Energy Conversion Alternatives Study (ECAS), General Electric Phase 1. Volume 3: Energy conversion subsystems and components. Part 3: Gasification, process fuels, and balance of plant

Results are presented of an investigation of gasification and clean fuels from coal. Factors discussed include: coal and coal transportation costs; clean liquid and gas fuel process efficiencies and costs; and cost, performance, and environmental intrusion elements of the integrated low-Btu coal gasification system. Cost estimates for the balance-of-plant requirements associated with advanced energy conversion systems utilizing coal or coal-derived fuels are included

Functional Sequential Treatment Allocation

Consider a setting in which a policy maker assigns subjects to treatments, observing each outcome before the next subject arrives. Initially, it is unknown which treatment is best, but the sequential nature of the problem permits learning about the effectiveness of the treatments. While the multi-armed-bandit literature has shed much light on the situation when the policy maker compares the effectiveness of the treatments through their mean, much less is known about other targets. This is restrictive, because a cautious decision maker may prefer to target a robust location measure such as a quantile or a trimmed mean. Furthermore, socio-economic decision making often requires targeting purpose specific characteristics of the outcome distribution, such as its inherent degree of inequality, welfare or poverty. In the present paper we introduce and study sequential learning algorithms when the distributional characteristic of interest is a general functional of the outcome distribution. Minimax expected regret optimality results are obtained within the subclass of explore-then-commit policies, and for the unrestricted class of all policies

Pastors’ Views of Parents and the Parental Role in Catholic Schools

Over 300 years of official Church teachings and documents affirm the importance of the home-school relationship, yet relatively little research has systematically explored the need and value of parent involvement in the school community. This study is a secondary analysis of survey data collected for the Notre Dame Study of U.S. Pastors (Nuzzi, Frabutt, & Holter, 2008) and examines pastors’ views of parents and the parental role in Catholic schools. The article closes with recommendations for action based upon analysis of the quantitative and qualitative data trends from pastors’ responses

Knowledge and Attitudes of Guam Residents Towards Cancer Clinical Trial Participation

Purpose/Background: Currently there are no cancer clinical trials conducted in Guam, but interest is growing. Limited information exists on the knowledge and attitudes of Guam’s population towards cancer clinical research, yet cancer is the second highest cause of death in Guam and among the CHamoru people, Guam’s indigenous population. CHamoru people suffer the highest rates of cancer mortality compared to other ethnic groups in Guam. The purpose of this study was to determine differences in knowledge and attitudes towards cancer clinical trials participation, and attitudes towards traditional medicine. Materials & Methods: A telephone survey instrument was designed, pilot-tested, IRB-approved, and implemented using a third-party marketing company. Questions were adapted from existing surveys and new questions were developed to address unique, Guam-specific interests. Recruited subjects were Guam residents adults 18 years of age and older with telephone service. Guam residents were called from October 6 to 10, 2018 to assess levels of knowledge and attitudes towards cancer clinical trials and the attitudes towards using traditional medicine to treat cancer. Descriptive statistics were computed for demographic variables by response category. Univariate logistic regression was conducted to investigate the bivariate association between a survey question and demographic variables. Odds ratios (ORs) and associated 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. Multivariable logistic regression model was developed for each question, adjusting for important covariates. Hosmer-Lemeshow tests and c-statistics were used to evaluate goodness of fit. Results: The survey respondents’ (n=152) demographic data closely reflected the US Census ethnicity data for Guam: CHamoru (47.0%), Filipino (26.5%), Caucasian (11.3%) and Other (15.2%). Fifty-three percent understood the term “clinical trial”; 73.7% would be willing to participate if they had cancer, and 59.9% believed they would receive good quality treatment from a clinical trial offered in Guam. Approximately 56.0% thought they would have to pay out-of-pocket expenses; and 67.0% disagreed or were not sure that clinical trial sponsors pay for the study drug while other costs are billed to the insurance company. Physician ethnicity was not important to 100% of Caucasians, but was important to at least 30.0% of non-Caucasians; family support was very important to 94.7% of respondents, while religious community support was important to 55.4%. Approximately 65.1% did not believe that people participating in clinical trials were treated like ‘guinea pigs’. Having college education (OR = 3.26; 95% CI: 1.53 – 6.98) and knowing English language well (OR=5.86; 95% CI: 1.21 – 28.38) were significantly associated with higher aggregated knowledge about clinical trials. Although the majority (67.2%) would seek traditional healing practices if diagnosed with cancer, most (84.9%) did not think a suruhano (CHamoru traditional healer) could treat cancer, and 94.7% did not believe cancer was caused by taotaomo’na (ancient spirits). Discussion/Conclusion: Knowledge and attitudes towards cancer clinical trials and the use of traditional medicine to treat cancer were significantly associated with key demographic variables including ethnicity, income, employment status, place of birth and insurance type. Knowledge about cancer clinical trials was as expected: more participants who are Caucasian, have a higher level of education, were born in U.S., are employed, have a higher income, private insurance, self-report that they speak English well, and do not follow religion, were more aware of what a clinical trial is than the other respondents. Though knowledge about cancer clinical trials is limited, attitudes towards participation in cancer clinical trials offered in Guam were largely positive

