The "quasi-thermal" mechanism for electron beam damage of n-paraffins

Electron diffraction patterns from epitaxially grown microcrystals of n-hexatriacontane, which are slightly damaged by the electron beam, strongly resemble those from the same material when it is warmed just below the pre-melt hexagonal phase. The identity of these diffraction patterns, which display a marked attenuation of lamellar 001 reflections but much less alteration of the strongest reflections, implies that both processes occur via the induction of chain defects which, in turn, generate chain-end voids in the crystal packing. Such defects, however, need not be identical for the two events. With warming they are probably the gtg-1 kink and the gauche chain conformers identified by infrared spectroscopy. The creation of trans vinylene groups during radiation damage will also increase chain flexibility, and perhaps induce the production of gtg-1 kinks.     

Suicide by fire: a contemporary method of political protest

Suicide by fire (self-incineration)for the purpose of political protest has appeared in several countries during the previous decade. In this paper, the history of this form of suicide has been explored. The authors examined all cases of suicide by fire reported in the London Times and New York Times between 1790 and 1972. Seventy-one per cent of these reported suicides occurred during the most recent decade, 1963 to 1972, with all cases of political self-incineration occurring during this period. The socio-cultural context in which this form of protest may occur, and the psychological factors in individuals who choose this method of suicide are both discussed. It is suggested that the occurrence of self-incineration as a means of political protest may be yielding to more aggressive acts of terrorism as popular methods of forcing political change.     

High rates of [1-14C]acetate incorporation into the lipid of isolated spinach chloroplasts

Spinach chloroplasts, isolated by techniques yielding preparations with high O2- evolving activity, showed rates of light-dependent acetate incorporation into lipids 3-4 fold higher than any previously reported. Incorporation rates as high as 500 nmol of acetate/h per mg of chlorophyll were measured in buffered sorbitol solutions containing only NaHCO3 and [1-14C]acetate, and as high as 800 nmol/h per mg of chlorophyll when 0.13 mM-Triton X-100 was also included in the reaction media. The fatty acids synthesized were predominantly oleic (70-80% of the total fatty acid radioactivity) and palmitic (20-25%) with only minor amounts (1-5%) of linoleic acid. Linolenic acid synthesis was not detected in the system in vitro. Free fatty acids accounted for 70-90% of the radioactivity incorporated and the remainder was shared fairly evenly between 1,2-diacylglycerols and polar lipids. Oleic acid constituted 80-90% of the free fatty acids synthesized, but the diacylglycerols and polar lipids contained slightly more palmitic acid than oleic acid. Triton X-100 stimulated the synthesis of diacylglycerols 3-6 fold, but stimulated free fatty acid synthesis only 1-1.5-fold. Added glycerol 1-phosphate stimulated both the synthesis of diacylglycerols and palmitic acid relative to oleic acid, but did not increase acetate incorporation into total chloroplast lipids. CoA and ATP, when added separately, stimulated acetate incorporation into chloroplast lipids to variable extents and had no effect on the types of lipid synthesized, but when added together resulted in 34% of the incorporated acetate appearing in long-chain acyl-CoA. Pyruvate was a much less effective precursor of chloroplast fatty acids than was acetate.     

Evaluating Vocational Interventions: A Tale of Two Career Development Seminars.

Formal evaluation of two career development seminars was conducted to determine what kind of vocational interventions were helping what kind of people. Students experienced a wide variety of vocational treatments (e.g., standardized inventories, workbooks, writing exercises, discussions, individual counseling) and were asked to rate the helpfulness of each vocational intervention. No interactions between characteristics of students and treatment ratings were found, but an overall main effect of all treatments on raising students' level of vocational identity was found. Suggestions are made for improving the management and evaluation of career development seminars. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of gas purity on the reflectance and resistivity of magnetron sputtered aluminium and its alloys

The relative optical reflectance and electrical resistivity have been measured of thick films (～1μm) deposited by sputtering Al in a planar magnetron using Ar and Ar + O₂ mixtures. The results obtained have a practical value in indicating the power input and related deposition rate required for given discharge conditions to obtain Al-films with a high reflectance and bulk resistivity.     

An assessment of sand source heat pump systems

Two small scale heat pumps have been built to extract heat from warm dry sand. the earlier unit uses R12B1 as the working fluid and the later one R11. the experimental data demonstrate the possibility of providing sterilized water in remote areas using warm dry sand as a heat source. Unsteady state heat transfer rates were measured using an electrically heated tube installed axially in a cylinder of sand. the results agree closely with those predicted by theory. Heat extraction data also obtained by passing cold water through the ground coil of the heat pump.     

A personality inventory employing occupational titles.

The hypothesis that "a useful personality inventory might be constructed from occupational or interest test content" was explored further with the Holland Vocational Preference Inventory. 10 scales survived cluster analysis, using 300 college freshmen, and to these were added masculinity-femininity, status, infrequency, and acquiescence scales. Estimated retest reliability after 4 months had a median of .75. Differentiation was obtained between matched control and psychiatric samples. Profiles of university freshmen on the basis of college choice were also differentiated. 15 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Variation in chemical composition of apple leaves

A study was made of the variation in percentage N, P, K, Ca, and Mg in leaf dry matter, as observed in a three-year survey of forty commercial apple orchards. The contributions due to variation between years, orchards, trees, samples, and laboratory determinations were estimated, and the theory of random errors was found to apply. In general, results were not greatly affected by the methods of analysis employed by different laboratories, and ‘haphazard’—as distinct from truly random—selection of sample trees was found to be an adequate practical procedure.