Loss of emotional experience after traumatic brain injury: Findings with the startle probe procedure.

The authors used affective modulation of the eyeblink startle response to examine the impact of traumatic brain injury (TBI) on emotional reactions to pictures. Participants were 13 individuals with severe TBI and 24 controls. Participants were presented with pictures that differed in affective valence (e.g., mutilated bodies, erotic couples, and household objects) while the eyeblink startle response to an acoustic probe was measured. Startle amplitude was used to assess valence of emotional response, and startle latency was used to index interest in the pictures. Subjective ratings of the affect and arousal elicited by the various pictures were also obtained. TBI impaired startle potentiation to unpleasant pictures but not startle attenuation to pleasant pictures. Further, subjective ratings indicated that TBI participants found unpleasant pictures less arousing than did controls. The results are consistent with recent evidence of differential impairment in negative versus positive emotions after TBI and are discussed in relation to 2 competing explanations of startle modulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Flow-Induced Failure of Cable-Tied Blocks

An experimental study of flow-induced failure of cable-tied blocks is presented. The particular failure mechanism studied is overturning and rolling up of the leading edge of a cable-tied block mat. Individual blocks were investigated also. The block size, flow depth, and block (mat) protrusion above the surrounding bed were systematically varied. The results are presented in terms of the critical dimensionless shear stress θc for block (mat) failure. A relationship between θc, block size and block protrusion, and flow depth is given.     

Piperidine Alkaloids in Nitrogen Fertilized Pinus ponderosa

We fertilized individual, pole-size ponderosa pine trees at two low-quality sites and pine saplings at a relatively high-quality site, with ammonium nitrate. Six to 12 months later, we measured total %N and 2,6-disubstituted piperidine alkaloids in the foliage. The N additions raised foliar %N above deficiency levels (i.e., from 1.0–1.1% to 1.4–1.6%) at the low-quality sites, but did not elevate foliar %N in saplings at the higher quality site, where it was already (1.9%) well above critical levels. In control trees with foliar N below a threshold of 1.1%, we detected no more than trace levels of alkaloids, indicating that alkaloid production is highly constrained by N deficiency. The N additions increased mean concentrations of the predominant alkaloid, pinidine, at all three sites. Mean total alkaloid concentrations for fertilized trees at the two low-quality sites were 12 and 155 g/g dry wt higher than controls (relative increases of 12× and 4.5×, respectively). For saplings at the high-quality site, the mean total increased by 584 g/g dry wt (1.6×) with the N additions. Allocation of foliar N to alkaloids was highest in fertilized saplings (0.81%) compared to control saplings (0.53%). These findings demonstrate that foliar alkaloid concentrations can be increased by nitrogen fertilization of forest trees growing on both low- and high-quality sites. Fertilizing for the purpose of inhibiting potential herbivores may be more successful at higher quality sites where alkaloid levels are enhanced relative to food quality (foliar %N).     

Ethanol and Ambrosia Beetles in Douglas Fir Logs Exposed or Protected from Rain

Logs from the base of Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) trees cut in October 1993 were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups: (1) wet logs—cut from the fallen tree and left exposed to rain, (2) dry logs—cut from the fallen tree, placed on blocks, and protected from rain under a plastic tent, and (3) crown logs—left attached to the fallen tree with its branches intact and exposed to rain. The following May, ethanol concentrations were highest in the phloem and sapwood of wet logs (0.24 and 0.35 mol/g fresh wt, respectively). Ethanol concentrations in tissues from dry and crown logs were similar to each other (ranging from 0.002 to 0.03 mol/g fresh wt), but were significantly lower than in wet logs. It appears that rain absorbed by the outer bark of wet logs creates a barrier to gas exchange between living tissues and the atmosphere, which facilitates the development of hypoxic conditions necessary for ethanol synthesis and accumulation. Branches on crown logs exposed to rain help maintain low ethanol concentrations in the log tissues; we discuss several potential mechanisms to explain this response. By early September, the densities of Gnathothrichus spp. gallery entrance holes were high on wet logs (21.5/m²) and low on dry (2.5/m²) and crown logs (5.8/m²), indicating their preference for logs with higher ethanol concentrations. Protecting logs from rain will significantly reduce ethanol concentrations and the density of ambrosia beetle galleries. Leaving branches attached to logs will produce similar results, but its effectiveness may vary depending on the environmental conditions. Host selection by secondary scolytid beetles that use ethanol as a kairomone can be manipulated and possibly managed by controlling the production of ethanol in the host resource.     

Social reforms and the future of school practice: Implications for American psychology.

