Alcohol breeds empty goal commitments.

According to alcohol-myopia theory (C. M. Steele & R. A. Josephs, 1990), alcohol leads individuals to disproportionally focus on the most salient aspects of a situation and to ignore peripheral information. The authors hypothesized that alcohol leads individuals to strongly commit to their goals without considering information about the probability of goal attainment. In Study 1, participants named their most important interpersonal goal, indicated their expectations of successfully attaining it, and then consumed either alcohol or a placebo. In contrast to participants who consumed a placebo, intoxicated participants felt strongly committed to their goals despite low expectations of attaining them. In Study 2, goal-directed actions were measured over time. Once sober again, intoxicated participants with low expectations did not follow up on their strong commitments. Apparently, when prospects are bleak, alcohol produces empty goal commitments, as commitments are not based on individuals’ expectations of attaining their goals and do not foster goal striving over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

PAMAM-calix-dendrimers: Synthesis and Thiacalixarene Conformation Effect on DNA Binding

A convenient method for the synthesis of the first generation PAMAM dendrimers based on the thiacalix[4]arene has been developed for the first time. Three new PAMAM-calix-dendrimers with the macrocyclic core in cone, partial cone, and 1,3-alternate conformations were obtained with high yields. The interaction of the obtained compounds with salmon sperm DNA resulted in the formation of the associates of the size up to 200 nm, as shown by the UV-Vis spectroscopy, DLS, and TEM. It was demonstrated by the CD method that the structure of the DNA did not undergo significant changes upon binding. The PAMAM-calix-dendrimer based on the macrocycle in cone conformation stabilized DNA and prevented its degradation.     

Soda Ash Production from Trona in a Spray Dryer

Production of soda ash from Trona solution was achieved in a spray dryer reactor. Fractional conversion of NaHCO₃ reached to values close to unity in this unit within a residence time of less than a second. Results indicated that above 140°C, heat transfer limitations played a significant role on the calcination process taking place in the spray dryer. Equilibrium limitations may become important only at very low temperatures and at high CO₂ and H₂O partial pressures. Results obtained in the spray dryer and from the thermal gravimetric analysis of Trona crystals agreed well. It was also shown that the predictions of the unreacted core model are in good agreement with the kinetic data. © 1997 SCI.     

BankXX: Supporting legal arguments through heuristic retrieval

The BankXX system models the process of perusing and gathering information for argument as a heuristic best-first search for relevant cases, theories, and other domain-specific information. As BankXX searches its heterogeneous and highly interconnected network of domain knowledge, information is incrementally analyzed and amalgamated into a dozen desirable ingredients for argument (called argument pieces), such as citations to cases, applications of legal theories, and references to prototypical factual scenarios. At the conclusion of the search, BankXX outputs the set of argument pieces filled with harvested material relevant to the input problem situation.This research explores the appropriateness of the search paradigm as a framework for harvesting and mining information needed to make legal arguments. In this article, we describe how legal research fits the heuristic search framework and detail how this model is used in BankXX. We describe the BankXX program with emphasis on its representation of legal knowledge and legal argument. We describe the heuristic search mechanism and evaluation functions that drive the program. We give an extended example of the processing of BankXX on the facts of an actual legal case in BankXX's application domain — the good faith question of Chapter 13 personal bankruptcy law. We discuss closely related research on legal knowledge representation and retrieval and the use of search for case retrieval or tasks related to argument creation. Finally we review what we believe are the contributions of this research to the understanding of the diverse disciplines it addresses.This research was supported in part by grant No. 90-0359 from the Air Force Office of Sponsored Research and NSF grant No. EEC-9209623 State/University/Industry Cooperative Research on Intelligent Information Retrieval.     

