Feedback Study of Psychology Graduates.

Comment on the article "Feedback from bachelor of arts psychology graduates" by W. Leslie Barnette, Jr. (see record 1962-02017-001). The reviewer states that the study conducted in this article shows some interesting parallels to a similar study conducted at Southern Illinois University at about the same time. All but one of the BA psychology graduates were sent a questionnaire regarding their retrospective evaluation of our undergraduate psychology program. With one follow-up letter, an 80% return was obtained. Of these, 55% had taken or were taking graduate work in psychology, while the remainder were mostly distributed in professional, sales and managerial, and military positions. When asked if they would major in psychology again 80% said they would. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The net effect of ultraviolet radiation on atmospheric dimethylsulphide over the Southern Indian Ocean

Dimethylsulphide (DMS) in the atmosphere may play an important role in the climate system. This study shows an inverse relationship between ultraviolet extremes and atmospheric DMS, independent of changes in wind speed, sea-surface temperature and photosynthetically active radiation, as measured at Amsterdam Island in the Southern Indian Ocean.     

Thermodynamic analysis of arsenic methylation

The Challenger mechanism for the methylation of arsenic is a repeating sequence of a two-electron reduction of pentavalent arsenic As(V) species to trivalent arsenic As(III) species followed by a methylation-oxidation reaction forming the successive methyl As(V) species. This unusual oxidation-reduction sequence prompted an examination of the thermodynamics of these reactions. Quantum chemical methods are employed to estimate the thermodynamic parameters for the methyl arsenic species. The sequence is thermodynamically favored at neutral pH for redox potentials with pe < 0 and methyl cation activities pCH3+ < -3 to -7 depending on the precise situation analyzed. The observed distribution of methyl arsenic species in human urine, which is remarkably constant across many studied populations, can be reproduced using an equilibrium model if the formation of TMA species is prevented. The estimated thermodynamic parameters are sufficiently accurate to evaluate questions of thermodynamic plausibility but not the precise details of speciation.     

Reading ability and utilization of orthographic structure in reading.

Used a perceptual-recognition task to assess whether utilization of orthographic structure in letter recognition varies with reading ability. Anagrams of words were made to create strings that orthogonally combined frequency and regularity measures of orthographic structure. These strings and the original words were used as test stimuli in a letter-recognition task. 22 good and poor undergraduate readers (selected by their scores on the Nelson-Denny Reading Test) showed equally large effects of orthographic structure on task accuracy, whereas in a 2nd experiment, 10 poor 6th-grade readers did not utilize orthographic structure to the same degree as 10 very good 6th-grade readers. To facilitate the teaching of orthographic structure, some of the important constraints in written English and various games for teaching these constraints are presented. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Surgical correction of nasal obstruction in the treatment of mild sleep apnoea: importance of cephalometry in predicting outcome

BACKGROUND: A study was undertaken to determine if cephalometric radiographs could identify those who will benefit from nasal surgery in patients with a sleep apnoea hypopnoea syndrome (SAHS) and chronic nasal obstruction. METHODS: Fourteen patients with SAHS were enrolled. Those with normal posterior airway space and mandibular plane to hyoid bone distances on preoperative cephalometric radiographs were matched with those with abnormal cephalometry for the frequency of sleep disordered breathing and body mass index. Polysomnographic studies (all subjects) and nasal resistance measurements (n = 10) were performed one to three months before and two to three months after surgery (septoplasty, turbinectomy, and polypectomy). RESULTS: There was no difference in the baseline results of the polysomnographic studies between the two groups of patients. Nasal resistance decreased from a mean (SE) value of 2.9 (0.3) cm H2O/l/s before surgery to 1.4 (0.1) cm H2O/l/s after surgery in the normal cephalometry group and from 2.7 (0.3) cm H2O/l/s to 1.3 (0.3) cm H2O/l/s in the other group. The apnoea + hypopnoea index returned to normal (< 10 breathing abnormalities/hour) in all but one subject with normal cephalometric measurements, and sleep fragmentation improved with a decrease in the arousal index from 23.9 (3.3)/hour at baseline to 10.6 (2.5)/hour after surgery. Both of these parameters remained unchanged after surgery in the patients with abnormal cephalometry. CONCLUSIONS: Normal cephalometry is helpful in identifying patients with mild SAHS and nasal obstruction who will benefit from nasal surgery. The presence of craniomandibular abnormalities makes it unlikely that nasal surgery will improve sleep related breathing abnormalities.     

A four-dimensional formulation of defect dynamics and some of its consequences

A 4-dimensional formulation of the equations of defect dynamics is given through use of concepts from the exterior calculus. The formulation provides a clear separation of the three basic effects; geometric responses of bodies to loadings, evolution of dislocations, and evolution of disclinations. The theory is shown to admit a 45-fold gauge group and a system of natural gauge conditions whereby the elastic and the plastic parts of the responses may be disentangled. The gauge conditions also lead to both spatial and temporial nonlocality. Self-equilibrating dislocations and disclinations (i.e. those for which there is no plastic distortion or velocity) are shown to exist and conditions for their elimination are given. A complete analogy is established between defect dynamics and co-occupying systems of electromagnetic fields with both electric and magnetic charges and currents. Analogous magnetic charges and currents are shown to vanish only if there are no disclinations present. The gauge group structure and the electrodynamic analogy provide expectations of parallels with Yang-Mills type unified gauge theories. A constitutive theory is obtained through use of the practices of non-equilibrium thermodynamics, one example of which leads to a natural implementation of a yield criteria, an incremental law of plastic distortion, and a proof of Drucker's postulate.     

