Cognitive capacity engagement during and following interspersed mathemagenic questions.

Investigated the effects of 2 types of interspersed "mathemagenic" postquestions (superordinate and subordinate) on cognitive capacity engagement during reading and subsequent performance on a recall posttest, using the secondary task paradigm. (Mathemagenic influence refers to the generally facilitative effect of postquestions on learning.) 120 undergraduates served in 1 of 4 conditions by reading the prose passages developed by R. Bruning (1968): mathemagenic questions only, secondary task only, mathemagenic questions and secondary task, or neither. Interspersed, superordinate postquestions were associated with higher levels of cognitive capacity engagement than subordinate postquestions both during the processing of the question and during subsequent reading. On a cued recall achievement test, more main ideas were recalled than details, and the group that received neither secondary task probes nor questions performed more poorly than the other groups on both types of questions. An effect of the secondary task probe itself, especially on recall of main ideas, is interpreted as a task-demand component of the orienting response. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Economics of food irradiation

This article examines the cost competitiveness of the food irradiation process. An analysis of the principal factors — the product, physical plant, irradiation source, and financing — that impact on cost is made. Equations are developed and used to calculate the size of the source for planned product throughput, efficiency factors, power requirements, and operating costs of sources, radionuclides, and accelerators. Methods of financing and capital investment are discussed. A series of tables show cost breakdowns of sources, buildings, equipment, and essential support facilities for both a cobalt‐60 and a 10‐MeV electron accelerator facility. Additional tables present irradiation costs as functions of a number of parameters — power input, source size, dose, and hours of annual operation. The use of the numbers in the tables are explained by examples of calculations of the irradiation costs for disinfestation of grains and radicidation of feed.     

Verbal conditioning of psychopaths as a function of experimenter-subject sex differences.

48 male and female psychopathic and 48 nonpsychopathic undergraduates, as defined by their MMPI, Psychopathic (Pd) scores, were verbally conditioned by a male and a female E. The hypothesis was that psychopathic Ss condition only in an opposite E-S sex group, while those in a matching sex group do not. It was further hypothesized that no such Sex * Treatment interaction exists for nonpsychopathic Ss, where both sex groups are expected to condition. Results lend support to the hypotheses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Halo effect in examiner scoring of intelligence test responses.

Two experiments evaluating the halo effect on graduate student Es' scoring of test responses from some Verbal scale subtests of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale are reported. In each experiment, ambiguous responses on one or more subtests, Vocabulary but not the Comprehension subtest in the first experiment and the Vocabulary and Comprehension but not the Similarities subtest in the second experiment, were given significantly more credit when produced by examinees with superior or above-average intelligence than by examinees with average or below-average intelligence. Responses were presented on paper and via tape recordings. The results suggest that the IQ may not be as objectively determined as has been commonly assumed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of medium and long chain triglyceride on human adipose tissue metabolism

Studies have been performed to assess the effects, in vivo and in vitro, of lipid emulsions on human adipose tissue prostaglandin production. Subcutaneous adipose tissue obtained either during elective surgery or by needle aspiration was studied in tissue culture or by using a perifusion apparatus. Physical mixtures of emulsions of long chain triglyceride (LCT) and/or medium chain triglyceride (MCT) were added to the tissue culture medium so that the final concentration was 400 mg/dl. After a 3-day incubation period the tissue was harvested, placed in buffer and used to determine in vitro production of prostaglandin E₂, prostacyclin I₂ (measured as its stable end product 6-keto PGF_1α) and thromboxane A₂ (measured as TXB₂) by radioimmunoassay. The results demonstrated that samples incubated in 100% MCT had the most significant increase in prostaglandin production, while those incubated in 100% LCT had the most significant decrease in activity of the three prostaglandins assayed. The addition of LCT to MCT caused a stepwise decrease in adipose tissue prostaglandin production. The data suggest a pharmacological rather than a physiological effect of lipid emulsions containing MCT and/or LCT on adipose tissue prostaglandin production. In vivo effects of a 20% safflower oil emulsion, containing high levels of the essential fatty acid linoleate, were assessed in five pediatric patients. Adipose tissue was obtained before and after two and four weeks of treatment. Fatty acid profiles and prostaglandin production were determined. The results demonstrated that intravenous fat infusion increased the concentrations of linoleic and arachidonic acids found in adipose tissue within a short interval. The effect of intravenous fat infusion on human adipose tissue prostaglandin production was less predictable and may have been a function of the patients' disease and subsequent clinical course. These findings suggest that lipid emulsions should not be viewed solely as a source of intravenous energy, because they may have the potential to elicit changes in prostaglandin production as demonstrated by a human adipose tissue model. Presented in part at the symposium on “Specialty Lipids and Their Biofunctionality,” at the annual meeting of the American Oil Chemists' Society, Philadelphia, May 1985.     

