Rate of Wear of Pharmaceutical Tablets

Several methods are presented to quantitatively measure the wear of compressed tablets. The natural logarithm of the weight fraction, W/W_o, decreases linearly with increasing wear time. Thus, the wearability of a tablet may be described by a first-order rate constant or its half life. As the wear process continues there may be more than a single rate constant depending on the geometry and structural homogeneity of the tablet.     

Daily Mood and Stress Predict Pain, Health Care Use, and Work Activity in African American Adults With Sickle-Cell Disease.

This study examined the extent to which daily mood and stress were associated with pain, health care use, and work activity in 41 adults (mean age=36 years) with sickle-cell disease. Multilevel model analyses of daily diaries (M=91 days) indicated that increases in stress and negative mood were associated with increases in same-day pain, health care use, and work absences. Lagged models suggested bidirectional relationships, with evidence that pain may be the more powerful initiating variable in pain-mood and pain-stress cycles. Of importance, positive mood was associated with lower same-day and subsequent day pain, as well as fewer health care contacts, suggesting that positive mood may serve to offset negative consequences of pain and other illness symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developments in geothermal waste treatment biotechnology

Disposal of toxic solid waste in an environmentally and economically acceptable way may be in some cases a major impediment to large geothermal development. The major thrust of the R &D effort in this laboratory is to develop low-cost processes for the concentration and removal of toxic materials and metals from geothermal residues. In order to accomplish this, biochemical processes elaborated by certain microorganisms which live in extreme environments have served as models for a biotechnology. It has been shown that 80% or better removal of toxic metals can be achieved at fast rates (e.g., 25 hours or less) at acidic pH and temperatures of about 60°C. There are several process variables which have to be taken into consideration in the development of such biotechnology. These include reactor size and type, strain of microorganisms, biomass growth, temperature, loading concentrations of residual geothermal sludge, and chemical nature of metal salts present. Recent data generated by the research and development effort associated with the emerging biotechnology will be presented and discussed.     

THE NUMBER OF PEAKS IN A STATIONARY SAMPLE AND ORTHANT PROBABILITIES

Abstract. The essence of this paper is the exact evaluation of var S _n, where S _n is the number of peaks in a segment of n readings from a stationary Gaussian autoregressive moving-average (ARMA) process, and of the asymptotic normality of ( S _n– ES _n)/(var S _n)^1/2. The emphasis is on the AR(1) and MA(1) cases, motivated by Stigler (Estimating serial correlation by visual inspection of diagnostic plots. Am. Statistician 40 (1986), 111–16). The evaluation of var S _n is based on a discussion of closed-form calculation of orthant probabilities for a zero mean quadrivariate normal with correlation structure new to the literature. Related issues are the power of the peaks test against stationary alternatives and the good fit of the normal even for small n. validated by simulation.     

Information Systems Investment Strategies

Because IS managers are under increasing pressure from their organizations' executive management to show positive financial returns on information systems investments, they must carefully select systems projects that will produce financial rewards and enhance the department's productivity. The five-step ISIS 'information systems investment strategies' process is designed to help management identify its business goals and select those future projects that will produce the most financial and operational success.     

Expectation and performance in hypnotic phenomena.

Expectations concerning the occurrence of 7 phenomena through hypnotic suggestion were solicited from 12 female Ss, all of whom scored high on the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale. Attempts were then made to induce these phenomena in the Ss. The results indicate that performance and expectation were discordant about as often as they were in accord. There appeared to be an interaction between task and expectation-performance accord. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The ethics of language and the language of ethics.

Responds to the comments of M. P. Nichols (see record 1989-40699-001) on the work of the present authors (see record 1989-40685-001), asserting that therapists work toward understanding the correctness of the view explained by the client in a never-ending process that changes both therapist and client. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)