Failed empathy--a central theme in the survivor's holocaust experience.

In this article, we concern ourselves with massive traumatic events deliberately inflicted on individuals by fellow human beings. Specifically, we focus on the Holocaust and the fact that massive failure of the environment to mediate needs, as in genocide, will throw into question the existence of empathy, human communication, and ultimately ones own humanity, to which any mirroring ceases to exist. Such a life experience will represent, to the survivor of trauma, failure of a responsive empathic agent or function. Because it is precisely representations of need-satisfying interactions that provide the basis for links between personal existence and social connectedness, undermining the individual's representation of the need-mediating context will deconstruct the link between self and other. Destruction of the victim's representational matrix of interpersonal relatedness results in a vulnerability and loneliness in his or her internal world representation which is the sine qua non of man-made trauma. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Water-soluble copolymers: 22. Copolymers of acrylamide with 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanedimethylammonium chloride: Aqueous solution properties of a polycation

The viscometric, turbidimetric and potentiometric properties of copolymers of acrylamide (AM) with 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanedimethylammonium chloride (AMPDAC) were studied in aqueous solutions. The AMPDAC polymers exhibit poor salt tolerance and large, negative viscosity/temperature coefficients. Furthermore, the polymers were found to be sensitive to changes in pH. The AMPDAC polymers undergo phase separation in the presence of dianions as a function of temperature and AMPDAC composition.     

Fast location of high-order modes for boxed microstrip with finite strip thickness

Many analyses of boxed microstrip discontinuities require the location of large numbers of high-order modes. Using Sturm-Liouville theory, this letter derives a relationship between microstrip modes and slab-loaded guide modes, leading to an efficient mode location algorithm for microstrip, including microstrip with finite strip thickness.<>     

Mutagenicity of three agricultural soils

A chemical and biological testing protocol was employed to evaluate the mutagenic potential of the organic compounds extracted from three agricultural soils. The analytical procedures used included bioassays with Salmonella typhimurium and Aspergillus nidulans for the detection of point mutations and a gas chromatography/mass spectrometry/computer system to identify major organic constituents. The extracts of all three soils exhibited mutagenic response in the bioassays. At a dose level of 1000 micrograms per plate, the organic extract of the Bastrop clay induced 434 net revertants; while at the same dose level the Norwood sandy clay and the Sassafrass sandy loam induced 35 and 178 net revertants, respectively, in the Salmonella assay with metabolic activation. In the Aspergillus assay, the extract of the Norwood and Bastrop soils induced a positive response without metabolic activation; this effect was reduced or eliminated in the presence of metabolic activation. Chemical analysis identified a variety of initiators, promotors, inhibitors, and cocarcinogens; however, there were no mutagenic compounds identified in any of the soil extracts. The results of this combined testing protocol indicate that the agricultural soils tested had an inherent level of mutagenic activity, which was not detected by GC/MS analysis alone, and this activity may be related to the past history of agricultural practices, including biocide applications, fertilization, and cultivation.     

Secure handover in enterprise WLANs: capwap, hokey, and IEEE 802.11R [recent advances and evolution of WLAN and WMAN standards]

As wireless LANs become more and more ubiquitous, the number and types of applications they support are ever increasing. As realtime performance requirements begin to emerge, the latency involved in a handover from one access point to another becomes crucial. CAPWAP and HOKEY are two suites of protocols being defined and standardized within the IETF that include support for fast handover. IEEE 802.11r is implementing extensions to the IEEE 802.11 base specification to directly support fast handover in the MAC protocol. This article details all three protocols, and compares their relative security properties, performance, and use cases.     

Ultrafast IR Laser Writing of Strong Bragg Gratings Through the Coating of High Ge-Doped Optical Fibers

Strong fiber Bragg gratings were written through the standard polymer coatings of "off-the-shelf" high numerical aperture single-mode optical fibers after a few seconds exposure with femtosecond pulse durations of infrared radiation through a phase mask. While writing through the acrylate coating, we obtained index modulations of up to 1.4 x 10^-3 and 7 x 10^-4 with and without H₂ -loading, respectively.     

DefibViz: A Visualization Tool for the Assessment of Electrode Parameters on Transthoracic Defibrillation Thresholds

DefibViz is a software application developed for defibrillation simulation and visualization. It exploits both surface techniques and methods for the interactive exploration of volumetric datasets for the analysis of transthoracic defibrillation simulation results. DefibViz has a graphical user interface for the specification of the shape, size, position, and applied voltage of a defibrillator's electrodes. An option is provided for using 3D slice plane widgets, which operate on the volumetric datasets, such that the distribution of the voltage gradient induced by an electric shock can be visually inspected in various tissues throughout the myocardium and torso. One goal of DefibViz is to enhance understanding of how electrode parameters relate to the change of the voltage gradient distribution throughout the heart, which may help lead to optimal defibrillator design. DefibViz is significant, in that, it is built by using an open-source graphics and visualization framework providing a platform for subsequent modifiability and extensibility. Moreover, it integrates simulation and visualization techniques, which previously required the running of several independent software executables, into an enhanced, seamless, and comprehensive software application.     

A Radiation Imaging Detector Made by Postprocessing a Standard CMOS Chip

An unpackaged microchip is used as the sensing element in a miniaturized gaseous proportional chamber. This letter reports on the fabrication and performance of a complete radiation imaging detector based on this principle. Our fabrication schemes are based on wafer-scale and chip-scale postprocessing. Compared to hybrid-assembled gaseous detectors, our microsystem shows superior alignment precision and energy resolution, and offers the capability to unambiguously reconstruct 3D radiation tracks on the spot.     

Behavioral and subjective effects of D-amphetamine and modafinil in healthy adults.

Modafinil is indicated for the management of excessive daytime sleepiness; however, recent studies have examined a broad range of potential uses. Given that clinical uses of modafinil may be expanding, this study compared modafinil and d-amphetamine effects on subjective and performance measures. Across 11 sessions, 11 healthy adults were tested after oral doses of placebo (5 sessions), modafinil (1.75 mg/kg, 3.50 mg/kg, or 7.00 mg/kg), and d-amphetamine (0.035 mg/kg, 0.070 mg/kg, 0.140 mg/kg) under double-blind, randomized conditions. Assessments of cognitive performance and subjective effects were completed before drug administration, 30 min after drug administration, and at hourly intervals after drug administration for 5 hr. Modafinil increased ratings on the Amphetamine and Morphine Benzedrine Group scales of the Addiction Research Center Inventory (ARCI) and increased ratings on the Vigor and Total Positive scales of the Profile of Mood States. d-Amphetamine increased visual analog ratings of feeling stimulated and liking the drug and increased ratings on the Morphine Benzedrine Group scale of the ARCI. Both medications significantly reduced visual analog scale ratings of feeling sleepy, and modafinil decreased ratings on the ARCI Pentobarbital-Chlorpromazine-Alcohol Group scale. Both medications sustained performance that deteriorated across time on the Sternberg Number Recognition Test. Modafinil also enhanced performance rate on the Digit-Symbol Substitution Task above baseline levels and increased response rate on the Repeated Acquisition of Response Sequences Task. These results suggest that modafinil engenders alerting effects and increases performance in healthy non-sleep-deprived individuals comparable with that of d-amphetamine. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)