Serotonergic modulation of cholinergic function in the central nervous system: Cognitive implications

Accumulating evidence suggests that serotonin may modulate cholinergic function in several regions of the mammalian brain and that these serotonergic/cholinergic interactions influence cognition. The first part of this review is an overview of histological, electrophysiological and pharmacological (in vitro, in vivo) data indicating that, in several brain regions (e.g., hippocampus, cortex and striatum), there are neuroanatomical substrates for a serotonergic/cholinergic interaction, and that alterations in serotonergic activity may induce functional changes in cholinergic neurons. In the second part, the review focuses on experimental approaches showing or suggesting that central cholinergic and serotonergic mechanisms are cooperating in the regulation of cognitive functions. These arguments are based on lesion, intracerebral grafting and pharmacological techniques. It is concluded that not all mnesic perturbations induced by concurrent manipulations of the serotonergic and cholinergic systems can be attributed to a serotonergic modification of the cholinergic system. The cognitive faculties of an organism arise from interactions among several neurotransmitter systems within brain structures such as, for instance, the hippocampus or the cortex, but also from influences on memory of other general functions that may involve cerebral substrates different from those classically related to mnesic functions (e.g., attention, arousal, sensory accuracy, etc.)

Viscous-Inviscid Interactions in a Boundary-Layer Flow Induced by a Vortex Array

In this paper we investigate the asymptotic validity of boundary layer theory. For a flow induced by a periodic row of point-vortices, we compare Prandtl's solution to Navier-Stokes solutions at different $Re$ numbers. We show how Prandtl's solution develops a finite time separation singularity. On the other hand Navier-Stokes solution is characterized by the presence of two kinds of viscous-inviscid interactions between the boundary layer and the outer flow. These interactions can be detected by the analysis of the enstrophy and of the pressure gradient on the wall. Moreover we apply the complex singularity tracking method to Prandtl and Navier-Stokes solutions and analyze the previous interactions from a different perspective

Fractionated extraction of polyphenols from mate tea leaves using a combination of hydrophobic/ hydrophilic NADES

Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The AuthorsA new methodology for the selective extraction of antioxidants from mate tea leaves (and decaffeinated mate tea leaves), using different natural deep eutectic systems (NADES), is reported in this paper. A fractionated extraction was carried out and the optimization of the extraction conditions such as solid/liquid ratio, temperature, time, stirring and the use of ultrasound assisted extraction (UAE) technology was performed. The results demonstrate that a sequential extraction using, in a first step, an hydrophobic system Men:Lau (2:1) and, in a second step, an hydrophilic lactic acid-based NADES, leads to two distinct extracts: the first one rich in pigments and the second one rich in polyphenols. NADES systems were able to extract 30% more of the polyphenolic components of the mate tea leaves matrices, when compared with traditional solvents/techniques. Moreover, it has been shown that the incorporation of the extract in the NADES, compared to the same extract in aqueous medium was beneficial for the stabilization of the antioxidants. It maintains their functionality at least for three months, reaching 41% more versus the extracts obtained by traditional solvents/techniques. The absence of caffeine in the extracts did not shown to have any effects on the stability results.publishersversionpublishe