Lipase-mediated acyl-exchange reactions with butteroil in anhydrous media

Conditions optimum for porcine pancreatic lipase catalyzed acyl-exchange reactions between a free fatty acid (FFA), undecanoic acid, and butteroil in anhydrous media were established. No solvent was required for reaction, indicating that butteroil could act as dispersant as well as substrate in reactive mixtures. Optimum temperature and pH for the reaction were 70°C and 6.5 to 7.0, respectively. The addition of up to 550 mM water to reactive mixtures had little influence on the initial rates of acyl-exchange, but shifted the reaction equilibrium to favor net hydrolysis. Optimal FFA concentration for acyl-exchange was 250 mM in terms of initial reaction rates, and substrate inhibition by FFA was apparent at levels up to 1000 mM. In terms of % reaction yield and absolute reaction yield after 18 hr, 50 mM and 250 mM FFA, respectively, were optimum. Initial reaction rates for acyl-exchange between two model triacylglycerides indicated that esterified fatty acids-were better substrates than FFA under the conditions evaluated.     

ACE: A congestion estimator for wiring custom chips

Because wiring a chip is so time consuming, it is highly desirable to be able to evaluate a particular placement of macros on a chip in terms of its wirability, or choose among several candidate placements, prior to any actual wiring. A method is presented to do this. The expected wire congestion is derived and the critical areas exposed, thereby enabling improvement of the chip layout.     

Use of the revised Beck Depression Inventory with intravenous drug users not in treatment.

Administered the revised Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) to 1,290 iv drug users who were not currently enrolled in a treatment program. A principal-components analysis indicated that the cognitive–affective and somatic–performance components found in psychiatric patients were also present in iv drug users, and subscales based on the compositions of these 2 components were derived. The correlations of the BDI total and 2 subscale scores with 25 of the iv drug users' background characteristics were calculated, and stepwise multiple regression analyses were used to identify the most meaningful correlates. Self-reported poor health was the most important correlate. The usefulness of the BDI for measuring self-reported depression in iv drug users who are not in treatment is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Application of an expert knowledge-based system to the semiconductor thin film device coating process

This paper briefly describes an expert knowledge-based system which assists and diagnoses in the thin film device coating process. The system gains knowledge from qualitative and experience judgement of the operation in supervisory work and self experience. An explanation is given of the expert knowledge-based system and an example is given of the user interface. Various problems in the production process itself which experts in the laboratory find difficult to solve are indicated. A knowledge-based representation scheme involving rules is presented as well. The system currently under development would be a flexible time-saving and practical decision support system.     

Depressive symptoms and impaired respiration in sleep.

Documented the relationship between depression and impaired respiration in sleep among 176 males and 160 females (aged 50+ yrs) using the geriatric depression scale (GDS) developed by J. A. Yesavage et al (see record 1984-02939-001), which measures nonsomatic depressive symptoms. Although arbitrarily formed groups of Ss with low and high respiratory disturbance differed on the GDS, mean values and effect size suggested that impaired respiration in sleep was associated with only relatively mild depressive symptoms. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)