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The use of non-invasive investigation methods is becoming frequent as a support for the monitoring of water reservoirs and for the management of dam safety. In this context, geophysical techniques are much less invasive than geotechnical tests and allow to obtain two-dimensional or three-dimensional representations of the mechanical parameters of an engineering structure. A case of application of constrained inversion and joint interpretations of non-invasive seismic techniques is discussed, in order to monitor the Dirillo gravity concrete dam, in Sicily. To investigate the foundation soil, a stratigraphic borehole and a vertical seismic profile, carried out in the same hole, were used to constrain the inversion of a MASW. This latter allowed to generate the starting model for a seismic refraction tomography. The results of the seismic surveys on the ground surrounding the dam allowed a detailed seismic characterisation the foundation soil. Furthermore, for the characterisation of the concrete of the dam, a vertical seismic profile was acquired, using a vertical inspection duct in the dam body, and three seismic refraction tomographies were performed placing sources and receivers on the two opposite walls of the dam. Also in this case the tomographic inversions were constrained by the P wave velocity values obtained from the vertical seismic profile. 2D representations of P wave velocity and the trend with depth of S wave velocity and Poisson ratio allowed an accurate reconstruction of the state of the concrete conservation of the dam. The high velocity values of the P and S waves, together with normal values of the Poisson ratio, suggest that the concrete is still of good quality and local decreases in the P wave velocity are due to moisture and infiltrations. The results obtained confirm the efficacy of seismic refraction tomography, if appropriately constrained, for the characterisation and validation of concrete in large-scale infrastructures that are difficultly investigable using direct methods.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have established separate administrative mechanisms for investigation and adjudication of alleged research misconduct. This report compares research misconduct at NSF and NIH and the possible effects of their respective methods of investigation and adjudication. Notable and paradoxical findings were identified: NIH supported four times the number of grants as NSF, yet NSF reviewed 2.5 times the number of research misconduct reports. NSF faculty were two-times more likely to be found guilty (88%) than faculty at NIH (42%). 83.6% of NSF offenders were guilty of plagiarism, vs. 4.8% at NIH. NSF trainees made up 6% of the guilty, vs. 42% at NIH. These findings are most likely related to the nature of their respective sciences, scientists, and the nature of their publications. Investigative policies and procedures are quite similar at these two agencies with the exception of the subpoena power available to the NSF's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) where it would be infrequently utilized in investigations of its predominant offense, plagiarism. However, it could prove useful if made available to the NIH Office of Research Integrity (ORI) for investigations of fabrication/falsification, its most common offense. Federal criteria for prosecution should be modified to increase the likelihood of prosecution of serious offenders referred by ORI.

In the first half of the 1950s, the history of running was marked by the overwhelming dominance of Czechoslovakian runner Emil Zatopek. As a three-time gold medallist at the Helsinki Olympic Games, his achievements were vastly instrumentalized by the communist regime to make him a hero of the people. For over sixty years now, the life and performances of Emil Zatopek have continued to be the regular focus of an array of cultural forms (advertisements, novels, films, comic books, etc.), contributing to building the myth. With Running, the French novelist Jean Echenoz plays his part in this process and raises a decisive question of interest to the sports historian: can a myth be created from a sportsman? By adopting the principles pertaining to the social history of representations, as well as those of romantic transposition, the investigation method chosen here aims to understand how a novelist succeeds in challenging a sporting myth and turning it into a bookstore success, translated into twenty l...

Urine contains a variety of compounds including a number of natural fluorophores. Fluorescence spectroscopy has proven to be a useful tool in analytical science. Fluorescence detection has three major advantages over other light-based investigation methods: high sensitivity, speed, and safety. Our work presents the newest approach to analysis of dog urine. Fluorescent fingerprint can very quickly reveal differences between complicated mixtures without adding any reagents. We describe autofluorescence characteristics of the urine of healthy dogs and of those with various disorders using fluorescent fingerprint. Fluorescent analysis has given good results to distinguish between pathological urine and the healthy standard in dogs. Our results suggest that this method can be used to characterize fluorescent properties of canine urine and to reveal some pathological changes in dogs.

