bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Sources of variance in the audiovisual perception of speech in noise
Authors: Nahanni Celina C. , Deonarine Justin M. , Paré Martin , Munhall Kevin G.
Published: November 2012

The sight of a talker’s face dramatically influences the perception of auditory speech. This effect is most commonly observed when subjects are presented audiovisual (AV) stimuli in the presence of acoustic noise. However, the magnitude of the gain in perception that vision adds varies considerably in published work. Here we report data from an ongoing study of individual differences in AV speech perception when English words are presented in an acoustically noisy background. A large set of monosyllablic nouns was presented at 7 signal-to-noise ratios (pink noise) in both AV and auditory-only (AO) presentation modes. The stimuli were divided into 14 blocks of 25 words and each block was equated for spoken frequency using the SUBTLEXus database (Brysbaert and New, 2009). The presentation of the stimulus blocks was counterbalanced across subjects for noise level and presentation. In agreement with Sumby and Pollack (1954), the accuracy of both AO and AV increase monotonically with signal strength with the greatest visual gain being when the auditory signal was weakest. These average results mask considerable variability due to subject (individual differences in auditory and visual perception), stimulus (lexical type, token articulation) and presentation (signal and noise attributes) factors. We will discuss how these sources of variance impede comparisons between studies.
Moods alter audiovisual integration
Authors: Kitamura Miho , Watanabe Katsumi , Kitagawa Norimichi
Published: November 2012

Multisensory integration depends on the temporal proximity of events in different modalities. Recent studies have shown that multisensory temporal binding may be related to individual traits (Foss-Feig et al., 2010; Stevenson et al., 2012). Here we show that positive moods in observers enhance the temporal binding of audiovisual multisensory integration. Twenty-five healthy participants observed two identical visual disks moving toward each other, coinciding, and moving away. The two disks were perceived as either streaming through or bouncing off each other (stream/bounce display), and a belief sound around the visual coincidence facilitated bouncing perception (Sekuler et al., 1997; Watanabe and Shimojo, 2001). We asked the participants to report whether the two disks appeared to stream through or bounce off while listening to either exhilarating music of their own choice or a neutral pink noise. The results showed that the participants listening to exhilarating music reported bouncing percept more frequently. The proportion of bouncing percepts was correlated with the valence rating rather than the arousal rating during the experiment. These results suggest that positive moods enhance the temporal binding process in audiovisual integration.
Sensorimotor temporal recalibration within and across limbs
Authors: Yarrow Kielan , Sverdrup-Stueland Ingvild , Arnold Derek
Published: November 2012

Repeated presentation of artificially induced delays between actions and events leads to shifts in participants’ subjective simultaneity towards the adapted lag. This sensorimotor temporal recalibration generalises across sensory modalities, presumably via a shift in the motor component. Here we examined two overlapping questions regarding (1) the level of representation of temporal recalibration (by testing whether it also generalises across limbs) and (2) the neural underpinning of the shift in the motor component (by comparing adaption magnitude in the foot relative to the hand). An adaption-test paradigm was used, with hand or foot adaptation, and same-limb and cross-limb test phases that used a synchrony judgement task. By demonstrating that temporal recalibration occurs in the foot, we confirmed that it is a robust motor phenomenon. Shifts in the distribution of participants’ synchrony responses were quantified using a detection-theoretic model of the SJ task, where a shift of both boundaries together gives a stronger indication that the effect is not simply a result of decision bias. The results showed a significant shift in both boundaries in the same-limb conditions, whereas there was only a shift of the higher boundary in the cross-limb conditions. These two patterns most likely reflect a genuine shift in neural timing, and a criterion shift, respectively.
Audiovisual synchrony perception of walkers as a function of distance and depth cues
Authors: Silva Carlos C. , Santos Jorge A.
Published: November 2012

Audiovisual perception is still an intriguing phenomenon, especially when we think about the physical and neuronal differences underlying the perception of sound and light. Physically, there is a delay of ∼3 ms/m between the emission of a sound and its arrival to the observer but, on the other hand, we know that acoustic transduction is a very fast process (∼1 ms). Conversely, light speed makes negligible the physical delay while phototransduction is quite slow (∼50 ms). Audio and visual stimuli that are temporally mismatched can be perceived as a coherent audiovisual stimulus, but a sound delay is often required to achieve a better synchrony perception. In this study, we analyze the Point of Subjective Synchrony (PSS) as a function of stimulus distance to understand if individuals take into account sound velocity or if they compensate for differences in transduction time when judging synchrony. Using an audiovisual virtual-reality environment (CAVE-Like) with Point Light Walkers (PLW) as visual stimulus and sound of steps as audio stimulus, audiovisual sequences were presented from −285 to +300 ms of audio asynchrony, at different distances from the observer (10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 m), and in three different conditions which differ only in the number of visual and auditory depth cues. The results show a relation between PSS and stimulus distance congruent with the differences in propagation velocity between sound and light. Depending on the number of depth cues presented, this relation appears to be increasingly closer to a model based on compensation for these physical differences.
Ignoring in vision and touch — is it really the same?
Authors: Frings Christian
Published: November 2012

