Short and long term toxicity of crude oil and oil dispersants to two representative coral species

Oil dispersants, the tool of choice for treating oil spills in tropical marine environments, is potentially harmful to marine life, including reef corals. In a previous study, we found that dispersed oil and oil dispersants are harmful to soft and hard coral species at early life stages. In this broader study, we employed a "nubbin assay" on more than 10 000 coral fragments to evaluate the short- and long-term impacts of dispersed oil fractions (DOFs) from six commercial dispersants, the dispersants and water-soluble-fractions (WSFs) of Egyptian crude oil, on two Indo Pacific branching coral species, Stylophora pistillata and Pocillopora damicornis. Survivorship and growth of nubbins were recorded for up to 50 days following a single, short (24 h) exposure to toxicants in various concentrations. Manufacturer-recommended dispersant concentrations proved to be highly toxic and resulted in mortality for all nubbins. The dispersed oil and the dispersants were significantly more toxic than crude oil WSFs. As corals are particularly susceptible to oil detergents and dispersed oil, the results of these assays rules out the use of any oil dispersant in coral reefs and in their vicinity. The ecotoxicological impacts of the various dispersants on the corals could be rated on a scale from the least to the most harmful agent, as follows: Slickgone > Petrotech > Inipol = Biorieco > Emulgal > Dispolen.     

Finger movement inference using M1 neural activities

The paper presents the neural decoding result of finger or wrist movements using the primary motor cortex (M1) neural activities prior to its movement.It is well known that the observations of motor co...     

Nanocrystalline γ-Alumina Synthesized by Sonohydrolysis of Alkoxide Precursor in the Presence of Organic Acids: Structure and Morphological Properties

γ-Al₂O₃ nanoparticles with an average size of 5 nm were synthesized by the hydrolysis of aluminum triisopropoxide under the influence of power ultrasound (100 W/cm²) and in the presence of formic or oxalic acids as peptizers, followed by calcination. The structural and morphological properties of the as-prepared precursor hydroxides and calcined nanocrystalline powders were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, TGA, IR, and BET. The ultrasound-driven cavitation process has been shown to affect the agglomeration of the precursor nanoparticles by condensation of interparticle hydroxyls. The oxalate anions were strongly adsorbed on the surface of the precursor nanoparticles and thus retarded the ultrasound-driven condensation of interparticle hydroxyls. Formic acid showed a lesser degree of adsorption on the surface of the precursor particles. The ultrasound-driven agglomeration of the primary particles as well as the role of organic modifiers on the microstructural properties of the precursor and the target alumina phases have been discussed.     

The electromagnetic field of receding radiation sources

Contents Some of the radiation characteristics of a receding electric dipole and those of a receding magnetic dipole are analyzed-in particular the attendant effects of frequency variation and phase aberration. The basic results implied by the transformation properties of the Hertz and Fitzgerald tensors seem to facilitate the analysis and broaden insight into the kinematic as well as into the dynamic aspects of the field.

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Das elektromegnetische Feld sich entfernender Strahlungsquellen

Übersicht Einige Strahlungscharakteristiken eines sich entfernenden elektrischen und eines sich entfernenden magnetischen Dipols werden analysiert-im Besonderen die zugehörigen Effekte bzgl. Frequenzveränderung und Phasenverschiebung. Die durch die Transformationseigenschaften des Hertzschen und Fitzgeraldschen Tensors bedingten grundlegenden Ergebnisse erleichtern die Analyse und verbessern das Verständnis sowohl der kinematischen wie der dynamischen Aspekte des Feldes.

     

Changes in specific markers of haemostasis during reduction mammoplasty

We herein report a case of pure clear cell papillary thyroid carcinoma, which is the first reported case in Japan. The tumors measured 1.0 x 0.9 and 0.7 x 0.4 cm in size. An ultrasonographical examination revealed hypoechoic irregular-shaped lesions with fine internal calcifications. No lymph node metastasis was observed in any of the surgical specimens. Distant metastasis had not been observed as of 6 years after surgical treatment. The number of cases of pure clear cell papillary carcinoma reported so far are too few to clearly elucidate its characteristics; however, the ultrasonographical findings and biological behavior of this case were compatible with those of non-clear cell papillary thyroid carcinoma.     

A shared reality of therapists and survivors in a national crisis as illustrated by the Gulf War.

