The Effectiveness of Telephone-Based Continuing Care in the Clinical Management of Alcohol and Cocaine Use Disorders: 12-Month Outcomes.

This study of continuing care for substance dependent patients compared a telephone-based monitoring and brief counseling intervention (TEL) with 2 face-to-face interventions, relapse prevention (RP) and standard 12-step group counseling (STND). The participants were graduates of intensive outpatient programs who had current dependence on alcohol and/or cocaine. Self-report, collateral, and biological measures of alcohol and cocaine use were obtained over a 12-month follow-up. The treatment groups did not differ on abstinence-related outcomes in the complete sample (N = 359) or on cocaine use outcomes in participants with cocaine dependence (n = 268). However, in participants with alcohol dependence only (n = 91), TEL produced better alcohol use outcomes than STND on all measures examined and better outcomes than RP on some of the measures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multi-Scale Spoken Document Retrieval for Cantonese Broadcast News

This paper presents the application of a multi-scale paradigm to Chinese spoken document retrieval (SDR) for improving retrieval performance. Multi-scale refers to the use of both words and subwords for retrieval. Words are basic units in a language that carry lexical meaning, and subword units (such as phonemes, syllables or characters) are building components for words. Retrieval using subword indexing units is better than retrieval using words because of the robustness of subword units to out-of-vocabulary (OOV) words during speech recognition and ambiguities in word segmentation. Experimental results have demonstrated that subword bigrams can bring improvement in retrieval performance over words (～9.56%). Application of multi-scale fusion to SDR aims at combining the lexical information of words and the robustness of subwords. This work presents the first detailed investigation for a Cantonese broadcast news retrieval task using two different multi-scale fusion approaches: pre-retrieval fusion and post-retrieval fusion. Multi-scale retrieval using both words and syllable bigrams achieves improvement in retrieval performance (～1.90%) over retrieval on the composite scales.     

Lead-free multilayer piezoelectric transformer

In this article, a multilayer piezoelectric transformer based on lead-free Mn-doped 0.94(Bi(12)Na(12))TiO(3)-0.06BaTiO(3) ceramics is presented. This piezoelectric transformer, with a multilayered construction in the thickness direction, is 8.3 mm long, 8.3 mm wide, and 2.3 mm thick. It operates in the second thickness extensional vibration mode. For a temperature rise of 20 degrees C, the transformer has an output power of >0.3 W. With a matching load resistance of 10 Omega, its maximum efficiency approaches 81.5%, and the maximum voltage gain is 0.14. It has potential to be used in low voltage power supply units such as low power adapter and other electronic circuits.     

Mice Lacking Gpr179 with Complete Congenital Stationary Night Blindness Are a Good Model for Myopia

Mutations in GPR179 are one of the most common causes of autosomal recessive complete congenital stationary night blindness (cCSNB). This retinal disease is characterized in patients by impaired dim and night vision, associated with other ocular symptoms, including high myopia. cCSNB is caused by a complete loss of signal transmission from photoreceptors to ON-bipolar cells. In this study, we hypothesized that the lack of Gpr179 and the subsequent impaired ON-pathway could lead to myopic features in a mouse model of cCSNB. Using ultra performance liquid chromatography, we show that adult Gpr179^−/− mice have a significant decrease in both retinal dopamine and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid, compared to Gpr179^+/+ mice. This alteration of the dopaminergic system is thought to be correlated with an increased susceptibility to lens-induced myopia but does not affect the natural refractive development. Altogether, our data added a novel myopia model, which could be used to identify therapeutic interventions.     

