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,...     

Enantioselective antiplatelet actions of nipecotamides

This investigation retrospectively examined changes in marital satisfaction following stroke. The relationship between such changes and other pertinent factors were also examined, including severity of aphasia, knowledge of aphasia, number of months after stroke, and length of the marriage. The subjects were 40 spouses of patients with aphasia grouped according to severity of the aphasia (mild, moderate, severe). Spouses completed two different measures of marital satisfaction--the Marital Satisfaction Scale (MSS) and the Marital Comparison Level Index (MCLI). These measures were completed in both a prestroke (retrospective reporting) and a poststroke format to allow for change to be assessed. In addition, a Knowledge of Aphasia questionnaire was completed by the normal spouses to evaluate their understanding of the disorder of aphasia. There was a significant difference between prestroke and poststroke scores on both the MSS and the MCLI, indicating a lower level of satisfaction following the stroke. The amount of change between prestroke and poststroke MSS and MCLI scores was not related to either number of months poststroke or number of years married. Although there was no relationship between changes in prestroke and poststroke scores on the MCLI and Knowledge of Aphasia scores, there was a significant correlation between changes in these scores on the MSS and Knowledge of Aphasia scores. Hence, the more knowledge spouses had regarding aphasia, the less the negative impact the stroke had on marital satisfaction, as measured by the MSS. Results are discussed in terms of the interdisciplinary treatment needs of aphasic patients and the implications for future investigations.     

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.     

Reduced renal sodium excretion in primary hypertensive patients after an oral glucose load

This study was designed to determine urinary sodium excretion in response to an oral glucose load in hypertensive patients. Fifteen hypertensive patients and eighteen normotensive subjects were studied after an overnight fast and for 4 h after the ingestion of 100 g glucose. A subgroup of untreated, nonobese, primary hypertensive patients (five of the 15 hypertensive patients) became hyperinsulinemic (total area under the insulin curve [TAUC]: 33,080 +/- 3348 microU ml(-1) 120 min-1) in response to an oral glucose load compared to normotensive subjects (TAUC: 3670 < 13.731 < 23,693 microU ml(-1) 120 min-1) or to be other subgroup of normoinsulinemic hypertensive individuals TAUC: 10,221 +/- 1615 microU ml-1 120 min-1) despite a similar serum glucose concentration in both groups. A significant decrease in renal sodium excretion in the entire hypertensive group (47.1 +/- 4.7%, P < 0.019) compared to the normotensive (20.0 +/- 10.5%) subjects was also observed during the oral glucose tolerance test. Decreased renal sodium excretion was followed by a transient increase in urinary acid excretion. We speculate that the increase in insulin secretion may be responsible for the sodium-dependent increase in intracellular Ca2+, cellular H+ output and blood pressure in a subgroup of salt-sensitive patients with hypertension. New studies should be designed to identify the precise mechanisms involved in the interaction between hypertension, serum insulin-glucose levels and the magnitude of the renal tubule reabsorption abnormality.     

Comparative antagonism of kainate-activated kainate and AMPA receptors in hippocampal neurons

Native kainate receptors expressed by cultured hippocampal cells were studied in the whole-cell configuration of the patch-clamp technique by using a fast perfusion system. About 80% of the neurons expressed kainate receptors independently of the time in culture (0-4 days), which coincided with the number of cells immunoreactive for a monoclonal antibody against the GluR5/6/7 subunits. Three types of cells were considered: neurons in which the rapid application of kainate induced a rapidly desensitizing current, cells in which kainate induced a more slowly rising, non-desensitizing, response and those in which a mixture of both responses was apparent. Steady responses induced by 300 microM kainate were inhibited by 6-cyano-7-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione (CNQX) in a dose-dependent manner (IC50 = 0.92 microM). CNQX was less potent in blocking transient kainate-induced responses (IC50 = 6.1 microM). Responses to kainate, whether steady or transient, were also inhibited by NS102, showing poor selectivity for the transient response (IC50 = 4.1 and 2.2 microM respectively). The new alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole (AMPA) receptor antagonist NS394 was very potent in inhibiting steady kainate-induced currents (IC50 = 0.45 microM), but was even more effective in preventing peak responses (IC50 = 0.13 microM). In contrast, cyclothiazide did not affect transient kainate-induced responses but did potentiate current induced by activation of AMPA receptors by AMPA or kainate. These results demonstrate the lack of complete selectivity amongst some available competitive antagonists for AMPA and kainate receptors, and indicate that kainate receptors expressed by hippocampal cells lack the cyclothiazide modulatory site present at AMPA receptors. In addition, the present data support the idea that low-affinity kainate binding sites in the brain correspond to receptor channels selectively activated by kainate.     

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 influence of socioeconomic and nutritional status on menarche in Nigerian school girls

Two once-daily electroconvulsive shocks (ECS) produced retrograde amnesia in rats trained on a Hebb-Williams maze; Verapamil (12.5 mg/kg, i.p.) or felodipine (10 mg/kg, p.o.) administered half an hour before each ECS attenuated this ECS-induced amnesia. Hence, these drugs may hold promise for the containment of amnesia induced by electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Speculatively, one or more of several mechanisms may be involved: cerebral vasodilatation, enhancement of cholinergic tone, and inhibition of calcium-mediated impairment of neuronal function. These drugs may also act by attenuating the systolic surge in blood pressure during ECT, thereby decreasing edema due to cerebral hyperperfusion, as well as decreasing the possible transfer of potentially neurotoxic macromolecules through a putative breach in the blood-brain barrier.