Simple Figures Research Articles

Étude des habiletés graphomotrices chez l'enfant et l'adulte porteurs de trisomie 21 : approche développementale et comparative

Aim of the study. – The study aimed to assess the development of graphic abilities in children and adults with Down Syndrome in comparison with those of children having the same mental age. Method. – We investigate graphic abilities in children and adults with Down Syndrome ( N = 45) matched on mental age with normally developing children ( N = 85). We measure several aspects of graphic abilities (the planning of gesture, the motor control and the visuospatial abilities) observed in the drawing of simple geometrical figures. Results. – There is no difference between the performance of the experimental and control group on the action of planification. Nevertheless, it was found that persons with Down Syndrome performed worse than the control group on motor control and spatial cognitive skills. Conclusions. – The findings show a heterogeneous pattern of drawing abilities and suggest that the drawing development of Down Syndrome may not just be delayed relative to that of children who do not have learning difficulties but may exhibit a qualitatively different pattern.

Bipolar Disorder, Creativity Show Positive Correlation

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Clinical & Research NewsFull AccessBipolar Disorder, Creativity Show Positive CorrelationJoan Arehart-TreichelJoan Arehart-TreichelSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:18 Nov 2005https://doi.org/10.1176/pn.40.22.0023Creativity and mood disorders are related, evidence has suggested. For example, some famous composers have been thought by psychiatrist-musician Richard Kogan, M.D., to have had mood disorders (Psychiatric News, April 19, 2002). Also, a number of living artists and writers have reported having mood disorders.And now both adults with bipolar disorder and their children seem to show greater perceptual creativity than do healthy control subjects.Kiki Chang, M.D., director of the pediatric bipolar disorders program at Stanford University, and colleagues gave the Barron-Welsh Art Scale (BWAS), a test that measures creativity, to 40 adults with bipolar disorder and 18 adults without the illness. The scoring of this test is based on“ like” and “dislike” responses to figures of varying complexity and symmetry that provide a comparison with preferences indicated by artists. Thirty-eight simple and/or symmetrical figures disliked by artists and 24 more complex and/or asymmetrical figures liked by artists comprise the BWAS's Dislike and Like subscales, respectively; total scores combine responses to these subscales. People whose scores are more in accord with the likes and dislikes of artists are considered as having greater creativity.Compared with healthy controls, bipolar subjects scored significantly higher on the BWAS Dislike Subscale and higher, although not significantly so, on the BWAS Like Subscale.Chang and her colleagues also gave the test to 20 children who had a parent with bipolar disorder and who had the disorder themselves; to 20 children who had a parent with bipolar disorder and who had attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) but no bipolar disorder (and who were suspected of showing possible early signs of bipolar disorder); and to 18 healthy control children.The children with either bipolar disorder or ADHD scored significantly higher than did the healthy controls on the BWAS Dislike Subscale, and higher, although not significantly so, on the BWAS Like Subscale.Thus, “the results of this study support an association between bipolar disorder and creativity and contribute to a better understanding of possible mechanisms of transmission of creativity in families with genetic susceptibility for bipolar disorder,” the researchers concluded in their report in the November Journal of Psychiatric Research.In other words, as Chang told Psychiatric News, “We were surprised that both offspring with ADHD and offspring with bipolar disorder had similar levels of this type of creativity. This might indicate that this is either a genetically mediated trait or that it is due to similar creative environments. However, it does not appear to be due to mania itself.”These results likewise have implications for clinical psychiatrists, Chang believes.For example, she said, they should realize that children with bipolar disorder who are not doing well academically may have creative talents that can be developed.Also, she pointed out, just as bipolar individuals seem to dislike the concrete and mildly prefer the complex and abstract, they also seem to have a chaotic lifestyle, since she and her colleagues found in another study that bipolar subjects often experience conflict and disorganization. Yet a simplified, structured lifestyle may be more beneficial to their mental health.“Finally and most importantly,” she added, “we found a negative correlation of illness duration with this type of creativity; the longer the children were sick, the less creative they were,” Chang stressed. “That would imply that early intervention to prevent this illness.. .could prevent a loss of creativity over time.”The study was funded by the Heinz C. Prechter Fund for Manic Depression, National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation, and National Institutes of Health.An abstract of “Creativity in Familial Bipolar Disorder” can be accessed at<www.sciencedirect.com>, by clicking on “Browse A-Z,” then “J,” then“ Journal of Psychiatric Research,” then the November issue. ▪ ISSUES NewArchived

