Relevant Letter Research Articles

Hypothesis testing, attention, and ‘Same’-‘Different’ judgments

Logic and common sense say that judging two stimuli as “same” is the converse of judging them as “different”. Empirically, however, ‘Same’-‘Different’ judgment data are anomalous in two major ways. The fast-‘Same’ effect violates the expectation that ‘Same’ reaction time (RT) should be predictable by extrapolating from ‘Different’ RT. The criterion effect violates the expectation that RTs measured when sameness is defined by a conjunction of matching attributes should predict RTs measured when sameness is defined by a disjunction of matching attributes. The two criteria are symmetrical, yet empirically they differ greatly, disjunctive judgments being by far the slower of the two. This study sought the sources of these two effects. With the aid of a cue, a selective-comparison method deconfounded the contributions of stimulus encoding and comparisons to the two effects. The results were paradoxical. Each additional irrelevant (uncued) letter in a random string incremented RT for conjunctive judgments as much as an additional relevant letter did. Yet irrelevant letters were not compared and relevant letters had to be compared. These results appeared again in a second experiment that used words as stimuli. Contrary to intuition, a distinct comparison mechanism—the heart of relative judgment models—is not necessary in judgments of sameness and difference. It is shown here that encoding can carry out the comparison function without the operation of a separate comparison mechanism. Attention mediates the process by selecting from the set of stimulus alternatives, thereby partitioning the set into the ‘Same’ and ‘Different’ subsets. The fast-‘Same’ and criterion effects result from a structural limitation on what attention can select at any one time. With attention mediating the task, ‘Same’-‘Different’ judgments become, in effect, the outcome of a testing of a hypothesis, bridging the distinction between absolute stimulus identification and relative judgments.

Constraint and Oblivion in Inger Christensen’s alphabet

This article examines Inger Christensen’s poem alphabet (1981) in relation to Jacques Roubaud’s assertion that “a text written according to a constraint must speak of this constraint [and] contain the consequences of the mathematical theory it illustrates.” The mathematical and linguistic constraints of alphabet bear similarities to those that are present in the work of the Oulipo. The primary structure of the poem is determined by the Fibonacci sequence, with the number of lines in each section totaling the number of lines that comprise the two preceding sections. Furthermore, Christensen’s integration of alphabetical order with this structure sees each section of the poem defined predominantly by words that begin with the relevant letter of the alphabet. In assessing the extent to which alphabet represents its own constraints, the article pays particular attention to how Christensen’s syntax becomes more complex as the poem progresses, how Christensen juxtaposes imagery of the natural world with that of nuclear oblivion, and how the structure of the poem spirals into an oblivion of its own as a result of its formal constraints, which ultimately serve to reinforce the imagery of an environment in decay.

O problemie ochrony niemieckich praw własności intelektualnej w Polsce w pierwszych latach po II wojnie światowej

On the problem of the protection of German intellectual property rights in Poland in the fi rst few years following the Second World War
 Right after the end of the Second World War a decision was taken to deal with the problem of patent rights and copyright of German nationals by means of internal (national) regulations. A relevant letter was sent in April 1946 to the Ministry of Reconstruction by the Construction Research Institute. This began a rather lively exchange of correspondence on the ministerial level. Particularly active in it were three ministries: Ministry of Reconstruction, Ministry of Justice and Minister of Foreign Aff airs. In the end, however, the problem of the use of patents belonging to German nationals under pre-war international agreements was resolved by means of the London Accord of 27 July 1946 which Poland endorsed in late 1946. What turned to be much more problematic was the regulation of German copyright. The Polish authorities were considering the adoption of the so-called decree on partial revocation of copyright on technical and scientifi c works by German authors. However, owing to a lack of consent from the various ministries as well as uncertainty about possible future consequences associated with compensation the attempts proved ineff ective.
 
