Short Study Time Research Articles

Musical Complexity and "Embodied Notation": A Study of the Opus Clavicembalisticum (K. S. Sorabji)

Scores of complex, 20th century, solo piano pieces can be difficult to perform and may even include elements that are physically impossible to play. This article investigates the role of music notation in the Opus Clavicembalisticum of Sorabji, which is a rather extreme case in terms of virtuosity and length. To analyze the effect of score notation on learning and performing, 9 pianists were asked to practice music fragments in 3 different score editions, namely the original Urtext edition (a 4-staff score), performance edition (same notes but organized according to an "embodied" performance viewpoint), and study edition (further simplified and with added analytical reading aids). The hypothesis was that the "embodied notation" would have an effect on study time (shorter study time) and errors (fewer errors). Objective features of the study process and performance, such as study time, error ratio and markings on the score (fingerings, hand distribution, synchronization) were compared. Subjective remarks the performers made about the scores were also analyzed. Findings indicate a significant positive influence of the score type on the study time. These results suggest that players draw on ideomotor principles, which include processes based on learned and "embodied" associations between perceived images of the scores and the motor activity that is directly associated with it.

High-throughput high-volume nuclear imaging for preclinical in vivo compound screening\xa7

BackgroundPreclinical single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)/CT imaging studies are hampered by low throughput, hence are found typically within small volume feasibility studies. Here, imaging and image analysis procedures are presented that allow profiling of a large volume of radiolabelled compounds within a reasonably short total study time. Particular emphasis was put on quality control (QC) and on fast and unbiased image analysis.Methods2–3 His-tagged proteins were simultaneously radiolabelled by 99mTc-tricarbonyl methodology and injected intravenously (20 nmol/kg; 100 MBq; n = 3) into patient-derived xenograft (PDX) mouse models. Whole-body SPECT/CT images of 3 mice simultaneously were acquired 1, 4, and 24 h post-injection, extended to 48 h and/or by 0–2 h dynamic SPECT for pre-selected compounds. Organ uptake was quantified by automated multi-atlas and manual segmentations. Data were plotted automatically, quality controlled and stored on a collaborative image management platform. Ex vivo uptake data were collected semi-automatically and analysis performed as for imaging data.Results>500 single animal SPECT images were acquired for 25 proteins over 5 weeks, eventually generating >3500 ROI and >1000 items of tissue data. SPECT/CT images clearly visualized uptake in tumour and other tissues even at 48 h post-injection. Intersubject uptake variability was typically 13% (coefficient of variation, COV). Imaging results correlated well with ex vivo data.ConclusionsThe large data set of tumour, background and systemic uptake/clearance data from 75 mice for 25 compounds allows identification of compounds of interest. The number of animals required was reduced considerably by longitudinal imaging compared to dissection experiments. All experimental work and analyses were accomplished within 3 months expected to be compatible with drug development programmes. QC along all workflow steps, blinding of the imaging contract research organization to compound properties and automation provide confidence in the data set. Additional ex vivo data were useful as a control but could be omitted from future studies in the same centre. For even larger compound libraries, radiolabelling could be expedited and the number of imaging time points adapted to increase weekly throughput. Multi-atlas segmentation could be expanded via SPECT/MRI; however, this would require an MRI-compatible mouse hotel. Finally, analysis of nuclear images of radiopharmaceuticals in clinical trials may benefit from the automated analysis procedures developed.

Rat as laboratory animal model in periodontology

For ethical reason, initiation and progression of periodontal disease as well as certain types of periodontal treatment cannot be studied in humans. Instead, numerous studies in this field have been carried out in laboratory animals. Animal models are needed to objectively evaluate the pathogenesis of human periodontal disease and its various treatment modalities. A number of animal models have been used in studying etiology and pathology of periodontitis. The primate model is recommended because the pathogenesis in primate model closely resembles that in humans. In addition, the dog model is used frequently because of ease of ligature placement as well as the natural occurrence of periodontal disease. However, ease of handling, inexpensive, short study time, low variation among strains and controlled microflora, relatively disease resistant, make the rat model extremely versatile and suited for a wide range of research endeavors. Rats are used mainly for research in toxicity, nutrition, behavior, and cancer. Normal oral structure and physiology and the pathogenesis of periodontal diseases have been studied more extensively in the rat than in any other rodents. Rats are used extensively to study the effects of drugs on the gingiva because their tissue overgrowth is similar to that of humans. The purpose of this review is to evaluate rats as models for studying various aspects of periodontal disease, including disease process and its treatment handling, advantages and limitations of these models.

