Comparison of the reliability of multifocal visual evoked cortical potentials generated by pattern reversal and pattern pulse stimulation

This study compared the effectiveness of the multifocal visual evoked cortical potentials (mfVEP) elicited by pattern pulse stimulation with that of pattern reversal in producing reliable responses (signal-to-noise ratio >1.359). Participants were 14 healthy subjects. Visual stimulation was obtained using a 60-sector dartboard display consisting of 6 concentric rings presented in either pulse or reversal mode. Each sector, consisting of 16 checks at 99% Michelson contrast and 80 cd/m² mean luminance, was controlled by a binary m-sequence in the time domain. The signal-to-noise ratio was generally larger in the pattern reversal than in the pattern pulse mode. The number of reliable responses was similar in the central sectors for the two stimulation modes. At the periphery, pattern reversal showed a larger number of reliable responses. Pattern pulse stimuli performed similarly to pattern reversal stimuli to generate reliable waveforms in R1 and R2. The advantage of using both protocols to study mfVEP responses is their complementarity: in some patients, reliable waveforms in specific sectors may be obtained with only one of the two methods. The joint analysis of pattern reversal and pattern pulse stimuli increased the rate of reliability for central sectors by 7.14% in R1, 5.35% in R2, 4.76% in R3, 3.57% in R4, 2.97% in R5, and 1.78% in R6. From R1 to R4 the reliability to generate mfVEPs was above 70% when using both protocols. Thus, for a very high reliability and thorough examination of visual performance, it is recommended to use both stimulation protocols.

A contingency model of job satisfaction

The present research study was designed to test a contingency model of job satisfaction based on participation in decision making as the antecedent variable and job involvement as the intervening variable. The instruments used to measure the variables were the participation in decision making scale developed by Siegel and Ruh (1973), the job involvement scale by Lodahl and Kejner (1965) and the job satisfaction construct derived from Hoppock (1935). The findings indicate that statistically significant correlations do exist for the 1995 educators surveyed in this study. Educators who reported high levels of participation in decision making consistently reported high levels of job involvement (p!: 0.001). Also, teachers reporting high levels of job involvement consistently scored high on their levels of job satis faction (p!: 0.001). All major hypotheses were sUPFOrted by the data. Through exploratory hypotheses, the study attempted to develop statements of relationships between criteria of job satisfaction and sex and marital status of employees in the system. The hypotheses received only minimal support, but the results did highlight the impracticability of attempting to develop any such relationships without using definite personality and situational variables as moderators. Differences between male and female socialization, sex discrimination and multiplicity of roles are briefly discussed as possible explanations for the reported findings.

Yesterday’s Games: Contingency Learning and the Growth of Public Spending, 1890-1938

Neither democracy nor globalization can explain the doubling of the peacetime public share in many Western countries between World Wars I and II. Here we examine two other explanations that are consistent with the timing of the observed changes, namely, (1) a shift in the demand for public goods and (2) the effect of war on the willingness to share. We first model each of these approaches as a contingency-learning phenomenon within Schelling’s Multi-Person Dilemma. We then derive verifiable propositions from each hypothesis. National time series of public spending as a share of GNP reveal no unit root but a break in trend, a result shown to favor explanation (2) over (1).

Thermal transport, photoconduction and electrical switching in selected chalcogenide glasses exhibiting carrier type reversal

Department of Instrumentation, Cochin University of Science and Technology

Pulsed-field studies of the magnetization reversal in molecular nanomagnets

We report experimental studies of crystals of Mn12 molecular magnetic clusters in pulsed magnetic fields with sweep rates up to 410^3 T/s . The steps in the magnetization curve are observed at fields that are shifted with respect to the resonant field values. The shift systematically increases as the rate of the field sweep goes up. These data are consistent with the theory of the collective dipolar relaxation in molecular magnets.

Generalization over contrast and mirror reversal, but not figure-ground reversal, in an "edge-based

Baylis & Driver (Nature Neuroscience, 2001) have recently presented data on the response of neurons in macaque inferotemporal cortex (IT) to various stimulus transformations. They report that neurons can generalize over contrast and mirror reversal, but not over figure-ground reversal. This finding is taken to demonstrate that ``the selectivity of IT neurons is not determined simply by the distinctive contours in a display, contrary to simple edge-based models of shape recognition'', citing our recently presented model of object recognition in cortex (Riesenhuber & Poggio, Nature Neuroscience, 1999). In this memo, I show that the main effects of the experiment can be obtained by performing the appropriate simulations in our simple feedforward model. This suggests for IT cell tuning that the possible contributions of explicit edge assignment processes postulated in (Baylis & Driver, 2001) might be smaller than expected.

Estudio sobre indicadores de validez del Reversal Test.

