Temporal generalization of treatment effects over a three-year period for a parent training program: Directive Parental Counseling (DPC).

Assessed the permanence of the treatment effects (temporal generalization) obtained by a parent-training program, Directive Parental Counseling (DPC), developed by the 2nd author (1983). 20 parents who participated in the program completed the Walker Problem Behavior Identification Checklist and the Missouri Children's Behavior Checklist at pretreatment, treatment termination, 3 mo posttreatment, and 3 yrs posttreatment. The parents were part of a larger treatment group of 36 Ss who demonstrated superiority in altering targeted behaviors of their children (mean age 6 yrs 11 mo), in contrast to a waiting-control group, at the completion of a 10-wk program. The positive changes noted on the behavior rating scales obtained from the parents in the treatment group at the posttreatment period were still evident at the 3-mo follow-up and continued to increase over the 3-yr interval. Results are discussed in light of the issues surrounding temporal generalization and the structure of the DPC program. (French abstract) (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Heat pump assisted distillation. IV: An experimental comparison of R114 and R11 as the working fluid in an external heat pump

An experimental study has been carried out on a continuously operated pilot fractional distillation column equipped with an external heat pump. The distillation column was a 15 cm internal diameter glass unit containing eleven single bubble cap plates. A methanol-water mixture was fed to the column. After operating the heat pumps with R114 as the working fluid, further experiments have been conducted with R11 as the working fluid. Plots of pressure against enthalpy, condensation pressure and latent heat of vaporization against condensation temperature and theoretical Rankine coefficient of performance against gross temperature lift and condensation temperature are presented for both R114 and R11. R11 has correspondingly higher theoretical Rankine coefficients of performance than R114. The experiments show that the actual coefficients are also higher for R11 than for R114. A maximum actual coefficient of performance of 5.3 was obtained using R11 as the working fluid with a gross temperature lift of 38.4°C. The experimental data for R11 were found to be reproducible during operation over a number of weeks. This showed that the relative thermal instability of R11 compared to R114 had not apparently affected the performance of the system.     

Behavior therapy and tricyclic medication in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder: A quantitative review.

A meta-analysis was used to integrate the research literature on the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Antidepressants, such as clomipramine, and behavior therapy have produced appreciable changes in obsessive-compulsive and depressive symptoms. Patients with obsessions who did not suffer from compulsions have responded less to treatment. No follow-up data have been available for clomipramine, but the benefits of behavior therapy have been shown to be stable at follow-up. Ratings of improvement by assessors have been higher than ratings made by patients. The effects of tricyclic medication and exposure therapies have not significantly differed, but both have proven significantly superior to nonspecific treatment programs. There is a need for a large, randomized comparison of clomipramine and exposure that includes adequate follow-up of subjects after treatment has concluded. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sustainability Reporting and Water Resources: a Preliminary Assessment of Embodied Water and Sustainable Mining

This paper presents a preliminary compilation and analysis of the water reported to have been consumed by a range of various mineral commodities and compares it to mine production data. This has been undertaken to assess and quantify the ‘embodied water’ of mineral products—a key aspect of sustainability (embodied water is the total water required to produce a good or service). At present, although the use of formal reporting protocols such as the global reporting initiative (GRI) is increasing, there are still critical weaknesses. Some key aspects to facilitate proper water accounting are not listed in sustainability reports, including the extent of recycled water used, mine site water inventories, the quality of various waters, and impacts on water resources. Based on the data compiled, there is wide variation in the water used for different mineral commodities as well as for the same commodity. There is little evidence for ‘economies of scale’ in base metals and bulk minerals, though for precious metals (gold, platinum), greater throughput does tend to lead to greater efficiency. For many mines, there is little evidence of improving efficiency over time, although some mines have made substantive improvements in reducing water consumed. The grade of ore being processed is clearly critical in understanding the embodied water of minerals, with declining ore grades leading to an increased chance of higher embodied water in the future. Given that many metals are declining in average ore grade, the sensitivity of embodied water to ore grade provides a major sustainability challenge for mining generally. In summary, the embodied water of minerals is clearly significant, and will likely gradually increase in the future, and so must be more completely accounted for to understand a fundamental aspect of sustainability and mining—that of water resources.     

