Assessment of applied research and development: Diversification for science policy

In this paper a method is outlined for measuring the diversity of the results of applied R&D with the use of IPC (International Patent Classification). The method has been tested in the contexts of the academic physical, engineering, and chemical institutes. The trend of applied research at a given institute increases both at the level of classes and subclasses, and at the IPC level. Inventions developed within specializations at each institute have a greater efficiency than other forms of inventive activity. The objective was to seek the optimal extent of diversification of applied R&D, which would simultaneously ensure the preservation of the scientific specialization of an institute, the high level of scientific research associated with developing innovations, and the high overall efficiency of each institute.     

Science and the welfare state program: The growth of state activism in finland

Finland has followed the Scandinavian model of the welfare state in which the level of state activism is high, the economic pressures on the scientific activities are strong, and the left-wing parties and the Center Party have formulated the main ideas. In the 1970s welfare ideology was adopted in science policy by emphasizing the promotion of socially relevant scientific activities and the expansion of the university system as a means of effecting equal opportunity. Currently, the trend is toward a mixed welfare economy. Programs have been prepared in spite of the radical cut in government expenditure, and without a consideration of the long-term consequences.     

Live supervision in the postmodern era of family therapy: Issues,reflections, and questions

This article asserts that the family therapy field is approaching an epistemological shift from structuralism and positivism to postmodernism and relativism. The confluence of these movements: feminism, constructivism/constructionism, and cultural relativism is cited as a major impetus for the shift. Live supervision is examined within the context of this transformation, with a discussion of implications for the future.     

Menarche: A crossroads that previews developmental change

In recent years the developmental implications of menarche have garnered particular attention. Investigators have determined that this developmental event tends to affect three significant domains of the adolescent girl's function: psychological status, relationships with peers, and role in the family. This paper explores these issues and introduces a new technique, referred to as previewing, that may help the teenage girl acclimate to the status of sexual maturity. Derived from the early life interactions of caregiver and infant, previewing promotes representational skills and enhances self-esteem as the adolescent confronts developmental challenges.     

Development of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center policy for the care of terminally ill patients who may become organ donors after death following the removal of life support

In the mid 1980s it was apparent that the need for organ donors exceeded those willing to donate. Some University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) physicians initiated discussion of possible new organ donor categories including individuals pronounced dead by traditional cardiac criteria. However, they reached no conclusion and dropped the discussion. In the late 1980s and the early 1990s, four cases arose in which dying patients or their families requested organ donation following the elective removal of mechanical ventilation. Controversy surrounding these cases precipitated open discussion of the use of organ donors pronounced dead on the basis of cardiac criteria. Prolonged deliberations by many committees in the absence of precedent ultimately resulted in what is, to our knowledge, the country's first policy for organ donation following elective removal of life support. The policy is intricate and conservative. Care was taken to include as many interested parties as possible in an effort to achieve representative and broad based support. This paper describes the development of the UPMC policy on non-heart-beating organ donation.     

Infant use of relative motion as information for form: Evidence for spatiotemporal integration of complex motion displays

Previous studies of infants’ ability to integrate and to utilize relative motion as information for form in the absence of structural cues have primarily involved motions that are uniform in rate, direction, and path within the form to be constructed. In the present study, we examined infants’ ability to integrate relative motion information from motions that are nonuniform along these dimensions, and from this integrative process to construct a coherently rotating two-dimensional form. Infants’ ability to integrate nonuniform motion was measured with regard to their ability to discriminate the rotating form from a noncoherent control display containing the same absolute motions. The results showed that discrimination of the coherent and incoherent displays was not demonstrated until 7 months of age. Two additional experiments were conducted to rule out the possibility that this discrimination was based on the detection of local regions of coherence, rather than the perception of the global rotating form. In both experiments, the results did not support discrimination based exclusively on local cues alone. From the combined results of all three experiments, we conclude that infants demonstrate the capacity to integrate the information contained within nonuniform trajectories into a coherent structure by 7 months of age.     

Stereo-motion cooperation and the use ofmotion disparity in the visual perception of 3-D structure

When an observer views a moving scene binocularly, both motion parallax and binocular disparity provide depth information. In Experiments lA-1C, we measured sensitivity to surface curvature when these depth cues were available either individually or simultaneously. When the depth cues yielded comparable sensitivity to surface curvature, we found that curvature detection was easier with the cues present simultaneously, rather than individually. For 2 of the 6 subjects, this effect was stronger when the component of frontal translation of the surface was vertical, rather than horizontal. No such anisotropy was found for the 4 other subjects. If a moving object is observed binocularly, the patterns of optic flow are different on the left and right retinae. We have suggested elsewhere (Cornilleau-Pérès & Droulez, in press) that this motion disparity might be used as avisual cue for the perception of a 3-D structure. Our model consisted in deriving binocular disparity from the left and right distributions of vertical velocities, rather than from luminous intensities, as has been done in classical studies on stereoscopic vision. The model led to some predictions concerning the detection of surface curvature from motion disparity in the presence or absence of intensity-based disparity (classically termedbinocular disparity). In a second set of experiments, we attempted to test these predictions, and we failed to validate our theoretical scheme from a physiological point of view.     

The Horsley gantt medal address October 11, 1992

The concept of systemic quantization of behavior was used to study the interaction between dominant motivation and reinforcement on brain neurons. Feeding and escape were used as experimental models. Results showed that feeding and escape motivations are based on the mechanisms of ascending activating influences of lateral or ventromedial hypothalamic centers, respectively, on cortical neurons. Feeding and escape motivations evoked by electrical stimulation of hypothalamus, or the ones occurring naturally, modify the responses of single neurons of sensorimotor and insular cortex to sensory stimuli, to microiontophoretic application of neurotransmitters and neuropeptides, and especially to reinforcement. Dominant motivations are reflected in the burst-like activity and in a specific pattern of interpulse intervals of single units in various brain structures. Reinforcement transforms this activity into a regular pattern and also changes the neuronal responses of hypothalamic feeding and escape centers, to electrical stimulation and to microiontophoretic application of oligopeptides. Specific patterns of the unit responses to conditioned stimuli in the course of consecutive reinforcement was determined. After several instances of reinforcement, especially after repetitive reinforcement, the brain neurons influenced by the dominant motivation begin to produce specific protein molecules that are important for organization of an appropriate type of behavior. This process can be blocked by protein synthesis inhibitors.     

Role of eye and hand initial position in the directional coding of reaching

To investigate the nature of the frames of reference used to control an arm movement aimed at a visual target, we studied the accuracy of movements differing by the initial arm and eye positions. The results support the assumption that in darkness target location is internally represented in an egocentric frame of reference. Furthermore, when movements carried out with and without eye saccade are compared, it appears that foveating the target changes the reference used to generate the reaching arm movements, that is, the oculocentric reference is replaced by a head-trunk reference. An explanation for this phenomenon could be that a steady body-related landmark is needed to insure stable registering of the target location in the surrounding space, despite displacement of the body segments with respect to one another.