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The present research aimed to devise a test of source recognition that facilitates access to source information stored in memory. Therefore, we extended the standard source-monitoring paradigm, in which items are presented in a source-neutral manner during test, by a second, subsequent test with source reinstatement. In this second test, items (i.e., words) were presented with both study sources (i.e., two speakers) consecutively such that for originally studied words, one test presentation was the exact reinstatement of the original source. To validate our assumption that the test with reinstatement primarily assesses source storage, we manipulated source storage by varying encoding frequency between-participants (repetition vs. no repetition of each item-source-pair). Additionally, we varied source similarity between-participants (similar vs. dissimilar speakers). Data analyses (

The study was carried out in Onitsha north and Onitsha south local government area of Anambra State Nigeria. The main objective of the study was to assess the profitability and viability of catfish marketing. Data were collected with structured questionnaires administered to 65 randomly selected catfish marketers. Mean, frequency, percentages, gross margin, Net profit, Gross margin ratio, Operating ratio and Return on investment were all employed to analyze the objectives. The result revealed that transportation cost is the most militating factor against catfish marketing in Onitsha north and Onitsha south local government area of Anambra State Nigeria. The study also revealed that, catfish marketing in the study area was profitable and viable with return on Investment (ROI) of 22.17% and a Gross Margin ratio of 18.14%. The study therefore, recommends that government should provide storage facility and rehabilitate our roads to reduce the cost of transportation in marketing.

Since the novel coronavirus outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 from the first cases whereof were reported in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, our globalized world has changed enormously. On the 11th of March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic, and nations around the world have taken drastic measures to reduce transmission of the disease. The situation is similar in Switzerland, a small high-income country in Central Europe, where the first COVID-19 case was registered on the 25th of February 2020. Through literature review as well as correspondence with public health professionals and experts in mathematical modeling, this case study focuses on the outbreak’s impact on Switzerland and on the measures this country has implemented thus far. Along with the rapid spread of the virus, the political organization, economy, healthcare system, and characteristics of the country greatly influence the approach taken in facing the crisis. Switzerland appears to be structurally well-prepared, but, according to mathematical modeling predictions, in order to avoid total collapse of healthcare facilities, the measures taken by the Swiss Government need to reduce the virus transmission chain by at least 70%. Fortunately, updated models on April 22nd show evidence that the non-pharmaceutical measures invoked have decreased transmission by an estimated 89%, proving effective management by the federal government and allowing for progressive deconfinement measures.

Multinomial processing tree (MPT) models allow testing hypotheses on latent psychological processes that underlie human behavior. However, past applications of this model class have mainly been restricted to the analysis of main effects. In this paper, we adopt the interaction concept as defined in log-linear models and show why it is appropriate for MPT models. We then explain how to implement and test ordinal and disordinal two-way interaction hypotheses in MPT models. We also show how our method generalizes to higher-order interactions involving three or more factors. An empirical example from source memory and aging demonstrates the applicability of this method and allows for directly testing the associative deficit theory that age differences are larger in associative (e.g., source) memory as opposed to item memory. Throughout the paper, we explain how most analytic steps can be easily implemented in the freely available software multiTree.

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the in vivo toxicity of methanolic leaf extract of Vernonia lasiopus. To provide information on the safety of V. lasiopus, we evaluated its acute and sub-chronic toxicity in Wistar rats. For evaluation of acute toxicity of the plant extract, five Wistar rats were orally dosed with 2000 mg/kg body weight sequentially. Sub-chronic toxicity was tested in twenty Wistar rats using three extract doses 100, 300 and 1000 mg/kg body weight. They were orally administered for 28 days. Mortality and toxicity signs were monitored during the study period. At the end of the experiment, the animals were sacrificed, their internal organs weighed and blood samples collected for haematology and biochemical analysis. In acute toxicity, no single death was reported; leading to conclusion that the median lethal dose (LD50) of methanolic leaf extract of V. lasiopus is beyond 2000 mg/kg body weight. In sub-chronic toxicity studies, V. lasiopus lowered total proteins in all the study groups significantly. Albumin was also lowered at extract dose of 1000 mg/kg body weight. In addition, it resulted to significant neutropenia, lymphocytosis and thrombocytosis in the group administered with dose extract of 1000 mg/kg body weight (PA‹Â‚0.05). It was therefore concluded that methanolic leaf extract of V. lasiopus is safe for use when administered at therapeutic doses. The plant extract may also be useful in the management of haematological disorders especially thrombocytopenia.

