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This paper concerns the dynamical interactions between the macro structures of a society. From three axioms governing social interaction, a combined cooperative-competitive model consisting of a nonlinear differential system of equations is introduced. Various social and political phenomena are interpreted through the parameters (also called strategies) of the model, including coalitions, alliances, and revolutions. For example, four distinct types of revolutions can be identified. Questions of existence, uniqueness, and asymptotic stability of equilibria are answered. A striking feature of the model is that, in the constant parameter case, stability is assured, thus illustrating that social power and control systems change only when external or internal changes on the system parameters are imposed. These results are applied to alliances and revolutions with a focus on changes in the equilibria as determined by changes in the system parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An evaluation of the experimental pain of heat, tibial pressure, and tooth electrical stimulation in dental outpatients was made. Dental pain was, in part, related to tibial pressure but was unrelated to thermal pain. Anti-analgesia was noted only with thermal stimulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A clinical study was made of the analgesic effectiveness of a new drug, Flucarbril (100 ma), and its statistical comparison to codeine (30 mg). Neither drug when used alone in the doses indicated was found useful for the relief of pain after the surgical removal of impacted third molars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An investigation of word-initial consonant cluster durations spoken by six children aged from 4 to 8 revealed only a weak association between maturity of production and chronological age (CA). This experiment was designed to see whether the children's speech maturity as judged by adults corresponded more closely to the instrumentally measured maturity of their consonant durations than either measure corresponded to CA. Elicited English monosyllables recorded during two periods one year apart were presented so that each child was paired with himself across the two years, and with other children within the same year. Using a definition of speech maturity emphasizing gestural integration and fluency, with less weight on phonemic adequacy and none on obviously age-related factors such as pitch and voice quality, 48 naive listeners judged which child of each pair spoke most maturely. Judgments of speech maturity correlated significantly both with predictions of the children's relative maturity derived from the similarity of their measured to adult norms, and with these predictions modified by impressions of the children's spontaneous speech. Neither the judgements nor the predictions correlated significantly with CA. Speech matured at very different rates for individual children, and actually decreased over the year for one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The production of fricative consonants requires precise articulatory movements. The purpose of this study was to develop a technique for measuring articulatory movements in normal speech so that comparisons could be made with defective speech. Specifically, the influence of tongue position and oral airway opening was studied in terms of effects on airway pressure and air flow. Measurement of pressure differential was made by appropriately placing two catheters, connected to a pressure transducer, on both sides of the structure(s) under study. Air flow was recorded by a pneumotachograph connected to a face mask. The data reveal a high correlation between size of oral constriction and volume rate of air flow, suggesting that respiratory effort increases to maintain a certain magnitude of pressure for each fricative sound. The results also demonstrate that pressure magnitude is not related to size of constriction. In normal speakers oral airflow dynamics appears to be controlled primarily at the anterior portion of the oral cavity with the middle and posterior aspects of the tongue demonstrating a minimal influence. [Work supported by NIDR.] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on research into compounds that would adhere to mucous membranes for electromyography. It states that suction and needle electrodes were inadequate to meet the requirements that an adhesive compound would provide. It comments that a n-alkyl-2-cyanoacrylate monomer was used to attach the electrodes to mucous membranes. It mentions that a polymer comprised of methyl-2-cyanoacrylate was tasteless and held the wire loop securely in position on the mucous membrane, and that removal was easy and not no visible or subsequent effect on the mucous membrane.

A NASA-developed paint-on electrode has been adapted for biomedical applications by the Research Triangle Institute. 10 g of silver flake are suspended in 10 g of Duco cement and 1 oz of acetone. This mixture may be stored indefinitely, with occasional addition of acetone for thinning. In electromyographic use, each electrode is formed by placing a small (or large) drop of mixture on the skin, letting the acetone evaporate, laying the bare end of the lead-off wire over the resulting silver spot, placing another drop of mixture over the wire, and letting the resulting 'silver sandwich' dry. This process typically takes less than a minute, and the electrode will remain firmly in place for hours. This paper will discuss the properties of electromyographic signals gathered by means of these paint-on electrodes, as compared with those from hooked-wire electrodes inserted in the same muscles, and will mention the potential usefulness of these electrodes for investigating the development of speech and other motor control patterns in children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have demonstrated the high reproducibility of heart rate variability (HRV) measures in adults while little information exists concerning HRV reproducibility in children. Subsequently, the aim of the current study was to examine the moderate-term reproducibility of heart rate and frequency domain measures of HRV during rest and light to moderate exercise in children. Ten healthy children (6 males, 4 females) aged between 7 and 12 years of age volunteered for this study with HRV recordings obtained during supine rest and three treadmill walking exercise work rates (< or =60% maximum heart rate), initially and then 8 weeks later. Differences (P < 0.05) between variables were examined using paired t-tests or Wilcoxon signed rank tests while reliability and reproducibility were examined by intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), coefficients of variation (CV), and mean bias ratio and ratio limits of agreement (LOA). Heart rate and all measures of HRV at rest and exercise were unchanged after 8 weeks. Significant ICC were documented primarily during rest (0.72-0.85) while weaker relationships (-0.02-0.87) were evident during exercise. A large range of CV was identified during rest (6-33%) and exercise (3-128%) while the ratio LOA were variable and substantial (1.04-2.73). Despite similar HRV over an 8-week period, variable ICC and sizable CV and ratio LOA indicate moderate to poor reproducibility of HRV in children, particularly during light to moderate exercise. Studies examining HRV in children should include age- or maturation stage-matched control participants to address the age-related change in HRV and inadequate HRV reliability.

