The Special Surveillance Breast Program: a model of intervention for women at high risk for breast cancer

The Special Surveillance Breast Program (SSBP) is a long-term, comprehensive, multidisciplinary program for women determined to be at high risk for the development of breast cancer. Because the women who attend this program are otherwise healthy but concerned about their risk for breast cancer, current and relevant information is required to address their concerns regarding the possibility of developing breast cancer. The purpose of this article is to describe the risk factors that indicate eligibility for the program, the structure of the program, and the results of an assessment that identified the needs of this special population.     

The role of nucleation and growth of microcracks in brittle solids under compression: A numerical study

Summary Microcrack growth and nucleation in brittle microheterogeneous materials is studied by means of the two-dimensional sliding crack model. The problem is treated numerically using a boundary element method (BEM) to solve a singular integral equation for the dislocation density along the crack contour. The evolution of crack patterns is compared for uniaxial and biaxial compression.     

The sources of normativity: Young children's awareness of the normative structure of games.

In two studies, the authors investigated 2- and 3-year-old children's awareness of the normative structure of conventional games. In the target conditions, an experimenter showed a child how to play a simple rule game. After the child and the experimenter had played for a while, a puppet came (controlled by a 2nd experimenter), asked to join in, and then performed an action that constituted a mistake in the game. In control conditions, the puppet performed the exact same action as in the experimental conditions, but the context was different such that this act did not constitute a mistake. Children's normative responses to the puppet's acts (e.g., protest, critique, or teaching) were scored. Both age groups performed more normative responses in the target than in the control conditions, but the 3-year-olds did so on a more explicit level. These studies demonstrate in a particularly strong way that even very young children have some grasp of the normative structure of conventional activities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Quantification of Market Performance as a Function of System Security

The tight coupling between market and system operations in the restructured environment requires a thorough understanding of the interdependence between the market performance and the way the power systems are operated. In particular, we need to go beyond the qualitative characterization and to quantify the dependence of the market performance on the system security. Such studies are typically not performed in today's regional transmission organization, or RTO, structures. In this paper, we develop a general approach to quantify the monetary impacts of complying with a specified security criterion when the deployment of appropriate preventive and/or corrective security control actions is fully taken into account. This approach is deployed in the day-ahead electricity markets and is based on the emulation of the way the RTO currently operates the market and the grid, the latter in compliance with the security criterion. The proposed approach has a wide range of applications such as comparative market performance assessments of different security criteria and the cost/benefit analysis of network improvements to mitigate the market performance impacts of a set of specified contingencies. We illustrate the application of the proposed approach on the large-scale ISO-NE system to quantify the monetary impacts associated with changing from the current security criterion to two other criteria using the actual 2005 day-ahead data-the historical system model and the bids/offers submitted-with the actual market clearing methodology. These studies capture, in a meaningful way, the impacts of the changes with respect to the current security criterion. An important finding of this study is that the economic efficiency of electricity markets need not decrease when the system is operated under a stricter criterion.     

Chemical and Structural Properties of Nickel Hydroxide Xerogels Obtained by the Sol-Gel Procedure in the Presence of Acetic Acid

The sol-gel route to glasses and ceramics has attracted an increasing amount of scientific and technological interest recently. In this process, sols with different concentrations are used as precursors for xerogels and to produce materials that consist of fine oxide particles. In the present work, nickel hydroxide gels have been obtained via the hydrolysis of a molecular precursor in the presence of acetic acid. The chemical aspects of the material transformation have been studied by using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) for different acetic acid contents and several heat-treatment temperatures. The carboxylic acid acts as a ligand at a molecular level in the precursor, therefore modifying the entire hydrolysis and condensation process. Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) studies and density measurements have been performed for the structural characterization of the xerogels. A denser, final oxide material is obtained when a higher acetic acid concentration is used. The porosity of the dry gels coarsens when they are heat-treated up to a temperature of ∼400°C and its density decreases. The material that has been heat-treated up to a temperature of 800°C densifies and exhibits a finer porosity. The chemical properties at a molecular level satisfactorily explain and are well correlated with the structural characteristics of the studied material.     

Calculation of currents and voltages in faulted high phase order systems

This paper presents a method for calculating phase and sequence voltage and currents throughout a power system of mixed phase order (i.e. the system is perceived to be divided into an arbitrary number of different phase order subsystems) subjected to an arbitrary fault type at an arbitrary bus in the system. The approach used involves sequence [Z] methods. An example application is provided.