Depressed mood does not explain neuropsychological deficits in HIV-infected persons.

The relationship of depressed mood to cognitive disturbance in HIV infection was examined in a sample of 139 homosexual men. Ss were grouped according to the classification of the Centers for Disease Control: 39 were in Group IV, 62 were in Group II or Group III, and 38 were HIV-negative. Ss completed the Profile of Mood States and 10 neuropsychological tests. Analysis employing a classification approach indicated that, although symptoms of depression and neuropsychological impairment were more common in Ss who were HIV-positive, particularly those classified as Group IV, there were no systematic relationships between depression and neuropsychological impairment. Depressed mood and cognitive disturbance each seem to have unique associations to HIV illness status. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The differential effectiveness of group psychotherapy: A meta-analytic perspective.

The differential effectiveness of group psychotherapy was estimated in a meta-analysis of 111 experimental and quasi-experimental studies published over the past 20 years. A number of client, therapist, group, and methodological variables were examined in an attempt to determine specific as well as generic effectiveness. Three different effect sizes were computed: active versus wait list, active versus alternative treatment, and pre- to posttreatment improvement rates. The active versus wait list overall effect size (0.58) indicated that the average recipient of group treatment is better off than 72% of untreated controls. Improvement was related to group composition, setting, and diagnosis. Findings are discussed within the context of what the authors have learned about group treatment, meta-analytic studies of the extant group literature, and what remains for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Optimization of a Ductile-Particle-Toughened Ceramic

The nature of the interfacial bond has a major effect on the degree of toughening that can be achieved in a ductile-particle-reinforced ceramic-matrix composite. The effect of variation of oxygen partial pressure during fabrication on the bonding in an alumina-nickel composite has been investigated. Calculations suggest that wetting of alumina by nickel should always be accompanied by spinel (NiAl₂O₄ formation. A range of microstructures within a single specimen have been produced, however, indicating that wetting occurs more rapidly than spinel formation and that reduction of oxygen partial pressure during the hot-pressing process can prevent spinel formation after wetting has occurred. Within this specimen, interfaces that have been formed under nonwetting conditions or conditions under which spinel formation has occurred are weak, whereas wetting without spinel formation produces chemically strengthened and mechanically interlocked interfaces that lead to crack interaction with the metallic particles and a higher toughening increment than for other microstructures. Subsequent specimens fabricated from preconsolidation-heat-treated powder exhibit favorable microstructures throughout, are tougher, and show more-desirable resistance-curve behavior in double-cantilever-beam tests than specimens produced from unreacted powder.     

Interference effects from grammatically unavailable constituents during sentence processing.

Evidence from 3 experiments reveals interference effects from structural relationships that are inconsistent with any grammatical parse of the perceived input. Processing disruption was observed when items occurring between a head and a dependent overlapped with either (or both) syntactic or semantic features of the dependent. Effects of syntactic interference occur in the earliest online measures in the region where the retrieval of a long-distance dependent occurs. Semantic interference effects occur in later online measures at the end of the sentence. Both effects endure in offline comprehension measures, suggesting that interfering items participate in incorrect interpretations that resist reanalysis. The data are discussed in terms of a cue-based retrieval account of parsing, which reconciles the fact that the parser must violate the grammar in order for these interference effects to occur. Broader implications of this research indicate a need for a precise specification of the interface between the parsing mechanism and the memory system that supports language comprehension. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Network politics in an educational organization

The electronic mail (EM) network in a large, multi-campus community college district was used by some employees to gain support for positions contrary to those of the leadership. The case study offered an opportunity to look at technology within an organizational setting. It raised questions about the loose coupling of the educational organization's technical and authority systems, about the strength of coupling among employee groups during the incident, about the boundaries of the EM political activists, and about the power manifested within educational organization's technical and authority systems. A variety of research methods (stages of event progression, fantasy types associated with consciousness-building, and evidence of user technical and rhetorical skills) were used to answer questions about the organization's loosely coupled systems during the EM political incident. Notes were taken of conversations and more formal interviews. From this the technical and authority systems of the institution were described and compared. Results indicated that (1) the loose coupling of the technical and the authority systems made the EM political incident possible; (2) employees were more tightly coupled on organizational goals and more loosely coupled on organizational means; (3) political activists did not make full use of the EM's political medium potential; and (4) when the college district's administration refused to limit anyone's use of the EM network, they reinforced the integrity of both the authority and the technical systems.

Implications included: (1) the potential of some of the research methods for EM study, especially fantasy theme analysis; (2) a political interpretation of EM language, especially flaming; (3) the importance of technical and rhetorical skills for mature EM users; and (4) the role of the authority and technical systems in the debate about appropriate EM network use within an organization.     

