Health promotion for women with physical disabilities: A pilot study.

Objective: To pilot test a health promotion intervention for women with physical disabilities. Design: Pre- and postintervention questionnaires. Participants: Two groups of women with physical disabilities (n=15). Intervention: Seven-session weekly workshop intervention grounded primarily in social-cognitive theory. Setting: Disability and rehabilitation settings. Main Outcome Measures: Indicators of health status. Results: Statistically significant positive changes between pre- and postintervention scores on measures of self-efficacy for dietary behaviors, medical decision making, social interaction, physical functioning, impact of physical limitation on role activities, and vitality. Conclusion: Women with disabilities who participate in this health promotion intervention may exhibit improvements on indicators of health status. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Flammability characteristics at applied heat flux levels up to 200 kW/m2

This paper documents the first of the two interrelated studies that were conducted to more fundamentally understand the scalability of flame heat flux, the motivation being that it has been reported that flame heat flux back to the burning surface in bench‐scale experiments is not the same as for large‐scale fires. The key aspect was the use of real scale applied heat flux up to 200kW/m² which is well beyond that typically considered in contemporary testing. The main conclusions are that decomposition kinetics needs to be included in the study of ignition and the energy balance for steady burning is too simplistic to represent the physics occurring. An unexpected non‐linear trend is observed in the typical plotting methods currently used in fire protection engineering for ignition and mass loss flux data for several materials tested and this non‐linearity is a true material response. Using measured temperature profiles in the condensed phase shows that viewing ignition as an inert material process is inaccurate at predicting the surface temperature at higher heat fluxes. The steady burning temperature profiles appear to be invariant with applied heat flux. This possible inaccuracy was investigated by obtaining the heat of gasification via the ‘typical technique’ using the mass loss flux data and comparing it to the commonly considered ‘fundamental’ value obtained from differential scanning calorimetry measurements. This comparison suggests that the ‘typical technique’ energy balance is too simplified to represent the physics occurring for any range of applied heat flux. Observed bubbling and melting phenomena provide a possible direction of study. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Electron transfer by domain movement in cytochrome bc1

The cytochrome bc1 is one of the three major respiratory enzyme complexes residing in the inner mitochondrial membrane. Cytochrome bc1 transfers electrons from ubiquinol to cytochrome c and uses the energy thus released to form an electrochemical gradient across the inner membrane. Our X-ray crystal structures of the complex from chicken, cow and rabbit in both the presence and absence of inhibitors of quinone oxidation, reveal two different locations for the extrinsic domain of one component of the enzyme, an iron-sulphur protein. One location is close enough to the supposed quinol oxidation site to allow reduction of the Fe-S protein by ubiquinol. The other site is close enough to cytochrome c1 to allow oxidation of the Fe-S protein by the cytochrome. As neither location will allow both reactions to proceed at a suitable rate, the reaction mechanism must involve movement of the extrinsic domain of the Fe-S component in order to shuttle electrons from ubiquinol to cytochrome c1. Such a mechanism has not previously been observed in redox protein complexes.     

Studies on cross-linked polyurethane acrylate-based electrolyte consisting of reactive vinyl/divinyl diluents

A series of cross-linked polyurethane acrylate (PUA) electrolytes have been prepared by using 4,4′-methylene bis(phenyl isocyanate), polyethylene glycol, hydroxyethyl methacrylate and different reactive vinyl/divinyl diluents, such as methyl methacrylate (MMA), ethyl acrylate and acrylonitrile, tripropylene glycol diacrylate (TPGDA). The electrolytes were prepared by UV radiation induced cross-linking of the PUA-diluent mixture followed by swelling in a liquid electrolyte (LP-30). Depending upon the composition of the components, these electrolytes exhibited a wide range of mechanical and electrical properties. The system containing MMA as reactive diluent showed highest conductivity, but poor mechanical properties and stability in the liquid electrolyte. The TPGDA cross-linked system possesses a good combination of ionic conductivity and stability in liquid electrolytes. These systems showed good compatibility with Li-electrodes and sufficient electrochemical stability to allow safe operation in rechargeable Li-batteries.     

Constraints on benthic algal response to nutrient addition in oligotrophic mountain rivers

Nutrient availability has long been considered one of the most important factors regulating production of benthic algae in oligotrophic rivers; yet, empirical relationships do not have as wide an application as similar models derived for lentic systems. The aim of this research was to derive empirical relationships between nutrient concentrations and benthic algal abundance and to identify commonalities with other studies to improve our understanding of constraints on algae in oligotrophic rivers. Surveys of physical, chemical and biological attributes of oligotrophic mountain rivers in spring, summer and autumn for 2 years confirmed that small amounts of anthropogenic phosphorus (0.1–5.6 µg/L total phosphorus (TP)) resulted in 4‐ to 30‐fold increases in abundance of benthic algae and benthic macroinvertebrates (BMIs). Algal accrual along a gradient in nutrient availability was not masked by grazing pressure but was positively correlated with abundance of scrapers. Epilithic abundance was highest downstream of anthropogenic nutrient sources in autumn. We concluded that benthic algal abundance in these mountain rivers was weakly correlated with phosphorus availability if light was not limiting but ultimately controlled by temperature and river discharge. Therefore, we recommend more direct measures of nutrient limitation be used to predict changes in ecological integrity at the lower end of the resource gradient. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Anomalous variations of OFF-State leakage current in poly-Si TFTunder static stress

