Using bald eagles to indicate the health of the Great Lakes' environment

The bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is one of the most studied birds of North America, and a great amount of natural life‐history information, including the response of various stressors on the eagles' ability to reproduce, are well known. In Michigan, the eagle has been chosen to track the trends of bioaccumulative compounds of concern across watersheds in the state. The state has been divided into major watersheds, and 20% of these are surveyed each year. A control area in northern Minnesota, Voyageurs National Park, is also sampled annually. We report here on the methods used, the preliminary results of the 1999 field season, and how differences in mercury concentrations varied over a 10‐year period. Mercury in feathers of nestling eagles declined over time only in Lakes Michigan and Huron, but have not decreased among other subpopulations in Michigan. Concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and 4,4′‐DDE in blood plasma from nestling eagles have declined over time for most subpopulations; however, they remain greater for breeding areas associated with the Great Lakes' food web. Sea eagles of the genus Haliaeetus are a good sentinel species to track trends in bioaccumulative compounds in aquatic systems.     

Enhanced ground support: lessons from work on reduced crew operations

Cognition, Technology & Work - From the 1950s through the 1980s, aircraft design was marked by an increase in reliability and automation, and, correspondingly, a decrease in the crew complement...     

Experimental study of the burner for FAA fire test: NexGen burner

The NexGen (Sonic) burner is the new burner developed by the Federal Aviation Administration, FAA, to replace old oil burners used for the required fire certification tests on power plant‐related materials, as it provides the capability to control both air and fuel flow rates. During a fire test, the burner is supposed to simulate a certain fire condition, so the flame properties should be robust and repeatable. The NexGen burner can achieve this due to the precise fuel and air controls. However, the current calibration criterion (ISO2685:1998 and AC20‐135) may not be good enough to ensure consistent flame properties. In the presented work, the sensitivity of the burner performance to air and fuel flow rate, as measured by the temperature and heat flux for calibration purposes, was studied. Additionally, the influence of the turbulator and the thermocouple size used for flame calibration was also studied. The impact of varying fuel/air ratio and thermocouple sizes was studied by conducting fire tests on aluminum samples, to show the inadequacies in the current calibration standards.     

Physician and patient communication training in primary care: Effects on participation and satisfaction.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 28(2) of Health Psychology (see record 2009-03297-015). There was a typographical error in the text on page 521, in the first sentence of the first full paragraph. The corrected sentence is provided in the erratum.] Objective: To assess the effects of a communication skills training program for physicians and patients. Design: A randomized experiment to improve physician communication skills was assessed 1 and 6 months after a training intervention; patient training to be active participants was assessed after 1 month. Across three primary medical care settings, 156 physicians treating 2,196 patients were randomly assigned to control group or one of three conditions (physician, patient, or both trained). Main Outcome Measures: Patient satisfaction and perceptions of choice, decision-making, information, and lifestyle counseling; physicians' satisfaction and stress; and global ratings of the communication process. Results: The following significant (p     

Optimization of ternary cementitious mortar blends using factorial experimental plans

Producing cements incorporating high-volume replacement of ordinary portland cement (OPC) by recycled industrial by-products is perceived as the most promising venture for the cement and concrete industry to meet its environmental obligations. However, the two-component (binary) cements thus produced are often associated with shortcomings such as the need for extended moist-curing, increased use of chemical admixtures, low early age strength, increased cracking tendency due to drying shrinkage, and de-icing salt scaling problems. There is need for research to investigate whether high-volume replacement multi-component (ternary and quaternary) cements could be optimized with synergistic effects allowing component ingredients to compensate for any mutual shortcomings. This study uses factorial experimental plans to investigate the performance of OPC-silica fume (SF)-class F fly ash (FA) and OPC-SF-ground granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS) ternary cementitious blends. Response surfaces for the superplasticizer requirement to achieve a constant flow, setting time, drying shrinkage up to 112 days, compressive strength at 1, 7, 28 and 56 days, and for the sulfate expansion up to 9-months were obtained for up to 20%, 60%, and 60% replacement levels of OPC by SF, FA and GBFS, respectively. A multiparametric optimization is used to establish response surfaces for a desirability function, which is used to rate ternary cementitious blends. Results indicate that when rheological, mechanical, durability and cost requirements are combined; the use of costly mineral admixtures such as silica fume is not economic in ternary OPC-SF-FA or OPC-SF-GBFS blends beyond levels of about 3 to 5% Moreover, it is shown that the major hurdle for high-volume replacement of OPC with class F fly ash is compromising the early age performance. Results also indicate that a good quality high-fineness GBFS can be used at replacement levels of OPC up to 60% without major disadvantages.     

Phase Behavior, 3-D Structure, and Rheology of Colloidal Microsphere–Nanoparticle Suspensions

A new route for tailoring the behavior of colloidal suspensions through nanoparticle additions is reviewed. Specifically, the interparticle interactions, phase behavior, 3-D structure, and rheological properties of microsphere–nanoparticle mixtures that possess both high charge and size asymmetry are described. Negligibly charged microspheres, which flocculate when suspended alone, undergo a remarkable stabilizing transition upon the addition of highly charged nanoparticles. The formation of a dynamic nanoparticle halo around each colloid induces an effective repulsion between the microspheres that promotes their stability. With increasing nanoparticle concentration, the colloids again undergo flocculation because of the emergence of an effective microsphere attraction, whose magnitude exhibits a quadratic dependence on nanoparticle volume fraction. The broader impact of these observations on colloidal stabilization and assembly of advanced ceramics is highlighted.     

Innate immunity, cytokines, and pulmonary host defense

Effective host defense against bacterial infection is dependent on the activation and recruitment of phagocytic cells. The initiation, maintenance, and resolution of this inflammatory response in the setting of bacterial pneumonia is dependent on the expression of cytokines. As the complexities of the host-pathogen interaction are further dissected and unraveled, immunologic manipulation of cytokine expression will likely become an important adjuvant therapy in the treatment of serious lung infections.     

Fluorescein-labeled dextran concentration is increased in BAL fluid after ANTU-induced edema in rats

We identified the cell cycle status of CD34(+) cells of steady-state bone marrow (BM) and peripheral blood (PB) obtained from healthy volunteers, and those of apherasis PB samples collected from healthy donors who had been administered granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF). More than 10% of CD34(+) cells in BM were in S+G2/M phase. In contrast, regardless of whether G-CSF treatment was performed, less than 2% of CD34(+) cells in PB were cycling. BM CD34(+) cells showed greater VLA-4 expression and adherence to stromal cells than PB CD34(+) cells. In addition, when cycling and dormant BM CD34(+) cells were analyzed separately, the cells in S+G2/M phase expressed more VLA-4 and adhered to the stromal cell monolayer more efficiently than the cells in G0/G1 phase. Furthermore, this adhesion of CD34(+) cells to the stromal cell layer was almost completely inhibited by anti-VLA-4 antibody. Taken together, these results suggest that CD34(+) progenitors in G0/G1 phase of the cell cycle differ from those in S+G2/M phase in adhesiveness mediated by VLA-4 in the hematopoietic microenvironment.     

手作的温暖幸福

现代女人生活忙碌,越来越开始向往宁静的精神家园。棉麻、碎花、蕾丝花边……这些美丽的东西总能让女人的内心变得柔软起来,手作传递的不是奢华,而是一份不可替代的心意。在一针一线的缝纫中,烦燥的情绪也一扫而空,心情一点点变得宁静起来。或许男耕女织的传统一直流淌在女人的血液之中,所以当女人拿起针线,内心的一片荒芜才可以感到温暖充实……