Middle Figure Research Articles

Predictors of delayed gastric emptying after robotic pancreatoduodenectomy: analysis of intraoperative techniques using video review

Objective: Delayed gastric emptying (DGE) remains a major driver of prolonged length of stay and morbidity following the pancreatoduodenectomy. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether technical factors observed during video review of DGE during robotic pancreatoduodenectomy (RPD) could add to predictive models of DGE. Methods: Two blinded surgeons analyzed RPD videos with 90-day postoperative clinical data. DGE was classified according to ISGPS criteria. Clinical and technical variables were analyzed using multivariate analysis (MVA). Specific variables reviewed were: 1) type of anastomosis 2) angle of efferent limb 3) OSATS score of performing surgeon, 4) length of time to complete anastomosis, and 5) if performed by trainee. Results: Video was available for 172 RPD, 56% percent of all performed during time period. DGE was observed in 38 (21.1%): A=15 (40%), B=12 (32%), and C=11 (29%). Clinical variables (prior to inclusion of technical variables) that predicted DGE on MVA were age, duct size and non-pancreatic adenocarcinoma malignancies (p=0.0003; R2=0.112). As a group, trainees took longer to complete the anastomosis than attendings (p=0.029). On MVA, the best model of independent predictors of DGE included (p=0.0002; R2=0.1651): advanced age, small pancreatic duct, short [1st Interquartile Range] gastrotomy (<4.5 cm) length, stapled (compared to sutured) anastomosis, extreme efferent GJ angle from midline (>30°; middle figure best), and performance of anastomosis by trainee. Conclusion: Technical components of the gastrojejunostomy added to predictive models of DGE. This study establishes the framework for innovative prospective quality improvement projects targeting surgical micro-techniques available only through review of video databases.

Poltava’s «photographic experience» at the beginning of the twenty century and its subjects

In the article, which is based on materials of archival sources (photographs, memories, periodicals), the author determined "photographic experience" of Poltava at the beginning of the twenty century. The activity of Poltava’s photographic artists and genre priorities in their art are revealed in this article. The author found out the role of the photograph in the life of provincial society, particularly the representatives of middle class, intellectuals and public figures of Poltava in the context of cultural and artistic trends of that time

Extremely anisotropic single-crystal growth in nanotwinned copper

By electroplating the unidirectionally -oriented nanotwinned and fine-grained Cu on a Si wafer surface and followed by annealing at 400–500 °C up to an hour, we grow a number of extremely large -oriented single crystals of Cu of sizes from 200 to 400 μm, as illustrated by the left figure. By patterning the nanotwinned Cu film (middle figure), we grow an array of -oriented single crystals of Cu of sizes from 25 to 100 μm on Si after the annealing, as shown in the right figure.

The Gothic style frescoes beneath the western gallery of the Church of Sântămărie-Orlea

The present study is intended to provide a fresh analysis of the Gothic murals in the currently Protestant church of Sântămărie-Orlea. Th e church and especially its precious frescoes have raised the interest of many scholars, both Hungarian and Romanian, but the poor state of conservation of the paintings allowed room for many different interpretations. A new reading of these frescoes is proposed here, based on a series of historic copies, until recently unknown, which provide the grounds to clear up some misinterpretations. Nevertheless, a certain degree of incertitude will remain for as long as these valuable paintings, dated around 1400, are not restored. The wall paintings are placed inside semi-circular frames formed beneath the vaults supporting the western gallery. Generally we can say that they represent saints important to the royal court. South of the entrance there is St. Elizabeth of Hungary, the first woman canonized from the Árpád Dynasty, who offered a new model of piety. North to the entrance there is a hardly interpretable mural with standing saints. The middle figure is supposedly representing one of the Three Holy Hungarian Kings. The scene placed on the northern wall, with the inscription OBIT PAUPER PAULUS, seems to be an original composition most probably connected with the Pauline order, very close to the royal court, whose important achievement was the transportation of the corpse of St. Paul of Thebes (the order’s protector) in 1381 to the monastery from the Buda hills. Th e determination of the style and of the time when this mural was painted is hampered by the actual state of conservation of the frescoes. There is no doubt that the mural is part of the International Gothic style fresco circle, with elements from Italian Trecento, dated around 1400. The restoration of the murals will surely bring out new information and even show completely new valences of the Transylvanian Art.

