TRANSMITTANCE OF NEAR-INRARED ENERGY BY BINARY GLASSES*

A study has been made of the transmittance of near-infrared energy by a number of binary glasses. Of the systems studied, the lithia-silica and lead oxide-silica glasses were found to have the highest transmittance of energy in the range of wave lengths from 3.0 to 5.0 microns. The transmittance of lithia-silica glass is compared with that of the other alkali-silica glasses. Values of transmittance are given for lead silicate glasses of higher lead content than previously reported in the literature.     

Back to the future in the education and training of psychologists.

In this article, I discuss issues concerning the training and education of psychologists at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. I propose a new introductory course on the applications of psychology to oneself and to society. This course would cover many applications of psychology and would also explain what the major psychological specialties do and the specific training needed to pursue a career in a chosen specialty. A common core of graduate courses is recommended for all graduate students regardless of specialty. A broad-based interdisciplinary course is recommended to ensure that all psychologists know the basic scientific principles that are ultimately essential to the understanding of psychology itself. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Women, psychology, and public policy: Selected issues.

Asserts that the dramatic changes in women's work and family roles in recent decades have profound implications for employment and family policy. It is argued that the market forces used by economists to adjust salary levels do not counteract the forces that devalue women's contributions to the economy. Depressed wages and a benefit structure based on earnings increases the likelihood of poverty of women. Many employment issues, such as the assumption that workers and family members are physically and mentally able-bodied, disabled women's employment status, and the relationships among women's physical and mental health status and work and family roles, require psychological research. The slowness of public policies to reflect women's changing roles is discussed, and tools for meeting the challenges of change, including science and technology and educational equity, are presented. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex of authority role models and achievement by men and women: Leadership performance and recognition.

Investigated whether performance, for both sexes, is conditioned by expectations for them, with expectations being at least partly defined by same-sex role models. 276 undergraduates were exposed to all-male, all-female, or mixed-authority role models and then participated in a 4-person mixed-sex discussion. Vicarious cultural experience of authority models was represented by videotaped reenactments of TV commercials. Ss viewed either 4 traditional commercials showing a man as authority and woman as subordinate, or 4 reversed-role versions in which the male and female actors switched roles in the same scenarios. Personally observed authority models were represented by the experimenter, who supervised the discussion. Sex of authority in the commercials and sex of experimenter were crossed in a factorial design. In the all-male authority condition, men and women performed equally (as measured by talking time and number of substantive content suggestions), but recognized only the men as leaders in postdiscussion evaluation questionnaires. In the all-female authority condition, men and women also performed equally, and, in addition, they also received equal leadership recognition. In the 2 mixed-authority conditions, men objectively outperformed women. The data show that recognition is not a direct function of performance for either sex but is influenced by the evaluators' expectations, which are partly defined by sex of authority role models in the social environment. (103 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Telecommunications Integrated Network

This paper presents a short general survey of the integrated network problems. How digital techniques can provide new capabilities of transmission and switching of the information that could allow the progressive realization of a single universal network of telecommunications is examined.     

Characterization of an energy source for modeling hypothetical core disruptive accidents in nuclear reactors

The experimental methods for and results of determining the expansion characteristics of the detonation products of an energy source that simulates the pressure-volume change relationships for sodium vapor expansions during hypothetical core disruptive accidents in a fast test reactor are presented. Rigid cylinder-piston experiments performed at two scales (ratio 1:3) to determine a pressure-volume relationship as a function of source mass and expansion environment are described. Some of these measurements are compared with code calculations for the source. The results show: (1) that the pressure-volume relationship depends significantly on the presence of water in the cylinder and comparatively little on the timescale of the expansion, the presence of steel balls in the water, or a Mylar sheet on the water surface; and (2) the experiment's scale. A relationship between the measured work energy from the source and the charge mass is presented, and pressure-volume change measurements are compared with previous experimental measurements and with theoretical calculations for a 150 MWsec hypothetical core disruptive accident. The measurements and code calculations of the pressure-volume relationship for the source agree reasonably well.     

Genetics of heat-curability of killer virus of yeast

The cytoplasmically inherited M double-stranded (ds) RNA genome segment of killer virus of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is heat-curable in some yeast strains but not in others. Temperature sensitivity is conferred on both M₁ and M₂ dsRNA satellite virus segments by the L-A-HN allele of the killer helper virus genome, but not by the L-A-H allele. Both diploidy and mating type heterozygosity of the host cell are also correlated with increased virus curability.     

New Insight into the Residual Rate of Borosilicate Glasses: Effect of S/V and Glass Composition

We report and discuss initial and residual rate measurements performed on 6 borosilicate glasses to highlight (i) some glass composition effects (namely Zn and Fe), (ii) the role of dissolved silica, and (iii) the importance of the glass-surface-area-to-solution-volume (S/V) ratio. We show that there is no apparent relation between the initial and the residual rate. As an example, the well-known positive effect of Zn on short-term glass dissolution becomes adverse under residual rate conditions. Dissolved silica as well as S/V strongly impact the transient rate drop regime, but have no or minor effects on the magnitude of the residual rate of the SON68 glass. Increasing S/V is indeed a good mean to explore higher reaction progresses. Additional simulations performed with the GRAAL model show that, in the case of SON68 glass altered in deionized water, the residual rate continuously diminishes despite the formation of secondary crystalline phases. This result can be used to derive conservative rate values. More generally, it is shown that the residual rate can fluctuate depending on the relative importance of two coupled mechanisms: the formation of a passivating layer and the transformation of this layer into more stable compounds.     

Validation of the performance of a GMO multiplex screening assay based on microarray detection

A new screening method for the detection and identification of GMO, based on the use of multiplex PCR followed by microarray, has been developed and is presented. The technology is based on the identification of quite ubiquitous GMO genetic target elements first amplified by PCR, followed by direct hybridisation of the amplicons on a predefined microarray (DualChip^® GMO, Eppendorf, Germany). The validation was performed within the framework of a European project (Co-Extra, contract no 007158) and in collaboration with 12 laboratories specialised in GMO detection. The present study reports the strategy and the results of an ISO complying validation of the method carried out through an inter-laboratory study. Sets of blind samples were provided consisting of DNA reference materials covering all the elements detectable by specific probes present on the array. The GMO concentrations varied from 1% down to 0.045%. In addition, a mixture of two GMO events (0.1% RRS diluted in 100% TOPAS19/2) was incorporated in the study to test the robustness of the assay in extreme conditions. Data were processed according to ISO 5725 standard. The method was evaluated with predefined performance criteria with respect to the EC CRL method acceptance criteria. The overall method performance met the acceptance criteria; in particular, the results showed that the method is suitable for the detection of the different target elements at 0.1% concentration of GMO with a 95% accuracy rate. This collaborative trial showed that the method can be considered as fit for the purpose of screening with respect to its intra- and inter-laboratory accuracy. The results demonstrated the validity of combining multiplex PCR with array detection as provided by the DualChip^® GMO (Eppendorf, Germany) for the screening of GMO. The results showed that the technology is robust, practical and suitable as a screening tool.