Dislocation and displacement fields of finite bodies with given boundary tractions

The traction boundary value problem for spatially finite material bodies is examined in the context of the gauge theory of dislocations. In contrast with classical theory of dislocations in infinite bodies, the boundary conditions for the dislocation fields are shown to have pronounced effects. Expansion in the load parameter that is naturally associated with the applied loading shows that dislocation effects are essentially nonlinear. If the dislocation coupling constant is of the order of the shear modulus or larger, the dislocation density tensor vanishes throughout the body in the linear engineering approximation. A sequence of well-posed linear boundary value problems are shown to provide approximate solutions to any desired degree of accuracy in the load parameter.     

Biodegradation of RDX and MNX with Rhodococcus sp. strain DN22: new insights into the degradation pathway

Previously we demonstrated that Rhodococcus sp. strain DN22 can degrade RDX (hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine) aerobically via initial denitration. The present study describes the role of oxygen and water in the key denitration step leading to RDX decomposition using (18)O(2) and H(2)(18)O labeling experiments. We also investigated degradation of MNX (hexahydro-1-nitroso-3,5-dinitro-1,3,5-triazine) with DN22 under similar conditions. DN22 degraded RDX and MNX giving NO(2)(-), NO(3)(-), NDAB (4-nitro-diazabutanal), NH(3), N(2)O, and HCHO with NO(2)(-)/NO(3)(-) molar ratio reaching 17 and ca. 2, respectively. In the presence of (18)O(2), DN22 degraded RDX and produced NO(2)(-) with m/z at 46 Da that subsequently oxidized to NO(3)(-) containing one (18)O atom, but in the presence of H(2)(18)O we detected NO(3)(-) without (18)O. A control containing NO(2)(-), DN22, and (18)O(2) gave NO(3)(-) with one (18)O, confirming biotic oxidation of NO(2)(-) to NO(3)(-). Treatment of MNX with DN22 and (18)O(2) produced NO(3)(-) with two mass ions, one (66 Da) incorporating two (18)O atoms and another (64 Da) incorporating only one (18)O atom and we attributed their formation to bio-oxidation of the initially formed NO and NO(2)(-), respectively. In the presence of H(2)(18)O we detected NO(2)(-) with two different masses, one representing NO(2)(-) (46 Da) and another representing NO(2)(-) (48 Da) with the inclusion of one (18)O atom suggesting auto-oxidation of NO to NO(2)(-). Results indicated that denitration of either RDX or MNX and denitrosation of MNX by DN22 did not involve direct participation of either oxygen or water, but both played major roles in subsequent secondary chemical and biochemical reactions of NO and NO(2)(-).     

复合二氧化氯发生器对饮用水消毒的适用性研究

对采用氯酸钠/盐酸法的复合二氧化氯发生器进行了测评和调查,并对其消毒液的成分及消毒后的副产物进行了定量分析.结果表明,复合二氧化氯发生器在实际运行中的转化率仅为30%左右,而在试验模拟条件下的最高转化率也仅为41%左右;在其产生的消毒液中,Cl:量约占Cl2:和ClO2总量的30%～48%;由于消毒液中存在大量氯气和残留的氯酸盐,生成的消毒副产物已经给饮用水安全带来了新的威胁.     

Exploring the Biocatalytic Scope of Alditol Oxidase from Streptomyces coelicolor

The substrate scope of the flavoprotein alditol oxidase (AldO) from Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2), recombinantly produced in Escherichia coli, was explored. While it has been established that AldO efficiently oxidizes alditols to D ‐aldoses, this study revealed that the enzyme is also active with a broad range of aliphatic and aromatic alcohols. Alcohols containing hydroxy groups at the C‐1 and C‐2 positions like 1,2,4‐butanetriol (K_m=170 mM, k_cat=4.4 s⁻¹), 1,2‐pentanediol (K_m=52 mM, k_cat=0.85 s⁻¹) and 1,2‐hexanediol (K_m=97 mM, k_cat=2.0 s⁻¹) were readily accepted by AldO. Furthermore, the enzyme was highly enantioselective for the oxidation of 1,2‐diols [e.g., for 1‐phenyl‐1,2‐ethanediol the (R)‐enantiomer was preferred with an E‐value of 74]. For several diols the oxidation products were determined by GC‐MS and NMR. Interestingly, for all tested 1,2‐diols the products were found to be the α‐hydroxy acids instead of the expected α‐hydroxy aldehydes. Incubation of (R)‐1‐phenyl‐1,2‐ethanediol with ¹⁸O‐labelled water (H₂¹⁸O) revealed that a second enzymatic oxidation step occurs via the hydrate product intermediate. The relaxed substrate specificity, excellent enantioselectivity, and independence of coenzymes make AldO an attractive enzyme for the preparation of optically pure 1,2‐diols and α‐hydroxy acids.