الانترنت وصحافة المدونات الالكترونية

The emergence of the Internet and its transformation in the early nineties of the last century led to a means of mass communication that brought about significant structural changes in the media map. Over the course of historical development, the public did not engage the media in its behavior in the implementation and dissemination of an idea, generalization or theory put forward by media experts or practitioners through these means to do it. Blogs represent the most important service provided by the Internet in recent years which has gained special importance in the media field. Where the word “Blogs” has several names: (alternative media), (blogging press), (popular press) and other names. The media audience, who has been transformed by digital communication into websites, has found these websites as an alternative means to own, formulate its policies, write articles and edit them to support interaction and freedom of speech at a low cost and with wider public participation. The rapid growth of blogs in the world, where the number of blogs in 2004 reached about four million blogs connected with each other by links to more than half a million links. This number rose in 2005 to reach 21 million blogs. (Blog Herald) estimated the number of blogs in the world at 100 million blogs. Middle East figures are dwarfed by the rest of the world. The number of Arab blogs to about 490 thousand blogs, which is equivalent to 0.7% of the number of blogs in the world. From this, it can be said that the blogs gave activists and new doers in the society an opportunity to use their technical characteristics to play an important role as guardians of the public interest and monitors the performance of both politicians and the media itself.

Dependence of spatial filtering by spike timing dependent synaptic plasticity on learning window

Spike timing dependent synaptic plasticity (STDP) plays an important role in temporal information processing. Whereas our result of the previous study showed that an interconnected network with STDP plays a role in spatial information processing [1]. The role is spatial filtering. In the present study, we studied the effect of learing window of STDP on spatial filtering by the interconnected network with STDP using computer simulation. STDP learning is domated by learning window. Various types of learning window of STDP are found in various brain. In a hippocampus, a post-before-presynaptic spike pair couses synaptic efficacy to strengthen and a pre-before-postsynaptic spike pair courses synaptic efficacy to weaken (here we called this type learning “hippocampal type learning”). In a electrosensory lobe of an electric fish, the learning of STDP is reverse of hippocampal type learning (here we called “electric fish type learning”). Using the learning window of hippocampal type, the network acted as spatial high-contrast filtering. Left figure of Fig.3 shows input image. Neuron on white and grey area receives high and low magnitude of input current, respectively. Middle figure in Fig.3 shows output image from the network. The output image means firing count of neurons of the network from 9000msec to 10000msec. In this case, firing count of neurons which received lower and higher input is lower and larger, respectively. Thus the network with STDP functioned as spatial high contrast filtering using learning window of hippocampal type . Using the learning window of electric fish type, the network acted as spatial low-pass filter. Left figure of Fig.3 shows input image. Right figure of Fig.3 shows output image from the network. The output image means firing count of neurons of the network from 9000msec to 10000msec. In this case, spatial high frequency component was reduced and spatial low frequency component is enhanced in output. Thus the network functioned as spatial low-pass filter using learning window of electric fish type. Figure 1 Left figure is an input image. Middle figure is output of the network with STDP applied hippocampal type learning window. Right figure is output of the network with STDP applied electric fish type learning window. A function of spatial filtering was provided by an interconnected network with STDP. The function changed according to a type of learning window of STDP. In the preset study, we proposed two type of spatial filtering using two type of learning window. The spatial filtering was achieved by dynamically changing connection of the network based on STDP. The results of this study suggested that the interconnected network with STDP might provide appropriate spatial filtering for an optional image from changing network connection according to the image.

