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.     

Ethnic differences in the length of the menstrual cycle during the postmenarcheal period

In 1989, 125 African-American and 123 European-American girls aged 12-14 years were enrolled in a 2-year study in which they maintained a menstrual calendar, recording the date and amount of menstrual bleeding. Weight, exercise, and stress during the previous week were recorded at the start of each menstrual cycle. Although only minor ethnic differences were observed in expected cycle length (29.3 vs. 28.8 days for European-American and African-American girls, respectively), more prominent differences were observed in the between-subjects standard deviation of cycle length (2.9 vs. 2.2 days, respectively) and in the odds of having a cycle longer than 45 days (odds ratio=1.86, 95% confidence interval 1.17-2.97) for European-American compared with African-American girls. Low weight for height and high levels of exercise increased the probability of having a cycle longer than 45 days and decreased expected cycle length of 13- to 45-day cycles. Additional investigation of potential ethnic differences in menstrual cycle characteristics is warranted.     

THE EARLY TO "MIDDLE" CRETACEOUS LITHOSTRATIGRAPHY OF THE CENTRAL NORTH SEA (UK SECTOR)

A revised lithostratigraphical framework of the Early to "Middle" Cretaceous strata of the Central North Sea (UK sector) derived from the rigorous examination of more than 100 commercial boreholes is presented. previously published frameworks have tended toward oversimplification of the Early to "Middle" Cretaceous, as the interval was considered initially to be of minor importance with regard to prospectivity. However_: there is a general feeling in the industry that the Early to "Middle" Cretaceous is prospective. particularly with regard to subtle stratigraphical traps like the Kilda/Bosun and Scapa fields. It is inevitable that as more attention, due to hydrocarbon exploration, is paid to an interval that the stratigraphical models used progress from the simplistic to the complex. The framework presented here is the result of a pragmatic approach in that it is based upon the integration of previously published schemes. with the erection of new units derived from new analyses and interpretation. The complete lithostratigraphical framework is defined. explained and discussed with reference to borehole examples in the Central North Sea .     

Using two factor structures of the Mental Adjustment to Cancer (MAC) scale for assessing adaptation to breast cancer

The validity and reliability of two factor structures of the Mental Adjustment to Cancer (MAC) scale for assessing coping style was assessed by examining the relationship between the subscales, psychological distress, and quality of life (QOL) among Stage II and Stage IV breast cancer patients in four phases. First, MANOVAs assessed differences in coping, distress, and QOL across disease stages. Second, for each MAC factor structure, canonical correlation analyses assessed the relationship between coping styles, distress, and QOL, for each disease-stage group separately. Third, structural equation modeling (SEM) assessed the relationship among coping styles, distress, and QOL for all participants. Finally, the internal consistency of both MAC factor structures was assessed using Chronbach's alpha. The results were as follows: (1) significant differences across disease stages were found for coping styles using either the Watson or the Schwartz MAC subscales, but there were no differences in levels of distress or QOL; (2) for both MAC factor structures, coping style was found to be highly related to emotional distress and QOL, however, the strengths of the correlations between individual coping styles and distress/QOL indicators varied across disease stages; (3) SEM indicated that coping style was significantly related to distress and QOL when stage of disease was not considered, and that coping style and indicators of distress/QOL are separate, but highly correlated factors, as opposed to a single latent construct; and, (4) the Watson MAC subscales showed slightly better internal consistency than the Schwartz MAC subscales. Taken together, these findings highlight: (i) the validity of both MAC factor structures for clinical and research use with American breast cancer patients; (ii) the role of coping style as a mediator between disease stage and psychological distress and QOL; and, (iii) the need for refinement of certain Watson and Schwartz subscales.     

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...     

Social recovery of monkeys isolated for the first year of life: I. Rehabilitation and therapy.

Previous research demonstrated that 12 mo of total social isolation initiated at birth produced severe and seemingly permanent social deficits in rhesus monkeys. Such monkeys exhibited self-clasping, self-mouthing, and other stereotypic, self-directed responses. Recent research has indicated that 6-mo-isolated monkeys could develop social behaviors if exposed to younger, socially unsophisticated "therapist" monkeys. In the present experiment, 4 12-mo isolate-reared monkeys developed appropriate species-typical behavior through the use of adaptation, self-pacing of visual input, and exposure to 4 younger "therapist" monkeys. Adaptation enabled the isolate Ss to become familiar with their postisolation environment, while self-pacing facilitated their watching the therapist Ss' social interactions. The isolates showed a marked decrease in self-directed behaviors following extensive intimate contact with the therapists. Species-typical behaviors significantly increased during this period, so that the isolate behavioral repertoire did not differ substantially from the therapist behavioral repertoire by the end of the therapy period. Results clearly fail to support a critical period for socialization in the rhesus monkey, and an alternative environment-specific learning hypothesis is proposed. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of traumatic brain injury on working memory-related brain activation in adolescents.

Eight adolescents (ages 13-18 years) who sustained traumatic brain injury (TBI) and eight gender- and age-matched typically developing (TD) adolescents underwent event-related functional MRI (fMRI) while performing a Sternberg letter recognition task. Encoding, maintenance, and retrieval were examined with memory loads of one or four items during imaging. Both groups performed above a 70% accuracy criterion and did not differ in performance. TD adolescents showed greater increase in frontal and parietal activation during high-load relative to low-load maintenance than the TBI group. The TBI patients showed greater increase in activation during high-load relative to low-load encoding and retrieval than the TD group. Results from this preliminary study suggest that the capability to differentially allocate neural resources according to memory load is disrupted by TBI for the maintenance subcomponent of working memory. The overrecruitment of frontal and extrafrontal regions during encoding and retrieval following TBI may represent a compensatory process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development and performance advantages of industrial,automotive and aviation synthetic lubricants

The study and use of some types of syntbetic lubricants can be traced back 50 years.¹ Within the past twenty years, rapid advances in technology have resulted in syntbetic lubricants that can operate satisfactorily over temperature extremes well beyond the capabilities of conventional petroleum-based oils. Current emphasis is on the ability of some types of synthetic lubricants to allow more efficient system operation, with concomitant energy savings and extended equipment and oil life. Several definitions have been proposed for synthetic lubricants. In this paper, the authors define a synthetic lubricant as a product which consists of base fluids manufactured by chemical synthesis and containing necessary performance additives. Thus the base fluids are tailored, through specific chemical reactions, to meet predetermined physical and chemical quality targets. In this paper, discussion will be limited to (a) a review of the types of chemicals which have been studied for use in synthetic lubricants and (b) selected application data which dramatise some of the advantages gained through use of the synthetic lubricant.     

Comparison of Fatigue Strengths of Bulk Metallic Glasses Produced by Tilt Casting and High-Pressure Casting

High fatigue strength is one of the important factors that facilitates the industrial usage of bulk metallic glasses (BMGs). Fatigue data were analyzed using the Weibull probability models for BMGs produced with different casting processes in order to study the reliability of fatigue strengths of cast glassy alloys. The fatigue data of tilt-cast and high-pressure-cast BMGs can be explained by a three-parameter Weibull cumulative distribution function (cdf) and a mixture model of two-parameter Weibull cdfs, respectively. We conclude that the cast defects, which reduce fatigue strength, should be eliminated in order to realize a high reliability of fatigue strengths.