Risk factors for depression: Social class differences.

Examined whether 4 risk factors—loss of mother before 11 yrs of age, having 3 or more children under 14 yrs of age at home, poor relationship with spouse, and lack of full- or part-time employment—in 187 18–65 yr old White depressed hospitalized patients showed the same social class differences as reported in the community. Results indicate that social class differences for risk factors for depression do exist in hospitalized patients. (French abstract) (6 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of counselor statements on rater judgments of client self-exploration.

Examined the influence of counselor statements on rater judgements of client self-exploration. Audiotaped segments of counseling interviews that included both counselor and client statements and identical autiotaped segments, but with the counselors' statements deleted, were rated on client self-exploration by separate groups of raters (totaling 20 counseling graduate students). A significantly positive correlation was found between the 2 sets of ratings. With 1 exception, no significant differences were found for each segment. Finally, no differences were found between ratings for segments, unedited and edited, in which counselors were functioning at high levels of accurate empathy and ratings in which counselors were functioning at low levels of accurate empathy. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of oxide diffusion-barrier on refractory metals

A new approach to the development of diffusion-barrier coatings which can effectively reduce the interaction of refractory filaments such as tungsten and tantalum with a nickel-alloy matrix is presented. This consists of reacting the oxide film deliberately grown on these metals with a nickel coating prior to fabricating the composite. The nickel-oxide film reactions proceed under vacuum conditions in the temperature range 650 to 800° C with the formation of intermediate phases which produce sufficiently strong bonds for composite strengthening. The details of the reaction mechanisms are not known but two types of reaction are identified. Type 1 which is a common reaction to both the Ni/oxide/Ta and the Ni/oxide/W systems constitutes a displacement reaction at the Ni/oxide interface leading to the formation of new phases and type 2 is controlled by the bulk diffusion of nickel through the compact oxide film with the development of a diffusion zone at the oxide/substrate interface. Type 2, which is only observed in the Ni/oxide/W system, is believed to confer remarkable chemical stability at 800° Cin vacuo.     

Fusion-fission hybrid design with analysis of direct enrichment and non-proliferation features (the SOLASE-H study)

The role of a fusion-fission hybrid in the context of a nuclear economy with and without reprocessing is examined. An inertial confinement fusion driver is assumed and a consistent set of reactor parameters are developed. The form of the driver is not critical, however, to the general concepts. The use of the hybrid as a fuel factory within a secured fuel production and reprocessing center is considered. Either the hybrid or a low power fission reactor can be used to mildly irradiate fuel prior to shipment to offsite reactors thereby rendering the fuel resistant to diversion. A simplified economic analysis indicates a hybrid providing fuel to 10 fission reactors of equal thermal power is insensitive to the recirculating power fraction provided reprocessing is permitted. If reprocessing is not allowed, the hybrid can be used to directly enrich light water reactor fuel bundles fabricated initially from fertile fuel (either ThO₂ or ²³⁸UO₂). A detailed neutronic analysis indicates such direct enrichment is feasible but the support ratio for ²³³U or ²³⁹Pu production is only 2, making such an approach highly sensitive to the hybrid cost. The hybrid would have to produce considerable net power for economic feasibility in this case. Inertial confinement fusion performance requirements for hybrid application are also examined and an integrated design, SOLASE-H, is described based upon the direct enrichment concept.     

Hydrothermal synthesis of various carbonate containing calcium hydroxyapatites

Carbonate containing hydroxyapatites were prepared hydrothermally between 2000 and 20,000 psi and 250 and 900°C using H₂O or CO₂ pressure. On the basis of IR, x-ray and chemical investigations it is shown that under these conditions the CO₃ triangle can replace both the OH group and PO₄ tetrahedron in the apatite structure. Replacement is possible either in only one of these positions or also combined. The extent of the solid solubility, however, is still unknown.     

Tomographic fluorescence imaging in tissue phantoms: a novel reconstruction algorithm and imaging geometry

A novel image reconstruction algorithm has been developed and demonstrated for fluorescence-enhanced frequency-domain photon migration (FDPM) tomography from measurements of area illumination with modulated excitation light and area collection of emitted fluorescence light using a gain modulated image-intensified charge-coupled device (ICCD) camera. The image reconstruction problem was formulated as a nonlinear least-squares-type simple bounds constrained optimization problem based upon the penalty/modified barrier function (PMBF) method and the coupled diffusion equations. The simple bounds constraints are included in the objective function of the PMBF method and the gradient-based truncated Newton method with trust region is used to minimize the function for the large-scale problem (39919 unknowns, 2973 measurements). Three-dimensional (3-D) images of fluorescence absorption coefficients were reconstructed using the algorithm from experimental reflectance measurements under conditions of perfect and imperfect distribution of fluorophore within a single target. To our knowledge, this is the first time that targets have been reconstructed in three-dimensions from reflectance measurements with a clinically relevant phantom.     