Social reforms in American education are setting the stage for a paradigm shift in our nation's schools. The convergence of education and health care reform and the movement in the human services arena toward service integration models provide an unprecedented opportunity to redefine psychological services related to schools for the next century. Whereas school psychological services historically have been linked to changes in special education legislation, social reforms in education and health care that emphasize educational achievement and whole-child development offer promise for expanding and enhancing the roles of psychologists whose practices relate to schools and children. This article explores the foundations for change and highlights critical areas in which psychological practice in the schools may develop in the 1990s and beyond. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Decreased dosage of acidified sodium chlorite reduces microbial contamination and maintains organoleptic qualities of ground beef products

Acidified sodium chlorite (ASC) spray was evaluated at decreased dosages and application rates to determine its efficacy for reducing bacterial contamination on boneless beef trimmings used for production of raw ground beef products while maintaining desirable consumer qualities in the finished ground beef products. Two different applications of ASC (600 ppm applied at a rate of 1.3 oz/lb and 300 ppm applied at a rate of 1 oz/lb) were used to treat boneless beef trimmings before grinding. The effect of ASC treatment on 50/50 lean beef trimmings was greater than on 90/10 trimmings. ASC at 600 ppm reduced both the aerobic plate counts (APC) and Enterobacteriaceae counts (EBC) by 2.3 log CFU/g on 50/50 trimmings, whereas treatment with 300 ppm ASC reduced APC and EBC of 50/50 trimmings by 1.1 and 0.7 log CFU/g, respectively. Ground beef formulations of 90/10 and 73/27 were produced from the treated boneless beef trim and packaged in chubs and in modified atmosphere packaging. The efficacy of ASC spray treatment to inhibit APC and EBC over the shelf life of each ground beef product was monitored. The APC and EBC in ground beef chubs were reduced by 1.0 to 1.5 log CFU/g until day 20. The APC and EBC for products in modified atmosphere packaging were reduced 1.5 to 3.0 log CFU/g throughout their shelf life. Both decreased dosages of ASC were equally effective on 90/10 lean ground beef, but the 300 ppm ASC treatment was slightly better at reducing the EBC of 73/27 ground beef. The organoleptic qualities (color, odor, and taste) of the ground beef products treated with 300 ppm ASC were found to be superior to those treated with 600 ppm ASC. Our results indicated that decreased dosages of ASC reduce contamination and lengthen the shelf life of ground beef. Furthermore, the 300 ppm ASC treatment reduced bacterial counts while maintaining desirable organoleptic ground beef qualities.     

Parabola-doublet aplanat becomes anastigmatic when second doublet is inserted near focus

A doublet of choice glasses may be located in the converging focal cone of the infinity-focused parabola to yield an aplanatic telescope or camera. The resulting angular field is limited by high astigmatism but is significantly larger than that of the coma-limited parabola. The spherical and chromatic aberrations are so well corrected and the coma so well balanced that the doublet may be used unaltered with a parabola of arbitrary focal length and speed with excellent results for the unvignetted rays. A second doublet nearer to the focus and designed independently of the first corrects the system's astigmatism while preserving its aplanaticism. It may also be designed for flattening the field. This arrangement may allow for greater flexibility in the placing of optical elements than does Wynne's triplet for modest-aperture systems. Equations are presented for choosing candidate glasses for the first doublet from the very limited manifold of solving glasses.     

Houghton anastigmatic telescope containing aspheric mirrors that allows corrector position as a free parameter

A family of catadioptric telescopes is investigated, characterzied with two-element, full-aperture afocal corrector lenses and aspherical, focusing, primary mirrors or primary-secondary mirror combination. Third-order aberration and design equation are provided for anastigmatic systems in which corrector position must be a free parameter, forcing the consideration of aspherics on the mirrored surfaces.     

μ Control for Satellites Formation Flying

In this paper, a μ controller is designed for a satellite formation flying system around the Earth based on an uncertainty model derived from a nonlinear relative position equation. In this model, nonzero eccentricity and varying semimajor axis are included as parametric uncertainties. J2 perturbation, atmospheric drag, and actuation and sensor noise are bounded by functional uncertainties. The μ controller design based on the nominal mission (an 800?km altitude circular reference orbit) is capable of achieving desired performance, is robust to uncertainties, and satisfies fuel consumption requirements even in a challenge nonnominal mission (a 0.1 eccentricity and 7,978?km semimajor axis elliptic reference orbit) with the same control gain. In this nonnominal mission, the designed μ controller is able to keep formation with almost the same level of the ΔV budget (43.86?m/s/year) as used in the nominal mission (39.65?m/s/year). For comparison, linear quadratic regulator (LQR) and sliding mode controllers (SMC) are developed and extensively tuned to get the same ΔV consumption as that of the designed μ controller for the nominal mission. However, as shown in the simulation, the designed linear robust controller (LQR) and nonlinear robust controller (SMC) have a serious ΔV consumption penalty (1.72?km/s/year for SMC) or are unstable (for LQR) in the nonnominal mission.