In most published papers, in order to obtain the analytical solution of the crack problems in functionally graded materials (FGMs), the thermomechanical properties of FGMs are usually assumed to be very particular functions and, hence, may not be physically realizable for many actual material combinations. Very few analytical methods can be used to solve the thermal shock crack problem of an FGM cylindrical shell or plate with general thermomechanical properties. In this article, a set of analytical methods is proposed for the thermal shock crack problem of an FGM plate or cylindrical shell with general thermomechanical properties. The crack problem of a cylindrical shell is modeled by a plate on an elastic foundation. Greatly different from previous studies, a set of analytical methods using both the perturbation method and a piecewise model are developed to obtain the transient temperature field and thermal stress intensity factor (TSIF). The perturbation method is applied to deal with the general therm...

This article explains how the last decade's eagerness to fight terrorism has moved Nordic legislators to extend the police's powers to inquire into the preparation of crimes in order to prevent them from being committed. Special attention is given to the use of covert, coercive methods such as communication surveillance and audio surveillance of private rooms. The expansion of police powers stems from the cumulate effect of the criminalization of acts preparatory to terrorism, the introduction of new types of covert investigation methods, and (in Norway, Finland, and Sweden) the partial removal of the traditional threshold of a reasonable suspicion of a criminal act. The effects go far beyond the field of terrorism. New law proposals in the aftermath of the 2011 terrorist attacks in Norway suggest that the pressure towards more proactive use of covert police methods will continue. Finally, two basic premises of this development are discussed. The assumption that further expansions will substantially contr...

The critically low participation rates in physical activities, together with the declining participation rates in organized, club-based sports, among Hungarian youth calls for a deeper analysis of changes related to sport following the political transition in 1989–1990. This study examines differences in value preferences between young Hungarian sport participants and non-participants, as well as the role of demographic and social variables, sport participation and the form of sport participation, in the transfer of values. The investigation method was a secondary analysis of a national survey of youth (N = 8000), with subjects aged between 15 and 29. Data analysis was based on multi-dimensional statistical methodology. It was found that participation in sports was negatively correlated with the importance given to materialistic values; however, participation was not positively correlated with non-materialistic values. The newly formulated group of ‘open’ values (true friendship, creativity, free time, di...

The use of the piezocone penetration test (CPTU) in a geotechnical site investigation offers direct field measurement on stratigraphy and soil behavior. Compared with some traditional investigation methods, such as drilling, sampling and field inspecting method or laboratory test procedures, CPTU can greatly accelerate the field work and hereby reduce corresponding operation cost. The undrained shear strength is a key parameter in estimation of the stability of natural slopes and deformation of embankments in soft clays. This paper provides the measurements of in situ CPTU, field vane testing and laboratory undrained triaxial testing of Lianyungang marine clay in Jiangsu province of China. Based on the literature review of previous interpretation methods, this paper presents a comparison of field vane testing measurements to CPTU interpretation results. The undrained shear strength values from both the field vane tests and cone penetration resistances are lowest at the mid-depths of the marine clay layers...

The relationship between pedophilia and recidivism was examined in a sample of 206 extra-familial child molesters assessed at a university teaching hospital between 1982 and 1992. To address definitional issues, pedophilia was defined in one of four ways: (1) a DSM diagnosis made by a psychiatrist; (2) a deviant phallometric profile; (3) a combination of DSM diagnosis and deviant phallometric results; and, (4) high scores based on the Screening Scale for Pedophilic Interest (SSPI; Seto & Lalumiere, 2001). Of the various definitions for pedophilia only phallometric assessment (PAI) distinguished between sexual recidivists and nonrecidivists. Overall recidivism rates were 22.8%, 33.9%, and 45.6% for sexual, violent, and any reoffence, respectively. No differences were found between pedophiles and nonpedophiles with respect to recidivism rates, regardless of how pedophilia was defined. Based on these results, the utility of the DSM diagnosis of pedophilia for the purpose of predicting future reoffending is d...

Grasping both the extent and the actual situation of psychosomatic disorders, neurotic habits and developmental disorders of infancy and childhood is vital for their prevention and for taking appropriate measures to deal with the current situation. The purpose of this study is to explore the current situation of infant mental health in Japanese day‐care centres. The investigation regions for this study were Okinawa prefecture and Aomori prefecture in Japan. Our investigation method was a mailed survey, which was answered by the director or a teacher of the day‐care centre. The response rates were 40.9% (Okinawa) and 41.2% (Aomori). This included the answered surveys from 78 day‐care centres (6250 children) in Okinawa and 134 day‐care centres (9613 children) in Aomori. We found that the approximate prevalences of mutism in infants and children in the above‐mentioned day‐care centres were 0.34% (Okinawa) and 0.33% (Aomori). In the same way, the rates of tic disorder were 0.51% (Okinawa) and 0.54% (Aomori), ...

