The spectre of inbreeding in the early investigation of heredity

The limbic system is the border zone where psychiatry meets neurology. The authors provide a model of limbic function that combines phylogenetic, anatomic, functional, and clinical data to interpret diseases relevant to neuropsychiatry. They provide evidence supporting two major divisions in the limbic system: a paleocortical division with the amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex at its center, and an archicortical division with the hippocampus and cingulate cortex at its center. The implicit integration of affect, drives, and object associations is the function of the paleocortical limbic division; explicit sensory processing, encoding, and attentional control is the function of the archicortical limbic division. The two work in concert to integrate thought, feeling, and action. Understanding their development and organization informs us about how best to care for our patients.     

Electrical and spectroscopic characterisation of nanocrystalline V/Ce oxides

Mixed vanadium oxide/CeO₂ films and powders prepared via inorganic sol-gel route were characterized using impedance spectroscopy, grazing-incidence small angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS) and Infrared and Raman spectroscopies. Variation of film resistivity with composition is related to variation of porosity. Grain sizes obtained by GISAXS are compared with the values previously obtained by AFM and XRD. The structure of V/Ce mixed oxides is studied using Infrared and Raman spectroscopies and the results, especially characterization of amorphous phase, are compared with the previously published results obtained using X-ray spectroscopy.     

Corporate social responsibility and the tobacco industry: hope or hype?

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) emerged from a realisation among transnational corporations of the need to account for and redress their adverse impact on society: specifically, on human rights, labour practices, and the environment. Two transnational tobacco companies have recently adopted CSR: Philip Morris, and British American Tobacco. This report explains the origins and theory behind CSR; examines internal company documents from Philip Morris showing the company's deliberations on the matter, and the company's perspective on its own behaviour; and reflects on whether marketing tobacco is antithetical to social responsibility.     

The Philip Morris External Research Program: results from the first round of projects

Background

Philip Morris (PM) launched the Philip Morris External Research Program (PMERP) in 2000, two years after the company agreed to the dissolution of two industry‐wide, external research programmes: the Council for Tobacco Research (CTR) and the Center for Indoor Air Research (CIAR). Our previous analysis of PMERP''s Request for Applications noted that PMERP''s structure, while ostensibly concerned with new product development, was remarkably similar to that of CIAR. We also found the majority of designated peer‐reviewers had previous ties to the tobacco industry and the research solicitation seemed to invite mitigating evidence concerning cigarettes and constituent risks. We concluded that a prime reason for PMERP''s existence was to garner scientific credibility for PM.

Objective

To examine the grants awarded in the first round of PMERP and subsequent peer‐reviewed publications.

Methods

Searches of industry documents available on the internet using PMERP and its variations as initial keywords; searches on Medline for publications from PMERP grantees.

Results

Of 153 applications, 61 proposals were funded, 36 of which generated 78 scientific publications. Of these, 65% deal specifically with the tobacco plant or constituents. Over half the researchers listed as PMERP participants had previously received or applied for tobacco funding. One internal document indicated PMERP''s objectives included gaining “credibility” and “goodwill”, and finding “young scientists”. In addition, PM has launched its own and more extensive internal product design research programme.

Conclusion

PMERP appears to exist less as a conduit for critical scientific inquiry than to fit into a corporate strategy intended to burnish PM''s public image.     

Structural studies of trimethoxysilane containing R'R"Im+I- ionic liquid and its nanocomposite with tetramethoxysilane (TMOS)

A dialkylsubstituted imidazolium iodide ionic liquid (1-methyl-3-[3-(trimethoxy-lambda4-silyl)propyl]imida-zolium iodide, MTMSPIm+I-) was prepared with the intention of using it as a quasi-solid-state electrolyte for dye-sensitized photoelectrochemical (DSPEC) cells of Gr?tzel design, while the analogous electrolyte in a gel state was made by the addition of tetramethoxysilane (TMOS) in the molar ratio MTMSPIm+I-:TMOS = 1:1. The structure of the MTMSPIm+I- in its non-hydrolyzed and hydrolyzed states and in its fully condensed form, obtained after ageing the sols for various times (from a few hours to a few weeks) and heating them at 200 degrees C (fully condensed form), was studied employing time-dependent infrared attenuated total reflection (ATR) and 29Si NMR spectroscopic measurements. The structure of the condensed species was correlated with the viscosity and the specific conductivity measurements of MTMSPIm+I- sols and TMOS/MTMSPIm+I- gels during their ageing. The final product of the condensation of MTMSPIm+I- sols was described as a positively-charged ladder-like polysilsesquioxane with Tn end groups exhibiting a single T3 signal in 29Si NMR spectra and characteristic doublet bands at 1138 and 1049 cm(-1) in IR. This structure was retained to a large extent in TMOS/MTMSPIm+I- gels, confirming their nanocomposite structure. The results of the ATR infrared time-dependent spectroscopic studies showed that in the course of condensation of sols, the refractive index of the modes attributed to the polysilsesquioxane species exhibited strong dispersion, which led to shifts in the vibrational band positions in the experimental ATR spectra. This effect accompanies the sol-to-gel transformations and has not yet been considered as a possible error in analysis of the ATR spectra of sols and gels. The calculation procedure for obtaining the corresponding transmission spectra is briefly outlined and the results applied in this work.     

A study of layered green ferrous powder compacts

In order to improve the strength of green powder metallurgy compacts several different types of layered rectangular compacts were studied. A conventional three point bending test was used to obtain green strengths. Two layer-two component compacts usually had strengths greater than one or both of the component strengths. Particularly good results were found when the material on the tension side had a greater green strength than the other. Three layer-two component compacts, with the two equally thick outside layers composed of one component, could also be made with strengths markedly greater than those of each component. For optimum results the middle layer material should have a greater elastic modulus than the other component. Prepressing of a portion of the three layer-two component or simple one component compacts, at a low pressure of 5 tsi, resulted in substantial increases in strength. The results are explained in terms of stress distributions based on conventional flexure theory analysis and the effects of internal interfaces on crack propagation and nucleation. An excellent correlation between rebound hardness and apparent elastic modulus was also found. JAMES R. SPENCER, formerly Graduate Student University of Wisconsin.     

Absorption and scattering of light by pigment particles in solar-absorbing paints

The optical properties of black-pigmented solar absorbing paint were analyzed phenomenologically by use of the Kubelka-Munk theory, including correction for reflection on front and rear surfaces. The effective absorption and scattering coefficients and the efficiency curves for absorption and scattering were calculated for coatings with different pigment-to-volume concentration ratios. The dependence of absorption and scattering efficiency on the pigment-to-volume concentration ratio was analyzed by reference to theoretical data in the literature. It was concluded that, during drying and curing of coatings, spherical primary pigment particles most likely collect in elongated groups oriented perpendicularly to the coating surface. Formation of such groups helps in understanding the independent measurements of solar absorptance.