The 1996 North American Interagency Intercomparison of Ultraviolet Monitoring Spectroradiometers

Concern over stratospheric ozone depletion has prompted several government agencies in North America to establish networks of spectroradiometers for monitoring solar ultraviolet irradiance at the surface of the Earth. To assess the ability of spectroradiometers to accurately measure solar ultraviolet irradiance, and to compare the results between instruments of different monitoring networks, the third North American Interagency Intercomparison of Ultraviolet Monitoring Spectroradiometers was held June 17–25, 1996 at Table Mountain outside Boulder, Colorado, USA. This Intercomparison was coordinated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Participating agencies were the Environmental Protection Agency; the National Science Foundation; the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center; the Department of Agriculture; and the Atmospheric Environment Service, Canada. The spectral irradiances of participants’ calibrated standard lamps were measured at NIST prior to the Intercomparison. The spectral irradiance scales used by the participants agreed with the NIST scale within the combined uncertainties, and for all lamps the spectral irradiance in the horizontal position was lower than that in the vertical position. Instruments were characterized for wavelength uncertainty, bandwidth, stray-light rejection, and spectral irradiance responsivity, the latter with NIST standard lamps operating in specially designed field calibration units. The spectral irradiance responsivity demonstrated instabilities for some instruments. Synchronized spectral scans of the solar irradiance were performed over several days. Using the spectral irradiance responsivities determined with the NIST standard lamps, the measured solar irradiances had some unexplained systematic differences between instruments.     

Bridges 2002: Mathematical Connections in Art,Music, and Science

Nexus Network Journal - .     

Evolution of tin whiskers and subsiding grains in thermal cycling

The evolution of surface morphology, including whisker formation, grain boundary cracking, and subsiding grains, was studied in Sn thin films on Si substrates with a Cu interlayer during thermal cycling from ?40 to 85 °C in air for up to 250 cycles and was compared with surface morphologies resulting from room temperature aging. Multiple areas were tracked, and the areal density of whiskers and the grain morphologies within these areas were monitored over time for room temperature aging and with increasing number of thermal cycles. During room temperature aging, the whisker density increased with time until saturation ~3 weeks after plating. As for thermal cycling, the whisker density was observed first to increase but then to decrease as a result of a whisker pinch-off phenomenon. The characteristic features of whiskers formed during thermal cycling included the formation of deep grooves along the in-plane grain boundaries of whiskers (“whisker root”), a decrease in whisker radii as they grew, striation rings on whiskers perpendicular to the whisker growth direction, corresponding striations along grooved surfaces in the film, albeit at different spatial periodicities than those on their corresponding whiskers, and whisker pinch-off as whiskers became prone to fracture as their radii decreased. Whiskers formed during room temperature aging did not display such grooving or pinch-off. A whisker pinch-off model was proposed to explain the observed morphological changes and the resulting decrease in whisker density during thermal cycling, with a calculated whisker growth rate that agrees with the experimental observation.     

Work week productivity,visual complexity,and individual environmental sensitivity in three offices of different color interiors

This report is the fourth in a series from a large scale study that examines the effects of three office color interiors (white, predominately red, and predominately blue‐green) on worker productivity. Matched on relevant variables, participants were assigned to one of three offices and performed simulated office tasks for four consecutive days. Productivity was measured through workers' task performance and task accuracy, taking into account individual differences in environmental sensitivity (i.e., stimulus screening). The findings suggested that the influences of interior colors on worker productivity were dependent upon individuals' stimulus screening ability and time of exposure to interior colors. Implications of office workers' long‐term productivity are discussed in relation to issues concerning the visual complexity of interior environments. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 32, 130 – 143, 2007     

Social support and the course of bipolar disorder.

The current study prospectively examined the impact of social support on symptom severity and recovery from episodes in bipolar disorder, both as a direct influence and as a buffer of life events. Fifty-nine individuals with Bipolar I disorder were followed longitudinally with monthly symptom severity interviews. Social support was measured by the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List and the Interview Schedule for Social Interaction, and life events were assessed using the Life Events and Difficulties Schedule. Individuals with low social support took longer to recover from episodes and were more symptomatic across a 6-month follow-up. Results suggest a polarity-specific effect, in that social support influences depression but not mania. Discussion focuses on theoretical implications of a series of polarity-specific findings within the field. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychotherapy integration as practiced by experts.