In a statement the Council of the European Union has recommended that member states should introduce clandestine remote searches of computers as a standard investigation method to combat cybercrime. At present, there is little analysis of the consequences such a development will have in the UK. The use of remote forensic software tools by law enforcement agencies has been, however, controversially discussed elsewhere and most notably in Germany where the Federal Constitutional Court had the opportunity to analyse the issue. This paper describes the use of this investigation method in Germany and analyses the reaction of the German and some other legal systems to give a first indication of the likely issues that its use in the UK will raise.

The study investigated the structure of autobiographical memory using reaction time measures. A total of 18 participants took photographs over their summer holidays and then reacted to pairs of these photographs displayed via a computer. They also subsequently sorted their photographs according to the autobiographical themes and events with which they were associated. When photographic sequence and the physical similarities in the photographs were controlled for by considering the results of "stranger" participants who were unfamiliar with the photographs, reaction times were significantly faster to pairs of photographs from the same theme or event. The results are consistent with currently held assumptions about the structure of autobiographical memory. Furthermore, the results suggest that reaction time measures may provide a valuable means by which aspects of autobiographical memory can be explored.

The determination of water and salt distribution in brickwork and stonework is a frequent problem in cultural heritage protection. Conventional but reliable methods are usually based on the investigation of core samples and provide only punctual information. To avoid the destruction of valuable building fabric, a non-destructive approach using a combination of investigation methods is needed. A case study, demonstrating the possibilities of almost non-destructive testing methods and their combination is presented in this article.

The use of the piezocone test (CPTU) in geotechnical site investigation offers direct field measurement on stratigraphy and soil behavior. Compared with some traditional investigation methods such as drilling, sampling, field inspecting method, or laboratory test procedures, CPTU can greatly accelerate the field work and thereby reduce corresponding operation cost. This article reviews previous interpretation methods of obtaining undrained shear strength, overconsolidation ratio, and coefficient of consolidation of soft soils from CPTU data, and introduces a new method, which the measured pore pressure into account. Piezocone tests with Vertek-Hogentogler CPTU truck have been complemented in a widely explored area in the soft marine deposit of Lianyungang City. Geotechnical design parameters (q t , f s , and u) obtained from CPTU and dissipation tests are evaluated for the marine clay in this area through methods based on cavity expansion (CE) and critical state (CS) theory proposed by Mayne, and compared...

After the Mont Blanc tunnel fire, investigations for assessing the damage to the concrete lining were performed with the objective of determining the need for repairs. It was an opportunity to test...

A new quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) with high time resolution was developed to study photoinduced variation of viscolastic properties in polymeric films. We present a full characterization of t...

Human and animal bodies contain practically all naturally occurring mineral elements and only 14 of them have been shown to be essential to health. Imbalance in mineral elements (on the cellular level) is one of the basic causes of diseases. Within the past decade, there has been a growing interest in the role of mineral elements in human health and disease. Isotopic tracer method is especially suited to such studies and has played an important role. In this paper, some recent progress in the study of metabolism and functional roles of mineral elements made by the isotopic tracer method in key laboratory of nuclear analytical techniques, institute of high energy physics is outlined, including rare earth elements, selenium, calcium, chromium and iron.

Finger tapping involves 3 important features: time, spatial amplitude, and frequency. In classical analysis, investigators examine timing parameters; in spectral analysis, they examine frequency parameters. Both types of analysis are based on stationary tap information. The authors propose that time–frequency analysis is a useful tool for analyzing nonstationary finger tapping. They describe the method and give examples of frequency modulation, age difference, and speed transition that demonstrate additional insights one can gain by using this analysis.

The advent of integrated microsystems for genetic analysis allows the acquisition of information at unprecedented length and time scales. The convergence of molecular biology, chemistry, physics, and materials science is required for their design and construction. The utility of the microsystems originates from increased analysis speed, lower analysis cost, and higher parallelism leading to increased assay throughput. In addition, when fully integrated, this technology will enable portable systems for high-speed in situ analyses, permitting a new standard in disciplines such as clinical chemistry, personalized medicine, forensics, biowarfare detection, and epidemiology. This article presents an overview of the recent history of integrated genetic analysis microsystems with an emphasis on materials aspects, and provides a perspective on current developments and future prospects.

