Review of Succeeding in private practice: A business guide for psychotherapists.

Reviews the book, Succeeding in private practice: A business guide for psychotherapists by Eileen S. Lenson (1994). Lenson, a social worker, has produced a usable and well thought out overview for any psychotherapy practitioner considering private practice. She suggests more than a dozen points such as freedom from routine, the need to be an energetic self-starter, and ability to delay gratification to determine fitness for private practice. After reviewing the various forms for a business (solo, partnership, corporation), Lenson outlines setting up an office and arranging for necessary supplies and services. Only a paragraph or so is allotted to each item, including computers, and the use of consultants such as accountants and attorneys. Lenson's real strengths are in the thorough and detailed discussion she provides for the business of doing business, including record keeping, fee setting, personnel issues, taxes, and marketing. She has drawn extensively from her own experience as well as from Psychotherapy Finances and Practice Builder, two specialized publications for professional practitioners. Chapters on office paperwork, insurance, and collections could stand alone as procedures manuals, they are so well-organized and comprehensive. Sample forms included are clear and attractively laid out. Succeeding in Private Practice is well-organized, attractively laid out with short paragraphs, thorough indexing, and numbered or bulleted lists. It lends itself well for use as a handbook since topics can be found easily. Let this book by Eileen Lenson be the first or second on a list for the beginning practitioner who must then go on to read many other works and seek advice from experienced psychotherapists in his or her own field. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Addition of carbon black NIR absorber to galvanised steel primer systems: Influence on NIR cure of polyester melamine topcoats and corrosion protection characteristics

Near infrared (NIR) is becoming a popular option for rapid cure of coatings in the coil coating industry particularly where fast line speeds are required. The technology has the potential to reduce the cure time of a 20 μm polyester coating on a galvanised steel substrate from around 30 s via conventional heating methods down to <10 s under the lamps. Previous work suggested that the ideal situation in this case is to have a topcoat which is slightly transparent to NIR and an absorbing substrate to heat the coating from the substrate outwards in a two stage process which separates solvent removal from cross linking and film formation. This can be taken further by tinting the primer layer with a pigment that absorbs in the NIR region. In this study spectroscopy was used to show that a coated steel system could appear white in the visible region because of the reflectance of TiO₂ but the NIR absorption could be altered by adding absorbing pigments such as carbon black. Lamp settings could be reduced by 20% to achieve equivalent cure with tinted primer systems. The potential degradation in corrosion protection afforded by carbon-black containing pigments at various loadings was assessed for model organic coatings applied to galvanised steel specimens. In situ scanning Kelvin probe studies showed that rates of corrosion-driven coating delamination by cathodic disbondment remained unchanged by pigment loadings of up to 3.5 wt%.     

Properties of single-walled carbon nanotube-based aerogels as a function of nanotube loading

Here, we present the synthesis and characterization of low-density single-walled carbon nanotube-based aerogels (SWNT-CA). Aerogels with varying nanotube loading (0–55 wt.%) and density (20–350 mg cm^?3) were fabricated and characterized by four-probe method, electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and nitrogen porosimetry. Several properties of the SWNT-CAs were highly dependent upon nanotube loading. At nanotube loadings of 55 wt.%, shrinkage of the aerogel monoliths during carbonization and drying was almost completely eliminated. Electrical conductivities are improved by an order of magnitude for the SWNT-CA (55 wt.% nanotubes) compared to those of foams without nanotubes. Surface areas as high as 184 m² g^?1 were achieved for SWNT-CAs with greater than 20 wt.% nanotube loading.     

Pulmonary embolism: prospective comparison of spiral CT with ventilation-perfusion scintigraphy

PURPOSE: To compare prospectively the accuracy of spiral computed tomography (CT) with that of ventilation-perfusion scintigraphy for diagnosing pulmonary embolism. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Within 48 hours of presentation, 142 patients suspected of having pulmonary embolism underwent spiral CT, scintigraphy, and (when indicated) pulmonary angiography. Pulmonary angiography was attempted if interpretations of spiral CT scans and of scintigrams were discordant or indeterminate and intermediate-probability, respectively. RESULTS: In the 139 patients who completed the study, interpretations of spiral CT scans and of scintigrams were concordant in 103 patients (29 with embolism, 74 without). In 20 patients, intermediate-probability scintigrams were interpreted (six with embolism at angiography, 14 without); diagnosis with spiral CT was correct in 16. Interpretations of spiral CT scans and those of scintigrams were discordant in 12 cases; diagnosis with spiral CT was correct in 11 cases and that with scintigraphy was correct in one. Spiral CT and scintigraphic scans of four patients with embolism did not show embolism. Sensitivities, specificities, and kappa values with spiral CT and scintigraphy were 87%, 95%, and 0.85 and 65%, 94%, and 0.61, respectively. CONCLUSION: In cases of pulmonary embolism, sensitivity of spiral CT is greater than that of scintigraphy. Interobserver agreement is better with spiral CT.     

