Effect of age of habit on susceptibility to cycloheximide-induced amnesia in mice.

Investigated the amnestic effects of cycloheximide (CYC) on habits of different ages in a food-motivated, discrimination-reversal task. Groups of mice were injected 30 min before training or immediately or 3, 6, or 9 days after training. Male C57BL/6J mice were used in 4 experiments. Retention was tested 24 hr after CYC treatment. The usual amnesic effect of CYC occurred in Ss injected before training. No amnesia was apparent in groups injected immediately, 3 days, or 9 days after training. However, a reliable and reproducible amnesia occurred in the group injected 6 days after training. This amnesia could be reversed by pretest treatment with a monoamine oxidase inhibitor, pheniprazine. Pheniprazine, given 7 days after training, also enhanced retrieval of memory in saline-injected Ss. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Web Thermo Tables – an On-Line Version of the TRC Thermodynamic Tables

It has long been understood that availability of thermophysical and thermochemical property data is vital to scientific research and industrial design. For over 65 years, the Thermodynamics Research Center (TRC) has been publishing tables of critically evaluated data covering physical and thermodynamic properties of pure compounds, TRC Tables-Hydrocarbons and TRC Tables-Non-Hydrocarbons. Over their long history, the TRC Tables have always been valued as a reputable source of evaluated thermophysical and thermodynamic data. To facilitate more flexible, convenient, and up-to-date access to the data, here, we present the release of the on-line version of the TRC tables, Web Thermo Tables (WTT). Presently, WTT contains data for 7838 compounds and over 950,000 evaluated data points. The tabulated information includes critical properties, vapor pressures and boiling temperatures, phase transition properties, volumetric properties, heat capacities and derived properties, transport properties, reaction state-change properties, as well as index of refraction, surface tension, and speed of sound. Various search options and data plotting capabilities are provided via the Web interface. WTT are distributed through the NIST Standard Reference Data Program [1].     

A mechanistic study of methyl parathion hydrolysis by a bifunctional organoclay

The mechanism for the hydrolysis of methyl parathion (MP) by a bifunctional quaternary-ammonium based long-chained organclay(LCOC) containing an alkylamine (-CH2CH2-NH2) headgroup was elucidated. The pathway of the catalytic hydrolysis of methyl parathion by the LCOC was defined by following the effect of replacing H20 with D20, by replacing the primary amino headgroup by a tertiary amino group, and by a detailed mathematical analysis of the proposed reaction scheme. A phosphorothioate isomer of MP was formed in the presence of the LCOC as an intermediate reaction product, initially increasing in concentration and then disappearing. The isotope effect was minimal and substituting a tertiary amine in the LCOC increased the rate of MP hydrolysis. A mechanism is proposed in which hydrolysis of MP can proceed via both a direct route (specific base hydrolysis) and through the formation of the isomer which then undergoes specific base hydrolysis more rapidly than the parent MP. The relative importance of each pathway is a function of pH with the direct hydrolysis of MP being predominant at higher pH values (pH > 10) and the isomer intermediate pathway predominating at lower pH values (pH approximately 8-10).     

Is there an endogeneity problem between health and apartment value? Gender differences and the impact of obesity on property self-evaluation

Journal of Housing and the Built Environment - Background Numerous studies have compared self evaluation and market values of apartments by employing hedonic regressions. Most of these studies...     

Local milieu and innovations: Some empirical results

. Industrial innovations constitute a major factor in fostering the expansion of industrial activities and, consequently, regional growth. Innovations are closely tied to variables both internal and external to the structure and operation of the firm. The latter variables have hardly ever been investigated empirically. The current study utilizes data collected by means of a thorough personal interview of a representative sample of firms belonging to the three fastest-growing industries in Israel: Electronics, Plastics and Metals. All the firms are located in the Northern region of Israel and cover three different sub-regions: metropolitan core, intermediate zone and periphery. The paper reports an attempt to identify and quantify external factors clustered under the term, “local innovation milieu,” and to analyze their effect on the rate of industrial innovation. More specifically, the present study describes the construction of alternative measures of industrial agglomeration economies and their effect on the probability of a firm‘s belonging to different industrial branches when it comes to innovation. The results show that the size of the industry, as measured by the total number of employees, is the best explanatory measure of agglomeration economies in a particular sub-region. Agglomeration economies are significantly responsible for the increase in the rate of a firm‘s innovation potential in the Electronics industry. In the Plastics industry, however, no significant effect of agglomeration economies on the rate of innovation is detected; and in the Metals industry, only a marginal effect is felt.     

A Land-Consumption Model: Its Application to Israel's Future Spatial Development

This article presents the structure of the Land-Consumption (LC) Model that was constructed to evaluate Israel's land needs for future development as part of national planning efforts. Developed as part of the Israel 2020 master plan, the LC Model was a key methodological tool in the plan's preparation. The model incorporated variables derived from people's behavior and preferences that are dictated to a large extent by market forces, in conjunction with policy variables that are determined by the government. The LC Model is a comprehensive tool useful for land consumption planning in major urban systems. Where the need to estimate land consumption and its national application are crucial, the LC Model and the approach introduced here can serve as a productive example.     

Biological Treatment of Industrial Wastewater by a Membrane Bioreactor

Wastewater originating from chemical industries may contain compounds that could adversely affect the treatment processes, mainly the biological process, by either toxic or inhibition effects. The objectives of this study were to evaluate practical possibilities to upgrade existing wastewater treatment facilities by operating aerobic treatment based on membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology. Three different industries were included in this study: a paper mill that operates raw solid separators followed by anaerobic treatment; a food production plant that operates oil and grease separators, chemical flocculation, and dissolved air flotation; and port fuel facilities that include gravity oil separators. In all the above cases the biological treatment was exposed to different problems, which included: (a) the possible presence of deflocculating materials such as starch and biocides, in the case of the paper mill; (b) residual hydrophobic compounds that may affect diffusion through biosolids surfaces in the food plant; and (c) organic matter characterized by low biodegradability (hydrocarbons), in the case of the fuel port facilities. The experimental work in this study indicated that biological treatment of industrial wastewater containing contaminants characterized by hydrophobicity and/or by low biodegradability could be successfully performed by MBR configuration, obtaining effluent of high quality. However, these particular types of industrial wastewater would require the adaptation of the MBR operation conditions, by lowering cell residence time and mixed liquor volatile suspended solids (MLVSS) in the bioreactor and by increasing the amounts of excess biosolids accordingly.