Calculation of pressure waves in substation buildings due to arcingfaults

The method presented to determine pressure stress of transient phenomena is able to eliminate some uncertainties in the design of substation buildings. Pressure stress from internal arcing includes static and dynamic phenomena. These phenomena can be distinguished with the help of the pulsation factor. The ray-tracing technique presented allows three-dimensional calculation of pressure stresses (including transient effects), thereby making improvements in the design of substation buildings possible. Two examples demonstrating the importance of pressure waves on the stress of rooms are presented     

Clinical validation of the Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory.

The clinical validity of the Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory (CPAI; F. M. Cheung, K. Leung, et al., 1996) was examined in 2 studies involving a group of 167 male prisoners in Hong Kong and a group of 339 psychiatric patients in China. Elevated scores on the clinical scales were obtained for the clinical samples. Logistic regression analyses confirmed that the CPAI scales were useful in differentiating between male prisoners and the Hong Kong male normative sample and between psychiatric patients and a random sample of normal adults in China. Multivariate analyses of variance results showed significant differences on the CPAI clinical scales and personality scales among subgroups of psychiatric patients with diagnoses of bipolar, schizophrenic, and neurotic disorders. The usefulness of an indigenous personality inventory is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nicotine as a conditioned stimulus: Impact of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder medications.

People diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at an increased risk to start smoking and have greater difficulty quitting. Nicotine, one of the principal addictive components of tobacco smoke, functioned as a conditioned stimulus (CS) for intermittent sucrose delivery in a Pavlovian drug discrimination task with rats. This study compared the ability of commonly prescribed ADHD medications (i.e., methylphenidate, atomoxetine, and bupropion) and additional dopamine reuptake inhibitors (i.e., cocaine and GBR 12909) to substitute for the CS effects of nicotine. Atomoxetine was also used to antagonize these CS effects. Rats acquired the discrimination as evidenced by increased dipper entries in nicotine (0.2 mg base/kg) sessions as compared with saline sessions. Nicotine generalization was dose dependent. Bupropion (10 and 20 mg/kg), methylphenidate (10 mg/kg), and cocaine (5 and 10 mg/kg) partially substituted for the 0.2 mg/kg nicotine CS. Atomoxetine did not substitute for the nicotine CS; however, atomoxetine (1 to 10 mg/kg) partially blocked nicotine's CS effects. These results suggest that atomoxetine, bupropion, and/or methylphenidate may be effective treatments for people diagnosed with ADHD and addicted to nicotine. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cultural transmission: Influence of contextual factors in asian indian immigrant parents' experiences.

Sixteen 1st-generation Asian Indian mothers and fathers were interviewed about the influence of immigration on retention of their own ethnic identity and their ability to promote a sense of ethnic identity in their 2nd-generation children. Data were analyzed with the consensual qualitative research methodology (C. E. Hill et al., 2005) and revealed ethnic identity retention to be influenced by engagement in cultural celebrations and activities, a need to hold onto tradition and upbringing, family ties, social support, and a rejection of perceived Western values. Ethnic identity retention was challenged by environmental obstacles and barriers within American society, loss of familial support, lack of cultural continuity, and an inability to have the "best of both worlds." Furthermore, participants identified specific values and strategies relevant to transmitting an ethnic identity to their children as well as specific challenges to this process, including limited familial and communal guidance and modeling, obstacles from Western culture, an inability to apply their own experience or upbringing, a lack of cultural knowledge, and the potential for intermarriage. Implications of the findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence of governance equilibrium on ERP project success