Background: Natural antibodies specific for phosphorylcholine (anti-PC) have been implicated as protective factors in atherosclerosis. We herein determined the relationship between IgM anti-PC and incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Methods: We studied 349 incident cases (200 men) of first events of CVD (coronary heart disease (CHD; n = 203 or ischemic stroke; n = 146) and 693 age- and sex-matched controls identified through 12 years of follow-up (1991-2003) of subjects from the cardiovascular cohort within the Malmo Diet and Cancer Study. Relative risks (RR) of CVD with 95% confidence intervals (CI) of incident CVD with adjustments for age, smoking, total cholesterol and blood pressure were determined. Anti-PC-levels were measured using ELISA (Athera CVDefine (TM)). Results: As determined using Athera CVDefine (TM), significant associations were attained with values of anti-PC below 17 U/ml (corresponding to the lowest 9th percentile), which remained after taking confounders into account (RR: 1.79, 95% CI: 1.09-2.94, p=0.021). If men were studied separately, significance was evident at values below 17U/ml (RR: 2.01, 95% Cl: 1.11-3.67, p=0.022), which was not the case among women. Furthermore, values below 17 U/ml were also associated with ischemic stroke (RR = 3.67, 95% Cl: 1.34-10.1, p=0.01), but not with CHD. Conclusion: Low IgM anti-PC could be a novel risk marker for development of ischemic stroke in men. Further studies are needed to establish gender and subgroup differences. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. (Less)

Source monitoring involves attributing remembered information to a source, such as determining who told you something. Source-monitoring is a highly inferential process, involving the evaluation of memory for contextual features but also drawing onto more general knowledge and beliefs (Johnson, Hashtroudi, and Lindsay, 1993). After an introduction to the typical laboratory paradigm of source monitoring and the measurement of the cognitive states involved through multinomial modeling, we review research on metacognitive influences on this inferential source-monitoring process. We also consider means of metacognitive control over source encoding through encoding strategies. Moving on to metacognitive monitoring processes, we review research on predictions of later source memory (judgments of source) and on the monitoring of source-attribution accuracy at test. The chapter concludes with questions for future research.

Globalization affects local and international firms in many ways. Studies have shown that factors in the internal as well as external environments of firms influence the rate to which globalization will affect them. On the local scene however, no known studies have been done on the response of manufacturing firms to counter globalization. In addition, since the concept of globalization is multidimensional and its influence is varied in nature, this study aimed at investigating how manufacturing firms in Kenya have responded to probable pressure from the forces of globalization in order to sharpen their competitiveness. Cross sectional survey design was adopted for the study. The population for the study was the 735 manufacturing firms in Kenya. The target population of the study were CEOs/MDs and their deputies from 545 manufacturing companies in Nairobi and Athi River. Stratified sampling technique was used to categorize the targeted manufacturing firms into sectors where purposive sampling technique was used to sample the respondents for the study. A total of 100 firms from the 14 sectors were targeted by the study out of which 80 responded giving a response rate of 80%. Questionnaire was used to collect primary data. Regression and correlation analysis was done to test the relationship between the study variables. The study found that 65% of the respondents agreed that continued global technological advancement has enabled management come up with innovations to respond to customer needs and economic and regulatory factors which have prompted outsourcing some operations, respectively. The results of the correlation analysis show that adoption of technology is statistically significant with a Pearson¡¯s Correlation Coefficient of 0.683 and at a level of significance of 0.000. The study also found out that 67.5% of the respondents agreed that continued global technological advancement has enabled management come up with innovations to respond to customer needs and economic and regulatory factors which have prompted outsourcing some operations respectively. The null hypotheses that there is no significant relationship between globalization and competition was therefore reject. The study concluded that manufacturing firms in Kenya have adopted technology as response strategies to globalization. The study recommended that manufacturing firms should adopt the new changes in the market and to absorb into the technological trend. Thus, they should remain flexible and stay focused to the day to day changes of globalization strategies.

Objective To determine levels of athero-protective IgM antibodies against phosphorylcholine in mothers and term-born normal or low birth weight infants. Approach Twenty three mother-infant pairs were studied, of whom 16 infants were within the normal weight range for gestational age (NGA; 3652[504] g) and 7 were small for gestational age (SGA; birth weight: 2715[255] g), the latter 75th percentile) was larger in mothers of NGA-infants (43%) vs. those of SGA-infants (0%, p = 0.032). Conclusions IgM anti-PC levels are low at birth, which suggests that these antibodies do not play a “housekeeping” role in immune function during fetal life/development, but arise predominately on exposure to external antigens after birth. Furthermore, low maternal IgM anti-PC levels may play a role in placental insufficiency, contributing to poor fetal growth and a small-for-date baby. This preliminary observation may have implications for the future risk of atherosclerosis/cardiovascular disease development in pregnant women and their offspring.

