Secondary debris impact damage and environment study

All long-duration spacecraft, such as Space Station Freedom (SSF), are subject to impacts by micrometeoroid and orbital debris (MM/OD) particles in low Earth orbit. The secondary effects of such impacts on SSF was the subject of the Secondary Debris Impact Damage and Environment Study. The primary objective was the assessment of possible damage to SSF hardware in the vicinity of large surface areas impacted by typical MM/OD particles. Several SSF components were evaluated that showed varying degrees of damage due to secondary ejecta. A comparison of the results from 45° and 60° MM/OD impacts revealed that penetration ejecta had greater damage potential at 45° and ricochet ejecta had greater damage potential at 60°. The significant ricochet damage was concentrated within an angle of 15° with respect to the primary target. The impact distribution data was evaluated further using a previous math model. The comparison was inconclusive due to insufficient data within the bounds of the model. Preliminary results of the study showed that secondary debris has the potential to penetrate and induce some damage to SSF hardware. The failure of hardware due to the damage is unknown. Further testing with larger MM/OD particle sizes and varying impact angles is recommended.     

Behavioral and personality correlates of epilepsy: A review, methodological critique, and conceptual model.

Assesses the psychological risk associated with temporal lobe epilepsy and epilepsy in general and identifies other variables associated with an increased risk of psychopathology in epilepsy by reviewing 64 studies published since 1962. Methodological problems include the definition of epilepsy and the interictal state, sample selections, and the need for appropriate controls; until these problems are overcome, the behavioral ramifications of limbic system dysfunction in epilepsy will remain controversial. Greater methodological rigor in the field of epilepsy/psychopathology research will help assess whether animal studies of kindling of limbic structures with subsequent behavior changes have any validity for human psychopathology. There is a growing interest in the behavioral ramifications of neurological disease; however many factors outside of those that are biologically indigenous to the disorder play significant roles in the determination of psychopathology. A conceptual model (brain-, non-brain-, and treatment-related factors) is offered to help explain different proportions of variance for different behavior disorders. (6 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping with professional skeptics: Reply to Faust.

D. Faust (see record 1994-28013-001) states that the authors' citation of his work in a previous report (S. H. Putnam et al; see record 1993-04124-001) reflected a misapprehension of his published position on the acceptability of neuropsychologists and their methods as "expert" in forensic settings. The authors offer that there is no mistaking Faust's sweeping and biased critique of neuropsychology as anything other than an example of a "method skeptic" approach to science. Although potentially useful from a legal advocacy and impeachment perspective, these approaches misrepresent the balance of achievements and challenges that are the actual status of this clinical specialty. Attempts to tag neuropsychology as "junk science" that should be excluded from legal proceedings are likely to fail when revealed as such and tested against actual legal standards for admissibility. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Confirmatory factor analysis and item response theory: Two approaches for exploring measurement invariance.

Investigated the utility of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and item response theory (IRT) models for testing the comparability of psychological measurements. Both procedures were used to investigate whether mood ratings collected in Minnesota and China were comparable. Several issues were addressed. The 1st issue was that of establishing a common measurement scale across groups, which involves full or partial measurement invariance of trait indicators. It is shown that using CFA or IRT models, test items that function differentially as trait indicators across groups need not interfere with comparing examinees on the same trait dimension. Second, the issue of model fit was addressed. It is proposed that person-fit statistics be used to judge the practical fit of IRT models. Finally, topics for future research are suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On-line and memory-based aspects of individual and group target judgments.

Ss were given instruction sets to induce either on-line or memory-based processing while reading behavioral statements about individual and group targets. Impression-set instructions induced on-line judgments, and comprehensibility-set (comp) instructions induced memory-based judgments regardless of target type. More important, with nondirective instructions (memory set), natural differences in processing information about individuals and groups were observed, with more on-line judgments for individuals. As expected, illusory correlations between minority targets and infrequent behaviors (a memory-based product) emerged with comp instructions (which induced memory-based judgments for both target types) and in the memory-set condition for group targets only. These data provide insights into the differences in impression formation for groups and individuals and furnish direct evidence of the processes responsible for illusory correlations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

FE1 assembly for fibre preparation

FE1 assembly for fibre preparation     

The validity of employment interviews: A comprehensive review and meta-analysis.

