Philosophy of forest insect control in Britain

It is concluded that, on economic grounds, prevention of infestation by amelioration of the site and improvement in the vigour of the trees is more likely to be practical than remedial spraying of infested trees.     

The sound of the wind that's blowing.

Discusses the need (a) for a better public understanding of the logic and intuitive character of science and (b) for a broader and more humane outlook from the scientific community. The concept of the ethical neutrality of science is rejected, and the extent of involvement of modern society with science and technology is outlined. Some consequences of political and social decisions which are based on inadequate comprehension of science and technology are described. Finally, measures are suggested to improve public understanding of science specific reforms; (both in the education of scientists and of students in general) are proposed. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A sermon of sorts in three plus parts.

Based on his presidential address delivered at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1982, the author urges APA's commitment to 3 tasks: (1) a continuing study of the intellectual and social influences, inside and outside psychology, that have shaped and continue to shape its directions, (2) an active program to increase the public's understanding of what psychology is and what psychologists do, and (3) a formal involvement at the level of national policy in issues where psychological knowledge and skills are relevant. (70 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The electrode kinetics of the evolution and dissolution of oxygen at the urania-zirconia interfaces

In order to assess the potential of urania-yttria fluorite-type solid solutions as electrodes for high-temperature electrolysis of steam, oxygen evolution and dissolution reactions have been studied at the (U_0.7Y_0.3)O_2+x/YSZ interface. A current-interruption technique was used to separate overpotential and resistive potential drop. In oxygen and air the overpotential-current curves obey the Tafel law, suggesting that a charge-transfer process is rate determining. Activation energies of 120 kJ mole^?1 and 165 kJ mole^?1 were obtained for the cathodic reaction in oxygen and air respectively. The capacitance obtained from galvanostatic transients varied with potential, temperature, and oxygen partial pressure. The average value of n, the number of electrons involved in the overall charge-transfer reaction, was determined to be 4.01 from reversible potential measurements. The overpotential losses are small for porous electrodes at high p_o2. A mechanism for the oxygen transfer reaction has been proposed and its limitations discussed.     

A high-throughput screening method for the determination of aqueous drug solubility using laser nephelometry in microtiter plates

The determination of aqueous solubility in a high-throughput screening environment is invaluable in the selection of the most promising potential drug candidates. We describe a fast method based on laser nephelometry that can determine the solubility of potential drug candidates (usually from combinatorial chemistry) supplied as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) solutions in 96-well plates. In the sample, the percent DMSO is kept constant allowing direct comparison of results. The nephelometric method has been shown to produce results equivalent to those produced by an HPLC method and to be largely unaffected by colored solutions.     

Performance comparison of space-time coding techniques

Simulation results for the comparative performance of a number of space-time coding (STC) schemes in a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) channel are presented and compared with a single-antenna benchmark and two-antenna space-time transit diversity (STTD) scheme. Both the space-time trellis coding (STTC) and BLAST approaches offer high spectral efficiencies, but STTC outperforms BLAST in terms of its power efficiency     

The Use of a Poultry-Specific Murine Monoclonal Antibody Directed to the Insoluble Muscle Protein Desmin in Meat Speciation

Monoclonal antibodies were produced using chicken smooth muscle desmin as the immunogen and one antibody, 4B4/B2, was found to be reactive with desmin from chicken, turkey, pheasant and duck but not from lamb, beef and pork. This antibody reacts with poultry desmin from both smooth muscle and skeletal muscle, allowing its use for the detection of poultry meat in other meats. In addition to reacting with intact forms of this cytoskeletal protein (apparent subunit molecular size 54 kDa), 4B4/B2 also reacts with degradation products of desmin (30–40 kDa), thus enhancing its use for speciation purposes. When the antibody is used in an indirect ELISA involving antigen-coated plates, it can detect <0·04 μg ml⁻¹ poultry desmin. As desmin is one of the most insoluble proteins in cells, it is an ideal marker for speciation. Desmin-enriched samples can be produced from chicken meat and chicken/red meat mixtures by differential extraction, culminating with the solubilisation of desmin in 8M urea. These extracts can be analysed using the ELISA system, routinely detecting chicken at the 100 g kg⁻¹ mixed meats level. Alternatively, Western blots of the samples, resolved by 100 g kg⁻¹ SDS PAGE, can be probed with 4B4/B2 allow-ing detection at the 20 g kg⁻¹ mixed meats level. This monoclonal antibody rep-resents a standard reagent of unlimited supply which can, for the first time, detect a defined insoluble protein in poultry speciation assays. Preliminary applications indicate that it is superior to other reagents and demonstrate that desmin has the potential to be a valuable marker for speciation.     

Fabrication and performance of selective HSG storage cells for 256Mb and 1 Gb DRAM applications

Fabrication of rapid thermal nitrided HSG transformed crown capacitor storage cells incorporating an ultrathin low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) Ta₂O₅ and Si₃N ₄/SiO₂(NO) dielectric is proposed. 256 Mb array with HSG crown cells of 0.3 μm diameter×0.6 μm height and 49 A T_eff showed an area enhancement factor of 1.7 (relative to untransformed crown cell). C_min/C_max ratio of >0.95, and capacitance of 16.7 fF/cell is obtained. A measured leakage current density of 0.7 nA/cm² at 1.2 V is reported. Metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitor (MOSCAP) devices with HSG electrodes for 1 Gb application are characterized using capacitance-voltage (C-V) and current-voltage (I-V) analyses. Detailed HSG grain characterization results are presented with correlation to the electrical behavior of the devices. Devices are formed using LPCVD Ta₂O₅ and/or Si₃N₄ dielectric. HSG films formed from 4×10²⁰ atoms/cc phosphorus doped amorphous silicon show depletion in C-V behavior. It is shown that phosphine doping of HSG film is required to avoid depletion. Process selectivity of the UHV/CVD HSG transformation mechanism applied to thermal oxide and nitride field dielectrics is fully explored. Selectivity limits for different types of dielectric are also presented. Effect of critical parameters such as a-Si dopant concentration, HSG incubation time, anneal conditions, and a-Si layer thickness on HSG transformation are discussed for 1 Gb crown cells