Consumption of fish from a contaminated lake strongly affects the concentrations of polybrominated diphenyl ethers and hexabromocyclododecane in serum

Very high concentrations of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) have been reported in fish from Lake Mj?sa in Norway. This study was performed to examine the serum concentrations of PBDE and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) in consumers of fish from this lake and to investigate possible relationships between serum concentrations, self-reported fish intake and calculated total dietary PBDE exposure. Serum concentrations of the sum of the seven PBDE (BDE-28, 47, 99, 100, 153, 154 and 183) were significantly higher than those of a reference group of Norwegians eating only food with background levels of contamination (medians: 18 ng/g lipids men, 8.4 ng/g lipids women). The median dietary intake of Sum 7 PBDE was 2549 ng/day (30 ng/kg body weight/day), the highest dietary intake of PBDE reported. The contribution from fish caught from the contaminated lake comprised 98.7% of the total dietary exposure. For men, serum levels of PBDE were strongly correlated with the calculated dietary exposure, except for BDE-209. This suggests that sources other than the diet are important for human BDE-209 exposure. The median serum HBCD concentration was 4.1 and 2.6 ng/g lipids for men and women, respectively, and was also found to be associated with consumption of fish from Lake Mj?sa.     

固体电介质中空间电荷分布与极化分布的测量方法及其比较

目前有两种主要的固体电介质中空间电荷分布与极化分布的测量方法,压力波法（ＰＷＰ法）与电声脉冲法（ＰＥＡ法）,本文介绍了这两种方法的基本原理与测量技术。用激光感应的压力波法（也叫ＬＩＰＰ法）和用氟聚合物压电薄膜的电声脉冲法对同一个已极化的Ｐ（ＶＤＦＴｒＦＥ）试样进行了极化分布的测量,并对实际测量结果进行了比较与讨论。     

RATE OF DECOMPOSITION OF KYANITE AT VARIOUS TEMPERATURES*

The rate at which North Carolina kyanite of various grain sizes decomposes into mullite and glass in the range 1350° to 1600 °C. is given. Kyanite from other sources is also discussed.     

Clean seas: a North Sea test site

The Clean Seas project focused on the role that existing Earth observing satellites might play in monitoring marine pollution. Results are presented here from August 1997, for the North Sea test site, using sea surface temperature (SST), colour and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images in conjunction with a hydrodynamic model. There was good correlation between data sources, e.g. between SST and ERS-2 SAR images. Both datasets showed the development of fine plume structures close to the Rhine outflow, apparently associated with the outflow, and possibly caused by tidal pulsing of the Rhine Plume.

The model reproduced general temperature and sediment distributions well, but fine structures were not reproduced. Model sediment distribution patterns were verified using ‘chlorophyll concentration’ data from colour sensors, representative of sediment concentration in turbid water. In conjunction with the visible channels of the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer and Along-Track Scanning Radiometer, they give an uncalibrated measure of the sediment load. The model gives a more complete picture of the temporal dispersion of the Rhine Plume over time than is evident from the remotely sensed data alone.     

Facile Synthesis and Proposed Mechanism of α,ω‐Oxetanyl-Telechelic Poly(3-nitratomethyl-3-methyl oxetane) by an SN2(i) Nitrato Displacement Method in Basic Media

The synthesis of a novel heterocyclic–telechelic polymer, α,ω-oxetanyl-telechelic poly(3-nitratomethyl-3-methyl oxetane), is described. Infrared spectroscopy (IR), gel permeation chromatography (GPC), and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy have been used to confirm the successful synthesis, demonstrating the presence of the telechelic-oxetanyl moieties. Synthesis of the terminal functionalities has been achieved via displacement of nitrato groups, in a manner similar to that employed with other leaving groups such as azido, bromo, and nitro, initiated by nucleophiles. In the present case, displacement occurs on the ends of a nitrato-functionalized polymer driven by the formation of sodium nitrate, which is supported by the polar aprotic solvent N,N-dimethyl formamide. The formation of an alkoxide at the polymer chain ends is favored and allows internal back-biting to the nearest carbon bearing the nitrato group, intrinsically in an S_N2(i) reaction, leading to α,ω-oxetanyl functionalization. The telechelic-oxetanyl moieties have the potential to be cross-linked by chemical (e.g., acidic) or radiative (e.g., ultraviolet) curing methods without the use of high temperatures, usually below 100°C. This type of material was designed for future use as a contraband simulant, whereby it would form the predominant constituent of elastomeric composites comprising rubbery polymer with small quantities of solids, typically crystals of contraband substances, such as explosives or narcotics. This method also provides an alternative approach to ring closure and synthesis of heterocycles.