Defensiveness, trait anxiety, and Epstein-Barr viral capsid antigen antibody titers in healthy college students.

Investigated the relationship of individual differences in repressive coping styles with differences in antibody titer to Epstein-Barr (EB) viral capsid antigen in a normal, healthy college population made up of people previously exposed to EB. Each of 54 1st-yr undergraduates completed a battery of physical-status questions and items pertaining to potential behavioral immunomodulatory confounds, along with the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. Ss reporting high and middle levels of anxiety had higher antibody titers to EB, suggesting poorer immune control over the latent virus, as compared with the low-anxious group. Similarly, high-defensive Ss had higher antibody titers than their low-defensive counterparts, and neither group differed from the middle group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Backlog Control Design for a Closed Loop PPC System

In this paper a discrete dynamic model of a single workstation is used to design and analyse control algorithms for closed-loop PPC that improve performance, especially response to disturbances such as rush orders and periodic fluctuations in capacity, while ensuring that dynamic behavior remains favorable and robust. The presence of delays in adjusting capacity presents challenges in both dynamic analysis and control algorithm design that are addressed in the paper. Methods of control engineering, such as transfer function and frequency response analysis, are used to make analysis of fundamental system properties tractable and to improve control of dynamic behavior.     

Dielectric Properties of the "Twinned" 8H-Hexagonal Perovskite Ba8Nb4Ti3O24

The dielectric properties of dense ceramics of the "twinned" 8H-hexagonal perovskite Ba₈Nb₄Ti₃O₂₄ are reported. Single-phase powders were obtained from the mixed-oxide route at 1325°C and ceramics (>92% of the theoretical X-ray density) by sintering in air or flowing O₂ at 1400°–1450°C. The ceramics are dc insulators with a band gap >3.4 eV that resonate at microwave frequencies with relative permittivity, ɛ_r∼44–48, quality factor, Q × f _r∼21 000–23 500 GHz (at f _r∼5.5 GHz) and temperature coefficient of resonant frequency, TC _f,∼+115 ppm/K.     

Defining a synthetic pheromone blend attractive to male Heliothis subflexa under wind tunnel conditions

Heliothis subflexa males were flown in a wind tunnel to a variety of combinations of synthetic pheromone components admixed on a filter paper disk. Blends containing (Z)-11-hexadecenal (Z11–16:Ald, 1000 ng), (Z)-9-hexadecenal (Z9–16:Ald, 500 ng) and (Z)-11-hexadecenol (Z11–16:OH, 10–500 ng) elicited upwind flight and source contact in 52–69% of males. All these compounds have previously been isolated and identified from female H. subflexa gland extracts and volatile pheromone emissions. Males were not attracted by blends in which Z9–16:Ald was omitted (0% source contact). Similarly, blends lacking Z11–16:OH were unattractive to male H. subflexa (3% or less source contact). Males were extremely sensitive to the presence of Z11–16:OH; however, responding in high numbers (57–69% source contact) to blends containing a dosage of 1% (10 ng) or greater Z11–16:OH. Males were unresponsive to blends in which Z9–16:Ald was replaced with a variety of dosages of (Z)-9-tetradecenal, a secondary component of a closely-related congeneric species, Heliothis virescens. Another compound present in the blend emitted by conspecific females, (Z)-11-hexadecenyl acetate (Z11–16:Ac), did not inhibit H. subflexa males (69% source contact) when added to the three-component mixture (1:0.5:0.1) at a ratio of 0.1 (100 ng) with respect to Z11–16:Ald. These results indicate that Z9–16:Ald and Z11–16:OH are required in addition to Z11–16:Ald to elicit significant levels of upwind flight in H. subflexa males. The effects of Z11–16:Ac are more subtle, but at the dosage tested in these experiments, this compound does not have an antagonistic effect on upwind flight and source location by H. subflexa males.     