Studies the anomalous variations of the OFF-state leakage current (I_OFF) in n-channel poly-Si thin-film transistors (TFTs) under static stress. The dominant mechanisms for the anomalous I_OFF can be attributed to (1) I_OFF increases due to channel hot electrons trapping at the gate oxide/channel interface and silicon grain boundaries and (2) I_OFF decreases due to hot holes accumulated/trapped near the channel/bottom oxide interface near the source region. Under the stress of high drain bias, serious impact ionization effect will occur to generate hot electrons and hot holes near the drain region. Some of holes will be injected into the gate oxide due to the vertical field (~(V_Gstress V_Dstress)/T _OX) near the drain and the others will be migrated from drain to source along the channel due to lateral electric field (~V_Dstress/L_CH)     

Sensitivity analysis of relative accommodation and vergence

A sensitivity analysis was performed to determine the variation in response to changes in parameter values of a previously developed nonlinear static model of accommodation and vergence. To determine normal behavior, model simulation responses were computed using previously obtained parameter values in 4 subjects under 2 conditions. In the first, relative accommodation was evaluated by maintaining the vergence stimulus constant at 2.5 meter angles (MA) and varying the accommodative stimulus from -2.5 to 2.5 diopters (D) in 0.25-D steps. In the second, relative vergence was evaluated by maintaining the accommodative stimulus constant at 2.5 D and varying the vergence stimulus from 25 prism diopters (PD) base-in to 25 PD base-out in 5-PD steps. Sensitivity of the model parameters, consisting of controller gains for accommodation (ACG) and vergence (VCG), crosslink gains for accommodation-to-vergence (AC) and vergence-to-accommodation (CA), deadspace operators for accommodation (AE±AD) and vergence (VE±VD), and the tonic levels for accommodation (ABIAS) and vergence (VBIAS) were assessed by varying them at 50% and 150% of their normal values. It was found that the accommodation and vergence systems mere most sensitive to variation in crosslink gain, moderately sensitive to variation in controller gain and tonic level, and least sensitive to variation in size of the deadspace. These results may provide a quantitative basis for the occurrence of ocular dysfunctions associated with abnormal crosslink gains, such as strabismus, in clinical patients     

Loglinear models: A way to study main effects and interactions for multidimensional contingency tables with categorical data.

Until recently, behavioral researchers failed to examine categorical data based on multidimensional data in a unified whole because of the complex arithmetic such procedures entail. With the appearance of the loglinear model and user-friendly computer software, the problems associated with the analysis of multifaceted contingency tables no longer exist. In this article, we describe the loglinear model and apply it to categorical data cross-tabulated on four dimensions. We define contrasts similar to those of the analysis of variance and describe post hoc and planned comparison strategies. We illustrate hypothesis testing and model building for categorical data, and provide guidelines for performing an analysis on frequency data by using the loglinear model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adolescent-centered family integrated philosophy and treatment.

With adolescents and their families, an important approach to use is a combination of psychodynamic underpinnings when evaluating the individual's inner world and a systemic component of looking at the interrelation between members of the family in a multigenerational manner. Differentiation of the individual and system is demonstrated through the use of individual and family sessions. Two clinical cases are presented to demonstrate this treatment approach. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Characterization of arylamine N-acetyltransferase in Enterobacter aerogenes

N-acetyltransferase (NAT) activity was determined by incubation of purified Enterobacter aerogenes enzyme with 2-aminofluorene (2-AF) as the substrate, followed by high pressure liquid chromatography assays. The NAT activity from E. aerogenes was 0.58 +/- 0.08 nmol/min/mg protein for 2-AF. The values of apparent K(m) and Vmax were 0.72 +/- 0.14 mM and 2.45 +/- 0.29 nmol/min/mg protein, respectively, for 2-AF. The optimal pH value for the enzyme activity was 7.5 for the 2-AF tested. The optimal temperature for enzyme activity was 37 degrees C for the 2-AF substrate. The molecular weight of NAT from E. aerogenes was 44.9 kD. Among a series of divalent cations and salts, Zn2+, Ca2+, and Fe2+ were demonstrated to be the most potent protease inhibitors, and only ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid significantly protected the NAT. Iodoacetamide, in contrast to other agents, markedly inhibited NAT.