Trade Statistics of the Zollverein, 1834-1871

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the fact that the lack of useable German trade statistics for the period preceding the German political unifica- tion is not a fatality. The documents published during the Zollverein period by the Central Bureau of the Zollverein, the Statistische Uebersichten über Waaren- Verkehr und Zoll-Ertrag im Deutschen Zoll-Vereine für das Jahr..., do not provide prices nor trade flows in value nor any indication of countries of ultimate origin and destination. To overcome these imperfections, a great number of estimates of Zollverein trade statistics have been published since 1842 but they are ques- tionable as well. Nevertheless, the good quality of Statistische Übersichten’s quantity data should make possible the reconstruction of consistent series of German trade, total, by product and in value, over the period 1834-1871

Dynamics of trimming the content of face representations for categorization in the brain

To understand visual cognition, it is imperative to determine when, how and with what information the human brain categorizes the visual input. Visual categorization consistently involves at least an early and a late stage: the occipito-temporal N170 event related potential related to stimulus encoding and the parietal P300 involved in perceptual decisions. Here we sought to understand how the brain globally transforms its representations of face categories from their early encoding to the later decision stage over the 400 ms time window encompassing the N170 and P300 brain events. We applied classification image techniques to the behavioral and electroencephalographic data of three observers who categorized seven facial expressions of emotion and report two main findings: (1) Over the 400 ms time course, processing of facial features initially spreads bilaterally across the left and right occipito-temporal regions to dynamically converge onto the centro-parietal region; (2) Concurrently, information processing gradually shifts from encoding common face features across all spatial scales (e.g. the eyes) to representing only the finer scales of the diagnostic features that are richer in useful information for behavior (e.g. the wide opened eyes in 'fear'; the detailed mouth in 'happy'). Our findings suggest that the brain refines its diagnostic representations of visual categories over the first 400 ms of processing by trimming a thorough encoding of features over the N170, to leave only the detailed information important for perceptual decisions over the P300

On Abduction in Design

The mechanism of design reasoning from function to form is addressed by examining the possibility of explaining it as abduction. We propose a new interpretation to some definitions of innovative abduction, to show first that the concept, idea, as the basis for solution must be present in the inference, and second, that the reasoning from function to form is best modeled as a two-step inference, both of the innovative abduction pattern. This double-abductive reasoning is shown also to be the main form of reasoning in the empirically-derived “parameter analysis” method of conceptual design. Finally, the introduction of abduction into design theory is critically assessed, and in so doing, topics for future research are suggested

Functional MRI evidence for the decline of word retrieval and generation during normal aging

International audienceThis fMRI study aimed to explore the effect of normal aging on word retrieval and generation. The question addressed is whether lexical production decline is determined by a direct mechanism, which concerns the language operations or is rather indirectly induced by a decline of executive functions. Indeed, the main hypothesis was that normal aging does not induce loss of lexical knowledge, but there is only a general slowdown in retrieval mechanisms involved in lexical processing , due to possible decline of the executive functions. We used three tasks (verbal fluency, object naming , and semantic categorization). Two groups of participants were tested (Young, Y and Aged, A), without cognitive and psychiatric impairment and showing similar levels of vocabulary. Neuropsychological testing revealed that older participants had lower executive function scores, longer processing speeds, and tended to have lower verbal fluency scores. Additionally, older participants showed higher scores for verbal automa-tisms and overlearned information. In terms of behav-ioral data, older participants performed as accurate as younger adults, but they were significantly slower for the semantic categorization and were less fluent for verbal fluency task. Functional MRI analyses suggested that older adults did not simply activate fewer brain regions involved in word production, but they actually showed an atypical pattern of activation. Significant correlations between the BOLD (Blood Oxygen Level Dependent) signal of aging-related (A > Y) regions and cognitive scores suggested that this atypical pattern of the activation may reveal several compensatory mechanisms (a) to overcome the slowdown in retrieval, due to the decline of executive functions and processing speed and (b) to inhibit verbal automatic processes. The BOLD signal measured in some other aging-dependent regions did not correlate with the behavioral and neuro-psychological scores, and the overactivation of these uncorrelated regions would simply reveal dedifferentia-tion that occurs with aging. Altogether, our results suggest that normal aging is associated with a more difficult access to lexico-semantic operations and representations by a slowdown in executive functions, without any conceptual loss

A922 Sequential measurement of 1 hour creatinine clearance (1-CRCL) in critically ill patients at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)

Meeting abstrac

Deriving the number of jobs in proximity services from the number of inhabitants in French rural municipalities

We use a minimum requirement approach to derive the number of jobs in proximity services per inhabitant in French rural municipalities. We first classify the municipalities according to their time distance to the municipality where the inhabitants go the most frequently to get services (called MFM). For each set corresponding to a range of time distance to MFM, we perform a quantile regression estimating the minimum number of service jobs per inhabitant, that we interpret as an estimation of the number of proximity jobs per inhabitant. We observe that the minimum number of service jobs per inhabitant is smaller in small municipalities. Moreover, for municipalities of similar sizes, when the distance to the MFM increases, we find that the number of jobs of proximity services per inhabitant increases.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