Comprobar la siguiente hipótesis: si ciertamente el Reversal es un test de madurez, sus resultados pueden constituir un índice predictivo del rendimiento en otras áreas. 740 alumnos de primero de EGB de centros de la región asturiana a través de un procedimiento aleatorio por conjuntos. La población se estratificó según: sexo, hábitat, régimen de enseñanza y asistencia o no de los alumnos a centros preescolares en el curso anterior. Para comprobar la hipótesis planteada, se relacionan los datos obtenidos en este test con los resultados de aquellos otros indicadores del rendimiento de los alumnos de primero de EGB: evaluación o exploración inicial de los alumnos efectuada por el docente al comenzar primero de EGB, los resultados del test de aptitudes cognoscitivas primaria I, y finalmente, la evaluación final al terminar el nivel de primero. Cuestionario 'ad hoc' con respuestas cerradas en escala y paramétrica, destinado a los docentes. Reversal y Test de aptitudes cognoscitivas primaria I. Calificación final en el área de Matemáticas, Lenguaje y global y calificaciones obtenidas por los alumnos en dos pruebas objetivas (Lenguaje y Matemáticas) expresamente preparadas con este fin. Análisis de las relaciones entre el reversal y las puntuaciones obtenidas en los demás indicadores. Cálculo de la validez de este test como instrumento predictivo a través de sus correlaciones con los demás indicadores utilizados.. Diferencias en función del nivel de maduración y el sexo: los alumnos clasificados con bajo nivel de maduración por el Reversal, obtienen las puntuaciones inferiores en todas las variables utilizadas; superioridad de las niñas respecto a los niños, aunque las diferencias no llegan a ser significativas. Interacción de variables en función del grado de madurez y el sexo: las correlaciones más elevadas se dan entre los índices de rendimiento y la madurez cognoscitiva evaluada por los docentes al comenzar el curso; se obtienen coeficientes diferentes con los diversos grupos entre rendimiento y test de aptitudes cognoscitivas, en los índices entre personalización y rendimiento se refleja claramente la influencia del nivel de maduración y el sexo. Relaciones entre el reversal y otros indicadores del rendimiento en función de la preescolarización: las correlaciones más altas se dan entre el Reversal y el Test de inteligencia primaria I; respecto al rendimiento de fin de curso los índices también son claramente representativos; los índices tienden a ser más bajos y desiguales en las relaciones entre el Reversal y la madurez cognoscitiva inicial evaluada por los docentes. Gran utilidad del Reversal como instrumento de diagnóstico y predicción. Se recomienda su utilización en los docentes por su facilidad de aplicación, valoración e interpretación. Este test permite obtener una información sobre el nivel de maduración del niño y 'pistas' de posibles anomalías o retrasos en las áreas perceptiva, espacial, etc..

A unified approach for representing rows and columns in contingency tables

By using suitable parameters, we present a uni¯ed aproach for describing four methods for representing categorical data in a contingency table. These methods include: correspondence analysis (CA), the alternative approach using Hellinger distance (HD), the log-ratio (LR) alternative, which is appropriate for compositional data, and the so-called non-symmetrical correspondence analysis (NSCA). We then make an appropriate comparison among these four methods and some illustrative examples are given. Some approaches based on cumulative frequencies are also linked and studied using matrices. Key words: Correspondence analysis, Hellinger distance, Non-symmetrical correspondence analysis, log-ratio analysis, Taguchi inertia

Intrinsic test of independence in contingency tables

A condition needed for testing nested hypotheses from a Bayesian viewpoint is that the prior for the alternative model concentrates mass around the small, or null, model. For testing independence in contingency tables, the intrinsic priors satisfy this requirement. Further, the degree of concentration of the priors is controlled by a discrete parameter m, the training sample size, which plays an important role in the resulting answer regardless of the sample size. In this paper we study robustness of the tests of independence in contingency tables with respect to the intrinsic priors with different degree of concentration around the null, and compare with other “robust” results by Good and Crook. Consistency of the intrinsic Bayesian tests is established. We also discuss conditioning issues and sampling schemes, and argue that conditioning should be on either one margin or the table total, but not on both margins. Examples using real are simulated data are given

El Reversal Test y la Ficha de Observaci??n de G. Yoakam en la determinaci??n de la madurez para la lectura

Resumen tomado de la publicaci??n

La madurez lectográfica y los tests ABC-Reversal, profilaxis de la dislexia.

Conocer el momento en el que el niño alcanza la madurez necesaria para comenzar el aprendizaje de la lectura, ya que parte de los fracasos y retrasos en el aprendizaje de la lectura vienen dados por la inadecuación de este aprendizaje y el momento madurativo del niño.. La muestra ha constado de 120 niños de Educación Preescolar de dos Colegios, uno nacional y el otro privado.. Experimental.. Para realizar este estudio se han empleado dos tipos de tests: El ABC y Reversal. . Experimental, en la que se ha llevado a cabo un estudio estadístico, hallando las puntuaciones típicas, puntuaciones directas, estudio de las medias y por último las correlaciones entre ambos tests. . Las conclusiones a las que se ha llegado con este estudio son las siguientes: Para afrontar el aprendizaje de la lectura se necesita una edad determinada, llamada de madurez lectora que es específica de cada niño ya que no existe una relación entre la edad de madurez lectora y la edad cronológica. Desde otro punto de vista, una inteligencia alta o normal unida al fracaso en el reversal Test y a algunas pruebas del test ABC, indica existencia de trastornos relacionados con la estructuración espacial y la capacidad perceptiva. A su vez, la madurez para la lectura puede favorecerse y adelantarse, incluso, mediante el desarrollo adecuado de los factores fisiológicos, psicológicos y socio-ambientales que están implicados en el aprendizaje de la lectoescritura. Los trastornos lectores llamados dislexias pueden prevenirse si se respetan los niveles de madurez de cada niño y si se desarrollan normalmente los factores que pueden originarlas..

Contingency management effects on delay discounting among patients receiving smoking cessation treatment

Resumen tomado de la publicaci??n