University of Rhode Island

About: University of Rhode Island is a education organization based out in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Bay. The organization has 11464 authors who have published 22770 publications receiving 841066 citations. The organization is also known as: URI & Rhode Island College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts.

Hot-Melt Extrusion Technique: A Review

Abstract: Hot-melt extrusion is one of the most widely applied processing technologies in the plastic, rubber and food industry. Today this technology has found its place in the array of pharmaceutical manufacturing operations. Melt extrusion process are currently applied in the pharmaceutical field for the manufacture of a variety of dosage forms and formulations such as granules, pellets, tablets, suppositories, implants, stents, transdermal systems and ophthalmic inserts. This review article in detail describes the melt extrusion equipment and process. Industrial application of this process along with specific areas on pharmaceutical industry is illustrated. This article concludes with the overview of published examples of the melt extrusion process.

Visual and Auditory Message Framing Effects on Tobacco Smoking1

Abstract: Persuasive health messages can be framed to emphasize the benefits of adopting a health behavior (gains) or the risks of not adopting it (losses). This study examined the effects of message framing on beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors relevant to cigarette smoking. In video presentations about tobacco smoking, visual images and auditory voiceover content were framed either as gains or losses, yielding 4 message conditions. Undergraduates (N= 437) attending a public university in New England were assigned randomly to view one of these messages. Gain-framed messages about smoking in visual and auditory modalities shifted smoking-related beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors in the direction of avoidance and cessation. Health-communication experts, when promoting prevention behaviors like smoking avoidance or cessation, may wish to diverge from the tradition of using loss-framed messages and fear appeals in this domain, and instead consider using gain-framed appeals that present the advantages of not smoking.

Thin layers and camouflage: hidden Pseudo-nitzschia spp. (Bacillariophyceae) populations in a fjord in the San Juan Islands, Washington, USA

Abstract: Two sets of observations were made on the distribution of Pseudo-nitzschia taxa in a fjord in the San Juan Islands, Washington, USA. From May 21 to 31, 1996, we observed the spatio- temporal distribution of a dense bloom of P. fraudulenta. Microscopic observations of live material were compared to physical-optical water-column structure, currents and wind. At the start of the study, dense concentrations of Pseudo-nitzschia spp. were observed directly at the surface. Optical profiles indicated that most cells were concentrated in a thin layer at ~5 m depth, which appeared to be contiguous throughout the sound. Several days later, sustained winds forced a plume of lighter water over the surface of the sound, displacing the original water mass, with its entrained flora, to depth. The resulting near-bottom thin layer persisted for several days, and contained >10 6 Pseudo- nitzschia spp. cells l -1 . Microscopic examination of live cells from the deep layer revealed that colonies were alive and motile. In 1996 and again in 1998, we observed P. pseudodelicatissima living within colonies of Chaetoceros socialis. Water-column thin layers, near-bottom thin layers and popu- lations of Pseudo-nitzschia spp. within C. socialis colonies could easily escape detection by routine monitoring procedures, and may be a potential source of unexplained toxicity events.