Construction and test of a cryocooler-cooled low-Tc SQUID gradiometer system

A cryocooler-cooled low-Tc SQUID gradiometer system was designed and constructed. It is based on a 4 K GM-cooler that is positioned several meters from the measuring head containing the SQUID sensors. The cooling power is transported by means of a circulating helium flow. Thus, there are three main components: the cooler vessel, the measuring head and the connecting flow-line.In stable operation, the SQUID and gradiometric pick-up loop are about 4.3 K. The overall heat loads to the cooler 1st and 2nd stages are estimated at 17 W and 0.3 W, respectively. The overall system noise was about 10 fT/√Hz although a number of peaks were observed in the spectrum. As an example, an adult heart beat was recorded.     

Clustered crystalline structures as glassy phase approximants

This paper presents some crystalline structures which can be taken as the approximants of the corresponding metallic glassy phases. Such phases have a clustered structure and preferably (but not strictly necessarily) a large unit cell. Peak intensities of their radial distribution functions (RDFs) must be integrated at a step of about 0.01 nm in order to obtain RDFs similar to those of the corresponding glassy alloys owing to a degree of disorder related to the corresponding glassy structures.     

Scaling Properties of Superfluid 3He in Aerogel

We have investigated the superfluid transition of ³ He in different samples of silica aerogel. Several of these samples have been characterized using x-ray imaging, yielding information about the microstructure of the aerogel. In comparing new measurements on a 99.5% sample with previous observations on the behavior of ³ He in 98% porous aerogel we have found evidence for a scaling of the superfluid transition temperature to the correlation length of the aerogel. Furthermore, the superfluid density exhibits a similar universal behaviour over a range of values of reduced temperature. We discuss these new results in the context of superfluid pairing in the presence of a correlated disorder, specifically focussing on the fractal nature of the aerogel.     

Heat transfer studies in a climbing film evaporator Part II: Heat transfer regions

There are three sections in an evaporator tube; liquid heating, foam and climbing film. A technique is presented for estimating the lengths of these three sections and the overall heat transfer coefficients in each of them. The lower the liquid feed temperature, the longer the liquid heating length. The length of the foam section does not depend on the liquid feed temperature. In these studies it was estimated to be more than half the length of the evaporator tube. Only at the higher liquid feed temperatures was a climbing film found to exist.     

Narp regulates long-term aversive effects of morphine withdrawal.

Although long-lasting effects of drug withdrawal are thought to play a key role in motivating continued drug use, the mechanisms mediating this type of drug-induced plasticity are unclear. Because Narp is an immediate early gene product that is secreted at synaptic sites and binds to alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptors, it has been implicated in mediating enduring forms of synaptic plasticity. In previous studies, the authors found that Narp is selectively induced by morphine withdrawal in the extended amygdala, a group of limbic nuclei that mediate aversive behavioral responses. Accordingly, in this study, the authors evaluate whether long-term aversive effects of morphine withdrawal are altered in Narp knockout (KO) mice. The authors found that acute physical signs of morphine withdrawal are unaffected by Narp deletion. However, Narp KO mice acquire and sustain more aversive responses to the environment conditioned with morphine withdrawal than do wild type (WT) controls. Paradoxically, Narp KO mice undergo accelerated extinction of this heightened aversive response. Taken together, these studies suggest that Narp modulates both acquisition and extinction of aversive responses to morphine withdrawal and, therefore, may regulate plasticity processes underlying drug addiction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Synthetic bioabsorbable microtubes for the treatment of surgical sites

Bioabsorbable polyglycolide-co-lactide microtubes have been developed for the continuous delivery of fluid medications directly to an operative site. Studies conducted with radio-opaque solution using porcine models indicated that infusion of fluids in the wound site was rapid and complete. The tissue reaction to the microtube was generally characterized as minimal to mild with complete absorption occurring within 56 days postimplantation. Processing–microstructure-property relationships and bio-degradation characteristics of the microtubes are presented.