Incidence and mortality rates of cervical cancer among Native American women is two to five times that of comparable Whites. Social and cultural differences contribute to this problem. We studied thirty age 40 and older American Indian women, half of whom had obtained at least one Pap in the past three years, the other half of whom had not. We asked: Do the two groups differ in their attitudes concerning Pap tests and those with whom they interact concerning Pap tests? and: Do they interact differently with different social groups concerning Pap tests? Data were obtained from chart audits and Given's Health Belief Questionnaire. The groups did not differ as to who they discussed Pap tests with or whose opinions they respected. They respected healthcare professionals most, family/friends less, and co-workers/others least. These findings suggest that the advanced practice nurse has an opportunity to improve Pap screening rates in this population.

Studies of intonation in the hearing impaired (HI) are often concerned with either objective measures or listener perceptions. Less often has the focus been on how these two aspects of communication interrelate. This study examined the relationship between certain acoustic parameters and listeners' perceptions of intonation contours produced by HI children. Six severe-to-profound HI children and 6 normal-hearing (NH) children, ages 7;9 to 14;7, were individually tape recorded while reading 10 declarative sentences and 10 phonemically matched interrogative sentences within the context of a script. Each sentence ended with a carefully chosen disyllabic (target) word. Twelve adult listeners, inexperienced with the speech of the HI, listened to a randomized audio tape presentation of all of these productions and categorized each one as a statement, question, or other. Fundamental frequency (F0) and duration measurements were obtained for the target (final) word of each sentence, and intensity measures were recorded for each entire sentence. Acoustic analysis showed that all 6 of the NH children and 4 of the 6 HI children produced acoustically different intonation contours for declarative versus interrogative sentences. The HI children's productions were, in general, similar to the NH children, in that they used F0, duration, and intensity cues to mark the distinction. Their contrastive use of these acoustic cues, however, was less pronounced than for the NH children. Analysis of listener responses indicated that, although listeners were able to differentiate between some of the declarative and interrogative sentences produced by these 4 HI children, judgments corresponded with their intended type less often for the HI than for the NH children. (Judgments of NH children's utterances were 100% correct.) Multiple logistic regression of listeners' responses to the HI children's utterances showed that 4 acoustic measures, all derived from the sentence-final word, were significantly predictive: (1) sentence-final F0, (2) slope between the target word's initial and final F0, (3) duration of the target word, and (4) dB difference between the target word's 1st and 2nd syllables. Results were similar for the NH children's data, except that the ratio of the 2 syllables' durations was significant, rather than total word duration. These findings differ in several important ways from previously published data for HI children's intonation contours and suggest that many HI children have the ability to benefit substantially from training in the production of intonation.

An LC-MS-MS method for the analysis of the neuraminidase inhibitor, zanamivir, in human serum is described. Zanamivir was extracted from protein precipitated human serum samples using Isolute SCX solid-phase extraction cartridges and analysed using reversed-phase chromatography with TurboIonSpray atmospheric pressure ionisation followed by mass spectrometric detection. The method uses a stable isotope internal standard, is highly specific and sensitive for a compound of this type and has been used for the analysis of human serum and urine samples from clinical studies. The method was extended to the analysis of serum and plasma samples from pre-clinical studies involving the rat, ferret and cell culture media. The method has been shown to be robust and valid over a concentration range of 10-5000 ng/ml using a 0.2-ml sample volume. The main advantages of this method compared to earlier procedures are primarily specificity, sensitivity, ease of sample preparation, small sample volume and short analysis time (ca. 5 min).