An epidemiological investigation of acute occupational hand injuries

To study composition, distribution and causes of acute occupational hand injuries in Beijing Jishuitan Hospital. From April 1st 2005 to September 30th 2005, all patients with acute hand injuries were investigated by questionnaire focusing on all related epidemiological elements. Two thousand six hundred fifty eight cases with acute hand injuries were about 17.3 % of patients with acute orthopedic injuries. Their mean age was (30.4 +/- 10.8) years old. The radio of males to females in cases with acute hand injuries was 57:1. The cutting and crushing injuries were the main causes of acute hand injuries. Most of cases with acute hand injuries were engaged in work related to machines. The acute hand injuries were mainly involved in index and middle figures of both hands, 94.9 % of acute hand injuries were opening, and 87.6% of acute hand injuries were involved in the deep tissues. Acute hand injuries are the common occupational severe injuries for young male workers. The acute hand injuries occur in patients engaged in work related to machines. The prevention of acute hand injuries should be emphasized.

Warum und inwiefern ist Judas ein „Daimon“? Überlegungen zum Evangelium des Judas (Codex Tchacos 44,21)

ABSTRACT The recently published Gospel of Judas has rapidly become a disputed text. Whilst some scholars welcome the depiction of a “good Judas”, which they believe can be found in this text, others believe that Judas is here portrayed as negatively as ever – even not more so. That Jesus calls Judas a “demon” seems to support the latter opinion. This article explores the use of the term “demon” in a range of ancient texts – the New Testament, the Nag Hammadi writings, and the Platonic tradition – discussing which might shed light on the Judas figure in the Gospel of Judas. It concludes that the question of whether Judas is presented as good or bad is misleading: Judas is neither good nor bad, but a middle figure with the ability of receiving and communicating revelation.

Does maternal concern about children's weight affect children's body size perception at the age of 6.5?—A community-based study

Though overweight is often established by school entry, not all mothers of such children report weight concerns. Enhancing concern might assist lifestyle change, but could lead to child body dissatisfaction. We investigated (i) perceived/desired body size and body dissatisfaction in mothers and their 6.5-year-old children, and (ii) the impact of earlier maternal concern about overweight on children's body mass index (BMI) status and body dissatisfaction. Prospective community study. Melbourne, Australia. 317 mother-child dyads. Child and maternal BMI (kg m(-2)) at 4.0 and 6.5 years; maternal concern about child overweight at 4.0 years. Paired perceived and desired body size on 7-point figural rating scales self-reported by mothers and children, and reported by mothers regarding children; dissatisfaction ('desired' minus 'perceived') score. For all three actual BMI perceived size pairings (mother self-report, mother's report on child and child self-report), BMI correlated with perceived body size (r=0.82 (mother self-report); r=0.65 (mother reporting on child); r=0.22 (child self-report); all P<0.001). Similarly, all three dissatisfaction scores were greater with increasing BMI status. Children's own dissatisfaction scores correlated with their actual BMI, but were not related to mothers' own body dissatisfaction scores or with mothers' dissatisfaction with children's body size. Maternal concern about overweight at the age of 4 years was not associated with BMI change, or child body dissatisfaction by the age of 6.5. Most mothers of overweight and obese children (88 and 90%, respectively) regarded their child as the middle figure (that is, 4) or thinner. Despite low rates of recognition of child overweight, maternal perceptions of the child's body correlated strongly with the child's actual BMI. Maternal concerns about child BMI did not appear to impact on child BMI change or child body dissatisfaction.