Illuminations

As educators, we are continually designing new methods and procedures to enhance learning. During this process, good ideas are frequently generated and tested, but the extent of such activities may not be adequate for a full manuscript. Nonetheless, the ideas may be quite beneficial in improving the teaching and learning of physiology. Illuminations is a column designed to facilitate the sharing of these ideas (illuminations). The format of the submissions is quite simple: a succinct description of about one or two double-spaced pages (less title and authorship) of something you have used for the classroom, teaching, lab, conference room, etc. You may include one or two simple figures or references. Submit ideas for inclusion in Illuminations directly to the Associate Editor in charge, Stephen DiCarlo ( sdicarlo@med.wayne.edu ).

Learning-Method Choices and Personal Characteristics in Solving a Physical Education Problem

The goal of this study was to identify the relationships between the learning choices made by pupils and their personal characteristics, including cognitive style (field dependence–independence), a motivational variable (feeling of self-efficacy), and a cognitive variable (task representation). The participants were 64 twelve-year-old sixth graders from a suburban middle school in France (35 boys and 29 girls). Cognitive style or FDI was measured with the Group Embedded Figures Test, a perceptual test that requires finding a simple geometrical figure embedded in a complex geometrical one. Five learning conditions (autonomy, tutoring, verbal instruction, silent demonstration, and verbal demonstration) were then proposed in random order to the pupils. They were asked to select a learning method to solve a motor problem: a badminton service. The results indicated an absence of relationships between the choice of a learning condition and cognitive style. Three variables partially predicted the learning-condition choice: feeling of self-efficacy, task representation, and motor performance. The present results can be interpreted in the light of studies on children’s help-seeking behavior in problem-solving situations.

The Rules in the Geometric Structure of Tetrahedral (Td) Nanocarbons

The main purpose of this article is to find the rules for the geometric structure of the tetrahedral (T d ) nanocarbons. Also, we would like to demonstrate the ways that we derive the formulas for these rules by simple figures and illustrations. We hope that with these derived formulas of the rules, we will be able to derive all types of the Tetrahedral Nanocarbon Clusters (without consideration for the case of distortion).

Illuminations

As educators, we are continually designing new methods and procedures to enhance learning. During this process, good ideas are frequently generated and tested, but the extent of such activities may not be adequate for a full manuscript. Nonetheless, the ideas may be quite beneficial in improving the teaching and learning of physiology. Illuminations is a column designed to facilitate the sharing of these ideas (illuminations). The format of the submissions is quite simple: a succinct description of about one or two double-spaced pages (less title and authorship) of something you have used for the classroom, teaching, lab, conference room, etc. You may include one or two simple figures or references. Submit ideas for inclusion in Illuminations directly to the Associate Editor in charge, Stephen DiCarlo ( sdicarlo@med.wayne.edu ).

Laser emission with low quantum defect in Yb:CaGdAlO_4

It is demonstrated that 2% Yb: CaGdAlO4 (called CAlGO) presents favorable thermomechanical properties with a high measured thermal conductivity (Kc = 6.3 and Kc = 6.9 W m(-1) K(-1). A laser oscillation in this material at 1016 nm is demonstrated for the first time to our knowledge while pumping at 979 nm. This implies a very small quantum defect (3.5%). A simple new figure of merit that takes into account thermomechanical properties and quantum defects is proposed here to compare the resistance of materials under high-power laser pumping. Consequently, Yb:CAlGO is similar to garnets and sesquioxides in regard to laser power resistance.