When designing a legged robot a small change in one variable can have a significant effect on a number of the robot’s characteristics, meaning that making tradeoffs can be difficult. The algorithm presented in this paper uses biologically inspired optimization techniques to identify the effects of changing various robot design variables and determine if there are any general rules which can be applied to the design of a legged robot. Designs produced by this simulation are also compared to existing robot designs and biological systems, showing that the algorithm produces results which require less power than other robots of a similar mass, and which share a number of characteristics with biological systems.

Phosphorylcholine (PC) may play an important role in the atherogenic and pro-inflammatory effects of oxidized low density lipoproteins. We recently demonstrated that low levels of IgM antibodies against PC (anti-PC) are associated with development of myocardial infarction and stroke. We here evaluate the association between anti-PC and dementia and Alzheimer's disease (AD). We conducted a nested case-control study of 182 incident dementia cases (serum collected before onset of dementia) matched to 366 controls and a case-control study of 97 prevalent dementia cases (serum collected after dementia onset) matched to 205 controls. Controls were matched on gender and age at blood draw (+/- 1 year). Participants were from the Swedish Twin Registry. Anti-PC levels were measured by ELISA. The odds ratio (OR) of dementia was modeled using conditional logistic regression. Patients with dementia had significantly lower mean anti-PC levels than controls (39.1 versus 49.5 U/ml). The likelihood of having dementia or AD was doubled for individuals with the lowest 25% anti-PC levels (OR=2.04 and 2.70, respectively). The results were similar after adjustments for potential confounders. There was no association between anti-PC levels and incident dementia. Low levels of atheroprotective anti-PC could play a role in AD and dementia. Potential mechanisms include decreased anti-inflammatory potential and effects on the vasculature. Further attention is merited to elucidate the role of anti-PC in AD development and the usefulness of anti-PC as a part of risk prediction, prognosis, diagnosis, or treatment.

Chinese tallow tree (TT) seeds are a rich source of lipids and have the potential to be a biodiesel feedstock, but currently, its invasive nature does not favor large scale cultivation. Being a nonfood material, they have many advantages over conventional crops that are used for biodiesel production. The purpose of this study was to determine optimal oil extraction parameters in a batch-type and laboratory scale continuous-flow microwave system to obtain maximum oil recovery from whole TT seeds using ethanol as the extracting solvent. For the batch system, extractions were carried out for different time-temperature combinations ranging from 60 to 120 degrees C for up to 20 min. The batch system was modified for continuous extractions, which were carried out at 50, 60, and 73 degrees C and maintained for various residence times of up to 20 min. Control runs were performed under similar extraction conditions and the results compared well, especially when accounting for extremely short extraction times (minutes vs hours). Maximum yields of 35.32% and 32.51% (by weight of dry mass) were obtained for the continuous and batch process, respectively. The major advantage of microwave assisted solvent extraction is the reduced time of extraction required to obtain total recoverable lipids, with corresponding reduction in energy consumption costs per unit of lipid extracted. This study indicates that microwave extraction using ethanol as a solvent can be used as a viable alternative to conventional lipid extraction techniques for TT seeds.

This paper details some of the various robotics projects which have been inspired by the natural world, and which the authors believe will have an impact on the future of robotic space exploration. This includes both hardware-centric projects such as RiSE, and projects which concentrate more on software and control such as Swarm-bots. The authors outline two of the biologically inspired planetary explorer robots currently under investigation at the University of Surrey.

Chinese Tallow Tree (CTT) has been widely considered as an invasive species that does not have potential benefits. Recent research has revealed that CTT has a very high yield of seeds containing large percentage of oil. The oil that is produced from the CTT has been found to contain high amounts of palmitic fatty acid, along with some oleic, linoleic and linolinic fatty acids. These acids can be base transesterified to form biodiesel. In general literature on CTT seed is scarce and the effect of storage conditions on the oil quality of the seeds in particular has not been published to our knowledge. This study aims to address the issue of oil quality of CTT seeds during different storage conditions. Different storage temperatures (0°C, 4°C, 10°C, room temperature), and controlled atmosphere storage conditions (3% CO, 6% CO, vacuum, normal headspace) were investigated for their effect on the oil quality of CTT seeds. The seeds were stored for a total period of three months with the oil quality being analyzed at regular intervals on a weekly basis. Extracted oil from the seeds was analyzed by titratable acidity and peroxide value methods to obtain information on the oil quality. Results of the study revealed optimum conditions for storage of CTT seeds to extract maximum benefit in terms of oil quality at a minimum cost.