HD simulations of super star cluster winds

AbstractWe numerically model winds driven by super star clusters (SSC) using the hydrodynamic code ZEUS with the new radiative cooling procedure. The importance of cooling on the wind dynamics depends on the properties of the central cluster: the energy and mass deposition rates Lsc and Ṁsc, and the cluster radius Rsc. Low mass clusters behave adiabatically, and their winds are well described by the solution of Chevalier &amp; Clegg (1985). However, for larger Lsc and Ṁsc and/or smaller Rsc, cooling becomes important, and the wind enters the radiative regime in which the wind temperature quickly drops to 104 K at a small distance away from the cluster (Silich et al., 2004). There is no stationary wind solution for very energetic and compact clusters. This is expressed by the line of the critical luminosity Lcrit shown by the left panel as a function of Rsc.In the case of SSC above the threshold line, the stagnation point Rst appears inside the cluster. It splits the cluster volume into two parts: the outer one with r &gt; Rst where the wind velocity is always positive, and the inner one r &lt; Rst where it has a complicated time-dependent profile. The mass inserted into the outer region leaves the cluster in a form of quasi-stationary wind, while most of the mass from the inner region either accumulates there or passes the inner boundary and eventually feeds further star formation. The middle figure shows that the stagnation point Rst asymptotically approaches the cluster radius Rsc with the increasing Lsc.The right figure summarises several of our calculations for a cluster with an Rsc = 10 pc. It shows the amount of the mass Ṁout outflowing from the cluster depending on Lsc. It can be seen that Ṁout grows with Lsc following the power-law fit of the simulations Ṁout ≈ Lsc0.54. However, the fraction of the outflowing mass to the total mass deposited by the cluster Ṁsc decreases with Lsc from 100% for Lsc = Lcrit to several percent for Lsc = 5 × 1044 erg s−1.

Albert Wojciech Adamkiewicz: The Discoverer of the Variable Vascularity of the Spinal Cord

The present article contains a brief biography as well as a discussion of the more significant contributions of Albert Wojciech Adamkiewicz, Head of General and Experimental Pathology at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow in the years 1879 to 1892, and who is now primarily remembered as the discoverer of the major radicular artery eponymically named "Adamkiewicz's artery." His work as an investigator of the variability of the vasculature of the spinal cord led to his major contributions to present clinical practice in such areas as vascular surgery, neurosurgery, pediatric surgery, and the surgery of the aorta, providing a permanent Polish eponymic accent in major textbooks in these specialties. This article also deals with Adamkiewicz's contributions in other fields, mostly involving the nervous system, such as the development of a new and original method for staining neuronal tissue (double staining of the spinal cord) and his extensive studies of spinal cord degeneration. The authors also present aspects of his career that brought ill fame to Adamkiewicz. These were his claims to have discovered the so-called nervous bodies and anticancer antitoxin, which were both severely criticized by his faculty peers at the Jagiellonian University. The biography is supplemented with an attempt at evaluating Adamkiewicz's entire scientific output, wherein unquestionable achievements and pointed discoveries prevail in comparison with failures.

Magnitude and Role of Wall Shear Stress on Cerebral Aneurysm. Computational Fluid Dynamic Study of 20 Middle Cerebral Artery Aneurysms

Magnitude and Role of Wall Shear Stress on Cerebral Aneurysm. Computational Fluid Dynamic Study of 20 Middle Cerebral Artery Aneurysms

Ambiguous figures: living versus nonliving objects.

Eleven series of figures were studied, each series ranging from one extreme interpretation via five ambiguous intermediates to a second extreme interpretation. Triplets consisting of an ambiguous exemplar in the middle flanked on the left and right by its two extreme interpretations were presented to large groups of subjects. The initial aim was to establish the levels of perceptual ambiguity of each exemplar in a series, and normative data on the ambiguous figures are provided for future reference and use. However, several biases were encountered and these were examined in more detail. In experiment 1 the subject's task was to compare the middle figure with the flankers and draw an arrow from the middle figure towards the flanking extreme they judged the most similar. Here, an overall preference for the left extreme was found. Therefore the instructions were reversed in experiment 2; flankers had to be compared with the middle figure. The preference for the left extreme remained for figures of living objects, but for nonliving objects the preference switched to the right extreme. To do away with any effect of the arrows, in experiment 3 subjects were divided into two groups each receiving different instructions and were asked to circle one of the extremes. However, the pattern of biases remained the same. The bias found with figures of living objects may be explained on the basis of top-down processes. For nonliving figures, an hypothesis based on bottom-up processes like neural fatigue was considered but rejected.

Transfusion medicine illustrated. Maternofetal transfusion detected by gel-based typing.

