Item bias in cognitive screening measures: comparisons of elderly white, Afro-American, Hispanic and high and low education subgroups

A study of item bias in standard cognitive screening measures was conducted in a sample of Afro-American, Hispanic and non-Hispanic white elderly respondents who were part of a dementia case registry study. The methods of item-response theory were applied to identify biased items. Both cross-cultural and high and low education groups were examined to determine which items were biased. Out of 50 cognitive items examined from six widely used cognitive screening measures, 16 were identified as biased for either high and low education groups or ethnic/racial group membership.     

Thermodynamics of carbon dioxide hydrate formation in media with broad pore-size distributions

Equilibrium pressures for the dissociation of carbon dioxide hydrates confined in silica gel pores of nominal radii 7.5, 5.0, and 3.0 nm were measured over a wide temperature range and were observed to be higher than those for bulk carbon dioxide hydrate. Models that have been previously reported in the literature are used to determine the pore radius involved in each equilibrium associated with these data, exactly reproducing the experimental equilibrium pressure. Based on these models, pore volume distributions are reconstructed and compared to those obtained from nitrogen desorption isotherms. This comparison indicates that in the nominal 7.5 nm pores the hydrate formed nearly uniformly in the available pores, while in the nominal 5.0 and 3.0 nm pores it did not.     

Oral and intramuscular phenytoin

After presenting the topographical and pathological basis for the habitual luxation of the shoulder joint, our experience with the Bankart-Müller operation on 38 of our own patients was described. The results are characterized as very good, particularly two years and longer after the operation.     

The cuticle wax of the Cuban palm,Copernicia hospita

The physical and chemical constants characterizing a previously unreported palm wax are given. These are compared to and are quite similar to those of carnauba. There is also reference to certain gross field characteristics such as leaf size, age at time of flowering, and wax yields. The wax compares favorably with carnauba in typical polish compositions.     

Three-dimensional motion capture protocol for seated operator in whole body vibration

A new methodology to measure the response of seated people to whole body vibration (WBV) is presented in this work. The proposed methodology is based on using motion capture systems with reflective markers to detect the position versus time motion of selective landmarks on the human body during vibration while taking into consideration the seatback. The methodology also circumvented the problem of tracking the motion of the physical markers on the lower thoracic and lumbar areas of the spine, which cannot be seen by the cameras due to the existence of the seatback, by introducing virtual (calculated) markers that substitute for the physical markers. Additional (redundant) markers were attached to the segments of interest to generate local coordinate systems that can be used to obtain the trajectories of the virtual markers. Simulated ride files containing both complex vibration and mild impact signals were played back through a man-rated 6 d.f. motion platform. The methodology was tested on three seated subjects; there was considerable agreement between the trajectories of the physical and virtual markers. Error assessments also showed insignificant discrepancy between the physical and virtual markers. The proposed methodology showed encouraging results in WBV testing and may be useful for other applications where people perform tasks in a seated position.

Relevance to industry

People who operate heavy construction machinery can be at increased risk for low back pain and other musculoskeletal problems. WBV in combination with postural constraints is one potential underlying cause for these complaints. However, WBV is difficult to study without altering the typical operator environment as the seatback and armrests often limit the ability to monitor human motion, particularly the lumbar spine. The development of an efficient and effective technique for measuring three-dimensional (3D) displacement data of the lower back region of seated operators in realistic environments exposed to WBV, could advance the development and validation process of computer human modeling in this field. Preventing these problems can save people significant suffering and industry significant cost due to compensation, medical care, lost productivity, and retraining.     

Some determinants of the persuasive power of in-groups and out-groups: Organization of information and attribution of independence.

Four experiments examined the hypothesis that in-groups exert more influence than do out-groups. The hypothesis was supported using both laboratory groups of university students and a natural social category (university affiliation). Ss exposed to in-group communicators attributed greater independence to them, made fewer errors in recalling their messages, and clustered recollections of messages by individual speaker. In addition, the persuasiveness of out-group members was enhanced when individuating information was provided about them that increased their heterogeneity. The individuated out-group members were as influential as in-group communicators. Results were interpreted in terms of attribution and social identity processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

In vitro dissolution of two oral controlled release preparations of diclofenac sodium.

The development of controlled release formulations has brought about the need for appropriate quality control methods such as in vitro dissolution testing. Such tests are principally designed to obtain correlation with the in vivo performance of the formulation (1,2,3). If an in vitro test can be defined offering a good correlation the test may serve for routine quality control or may be useful in screening new drug formulations.     

vBNS: not your father's Internet

The very-high-performance Backbone Network Service (vBNS) is an important part of ongoing efforts by government, industry, and academia to push the state of the art in Internet technologies and academic research applications. It is dedicated to serving research and education institutions whose scientific endeavors require networking performance not possible or not practical with commercial network services. Currently, the vBNS is implemented as an IP-over-ATM network-that is, its network layer (layer 3 of the open systems interconnection reference model promulgated by the International Organization for Standardization) runs the Internet Protocol on top of the asynchronous transfer mode protocol. Those protocols, in turn, run on a synchronous optical network (Sonet) OC-12-622.08-Mb/s-infrastructure. Though access was originally limited to five supercomputer centers and four network access points, the National Science Foundation's High-Performance Connections program is now expanding the vBNS to reach over 100 institutions. The vBNS also has connections to other research networks, both within the United States and abroad. Before describing the architecture of the vBNS, the services it provides, and the metrics developed to assess its performance, the article reviews the background against which it came into being. It also briefly discusses how the vBNS relates to the Next Generation Internet (NGI) and Internet2     

清洁能源发展趋势

能源话题主导了2005年的新闻，紧跟着这些热点新闻报道之后而来的，是猛增的风险投资。分析风险投资进入的力度以及领域可以把握未来清洁能源领域发展的趋势。[编按]