Expectations about counseling in Yucatán, Mexico: Toward a "Mexican psychology."

Conducted a study of client expectations of psychological services in Yucatán, Mexico, under the sponsorship of a grant from the Organization of American States. The Expectations about Counseling–Brief form (EAC-B) questionnaire was translated and administered to 488 subjects across age, sex, and experience with psychological services. Subsequent analyses supported the reliability and robustness of the Spanish EAC-B, with factor structure similar to the EAC-B in English. Some relation was found among age, sex, prior counseling experience, and expectations about counseling. Implications of these data for future research and comparison with U.S. subjects are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The TSIMMIS Approach to Mediation: Data Models and Languages

TSIMMIS—The Stanford-IBM Manager of Multiple InformationSources—is a system for integrating information. It offers a datamodel and a common query language that are designed to support thecombining of information from many different sources. It also offerstools for generating automatically the components that are needed tobuild systems for integrating information. In this paper we shalldiscuss the principal architectural features and their rationale.     

Analysis of the turbine deblading in an HTGR with the CATHARE code

The direct coupling of a Gas Cooled Reactor (GCR) with a closed gas-turbine cycle leads to a specific dynamic plant behaviour. This behaviour is described and illustrated through computer analyses performed at CEA with the computer code CATHARE. This analysis requires a 1D code able to simulate the whole reactor, including the core, the vessel, the piping and the components (turbine, compressors, heat exchangers).This paper is devoted to deblading accidents. The problems and solutions encountered in various types of gas-turbines are presented: aero engines, steam turbines (EDF-Porcheville steam turbine accident feedback) and finally the feedback from previous High Temperature Gas Reactor experiments (EVO helium loop, HHT project and other HTR projects) are displayed. From this literature survey, some recommendations are drawn for a future High Temperature Reactor. It is shown that for safety reasons in case of deblading, a horizontal shaft aligned with the reactor vessel is recommended for the turbomachinery.This paper presents simulations of different scenarii performed with CATHARE code:

(a) Turbine deblading with and without reactor trip. In these calculations, a pessimistic assumption has been made: all turbine blades break off.

(b) Total flow blockage. The flow area is entirely blocked by the turbine blades.

(c) Partial flow blockage. Previous conclusions consider the worst cases of deblading and total flow blockage. An intermediate case based on a partial deblading has also been performed.

CATHARE results illustrate that the loss of turbine blades is accompanied by abrupt changes in the Power Conversion System and reactor flow conditions: large axial pressure drop, reverse flow through the core and high rate de-pressurization.     

Stimulatory effect of follicle-stimulating hormone on basal and luteinizing hormone-stimulated testosterone secretions by the fetal rat testis in vitro

The in vitro effect of FSH on testosterone secretion by the fetal rat testis was studied. Testes were cultured in the presence or absence of either commercial human (h) FSH (Metrodine; 200 mIU/ml) or recombinant hFSH (200 mIU/ml) for 3 days and with 100 ng/ml ovine LH during the last 4 h of culture. To avoid a stimulatory effect by the 0.4% LH that contaminates Metrodine, the cultures were performed in the presence of a monoclonal anti-hLH beta antibody and with a concentration of Metrodine that had no short term stimulatory effect on testosterone production by the fetal testes in vitro. Metrodine treatment had a positive long term effect on both basal and LH-stimulated testosterone secretion by fetal testes explanted on days 18.5, 20.5, and 22.5 postconception, which was abolished by the addition of a monoclonal anti-hFSH beta antibody. LH-free recombinant FSH also augmented basal and LH-stimulated testosterone secretion of testes explanted on days 13.5, 14.5, and 18.5 postconception. The positive effect of recombinant hFSH appeared during the second day of treatment with day 14.5 and 18.5 testes and on the third day of treatment with day 13.5 testes. As it is widely accepted that FSH receptors are exclusively localized on Sertoli cells, these results suggest that on or before day 15.5 of fetal life, 1) Sertoli cells are able to respond to FSH, 2) Sertoli cells can produce factors that are able to act on Leydig cell function, and 3) Leydig cells are sensitive to FSH-induced Sertoli cell factors. In conclusion, this study points out a potential paracrine control of fetal Leydig cell function and/or differentiation by fetal Sertoli cells as soon as fetal Leydig cells differentiate.     

