Cola soft drinks for evaluating the bioaccessibility of uranium in contaminated mine soils

There is a rising need for scientifically sound and quantitative as well as simple, rapid, cheap and readily available soil testing procedures. The purpose of this study was to explore selected soft drinks (Coca-Cola Classic®, Diet Coke®, Coke Zero®) as indicators of bioaccessible uranium and other trace elements (As, Ce, Cu, La, Mn, Ni, Pb, Th, Y, Zn) in contaminated soils of the Mary Kathleen uranium mine site, Australia. Data of single extraction tests using Coca-Cola Classic®, Diet Coke® and Coke Zero® demonstrate that extractable arsenic, copper, lanthanum, manganese, nickel, yttrium and zinc concentrations correlate significantly with DTPA- and CaCl₂-extractable metals. Moreover, the correlation between DTPA-extractable uranium and that extracted using Coca-Cola Classic® is close to unity (+ 0.98), with reduced correlations for Diet Coke® (+ 0.66) and Coke Zero® (+ 0.55). Also, Coca-Cola Classic® extracts uranium concentrations near identical to DTPA, whereas distinctly higher uranium fractions were extracted using Diet Coke® and Coke Zero®. Results of this study demonstrate that the use of Coca-Cola Classic® in single extraction tests provided an excellent indication of bioaccessible uranium in the analysed soils and of uranium uptake into leaves and stems of the Sodom apple (Calotropis procera). Moreover, the unconventional reagent is superior in terms of availability, costs, preparation and disposal compared to traditional chemicals. Contaminated site assessments and rehabilitation of uranium mine sites require a solid understanding of the chemical speciation of environmentally significant elements for estimating their translocation in soils and plant uptake. Therefore, Cola soft drinks have potential applications in single extraction tests of uranium contaminated soils and may be used for environmental impact assessments of uranium mine sites, nuclear fuel processing plants and waste storage and disposal facilities.     

Trailing edge noise reduction of wind turbine blades by active flow control

In the current study, we investigate a route to reduction of the turbulent boundary layer–trailing edge interaction noise. The trailing edge noise is generated by surface pressure fluctuations beneath a turbulent boundary and scattered at the trailing edge of wind turbine blades. Trailing edge noise is considered to be the dominant noise source of modern wind turbines. Therefore, efforts are constantly made to attenuate the noise. Today, noise emission can be reduced by proper airfoil design or passive devices, such as trailing edge serrations. A further improved candidate technology for trailing edge noise attenuation is active flow control in the form of wall‐normal suction. With active flow control, the boundary layer features responsible for trailing edge noise generation can be manipulated, and correspondingly the trailing edge noise can be reduced. Detailed experimental investigations were performed at the Universities of Tel‐Aviv and Stuttgart. The tests showed that steady wall‐normal suction has a positive effect on the trailing edge noise by reducing the boundary layer thickness, and with it the integral length scales of the eddies within the boundary layer. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Support for the possible locus on chromosome 4p16 for bipolar affective disorder

Since the majority of people with dizziness in the community are never referred for specialist testing and treatment, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether it was desirable and feasible to provide vestibular rehabilitation for this patient population. Demand for therapy was assessed by a survey of 9198 working age people randomly sampled from six general practices. One in 10 respondents reported current, handicapping dizziness, but fewer than 2% of those with dizziness severe enough to merit treatment proved suitable and willing to attend hospital for testing and rehabilitation. Nevertheless, vestibular rehabilitation was clearly beneficial for the 16 patients who completed the therapy programme, as their scores on measures of symptoms, disability, handicap and postural stability improved significantly post-therapy to near-normal levels. We conclude that there is a need for provision of vestibular rehabilitation in primary care for patients with dizziness in the community.     

From andromède to delta

This is an information paper describing the operational experience gathered during the ISS Soyuz missions from 2001 through 2004, as viewed by representatives of the ground and the onboard crews. The objective of this paper is to describe the Soyuz Missions from the point of view of the operational crew, both on ground and in orbit, focusing on relevant information that due to various factors is not available to scientists normally. By doing this, it is hoped that scientists preparing new missions, especially Columbus, will be able to take into account these specific operational elements into the preparation and execution of their experiments and thus hopefully help improve the overall efficiency.     

Postharvest application of 1-Methylcyclopropene modulates fruit ripening, storage life and quality of 'Tegan Blue' Japanese plum kept in ambient and cold storage

The role of postharvest application of 1-Methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) in modulating 'Tegan Blue' Japanese plum fruit ripening and quality under ambient and cold storage conditions was investigated. 1-MCP-treated fruit (0, 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 μL L⁻¹) were allowed to ripen at ambient temperature in Experiment 1, while in the second experiment the fruit were kept in cold storage (0, 3 and 6 weeks) before ripening. In both experiments, 1-MCP treatment significantly delayed (2–8 days), suppressed (30–70%) the climacteric ethylene production, maintained higher fruit firmness (34–60%), titratable acidity, L* , chroma, hue angle of fruit skin and pulp, and reduced concentrations of soluble solids, ascorbic acid, total carotenoids and total anti-oxidants as compared to the control. 1-MCP (1.0 μL L⁻¹) treatment suppresses and delays the climacteric ethylene production with acceptable fruit quality during ripening at ambient temperature and is effective in extending the storage life up to 6 weeks with minimal loss of plum fruit quality.     

Formability of High Strength Dual‐phase Steels

The application of ferritic‐martensitic dual‐phase (DP) steels has become an increasing trend in the automotive industry due to the possibility to achieve significant weight reduction and fuel efficiency with improved crash performance while keeping the manufacturing costs at affordable levels. In order to meet the different design requirements of individual auto‐body components, a wide variety of DP grades exhibiting different strength and ductility levels is currently industrially produced. Despite the numerous studies on the relationship between the mechanical properties and the microstructural characteristics of DP steels over the last decades, it is still a challenge to increase their formability at a constant strength level (or equivalently increasing the strength while maintaining a high ductility). One of the possibilities to increase strength is grain refinement. Ultrafine‐grained ferritic‐martensitic microstructures were produced by intercritical annealing of a cold‐rolled, pre‐processed dual‐phase steel. Ferrite mean grain sizes in the order of ~ 1.5 μm were obtained. The mechanical properties of these steels are studied, revealing the beneficial effect of grain refinement. Ultimate tensile strength above 800 MPa is achievable, while reaching remarkable high uniform and total elongations, which are only slightly affected by the martensite volume fraction. Moreover, the yield to tensile strength ratio can be adjusted between 0.4 and 0.5. Light and electron microscopy investigations, fracture profile and fracture surface analyses, hole expansion tests and additional ultramicrohardness measurements are used for the interpretation of the results and for the correlation of the mechanical properties and the formability characteristics with the microstructure of the steel.