The use of acoustic-emission (AE) techniques integrated with single-particle composite (SPC) mechanical–optical testing is proposed to evaluate and characterize adhesion in particle-filled polymeric composites. It is shown that not only can an intrinsic interfacial strength be determined but also that different types of adhesion mechanisms may be distinguished in terms of straightforward criteria using the wavelet transform (WT) of the acoustic signature, once problems with internal reflections in the test coupon are resolved. The validity of the proposed method is demonstrated with a study of the adhesion of a commercial poly(vinylbutyral) (PVB) to bare and aminosilane-treated glass beads. One of a collection of papers honoring Manoj K. Chaudhury, the February 2005 recipient of The Adhesion Society Award for Excellence in Adhesion Science, sponsored by 3M.

The latest state‐of‐the‐art innovation in realistic fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalyst testing is the short contact time resid test (SCTRT). This unit has been especially developed for residual hydrocarbon feed and solves limitations of other lab‐scale testing units by allowing instantaneous mixing (injection time of 1 second) of catalyst and feed. Its unique features make the SCTRT an excellent tool for catalyst development and for screening and evaluating FCC short contact time operations in the laboratory.

A cold drawn blend of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and polyethylene (PE) (50/50 by wt.) was investigated during heating, melting, and subsequent crystallization upon cooling of PE by means of wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) of synchrotron radiation. Strong epitaxial effects of the highly oriented PET on the very first stages of non-isothermal crystallization of PE during cooling of the cold drawn blend from 160°C to room temperature were found. WAXS shows that transcrystalline PE layers are formed around the PET fibrils. Within these layers, the PE crystallites are partly oriented at 90° with respect to their initial orientation (draw direction).

Y.-T. Liu, G. Mayer-Kress, and K. M. Newell (2003) fit learning curves to movement time data and suggested 2 new methods for analyzing learning. They claimed that the methods go "beyond curve fitting." However, in neither their curve fitting nor their new methods is measurement noise accounted for, and therefore they produce inefficient and biased results. Using the data of Liu et al., in which variance caused by learning is small relative to the level of noise for most participants, the present authors demonstrate those problems and provide better alternatives that are more noise tolerant, more powerful, and go beyond curve fitting without displaying the extreme bias produced by the methods of Liu et al.

(2004). Various fatigue analysis methods of a welded component. Welding International: Vol. 18, No. 5, pp. 364-373.

Vibrational spectra of a series of Methyl Acrylate/Ethyl Acrylate (MA/EA) copolymers, synthesized at 60°C and 70°C for 5 different MA/EA compositions for each temperature, were obtained by FT-Raman spectroscopy. An inversion of the symmetric and antisymmetric stretching vibrations of the CH3 group, due to the mobility of this group, was found. By analyzing the acoustical and optical branches of the spectra, the mobility of the backbone structure was also determined. The EA homopolymer was found to posses the highest conformational order.

This article presents the development and evaluation of a very compact facility for exposing humans to concentrated ambient ultrafine particles (da < 0.15 μm). The human ultrafine particle concentrator (UFPC) operates at an intake flow rate of 1200 liters per minute (LPM). The concentrator is preceded by an ultrafine impactor which separates the accumulation mode from ultrafine mode particles under a very low pressure drop (1.5 kPa), a feature that is essential in enabling human inhalation studies of ultrafine concentrated ambient particulates (CAP). A key feature of the UFPC is a new cooling system, consisting of a programmable refrigerated circulator, which produces the supersaturation that is necessary to grow ultrafine PM to supermicrometer sizes so that they can be concentrated by means of conventional virtual impaction. The new cooling system allows for entirely automated operation of the UFPC. The UFPC was characterized in field experiments, in which the concentration enrichment of ultrafine partic...

In the present investigation, numerical methods are developed for approximate solution of stochastic boundary-value problems. In particular, shooting methods are examined for numerically solving systems of Stratonovich boundary-value problems. It is proved that these methods accurately approximate the solutions of stochastic boundary-value problems. An error analysis of these methods is performed. Computational simulations are given.