Kinetic Analysis of Benign and Malignant Breast Lesions With Ultrafast Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MRI: Comparison With Standard Kinetic Assessment.

The purposes of this study were to evaluate diagnostic parameters measured with ultrafast MRI acquisition and with standard acquisition and to compare diagnostic utility for differentiating benign from malignant lesions. Ultrafast acquisition is a high-temporal-resolution (7 seconds) imaging technique for obtaining 3D whole-breast images. The dynamic contrast-enhanced 3-T MRI protocol consists of an unenhanced standard and an ultrafast acquisition that includes eight contrast-enhanced ultrafast images and four standard images. Retrospective assessment was performed for 60 patients with 33 malignant and 29 benign lesions. A computer-aided detection system was used to obtain initial enhancement rate and signal enhancement ratio (SER) by means of identification of a voxel showing the highest signal intensity in the first phase of standard imaging. From the same voxel, the enhancement rate at each time point of the ultrafast acquisition and the AUC of the kinetic curve from zero to each time point of ultrafast imaging were obtained. There was a statistically significant difference between benign and malignant lesions in enhancement rate and kinetic AUC for ultrafast imaging and also in initial enhancement rate and SER for standard imaging. ROC analysis showed no significant differences between enhancement rate in ultrafast imaging and SER or initial enhancement rate in standard imaging. Ultrafast imaging is useful for discriminating benign from malignant lesions. The differential utility of ultrafast imaging is comparable to that of standard kinetic assessment in a shorter study time.

Odor-context effects in free recall after a short retention interval: A new methodology for controlling adaptation

The present study investigated context effects of incidental odors in free recall after a short retention interval (5 min). With a short retention interval, the results are not confounded by extraneous odors or encounters with the experimental odor and possible rehearsal during a long retention interval. A short study time condition (4 s per item), predicted not to be affected by adaptation to the odor, and a long study time condition (8 s per item) were used. Additionally, we introduced a new method for recovery from adaptation, where a dissimilar odor was briefly presented at the beginning of the retention interval, and we demonstrated the effectiveness of this technique. An incidental learning paradigm was used to prevent overshadowing from confounding the results. In three experiments, undergraduates (N = 200) incidentally studied words presented one-by-one and received a free recall test. Two pairs of odors and a third odor having different semantic-differential characteristics were selected from 14 familiar odors. One of the odors was presented during encoding, and during the test, the same odor (same-context condition) or the other odor within the pair (different-context condition) was presented. Without using a recovery-from-adaptation method, a significant odor-context effect appeared in the 4-s/item condition, but not in the 8-s/item condition. Using the recovery-from-adaptation method, context effects were found for both the 8- and the 4-s/item conditions. The size of the recovered odor-context effect did not change with study time. There were no serial position effects. Implications of the present findings are discussed.

Length of Study-Time Behaviour and Academic Achievement of Social Studies Education Students in the University of Uyo

This study investigated the length of study time behaviour and academic achievement of Social Studies Education students in the University of Uyo. The purpose was to determine the difference in the academic achievement of the long study time behaviour students and their short study time behaviour counterparts in Social Studies Education. The study used 120 social studies students of the University of Uyo representing 2% of the population. The researchers administered the instrument personally to the students selected. The t-test statistics was used to analyse the data generated for the study. From the result, the null hypothesis was rejected. Hence the academic performance of the long study time behaviour students was significantly different from that of their short study time counterparts. In view of the findings, it was recommended that students should set a study time table long enough for effective academic exercises (at least two to three hours daily) for their private study and stick to it.

Are attentional bias and memory bias for negative words causally related?

