Benchmarking road safety: Lessons to learn from a data envelopment analysis

Road safety performance indicators (SPI) have recently been proposed as a useful instrument in comparing countries on the performance of different risk aspects of their road safety system. In this respect, SPIs should be actionable, i.e. they should provide clear directions for policymakers about what action is needed and which priorities should be set in order to improve a country’s road safety level in the most efficient way. This paper aims at contributing to this issue by proposing a computational model based on data envelopment analysis (DEA). Based on the model output, the good and bad aspects of road safety are identified for each country. Moreover, targets and priorities for policy actions can be set. As our data set contains 21 European countries for which a separate, best possible model is constructed, a number of country-specific policy actions can be recommended. Conclusions are drawn regarding the following performance indicators: alcohol and drugs, speed, protective systems, vehicle, infrastructure and trauma management. For each country that performs relatively poor, a particular country will be assigned as a useful benchmark.     

The application of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry in clinical pharmacological oncology research

Metal-based anticancer agents are frequently used in the treatment of a wide variety of cancer types. The monitoring of these anticancer agents in biological samples is important to understand their pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and metabolism. In addition, determination of metals originating from anticancer agents is relevant to assess occupational exposure of health care personnel working with these drugs. The high sensitivity of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) has resulted in an increased popularity of this technique for the analysis of metal-based anticancer drugs. In addition to the quantitative analysis of the metal of interest in a sample, ICP-MS can be used as an ultrasensitive metal selective detector in combination with speciation techniques such as liquid chromatography. In the current review we provide a systematic survey of publications describing the analysis of platinum- and ruthenium-containing anticancer agents using ICP-MS, focused on the determination of total metal concentrations and on the speciation of metal compounds in biological fluids, DNA- and protein-adducts, and environmental samples. We conclude that ICP-MS is a powerful tool for the quantitative analysis of metal-based anticancer agents from multiple sample sources.     

Fermentation of salmon fillets with a variety of lactic acid bacteria

The influence of five strains of lactic acid bacteria (four Lactobacillus and one Carnobacterium) on the quality of fermented salmon fillets was studied. Best starter growth (increase of more than 1 log in 3 days) and acidification of muscle (e.g. pH reduction of approximately 0.7 units in 5 days) were achieved with the two commercial strains L. sake LAD and L. alimentarius BJ33. pH reduction was consistently lower (e.g. reduction of 0.2 units in 5 days) with C. piscicola 85. Protein breakdown as observed on SDS-PAGE gels was similar for all strains. In contrast, the starter strain did influence texture and colour changes. Fast acidifying strains L. sake LAD and L. alimentarius BJ33 brought about a firmer overall texture and a lighter colour, while softening of flesh occurred in samples processed with C. piscicola 85. Sensory evaluations indicated that samples processed with fast acidifying strains were preferred. L. sake LAD and L. alimentarius BJ33 are regarded as suitable starters for fermentation of salmon fillets.     

Quantitative Bestimmung aromatischer Carbons?uren in Honig

Zusammenfassung Honige der Trachten Buchweizen, Löwenzahn, Raps, Heide, Wald und Konifere wurden auf freie und alkalisch hydrolysierbare gebundene aromatische Carbonsäuren, die im Phenylpropan-Metabolismus von höheren Pflanzen gebildet werden, untersucht. Letztere können weder über ihre qualitative noch über ihre quantitative Verteilung zu einer Trachtunterscheidung beitragen. Die freien Säuren lassen jedoch ein pflanzenabhängiges Verteilungsmuster in den Honigen erkennen. Rapshonige sind durch das Vorkommen von Phenylpropionsäure charakterisiert, Buchweizenhonige durch das Fehlen von Phenylessigsäure und die erhöhten Gehalte an 4-Hydroxybenzoesäure. Identitätsmerkmale für Heidehonige sind die hohen Gehalte an Benzoesäure, Phenylessigsäure, Mandelsäure und vor allem-Phenylmilchsäure Zwischen Wald- und Koniferenhonigen bestehen keine signifikanten Unterschiede, eine Abgrenzung der Honigtauhonige gegen die Blütenhonige 1äßt sich über die erhöhten Gehalte an Protocatechusäure treffen.

