Silicones as biomaterials

Silicon has the ability to form polymeric chains, commonly linear chains of dimethylsiloxane, although other organic groups can be substituted for methyl. In addition, the properties of the resultant silicone polymers can vary with composition and curing procedure. This leads to a wide range of materials known as the silicones. This group of polymers, which have excellent biocompatibility, have been utilised to develop and manufacture a wide range of biomedical products. These range from simple tubing to complex implants, for example those used to replace diseased finger joints. The versatility of these materials has led to silicone products being employed in almost every medical speciality.     

High activity, templated mesoporous SO4/ZrO2/HMS catalysts with controlled acid site density for α-pinene isomerisation

Highly active mesoporous SO₄/ZrO₂/HMS (hexagonal mesoroporous silica) solid acid catalysts with tuneable sulphated zirconia (SZ) content have been prepared for the liquid phase isomerisation of α-pinene. The mesoporous HMS framework is preserved during the grafting process as evidenced by the X-ray diffraction (XRD) and porosimetry with all SO₄/ZrO₂/HMS materials possessing average pore-diameters 20 Å. XRD confirms the presence of a stabilized tetragonal phase of nanoparticulate ZrO₂, with no evidence for zirconia phase separation or the formation of discrete crystallites, consistent with a uniform and highly dispersed SZ coating. The activity towards α-pinene isomerisation scales linearly with Zr loading, while the specific activities are an order of magnitude greater than attainable by conventional methodologies (1 versus 0.08 mol h⁻¹ g Zr⁻¹).     

Building the Confidence of Women Engineering Students With a New Course to Increase Understanding of Physical Devices

This paper discusses the first two offerings of an experimental course designed to overcome women engineering student's anxiety and intimidation about using mechanical and electrical devices. The design and implementation of the initial course are presented, the changes that were made in the second offering of the course are discussed, and feedback from students in the course is summarized. Principles and guidelines applicable to educational experiences aimed at addressing women engineering students' anxiety about hardware that were observed and developed by the authors are presented and discussed. Finally, future activities and plans are outlined.     

Thirty-month naturalistic follow-up study of early-onset dysthymic disorder: Course, diagnostic stability, and prediction of outcome.

Dysthymic disorder (DD) is defined and distinguished from major depressive disorder (MDD) largely on the basis of its course. Surprisingly, however, there have been few prospective, longitudinal studies of the naturalistic course of DD. This article reports the major findings from a prospective, longitudinal 30-month follow-up study of 86 outpatients with early-onset DD (EOD) and 39 outpatients with episodic MDD. Follow-up assessments included the Longitudinal Interval Follow-Up Evaluation and Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression. Compared with patients with episodic MDD, patients with EOD exhibited less improvement from the baseline evaluation and were more symptomatic at follow-up. Only 39% of patients with EOD recovered from DD during the follow-up period. The diagnosis of DD was fairly stable, with 52% of the EOD group meeting full criteria for DD at follow-up. These data provide prospective confirmation of the chronic course of DD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

ON-LINE MONITORING OF PAPERMAKING PROCESSES

As part of our continuing effort to improve monitoring and control in the pulp and paper industry, this work is concerned with fault detection and diagnosis in the papermaking process. It analyzes on-line data gathered from the real industrial process, investigates the cause/effect relationships, identifies latent variables responsible for paper machine operation and paper quality, and constructs multivariate control charts for more effective supervision and control. Based on multivariate statistical analysis, a new diagnosis method using the directional property of the observation residuals is also developed.     

Evaluating parents in child protection decisions: An innovative court-based clinic model.

Providing relevant, timely forensic evaluations is challenging because of the differing worlds of mental health and law. In this study, the authors evaluated an innovative, court-based clinic model for improving acquisition and use of clinical information in juvenile court in a 3-year pilot project prior to wide-scale implementation. The authors investigated the extent to which 170 evaluations of parents in the child protection division met criteria recommended in the forensic literature by comparing reports across four groups categorized by source (inside or outside court; part of pilot project or not). Findings suggested greater use of recommended practices and more timely, consistent reports by the pilot clinic. The findings provide preliminary support for the model and guidance for improving forensic evaluations in child protection. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting prison adjustment with structured personality inventories.

Investigated the degree to which individual scales and multivariate combinations of scales on the MMPI and the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) could predict criteria of adjustment in prison. Ss were 1,313 male inmates (mean age 22.2 yrs) at a federal correctional institution who were admitted over a 2-yr period. Two-thirds of the sample was used as a derivation sample and one-third was used for cross-validation. Ss completed the scales soon after incarceration. Results support the construct validity of several MMPI and CPI scales, but the absolute magnitude of the associations was low. Combinations of MMPI and CPI scales produced higher multiple correlations but generally did not hold up on cross-validation. It is concluded that neither the MMPI or CPI scales or weighted linear combinations thereof provided enough accuracy to be used alone for individual actuarial prediction. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of nicotine fading and relapse prevention on smoking cessation.

In a pilot study, a combined nicotine-fading/relapse-prevention program for 24 smokers (mean age 38.6 yrs) achieved a 46% abstinence rate at 6-mo follow-up. The combined program was then compared to conditions in which 46 smokers (mean age 34.8 yrs) received nicotine fading or relapse prevention only or combination treatment. There was no difference among groups in abstinence or rate at any follow-up point, and overall abstinence levels were only 15% and 9% at 6-mo and 1-yr follow-ups, respectively. Groups receiving nicotine fading tended to retain lower estimated nicotine intake levels. (3 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of the cognitive appraisal and understanding of social events (CAUSE) videos.

This study describes the development and validation of 4 videos designed to assess adolescent cognitive appraisals and understanding of social events (the CAUSE Videos). Story lines varied in outcome (2 negative and 2 ambiguous). Convergent and divergent validity were tested in samples of college freshmen and sophomores. As hypothesized, threatening interpretations during ambiguous situations were positively associated with trait hostility (convergent validity) but were not significantly associated with aggression (divergent validity). Negative video interpretations were not significantly associated with hostility or aggression. These videos provide a valid method for assessing adolescents' appraisals of ambiguous and negative social situations in a laboratory setting and may be used to test hypotheses about cognitive processes underlying associations such as that between low socioeconomic status and health in adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)