Effect of Interparticle Potential on Forming Solid, Spherical Agglomerates during Drying

The effect of the interparticle potential on the shapes of the agglomerates obtained by drying slurry droplets has been investigated using aqueous alumina slurries formulated in the dispersed and weakly attractive (dispersed + added salt) states. For the dispersed slurry, the droplets dried to irregular shapes with hollow centers. When just the right amount of salt was added to produce an attractive, but nontouching, particle network, the droplets dried as solid spheres. These results are discussed by relating both the nature of the particle network (repulsive or weakly attractive), the slurry rheology, and the consolidation mechanics of the networks to the requirements for maintaining a spherical geometry and uniform density during droplet drying.     

Simple updating method for continuous encoding in guided scramblingline codes

A simple method to perform continuous coding in a guided scrambling (GS) system is presented. This technique reduces the amount of circuitry required to perform the memory updating which is inherent to this operation. A successful implementation has been used in the design of a fully functional GS system     

Quality of life following bladder training in older women with urinary incontinence

The elaboration of new mortality tables by the Swiss statistical office has allowed to estimate the impact of different pathology or risk factors on the average life duration of the resident population in Switzerland. Thus, attributable death of the smoking habits have for effect to decrease the life expectancy of swiss citizens of 2.9 years for men and 0.7 years for women, for the period 1988/1993. The calculation of mortality rates attributable to this factor of risk shows nevertheless that the risk of death has decreased since the end of years 1960 for all quinquennial age groups between 35 and 74 years. The smoking habits would be responsible of approximately 16% of deaths observed in the swiss population and 20% of premature deaths (between 25 and 64 years). The present analysis shows furthermore that different evolutions of the mortality associated with the smoking habits characterize men and women.     

Basaloid squamous cell carcinoma: a distinctive human papilloma virus-related penile neoplasm: a report of 20 cases

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the costs and benefits to community pharmacies of converting a traditional practice into one based on pharmaceutical care. SETTING: Community-based ambulatory care pharmacies. PRACTICE DESCRIPTION: Community pharmacy. PRACTICE INNOVATION: Pharmaceutical care. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Costs incurred and revenues received. DESIGN: Twenty-five community pharmacies that had made the transition from traditional practice to one based on pharmaceutical care returned a survey providing data on the costs and revenues associated with the transition. RESULTS: Mean total cost of making the conversion for the 25 pharmacies was $36,207. The largest cost component associated with the transition was personnel, which had a mean cost of $16,512 per pharmacy. Mean revenues received for pharmaceutical care by these 25 pharmacies was $3,687, mainly for disease management services. Pharmacies that spent more on the conversions, and used brochures and physician detailing as well as consultants and franschises, tended to be more successful in generating revenues from pharmaceutical care. CONCLUSION: Most pharmacies that have made the conversion to pharmaceutical care have not experienced an increase in profits as a result of that conversion. More effort needs to be directed toward improving the flow of revenues obtained from providing pharmaceutical care.     

Efficacy of water-borne emulsion of copper naphthenate as preservative for northern red oak (Quercus rubra) and soft maple (Acer rubrum)

Northern red oak (Quercus rubra) and red maple (Acer rubrum) cubes pressure treated with water brone formulation of copper naphthenate were evaluated for resistance to attack by brown fungiGloeophylleum trabeum (Pers. Ex Fr.) Murr. (Madison 617 ATCC 11539) andPoria placenta (Fr.) Cooke (Madison 698, ATCC 11538), white rot fungiTrametes versicolor (L. Ex FR.) Pilat (R-105 from Jeff Morrell),Irpex lacteus Fries (FP-105915 from Jeff Morrell) andPleurotus ostreatus (Jacq. Ex Fr.) Kummer (ATCC 32237), and soft rot fungiChaetomium globosum (ATCC 34152) andPhialophoria Sp. Wood samples measuring 19 by 19 by 19 mm were pressure treated to target copper retentions of 12.48 kg/m³ (0.78 pcf), 9.77 kg/m³ (0.61 pcf), 5.6 kg/m³ (0.35 pcf), 4.5 kg/m³ (0.30 pcf), 2.56 kg/m³ (0.16 pcf), 1.2 kg/m³ (0.075 pcf), 0.48 kg/m³ (0.03 pcf). Data from laboratory soil block tests indicate that at 2.0 ± 0.5 kg/m³ (0.13 pcf) copper retention from water borne copper naphthenate, the protection is similar to that from a 1.6 kg/m³ (0.10 pcf) elemental copper from oil borne copper nathenate or 7.2 kg/m³ (0.45 pcf) total oxide from CCA-C. Higher copper levels (3.0 ± 0.2 kg/m³) are needed to protect against copper tolerant brown rot fungusP. placenta. Results from an American Wood Preserver’s Association standard leaching test indicate that waterborne copper naphthenate treated samples retained 80 to 90% the copper initially absorbed. The amount of leached copper increases with the pH of the leaching solution.     

