Dechloranes 602, 603, 604, Dechlorane Plus, and Chlordene Plus, a newly detected analogue, in tributary sediments of the Laurentian Great Lakes

A chlorinated compound (Chlordene Plus, CP), structurally related to Dechloranes (Dec) 602, 603, 604, and Dechlorane Plus (DP), was identified, and concentrations and spatial trends of Dec 602, 603, 604, CP, and DP in tributary sediments of the Laurentian Great Lakes are reported. The dechloranes were widely detected with their concentrations varying considerably across the Great Lakes basin. Spatial trends of Dec 602, 604, and DP in Canadian tributary sediments were similar to that of BDE 209, which suggested these flame retardant chemicals in tributaries were associated with industrial and urban areas. The highest concentrations of Dec 602, 604, and DP observed in tributaries of the Niagara River confirmed that past or ongoing manufacturing of these compounds at plants along the river were important sources to Lake Ontario. Dec 603 was detected in technical products of aldrin and dieldrin, and its spatial trend was consistent with historic pesticide usage. Similarly, CP was detected in technical products of chlordene and chlordane, and it was found in higher concentrations in sediments near urban areas, possibly related to past chlordane use in home termite control.     

The structure of social relationships among captive female giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis).

Giraffe herds have been characterized as random associations of individuals, but recent evidence suggests giraffe have a more complex social structure. The authors formulated 3 hypotheses designed to evaluate whether a herd of captive giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) associated randomly or patterned their behavior and proximity in a manner indicative of social relationships. Affiliative interaction, proximity, and nearest neighbors for 6 captive female giraffe living in a large outdoor enclosure were analyzed, and all three measures were nonrandomly distributed, indicating female giraffe had social preferences. Furthermore, preferences were consistent across measures and time, suggesting that adult female giraffe maintain relationships. Mother-daughter pairs and pairs with large age differences between members interacted and associated most often. The social structure of this captive herd is influenced by social relationships between individual adult females, and the social behavior of individual females should be examined more closely in the wild. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparison of a New Estolide Oxidative Stability Package

The rotating pressurized vessel oxidation test (RPVOT) was used in the analysis and determination of a new oxidative stability package (OSP) for a series of estolide based materials. Three antioxidants (BHT, two different alkylated diphenyl amines) were used in either 0.5 or 1.0 wt/wt%, in different ratios, and in conjunction with one another (hindered phenol/alkylated diphenyl amines or hindered phenol/mixed alkylated diphenyl amines). The estolide-based samples analyzed for their resistance to oxidation were two pure (distilled) estolides (oleic estolide 2-EH esters and coco-oleic estolide 2-EH esters), an estolide mixture that was analyzed straight from the reaction (coco-oleic estolide 2-EH esters with coco 2-EH esters) and finally the ester fraction from the estolide mixture (coco 2-EH esters). The coco estolide mixture and coco 2-EH esters had the best overall RPVOT times with 1.0% of the alkylated diphenyl amine, coco estolide mixture, 326 min, and coco 2-EH esters, 310 min. Coco estolides were expected to have an advantage over the simple oleic estolides due to the increase in saturation in the estolide. Unexpectedly, the two distilled estolides (oleic and coco) had very similar RPVOT max times with all the antioxidants, and were much higher than the other oxidative packages tested to date. In general, the alkylated diphenyl amine outperformed mixed alkylated diphenyl amines in the majority of the individual samples tested specially the coco 2-EH esters and distilled coco-oleic estolide 2-EH esters material at 1% OSP. Overall, a series of new antioxidants were tested and compared to other commercial products. A variety of physical properties of the four estolide based material were collected and compared to commercially acceptable material. Coco-oleic estolide 2-EH esters were formulated to have excellent pour points (−36 °C), were both oxidatively and hydrolytically stable (RPVOT, 310 min), with expected good biodegradability which should help commercialization. Names are necessary to report factually on available data; however, the USDA neither guarantees nor warrants the standard of the product, and the use of the name by USDA implies no approval of the product to the exclusion of others that may also be suitable.     

