Women workers in Notman's studio

Abstract

Scattered among the 160 000 images made by the Notman photographic studio of Montreal between 1860 and 1880, and preserved today in the studio's picture books at the McCord Museum, are about two dozen portraits of women who worked for Notman's during that period.1 These portraits were retrieved by the staff at the Notman Photographic Archives who matched the names of women listed in the Notman wages books, retained from 1864 (the studio was established in 1856), with the names identifying each and every portrait made and printed by the Notman studio from 1856 and kept in albums. Many of the negatives, too, have been retained and are in the Notman collection. Their photographs harmonize well with those of the bourgeois women who were Notman clients, sharing poses, expressions, dress, coiffures and attributes. The women are situated in comfortable home-like environments. They pose alone, or as sisters, or as mothers and daughters (never as wives), with attributes of education and leisure, such as books, watercolour sketchbooks or, notably, photographs and albums. Their clothing is always elegant and occasionally sumptuous.     

Optimization of blood collection card method/enzyme-linked immunoassay for monitoring exposure of bottlenose dolphin to brevetoxin-producing red tides

Blood collection cards have been successfully used as a tool to monitor brevetoxin (PbTx) exposure in several species, including fish, mice, and rats. Previous methanolic methods used for extracting brevetoxin from blood collection cards have shown dolphin blood to have matrix difficulties in several biological assays. To better biomonitor protected marine mammal species in the Florida area, which is historically prone to unusual mortality events caused by brevetoxin exposure, we have modified the previous extraction method to consistently recover brevetoxin with a known efficiency from dolphin blood collection card samples with minimal matrix interference. A combination of phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) with 6% MeOH and 100% acetonitrile was used to elute blood from the cellulose card and precipitate proteins, respectively. Analysis was performed using a newly developed direct enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA), which yields a sample limit of quantification of 1 ng PbTx-3 equiv/mL. This extraction method allowed for linear recovery of PbTx-3 spiked into dolphin blood (1-30 ng/mL) with a consistent recovery rate of 58% and has subsequently been used to monitor brevetoxins in dolphins, as well as sea turtles and manatees, in regions endemic to red tides. In addition, two known metabolites of PbTx-2 were isolated and also found to be detectable using the ELISA. The cysteine conjugate (m/z 1018) and cysteine sulfoxide conjugate (m/z 1034) were found to have linear recoveries of 87% and 66%, respectively. In summary, this method of extracting brevetoxins and their metabolites from blood collection cards, in conjunction with the ELISA detection method, is a simple and reliable way to biomonitor physiologically relevant toxin levels in protected marine animals.     

Injection molding of biodegradable polyester blends filled with mineral and sustainable fillers: Performance evaluation

This research focuses on the melt processing of biocomposites from a biodegradable polymer blend mixed with hybrid fillers through injection molding technique. An optimized blend ratio (60/40 wt%) poly(butylene succinate-co-butylene adipate) (PBSA) and poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) demonstrated promising results after blending with a mixture of walnut shell powder (WSP), corn starch and talc in various proportions for use in rigid packaging. The addition of hybrid fillers (i) 10% WSP with 15% talc and (ii) 5% WSP with 5% starch and 15% talc to the polymer blend (60%PBSA/40%PBAT) improved tensile modulus (160% and 162%, respectively) and flexural modulus (147% and 153%, respectively) because of the dispersion of stiffer talc and WSP. Following the addition of fillers, tensile strength of the composites decreased. However, flexural strength improved significantly after filler introduction because of better stress transfer ability. Rheological analysis of filled composites with starch or WSP (25%) depicted similar characteristics of the polymer blend, indicating lower viscosity than hybrid composites. The abundant hydroxyl groups in starch explained the increased water absorption and decreased contact angle compared with other composites. This research's novelty encompasses utilizing low-cost biomasses with mineral filler into an under-researched biodegradable polymer blend suitable for single-use rigid packaging applications.     

Hand washing compliance among retail food establishment workers in Minnesota

Inadequate hand washing by food workers is an important contributing factor to foodborne disease outbreaks in retail food establishments (RFEs). We conducted a survey of RFEs to investigate the effect of hand washing training, availability of hand washing facilities, and the ability of the person in charge (PIC) to describe hand washing according to the Minnesota Food Code (food code) on workers' ability to demonstrate food code-compliant hand washing. Only 52% of the PICs could describe the hand washing procedure outlined in the food code, and only 48% of workers could demonstrate code-compliant hand washing. The most common problems observed were failure to wash for 20 s and failure to use a fingernail brush. There was a strong positive association between the PIC being a certified food manager and being able to describe the food code hand washing procedure (odds ratio [OR], 5.5; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.2 to 13.7), and there was an even stronger association between the PIC being able to describe hand washing and workers being able to demonstrate code-compliant hand washing (OR, 15; 95% CI, 6 to 37). Significant associations were detected among correct hand washing demonstration, physical infrastructure for hand washing, and the hand washing training methods used by the establishment. However, the principal determinant of successful hand washing demonstration was the PIC's ability to describe proper hand washing procedure. These results suggest that improving hand washing practices among food workers will require interventions that address PIC knowledge of hand washing requirement and procedure and the development and implementation of effective hand washing training methods.     

