What's the difference between reinforce and stiffen?

Reinforce


Definition:

  • (v. t.) See Reenforce, v. t.
  • (n.) See Reenforce, n.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) This observation, reinforced by simultaneous determinations of cortisol levels in the internal spermatic and antecubital veins, practically excluded the validity of the theory of adrenal hormonal suppression of testicular tissues.
  • (2) He said: "Monetary policy affects the exchange rate – which in turn can offset or reinforce our exposure to rising import prices.
  • (3) "These developments are clearly unwarranted on the basis of economic and budgetary fundamentals in these two member states and the steps that they are taking to reinforce those fundamentals."
  • (4) In the first, a technique for establishing an effective reinforcer from a range of possible reinforcing stimuli was evaluated.
  • (5) This procedure generated a number of VI-like effects, supporting the notion that VI behavior can be construed as a special case of an interaction between the organism's function relating reinforcement susceptibilities to chain length and the experimenter's function relating probabilities of reinforcement to chain length.
  • (6) The present results suggest that the locomotor-stimulatory and positive reinforcing effects of ethanol as well as its enhancing effect on dopaminergic activity may involve an enhancement of calcium mediated mechanisms.
  • (7) Further, the use of food as a reinforcer has been considered taboo by those who use more conventional and restrictive management approaches with Prader-Willi syndrome individuals.
  • (8) The latter findings reinforce the concept that in pathologic states associated with cerebral oedema, pinocytotic vesicles fuse to form transendothelial channels which transport plasma proteins into brain.
  • (9) Behavioral variables, including interreinforcement interval and drug self-administration history, appear to be important determinants of whether or not reinforcement will be demonstrated, particularly among the benzodiazepines; but the range of conditions under which behavioral and pharmacological variables interact to promote or lessen the likelihood of self-administration of these drugs remains to be determined experimentally.
  • (10) In a recent study, Orr and Lanzetta (1984) showed that the excitatory properties of fear facial expressions previously described (Lanzetta & Orr, 1981; Orr & Lanzetta, 1980) do not depend on associative mechanisms; even in the absence of reinforcement, fear faces intensify the emotional reaction to a previously conditioned stimulus and disrupt extinction of an acquired fear response.
  • (11) The reinforcement portion of the surgical drape that contained the fenestration was segmented into four identical-appearing sections, two on each side of the fenestration.
  • (12) These results indicate that auditory localization behavior of infants is influenced by reinforcement and that the extent of this effect is related to the type of reinforcement employed.
  • (13) The interresponse-time reinforcement contingencies inherent in these schedules may actually mask the effects of overall reinforcement rate; thus differences in response rate as a function of reinforcement rate when interresponse-time reinforcement is eliminated may be underestimated.
  • (14) Two experiments reported the effects of prefeeding normal and septal rats prior to their daily sessions on a differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL-20) schedule.
  • (15) Specimens of human bone from the site exhibited lower strontium levels and strontium-to-calcium ratios than deer specimens from the same site, reinforcing paleodemographic evidence that the human populations that inhabited this site included substantial amounts of meat in their diets.
  • (16) It is suggested that serotoninergic mechanisms in case of changes in activity of cholinergic processes, depress the system of positive reinforcement.
  • (17) A yeast protein, Sui3, isolated as an extragenic suppressor of his4 initiation codon mutations, exhibits extensive sequence identity with human eIF-2 beta, especially in the polylysine and zinc finger domains, thereby reinforcing the view that these elements are important for function.
  • (18) Pedestrianising areas in the city centre, reinforcing police and security.
  • (19) A visually reinforced headturn discrimination procedure was used to determine sensitivity to increments in peak F0 in synthetic speech in both bisyllabic (CVCVC) and trisyllabic (CVCVCVC) contexts.
  • (20) When reinforcement for competing behavior was withdrawn, however, rats resumed their original behavior and there were no overall savings in total responses to extinction.

