Amphiphilic and photocatalytic behaviors of TiO2 nanotube arrays on Ti prepared via electrochemical oxidation

Amphiphilic TiO₂ nanotube arrays (TiO₂ NTs) were fabricated through electrochemical oxidation of Ti in solution containing H₃PO₄ and NaF. Scanning electron microscopic analysis shows that the as-prepared TiO₂ NTs have an average pore diameter of 100 nm and a wall thickness of 15 nm. The electrochemical oxidation of Ti can be divided into four stages. In the first stage, when the potential is very low, oxygen formation and Ti dissolution are the major reactions. The second stage corresponds to a slightly higher potential, but less than 2.5 V. In this stage, the formation of TiO₂ film occurs. When the potential is increased to the even higher range from 2.5 V to 6 V, the TiO₂ film dissolves and nanoporous surface structure is generated. This is the third stage. Further increase of the potential enters stage four. The high potentials cause the self-organization of the nanostructure and allow the formation of well-aligned TiO₂ NTs. We also found that the change in surface condition of Ti by annealing heat treatment affects the film dissolution kinetics. As compared with TiO₂ thin film, the TiO2 NTs show higher photocatalytic activity on decomposing Rhodamine B. The surface of the TiO₂ NTs can be wetted by both water and oil. Such an amphiphilic property comes from the capillary effect of the nanochannel structure of the TiO₂ NTs. Because of the amphiphilic property and the photocatalytic activity, we conclude that the TiO₂ NTs have the capability of self-cleaning.     

Phonological universals constrain the processing of nonspeech stimuli.

Domain-specific systems are hypothetically specialized with respect to the outputs they compute and the inputs they allow (Fodor, 1983). Here, we examine whether these 2 conditions for specialization are dissociable. An initial experiment suggests that English speakers could extend a putatively universal phonological restriction to inputs identified as nonspeech. A subsequent comparison of English and Russian participants indicates that the processing of nonspeech inputs is modulated by linguistic experience. Striking, qualitative differences between English and Russian participants suggest that they rely on linguistic principles, both universal and language-particular, rather than generic auditory processing strategies. Thus, the computation of idiosyncratic linguistic outputs is apparently not restricted to speech inputs. This conclusion presents various challenges to both domain-specific and domain-general accounts of cognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of ionic strength on the tribological properties of pre-adsorbed salivary films

We have studied tribological properties of pre-adsorbed salivary films formed in vitro on compliant hydrophobic surfaces. The adsorbed salivary film significantly decreases boundary friction under physiological ionic strength, which is related to a hydrophilic character of the adsorbed film and its structure. Decrease in the ionic strength below physiological conditions affects film’s structure, but it does not significantly affect boundary lubrication at low loads. Applications of high loads led to a gradual loss of lubrication due to shear-induced wear of the films. The wear became more extensive as the ionic strength of the solvent was lowered below physiological conditions.     

When does and ostrich become a bird? The role of typicality in early word comprehension.

Which objects and animals are children willing to accept as referents for words they know? To answer this question, the authors assessed early word comprehension using the preferential looking task. Children were shown 2 stimuli side by side (a target and a distractor) and heard the target stimulus named. The target stimulus was either a typical or an atypical exemplar of the named category. It was predicted that children first connect typical examples with the target name and broaden the extension of the name as they get older to include less typical examples. Experiment 1 shows that when targets are named, 12-month-olds display an increase in target looking for typical but not atypical targets whereas 24-month-olds display an increase for both. Experiment 2 shows that 18-month-olds display a pattern similar to that of 24-month-olds. Implications for the early development of word comprehension are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Selection of a Dried Yeast Strain for Use in the Apparent Attenuation Limit Malt Analysis (AAL) Procedure

This investigation identifies that Mauribrew Lager 497 strain of dried yeast can be used as a standard strain for the determination of malt apparent attenuation limit (AAL). It provides ferment‐ability results for malt quality evaluation laboratories that are comparable to fresh brewery yeast. It was found that the optimal pitching rate in Congress wort (EBC Analytica, 1998, method 4.5.1), was 1 g per 200 mL, pitched at 25°C and fermented for 24 h at 20°C with agitation to complete attenuation. Preliminary trials also indicated that the Mauribrew Lager 497 dry yeast may be useful to brewers for determining the wort batch attenuation characteristics by the limit gravity test. In this case a pitching temperature of 35°C was found to be optimal with all other conditions as above. For the purpose of malt quality evaluation and brewery quality control the advantages of using a standard dry yeast strain include ease and convenience of use, consistency of quality, and uniformity between laboratories when they are located in separate geographic regions.     

Trying to beat the system: Misuse of the Internet to assist in avoiding the detection of psychological symptom dissimulation.

Although the Internet may be beneficial to clinical practice, its potential for misuse cannot be overlooked. The current probe identified Internet Web sites that contained information that violated the test security of psychological assessment instruments. Five individuals, using multiple search engines, conducted Internet searches to evaluate samples of Web sites. Sites were classified into 1 of 3 levels according to the degree of threat they posed to test security. A small number (2-5%) appeared to be a direct threat to test security. The findings are discussed and recommendations for promoting more ethical use of the Internet are made. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Environmental life cycle assessment of a pre‐fragmented high explosive grenade

Organisations today face increasing environmental constraints, e.g. in the form of legal and customer requirements; the defence sector is no exception. There is a need to evaluate and limit environmental effects of defence activities and materiel. In this study we used quantitative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and a method for simplified LCA (the Material, Energy, Chemicals and Others (MECO) method) to assess the environmental impacts of a grenade. The aims of the study are to identify aspects in the grenade's life‐cycle that have the largest environmental impact, suggest improvement possibilities, make a comparison between different approaches for waste management of munitions, and to perform a demonstrative case for the application of LCA to munitions. Significant environmental aspects of the grenade's life‐cycle include use of metals, use of fossil fuels, and detonation outdoors. The study shows that an LCA can be used to analyse environmental impacts from munitions. The simplified LCA gave information that is complementary to the quantitative LCA. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry     

Attitudes of Dublin accident and emergency department doctors and nurses towards the services offered by local general practitioners

We report a case of a depressed patient who received a full course of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) 2 weeks post four-vessel coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG). ECT was well tolerated, and a full remission was induced. In spite of the lack of information in the literature concerning guidelines for administering ECT to a patient with recent postoperative status, we were encouraged by this patient's response. This case suggests that ECT may be considered a viable treatment option for refractory depression associated with severe medical comorbidity and recent post-operative status such as in CABG.