Microbial susceptibility of various polymers and evaluation of thermoplastic elastomers with antimicrobial additives

The incursion of microbial growth on polymeric products can deteriorate their performance and lead to the development of undesirable staining and odors. A growing trend in the industry has aimed to reduce microbial populations on high-touch surfaces via the use of antimicrobials to protect material aesthetics and durability or to prevent the spread of pathogenic microorganisms. In this study, a variety of plastic substrates (30 unique polymer compounds), including poly(acrylonitrile-co-butadiene-co-styrene), poly(butylene terephthalate), poly(etherimide), various thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs), poly(carbonates), and poly(amides), were screened for susceptibility to microbial attack using American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) G21 (fungi susceptibility), Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS) Z2801, and modified ASTM E1428-15a (bacterial susceptibility) test standards. TPEs were determined to be most susceptible to microbial attack under the appropriate environmental conditions. Subsequent studies assessed the use of an antimicrobial additive, zinc pyrithione (ZPT), for potential efficacy in a variety of TPE blends for diverse target market applications. ZPT proved to be very effective in protecting TPEs, reducing Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli populations by 99.9% or more in JIS Z2801 testing and inhibiting fungal growth (rating = 0) according to the ASTM G21 standard.     

Housing Homeless People: Local Mobilization of Federal Resources to Fight NIMBYism

Local sentiments are rarely favorable to human service facilities. City governments and neighborhood organizations frequently utilize zoning restrictions to exclude various community facilities, including services and housing for homeless people. This exclusionary phenomenon is commonly referred to as “not‐in‐my‐backyard” or “NIMBYism.” The power of NIMBYism is grounded in the local autonomy afforded municipalities concerning land use policies. However, recent cases suggest that the tradition of local authority over certain types of land uses is being reexamined and, even more frequently, challenged at the extra‐local level. Given this trend, the purpose of this article is to question the assumption that local government will be able to preserve their authority over housing for homeless people. Using a case study of a local zoning battle over a proposed housing development for homeless people, the author argues that recent changes in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s governance over Fair Housing Law enforcement and administration of Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance funding, coupled with the agency’s more aggressive position on housing discrimination, may already have changed the balance of power on this issue. By examining the process by which a non‐profit organization in Albany, New York, was able to reach a settlement with the city concerning a zoning denial by mobilizing federal resources, the author attempts to highlight a possible emerging federal role in facilitating local mobilization against NIMBYism as it applies to housing for homeless individuals.     

A proof system for communicating processes with value-passing

A proof system for a version of CCS with value-passing is proposed in which the reasoning about data is factored out from that about the structure of processes. The system is shown to be sound and complete for finite terms with respect to a denotational semantics based on Acceptance Trees.     

Compile-time copy elimination

Single-assignment and functional languages have value semantics that do not permit side-effects. This lack of side-effects makes automatic detection of parallelism and optimization for data locality in programs much easier. However, the same property poses a challenge in implementing these languages efficiently. This paper describes an optimizing compiler system that solves the key problem of aggregate copy elimination. The methods developed rely exclusively on compile-time algorithms, including interprocedural analysis, that are applied to an intermediate data flow representation. By dividing the problem into update-in-place and build-in-place analysis, a small set of relatively simple techniques—edge substitution, graph pattern matching, substructure sharing and substructure targeting—was found to be very powerful. If combined properly and implemented carefully, the algorithms eliminate unnecessary copy operations to a very high degree. No run-time overhead is imposed on the compiled programs.     

Cigarette smoking and quitting behaviors among unemployed adults in the United States.

Little is known about factors associated with smoking among the unemployed. This study estimated the prevalence of smoking and examined sociodemographic factors associated with current, former, and successful quitting among unemployed adults aged 18-64. Cross-sectional data on 13,480 participants in the 1998-1999 and 2001-2002 Tobacco Use Supplements to the Current Population Surveys were analyzed. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to examine factors associated with study outcomes (current vs. never, former vs. current, successful quitter vs. other former smoker). Among the unemployed, 35% were current smokers and 13% were former smokers. Of the former smokers, 81% quit successfully for at least 12 months. Participants with family incomes of less than US$25,000 were more likely than those with incomes of $50,000 or more to currently smoke (OR=2.13, 95% CI=1.85-2.46). Service workers and blue-collar workers were less likely than white-collar workers to report former smoking. Participants unemployed for 6 months or more were twice as likely as those unemployed for less than 6 months to quit successfully (OR=2.05, 95% CI=1.07-3.95). Unemployed blue-collar workers had a greater odds ratio of successfully quitting than white-collar workers (OR=1.83, 95% CI=1.17-2.87). Smoking rates were high among the unemployed, and quitting behaviors varied by sociodemographic factors and length of unemployment. Studies are needed to examine the feasibility of cessation interventions for the unemployed.     

