Characteristics of a French African Caribbean Epidemiological Psychiatric Sample with a History of Suicide Attempt

Research on vulnerability factors among ethnic groups, independent of primary psychiatric diagnosis, may help to identify groups at risk of suicidal behavior. French African Caribbean general psychiatric patients (N = 362) were recruited consecutively and independently of the primary psychiatric diagnosis. Demographic and clinical characteristics and lifetime history of suicide attempts were recorded. Sixty‐five patients (18%) had a history of at least one suicide attempt. Presence of professional qualifications, children, poor social contacts, treatment with benzodiazepine at inclusion, and poor treatment compliance were all associated with a lifetime history of suicide attempts.     

Combining genetic algorithms and the finite element method to improve steel industrial processes

Most of the times the optimal control of steel industrial processes is a very complicated task because of the elevated number of parameters to adjust. For that reason, in steel plants, engineers must estimate the best values of the operational parameters of processes, and sometimes, it is also necessary to obtain the appropriate model for steel material behaviour. This article deals with three successful experiences gained from genetic algorithms and the finite element method in order to solve engineering optimisation problems. On one hand, a fully automated method for determining the best material behaviour laws is described, and on the other hand we present a common methodology to find the most appropriate settings for two cases of improvement in steel industrial processes. The study of the three reported cases allowed us to show the reliability and effectiveness of combining both techniques.     

Perceptual ambiguity and stability of reversible figures

In this work, the results of two experiments on ambiguous patterns are reported, which have been obtained by presenting a series of stimuli designed, in both cases, to reduce gradually the ambiguity of the patterns. Such reduction has been performed by respectively increasing or decreasing the amount of graphic details in the experiments. Data of both experiments show a lengthening of mean reversal time. The increase in the stability of one percept can be regarded as associated with the increasing difficulties encountered by an observer in organizing and restating the alternative "hypothesis" through the perceptual mechanisms. The loss of balance in the durations of percepts is discussed in terms of their different informational contents. Finally, in Exp. 1 an analysis is made to evaluate to what extent an addition of perceptual cues, designed to reinforce a three-dimensional interpretation of a pattern, can influence its figure-ground alternation.     

Function of the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier and selected biochemical cerebrospinal fluid components in senile dementias of various types

Some selected CSF and serum components were determined in demental patients classified by the Hachinski test into vascular and primary-degenerative groups. As for the vascular group, the frequency distribution of the serum/CSF albumin ratios characterizing the barrier function corresponds to that of controls, in primary-degenerative cases, however, it is shifted to higher values. In vascular dementia higher CSF LAP activities pointing to actual cell damaging processes in the CNS were found. The concentrations of lactate and some trace metals in CSF and serum are not suitable for differential diagnostic purposes.     

128 Halftone patterns for printing gray-level images on a laser printer

This paper presents a set of 128 halftone patterns on an 8 × 8 block size. The patterns have been designed to produce an acceptable gray-scale rendition when the halftone is seen from a distance and, at the same time, to allow comparisons to be made among the intensity values of individual pixels at a closer look. A Pascal program is also presented that produces halftones on an HP Laserjet+ laser printer, and sample halftones are shown. Finally, a method is proposed that prevents images digitized with a 4:3 aspect ratio from being distorted when halftones are printed at the usual 1:1 aspect ratio.     

Quantitative Analysis of IRT Variability During the First Training Stages of a Variable-Interval Schedule in Rats

Five rats were reinforced under variable-interval schedules with different average interreinforcement intervals (30 seC., 1 min, 2 min, and 4 min). Each animal was run only two sessions of each schedule. The interresponse times (IRTs) were recorded and analyzed. The autocorrelation function of the IRT series and of the IRT time series (number of responses per time interval) were calculated, and absence of periodicity in the subject’s behavior was demonstrated. Frequency distribution of IRTs showed in all cases a similar shape and could be fitted to a gamma probability density function in 60% of cases with a signification level of .01 (Kolmogorov-Smirnoff test). The frequency distributions of the IRT time series were distributed as a Poisson process with a .05 significance level. These results suggest that during variable-interval schedules the responses of the animal can be modeled as a random process characterized by a gamma distribution, as a first approximation.