Review on Engineering and Characterization of Activated Carbon Electrodes for Electrochemical Double Layer Capacitors and Separation Processes

Carbonaceous materials are highly important electrode materials due to their wide electrochemical window, inertness with a wide spectrum of electroactive materials, and the possibility to develop highly porous but yet conductive activated carbons. Carbon cloth electrodes could be prepared from simple polymeric materials such as cotton cloth (poly-cellulose) and then could be activated by mild oxidation processes (e.g., using CO₂ at elevated temperatures). Monolithic, conductive carbon cloth electrodes with specific surface area up to 2000 m²/g could be obtained and their porosity could be adjusted by the activation process and calibrated by adsorption processes from both gas and solution phases. Capacities up to 350 F/g could be obtained with activated carbon electrodes in acidic aqueous solutions, which makes these systems very promising for super-capacitor devices. Highly interesting are the correlations between electro-adsorption processes and the electrical properties of activated carbon electrodes, as described herein. This review provides useful guidelines for the engineering of porous carbon electrodes and their characterization by electrochemical, spectral, and physical methods.     

Teaching counselor trainees to respond consistently to different aspects of anger.

Examined the effects of verbal practice training procedures in teaching counselor trainees to consistently respond to 2 aspects of client anger: form (passive or aggressive manner) and direction (toward or away from the counselor). 48 graduate students were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 videotaped counselor training procedures. After training, each S was assigned to 2 of the 4 anger conditions and was asked to conduct 2 10-min counseling sessions. Ss in either of the 2 experimental conditions, verbal practice with modeling or verbal practice without modeling, were significantly more consistent in responding to the confederate clients' anger than were those in the control group. The treatment effects were maintained 1 wk later. Significant differences were also found for direction of client anger and the interaction between treatments and direction. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attributional style, depression, and perceptions of consensus for events.

This study examined the differences between depressed and nondepressed individuals' implicit perceptions of consensus, which may contribute to differences in their attributional styles. Subjects rated the extent to which positive, negative, and neutral events happen to themselves and to the average college student and completed measures of depth of depression and attributional style. Perceptions of consensus were highly correlated with all components of attributional style for negative and positive events. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that ratings of others explained variance in attributional style beyond that explained by ratings of the self for positive but not for negative events. Path analyses, however, indicated that the indirect path from perceptions of consensus to depression mediated through attributional style was nonsignificant for positive events, although it was significant for negative events. These findings are discussed in terms of the role of perceptions of others as precursors of attributional style and depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lusting for death: Unconscious fantasies in an ancient Jewish martyrdom text.

We examine the story of the martyrdom of a mother and her seven sons from Second Maccabees 7:1-42, a Greek text from the first century BCE. The story recounts the sons' refusal to eat pork, their torture at the hands of the king, the king's attempts to recruit the mother, her admonition to the sons that they should better die, and finally their deaths (all in one day). The mother and sons gain eternal life (merger) through their submission to the violent human king, an earthly father figure. Unlike animal sacrifice, which completely excluded women, the willingness to sacrifice one's life via martyrdom gives women an odd sense of agency. The mother plays a major role, but it is the role of giving away "motherhood" while instantiating the idealized object of the divine father. Martyrdom fulfills the same unconscious role as animal sacrifice, displacing the human mother in favor of a divine father, and in this case, a father who offers eternal life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Site-specific mutagenesis of the N-(deoxyguanosin-8-yl)-2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine DNA adduct in mammalian cells

 Site-specifically modified oligodeoxynucleotides were used to explore the mutagenic properties of a cooked food mutagen-derived DNA adduct, N-(deoxyguanosin-8-yl)-2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (dG-C8-PhIP). A dG-C8-PhIP-modified oligodeoxynucleotide was prepared post-synthetically by reacting an oligodeoxynucleotide containing a single dG (^5′-TCC TCC TCG CCT CTC T) with N-acetoxy-PhIP. The unmodified and dG-C8-PhIP-modified oligomers were inserted into single-strand (ss) phagemid vectors. These ss vectors were transfected into simian kidney (COS-7) cells. The progeny plasmid obtained was used to transform Escherichia coli DH10B. The transformants were analyzed by oligodeoxynucleotide hybridization and sequencing to determine the mutation frequency and spectrum. Preferential incorporation of dCMP, the correct base, was observed opposite dG-C8-PhIP. Targeted mutants showing G→T transversions were detected, along with a small number of G→A transitions and G→C transversions. Significant amounts of non-targeted mutations representing C→T transitions also were detected 5′ to the dG-C8-PhIP lesion. Thus, dG-C8-PhIP, a major DNA adduct induced by PhIP, is mutagenic in mammalian cells and may be involved in the initiation of human cancer. Received: 23 April 1998     

