Fish meal and egg taint

A ‘fishy’ or ‘crabby’ taint in brown eggs from commercial flocks was associated with the use of capelin meal as a protein supplement and was reproduced under controlled conditions. Analysis of eggs and samples of the meal established that trimethylamine (TMA) was responsible for the taint and that the meal may contain rich sources of TMA in the form of TMA oxide and choline. Only certain hens were affected and their ability to metabolise TMA was very low as indicated by the oxidation of an intravenous dose of ¹⁴C-TMA and the activity of hepatic TMA oxidase. Oxidation of the ¹⁴C-TMA was further depressed by feeding the meal or injecting non-radioactive TMA. Experiments with hens and chickens which had been bred for sensitivity to the inhibition of TMA oxidation by thionamides (and rapeseed meal) gave no indication that the meal supplied a potent inhibitor of this kind. It was concluded that the tainting is caused by overloading hens with TMA and that these hens have a genetic defect which impairs their synthesis of TMA oxidase and consequently their ability to metabolise TMA. The removal of this defect from commercial flocks by selective breeding would probably prevent tainting by both fish and rapeseed meals.     

Intercalation of graphite by silicon tetrafluoride and fluorine to yield a second-stage salt C24SiF5

Powdered graphite (either finely broken HOPG or Union Carbide SP1) interacts with 1:1 SiF₄/F₂ mixture (～50 atmospheres) at 40°, to yield a second-stage compound (a₀ = 2.46(1), c₀ = 11.29(1) Å) of composition C～₂₄SiF₅. This product interacts with excess PF₅ with quantitative displacement of SiF₄ to yield a first-stage fluorophosphate (a₀ = 2.46(1); $\text{c}{}_0\text{= 7.65(1)}\text{A}\text{?}\text{)}$ according to the equation: C₂₄SiF₅ + 2PF₅ → C₂₄PF₆. PF₅ + SiF₄. The first-stage fluorophosphate falls to a second-stage salt (a₀ = 2.46(1); $\text{c}{}_0\text{= 10.87}\text{A}\text{?}\text{)}$ under vacuum: $\text{C}{}_{24}\text{PF}{}_6\text{.}\text{PF}{}_5\text{20°}\text{→}\text{C}{}_{24}\text{PF}{}_6\text{+}\text{PF}{}_5$. This is identical to that prepared directly: $\text{24}\text{C}\text{+}\text{PF}{}_5\text{+}\text{1}\text{2}\text{F}{}_2\text{→}\text{C}{}_{24}\text{PF}{}_6$. Extensive reduction of C₂₄PF₆, at ≈20° : 2C₂₄PF₆ + PF₃ → 48C + 3PF₅ to graphite of crystallinity comparable to that of the starting graphite establishes that the initial C₂₄SiF₅ does not involve extensive fluorination of the graphite. The ease of displacement of SiF₄ by superior fluoroacids indicates that C₂₄SiF₅ can be a valuable precursor for other graphite salts. Ready formation of a first-stage fluoroborate, $\text{C}{}_7\text{BF}{}_4\text{, I}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>c</mtext>}}\text{= 7.70(1)}\text{A}\text{?}$ contrasts with the failure to prepare similarly a first-stage SiF₅^? salt.     

Marital therapy and spouse involvement in the treatment of depression, agoraphobia, and alcoholism.

Examines the literature on marital therapy and spouse involvement as treatments for major psychopathology. The focus is on three disorders that have attracted a sufficient number of empirical findings: depression, agoraphobia, and alcoholism. For each of these disorders, we first examine the relation between marital dynamics and the disorder and next discuss empirical efforts to evaluate the impact of marital therapy or spouse involvement on the disorder. In addition, we summarize trends and suggest methodological refinements for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fabrication of Architectured Biomaterials by Multilayer Co-Extrusion and Additive Manufacturing

Tissue engineering benefits from advances in 3D printing and multi-material assembly to attain certain functional benefits over existing man-made materials. Multilayered tissue engineering constructs might unlock a unique combination of properties, but their fabrication remains challenging. Herein, a facile process is reported to manufacture biomaterials with an engineered multilayer architecture, via a combination of co-extrusion and 3D printing. Polymer filaments containing 5, 17, or 129 alternating layers of poly(lactic acid)/thermoplastic polyurethane (PLA/TPU) are produced, and explored for their use in fused deposition modeling (FDM) to fabricate scaffolds for cardiomyocyte culture. The co-extruded filaments exhibit a layered architecture in their cross-section with a continuous interface, and the integrity and alignment of the layers are preserved after 3D printing. The 17 alternating layers PLA/TPU composites exhibit excellent mechanical properties. It is envisaged that the multilayered architecture of the fabricated scaffolds can be beneficial for aligning cardiomyocytes in culture. It is found that the 17 alternating layers PLA/TPU significantly improve cardiomyocyte morphology and functionality compared to single phase materials. It is believed that this biomaterials fabrication scheme, combining a top-down and bottom-up approach, offers tremendous flexibility in producing a broad class of novel-architectured materials with tunable structural design for tissue engineering applications and beyond.     