As the ERP adopter and ERP consultancy combine their efforts and resources to achieve mutually desirable goals, the problem of governance, which has been mainly identified as an intrafirm problem, is recognized to be an interfirm problem. To investigate the relationship between various governance mechanisms and their capacity to relieve project hazards, we propose a covariance model of ERP governance. The constructed model analyzes the complementary contributions of different governance mechanisms on ERP project success. Four governance mechanisms are studied, including explicit contracts, implicit contracts, reputation, and trust. This study holds that the virtue of one mechanism will grow into the gap of another, forming an equilibrium of governance structure. Then, the governance equilibrium plays a mediating role between ERP project hazards and ERP project success. Empirical analysis based on 122 ERP implementation projects shows a significantly positive relationship between governance equilibrium and ERP project success. Further, in support of transaction cost theory (TCT), the results indicate that governance equilibrium tends to be aligned with exchange hazards, specifically those associated with specialized investments and uncertainty. The empirical evidence suggests that governance equilibrium, when treated as a multidimensional construct, can provide a holistic representation of complex interfirm governance and allow researchers to match broad predictors with broad outcomes, leading to greater explanatory power of governance mechanisms on ERP project success. Implications, limitations, and future research directions of the study are discussed.     

The bed nucleus of the stria terminalis is critically involved in enhancing associative learning after stressful experience.

Exposure to an acute stressful event enhances trace eyeblink conditioning in male rats, even when rats begin training days after the stressor (Shors, 2001). The authors examined whether the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), an area involved in stress and anxiety, is critically involved in this effect and, if so, when. The authors found that excitotoxic lesions to the BNST prevented the enhanced conditioning after stressor exposure. In addition, temporary inactivation of the BNST during the stressor did not alter enhanced responding, whereas inactivation during training prevented the enhancement. These data indicate that stressful experience induces persistent changes in the BNST that are necessary for enhancing learning well after the stressful event has ceased. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Optimisation of extraction of phenolics and antioxidants from black currant leaves and buds and of stability during storage

Health benefits of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables are attributed in part to their contents of phenolics and other antioxidant compounds. In this research, the extraction of phenolics and antioxidant compounds from black currant was optimised for different plant organs. The extraction solvent affected yield: aqueous acetone was better than methanol and acetate or glycine buffer. In aqueous buffer, maximum yields of total phenolics and antioxidant activities were obtained at pH 3. Extraction from lyophilised materials yielded extracts with higher phenolic contents and antioxidant activities.     

Differential conditioning to a compound stimulus and its components in the terrestrial mollusc Limax maximus..

The neuronal mechanism of associative learning and memory storage operating in the central nervous system of the terrestrial mollusc Limax maximus has been modeled as a computer simulation called LIMAX (A. Gelperin et al [1985]). One test of the LIMAX model is to determine whether Limax can learn to avoid a compound stimulus composed of the mixture of two innately attractive odors without simultaneously learning an aversion to the individual odors comprising the mixture. We found that Limax can learn a strong aversion to odor A?+?B while odor A and odor B remain strongly attractive when presented individually. This result led us to reexamine the sensory coding scheme used in the LIMAX model to represent stimulus mixtures, and it suggests neurophysiological experiments to examine the actual chemosensory coding scheme used by Limax. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Detection of Borreliae in Archived Sera from Patients with Clinically Suspect Lyme Disease

The diagnoses of Lyme disease based on clinical manifestations, serological findings and detection of infectious agents often contradict each other. We tested 52 blind-coded serum samples, including 20 pre-treatment and 12 post-treatment sera from clinically suspect Lyme disease patients, for the presence of residual Lyme disease infectious agents, using nested PCR amplification of a signature segment of the borrelial 16S ribosomal RNA gene for detection and direct DNA sequencing of the PCR amplicon for molecular validation. These archived sera were split from the samples drawn for the 2-tier serology tests performed by a CDC-approved laboratory, and are used as reference materials for evaluating new diagnostic reagents. Of the 12 post-treatment serum samples, we found DNA evidence of a novel borrelia of uncertain significance in one, which was also positive for the 2-tier serology test. The rest of the post-treatment sera and all 20 control sera were PCR-negative. Of the 20 pre-treatment sera from clinically suspect early Lyme disease patients, we found Borrelia miyamotoi in one which was 2-tier serology-negative, and a Borrelia burgdorferi in two—one negative and one positive for 2-tier serology. We conclude that a sensitive and reliable DNA-based test is needed to support the diagnosis of Lyme disease and Lyme disease-like borreliosis.