Precipitations that exhibit irrational transformation crystallography can often be explained in terms of the O-lines in the habit plane. The present work developed an analytical O-line method, which is more useful than the numerical O-line method to study the variation in the habit plane and its structure in a systematic manner. This method has an advantage that the orientation relationship (OR) is the output from the calculation, while in many other models interpreting precipitation crystallography the OR is either an input or is constrained by a prerequisite condition. This paper described the derivation of this method and its application to the study of the precipitation crystallography in fcc-bcc systems. Examples were given for three alloy systems, namely Cu-0.33 wt% Cr and Ni-45 wt% Cr alloys and a duplex-phase alpha-gamma stainless steel. The solutions include the OR between the precipitates and their matrix, the habit plane, the invariant line and the dislocation structure in the habit plane. The calculated results are in good agreement with the experimental observations reported in the literatures. Furthermore, the variation in the optimum O-line features with the lattice parameter ratio has also been studied systematically, providing some guidelines for estimating and understanding possible transformation crystallography from different fcc-bcc systems.

Interfacial tension between molten polymers has received considerable experimental attention over the past 30 years because of its implications in several industrial applications such as coating, blending, composites, etc. However, due to the high viscosity of molten polymers, the interfacial tension between them can be experimentally determined reliably by only a few techniques. In this work, the latest developments of experimental methods to measure interfacial tension between molten polymers are reviewed; the methods are also compared in terms of accuracy and applicability.

A manual method for higher order Laue zone (HOLZ) line detection with an improved effective high-voltage correction for fast and reliable evaluation of local lattice distortions from convergent-beam electron diffraction (CBED) is presented. It is compared with a high-precision Hough transform method with a dynamic correction for each individual HOLZ line used by Kramer and Mayer. Both methods are applied to unfiltered and filtered experimental CBED patterns. As an example, the local lattice distortions in the γ − γ′ raft-like structure of a creep-deformed single-crystal nickel-based superalloy (CMSX-6) were measured. The lattice distortions obtained from both methods were analysed and showed good agreement. As a by-product, it was noted that specimen cooling enhanced the contrast of CBED patterns to the extent that the quality of CBED patterns taken at low temperatures without energy filtering was found to be qualitatively similar to that of CBED patterns taken at room temperature with energy filtering.

A great number of devices were used to make a peripheral nerve injury. In the scientific literature, experimental crush injuries have been usually created using forceps or hemostatic forceps, neither of which allows quantitative or standard application of compression. Therefore, we used a Yasargil-Phynox aneurysm clip to make a reliable and standardized peripheral nerve injury. The advantages and disadvantages of this clip were discussed. In particular, we think that standardization of the compression is necessary to compare interlaboratory results.

This study compared two toxicokinetic approaches for determining correction factors to be applied to occupational exposure limits (ELs) for unusual exposure scenarios: a classic one-compartment toxicokinetic approach and the physiologically based toxicokinetic (PBTK) approach. The approaches were applied to three typical unusual exposure scenarios: four consecutive 10-hour workdays followed by 3 days of recovery; three consecutive 12-hour workdays followed by 4 days of recovery; and a 4/3 work schedule. Results indicate that use of an adjustment method for ELs based on contaminant toxicokinetics generates less protective correction factors (i.e., a smaller adjustment) than those obtained using the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration approach, which is based on Haber's law. Among all scenarios tested, the highest adjustment required, resulting from the use of a toxicokinetic approach (PBTK or one-compartment), was for the 4/3 work schedule and for a contaminant with a half-life equal to 18 hours. In that case the ELs would need to be reduced by 26%. Based on previous work, the authors believe an adjustment based on a toxicokinetic approach is more realistic from a toxicological standpoint. Given the value of a substance's half-life, the use of the graphs of Hickey and Reist (developed from a one-compartment toxicokinetic model) is a rapid and reliable means of establishing the correction factor. However, this approach is limited to simple and repetitive scenarios. For more complex exposure scenarios, such as that corresponding to a 4/3 work schedule, a one-compartment model also can be developed for each of the needs. Finally, the use of PBTK models allows greater flexibility for adjusting ELs for novel work schedules.

Modeling interindividual variation in internal doses in humans using PBPK models requires data on the variation in physiological parameters across the population of interest. These data should also reflect the correlations between the values of the various parameters in a person. In this project, we develop a source of data for human physiological parameters where (1) the parameter values for an individual are correlated with one another, and (2) values of parameters capture interindividual variation in populations of a specific gender, race, and age range. The parameters investigated in this project include: (1) volumes of selected organs and tissues; (2) blood flows for the organs and tissues; and (3) the total cardiac output under resting conditions and average daily inhalation rate. These parameters are expressed as records of correlated values for the approximately 30,000 individuals evaluated in the NHANES III survey. A computer program, Physiological Parameters for PBPK Modeling (P3M), is developed...

