On climate reconstruction using bivalves: three methods to interpret the chemical signature of a shell

To improve our understanding of the climate process and to assess the human impact on current global warming, past climate reconstruction is essential. The chemical composition of a bivalve shell is strongly coupled to environmental variations and therefore ancient shells are potential climate archives. The nonlinear nature of the relation between environmental condition (e.g. the seawater temperature) and proxy composition makes it hard to predict the former from the latter, however. In this paper we compare the ability of three nonlinear system identification methods to reconstruct the ambient temperature from the chemical composition of a shell. The comparison shows that nonlinear multi-proxy approaches are potentially useful tools for climate reconstructions and that manifold based methods result in smoother and more precise temperature reconstruction.     

The chain transfer to polymer in vinyl chloride bulk polymerization

Summary Self grafting of PVC has been studied by introducing a 36-chlorine labelled low molecular PVC fraction in the polymerization mixture of vinyl chloride. The fractionation of the polymer obtained follows the same pattern as a synthetic mixture of the polymer with the same fraction. It is concluded that, under those working conditions, chain transfer to the polymer with grafting has not taken place, at least in a considerable extent.     

A washed-curd goat's cheese as a vehicle for delivery of a potential probiotic bacterium: Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. lactis UO 004

This study characterizes the probiotic properties of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. lactis UO 004 and examines its suitability for making cheese. This strain was isolated from infant feces and shows interesting features, such as acid and bile tolerance, adherence to intestinal epithelial cells, and inhibition of the growth of certain enteropathogens, that support its potential use as a probiotic strain. In this regard, the suitability of a washed-curd cheese (Vidiago type) made with goat's milk as a delivery system for this probiotic strain was assessed. Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. lactis UO 004 was incorporated into a starter culture (IPLA 001). Changes in the overall composition of control and experimental cheeses were determined during ripening through bacteriological, chemical, high-performance liquid chromatography, and gas chromatography analyses. Slight changes in the gross composition and appreciable differences in the flavor compounds profile were observed between control and experimental cheeses. This strain was capable of surviving at high cell numbers (10(8) to 10(9) CFU/g) in cheeses after 28 days of ripening without adversely affecting sensory criteria or appearance of the cheese, thus satisfying the criteria for a probiotic food product.     

PHENOTYPIC RESPONSES OF THE SOIL BACTERIAL COMMUNITY TO POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBON CONTAMINATION IN SOILS

Five soils with different levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) and metallic contamination were sampled from a former coke facility site located in the north of France. Among PAH-degrading microbiota, naphthalene-degraders were ubiquitous, whereas bacteria-degrading PAHs of more than two rings were present in only the polluted soils, in the range of 1% to 10% of the total microbiota. Phenotypic characterization of PAH-degraders has revealed that several genera of bacteria are well represented such as Corynebacterium, Arthrobacter, and Pseudomonas. The diversity of the cultivable PAH-degrading bacterial community was dependent on the type and pollution level of soil (texture and depth). An important toxicity was measured in the polluted soils in relation to the combined effects of organic and metallic pollutions.     

Determination of Nutritional and Cyclopropenoid Fatty Acids in Cottonseed by a Single GC Analysis

Historically, a complete analysis of cottonseed fatty acids required two separate analyses: gas chromatography (GC) for nutritional fatty acids and a separate analysis for cyclopropenoid fatty acids (CPFA). Using base esterification and optimized GC conditions, the method presented combines both analyses into a single GC procedure that improves analytical processes and streamlines workflow. While there were challenges, the resolution of critical pairs malvalic/stearic and dihydrosterculic/alpha linolenic methyl esters were adequately separated, allowing for accurate quantitation. Single lab reproducibility measurements (RSD) for major nutritional fatty acids ranged from 0.7 to 2.0 %. For CPFA the RSD ranged from 1.1 to 5.4 %, with the higher variability seen in the extracted cottonseed. In oils, the precision was similar between nutritional fatty acids and CPFA at equivalent concentrations, indicating the variation comes from the extraction process. Average spiked recovery results ranged from 93.3 to 106.5 % for selected fatty acids. In addition, complete fatty acid profile results compare favorably with other methodologies and historical data, demonstrating that it is possible to combine two legacy methods into one.     

Photo-stability study of a solution-processed small molecule solar cell system: correlation between molecular conformation and degradation

Solution-processed organic small molecule solar cells (SMSCs) have achieved efficiency over 11%. However, very few studies have focused on their stability under illumination and the origin of the degradation during the so-called burn-in period. Here, we studied the burn-in period of a solution-processed SMSC using benzodithiophene terthiophene rhodamine:[6,6]-phenyl C₇₁ butyric acid methyl ester (BTR:PC₇₁BM) with increasing solvent vapour annealing time applied to the active layer, controlling the crystallisation of the BTR phase. We find that the burn-in behaviour is strongly correlated to the crystallinity of BTR. To look at the possible degradation mechanisms, we studied the fresh and photo-aged blend films with grazing incidence X-ray diffraction, UV–vis absorbance, Raman spectroscopy and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. Although the crystallinity of BTR affects the performance drop during the burn-in period, the degradation is found not to originate from the crystallinity changes of the BTR phase, but correlates with changes in molecular conformation – rotation of the thiophene side chains, as resolved by Raman spectroscopy which could be correlated to slight photobleaching and changes in PL spectra.     

这就是体验——2011年的“准确接触”

客户和潜在客户在选择产品和服务时越来越多地利用多种渠道,他们正在数字媒体和传统媒体之间来回切换。这就意味着营销人员不仅要了解正确的信息,而且还要了解正确的媒体喜好。     

抓住照片类商品市场的机遇

<正>传统照片冲印市场中的营收潜力在不断减少,但照片类的商品却可以帮助服务提供商将数码照片转换成收入,这些商品包括如照片贺卡、照片书、带照片的日历或杯子等。这些商品已引起了消费者和零售商的关注,消费者喜欢照片类的商品是因为它们会成为很好的礼物,以照片为中心的商业打印商和零售     

The morbidity of vasectomy

Many common devices can be used as biofeedback devices. The feedback use of the bathroom scale in rehabilitation medicine (physical therapy) has been explored with stroke patients. These patients used two scales, one under each foot, to relearn their sense of weight distribution. In addition, the scale was used to teach patients to shift their weight distribution from their knees to their hands as they learned to crawl, and from their feet to their buttocks and the chair as they learned to sit down.