Estimation of exposure to food packaging materials. 3: Development of consumption factors and food-type distribution factors from data collected on Irish children

There are many initiatives in Europe trying to refine the exposure assessment for food packaging migrants. In the USA, the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) uses food consumption and food-type distribution factors to aid the exposure assessment process and generate more realistic estimates of exposure. The present study developed food-consumption factors and food-type distribution factors for Irish children aged 5-12 years from data collected as part of a National Children's Food Survey (NCFS) completed in Ireland in 2003-04, combined with data from the 2003-05 Irish Food Packaging Database and from literature data on surface area-to-weight ratios for food packaging. Consumption factors are defined as the fraction of a person's diet likely to contact a specific food-contact material, while food-type distribution factors reflect the fraction of all food contacting each material that is aqueous, acidic, alcoholic or fatty. In this study, it was found that 'total plastics' had the highest consumption factor of 0.83, while 'total paper and board' had a factor of 0.13 and 'total metal and alloys' had a factor of 0.06. Although it is tentative to compare the US FDA factors with the factors derived in the current study, as the US FDA data are for the total US population, the consumption factor for 'total plastics' in the present study (0.83) was similar to that used by the US FDA (0.79). However, a large difference existed for the consumption factor for 'total metal and alloys' in the Irish data (0.06) and the US FDA data (0.2). In terms of the type of materials used for foods, glass was used mainly for acidic foods (0.67), while plastic was uniformly used for all food types. The food-contact area for plastic packaging for all foods consumed by children was 10.67 dm²/child day^-1, which is slightly lower than the proposed value for the average European consumer of 12.4 dm²/person day^-1. However, this should be expected, as children do not consume as much food as adults. When scenario exposure estimates were made, it was found that when using European Union assumptions, estimates were much larger than when using consumption factors and food-type distribution factors in the exposure assessment, even when conservative assumptions were employed for the consumption factor. This study highlights the potential use of consumption factors and food-type distribution factors in the refinement of the exposure assessment process and how these factors can be calculated using data collected as part of a national food survey.     

Linguistic and Conceptual Influences on Adjective Acquisition in 24- and 36-Month-Olds.

Two hundred forty English-speaking toddlers (24- and 36-month-olds) heard novel adjectives applied to familiar objects (Experiment 1) and novel objects (Experiment 2). Children were successful in mapping adjectives to target properties only when information provided by the noun, in conjunction with participants' knowledge of the objects, provided coherent category information: when basic-level nouns or superordinate-level nouns were used with familiar objects, when novel basic-level nouns were used with novel objects, and-for 36-month-olds-when the nouns were underspecified with respect to category (thing or one) but participants could nonetheless infer a category from pragmatic and conceptual knowledge. These results provide evidence concerning how nouns influence adjective learning, and they support the notion that toddlers consider pragmatic factors when learning new words. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

装饰材料中VOC的散发规律及其影响因素

本文简要分析了装饰材料中VOC的散发机理，包括VOC在材料内部的扩散和从材料表面到周围空气的散发，在此基础上根据VOC散发的双指数模型和环境试验舱实验揭示了VOC随时阃衰减的规律，给出了影响装饰材料中VOC散发的因素，这些因素包括温度、相对湿度、空气流速、氧化剂和材料的表面特性等，最后介绍了一些控制VOC的方法。     

煤炭企业成本管理影响因素及存在问题分析

基于淮北矿业集团成本管理现状,分析了煤炭企业成本的影响因素以及成本管理存在的问题,并提出了相应的对策及建议,以进一步加强煤炭企业的成本管理,有效降低成本,提高企业经济效益。     

A brief assessment of concerns associated with genetic testing for cancer: The multidimensional impact of cancer risk assessment (MICRA) questionnaire.

