Framing the construct of life satisfaction in terms of older adults' personal goals.

Older adults' life satisfaction can be better understood in light of their personal goals. This study of 179 elders examined (1) how goals correlate with satisfaction, (2) whether elders maintain satisfaction by accommodating goals to past losses, and (3) how correlations between satisfaction and key predictors differ among groups with different goals. Satisfaction was related positively to social maintenance and energetic lifestyle goals and negatively to concerns for improvement, disengagement, stability, and reduced activity. Past losses were correlated with current goals but not with satisfaction, consistent with the notion of accommodation. A cluster analysis identified 5 patterns of goals: high demand, age prescribed, self-focused, socially engaged, and low demand. Correlations between satisfaction and other predictors differed by cluster, suggesting that the determinants of elders' satisfaction depend on personal goals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Distinguishing anxiety and depression: Reexamination of the reconstructed Hamilton scales.

The discriminant validities of the original and the reconstructed Hamilton anxiety and depression scales (J. H. Riskind et al, 1987) were compared in patients who had principal Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-III—Revised (DSM-III—R) anxiety disorders with or without 1 or more comorbid mood disorders. The reconstructed anxiety and depression scales had better discriminant validity (scale intercorrelation?=?.61) than the original scales did (r?=?.78). However, the reconstructed scales shared considerable variance (about 37%), which was significantly higher than the shared variance (about 2%) reported by Riskind et al. Discriminant analyses showed that the reconstructed scales did not distinguish anxiety patients with comorbid mood disorders from those without comorbid mood disorders better than the original scales did. However, the reconstructed scales eliminate item overlap, an obvious source of artifactual correlations between scores on the Hamilton anxiety and depression scales. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

In-house validation of an ELISA method for screening of semicarbazide in eggs

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method is described for the semi-quantitative determination of semicarbazide (SEM), the marker residue for the banned nitrofuran drug, nitrofurazone, in chicken eggs. The sample homogenate is subjected to acid hydrolysis and derivatisation with o-nitrobenzaldehyde, followed by ethyl acetate/hexane extraction and detection by ELISA. The ELISA procedure has been validated using 0.3, 1.0 and 3 microg kg(-1) of SEM in fortified samples. Detection capability (CC(ss)) was based on the acceptance of 5% false compliant results for a given concentration level according to Commission Decision 2002/657/EC and was determined to be 0.3 microg kg(-1) with a respective limit of detection of 0.13 microg kg(-1). A validated LC-MS/MS method was used for the analysis of incurred egg samples and the results compared with ELISA. A good correlation between the results obtained from ELISA and LC-MS/MS within the concentration range 0.12-20.3 microg kg(-1) was observed in samples collected from chickens fed with a medicated ration of nitrofurazone (r = 0.992, n = 14). Validated ELISA enabled reliable monitoring of SEM levels in eggs collected from incurred chickens over a 90-day period.     

Carbon‐nanotube electron emitters for display applications

Abstract— The optoelectronic, mechanical, and thermal properties of carbon nanotubes have made them very attractive for a wide range of potential applications. However, many applications require the growth of aligned/micropatterned carbon nanotubes with or without a modified nanotube surface. We have developed several simple pyrolytic methods for large‐scale production of aligned carbon‐nanotube arrays perpendicular to the substrate surface. We have also used photolithographic and soft‐lithographic techniques to pattern our aligned carbon nanotubes with submicron resolution. These aligned carbon‐nanotube arrays can be transferred onto various substrates of particular interest (e.g., on conducting substrates as electron emitters for flat‐panel displays) in either a patterned or non‐patterned fashion. The well‐aligned structure further allows us to prepare aligned coaxial nanowires of carbon nanotubes sheathed with polymers and to modify the surface of individual carbon nanotubes by plasma treatment. These aligned/micropatterned carbon nanotubes with and without surface modification possess desirable properties for electron emission applications.     

