PROBABILISTIC MODELLING OF LIGNIN LIQUEFACTION

The results of the thermal and catalytic reactions of lignin model compounds are used in the a priori prediction of its liquefaction. Lignin was defined probabilistically as an ensemble of single ring aromatics with substituents on each of their six ring positions. Elements in a substituent vector x¹, for each ring position i, were matched into all possible combinations to describe lignin. Initial number fractions, or probabilities, for each vector element were ascertained through inspection of lignin structural data. The reaction of lignins altered the probabilities within each substituent vector, and reaction products were also calculated by matching all combinations of vector elements for each ring position. Model compound results provided the identities and rates of change of vector elements.

This simulation of lignin liquefaction predicted the yields of permanent gases, aqueous liquids, single- and two-ring phenolic products, and a carbonaceous residue. The impact of the distribution of oligomeric sizes on catalyst effectiveness was probed.     

Do You Know What I Know? A Shared Understandings Perspective on Text‐Based Communication

This article illustrates how the hermeneutic analysis of text illuminates how shared understandings affect our interpretations of lean communication in distributed work environments. It is proposed that in contrast to the pessimistic conclusions of media richness theory that lean communication channels cannot support complex or equivocal work tasks, miscommunications are not the result of technology, but rather occur due to a lack of shared understandings among the individuals communicating. An illustrative case study based on fieldwork in franchise organizations is presented to demonstrate the possibilities for how the hermeneutic analysis of coherence, invention, intention, and reference can be used to discover how workers create and recreate shared understandings through text.     

A novel fuzzy clustering algorithm for the analysis of axillary lymph node tissue sections

Recently Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic imaging has been used as a tool to detect the changes in cellular composition that may reflect the onset of a disease. This approach has been investigated as a mean of monitoring the change of the biochemical composition of cells and providing a diagnostic tool for various human cancers and other diseases. The discrimination between different types of tissue based upon spectroscopic data is often achieved using various multivariate clustering techniques. However, the number of clusters is a common unknown feature for the clustering methods, such as hierarchical cluster analysis, k-means and fuzzy c-means. In this study, we apply a FCM based clustering algorithm to obtain the best number of clusters as given by the minimum validity index value. This often results in an excessive number of clusters being created due to the complexity of this biochemical system. A novel method to automatically merge clusters was developed to try to address this problem. Three lymph node tissue sections were examined to evaluate our new method. These results showed that this approach can merge the clusters which have similar biochemistry. Consequently, the overall algorithm automatically identifies clusters that accurately match the main tissue types that are independently determined by the clinician.     

What's the use of being happy? Mood states, useful objects, and repetition priming effects.

Two experiments involving 99 undergraduate participants sought to examine the influence of mood states on encoding speed within lexical decision and pronunciation tasks. Mood states were measured naturalistically in Experiment 1 and manipulated in Experiment 2. Stimuli consisted of nouns representing useful (e.g., food) and nonuseful (e.g., lint) objects. Mood states had no implications for initial encoding speed. However, when the same words were presented a 2nd time (i.e., repeated), happy individuals displayed a tendency to encode useful words faster than nonuseful ones. Thus, mood states influenced repetition priming on the basis of stimulus valence. The authors propose that happiness sensitizes individuals to useful or rewarding objects, which in turn creates a stronger memory trace for such stimuli in the future. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Case Study of an Aerosol Explosion and a Method to Determine Explosion Temperatures

A failure analysis case study is presented for a two-piece aerosol containing tetrafluoroethane, commonly referred to as Refrigerant 134a. A gentleman was preparing to recharge the air conditioning system of an automobile when the bottom exploded off the aerosol container, propelling the body of the aerosol container like a rocket, which hit the man in the eye and blinded him in that eye. The aerosol was never connected to the air conditioner, therefore backpressure from the air conditioner (AC) compressor was ruled out as a cause for the explosion. The objective of the study was to determine why the aerosol exploded. Several recently developed test methods were used, including two types of heat-to-burst tests and a puncture chamber to measure the pressure-versus-temperature behavior of aerosols. More common test methods were also used, such as water bath pressure tests, hydro pressure burst tests, pneumatic pressure burst tests, hardness measurements, weight measurements, metallography, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and an accident scenario recreation. A semi-empirical correlation between the hardness and weights of the container bottoms was used to determine the explosion temperature and/or pressure. This semi-empirical correlation agrees in principle with an analysis of the explosion pressures using finite-element analysis (FEA). The root cause for the explosion was determined to be a lack of strength of the bottom of the two-piece aerosol coupled with heating the aerosol to temperatures significantly above room temperature.     

Isolation and Spectroscopic Characterization of Eu@C72

A new Eu-endohedral fullerene cage, namely, Eu@C₇₂, was synthesized, separated, and a single isomer, Eu@C₇₂-I, has been isolated by multi-step HPLC for the first time and characterized by LDI-TOF mass spectrometry, UV-Vis and EPR spectroscopy. Additionally, a second isomer, Eu@C₇₂-II, has been separated by HPLC and identified by LDI-TOF mass spectrometry.     

Normality and impairment following profound early institutional deprivation: A longitudinal follow-up into early adolescence.

Longitudinal analyses on normal versus impaired functioning across 7 domains were conducted in children who had experienced profound institutional deprivation up to the age of 42 months and were adopted from Romania into U.K. families. Comparisons were made with noninstitutionalized children adopted from Romania and with nondeprived within-U.K. adoptees placed before the age of 6 months. Specifically, the validity of the assessment, the degree of continuity and change in levels of functioning from 6 to 11 years, and the factors in the pre- and postadoption environment accounting for heterogeneity in outcome were examined. Pervasive impairment was significantly raised in children experiencing institutional deprivation for ≥6 months of life, with a minority within this group showing no impairment. There was no additional significant effect of duration of deprivation beyond the 6-month cutoff, and few other predictors explained outcome. The pattern of normality/impairment was mainly established by 6 years of age, with considerable continuity at the individual level between 6 and 11 years. The findings are discussed in terms of the possibility of a sensitive period for development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family-Responsive Interventions, Perceived Organizational and Supervisor Support, Work-Family Conflict, and Psychological Strain.

This study examined organizational family-responsive policies, perceptions of the organization as family supportive, and supervisor support as issues that may be salient to the experience of conflict between paid employment (work) and family roles. Data were collected from 355 managerial personnel in New Zealand. Although work-family conflict and psychological strain were strongly linked, the availability of organizational policies had no significant association with levels of conflict or strain, whereas policy usage was related only to work-to-family interference and not to family-to-work interference. On the other hand, perceptions of the organization as family supportive and supervisor support for work-family balance displayed significant relationships with key variables, highlighting the importance of these variables for interventions designed to ameliorate the negative impact of work-family conflict on managerial well-being. Implications for the effective implementation of family-responsive interventions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)