Blood lead (Pb) levels: Further evidence for an environmental mechanism explaining the association between socioeconomic status and psychophysiological dysregulation in children.

Objective: The authors recently reported that blood lead (Pb) was a significant mediator for the positive association between socioeconomic status (SES) and peripheral vascular responses to acute stress in children (B. B. Gump et al., 2007). The present study considers the possibility that Pb may also mediate an association between SES and cortisol responses to acute stress. Design: Early childhood Pb exposure was tested as a mediator for cross-sectional associations between SES and cortisol responses. Main Outcome Measures: The primary outcome was cortisol responses to acute stress in 9.5-year-old children (N = 108). Results: Lower family income was associated with significantly greater cortisol levels following an acute stress task. A mediational analysis confirmed that Pb was a significant mediator for this association. Conclusion: These results reaffirm the importance of considering the chemical environment as well as social and psychological environment when evaluating psychophysiological effects of low SES. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neutron diffraction from fibers

The X-ray diffraction technique has greatly improved our understanding of the function and properties of filamentous systems of biological and organic polymers by providing structural information at a molecular level. Although X-ray diffraction remains the primary method for determining fiber structures, neutron diffraction is an important supplementary technique. Neutron diffraction has some distinct advantages over the X-ray technique for providing certain types of structural information. This review describes the results from neutron diffraction studies of fibers and discusses the future prospects for this emerging technology.     

Shift From Coke to Coal Using Direct Reduction Method and Challenges

 Ironmaking involves the separation of iron ores. It not only represents the first step in steelmaking but also is the most capital intensive and energy intensive process in the production of steel. The main route for producing iron for steelmaking is to use the blast furnace, which uses metallurgical coke as the reductant. Concerns over the limited resources, the high cost of coking coals, and the environmental impacts of coking and sinter plants have driven steelmakers to develop alternative ironmaking processes that can use non coking coals to reduce iron ores directly. Since the efficiency and productivity of modern large capacity blast furnaces will be difficult to surpass, blast furnaces will continue to retain their predominant position as the foremost ironmaking process for some time to come. The alternative ironmaking processes are therefore expected to play an increasingly significant role in the iron and steel industry, especially in meeting the needs of small sized local and regional markets. It is likely that the importance of direct reduced iron (DRI) and hot metal as sources of virgin iron will continue to increase, especially in the developing countries where steelmaking is, and will be, primarily based on electric arc furnace (EAF) minimills. Consequently, the challenges that are faced by the new technology have to be embraced.     

Subsampling weakly dependent time series and application to extremes

This paper provides extensions of the work on subsampling by Bertail et al. in J. Econ. 120:295–326 (2004) for strongly mixing case to weakly dependent case by application of the results of Doukhan and Louhichi in Stoch. Proc. Appl. 84:313–342 (1999). We investigate properties of smooth and rough subsampling estimators for sampling distributions of converging and extreme statistics when the underlying time series is η- or λ-weakly dependent.     

E-Mails im Rechtsverkehr: keine Lappalie

Die aktuelle E-Mail-Rechtssprechung macht es deutlich: Die Zeit der Beliebigkeit in der E-Mail-Kommunikation ist vorbei: E-Mails haben sich zu einer ernstzunehmenden und rechtswirksamen Kommunikationsform entwickelt.     

A novel sheet metal forming method—Millipede forming

Millipede forming, a novel sheet metal forming method, has been proposed and developed recently to overcome fundamental limitations in conventional roll forming. For this new method, there are two main aspects: use of an optimal transitional surface and implementation of a method to feed the strip through the transition surface. Achieving the optimal transitional surface involves defining the change of surface shape between a flat strip and a final shaped product conceptualised to the strip's mid-surface, regardless of the strip's thickness.In this paper, one method of implementing a transition surface, Millipede forming, is introduced. A prototype has been built to demonstrate the working principle and can be used to produce some simple profiles, within a short forming length of 200 mm.