Mercury in water and sediments of the southern Baltic sea

Total mercury concentrations [HgT] were measured in samples of water and sediments collected from the southern Baltic Sea from the period 1993-1995. Picomolar concentrations of HgT were found in offshore surface water. Higher levels were measured in samples from the plum of the Vistula. An exceptionally high concentration of mercury (25 pM HgT, 5 pM methylmercury) was measured in the near bottom, quasi-anoxic water of the Gda?sk Deep and explained by the release of mercury from fine grained sediments covering the bottom. In the sediments, the largest contents of HgT were found in fine grained, organic rich deposits of the Baltic deeps. The increase in mercury contents in the upper layers of sediments deposited within the last 100-150 years was attributed to the anthropogenic load of mercury and its increased scavenging to sediments with organic matter.     

Financial problems and health complaints among farm couples: Results of a 10-year follow-up study.

Over a 10-year period, this survey study of 91 Dutch dairy farm couples investigated both causal and reversed causal relationships between couples' financial problems and husbands' and wives' mental and physical health complaints, as well as crossover effects of mental and physical health complaints between spouses. These relationships were tested simultaneously using structural equation modeling analyses. Results showed that financial problems were not predictive of health complaints for either spouse but that husbands' health complaints did predict both couples' financial problems and wives' health complaints 10 years later. These findings emphasize the importance of mental and physical health as resources for both the business and the family. For wives, these effects were not found, which may reflect the different positions of husbands and wives at the farm and, hence, the different ways they allocate their resources. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Surface electrical properties of tungsten oxides in equilibrium with the gas phase

The work function of the tungsten-oxygen system has been investigated at temperatures of 750, 800 and 850°C vs. oxygen partial pressure within the stability range of various oxide phases. The reproducibility of both reduction and oxidation runs indicates that the investigated system achieves the thermodynamic equilibrium state. Sharp changes of the work function are observed at oxygen partial pressures corresponding to the phase transformations. This effect allows a determination the oxide phases WO₃, WO_2.90, WO_2.72, and WO₂ as the most stable and well-defined. Good agreement between the work function and the electrical conductivity data has been shown. This indicates that the work function method is sensitive to the crystalline structure of semiconducting oxides. Good agreement with the literature data is also observed.The work has been carried out in the Institute of Catalysis and Surface Chemistry, Kraków, Poland, in conjunction with the Polish-French Collaboration Research Project.     

Moderately doped NMOS (M-LDD)-hot electron and current driveoptimization

Short-channel NMOS transistors with moderately doped drain (10¹⁴ cm^-2), and variable sidewall oxide spacer thickness were fabricated and studied. The sensitivities of hot carrier degradation, current drive capability, and other device parameters to the sidewall spacer thickness were measured and evaluated. The results clearly indicate that a moderately doped drain (M-LDD) provides a stable and well-optimized device, compared to a conventional LDD transistor with substantially lower implant dose. A simple model, explaining the observations, is proposed and discussed     

Analysis of electromagnetic field and power losses in three phase gas insulated cable

The following paper presents the electro-magnetic field distribution in a three phase gas insulated cable. Formulas for calculation of power losses in the cable sheath are also given. Applying the separation-of-variables method it was possible to obtain general fi - nal dependences. With the help of a computer, theoretical considerations were illustrated by numerical calculations.     

Behavioral control of exercise in sedentary adults: Studies 1 through 6.

Conducted 6 experiments with 143 healthy sedentary adults who had been unsuccessful in starting or maintaining an exercise regimen to identify behavioral and cognitive procedures that would enhance Ss' adherence to a 3 day/wk exercise (walking/jogging) program. Procedures evaluated included feedback and praise during exercise, various goal-setting strategies, lottery reinforcement, cognitive strategies during the exercise, and relapse-prevention training. Class attendance, exercise program adherence, and fitness data were collected, and self-reported 3-mo follow-up data were also obtained. Results suggest the importance of social support, feedback, and praise during exercise; flexibility in exercise-goal setting; and distraction-based cognitive strategies. Findings are integrated and discussed in terms of the importance and difficulties of shaping and maintaining exercise behaviors. (58 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Time-dependent characteristics of Herschel–Bulkley fluids from edible powders

Herschel–Bulkley shear thinning fluids were produced by blending saturated aqueous solutions of sucrose with one of the following edible powders: potato starch, wheat flour, maize flour, cocoa powder and milk powder. In each case, plasticity only occurred over a narrow range of proportions of saturated sucrose solution to edible powder. This proportion was crucial in controlling storage changes and textural properties. Bingham yield stresses increased with storage time and this was attributed to the competition for water between saccharides in the saturated solutions and components of the admixed powders. Dissolution of the components of the admixed powders was thought to be a key factor in determining the rate of change of textural properties such as hardness, fracturability, adhesiveness, springiness, cohesiveness, resilience and stringiness.     

Synthesis of the magnetic field due to a thin-walled solenoid

A theoretical study of the uniform magnetic field generation at the midplane of a thin-walled solenoid is presented. The field synthesis problem is posed and an appropriate mathematical method proposed to solve it. Some numerical results are presented.