The Multidimensional Impact of Cancer Risk Assessment (MICRA) is a new tool to measure the specific impact of result disclosure after genetic testing. The authors compared its performance with that of questionnaires measuring general and cancer-specific distress. Participants (158 women) responded 1 month after they received genetic test results. The women were divided into 4 standard clinical test result groups: BRCA1/2 positive, BRCA1/2 negative, panel negative, and true negative. Factor analysis supported the formation of 3 subscales: Distress (6 items, α= .86), Uncertainty (9 items, α= .77), and Positive Experiences (4 items, α= .75). All 3 MICRA subscales differentiated participants who were BRCAI/2 positive from the other 3 groups. MICRA thus helps identify subgroups of vulnerable genetic testing participants. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sources of covariation among attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and conduct disorder: The importance of shared environment.

Research has documented high levels of covariation among childhood externalizing disorders, but the etiology of this covariation is unclear. To unravel the sources of covariation among attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and conduct disorder (CD), the authors studied 11-year-old twins (N/&=/&1,506) from the Minnesota Twin Family Study. Symptom counts for each of these disorders were obtained from interviews administered to the twins and their mothers. A model was fit that allowed the parsing of genetic, shared environmental (factors that make family members similar to each other), and nonshared environmental (factors that make family members different from each other) contributions to covariation. The results revealed that although each disorder was influenced by genetic and environmental factors, a single shared environmental factor made the largest contribution to the covariation among ADHD, ODD, and CD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of tribological additives on friction and impact performance of injection moulded polyacetal

Tribological additives are used to improve frictional properties of injection moulded thermoplastics. The additives might however also affect the mechanical properties of the material. The influence of processing conditions on both frictional and mechanical properties is highly relevant in the development of tribologically modified grades. In the present study we investigate how two commonly used tribological additives, polydimethylsiloxane and polytetrafluoroethylene, affect friction and impact properties of polyacetal (polyoxymethylene). A new injection mould provides test specimens for both friction and impact testing. Friction is evaluated through ring-on-disc testing against polypropylene simulating use-conditions in a particular medical device. The impact testing is based on instrumented three-point bending of single-edge notched beams of component-realistic thickness. Both frictional and mechanical properties are benchmarked against those of the base polyacetal resin. High-speed video recording of the crack propagation during impact testing reveals potential differences in fracture mechanisms among the blends. Fractography by scanning electron microscopy is used for comparison of fracture surface characteristics. The tested concentration of the additives is found to effectively reduce friction, yet are not found critical with respect to the impact properties evaluated. A noticeable interaction with respect to friction is found between the additives speaking in favour of their use in combination.     

A new method for estimating human error probabilities: AHP–SLIM

Accidents in industrial settings are mainly a result of human errors (HEs); relevant fields that consider HEs have recently increased in number. For this reason, numerous methods to quantitatively estimate what is known as the HE probability (HEP) have been developed. However, it is difficult to obtain empirical data, which forces a heavy reliance on the judgment of experts in the field. During the process of judgments by experts, subjectivity plays an important role, causing difficulties in assuring consistency. To overcome this problem and to obtain a more accurate estimation, this study suggests a new and simple method. This method is referred to as AHP–SLIM, a type of HEP estimation using an analytic hierarchy process (AHP), which quantifies the subjective judgment and confirms the consistency of collected data. This new method also uses the process of expert judgment within the success likelihood index method (SLIM).     

反硝化除磷工艺影响因素研究进展

概述了反硝化除磷工艺原理，介绍了关于碳源、硝酸盐和亚硝酸、温度、pH值、HRT、SRT等影响因素的研究进展，并分析了该反硝化除磷技术的发展前景，建议开展关于反硝化除磷工艺厌氧阶段、以NO3^--N和NO2^--N为电子受体的缺氧阶段各影响因素的多因素正交试验研究。     

东胜煤田北部地区环境水文地质问题的初步研究

用模糊数学综合评判法对内蒙古东胜煤田北部地区的环境水文地质问题进行评价，预测了各区的发展变化趋势。