Simulation of Agricultural Management Alternatives for Watershed Protection

The Bosque River Watershed in Texas is facing a suite of water quality issues including excess sediment, nutrient, and bacteria. The sources of the pollutants are improperly managed cropland and grazing land, dairy manure application, and effluent discharge from wastewater treatment facilities. Several best management practices (BMPs) have been proposed for pollution reduction and watershed protection. The overall objectives of this study were to demonstrate a modeling approach using Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model to simulate various BMPs and assess their long-term impacts on sediment and nutrient loads at different spatial levels. The SWAT model was calibrated and validated for long-term annual and monthly flows at Valley Mills and for monthly sediment, total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) at Hico and Valley Mills monitoring locations. The BMPs including streambank stabilization, gully plugs, recharge structures, conservation tillage, terraces, contour farming, manure incorporation, filter strips, and PL-566 reservoirs were simulated in the watershed areas that met the respective practice’s specific criteria for implementation. These BMPs were represented in the pre- and post-conditions by modifying one or more channel parameters (channel cover, erodibility, Manning’s n), curve number (CN), support practice factor (P-factor), filter strip width, and tillage parameters (mixing efficiency, mixing depth). The BMPs were simulated individually and the resulting Hydrologic Response Units (HRUs), subwatershed, and watershed level impacts were quantified for each BMP. Sensitivity of model output values to input parameters used to represent the BMPs was also evaluated. Implementing individual BMPs reduced sediment loads from 3% to 37% and TN loads from 1% to 24% at the watershed outlet; however, the changes in TP loads ranged from 3% increase to 30% decrease. Higher reductions were simulated at the subwatershed and HRU levels. Among the parameters analyzed for sensitivity, P-factor and CN were most sensitive followed by Manning’s n. The TN and TP outputs were not sensitive to channel cover. This study showed that the SWAT modeling approach could be used to simulate and assess the effectiveness of agricultural best management practices.     

Costs of Solar and Wind Power Variability for Reducing CO(2) Emissions

We compare the power output from a year of electricity generation data from one solar thermal plant, two solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays, and twenty Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) wind farms. The analysis shows that solar PV electricity generation is approximately one hundred times more variable at frequencies on the order of 10(-3) Hz than solar thermal electricity generation, and the variability of wind generation lies between that of solar PV and solar thermal. We calculate the cost of variability of the different solar power sources and wind by using the costs of ancillary services and the energy required to compensate for its variability and intermittency, and the cost of variability per unit of displaced CO(2) emissions. We show the costs of variability are highly dependent on both technology type and capacity factor. California emissions data were used to calculate the cost of variability per unit of displaced CO(2) emissions. Variability cost is greatest for solar PV generation at $8-11 per MWh. The cost of variability for solar thermal generation is $5 per MWh, while that of wind generation in ERCOT was found to be on average $4 per MWh. Variability adds ～$15/tonne CO(2) to the cost of abatement for solar thermal power, $25 for wind, and $33-$40 for PV.     

Concentration and dry deposition of mercury species in arid south central New Mexico (2001-2002)

This research was initiated to characterize atmospheric deposition of reactive gaseous mercury (RGM), particulate mercury (HgP; <2.5 microm), and gaseous elemental mercury (Hg0) in the arid lands of south central New Mexico. Two methods were field-tested to estimate dry deposition of three mercury species. A manual speciation sampling train consisting of a KCl-coated denuder, 2.5 microm quartz fiber filters, and gold-coated quartz traps and an ion-exchange membrane (as a passive surrogate surface) were deployed concurrently over 24-h intervals for an entire year. The mean 24-h atmospheric concentration for RGM was 6.8 pg m(-3) with an estimated deposition of 0.10 ng m(-2) h(-1). The estimated deposition of mercury to the passive surrogate surface was much greater (4.0 ng m(-2) h(-1)) but demonstrated a diurnal pattern with elevated deposition from late afternoon to late evening (1400-2200; 8.0 ng m(-2) h(-1)) and lowest deposition during the night just prior to sunrise (2200-0600; 1.7 ng m(-2) h(-1)). The mean 24-h atmospheric concentrations for HgP and Hg0 were 1.52 pg m(-3) and 1.59 ng m(-3), respectively. Diurnal patterns were observed for RGM with atmospheric levels lowest during the night prior to sunrise (3.8 pg m(-3)) and greater during the afternoon and early evening (8.9 pg m(-3)). Discernible diurnal patterns were not observed for either HgP or Hg0. The total dry deposition of Hg was 5.9 microg m-2 year-' with the contribution from the three species as follows: RGM (0.88 microg m(-2) year(-1)), HgP (0.025 microg m(-2) year(-1)), and Hg0 (5.0 microg m(-2) year(-1)). The annual wet deposition for total mercury throughout the same collection duration was 4.2 microg m(-2) year (-1), resulting in an estimated total deposition of 10.1 microg m(-2) year(-1) for Hg. On one sampling date, enhanced HgP (12 pg m(-3)) was observed due to emissions from a wildfire approximately 250 km to the east.