Breakdown of spatial parallel coding in children's drawing

When drawing real scenes or copying simple geometric figures young children are highly sensitive to parallel cues and use them effectively. However, this sensitivity can break down in surprisingly simple tasks such as copying a single line where robust directional errors occur despite the presence of parallel cues. Before we can conclude that this directional bias is a limiting case it needs to be shown that any given parallel cues are indeed being processed. We achieved this by using a texture-defined contour where parallel cues are integral to the stimulus and thus cannot be ignored. Here we report that even when prolific parallel cues must have been processed, young children make robust directional errors when copying single lines. This finding demonstrates a major constraint on young children's spatial parallel coding.

Wastewater reclamation and reuse in Europe: a model-based potential estimation

The basic aim of this paper is to present an approach to quantitatively assess the potential of municipal wastewater reclamation and reuse in a European context. The model developed is based on the analysis and interrelation of water management data like water availability, water demand and treated effluent. In conjunction with information about the current status of wastewater reuse simple key figures are deduced, which allow future projection of wastewater reclamation and reuse. The simulation points out that there is a significant potential for an increased utilisation of reclaimed wastewater in many European countries, specifically in the Mediterranean region driven by different factors like increased wastewater treatment capacity and higher demand for irrigation and groundwater recharge.

317 方向線素特徴を利用した特異点グラフの類似判定法(J11-1 流体情報学と可視化(1),J11 流体情報学と可視化,2005年度年次大会)

We propose a similarity judgment method between critical point graphs (CPGs) in two volume data sets by using the directional element feature (DEF) that has been employed in the field of character recognition techniques (CRT). It becomes possible to perform classifying and searching volume data sets by using CPG with DEF. Critical Point (CP) shows the feature point of data, and CPG is a connection of those points by streamlines based on vector data of the field. Therefore, it is thought that CPG is an expression of the feature of volume data in a simple figure. CPG is consisted of curves and they are composed of small straight-line segments. Therefore, we applied extended DEF to the similarity judgment of CPG method.

Deleuze's Metaphysics and the Reality of the Virtual

Alain Badiou, in his provocative, while often misguided, Deleuze: The Clamour of Being, suggestively states that both he and Deleuze are classical thinkers. A classical thinker, according to Badiou, refuses to submit to Kant's critical injunctions that limit metaphysical speculation to the field of possible experience. Despite diverging from Badiou's interpretation of Deleuze in many respects, I nonetheless affirm Badiou's conviction that Deleuze's philosophy opposes the identification of the "end of metaphysics" with the discovery of the transcendental-"the active indifference, concerning the omnipresent theme of 'the end of philosophy.""1 This essay is an attempt to subtract Deleuze from this injunction that has saturated phenomenology's post-Kantian resonances from Husserl to Derrida. This rather onerous task hinges on Deleuze's concept of the virtual that appears to be burdened with a near impossible task. The virtual is not given in experience, but is that by which experience is given. This being "of the sensible can neither be "deduced" nor "described," but only constructed. We can speak of the virtual in much the same way that Deleuze's speaks of expression in Spinoza: "the idea of the virtual is neither defined nor deduced by Deleuze, nor could it be."2 And Pierre Macherey's account for why this is the case for expression equally holds for the virtual: "As middle, centre and element, expression {the virtual} is not 'a' concept, that is, a single concept, representative of a determinate content. Rather, expression {the virtual} is the dynamic movement of conceptualization, which must be found everywhere in its explicit concepts: it is what Spinoza {Deleuze} thinks, what causes Spinoza {Deleuze} to think, and also what allows us ourselves to think in Spinoza {Deleuze}."31 think this is what is at stake in Deleuze and Guattari's polemical statement in What is Philosophy? that "the death of metaphysics or the overcoming of philosophy has never been a problem for us: it is just tiresome, idle chatter."4 Perhaps the most axiomatic of claims that Deleuze makes about his philosophy is the following statement in Negotiations: "What for me takes the place of reflection is constructivism. And what takes the place of communication is a kind of expressionism" (Neg 147). The transcendental field, the virtual, is immanent to its expressions, and thus cannot be conceived through a reflection upon the expressed. Put differently, the condition cannot be obtained through any sort of regressive gesture that begins with the conditioned. Reflecting upon the expressed or the conditioned will always configure expression or the condition in the image of the expressed or conditioned, the transcendental in the image of the empirical. The source of confusion for all the postulates of the dogmatic image of thought, according to Deleuze, lies in "elevating a simple empirical figure to the status of a transcendental, at the risk of allowing the real structures of the transcendental to fall into the empirical."5 The transcendental or the virtual field remains a ground of the grounded only insofar as the process of grounding metamorphoses the grounded: "To ground is to metamorphose [Fonder, c'est metamorphoser]" (DR 200/154). The construction of the virtual must be a condition of real experience, not simply possible experience. Constructivism opposes the "end of metaphysics" through opposing the figure of the impossible. If we can identify the genealogy of the "end of metaphysics" as a value with Kant, this is because Kantian reason establishes itself through a new figure of "impossibility." With Kant, the impossible is neither a logical impossibility, i.e., contradiction, nor an incompossibility or vice-diction, the Leibnizian concept that names what is possible but not compossible with the given series of predicates included in the concept. Kant's foundational distinction between the transcendental and the empirical implies a restriction of speculation (speculative reason) to the field of possible experience and this distinction effects an immense devaluation of metaphysical speculation. …