Improvement of sensitivity of breast cancer diagnosis with adaptiveneighborhood contrast enhancement of mammograms

Mammograms are difficult to interpret, especially of cancers at their early stages. We analyze the effectiveness of our adaptive neighborhood contrast enhancement (ANCE) technique in increasing the sensitivity of breast cancer diagnosis. Seventy-eight screen-film mammograms of 21 difficult cases (14 benign and seven malignant), 222 screen-film mammograms of 28 interval cancer patients and six benign control cases were digitized with a high-resolution of about 4096×2048×10-bit pixels and then processed with the ANCE method. Unprocessed and processed digitized mammograms as well as the original films were presented to six experienced radiologists for a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) evaluation for the difficult case set and to three reference radiologists for the interval cancer set. The results show that the radiologists' performance with the ANCE-processed images is the best among the three sets of images (original, digitized, and enhanced) in terms of area under the ROC curve and that diagnostic sensitivity is improved by the ANCE algorithm. All of the 19 interval cancer cases not detected with the original films of earlier mammographic examinations were diagnosed as malignant with the corresponding ANCE-processed versions, while only one of the six benign cases initially labeled correctly with the original mammograms was interpreted as malignant after enhancement. This study demonstrates the potential for improvement of diagnostic performance in early detection of breast cancer with digital image enhancement     

Empowerment, span of control, and safety performance in work teams after workforce reduction.

Relationships of empowerment and span of control with 2 safety measures (unsafe behaviors and accidents) were investigated among 24 workgroups comprising 531 employees of a large chemical company in 3 U.S. states. The company recently implemented a reengineering process. Data were from an anonymous survey (unsafe behaviors), company records (accidents, span of control), and trained expert raters (empowerment). Span of control (positively) and level of empowerment (negatively) correlated with both measures of poor safety performance, but only empowerment predicted unique variance in safety criteria. Together, these structural measures predicted one third of the variance in safety measures. Structural variables such as span of control and team empowerment have been largely overlooked in past safety research but can be important. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Improved understanding of physical defect mechanisms using fault simulation

Failure mechanisms in highly integrated designs are becoming more subtle, making them difficult to locate and understand. Successful analysis requires the precise location of the anomaly in three dimensions, prior to physical analysis, when strip and inspect techniques do not yield a failure mechanism. This paper presents a technique whereby simulations of hypothesized defects, in combination with I-V curves obtained by electrical microprobing, aid in locating physical defects. Given the exact location, techniques requiring that the physical and chemical sample integrity be maintained, such as TEM and AES, can be employed to give insight into the failure mechanism.     

Crystallization of hydroxybutyrate oligomers. Part 2. Growth and thickening of solution grown crystals observed in situ using synchrotron radiation

Synchrotron X-ray radiation has been used in situ to follow the crystallization of a hydroxybutyrate oligomer containing 32 repeat units from dilute solution in propylene carbonate, and to study chain unfolding during heating in oligomers with 24 and 32 repeat units. A discontinuity in growth rate occurs at 36–37 °C for the 32-mer: crystals grown below this temperature contain folded chains, which transform during heating through a process of partial dissolution and re-crystallization to form extended chain crystals. Crystals grown above the transition temperature contain extended chains that do not rearrange during heating. A similar change happens in the 24-mer between 35 and 40 °C. Thermal expansion in the (110) lattice direction (the fold direction) was in the range 5.3+/−0.3×10⁻⁵ nm °C⁻¹, with an additional discontinuous increase in 0.001 nm accompanying chain unfolding.     

High Voltage MOSFET Gate/Bulk Driver Controller for a Microbattery Switch Matrix in a 0.35 μ m Microwave SOI Technology

Integrated microbatteries are being currently developed to act as a “micropower” source in microsatellites. The current and voltage rating of the microbattery is fixed. Certain highly miniaturized systems require higher voltages and currents. A switching matrix is designed to achieve the same. The switching matrix is designed using High Voltage Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) structures and bulk isolated H gate transistors. This paper presents a design approach to help attain any random grouping pattern between the microbatteries. In this case, the result is an ability to charge microbatteries in parallel and to discharge microbatteries in parallel or pairs of microbatteries in series. This is achieved by providing the appropriate gate/bulk voltages to the matrix. High Voltage MOS structures are developed which can take higher drain-to-source voltages in a 3.3 V process. The designs are built using Microwave Silicon-on-Insulator process. Vinesh Sukumar received the B.E. degree in Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering from Nagarjuna University, Bapatla, India in 2000. He received his M.S. degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering in 2003 from University of Idaho, Moscow, ID. He is presently pursuing his Doctoral degree in Electrical Engineering at University of Idaho, Moscow, ID. His research interests include Radiation Hard Analog Design and Integrated Power Electronics.