Effects of oxygen on biodegradation of benzoate and 3-chlorobenzoate in a denitrifying chemostat

A mixed microbial culture degraded a mixture of benzoate (863 mg/L), 3-chlorobenzoate (3-CB) (69.7 mg/L), and pyruvate (244 mg/L) under denitrifying conditions in a chemostat. Biodegradation under denitrifying conditions was stable, complete (effluent concentrations below detection limits), and proceeded without the production of toxic intermediates like chlorocatechols. The addition of oxygen at mass input rates of 6.2%, 15.5%, and 43.9% of the mass input rate of chemical oxygen demand (COD) (337 mg COD/h) did not induce the synthesis of aerobic biodegradation pathways and thus did not disrupt biodegradation. Rather, the oxygen was used as a terminal electron acceptor, displacing a stoichiometric amount of nitrate, leading to microaerobic conditions (dissolved oxygen concentration <0.050 mg/L) in which oxygen utilization and denitrification occurred simultaneously. The reduction of nitrate occurred fully to N₂ gas with no accumulation of nitrite, nitrous oxide, or nitric oxide, although the ability of the culture to transfer electrons to the nitrogen oxides decreased as the oxygen input was increased. The anoxic benzoate uptake capability was unaffected by the increase in oxygen addition, but the anoxic 3-CB uptake capability increased, as did the level of benzoyl-CoA reductase in the cells.     

The study of deuterium permeability of film-forming inhibitors with the addition of fullerenes

In this work, the results of the hydrogen permeability study of a composite film-forming inhibitor are considered. Film-forming inhibitor consists of polyether urethane and synthesized fullerenes C60 and C70 in pure form. Two types of samples were used: uncoated and coated stainless steels with composite polyether urethane/fullerene varnish. The experimental work was based on the study of the dependence of the permeation reduction factor on the temperature in the reactor. For the coated sample, the minimum temperature was 623 K at which the deuterium flux was registered. Here we assume that at temperatures below 573 K the output pressure caused by the deuterium flow through the sample is less than 10^?10 Pa. The rate of steady-state flow through a coated sample is significantly lower than for an uncoated one at temperatures 573–673 K. The deuterium penetration rates through the two samples increase and reach similar stationary values starting at 723 K.     

Statistical analysis of excitonic transitions in single,free-standing GaN nanowires: Probing impurity incorporation in the poissonian limit

Single, free-standing GaN nanowires grown by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy have been investigated with low temperature micro-photoluminescence. The quantitative analysis of the luminescence spectra of around 100 nanowires revealed that each nanowire exhibits its own individual spectrum. A significant fraction of nanowires exclusively emits at energies corresponding to either surface-donor-bound or free excitons, demonstrating that optical properties of individual nanowires are determined by a few impurity atoms alone. The number of impurities per nanowire and their location within the nanowires varies according to Poissonian statistics.     

PREFACE SOMER SYMPOSIUM SERIES I

The T method is a newly developed one in distillation calculations which belongs to the class of methods which apply a partitioning of the whole system of equations to be solved

It is similar in nature to the well known B.P. method or theta method, even if, when compared with them, it shows a higher efficiency in reaching the solution

Following the basic ideas of the theta method, the T convergence promoter gives a better estimate of the liquid and vapor molar fractions profiles

As a matter of fact, a better estimate of the temperature profiles, and physical properties is obtained. This situation allows the method to approach the solution by means of quicker convergence

Some explanatory examples will be shown in order to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method.     

Biosensing Applications of Modified Core–Shell Magnetic Nanoparticles

Fe₃O₄ magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) were synthesized and silanized to form a core–shell (Fe₃O₄–SiO₂) structure. Afterwards, surface modification with amino silane was carried out to produce amino groups on the MNPs for the biomolecule immobilization. In order to test the performance of amino functional MNPs as immobilization platform in biosensing applications, glucose oxidase was immobilized on the surface via glutaraldehyde. Obtained Bio-MNPs were then fixed onto the carbon paste electrode by the aid of magnetic force and used as the working electrode during the amperometric measurements at −0.7 V versus Ag/AgCl. After optimization of some parameters affecting the biosensor performance, analytical characterization was carried out. Linearity was found in the range of 0.25–2.0 mM glucose and defined by the equation of y = 8.366x + 1.819, (R ² = 0.996). Proposed biosensor was then applied for the glucose analysis in various beverages. Finally, data were compared with a commercial enzyme assay kit based on spectrophotometric Trinder reaction as a reference method.