Understanding the positive role of neighborhood socioeconomic advantage in achievement: The contribution of the home, child care, and school environments.

The goal of this study was to examine the mechanisms underlying associations between neighborhood socioeconomic advantage and children's achievement trajectories between ages 54 months and 15 years. Results of hierarchical linear growth models based on a diverse sample of 1,364 children indicate that neighborhood socioeconomic advantage was nonlinearly associated with youths' initial vocabulary and reading scores, such that the presence of educated, affluent professionals in the neighborhood had a favorable association with children's achievement among those in less advantaged neighborhoods until it leveled off at moderate levels of advantage. A similar tendency was observed for math achievement. The quality of the home and child care environments as well as school advantage partially explained these associations. The findings suggest that multiple environments need to be considered simultaneously for understanding neighborhood–achievement links. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Leaching of plasticized PVC: Effect of irradiation

Highly irradiated (2–26 MGy) polyvinyl chloride (PVC) was leached in an alkaline solution to investigate the impact of high doses on the leaching process and on the nature of the leaching products. The results show that leaching is controlled by diffusion phenomena as described by Fick's second law. The apparent diffusion coefficient (D_a) of plasticized PVC leaching products can be calculated for each sample. Irradiation at high dose causes D_a to diminish; this can be attributed to crosslinking and grafting reactions occurring during irradiation. The material microstructure thus becomes less permeable during radiolysis, which slows down the migration of species. Organic products of leaching are plasticizers contained in plasticized PVC or their degradation products. The main organic leaching products are phthalic ions formed by the hydrolysis of phthalic esters in alkaline leaching solution. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009     

Postnatal epigenetic influences on seizure susceptibility in seizure-prone versus seizure-resistant rat strains.

The creation of seizure-prone (Fast) and seizure-resistant (Slow) rat strains via selective breeding implies genetic control of relative seizure vulnerability, yet ample data also advocates an environmental contribution. To investigate potential environmental underpinnings to the differential seizure sensitivities in these strains, the authors compared amygdala kindling profiles in adult male Fast and Slow rats raised by (a) their own mother, (b) a foster mother from the same strain, or (c) a foster mother from the opposing strain. Ultimately, strain-specific kindling profiles were not normalized by cross-fostering. Instead, both strains became more seizure-prone regardless of maternal affiliation (i.e., cross-fostered groups from both strains kindled faster than uncrossed controls). Interhemispheric seizure spread was also facilitated in cross-fostered Slow rat groups and was associated with increased commissural cross-sectional areas, giving them a Fast-like profile. It is important to note, however, that all Fast groups remained significantly more seizure-prone than Slow groups, suggesting that although the postnatal environment strongly influenced seizure disposition in both strains, it did not wholly account for their relative dispositions. Investigation into mechanisms fundamental to cross–fostering-induced seizure facilitation should help prevent postnatal worsening of pathology in already seizure-prone individuals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

High doses gamma radiolysis of PVC: Mechanisms of degradation

Anaerobic and aerobic radiolysis mechanisms of poly(vinyl chloride) were investigated using electron spin resonance (ESR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and size exclusion chromatography (SEC). PVC samples have been irradiated by γ rays (⁶⁰Co) at high doses (up to 4 MGy) and at room temperature. High dose anaerobic radiolysis of PVC induced several modifications in polymer. Alkyl radicals are formed, and then these radicals induced the formation of polyenic radicals. ¹³C NMR spectra have also shown the formation of polyenic sequences and crosslinking reactions. The modifications induced in PVC irradiated under aerobic condition are different. ESR spectra have shown that peroxyl radicals are formed. Propagating reactions from peroxyl radicals are mainly composed by β-scission reactions. These β-scission reactions involved the decrease of average molecular weight and the formation of aldehydes, acids chloride and/or carboxylic acids. From all these results, anaerobic and aerobic mechanisms of degradation by PVC radiolysis are proposed.     

Abnormal error-related antisaccade activation in premanifest and early manifest Huntington disease.