 Zur Problematik des Schutzes der deutschen geistigen Eigentumsrechte in den ersten Jahren nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg in Polen
 Unmittelbar nach Ende des Zweiten Weltkrieges versuchte man, das Problem der Patent- und der Urheberrechte deutscher Bürger zusammen zu lösen — mittels der internen (Landes-) Vorschriften. Im April 1946 hat das Forschungsinstitut für Bauwesen [Instytut Badawczy Budownictwa] ein Schreiben an das Ministerium für Wiederaufbau [Ministerstwo Odbudowy] gerichtet, was zu einer regen Korrespondenz auf ministerialer Ebene geführt hat. Besonders aktiv waren in dieser Sache drei Ministerien: das Ministerium für Wiederaufbau, Justizministerium und Ministerium für Auswärtige Angelegenheiten. Die Probleme, die mit der Anwendung der Patente verbunden waren, die nach den internationalen Vorkriegsabkommen den deutschen Bürgern zustanden, wurden schließlich kraft des Londoner Abkommens vom 27. Juli 1946 über die Behandlung deutscher Patente gelöst, Polen trat diesem Abkommen Ende des Jahres 1946 bei. Wesentlich problematischer war die Regelung der deutschen Urheberrechte. Die polnischen Behörden überlegten nämlich die Herausgabe eines sog. Dekretes über die teilweise Aufhebung der Anwendung des Urheberrechtes in Bezug auf die wissenschaftlich-technischen Werke deutscher Autoren. Da jedoch die einzelnen Ministerien diesem nicht zugestimmt haben und Bedenken hinsichtlich künftiger Schadensersatzfolgen bestanden, hat man davon abgesehen.

RECOGNITION OF HANDWRITTEN LETTERS FROM THE MACEDONIAN ALPHABET USING HAUSDORFF DISTANCE

Handwriting recognition is an elementary action performed by human beings due to their traditional five senses. However, computers don’t “think” and operate in the same way as humans. In this paper, a simple solution to this problem is provided using the Hausdorff distance. The used data consists of two sets of images: the first set is taken as a reference point used for comparison and consists of handwritten letters from the Macedonian alphabet, and the second set consists of separate letters of the word which is to be recognized and presented to the algorithm. The Hausdorff distance is used to find the closest resemblance between the letter to be recognized and the relevant letter from the reference set.

Oratory and Political Career in the Late Roman Republic by Henriette van der Blom

Reviewed by: Oratory and Political Career in the Late Roman Republic by Henriette van der Blom Andrew R. Dyck Henriette van der Blom. Oratory and Political Career in the Late Roman Republic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016. Pp. xiii, 377. $120.00. ISBN 978-1-107-05193-5. Van der Blom is known primarily as the author of the book Cicero’s Role Models: The Political Strategy of a Newcomer (Oxford 2010; reviewed in CW 105.2 [2012] 281–82). In the book under review, she considers the career-building of other politicians of the late Republic. The core of the book comprises case studies of six politicians: C. Gracchus, Pompey, Caesar, Piso Caesoninus, Cato Uticensis, and Mark Antony, whereby the less important Piso is justified as “a figure by which we can measure the more extraordinary individuals” (203). [End Page 427] Van der Blom argues that Roman politicians carefully planned their oratorical activity so as to promote their careers. But this emphasis on career-building gets in the way of understanding some of her figures. If ever a politician acted out of conviction, it would seem to have been C. Gracchus, who carried on the reform program of his slain brother Tiberius in the face of his mother’s opposition (if the relevant letter is genuine) and his own forebodings of a fatal end (Cic. Div. 1.56). In fact, toward the end of this chapter van der Blom has to admit that “Gaius’ interest in his legislation [w]as not merely a tool to push forward his career” (94). Similarly in the case of Cato, van der Blom at first leaves open whether his course was determined by career calculations or conviction (219), but by the end of this chapter she concludes that in fact his political principles were the lodestar that guided him (246). Perhaps the most successful of van der Blom’s case studies is that of Pompey, but it is not so much his oratory that is studied (there are no verbatim fragments) as his general strategies for self-promotion. She explores Pompey’s special problem as a man who parlayed highly successful military activity into a place at the top of Roman politics, with the consulate as his first public office. As one who had not grown organically into the role, Pompey was uncomfortable and resorted to avoiding opportunities for public speaking and acting through middlemen so as not to leave himself in an exposed position. Van der Blom is particularly good at teasing out Pompey’s motives from the surface distortion of Cicero’s letters. Van der Blom summarizes her approach in a concluding chapter (“Towards a New Brutus”). It might be helpful, however, to start with a clear understanding of the “old Brutus.” The criterion for inclusion there was not “oratorical ability and political outlook” (289). Rather, it aimed to be inclusive and largely erased politics by focusing on technique, as C. Steel showed (BICS [2002–2003] 200–205, misreported by van der Blom, 71, n.15). Van der Blom, too, largely erases politics and substitutes technique—the technique of career-building and image-promotion. A few details: Van der Blom defends the idea that Gracchus presented similar speeches in self-defense before the censors and before the people (76–77). But this raises the question of what he would gain from the double publication. When Cicero published speeches addressed to two audiences on a single topic (Red. sen./Red. pop. and Phil. 3–4 and 5–6), the point was evidently to give students of rhetoric examples of how the different rhetorical situations could be met (see W. Stroh, Taxis und Taktik [Stuttgart 1975] 52–53), but Gracchus would not have had this motive (there being as yet no organized rhetorical instruction at Rome). I suspect that a single speech has been variously designated in our much later sources. Again, at 106 and n.151, eloquentia popularis as used at Cic. Orat. 13 is not “the art of speaking in a popularis way,” with popularis having a political sense; it is, rather, “public eloquence” and is opposed in context to elegans doctrina. Although the general thesis about oratory and career-building...