At our center, ABO and Rh typing of all newborns is performed on umbilical cord blood samples with tube-based testing; gel testing is an ancillary strategy used to resolve weak agglutination and other problems. We present two infants with unusual results. The RBCs of Infant 1 were agglutinated, by use of tube testing, with reagent anti-B, but not with anti-A. With gel testing, a mixed-field reaction (two bands) was seen with reagent anti-B (left figure, Case A). The mother typed as group B. The RBCs of Infant 2 were strongly agglutinated with reagent anti-B, but only weakly with anti-A, by use of tube testing. With gel typing, a weak mixed-field reaction was seen with reagent anti-A (middle figure, Case B). The mother typed as group A. A Kleihauer-Betke (acid elution) smear of each specimen revealed the presence of adult RBCs (pale ghosts) in addition to fetal RBCs (bright pink) (right figure, Case 1, Kleihauer-Betke test). In Case 1, the proportion of maternal cells was 32 percent; in Case 2, 20 percent. Each infant's sample had been drawn by use of direct venipuncture into the umbilical cord. We concluded that the RBCs of fetus 1 were group O, with maternal B cells in the sample; the RBCs of fetus 2 were group B, with maternal A cells, both due to maternofetal transfusion. Gel agglutination is known to be more discriminatory than tube testing in the detection of dual populations of RBCs. Trafficking of RBCs occurs bidirectionally between fetal and maternal circulations. The implications of fetal-to-maternal transfusion include maternal alloimmunization and hemolytic disease of the newborn; the consequences of maternal-to-fetal transfusion are less well understood.

Reforming Chile. Cultural Politics, Nationalism, and the Rise of the Middle Class. PATRICK BARR-MELEJ: Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001.

Patrick Barr-Melej urges the reader to use culture to understand the efforts of the emerging middle class reformers to deal with two conflicting ideologies: the aristocratic attempt to preserve "traditional" values and the efforts of men, such as Luis Emilio Recabarren, to alter dramatically Chile.The author believes that these middle class figures - "intellectuals, educators, bureaucrats, and politicians" - seized the middle ground, fashioning "an agenda of cultural politics and elaborated a nationalist imagination that altered Chile's cultural landscape, infused politics with a new constellation of images, symbols, and meanings, and influenced how many Chileans thought about themselves and their nation" (p. 2). The movement received support from authors who spurned European literary models and, like the early proponents of criolloism, instead emphasized Chilean themes.