The effects of various pitch patterns and transformed simple figures on the impression of audio-visual contents

The effects of various pitch patterns and transformed simple figures on the impression of audio-visual contents

PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS INFLUENCING THIRST AND DRINKING IN HAEMODIALYSIS PATIENTS ON A FLUID RESTRICTION

Models of panic and health anxiety are used to explore the possible psychological processes contributing to excessive fluid intake in kidney patients on a fluid restriction. Some simple figures concerning the role of attention in thirst intensity are presented.

The effect of temporal delay and spatial differences on cross-modal object recognition.

In a series of experiments, we investigated the matching of objects across visual and haptic modalities across different time delays and spatial dimensions. In all of the experiments, we used simple L-shaped figures as stimuli that varied in either the x or the y dimension or in both dimensions. In Experiment 1, we found that cross-modal matching performance decreased as a function of the time delay between the presentation of the objects. We found no difference in performance between the visual-haptic (VH) and haptic-visual (HV) conditions. Cross-modal performance was better when objects differed in both the x and y dimensions rather than in one dimension alone. In Experiment 2, we investigated the relative contribution of each modality to performance across different interstimulus delays. We found no differential effect of delay between the HH and VV conditions, although general performance was better for the VV condition than for the HH condition. Again, responses to xy changes were better than changes in the x or y dimensions alone. Finally, in Experiment 3, we examined performance in a matching task with simultaneous and successive presentation conditions. We failed to find any difference between simultaneous and successive presentation conditions. Our findings suggest that the short-term retention of object representations is similar in both the visual and haptic modalities. Moreover, these results suggest that recognition is best within a temporal window that includes simultaneous or rapidly successive presentation of stimuli across the modalities and is also best when objects are more discriminable from each other.

Evidence for the online operation of imagery: Visual imagery modulates motor production in drawing

One property of the emulator framework presented by Grush is that imagery operates off-line. Contrary to this viewpoint, we present evidence showing that mental rotation of a simple figure modulates low-level features of drawing articulation. This effect is dependent upon the type of rotation, suggesting a more integrative online role for imagery than proposed by the target article.

Economic analyses of blood safety and transfusion medicine interventions: a systematic review

Economic evaluations are increasingly common in blood safety and transfusion medicine. We sought to summarize and review economic evaluations of donated blood interventions conducted in the United States. By using computer database searches, we identified 19 studies that reported both cost and health benefit results, and relative to each other, we rated the quality of their design and reporting. We classified 6 of the studies as having high quality, 10 as having fair quality, and 3 as having poor quality. Several strengths and limitations in economic evaluations of blood safety and transfusion medicine interventions were identified. Four key improvements can increase the quality of literature in this discipline. We believe researchers should (1) provide more explicit detail on cost parameters in each study and the methods used to obtain them; (2) adopt a clear analysis perspective relevant to decision makers that captures all key costs and consequences, such as the societal perspective; (3) use a consistent approach to reporting sensitivity analyses; and (4) place greater reliance on graphical presentation of results including sensitivity analyses because a large amount of information can be conveyed in relatively simple figures, leaving space to discuss the impact of important analysis assumptions and applicability of the results to other settings.