Living in a complex world, our cognitive system has to rely on efficient processes to attend to task-relevant objects while ignoring the currently irrelevant and possibly interfering ones. In this talk I compare ignoring of distracting stimuli between vision and touch. In particular, aftereffects of ignored distractors (i.e., negative priming) were found to be different for visual as compared to tactile distractors. Tactile distractors led to larger effects as visual ones and were observed under conditions in which no effects are typically reported using visual material (Frings et al., 2011). In addition, Gestalt or grouping effects modulated the processing of tactile distractors in a more complex fashion as compared to vision (Frings and Spence, submitted). In sum, so far the evidence suggests differences in distractor processing between the modalities.
Visual benefit in bimodal training with highly distorted speech sound
Authors: Sato Mika , Kawase Tetsuaki , Sakamoto Shuichi , Suzuki Yôiti , Kobayashi Toshimitsu
Published: November 2012

Artificial auditory devices such as cochlear implants (CIs) and auditory brainstem implants (ABIs) have become standard means to manage profound sensorineural hearing loss. However, because of their structural limitations compared to the cochlea and the cochlear nucleus, the generated auditory sensations are still imperfect. Recipients need postoperative auditory rehabilitation. To improve these rehabilitation programs, this study evaluated the effects of bimodal (audio–visual) training under seven experimental conditions of distorted speech sound, named noise-vocoded speech sound (NVSS), which is similarly processed with a speech processor of CI/ABI. Word intelligibilities under the seven conditions of two-band noise-vocoded speech were measured for auditory (A), visual (V) and auditory–visual (AV) modalities after a few hours of bimodal (AV) training. The experiment was performed with 56 subjects with normal hearing. Performance of A and AV word recognition was significantly different under the seven auditory conditions. The V word intelligibility was not influenced by the condition of combined auditory cues. However, V word intelligibility was correlated with AV word recognition under all frequency conditions. Correlation between A and AV word intelligibilities was ambiguous. These findings suggest the importance of visual cues in AV speech perception under extremely degraded auditory conditions, and underscore the importance of the possible effectiveness of bimodal audio–visual training in postoperative rehabilitation for patients with postlingual deafness who have undergone artificial auditory device implantation.
Processing of audiovisual phonological incongruency depends on awareness
Authors: Adam Ruth , Noppeney Uta
Published: November 2012

Capacity limitations of attentional resources allow only a fraction of sensory inputs to enter our awareness. Most prominently, in the attentional blink, the observer fails to detect the second of two rapidly successive targets that are presented in a sequence of distractor items. This study investigated whether phonological (in)congruency between visual target letters and spoken letters is modulated by subjects’ awareness. In a visual attentional blink paradigm, subjects were presented with two visual targets (buildings and capital Latin letters, respectively) in a sequence of rapidly presented distractor items. A beep was presented always with T1. We manipulated the presence/absence and phonological congruency of the spoken letter that was presented concurrently with T2. Subjects reported the identity of T1 and T2 and reported the visibility of T2. Behaviorally, subjects correctly identified T2 when it was reported to be either visible or unsure, while performances were below chance level when T2 was reported to be invisible. At the neural level, the anterior cingulate was activated for invisible > unsure > visible T2. In contrast, visible relative to invisible trials increased activation in bilateral cerebellum, pre/post-central gyri extending into parietal sulci and bilateral inferior occipital gyri. Incongruency effects were observed in the left inferior frontal gyrus, caudate nucleus and insula only for visible stimuli. In conclusion, phonological incongruency is processed differently when subjects are aware of the visual stimulus. This indicates that multisensory integration is not automatic but depends on subjects’ cognitive state.
An acquired deficit of intermodal temporal processing for audiovisual speech: A case study
Authors: Drebing Daniel , Medina Jared , Coslett H. Branch , Shenton Jeffrey T. , Hamilton Roy H.
Published: November 2012

Integrating sensory information across modalities is necessary for a cohesive experience of the world; disrupting the ability to bind the multisensory stimuli arising from an event leads to a disjointed and confusing percept. We previously reported (Hamilton et al., 2006) a patient, AWF, who suffered an acute neural incident after which he displayed a distinct inability to integrate auditory and visual speech information. While our prior experiments involving AWF suggested that he had a deficit of audiovisual speech processing, they did not explore the hypothesis that his deficits in audiovisual integration are restricted to speech. In order to test this notion, we conducted a series of experiments aimed at testing AWF’s ability to integrate cross-modal information from both speech and non-speech events. AWF was tasked with making temporal order judgments (TOJs) for videos of object noises (such as hands clapping) or speech, wherein the onsets of auditory and visual information were manipulated. Results from the experiments show that while AWF performed worse than controls in his ability to accurately judge even the most salient onset differences for speech videos, he did not differ significantly from controls in his ability to make TOJs for the object videos. These results illustrate the possibility of disruption of intermodal binding for audiovisual speech events with spared binding for real-world, non-speech events.
The rubber hand illusion and the tactile Simon effect
Authors: Iannacone Michael , Medina Jared
Published: November 2012