Renal duplex scanning: correlation with angiography and isotopic renography

The purpose of this study was to assess the accuracy of Duplex scanning in detecting renovascular disease and to compare it with angiography, renal scintigraphy and captopril test for plasma renin activity and isotopic renography. A Duplex scan was performed in 92 renal arteries (46 patients) and compared to angiography. Three degrees of stenoses were established: 0-60%, 61-99% and occlusion. The peak systolic velocity (PSV) in the renal artery and its ratio to the peak velocity in the aorta (RAR) were used to discriminate stenoses > 60%. PSV in the interlobar arteries was used to assess the relative perfusion of both parenchyma. Angiography demonstrated a stenoses > 60% in 23 hypertensive patients. In all of the patients, plasma renin activity was measured and isotopic renograms (pre- and post-captopril) obtained in order to discriminate hypertension of vascular origin. A PSV in the renal artery > 210 cm/s and a RAR > 3.5 were found to be the diagnostic criteria with the best sensitivity and specificity in detecting stenoses > 60%. Based on these data, Duplex correctly identified 49/54 stenoses > 60%; 28/33 stenoses < 60%; and 5/5 occlusions (kappa 0.79). Sensitivity and specificity in detecting stenoses > 60% were 89.5 and 90.7%, respectively. The ratio between PSV in the interlobar arteries of both parenchyma accurately predicted the relative perfusion (ratio between DTPA uptake in both kidneys) in the isotopic test (n = 23, r = 0.91, p = 0.001). The captopril test (for plasma renin activity and isotopic renography) was positive in only five patients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Liquid chromatographic determination of five benzoylurea insecticides in fruit and vegetables

A liquid chromatographic (LC) method was developed to determine 5 benzoylureas--diflubenzuron, hexaflumuron, teflubenzuron, flufenozuron, and lufenuron--in peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, and oranges. Preparation of samples involve extraction with acetone and partitioning into dichloromethane-petroleum ether. A portion of this extract is cleaned up with a solid-phase extraction aminopropyl disposable column. With LC analysis using an RP-8-DB microbore column, acetonitrile-water (70 + 30, v/v) as mobile phase, and photodiode array detection at 254 nm, recovery and repeatability data were collected for the 5 benzoylureas on 4 vegetables and citrus in the range 0.04-2.0 mg/kg. Validated limits of detection and quantitation were 0.01 and 0.04 mg/kg, respectively. The method is reliable for routine analysis of vegetables and fruits.     

RECURSIVE GENERALIZED M ESTIMATES FOR AUTOREGRESSIVE MOVING-AVERAGE MODELS

Abstract. Outliers in time series seriously affect conventional parameter estimates. In this paper a robust recursive estimation procedure for the parameters of auto-regressve moving-average models with additive outliers is proposed. Using 'cleaned' residuals from an initial robust fit of an autoregression of high order as input, bounded influence regression is applied recursively. The proposal follows certain ideas of Hannan and Rissanen, who suggested a three-stage procedure for order and parameter estimation in a conventional setting.
A Monte Carlo study is performed to investigate the robustness properties of the proposed class of estimates and to compare them with various other suggestions, including least squares, M estimates, residual autocovariance and truncated residual autocovariance estimates. The results show that the recursive generalized M estimates compare favourably with them. Finally, possible modifications to master even vigourous situations are suggested.     

Crystal structures and phase transformation of deuterated lithium imide, Li2ND

Half-Heusler compounds of Sn-doped TiCoSb “TiCoSn_xSb_1−x (x = 0.0, 0.01, and 0.05)” were prepared and their thermoelectric properties were measured above room temperature. From the EDX analysis, all the samples have three phases: the TiCoSn_xSb_1−x, Co-rich, and Ti-rich phases. The values of the thermoelectric power increase with Sn doping, and a positive thermoelectric power is obtained in the sample of TiCoSn_0.05Sb_0.95. The thermal conductivity decreases both with increasing temperature and with Sn content. The maximum value of ZT for p-type material is 0.030 at 988 K in the sample of TiCoSn_0.05Sb_0.95.