Showing papers by "Duquesne University published in 1989"

Directly compressible granules having improved flow properties

Abstract: Directly compressible, wax-containing granules having improved flow properties are obtained when waxes are admixed in the melt with certain flow improving additives, followed by cooling and granulation of the admixture. In certain embodiments of the invention, only the wax itself melts in the melt combination of the wax(es) and additives(s), and in other cases both the wax(es) and the additives(s) will both melt. In either case, the melt combination of the wax(es) with the additive(s) yields, upon cooling and granulation, a wax-containing particulate drug diluent having improved and unexpected flow properties.

An Empirical-Phenomenological Investigation of Being Anxious

Abstract: Whether one reflects upon the language of the current media or simply takes stock of one’s chats with friends and neighbors, one soon realizes that, for the most part, contemporary living is described in the language of emotion. Television dramas and magazines, even the lyrics of popular music, offer characterizations as well as analyses of various fears, frustrations, guilts, shames, jealousies, and contentments of everyday life. Moreover, popular books and periodicals abound in prescriptions for living happily, for keeping one’s mate satisfied if not in love, for avoiding guilt or embarrassment, for staying unaffected or in control of one’s emotions, for steering clear of depression, and for coping with despair. In everyday life, the varieties of emotional living are unequivocally acknowledged as significant, even if occasionally problematic.

Cloning and sequencing of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa 1244 pilin structural gene.

Abstract: The pilin structural gene of Pseudomonas aeruginosa 1244 was cloned in both cosmids and lambda. Expression of the cloned gene was detected in P. aeruginosa strains PAO2003, PA103, and 653A by an immunoblot reaction utilizing monoclonal antibodies. Western blot analysis showed that pilin expressed from the cloned gene was slightly larger than native 1244 pilin when produced in strains PAO2003 and 653A, but distinctly smaller in PA103. Bacteriophages specific for the 1244 pilus did not lyse strain PAO2003 containing the cloned 1244 pilin gene, indicating that functional 1244 pili were not assembled in this recombinant strain. Nucleotide sequencing revealed a coding region which when translated would produce a 15,615 dalton peptide. The amino-terminal region of this peptide is identical with published pilin sequences. While the rest of the peptides are generally dissimilar, common residues are seen within potentially antigenic regions.

Effect of drug (core) particle size on the dissolution of theophylline from microspheres made from low molecular weight cellulose acetate propionate.

Abstract: Three particle sizes (450, 120, and 5 µm) of theophylline were encapsulated in low molecular weight cellulose acetate propionate (intrinsic viscosity, 1.08 dl/g) by the solvent evaporation method. The theoretical drug content for all the batches of microspheres was 50% (w/w). Particle size analysis revealed that about 50% of the microspheres containing the large theophylline crystals (average length of 450 µm) were greater than 500 µm in diameter, whereas only about 35% of the microspheres containing the medium drug crystals (average length of 120 µm) were greater than 500 µm in diameter. The drug content of the larger microspheres prepared from the large drug crystals and the medium drug crystals was much greater than the theoretical drug content (50%, w/w); however, the drug content of all the batches of microspheres containing micronized drug was close to 50% (w/w). Release of the drug in simulated intestinal fluid was very rapid from microspheres containing large and medium drug crystals, while release was slower and more predictable from microspheres made from micronized drug.

A Robust Multivariate Procedure for the Identification of Problem Savings and Loan Institutions

Abstract: The 1980s have seen a great increase in the number of failed savings and loan institutions. In order to prevent such failures, it would be helpful if regulators have an early warning model. Such a model should be able to flag potential failed firms to prevent failure. In this paper, a robust multivariate procedure is used to successfully identify potentially failed firms well ahead of an actual failure date.

T4 and ultrasensitive TSH immunoassays using luminescent enhanced xanthine oxidase assay.

Abstract: The use of xanthine oxidase in immunoanalysis has never been reported. We describe here a procedure in which the xanthine oxidase dependent luminescence of luminol is enhanced in the presence of Fe–EDTA complex, providing an highly sensitive assay (3 amol of enzyme) and a long-term signal. This specific amplification has been applied to T4 and ultrasensitive TSH solid phase immunoassays, with T4–XO and anti-TSH monoclonal antibody-XO conjugates as tracers. The performances of these assays are at least equivalent to those obtained with iodinated tracers, using the same solid phases and the same calibrators. The major advantages of these immunoassays are: (1) the long-term signal which can be repeatedly recorded over several days, (2) the high detection sensitivity, (3) the long-term stability of the luminescence reagent and (4) the stability of the conjugates.

Knowledge acquisition and expertise evaluation

Abstract: The knowledge acquisition phase of knowledge engineering is related to the phenomenology of domain expertise. The relationship between knowledge extraction and meta-knowledge (knowledge about what we know and how we reason) is stressed. Two knowledge extraction techniques for hard-to-trace expert reasoning are introduced. The nature of geographical knowledge and expertise is examined and related to the process of building spatial theory.

Threonine metabolism by Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Abstract: 83 strains ofPseudomonas aeruginosa were unable to utilizel-threonine as carbon-energy source, although this compound served as sole nitrogen source. Auxotrophs ofP. aeruginosa 9-D2 that requiredl-serine or glycine for growth could grow in the presence ofl-threonine. Extracts ofP. aeruginosa 9-D2 grown in the presence ofl-threonine contained threonine dehydrogenase and alpha-amino beta-ketobutyrate: CoA ligase activities; threonine aldolase was not detectable. Cells grown in the absence ofl-threonine produced no detectable threonine dehydrogenase.l-Leucine neither stimulated nor repressed threonine dehydrogenase levels. Glycine, and to a lesser extentl-serine, repressedl-threonine-mediated threonine dehydrogenase synthesis. A mutant of strain 9-D2 was isolated that could utilizel-threonine as sole carbon-energy source. This strain produced elevated levels of threonine dehydrogenase, but only slightly higher levels of alpha-amino beta-ketobutyrate: CoA ligase activities.