Presents the findings of a project investigating the validity of the employment interview. Analyses are based on 245 coefficients derived from 86,311 individuals. Results show that interview validity depends on the content of the interview (situational, job related, or psychological), how the interview is conducted (structured vs unstructured; board vs individual), and the nature of the criterion (job performance, training performance, and tenure; research or administrative ratings). Situational interviews had higher validity than did job-related interviews, which, in turn, had higher validity than did psychologically based interviews. Structured interviews were found to have higher validity than unstructured interviews. Interviews showed similar validity for job performance and training performance criteria, but validity for the tenure criteria was lower. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Quantification of Regional Myocardial Perfusion by Exponential Infusion of 11C-Butanol

This study was designed to determine whether regional myocardial perfusion can be assessed quantitatively in vivo in dogs by administration of a freely diffusible tracer intravenously at an exponentially increasing-rate. Previously, we reported the mathematical basis of the approach and its use for assessment of global perfusion in isolated hearts. In this study, computer simulations demonstrated that inter-regional diffusion of tracer perturbs results by no more than 7 percent under worst case conditions. Regional myocardial blood flow assessed in open chest dogs with myocardial activity deternined by well counting by the exponential infusion method correlated closely to values obtained with radiolabeled microspheres (r = 0.986, n = 35 determinations). Thus, regional myocardial perfusion can be quantified with an infusion technique potentially applicable to the tomographic characterization of impaired perfusion in experimental animals and ultimately in patients with positron emission tomography.     

Effects of lactate/phosphate injection enhancement on oxidation stability and protein degradation in early postmortem beef cuts packaged in high oxygen modified atmosphere

The influence of lactate/phosphate enhancement on meat color and lipid oxidation stability, tenderness, protein degradation, and protein aggregation of early postmortem beef muscles packaged in a high oxygen modified atmosphere packaging (HiOx-MAP; 80% O₂, 20% CO₂) were studied. At 24 hr postmortem, three bovine muscles (longissimus, semimembranosus, and adductor; n = 10, respectively) were enhanced (10% injection rate) with either lactate (2.5%)/phosphate (0.3%) solution or water, packaged in HiOx-MAP, stored 9 days at 1 °C, and then displayed for 7 days at 1 °C. The lactate/phosphate injection significantly improved color stability (higher a* values) of all three bovine muscles throughout display period. Accumulation of lipid oxidation determined by 2-thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances values was also decreased (P < 0.05) in the lactate/phosphate injection compared to the water treatment during storage and display periods. The objective tenderness values of longissimus and semimembranosus were also improved (P < 0.05) by the lactate/phosphate enhancement treatment compared to the water treatment based on star probe measurement. There were no significant differences found in desmin and troponin-T degradation, or oxidative cross-linking of myosin between treatments. The results suggest that lactate/phosphate enhancement has beneficial effects on color and lipid oxidation stability, and tenderness development of beef cuts under HiOx-MAP conditions.     

Prediction of adipose tissue composition using raman spectroscopy: Average properties and individual fatty acids

Raman spectroscopy has been used for the first time to predict the FA composition of unextracted adipose tissue of pork, beef, lamb, and chicken. It was found that the bulk unsaturation parameters could be predicted successfully [R ²=0.97, root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP)=4.6% of 4 δ], with cis unsaturation, which accounted for the majority of the unsaturation, giving similar correlations. The combined abundance of all measured PUFA (≥2 double bonds per chain) was also well predicted with R ²=0.97 and RMSEP=4.0% of 4 δ. Trans unsaturation was not as well modeled (R ²=0.52, RMSEP=18% of 4 δ); this reduced prediction ability can be attributed to the low levels of trans FA found in adipose tissue (0.035 times the cis unsaturation level). For the individual FA, the average partial least squares (PLS) regression coefficient of the 18 most abundant FA (relative abundances ranging from 0.1 to 38.6% of the total FA content) was R ²=0.73; the average RMSEP=11.9% of 4 δ. Regression coefficients and prediction errors for the five most abundant FA were all better than the average value (in some cases as low as RMSEP=4.7% of 4 δ). Cross-correlation between the abundances of the minor FA and more abundant acids could be determined by principal component analysis methods, and the resulting groups of correlated compounds were also well predicted using PLS. The accuracy of the prediction of individual FA was at least as good as other spectroscopic methods, and the extremely straightforward sampling method meant that very rapid analysis of samples at ambient temperature was easily achieved. This work shows that Raman profiling of hundreds of samples per day is easily achievable with an automated sampling system.