Stiffen


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To make stiff; to make less pliant or flexible; as, to stiffen cloth with starch.
  • (v. t.) To inspissate; to make more thick or viscous; as, to stiffen paste.
  • (v. t.) To make torpid; to benumb.
  • (v. i.) To become stiff or stiffer, in any sense of the adjective.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Rigidly fixing the pubic symphysis stiffened the model and resulted in principal stress patterns that did not reflect trabecular density or orientations as well as those of the deformable pubic symphysis model.
  • (2) The results indicate that during non-hypotensive haemorrhage aortic baroreceptor discharge is reduced by two mechanisms: firstly, via constriction and stiffening of aortic smooth muscle and, secondly, via direct effects of the compensatory mechanisms on the baroreceptors.
  • (3) It endures in the wound that is slow to heal, the disability that isn't going away, the dream that wakes you at night, or the stiffening in your spine when a car backfires down the street.
  • (4) Clinical specifications: On a local clinical level, the total toothlessness of the elderly presents as: a muscular hypotomy, a loss of the vertical dimension of occlusion, a marked increase in nasal and oral fissures, a stiffening of the articular structures, a great reduction of osteo-mucus in the residual edges, a spreading of the tongue which invades the oral cavity, a loss of occlusive memory, Bearing on therapy and teaching: good clinical observation, constant reference to the medical services, appropriate surgery prior to denture fitting.
  • (5) They also complained of exercise-induced stiffening and cramps of their leg muscles.
  • (6) The results indicate that, in chronic vasospasm, stiffening of the noncontractile component of the vasculature takes place as well as alterations in the contractile component, both of which presumably contribute to the shift in resting length-tension relationship and length-contraction relationship of the artery.
  • (7) More recently, local stiffening of vessels and inhomogeneities in local distensibility have been observed in the carotid artery bifurcation of borderline hypertensives, and the time-dependent variation in local distensibility and compliance has been studied.
  • (8) The results indicate density-related increases in membrane stiffness and viscosity, shear-thinning viscous behavior, and strain-stiffening elastic behavior.
  • (9) Drugs have little effect on arterial stiffening, whereas wave reflection can be markedly reduced by agents that dilate peripheral arteries.
  • (10) The most reliable ethanol withdrawal signs observed were: spontaneous seizure (n = 7), audiogenic seizure (n = 7), tremors (n = 6), tail stiffening (n = 10) and body rigidity (n = 9).
  • (11) A stiffened dithranol 0.5% ointment was found to be slightly more effective than the best paste hitherto employed.
  • (12) Because the microhardness of bone is very closely related to its stiffness, this finding indicates that microcalluses are likely to stiffen the trabeculae in which they are formed, even though they may surround unhealed fractures of the cancellous trabeculae.
  • (13) The curvature and stiffening of the ventral wall of the trachea can be achieved by the implantation of arched homograft cactilage taken from a tissue bank.
  • (14) There are two main patterns of PV curve in restrictive lung disorders--one due to stiffening of the lung (Fig.
  • (15) Finally, hypotheses are presented concerning the mechanism of membrane stiffening due to type II modifications of spectrin.
  • (16) There was always a rueful melancholy, stiffened by irony and leavened by humour about him.
  • (17) Records of acceleration following a displacement showed a series of decrementing swings which could last for more than 10 s. The imposition of sinusoidal torques generated by a printed motor showed that the system was non-linear for when small torques were used the resonant frequency rose indicating stiffening.
  • (18) Carbamazepine also alleviated alcohol withdrawal symptoms, especially heightened spontaneous activity, startle to noise, stereotyped chewing movements, and intermittent body stiffening.
  • (19) The metallic-weighted tips and stiffening introducing stylets create the potential for misplacement with potentially serious consequences.
  • (20) This increase encompasses both the clinically normal and hypertensive ranges of pressure and is due in part to arterial stiffening.

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