Background and objectivesIn cognitive theories of depression, processing biases are assumed to be partly responsible for the onset and maintenance of mood disorders. Despite a wealth of studies examining the relation between depression and individual biases (at the level of attention, interpretation, and memory), little is known about relationships between different biases. The purpose of the present study was to assess if attentional bias is causally related to memory bias. Methods71 participants were randomly assigned to a control (n = 37) or attentional training group (n = 34). The attentional manipulation was followed by an explicit, intentional memory task during which novel neutral, negative, and positive words were presented. ResultsIt was found that individuals with elevated depression score trained to orient away from negative words did not display a memory bias for negative words (adjectives) whereas similar individuals displayed this memory bias in the control condition. LimitationGeneralization of the findings is limited because of the short study time frame and specific nature of the memory task. ConclusionsThese results indicate that altering attentional bias can influence elaborative processing of emotional material and that this bias could be one of the causes of mood congruent memory in depression.

Long-term monitoring of soil fertility for agroforestry combined with water harvesting in Central Chile

Agroforestry associated with water harvesting was evaluated in field experiments conducted in central Chile, 1996–2008. Soil fertility parameters, such as soil organic matter (SOM), soil reaction (pH), total nitrogen (NT), total phosphorus (PT) and total potassium (KT) contents were measured for five different treatments: control (C), agroforestry (A), agroforestry with water harvesting (AR), woody perennial (W) and woody perennial with water harvesting (WR). Acacia saligna was used as the woody perennial component. Treatments, including Acacia saligna (A, AR, W and WR) increased SOM and NT stocks over time compared with the control, probably due to higher SOM and N inputs from the litter and root turnover. The treatments with water harvesting (AR and WR) showed the highest SOM and NT contents by 2008, suggesting that this practice had positive effects on water infiltration rates and soil water content in the soil, important parameters in the process of root turnover. However, there were no significant differences in other soil parameters, such as pH, PT and KT, perhaps due to the short study time, and soil spatial and temporal variability between treatments.

Acoustical characteristic predictions of a multi-layer system of a submerged vehicle hull mounted sonar simplified to an infinite planar model

Hull Mounted Sonar (HMS) is a long range submerged vehicle's hull-mounted passive sonar system which detects low-frequency noise caused by machineries of enemy ships or submerged vehicles. The HMS needs a sound absorption /insulation multi-layer structure to shut out the self-noise from own machineries and to amplify signals from outside. Therefore, acoustic analysis of the multi-layer system should be performed when the HMS is designed. This paper simplified the HMS multi-layer system to be an infinite planar multi-layer model. Also, main excitations that influence the HMS were classified into mechanical, plane wave and turbulent flow excitation, and the investigations for each excitation were performed for various models. Stiffened multi-layer analysis for mechanical excitation and general multi-layer analysis for turbulent flow excitation were developed. The infinite planar multi-layer analysis was expected to be more useful for preliminary design stage of HMS system than the infinite cylindrical model because of short analysis time and easiness of parameter study.

Acoustical characteristic predictions of a multi-layer system of a submerged vehicle hull mounted sonar simplified to an infinite planar model

Hull Mounted Sonar (HMS) is a long range submerged vehicle's hull-mounted passive sonar system which detects low-frequency noise caused by machineries of enemy ships or submerged vehicles. The HMS needs a sound absorption /insulation multi-layer structure to shut out the self-noise from own machineries and to amplify signals from outside. Therefore, acoustic analysis of the multi-layer system should be performed when the HMS is designed. This paper simplified the HMS multi-layer system to be an infinite planar multi-layer model. Also, main excitations that influence the HMS were classified into mechanical, plane wave and turbulent flow excitation, and the investigations for each excitation were performed for various models. Stiffened multi-layer analysis for mechanical excitation and general multi-layer analysis for turbulent flow excitation were developed. The infinite planar multi-layer analysis was expected to be more useful for preliminary design stage of HMS system than the infinite cylindrical model because of short analysis time and easiness of parameter study.

