Ice-slurry production using direct contact heat transfer

An ice slurry generation system was developed using direct contact heat transfer between water and the coolant, Fluroinert FC-84. The location of the coolant nozzle is an important design consideration to avoid clogging due to freezing of water. An ice fraction of up to about 40 percent was obtained with the nozzle located at the bottom of the ice slurry tank and the jet directed upwards into the water. Two simplified model were developed to extract the heat transfer coefficient between the coolant drops and the water. The first model requires as input the average drop diameter and the residence time while the second model uses the measured drop diameter distribution. The estimated heat transfer coefficients are much smaller than those computed using single-sphere correlations.     

Predation of livestock ticks by chickens as a tick-control method in a resource-poor urban environment

The increasing prevalence of streptococci as causes of potentially fatal nosocomial bacteremia requires that antimicrobial agents used for empiric therapy in hospitalized patients include both pneumococci and viridans group streptococci as well as beta-hemolytic streptococci in their activity profile. In this study, the in vitro activity of cefepime, a new fourth-generation cephalosporin, was compared with other cephalosporins versus 197 nosocomial blood stream isolates of streptococci (20 Streptococcus pneumoniae, 104 viridans group, and 73 beta-hemolytic) isolated from patients at more than 30 medial centers from 1995 to 1997. Additional agents tested included penicillin, erythromycin, and vancomycin. Overall, cefepime inhibited 83% of the isolates at concentrations < or = 0.5 microgram/mL and 100% at < or = 8 micrograms/mL. By comparison, ceftazidime inhibited 35 and 88% of isolates at the same concentrations. Cefepime was approximately eightfold more potent than ceftazidime against S. pneumoniae, viridans group streptococci, and beta-hemolytic streptococci. Among the 42 isolates with penicillin MICs > 0.12 microgram/mL, 100% were inhibited by cefepime and only 48% by ceftazidime at < or = 8 micrograms/mL. The rank order of activity for all six agents against the 197 isolates was vancomycin > ceftriaxone > cefepime > penicillin > erythromycin > ceftazidime. Based on the results of the present study, cefepime and ceftriaxone were the superior cephalosporins in potency and spectrum for empiric coverage of patients at risk for streptococcal blood stream infections.     

The seismic kernel system — a large-scale exercise in fortran 77 portability

The portability of software has become a major commercial issue in recent times. Such portability does not come easily, as few if any computer languages are really portable in practice. An additional complicating factor, especially in the commercial environment, is that the resulting software must be efficient. This paper describes the design and successful implementation of a 500,000+ line portable FORTRAN 77 package for the processing of seismic data. The package exhibits demonstrably high efficiency on a wide variety of machines from minicomputers to the largest supercomputers. Experiences gained during this exercise throw much light on the integration of the various thought processes which occur during the software engineering cycle, especially the notion of locality.     

Solidification at the Micro‐Scale

The experimental determination and computer simulation of the micro‐segregation accompanying the solidification of alloys continues to be a subject of much academic and industrial interest. Both are subject to progressively more sophisticated analyses, and a discussion is offered regarding the development and practical use of such studies. Simple steels are particularly difficult targets for such work: solidification does not end conveniently in a eutectic, the rapid diffusion particularly in the delta‐ferrite phase obscures most evidence of what had occurred at the micro‐scale during solidification, and one or more subsequent solid state phase transformations further obscure such details. Also, solidification at the micro‐scale is inherently variable: the usual, dendrite morphologies encountered are, after all, instabilities in growth behaviour, and therefore such variability should be expected. For questions such as the relative susceptibility of different grades to particular problems, it is the average, typical behaviour that is of interest, whereas for other questions such as the on‐set of macro‐segregation, the local variability is paramount. Depending on the question being asked, and indeed the accuracy with which validatory data are available, simple pseudo‐analytical equations employing various limiting assumptions, or sophisticated models which remove the need for most such limitations, could be appropriate. This paper highlights the contribution to such studies of various collaborative research forums with‐in the European Union with which the author is involved.     

State psychological association creates a postdoctoral residency and internship training program.

State psychological associations can respond to supply and demand problems for postdoctoral residencies and internships by creating statewide training programs. A state psychological association training model is presented. The Arizona Psychological Association (AzPA) created a nonprofit subsidiary corporation- the Arizona Psychology Training Consortium-to increase the number of high-quality training opportunities in Arizona. The structure and operation of the program are described. The training model emphasizes cultural diversity, psychotherapy, and independent practice. Members of the practice community in Arizona serve as supervisors, trainers, and mentors. From 2001 through 2006, 19 postdoctoral residents and 51 interns completed the program. AzPA has benefited from increased student involvement. Many residents and interns later became association members. Arizona can serve as a model for other states that wish to help their professionals in training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)