Inequality, discrimination, and the power of the status quo: Direct evidence for a motivation to see the way things are as the way they should be.

How powerful is the status quo in determining people’s social ideals? The authors propose (a) that people engage in injunctification, that is, a motivated tendency to construe the current status quo as the most desirable and reasonable state of affairs (i.e., as the most representative of how things should be); (b) that this tendency is driven, at least in part, by people’s desire to justify their sociopolitical systems; and (c) that injunctification has profound implications for the maintenance of inequality and societal change. Four studies, across a variety of domains, provided supportive evidence. When the motivation to justify the sociopolitical system was experimentally heightened, participants injunctified extant (a) political power (Study 1), (b) public funding policies (Study 2), and (c) unequal gender demographics in the political and business spheres (Studies 3 and 4, respectively). It was also demonstrated that this motivated phenomenon increased derogation of those who act counter to the status quo (Study 4). Theoretical implications for system justification theory, stereotype formation, affirmative action, and the maintenance of inequality are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Integrated active antenna array using unidirectional dielectricradiators

In this paper, design considerations and experimental investigations of an integrated active antenna for space power combining that makes use of unidirectional dielectric radiators (UDRs) are presented and discussed. Attractive electrical performance stemming from proprieties of nonradiating dielectric waveguide structures is used to design a prototype at a frequency of 14 GHz. A UDR feed circuit is implemented by microstrip lines and aperture-coupling is studied experimentally for arrays of two, four and eight radiators. Measurements show high coupling and radiation efficiencies of the proposed excitation method. A power-combining efficiency of 89% was measured and a gain of 23.1 dBi was achieved for an antenna with eight radiators and four amplifiers. It is also shown that such a circuit configuration allows the combination of planar Ku-band monolithic hybrid microwave integrated circuit and UDR components in flexible design of active array antennas     

受压荷载作用下的层合板结构：材料和结构的屈曲分析

为了提高组合结构设计的可靠性，需要对层合板失效进行更有效的描述。近期的国际组织已经明确肯定，目前的方法过高地估计了压缩荷载下复合材料的强度。为了改进这一点可以采用一种更为完善的方法。首先，提出研究材料的多尺度失效方法，可以预测在较大荷载范围内不同铺层方式的失效。当最后的破坏只取决于材料特性时，此模型能够准确地描述层合板的失效情况。第二，考虑屈曲状态的结构性分析，提高了模型在压缩荷载下的预测精度。提出了一种简单的方法用来预测屈曲应力和屈曲后状态，甚至在很高的非线性材料状态下也能预测。对比模型和试验结果，十分吻合。     

On the prediction of digital circuit susceptibility to radiated EMI

The effects of radiated radio-frequency interference (RFI) on the operation of digital systems are studied by simulating the response of simple logic circuits to incident plane waves. The simulation is accomplished by combining a linear electromagnetic moment-method model of the wire structure with a nonlinear circuit model of the solid-state components. The complete model is analyzed in the linear and nonlinear regimes as an example. It is shown how a circuit simulator, such as SPICE, can be used in the analysis of an arbitrary wire network loaded with logic circuits, by the process of representing the linear wire network as a lumped-element N-port π network and interfacing it to the nonlinear circuit simulator. Examples are given that demonstrate the occurrence of both static and dynamic failures under various RFI-field excitations and wire structure geometries. The prediction methods presented in this paper, can be used by EMC engineers to assess the likelihood of failures in RFI-exposed digital systems,     

Prosthetic replacement of the anterior cruciate ligament in dogs

Prosthetic cruciate ligaments are now used clinically. Long-term results are not yet available and for that reason an attempt has been made to reproduce the clnical situation in dogs. Post-traumatic osteoarthritis was inevitably noted following simple excision of the anterior cruciate ligament in a control group of 10 animals. Different prosthetic materials were used and their breaking point was compared with that of normal anterior cruciate ligaments. The longest follow-up period was 6 months. Although some animals had no clinically demonstrable instability, at autopsy all prosthetic ligaments were noted to have failed. The degree of post-traumatic osteoarthritis was directly related to the duration of follow-up. The causes of failure of the prosthetic ligament do not appear to be related to the method of anchorage to bone but rather to the type of prosthetic material used. Although the tensile strength may occasionally have been sufficient, the materials did not have the required elastic characteristics to meet the physiologic demands of a normal cruciate ligament.     

