Exposure to virtual nature: the impact of different immersion levels on skin conductance level,heart rate,and perceived relaxation

Virtual Reality - It is generally accepted that natural environments reduce stress and improve mood. Since access to natural environments is sometimes limited, virtual natural environments,...     

Chemistry and Toxicology of Major Bioactive Substances in Inocybe Mushrooms

Mushroom poisoning has always been a threat to human health. There are a large number of reports about ingestion of poisonous mushrooms every year around the world. It attracts the attention of researchers, especially in the aspects of toxin composition, toxic mechanism and toxin application in poisonous mushroom. Inocybe is a large genus of mushrooms and contains toxic substances including muscarine, psilocybin, psilocin, aeruginascin, lectins and baeocystin. In order to prevent and remedy mushroom poisoning, it is significant to clarify the toxic effects and mechanisms of these bioactive substances. In this review article, we summarize the chemistry, most known toxic effects and mechanisms of major toxic substances in Inocybe mushrooms, especially muscarine, psilocybin and psilocin. Their available toxicity data (different species, different administration routes) published formerly are also summarized. In addition, the treatment and medical application of these toxic substances in Inocybe mushrooms are also discussed. We hope that this review will help understanding of the chemistry and toxicology of Inocybe mushrooms as well as the potential clinical application of its bioactive substances to benefit human beings.     

Capacity-achieving sequences for the erasure channel

This paper starts a systematic study of capacity-achieving (c.a.) sequences of low-density parity-check codes for the erasure channel. We introduce a class A of analytic functions and develop a procedure to obtain degree distributions for the codes. We show various properties of this class which help us to construct new distributions from old ones. We then study certain types of capacity-achieving sequences and introduce new measures for their optimality. For instance, it turns out that the right-regular sequence is c.a. in a much stronger sense than, e.g., the Tornado sequence. This also explains why numerical optimization techniques tend to favor graphs with only one degree of check nodes.     

Finite-element grid improvement by minimization of stiffness matrix trace

A new and simple method of finite-element grid improvement is presented. The objective is to improve the accuracy of the analysis. The procedure is based on a minimization of the trace of the stiffness matrix. For a broad class of problems this minimization is seen to be equivalent to minimizing the potential energy. The method is illustrated with the classical tapered bar problem examined earlier by Prager and Masur. Identical results are obtained.     

Impact of Elaboration on Socially Desirable Responding and the Validity of Biodata Measures.

The current study investigated the impact of requiring respondents to elaborate on their answers to a biodata measure on mean scores, the validity of the biodata item composites, subgroup mean differences, and correlations with social desirability. Results of this study indicate that elaborated responses result in scores that are much lower than nonelaborated responses to the same items by an independent sample. Despite the lower mean score on elaborated items, it does not appear that elaboration affects the size of the correlation between social desirability and responses to biodata items or that it affects criterion-related validity or subgroup mean differences in a practically significant way. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mössbauer effect study of mechanically alloyed Γ and Γ1 Fe−Zn intermediate phases

The Mössbauer effect measurements of as-ball-milled mechanically alloyed Fe?Zn intermediate phases of Γ (Fe₃Zn₁₀) and Γ₁ (Fe₅Zn₂₁) compositions exhibit characteristic spectra consisting of triplets. Each is characterized with an Fe site with unusually large quadrupole splittings measuring 0.940 mm/s in the cubic Fe?Zn phases and, in addition, three other doublets. In the aged state, both compositions show spectra free of the Fe site with quadrupole splitting of 0.940 mm/s, designated as _MSΓFe₁ and _{MSΓ 1}Fe₁, respectively. This suggests that the metastable states are similar, while their separate transformation paths to stable equilibrium lead to distinct crystal structures. The parameters for the aged states are compared with those reported in the literature for both phases.     

Betriebsmittel für mechanische Vakuumpumpen in der chemischen und der verwandten Industrie

All vacuumpummps which use a liquid as a sealing-agent have to take care of their specific demands. In this paper liquid-ring-vacuum-pumps will be short mentioned, because the user is familiar with this pumps and alternative fluids. Using other fluids in other mecanical vacuumpumps are not in operation in the field of the various applications frequently. You will find some ideas for using other fluids which are possibly used in rotary-vane vacuum-pumps to find more consideration in the future.     

The effect of alumina particulate morphology on the properties of reinforced poly(propylene) and poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate) composites

The effect of alumina particulates on a thermoplastic matrix is investigated, in particular the effect altering the alumina particle size and morphology has on the mechanical properties. Different grades of alumina are used and two thermoplastic matrices; namely poly(propylene) and poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate). Investigations showed that optimum properties were achieved with the alumina of smallest particle size and lowest aspect ratio. Preliminary work has also been performed on the use of silane coupling agents and they have proved effective in increasing the tensile properties of the composites.     

Power Analysis Attacks and Countermeasures

This article focuses on power analysis attacks because they have received by far the most attention in recent years. They are powerful and can be executed relatively easily. This article provides an introduction to these attacks and discusses countermeasures against them. In particular, we focus on countermeasures that can be implemented at the cell level. This article presents an overview of power analysis attacks, which are based on the measurement of the power consumed by cryptographic ICs, and countermeasures against them.