Objective: Individuals with the trinucleotide CAG expansion (CAG+) that causes Huntington's disease (HD) have impaired performance on antisaccade (AS) tasks that require directing gaze in the mirror opposite direction of visual targets. This study aimed to identify the neural substrates underlying altered antisaccadic performance. Method: Three groups of participants were recruited: (1) Imminent and early manifest HD (early HD, n = 8); (2) premanifest (presymptomatic) CAG+ (preHD, n = 10); and (3) CAG unexpanded (CAG?) controls (n = 12). All participants completed a uniform study visit that included a neurological evaluation, neuropsychological battery, molecular testing, and functional MRI during an AS task. The blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) response was obtained during saccade preparation and saccade execution for both correct and incorrect responses using regression analysis. Results: Significant group differences in BOLD response were observed when comparing incorrect AS to correct AS execution. Specifically, as the percentage of incorrect AS increased, BOLD responses in the CAG? group decreased progressively in a well-documented reward detection network that includes the presupplementary motor area and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. In contrast, AS errors in the preHD and early HD groups lacked this relationship with BOLD signal in the error detection network, and BOLD responses to AS errors were smaller in the two CAG+ groups as compared with the CAG? group. Conclusions: These results are the first to suggest that abnormalities in an error-related response network may underlie early changes in AS eye movements in premanifest and early manifest HD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Composition design of nanocrystalline bainitic steels by diffusionless solid reaction

NANOBAIN is the term used to refer to a new generation of advanced steels capable of producing by isothermal transformation at low homologous temperatures, T/T_m～0.25 where T_m is the absolute melting temperature, a nanocrystalline microstructure, composed exclusively of two phases, thin plates of bainitic ferrite separated by C enriched austenite. Such alloys are exclusively designed on the basis of bainitic transformation theory and some physical metallurgy principles. In this work, by designing a new set of alloys capable of producing such microstructure, a further step toward the industrialization of NANOBAIN is taken. Some important industrial requirements, including circumventing the inclusion of expensive alloying elements and the need for faster transformations, are also considered. For all the alloys, the experimental results validate the design procedure and they illustrate that the NANOBAIN concept is a step closer to industrialization, probing that it is possible to obtain nanocristalline bainite in simpler alloy systems and in shorter times than those reported previously.     

Measuring complexity in mixed-model assembly workstations

In an effort to maintain or increase their market share and at the same time prevent costs from escalating, manufacturing organisations are increasingly using their current manufacturing system to produce custom output. As a consequence, the large number of product variants increases significantly the complexity of manufacturing systems, both for the operators as for the support services. This is especially true in automotive industry, where customisation is increasing at a rapid pace. To counter the ensuing loss of productivity, a more fundamental approach to dealing with this complexity in manufacturing processes is required. In order to investigate the impact of complexity on production performance, one must first delineate the concept and then identify as unambiguously as possible highly complex workstations. This article defines complexity at the workstation level and proposes a complexity measure for mixed-model assembly workstations. Based on data from several leading automotive companies from Belgium and Sweden, some statistical models are proposed to characterise workstations complexity. The models are described and their validity and accuracy are discussed.     

Effect of ALA-Enriched Food Supply on Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Males

The outcome of a total dietary approach using a wide range of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) enriched food items on cardiovascular diseases called for further investigation. The study objective was to assess the effect of an ALA-enriched food supply on cardiovascular risk factors in healthy males. A dietary intervention (single-blind field trial with pre- and post-measurements) was performed with 59 healthy males in a Belgian prison. Over a period of 12 weeks they were supplied with an n-3 enriched diet (containing 6.5 g n-3 PUFA/day compared to 4 g n-3 PUFA/day in the standard diet) that was substituted for their regular diet, increasing mainly the α-linolenic acid intake (from 2.8 to around 5 g/day). The results indicated no impact on subjects waist circumference, weight and BMI or systolic blood pressure. In contrast, the diastolic blood pressure significantly decreased during the intervention period (from 74.6 ± 8.2 to 71.7 ± 10.1 mmHg; P < 0.02). Moreover, the HDL-cholesterol level increased in non-smoking participants (from 0.97 ± 0.25 to 1.06 ± 0.23 mmol/l; P < 0.03). In summary, the study demonstrated that enrichment of commonly eaten food items with n-3 fatty acids provides the opportunity to increase the n-3 fatty acid intake and to decrease the n-6/n-3 ratio which results in a decreasing diastolic blood pressure and an increase of HDL-cholesterol (in non-smokers). An erratum to this article can be found at