These Stars Have Eyes

The ability to detect and react to light can be critically important for an animal’s self preservation, and many varieties of eyes have been developed in the animal kingdom. Recently, a team of researchers from Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, the Weizmann Institute, and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles have found evidence for a novel photoreceptor system in some species of brittle stars. 1 1. J. Aizenberg, A. Tkachenko, S. Weiner, L. Addadi, G. Hendler, Nature 412, 819 (2001) https://doi.org/10.1038/35090573. Spiny brittle stars (top figure) are a class of echinoderms, relatives of starfish and sea urchins. With their wiggly arms, brittle stars are capable of very fast motion. These marine invertebrates lack anything immediately recognizable as eyes, yet some species, such as Ophiocoma wendtii, show a remarkable light sensitivity: As shown in the top figure, they change color from day (upper) to night (lower), and they can detect and dart into shadows or crevices when predators approach.This photosensitivity has been attributed to diffuse dermal receptors. Now, Joanna Aizenberg (Bell Labs) and colleagues have found that the skeletal elements (middle figure) that protect the upper (dorsal) part of the brittle star arms may form what’s essentially an extended compound eye in the light-sensitive species. As in all echinoderms, each of these skeletal elements is composed entirely of single-crystal calcite (calcium carbonate). Whereas the dorsal arm plates of light-insensitive brittle stars have an irregular porous structure, those of O. wendtii and other light-sensitive species have on their outer surface a regular array of nearly uniform nodules 20–50 µm in diameter (bottom figure).These protuberances have many properties of an engineered microlens array. Calcite is birefringent, but in these structures the optical axis is normal to the plates and parallel to the lens axis; this optimal orientation prevents the formation of double images. In addition, the researchers found that each protuberance has a nearly ideal double-lens shape that closely resembles the shapes proposed in the 17th century by Descartes and Huygens to minimize spherical aberrations. Such shapes maximize a lens’s light-gathering ability and sensitivity. The only other known calcitic lens structures like this in the animal kingdom are from the extinct trilobites, which thrived about 200–550 million years ago. 2 2. E. N. K. Clarkson, R. Levi-Setti, Nature 254, 663 (1975) https://doi.org/10.1038/254663a0. Aizenberg and company studied the optical properties of the microlens arrays from O. wendtii using photolithography. Similar to someone moving a magnifying glass up and down until focused sunlight ignites a piece of paper, the researchers exposed photoresist at various distances below the lens layer. From the sizes of the exposed spots in the resist, the researchers not only confirmed the focusing ability of the calcitic structures but also determined the focal length and the spot size in the focal plane. The possible role of these microlenses in the brittle star’s photoresponse system is supported by the presence of bundles of nerve fibers located just beneath the lens layer at the calculated focal points of the lenses. The sizes of the bundles also agree well with the experimentally determined focus spot size (about 3 µm). Furthermore, the color change in O. wendtii is due to mobile pigment-containing cells that act somewhat as irises, regulating the amount of light that reaches the lenses. Such a response explains why O. wendtii is sensitive to lower levels of illumination at night than it is during the day. Some questions remain, though, such as whether it is the nerve bundles themselves or associated tissue that is photoreceptive, and how the brittle star’s nervous system processes the signals received from the microlenses. With their regularity and precise curved shape and orientation, the brittle star microlens arrays should inspire new ideas of what may be possible in the emerging field of biomimetics, or “biologically inspired materials synthesis.”G. HENDLERPPT|High resolutionJ. AIZENBERGPPT|High resolutionJ. AIZENBERGPPT|High resolutionREFERENCESSection:ChooseTop of pageREFERENCES <<1. J. Aizenberg, A. Tkachenko, S. Weiner, L. Addadi, G. Hendler, Nature 412, 819 (2001) https://doi.org/10.1038/35090573. Google ScholarCrossref, CAS2. E. N. K. Clarkson, R. Levi-Setti, Nature 254, 663 (1975) https://doi.org/10.1038/254663a0. Google ScholarCrossref, CAS© 2001 American Institute of Physics.

Passages from the Middle: Coloniality and Postcoloniality in Charles Johnson's Middle Passage

I know that if I want to smoke, I shall have to reach out my right arm and take pack of cigarettes lying at other end of table. The matches, however, are in drawer on left, and I shall have to lean back slightly. And all these movements are made not out of habit but out of implicit knowledge. A slow composition of my self as a body in of a spatial and temporal world - such seems to be schema. (Fanon 111) The book is filled all but a finger's breadth. I shall lock it, wrap it and sew it unhandily in sailcloth and thrust it away in locked drawer. With lack of sleep and too much understanding I grow a little crazy, I think, like all men at sea who live too close to each other and too close thereby to all that is monstrous under sun and moon. (Golding 278) Middle Passage - very words conjure up violent images of movement, wrenching of Africans from their homes, their families, and their freedom, and ill-fated voyage to hostile territory. Middle Passage describes not only aqueous route of slavers, but also notions of origin and destination embedded in phrase. For Middle Passage's passage, its conveyance of human African cargo across space and time to America, New World, is what makes Middle Passage the defining moment of African-American (Pedersen 225). Charles Johnson's novel Middle Passage, by its title and narrative space, necessarily suggests similar conceptions of movement, of traversing globe from America to Africa and back. But Johnson's novel is less about movement and passages than about middle-ness. Middle Passage's narrator and central figure, Rutherford Calhoun, is confined, spatially and temporally, to a space - in-between ship's crew and Allmuseri, in-between factions of ship's crew, and in-between generations of African Americans. How Calhoun negotiates between borders(1) provides Johnson's metaphor of a passage: Johnson, through Calhoun's experiences, envisions a particular moment that is not about passages, but about mediation. At level of narrative, Calhoun personifies middle of Middle Passage. But Johnson's novel works on another level, level of discourse: The fact that Calhoun, African-American subject, speaks from space of creates a moment of postcoloniality. And thus two effects are at work here: confinement to middle-ness of Calhoun's moment, and transcendence of coloniality via enunciation from point of confinement. The first of these effects, moment - Calhoun's spatial and temporal location in - surfaces from a reading of Middle Passage's narrative. Calhoun exists in colonial space terra incognita or terra nulla, empty or wasted land whose history has to be begun, whose archives must be filled out, whose future progress must be secured . (Bhabha 246). Calhoun cannot identify with borders, where culture exists, because he is excluded from every community; he only mediates, mapping out constricted space in-between. One site of Calhoun's middle-ness is between Republic's crew and Allmuseri: This is uncharted space between America and Africa, white and black. As with every instance of Calhoun's middle-ness, his confinement is a combination of externally imposed exclusion and internally realized difference. This mode of subject construction - or, in this case, subject placement - is not unfamiliar, as it opposes any totalizing version of self: Calhoun's subjectivity is neither entirely self-constructed nor entirely socially constructed. He is product of many forces.(2) Calhoun's first experience of interposition between crew and Allmuseri illustrates his multiply generated subject construction well. During Calhoun's first evening in Bangalang, Squibb warns Calhoun that he might be mistakenly captured and sold like Allmuseri: 'Better yuh keep your noodle down, Illinois. …

