The appraisal basis of anger: Specificity, necessity and sufficiency of components.

The nature of the association between anger and 5 appraisal-action tendency components--goal obstacle, other accountability, unfairness, control, and antagonism--was examined in terms of specificity, necessity, and sufficiency. In 2 studies, participants described recently experienced unpleasant situations in which 1 of the appraisal-action tendency components was present or absent and indicated which emotions they had experienced. The results showed that (a) other accountability and arrogant entitlement, as an instance of unfairness, are specific appraisals ability for anger; and most important, (b) none of the components is necessary or sufficient for anger. The findings suggest that the relation between emotions and appraisal-action tendency components should be conceptualized instead as a contingent association, meaning that they usually co-occur. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Disentangling the Effects of Safety-Behavior Utilization and Safety-Behavior Availability During Exposure-Based Treatment: A Placebo-Controlled Trial.

The primary aim of the current study was to further investigate the deleterious effects of safety-seeking behaviors on fear reduction by disentangling the effects of perceived availability of threat-relevant safety behaviors during treatment versus their actual use. Participants (N=72) displaying marked claustrophobic fear were randomly assigned to 1 of 5 conditions: (a) exposure only (EO), (b) exposure with phobic safety-behavior availability (SBA), (c) exposure with safety-behavior utilization (SBU), (d) credible placebo treatment (PL), or (e) wait list (WL). High end-state functioning rates at posttreatment were as follows: EO=94%, SBA=45%, SBU=44%, PL=25%, and WL=0%. Findings suggest that it is the perception of the availability of safety aids as opposed to their actual use that exerts a disruptive effect on fear reduction. Clinical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluation of the Vitatron "AKES" modification for optimal use in routine enzyme analysis

The method investigated used (3H) cortisol as the ligand, diluted human plasma as the binding protein, and florisil to separate free and bound cortisol. The precision and specificity were found to be adequate for routine use. The effects of such factors as delay in separation of plasma, storage of plasma, provenance of the binding protein, venepuncture, and venous occlusion have been studied. The extent and significance of short term, inter-daily, and longer term variation in plasma cortisol level are discussed.     

Immobilization of TiO2 into Self‐Supporting Photocatalytic Foam: Influence of Calcination Temperature

Immobilization of photocatalytic powder is crucial to obtain industrially relevant purification processes. To achieve this goal, self‐supporting TiO₂ foams were manufactured by a polyacrylamide gel process. These gels were calcined at different temperatures to study the effect of the calcination temperature on foam characteristics (rigidity, crystallinity, and porosity) and its influence on photocatalytic activity. The results show that an optimal degradation is achieved for those foams calcined between 700 and 800°C. Calcination at higher temperatures results in a steep decrease in activity, explained by stability issues of the material due to formation of Na₂SO₄ phases and a larger rutile fraction.     

Programmable polymer light emitting transistors with ferroelectric polarization-enhanced channel current and light emission

We present a voltage programmable polymer light emitting field-effect transistor (LEFET), consisting of a green emitting polymer (F8BT), and a ferroelectric polymer, P(VDF-TrFE), as the gate dielectric. We show by both experimental observations and numerical modeling that, when the ferroelectric gate dielectric is polarized in opposite directions at the drain and source sides of the channel, respectively, both electron and hole currents are enhanced, resulting in more charge recombination and ～10 times higher light emission in a ferroelectric LEFET, compared to the device with non-ferroelectric gate. As a result of the ferroelectric poling, our ferroelectric LEFETs exhibit repeated programmability in light emission, and an external quantum efficiency (EQE) of up to 1.06%. Numerical modeling reveals that the remnant polarization charge of the ferroelectric layer tends to ‘pin’ the position of the recombination zone, paving the way to integrate specific optical out-coupling structures in the channel of these devices to further increase the brightness.     

Barycentric parameterizations for isotropic BRDFs

A bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) is often expressed as a function of four real variables: two spherical coordinates in each of the "incoming" and "outgoing" directions. However, many BRDFs reduce to functions of fewer variables. For example, isotropic reflection can be represented by a function of three variables. Some BRDF models can be reduced further. In This work, we introduce new sets of coordinates which we use to reduce the dimensionality of several well-known analytic BRDFs as well as empirically measured BRDF data. The proposed coordinate systems are barycentric with respect to a triangular support with a direct physical interpretation. One coordinate set is based on the BRDF mode) proposed by Lafortune. Another set, based on a model of Ward, is associated with the "halfway" vector common in analytical BRDF formulas. Through these coordinate sets we establish lower bounds on the approximation error inherent in the models on which they are based. We present a third set of coordinates, not based on any analytical model, that performs well in approximating measured data. Finally, our proposed variables suggest novel ways of constructing and visualizing BRDFs.     

Lean body mass as a determinant of thyroid size

A controlled study was performed in 18 viral cirrhosis patients to evaluate whether immune function, as indicated by natural killer (NK) cell activity, was improved by a branched-chain amino acid-enriched nutrient mixture (nutrient-mixture), Aminoleban EN. Five patients received the nutrient-mixture (100 g/day) for 2 to 6 weeks preceded by control periods. Five additional patients received the nutrient-mixture for 2 to 4 weeks, and the remaining 8 patients did not receive the nutrient-mixture. NK cell activity, CD16, CD8, CD11b, and amino acids were assayed before and after the administration of the drug in the nutrient-mixture-supplemented group, and two times with 1 to 6 month intervals in the control group. In the nutrient-mixture-supplemented group (n = 10), increasing NK cell activity, expressed as the ratio of values of post-treatment to that of baseline (ratio > 1.25) was detected in 7 (70%) patients, whereas in the control group (n = 13), it was detected in only 1 (7.7%) (p < 0.01). While in the affected group (NK cell activity ratio > 1.25, n = 7), all patients had compensated liver cirrhosis, in the unaffected group (NK cell activity ratio < 1.25, n = 3), 2 of 3 patients had decompensated liver cirrhosis (p < 0.02). Laboratory data, indicating severity of liver cirrhosis, such as total bilirubin and albumin, showed better values (p < 0.01, p < 0.05 respectively), and baseline NK cell activity was low (8.7 +/- 7.2% vs 33.3 +/- 13.0%, p < 0.05) in the affected group than unaffected group. NK cell subpopulations such as CD16 (%), CD11b (%) and one of the populations of T cell such as CD8 (%) showed no significant change throughout the study. As for amino acids analysis, Fischer's ratio was increased in the nutrient-mixture-supplemented group compared to the control group (p < 0.05), but none of the amino acids showed significant change. Thus the changes in NK cell activity were not explained by increase in NK cell subpopulations nor changes of amino acids. These results suggest that the branched-chain amino acid-enriched nutrient mixture increases NK cell activity moderately in patients who have compensated liver cirrhosis and shows lower values of baseline NK cell activity.