How to make and defend a proposal in a deliberation dialogue

In this paper it is shown how tools developed in argumentation theory and artificial intelligence can be applied to the development of a new dialectical analysis of the speech act of making a proposal in a deliberation dialogue. These tools are developed, modified and used to formulate dialogue pre-conditions, defining conditions and post-conditions for the speech act of making a proposal in a deliberation dialogue. The defining conditions set out what is required for a move in a dialogue to count as the making of a proposal by one of the parties. What is required are the conditions that (1) the move fit the requirements of the argumentation scheme for practical reasoning, and (2) the premises are propositions describing common goals of both parties or propositions that they reasonably consider means to achieve these goals. The analysis goes beyond the standard speech act approach by specifying not only the normative requirements for making a well-formed proposal, but also the requirements for responding to it by questioning or criticizing it, and the requirements for defending it.     

Non-contacting seals for critical service process pumps

To improve the quality of life, man has learned to manufacture countless chemicals, pharmaceutical and biotechnological products, petroleum fuels, and numerous metal products. The processing of these products and their by-products has had a major impact on the environment. Tougher air and water quality standards have led to the development of new sealing systems that far exceed performance requirements for emission control. New seal technology has resulted in non-contacting non-leaking seals for conventional pumps handling difficult services. Design and application of this seal technology is presented in this article. Comparison of competing technologies is discussed and life cycle costs are given. Clearly, gas lubricated non-contacting seals for pumps are becoming the choice of sealing technologies for plant operators on difficult services. These systems are proving to be very economical.     

A dynamic measure of order in structural glasses

Although some patterns of physical behavior are common in the glass transition and in the properties of supercooled liquids and glasses (characteristic viscoelasticity, temperature dependence of viscosity and relaxation times, property evolution through “physical aging”, difficulties in performing equilibrium measurements or simulations, etc.), it is difficult to arrive at a definition of the glass transition which distinguishes it from other phenomena exhibiting similar features. The present paper addresses this problem by defining a dynamical measure of order involving the average “shape” of particle trajectories in supercooled liquids. This dynamic order parameter should provide a measure of “closeness” to the glass transition and some indirect insights into the physical nature of supercooled liquids and glasses. Arguments are given that the proposed dynamic measure of order [“generalized capacity”, C(T)] is related to the temperature-dependent “effective hydrodynamic radius” R_H(T) measured in supercooled liquids and model numerical calculations are given to support this view. Some consequences of the intermittent particle motion at low temperatures for stress relaxation are also discussed.     

Disguise and the structured self-report assessment of psychopathology: I. An analogue investigation.

Explored the utility of disguise in structured self-report assessments of psychopathology in 3 experiments with 370 university students. Exp I used items from the Basic Personality Inventory (BPI); Exp II used the BPI, the Desirability scale of the Personality Research Form—Form E, and 4 criterion measures; and Exp III used 2 of the criterion measures and the BPI. Data indicate that under normal test-taking circumstances, the use of disguised test items was not advantageous. This relationship, however, was moderated by a number of dimensional parameters. When faking response sets in terms of desirability was induced, the use of disguised test item content was not useful. Data are interpreted in terms of the various strategies of test construction underlying the assessment of psychopathology. Results support a rational strategy of test construction emphasizing the use of relevant test item content. It is concluded that, in structured self-report assessments, the most valid results may be obtained through the use of direct questions with cooperative test respondents. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Time series analysis of wind speed using VAR and the generalized impulse response technique

This research examines the interdependence in time series wind speed data measured in the same location at four different heights. A multiple-equation system known as a vector autoregression is proposed for characterizing the time series dynamics of wind. Additionally, the recently developed method of generalized impulse response analysis provides insight into the cross-effects of the wind series and their responses to shocks. Findings are based on analysis of contemporaneous wind speed time histories taken at 13, 33, 70 and 160 ft above ground level with a sampling rate of 10 Hz. The results indicate that wind speeds measured at 70 ft was the most variable. Further, the turbulence persisted longer at the 70-ft measurement than at the other heights. The greatest interdependence is observed at 13 ft. Gusts at 160 ft led to the greatest persistence to an “own” shock and led to greatest persistence in the responses of the other wind series.     

Muscle mass and fat mass in relation to bone mineral density in very old men and women: the Framingham Heart Study

Aim of the study was investigate the cross-sectional relationship between body composition and bone mineral density (BMD) in very old men and women. The study sample consisted of 504 women and 285 men, aged 72-93 yr, participating in examination 22 (1992-1993) of the Framingham Heart Study. Total body BMD, regional BMD, and soft-tissue body composition was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Both muscle mass and percentage body fat were positively associated with total body BMD in women. After adjustment for age, physical activity, smoking status, estrogen use, and thiazide use, BMD increased with increasing tertile of muscle mass (p = 0.007) and with increasing tertile of percentage body fat (p = 0.0001) in women. In men muscle mass, not percentage body fat, was positively associated with BMD. After adjustment for potential confounders, BMD remained associated with muscle mass only (p = 0.02). These results were similar for leg BMD and arm BMD. The study suggests that the influence of muscle and fat mass on bone mineral density is different between very old men and women.     