Hi, Koo!: A Year of Seasons by Jon J Muth (review)

Reviewed by: Hi, Koo!: A Year of Seasons by Jon J Muth Deborah Stevenson Muth, Jon J. Hi, Koo!: A Year of Seasons; written and illus. by Jon J Muth. Scholastic, 2014. [32p]. ISBN 978-0-545-16668-3 $17.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 2-4. This creative poetic sequence follows the seasons through twenty-six haiku, partnered with illustrations that feature Muth’s familiar anthropomorphized panda as he explores the joys of fall, winter, spring, and summer along with his child friends. The poems are deftly aimed at kid experiences (“Eating warm cookies/ on a cold day/ is easy”), and the phrasing is often evocative; additionally, the alphabet threads through the sequence, with each poem containing a capitalized word beginning with its relevant letter. Muth’s delicate watercolors are triumphant, setting tender washes of sky and grass against the very kidlike poses of Koo the panda as he cranes his neck skyward or peers intently at ground-level action; their clarity is a particularly fine partner for Muth’s easygoing, freeform haiku (an introduction states his reasons for eschewing the conventional syllabic rules). This has potential for both reading alone and aloud, since the poems are accessible enough to serve as youthful writing prompts but are also crisp and vivid as oral verse. [End Page 369] Copyright © 2014 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Integration of Local Features to a Global Percept by Neural Coupling

The integration of different visual attributes into the percept of a single global shape is a central aspect of object processing. In hierarchically organized stimuli with local and global levels, the attentional focus largely determines which level is processed. Here we tested the hypothesis that object processing during attention to the global aspect of the stimulus is characterized by an increased neural coupling between visual areas reflecting the integration of local features. In the present experiment, we used global letters that were constructed by smaller local letters, and a cue signaled which spatial level should be identified. On the local level, only 1 relevant letter was presented laterally in 1 visual hemifield. In contrast, the global letter extended into both hemifields, and the integration of information from both hemispheres was necessary to identify the global stimulus. Therefore, we expected an increased functional coupling between hemispheres during global processing. This hypothesis was investigated using electroencephalographic recordings and an analysis of phase locking and coherence. The results show that stimulus-locked neural coupling within the gamma band (30-40 Hz) across hemispheres in visual cortex increased for global processing after stimulus presentation and could therefore reflect the integration of local visual information.

The Neural Mechanisms for Minimizing Cross-Modal Distraction

The neural circuitry that increases attention to goal-relevant stimuli when we are in danger of becoming distracted is a matter of active debate. To address several long-standing controversies, we asked participants to identify a letter presented either visually or auditorily while we varied the amount of cross-modal distraction from an irrelevant letter in the opposite modality. Functional magnetic resonance imaging revealed three novel results. First, activity in sensory cortices that processed the relevant letter increased as the irrelevant letter became more distracting, consistent with a selective increase of attention to the relevant letter. In line with this view, an across-subjects correlation indicated that the larger the increase of activity in sensory cortices that processed the relevant letter, the less behavioral interference there was from the irrelevant letter. Second, regions of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) involved in orienting attention to the relevant letter also participated in increasing attention to the relevant letter when conflicting stimuli were present. Third, we observed a novel pattern of regional specialization within the cognitive division of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) for focusing attention on the relevant letter (dorsal ACC) versus detecting conflict from the irrelevant letter (rostral ACC). These findings indicate novel roles for sensory cortices, the DLPFC, and the ACC in increasing attention to goal-relevant stimulus representations when distracting stimuli conflict with behavioral objectives. Furthermore, they potentially resolve a long-standing controversy regarding the key contribution of the ACC to cognitive control.