Orchestrating the emergence of conceptual learning: a case study in a geometry class

This paper is about orchestrating the emergence of conceptual learning in a collaborative setting. We elaborate on the idea of critical moments in group learning, events which may lead to a particular development at the epistemic level regarding the shared object. We conjecture that teachers’ identification of critical moments may help them guide students to the emergence of conceptual learning. The complexity of small group settings in classrooms prevents teachers from noticing these critical moments, though. Here we present an environment, SAGLET (System for Advancing Group Learning in Educational Technologies), based on the VMT (Virtual Math Teams) environment (Stahl 2009), which allows teachers to observe multiple groups engaging in problem-solving in geometry. SAGLET capitalizes on machine learning techniques to inform teachers about on-line critical moments by sending them alerts, so that they can then decide whether (and how) to use the alerts in guiding their students. One teacher in an elementary school used SAGLET to help multiple groups of students solve difficult problems in geometry. We observed how the teacher mediated two cohorts of multiple groups at two different times in a mathematics classroom. We show that in both cases the teacher could detect the needs of the groups (partly thanks to the alerts) and could provide adaptive guidance for all the groups.     

13.3‐inch 8k4k 664‐ppi foldable OLED display using crystalline oxide semiconductor FETs

A prototype 13.3‐inch 8k4k 664‐ppi high‐resolution foldable organic light emitting diode display is constructed. C‐axis aligned a‐b‐plane‐anchored crystal In–Ga–Zn oxide field effect transistors designed using a 1.5‐µm rule process are used in the backplane. Each pixel circuit has three transistors and one capacitor, and an external circuit is used to correct pixel current.     

Animal‐borne wireless network: Remote imaging of community ecology

This article describes the design, construction, and field‐testing of a standalone networked animal‐borne monitoring system conceived to study community ecology remotely. The system consists of an assemblage of identical battery‐powered sensing devices with wireless communication capabilities that are each collar‐mounted on a study animal and together form a mobile ad hoc network. The sensing modalities of each device include high‐definition video, inertial accelerometry, and location resolved via a global positioning system module. Our system is conceived to use information exchange across the network to enable the devices to jointly decide without supervision when and how to use each sensing modality. The ultimate goal is to extend battery life while making sure that important events are appropriately documented. This requires judicious use of highly informative but power‐hungry sensing modalities, such as video, because battery capacity is constrained by stringent weight and dimension restrictions. We have proposed algorithms to regulate sensing rates, data transmission among devices, and triggering for video recording based on location and animal group movements and configuration. We have also developed the hardware and firmware of our devices to reliably execute these algorithms in the exacting conditions of real‐life deployments. We describe validation of the performance and reliability of our system using deployment results for a mission in Gorongosa National Park (Mozambique) to monitor two species in their natural habitat: the waterbuck and the African buffalo. We present movement data and snapshots of animal point‐of‐view videos collected by 14 fully operational devices collared on 10 waterbucks and 4 buffaloes.     

Short-term effects of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase inhibitor on cholesterol and bile acid synthesis in humans

Competitive inhibitors of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase improve hypercholesterolemia. However, reports about the effects of these agents on bile acid synthesis, the metabolic pathway of cholesterol, are conflicting. We studied the short-term effect of one of these agents, pravastatin, on bile acid synthesis. Six male volunteers were given 40 mg of pravastatin. Plasma mevalonate level (which reflects cholesterol synthesis) and 7α-hydroxy-4-cholesten-3-one level 9which reflects bile acid synthesis) were measured every 2 h for 8 h. These plasma levels were compared to those of the same volunteers without pravastatin. Plasma mevalonate level after 2 h was lower than control (3.0 ± 1.1 ng/ml vs. 6.7 ± 2.5, mean ±SD; P<0.05). This decrease continued for 8 h (2.5 ± 0.8 vs. 5.2 ± 1.5; P<0.05). On the other hand, plasma 7α-hydroxy-4-cholesten-3-one level did not change until after 6 h; then at 8 h it was lower than control (15.7 ± 11.8 ng/mL vs. 24.7 ± 16.9; P <0.05). According to three-way layout analysis of variance, mevalonate level was influenced by both pravastatin treatment (P<0.01) and time-course (P<0.01). On the other hand, the 7α-hydroxy-4-cholesten-3-one level was affected by both individual difference (P<0.01) and time course (P<0.01), but pravastatin treatment did not influence this compound. This indicates that bile acid synthesis was not influenced by pravastatin, although cholesterol synthesis was inhibited. The shortterm inhibition of cholesterol synthesis did not affect bile acid synthesis.