Measuring offence-specific forgiveness in marriage: The Marital Offence-Specific Forgiveness Scale (MOFS).

Three studies involving 328 married couples were conducted to validate the Marital Offence-Specific Forgiveness Scale, a new measure assessing offence-specific forgiveness for marital transgressions. The studies examined the dimensionality; internal consistency; and discriminant, concurrent, and predictive validity of the new measure. The final scale comprised 2 distinct correlated dimensions, 1 positive (Benevolence) and 1 negative (Resentment–Avoidance), both of which had adequate internal consistency. The 2 dimensions discriminated marital forgiveness from affective empathy, rumination, attributions, and marital quality. Convergent validity of the new scale was indicated by significant relationships between its underlying dimensions and a host of predicted sociocognitive, relationship, trait, and well-being correlates of forgiveness. Providing evidence for predictive validity, forgiveness dimensions accounted for variability in relationship variables over a 6-month period. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Investigation of carbon in megabar regime

In this paper experimental measures of the reflectivity change in carbon compressed to megabar pressures are presented. The experiments were performed at ILE, Osaka University. The GEKKO-XII laser facility was used to produce shock waves into “two-layer-two-materials” targets made of porous carbon deposited on a transparent substrate. Target design allowed the exploration of the phase diagram by means of samples with different carbon initial density and exploiting the reflection of the shock wave at the interface between carbon and the denser substrate to increase pressure. At the same time, carbon reflectivity could be probed with a secondary laser pulse through the transparent substrate. Also, shock dynamics has been studied thoroughly with numerical simulations performed with the hydrodynamical-radiative code Multi. An increase in carbon reflectivity was evidenced at 2.5 Mbar and 14,000 K.     

Measurement of photonic mode dispersion and linewidths in silicon-on-insulator photonic crystal slabs

The dispersion of photonic modes in one-dimensional (1-D) and two-dimensional (2-D) patterned silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguides, also containing line defects, is fully investigated both above and below the light line. Quasi-guided (radiative), as well as truly guided modes are probed by means of angle- and polarization-resolved microreflectance and attenuated total reflectance measurements. For the 1-D case, the sharp resonances observed in reflectance spectra are analyzed in terms of the Airy-Fano model, and the measured linewidths are shown to be very close to theoretical predictions. In the 2-D lattices containing W1 line defects the presence of a supercell repetition leads to the simultaneous excitation of defect and bulk modes which are folded in a reduced Brillouin zone. The measured dispersion is in very good agreement with full three-dimensional calculations based on expansion on the waveguide modes, indicating that a deep understanding of the propagation properties of patterned SOI waveguides is achieved.     

Cured products from different animal species

An assessment was made of the proximate composition, pH and a_W of raw beef, horsemeat and the meat of wild boar, deer and goat. The same assessment, together with one of fatty acids, cholesterol and free amino acids, was made of the same meats as cured products. The raw meat of the different animal species was found to have a reduced lipid, but high protein content. The cured meat of the horse and wild boar had low saturated fatty acid levels; the wild boar, goatmeat and beef were quantitatively similar with regard to monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) while in the horsemeat the polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) were more raised, at an intermediate level in deer and extremely reduced in the beef final product. The cholesterol content in the cured product was markedly reduced in the horsemeat. The free amino acids content in the cured deer, wild boar and goat meat was more elevated, than in beef and horse cured meat.     

Spectroscopic properties of Sm-containing yttrium-aluminoborate glasses and analogous huntite-like polycrystals

Sm_xY_1–xAl₃(BO₃)₄ polycrystals with huntite structure and glasses of system (mol %) 12.5 (Sm_xY_1–x)₂O₃–37.5Al₂O₃–50B₂O₃ with identical composition have been synthesized by solid state reaction and by melting process, respectively in order to compare light-emission and nonradiative energy transfer mechanisms in the two systems. The data have been analyzed to determine the concentration-dependent quantum yield of the Sm³⁺ luminescence as well as multipolarity and macro- and microparameters of the Sm–Sm interaction. The results show that the structure of the huntite cation lattice is preserved by passing from polycrystals to glasses, with an increase in the Sm–Sm minimum distance from 0.59 to 0.67 nm. At activator concentration ≤1 × 10²⁰ cm⁻³, the luminescence quantum yield in glass is higher than in polycrystals. The result turns out to be related to the partial substitution in glass by BO₄ groups of the trigonal BO₃ groups, which are responsible in crystalline Sm_xY_1–xAl₃(BO₃)₄ for efficient intracenter non-radiative energy exchange from the metastable excited ⁴G_5/2 state to phonon excitations.     

Growth of SnO(2) nanocrystals controlled by erbium doping in silica

We investigate the effects of erbium doping on SnO(2) nanoclustering in Sn-doped silica. Vibrational spectroscopy data from Raman and infrared absorption measurements show nanostructuring effects on the SnO(2) nanophase. Ultraviolet absorption spectra evidence a gap shift ascribable to size-dependent quantum confinement, also suggesting a role of erbium doping in determining cluster sizes and the amount of localized states on the nanophase boundary. Transmission electron microscopy confirms and details the spectroscopic data. As a result of these measurements, we find that the nanocrystal size distribution becomes narrower, increasing the erbium concentration, while the density of localized states at the nanocrystal surface decreases. The distribution of erbium ions among the possible environments is then examined through simultaneous spectroscopy of luminescence excited by nanocrystal-to-erbium energy transfer and the absorption of nanocrystal luminescence by erbium ions. This analysis shows that erbium behaves as an extrinsic nucleation centre of the SnO(2) nanophase at low doping levels, whereas at high concentrations it modifies the matrix, hindering the growth of SnO(2) crystals and passivating the interface.     

Commutability of control materials in glycohemoglobin determinations

The intermethod variabilities of control materials and patient blood samples for the measurement of glycohemoglobin were compared. Sets of 50 blood samples and 15 control materials were analyzed by HPLC and affinity and immunochemical methods. For each pair of methods, the distances of the materials from the regression line of patient blood results (expressed as normalized residuals) were calculated. Only two of 15 controls had normalized residuals exceeding 3 standard deviations from the regression line. Total hemoglobin (Hb) content, Hb derivatives, and cellulose acetate electrophoresis demonstrated that only a minority of controls could be considered similar to patients' blood samples. We selected Menarini's and our home-prepared controls to simulate calibration of the different techniques by these materials. Intermethod calibration succeeded mostly in harmonizing results obtained by HPLC methods. On the contrary, calibration of the immunochemical techniques (Boehringer and Roche) did not improve intermethod agreement to a clinically useful level.