The hydraulic performance of woody species during drought is currently of high interest in the context of climate change. It is known that woody species have the capacity to mitigate water shortage ...by using internally stored water. Elastic shrinkage of living cells and also water release during cavitation contribute to the so-called 'hydraulic capacitance' (C) of the plant, which adds water to the transpiration stream and buffers fluctuations in water potential. Although sap-conducting conduits may ultimately serve as a water pool, cavitation will hamper the conduction of sap. Both hydraulic conductivity and C are thus inextricably linked and the interaction between both should be studied to better understand hydraulic functioning of woody species during drought. However, measurements of C are scarce and no distinction is usually made between C from elastic storage and C supplied by cavitation. In this paper, we propose a new method to assess both the decrease in hydraulic conductivity and the change in C during bench dehydration of a whole-branch segment using continuous measurements of acoustic emissions, radial diameter shrinkage and gravimetrical water loss. With this method we could establish proper vulnerability curves for grapevine (Vitis vinifera L. 'Johanniter') and quantify C during dehydration. Our results showed that loss in hydraulic conductivity during the cavitation phase was accompanied by 22-92% gain in hydraulic capacitance; therefore, a certain degree of cavitation may be tolerated in grapevine during periods of drought stress.
•The plasma was found to activate the dry reforming mixture at ambient conditions.•A CO2 and CH4 conversion of ~22% and ~33% was achieved, respectively.•A large variety of hydrocarbons and oxygenated ...compounds was detected.•Methanol was the fifth most selective compound formed.•SEM-EDS revealed migration of electrode material onto the surface of the packing material.
The combination of catalysis with non-thermal plasma is a promising alternative to thermal catalysis. A dielectric-barrier discharge reactor was used to study plasma-catalytic dry reforming of methane at ambient pressure and temperature and a fixed plasma power of 45 W. The effect of different catalytic packing materials was evaluated in terms of conversion, product selectivity, and energy efficiency. The conversion of CO2 (~22%) and CH4 (~33%) were found to be similar in plasma-only and when introducing packing materials in plasma. The main reason is the shorter residence time of the gas due to packing geometry, when compared at identical flow rates. H2, CO, C2-C4 hydrocarbons, and oxygenates were identified in the product gas. High selectivity towards H2 and CO were found for all catalysts and plasma-only, with a H2/CO molar ratio of ~0.9. The lowest syngas selectivity was obtained with Cu/Al2O3 (~66%), which instead, had the highest alcohol selectivity (~3.6%).
This study assessed psychometric qualities of indirect measures assessing Implicit Theories (ITs) of sexual offending: Implicit Association Task (IAT), Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure ...(IRAP), and Relational Responding Task (RRT). For comparison reasons, aggressive behavior was also assessed. In a male sample from the general population (
= 109), we assessed each measure's (a) feasibility (mean latency, error rate, passing criteria), (b) internal consistency, (c) convergent and discriminant validity, and (d) incremental and predictive validity. Results indicated that no indirect measure met all criteria. Although the IAT was reasonably feasible and reliable in measuring aggression, ITs could not be reliably assessed. The RRT was feasible and somewhat reliable in assessing ITs, whereas the IRAP showed limited feasibility, high task complexity, low reliability, and the presence of a method factor. No measure had incremental predictive validity over the use of self-report measures, although we note that the power to detect such associations was limited. As none of the indirect measures performed satisfactorily on the measured criteria, the use of these measures in clinical practice seems currently unwarranted to assess ITs.
The combination of a single-bolus fibrinolytic and a low-molecular-weight heparin may facilitate prehospital reperfusion and further improve clinical outcome in patients with ST-elevation myocardial ...infarction.