The present study involved an examination of pain ratings associated with elicitation of the maximal H-wave and maximal M-wave in the soleus and flexor carpi radialis (FCR) muscles. Sixteen male students provided pain intensity ratings associated specifically with elicitation of the maximal H-wave and maximal M-wave in the soleus and FCR muscles before and after a 1 h period of seated rest on two trials separated by 1 wk. There were no significant interactions or main effects of Muscle Group, Time, or Trials for the pain ratings associated with the maximal H-wave and maximal M-wave in the soleus and FCR muscles. Pain ratings and current were higher for the maximal M-wave than the maximal H-wave in both the soleus and FCR muscles. We concluded that pain ratings associated with the maximal H-wave and maximal M-wave do not differ between the soleus and the FCR muscles, and that pain ratings are higher for the maximal M-wave than the maximal H-wave.

A simple nonlinear optical technique is suggested to measure the ratio of in-plane and Z -oriented domains in thin ferroelectric films, which is based on measurements of the SHG intensity as a function of the angle of incidence. From the interference patterns arising from multiple reflections qualitative information about the domain coherence can be obtained, a factor that might be important for electrical properties of the film.

Kaempferol-3-O-β-D-(6″-E-p-coumaroyl)-glucopyranoside (tiliroside) has been isolated from many natural plants sources. This compound showed very interesting pharmacological activities, e.g., cytotoxic for human leukaemic cell lines and anti-complement activity. However, there is a lack of data concerning the presence of this compound in medical plants. In this work, a reproducible and quick method was elaborated for the separation and determination of tiliroside in methanolic extracts of the plants. Solid-phase extraction was applied as sample preparation technique for the purification of crude extracts from various species as well as for the isolation of tiliroside for further reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography analysis. The content of tiliroside for various plant materials was compared.

The local strength of a glass fiber mat and a glass fiber mat reinforced unsaturated polyester (UP) composite sheet were tested by using tensile tester and image processing systems. In addition, the damage process was analyzed by calculating fiber orientation histograms determined on the basis of grabbed images.

This paper discusses the merits and disadvantages of a specific proposal for a numerical calculation of the reference dose (RfD) with explicit recognition of both uncertainty and variability. It is suggested that the RfD be the lower (more restrictive) value of: The daily dose rate that is expected (with 95% confidence) to produce less than 1/100,000 incidence over background of a minimally adverse response in a standard general population of mixed ages and genders, or The daily dose rate that is expected (with 95% confidence) to produce less than a 1/1000 incidence over background of a minimally adverse response in a definable sensitive subpopulation. Developing appropriate procedures to make such estimates poses challenges. To be a viable replacement for current RfDs, a numerical definition needs to be A plausible representation of the risk management values that both lay people and "experts" believe are intended to be achieved by current RfDs, (while better representing the "truth" that current RfDs cannot be expected to achieve zero risk with absolute confidence for a mixed population with widely varying sensitivities), Estimable with no greater amount of chemical specific information than is traditionally collected to estimate current RfD values, Subjected to a series of comparisons with existing RfDs to evaluate overall implications for current regulatory values, A more flexible value in the sense of facilitating the development of procedures to allow the incorporation of more advanced technical information--e.g., defined data on human distributions of sensitivity; information on comparative pharmacokinetic and/or pharmacodynamics in humans vs. test species, etc. The discussion evaluates the straw man proposal in the light of each of these points, and assesses the risks and uncertainties inherent in present RfDs by applying existing distributional information on various uncertainty factors to 18 of 20 randomly-selected entries from IRIS. The analysis here suggests that current RfDs seem to meet the 1/100,000 risk criterion with only somewhat better than 50% confidence. However, the current RfDs appear to generally fall short of the goal of meeting this risk criterion with 95% confidence, typically by an order of magnitude in dose or somewhat more. The single most important uncertainty is the extent of human interindividual variability in the doses of specific chemicals that cause adverse responses. Our major conclusion is that with some important assumptions, it is currently feasible to both specify quantitative probabilistic performance objectives for RfDs and to make tentative assessments about whether specific current RfDs for real chemicals seem to meet those objectives. Similarly it is also possible to make preliminary estimates of how much risk is posed by exposures in the neighborhood of current RfDs, and what the uncertainties are in such estimates. It is therefore possible to harmonize cancer and noncancer risk assessments by making quantitative noncancer risk estimates comparable to those traditionally made for carcinogenic risks. The benefits from this change will be an increase in the candor of public discussion of the possible effects of exposures to chemicals posing non-cancer risks, and encouragement for the collection of better scientific information related to toxic risks in people--particularly the extent and distributional form of interindividual differences among people in susceptibility.