TU-A-214-01: Cardiac Dedicated Ultrafast SPECT Cameras: New Designs and Medical Physics Implications

Myocardial perfusion imaging using nuclear cardiology techniques has been widely used in clinical practice because of its well documented value in the diagnosis and prognosis of coronary artery disease. Recently, industry has developed innovative designs of dedicated solid‐state cardiacSPECTcameras that constrain all detector area to imaging just the heart. New software that recovers image resolution and limits image noise has also been implemented. These SPECT innovations are resulting in shorter study time and/or reduced radiation dose to patients, promoting easier scheduling, higher patient satisfaction and, importantly, higher image quality. Implications to the medical physicist working in laboratories using these new hardware and software technologies deal with novel approaches for: acceptance testing, measuring imaging performance, performing quality control, implementing new protocols, and optimizing efficiency while reducing radiation dose. This presentation discusses these new implications to medical physicists and describes the software and hardware innovations for cardiac‐centric SPECTimaging which provide a strong foundation for the continued success of myocardial perfusion SPECTimaging. Objectives: 1. Teach the principles of solid state SPECTimaging 2. Make audience aware of benefits of new imaging hardware and software 3. Make audience aware of medical physics implications of new technology

Progress of computer potential of mankind as the basis for a new model of the universe

Known models of the Universe development are discussed in the present work. At present it is not possible to state what model is true among the suggested ones because all models are based on the assumptions a validity of which is scarcely determined. There are plenty of reasons, and the most important ones are impossibility of experiments performance on a global scale, very short time of nature study and low accuracy of determination of fundamental phy- sical constants to check their possible drift. In the most of models the intellect is an unnecessary attribute. Mankind is only an inner insignificant observer in the Universe. Small changes which Humanity can produce on the Earth don’t modify our planet on a global scale. However besides changes in the material world Mankind can create intellectual valuables. Large information content can be stored, integrate and process using computers. We have no any principle restrictions in advance of the com- puter engineering. Therefore we propose a new model of the Universe development which is based on the increasing facilities of our Mankind. In this model the Earth is considered as an analogue of supercomputer. Under certain circumstances Mankind is ready to carry out information processing for other civilizations, but such civilizations have not yet been found. The Creators of the Universe could be other customers. Computer-like model of the Universe suggests a communication with the Creators in future for execution of their calculation orders. However this model is not complete because of lack of high rate of information transfer for long distances.

Dissemination and Sustainability of a Hospital-Wide Hand Hygiene Program Emphasizing Positive Reinforcement

To increase and sustain hospital-wide compliance with hand hygiene through a long-term ongoing multidimensional improvement program emphasizing behavioral factors. Quasi-experimental short study (August 2000-November 2001) and descriptive time series (April 2003-December 2006). A 450-bed teaching tertiary-care hospital. An initial intervention bundle was introduced in pilot locations that addressed cognitive behavioral factors, which included access to alcohol sanitizer, education, and ongoing audit and feedback. The bundle was subsequently disseminated hospital-wide, along with a novel approach focused on behavior modification through positive reinforcement and annually changing incentives. A total of 36,123 hand hygiene opportunities involving all categories of healthcare workers from 12 inpatient units were observed from October 2000 to October 2006. The rate of compliance with hand hygiene significantly improved after the intervention in 2 cohorts over the first year (from 40% to 64% of opportunities and from 34% to 49% of opportunities;P <.001, compared with the control group). Mean compliance rates ranged from 19% to 41% of 4174 opportunities (at baseline), increased to the highest levels of 73%-84% of 6,420 opportunities 2 years after hospital-wide dissemination, and remained improved at 59%-81% of 4,990 opportunities during year 6 of the program. This interventional cohort study used a behavioral change approach and is one of the earliest and largest institution-wide programs promoting alcohol sanitizer from the United States that has shown significant and sustained improvements in hand hygiene compliance. This creative campaign used ongoing frequent audit and feedback with novel use of immediate positive reinforcement at an acceptable cost to the institution.