The principle of autonomy of letters of credit is sacrosanct in nature

Identifiable judicial guidelines exist to confirm the autonomous character of letters of credit. Unless clear fraud is established in a case, no bank can derogate from this principle. Disputes arising under an underlying contract do not affect the principle of autonomy of letters of credit, nor may a set-off or counterclaim be allowed in order to depart from obligations arising by virtue of issuing a letter of credit. One of the issues in the recent Sirius case was whether an agreement between the parties concerned subsequent to the issuance of the relevant letter of credit can change the terms of the latter. The court answered it in the negative.

Total Hip Arthroplasty in Greece

In this paper data are presented regarding total hip replacement during the year of 1998 in Greece. These are derived from Orthopaedic Departments of all Hellenic State Hospitals and from major private hospitals. A questionnaire together with a relevant letter was sent to the Consultants of the Orthopaedic Departments explaining the purpose of the study. The reply rate was 100 per cent. The answers to the questions were prompt and the results were received in a short time. Analysis of the data revealed that 4477 total hip replacements were performed in Greece during the year 1998. This number includes 411 (9.2 per cent) patients with revision arthroplasty. The operations were performed on 3247 women and 1230 men with a mean age of 66 years. Degenerative osteoarthrosis of the hip was the most common diagnosis (74 per cent). Intracapsular fractures of the hip (7 per cent), neglected congenital dislocation of the hip in the adult (5 per cent), osteonecrosis of the femoral head (5 per cent), rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis (4 per cent) and miscellaneous conditions (5 per cent) accounted for the remainders. The mean time of hospitalization was 13 days. The postoperative mortality rate during hospitalization was 0.29 per cent, deep infections 0.7 per cent and dislocations 1 per cent.

Evaluation of a program to teach phonemic awareness to young children.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a new program designed to teach young children about phonological structure. The program emphasizes recognition of phoneme identity across words. The experimental group of 64 preschoolers was trained with the program of 12 weeks, and the 62 controls were exposed to the same materials, stripped of reference to phonology. Comparison of pretraining and posstraining measures of phonemic awareness showed greater gains by the experimental group in comparison with controls. The increased levels of phonemic awareness occurred with intrained as well as trained sounds. A forced-choice word-recognition test showed that most of the children who possessed phonemic awareness and who knew relevant letter sounds could use their knowledge to decode unfamiliar printed words

Visual event-related potentials index focused attention within bilateral stimulus arrays. I. Evidence for early selection

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from the scalp while subjects attended to sequences of bilaterally symmetrical arrays of 4 letters (2 in each visual half-field) that were flashed briefly at intervals of 280–520 msec. These sequences also included randomized presentations of unilateral ‘probe’ stimuli consisting of irrelevant bars (experiment 1) or potentially relevant letter pairs (experiment 2). The task was to pay attention to the letter pairs in either the left or the right half-field on a given run and to press a button when the two letters matched one another (targets). The ERPs to the bilateral arrays included an early positive wave (P1, peaking at 135 msec) that was enhanced over posterior scalp sites contralateral to the attended visual field. Both types of probe stimulus also elicited a larger early positivity in the P1 latency range (100–200 msec) when delivered to the attended half-field, followed in some cases by a more prolonged positive deflection. Notable for its absence was any sign of an enlarged posterior N1 component (160–200 msec), which was prominent in the ERP to attended-field stimuli in previous studies using randomized sequences of unilateral stimuli. Attended-field targets elicited large N2 and P3 (P300) components, which were greatly reduced or absent when targets occurred in the unattended field. The observed ERP effects were interpreted in terms of early sensory selection during visual spatial attention.

Device for generating the audio information of a set of characters

A device for generating the audio information of a set of characters in which some characters are intoned or pronounced with a different voice character. The device includes means for making a distinction between a capital letter and a small letter presented. For a capital letter character, a speech pattern is formed in which the pitch or the voice character is modified, while maintaining their identity, with respect to a speech pattern for a small letter of the same character. The device also includes means for determining the position of a letter, preferably the last letter, of a word composed of characters presented and for forming a speech pattern for the relevant letter in which the pitch or the voice character is modified while the identity is maintained.

