Memory for emotional trait adjectives in clinically depressed youth

An experiment was conducted to examine memory for emotional trait adjectives in depressed children and adolescents. Two groups of children and adolescents, clinically depressed participants and non-clinical controls, were compared on computerized versions of recall and recognition memory tasks. Three groups of words (positive trait adjectives, negative trait adjectives, and categorized neutral words) were used in the experiment. Results showed that the depressed group recalled significantly more negative adjectives than positive adjectives, whereas the control group recalled the same number of positive and negative adjectives. This effect was predicted by the association between age and level of depression, with the depression-related bias becoming stronger with age. Signal detection analysis revealed that the depressed group did not show any bias in the recognition task. The findings are discussed with respect to cognitive theories of depression with consideration of the developmental implications.     

Influence of drying and extraction methods on yield and chemical composition of the essential oil of Satureja hortensis

The aerial parts of Satureja hortensis, cultivated in Iran (Research Station of Alborz, Karaj), were collected at the full-flowering stage and dried by three different drying methods (sun-drying, shade-drying and oven-drying at 45 °C). The essential oils of every treatment were obtained by hydro-distillation of the aerial parts. In addition, the essential oil of shade-dried sample was obtained by two other distillation methods (water- and steam-distillation and direct steam-distillation). The oils were analyzed by capillary GC and GC–MS. Statistical analysis showed no significant difference between oil yield (w/w) of the oven-dried sample (1.06%) compared to shade-dried (0.94%) and sun-dried (0.87%). The oil content of the shade-dried sample, obtained by hydro-distillation, was higher (0.94%) than that of the steam-distilled (0.27%). Twenty-three components were identified in the oil of S. hortensis in the different drying methods, including carvacrol (46.0–48.1%) and γ-terpinene (37.7–39.4%) as main components. Seventeen compounds were characterized in the oils of different distillation methods, including carvacrol (12.3–46%) and γ-terpinene (37.7–70.4%). Although the drying methods had no significant effect on oil composition of S. hortensis, the distillation changed the percentage of main components sharply (significant at 1%). The steam-distillation method produced the lowest amount of carvacrol and highest amount of γ-terpinene. The results showed that extraction by hydro-distillation gave the best results for S. hortensis, based on oil yield and carvacrol percentage.     

Wear assessment of plasma nitrided AISI H11 steel

Plasma nitriding is one of the effective methods for improvement of the hardness, wear and corrosion resistance of steels. In this research AISI H11 hot working tool steel was plasma nitrided in various gas mixtures for different times and temperatures. The morphology, size and composition of nitride nanoparticles formed on the surface of the specimens were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD). The wear behavior of plasma nitrided samples was studied by means of unlubricated pin-on-disc method under constant load of 80 N, sliding speed of 1 m/s, sliding distance of 2000 m at room temperature. The results showed plasma nitriding process improved the wear behavior of H11 steel. The increase in time and temperature of plasma nitriding decreased the hardness and increased the wear weigh loss of the specimens.     

Switched diversity approach for multireceiving optical wireless systems

A number of existing spatial diversity schemes have been shown to improve the performance of optical wireless communication systems in diversity-rich environments. Among all, switched diversity has low complexity and is simple to implement. In this paper, an innovative spatial diversity scheme based on switched diversity is proposed. The scheme, namely switch-to-dominant combining, contributes to a higher bit error rate (BER) performance when compared to conventional switched diversity schemes, including switch-and-stay and switch-and-examine diversity. The optical multireceiver wireless system operates in a spatially correlated and lognormally distributed fading channel. Analytical analyses are conducted to demonstrate BER and processing load performance offered by the new scheme and compare them to available schemes, i.e., conventional switched combining and selection combining.     