We examined the effects of the rubber hand illusion on representing tactile stimuli using the Simon effect. In a tactile Simon effect task, participants are instructed to make intensity judgments (using foot pedal responses) to tactile stimuli presented to the hands. Participants are faster when the tactile stimulus and response foot are on the same versus opposite side of the body, regardless of whether the limbs are crossed or uncrossed. Furthermore, participants are faster overall when the hands are crossed versus uncrossed. In this study, participants engaged in a tactile Simon effect experiment with rubber hands positioned directly above the participants’ hidden hands, and with real and rubber hands stroked before each experimental block. Each participant was tested in four blocks, manipulating real and rubber hand position (crossed or uncrossed). First, we found that participants responded faster with real or rubber hands crossed, demonstrating that crossing the hands (real or rubber) can hasten tactile intensity judgments. Furthermore, on trials when the rubber hands were crossed, high ownership ratings for the rubber hand were significantly correlated with faster reaction times. Finally, we found a significantly more robust Simon effect when the rubber hands (but not real hands) were crossed. We discuss these findings with reference to how integration of rubber hands into the body schema influences how we represent the location of tactile stimuli.
From observation to enactment: Can dance experience enhance multisensory temporal integration?
Authors: Sgouramani Helena , Muller Chris , van Noorden Leon , Leman Marc , Vatakis Argiro
Published: November 2012

We report two experiments aiming to define how experience and stimulus enactment affect multisensory temporal integration for ecologically-valid stimuli. In both experiments, a number of different dance steps were used as audiovisual displays at a range of stimulus onset asynchronies using the method of constant stimuli. Participants were either professional dancers or non-dancers. In Experiment 1, using a simultaneity judgment (SJ) task, we aimed at defining — for the first time — the temporal window of integration (TWI) for dancers and non-dancers and the role of experience in SJ performance. Preliminary results showed that dancers had smaller TWI in comparison to non-dancers for all stimuli tested, with higher complexity (participant rated) dance steps requiring larger auditory leads for both participant groups. In Experiment 2, we adapted a more embodied point of view by examining how enactment of the stimulus modulates the TWIs. Participants were presented with simple audiovisual dance steps that could be synchronous or asynchronous and were asked to synchronize with the audiovisual display by actually performing the step indicated. A motion capture system recorded their performance at a millisecond level of accuracy. Based on the optimal integration hypothesis, we are currently looking at the data in terms of which modality will be dominant, considering that dance is a spatially (visual) and temporally (audio) coordinated action. Any corrective adjustments, accelerations–decelerations, hesitations will be interpreted as indicators of the perception of ambiguity in comparison to their performance at the synchronous condition, thus, for the first time, an implicit SJ response will be measured.
Restricted recovery of external remapping of tactile stimuli after restoring vision in a congenitally blind man
Authors: Ley Pia , Bottari Davide , Shenoy Bhamy Hariprasad , Kekunnaya Ramesh , Roeder Brigitte
Published: November 2012

People with surgically removed congenital dense bilateral cataracts offer a natural model of visual deprivation and reafferentation in humans to investigate sensitive periods of multisensory development, for example regarding the recruitment of external or anatomical frames of reference for spatial representation. Here we present a single case (HS; male; 33 years; right-handed), born with congenital dense bilateral cataracts. His lenses were removed at the age of two years, but he received optical aids only at age six. At time of testing, his visual acuity was 30% in the best eye. We performed two tasks, a tactile temporal order judgment task (TOJ) in which two tactile stimuli were presented successively to the index fingers located in the two hemifields, adopting a crossed and uncrossed hand posture. The participant judged as precisely as possible which side was stimulated first. Moreover, we used a crossmodal-congruency task in which a tactile stimulus and an irrelevant visual distracter were presented simultaneously but independently to one of four positions. The participant judged the location (index or thumb) of the tactile stimulus with hands crossed or uncrossed. Speed was emphasized. In contrast to sighted controls, HS did not show a decrement of TOJ performance with hands crossed. Moreover, while the congruency gain was equivalent to sighted controls with uncrossed hands, this effect was significantly reduced with hands crossed. Thus, an external remapping of tactile stimuli still develops after a long phase of visual deprivation. However, remapping seems to be less efficient and to only take place in the context of visual stimuli.
Secularization, Deprivatization, and the Reappearance of ‘Public Religion’ in Japanese Society
Authors: Mullins Mark R.
Published: November 2012