Twenty-four psychotherapists who were experts in psychotherapy integration and had a mean of 32 years of clinical experience completed a questionnaire assessing their practice history and fidelity to various psychodynamic, cognitive–behavioral, humanistic, and family systems theories. They then completed the 100-item Psychotherapy Process Q set (Jones, Hall, & Parke, 1991) modified to be a self-report questionnaire, based on a client they had treated using integrative therapy. Most therapists reported some influence of all 4 orientations, but almost three-quarters indicated that only 1 was a salient influence. Principal components factor analysis revealed 4 factors representing 4 integrative practice styles, which were then correlated with prior prototypes of cognitive–behavioral, psychodynamic, and interpersonal therapies. The first factor, accounting for just over half the variance, most resembled cognitive–behavioral therapy. The second factor shared elements of several orientations, whereas the third factor most resembled psychodynamic therapy. The responses of more than half the therapists loaded on more than 1 factor. Findings demonstrate a diversity of theoretical influences and practices among these experts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ramsay-curve item response theory (RC-IRT) to detect and correct for nonnormal latent variables.

Popular methods for fitting unidimensional item response theory (IRT) models to data assume that the latent variable is normally distributed in the population of respondents, but this can be unreasonable for some variables. Ramsay-curve IRT (RC-IRT) was developed to detect and correct for this nonnormality. The primary aims of this article are to introduce RC-IRT less technically than it has been described elsewhere; to evaluate RC-IRT for ordinal data via simulation, including new approaches for model selection; and to illustrate RC-IRT with empirical examples. The empirical examples demonstrate the utility of RC-IRT for real data, and the simulation study indicates that when the latent distribution is skewed, RC-IRT results can be more accurate than those based on the normal model. Along with a plot of candidate curves, the Hannan-Quinn criterion is recommended for model selection. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Derived Extracellular Vesicles to the Rescue of Renal Injury

Acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) are rising in global prevalence and cause significant morbidity for patients. Current treatments are limited to slowing instead of stabilising or reversing disease progression. In this review, we describe mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and their constituents, extracellular vesicles (EVs) as being a novel therapeutic for CKD. MSC-derived EVs (MSC-EVs) are membrane-enclosed particles, including exosomes, which carry genetic information that mimics the phenotype of their cell of origin. MSC-EVs deliver their cargo of mRNA, miRNA, cytokines, and growth factors to target cells as a form of paracrine communication. This genetically reprograms pathophysiological pathways, which are upregulated in renal failure. Since the method of exosome preparation significantly affects the quality and function of MSC-exosomes, this review compares the methodologies for isolating exosomes from MSCs and their role in tissue regeneration. More specifically, it summarises the therapeutic efficacy of MSC-EVs in 60 preclinical animal models of AKI and CKD and the cargo of biomolecules they deliver. MSC-EVs promote tubular proliferation and angiogenesis, and inhibit apoptosis, oxidative stress, inflammation, the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, and fibrosis, to alleviate AKI and CKD. By reprogramming these pathophysiological pathways, MSC-EVs can slow or even reverse the progression of AKI to CKD, and therefore offer potential to transform clinical practice.     

Position-specific effects within the SERIOL framework of letter-position coding

In the SERIOL (sequential encoding regulated by inputs to oscillations within letter units) framework, letter position within a word is encoded by the temporal firing pattern ofletter units. As opposed to channel-specific schemes, a letter unit can potentially represent any position. This lack of positional specificity is consistent with studies showing that priming can occur across different positions within a letter string (Grainger and Jacobs 1991, European Journal of Cognitive Psychology , 3: 413-434, Peressotti and Grainger 1995, Perception of Psychophysics , 57: 875-890). However, these studies also showed that same-position priming is more robust than this cross-position priming. This result seems inconsistent with non-position-specific letter units. Here we give an explanation of these results under the SERIOL framework. Using mathematical models, we show that broadly tuned feature detectors and an activational gradient can account for the complex experimental data on position-specific and cross-position letter priming.     

In Situ Bioremediation Technique for Sites Underlain by Silt and Clay

An in situ trickling filter system, named Trickling Trench, is being used to treat biodegradable organic compounds at a site underlain by silt and clay. This method provides the containment advantages of pump-and-treat remediation with the low-cost benefits of in situ bioremediation. A design method is presented using a conventional trickling filter analytical model with kinetic coefficients for various organic compounds calculated from published data. Performance monitoring data obtained from the Trickling Trench bioreactor are compared to design predictions.