Consumption of solutions containing sodium chloride is enhanced in female oxytocin-deficient mice.

Intact and ovariectomized oxytocin (OT)-deficient (OT-/-) and wild-type (OT+/+) mice were tested for consumption of 0.5 M NaCl solution or tap water in a 2-bottle choice test. During 3 days of acclimation, voluntary ingestion of NaCl was equal between genotypes. After overnight fluid deprivation, intact OT-/- mice ingested 2 times more NaCl solution than OT+/+ mice in the 6th hr, but not the 1 st hr, after reintroduction of fluid. Ovariectomized mice consumed less than intact mice after overnight fluid deprivation. When a 0.2 M NaCl solution was administered for 6 days in ovariectomized mice, OT-/- mice voluntarily consumed greater amounts than OT+/+ mice. After overnight fluid deprivation, consumption by OT-/- mice was 3 times that of OT+/+ mice at 1 hr and 2-fold greater after 6 hr. Enhanced intake of NaCl-containing solutions in female OT-/- mice suggests that central OT may be an important inhibitor of sodium consumption. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Risk Factors for Course of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Among Vietnam Veterans: A 14-Year Follow-Up of American Legionnaires.

Risk factors affecting the course of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are poorly understood. As part of a larger study on characterizing exposure to herbicides in Vietnam, the authors investigated this issue in a random sample of 1,377 American Legionnaires who had served in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War and were followed over a 14-year period. High combat exposure, perceived negative community attitudes at homecoming, minority race, depression symptoms at Time 1, and more anger at Time 1 predicted a more chronic course. Community involvement at Time 1 was protective and associated with decreased risk at Time 2. Discomfort in disclosing Vietnam experiences was associated with an increased risk for developing PTSD but did not predict its course. Combat exposure predicted PTSD course more strongly than any other risk factor. Findings suggest recovery from PTSD is significantly influenced by perceived social support. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Infrastructure IP for configuration and test of boards and systems

Embedding infrastructure IP to optimize chip-level manufacturing test and debugging has recently become common practice. However, adopting the same approach for boards and systems requires a different family of infrastructure IP. This article introduces such a family and discusses how it can optimize manufacturing test and debugging, as well as support configurability, especially in today's reconfigurable products.     

Effects of ternary additions on the thermoelastic martensitic transformation of NiAl

Nickel-rich β-NiAl alloys, which are potential materials for high-temperature shape-memory alloys, show a thermoelastic martensitic transformation, which produces their shape memory effect. However, the transformation to Ni₅Al₃ phase during heating of NiAl martensite can interrupt the reversible martensitic transformation; consequently, the shape memory effect in NiAl martensite might not appear after heating. The phase transformation process in binary Ni-(34 to 37)Al martensite was investigated by differential thermal analysis (DTA) method, and we found that the condition of reversible martensitic transformation was not the β → Ni₅Al₃ transformation, but rather the M → Ni₅Al₃ transformation occurring at 250 °C to 300 °C. Therefore, the transformation temperature of M → Ni₅Al₃ determined the highest operating temperature for the shape memory effect. For verifying the critical temperature, the phase transformation process was investigated for eight ternary Ni-33Al-X alloys (X=Cu, Co, Fe, Mn, Cr, Ti, Si, and Nb). Only Ti, Si, and Nb additions were found to be effective in dropping the M _s temperature, and they facilitated the shape memory effect in Ni-33Al-X alloys. In particular, the addition of Si and Nb raised the transformation temperature of M → Ni₅Al₃, a potentially beneficial effect for shape memory at higher temperatures. This article is based on a presentation made in the symposium entitled “Fundamentals of Structural Intermetallics,” presented at the 2002 TMS Annual Meeting, February 21–27, 2002, in Seattle, Washington, under the auspices of the ASM and TMS Joint Committee on Mechanical Behavior of Materials.     

二甲基甲酰胺溶剂回收装置焦油塔减压改造方案

实验研究了纯二甲基甲酰胺(DMF)水溶液和焦油塔进料在不同减压压力条件下的水解变化规律,确定了焦油塔减压操作的适宜操作压力和减压操作方案。     

Experimental and analytical studies of innovative prestressed concrete box-girder bridges

This paper presents experimental and analytical results of four scaled prestressed concrete box-girder bridges with corrugated steel webs. The location of prestressing strands at both ends of the specimens and the thickness of end diaphragms are the two major parameters. Based on the experimental results of all four specimens, their seismic behavior is critically examined, including hysteretic loops, ductility factor, dissipated energy, and failure mode, etc. It was found that both the thickness of end diaphragms and the location of prestressing strands at both ends of the specimens are insignificant when the specimens failed at the mid-span due to concrete crushing, and the proposed analytical model can be used to predict the load-displacement relationship of such bridges.     

关于引入劳动力市场价位的思考

引入劳动力市场价位是企业薪酬制度改革的必然趋势。系统研究和分析了劳动力市场价位的基本特征;提出企业在引入劳动力市场价位过程中应该遵循的基本原则。     

Convergence of simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation for nondifferentiable optimization

We consider simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation for function minimization. The standard assumption for convergence is that the function be three times differentiable, although weaker assumptions have been used for special cases. However, all work that we are aware of at least requires differentiability. We relax the differentiability requirement and prove convergence using convex analysis.     

广泛应用机器人技术是提高连铸安全性的重要步骤

1前言及历史背景 为避免钢水造成燃烧或破碎引起对人体的可能伤害,必须对连铸平台的平面布置进行分析.     

Electronic Transport in Ultrathin Gold Films on Si(111)

The morphology and electronic transport of ultrathin Au films with thicknesses d = 1 ? 5 monolayers (ML) deposited on Si(111)7 × 7 surfaces is investigated by in situ scanning tunneling microscopy and electrical resistance measurements for temperatures T = 2 ? 300 K. With decreasing film thickness, i.e. decreasing sheet conductance G_s, a transition from a weakly conducting regime described by a logarithmic temperature dependence to an insulating regime occurs. In the insulating regime, the temperature dependence is described by G_s ∝ exp[?(T ₀ /T) ⁿ] with an exponent n which gradually changes from 0.69 to 1 with decreasing film thickness. In contrast, for the Si(111)6 × 6-Au reconstruction obtained after annealing, an exponent n = 1/2 is found suggesting the formation of a soft Coulomb gap due to electron-electron interaction. PACS numbers: 68.37.-d, 68.55.-a, 73.50.-h, 73.25.+i, 81.15.-z