An analysis of young people’s use of and attitudes toward cell phones

Cell phones are a pervasive new communication technology, especially among college students. This paper examines college students’ cell phone usage from a behavioral and psychological perspective. Utilizing both qualitative (focus groups) and quantitative (survey) approaches, the study suggests these individuals use the devices for a variety of purposes: to help them feel safe, for financial benefits, to manage time efficiently, to keep in touch with friends and family members, et al. The degree to which the individuals are dependent on the cell phones and what they view as the negatives of their utilization are also examined. The findings suggest people have various feelings and attitudes toward cell phone usage. This study serves as a foundation on which future studies will be built.     

"I know, you know": Epistemic egocentrism in children and adults.

This article reviews the evidence and theory pertaining to a form of perspective-taking failure--a difficulty in setting aside the privileged information that one knows to be unavailable to another party. The authors argue that this bias (epistemic egocentrism, or EE) is a general feature of human cognition and has been tapped by 2 independent and largely uncommunicating research traditions: the theory-of-mind tradition in developmental psychology and, with more sensitive probes, the "heuristics and biases" tradition in the psychology of human judgment. This article sets the stage for facilitating communication between these traditions as well as for the recognition of EE's breadth and potential interdisciplinary significance. The authors propose a life-span account and a tentative taxonomy of EE; and they highlight the interdisciplinary significance of EE by discussing its implications for normative ethics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of spray nozzle design on liquid-solid contact in fluidized beds

In industrial fluid cokers the feedstock, consisting of heavy bituminous hydrocarbons, is atomized with steam and injected into a hot fluidized bed of coke. Good and uniform contact of the liquid droplets with the solid particles is required to provide heat for the cracking reactions while minimizing mass transfer effects. Experiments in a pilot plant coker have suggested that the initial particle/liquid mixing, in the spray jet, is rather poor. Experiments in a X-ray scanner showed that liquid droplets and entrained particles accumulate just below the tip of the jet plume to form agglomerates.An experimental technique was used to quantitatively determine the quality of mixing with a variety of nozzle configurations including several novel designs. By improving spray stability, redistributing liquid droplets to the solids-rich region of the jet and increasing the surface area of the gas-liquid jet-fluidized bed interface, liquid/solid contact is improved.     

Surface adsorption of comb polymers by Monte Carlo simulations

This paper reports off-lattice Monte Carlo simulations of highly-branched comb homopolymers weakly adsorbed on a flat, featureless surface showing only covolume and dispersion interactions with the adsorbate. A minimal coarse-grained model, described by hard spheres connected by harmonic springs, was employed. The interaction energy of the adsorbed combs and linear chains is first discussed as a function of the molecular mass and of the number of beads in contact with the surface. The molecular size is then investigated as a function of backbone length and branching density at a fixed arm size. The apparent swelling exponents of the adsorbed combs are larger than those of the corresponding linear chains, and much larger than that of the free molecules. This result indicates a surface-induced stiffening of the comb backbone, further studied through the persistence length l_pers. It is found that l_pers increases upon adsorption over the free-molecule value, more so the larger is the branching density. Finally, the thickness of the adsorbed layer, the surface-induced molecular anisotropy and the molecular aspect ratio are investigated as a function of branching density and molecular mass.     

NIST 0:45 reflectometer

The NIST 0:45 reflectometer measures the spectral reflectance factor at an influx angle of 0° and an efflux angle of 45° of colored, nonfluorescent specimens at room temperature, with widths ranging from 3 to 10 cm and heights from 3 to 20 cm and with an uncertainty of less than 0.5 in color difference units. Published in 2008 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Col Res Appl, 33, 94–99, 2008     

Uncertainty analysis for the NIST 0:45 Reflectometer

Sets of color tiles are available from the National Institute of Standards and Technology calibrated using the NIST 0:45 Reflectometer. The uncertainties associated with the measured values for the color tiles are an indispensable component of the calibration report that accompanies these tiles. A systematic, analytical approach developed previously was applied to the particular case of the reference instrument and color tile set, taking into account the operation and characteristics of the instrument and the spectral properties of the set. The primary sources of uncertainty were identified, and the resulting uncertainties in the color space values L*, a*, and b* were determined. In general, the uncertainties are lowest for those color tiles whose reflectance factors are nearly constant with wavelength. Published in 2008 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Col Res Appl, 33, 100–107, 2008     

Neutron Reflectometry Characterization of Interface Width between Sol-Gel Titanium Dioxide and Silicon Dioxide Thin Films

Neutron reflectometry (NR) was used to directly measure the interface width between a titanium dioxide and a silicon dioxide film deposited by sol-gel processing. In a bilayer heated to 450°C, NR measurements showed that the interface width is 0.8 nm. This width is the same as the roughness of a sol-gel silicon dioxide surface after the same heat treatment, suggesting no interdiffusion or mixing at the bilayer interface.     

Metabolism and biochemical effects of 3,3',4,4'-tetrachlorobiphenyl in pregnant and fetal rats

The metabolism and distribution of a single oral dose of 25 mumol 14C-labelled 3,3',4,4'-tetrachlorobiphenyl (14C-TCB) were investigated in pregnant female Wistar rats and their fetuses. TCB was administered on day 13 of gestation and the elimination was followed for 7 days. Non-pregnant rats were treated similarly for comparison. Fecal elimination of 14C-TCB derived radioactivity was significantly lower in pregnant rats than in non-pregnant rats. The major metabolite found in adult liver and plasma, placental tissue, whole fetuses and fetal plasma was 3,3',4',5-tetrachloro-4-biphenylol (4-OH-TCB). Tissue levels (liver, abdominal fat, skin, skeletal muscle, kidney and plasma) of 14C-TCB-derived radioactivity declined by 65-85% over a 7-day period following administration in the adult animals. However, 14C-TCB-derived radioactivity accumulated more than 100-fold in the fetuses over the same time period, and GC/MS analysis revealed that the fetal accumulation in radioactivity was due primarily to 4-OH-TCB, and not the parent compound. On day 20 of gestation, concentrations of 4-OH-TCB were 14 times greater in fetal plasma than maternal plasma. Treatment with 14C-TCB significantly reduced plasma thyroxine levels by at least 28% up to 7 days after administration in non-pregnant animals and up to 4 days after administration in pregnant rats (31% decrease). By 7 days after administration plasma thyroxine levels had returned to control levels in the TCB-treated pregnant rats. However, fetal plasma thyroxine levels were significantly decreased by 35% in fetuses from 14C-TCB-treated dams 7 days after TCB administration. Hepatic microsomal ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) activity was significantly induced in TCB-treated dams relative to controls at 4 and 7 days after administration, while no EROD activity was detected in hepatic microsomes from control or TCB treated fetal rats at day 20 of gestation. These data suggest that hydroxylated metabolites of polychlorinated biphenyls may play a role in the development toxicity of these compounds.