HIPOLIDE, D. C., L. L. LOBO, R. DE MEDEIROS, B. NEUMANN, AND S. TUFIK. Treatment with dexamethasone alters yawning behavior induced by cholinergic but not dopaminergic agonist. PHYSIOL BEHAV 65 (4/5) 829–832, 1999.—Because stressful manipulations have been reported to modify drug-induced yawning, the present study investigated the effects of single and repeated treatment with a synthetic glucocorticoid, dexamethasone (DEXA) on apomorphine- and pilocarpine-induced yawning in male rats. Neither single nor repeated treatment with DEXA altered apomorphine-induced yawning. Single administration of DEXA, however, resulted in an increased number of yawns induced by pilocarpine. Conversely, repeated administration of DEXA led to a decreased number of yawns induced by pilocarpine. In conclusion, the present findings show that dopaminergic and cholinergic are distinctly altered by DEXA, in terms of yawning behavior when animals received DEXA.

Effects of stress on drug-induced yawning: Constant vs. intermittent stress. PHYSIOL BEHAV 58(1) 181-184, 1995.--Experiment 1 tested whether chronic exposure to immobilization, foot shock or forced swimming would result in suppression of apomorphine-, pilocarpine-, and physostigmine-induced yawning. Immobilization caused suppression of yawning, whereas foot shock and swimming resulted in increased number of yawns. Since interstressor interval was long in the two latter stressors, animals could have recovered and the increase in yawning could be due to the last (acute) exposure to stress. In Experiment 2 we recorded the number of yawns induced by pilocarpine in animals exposed to 1 h of swimming or foot shock. No differences between control and acutely stressed animals were detected. These results suggest that yawning is differently altered by constant and intermittent stressors (i.e., diminished by constant and increased by intermittent stress).

The soliton-lattice algorithm, an exact algebraic method of inverting the Bloch equation to obtain frequency-selective radio-frequency pulses is described. Some general properties of pulses are described that were obtained with the help of this algorithm. It is used to obtain two new pulses. A highly prefocused pulse is shown that can be used in short-echo-timein vivo31P spectroscopic imaging, and an adiabatic selective inversion pulse is obtained.

Introduction The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of vegan diet in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) on blood lipids oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) and natural atheroprotective antibodies against phosphorylcholine (anti-PCs). Methods Sixty-six patients with active RA were randomly assigned to either a vegan diet free of gluten (38 patients) or a well-balanced non-vegan diet (28 patients) for 1 year. Thirty patients in the vegan group completed more than 3 months on the diet regimen. Blood lipids were analyzed by routine methods, and oxLDL and anti-PCs were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Data and serum samples were obtained at baseline and after 3 and 12 months. Results Mean ages were 50.0 years for the vegan group and 50.8 years for controls. Gluten-free vegan diet induced lower body mass index (BMI) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and higher anti-PC IgM than control diet (p < 0.005). In the vegan group, BMI, LDL, and cholesterol decreased after both 3 and 12 months (p < 0.01) and oxLDL after 3 months (p = 0.021) and trendwise after 12 months (p = 0.090). Triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein did not change. IgA anti-PC levels increased after 3 months (p = 0.027) and IgM anti-PC levels increased trendwise after 12 months (p = 0.057). There was no difference in IgG anti-PC levels. In the control diet group, IgM anti-PC levels decreased both after 3 and 12 months (p < 0.01). When separating vegan patients into clinical responders and non-responders at 12 months, the effects on oxLDL and anti-PC IgA were seen only in responders (p < 0.05). Conclusion A gluten-free vegan diet in RA induces changes that are potentially atheroprotective and anti-inflammatory, including decreased LDL and oxLDL levels and raised anti-PC IgM and IgA levels.

Central administration of ACTH in rats induces yawning and stretching. In order to study the effects of REM sleep deprivation on ACTH-induced yawning, the peptide was injected immediately after the REM sleep deprivation period or 24 h later. REM sleep deprivation impaired ACTH-induced yawning, but after a 24-hour recovery period, rats displayed a number of yawns similar to those in control animals. Implications for an involvement of dopaminergic and mainly cholinergic systems are discussed.