Lead Extraction from Contaminated Soil Using Water-Soluble Polymers

The applicability of water-soluble polymers as extractants for the remediation of heavy metal-contaminated soils has been explored using a lead-contaminated Superfund soil as a sample system. Polyethylenimine (PEI) was functionalized with bromo- or chloroacetic acid to give an aminocarboxylate chelating group, which effectively binds lead. The resulting polymer, PEIC, has extraction properties similar to the molecular chelator ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid. A series of studies was done to probe optimum conditions for lead extraction from soils obtained from the Cal-West Superfund site in New Mexico that contained approximately 10,000 ppm of Pb. In batch extraction experiments using polymer functionalized at two different levels, the polymers removed greater than 97% of the lead from the soils. Subsequent experiments demonstrated that the selective extraction of lead could be controlled by varying polymer functionalization levels. Concentration and regeneration of the polymers using ultrafiltration was also demonstrated. Release of lead from the polymer was accomplished by acidification to pH 1 with HCl. Subsequent ultrafiltration allowed recovery of the extractant polymer for reuse.     

Rebuttal re: "Confirmatory bias and the persistent influence of discredited data in interpreting the stress-cancer link: Commentary on Michael et al. (2009)".

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 30(4) of Health Psychology (see record 2011-13978-001). The letter was missing the doi. The correct doi is 10.1037/a0022737. The online version of this article has been corrected.] Responds to the comments by J. C. Coyne and C. Johansen (see record 2011-09497-016) on the current author's original article, "Influence of stressors on breast cancer incidence in the Women's Health Initiative" (see record 2009-03297-001). Coyne and Johansen (2011) took issue with the study conducted by the current authors' group (Michael et al., 2009), which analyzed the interaction between stressful life events and social support on breast cancer risk among 83,334 postmenopausal women enrolled in the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI). While the current authors agree with the Coyne and Johansen that too often null results are difficult to publish due to confirmatory bias that privileges results that support an alternative hypothesis, they strongly disagree with the assertion that their group selectively reported findings, inaccurately reported findings, or provided selective and uncritical reference to the existing literature. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Objective Measurement of Cognitive Fatigue in Multiple Sclerosis.

Objective: Objective examination of cognitive fatigue in persons with multiple sclerosis (MS). Participants: Fifty-six individuals with MS and 39 age- and education-matched healthy control subjects. Main Outcome Measures: Cognitive fatigue, operationalized as the failure to sustain effort over the course of a continuous working memory task; performance on the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test was examined, with number of correct responses generated and responses produced under conditions of sustained central executive load as the dependent variables. Results: Cognitively impaired MS subjects produced significantly fewer correct responses than either nonimpaired MS subjects or healthy control subjects, who performed at a comparable level. Both MS groups, however, showed susceptibility to cognitive fatigue significantly earlier in time than the healthy group. Conclusions: Fatigue can influence performance even in the absence of cognitive impairment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

TWC LOGD: A portal for linked open government data ecosystems

International open government initiatives are releasing an increasing volume of raw government datasets directly to citizens via the Web. The transparency resulting from these releases not only creates new application opportunities but also imposes new burdens inherent to large-scale distributed data integration, collaborative data manipulation and transparent data consumption. The Tetherless World Constellation (TWC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) has developed the Semantic Web-based TWC LOGD portal to support the deployment of linked open government data (LOGD). The portal is both an open source infrastructure supporting linked open government data production and consumption and a vibrant community portal that educates and serves the growing international open government community of developers, data curators and end users. This paper motivates and introduces the TWC LOGD Portal and highlights innovative aspects and lessons learned.     

痛挽往昔 瞻望来者——巴米扬窟龛考

本文整理出巴米扬山谷遗址群的年代学证据,旨在重现大佛的历史与图像地位。首先介绍了巴米扬山谷遗址群的研究方法和年代阶段,接着讨论玄奘所见所录的大佛的原始配置,最后将三尊佛像放入其原始的图像志语境中去考查,认为涅檗像原应位于38米大佛和55米大佛之间。后者为宝装焰肩佛,其神格应为燃灯佛;38米大佛为释迦佛。而巡礼者所遵循的应是燃灯佛-释迦佛-涅粲佛-弥勒佛的绕拜顺序。     

Partitioning and bioaccumulation of PBDEs and PCBs in Lake Michigan

Water from Lake Michigan and fish from all five Great Lakes have been sampled and analyzed for a suite of six polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) congeners and 110 polychlorinated biphenyl congeners (PCBs). The Lake Michigan dissolved phase PBDE congener concentrations (0.2 to 10 pg/L) are similar to dissolved phase PCB congener concentrations (nondetected to 13 pg/L). Partitioning of PBDEs between the particulate and dissolved phases exhibits behavior similar to that of PCBs. Organic-carbon-normalized water-particle partition coefficients (log K(OC)s) ranged from 6.2 to 6.5. Lake trout are depleted in BDE-99 relative to dissolved phase concentrations, and in contrast to what is expected from the PCB congener patterns. This reflects suspected debromination of BDE-99 in the food web of Lake Michigan. A regression of the log of the bioaccumulation factor (BAF) and the log of the octanol-water partition coefficent (K(OW)) indicated a positive relationship for both PCB congeners and PBDE congeners. BDE-99 does not appear to followthe same trend, a further indication that it is subject to biotransformation. Using the PBDE BAFs for Lake Michigan and the PBDE fish concentrations from the other Great Lakes it is expected that the dissolved phase concentrations of congeners in the other lakes would range from 0.04 to approximately 3 pg/L.     

Development and application of Multiple-Locus Variable number of tandem repeat Analysis (MLVA) to subtype a collection of Listeria monocytogenes

In this study we report the development and application of a Multiple-Locus Variable number of tandem repeat Analysis (MLVA) strategy for subtyping Listeria monocytogenes. Genome profiles of a collection of forty-five food-borne L. monocytogenes isolates were compared using MLVA. These isolates were obtained as part of an active surveillance programme of foods in the south-east region of Ireland. MLVA successfully discriminated amongst the isolates. The method was easy to perform, relatively fast and could be deployed in any molecular laboratory with basic laboratory equipment. This approach is a valuable tool, which has the capability to provide comparable results when compared with other more established typing methods, including pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE).     

Promotion Routes for Women Engineering Managers

ABSTRACT

Total quality management (TQM) has been increasingly accepted as a management philosophy. Criteria such as those contained in the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) often guide TQM implementation. However, reports indicate that fully assessing TQM efforts is difficult and hiring experts to help with this task is expensive. Using survey instruments is an attractive alternative to full-scale assessment. Despite the availability of many papers covering organizational performance assessment, few instruments specifically address TQM evaluation. Furthermore, none of the TQM assessment instruments has been subjected to rigorous validation; thus, only modest confidence can be placed in results obtained from their use. This article proposes a quick and cost-effective instrument that is a simple questionnaire designed to assist organizations in conducting self-evaluations of their TQM programs. The proposed instrument is based on the seven categories of the MBNQA criteria and was developed in cooperation with the Excellence in Missouri Foundation, which administers the Missouri Quality Award (MQA). This article highlights how questionnaire results can be used to guide further TQM implementation efforts.