Abstract

Sociological theories about the fate of religion in modern societies originated in Europe and were initially based on the history of Western Christianity. Whether or not these theoretical perspectives are useful for the analysis of other religious traditions in non-Western regions of the world has been the focus of considerable debate for decades. This article engages some of the familiar theories of secularization in light of major developments in Japanese religion and society over the past two centuries. While it has been widely assumed that modernization inevitably brings with it a decline in religion, the first phase of this process in Japan was accompanied by the creation of a powerful new form of religion—State Shintō—that served to unite the nation around a common set of symbols and institutions for half a century. This was followed by the rapid and forced secularization of Shintō during the Allied Occupation (1945-1952), which essentially privatized or removed it from public institutions. Since the end of the Occupation, however, there has been an ongoing movement to restore the special status of Shintō and its role in the public sphere. Even though recent case studies and survey research indicate that individual religiosity and organized religions are facing serious decline today, the reappearance of religion in public life and institutions represented by this restoration movement also needs to be taken into account in our assessment of secularization in contemporary Japan.
Where does China Stand: the Evolving National Treatment Standard in BITs?
Authors: Cai Lei
Published: November 2012

Up until now, China has already signed more than one hundred bilateral investment treaties (“BITs”). One of the most significant changes among these BITs is arguably China’s attitude towards national treatment standard, which gradually evolves from “restrictive” to a more “liberal” extent. In the meantime, China’s dual role as both capital-importing and capital-exporting adds more challenges as to how to strike a balance between protecting its own overseas investors and maintaining its traditional sovereignty power. This paper examines China’s stance through the evolution of national treatment in its BITs and addresses China’s concerns behind its cautious liberalization process.
Discrimination within Religious Schools
Authors: Spinner-Halev Jeff
Published: November 2012

Places of contact between religion and the state has increased considerably over time; as this overlap has increased, liberals have increasingly seen fit to call for state intervention in religions that are internally discriminatory in the name of equal citizenship. By looking at the issue of direct and indirect state support for discriminatory schools, I argue for a more pluralistic and tolerant view of religion than that of many liberals. Preserving diversity is an important liberal good that should not lost sight of, though there are limits to the kinds of discrimination the liberal state should support. Much of my argument rests on the distinction between direct and indirect support. The liberal state should impose strict standards on funds it grants directly to organizations, but it should be more relaxed for indirect support it gives, except in exceptional circumstances.
Reflection on design and testing of pancreatic alpha-amylase inhibitors: an in silico comparison between rat and rabbit enzyme models
Authors: Khalil-Moghaddam Shiva , Ebrahim-Habibi Azadeh , Pasalar Parvin , Yaghmaei Parichehreh , Hayati-Roodbari Nasim
Published: November 2012

Background

Inhibitors of pancreatic alpha-amylase are potential drugs to treat diabetes and obesity. In order to find compounds that would be effective amylase inhibitors,in vitroandin vivomodels are usually used. The accuracy of models is limited, but these tools are nonetheless valuable.In vitromodels could be used in large screenings involving thousands of chemicals that are tested to find potential lead compounds.In vivomodels are still used as preliminary mean of testing compounds behavior in the whole organism. In the case of alpha-amylase inhibitors, both rats and rabbits could be chosen asin vivomodels. The question was which animal could present more accuracy with regard to its pancreatic alpha-amylase.

Results

As there is no crystal structure of these enzymes, a molecular modeling study was done in order to compare the rabbit and rat enzymes with the human one. The overall result is that rabbit enzyme could probably be a better choice in this regard, but in the case of large ligands, which could make putative interactions with the −4 subsite of pancreatic alpha-amylase, interpretation of results should be made cautiously.

Conclusion

Molecular modeling tools could be used to choose the most suitable model enzyme that would help to identify new enzyme inhibitors. In the case of alpha-amylase, three-dimensional structures of animal enzymes show differences with the human one which should be taken into account when testing potential new drugs.
From cytogenomic to epigenomic profiles: monitoring the biologic behavior of in vitro cultured human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells
Authors: Redaelli Serena , Bentivegna Angela , Foudah Dana , Miloso Mariarosaria , Redondo Juliana , Riva Gabriele , Baronchelli Simona , Dalprà Leda , Tredici Giovanni
Published: November 2012

Introduction

Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) are multipotent cells that can differentiate into different cell lineages and have emerged as a promising tool for cell-targeted therapies and tissue engineering. Their use in a therapeutic context requires large-scale in vitro expansion, increasing the probability of genetic and epigenetic instabilities. Some evidence shows that an organized program of replicative senescence is triggered in human BM-MSCs (hBM-MSCs) on prolonged in vitro expansion that includes alterations in phenotype, differentiation potential, telomere length, proliferation rates, global gene-expression patterns, and DNA methylation profiles.

Methods

In this study, we monitored the chromosomal status, the biologic behavior, and the senescence state of hBM-MSCs derived from eight healthy donors at different passages during in vitro propagation. For a more complete picture, the telomere length was also monitored in five of eight donors, whereas the genomic profile was evaluated in three of eight donors by array-comparative genomic hybridization (array-CGH). Finally, an epigenomic profile was delineated and compared between early and late passages, by pooling DNA of hBM-MSCs from four donors.