In the prehospital setting, 1639 patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction were randomly assigned to treatment with tenecteplase and either (1) intravenous bolus of 30 mg enoxaparin (ENOX) followed by 1 mg/kg subcutaneously BID for a maximum of 7 days or (2) weight-adjusted unfractionated heparin (UFH) for 48 hours. The median treatment delay was 115 minutes after symptom onset (53% within 2 hours). ENOX tended to reduce the composite of 30-day mortality or in-hospital reinfarction, or in-hospital refractory ischemia to 14.2% versus 17.4% for UFH (P=0.080), although there was no difference for this composite end point plus in-hospital intracranial hemorrhage or major bleeding (18.3% versus 20.3%, P=0.30). Correspondingly, there were reductions in in-hospital reinfarction (3.5% versus 5.8%, P=0.028) and refractory ischemia (4.4% versus 6.5%, P=0.067) but increases in total stroke (2.9% versus 1.3%, P=0.026) and intracranial hemorrhage (2.20% versus 0.97%, P=0.047). The increase in intracranial hemorrhage was seen in patients >75 years of age.
Prehospital fibrinolysis allows 53% of patients to receive reperfusion treatment within 2 hours after symptom onset. The combination of tenecteplase with ENOX reduces early ischemic events, but lower doses of ENOX need to be tested in elderly patients. At present, therefore, tenecteplase and UFH are recommended as the routine pharmacological reperfusion treatment in the prehospital setting.
This study was designed to provide more insight into the relationship between social support and externalizing behavior in forensic patients with ADHD. Because ADHD is highly associated with ...psychosocial impairment, we expected poor social support and attachment insecurity (i.e., preoccupied, fearful, and dismissive attachment) to be associated with higher levels of externalizing behaviors in forensic patients with ADHD. Self-reports of 32 forensic male outpatients with ADHD (M age = 35.34) were compared with self-reports of healthy (n = 32; M age = 33.84), and ‘at risk’ control males with (a history of) psychological problems (n = 30; M age = 36.47) from the general population. In addition, associations between social support, attachment and externalizing behaviors (i.e., aggression, antisociality, anger and hostility) were examined within the sample as a whole. Analyses of variance showed that forensic patients with ADHD had higher levels of externalizing behaviors and insecure attachment, and lower levels of secure attachment compared to both healthy and at risk controls. Multivariate regression analyses showed that social support was not associated with any of the externalizing behaviors, after accounting for attachment. In contrast, insecure attachment was associated with higher levels of all externalizing behaviors examined. Finally, insecure attachment best explained antisociality and hostility, suggesting that attachment is more important than other psychopathological risk factors that distinguish the different groups.
We segregated coexisting gabbroic and granitic melts by centrifuging them at high pressures and temperatures and measured the trace element compositions of the melts by laser ablation inductively ...coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Our results demonstrate that the effect of melt structure contributes about one order of magnitude to crystal/melt partition coefficients. Partitioning of alkali and alkaline earth elements strongly depends on field strength: Amphoteric and lone pair electron elements partition into the polymerized granitic melt; and rare earth, transition, and high field strength elements coordinated by nonbridging oxygens partition remarkably similar into the gabbroic melt. A regular solution model predicts these effects.
Personality dysfunctions and psychopathy are central in most theories of crime. However, different offense types are likely driven by different motivational factors. Therefore, it is plausible that ...distinct offender groups differ in terms of personality features. In the present study, child molesters, (non-sex) violent offenders and community participants were compared on self-report measures of personality functioning in the self- and interpersonal domains (i.e., self-control, identity integration, responsibility, relational capacity, and social concordance), and psychopathic traits.
Multivariate analyses of variance were conducted to examine differences between child molesters (N = 74), violent offenders (N = 64), and community participants (N = 238) on psychopathic traits and personality functioning.
Bivariate associations among personality features were largely consistent across groups. Violent offenders showed higher levels of personality dysfunctions and psychopathy, compared to both child molesters and community participants. Child molesters reported more selective impairments. Compared to community participants, child molesters reported significantly greater impairments in self-control, identity integration, responsibility, and relational capacities.