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Quantitative determination of aromatic carbonic acids in honey

Summary Floral sources of honeys, namely buck-wheat, dandelion, rape, heather, forest and conifer, were analysed for free and alkali hydroxylable bound aromatic carbonic acids, which arise from phenylpropanoid metabolism. Specific in a plant distribution is only recognizable with the free acids. Rape honeys are characterized by the occurrence of phenylpropanoic acid and buckwheat honeys have a higher content of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid and no phenylacetic acid. Heather honeys can be identified by the presence of a high concentration of benzoic acid, phenylacetic acid, mandelic acid and-phenylactic acid. Differentiation of honeydew honeys and flower honeys is possible because of the difference in the concentration of protocatechuic acid.

     

Composition and Correctness

This paper presents an approach to ensure correctness of composed systems. It takes into consideration that correctness can usually be achieved only to a certain degree (except for some small and very mission-critical applications) and complete specifications are usually not practicable. By modelling the parts, the composition activities and the requirements specification we automise the checking procedures using model checking. An important issue hereby is that our approach allows partial modelling and specification.     

The Planetary and Space Simulation Facilities at DLR Cologne

Astrobiology strives to increase our knowledge on the origin, evolution and distribution of life, on Earth and beyond. In the past centuries, life has been found on Earth in environments with extreme conditions that were expected to be uninhabitable. Scientific investigations of the underlying metabolic mechanisms and strategies that lead to the high adaptability of these extremophile organisms increase our understanding of evolution and distribution of life on Earth. Life as we know it depends on the availability of liquid water. Exposure of organisms to defined and complex extreme environmental conditions, in particular those that limit the water availability, allows the investigation of the survival mechanisms as well as an estimation of the possibility of the distribution to and survivability on other celestial bodies of selected organisms. Space missions in low Earth orbit (LEO) provide access for experiments to complex environmental conditions not available on Earth, but studies on the molecular and cellular mechanisms of adaption to these hostile conditions and on the limits of life cannot be performed exclusively in space experiments. Experimental space is limited and allows only the investigation of selected endpoints. An additional intensive ground based program is required, with easy to access facilities capable to simulate space and planetary environments, in particular with focus on temperature, pressure, atmospheric composition and short wavelength solar ultraviolet radiation (UV). DLR Cologne operates a number of Planetary and Space Simulation facilities (PSI) where microorganisms from extreme terrestrial environments or known for their high adaptability are exposed for mechanistic studies. Space or planetary parameters are simulated individually or in combination in temperature controlled vacuum facilities equipped with a variety of defined and calibrated irradiation sources. The PSI support basic research and were recurrently used for pre-flight test programs for several astrobiological space missions. Parallel experiments on ground provided essential complementary data supporting the scientific interpretation of the data received from the space missions.     

Factors affecting the perception of whole-body vibration of occupational drivers: an analysis of posture and manual materials handling and musculoskeletal disorders

Due to the high cost of conducting field measurements, questionnaires are usually preferred for the assessment of physical workloads and musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). This study compares the physical workloads of whole-body vibration (WBV) and awkward postures by direct field measurements and self-reported data of 45 occupational drivers. Manual materials handling (MMH) and MSDs were also investigated to analyse their effect on drivers' perception. Although the measured values for WBV exposure were very similarly distributed among the drivers, the subjects' perception differed significantly. Concerning posture, subjects seemed to estimate much better when the difference in exposure was significantly large. The percentage of measured awkward trunk and head inclination were significantly higher for WBV-overestimating subjects than non-overestimators; 77 and 80% vs. 36 and 33%. Health complaints in terms of thoracic spine, cervical spine and shoulder–arm were also significantly more reported by WBV-overestimating subjects (42, 67, 50% vs. 0, 25, 13%, respectively). Although more MMH was reported by WBV-overestimating subjects, there was no statistical significance in this study.     

Supercritical fluid dyeing of cotton modified with 2,4,6-trichloro-1,3,5-triazine

Supercritical carbon dioxide dyeing of cotton modified with the fibre reactive group 2,4,6-trichloro-1,3,5-triazine has been examined and the results are discussed. The modification of cotton was carried out in acetone, as well as by a new method using water as the solvent. For level dyeing results a degree of fixation of the fibre reactive group on cotton of 3% owf was required without changing the hydrophilicity of the fibre. The results show that dyeing of modified cotton is possible with dyes containing hydroxy or amino groups which react via a substitution reaction with the chlorine atoms of 4,6-dichloro-1,3,5-triazine-2-yl on the fibre surface. The K/S values at 383 nm of modified cotton dyed with CI Disperse Yellow 23 were found to be between 1.44 and 4.79 depending on the dyeing conditions used. The washing, rubbing and light fastness data that were obtained were between 3 and 5.