Taking familial handedness into account, right- and left-handers with differing degrees of hand preference were monaurally presented with verbal stimuli (CVs) to which they responded using their right and left hands at separate times. This reaction time design was used to ascertain the relative cognitive functioning capacity of each hemisphere for verbal processing. However, the results disclosed more about the determination of direction of hand preference than about cognitive processing, per se. It was found that in both strong right-handers and strong left-handers with an incongruent hand preference (i.e., own handedness incongruent with family history of handedness) direction of hand preference is the result of suppression of the nonpreferred hand in the left hemisphere. Strong right- and strong left-handers with a congruent hand preference (i.e., hand preference congruent with family history of handedness) appear to have a more direct hand preference-left hemisphere mechanism. The findings of the present study are used to form part of a new theory of hand preference determination.

WAIS-III profile interpretation typically involves the analysis of disparities between summary and subtest scores. Determination of clinically meaningful differences has been guided by published rates of discrepancies based upon the normative sample. However, noting that a particular profile discrepancy is uncommon among normals only represents one step in the interpretive process. Rates of such pairwise differences have yet to be published for clinical samples. In order to begin filling this void in the literature, we present frequencies of composite and subtest differences from a postacute traumatic brain injury sample. The practical utility of these tables, in conjunction with the normative tables, is demonstrated.

We report an attempt to extract the pore structure of activated carbon from transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images. We have tried to use TEM of coconut-shell-based activated carbons, combined with image analysis, in order to make TEM a quantitative technique. It is important that the pore boundaries are clarified to analyze the pore structure, but extraction of the edges of pores is difficult by conventional techniques. In this work, we attempted to extract of the pore boundaries of the activated carbons by using fuzzy template obtained from a notion of a fuzzy topology.

To evaluate the contribution of formulation variables on the floating properties of a gastric floating drug delivery system (GFDDS) using a continuous floating monitoring system and statistical experimental design.A modified continuous floating monitoring system, which consisted of an electric balance interfacing with a PC, was designed to perform the continuous monitoring of floating kinetics of GFDDS. Several formulation variables, such as different types of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), varying HPMC/Carbopol ratio, and addition of magnesium stearate, were evaluated using Taguchi design, and the effects of these variables were subjected to statistical analysis.The continuous floating monitoring system developed was validated, using capsules with different density, and a good correlation between theoretical and experimental values was obtained (R2 = 0.9998), indicating the validity of the setup. The statistical analysis indicated that magnesium stearate had a significant effect on the floating property of GFDDS (p0.05), and addition of magnesium stearate could significantly improve the floating capacity of the GFDDS. It was found that the HPMC of higher viscosity grade generally exhibited a greater floating capacity, but the effect was not statistically significant. For polymers with the same viscosity, i.e., K4M and E4M, the degree of substitution of the function group did not show any significant contribution. A better floating behavior was achieved at higher HPMC/Carbopol ratio. Carbopol appeared to have a negative effect on the floating behavior of GFDDS.It was concluded that by using a validated continuous floating monitoring system, the effect of formulation variables on the floating property of the delivery system and their ranges could be identified. Incorporation of hydrophobic agents, such as magnesium stearate, could significantly improve the floating capacity of the GFDDS.

