Prediction of nasal morphology from the skull.

The objective of this study was to compose a reliable and readily reproducible method of predicting nasal morphology from the bony aperture, which restricts subjectivity whilst allowing anatomical nuance to be taken into account. Clinical head CT data from a sample of 79 North American subjects of varied ancestry was analysed for interrelationships between the bone and soft tissue of the nose in three dimensions, then pooled with 60 lateral cephalograms of subjects of European ancestry from England to augment nasal profile data. A series of simple regression equations was produced using linear distances between pairs of bony landmarks to predict nasal profile dimensions and restrict potential subjective error in Gerasimov's "Two-tangent" method. Maximum nasal width, the position of the alae and nostrils, and prediction of nasal asymmetry were incorporated into the resulting threedimensional nasal prediction method.

Choice with initial and terminal link reinforcement: an alternative self-control paradigm.

Self-control is demonstrated when a less desirable immediate outcome is chosen to ensure a substantially better future. In a novel animal analogue of this situation, primary reinforcement was delivered in both the initial and terminal links of a concurrent chain schedule. Rats made initial link choices between equal amounts of ethanol-free or ethanol-containing milk. Choosing the ethanol-free reinforcer resulted in delivery of the larger terminal link reinforcer and was thus analogous to self-control. Self-control decreased as the delay between initial and terminal links increased. The results have implications for human choice situations where decisions are made between two immediately available reinforcement alternatives each associated with a different delayed outcome.

Determination of trace metals in drinking water using solid-phase extraction disks and X-ray fluorescence spectrometry.

A convenient method is described for monitoring Cd, Ni, Cu, and Pb at trace levels in drinking water samples. These metals are preconcentrated on a chelating solid-phase extraction disk and then determined by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. The method tolerates a wide pH range (pH 6-14) and a large amount of alkaline and alkaline earth elements. The preconcentration factor is well over 1600, assuming a 1 L water sample volume. The limits of detection for Cd, Ni, Cu, and Pb are 3.8, 0.6, 0.4, and 0.3 ng/mL, respectively. These are well below the federal maximum contaminant level values, which are 5, 100, 1300, and 15 ng/mL, respectively. The proposed method has many advantages including ease of operation, multielement capability, nondestructiveness, high sensitivity, and relative cost efficiency. The solid-phase extraction step can be conducted in the field and then the disks can be mailed to a laboratory for the analysis, eliminating the cost of transporting large volumes of water samples. Furthermore, the color of the used extraction disk provides an initial estimate of the degree of contamination for some transition metals (for example, Ni and Cu). Thus, the overall cost for analysis of metals in drinking water can be minimized by implementing the method, and small water supply companies with limited budgets will be better able to comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Multi-analyte calibration curve for high-performance liquid chromatography with an inductively coupled plasma carbon emission detector.

A liquid chromatography system with an inductively coupled plasma detector is used to prepare a single calibration curve that is useful for multiple analytes. The detector monitors the atomic emission from carbon at 193.09 nm. Hence, the analytes need not exhibit appreciable molar absorptivity or native fluorescence. Since the carbon signal is independent of molecular structure, the sensitivities for different compounds are similar as long as nebulization efficiencies are comparable. In fact, with a suitable internal standard, no calibration curve is necessary. The capability of the system is demonstrated with a test mixture of nine amino acids separated with a C30 reversed-phase column and a 20 mM phosphate buffered mobile phase. The system provides a detection limit of 30 ng carbon. A multi-analyte calibration curve is prepared with 135 distinct measurements: each of nine analytes, at five different concentrations, repeated in triplicate. The average relative standard deviation for 27 measurements of different amino acids at a given concentration is 2.5%. Clearly, a single analyte will suffice for the calibration of all nine test compounds. Similarly, the internal standard method provides an average percent error of 2.0% for the determination of 45 different amino acid concentrations using only a single replicate for each sample.