Working memory in mild Alzheimer's disease and early Parkinson's disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD) impair working memory (WM). It is unclear, however, whether the deficits seen early in the course of these diseases are similar. To address this issue, the authors compared the performance of 22 patients with mild AD, 20 patients with early PD and without dementia, and 112 control participants on tests of inhibition, short-term memory, and 2 commonly administered tests of WM. The results suggest that although mild AD and early PD both impair WM, the deficits may be related to the interruption of different processes that contribute to WM performance. Early PD disrupted inhibitory processes, whereas mild AD did not. The WM deficits seen in patients with AD may be secondary to deficits in other cognitive capacities, including semantic memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparison of the MMPI and the MMPI-2 for a sample of peace officers.

166 peace officers completed the MMPI and the MMPI-2 in one sitting. Results showed an overall concordance of 78% for the 2 tests when normal, high-point, and 2-point code types were grouped together and compared. A subset of well-defined profiles produced a concordance rate of 90%. Comparison of profile characteristics showed that half of the Ss produced the same high-point code type, one-third produced the same 2-point code type, 70% produced normal profiles on both tests, and all MMPI and MMPI-2 scales were highly correlated. These figures are highly similar to those found previously for 2 administrations of the MMPI. When the MMPI was compared to the MMPI-2 scored on original norms, 2 scales were found to differ significantly: Men and women both scored lower on Scale D (Depression) of the revised test; on Scale Mf (Masculinity-Femininity) of the MMPI-2, women scored higher and men scored lower. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The 'Conceptual Change In Science' project

Abstract This paper outlines the work of the Conceptual Change in Science project, funded as part of the ESRC InTER programme. The aims of this research project are to clarify and describe the process of change in learners' conceptual understandings of natural phenomena. The domain of reasoning selected for study is that of mechanics. Computer software which may be useful in exploring and developing pupils' reasoning and promoting conceptual change in this domain is being developed and evaluated. The group that is carrying out the research is based at the Universities of Leeds, Glasgow and the Open University.     

Individual differences in children's event memory reports and the narrative elaboration technique.

Children between 7 and 8 years old took pan in a staged event at school and 1 week later were assessed using a short form of the Wechsler Intelligence scale for children (third edition) and measures of metamemory, narrative ability, and socioeconomic status. Two weeks following the event, children either received narrative elaboration training (NET; K.J. Saywitz & L. Snyder, 1996) and were prompted with the four NET cue cards at interview; received verbal prompts corresponding to the cue card categories, but without prior training; or were presented with the cards at interview without prior training. Children given verbal labels as prompts recalled as much information as children who received NET training and cue cards. Measures of intelligence were predictive of amount recalled for cards-only children but not for the other 2 groups, indicating that differences in recall between low- and high-IQ groups were attenuated when recall was supported by NET training or verbal prompting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Compact optical diagnostic device for isothermal nucleic acids amplification

We recently reported the successful use of the loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) reaction for hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA amplification and its optimal primer design method. In this study, we report the development of an integrated isothermal device for both amplification and detection of targeted HBV DNA. It has two major components, a disposable polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) micro-reactor and a temperature-regulated optical detection unit (base apparatus) for real-time monitoring of the turbidity changes due to the precipitation of DNA amplification by-product, magnesium pyrophosphate. We have established a correlation curve (R² = 0.99) between the concentration of pyrophosphate ions and the level of turbidity by using a simulated chemical reaction to evaluate the characteristics of our device. For the applications of rapid pathogens detection, we also have established a standard curve (R² = 0.96) by using LAMP reaction with a standard template in our device. Moreover, we also have successfully used the device on seven clinical serum specimens where HBV DNA levels have been confirmed by real-time PCR. The result indicates that different amounts of HBV DNA can be successfully detected by using this device within 1 h.