An implementation of a direction-finding antenna for mobilecommunications using a neural network

Direction-finding systems for radio signals are mostly used in mobile communications and avionics applications for antenna tracking or navigation purposes. In general, such systems require accurate calibration and may be sensitive to noise and external interference. In this paper, we investigate the performance of a neural network-based direction-finding system under such conditions. The proposed topology is a hybrid one, combining a simple RF signal beamformer with a neural network. The training of the neural network is accomplished experimentally with a three-element antenna array by varying the beam's direction and the carrier frequency. The error on the estimated direction of arrival caused by the environment and training limitations are investigated     

EMI-induced failures in crystal oscillators

An electromagnetic interference (EMI) induced failure mode pertaining to crystal-based voltage-controlled oscillators (VCO) has been studied. The failure consists of a transition to a frequency of oscillation that differs from the crystal's fundamental resonant frequency, when the circuit is temporarily exposed to continuous or pulsed radio-frequency electromagnetic fields. The new state persists even after the EMI source is removed and leads to hang-up in digital systems. This mode transition has been observed experimentally. Its essential properties have been predicted theoretically and simulated numerically, using simplified oscillator models. The likelihood of observing such a failure in a noisy electromagnetic environment is assessed with respect to the radiated susceptibility levels given in MIL-STD-461B     

Diacylglycerol molecular species in plasma membrane and microsomes change transiently with endothelin-1 treatment of glioma cells

Agonist-induced intracellular signal transduction often involves activation of protein kinase C by diacylglycerol (DAG) released from membrane phospholipids by phospholipases. Using either DAG kinase or HPLC assays to quantitatively determine DAG mass, we observed a time-dependent increase in DAG accumulation upon incubation of rat C6 glioma cells with 200 nM endothelin-1 (ET-1). Total cell DAG rapidly increased by 25-35% from a basal level of 4.5 +/- 0.3 nmol/mg protein during one min of ET-1 treatment and remained constant or slightly decreased between 1 and 2 min. Thereafter, DAG increased to a maximum (1.6-fold above basal) by 5-10 min. and remained elevated to 30 min. Resolution of DAG molecular species by HPLC after incubation of cells with ET-1 revealed that accumulation of DAG species differed in total cell lysate and subcellular compartments. In plasma membrane, major DAG species increased at 1 min. followed by a decrease at 10 min. whereas in microsomes DAG species did not change at 1 min. and decreased at 10 min. Although phospholipid sources of DAG species were not identified specifically, there was preferential hydrolysis of molecular species of phospholipid for DAG production. We propose that molecular species of DAG produced at the plasma membrane may be transferred to the endoplasmic reticulum so that phospholipid resynthesis can replenish molecular species initially utilized in signal transduction.     

Abnormal fetal aortic velocity waveform and minor neurological dysfunction at 7 years of age

Measurements of fetal aortic blood flow velocity and fetal growth were performed in 178 pregnancies. In 87 cases, the estimated fetal weight was > or = 2 SD below the gestational age-related mean of the population. Three fetuses died in utero. In 149 children (85%), a neurological examination was performed at 7 years of age with special emphasis on minor neurological dysfunction. The frequency of the more severe form of minor neurological dysfunction, MND-2, was higher in the group with blood flow class (BFC) III (absent or reversed end-diastolic flow velocity (8/21) than in the group with BFC 0 (normal velocity waveform) (14/105). Logistic regression analysis revealed that abnormal blood flow class, both independently and in combination with other factors, was the most significant predictor of MND-2. The association found between abnormal fetal aortic velocity waveforms and adverse outcome in terms of minor neurological dysfunction suggests that hemodynamic evaluation of the fetus has a predictive value regarding postnatal neurological development.