Identification of Candidate mRNA Isoforms for Prostate Cancer-Risk SNPs Utilizing Iso-eQTL and sQTL Methods

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) impacting the alternative splicing (AS) process (sQTLs) or isoform expression (iso-eQTL) are implicated as important cancer regulatory elements. To find the sQTL and iso-eQTL, we retrieved prostate cancer (PrCa) tissue RNA-seq and genotype data originating from 385 PrCa European patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas. We conducted RNA-seq analysis with isoform-based and splice event-based approaches. The MatrixEQTL was used to identify PrCa-associated sQTLs and iso-eQTLs. The overlap between sQTL and iso-eQTL with GWAS loci and those that are differentially expressed between cancer and normal tissue were identified. The cis-acting associations (FDR < 0.05) for PrCa-risk SNPs identified 42, 123, and 90 PrCa-associated cassette exons, intron retention, and mRNA isoforms belonging to 25, 95, and 83 genes, respectively; while assessment of trans-acting association (FDR < 0.05) yielded 59, 65, and 196 PrCa-associated cassette exons, intron retention and mRNA isoforms belonging to 35, 55, and 181 genes, respectively. The results suggest that functional PrCa-associated SNPs can play a role in PrCa genesis by making an important contribution to the dysregulation of AS and, consequently, impacting the expression of the mRNA isoforms.     

Fault‐tolerant control of distributed systems by information pattern reconfiguration

Given a fault‐tolerance strategy and a distributed control system, the set of recoverable faults depends on the information pattern that is implemented. This paper shows that fault‐tolerance can be achieved, when possible, by the reconfiguration of the information pattern. A necessary and sufficient recoverability condition is provided, and sub‐optimal solutions are developed for actuator and sensor faults under system reconfiguration. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Measurement of Urbach edge and midgap states in amorphous silicon p-i-n devices

Urbach energy of valence band tails and mid-gap defect densities are important parameters for determining the performance of amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) devices. In this paper, we examine a technique which allows one to determine these parameters in device structures, as opposed to in films. The technique consists of measuring sub-gap quantum efficiency as a function of reverse bias and photon wavelength. We show that there is a distinction between the response of tail states and mid-gap states to the application of reverse bias, and that by analyzing these differences, one can locate the energies of the mid-gap states in the device. The technique gives an accurate measurement of Urbach edge of tail states, even on textured substrates, but only estimates mid-gap states within a factor of 2.     

In‐stream construction‐induced suspended sediment in riverine ecosystems

Construction activities within the wetted‐perimeter of rivers, referred to as in‐stream construction, are prevalent economically and environmentally motivated activities having direct interactions with sensitive lotic environments. Currently, there is a paucity of research related to in‐stream construction activities and their effects on aquatic ecosystems. In‐stream construction‐induced suspended sediment may result in harmful effects to aquatic flora and fauna. Regulatory frameworks worldwide focus primarily on concentration, with limited consideration for duration and no consideration for spatial extents of suspended sediment exposures. This research develops theoretical concentration, duration, and spatial extent exposure risk relationships for riverine ecosystems to demonstrate the influence of each mechanism during typical in‐stream construction activities. To reduce exposure risk, concentration and duration may be considered pragmatically, based on anticipated activity characteristics and site conditions. Spatial exposure characteristics are important to consider, as illustrated by our finding that activities located near the channel centerline may result in greater exposure risk than similar activities conducted near the streambank. Current regulatory frameworks worldwide do not sufficiently consider all exposure risk mechanisms present during in‐stream construction‐induced suspended sediment releases, possibly inhibiting efforts to reduce adverse environmental effects. This research improves our understanding of suspended sediment in lotic environments and may help environmental managers better evaluate and manage in‐stream construction activities.     

A density-based fuzzy clustering technique for non-destructive detection of defects in materials

In non-destructive testing and evaluation of materials, defects contain visible aggregations of similar levels of brightness with large scale of correlation between them. In most cases, these brightnesses have no notable contrast relative to non-defect counterparts. However, the density and the size of the defect are visually the most notable features. In this paper, we have utilized human conception for classifying defects by the fusion of fuzzy clustering method and fuzzy logic rules based on the density and the size of the defect. The probability of detection and the probability of error are compared with the Bayes classifier. The proposed approach shows that there is less dependency between the variation of density and size of a defect and variations of noise density and distribution. Experimental images from eddy current, ultrasonic and radiography techniques are investigated. It is shown that the new approach reduces the noise and drift, leading to a better detection of defects.