Results

Our data indicate that long-term culture severely affects the characteristics of hBM-MSCs. All the observed changes (that is, enlarged morphology, decreased number of cell divisions, random loss of genomic regions, telomere shortening) might be regulated by epigenetic modifications. Gene Ontology analysis revealed that specific biologic processes of hBM-MSCs are affected by variations in DNA methylation from early to late passages.

Conclusions

Because we revealed a significant decrease in DNA methylation levels in hBM-MSCs during long-term culture, it is very important to unravel how these modifications can influence the biologic features of hBM-MSCs to keep track of this organized program and also to clarify the conflicting observations on hBM-MSC malignant transformation in the literature.
Towards establishing a viable macroeconomic and medium-term fiscal framework integrated approach for the Iraqi economy
Authors: Al-Ali Hashim
Published: November 2012

This article intends to shed light on the importance of a functional link between medium-term macroeconomic framework and fiscal framework, to steer the economy towards achieving its development objectives and priorities in a coordinated manner. A medium-term macroeconomic framework
should, however, delineate and quantify the main development objectives reflecting, to greater extent, the actual needs of the society and the strategic goals of the economy, such as positive real GDP growth, economic diversification, low rate of unemployment, manageable inflation rate and
sectorial development priorities and sectorial allocation of investment/contribution to growth and development, poverty reduction and uplifting society's well-being. These and other objectives are obviously subject to a number of financial, investment, technical and absorptive capacity constraints.
Accordingly, it is imperative, nonetheless, to optimize the state of the macroeconomy given these constraints. Thus, this derived feasible macroeconomic setting should be used as the main developmental base to structure the country's medium-term fiscal and budgetary framework. By doing so,
the national economy would achieve, the aimed at, macroeconomic stability - achieving real growth without bottlenecks - and longer-term fiscal sustainability.

Furthermore, the article would attempt to bring together all significant development pillars in an integrated framework to produce
a more developmental oriented federal budget for the Iraqi economy. This would be approached analytically with relevant illustrations.
BOOK REVIEW
Authors: Yaslıçimen Faruk
Published: November 2012

THE OTTOMAN ORIGINS OF MODERN IRAQ: POLITICAL REFORM, MODERNIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY MIDDLE EAST, EBUBEKIR CEYLAN (2011) London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 297 + xvi pp., ISBN 978-1-84885-425-3 (hbk), £50.58.
Feasting our eyes on the accursed ugliness: Famous Monsters, Lon Chaney fandom and undoing male masochism
Authors: Hain Mark Andrew
Published: November 2012

This article examines the influence of fan periodical Famous Monsters of Filmland (FM) and its editor Forrest J Ackerman in keeping silent-era star Lon Chaney in cultural memory and expanding audience use of his star image. Chaney’s many depictions of the suffering male body raise
questions of whether Chaney fandom is symptomatic of male masochism. Considering that many FM readers might have felt marginalized by conventional masculinity, I argue that the magazine’s presentation of Chaney called such conventions into question, and its presentation of Ackerman demonstrated
a successful ‘alternative’ masculinity, encouraging identity play that not only guided FM’s readers past masochism, but prompted new ways of thinking about manhood and self-determination.
I was a (pre-)teenage monster
Authors: Jenkins Henry
Published: November 2012

This piece is a response to the preceding essays, in which Jenkins reflects on his own past as a youthful monster fan and dedicated reader of Famous Monsters in the 1960s.
One-dimensional Ti–O based nanotubes as ion exchanger: synthesis, characterization and application in radiochemical separation of carrier-free 137mBa from 137Cs
Authors: Chakraborty Rajesh , Sen Buddhadeb , Chatterjee Sriparna , Chattopadhyay Pabitra
Published: November 2012

Hydrogen titanate nanotubes (H2Ti3O7) were synthesized by hydrothermal process using 10 M NaOH and TiO2 anatase powder. The material synthesized was characterized by powdered X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to ensure the structural and morphological details of the above said nanotubes. This nanosized material behaved as a cation exchanger and it was employed to separate carrier-free 137mBa from 137Cs in column chromatographic technique using 1.0 M HNO3 as eluting agent.
Age, Academic Performance, and Stimulant Prescribing for ADHD: A Nationwide Cohort Study
Authors: Zoëga Helga , Valdimarsdóttir Unnur A. , Hernández-Díaz Sonia
Published: November 2012

BACKGROUND:

We evaluated whether younger age in class is associated with poorer academic performance and an increased risk of being prescribed stimulants for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

METHODS:

This was a nationwide population-based cohort study, linking data from national registries of prescribed drugs and standardized scholastic examinations. The study population comprised all children born in 1994–1996 who took standardized tests in Iceland at ages 9 and 12 (n = 11 785). We estimated risks of receiving low test scores (0–10th percentile) and being prescribed stimulants for ADHD. Comparisons were made according to children’s relative age in class.