The different personality profiles of the two offender groups corroborate the importance of applying different theoretical models and treatment approaches to child molesters and non-sex violent offenders.
•We compared child molesters, violent offenders, and community participants.•Violent offenders reported greater levels of psychopathic traits than the other two groups.•Violent offenders reported greater impairments in personality functioning than the other two groups.•Child molesters reported selective impairments in self-control, identity, and relational capacities.•Child molesters reported lower levels of egocentric traits of psychopathy than the community sample.
Background
Adolescents face major developmental tasks such as increasing individuation and establishing autonomy. These developmental tasks increase demands on adolescent self-control, hereby putting ...youth with poor effortful control at risk for psychopathology. Specific parenting behaviors might be warranted to buffer against this risk.
Objective
This study was designed to examine parenting-related risk and protective factors in the associations between effortful control and adolescent psychopathology. We hypothesized that youth with poor effortful control require more parental involvement (i.e., lower autonomy granting) to help complete these developmental tasks and subsequently avoid psychopathology.
Methods
Via adolescent self-reports (
N
= 809), associations between effortful control, perceived parenting (i.e., psychological control and autonomy support), and externalizing (i.e., interpersonal aggression and rule-breaking) and internalizing problems (i.e., depressive and anxiety problems) were examined.
Results
Regression analyses supported our hypothesis in boys: higher levels of autonomy support exacerbated the negative association between effortful control and rule-breaking. In contrast, in girls this was the case for lower levels of autonomy support. For both genders, low autonomy support and psychological control exacerbated negative associations between effortful control and internalizing problems. No buffering effects of parenting were found.
Conclusions
Low effortful control is associated with psychopathology in adolescents, but parenting can affect this association in several ways, depending on the type of psychopathology and the adolescent’s gender. Future research should focus on finding ‘optimal’ levels of parental control that can help avoid psychopathological problems in youth with poor effortful control.
•The plasma achieved an NH3 conversion of 82 % at a specific energy input of 18 kJ/Nl.•NH3 decomposition was found to be initiated by electron dissociation collisions.•Higher energy transfer through ...micro-discharges promoted the NH3 decomposition.•Introduction of packing material resulted in a lower conversion of 37%.•Re-formation of NH3 occurred through an Eley-Rideal reaction with NH2 and H(s).
Utilizing ammonia as a storage medium for hydrogen is currently receiving increased attention. A possible method to retrieve the hydrogen is by plasma-catalytic decomposition. In this work, we combined an experimental study, using a dielectric barrier discharge plasma reactor, with a plasma kinetic model, to get insights into the decomposition mechanism. The experimental results revealed a similar effect on the ammonia conversion when changing the flow rate and power, where increasing the specific energy input (higher power or lower flow rate) gave an increased conversion. A conversion as high as 82 % was achieved at a specific energy input of 18 kJ/Nl. Furthermore, when changing the discharge volume from 31 to 10 cm3, a change in the plasma distribution factor from 0.2 to 0.1 was needed in the model to best describe the conversions of the experiments. This means that a smaller plasma volume caused a higher transfer of energy through micro-discharges (non-uniform plasma), which was found to promote the decomposition of ammonia. These results indicate that it is the collisions between NH3 and the high-energy electrons that initiate the decomposition. Moreover, the rate of ammonia destruction was found by the model to be in the order of 1022 molecules/(cm3 s) during the micro-discharges, which is 5 to 6 orders of magnitude higher than in the afterglows. A considerable re-formation of ammonia was found to take place in the afterglows, limiting the overall conversion. In addition, the model revealed that implementation of packing material in the plasma introduced high concentrations of surface-bound hydrogen atoms, which introduced an additional ammonia re-formation pathway through an Eley-Rideal reaction with gas phase NH2. Furthermore, a more uniform plasma is predicted in the presence of MgAl2O4, which leads to a lower average electron energy during micro-discharges and a lower conversion (37 %) at a comparable residence time for the plasma alone (51 %).
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