National occupational research agenda (NORA) future directions in occupational musculoskeletal disorder health research

Musculoskeletal disorders are among the most costly health care problems facing society today. The scientific literature has indicated that psychosocial factors, individual factors, workplace physical requirements, and workplace organizational factors have been associated with risk. Since musculoskeletal risk is multi-dimensional, the magnitude of risk attributable to various factors can be of importance to scientists and policy makers in designing countermeasures to reduce injury incidence. Traditionally, the disciplines of biomechanics, physiology, and psychophysics have dominated the body of knowledge that has defined exposure limitations to work. However, recent research has explored the association of psychosocial and work organization factors with musculoskeletal problems. Advances have been made to better quantify the levels of occupational exposure by improved exposure metrics, quantification of three-dimensional loads experienced by certain joints (e.g. the spine), identification of tissue tolerance limits and tissue response to mechanical stresses, and the impact of psychosocial stresses. However, efforts to quantitatively link epidemiological, biomechanical loading, soft tissue tolerance, and psychosocial studies should be pursued to establish a better understanding of the pathways of injury and resultant preventive strategies. Although we are beginning to understand how the major risk factors influence the load-tolerance relationship of human tissue, how these risk factors interact is virtually unexplored. Since the impact of the interactions may be far greater than that of any individual factor, the impact of the interactions between risk factors must be delineated so that work-related risk can be better quantified. Efforts to quantitatively link epidemiological, biomechanical loading, soft tissue tolerance, and psychosocial studies should be pursued to establish a better understanding of the pathways of injury and resultant preventive strategies.     

宅男发明“酷乐宅” 人人都成“魔法师”

一节带着绿叶的小树枝可以用来当键盘;几个纸杯中倒进水就能弹出美妙的钢琴曲;切菜板上连几根铁丝立即变电吉他;甚至,你把导线连在身上,就能立刻"变身"为真人版超级玛丽!而它们的发明者85后"技术宅"林海,有着更神奇的创业经历。     

Producing persistent, high-current, high-duty-factor H- beams for routine 1 MW operation of Spallation Neutron Source (invited)

Since 2009, the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) has been producing neutrons with ion beam powers near 1 MW, which requires the extraction of ～50 mA H(-) ions from the ion source with a ～5% duty factor. The 50 mA are achieved after an initial dose of ～3 mg of Cs and heating the Cs collar to ～170 °C. The 50 mA normally persist for the entire 4-week source service cycles. Fundamental processes are reviewed to elucidate the persistence of the SNS H(-) beams without a steady feed of Cs and why the Cs collar temperature may have to be kept near 170 °C.     

Electrical stimulation of ante-mortem stressed beef

Ten heifers were stressed before slaughter and one side of each animal was electrically stimulated. Six of the ten animals produced dark-cutting beef on the non-stimulated side. Electrical stimulation had no effect on muscle colour, ultimate pH, shear force or any of the sensory characteristics of muscle fibre tenderness, overall tenderness, connective tissue amount, juiciness, flavour desirability or overall palatability. The data from this study indicate that rapid pH decline is necessary for electrical stimulation to produce its desired effects and that neither the process of stimulation itself nor the contractions produced can cause improved quality of electrically stimulated beef if attendant changes in muscle pH do not occur.     

Nondestructive NMR determination of oil composition in transformed canola seeds

Magic-angle spinning (MAS) ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a convenient method for nondestructive, quantitative characterization of seed oil composition. We describe results for intact hybrid and transformed canola seeds. The MAS ¹³C NMR technique complements and agrees with gas chromatography results. The spectral resolution approaches that of neat, liquid oils. MAS ¹³C NMR data allow quantitative analysis of major oil components, including saturates and oleic, linoleic, and linolenic acyl chains. ¹³C NMR directly and quantitatively elucidates, triglyceride regiochemistry and acyl chain cis-trans isomers that cannot be quickly detected by other methods. MAS ¹³C NMR can serve as the primary method for development of near-infrared seed oil calibrations. These NMR methods are nondestructive and attractive for plant-breeding programs or other studies (e.g., functional genomics) where loss of seed viability is inconvenient.     

两段式干煤粉加压气化技术的研究开发

大型煤气化是煤气化联合循环发电及多联产系统的核心技术，介绍了大容量化的先进的干煤粉加压气化技术。我国目前尚不具备设计、制造大型干煤粉加压气化炉的能力，为此，西安热工研究院开发出了具有自主知识产权的两段式干煤粉加压气流床气化技术，并进行了试验研究。结果表明两段式干煤粉加压气化炉的冷煤气效率比国外的技术可提高2～3个百分点,比氧耗减小，自耗功大幅度降低，煤气冷却器及净化系统的设备尺寸减小，造价降低。36～40t/h的半工业性装置的多煤种试验已累计运行2000h，为该技术的工业化奠定了基础。并介绍了目前正在开发中的1000t/d气化炉，将于2008年建成投运。