Cross-talk fiber-optic temperature sensor

The temperature sensitivity of cross talk between closely spaced cores in a common cladding is calculated and compared with measurements. A periodic variation in core contrast is observed when one core is illuminated and the temperature is changed. The variation in light distribution, which is ascribable to a change in coupling between the cores, agrees with theoretical predictions. It is shown that cross talk can be made to be a sensitive, predictable function of temperature or by proper selection of materials, wavelength, and fiber geometry essentially temperature independent.     

Associations in the Course of Personality Disorders and Axis I Disorders Over Time.

In this study, the authors examined time-varying associations between schizotypal (STPD), borderline (BPD), avoidant (AVPD), or obsessive-compulsive (OCPD) personality disorders and co-occurring Axis I disorders in 544 adult participants from the Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorders Study. The authors tested predictions of specific longitudinal associations derived from a model of crosscutting psychobiological dimensions (L. J. Siever & K. L. Davis, 1991) with participants with the relevant Axis I disorders. The authors assessed participants at baseline and at 6-, 12-, and 24-month follow-up evaluations. BPD showed significant longitudinal associations with major depressive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder. AVPD was significantly associated with anxiety disorders (specifically social phobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder). Two of the four personality disorders under examination (STPD and OCPD) showed little or no association with Axis I disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Two-Year Stability and Change of Schizotypal, Borderline, Avoidant, and Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorders.

The authors examined the stability of schizotypal (STPD), borderline (BPD), avoidant (AVPD) and obsessive-compulsive (OCPD) personality disorders (PDs) over 2 years of prospective multiwave follow-up. Six hundred thirty-three participants recruited at 4 collaborating sites who met criteria for 1 or more of the 4 PDs or for major depressive disorder (MOD) without PD were assessed with semistructured interviews at baseline, 6, 12, and 24 months. Lifetable survival analyses revealed that the PD groups had slower time to remission than the MDD group. Categorically, PD remission rates range from 50% (AVPD) to 61% (STPD) for dropping below diagnostic threshold on a blind 24-month reassessment but range from 23% (STPD) to 38% (OCPD) for a more stringent definition of improvement. Dimensionally, these findings suggest that PDs may be characterized by maladaptive trait constellations that are stable in their structure (individual differences) but can change in severity or expression over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Getting Something for Nothing: Estimating Service Level Improvements Possible in Hospitals

One of the focal points of discussion among firms in the service sector concerns the level of service delivered and its value. In the hospital sector, an important aspect of the level of service relates to the level of quality of care delivered. We undertake an empirical study of 300 U.S. hospitals to evaluate their relative ‘service efficiency’ using the techniques of so-called allocative efficiency. This method estimates the potential improvement in service, estimates the ideal cost shares of the various resources, and provides the ‘peer group’ members to which the unit is being compared. Utilizing this information, the method proposed for units to improve involves two chief mechanisms. The first is a reallocation of cost shares among the various resource or input types (e.g. no increase in hospital budget). The second involves adopting the management practices used by peer group members. Over all 300 hospitals, a marked improvement potential was found for well over half. Of the poorest performers there appears to be some indication that a larger cost share was needed for face-to-face contact with patients (nursing) and a smaller share for personnel who do not deal with patients directly (lab technicians, non-physician administrators, etc.).     

Botanical trash analysis of cottonseed oil mill process streams

The objective of this study was to determine the content of bract and leaf (likely carriers of suspect byssinotic agent[s]) in the process and trash streams in a cottonseed oil mill. A rapid procedure is described to determine the percentage of bract and leaf particles in trash sieved from cottonseed samples. Using this technique, it was found that bract and leaf particles were largely removed from cottonseed by the sum total of processing steps occurring during cleaning and delintering. With the exception of the trash streams from the safety shaker, bract and leaf particles were almost nonexistent in the hulling and separating room. Processing of linters through cleaners and beaters was ineffective in removing the bract and leaf fragments entangled in the fiber mass.     

A comparison of interview and self-report methods for the assessment of borderline personality disorder criteria.

Interview methods are widely regarded as the standard for the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (BPD), whereas self-report methods are considered a time-efficient alternative. However, the relative validity of these methods has not been sufficiently tested. The current study used data from the Collaborative Longitudinal Personality disorder Study to compare diagnostic base rates and the relative validity of interview and self-report methods for assessing functional outcome in BPD. Although self-report yielded higher base rates of criteria endorsement, results did not support the common assumption that diagnostic interviews are more valid than self-reports, but instead indicated the combined use of these methods optimally identifies BPD criteria. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

THE DEVITRIFICATION OF “PYREX” GLASSES1

A study has been made of the devitrification phenomena of three “Pyrex” glasses, which were found to have liquidus temperatures lower than any other known mixtures containing 50 high a silica content. “Pyrex” glass 774 (702EJ), refractive index 1.471, has a liquidus temperature of 1077°, 772 (702P), index 1.486, 1042° and 776 (720GO), index 1.473, 1036°. In all cases tridymite is the primary phase and cristobalite was never observed.     

Obliterative vesicourethral strictures following radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer: reconstructive armamentarium

PURPOSE: We report the reconstructive techniques used to correct obliterative vesicourethral strictures related to prostate cancer surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Four men with anastomotic obliteration after radical prostatectomy underwent primary excision with end-to-end anastomosis, penile fasciocutaneous flap, free-graft urethroplasty with rectus muscle flap or anterior bladder tube with omental pedicle flap procedure. RESULTS: At mean followup of 33.8 months all patients had urethral patency but none was continent. CONCLUSIONS: Single stage reconstruction of the obliterated vesicourethral anastomosis after prostatectomy successfully restored urethral patency. No technique was applicable in all cases. Sphincteric function is likely to be compromised after the primary procedure, resulting in incontinence after successful urethral reconstruction. Subsequent artificial sphincter placement appears to be safe and helpful in restoring continence.     

From conceptual roles to structural relations: Bridging the syntactic cleft.

The distinction between underlying and superficial linguistic structure is a staple of modern cognitive psychology. Despite increasingly diverse conceptions of syntactic relations in linguistic theory, the received view in psycholinguistics has remained one in which the entities assigned to underlying relations may assume different surface relations. This view is examined in the context of language production and evidence is reviewed that the disposition to bind animate entities to the surface subject relation is a basic feature of language use, suggesting that mappings from conceptual categories to syntactic relations form a main support of the bridge from conception to language. Proceeding on this assumption, an evaluation of competing accounts of the mapping process in production is given. Results argue against syntactic relation-changing operations, but favor a division between meaning- and form-related mechanisms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)