The Social Psychology of Person Perception and the Experience of Valued Relationships

Abstract: I want to tell the story of a semitraumatic experience that I had teaching a class on social psychology on the undergraduate level at Duquesne University. It was one of those events, neither planned nor anticipated, that befalls us. Yet, in coping with the contingencies that arose, I learned a lot about the students, myself, and the scholarly discipline.

Personality and Assessment

Abstract: This chapter is written in four major sections. The first provides some historical background to mainstream psychology’s approach to the areas traditionally designated as ‘‘personality and assessment.” The second section focuses on limitations and other difficulties of contemporary notions and practices. The themes running through the first two sections have to do with established psychologists’ inclinations to look upon human affairs in terms of natural laws operating independently of human consciousness. From the perspective of other psychologists, who regard humans as being not only objects of nature but also as being active subjects, the predominant view is not so much wrong as it is incomplete. The incompleteness, however, can have deleterious consequences when it takes the form of either: (a) an explicit reduction of all human events to mechanics and/or electrochemistry, or (b) an implicit technologized comprehension—which occurs in the absence of formal recognition of specifically human characteristics.

Role deprivation in baccalaureate nursing students pre and post curriculum revision.

Abstract: This study documents that the Role Deprivation of senior generic baccalaureate nursing students (n = 194) in a newly revised conceptually based, 8-term, health-oriented curriculum was significantly greater (p less than .05) than the role deprivation of senior baccalaureate nursing students (n = 174) in the same school when the program was based on a 10-term, medical model, illness-oriented curriculum. Role deprivation was measured by the Corwin (1960) Role Conception-Role Deprivation (RC-RD) Scale which was used extensively by Kramer in her studies (1969, 1970, 1974) of nurse's adjustment to the hospital work world. In these studies, Kramer used role deprivation as an indirect measure of reality shock. Unresolved reality shock leads to anger, frustration, and disillusionment that eventually can lead to exit from the profession (Kramer, 1974). Kramer has demonstrated that changes in learning experiences in an educational program can affect new graduates' adaptation to the hospital work world.

Hermeneutical Aspects of John Henry Newman's Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine

Abstract: Recent interest in the study of hermeneutics has called for a reexamination of many Christian classics. This has initiated a retrieval of many valuable insights found in the classics that are extremely important for contemporary theology. Newman's Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine is such a classic. From the time of its publication in 1845, the Essay has been an important and influential work in the life of Catholic thought. By reexamining Newman's work, we are assisted along the unfolding hermeneutical path known as Catholic theology. This article examines Newman's theory of development, three major objections to that theory, and a review of the relevance of Newman's theory for contemporary hermeneutics.

Body distribution of ethchlorvynol.

Abstract: Ethchlorvynol (Placidyl®) is a nonbarbiturate sedative hypnotic. Two fatal cases of ethchlorvynol overdose are reported. Toxicological analyses of body fluids and tissues were performed by gas chromatography using a flame-ionization detector. The quantitative method was sensitive and reproducible. Body distribution of ethchlorvynol in blood and other tissues is presented. Biological samples analyzed included blood, urine, bile, liver, kidney, eye fluid, and gastric contents. Results presented add to the pharmacokinetic data needed to study the disposition of drugs in different tissues. Findings in present two cases are compared with published toxicological data.

Interlingua in machine translation

Abstract: The concept of interlingua is of seventeenth century provenance, and it gained the attention of computer scientists in the context of MT. The idea was that if there are n source languages (SLs) then n(n-1) algorithms are required to translate each SL to every SL, except itself. Having an interlingua (IL), only 2n algorithms are needed: to translate from SL to IL and from IL to target language (TL). For n3 interlingual approach needs less algorithms. There are two general interlingual approaches: syntactic and semantic; the first tries to pay attention mainly to syntactic aspects of languages, the second is interested in the information their texts convey.

Rupture Hardware Minimization in Pressurized Water Reactor Piping

Abstract: For much of the high-energy piping in light reactor systems, fracture mechanics calculations can be used to assure pipe failure resistance, thus allowing the elimination of excessive rupture restraint hardware both inside and outside containment. These calculations use the concept of leak-before-break (LBB) and include part-through-wall flaw fatigue crack propagation, through-wall flaw detectable leakage, and through-wall flaw stability analyses. Performing these analyses not only reduces initial construction, future maintenance, and radiation exposure costs, but also improves the overall safety and integrity of the plant since much more is known about the piping and its capabilities than would be the case had the analyses not been performed. This paper presents the LBB methodology applied a Beaver Valley Power Station- Unit 2 (BVPS-2); the application for two specific lines, one inside containment (stainless steel) and the other outside containment (ferrutic steel), is shown in a generic sense using a simple parametric matrix. The overall results for BVPS-2 indicate that pipe rupture hardware is not necessary for stainless steel lines inside containment greater than or equal to 6-in. (152-mm) nominal pipe size that have passed a screening criteria designed to eliminate potential problem systems (such as the feedwater system). Similarly, some ferritic steelmore » line as small as 3-in. (76-mm) diameter (outside containment) can qualify for pipe rupture hardware elemination.« less