First-time mothers' perceptions of efficacy during the transition to motherhood: Links to infant temperament.

This investigation examined associations between pre- and postnatal reports of 1st-time mothers' depression, anxiety, and marital quality and postnatal reports of infant temperament and changes in feelings of efficacy. Maternal efficacy measured prenatally was associated with concurrent measures of depression, anxiety, marital conflict, and levels of previous child-care experience. Mothers' perception of infant temperament postnatally accounted for a significant proportion of variance in postnatal reports of maternal efficacy. Although individual differences in women's feelings of efficacy were fairly stable, significant increases in maternal efficacy were also observed over time. Findings suggest that 1st-time mothers' beliefs about their ability to perform nurturing routines may change from a global sense of self-competence to more differentiated perceptions of nurturing efficacy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Laser-Induced Creation of Antiferromagnetic 180-Degree Domains in NiO/Pt Bilayers

The antiferromagnetic order in heterostructures of NiO/Pt thin films can be modified by optical pulses. After the irradiation with laser light, the optically induced creation of antiferromagnetic domains can be observed by imaging the created domain structure utilizing the X-ray magnetic linear dichroism effect. The effect of different laser polarizations on the domain formation can be studied and used to identify a polarization-independent creation of 180° domain walls and domains with 180° different Néel vector orientation. By varying the irradiation parameters, the switching mechanism can be determined to be thermally induced. This study demonstrates experimentally the possibility to optically create antiferromagnetic domains, an important step towards future functionalization of all optical switching mechanisms in antiferromagnets.     

Active Targeting of Dendritic Polyglycerols for Diagnostic Cancer Imaging

Active tumor targeting involves the decoration of nanomaterials (NMs) with oncotropic vector biomolecules that selectively recognize certain antigens on malignant cells or in the tumor microenvironment. This strategy can facilitate intracellular uptake of NM through specific interactions such as receptor‐mediated endocytosis and can lead to prolonged retention in the malignant tissues by preventing rapid efflux from the tumor. Here, the design of actively targeting, renally excretible bimodal dendritic polyglycerols (dPGs) for diagnostic cancer imaging is described. Single‐domain antibodies (sdAbs) specifically binding to the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) are employed herein as targeting warheads owing to their small size and high affinity for their corresponding antigen. The dPGs equipped with EGFR‐targeting feature are compared head‐to‐head with their nontargeting counterparts in terms of interaction with EGFR‐overexpressing cells in vitro as well as accumulation at receptor‐positive tumors in vivo. Experimental results reveal a higher specificity and preferential tumor accumulation for the α‐EGFR dPGs, resulting from the introduction of active targeting capabilities on their backbone. These results highlight the potential for improving the tumor uptake properties of dPGs by strategic use of sdAb functionalization, which can ultimately prove useful to the development of ultrasmall NM with highly specific tumor accumulation.     

Reengineering component-based software systems with Archimetrix

Many software development, planning, or analysis tasks require an up-to-date software architecture documentation. However, this documentation is often outdated, unavailable, or at least not available as a formal model which analysis tools could use. Reverse engineering methods try to fill this gap. However, as they process the system’s source code, they are easily misled by design deficiencies (e.g., violations of component encapsulation) which leaked into the code during the system’s evolution. Despite the high impact of design deficiencies on the quality of the resulting software architecture models, none of the surveyed related works is able to cope with them during the reverse engineering process. Therefore, we have developed the Archimetrix approach which semiautomatically recovers the system’s concrete architecture in a formal model while simultaneously detecting and removing design deficiencies. We have validated Archimetrix on a case study system and two implementation variants of the CoCoME benchmark system. Results show that the removal of relevant design deficiencies leads to an architecture model which more closely matches the system’s conceptual architecture.     

A hybrid system for German encyclopedia alignment

Collaboratively created on-line encyclopedias have become increasingly popular. Especially in terms of completeness they have begun to surpass their printed counterparts. Two German publishers of traditional encyclopedias have reacted to this challenge and started an initiative to merge their corpora to create a single, more complete encyclopedia. The crucial step in this merging process is the alignment of articles. We have developed a two-step hybrid system to provide high-accurate alignments with low manual effort. First, we apply an information retrieval based, automatic alignment algorithm. Second, the articles with a low confidence score are revised using a manual alignment scheme carefully designed for quality assurance. Our evaluation shows that a combination of weighting and ranking techniques utilizing different facets of the encyclopedia articles allow to effectively reduce the number of necessary manual alignments. Further, the setup of the manual alignment turned out to be robust against inter-indexer inconsistencies. As a result, the developed system empowered us to align four encyclopedias with high accuracy and low effort.     