Frames of reference and distinctive figural characteristics affect shape perception.

In 4 experiments it was found that global frameworks and local distinctive figural characteristics influenced the perception of shape and of pointing. In Experiments 1 and 2, Ss were asked to mark the center of the middle figure in arrays of 3 aligned figures (either triangles or squares). Displacements of the center indicated a perceived deformation of the shapes. In Experiment 3, Ss were asked to adjust the height of triangles in arrays similar to those in Experiment 1. Height adjustments made along the axis of apparent pointing resulted in extents that were shorter than the height necessary to form equilateral triangles. In Experiment 4, stimuli were isosceles triangles in which the apparent distortion had been nulled; however, Ss continued to perceive them as pointing in a direction consistent with their alignment, and hence shape distortion cannot be the cause of pointing.

Assimilation and contrast illusions: differences in plasticity.

There are a number of visual stimulus configurations in which a particular component can be distorted in opposite directions, depending on the context in which it is embedded. When the test component is distorted in the direction of the surrounding context, the con­ figuration is usually referred to as an assimilation illu­ sion, because the perceived difference between the test and inducing elements is smaller than the actual differ­ ence and thus the apparent difference between test and context is reduced. When the direction of distortion is away from the surrounding context, the configuration is usually referred to as a contrast illusion, because the perceived difference between the test and inducing ele­ ments is larger than the actual difference and thus the apparent difference between them is accentuated (Coren & Girgus, 1978). The Delboeuf illusion, presented in Figure lA, shows both types of distortion. When the concentric circle surrounding the central circle is just slightly larger than the central circle, as in the figure on the left, the central circle tends to be overestimated relative to the undistorted circle on the right, making this an assimila­ tion illusion. When the concentric circle is much larger than the central circle, as in the middle figure, the cen­ tral circle tends to be underestimated, thus forming a contrast illusion. Figure 1B shows the Ebbinghaus illusion, which is frequently described as a pure contrast illusion because

Immigration and the Green Paper

The December 1977 issue of this journal contained by Dr Robert Birrell on the Green Paper Immigration Policies and Australias Population which had been issued in March by the Australian Population and Immigration Council (APIC). Dr. Birrell makes some criticisms of the Green Papers assessment of labour market trends and one purpose of the present article is to separate these criticisms from others that are more debatable. It should be mentioned at the outset that though APIC is a government-appointed body chaired by the Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs it has an advisory function only. Thus it was well placed to prepare a Green Paper which by definition does not commit the government of the day but sets out alternative policies while offering analysis and relevant data. Much of the Paper under discussion can also be read however as a moderately stated plea for a particular level of immigrant intake: 90000 - 120000 annually which allowing for departures was expected to yield a net intake of 50000 a year. True this is proposed as a middle figure between two extremes; but that being an old (though legitimate) debating device has only encouraged critics to treat the document as in effect a White Paper. (excerpt)