Environmental Studies of Monterey Bay and Central California Coastal Zone. First half-year of operation, July 1970-February 1971

(PDF contains 141 pages)

Cannabis use and involuntary admission may mediate long-term adherence in first-episode psychosis patients: a prospective longitudinal study

Background: This study aimed to examine factors associated with treatment adherence in first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients followed up over 8 years, especially involuntary first admission and stopping cannabis use. Methods: This prospective, longitudinal study of FEP patients collected data on symptoms, adherence, functioning,and substance use. Adherence to treatment was the main outcome variable and was categorized as ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Cannabis use during follow-up was stratified as continued use, stopped use, and never used. Bivariate and logistic regression models identified factors significantly associated with adherence and changes in adherence over the 8-year follow-up period. Results: Of the 98 FEP patients analyzed at baseline, 57.1% had involuntary first admission, 74.4% bad adherence,and 52% cannabis use. Good adherence at baseline was associated with Global Assessment of Functioning score (p = 0.019), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale score (p = 0.017) and voluntary admission (p < 0.001). Adherence patterns over 8 years included: 43.4% patients always bad, 26.1% always good, 25% improved from bad to good. Among the improved adherence group, 95.7% had involuntary first admission and 38.9% stopped cannabis use. In the subgroup of patients with bad adherence at baseline, involuntary first admission and quitting cannabis use during follow up were associated with improved adherence. Conclusions: The long-term association between treatment adherence and type of first admission and cannabis use in FEP patients suggest targets for intervention to improve clinical outcomes.

First occurrence of Mosasauridae (Squamata) in the Maastrichtian (latest Cretaceous) of Alicante (Valencia Community, Eastern Spain)

8 p.

The First Occurrence in the Fossil Record of an Aquatic Avian Twig-Nest with Phoenicopteriformes Eggs: Evolutionary Implication

14 p.

Using the system dynamics paradigm in teaching and learning technological university subjets

2nd International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies

A smoothing technique for discrete delta functions with application to immersed boundary method in moving boundary simulations.

The effects of complex boundary conditions on flows are represented by a volume force in the immersed boundary methods. The problem with this representation is that the volume force exhibits non-physical oscillations in moving boundary simulations. A smoothing technique for discrete delta functions has been developed in this paper to suppress the non-physical oscillations in the volume forces. We have found that the non-physical oscillations are mainly due to the fact that the derivatives of the regular discrete delta functions do not satisfy certain moment conditions. It has been shown that the smoothed discrete delta functions constructed in this paper have one-order higher derivative than the regular ones. Moreover, not only the smoothed discrete delta functions satisfy the first two discrete moment conditions, but also their derivatives satisfy one-order higher moment condition than the regular ones. The smoothed discrete delta functions are tested by three test cases: a one-dimensional heat equation with a moving singular force, a two-dimensional flow past an oscillating cylinder, and the vortex-induced vibration of a cylinder. The numerical examples in these cases demonstrate that the smoothed discrete delta functions can effectively suppress the non-physical oscillations in the volume forces and improve the accuracy of the immersed boundary method with direct forcing in moving boundary simulations.

A comparative study of Young's modulus of single-walled carbon nanotube by CPMD, MD, and first principle simulations

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), due to their exceptional magnetic, electrical and mechanical properties, are promising candidates for several technical applications ranging from nanoelectronic devices to composites. Young's modulus holds the special status in material properties and micro/nano-electromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS) design. The excellently regular structures of CNTs facilitate accurate simulation of CNTs' behavior by applying a variety of theoretical methods. Here, three representative numerical methods, i.e., Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics (CPMD), density functional theory (DFT) and molecular dynamics (MD), were applied to calculate Young's modulus of single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) with chirality (3,3). The comparative studies showed that the most accurate result is offered by time consuming DFT simulation. MID simulation produced a less accurate result due to neglecting electronic motions. Compared to the two preceding methods the best performance, with a balance between efficiency and precision, was deduced by CPMD.

Adsorption of formaldehyde molecule on the intrinsic and Al-doped graphene: a first principle study

To search for a high sensitivity sensor for formaldehyde (H2CO), We investigated the adsorption of H2CO on the intrinsic and Al-doped graphene sheets using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Compared with the intrinsic graphene, the Al-doped graphene system has high binding energy value and short connecting distance, which are caused by the chemisorption of H2CO molecule. Furthermore, the density of states (DOS) results show that orbital hybridization could be seen between H2CO and Al-doped graphene sheet, while there is no evidence for hybridization between the H2CO molecule and the intrinsic graphene sheet. Therefore, Al-doped graphene is expected to be a novel chemical sensor for H2CO gas. We hope our calculations are useful for the application of graphene in chemical sensor.

Results of the first hydroacoustic survey of the Ugandan waters of Lake Victoria

A lakewide hydroacoustic research programme was designed in the Ugandan waters of Lake Victoria in order to ascertain the status of fish stocks. Data obtained from the hydroacoustic surveys were complemented with by catch data from multi mesh gillnets and frame trawls to validate acoustic estimates. Fish were distributed over the whole survey area, though the densities and species composition varied from place to place. Echo traces showed the fish formed schools during daytime and became more dispersed towards evening. Approximately equivalent indices of abundance were estimated for Rastrineobola argentea and Haplocromines. The distribution of the freshwater prawn, Caridina nilotica and the lakefly Chaoborus sp. was patchy. Dense swarms of Chaoborus larvae were observed to disperse from the lake bottom as the night approached thus assuring echo-traces formed by fish on the echogram and making their interpretation difficult. Caridina nilotica were observed to form dense echo-traces at the thermocline

Polaronic correction to the first excited electronic energy level in an anisotropic semiconductor quantum dot

Within the framework of second-order Rayleigh-Schrodinger perturbation theory, the polaronic correction to the first excited state energy of an electron in an quantum dot with anisotropic parabolic confinements is presented. Compared with isotropic confinements, anisotropic confinements will make the degeneracy of the excited states to be totally or partly lifted. On the basis of a three-dimensional Frohlich's Hamiltonian with anisotropic confinements, the first excited state properties in two-dimensional quantum dots as well as quantum wells and wires can also be easily obtained by taking special limits. Calculations show that the first excited polaronic effect can be considerable in small quantum dots.

Preparation and characterization of an intramolecular electron transfer in a pentaammineruthenium derivative of Candida krisei cytochrome c

A semisynthetic binuclear metalloprotein has been prepared by appending the pentaammineruthenium moiety to histidine 39 of the cytochrome c from the yeast Candida krusei. The site of ruthenium binding was identified by peptide mapping. Spectroscopic and electrochemical properties of the derivative indicate the protein conformation is unperturbed by the modification. A preliminary (minimum) rate constant of 170s^(-1) has been determined for the intramolecular electron transfer from ruthenium(II) to iron(III), which occurs over a distance of at least 13Å (barring major conformational changes). Electrochemical studies indicate that this reaction should proceed with a driving force of ~170mV. The rate constant is an order of magnitude faster than that observed in horse heart cytochrome c for intramolecular electron transfer from pentaammineruthenium(II)(histidine 33) to iron(III) (over a similar distance, and with a similar driving force), suggesting a medium or orientation effect makes the Candida intramolecular electron transfer more favorable.