RESULTS:

Mean test scores in mathematics and language arts were lowest among the youngest children in the fourth grade, although the gap attenuated in the seventh grade. Compared with the oldest third, those in the youngest third of class had an increased relative risk of receiving a low test score at age 9 for mathematics (1.9; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.6–2.2) and language arts (1.8; 95% CI 1.6–2.1), whereas at age 12, the relative risk was 1.6 in both subjects. Children in the youngest third of class were 50% more likely (1.5; 95% CI 1.3–1.8) than those in the oldest third to be prescribed stimulants between ages 7 and 14.

CONCLUSIONS:

Relative age among classmates affects children’s academic performance into puberty, as well as their risk of being prescribed stimulants for ADHD. This should be taken into account when evaluating children’s performance and behavior in school to prevent unnecessary stimulant treatment.
Examples of cable-stayed bridges designed in Finland
Authors: Järvenpää Esko , Pulkkinen Pekka
Published: November 2012

The design of bridges is an innovative process led by the bridge engineer. The bridge designer needs help from landscape architects and from architects interested in bridge structures to find the most pleasing aesthetic solution and details. Early in the 1990s cable-stayed bridges became popular in Finland. The construction of Lumberjack's Candle Bridge near the Arctic circle attracted much publicity. The bridge celebrated its 20th anniversary in September 2009. The next cable-stayed bridge, Tähtiniemi Bridge in a beautiful lake landscape, was also well accepted. Saame Bridge between Norway and Finland over the valuable salmon and border river Teno continued the story. One of the latest successes will be the new Nguyen Van Troi-Tran Thi Ly cable-stayed bridge in Da Nang, Vietnam. This bridge has an inclined tower, wide deck and special cable arrangements. This paper is about these four beautiful bridges.
A New Faces Scale in Pain Measurement: A Test of Bias From Current Mood, Trait Affectivity, and Scale Range
Authors: Elfering Achim , Grebner Simone
Published: November 2012

Background and Purpose: Faces pain rating scales used among children have been criticized to confound affective states with pain when smiling faces are included. This experimental study is an attempt to examine the possible confounding of affective states with pain when smiling faces are used as part of a faces scale. The meaning of the faces was tested to depend on current mood, current pain, trait affectivity, and inclusion versus exclusion of smiling faces. Methods: Sixty-four participants made 6,720 two-categorical pain judgments on faces with different mouth curvature. Results: In multilevel regression analysis, current level of pain and negative trait affectivity biased faces’ meaning only when the smiling faces were excluded from the scale. Conclusions: In adults, the new full range faces pain scale including a midpoint neutral face and smiling faces was more robust than the restricted scale. The faces scale that was tested in this study is not applicable for patient measurement but it is an interesting tool for psychological research.
Development and Testing of the Survey of Family Environment (SFE): A Novel Instrument to Measure Family Functioning and Needs for Family Support
Authors: Hohashi Naohiro , Honda Junko
Published: November 2012

Background and Purpose: Hohashi’s Concentric Sphere Family Environment Model (CSFEM; Hohashi & Honda, 2011) is a newly proposed family nursing theory for holistically understanding the family environment that acts on family well-being. The purpose of this article is to develop and psychometrically test the Japanese version of the Survey of Family Environment (SFE-J), grounded in the CSFEM, for measuring family’s perceived family functioning and family’s perceived needs for family support. Methods: The SFE-J is a 30-item self-administered instrument that assesses five domains (suprasystem, macrosystem, microsystem, family internal environment system, and chronosystem) and has been subjected to rigorous reliability and validity investigations among paired partners in child-rearing families (Nof family = 1,990). Results: Internal consistency reliability was high as measured by Cronbach’s alpha coefficients. Temporal stability over a 2-week interval was supported by high (substantial or perfect) and significant intraclass correlation coefficients. The total score for the SFE-J was significantly correlated with the Japanese version of the Feetham Family Functioning Survey (FFFS-J), indicating an acceptable concurrent validity. Construct validity was supported by a confirmatory factor analysis that evaluated the five-factor structure to measure the concept of CSFEM. Results also demonstrate that the SFE-J family functioning scores show no significant differences between paired partners. Conclusions: The SFE-J is a reliable and valid instrument to assess not only intrafamily functioning but also interfamily functioning and, by identifying items/domains with high requirements for family support, serves to facilitate the providing of appropriate support to families.
Socialist modern global
Authors: Guga Stefan
Published: November 2012

Lewis H. Siegelbaum., ed. 2011. The socialist car: Automobility in the Eastern Bloc. Ithaca, NY: Cornell
University Press. vii + 242 pages.