Aspirin and Reye Syndrome

To the Editor.— I read with interest the article by Orlowski et al.1 As a coauthor of the original article on Reye syndrome,2 and as the author of a relevant letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine,3 I was surprised that the authors did not review these previous submissions, in which it was stated that 11 of the 21 patients in the original study were given aspirin before the onset of their syndrome.

The attraction of color for active attention-problem children.

The optimal stimulation theory proposes that attention disordered hyperactive children are less tolerant than their normal peers of rote, minimally stimulating tasks and thus should more readily attend to color added to such tasks. Due to this attentional selectivity, color added to relevant features should produce improved performance, especially for this group. To test this hypothesis, 17 children, rated high in attention and activity problems, were matched on the basis of age and performance to 17 controls. Matched pairs were randomly assigned to stimulation order (colored stimuli first and black stimuli second session or the reverse order) and to level of emphasis-placement (emphasis added to relevant letter parts or added to randomly selected letter stimuli) counterbalanced for stimulation order. Findings in support of the theory were that attention-problem children performed better with color emphasis placed on relevant detail than when it was assigned to randomly selected letters. Differential responding was significant for experimental but not control children.

Open Letter to TIMS Members

The memorandum to you of April 20, 1972, from Peter V. Norden and Sidney W. Hess on “Change of Slate for TIMS 1972 Election” stated, “Russell L. Ackoff, nominated as a candidate for the Office of President Elect of TIMS for the 1972–73 term … has withdrawn his candidacy for personal reasons.” This is not true. But I can understand the reasons for explaining my withdrawal in this way. It puts the matter to rest. I withdrew because the officers of TIMS would not permit circulation of my platform for office with the ballot. Reproduced below is the relevant letter which I sent to Peter Norden after the Nominating Committee, which he chaired, was kind enough to nominate me.

‘Which is the American?’: Themes, Techniques, and Meaning in William Carlos Williams's Three Novels

In 1928 Ezra Pound described William Carlos Williams as an ‘observant foreigner’ who ‘starts where an European would start if an European were about to write of America: sic: America is a subject of interest, one must inspect it, analyse it, and treat it as subject.’ If Pound was right, Williams was a native-born outsider, a life-long resident alien giving America the serious attention of his life's work. The detachment and close attention noted by Pound as originating in Williams's sense of his own ‘foreignness’ (a sense which Williams obliquely admitted by his insertion of a relevant letter of Pound in the ‘Prologue’ to Kora in Hell), are constants in Williams's work. Both the Imagist and Objectivist phases of his career show his determination to capture in words ‘the local fully realized’ – Williams's definition of ‘the classic’. In his trilogy of novels, his exploration of ‘the local’, ‘the only thing that is universal’ is shown both in theme and technique.

The Myth of Populist Anti-Semitism

WAS Populism anti-Semitic? Criticism of Populism based on this issue must be challenged on the facts of the case.' This study, based on primary materials in the state historical societies of Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Kansas, and the Library of Congress, concludes that the incidence of Populist anti-Semitism was infinitesmal.2 Tle three most extensive manuscript collections reflecting midwestern Populist views-the papers of Henry D. Lloyd, William Jennings Bryan (induded here because many of his correspondents during the I896 campaign were Populists), and Ignatius Donnelly-contain, during the I89o-I896 period, no anti-Semitic statements in the first two cases, and only four in the last. The few instances where were even mentioned in the first two collections have distinctly philo-Semitic connotations. In the only relevant letter in the Lloyd Papers, Lloyd asked Annie L. Diggs whether there was room for some Russian Jews in a proposed cooperative settlement. She replied, As to the Russian of whom you speak-Why we are not to consider Nationality or Religion, but only intelligence and devotion to the principles of cooperation.3 Likewise, the one relevant letter in the Bryan Papers suggests the absence of anti-Semitism. Though your idea on the money question is against the policy of my correligion [si'c throughout] brothers Rotchilds the Bankers, wrote a Jewish clothing merchant to Bryan, assure you that it gives the greatest pleasure to think only that I have an opportunity to use my influence and give you my support through my maiden ballot .... Nor can free silver be taken as presumptive evidence of anti-Semitism, the writer