Plain cigarette packs do not exert Pavlovian to instrumental transfer of control over tobacco-seeking

Journal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tCopyright © 2014 The Authors. Addiction published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society for the Study of AddictionAIMS: To gain insight into the potential impact of plain tobacco packaging policy, two experiments were undertaken to test whether 'prototype' plain compared with branded UK cigarette pack stimuli would differentially elicit instrumental tobacco-seeking in a nominal Pavlovian to instrumental transfer (PIT) procedure. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Two experiments were undertaken at the University of Bristol UK, with a convenience sample of adult smokers (experiment 1, n = 23, experiment 2, n = 121). MEASUREMENT: In both experiments, smokers were trained on a concurrent choice procedure in which two responses earned points for cigarettes and chocolate, respectively, before images of branded and plain packs were tested for capacity to elicit the tobacco-seeking response in extinction. The primary outcome was percentage choice of the tobacco- over the chocolate-seeking response in plain pack, branded pack and no-stimulus conditions. FINDINGS: Both experiments found that branded packs primed a greater percentage of tobacco-seeking (overall mean = 62%) than plain packs (overall mean = 53%) and the no-stimulus condition (overall mean = 52%; Ps ≤ 0.01, ŋp (2) s ≥ 0.16), and that there was no difference in percentage tobacco-seeking between plain packs and the no-stimulus condition (Ps ≥ 0.17, ŋp (2) s ≤ 0.04). Plain tobacco packs showed an overall 9% reduction in the priming of a tobacco choice response compared to branded tobacco packs. CONCLUSIONS: Plain packaging may reduce smoking in current smokers by degrading cue-elicited tobacco-seeking.British Heart FoundationCancer Research UKNIHRMRCESR

MiniAnDE: a reduced AnDE ensemble to deal with microarray data

This article focuses on the supervised classification of datasets with a large number of variables and a small number of instances. This is the case, for example, for microarray data sets commonly used in bioinformatics. Complex classifiers that require estimating statistics over many variables are not suitable for this type of data. Probabilistic classifiers with low-order probability tables, e.g. NB and AODE, are good alternatives for dealing with this type of data. AODE usually improves NB in accuracy, but suffers from high spatial complexity since $k$ models, each with $n+1$ variables, are included in the AODE ensemble. In this paper, we propose MiniAnDE, an algorithm that includes only a small number of heterogeneous base classifiers in the ensemble, i.e., each model only includes a different subset of the $k$ predictive variables. Experimental evaluation shows that using MiniAnDE classifiers on microarray data is feasible and outperforms NB and other ensembles such as bagging and random forest

Diffuse Ionized Gas in the Dwarf Irregular Galaxy DDO 53

The spectral characteristics throughout the dwarf irregular galaxy DDO 53 are studied. The results are very similar to those for other irregular galaxies: high excitation and low values of the [SII]/Halpha ratio. The most likely ionization source is photon leakage from the classical HII regions, without any other source, although the interstellar medium of the galaxy is quite perturbed. Moreover, the physical conditions throughout the galaxy do not change very much because both the photon leakage percentage and the ionization temperature are very similar. In addition, the determined metal content for two HII regions indicates that DDO 53 is a low-metallicity galaxy.Comment: 32 pages, 9 figures, 7 tables. AJ, in pres

Diseño de una pieza de plástico reciclado: Metodología y aplicación

El mecanismo por el que se diseña una pieza de plástico es un proceso complejo que implica el conocimiento de las características mecánicas, eléctricas y físicas de la pieza y también de los procesos de transformación. La principal tarea del diseñador es traducir una serie de requerimientos e ideas previas en las direcciones y formas finales que tendrá la pieza. Para conseguirlo de forma optimizada el diseñador debe hacer uso de su experiencia, conocimientos y de una metodología de diseño adecuada. El objeto de este trabajo es poner de manifiesto los pasos a seguir cuando se aborda un diseño y la aplicación a una pieza de plástico fabricada en material reciclad

Disseny d'una peça de plàstic reciclat: Metodologia i aplicació

El disseny d'una peça de plàstic és un procés complex que implica el coneixement de les característiques mecàniques, elèctriques i físiques de la peça, i també dels processos de transformació. La principal tasca del dissenyador és traduir una sèrie de requeriments i idees prèvies en les dimensions i formes finals de la peça. Per aconseguir-ho de manera òptima, el dissenyador ha de fer ús, a banda de l'experiència i els coneixements propis, d'una metodologia de disseny adquada. L'objectiu d'aquest article és posar de manifest els passos a seguir quan s'aborda un disseny i la seva aplicació a una peça de plàstic fabricada en material reciclat

Análisis biomecánico de la técnica individual de los finalistas masculinos del lanzamiento de peso en el Campeonato del Mundo de Atletismo Valencia 08

El objetivo de este estudio ha sido realizar un análisis descriptivo de la técnica individual de los ocho finalistas masculinos de lanzamiento de peso en el Campeonato del Mundo de Atletismo de Pista Cubierta, celebrado en Valencia, 2008. Para este estudio, se han utilizado técnicas fotogramétricas tridimensionales (3D) a partir de la filmación del gesto con dos cámaras de video sincronizadas temporalmente a 100 Hz, analizándose el mejor lanzamiento de cada atleta. Se parte de un análisis temporal, donde se ha dividido el gesto en seis fases. A partir de esas fases, se describen las gráficas de velocidad tangencial del CG y el peso con respecto al tiempo. A continuación, se registraron los factores que determinan la trayectoria del peso durante el vuelo (factores de producto), así como el compromiso de otros factores causales que determinan la eficacia del lanzamiento de peso. Además de confirmar la relación entre los factores de producto, los resultados ponen de manifiesto que cada lanzador utiliza una secuencia temporal y ritmo de ejecución propio e individual, confirmándose que la ejecución técnica del lanzamiento de peso es individual y está condicionada por características antropométricas, capacidad muscular y el grado de automatización de la secuencia temporal individual.The aim of this study is to make a descriptive analysis of the individual technique of the eight men finalists in the shot put in the 2008 Valencia Indoor World Championships. To do this three-dimensional photogrammetric techniques (3D) were used, filming the action with two video cameras temporally synchronized at 100 Hz. Six puts were recorded during the men’s final, subsequently analysing the longest throw of each putter. A temporal analysis was first made, dividing the throwing action into six phases. Starting from these phases, graphs of the tangential velocity of the thrower’s CG and the time taken in the shot are described. Then the factors that determine the trajectory of the shot during flight (product factors) and the contribution of the other causal factors for the efficiency of the put are recorded. As well as confirming the relation between the product factors, the results show that each thrower uses his/her own temporal sequence and rhythm of execution, confirming that the technical execution of the shot put is individual and conditioned by anthropometrical characteristics, muscular capacity and the degree of automation of the individual temporal sequence.Peer Reviewe

Particle dispersion processes in two-dimensional turbulence: a comparison with 2-D kinematic simulation.

International audienceWe study numerically the comparison between Lagrangian experiments on turbulent particle dispersion in 2-D turbulent flows performed, on the one hand, on the basis of direct numerical simulations (DNS) and, on the other hand, using kinematic simulations (KS). Eulerian space-time structure of both DNS and KS dynamics are not comparable, mostly due to the absence of strong coherent vortices and advection processes in the KS fields. The comparison allows to refine past studies about the contribution of non-homogeneous space-time 2-D Eulerian structure on the turbulent absolute and relative particle dispersion processes. We particularly focus our discussion on the Richardson's regime for relative dispersion