Gabrielle Hecht, ed. 2011. Entangled geographies: Empire and technopolitics in the global Cold War.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. x + 337 pages.
On the Porosity of Cu Coatings Formed in Earth-Based and Space Conditions
Authors: Skatkov Leonid , Cheremskoy Petr , Gomozov Valeriy , Bayrachny Boris , Tulskiy Gennadiy , Deribo Svetlana
Published: November 2012

This work surveys the structure, substructure and submicroporosity of Cu metal coatings following condensation both under the conditions of space flight of orbital stations (OS) and under Earth-based conditions. Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and the method of Ar low-temperature desorption were used for investigation. It has been shown that the condensates deposited in space contain less and relatively equiaxial submicropores (SMPs) distributed more homogeneously than Earth-based disperse films.
No Difference in Intra-Arterial and Intramuscular Delivery of Autologous Bone Marrow Cells in Patients with Advanced Critical Limb Ischemia
Authors: Klepanec Andrej , Mistrik Martin , Altaner Cestmir , Valachovicova Martina , Olejarova Ingrid , Slysko Roman , Balazs Tibor , Urlandova Terezia , Hladikova Daniela , Liska Branislav , Tomka Jan , Vulev Ivan , Madaric Juraj
Published: November 2012

Stem cell therapy has been proposed to be an alternative therapy in patients with critical limb ischemia (CLI), not eligible for endovascular or surgical revascularization. We compared the therapeutic effects of intramuscular (IM) and intra-arterial (IA) delivery of bone marrow cells (BMCs) and investigated the factors associated with therapeutic benefits. Forty-one patients (mean age, 66 ± 10 years; 35 males) with advanced CLI (Rutherford category, 5 and 6) not eligible for revascularization were randomized to treatment with 40 ml BMCs using local IM ( n = 21) or selective IA infusion ( n = 20). Primary endpoints were limb salvage and wound healing. Secondary endpoints were changes in transcutaneous oxygen pressure (tcpO2), quality-of-life questionnaire (EQ5D), ankle–brachial index (ABI), and pain scale (0–10). Patients with limb salvage and wound healing were considered to be responders to BMC therapy. At 6-month follow-up, overall limb salvage was 73% (27/37) and 10 subjects underwent major amputation. Four patients died unrelated to stem cell therapy. There was significant improvement in tcpO2(15 ± 10 to 29 ± 13 mmHg, p < 0.001), pain scale (4.4 ± 2.6 to 0.9 ± 1.4, p < 0.001), and EQ5D (51 ± 15 to 70 ± 13, p < 0.001) and a significant decrease in the Rutherford category of CLI (5.0 ± 0.2 to 4.3 ± 1.6, p < 0.01). There were no differences among functional parameters in patients undergoing IM versus IA delivery. Responders ( n = 27) were characterized by higher CD34+cell counts in the bone marrow concentrate (CD34+29 ± 15×106vs. 17 ± 12×106, p < 0.05) despite a similar number of total nucleated cells (4.3 ± 1.4×109vs. 4.1 ± 1.2×109, p = 0.66) and by a lower level of C-reactive protein (18 ± 28 vs. 100 ± 96 mg/L, p < 0.05) as well as serum leukocytes (8.3 ± 2.1×109/L vs. 12.3 ± 4.5×109/L, p < 0.05) as compared with nonresponders (10 patients). Both IM and IA delivery of autologous stem cells are effective therapeutic strategies in patients with CLI. A higher concentration of CD34+cells and a lower degree of inflammation are associated with better clinical therapeutic responses.
How do Less Advanced Forecasting Methods Perform on Weekly RevPAR in Different Forecasting Horizons Following the Recession?
Authors: Zheng Tianshu , Bloom Barry A. N. , Wang Xiaofan , Schrier Thomas
Published: November 2012

The purpose of this study is to examine the performance of three smoothing methods on forecasting weekly revenue per Available room (revPAr) following the recent recession in comparison to more sophisticated time series forecasting methods. The results of this study show that simpler methods perform better. Simple moving Average and Single Exponential Smoothing outperformed Autoregressive Integrated moving Average and Artificial Neural Networks in all 10 of 5-week forecasting horizons, which suggests accurate weekly revPAr forecasting in both short and long term can be achieved with simple, easy-to-learn, yet effective methods. The findings of the study are expected to not only contribute to the limited literature of revPAr forecasting, but also provide practitioners with empirical evidence for selecting appropriate time series forecasting methods for weekly revPAr forecasting in different time horizons, particularly following an economic downturn.
Controlled positioning of nanoparticles on a micrometer scale
Authors: Enderle Fabian , Dubbers Oliver , Plettl Alfred , Ziemann Paul
Published: November 2012

For many applications it is desirable to have nanoparticles positioned on top of a given substrate well separated from each other and arranged in arrays of a certain geometry. For this purpose, a method is introduced combining the bottom-up self-organization of precursor-loaded micelles providing Au nanoparticles (NPs), with top-down electron-beam lithography. As an example, 13 nm Au NPs are arranged in a square array with interparticle distances >1 µm on top of Si substrates. By using these NPs as masks for a subsequent reactive ion etching, the square pattern is transferred into Si as a corresponding array of nanopillars.
Microwave Circuit Design
Authors: Cormier Gabriel , Ross Tyler
Published: November 2012

