Primitive defenses and the borderline patient's perceptions of the psychiatric treatment team.

Investigated the construct validity of several self-report measures of splitting and related primitive defense mechanisms and undertook a preliminary quantitative analysis of the relation of these defenses to here-and-now social perceptions in borderline psychopathology. Based on an integrated framework of object-relations theory, psychoanalytic group psychology, and social cognition theory, the study explored associations between the use of primitive defenses by 31 adult borderline inpatients and their perceptions of the various staff roles that constitute their treatment teams. Reliance on image-distorting defenses and the holding of fragmented images of self as omnipotent and as "bad" were significantly associated with borderlines' perceived proximity to specific members and subgroups of their treatment teams. Results further validate selected measures of primitive defenses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Professional negligence and financial‐legal expert systems: Architectures to enable the reasonableness defence

The legal implications of professionals relying on expert systems have been extensively studied by analysts who have considered the ‘macro’ issues such as whether products liability can be invited for loss resulting from errors in expert systems, and apportionment of liability. These macro‐analyses do not distinguish programming errors from what we call ‘errors of reasoning’. The latter errors may be considered to be advertent on the part of developers and/or user‐professionals; may potentially be directly compared with the reasoning ascribable to a reasonably competent professional; and cannot be removed merely by better quality assurance in the sense prevalent in software engineering. In this paper we consider the mechanisms by which a court may examine errors of reasoning in expert systems used to assist professionals working in certain areas of financial services ('the financial‐legal domain'). Our analysis of the ‘micro’ issues of liability shows that the advertent nature of errors of reasoning makes it difficult to argue that using the best possible quality assurance methods during development is sufficient to make the reliance on an expert system reasonable. However, certain valuable defences that are available to professionals acting unaided can be made out even when expert systems are employed as part of the reasoning process, though these defences will be disabled if certain conceptual structures of the knowledge of professionals are not distinctively maintained in the knowledge base. As such, opacity of a knowledge base assists, rather than hinders, a plaintiff in establishing professional negligence. The results of an analysis of the micro‐issues of liability have been applied by us in the design of a system for financial/tax planning. A case‐based reasoning approach is employed, deductive rules being employed strictly in a subsidiary role. Consequently, the primary justification for a decision is a ‘case’ ‐ an instance of problem‐solving by a professional ‐ that is likely to be accepted by the court as being representative of the actions of reasonably competent professionals.     

Colocalization of CPP-32 with apoptotic cells in human atherosclerotic plaques

BACKGROUND: Apoptosis that has been reported in human atherosclerosis may contribute to the remodeling of atherosclerotic plaques. The identification of specific markers for apoptosis in these plaques would permit the development of specific therapeutic strategies to limit their progression. Cysteine protease CPP-32 is essential for apoptotic death in mammalian cells and appears to be an attractive candidate. METHODS AND RESULTS: We studied 12 atherosclerotic plaques from 12 patients who underwent carotid endarterectomy. Apoptosis was analyzed by in situ end labeling of fragmented DNA (TUNEL method) and corroborated by the presence of DNA fragmentation in agarose gel electrophoresis. CPP-32 was detected with the use of a specific monoclonal antibody, and its expression was compared with that of interleukin-1beta-converting enzyme (ICE). We showed that CPP-32 was highly expressed in 10 of 12 atherosclerotic plaques and that it colocalized with apoptotic cells. Expression of ICE generally paralleled that of CPP-32, but ICE was also detected in plaques negative for CPP-32 and showing no apoptosis. CONCLUSIONS: CPP-32 is highly expressed within human atherosclerotic plaques and is closely related to apoptosis. This finding suggests that CPP-32 may be the ICE-like enzyme responsible for apoptosis in human atherosclerosis and opens new perspectives for the development of therapeutic strategies to alter the progression of this disease.     

Fuzzy neural trees

The paper introduces fuzzy neural trees and an approach for converting these trees into feedforward neural network architectures. The proposed approach is unique in that it introduces the ways to use either technology as a “tool” within the framework of a model based on the other. It is of the highest significance as it results in new neural network algorithms where no time-consuming iterative training is required.     

A Flexible System for Scheduling Drivers

A substantial part of the operating costs of public transport is attributable to drivers, whose efficient use therefore is important. The compilation of optimal work packages is difficult, being NP-hard. In practice, algorithmic advances and enhanced computing power have led to significant progress in achieving better schedules. However, differences in labor practices among modes of transport and operating companies make production of a truly general system with acceptable performance a difficult proposition. TRACS II has overcome these difficulties, being used with success by a substantial number of bus and train operators. Many theoretical aspects of the system have been published previously. This paper shows for the first time how theory and practice have been brought together, explaining the many features which have been added to the algorithmic kernel to provide a user-friendly and adaptable system designed to provide maximum flexibility in practice. We discuss the extent to which users have been involved in system development, leading to many practical successes, and we summarize some recent achievements.     

Birth statistics: recent trends in England and Wales

This article summarises recent trends in birth statistics in England and Wales. Particular attention is given to the characteristics of conceptions in 1996 and births in 1997, the latest years for which figures are available. The article examines changes in the number of births outside marriage, the age women become mothers and the number of women expected to remain childless throughout their lives. It also analyses differences in the timing of childbearing between women from different social classes or living in different regions of the UK. Finally it describes changes in the overall and underage conception rates between 1995 and 1996.     

Non-maximum suppression of gradient magnitudes makes them easier to threshold

Besides reducing thick responses to thin, the application of non-maximum suppression to digital gradient magnitudes also improves the form of the edge response histogram, making the choice of thresholds easier.     

A hough transform technique for subgraph isomorphism

The Generalized Hough Transform is an established technique for geometric shape matching. An analogous technique is presented here for approximate solution of subgraph isomorphism problems. Its chief advantages are that it can also be used to find partial isomorphisms and that it can be readily implemented in parallel on a network of simple processors.