Acidified Nitrite Contributes to the Antitumor Effect of Cold Atmospheric Plasma on Melanoma Cells

Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) is partially ionized gas near room temperature with previously reported antitumor effects. Despite extensive research and growing interest in this technology, active components and molecular mechanisms of CAP are not fully understood to date. We used Raman spectroscopy and colorimetric assays to determine elevated nitrite and nitrate levels after treatment with a MiniFlatPlaster CAP device. Previously, we demonstrated CAP-induced acidification. Cellular effects of nitrite and strong extracellular acidification were assessed using live-cell imaging of intracellular Ca²⁺ levels, cell viability analysis as well as quantification of p21 and DNA damage. We further characterized these observations by analyzing established molecular effects of CAP treatment. A synergistic effect of nitrite and acidification was found, leading to strong cytotoxicity in melanoma cells. Interestingly, protein nitration and membrane damage were absent after treatment with acidified nitrite, thereby challenging their contribution to CAP-induced cytotoxicity. Further, phosphorylation of ERK1/2 was increased after treatment with both acidified nitrite and indirect CAP. This study characterizes the impact of acidified nitrite on melanoma cells and supports the importance of RNS during CAP treatment. Further, it defines and evaluates important molecular mechanisms that are involved in the cancer cell response to CAP.     

Highly automated and fast determination of raffinose family oligosaccharides in Lupinus seeds using pressurized liquid extraction and high‐performance anion‐exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection

BACKGROUND: Taking into account several requirements for the determination of raffinose family oligosaccharides (RFOs) from Lupinus seeds—e.g., conducting plant breeding projects or food product development—a reasonable combination of efficient automated sample preparation and reliable analysis need to be developed and validated. RESULTS: In this regard pressurized liquid extraction was applied to extract the RFOs from ground and defatted lupin flour. Compared to many other publications, no further pretreatment, such as protein precipitation, was necessary to obtain satisfactory results applying ion chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection. The oligosaccharide content for the examined Lupinus albus samples were in the range 5.19–9.25 g kg⁻¹ and for Lupinus angustifolius RFOs 3.49–4.75 g kg⁻¹. Stachyose has always been the main component followed by raffinose and verbascose. CONCLUSION: The developed sample preparation and analytical method is suited to quantify raffinose, stachyose, verbascose and the disaccharide sucrose and, owing to a high degree of automation for sample preparation and relatively short analysis times by pretty peak separation, particularly high sample numbers can be accomplished. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry     

The fundamentals of work system compatibility theory: An integrated approach to optimization of human performance at work

This paper presents a general framework for the work system compatibility (WSC) theory based on two fundamental premises: (1) the synergistic effects of the entire domain of work factors upon the performance of individuals in the workplace must be considered; and (2) the work system elements must be balanced to achieve simultaneous optimization of all facets of workplace human performance measures. The WSC theory is integrative on two levels. First, the WSC theory integrates previous human performance theories that only considered the impact of some sub-sets of work factors on selected outcome measures. Secondly, the WSC theory serves to integrate prior theories towards a multi-disciplinary systems approach to work system improvements. The WSC theory provides a methodology for achieving a balance among key elements of work system by simultaneous optimization of the relevant human performance measures.     

A Global Approach to Fiber nD Architectures and Self-Sealing Matrices: From Research to Production

Thermostructural composites (TSC) improvement is one of the key factors to ensure future competitiveness of aeronautical and space engines. The TSC technology developed in Snecma Propulsion Solide is based on continuous fiber-reinforced composites and carbon or ceramics matrices deposited by chemical vapor infiltration. This article presents a status of the latest improvements for cost savings of composite reinforcements (so-called texture) and specific matrices developed to increase both durability and temperature capability of previous ceramic composites, operating in oxidative environments.     

An Energetic N‐Oxide and N‐Amino Heterocycle and its Transformation to 1,2,3,4‐Tetrazine‐1‐oxide

This study reports the preparation of 1‐amino‐1,2,3‐triazole‐3‐oxide (DPX2) and its transformation to 1,2,3,4‐tetrazine‐1‐oxide. DPX‐2 provides insight into a novel N‐oxide/N‐amino high‐nitrogen system, being the first energetic material in this class. The ability of this material to undergo a nitrene insertion forming 1,2,3,4‐tetrazine‐1‐oxide was also studied, and evidence for this material, the first non‐benzoannulated 1,2,3,4‐tetrazine‐1‐oxide, is presented. The existence of both of these materials opens new strategies in energetic materials design. DPX2 was characterized chemically (Infrared, Raman, NMR, X‐ray) and as a high explosive in terms of energetic performances (detonation velocity, pressure, etc.) and sensitivities (impact, friction, electrostatic). DPX‐2 was found to possess good thermal stability and moderate sensitivities, indicating the viability of N‐amino N‐oxides as a strategy for the preparation of new energetic materials.