Circuit models play an important role in the design and optimization of microwave circuits (circuits in the GHz frequency range). These circuit models contain many parameters, including parasitic elements, necessary to correctly model the behavior of transistors at high frequencies. These models are often designed based on a series of measurements. Because of its ability to efficiently locate the global optimum of an objective function, particle swarm optimization (PSO) can be a useful tool when matching a model to its measurements. In this chapter, PSO will be used to calculate a transistor’s small-signal model parameters, determine the noise parameters of the transistor, and design a microwave mixer. The mixer is designed at 39.25 GHz, and a comparison between measurements and simulation results shows good agreement.
Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm in Electromagnetics- Case Studies
Authors: Modiri Arezoo , Kiasaleh Kamran
Published: November 2012

This chapter is intended to describe the vast intrinsic potential of the swarm-intelligence-based algorithms in solving complicated electromagnetic problems. This task is accomplished through addressing the design and analysis challenges of some key real-world problems, ranging from the design of wearable radiators to tumor detection tools. Some of these problems have already been tackled by solution techniques other than particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, the results of which can be found in the literature. However, due to the relatively high level of complexity and randomness inherent to these problems, one has to resort to oversimplification in order to arrive at reasonable solutions utilizing analytical techniques. In this chapter, the authors discuss some recent studies that utilize PSO algorithm particularly in two emerging areas; namely, efficient design of reconfigurable radiators and permittivity estimation of multilayer structures. These problems, although unique, represent a broader range of problems in practice which employ microwave techniques for antenna design and microwave imaging.
Using Swarm Intelligence for Optimization of Parameters in Approximations of Fractional-Order Operators
Authors: Maione Guido , Punzi Antonio , Li Kang
Published: November 2012

This chapter applies Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) to rational approximation of fractional order differential or integral operators. These operators are the building blocks of Fractional Order Controllers, that often can improve performance and robustness of control loops. However, the implementation of fractional order operators requires a rational approximation specified by a transfer function, i.e. by a set of zeros and poles. Since the quality of the approximation in the frequency domain can be measured by the linearity of the Bode magnitude plot and by the “flatness” of the Bode phase plot in a given frequency range, the zeros and poles must be properly set. Namely, they must guarantee stability and minimum-phase properties, while enforcing zero-pole interlacing. Hence, the PSO must satisfy these requirements in optimizing the zero-pole location. Finally, to enlighten the crucial role of the zero-pole distribution, the outputs of the PSO optimization are compared with the results of classical schemes. The comparison shows that the PSO algorithm improves the quality of the approximation, especially in the Bode phase plot.
The Generalized Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm
Authors: Kanovic Željko S. , Rapaic Milan R. , Jelicic Zoran D.
Published: November 2012

A generalization of the popular and widely used Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm is presented in this chapter. This novel optimizer, named Generalized PSO (GPSO), is inspired by linear control theory. It enables direct control over the key aspects of particle dynamics during the optimization process, overcoming some typical flaws of classical PSO. The basic idea of this algorithm with its detailed theoretical and empirical analysis is presented, and parameter-tuning schemes are proposed. GPSO is also compared to the classical PSO and Genetic Algorithm (GA) on a set of benchmark problems. The results clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. Finally, two practical engineering applications of the GPSO algorithm are described, in the area of electrical machines fault detection and classification, and in optimal control of water distribution systems.
An Improved Lightweight RFID Authentication Protocol
Authors: Zhang Xiaowen , Zhang Zhanyang , Wei Xinzhou
Published: November 2012

This study extends the vulnerability analysis of a RFID authentication protocol and offers solutions to security weaknesses through enhanced measures. Vajda and Buttyan (VB) proposed a lightweight RFID authentication protocol, called XOR. Defend, Fu, and Juels (DFJ) analyzed it and proposed repeated keys and nibble attacks to the protocol. In this paper, we identify the source of vulnerability within VB’s original successive session key permutation algorithm. We propose three improvements, namely removing bad shuffles, hopping the runs, and authenticating mutually, to prevent DFJ’s attacks, thereby significantly strengthening the security of the protocol without introducing extra resource cost.
The 2008 Survey of Indian Third-Party Logistics (3PL) Service Providers
Authors: Mitra Subrata
Published: November 2012

This paper presents a survey of Indian third-party logistics (3PL) providers and compares the state of the industry with that in 2004 based on an earlier survey. The 3PL industries of India and North America are also compared. The survey finds that the Indian 3PL industry lags behind North America in terms of global reach and breadth of service. Indian 3PL providers also underperform in key variables that determine performance levels. Other problems identified by the survey are the lack of awareness among Indian shippers, shortage of management talent, inadequate infrastructure, complex documentations, and multiple tax systems. Despite these limitations, the Indian 3PL industry is growing. Many global players are entering the Indian market through direct investments, acquisitions, and alliances. The Indian government is also improving the infrastructure, reducing paperwork, simplifying taxation systems, and implementing economic policies conducive to growth. This paper provides significant insights for logistics managers, government, and other stakeholders.