Monitoring for nitrate in UK-grown lettuce and spinach

To comply with European Commission requirements, the UK is carrying out a monitoring programme on nitrate concentrations in lettuce and spinach. This paper reports the results obtained between June 1996 and April 1998. A total of 182 samples of protected lettuce, 131 samples of outdoor-grown lettuce and 34 samples of fresh spinach were taken from the main growing areas of the UK. Nitrate concentrations in protected lettuce were influenced by the season with summer-grown crops (mean of 2382mg/kg) having lower levels than those grown in the winter (mean of 3124mg/kg). Weather conditions also affected concentrations in protected lettuces with long hours of sunshine and low rainfall associated with low nitrate levels. Nitrate concentrations in outdoor-grown lettuces were lower (mean of 1085mg/kg) than those in protected lettuces but there were insufficient data to determine if they were affected by the weather conditions or season. Similarly there were insufficient data to determine if weather conditions or season influenced nitrate concentrations in spinach (mean of 1900mg/kg) but regional differences were observed.     

The construction of reflective practice in key policy documents in England

This article presents an analysis of the construction of reflection in relation to teacher's practice to be found in some key documents designed to present or implement the current educational policy in England and Wales. There is evidence in these key texts that there is a potentially fruitful approach to the harnessing of reflection and reflective practice in the pursuit of given goals. This is however in tension with bureaucratic and political imperatives to control and those imperatives win out in the actual implementation documents. In so far as these actually determine the experience of teachers training for the Literacy Hour, then in practice teachers will feel that their own reflection is considerably censored rather than legitimated.     

On Data Fusion for Parametric-Model-Based Wireless Localization

In this paper, we present a data fusion framework for parametric-model-based wireless localization where the mobile station location is treated as a deterministic unknown vector. Three types of fusion schemes are presented: measurement fusion, estimate fusion and mixed fusion. Theoretical performance comparison among these schemes in terms of the estimation root mean square error via the weighted least square estimator (WLSE) is conducted. Such a performance metric coincides with the Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) in the case of Gaussian noise. We show that, if the raw measurement vectors are correlated, then measurement fusion achieves the best performance, mixed fusion follows and estimate fusion is the worst. If the raw measurement vectors are uncorrelated, then these different fusion schemes achieve the same performance. Benefits that can be earned from data fusion for wireless localization are also investigated and numerical examples are presented to validate our theoretical analysis.     

Determination of Thermoelectric Module Efficiency: A Survey

The development of thermoelectrics (TE) for energy conversion is in the transition phase from laboratory research to device development. There is an increasing demand to accurately determine the module efficiency, especially for the power generation mode. For many TE, the figure of merit, ZT, of the material sometimes cannot be fully realized at the device level. Reliable efficiency testing of thermoelectric modules is important to assess the device ZT and provide end-users with realistic values for how much power can be generated under specific conditions. We conducted a general survey of efficiency testing devices and their performance. The results indicated a lack of industry standards and test procedures. This study included a commercial test system and several laboratory systems. Most systems are based on the heat flow meter method, and some are based on the Harman method. They are usually reproducible in evaluating thermoelectric modules. However, different systems often showed large differences that are likely caused by uncertain heat loss and thermal resistance. Efficiency testing is an important capability for the thermoelectric community to improve. A follow-up international standardization effort is planned.     

The temperature dependence of anaerobic glycolysis in beef muscle held in a linear temperature gradient

Measurements have been made of the rate of pH fall post-mortem in excised beef sternomandibularis muscles held in a linear temperature gradient. A minimum rate of pH fall was observed between 10 and 12°C and the rate increased as the temperature was further reduced towards 0°C, a phenomenon known to be accompanied by cold-shortening and attributable to increased activity of the contractile actomyosin ATPase which stimulates glycolysis. The increase in rate observed as the temperature was raised above the 10–12°C minimum, had an activation energy of 40kJ/mol, similar to that of the calcium-independent myosin ATPase.     

Pummelos as Concept Generators for Biomimetically Inspired Low Weight Structures with Excellent Damping Properties

Natural materials often exhibit excellent mechanical properties. An example of outstanding impact resistance is the pummelo fruit (Citrus maxima) which can drop from heights of 10 m and more without showing significant outer damage. Our data suggest that this impact resistance is due to the hierarchical organization of the fruit peel, called pericarp. The project presented in the current paper aims at transferring structural features from the pummelo pericarp to engineering materials, in our case metal foams, produced by the investment casting process. The transfer necessitates a detailed structural and mechanical analysis of the biological model on the one hand, and the identification and development of adequate materials and processes on the other hand. Based on this analysis, engineering composite foam structures are developed and processed which show enhanced damping and impact properties. The modified investment casting process and the model alloy Bi57Sn43 proved to be excellent candidates to make these bio‐inspired structures. Mechanical testing of both the natural and the engineering structures has to consider the necessity to evaluate the impact of the different hierarchical features. Therefore, specimens of largely varying sizes have to be tested and size effects cannot be ignored, especially as the engineering structures might be upscaled in comparison with the natural role model. All in all, the present results are very promising: the basis for a transfer of bio‐inspired structural hierarchical levels has been set.     

In vivo Quantum‐Dot Toxicity Assessment

Quantum dots have potential in biomedical applications, but concerns persist about their safety. Most toxicology data is derived from in vitro studies and may not reflect in vivo responses. Here, an initial systematic animal toxicity study of CdSe–ZnS core–shell quantum dots in healthy Sprague–Dawley rats is presented. Biodistribution, animal survival, animal mass, hematology, clinical biochemistry, and organ histology are characterized at different concentrations (2.5–15.0 nmol) over short‐term (<7 days) and long‐term (>80 days) periods. The results show that the quantum dot formulations do not cause appreciable toxicity even after their breakdown in vivo over time. To generalize the toxicity of quantum dots in vivo, further investigations are still required. Some of these investigations include the evaluation of quantum dot composition (e.g., PbS versus CdS), surface chemistry (e.g., functionalization with amines versus carboxylic acids), size (e.g., 2 versus 6 nm), and shape (e.g., spheres versus rods), as well as the effect of contaminants and their byproducts on biodistribution behavior and toxicity. Combining the results from all of these studies will eventually lead to a conclusion regarding the issue of quantum dot toxicity.