Multiple perspectives of rejected, neglected, and accepted children: Relation between sociometric status and behavioral characteristics.

Hypothesized, on the basis of findings from several studies, that rejected children are more disruptive, aggressive, and socially inappropriate than are their classmates. Three groups of 39 rejected, 29 neglected, and 39 accepted children were randomly selected from 282 boys and 210 girls who were identified separately on the basis of sociometric scores for 492 children in Grades 3–6. The 3 groups were compared using multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA) on measures from 4 domains: peer behavioral attributions, teacher ratings, analog assertiveness task, and self-evaluation. Rejected Ss were clearly distinguished from their same-sex neglected and accepted classmates and were described by teachers and peers as aggressive, disruptive and inattentive. Neglected Ss were only marginally discriminable from same-sex accepted children. Neither neglected nor rejected Ss were differentiated from accepted Ss with respect to observed assertiveness and self-ratings of shyness, unhappiness, and feeling unaccepted. The results replicate previous findings for rejected children. Currently, there is not sufficient justification to consider the group of socially neglected children as a clinical category. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of polymers for cement-based structural materials

Cement-based materials are widely used in the civil infrastructure. Polymers as admixtures can improve the properties, particularly in relation to water absorption reduction, toughness enhancement, vibration damping and increase of the bond strength of cement to reinforcements. Polymeric admixtures include particles, short fibers and organic liquids. Latex in the form of an aqueous particle dispersion is most common. Other than being used as admixtures, polymers are used as partial replacement of fine aggregate, for coating, sealing and repairing concrete and for coating steel reinforcing bars for corrosion protection.     

High performance biofilm process for treating wastewater discharged from coal refining plants containing nitrogen, cyanide and thiocyanate.

Wastewater discharge from coal refining plants contains a number of biologically toxic compounds; 2000-2500 mg/l of COD of which 40% is composed of phenol, 100-400 mg/l of thiocyanate, 10-40 mg/l of cyanide, 100-250 mg/l of NH4+-N and 150-300 mg/l of total nitrogen. In order to treat this kind of high strength wastewater, we have developed a high performance biofilm process using fluidizing bio-carriers of the tube chip type. The fluidizing biofilm carriers are made of a composite of polyethylene and several inorganic materials, whose density is controlled at 0.97-0.98 g/ml. The fluidizing biofilm carriers show sound fluidization characteristics inside bioreactors. The wastewater is treated using three consecutive series reactors in oxic-anoxic-oxic arrangement. Each reactor is charged with the fluidizing biofilm carriers of 50 vol%. Furthermore, newly cultured active microorganisms for the thiocyanate biodegradation are added in the biofilm process. At total hydraulic retention time of 2.2 days, this process can achieve steady state removal efficiencies: COD, 99%; thiocyanate, 99%; NH4+-N, 99% and total nitrogen, 90%.     

A direct numerical simulation of transition phenomena in a mixed convection channel flow

This study intends to provide an increased understanding of the laminar-turbulent transition phenomena for the buoyancy-assisted heated vertical channel flow during the early transient stage. The spectral method with weak formulation is applied in the direct numerical simulation. Initial disturbances consist of the finite-amplitude two-dimensional TS wave and a pair of three-dimensional oblique waves for the K-type disturbances. The results from the harmonic energy competitions of different wave modes show that for the buoyancy-assisted heated flow, the (k_x=1, k_z=1) or (1,1) and (1,0) modes would gain energy immediately and start to rise at almost the same rate. This phenomenon is different from that of the buoyancy-opposed flow, where the (1,1) mode decays slowly in the beginning until other modes gain enough energy and then it begins to grow quickly and overtakes the (1,0) mode after a short time period. These different transition patterns match with the experimental results that the flow transition is supercritical and subcritical for the buoyancy-assisted and -opposed flows, respectively. Buoyancy-assisted heated flow transition follows the general trend of an isothermal flow in the beginning, but the thermal-buoyant force is crucial in accelerating the instability and also causing notable differences during the subsequent transition process. All of the results for the vortex structures development, kinetic energy budget of the disturbances, flow visualization by tagged fluid particles, and the local temperature fluctuations are consistent in pointing to a clear pattern for the buoyancy-assisted heated flow transition.     

