Anaphoric inference during reading.

Examined whether antecedents are reactivated by anaphor, in 3 experiments with a total of 144 undergraduates, using additional control sentences and an alternative response time measure. Ss read a series of texts each containing a target item. Immediately after the last line of each text, the item was probed using a recognition task in Exp I and a naming task in Exp II. Ss were faster to respond to the item when the last line contained an anaphoric reference to it than when the last line referred to a different item from the text. Additional control conditions ensured that the effect was not due to semantic priming and that the probed item was not in working memory when the last line was encountered. Findings in Exp III, which compared reading and naming times when the last sentence continued the established topic with times when the last sentence changed the topic, suggest that previous evidence for reinstatement reflected interference from a change of topic in the last line rather than facilitation due to reinstatement of the probed item. It is suggested that the paradigm developed by G. McKoon and R. Ratcliff (see record 1981-24997-001) requires careful control of variables. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nonclinical model for assessing gastric effects of bisphosphonates

Mechanisms by which ketones potentiate manganese-bilirubin (Mn-BR)-induced cholestasis are unknown. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of methyl isobutyl ketone (MiBK), a widely used ketonic solvent, at the level of the bile canalicular membrane (BCM) and to verify if altered membrane lipid dynamics could be involved in MiBK-potentiated Mn-BR cholestasis. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed 4 hr/day for 3 days to MiBK vapors (200 or 600 ppm). Eighteen hours after the last exposure, manganese (Mn, 4.5 mg/kg) was given i.v. followed 15 min later by bilirubin (BR, 25 mg/kg). Rats were killed 30 min after BR; liver cell plasma membranes (bile canalicular and sinusoidal), microsomes, mitochondria, and cytosol were isolated by differential centrifugation. Lipids were extracted and cholesterol was measured in each fraction. After Mn-BR and MiBK exposure (600 ppm), results indicated a marked increase in BCM cholesterol content compared to rats exposed to air only. This increase was greater than that due to Mn-BR or MiBK given alone. Also, results indicated that cholesterol increased in a dose-related fashion in BCM after MiBK exposure, whereas PM cholesterol remained unaltered. To identify the source of the increased BCM cholesterol and to permit distinction between de novo cholesterol synthesis and subcellular shifts, the hepatic lipid pool was labeled in vivo with [3H]-cholesterol and [2-14C]-mevalonic acid, a cholesterol synthesis precursor. Results showed that after 600 ppm MiBK exposure, 14C-labeled cholesterol was greater than 3H-labeled cholesterol, indicating that the contribution of de novo cholesterol synthesis to the total cholesterol content of the various isolated hepatocellular fractions was more important than the contribution of intracellular pools. Therefore, increased BCM cholesterol content and enhanced accumulation of newly synthesized cholesterol appear to be involved in MiBK potentiation of Mn-BR-induced cholestasis.     

The Use of Different Conveyance Calculations for Modelling Flows in a Compact Compound Channel

Flow measurements have been taken for steady and unsteady flows on a reach of a river having a compact compound channel. The 'single channel', 'divided channel' and 'lateral' distribution methods have been used to calculate conveyances for use in a one-dimensional unsteady flow model of the reach. Comparisons with measured flows show that the divided channel method and the lateral distribution method both underestimate floodplain flow depths. The lateral distribution method gives the closest accuracy in the relative depth range 0.15 ≤ Yr < 0.40. For large flow depths the single channel method becomes more accurate and slightly over-estimates flow depths.
The accuracy of unit width discharge distributions, calculated from the lateral distribution method are assessed by comparison with observed distributions for overbank flows.     

The Pions Graphics System

During 1979, CERN began to evaluate how interactive computer graphics displays could aid the analysis of high-energy physics experiments at the new Super Proton Synchrotron collider. This work led to PIONS, a 3D graphics system, which features the ability to store and view hierarchical graphics structures in a directed-acyclic-graph database. It is possible to change the attributes of these structures by making selections on nongraphical information also stored in the database. PIONS is implemented as an object-oriented message-passing system based on Small Talk design principles. It supports multiple viewing transformations, logical input devices, and 2D and 3D primitives. The design allows full use to be made of display hardware that provides dynamic 3D picture transformation.     

Failure mechanisms in wood joints bonded with urea-formaldehyde adhesives

Wood joints bonded with urea-formaldehyde (UF) are weakened by cyclic swelling and shrinking. To study the failure mechanisms in UF-bonded joints, specimens were bonded with unmodified, modified (amine), or phenol formaldehyde adhesive and subjected to accelerated aging. Modification of the adhesive properties increased the cleavage fracture toughness and shear strength of bonded joints and improved the resistance of joints to cyclic swell-shrink treatment and accelerated moist-heat aging. Joints bonded with some modified urea-formaldehyde adhesives were as resistant to these treatments as joints bonded with phenol formaldehyde. Physical and mechanical origins of the improved adhesive performance were determined by microscopic analysis. Cure-shrinkage stresses precracked unmodified adhesive layers and damaged the wood interphase. The damaged interphase was especially susceptible to the effects of cyclic swelling and shrinking stresses. Certain modifiers reduced or eliminated cure-shrinkage cracking and damage to the wood. Moist-heat aging caused molecular scission in the bulk unmodified adhesive layer as revealed by the onset of shear cracking in the adhesive layer and erosion of exposed surfaces. Certain modifiers reduced or eliminated molecular scission and erosion responsible for adhesive weakening in moist-heat aging. We conclude that incorporating flexible amines in the adhesive structure improves the durability and stability of UF-bonded joints.     

Rapid and accurate reverse engineering of geometry based on a multi-sensor system

The reduction of the lead time in measurement and reverse engineering, and the increased requirements in terms of accuracy and flexibility, have resulted in a great deal of research effort aimed at developing and implementing multi-sensor systems. This paper describes an effective competitive approach for using a tactile probe to compensate the data from a laser line scanner to perform accurate reverse engineering of geometric features. With the data acquired using laser scanning, intelligent feature recognition and segmentation algorithms can be exploited to extract the global surface information of the object. The tactile probe is used to re-measure the geometric features with a small number of sampling points and the obtained information can be subsequently used to compensate the point data patches which are measured by laser scanning system. Then, the compensated point data can be exploited for accurate reverse engineering of a CAD model. The limitations of each measurement system are compensated by the other. Experimental results on three parts validate the rapidity and accuracy of this multi-sensor data fusion approach.     

Secondary electron amplification using single-crystal CVD diamond film

The current amplification characteristics of an unbiased 8.3-μm-thick single-crystal CVD diamond film are examined using secondary-electron-emission measurements. In particular, the intensity and energy distribution of transmitted and reflected secondary electrons are measured and used to examine the transport and emission properties that govern the current amplification process. Overall, the measurements confirm the excellent transport and emission properties of single-crystal CVD diamond, as compared to polycrystalline CVD diamond films studied previously. Specifically, the transmitted and reflected energy distributions measured from the single-crystal diamond are nearly identical, with a sharp, narrow (FWHM = 0.35 eV) emission peak dominating the spectra. However, the transmitted distributions are more fully thermalized as a result of the longer transport distances. In fact, transmitted electrons are detected even after traveling more than 8 μm through the film, which demonstrates the potential for excellent transport efficiency. Maximum transmission gains of 3–4 are obtained, which is encouraging under such field-free conditions. However, the results of the study indicate that the transmission process is being limited by diffusive transport in the unbiased diamond film.