The impact of agroforestry combined with water harvesting on soil carbon and nitrogen stocks in central Chile evaluated using the ICBM/N model

Soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (N) stocks in an agroforestry system with water harvesting were analysed in a field experiment and the results compared with those of other crop management systems in the Mediterranean zone of central Chile. Agroforestry with water harvesting showed higher positive effects on N stocks, mainly in the upper soil layer, than the other crop management systems. However, soil analysis revealed a lack of differences between treatments, a fact that might be related mainly to the short study time (12 years) and the high spatial variability in these soil properties at the experimental site. In addition, the Introductory Carbon Balance Model that simulates N processes (ICBM/N) was evaluated for simulating trends in SOC and N stocks in the field experiment. Soil data collected between 1996 and 2008 in the field experiment and primarily literature data sets were used to test ICBM/N and its performance was evaluated by considering uncertainty in model inputs using Generalised Likelihood Uncertainty Estimation (GLUE) methodology. The GLUE estimates (5% and 95%) and measured SOC and N stocks were in satisfactory agreement. The observed SOC and N stocks were bracketed by the uncertainty bands in 70% and 80% of the simulations, respectively. Sensitivity analysis showed the model to be most sensitive to C parameters, such as the humification coefficient (h). The results of this study show that ICBM/N can be an effective tool for estimating SOC and N stocks from agroforestry combined with water harvesting systems in the Mediterranean zone of central Chile over the medium term. However, they also indicate that additional data sets are needed to redefine the parameter distributions in the model and thus to predict trends in SOC and N stocks in the future.

Personal study planning in doctoral education in industrial engineering

The duration of doctoral studies has increased in Europe. Personal study planning has been considered as one possible solution to help students in achieving shorter study times. This study investigates how doctoral students experience and use personal study plans in one university department of industrial engineering. The research material consists of a questionnaire study and personal study plan forms submitted by doctoral students. The results show evidence concerning the usefulness of personal study planning in doctoral education in industrial engineering and reveal differences across student groups. This study highlights the situation-dependent character of personal study planning and confirms that the implementation of personal study planning requires time and effort in order to change the culture of individualised studies.

A community pharmacist delivered adherence support service for dyslipidaemia

Dyslipidaemia is a major risk factor for coronary heart disease. A key issue in management is adherence to therapy. Pharmacists are ideally situated to provide a service to increase medication adherence and optimize health outcomes. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of a community pharmacist-delivered adherence support service on patients' adherence and total cholesterol levels. A repeated measures [baseline (t = 1), post-intervention at 3-monthly intervals (t = 2,3,4)], randomized-controlled study in community pharmacies, with patients on chronic lipid-lowering therapy was conducted. Measures used were Brief Medication Questionnaire, Medication Adherence Report Scale, total cholesterol and pharmacist intervention data sheets. A baseline t-test of cholesterol levels between groups was conducted followed by a repeated-measures analysis of variance. Seventeen pharmacists recruited 142 patients (97 completions: 49 control, 48 intervention). Most patients missed either the third or last visit, thus data at t = 3 and 4 were combined. Although the intervention group started with a higher cholesterol level (5.1 vs. 4.8 mmol/l), a difference was observed in the drop in cholesterol levels of the intervention group between t = 2 and 3 (F(1,95) = 8.85, P < 0.01), and between the two groups over the study period (F(2,190) = 4.89, P < 0.05). No changes in medicine adherence scores were observed though there was an improvement in participants' exercise and eating habits. Patients significantly lowered their cholesterol levels probably as a result of the service delivered by their pharmacists within the short study time frame of ~9 months.

Metacognition and mindreading: Judgments of learning for Self and Other during self-paced study

The relationship between metacognition and mindreading was investigated by comparing the monitoring of one’s own learning (Self) and another person’s learning (Other). Previous studies indicated that in self-paced study judgments of learning (JOLs) for oneself are inversely related to the amount of study time (ST) invested in each item. This suggested reliance on the memorizing-effort heuristic that shorter ST is diagnostic of better recall. In this study although an inverse ST–JOL relationship was observed for Self, it was found for Other only when the Other condition followed the Self condition. The results were interpreted in terms of the proposal that the processes underlying experience-based metacognitive judgments are largely unconscious. However, participants can derive insight from observing themselves as they monitor their own learning, and transfer that insight to Other, thus exhibiting a shift from experience-based to theory-based judgments. Although different processes mediate metacognition and mindreading, metacognition can inform mindreading.

