Blood-alcohol level feedback: A failure to deter impaired driving.

In an attempt to decrease the incidence of driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI), some alcohol-serving establishments have installed blood-alcohol level (BAL) feedback devices. These devices are meant to increase awareness of intoxication and result in the avoidance of DUI. However, studies in the US, Canada, and New Zealand (e.g., J. F. Oates, 1976; J. Calvert-Boyanowsky and E. O. Boyanowsky, 1980; P. M. Hurst and P. G. Wright, 1981) indicate that BAL feedback does not deter intoxicated individuals from DUI. Moreover, there is some evidence that it may increase alcohol consumption. The education of alcohol servers about effective techniques they can use to prevent DUI is suggested as a more effective means of preventing DUI. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sterol metabolism. IV. Microbial disposition of 5β-cholestan-3β-ol

Cholesterol and 5beta-cholestan-3beta-ol have been detected by thin-layer and gas-chromatographic means in hexane extracts of domestic sewage. Cholesterol was detected in the clear effluent after activated sludge treatment of domestic sewage, but 5beta-cholestan-3beta-ol was undetectable in treated sewage. Attempts to detect either sterol in hexane extracts of marine bay water have not been successful because of the interference of other lipid-like material.     

Fee assessment and outpatient psychotherapy.

To test the widely held belief that fee assessment policy affects the psychotherapeutic process, data were gathered from the records of 434 clients who had received individual outpatient psychotherapy at a mental health center in 1972. The 3 predictor variables were fee (no payment, welfare, insurance, scaled payment, and full payment), diagnosis (psychosis, neurosis, personality disorder, transient situational disturbance, and other), and socioeconomic status (5 levels). A least-squares multivariate analysis of variance found only diagnosis to be significantly related to the outcome, number of appointments, and attendance of individual outpatient psychotherapy. Failure to find significant effects of fee assessment categories on therapeutic process suggests the invalidity of therapeutic purposes as a rationale to charge fees for psychotherapy. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Determining Optimum Burn-In and Replacement Times Using Bayesian Decision Theory

An important problem facing a manufacturer is the determination of the amount of time to burn-in items (in order to eliminate early failures) and the age at which to replace items (to avoid failures due to wearout). This problem becomes difficult to solve if the time-to-failure distribution of an item is unknown and must be estimated from test and operational data. This paper describes a method of statistical data analysis which is readily applied to the solution of this decision problem under a realistic but general loss (or gain) function. The method is a multiparameter Bayesian analysis which requires multiple integration of the (multivariate) posterior of the parameters of the time-to-failure distribution to obtain the expected loss (or gain) resulting from a particular choice of burn-in time and item replacement age. This integration is performed by a Monte Carlo Procedure using importance sampling. An example demonstrates the flexibility of this method of analysis. The data are a mixture of ``point' and truncated data, which often create difficulties when using conventional methods of decision analysis. In addition, since the method permits up to ten parameters for the family of time-to-failure distributions, a ``bathtub' hazard rate function is used to generate the data for the example. The results are presented in the form of Bayesian confidence intervals for the true hazard rate function and a presentation of the expected loss as a function of burn-in time and age at replacement.     

A methodology for conducting municipal computerization studies

As urban problems become more complex and as accountability and cost minimization become more of a requirement than simply a suggestion computerization is being relied upon to handle the large amounts of data upon which public administrators base decisions. Interdisciplinary teams of faculty and staff from Texas A&M University, in the areas of urban planning, computing science, industrial engineering and accounting, have been involved in studies dealing with several aspects of computerization within municipal organizations. Experience shows that the participation and support of public administrators is vital to the success of the implementation management of computerized systems.This paper develops a staged methodology useful in conducting municipal computerization studies. Investigation of the benefits and disadvantages of computerizing existing manual systems or of a major upgrade of a present computer system is performed via a four staged process. The process highlights the role of the municipal administrator, study team, potential users of the system, and the citizens.When the administrator, the study team members and the future users have a clear understanding of the goals of the system and their goals, the study has a very high chance of being successful. The Texas A&M teams use the methodology discussed here to make a concentrated effort to ensure that all parties have a part in formulating their goals and to understand their role in the design and implementation of the system.     