Relating the Components of Figure Preferenceto the Components of Hypomania

This study explored the relationship between two measures of figure preference (an "origence" measure derived from the Welsh Figure Preference Test (1987) and a polygon-based task) and the Hypomanic Personality Scale (HoP), in a sample of 170 introductory psychology students. A multidimensional measure of schizotypal traits, the Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences (O-LIFE; Mason, Claridge, & Jackson, 1995), was also administered. A focus of the analysis involved the correlation of HoP subscales, produced from a previous large-scale factor analysis, with factors produced from Principal Components Analyses of the two figure preference tasks. Hypomanic personality was associated with total origence and was negatively associated with an origence factor representing simple geometric figures. In the polygons task, hypomanic personality was associated with an index of figural complexity, and was negatively associated with a factor representing simple asymmetrical polygons. A canonical correlation confirmed that relationships were strongest for hypomania factors measuring such aspects of behavior as moodiness, restlessness, and hypersociability. Two schizotypy scales produced patterns of correlation parallel to, but generally weaker than, the hypomania correlations. The sensation-seeking construct is invoked to explain the obtained relationships.

D306 特異点グラフの類似度の評価手法とその応用

Nowadays, a huge volume datasets has been generated from numerical simulations and measurement equipments. However the classification and reference has been usually performed manually, such as vision or experience of a measurement engineer. There still has not been revealed efficient techniques for searching similarity between volumetric datasets.In this report, we propose a technique of performing the classification and reference using the critical point graph which expresses the feature of volume datasets in the simple figure. For this purpose, critical point graphs need to be generated efficiently and it is necessary to calculate the critical point in volume datasets efficiently.

Influence of Emotional Words on Human Visual Recognition and Brain Asymmetry

SummaryTo investigate the number of correct responses, the reaction time and the event-related brain potentials, effects of positive and negative verbal reinforcement on the visuo-spatial recognition of simple geometric figures, in condition of backward masking, were studied in healthy subjects and patients with chronic alcoholism. It was found that in performing the mental construction of geometrical figures from pairs of fragments, the number of correct responses by alcoholics, unlike the control group, was greater and the reaction time was lesser in the tests after positive verbal reinforcement than after negative verbal reinforcement. The latter in healthy subjects produce reduction of the latency and increase in the amplitude of N200-P300 potentials, particularly in the right parietal lobe. These changes were not observed in alcoholics. Moreover, negative verbal reinforcement, unlike positive, produced an emotional reaction, which underlay the worsening in recognition by alcoholics. The patients' lesser ability to perform the visuo-spatial tasks could be explained by the general reduction in the event-related potentials and the disappearance of the brain asymmetry. The verbal feedback mechanisms of reinforcement play an important role in the dynamic changes in the hemispheric lateralization of the human brain.

Pressure-Volume Curve and Compliance of a Balloon: a Simulation

As educators, we are continually designing new methods and procedures to enhance learning. During this process, good ideas are frequently generated and tested, but the extent of such activities may not be adequate for a full manuscript. Nonetheless, the ideas may be quite beneficial in improving the teaching and learning of physiology. Illuminations is a column designed to facilitate the sharing of these ideas (illuminations). The format of submissions is quite simple: a succinct description of about one or two double-spaced pages (less title and authorship) of something you have used for the classroom, teaching, lab, conference room, etc. You may include one or two simple figures or references. Submit ideas for inclusion in Illuminations directly to the Associate Editor in charge, Stephen DiCarlo (sdicarlo@med.wayne.edu).