activation on ambulatory cardiovascular activity: Daily life consequences of recurring stress in a multiethnic adult sample.

Ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) may be an independent predictor of cardiovascular endpoints, but little is known about its psychosocial determinants. The acute effects of psychosocial processes on cardiovascular activity during daily life were examined by random-effects regression. Healthy adults (N?=?120) were monitored over a 6-day period with ABP monitors and computer-assisted self-report assessments. Task strain, social conflict, and emotional activation were rated following each ABP measurement, as were activity, posture, and other covariates. Results show that blood pressure) (BP) and heart rate (HR) were elevated during periods of emotional activation (high negative affect or high arousal). Diastolic BP was lower during periods involving high decisional control, and HR was lower during high-control, low-demand activities. There were substantial individual differences in the effects of psychosocial influences on ambulatory cardiovascular activity. Psychological factors are reliable determinants of ABP, which may account for the unique predictive value of ABP. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Book review

The Annals of Regional Science -     

A day at a time: Predicting smoking lapse from daily urge.

Smokers who recently quit (N?=?214) monitored smoking urges for up to 26 days after quitting. Computers administered 4–5 assessments daily at random times; participants rated urges on waking and when they experienced temptation episodes. Urge intensity after cessation did not generally exceed urges reported during baseline ad lib smoking. Urge intensity and temptation frequency consistently declined over the quit period. Controlling for urge intensity at baseline, all daily urge intensity measures predicted lapse the following day in proportional hazards survival analyses. Average duration of temptation episodes also predicted lapses; frequency of temptation did not. To isolate the effect of day-to-day variations in urges, participants' nicotine dependence and urge intensity on quit day were controlled for. Only urge intensity at waking still predicted lapse risk; this was not because of this measure being closer in time to the day's lapses. Among lapsers, urge intensity at waking and in temptations rose preceding a lapse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ecological momentary assessment in a behavioral drinking moderation training program.

We assessed predictors of self-reported excessive drinking (>5 drinks) in a sample of heavy drinkers. Participants were randomly assigned to moderation training or a waiting-list control condition. They were trained in ecological momentary assessment (EMA) involving self-monitoring of drinking and other variables on a small hand-held computer, the electronic diary (ED). During the 8-week study, participants were compliant in their use of the ED for both random prompts and the entry of data related to specific drinking episodes. Generalized estimating equations were used to fit models involving predictors related to past history of drinking, aspects of the training program, drinking restraint, and episode-specific mood. The models indicated robust predictors of decreased and increased drinking. Our results suggest that EMA is a useful methodology for assessing drinking and related behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Large-scale biomedical image analysis in grid environments

This paper presents the application of a component-based Grid middleware system for processing extremely large images obtained from digital microscopy devices. We have developed parallel, out-of-core techniques for different classes of data processing operations employed on images from confocal microscopy scanners. These techniques are combined into a data preprocessing and analysis pipeline using the component-based middleware system. The experimental results show that: 1) our implementation achieves good performance and can handle very large datasets on high-performance Grid nodes, consisting of computation and/or storage clusters and 2) it can take advantage of Grid nodes connected over high-bandwidth wide-area networks by combining task and data parallelism.     

Comparison of Corrosion Resistance Properties of Electrophoretically Deposited MoS2 and WS2 Nanosheets Coatings on Mild Steel

Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A - The present work compares the corrosion resistance properties of electrophoretically deposited MoS2 and WS2 nanosheets coatings on mild steel....