Hospital development and the performance of organ procurement organizations

Light microscopical studies on the uptake of blood-borne horseradish peroxidase (HRP) in large areas of the testis have been scarce because of the difficulty of staining HRP in testes with well-preserved morphology. However, observation of exogenous HRP in all areas of the testis enables detection of regional tissue injury induced by toxic chemicals or immunization. In the present study, the localization of blood-borne HRP in the murine testis was investigated light microscopically using plastic-embedded testes and post-embedding histochemical methods. Mice were injected intravenously with HRP, and then perfused with 2.5% glutaraldehyde and 3% paraformaldehyde in 0.1 M phosphate buffer. The fixed testes were immediately removed, dehydrated, and then embedded in plastic without cutting them into small pieces. The prepared sections treated by the diaminobenzidine method exhibited intense HRP activity with well-preserved testis morphology. It was noted that many interstitial macrophages had endocytosed HRP. In particular, HRP-endocytosing macrophages were concentrated around the tubuli recti. The testicular capsule, containing many lymphatic capillaries and vessels, was also loaded with HRP. In the subcapsular interstitium, free HRP in the lymph space accumulated, but the staining intensity was weak compared to that in testicular macrophages. No HRP infiltration into the lumen of the seminiferous tubules was observed at the light microscope level; however, HRP staining was detected in tubular walls and epithelial cells lining the rete testis and tubuli recti, indicating that these regions are permeable to HRP.     

Dispersion Limitations of Ultra-Wideband Wireless Links and Their Compensation Via Photonically Enabled Arbitrary Waveform Generation

In this study, we present compression of ultra-wideband RF waveforms via photonic synthesis of phase pre-compensated waveforms. By exciting a dispersive wireless link (employing Archimedean spiral antennas) with variable-bandwidth excitation waveforms, we first demonstrate that such links exhibit a dispersion-limited output pulse duration. Subsequently, we utilize the RF spectral phase extracted from the impulse response of the link to create signals designed to negate the nonuniform phase response of the spiral antennas utilized in the link. Such waveforms remove the dispersion limitation and enable bandwidth-limited operation. We achieve compression to within a factor of two of the bandwidth limit for signals with bandwidths of 1-10 GHz at a center frequency of ~6 GHz. To our knowledge, this represents the first demonstration of dispersion pre-compensation for signals with fractional bandwidths exceeding 100%. Our technique is reprogrammable and may be extended to larger bandwidths and higher operational frequencies, making it an enabler for future radar and communication systems.     

Mechanical Failure Characteristics of Ceramic Multilayer Capacitors

The results of both uniaxial and biaxial flexure as well as toughness testing on actual commercial ceramic capacitor samples are reported. Necessary procedural adjustments are outlined for miniaturizing the applied-moment double-cantilever-beam test to accommodate these small samples. Strength and toughness testing showed that the metal electrodes lowered the fracture toughness and that the metal-ceramic interface was a preferred fracture path for crack propagation parallel to the electrodes. However, toughness did not clearly depend on crack propagation parallel or perpendicular to the electrodes, nor with flexural strengths. Flexural strengths were 0 to 40% lower, with the electrodes perpendicular to the tensile surface vs. parallel to the tensile surface. Fractures initiated from machining (or impact) flaws, or voids of various sizes, shapes, and locations, thus explaining the poor correlation between strength and toughness. Biaxial flexure tests of dielectric specimens of various sizes indicate that such a test could be scaled down and "calibrated" for actual testing of capacitors; e.g., a decrease in strength with increasing specimen thickness to support diameter ratio is indicated.     

Hydrology of the Jordan River Basin: A GIS-Based System to Better Guide Water Resources Management and Decision Making

A new method of participatory decision support that can be used in transboundary basins is presented. The framework of this method relies first on the creation of a transboundary geographic information system database to store hydrologic data and allow easy access to data from stakeholders. A participatory hydro-political framework is developed to help set up hydrologic models and evaluate joint water management scenarios. Results show that the countries of the Jordan River could benefit from the framework and in the case of southern Lebanon, six climate stations should be replaced or reactivated. Finally, the mechanism of a Lebanese Hydrologic Information System is presented and shows that an observation data model will facilitate science and policy integration.     

