Validation of a full body 3-D dynamic linked segment model

In studies related to human movement, linked segment models (LSM's) are often used to quantify forces and torques, generated in body joints. Some LSM's represent only a few body segments. Others, for instance used in studies on the control of whole body movements, include all body segments. As a consequence of the complexity of 3-dimensional (3-D) analyses, most LSM's are restricted to one plane of motion. However, in asymmetric movements this may result in a loss of relevant information. The aim of the current study was to develop and validate a 3-D LSM including all body segments. Braces with markers, attached to all body segments, were used to record the body movements. The validation of the model was accomplished by comparing the measured with the estimated ground reaction force and by comparing the torques at the lumbo-sacral joint that resulted from a bottom-up and a top-down mechanical analysis. For both comparisons, reasonable to good agreement was found. Sources of error that could not be analysed this way, were subjected to an additional sensitivity analysis. It was concluded that the internal validity of the current model is quite satisfactory.     

The origin of language: A scientific approach to the study of man

The Enlightenment regarded language as one of the most significant achievements of man. Consequently inquiries into the origin and development of language play a central role in eighteenth-century moral philosophy. This new science of man consciously adopts the method of analysis and synthesis used in the natural sciences of the time. In moral philosophy, analysis corresponds to the search for the basic principles of human nature. Synthesis is identified with the attempt to interpret all artificial achievements of man (arts, sciences and institutions) as the effect of these principles and of man's physical and social environment - an attempt known as theoretical history. The type of explanation envisaged by theoretical historians is based on the principle of causality. It consists in a genetic reconstruction of the social phenomenon under investigation. Inquiries into the origin of language follow this pattern of explanation. They form part of theoretical history and thus represent a major aspect of the eighteenth-century scientific study of man.     

Behavior of neonates exposed in utero to methadone as assessed on the Brazelton scale

Twenty-nine infants exposed in utero to methadone and 37 comparison infants were examined on the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale at early and late neonatal ages. All infants were full-term at birth, over 2500 g, and not yet circumcised at the early assessment. None of the methadone-exposed infants were breast-fed or were being treated pharmacologically for withdrawal. During the first week of life, methadone-exposed neonates differed from comparison ones in motoric behavior. Relative to comparison-group infants, they were jerkier and more tremulous, tense, active, and better able to put hand in mouth. By the end of the first month these differences diminished, although there was still a tendency for the methadone-exposed infants to have elevated body tonus. Neither perinatal complications, birth weight, nor sex of infant could explain the early neonatal differences between the methadone and comparison groups. Past the early stage of acute withdrawal, neonates exposed prenatally to methadone behave not unlike their nonexposed peers.     

Theologie Als Metatheorie

Ohne ZusammenfassungIn honor of Bishop Prof. Dr. H.-W. Heidland on the occasion of his 65th birthday.     

Differential indications for desipramine--results of a controlled multiclinical study]

The antidepressants desipramine and imipramine were compared within the framework of a multiclinical study performed under the conditions of a controlled clinical experiment. There has been found a time-different remission of affective symptoms, which was not detectable for the inhibition of drive. The tachythymoleptic action of desipramine is discussed with reference to these results. Evaluation of the possibility of controlling affects shows different ranges of activity of desipramine and imipramine, with desipramine influencing especially negative psychoenergetic symptoms in the area of drives and emotions and imipramine, restrictive symptoms in addition to differential phenomena of the psychomotor expression.     

Treatment indication in psychotherapy: Some methodological aspects

In this paper it is argued that the general problem of indication, increasingly discussed in the field of psychotherapy in recent years, actually is a pseudoproblem with no solution to be expected. In its objectives and premises it is trongly suggestive of conceptions and ideas of early logical empiricism, to be considered as out-of-date today. The concept of indication is identified as ambiguous, and preliminary remarks aiming at an explication of the concept are made. Finally, the consequences of our arguments for the immediate problem of integration of the different therapeutic approaches are pointed out.     

BEHAVIOR THERAPY AND THE CONDITIONING MODEL OF NEUROSIS

The methods of applied science are usually based on the findings of pure science, and the discovery of successful methods of therapy for the neuroses is dependent on the formulation of appropriate theories for these disorders. It is argued that the only viable theory about neurosis at the moment is an adaptation of the Watsonian conditioning model, suitably altered to fit in with more recent discoveries in the fields of the formation and extinction of conditioned responses. Such a model has important relevance to behaviour therapy and the various methods for treating neuroses falling under that heading, and indeed for an explanation of the apparent effectiveness of psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, and whatever events mediate spontaneous remission.     

Accents in equitone sequences

Equitone sequences are defined as sequences of tones that are identical in all respects: frequency, spectral composition, intensity, and duration. The only parameter varied in these sequences is the time-interval between tones. In such sequences, clear accents are perceived. This paper describes accent perception in equitone sequences containing two alternating intervals; such sequences are perceived as consisting of repeating groups of two tones. An accent is heard on the first tone of a group if the difference between the intervals is about 5% to 10%. If the difference is made bigger, the accent is heard on the last tone of the group; this latter accent is considerably stronger than the accent previously heard on the first tone. In a number of experiments, the conditions under which the two types of accents occur were investigated. From these experiments, it was tentatively concluded that the accent on the last tone is heard because that tone, since it is followed by a longer interval, can be processed more completely. This “intervalproduced” accent indeed occurs only if the between-group interval is considerably longer than the within-group interval and if the latter does not exceed a duration of about 250 msec. The effect is slightly dependent on tone duration. The interval-produced accent can be balanced if the nonaccented tone is increased by about 4 dB in intensity. This shows that the effect is quite robust. The specific type of accentuation reported here might explain some rhythmical phenomena, examples of which are given.