Heat transfers in treatment furnaces

For heat treating cylindrical metal billets, their lay-out in a furnace usually resembles that of an in-line heat-exchanger tube bank, with the air flows orthogonal to the billets. For maximum effectiveness of transferring thermal energy from the forced convecting air to the billets, the optimal horizontal pitch-to-diameter ratio for the billets should be 1·33 ± 0·05. For this same purpose it is advantageous to employ a vertical spacing (between the billets) as large as can be permitted for a given load of billets.     

Effects of Fimbria-Fornix, Hippocampus, and Amygdala Lesions on Discrimination Between Proximal Locations.

The conditioned cue preference (CCP) task was used to study the information required to discriminate between spatial locations defined by adjacent arms of an 8-arm radial maze. Normal rats learned the discrimination after 3 unreinforced preexposure (PE) sessions and 4 food paired-unpaired training trials. Fimbria-fornix lesions made before, but not after, PE, and hippocampus lesions made at either time, blocked the discrimination, suggesting that the 2 structures processed different information. Lateral amygdala lesions made before PE facilitated the discrimination. This amygdala-mediated interference with the discrimination was the result of a conditioned approach response that did not discriminate between the 2 arm locations. A hippocampus/fimbria-fornix system and an amygdala system process different information about the same learning situation simultaneously and in parallel. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Response of dairy cows to high doses of a sustained-release bovine somatotropin administered during two lactations. 2. Health and reproduction.

Eighty-two lactating Holstein cows in their first, second, or third lactation received either one, three, or five concurrent i.m. injections of a unit dose (.6 g) of zinc methionyl bST (sometribove) or five doses of the vehicle. Injections were given at 14-d intervals from 60 +/- 3 d postpartum until the end of lactation or necropsy. Thirty-eight animals were continued on treatment for a 2nd yr. Sometribove did not affect the incidence of ketosis, milk fever, tetany, or pneumonia. Digestive disorders, primarily cows going off feed, were increased by bST during yr 1 only. The incidence of lameness was increased by bST in some time frames because of an increase in the 3.0-g bST group. Lameness was not associated with treatment-specific histopathologic changes or with abnormalities in cartilage or bone. Reproductive health generally was unaffected by treatment, but delayed conception and increased incidence of abortion were noted. Incidence of cystic ovaries was unaffected by bST. Pregnancy rates were decreased during the 100-d breeding interval of yr 1 but not during the 215-d interval of yr 2. The incidence of clinical mastitis was increased by bST, primarily at the 3.0-g dose. During the 2-yr study, 0, 3, 3, and 2 cows died or became moribund on 0, .6, 1.8, and 3.0 g of bST, respectively. Health issues identified for further evaluation included lameness and clinical mastitis for the 3.0-g group and early removal from the herd and decreased reproductive performance for all bST groups. Bovine somatotropin caused no treatment-specific toxic effects in dairy cows even at 3.0 g every 14 d.     

Failure mechanism study of anisotropic conductive film (ACF) packages

Anisotropic conductive film (ACF) consists of an adhesive polymer matrix with dispersed conductive particles. In flip-chip technology, ACF has been used in place of solder and underfill for chip attachment to glass or organic substrates. The filler particles establish the electrical contacts between the interconnecting areas. ACF flip-chip bonding provides finer pitch, higher package density, reduced package size and improved lead-free compatibility. Nevertheless, the interconnection is different from traditional solder joints, the integrity and durability of the ACF interconnects have major concerns. Failures in anisotropic conductive film (ACF) parts have been reported after temperature cycling, moisture preconditioning and autoclave. The failures have not been well understood and have been attributed to a wide variety of causes. This paper investigates the failure mechanism of ACF using finite element simulation. From a failure-initiation point of view, the response of ACF packages to environmental (temperature and humidity) exposure is very different from standard underfilled packages. These differences cause the ACF package to fail in different ways from an underfilled package. Simulation results have shown that moisture-induced ACF swelling and delamination is the major cause of ACF failure. With moisture absorption, the loading condition at the interface is tensile-dominant, which corresponds to lower interface toughness (or fracture resistance). This condition is more prone to interface delamination. Therefore, the reliability of ACF packages is highly dependent on the ACF materials. The paper suggests a new approach toward material selection for reliable ACF packages. This approach has very good correlation with experimental results and reliability testing of various ACF materials.     

Congenital adrenal hyperplasia presenting as massive adrenal incidentalomas in the sixth decade of life: report of two patients with 21-hydroxylase deficiency

Divergent recommendations exist regarding the evaluation of adrenal incidentalomas. Recent data have indicated a prevalence of adrenal tumors of 71% in nonclassical congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) and unmasked heterozygotes. These data expand the differential diagnosis of such incidental tumors and substantially modify the approach to their evaluation. We present two patients, female pseudohermaphrodites with the simple virilizing form of CAH and 21-hydroxylase deficiency, who functioned successfully as married phenotypic males. Both came to medical attention in the sixth decade by virtue of massive adrenal incidentalomas encountered in the evaluation of recurrent urinary tract infections. Each had a 46, XX karyotype, no palpable testes, and markedly elevated baseline levels of 17-hydroxyprogesterone (17-OH Prog) of 6086 ng/dL and 6750 ng/dL. Both responded appropriately to dexamethasone suppression with reduction of 17-OH Prog, androgens and, in the second patient, ACTH to normal or near normal levels. Histologic and autopsy examination of the first patient's tumor and computed tomographic characteristics of the second revealed a benign adenoma and myelolipoma respectively. We extend and confirm previous recommendations that CAH be included in the differential diagnosis of adrenal incidentaloma and that baseline 17-OH Prog. levels be obtained, with ACTH stimulation if necessary, to diagnose the presence of nonclassical CAH.     

Dietary disinhibition, perceived stress, and glucose control in young, Type 1 diabetic women.

Examining the relationship of stress, dietary disinhibition, and blood glucose control in diabetic young women was the goal of this study. 65 diabetic girls and women, ranging in age from 12 to 26 yrs, completed eating behaviors and perceived stress scales during regular clinic visits. Blood glucose control was assessed by concurrent glycosylated hemoglobin measurements. Multiple regression analyses indicated that high levels of perceived stress predicted dietary disinhibition and that within the age range studied, young women were more likely than early adolescent girls to perceive their life as stressful. Contrary to previous findings that failed to show that stress can indirectly affect glucose control by interfering with compliance behaviors, the present work indicated a Stress?×?Dietary Disinhibition interaction in predicting glucose control. Blood glucose control was poorest in those diabetic women who both perceived their lives as stressful and reported medium to high disinhibition. Blood glucose control was unrelated to stress in young women who reported low levels of disinhibition. These results have implications for the development of specific interventions for young diabetic women who perceive their lives as stressful and who may respond to stress by eating. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)