Advances in nuclear cardiology instrumentation: Clinical potential of SPECT and PET

Myocardial perfusion imaging using nuclear cardiology techniques has enjoyed widespread clinical use because of its well-documented diagnostic accuracy for assessing coronary artery disease. Industry has begun to create innovative designs of dedicated cardiac single photon emission CT (SPECT) scanners that constrain all detector area to imaging just the heart. New software has also been implemented, which recovers image resolution and limits image noise. Myocardial perfusion positron emission tomography (PET) imaging is experiencing unprecedented growth as evidence mounts of superior cardiac diagnostic performance over SPECT. Advances in PET have been made in gantry and detector design. Improvements in gantry design have been focused on hybrid PET/CT imaging. Improvements in detector design have consisted of using new scintillation crystals and in moving from two- to three-dimensional imaging. These SPECT and PET innovations are resulting in shorter study time and/or reduced radiation dose to the patient and in promoting easier scheduling, higher patient satisfaction, and importantly, higher image quality.

Diagnostic efficacy of a low-dose 32-projection SPECT 99mTc-sestamibi myocardial perfusion imaging protocol in routine practice

99mTc-labeled tracers can provide better imaging quality than does TI for myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI). Nevertheless, a large study showed no significant difference in diagnostic efficacy, implying that image quality, though not optimal, may be still adequate for reliable interpretation. We thus proposed a suboptimal low-dose 32-projection single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) 99mTc-sestamibi (99mTc-methoxyisobutylisonitrile) MPI protocol and evaluated its diagnostic efficacy. A total of 1007 patients undergoing the proposed rest-stress MPI protocol were included in the study for analysis. Among them, 218 had coronary angiography, which was used as the 'gold standard' for evaluating sensitivity and specificity. The normalcy rate was obtained from 47 patients with a low cardiovascular risk. The injected dosage for 99mTc-methoxyisobutylisonitrile resting and dipyridamole stress imaging is 185 and 555 MBq, respectively, with an interval of about 2 h between the two injections. Most of the patients completed the whole MPI within 3 h. Using this protocol, the sensitivity and specificity of the 218 patients with subsequent coronary angiography for determining coronary artery disease were 95 and 63%, respectively. The normalcy rate was 87%. Both the rest and stress images were adequate for confident interpretation. The proposed low-dose 32-projection SPECT protocol has a diagnostic efficacy comparable with that reported in the literature, most of which used a higher dose and 64-projection SPECT, with additional benefits of lower radiation exposure, lower cost, and shorter study time.

Kalman filtering for reliable estimation of BBB permeability

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) plays an important role in the pathophysiology of a number of central nervous system disorders. In the past, a number of laboratory techniques have been proposed to quantify permeability coefficient ki, an important index of barrier function. Recently, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been used to estimate ki based on graphical plot technique. The MR technique was found to be in good agreement with the gold standard, quantitative autoradiography (QAR). However, a reduced image signal-to-noise ratio, among other factors such as partial volume effects, did not allow reliable estimation of permeability coefficients. This proof-of-principle study proposes the use of Kalman filter as a filtering technique for a reliable estimation of permeability coefficients. The results are compared to those obtained using the Wiener filter technique. MRI experiments were performed in Wistar rats (N=2) using a 4.7-T Bruker Biospec MR system (Bruker Biospin, Billerica, MA). After acquiring localizer images, T2-weighted diffusion-weighted imaging images were acquired. Finally, a rapid T1 mapping protocol was implemented to acquire one pre-gadolinium diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid baseline data set followed by postinjection data sets at 3-min intervals for 45 min. Data were postprocessed with and without the application of Kalman and Wiener filters to obtain an estimate of ki. Comparing T1 maps, Patlak plots and permeability maps with and without the Kalman filtering presented several interesting observations. Kalman-filtered Patlak plots, compared to nonfiltered plots, showed that discrete data points on the plot were closer to the line fit. The number of time points used for the construction of the graphical plot had no effect on permeability coefficient estimates when the Kalman filter was used. A box-and-whiskers plot showed longer Y-error bars for nonfiltered and Wiener data compared to Kalman-filtered data. These observations suggest that it may be possible to obtain reliable permeability coefficient estimates in a short study time by applying the Kalman filter to the data. Future work involves investigating the application of this filter on a large-sample-size animal study and evaluating the role of partial volume effects on BBB permeability estimation.