Expression of a functional anaphylatoxin C3a receptor by astrocytes

Human astrocyte cell lines reportedly contain a specific receptor for the complement anaphylatoxin C3a based on ligand-binding studies, functional responses, and RNA analysis by RT-PCR. Uptake of 125I-C3a by astrocytes was specific and reversible. Scatchard analysis indicated the presence of two classes of binding sites. High-affinity binding sites were abundantly expressed (20,000-80,000 sites per cell) with an estimated K(D) of 1-2 nM. Low-affinity binding sites with a K(D) of 209 nM were largely expressed (n > or = 4 x 10(6) sites per cell) and probably did not reflect a receptor-mediated binding, but rather an ionic interaction between C3a and the membrane. Analysis of astrocyte mRNA by RT-PCR with three different sets of primers covering 60% of the C3a receptor (C3aR) mRNA sequence indicated that glial C3aR was identical to the leukocytic one. Western blot analysis using a specific anti-C3aR evidenced a C3aR with a molecular mass of 60,000 Da. C3a and a superagonist peptide, E7, induced a transient increase of intracellular [Ca2+] in primary culture of astrocytes. Treatment of the ligands by carboxypeptidase B to eliminate the C-terminus Arg considerably decreased the [Ca2+] response. Moreover, flow cytometry experiments demonstrated the expression of C3aR on normal rat astrocyte membrane. This report brings new insight for the role of the complement system in the brain inflammation response.     

How accurate is male recall of reproductive information?

The purpose of this study was to determine how well men recall reproductive information. By using a questionnaire, the authors surveyed men who had undergone orchiopexy for undescended testes and a group of matched control men, all of whom had had surgery at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (n = 77), and their spouses. Subjects were a random subset of a larger (n = 1,212) male fertility study, which has been ongoing since 1992. In 1994, the spouses of men who participated in the study completed a short telephone survey that contained questions previously asked of their partners. Pearson correlations and kappa statistics were calculated to evaluate the accuracy of male recall of reproductive information. For the continuous measures, such as time to conception and frequency of intercourse, the correlations were high to moderate (r = 0.84 (p < 0.001) and r = 0.45 (p < 0.001), respectively). Agreement between the men and their spouses on the majority of bivariate (yes/no) questions, such as those concerning the use of birth control, as measured by the kappa statistic, was moderate to very good (K ranged from 0.14 to 0.69). Statistics were similar for formerly cryptorchid and control men. Male participants' responses to questions about their reproductive histories were accurate as compared with the responses given by their spouses. In this sample from a large cohort study, men appeared to recall reproductive information with acceptable accuracy.     

RP-HPLC binding domains of proteins

Procedures have been developed to identify the chromatographic binding domains of horse heart cytochrome c (Cyt c) and bovine growth hormone (bGH) during their interaction with reversed-phase sorbent materials. The procedure involves adsorption of the protein solute to the chromatographic sorbent, followed by proteolytic cleavage. Comparison of the proteolytic map obtained for Cyt c and bGH in free solution with the corresponding map obtained when these proteins are adsorbed to the chromatographic sorbent revealed significant differences in the digestion pattern. Following characterization of the peptides generated in both maps, the results indicated that specific regions on the surface of both Cyt c and bGH are inaccessible to tryptic cleavage when adsorbed to the hydrophobic surface of both a C-4 and a C-18 sorbent. Based on the assumption that the region of the protein surface that is in contact with the sorbent remains intact and bound to the sorbent during the digestion step, while the protein surface that is exposed to the solvent is accessible to proteolysis, the regions that were inaccessible to tryptic digestion were found to correspond to hydrophobic domains on the protein surface. These results also suggest that the three-dimensional structures of these proteins remain largely intact upon adsorption to the hydrophobic surface.     

Dual role of dendritic cells in the induction and down-regulation of antigen-specific cutaneous inflammation

We have previously reported that contact sensitivity (CS) to dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB) in C57BL/6 mice was mediated by MHC class I-restricted CD8+ T cells and down-regulated by MHC class II-restricted CD4+ T cells. In this study, we analyzed the contribution of dendritic cells (DC) in the induction of these two T cell subsets endowed with opposite functions. Hapten-pulsed skin- and bone marrow-derived DC, obtained from either normal C57BL/6 mice or from MHC class II (I+ II-) and MHC class I (I- II+)-deficient mice, were tested for their ability to prime normal mice for CS to dinitrofluorobenzene. Expression of MHC class I molecules by transferred DC was mandatory both for the induction of CS and for the generation of hapten-specific CD8+ T cells in lymphoid organs. I+ II- DC were as potent as I+ II+ DC in priming for CS, demonstrating that activation of effector CD8+ T cells can occur independently of CD4+ T cell help. I- II+ DC could not immunize for CS, although they could sensitize for a delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction to protein Ags. Moreover, I- II+ DC injected simultaneously with cutaneous sensitization down-regulated the inflammatory response, suggesting that hapten presentation by MHC class II molecules could prime regulatory CD4+ T cells. These results indicate that DC can present haptenated peptides by both MHC class I and class II molecules and activate Ag-specific CD8+ effector and CD4+ regulatory T cell subsets, concurrently and independently.