Tropograph and Flectograph

The former is an instrument devised in the Laboratory of Plant Physiology of the State University of Iowa for recording the pull exerted by a plant giving a tropic response. It has so far been applied only to the case of a plant placed horizontally and attempting to bend upwards in response to gravity. As the stem raises very slightly an electrical contact is made and a shot dropped into a container attached to the end of the stem. Shots will be added singly at one-minute intervals until the plant is drawn back to its horizontal position, thereby breaking the electrical contact. An automatic recording device is attached to the dropping apparatus, giving a graph of the time when each shot is dropped. In this way the pull of the plant at excessive moments and the rate at which this pull accumulates is recorded. The Flectograph is used in recording the bending strength of stems or petioles. 27. Genetic linkage-Genetic analysis of the inheritance of the pigments chlorophyll and carotin (and xanthophyll) in maize have demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that these two groups of pigments are controlled by different genetic factors. Most of the genes for chlorophyll development are independently inherited of the yellow-producing gene, l. However, a case of linkage, involving this yellow factor and one of the three complementary genes responsible for chlorophyll development in the seedling stage of maize has now been discovered. These two linked genes w2 and l, belong with the R-L-G linkage group, since they show typical linked inheritance, with approximately 21% crossing-over

The Environment of the Prairie

Contribution from the Botanical survey of Nebraska, New series, no. 6."Literature cited": p. 50.Mode of access: Internet

Design, processing and testing of LSI arrays, hybrid microelectronics task

Mathematical cost models previously developed for hybrid microelectronic subsystems were refined and expanded. Rework terms related to substrate fabrication, nonrecurring developmental and manufacturing operations, and prototype production are included. Sample computer programs were written to demonstrate hybrid microelectric applications of these cost models. Computer programs were generated to calculate and analyze values for the total microelectronics costs. Large scale integrated (LST) chips utilizing tape chip carrier technology were studied. The feasibility of interconnecting arrays of LSU chips utilizing tape chip carrier and semiautomatic wire bonding technology was demonstrated

Polyhedral units and network connectivity in calcium aluminosilicate glasses from high-energy x-ray diffraction

Structure factors for Cax/2AlxSi1-xO2 glasses (x=0,0.25,0.5,0.67) extended to a wave vector of magnitude Q= 40 1/A have been obtained by high-energy x-ray diffraction. For the first time, it is possible to resolve the contributions of Si-O, Al-O and Ca-O coordination polyhedra to the experimental atomic pair distribution functions (PDF). It has been found that both Si and Al are four-fold coordinated and so participate in a continuous tetrahedral network at low values of x. The number of network breaking defects in the form of non-bridging oxygens (NBO's) increases slowly with x until x=0.5 (NBO's ~ 10% at x=0.5). By x=0.67 the network breaking defects become significant as evidenced by the significant drop in the average coordination number of Si. By contrast, Al-O tetrahedra remain free of NBO's and fully integrated in the Al/Si-O network for all values of x. Calcium maintains a rather uniform coordination sphere of approximately 5 oxygen atoms for all values of x. The results suggest that not only Si/Al-O tetrahedra but Ca-O polyhedra, too, play a role in determining the glassy structure

Informational needs of general practitioners regarding discharge medication: content, timing and pharmacotherapeutic advice

textabstractObjective: To investigate the needs of Dutch general practitioners on discharge medication, both regarding content, timing and the appreciation of pharma-cotherapeutic advices from clinical pharmacists. Setting: A general teaching hospital in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Method: A prospective observational study was performed. A questionnaire with regard to the content, optimal timing (including way of information transfer) and appreciation of pharmacotherapeutic advices was posted to 464 general practitioners. One reminder was sent. Main outcome measure: Description of the needs of general practitioners was assessed. For each question and categories of comments frequency tables were made. The Fisher-exact test was used to study associations between the answers to the questions. Results: In total, 149 general practitioners (32%) responded. Most general practitioners (75%) experienced a delay in receiving discharge medication information and preferred to receive this on the day of discharge. GPs wished to receive this information mainly through e-mail (44%). There was a significant correlation (P = 0.002) between general practitioners who wanted to know whether and why medication had been stopped (87%) and changed (88%) during hospital admission. The general practitioners (88%) appreciated pharmacotherapeutic advices from clinical pharmacists. Conclusion: This study indicates how information transfer on discharge medication to GPs can be optimised in the Netherlands. The information arrives late and GPs want to be informed on the day of discharge mainly by e-mail. GPs wish to know why medication is changed or discontinued and appreciate pharmacotherapeutic advices from clinical pharmacists

Sick leave certification: a unique perspective on frequency and duration of episodes - a complete record of sickness certification in a defined population of employees in Malta

BACKGROUND: In Malta, sickness certificates are needed from the first day of illness, and are issued by family physicians (FPs) either employed by the government primary health care system, self-employed in private practice, or employed by an employer for this purpose alone. The latter system, when applied by the employer, is compulsory. In order to contribute to the debate on the role of the FP in this context, electronic data collected by a group of company-employed FPs was used to study the phenomenon of sickness certification. This database is a complete record of the selected employees' sick leave certification during the study period. METHODS: Data collected by company-employed FPs from a defined population was used: all employees of selected Maltese companies served by a group of FPs. The database included episode-based data from home visits over three years (01/01/1997 – 31/12/1999), by 9 company-appointed FPs regarding 421 employees of five companies. RESULTS: 3015 episodes of sickness absenteeism, with an average duration of 2.9 days, were documented. Employees who did intensive manual work had relatively higher rates. Furthermore, a relatively higher incidence of work injury, sprains and strains, anxiety and depression and low back pain as found in manual workers, and in male workers. This trend was shown to be statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: The frequency of sick-leave certification in Malta is comparable to that in other European countries, but the average duration of certificates is much less than reported in other studies that generally did not include data on short-term illness and certification. This has important implications on future research in the field. A number of common disorders were found to be significantly more prevalent causes of sickness certification in manual workers, amongst them anxiety and depression