The IDvIP Trial: A two-centre randomised double-blind controlled trial comparing intramuscular diamorphine and intramuscular pethidine for labour analgesia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Intramuscular pethidine is routinely used throughout the UK for labour analgesia. Studies have suggested that pethidine provides little pain relief in labour and has a number of side effects affecting mother and neonate. It can cause nausea, vomiting and dysphoria in mothers and can cause reduced fetal heart rate variability and accelerations. Neonatal effects include respiratory depression and impaired feeding. There are few large studies comparing the relative side effects and efficacy of different opioids in labour. A small trial comparing intramuscular pethidine with diamorphine, showed diamorphine to have some benefits over pethidine when used for labour analgesia but the study did not investigate the adverse effects of either opioid.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The Intramuscular Diamorphine versus Intramuscular Pethidine (IDvIP) trial is a randomised double-blind two centre controlled trial comparing intramuscular diamorphine and pethidine regarding their analgesic efficacy in labour and their side effects in mother, fetus and neonate. Information about the trial will be provided to women in the antenatal period or in early labour. Consent and recruitment to the trial will be obtained when the mother requests opioid analgesia. The sample size requirement is 406 women with data on primary outcomes. The maternal primary outcomes are pain relief during the first 3 hours after trial analgesia and specifically pain relief after 60 minutes. The neonatal primary outcomes are need for resuscitation and Apgar Score <7 at 1 minute. The secondary outcomes are an additional measure of pain relief, maternal sedation, nausea and vomiting, maternal oxygen saturation, satisfaction with analgesia, whether method of analgesia would be used again, use of Entonox, umbilical arterial and venous pH, fetal heart rate, meconium staining, time from delivery to first breath, Apgar scores at 5 mins, naloxone requirement, transfer to neonatal intensive care unit, neonatal haemoglobin oxygen saturation at 30, 60, 90, and 120 mins after delivery, and neonatal sedation and feeding behaviour during first 2 hours.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>If the trial demonstrates that diamorphine provides better analgesia with fewer side effects in mother and neonate this could lead to a change in national practice and result in diamorphine becoming the preferred intramuscular opioid for analgesia in labour.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p><a href="http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN14898678">ISRCTN14898678</a></p> <p>Eudra No: 2006-003250-18, REC Reference No: 06/Q1702/95, MHRA Authorisation No: 1443/0001/001-0001, NIHR UKCRN reference 6895, RfPB grant PB-PG-0407-13170_IR5</p

Determining relative quality for the study of creative design output

Design creativity is often defined using the terms “novel” and “appropriate”. Measuring creativity within design outputs then relies on developing metrics for these terms that can be applied to the assessment of designs. By comparing design appropriateness to design quality, this paper develops a systematic method of assessing one element of design creativity. Three perspectives from literature are used; the areas in which quality is manifest, the categories into which quality assessment criteria fall, and how well criteria are achieved. The output of the method is a relative ranking of quality for a set of designs, with detailed understanding of the particular strengths and weaknesses of each. The process of assessment is demonstrated through a case study of twelve similar designs. Through such analysis insight into the influences on quality can be gained, which in turn may allow greater control and optimization of the qualities that design outputs display

Task-Specific Codes for Face Recognition: How they Shape the Neural Representation of Features for Detection and Individuation

The variety of ways in which faces are categorized makes face recognition challenging for both synthetic and biological vision systems. Here we focus on two face processing tasks, detection and individuation, and explore whether differences in task demands lead to differences both in the features most effective for automatic recognition and in the featural codes recruited by neural processing.Our study appeals to a computational framework characterizing the features representing object categories as sets of overlapping image fragments. Within this framework, we assess the extent to which task-relevant information differs across image fragments. Based on objective differences we find among task-specific representations, we test the sensitivity of the human visual system to these different face descriptions independently of one another. Both behavior and functional magnetic resonance imaging reveal effects elicited by objective task-specific levels of information. Behaviorally, recognition performance with image fragments improves with increasing task-specific information carried by different face fragments. Neurally, this sensitivity to the two tasks manifests as differential localization of neural responses across the ventral visual pathway. Fragments diagnostic for detection evoke larger neural responses than non-diagnostic ones in the right posterior fusiform gyrus and bilaterally in the inferior occipital gyrus. In contrast, fragments diagnostic for individuation evoke larger responses than non-diagnostic ones in the anterior inferior temporal gyrus. Finally, for individuation only, pattern analysis reveals sensitivity to task-specific information within the right "fusiform face area".OUR RESULTS DEMONSTRATE: 1) information diagnostic for face detection and individuation is roughly separable; 2) the human visual system is independently sensitive to both types of information; 3) neural responses differ according to the type of task-relevant information considered. More generally, these findings provide evidence for the computational utility and the neural validity of fragment-based visual representation and recognition

How the Emotional Content of Discourse Affects Language Comprehension

Emotion effects on cognition have often been reported. However, only few studies investigated emotional effects on subsequent language processing, and in most cases these effects were induced by non-linguistic stimuli such as films, faces, or pictures. Here, we investigated how a paragraph of positive, negative, or neutral emotional valence affects the processing of a subsequent emotionally neutral sentence, which contained either semantic, syntactic, or no violation, respectively, by means of event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Behavioral data revealed strong effects of emotion; error rates and reaction times increased significantly in sentences preceded by a positive paragraph relative to negative and neutral ones. In ERPs, the N400 to semantic violations was not affected by emotion. In the syntactic experiment, however, clear emotion effects were observed on ERPs. The left anterior negativity (LAN) to syntactic violations, which was not visible in the neutral condition, was present in the negative and positive conditions. This is interpreted as reflecting modulatory effects of prior emotions on syntactic processing, which is discussed in the light of three alternative or complementary explanations based on emotion-induced cognitive styles, working memory, and arousal models. The present effects of emotion on the LAN are especially remarkable considering that syntactic processing has often been regarded as encapsulated and autonomous