Comment and discussion on digital processing of PD pulses

Some of the more salient aspects of the digital processing technology of PD signals are examined. Most of the efforts in this field are concentrated on the application of digital analyzers for pulse height analysis, pattern recognition and identification of the physical phenomena. It is demonstrated that errors in the signal processing unit can lead to dominant mistakes in the interpretation of the test results     

Improved Estimates for the Accuracy of Small Disjuncts

Learning systems often describe a target class as a disjunction of conjunctions of conditions. Recent work has noted that small disjuncts, i.e., those supported by few training examples, typically have poor predictive accuracy. One model of this accuracy is provided by the Bayes-Laplace formula based on the number of training examples covered by the disjunct and the number of them belonging to the target class. However, experiments show that small disjuncts associated with target classes of different relative frequencies tend to have different error rates. This note defines the context of a disjunct as the set of training examples that fail to satisfy at most one of its conditions. An empirical adaptation of the Bayes-Laplace formula is presented that also makes use of the relative frequency of the target class in this context. Trials are reported comparing the performance of the original formula and the adaptation in six learning tasks.     

E1A second exon requirements for induction of target cell susceptibility to lysis by natural killer cells: implications for the mechanism of action

Recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) at a dose of 1 to 300 micrograms/kg/day was administered intravenously to rats daily for 13 weeks. Serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity increased dose-dependently with leukocytosis. Most of the increased leukocytes were segmented neutrophils, and neutrophil alkaline phosphatase (NAP) scores were elevated markedly. Serum ALP activity correlated very well with the segmented neutrophil counts, and the coefficient of correlation was more than 0.97 in both sexes. Pathological examinations revealed splenomegaly and a marked increase in neutrophils in the red pulp of the spleen. In the spleen, phagocytosis of neutrophils by macrophages was observed. These data indicate that the increased ALP was of neutrophil origin. Serum ALP activity may be increased by the direct release of ALP from the high number of neutrophils into the blood, or by the leakage of ALP into the blood mainly from the spleen where many neutrophils are pooled and destroyed by the macrophage system.     

Development of the meshless finite volume particle method with exact and efficient calculation of interparticle area

The Finite Volume Particle Method (FVPM) is a meshless method based on a definition of interparticle area which is closely analogous to cell face area in the classical finite volume method. In previous work, the interparticle area has been computed by numerical integration, which is a source of error and is extremely expensive. We show that if the particle weight or kernel function is defined as a discontinuous top-hat function, the particle interaction vectors may be evaluated exactly and efficiently. The new formulation reduces overall computational time by a factor between 6.4 and 8.2. In numerical experiments on a viscous flow with an analytical solution, the method converges under all conditions. Significantly, in contrast with standard FVPM and SPH, error depends on particle size but not on particle overlap (as long as the computational domain is completely covered by particles). The new method is shown to be superior to standard FVPM for shock tube flow and inviscid steady transonic flow. In benchmarking on a viscous multiphase flow application, FVPM with exact interparticle area is shown to be competitive with a mesh-based volume-of-fluid solver in terms of computational time required to resolve the structure of an interface.     

Precarious employment, working hours, work-life conflict and health in hotel work

Precarious or temporary work is associated with adverse outcomes including low control over working hours, work-life conflict and stress. The rise in precarious employment is most marked in the service sector but little research has been done on its health effects in this sector. This study compares permanent and temporary workers in the hotel industry, where working hours are highly variable. Survey data from 150 workers from eight 3-Star hotels in urban and regional areas around Sydney were analyzed. Forty-five per cent were male and 52 per cent were female. Fifty four per cent were permanent full-time and 46 per cent were temporary workers. The effects of employment status on perceived job security, control over working hours, and work-life conflict are investigated using PLS-Graph 3.0. The effects of control over working hours, on work-life conflict and subsequent health outcomes are also explored. Temporary workers perceived themselves as less in control of their working hours, than permanent workers (β = .27). However, they also reported lower levels of work intensity (β = .25) and working hours (β = .38). The effects of low hours control (β = .20), work intensity (β = .29), and excessive hours (β = .39) on work-life conflict (r² = .50), and subsequent health effects (r² = .30), are illustrated in the final structural equation model.     

Performance of Alcohol and Safer Sex Change Rulers Compared With Readiness to Change Questionnaires.

As part of a larger intervention study, the authors hypothesized that change rulers created for alcohol and safer sex would be equivalent to longer questionnaires. Ninety-six male college students completed rulers and questionnaires for assessing behavior change readiness. Participants' scores on the rulers significantly correlated with their scores on the questionnaires (r = .77 for alcohol; r = .77 for safer sex). In both domains, the rulers outperformed the questionnaires in predicting behavioral intentions, suggesting that the rulers had at least comparable concurrent criterion validity. This finding is the first of its kind in the safe sex literature and suggests that quick assessments of readiness to change are possible. Because the rulers are a continuous measure, the results are consistent with the idea that the change process is continuous rather than a series of discrete stages. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Speech Recognition Technology and Students With Writing Difficulties: Improving Fluency.

The present study investigated the effects of speech recognition technology (SR) and advance planning on children's writing processes. Fluent and less fluent writers, ages 11 to 14, composed 4 narratives, via handwriting and SR, both with and without advance planning. Less fluent children's handwritten narratives were significantly inferior to those of fluent children in terms of length, quality, and surface errors. For less fluent writers, SR (a) significantly increased the length and (b) decreased the surface errors of narratives. Although narrative length related positively to holistic quality, SR did not significantly improve quality. Advance planning helped children to compose more fully developed stories. For children with writing difficulties, advance planning and SR may each independently support text generation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fluid and rigid boundaries of paranoid and nonparanoid schizophrenics on a role-playing task

The concepts of fluid and rigid boundaries were assessed in an improvisational role-playing task in an attempt to differentiate paranoid from nonparanoid schizophrenics. Thirty-one schizophrenic patients divided into paranoid, intermediate, and nonparanoid groups were given an improvisational role-playing task. The resulting scenes were analyzed by Fluid Boundary and Rigid Boundary scales, which were developed on the basis of specific aspects of the physical and verbal representations of characters, objects, and settings. The hypothesis that variations in the disruption or emphasis of representational boundaries differentiate paranoid and nonparanoid symptomatology received support. Paranoid schizophrenics scored higher on the Rigid Boundary scale, i.e erecting and/or exaggerating physical and interpersonal boundaries; and nonparanoid schizophrenics scored higher on Fluid Boundary scale, i.e. showing fused and fluid representations of characters, objects, and settings. Improvisational role-playing seems to hold promise as a medium with diagnostic value.     

Learning Logical Definitions from Relations

This paper describes FOIL, a system that learns Horn clauses from data expressed as relations. FOIL is based on ideas that have proved effective in attribute-value learning systems, but extends them to a first-order formalism. This new system has been applied successfully to several tasks taken from the machine learning literature.