Toxic protein from trichloroethylene-extracted soybean oil meal

Summary Fractionation studies have been carried out on a specially prepared undenatured toxic trichloroethylene-extracted soybean oil meal to determine which component of the meal is associated with the toxicity. Calf-assay of the samples indicated that the toxic factor is associated with the protein. The toxic factor associated with the protein is labile to strong acid hydrolysis. Measurable destruction of the toxic factors occurs when the protein is treated with alkali at pH 11–12 at 60°C. Because destruction of the toxic factor occurred when the neutral protein dispersion was autoclaved for 1 hr. and was followed by an alkaline treatment simulating the pH conditions encountered in tryptic digestion, it was not possible to evaluate the effect of tryptic digestion upon the toxic factor. Analyses of the toxic protein failed to indicate the nature of the reaction of trichloroethylene with the protein to produce the toxicity. Presented at the fall meeting, American Oil Chemists' Society, Chicago, Ill., September 24–26, 1956. Investigation conducted jointly by the Northern Utilization Research and Development Division, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Veterinary Medical Research Institute and Agricultural Experiment Station, Iowa State College. Journal Paper J-3054, Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station, Ames, Project 814. A report of work done, in part, under contract with the U. S. Department of Agriculture and authorized by the Research and Marketing Act. Contract supervised by Northern Utilization Research and Development Division, Agricultural Research Service.     

Quantitative study of the annealing of poly(vinyl chloride) near the glass transition

Poly(vinyl chloride) displays a normal DSC of DTA curve for the glass transition when quenched from above its T_g. However if cooled slowly or annealed near the glass transition temperature, a peak appears on the DSC or DTA curve at the T_g. In this paper quantitative studies of the time and temperature effects on the production of this endothermal peak during the annealing of PVC homopolymer and an acetate copolymer are presented. The phenomenon conforms to the Williams, Landell, and Ferry equation for the relaxation of polymer chains, the rate of the peak formation becoming negligible at more than 50°C below T_g. The energy difference between the quenched and annealed forms is small. For a PVC homopolymer annealed 2 hr at 68°C, which is T_g ?10°C, the difference is 0.25 cal/g. For a 13% acetate copolymer of PVC similarly annealed, the difference is 0.36 cal/g. The measured rates of the process give a calculated activation energy of 13–14 kcal/mole for PVC homopolymer and copolymer. This appearance of a peak on the T_g curve for a polymer when annealed near the glass temperature appears to be a general phenomenon.     

DTA evidence for physical orientation (crystallinity) in PVC

A difference has been observed in the DTA and DSC curves for the glass transition of both PVC homopolymer and acetate copolymer, depending on the rate of quenching or annealing below the glass transition temperature. The difference has the appearance of an endothermal peak added to the glass transition curve and is attributed to an alignment of stereoregular chain segments of adjacent polymer molecules. The lengths of chain segments are assumed to be so short that no x-ray evidence of crystallinity was obtained. The orientation process involved has an activation energy of 47.8 kcal./mole in the homopolymer and 43.6 kcal./mole in the copolymer. The measured rate of the process agrees with the principle of time–temperature superposition, the rates becoming equal for homopolymer and copolymer at equal temperatures below their glass transition temperatures.     

Loss of oil in hulling tung fruit in the field and at the mill

Summary Methods for analyzing commercial tung hulls for oil have been developed. Samples of tung hulls from mill and field hulling operations have been collected and analyzed. The loss of oil when the fruit are hulled was found to vary from 0.6% to 7.3% with an average loss of 2.7% based on the total amount of oil in the fruit. The difference in the loss of oil between grove and mill hulling was not significant. With a loss of 2.7% of the oil in hulling, a recovery of 87.9% oil on the hulled nuts would be equivalent to a recovery of 85.5% oil on the whole fruit.     

A personal adjustment television program.

"This article describes some of our experiences in presenting a television program on personal adjustment on a commercial station over a period of one year. It is also an announcement of the availability of 13 half-hour kinescope recordings of these programs through the Educational TV and Radio Center." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Bladder outlet obstruction after multiple periurethral polytetrafluoroethylene injections

Periurethral polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) injections have been reported to be successful for the treatment of urinary incontinence after transurethral resection or radical prostatectomy. However, the use of polytetrafluoroethylene is controversial due to reports of distant migration and granulomatous reaction after periurethral injection. We report on a patient with a history of periurethral polytetrafluoroethylene injection for postoperative stress incontinence in whom bladder outlet obstruction developed and who underwent repeat transurethral resection 9 years later. Pathological examination revealed that the material responsible for the obstruction was almost totally composed of a foreign body giant cell response to the polytetrafluoroethylene implant ("teflonoma").