In 1996, Congress passed legislation requiring the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to implement screening/testing strategies for endocrine-active compounds (EACs). In response, EPA convened the Endocrine Disruptor Screening and Testing Advisory Committee (EDSTAC) to advise the agency on a strategy to screen and test xenobiotics for endocrine disruption. EDSTAC completed their charter in 1998 by recommending a tiered screening and testing scheme to evaluate compounds for their potential to act as agonists or antagonists to the estrogen or androgen receptors, steroid biosynthesis inhibitors, or their ability to alter thyroid function. For Tier I, the EDSTAC-recommended screening battery comprised eight different assays, but EDSTAC also proposed two alternative batteries that were deemed worthy of further evaluation. The challenge currently confronting EPA is to choose among the Tier I screening options and then to standardize protocols, validate the assays, and determine the criteria for judging a compound as positive or negative in the battery. The purpose of the current review is to: (1) provide an overview of the three EDSTAC options, (2) evaluate the data currently available for the individual assays of the three EDSTAC options and discuss the strengths and limitations of each, and (3) provide a final recommendation for a Tier I screen based on the experiences of the authors who have used all of the individual assays under consideration by EDSTAC. The goal of this report is not to provide an exhaustive historical review of each assay, but rather to summarize some of the more relevant data from available published reports as it relates to current proposed study designs for those particular assays. Based on the current data, a Tier I screening battery consisting of in vitro receptor binding assays, a 3-day uterotrophic assay, and a 15-day intact male assay are recommended as the preferred approach on which future validation efforts should be focused. This screening approach is a mode-of-action screen that will identify specific types of endocrine activity. Because it utilizes many endpoints from the same test animals (i.e., it integrates), it is the most cost-effective and efficient option in terms of animal usage. The mode-of-action screening approach advances scientific understanding and is preferred over other options based on apical tests, as these essentially are reproductive effects screens that are not necessarily specific for endocrine activity. Because Tier II tests include the critical apical endpoints used in the pubertal models, a mode-of-action approach provides complementary rather than redundant data. By identifying the potential mode of action, critical endpoints can be included in Tier II studies that will be used to define dose-response curves and no observed adverse effect levels (NOAELs)/no observed effect levels (NOELs) for the compound.

Among the most fundamental assessments of the safety of a product or, indeed, of any material that has the potential to be in contact with a significant number of people in our society, are tests i...

In this paper, we describe an assay using radioactive rubidium (86Rb) efflux to screen functional human ether-a go-go-related gene (HERG) K + channels in a high-throughput screening (HTS) format. This assay offers an alternative way to examine functional interactions between chemical compounds and HERG K + channels. Follow-up experiments and discussions were carried out to address a variety of factors that affect potency evaluation within the Rb efflux assay. Factors that can affect the assay results, such as assay time, efflux rate, and compound blocking kinetics, are discussed in detail. Our results provide some explanations for the variances of the assay results and offer some guidelines for using the Rb efflux assay to evaluate compound interactions with HERG K + channels in the pharmaceutical industry.

Pore structure in carbon fibers prepared from a polymer blend has been investigated by measurements of small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). Generally, an application of the SAXS method to analyze the pore structure of carbon materials is not so easy, because that in carbon materials is complex and structure correlation between pores cannot be neglected. The polymer blend method does not use the activation process and makes it possible to control the size and concentration of pores dependent on the pore forming resin. It can be said that the present result is positioned as one of the most successful results among pore structure determinations by SAXS, and that the result will become a standard for the study of pore structure in carbon materials.

The present study observed the coordination between cortical areas during no task conditions as well as for the pathological condition of epilepsy, by application of the phase synchronization technique to the EEG signal in a multichannel recording. The index obtained from the phase entrainment investigation was properly scaled by a novel method to take into account the effect of nearest neighbor interactions. This scaled index was analyzed temporally to learn about the behavior of regional interactions in time. The results obtained not only corroborate earlier known results, but also give deeper insight into actual brain functioning.

In the past two decades, a number of papers and monographs have dealt with different aspects of inflammation. These include laboratory models for the testing of anti-inflammatory drugs, experimenta...

A method is presented for evaluating the concentration of ascorbic acid in 10 microliters samples of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) with just ultraviolet (UV) scanning in the 220-300 nm range. The method assumes that the two main UV absorbing CSF components are proteins (with a peak at 280 nm) and ascorbic acid (with a peak at 264 nm). On this basis, the absorbances at those wavelengths are the starting points for a calculation that evaluates the sheer contribution of ascorbic acid to the absorbance at 264 nm. The rapidity of the UV analysis (just a few min), together with the precaution of keeping the samples under argon, along the short preparatory procedure, is especially suitable in the analysis of an air labile substance, such as ascorbic acid. The results of the UV procedure have been checked with parallel HPLC determinations for 19 test CSF samples and the results have shown an excellent correspondence. Finally, data are presented about the evaluation of ascorbic acid concentrations in CSF samples from various neurological pathologies in comparison with normal cases. These data show the interesting result of a significant reduction in the average ascorbic acid CSF level in patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease. However, a decrease in that parameter is found also for a few other pathologies.