The direct electrorefining of copper matte

Direct electrorefining of copper matte would be a desirable alternative to copper converting and its associated troublesome sulfur dioxide emissions. After more than 100 years of study, however, no commercial process has been developed, even though an analogous process for the direct electrorefining of nickel matte anodes has been operating successfully for several decades. The unique difficulties associated with copper matte electrorefining are related to the properties of the matte’s decomposition products.     

Preparation of Cordierite below 1000°C via Bismuth Oxide Flux

Bismuth oxide has been found to be a useful flux for the preparation of dense body cordierite (Mg₂Al₄Si₅O₁₈). The addition of as little as 2 at.% of bismuth ion to the appropriate stoichiometric mix of commercially available oxide starting materials gives fully dense cordierite after firing for 12 h at 1000°C. The lower-temperature limit for this reaction is 960°C, with essentially no reaction occurring below this temperature. There is also a temperature-dependent induction period prior to cordierite formation. The microstructure of the sintered body has the residual bismuth oxide flux distributed in discontinuous domains at the grain boundaries and at the triple points. The cordierite body has a dielectric constant of 5.0, unperturbed by the presence of the bismuth oxide.     

Short-run statistical process control: Q-chart enhancements and alternative methods

In processes where the length of the production run is short, data to estimate the process parameters and control limits may not be available prior to the start of production, and because of the short run time, traditional methods for establishing control charts cannot be easily applied. Recently, Q charts have been proposed to address this problem. We study the average run length (ARL) of Q charts for a normally distributed variable assuming that a sustained shift occurs in the quality characteristic. It is shown that in some cases Q charts do not exhibit adequate ARL performance. Modifications that enhance the ARL properties of Q charts are presented. Some alternatives to Q charts are also discussed. For the case of a known process target two alternative methods are presented: an exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) method and an adaptive Kalman filtering method. It is shown that both methods have better ARL performance than Q charts for that case. For the case of both process parameters unknown, an adaptive Kalman filtering method used with a tracking signal provides an ARL performance that improves as better estimates of the process mean and variance are given. A practical example illustrates the tracking signal method for the case when the process parameters are unknown.     

Clinical judgmental biases: The moderating roles of counselor cognitive complexity and counselor client preferences.

Found that counselor individual differences in cognitive complexity (CC), but not preferences for client problems, moderate the cognitive processes that lead to bias in clinical judgment. A particularly robust and unambiguous clinical bias, known as diagnostic overshadowing (S. Reiss et al; see record 1982-25973-001), was selected for study. Consistent with behavior decision (R. Nisbett and L. Ross, 1980) and complexity theories (J. Bieri et al, 1966), counseling psychologists with lower CC were more likely to form biased clinical judgments than were counseling psychologists with higher CC (N?=?119). Implications of the significant and nonsignificant results for research in clinical judgment and for counselor education and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Idiosyncratic variation in chemical defenses among individual generalist grasshoppers

The defensive secretion of the lubber grasshopper,Romalea microptera, shows extreme chemical variation among individual adults of the same sex within a single wild population. Certain phenolic compounds were absent in some individuals and present in others. Concentrations of compounds, when present, varied over two to three orders of magnitude. Chemical variation attributable to individuals accounted for 60–88% of the total quantitative variation and was evenly contributed by all individuals in both sexes. Cluster and regression analyses showed no discernible predictable patterns in the defensive secretion variation. The specificity of chemical cues used by predators may explain why these defenses are so idiosyncratic.     

Sources of variability in data from a positive selection lacZ transgenic mouse mutation assay: an interlaboratory study

Experimental features of a positive selection transgenic mouse mutation assay based on a lambda lacZ transgene are considered in detail, with emphasis on results using germ cells as the target tissue. Sources of variability in the experimental protocol that can affect the statistical nature of the observations are examined, with the goal of identifying sources of excess variation in the observed mutant frequencies. The sources include plate-to-plate (within packages), package-to-package (within animals), and animal-to-animal variability. Data from five laboratories are evaluated in detail. Results suggest only scattered patterns of excess variability below the animal-to-animal level, but, generally, significant excess variability at the animal-to-animal level. Using source of variability analyses to guide the choice of statistical methods, control-vs-treatment comparisons are performed for assessing the male germ cell mutagenicity of ethylnitrosourea (ENU), isopropyl methanesulfonate (iPMS), and methyl methanesulfonate (MMS). Results on male germ cell mutagenesis of ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) and methylnitrosourea (MNU) are also reported.     

Ultra-shallow raised p+−n junctions formed by diffusion from selectively depositedIn-situ doped Si0.7Ge0.3

In this paper, a novel raised p⁺−n junction formation technique is presented. The technique makes use ofin- situ doped, selectively deposited Si_0.7Ge_0.3 as a solid diffusion source. In this study, the films were deposited in a tungsten halogen lamp heated cold-walled rapid thermal processor using SiCl₂H₂, GeH₄, and B₂H₆. The microstructure of the Si_0.7Ge_0.3 layer resembles that of a heavily defected epitaxial layer with a high density of misfit dislocations, micro-twins, and stacking faults. Conventional furnace annealing or rapid thermal annealing were used to drive the boron from thein- situ doped Si_0.7Ge_0.3 source into silicon to form ultra-shallow p⁺−n junctions. Segregation at the Si_0.7Ge_0.3/Si interface was observed resulting in an approximately 3:1 boron concentration discontinuity at the interface. Junction profiles as shallow as a few hundred angstroms were formed at a background concentration of 10¹⁷ cm⁻³.     

Vocal mimicry of computer-generated sounds and vocal labeling of objects by a bottlenosed dolphin, Tursiops truncatus..

A female bottlenosed dolphin was trained to mimic computer-generated "model" sounds, using a whistle mode of vocalization. Prior to training, the whistle sounds of the S were limited to a few stereotyped forms. After training, high-fidelity imitations were obtained of model sounds having a variety of frequency characteristics. New models, could be mimicked immediately, often with good fidelity, including mimicry of amplitude variation that had not been explicitly reinforced during training. Subsets of familiar models were mimicked with high reliability in repeated tests. In additional training, control of the mimic response was transferred from the acoustic model to objects (e.g., a ball or hoop) shown to the S so that, in effect, the S gave unique vocal labels to those objects. In a test of accuracy and reliability of labeling, correct vocal labels were given on 91% of 167 trials comprised of 5 objects presented in random order. S's ability for vocal mimicry compared favorably with that of the more versatile mimic birds, and it contrasted sharply with the apparent lack of vocal mimicry ability in terrestrial mammals other than humans. The ability to label objects vocally was similar to abilities shown for some birds and similar, in principle, to abilities of great apes trained in visual languages to label objects through gestures or other visual symbols. (85 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)