PHYSICAL SIMULATION OF INTERFACIAL CONDITIONS IN HOT FORMING OF STEELS

1.~nonNUInericalmodellingbythefiniteelement(FE)methodhasbecomeaneffectiveandeconomyicmeansforsimulatingmetalfoeingprocesses.However,accuratemodellingdemandsthecorrectdefinitionandinputsofthedataforthethermalandphysicalpIDPertiesoftheworkpieceandtoolmaterials,theboUndaryconditionsattheworkpiece--toolinterfaceandinotherareas,inadditiontoappropriatemeshgenerationandnumericalsolutions.Althoughmostofthematerialdataareavailable,thedataforinterfacialheattransferandfrictionconditions,Whichhavesubst…     

Synthesis and application of core–shell particles as toughening agents for epoxies

Poly(butadiene-co-styrene) [P(B-S)] core-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) shell particles were prepared using a two-step emulsion polymerization. These core-shell particles were used to toughen an epoxy polymer. The role of particle-epoxy interfaces were studied by systematically varying the shell compositions of the core-shell particles such as PMMA, P[MMA-acrylonitrile (AN)], P[MMA-glycidyl methacrylate (GMA)] and P[MMA-divinyl benzene(DVB)]. Therefore, the nature of the particle-epoxy interfaces is varied in terms of physical interactions and chemical bonding. The fracture toughness values of the toughened epoxies were measured using linear elastic fracture mechanics. Results indicate that the morphology of the dispersed particles in the epoxy matrix plays an important role in the toughening of epoxies. This degree of dispersion can be varied by incorporating AN and GMA comonomers in the PMMA shells or by crosslinking the shell. In summary, nanoscale interactions of the rubber-matrix interface do not directly influence fracture toughness, instead, it was found that the nanoscale interactions could be used to control the blend morphology which has a dramatic effect on toughness. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Mechanical properties of a cryogenically mechanically alloyed polycarbonate–poly(aryl ether ether ketone) system

The processing–property relationship of a model cryogenically mechanically alloyed polymer–polymer system [polycarbonate (PC) and poly(aryl ether ether ketone) (PEEK)] was investigated. PC and PEEK powders were cryogenically mechanically alloyed for 10 h, and the resulting two‐phase powder particles were processed into testable coupons with a miniature ram‐injection molder. The bulk mechanical properties of the coupons made from the mechanically alloyed powders and nonmechanically alloyed powders were investigated as a function of mechanical alloying and injection‐molding parameters. The injection‐molded coupons were mechanically tested in the three‐point‐bending mode. The results demonstrated that no measurable improvement was achieved in the energy to break, strain at failure, or failure strength in the coupons made from the mechanically alloyed materials in comparison with those of the coupons made from the nonmechanically alloyed powders. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 88: 1196–1202, 2003     

Pole placement adaptive control with persistent jumps in the plant parameters

In this paper we consider the problem of adaptively stabilizing, and providing step tracking for, an uncertain linear time-varying system. We propose an adaptive pole placement controller which solves the problem for a single-input single-output plant whose parameters switch at a moderate rate among the elements of a compact set. The output feedback controller incorporates an integrator, and its action emulates the behaviour of a pole placement state feedback compensator; the controller is periodic and mildly nonlinear, is easy to implement, is noise tolerant, and tolerates a degree of unmodelled dynamics.     

Restoration of depressed prostanoid-induced ileal contraction in spontaneously hypertensive rats by dietary fish oil

We have reported that dietary fish oil (FO) rich in n-3 PUFA modulates gut contractility. It was further demonstrated that the gut of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) has a depressed contractility response to prostaglandins (PG) compared with normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats. We investigated whether feeding diets supplemented with n-3 PUFA increased gut contractility and restored the depressed prostanoid response in SHR gut. Thirteen-week-old SHR were fed diets containing fat at 5 g/100 g as coconut oil (CO), lard, canola oil containing 10% (w/w) n-3 FA as alpha-linolenic acid (1 8:3n-3), or FO (as HiDHA, 22:6n-3) for 12 wk. A control WKY group was fed 5 g/100 g CO in the diet. As confirmed, the SHR CO group had a significantly lower gut response to PGE2 and PGF2alpha compared with the WKY CO group. Feeding FO increased the maximal contraction response to acetylcholine in the ileum compared with all diets and in the colon compared with lard, and restored the depressed response to PGE2 and PGF2alpha in the ileum but not the colon of SHR. FO feeding also led to a significant increase in gut total phospholipid n-3 PUFA as DHA (22:6n-3) with lower n-6 PUFA as arachidonic acid (20:4n-6). Canola feeding led to a small increase in ileal EPA (20:5n-3) and DHA and in colonic DHA without affecting contractility. However, there was no change in ileal membrane muscarinic binding properties due to FO feeding. This report confirms that dietary FO increases muscarinic- and eicosanoid receptor-induced contractility in ileum and that the depressed prostanoid response in SHR ileum, but not colon, is restored by tissue incorporation of DHA as the active nutrient.