Studies on the oxidation of enamines with molecular oxygen. I. Oxidation of Some Piperidino Alkenes

In the autoxidation of 1-piperidinocyclohex-1-ene ( 1 ), 1-piperidinobut-1-ene ( 2 ), 3-piperidinopent-2-ene ( 3 ), and 1-piperidino-2-methyl-prop-1-ene( 4 ) only products of an oxidative attack at the CC-double bond are formed. Both α-aminoketones, the products of the rearrangement of primarily formed epoxides, and products of the oxidative session of the CC double bond are obtained. As a side reaction some hydrolysis of the starting enamines takes place. This hydrolysis proves that some water must be formed during the enamine oxidation.     

Influence of a joining helix on the BLUF domain of the YcgF photoreceptor from Escherichia coli

BLUF-domain-comprising photoreceptors sense blue light by utilizing FAD as a chromophore. The ycgF gene product of Escherichia coli is composed of a N-terminal BLUF domain and a C-terminal EAL domain, with the latter postulated to catalyze c-di-GMP hydrolysis. The linkage between these two domains involves a predominantly helical segment. Its role on the function of the YcgF photoreceptor domain was examined by characterizing BLUF domains with and without this segment and reconstituting them with either FAD, FMN or riboflavin. The stability of the light-adapted state of the YcgF BLUF domain depends on the presence of this joining, helical segment and the adenosine diphosphate moiety of FAD. In contrast to other BLUF domains, two-dimensional (1)H,(15)N and one-dimensional (1)H NMR spectra of isotope-labeled YcgF-(1-137) revealed large conformational changes during reversion from the light- to the dark-adapted state. Based on these results the function of the joining helix in YcgF during signal transfer and the role of the BLUF domain in regulating c-di-GMP levels is discussed.     

TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> nanotube structures for enhanced cell and biological functionality

Nanostructures have pronounced effects on biological processes such as growth of cells and their functionality. Advances in biomaterial surface structure and design have resulted in improved tissue engineering. Nanotechnology can be utilized for optimization of titanium implants with a formation of vertically aligned TiO₂ nanotube arrays on the implant surface. The anodic oxidation of the titanium implant surface to form a TiO₂ nanotube array involves electrochemical processes and self assembly. In this paper, the mechanism of nanotube formation, nanotube bio-characteristics, and their emerging role in soft and hard tissue engineering as well as in regenerative medicine will be reviewed, and the beneficial effects of surface nanotubes on cell adhesion, proliferation, and functionality will be discussed in relation to potential orthopedics applications.     

Stimuli-directed self-organized chiral superstructures for adaptive windows enabled by mesogen-functionalized graphene

1. Download high-res image (130KB)
2. Download full-size image

     

Obtaining minimum-correlation Latin Hypercube Sampling plans using an IP-based heuristic

The objective of Latin Hypercube Sampling is to determine an effective procedure for sampling from a (possibly correlated) multivariate population to estimate the distribution function (or at least a significant number of moments) of a complicated function of its variables. The typical application involves a computer-based model in which it is largely impossible to find a way (closed form or numerical) to do the necessary transformation of variables and where it is expensive to run in terms of computing resources and time. Classical approaches to hypercube sampling have used sophisticated stratified sampling techniques; but such sampling may provide incorrect measures of the output parameters' variances or covariances due to correlation between the sampling pairs. In this work, we offer a strategy which provides a sampling specification minimizing the sum of the absolute values of the pairwise differences between the true and sampled correlation pairs. We show that optimal plans can be obtained for even small sample sizes. We consider the characteristics of permutation matrices which minimize the sum of correlations between column pairs and then present an effective heuristic for solution. This heuristic generally finds plans which match the correlation structure exactly. When it does not, we provide a hybrid lagrangian/heuristic method, which empirically has found the optimal solution for all cases tested.This article was processed by the author using the LAT_EX style filepljour2 from Springer-Verlag.