Allelic deletion on chromosome 17p13.3 in early ovarian cancer

Multiple chromosome 17 loci may be involved in ovarian carcinogenesis. Fifty-seven sporadic ovarian epithelial tumors were examined for loss of heterozygosity at 15 loci on chromosomes 17p. Eighty % (39 of 49) of informative tumors had allelic loss in 17p13.3 at D17S30, D17S28, or both loci within this region, including 3 of 7 tumors of low malignant potential and 4 of 5 nonmetastatic carcinomas. The smallest region of overlapping deletions extends from D17S28 to D17S30, a distance of 15 kb. Furthermore, several tumors have breakpoints within the region detected by the D17S30 probe. Chromosome 17p13.3 genes with potential tumor suppressor function include HIC-1, DPH2L (N. J. Phillips et al. Isolation of a human diphthamide biosynthesis gene on chromosome 17p13.3, submitted for publication)/OVCA1, PEDF, and CRK. The HIC-1 coding sequence lies i kb centromeric to the D17S28-S17S30 region of deletion (M. Makos Wales et al., Nat. Med., 1:570-577, 1995) but remains a candidate because 5'-regulatory elements may lie within the critical region. Portions of the DPH2L/OVCA1 coding sequence lie within the D17S28-D17S30 interval. Somatic cell hybrid analysis places PEDF in an interval including D17S28, D17S30, and D17S54, whereas CRK is excluded from this interval. Chromosome 17p13.3 loss precedes TP53 and BRCA1 region deletions because the latter changes are see only in high-stage carcinomas. Microsatellite instability plays only a minor role in sporadic ovarian carcinogenesis because only 1 of 57 tumors showed this finding.     

Oxide thickness effect on boron diffusion in thin oxide p+ Si gate technology

Based on a network defect model for the diffusion of B in SiO₂ we propose that B diffuses via a peroxy linkage defect whose concentration in the oxide changes under different processing conditions. We show that as the gate oxide is scaled below 80 Å in thickness, additional chemical processes act to increase B diffusivity and decrease its activation energy, both as a function of the distance from the Si/SiO₂ interface. For a 15 Å oxide, the B diffusivity at 900°C would increase by a factor of 24 relative to diffusion in a 100 Å oxide     

Construction and characteristics of codewords and pulse shapes that satisfy spectral constraints

Constrained sequence codes and pulse shapes are used to control signal characteristics in digital communication systems. This letter outlines a technique to construct codewords and pulse shapes to meet specified spectral constraints. Based on a block-coded representation of the signal, it is shown how symbol values can be evaluated to satisfy the most significant terms of a Fourier series representation of the desired spectral response. Several properties of the resulting signals are given, and examples are presented to confirm the validity of this approach.     

Amine-functionalization of glycidyl methacrylate-containing emulsion-templated porous polymers and immobilization of proteinase K for biocatalysis

Glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) emulsion-templated porous polymers (polyHIPEs) were prepared by thermal and photopolymerisation and derivatised with morpholine, tris(2-aminoethylamine) and a bisamino-PEG homobifunctional molecule. The extent of the functionalization reactions was investigated by a range of qualitative and quantitative techniques (FTIR, CHN analysis, titration, XPS, HR-MAS NMR spectroscopy, ninhydrin assay and Fmoc number determination) and was found to be excellent for small molecule amines (up to 89% conversion) but low for the reaction with PEG (2% conversion). This was ascribed to the high exclusion volume of the PEG chains in solution. Proteinase K (Pro K) was subsequently immobilized covalently onto the GMA polyHIPE material, both directly via reaction with surface epoxy groups and indirectly by activation of the pendent amine groups of PEGylated polyHIPE with glutaraldehyde then reductive amination with the enzyme. The activity of the supported enzymes was determined by a continuous electrochemical assay involving the hydrolysis of N-acetyl-l-tyrosine ethyl ester. The directly immobilized Pro K was found to have an activity of only 3.6 U/g whereas the activity of the enzyme immobilized via the PEG linker was much higher (up to 78 U/g).