Multiple-scattering-based lidar retrieval: method and results of cloud probings

Recent developments in the search for a practical method of exploiting the multiple-scattering contributions to lidar returns are consolidated in a robust retrieval algorithm. The theoretical basis is the small-angle diffusion approximation. This implies that the algorithm is limited to media of sufficient optical thickness to generate measurable multiple scattering and to geometries for which the receiver's footprint diameter is less than the scattering mean free path. The primary retrieval products are the range-resolved extinction coefficient and the effective particle diameter from which secondary products such as the particle volume mixing ratio and the extinction at other wavelengths can be calculated. We recall briefly earlier validation tests and present new data and analysis that demonstrate and quantify the solutions' accuracy. The results show that systematic lidar probings with the proposed multiple-scattering technique can provide valuable physical information on cloud formation and evolution.     

Band-tunable and multiplexed integrated circuits for simultaneous recording and stimulation with microelectrode arrays

Two thin-film microelectrode arrays with integrated circuitry have been developed for extracellular neural recording in behaving animals. An eight-site probe for simultaneous neural recording and stimulation has been designed that includes on-chip amplifiers that can be individually bypassed, allowing direct access to the iridium sites for electrical stimulation. The on-probe amplifiers have a gain of 38.9 dB, an upper-cutoff frequency of 9.9 kHz, and an input-referred noise of 9.2 microV rms integrated from 100 Hz to 10 kHz. The low-frequency cutoff of the amplifier is tunable to allow the recording of field potentials and minimize stimulus artifact. The amplifier consumes 68 microW from +/- 1.5 V supplies and occupies 0.177 mm2 in 3 microm features. In vivo recordings have shown that the preamplifiers can record single-unit activity 1 ms after the onset of stimulation on sites as close as 20 microm to the stimulating electrode. A second neural recording array has been developed which multiplexes 32 neural signals onto four output data leads. Providing gain on this array eliminates the need for bulky headmounted circuitry and reduces motion artifacts. The time-division multiplexing circuitry has crosstalk between consecutive channels of less than 6% at a sample rate of 20 kHz per channel. Amplified, time-division-multiplexed multichannel neural recording allows the large-scale recording of neuronal activity in freely behaving small animals with minimum number of interconnect leads.     

Living with Database Conflicts: A Temporal Branching Technique

Heterogeneous as well as distributed databases make data conflicts inevitable. Both tolerate the entry of conflicting values in data objects, e.g., the value “female” may be entered by one user whereas another may put “male” in the same data object. Such inconsistencies in databases are common and are resolved routinely by built in structured mechanisms. Unresolved conflicts are typically quarantined till they can be resolved. But, there are situations for which there are no structured mechanisms to resolve conflicts while having to maintain application flow. Moreover, there are situations, i.e., medical or financial environments, in which conflicts must be stored so that their effects be analyzed for decision making. The current research proposes a model and a technique for living with database conflicts. The technique, named Temporal Branching, integrates and extends temporal oriented databases, temporal versioning, and log-file approaches and offers a solution and flexible structure readily accessible to retrieval and audits by standard DBMS software. A case study in health care delivery system is given to illustrate the problem and proposed solution. recommend Ahmed Elmagarmid     

Properties of ball milled thermally treated hemp fibers in an inert atmosphere for potential composite reinforcement

Hemp (émph{Cannabis Sativ L}.) is an important lignocellulosic raw material for the manufacture of cost-effective environmentally friendly composite materials. From an earlier experiment it was found that when hemp bast fibers were heated between 160^∘C and 260^∘C, there was softening of lignin leading to opening of fibers and the preliminary observations showed that heat treatment at 220^∘C in an inert environment seemed to provide enough fiber without affecting the associated tissues of the fibers. However, these heat treated fibers need to be separated by mechanical action. For this experiment, hemp fibers were given heat treatment in an enclosed vessel in a nitrogen environment at 220^∘C for 30 min and then they were ball milled. It was found that there was further opening of fibers upon ball milling of the heated fibers and the total number of fibers increased for the equal weight of fibers. It was not possible to find strength properties of shorter length fibers; however, the results from shorter clamping length indirectly indicated that these fibers were of higher strength. The ball milled fibers also contained copious amount of fines which must be removed before using the fibers for composite manufacturing.