Cellulose-binding domains: potential for purification of complex proteins

The endoglucanase CenA and the exoglucanase Cex from Cellulomonasfimi each contain a discrete cellulose-binding domain (CBD),at the amino-terminus or carboxyl-terminus respectively. Thegene fragment encoding the CBD can be fused to the gene of aprotein of interest. Using this approach hybrid proteins canbe engineered which bind reversibly to cellulose and exhibitthe biological activity of the protein partner. Alkaline phosphatase(PhoA) from Escherichia coli, and a ß-glucosidase(Abg) from an Agrobacterium sp. are dimeric proteins. The fusionpolypeptides CenA-PhoA and Abg-CBC_cex are sensitive to proteolysisat the junctions between the fusion partners. Proteolysis resultsin a mixture of homo- and heterodimers; these bind to celluloseif one or both of the monomers carry a CBD, e.g. CenA-PhoA/CenA-PhoAand CenA-PhoA/PhoA. CBD fusion polypeptides could be used inthis way to purify polypeptides which associate with the fusionpartner.     

Measuring and improving the quality of development processes based on usability and accessibility

Universal Access in the Information Society - Measurement of both usability and accessibility is an important concern in software development today. However, while a great amount of attention has...     

Synthesis,structure, and characterization of the thorium zirconolite CaZr1-xThxTi2O7 system

A series of zirconolite ceramics with composition CaZr_1-xTh_xTi₂O₇ (Δx = 0.10) were reactively sintered at 1350°C for 20 h, in air (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.60) and 5% H₂/N₂ (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.40). A sample with composition corresponding to x = 0.20 was also produced by hot isostatic pressing (HIP) at 1300°C and 100 MPa for 4 hours. Th⁴⁺ immobilization was most readily achieved under oxidizing conditions, with Th⁴⁺ preferentially incorporated within a pyrochlore-structured phase in the range 0.10 ≤ x ≤ 0.50, yet formation of the zirconolite-4M polytype was not observed. We report the novel synthesis of single-phase pyrochlore with nominal composition CaZr_0.40Th_0.60Ti₂O₇ when targeting x = 0.60. Th⁴⁺ incorporation under reducing conditions produced a secondary Th-bearing perovskite, comprising 24.2 ± 0.6 wt% of the phase assemblage when targeting x = 0.40, alongside 8.8 ± 0.3 wt% undigested ThO₂. Under reducing conditions, powder XRD data were consistent with zirconolite adopting the 3T polytype structure. The sample produced by HIP presented a nonequilibrium phase assemblage, yielding a major phase of zirconolite-2M alongside accessory Th⁴⁺-bearing phases ThTi₂O₆, ThO₂, and perovskite. These data highlight the efficacy of Th⁴⁺ as a Pu⁴⁺ surrogate, with implications for the formation of Zr-stabilized Th-pyrochlore phases as matrices for waste with elevated Th⁴⁺ content.     

Predicting the health risks related to whole-body vibration and shock: a comparison of alternative assessment methods for high-acceleration events in vehicles

In this paper, alternative assessment methods for whole-body vibration and shocks are compared by means of 70 vibration samples measured from 13 work vehicles, deliberately selected to represent periods containing shocks. Five methodologies (ISO 2631-1:1997, BS 6841:1987, ISO 2631-5:2004, DIN SPEC 45697:2012 and one specified by Gunston [2011], ‘G-method’) were applied to the vibration samples. In order to compare different evaluation metrics, limiting exposures were determined by calculating times to reach the upper limit thresholds given in the methods. Over 10-fold shorter times to exposure thresholds were obtained for the tri-axial VDV (BS 6841) than for the dominant r.m.s. (ISO 2631-1) when exposures were of high magnitude or contained substantial shocks. Under these exposure conditions, the sixth power approaches (ISO 2631-5, DIN SPEC, G-method) are more stringent than a fourth power VDV method. The r.m.s. method may lead to misleading outcomes especially if a lengthy measurement includes a small number of severe impacts. In conclusion, methodologies produce different evaluations of the vibration severity depending on the exposure characteristics, and the correct method must be selected.