A new corrosion test for organically coated galvanised steel products

A new approach to obtain predictions on cut‐edge corrosion resistance in organic coated galvanised steel (OCS) products has been developed which, unlike many accelerated tests, can be performed in any desired external environment. The testing procedure is based on the monitoring of cationic zinc (Zn²⁺) released from OCS panels prepared prior to exposure with an exceptionally high cut edge length per unit area. There is an excellent correlation between the total quantity of cationic zinc leached from the exposed edge over a three‐month period of external exposure and the observed cut edge corrosion performance after a 4‐year natural external exposure period in the same environment. The results of conventional accelerated testing methodologies have been found to fail to accurately predict external exposure as accurately as this testing procedure. The test can be performed in any weathering regime and can accurately predict the difference in environmentally sensitive materials performance.     

Novel environment friendly corrosion inhibitor pigments based on naturally occurring clay minerals

Novel, ceramic, corrosion inhibitor pigments consisting of cerium (III) and calcium (II) cation exchanged bentonites have been shown to provide effective cut‐edge corrosion resistance in organic coated galvanised steel. The bentonite pigments were prepared from a naturally occurring (Wyoming) bentonite with a cation‐exchange‐capacity of 0.7 milli‐equivalents per gram. Cation exchange was carried out by repeated washing with aqueous solutions of cerium (III) chloride and calcium (II) chloride to produce bentonites containing 31 500 ppm exchangeable cerium (III) and 13 500 ppm exchangeable calcium (II) respectively. The resulting bentonite pigments were dispersed in a polyester‐resin based primer paint system to give a pigment volume concentration of 19%. For comparison, two similar primer systems were prepared containing a commercial calcium (II) exchanged silica pigment (Shieldex: 60 000 ppm calcium (II)) and a strontium chromate dispersion, both with a 19% pigment volume concentration. All three primer systems were applied (5 μm) to the zinc surface of galvanised 0.7 mm gauge sheet steel and overcoated with an architectural polyester topcoat (18 μm). The performance of the inhibitor pigments was compared by measuring the rate of corrosion‐driven organic coating delamination from the cut edge of samples during 1000 h of salt‐spray testing. The calcium (II) bentonite pigment exhibited an anti‐delamination performance similar to that of strontium chromate but superior to that of Shieldex. However, the cerium (III) bentonite pigment was superior in performance to both strontium chromate and Shieldex. Thus, the bentonite pigments represent promising, environmentally friendly, ion‐exchange corrosion inhibitors which exhibit good anti‐delamination performance by comparison with current commercial systems.     

Charge-Programmable Photopolymers for 3D Electronics via Additive Manufacturing

Charge-programmed 3D printing enables the fabrication of 3D electronics with lightweight and high precision via selective patterning of metals. This selective metal deposition is catalyzed by Pd nanoparticles that are specifically immobilized onto the charged surface and promises to fabricate a myriad of complex electronic devices with self-sensing, actuation, and structural elements assembled in a designed 3D layout. However, the achievable property space and the material-performance correlation of the charge-programmed printing remain unexplored. Herein, a series of photo-curable resins are designed for unveiling how the charge and crosslink densities synergistically impact the nanocatalyst-guided selective deposition in catalytic efficiency and properties of the 3D printed charge-programmed architectures, leading to high-quality 3D patterning of solid and liquid metals. The findings offer a wide tunability of the structural properties of the printed electronics, ranging from stiff to extreme flexibility. Capitalizing on these results, the printing and successful application of an ultralight-weight and deployable 3D multi-layer antenna system operating at an ultrahigh-frequency of 19 GHz are demonstrated.     

Electrophoretic deposition of binary energetic composites

This work utilizes electrophoretic deposition (EPD) as a facile and effective method to deposit binary energetic composites. In particular, micron-scale aluminum and nano-scale copper oxide were co-deposited as a thin film onto a conductive substrate without the use of surfactants. For comparative purposes, films of this energetic mixture were also prepared by drop-casting (DC) the premixed suspension directly onto the substrate, then allowing the liquid to dry. The structure and microscopic features of the two types of films were compared using optical and electron microscopies. The films prepared using EPD had an appreciable density of 2.6 g/cm³, or 51% the theoretical maximum density, which was achieved without any further processing. According to the electron microscopy analysis, the EPD films exhibited much more uniformity in composition and film thickness than those produced by DC. Upon ignition, the EPD films resulted in a smoother and faster combustion event compared to the DC films. The dispersion stability was improved by adding water and decreasing the particle concentration, resulting in dispersions stable for >30 min, an ample amount of time for EPD. Patterned electrodes with fine feature sizes (20 × 0.25 mm) were then combined with EPD to deposit thin films of thermite for flame propagation velocity studies. The fastest velocity (1.7 m/s) was observed for an equivalence ratio of 1.6 ± 0.2 (Al fuel rich composition). This peak value was used to investigate the effect of film mass/thickness on propagation velocity. The deposition mass was varied from 20 to 213 μg/mm², corresponding to a calculated range of film thicknesses from 9.8 to 104 μm. At lower masses, a flame did not propagate, indicating a critical mass (20 μg/mm²) or thickness (9.8 μm). Over the range of thicknesses, in which self-propagating combustion was observed, the flame velocity was found to be independent of sample thickness. The lack of a thickness dependence suggests that under these particular conditions heat losses are negligible, and thus the velocity is predominantly governed by the intrinsic reactivity and heat transfer through the material.