Studies of elemental distributions within discrete coal macerals: Use of secondary ion mass spectrometry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

Secondary ion mass spectrometry has been used to measure qualitatively the distributions of many trace and minor elements within some well-characterized coal macerals: vitrinite, fusinite and exinite. Complementary information was obtained by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Within the vitrinite specimens studied, a widely-dispersed largely inorganic aluminosilicate phase was identified, which contained a number of other trace elements. By contrast, within the organic-rich phase of this macerai, titanium was detected in a very even distribution; this suggests that some titanium may be bonded in an organic complex. The fusinite was shown to contain elevated concentrations of calcium, magnesium and fluorine, dispersed over a large portion of the maceral. The high fluorine content could be identified as an organo-fluoro compound using XPS. Exinite was found to contain lower concentrations of most elements, compared to other macerals. The organic composition of this maceral was significantly different from that of surrounding macerals; this could be seen from the enhanced emission of the C₂H₂-secondary ion and images of this ion thus clearly outlined the position of such macerals.     

Generation of gas bubbles in microflow using micropipette with ultrasound

Ultrasound was applied to a micropipette micromixer to improve dispersion of gas and liquid in a microchannel. Flow visualization using a high-speed camera was performed to examine the effect of ultrasonic irradiation on bubble generation in the microchannel. Basically, nitrogen gas was injected using a (0.5 µm ID) glass micropipette into ethanol flowing in a rectangular (100 µm×200 µm) microchannel on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Gas and liquid flow rates were regulated using mass flow controllers. At aflow condition that is typical of bubbly flow, ultrasound was transmitted into the microchannel using a piezo-electric (PZT) transducer over a range of operating voltages (2 to 200 Vp-p) and frequencies (50 to 60 kHz). Images captured during the action of the PZT transducer indicate that bubble formation is influenced by ultrasound. When subjected to ultrasound above 50 Vp-p and at the resonant frequency of the PZT transducer, bubbles formed that were smaller and closer together, signifying enhanced shearing of the gas at the micropipette tip by the liquid. The observation of gas slugs occurring sooner might be attributed to the coalescence of gas bubbles that became closely spaced.     

Creating a Student Centered Learning Environment at the University of Denver

A team of faculty members at the University of Denver changed the learning environment in key courses in the Department of Engineering from predominately teacher centered to student centered. Through this funded project new grading methods were implemented, classrooms were renovated and wired with studio layouts to facilitate learning, the Engineering Circuits Laboratory was rewired and instrumented for automated data acquisition and reporting, and two new pedagogical approaches were developed. At the onset of the project, six goals were established related to student learning. The introduction of industry standard hardware and software provided students with unprecedented hands‐on experience and project related activities stimulated faculty innovations in other current and future courses. Assessment results indicate that the new grading system improved the clarity of expectations for students before assignments were given resulting in increased reported motivation for learning in many courses. Even though course GPAs did not always reflect higher achievement on graded work, faculty members firmly believe that deeper understanding was achieved because more complex material was assimilated.     

Wavelength and repetition rate tunable optical pulse source using a chirped fiber Bragg grating and a nonlinear optical loop mirror

We experimentally demonstrate a simple and novel scheme for tunable real-repetition-rate multiplication, based on the combined use of fractional Talbot effect in a linearly tunable chirped fiber Bragg grating (FBG) and cross-phase modulation (XPM) effect in a nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM). By tuning the group-velocity dispersion of the chirped FBG fabricated with the S-bending method using a uniform FBG, we obtain high quality pulses at pseudorepetition rates of 20/spl sim/50 GHz from an original 8.5-ps 10-GHz soliton pulse train. We subsequently convert this pseudorate multiplication into a real-rate multiplication using XPM effect in an NOLM. A wavelength tuning is also achieved over a /spl sim/15-nm range.     

Gastrointestinal autonomic nerve tumour presenting as small bowel volvulus: a rare disease with a rare presentation

A 78-year-old Chinese woman presented with recurrent postprandial abdominal pain. Computerised tomography revealed a small bowel tumour causing volvulus of a segment of the small bowel. Laparotomy confirmed an extraluminal ileal tumour with partial volvulus of the involved small bowel segment. Small bowel resection was done. Histological and ultrastructural studies confirmed a gastrointestinal autonomic nerve tumour. We review the medical literature on this rare tumour.     

Multiobjective evaluation of advanced manufacturing system technology investments with risk

Advanced manufacturing system technologies are difficult to evaluate using ordinary financial measures owing to the presence of risk and significant intangible factors. In this paper a methodology is proposed that quantifies financial, strategic, and tactical attributes of each alternative. Attribute values are denned for each period of project life. Both project life and attributes are treated as random variables. Attributes are discounted to the current time and the multiple objectives are combined by composite programming. The distribution of the combined objective is estimated. The procedure is demonstrated on an actual case study.