Utilizes the example of the Gulf War to present a conceptualization and a pragmatic model of professional intervention during situations of national crisis, like the recent situations (bomb explosions) in Buenos Aires, Argentina and in Oklahoma City, US. The authors discuss the impact of the shared reality experienced by therapists and patients, when both are exposed to a national crisis. The article stresses the importance of going out into the field and aiding the victims wherever they are. It describes interventions by an Israeli mental health team formed during the Gulf War, which assisted victims, whose homes were damaged by Scud missiles, wherever they were housed after their evacuation. By addressing the questions that confront the therapist in a national crisis of this kind, the authors introduced a certain mode of work that reflects the way the therapist and the patient cope with their shared reality as well as with the interrelationship between external organization and internal mobilization. Three case examples of adult individuals whose homes were destroyed during the war serve to illustrate the effectiveness of the technique of immediate intervention in the field in a crisis of this kind. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Segmentation of two-dimensional boundaries using the chain code

We divide the boundary of a two-dimensional object into segments, each of which is either straight or a circular arc; associated with the segment end-points are angle measures that can be used to match an object with a transformed (rotated, scaled) version of itself. The chain code, easily extracted from the boundary pixels, is the basis of this division. The approach avoids problems common to many of the existing methods for identification of curvature extrema: sensitivity to noise and dependence on parameters that are chosen empirically.

To each section of the boundary we assign a code that represents the change in slope between it and the previous section. This set of codes is integrated and thus provides a measure of the total directional change relative to the first section. For a closed object, the sequence of these sums is periodic, and one cycle can be plotted as a function of arc length, s. Such a plot can be shown to contain only straight lines: those that are not parallel to the s-axis (representing circular arcs on the original boundary of the object) and those that are (representing straight sections on the boundary).

This paper describes a recursive procedure for dividing the digital version of the curve described above into its linear segments. Each segment represents an arc that is the best fit to a portion of the original boundary; the angle which is defined by the arc is identical to the angle change of the edge in the same section, and the length of the arc is identical to that of the edge. The recursive procedure measures the error (for each value of arc length) between a proposed fitting line and the actual value of cumulative angle; where the error is maximum, and above a threshold, the line is segmented. The procedure is repeated until the error is sufficiently small. The breakpoints thus indicate the location and value of points of greatest curvature change.

A formal definition of the procedure is given, and it is shown to perform well for rotated, scaled and noisy objects.     

When do base rates affect predictions?

M. Manis et al (see record 1981-07963-001) found that base rates had a clear effect on discrete predictions and a smaller effect on the confidence that Ss attached to those predictions. As a result, the findings of Manis et al can be reinterpreted in a way that makes them compatible with previous findings. In this light, their study emerges as a constructive replication of earlier results demonstrating judgment by representativeness. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Chemical vapor deposition and characterization of HfO2 films from organo-hafnium compounds

HfO₂ films were deposited on silicon substrates by the oxygen-assisted decomposition of hafnium β-diketonates at temperatures in the range 400–550 °C. These films were characterized by using transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, electron microprobe analysis and measurements of dielectric and optical properties. It was found that the films were fine-grained (approximately 325 Å) nearly stoichiometric monoclinic HfO₂. The films showed high resistance to most aqueous acids and bases. The deposits had a refractive index of 2.1 and an optical energy gap of 5.68 eV. The dielectric constant at 1 MHz was 22–25, and the dielectric strenght of the HfO₂ films varied between 2 × 10⁶ and 4.5 × 10⁶ V cm^?1. C-V measurements at 1 MHz indicated the presence of effective surface states which varied between 1.0 × 10¹¹ and 6 × 10¹¹ cm^t?2 for films that were deposited at temperatures higher than 500 °C or that were annealed at above 750 °C if deposited at 400–450 °C. The V_FB values were between ?0.6 and 0 V. The annealed films or films grown above 500 °C showed good bias-temperature stability. When positive bias and elevated temperatures were applied, the original C-V curve moved towards higher positive field values (0.2-0.5 V). After applying negative bias at elevated temperatures the C-V curved moved back in the direction of the original C-V curve. Measurements of the dependence of the current I on the electric field showed a dependence of I ∝ V² over a wide range.     

Investigation of the effects of polishing and etching on the quality of Cd1−xZnxTe using spatial mapping techniques

We examined the effects of polishing and etching on the structural and electrical properties of various high pressure Bridgman Cd_1−xZn_xTe (CZT) crystals using high resolution x-ray diffraction (HRXRD) and alpha particle mapping. Two etching solutions investigated are: (1) standard bromine-methanol solution, and (2) standard solution mixed with lactic acid. HRXRD, and in particular, triple axis x-ray diffraction (TAXRD) showed the effectiveness of the bromine-methanol etch in removing residual strain and damage from the CZT crystal. TAXRD mapping of a ∼5 cm² CZT crystal after etching resulted in a reduction of the average rocking curve full width at half maximum to 15 arc-sec (compared to 23 arc-sec for the “as-received”). Alpha particle mapping of the electron risetime and the pulse height spectrum, along with leakage current measurements, showed varying effects of the different etching solutions on the surface properties (and hence their influence on the electrical and detector properties). These preliminary results show the importance and the sensitivity of the overall detector properties on the surface preparation conditions of CZT crystals used as radiation detectors.