Fast time-resolved Fourier-transform spectroscopy for the study of transient chemical reactions

We describe the most recent implementation of the data acquisition system which we have developed for fast time-resolved (FTR) Fourier transform spectroscopy (FTS) and report spectra that were obtained by using this instrument. This FTRPTS data system operates in conjunction with any continuous-scan Michelson interferometer, giving it the capability to record many time-delayed spectra of a transient event, with a minimum time resolution of 1 μs. The sensitivity and the spectral resolution of the complete system are the same as those that would be obtained if the interferometer were used in conventional steady-state spectroscopy. To illustrate the performance of the FTRPTS system, we recorded emission spectra from the products of transient chemical reactions of H atoms with CF(3)Cl, CF(2)Cl(2), CFCL(3), and NO(2). These are laser-initiated reactions involving atoms with energies that correspond to a temperature of approximately 27,000 K and lifetimes of a few microseconds, but the FTRPTS system records the time evolution of their products with high signal-to-noise ratio.     

Improving the localization accuracy of targets by using their spatial–temporal relationships in wireless sensor networks

Due to the low cost and capabilities of sensors, wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are promising for military and civilian surveillance of people and vehicles. One important aspect of surveillance is target localization. A location can be estimated by collecting and analyzing sensing data on signal strength, time of arrival, time difference of arrival, or angle of arrival. However, this data is subject to measurement noise and is sensitive to environmental conditions, so its location estimates can be inaccurate. In this paper, we add a novel process to further improve the localization accuracy after the initial location estimates are obtained from some existing algorithm. Our idea is to exploit the consistency of the spatial–temporal relationships of the targets we track. Spatial relationships are the relative target locations in a group and temporal relationships are the locations of a target at different times. We first develop algorithms that improve location estimates using spatial and temporal relationships of targets separately, and then together. We prove mathematically that our methods improve the localization accuracy. Furthermore, we relax the condition that targets should strictly keep their relative positions in the group and also show that perfect time synchronization is not required. Simulations were also conducted to test the algorithms. They used initial target location estimates from existing signal-strength and time-of-arrival algorithms and implemented our own algorithms. The results confirmed improved localization accuracy, especially in the combined algorithms. Since our algorithms use the features of targets and not the underlying WSNs, they can be built on any localization algorithm whose results are not satisfactory.     

A thematic analysis of patient communication in Parkinson’s disease online support group discussion forums

Online support groups have become a popular source of information, advice and support for individuals living with a range of health conditions. However, research has not commonly focused on patients living with Parkinson’s disease and their use of online support groups. Thus, the aim of this study was to gain an insight into the positive and negative aspects of online communication through an analysis of messages exchanged within Parkinson’s disease discussion forums. Data was collected from four forums and analysed using data-driven thematic analysis. The results revealed that participation in the forums allowed patients to share experiences and knowledge, form friendships, as well as helping them cope with the challenges of living with Parkinson’s disease. Conversely, a lack of replies, the experience of Parkinson’s disease symptoms, a lack of personal information, fragility of online relationships, misunderstandings and disagreements, all appeared to compromise the online experience. Practical implications and future research recommendations are proposed.     

Age-related identification of emotions at different image sizes

OBJECTIVES: The goal of this study was to determine whether older adults are placed at a unique disadvantage in identifying emotions at small image sizes. BACKGROUND: Technologies relevant to older adults often display small images, though no studies have examined whether these systems are usable for this population. Given the importance of successful emotional processing, we draw on research showing age-related difficulties in processing negative emotions to examine older adults' performance on images with reduced sizes. METHODS: Sixty participants, 20 in each age group, were shown the names of emotions, followed by a facial expression, and were asked to indicate as rapidly as possible if they matched. RESULTS: For response time we found an interaction of age and window size, showing that older adults, unlike younger adults, are slower with small sizes than with large sizes. For accuracy, we found an interaction of age and emotion, indicating that older adults are less accurate in the perception of fearful, sad, and surprised stimuli. CONCLUSIONS: Only older adults are disadvantaged by smaller images. Also, interactions of age and emotion reflect older adults' difficulty processing negative emotions. APPLICATIONS: Our results have implications for the design of videoconferencing technology and mobile systems and extend previous research on aging and emotion.     

Remote virtual whiteboard assistance for improving task performance during lunar surface operations

Virtual Reality - During extravehicular activities (EVAs), astronauts are heavily dependent on the Mission Center (MCC) and their Intra-Vehicular Astronaut (IVA) counterparts. Each procedure step...