Temperature-dependent electrical resistance of conductive polylactic acid filament for fused deposition modeling

This study characterizes the microstructure and temperature dependence of resistance of two commercially available electrically conductive polylactic acid (PLA) composites for fused deposition modeling (FDM): PLA-carbon black and PLA-graphene. No microstructural changes were observed between the filament and the printed parts; however, the resistivity of the filament was found to drop by four to six times upon FDM. Also, compared to the resistivity of individual extruded wire, the resistivity of the printed parts was found to be up to 1500 times higher for PLA-graphene and up to 300 times higher for PLA-carbon black. The raw PLA-carbon black filament and printed wire showed a positive temperature coefficient of resistance (α) value between ~?0.03 and 0.01 °C^?1, which makes them more suitable for sensor development. The raw PLA-graphene filament and printed wire did not exhibit a significant α, which makes them more suitable for printing wires. However, the parts made with multilayer FDM exhibited a negative or a negligible α up to a certain temperature prior to exhibiting a positive α; further, these α values were significantly lower than those obtained for the filaments before or after extrusion. These findings enable proper selection of commercial conductive FDM filaments for enabling quicker prototyping of electronics and sensors.     

Laminar film condensation driven latent thermal energy storage in rectangular containers

This paper focuses on numerically analyzing the thermal transport phenomena in the transient conjugate problem of melting and laminar film condensation. The key focus is to identify an optimum container aspect ratio/shape and conditions for which the heat storage time and the storage capacity are minimum and maximum respectively. Since most solid–liquid phase change materials (PCMs) suffer from poor thermal conductivities, the major resistance to heat transfer comes from PCM. Hence, high thermal conductivity, low-cost metal foam is suggested for use along with PCM to minimize this resistance. The conjugate transient problem of film condensation driven solid–liquid phase change of PCM impregnated inside porous metal foam is numerically analyzed. An effective heat capacity formulation is employed for modeling the transient PCM phase change in porous foam and is solved using finite element method. It is coupled with laminar film condensation on the outside of the storage container. The model is then used for selecting the best aspect ratio for thermal energy storage (TES) containers that enables to store comparatively the maximum heat. The results of the developed model showed that the major resistance to heat transfer and hence efficient thermal energy storage depends strongly on the aspect ratio of the PCM storage containers.     

Stereoselective Formation of 1,4‐Anhydro‐2‐C‐carboxytetritols in the Degradation of 1,5‐Anhydroribitol and 1,5‐Anhydroxylitol with Oxygen in Aqueous Alkali

Abstract

In addition to other acid products, degradation of 1,5‐anhydroribitol (5) and 1,5‐anhydroxylitol (6) with oxygen in 1.25 M NaOH produced diastereomeric 1,4‐anhydro‐2‐C‐carboxy‐D‐erythritol (7) and 1,4‐anhydro‐2‐C‐carboxy‐D‐threitol (8) and their enantiomers as major products. However, the ratio of the diastereomers differed for the two reactants. Thus, their formation could not proceed solely by benzilic acid‐type rearrangements through α‐dicarbonyl intermediates as typically proposed for formation of alkyl C‐carboxyfuranosides from alkyl glycopyranosides in similar reactions. The α‐dicarbonyl species that can form from 5 and 6 are identical. Potential mechanisms to account for stereoselective formation of 7 and 8 are presented.     

Sub-50 nm P-channel FinFET

High-performance PMOSFETs with sub-50-nm gate-length are reported. A self-aligned double-gate MOSFET structure (FinFET) is used to suppress the short-channel effects. This vertical double-gate SOI MOSFET features: 1) a transistor channel which is formed on the vertical surfaces of an ultrathin Si fin and controlled by gate electrodes formed on both sides of the fin; 2) two gates which are self-aligned to each other and to the source/drain (S/D) regions; 3) raised S/D regions; and 4) a short (50 nm) Si fin to maintain quasi-planar topology for ease of fabrication. The 45-nm gate-length p-channel FinFET showed an I_dsat of 820 μA/μm at V_ds=V_gs=1.2 V and T _ox=2.5 mm. Devices showed good performance down to a gate-length of 18 nm. Excellent short-channel behavior was observed. The fin thickness (corresponding to twice the body thickness) is found to be critical for suppressing the short-channel effects. Simulations indicate that the FinFET structure can work down to 10 nm gate length. Thus, the FinFET is a very promising structure for scaling CMOS beyond 50 nm